Reconciliation

They had never really warmed up to one another, though she couldn't claim to know that Leto warmed up to anyone at all. Still, they worked well enough together, at least on a functional level, and Katja had soon become unbothered by his antagonising remarks. He was not exactly her favourite in the squad but he was part of it and an ally nonetheless. It didn't mean she was any more enthusiastic about being paired with him again. They had their differences but at least they could unite over the same cause - or at least that was what she thought.

Once the pair split off from the group, it was unusually silent, uneasy, as they made the treacherous trek up the rocky mountain to the abandoned Imperial facility. At one point, Katja held a hand upwards towards her companion who was slightly further ahead and standing on more even ground, but it was ignored, as she should've expected. With a sigh, she continued upwards, trailing slightly behind him until they reached their destination.

Upon entering the facility, investigating reports of am unexplained disturbance, she powered up the generator to access the database. "I don't see why anyone would come here. Surely nothing of value is left-" She started talking to no one in particular but in the brief moment of the screen switching to blank as it loaded, she caught a glimpse of her ally behind her in the reflection and immediately whipped around, ducking as she did.

"What the hell are you doing?!" She exclaimed, stumbling a few feet back to try and keep some distance. Adjusting the grip of the blades in his hands, he advanced towards her, slowly but purposefully. "You've become a threat." He replied, swinging the blades in her direction, one of which scraped across her chestplate as she scrambled backwards away from him. Reaching for the vibrostaff at her back, she continued to back away from him. "I'm not- I'd never betray the Empire. I was just questioning some of its methods." She replied, exasperated. "That's how it starts." He continued to accuse.

It was far from a fair fight with Leto's specialisation in melee combat. Though she had some expertise in melee combat, owed to necessity as a medic, it was not nearly as extensive as his. Defending against his strikes would only wear her down until she could no longer fight. She knew she needed to take radical action but she was reluctant to kill him. It was just that he was so difficult to reason with.

Her only advantage was her familiarity with his style of fighting, though that also worked in his favour too as the familiarity worked both ways. "Please! Listen to me." She urged. "I already have. I've heard enough." He responded, coldly. In a brief moment of error on his part, she took advantage and hit the staff against his chin to buy herself a few seconds as she sprinted out of the control room, towards one of the exits. Hurriedly, she climbed the ladder but felt a tight grip around her ankle, followed by a searing pain in the back of her lower leg, between where the plates of armour met, and a violent pull back to the ground.

With her blaster quickly drawn, she aimed it at him from her position on the floor, but her hesitation cost her and saw the weapon kicked from her hands. "I never wanted to hurt you." She told him, breathlessly, but his response was to reach down and pick her, pinning her to the wall by her neck. Knowing she had no weapons left within reach, both knew he had the upper hand.

"It was only a matter of time before you would have betrayed the Empire." He explained, but she was unable to get any words out and simply shook her head slightly. "But I'm not going to give you that opportunity." He brought the blade up to her neck and with no other option and no time left, she thrust a needle into the exposed part of his arm. The surprise caused him to drop her to the ground as he reached to pull the foreign object from him. "What was that?" He asked, insistently. It took Katja a few more moments to catch her breath before answering. "Concentrated... stims." She replied. "They'll kill you without an antidote." She warned him but it was unlikely that he would believe her. As much as he already recreationally used stimulants, she expected he would believe he was invincible but he would find out one way or another. "Unlikely."

"Put down the weapons and I'll reverse it." She gave him a final offer but as expected, it was not taken well. "You don't get to bargain." Angrily, he pulled her helmet off, revealing an exhausted and defeated expression underneath which remained unchanged even when the barrel of a blaster was pointed towards her head. She had always been prepared to die for the Empire, but not at the hands of her ally. "Don't let us die like this." She pleaded one last time. "If I die, it's for a worthy cause." He remained as stubborn as ever.

"For the Empire."

Her gaze remained on the emotionless visor but the shot to end her life hit the wall beside her head. The effects of the powerful substance were taking hold. The edges of his vision had blurred, accompanied by an increasingly painful pressure in his chest. His footing was evidently unsteady and he fell to his knees, the blaster clattering onto the ground beside him but in a final momentous effort to kill her, he lurched forwards with the blade in his other hand and pressed it into the side of her neck. She caught his wrist and struggled for control, trying to prevent more damage than had already been done. Though she could not see his eyes through the visor, she knew their gazes were meeting. Only a moment later and he fell backwards, overwhelmed by the stims.

It was a pivotal moment. There was still an opportunity to save his life and her own. Katja stared at her former ally as he struggled for his life, her expression shifting to one of panic as she tried to grapple with the reality of what had transpired and subsequently how she should respond. Her shaky hand reached up to her neck in shock to stem the flow of blood. If he survived, she would no doubt be investigated for treason but if he died then she would single-handedly be responsible for the death of her ally and squad mate. Even if he had started it, there were still measures she could take to prevent his death and it was likely he would get punished for his role also.

With trembling hands, she reached into her belt to produce a sedative to reverse the effects of the stims, administering it as quickly as she could before collapsing back against the wall. Ultimately, her indecision, although brief, proved fatal and within minutes he ceased to draw another breath, leaving the room in silence aside from her own ragged breathing as she stared at the consequences of her actions in shock.



OOC: thanks to lemon for letting me kill borrow his character