"So what do we know about Yalbec Prime?" Valerie asked. She was standing in the middle of the bridge. Hunter and Crosshair were flying the Marauder while Tech had insisted on changing Valerie's bandage. Wrecker was sitting next to Valerie, eating.
"Will you stop moving so much while I change your bandage?" Tech scolded.
"I told you already Tech. I'm fine." Valerie stated.
"I worry about infection." Tech said. "I can only imagine the stress you put the medic through with the 671st because you aren't listening to me."
"I was delightful to Ginkgo, thank you very much." Valerie scoffed.
"Are you two done fighting?" Hunter interrupted the two of them. "So I can brief everyone on the mission."
"You call that fighting?" Crosshair snarkily said.
"What do you call it, Cross?" Wrecker innocently asked.
"Don't you start." Hunter pointed at the sniper. Crosshair smirked.
"What's the mission brief?" Valerie asked.
"Thank you, Valerie." Hunter said. "The mission is simple. There is an insurrection, the queen has stopped reproducing which is causing her..." Hunter trailed off unsure how to phrase his sentence.
"Her subjects." Tech said, moving away from Valerie. "Yalbec's have two sexes, male and female. Female queens are responsible for producing more subjects. While the males are responsible for providing for the hive."
"What about the females who aren't born a queen?" Valerie asked.
"Typically they are killed moments after hatching." Tech adjusted his goggles. "But that's not always the case."
"Why does that happen?" Valerie shuddered.
"When males are looking to overthrow the queen they will hide a newly hatched female and in secrecy groom her for her new role and when the time comes the males cut off the old queen's stinger, killing a queen instantly." He casually said. "That is the only way you can kill the queen. For the rest of the hive you need vibro-blades."
"This will be easy." Wrecker cracked his knuckles.
"We're here." Crosshair said and the group turned, seeing the planet in their sights. Tech ushered Crosshair out of his spot. He took over controls.
"We're not here to like... kill the queen, right?" Valerie questioned.
"Ideally no." Hunter said. "Our goal is to figure out why the queen stopped reproducing and see if we can come to a peaceful resolution."
"But if not." Wrecker cracked his neck. "We'll be ready."
"Strap in Jedi, nothing ever goes according to plan." Crosshair whispered in her ear.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tech and Hunter landed the Marauder. Valerie patted her lightsaber and it was still resting on her waistband. The Bad Batch all had their backpacks and blasters. Each of them secured their helmet on their heads and Tech grabbed his data pad.
Valerie looked ahead of them and saw the castle. It was barren around the castle. Dead looking grass surrounded the castle. To the left of the castle there was a small wooded area. Valerie could hear the shouting of the male Yalbec's outside of the castle. They were shouting in their native tongue. One Valerie couldn't understand.
"Crosshair, get to some high ground." Hunter instructed. "Incase this all goes south I want you at the best advantage point and cover our asses."
Crosshair chuckled. "So nothing new."
YOU ARE READING
The Bad Batch Aftermath{TechxOC}
Fanfiction~Book two to Valerie's story~ What was only one mistake turned out to be the very thing that possibly saved her life. Newly appointed Jedi-Knight Valerie Ortis thinks her old way of life is over. She made a mistake and she knows that but that doesn'...
