AN: This fic continues from the events of The Measure of Friendship, although it isn't necessary to read that one first. I would recommend it, but I actually wrote and posted this one first, so you should be able to understand it without reading TMoF. The first two chapters actually cover the time and events of TMoF at an accelerated pace, and from different POVs.
Warnings: Major character death, minor graphic descriptions, strong language, suicidal thoughts and actions. This is not a happy fic.
"Reporting for duty, sir."
The major looked up from his paperwork. "Sergeant Emras?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," Badri said.
"You've been assigned your first command. Quite impressive, really."
"Command?" Badri asked in disbelief. "Me?"
"Yes," the major said. "Your record has been outstanding, to say the least. Other than the Camooine mission—" Badri stiffened involuntarily at the mention, "—your missions have all been successes. Your record is spotless, no disciplinary issues and all glowing recommendations. Your team is waiting down the hall."
"My team?" Badri asked in shock.
"Your team. I wouldn't keep them waiting, if I were you," he said with a smile, blue eyes hiding his laughter.
Badri, still half in shock, wandered down the hall. Only one other room, so that must be it, he thought. He stood just outside the line of sight for anyone inside. How will they react to me? Cybernetics aren't all that common. For that matter, how will I react to them? This is my first team. Chances are, I'll probably screw something up. Might as well get this over with.
He took a breath and walked in, looking straight ahead with as much authority as he could muster.
There were three inside. The first one Badri saw was human, male, with hair that seemed to spring up from his hair in every direction. The one standing next to him was Mirialan, also male. The dark triangular tattoos on his cheekbones and forehead stood out against his green skin. The third was human as well, but female. Her hair was cut short, almost shaved, and she was first to notice him.
"Hello," Badri said, trying to keep his voice clear and authoritative. "I am Sergeant Badri Emras." The three snapped to attention, and Badri laughed. "At ease," he said. "We're just getting to know each other. I'm going to be your commanding officer on the field, and I need to be able to trust all of you out there. I hope you can trust me as well," he added with a smile. "A team divided is never going to accomplish anything worthwhile.
"I seem to be at a disadvantage, here," he continued. "You know who I am, but I'm afraid I only got this assignment now, so I don't know all of you."
The Mirialan was the first to speak up. "My name is Iscom Rigil, rank Corporal," he said. "I will be serving as the team's field doctor."
"I'm Private Chertan Brash," the other male said. "No special training; I only joined last year."
"And I'm Private Dune Yuo," said the female. "This is my first assignment," she said nervously.
"Well, now that we know each other's names," Badri said, "I think it's time we got to know each other better. Seeing as we don't have any assignments currently, I recommend the cantina."
"You paying, Sergeant?" Brash asked with a smirk.
"It seems only fair," Badri said with a smile. "I take no responsibility for your actions there, though. This will be strictly off-duty socializing."
"I'm in," Brash said. Rigil and Yuo exchanged a glance that clearly said "Why not?"
Badri smiled. Maybe this wasn't going to be as hard as he thought.
"You're kidding!" Brash exclaimed.
"How did you manage to make it off of Korriban alive?" Rigil asked, setting down his drink.
"Lots of blaster fire," Emras said, "and a damn good team. Teamwork, that's what it is," he said, pointing a finger at each of them in turn. "I never would have gone on that hellhole if it weren't for my team. And none of us would have made it out of there if it wasn't for teamwork. And blasters. Blasters are pretty important too."
Dune started to laugh, but ended up hiccupping instead. She wasn't used to drinking. She had been in a cantina maybe three or four times in her life, and never stopped to have a drink.
This was her first major team assignment, and she was admittedly nervous. On top of that, she had never actually met a cyborg before. Dune tried not to judge on species, but it was hard sometimes. However, Emras seemed pretty normal. He only had an eyepatch over his left eye, and a band that went around the back of his head, under his hair, ending up with a faintly glowing light over each temple. Not very different, all things considered.
"Never underestimate a good blaster," Rigil said knowingly, taking another sip of his drink.
The conversation was never very deep, and was mostly stories of crazy missions that Emras or Rigil had gone on, but it was enough to break the ice. Maybe, Dune thought, just maybe, this will all work out.
Four months later
"Corporal, I wish I could say this was a surprise," Badri said as Rigil opened the door to his office, "but I have a feeling I know what this is about."
"I think you do, sir, and I hope you know I don't mean any offence by it," Rigil said stiffly.
"Come in and sit down," Badri said. "Let's make this informal. I don't want to have to report any of this."
"Sir?" Rigil asked.
"No sir. Just Badri," he said firmly. "Pretend we're in a cantina. I'm sorry I don't actually have a drink to pull out here. It would probably make this easier," he smiled, pulling his chair out from behind the desk to face the chair that had sat in front. Rigil took the seat.
"This is about the incidents, right?" Badri asked.
"Three in the past two weeks, Badri," Rigil said. "All officers. All cyborgs. And all of them tried to turn on their own men."
Badri sighed. "I wish I had some sort of answer for you—for me. I could say it was some secret underground movement or something. But we have nothing at all. All I can tell you is that I would never willingly turn on any of you. You don't have to believe me, and if I were you I would take everything I said with a grain of salt," Badri advised, "but if it came down to my team or the Republic, I would choose my team every time."
"So you're saying you know nothing about this, nothing at all?" Rigil asked.
"I only know as much as you do, Iscom," Badri said. "Despite what some may believe, I don't know every cyborg in the Republic military any more than you know every Mirialan, and I didn't know any of the three in question. I do know that they all died—at the hands of their team or families, no less. And I know none of them had any behavioral problems or indications that they would turn like this. In all fairness and honesty, I meet those criteria as well."
"Sir—Badri—I'm not saying that—" Rigil started.
"Well, you should be, because there's no way to know," Badri countered. "If they turned for some unknown reason, there's nothing that says I won't have the same reason to turn on you. I can't imagine what it might be, other than something against their will, but not every cyborg thinks the same way."
"Badri, I trust you," Rigil said. "I know that you wouldn't turn on us under your own free will. I just—"
"Had doubts?" Badri asked with a raised eyebrow. "I understand completely, and I'm not blaming you, Iscom. I would be suspicious if I were you. But I'm not you, I'm me, and that means I have to deal with the fallbacks of being a cyborg sometimes. I'm lucky to have been assigned a team that doesn't judge me for it, but that opinion seems to be the minority in the Republic."
"Ah, prejudice," Rigil sighed. "Something I get the feeling we both know quite a lot about. For a faction that claims to be diverse and welcoming, there certainly are a lot of bigoted idiots in the Republic," he smiled.
"I, thankfully, have not had enough time to run into too many," Badri said. Rigil laughed.
"Sometimes I think I'm almost jealous of you," he said. "Not having to deal with the preconceived ideas of idiots all your life."
Badri's expression darkened. "You shouldn't be jealous of me. You certainly wouldn't want my problems!" he laughed, abruptly smiling again. He ignored the look Rigil gave him.
"Look, I'll tell you if I have any… issues," Badri said. "If anything goes wrong, I will let the team know. I don't plan on leaving you in the dark about something as important as this."
"Alright," Rigil said hesitantly. "I trust you. Don't make me a fool for that," he warned playfully.
"I won't," Badri laughed as he turned to leave.
As the door closed behind him, Badri sighed. He would have to reread those files, and there was something he was going to have to get.
In a rare turn of events, Badri was the last to arrive the next morning.
"Well, I'm glad to see you all got the message," he laughed. "It's a fairly simple find and rescue mission. A seven-year-old girl was kidnapped a few nights ago, and we believe that we've located the location she was taken to. Our job is to check out the place, and if she's there, get her out."
"Why was she taken?" Brash asked.
"We don't know," Badri said. "All evidence seems to be that it was just a random kidnapping."
"Great. A pedophile," Brash groaned.
"That's the most likely scenario, yes," Badri reluctantly agreed.
"Well, I needed to shoot someone today anyway," Brash said. "I'll grab another case of ammo and be ready," he said as he walked out to the lockers.
"Rigil, you should take this as well," Badri said, handing him the small disk that had made him late.
"What?" Rigil asked, taking it. He inspected it closer, saying, "Is this what I think it is?"
"Depends how good you are at guessing," Badri said noncommittally.
"Emras, you know—"
"Yes, actually, I do know, so don't bother telling me," Badri said sharply.
"But—"
"I trust you," Badri said as Brash reentered the room. "Now let's get moving."
The house was abandoned, in one of the lower districts. It wasn't in a particularly pleasant neighborhood, but neither was it completely trashed. The entryway was open, however.
"This doesn't feel right," Badri said cautiously.
Brash snorted. "Really, commander?" A quick glare from Rigil silenced him.
"Rigil," Badri motioned, sending the medic to the back of the line as the four moved into the building.
Inside was the girl, tied to a chair.
And nothing else.
"That is very strange," Yuo said. Badri moved swiftly to untie the girl, freeing her to move.
"Yuo, take her out," he commanded, turning to his team. She nodded, and gestured for the small girl to come to her. She did, but as soon as the girl was out of Badri's reach he heard a click behind his ear.
"I knew they'd send one of you."
"Sergeant!" Rigil was the first to react, reaching for his gun.
"Put down your weapon!" the man yelled.
"Hold your fire!" Badri commanded, staying as still as possible and laying his gun on the floor. Rigil followed suit, but neither of the others did. To the man behind him, Badri said, "I don't know who you are, but if you hurt that girl in any way—"
"Look at you, pretending to care," the man mocked. "No, that was never my intention. In fact, she is free to go now that you are here. Go on," he said, waving his hand in front of Badri. The girl nodded nervously and ran out.
"Step away from him or I'll—" Rigil started.
"Or you'll what?" the man asked. "You'll kill me, as well as your commander? As right you should. This monster deserves to die."
"He's not a monster!" Yuo yelled.
"Oh, but he is," the man said. "They all are. You've just been blinded by his looks. They deceive you into thinking they're human, just like us, and then they show what monsters they really are.
"I was like you, once," the man continued. "I thought they were human too. Even thought they could have friends. Then one of them murdered my wife and daughter, right in front of me. No provocation and no second thoughts."
"Sir—" Badri started.
"Shut up!" the man yelled wildly, hitting Badri across the head with his gun. Yuo screamed, and Brash pulled out his gun, but there was no fire.
"Don't try to fool me again, you monster," the man said to Badri. Then, turning to his crew, said, "I can show you what he really is. How much of him is really human. Shall I?"
And then, without warning, the world went black.