It was difficult to get around Mount Vastadon, dues to the steep, difficult terrain and the snow that was knee-deep in some places.
"Is it cold perhaps?" the Seventh sarcastically asked.
"Yes, it is." replied Sabine quivering. "And it's still hard for me to believe that it doesn't bother you at all."
"And yet, it's true dear." spread the Seventh her arms, not showing any signs of shivering, although she was not wearing any coat, just her grey tunic with her shoulders exposed to the harsh temperature. As she looked at her three human companions who were shuddering, she was quite grateful that her species could take cold easily. Of course she felt that it was cold, but for her it was nothing special.
"Stop!" said Kanan who was in the front with his hand raised. "Get down!"
"What is it Kanan?" asked Sabine as the four knelt down behind a snowy ridge.
"Before us, at those rocks."
"I sense them too." added Ezra, looking in said direction.
"Spectre Seven?"
"Same here."
Sabine looked more carefully and now she noticed them too. There were two Imperial snowtroopers standing guard in the narrow mountain pass, their white armor hid them very well as they were standing before the snowy mountainside. But still, not well enough to remain unseen for two Jedi and a former Inquisitor.
"Do you guys see a way to get around them?" asked Kanan.
"Perhaps another pass, but we have no time for that." said Sabine. "We have to go through here."
"Alright. Any ideas what could distract…"
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
He was interrupted by two bloodcurdling screams. As Kanan, Ezra and Sabin looked up, they saw the snowtroopers flying toward them in the air very fast. It was over for them within a moment as the two red blades of the Seventh cut through their bodies and they fell to the ground dead.
They all looked at the Seventh who was standing behind them with ignited lightsaber. She looked so casual as if nothing happened. "I knew you wouldn't have liked my idea, that's why I didn't share it with you."
"…"
"Our way is clear, isn't it?"
"Yes. It is. Come on." mumbled Kanan and the quartet continued their journey.
Not too long after this they finally saw their target. High, in the side of the opposite mountain there was a huge, heavy metal door, shielding the underground Depository, built into the core of the Iridium Mountains.
The sight could be misleading. Though the entrance was seemingly guarded by only a single control/observation tower, it was not even a question that it was equipped with a bunch of sensors, scanners, and that there were a lot – a lot – of Imperials on the other side of that gate.
"They chose a good place for storing important things, that's for sure." noted Sabine.
"If it's up to us, it won't stay that way for too long." said Kanan while observing the gate with his binoculars.
"It would be good to hurry however." said Ezra. "The fleet is probably already in hyperspace."
"Well? Any suggestions?" asked Kanan.
"You mean we came here without a plan?" frowned the Seventh.
"We do have a plan. We're going in there." replied Kanan.
"Hm. I thought in a good faith that you are going to missions more prepared than this." said the Mirialan.
"We usually are. And the key-word here is usually." said the blind Jedi. "In this case we knew that passing their defenses will be very difficult. We had to see the entrance first, so we can start planning taking our possibilities into account."
"I see…" The Seventh was not used to this. Improvising was not her thing, she used to follow the instructions she got. She liked to know what's going to happen in theory. Of course she was able adapt to the circumstances if something goes wrong – Inquisitors were quite independent on their missions after all –, but there was always a foot-stone she could build her plan on. This time there was no foot-stone. "Suggestions you say?"
"Yes?"
"I think there's our entry ticket." said the Seventh pointing upwards.
They heard a low sliding sound in the air, as up on the high railway viaduct, a caterpillar like vehicle was speeding toward the gate of the Depository.
The others looked at each other, knowing what their newest team member was thinking about.
"How do you want to get a ride with one of those?" asked Kanan.
"If we can find a place where we can get on, I'll show you."
"I hope it's a better plan than your previous one." commented Kanan.
"It's a matter of taste." the Seventh said with a sideway look.
The four rebels headed for the next mountain behind which the rails of the 20-T Railcrawler conveyex transport train were coming from. Like Ezra said, their time was short, therefore they had to go and climb in a forced march, which was not easy at all due to the snow and the freezing wind. This latter two however still not bothered the Seventh at all.
"There it is." she said, looking down from another ridge. Down there, multiple meters below them there were the rails.
"Again. So we jump on it, hide in one of the wagons and have ourselves brought in there." summarized Sabine notion of the Seventh.
"By and large yes."
"Don't they have life sign sensors?"
"Of course they have. That's why we have to choose our wagon carefully."
Only a few minutes later that high whistle filled the cold air again. "Time it right. I will not recover the dead body of any of you if you miss it." said the Seventh and already stood into a ready position.
As Kanan, Ezra and Sabine did the same, the train appeared in the bend. It was closing and closing at extremely high speed.
Closer, closer, closer…. "Now!"
They all jumped of the cliff and in the exact moment the Railcrawler got under them, their feet touched its top. They immediately had to hold into something to not get blown away by the strong headwind.
"Okay, and now?" yelled Kanan.
"Wait a second." replied the Seventh then touched the top of the wagon they were on and concentrated. "This one's not good for us." she said and searched with the Force again. "The second wagon behind us. Come on!"
Two more precise jumps later they were on the said cargo wagon. "There will be some people inside there who will not welcome us." said the Seventh and took her lightsaber. "React quickly." she said then ignited her blade and cut a hole into the metal roof. Just as the cut piece fell into the wagon she jumped down through the hole, followed by the others.
"What the…..?!" One of the stormtroopers inside could only say this before he was killed by the Seventh's weapon. The other three fired a few shots before they were also finished by the two Jedi and the Mandalorian. This time they didn't complain about neutralizing the enemy either.
"Here you are. In the Depository they know that their sensors should see four living being inside here. So they'll see four living beings inside here." said the Mirialan.
"We'll also have to find a way to sneak out from here undetected." reminded them Sabine.
"We'll do that somehow too. First – if you let me to make another suggestion – hide them so they'll not suspect anything immediately when they open this wagon." said the Seventh.
They hid the four dead Imperial troopers under the cargo. Then waited. And waited. And waited on silently.
X
The young Imperial captain, Larus Meron was sitting bored before his control panel in the small control room, stationed high above the train station. The red light of the indicator signaled him that another 20-T train was approaching.
"In short: another boring moment of a boring day." he thought, already grimacing at the thought of the formalities, the identification, the checking-in, the scanning, then granting the driver the permission to enter the Depository… "As if anything special could happen."
"Coffee Larus?" a female voice asked from behind him. He turned back in his seat and saw another officer approaching with two mugs in her hands.
"Thank you Lieutenant." nodded Meron. "Gis, could you bring me the reports about the shipments from last month?" he asked the first lieutenant sitting nearby.
"All of them?" asked the officer called Gis with a voice as if he was asking "what for?".
"Yes, all of them."
"Of course Captain." mumbled Gis annoyed as he stood up and left.
The door closed behind him and the two other officers were left alone.
"Lena, I told you not to call me Larus."
"I'm your sister." replied Lena Meron to her younger brother as she handed him the coffee and sat down opposite to him.
"Just don't use my name at least before the others because you're my sister. I don't want them to think that I show favour towards you or something."
"As you wish uhm… Captain." said Lena with a flustered look and tone as she took a sip.
"Say, will you ever get over that I became a captain sooner than you?"
"That's a matter of prestige for a big sister you know."
"And it feels great for a younger brother to outrank his big sister and to be able to send her to do lowly works whenever he wants to."
"Which would be abuse of power Larus."
"I know that." he shrugged, switching to a kinder manner.
"You never change do you?" chuckled Lena.
"Of course not. Maybe in your dreams."
"Believe me, they are very sweet dreams."
These times they both shared a quiet laugh and smiles. The two were indisputably very close and they loved each other. The Empire absolutely didn't like siblings serving at the same place, for in combat they would always think about each other and not the task. However the decision makers probably thought that it will not be a problem on Vandor where a battle was unlikely to happen.
"Remember when we finished the academy?" asked Larus. "We both swore that we'll become general sooner than the other. Who knows, if you perform some unimaginably heroic act you'll skip all those ranks and get promoted to general instantly." he teased his sister.
"Just wait and see! I'll lead the Fleet into three dozens of victorious battles, end the rebellion and save the Emperor himself at once!"
"I can't wait." smiled Larus and shook his head.
"Talking about our graduation day." said Lena. "I hope mom and dad are still as proud of us as they were back then."
"They are sure proud of you."
"And you; don't underestimate yourself. Do you think they are alright?"
"I'm sure. Ah, that train is finally here." said Larus, watching as the Railcrawler rolled in.
X
Kanan just finished cutting another hole, this time in the bottom of the wagon. "Let's go and remain silent." he whispered.
The four rebels climbed out of the train and crawled out from under it. Fortunately for them, it stopped right beside the wall of the hangar so they had a place to hide.
"This way!"
They sneaked in the narrow gap between the train and the wall, until they reached a big, round shaped metal door.
"This leads to a service tunnel." explained Kanan. "Inside there we can wander around the Depository relatively unseen."
"We'll need a code." pointed Sabine at the panel beside the lock.
"Let me." said the Seventh, knelt down and removed the plate under the panel, revealing a huge mess of various colored wires.
"You can open it like that?"
"Or I'll sound the alarm, we'll see."
"That's very calming." noted Sabine and looked behind their backs as if she was already preparing for charging stormtroopers. They didn't come though as the Seventh reshuffled the cables correctly and instead of alerting the Imperials of their presence, she gained them access and the lock opened. "Okay. That was cool."
They opened the door a crack and they found themselves in the long, well-lit tunnel where – just as Kanan predicted – there was not a single soul at all.
"How kind of them. They have maps here for visiting rebels." said Ezra after noticing the plat on the wall which was showing the floor map of that entire section of the Depository. "The second tunnel to the left leads to the server room of the sensors and radars."
"Don't waste our time then." replied his master and so they went in the named direction.
Ezra was leading the line, followed by Kanan and Sabine while the Seventh was at the back.
For the Mirialan it was still hard to process what was happening. She infiltrated and Imperial facility to help to destroy it with a group of rebels, and not just with any rebels but the ones she was so determined to hunt down and destroy for long years. With a Mandalorian and two Jedi. And one of said Jedi reawoke feelings in her she thought she'll never feel again. He became probably the only being in the galaxy who cared about her. And who one night turned from her mortal enemy into her lover.
If not that long ago someone would have told her that these things will happen she would have decapitated that person without thinking for being a complete idiot and for annoying her with such nonsense.
And now she is infiltrating an Imperial facility as a rebel and she did misbehave with a Jedi whom she… liked? Yes, perhaps that would be the best word to describe it.
Although they were ready to fight with any Imperial at any moment, they met with no one. Does the enemy think that it's impossible for the rebels to get in here so it's not necessary to guard these tunnels? Not a good idea, this overconfidence can be a grave mistake. Because of this overconfidence the four members of the Ghost crew reached their target without a problem.
"The server room is on the other side of this ventage." whispered Ezra.
"Do you think anyone is in there?" asked Sabine with prepared pistols.
"The place is mostly automatized, there's a chance that it's empty." said Kanan. "But be careful."
"Well, there's only one way we can find out." said Ezra and silently removed the bars. After that they all climbed through the angular hole.
They were just standing and listening for half a minute but nothing.
"Sabine and I will do the work here." said Kanan quietly. "Ezra, you and Spectre Seven go to the room next to us. There you find generators that produce energy for various systems around the Depository and parts of the communication system. Belabor them a little bit."
"We're on it." nodded Ezra. "Come." he gestured to the Seventh.
"Definitely. If the task is cutting things up to little pieces you can count on me."
"Not that you haven't done that before anyway…"
"Sorry dear Ezra, it's my nature." the ex-Inquisitor poked his nose as she headed to the generator room. "Which you cannot deny that you like. Let's proceed shall we?"
Ezra couldn't see the faces of Kanan and Sabine but he was sure that they were watching the scene with eyebrows raised into the sky.
He gave them an embarrassed look then followed the Mirialan.
"What was that?" asked Sabine when they were left alone with Kanan.
"Never mind, just let them." waved it off the Jedi knight.
"I don't know, perhaps I'm overprotective. But…"
"He'll be fine. He already is. He knows his principles and harming him would be the last thing she would want to do. Plus, looks like he has a good influence on her."
Right after he said that they heard the strike of a lightsaber, followed by two painful screams.
"You think so?" asked the Mandalorian woman.
"There's still work to do. And even if she changed as a person, I don't think her personality could ever really change. But that doesn't have to be a problem."
"Huhh. I hope you're right."
"Come on Sabine. Let's get to work." said Kanan and ignited his blue blade.
X
"Wouldn't it be easier to just knock them down?" asked Ezra as he was dragging away one of the two technicians the Seventh killed a minute earlier.
"To each their own Bridger." replied the Mirialan and laid the other body in the corner. "Well then. We are supposed to make "trouble" in here, aren't we?"
"Yeah, something like that."
"Then cause trouble shall we?" The Seventh then took her saber to look after the closest Imperial generator.
X
"And do you remember when…"
"Ah, sorry Lena, incoming call." apologized Larus and reached for the intercom. "Yes?"
"Captain, our interplanetary surveillance system has ceased working."
"Did you try to restart it?"
"Yes Sir, but it's not responding."
"Hm. Strange." thought Larus. "Alright. I'll notify the Commander. Keep trying. If still nothing happens, send a repairing team there."
"Understood Sir. Should we…" At this point the communication has broken.
"Soldier? Do you hear me?" But Larus' attempt to reach the NCO who called him brought no success. "Fantastic, we surely needed this." he growled.
"Could the problem be with the…" Lena was interrupted; the control panel suddenly went black, followed by nearly half of the lamps.
"With the power supply? Like enough. Hey, are you alright?" asked Larus when he saw the expression on his older sister's face.
"I don't know. Somehow I have a very bad feeling about this." said Lena as she looked around in the dim control room.
"Don't be paranoid please, that's something I don't need momentarily. It must be only some…" Suddenly the ground shook under their feet. "What the kriff?"
Seconds later the sirens sounded all around the Depository.
"General quarters, general quarters, all hands man your battle stations! We are under attack!" announced the loudspeaker.
Larus turned in one of the monitors, one of the few things that were still working in there.
"What's out there?" asked Lena frowning.
"Uhm…" That was all that Larus could say as he pointed at the screen. Lena went there and her heart skipped a beat. The surveillance camera showed that the lower atmosphere was filled with who knows how many rebel ships, including their biggest cruisers.
"Damn it! Come on!" yelled Larus, taking Lena by the arm. The both run out of the control room, taking their service weapons out of their holsters.
X
"Welcome to Vandor Admiral." Hera said into the radio as she was taking off with the Ghost.
"It's too white for my taste. But it's good to hear your voice General Syndulla." Admiral Ackbar replied from his flagship.
"The same here. With your permission, I join the party."
The Ghost flew around Mount Vastadon and Hera saw the squadrons of X-wings, Y-wings and other starfighters raining down from the sky. Many of the Imperial guns however remained silent.
"I think they did a good job in there." noted Zeb who was sitting in the gun tower.
"I had no doubt. Let's hope that they'll do a good job with coming back in one piece too."
And with this Hera turned toward the Depository and joined the assault.