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Jesse lay on the ridge with his binocs out, scanning for any sight of the Seppie Commander Torrent Company were currently in pursuit of. They’d gone into hiding as soon as the battle turned against them, and had been annoyingly elusive ever since. But he was too important to let slip away, and held information valuable to the Republic.
Beside him, Echo pointed towards a valley where the trees thickened. “Looks like that’s where our guy went.”
“How can you tell?” Jesse brought up his binocs to scan the area. Echo elbowed him.
“Probably by the smoking speeder abandoned there.”
Jesse chuckled when the speeder came into view. “Oh yeah. That’ll do it.” He pushed himself up, holding out a hand to pull Echo up. Together, they walked back down the ridge to where the rest of Torrent Company waited. Rex spotted them and greeted them as they approached.
“Where are we headed, boys?”
Echo nodded back towards the ridge. “Looks like they fled into the valley. Lots of dense forest to hide in down there. And they’re on foot.”
Rex nodded and turned back to the rest of the Company. “Alright boys, lets move out!”
Jesse found himself next to Kix as they marched down into the valley. They didn’t say much, focused on the mission, but appreciated the company. They had each others’ backs.
When they reached the smoking speeder, Hardcase, Fives and Echo checked it out, finding little of use. The speeder was karked from a miracle shot, and even if it wasn’t, there was no way it was making it through the dense foliage they were about to enter.
Rex ordered them to stick close and stay alert as they entered. They stayed in a loose formation, a trooper occasionally getting caught on a grasping vine or low tree branch. At one point, Kix had to catch Jesse by the arm when his foot got caught on a root. He chuckled a sheepish thanks, Kix letting out a huff, shaking his head as they continued on.
After about ten minutes, Rex paused, holding up a hand for them to stop. Fives was on alert, searching the left of their path, Rex following his gaze while Echo covered the right. Jesse tilted his head to listen for anything when he heard a faint rustling to his left. Tightening his grip on his blaster, he carefully scanned the area, past Kix who was doing the same.
A visible rustle and a flash of movement had Jesse pulling Kix out of the way as a blaster bolt fired out of the bush. He ignored the flash of pain in his back, and instead focused on firing back. His armour would have absorbed most of it, he was fine. In an instant, Torrent Company was on alert, blasters raised, as droids began emerging from the foliage.
There weren’t many, clearly only meant as a distraction while the Commander got away, but they had them surrounded. Troopers were forced to move around each other as they fired back. Jesse winced when a sharp turn to face more droids flanking him pulled on the wound on his back. The rapid flashes of Hardcase’s rotary cannon lit up one side of the battle, clearing out those droids and rapidly reducing how much they had the men flanked.
The battle was over in a minute. They took a moment to catch their breath before Rex was leading them along again. Jesse glanced over when Kix nudged him as they walked.
“You alright, vod?”
Jesse huffed. “I’m fine, don’t worry about it”
Kix gave an unconvinced hum, but let it go, keeping a close eye on him. Jesse tried his best to ignore how the wound pulled with every other step he took. It was fine, just in a bad spot. He was glad he had his helmet on, hiding every pained wince and grimace.
However, he couldn’t hold back a grunt of pain when his foot landed in a small hole. The sudden drop made him stagger, twisting his ankle. The wound in his back pulled when Kix caught his arm to haul him back to his feet.
“Watch your step, Jesse.” Kix sounded concerned.
Jesse tried to keep his tone light, if slightly breathless. “Thanks, Kix.” He wracked his brain for a quip, but the pain in his ankle now throbbing along with that in his back had him distracted. And maybe he was a little lightheaded. Not that Kix needed to worry about it yet, they had a Seppie to catch. And he’d had worse.
Kix stuck close to his side as they caught up with the rest of the Company. They fell back in with the others right as a wave of dizziness washed over Jesse. Kix caught him again, a hand on his arm to keep him steady. “Woah, alright. You’re not okay. Rex!”
Jesse groaned as their brothers stopped, Rex making his way over to them. “Kix, it’s fine.”
“Let me be the judge of that, Jess.” Kix said as he guided him to sit against a tree. Jesse wouldn’t admit how nice sitting was just then.
“What’s the problem?” Rex asked, crouching next to Kix. His gaze was focused on Jesse and he could imagine how worried the Captain looked in that moment.
Kix shook his head with a sigh. “Not sure yet, but he was clearly hit during that scuffle. He’s been off ever since. Just got to find where he’s hiding it.”
Jesse huffed. He wasn’t hiding it, he just hadn’t brought it up or showed him. There was a difference.
Rex nodded. “Alright, I’ll send the Dominos to scout ahead while you figure this out. Hear that, Jesse? Cooperate and we can get out of here.”
Jesse gave a lazy, two-fingered salute, grinning when Rex just shook his head and patted his knee before rising to give orders to the others.
Kix slung off his medical bag, bringing Jesse’s full attention back to him. With a sigh, he pulled off his bucket, might as well get comfortable.
“Where are you hit, vod?”
Jesse shifted a little, stifling a wince. “Got my back, armour absorbed most of it though.”
“I’ll be the judge of that. Hardcase!”
Kix motioned the trooper over. Jesse offered him a pained smile as he took in the situation, no need to worry the vod. He wanted to argue when Kix had Hardcase carefully help him lean forward to Kix could reach his back, but he couldn’t help leaning into it when the lightheadedness returned with a vengeance.
A quiet groan escaped him when he was leaned back against the tree again. His back was throbbing after all the movement. He listened distantly as Kix instructed Hardcase to help move him away from the tree, giving him full access to Jesse’s back. Jesse was with it enough to help, making the process much easier, though he would argue he was fully with it. He could work through a little tiredness and pain.
Settled against Hardcase, the vod the stillest Jesse had ever known him to be, he felt Kix pull off his backplate. He groaned when he began prodding at the wound, tipping his head down to rest on Hardcase’s shoulder.
“Jesse, how long has this been bleeding?” He heard Kix ask.
He furrowed his brow against the pauldron it was rested on. “Blaster wounds don’t bleed.”
Kix sighed as he worked. “They do when you move too much and break the layer of cauterisation.”
Jesse hissed when Kix put pressure on the wound. Kix adjusted Hardcase’s hold on Jesse so he could take over keeping pressure while he rummaged through the medic bag. Jesse felt himself sag against the body holding him up, vision greying if he’d still had his eyes open to notice. A hand shook his shoulder.
“Stay awake, Jess.” Jesse grumbled, but peeled his eyes open, turning his head to stare into the trees, just to give himself something to look at. He felt the pinch of a hypo in his neck, followed shortly by the cool sensation of bacta on his back. He sighed at the feeling, earning a chuckle from Hardcase. Before long, he was manoeuvred back against the tree again, blinking at Kix in front of him.
“How do you feel?” Kix asked.
“Bit sore.” He smiled at Kix’s snort.
“So, now you tell me.”
They both looked up at Rex’s approach, Jesse giving him a pained smile. “We heading off again, sir?”
“Respectfully, Jesse, you look like osik.” Jesse pouted as Rex turned to talk to Kix. “Is he alright to move? We got eyes on the target not far from here.”
Kix sighed and glanced over at Jesse. “I can give him a stim if we need to, but I’d prefer he stay as still as possible until there isn’t the risk of him making himself bleed out.”
Rex nodded. Jesse fidgeted, trying not to wince when pain flared in his back because of it. He wanted to move, they were almost done here.
Rex finally spoke. “I’ll leave you here with him while the rest of us finish the mission.” Kix nodded and Rex addressed Jesse again, patting a hand on his knee. “You’ve done well today, Jesse. Just stay here and we’ll get you back to the ship and ready for the next one.”
Jesse gave a begrudging “Yes, sir.” Rex patted his knee again and rose to his feet. The pair watched as the rest of the Company continued their journey deeper into the trees.
“Alright, future ARC trooper, let me have a look at that ankle.” Kix said, already beginning to tug Jesse’s boot off.
“Shut up.” Jesse grumbled, letting his vod fret.