I own nothing except a few characters and the plot.
STAR WARS REBELS
The New Spectres
Padawans & Anniversaries
NEW YORK
Three of the four teenage Spectres and their droids had been dropped off at the office by Jacen after their classes were over, but were asked to leave by Tevin soon after arriving as he was expecting a visit from Major Hochster and he wished to avoid hearing one of the Major's screaming fits that seemed to be provoked by the mere presence of any of the four teens in the same area as him. Noah took the time to visit Abdul at his soup stand while Josh and BB-8 were at McKnight Shoes tormenting the customers there. Lucy and R9 made their way to The Bronx and checked in on Darius who was working that day.
"My dad threw us all out of his office because Major Ring of Steel is visiting him today." She said to Darius and Lamar Clarkson.
"Every time that guy sees me he starts screaming and shouting." Darius told her.
"When do you go to court on this attack?" Lamar asked Darius.
"Colonel Pratchard dropped those charges. He said he had enough between the double murder and treason to put them away for life." Lucy explained.
"I hope they didn't get released."
"Bail Reform doesn't apply to the Remnant and it doesn't apply to murder. My dad also told my Uncle Tyler that the only contact with the outside world they're allowed to have is with their lawyers."
"Where are the other two?" Darius asked.
"Josh and BB-8 are at the shoe store and Noah's at the soup stand."
"Tormenting the customers I'm sure."
"Well, Josh is probably doing that at the shoe store. Noah at the soup place, not so much unless someone says they didn't get bread with their soup. Abdul says it's $2 and then Noah jacks it up to $5 when the customer complains further."
"If you told me that a year ago, I wouldn't have believed you. Now, I believe anything you tell me about what kinds of trouble those two start." Darius said.
"Josh starts it way more then Noah. But, sometimes he does have a real reason as opposed to it being for his own amusement."
"Why don't you take your dinner break now?" Lamar suggested. Darius, Lucy, and R9 found their way to a nearby burger joint.
"You know we've been together for a year now. I expect to see them show up at some point, but Hera wasn't too happy with them crashing one of our dates or Chopper for encouraging and helping them do it." Lucy said.
"That was why Chopper got fitted with that restraining bolt around this time last year." Darius told her.
"Which was the second time he got fitted with one. The first time he was fitted with one was after Dad found out he went to the Duty-free at Newark and made off with liquor. Ezra was not happy about it either and lucky for Chopper, Sabine and then Hera and Jacen showed up because Dad said one more incident and Chopper would be scrapped. Getting R9 was Dad's way of saying he meant that." Lucy explained as R9 beeped something at the couple.
"We were talking about him."
"We were talking about Josh and Chopper too."
At the soup stand, Noah was chatting with Abdul and his wife as a stream of customers flowed in and out.
"How is school going?" Abdul asked.
"It's okay. We got rid of the school bullies a week ago." Noah replied as a heavyset woman came up to order and banged on the counter.
"I would like the largest size Chowder you have." She said as Abdul's wife shared a look with Noah, knowing what was to come as the woman saw Noah and gave him a dirty look.
"Why is it that every business I go into there is some teenage punk hanging out in it. The one in the shoe store around the corner was very rude to me. He called me a rhino." Noah snickered to himself knowing that she was talking about Josh.
"Do you know what we say to rhinos around here?" Abdul asked her.
"You must know the clowns at the shoe store then."
"NO SOUP FOR YOU! COME BACK ONE YEAR! NEXT!" Abdul bellowed. The woman turned to leave offended at being called a rhino again.
"The McKnights are good people as was your father." Abdul's wife said while tending to the next customer.
"I haven't seen Landon lately." Abdul said.
"He's working the evening shift right now. I'll tell him to stop in when he gets a chance." Noah said as Jacen Syndulla came up to the counter.
"One large Manhattan Clam Chowder please." Jacen said and moved towards Noah.
"Hello, Jacen." Noah said.
"Where's Josh?"
"He's at the shoe store with BB-8." Abdul's wife took Jacen's money and handed him his soup.
"Thank you." Jacen said and left as the next customer came up to order.
"Chicken Tortilla, Por favor."
"Adios, Muchacho." Abdul said. Noah motioned for the man to leave.
"I'm going to check on Josh." Noah told them and was about to leave when Abdul's wife called to him.
"For you and your friend." She said and gave Noah a bag containing a pair of soups.
"Lobster Bisque." Abdul added.
"Thanks." Noah said to them and left making his way to McKnight Shoes where Josh and BB-8 were watching Gary deal with a customer while AP-5 stood in the background.
"Hey." Josh said to Noah followed by a beep from BB-8.
"For you. Lobster Bisque." Noah handed Josh a soup.
"You didn't get my message about the rhino did you?"
"She got thrown out, banned from there for a year, and was called a rhino again after she said you were a clown and I was a punk kid." Noah explained.
"Rhino?" The customer, a heavyset woman asked.
"We're talking about someone else." Josh replied.
"You're more of a manatee." Gary added.
"That's it. I'm going elsewhere."
"Jenny Craig?" Josh asked.
"How dare you."The customer said and stormed out. Another customer came in a few minutes later. This customer was also a heavyset woman.
"I want my money back. These shoes are useless to me. I wore them once and they broke." She showed Gary and AP-5 a pair of shoes that had split on the sides.
"Let me explain what happened here. You not only exceeded the two-ton weight limit on these shoes but, you also stretched them out beyond what they could handle. Would it work better for you if the soles were glued or welded to your feet?"
"I don't know who's worse sometimes. You or the guy at that soup place."
"I would think that the people who work at the buffet would have labeled you as a human garbage disposal by now." AP-5 said.
"Shut up, Bug-Face." The woman said and stormed out of the store.
The next day, the four teens were in class while Sergeant Sloane handed out papers to everyone. She stopped at Darius and gave him a piece of paper along with an envelope.
"This is the date, time, and place for your Road Test." She explained to him.
"I was waiting to hear about this." He said.
"The Motor Pool Sergeant just found a spot for you. Captain Fanes wants you to have your Class D before you graduate from here." Sloane explained.
"I thought he was busy running an unauthorized casino and loansharking." Noah said.
"Dad found out about that and threatened to have the man court-martialed, shot, and sent somewhere not so nice." Lucy told him.
"The Russian Front." Josh chimed in.
"Guys, discuss who's being court-martialed and why outside of class. These TIE Fighter components are not going to reassemble themselves." After classes ended for the day, Galen Marek took the six up to the office as was the normal routine.
"Different van, so I guess Jacen isn't doing the Vican Run?" Noah asked as they climbed into the van.
"He took Mrs. Jacobs to another doctor's appointment."
"Was it for a Guilt Tumor or a Guilt Rash?" Josh asked.
"For the sake of my appetite and sanity, I didn't ask." Galen said.
"I got the date for my Road Test." Darius told him.
"I thought the Motor Pool Sergeant was busy trying to part people with their money."
"He's going to be court-martialed, shot, and sent to the Russian Front if he's caught doing that again." Noah explained.
"At least court-martialed. We don't shoot people for gambling. Being a loan shark on the other hand." Lucy said as Galen looked over the schedule he was given.
"I drop you guys off then pick something up at Newark. Let me find out what it is. Starguy to The Office. What am I picking up at Newark?" He said into his comlink.
"Passengers. Governor Kell and Captain Mattin are here from Lothal for a meeting with President Houston and others." Tevin replied.
"Copy that." Darius looked at Galen confused.
"Starguy?" He asked.
"It was originally "Starkiller", but Erica didn't like that codename and started calling me Starguy instead. It's a thing in her family. Her grandmother used to refer to Master Skywalker as "Skyguy". He called her "Snips" in return." Galen explained.
"I'm guessing that they have a detail with them. Otherwise, he could have just asked Ezra to go get them." Lucy said.
"There's a Jedi thing this afternoon that he's going to be at involving me and Darius." Josh told her.
"They're not here for a Social Call either." Galen added. Eventually, he dropped them off at the office and went on to meet Jai Kell and Mart Mattin at Newark Spaceport. Once inside, Josh and Darius made their way to the part of the building that had been set aside for the Jedi Order's operations. They ran into Ezra who guided them into a room where Obi-Wan Kenobi waited. Anakin Skywalker arived a few minutes later.
"Anakin, what kept you?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Traffic on the Deegan near Yankee Stadium." Anakin replied.
"Now that you're here, we can begin. As you know, Joshua and Darius reach their 18th birthdays in October. Darius needs to be taught some things about his powers while Joshua needs to go through his Jedi Trials or at least some of them." Obi-Wan explained.
'Which ones are left for you to face have yet to be determined." Anakin added.
"As for Darius, we believe that most of what we may consider to be his Trials have already taken place. The formal process is a drawn out process over time, however there are exceptions to the formal process. I was Knighted after my first encounter with Maul. Master Skywalker was Knighted after a number of his exploits during the Clone Wars. Ezra himself was Knighted soon after he arrived here, having resisted the temptations of the Dark Side from both Maul and Darth Sidious."
"Sidious is like an elephant, he'll never forget someone who basically spat in his face and walked away like it was nothing. But, The Force is like an elephant too. It never forgot what Sidious and his own master did or what Sidous has been doing lately." Anakin said.
"I don't think he knows about Darius yet. Or what he knows about Darius is limited to the point that Darius is as much of threat to him as Noah." Ezra told everyone.
"General Felth said he left orders with Colonel Markem that the three First Order agents arrested recently for killing two of his people and trying to kill me have no contact with The Galaxy at all. Also, I just got the information for when I'm supposed to take the Road Test so I can get my Driver's License." Darius added and gave the envelope Sloane had given him earlier in the day to Ezra.
"You can start flying lessons after you pass that then. Don't worry, we'll use either the Phantom or the Gauntlet for them. I'll talk to General Felth about that. If Kanan's right about what he sees in the future, these two are going to be the ones who will take down Darth Sidious or whatever he calls himself for good. The two biggest snakes I've ever met were him and Darius' mother." Ezra said.
"I think we are done here." Obi-Wan said and dismissed the three. In the kitchen, the three met with Lucy, Noah, and the droids.
"Hey." Lucy said.
"What was that all about?" Noah asked.
"Jedi business." Josh replied as he rummaged through the cabinets.
"Dad forgot to buy our snacks or he couldn't find ones that weren't decorated for today." Lucy told him.
"More likely he didn't expect us to be here for long." Darius said.
"I want some Minestrone. I'll be at Abdul's" Noah said and left.
"I'll see if my dad has something for me to do." Josh told everyone and left followed by BB-8.
"Dinner?" Darius asked Lucy.
"Someplace in mind?" She asked.
"I'll find a place for our anniversary dinner." He replied and walked off with her followed by R9. Ezra watched them leave as Chopper appeared behind him and said something.
"I'm meeting with Landon later. He's on duty and you know that. I should leave you with him as long as he's doing evenings."
Darius and Lucy settled on an Italian place after telling R9 to stay at the office. A waiter came over to them.
"Good evening. Can I interest you in some drinks?"
"A Coke."
"Same." The waiter left and returned a few minutes later with the drinks and some rolls.
"Are we ready to order?"
"Yes we are." They ordered their dinners and ate some rolls.
"Someone said this place has a really rude and sarcastic waiter."
"Maybe they know who we are."
"Or that waiter is off today." Their waiter returned with a pair of salads followed by their entrees a few minutes later. After dinner and deserts, their waiter returned with the check.
"Cheaper then I thought." Darius said.
"The owner was a friend of the Late General Rodgers and his wife. He applies a standard discount to anyone who is part of the Jedi Order or the Remnant out of respect for the General. He also did not charge for the sodas. That is a Valentine's Day Special to encourage our patrons from out of town to not drink and drive."
"Tell him we said thank you and you may keep the change." Darius said as he gave the waiter some money. The couple walked along a street full of people before they bumped into R9.
"Why are you here?" Lucy asked. R9 beeped a response.
"Josh was thrown out of the office by Dad for making a wisecrack about something and BB-8 followed him out." Darius translated.
"We just ate so he's not getting a free dinner out of us."
"I didn't plan to feed him anyway. This was an evening for two, not two and a third wheel droid. Don't you try to shock me."
"R9, be nice. You only do that when I tell you to do that." Lucy told the droid.
"He does have good taste in romantic music though." Darius said.
"Shut up and kiss me." Lucy told him and pulled him into a long kiss as R9 began playing "Here and Now" by Luther Vandross.
"Happy Anniversary." Darius said and began singing along as he put his arm around Lucy and the three made their way along the sidewalk.
