"System check complete, replicator fully integrated into ships mainframe. Main power core holding, all output levels are excellent. Replicator is ready for test." Juno says as I finish installing the chest sized replicator against one wall of the new on-ship armory.
"Let's see if this works." I pull my DL-44 out of its holster and place it in the chamber of the replicator.
"Scanning ... Weapon … DL-44 blaster pistol ... scan saved."
"Holy…" I leap out of my skin as the mechanical voice of the replicator came out of nowhere and a light blue laser light starts sweeping over the blaster. Robotic arms start taking the blaster apart piece by piece until the entire blaster is in pieces, floating in the chamber. Suddenly holographic outlines appear beside the original blaster pieces and new mechanical arms start moving over the outlines until each outline is filled with a new identical part. Just as quickly as the first one was taken apart the two blasters are put back together.
"DL-44 blaster completed."
Wow, that happened a lot faster than I thought it would. Let's get a holster for this new blaster.
I pull the blasters out of the chamber and replace them with my holster. Three minutes later I have a new holster and blaster strapped to my left leg.
Let's try something … other-worldly.
I grab a round of 9mm ammo from my dwindling supply, pull it apart, and stick each piece into the replicator.
"Scanning…unknown part…unknown part…detonator cap…explosive powder…scan saved."
Hmm seems to work ok.
I pull the round out of the replicator and set it on my reloading station and reassemble the round as the replicator makes and drops parts into the small containers at the bottom of the chamber.
"Juno, start mass producing ammo for my Barretta for the next 3 hours" I call as I angle the containers to drop the pieces into buckets I placed underneath
"Parameters set, replicator will stop after 3 hours of reproduction. Mark, there is a Correlian light cargo ship under attack by TIE fighters directly above us."
Ugh…
"I really don't feel like a fight. Especially after last night's feast at Tarkin Town."
"Mark, they have lost their shields and could lose power soon."
"Why didn't you say so!" I yelp "Let's go blow up some TIES." I grab my helmet and run towards the lift to the top of my tower.
Once I reach the top I activate a panel and the sides of the tower fall away and a large set of anti-aircraft cannons fold out of the roof and a chair pops up with a targeting system and cannon controls from the floor. I jump in the chair and grab the cannon controls. A single light freighter ship was flying around the plains, frantically dodging and weaving trying to out run and out maneuver the barrage of green blaster bolts that were being fired from the half-dozen ties on its tail.
"Juno, link my helmet comm with the ships comm system."
"… done"
"…can't fool the destroyers if we have TIEs on our tail," a stern feminine voice rings in my ear "Zeb coming in at point 6!"
Several shots are fired from the rear of the ship all of which miss the intended target.
"Karabast, I missed him!" a gruff masculine voice shouts in frustration, "Kid, he's coming your way!"
"I see him, I see him!" a younger masculine voice calls, "Got him"
The TIE explodes in a white ball of fire as the lone ship gets pounded by fire from the other five fighters.
"We're losing power! Chopper, reroute all power except for the cannons to the engines we have to leave!" exclaims a calmer authoritative masculine voice.
"Womm womm" comes a binary response which gets translated as "Yeah, yeah, whatever!" on my HUD.
"Chopper, stop grumbling and do it!" Yells the feminine voice, each word dripping with annoyance.
What an interesting group.
A TIE flies through a blast of fire from the front of the ship and strafes the port side of the hull.
"Someone get him," Calls the young masculine voice.
I lock on and squeeze the trigger.
Whoomp.
Boom.
"Awesome shot, who did that?" asks the authoritative masculine voice.
"Correlian VCX-100, my scans indicate that you are losing shields and power. You will not be able to get into space with damage like that."
"Who is this?" demands the first voice as I take out another TIE.
"A friend. Fly past the communications tower out your starboard side and into the canyon on the other side. You will find an open hangar door fly in and land."
"How do we know we can trust you?" growls the gruff voice.
"You don't, but you better decide quickly, there are more TIEs leaving Capital City now."
"Specter 2, we don't have much of a choice! At this rate, we will never get out of here."
"Agreed, Specter 1."
"Karabast, Fine!"
"Acknowledged, 'Friend.' But this better not be a trap. We've already got problems." comes the authoritative voice now known as 'Specter 1.'
I blast another TIE before answering, "It's not. Juno, cut the line."
A lucky shot from the rear cannons take out another TIE as the ship flies over so low, it jostles the tower.
The last two TIE pilots seem to be a bit brighter than the first four and dodge all my shots. As they fly over, I fire two missiles from my wrist. Seconds later, two separate explosions rock the ground. I get out of the chair, deactivate the cannons and jump in the lift.
"Juno, Hangar."
"Right away."
As I rocket towards the hangar level, I pull up the surveillance video of the hangar and watch as the ship lands.
Ezra POV
20 minutes before.
"Specter 6, in position," I whisper into the comm unit on my wrist and wait for the signal. Ever since joining Phoenix Squadron we have turned a little more militaristic but for now at least are still doing mostly are own thing. Stealing from the empire and taking the occasional job from Fulcrum/Ashoka. We had been given a basic grab and go mission the day before yesterday. A shipment of weapons was being delivered to the imperial complex and we were taxed with grabbing the shipment and delivering it to Phoenix squadron. The plan is a spinoff of what had brought us together. I was going to be on the roofs and cover Sabine while she provided an explosive distraction. Kanaan and Zeb would take care of any remaining guards on the ground and then we would all jump on speeder and meet up with Hera at the rendezvous.
"Alright, get ready." Came Kanaan's response. I pull my lightsaber off my belt and rest my finger on the trigger. Specter 1 walks out of a cantina finishing a small cup of caf with his blaster in his hand. He swallows, crushes the cup and holsters his blaster with a spin.
I level the barrel of my blaster at the storm troopers close to where Sabine will be headed. A colorful Mandalorian steps out of a doorway and tosses a detonator onto an unused, scorched, imperial speeder bike. As she walks away a trooper sees her and points his blaster at her.
"Hold it! This is a secure area. Rebel activity has been reported in this area over the past day. You must… AAGH!"
The poor trooper couldn't finish his sentence before I fired a shot and knocked him to the ground with a bolt of strong electricity. Shouts are coming from everywhere as the speeder bike blows.
"Hey, let's go!" Sabine yells right next to me.
"AAH!" I scream "Don't do that!"
"Sorry, but we gotta move!"
"Right, right."
We start running across the roofs down a couple of streets.
"There! I see them," shouts Sabine as she draws her blasters and starts shooting at the Stormtroopers pinning down Zeb and Kanaan. I point my lightsaber and together we take out the remaining troops.
"Thanks, there are a lot more troopers around here than I thought there would be," comments Kanaan as we jump down and board the speeder bikes.
"We noticed. Now, let's get out of here," I respond.
We take off in a cloud of dust. Kanaan, Zeb and I are pulling crates. Since Sabine isn't, she is leading the way to try and clear a path if we run into trouble.
"Company!" hollers Zeb and activates his Bo rifle and zaps a scout trooper. Kanaan turns around and starts firing at the other three troopers behind us.
"Ghost in coming," states Hera as the Ghost flies over and lowers the ramp while flying only inches from the ground. Sabine jumps off her speeder, lands on the edge of the ramp, turns, and starts firing at the troopers as Kanaan Zeb and I pull into the cargo bay.
"We got TIEs!" shouts Hera just as the ship rocks with the impact from a dozen blaster bolts accompanied by the signature roar of a tie fighter.
"GUYS!" screams Sabine as she loses her balance and falls off the ramp to the street below.
"NNNOOO! SABINE!" I bellow uselessly as I try and reach her.
"oomph…" she grunts as she hits the street "I'M FINE! GO! I'LL MEET YOU AT… GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME!"
I grab my lightsaber and start shooting at the scout trooper who had grabbed Sabine
"Hera! We have to go back!" I exclaim into the ships comm system.
"We can't! We have too many TIE's on our tail. We'll get her Ezra don't worry, right now I need you in the nose gun."
"All right, I'm coming. I stumble to the front of the ship as we take hit after hit. I jump into the seat and start firing at TIEs as they come around.
I need to tell her.
Working together Kanaan, Zeb, and I take out half of the TIE fighters as we take off over the plains north of the city.
"We need to get into space so we can make the jump and lose them!" Kanaan yells from the turret as the ship rocks from impacts.
"You know that's not possible right now!" Hera calls back "We can't fool the destroyers if we have TIEs on our tail. Zeb coming in at point 6!"
I hear shots coming from the Phantom as Zeb blasts at the TIE.
"Karabast, I missed him!" he shouts in frustration, "Kid, he's coming your way!"
"I see him, I see him!" I answer.
Just a little more, a little more, got ya.
"Got him"
The TIE explodes in a white ball of fire as The Ghost rocks.
"We're losing power! Chopper, reroute all power except for the cannons to the engines we have to leave!" Kanaan orders firing at another TIE.
"Womm womm" Chop responds.
"Chopper, stop grumbling and do it!" bellows Hera, each word dripping with annoyance.
Oh, no you don't
I start firing at a TIE that flies right in front of us
Crap, I missed
"Someone get him," I say.
Boom.
"Awesome shot, who did that?" asks Kanaan in awe.
Not me that's for sure. That shot came out of nowhere.
"Correlian VCX-100, my scans indicate that you are losing shields and power. You will not be able to get into space with damage like that."
WHOA
"Who is this?" demands Hera as another TIE gets blown to bits.
"A friend. Fly past the communications tower out your starboard side and into the canyon on the other side. You will find an open hangar door. Fly in and land."
"How do we know we can trust you?" growls Zeb.
"You don't, but you better decide quickly, there are more TIEs leaving Capital City now."
"Specter 2, we don't have much of a choice! At this rate, we will never get out of here."
"Agreed, Specter 1."
"Karabast, Fine!"
"Acknowledged, 'Friend.' But this better not be a trap. We've already got problems." Kanaan answers the harsh voice as another TIE blows up.
"It's not. Juno, cut the line."
Juno? Who's Juno
I look to the right as Hera comes around and see a communication tower a lot like my old home.
Something's different.
"Hey guys, do you see what I see?" I ask
"No" Kanaan replies
The ship rocks with a nearby explosion.
"That sounded like a TIE blowing up!" exclaims Hera.
"Two actually" Kanaan shoots back.
"Hey guys! There's a cannon on top of that communications … WHOA" squawks Zeb as Hera takes a sudden dive into the canyon.
"There up ahead, I see the doors!"
The Ghost jerks as Hera slows down and flies through a large opening in the canyon wall. Slowly she touches down near another ship.
Right as the ramp lowers, the lights go out and all the doors pop open.
"We've lost power. Get ready. If this is a trap we are going to have to fight because we are not going anywhere soon.
"This is no trap, I promise you." Comes the guttural voice we heard over the comm system.
A black figure steps out of a lift and we all level our blasters at him.
"Uhh… guys, what is that?" swallows Zeb as he tightens his grip.
I don't blame him. Whoever this is looks like it came out of your worst nightmare. A black figure with a long leather trench coat, armor, weapons… and a black skull for a head with glowing white eyes covered in a deep hood.
"My name is Mark, Mark Jager[1]" the creature says with its hands raised in surrender "I mean you no harm."
"That armor. Its Mandalorian." Kanaan notes
"Indeed, I forged it with my adoptive grandfather. An old Mandalorian who took me in after I crashed here."
"What happened to your face?" queries Zeb, a slight tremble in his voice.
"Nothing, it's just a helmet."
"Take it off" I demand edging a little closer.
The figure slowly moves his hands up to his head and rests them on the mask. His thumbs slide under the cheekbones and the helmet expands. He slowly pulls it off revealing the face of a young human man maybe only a couple years older than my own 15 years. He turns slowly, keeping his hands on his helmet and away from his weapons, and walks towards a work bench. He sets the skull down and moves his hands to his chest. He grabs the edge of his coat and slowly pulls it off revealing three more blasters. One in a holster even with his left ribs and one on each thigh. He drops the coat and grasps the blaster on his chest with his right hand. We had relaxed a little but as soon as he touched the butt of the blaster we snap our weapons up and pointed them at his chest.
"Oh no you don't. Hands out!" snaps Zeb resting his finger on the trigger of his rifle.
Immediately the guy extends his hand.
"Please, stay calm. I am simply disarming myself. I believe we will all rest easier if you know that a potential threat has no weapons." Mark explains in a soft low baritone keeping his hands in front of him.
"Fine." Kanaan decides, keeping his blaster even with Mark's chest "move slowly and only touch your weapons with your left hand using only your fingertips."
He nods and pinches the blaster on his left thigh, pulls it out of the holster and places it on the table all the while keeping his right hand extended towards us. He crosses his hand over himself, grabs the blaster on his right thigh the same way, de-holsters, it and places it next to the other. Next, Mark moves his left hand to his side and sticks his finger through the trigger guard of the blaster on his side. He tugs on it slowly, but the blaster doesn't leave the holster. He rolls his eyes.
"I am going to use my right hand and hold the holster in place. Please do not freak out."
Kanaan nods and steps back slightly as Mark moves his right hand and presses on the strap that holds the holster in place. He tugs again and the blaster comes out swinging down on his finger, barrel pointed up. As soon as it's free, he extends his hand again and lays the third blaster down on the table. He turns his back to us revealing two knives on his belt which he slowly removes, joining the blasters on the table. He turns to face us again, extending his left hand moving it towards the arm guards on his right arm.
"Hey, what are you doing?" asks Hera confused.
"De-arming myself, miss." Mark responds with a slight smirk as he removes his right arm armor and moves his right hand to his left to repeat the process.
The joke eases some of the tension as Hera lowers her blaster and chuckles.
After placing his weapons and arm guards on the table Mark turns towards us and leans on the table. Kanaan holsters his blaster and I clip my lightsaber to my belt. Zeb looks wary but slings his Bo-rifle on his back.
Sabine, I need to find you. I need to tell you.
[1] Ya-ger
