Sergeant Jorgen thought he managed not to show his disapproval.

Lieutenant K’abe, Commander of Havoc Squad answered questions during an informal senate inquiry and proceeded to anger the three Senators most important to approving operations and budget to the military in general and Havoc Squad in particular. They escaped after Ando Prime was mentioned, it seemed once Krasul asked about it the Senators could not end the inquiry fast enough. They returned to Garza who reprimanded the Lieutenant for being too evasive. The Lieutenant never tried to anger the General. She simply stood at ease and replied that she did what she had to. Now they had a new assignment in Justicar territory.

Jorgen stared at the back of the Lieutenant’s head, debating whether or not he should warn her about the dangers they would face and who the Justicars were. She hated his advice, or at least she seemed to. He was following her out of Garza’s office when she took a detour to a small, unused conference room.

“Close the door Sergeant.” She said turning to face him. He complied, when he turned back her arms were crossed, her tan face was serious. Her zabrak facial tattoos looked more severe with her expression, her spiky hair and horns gave her an intimidating slightly demonic look like something out of a folk tale. He wondered if she looked that way intentionally to make up for her small stature.

“Do you have a problem with me, Sergeant?”

“Sir?” He asked, thoroughly confused.

“I don’t trust you, you don’t trust me, and I don’t need to be a Jedi to sense your disapproval at just about everything I do, so we need to have this out, right now.”

“I don’t,” he began then shut his mouth. Lying was not something he liked or did well, “You’re reckless and inexperienced, you aren’t ready for command, it takes more than good aim to make a commander.”

“You’ve seen my record, I’ve fought Imps and led squads the same number of years as you. I might even have more considering I never chose to warm up a desk.” She plastered on a sweet smile, “Some of us don’t get the benefit of being raised on core worlds. We don’t get to join up with the real military until after we’ve earned the right to be there.”

He kept his temper in check just barely, “You should have told the truth at the Senate hearing instead of pretending you didn’t know anything.”

“The truth?” She said tilting her head to the side. “You mean that you should have known something was wrong on Ord Mantell? That you missed vital signs that something was off? That truth?”

If she had not been his commander, he would have killed her where she stood, to hell with keeping his temper in check. “What are you talking about?” he said angrily, “There’s no way I could have known.”

“I checked the mission logs and reports of the bomb on Ord Mantell when I took over.” She narrowed her eyes at him, “There was more than enough evidence to think there was a leak coming from inside the base. I thought so the moment I stepped onto the squad. Yet, no one investigated it, especially not the Lieutenant sent to oversee things.” She looked him up and down contemptuously. She was daring him to attack her.

He clenched his jaw biting back what he wanted to say.

She stepped forward until they were chest to chest, it did not bother her that she had to tilt her head back to look into his eyes. “I keep thinking back to your opening speech. Calling me a rookie, ‘whatever you say in the field goes’, every bit of by-the-book if I’ve ever seen it. Now, you question me, argue, barely holding back your disapproval in front of my superiors. So tell me Sergeant, what happened?”

“You’re right.” he yelled angrily. “Happy? I should have seen someone inside was with the Seps, I knew there was something wrong, and every time I thought to look into it, I was ordered not to. ‘No time’ Tavus said, ‘more important things’ he said and I followed orders." He said bitterly, "Then here you come, young upstart questioning everything especially me and you get Havoc Squad and I get thrown under a transport. And you know what? I deserved it. You should have told the Senate about me, I should get thrown out for my mistake. But I’ll tell you one thing, I’m never going to blindly follow orders ever again.”

He finished his rant and waited. Waited for her to rip off his badge and report him to the Senate or Garza or both. Ord Mantell had eaten at him since they left, he was glad to have it out in the open.

“Good.” K’abe replied mildly when she determined he was finished. “I don’t want a blind follower on my team,” her lips quirked at his surprised expression. “My first squad was a group of men your age, all Zabrak. Our mission was to raid a supply outpost. They questioned everything I planned until it was time to attack. But when we ran the mission they followed orders and we made it out alive. Can I count on you for that?”

“Always, sir.” He said seriously.

She nodded and slapped his arm hard enough to make him stagger. “Let’s go bring in a traitor.”