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[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 4: If We Only Knew the Future

Raan’s head hurt. No...that wasn’t just it. His legs hurt...arms hurt...as his mind slowly worked through things, he decided that the answer was simple. He hurt. He could hear vague and distant voices around him, though it was impossible to identify whose they were or what was being said. Slowly, he managed to half open a single eye. The world around him was blurry and white. Wait...no, it suddenly shifted to a pale fleshy colour with brown everywhere. His eyes focused again, and he could see two green circles staring down at him.

“Mr. Insanity is awake,” Mare said as she slowly came into focus. Raan opened his other eye and blinked a few times. After his head stopped spinning, he opened his mouth and managed an ‘ugh’ but nothing more. Mare’s face moved back some, no longer covering his view of the white medical room around him.

After another pathetic groans, he turned his head to see the others in the room. Three people in white just as white as the walls, two were human and the other...Raan squinted his eyes and figured the third was a Mon Calamari. There was also a blue skinned humanoid figure with large red eyes that Raan identified as the Duros he had pulled out of the X-Wing. Next to him was a tall human who eventually came into focus as Commander Tsun.

Not really giving Raan more time to recover, the Commander took a step over and eyed him, “Just because I told Rulae and Marin no heroics doesn’t mean that didn’t go for the rest of you.”

There was the slightest hint of a grin tugging at Tsun’s face, but Raan managed to look worried, “Um...sorry, sir?”

That got a soft laugh from both Mare and Rulae, but Tsun held a mostly straight face and shook his head, “No apologies on this one. You made it out alive, Rulae made it out alive. That doesn’t mean you should try a stunt like that again, but it does mean I’ve managed to keep you out of any disciplinary action for that.”

“Yes, that was very hard to talk your superiors into, wasn’t it, Commander?” Mare asked with a strangely sarcastic tone. The mood was much lighter than Raan would have expected. Mare laughed to herself and grinned again, “‘One of my pilots left his ship in the middle of space, used a lightsaber to cut another of the pilots out, and got both of them away alive. And to make it even better, his X-Wing wasn’t damaged.’ Honestly I think it at least deserves giving him a good mental check up.”

That time the Commander did laugh, turning to Mare and nodding, “You know they actually want to promote him for that stunt?” Tsun turned to give Raan a mock glare, “One mission and now he’s a Lieutenant.”

“So you’re against these heroics because we’ll all outrank you before you have a chance to pull one of your own?” Rulae asked, leaning against the wall with a large grin on his face. Of course, with how Duros’ faces were built, all grins were large on them.

Tsun smiled but his expression went neutral as he turned back to Raan, patting him on the shoulder, “All jokes aside, good job. You missed the debriefing, but that’ll slide since you’ve been unconscious. Just don’t make a habit of it and get some rest.”

The Commander then turned and left the medical ward. Rulae watched him go before stepping over and nodding slowly, “Thanks for what you did out there, Raan. If it wasn’t for you, I’d have made it half the squadron lost.”

Half the squadron? Five were already gone?! Raan’s mind raced through this and before he could ask anything else Rulae had also left. This left Raan to turn to Mare with a bewildered look on his face, not sure what to say. What was one life when compared to five? Standing in the medical room not a minute ago was over half of the remainder of the Zephyrs...

“Hey, its not your fault,” Mare said, easily reading the expression on his face. Through the months of training together, she’d learned to read him well. Sitting on the bed next to him with a concerned look she shrugged, “We all know the risks of what we do. Rulae’s right...it could have been worse. He was as good as dead out there...and with what you did...” she trailed off, looking off to the opposite wall. She was silent, then finally said quietly, looking to him out of the corner of her eye, “Nearly had to add you to that number.”

There was something in the way she said that...the look that Raan’s still somewhat out of focus eyes could pick up. His instincts told him there was more than was obvious. Before he could comment, however, Mare’s expression returned to the usual smile and she patted his leg, “Just get some rest. And next time you go EV, check your oxygen, first.”