7. Within the Call of Duty

All of us were sleeping in the field. The building with the turrets that we occupied yesterday was a kilometer behind us. Errim was somewhere on the horizon, clearing our perimeter and picking off anybody she could. Apparently she claimed a dozen lives yesterday alone, and the bolts I see flying through the air were probably claiming more. Each time I spotted her shooting location, after a few more were fired, she reappeared far from her original location. Eventually, she was even firing at her old positions and picking off those that were searching for her. We were completely safe with her in the distance.

The jedi that seemed to meditate more than she slept spoke up from her trance, "I sense a great darkness."

I reassured her, "Surely you're mistaken, every fury class interceptor has been grounded for a long time. Errim didn't call anything in either."

Just as I finished, Errim called in and proved me wrong, "Someone is tracking me, and the troops around you are moving oddly."

I responded, "Shake them, forget us and dont take anymore shots."

She pinged an affirmative, probably already far from where she once was.

"She is being hunted by a sith, I can feel it."

I ignores that forboding fact and focused on our surroundings. Everybody was up already, their fatigue was shook off at the thought of what we may face. Palentia was the best person to guide us at this stage. She was looking around, trying to spot our enemy, I tried as well, but even my enhanced vision had not caught their tails.

"It does not feel right, I do not think we are in for a fair fight." She said, doing nothing to ease our anxiety.

Her expression suddenly turned to shock, and my senses barely picked up on movement right behind me.

Palentia screamed, "Behind you!" and I was already moving.

My armour kicked on in a heart beat, the holo armour on my forearm protected my head as a red lightsaber stabbed it. The holo projection worked perfectly, deflecting the lightsaber as if it was the weapon itself. The blue robed sith, with a terrifying mask covering his face paused for just a second before attacking again. My forearm met his blade again and I pointed my cannon at his head with my remaining hand. He jumped back, narrowly avoiding the two bolts that would have killed him.

I heard three distinct blades ignite behind me, and Palentia engaged with a second unseen assailent. The one in front of me took a pose and just sprinted forward. They did not give me enough time to aim, but I shot the ground infront of me. They dodged left, trying to stab me in the side. I dropped my cannon and used my arm to shift it to the side. With my free hand, I clocked him in the head. It was a swift and hard punch, and they seemed to feel it. They brought their weapon back to strike in a slash.

Desro jumped in the fight, he forced the sith to retreat with a flurry of slashes. His vibroblades were capable of reflecting the lightsaber, but the weapons would lose the ability to do that quick. The other sith was dueling Palentia, it was an even fight and the cover fire from Pawn was not enough to tip the scales. I added my own, picking up my cannon and firing to restrict his movements.

It was enogh to aggitate him, he screamed at Palentia. The force erupted from his body and he raised his hand at me. Lightning covered my body, but I suprised him with an explosive round. I was completely unharmed, and he had to raise a barrier to stop the explosion. A bubble, crackling with electricity erected around him. My bolts fired against it but they only reflected against the bubble of force. Palentia was back up, throughing her lightsaber against the barrier of the sith, it absorbed the impact with a shudder. The siths hands were covered in lightning, and he let them smash the ground.

The force pushed all of us back and I lost sight of Pawn. I felt something clasp around my throat and my airways closed. Nobody was touching me, but one of them was choking me with the force. Force tried to lift me up, but I seemed too heavy for them without focus. I just grabbed my weapon and pointed it at the sith Desro was dueling with. It was also an even battle, so he needdd some help. My throat was still closed, but I had air remaining.

With my supressive fire, Desro had enough time to breathe. He retreated, coming to my side and blocking a lightsaber I did not notice was aimed at my side. Ignoring the farthest sith, I punched at the one who failed to kill me. He grabbed my wrist, but a grenade was already in my hands. I grabbed his other wrist and twisted as the grenade ticked down to ignition.

My armour took all the impact and we both got pushed back to the ground. Desro took the opportunity, slashing down the sith with two fatal slashes. His hands were shaking, and he looked to be shivering, like he had just overcome a terrible fear. The other sith remained, and they were leaping towards the air to impale me through the chest.

Desro had the dead one's lightsaber in his hands before I noticed. He pushed with his hand and the sith went flying back. Desro jumped next, the force carried him through the air and he slashed down against the guard of the sith. The dance with him continued and the sith gradually got pushed back. My friend's hands no longer shook, his eyes were no longer unfocused, and his blows were heavier.

Palentia joined them and the duel hurriedly turned into a dance of red and blue. Pawn showed herself, checking on my health. I gave her an okay, I was completely unhurt by the explosion, only shook by the force of it. The two did not need help, so we both just got our breath back and waited. The duel of fates was a joy for my cybernetics to take in. With my processing power, recording and analysing the fight was a breeze. The show ended eventually though, and the sith died with a lightsaber through the gut.

Desro dropped the lightsaber he used to impale the sith. He looked free, a hidden weight off his shoulder as he reveled in the victory. I pinged Errim, telling her we were okay. No ping came back.

-Later

Commander was working with us to locate Errim. After an hour of waiting for just a ping, nothing came back. It was anxiety inducing, she was the best at her job, but that kind of evaluation never lived up to force standards. I refused to lose another friend, so after resting for just one hour, we set out again.

Palentia led the way for us, she was the best chance we had at following a sith. Camp after camp, Errim was very adept at creating was seemed to be natural camoflauge. Lean toos that she could fit her entire body in, and branches put together to look exactly like bushes. Her footsteps never even registered in the ground, and we could only follow whatever trail Palentia latched onto. Soon the camps became smaller and smaller, and eventually they were just flattened areas with branches piled up half hazardly. The next camp looked desimated. Lightsaber scorch marks marked the area like someone was in utter rage with nature.

"This is a more welcome sign than it seems." Palentia explained.

Desro wasn't a believer though, "How? The sith is getting so much closer so her."

Palentia was calm and quick to elaborate, "At a very constant rate. The camps did not go from everything she needs, to absolutely nothing. Instead, they are gradually getting smaller and smaller, like she is controlling how close the sith is. She even continued to fire multiple times before leaving, the empty cells prove that." Desro just seemed relieved by that evidence.

Pawn was impressed with another matter though, "I am shocked she is capable of knowing their location, they have many tricks to hide themselves in plain sight."

We continued following the sith trail. Soon it became visible to the human eye. The deep footprints of the sith were covering the forest ground. They were sprinting at this stage of the chase, not giving Errim enough time to set up any camps at all. Her footprints started to appear too, she was no longer hiding them and prioritizing speed. It was impossible to tell how close they were to each other. The chase continued for miles.

Nature became more destroyed the longer we went on, trees were cleaved in half and bushes were trampled. Carbon scoring from very large bolts marked some trees, clearly from her sniper. We picked up the pace, but Palentia wasn't finding the trail much easier to follow as time went on.

Eventually the trail just led to an open field. The foliage around it was pushed aside from a large force, and large spots of the grass was flattened. Clearly, a ship had touched down here. The tracks stopped in the middle of the field.

We cursed at our lateness, she was gone. The only hope for us was the heart rate monitor installed on her armour. She was still alive.

"Do not despair yet, your emotions will only cloud your judgement." Palentia reminded us.

She continued to look around, searching for anything that gave us information. The jedi only found a single thing within the open field. It was just a small box of metal with a blinking light on it. It blinked slowly. A tracking forbe, discarded on the ground.

"What does it mean?" Desro asked.

"It means there is hope." I answered.

-Later

We were back at base. The commander had already called us in, despite just arriving. Each of us just answered the call without bothering our gear. We arrived and immediately began talks.

The commander began, "We were watching the entire days events through your body armour. We had sent for help the moment we noticed the tracking forbe Errim had of herself. A bounty hunter is on their way to assist with finding her."

Desro seemed more relived, but still had a cold sweat, "Is she okay?"

The commander nodded, relieving all of our worries, "From what her body armour shows, she is completely unharmed. The chase was largely one sided, but she backed up into an ambush and was captured. It was imperials, ones serving the sith lord here. The body cam was quickly destroyed."

We all let out sighs, but our anxiety remained, she was still in great danger.

"Ransoms?" Palentia asked.

"None yet, like it never even happened." The commander responded.

It was unlike the empire to not offer ransom, but the sith were an exception. I kept my tounge to myself, but I doubt Errim would come out unscathed. I only hope she remains strong.

A transmission came in through the commander's desk, "Sir, the bounty hunter has arrived."

"Just in time." She commented.

The door behind us swooshed open to the side. A man in orange armour stepped forward. The helmet he wore was iconic, it was mandalorian. The culture of battle and weapons bred the galaxies best warriors, and they were notorious across the systems. Mando had blasters strapped to his hip, and a jetpack across his back. He looked as arrogant as he was skilled, ignoring us as he stepped forward.

"My price is high." he said, the helmet added a tinge of mechanical tone to his voice.

The commader just nodded, expecting this, "And you will be rewarded by the republic, of course. These four will assist you, you only need to do the tracking."

The bounty hunter crossed his arms, "Thats not how this works, you give me a job and I see it through alone. No help, and no half assing it."

"If you want to join them in the home of a sith, by all means, but I cannot pay a dead body." The commander retorted.

The mandalorian immediately uncrossed his arms, "I want double, and we do it in my ship, not any of yours."

The commander sighed, nodding her head reluctantly. She just waved the tracking forbe into his hand, it was beeping far slower than before. He palmed it, holding it up and inspecting it.

"Dead or alive?" he asked.

Desro spoke up, "Alive, and not a scratch on her. If you hurt her im going to kick that bucket head of yours."

"Woah woah, I thought you were coming with me."

Offended, the togrutan spoke up, "Sir, why do we even need this asshat? We can find Errim on our own."

Palentia shook her head, "We wont be able to find them fast enough, we need a specialist like this."

Happy from the praise, "You know it, sith shmith, nobody can hide from a mandolorian with a tracking forbe. Ill get you that location in no time."

-Later

My body felt exhausted from the days events. Being choked by the force was not a fun thing to experience. The entire time the sith willed it, my throat was forced shut. Without air, nothing can function, and if I was any lighter, I would be floating in the air while I died. I needed to fix this, so I was working on the cybernetics to do so.

Unfortunately, there was not a metal capable of breathing for me, so I would have to rely on good engineering. The thought of modifying my lungs would be entertaining, but improvjng the quantity of air that can fit in them would only allow the sith to choke me for longer. The only completely safe option would be to make another way to breathe. Since they liked blocking air ways, I just need to add another one.

Im not a fan for adding an extra hole to my body though. It would have to be far more complex. If I grafted material onto my skin that allowed for the passage of oxygen, I could collect it underneath and create a sort of lung around my entire body. Then, attaching the oxygen to my bloodcells would be easily achieved. I might not even need to breathe anymore, just absorb the oxygen around me. Easier said than done, all I could finish by the end of the day was finding the right materials.

-Later

We walked out of the base, geared up for the day. The ship of the bounty hunter rested on the cliff edge outside of town, refusing to let the base give a landing pad. It was a D-5 Mantis, a commonly used bounty hunter ship with plenty of cargospace and fire power. It lacked any sense of comfort in its metal walling and lack of cushion. Regardless, the vessel was perfect for a bounty hunter to use, or steal.

The mandalorian was waiting outside, toying with the parts outside his ship with a multitool. The vessel was certainly well used, and the parts he fixed looked worn with damage.

"Im not sure about getting on that thing, we all have top class fighters we could be using instead. And they have chairs, at least." I commented to the bounty hunter, who took the only seat in the ship, the pilots seat.

He wasn't disturbed, "Well, not much to do about that huh? I dont really have faith in you getting there, it was annoying enough to find."

"So you found her then? Where is she?" Desro asked.

"Oh you know, a ship you aren't paying me enough to be on." he responded.

I gave him my suggestion, "Take us there and just wait then, you dont need to do any fighting."

He shook his head, "Nope, im coming so I can argue for more pay, and I know the layout of the ship. The prisoner bay is real close, so it would be safer to just follow along."

Pawn talked to him for the first time, "Dont take us there, take us to the med bay."

For the first time, the mandalorian looked suprised, "That, I will not do, its on the other side of the ship, you'll be fucked before you get there."

I repeated what I said, "Just get us on that ship."

"Alright buddy, your funeral."

The mandalorian went further into his ship, closing doors behind him. Soon, the ship start up and rose from the ground.

I asked Pawn, "Why the med bay?"

The answer was dreadful, "I think, they would rather use her for experiments."