It didn't matter what we had done in the past. Murderers, thieves or beggars who happened to have blasters: we all hated the Empire, and we'd even help the Jedi to get rid of the Sith.
"And it worked?
"I'm still not sure.
—Hereson and Vidril Vesal, discussing the Corps.
The Freelancer Corps was a covert, "off the books" collective of pirates, mercenaries, and criminals that allied with the Galactic Republic against the Sith Empire during the Great Galactic War. The brainchild of the Cathar Jedi Knight Yulic Namex and the Twi'lek mercenary Hereson, the Corps received the backing of the Strategic Information Service (SIS), the Republic's chief intelligence agency, although never in an official capacity. It was founded in 18 BTC, nearly a decade into the war, but fractured and dissolved six years later amidst increasing defeats against the Empire and a breakdown of internal leadership, spearheaded by the betrayal of the Corps by Breeka, a Rattataki pirate and one of the Corps' most popular captains.
While short-lived and in some cases unsuccessful, the Corps still did major harm to the Empire, with one such case being the assassination of the Emperor's Voice, and proved to both the Empire and the entire galaxy that criminals weren't always neutral in war.
Background[]
In 27 BTC, the Sith Empire emerged from deep space and violently retook Korriban and other worlds from the Galactic Republic, starting the Great Galactic War. Shortly after the War began, the Empire allied with the Mandalorians and the Chiss Ascendancy, and soon the Republic rapidly lost its grip on the Outer Rim. For several years, the Republic continued to cede territory and suffer immense military defeats, outnumbered by the Empire's military might and outmanouvred by its intricate network of spies, operatives, and diplomatic efforts.
It was during this period of Republic despair that the future founders of the Freelancer Corps first met. Yulic Namex, a young Cathar Jedi Knight, was spurred into action after his mentor, Jedi Master Panxho, was killed by a Sith Lord during the Imperial invasion of Dac. Namex became one of the most prolific Jedi warriors during the early years of the War, often operating deep in Imperial territory to negotiate with neutral worlds, sabotage Imperial military plans, and fight the Sith. Hereson, a Twi'lek mercenary, was inspired to join the war effort after witnessing a massacre of Republic prisoners by the Sith while working a job. Becoming a privateer, Hereson took up Republic bounties that targeted prominent Imperial war leaders, ranging from undercover spies to prominent commanders. Finding common allies in the same cause, Hereson settled on the Outer Rim world of Bresallis, where a batch of freedom fighters began a guerilla war against the new Imperial occupation.
History[]
Formation[]
In 19 BTC, Namex travelled to Bresallis to investigate rumours of a guerilla war against the Empire organised by criminals. The Jedi's investigation led him to a wilderness compound, where he met Hereson and his band of freedom fighters. Namex and Hereson quickly became friends, and Namex stayed with the band to help in their activities against the Empire on Bresallis. Inspired by the decision of so many criminals and bandits to dedicate their efforts for good, Namex theorised that other members of the galaxy's underworld could be swayed the same way.
Yulic sent his informants across the Outer Rim, telling the underworld of the galaxy about the Corps. Within a week, 2,000 men and women from street gangs, Mandalorian clans and even some street thieves had travelled to Coruscant and signed up. Starships were provided by the criminals making, a pirate-like armada numbering in the hundreds. As more members joined, word spread further, and while the membership kept increasing, worries soon rose from the SIS Director Marcus Trant, who feared that Imperial Intelligence would soon catch wind of the Corps. In response, Namex planned a daring mission alongside one of his new comrades, the young Twi'lek gunslinger Hereson, who would soon become a second-in-command of the Corps.
Travelling to the Imperial-held jungle planet of Felucia, Hereson and Namex left a beacon on the planet which tricked Imperial Intelligence into thinking that the Corps would mass in the planet. When the Imperial military sent troops to defend the planet, they were instead greeted by a Republic invasion fleet. While the invasion was called off, the move decimated two entire Imperial divisions, confusing and humiliating Intelligence and weakening the Imperial military. The Corps were now a force to be reckoned with.
Silencing the Voice[]
Early Leads[]
Namex became intrigued by the Emperor's Voice, the figure responsible for relaying the Emperor's thoughts to the Dark Council. Knowing that the Voice was vital to keeping the Empire running, Namex plotted to take down the Voice with the aid of the Corps, though he knew that with the Voice almost always on Dromund Kaas, the seclusive Sith would have to be drawn out of the dark and into the open.
One of the Corps' new members, a Rattataki nicknamed Breeka, revealed that he had managed to capture a Dark Council member's lover, revealing that the Voice often travelled to planets to use the Emperor's mind to enslave the local populace. With this in mind, Namex and Hereson began plotting a revolt on Nar Shaddaa, where they also stationed the Corps, to ambush the Voice once he arrived to restore order.
The Attack[]
The Voice's arrival gathered crowds, though before the hooded Sith managed to do his work, the Corps attacked his bodyguards. Namex dived towards the Voice from a building, and as the Jedi and Sith duelled, an enormous street fight broke out between the Corps and Imperial soldiers, with many Nar Shaddaa citizens joining the Corps mid-battle. While the Imperials initially gained the advantage, the Corps were saved by Hereson, who led the criminals against the Empire with his superb skills with blaster pistols, even managing to capture an Imperial colonel.
Namex and the Voice continued to duel, eventually arriving on the roofs of the many skyscrapers of Nar Shaddaa. In the thin air, the Voice struggled to breathe, and Yulic managed to cut him down, though the body vanished before Namex could inspect the corpse. Nar Shaddaa now rallied to the Republic and the Voice was dead, and the SIS finally allowed the Republic to create propaganda about the Corps, since their existence was no longer in doubt. High-stake bounties were set on Hereson, Namex and Breeka, while thousands more joined the Freelancers.
Dissidence[]
Fragmentations and defections[]
As time wore on, despite the success of the Corps, many missed their past lives, and feared the repurcussions of being members of the Corps should the Empire win the war. Mass defections soon took place, with many either going back to being low-lifes or joining the Empire. Even Namex and Hereson began disagreeing on matters, and Breeka was forced to try and keep the Corps under control.
By 20 BTC, the Corps had half of the members it had at it's peak following the Voice's death. Many former members tried killing Namex and Hereson to win Imperial bounties, and soon the group found that their activities were being intercepted by the Imperials before missions even took place. Someone in the Corps was working for the Empire, and it had to be someone in the high ranks: Breeka.
Breeka's Betrayal and the Corp's End[]
Hereson and Namex confronted Breeka in Coruscant spaceport alongside a group of SIS agents, preparing to arrest the traitorous Rattataki. However, Breeka had allies, and disguised Imperial agents soon attacked the arrest party. While Namex led the police against Breeka's allies in one of the hangars, Hereson chased down the Rattataki as he tried to flee towards an escape ship.
Hereson shot a burst round into the engine of the ship, destroying it before Breeka could board it. Breeka then began pleading for mercy, though the once-young Hereson had soon had enough of second chances, and executed Breeka just as Namex arrived in he same hangar. The Jedi, who strongly opposed executing possible prisoners, berated Hereson, who then reminded Namex that the Corps had failed. While the friends retained their respect for each other, they knew that the idea had failed, and within days, the SIS terminated the project. The Corps members returned to their lives or were incorporated into SIS service, Hereson became a gun-for-hire, and Namex recieved the rank of Jedi Master and chose the role as the chief guard at the Jedi Temple.
Legacy[]
For the next twenty years of the War, the former Corps members did their own things, with some fighting the Empire (or the Republic) on their own grounds, and others simply avoiding the conflict. However, the Empire had worked hard to place bounties on known Corps members, and at least half of the former members of the Corps were hunted by Imperial Intelligence, their fates either being slavery or execution if they were alien and imprisonment if they were Human. Hereson, despite being the Corps' most famous member behind Namex, survived multiple Imperial attempts, and after seeing the brutal ways that the Empire tried forcing innocents to weed out the Twi'lek, Hereson began growing contempt for the Empire once more.
By the time of the Cold War and the years following the Treaty of Coruscant, the Corps were a war-time legend, with many Republic officials now calling for Corps members to be arrested because of their criminal lives. Hereson, who had joined the gang of the crime lord Kaliv, fought with Black Sun against Kaliv in Coruscant's underground, though avoided attention from either Kaliv's Imperial allies or Republic agents. Eventually, almost a decade after the Treaty of Coruscant, Hereson returned to Coruscant in public alongside Vidril and Salovan Vesal, two brothers that he had befriended at different stages in their lives: Sal was Hereson's protegé and a fellow gunslinger immediately following the Treaty, and Vidril, Namex's former Padawan, helped Hereson disrupt Imperial activity on the planet of Nal Hutta. On Coruscant, Hereson was praised as a hero for his service in the Corps, and reunited with Namex for the first time in almost thirty years. While they knew the Corps could not be formed again in the climate of the Cold War, the pair did track down many surviving Corps members, and began working for the SIS once again.
Members and leadership[]
The Freelancer Corps was mostly independent from military ranks, except for the three leading members:
- Yulic Namex - a Cathar Jedi Knight who founded the Corps. Namex, despite not being a criminal himself, was the overall commander of the Corps, and technically outranked most members of the SIS as well.
- Hereson - a young-but-skilled Twi'lek gunslinger and Namex's second-in-command. Hereson, while young, proved himself to be a competent, if at times ruthless leader, as shown during the attack on the Voice on Nar Shaddaa.
- Breeka - a Rattataki spacer and the third-in-command. Breeka rose to fame after finding out where the Voice would travel to, and soon became the leader of the group during the short moment of turbulence between Namex and Hereson. However, Breeka was eventually ousted as an Imperial spy, and killed by Hereson, an act that signalled the end of the Corps.
Corps Traits[]
Due to their secretive status, the Freelancer Corps had no official sigil, barely any organization and few places that could be called headquarters. In fact, the SIS were so frightened of being targeted by Imperial Intelligence that throughout the War, the Corps didn't even have a name in SIS records, instead being hidden away as identity files for deceased prisoners, with each member of the Corps having the name of a prisoner. Even Namex was forced to use the code-names, with his being Mehroof.
Corps members also had no official uniform because of it being made up of people from several professions, cultures, species and genders. Every member wore what they wanted, with the bounty hunters wearing Mandalorian armour, the spacers wearing slim jackets and assassins wearing strict, light combat gear. Yulic was the only exception to this tenant of the Corps, almost always wearing his white plated armour and brown Jedi robe. The Corps also had no given naval power due to the amount of spacers who joined, using their ships instead, and the SIS enforced a rule that all weapons used by the Corps had to be supplied by it's members and no one else.
The Corps, at least, did have a motto: "Rather Now Than Never", referencing the fact that many members wanted to stop the Sith before the Sith 'stopped them'. Other impromptu mottos and common sayings, often created for humour, included "Those Who Die Are The Lucky Ones" and "Death Might As Well Be Fun", both of which were often cynical observations made by members of the Corps, including the increasingly-pessimistic Hereson.