Clarity

Sparks from destroyed electrical panels briefly lit the interior of the shuttle as Dante slowly regained consciousness. "Ugh... What the..." the trooper moaned to himself as he looked around.

The attack on the ship had been an ambush once they had come out of hyperspace and descended into the atmosphere. "Guess the natives aren't as friendly as Xen made them out to be," he muttered as he unstrapped himself from the crash seat.

Looking around, he realized that there wasn't much left of the Lambda shuttle that was now crumpled up around him. Luckily, Dante had decided to ride out the cash from the rear compartment instead of the cockpit as that was now a massed up piece of scrap. Unluckily, the rest of the crew had been in there along with most of the survival supplies.

As he looked around for the closest hatch, it soon became clear that he was underwater as the effects of the crash began to wear off. Water was beginning to seep into the shuttle, and it wouldn't be too long until it was full.

Reaching out with the Force, Kell could discern that the craft wasn't sinking so it was probably on the sea floor, and the faxt that the pressure hadn't crushed both the shuttle and the Obelisk yet was a good sign that he wasn't that deep Bellow the surface.

After taking stock of what he had with him, it wasn't much than than his weapons. Dante clicked his comm on just to see if it would work, but no response came to his alarm mode. "Guess I will just have to get out of here first. Time to go for a swim."

The Obelisk strapped his gear on and swam over to the remains of the airlock. As the ship filled with water the pressure began to equalize, and, once it filled the airlock, Kell gave the door a helping hand with the Force. Exiting the shuttle, Dante looked up and saw the sun a less than 30 meters above. Slowly making his way up, Dante also controlled his body to avoid decompression sickness.

Finally he reached the surface to find debris scattered on the water. Spotting a large piece of a wing like, Dante swam over to it and climbed aboard. Looking up at the sky, the sun was just starting to set as the soldier hit the rescue beacon. The waves were gentle as he waited, and Kell pulled out his father's ID tags that he always wore around his neck. Looking at the worn objects that had seen thousands of days of combat wear, Dante smiled at thought of his father and all that he had accomplished. A career. A family. A group of loyal friends. Kell had achieved all of these but one. New thoughts sprung up as he waited patiently for his ride to arrive.

Later that evening, lights appeared in the distance and began moving towards Kell's position. Soon, one of the LAAT's of the Imperial Scholae Guard hovered above his makeshift raft.

"Field Marshal! Grab the line!" shouted the crew chief of the assault transport as he threw the rescue harness. The waves began to get choppy as Kell grabbed the harness and put it around him. After less than a minute of hauling, the commander of the Imperial Scholae Guard was aboard and then on his way to the new base that they were building.

As he sat there drinking the caf that the crew chief had provided him, Kell pondered the fact that he had been retrieved plenty of times over the years, but this was a bit different. It made him think of his father, and it made him think of... Someone else. Clarity. Such a simple thing, but it appears at the strangest times.