#justifier

Part 14 - The Justifier

Crosshair jumped up from his chair.

"What are you talking about?"

"We were sabotaged, our accident was not actually an accident. A precisely placed explosive charge separated the ships in hyperspace. That we survived was pure luck and presumably not planned that way by the saboteur," Tech explained seriously.

Crosshair's gaze shot to you in the bacta tank, as if he suddenly was scared you could get hurt if he didn't keep an eyes on you, while you were sleeping in the Bacta tank.

"Do you have any idea who might have done this?" he finally asked.

Tech replied in the negative, "No, I'm afraid not, we need to be on the lookout either way".

Crosshair began pacing up and down the room, arms crossed in front of his chest. He didn't like the look of that. He wondered if the attack was on his brothers and him in general, or maybe just him. He hadn't exactly made friends during his time with the Empire.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Tech observantly.

Crosshair sighed, "Whether it might be my fault, whether I was the target."

Tech shrugged and said, "If it really was just you who was the target, the explosive charge was a pretty elaborate way to do it. That someone has accepted the death of all of us, including Y/N"

"So you think it's unlikely?" the Sniper probed, stopping to look at his brother.

Tech shook his head, "That's not what I meant, I just meant to point out that in this case someone particularly ruthless is after you if collateral damage of this magnitude was taken into account."

With a curse, Crosshair began pacing again.

"Where is Echo? He shouldn't be left alone right now"

"He'll be here as soon as he sends a message to Hunter" Tech clarified to his brother.

Tech watched Crosshair's movements the expression on his face and recognized the worry in it, the guilt.

"It's far from certain that whoever did this was after you. That being said, we're all still alive. There's no point in feeling bad about it," he noted, "We should focus on not being surprised like this again."

Crosshair looked at him in wonder, but then nodded.

"You're right, of course, as is often the case" the Sniper admitted "Do you think we can trust Calrissian? Maybe we can ask him for help again?"

Tech shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know. So far he's been very helpful, but I'm not sure he'd get involved in something like this"

" Are people talking about me here?"

Crosshair and Tech turned to see Lando enter the infirmary. He was smiling as he almost always did, something that made Crosshair kind of nervous in this guy. He always seemed like he was hiding something.

"More or less," Crosshair admitted.

Lando stepped further into the room and asked, "May I ask what this is about exactly?"

Tech and Crosshair exchanged a look. Basically, they both knew they'd better wait for Hunter and the others, but Crosshair, Tech and Echo were alone with you and probably too easy a target.

Echo appeared behind Lando and stepped past him into the room, stepping up to the bacta tank and casting a worried glance inside where you slumbered unsuspectingly to recover from your injuries.

"I sent the message to Hunter, but as expected I haven't gotten a response yet, they're probably still out of range," Echo explained, finally standing with his brothers.

"So?" asked Lando.

"Our hyperspace accident wasn't one, we found explosives on the Marauder. The blast separated our two ships in hyperspace," Tech explained.

"Sabotage, then? You sure pissed somebody off," Calrissian speculated.

"Probably," Crosshair replied.

Echo looked from one to the other, frowning, but said nothing for the moment.

"But I thought you guys were talking about me. What exactly does that have to do with me?", Lando inquired.

Crosshair glanced over his shoulder at the bacta tank. He was concerned, right now you were especially vulnerable and helpless.

"Right now, we're separated, not at full strength, so we may be an easier target," Tech began.

Crosshair continued, "I know you' ve already done a lot more for us than we would have hoped, but we were still hoping to ask for one more favor."

Lando looked from one to the other and smiled again.

"You are practically at my home, you are safe here. If you want, I'll have guards posted at your ships and here at the infirmary, for security," he suggested.

Crosshair nodded.

"That would be very welcome. Especially here at sickbay, since our friend is pretty helpless right now."

Lando nodded.

"Alright, I'll get right on it and make the necessary arrangements."

When Calrissian left the room, Tech finally asked what had been on his mind all along, "How's Y/N doing?"

Crosshair shrugged his shoulders uncertainly and replied, "Not sure, her vitals are stable throughout and I think the bacta is doing the rest, but she still has to stay in for almost 48 hours. So we can't leave here for now. I don't plan on getting her back out there in pain and dragging her somewhere. We don't know where we're safest anyway."

Tech nodded in agreement.

" I agree with you on that. Right now our options are still best here, assuming Calrissian keeps his word and doesn't stab us in the back"

Echo who had been silent all this time said, "I can understand why you did that, but I'm pretty sure we should have waited for Hunter before bringing in any strangers, no matter how helpful they may seem."

Crosshair spread his arms and approached Echo with a tight-lipped expression, "Then give me a better idea of how we can keep ourselves and Y/N safe for now? Any ideas?"

Echo sighed and said quietly, "Brother I am not your enemy. I probably would have made the same decision if I were you. I'm just saying Hunter will see it differently."

Crosshair lowered his arms again and sighed. He felt on the edge. That he didn't know who had perpetrated the attack was on his mind. But he certainly wasn't the only one.

Lando had just dispatched some of his guards to protect the Firefly and the Marauder, as well as the sickbay, when one of his subordinates approached him.

"Sir, there's a ship landed on deck 4, the identifier doesn't belong to any of our ships or any scheduled arrival today. Should I send some men to intercept the new arrival?"

Lando frowned critically, this felt strange and he had a feeling this couldn't be a coincidence.

"What's the name of the ship?" he wanted to know.

"Justifier, Sir"

"Justifier," Lando repeated the name, somewhere he had heard this name before, at least it sounded strangely familiar.

For the life of him he couldn't remember where he had heard that name before.

"What kind of ship is it?

"Seems to be a transporter with armament".

Lando gritted his teeth, "Transporters with armament are usually rebels or bounty hunters. Let's hope it's the first one".

Finally he nodded.

"Send a squad to intercept the new guests".

The man did as he was told then said, "When I asked for an identification, there was no response. It just landed, as if it knew we wouldn't shoot it down."

That didn't sound good, not good at all. Lando suspected that this newcomer had something to do with the attack on his current guests. He had only wanted to help and was now caught in the middle. The guys and the girl seemed like they' d be fine, he didn' t regret helping, but he didn' t really feel like getting into trouble either.

"Are the men at the landing platform yet?"

"They should be, yes. Should I contact them?"

Lando nodded.

"Yes, contact the men, I want to know who landed there".

When his subordinate could not make contact even with repeated attempts, Lando knew the matter was serious.

"Sound the alarm. Tell people to stay in their hotel rooms and apartments. Put all available guards on patrol, and send a few extra men to the infirmary," he murmured, making his own way there.

Crosshair jumped up from his chair when the alarm sounded, along with an announcement that all residents and guests should remain in their rooms and apartments. The announcement repeated three or four times, then only the alarm blared.

Echo, Tech and Crosshair looked at each other.

"Sounds like trouble," Echo muttered.

Tech nodded silently.

Crosshair cursed, his weapons were in the Marauder, they were all unarmed because Lando had insisted they not carry weapons on Bespin. He looked around the room in search of something he could use as a weapon in an emergency. But in this sterile room, no paraphernalia lay open.

"Please stay calm, I'm sure the problem will be fixed soon," the medical droid suddenly said in the background.

"Do you know what's going on here?", Echo asked the machine.

The droid nodded, "Indeed, all the droids located on Bespin are interconnected, that includes security cameras, service droids, protocol dorids-"

"Yes, yes I see what you're getting at," Crosshair interrupted impatiently "What's going on?"

"I'm not authorized-"

Crosshair was about to grab the droid when the door behind them opened and Lando followed by a couple of his guards entered the room.

"We've got trouble," he said seriously this time not his usual smile on his lips.

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