General Syndulla looked out from the cockpit of her cargo ship, the Ghost, with apprehension but determination and a sense that this mission may yet go well. Out from the large windows of the freighter's flight pod and thousands of miles below was the planet Malastare, the sight of the next recon mission for the Alliance. A harsh desert world, with dark purple skies and a native species of Dugs, Malastare was a small and hidden gem of a dirtball world that contained one of the largest sublight fuel supplies in the galaxy.
Not Coaxium, still thanks to Enfys Nest and Han Solo from years ago, the Rebellion had enough to supply the Fleet for a few more years at the current rate of battle. Malastare was a boon for ordinary space fuel, for star liners, freighters and starfighters.
Still, while Malastare was by no means a favoured destination to Hera, the war against the Empire was forcing the Alliance to begin to steal from innocent and neutral species. Malastare was a tap of fuel that neither side had access to - the Dugs had made it clear to Palpatine years ago that he would not take their world and they had defended it, but the Rebellion was now in need of more sublight fuel and tabana gas. The turbolasers of the fleet and the laser cannons of legions of X-Wings required more of the gas than they could ever forage. Hera knew the Dugs would be hoarding it to prevent either side from having their stores. While few missions ever were, Rebel Intelligence had suggested that this snatch and grab operation would be a simple one for a change, hence the small and reliable force Hera had requested for the mission. All of them were prepared and ready down in the cargo bay.
The Alliance had discovered that the Dugs were moving a massive supply train across the surface of the planet - around the badlands near the capital and the outlying settlements where they stored their hoards of perishables. The train would be carrying not only the desired sublight fuel and tabana gas, but weapons and arms as well, and even some munitions for their Y-Wing bombers. It seemed to rich to be true but the Dugs were covetous people, Hera knew full well.
While Malastare wasn't a part of the Empire, the Dugs had quickly driven any Imperials off of their planet some time ago - since Palpatine's dissolution of the Imperial Senate and the wiping away of any remnants of the Old Republic, the Dugs had ceased all outreach policies and were becoming truly isolated to the rest of the galaxy.
The supplies the Dugs were storing were becoming very necessary, to both sides as the conflict intensified. The mission was to be quick and efficient, so as not to alert the Dugs of the fact they were going to be robbed of the train's contents. Mon Mothma was not pleased that the Rebellion was stooping to stealing from the Dugs, but Hera, Leia and Captain Solo knew it was more than needed now, even after the destruction of the Death Star.
As the Ghost cruised into orbit, Hera's co-pilot beeped and honked from her side. A spluttering of his binary chatter told her he was picking up something from the sensor cluster tool near the flight controls.
"The train is moving, Chop?" Hera assumed, with a honk from her droid confirming her statement moments later with waving tools as he remained connected to the data port. "Good, keep track of it and plot an intercept course. I'll alert Captain Solo and Rex," she told him, lifting herself out of her seat. It was a strange feeling to be running a mission such as this without Jacen, green hair and chattering toddler speak, but Sabine was keeping good care of him back on Lothal. He was safer there while his mother fought for the Rebellion like this.
Honking in response, Chopper remained plugged into the sensor suite and tracked their objective as it rolled around the badlands far below, spluttering more beeps as he spoke to himself in binary. Chopper often did that, muttering to himself and plotting the deaths of potentially anyone who annoyed him. Still, the kind and lawful version of the dumpy astromech had died in the Clone Wars, Chopper now was purely a chaotic evil aid to the Alliance, wanting to murder at his own free will. No restraining bolt could hold him.
It felt a little nostalgic in a way, going to check on the crew before a mission for General Hera Syndulla. Although the current crew of the Ghost wasn't the one she knew, and the remnants of her old family still painted the walls and halls of the freighter. Ezra was still missing in deep space, Zeb was now a part of Rebel Intelligence with Alexsandr Kallus and Sabine had chosen to remain on Lothal for the time being. Everyone was finding usage for themselves, and yet Kanan. Hera still missed Kanan, by the might of every star in the skies, Hera missed him.
Opening the hatchway and into the cargo bay, Hera saw the gathered and prepared assault team for the train job, most of the grizzled veterans of the Alliance. She had handpicked them herself, along with two recommendations from Princess Leia - Han Solo and Chewbacca, two of the men who had given her a lift off of the Death Star and the two who had helped Commander Skywalker destroy it. And then there was the one who Hera had wanted on the mission before it was finalised. Captain Rex. The former clone Captain had become one of the best soldiers in the Alliance, using his many years of active service in the Clone Wars under Ahsoka and General Obi-Wan Kenobi to ensure a Rebel victory on many occasions now that they had engaged the Imperials in open warfare. Ashoka had been right to recommend him to the cause all those years ago after the Siege of Lothal.
He wasn't wearing his old clone armour, rather a green and olive jacket that was worn by many of the other Rebel Officers and Commandos who fought on verdant worlds, but Hera knew the heart of a clone soldier was still beating in his chest. A clone who had disobeyed Order 66 with everything he had.
On the other side of the cargo bay, Hera saw the two latest editions to the strike team. Han Solo and Chewbacca. Hera had respect for Han but was still a little wary. She didn't have much good experience with smugglers, despite herself being one. Lando Calrissian had once tried to pass her off as a slave girl, which was a bit of an uncomfortable experience. But Han had clearly proven himself during the attack on the first Death Star and in helping the Princess. If his word remained as good as his shot and his loyalty deep, Hera could trust him.
Within a few seconds, Hera cleared her throat and her team then stood to attention, looking at her. Part of her was quite glad to be a leader, a trait likely inherited from her father Cham Syndulla. She then gestured to the troops and put her hands on her hips.
"Now, we don't have much time, so I'll keep it brief," she addressed the soldiers. "You guys are going to drop onto a Dug supply train and loot it for everything you can find. The Dugs are hostile, but they shouldn't pose much of a threat. I don't need to tell you how dangerous it is. You've probably all had your fair share of near-death experiences. I know I sure have." Some of the troops chuckled from that, putting a smile on her lips. She had learned that humouring the troops before a mission would be good for morale. She had clearly got that from Ezra and Kanan. If they were still here, she knew they'd both be on this mission together. The advantage of having two lightsabers on a mission was always one desired, especially when the Empire never fought fair with their usage of the Sith. Not that Hera anticipated the presence of Darth Vader or any of the Inquisitorius on the train, all intelligence pointed to an absence of Imperial forces anywhere near Malastare.
Han Solo stepped forward, saluting the Twi'lek General. "Don't worry, we'll handle it. Pulled too many jobs like this in my day to see one go badly now. We'll get it done, General Syndulla," Han tried to reassure her, as cocky and stubborn as ever, his face barely showing much in ways of negative emotion. His charisma was lost on her and the tall Wookie let out a small and faint howl next to him. Solo looked at Chewie. "Yes I have, every time, and you know it," he told the Wookie and Chewbacca sniggered like a wolf.
"See that it does, Captain Solo," Hera told him with a trace of a smile and a will for him to succeed. She had not yet seen Han Solo in action as a member of the Rebel Alliance. Words from a past associate - Enfys Nest - had told her he could shoot a crack shot when needed, but Hera wasn't holding her breath until she heard it from Rex, who was chuckling at Chewbacca's Kashyyykian remarks next to Han. They already looked like quite a team. "We don't want any fancy footwork here, boys. It's just a simple snatch and grab operation, get me?"
Smirking, Han nodded. Rex stood up and smiled at Hera, shouting in his thick voice, the same one that had once been for a whole legion of soldiers. "Loud and clear, General Syndulla, you can count on us." Rex then cleared his throat, as the rest of the men saluted her. "I'll uh... make sure he doesn't get into too much trouble, General," he spoke up, tilting his head sideways to Han. He had had a long history of dealing with the cocky reckless types, even among the Jedi. He'd spent most of his clone career working with two of the most reckless Jedi Knight of all, with possibly the most reckless Padawan.
"Thank you, Rex," Hera said gratefully. "Okay people, get ready! You drop in five!"
As Hera then left the cargo bay, Han cocked his trademark DL-44 blaster pistol, smiling. As he put his gun to the desperado holsters around his hip, Chewbacca growled at him, as the Wookie was loading a rack of thermal detonators into a small grenade launcher and stacking energy cells around his belt, reaching for his blaster rifle.
"And what are you growling about?" Han remarked. "This is a simple raid. Get in, get out. We've done it hundreds of times. It's a piece of cake!"
Coming back around to him, Captain Rex stepped audibly behind Han. "I wouldn't be so confident about that," Rex warned him, his cloned voice gravelly and low in pitch. "In my experience, no mission is ever simple. Trust me, us clones thought the same about the Battle of Umbara back in the day... and look how that turned out," the withered veteran remembered. The blackness and chaos of Umbara still played on his mind even now, if anything could have been done differently with Master Pong Krell. Rex knew it was fruitless to think of such a hypothetical. Especially when the Clone Wars no longer mattered and the Empire was waving flags all over the galaxy.
Han chuckled. "Don't worry about it, old man. You won't have to deal with any B1 Battle Droids or creepy cyborg General this time. Just guys who walk on their hands instead of their feet," Han discussed, turning and loading his pistol with a fresh clip. He stowed it comfortably in his holster and turned to face Rex again with his hands out away from his sides. "I've run a train job before and it was nothing, Captain."
Again, Chewbacca howled a contradictory account, quietly muttering the real events of Vandor-1 and the Coaxium grab. Han eyed him vehemently as he heard the name of Enfys Nest.
The Ghost dropped out of orbit, heading into the purple, methane tinted clouds of Malastare's atmosphere. It was going to be a bumpy ride, but Hera could manage as she held the controls of the freighter in her hands. Chopper was spluttering more beeps to himself and to his pilot as she flew the ship cooly down to find the train in the badlands. This wasn't her first time flying in a storm of atmospheric soup. Once the ship had passed through the clouds, Hera guided the Ghost over the dry, barren desert, seeing the track down below, the train would be some distance along it and speeding further away. Within a few seconds, Hera could see her target, a large hovertrain racing along the sands via large suspension pylons, allowing the train to glide on an invisible cushion of magnetism. It was a common sight for such systems of transport to be in the core of the galaxy, not in the Outer Rim like Malastare. But this was not a sightseeing trip. Pulling the controls to the left, Hera took the Ghost down, angling the cargo ship just in line with the rear of the train. They hadn't been spotted yet, Chopper was muttering to her in beeps and their scanners were nowhere near sophisticated enough to get a bearing on the freighter. This was going simply and smoothly already. Even if that wasn't where the cargo compartments were, the rear of the train was the smart option, Hera knew.
Down in the cargo bay, Han and Rex were standing by the landing ramp as it began to shudder. "Lowering the ramp now! Spectre Two, you have the green light on the mission!" Rex heard Hera through the intercom as the ramp started to lower, revealing a harsh sunlight beam in the distance and the train zooming below them. Hera matched its speed as a strong wind flew into the ship as they saw the long, snaking train below them. Han's hair was ruffled as was Chewie's fur and some of the rebels struggled to keep their helmets on in the strong gust coming at them. Rex, however, maintained his cool composure.
"Hey Solo, did your last train job go anything like this?!" Rex cackled with a rather teasing smile as he leaned out of the ramp to check the roofs of the rear carriages.
Han composed himself and pulled out his blaster pistol. Flashbacks to Vandor-1 entered his mind and left a grim taste in his mouth as he thought about Val on the bridge and Enfys Nest making the job difficult. At least this time there was no Crimson Dawn to muddle the entire affair. "Oh yeah, went fine… at first," Han told him. "Overall it didn't go super well... but I've had a few years to practice. I can handle this, Captain."
"Let's hope those years of practice have paid off, Captain!" Rex called back with that same determined smile, shouting back to his troopers as he clutched his Rebel rifle in both hands. For some reason, he thought of Lothal and breathed in, excited to be back in action. "Okay, boys, as we said back in the 501st... For the Republic!" He then sprinted towards the end of the ramp and jumped off the side, with Han, Chewie and the other Rebels following suit.
Leaping from the Ghost, the team then landed on the rear section of the train's final passenger carriage, all landing expertly, even Han and the Wookie. Rex landed with expertise, even a roll and pulling out his rifle in case of resistance. Looking up at Hera in the cockpit of the freighter, he gave her the signal to wave off, at which she nodded. Rex was cool, the fitting form a soldier who had performed dozens of operations such as this. Han landed next to him, followed by Chewie and the rest of the Rebel team.
Once he had gotten his bearings, Han looked at his wrist-mounted communicator, contacting the General. "Okay, we've landed on the train!" He called up as she manoeuvred the Ghost away.
"Just one small thing," Hera reported. "I'll have to take the Ghost into low orbit since I'd rather we didn't pick up any unwanted attention on this mission. Once you've got the cargo and you've secured the train, I'll come and pick you up. Good hunting."
"Thanks, no pressure or anything," Han reported, as he saw the Ghost leave the scene, rising up into the clouds. He then looked around, seeing the entire team preparing to breach the train. "Okay people, start cutting! I doubt a train like this has a roof hatch!"
One of the Rebel Commandos nodded, and all pulled out fusion cutters, starting to cut through the reinforced durasteel of the outer train roof. It would take a while, but once there was a hole big enough, the team would enter the train and take the supplies for themselves. Han, Rex and Chewie remained on their guard, observing the Malastare landscape and a welcomed lack of enemy fighters as the Commandos sliced into the roof. Han tapped Rex on the shoulder cautiously.
"You sure we're not expecting any company on this one? Doesn't seem in our wheelhouse to run an op without someone coming in and spoiling our good time, Captain," Han yelled over the overwhelming sound of the train moving at high speed.
Rex himself was half-expecting to see B1 Battle Droids coming to stop them any minute and not Stormtroopers, his battle-hardened senses were hardwired into his psyche at this point. "So the General says, but keep your wits about you, Solo," he told Han, turning around and looking over the desert, pulling his binos out to scan for TIE Fighters. "It isn't like the Empire to leave their fingers out of a system as unruly as Malastare…"
xXx
General Emilia Weiss kicked open the large bulkhead of the container that had helped conceal herself and her Storm Commandos as they accessed the train some several stops back. Their incursion onto Malastare had been flawless and now she had her eyes on the prize - several cabinets of the Dugs' Civil Council. With them, in custody, the floodgates would be open for Imperial occupation. Malastare would turn into another Mandalore, only this time there would be no slow and wild ground campaign spoiled by Rebels and splinter cells. There would be no Bo-Katan and no Sabine Wren. General Weiss would have her war for Malastare, and she would have her victory.
"Mission clock has commenced, ladies and gentlemen. The council members are in the train's passenger carriages located near the rear," she informed her small squad of Storm Commandos and reached for her white-painted scattergun from around her back. Turning to her red-clad troopers she smiled. "Mandalorians, take the vanguard and deploy sensor clusters along the outer sides of the carriages. I don't want any Dug defence forces arriving before we have our prize," she commanded the twisted and warped Mandalorian fighters in an offset ensemble of Stormtrooper armour. The Storm Commandos looked very different from their regular trooper brethren.
The Storm Commandos wore black, thick armour with chinless helmets that looked like a cross between that of a Shadow Trooper and a Dark Trooper. Their weaponry was also as relentless as their reputation - above standard arms and with several sets of thermal detonators around their utility belts.
The Mandalorian Stormtroopers moved from the bulkhead first, the pair walking in unison and pulling out stark Mandalorian arms rifles from their backs, moving more like droids. They had been programmed, by the Empire, to not resemble anything like their people. These two red troopers were all filled with the propaganda and promise of honour that the Empire spouted at them.
Once the twins were gone, Weiss turned to her Storm Commandos almost smiling, the lust for blood settling in her bones. "Move out, find me our prize."
General Weiss was tall and slender, her body hugged tightly by the trappings of her Imperial Security Bureau incursion plasteels. It was black and her red and blue placard was embossed above her flattish bust. Her long and braided, white platinum-blond hair was almost glowing in the no light and her eyes were a fiery blue, icy underneath like sapphire trapped in glaciers. She looked like an assassin in her current uniform, with her white cape, one inspired by the majestic cloak of Director Orson Krennic billowing behind her as she walked with her scattergun held at her midriff. Her blonde hair had a fringe, like a main flowing up with the single braid of white-blonde resting over her left shoulder. She was in every aspect her namesake. Like a harsh winter as she walked out of the container and following her entourage of highly-trained and keen super soldiers, ready to kill whatever they encountered. All she was thinking about what a campaign that would reduce the Dug population of Malastare to their knees. She wanted to subjugate them.
The Mandalorian Twins pressed on and back to the stern of the train, exiting out and into the exterior of the freight cars, searching for the targets while General Weiss and her Storm Commandos stacked up on the door into the next boxcar.
"General," the leader of the Storm Commando squad alerted the blonde officer, she hummed and gave him her attention but did not speak much. Her nose was snooted into the air as she stood before him. She lowered her scattergun to her midriff and considered him. "Scanners are indicating unidentified life forms near the aft of the craft, m'lady," the squad leader spoke, matter-of-factly and to the point. He kept his information slick and concise for her, as per expectations. Weiss hummed in disapproval as she considered the possibilities and thought. Unidentified life forms meant anything but Dug to her scanners.
Emilia Weiss seemed to sniff the air, pondering the presence in the aft of the train, where she believed their quarry would be. "Probable resistance, either Dugs using scrambling tech or otherwise another bunch of opportunists after the munitions. It matters not, prepare weapons and begin to sweep the train," General Weiss addressed her men and two of the Storm Commandos poised to attach breaching charges to the seams of the doors. Within moments the entire bulkhead of the current boxcar and into the next was sizzling and then they were ablaze with magenta flame, boiling into dust. Weiss looked away as the doors burst into full-blown flames and exploded into the next cart, disintegrating into ashes and dust. "Move forward! Clear the train of any and all hostiles. Men, you have permission to go weapons free!"
One of the Commandos walked forward into the smoke, their rifle outstretched. The rest of the troopers held back as the trooper walked inside to scout on ahead for any hostiles. It was a few silent moments later that General Weiss and her troops got their answer. The flashes of red and magenta blaster fire came from the next carriage and struck the recon trooper in the chest, followed by another blast to his visaged head. He didn't stand a chance even with tactical and heavy armour. The Storm Commandos were springing to action and rolling into the carriage to find cover instantly as Weiss lifted to scattergun again in an attacking pose.
"What the..?" She picked up the helmet and tossed it aside. "Who dares?!" Weiss screamed into the next cart and advanced, hugging the threshold of the carriage doorway and eying the opposition beginning to suppress the Storm Commandos.
From out of the smoke, the faces of Han, Chewie and Rex appeared in her eye, guns at the ready. Taking a moment to examine the situation, Han raised an eyebrow. "Wow, looks you were right buddy. There really are bad guys on the train!"
Chewbacca roared loudly, even enthusiastically as if he were excited to be shooting at Storm Commandos and an officer as he spied the white cloak behind her tactical ISB suit. The Wookie called back to Han as he saw Weiss and then roared forward with an even more powerful cry, bellowing out at the Imperials in front of the group. He clearly had a bloodlust primed for the Imperial attack group, and hunkered down behind one of the seats, resting his high-calibre blaster rifle over the top and blasting at the Imperials' cover. Instantly they became reinforced and stuck behind their own seats, quickly struggling to find bountiful cover as the Rebels attacked them.
General Weiss stepped forward, holding out her scattergun at her breast and eying the Rebel Troopers in the vanguard of the attack squad. With three powerful shots of raw laser from the scattergun, two of the camouflaged soldiers fell over backwards with their chests shot open. "Surrender Rebels! This train is ours!" She bellowed in Han and Rex's direction from behind the threshold door, between both carriages as she pelted them with more blasts from her scattergun.
"Hey, lady, we were here first!" Han yelled back at her between two shots from his sniper-like pistol. "Get your own damn train," he followed and blasted at her position. One Storm Commando peered his head up over a seat and Han found him instantly, blasting him in the face with another high-powered shot. He fell over himself at Weiss's feet and she seethed.
Emilia kicked his body away from her and found Han's position. With teeth gritted and her anger taking hold Weiss she shot as quickly as she could at Han, the smuggler taking cover as soon as he felt the heat of blaster coming for him. "Damn!" He yelled as he felt the laser sizzling into the seat which protected him. He scampered a little left and hugged the wall as well, making sure she couldn't hit him. After three shots, Rex came to his aid, running out of his own cover and shooting both of his pistols at Weiss, giving Han covering fire and trying to stop her. After a few volleys, finally, he knicked her in her armoured shoulder. The blue blaster bolt burned into her plasteel armour and she cursed aloud.
"I don't think they care about that, Captain Solo," Rex told the bereft smuggler as he crouched near him. Chewie arrived at Han too to check he wasn't wounded, but the Rebel squad continued to hold the Imperial Storm Commandos at bay in the box cart. Rex had been in this sort of situation plenty of times during his days as a Captain, and he knew where conflicts like this usually progressed to.
General Weiss's face contorted into a snarl as she brought a small can of bacta spray to her wounded shoulder and contained the burning as the foam formed over the injury. Again she was cursing under her breath and now her hands were shaking as she went to hold the trigger of her scattergun at her lap. She was burning inside, a rage already to shoot Han Solo in his face and end him. His reputation against the Empire was as infamous now as Skywalker's. If she delivered the news of a dead Captain Solo to Lord Vader, she would have critical acclaim and more capital with which to begin to assault on the Dugs. This was her mission. This train and everything on it belonged to the Empire, to her, and she wouldn't let it fall into the hands of Rebels. These amateurs were marked now. Weiss called to her death squad as she saw Han and Chewbacca begin to exfil out of the rear entrance and into another car. "Get them!" She exclaimed to her troopers and they slowly moved up among the covering fire of the nameless Rebel troopers.
Getting down, the Commandos pulled out their laser rifles and started to open fire on the Rebels in the doorway as they attempted to create space between both sides, red laser shots firing rapidly towards Rex and Han and the rest of their team. The Commandos were efficient and made for a deadly adversary, especially in a team. They moved keenly in a tight formation, some crouched and finding slots of space between each other to fire through and find Rebel targets. Two more of the renegade troopers took shots to their limbs or in their torsos, wounded as they moved. "After them! Do not let them escape!" Weiss was yelling behind her commandos, pushing them forward with her sheer will and hatred of the Rebels. The zeal of her loyal gunmen was infallible and palpable in the air but they moved swiftly.
Pulling into cover with Chewie into the next room, Han held up his blaster, firing a shot out every few seconds to try and hit the commandos, but even with his marksmanship, the commandos proved to be quite hard targets to hit. Sighing, Han pressed himself against the wall, waiting for them to close in as the rest of the team took cover among laser blasts. "Well this is going amazingly well, wouldn't you say, Captain Rex?" Han asked his commander crouched across the aisle from him.
Rex was trying his best to fire at the troopers as well, but even he had to give up eventually. "Damn would I kill to see a Jedi right now!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, wishing for either Master Tano, or failing her Luke Skywalker, despite his ineptitude with the Force. At least he had his father's lightsaber. Back in the Clone Wars, a single Jedi Knight would have been able to clear that squad of troopers with a single toss of their lightsaber and a flick of the wrist with the Force. Luke was a ways off yet, even Han had to admit. And their forces here was all they had.
Han scoffed. "In case you hadn't noticed, old man, we don't exactly have lightsabers with us right now! I told you to ask Luke to come on this!" He groaned back at Rex, leaning over his cover again and shooting through the door. The Storm Commandos were expert marksmen but they knew when to stay in cover behind a bottleneck and use their skills to their advantage. They were waiting for now for the Rebels to move back again. "I knew this was mission felt too easy? They're always too easy!" Han yelled in rage. Chewie roared next to him fairly loudly. "Oh yeah? Why don't you try using a blaster pistol for a change!" Captain Solo bellowed to his Wookie companion.
Taking a peek around the corner, Rex sighed. "We need to push past them somehow! Get back up into that carriage and grab the munitions!" The Captain yelled, both to himself, to Han and Chewie and then to his team. They continued to fire, rapidly reloading what little ammunition they had with them. Chewbacca didn't want to risk the grenade launcher he had around his back on a sling yet. In such tight quarters, it was such a risk to fire a series of thermal detonators.
"I'm open to suggestions, Captain!" Han responded as he and one of the Rebel soldiers that was on the team opened fire on the Commando squad once again through the door. The soldier attempted to throw a flashbang grenade but the Storm Commandos never gave it a second thought. Their helmets were tinted and designed to shield their eyes against harsh light and sudden flashes. Meanwhile, General Weiss was fighting a pitched battle on her end of the train car, taking a few seconds to join her commandos in taking out the Rebels who had remained in their cover with her scattergun. More of them limped and then finally flopped to the floor dead, whole holes of their bodies removed by the ruthless General. She, however, knew this battle was taking too long for her own liking. They shouldn't have been distracted by these Rebels, the Dugs could be escaping already. The Mandalorians would soon have them, she knew, she expected. The efficiency of the twins was unmatched by normal troopers, either Imperial or Rebel.
Just then, her wrist mounted commlink beeped, alerting her she had an incoming transmission. Pulling into cover, Emilia looked at her wrist and opened the channel, showing her the holographic image of one of the Mandalorians. "What is it?" She asked the twin with a snarl.
"General!" The Mandalorian cried, shooting a blast from his pistol. "We have a situation with the cargo! Two bounty hunters showed up and one of them took out Enzok! We need backup!"
Weiss rolled her eyes. So much for the glorious pride of Mandalore. She then looked over at her soldiers, still firing on the rebels. "Stay there! We'll pull back to your position once we have dealt with the rebels!"
As Han and the rest of the Rebel team continued to suppress and hold the Imperial strike force at bay they did not see Weiss seemingly disappear from the fray behind her cover, but still, the Storm Commandos were keeping up the pressure. "We're getting nowhere like this. What do we do, Captain, this isn't working!" Han yelled to Rex, who lifted his helmet above his brows and continued to rapidly fire at the Imperials.
"Rifle!" Rex yelled to the troopers behind him and one tossed him a carbine blaster. With it he stood from cover and began to move back, drawing all the fire and dropping something from his belt. Pulling from another pouch the old clone panted a small device on the barrel of his carbine, and suddenly a small ray shield lit up. "Fall back! Retreat into the next cart! Solis! Thweek! Attach mag boots and flank these bastards! Get us our munitions!" Rex called to two of the remaining troopers and they nodded, fleeing back into the next car as quickly as they could. "Solo! Chewie! With me! Back, now!" Rex bellowed again and continued to fire all he could back at the Storm Commandos.
Weiss revealed herself again and strode forward. "Do not let them escape! Do not let those Rebel swine escape! Destroy them, you fools!" She screamed at her troops, blasting shot after shot at Rex as Han swept in behind him. Chewbacca stood up tall and finally threw a thermal detonator at the commandos, blasting them back and halting their advance.
Han stopped in his tracks, and over the sound of blasterfire came the sound of crashing glass and bending metal. As he stood behind his Wookie copilot the window exploded into shattering glass and from it came the body of a heavily armoured Mandalorian was before him, standing slowly with a red-hot jetpack on his back and a greenly tinted helmet with scuff marks all over it. "You're coming with me, smuggler scum," the voice of Boba Fett told Han, and the freighter captain grimaced. Before he could even more, or alert Chewie another fatal smashing of glass exploded just behind him and when Han turned to find his companion, Chewie was suddenly in the arms of the ruthless Trandoshan named Bossk, and the lizard man was clawing him through the next window and up onto the roof of the carriage.
"Chewie!" Han screamed. Rex quickly threw another, smaller, thermal detonator and the Imperials fled for cover. With a quick tapping of a button on his wrist, the device he had through onto the floor near the doorway between carriages zapped to life, creating a small ray shield between the Imperials and himself.
Quickly, without any more hesitation, Rex swung himself around with Han and peppered Boba with carbine blasts, but the hunter was too swift. Already he had a small energy shield deployed from his gauntlet and was defending himself.
After Rex's clip was empty, he dropped his rifle, Boba coming to executing, Han spotted him and shot the blaster carbine out of Fett's grasp and the gun fell to the floor, but he was only becoming more determined and, silently, more furious with both men in front of him.
Han groaned. "How many guys are on this blasted train?!" He yelled very audibly at Boba as he and Rex now came hand to hand, beginning to engage each other in hand to hand combat as the young Solo took cover again and waited for Boba to let his guard down so he could blast him in the chest at last. For once Solo actually wanted to rid his life of the presence of Fett. He'd been chasing him now for over a year because of the skimped payment to Jabba the Hutt. Both Jabba and Fett were tenacious and greedy for credits.
The ray shield failed before Han could deal with the Bounty Hunter and the Storm Commandos were beginning to attempt to shoot at Fett and Rex as they tussled together. The Mandalorian quickly eyed Weiss and brought down his rangefinder as he kicked and pushed Rex to the floor off of him. Quickly acquiring Weiss he blasted the two remaining Storm Commandos near her and aimed for her in succession. Weiss grunted as she dodged one of his blasts and brought her weapon to aim. "I will not be a prisoner of yours, bounty hunter!" General Weiss growled as she held up her scattergun. "Commandos get them!" She roared to the final pair behind her as they moved up.
Han popped his head and blaster out of cover as quickly as he could to down one of them and he fell with a blaster shot to his neck. There was one commando remaining and then Weiss. Rex leapt onto Boba and dragged him to the floor, straddling him as quickly as he could to keep him there. Armoured forearms cam to defend Fett's face but Rex was through with holding back, he knew the armour and he knew the visage that covered Fett's face. Flashes of training over three decades ago resurfaced to the memory of the withered clone captain.
Jango. Jango Fett. Bounty Hunter. Progenitor. Template. Original Host. Father. Mentor. Jango. Clone. Captain. CT-7567. Rex.
Rex… Keep your eyes on me, on the lines of my helmet. Always look your opponent in eye, that way they'll know you're all durasteel and you're not afraid to die. But you're also not afraid to kill them. Remember that, and you'll beat them every single time. You're as good with two blaster pistols as I am…if I didn't know better I'd say they imprinted you to be my perfect clone… Jango had told him almost thirty years ago. Every time Rex fought someone with his fists, she kept that conversation close to memory. Sometimes he could hear it again in his ears. The voice of Jango Fett. A man who seemed as close to a father as Rex could ever have.
With a mighty fist, enough force behind it to crush the skull of a man, Rex punched Boba clean in the face, just as he attempted to lift himself, an uppercut that should have killed the younger Bounty Hunter.
"Take that you tin-headed, unaltered and third-rate bastard!" Rex shouted, unleashing all his anger, all his pent-up rage, everything he had ever felt for Jango and everything he hated about Boba, everything he hated about being a clone, about the Clone Wars, about Order 66, about everything, pounding his fist into the bounty hunters helmet. Boba quickly kicked Rex off of him, punching the old clone in the gut with a swift follow up after a brutish grunt.
Rex flew away from the hunter and onto his back, his chest winded and his breath fleeting. Han was shooting it out with the Imperials yard away and Rex was stunned. Boba slowly got to his feet, reaching for his helmet, which had left his head.
His face was a ghost, something Rex had not seen in twenty years. It was Geonosis, it was the Malevolence, it was Ryloth, it was Umbara, it was Kamino. It was more Kamino than anything Rex had ever seen.
As he gazed up at Boba Fett, helmetless, he saw staring back at him, the face of millions of other men from a lifetime ago. It was his own face, twenty years younger and staring back at him like some sort of twisted monster from a time no one would ever remember again.
"What's the matter, old timer?" Boba remarked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
Before Rex had a chance to react, Boba brought his armoured foot to Rex's chest, pinning him down and keeping the wind from his chest. From the rear of his utility belt, Boba brought out something that looked like an artefact. Something else Rex knew all too well - one of Jango's pistols - and Fett pointed it right at Rex's face. "You know what the difference is between you and me, Clone? I'm the genuine article, trained by my father and a dozen other Bounty Hunters," Boba told him with a grim voice, shadowing his face with the same Mandalorian mask his father had. "While you were killing Jedi, I had Bossk, Aurra Sing, Cad Bane and more for a family. We're tighter than any battalion of second-rate clones. You're just a weak old man who was grown in a test tube to fight in some stupid war."
Rex grunted as Boba pressed his boot into Rex's chest armour, his gun pointed at his head.
"Any last words, 'Captain' Rex?"
"Just one!" Han chimed in, suddenly behind the hunter. "Tell Jabba, I'm not so easy to kill," the smuggler bragged, shoving his elbow into Boba's jetpack, priming it and then pushing the Mandalorian through the window and off of the train. Fett jetted off at the speed of a moving blaster bolt, trailblazing into the distance. "He should fix that before meeting me again," Solo added, helping Rex off of the ground and pulling him with him as they retreated into the next carriage. "Come on, Captain, Thweek and Solis have the package, time we got outta here, Chewie?" Han called on the commlink.
Chewbacca roared, wounded as Bossk grazed him with a slashing swipe of his claws. The Trandoshan was snarling like a beast and the Wookie roared at him. They had been fighting this whole time and now neither had weapons. Bossk leapt into the air but Chewie caught him and threw him back down to the ground, pounding his fist into Bossk's gut once he landed and hurting the lizard man extremely. He fought back with a sharp and snark bite at Chewie's paw. He walloped Bossk with a hardy right hook but the Trandoshan dodged, backflipping across the train.
Suddenly a quick and small succession of laser bolts crossed and disrupted his attempt to get back to Chewie - the Ghost, Hera was back and now covering the Wookie. Bossk knew when to give up, and leapt from the carriage to find Boba. Chewie was safe and waved at General Syndulla. He roared in relief. "Captain Rex, get that package aboard, we've got a TIE Reaper inbound," Hera ordered Rex from the freighter as she manoeuvred the hulking ship back towards the back of the train. Rex affirmed his positive from the other end. The package was loaded swiftly as soon as the Ghost was in position and all too quickly they zoomed away.
The TIE Reaper arrived moments later, blasting a tactical hole in the roof of the carriage containing Weiss and her remaining Storm Commando. The second of the Mandalorian Twins was with her, feeling defeated as the reaper began lowering a ladder to collect them. Growling, Weiss stood up, pressing a button on her communicator. The battle was lost but the war wasn't over. This called for a tactical retreat. "You'll pay for this, Rebel scum!" She cried, as she and her troops clambered onto the ladder and flying to safety.
xXx
Rex smirked as he and Han sat down in the Ghost's cargo bay as it flew away from the planet. "Now that's what I call a successful mission, Captain Solo." He smiled. "Thanks for that by the way, blasting that guy at the right moment."
"Hey, you'd have done the same for me," Han remarked, cocking smile as the few surviving Rebels celebrated over the munitions. It was a small victory after the loss at Yavin, and it may only go a little way to helping the Rebels resupply, but it was something. And without Luke and Leia for once, Han felt emancipated and confident in his own ability. Looking at Rex, he felt as if he had made a good impression, and a friend. Still, Boba troubled him. This would not be the last time Han would see the Mandalorian, he could feel it in his gut. Pulling a fist out of his pocket, Han clutched his golden sabacc dice firmly in his hands.
"Captain Solo!" Hera called from the upper deck. Han looked speculative. "Good job down there, well done."
"I told you it would have been an easy job!" Han shot back, smiling a wide and arrogant smirk, putting his hands by his side. There wasn't a job that Han Solo and Chewbacca couldn't pull off successfully. Chewie howled his objection to his partner's statement but chose to keep to himself and drank the full bottle of blue milk to himself, choosing to retire to one of the bunks.
Hera smirked from the railing behind the cockpit, Chopper wheeled out and began to splutter some beeps, but Hera remained talking down to Han and Rex as they drank. "Really? Since when do easy jobs involve an Imperial Commando squad and a pair of bounty hunters?" The General chuckled to herself. Deep down, however, she feared the hunters as much as she didn't know Han did. Imperials were predictable. Bounty Hunters never were.
"I uh…" Han stuttered slightly before Rex started to laugh. "Well, you see umm... General... We err."
Rolling her eyes, the Twi'lek commander turned her back and headed back to the cockpit, Chopper rolling in behind her after whirling some more explicit comments down to the Rebels. No one could understand his stuttering binary mostly. Only Hera, Ahsoka, Sabine, Zeb and Ezra ever could. Clearly, Captain Solo still had a lot to prove in Hera's eyes after all.
xXx
Author's note: So, note about me, I've been a big Star Wars fan since I was very little, but never gotten around to writing fics for it xD (story of my life lol) Anyway, I wrote this beauty with my dear friend Val. She came up with the idea and we hope you all love it, and laugh a little since this fic is intended to be a little lighthearted.
See ya next time!