Cannon Fodder - Chapter 7: Untested - me_4eva (read on AO3)
So it's been a while, several side quests and a LOT of short trips later but I finally have the next chapter of my 'the Bad Batch has to run a mission with Krell' done! I started this with a few chapters in the bank but I am now very much updating as I go, so I'm completely beholden to real life which has lately had a tendency to take my entire life, shake it around like a snowglobe, and leave me going 'okay then. Someone remind me where I was?' HOWEVER. We're back with Hunter's POV and I know I say this every time but he really is having the worst day of his life so far... Excerpt, as always, under the cut!
Chapter 7: Untested
These idiots were going to be the death of him.
Hunter wasn’t entirely sure if the headache that was doing its hardest to drill through his skull just above his left eyebrow was just a headache or if it was threatening to become a migraine. He didn’t imagine his current commander would have much sympathy for either, but at least this time Tech couldn’t possibly say it was his own fault.
Krell’s ire was not abating much as the sounds of the argument behind them reached the peak of a crescendo. Hunter, unfortunately, could hear every word clear as a siren, but he couldn’t tell how much of it Krell could hear. Fortunately, neither Crosshair nor Wrecker were saying anything horrendously incriminating, but it would be nice if they stopped getting at each other’s throats about ‘who the enemy was’. He chanced a glance at Tech, if only to see whether someone with non-enhanced hearing could hear what, exactly, was being said.
That was another problem. Tech had certainly taken Hunter’s out from Wrecker by walking alongside him, but Tech hadn’t said a word to him all morning since unpacking his plan to take over the transport. Hunter was aware that he’d not exactly made friends with Tech by taking Krell’s side over sleep orders, but he had hoped that Tech, of all people, would understand how he and Krell had put Hunter in an impossible position. Something had to give, and unfortunately, Tech’s pride was what took the brunt.
The sounds of the argument behind them finally tapered off into the sounds of an almost lethargic pace behind him. Hunter dared to glance over his shoulder to see Crosshair walking at his usual, if not entirely efficient, stride, and Wrecker, who looked like someone had kicked his tooka.
Perhaps the reason that Wrecker’s and Crosshair’s argument was grating on his nerves quite as much as it was had something to do with the fact that everything else he was used to picking up – all the usual ambient noises, the feel of the planet beneath his feet, even the strength of the wind – all of it felt fuzzy to him. The sand was muddying every one of his senses. He couldn’t pick up the sensitivities of the planet like he was used to being able to do. He felt… blind. Like they could be attacked at any moment, and he wouldn’t be any the wiser. Their environment felt empty, certainly, but he couldn’t be sure. What if he just… couldn’t hear it?
Add to that the fractured squad, and it really was no wonder he felt so out of sorts.
“Pick up the pace!” Krell barked from his position some six feet in front of Hunter.
Hunter dared to chance a glance out of his periphery at Tech. He felt a twist of guilt at the very un-Tech-like expression that had hardened in his eyes. But with Krell as amped up as he was, Tech would have to wait.
Hunter lengthened his stride as he sped up to catch Krell, who had followed his own command. Krell didn’t look over to him as Hunter came up behind him, but acknowledged his approach with a harshness that Hunter couldn’t say entirely surprised him.
“Your men are out of control.”
Looked like they were jumping straight into it.
“It’s been a-”
“Don’t waste your breath, Sergeant,” Krell spat. “As I said to you before, they are undisciplined, immature and completely lacking in perspective.”
Hunter let his brow furrow behind his helmet. “Sir?”
“CT-Nine-Nine-Zero-Two has been looking for any excuse to undermine both our authority throughout this mission,” Krell growled. “CT-Nine-Nine-Zero-Four has followed his lead with his own blatant insubordination. And if he and CT-Nine-Nine-Zero-Three think I didn’t notice their argument earlier then they are not just naïve but dangerously stupid.”
Hunter hadn’t been in many command briefings as a serving Sergeant, but even he knew better than to chime in at this point.
“This is not some training course on Kamino,” Krell snarled. “This is an active mission. We are in hostile territory. This is not the place to be airing out their little disputes.”
“They know that-”
“And yet they still did it,” Krell said, the lines in his face harshening. “With no regard for stealth, or the fact that this mission relies entirely on secrecy, at the risk of jeopardising the entire Republic effort-”
Hunter’s eyes narrowed at that.
“Your squad is meant to be elite,” Krell finished with disgust. “I expected better from you.”
Hunter ran his tongue over his teeth, turning his head a fraction to focus on more of Krell. Krell let his golden eyes flicker over Hunter’s mask before he turned back ahead and let out a scoff.
“I am forced to wonder how much of your squad’s problem lies in their leadership.”
Hunter’s shoulders stiffened, his spine suddenly requiring much more effort to hold it up.
“I know how to lead this squad-”
“Oh, yes, I’m sure you saw your brothers through all sorts of trials and tribulations on Kamino,” Krell said in a tone not entirely dissimilar to Crosshair’s derision. “I’m sure you’ve been groomed and encouraged in all sorts of ways to believe whatever you need to believe in those sanitised labs and pre-programmed drills. And I’m sure you’ve got all sorts of tales about how you brought your squad together in times of difficulty, but I have seen the front lines of this war. I know what we are up against when we reach that base, and from what I have seen of your record, you have no idea what it will be like. And from what I have seen of your… leadership, you are woefully unprepared.”
The comment landed like a knife between his cuirass. He was aware that he hadn’t exactly excelled on this mission, but between the secret nature of the op, his own limited intel, and the planet itself, dulling his senses with the interminable sand, there wasn’t a lot he could do about it. That his senses were weakened by the planet may have been concerning, but he was more than his senses. He was a soldier, bred from birth with skills honed to terrifying efficiency. Even though he was… less aware than he usually was, he could still handle this mission. The squad could still handle it. Couldn’t they?
“General, this is what we’ve been trained for-”
“I’m sure that’s what you believe,” Krell said coolly. “But tell me, Sergeant: exactly how many missions have you run before this?”
Hunter swallowed, the ice dropping down his spine. He willed himself to answer, to open his mouth and offer up the number, but his voice caught in his throat, frozen by the same paralysing realisation that Krell had a point –
Because the number, still countable on his fingers, felt woefully inadequate.
“You see, Sergeant?” Krell said coolly. “And if you need further convincing, how many of those missions have you run where you have gone up against armies of battle droids thousands strong?”
Hunter didn’t bother answering – he didn’t need to.
“CT-Nine-Nine-Zero-Two was right about one thing,” Krell pointed out. “This base is more than you can handle. I have been in battles where we have been woefully outnumbered, and I have managed to snatch victories for the Republic regardless. The most you have done has been sanitized simulations where the peril you faced was little more than an arbitrary concept and a handful of light missions, stealing – what was it, most recently? A modified starfighter?”
Krell turned to lock Hunter with a piercing gaze. Hunter dared to hold it, grateful for the fact that his helmet covered his face, because he was not a good enough Sabacc player to school his face into something that didn’t reveal everything on his mind. Even his silence was revealing enough, evidently.
“You are out of your depth, Sergeant,” Krell said. “You are untested, and if I may offer my insight, I know that when that test arrives, you and your squad will fail. The cracks are there, as clear as kyber. And you, CT-Nine-Nine-Zero-One, will only have yourself to blame.”
