Imperial Intelligence had learned a lot from Cipher Agent Thirteen. As the first of Intel’s reptavian werebeasts, he was placed squarely on the cutting edge of that arena of science, whether he intended to be or not. Neither bird, nor reptile, nor fully mammal anymore, Thirteen had become a grab bag of werebeast fun.
He showed Intel the need for the reptavian to shed its skin – sometimes in rather spectacular and gruesome ways.
He showed them the need for the reptavian to molt, despite inconveniences to mission timelines.
He showed them the need for a rather carefully curated diet, the desires of both the hawkbat and the human body fighting to be known with preferences that became difficult for Thirteen to spell out.
Reptavian werebeasts were not low maintenance. The merging of mammalian genetics with reptavian – once thought to possess fundamental incompatibilities, until Thirteen unexpectedly survived his first transformation – certainly led to a number of quirks that were not for the faint of heart, or for a Watcher with a lesser opinion of himself than Five.
However, it did prompt the conclusion that the genetic fusion of such dissimilar species would preclude most, if not all, independent maladies. It was listed such in Thirteen’s medical record:
RISK OF HUMAN ILLNESS: UNLIKELY
RISK OF HAWKBAT ILLNESS: NOT APPLICABLE
So, while Thirteen received all the standard inoculations for human agents, per protocol, it was deemed unnecessary – even risky – to burden him with a vaccination series meant for a species completely incompatible with his own.
That conclusion was wrong.
* * * * *
It wasn’t strictly a resort world, but it could have been. The lush, foliage-covered land above descended in colorful cascades along steep fissure walls into the Below. Houses and businesses cascaded with them, steep roads winding up and down the dramatic slopes in tight switchbacks between narrow avenues. Brightly-painted structures, with their rooftop terraces and gardens, clung tightly to the rock, sometimes fusing directly with it. The city was a riot of color in mica-studded paints, bursting floral displays, flocking rainforest birds, swarming iridescent insects and dancing butterflies. And it all thanked its unique existence to the alignment of the Fissure along the slow, daily arc of the sun.
The Fissure itself was no mere crevice, either. A massive, ancient crack in the planet, the north side was several kilometers away, likewise decked with the other half of Fissure City, though it saw somewhat less of the sun, the lower districts curving inward toward shadow. Multicolored blimps traversed the skyways between the north and the south faces, adding to the bright rainbow of color. Somewhere, toward the Below, both sides descended into darkness and bioluminescent growth, where Fissure City became the Outskirts, and then the Fringes, and then … well, if a word existed for whatever might be the equivalent of countryside, except vertical, and down, and dark, it would be that. And then, whatever came after.
The Below.
It wasn’t the Below that interested Watcher Five and Cipher Thirteen, though. That was the realm of adventurers and explorers and fringe science, and possibly Czerka (probably Czerka). What interested Five was some contact, in some fancy, terraced place trying to make Alderaanian marble columns work, and also possibly some ancient, faded, and ridiculously expensive tapestries in a shop several avenues down.
What interested Thirteen was none of that, because he wasn’t needed, at least until later that night, for dinner. What interested Thirteen was the lovely little jacuzzi garden in their three-room suite, the view from the gleaming white resort window across colorful garden rooftops and into the Fissure, and the playful colony of hawkbats darting along the canyon walls to the right.
So, while Five readied himself to head out – in? Up? Down? – to the city, Thirteen lounged in the bed under snow-white, textured covers, gazing out the balcony lit by late morning light as he leisurely finished breakfast. The holoscreen, tuned to some local news station, droned on in the background.
“-rown into a pandemic. Residents are advised to keep an eye out for indications of Shriek Fever …”
Five’s words, also in the background, instructed Thirteen to stay here, enjoy the room service, maybe do some shopping. He’ll be back soon.
Excellent. Lovely. Yes, Thirteen will do exactly that.
He didn’t.
* * * * *
His wings beat hard, wild, and purposeful. He flung himself through abrupt course corrections, his own aerial switchbacks, path chaotic to an outside observer. He’d never smelled air so fresh – alive and unruly, it gusted in cool, brisk updrafts from somewhere Below and warm, comforting downdrafts from Above. Damp with cave dew, it carried the scent of hard, wet mineral; sun-kissed greenery and shaded springs; heady florals; sweet, succulent fruits; and rich, fresh-baked breads.
He’d never seen hawkbats so colorful either. On Coruscant, they came in shades of purple and tan, like himself – a particularly brilliantly patterned specimen (purely objective observation). Here, there were purples … but also blues, some greens, the occasional red. His diamond patterning was stripier in these creatures, and while many had yellow-green fronds like him, more seemed to have theirs bright neon blue.
They darted through the air together. In pursuit of both cave slugs and fluttering insects, this colony was significantly livelier than the ambush predators in most skyscraper cities. Hard to tell if they were shaped much differently – Thirteen understood his own form was still growing, and they matched him in sleek, sharp angles, wickedly hooked beaks and long, lashing tails, and that graceful, tight S-curve to the neck.
It was something to explore the vertical city this way, skirting the rooftops and their gardens, climbing the sheer face of the cliff, wheeling out over the fathomless, dark abyss and knowing there where things down there – but not what. Thirteen flocked with the hawkbats through the beams of cheerful sunlight above the pitch darkness, and flitted among the garden canopies. Someone had set out a large, ceramic bowl of lusciously fresh fruit – for later or for them – and the sweet nectar drew them to crowd around the rim as they gorged themselves and bickered for purchase.
Heavenly.
Thirteen returned with plenty of time to decorate his Watcher’s arm for his fancy dinner with some so-and-so.
He got to preen and eat from Five’s hand.
* * * * *
The next morning saw Five take off relatively early – probably for the tapestries this time, perhaps even with the so-and-so from last night. It didn’t involve Thirteen, so he didn’t care.
The headache kept him dawdling a bit longer in bed than yesterday, where he splurged on more of the fresh, local fruits, smoked grophet bacon, and crispy-fried seasoned tubers. Shrieking hawkbats finally drew him up and out, when the sun was high between the Fissure walls and the up- and downdrafts came to life.
He recognized a few from yesterday – that red reptavian easily drawing his eye. They swarmed out across the Fissure today to bother the airships, catching treats thrown from the passengers until low, bellowing horns rattled their vision and drove them away.
And then it came – the Big One. Chimes on the tethers guiding the blimps provided the first silvery warning. The transports had just enough time to clamp down on the ropes, before the massive updraft hit, setting them swaying wildly. Cold, almost frigid, and driven by some unknown mechanism, the air column howled up from Below, and sent the hawkbats soaring.
Up, up, past the glittering roofs and gleaming greenery, up along the cliffside and higher still, a flashing rainbow swarm. They crested the lip of the Fissure and soared outward across the Above. The landscape stretched wide before them.
Green, leafy forests. Golden plains. The sparkle of a river in the distance. Orchards as far as the eye could see.
The hawkbats dispersed to feed upon the fruits.
* * * * *
What lovely, delicious, succulent thievery.
If only it had helped his headache fade. Thirteen lifted his head from the dripping, hollowed flesh of whatever the local crop was, only to prompt a painful pounding behind his eyes.
Water would be nice. Chronic dehydration had always been his problem. Five kept telling him he needed to drink more.
A familiar scream made the fronds at the back of his head twitch, flashed an echo of the surrounding orchard and the originating hawkbat into his mind and across his vision.
How curious. She was on the ground. Hawkbats didn’t ground themselves.
Another scream. And another. The images in his mind crisped and flashed, like stop-motion, to show her staggering around as if she was drunk.
Oh. Got into some fermented fruit, perhaps?
With a snort, he took another head-sized bite from the fruit. His head throbbed. Right. Water.
The hawkbat screamed again. Why would she call such attention to herself?
Well, he was going to hunt for water, anyway. His throat felt parched. Launching himself from the perch, he winged his way toward her. A sudden throb at the motion reached his horn and turned everything red for a brief instant.
Damn headache.
Her screaming made her easy to find, and after a quick beat around the area, he descended into the middle of the orchard.
There she was. Oh. The large red one.
She shrieked, staggered a little more, and shrieked again. Her colors seemed oddly pale. She’d bring predators down on herself, if she kept this up.
Thirteen watched her. She clawed at the dirt on all fours, wings awkward on the ground. Her head swayed to and fro. She’d start off in one direction, only to change her mind and go in another.
Yes, drunk. Probably.
Well, that wouldn’t do.
With a small hop, Thirteen gained enough air to dart at her, flapping his wings in her face. That’s it, get off the grou-
She recoiled, beating her own wings, only to flop over and remain grounded.
Thirteen tried again. And again, swooping low, trying to prompt her back into the air.
Stubborn, little …
Whatever she’d gotten into, it must’ve been potent, because she was having none of this. Thirteen was only making himself dizzy, and her screams were making his head pound and his horn throb. Fine.
She would just need to figure it out on her own.
He veered away, with one last look.
She continued to stagger, with intermittent screeching, across the orchard floor, a bright, erratic splash of red against the green and brown.
Hopefully, she’d figure it out.
* * * * *
Thirteen wound his way through the orchard, deciding he needed to feel the air a bit before heading back to Five. The shadows were getting longer, air cooling as the light warmed. There was the river, a lively, laughing slash of silver in his enhanced audiovision, a sparkling, luminescent color that didn’t exist in human wavelengths. The trees, leaves beginning to turn for autumn, sighed in gentle tones that tickled his horn and etched every leaf and edge of bark in a strange shade of blue he had no name for. By the shade, he could tell the leaves were beginning to dry out in preparation to fall. The river bank was a darker shade, wetter, matted with leaves already down. Flying insects were sparks of hyperviolet as their sounds pinged against his horn. Others that alternated between sitting, hopping, and strumming changed colors like delightful little sparklers.
And then there was the wind he could see in all its little gusts and eddies, the way it moved the foliage like a three-dimensional ripple. Usually, it was poetic, soothing.
Today, it made his horn ache.
He wondered if that red hawkbat ever got off the ground.
A quaint, wooden hut with a working water wheel appeared around the bend – so that’s what that strange, lumbering noise had been. Thirteen flit around it in minor, disbelieving awe that anyone would still use such a thing. Maybe it was historical.
He settled up under the eaves, talons and hooks nestling easily into the old, soft wood, to watch it work. It was oddly satisfying, the sound rolling over him in rhythmic, clacking waves. His eyes grew heavy.
Maybe he’ll rest here a few minutes.
* * * * *
Consciousness returned with an abrupt, deafeningly painful roar. Thirteen’s head jerked up and whipped around as he prepared to leap away from the threat.
A mistake.
A heavy, iron javelin stabbed behind his eyes, his vision whiting out from the intensity of the pain. It radiated from his nose, through his skull, and down his neck. He recoiled, talons curling tightly into the wood as his eyes scrunched shut, tail hooks tearing splinters away.
The hell.
The initial sharp spear subsided into a dull, but heavy throb that beat along with his heart and placed his head into a vice. The roaring in his ears didn’t help in the least.
It took a good moment before Thirteen realized the infernal sound was the water wheel. The water wheel.
Something is very wrong with it.
Upon that realization, he fell away from his perch, to wing back through the woods and escape. Somebody should see to that thing. If he had any idea who was responsible, he’d submit a maintenance request.
And a formal complaint for disturbing the peace. Unacceptable.
But the noise didn’t really fade as he got further away. It still howled in his skull and made his eyes water. He shook his head, and that was another mistake.
Sudden vertigo sent him tumbling, wings having to beat frantically to set himself upright. A screech to help reorient himself made the world pulse in searing light. Afterimages threw the imminent trunk of a tree into his face, and he swerved to miss it, only to feel bark scrape his other wing. Startling again, he threw himself upward and crashed into a network of leaves and branches.
Talons hooked into them and held them fast while he panted, green eyes wide.
The hell was …?
Okay. Nothing, that was nothing. Dehydration, after all. He’d fallen asleep without partaking of the water. Like an idiot. Five will yell at him when he finds out, and Thirteen will deserve it.
He should really get back to Five. He really didn’t feel very good.
Right.
Which direction, again …?
Talons tightening as he glanced around with his throbbing head, it was … oddly hard to tell. The woods looked different from here. They pulsed, painfully, with his heart, with his breaths, with the wind shuddering through everything, and he wished everything would stop moving.
Okay. Well. He’ll go back to the water wheel and cross the river. And then it’ll look familiar.
… He hadn’t already crossed the river, had he?
No.
Had he?
No. Maybe? No.
It’ll be obvious when he gets back to the wheel what side he’s on.
Okay.
He dropped from the tree.
Immediately, the ground jumped at him. With a squawk, he thrust himself back up; the branches just there scraped his fronds and prompted a yelp. He ducked and the ground was there again, he kicked, felt nothing, and beat his wings with another cry.
The world pulsed.
Fly. Fly.
Just find the wheel.
The woods were a lot more crowded here. Trees jumped at him as he darted through, to and fro, around and about, narrow misses that made his skin crawl. It’s fine. It’s normal. His cries and his horn will guide him through, as always.
But he couldn’t pick out the wheel in his audiovision. The world roared. Beyond the immediate trees it was a jumbled smear, like staring into the sun.
It was bright. Loud. Bright. Deafening. Blinding. It was both, they were the same.
He screamed to find his way, and branches leaped at him like sudden claws. Heart jumping, he swerved, screamed, had to swerve again.
He could barely look. It was so bright it hurt. But he had to keep going.
Lungs became tight from abrupt, last-minute acrobatics. Air began to rasp in his throat. His heart pounded, and his skull felt like it would split.
He’s getting close. Right?
A tree. Swerve. Another. Dodge. Again. Swerve. Left. Right. There were so many. There. Yes. And there. Yes. And- Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes. No-
If it made a sound when he slammed into the tree, Thirteen didn’t hear it.
Lean on me, the wolf finally said after a long suffering sigh, her voice tight and terse.
She did not want him to. The thought of any part of him resting against her was repulsive, but she was just as unwilling to leave him hobbling in the distance as she was to take him on her back. With gritted teeth, she let herself support him, and ease some of the weight on that troublesome leg.
She wasn't expecting the way Five not only leaned in, but lifted his hands to her face, the movement instinctive and unexpectedly needy.
Ahuska stiffened, holding her breath, waiting for him to realise what he was doing, but he did not seem prepared to move in a hurry.
Well that was an experience and a half. Solving the saga to GET HERE was fun (especially with Thirteen's infiltration and Five's riddle solving coming into play) but dealing with that glitchy hellscape at the end was another matter entirely.
The holo crackled; briefly, the image lit up in front of them. Crow and Torian stood back to back, blaster bolts whipping around them. “We’re the only ones left,” Crow didn’t look into his comm as he spoke, as focused on deflecting the bolts as he was. “Got some damage to my wing but…”
“We’re going to be overrun,” Torian cut in, his voice weary but determined as he lined up another shot.
The other signal interrupted him, and Vette looked far more harried than the others. “They’re gonna squash me like a bug. I need help here…!”
Five and Thirteen exchanged a look.
“You go for her,” Five said, setting his hand on the massive monster hawkbat’s beak. “You can cover the distance better.”
Thirteen knew it was the sensible choice, even if he was loathe to leave his Watcher to carry on alone, and even more furious not to be immediately taking off after Crow. He warbled softly, pushing his head forward to press his beak against Five’s cheek before kicking off into the sky.
Five looked back at the comm, but the signal had already cut out. “Just hold on,” he murmured, before trading out the comm for a stimpak and jamming it into his leg. It was time to move.
–
The hawkbat was swift, and lethally efficient.
Five’s momentum was hindered, however, as even with the stims his leg was wearing on him, and he found himself leaning heavily against a tree before it gave out completely. He told himself Crow could handle whatever was being thrown at him. Even if his cybernetics were damaged, he was quick, sharp, strong, and as lucky as they came. With Torian at his back, he’d be fine. He’d be fine.
Still, while Five waited for his next round of painkillers to set in to let him continue without blacking out, he tried to comm them again.
Expecting at worst to receive no response, Five felt a hideous chill when instead it was Vaylin that answered.
“I seem to have acquired a couple of your pet Mandalorians,” she sneered. “I didn’t realise some of them came with lightsabers, but, oh, that’s not an issue any more…”
“Don’t you lay a hand on them,” Five hissed, grateful that she at least didn’t seem to recognise Crow, didn’t realise just how important one of her captives was to him. Or to Thirteen.
“Now now. I’m the one calling the shots here, aren’t I? If you’d like to see them again, come to the co-ordinates I’m sending, and bring your other little pets along. The fancy bird that my father lives in, and the pretty white wolf that keeps stitching you all back together.”
“You let me speak with my men first,” Five countered. “Prove to me you have them alive.”
“That’s not how this works,” Vaylin answered, laughter in her snide, sing-song tone. “You have my terms, and you’d best meet them quickly. They’re counting on it.”
Taking this one nice and literally because Five is an absolutely insufferable gourmet. The kitchen is his safe space, and cooking is his love language; to have a meal prepared by him is to know that he thinks highly of you, or needs something from you.
They walked, side by side in deathly uncomfortable silence, single minded unity of purpose the only thing keeping their simmering thoughts at bay.
Five loathed how many of his own steps he needed to match such a casual looking pace for the wolf, though he didn’t dare suggest slowing down.
Ahuska saw the way he shook. The way the pace was wearing at him, the tremor in his bad leg every time it took his weight. And still he walked doggedly on, as stubborn and proud as always. Idiot.
Finally, after catching a grimace that she was fairly sure he’d hoped for her not to see, she came to a halt, paws firm on the ground, head lowered as she waited for him to acknowledge that she’d stopped.
“What?” Five uttered, when he finally paused to look over his shoulder. “Have your wolf senses started tingling? Is the Force whispering secrets at you?”
She wrinkled her muzzle in a sneer, then answered softly, pressing her words directly into his head. Your leg. It’s slowing you down. I can try to do something for that.
“I’m fine,” he snapped, turning swiftly back about and striding off again.
She was beside him again in an instant. Why are you such an ass about getting help?
Five tightened his lips and forced his eyes to stay fixed dead ahead, steeling himself with every step he took. She didn’t deserve to see his weakness, not now, and it was grating enough to know she’d already done so much to keep his infection at bay without giving himself any more reason to be in her debt. Their goal was the only thing that mattered.
But her intense blue gaze remained on him, and he found himself hating the fact that she still managed to navigate the terrain so elegantly while laying that constant, silent judgement on him.
“Why weren’t you watching him?” Five finally spat, bitterness sharp on his tongue.
The wolf’s eyes narrowed. Excuse me?
“What’s the good of it? What’s the good of your showy little Force magic if you can’t even tell when someone you supposedly care about gets stolen away…”
Ahuska snarled as she shoulder-checked him, rounded on him as he stumbled and was brought to his knees. Are you blaming me for this??
Five bit back the pain as another tremor wracked his bad leg and channeled it into the savage stare he shot her way. “You get inside people’s heads, don’t you? You certainly haven’t stopped inviting yourself into mine. Couldn’t you see? Couldn’t you read his thoughts and know when they started going wrong? Why didn’t you know-”
Ahuska drew herself tall and flared her wings, utterly dwarfing the former Watcher on his knees in front of her. How dare you. How dare you blame me for what you failed to see yourself. You think conversation is the same as mind-reading?
“You’re a Jedi-”
You’re his HUSBAND.
Five hesitated at that, feeling his cheeks flush with simmering fury.
Ahuska gripped tight onto that pause. I don’t go inserting myself where I’m not welcome.
“You did exactly that back when-*
Don’t- Her voice thundered into Five’s mind as she set her teeth against his shoulder and shook him once, sharply, back and forth in a painfully physical warning. Don’t you dare. Ulfran was manipulating me and Thirteen every step of the way and I never, never would have done something so compromising to him if I’d understood anything about what was happening.
Five was shaking, whether from pain or from rage. “And yet you did. You connected with him in a way I never could, didn’t you? Just like you pulled us all together against Valkorion, you can feel what he feels and you never noticed, or you noticed and didn’t care…”
I will rip your revolting tongue out of your mouth if you don’t stop that, you absolute sha’bla chakaar.
Five’s nostrils flared as he seethed, but held his tongue while her fangs still hovered so close to his skin.
You ass. You complete pair of shebs. The Force doesn’t just press a buzzer in my head to let me know something’s not quite right. I would have to be looking, actively looking. Watching. Listening, every day, to notice the changes Ulfran makes. I’d have to be spying. I’d have to be violating Thirteen’s privacy. I do not do that to anybody, let alone someone who matters so much to me. I love him, you stupid, spineless blister of a man, I love him and respect him even if you and he both hate to hear it. You are the one whose ring he wears and you are the one who should have been paying closer attention. You’ve been so afraid of conflict with him that you haven’t even had enough basic conversations to realise what was happening. You let him visit Ulfran, not me. You gave that wretched Sith free reign with the love of your life. You’re the one who’s made a life out of Watching… Even without using vocal speech, the word felt like acid on her tongue, and she took bitter satisfaction in seeing the way it made Five flinch. You’re the one with the shock collars and the mental restraints and the control words and listening devices and tracking chips. Why weren’t you using all your little tricks and tools to keep an eye on him, keep him safe?
With those words, something in Five finally stalled. He kneeled silently on the ground for a drawn out moment, his body wracked with tiny tremors, his knuckles white across his balled-up fists. Finally, with a great mustering of effort and resolve, he pulled himself back onto his feet. He adjusted the collar of his long coat, dusted off his hands, and lifted his gaze to meet the wolf’s eyes. His rage was tempered; to her, now, there was just a hint of understanding. His voice was soft.
“I don’t do that any more.”
He stepped off again, and this time she moved half a pace behind him, ready to catch him by the collar if his leg gave out again.
