Chapter Text
The ride up towards the suborbital venator was a quiet one. Tacts was simply staring off into nowhere, through the hollow slats of the gunship doors. Picking up on the trooper’s somber state, Tiger kept the quiet. There wasn’t a whole lot to say to witnessing a sole survivor. Bite hadn’t spoken either.
When they docked and got off the ship, Tiger placed his hand on Tacts shoulder. “The generals want to meet you in the briefing room. Do you need a minute?”
“I’ll be fine.” Tacts replied.
With a nod, Tiger headed after his ragtag team. The LAAT pilot finger gunned the commando.
“Keep up, injured tiger.” Bite called over his shoulder.
—
The map of the droid factory was projected on the holo in the dimmed briefing room for debriefing.
“It’s a droid factory, full of battle droids. We should destroy it when we have the chance.”
“Let’s not jump the gun snips. We’ll hear what Tacts has to say.”
Tacts was taking the chance to look at the map once again. “These droids followed every order I gave them. They’d even shoot one another. I still have no clue why they suddenly switched sides.”
“This could be an obvious trick, perhaps to make us think we can take advantage of these droids, then jump on us when we’re most complicit.”
“It could be so. But I think it’s worth springing the trap, with caution.” Tacts said. “And if it isn’t, I think these droids can be useful.”
“What do you propose?”
Tacts pondered for a beat. “We could bring a few droids up here and have them examined. If they still follow my orders, we’ve effectively taken over a separatist droid factory. And if this supposed bug or malfunction is implemented in all new droids built, we could have our own droid factory.”
“But if the separatists get wind of this, they’ll stop sending raw materials to this factory.”
Tacts nodded. “Think of that as a good way to stop ourselves from biting off more than we can chew.”
“Indeed… We should investigate this factory. Tacts, we’ll send you on a ground team to investigate the rest of these droids.”
“Keep an ear out, we’ll let you know when you’re going in.”
“Understood sir.” Tacts replied.
—
Tacts was seated on a small cargo crate, hunched over a datapad. Since he was the sole survivor of his last mission, he was the only one who could makeup the mission report. However, that responsibility mostly fell to the squad leader, which Tacts was not. It was up to him to figure out this protocol.
A tap to his shoulder got his attention. Standing right in front of him was the LAAT pilot from earlier, with his own distinct striping. The pilot held out a datapad, showing it to Tacts. Tacts quickly skimmed the display.
Transfer request:
Requested by CC-2975 for ARC-2132
ARC-2132: reassignment to Tiger Squad.
Approving officers: CT-2224, CT-7567
Approving captains: CC-2975
Pending approval: ARC-2132
He reread it once over. Reassignment was bound to happen sooner or later, he just didn’t know who he would end up with until now.
“Well…” Tacts inputted his approval for the reassignment.
The pilot patted him on the shoulder and waved him to follow. Tacts stood up from the crate to follow the pilot.
“You’re part of Tiger Squad, what’s your name?” Tacts asked.
The pilot simply glanced over his shoulder, looking at Tacts.
Tacts stared back for a moment. “Not really the talkative type then.”
“He’s Mute.” Bite caught up from behind them.
“What’s his name?” Tacts turned to ask.
“Mute.”
Tacts glanced at Mute, then back to Bite. “How did he end up with you guys?”
“I vouched for him. That’s the only reason he’s not in maintenance.”
Mute finger gunned Bite.
The trio headed into a room, where Tiger was sitting patiently for them. Tiger set down a datapad. “Tacts,” The commando greeted. “welcome to the squad.”