Ghost, near Ibaar:
"The Empire has doubled our work quotas and cut our rations. Without your food drop, the weakest among us will starve." a man said weakly over the cockpit's holoprojector as they headed towards the planet Ibaar with two A-wings and corvette with them through hyperspace.
"Stay strong, my friend. We'll be there soon." Kanan assured him. "You have our deepest gratitude, Phoenix Squadron." the man replied as they all dropped out of hyperspace. "Our underground network is standing by at the drop zone to distribute-" the man's words were interrupted as his hologram started fading.
"The transmission is being jammed." Sabine said from where she worked on the cockpit's left side console while Chopper warbled. "Looks like the Empire came out to welcome us." Hera said as they saw three Arquitens-class command cruisers and three C-ROC Gozanti-class cruisers near the planet.
"Attention, rebel convoy. This system is under Imperial control. Stand down or be destroyed." Kallus' voice came over their comm a minute later. "What a surprise. Agent Kallus." Zeb said with a frown. "I'll give him this, he's persistent." the Twi'lek commented before addressing Phoenix Leader.
"Phoenix Leader, your pilots ready?" she asked him. "As ready as we'll ever be, Captain Syndulla." he replied as three more A-wings joined after detaching from the corvette while the Imperials sent six TIE fighters at them.
"Just handle those TIEs, Phoenix Leader." Hera ordered as the TIEs closed in. "We'll cover you, Ghost. Start your run." Phoenix Leader assured before the Twi'lek piloted the ship through the middle of the TIEs as they flew past while opening fire.
Anakin took Sabine's spot by the console to monitor the ship's systems while she took the co-pilot seat incase Hera needed help and the others left the cockpit to take their stations on the ship. "Zeb, bandit at 270!" Hera said over the ship's comm. "I see him. Karabast!" he exclaimed as a few red blasts passed by two TIEs.
"Ezra, coming in at point three." she said as a TIE came in for an attack run in front, fortunately it didn't get close enough before the kid destroyed it with the nose gun.
"Kanan, two marks at 185." she said before Anakin sensed another TIE pilot die. Unfortunately they were now getting close enough that the cruisers could now fire on them.
"This is Transport 1. We're taking heavy fire!" the captain of that transport exclaimed. "Stay on course, Transport 1." she ordered as the cruisers suddenly focused fire on the transport.
"Losing forward deflectors!" the captain exclaimed in fear as the teens and older woman watched the cruisers continue firing. "We're almost through!" she exclaimed as kept flying towards the Imperials.
"We're not gonna make it! We're not gonna make it! Captain Syndulla!" the transport captain exclaimed before the corvette suddenly exploded. "We lost the transport." Phoenix Leader said grimly as a solemn look appeared on Hera's face.
"All ships, abort! Abort!" she ordered after a moment of silence while pulling the ship around and heading back towards the direction they came. "We have to get out of here!" Phoenix Leader exclaimed before they heard his cry of horror and the ex-merc sensed his death.
"We lost Phoenix Leader. They're cutting us to pieces!" another A-wing pilot exclaimed. "Set heading 267. All ships, jump now!" she ordered before the blue vortex of hyperspace surrounded the ship.
Shantipole:
Anakin, Sabine and Zeb sat in the back of the Phantom as Hera piloted it into the planet's atmosphere. "Well, I did a little research on why it's so hard to land here." she explained. "And?" Sabine and Zeb asked at the same time.
"The upper atmosphere is tricky." she replied. "Tricky how?" Anakin asked. "You can get through it, but your craft never seems to maintain its power." the Twi'lek replied. "Whoa. What does that mean? I don't know what that means." Zeb said, sounding worried.
"It means no power, no flying, just falling." the Mandalorian girl replied as the shuttle started to do just that. "Could've mentioned this before I got on board!" the Lasat exclaimed. "You wouldn't have come!" Hera replied.
Sabine let out a small 'Ow.' after the shuttle was hit by a small lightning bolt, making the ship shake and her to hit the side with her shoulder as Hera tried to keep them steady. As they exited the storm a few seconds later, Hera quickly pulled them into a turn and narrowly missed hitting a huge rock pillar.
"Wait. Was that a ship? That was a ship!" Zeb exclaimed after they passed said broken ship that was lodged into the side of one of the pillars. "That was your imagination." the Twi'lek replied before hitting a pillar with the shuttle's right wing.
"There! The landing field." she said as they noticed it not far from where they were falling. "Is that your imagination?" Zeb asked. "You better hope not. Brace for impact!" she replied.
A few seconds after her reply, the shuttle crashed onto the small landing strip and slid to the other end before stopping just as half the shuttle was hanging over the edge.
Zeb groaned in discomfort as he rubbed his neck. "Am I dead? I don't smell dead." he said before standing and taking a step towards Hera. Unfortunately his weight shuttle to tilt slightly more over the edge.
"Zeb! Zeb, get to the back of the ship!" Hera exclaimed as she stood an pushed towards the back a bit, fortunately that seemed to work as the shuttle soon started balancing itself back out with everyone in the back.
The momentum of the shuttle righting itself caused the door to opening and fling everyone outside. "That hurt." Anakin groaned before picking himself up and rubbing his sore face. 'Starting to wish I hadn't left my helmet behind...'
"Who are you?" a voice asked before they turned their attention to a Mon Calamari looking at them. The four picked themselves up off the ground while an R-series droid was controlling a forklift that pulled the shuttle away from hanging over the side.
"You're Quarrie, right? Captain Rex sent us." the Twi'lek said before Quarrie smiled. "Ah. You're here about my ship." he replied. "Any landing you can walk away from is a good one." she said while Sabine folded her arms.
"After a good landing, you can still fly the ship." the Mon Calamari said. "Yeah. You know this is a terrible place for ships." she pointed out. "But the perfect place to test them. If it can fly here, it can fly anywhere. And it's also the last place the Empire would look." he explained before gesturing for them to follow.
"Come. Let's get out of this wind." he added before they followed him to the large shed.
"Pardon the mess. I don't get many visitors. Most of 'em crash." he said while pushing the door open. "There she is. What do you think? I call it the Blade-wing." he said as they walked over to it.
"Uh That's a ship? Is it upside down?" Zeb asked, sounding confused. "Looks like it's been through a garbage masher." the Mandalorian girl said. "Oh, this is one of my most advanced designs. Fast, agile, a narrow attack profile. And it packs a punch. High intensity blasters, ion cannons, and proton torpedoes." Quarrie explained.
"Great. I can't wait to take it out. The fleet really needs this." Hera replied with a smile as she walked up to him. "The fleet, huh? What makes you think she's yours just for the taking?" he grumbled before walking past her and towards the exit.
"I can't believe that old carp isn't gonna let you fly his ship. You ask me, he's been out of the water too long." Zeb griped as Hera and the teens tried fixing the shuttle. "I can't fix the Phantom, not with the spare parts we have on board." the Twi'lek said as the teens exited the shuttle.
"And more good news. Our comm system's fried. We can't contact the Ghost." Sabine told them. "So we're stuck here. Perfect." Hera said dryly before Quarrie and his droid came over to them with some mechanical stuff.
"I noticed your aft stabilizer is cracked. What else you need?" he asked. "Power bus relay, a flux converter, some plasma conduit." she replied as the droid moved towards them. "BeeGee will get you sorted." the Mon Calamari said while gesturing to the droid before the Lasat and teens followed it.
The rebels and Quarrie watched as BeeGee pushed the Blade-wing towards the landing strip as Hera got ready to fly it.
"You're lucky to have her as your pilot." Zeb told the Mon Calamari as the Twi'lek started the ship up. "How many times have you flown it." Sabine asked, folding her arms as he turned to face them.
"Me? Oh, I don't fly. Too dangerous. But theoretically, it should fly." he replied with a smile as shocked looks crossed the Lasat and couple's faces. "Theoretically?" Zeb and Sabine asked in surprise. "That's reassuring." Anakin retorted sarcastically.
"Better to be down here wishing I was up there than up there crashing back down here." Quarrie replied before turning back around to face the ship. "If that ship crashes, I'll toss you over the side, and see how well you fly!" Zeb threatened as the teenage girl kept him from grabbing the Mon Calamari.
A few seconds later the Twi'lek gave them a thumbs up before moving the ship off the landing strip and taking off forward. The group watched as she only made it a few feet before losing altitude and falling.
"Hera!" Zeb exclaimed in horror as he and the teens quickly ran to the edge of the strip. After a moment of trying to find her below the clouds, the Blade-wing suddenly shot past them and into the sky before the three cheered for her.
Quarrie and the others went to the top floor of his home to watch her more easily right before she flew by. "Masterful." he said in awe.
"I was kind of hoping your ship packed more of a punch, Quarrie." Hera said over his house's comm. "Did you pull the big lever on the right?" he asked. "No." she replied. "Try again." he suggested before a red continuous laser beam came from the ship and destroyed the broken one Zeb had seen when they first came here.
After making another turn, Hera piloted the ship back to them before landing then exiting the ship just as the others walked over to her.
"Your ship certainly has the firepower we need, but the targeting system could use some work." the Twi'lek said to Quarrie. "I've got some ideas." Sabine said with a smirk. "No, no. That's my ship, young one. Just what do you think you're doing?" he questioned while stopping her from moving towards the ship as her smirk fell.
"Never get between a Mandalorian and a weapons package." she said with an even stare. "I do as she says. I've seen her in action and challenging her isn't a good idea." Anakin said to him before BeeGee rolled over and beeped.
"It's Kanan. He'll want to hear about our success." Hera said before handing Zeb her helmet and walking to the Phantom.
"We need to get moving. The second attack is about to commence." Hera addressed them after exiting the shuttle while the teens worked on the Blade-wing with Quarrie and Zeb's help.
"Well, we've got a problem. The energy drain from the multi-cannon firing system killed the hyperdrive." Sabine explained as she walked up to them. "In Basic, please?" Zeb asked with a small exasperated sigh.
"What she means is that the weapons work, but we've got no lightspeed." the ex-merc replied instead. "Well, that has been a problem." the Mon Calamari admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"It's been a problem? You- You mean you knew about this?" Hera snapped as she walked up to him. "What did you expect for a prototype? There are all sorts of adjustments that need to be made. For instance, I don't even like this paint job so much." the said while gesturing to the ship.
Zeb suddenly tossed the crate he holding onto the ground before picking Quarrie up. "Come here, fish face. I want to see if you can fly!" the Lasat growled. "Hang on. Hang on, Zeb. Easy." the Twi'lek said before he dropped the Mon Calamari onto another crate.
"There must be a way to solve this." Hera said. "It's a shame I had BeeGee install that other hyperdrive on the Phantom." he said before sitting up. "You what!?" Hera exclaimed in surprise.
"I don't like seeing a ship that can't fly. During the repairs, I upgraded it, because if you don't have a hyperdrive, you can't fly far." he admitted as he gestured towards the shuttle which BeeGee was now on top of.
"You beautiful, crazy Mon Calamari! That's the answer to our problem." she exclaimed in delight before wrapping him in a big hug. "You've officially lost me." Anakin said with an equally confused Zeb and Sabine beside him.
"What? What's the answer?" he asked, equally confused.
Ibaar:
"I'm gonna swing around and try from another direction." Kanan's voice came over the rebel's open comm after Zeb pulled the shuttle out of hyperspace. "Stay on course, Ghost. I'll knock that cruiser out of your way. Turn me loose, Phantom." Hera said over the comm. "Say hello to Kallus for me." Zeb said with a smirk.
"Oh, we will. If there's anything left of him." Sabine replied over the comm before the Lasat pressed a button that detached the Blade-wing from underneath the shuttle. "May the Force be with you." the ex-merc said to them as they flew towards the Imperial cruisers.
Everybody watched as the ship closed in on the cruisers before launching a red beam at the left cruiser. Seconds after it cut through the cruiser, sections of it started exploding before the whole was engulfed in a huge explosion. "So, maybe it's not such a hunk of junk after all." Zeb admitted with a small smile as Quarrie cheered.
Once the Ghost had made it to the planet, Zeb pulled the shuttle around and flew it towards the other ships. "We have confirmation the drop was successful. Let's go home, Phoenix Squadron." Sato said as Zeb attached the Phantom with the Blade-wing before they and the other rebel ships entered hyperspace.
Phoenix Squadron, Ghost:
Anakin, Zeb, Quarrie, BeeGee and the two Jedi entered the docking port where Sabine, Sato and Hera were waiting with smiles on their faces. "It seems Senator Organa has found a ship works sympathetic to our cause, and willing to manufacture more of these B-wings in secret." Sato said as the other walked up to him and the girls.
"Project Shantipole will continue under my supervision, of course. There are many adjustments that need be made." he replied before continueing towards the corvette.
"Quarrie, thanks to you and your ship, we helped many people today." Hera said as he passed her before stopping and turning. "I just hammered it together, young pilot. You made it soar." he replied, mirroring her smile be he and BeeGee entered the corvette.
"Indeed. Your heroics are unparalleled, Captain Syndulla. That is why I agree with Kanan's recommendation." Sato said as he and Hera turned to face each other. "Your recommendation? What have you done now?" she asked Kanan while giving him a look. "Just listen to the Commander." he replied, folding his arms and leaning against the wall.
"You are to be promoted to Phoenix Leader. Our fighter pilots will benefit greatly from your expertise." Sato said before he and the others, minus Kanan, saluted. "Good job, Captain Hera." he said before giving her a two finger salute. The Twi'lek smiled at her friends before returning the salute.
Chapter 17 done.
