Jena Isa took a silent breath as she stood alone in an empty field… or at least it appeared empty. She sighed tirelessly as she pointed at a rock behind her. "Come on out, guys. I know you're there."

From behind the rock, a group of New Republic soldiers with purple visors sulked out. They groaned

"Damn. I really thought we had you there, ma'am. Guess you Jedi guys really are good."

"It's not that hard." Jena said. "Private Tanner kept humming in a not-so-subtle way."

"Hey, if I can't sing some Metal Gear Solid music while we're doing sneaking exercises, when what am I training for?" Tanner asked.

Jena sighed. "Look, Violet Team, stealth is a vital part of winning a war. If you guys want to defeat the Federal Army and free your planet, then you'll have to… Hold on." She looked around. "Where's Lieutenant Brooke?"

"Oh, you mean Rachel?" Tanner asked. "She's off to listen to some of Captain Grif's war stories."

"While she's supposed to be training with us?" Jena exasperated. "I'll go get her myself."

Jena walked across the rebel base until she found a crowd of New Republic soldiers gathering around Grif. She scanned them and found the woman she was looking for. She tapped her on her shoulder to get her attention.

"Oh, eff." Brooke said after seeing her captain.

"Indeed. You're supposed to report in for stealth training." Jena scolded.

"What's there to train for? All you gotta do is be quiet. Anyone can do it." Brooke said. "Now, if you don't mind, I want to listen more to Captain Grif's stories."

"So it's Grif today?" Jena asked. "What do you find attractive about him? The man ate garbage because he ran out of food in the pantry and wouldn't bother to cook up his own dinner. Really, I saw it with my own eyes."

"Sure, physically speaking, he's not the most attractive man." Brooke said. "But you gotta admit, his tales of battling mute brutes and an army of robots just makes you so curious of a man."

Jena sighed. "I can't believe I have my own Tucker. Seriously, if you saw what those robots did to him, you wouldn't call him a man."

The conversation ended when Vanessa Kimball's voice was heard on the intercom. "Grif, Simmons, Caboose, and Isa! Report to my office immediately!"

"This day never ends." Jena said as she left.

As soon as the Padawan and the sim troopers arrived in the office, their faces widened at the sight of Lavernius Tucker, who had just come back after an actual mission.

"Tucker!" Caboose cheered.

"If you hug me, I will shoot you." Tucker threatened.

"Oh, it's okay, Tucker. I know you're more into groping. Come on, let's grope."

"Don't ever say that again, Caboose." Jena said. "So what happened, Tucker?"

The mercenary, Felix, walked out to answer her question in a serious tone. "Oh, I'll tell you what happened. Captain Tucker here decided to disobey orders and took it upon himself to recover a hard drive full of Federal Army secrets. A decision that only cost him the lives of two of his men. …That's a pretty damn good trade if I do say so myself!"

"What?" Tucker asked clearly surprised.

"Oh, man! You should have seen this guy! He was all 'I don't play by the rules'! Effing James Bond and shit all over the place! It was crazy!"

"Wait." Tucker said. "I thought you were pissed."

"Oh, do not get me wrong. I wanted to beat your worthless skull into the ground until it was paste. But look at where we are now. You took a risk and it paid off."

"Paid off? Dude, two of our guys are dead."

"And two more will probably die tomorrow. Seriously, what don't you people get about that?"

"That's enough, Felix." General Kimball said as she walked into the office. "Tucker, your choice cost two men their lives, but it also granted us access to valuable information. Whether or not it was the right thing to do is a decision you'll have to come to on your own. I'll leave it at that."

"I guess that's understandable." Jena said. "I've heard many stories of Jedi who had to make wild decisions back at the Clone Wars."

"Did it pay off?" Simmons asked.

"Well, in the end, most of us were killed and the rest were treated as criminals for the Empire to hunt down. What do you think?"

"Right now, the seven of us need to have a talk." Kimball said.

"Can it not be as depressing as the talk we're having right now?" Grif asked.

"I know where your friends are."

"You do!" Simmons gasped.

"Yay, I have friends!" Caboose cheered.

"When did this happen?" Felix asked.

"I kept digging through the files Tucker brought back. There wasn't much to go off of, but eventually I found them. And from the looks of it, they've been moved around a bit."

"But you know where they are now?" Jena asked. "Strike? Wash? Sarge? Everyone?"

"Yes, but don't celebrate too soon. As I said, they've been moving around fairly regularly, and from the looks of things, it isn't going to stop. Right now, they're held up in a compound just north of a nearby mountain range. But in about a week, it sounds like they'll be transferred to the capital, a place that's very, very out of our reach."

"So can we go and get them now?" Simmons asked.

"The compound she's talking about is about twice the size of the one Tucker and I raided." Felix said. "Breaking in would be suicide. Breaking someone out would be… like suicide and a bunch of puppies dying."

"How do you know?" Tucker asked.

"Because I've tried. And spoiler alert, it didn't go well."

"Were the puppies okay?" Caboose asked.

"When I first heard of you five," Kimball said, "I envisioned strong, daring, respectable soldiers."

"But…" Grif asked.

"But now that I've come to know you, I found that you're something else entirely. It turns out you're all a bunch of…"

"Cowards." Simmons guessed.

"Losers." Tucker guessed.

"Lunatics." Jena guessed.

"Idiots." Grif guessed.

"Spacemen." Caboose guessed.

"Misfits." Kimball finished. "You're oddballs that don't exactly fit in. Which is why my men all look up to you and why morale has been at an all time high; because they can relate to you. Because together, we're an army of underdogs and outcasts. But as of right now, I cannot authorize a rescue mission of this scale. Interestingly enough, you work well when you fight together, but individually, you still haven't shown what it takes to lead others. Which is why I'm giving you five days. Five days to assemble a smaller team, one comprised of the best of each of your platoons. And if you can convince me that you're ready by the end of those five days, then you will have my support."

"Five days?" Jena asked. "That's not a lot of time."

"Well, it's all you've got."

"Yeah…" Felix said, "So if this is really happening, I'd like to be paid in advance."

After their meeting, the Reds and Blues gathered outside the base. They huddled together with Felix standing behind them holding an advanced weapon in his hand.

"Five days. My naps take longer than five days." Grif complained.

"And President Day is Monday," Caboose said, "So we can't expect people to come in on a holiday because that would be time and a half. And… Oh, my God! That would be five and a half days!"

Jena sighed. "This is going to be impossible."

"Take my advice, people." Felix said. "Live to fight another day."

"I think I liked you better when you thought we were supersoldiers." Grif said.

"What's that in your hand?" Tucker asked.

"This is a plasma rifle." Felix said. "Part of my cut from the hit and run."

"Your cut?" Simmons asked.

"You think these guys have any money lying around? Yeah, right. They pay me in old alien tech. The whole reason Chorus was chosen for colonization was because it showed promising signs of extraterrestrial artifacts from an ancient race. Turns out they were right. Too bad they abandoned the place."

"Wait." Tucker said. "Why steal weapons and ammo when we can use this space laser shit? I bet they'd trounce the blasters the Feds have got."

"Well, too bad they don't work. They're busted." Felix said. "But I'm willing to bet that someone out there would be happy to pay a very large sum of money for these babies."

"Wait, I'm sorry. I'm confused." Caboose said. "Are they babies or are they lasers… or laser babies?"

"While we're talking business," Felix continued, "If you guys are serious about rescuing your friends by the end of the week, I could always be persuaded to increase my level of assistance. For a one time fee of course. Maybe something along the lines of an alien energy sword. Any takers? Tucker?"

"I don't think so." Tucker chuckled.

"Well, what about you, Jena? I'm sure that rare Jedi lightsaber could be worth something."

"There's no way I'm giving up my lightsaber." Jena said. "If you like the New Republic, why do you still charge them for your work?"

"Because when I retire, I want a television the size of a billboard."

"Well, that's gonna be bad for your eyes." Caboose said.

"I agree with Jena." Tucker said. "You could always help us out for free. You know, mix it up a little."

"Ah. Mmm. Okay." Felix chuckled. "So you want me to help you rescue your friends because… What? It's the right thing to do?"

"Yeah. It's called not being a dick." Tucker said.

"You know, if I recall, the first time these people ever asked you for help, you turned them down. Figured this whole 'civil war thing' wasn't your problem. In fact, I bet if your friends had never been captured, you'd still refuse to lend them a hand. Even if it was the 'right thing to do'."

The Reds and Blues wanted to argue, but they couldn't. Even Jena didn't because she knew that Felix had a point. They stayed silent.

"Everyone has their price. I learned that a long time ago. And you're no exception." Felix walked away.

"Well, I guess it's up to us to find a way to save our friends." Jena said.

"How?" Grif asked. "We can't get a handful of soldiers ready to storm a compound."

"Well, we have no other choice." Jena said. "At this point, it's now or never."

Author's Note: For this chapter, I have created a set of new OCs: New Republic rebels, including the hopeless romantic and uncaring Rachel Brooke. Any and all comments are welcome.