As the Walker, and trooper patrol passes by, Zeb and Ezra leap on, opening the hatch and hijacking the vehicle. Sabine gives them supporting fire, her shots simply keeping the stormtroopers on their toes and diverting all their focus from the walker, as Chopper jets himself in. Vex helps out with the support fire, his somewhat recently obtained DC-17m keeping the troopers moving around, lest they be hit with the bolts of plasma. Once Ezra manages to take control, leading the walker away from the ground patrol, Sabine and Vex leap on, both entering the cramped cockpit, as Chopper warbles in frustration.
"No connection?" Sabine questions in disbelief. "That's impossible, the entire system would have to be down."
"Well, they did blow up their own comm tower." Zeb notes.
"They must have taken down their entire data network." Sabine growls in anger.
"How are we gonna find out where they've got Kanan now?" Ezra asks.
"Remember, I've still got my cloaked scouts out there. If they find anything, they'll notify us immediately." Vex assures.
"Walker 6-9-3, stand down." An Imperial orders through the walkers inbuilt comms. Moments later, a heavy blast rocks the vehicle, two walkers flanking them, opening fire.
"Spectre-2, we're gonna need a pickup." Sabine warns.
"I read you, Spectre-5. Rendezvous at the town's western border." Hera orders as another blast hits.
"Hate to be the pessimist, Ezra, but how do we even know he's still alive." Sabine admits solemnly.
"He's alive. I know it." Ezra retorts, continuing to move the walker to the rendezvous.
"Don't doubt him, Sabine. His senses are some of the best i have ever seen, even against most Jedi Masters." Vex whispers to her, careful to not give Ezra an ego boost. As they continue forward, several chained blasts knock Zeb down, as he grabs hold of the walker, blocking the front viewport in saving his life. As Ezra argues for him to move, Sabine's comm chirps.
"Just keep it walking in a straight line. Hera's incoming, everyone up top, including you, Chop." She declares, reaching up and standing on the roof of the cockpit first, followed by Vex, Ezra, then Chopper. Zeb is able to climb back up as well. The walker that continues to open fire, is blasted by the Phantom, penetrating the cockpit and killing the pilots immediately, the walker corpse falling to the street floor. As everyone jumps into the Phantom, the other walker reappears in front of them, its continued fire destroying the cockpit of the one they had barely jumped off. As they fly off, the remains walk into the other walker, which tries to fire upon the Phantom, with no success, before it topples over.
"How'd it go?" Hera asks Ezra, who stands/sits by her side.
"It didn't." Ezra responds solemnly, head in his hands.
"Kanan knew the risks." Fulcrum's voice states to both Hera and Vex. "He accepted them. I'm sorry, but you must focus on your next objective."
"But, Fulcrum, Kanan is our objective. We can still find him." Hera argues.
"At what cost? You? Your unit?" Fulcrum sighs. "There's something else, Hera. The transmission Ezra was able to beam out has attracted attention. Not just from civilians, but from the highest levels of the Empire."
"It was Kanan's plan. I guess it worked." Hera notes with hidden pride.
"Your mission was to be unseen." Fulcrum warns.
"The mission is for the Rebellion to be unseen. It still is, for now." Vex defends gently. "You're worried about Ezra, more than anything, Fulcrum, for the possible future of Force Sensitives, I get it. But he would never stay unseen forever. At least he was able to reveal himself his own way, rather than by an execution. Kanan fought for what was right, like the Jedi of old."
"But again, at what cost?" Fulcrum asks, earning a glare from Hera, and a knowing, solemn look, from Vex. "I suppose I already know the cost." They sigh.
"Again, I do have scouts scouring the Galaxy, but i do partially agree with you, Fulcrum. For now, there is nothing we can do for Kanan. We have to move on, until we find something." Vex admits, looking to Hera with sorrow.
"If you continue to search for clues recklessly, you will be caught, your team will be caught, and all the hope you gave through that message will die." Fulcrum adds. "For now, you must go into hiding." The hologram fades, and Hera takes a seat, her emotions overflowing, as Vex sits beside her.
"He just wanted to inspire people, to give them hope." She iterates.
"He did. That's why we have to lay low. So that hope can live on, and grow into something bigger." Vex assures.
"Are we ready to finish what he started?" Bail's voice questions those in the old, ruined house that belonged to the Marek clan. The nods from everyone, Vex himself included, all solemn, is enough of an answer. "Then at last, the Rebel Alliance is born, here, tonight."
"We need a flag to rally behind." A young Leia declares, wiping away the dust and wood from the Marek Clan crest, the symbol seemingly shining. "A symbol of hope.
"We can't just plan a mission based on feelings." Sabine argues from the common room, as Hera and Vex walk in.
"Yes we can. We do it all the time." Ezra retorts.
"Not this time." Hera warns, everyone turning towards her.
"What are you talking about?" Ezra asks.
"We can't go after Kanan, the Empire will be waiting with a trap." Hera elaborates.
"When has that ever stopped us?" Ezra questions in defiance.
"We can't risk it." Hera reiterates.
"Can't or won't?" Ezra asks in anger.
"There's a bigger picture you're not seeing. A bigger mission. We can't jeopardize it for... one soldier." Her words come out harsh, unplanned.
"Soldier?!" Ezra exclaims in disbelief. "He's our friend! Hera, i can't just forget him, and I can't believe you would either! He would do anything to protect us!"
"And he did." Hera retorts. "He'd want us to honour the choice he made." She tries to place a hand on his shoulder, but he dodges, and dashes away. Hera looks down, guilty and in pain. When they head to the cockpit, Vex simply heads to the Phantom, waiting for Ezra, stopping him in his tracks.
"As much as i want to say i would do the same thing, this situation is different." Vex admits. "Do you understand what you did, by releasing that transmission?"
"What do you mean?" Ezra asks.
"You gave people hope. You gave them something to look forward for, to fight for. What do you think will happen when you get captured, and the Empire executes you publicly, showing it to all the worlds under it's control?" Vex asks rhetorically, his point getting across, as Ezra's face falls. "All that hope, all that work you did, Kanan's sacrifice, will amount to nothing. That hope, will die with you and the others."
"Then what am I meant to do?!" Ezra asks in frustration.
"You have patience. While I may have agreed with the idea of telling you we can't search for Kanan, i didn't agree that I would stop." He assures, gesturing for Ezra to follow him further into the Phantom, where he brings up a holomap of the Galaxy, the planets under Imperial control, with a prison, shown in red, the thousands of planets numerous.
"How are we meant to find Kanan, among all those planets?" Ezra wonders in defeat. Vex simply presses a few buttons, and the planets are reduced to less than 50.
"This Holomap is from the Clone Wars, and updated to current times. The Planet descriptions haven't been changed to eliminate the Jedi knowledge." Vex reveals. "Each of these planets were used to hold Dark Jedi, or planets immersed with the Dark side."
"That's still a lot of ground to cover." Ezra notes.
"That's where you come in." Vex admits. "I want you to find him."
"How?" Ezra asks.
"Open yourself to the Force." Vex instructs, waiting for Ezra to do that, watching as he closes his eyes, his will, and intent, strong in the Force. "Feel for Kanan. Find the bond you share with him." He continues, watching as Ezra follows his words. He can almost see when Ezra finds the string of their bond, as he tugs at it gently. "Follow it, let it guide you to him." As Ezra focuses, the Holomap begins to move, searching along the planets on its own accord, before Ezra gasps in pain, a planet held open, it's description dark and foreboding.
"He's there." Ezra stutters, his breathing short and quick, his body sweating from a heat that was never there.
"Mustafar. Where Jedi go to die." Vex notes solemnly, immediately sending a command to the nearest scout to check the planet out. "I've sent a scout. We'll make our move once he reports back."
"I'm still going to do what i planned to. I need to be sure." Ezra admits gently. Vex sighs.
"I understand. But I'm not going to be able to help you with Hera. That's up to you, and her." He warns.
"I figured as much." Ezra sighs, before ushering Vex out.
Vex watches as Hera yells at Ezra, her rage at such blatant disobedience flaring in the Force, before she slowly settles, asking Ezra about the plan. She tries to inform Vex, but he refuses to join, feeling that this was up to the Spectres, rather than his own inclusion. While most are upset, Ezra nods to him in partial understanding, his thoughts flowing to him, asking his help only if something goes terribly wrong.
Vex simply sits in the Ghost, even as they fight against an Imperial Arquitens Cruiser, keeping himself away from the battle, even though he risks being turned to ash if the ship is destroyed. His faith in the crew shown by his actions. As they all converge around Chopper, their mission a success, both Ezra and Zeb are forced to watch as the Imperial Droid is thrown out of the Ghost by Chopper, who waves his claw as a goodbye to the droid.
"I shoulda seen that coming." Zeb grumbles. Their information confirms what Ezra used his powers to find, that Kanan, was on Mustafar.
"Anyone got a plan? Or even ideas for a plan?" Vex asks simply, the scouting report coming through as he speaks, and he brings it up on holo-display, revealing the three Imperial Star Destroyers that surround Governor Tarkin's personal Star Destroyer.
"We'll need an Imperial Freighter if we want to even get close." Sabine notes, her eyes scanning the formation, before she brings the Sovereign up for a closer look. "As for a diversion, the Reactor is close to the docking bay, so i could jury rig something up to detonate and disable power. Our Gozanti, however, will not fit."
"We need something small to get in there." Hera sighs in agitation. "Too bad we blew up all those TIE's at the base." Ezra glances to Sabine, guilt, yet pride, written over his features, the expression causing Vex to laugh.
"Well, uh, there is one left." Ezra admits. "But it's not at the base." Zeb motions, and sounds, for him to stop, to not reveal it, but his actions are noticed, and vex laughs even harder. "This is serious, Zeb." Ezra's words make Zeb stiffen, as he relents with a sigh.
"What's going on?" Hera asks sternly.
"The TIE we stole a while back? We uh, we didn't exactly crash it." Ezra rubs the back of his neck nervously.
"And by, 'didn't exactly,' you mean?" Hera questions.
"We didn't crash it." Ezra repeats. "We kept it. Hid it." He smiles cheekily, while Zeb and Sabine look on with knowing guilt.
"You all knew about this?" Hera questions, with Vex motioning that he didn't know either, though his laughter continues, as Hera sighs. "I should be angry at this, for yet another order disobeyed, but right now, I'm just grateful we've got it." Sabine and Ezra look at each other in worry.
"Uh, there's a slight problem with it." Ezra warns.
"What kind of problem?" Hera and Zeb both ask. Ezra and Sabine just shrug, before they lead everyone to the TIE, it's look causing Vex to chuckle.
"Well, this looks awful." Zeb notes.
"What?" Sabine asks in shock. "It's some of my best work."
"Well, it'll have to do." Hera admits with a sigh.
"What? You're supposed to be the sane one. This plan is as crazy as the colours painted onto the TIE!" Zeb argues.
"Maybe you're right." Hera shrugs. "Maybe this mission doesn't make military sense, but Kanan is family. And we've all lost enough family to the Empire."
"It actually does make sense, military wise." Vex admits. "But it's a rather rude way to say it, so let's stick with yours, Hera." The glare everyone sends his way is a perfect indication on his words. "I get it. Now let's do this already. We've got a Kanan to save."
As the Star Destroyer's lights power down, the massive Capital Ship beginning to list, Hera docks the Gozanti on the side of the Destroyer, Ezra and Vex cutting a hole into the Hull to gain entry. Before Vex follows them all in, however, he returns to Chopper, giving him a quick message, before catching up with the others.
"These guys will wake up soon." Sabine warns.
"How soon?" Ezra asks.
"Too soon, i reckon." Zeb answers. Ezra sighs, before leading everyone onward, following Kanan's signature. As they dash through the halls, Chopper warbles his warning.
"Reinforcements already? That was fast." Hera notes.
"Don't worry, on a ship this size, it will take them a while to find us." Sabine assures.
"I wouldn't be so certain." Vex admits, as they turn a corner, coming face to face with said reinforcements.
"Yep. They found us." Ezra affirms the obvious, firing a high powered stun blast at the troopers, knocking two down, buying them time to run, right into another patrol. Vex ignites his saber and deflects the bolts, as Hera shuts the blast door. Ezra buries his saber into the center of the door, welding it shut.
"Pretty clever, kid. What's next?" Sabine asks.
"Well, Kanan is down that hall. I just cut off our only way to get to him." Ezra admits.
"Might be our only way. But it's not yours." Hera gestures to the ventilation shaft above them.
"You lot can work on an alternate escape route. I'll keep the troopers busy." Vex assures, dispersing into particles, as everyone separates. Vex manages to get to the other side of the welded door, where he begins to hack away at the troopers, ensuring to leave no bodies, the Null vaporizing them so to prevent any harmful propaganda.
He continues to fight on, forcing his own path through the ship, leaving nothing behind as he forges on, the Null singing in Blood Lust, along side the Dark Side energy of the planet below, as Vex ignores both. He tries to make his way to the bridge, to take out Governor Tarkin, but finds him already gone, the ships emergency alarms blaring, as the whole place shudders. Vex searches for the familiar signature of Tarkin finding it fade with distance, as the Governor flees the doomed Star Destroyer.
In haste, Vex dissolves into particles, reforming in the Hanger, where he steals a TIE Fighter, killing the pilot who was trying to use it as an escape. He changes the comm frequency to that of the Spectres, as he departs.
"I can't believe that bucket of bolts abandoned us!" Zeb's angered voice calls through the comms. Through the Force, Vex feels the sudden worry and fear, before relief.
"Don't worry, we've got your back." Ezra assures.
"Thanks, but without Chopper's transport, we're going nowhere fast." Sabine retorts.
"Have some patience." Vex assures. "He'll be back."
"It better be soon, cause we've got TIE's closing in." Hera admits.
"How many?" Sabine questions.
"Too many." Vex answers, firing at those he can, being farther back compared to the others, clearing some of the heat from them. Chopper emerges from Hyperspace in front of everyone, his prideful warble echoing on the frequency. "Told you he'd be back." The Ghost and three CR90 Corvettes appear behind him, their numerous anti-fighter weapons clearing the Imperials from the Spectres, as Vex finally catches up alongside them.
"Who is that?" Ezra asks.
"I don't know. But I think they're on our side." Kanan answers.
"Of course they are. I asked Chopper to call for them if he felt things were turning sour." Vex admits. "Now, hurry up and dock with the transport. We need to get out of here before any more reinforcements arrive." With his words, the three TIE's dock to the Gozanti, which the Ghost also docks alongside, before each ship makes the jump to Hyperspace, their escape a success.
They all converge in the Gozanti, the crew immediately hugging Kanan and showing their affection, as Chopper rolls in.
"Hey, if Chopper was in this transport ship, then who was flying the Ghost?" Ezra asks, earning a chuckle from Vex, and a death glare through the durasteel wall from Hera. Their curiosity piqued, they head through the docking tube, as four soldiers stand at attention, moving to an at ease position as Chopper rolls past, with Vex behind him, the two leading the others back to their home, as he activates a holo-transmission.
"Hello my friend." The figure of Bail Organa floats before them. "It is good to see you again."
"I don't understand. I met you once for a few moments, i don't even know your name." Kanan admits.
"Senator Bail Organa." Vex explains, smiling to the man, who smiles back.
"And the crews of the blockade runners?" Kanan questions.
"Members of other Rebel Cells." The Senator admits with a smile.
"There are other cells." Sabine exclaims quietly, joy adorning her face, yet also, concern, and fear.
"We're a cell?" Ezra wonders aloud, before whispering to Zeb. "Wait, did you know we were a cell?"
"Uh, no." Zeb answers, his features showing his confusion.
"We weren't supposed to be." Hera admits. "That way if one of us is captured, we couldn't reveal the other Rebels to the Empire. That, was the protocol." Bail's hologram fades.
"The protocol has changed." A familiar voice calls, as her figure climbs down the ladder, two saber hilts on her hip.
"Fulcrum." Hera notes.
"Ahsoka." She correct. "My name, is Ahsoka Tano." She turns to face them, her blue eyes looking over each member, before landing on Vex for a long moment, a smile adorning her face, as she beckons him over, as they embrace. Chopper also rolls over to her, and she pats his dome in affection.
"Why did you come here?" Kanan asks.
"Because of you, and your apprentice. Many in this system, and beyond, have heard your message. You gave them hope, in their darkest times. We didn't want that hope to die." She explains.
"So what happens now?" Ezra questions.
"I don't know." Ahsoka admits. "Today, has ended. We can only continue forward."
A/N - No more Valkyrie... for now. Just too much too soon. When one rushes things, that kind of thing happens. I'll reintroduce the Valkyrie later on, when it is at the end of the Empire, from Endor onward. Vex is, once again, taking a step back, only fighting when the others are doing something reckless. His actions thinned the stormtroopers much more than you realize, as he gave the Spectres much more room to work and escape. He, was the distraction. An effective one too. Take care and stay safe.
