The Knave's Crusade

Newcomers: 7

Tels' heavy eyelids barely opened, a pounding headache radiating across her forehead. A hand gripped her shoulder as she sat up straight to find her wrists bound together. Next to her Kulan anxiously waited for her to fully regain consciousness. Bankole was crouched in a corner with her eyes frantically scanning the room. Across from them was the cockpit with bunks behind them and screens on one wall.

Bankole's hand darted for her missing blaster when an older man wearing black armor approached them. A frown contorted the half black facial tattoo, gray eyes darkened under a red cloth across his forehead. Tels awkwardly placed her hand on Bankole's shoulder at an angle, the Agent seemed to calm down a bit.

"What did you do to my troopers?" spat out the Agent, her eyes darting through the masses as if counting the members aboard the ship.

"Relax," the man with the red bandana reassured, "We made sure not to harm them."

"Who are you?" inquired Tels, her tendrils defensively wrapping towards her face.

"That's none of your business," declared the man.

"They're the Bad Batch," mockingly introduced Bankole, "That's Hunter, the leader. Over there with the goggles is Tech, the tallest one is Wrecker, and the rest I don't know."

"The kid is Omega and that's Echo," interjected Tech as he glanced up from piloting the ship, his eyes flashing with vague recognition looking in Bankole's direction.

A little girl with blonde hair waved at them and sat next to a clone with droid mechanics installed. Bankole looked around one more time to look for someone, but was cut off by Tels.

"How do you know that?" asked Tels, "I only knew of them and nothing else."

Bankole muttered under her breath, "I was displaced during the War and they came to help us."

Hunter pushed over Frank. "Here's your droid. He was causing lots of issues like unplugging our medical equipment."

"Frank has always had personality," clarified Tels and pulled over Frank with her long limbs.

Garbled beeps and coos filled the room while Tels petted his head. Kulan leaned over to check on Frank and studied the ship's inner workings that were visible. Kulan's eyes lit up when he realized it was a modified Omicron-class attack shuttle from the Republic Era.

Hunter came to sit in a chair near Bankole, and in an instant she scooted as far away as she could into Kulan. Her eyes hardened when Omega came to sit on his lap and helped him with his work. Tels observed their dynamic, they each wore grim expressions but seemed to care. Showing how different the Bad Batch was even though they were clones, but they all come from one man.

Wrecker shouted, "Tech, stop making the trip so bumpy. I think I might vomit."

"I'm doing my best Wrecker. There are too many asteroids to make a straight shot," stated Tech, his nasally voice growing more irritated.

"They're dangerous," Tels whispered to Kulan, "because they're traitors of the Empire."

Kulan paled and moved closer to Tels as if she could protect him. Tels tilted back her head and made eye contact with Omega, a warm smile spread across the kid's face. Omega hopped off of Hunter's lap and walked up to Tels.

A smile turned up Tels' mouth. "You remind me of my little brother. He was always at Father's side. Do you know where we're going?"

"I can't tell you that, but I can give you a hint. It's a man with a stormy name," revealed Omega as she rejoined Hunter.

Tels rolled her eyes and lied. "I already knew that."

"It doesn't matter. We can check the screen next to Hunter. We should see our location since it's an Omicron-class," detailed Kulan.

Tels congratulated him. "Well done, it seems studying those blueprints did come in handy."

"I never thought that we would be kidnapped." retorted Kulan. "It wasn't in the job description."

Tels half shrugged. "It's not. We're not even supposed to be in combat as starship engineers. However, there are always exceptions."

Leaning on Kulan's shoulder, Tels took a few glances at the map of the galaxy. There were familiar stars, planets, and other celestial landmarks that they passed. Behind Tels' head, Kulan was studying the screen as Bankole kept watch. On occasion Echo would look back and watch them, so the Agent would hit her handcuffs against the wall.

"With our current trajectory, I think we're heading to Ord Mantell," informed Tels.

Kulan complained, "I don't want to deal with Mantellian Savrips. Last time they almost removed my head from my body."

"I don't like this," recalled Bankole who observed the cockpit.

Echo glanced at them. "What makes you say that?"

Bankole snarled, baring her teeth, "Why is it any of your business, clone?"

"Because we're delivering you," returned Echo with enough malice to match the Agent.

Tels demanded, "To who?"

"That's for you to find out." announced Hunter with a protective hand on Omega's shoulder, "Now shut it."

Tels quieted Kulan and Bankole before they could instigate a fight. Kulan leaned back and shared a knowing nod with Bankole for once, but kept quiet. As time passed, Tels sat up straight as a pine green planet with bright blue oceans came into view.

"Welcome to Ord Mantell," presented Tech, "It should be a bumpy ride due to the weather patterns."