Previously on The Jedi and the Mandalorian...
"So these Jedi...they were peacekeepers...and they could use magic?"
"And your people were wiped out…" Blake muttered in shock, "Like...like genocide?"
"This Empire, nearly wiped out the Jedi in mass genocide, using your brothers or clones to perform the act. Took over the Republic and puppeted Mandalore?"
Ezra frowned and shook his head, "Its not just that."
"The Empire subjugates everyone." Sabine continued, "Countless worlds have been occupied by them. They force species into slavery, declare several of them to be non-sentient, and execute those who question their actions!"
"That's the head of a Separatist Super Tactical Droid."
"What was the SDC working on?" Ezra asked him
Eli scratched his chin, "Uh some sort of new robot. I think it was to replace the aging Atlesian AK-130 sentry robots the military's been using. We were shown samples of several unidentified units, including the head of one as well."
"Yes! That's it! I was forced to search its data banks for its primary programming. Then form my own to use for the next line of Atlesian sentry units. But the project has been kept under heavy surveillance. I've been working with a gun pointed at my back ever since I was kidnapped."
"He's right, all units that were discovered were moving out of one place. Vacuo is the only area on Remnant with no discoveries."
"And to further add-on to that, we detected a faint power surge in the region."
"Whoa!" Sun muttered as he watched, "Is he good?"
"Chopper, are you alright!?" Sabine asked
"Rebels…" he muttered, "Galactic…Empire…
RWBY: The Jedi and the Mandalorian
Chapter 13 - The Separatist
Premise: The Rebels learn the truth of the Separatist presence on Remnant.
It was now evening in the remains of Feldspar. Sun and Omega were in the cockpit of the Gauntlet playing dejarak via a hologram Chopper was emitting.
"...Ugh! You've been winning this because you've played this before!" Sun groaned, this was his sixth match against the female clone. The sixth time he lost as well; he hadn't won yet.
"It's popular throughout the galaxy." Omega said to him, "Some people actually make bets while playing."
"I ain't making any bets." the monkey faunus whined, "Especially with you."
Chopper then grumbled in agreement, to which Sun looked at him; he had no idea what the droid was saying,
"Oh don't you start too."
Then the Gauntlet's comm systems went off, "Sun, Omega, are you there?"
Sun raised his arms in the air, "Finally!"
Omega then answered the comms, "We're here Ezra. What's your status?"
"...We're approaching the location now." Ezra answers as he, Sabine, and Blake trekked across the sandy dunes outside Feldspar. It had been an hour or so since the incident regarding Team NDGO; at least they left on good terms with Nebula. The rest of the team didn't take too kindly to them, going as far as abandoning them and attempting to steal the Gauntlet. Omega and Nebula even described the woman who attacked Feldspar using several salvaged droids to Theodore. The old headmaster promised to look into who this person was, even claiming that she sounded familiar.
But it was time to continue onward. They were now closing in on the location of the faint signal Hunter and the Bad Batch informed them of.
"How close are we?" Blake asked as she followed the two rebels
"Almost…here…" Sabine trailed off as they looked around. They were about a half a klick from Feldspar, the Gauntlet was still docked just outside the remains of the town. Their only problem was there was nothing else in the surrounding area, not even Grimm.
"Here?" Blake muttered, "There's nothing."
"This doesn't make any sense." Sabine added as she inspected the coordinates they were at, "Chopper, increase the Gauntlet's scanners, see if you can find anything."
Ezra then looked on the ground and noticed what appeared to be a small rock lying in the sand. He reached down to pick it up, only to struggle to lift it. He began to wipe the sand around it to find something interesting: there was more of the rock buried, and that it wasn't a rock at all.
It was metal.
"Not in front of us…" he said out loud, catching both Sabine and Blake's attention
"What?" the latter muttered
"Underneath us." he stated while pointing at the metal buried in the sand, "I have an idea, do you trust me?"
"Let's see." Sabine replied
Ezra had them all step back a bit before he knelt down and placed his hand on the ground. He breathed slowly and quietly as the sand around them began to move and separate, exposing more of the metal. Soon, a large crater formed in the middle of the desert, and the metal Ezra found was actually part of a bigger structure.
The two girls looked surprised at what Ezra just did. Sabine had experience with Ezra using the force before, one time he used a mind trick on an Imperial walker before. As for the object in front of them, she recognized it perfectly.
"Oh, I don't believe it!" she shouted
"I don't." Blake said to her, "What is it?"
Then Omega contacted them, "We saw the sand move, what's going on?"
"Guys, it's a shield generator!" Sabine exclaimed
"A what!?" Omega shouted, surprised, "You're serious!?"
"Oh yeah! Military grade!" the Mando said, "This is where the power readings are coming from!"
"Just like Geonosis!" Ezra added
"Hey. Guys!" Sun announced his presence over comms, "You mind telling us what we're dealing with?"
"It's a shield generator." Sabine explained as Blake approached the structure that was unearthed. She then noticed a console nearby as the Mando continued, "They can create a protective shield around a certain area. We found one on a planet called Geonosis, we extracted its drive core and used it on our base back on Attollon."
"Is this a good sign?" Sun asked
"Definitely." Omega said to him, "This means that there could be a base nearby."
"Or right here." Blake muttered, catching everyone's attention. She then activated the console, which resulted in the ground beginning to rumble. The ground beneath them began to rise before they were no longer in a crater. It was a massive landing platform with a now fully resurfaced shield generator. Several battle droids were scattered around, either unearthed or buried in sand.
"Oh, this is way better…"
Ezra then ordered Omega to put the Gauntlet on the landing pad. BUt were unaware they were being watched from afar by a group of strangers…
Within a dark corridor of the base, Ezra, Sabine, and Blake were walking slowly as they investigated everything nook and cranny they could find. Most passageways were blocked by either sand or debris.
"This place is like a maze…" Sabine muttered as she used her flashlight to examine her surroundings, "There's got to be a control room somewhere. Ezra, you were on a Separatist ship before."
"Yeah, but this is a base. Not a ship." Ezra retorted, "Chopper, you got anything?"
Before entering the base, Chopper managed to access an old terminal that had a detailed map of the base. The droid then responded via comms that they were heading in the right direction.
"So what do you think they were doing here?" Blake the masked, "The Separatists?"
"I don't know, I still don't know much about them." Ezra replied
"It's possible that they were following contingency plans or something." Sabine added, "When the Clone Wars finally turn in the Republic's favor. Beyond that, I'm not quite sure."
"Wait." Ezra then announced, "Here!"
The trio entered a room which contained a holo-table and several command consoles. Several B1 battle droids were scattered on the floor. Chopper then chimed in and said they were at the Command Center.
"This is it." Ezra said as he entered the room followed by the two girls, "Blake, get the backpack you have open. We're gonna need the power generator we brought."
Blake took off the backpack she had and knelt down as she took out a large cylinder object and with a cable attached to it and handed it to Ezra. The young Jedi then plugged it into a nearby console. The terminal began to flicker as power was finally restored to it.
Sabine then approached the console and began looking through its files, "According to this terminal, this place was one of few forward operating bases. It was used to rely intel to and from their main base of operations…wait…Yes…Yes!"
"What? What is it?" Ezra asked, approaching her. He noticed the smile that was right across her face.
"Its here!" she cried out, "The base, we know where it is!"
"Where is it!?" Ezra asked just as surprised
"Well I don't exactly know where it is." Sabine explained, "The data is encrypted. This is some top notch security, even for the Separatists. I'm downloading the data now."
Sabine began to transfer the data onto a disc they had. This was a huge step in the right direction. They were now one step closer to their prize. One step closer to going home.
But they weren't just gonna go without getting a few more answers.
"While time, it's time we got some answers." Ezra muttered, "Blake, the head."
Blake reached into her bag and pulled out the Tactical droid head, the same one Ezra and Sabine acquired from the SDC train, and the one that connected with the Nightingale. She handed it to Ezra who then plugged it into the generator. The eyes on the head flickered slightly in a white color before coming fully online.
"P-P-Power restored." it said in a feminine voice. It took notice of the three teens staring at it.
"W-What do you want, humans?" it asked in a robotic tone
"Who are you?" Sabine asked in return
"General Artemis, Separatist Alliance." the head answered, "You are Mandalorian, are you not?"
Sabine stared at the head, "I am."
"Then you are not of this world. Save for the girl with you." Artemis stated, "Your bow is unable to hide your heritage, Faunus."
Blake glared at Artemis slightly as the droid continued, "Or you Jedi, I can see your weapon."
Ezra gripped his lightsaber as he remained calm while staring back at the droid head. He remembered what Rex said about Super Tactical Droids, they were extremely intelligent, and were quite useful during the Clone Wars.
"Who sent you here?" Artemis then asked
"No one." Ezra replied, folding his arms, "We're ship wrecked, but we have the location of your base. But we have questions that need to be answered."
"And what might that be?" Artemis muttered
"What were the Separatists doing on Remnant?" Ezra asked the droid
Artemis remained silent for a moment before speaking, "Your belief that we bear the colors of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, means that we were sent by either the Separatist Parliament or Count Dooku. But you are wrong, Master Jedi."
"Then who sent you?" Sabine asked, now a little interested in what the droid was going to say.
"We were sent by the Sith Lord, Darth Sidious…" Artemis answered
Both Ezra and Sabine felt a chill go down their spines, as did Blake. They never thought they would hear that name be heard in a long time.
"Ugh! I'm bored!" Sun groaned as he spun around in a chair back on the ship. Omega was standing nearby looking through a datapad.
"Couldn't we just have gone with them?" Sun then asked out loud
"Someone needs to watch the ship." Omega said to him, "And we both know Chopper would do a bad job."
The droid grumbled as if offended as Omega then added, "Especially after the whole incident with Team NDGO."
"I just wished we could've gone and have Blake stay behind." Sun muttered as he went back to doing his own thing. That was until he heard a beeping noise nearby. The monkey Faunus turned around in his seat to see a blinking light on the Gauntlet's controls.
"Hey…Omega?" he muttered, "What's this blinking light?"
Omega looked up from her datapad and noticed the light, "That's the proximity sensor."
"And that means?" Sun questioned
"It means we have something in the area." Omega answered as she approached the controls. She looked out the Gauntlet's viewport, narrowing her eyes as she looked out into the dunes surrounding the base. She then grabbed a pair of binoculars and looked into them, and what she saw made her suck on her own breath.
"What?" Sun asked, interested, "What do you see?"
"Nothing good…" she said before handing Sun the binoculars. He then looked into them, and saw what she was looking at.
A lone Atlas airship approaching the base.
Back in the Separatist base, Ezra and Sabine were shocked to hear that the Separatists sent to Remnant were sent not by their leaders, but by the figure who changed the galaxy for the worst.
"How is that possible…" Ezra muttered
"Hold on, who's Darth Sidious?" Blake asked, curious as to what they were talking about
"You know him as the Emperor." Ezra began saying, "Sidious is the Sith Lord that manipulated the Republic and the Separatists during the Clone Wars. He was the one who wiped out the Jedi, and now he rules the Empire under a façade.
"You are correct, Jedi." Artemis said to him, "Lord Sidious ordered for us to be deployed to this system."
"But why?" Blake questioned
"We were sent as part of a secret assignment by the Sith to help in establishing new hyperspace lanes, and safe passage through the Unknown Regions, an undertaking Sidious has been working on for an unknown amount of time." Artemis explained, "Along the way, we were ordered to uncover any artifacts related to either Sith or the Jedi."
"What did you find?" Ezra asked curiously
"We've found nothing." Artemis replied, "We were only a little way into our investigation of Remnant. When we received our shutdown command."
Ezra mentally sighed in relief, he was relieved to hear the droid say that. That meant the Jedi Temple was still a secret known only to him and his friends.
Sabine however was interested in something else, "So you were only a little ways into your presence on Remnant when the Clone Wars ended.
"No." Artemis said back, surprising them, "We continued operating long after the Clone Wars ended, serving the new regime under Lord Sidious' control. We initially struggled due to the creatures that roam this planet, creatures the inhabitants refer to as Grimm. As years went by we prepared for invading the entire planet, when the time came, we expected to be replaced with Imperial Stormtroopers. Until we received a message from the Emperor himself, ordering us to be shut down. He told us that this planet held a dangerous threat, one that could bring the galaxy to its very needs."
"What?" Ezra asked, "What threat?"
Artemis was quiet for a moment, "We don't know, the signal transmitted and we were shut down. But I was used to activate several droid after being temporarily merged with the Nightingale, and now, you reactivated me in one of our outposts."
Blake then decided to ask a question, "What do you know about Atlas."
"Atlas." Artemis stated, "One of four kingdoms on the planet Remnant. The youngest in the world, known for its technological capabilities in dust and military. Primitive by Separatist and outdated Imperial intel we conjured up…and are nearby."
Ezra raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean by nearby?"
Suddenly, his and Sabine's comms went off, and Omega's voice came through, "Ezra! Sabine!"
"We hear you Omega, what's wrong?" Sabine answered
"Its Atlas!" Sun shouted on the other end, "We've got an airship approaching the area. They just deployed an dropship and coming up fast.!"
"Karabast!" Sabine cursed, "We need to go! Now!"
"Do we have the data!" Ezra shouted at her
"We do!" she answered as she grabbed the disc as Blake stuffed the generator back into her bag with Artemis following suit.
"Hey! I'm still-" the droid hissed as it lost power du to being disconnected from the generator before being stuffed in to the bag.
The trio arrived back on the landing pad just as the Atlas dropship flew overhead. Several white objects fell from it and landed on the ground. Sabine took a closer look and realized that they were actually droids of some kind. The droid unfolded, and pulled out blasters of some kind.
"What are those?" Blake asked, "AKs?"
"Worse…" Sabine muttered, "...Commando Droids."
But these droids were different from the one that both Ezra and Sabine knew about. These Commando droids were modified by the Atlas Military. Their plating was now white with blue accents, with one of them, presumably the leading droid unit, with a dark gray accent on its face and front plate.
"Open fire." the droid ordered
"Roger roger."
The droid began firing on the rebels, who immediately ducked behind cover. Sabine and Ezra immediately returned fire.
"Looks like Atlas got themselves some new toys!" Ezra quipped
"What are those things!?" Blake shouted
"Commando Droids!" Sabine repeated from before, "They're agile and armored! Just give them all you got!"
"On it!" Blake replied before jumping out from behind cover. Using the ribbon on her weapon, Blake performed a spinning attack on the droids knocking them down. The leading droid then took out a vibro-blade and locked blades with Blake.
"Surrender now." it ordered before delivering a powerful blow that sent Blake flying. Sabine helped her up as several white-color battle droids were deployed along with regular human troops.
"This is the Atlas MIlitary, stand down and surrender!" authoritative voice ordered from the dropship.
"How 'bout no!" Omega shouted from the Gauntlet's ramp as she aimed a rocket launcher at the dropship. Omega fired a rocket, which hit one of the ship's engines. The craft spun around in control before crashing into the dunes.
As this happened, a lone Battle Droid managed to shoot the bag Blake had with her, causing Artemis' deactivated head to fall out.
"No!" she shouted, Blake tried to grab it but was under fire from the Atlas forces. Ezra then grabbed her.
"Leave it, there's no time!" he said to her as they made a run for the Gauntlet. Sabine quickly got to the ship's controls. The engines bursted to life as the Gauntlet soon lifted off the ground as Ezra and Blake ran up the landing pad, with Ezra deflecting blaster shots with his lightsaber. However a sneaky battle droid with a rocket launcher of his own managed to land a shot on the ship's side. The jolt sent a few crates from the Gauntlet's cargo bay, flying out, and nearly hitting both Ezra and Blake. As for them, Ezra nearly fell, but Blake managed to grab him.
"Come on!" she said as they entered the ship. The doors then sealed shut as Sabine flew the Gauntlet away and towards the Atlas airship. Everyone then ran into the cockpit.
"Sabine, the chances of surviving a head-on approach of an Atlas airship is like a million to one!" Sun cried out
"Never tell me the odds!" she retorted as Ezra got in his seat.
"Readying weapons!" he said out loud, "Chopper get us a scan!"
Sir, the enemy ship is advancing on our location." a deck officer said to his superior on the Atlas Airship, "It's moving into an attack position."
"Good, ready the guns and ships." he ordered his subordinate, "You may fire, when ready."
"We got a scan!" Ezra announced
"Almost there…" Sabine muttered as the ship flew closer to the airship, its weapons almost ready to fire
Blake and Sun grew even more nervous, "Sabine…please!"
"...NOW!"
The Gauntlet then opened fire on both of the airship's main cannons, causing an overload that ended with both erupting in an explosion. The crew began to scramble in fear, but it was pointless as the rest of the ship went up in a fiery inferno.
"YES!" Sabine shouted
"Now that's how you take on Atlas!"
"That was a lot of damage!" Sun stated
"Don't look at the damage." Sabine said to him, "Look at the color."
Ezra leaned back in his seat, "We did it, we have the location of the Separatist base."
"This will begin to make things right." Omega stated, "The Separatists, Atlas, the SDC, this gonna change, big time."
"Gonna be a hell of a story to tell my team." Sun added, earning chuckle from the others
Sabine then turned and looked at everyone, "But we have something even bigger now, what Artemis told us."
"The Emperor knew about Remnant." Ezra continued, "He sent the Separatist here as part of some operation, it continued when the Empire was formed. But then, he ordered for the droid to shut down, said something about a threat present on the planet."
"But that doesn't make any sense." Omega muttered, "What could scare a Sith Lord?"
"Nothing good, but the Jedi had to have been involved. But I know someone who can help." Ezra replied
Sabine turned and looked at him, "Kanan…"
"Once we settle things here, I'll speak with him." Ezra continued, "Maybe we can figure something out."
Blake then spoke, "I just wish we didn't leave Artemis' head behind like that."
"Blake, there was no time and we were under fire." Ezra said to her
"He's right." Sabine agreed with him, "Besides, when Ezra and I found it. Atlas and the SDC didn't even bother to do anything with it."
"So…what now?" Sun asked
"We go back to Beacon, and bring Ironwood to justice…"
With that, the Gauntlet flew out of Vacuo and back towards Vale.
Ironwood was now present on his personal airship heading back towards Vale. He was still looking through the data he and his military recovered when he received a message.
"General, we lost the rebels in Vacuo." an officer said to him
"Unfortunate." he replied, "Anything else?"
"We recovered several crates from their ship that fell out." the officer continued, "Most held useless materials, but we discovered two things. I did a scan of our intelligence and found that these assets were aboard one of our trains a few weeks back. The same train the rebels destroyed I believe. Along with some sort of generator capable of deploying a shield of some kind."
The officer then sent an image to Ironwood, who quickly looked at it. It was Artemis' head, and a box containing slabs of beskar. He then looked back at his data before speaking.
"I'm sending a dropship to pick you up." he announced, "Have these assets ready to be handed over to me when we meet up in Vale."
"Yes sir!" the officer replied firmly before ending the call. Ironwood then went through the data with a neutral expression on his face. Everything he knew was about to change, he had what he needed, who they were, their backgrounds, and most of all, the leverage necessary for Remnant's survival.
"Thank you, Ezra Bridger and Sabine Wren." he muttered, "Your contribution to Remnant's survival will not be forgotten…when the Empire has you…"
Next on the Jedi and the Mandalorian...
Chapter 14 - The General