THE RECRUIT

PETH: History

Classified Imperial Base
100 KM, NORTH
Daro
LST: 15:04:17 // DAY: 16
Taipan

"You okay, Captain?" Taipan says eyeing Mech whose blue-visor had been staring at her for a minute or two. She waves a hand in front of his face.

"What?" Mech says shaking his head. "Uh, yeah."

"You zoned out there for a bit."

Mech straightens. "Sorry about that, Sergeant."

Taipan tilts her head. "Is that not what you say when you understand an order?"

"Drop it." Mech says and walks past her. "Focus on the objective."

"Yes, sir," Taipan says sarcastically and falls in step behind him. Is he saying that to me or trying to convince himself? She thinks as the ground starts to incline.

Taipan is careful where her feet land. The moss and loose decay of the forest make the ground unstable beneath her boots. She steps on something squishy and crouches down to inspect the strange plant. It's brown with a small dome. She picks it up. The stem is brittle crumbling beneath her fingers. She turns it over in her palm and beneath the dome are thin ribs that break under her touch.

She looks up and watches Mech scale up the mountain with ease. Having climbed a number of mountains as a soldier, this one is no different for him. His muscles are perfectly conditioned for any environment and his mind is hardened to endure everything war throws at him. But you can't train someone's heart to prepare for the absence left behind by someone you grew to love.

His head hangs low and his shoulders sag a bit. Trust is a two-way street. She reminds herself, hearing an echo of Mech's voice.

She lets the soldier go on a head putting distance between them. "You know..." She begins quietly. "We used to fight reprogrammed droids in Sycorax."

Mech stops and the glowing blue visor of his helmet looks down the mountain at her. The light casts through a strange fog settling in the forest.

"Hated those blasted things," she says standing up. "Sycorax curators managed to get their hands on whole squadrons of them."

Mech turns and keeps walking up the mountain. Maybe I shouldn't have started with droids. Taipan starts hiking again following loosely behind. You have more reason to hate them than I do.

"So, the war reached Sycorax?"

"In a way. It was actually neutral ground believe it or not. The war didn't exist on that ball of rock. Republic senators shook hands with Separatist sympathizers whom they would have happily blown to bits not hours before."

The asteroid was a goldmine and the gladiatorial fights were just a front. Taipan managed to find her exploring the secret tunnels— some of which were naturally occurring formations— took her to the loud machines deep within the core of the asteroid. "Untapped rhydonium my sheb. The curators were double-dealing the raw material."

Taipan snarls at the disgusting thought. Power hungry bureaucrats. She recalls an explosion from a conspicuous grenade tossed by a hand in the audience which sent a droid arm through her side. Droids were notorious for being their own kind of shrapnel. "Trying not to get surrounded was the tricky part."

Their footsteps squish on the soft ground. Insects faintly buzz in the audio sensors of her helmet. The comlink clicks.

"They were meant to overwhelm," Mech says his voice quiet, "And they were exceptionally good at their jobs."

Taipan sighs. "The war has taken one thing or another from a lot of people."

Mech remains silent. Sticks and pine needles crunching underfoot. Then he says, "What happened?"