Chapter Text
The munificent star frigate drifted on its own. Its blue markings had been painted over with black. The squad was originally going to settle for orange, but Tiger had insisted on black, and with good reason. In the backdrop of space, the black markings broke up the outline of the ship. A semi-camouflage, and identifier. The clerical and administrative logistics of merging Garnet’s squad into Tiger squad had been dealt with, along with the latest mission report. And in the honour of the merge, Acklay, Beryl, Vigil, and Garnet repainted their armour. Stripped to their form fitting under armour in the common room, they worked on their artistic endeavors. Acklay kept the patterns of his personal insignias, but simply recoloured in ochre orange and accented with black. Vigil’s armour had been mostly a blank canvas, save for the diamond eye centered above his visor. He gave his armour patterns of orange in gentler swirls and curves, the accent black followed the flow. Garnet and Beryl did not change their colours, they simply added the stripes. Black stripes over Garnet’s crimson, and black stripes over Beryl’s darkened heliodor colours.
On the command deck, Tacts sat in the command chair, shin crossed over knee and fingertips pressed together. He stared into the dotted void of space, gaze as straight as the symmetrical Tiger Squad paint on his armour. The droids aboard the ship had also been painted in the motif of the squad’s identifying patterns. There may have been enough stripes gathered in one spot of the galaxy to make one dizzy, but that was a side effect Tiger Squad would take advantage of.
“Your caf, sir.” A B1 unit strolled up to the command chair and held out a cup of the steaming beverage.
With a bunch of droids at his disposal, Tacts had taken to using them for menial tasks.
“You look rather villainous." Bite remarked, looking up at the command deck from his seat in the control pit.
Tacts took the cup of caf from the droid’s servos. The caf maker brought onboard was solely for the purpose of having a servant bring something to him. He was commander to these droids, after all. And he could tell them what to do. “I’ve been thinking.” He took a slow sip from the steaming beverage. “I want to go to Coruscant."
“Why?” Was all Bite asked.
“To go to 79s. It’s been a while since I’ve been there.” Tacts told him plainly.
Bite pondered the idea while he spoke. “Well… I haven’t been there in a while either. A trip to 79s does sound fun to me.”
Mute, seated right next to him, nodded in agreement.
“Well you’re in luck.” Tiger had been resting in one of the chairs down in the control pit on the other side of the trench. In his hand was a spice pen courtesy of Vigil. He exhaled a faint orange mist. “That’s where we’re going.”
Tacks leaned closer, carefully holding his caf with both hands. “What’s the mission?”
“Vigil wants to crack down on spice runners. We’ll track them down and grab some of their spice.” Tiger laid it out plainly.
Tacts and Bite frowned. Mute kept a straight face.
Bite muttered. “Don’t tell me Vigil got you hooked on spice.”
Tiger was quick to deny. “I’m not hooked on spice.”
Bite doubted the answer. “Really?”
Tiger looked down at the pen he held. “It does help… But that’s not the point.”
“I think it is.” Tacts rebuked.
“Okay, fine. It partially is.” Tiger admitted. “But it’s more for Vigil.”
Tacts questioned Tiger further. “And why does Vigil want spice?”
Tiger sighed. “For medical purposes. He’s an unorthodox medic, but he knows what he's doing.”
Bite stood up from his seat. “By unorthodox, you mean he believes in spirits and all that.”
Tacts carefully crossed his arms while the cup of caf was still in his hand. “Brother, I won’t let you get addicted to spice.”
“No mission, no 79s.” Tiger blurted out sternly.
Bite opened his mouth to interject. But Tacts immediately spoke before he could. “Deal.”
Surprise painted Bite’s face as he looked to Mute, and Mute looked back at him with not much of a reaction. “Just like that?” Bite asked, turning back to Tacts.
Tacts shrugged. “I just really want to go to 79s.”
Mute finally cracked a smirk, nodding in agreement.
Tiger took one last draw from the spice pen before climbing out of the control pit. “It’s settled then. We’ll go to Corusant. I’ll check on the rest of the team.”