Bad Batch: Healer's Heart

Replacements

Hunter walked to the back of the ship, ration case in his hand. Ever since they fled Saleucami, the Bad Batch had been in hyperspace. Echo had repaired the damaged parts of the ship, but they were still in dire need of a place to land. The Sergeant reached his destination by the gunner's mount. Althea and Omega leaned against an upturned Gonky. Omega was reading something on a datapad and Althea was drawing in her journal. The two of them shifted against the droid, earning a light chuckle from Hunter.

"Well, that doesn't look comfortable," He said. "For any of you."

"We're fine." Omega said sweetly.

Hunter reached into the box and took out two ration sticks. "Here. Chow time."

Each girl reached up and took one. Althea slid back down onto Gonky and stared at her journal. She looked distant, as if she was lost in her mind.

Wrecker jumped down from the gunner's mount. "Ah, finally!" He grabbed a ration bar and ate the whole thing in one bite. "Hit me again."

Hunter closed the box. "That's all for now. Rations are low."

Wrecker let out a groan, earning the attention of Omega. She looked down at her bar before reaching it up to him. "You can have mine."

Wrecker grinned and reached for it, but Hunter pushed him back. "Hey, Omega doesn't even have a place to sleep." He said quietly. "You wanna take her food too?"

Wrecker's face dropped. "Oh. Uh...No." He turned to Omega. "No, thanks. You keep it."

"Okay." Omega sat back down, munching on her food as she read.

"I guess I'm not used to having a little kid around here." Wrecked mumbled.

Hunter looked back at the girls. "Well, none of us are, but she's not complaining." He often wondered if he was even doing the right thing with Althea, but now there were two.

The lights flickered, causing Hunter to frown. "Echo, lights cut out again. I thought you said you fixed it."

The ARC fiddled with something in the cockpit. "Yeah, add it to the list."

Hunter could hear Echo complain about the lack of Tech's help, but the Sergeant knew his younger brother was working on something to do with their chips. After Crosshair, they couldn't be too careful.

Even the thought of Crosshair made Hunter want to clench his fists. How could he betray them, their squad, for some empire?

The Sergeant was ripped from his thoughts as the Marauder jolted. Out the window, Hunter could see the blue swirls of hyperspace change into the black void of space. He ran into the cockpit, grabbing Tech's chair for support. "Getting thrown out of hyperspace. I'd say that's pretty critical, Tech."

Tech flipped a few switches. "It's not affecting life support. We're fine."

"Are you kidding me?" Hunter scoffed.

"The power capacitor's blown." Said Echo. "We need to land immediately."

Althea gripped the wall for support. "Get ready for your first crash, kid."

Omega's eyes widened. "Crash?"

Hunter sat behind Echo, gripping the edge of his seat. "Girls, strap in."

Wrecker put the safety bar over Omega and Althea before sitting between them and strapping himself in.

The ship rumbled as Echo and Tech struggled to land. "I can't see anything!" The ARC groaned.

"Hold on!" Hunter ordered, his fingers digging into his seat. Gonky slid across the floor, stopped at the seat by Hunter.

"We're gonna die! We're gonna die!" Wrecker panicked. "We're gonna–" He stopped when he saw Omega's frightened expression. "Be fine. We're gonna be fine." He faked a smile, but the damage was already done. Althea resisted the urge to facepalm as she gripped the safety bar.