Chapter Text
Hunter smelled the blood first.
It was horribly acrid, the scent of dried blood mixed with fresh as it wafted down the corridor. He hated the smell: it meant violence.
“This way,” he murmured to the rest of the Batch huddled behind him watching the winding halls. Regs would have questioned how he knew what direction to take, but his brothers didn’t have to. They silently crept after him as he followed the scent until it culminated at a metal hatch. The door was identical to all the others in the labyrinth of a ship, but Hunter was certain their target was on the other side. He grimaced, steeling himself for the nightmare they would find on the other side.
Tech was quick to open the door. It hissed, unsealing, revealing a crimson-stained darkness beyond. And then all was quiet. Hunter ventured a step inside and scanned until he found what he was looking for. On the other end of the room, bathed in dim red light, was you, wrists chained above your head and your mangled form left to dangle against the cold metal wall, feet just barely scraping the floor’s grating.
The smell finally overwhelmed his brothers. “Bloody stars, what the hell is that?” Wrecker complained as he glanced around the room, still unable to see you in the darkness.
“Blood, Wrecker,” Tech grimly supplied, noticing you too. “And a lot of it. Hunter?”
He could hear your heartbeat in the silence; it was weak, but clinging to life. He snarled quietly at the bloodstains across the floor and all over your form. “Alive,” he growled. “Wrecker, keep an eye out.” He shoved down his anger and hurried forward to cut your bonds. He was careful to catch you and ease you into his arms once his knife was replaced in his vambrace sheath. Tech came to his side to assess your unconscious state.
“They tortured her,” Crosshair broke the silence. He slowly took in the state of the room, and even he was disgusted. Wrecker stood at the door, avoiding having to go back into your cell.
“And barbarically,” Tech added quietly. He let his equipment take stock of your injuries while Hunter adjusted you gently. Untreated gashes littered your skin and one of your legs was broken, hanging at an awkward angle over his arm. The higher-ups had shown them your picture so they knew who to look for, but he hardly recognized you with all the bruises, swelling and blood on your face. You didn’t look like the grinning daughter of Venarah’s senator he had seen in the holo.
“Iron cut these wounds,” Tech continued methodically as Hunter headed for the door, eager to get off the ship and get you to safety. “An ancient practice, one that doesn’t allow wounds to cauterise and speeds festering at the same time. And they did it so many times…”
“But they were going to kill her anyway,” Crosshair wondered morbidly, following him and Tech out. Wrecker remained quiet, just as unsettled as Hunter was. “Why go through the trouble? Public execution wasn’t going to be enough? What if she died before—”
“Doesn’t matter,” Hunter hissed and shut his brothers up with a sharp glare. “Let’s just get out of here.”
They moved quickly, Tech leading the way while Crosshair flanked Hunter and Wrecker watched their backs. Hunter kept his hold tight on you all the way, warning them if he felt droids’ electromagnetic signatures so they could avoid them. This mission was about stealth, locate and extract without delay. And with your condition, he didn’t want to risk a firefight.
He could feel the faint tremble of your body while he held you securely to his chest. Your breathing was laboured, which probably meant you had broken ribs as well as the obvious injuries. Crosshair had made a pointt: if they had intended to kill you for all the Republic to see, what was the point of torturing you beforehand? For information? To make the execution even worse by having you die in such a condition? It didn't make sense, not for some senator's daughter. What would the Separatists gain from it?
That's what worried Hunter the most about this grisly mystery. They wanted something to come from the cruel torture and he didn't know if the goal had been achieved yet. For all he knew, the execution order had been a ruse altogether and the Separatists wanted the Republic to find you like this, beaten and broken within an inch of your life. To provoke your mother, the senator? To provoke the Republic and lure them into a trap?
Everything about it smelled wrong. They had to get off the ship now.
But then their luck ran out.
"What the— Blast them!"
Crosshair yanked him back. He had been too distracted to sense the battle droids rounding the corner, so he hastened to follow his brothers' lead as they lurched into action. "So much for stealth!" Crosshair yelled back at him bitingly, rolling out of the way of the droids' firing to cover you and Hunter. Tech doled out round after round as he moved to the door and called for Wrecker to fall back, who had launched past Hunter and begun gleefully bashing in mechanical heads.
Hunter twisted so his plastoid armour was protecting you, then snatched his pistol and began to return fire beside Crosshair. It gave Tech the opening he needed to lunge for the door controls and swiftly hotwire them shut, just as Wrecker ripped a droid's head from its shoulders with a maniacal laugh and dove back from the slamming door.
"That won't hold long, and now they know we are here," Tech declared. "We need a new exit strategy."
"I say we blast our way through!" Wrecker cried with a grin.
"Easy enough if it were just the four of us, but it's not," Crosshair snapped and got to his feet. Hunter adjusted his grip on you to accommodate having his pistol drawn before following suit. He took a long few seconds to assess their surroundings, then turned to the Batch.
"Crosshair's right: we can't risk running into any more clankers with the senator's daughter. We'll need to take the long way out." Hunter bit back his concern. He couldn't show his brothers that at a time like this. "Tech, got that map completed yet?"
"97.6 percent scanned, but I have enough to find a safe route now." He pulled down his visor and headed past Hunter, leaving the sealed door behind. "Follow me."
The Marauder sat magnetised to the underside of the Separatist cruiser in the single blindspot Tech had been able to find. With the ship still in the Venaren atmosphere, they would be able to make the leap from maintenance hatch to Marauder without much trouble at all.
Or so they thought. They hadn't anticipated you being difficult to transport. Unconscious was one thing, but bleeding out and riddled with broken bones was something else entirely. Tech went first, swinging across the small divide with ease before crawling through the upside down ship to reach the dash. Crosshair went next to watch their backs from the Marauder , then Hunter carefully transferred you into Wrecker's waiting arms and turned to cover him. He could sense they had less than a minute before the droids were on them. "Get moving!" he shouted to Wrecker over the howling wind of the lower atmosphere, his brother hesitating over the drop.
"I—I don't think I can—"
"Go!"
"I will move the ship beneath you, Wrecker, so all you will have to do is jump," came Tech's crackling response through their helmet comms. Right on cue, the Marauder roared to life and detached from the Separatist cruiser. Crosshair looked like he was doing his best to hold onto the door and remain in position even as Tech manoeuvred the Marauder onto its side.
"Wait, Hunter—"
Hunter couldn't wait. The last hatch of the cruiser between them and the droids lit up red as they burned a hole into it. He cursed, then grabbed Wrecker's arm and made his brother look him visor to visor. "We need to get her home, Wrecker," he said firmly. "You saw what they did to her. She's going to die if we don't get out of here now."
That got him. Wrecker stood straighter then faced the short drop to the ship, your limp form secure to him. Finally, he took a deep breath and swore loudly before jumping out of sight with a howl.
The droids broke through, so Hunter followed you both over the edge, managing to grab hold of the outstretched ramp, and then the Marauder righted herself and took flight.
Don't relax yet, he reminded himself and hauled his way up and into the ship. Crosshair slammed the controls to close the door while Hunter made for their medical supplies. He returned to Wrecker, who had placed you in one of the seats, and started with the bacta and adrenaline shot to your arm.
Your eyes snapped open and you gasped to life, bolting upright in the seat. "Ship—don't tou—" Your words were incoherent as you weakly tried to shove Hunter away. He took a quick step back with his hands up, yanking off his helmet to show his very human face. He motioned for the others to do the same.
"Hey, hey, you're all right!" He tried his best to ease his natural intimidation and knelt at your side as you continued to wildly glance around. "You're safe! We're from the Republic: your mother sent us."
You finally settled your gaze on him. He watched you eventually focus and put your thoughts in order. Your split lip had begun to bleed again. "The cruiser… We're not on Pluven's cruiser."
"No," he confirmed, angrily noting the fear in your voice. Pluven was the Separatist general holding you prisoner, and now he knew it was Pluven who had hurt you. "This is the Marauder, our ship. I'm Hunter." He nodded to the others in turn. "That's Wrecker, Crosshair and Tech, my squad. We're taking you back to Coruscant."
The pain began to show on your face as you winced. Blood was seeping through your clothes, so Hunter grabbed the ion cauterizer stashed in the med pack, but you were talking again. "I…I can't leave. Not yet! I have to go back!"
"What?!" Wrecker was aghast. "Go back?! Why would you want to do that?!"
"We're not going back," Crosshair spat and sat across from you. "Pluven wants you dead, little lady."
"They're right," Hunter agreed, but you adamantly continued on regardless.
"No, no, you don't understand! I— agh!— I went to negotiate with Pluven, but I knew he wouldn't listen, so I brought a contingency plan." Your hands flew across yourself like you were feeling for something. "But they took all my gear! I don't have the detonator!"
Hunter's eyes flew open when he realised what you were saying. "You planted a bomb on the cruiser?"
You nodded. "I wasn't going down without a fight."
He had to reassess you. Here you sat covered in blood, bruises and broken bones, and you had planned to blow your enemy's ship to hell as a contingency plan. Just who were you under the title of senator's daughter?
"Oh, we definitely have to go back!"
Hunter rolled his eyes at Wrecker. "We're not going back."
"We have an opportunity to eliminate an entire Separatist cruiser," Crosshair pointed out, coming around to the idea with a slow smile. "I say we try."
"Why? So we can get ourselves killed? I don't think so." Hunter motioned for you to hold out your arm and began cauterising your weeping gashes. You winced some more but didn't flinch under his practised touch. He'd done this too many times in the past.
"Well, I could remotely activate it if it were the right model, of course."
They all looked up at Tech sitting comfortably in the pilot's chair. He swivelled and crossed his arms, waiting. Hunter's mouth fell open.
You jumped on his offer immediately. "It's short range, but you should be able to if you know how. I have the activation code memorised."
Crosshair chuckled. "Of course you do. I think she's onto something, Hunter."
"Of course I know how," Tech interjected and stopped Hunter from protesting again. "Their fighters will follow us out of orbit any second. We can cut off the head of the snake, as it were: stop both imminent and inevitable threats to us and the Republic from Pluven."
Hunter didn't want to take the risk, he really didn't want to. Short range demanded they remain within the atmosphere until the bomb activated, which meant putting up a fight in the sky. On top of that, they didn't even know the calibre of this so-called bomb. Would it destroy the engine? The entire ship? A single dashboard on the bridge? He didn't like all the unknowns, not up in the air. He wished he were on the ground, scrapping in the mud and stalking across the terrain. He knew that so much better.
But Tech knew this sort of thing inside out. And he trusted Tech with his life. Pluven was clearly a psychopath prone to cruelty in excess, something he would continue to rain down upon Venarah and the Republic.
Plus, if his brother was going to activate that bomb, he would need a capable pilot in the meantime.
"Alright," Hunter finally conceded. He looked at you. "Tech can do it. If you think this is worth our lives, then I'm going to trust you."
Your eyes met his. Despite the urgency of the moment, he had to admire them, bright with the flame of resolve against the ruin Pluven had made of your face. "It's worth my life too," you told him solemnly, entirely aware of what you asked of them. "Pluven has to be stopped."
Hunter couldn't agree more. "Tech, get that bomb activated. Crosshair, you're on guns. Wrecker, patch up our guest." He stood while his brothers moved into position. You gave him a small smile and nodded gratefully.
It was lucky he made his decision when he did. Droid fighters began to pour from Pluven's cruiser and chase them as Hunter swung the Marauder back around. They needed to stay within range of the ship while battling the cruiser's guns and fighters, so skirting their enemy and relying on the Marauder 's speed was their best bet. "How long do you need?" he called back to Tech.
"Three minutes will be enough!"
Three minutes of outmanoeuvring a cruiser and squadrons of fighters. His timing would have to be perfect.
So be it.
"Hold on!" Hunter shoved the throttle. There was a half-second delay, then the Marauder shot through the air at breakneck speed, launching through the much smaller fighters and shattering their formation. Crosshair took advantage of the chaos and shot down the whole of the first squadron in one run, smirking at Hunter from the guns. He couldn't help but grin back at his sharpshooting brother. "One more time, Cross!"
"After you, Sarge," Crosshair chuckled into the comm.
They managed a second run through the enemy fighters, leaving Tech another two minutes before the signal could be sent. They wouldn't be able to do the tactic a third time. Hunter readied the Marauder to carve its way back into the cruiser's blindspot for another counterattack.
Then, "We're being hailed."
His attention snapped to Crosshair at the other end of the ship, then back to the fighters ahead of them. They had stopped mid-assault and now watched the Marauder. "Pluven?"
Crosshair hummed. He's going to try and bribe us into giving the senator's daughter up. Hunter’s mouth twitched. He was going to enjoy watching the cruiser meet its demise.
He flicked on the holo comm. Pluven turned out to be a tall Mikkian, his lithe arms crossed and the tendrils on his head floating weightlessly behind him. He didn't look bored, annoyed or even gleeful as Hunter had expected from a torturer. His expression was hard, like looking at a stoneface. "Gentlemen," he greeted in a cold, accented voice. "You have taken my prisoner from me. I will see her returned."
"I don't think so," Hunter growled back. His gaze darted between the holo and the fighters.
"I was not asking." Pluven was a terror to behold. Not only did he exude superiority in how he held himself and spoke so evenly, but Hunter could feel the razor edge of his eyes even through the holo. Every single one of his instincts screamed because of it. He had to steady his glare at the holo when his fingers twitched anxiously. He had no doubt now that Pluven was the one who had tortured you within an inch of your life.
"You are attempting to harbour a political insurgent. I intend to deliver her to justice for the sake of my homeworld, but your Republic," Pluven spat the word caustically, "hypocritically keeps me from doing my duty."
"Mikkians are a part of the Republic," Tech murmured from behind Hunter, having come up, his datapad clicking ominously. "Venarah is your ally. Your actions are illogical, not to mention rash. All you’ve done is earn the Senate’s ire."
"Not illogical, just personal."
Wrecker helped you limp to Tech's side so you could face Pluven. The adrenaline was wearing off and you leaned heavily on Wrecker, but your hatred for the Mikkian was palpable nonetheless. "There was a coup on Mikkia a few months ago," you explained. "Pluven and his leaders overthrew those loyal to the Republic and installed their own Separatist government. He's murdered many who have attempted to aid the loyalists, my people and his own alike." To Pluven, you said, "Mikkia will be free, with Venarah's help! Tenna's hound won't stop us!"
Pluven's composure cracked, just a hair, as his mouth twitched. There was obviously a lot of personal history between the two of you, and he didn't like the title you used for him.
Pluven glanced away. "Commander, on my mark, obliterate that ship." Looking back, he said in a quiet voice, "Our feud ends here. Venarah shall watch you burn. Your rebellion will die with you."
The clicking of Tech's datapad suddenly stopped.
You grinned, wide and toothy as your consciousness began to fade. "Not today, Pluven. Today you burn in hell."
There was a sonic boom. With a stricken look, Pluven's holo evaporated just as the aftershock rocked the Marauder back from the fighters and cruiser. Hunter grabbed the controls and held on, zipping out of range. Once it levelled out of the atmosphere, he caught a glimpse of the explosion.
And it was horrific.
The noise he had heard was the crack of the ship snapping like a twig at the origin of the explosion, the bridge of the cruiser. There was silence for a long moment, then a series of rapid explosions wracked the cruiser's length and shook the Marauder again.
You had passed out against a slack-jawed Wrecker. "Get us out of range, now!" Tech shouted at Hunter, also unable to look away from the destruction. Hunter didn't have to ask why when a vacuum appeared at the bridge of the cruiser, imploding the enormous vessel and all the fighters in range. The Marauder began to feel the effects of the massive vacuum just as he shot into space.
"A thermobaric bomb," Tech whispered, his voice equal parts fear and awe. Hunter glanced back at you, still covered in your blood and the wounds Pluven had inflicted upon you, and he had to wonder what else you were capable of. Pluven had called you an insurgent. So you weren't just a senator's daughter, but a fighter. And a vicious one.
Something in Hunter thrummed. He tore his eyes from you with more effort than he wanted before priming the hyperdrive and disappearing from Venarah, leaving the corpse of Pluven's cruiser behind.
Crosshair had been right; so much for stealth.