Mandalorian Valkyrie
Part I: Another Story
"What happened in there?" Sabine Wren was fuming. "Hera, what the hell happened in there? How? How could they decide to just do nothing?" The Mandalorian followed her captain back onto their ship, the Ghost. "Look, Saw was a little vicious, sure, but he's right about the bureaucracy of this place." She waited until they arrived in the cockpit before she spoke again, "Hera!–"
Sabine was cut off by a loudspeaker announcement that rang out from the hanger. "General Syndulla,–" Sabine didn't hear the rest of it as her captain, General Hera Syndulla, the only Twi'lek officer in the Rebel Alliance, pulled her close to look into her and spoke in a dire tone Sabine seldom heard from her.
"Sabine. We are going to Scarif. And we will not be alone." Hera waited a moment for co-pilot to register that they were not in fact doing the cowardly thing, and letting the Death Star plans fade into obscurity. "Admiral Raadus sent a runner." She handed Sabine the note she received at some point before boarding the Ghost before walking back to the ramp.
"By the Force, we will go to Scarif and fight them on the beaches, and spill their blood on the breeze. Gather your crew, your armour, and your weapons. We are Rebels. We fight." Sabine read the Admiral's letter aloud before Hera had left the room.
I knew there was a reason I like that gruff bastard so much. Sabine thought with an appreciative smirk. Hera called out to her from the ramp. "Sabine, I have a mission for you." As Sabine descended the ramp, she found Hera standing with chopper and an unusual droid, a droid she recalled fondly.
"PROXY!" Sabine gave a quick hug to the sardonic and violent fatalist, masquerading as the most advanced training droid of its kind.
"Greetings, Sabine Wren. General Syndulla, you hailed us?" PROXY said, turning toward Hera.
"Yes I did. I'm assuming Captain Juno Eclipse and Starkiller are both still in stasis then?" Hera asked with a hint of sadness in her voice.
The droid nodded, "They are. I am still trying to seek out Barriss Offee the healer. We crossed paths with them at Malachor, but that was before Darth Vader grievously injured Captain Eclipse upon his escape from the. Without Barriss Offee there to immediately start healing Captain Eclipse upon her re-emergence from Carbonite, she will die from her injuries. Starkiller was very specific in his last order to me," PROXY's holographic interface activated as he took on the appearance of a well-dressed man with a buzz-cut in his early twenties: Starkiller.
PROXY resumed speaking, though his mannerisms, voice, and appearance was a flawless decoy of his old master, "PROXY, do not wake me up until we find Barriss Offee and Ahsoka Tano. That is unless you are able to find a force-healer of equal calibre, but I doubt you'll find one. She is not to be under the care of medical droids, there is only so much they can do, and unfortunately it won't be enough. When we find her, Juno must be woken and healed first, since there will also be issues if we are in the Carbonite for too long. I'll need healing as well, and we will have to be woken one at a time.
You can trust Hera and the Ghost crew, send my regards to Sabine and the others should you cross paths with them." PROXY returned to his normal droid self and looked expectantly at Hera Syndulla. "This is the last message my first master saw fit to deliver. Unless I am able to locate Offee and Tano, my masters Captain Eclipse and Starkiller will be in stasis indefinitely." Sabine and Hera both looked a bit morose at that news, but it wasn't unexpected.
Capturing Vader on Kamino had been a herculean effort, it was only a shame that he escaped when one of the handlers at the trade off made a fatal mistake. He, his whole team, and Juno Eclipse paid dearly for that error.
"ROGUE ONE! RETURN TO THE GROUND, YOU ARE NOT SANCTIONED TO DEPART!" A voice boomed on the loudspeakers in the hangar and from the towers. Hera, Sabine, and PROXY all looked up to see the stolen Imperial cargo ship quickly zip out of range and disappear. Despite her being a general, and the drastic breach of protocol, Hera Syndulla let out a peal of laughter.
She then opened up a private comm. channel to the other members of her crew, who were milling around about the base. "Kanan, finish your cat-herding, it's time to go." Sabine quirked an eyebrow at Hera referring to Zeb and Ezra as cats, but then again, she's really not wrong about those two. "WHAT!" Hera's vocal explosion turned the heads of several X-Wing pilots heading towards their ships. Sabine however was used to Hera reacting to crazy things that Kanan and Ezra get up to, but more often than not being on Hera's side of the conversation before
Sabine shot PROXY a look, who just shrugged, the emotional problems of beings was beneath him, clearly. Hera was now listening intently as she her shock slowly dimmed. Once she was finished with communication, she looked at Sabine, then PROXY, before shooting Chopper a look he took to mean, 'hoist the sails,' and he flew back up the ramp and into the Ghost's cockpit.
Sabine looked at PROXY, and then at where Chopper had disappeared to. "Hera, let me go with PROXY now, and you can arrive with Admiral Raddus and the cavalry." Hera was considering it, though seeming like she would deny Sabine's request, so Sabine continued with, "PROXY can get us past the security they have. We still have that patch on the Rogue Shadow that keys us into real-time Imperial codes. Thank you Juno."
Hera shook her head, "Sabine, it's dangerous," Sabine scoffed at that, but Hera continued unhindered. "It's dangerous like we've never encountered before. We strike from the shadows. There's a reason our call signs are all variations of ghosting. Spectre, Phantom, Ghost… We are saboteurs, smugglers and skirmishers–,"
"I swear Hera, if you're about to say 'we're not soldiers,' then you're not paying attention. You're a General, and I'm a Captain. Things have changed in the last few years. We aren't the rag-tag crew that ran from Vader on Lothal." Sabine took a deep breath. "I'm the one who pointed out to Kanan which ship was Cassian and that Jyn girl's."
"Traitor." Hera declared with a mirthful light in her eyes.
"If we don't fight now, then fighting in the future may very well be futile. Besides, half our squad is already en route. I'll see you later then," Sabine said as she quickly escorted PROXY to where she knew he had parked Rogue Shadow, a 65 metre ship that held the most advanced cloaking tech on either side of the civil war that was about to start.
"PROXY, where are Starkiller and Juno?" Sabine asked a few minutes later as the ramp lowered to them.
The training droid quirked his head before replying, "A long ways away, safe from suspicion or harm." As they reached the cockpit, PROXY gently put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to stop and turn around. Sabine was confused for a moment, but then the droid said, "Captain Eclipse left message for you specifically. She recorded this in the Captain's quarters after having successfully captured Darth Vader at Kamino" And with that, his body shimmered once more, and PROXY became the message, Sabine was a little sad looking into those brilliant blue eyes of Juno's, knowing they were merely a convincing lie.
"Sabine, if you're watching this, then something bad has happened. Clearly, neither Galen nor I are able to pilot this ship anymore…I don't know if we are dead or not. Ideally, this message would fade in PROXY's memory bank forever, but I have a bad feeling, that you'll see this one day. I was pleased to hear that Mon Mothma recognized your bravery and tactical wit enough to grant you the rank of Captain. I actually won a bet with Galen over that, he thought it would take you a few more years."
Juno Eclipse's message self scowled off to the side, "PROXY bet that you'd be dead before earning such an incredible promotion. Though in fairness to him, he tends to root for the death of those he cares most about…chalk it up to Darth Vader's original programing." Juno let out a loose laugh, almost unburdened by recent events. Which included taking quite the beating as she was flung from platform to platform on Kamino. Sabine knew that Juno had at least broken a few bones after having checked the logs that were entered upon capturing Darth Vader. She's a champ.
Sabine's focus was redirected when she heard Juno's next line, "Every ship needs a captain, and visa versa. It is my privilege, Captain Sabine Wren of Clan Wren and House Visla and the newly anointed Mandalore; I bequeath to you the Rogue Shadow in all her glory. That is unless I'm around to pilot it because if I am then it's still mine." Despite being awed by Juno's gift, Sabine couldn't help but laugh as the hologram of Juno briefly stuck her tongue out at the younger woman.
Sabine's smile faded as PROXY resumed his normal form as the holo-transmission ended. "She and Starkiller also gave me orders to obey you, my new Master," PROXY intoned lazily.
Sabine smiled and said, "It's an honour, PROXY. Now, let's see about helping our rebelling friends. First order of business is getting through that security gate. You can teach me the nooks and crannies of this beautiful ship on the way, how does that sound?" PROXY nodded as they both sad down in their seats. In moments, the Rogue Shadow was in the air and within two minutes of taking off, Sabine pulled the lever that sent the Rogue Shadow barreling towards Scarif past the speed of light.
Author's Note: If you would gift me a moment of your time to leave a review or pm to share with me what you thought of this, it would make my day. Constructive critisicm is welcome, please do tell me if you find my work wanting. I aim to constantly improve. Just don't be uncouth in your sentiments please. And as always, thank you for your time.