Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Star Wars and Mass Effect. They rightfully belong to their respective owners.
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
Radio/TV
"Headset/Flashback"
-Scene Shift-
Chapter 1: Reunion and Farewell
Inside of the Imperial command center stationed at the Capital City of Lothal -otherwise known as the Dome- many Imperial personnel were scrambling to hold down the bridge from the Rebel forces.
Everything was very simple at first. A notice came forward when several Scout and Stormtroopers arrived earlier with a handful of Rebels they found and captured. They wanted to bring them in-in order to properly detain and question them on whatever knowledge they had.
Then suddenly the new arrivals suddenly attacked and made their way inside of the complex. Fighting ensued from the outside as the Rebel forces were coming right through and making their way inside.
Standing on the higher level of the Dome's bridge, an Imperial officer looked down and called out to the Navy officer. "Where is the security detail?!"
"Communications have been cut off."
The officer was about to bark out orders when something was heard from behind him. Whirling around, he and his fellow Imperial officers saw… a Ugnaught lying against the window.
"How'd that get up here?!" One of the Navy officers questioned.
"I don't care! Just shoot it!"
The Imperial personnel complied, pulling out their blasters and opened fired at the window.
The Ugnaught freaked out on the fire and scrambled to get to safety, but of course the hardened transparisteel glass protected him from the shots.
The action the Imperial personnel inside of the bridge currently acted on would cost them dearly as this moment was merely a distraction. Moments later after shots were fired, the only entrance to the bridge opened up as Rebel forces piled in and took care of the firing officers.
Despite there being disguised Scout and Stormtroopers, a green-skinned female Twi'lek, and a Mandalorian woman taking care of the guards; a Scout trooper leaped into the air with a green lightsaber and sliced through the blaster the main officer had in his possession. And it wasn't long after of their arrival did the bridge's occupants surrender with blasters and a lightsaber trained at them.
Moments later, the doors opened as an all too familiar face to the Imperial officers appeared before them. Wearing a black attire, the traitor known as Alexsandr Kallus made a beeline towards the computers and wildly typed away across the keyboards.
The officer would've paid more attention on Kallus if it wasn't for the shove against his back. The message was clear for him to move forward and join his fellow captives.
"Rex," called out the lightsaber wielding Rebel, "lock them in the storage bin."
"Yes, sir, Commander." Responded the aged Clone Trooper.
As the Imperial officers were being escorted out of the bridge, they were able to see another shocking sight as Governor Arihnda Pryce was brought into the room -no doubt captured by the Lothal freedom fighters- with the former Lothal governor and a lasat escorting her inside.
One might wonder how this came to be. To simply put it, Pryce had gone after the Rebels at the encampment. The faction there was the same one that had been a thorn in her side for quite a long time and she wanted to finish them off.
Too bad the Rebels got the upper hand in the end, especially with their Force sensetive sicking Loth-Wolves at the Imperials which soon led to her capture.
"It's only a matter of time before you're discovered." Pryce growled out before she was shoved to the ground. "You can't hope to defeat my forces."
One of the Scout troopers took off her helmet to reveal amethyst locks on top of her tanned complexion and amber eyes. These features belonged to one Sabine Wren, Mandalorian and a member of this Rebel faction. "Defeat them? Hmm, not planning to." She said as she joined Kallus in typing through the computer systems. "But we do want them all in the dome."
"We'll utilize protocol 13." Spoke the Imperial traitor.
"The Empire's new order," said the female twi'lek known as Hera Syndulla, "for the immediate recall of all personnel to the base for a full evacuation."
Pryce's predecessor, Ryder Azadi, then picked up on the explanation. "Once they're all inside, we'll launch, and it'll be goodbye to the Empire."
Off to the side, Hera picked up her comm device and spoke into it. "Spectre-2 to base.
We're in, and we've taken the Dome. Wait for me to signal for pickup."
"Acknowledged, Spectre-2." Said the aged Clone Trooper known as Wolffe. "Nice work. We're standing by."
Satisfied, Hera ordered everyone to finish getting ready to initiate Protocol 13. And in that time, her two human Ghost crew members went out of the room in order to change into their more prefered attires than from their Scout Trooper disguises.
By the time things were getting underway, the twi'lek general saw her two extended family members walk back into the bridge.
Sabine was back into her uniquely painted set of Mandalorian armor -with purple, orange, red and yellow colors on the armor- while forgoing her helmet. Resting on her hips were a pair of WESTAR-35 blaster pistols, which were used by various Mandalorians during the Clone Wars era. Attached to her forearms were Mandalorian Vambraces, which were armed with Grappling Lines, Sleep Darts, a Repulsor, a small portable shield and flamethrowers; weapons Mandalorians designed to combat against the Jedi in the past… before the Empire.
And by her side was the resident Jedi apprentice and fellow member of the Rebel Alliance, Ezra Bridger. He had short, dark blue hair with bright blue eyes and a pair of scars shown on his left cheek. His attire was primarily orange on his jacket with him wearing brown pants and leather, knee high combat boots. Equipped at his hips was his trusted blaster on his right while his lightsaber was on his left. And attached to his gloves was a commlink.
Getting back to the computer modules, Sabine double checked everything before calling out to her fellow Ghost crewmember. "Ezra, we're ready."
The force-sensitive nodded before walking up to the higher floor of the room. Getting closer, he spoke up. "Kallus, you're up."
Typing away a command, the Imperial traitor soon initiated the next part of their plan. "Attention, all personnel." He spoke into the Imperial channels. "Protocol 13 is now in effect. Report to your action stations immediately. Repeat. Protocol 13 is in effect."
It didn't take long for a response to be heard inside of the bridge. "Hangar 2-7 to command. Please confirm lockdown order."
"Command center to all units. The order is confirmed." Kallus said in a firm tone.
"This is highly irregular." Said the Imperial officer on the other end. "Please repeat sector authorization."
Most of the Rebels wearily looked at each other on what to do, but Ezra was quick to act. "Ryder, get ready."
The former Lothal governor nodded as he came right next to Kallus with a thought in mind.
"Repeat. The order is confirmed." Said the Imperial traitor once more.
Flipping a switch on a neighboring consol, Ryder spoke in a voice that wasn't his own. "This is ISB Colonel Yularen. I am executing override code Base Gamma Zero."
It took a quiet moment before the Imperial officer on the other end spoke up in a bewildered tone. "Imperial security? I was unaware ISB was involved."
"That is the point of this exercise." Ryder smoothly said.
"Then, uh, this is a drill?"
"Is it? And do you always question the orders of a superior officer?"
Off to the side, Ezra and the others waited in tense suspension if this worked or not. Yet they put their small worries to rest upon hearing the officer on the receiving end nervously cough.
"Uh, right. Proceeding with protocol 13 immediately."
As the call ended, Ezra gave Ryder a smirk. "Sounds like they bought it, Colonel. Nice work."
The Rebel team then looked outside of the window and saw many of the Imperial troops and vehicles making their way back to the Dome. It took several minutes for this to happen before the blast doors sealed everything shut for the current 'drill'.
Checking the monitors, Kallus saw everything was in order before turning towards his fellow Rebels. "All units have returned to their duty stations, and the Dome is now secure."
Nodding at this, Ezra turned to the twi'lek general. "Hera, start the launch cycle." He then spoke towards the uniquely colored Mandalorian. "Sabine, set the self-destruct."
"We do have a way off this thing before it explodes." Hondo the former Pirate Lord spoke in a hesitating tone. "Right?"
"That's where the Ghost comes in to pick us up." Hera responded from the controls.
"All right, let's get airborne." Zeb the Lasat said, ready to head on out of here.
As she typed away on the controls, she saw an annoying factor shown on the screen. "These thrusters haven't been fired in years. Gonna take time to prime them."
Looking up from her place on the ground, Governor Pryce saw a growing shadow crawling across the floor. Looking up towards the window, a smirk grew on her face. "You're too late."
The Rebels were confused on Pryce's taunt, before they too noticed the growing shadow. Looking outside, they saw an Imperial Star Destroyer arrive in the skies above.
And it was an all too familiar one to them…
Tightening his fist, Kallus spoke. "The Chimaera. It's Thrawn."
"Shutting down the launch cycle."
Ketsu Onyo -the second Mandalorian in the room- looked alarmed upon hearing Hera say this. "No! We can't just sit here."
The twi'lek general looked back and spoke to the Mandalorian bounty hunter. "Thrawn is holding position directly overhead." She along with Kallus rapidly typed away through the controls to fix things accordingly. "If we launch the Dome, we'll crash into his ship and destroy the entire city."
"Karabast." Cursed the lasat. "We're trapped."
Narrowing his eyes, Ezra walked over to the Ghost crew's grumpy Astromech and spoke to him. "Chopper, put me through."
A gruntal whirl was given before the orange painted mech went to the console and did as he instructed. Inserting himself to connect them to the Star Destroyer above. After several moments, beeping could be heard from the console as Thrawn was answering their call.
A holo-comm appeared to reveal Mitth'raw'nuruodo, otherwise known as Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Empire. Blue skin and hair and red eyes were the dominant features of his chiss heritage and him wearing his signature white suit made said features pop out even more.
"Governor Pryce is our prisoner, and we have complete control of the Imperial Dome, with every trooper, pilot, and officer trapped inside." Said the Force sensitive. "You failed, Thrawn.
Leave Lothal, and we might let your troops out before we blow the dome to pieces."
"Are you quite finished?" Said the chiss as if he wasn't impressed at all. "If you truly wish to save Lothal, Commander Bridger, the only term I'll accept is your immediate and unconditional surrender."
"Why would I surrender when I hold your entire army prisoner?"
"No, you've simply moved my assets to a safe position so that I can bombard the civilians of your home without incurring Imperial casualties."
Realization soon hit the Rebels as something was clearly up. Even Ezra was horrified on what the Grand Admiral was implying.
Beating Ezra to the punch, Sabine spoke up. "Rex, raise the planetary shields!"
Rex tried to do so, but nothing was working. The clone then figured out the problem. "The generators just went offline. Someone's engaged the manual override at the power terminals!"
"Your shield generator is under my control." Thrawn stated as his eyes bore down onto Ezra's form. "Just so that you understand that my intentions are genuine, I shall demonstrate my power." He turned his head slightly and called out towards his men. "Open fire."
From behind the window, the resistance fighters quickly saw the Chimaera's guns fire upon the city below. Many buildings were destroyed with an unknown amount of civilians were no doubt wounded while others lost their lives in the process. It also didn't help as Thrawn had broadcasted the footage directly into the bridge's prompters so each of the Rebels saw what was occuring in better detail.
No longer handling the onslaught anymore, Ezra yelled. "Enough! I surrender!"
Upon hearing this, the Imperial chiss held up his hand to cease firing upon the city below. But the damage was done with smoke rising towards the sky with fires still burning all around.
"I await your arrival. And… make no mistake, come alone." Thrawn said before giving a threat. "If you attempt any heroics, I will resume the bombardment and destroy your city and then your friends."
Once the transmission ended, Ezra turned around and made his way down the stairs. He walked past several of his second family members in distraught. When getting close to Chopper, the Lothal native passed his lightsaber onto him.
"Ezra." Hera called out as she caught up to him. "I understand that you think you need to do this, but-"
"This is what I was meant to do."
"There's another way." She said in a desperate tone. "There's always another way." The twi'lek then held onto his shoulders and tightened her grip on him. "I won't let you go."
Sighing, Ezra gave in. "All right if this isn't the way, then what is?"
Satisfied, Hera walked towards the center of the bridge where everyone huddled around. "Let's see what we have to work with."
Zeb was the first to suggest their options. "Charge up the Dome's cannon. We'll blow him out of the sky."
"Easy, Zeb. Our turbolasers are no match for that Star Destroyer." Rex countered.
"Even if we do 'blow him out of the sky', we don't want him to crash down onto the city." Kallus grimly stated. "The only answer is to find a way to get the shield up."
Amidst the discussion, Ezra gave Chopper a subtle nod. The Astromech responded as he secretly hacked the systems to open the ceiling hatchway for the Force sensitive. And as this happened, Sabine sadly looked upon him -with amber eyes meeting blue- as she already knew what he planned to do.
Even when she felt the feelings Ezra sent her way either from the Force or just reading the emotions running through his gaze.
Letting out a sigh, the purple-haired Mandalorian spoke up to gain the attention of the other resistance fighters. "Hera, over here." She said before pointing towards the schematics shown on the far off wall. "We should use the primary schematic if we're going to find a way to raise the shield. We need to get down here and take control of the power terminals."
As the others discussed on further options of the plan, Sabine looked back at Ezra's spot in the room and saw that he was gone. And there was a feeling in her chest that told her… that was the last time she'd ever see her friend ever again.
"-the trick is to pull it off before Thrawn loses patience." Hera stated while racking her mind for any good plans. "We need to stall him somehow. Ezra, any suggestions?" When not hearing anything from him, the twi'lek looked around but saw no sign of him. "Ezra?"
The Rebels then heard a patrol gunship take off into the sky. Whirling around, they realized what just happened.
"We have to stop him!" Rex spoke out.
Pulling out her commlink, Hera tried getting in touch with him. "Ezra, don't do this!"
The general was then silenced when Sabine grasped her shoulder. "Hera, we have to trust him." Looking back at the artistic Mandalorian in worried disbelief, the younger woman pleads her case. "The best way we can help is to get that shield up, so when Ezra makes his move, we're ready." "We have to assume the generator room will be well-guarded, so we'll need two teams to hit it from different sides if we're gonna capture both power terminals." She then sent Hera a glance. "That is, if you agree, Hera."
Slowly, but surely, a small smile formed on Hera's face. "It's a good plan. The best chance we've got."
Before long, the Rebels had to quickly get into action as they would be fighting for the fight of not only their lives but the lives of those of Lothal.
-With Ezra-
Piloting the patrol gunship towards the Chimaera, Ezra glanced back towards the Dome feeling resigned that it had come to this.
The young Force sensitive hoped Hera would forgive him for slipping away, but she wasn't ready to let him or anyone else go… not after losing Kanan -his late master- already. Hera had been walking a very fine line of surviving or shattering into pieces. Ezra prayed that what he was about to do didn't push her over the edge.
The rest of their family would take care of her though… and the new life she carried.
She hadn't told anyone yet, but Ezra was pretty sure she knew. And he was almost positive that Kanan had known. If Ezra could sense the new Force signature, there was no way that Kanan hadn't for Kanan saw everything. Probably more so in his very last moments in saving the lives of both his padawan and lover back at the fuel tower.
Moving his thoughts from the mother of the family, Ezra focused at each of the other members of the Ghost Crew from Chopper, Zeb, Rex… Sabine…
The young Jedi sighed upon thinking about the Mandalorian that he grew to really care for. The driving force of his life in these past four years. Everything he'd ever done in those years was to either impress her or protect her and Kanan and the rest of his family as they truly cared about in.
When Ezra's eyes last met Sabine's, he felt his chest tighten with regret… for leaving her behind alongside the others. For not getting to say a proper goodbye. For putting the care of his planet and his future in her hands. With everything he had, he sent her his love through the Force, hoping she would be able to feel it surround and embrace her.
Yet he regrets not personally telling her how he felt, but it's one of the handful of things he'll have to live through to the very end.
Getting closer to Thrawn's Star Destroyer, Ezra hoped Mart -leader of Iron Squadron and fellow Rebel- would be able to get his secret asset here to Lothal in time as things were indeed going downhill as it is.
Landing in the Chimaera's hanger, Ezra was greeted with the sight of several armed Stormtroopers. Upon stepping out of the gunship, he was immediately handcuffed before being searched with everything in his utility belt removed. Once this was done, Ezra was then escorted away to the man leading Lothal's attack. It took several minutes for him to reach Thrawn's office, where the Chiss was calmly sitting behind his desk.
Seeing his new captive arrive, the Grand Admiral spoke. "It was a wise decision for you to surrender."
"I didn't have much choice." Ezra responded as the Stormtrooper escorts vacated the office.
"Oh, nonsense. You could have chosen to let your people die. However, you chose to be a Jedi… Predictable." Thrawn then stood up from his chair with his hands behind his back. "You follow a long history written by the Jedi, where they choose what they believe to be morally correct, instead of what is strategically sound."
"And yet, the Jedi have survived." Retorted the young Jedi.
The Chiss admiral merely hummed as he paced throughout the office. "The Jedi once numbered in the thousands. What's left are a scattered, frightened lot, mostly beaten and in hiding, or poorly trained children… like yourself."
Thrawn paused as he let that sink into Bridger before he continued to talk. "I must admit, the mysteries of the Force are an enigma to me." He soon came back to his desk and picked up the helmet of a Jedi Temple Guardian as he gazed upon its surface. "But for all those abilities -all the power- the Jedi lacked the vision for how to wield it."
Ezra soon glared at the Chiss. "The Force isn't a weapon, but you'll never understand that."
"Oh, I don't have to." Thrawn admitted as he put the helmet down. "It was not my intention to utterly destroy Lothal, but that is inevitable now." The admiral then walked towards the other side of his office where his private art collection was kept… with a wall of Sabine's work included. "These are a few of the artifacts I've gathered from your home world. I saved what I could. I have even taken some of Sabine Wren's work. She's quite talented." He then faced Ezra once more with a look that unnerved the Force user. "Or was quite talented."
That set off Bridger upon mentioning his long time crush after all of Thrawn's taunts. "You think you can take whatever you want!" He stepped closer and closer and continued to speak in a heated tone. "Things you didn't make, didn't earn, things you don't even understand! You don't deserve to have this art or Lothal!"
The Chiss admiral looked unfazed by Ezra's outburst. And despite not showing much on his face, but the Lothal native could practically feel the satisfaction rolling off of him. To the man's credit and Ezra's admittance, the man did know how to find the biggest weakness of his opponents.
"Who deserves what is irrelevant. What matters is who has power." Thrawn said in his signature, calm tone as he personally escorted the Force user out of his office. "But that is… something the Jedi won't teach you, so I'll take you to someone who will."
This merely questioned Ezra as he wondered who Thrawn was talking about, along with where the Chiss was taking him. They momentarily walked past the holding cells at one point, which merely rose more questions for him.
Being led deeper and deeper into the Star Destroyer, Ezra soon entered a chamber that seemed rather modified… with something he didn't expect to see at all. Up on an elevated slop lied a stone arrangement that looked like some piece of a Jedi Temple.
Yet what drew the Lothal native's attention was what was standing in front of the structure.
The person wasn't exactly there -per say- but was merely a holo-projection. The man was old, amiable being as he wore white robes. But this… this was merely a facade as Ezra quickly had suspicions and slowly felt something from the Force, telling him who and what the man before him was.
"My Emperor." Thrawn said as the pair were brought closer and closer to the structure. "I have brought you Ezra Bridger."
The now revealed Emperor Sheev Palpatine gazed down at them and gently spoke. "My dear boy, I've so wanted to meet you, and here you are at last."
'So… this is the person of power Thrawn taunted me about.' Ezra thought as he felt uneasy seeing the Emperor. 'Honestly didn't see this coming.'
Through the holo-image, Palpatine's eyes were momentarily trained at the Grand Admiral. "That will be all, Grand Admiral."
Thrawn gave a curt bow to the Emperor before leaving Ezra alone with the man.
Briefly looking back, the Lothal Jedi quickly realized Thrawn had known Palpatine was a Force user of the Dark Side. No doubt his logical mind having pieced together everything some unknown time ago with everything that have happened.
How else could the Emperor command Darth Vader and the Inquisitors with their untold obedience? Ezra didn't stand a chance against such a powerful adversary, even with the Emperor's physical body over at Coruscant or some other location at his own leisure.
"I apologize for not being there in person, but governing the galaxy takes up much of my time." Palpatine said, sending small shivers down Ezra's spine.
'More like ruling it with an iron, tyrannical fist.' Ezra thought with his distrustfully eyed the holo-image, soon feeling the familiar cold that comes with the presence of the Dark Side.
He didn't know how that was possible, since he was talking to a hologram, but he trusted his senses in both his gut and in the Force. The Emperor was not to be trusted.
And it wasn't just that, but Palpatine's voice seemed rather familiar as he was sure he'd heard it before… from the Sith with the flames of ice, in the gateway in the world between worlds. The place where he saved Ahsoka Tano from her demise against Vader. And it was from that same gateway where he had the opportunity to save Kanan had that hooded Sith appear in.
Ezra suddenly realized what was going on, but wondered if back then had been a trap all along. And whatever the Emperor had to offer now was most likely a trap as well. It had to be!
Steeling himself, Ezra took a momentary step forward and spoke. "I know who you are, and what you are."
"You misjudge me." The Emperor soon gestured to the structure behind him. "Can you not see the opportunity that stands here before you?"
"I see a part of the Jedi Temple," Ezra's blue eyes quickly looked at Palpatine with disdain, "which you stole from Lothal."
"I had this portion of the Temple moved here stone by stone for you." Seeing the look on the Lothal native's face made him quite curious. "Forgive me, but I would have thought you would thank me for this effort."
"Thank you?" Ezra spat out in disgust. "Thank you for destroying the Temple? For imprisoning my people?! For killing my parents?!"
"My dear boy, it's you who chose to destroy the Temple." Countered the Emperor. "The actions of your Rebel friends require a firm hand to ensure that there is order on Lothal. As for your parents," the holo-image soon turned and gestures Ezra to enter the portioned temple, "allow me to offer what might have been, and what yet may be."
Ezra reluctantly went, playing along for now to whatever game the Sith Lord had in store. Ascending the slope, the Lothal native eventually entered the structure to which had a narrow passageway for barely one person at a time. With his blue eyes peering down the darkened corridor, there was a light at the end of the tunnel-
"Dinner's ready, Ezra."
This stopped the Force user in his tracks, slowly widening his eyes upon hearing the voice. '...M-Mom?'
"Ezra? Where are you?" Spoke the voice of Mira Bridger.
"They are waiting for you." Softly spoke the Sith Lord. "Go to them. Open the door." Ezra didn't budge, but the man pressed on. "This is what you want, isn't it? The life you deserved."
"But… it can't be."
"Yes, it can, but you must choose to make it so."
"Ezra?" Mira called out once more, causing Ezra to hesitantly walk forward. "Ezra, I made your favorite!"
'She's… She's calling me for dinner, just like she used to.' Ezra thought as a feeling slowly welled up in his chest. 'It doesn't sound like a recording. It's… real…'
"The gateway will not be open forever. Go now, before it's too late."
Ezra stopped walking and turned around to look the Emperor in the face. "No. This is a lie.
They died. I-I felt it."
"Ezra!" Spoke another familiar voice, causing the Force user to whirl his head around to see his father, Ephraim Brider, walk into the kitchen of his childhood home. And it wasn't just him there, but his mother as well as they were preparing their evening meal. "Where is that boy?"
As the feeling grew in the Lothal native's chest upon seeing his parents, Palpatine's holo-image drew closer to him. "You know it is possible to change fate. For there are infinite paths and infinite possibilities, but you must open the door."
Ezra was going to argue back… but hearing his father speak again stopped him. "Son? Are you coming?"
Having his parents appear in the gateway was a shock he hadn't been prepared to deal with. Even though he had slowly come to peace with the fact of their deaths, his heart broke upon seeing them again. To practically feeling their presence to know they were indeed real.
Seeing and feeling the reaction coming from Ezra got Palpatine to press further. "So few have a choice to live the life they want. Why deny yourself?"
"Mom? Dad?" Ezra hesitantly said as he slowly inched forward with his cuffed hands reaching towards them.
The kitchen setting with his parents was much more clearer now as he heard his mother respond back to his voice. "Ezra?"
Before he could move forward -with memories of his childhood flooding his mind- the Lothal native was startled when feeling his handcuffs remove themselves and fell onto the stony floor. And it was in that moment, he felt a brush of the Dark Side of the Force.
Ezra turned back to look at the Emperor in surprise. He had just done that from across the Galaxy? That was NOT a good thing.
Gaining the Bridger's attention, Palpatine pointed towards a panel right beside the boy. "There. The control for the gateway." Ezra looked over as the man continued to talk. "Activate it… And you can be with your family again."
Turning back around, Ezra now saw his parents look straight at him as a flury of emotions were formed. He struggled with them, but a thought became known which was soon voiced. "What… What about my friends?"
"If you open the gateway, you will save your parents. They shall live."
Ezra slowly raised his hand as it graced over the control panel for the temple's gateway. As this happened, his parents slowly walked forward as their eyes met with their son. Tears welled up in the Lothal Force user's eyes with his unoccupied hand reaching out for his departed loved ones.
"Go on. You deserve this."
Ezra was tempted -really really tempted- for a moment, to just throw it all away and go back to the happy life he had with his parents, but a mental image of the Ghost crew stopped him. He would never see them again if he did that. And that was something he just couldn't live with. He already knew his current path would take him far away from them for more years than he cared to think about.
But he would see them again… eventually.
Returning his attention at the doorway, he kept reaching out for them with his whole being longing for this to be real. But he knew it couldn't be. To take this route, to walk into Palpatine's trap, would doom everything he loved and fought for.
With his heart in pieces once again, he let his parents go, the way he'd let Kanan go when faced with the same decision. He understood why Kanan had given up his life for his family. They were worth it. And now he was doing the same, in a smaller degree. He was giving up his own life -for now- to save a whole planet. His home planet.
With a weary, yet firm grasp of his heart and feelings, Ezra spoke with a few tears leaking out. "Mom? Dad? You'll always be a part of me." He then saw his parents slowly smile as they were proud, know what their son had in mind and having no objections in his coming actions. "But… But I have to let you go."
The Sith Lord widened his eyes on realizing what the young Bridger was about to do. And all he could do was yell a rage filled roar. "NOOOOOOOO!"
Sucking in a breath for courage, he gathered the Force inside him and threw it out all around him in a shockwave, bringing what was left of the Temple crashing to the ground.
"We love you, Ezra!" Was all Ezra last heard of his parents' voice as they disappeared from his vision.
As Ezra ran for his life -with the Lothal Temple remains crumbling around him- he ran right through the holo-image of the Emperor, diving clear of the falling rocks. Said image started flickering between the grandfatherly looking man, to the real evil of the Sith Lord he had encountered before that he remembered seeing inside of the Temple's gateway after his attempt to save Kanan.
With the last remainder of the Lothal Temple in complete ruins, Ezra eventually saw the holo-image of the Sith Lord as it stayed in the hooded form that completely fit well with his character. All dark and mysterious with his scarred up and wrinkled form barely seen from underneath his attire.
The Galaxy was ruled by the most Evil man alive.
Now unlike before, the Lothal native could now feel the untold malice the Emperor aimed all at him from him being enveloped by the Dark Side. It made the Lothal native fel he was recently thrown into the cold abyss of space. And this was just from across the Galaxy? What would it feel like to actually be in this man's presence, without the facade he put up earlier?
He hoped he would never have the chance. But in the end, Ezra stood his ground, ready for whatever came next.
"You're wrong." Ezra corrected from the man's statement from earlier. Unfaltered from what he was feeling, with the full force of the Dark Side slamming right at him. "I have a family. And I don't need anything from you."
"Unfortunate." Was all Darth Sidious spoke.
Without warning, the doors to the chamber opened up to reveal three men dressed entirely in red armor, wielding metal pikes. A uniform and weapon Ezra had never seen before; bringing with them another wave of icy cold. Showing they were very associated with the Dark Side.
With his minions now present, the Sith Lord roared out a command that might give Ezra nightmares for who knows how long. "DESTROY HIM!"
Once the holo-image faded away, the Sith Lord's minions were about to attack when Ezra beat them to the punch. He rushed forward and Force pushed them away, but only one of them fell back while the other two stood their ground after skidding back a little.
The red armored men soon retaliated by pointing their staffs at him, lifting Ezra off the ground and sending currents of electricity throughout his body. Ezra fought through the pain with steeled determination, not wanting to let it end like this. As he curled back in the air, his blue eyes landed at the temple rubble before calling on his connection to the Force by grabbing one of the bigger pieces.
Just when he did, several Stormtroopers rushed into the room and started firing upon Ezra… with them thankfully missing, as usual. Flinging the boulder forward, it quickly took out two of the present opposition. This caused just enough of a distraction for Ezra to fight free of the strange hold on him. Using every ounce of Force energy he could gather, he picked up half of the temple's debrie and threw them all at his opponents at once, burying them which resulted in his small freedom.
Landing back on the ground, Ezra made his way out of the room -after picking up a nearby blaster- in order to finish the war upon his home planet with both it and his family at stake.
-The Chimaera's bridge-
Not knowing what recently happened back with the meeting between the Bridger boy and the Emperor, Thrawn had his ships strategically move in the right spots to effectively bombard the city below. Reason being with him learning from his personal -upon returning to the deck- that the Rebels are acting up again, causing him to retaliate.
"All batteries, prepare a full-scale bombardment of the city." Thrawn ordered as he walked to his designated spot in the bridge. "On my command." The chiss could practically hear the cannons whirl around, aiming from their respective positions on each ship towards Lothal's capital down below. And after several moments, Thrawn gave the order. "Now."
The cannons soon fired upon the city… only for the green bolts to impact an invisible shield.
"Sir," spoke one of the weapon's technicians, "they've engaged the shield!"
Upon hearing this, Thrawn quickly pulled out his comm-link and had it set to his personal and fiercely loyal bodyguard/assassin's frequency. "Rukh! Rukh! What's your status?"
Instead of hearing the Noghuri's voice -the one who told him of the Rebels wanting to take the Dome beforehand- he heard that of the Ghost crew's residential Lasat. "Sorry." Zeb panted out over the comm. "You'll have to call back. He's busy at the moment." The Grand Admiral then heard an agonizing scream in the background with what appeared to be electricity sounded out. "Ugh… Yeah, um, never mind about calling back."
Thrawn quickly realized that Rukh has pretty much met his end via electrocution.
Breathing out a low sigh, the Chiss was about to order his men on the next course of action when the bridge's doors opened. A blaster fired several rounds into the death trooper guards standing by with them falling down dead. Turning around, Thrawn saw the perpetrator was none other than Ezra Bridger.
Momentarily feeling through the Force, Ezra quickly felt waves of relief coming from the city below. He internally smiled, knowing he could count on his family to protect it. And with the shield back up -despite all the odds against them- it proved what they excelled at.
Swallowing down this feeling, Ezra spoke in a steeled tone. "Looks like you lose, Thrawn."
With the blaster aimed right at him, the Imperial admiral was still calm and collected. Yet underneath it all, Ezra surprisingly felt a hint of sadness, along with reluctant admiration coming from the man. This made the Force user wonder what could have caused that.
"A momentary setback." Was Thrawn's response as rebuilt his determination with his mind working overtime in order to change the battle's tide back into his favor. After all, he still had his entire fleet in orbit with just one boy and a handful of Rebels between him and victory.
There was no way he'd lose this war. Right?
"We'll see."
After the Bridger boy said this, Thrawn wondered what else the Rebels could possibly have in reserve. Much to his knowledge, absolutely nothing they did could change their fate.
But the Chiss admiral should've heeded his own words about the Force -from a previous time- being an enigma, for what came next, he never could have anticipated.
"Sir," called out one of Thrawn's technicians, "several unidentified objects have just entered orbit."
Thrawn briefly looked and spoke back. "My blockade will intercept them."
"But they've destroyed the entire blockade!" This seemed to have surprised the Chiss admiral. "Our ships are just… gone."
In a rare change from his calm demeanor, Thrawn growled while utterly surprised on what he just heard. "Get Captain Pellaeon."
It took the technicians a moment to connect with said captain as he came over the speakers. "Sir, they came out of hyperspace! I've never seen-" Static then took over the audio as it seemed the transmission was hastily cut off.
"Admiral, we have incoming."
"Take a look." Ezra taunted with a slow, growing smirk.
Taking the suggestion, Thrawn turned around and stared out of the transparisteel viewpoint. And coming out of Lothal's smoky atmosphere were hundreds of purrgils -a whale-like species living in Deep Space- ramming through quickly deployed TIEs like they were nothing and taking huge chunks out of his Star Destroyers like they were made of sand instead of the strongest metal available.
The Chiss admiral stood there in disbelief as he saw the Ghost was the one leading the charge, quickly putting things together that this was the Rebel's odd trump card.
Whirling back around in a faceoff, Thrawn quickly pulled out his blaster -along with his Stormtroopers- and aimed it at the Bridger padawan as their weapons were pointed at each other. Neither moved soon after as Thrawn's red eyes warily looked at the one sided slaughter happening outside.
"Whatever happens next, happens to both of us." He told the Force user.
"That's the idea," Bridger said, not displaying even the tiniest hint of trepidation at their impending doom.
Thrawn couldn't help but feel a small degree of pride in the boy for how much he had matured in the last couple of years. Thrawn wasn't one to begrudge a person their due. It just made it all the sweeter when he defeated them.
As a purrgil flew by the bridge's windows, Ezra telepathically heard a voice and already knew it came from the whale-like creature. 'Are you ready, young Jedi?'
The day he met them replayed in his mind.
What was just a simple fuel supply run and sabotage mission was drastically changed when the Ghost crew came into contact with the purrgil. They had thought they were just another large animal just doing their thing, until realization came onto them. The Deep Space creatures actually turned out to be an incredibly intelligent sentient species who talked through telepathy, a secret that Ezra had kept for them as per their wishes.
And for years, the purrgil's last words he heard from them had haunted him: 'One day, young Jedi, you will need our help… and we will be there.'
In repayment for saving one of their main sources of food -which was apparently the gas fuel- the purrgil had told Ezra how to call them. They would be waiting nearby when the time came.
And at the time, Ezra had no clue what they were talking about… until now.
Ezra mentally nodded to the purrgil. 'Yes, get us away from here. Please.'
'And this blue one?' The purrgil questioned. 'Your opponent?'
'Hold him down for me, would you? He is the one we need to watch out for.'
'I will do my best.'
Tentacles burst through the transparisteel viewpoints, grabbing officers and Stormtroopers, throwing them out before returning and wrapping around the framework. In the meantime, Thrawn shot at the offending limbs, which proved to be useless on the act. Seeing this, the Chiss decided to flee, yet Ezra Force pushed him into the purrgil's grasp where Thrawn quickly fought to get himself free.
Ezra's wrist commlink soon went off with Sabine's voice calling out to him. "Ezra! Ezra! Can you hear me? The purrgil… Is this you?"
Ezra pushed the button to answer her back, rejoicing in the sound of her voice, getting to hear it one more time. "Yah. Pretty good, huh?"
"Well, you could have told the rest of us."
Ezra felt a little disappointed that she didn't seem impressed. But what else was he really expecting? A few purrgil's was not going to make her swoon apparently. "I wanted it to be a surprise." Was his response.
A blaster shot from behind him made him whirl around with Imperial Troopers storming through the bridge's door. He Forced pushed them back and shot his blaster at them, before a screaming pain hit him in the back of his left shoulder. In his moment of inattention, Thrawn had escaped the purrgil's tentacles and shot him.
Ezra whirled back around and with his good arm Force threw the blaster out of Thrawn's hand and out one of the broken windows. Then he tossed the Chiss back into the purrgil's grasp by a nearby transparisteel viewpoint.
In a moment to collect himself, he mentally spoke to the purrgil attacking the Chimaera. 'Please don't let him go again.'
'I said I would do my best, but he shot me. A lot.' Was the whale-like creature's response.
'I feel your pain.' Ezra thought apologetically. Thank you for trying.'
Ezra sensed the door behind him opening again. Whirling, he closed it with the Force and held it, stopping the next wave of troopers from entering. Ezra watched with resignation as more tentacles wrapped around the bridge, which starting their glowing pattern that indicated a jump to hyperspace.
A unique trait about the purrgil was their capability of naturally flying through hyperspace. And it was this ability that inspired sentients thousands of years ago to develop hyperdrive technology.
'This was really happening.' Ezra thought with saddened eyes. 'It feels like a nightmare, but it's real.'
"Ezra! Ezra get out of there right now! That's an order!" Hera's voice said from his wrist commlink.
With a grimace of pain, Ezra lifted his injured arm. "Hera, I have to see this through to the end."
Raising his arm higher -despite the pain- Ezra opened his connection to the Force as wide as it would go. Gathering the Force into a shield, he surrounded the bridge with it. And held it there. He would hold it for as long as he had to, feeling the Force send him a helpful boost to dull the pain and bolster his strength.
"Ezra, please!" Sabine cried. "Get out of there!"
His heart broke into millions of tiny pieces as he felt Sabine's and Hera's anguish and in a much smaller degree Zeb's and the rest of his friends he was leaving behind.
"I'm sorry. I can't do that," he replied in grunted pain. "It's up to all of you now." The bridge lit up with a blinding glow as the purrgil's blue lights prepared to throw them into hyperspace. And one by one, each and every purrgil from his sight disappeared with Lothal's smoky, yellow atmosphere shifted to the hyperspace blue and white colors. "And remember: the Force will be with you… Always."
Down on Lothal's surface, Dume -the Force sensitive lothwolf alpha- howled at the sky with his pack of lothwolves echoing his cry. And at their feet were dozens of lothcats, all were whimpering with sadness as they saw the Imperial Star Destroyers disappearing from the skies above.
What would've been a joyous moment for them to witness was actually the opposite as they sensed Ezra Bridger disappear from their ever reaching senses.
Back inside of the Dome, all the Rebel forces could do was look on in shocked wonder with what they just witnessed. Silence reigned over the hijacked command center's bridge that not even the ever talkative Governor Pryce let out a sound.
After Ezra left them, the Rebels had to get the reflector shield back up and running before Thrawn or anyone under his command decided to continue opening fire upon the city. They were split into three teams with Sabine, Hera and Chopper staying at the bridge to oversee the others take the north and southern tower power terminals respectively. Taking their assigned targets was slow at best with opposition causing them problems, to which they prevailed in the end to get the shield back up just in time.
Yet this was met with Gregor, clone brother of Wolffe and Rex, meeting his end with a blaster shot to the chest. As Kallus and Rex attended him, Gregor tells Rex that it was an honor to serve and fight with Rex for something they chose to believe in after all these years before drawing his last breath.
With the shield back up, the teams went back to the command bridge just in time to see the purrgil arrive and take care of Thrawn's fleet. They cheered on what they saw before seeing the fleet -with Ezra aboard- jumping into hyperspace to parts unknown.
The Rebel forces broke out of their shocked moment when their commlink went off with Wolffe speaking from the Ghost. "Um… was that the plan? Because we're all clear up here. There are no Imperial ships left."
Shaking out of her stupor, Sabine drew the others' attention. "This is our chance!" Whirling around to face her fellow Rebels, she spoke up. "You heard Ezra. Let's finish this!" She then focused her attention towards the resident astromech. "Chopper, prime the thrusters for launch! We're gonna blow this place."
As this went on, Hera activated her wrist comm-link to connect with the Ghost. "Mart, we need immediate pickup."
"Copy that, General." Responded the Iron Squadron leader.
Chopper quickly connected himself into the servers once more to launch the Dome away from the city before detonation. Shortly after doing so, the entire complex shook as the thrusters went on in full blast.
As he and his fellow Rebels steadying themselves, Ryder came up to his Governor replacement. "You've lost, Arihnda. You should come with us." He suggested in hopes of reconciling with her.
All she did was turning down the offer with a scowl on her face. "I serve the Empire… til the end."
"So, not much longer."
After this was said, the door to the bridge was blown open from the other side as Stormtroopers came barging in. They soon fired upon the opposing Rebels, who returned fire. With the command center getting too hot for comfort, Sabine primed a few grenades and threw them at the Imperial forces to give them some good confusion.
Suddenly, Chopper pulled out Ezra's lightsaber from within himself and tossed it to the purplette Mandalorian. Quickly catching it, she looked at it in wonder before nodding in appreciation. "Thanks!"
Activating Ezra's green bladed lightsaber, Sabine whirled around and went towards the viewport before cutting right through it in order for her Rebel companions to escape. One by one, each of them made their way out and climbed towards the landing bay above in order for extraction. With the Stormtroopers following after them, the Rebel team were practically cornered while waiting for support.
Which -of course- wasn't for long with the Ghost swooping in and fire's upon the Stormtroopers, causing them to fall down back into the command center's bridge through the viewport they were standing on. The Rebel's extraction plan then did a second pass, landing at the executive landing bay with them soon boarding the Ghost. After the last of them got in, the ship flew away from the rising Imperial Complex.
Rushing into the front of the ship, Hera, Sabine and Rex made it to their stations as Mart vacated the pilot's chair for the twi'lek general to take command.
Looking at his console, Rex voiced his readings. "It's gaining altitude over the sea."
Nodding, Hera looked over at the Mandalorian. "It's all you, Sabine."
Sabine held up her wrist comm and readied herself. "For Kanan and Ezra." Was all she said before activating the detonators she previous planted inside of the Dome.
The moment the button was pressed, the Dome's thrusters exploded for all to see from both the Ghost's cockpit and the citizens in Lothal's capital city. They traveled upward as the explosions quickly consumed the rest of the Imperial complex in a bright flash of light in Lothal's upper atmosphere. With this happening, it's remains then came raining down, away at a safe distance from the city's limits.
Despite this successful win against the Empire, there was no time for celebrating as Hera gave out a command, just as Kallus and Zeb walked into the cockpit. "Rex, bring up every star chart along Ezra's last known trajectory."
As Rex compiled and started working with his new task, Chopper came rushing in and drew their attention with his excessive beeping.
"What do you mean Ezra left something for us?" Zeb questioned.
Chopper responded as he pulled up a prerecorded holo-message with Ezra appearing in front of them.
"If you're watching this recording, then I owe you an explanation." Ezra's message quickly drew in the cockpit occupants' undivided attention. "There were several paths in front of me. While this wasn't the one I wanted to take, it's what I had to do." The holo-image then sighed as he rubbed his shortened, blue locks. "That's something Kanan taught me. And… I'm going to miss you all."
The present company were sad and felt the same way.
"Zeb, you can have the top bunk back… For now." This got the lasat to chuckle a little. "Hera, I, uh, left a meiloorun in your cabin. I hope it's still your favorite." The twi'lek shook her head with a sad smile. "And Sabine…" The holo-image paused as if he tried to say something clearly important to her, but couldn't right say it right much to Sabine's momentary anxiety. After what felt like forever, the message continued. "Don't forget… I'm counting on you."
"Right, you're counting on me," she muttered out, "but for what?"
This question was also shared within Hera and Zeb's heads, but they figured they'll hopefully find out sooner than later.
"I couldn't have wished for a better family. I can't wait to come home."
The message soon ended, causing the others in hoping there was possibly more to it. Yet there was none.
"Not to kill the moment," Rex said from his station, "but the Empire won't just let us keep this planet. We need to prepare for how we're going to fight back."
The others nodded in unanimous agreement.
"Perhaps the Rebel Alliance will see our victory and finally send support." Kallus added in, causing their spirits to momentarily rise on the idea.
All Zeb did was scoff and spoke in a boastful tone. "We took Lothal without them. We can keep it without them."
Then out of nowhere, the cockpit's occupants heard a sound coming from outside. Paying closer attention, they heard… cheering.
Hera looked on for the source before a smile quickly grew on her face. "Zeb, you may be right." She then leaned forward with everyone following suit. "Listen."
There they saw what matched the sound, which pertained to the city's streets completely filled to the brim of its citizens as they roared in glee. They were happy, no, absolutely ecstatic on them being liberated from the Empire's hold… for the time being. But it didn't matter to them as seeing the Dome's destruction meant a massive dent was made towards their oppressors.
With a massive smile, Kallus voiced everyone's shared thought. "Looks like the people are with you, General Syndulla."
All Hera could do was chuckle with a matching expression. "Then if the Empire wants a fight, we'll be ready for them." She said before readjusting in her seat to fly overhead of the cheering crowds down below.
It was now a time for momentary celebrating, for they'll need it for what's to come.
…..
…..
…..
…..
…..
…..
…..
In what felt like forever, Thrawn stared at the Jedi boy in astonishment as the Chimaera was being carried off into hyperspace. They should be dead right now, but instead he was wrapped in the arms of a purrgil, travelling through the cold of space with nothing between him and death, but the willpower of one boy he underestimated.
He silently laughed as he recalled the words of the strange creature on the planet Atollon. His defeat was exactly as predicted and he never saw it coming.
How ironic.
Slowly composing himself, Thrawn looked at the Bridger boy to see his eyes closed and had a look of utter serenity on his face while holding his arms to the front and back. The Chiss admiral then concluded the young padawan was holding up a Force shield around the room in order to keep the pair alive.
"You won't be able to do that forever." Thrawn voiced the obvious.
Without moving or opening his eyes, Ezra replied. "I can hold it for as long as I have to. The Force is with me."
Accepting that as truth -for now- Thrawn said nothing else. He just watched the boy curiously as time ticked by, every once in a while trying to wiggle free of the tentacles holding him tight, to no avail. After what had to be at least four or so hours -though he could be possibly wrong- Thrawn could see the boy beginning to tire.
With their lives on the line, he decided perhaps he could help the situation by giving the boy something else to think about. "Why go this route, Bridger? Why not just have them kill me from afar and you could have stayed safe with your Rebel friends?"
Ezra's brow furrowed as his grip on the Force shield slipped momentarily. With renewed determination, he concentrated harder while answering Thrawn. "Because that is not the Jedi way. I saw many paths before me. Many of them led to your death. Many of them led to the death of my planet and everything I love. This was the only path that led to your defeat and kept my home planet alive."
Opening his eyes a bit, the padawan stared down at the Grand Admiral. "The Empire will eventually fall without you there to mastermind the attacks on the Rebellion. You are too smart to be allowed to continue fighting for the Empire. But I do not want to kill you either. I know there were many times when you could have killed us, but you let us go repeatedly. I am simply returning the favour by removing you from the game. Sadly, I remove myself as well, but the Rebellion will succeed without me, for I am not the only Jedi left. There are more who will see the Emperor fall."
Thrawn blinked in surprise at the speech. "Thank you -I suppose- for the compliment. But I will still defeat you in the end." He smirked a little. "You are tiring. I can see it. And when you have exhausted yourself, your control over these animals will falter and I shall get free and turn the shields on. I can survive the cold of space for several minutes if I have to."
'We can help you, if you need it.' The purrgil telepathically spoke to Ezra, gaining his momentary attention. 'Our strength shall be yours.'
Ezra grinned upon hearing this. 'I would appreciate that very much.' He then felt a surge of strength through the Force as the purrgil were true to it's word.
'Oh, and feel free to tell the blue one that we are not animals. Perhaps it is time to get the respect we deserve.'
Ezra nodded in understanding before his blue eyes stared down into Thrawn's red ones. "Sorry Thrawn, but your ride isn't over yet. Oh, and by the way. The Purrgil want me to tell you that I'm not controlling them at all. They're sapient beings, just like you and I." Ezra enjoyed watching Thrawn's eyes widen in shock and his jaw dropped just a little.
That was the biggest reaction he'd ever seen from the mostly emotionless man… Well except for the bits of anger shown like from earlier.
Ezra was about to go into a meditative state for the coming travel when a thought crossed his mind. Looking back at Thrawn -who slowly went back into his calm state- he voiced his question. "From all our time going against each other, Thrawn, there is one thing I don't understand."
The Chiss admiral blinked. Seeing as he is at Ezra's mercy, he decided to comply. "Which is?"
"Why did you join the Empire? Not to mention how?" Ezra questioned. "Did you do it willingly or were you forced in some way like saving your people? I mean I don't really see how they'd let you in, asides with the capabilities."
It was a known fact the Galactic Empire has a codified policy of Humanocentric speciesism, thinking the humans were inherently superior to others. They treated other races like poodoo as everything was unfair for them. And they'd only let members of other races join the Empire, only if they'd serve their purposes and own agendas. Most were forced in specific roles -like slavery and building lines- while a rare few willingly joined from what Ezra supposedly heard.
'So it's come to this.' Thrawn thought as he could understand the Bridger padawan's curiosity. "Many too had similar thoughts, Ezra Bridger, as they've come to their own conclusions."
"Like what?"
"Many thought it was through either bribery or conquest that got me into the Imperial Academy before I rose through the ranks, all in order to benefit my people. In actuality, it was by reputation that got me in-in the first place." Seeing Ezra's mild form of curiosity -due to him still primarily focusing on the Force barrier- Thrawn elaborated. "It was during the Clone Wars when I came across the Thrugii Asteroid Belt, to which I had met the Jedi General known as Anakin Skywalker by chance."
"You met him?"
"It was more than that really, we fought alongside each other against the Separatists as both of us found ourselves impressed with the other. And this would later benefit me later on when I met the Emperor later on after the Clone Wars ended." Ezra narrowed his eyes upon the mention of the man as Thrawn continued. "I won't bore you with all the details with how I first met the Emperor, but things led me to first becoming a prisoner and was offered as a gift. But I quickly offered myself not as such, but as something more: as a valuable resource."
The Force user merely stood there as the explanation went on. "I had informed the Emperor that my people's government -the Chiss Ascendancy- had discovered a mysterious threat in the Unknown Regions of space, right outside of the Galactic Outer Rim. I offered him information about this threat in order for the Empire's help."
"And did he accept the offer?" Ezra questioned while quickly wondering what this mysterious threat was exactly. But at least he somewhat understood the reason why Thrawn joined the Empire in the first place.
"Not at first, but for me to possibly get into his good graces, I spoke of Skywalker's name as someone that could possibly vouch for me as I believed he was in the Emperor's service."
This set Ezra off a little, causing him to growl a bit. "Like Anakin Skywalker would ever serve the Empire."
Thrawn merely smirked. 'Oh, if you ever knew the truth.' He thought, knowing the reality of the Jedi General's fate before continuing his tale. "Regardless, the Emperor took the bait as prior to the end of the Clone Wars, Skywalker told him of our encounter at the Thrugii Asteroid Belt and spoke very highly of me. This factor alone got him to accept the deal that for the provided information on the Unknown Regions -as he soon became quite interested on the information- he gave me something else in the offer: a position in the Imperial Navy. And from there, I eventually rose through the ranks to what you now see before you."
Ezra nodded, digesting the information given to him. "And this threat you spoke of, do you know what it is?"
"Sad to say, no. The Ascendancy wouldn't exactly tell me, but it didn't ease my worries at all. All I know is that it's extremely ancient… and even frightened them."
"... And the Emperor, I'm taking a wild guess he didn't take action to help solve this threat." Stated the young Jedi that there was something out there -this threat- that could actually worry Thrawn got him worried as well.
"Once again, no."
Ezra let out an exasperated sigh. "Figures."
"Indeed. And I had informed the Ascendancy on this fact, causing them to realize the Empire will not be a suitable ally against this threat." Thrawn paused for a quick moment in order to correct himself. "Well… more so with the Emperor." His red eyes then stared into Ezra's blue before dropping an interesting detail onto him. "So I was given a mission by my government: either make the Empire our ally by eventually removing the Emperor or weaken it enough for the threat to easily prey upon them -instead of the Ascendancy- when the time came."
Ezra was completely surprised upon hearing this. "You mean you're a double agent?"
"In a way." Was all Thrawn simply, yet complicatedly said.
Thrawn never said another word after that -for Force knows how long- allowing Ezra to slowly go into a meditative state while the purrgil took him and Thrawn's entire fleet deep into the unknown. Yet during this time of meditation, Ezra kept thinking back as to what Thrawn revealed to him, causing the Force barrier around them to waver every so often.
After what felt like forever -which in reality was a few more hours- Thrawn's remaining Star Destroyers pulled by the purrgil exited hyperspace. Despite traveling vast distances for so long can exhaust these Deep Space species quite well.
Slowly coming out of his Force meditation, Ezra looked around and saw they were no longer in hyperspace. When looking at the Chiss admiral, the Lothal native saw he was either asleep or in some sort of meditation while still held in the tight grip of the whale-like creature. He then telepathically spoke to the purrgil with a question in mind. 'Why have you stopped? Is this where you want to leave us?'
'Sorry, young Jedi.' Responded the purrgil. 'We must rest for a time as we've exhausted ourselves. But we shall continue…'
Noticing the bit of silence, Ezra wondered what was going on. He was going to ask until he felt the Chimaera shake all over… all because of a screeching sound that reverberated the entire vessel.
VVVVVRRRRUUUUNNNGG
It was so entirely loud that it was able to knock Ezra out of his full concentration in maintaining the Force barrier. It even got Thrawn out of his sleeping or meditative state. Both of them whirled their heads around in utter confusion in wondering where it came from.
"Is this some sort of call these sentient creatures make, Bridger?"
"It's definitely not-"
*KABOOM*
The explosion caused Ezra and Thrawn to look off to the side and saw one of the Star Destroyers and an unknown number of purrgil were decimated by an extremely large red laser. It made the whale-like creature's attack at Lothal earlier seem like child's play as the ship was now a burning wreck.
'What in the Force is happening out there?!' Ezra telepathically spoke to the purrgil as he and Thrawn saw more of the ships and purrgil getting destroyed before their very eyes.
'You must seek safety, young Jedi!' Warned the hyperspace traveling creature. 'This machine is wiping us out!'
'Machine?' Ezra questioned, while trying to maintain the Force barrier. He then shook his head and worried about their state. 'What about you?!'
'I'm afraid we must abandon you and the blue one. I am sorry for what we must do in order for me and my brethren to survive.'
The Lothal native gritted his before nodding. 'I understand. I'll try to find a way out of here. You guys get away from here. I don't want to drag you all to an unnecessary death.'
He could feel the purrgil nod in return through the Force. 'Thank you, young Jedi. And once again, we promise to return one day. But for now, be safe.'
'And thank you for what you and your brethren have done for me.'
The tentacles ensnaring Thrawn unraveled, causing him to fall onto the deck before the fleshy limbs receding out of the broken viewpoints.
"What is going on?" Thrawn demanded. "Why are they leaving?"
"They're trying to save themselves." Ezra answered as he kept his arms raised to keep up the barrier. "And as much as I'd like to leave you here, I'm afraid I need your help."
"With what exactly?"
"To get the barriers around the ship back up and running long enough for us to find an escape pod." With the attack still commencing outside, both human and chiss heard and saw the few blinding explosions and defaning sounds all around. And it wasn't long before seeing the purrgil radiating their blue color as they hastily sped off back into hyperspace.
Seeing as he doesn't want to die in such a way, Thrawn quickly went to the controls and rapidly typed away at the console. After what felt like forever, the barrier around the Chimaera went online. And seeing the barrier appear caused Ezra to drop both his arms and the barrier with him struggling out a breath.
Yet his moment of rest was quickly halted as Thrawn sped up to him and grasped his arm. "If you want to live as well, we must act quickly."
Ezra nodded as he flicked his wrist towards the door behind him to open it up. The pair dashed out of the bridge and made their way towards the nearest pod they could find, racing against their own demise. Yet to their frustration, many of them were already gone as they figured they were already used by the many personnel during the purrgil powered hyperspace flight in order to escape.
Luckily for them, the pair were able to find one just in time for the Chimaera violently shook even harder, no doubt with explosions occurring from the red laser bombardment.
"Whatever's attacking your fleet has decided to finally hit us." Ezra commented as both his and the Chiss admiral jumped into the escape pod.
"Indeed." Was all Thrawn muttered out as they hastily strapped themselves in. Typing away at the controls, the Chiss made finished getting their form of escape up and running while preparing themselves for the possible sickening ride that would follow.
Once the escape pod ejected itself from the Chimaera, the pair felt their organs seemingly rearrange themselves multiple times due to the harsh spinning through space. They expected it to be a semi-smooth trajectory, but upon seeing Thrawn's flagship practically destroyed just moments ago they understood the added variable on their escape.
But it was at that moment when they saw the perpetrator behind the recent attack.
The ship looked like an extremely large crustacean that was more akin to a cuttlefish or a squid with a bulky, simi-cylindrical body. It's plating tapered over the rear with having five tentacle-like 'legs/arms' extending from it's front end with the addition to six jointed legs extending from it's body. It's rear had crescent-shaped extensions to complete it's colossal appearance that had to be between 160 meters to 2 kilometers in length.
But what seemingly frightened Ezra wasn't just the attacker's appearance, but what he felt from the Force. It was heavily sided in the Dark Side with it's heavy cold feeling from the darkened ship, yet it wasn't actually aligned with the Force at all. It was really confusing for the Lothal native while he saw the oddly designed ship vacating the area as the fleet was now destroyed.
Now… if the sight of their recent attacker didn't startle them, then the sight of the fleet's debrie seemingly following them towards the planet below got both Ezra and Thrawn to be alarmed. Yet nothing could be really done to avoid it as both their escape pod and the debris were being pulled into the nearby planet's gravitational pull. Each hoped they'd survive the crash landing and that neither of the fleet's remains would crush them upon impact.
For some added insurance for their survival, Ezra called upon the Force and formed a barrier around their pod as he pushed himself to the limit as it sped faster and faster towards the planet's surface.
…..
…..
…..
…..
…..
…In a Galaxy Far… Far Away from their own.
-End Chapter-
AN:
So… I had hoped in getting this out on N7 day, but work was not all that great from me being trained in new responsibilities and several new people joined the work crew. It was not great on top of more work orders causing everyone to stay in later than we had hoped.
Oh and not to mention the site was giving me troubles when trying to upload this as it was going under maintenance and was giving me crap throughout the day.
Part of this idea was spawned because both series have connections with Bioware with Star Wars KoToR and Mass Effect for obvious reasons. The other pertaining to the ending of Star Wars Rebels alongside the continuation of the Clone Wars for it's final season.
Also sorry if the ending was a tad rough or whatever, but I wanted to do something to segway into my story here. And if you're wondering why I'm having Thrawn stay alive, well I have plans for the Chiss Admiral for this story as he'd be very beneficial to the plot.
Now with some of the idea here, yes Thrawn was indeed a double agent for his people's government. They wanted Thrawn within the Galactic Empire's ranks in order to gain further support for his people and to prepare for the threat outside of their galaxy. In Star Wars Legends, it was the Yuuzhan Vong which practically wiped out 365 trillion lives in their invasion. And since Disney wanted to ignore the Legends stuff and make it non-canon, thought the Reaper route could be more plausible for this story.
Anyways, be sure to review this story guys! Would like the criticisms. Please and thank you!
R&R