Bitters are the battles between brothers

Skarakkis fiddled with his blaster, trying to get the jammed thing working properly again. He was a warrior damn it, not a weaponsmith. But they didn’t have many weaponsmiths to spare right now, well, at least not for one blaster. And he was a rising star in the ranks, too proud to go and ask for help with a problem of this size.

Thankfully it was a lazy day, no actual action to be had, so he had all the time he needed to fix this. And while proud, he admitted that he needed time with this. A lot of time.

“Ow!” he hissed, as the insides of the blasters inner workings slightly jammed shut again, catching one of his claws between them. He waved his hand away from the thing, like a hatchling scratched by a lolth-cat. He snarled slightly at the blaster, as if it would listen. And leaned backwards, to the cool wall of the spaceship. This was a troop carrier, empty except for him. A moment of peace, even if he heard the chatter of other soldiers and buzzing of insects outside. The red yam’rii frowned, then sighed. He needed time for this. But he didn’t have time for this. Well he did. But he wanted to do something actually important. He could just pick another blaster and be done with it. Someone else could worry about this.

“What on earth did you do to that poor thing?”

The yam’riis fuzzy antennae perked up and he raised his head a bit. He hadn’t noticed that his brother had joined his company. Shiraxx stared at the blaster with a look of bewilderment and amusement.

“Trying to fix it” Skarakkis answered bluntly. Shiraxx was carrying some supply boxes that he settled down on the ship's floor. With that the blueish yam’rii approached his brother and snatched the blaster from his hands. He tilted his head and then with his many eyes, looked back at Skarakkis.

“By tearing out it’s guts?” Shiraxx chirped with laughter. “Let me take a look at this, maybe I can save it from your brutality” he continued, grabbing some of the tools scattered around the bench next to Skarakkis. With that, Shiraxx sat down and got to work. He had always been better with machines. Well, fixing them. Skarakkis knew how to shoot them. Not to discredit his brother of course, Shiraxx was a good shot when he wanted to be. But he wasn’t a warrior like Skarakkis.

“So, how's my favorite brother?” Shiraxx asked, while poking the blasters insides with a screwdriver. 

“Fine. Better now that I don’t have to deal with that” the red brother answered, scratching his jaw. The blue brother scoffed, with amusement. 

“That's why you have me”

“That’s why I have you”

After a while, Shiraxx handed the blaster back to Skarakkis, who had almost zoned off. “There you go. It should work like charm now”

He blinked, taking the blaster into his claws. Turning it around, to see how it felt.

“Wanna go test it out?” Shiraxx leaned forward on the bench, his secondary set of claws clicking against each other.

“Sure. Wanna see who shoots better?”

“Sounds good to me” the lighter-framed yam’rii hopped off the bench, taking a few skipping steps towards the ship's opened main door. “Try to keep up”

Skarakkis groaned, but not with true annoyance. He slipped the blaster back to its holster at his side and hurried after his brother.

---

“Sir, do you remember that there will be a call from general Marris later in the afternoon?”

Skarakkis the Red paused the tapping of his claws against a glass table. “I do. I will answer her, when the time comes”

The mustafarian next to him tapped their fingers against the back of a notebook. Tosla Nu had always been practical about technology, a good codebreaker too, but perhaps because of that preferred to keep information written down on paper. A strange habit perhaps, but the captain had no need to complain.

“I assumed so. I just wanted to make sure. There is… a lot on your mind, after all” Nu answered. Their tone was always polite and Skarakkis had made sure that his crew could voice their opinions without worry. Still, he didn’t have to know the Force to sense the slight worry in the mustafarians voice.

“I’ll be fine” the armored warrior stood up from his seat with a grunt. “I’ll go pay a visit to our guest at the brig. I’ll be there when you need me”

The codebreaker just nodded.

The captain sauntered to the brig, not sure how to feel about all of the things that were on his mind. This talk was not something he was practically happy about, but perhaps he could get something from it.

The guards at the brig nodded slightly and let the captain pass without a question. They had questions, that was certain, but like Nu it seemed like they didn’t dare to ask.

The yam’rii stopped in front of a cell. In the shadows, a lump of fur and cloth was laying on a small cell bed, back turned against him. A hum of the red laser wall filled the air, separating the two people. 

“I know you’re not sleeping” Skarakkis called.

“Nothing gets by you, does it” a familiar voice croaked from the shadows. The figure shifted in its place, rising to sit on the bed, turning itself to face the captain. The figure leaned forward, a sly grin creeping to its face.

“Been a while, brother” Shiraxx hummed, glaring at his brother with an insincere smile.

“What were you doing here?” Skarakkis asked, bluntly. He did not have time for kind words. For reminiscing.

“Just business” the blue yam’rii shrugged, trailing a circle with his claws against the bed. “You should know”

“I’m afraid I don’t”

Shiraxx barked a laugh. “Oh yeah, I forgot. That you don’t know shit” he stopped the motion of his claws, turning his gaze at Skarakkis. “I was given an order. Didn’t say no. You know how that is” he hissed. He gently tapped the piece of weathered metal poking out of his skull.

Maybe the captain felt a small twinge of guilt. But he had no time for that. “I could ask you what it was, but I doubt you will tell me”

“That you get! I won't!” Shiraxx crossed his upper arms in a show of defiance. Skarakkis rolled his many eyes under his helmet.

“I don’t know why I bothered” he turned to leave. “Maybe I will just throw you out from an airlock” he shrugged.

Shiraxx sneered, was quiet for a moment. Skarakkis took a step towards the door of the brig.

“Wait”

The captain turned around. Shiraxx walked to the laser door.

“I’m glad that the weird inquisitor-whatever didn’t kill you” his brother said, sounding sincere.

Skarakkis blinked.

“That’s my job” Shiraxx continued, still sincere, but now with added joy and malice.

The captain stood there for a moment and said nothing. He then nodded.

“Wanna see who shoots better?” he asked.

“Sounds good to me” Shiraxx grinned.

A voice from outside the door broke the brothers' conversation. Nu was standing at the door. “The generals calling” they said with a dry tone.

“I’ll be right there” the captain answered. With that, he left. For he had so little time.

Shiraxx stood in his place for a moment. And another. And stared at the spot where his brother had been. Then with a hiss he spat towards the spot, turned around and on a whim decided to spend his time tearing the bed off from the wall.