Star Wars: Blue Quartz/ Chapter 2: A Killer Among Us

Chapter 2: A Killer Among Us

As the lights above sputtered and flickered, Sergeant Leland burst backwards through the interior doors of Carlac Base's screaming all manner of obscenities while dragging Bosnorth's limp body through the room.

"Get that Bacta Tank ready, now!" he shouted as he bulldozed past slack-jawed onlookers, several of whom still had their headlamps illuminated. "And get those damned lights out of my face." Gold Leader sheepishly dropped his head and fiddled with the switch, casting it over Bosnorth's body as he did so. He noted the lesions tracing from his neck to his torso and froze in place.

"What happened to him?"

Leland stopped suddenly, the weight of his trajectory digging Bosnorth's heavy boots into his hips, and squared his sights on Gold Leader.

"How the Hell should I know? The only one of us who has any insights into the horrific amenities of this planet is this guy right here," he yelled, jutting his chin down the inactive soldier he refused to take his hands from. "And he's not talking so much lately, so if you don't mind... less stupid questions and let's get this comrade into the Bacta Tank, like, yesterday!"

"Yes sir," Gold Leader responded, perhaps a bit too loudly as he inadvertently matched his superior's intensity.

"And for the love of all that is good and just in the Force, turn that hideous, useless, blasted light OFF!!!"

"Yessir," the trooper replied quickly, before spinning on his heels and turning his whole body away from the Sergeant lest his clumsy fingers failed again. For a moment the entire room filled with a tense silence that felt as pensive as an eyelash on the blistering white snow. The hum of the Bacta Tank coming online could be heard faintly from the next room. Leland sighed heavily and looked down at Bosnorth, unable to articulate his frustration in the moment.

"If I were a betting man," rose an agitated voice from a still dark corner of the room. The remaining lights came up at that moment to reveal Timin, holding an activated DC-15 at the ready. Every head in the room turned at his voice.

"I'd put all my money on this being a coordinated attack, and I'd double down that our very own Bounty Hunter Assistant is the mastermind."

As though directed by a gust of wind, all the heads in the room turned again and fell on Commander Ponds, who had been watching the commotion from the scanner balcony. He stood stock still, almost as if he could turn invisible if he could manage to make no motion, whatsoever.

"I--" he spoke, his voice failing him, choked out of its confidence by his own doubts.

Just as it seemed the entire room might suddenly draw their weapons and execute him like an outlaw in the streets at high noon, Carg walked into the room with the calm demeanor of a man born to lead.

"That's enough of that. Leland, take that man to the Bacta Tank immediately and incubate him. Fil, Timin: secure the doors of this facility forthwith; whatever attacked Bosnorth, if it was indeed an attack, is still out there. Or have you all forgotten that?"

Timin snapped the weapon down at his side and saluted his commander with his right hand.

"No sir!" the two troopers' voices rang out in unison, though they were in no near proximity from each other in the crowded room.

"Very well. Ponds, back to those scanners. If a bug flaps its wings, I want to know about it and have a cannon targeted to blow it out of the sky. Gold Leader, turn that busted helmet in at requisition and get one without a light; you get to fight in the dark from now on."

As he spoke, his men sprung into action, moving in and out of the room like a ballet; every player having direction and purpose. All the turmoil and confusion of the prior scene dissipated without a trace.

"The rest of you run diagnostics and get me an answer for that power outage before I finish descending this staircase!"

At that, the room had effectively emptied, aside from Carg, himself, and Ponds, who was staring too intently at the scanners before him. Carg made a visual sweep of the room before turning to him.

"At ease, Commander." Ponds, rather uneasily, turned and faced his commanding officer. "That's hardly at ease, soldier."

"It isn't the time, sir."

"Do you know something I don't?"

The men regarded each other sternly, the weight of the question settling between and around them like Sarlacc tentacles.

"No sir."

"Excellent. As you were. Seriously, the slightest movement, I want all defensive weapons hot and itchy."

"Yes sir."

--

Judging the patient stabilized and on the mend, Sergeant Leland let out a heavy sigh of relief and slumped his exhausted body against the console of the Bacta Tank, falling into an immediate and long overdue slumber. The room hummed with the quiet bubbling of the tank's healing liquid, punctuated by the howling wind outside its fortified doors. All was at last at a tentative peace.

Until Major Bosnorth opened his eyes in the tank, his birth-born brown irises transformed to a ice cold, steel blue, searching the room for prey...