Private A First Test

[Valery Noble]

New Cov

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Ship: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber | Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Gatz Derrevar

Valery sighed, "It... has its rougher edges." Like the jungles trying to kill anything that moved, the extreme heat (to some people), and now the biomolecules, and well, there was a lot to hate about it. But it was still home, and being at the Temple still made her feel like she was. Right now, that mattered nothing though, especially when they discovered the body. Valery had been in too many disturbing situations or battles to feel sick over it, but there was a deep frown that settled on her face when she saw it. This man was someone's son, perhaps a husband or father, or just a good friend to someone.

Now he'd never make it back home again, and for what? What could be so important that research could lead to this happening to anybody? It infuriated her to think that someone had deemed this a safe operation.

"Alright, opening it on three," Valery then said after a moment, when they had moved passed the body and were looking at a door that was being knocked on. She drew in a short breath, reached out with her hand, and looked at Gatz, "One... two... three!" she tapped against the metal to make it crumble like the other door, and immediately drew the hilt of her lightsaber into her hand to meet whatever was waiting inside.

...only for them to find a woman, dressed in a lab coat just like the man outside.

"Oh thank goodness! Jedi!" she called out while she looked between both of them. "P-please, you have to get me out of here. People are dying!"

Valery perked a brow and looked at Gatz, "We'll get you out, but we're not quite done here yet."

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Blaster Pistol
Tag: Valery Noble

Gatz let out an annoyed sigh as Valery moved on to open the door anyways, without so much as a word to acknowledge what he'd said. She must have felt his fear. She was always concerned with his physical wellbeing. But never his emotional or mental wellbeing—not these days. And he understood that there was a crisis at hand, but it would have been nice to hear just a few words of reassurance. It wouldn't have cost them any time.

She had pulled him along into life-threatening danger after all. Reassurance was the least she could offer. If Gatz had felt her fear, he'd have tried to bolster her courage. It made that anxiety over their friendship start to unravel again, but Gatz pulled on anger, and tied the loose threads back up for now.

Valery counted to three, and made the door crumble. Gatz's finger twitched, but didn't pull the trigger. And thank the Force he hadn't, because they were met with another scientist—just one that was alive this time. Which... if she was alive, but the creature wasn't somewhere in that room, then where was it? Had it been locked in the room with the man who'd been torn apart, but had somehow escaped?

Or did they just lock every door when they realized what was going on, and had no idea where this damn thing was?

"I'm no Jedi," Gatz was quick to point out to the woman, "but I can at least reassure you that the way to the exit is clear. Just don't go opening any doors that we haven't."

Unfortunately, Valery made it clear that the two of them were in for the long haul. Not that Gatz had expected anything different.

"I'm sure that Master Noble here might have a few questions for you," Gatz added, the use of her formal title being unintentional proof that he was a little upset, "but after that, you should get clear of the building."

 

[Valery Noble]

New Cov

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Ship: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber | Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Gatz Derrevar

The woman looked at Gatz and didn't really care whether or not he was a Jedi. He had helped free her from this room, and with a beast inside and a fire spreading, that meant her life was saved. All she cared about was getting out now, so as soon as he explained that the way was cleared, she already glanced down the hallway. Several doors still remained closed, and the emergency blast doors leading to the next section of the facility were also still down.

These two hadn't gotten very far yet, but that was a good thing.

"I suggest you two head back now," she said. "An experiment escaped and I have no idea where it is, but..." she swallowed hard and looked around. "It started killing people so fast that we tried to contain it. But then a fire started, and we were all locked inside under the quarantine program."

Valery perked a brow, "You mean you were not supposed to make it out of this room?"

"We were supposed to die here with the beast," she confirmed. "But it's not too late. You haven't breached the blast doors, so we can still live!" She tried desperately, but Valery's expression made it clear she wasn't going to just turn around now. Her eyes shifted to Gatz, and she let out a soft sigh.

"Gatz, I have to go in deeper and get others out. Do you feel okay about coming with me? I could use the help but I won't force you. This... is going to get dangerous."

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Blaster Pistol
Tag: Valery Noble

This planet only continued to suck more and more, but Gatz was wise enough to keep his mouth shut this time around. Between criticizing Valery's temple, and the planet as a whole, he had to imagine that she felt a little hurt by his words. As lethal as it was, this had been the first home she'd really known, right?

For all that he'd felt hurt about Valery maybe not considering his emotional wellbeing, he hadn't stopped to really think about how he wasn't considering hers. That had to stop, now. If he really wanted to talk to her about that later, then he needed to be fair and give her the same thing he wanted from her: compassion, support, and comfort.

So while Gatz wasn't all that thrilled that this laboratory on her world expected its scientists to die, he wouldn't degrade her home any longer. Nor would he let her people suffer. So when Valery asked for his help—when she asked and cared about his choice and wellbeing, even if still only physical, there was only one answer. Only ever one.

But before he got to that... there was one thing he'd realized Val hadn't done. One thing that, Gatz had noticed, she sometimes forgot to do in her pursuit of solving a problem. Reassure. So Gatz holstered his blaster, approached the scientist, and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"I know you're afraid. But it's going to be alright. We're going to breach those blast doors. We're going to stop this beast. And you are going to live." In this one specific instance, Gatz did his best not to emulate Valery, but Briana Sal-Soren and her soothing tone. With his free hand, Gatz pulled his commlink from his jacket pocket, "take this. Get outside, and radio for emergency evacuation. If we find more people, we'll send them your way. We'll handle the rest."

And for one fleeting moment, Gatz Derrevar was the Jedi he'd been meant to be.

"I appreciate that you're asking," Gatz turned to Valery and clapped her on the shoulder, "but the answer was never going to be 'no.' Let's go see what we can do."

 

[Valery Noble]

New Cov

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Ship: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber | Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Gatz Derrevar

Valery looked at Gatz for a moment while he reassured the woman and managed a brief smile. It was nice for him to do it, but it also put her on edge a little. Every second spent here was one second less the people in the facility had left to live. Or, well, the beast could also be coming for them, and she'd rather be ready to handle it. But that was the more pragmatic side of Valery she often had on missions.

Her Padawans viewed her as motherly, the Jedi found comfort in coming to her with their troubles, but in tense situations like this, she was sometimes more focused on moving forward.

It helped to have people like Gatz get her to take a step back.

"Only use the radio once you've cleared away enough from this place. Just to be safe." It was unlikely that using the radio could summon trouble from within here, but better safe than sorry. Valery then turned her gaze back to Gatz and chuckled softly at his answer.

"I know, but it's important that you feel ready for these things before going into them. There's a time and place for confronting fears or overcoming physical challenges. This... is not one of those times." If it was too demanding physically, too draining mentally, or even if it was just way too frightening, she wouldn't want to expose anybody to it. Freezing up or making mistakes here would be a death sentence for everybody involved.

Gatz, she knew didn't feel at ease here, but he was still thinking straight, and he wanted to help. He was more ready for this than he likely realized himself.

"I did have one idea," Valery said after a moment as they walked. "If I get you to the facility's control center, would you be able to slice in and open every door from there? Perhaps we can even isolate this beast from there too," she proposed. "It might take long to slice individual doors open, but if we can get them all at once, it'll be worth it."

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Blaster Pistol
Tag: Valery Noble

Gatz nodded at what Valery added to his directions. He didn't know that there was anything in here that would cause trouble if they radioed, but that was the point: they didn't know. And if the last few months on the run had taught him anything, it was that it was better to be safe, than to be sorry. Or dead. Unfortunately, being sorry usually ended in being dead, so...

As they continued their way throughout the research facility, Valery took the time to ensure he was ready. He wasn't, of course. He never was. But it was nice to know that she did care about how he felt, even if sometimes she got distracted from asking after him, or offering the reassurance and comfort he often needed. He was still going to talk to her about that, assuming he survived. They hadn't really talked about Hoth, and he knew they had to eventually.

But his anxiousness over their friendship did fade.

"Valery, I am never ready, and I am always afraid." Gatz shook his head, "but I'm even more afraid of what kind of man I'd be if I just ignored something like this."

Almost every time the two of them got together like this, he got hurt. Erakhis. Naboo. Sovereign Station. Nar Shaddaa. Denon. If they'd gone to Hoth, he'd probably have nearly died there too. He'd been stabbed, and shot, and tossed around by the Force. He'd collected more scars in the year he'd been working with Valery than in the rest of his twenty-four years of life.

He couldn't stand to look at himself in the mirror these days. But she didn't need to know that.

Valery pitched an idea, one he was uncertain about—but only because of his own skill, not because he disagreed with what she was brainstorming.

"It... depends on the cybersecurity here," Gatz admitted, "this is a secure research facility. Slicing the mainframe here isn't like slicing into someone's personal computer. I'm good, but I'm no professional. But I do think that's probably the best idea we've got."

Gatz only hoped that, for once in his life, he didn't fail. A lot of lives could be lost if he fucked up like he usually did.

 

[Valery Noble]

New Cov

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Ship: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber | Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Gatz Derrevar

"It's okay to be afraid," Valery said with a dip of her head. "I couldn't tell you how many times I've felt scared, but it's just part of what we do. And Gatz?" She paused for a moment and smiled softly, "If I thought you weren't ready for this at all, I really wouldn't be dragging you in here. I'd be a terrible friend if I pulled you into something I knew would get you seriously hurt or worse." Which was ultimately the reason she had asked him about how he was feeling too.

His honesty there was much appreciated.

With that said, Valery focused on the mission again and proposed an idea he seemed to agree with. She knew it was a lot of pressure on him to perform, and the security could end up being so tight that even the best slicers in the Galaxy couldn't do it fast enough.

But it was worth a shot.

"Alright, let's move and give it a shot." She grinned and started running to make up for lost time. There were one or two more doors she had to shatter along the way, but they were getting close. The temperature was rising in the facility, and up ahead in the distance, they could hear a loud, bestial screech.

"I think it's further down, so let's go while we still can." She forced open the doors into the control room and looked around — it was empty. The people here had long abandoned it, but there were alarms flickering, and the displays showed how each door had been closed. To open them, authorization was needed.

Which they didn't have.

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Blaster Pistol
Tag: Valery Noble

It wasn't a surprise to hear that Valery was just as capable of fear as he was. That was just human nature. Err... Keshian nature. Whatever. But it did make him feel a little bit better about his cowardice. And it was nice to be reminded that at least someone in the galaxy gave a damn about him. He didn't really have anyone left that did. Certainly not family.

But the part about being ready... and about getting hurt or worse... wasn't that what always happened to him? He'd have been a dead man on Sovereign Station, if she hadn't jumped in the way. He'd nearly died on Denon, at her side, shot in the sternum. Hell, he'd nearly died on Coruscant, just meeting up with her for a coffee. In what world did she really think he was ready to fight whatever was leaving these gouges on the walls?

"Valery, getting hurt is all that ever happens to me." Gatz snorted, but there was no mirth in it. "At this point, I'm just waiting for the day death comes to collect."

But he continued on following her, as she disintegrated doors, and led the both of them to the control room. He'd probably die today, sure, but maybe he could save just a few more lives before this beast tore him open like that corpse. Just a few more. Maybe that would finally be enough.

Gatz pulled his datapad from his pocket, as well as wire with a connection jack on either end. He eyed the console, saw the displays and all the doors in the facility, and saw how it was locked. The chances of him being able to do this... were slim. But Gatz plugged in anyway, one end of the wire going into his datapad, and the other into the large console.

Immediately, he was greeted with safeguard after protective measure after authorization prevention. This was a level of security far thicker than he'd ever cracked before.

"You need to go start disintegrating doors." He said immediately, "even if I manage to crack this—and I don't think I will—it's going to take awhile. Long enough that people are going to die... if they're even still alive."

 

[Valery Noble]

New Cov

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Ship: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber | Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Gatz Derrevar

"Death has tried to collect quite a few times, and failed each time," Valery reminded him. "You're developing your skills every day, and well, it helps to have friends to protect you too. We all rely on it sometimes." Gatz would always have Valery to lean on for support and protected, but Valery herself needed it too sometimes. Her husband had gotten her through some of the most difficult times in her life, Amani had saved her once or twice, and other friends had too.

Gatz himself had dragged her to safety after she got shot on Sovereign Station.

But moving on from the discussion, Valery led the way deeper into the facility until they reached the control room. As expected, it looked incredibly high-tech, and even the better slicers were likely going to need time to get through. Gatz got to work on it immediately, but it was obvious that he wasn't sure if he'd make it in time. She couldn't blame him, and that's the only reason why she even considered his plan.

It meant splitting up.

"Here, take this," Valery put one of her two pistols down, so he now had it in addition to his own. "Keep an eye on the cameras and if something shows up, let me know. I can be back here fast. But if you see the beast, try and guide me to it." She trusted that he'd be able to do all of those things, and turned around, ready to head deeper into the facility.

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Blaster Pistol
Tag: Valery Noble

Everyone relied on someone. Gatz understood that. But he was so tired of relying on Valery for everything. So tired of taking advantage of her kindness. So tired of being unable to do anything on his own. All he seemed to do was fail. Get hurt. Almost die. And someone had to patch him back up, and bail his ass out of the fire.

He just wanted to get something right—just this once.

Valery handed him one of her pistols. Gatz... wasn't all that sure how useful that would be: he was no gunslinger. He certainly wasn't talented enough to fire two blasters at once, with any sort of accuracy. She'd promised to teach him something useful related to firing a gun, but they hadn't gotten around to it just yet.

"You should really keep that for yourself." Gatz waved it off, "I can barely manage one." But then, knowing Valery would argue, and that they didn't have time for that, Gatz acquiesced before she had a chance to offer a rebuttal, "gah, fine. Go. I'll see what I can do here."

Gatz let her run off, leaving the pistol where it was for now, and returned to what he was doing. It became clear to him very quickly that this wasn't something he could slice into in a matter of minutes. Dammit. Valery had asked one thing of him, and he couldn't even do that for her. Every fiber of his being wanted to dwell on that...

But there were people in danger. So he turned to the monitors instead. The cameras looked clear for now, but half of them were inoperable, so they weren't all that helpful. Ignoring them for a moment, Gatz turned to scan the rest of the room. There were a few more consoles and desks, file cabinets, and chairs.

But he spotted something on the file cabinet. Gatz half ran toward it, finding a sticky note... with a single word of mixed Galactic Basic letters and numbers on it. Nothing else, no mention of what it was.

No way.

Gatz sprinted back to the console, and ripped the jack out of it. Fingers dashing over the keyboard, he typed in the random word into the password field and was miraculously rewarded with full control over the research center's security systems. Cameras, doors, and all. Triggering all the doors was a simple thing, and one done quickly.

"I've got the doors, but half the cameras are ruined, and I don't see any—"

A loud bang. And Gatz broke off comms suddenly.

 

[Valery Noble]

New Cov

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Ship: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber | Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Gatz Derrevar

"I have another and my lightsabers," Valery patted the weapon in its holster and offered a smile. Even if he couldn't shoot two at the same time, perhaps one blaster had certain advantages over the other. He could use whichever one was most useful, or simply had a back-up if one were to get lost or destroyed. But much like him, she didn't linger on it for long and focused on her part of this mission by sprinting down the hallway.

First, there was a series of blast doors to get through, and then the doors actually leading into various rooms. She could sense others alive but trapped behind them, but she also felt a lot of fear.

Something darker as well, though not Sithspawn.

It was going to take her time to figure out where it was, and know it was actually safe to open the doors. The risk of freeing people, only for them to run into the beast was too high, and she didn't want to have them die like that. But salvation came in the form of her friend's voice, as he called out to her over comms.

<Really? Keep the doors down until we've found the->

The bang reached her comms device as well, and she immediately tapped it to open a channel again. <Gatz? You there?> She asked but he didn't respond within a second, so she was already running all the way back. If the beast was there, she needed him to at least stay alive until she got there, if he wasn't able to kill it himself.

Gatz, meanwhile, would be face-to-face with the approaching beast. It had once been a predator of the jungles, perhaps, but it was altered in ways similar to what Sith Alchemy could have done. It looked furious, and with the slow approaching steps of a predator, it was getting closer and closer to him.

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Blaster Pistol
Tag: Valery Noble

It was like something out of his nightmares: a hulking, malignant synthesis of flesh and bone-like cartilage. Sharp claws graced the tips of its fingers, and spines ran down the plane of its back. To make things worse, it had two extra heads, both with sharp teeth, and that nothing compared to the dagger-like maw that the main head sported.

Gatz tried to bring his commlink up to radio Valery once more, and that's when the thing pounced.

He threw himself to the side, narrowly avoiding a sharp claw, and the beast crashed into the console. The metal computer crumped under the weight, and claws like titanium shredded right through the durasteel. Gatz hit the ground in a roll, and brought his blaster up to fire at the monster. His shots landed true... but dissipated harmlessly off of the creatures thick skull-like head.

It lunged again, and Gatz narrowly side-stepped another swipe of its claw, only for one of the smaller heads to sink its teeth into his shoulder. A crunch, a spray of blood, and a horrible cry of pain all escaped from his body in one way or another. Gatz dropped his blaster, but caught it in his other hand, and raised it to fire again. He got two shots off, one going wild, but the other scoring a burning hit in the creatures neck.

Then the creature grabbed his gun in its claw, and began to crumple the weapon. Gatz heard the durasteel casing cracking, and the high-pitched whine of the blaster cell being crushed. He squeezed the trigger, hopelessly, knowing the gun wouldn't fire in this state.

And the blaster cell exploded.

It blew the beast's hand apart, and if it's hand hadn't fully encased the barrel and blaster cell, it probably would have taken Gatz's fingers with it. As it was, the only blowback Gatz got was a bunch of shredded flesh, muscle, and blood clobbering him in the face. The mouth biting down into his shoulder let go, as the creature stepped back with a hiss of pain. Gatz dropped the useless grip of the blaster, no longer attached to anything. He reached his good arm out for Valery's blaster, which had clattered to the ground when the console was destroyed.

It arced through the air into his hand, just as the beast swiped at him with its good claw. Steel talons cut through leather and cloth, and into flesh and blood. Gatz was thrown into a wall, dazed.

And bleeding from three significant slashes to his chest.

 

[Valery Noble]

New Cov

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Ship: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber | Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Gatz Derrevar

Chit, this was bad.

Valery was augmenting her speed with the Force and moving through the facility like a lightning bolt, but it still didn't feel nearly fast enough. She could sense the emotions in Gatz, and they went from understandable fear to pain far too quickly. This beast was as unnatural as Sithspawn, but without the Dark Side having corrupted it. In most situations, that should have been a relief, but to Valery it just meant it was even more unpredictable.

She knew Sithspawn, and had fought them countless times. She had never fought a beast like this before.

The moment Valery entered the control room, she spotted Gatz on the floor, bleeding and likely unable to get up to fight. The huge monstrosity of a beast was approaching him, and showed its teeth in preparation to kill. Slowly but surely, she felt the life of a friend slipping away, and something snapped. There was no anger or despair in Valery, but a fiery intensity as she raised a hand and summoned the Force to her will.

From each side of the room, a heavy metal panel was ripped from the wall and sent flying towards the beast. It was squashed between the two panels, and shrieked in pain.

But Valery wasn't done with it just yet.

With an outstretched arm and a loud yell, she sent the creature flying and tumbling to the other side of the control enter, as far away from Gatz as she could get it. Then, she ran over and quickly crouched down by his side while she kept her senses on alert to track the monster. "Gatz?! I need you to get up," she said with a rushed tone. "I'm going to kill that thing but I need you safe first." She was clearly worried about his well-being, and felt powerless to really help.

She was no healer.

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Blaster Pistol
Tag: Valery Noble

His back slammed into the wall, and his head snapped back and clobbered it too. Pain lanced throughout his mind, and it was the only thing he could focus on. His shoulder burned, the three deep cuts on his abdomen felt like someone had taken barbed wire to his innards, and his head pounded something fierce. Blood soaked through his shirt at an alarming rate, giving what remained of the black cloth a deep crimson tone.

He was only dimly aware of the handicapped beast stomping towards him. He was too stunned to be panicked about his impending death, but not stunned enough to not know it was coming. This was... a pretty ignoble end. But then, he was an ignoble man. This was deserved, and he somehow came to that conclusion through his haze of pain.

At least he'd blown its hand up. So this fight wasn't a total curbstomp.

Still, defiant to the end, Gatz tried to raise Valery's blaster at it. But even his good arm felt like lead. He managed to lift it half a foot off the ground, but then it became too much, and he let it drop again, letting her blaster clatter out of his hand. He sighed. Closed his eyes. Gave up. Accepted the end.

But it didn't come. He was dimly aware of the sound of metal screeching, like it was being ripped away from where it was bolted down. He heard the pitched scream of the beast, and heard and felt the heavy thunk as Valery threw it toward the door. It was only then that he opened his eyes, the room a blurry scattering of color and vague shapes.

Someone was at his side. Valery, his brain managed to process. But her words fell on deaf ears, or rather, ears that were currently unable to send information to his concussed mind. Gatz tried for words anyways, despite the fact that he couldn't hear hers. But when he opened his mouth, all that came out was a shuddering cough, and blood that poured down his chin.

Oh. That wasn't right.

And then something in his brain finally switched off. His vision went black, his awareness left him.

Gatz slid sideways down the wall, his wounded shoulder leaving a streak of blood on the durasteel plating, until his head hit the ground.

 

[Valery Noble]

New Cov

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Ship: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber | Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Gatz Derrevar

It really wasn't right.

The only response he managed was a bloody cough, before he finally fell unconscious against the wall. She gritted her teeth, clenched her jaw and stood up to face the beast again, still with that fire burning in her eyes. As much as she wanted to help him, they'd both die here if she didn't first take care of the beast that had done this to him. A beast that wasn't going to live another day.

This was beyond healing.

The beast had managed to get back up to its feet and slowly started to approach Valery. For how powerful it was after being manipulated, it wasn't clever. It had no idea in how much trouble it really was by trying to attack her. "Come on, try it," Valery said as she walked forward to meet it without showing any sign of fear. Some predators would back off immediately if prey didn't act like prey, but not this one.

This beast saw it as a challenge.

With a powerful jump, it came right for Valery's throat with claws and teeth, but it wasn't ever going to reach her. She raised a hand and froze it in mid-air with great telekinetic pressure. The beast squealed and tried to squirm, but before it could roar out in defiance, she silenced it with a slash at the neck. Its larger head fell to the floor, and with two more slashes, she severed the two smaller ones as well.

Valery then dropped the entire body, forced her eyes shut and drew in a deep breath. She had to stay calm, and she had to focus on getting Gatz and the other people out.

So by the time his eyes opened again, it would be in a medical bed at the Temple.

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Blaster Pistol
Tag: Valery Noble

Gatz's slumber was fitful, as it always was. He shook and tossed, a bad combination for someone with severe chest wounds. His hand trembled violently, fist clenching and unclenching. His eyes rolled around under his eyelids, and his breaths were heavy and rushed. They were all the signs of a man wracked with night terrors.

And he was a man wracked with night terrors.

When Gatz finally came to, it was with a frantic exhale of air. His chest swelled and fell, like an exhausted man trying to catch his breath. He blinked, realizing that he was staring at the ceiling of an unfamiliar room, yet he was familiar with the architecture. He'd only just been here for the first time today, but was this the Temple?

He was alive? And, judging by the way his chest and shoulder no longer ached and bled, he presumed he was also patched up and on painkillers. Heavy painkillers, he realized, once he became aware of just how numb the rest of his body was. Gatz felt like he was floating, when in reality, he knew he was laying on a bed or cot of some sort.

Then the memories came rushing back in. The fire. The monster. His near death. And the people they'd been trying to save. Were they safe now? Or had his bungling of things forced Valery to abandon them to save his skin for the umpteenth time? Panic, guilt, shame: they all began to beat in tandem with his heart. How much harder had he made things on Valery, simply for being there and not being able to defend himself?

"Val?" Gatz croaked, his throat parched, "where are you? W-what happened?"

Did everyone get out? But he left that question unspoken, knowing Valery would answer it anyhow.

 

[Valery Noble]

New Cov

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Ship: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber | Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Gatz Derrevar

"Please don't try to move too much," an unfamiliar voice told him. But if he were to look up, he'd find himself staring into blindfold of a Miraluka — a young woman around his own age with a kind smile. A classic healer, who had handled patching him up after Valery sent out an emergency call for the Jedi to be ready to receive him. The Jedi Master herself was no healer, so beyond a little bit of first aid, there wasn't anything she could do.

Especially not with injuries as severe as Gatz's.

"We've stopped the bleeding and healed up your wounds, but you'll feel sore for a while longer. We've put you on painkillers as well to be safe, so please don't rise too quickly." She hummed in thought, then added one last thing. "There will be scars along your chest as well, unless you'd like us to address them? It just means we have to keep you here a bit longer." Finally, the woman stepped away and tapped her comms device.

A signal that it was okay to enter.

Valery stepped inside through the door and looked over at Gatz — he still looked like ass, but at least he wasn't bleeding to death anymore. She offered a smile and walked over, "Hey, how are you feeling? You took quite a hit in there and scared me for a moment. You're... very lucky a healer could get here quickly."

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Blaster Pistol
Tag: Valery Noble

Of all the sights to wake up to, a pretty Miraluka Jedi was a pretty good one. Well, there was the whole "my doctor is blind" thing that probably should have bothered him, but he was too tired to be nervous about that. Plus, he was alive, which was pretty cool. He hadn't expected to survive the encounter with... whatever had cut him into ribbons.

He stayed put as he was advised, and did his best to have a coherent thought as she asked him about healing the scars left behind by the creatures teeth and talons.

"I... No," Gatz sighed weakly, "even if you did, I'd still have over half a dozen others. What difference does a few more make?"

Gatz wasn't sure what bothered him more: the addition of more scars to his disgusting body, or the fact that he hadn't been able to protect himself again. Either way, he didn't know how he was supposed to face Valery. All he ever did was cause her more stress; give her more problems. And the one time he had a chance to help her, he crumbled.

But he had to face her anyhow. He could feel her presence, just hovering outside the door. When the Jedi Healer stepped away, and the door slid open, all Gatz could do was stare at the ceiling. And, of course, her first question was about how he was feeling. She should have been berating him for fucking up and making her job harder. She wouldn't, he knew, but somehow that just made it sting even more.

"I'm sorry, Valery." Gatz said hoarsely, refusing to even look at her, "I failed you. I failed you again."

Just like Hoth. Just like Coruscant. Just like Nar Shaddaa. Just like Sovereign Station.

 

[Valery Noble]

New Cov

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Ship: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber | Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Gatz Derrevar

"We can remove any scarring, but it is your choice to make," the Miraluka told him with a gentle smile. Even Valery could get the scar over her eye removed if she wanted to, but she had a reason for keeping hers. If Gatz wanted to keep his for his own reasons, then any doctor would respect that. He was going to live and make a full physical recovery, so that's what mattered most. Valery, however, knew he needed more than physically healing.

These types of situations took a toll on the mind as well.

"You didn't fail me, Gatz," Valery said while she noticed the lack of eye-contact. It made him feel a lot more distant, so she took a step closer and made it nearly impossible not to look up at her. "The people are out safe, and that's thanks to you as well. I just... wish it hadn't been like this." She looked him over and let out a soft sigh. The image of his bloody body was still fresh on her mind, especially after carrying it all the way out here.

It's why she wasn't wearing her own Jedi outfit anymore — it was soaked in blood. So while Gatz had been taken care of here, Valery had quickly changed into jeans and a simple t-shirt before heading back over. She didn't want to miss too much, not with his condition being fairly critical at first.

"That beast wasn't an easy one to fight. I shouldn't have left you alone or given you something more than just a blaster."

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Blaster Pistol
Tag: Valery Noble

It was tempting, to take the Jedi healer up on her offer. He wanted to. Gatz wanted to be able to look at himself in the mirror again, without feeling shame. He wanted to feel like a man, not an invalid, or a corpse. But he had taken advantage of Valery's hospitality enough. He couldn't take advantage of a Jedi who had come to heal him at her request.

Valery stepped close to his cot, close enough that if he didn't want to look at her, he'd have to turn his head away. And that... would be rude and childish. So he didn't twist his neck, but he did keep his eyes firmly on the ceiling, and not at her.

"My total contribution was typing in a password on a computer. You could have done that easily. And if I hadn't been there, you wouldn't have had to go out of your way to save me."

She was being nice. Valery usually tried to be nice. But they both knew the truth: there was nothing he had done that Valery herself couldn't have done herself. She could have found that note with the password herself, and if she had, then she'd have been in the room long enough for that monster to ambush her. Except she would have killed it without any trouble.

All he'd done is give her one more potential casualty to worry about.

"Splitting up was my idea. And even if you'd left me a lightsaber instead of a blaster I..." Gatz sighed, "it wouldn't have changed anything. I'm just... useless."

Tears formed in his eyes, as the chasm ever-present in his chest widened, but he blinked them away. He was tired of crying. And Valery probably wouldn't have comforted him anyways. Not that he deserved it: saving his skin for the umpteenth time was already far more than he deserved from her.