A/N This is going to be a series of oneshots from the same storyline. Please read and review :)
Just Him
"Who is it?" she demands, shaking the new recruit roughly. "Who didn't come back? I asked you a question!"
"It… it was Commander Up," the recruit stutters. "He told us to leave."
Of course, of course he would, that idiota. There's a part of Taz that hates him at that moment but most of her being is concentrated on not letting those damn rangers know she's coming to pieces. She will not cry in front of them, even if she has to stun them all.
"I want to hear exactly what happened now!"
When the recruit starts to speak she barks at her.
"No! Not you, you little worm! Someone I trust. Oi! Krayonder, you candy ass!"
Krayonder steps forward tentatively.
"Lieutenant Commander…" he says sadly. "It just sort of happened. We were outnumbered so he gave the order to retreat…"
"So you obeyed him? Estupido! This is all your fault! The Commander would never leave a man behind, even a candy-ass like you, Krayonder. Never!"
And no one knows how to react as Lieutenant Commander Taz, the toughest starship ranger to ever live, starts to sob into Krayonder's shoulder.
"Erm… Lieutenant Commander… he said I should tell you something…" Krayonder tells her cautiously.
"Yes?" she snaps. "Out with it."
"Erm… he said not to send out a rescue mission because it was just him; it isn't important enough and um… remember the Bug World saying about the needs of the many or something like that…"
"The needs of the many bugs outweigh the few," Bug adds helpfully but Taz is no longer listening.
Commander Up has never been just anything, not to her. He could have been just some soldier who rescued her from the robots, like the rest of his starship, but he was the one who set her on her feet; he was the first person to ask if she was okay, never mind the killer robots he was in the middle of fighting. She respects him for that.
He wasn't just the guy who inspired her to become a ranger, either. He was her mentor who chased the bullies away, tutored her in calculus and introduced her to the Karate Kid. He hadn't been in any way obliged to and she likes him for doing that.
And he isn't just her commander; he is her best friend so she'll be damned if she's leaving any planet on his starship without him. He's the only person who's always cared for her and she loves him for that.
"Well what are you all standing around like gulping fish for?" she yells. "Go! Get a pod ready! Dropdown for rescue mission in five minutes! Go!"
"But, Lieutenant Commander…" Specs dares to interrupt. "Commander Up said…"
"I heard what he said! But he is not in charge anymore, I am. We are going to rescue that idiota even if all of you have to die, you hear me? He is more important than all of you put together! Now run, runts!"
Lieutenant Commander Taz has never been one to sit down and take orders, except from him. Yet this is one order she is not going to take. She can accept the order to leave him behind but she will never, ever, see Commander Up as 'just' anything. He is everything. He couldn't see his own worth. He can't see that she doesn't give a rat's ass about the needs of the many and she hates him a little for that.