Star Wars The Bad Batch: The Runaway

Chapter 25 - First Mission

Once Cody left, the Bad Batch gathered in the cockpit to go over the mission. Callista was a mixture of excited but terrified at the same time. Sure, she helped with one mission, but that one was easy compared to this one.

They were to go to Felucia, where the Separatist droid outpost had been destroyed a few months ago by General Skywalker, General Plo Koon and Commander Tano. But the Separatists were still on the planet and keeping control of some of the farming villages where nysillin - a healing herb that the locals used - was grown.

The goal of this mission: get rid of the droids so the locals could be freed. The Republic was already freeing some of the villages, but needed help. Hence the reason the Bad Batch was called.

"How many droids are we talking about?" Hunter asked as they viewed the schematics of one of the villages. While some of the smaller fields could risk being destroyed, the hope was that the bigger fields could be preserved so the locals didn't have a big loss of their main export.

"They haven't been able to acquire an exact number, but definitely enough to where the locals are afraid to fight back." Tech explained.

"Are we going to get any back up?" Callista asked, and Wrecker laughed as if she told a joke.

"We don't need backup! Just give me a few grenades and we'll finish the mission in no time."

"We won't be using explosives for this mission unless absolutely necessary." Tech went on to explain how destroying the villages would leave the locals homeless and most likely angry with the Republic.

"We're going to have to get creative then." Hunter said, rubbing his chin in thought, "Using only blasters can only get us so far."

"What about droid poppers?" Callista asked and Hunter nodded, already thinking of that.

"Those will help. This mission won't be easy, but not impossible. Crosshair and Callista can get the high ground and shoot as many as possible from a distance. The rest of us will hit them with all we got and hope it's enough."

"Perhaps we'll think of something once we scout the area and see how many droids we'll be dealing with. If we're lucky, there won't be many droids now that the outpost was destroyed." Tech said.

With that final statement the Bad Batch nodded and dispersed. Tech remained in the cockpit, Hunter went to take a light nap before they reached Felucia, Wrecker went to see how many droid poppers they had while Crosshair checked and cleaned all their blasters to make sure they were good and ready to go.

Callista joined Wrecker in the cargo hold and fiddled with her own equipment to familiarize herself with it, but to be honest her mind was elsewhere. Callista rarely got nervous, but for some reason this mission was getting to her. Maybe it's because if she messed up somehow, there could be dire consequences. One of the others could get hurt - or worse. Callista's stomach churned at the idea that Hunter, Tech, Wrecker, and Crosshair could die if she made a mistake.

Great, if she wasn't nervous before, she definitely is now.

Wrecker striked up a conversation, unaware of Callista's increasing anxiety.

"So, ya excited for your first mission?" He asked with a grin. Not wanting to appear weak, Callista forced a smile on her face.

"Y-Yeah, totally." Callista responded, and she internally cursed herself for stuttering. Wrecker didn't seem to notice though and laughed as he thought of something.

"It'll be nice having another person in our little contest."

"Contest?" Callista repeated while tilting her head curiously.