A Visit to Salucami - Part 1
A/N: This is a a few months after Calli has joined the squad but before the mission where she meet Jace.
"Why are we going to Salucami again?" Calli asked the boys, all of them sitting in the cockpit, "Seems like a far out place to restock supplies."
"It's a nice planet that's been barely touched by the war. We'll be able to relax for a couple days and visit a friend of ours." A break sounded good for everyone, as they'd completed a series of six missions back to back with hardly a moment to breathe in between each one.
Calli raised a brow when the second half of Hunter's last sentence registered.
"A friend? You mean to tell me there's another living being in this universe besides Cody that you get along with?"
"Ha ha." Crosshair said with dry sarcasm while the other boys looked at Calli with unamused expressions. She raised her hands in defense.
"Hey, I'm not trying to be mean. But the thought of you guys having another friend is a little hard to believe. Just since I've joined the squad, we've been in more fights with regs and other Republic soldiers than I can count."
"And half of them you started." Hunter pointed out.
"The instigator of said fights is not what we're focusing on right now." Calli stated, making the Sergeant roll his eyes and Crosshair smirk in amusement, "I'm just saying that our squad is hard to get along with. Making friends isn't exactly our specialty."
"And how many friends do you have exactly?" Crosshair questioned, "None, I'm guessing." Calli scoffed at his assumption and crossed her arms in defiance.
"I do so!" She insisted.
"Oh really?" Calli nodded, but Crosshair still wasn't convinced and smirked when he thought of something, "Well I'd love to meet these 'friends' of yours." Immediately all of Calli's confidence disappeared, and she cleared her throat as she tried to think of an excuse as to why that wasn't possible.
"W-Well I mean, these aren't like, friends that you can just stop by and say hi, you know." Crosshair and Hunter shared knowing looks, the Sergeant trying - and failing - to hide a smile of amusement, which only made Calli even more flustered, "I-In fact they're probably more like acquaintances -" her shoulders dropped in shame, "-that I stole from..." the snickers from her squadmates made her face blush and she mumbled a quick 'shut up' before hurrying out of the cockpit, deciding now would be a good time to change into her civvie clothes.
Calli and the boys had landed in an opening in a crop field and were now walking through the tall plants to get to the home of Cut and Suu.
"So your friend is a farmer?" It was more of a surprised statement than a question.
"Why so surprising?" Hunter asked, and Calli shrugged.
"I don't know, I just don't see how four clone soldiers of the GAR could have become acquainted with a simple farmer in a backwater world like this. It doesn't make sense, logically."
"And what sort of person would you expect us to have as friends?" Hunter questioned and Calli shrugged a second time.
"Again, I don't know." She thought for a moment while ducking under a branch, "Maybe a mercenary or something that acted as your informant. Not a farmer. But I guess I still have a lot to learn about you lot." She admitted just as they reached the end of the crop field which opened to a small field and in the distance Calli saw what she assumed was a house.
"The speeder's gone, he might not be home." Wrecker said.
"Suu and the kids might be though." Hunter replied and with that they began the final stretch of their trek to the house. Except for Calli, who had thought it was just one person they were visiting, not an entire family. Once she snapped out of her shocked state and noticed the others a ways ahead of her she jogged to catch up to them and immediately began asking more questions.
"Wait, Suu? Kids? It's not just your farmer friend living here?"
"Nope. Suu is his wife and they have two kids. A little boy and a little girl, Shaeeah and Jek." Hunter informed her, a little too late in Calli's opinion.
"Oh."
"You got something against kids?" Crosshair asked, curious about this new piece of information, though truth be told he wasn't a big fan of them either.
"Who me? Pshh, what? I love the little womp rats." Calli insisted, "They're loud, messy, and occasionally sticky. So are you boys and I haven't run for the hills yet so I think I can handle a couple kids as long as they leave me alone."
"How touching." Crosshair drawled. Calli gave him a cheeky grin and bumped her shoulder against his arm playfully, making him chuckle.
They finally arrived at the house and Hunter took the liberty of climbing the steps and knocking three times before stepping down and standing next to Calli as they waited for an answer.
Calli wasn't expecting to have a rifle pointed at her when the door flew open and pulled out her own gun in defense, of course it was on stun but the female twi'lek didn't know that and frankly didn't need to.
"Woah woah, put the gun away Scar." Hunter admonished, calling her by her nickname since she hadn't said whether or not to use her real name around Cut and his family. He looked at the twi'lek with soft pink skin and gave her a small smile, "Sorry about that, I forgot to warn her. Scar, this is Suu. Suu, this is the newest member of our squad." The two females looked at each other warily, and Hunter wondered if this had been such a good idea. Then Scar slowly lowered her gun and slipped it back in her holster, deciding that if the boys trusted this woman who felt the need to greet visitors with a gun, then she could. Or at least play along so as to keep the peace. Suu then relaxed as well, though she was still a bit unsure about the newcomer as she invited them all inside.
She pulled Hunter aside though when he came in behind everyone else and gave him a stern look. "Are you sure she can be trusted? I won't risk our family being torn apart."
"Don't worry, Scar's alright. In fact, she and Cut have a lot in common."
"I hope you are right." Hunter was about to reassure Suu again when he's interrupted by two sets of footsteps bounding down the stairs.
"Mom! Who was at the -" Hunter turned just as two little twi'leks stopped at the base of the stairs, their big, curious eyes landing on all the people in the room. Their faces broke out in big grins.
"It's the Bad Batch!" The little boy exclaimed, the other twi'lek being a girl who'd been the one to ask her mom who the visitor- or in this case visitors - was. Immediately both kids looked at Wrecker who'd wasted no time and went into the kitchen to look for a snack, anxious to eat something other than ration bars. He was currently leaning against the counter while munching on a piece of fruit native to Salucami. "Uncle Wrecker!" Both children yelled happily before running across the small main room to hug him. Wrecker laughed and after shoving the rest of the fruit in his mouth he picked up both kids, one in each arm and they squealed in delight, this being the reason that the giant clone was their favorite.
Calli watched from the corner where'd she planted herself out of habit, giving her a good view of the entire room plus she wasn't sure how to act around these people. These days, most beings she interacted with were either the Bad Batch and the occasional reg. Even when she was traversing the galaxy on her own, she rarely spoke to anyone and the ones she did were either smugglers, pilots, the occasional law enforcement, that sort of thing. She's never really spent time with... regular people. Civilians. This definitely was out of her comfort zone and she wasn't sure what to do or say.
She decided to take in her surroundings like she'd been trained to do, again out of habit.
The house was definitely... simple. Calli didn't see any of the modern conveniences the rest of the galaxy possessed besides the refrigerator. There were no light fixtures, the walls were made with a mixture of wood and metal, and the furniture was wooden also.
Despite the lack of technology, Calli found the place had a comfortable and homely atmosphere. While she didn't think she could live so simply, it could be a nice place to get away and clear your mind. Perhaps that's why the Bad Batch likes coming here.
Wrecker noticed Calli standing rigidly in the corner and decided to introduce her to the kids.
"Shaeeah, Jek, there's someone cool I want ya to meet." Wrecker said while walking over to the female clone, who looked at Wrecker then Hunter with wide eyes, not sure what to do. The Sargeant gave her a nod of encouragement from his spot at the table where he, Crosshair, and Tech had taken seats while Suu prepared some drinks and a snack.
Stopping in front of the girl, Wrecker put the two kids on the floor and kneeled down between them as he spoke again. "Guys, this is Calli, but we like to call her Scar." The two kids looked uncertain for a moment, then smiled and waved. Wrecker looked at his squadmate expectantly and she awkwardly raised her hand in greeting.
"Er - hi?" Calli said, and even though her response wasn't that enthusiastic, it was enough for the kids to immediately accept her and Jek blurted out the first question that popped into his head.
"What happened to your face?" A sound of something dropping came from the kitchen and all heads turned to see a concerned looking Suu who'd dropped a plate when her son asked that question.
"Jek!" She exclaimed sternly, and he looked at her with confusion, not understanding what he'd done wrong. "She might not want to talk about it. Remember, it's the same with your father." Jek made an 'oh' with his mouth and quickly muttered an apology. Calli would assure him it's fine, she didn't mind, but her attention was on Suu's last sentence.
"Your husband is a soldier?" She thought he was a farmer. Suu looked equally as confused as the girl.
"Oh, Hunter hasn't told you about my husband?" Suu asked, glancing at said clone who had a hard time looking either female in the eye.
"Just that he was a farmer." Calli informed, tearing her gaze away from the Sergeant to look at Suu again and crossing her arms, "Though he left the part out about him having a family." Suu gave Hunter a dirty look, and Calli decided she'd had enough and asked straight out, "Is he a farmer or soldier?"
Suu gave Hunter a look that said "you tell her" and he sighed, catching Calli's attention.
"Cut... used to serve the Republic." Hunter answered vaguely.
"So an ex-soldier." Callista said, still wondering why everyone was acting weird. Even Tech, who'd been doing something on his datapad and usually tuned everyone out, was listening to the conversation.
"In a way, yes." Hunter said, still sounding very uneasy. Calli couldn't stand it anymore.
"Ok, what's the big deal? This Cut guy used to be a soldier and now isn't. I'm not seeing the problem."
Just then, the sound of a speeder bike parking outside the house could be heard. Suu's face paled and she looked at Hunter with wide eyes, fearing for her family once the truth was out.
The door opened yet Calli couldn't get a good look at his face as the light from outside surrounded him like a halo and made it hard to see his face. Plus, he wore a broad hat.
"Well, I didn't expect to see you lot here." The man said and Calli stood straighter, having been leaning against the wall up until then. His voice... "But you're welcome, as always."
The man closed the door and removed his hat, hanging it on a hook by the door. He turned to look at the group and Callista felt her jaw drop in shock, not expecting to see a face that even though she'd seen a thousand times, was still a surprise.
This man was a clone!