6. Mending Wounds

We had a week of down time, and not a moment of it was empty. I spent as much time with the team as possible, trying to comfort them. I was a soldier, so I had to remain strong, expecially with my experience in this type of loss. Furthermore, I was their lieutenant, I had to be strong for them specifically. It didnt stop me from crying into Pawn's chest when we were along though.

Onar's funeral was set on the fourth day. We had it offworld, on coruscant. Ive attended one before, when it was the funeral for all the victims of the sacking. That one in particular was huge, a global event that spared no expense in including as many cultures as they could. This one didnt spare expense either. They went all out, carrying moments of silence across the planet, putting his name on every record of war heros, and a statue in the republic academy.

I met his parents, they were a very nice group of humans who adopted him. They told me as much as they could about him. He grew up on rattataki, just as he said, fighting in the many arenas across the planet before escaping offworld as just a kid. He grew up on coruscant, and was saved by a republic soldier during the sacking, who died in the process. The man was so amazed that he enlisted on the spot. I only wish I could have heard it from his own mouth.

We turned it into a healing mission. Desro took us to the temple, which had been turned mostly to rubble. It was a huge and beautiful building, with a large central room that would put the best architechs to shame. They did not undergo contruction efforts to repair, they just let it as is and closed it off to anyone who was not previously a jedi or padawan. Even the ship that was reportedly full of sith was just gaining dust in the middle of it. Desro slowly moved room to room, soaking in all the memories. He was on the verge, I could tell, so we just waited and followed whenever he was ready. Eventually we got to a room that Desro seemed particularly emotional in. There was an closet in the wall, partially opened.

We just split off to explore on our own, leaving Desro to fight his demons. I found a room alone, just a very simple pedestal with many fancy seats around it. Out of all the rooms, this one seemed completely untouched, even though it was so close to the room Desro was in. I stepped up to the platform with the pedestal, taking out my hand from my pocket. My two kyber crystals, both purple and red were in my hand. I did not bring them with me, but it felt right. I put them on the pedestal, and they shone in a bright light. I was back outside Desro's room in a blur, like it was a dream.

I played back the footage from my eyes just to make sure. It really happened, but the events in between were a blur, even in the recording. I chalked it up being in a jedi temple, and figured to investigate what happened later. The lab my assault cannon and prototype were in havent reported anything about the missing key pieces yet, so it should be fine.

Desro was just sitting in the room, meditating. His eyes were still red, but he was no longer emotional, just calm, content.

-Later

For me, there was nothing but rubble and plaques of names for me to look at. It was amazing how many names can fit on a large piece of stone the size of me. There were as many names as there were square inches on the stone, and it was like a forest of them.

My real healing was done later, in the lab.

Since time allowed, I had sent schematics to the engineering lab for the military on coruscant. It was easy to do so with the help of the commander, and my schematics were quickly given the hush hush and express treatment. It was the sixth day of our break when the lab released the products.

On the fifth day, however, I was having cybernetics implanted. The schematics for the cyborgs that the sith were making were very advanced. The materials and money required was enormous, but for the captial planet of the republic, it was cheap. I couldnt improve them in any way, though there were parts where I had to fill in gaps. Theoretically, none of it was actually possible, wires and transmissions were missing and replaced with wavy lines that I could only assume meant the force. It wasnt hard to replace them with physical parts, since technology can largely do the same things anyway.

I was emerged in a kolto bath for 24 hours of continuous work, and only emerged after another 12 of rest. I did not have any fancy force abilities, or instant regeneration, but I felt like a super soldier compared to my past self. Thinking faster, running faster, I crushed the testing they put me through with new records across the field. Even if they had enhanced their body with the force, I was confident I could outwrestle a sith.

My body looked the same, but was far different than before. My armour and cannon, however, looked very different. The armour was a completely different spec and model. It was entirely covered in plating, with only seams of the black bodysuit underneath. Each plate was roughly the same thickness, regardless of what part it covered. It was entirely grey with slightly lighter toned accents, and the belts across the chest and waist for ammo were dark brown. The shoulders, head, and arms had holo projectors on them, small black circles with a blue dot in the center. When I wanted, the armour would activate them and produced a second layer of holoshield armour that could deflect lightsabers with ease. It was all supported by the kyber crystal embedded in the back.

My cannon had a makeover as well. The barrel was split into three, two for blaster bolt, and the third for explosive rounds. With my enhanced cybernetics from both the force lightning and the upgrades, it was just as light to me as it was before the changes. It wouldn't mean im doing twice the damage, but it would be far harder to reflect the bolts back, especially if they are not great at it. Furthermore, they still hit harder than the standard gear and didnt suffer from overheating.

In all, it probably cost the army a billion credits, but that was not a concern for me. If anything, it is just an investment for them.

-Later

On the last day of our rest, we were called to the commanders office. Once again, I was the last one there, even though I arrived right on time. The jedi was here too, looking at us with a newfound respect. Her armour and visor were still on, but I could tell they were quite damaged. With no faces I didnt recognise in the room, I had a feeling.

The jedi, surpisingly, was the first to speak up, "Lieutenant, im glad to see the cybernetics are working well, your armour as well."

I just nodded, not caring for her awareness on the power supply for the set, "Thanks."

The commander mediated, "I understand the tension between you two, but you need to amend it. This could become the perfect strike team to fight against the sith, for all of the republic" she said, quite firmly.

I agreed, of course, "Yes sir, ill forget what she said about my friend." unintentionally using some sass. Neither of them seemed to mind, thankfully.

The commander started her brief, "Unfortunately, that site was not the only one producing those cyborgs, we have seen many of our fronts pushed back by small forces that we believe had them leading. That, and the sith are being more confrontive."

"How bad is it?" I asked.

"Bad enough that we need you to shut it down as much as possible, specifically the fronts with both sith and cyborg." she responded.

Palentia spoke up, "With both of us working together, we would be able to handle them both easily."

I agreed, I heard she gave the sith she fought against a one sided thrashing. Apparently a jedi knight was of equal standing to a sith lord, it would be great insurance to have her around.

"What about the sith lord?" Errim asked, completely focused.

Palentia answered her question, "We judt have to wait for him to come out of hiding, he is a very schemeing and cautious sith. Apparently something happened to him previously and it left him scarred. Once he find him, it should be easy to defeat him, we just have to be careful.

As much of a brief as it was an introduction, everything else was pushed to later in a report and the commander sent us off to get along with our new companion.

We chose a restaurant first, to treat ourselves to a big meal. The jedi was the first to break the silence, "I apologize for saying what I said the first time we met, it was very rude of me."

"You're damn right." Errim said, focusing on the jedi.

"I will make it up to you all, I promise, starting with paying the bill." she responded.

Desro retorted, "How generous."

Sighing, I took the initative in amending the relationship we had with the jedi, "I forgive you, at least. You had no way of knowing this would happen."

She seemed actually touched, "Thank you."

Pawn took part too, "Where are you from?"

As the jedi poked at her fish and chips, "Well I was trained in the jedi academy, the old one."

Pawn clarified, "I meant your birthworld."

"Right, um, I believe it was coruscant, I do not remember being on a ship that early atleast."

Desro also clarified, "Trainees at the temple were brought in very young, its only recently that they have begun training on planet, then finishing at the temple."

It was silent for another minute, but the Palentia loved conversation, "Desro, i'm sure that enough time has passed that you could convince the council to continue your training."

He just shook his head, "No thanks, i'm still attached. And i'm fine as is even if I wasnt."

She seemed a little dissapointed, fixing her robes and poking less at her fish. Her visor had yet to come off, so I made an assumption, "You see through the force right? What is that like?" I asked.

"I see more, but less at the same time, no colours, but I cant gaze through things at others."

That was a scary ability, for sure, but a very useful one. The dinner conversation largely ended there and we just continued at the bar. The jedi may not have touched the alcohol, but she played games none the less. It definitely helped lower the tension between us. Quickly the day passed and it was midnight, so we all went our seperate ways.

-Later

I was finalizing the mission details with the commander. She and I had been studying the reports from across the planet to try and determine the sith's goal. So far, it would be easier to just ask him directly. It angered both of us to no end though. A bunch of very skilled cyborgs that are worth dozens of soldiers, yet no pattern to their chaos or goals. Not a single precious resource taken or message spread, just random violence. The only reasonable explaination, is that he just wants to have fun, and knowing sith, it was a very likely explaination.

The most we could do is kill as many sith as possible and eliminate the cyborgs while doing so. The lack of meaning to the mission was aggrivating too, just mindless killing of enemy soldiers for no goal. At the very least, we would save lives.

-Later

Our shuttle touched down in the field once again. The ride was mostly quiet with our moet talkative member meditating peacefully, thankfully, her calm demeanor reassured everyone else. With a jedi, who had the confidence to meditate on the way, clearly we were in good hands. The matter of command was discussed as well, but we decided to split the authority since we both respect each others contributions to the battle field. Though, if she tried talking peacefully with a sith, im taking over.

The explosions sounding in the distance outside were more of an indicator that talking wouldnt happen. The ramp lowered and the camp of soldiers were checking us out as we walked down. It was safe to say we attracted a lot of attention, considering we were equivalent to the sepcial forces of the army on the planet. The front lines were just ahead, and it would be our first appearance on the open field.

The captain stationed in the camp came to greet us. He was certainly just as hardened as the commander was. The professionality he showed in quickly showing us around and then heading as fast as possible back to his tent was fit for his position. With the formality done, we just had to contribute up to the expectations on us. Since this type of location was exactly what I trained for, and was supposed to go to, all of us settled in quickly.

After just a moment to set down bedding and personal lockers, we head out to see the exact situation. Errim set out alone, towards the good cover for her to shoot from, she would shine in this type of battleground. Pawn was less comfortable in it, having to put on more protective gearing to assure us she whouldnt get shot in the back. The chiss infiltraitor went with a blaster pistol, fitting her light armouring. Desro was outfitted the same, and Palentia, well, brought her lightsaber.

The war on this front was shockingly equal. The sepratists could only use stolen tanks and walkers to fight back against our own, but their will to fight and determination to use anything against us kept the fights running. Now with a bunch of sith made cyborgs and sith themselves joining the fights, it was more than equal.

Getting the cyborgs and the remaining sith to show themselves would require some work. We were tasked with getting rid of them, but first we needed to give them a reason to try and stop us. It would be tougher as time went on, since we only know of 3 remaining.

We positioned ourselves on the most active front. The many craters and trenches dug into the ground were our cover as we moved and eliminated many patrols of sepratists. Our target was a turret encampment, it was the furthest outpost on the sepratist line. It held back many tanks and infrantry from advancing because of its immense cover fire. The closer we got, the less we were in danger. Each turret was spread thin, and the set up was only good at a long distance.

By the time we got closer enough to fire, the outpost was basically ours. My explosive round bust open a hole in the wall, destroying a turret and the men around it in the process. Palentia was the first inside, her twin blades igniting and dying the area blue. My armour activated and I was the second inside, the purple holo armour surrounding my grey armour. We covered and cleared the room as Desro and Pawn came in.

Each turret had a room, so I continued to tear down the walls that seperated them. The building only seemed to notice after they lost half their fire power. An alarm quickly blared and we came under suppressive fire. It was easy to pick them off as we retreated from cover to cover. We were professionals, skilled ones that were sent to kill sith, untrained sepratists were nothing. Palentia contributed exponentially, sepratists were thrown to the wall, their bolts were thrown back at them, and when we peeked out of cover to rain bolts on them, we were protected.

In a comfortable position, we sat under the suppression of the sepratists, waiting for reinforcement. With half the turrets gone, they could not block tanks coming in from one direction. With that kind of support, we could easily tear down the rest of the remaining ones and push our line to here. Our position was very favourable, and it would not be difficult to hold until they arrived.

After just ten minutes of fighting, the tanks arrived. Immediately, it turned into a somewhat onesided battle. With a large percentage of their numbers gone and a lack of tanks and walkers stored at the site, the place was under republic control in half an hour.

For today it was enough, and we just had to keep it up tomorrow. The nerves and adrenaline kicked the rest of the mournful spirits out of our hearts. As we woke up the next day, our wounds were mended.