Star Wars The Bad Batch: The Runaway

Chapter 49 - Broken Bonds

Ok, so this chapter is kind of bittersweet in a sense. You're going to love and hate Crosshair. Read at your own risk.

TRIGGER WARNING: Calli does experience an anxiety attack. I don't go into too much detail, but if it'll trigger you, please don't read. In the original posting of this I'd said it was a panic attack, but after some research and stuff I feel it's more of an anxiety attack.

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If there was one thing Calli hated, it was not being able to go on missions. The day after the vacation the team received a mission and when Hunter told her she couldn't go, Calli just about had a fit and asked why.

"Because you're the one who wanted a pet, and this mission might take a couple or more days and I don't trust that thing on the ship by itself until he's fully trained. So, you're just going to have to sit this one out." Calli tried protesting again, "If you keep questioning my orders, I will turn this ship around and we'll take Scruffy back to Naboo." That shut Calli right up, yet she still wasn't happy about having to miss out on all the fun.

So, she came up with a way to be involved with the mission. With Wrecker's permission, a small camera was attached to his helmet that connected to her data pad so she could watch what was happening and for added measure she also wore her own helmet to communicate with the boys. It was brilliant and Wrecker liked making Calli happy so he was willing to let her attach the camera - he'd be disappointed as well if he couldn't go on a mission. Hunter and Tech thought it was a bit much but allowed their little sister to do this if it meant she would stay behind without any more complaint and their ship would be in one piece.

So there Calli was, in her sleepwear with her helmet on, living vicariously through her squad mates. At first it seemed like a good and quite frankly ingenious idea, but the boys quickly realized the downfall of having Calli watch their every move. One of said downfalls were the comments made by Calli.

After she slid on her helmet and tuned into the comm frequency, Calli had said with enthusiasm, "Alright, let's flank 'em and spank 'em boys." The phrase caused the brothers to pause and each of them wore mortified looks underneath their helmets. Tech briefly wondered if he'd given Calli too much of the painkillers because she'd never said something so... odd. And the comments only got worse (and more critical) from there.

(To Tech after he almost ran into a tree.) "Hey speedy thumbs, get your nose out of that data pad and watch where you're going!"

"Yeah Wrecker! Rip that droid's head off! Now beat the others with it!" (Wrecker was happy to oblige.)

(To Crosshair.) "You call that shooting? A blind womp rat could do better!" Calli said all this from the comfort of her bed, munching on Mantell mix and drinking soda and keeping an eye on her furry companion who snoozed on the bed next to her without a care in the world that Calli was annoying the heck out of her brothers.

Before Calli had a chance to say something about Hunter, Crosshair had had enough, going over to Wrecker, he ripped the camera off of his helmet, and proceeded to throw it to the ground and crush it under the heel of his boot. Calli could only watch helplessly and when the screen went black, she pouted like a child after. That put an end to that.

So now Calli was on a mission of her own: training Scruffy so he could be trusted enough to be left alone. Should be simple right? The teen dubbed it "Calli's Cat Bootcamp" and was going to dedicate every waking moment to drilling new commands and habits into the small feline - kind of like Hunter did with Calli when she first joined the squad. But there was something Calli quickly realized after ten minutes in the first hour of cat training: Cats like doing whatever the kriff they want. It took a lot of bribing with food to get him to do anything, and a lot of the Nuna Jerky they picked up from Naboo was quickly gobbled up by the little guy as it was the only thing they had in the way of treats. But it was a for a good cause, Calli reasoned, so the others shouldn't be mad at her... for too long that is... maybe. Crosshair would be miffed, as he'd liked it the most, but Calli could care less about making him angry.