Ballad of the Winter Rose
A SW Rebels/Doctor Who Romance
Written by: Nehru_Amidala aka FossilQueen1984
Genre: Gothic romance, drama, hurt/comfort, dark fantasy, slight horror
Cast list: Thrawn- Mads Mikkelsen, Minerva- Jenna Coleman, Konstantine- Mark Hamill, Commander Sato- George Takei, Mart- Art Parkinson, Gooti –Brenda Song, Jonner- Dylan Cole, Kanan- Freddie Prinze Jr., Hera- Vanessa Marshall, Ezra- Taylor Gray, Sabine- Tiya Sircar, Zeb and Rex- Steve Blum
Pairings: Thrawn/Minerva, Hera/Kanan
Chapter soundtrack: VFD- Thomas Newman, Trepak/Mother Ginger and the Clowns/Slavic March- Tchaikovsky
Chapter 36: The Misadventures of Iron Squadron
The Mygeetan Rebel cells would not roll over and play dead, much to Konstantine's consternation. They were taking maneuvers that hadn't been seen in combat since the heyday of the Clone Wars, over twenty years ago. Konstantine had been in university at the time and did not need reminders of the old days where Jedi existed and the Republic pandered to the whining mewls of every last star system. A waste of precious resources and people, he had told everyone.
Refusing to have Thrawn offer advice or lead the battle, Konstantine turned a skirmish that should have lasted no more than an hour into an all-out bloodletting that lasted the better part of the week. 10% of the Seventh Squadron's TIE Fighters were lost, 3% were directly from the Chimaera and he spent £1.2 million Imperial credits on lost materials, manpower and medical care for the survivors. Tarkin was peeved to no end, and in retaliation he ordered Thrawn and Minerva to not only officially share a room, they had to engage in PDA around the wishy-washy generalissimo. Nobody was thrilled about the ruling, but nobody wanted to cross Tarkin, so Thrawn and Minerva obliged.
No sooner had a half dozen garrisons been left on Mygeeto, when Lynette intercepted a juicy tidbit hailing from Mykapo. According to the local Imperial governor, Rebel cells had been brazenly attacking anything Imperial affiliated for the past month. Even with martial law declared, the Rebels were still causing trouble. Namely, some outfit calling itself Iron Squadron.
According to Thrawn's intel, Iron Squadron's former leader, Matthias Matin, had died trying to incinerate a convoy en route to the planetary capital. His young son, Mart, had apparently taken up the mantle. Since the Seventh Fleet was still outside Mygeeto refueling, it would be a couple of days before they could make the trip to Mykapo via hyperspace.
Across the galaxy inside a beat up YT-2400, the day was just beginning. 13 year old Mart Matin had just walked out of the fresher and threw on the least sweaty of his shirts. There was a closet on the ship, but he had to share the space with his crewmates, Jonner and Gooti. Gooti was the only girl on board, so the guys kindly gave her half the closet. She didn't mind, Jonner and Mart were family. At some point, they had all lost their parents/family to the Empire, so they had banded together and reformed Iron Squadron. In the two weeks they had been active, they had been successful in bombing Imperial Star Destroyers. At least, that's what they thought they were.
Yawning, Jonner stood under the gunnery turret, assisting R3 with repairs to the firing mechanism and wondered aloud, "Wonder how many Imps we're going to incinerate today." R3 beeped it would be the same as the last two weeks, maybe 3 or 4 ships. Jonner shrugged, sounded good to him.
Gooti was standing in the galley, warming up space waffles. The other foodstuffs they had plenty of were rations. Rations were all well and good, but space waffles tasted better and you could make them in a pinch out of rations, provided you had the correct amounts of freeze-dried ingredients. As she popped them into the convection over, Gooti stuck her head into the corridor leading from the entry hatches into the cockpit, "Waffles will be out in 20! Are we good?"
"We're good, thanks Gooti," Mart hollered from the cockpit. Gooti was a terrific cook, she could probably open her own restaurant. However, there was a war going on so any future eating places would have to wait. Imperial ship off the port bow!
The Imperial transport was dropping of spare engine parts for repulsorlift vehicles and walkers. The last thing the crew was expecting was to be engaged in open combat with a beat up old freighter. Figuring incorrectly that they were sitting ducks, they opened fire and much to their surprise, the freighter released… cargo boxes?
Four TIE Fighters were dispatched to incapacitate the YT-2400…KABOOM! No sooner had the boxes touched the fighters, they exploded. Before the pilots on the larger ship could even react, the remaining boxes exploded and taking out the ship with it. VICTORY!
The trio cheered, they had taken out another Star Destroyer. Could this day get any better? Their celebrations were interested with a hiss of steam and R3 rolled back towards the hyperdrive to start on repairs.
They had settled into the common area, when the ship's holographic comm system activated and a motherly, female voice called into the open area:
"Iron Squadron, this is the Ghost of Phoenix Squadron. It's okay, we are here to help."
"Sorry, we don't need help. Iron Squadron does things on its own."
"Excuse me?"
Hera was annoyed about being spoken to so rudely when Rex gently interrupted her. "Sounds like your typical 13 year old me, Ahsoka sounded like that when she was younger. The Rebel sympathizers are going to need to be evacuated ASAP… Captain?" Hera was still in shock about Iron Squadron's response, or lack thereof when Kanan cut in.
"Sweetheart, Rex's right. If our intel is right (and it probably is), then the Empire will be here sooner rather than later. We need to get all those civilians off world as soon as possible. Rex and I will take Phantom II, and you all can take it from there, okay?" Hera slowly nodded, and she kissed Kanan goodbye.
As the smaller craft made for the planet, Ezra and Sabine walked into the cockpit. They had been listening in and this had given Ezra an idea. "Hera, they're not going to listen to an adult. Hear me out on this. He might listen to me and Sabine." Sabine nodded and added since they were closer in age, which might help form common ground.
Sighing, Hera and Zeb agreed but reminded them that they were working on short time, as who knew when the Empire might show up? Nodding, Sabine and Ezra dragged Chopper along with them who was more than happy to see another rust bucket up close.
Five minutes later, the Ghost had pulled up alongside the freighter and the latch opened, and out stepped Ezra, Sabine and Chopper. Steam burst from broken vents and lights flickered ominously as they threaded their way from the cargo hold towards the main cabin. "What a rust bucket," the teens commented in unison. Chopper beeped similar sentiments when they were cheerily greeted by a husky, bi-racial youth a couple of years younger than they were.
"Hey there and welcome aboard. I'm Jonner and this here's Gooti," he gestured to the Theelian who had just exited the galley. She was pleased to see the visitors were teenagers like them, albeit a few years older. She waved, and replied, "You missed the fireworks earlier. We blew up a Star Destroyer earlier…actually it was all Mart's doing."
By now, R3 had wheeled out and Chopper had gone back to work on the hyperdrive, and Ezra and Sabine exchanged a glance. However, neither of them had a chance to contradict what Gooti and Jonner had been saying because Mart decided to join the party. Swaggering over to the new arrivals, he crowed, "Don't need any advice from you guys. Did some pretty good shooting on my part."
Sabine had just about had enough! Fuming, she clouted Mart around the head and lectured, "Listen, little boy! That was not a Star Destroyer- that was a transport! Besides, the Imps will be back with bigger ships and you don't have a working hyperdrive!"
"I am not little! I turned 13 five months ago. How old are you guys?"
"I'm 18 and Ezra is 16. We know what we're talking about. Our 'dad' is down on Mykapo helping everyone who is sympathetic to the Rebellion evacuate before the Empire shows up." At this, Jonner and Gooti exchanged a glace. If the Empire was returning soon, maybe they should leave as well.
"No! I can't leave. Dad died, I can't give up the mission," Mart cried.
Ezra placed a comforting arm around him, "I know how you feel. The Empire invaded my home planet, Lothal and they murdered my parents. I was all but 7 and I spent nearly 7 years fighting the Empire by myself. But then I met Sabine and the Ghost crew, they became my new family. I learned we have a better chance working together."
Mart shook his head, he told Jonner and Gooti to go, but they refused! Insisting, he shoved them all out the door without so much as a thank you and Sabine, Ezra and Chopper found themselves back on the Ghost only a few hours after they had disembarked.
Zeb had been waiting for them, "So, how'd it go?" Ezra shrugged, "It didn't, big guy. Mart thinks he can do it all on his own." Sabine added that Gooti and Jonner had been about to leave with them, when Hera shouted down at them to open the hatch door, an escape pod was heading straight for them.
The passengers were Gooti and Jonner, along with the fresh space waffles. Offering some to Hera and Zeb, the young teens explained that while they had enjoyed taking on the Empire, they were going to eventually bite of more than they could chew. So, it was with a heavy heart they left Mart to his fate.
Shaking her head as they made the jump into hyperspace, Hera commed Sato to give him the bad news. Sato refused to take this standing down, no matter what. He ordered Hera to wait for his fleet to join them and together they would rescue Mart.
Meanwhile, back on the Chimaera, Thrawn had sent Konstantine out with a light cruiser to take care of Iron Squadron. He knew from experience that Konstantine would fail spectacularly, it would only be a matter of time when he got the distress call.
It was only 15 minutes from where the Seventh Fleet was currently located to reach Mykapo and when he did, Mart had rerouted all of the ship's power into the forward laser cannon and shields. For a while, he put up a pretty good fight but eventually his ship was hit, and even the light cruiser had had some damage. It was only know Commander Sato entered the fray.
"Mart! Mart, are you okay," he worriedly shouted over the holocom system. Hearing his uncle's voice, Mart perked up. "I'm here, Uncle Jun, I'm okay." The Ghost was able to rescue boy and droid and the Rebels had just entered hyperspace when the Chimaera appeared.
Gulping, Konstantine could barely look at Thrawn in the face. Standing next to him was Minerva, who looked like she had been spending the last hour snogging her handsome fiancée. Smirking sardonically, Thrawn intoned, "Well, Admiral? Where is Iron Squadron?"
Blushing scarlet, Konstantine mumbled, "They were rescued."
Thrawn replied dryly, "You mean, you allowed three teenagers and a droid to escape your capture. Moff Tarkin just received word that every last civilian sympathetic to the Rebellion has escaped, and all under your watch."
Konstantine wasn't sure to scream or cry, this just was not his day! "Well, what in kriff's name was I supposed to do then? Blast that ship into oblivion?"
Thrawn tilted his head, "Really, Admiral. Such behavior in unbecoming-"
"Unbecoming my arse! I'd like to see Mister High and Mighty Tarkin do better!"
Thrawn pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, "Really Konstantine, you are a wonder." His hologram disappeared, and standing there instead was Moff Tarkin!
Kriff!