Rising Malevolence (Part 3)
Only 10 minutes had gone by since they were stuck inside the pod, still trying to fix the power. Catra didn’t hold her breath, she was exaggerating before, and for one thing she didn’t know if it would help or not. Boost and Sinker have been working on the wires and consoles since that was one of their specialities.
“The air in here is getting a bit stale.” Wolffe was sitting in his chair talking to Plo. Catra could taste the stale air and she didn’t like it, reminding her of the poisonous gases back home which was an occurrence you encounter when you’re part of a nomadic tribe, playing with the mask that hung from her neck.
“Don’t look at me. It’s Boost, Sir. He only takes a bath when he’s on leave.” Sinker joked as he kept fixing the wires, Catra laughed a little which they all needed to hear, she is still a padawan after all, don’t want her losing hope first.
“Save it. Just keep working on the pod, not your jokes.” Boost rolled his eyes watching Sinker closely.
“Do you think we’ve got a chance, General?” Wolffe asked Plo
“I don’t believe in chance, Commander. I know if we work together, we will stay alive, and someone will find us.” Plo’s voice didn’t waver, it helped Catra’s nerves as she believed what he said.
“With all due respect, General,” Sinker stopped for a second as he turned and faced them, “Strategically, it doesn’t make any sense for someone to come look for us. If I was in command, I'd be hunting that weapon down.”
“I value your life more than finding that weapon.” Plo spoke calmly and gently from the heart with that statement.
“Even if there’s no chance of any survivors, I would still look for them. No one is expendable.” Catra looked to Sinker who seemed to give that some thought as he turned to work on the wires again.
“Sir! There’s another pod out there!” Booster pointed out the viewport, another pod was floating nearby, it’s back to them.
“If we only had power, we could contact them.” Wolffe and the others watched the pod, Boost suggesting, “Well, how about we just wave hello when the viewport comes around?”
“I don’t think we’ll like what we see when it does. I don’t sense anything alive on that pod.” Catra spoke softly to herself as she focused and sensed something wrong. The clones didn’t want to believe it, Plo raised his hand and glided to the side, using the force to turn the pod. Revealing the glass had been cracked open, a dead clone floating in the busted viewport, another was floating dead inside.
“They’re dead! Someone busted that pod right open.” Wolffe looked on in disbelief.
“We are not alone out here.” Plo cautiously spoke, giving everyone an ominous feeling, but sometimes when you fear something, you can also prepare for what could happen.
Sinker and Boost got back to work, Catra watching from over their shoulders. She knew a little about power and electronics because of how she messes around with her Vambrace, but that’s when it’s peaceful and focused, on the fly however the best she could do was hack open a door, which right now wouldn’t help.
“Sorry if this is a bit rude, Catra, but what species are you? Don’t think i’ve met one of your kind before.” Boost questioned looking between the wires Sinker worked on then back on her. Catra always got this question when meeting new people so she’s become used to explaining it, “I’m a Cartorian, my home planet is Zilliam in the Balture system.”
“I only asked what species you are.” Boost chuckled a little, Sinker and Wolffe did the same while Plo was thinking about something.
“I know, but that’s usually the next question I get asked.” She laughed in response ears twitching and tail swaying happily, “Go on. Tell me i’m wrong.”
“You’re not wrong.” SInker mumbled as he worked on the wires, a smile audible in his voice.
“Catra, aren’t Cartorians usually species that rarely have force users?” Plo asked with interest, having done studies on most species, so he knew a few details, but you can always learn more from the source itself.
“You aren’t wrong, the closest in the tribes are the shamans, and they usually stay with the tribes.” Catra thought of the fond memories of home, “One of my parents is a Shaman, while the other is the chief. Rarely from those marriages a force user is born, there have only been two Cartorian’s that have become Jedi knights.”
“Do Shaman’s have the most knowledge in each tribe?” Catra nodded her head to Plo’s question, “Then perhaps next time I visit there I should seek one out to learn more about your culture.”
“Each tribe will have different knowledge about their tribes, but each tribe has universal knowledge as well. So if you want to learn more from my tribe, you’ll have to see my mom.” Catra shivered a bit, reminded of the days she had to spend all day inside a tent being taught, and getting in trouble each time she lost focus.
“No, that’s not it. This one goes there, that one goes there.” Sinker brought Catra back from her thoughts as he messed with the wires, while Boost was questioning him, “Are you sure? We don’t want to make things worse.”
“How are we gonna make things worse?” Sinker looked at him not really caring.
“You never say things like that, Sinker.” Catra sighed,her tail dropping to the floor and ears twitching.
“When you ask for trouble, you should not be surprised when it finds you.” Plo agreed with Catra.
“I think trouble already found us, sir” Sinker kept working on the wires, not really a superstitious person.
“What if we connect these two wires here?” Boost questioned while connecting the wires, and finally the power started up, the lights flicked before staying on.
“I’m getting something.” Wolffe was on the communicator fixing up the signal so it could come through, Catra thought maybe it was someone looking for them, but it was worse.
“This is pod 1977! We are under attack! Is anyone out there?!” Were the words that came through the communicator instead.
“It’s one of our other pods!” Wolffe was trying to boost the signal.
“I repeat, we are under attack! Is anyone out there?” The clone said again, sounding more desperate by the second.
“That signal is weak. They must be close by.” Plo looked to Wolffe as they all focused on the communicator, looking out the viewport.
“Try homing in on that singal to find them.” Catra suggested looking at the console pressing a few buttons herself as it was becoming clearer.
“They’ve locked on to our ship!” The clone repeated those words even more terrified than before, “Our position is mark 12 at .26”
“There they are!” Catra pointed a claw getting everyone’s attention as they followed the path of her claw. The pod was in sight, and latched onto it was a pod hunter, designed to destroy pods, to leave no survivors, a reason no one came back alive.
“Pod 1977, do you copy?” Plo hoped his voice was getting through, sounding like it did.
“The droids are hunting for survivors. They’re cutting through!” Those were their last words, she watched as the droids cut open the glass sending two clones into the void, quickly dying in the vacuum of space.
“Things just got a lot worse.” Sinker started believing the superstition, as everyone looked at him just slightly annoyed.