It fell on me. I saw the foot coming down, then everything was fire and pain. Now it’s dark, and I’m all alone.
Brant eased out of the depths of his brother’s mind, gingerly, still keeping a thin thread open so he could track the major’s position. Now he could hear Kellaro’s thoughts chasing themselves around in his head, like a tooka-cat stalking a womprat. The man’s thinking was almost feverish, and Brant knew he was doing it mainly to distract himself from the pain. The ache and the heat in his one leg was like a beacon to Brant, vibrating out across the Dark Side of the Force, and while he could have helped Kellaro stifle it and find peace, Brant was a little concerned he’d lose Kellaro’s location if he did.
So he let Kellaro think and fret and writhe, as Brant steadily crawled closer.
At least they got away. They better have got away. Jorgan seemed certain they would make it. Brant was on the ship, and Vette. Between them, they should all be fine. At least, if Brant doesn’t pull something stupid.
Oh, man, what am I thinking? Of course he’s going to do something stupid.
Brant wasn’t sure whether to be amused or offended, though he supposed it was a little unfair to judge, seeing as how Kellaro couldn’t possibly know the Sith had a bead on his thoughts like this. Brant had been a little surprised himself when he had established the connection: he had learned the technique as a child, and quite by accident, when he had found himself in the head of his father while the man had been locked away in carbonite. Brant was fairly certain he could only do it with family members, and for years he had thought he had no family left, so he hadn’t made the attempt in ages.
It was a good thing time hadn’t dulled his abilities.
So dark. The mud’s so cold. It hurts so bad… I’m going to die. I just know it.
No. Brant projected the thought despite himself. Just hang on, brother, I’m coming for you.
The projected thought sent off another flurry of panic and confusion in Kellaro’s mind, but Brant ignored it, letting Kellaro think he was only hallucinating… Then Brant was coming up over the rise, and he had a weird moment of double-vision, as he was looking down at Kellaro, pinned under the walker, at the same time he was looking up at himself, staring down at Kellaro, pinned under the walker–
Brant shook his head and abruptly broke the Force-connection. He rolled the last few feet so that he didn’t create a silhouette for any Skytroopers that might be watching. He could just see the dim light of distant blaster fire shining off Kellaro’s wide eyes.
“Oh, skies, I wasn’t dreaming. What are you doing here, you idiot? Why aren’t you on the ship? Where is the ship?”
“Shut up,” said Brant, a sharp hiss, and he reached out and pressed his brother’s face close to the mud, as he carefully raised his own head and listened for any indication they had been overheard. Nothing… He leaned down next to Kellaro, whispering, “I’m getting you out of here.”
“No,” Kellaro moaned back. “No, you should have left me behind.”
“Shut up! You’re delirious. Let me see your legs…”
Brant patted him down awkwardly in the dark, feeling the slope of Kellaro’s back and then his limbs, clad in carbon-scorched armor. He felt nothing out of place, until his hand abruptly hit a metallic wall — the side of the walker. It had landed unevenly when it had fallen, pinching one of Kellaro’s legs painfully but otherwise leaving it intact, but Brant couldn’t determine what had happened to the other leg. Crushed? Severed? Merely pressed into the ground? He found Kellaro’s head again and whispered, “I can lift this thing off of you, but it’s going to take all my concentration. You have to listen and to warn me if you hear anyone coming.”
“You should just go.”
“Shut up.” And Brant rapped his head, hard. “Do as I say. It’s time you trusted me, not the other way around.”
Kellaro groaned. Brant took that as a good enough to begin, and he sat back on his haunches. The walker was huge, nearly as big as a starfighter, and at first he only gave it a gentle push, trying to determine if there were any points he could leverage. The whole thing shifted ominously, and Kellaro whined softly as it pinched his good leg.
“Don’t scream,” growled Brant. “Don’t even dare. I’ve had worse, and if you alert the Skytroopers, we’ll both wish this was the least of our problems.”
Kellaro swallowed and shut up. Brant reached deep inside then, down beyond the roiling of the ever-present Dark Side, beyond even the calm and certainty of the Light Side, to his core. He ran his feelings out across the walker, became the walker, commanded it to move.
It was like rousing from a sleep taken after too many nights spent sleepless, with a plaintive part of him — or was that Kellaro? — begging for just five more minutes rest. Brant snarled and shoved, hard. No! he cried internally, and the walker shuddered in sympathy. Wake up, you fool! Stay awake… Move…
The walker began to shift, groaning loudly, and Brant’s concentration wavered. Kellaro put a hand on his knee. Brant had to trust him, trust his brother was listening, trust he’d stay conscious and move when it was time… The walker’s bulk was rising higher, like a giant slowly rolling over in bed. Kellaro gasped involuntarily as something crunched underneath it, but he didn’t scream.
It was like an eternity spent pushing a boulder up a hill, but then suddenly everything started falling down around Brant at once. The walker was wavering, then sliding and slipping; there was a terrible screeching that might have been a person but might also have been metal pressing on stressed metal. Brant cried out in fear and shared pain… He had to hold on. He had to make it… he threw his spirit against the walker, forcing it up, forcing it awake, forcing him awake, and then…
Kellaro touched his shoulder from behind. “It’s okay,” he panted. “Let it go. I’m out.”
And Brant let the walker down with a crash, slumping down into the mud. Slowly he pieced himself back together, taking what was him and putting it in one mental pile, and what was the walker and Kellaro and pushing it out of his mind. He lingered for a moment on the hand now pressed to his cheek, trying to figure out who it belonged to, then it shifted without him telling it to, and he could just make out Kellaro’s face again in the dark up front of his.
“You’re an idiot, but you’re an amazing idiot,” his twin was saying softly.
“No, you,” muttered Brant.
“Why did you come back for me? You could have been killed.”
“Because…” Why indeed? “We’re brothers. We’ve always been brothers. We came into this life together. We should go out the same.”
Kellaro was silent for a long time, then, “I don’t hear anything. I don’t think anyone noticed, but, if we want to live past tonight, we have to get off this battlefield, ASAP.”
“The commlink,” said Brant. “It’s in my pocket. Left side. Vette should be listening. The cat might need more persuasion.”
He felt Kellaro moving, like an afterimage in his mental sense of self, poking and patting at Brant’s robes until the major had found the little metal disc.
“They’ll spot us the moment I turn it on,” Kellaro said as he pulled it out and examined it.
Brant sat up, rubbing his face, forcing himself to focus and look around. “The trees might stop them, if we get into a thick enough stand.”
“It might also prevent the ship from reaching us.”
“Have you got a better idea?”
Kellaro looked about. “I heard… human voices, while I was lying here. These walkers were manned. A couple pilots ejected out of as this one as it was coming down. If we follow their track…”
“You’re thinking of surrendering?” Brant was incredulous.
“I’m thinking their medics can stop the bleeding,” said Kellaro softly.
Brant looked down, but he could see nothing; only Kellaro’s breath gave him any clue, strained and uneven. “You stay here,” Brant said. “Put pressure on that. I’ll be back soon with help.”
Kellaro slumped back. “From the Alliance…?”
“No… but… how would you like to spend the night as an Zakuulian officer?”
“You have GOT to be kidding…”
“Not even. You’ll have to take off the armor, of course. I’ll find some insignia to pin on you. They’ll never know any different.”
“Crazy Sith,” muttered Kellaro, but he was too tired to argue.
“Stubborn Mando,” Brant replied, and he got up.