Chapter One.

The void of space was silent as the only source of sound was the low humming from the engines of a passing by light class Imperial prison transport. The long ship slowly drifted pass a scattered asteroid field as it proceeded towards their next scheduled checkpoint, a small space port under Imperial protection which would resupply the transport provided them with additional troops as their original crew was currently minimally manned. At the bridge the transport's Captain orders his bridge crew to hug the asteroid field as it would shorten their overall trip, the uneasy officer disliking the idea of transporting a ship full of sixty prisoners with only a small platoon of armed guards. However, while most deck officers would agree the shortcut of hugging the asteroid field was an excellent idea as the ship's shields and repulsion systems would keep them safe, others saw this as an opportunity. Specifically two individuals who occupied a nearby drifting asteroid watched eagerly as both of them suited up enviro-suits giving them plenty of hours of fresh oxygen and a repulsion pack allowing them to glide through the empty void of space.

"You sure got lucky assuming the transport would get this close to the asteroid field." One of the mysterious figures remarked, his voice masculine and his suit formed for a human. He drifted slowly in place as a small hook kept him grounded to the asteroid, his mysterious partner doing the same as they both watched the transport getting closer.

"It's not luck." The other figure chuckled, his voice carried more age with it and his suit was formed for a member of the Iktotchi species. Shifting his heads towards his partner his dark visor hiding his face he laughed once again, "I'm just that good."

The human shook his head as the transport was now in shouting distance, "It's a good thing Imperials don't waist their time scanning asteroid fields for lifeforms."

"Even if they did there's plenty of nightmare critters hiding in these space rocks." The Iktotchi chuckled, waving his hand as he signaled the human to join him in unhooking themselves from the stray asteroid. Pushing off with their feet the two men lifted off and entered the emptiness of space that stood between them and the transport. Drifting for a few seconds the two men turned on their packs and started to slow jet towards the side of the transport. Both of their muscles tensed underneath their suits as one stray glance from a gunner would spell doom for the two men. Breaking the tense silence the Iktotchi spoke up, "Remember we'll have to use the waste hatch to get in so we don't trigger any alarms."

"Not the first time I've climbed through waste to kill an enemy." The human commented casually, the Iktotchi nervously chuckling at how calm and confident the human could say such a thing.

"Well that's why I keep you around." The Iktotchi added on, "You were bred to kill after all."

"I was bred to serve." The human harshly corrected him.

"Look sharp there it is." The Iktotchi chuckled, as the two mysterious strangers quickly shut off their packs and allowed themselves to drift towards the sealed garbage hatch. Adjusting their posture the two men prepared themselves for a rather rough landing. Hitting the side of the transport rather roughly they both grunted in discomfort, quickly attaching their hooks onto the side of the transport so they wouldn't bounce away. Wasting no time the Iktotchi pulled out a small metallic rod and upon pressing a small button the end began to glow red hot.

Running rod down the seal of the hatch several times the human whistled as the seal began to turn bright red, "Reminds me of a lightsaber."

"If this thing was a lightsaber we'd be in the ship after the first pass through." The Iktotchi chuckled, as after a few more times the hatch hissed alive as the seal was broken. Unhooking themselves the two men crawled into the hatch and just as quickly as they broke the seal the transport ship's automatic security seal closed it again. The Iktotchi chuckled by their success as Imperial prison ships used a specific company for their waste system, after a few hours of researching he learned that in order to save credits the company removed an alarm system and replaced it with a quick seal security system. Passing through the garbage hold the two men found themselves in the underbelly of the transport ship, full of breathable air they began to remove their suits.

The Iktotchi removed his suit first as the aged alien stood rather tall and had a muscular build to his body. His face was worn with age and his eyes looked tired, his horns were scarred and his left cheek had a deep scar that ran down to his chin. He wore knee high boots with black field trousers, wrapped around his waist was a gray blaster belt, and a white long sleeved shirt which had part of his chest exposed. He wore a crimson jacket that hung past his waist and on his hip he had a blaster pistol, with a cylinder design at the center and twin barrels it seemed like it could push out some decent power.

The human was more of less in his early twenties, however unlike the Iktotchi who had his own look the human resembled a face that once occupied many planets throughout the Galaxy. The human had the face shared by the soldiers that once filled the ranks of the Republic and oddly enough while most of the clones now were old men he looked just as he did back in the Clone Wars. Like many of his brothers during the war he had an unusual tattoo on both sides of his neck, his hair was kept in the same regulated manner from his training days and his upper lip was covered by a thick mustache. Surprisingly he had no trace of clone armor on as instead he wore dark combat boots with combat pants, he wore a dark gray with a dark chocolate brown utility vest on. At his waist he carried two signature DC-17 blaster pistols and in his hands he carried a DC-15S blaster.

"You ready?" The Iktotchi asked, the older alien stretching his arms as he prepared for the most difficult part of the operation.

"Rescue the target, disarm the canons and sneak out." The clone casually put it, the alien rolling his eyes at how casual the clone was about these types of risky missions.

"I swear are you ever nervous?" The Iktotchi chuckled, he always respected the clone trooper's nerves of steel under pressure.

"Torch and Karn, are you guys in?" A voice hissed over their comm links.

"That's correct." Karn the Iktotchi responded, the two starting to slowly make their way down the main hall slowly. Carefully hugged the wall as Torch lead the way sweeping connecting halls as they advanced, "From now on radio silence. We'll contact you if we require extraction or a distraction."

"Distraction!" The other voice cried out, but before he could argue the connection was cut by Karn.

"You'll give him a heart attack one day if you keep surprising him with these new additions to the plan." Torch shook his head, his eyes never leaving the iron sights of his blaster as he checked yet another hallway. Karn chuckled softly at the clone's remark as he knew he enjoyed pulling the legs of his two other partners a little too much. The aged Iktotchi casually walked behind the clone as he secured each pathway down the main hall, the two men polar opposites of each other. Torch was fierce and calculated in battle, his nature was rather serious and calm during battle. Karn was overly casual and enjoyed making jokes to cover up tense situations, while he wasn't as handy with a blaster as the clone was he was quick on his feet and was good at creating plans. Together the two made an ideal team, Torch would handle the fighting while Karn made sure everything pieced together properly. Torch glared back for a split moment, "Lets not also forget about that new guy we picked up. I wouldn't be surprised if you two butt heads a bit, he's got a mission and I doubt he wants some washed up smuggler getting in his way."

"Oh it''s good to keep him on his toes and as far as the new guys goes don't worry about him, I know how to deal with-" Karn begun to joke, but was quickly silenced as Torch raised a hand in the air signaling he spotted someone.

"We got some company." Torch explained, his back pressed against the corner of the wall as at the end it split into two different directions. Exhaling lowly he peered around the corner once more, "West hall has three engineers and East hall has two guards."

Karn tapped his lip for a moment as he thought, "East hall will get us to the holding block quicker."

"I can blast the control pads and seal the engineers in that hall." Torch explained, he was confident in his abilities at hitting any target. Sighing out of annoyance he turned his attention towards the alien, "However that means you'll need to deal with the guards."

Karn chuckled nervously, "I've been in my fair share of firefights I can take out two guards before they report us in."

"Alright so I'll seal off the engineers and then I'll take out the guards." Torch rolled his eyes, the alien grinning as he could see the corner's of the clone's mouth curling up. Torch might of been overly serious most times, but there were moments where the clone surprised the aging alien and threw a joke back at him.

"Deal." Karn chuckled, as he signaled towards the clone and with that the two poked out from around the corner.

Torch wasted no time and fired off his first bolt, whizzing past the three engineers he grinned in success as it hit its mark. The control pad at the far end of the far end of the hall began to smoke and the doors hissed closed. Now making the engineers aware of their location he turned his attention towards the closer door pad, firing off yet anther shot he showed off his excellent marksmanship and that door also hissed closed. Torch admired his quick work for a moment as he knew by the time the engineers fixed the pad they'd already be escaping off this ship, but basking in his success was cut off as three red blaster bolts just missed his back. Spinning around he grunted annoyingly as the two Stormtroopers were opening fire upon them and Karn was blindly firing his blaster around the corner of the hall.

Torch fired off two bolts which nailed the first trooper in the chest, the guard collapsed to the ground however a small grunted escaped his lips. Realizing the bolts hadn't fully pierced his armor the clone wasted no time putting two more bolts into the exact same spot, this time the trooper didn't make any more noise. Torch quickly leaped forward and entered a full roll as two bolts smashed into the ground he once stood on, exiting the roll he unleashed several shots with four of them slamming into the trooper's upper chest. Stumbling back for a moment the trooper went to grasp his chest, but before he could Karn spun out from his cover and placed a single shot into the trooper's helmet. Grinning horn-to-horn the alien holstered his blaster, "See I helped."

"I did the heavy lifting." Torch groaned, "However my kill count is high enough so I'll allow you to have that one."

Karn shook his head as he laughed, "Torch you're truly the kindest clone around."

Torch quickly punched in the codes for the repulsorlift as he muttered under his breath, "I'm the few clones still around."

The two infiltrators quickly got on the lift as the doors hissed closed, the compartment shaking slightly as he shot up towards the requested floor. Karn looked around uncomfortably as he tapped his foot impatiently, "The holding block should have roughly twelve guards."

Torch nodded as he examined his blaster, "I can deal with twelve."

"What if my intel is wrong and there's more?" Karn asked, as the reality was there were only two of them and while Torch was skilled he couldn't take on a whole platoon if they were more.

"I'll figure something out." Torch shrugged, "Plus I got you and you were so much help in that last fight."

Karn shook his head as he exhaled hot air out of amusement, "I think we should release the prisoners."

Torch's face looked appalled at the idea, "You want to release a bunch of murders to fight with us?"

"Don't see them in that light." Karn chuckled nervously as he knew Torch wouldn't be on board, "See them as unusual friends in a time of need."

"I'll handle the troopers all you need to do is find and release the target." Torch hissed, as he was once a proud soldier and refused to lower himself to fighting alongside murders.

Karn sighed as the lift was closely reaching their level, "Alright you win."

Torch shook his head, "Promise me."

"Why?" Karn forced a shrugged.

"Because you're known for lying." Torch growled, as he knew that Karn had a tendency to do what he thought was right instead of what others felt was right.

Just as Karn was about to respond back the doors hissed alive and right before them stood two Stormtroopers. Before the troopers could say anything Torch unleashed a single blaster bolt each right into their helmets, both bodies dropping and quickly gaining the attention of the others. Racing out of the lift the two took cover, Torch knocked over a durasteel table and hid behind it while Karn raced off to the left into the control room.

"Hey you-" An Officer cried out, as he looked up from his control panel only to be greeted by a shot from Karn's blaster.

"Element of surprise has always been my friend." Karn chuckled, as he quickly began to search through their main console. His eyes searching for a specific name and after a minute of looking he grinned with pleasure. Punching in a code he looked at the information of this specific prisoner, grinning as he finished reading up on the prison's bio they had. Punching in another code a small door hissed alive behind Karn as the alien had requested for the prisoner's personal belongings that had been taken after capture, "Torch how are you holding up?"

Torch fired off several rounds before taking cover behind the table again, "Just living the life!"

"Can't tell if you're joking for once or being honest!" Karn laughed, as he peered out of the control room to see several stormtroopers closing in on their position. Looking back at Torch he sighed, "If I release the prisoners we can overwhelm them before reinforcements show up!"

Torch shook his head violently, "What happens when the scum turn on us?"

"Prisoners here also have shock collars along with being locked up!" Karn shouted back, "If any of them get a bit wild we pump them all with a few charges!"

Torch cursed lowly, "It's far too risky!"

Karn looked back to see there were roughly ten stormtroopers dead, but Torch still had roughly sixteen more to go. Realizing their original intel was wrong and that any minute reinforcements could arrive he decided otherwise. Punching in another code he took over the loudspeakers in the holding block, "We don't have the advantage of getting to know each other so I'll make it simple! We release you men and you kill every stormtrooper in this block, if you try anything foolish I'll pump enough juice into your bodies too kill a Wookiee!"

Torch slammed his fist on the ground angrily, "We only came here to release the target!"

"Sorry pal." Karn sighed, as he pressed a single button and with a bright flash of red light every cell hissed open. Bursting from their locked rooms was nearly every species they could think of, the stormtroopers opened fire killing several but the large number of prisoners overwhelmed them. Stealing blasters and smashing in the skulls of their former captures the prisoners were able to assist Torch in killing every trooper within two minutes. Silence filled the room as the fight stopped and every prisoner turned to look at the men who freed them for guidance, "Anyone know a Zabrak by the name of Setir?"

None of the prisoners responded back, as they seemed more concerned about their freedom than one specific prisoner. Torch groaned annoyingly as he squeezed the bridge of his nose, "She's a Blade Master I'm sure she's stabbed a few of you over extra ration scraps."

"Good one." Karn nodded amusingly at how Torch would occasionally make jokes while stressed. His hand still on the collar's controller he stepped forward, "We're not with the Empire so as far as I'm concerned the enemy of our enemy is our friend."

"She's in Cell 8-B, she never participates in riots." A Rodian hissed, as the one-eyed prisoner stepped forward.

"Perfect." Karn nodded with a proud smile as Torch shook his head, realizing the prisoners meant no harm towards them he tossed the Rodian the controller for their collars. Chuckling softly at the Rodian's confused expression Karn simply shrugged, "We're here for only one but if you boys feel up to the challenge this transport is heading towards an Imperial space port."

Torch shook his head, "The ship is undermanned currently so if you send one strike team to the barracks and another to the bridge you should be able to remove majority of the guards. Once you have control of the ship you can access their authorization codes and that'll give you pull access to the ship's controls, after that you can invade the space port or whatever free prisoners do."

The Rodian grinned at hearing they had a chance to bring the fight to the Imperials, "Will you join us?"

"Unfortunately while I love anarchy we came here for the Zabrak." Karn shamefully admitted, as the prisoners nodded and raced off. Within seconds the holding block was empty and the floor littered with dead bodies from both sides.

"That wasn't part of the plan." Torch hissed, as he didn't like the idea of Karn always winging the operations.

"We would of been overwhelmed." Karn explained, annoyed the clone would still want to argue over a successful plan.

"That's not the point." Torch groaned, tired of always having to explain this to the alien. The two quickly gathered up the personal items of their target and began to make their way towards her cell, "The point is you always do what you think is best."

"Did you have a better plan?" Karn asked curiously.

Torch sighed, "You could of cut the lights and I could of used my night vision sensors."

"Oh that is a good plan." Karn admitted as he carefully read each cell's label, "However now we don't have to worry about the rest of the crew and these prisoners might damage an Imperial port."

Torch sighed as he gave up, he knew that Karn's plan overall was solid but he knew he couldn't get the alien to understand that last minute plans like that could also get them killed. Looking at the end of the hall Torch spotted the cell, "There's 8-B."

The two of them quickly made their way towards the cell, the sound of shouting and blaster fire echoing in the distant from the upper levels. Reaching the open the cell the two of them entered the doorway to see Setir sitting in the center of the room. She was slightly shorter than Torch was and was rather slim for the fierce reputation she had. Her skin was tan and she had jet black hair pulled back into a ponytail. The sides of her head running down onto her forehead were covered in a straight line of fingernail sized horns, with two dark tattoo like stripes running up her chin and ending right below her lips. Her amber eyes were quickly revealed as her eyelids shot open, glaring at the Iktotchi would casually grinned at her and the clone who had his blaster rifle drawn in her direction. Still sitting on the floor she spoke up cautiously, "What do you want."

"We're here to rescue you." Karn threw his hands into the air with a smile, "We've heard the stories and believe we have the same interest."

Setir eyeballed the alien before turning her attention towards the clone, "How?"

Torch exhaled loudly as he didn't like hanging around the transport for any longer than they needed, "We can explain it all when our ship picks us up."

"You have a ship?" Setir was now interested.

Karn grinned knowing a ship meant she could escape Imperial custody, "Yeah and we've got one hell of a pilot."

"You can stay here and assault the Imperial port with these prisoners or come with us and hear our offer." Torch explained, his eyes and blaster never leaving the blade master as he felt being cautious around someone like her was important.

Setir shook her head, "Those fools will die."

"Alright than it's settled!" Karn clapped his hands together, a big grin on his face as he was simply happy there would be no blood shed between the groups. Tossing Setir her clothes and blade he quickly turned on his comm link, "Hey can you attach to the airlock on the holding cell?"

"Yeah, but what about the guns?" The voice asked back.

"Karn over here released every prisoner, so they should have taken out the gun crews by now." Torch explained, a hint of annoyance still in his voice was he wasn't sure if he was annoyed that Karn constantly changed the operations without telling them or if he was simply annoyed that Karn's plan worked.

The voice over the comm didn't respond for a moment, "Just scanned the ship and it seems like those criminals really did take out those guns."

"Perfect!" Karn chuckled, "Come pick us up we got a friend!"

"At least tell me what this interest we share is." Setir asked, as the two stood outside her cell while she changed.

Karn nodded towards Torch almost as if he was approving him to inform her. Sighing Torch rolled his eyes annoyingly as he hated explaining things and usually left it to the others, "Along with a pilot we also have a member of that Rebellion group on our ship. We found the guy drifting in an escape pod a week ago after his ship was ambushed by Imperials, long story short he says he knows how we can end the Imperial occupation of Thune."

"Thune." Setir muttered lowly, stopping in her tracks as she was about to exit the cell.

Karn grinned, "We had a feeling that name would interest you."

"I'll do whatever it takes to free Thune." Setir hissed aggressively, her amber eyes burning fiercely.

"Looks like our group of misfits keeps getting bigger." Torch rolled his eyes as he shook his head.

"A Blade Master, a handsome Smuggler, a cranky Clone Trooper, a top tier Pilot, and some guy from the Rebellion." Karn grinned devilishly, "Sounds like the start to a great story!"