Mission on Bracca

In 19 BBY, the Clone Wars ended with violence when the Galactic Republic's Supreme Chancellor, Sheev Palpatine, issued Order 66, a secret command which forced the clone troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic to turn on and execute their Jedi commanding officers. The order was enforced through inhibitor chips implanted in all of the clones which made them obey orders without question. Only a few clones were immune to the command, including most of the members of Clone Force 99, an irregular clone commando squad. The Republic was shortly reorganized into the Galactic Empire, and the new government intended to cancel its contracts with the Kaminoan cloners who had supplied the army, in favor of recruited soldiers.

When Admiral Wilhuff Tarkin visited Kamino to assess the clone army, he took note of the so-called Bad Batch. He was impressed by their combat ability, but was concerned over whether they had carried out Order 66 and arranged a mission to test their loyalty, dispatching them to Onderon to see if they would wipe out a group of former Republic fighters who had civilians under their protection. Most of the squad refused, but the Batch's sniper, Crosshair, had a partially-activated chip and insisted that Clone Sergeant Hunter and the others were committing treason. The trap led Hunter to decide he was done serving the Empire. However, he decided to return to Kamino to rescue Omega, a young enhanced clone who admired the squad and had attempted to warn him that the mission was a trap.

The Batch was captured and imprisoned on their return to Tipoca City, where they found Omega, who had been locked up by the Coruscant Guard after they found her inside the Batch's barracks. Tarkin had Crosshair taken away because he had exhibited loyalty to the Empire on Onderon, and Chief Medical Scientist Nala Se amplified the effects of Crosshair's chip at Tarkin's request, making him totally loyal to the Empire. The rest of the Batch escaped Kamino with Omega, forced to leave their former comrade behind.

As part of Project War-Mantle, the Empire's plans for switching to a largely recruited military, Vice Admiral Rampart created the first Elite Squad, which was placed under the command of Crosshair, who was promoted to Clone Commander. Despite the death of one of the recruits, the Elite Squad Troopers' first mission was a success. This alarmed the Kaminoans, who wished to retain the Empire's business. Prime Minister Lama Su authorized Nala Se to begin working on the next phase of such a cloning project. However, the clones whose genetic material was required would not return to Kamino willingly, although Lama Su was confident they would only need one.

To that end, the Kaminoans hired the bounty hunter Fennec Shand, who tracked down the Bad Batch while they were on a supply run to Pantora and attempted to abduct Omega. Seeking answers about her, the Batch went in search of Ciddarin Scaleback, an informant who had previously worked for the Jedi. She was able to identify Shand, but requested the Batch do a job for her as payment. Afterwards, the squad began working for Scaleback as mercenaries.

One of the Bad Batch's first missions for Scaleback took them to Corellia, where they had been tasked with retrieving a tactical droid, as the information on the droid about how to fight clones had become valuable. However, when the Batch infiltrated the decommissioning facility where the tactical droid was due to be scrapped, they found they were not the only ones after it: the Martez sisters, a pair of smugglers, sought the same target. The two groups were forced to work together to escape the facility, but the droid's head was destroyed. However, learning that the sisters' contact wanted to use the data to fight the Empire, Hunter gave a data rod on which Tech had copied the information to Rafa Martez.

The sisters' contact was the former Clone Captain Rex, another rogue clone who had met most of the Bad Batch, save for his old comrade Echo, during the Battle of Anaxes. Rex subsequently tracked the squad down on Ord Mantell, and although the reunion was initially happy, Rex was concerned when he learned that Wrecker had been suffering from increasingly-frequent headaches. Suspecting that the headaches were connected to Wrecker's chip, Rex became alarmed when Tech told him they had not yet removed their implants. Emphasizing the danger the chips posed to the squad, Rex persuaded them to get them removed as soon as possible. He had the Batch meet him on Bracca, a junkyard planet which housed the wreckage of many Venator-class Star Destroyers. As Rex had had his chip removed onboard a Venator, he knew the ships had medical facilities capable of performing the surgery.

On the way to the wrecked Venator Rex had picked out, the group had to dodge a Scrapper Guild patrol, Rex warning the other clones about the importance of not being spotted. When they reached the starship's medical bay, Echo powered up the surgical pod and Tech began preparations for Wrecker's surgery. However, his chip activated and he attacked the others, decrying them as traitors. After a brief fight, Omega was left the only one standing. Despite her appeals to their friendship, Wrecker was unable to resist the chip, coming close to killing her before Rex managed to stun him.

After Wrecker recovered from his surgery and was back to normal, the other members of the Bad Batch had their chips removed. Rex, having to make a rendezvous with a contact, said his farewells to Hunter, asking him to get in touch once he had decided what he and his team were going to do, although he hoped that the Batch would join his anti-Imperial efforts. In response, Hunter told Rex to look his team up if he was ever in a bind. However, after Rex departed, a Scrapper Guild patrol responding to a power surge detected from the Venator saw Hunter as he re-entered the wreckage, subsequently notifying the Empire.

Crosshair saw the report, which included a hologram of Hunter, and brought the matter to Lama Su and Admiral Rampart, who authorized him to take as many reinforcements as he felt he needed. Lama Su argued that Clone Force 99 was a valuable investment, but Rampart did not care about a few rogue clones and ordered their execution. Afterwards, Lama Su summoned Nala Se and, concerned about the safety of Omega, who was vital to their project, said he would be sending another bounty hunter to retrieve her. Nala Se doubted the wisdom of the move as they had already had someone handling the situation, but Lama Su told her that he did not care as at least one of the bounty hunters was bound to succeed.

The members of the Bad Batch had not left Bracca immediately, remaining at the wrecked Venator. Scaleback had told Hunter the squad owed her a considerable debt for failing to retrieve the tactical droid, and Hunter figured there was enough valuable salvage aboard the Venator to be able to repay her. The scrappers had continued to monitor the clone intruders, with Echo, Omega and Wrecker capturing a trio they found spying on them in the starship graveyard. The group set out to search the armory, which Tech had discovered had not been fully cleared. Echo was uncomfortable with the idea of becoming arms dealers, but Hunter pointed out that the Republic no longer existed, so they could no longer rely on it. Tech also suggested checking the computers on the Star Destroyer's bridge for intel which might be even more valuable.

Onboard the Venator, Tech went to one of the ship's bridges to download data, while the others entered its armory. Omega found a crate of explosives which she pointed out to Wrecker, before he found the proton torpedo rack. Tech managed to reboot the Venator's power, before contacting Omega by comlink and asking her to come to the bridge. While Hunter loaded some crates onto a hovercart, Echo argued with him about their plans, saying that they would not need money to pay Scaleback if they had gone with Rex instead. Hunter said that Rex was following a different path than them, but Echo pointed out that they were soldiers and asked what other paths existed for them.

On the bridge, Tech had discovered that whoever had scuttled the ship had not properly erased its hard drives, and told Omega that he was downloading some of the information. Handing her a tool, he said he needed to do its primary memory banks next, directing her to where she needed to go. Instead of working, however, Omega was struck by the sight of the starship graveyard, and attempted to ask Tech what the war had been like. She was dissatisfied by his unemotional answer, but noticed the Star Destroyer's proximity sensor going off and asked him about the red light. Tech told her what the sensor was for, and stated it must have been a short circuit. He was immediately proven wrong when three Nu-class attack/transport shuttles flew overhead, landing near the Venator's bow. Contacting Hunter, he reported they had company, and that it was not the Scrapper Guild but the Empire.

Joining Omega and Tech on the bridge, Hunter used macrobinoculars to confirm that Crosshair was involved. Tech jammed the Imperials' scanners, but Hunter pointed out that would not stop Crosshair from figuring out where they were. Crosshair, his Elite Squad, and squads of clone stormtroopers disembarked from their shuttles. ES-04 identified the Venator the power surges had come from, and ES-02 asked if there were any life signs, but ES-03 was unable to pick up any. When he suggested it was atmospheric interference, Crosshair coldly corrected him that he was being jammed and the Bad Batch was still on Bracca. He ordered CT-8508 and his squad to take a shuttle and locate the Bad Batch's starship while Crosshair led a force into the Venator.

Hunter, Omega and Tech rendezvoused with Echo and Wrecker, who were transporting the team's salvaged haul, in the ship's corridors. Wrecker suggested that they return to the Marauder, but Hunter pointed out the enemy was already onboard. Echo said the clones would do a forward-to-aft sweep of the ship, and suggested using alternate hallways to avoid the regs' movements. Meanwhile, Crosshair was informed by CT-8508 that his squad had located the Bad Batch's Omicron-class attack shuttle, the Marauder, and that it was empty. Crosshair ordered the clones to secure the perimeter and guard the shuttle.

As the Bad Batch moved, Tech attempted to hack into the Imperial communication channels, but the group had to take cover for a moment, switching off their lights, when they crossed paths with a clone squad. After the troopers had passed, Tech gained access to the Imperial channels, hearing a command from Crosshair for his forces to work on forcing the Bad Batch into the ship's hangar to box them in. Omega noted they had been going in that direction, and Hunter said they were changing plans and going through the artillery deck.

Crosshair, however, had anticipated that his former team would hack the comm channels, and intended to lure them into an ambush. Hunter led the way as the Batch entered a decaying artillery deck, still full of cannons. Seeing the sheer drop outside of the deck, the acrophobic Wrecker stated he had no intention of exiting the wreckage that way. They were partway through the room when the Imperials revealed themselves, with clone troopers led by the elite trooper ES-04 blocking their path. Crosshair and the rest of his squad appeared from the rear before they could turn back, the sniper mockingly stating that he knew what they would do. Wrecker sarcastically greeted Crosshair.

Standing by one of the cannons, Echo and Tech were out of view of the Imperials, and Tech quietly told Echo to use his cybernetic scomp link to divert residual power to the guns. Echo pointed out the deck might collapse, which was what Tech was counting on. Crosshair mocked Hunter for resorting to scavenging, and Hunter demanded to know why the Empire would bother coming after them in force. Crosshair said it was because they were traitors, and the reg clones were ordered into position around the room. Hunter appealed to Crosshair to snap out of his brainwashing, telling him he was being controlled by an inhibitor chip, and Omega backed him up, asking Crosshair to remember what she had told him in the brig on Kamino about not being able to help his actions. Seemingly upset by their claims, Crosshair ordered his troops to aim at her, and Hunter put himself in front of Omega and yelled at Crosshair that this was between them and to leave the kid out of it.

Wrecker told Tech to hurry up, and as Crosshair was demanding the Batch lower their weapons, Tech fired the cannons. The blast flung Crosshair, ES-02 and ES-03 across the room, and the Batch attacked the reg clones. As the fight continued, the cannon fired again, and the weakened ceiling beams collapsed. The members of the Batch managed to avoid the debris, but many of the clone troopers were crushed, with the elite troopers being momentarily pinned. Omega used her energy bow to shoot a few clones, while Wrecker threw two troopers over the sheer drop. Regrouping, the Batch made for an exit but were confronted by ES-04, who fired her flamethrower at them. Wrecker threw the proton torpedo he had claimed at her, hitting her in the face and knocking her down, and the Batch retreated from the deck, heading aft.

Tech hit upon the Batch using one of the Venator's ion engines as an alternate exit from the wreckage, leading them to the engine chamber. Wrecker's fear of heights made him nervous about the route, and he brought up the rear as they inched along a narrow ledge. Crosshair and his squad came to and freed themselves from the debris on the artillery deck. Seeing ES-04 reappear at the one entrance, Crosshair requested a status report, and a trooper reported that the Batch was avoiding all of the chokepoints set up inside the ship. ES-04 said she thought the fugitives were heading aft. Crosshair called a shuttle to pick him up, and ordered his troopers to go to the bridge and await his orders.

The Batch made their way along and across the engine before sliding down to the bottom, Echo expressing surprise that they were actually going through the engine itself. When they reached the end of the engine, Tech leaned out to look, but a blaster shot caused him to nearly fall before Hunter pulled him back. Having anticipated the Batch's next move, Crosshair had taken up a sniper position overlooking the engine, and he smugly shouted to Hunter that they were surrounded as some clone troopers arrived in one of the shuttles to back him up. Hunter had the squad retreat back into the engine. However, Crosshair had ordered his Elite Squad to activate the engine, which was possible due to Tech's restoration of the Venator's power core. Seeing the engine start up, Echo asked how long they had, and Tech estimated less than two minutes.

As the Batch tried to figure out an escape, Wrecker suggested using Plan 7, but Echo pointed out that the plan had nothing to do with their current situation. Wrecker told him to think of something, and Hunter asked Tech if the explosives Wrecker had taken from the armory could be used to shut down the engine. Tech said the explosives were not powerful enough to stop the engine from firing, but could be used to break off part of the engine's cone and destabilize the ion chamber if placed around a certain arc, which would cause the cone to break away. Omega was afraid of falling, but Echo pointed out it was either that or be incinerated. Taking explosives from the case, the Batch quickly moved to plant the bombs before taking cover. Crosshair, unable to see what was going on inside the engine, was informed by one of his troopers that the engine was ready, and gave the command for it to be activated, turning to leave. Inside the engine, Wrecker told everyone to get down and detonated the explosives.

The cone was cleaved from the engine chamber by the explosives, falling as the members of the Batch struggled to maintain their grips. Echo lost his grip but was caught by Wrecker, and Omega fell onto Hunter, which knocked both of them down the cone before he regained a handhold. Crosshair turned back when he heard the detonations, taking the blast of the exposed engine thrusters full-on as he and his troopers were thrown back. Losing his helmet, Crosshair was severely injured by the engine's outflow, including burns to his face, but managed to order the engine be shut off before falling unconscious. When the engine cone hit the ground, it broke into two pieces which rolled in opposite directions, with Hunter and Omega hanging on to one piece while Echo, Tech and Wrecker stayed with the other. After the engine pieces had come to a rest, Echo contacted Hunter and told him his group had been flung to the port side. Hunter responded that he and Omega were below the engine and had company, having to take cover from an Imperial shuttle which fired at them before continuing on. He told the others that they would rendezvous back at the Marauder, and he and Omega headed into the night.

One Imperial shuttle headed to check up on Crosshair, offloading troopers who found him injured. He woke up long enough to tell one clone trooper that the Batch would be heading back to their ship and they had to be stopped. After Crosshair passed out again, the trooper attempted to contact CT-8508, who had been guarding the Batch's shuttle, to warn him the fugitives were headed his way, but received no response. The clone trooper and his squad had been attacked by the bounty hunter Cad Bane, who killed all of them before waiting inside the Marauder with his droid Todo 360 for the Batch to return. Hunter and Omega arrived back at the ruined hangar to find the dead clones, and Hunter signaled the girl to be quiet before they advanced.

Examining the scene, Hunter realized that someone was there, as the deaths did not appear to be the work of scrappers. In response, Bane revealed himself, commenting that the kills had not been much work and observing that he found killing clones easy since they were all the same. Hunter told Bane he was in for a surprise and had Omega stay behind him. Omega realized that Bane was a bounty hunter, and he sarcastically commented on her intelligence. Hunter demanded to know who had hired Bane, but the bounty hunter stated that was confidential information and demanded he hand over Omega, which he refused to do, insisting that she was staying with him. The two found themselves in a standoff as they reached for their blaster pistols. After a tense moment, they fired at each other. Bane's shot struck first, causing Hunter's shot to go awry and blow off one of Todo's legs before he collapsed, seriously injured.

Horrified, Omega ran over to Hunter and tried to revive him. When Bane approached her, she drew her bow and tried to shoot, but Todo knocked the weapon out of her hands, using his severed leg as a club. Adjusting his blaster, Bane made a somewhat sincere apology before stunning Omega, leaving her unconscious. Collecting his target, Bane departed the scene with Todo, leaving Bracca aboard the Justifier.

Crosshair's Elite Squad arrived at his position after he had been seen to by a medic, and was covered in bandages with a breath mask fixed on his face. ES-03 reported that Imperial forces had engaged the Batch, who were on the run. Trying to stand up, Crosshair ordered his troops to get him onboard the shuttle.

Echo, Tech and Wrecker arrived back at the Marauder with regular clones in hot pursuit, only to find the injured Hunter, the dead clones and no sign of Omega but her weapon on the ground. They managed to revive Hunter and help him up, Wrecker demanding to know what had happened to Omega while Echo pointed out he had been shot in the chestplate. Tech said they had to get him onboard the ship right before the Imperial clones caught up, and Tech and Echo hustled Hunter into the shuttle while Wrecker provided cover, having retrieved Omega's bow. As the regular troopers kept up fire, the Marauder lifted off.

Onboard the Marauder, Wrecker removed Hunter's helmet. In pain and somewhat dazed, Hunter explained that "he" had taken Omega. When Wrecker demanded to know if Crosshair had been responsible, Hunter said the abductor had been a bounty hunter and vowed that they had to find her. The Marauder was chased out of Bracca's atmosphere by Crosshair's shuttle. When they prepared for the jump to hyperspace, Hunter insisted that they could not yet leave as they had to find Omega. Echo pointed out that the bounty hunter was long gone, and getting shot down by Crosshair would not help them find her. After Tech reported that the rear deflector shields were failing, Hunter reluctantly let him make the hyperspace jump, leaving Crosshair stewing in frustration.

Echo was able to identify Bane from old Republic files, including a mention of an incident where he had attempted to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine himself. Scaleback, however, was unable to give the squad any intel on his current whereabouts. Conducting a further analysis of Omega's DNA, Tech discovered that the reason the girl was so valuable was because she was one of only two clones in existence to have the unaltered genetic material of clone template Jango Fett, the other being Fett's clone son Boba, who had disappeared at the start of the Clone Wars.

Bane was ordered by Lama Su to travel to an abandoned Kaminoan facility on Bora Vio in the Lido system. The Prime Minister sent his aide, Taun We, to rendezvous with the bounty hunter and collect Omega, ordering Nala Se to stay on Kamino as she had become too attached to the girl. However, Nala Se was disturbed by Lama Su's orders to have Omega terminated after the necessary genetic material had been extracted, and sent Shand to Bora Vio to rescue her. Omega escaped while Shand and Bane fought each other, managing to board a flight pod and send a signal which allowed the Batch to pick her up. Nala Se paid Shand for her work, telling her that the job was acceptable as long as Omega stayed out of Lama Su's hands.

Crosshair largely recovered from his injuries, although he was left permanently scarred. The Empire next became aware of Clone Force 99's whereabouts when they turned up on Ryloth, spotted by a probe droid outside the city of Lessu. The Batch had been asked to rescue the parents of Hera Syndulla, who were both freedom fighters who had been arrested and framed for the attempted assassination of a senator while breaking her out of Imperial custody herself. In the chaotic rescue that ensued, the Batch launched a diversionary attack on an Imperial doonium refinery while Hunter and Echo snuck into Lessu to free Cham and Eleni Syndulla and their supporters. The damage left behind convinced Rampart that he could not underestimate the Batch's abilities, and he granted Crosshair permission to actively hunt the fugitives down.

Rex later contacted the Batch and asked them to rescue Gregor, a clone commando who was looking to defect from the Empire on Daro and had sent Rex a distress signal. However, Rex could not go himself as he was in the middle of something. The Batch travelled to Daro, but in the process of breaking Gregor out of a secret base on the planet, Hunter was separated from the squad and captured after ordering the others to flee. He was subsequently confronted by Crosshair, who said he had hoped for the entire squad, but Hunter would have to do. Crosshair used Hunter to lure the rest of the Batch to Kamino. During a confrontation in Tipoca City, the others attempted to appeal to Crosshair that he was being controlled by his chip, but he revealed that he had had it removed and now willingly served the Empire. After narrowly escaping the destruction of Tipoca City by the Empire, the Batch left Crosshair behind as he refused to leave Imperial service.