Ask Back To Roots

[Riley Elin]

Riley tried to put as much distance as possible between her and AMS. She carried that guilt of making the original strain for years now, and it never got easier. As a result, she wandered out into the Outer Rim planets to attempt to help those in need. MorataCorp had begun to rapidly expand across the galaxy following investment from the ISC and countless camps and clinics were set up to aid AMS victims and war torn survivors alike.

Today she was on a planet that had two clans warring one another. It was a tumultuous situation, but it was exactly the kind of scenario she liked. While she was happy that it finally had nothing to do with AMS, there were countless war injuries to deal with. She was working around the clock in the tent, rapidly bandaging and patching up men and women that were injured by crude weapons.

The planet was within the ISC borders but it was too primitive for the military resources to have a presence just yet. However, ISC Rangers and other Rangers had been pinged to assist wherever possible to help curb the fighting.

Riley slipped off another pair of bloody gloves, wiping sweat from her brow as she stepped out of the tent. She took her mask off and exhaled deeply, glancing up at the stars and moon above. She had been working here since the sun began to rise.

 

[Nick Shaw]

Nick had needed to clear his head. The Sector Rangers had been his entire life up until this point, but now it was all going to shit. The Rangers had been fractured between the ISC and the New Republic. Nick hated it, they were weaker for it and he didn't give a good damn about political lines or the assholes the drew them up.

He had arrived at the backwater world shortly after the call for assistance had been sent. The ISC Military was still fractured, and in its infancy but if the world meant anything, they would have devoted resources to it. Instead, they asked for the Rangers to step in.

Nick had helped secure the basecamp's borders throughout the day. There had been some minor skirmishes, some had been injured. It was well after nightfall when he carried one such ranger, a kid really, to the medical tent. He had taken a blaster shot to the shoulder.

He stepped into the clearing outside the medical tent, spotting the familiar face. "You must be some sort of lucky bastard, kid." he said. "Doc. Elin." he said, hoping to grab her attention. "You are the last person I expected to see out here," he commented. "Mind taking a look at the kid?" he said, nodding his head towards the wounded rookie.

 

[Riley Elin]

“Nick!” Riley called out after staring for a second or two, “I-I mean Lieutenant Shaw,” She stammered before she quickly looked at the younger Ranger, “Of course, bring him in,” Riley said as she put her mask back on, helping carry the victim inside. The beds were mostly full, but there was one in the back that was still open. Riley helped Nick gently ease him down, quickly working to tear away at his armor and upper body clothing.

The young man kept groaning in pain and Riley injected him with a stim shot that kicked in at once. While he calmed down, she exposed his shoulder to take a look at the wound. In her opinion it wasn’t nearly as serious as he was making it out to be, but the boy was likely green. Riley worked to clean the wound, glancing up every now and then at Nick as she worked.

“Same goes for you, you know,” She said as she applied bacta, “I thought you operated in the Core worlds,” Riley glanced down towards his prosthetic hand, “How’s that been treating you?”

 

[Nick Shaw]

He chuckled at the mention of rank. It felt like a hollow title these days. He nodded as he brought the boy inside and helped lower him down into the bed. There was a part of him that wanted to tell the young cop to suck it up and rub some dirt in it, but the thought made him feel a decade old than he actually was. Dear gods, he was turning into that old cop, wasn't he?

He watched the Doc work her magic, taking a seat in one of the bedside chairs. He stripped off the armored vest he had been wearing all day and set it down on the floor. He pushed messy hair back as she looked up from her work. "Sometimes you just have to get out of Coruscant," he said. "Heard there was fun to be out here, and when you have some rank, fewer people to say no." he said with a shrug.

He flexed the robotic hand. It twitched slightly, gears making slightly louder noises than it likely should. "Peachy." he said. Truth was, the insurance for a Ranger was shitty and they had only covered a somewhat passable model, as the years had worn on, it was starting to give him problems. "Guess I should have warned ya, kid. The last time the good Doc here worked on me, I got this." he said holding him to limb, waggling robotic fingers. The rookie's eyes widened, mind woozy from the drugs before passing out.

Nick let out a chuckle. "How have you been? You look good, well besides the..." he trailed off, gesturing to the blood-stained clothes.

 

[Riley Elin]

Even with a mask on, Nick would be able to see the deeply unamused expression on her face from the remarks he made at the victim. Riley sighed as she watched the kid pass out, “You know I already feel enough like a bully…” She trailed off. She chewed on her lip nervously at the slip of the comment. She hadn’t told anyone about her past with AMS.

Riley quickly cleared her throat, glancing back at Nick’s prosthetic, “I can upgrade you to something better, actually. ISC has a lot of money to throw around apparently...the models they sent out are better than some of the stuff I’ve seen even in the Core,” Whatever the governing body was doing was certainly effective. Backwater planets that were always forgotten suddenly had supplies and resources brought in to support them.

She finished up with the kid and walked over to plop down on a seat next to Nick, “I feel like I’m finally doing what I was supposed to be doing all along,” Riley gazed around at the clinic, looking at all the people that needed help and even if they didn’t have the credits to ask for it. She looked back at Nick.

“It’s good to see you again. It’s been years since I’ve seen a familiar face. With everything going on in the galaxy I feel like…” Riley thought about Ender and his disappearance. She had no idea to this day if he died or what happened to him. She knew he was a Sith, and that was it, “I just expect something awful to happen.”

Riley shook her head, “Anyway, don’t mean to be a downer. What have you been up to? I hope they didn’t send you here to get involved in the fighting,” There was genuine concern in her tone.

 

[Nick Shaw]

He held up his hands in mock surrender. "Hey, we all get to be the bad guy's somedays," he said jokingly. She trailed off and he focused on Riley's eyes. Years of police training pulled at his senses, she was hiding something but he didn't press. No one liked being read.

He looked down at the prosthetic. "I don't know..." he said with an unsure tone. "Not sure I am ready to get in bed with these ISC folks." he said. "Its my experience that the more money someone throws around, the more dirty.." he finished, flexing his hand one more time. "Besides, I couldn't ask you to do that. You have better things to do than tend to this old thing." he said, leaning back in his chair.

He smiled genuinely as she looked over at her patients and then sat down. "I mean if you are going to bet, betting on the negative is pretty safe as far as the Galaxy is concerned," he said, leaning forward and looking over at her. "Its good to see you too. Its been too long." he said after a short pause.

"That's all they send us to do these days." he responded. "The Rangers are more pseudo-soldiers be pulled in all directions. One of these days, I just know I am going to be sent to fight against other Rangers," he said, chill running up his spine. There had to be something they could do. The Sector Rangers weren't meant to side with any one political faction, they kept the peace. "Look who is being negative now." he joked, though he didn't need much coxing these days to tip in the direction of pessimism.

He looked back at the young cop, passed out in the bed. "You get a break soon?" he said, stomach finally starting to turn in hunger now that he had slowed down enough to notice. "I was going to see about grabbing something to eat before I got back on patrol in a couple of hours." he asked.

 

[Riley Elin]

Riley couldn’t fault him for his suspicions about the ISC. In fact, she harbored much of it on her own. Emryc Thorne had the galaxy eating out of his palm and everything lined up far too conveniently. What else was going on and what was the end goal? She had seen enough to always suspect when something seemed too good to be true.

She offered a half grin at Nick, “I’m the reason you lost it,” Riley kept her gaze on his, “It’s the least I can do. Besides, if you’re going to be meddling in the nonsense out here, we all need you to be in top form, right?”

Riley’s face fell slightly as he mentioned being pitted against other Rangers. She hadn’t been in the Core in years, and she had never guessed things had been that bad. With the Sith becoming a huge threat to the galaxy, multiple bodies of government and militaries were ramping up their forces. Did the Rangers truly fit into that?

She was distracted from her thoughts when he spoke again, looking at him with a smile as he suggested getting food, “I was on my way out for a break when you came in, actually” Riley replied as she checked on the patient again to make sure he was stable. She stood from where she was, “The food options here are pretty crap, so don’t get too excited.”

Riley grinned at him, gesturing for him to lead the way. She motioned over another nurse to take over for the wounded Ranger while she was gone.