"So how exactly did you manage to get a slot in Havoc," the big man next to me asked. He'd introduced himself and given me his call sign, after he'd stopped staring at me anyway.
Without even bothering to look up from cleaning my weapon, I replied, "Easy, I was the best."
"Fair enough, I just didn't know there were any of your kind in the ranks."
"Advanced Recon/Assault Spec guys? There's a ton of us," I said, still not looking up.
"Sarcastic blue blooded asshole," Gearbox muttered as he made his way to talk to the driver of the Walker. I just shook my head. Since my brothers and I escaped from the Chiss Ascendency years ago I had encountered far more creative insults than that. What most people didn't realize was that we have excellent hearing, so there was very little I missed when those around me thought I couldn't hear. New teammate or not, it was an advantage I wasn't about to give up, especially when something seemed off about him.
I had just finished putting my weapon back together when the Walker was hit. Seconds later we crashed down amid the sound of screaming metal and blaster fire. I jumped out with the other soldiers who were in the transport with me and we set about clearing the area. When I got back Gearbox was already working on the Walker.
"Pilot's dead," he said while digging through his toolbox. "I'll get this guy fixed up and back to HQ. Why don't you scout a head and see if you can find who shot us down. Knowing this backwater lot they should keep all their missiles stored in one place."
"Aye sir," I replied. "I'll report to base once I find something." Before he could respond I quietly slipped away. I was almost out of earshot when I heard him swear and say, "Creepy blue ghost motherfucker." Still not that great but better than 'blue blooded asshole', hopefully the other members of Havoc had better imaginations. I'd hate for 'Blue Guy' to be my call sign
After having successfully taken out the separatists weapons cache, I made my way towards base. When I arrived in the briefing room, my new CO Commander Tavus was going over information with the rest of Havoc Squad. As soon as he saw me he introduced me to the rest of the team. The way Needles looked at me sent chills down my spine, and the vibe I was getting from the others wasn't much better. The only one who didn't set off internal alarm bells was Fuse, and he wouldn't look me in the eye. I was briefed on our mission to recover the lost ZR-57
Then I met Lt. Jorgan. He was a no-nonsense hard ass, but still preferable to my team. He made it clear he was in charge and I had no issue with that, for now. He, however, started to take issue with me when the Op started going FUBAR. Our contact was killed in the field and then I got ambushed when I went to his house to retrieve his intel. I got an earful from Jorgan when I got back, but it wasn't anything I hadn't heard before. I would have actually been disappointed if he hadn't gotten an attitude.
After that I joined various members to try to extract the location of the bomb. After my final mission I came back just to discover that Havoc had left without me and Tavus had left clear orders for me not to follow. Suspicion gnawed at my gut when Jorgan informed me, and only grew when we lost contact with the team.
"You can't run far or fast enough Tavus," I shouted as the Imperials started shooting.
"It's been an honor serving with you Sergeant," Tavus said before closing hatch and taking off with the now neutralized bomb. 'Backstabbing sons of Hutts…" I thought as I started dodging the Imperial blaster fire. I vowed to get Tavus for this even if it killed him – which was of course the ultimate goal. I wasn't the only one who shared this goal, I found out, as I walked into base just in time for Lt. Jorgan to get blamed for the defection and demoted. Fortunately for him he was able to get a transfer to Havoc Squad, although he obviously ate some crow and having to call me 'Sir'.
"So what makes you think you're up for the task as CO of a squad like Havoc?" Jorgan demanded on the transport from Ord Mantell to Coruscant.
"That's what I like about you Jorgan, you always get straight to the point."
"Thank you sir, but that doesn't answer my question."
"You mean other than my talent and good looks?"
"Those are hardly the qualities of a good leader," he replied annoyed. "My last CO, before I took over the Deadeyes, he was a real leader. Fair but firm, demanded a lot, but gave it back in spades. He was a hard act to live up to."
"Must have been to earn your respect," I said seriously. I got little more than a huff in response, but I wasn't expecting much more. "Truth is Jorgan, this is my first time in command of something like this. Mostly I'll be going of instinct and what I've learned. I'm also gonna be relying heavily on you."
"What makes me think I won't sabotage you?"
"You're not the type. Your brash, but loyal unless betrayed. I was screwed by Havoc too, you'll remember I was the one Tavus ordered to die on that god forsaken rock. I didn't ask for the promotion or for you to be made subordinate to me, and I'm certainly not gonna rub your face in it. But here's the biggest reason why you're not gonna screw me."
"What's that?"
"I'm your best shot to get to Tavus. If I get fired, there's no way they're gonna keep you in Havoc, maybe even discharge you, and you know it."
The Cathar angrily sighed and conceded, "You have a point."
"It's not all bad," I said, "eventually I'm gonna need an XO."
"What, and you'll just give it to me?"
"Hell no," I laughed, "but I'll give you a chance to compete for it against anyone else we recruit."
"You're on," he answered with a smirk. He spent the rest of the trip telling me about his time with the Deadeyes and some of the more famous confirmed kills they had.
Upon landing on Coruscant, we headed straight to the Senate tower to meet with General Garza. When I first met the general, I wasn't all that impressed considering she has almost half my size. Figured I'd push my limits a bit and was impressed when she slapped me back into place without hesitation.
She sent looking for the former CO of Havoc who was working with the Empire to help his old squad mates. While we were tracking him down, I got called back to the Senate tower to deal with an official inquiry about the events of Ord Mantell.
"You're risking a court martial by lying to us solider," the Cathar senator threatened angrily.
"That'd be quite a feat considering the only who can set that in motion is my superior officer," I replied, board.
"Lieutenant," the female senator said soothingly. The all gave me their names, I just didn't care enough to remember them. "We're not trying to cause any problems, we just want to know what happened on Ord Mantell."
"And I wish I could help you," I lied, "but I've never worked with a Herron Tavus. It's been Jorgan and me ever since I reported there."
"Except he was a Lieutenant then, and you were a sergeant," the Cathar sneered. "What happened you two just decided to swap ranks."
"That's exactly what happened Senator. He got sick of all the paperwork, and I thought why not? Might be nice to be the one saluted for a change."
"So help me, one more sarcastic answer out of you…"
"That's enough, both of you. Lieutenant, this is your last chance: what happened on Ord Mantell?"
"Showed up, shot some separatists, neutralized a bomb, jumped on a shuttle here," I said, ticking off each point on a finger.
"It's clear Gen. Garza is covering something up," the Cathar said angrily.
"You mean like you did with Ando Prime," I asked nonchalantly, watching their reactions. The female at least had the decency to look ashamed.
"You don't know what you're talking about," the Cathar stated.
"I know what it is to be betrayed," I said rising to meet him eye level. He was a big guy, but so was I, and we stared each other down. He blinked first. "Good luck finding the answers you're looking for," I said as I walked away.
"We're not done here," someone shouted lamely.
"Yes we are."
I took the long way back to the general's office to give myself a chance to calm down. I was still going to kill Tavus for betraying and trying to kill me, but I started to sympathize with him for a bit if that's who he was working for.
By the time I got to Garza's office she'd already talked to the senators. "Come in lieutenant," she said when she saw me, "and stand at ease. Officially, I'm to reprimand you for disrespecting and stonewalling members of the Galactic Senate."
"And unofficially?"
I got a smirk in response. "They're going to figure out some of it eventually, but by then we'll have more important things to worry about."
"We already do," I replied.
"True enough," she sighed. "You've wasted enough of your time here. Keep up the search for Karadan."
"Yes ma'am," I said as I snapped to attention before leaving the room.
Jorgan was waiting for me as I exited. "So if you're done playing footsie with the Senators I got a new lead."
"You know, I could nail you for disrespecting a senior officer," I said nonchalantly as I adjusted my weapons.
"Yeah, good luck with that. We headin' out or you wanna go flirt with that cathar senator some more?"
I laughed as I followed Jorgan to the Justicar sector.