Private After The Battle

[Constantine Oliva]

In orbit of Metellos, aboard a military orbital station
Teica Giraan



The door closed as I left the Admiral's office. Moments before, I'd been giving a verbal report to the local Alliance fleet's commander. After our escape from the Brotherhood, the mauled survivors of the 253rd and Commander Giraan limped back to Alliance space, and then to Metellos for repairs and rest. He'd praised me. The man had said the fact we'd even escaped was a tactical feat to be commended. To have escaped with as much as we did was little less than a miracle, he'd said. Praise that two years ago would have sent my pride soaring rolled off like the empty words they were.


With a sigh, I began walking towards what I'd been told were my quarters while aboard the station. I could barely tell my hands were shaking slightly. My focus was on simply walking straight. My head still pounded, and the strap holding my new eyepatch into place felt like it dug into my skull. The brightly lit hallways were blinding. So when I turned right down another hallway, I had my head down, and my gaze focused on the mouse droid guiding me.


I didn't have time to move out of the way to stop as I walked into another officer. I stepped back after the collision, taking longer than I should have to recognize what'd just happened, and even longer to recognize who I'd bumped into.

"Sorry...Commander Giraan? Are you busy right now?"

 

[Teica Giraan]

[Location: Metellos Orbit - Military Orbital Station]
[Commander Giraan Standing By]
​

In four...Hold four...Out four....In four...

Teica repeated the words through her mind, echoing back what the doctor had told her. An unsteady inhale, cold silence, and an equally unsteady exhale. Her hand gripped the curved black hilt of a slightly rusted cane as she limped down the hallways. Eyes almost shut, she found serenity in the gentle clicking of the cane against the flooring. Slowly, the world around her began to fade, only the rhythm. Click. Clickity. Click. Cli-

The world around her came back in full force. Sounds reached her ears, light hit her eyes, and pain shot out from everywhere. The commander winced, the torn flesh in her leg now acting up in repeated bursts of pain. Her left hand planted itself against the wall while the Corellian tried to regain her bearings. In four...Hold four...Out four. Her breathing began to slow, and by the end of three rounds, she could finally lift her eyes.

Commodore Constantine Olivia. The only reason she wasn't a lifeless corpse floating amidst a debris cloud, The only reason she managed to bring her crew home.

"Sorry...Commander Giraan? Are you busy right now?"

Her eyes set on the man's eyepatch, almost fearing for what lay behind. Then her mind came back to the sight of blood flooding and staining her knee, the pain of watching the shrapnel slowly cut away at her leg, and the sounds of medics running across a spark-filled C.I.C. One more wince appeared on her expression, as the Namadaii corridor's psychological effects came back for her, before the commander replied.

"Not busy, no..."

Teica tried for a smile, one that only lasted a few seconds before collapsing. She eased her grip on the cane, now feeling the tingling of the foam-like hilt reforming to its original shape. Fingers fading from red to a light beige, the commander turned around, bringing her one good leg to establish a new foothold.

"Where were you heading?" She asked, now facing the commodore's original route.