Chapter Text
The Pirate Queen was a tiny orange alien woman. Wrecker had not expected that. He also hadn't expected Sajaun to humiliate a random drunk. But from what he'd seen, Hunter had been seconds away from clocking the man himself before Sajaun knocked him over.
The Pirate Queen hopped up onto the seat next to Wrecker with surprising ease and observed them all with a slow peeking look as Sajaun and Hunter came over. The tiny woman smacked her lips, "Well, this outta be good."
"When did I ever give you anything different?" Sahaun asked warmly, sitting next to her, though Hunter remained standing.
"An interesting group you are." Maz Kananz nodded, eyeing them all again, "What are your names?"
Wrecker looked quickly around the table. Hunter looked torn, Crosshair looked suspicious, and Tech was studying his drink with what looked like single-minded focus. Sajaun more his gaze with a blank unhelpful look. She wasn't going to make him say anything. He didn't have to give his name. But when he met Maz's huge eyes in her fisheye glasses, he found he wanted to. "Wrecker."
Crosshair jerked, rattling the table as he looked up at Wrecker in nothing short of shock. His brother was always the skeptic, suspicious one of their squad. But sometimes, Wrecker had found it paid to show some kindness and trust.
"Yes. A good name. For a good man." Maz nodded, staring at him with keen interest like she could see his soul through his eyes. The moment was broken off as a server came over and deposited many steamy dishes onto the table in a while of arms and spices.
"Oh no- Maz!" Sajaun laughed as more dishes landed on their table.
"Nonsense! You are in my hospitality, so you receive food!" Maz beamed, opening her eyes wide, "We feast!"
"What is it exactly?" Tech asked, eyeing the brightly colored dishes.
"The protein is poultry of some sort baked in a seasoned tart dairy sauce. The carbs are grain cooked in a bright yellow seasoning that tastes like-" Sajaun paused, thinking, "Like soft music floating in from another room."
"And the veg?" Crosshair asked, poking the bright purple puffs on a tray.
"Ask Maz." Sajaun chuckled, filling up her plate.
"Roasted different types of veg with different seasonings!" Maz explained with a grin, "It's traditionally called Yogurt Chicken with saffron rice and roasted vegetables. An old native Scarif recipe."
"But the protein isn't chicken this time, is it?" Sajaun chuckled, eying the lightly green protein as she ate.
"No. I'm not sure what Cookie picked up. But it's poultry close enough to chicken." Maz shrugged, filling her own plate.
Wrecker watched as Hunter and then Tech, and then finally, Cross caved in and filled their plates. The food was not nearly as tantalizing as the food Sajaun had cooked them earlier, but it was just as delicious and filling.
The protein was smooth and slightly tart but still savory. The carbs were warm and subtle, and the veggies were crisp and crunchy and a harmony of spices in his mouth.
This was more than fuel; Wrecker mused as he purposefully slowed his eating to match Sajaun and Maz's unhurried pace. It was a shared experience.
"So," Maz finally said, licking her fingers clean, "What exactly is the venture you've undertaken this time? And why in the blazes do you need the old vaults opened?"
"You remember when you were a child, and I told you the story about the Sith and Jedi wars?" Sajaun asked, putting her cutlery down and turning to face Maz.
"Yes. You regaled me with tales that a hundred-year-old me probably shouldn't have heard." Maz chuckled, remembering.
"Yes, well, it seems the sins we buried during those wars have followed us home," Sajaun said tactfully.
Maz hummed thoughtfully, nodding, "And you need the bio uplink."
"And an extra pair of steady hands." Sajaun agreed, sipping her drink.
Maz blinked, "You found it?"
"Yep. A biochip in their frontal lobe." Sajaun nodded.
"And you need my help to cut it out," Maz turned and looked back at Wrecker and his brothers, squinting at them, "Which one?"
"All of them."
" ALL ?" Maz sputtered, looking frantically between Sajaun and the Vode in shock, "By all you certainly don't mean-?" The whole army. Hung in the air silently.
Sajaun knocked back the last of her drink with more force than necessary, "One thing at a time. Let's start with the vault."
Maz stared at her a moment longer in shock before shaking her head, "You are a wily one, Ja Ka. A wily one indeed."
Sajaun simply grinned and shrugged, finishing off her plate of food, "Shall we?"
They stacked their plates together on the serving tray before following the funny little orange woman down the spiral stone steps and below the hall. It was much quieter down below the loud hall, Wrecker noticed; only their footsteps sounded as they passed a few well-lit halls before turning down a much darker hall.
Sajaun lit the way with that green fire of hers, with a flick of her wrist illuminating the hall. In front of them lay a huge rock tumblers layer within each other—an old-school vault.
In unison, Maz and Sajaun held up their hands, and the tumblers rumbled, rolling against each other as they shifted the combination into the vault. The stone tumblers rumbled to a stop, and the center slid forwards this a hiss of stone scraping against stone, and the whole vault door rolled to the side in one chunk. Inside was a clean and sanitary surgical suite.
"What is this?" Hunter asked, frowning at the state-of-the-art area.
"This is the Vault. For a fee, people can use this room, no questions asked, with medical services provided. It's always clean, and it's one place that you can go where there is no danger of someone stabbing you in the back." Maz explained, waving her hand around.
On one side was everything one would need for medical care; on another, there were weapons lockers and some very clean tables. Beyond that was another hall going farther back but blocked by an inlaid steel door.
"What's back there?" Tech asked, examining the door and the keypad.
"That's where the items people pay to house in the vault stay." Sajaun said, hanging her cape over the back of a chair, "Let's get started."
"Who is first?" Maz asked, climbing up onto a hover hair and floating over to the sink to wash up.
First, Wrecker blinked, suddenly understanding, the medical suite, the secrecy; they were going to remove the chips here, right now.
"I'll do it." Hunter said before Wrecker could jump on the chance, "if we're gonna do this, I'm going first."
Wrecker knew that tone; it's the Sergeant tone, ironclad and booking no argument. It didn't matter if he was scared, and by the way, Hunter's hands were firmly clasped behind his back in paradise rest; he was; Hunter would set up and do his duty first, an exemplary leader for his brothers. Or so the long necks said.
"Alright. Lay down on the table," Sajaun nodded curtly and turned her back to them, giving them a moment of privacy, "Maz, would you be so kind as to man the bio scanner?"
"Certainly." Maz nodded, floating over to the large scanner dome, hands now freshly washed and in medical gloves, while Hunter hopped up onto the bed and laid down.
"Is that a Nabooian bio uplink scanner?" Tech asked, amazed, "It's cutting edge, state-of-the-art, rarely seen off Naboo!"
"Yes, it is. Alright, we're gonna start with a scan to ensure what we know, and then we're gonna surgically remove it. Alright?" Sajaun said calmly, booting up the surgical bot.
"How long will I be out?" Hunter asked, voice devoid of emotion.
"Most likely a few minutes to a half hour," Sajaun said, programming the bot now.
"Please lie still," Maz warned as she flipped on the scanner.
Hunter closed his eyes as a blue scan light passed over his face twice. Wrecker watched as the inner circle in the scanner whirled around a few times before it flipped off.
"Alright, there's a micro biochip in the frontal lobe on the right side," Maz said, pulling up the scan that confirmed the one's Sajaun had already done.
"Alright. Hunter, I want you to count back from 5 as the anesthesia takes hold." Sajuan said, placing a small tab on Hunter's neck.
"5, 4, 3… tw-" Hunter trailed off and went limp on the bed, dead asleep. Wrecker shifted, an uneasy feeling rolling in his gut at Hunter's unnatural stillness. Serg wasn't supposed to be that still. It wasn't like him.
"Alright, Maz, continue the scan. I want a complete record of this to study later." Sajaun ordered, securing Hunter's bed, so it didn't move, "anesthesia is taking hold."
"Alright, scan good," Maz nodded, eyes now huge through her glasses as she watched the scan, "Let's begin."
Wrecker watched, still uneasy, as the droid floated forward, blade extended. This was it. No going back.
Sajaun stepped into his line of view to watch the bot work. Not even two minutes later, the bot floated off, and Sajaun stepped back, placing a small metal petri dish in a bio holder, leaving a clean medical patch over where the scar would be.
"How is he doing?" Cross asked, concern softening his voice.
"He's holding well. Brain activity is perfectly fine. No hindrance whatsoever. It was completely unnecessary." Maz motioned to the brain scan.
"He feels good to me. Let's let him wake up on his own; we'll go from there." Sajaun said, peeling the anesthesia tab off Hunter's neck.
"How long will that take?" Tech asked, uncertainly.
"Couple minutes, probably," Sajaun said, going back over to the petri dish that held the chip.
"You gonna tell me what that is?" Maz asked, leaning back in her chair.
"You gonna get me that thing I asked for?" Sajaun countered playfully.
Maz rolled her eyes but floated over to the steel door and punched in a code, "Cheeky cheeky."
"What are you going to do with that?" Tech asked, coming over to look at the chip.
"Run scans on it. See if we can't figure out how it works. Then we can reverse engineer it to make it stop." Sajaun said, placing the dish in a different scanning device.
"The scan is spiking," Crosshair warned, looking up at the holo screen readout.
"He's waking up," Sajaun said, turning back to face Hunter. Wrecker reached out and gently took Hunter's hand. Hunter had always hated waking up alone.
"Hunter, can you hear me?" Sajaun asked gently but firmly. Hunter twitched and shifted a bit at his name before opening his eyes slightly.
"How do you feel, Serg?" Wrecker asked, anxiety washing through him. Force, he hoped this worked.
"Fine." Hunter said slowly, stretching his neck and gripping Wrecker's hand reassuringly, "Everything's fine."
Wrecker exhaled in relief: one down, three to go.