Wahahaha! Surprise post!

CHAPTER 3:Making a Breakthrough

Asteroid field near Lothal

"They're getting closer.", beeped Chopper, in response to the tremors shaking the cave the Ghost was parked out in.

"They must have dispatched bombers on bombing runs across the field to get us out of hiding. They won't be able to pick us up on scanners, thanks to all the debris everywhere, and all the stealth upgrades we've rigged this baby with.", informed Sabine, lovingly stroking the dashboard. "Although, the bombing isn't a bad idea. They're hoping we'll fly out of our cave, thinking the cave is collapsing. We're in a cave that won't be affected by the shocks as we are parked too deep. We'll only feel some tremors."

"That's reassuring.", Ezra said, as the ship rocked a little. "Nothing ever goes wrong with us, does it?"That remark earned him a punch in the shoulder from Sabine.

"The ship is more or less fixed; we can do the minor repairs later. The only problem is when will Zeb and Horatius show up?", spoke Kanan.

"They'll come through. It's only been a few hours.", replied Hera. "They should hurry up, though. Sooner or later, the Empire will catch on and think of something.", added Hera.

As Ezra, Sabine and Chop left for the rec table, with Ezra betting on Sabine winning, in an attempt to get closer to the Mandolorian. Little did he know, that Chopper was the best player on the ship.

As soon as they had left, Kanan sat down in the co-pilot's chair, next to Hera.

"Hera, what're we going to do if Zeb and Payne don't arrive in time?"

Hera gave Kanan a reassuring smile, and sweetly replied,"We'll figure something out, like we always do. I don't really care, as long as you're by my side, love."

Kanan couldn't help but smile at that.

"Sir, the bombers haven't been able to locate the rebel ship. They're waiting for new orders.", reported a lieutenant.

Captain Pheyllo, who was in charge of the operation, took in this new piece of information, and thought hard on their next course of action. The crew hiding in the asteroid field had been causing a lot of trouble on Lothal, and the brass were taking a special interest in the case. Outter Rim Command(resentfully called 'the ORCs' by locals, because of the imperials' indifference, cruelty, and their barbaric tendency to take whatever they wanted: from land to women to raw materials and finished goods) wanted to set an example of the Spectres by publicly executing them and broadcasting the execution on the Holonet as a warning to others.

Pheyllo realized that the Rebels must have taken refuge in a deep cave, otherwise they would have seen them out in the open, or detected a heat spike due to the ship being destroyed, at the very least. After some consideration, he issued orders.

"Tell the bombers to return to base. Outfit each bomber's bay to hold deep-boring, high potency WREKIT-9 charges, as many as they can carry in their holds. Make two triggers: one for me, and another for you. The bombers will plant one charge on every large asteroid."

"Very well, sir.", replied the lieutenant. "It will take approximately two hours to gather the charges, modify the bombers' racks, and load them. It should take about half and hour to place the charges in the asteroids. Accounting for any unforeseen circumstances, the charges will be ready for use in about three hours."

"Get to it."

As the lieutenant went off to carry out his orders, Pheyllo, couldn't help but pity the rebels. They had no way out, with two Star Destroyers and three light cruisers surrounding and patrolling the asteroid field. They were cornered Nothing could help them out of this one.

As it is with most imperials, he had no idea just how wrong he was.

Asteroid field near Coruscant

"So, you're a clone trooper, huh?", asked Zeb, once he had taken a closer look at the armour Horatius was wearing.

Horatius had told everyone the plan, and given everyone their assignments. They were walking to the Phantom.

"Yes, I was. An Advanced Recon Commando, holding the rank of Commander, if it really interests you all that much. My serial number is CT-0002 or ARC-0002."

"Did you, you know, take part in the Jedi purge?"

"No, I didn't. A while before Order 66 was issued, I had taken a shot to the head. It was a graze, but the bolt fried the chip in my head. I woke up after the Empire had taken over, in an abandoned outpost not far from Kessel. D Squad was all that was left at the base, apart from my ship. A solar flare had resulted in Evacuation, and since I couldn't be moved 'cause I was hooked upto so much equipment, I was left behind."

"If you had, I don't think Kanan would have like it one bit. You being a clone will piss him off like hell. Wait a second, why are you not old? Didn't clones mature at double the normal rate?"

"I'm one of the first hundred clones to be created from Jango Fett's DNA. Generation 1 was made under the impression the army would be kept around for a looong time, so the first hundred were created with a maturing rate 80% that of a human. I'll be around for a bit longer than the rest of you."

"Interesting."

What he didn't tell Zeb was that all the Gen 1 clones had been...different. Most of them had died, but the ones who survived, they were...different. 0099 had been disfigured, 0003 was more of a thinker than a fighter, with enhance intelligence, 0100 was blind, but his other senses had been heightened by 250%. He, 0002, was Force-sensitive, something unprecedented in cloning history. He had kept his abilities secret to avoid attention, which would have probably resulted in his disection. However, the cloners on Kamino had noticed his higher endurance, greater strength, increased perception and thinking and quick reflexes. These traits had earned him the rank of ARC Commander on day one of testing. He didn't want to reveal that part to his newfound friends just yet.

"Zeb, contact Hera, tell her about the plan, and get ready to roll."

"I'm on it, Spectre 7." Zeb was all business now.

As he ran the rest of the way to the shuttle, he stopped, and called out to the clone,"For what it's worth, I'm happy that you're a part of the family." And he ran off.

Horatius stopped running back to the bridge when he heard that. He stood there for a while, pondering what the Lasat had just said to him.

Family..

Asteroid field near Lothal

Hera was beginning to get worried. It had been almost eight hours since the Phantom had departed, and the imperials were getting closer. They were probably going to realize that they were hiding in a deep cave. As a precaution, she had left only the life support, having turned off the heat as well. Chopper, after winning the bet and realizing they were going to turn him off, had put a valiant fight, but was eventually cornered by Sabine and Ezra, and turned off. He sat, disabled, in Zeb and Ezra's room.

Her worries were put to ease when the commlink beeped, and the display read 'Zeb Orrelios'.

"Hey, Zeb's calling! I'm routing the call to the living room!"Hera quickly routed the call and ran to the living room, where the crew gathered every morning, played, talked and unound. The others had already sit down around the dejarik table. Kanan scooted over, making room for her. Hera gave him a grateful smile, and sat down next to him.

"Zeb, please have some good news, we really need it. The Empire's practically knocking on the door.", implored Ezra.

"Woah, the situation must be pretty bad. Fret not, my good friends! Horatius has come up with a brilliant plan, of which I'm only allowed to tell you a part of it, as he wants it to be a surprise." Ignoring the protests, he went on to tell them the part of the plan he was supposed to.

The others were going to love it, the Lasat thought with a grin. As he finished telling them the plan, he turned to Kanan, and said,"Kanan, don't be harsh with Horatius when you realize who he is, okay? He's risking just about everything for us. He's family; like it or not."

"I'll do my best, Zeb.", replied Kanan, making no promises. He felt uneasy. Who could Horatius be, for Zeb to warn him and tell him to lay off the enigmatic seventh Spectre?

"Now, be ready you lot. And sit tight. Kid, try not to wet yourself!", Zeb's hologram went out with him winking at Ezra.

"I'm going to kill him!", Ezra promised himself.

"Don't count on it.", Sabine teased.

"Grr..."

"All right, all right.", broke in Hera,"We need to be ready to take off immediately, like Zeb said. Get to your stations."

"And then what?", asked Kanan.

"We wait. For whatever 'surprise' to be set off. Zeb'll signal us when we need to get out of this cramped cave."

"I hate surprises.", Ezra muttered.

"Join the club.", Kanan retorted.

Asteroid field near Coruscant

Magneta and Gold were getting the contraption, dubbed "the Siren", ready. Once, they were satisfied with their work, they placed it right behind Hangar door 1.

"Will this work?", asked Zeb, ever the doubtful one.

"Yes, it will. That is why you've got tostay ready to leave to extract the crew and get the hell out of here; if the plan doesn't work out."

"All right, all right."

Magneta and Gold zoomed off to the bridge, where the others were waiting.

On the bridge, Horatius was doing last minute checks. Satisfied, he sat down on the captains chair.

"All hands, to action stations!", he boomed.

The droids got to their positions.

Cyclops at the pilot's seat, ready to rock the boat.

Magneta, at the comms station.

Gold, huddled in the CIC, plugged in, humming the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Fives, in his default configurations, sat at the Control Tower for the hangar. He had the controls for Hangar Doors 1 and 3 ready to open, as they were crucial to the plan and contingency plan, respectively.

"All right, here's a quick recap of what's going to go down. We're going to make the jump from here to Lothal, through the asteroid field where the other Spectres are. I've tweaked the nav system so that the ship can travel through the field at lightspeed, hopefully. As soon as we're about to enter the the field, HD-1 will be momentarily opened to let the Siren out in the middle of the field. We'll close the door, and drop out of lightspeed near Lothal, and a few klicks from the lead Star Destroyer, the Condemner, while in stealth mode, so that the imperials can't catch us on their scopes. Let's do this."

A cheer rose from the droids.

"Cyclops, engage stealth mode, and then take us out."

"At once, boss!"

With that, cyclops flicked the switch marked 'ENGAGE CLOAK MODE', and punched the throttle.

With that, the Breakthrough jumped in a small flash of light its seriously overclocked hyperdrive made every time the frigate made a jump. Cyclops had installed that specially. After all, what good is cool stuff if you can't flaunt it?

Asteroid field near Lothal

"Captain, I might've picked something up.", notified one of the techiess.

"What is it?"

The tech frowned."Just a small blip that came out of nowhere, It disappeared as soon as it appeared. Strange."

"Probably a glitch. The debris is driving the scopes crazy.", replied the Captain.

Pheyllo was beginning t get a little impatient. He'd been given the trigger for the charges, but it would be another hour before they were in place. He was also beginning to wonder why the rebels hadn't tried something yet. This particular band of them was known for their desperate but effective ploys, that had on more than one occasion, turned the tables in the rebels' favour.

As if to answer his question, a scope tech piped up, "Captain! A large mass is headed our way! Quite possibly one of the bigger asteroids."

This must be one of the rebels' signature gamechanging ploys. They had probably strapped some explosives of their own onto an asteroid's back and detonated. Using the blast-propelled asteroid to clear a path for escape was a gutsy move, not to mention creative. Pheyllo was impressed. But he wasn't one to back down.

He got a channel open to the other Star Destroyer, the Vindicator, gave orders to the other captain.

"Captain Pollatu, spearhead formation! We're going to run down the oncoming asteroid!"

"Affirmative, Captain Pheyllo!"

The Vindicator and Condemner came together, one on top of another, both of their bottoms facing one another, and turbolasers pointed dead ahead, to obliterate the oncoming asteroid.

The mass on the scope came closer.

The light cruisers lined up on the opposite end of the field, to avoid the debris that would go everywhere once the asteroid bound for the Destroyers had blasted apart.

The crew held their breath.

The captains kept looking outside the windows for any sign of the oncoming asteroid.

CIC's gunners were ready roll, only nothing seemed to appear.

"What?!", spluttered Pheyllo, as a small object became visible outside, emerging from the field. The scopes identified it to be a large mass, but all he could see was a small trinket.

"Scopes, scan that object!"

"Scanning...Scan complete. It appears to be a jerryrigged comms array. That array belongs on a Venator-class cruiser."

"Then what the hell is it doing here?"

"Sir, we're being hailed on all channels by an unknown party.", called one of the comm techs.

"Accept the call. Broadcast ship-wide."

All the speakers began to blare out a series electronic beeps in rapid succession."

"What does it mean?"

The comm tech had gone a little pale."It's an astromech sir. It's..laughing."

"Unknown droid, what is all this?"

The rapid beeping subsided. The droid made a few beeps and a whir.

"Well?", Pheyllo asked the tech.

The tech had gone very pale.

"'Death from above.'"

"Nice prank call, Gold! Now get ready for some blasting, cause we might need it! Cyclops! Disable stealth mode! Power up the ram and fins! Go all out! Full speed ahead!"

"Going all out now, captain", replied the pit droid, all the while cackling madly.

"Magneta! Jamming, now! All channels!"

"Already done, boss.", chirped Magneta.

With a jerk, the initially drifting Breakthrough lurched forwards, picking up speed quickly. It was heading straight for the Star Destroyers, still in spearhead formation. The curved front of the frigate and the fins at the back began to glow.

The ion cannon fired a single shot.

"Sir! Unknown contact, right above us! It's heading straight for us! Shall we move out of its -?"

Suddenly, the whole ship went dark. The ion cannon had found its mark. The Condemner was dead in space. With Pheyllo's ship blocking Pollatu's scopes, the Vindicator wouldn't see the frigate coming. And Pheyllo couldn't even warn the other Destroyer. Pheyllo couldn't help but admire the unknown ship's captain. It was brilliant really.

Using a comm array of a large ship like a Venator was a stroke of genius. The scope would recognize the Venator's array, and ping it as a large object, which would make anyone in an asteroid field think an asteroid was coming their way. They had fallen for it, and made their ships come together in the hope to use the combined firepower to take care of the asteroid. Thus, the frigate's captain had his targets in one place, and did not have to worry about multiple places to look out for, with the light cruisers having moved to the other side of the field. They wouldn't be able to contact the Destroyers through all the debris in the field. The Destroyers couldn't move out of the way fast enough. Ingenious.

There was no way out. Pheyllo resigned himself to his fate. His only regret was he didn't have a drink in his hand.

With a small smile, he muttered,"Well played.", and waited for the end.

The Breakthrough simply cut through the two Destroyers; it's front ram made the dent, and the rear fins(outfitted with laser-cutters on the edges) did the rest. The ram's force and the fins' laser edge ploughed through without a worry. With one bold strategy, he had trashed two Star Destroyers. No big deal.

"Karabast! That was incredible!", whooped the Lasat.

"Now let's go get the rest of the Spectres.", said Horatius.

"What about the light cruisers?"

"Oh, please. They would've seen two Destroyers getting totalled by a ship not even half their size. They'll be retreating by now."

Sure enough, the three signatures of the light cruisers on the scopes disappeared, indicating that they had jumped.

The Ghost shook. The airlock near the mid-section turret hissed. They were being boarded.

"Everyone! Converge on Airlock 2! We're being boarded!", Hera's voice could be heard over the intercom.

In moments, everyone had converged at the Airlock.

Sabine cocked her pistols.

Kanan ignited his sabre.

Ezra took aim with his slingshot.

Hera primed the two shock grenades Sabine had given her.

The door hissed open.

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot! It's us, morons! This is how you thank the people who saved you from certain doom?"

Hera recognized the Lasats voice.

"Well, I wouldn't call it 'certain', I'm sure we would have eventually figured something out."

"Riiight.", said the Lasat, rolling his eyes as he stepped into the ship. "Anyways, we have some new additions to the crew. Say hello to D Squad!"

Zeb introduced each droid as they stepped into the ship, and once they all had come in, introduced the crew to the droids.

"Nice emblem.", Sabine complimented to the droids.

On some part or the other, of each droid, emblazoned was a grey and white Loth-wolf insignia.

"Thank you, miss Wren. Horatius drew them, and said the same about your starbird emblem.", Fives graciously replied on behalf of the squad.

"And now, before I tell you of what happened while you were cowering here like a flock of Loth-cats in a cave in winter, let's have a round of applause for the man responsible for your rescue! I give you, Horatiuuus Paaaayne!"

Horatius stepped into the ship, garbed in what appeared to be clone armour, Wolfpack armour, ARC Edition.

As soon as he saw the armour, the helmet, and the way he stood(the way a war veteran stood), Kanan charged at him, screaming, "DIE, TRAITOROUS VERMIN!". Before he could strike down the clone, something blocked him.

Blocking his blue sabre, was another lightsabre, glowing grey; and wielding it, holding it in a way that showed that he knew how to use it, was Horatius Payne.

"Kanan-no-everyone,we need to talk. Ezra, could you be a dear and get some Mocoa brewing?"