Star Wars The Bad Batch: The Runaway

Chapter 27 - The Padawan

Scar couldn't keep her jaw from dropping when the Havoc Marauder came out of hyperspace and she saw the fleet of Jedi Cruisers. They appeared to have just finished a battle because four out of the five had fire and smoke coming from various parts of the ships, and one of them was missing an ion thruster! It must have been one heck of a space battle.

As Tech sent the clearance codes given so they could land, Scar felt the knot in her stomach tighten the closer they got to the one ship that didn't look like it had been damaged.

"What exactly is this mission we're being assigned?" Scar asked Hunter as the hanger doors to the Jedi Cruiser slowly began opening to let the Havoc Marauder in. Hunter shrugged.

"Not sure yet. The only information I got was that this Jedi sent out a distress signal after finishing a battle. They lost a lot of men and needed reinforcements to complete whatever objective they had." Scar felt a pang in her heart as she thought of all the clones who's already short lives (due to accelerated aging) were cut even shorter. While Scar wasn't very political, she still found herself hating the seppies for all the lives they've taken since the war started.

In no time at all the Havoc Marauder had landed in the hanger and Scar went with the others into the main hold to grab her helmet, only to be stopped by Hunter.

"I actually need you to stay and do some maintenance on the ship." Scar's eyebrows furrowed, though she was the only one who seemed confused by the request.

"Right now?" She asked, wondering why he decided to have her work on the Havoc Marauder when they had a briefing to go to. Again, none of the others seemed to think his request was weird.

"Just in case we're using our ship." Hunter told her, "The heating system is malfunctioning and the navicomputer is lagging, which isn't good if we need to make a quick getaway. I want them fixed by the time we get back from the briefing."

Hunter didn't even give Scar a chance to question his orders any further. He lowered the ramp and they were gone, leaving Scar equal parts confused and annoyed.

Nevertheless, she got to work.

Fixing the lag in the navicomputer was easy and Scar even updated it to where it could calculate the jump to hyperspace five seconds faster - which might not seem like much, but when you've got enemy ships closing in on you, five seconds could be the difference between life and death.

The heating system was a whole other story. Right off the bat Scar didn't want to fix it because she would have to leave the ship as the only way to access the motor - where she suspected the problem might be - would require removing a panel on the outside of the Havoc Marauder. Scar was by no means shy, but the thought of getting stared at by regs had her thinking about lying and saying she fixed the problem, but she didn't want to get lectured if he found out the truth - and he'd most likely would.

Sighing, Scar knew she'd have to be a big girl and face whatever was outside the ship. She made sure to put on her helmet before leaving the ship. It was a good thing too, because it hid her shocked expression when she got to see first hand how ENORMOUS the hanger was. Dozens of gunships surrounded the Havoc Marauder and it took every ounce of self control to not go jump in one of the bombers and take it for a joy ride. (Hey, she loved to fly.)

She's brought out of her awed state when a few clones that walked past gave her weird looks. Scar shook her head. Right, she had a job to do.

In no time at all Scar had removed the paneling needed, and she's greeted with a cloud of smoke that would have her coughing if it weren't for the filters in her helmet. Scar sighed. Looks like she had her work cut out for her.