A/N: I used to write and edit some articles for the Star Wars Fanon Wiki, and this story is based off of an article I wrote about a fictional arcade game in the Star Wars universe called Rebeltron: 100 ABY. I based that fictitious game, in turn, on the real world game, Robotron: 2084. It's also about a fictitious game that I meant to write an article about, but never got around to doing it. It's called Blaster, and that's the same name as the quasi-sequel to Robotron: 2084, Blaster. Part of this story is also inspired by "Art Attack," one of the prequel shorts of Star Wars Rebels that aired before the series itself did.
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars Rebels, Blaster, or Robotron: 2084. I do, however, own the SW Fanon Wiki's article about Rebeltron: 100 ABY.
From Robo to Rebel, and Back Again
"Can you believe this news?" Hera Syndulla asked anyone who cared to listen on her ship, the Ghost.
"What's that, Hera?" asked Kanan, quickly concerned about what was going on.
"I've been watching that underground news channel again," said Hera, "And it looks like the blasted stormtroopers are not only terrorizing and killing innocent citizens, but they're also training their killing reflexes with these secret holographic games on numerous planets throughout the galaxy, and most especially, on the chief stormtrooper training world of Carida."
"What?" said Ezra, "You're telling us that the stormtroopers have their own private arcades, or something?"
"It would appear that way, Ezra," confirmed Kanan, studying the holographic channel on the dejarik board.
"Well, good for those freaks," said Zeb, "If they want to enjoy wasting their time playing games, all the better. Maybe I'll sneak into one of these arcades and take some fun-loving troopers by surprise." He rubbed his big hands together.
"I say it's not fair!" said Sabine, "Why should Imperial troops get to have fun while the people of the galaxy suffer? What kind of games are these, anyway?"
Hera looked carefully at the message she had received. "Well, it looks like the majority of them are simulator games, for practicing to drive the speeder bike, the Imperial walkers, and the TIE fighters, among other things. But they also have two games that seem to be just for fun. There's an arcade game called Rebeltron: 3304, in which a droid called the Rebeltron has multiplied and overrun the galaxy, and the player plays a stormtrooper on Coruscant, who's trying to defend the last human families from the Rebeltrons, as well as human and alien Rebels, Separatist holdouts, and Jedi survivors of Order 66. It's a very anti-Rebel game. And Blaster is a sequel where the Rebeltrons have conquered Imperial humanity, and a TIE fighter pilot which the player controls must fly through space, blasting enemy ships, rescuing stranded humans from open space, Planetoids, and the Time Tunnel, until they reach their destination, THE MATRIX, which is supposed to be some sort of pragmatist's version of finding rest in another world."
Zeb blinked. "That's just nonsense! The Imperial citizens, or at least those that are willingly loyal to the Empire, don't even know what it's like to be at their civilization's end and with nowhere to turn, especially not its leaders like Vader, the Emperor, and that conceited windbag Tarkin!"
Sabine suddenly stood up. "Something has to be done about this!" she said, "And I'm going to do it!"
"Are you sure that's a good idea, Sabine?" asked Hera critically, "Sneaking into an Imperial training world and sabotaging their arcade games, or whatever it is you intend to do?"
"We've got more important things to worry about than some petty holographic games that the Imperial troops play with," said Kanan.
"But aren't these Blaster and Rebeltron games used partly as anti-Rebel propaganda for the Empire?" asked Ezra. "I mean, Hera did say just now that Rebeltron: 3304 is very anti-Rebel, as well as anti-Separatist, although to be honest, I don't know much about the Separatists."
"It's probably a good thing that you don't, kid," said Zeb.
Chopper beeped and whirred, as if he was supporting Ezra and Sabine.
"Yeah?" said Sabine, "You know it's part of my job to spread the message of rebellion against the actions of the Empire. And anyway, I have a plan, Chopper willing, that can make this little act of sabotage and its consequences very fun."
"Like what?" asked Hera.
"Let me get into Carida's main arcade, and you'll find out," said Sabine with a wink.
Chopper looked like he was interested, due to his excited whirrs and squawks.
Kanan thought about it for several moments. Then he sighed. "I still think this is a trivial thing for us to be doing, but I can see Sabine's perspective when it comes to stopping Imperial propaganda. All right, we'll do it, but we're going to have to be very careful, because Imperial security on Carida is very strong, and I'm sure they've left no stone unturned."
Sabine grinned. "No problem. I'm a Mando, and stormtroopers are no match for an alert and ready Mando, especially one with a ready supply of paint bombs."
"For our sakes, I hope you're right, Sabine," said Hera.
Several hours later, the Ghost slipped undetected into the Carida system. As it usually was, the planet was heavily guarded, and many Imperial ships orbited the planet. Fortunately, they were mostly on one side of Carida, and it was nighttime on the planet, too, which meant that the bulk of the Imperials were asleep or resting, though there were bound to be some awake and alert guards at posts everywhere. The ship slowly flew into the atmosphere, and from a distance, it scanned the land, rocks, and buildings for a possible source of power or programming to infiltrate.
Sabine got ready to ride on Chopper's back when they found a building, which their scanners identified as the main arcade of the planet. Evidently, the arcade wasn't as heavily guarded as most of the other structures, possibly because the Imperials didn't expect someone to intrude and tamper with their games. She and Chopper rocketed down to a platform where two Imperial stormtroopers were guarding a door. They landed silently on the far end from the troops, and Satine did her diversion, spraying a Rebel phoenix symbol on the wall.
Inevitably, the troopers heard the spray paint, and ran to check it out. They were surprised to find an old, beat-up astromech droid and a young girl in multi-colored Mandalorian armor standing there, painting the wall with a symbol that certainly wasn't Imperial.
"Hey!" said one of the troopers, "What do you think you're doing here? And how did you get here?"
"Oh, my choppy friend here gave me a ride," said Sabine casually, gesturing to Chopper. "And what does this look like to you? It's art!"
"Well, drop it and put your hands up, or we'll shoot!" said the other trooper.
"Okay, shoot!" said Sabine.
The troopers were confused by her request, but before they could kill her or take her prisoner, Chopper, who had snuck up on them, from the front, of all places, gave one of them an electric shock, knocking him out. Sabine suddenly sprayed her paint over the eyehole lenses of the other trooper, blinding him. He started to flail about and shoot wildly.
"Oops, did I get some in your eyes, boy?" said Sabine, and knocked him down with the butt end of one of her hand blasters. Then she put a little paint bomb on the wall near the door, and used another explosive to get the door open and go inside.
The bomb exploded, doing some damage to the wall, and splattering blue paint all over the stunned troopers. Sabine admired the color of the explosion for a moment, like she always did, and went in with Chopper.
Sabine and Chopper snuck around like thieves in the night. Before going for the programming room, Sabine wanted to see one of these games for herself. She found her way to the arcade, followed closely by Chopper, and saw a few troopers with their helmets off, enjoying some late night excitement with the arcade games. She and Chopper recognized the games, Rebeltron: 3304 and Blaster, quickly, by their titles on top of the cabinets that held the games. They snuck into a dark corner, off in the shadows, to see what was happening, unnoticed. Chopper provided a spy camera for Sabine to see a close-up of the screen of one of the Rebeltron: 3304 games.
Basically, the field of the game had electrodes on it that the player had to avoid, and Grunt Rebeltrons had to be destroyed by shooting in any basic direction while moving around the field in any direction. Hulk Rebeltrons, which looked ridiculous for alleged Rebels in Sabine's opinion, could be destroyed only with a great deal of effort, and they could destroy humans they contacted. Rebel Troopers and Separatists roamed the field, too, and Separatists could turn humans into mindless drones to fight against the player. Jedi Knights fetched a handsome amount of points if killed, and cruise missiles and Sep/Reb tanks had to be destroyed, too. The player couldn't blast his fellow stormtroopers without losing points for each one, but each saved human multiplied the points received for it until the player was killed.
Sabine then had Chopper turn his camera on the other game. Blaster, in turn, had a variety of Rebel ships flying around, trying to destroy the player's TIE fighter, like Roto-Shooting Rebels and Runaway Rebel Cruisers. It also included some sort of Anooba ships that sucked the life force from the player, squads of X-Wing fighters, Capital Ships, Jedi starfighters, and much more. Aliens were especially important to kill in the game, and the player had to rescue floating humans. The game's motto was, "Blast, or be blasted!"
The stormtroopers certainly seemed to be having fun with the games tonight. One that was playing Rebeltron: 3304 said to another, "How are you doing over there, TK-356?"
"I got through the fifth of these rigorous levels!" said the other trooper excitedly, "I'm murdering those Rebel scum, TK-229!"
"Me too," said TK-229, "I've just bagged my tenth Jedi, and I lost count of how many Grunts and Rebels I got, but it's well over eighty!"
"We're going to be the best of the best at these games pretty soon," said TK-356 cheerfully.
"Troopers!" said a stormtrooper captain who stood at the doorway to the arcade, "It's 0100 hours! You should have been in your bunks two hours ago! Drop what you're doing and go to bed now!"
TK-229 and TK-356 sighed, but said, "Yes sir, Captain," and saluted. They left their games for their characters to die in, and went to their barracks. The Captain watched them go, and then he closed and locked the door to the arcade.
It was time for Sabine and Chopper to go into action. With help from a searchlight Chopper provided for her, she found where the Rebeltron and Blaster games were connected to, and realized it went into the heart of the building. Next, Sabine opened a ventilation system and motioned for Chopper to follow her quietly. She used a special metal detector to learn where the wires led, and climbed and crawled in that direction, while Chopper's silent rockets propelled him through the vent.
Finally, the connection ended at another vent opening. Sabine got herself through it, followed by Chopper, and they found themselves in a control room that operated all the arcade games on the planet.
"Quick, Chopper," said Sabine quietly, "Give me a grid on the layout of the wires and mechanisms that operate the games."
Chopper gave her a complex hologram that showed the inner workings of the generator and its wires and microchips. Sabine studied it closely, and soon realized what she had to do. She instructed Chopper to use his wire cutter to cut certain wires that she pointed out. Then, she would re-combine some of the cut wires into new connections, or remake old connections after cutting some other ones. It was a complex thing to do. Fortunately, Sabine and Chopper had plenty of time, as long as no alarms were raised.
When she and Chopper were finished, the arcade games had been prepared to accept a new kind of programming, one that the Imperials wouldn't be able to change back, at least not for a very long time. The next step was that she took out a thin data card from a slot in Chopper's dome. She pressed a few buttons on a security datapad after Chopper discerned the right passcode, and the old programming card popped out. Sabine took it out and handed it to Chopper, and then she put her own card into the slot where the old card had been.
The generator started to make some whirring and beeping noises, an indication that it was re-programming itself. As it finished the job, it seemed as if the computers that ran the games had gained a life of their own, because the beeping was going berserk. Then Sabine turned around, and she saw that Chopper was making all the racket.
"Quiet, Chopper!" she hissed, "We need to get out of here quietly, and I'm not quite finished with my work here, anyway!"
Chopper demanded to know what she had to do now that was so important.
"It's a little present I'm giving myself, and the crew of the Ghost," said Sabine, as if conspiratorially.
Chopper warbled grouchily, but kept quiet otherwise, as he and Sabine went back the way they came. When they returned to the arcade, Sabine produced a computer the size of a small laptop, and with Chopper's help, she plugged it into the two popular stormtrooper games, first Rebeltron: 3304, and then Blaster. She typed some keys, and something from the games was transferred to her device.
Finally, Chopper produced several little spy cameras that they attached to the ceiling and walls, in a concealed position, so that it would take a very long time for any Imperial to easily see them. Sabine did this because she wanted to see her handiwork in action. She had even set up some other ones in other parts of the building, and she even set up a few on the exterior, all to make sure that she and the entire crew of the Ghost got a good show of what would happen.
"This is Specter 5, calling the Ghost," she communicated to her teammates, "Mission accomplished. Am ready to come back onboard."
Soon, the Ghost re-appeared near the balcony where she had entered. The stormtroopers there were still stunned. It surprised Sabine that they were. The ramp lowered, and Sabine and Chopper jumped on board, and soon, the Ghost began to put a few hundred light years between itself and the star system of Carida.
They had to wait until noon of the next day on Carida before they could see Sabine's work in action, because the arcades were closed until then, just after the second mess in the barracks. So they all got some sleep first, although Sabine found it a little hard to sleep, because she was so excited to see how successful her sabotage job was.
"What exactly is going to happen, Sabine?" asked Hera, "Another of your colorful explosions?"
"I'd like to see one of those!" said Ezra, smiling appreciatively at Sabine.
Sabine ignored his latest attempt to woo her. "Well, it's a little like that, but it's going to be something on a much larger scale, too. Just watch, and you'll see."
Hera and Kanan activated a series of holoscreens on one wall of the rec room, in order for everyone to watch what would happen. Several stormtroopers walked into the arcade, going to play various games. Sabine recognized two of them as TK-229 and TK-356, the same ones she had seen in person.
"Ready to blast away some more Rebel scum, TK-229?" asked TK-356.
"Am I, ever!" said TK-229. "Why, this almost, but not quite, beats the real action!"
"I hope Lord Vader doesn't hear you say that," said a third trooper, "He doesn't like his men to slack off on the job."
"Ah, you worry too much, TK-919," said TK-356. "Let's just play while we have time!"
229 and 356 activated the Rebeltron: 3304 and Blaster games again. But the games acted funny when they started. To 229's surprise, Rebeltron: 3304 began to show an elite Rebel fighting off stormtroopers of many variants, including droid troopers similar to the Imperial dark troopers, some of which were unstoppable, the Sep/Reb tanks were replaced with Imp walkers, and the Rebel was defending the last alien families instead of the last Coruscanti human families.
Naturally, 229 didn't know what to make of this. "Hey! What the heck just happened? Somebody altered the game! Now I'm a Rebel fighting Imperial troops, and he's defending stinking aliens instead of superior humans!"
"What's that?" shouted 356, "Blaster is all wrong? It now calls THE MATRIX, 'PARADISE!' And I'm flying some kind of Rebel fighter instead of a TIE! Heck, I'm even blasting Imperial ships and rescuing ridiculous aliens from deep space! It isn't supposed to be like this!"
"Whoa!" said Zeb as he watched this, "Those scoundrel troopers better watch what they say! They're lucky that I'm not there to give them a good cuffing!"
"You're lucky that you're not there," countered Hera, "They'd probably blame you for it, and overwhelm you with sheer numbers."
"That doesn't bother me," said Zeb.
Ezra was about to say something, but Chopper trilled for silence. Evidently, he too was interested in what was going to happen next.
The games started playing without the assistance of the troopers. The Rebel hero in each game fought the stormtroopers and the TIE's as best they could, until they ran out of life. But they kept coming back, doing better and better. Sabine was beginning to grin, but the best was yet to come.
"What's going on here?" demanded 229, "This shouldn't be happening!"
"Somebody call the doggoned maintenance mechanic!" yelled 356.
"He needs to get to the generator where the games are connected to first," said 919, "Nothing connects out here that'll do the games any good."
"I want to smash some Rebels!" complained 229. "I feel like a bloody hypocrite, playing a Rebel shooting my own kind!"
"I want to shoot some X-Wings!" agreed 356.
919 thought they sounded like a couple of big babies.
At that moment, they heard an alarm switch on. Evidently, according to the message, Rebeltron: 3304 and Blaster cabinets were malfunctioning all over the planet. Troopers were complaining like heck about the malfunction, and whining like undisciplined children. Viewscreens all over the wall of the Ghost were showing troopers getting into fits of frustration, hitting and kicking each other, and just generally going mad. Angered Imperial officers were trying to quiet and subdue the unhappy troops, harshly chastising them for forgetting the discipline they had so efficiently learned in the academy.
Soon, even Kanan was a little amused. "I say, as little good as it does, you've just created chaos on Carida, Sabine," he said.
"It's still not over," said Sabine, "The climax is coming really soon!"
And then, suddenly, the cabinets that held the arcade games started to tremble, and then to shake. The light effects in the game's screens, as well as the colors, were going wild. The teed-off stormtroopers and the miffed officers began to back away from them as they shook harder and harder. Tension was building, and some of the troopers considered fleeing.
Finally, without warning, the screens of the games exploded in shards of transparisteel, flying all over the place and cutting some of the Imperials' faces. Then the cabinets blew themselves wide open, and electric fireballs shot out of them. The fireballs shot through the ceiling and roof of every arcade on the planet, and as they rose even higher, they became fireworks. They exploded in a long series of explosions, like the grand finale of a standard fireworks show, and from the explosions sprouted pictures from the rewired games: Rebel ships of different varieties blowing up Imperial TIE fighters and Star Destroyers, Rebel rogues and troopers shooting down the "plastic boys" of the Empire, shattering them cleanly into little pieces, blue and green lightsabers cutting down troops, officers, and Inquisitors, and of course, the Rebel phoenix Sabine and her friends loved so much.
The show went on for several minutes, shocking, astounding, and most of all, angering the Imperial authorities, until it finally concluded with the biggest firework of all. Images of Darth Vader and the Emperor appeared in the atmosphere with their red lightsabers, glaring down at the people below, until, all at once, they detonated with a deafening explosion, staining the skies with the colors of a rainbow.
The Imperial presence on Carida was really in a mess now, and there was not one Imperial officer or trooper who was unaffected by this surprise light show. Sabine grinned triumphantly, mighty proud of her actions. She also patted Chopper on his dome, thanking him for helping her. Chopper beeped with his own cantankerous satisfaction.
Maybe this would convince the Imperial troops to stop playing arcade games that mocked brave Rebels like her friends and herself.
Hera smiled. "Nice job, Sabine," she said, "Nice job setting up all those unmarked cameras, too. We didn't have to be close to the planet to see the show."
"Yeah," said Sabine, "And look at all that color all over the academy!"
The Ghost's crew looked one more time at the screens. In every blown open room in the academy, on the outdoor parade grounds, on the training fields, and all over the outside walls of the academy, red, yellow, blue, orange, green, and purple paint was splattered on everyone and everything! And the stormtroopers and officers were dazed and confused, but as soon as they saw the paint spilled all over them, they panicked and began to resort to chaos again.
"Whoa! A whirling dervish of rainbow colors!" remarked Zeb.
Kanan smiled and said, "And while there may have been better things to do with our time, I think Sabine's latest anti-Imperial propaganda message is her best one yet."
Ezra looked curiously at Sabine's computer device. "What was that extra thing you wanted to do with your personal computer, Sabine, if I can ask?" he asked.
"Oh, that," she said flightily, "Just a little souvenir I acquired from Carida while doing my work. Now if you guys don't mind, I'd like to put it to good use for a little while."
Sabine got up and left the room, presumably going to her quarters. Kanan and Hera decided to go back to the cockpit and watch out for pursuing Imperials, just in case any of them tracked them there. Zeb went back to his own cabin for a nap. Chopper wandered off on his own.
Ezra lingered for a moment. He had always wanted an excuse to get close to Sabine, even if she wouldn't respond to his attempts to come on to her. He decided to go to her cabin and peek in on what she was doing with her new device.
He went to her cabin and found the door locked. This disappointed him at first, but then he thought of a way to get it open. The Force.
His connection to the Force was far from perfect yet, but he knew enough to move a few things from place to place. He concentrated on the lock until he unlocked it, and the door slid open quietly. Ezra soon saw Sabine sitting with her back to him, using some sort of joystick to operate a holographic game like Rebeltron: 3304. She was blasting away at the legions of Imperial troopers surrounding her, rescuing many oppressed aliens along the way.
"Yes!" she said in satisfaction, "I'm already a pro at this!"
Ezra couldn't believe what he was seeing. Sabine had just created her own arcade game to play with, so that she could pretend to blast stormtroopers whenever she couldn't do it for real!
Suddenly, he felt an electric shock on his rear. "YAAAHH!" he cried, putting his hands to his butt.
Sabine turned around and smiled slyly. "Thanks for warning me about the spy, Chopper," she said. "Ezra, what are you doing here?"
Chopper rolled away, going wakka-wakka like an arcade game character. Maybe he was laughing.
"I, uh…" said Ezra, "…I just wanted to see what you had there that you got from the arcade, that's all."
"Oh," said Sabine, "Simple, really. I got myself a copy of my re-programmed Rebeltron: 3304 game to play with in my spare time, when I don't feel like drawing or painting. Except, I think I'm going to call it, 'Troopertron: 3304,' due to its opposition to the evil Empire. And I've got a Rebel's version of Blaster on here, too."
Ezra stared in awe. "It's nice to see that you know what you stand up for, Sabine. I mean, your opposition to the Empire. I'm still looking for my destiny in life."
"Well, thanks, Ezra," said Sabine, touching his hand, "I like doing damage to anything the Empire stands for. And I'm sure you'll find your niche sometime, too."
Ezra blushed and said uncertainly, "Kanan has been advising me lately to be mindful of the here and now more than the past or the future. And right now…could you teach me how to play that game? I'd like to get the hang of this game, too."
Sabine grinned. "Sure, Ezra," she said. "Take a seat."