Bad Batch: Healer's Heart

Bounty Lost

"Hey, can you fly straight!?" Althea shouted at Tech as she bandaged Hunter.

"Apologies if Crosshair attacking is affecting my flying, Althea." Tech retorted.

The medic was about to snap back, but a groan from Hunter stopped her. The Sergeant was shot in the chest, but he was lucky. A few centimeters to the left and his heart would've been hit. Waist up he wore no armor, only his blacks. Althea had bandaged around his chest and over his shoulder, placing a med batch over his wound.

"Any sign of that bounty hunter?" He grunted.

"The only vessel in our scanners is Crosshair's and he's right on top of us." Tech replied as he maneuvered the Marauder around blaster fire.

"It's getting hot back here!" Wrecker shouted from the gunner's mount.

Tech pressed a few buttons. "Prepping to jump."

"Not without Omega." Hunter demanded.

"The bounty hunter who took her is long gone." Echo told him. "We'll have no chance of finding them if Crosshair shoots us down."

"Rear deflector shields are failing." Tech announced.

Hunter looked around, as if searching for anyway to help Omega. Finally, he sighed. "Make the jump."

Tech nodded, pushing the ship into the blue swirls. Hunter leaned back in his chair and Althea turned back to him.

"I need to finish." She said calmly. She took the loose end of the bandage and clipped it to the wraps, stopping it from coming undone. She looked at Hunter. He seemed so defeated, like his wound wasn't the only thing causing him pain.

Althea knew the Sergeant well enough to know he probably blamed himself for Omega's capture. But it wasn't. The bounty hunter was just faster, Hunter couldn't control that.

Wrecker came down from the gunner's nest, his expression a mix of relief and anxiousness. No doubt he was worried about Omega too, but unlike Hunter, he was confident in their ability to find her.

Althea wanted to find Omega too. She took the leftover medical supplies she didn't use and put them back in her bag. "Alright," She said standing up. She looked down at Hunter, who was still in the chair. "I'm not gonna tell you to rest, 'cause its obvious you won't. But I am gonna tell you to take it easy."

When he opened his mouth to protest, Althea rested her hand on his shoulder and conjured her best serious face. "I know you want to find Omega, so do I. But you're hurt, and Omega needs her whole squad to come back to, okay?"

Hunter seemed like he wanted to argue, but he said nothing. Althea nodded, walking back to the consoles and tossing her bag by a chair. She took a seat and began to search through the old Republic files for bounty hunters. She needed to find Omega. She refused to have that kid be hurt.

It wasn't long later that Echo joined her, taking the other chair and searching. Hunter and Wrecker stood over their shoulders, watching anxiously.

Finally, Echo spoke up. "Your description of the bounty hunter is a match to one from the Republic's files."

Althea and Hunter turned, the latter leaning over Echo now. "That's him." The Sergeant confirmed. An image of a blue skinned Duros with a brown hat.

"Cad Bane." Echo said as he read the file. "He had multiple run-ins with the Jedi and was responsible for attempting to abduct Chancellor Palpatine."

"First the bounty hunter on Pantora and now this guy?" Wrecker asked. "Why are they after the kid?"

"Because she is more valuable than we realized." Said Tech as he walked in from the cockpit.