Episode II: Part 1

Deuce walked over to where Jammer and Ghost crouched by the front door. Jammer handed a small roll of synthatape to Ghost.

"You always know the best places to go to on leave Deuce."

Deuce chuckled, "always happy to oblige."

Ghost closed his eyes, rubbed them and sighed. "This is a jailbreak, not a garden tour."

"Steady ner vod, just crack the door."

Jammer held up a power cell from a small kit bag on the floor in front of him. "This one?"

Ghost nodded as he wired the power cell to a taped pair of explosives and a crude timer. A minute later, he set the fragile device against the door.

"Go! Go!"

The troopers crowded against a grimed-stained wall on the far side of the room. Ghost closed his eyes and counted off the seconds. Jammer looked around nervously.

"Wish I had my armor. Where'd you get those grenades anyway?"

Deuce shrugged. "I always carry one on leave. I'm just glad its not been confiscated this trip."

"A grenade?"

"barfights."

"Ah, right. Deuce?"

"Yeah?"

"Remind me to stay out of your bars."

"Fair enough."

Ghost opened his eyes and nodded. "And, now."

The explosion was deafening, it shook the ancient grime off the metal walls and ceiling, raining debris down over them. Once the dust settled, the troopers hurried for the door, now torn partly off its hinges.

"Perfect!" Jammer smirked, "nothing to worry about."

Out in the hallway, Deuce grabbed the scout and hauled him flat against the far wall. Ghost threw himself to the opposite side across from them. Two blaster bolts tore through the dust-choked hallway where they had stood a moment before.

At the other end, a figure dressed in a grey jumpsuit and bronze-red Mandolorian armor sidestepped and adjusted his aim. The Mandolorian's voice was thick with sarcasm.

"Going somewhere?"

Ghost sighed. "I don't worry too much, I don't worry enough."

The elegantly dressed woman with the shoulder length, curled chestnut hair, rose with an uncomfortable look. She brushed out a few wrinkles from her maroon dress and moved to another table on the far side of the lounge with her half-filled Tatooine Sunrise in hand. Jammer watched her walk away out of the corner of his eye. All around, a soft Rodian jazz played in the background of the Star of Alderaan's promenade lounge. He shook his head and lowered his datapad.

"Hey, Ghost, you're doing that psycho stare again."

The other biker scout, Jammer's clone brother and physical twin down to the short brown hair, greenish-hazel eyes and mildly dark complexion, blinked and shrugged. He turned to look at a young woman tending bar.

"Maybe if you blink every once in awhile, you wouldn't make people nervous."

"I do blink."

"Yeah I know, after you snipe a target. Just imagine you've slotted one."

Ghost sighed. Sometimes he wondered if Jammer was accidentally swapped at birth with a clone from another pod. "I hate taking leave. I'd rather be on the range. This civvie life makes me itch."

"Itch over what?" Deuce asked while he walked up. The Mandolorian clone stretched out in an available chair next to the scouts.

"Ghost is rattling the locals." Jammer said over the edge of his datapad as he focused on his ebook again.

"I just get itchy on leave."

Deuce chuckled and took a drink of his beer. "That just means you need to figure out how to relax."

Suddenly a deep growl rumbled through the deck plates. The three troopers exchanged a glance. In the lounge, other passengers had obviously noticed the odd sensation but no one seemed overly concerned. Ghost nodded at one of the ship's crew that walked through the lounge with a worried look on his face.

"Something's wrong."

Deuce followed the scout's gaze. "Affirm on that. Let's see if they need a hand."

A corridor later just before the passenger staterooms, Jammer called out, "Hey Crew! Hold up."

Just as the crewman turned at Jammer's call, the lift hatch behind him detonated in a storm of hot shrapnel. The explosion shook the corridor, tossing the crewman against the bulkhead like a doll and knocking the troopers off their feet. Through the smoke, a Trandoshan in an armored flight suit rushed through the breach, dropped to one knee and shouldered his blaster rifle.

"Down!" Deuce dropped prone after his warning. Jammer and Ghost had already gone flat against the deck. Blaster bolts whined over them, leaving a line of scorch marks on the bulkhead past them. Through the smoke and blaster fire, Deuce made out where the crewman they had followed lay. He winced at the sight.

"Crew's been slotted. Di'kutla explosion got him."

Jammer instinctively reached down for a blaster that was not there on his civilian clothes. He swore harshly and looked around. He noticed a storeroom door beyond Ghost, inset into the bulkhead.

"Door, right!" He called out.

Ghost instantly rolled in the direction Jammer indicated. Once under cover of the recessed doorframe, he looked around for anything useful. When he saw the fire alarm lever, he smiled and yanked it down. Immediately, a rush of foam jetted down into the corridor. The Trandoshan shouted a string of curses and staggered backwards out of sight.

"Oya!" Deuce shouted. They retreated into a small alcove in front of the lounge hatch.

Jammer jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "What the frak do you think we got?"

Deuce looked back the direction they came from. "Pirates, Separatist sympathizers, it doesn't matter. They're threatening Imperial citizens and property, which makes them our new special hobby. Right now, we've got to find out how much of the ship they've taken."

"Ship's this style have a secondary bridge in the engineering bay." Ghost explained calmly.

"Good thinking. You two head to engineering, I'll work up a barricade here."

Once back in the lounge, Deuce slapped the door latch to secure it closed. He turned to face an older man in a suit, the young woman tending bar, the young noblewoman and a ship's purser. It was the older man who spoke first.

"Just what is going on here, young man?"

"Well, we've got some uninvited guests aboard."

The older man who had spoken first frowned. The noblewoman behind him turned pale, made a horrified noise and sat down in a nearby chair.

"You mean pirates?" The bartender asked.

"Yes ma'am, 'fraid so. They're stalled down the corridor by the fire suppression system, but that won't last long. We've got to make good an escape. I'm Sergeant TK8822, my two companions that left are TB2921 and TB2130. We'll do all we can to keep that scum away from all of you."

"What can we do to help?"

"Glad you asked," Deuce said with a smile.

A short few minutes later, Deuce, with assistance from the purser, bartender and what turned out to be a retired Senator Ordin Walls from Corellia, had the hatch to the lounge barricaded with what furnishings they could unbolt from the deck. Using an emergency maintenance kit under the bar, they spot welded the hatch closed. When they were done, Deuce surveyed their handiwork.

"That'll do. Have to admit Senator you're handy with that arc welder."

The Senator knocked the dust from his hands. "Son, I wasn't born a Senator. Before I went swimming in the morass of politics, I did my time chasing pirates on the behalf of CorSec. A couple of high profile spice busts landed me some political notice I couldn't escape."

"Sergeant, how did they get aboard? Ship security should have at least notified me or some of the other crew to be alert for intruders."

Deuce shrugged. "Not sure yet, maybe stowed away."

A blaster shot behind them interrupted their conversation, "Clever idea."

The noblewoman smiled acidly while she stood up from the chair she had recently sunk into. She leveled her hold out blaster at Deuce's unarmored chest. "Don't feel bad. If it helps Sergeant, you and your fellow troopers were more alert than ship security. We actually gassed them before they knew we were here."

Deuce made a sour face and raised his hands slowly. In the corridor an arc cutter worked at their makeshift barricade with an ugly hiss.

"Good boy, now let's all sit down and wait for my people to cut open that door. Your two little scouts will be along in a moment once they're caught in engineering. Oh, don't give me that look Sergeant, there's a very ill-tempered Nikto lying in wait for them. I doubt they're that stupid to try and fight him hand to hand without any weapons."

She gestured to some empty chairs with her blaster. "We've a long trip and I imagine you'll appreciate the rest later. Oh and no heroics. You're worth more to me alive than dead."