Temple Island; Ahch-To
Jarik POV...
The next morning after my discussion with Elita about Unicron, I was going over the communications relay's as was my usual routine, when I came across a worrying message. It was between an officer named Brom Titus, who used to be in command of the Interdictor that Phoenix Squadron destroyed, and one Governor Pryce of Lothal. A close associate of Thrawn ever since the Batonn Insurgency. Apparently Ezra had led the group to Reklam Station in the Yarma System in order to liberate a few bombers from the Clone Wars for their fleet. However they've been noticed.
"I assure you, Governor, we will capture these rebels momentarily," Titus says.
"I hope so, Titus, but know I will be there soon to reinforce you," Pryce replies.
That was the end of the transmission, and I lean back in my chair, frowning in concern. I'm still bitter and upset with Ezra over his ridiculous outrage against me, but the rest of the group was with him as well. From the looks of things they will be in some deep trouble soon if they don't escape with those bombers in time, and at the mercy of the Empire. I know that can't happen. With a sigh, I get up from my chair and shut down the computer, heading on out.
*:*:*
On my way down the steps towards the Knight Hawk, I spot Mara conversing with Elita, trying to get Zenna to feel more comfortable around the Autobot commander. They appeared to be making some progress, although I could sense that Zenna was still wary of her. Mara then glances up to see me approaching and waves an arm.
"Hey Dad!" she greets.
"Hey," I reply. "What're you guys up to?"
"Trying to get Zenna to warm up to Elita," she replies.
"I feel like we're making some progress," Elita adds with a smile. "Right Zenna?"
Zenna growls uncertainly, and Mara just rolls her eyes in exasperation. She then realizes what I was doing, and narrows her eyes at me curiously.
"Where're you going?" she asks.
"I just intercepted an Imperial transmission," I explain grimly. "I think some of the Spectre's might be in trouble."
"The Spectre's?" Elita asks.
"A rebel group we've worked closely with," I inform her.
"In trouble how?" Mara asks.
"They're trying to liberate a few old bombers from the Clone War, but Imperial reinforcements are on their way, and they might be trapped," I tell her.
"Sounds pretty bad," Mara remarks. "I want to come with!"
"And there it is," I mutter to myself knowingly.
"Alright, whatever," I reply in acceptance.
"Is this a rescue operation?" Elita asks.
"Maybe, it depends on what the situation is like for them," I tell her, narrowing my eyes. "Are you planning on coming too?"
Elita sits there for a few moments in consideration, and then nods her head. "I think I can help out. Especially if it there's a possible battle between ships."
"Are you sure about this?" I ask warily. "Revealing yourself to the Empire?"
"If I'm gonna be helping you guys out, then it's better now than never," she states firmly.
Reklam Station; Yarma
Boil POV...
With the bombers stopped, and currently being refueled, the mission so far is going successfully. Sabine was walking across the bombers and overseeing everything, while Zeb was stationed at one of the bombers and screwing the fueling tube onto it. Me and Rex stand and watch with Ezra and Hondo when a complication occurs. The conveyor belt suddenly starts moving again, and magnetic locks clamp into place.
"That's not good," I remark in concern.
"No it's not," Sabine says in agreement. "They know we're here. They're locking the ships down."
"Uh, perhaps my associates can assist?" Hondo offers.
He turns to the Ugnaughts and starts speaking in their squealing language, making me roll my eyes with a sigh. The lead Ugnaught responds unhappily and Hondo lets out a sigh, turning to us.
"My friend says all systems have been overridden by the control tower," he says, pointing towards the station.
"Zeb, you and Sabine finish refueling. I'll take care of the tower," Ezra orders, turning to Rex and I. "Rex, Boil, you're with me."
We all nod in understanding and rush off to do our assigned tasks. Me and Rex take off after Ezra, almost reaching the station's entrance. However I glance back upon hearing the sounds of conflict, and widen my eyes in alarm upon seeing a dismantler droid threatening to throw of Sabine and Zeb. Rex notices the same thing and turns to Ezra.
"Lieutenant!" he calls out.
Ezra turns around and notices the situation with wide eyes. "Go help 'em! I got this."
Rex and I both nod in reply and then turn around, heading back the way we came. Along the walkway we pass by Hondo and the Ugnaughts, who are following after Ezra.
"Yes, yes, you go help them. We will look for a ship- I mean, help Ezra," he says casually.
"There he goes again," I mutter sarcastically, and Rex scoffs.
"Let's take out more clankers Boil," he says.
Seeing the dismantler droid still trying to throw off Sabine and Zeb, shoving the Y-Wing they were perched on, Rex rushes for a crane while I pull out a blaster pistol, aiming it at the droid.
"Hey, clanker!" I call out, firing a few shots.
The blue laser fire slams against the top of the droid, and it lets out a series of angry beeps and groans, turning to look at me. I aim my blaster and fire another shot, taking out one of the droids eyes. It wails angrily and lets go of the Y-Wing, turning to face me. Before it can jump forward, Rex suddenly slams it's head with a crane, swiveling around to face it again. The droid turns to look at him with beady optics, beeping angrily.
"Oh, you want some more? I'll show you more!" Rex yells.
"Get him Rex!" I cheer him on.
Rex swings the crane around quickly in an attempt to smack it again, but the droid reaches up and grabs it with its claws, attempting to pull it down. Rex grunts angrily and struggles to pull back, and I let off a few more shots against the droid's chassis. Rex then lifts the crane up, completely pulling it from the Y-Wing spot and swiveling around, to where it drops onto the walkway with a thud.
The droid then turns to face me, and charges forwards with a clawed hand to strike. I dash forwards underneath the droid, shooting at its underside with my blaster and causing some damage. Rolling to my feet, the dismantler droid then swivels around to face me again with angry beeps, and unleashes a heavy flamethrower. I cry out in surprise and leap out of the way, and the flamethrower slams against the crane, causing Rex to duck behind it for cover. Once the droid stops, he gets back to his feet angrily, retaking the controls.
"That tears it," he growls furiously.
Rex swings the crane around and slams it against the dismantler droid, causing it to go flying. I look up, only to widen my eyes in alarm and duck back down with a yelp as the droid flies over me, slamming against the wall. I look up incredulously and send a heated glare at Rex.
"Hey! You could have killed me you kriff-head!" I yell out.
"Sorry brother!" he replies, not sounding very sorry.
I grumble to myself, but watch as Rex moves the crane forwards and rams into the droid. The droid attempts to shove him back, but is quickly pressed against the side of the wall and trapped there, squealing angrily and flailing its limbs around.
Seeing an opportunity, I rush forwards and aim my blaster pistol for the droid's fuel tank, and let loose a well placed shot. Hitting the tank, it explodes and severely damages the droid, and I cover my head with an arm as some of the explosion reaches me. Looking back up, I see it still alive and kicking a little.
"Hey Rex, little help here?" I ask him.
Jumping down from the crane he stands beside me, and together we both work to push and shove the dismantler droid off of the platform and down to the planet's surface far below.
"Get, off!" Rex grunts angrily.
It screeches as it falls down, eventually being hit by a giant bolt of yellow lightning and exploding instantly. I allow myself a small grin, counting off another clanker on my kill list.
"Rex! Boil!" Sabine and Zeb both call out in alarm.
"Oh, right," I mutter.
*:*:*
With Rex at the crane, getting the Y-Wing set back properly was a piece of cake, and I help pull Zeb and Sabine back up to their feet. However in the next moment a large explosion sounds from the station, and everything shakes slightly in response. I look around warily in alarm, but the good thing is that the magnetic locks on the bombers are opened back up.
"The bombers are unlocked," Zeb states.
"Spectre-5 to Spectre-6. What was that blast?" Sabine asks through the comlink.
"I had to cut the station's power. Get in those bombers and get out of here!" Ezra replies.
"What about you?" she asks.
"I'll take the Phantom. Now get going. That's an order!" he says firmly, ending the transmission.
"I'm starting to get a little tired of the kid giving orders," I tell Rex quietly.
He sighs in response, but admits his agreement with a nod of his head. Sabine then jumps across the bombers, heading to pilot one of them.
"Chopper, tap into the relay navigation system. I need you to remote-pilot those four ships!" she says urgently, gesturing to them.
Chopper beeps out a reply of protest, to which Sabine swiftly retorts. "Yes, you're getting in a Y-wing too."
However when Chopper continues to protest, she looks up at Zeb.
"Zeb!" she calls out.
Growling, Zeb stomps up to Chopper and pick him up, much to the droid's protest.
"Come on! Get in there!" he grunts, shoving him into the ship's astromech socket.
*:*:*
Because nobody else wanted to deal with Chopper's madness, I was "happily" chosen to be the pilot of the bomber that Chopper was in. I grumble to myself as said droid continues to complain and whine about being stuck in some, "rusty old trash can." Sometimes I can't decide whether R5 or Chopper is worse than the other, which gets really irritating.
"Stop complaining and focus Chopper!" I snap irritably, shutting him up. "You've gotta get those bombers in the air, or else this mission will be kriffed."
Thankfully, Chopper beeps reluctantly but does as I say, hooking up to the other bombers. Moments later then engines power up with the nostalgic purple glow.
"Detach bombers from the dock," I tell him. one by one the bombers are all carefully lifted from the docks and up into the air, and I move my bomber to follow after them, Rex, Sabine and Zeb following after in their own as well.
"Nice work. Now keep 'em steady," I say with a small smile of relief.
We quickly make our way out of Yarma's cloudy atmosphere and up into orbit.
"Chop, set the coordinates in the navi-computer," Sabine says, but then Chopper beeps back helplessly. "What? There's no hyperdrives?"
"They must have removed them!" Rex realizes.
"Oh perfect," I grumble irritably. What are we supposed to do now?
As if the universe was laughing at us, a full-class Imperial Star Destroy suddenly booms out of hyperspace directly in front of us. A squad of TIE Fighters is instantly released from the hanger, and comes soaring right after us.
"Oh now that's just great! How typical!" I exclaim angrily.
"Karabast!" Sabine yells.
"My thoughts exactly," Zeb replies grimly.
"Spectre-6. The Empire is here in orbit. We are in big trouble!" Sabine says urgently over the coms.
Moments later, Ezra's reply comes through, but it sounds meek and nervous, like he's afraid. "I'm in trouble, too."
The com lines then shut down with static, much to our alarm as we try and get the signal back up.
"Spectre-6 come in!" Sabine exclaims. "Spectre-6? Ezra!"
"We've got bigger problem!" I point out.
The Imperial TIE Fighters all open fire on us, and we swiftly evade the green laser bolts and move out of the way. The TIE's all swing around and attempt to chase us down, directing us towards the Star Destroyer.
"They're trying to drive us toward their tractor beam!" Sabine states.
Scowling, I aim the turret of my bomber and starting shooting, the familiar blue laser blasts destroying a TIE Fighter easily. Glad to know these things can still pack a punch. Moments later, our fighter carrier suddenly burst out of hyperspace, followed by the rest of Phoenix fleet. The Ghost moves forwards and shoots down a few of the pursuing TIE Fighters, much to our relief.
"Ghost to bombers. Get your ships on the carrier. We'll cover you," Hera orders.
"Copy, Ghost. We are glad to see you," Sabine replies.
I follow along with the rest of the bomber squad as we land in the fighter carrier, and I let out a sigh of relief.
3rd person POV...
While the rest of the battle was going on, Kanan and Hera were flying around, looking for any sign of the Phantom and Ezra, when another ship bursts out of hyperspace. Hera looks up in confusion, only to widen her eyes in recognition.
"What is it?" Kanan asks.
"It's the Knight Hawk!" she replies. "They've come back to help!"
"They have? How'd they know this was happening?" he asks in surprise.
"I don't know, but I'm not complaining," she starts to say.
However, she then notices something strange about the ship, and looks more closely. The cargo hold of the ship was opening, and out came some sort of... large humanoid machine, or droid. Once it's outside the ramp closes back up, allowing the ship to fly more smoothly. The droid held onto the side of the ship and turned its hand into some sort of blaster, and begins firing at approaching TIE Fighters. Blue laser blasts stream forth and decimate the TIE Fighters swiftly, all the while Hera watches in bewilderment.
"Now what are you surprised about?" Kanan asks her.
"I don't know what Jarik's been doing these last few months, but it's pretty big," she muses in reply, a little stunned.
The comlink then crackles to life as Sabine is patched through. "Ghost, any sign of The Phantom? Spectre-6 should be up here by now."
"Ezra's not with you?" Kanan asks in alarm.
"No," she replies.
"The station," Hera realizes.
"We better hurry," Kanan states.
Giving one last look towards the strange droid with Jarik's ship, Hera pilots the Ghost down into Yarma's atmosphere, going after the station to rescue Ezra.
*:*:*
Moments earlier...
Elita One POV...
"You're crazy," Mara comments.
"Well, considering I can't transform into a fighter jet, this is the best way for me to help out," I reply with a shrug.
I'm crouched in the cargo hold of their ship, reading my energon blaster for battle. Jarik was up in the cockpit piloting the ship, and Mara was about to head up an join him as well. Hopefully.
"Can't you just choose a starfighter as your vehicle mode?" Mara asks.
"If I had jet propulsion installed, then I could," I tell her.
"We're about to exit hyperspace. So you better get your butt out of there Mara!" Jarik says over the com.
"Ok Dad!" she replies.
"You better go kid. I don't wanna be responsible for your death because you had your oxygen sucked out," I tell her with some amusement.
"Haha, very fun," she retorts dryly, but she does so anyways, leaving the cargo hold. "Good luck!"
I give her a nod as she closes the door, sealing off the cargo hold from the rest of the ship. I then turn around and face the ramp entrance, preparing myself for the vacuum of space that'll quickly yank on me before the air is sucked out. The rest of the items inside were strapped down so that they wouldn't blow out.
"You ready Elita?" Jarik asks me through the com.
I lift a hand to my ear receptor to give him my reply. "Ready and waiting."
"Ok then. Three, two, one... it's opening!" he says.
The cargo ramp begins to open, and I grip on to a metal pole in the hold, also locking my pedes down magnetically. The air is instantly sucked out, attempting to yank me along with it as the ramp opens to reveal the blackness of space. Fortunately for me, I keep a good grip, and the vacuum quickly stops once all of the air is gone. Grinning to myself, I begin climbing outside of the ship and onto the Knight Hawk's hull up top. The ramp closes behind me, and as I pull myself to the top I get a good first look at the space battle.
There are two main cruisers, both Imperial class, although the fighter carrier actually belongs to the rebels. Different starfighters and smaller cruisers were in dogfights with each other, red and green lasers shooting all of the place. Jarik made sure to brief me about which ships were rebels and which were Imperial. Magnetically locking my pedes to the top of the hull, I remain in a crouch as the ship begins flying through the battle, into the fray of the Empire's 'TIE Fighters.'
Aiming my energon blaster, I start shooting blue laser bolts at any TIE fighter that tries to approach us, swiftly taking them out easily. I raise an optic ridge at the fragility of these fighters, finding it almost embarrassingly easy.
"These fighters are nothing more than flying scrap!" I remark in amusement, shooting down another one.
I can hear Mara's laughter as Jarik replies. "I know. The Empire doesn't give them any shields. Their best tactic is basically swarming with overwhelming numbers."
I let out a scoff. "Well that's lousy."
I continue shooting down these TIE Fighters whenever Jarik flies the Knight Hawk close by, or whenever one of them is bold enough - or stupid enough - to approach us. I glance at the Imperial Star Destroyer, my scanners indicating that one of its laser cannons was coming online and aiming at us.
"Careful, one of the cannons of that cruiser is charging up to fire at us!" I tell them.
"Can you destroy it?" she asks.
"Get me close!" I tell him.
Jarik then pilots the Knight Hawk over in a charging run towards the Star Destroyer. I transform my blaster back into my hand and ready myself, narrowing my optics as the cruiser gets closer. The laser cannon then comes online and begins shooting green lasers blasts at us, which Jarik luckily manages to evade. Seeing myself close enough, I quickly turn off my magnetics and then jump off of the ship, soaring through space. I use the momentum of the vacuum of space to fly through the air towards the Star Destroyer.
The Knight Hawk swings away, and I land on the hull of the ship, reapplying my magnetics to stay on. Looking up at the laser cannon, I stand up fully and start running for it, pulling out my wrist blades. The turret slowly swivels around in an attempt to shoot me down, unleashing a heavy laser bolt. I easily lean out of the way and then raise my arms, slamming my wrist blades down onto the cannon. They cut clean through the metal alloy of the cannon, disabling it, much to my satisfaction.
"You have wrist blades too?" Mara asks in surprise.
"Yup! Mind picking me up?" I ask in reply.
"Sure thing," Jarik says.
I look around for the Knight Hawk, and see it quickly come soaring back in my direction. Jumping on my pedes a little bit, I then turn off my magnetics once again and jump off of the hull of the Star Destroyer, reaching an arm out. I then grab onto the Knight Hawk, swiftly pulling myself back onto the ship.
3rd person POV...
Governor Pryce and Admiral Konstantine observe the space battle happening outside, watching as TIE Fighters and rebel starfighters clash with each other. THe rebels flagship and carrier hang just beyond the range of their laser cannons, although that wasn't much of a concern for Pryce.
What really got her attention however, is the sight of a certain ship flying with the rebel fighters. And hanging onto that ship was a strange, massive droid, humanoid in shape, and equipped with some sort of energy blaster. This strange droid was shooting at Imperial TIE Fighters with blue blasts, which the ship it hung onto would fly closer to in order to give it a better shot. Not to mention it had crippled one of the laser cannons of their Star Destroyer by running across the cruiser's hull!
"What is that thing?!" Konstantine asks incredulously.
"I don't know..." Pryce growls, glaring at it. "Most likely this is Shan's handiwork."
Kallus then approaches the both of them. He does a double-take upon noticing the strange droid, but still delivers his report. "We have the admiral."
"Put him through," Pryce orders. A hologram of Thrawn appears moments later.
"Update me on your progress, Governor," Thrawn says immediately.
"The situation is proceeding much as you anticipated. The rebel fleet, composed of three star cruisers, have come to the rescue," she reports, before frowning. "However there is something else with them. A strange, massive droid that is shooting down our fighters."
"What kind of droid?" Thrawn asks, frowning in confusion.
"I am, unsure Grand Admiral," she admits in reply.
"Send me footage of this droid," he orders.
Pryce nods to one of the officers on the bridge, and footage of the droid shooting at the TIE Fighters is delivered to him across the hologram. Thrawn studies it for a few moments with a deep frown on his face, before turning back to Pryce.
"This droid is in some way related to Jarik Shan, I am confident of this," he finally says. "However, the supporting ships with them are not the rebel fleet. Break off your attack and allow them to escape with their meager reward."
"Very good, Grand Admiral," she replies with a nod, and the hologram disappears.
"We're letting them get away?" Konstantine asks incredulously. "I don't understand."
"I know you don't," she retorts condescendingly. "But rest assured, Thrawn has a much larger objective in mind than the capture of a single rebel cell."
"And what of this... new droid?" Kallus asks her.
"Whatever it is, Thrawn will uncover more about it, and where it came from," Pryce tells him.
Jarik POV...
"Commander Sato, everyone is accounted for," I hear Hera say through the comlink.
Noting this, I call up Elita to warn her about the jump to hyperspace. "Elita, get ready to re-enter the cargo hold. We're flying out of here!"
"Got it!" she replies.
I reopen the cargo hold and wait for her to climb inside. I takes a few moments but she eventually does so, giving me the all clear.
"I'm in. Let's jump," she says.
Satisfied, I close the ramp back to the cargo hold and watch as the rest of Phoenix Squadron jumps to hyperspace. I glance back at Mara, who smiles happily at me, and R5 delivers his own satisfied beeps, admittedly impressed by Elita's feat against the Star Destroyer. Turning back to face the front, I pull the lever, launching us out of the system and into hyperspace.
3rd person POV...
While walking down the ramp of the Ghost with Kanan and Hera, Ezra was trying to explain things and apologize.
"I'm sorry. Okay? I messed up," he says.
"As a leader, you've a responsibility to Phoenix Squadron," she replies, whirling around on him. "You almost got your team and yourself killed. And-"
"I know. Okay? The Phantom is gone," he says with a sigh, feeling a sense of guilt and shame. "But we're back in one piece and we've got five new- Uh, or old bombers."
"You disobeyed orders," she snaps. "I have no choice but to suspend your command."
"You suspend him, you should suspend all of us," Zeb says. "We went along with him."
"Your loyalty is admirable, Zeb, but this was Ezra's mission, not yours," she tells him.
"At least we got the Y-wings?" Sabine offers.
"They're not for us. We have orders to deliver these bombers to General Dodonna's unit," Hera admits. "They're part of a wider rebellion we're working to build. It's growing every day."
"Well, I guess if we're going to defeat the Empire, we'll need all the help we can get," Sabine says in agreement.
The sound of a ship descending to the landing pad besides the Ghost gets everyone's attention, and they look up to spot the Knight Hawk coming in for a landing.
"Speaking of needing all the help we can get," Hera starts. "I want to know just what exactly Jarik and Mara brought with them."
"Yeah, I'm pretty curious too," Boil admits.
With the Knight Hawk settled down, every gathers around the entrance, and the ramp opens to allow Jarik, Mara and R5 to depart, walking down it to greet them. R5 and Chopper immediately meet up, beeping in conversation with each other, and R5 smacks the other droid lightly, causing Chopper to squeal in protest.
"Commander Shan," Boil greets with a grin.
"Boil," he replies with a nod.
"Hey guys," Mara greets with a wave.
"Hey kid," Zeb replies.
"It's good seeing you again," Kanan says with a smile.
"And to you as well," Jarik replies.
At the sight of Ezra however, he narrows his eyes, his mouth pressing into a thin line. The young Jedi glances at him nervously, feeling a lot more ashamed of how he acted now that the holocron's prsence is no longer messing with him. Mara also scowls at him, which confirms in Ezra's mind that she knows what he said to. The rest of the crew notice the look and tense up uneasily. Luckily, Jarik sighs and looks away from Ezra, pressing his anger back down.
"So, Y-Wing bombers for Dodonna huh?" he remarks.
"Yeah. To help build the fleet," Kanan states, and he nods in understanding.
"Speaking of which, what was that droid you brought with you?" Hera asks.
"I saw the footage, I've never seen anything like it! It's insane!" Sabine adds a small sense of awe.
Jarik raises an eyebrow at her incredulously, a small grin flirting across his face. Realizing that she just complimented Jarik with genuine excitement, Sabine widens her eyes and falters, stepping back and crossing her arms with a hard gaze. However, the damage was already done.
"Huh. Looks like someone's warmed up to Commander Shan," Boil says with a grin, and Rex chuckles in amusement,
"Well, eh- I..." she sputters, eventually growling upon being unable to come up with a retort.
"Yeah yeah," Boil replies dismissively. "Although that is interesting what you had with you Jarik."
"What was it?" Hera asks.
Jarik and Mara share a glance with each other, and R5 rumbles in amusement. After a few moments he turns towards the ramp of his ship and waves an arm.
"Come on out!" he says.
Everyone looks up as a pink/magenta colored vehicle rolls out, being a four-wheeled car of some sort, not very common in the galaxy. It has a pair of headlights on to light up the area, and the group all watches in confusion as it comes to a stop just a couple of feet behind Jarik and Mara.
"Uh, I thought it was a giant droid," Zeb says in confusion.
"Oh you just wait big guy," Mara replies with a grin.
"Fair warning, this may shock you," Jarik warns them. "She's not exactly a droid."
"She?" Sabine asks.
"You mean, someone was piloting it? Like some tank?" Rex asks.
"No, she isn't a pilot either," he replies. He then bangs his fist lightly against the hood of the car. "Show em Elita."
The car then begins to transform, and the crew of the Ghost all widen their eyes in shock, taking a few wary steps back. Metal pieces slide and shift back and forth as the car changes into a large humanoid robot, which crouches down on the ground to look at them with glowing blue optics. Everyone stares up in complete disbelief, and Kanan was also stunned, sensing what occurred, as well as sensing the living force within the... machine?
"Everyone, meet Elita One," Jarik states.
Jarik POV...
Not longer after introducing Elita to Boil, Rex, and the Ghost crew, I decided to walk off to the edge of the base perimeter for some alone time, sensing the Bendu's presence out there. Mara was with Elita, helping the others to converse with her and get to know each other better. I then glance behind me upon sensing three people approaching.
Shaak-Ti, Kanan and Ezra all slowly approach me, the latter looking really nervous. I turn around to face them fully and cross my arms, an unhappy frown on my face.
"Hey Jarik," Kanan greets. "Ezra's come to apologize, for what he said before."
I narrow my eyes and look down at Ezra, who fiddles with his hands nervously. Shaak watches on with a concerned frown on her face.
"Uhh... I just wanted to say sorry," he starts off quietly. "For everything."
I continues staring, and he swallows uneasily, but keeps going anyways.
"I- I shouldn't have said the things I did, and assumed that you never cared about us. And I know how very wrong I was to try and accuse you of not caring about Ahsoka either," he apologizes sincerely. "I was just so... so angry at myself after what happened on Malachor, and I turned to the Sith holocron for guidance. I thought I was doing everything I did to help the Rebellion, but I was wrong. You know the dark side better than any of us, and you've suffered a lot. So you know how dangerous it is. It wasn't right for me to ever call your love with Ahsoka into questioning, and I'm sorry."
I remain silent after he finishes his apology, keeping my gaze trained on him with narrowed eyes. He looks at me uneasily, unsure if I was going to accept it, or still remain furious at him. A large part of me admittedly still wants to grind him into a pulp, but then the rational side reels me back in with a simple question.
What would Ahsoka do?
Finally, I let out a sigh. "I'll accept your apology. Hearing now that it was the holocron influencing you, it makes more sense to me that you acted the way you did," I tell him.
Ezra exhales in relief. "Thank you."
"But I must remind you, I'm not the only one you have to apologize to Ezra," I tell hm firmly.
"You're, you're not?" he asks uneasily.
I gesture with my head back in the direction of the base. "My daughter. She knows what you said."
Ezra widens his eyes in alarm, and drops his head in shame.
"Oh..." he murmurs guiltily.
"I'd advise you to make your apology a kriffing good one too. Or else she will eat you alive," I warn him seriously.
"Got it," he replies meekly.
Zaloriis, Askarian Sector; Expansion Region
3rd person POV...
The planet Zaloriis within the Expansion Region of the galaxy was a mostly desert planet, with not much civilian population there, and of no real value. Still, that didn't stop the Empire from creating a military base known as Fonder II in the planet's sweltering desert. Considering it's lack of importance as a base, despite being relatively large in size, it never saw much action.
However, soaring across the expansive desert was a strange starfighter, crafted in the design of a sleek fighter jet. It's design however is completely unknown, and unrecorded across the Imperial database.
*:*:*
Inside the command center of the Fonder II base Lieutenant Tobix Chasser, and Imperial officer, marched throughout the room to oversee the other officers and technicians at work. When he originally joined the Empire's military and Navy, he expected everything to be a little bit more exciting.
Instead, he's trapped at this dumb Imperial base in the middle of the Zaloriis desert, all the while Admirals like Kassius Konstantine get to run their mouths and boast about their 'grand accomplishments.' The idea of that makes him scoff in disgust. As if Konstantine actually achieved the rank he holds through real talent. Practically everyone in the Navy knows that he only became an Admiral because of influence within the Empire's political government.
While Chasser continues to oversee the command center, technician seated at his terminal notices something on the radar, and glances over his shoulder at him.
"Lieutenant Chasser, we have an inbound unidentified infiltrator, 10 miles out," he reports.
With a curious frown on his face, Chasser approaches the technician and leans over his shoulder to get a good look at the radar. Just like the technician said, there was an aircraft within their system.
"Is it rebels?" he questions.
"Not sure sir. We can't make it out," the technician replies.
"Patch me through to them," he orders. The technician does so, and he speaks into the open comlink. "Unidentified aircraft, you are trespassing within Imperial military lanes. Identify yourself."
The starfighter on their radar however does not reply to the message, but continues flying closer. Frowning, Chasser turns away from the comlink and calls up a few TIE Fighter pilots on another com.
"Fighters one and two, snap to sector 2-5-0 to intercept," he orders. "Bogie is in the weeds ten miles out, not responding."
From the base's hanger bay, two Imperial TIE Fighters take flight and start heading over in the direction of the aircraft approaching from far out. With that being done, Chasser calls the ship again and delivers his message firmly.
"Unidentified aircraft, we will escort you to the Fondor II Imperial base. If you do not comply, we will use deadly force," he warns dangerously.
*:*:*
Within no time, the two TIE Fighters reach the starfighter flying within their airspace and swing around to flank either side of it, getting a good look.
"Fighter pilot I-23 reporting. I cannot identify the type of starfighter," one of the pilot's says.
"Lead them back to the base. We will take it from there," Chasser replies through the com, ending the transmission.
"Unidentified aircraft, we will escort you to the Fondor II Imperial base," the TIE pilot says.
One of the TIE Fighters flies ahead of the starfighter and heads in the direction of the Imperial base, while the other stays behind to keep a good eye on it. Fortunately, the starfighter angles in the direction of the TIE Fighter and begins following the Imperial's back to their base. By the time they reach the base, it is nearly night, with the sun now setting. The TIE Fighters break off and head back to the hanger while the starfighter comes in for a landing in their open landing pad. As it does so, several troop transports and a platoon of stormtroopers surround the ship, readying their weapons incase it is needed.
Back in the command center tower, Lieutenant Chasser continues to oversee the operation from the technicians view screen when everything starts to fizz out and break off a little bit, much to their alarm.
"Woah woah woah," the technician mutters.
"What is it?" Chasser demands.
"The radar's jammed," the technician states, eyes widening in alarm. "It's coming from the starfighter!"
Moments later, the power within the base temporarily cuts off before coming back on, much to Chasser's alarm. He looks out the window of the tower to see the starfighter still on and scowls angrily, calling it on his com.
"Starfighter pilot, power your ship down now!" he orders.
Inside the starfighter's cockpit, the pilot in the seat flickers a little bit, as if it's a hologram.
"Step out of your ship, or we will kill you," Chasser states firmly.
After that declaration, the pilot of the starfighter seems to take him seriously, and the engines shut down. The stormtroopers all wait in their positions with their blasters raised, looking for any sign of the pilot to step out and surrender to them. However as the engines appear to be powering down, a section of the ship suddenly shifts and changes, slowly. The stormtroopers tighten their grip on their blasters uneasily, and then moments later the entire starfighter just changes... and transforms.
Huge sections of the ship slide and warp, changing their position as the entire starfighter seems to raise up... on two legs. All of the stormtroopers immediately open fire in a panic, red laser bolts shooting for the starfighter in a heavy barrage, hoping to destroy it. From the command tower, Lieutenant Chasser watches the scene with wide, horrified eyes.
"Oh kriff..." he mutters quietly, horrified.
The stormtroopers all continue giving their best efforts with their blasters, some of the troop transports also firing their turrets. However, none of the red laser blasts do any damage to the now massive humanoid machine, which looks down at them with angry red optics.
~Filthy organics.~ Onslaught growls in Cybertronian.
He whirls around to face the stormtroopers and raises his arm, unleashing a heavy missile that destroys two troop transports at once. Onslaught then morphs his arm into a blaster and starts firing back at the stormtroopers, incinerating many of them instantly with every shot. Some of the stormtroopers attempt to flee as he mows them down, but Onslaught transforms his other arm into a plasma cannon and jabs it into the ground, unleashing a heavy energy bolt. The blast flows outwards everywhere, instantly destroying everything within a hundred foot radius. Up in the tower, Chasser and the other officers duck down as the blast breaks the glass.
Onslaught marches forwards through the Imperial base relentlessly, firing his blaster cannon at anything close by. Buildings, vehicles, tanks, TIE Fighters, and Imperial personal. Those foolish enough to try and fight back were instantly killed by a red laser blast from his cannon. Still, destruction wasn't his main target, and he stomps towards the command center, where he detects the largest computer network on the base.
Ripping the roof off of part of the building, Onslaught searches the room intently with red optics, and spots the main power grid inside. Reachng a hand down, he grabs the grid and starts pulling it up, immediately using his advanced technology to hack into the Empire's primitive network and begins searches through the database.
~Where are you Elita One?~ he growls.
::Imperial database::
::Massive machine sighting::
::Unidentified droid::
::Classified Imperial Network::
::Grand Admiral Thrawn::
::Droid sighting - possibly new rebel tech::
::perhaps developed by Jarik Shan::
::Yarma Syste-
Onslaught blinks his optics in surprise, then whips his gaze around the room, spotting Lieutenant Chasser shooting out the electrical power outlet towards the grid. He effectively locks him out of the network by shooting the lines with his blaster, and Onslaught growls in a furious rage. Chasser looks up in terror as he pulls his arm away from the power grid and then transforms it into a blaster cannon, pointing it at him directly.
~You slagging insect!~ he yells.
Onslaught fires his weapon, instantly killing Tobix Chasser within moments. With the power grid no longer available to him, Onslaught turns away with a growl and fires his plasma cannon at the commander tower, watching with some satisfaction as it exploded into dust. Turning around, he continues marching for the rest of the base to destroy it all. He keeps firing missiles and red energon blasts at anything within his sights, when a sudden shot causes him to stumble. Onslaught whirls around and spots a trio of AT-DP scout walkers marching for him, firing their blaster cannons.
He growls angrily at the sight when another shot slams into his shoulder, causing him to stumble again. It leaves a blackened mark of charred metal, but otherwise doesn't cause too much damage. Raising an arm, Onslaught fires a trio of missiles, destroying two of the scout walkers. He then storms forwards and grabs the last walker, lifting it off the ground and swinging around the throw it away. The thrown walker blows through several buildings before blowing up in a large explosion, leaving just the hanger left.
At this point none of the Imperials in the base were attempting to fight back anymore, but were fleeing for their lives with panicked screams. Onslaught watches them attempt to run in a small amount of amusement, and decides to put them out of their misery. Raising his plasma cannon, he shoots one blast, destroying part of the base. He then shoots again, incinerating more Imperials and blowing up a line of TIE Fighters. He then fires one last plasma bolt, which plows through the remaining section of the base.
The stormtroopers, officers and pilots all scream in terror, up until they are incinerated.
Wow... what an intense ending to the chapter! :O