Chapter 3: Relics of the Old Republic
For all night, the group on the walker had to mount guard shifts one at a time. Ezra had the second to last before Jaral and Sabine, but he had no sleepiness after what just happened, especially considering that his sister seriously risked a grave injury, were it not for her shields.
So when the hour came, he decided that he would stay awake and help. He went up to the girls, who were sleeping inside the Phantom and gently shook both of them.
They protested when they heard that the boy had no intention to go sleep, but they understood that the only way to make him do that was to punch him in the face and they would rather avoid that...for the moment.
As sunrise came an hour later, the girls immediately got to work on the engine when there was enough natural light to do that while Ezra stood guard. Not long after, the clones, Kanan and Zeb were awoke as well.
The sun on Seelos seemed to rise pretty fast and soon the sky was bright and the temperature rose.
In the end, the Empire didn't show up for the night, thus while the rest of the group gathered in the walker's control room, Sabine and Jaral went on with the repairs.
As they examined the burn, Sabine contacted Kanan via comlink.
"The probe hit us pretty badly. Repairs are gonna take a little while longer." she said as Jaral was using the omni-tool to finish another scan.
"We don't have much time. There's no telling when the Empire will get here, we gotta leave the surface fast." Kanan answered.
"Well, the Empire is not our only problem." Jaral said as she peeked over the engine, looking far behind the walker.
"There's a sandstorm coming right behind on us."
Inside the control room, Kanan retorted.
"If the Empire gets here before we take off, the storm will be the last of our problems." and he closed the communication.
Right then, Rex showed up with a small disc.
"Here they are, the coordinates of every Republic base, separatist installation, pirate hideout and smuggler's den in the Outer Rim." he handed it to Ezra, who put it into one of the pockets of his belt.
"Plus a few mandalorian bases that even they have forgotten about." Wolffe added.
"Thank you, Captain." Ezra said merrily. "Sure you won't come with us?"
"Yeah, you're not bad in a fight." Zeb said. "For older gentlemen, that is."
Gregor nudged him wittily and Zeb returned the gesture.
"Yeah…" Rex looked apologetic. "Like I said, our war's over, kid. Don't much care to get mixed up in another. Oh, and say hello to Commander Tano for me."
"You sure? The Empire is on its way, and they will find you."
"Oh, we can take care of ourselves." Rex said confidently and the clones did the same.
"Specter-1 to Specter-2." Kanan said into the comlink. "Gonna be down here a while longer. Give me some good news. Has the Empire showed up yet?"
"I'm a little busy finishing repairs on the Ghost, but Chopper's been scanning. So far, noth…"
Hera stayed silent for a few seconds before she sighed.
"I just had to say that...Star Destroyer just came out of hyperspace. Gonna power down so they can't scan me. Once I finish my repairs I'll come get you. Good luck down there."
The news was bad. The imperials were likely sending down TIE fighters to search them.
"If they follow procedure," Rex explained. "they'll fly search patterns based on our last confirmed position."
"Or they'll call." Gregor said wittily. "Incoming imperial transmission. It's for you, Wolffe" he pointed at the communication screen, which was beeping.
Wolffe looked at the screen baffled.
"They called back? They...they never called back."
Kanan scoffed. "See? This is why I don't trust clones."
"Just send 'em away, Wolffe." Ezra tried to encourage him as he, Kanan and Zeb moved out of the way so they wouldn't be caught by the screen's camera.
"Yeah, it was my mistake." Wolffe said, passing a hand on his neck. "And I'll fix it."
He turned around and answered the call. The face of Agent Kallus was on screen.
"CC-3636, Commander...Wolffe, is it?" the Agent asked quite politely.
"Yes...that's me." Wolffe said nervously. "What can I do for you, sir?"
"Please send me your coordinates so I can investigate the Jedi sightings you reported."
"Wolffe feigned ignorance, though in all honesty his brain tended to short-circuit easily.
"What? Uh, Je...Jedi? Nah, nah, nah...th...there's no Jedi. Here." He covered his right eye. "My, my old, uh, cybernetic eye must be acting up again." he laughed awkwardly.
Rex tried to save the day by barging into the conversation.
"Sorry for wasting your time." he said respectfully.
Kallus, however, was not buying that.
"These images were taken by one of our probe droids." records from the probes showing the AT-TE with the Phantom on it ran on the screen. "It clearly shows you harboring known rebels. Now, surrender them or be destroyed."
Rex smashed his fist against his other hand. "If it is a fight you want, I hope you brought a better class of soldier than those...stormtroopers." he said mockingly, as Wolffe and Gregor looked defiant behind him.
Kallus smirked. "They serve the Empire well, and I've a great many of them."
"Trust me, you're gonna need all of them." and he punched the button to shut the transmission.
Ezra and Zeb were amused. "I like these guys." the Lasat said chuckling.
The walker suddenly rumbled.
Sabine and Jaral ran into the room.
"They found us." the mandalorian announced with her helmet on.
"Looks like the search pattern paid off." Ezra commented.
"Battle stations!" Rex ordered.
Wolffe brought in a crate with various weapons. Among them a Z-6 rotary cannon and a rocket launcher.
Out there, a TIE fighter was making a strafe run against the walker.
The group climbed up to the landing pad. Kanan ignited his lightsabers to protect the Phantom from other hits, but Ezra climbed on the roof of the vessel and activated the bubble shield, covering all the vessel except some edges.
"Ah, nice gadget, kid." Rex commented as he climbed up with the rocket launcher.
Jaral, Sabine and Zeb (who had taken the Z-6) were on the front of the platform, trying to shoot at the TIE as it came down toward them.
Wolffe was taking evasive maneuvers with the walker.
Zeb was shooting furiously with the mini-gun.
"Try shortening your leads, you're wasting ammo." Rex instructed.
"You're welcome to help." Zeb retorted.
The TIE shot a burst that slowly went up through all the landing pad. Rex nonchalantly stepped aside and avoided it.
"Eh, why spoil the fun?" Gregor said, climbing up as well. "We haven't been shot at in years.
"Really? Well, it happens to us every day." Sabine commented.
The TIE gained a little altitude then turned around for another pass.
"You want the shot?" Rex asked, throwing the RPG to Gregor, who gladly caught it.
As the TIE passed over them again, Gregor shot the rocket, which managed to intercept the TIE and blow it up in pieces.
Rex laughed.
"Gregor, you've still got it."
"It's in my blood." Gregor said proudly.
"All right, let's not waste any more time." Jaral said, going back into the Ghost. "Sabine…"
"On it."
"Jinx. Connect to the walker's radio equipment and try to intercept the Imperial transmissions."
"Executing."
"Who is 'Jinx'?" Rex asked.
As the storm kept approaching, Sabine and Jaral worked around the clock to fix the engine, while Ezra finally started explaining to the clones the history of him and Jaral, about their father and the inheritance he left them.
"It seems like you were born to be soldiers." Rex commented at the end of the (shortened) story.
"Kinda like you guys, in a way." Ezra said with a smile.
Kanan frowned at his Padawan bonding with the clones. He didn't like that comment one bit. A Jedi shouldn't think he's a soldier, at least that was Kanan's opinion after the Clone Wars.
Ezra noticed that he was leaning against the seat of the turret.
"Hey, may I take a look?" he asked to Rex, who motioned him to seat.
"Traverse controls are on the left, the elevation on the right." he happily explained.
Ezra pushed the two levers of the controls a bit, taking familiarity with the cannon.
"Say…" he asked after he was done. "What was it like to fight in something like the Clone Wars?"
"Well," said Rex. "I don't think the fight ever got to Lothal. I tell ya, war was never dull. The general I fought with was among the greatest of the Jedi. I trusted him with my life more times than I can count. And, well, I tried my best to keep that trust."
"All right," Sabine announced. "With a bit of luck, we might be able to leave soon."
"I wouldn't be so optimistic." Jinx said from Jaral's omni-tool.
"What's now, Jinx?" Jaral asked.
"I'm detecting three heavy transports deploying vehicles at point 2-4."
Ezra turned in that direction, more or less on the front-left of the walker and saw them.
"AT-AT. Three of them." he said grimly.
They were coming straight for the AT-TE in a line formation.
"How many legs they got?" Wolffe asked as the three clones were on the frontal gangplank.
"Looks like four?" Gregor said, passing the binocular to Rex.
"Four? How are they not falling over?"
"Look at the size of those things."
Rex took a good look.
"Hmm. Reinforced armor plating, heavy cannons, and antipersonnel blasters." he said with a certain enthusiasm.
"Glad you guys are so excited," Ezra commented. "But those giant death-machines are coming for us and we don't stand a chance here in the open."
"You're right." Rex said. "Wolffe, set vector 2-9-0." he ordered.
That vector would bring them right into the storm.
"Wait, I get that here we would be blown to bits." Kanan said. "But how is going into the storm put us in a better position?"
"Well, the storm will scramble all the sensors. We will all be blind." Jaral commented.
"Can't Jinx jam them anyway?" Sabine asked.
"Negative." the AI responded. "At best I can shut them down for a few seconds, but as you should know, Sabine, the only weak point of those walkers is the neck."
"Which means that we should flank them or go right beneath them. And it's not gonna happen here under perfect visibility for both of us." Ezra finished.
"Glad you guys understand." Rex said. "We'll fight on our terms. Our sensors will be blind, but a Jedi won't."
Kanan couldn't help but agree.
"Gregor, drop the joopa, we gotta moving."
From inside the walker, Gregor groaned. Then the joopa dropped on the surface.
As the walker turned tail, the AT-AT opened fire, but they were still out of range.
Sabine came out of the Phantom.
"Kanan, I'm not sure how far we'll get, but I think she'll fly." she removed the helmet and wiped out the sweat from the forehead.
"Good enough for me." said Kanan. "We're leaving." and took the comlink to call Zeb.
"Kanan wait." Jaral stopped him. "They're practically on us, they'll shoot us down in a second."
"She's right, Kanan, we won't go far."
"All right, then, everybody inside."
Jaral closed the door of the Phantom as they all ran down the pad.
"Sir, yes sir." Rex mumbled with a bit of nostalgia.
They went inside just as the AT-TE immersed itself into the storm.
In orbit, Hera had turned off all the instrumentation on board, including Chopper, to avoid the scanners of the Star Destroyer, which was now above the Ghost.
"That's it. I can't wait anymore." she mumbled angrily. It had been almost two hours since the Star Destroyer came. The Ghost was barely illuminated by the reflected light coming from the planet below and she had to finish the repairs.
Hera got near the deactivated Chopper and switched him to the minimum energy.
Chopper warbled in rage and acted like he was in danger.
"Calm down, Chop, they're right above us." she said indicating the Star Destroyer, which was clearly visible even in the darkness of space.
Hera started crawl back into the space of the nose gun, from where she could work on the back of the pilot's panel.
"They must've finished their initial scan, but I don't want to take any chances. Keep your power on low, and help me put this panel back together."
Chopper protested.
"You're not gonna work slower than you normally do." Hera unmasked him.
Everyone would consider entering into a storm like that a madness, even with a vehicle. As foresaw, the sensors were going crazy and it was impossible to see more than a couple of meters away.
Probably Rex and the clones had a faint hope that the imperials would give up the chase, but agent Kallus wasn't a guy to give up, as proven by the simple fact that he had been chasing the Ghost crew for more than a year at this point and was still ready to go after them.
The AT-AT were slightly faster than the TE, on account that they could take longer steps and the engines were definitely more efficient than those of that old walker.
As the crew had already established, their only option was to use Kanan's ability to use the Force to navigate into the storm and escape from the AT-AT, maybe even place a good shot in the neck to one of them with the main cannon. That, however, would reveal their position.
"If you are willing to trust me, I can get us that shot." Kanan declared once they had finished to review the plan.
"I always trust my general." Rex said.
Kanan then closed his eyes and reached out to the Force. He could feel the energy flowing through the conduits of the machines, thus allowing him to identify the AT-TE and the AT-AT around him.
He could tell that the AT-AT were catching up, however they were not directly behind them, as they couldn't see where they were going.
However, Kallus seemed to have a bit of understanding of what was going on, and even if he couldn't see them, he managed to put the imperial walkers in a favorable position. After many minutes of maneuvering, Kanan opened his eyes again.
"If what I sense is right, we're surrounded." he said.
"What?" Ezra asked.
Rex thought about it.
"You put us right in the middle of 'em to get us a shot." he understood. "It's crazy, but it's probably our best chance."
"Once we fire, we'll reveal our location." Sabine reminded everyone. "If we miss, it's all over."
"I'll take the shot." Gregor said.
"No, Ezra should take the shot." Kanan countered.
"What? Why me?" the boy asked.
"He's right." Rex agreed. "We need a Jedi down here and a Jedi manning the cannon. You two are the only ones who can see in this storm." he put a hand on Ezra's shoulder to encourage him.
Ezra finally agreed.
"Jaral, spot him." Rex ordered.
The siblings put on their helmets and headed out.
The wind was blowing like crazy and the teens struggled a bit to move forward. The sand also made the layers of durasteel a little slippery. Ezra almost fell down once, but Jaral was ready to catch him.
Finally, they got to the cannon. Ezra sat at the controls while Jaral held on to the small tent over the seat.
Even their pretty advanced technology could do little to help them see through the tempest.
"Just relax, and you'll get it, ok?" Jaral tried to reassure him, though she was actually trying to reassure herself.
"Don't worry. I never miss." he joked.
With that, he waited instructions from Kanan.
"Ezra, there is a walker somewhere around point 5".
"Somewhere around point 5? Very interesting." he commented sarcastically as he turned the turret in the direction he was given.
"Scopes are completely useless. Guess I can't use my eyes for this."
"You don't need to see it with your eyes. The walker is there. Trust yourself." his Master reassured him.
Ezra closed his eyes and focused. He could start to feel the energy flowing through the AT-AT in front of them, which was by now turning his right side on the turret.
The boy waited patiently, until the Force told him where his opportunity laid.
The cannon fired its blue bolt. Two seconds later a massive explosion followed suit, then the sound of tons of metal groaning and falling down.
"You got it!" Jaral yelled enthusiastically, slapping his shoulder.
Since she was keeping the comlink open, Kanan didn't waste a second.
"Wolffe, there's an opening, go for it!"
The commander pushed the levers of the movement at full throttle, moving away the walker as Kallus ordered the remaining AT-AT to fire at the source of the energy burst.
Around three minutes later, the AT-TE came out of the storm. The Imperials wouldn't take long to do that too, so Rex led Kanan, Zeb and Sabine in front of the Phantom, where Ezra and Jaral were still waiting.
"Great shot, kid." said Rex. "Now get moving. This is your only chance."
"What? We can't leave now." Jaral protested.
"We have to get the intel they gave us back to the Rebellion." Kanan explained as Zeb and Sabine entered the small vessel.
"The other part of the mission was to take Rex with us. We can't abandon them." Ezra insisted.
"You're not abandoning anyone. We're covering your escape." Rex told the siblings.
"We're soldiers, kids. This is what we were born to do." he said putting a hand on a shoulder each.
The siblings looked down in a mix of respect for that decision but also the feeling that this wasn't right. Their helmets still hiding their faces. Then resigned themselves and got into the Phantom, closing the door as Kanan lifted the vessel from the walker.
The mood was grim in the backseats while Kanan contacted Hera.
"Specter-1 to Ghost, do you copy?"
After a brief silence, there was an answer. "Affirmative, Specter-1. I have no idea why, but the Star Destroyer just left. How are things down there?"
Kanan sighed. "Rex and the clones are covering our escape. We're coming back with the data we came for."
"I'm sorry. At least you got the data we need. We're finishing the last repairs then we'll rendezvous with you as soon as possible."
Ezra felt the urge to speak up.
"Kanan, you know better than us that they won't surrender. This fight will be their last."
The older Jedi thought about those words, then snorted. "I hate it when he is right." he mumbled.
He put on the autopilot and stood up, looking at the rest of the squad.
"I have my issues with clones, but I don't want those men to die."
Everyone smiled in approval. Jaral stood up immediately.
"Then if you allow me, I have a plan."
"Be my guest." Kanan chuckled.
"Sabine, get to the controls." she said to her battle-sister while putting her helmet back on.
The mandalorian happily obliged and turned the Phantom back toward the battle at full speed.
They needed a few other minutes to get back, and they quickly saw that the AT-TE seemed to hold together by sheer miracle and was literally wrestling with one of the AT-AT, the one on which Agent Kallus was supervising the operation.
The AT-TE seemed like it was trying to climb on the frontal legs of the bigger walker, which was in turn pointing its gun down and finish the lower walker.
Sabine fired a few shots on the beast's flank, more to distract it than to do any damage.
"Get us on the other one." Jaral ordered as she stepped in front of the door, ready to open it.
Sabine executed a parabola with the Phantom. When the vessel was exactly pointing its tail over the head of the second AT-AT, the squad jumped out.
They landed on the behemoth's head. Kanan and Ezra immediately ignited their lightsabers and quickly cut away the round hatch, leaving room for Zeb to jump in and smash the two drivers' heads against each other.
Then Jaral and Ezra quickly hijacked the commands and fired the cannons against the other AT-AT, which was exposing its flank completely to them.
After a few shots, the monster was full of holes, but in the end, it was Rex who managed to shoot it in the neck again, sending it crashing down on the surface together with the AT-TE, but to the latter, the fall was less disastrous as it was shorter in height and thus had to fall for a shorter distance.
Despite this, the squad saw Kallus and the drivers get away aboard two speeders, which were part of the standard inventory of an AT-AT.
Rex, Gregor and Wolffe all came out of the smoking AT-TE and bumped their forearm in their salute, then turned toward Kanan, who was still standing on the top of the head, and gave him the military salute.
While Wolffe and Gregor decided to stay on Seelos and establish a mobile base using the newly captured AT-AT, Rex finally decided to accept the offer to get back with the Ghost crew back to Phoenix cell.
Once they docked with the Liberator and went on board, the Specters found Ahsoka waiting for them. When they stepped aside, Rex came forward with a witty smile and stood straight up in front of the Togruta.
"Commander." he said with mock discipline, keeping his hands behind his back.
Ahsoka looked at him actually stunned for a second, then she stepped in front of him with a faint smile.
"You got old." Rex joked.
"Had to happen sometime, Rex." she said in kind.
Ahsoka then dropped the faint smile and just threw her arms around his neck, catching the captain by surprise for a moment.
"I'm glad you're still alive." Rex finally said, quickly hugging her on her back.
Ahsoka left the hug to face him. "You too." she said.
Rex sighed and turned to indicate the Specters. "Well, I wouldn't be if it weren't for these guys."
Ahsoka made a polite nod with her head.
"Thank you for trusting my friend." she said looking at Kanan in particular.
Kanan chuckled. "It wasn't easy." then he saw that his comment made Rex a bit uncomfortable.
"It still isn't." Kanan couldn't bring himself to lie.
"Nothing worth doing ever is." Ahsoka said with a wise tone.
Then they all headed toward the command bridge, finding Sato and Darvos discussing around the holotable. The two officers stood at attention as the group entered.
After Rex made his introductions and received a warm welcome by the officers, Ezra delivered the disc to Darvos, who quickly connected it to the mainframe and the coordinates showed up on the galaxy map on the holotable.
"This is...way more than I expected." Sato was surprised at how many different locations Rex had signaled.
"I didn't event know that the Lothal sector was so extensive." Jaral commented.
"Yeah, the galaxy is even bigger than tend to think, and that's not even counting the Unknown Regions or the Wild Space." Rex said.
"True," Sato said. "but we can't just settle everywhere. Even if we find a relatively safe location, it would be useless outside of the Lothal sector."
"I agree. We need a base that will allow us to lay low while at the same time near enough to Lothal to allow us to raid the Imperial lines without wasting all of our fuel." Darvos added.
"Then we better get started." Jaral sentenced, earning a few worried gazes.
"Jaral, you just came back from a mission. You and the rest of the crew should go resting." Darvos said.
"I can stay up another couple of hours. Besides, you'll want me and Jinx to help you sort out this mess." she retorted.
"Precisely." Jinx commented from her forearm. "You organics would take too much time establishing the necessary parameters."
Chopper laughed, blabbering something about how the "meat-bags" can do nothing without machines.
"All right, we better take Chopper back on the Ghost before these two stage a machine revolt." Ezra said jokingly. "But seriously, sis, be sure to take some rest."
"Oh, don't worry about me, lil' bro. I'll take my time." and she gently nudged Darvos without turning to look at him. The lieutenant shook his head with a faint smile to Ezra.
"Uh-uh…" Ezra mumbled with a knowing smirk. "Well, good work, then." he said turning his back on them and heading for the door.
The rest of the Specters hesitated for a moment.
"Captain Syndulla, that goes for your team as well." Sato said respectfully. "Your team is dismissed until new orders, as for you, Captain Rex…"
"Oh I'm gonna help you as well. You'll show me the dorms later." he replied waving a hand in front of his face.
"We'll find a solution." Ahsoka said jokingly at him, knowing that Rex was far from being a person with big demands for comfort. He would probably settle to sleep on a stool chair.
"All right, then." Hera concluded. "If you need anything, you know how to find us." and she led the Specters out of the bridge and back to the Ghost.