#The Bad and The Batch: Anaxes Drift

[wanderinginksplot]

Nobody Listens to Kix

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Case 01132: Crosshair

Kix shifted impatiently as he watched the small fleet of ships - smaller than it had been when it left the Republic base - drift gently into the hangar bay. He had gotten a notification from General Kenobi to be on-call. The situation on Anaxes had been resolved with only minor casualties, but it never hurt to be prepared.

When the ships settled to rest on the ground, several men around Kix grumbled that it was a good thing the Bad Batch hadn't been flying. Apparently, they had already earned a reputation for landing with more speed than skill. Their last landing had nearly caused what would have been the single largest loss of Republic troops since Geonosis.

The men began exiting the LAAT/i closest to Kix and he found himself looking at Echo. Kix had thoroughly examined his presumed-dead brother when he returned from Skako Minor. The trooper had been in bad shape, but Kix had to admit that the cybernetic work the Separatists had done was top-notch. Other than malnourishment and some overloaded circuitry - most likely damaged during the rescue - Echo had been in surprisingly good health.

Still, Echo's face was pale and angular, cheekbones jutting out in a way that seemed almost painful. He walked slowly, carefully… It always seemed as though he were waiting for something to take his legs out from under him.

Even as Kix watched, Echo stumbled and was supported by Rex, who had thrown out an arm immediately to catch him.

Kix rushed forward, ignoring the dust thrown into the air by the other LAAT/i ships landing nearby. "What happened?" he asked immediately.

Echo glanced up at him, his light brown eyes looking even lighter in his sallow face, and simply shook his head. Kix's heart sank and he looked sharply to the captain.

"Echo plugged into the Seppie's system and sent them the wrong battle plans before putting a surge through to disable their clankers," Rex explained heavily. "It worked perfectly, but they isolated the signal and sent a surge back. It gave him a pretty good shock."

Kix grimaced. "Let's get you to the hangar medbay, Echo. I'll need to do a full diagnostic check."

"Aw, leave him alone," Wrecker grumbled from behind them. "He's awake now, isn't he?"

"It knocked you unconscious?" Kix asked immediately.

"Yeah," Echo admitted lowly.

After making sure that Rex had a good hold on his injured brother, Kix turned to look at the Bad Batch. "Unconsciousness is always something to worry about. I'll need to do a full scan to make sure everything is okay. The three of you should come in for checks as well."

"Er… don't you mean four?" Hunter asked slowly, staring around at the other men of Clone Force 99.

"No, I don't. Three of you have a choice, but I see Crosshair's injury no matter how well he thinks he's hiding it. Follow us to the medbay, trooper."

"I'll be fine," Crosshair snarked.

"That's the spirit," Kix encouraged, even as he turned his attention back to helping Echo. "I'm an excellent medic and I can treat whatever injury you sustained. You certainly will be fine."

"I get the sense that you didn't make any friends there, Kix," Rex warned lowly, following Kix into the building.

"I'm a medic, sir," Kix reminded. "My business is caring for the men's health, not being their favorite person."

As they walked toward the hangar, Kix could hear a soft argument break out between Hunter and Crosshair, but Rex, Echo, and Kix had only just stepped into the medbay when the sniper slouched in behind them.

Scanning them was a moment's work. Rex was in perfect health other than a touch of fatigue and was immediately discharged from the medbay. Echo's nervous system showed signs of stress and there were minor burns on the segment of his arm that was connected to the data probe that had received the shock. Kix bandaged the burns and administered a mild set of pain meds before settling him into a bed. Finally, he moved his attention to Crosshair.

The serious trooper hadn't removed a single piece of his armor, but Kix didn't bother asking. Instead, he turned the power up on the scanner and scanned Crosshair's body from head to feet and back up. He ran the scanner carefully over the sniper's right elbow, where he had first seen the signs of an injury.

"You have a blaster wound piercing your anconeus muscle," Kix revealed.

"And here I thought I was just outgrowing my armor," Crosshair said dryly.

Kix surveyed the sniper without commenting, but he knew the message came through clearly enough: Crosshair had a slight build for a trooper. The idea of him outgrowing his armor in any capacity was laughable.

As Crosshair watched Kix's unspoken insult, his jaw tightened until Kix worried he would have to pull the splinters of the brother's toothpick from his mouth. To stop the unnecessary theatrics, Kix said, "As a sniper, you know that your anconeus is pretty important to the shooting process. Are you going to let me treat it?"

Crosshair blinked in surprise, but tried to hide the reaction. "Are you saying you're gonna give me a choice?"

"I don't like forcing my brothers into treatment," Kix said evasively.

Seeming to realize that it wasn't an answer, Crosshair narrowed his eyes, but gave a single nod.

"Good," Kix said. "Remove your shoulder armor and both sets of arm plates, then sit down. I'll be back with the necessary supplies."

It took a little bit longer to find what he needed in the unfamiliar medbay, but Kix managed, passing by a now-sleeping Echo to get to where Crosshair waited in uncomfortable silence.

In the time it took Kix to cleanse the wound, use an internal variation of bacta gel, and start applying bacta patches to the entry and exit points of the injury, Crosshair still hadn't spoken. Working as closely as he was, Kix could feel the tension radiating from the trooper.

"I'm almost done here, then I'll issue you some pain meds and we'll get you settled in for the night," he said, more to break the silence than anything else.

Crosshair snorted. "I'm not staying here tonight."

"You certainly are," Kix replied blandly. "I'll need to observe your wound to make sure it's healing properly. Don't think I didn't notice the elevated pulse and blood pressure, either. I have to be certain that's normal."

"We don't like medical centers... or medics," Crosshair said gruffly.

"I'm sorry, but the regulations are cle-" he cut himself off as Crosshair made a rude noise. He didn't know much about the Bad Batch, but most of the troopers hadn't enjoyed their time in medbays on Kamino, and Kix was no fool. There was probably a very good reason for Crosshair's venom.

With that in mind, Kix dropped his professionalism down a notch in order to level with the trooper: "Listen, I can't let you leave knowing that something could go wrong and you could lose the arm or die because I wasn't there to notice when things started going south. You'll stay here tonight with Echo. Spend the time cursing my name if it makes you feel better, as long as you're doing it here."

Crosshair snarled and opened his mouth to say something Kix was sure would be rude, but he was interrupted by the medbay doors opening. Hunter stepped through, followed by Tech and the hulking Wrecker.

"Gentlemen," Kix greeted politely, gathering the medical flotsam that tended to collect when an injury was being treated.

"Kix," Hunter returned. "We thought about your offer and we're here for scans."

"Good. Give me just a moment and I'll get the three of you scanned," Kix said, shooting Crosshair a firm look. "Pick a bed, trooper."

After disposing of the mess, Kix scanned the three remaining members of Clone Force 99, finding nothing worse than light fatigue, mild dehydration, and a single pulled muscle in Hunter's leg. True to Crosshair's word, all of them showed signs of stress and tension, likely from being in the medbay. Kix ignored that and focused on the treatable things.

He administered a pain patch for the pulled muscle and advised all of them to drink some water and get a good night of sleep.

"There is no need to pull watch duty while you're on-planet," Kix told them. "The regular troopers stationed here have a rotational system, so there's always a guard monitoring the perimeter. All of you should sleep as long as possible."

"Do you need us to stay here tonight?" Wrecker asked, glancing around uncertainly.

"It could be a medical necessity," Tech volunteered, watching Crosshair even as the tattooed trooper avoided his eyes.

Kix had a refusal ready to go, but paused at the last moment. "We don't like medical centers… or medics," Crosshair had said. If the others were volunteering to stay, it could be that they didn't want to leave their teammate here alone.

"Hmm… I think it would be for the best," Kix lied. "I need to monitor your fluid intake and I can make sure no one disturbs you while you rest. Best settle in for the night, vode."

Tech and Wrecker moved toward the beds, settling into ones on either side of the wounded troopers. Tech was rattling off factoids about bacterial growth all the while and Wrecker was crowing about winning some kind of bet against Crosshair.

Before he left the area, Kix caught sight of Hunter. The sergeant gave a deep nod of thanks - a gesture Kix returned before moving to the small desk at the front of the medbay, ready to keep watch as long as his brothers needed if it meant they felt safe enough to rest and heal.

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A/N - sorry this is coming so late! Thank you for reading!