Healer's Hands

The Bad Batch

"Slow down, slow down, slow down!!" Tech gripped the edge of his seat, his eyes wide with fear. Wrecker laughed from where he sat behind Althea, who was piloting the ship. She had a wide grin on her face, which six months ago was a rare site. She landed the Marauder in the Republic shipyard on Anaxes, pushing the various crates and carts away.

She chuckled as she stood. "That wasn't too bad."

"Yes.Yes it was." Tech deadpanned.

Wrecker punched her shoulder lightly. "Don't listen to him. He thinks I don't land well either."

"That's 'cause you don't, Wrecker." Hunter said as he put on his helmet. Crosshair flicked his toothpick away before slipping his own helmet on. Wrecker grumbled something or other as he put his helmet on, and Tech was already wearing his. Althea pulled her cloth over her nose, covering the lower half of get face as they exited the ship.

Outside, the troopers in the shipyard recovered from Althea's rough landing. All except for four. A captain, a commander, a medic, and an ARC. They stared at the Bad Batch as they came down the ramp. Hunter cracked his knuckles before taking off his helmet, and Wrecker tucked his under his arm. "The calvary had arrived!"

Tech, Crosshair, and Althea all took their face coverings off, earning even more confused looks from the ARC and medic. The commander in yellow nodded to Hunter. "Sergeant, good to see you again."

Hunter shook his hand. "You too, sir."

Althea remembered that it was Cody from the scar over his left eye. He turned to his colleagues. "This is Hunter."

Hunter nodded. "Sorry we're late, Commander. We were putting down an insurrection on Yalbec Prime when your comm came in. Had a few unforeseen... complications."

Wrecker chuckled. "Ever fought a male Yalbec?"

The ARC looked at the medic before turning to Wrecker. "Um, no. Can't say I have."

"You're lucky. Only way to kill 'em is with one of these." Wrecker took his giant vibro blade from it's sheath, showing it off to the regs before putting it away.

Hunter nodded. "That's right. Wrecker here cut off the Queen's stinger while she was still alive." His tone held a twinge of annoyance. "That's why all those Yalbec males tried to eat us."

Tech shoved himself next to Wrecker as Hunter rolled his eyes. "Uh, technically, they were trying to mate with us." Althea gave a disgusted laugh, but that didn't stop him. "And, for your information, the stinger of a Yalbec Queen is a delicacy on some planets."

"They call him Tech." Cody told the regs.

Hunter punched his shoulder lightly. "Yeah, he can fill your head with useless info for hours. Crosshair, on the other hand," He gestured to the scowling sniper. "He's not much of a conversationalist, but when you have to hit a precise target from ten klicks, Crosshair's your man."

"Unless he forgets his scope." Althea muttered teasingly.

A few of the regs gave her funny looks, but Hunter quickly introduced her. "Althea here is the best medic in the sector. She can fix you up better with a handful of dirt than some doctors in hospitals can." He turned back to Cody. "So, Commander, what kind of 'suicide mission' do you have for us this time?"

A gunship swooped down, landing just long enough to pick them up. "Let's get going." Cody said. "We'll brief you on the way."

The regs and the Bad Batch stepped on, Wrecked punching the ARC's shoulder as he took a seat.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

The gunship was crowded, and the air was tense. Crosshair stared at the ARC, Jesse, until it made him uncomfortable. "What are you looking at?"