I woke up dazed in a dark, muggy cell… wearing a grey Imperial prison jumpsuit. To my right, Quicksilver was scratching ticks into the wall with a broken spoon. “Agh… good god… what the hell?” I mumbled. “Hey, there you are.” Quicksilver smiled roughly. “Fucking hell, what happened?” I held my head. “Well, we were captured from the refugee planet and they threw us in here, probably waiting for you to wake back up.” Quicksilver explained. “How long was I out?” “About a week, I’ve been tallying up the days since we got here.” Quicksilver showed me his work… and there was in fact 7 ticks scratched out. “A week? Really? And where exactly is here?” I raised my eyebrows. “Yes, a week. And we are on some Imperial Prisoner Transport.. Like a mini star destroyer.” Quicksilver explained. Before I could respond, the door to our cell slid open, revealing two of the same imperial soldiers that captured us, and a imperial officer. “Finally, you're awake.” The officer scoffed. “And to who do I owe the pleasure?” I stood up, my legs stiff as logs. “None of your business scum…” The Officer spat. “Well, colour me offended, you take me and my Brother hostage, and don’t even introduce yourself?” I laughed lightly. “You're lucky Lord Vader needs more Stormtroopers, or you’d be executed on the spot.” The Officer slapped me. “Stormtroopers, you say? So that’s what you're calling yourself now?” I ignored the pain in my cheek. “You're either very stupid or very brave…” The officer rubbed his chin. “And by the way, what makes you think I’d work for you?” I crossed my arms. Quicksilver was quietly facepalming on the floor. “Let me explain it to you-” The officer. “Oh please, I’m all ears Mon Capitaine.” I laughed, cutting him off. The officer grumbled under his breath before starting again. “Here’s the deal… swear your loyalty to the Empire, or we drill another chip into your brain. And trust me, it’s a rather, painful process.” The officer explained. “And how would that work?” I raised an eyebrow. “Listen, you're era is already dead, there's nothing else to stand up for! Just make it easier on yourself!” One of the Stormtroopers snapped. “At lease, Trooper.” The Officer scoffed. “Anyway, you’d return to you're old armor, and join the Bad Batch for now… until you both have proved your loyalty.” The Officer turned back to me. “What would that entail?” I asked. “Oh, the odd, low priority jobs. Squashing reballians, other defective Clones, that sorta thing.” The Officer went on, adjusting his gloves. I looked to Quicksilver… then thought. “Alright, alright, I suppose you, and you're shiny friend here do have a point. We’ll play nice.” I submitted. “Ah, I know you’d see it the easy way. The Empire needs smart troopers like you.” The Officer laughed. “Please, right this way, and the Name’s Officer Acardius, by the way.” The Officer started leading me and Quicksilver away from the cell. “Hey, you're not actually planning to join these guys, right?” Quicksilver whispered. “Hell no… just play along for now.” I replied.
Chapter 2: The Bad Batch
The officer lead us down to what was apparently the armoury, weapons and shiny armor suits were neatly organized. In the back, were mine and Quicksilver's Armor, this time bearing Imperial emblems, and the 501st blue markings coloured black. “Now if you would get changed, meet me back in the hanger. Blackjack is about to launch on a mission… she’s the leader of the Bad Batch. “She?” Quicksilver asked. “Yes… ever since the New Empire formed, we have been accepting more varied list of members. Will, anyone human at least.” The Officer replied, then walked out. We and Quicksilver shrugged and went to change into ur armor.
After we were combat ready, we ended up sticking around the armory to check out their stockpile. “I can’t believe they left us alone… with all of this…” Quicksilver mumbled. “Watch your tongue, they probably have visual and audio surveillance in here.” I replied. “Yeah, but still… we could easily take a few weapons and explosives, fight our way to the hanger, and GTFO.” Quicksilver. “And get gunned down by countless waves of enemies? Listen, we can’t risk anything.” I warned. “Oh… fine…” Quicksilver sighed, grabbed a DC-15 blaster rifle and waited for me. I picked out my normal setup, Z9 cannon, and duel hand blasters. Soon, we got down to the Hanger… where a bunch of shinies were listening to a trooper in dark armor and matching Commander Pref. We took our positions and waited to see how long it would take for her to notice us. “Alright… so here’s the deal, there's been some unruly Alien species in one of our Imperial City centers. And since the higher army has no time to deal with such minimal tasks, we are being sent into shut them up.” The Commander was saying. “Should be pretty simple, the aliens are gathered in large mobs, we’ll split into two teams. Team A will patrol the north side, as Team B will patrol the south. I of course will be leading Team A… any volunteers for Team B?” She asked. Their were some soft mumbles from the crowd… until I stepped forward. “How about someone with some actuall experience?” I pushed my way through, arms crossed. The Commander stopped, and I swear she was checking me out. “Oooh… well, you're one of those Clones gone bad eh? I heard about your lot… but you're… special, ain’t you?” The Commander scoffed scarstitly. “Please, let’s skip the introductions… yes, I was a 501st captain back in the day, yes, I removed my mind-control chip, yes, you're a female imperial officer…. Does that cover everything?” I rolled my eyes. “Huh… straight to business, eh? I like your style…” I swear she was testing me. “Yeah, straight to business. Now, we gonna load up or what?” I snapped a bit. “Alright, alright… you will lead Team B, in Gunship 22 Alpha. Take three of these paperweights with you.” She gestured to one of the gunships behind her, then to the group. “Finally… come on Quicksilver, let’s get this over with.” I picked up three randoms and put my helmet on, and we all climbed into the Gunship.
Chapter 3: Venting some Stress.
Before we left, we were informed that we were not allowed any “lethal” weapons, and Blackjack gave us all stun batons… but I kept a DC 15 handgun on me just in case. After that was all settled, out Star destroyer entered the planet’s atmosphere and out gunships deployed. Out the window, I could see Team A split off towards the far side of the city. As soon as we landed, I could see a mop making its way towards us… shouting things like “Down with the empire” and “Aliens are people too”. Heaving a sigh, my squad exited the gunship. The leader of the group, a dark skinned Aqualish came forward, holding a rusty chunk of pipe. “Alright everyone, fun’s over… the Empire doesn't like you people creating a fuss.” I tried to remain calm. “Oh sure, now you care!” The Aquala spat in my face. “I’ll give you one chance to end this peacefully.” I muttered, sparking my stun baton and tightening my grip. Looking back, their were aliens from all over the galaxy… how the hell did they all end up here anyway? “So what, you can just cast us aside again?” A random Yarkora shouted from the mob. I was about to make a move, when a random brick came screaming towards me, deaked me in the side of the helmet with a loud CLUNK, and landed on my foot for good measure. The grip on my weapon just got tighter and tighter, and I started grinding my teeth… “Uggggh… Captain…” Quicksilver started, but was cut off my the blood curdling scream of the poor Aquala as I jabbed him in the stomach with the stun weapon. Giving him the full effect of the shok, and even increasing the power… so much that his clothes started to smoke and it smelt like burnt fabric. He fell to the ground in a heavy thump, twitching and moaning in pain. He tried getting up, but I let the full weight of my foot smash on his hand, hearing a loud crunch… he screamed again. The mob, and even the troopers behind me, stood in silence as my breathing get heavier. “Anyone else… feel like stepping up!?!?!?” I said in a monotone voice. One of the mob tried approaching the Aquala, but I drew my handgun. “Not one more fucking sep, or I’ll clap you both.” I added. “Now, here’s now it’s gonna go down, all of you are gonna return to you're homes, and not come back out. If I have to back back here, it won't be with a pea shooter and a lightning stick, you understand?” I looked all the aliens dead in the eye. They all kinda backed away, leaving their friend half dead in the street. I holstered my weapon and went back to the Gunship. “Sir, what about the Aquala?” One of the shinies asked. “Leave his sorry ass, and let him be a message to the rest.” I mumbled. “Now hurry up, I don’t wanna be late for the debrief.” I added. They all entered the Gunship without a word.
“You created quite the scene on your side of the city…” Blackjack commented back on the Star Destroyer. “I was doing what I had to ma’am, if these low lifes don’t wanna play nice, I’m not cutting any corners.” I replied. “Huh… maybe that officer was wrong about you, keep this up, and I might just make you my second.” Blackjack laughed. I was hit by a reality check when my had a brief flashback to the day Rex finally officially promoted me to captain… so many years ago… back on Kimindo… then it hit me…
What the fuck did I just do!?
Chapter 4: Lost Faces
My next deployment was taking me to a barren desert planet named Seelos. Apparently, a single lonely Republic AT-TE 23X was spotted roaming the surface. No idea what the hell it was doing down there, but Blackjack was sending me and Quicksilver in two AT-STs to deal with it. Shouldn't be too hard, probably some Clone survivors from the Jedi Purge that the Empire wants taken out. So, off we went… but I was still pretty shaken from by little outburst in my last deployment. When some vehicle transporters dropped us off, we were hit by a friendly reminder… “Remember, you get this done, and you’ll both be promoted into my squad, saving you from the shit you're in.” Blackjack’s voice echoed in my mind even after the transmission was cut. “You okay Captain?” Quicksilver asked. “I’d say yes, but I’d be lying…” I sighed. “Yeah… that was pretty brutal… I’m not gonna sugar coat it.” Quicksilver replied. “Let’s just… get this over with.” I shook my head and grabbed the AT-ST’s controls, ans be both stomped our way through the wasteland. “Hey… I’m picking something up on radar…” Quicksilver broke the silence. “I think it mig-” He was cut off by a sudden explosion that almost knocked us over. “Gee, you think it might be our target?” I finished his sentence. “Yeah…” He didden’t sound all to impressed. “Alright, let’s split up and attack attempt to flank it.” We started picking up speed. “Even though it has a massive gun that can swing 360 degrees?” I could FEEL quicksilver smirking in his AT-ST. “You. Know. What. I. Mean.” I mumbled in my scaracatic tone. Quicksilver laughed as the Republic AT-TE came into view. “Alright, there's our target.” I noted. “See you on the other side!” Quicksilver shouted, picking up more speed. I followed suite, and finally got a good look at the AT-TE… the damn thing looked like a hotel room on legs. When I got a look at the gun, some dude in a tank top was meaning it? He fired another shot at my direction, but I side stepped to the left just in time. I ran up close to the thing and heard some brief shouting. “Damnit Gregor, their just scout walkers!” A voice shouted from within. “Hold on… I got this…” The dude on the turret shouted back, and swung the turret barrel around. I had no reaction time, just a SLAM as the barrel hit me my AT-ST in the side… okay how did I not see that coming? Anyway, my walker fell over, rolled a few times, and came to a sliding stop in the sand. A ringing in my ears, and heart pumping, I tried my best to sit upright. A few minutes past, and the front of my walker was ripped open and I was blinded by the sun. My eyes adjusted enough to see a Clone, in 501st markings… very detailed 501st markings… “What we gonna do with him?” Mr. Tank Top asked. “Wait…” I mumbled. “I… don’t know…” The 501st dude repiled. “Wait…” I tried standing up, but the 501st trooper pointed his DC-15s at me. “Rex? I- is that you?”I rubbed my eyes… and low and behold, Captain Rex himself was holding me at gunpoint. To the right of my crashed walker, I could see Quicksilver poking his head out of his own walker. “Huh?” Rex tilted his head. “It’s me, Jax…” I took off my helmet… both Rex and Tank Top dude recoiled. “How the…” Rex mumbled. “Ugggggh… long story…” I laughed half heartedly… What are the bloody odds!?
Jax and his brother Quicksilver find themselves in the hands of the Empire, who wish to use them as some quick cannon fodder. But their missions bring them to a rather awkward situation.
