Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars Rebels that goes to Disney, Lucasfilm and Dave Filoni.
Two weeks later after the Ghost crew went to Stygeon Prime to rescue Luminara only to find that she's been dead for years with her body being used to bait the remaining Jedi to their deaths, Satele, Sabine and Hera were on the Phantom as it was being chased by a TIE fighter as the twins sat across from the m each other on the seats in the Phantom's cargo area behind Hera who was piloting the shuttle as the twins had their helmets on their laps with Satele staring at it.
"I wonder how Jai and Zare are doing," Satele muttered to herself.
Three days earlier at an Imperial Academy on Lothal inside one of the halls, Satele was disguised as a scout trooper as she ran down the hall as two young teen males followed her through the halls one of them being dark skinned while the other was tan skinned with reddish brown hair.
"We need to find out who she is and what she's doing here," the male with reddish-brown hair muttered as they saw her turn around a corner.
"You said that something doesn't feels right about her," the dark skinned teen male added a few seconds later after they followed Satele around the corner and as he said that, she sensed them with the Force and grabbed them as she entered a closet with them.
"All right, kids, tell me who you are and tell me why the two of you are following me?" Satele demanded as she aimed her Scout trooper's blaster pistol at them.
"Who are you?" The dark skinned male teen asked her.
"I'm asking the questions here," she reminded him.
"I'm Zare Leonis and this is my friend Jai Kell," the dark skinned teen male answered.
"Alright kids, now that we have been introduced what do you want?" She asked them as she flipped open her scout trooper's helmet revealing her face to them but with black hair instead of her normal brownish-purplish hair and blue contacts for her eyes and as they saw her Jai blushed with a sheepish and shocked expression as he saw her face which she noticed, "Are you okay, Jai?"
"It's nothing, gorgeous," he answered in a flirtatious tone.
"Sorry, Kid, you're not my type as you're too young," Satele told Jai.
"I understand, ma'am," Jai said, groaning as he walked away.
"Jai here didn't think that you fit and feel right for you to be here after sensing you," Zare told her.
"He sensed me?" She asked him.
"Uhh, Jai has this weird ability to sort of sense a person's true nature," Zare answered.
"I can sense that you're not with the Empire," Jai told her.
"If you sensed that I was a Rebel then you must be Force-Sensitive like I am," she told him as she raised her eyebrows at him, "So, anyways why are you both here at the Academy?"
"I'm here to find out what happened to my sister Dhara, she mysteriously disappeared from this place," Zare told her.
"Why are you here then, Jai?" She asked Jai as she turned to him.
"I just want to do something in my life as well as to support my mom," Jai answered.
"What's your name, miss?" Zare asked her.
"Wren," she answered, "Satele Wren of clan Wren."
"Clan Wren?" Zare muttered as he's heard the name of her and Sabine's clan before, "Are you a Mandalorian?"
"I am," she answered before realizing he said her and Sabine's clan name, "You've heard of my clan before?"
"Yeah, I've studied Mandalorian culture," Zare answered.
"So your sister mysteriously disappeared from here?" Satele recalled.
"Yeah, what about it?" Zare asked her.
"I suspect that someone known as the Inquisitor took her," she suggested.
"Who's the Inquisitor?" He asked her.
"He's a fallen Jedi who works for the Empire that I encountered on Stygeon Prime with my Jedi Master and he tried to turn me to his side," she answered.
"What does this Inquisitor have to do with my sister?" He asked her.
"I'm saying she might be Force-Sensitive like me and Jai," she told him.
"What do you mean?" He asked her.
"You can be extremely good at a task if you're Force-Sensitive like I'm good at using a blaster and explosives," she explained.
"She was extremely good at using a blaster as well as hacking computers," he told her.
"That sounds a lot like Force-Sensitivity," Satele remarked.
"This Inquisitor? Where can I find him?" Zare asked her.
"I have no idea, Zare. I only encountered him once," she answered.
"Why are you here exactly?" Jai asked the Mandalorian.
"I'm here to obtain a decoder chip to find the location of where the Imperials are keeping a single large Kyber crystal," Satele told them.
"Wait didn't the Jedi use Kyber Crystals to power their lightsabers?" Zare asked her.
"Yes they did, Zare," Satele confirmed.
"I thought the Jedi were a myth," Jai remarked.
"They were real, Jai, as I know a living Jedi," Satele told them, "Would you two mind helping me find the chip?"
"Sure, but I'll be staying here as a spy for you rebels," Zare told her.
"I'll help out too, besides I don't want to be used as an instrument for the Empire's own gain," Jai said.
"Alright, kids, let's get going," Satele told them as they left the closet.
"Sat?" Sabine called out to Satele to get her back to reality from her flashback.
"What?" Satele asked her as she came back to reality.
"Are you okay?" Sabine asked her.
"I was just thinking about those kids I met at the Academy;" Satele answered.
"I'm sure they're alright," Sabine told her, "Besides one of them opted to stay behind and work as a spy for us."
"I hope you're right, Sis, I just hope nothing bad happens to them," Satele told her when the TIE fighter that was chasing them began to open fire on them as Hera flew the Phantom away from the TIE fighter.
"Hera, shouldn't we be, uh, firing back?" Sabine asked Hera.
"Stay calm. It's all part of the plan," Hera told her.
"Is getting blasted out of the sky part of the plan too? Because if it is, then the plan's going great," Satele remarked.
"Satele, you should know better, You're a Mandalorian like your sister, Sabine after all," Hera told her as the Phantom's dorsal turret fired at the TIE fighter, destroying it as flew towards one of the mound like structures as the Phantom's turbolaser hit the TIE fighter's pod before it crashed into the mound as Satele and Sabine stood up and stood next to Hera, "There isn't a pilot in the Imperial fleet that can outrun me."
"Yeah. But why don't you let me pilot the Phantom? Mother taught me, Sabine and Tris to pilot ships when we were younger," Satele told Hera.
"Who?" Hera asked.
"Our younger brother," Sabine told her, "He's caring, playful and responsible but will do what he's told."
"I didn't even spend that much time with him as Sabine did as Father took me away from Krownest when me and Sabine were 5 to the Bridgers' here on Lothal," Satele added.
"What does he look like?" Hera asked.
"He's 15 years old, has slightly darker skin than us, brown eyes like us as well as having dark brown hair with his hair being to the left, as well as him being a head taller than us and looks like a younger version of Father," Sabine said, describing Tristan to Hera.
"Satele, maybe you can pilot the Phantom later, when we're not being chased by Imperials," Hera told Satele.
"Alright then, I'll show you that I can pilot a ship later," Satele said as three TIE fighters flew towards them and as the TIEs began to fire upon the Phantom as it flew away from them and flew past the mound like structures as the Phantom's dorsal turret began to fire upon them.
"Well, we've gotten ourselves into another fine mess," Sabine remarked.
"I admit it's a little messier than our intel indicated," Hera said, agreeing with her.
"Yeah. That's been happening a lot lately," Sabine remarked, "where, may I ask, does this intel come from?"
She's right, Hera. Where is this intel coming from?" Satele asked, agreeing with her sister.
"You may ask," Hera told Sabine as the TIEs continued to fire their turbolasers at the Phantom as they chased them.
"Excuse me. Sorry to interrupt, but could we maybe focus a little more on not dying?!" Satele asked Hera.
"Hang on!" Hera exclaimed as she tilted the Phantom to its side as she flew the Phantom through a row of the mound like structures that they were surrounded by and one of the TIEs that were chasing them crashed into one of the mound like structures as the other two flew around the mound like structures. They then heard beeping coming from one of the consoles with Satele heading towards it to see what the problem was.
"It's okay. Paint might be a little scratched, but no real damage," Satele told Hera and Sabine as she turned the alarm off.
"Oh, there's damage. Steering's off," Hera corrected her as she continued trying to pilot the Phantom.
"Not what this says," Satele told her.
"It's what I say, and I know my ship," Hera told her as the TIE fighters continue to fire upon the Phantom.
"I'm all for sticking it to the Empire, but what was in that convoy? You never told me and Satele why the mission was so important."
"I've told you before, Fulcrum's intel is on a need-to-know basis," Hera reminded her.
"Who's Fulcrum?" Satele asked.
"Fulcrum is a contact of ours and is an informant that gives us intel to use against the Empire and that's all you need to know," Hera told her.
"And I told you before, I need to know more," Sabine told Hera.
"You don't need to know everything, Sis," Satele told Sabine.
"Yes, I do need to know everything," Sabine.
"No, you don't!" Satele told her.
"Yes, I do!" Sabine said as they began to argue.
"Will you two shut it?!" Hera asked both Mandalorians.
Fine," they groaned as they sat down back in the spots where they were sitting before as Hera continued to fly the Phantom away from the TIE fighters that were chasing and firing their turbolasers at themas Hera began to fire the Phantom's dorsal turret back at them with one of its lasers hitting one of the mound like structures, causing dust to appear from it to act as a smoke bomb so they could hide from the Imperials as one of the TIE fighters flew upwards only to crash into the other TIE fighter and Hera then exhaled as they flew away while unbeknownst to them the Phantom's fuselage began leaking from it's fuel line.
"Everything okay?" Kanan asked Hera and the twins as they climbed down the ladder from the Phantom into the Ghost after the Phantom reattached with the Ghost's rear docking port.
"We're fine, but I scraped the Phantom's underbelly," Hera told him as Sabine walked towards the common room's holotable.
"You?" Kanan said in disbelief.
"It was somewhat unavoidable, once your plan went south," Hera told him.
"Ah, there we go. Knew there had to be a way this was my fault," Kanan remarked as Zeb walked into the kitchen.
"And you were right, dear," Hera told him.
"It's nothing Chopper can't fix," Satele remarked sarcastically as she walked past them to leave the common room to the hallway that contained everyone's rooms, "If you need me, I'll be in my room."
"Why, Sat?" Sabine asked her.
"I'm going to fix my jetpack, Bine," Satele answered.
"Remind me, Sat, what happened to it?" Sabine asked her.
"As we were escaping when I got electrocuted I fell onto the floor of the Spire, causing it to spark with electricity and stop working," Satele answered before finally leaving the common room with the door sliding shut behind her.
"Zeb, I'll need the Phantom ready to pick up the supplies from Fulcrum. Adjust the steering and run a diagnostic. Chopper and Sabine will help you fix any problem you find," Hera told Zeb.
"What?!" Sabine said with shock and anger as she got up from her seat at the holotable and picked up her helmet and placed it to her side.
"Sabine, you're the only other person than Satele that can help them fix the Phantom as she's preoccupied repairing her jetpack," Hera told Sabine.
"Okay, Hera, you made your point, I'll help them," Sabine told her as she thought about what Hera told her.
"Thanks, I'm leaving soon, so get to it," Hera told them as she left the common room to the cockpit.
"I'm going with you," Sabine muttered to herself as she climbed up the ladder after placing her helmet back over her head while Hera jumped the Ghost into Hyperspace.
"What happened out there?" Kanan asked Hera as he held two cups of caff, a space version of coffee in his hands.
"Well, we took out the target," Hera answered.
"Yeah. I got that part," Kanan said as he handed her one of the cups.
"Fulcrum was right about the timing and the route… but underestimated the Imperial defenses," Hera added.
"It's getting harder to anticipate the Empire's moves. That's for sure," Kanan remarked as he sat down next to Hera as she placed the cup to her lips and drank some of it.
"So how has Satele's training been going?" Hera asked him.
"Her saber skills are almost perfect, but her Force abilities need a little more work," he answered.
"That's good," she said, "But anyways, when is her next lesson?"
"Her next lesson's tomorrow," he answered.
"Kriff, why did I have to bring my jetpack with us when we went to the Spire?" Satele asked herself as she sat on the floor of her and Sabine's room with her helmet next to her as she was repairing her jetpack with a wrench and turned it right and banged on her jetpack's thruster back with the wrench, "I wonder how those kids are doing after I rescued them."
Back three days ago, after Satele, Jai and Zare stood in the office of Agent Kallus after grabbing the decoder chip from the ISB agent's desk and Satele grabbed a holodisk from one of the bags on her belt and activated it with a holographic projection of the academy's layout, showing its hallways and ventilation systems.
"Why don't we exit through the way we came in?" Jai suggested.
"No good," Zare told him, "The doors and the entire facility will lock down if that decoder chip leaves the room with the laser at the bottom of the door will detect that someone is stealing it and will know that there's an intruder in the facility."
"We should try the ventilation system," Satele suggested as she flipped her scout trooper's helmet back up and pointed at the ventilation systems on the holographic projection of the academy's layout.
"That's a good idea, Satele," Zare told Satele.
"That sounds like a better alternative than going through the front door and causing a lock down," Jai said, agreeing with them.
"For after we escape the ventilation system, we should head for the hanger and steal a walker," Satele said, suggesting the second part of their plan for after they escape through the ventilation system.
"That sounds like a good plan," Jai said, agreeing with the second part of her plan.
"Yeah, that is a good plan, Satele," Zare added, agreeing with them.
"Good, now that we have the plan thought up of, let's initiate it," Satele said as she flipped her scout trooper's helmet back down and walked over to the ventilation system's grate and took it off with her hand and went to enter the ventilation system, "Let's go."
"Right behind you," Jai said as he followed Satele into the ventilation system.
"Me too," Zare added as he followed them into the ventilation system as well as he closed the ventilation system entrance as he placed the grate back where Satele grabbed it from.
"Do you know where you're going?" Jai asked Satele.
"I have a map of the layout of the facility on my holodisk, Jai," Satele answered as they turned around the corner.
"A few more corners till we can exit the ventilation system," Zare told them as they turned the second corner.
"What kind of walkers does the hangar have?" Jai asked as they turned the third corner
"The hangar has AT-DPs, Aat-ATs and AT-RPs," Zare answered.
"So which one are we stealing?" Jai asked as they turned the fourth corner.
"One of the AT-DPs," Satele answered as they turned the fifth corner and removed a grate in front of her, "We're almost at the hanger."
"How far?" Jai asked.
"Just around the next corner," She answered.
"How sure are you?" Jai asked her.
"My map suggests that its just a corner from us when we leave the ventilation system," she answered
"Satele's right, Jai, we're a corner away from the hangar," Zare said, agreeing with the Mandalorian.
"It's time to leave the vents," Satele announced as she quietly leaped out from the ventilation system with Jai following her.
"What are you going to take to get out of here with Jai?" Zare asked as he quietly leaped out of the ventilation system as well.
"Well, when me and Jai reach the hangar, I'll knock out one of the AT-DP drivers when we reach one of them," Satele answered.
"Just a reminder, I'm not escaping with you. I'm going to act as a spy for you and to find out what happened to my sister," Zare told them as they neared the corner to the hangar.
"Good luck, Zare," Satele told him.
"You too, Satele," he replied as he aimed a blaster rifle at them as he began his work as a spy for the rebels.
"Come on, Jai," Satele told Jai as they ran down the hall to the hangar and as they entered the hangar, they saw AT-ATs, AT-RPs which were used by Clones during the Clone Wars and AT-DPs, as stormtroopers, scout troopers and walker drivers along with a couple of Imperial officers, two of which included Aresko and Grint and were talking with Agent Kallus, "Oh, great. It's those numbskulls."
"What's wrong?" Jai asked her.
"Let's just say I have history with those two," Satele told him.
"What do you mean?" He asked her as Kallus noticed them.
"Troopers, follow that scout trooper and find out why she's with a cadet," Kallus ordered the stormtroopers as he pulled out a comlink and the stormtroopers began following her with a stormtrooper commander leading them and Jai and she noticed this, causing her to turn around towards them.
"Why are you following me?" Satele asked the stormtrooper commander.
"Why is there a cadet with you?" The stormtrooper commander asked her.
"I was just going on a scout run with this cadet," Satele answered.
"This is highly irregular. What is your number?" The stormtrooper commander asked her.
"ST-4734," she answered.
"What's the problem, Commander?" Jai asked the stormtrooper commander.
"Cadets aren't supposed to be with troopers," the stormtrooper commander explained, "And you're coming with us."
"Ah, forget it," Satele said as she pulled out her blaster pistol and shot them with it with the blaster bolts hitting them in the face, chest, neck and two in their hearts.
"We have rebels!" Kallus exclaimed as he saw what Satele did to the five stormtroopers that he sent to follow Satele and Jai and saw Jai picked up an E-11 blaster rifle from one of the stormtroopers that Satele killed.
"Specter-5, we need a little assistance right now," Satele said into the comlink on her wrist as she and Jai hid behind a container as they began firing at the Imperials with their blasters.
"What happened, Specter-6?" Sabine asked from her comlink.
"Well, let's just say, I'm trying to help a cadet that's Force-Sensitive like me escape the academy," Satele answered.
"You're rescuing one of the cadets?" Sabine asked in a shocked expression that also had a bit of glad in her tone as well, "And do you have the decoder chip?"
"Yes, I have it!" Satele answered, "Are you going to send help?"
"Yes, I am, me and Zeb are coming to help you," Sabine responded before she and Zeb drunk ve into the hangar bay on speeder bikes and stopped next to Satele and Jai and hid next to them and pulled out their weapons.
"You're a Mandalorian, too?" Jai asked Sabine as he looked over her armor.
"I am," Sabine replied, "I am Satele's sister, Sabine. You must be the cadet we're rescuing?"
"Yes, ma'am, Jai Kell," Jai answered.
"Oh, great, it's Agent Kallus," Zeb muttered before getting out from hiding and ran towards the ISB agent as grabbed his bo-rifle from his back.
"Zeb! Come back!" Satele called out to Zeb as he ran towards Kallus with his bo-rifle and activated it.
"Ready for round two, Lasat?" Kallus asked Zeb as he activated his bo-rifle as well.
"He'll be fine," Sabine reassured Satele as Zeb and Kallus clashed their bo-rifles against each other, "Besides what's your plan?"
"We need to hijack one of the AT-DPs," Satele answered.
"Alright, Sis. Leave it to me," Sabine told Satele as she jumped onto a crate before jumping onto the leg of an AT-DP that was walking before leaping onto the AT-DP's pod and opened its hatch.
"What the?!" The AT-DP's driver exclaimed with shock before Sabine knocked him out after punching him twice in the helmet and threw him out of the AT-DP and hopped into the AT-DP's seat and began walking it towards her sister and Jai.
"Come on, Sis, I've hijacked one on the AT-DPs!" Sabine told Satele as she reopened the AT-DP's hatch.
"Zeb, We've gotta leave now!" Satele told Zeb as she and Jai ran towards the AT-DP.
"Hate to say it, but I gotta run," Zeb told Kallus as he ran from him as he followed Satele and Jai towards the AT-DP.
"Till we meet next time, Lasat," Kallus told Zeb before turning to his troops, "All units, open fire on the rebels in that walker!"
"Sabine, get the turbolaser firing!" Satele told her sister as she began to pilot the walker again as she removed her scout trooper's helmet.
"I am, Sat!" Sabine responded as she began firing the walker's turbolaser at the stormtroopers that began to fire at them with their blaster rifles as well as firing on the other AT-DPs, AT-RPs and the AT-ATs, severely damaging the AT-ATs weapons systems as the tubolasers also destroyed the AT-RPs and AT-DPs.
"We're in the clear," Sabine announced as they left the Academy.
"Was it all worth it to rescue this kid?" Zeb remarked.
"Would you rather have rescued Jai or have the Empire turn him into an Inquisitor?" Satele responded.
"Why would you say that?!" Jai exclaimed at Zeb.
"Just ignore him, Jai," Satele told him.
"So, where's the location of your ship?" Jai asked.
"Just across a ridge nearby," Sabine answered.
"I do hope those kids are alright," Satele muttered to herself as she finished repairing her jetpack as her flashback ended as well.
"Why am I stuck fixing the Phantom with Zeb, I can do this on my own," Satele muttered as she and Zeb were 3/4ths done with repairing the Phantom.
"Same here. I can do this without Sabine helping me," Zeb told her.
"I'm gonna talk to Hera," Sabine said as she got up from the floor.
"Hera will yell at us if you leave the Phantom as we're repairing it," Zeb told Sabine.
"If anything bad happens I'll take the blame for it," Sabine reassured him before exiting the Phantom.
"Satele must be a good student then," Hera told Kanan as unbeknownst to them Sabine stood in the doorway.
"Yeah, so far she has been a good student," Kanan said, agreeing with her.
"Yeah about the Empire's timing and moves," Sabine began after Hera and Kanan heard her clear her throat and turned to her, "I'd like to know why we're relying on intel from this 'Fulcrum', whoever he is."
"Sabine, shouldn't you be helping Zeb repair the Phantom?" Hera told her, confused on why she wasn't helping Zeb.
"Zeb can finish without me and it's almost repaired," Sabine answered.
"It's Hera's job to find missions that create problems for the Empire and profit for us," Kanan explained to Sabine before getting up from his seat, "If she trusts the contact, I trust the contact. No questions asked."
"At the Imperial Academy… they didn't want me to ask questions either, Satele would have to as well if Father never took her from Krownest and left her on Lothal with the Bridgers. That didn't work for me. That's why I ended up here. And I have a feeling that Satele would have done the same thing as I did if Father never took her from Krownest," Sabine told him.
"And we're glad to have you and satele," Kanan told her as he stood by the doorway next to Sabine.
"You are so frustrating," Sabine sighed with a smirk as she was glad that he that he was glad to have her sister part of their crew .
"Yeah, I've heard that before," he told her as he left the room with the door closing behind him.
"Fine. I'm done asking questions," Sabine said as she walked towards Hera, "I'm telling you. I'm coming on your run to meet Fulcrum."
"You know, you can be pretty frustrating too," Hera told her.
"Learned from the best," Sabine explained.
"Maybe Satele should come with us as well," Hera suggested.
"I was already thinking that," Sabine told her, "I'll go ask her."
"By the end of the day, I'll have you finished," Satele told her jetpack as she was painting it from its standard gold and silver to red and silver with a little bit of blue on it with her airbrush as she had only the section where her jetpack's rocket launcher is finished.
"Hey, Sis, what are you doing?" Sabine asked Satele as she entered their room.
"I've been done repairing my jetpack for a while, so I figured why not paint it as I've been thinking on done so for a while," Satele answered.
"Anyway, I came to ask you if you want to come with me and Hera to meet this Fulcrum?" Sabine asked her.
"Sorry, Sis. But I'm a little busy at the moment," Satele answered.
"Ok, Sat, I'll leave you to painting your jetpack," Sabine told her as she left their room.
"Chopper, as soon as I get out of the repair duct, purge 'em," Zeb told Chopper as Chopper plugged his scomp link into the Phantom's astromech port with an alarm going off as steam flowed through the hatch he was in before exiting the hatch, "Chopper, do that again and I'll dismantle you. But I have to check the diagnostic." He then walked over to the Phantom's display screen as it chirped an electronic beeping sound, "Steering and life support are in working order." Chopper then rolled past him, "As I said a moment ago, Chopper, if you ever try that again, I'll dismantle you." Chopper then rushed past him, chuckling, causing him to chase him out of the Phantom as Chopper angered him again.
He continued to chase Chopper out of the room into one of the Ghost's hallways and was about to hit him as he neared Chopper only for the door to open with Hera and Sabine standing at the doorway.
"Why'd you go to Hera?" Zeb asked Sabine.
"I just wanted to know who this 'Fulcrum' was and no one gave me a straight answer, so I'm going with Hera to meet them," Sabine answered.
"I take it you're done finishing the repairs?" Hera asked Zeb as she saw him out of the Phantom and that Zeb was about to hit her astromech.
"The steering needed fixing, which Chopper did," Zeb said before Chopper grunted a response, "And life support filters needed purging, which we also did with Chopper doing it as I was getting out of the repair duct." Chopper then shocked him before rolling backwards past him and he continued to chase him, "I'm gonna dismantalate that nut bucket!"
"Let's go," Hera told Sabine after they saw Zeb chasing Chopper down a corridor.
"So what's the deal? Is Fulcrum another smuggler like Vizago? Why all the secrecy?" Sabine asked Hera as the Twi'lek began piloting the Phantom after the shuttle detached from the Ghost.
"It's no secret we're fighting against the Empire. We need as many allies as we can get," Hera answered.
"How do you find a way of answering questions without giving answers?" Sabine retorted.
"Do you really want me to answer that?" Hera asked her and Sabine nodded a response.
"Phantom, this is Fulcrum. Come in," a distorted voice that sounded like one of a young woman saif from the Phantom's comlink.
"This is Specter-2, Fulcrum," Hera told the voice with the Phantom's comlink.
"Why don't I talk to him?" Sabine suggested.
"Don't you dare," Hera told the Mandalorian.
"Already at the rendezvous, Specter-2. Supplies are unloaded and ready. Should I wait?" The voice of Fulcrum asked.
"Yeah, stick around. Specter-2 and I would love to talk to you," Sabine answered sarcastically.
"Specter-2, what's the problem?" Fulcrum asked.
"No problem, Fulcrum. Specter-5 decided to help with the supply run," Hera answered.
"Understood, Fulcrum out," Fulcrum said as Hera switched off the Phantom's comlink.
"You know, an outburst like that is not appreciated," Hera told her.
"Neither is all this secrecy," Sabine remarked.
"So, where is this mystery man?" Sabine asked Hera as they left the Phantom after its rear hatch opened with them walking out of the shuttle after it landed on the core world of Anaxes which the Republic used as a military outpost in the final year of the Clone Wars.
"I don't know. Maybe Fulcrum didn't like your attitude. I know I didn't," Hera answered as they exited the Phantom while unbeknownst to them the Phantom's fuel began leaking from the fuselage.
As Hera and Sabine approached a group of crates, Hera pointed out at a symbol on one of them, one that she recognized and that was the symbol of Fulcrum.
"I'll take that one," Hera told her before activating its transportation mode with her transporting the crate with the symbol of Fulcrum while Sabine transported the other one while unbeknownst to them a creature known as a Fyrnoock watched them from one of the Republic's old bases.
"Look, Hera, I'm sorry for the attitude. It's just things seem to be getting more dangerous every day, and I need to know if you and Kanan can trust me and Satele," Sabine told Hera.
"We trust you and your sister, Sabine. We just can't tell you everything. It's for the safety of the whole crew. If captured, you can't reveal what you don't know," Hera explained.
"You think I'd talk?" Sabine asked her with disbelief.
"I think… We think the Imperials can make anyone talk," Hera explained, "You've seen what they're capable of."
"Yeah, I have," Sabine confirmed, "That's why I need to know."
"You already know exactly what you need to know and no more," Hera told her, "I need you to trust me now."
"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" Sabine scoffed, "Hera, you know what happened when I was a cadet at the Imperial Academy on Mandalore and I haven't even told Satele the whole story as I'm afraid what she'll think of me if I told her that when I was a cadet at the Imperial Academy I created a weapon that could destroy Beskar, the very core of our people's tradition and armor. I trusted the Empire, followed its orders blindly, and it was a nightmare." They soon got onto the Phantom with the crates before exiting back out the shuttle the way they came in and left the crates, "I want to believe we're doing good, making a difference. But sometimes it seems like the harder we fight, the harder things get out there. I feel like we can't take down the Empire on our own. That's why I need to know this isn't all for nothing. I need to know that I'm not walking into another nightmare here, this time with my sister."
"What you need is faith. Faith that there is a long-term plan that's bigger than you, me, or your twin sister, bigger than Lothal, Mandalore, bigger than the entire Outer Rim," Hera told her as she turned around and placed her hands on Sabine's shoulders, "Have faith in that and in us. We… Kanan…. He knows what he's doing."
"Hera," Sabine said, calling out to Hera as she walked away from her and followed her.
"Look," Hera said as she saw scratch marks on the floor of the area where the other crates were but now had vanished before looking back at the Republic's old base ahead of them, "There were more crates, but someone's dragged them away."
"Maybe he's still here," Sabine suggested.
"Who?" Hera asked.
"Fulcrum?" Sabine suggested.
"No," Hera answered.
"Well, who else knows about this place?" Sabine asked.
"Not sure," Hera answered, "This base was abandoned years ago after the Clone Wars. Besides, why drag them? Why not use the anti-grav?"
"Whoa. Sunrise comes along fast in these parts " Sabine remarked as she saw the astroids surrounding the planet move away from the planet's parent star.
"Let's see what else comes along," Hera added as she took out her flashlight and blaster pistol as Sabine followed her and pulled out both of her WESTAR-35s as well as they slowly entered the old base and saw the wreckage of an old Low Altitude Assault Transport.
"Whoever did this must have pretty eager to get what was inside," Sabine remarked as they aimed their weapons on a crate that was lying on the ground on its side.
"Too eager to just flip the latch and open them? Who would…" Hera asked before they heard a loud clatter sound, "we're not dealing with a who. More like a what."
"That's comforting," Sabine remarked, "You happen to know why this base was abandoned?"
"I'm starting to have my suspicions," Hera answered as they heard the creatures inside the base hiss as they stretched their arms out as they aimed their blasters to both of their sides and began to back away before turning around and saw one of the Fyrnocks standing behind them as she gasped in surprise and it growled at them as Hera began firing her blaster pistol at it as she dropped her flashlight with Sabine firing her WESTAR-35s at the Fyrnock as well as the flashlight turned off and more Fyrnocks began to surround them, "Sabine, run!"
They then ran out of the old Republic base with the Fyrnocks chasing them until they hit the sunlight and retreated back into the base as Hera and Sabine turned around and aimed their blasters at the Fyrnocks as one of the asteroids began to block the sun, darkening some of outside of the base, causing them to rush out of the base as Sabine and Hera began to fire their blaster at them again and as soon as the Fyrnocks reached the sunlight they ran back inside again.
"Whatever those creatures are, they can't take the sun," Hera remarked as the asteroid that blocked the sun moved out from the sun.
"Good, but do you see the size of that asteroid? That's going to block out the sun for a long time," Sabine said as they placed their blasters back in their holsters.
"How long?" Hera asked.
"I don't know. Long enough for us to become lunch," Sabine answered.
"Luckily we weren't planning on staying. All right. Let's get to work," Hera said as they walked towards the Phantom.
"Last one," Sabine said as she transported the final crate onto the Phantom.
"Good. Let's go," Hera said as the Phantom's rear hatch closed and hopped into the pilot's seat, only for the Phantom to power down, "No,no,no,no,no!" She then slammed her fists on the dashboard, "We had nearly a full tank when we landed. Now we're out of fuel?"
"This is all my fault," Sabine muttered.
Back on the Ghost inside the Kitchen, bop music was being played as he placed two space waffles in his mouth after grabbing them from a plate in front of him on a table in front of the seat he was sitting at.
"Specter-2 to Specter-4. Come in! Specter-2 to Specter-4. Come in!" Hera said from him comlink.
"Go ahead, Specter-2," Zeb said, answering his comlink as he sighed and grabbed his comlink.
"You did run a full diagnostic on the Phantom, correct?" Hera asked him.
"Of course," he answered.
"And you checked the results?" Hera added and this caused him to get out of his seat and ran into the hallway and stopped at the computer on a wall and checked the Phantom's diagnostic results.
"Um, Specter-2, there might be a small problem with the fuel line," Zeb told her.
"Small problem?!" Hera repeated, "Uh, Zeb, we have a situation.
"I hope Jai and Zare are both alright," Satele muttered to herself as she has painted her jetpack's center column, its rocket launcher and one of its thrusters as it was halfway done as she began remembering how Hera and Kanan reacted when they met Jai.
"Whoa! Is that your ship?" Jai asked Satele, Sabine and Zeb as the AT-DP they were in was approaching the Ghost.
"Yeah. It's called the Ghost," Zeb answered.
"Kanan, Hera, we're back," Sabine said as she contacted Hera and Kanan who were standing on the Ghost's ramp, "We have the decoder chip as well as a guest."
"A guest?!" Both Kanan and Hera remarked with shock and disbelief.
"Yeah," Satele answered, "It's a former Cadet who's Force-Sensitive like me and he and another Cadet found me as I was sneaking around the Academy with the other one deciding to stay behind and act as a spy for us as they're both aren't even loyal to the Empire as the other one was there to find out what happened to his sister who I suspect was taken by the Inquisitor we met on Stygeon Prime and the one I'm with probably would've been taken by him as well if we didn't rescue him."
"So what do you plan to do with him?" Kanan asked his Mandalorian Padawan.
"I was thinking of returning him to his mother after we get the mission finished and destroy the kyber crystal shipment that the Empire is transporting," Satele answered before turning to Jai, "Are you ok with that, Jai?"
"I'm fine with that," Jai answered and soon they set thd AT-DP down before exiting the walker as Sabine planted Thermal detonators on it while Satele planted her paint bombs on it as well before Satele detonated the thermal detonators and paint bombs with a detonator with the colors hot pink and purple appearing from the paint bombs onto the legs of the AT-DP as it collapsed onto the ground.
"Now that's what I call art," Sabine remarked.
"Thanks, sis," Satele told Sabine as they fist bumped each other.
"You're welcome, Sat," Sabine told her.
"So you're the cadet that Satele rescued?" Kanan asked.
"Yes, I am," Jai answered.
"So, what's your name?" Kanan asked.
"Jai Kell, sir," Jai answered.
"Please call me Kanan," Kanan told him,
"Ok," Jai said as they all entered the Ghost.
"Sabine's in danger!" Satele exclaimed as she snapped back to reality from her flashback and got up as she had her jetpack halfway finished with the left side of it being finished as she placed it on her bed's pillow
"Satele, we have a problem, Sabine and Hera are in danger," Zeb told her as he entered the room.
"I already know," Satele told him as she already unconsciously sensed that her sister was in danger.
"How do you know?" Zeb asked her.
"I don't know. I just do," she answered as they left the room as she grabbed her helmet.
"You should've been helping us," he told her.
"I was busy repairing my jetpack and was repainting it after repairing it," she told him.
"Still, you could've stopped for a moment and helped us," Zeb told her.
"It's still your fault, Zeb. I heard you chasing Chopper," she told him, "Besides you were running the diagnostic. You should have stayed and checked instead of chasing Chopper as this is all your fault."
"How is this all my fault?" He asked her.
"Because you decided to chase Chopper instead of finishing the diagnostic like a child rather than an adult," Satele answered.
"Please don't tell Kanan that this is all my fault," Zeb said, pleading with the Mandalorian.
"I'm gonna tell him the truth that it's your fault that Sabine and Hera are in danger," Satele told him as they approached Kanan's room with the door sliding open as they approached it and saw Kanan sitting in his room with his legs folded, meditating as they entered his room, "Kanan."
"Hera and Sabine are in danger," Kanan told them, telling them that he already knew.
"Wow. How could you tell? Could you sense it like I did?" She asked him.
"No. I could hear you two yelling outside the door and heard that it was Zeb's fault," Kanan told her as he grabbed his comlink from his belt.
"Me and Specter-6 know that you're both in trouble, so we're on our way. Ghost out," Kanan told Hera with his comlink as Sabine turned from the base back towards Hera.
"No way they get here before that asteroid blocks the sun and…" Sabine began before getting interrupted as they heard the Fyrnocks screech from inside the old base as they tuned to it for a moment before she turned to Hera, "I guess we could hole up in the Phantom?"
"Judging by that torn-up shuttle in there, locking ourselves in the Phantom won't protect us. Could get grim," Hera answered.
"Well, I'll take grim right now," Sabine told her as she walked up to one of the canisters of explosives that surrounded the area, "Thought I recognized these markings." She then powered it up as Hera walked towards it, "Allow me to introduce you to one of my and Satele's oldest and most explosive friends: rhydonium."
"It's good to have friends," Hera remarked, "So what's your plan?"
"Since we don't know how many of those creatures are in there, we can set up groups of canisters… and create explosions that take them out a wave at a time," Sabine answered.
"How will you get the creatures close enough to the rhydonium to be effective?" Hera asked.
"We're gonna need bait," Sabine answered.
"Where do we get that?" Hera asked her.
"We don't get it. We are it," Sabine answered and with that they began setting up the rhydonium around the area as the asteroid covered the sun as it blocked the sunlight in the area.
"Wave one. Move," Hera said as they ran towards the entrance of the base with their blaster pistols out as they hid behind one of the rhydonium near the entrance that was on its side as one of the Fyrnocks placed its hand on a rhydonium canister in front of him as it made a screeching and growling sound before leaping out of the entrance as Hera and Sabine fired their blaster pistols at the rhydonium canister, killing the one that leaped out of the entrance and shielded their eyes before looking back at the entrance and Hera gasped as she saw dozens of Fyronocks running out of the base's entrance.
"Well. A lot of 'em," Sabine said as she observed the number of Fyrnocks that were running out of the base.
"Steady now. Follow the plan," Hera reminded her as they left cover from the rhydonium canister with Sabine firing blaster bolts from her WESTAR-35s at the Fyrnocks and rhydonium as the Fyrnocks continued to chase them with Hera doing the same with her blaster pistol. "Fall back! Wave two." They soon hid behind a group of rhydonium as their blaster bolts killed one of the Fyrnocks. "Wait for 'em." They then fired their blaster pistols at the Fyrnocks after looking behind them as one of the Fyrnocks jumped onto a canister of rhydonium nearby, "Now!" They then stood up as they fired blaster bolts at the rhydonium canister that the Fyrnock was standing on, killing it and the other nearby Frynocks.
"It worked. We just might survive this," Sabine told Hera.
"Wait. You doubted your own plan?" Hera asked her with disbelief.
"Never," Sabine answered.
"Good, 'cause I sure did," Hera told her.
"Hey!" Sabine exclaimed as some of the Fyrnocks that were in the explosion growled as it stood up.
"Come on. They're closing in. Wave three," Hera told her as the Fyrnocks began running towards them as they ran from them and hid behind another group of rhydonium canisters with one of them being flipped on its side as they fired blaster bolts at the canisters in the distance, causing an explosion as the blaster bolts destroyed the canisters as some of Fyrnocks were killed by the explosion. "Wave four. Incoming!"
"Oh. Did I mention there are a lot of 'em?" Sabine chuckled as they got out from hiding behind the rhydonium canister.
"Sounds familiar," Hera remarked, sarcastically as Sabine fired her WESTAR-35s at the Fyrnocks as they approached the Phantom and as they shot one of the Fyrnocks, the Fyrnock slid towards them as it died.
"Light it up," Sabine told Hera as she saw more Fyrnocks running towards them and the two of them fired their blaster pistols at two sets of rhydonium canisters causing to explode as the remaining Fyrnocks backed away from the fire that the explosion caused before charging at them on both sides.
"Coming in from both sides," Hera told Sabine as she saw the Fyrnocks rushing towards them on both of their sides.
"What about wave five?" Sabine asked.
"We didn't have a plan for wave five," Hera answered.
"Afraid of that. The Phantom?" Sabine asked as they backed towards the Phantom's rear hatch.
"Not inside. Go up top," Hera answered as she lifted her onto the top of the Phantom with Sabine helping her up onto the top of the Phantom as well before they continued firing their blaster pistols at the Fyrnocks and rotated around their position as the Fyrnocks tried yo xlimb onto the Phantom only for Hera to kick them off.
"They just keep coming!" Sabine exclaimed.
"Tell me something I don't know," Hera told her.
"We're going to die," Sabine told her.
"That's no secret," Hera remarked as they continued to do the same thing when they suddenly saw a bright light behind them, causing the Fyrnocks to run away from them as the saw the Ghost above them with Kanan piloting it as he fired the ship's cannons at the Fyrnocks, causing them to continue to run away as he lowered the aghost towards Sabine and Hera as its ramp lowered with Satele and Seb standing on it with Satele having her helmet over her head while Zeb held his bo-rifle in his arms and both Hera and Sabine pointed at the Fyrnocks.
"The light's not hurting them," Sabine said with surprise.
"Then we better move," Hera told her as they continued firing at the Fyrnocks as the Ghost continued descending down towards them as Zeb did the same thing his bo-rifle as Satele took out both of her WESTAR-35s out and began firing at them as well.
"I got your back, Sis!" Satele said as she jumped down onto the top of the Phantom and placed her WESTAR-35s in their holsters as she aimed her right vambrace at the Fyrnocks and activated her vambrace's flamethrower, burning a few of them as Sabine and Hera got onto the Ghost's ramp as Satele turned to Sabine and Hera, "These guys aren't so tough."
"Satele, behind you!" Sabine told her sister as she saw a Fyrnock come up behind her sister and was about to attack her as she shot it with one of her WESTAR-35s and Satele then turned around and saw the same Fyrnock climbing up, causing her to fall onto the Phantom and aimed her vambrace at the Fyrnock and activated the vambrace's flamethrower at the Fyrnock.
"Karabast!" Satele swore as the flamethrower didn't burn the Fyrnock like the ones before as it began to ravage her as it removed her helmet, which went flying into the Ghost and landed near Sabine and Hera as Sabine jumped off the ramp and fired her WESTAR-35s at the Fyrnock that was on top of her sister and shot it dead.
"Sat, come on!" Sabine exclaimed at her sister as she fired her WESTAR-35s at the other Fyrnocks who were screeching as they ran back onto the Ghost's ramp as Hera and Zeb fired at the Fyrnocks as well.
"Nice moves out there, Satele," Zeb told Satele as he handed her helmet back to her after picking it up as it landed between him, Hera and Sabine.
"Thanks, Zeb," she replied as she took it as a Fyrnock tried to jump onto the Ghost by jumping from the Phantom only for Zeb to knock it back down to the surface with his hand before firing his bo-rifle at them as the others did the same with their blaster pistols.
"Chopper! Close her up!" Zeb ordered Chopper as he saw two of the Fyrnocks jump onto the ramp and Chopper grunted a response as he plugged his scomp link into the astromech port next to him as Satele and Sabine continued to fire their WESTAR-35s at the Fyrnocks, killing some of them as one of them got stuck between the ramp as it was sealing shut and Zeb activated his bo-rifle's electro-staff feature and stabbed it at the Fyrnock, "No hitchhikers!"
The Fyrnock then slid out of the ramp of it finished sealing shut as other Fyrnock began running across the hull of the Ghost.
"Kanan, we're all aboard," Zeb told Kanan on the Ghost's comm system as one of the Fyrnocks was standing on top of the cockpit's window, scratching at it.
"Something's wrong. She's not responding," Kanan said as Hera entered the cockpit.
"Rerouting auxiliary power to the hull," Hera announced as she rerouted the Ghost's auxiliary power to the hull with the cockpit's console causing the Fyrnock on the cockpit's window to get electrocuted before falling off the ship's hull.
"Didn't know the Ghost could do that," Kanan remarked with surprise.
"There's a lot you don't know about my ship," she told him before activating the comm system, "Chopper, reroute coolant to the engine."
"Thanks for saving me back there," Satele told Sabine who was climbing the ladder in the cargo hold as Chopper grunted a response to Hera as he was still plugged into the astromech port.
"No, problem, Sis, besides that's what family's for," Sabine told Satele as Satele followed her up the ladder.
"Engaging Magnetic lock," Hera said as the Ghost hovered over the Phantom with the shuttle locking into the Ghost's magnetic lock as Sabine hopped onto the turret beneath the cockpit and began firing at the Fyrnocks with it as the Ghost flew away from Anaxes.
"Look, Hera, I'm sorry about not checking the diagnostic and went to chase after Chopper instead," Zeb told Hera after he, Sabine and Hera transported the crates from the Phantom and moved them onto the Ghost's cargo hold.
"If anyone's to blame, then blame me," Sabine told them, "As it was partially my fault on leaving the repairs to ask you who this 'Fulcrum' was."
"Thanks for the honesty, Sabine," Hera told her.
"As soon as Satele's done repainting her jetpack, the two of us will repair the Phantom for you," Sabine told her.
"Thanks, Sabine," Hera told her.
"Don't mention it, Hera," Sabine told her, "But can we speak in private?"
"Sure," Hera answered as they climbed up the ladder to the cockpit, "Sabine, I know you have questions, questions I can't answer right now. But I know that I trust you. I just trusted you with my life down there."
"I know. I know you do," Sabine told her.
"Good. We are making a difference, Sabine. And I promise you: we won't always be fighting this battle alone," Hera told her, "Do you think you can trust me?"
"I think I can try," Sabine replied as she left the cockpit to her and Satele's room to see how she was doing and to see how much of her jetpack she was finished repainting and entered their room, "Satele are you done repainting your jetpack?"
"Yes," Satele answered as she showed her jetpack which was fully repainted red, silver and a bit of blue, "I just finished."
"That looks amazing, Sat," Sabine told her, "But I came in to tell you something that I've been keeping secret from you."
"What is it?" Satele asked.
"Remember when I told you that I escaped the Academy on Mandalore because I became disillusioned with the Empire's ideals? That wasn't the whole story," Sabine told her, "I escaped because they forced me to build a weapon that can destroy armor and I used the material that was used by our ancestors and our people, Beskar and I am ashamed of building it."
"You built what?! A weapon that can disintegrate Beskar?!" Satele demanded her twin with disbelief on her face, "How could you create a weapon to do that?! We're Mandalorian!"
"I didn't know what the Empire would do with it, Satele," Sabine told her, "But I promise you once I found out that the Empire tested it on friends and family of ours and planned to use it to crush rebellion, I sabotaged it so the Empire couldn't use it. Please don't be mad at me fore something that happened years ago."
"Thank you for your honesty, Sabine. But I am a little mad and irritated with you on what you did but if what you say is true then I'll accept your apology," Satele told her.
Please favorite and review. Would you like me to continue adding the Imperial scenes or not?
Sorry for not uploading in almost a month, the part that made me take so long was the flashback scenes as I decided to not rewrite Breaking ranks.