Chapter 4: In the name of the Rebellion
March 7.
Almost two months since Mandalore, and since Jaral had officially took command of the entire Rebellion. And exactly a month since she turned 20.
These two months had been quite intense for the young woman. As she reorganized the strength of the Rebellion across the galaxy in a handful of major bases. Yavin was her main center of operation, yes, but she also had some large outposts created on Dantooine, the place where the rebellion was born; then Raxus, where many sympathizers of the old Separatist Movement had kept on the struggle against the Republic when it turned to the Empire; finally, with the help of Cham Syndulla, the Rebels started to send men and materials to Ryloth, to help the Twi'lek in their resistance. This was also intended as a way to train the rebel troopers: the Twi'lek had been fighting for decades, meaning that they were masters of asymmetric warfare, exactly the kind of doctrine that Jaral intended to adopt.
Much of her free time was spent reading and reading again 'The Art of War', which she find incredibly interesting and useful. All those ideas about out-smarting your opponent, deploy your forces in a way that nullified the enemy's numerical superiority, know when it was time to fight and when to retreat and, finally what was probably her favorite quote:
'To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence:
Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance
without fighting.'
She still wasn't completely sure how such a thing could be possible, or at least if it was possible against the Empire, but it was a very intriguing concept. Jaral spent a lot of time confronting her strategy with Admiral Raddus and other esteemed military minds of the two Alliances, who, on their part, where very impressed at her creativity and multi-tasking capacity.
Someone else, though, was having less fun: the Ghost crew.
Sure, Ezra spent a lot of time improving his Jedi training with Kanan and Jaral, when she had the time. The three of them also had some more time to confront their knowledge of the Force with Thabo, who explained many things about the 'Flux', as they called the Force in the Milky Way.
For example, Thabo explained that the psionics had a higher percentage of population that could get glimpse of the future. To the Ordo Quaeris, the Flux/Force didn't simply bind living beings together, but it also bound time. One of the first psionics, Emperor Federico XX, had had two major visions in his life that changed the course of the Federation's history: first a warning against the invasion of Earth by the Covenant, then another one against the Reapers, even if it was 40 years into the future and he died shortly after having the vision, passing it onto his great-grandson and next Emperor, Lorenzo.
All interesting concepts, but Ezra was still bitter that, even with the Rebellion gathering so much strength, the goal of helping Lothal seemed so far away.
The crew had very little free time on their hands, in general. When there wasn't a drill, there were supply runs to do, or help with the maintenance, but there wasn't much action, because Jaral wanted the other units of the Alliance to make experience. And on that side, at least it was working: Wedge, Hobbie and their Rogue Squadron was increasing its fame significantly as the Captain led more and more successful raids against Imperial installations. Squads of saboteurs, trained by the Alliance Marines, had also proven their ability in sabotage and search&rescue missions on worlds heavily controlled by the Empire.
Darvos spent a lot of his time in the communication department as well. He had successfully nullified the algorithm that Iulius had used to tamper rebel communications and find Atollon, and what was best, he had reverse-engineered it to encrypt rebel transmissions in a way that, Darvos was sure, even Iulius would struggle to break without his brother noticing.
Personal relationships was probably the only things distracting Ezra from the monotony of the base. His married life was certainly blooming in the best way possible, since he and Sabine were "casually" assigned to the same tasks every time and had a lot of time to spend alone in the Gauntlet.
Kanan was also becoming way more open to his feelings toward Hera. The Twi'lek certainly felt the same, but to her, duty took the precedence. She believed that, after the Empire was finally defeated, they would have all the time in the universe.
The Systems Alliance, as promised, had started to smuggle heavy weapons and shield generators of its own fabrication to the Mandalorians, using Task Force Magellan. Meaning that Jordan and Mira weren't around very much, either. Sure, Yavin was an important stopover for the frigates, so it's not like Ezra and Jaral never saw their parents, albeit briefly, but still, that meant that the young man had even less people to talk with. The Marines, on the other hand, were almost entirely stationed on Yavin, in order to make room in the hangar bays of the frigates, and only the security personnel remained on board to defend the ships in case of imperial attack.
It was interesting to also see the new stealth freighters that the Federation built exclusively for the purpose of smuggling tons of equipment around the galaxy to the various rebel cells. They were piloted by federal pilots, but the navigators were rebels and astromechs, making a strong symbol of the cooperation between the two armies.
But things were finally getting interesting, as Kallus announced that the Ghost crew's presence was requested in the Command Center.
When they entered, they found Jaral standing around the holotable with Rex, General Dodonna and the hologram of Senator Organa.
"Good to see you, guys." said the young woman to her brother and friends. "We have a situation, and you are the only ones I trust to deal with it."
"All right, sis," Ezra quipped. "what's the catch?"
Jaral sighed. "A few days ago, Saw Gerrera had warned us about an imperial relay in the Jalindi system. I wasn't sure if I wanted to believe him, but…" she turned her head toward Bail's hologram.
"My sources in the Senate confirmed the rumor." he sent the schematic to the holotable through his own terminal and the image of the relay, placed right on top of a rocky spire, appeared. "The Empire has built this relay, which greatly expands their command&control throughout the sector, and will enable them to respond much faster to our incursions."
Rex hummed. "How did Saw's ragtag group have better intel than we do?"
Kallus replied sternly. "Because Gerrera has absolutely no qualms about how he acquires them."
"Well, if he gets results…" said Ezra, but Jaral immediately intervened.
"We do not torture our prisoners."
That statement alone was enough to make Ezra regret his own.
"Can't Captain Tanis' algorithm protect our communications?" asked Dodonna.
"Not entirely, General." she replied. "Besides, if the Empire wasn't able to listen even a single one of our communication, they would immediately understand that we have coded them and would put all of their effort into breaking our codes, and I want them to believe that they are in control. Question is, what do we do with the relay, now?
"We could blow it up, sure, but then the Empire will only rebuild another one, and we'll confirm them that we are around in this sector…"
After the experience on Atollon, one could say that Jaral had become almost paranoid about leaving traces behind. Her readings of the Art of War only increased her concern about this aspect of warfare. Deceiving an enemy infinitely stronger than you, to lure him away and make him move according to your planswas paramount to guarantee the survival of the Rebellion.
Luckily, Kallus intervened with an idea to stop her monologue.
"Perhaps, there is another way, Marshall."
"Ok, go ahead." Jaral invited him.
Kallus walked in front of the command panel of the holotable and highlighted the central antenna of the relay.
"If we could somehow tap into this relay, we could use it to monitor Imperial transmissions and adjust our operations according to our own."
"Sounds like a job for the Ghost." Jaral said encouragingly to the crew.
"Just give us the order and we'll leave immediately." Hera said confidently.
"I didn't expect less. I'm coming with you, too." she declared, stunning everybody.
"Hang on just a second, you can't risk your life like this!" Rex protested.
"The only way to reach that dish without being noticed is an air launch." Jaral used her logic to reply. "Meaning that my abilities and equipment will increase the chances of success."
Everybody sighed. "I guess so…" Dodonna said with resignation.
"Great." Jaral said all pumped up. "Then let's gear up."
The holotable shut down and everybody started to walk away, but Ezra didn't.
"Wait, that's all?" he asked in surprise. "What about Lothal? I thought we were finally moving in that direction."
Everyone looked at him. Jaral motioned the others to go, so she could talk with her brother alone.
"Ezra, you know that I want to help Lothal as much as you do, right?" she said in a calm tone.
"Of course I know." he replied.
"Then, I need you to understand that, right now, we are in no position to help Lothal."
"Why? Isn't our objective to free Lothal so the Federation can safely enter the galaxy?"
Jaral sighed. "No, little brother. It's the Federation that must liberate Lothal. We only need to destroy the factory of the TIE Defender and weaken the Imperial defenses, but we must act only when the federal fleet will be ready to enter our galaxy."
"Yeah, ok, but we promised Ryder support." Ezra insisted. "We need to try something…"
"Base Delta Zero." she interrupted him. "You heard of it?"
Ezra gulped. "Sabine told me about it."
"Good. Right now, the Empire has an important strategic asset on Lothal: the factory. If we go there and destroy it without the federal fleet ready to intervene right after, what do you think the Empire will do, considering they know that Lothal is the only planet that has the right conditions to host the massive army our allies want to send on this part of the wormhole?"
A terrible realization hit Ezra's soul with the force of a thousand Vaders standing in front of him.
"They...would vaporize the surface…" he murmured.
Jaral didn't budge. She simply made a nod. "Exactly. Now, do you understand why we need to draw the Empire as far as possible from our home? Do you understand why I'm concentrating our efforts here?"
Ezra lowered his head in defeat. "I do."
Now that the lesson was over, Jaral put a hand around her brother's shoulders and gave him a reassuring hug. "We will free Lothal, I promise." she whispered. "But I need you to trust me."
Ezra sighed, then hugged her back with way more force. "You know there's no one else I trust more."
Jaral chuckled. "Not even your own wife?"
An amused grin formed on Ezra's face. "Let's just say you two are even."
The sister gave him a light pat on the cheek. "Come on, go get prepared." and Ezra complied, this time.
Who would've guessed that a simple invite to the monthly party at the Imperial Palace would turn into a golden opportunity to leave Fondor behind once and for all?
Iulius may have failed to convince the Moffs and the Admirals to believe him about the threat lurking behind the wormhole, the arrogance of his superiors in dismissing the power of the Federation was really getting on his nerves, however, Gran Moff Tarkin had remembered that Iulius was the one who had cracked open the rebel communications easily and, at the party, he had introduced him to Colonel Yularen.
The Colonel had been so impressed when Iulius exposed his algorithm, that he offered him to be reassigned to the ISB there on Coruscant.
This was perfect for Iulius: he would get away from his father, this was definitely a promotion and he got back his ship. Tarkin himself had ordered the Admonitor to be returned to the young Captain and now stood over Coruscant.
Though, being on Coruscant and working for the ISB meant that Iulius had also to navigate among the cutthroat politics that infested the heart of the Empire.
For starters, some people had called him a liar about the wormhole. That was kinda on him, though, because he should've remembered that such a news would never be allowed to reach Coruscant by the censor, and only the Emperor and his closest collaborators would know it.
Not only was he called a liar, though, but a swindler, who perhaps was invited to the party on false accounts.
That was before the Emperor himself showed up and presented himself to the Captain.
Iulius was still having trouble remembering that moment. He had always figured the Emperor to be a bit severe, but all-in-all a fair ruler. Instead, he was met with an old man who hid his face in the shadow of a hood and whose grin made Iulius even more uncomfortable that his father's.
Still, at least the Emperor seemed to have been the only one who was willing to listen to his warnings, even though he had promised Iulius an audience to examine the Captain's concern deeper.
That audience had arrived only now, after two months.
He was in his room, in an apartment reserved for him, putting on his uniform's jacket.
"You'd think the Emperor would care more about the fact that his Empire is about to go to a real war." he commented, a bit frustrated.
Maybe running an Empire was no easy job, but if the Emperor had the time to throw a monthly ball in his palace, he could certainly find five minutes to discuss about a threat on the nation's borders.
"Maybe he is already confident enough that he will win." the voice of his servant talked calmly from behind him.
Qathora was holding Iulius' cap in her hands so he could take it whenever he was ready.
When his father introduced her to him, Iulius would have never believed that he would actually find the Togruta interesting, but since the ball, she had proven to have a lot of hidden talents for intrigue and skulduggery.
After asking her about her past, Iulius had found out that the Togruta was a smuggler, before being captured around a year before by a group of pirates that sold her into slavery. She had feigned to be obedient in order to lower her captors' guard, but she didn't expect to be sold off to an imperial Admiral, who was the real mind behind those slavers.
She had been kept by Chimbros, who immediately slapped that electric collar on her, and kept around as a servant.
Of course, since she wouldn't have had any chance to escape on her own from Coruscant, and would probably end up enslaved once again, the Togruta had decided to keep serving as Iulius' personal attendant. After all, what other chances she had to find an owner whose first act was to free her from the constant fear of being electrocuted and even provided her with new clothes, decent food and a comfortable place to sleep?
Her skills had proved useful to Iulius, who needed a couple of eyes and ears around him that could pass unnoticed and report possible threats to him.
Aside from her skills as a spy, though, Iulius certainly appreciated her domestic skills, as well. Be it preparing a nice meal, help him to organize the paperwork...or relieving his stress.
Perhaps it was her exotic appearance, mixed with the first impression she had made on the Captain with a revealing outfit, but Qathora had rekindled instincts that the glacial Iulius Tanis had long suppressed. And with the amount of pressure that he felt on his shoulders, the Captain could certainly use that kind of distraction once in a week or two.
Iulius sighed at the comment of his servant. "I sure hope so."
He went to take the cap from her hands.
"But it looks like you don't really care." he said calmly.
"The Empire treats people like me as cattle. So if it gets destroyed by a nation that apparently treats every sentient species equally...well, you can get your conclusions alone." she replied.
"Fair point." Iulius conceded as he put on the beret.
"Honestly, how can a man of principles like you accept to serve the same person who allows any kind of atrocity to happen?" Qathora insisted.
"First of all, be careful not to pronounce those words outside of this room, and second, I am the first to admit that the Empire has many flaws, but the only way I can change it is from the inside." Iulius explained.
"Maybe." the Togruta coldly replied. "But I'm afraid that you're trying to correct a system that is wrong from its foundation, Captain."
Iulius didn't answer. Sometimes, he did have that impression, but he had to keep up the hope that he could change the face of the Empire.
"I should go." he concluded.
"Of course. I'll be waiting here." Qathora replied with her servile manner.
Iulius left the room, headed out of the block and took his speeder.
It took him 20 minutes to reach the palace and land on the platform he had been instructed by the traffic controller and was met by Mas Amedda, the Grand Vizier of the Emperor.
"Captain Tanis, his Majesty is already waiting for you." the man said solemnly.
"Then we better be swift, Vizier." Iulius answered.
And swift they were. Amedda escorted Iulius to the turbolift that led to the Throne room and left Iulius to go on his own.
As he stared out of the transparisteel that allowed him a view over the planet-wide metropolis of Coruscant, Iulius suddenly felt a bit nervous, as he realized he didn't know how he was supposed to behave. Though he did learn the lessons about etiquette at the Academy, he had quickly forgotten them afterward, even at the ball he needed some tips from Qathora.
The lift arrived at destination way before Iulius actually wished. He got out and found himself in front of a single door with two royal guards standing still as statues. Their red robes and vibro-pikes were kinda intimidating even for him.
The Captain assumed a strict posture and walked forward. Luckily, the guards let him pass and he entered into the room, which was barely illuminated.
At the end of the room, he quickly spotted the ruler of the galaxy, Emperor Palpatine, sitting on his throne, with a wide, circular window behind him. The sun coming from outside easily shed a light on the visitors, while keeping the Emperor mostly in the shadow.
"Your Majesty." he introduced himself with a bow.
"Captain Tanis, come forward." the croaking voice of the old Emperor said with command and just a hint of cordiality.
The Captain didn't waste any time to go forward, step on the ramp that separated the entrance from the high ground where the throne stood.
But he didn't expect to find the person he found.
"Grand Admiral?!" he asked, unable to hold back the surprise.
There stood Thrawn in his white uniform. The Chiss turned around and gave the Captain one of his grins that somehow could be interpreted as a smile.
"Glad to see you again, Captain." he said.
Iulius sighed and removed his surprised expression, instead assuming a grin as well. "Glad to see you're still alive, sir. I had no idea where you ended up."
"Grand Admiral Thrawn has been on a secret assignment per my command, Captain." the Emperor spoke.
"I see." Iulius said respectfully.
"Your diligence and results have not gone unnoticed, Iulius Tanis. As a reward, I decided to bestow upon you the rank of Rear Admiral, and you will be reassigned as the Grand Admiral's second-in-command." Palpatine said without preambles.
Iulius was definitely caught by surprise.
"R-Rear Admiral, Your Majesty?" he asked, to be sure.
The Emperor simply nodded once and handed him the new rank plaque.
Iulius stammered a bit, before straightening up and making a great bow to take the plaque. "I am truly honored, Your Majesty. I will not fail you."
"From what I saw about you, I hope that, Rear Admiral Tanis." Palpatine concluded. "Now, both of you go back to Lothal and make sure it stays under my Empire for a little longer." he commanded.
'A little longer?' Iulius was confused, but he bowed together with Thrawn as the Grand Admiral took the leave for both of them.
The two officers entered the turbolift and Iulius changed his plaque, not without a bit of nervousness. He had just skipped 3 entire ranks and became a Rear Admiral, that was a huge step.
"I trust your time after Atollon has not been too tedious, Rear Admiral." Thrawn said with a bit of a quip.
"The first few days, maybe." Iulius chuckled. "But things got better when I finally left my father behind."
"I hope your will to fight has not languished, because we have quite the task in front of us."
"Yes, sir. Just give me the time to get my assistant at home, and I'll be on the Admonitor before you notice."
Thrawn raised one of his pronounced brow ridges. "Assistant?"
The Ghost was entering Jalindi, headed for the relay's coordinates. The siblings, Sabine and Chopper were preparing themselves in the cargo bay. The plan was for them to jump when the ship would be right above the dish, then use their jetpacks and rocket propeller to slow their fall and land into the dish without the garrison noticing it.
"Just remember not to fire your rockets too early or their sensors will pick us up." Sabine said as they stepped closer to the door ramp.
"But what if we hit them too late?" Ezra asked worried behind his helmet.
"Hey, I like abstract art, I just don't wanna become it." she reassured him.
"Come on, little brother." Jaral commented. "There's the three of us together. We cannot possibly fail."
Chopper protested.
"Four. The four of us." she corrected.
"You know, you look very enthusiastic about this mission." Sabine noted.
Jaral shrugged. "Spending two months behind the holotable might be important, but it's just boring. I need some good old fashioned adrenaline." Jaral replied all pumped.
Ezra chuckled. "And you are supposed to be our 'calm and rational' leader?"
"Hey, I take decisions patiently, but I like some direct action, too."
"Well said...sister." Sabine commented, willingly underlining the last word. At this point, she enjoyed calling her like that, too. After all, they were sisters-in-law.
Jaral chuckled and punched the panel to open the rear door. The wind gusted into the bay.
Following the instructions from Jinx, which was connected to the ship's sensors, Jaral waited until it was the moment. Then she exclaimed "Now!" and jumped down into the cloudy skies of Jalindi.
First Sabine, then Ezra and finally Chopper jumped.
They were 2500 meters over the relay, which itself sat on top of one of the many stone towers in that area of Jalindi.
"Passing 2000 meters." Jinx announced in their helmets.
The fall lasted for an entire minute. Only when they were at 500 meters they could afford to ignite their rocket propellers.
As all of them passed the threshold, they used their jetpacks, but they were barely slowing down.
"We're still too fast, we're gonna crash!" Ezra commented.
However, Jaral pressed her legs together, keeping them straight, and put her arms across the chest in the form of a cross.
That way, she managed to simply slip into the dish and quickly descend into the structure, then she used both the Force and her muscles to slow down the fall drastically. Sabine and Ezra hit the dish with a certain violence, instead, and they quickly rolled with small control over their action.
Jaral stood up and used the Force to help her two siblings to slow down to a point where they could stand up on their own.
"Where did you learn all of that?" Ezra asked, impressed, as he and Jaral dematerialized their jetpacks.
"From Thabo and Michalina." Jaral replied proudly, but they were interrupted by the scared warbled of Chopper, who was coming down like a bullet.
The astromech's mass was simply too big and thus, instead of slowing like the others did, Chopper quickly accelerated during the glide. The guys had no chance but to let him go, until he bounced off a piece of the dish and smashed onto the base of the antenna.
"Guys!" Jaral exclaimed, because Chopper was carrying one of Jinx's processors once again.
The three headed toward the fuming body of the astromech and put it back on his ambulatory struts.
"You ok?" Ezra asked.
Chopper complained.
"The situation could be worse." Jinx quipped.
Jaral sighed with relief. "Ok, get to work on the spike, we're on the clock, here." and while the others started to obey the order, she called the Ghost. "Specter-6 to Ghost, we made it on the dish in one piece, we're proceeding with the next phase."
"Copy that, Spec...hold on…" answered Hera, worrying Jaral. A couple of seconds later, she added. "Guys, you have an imperial cruiser heading toward your direction."
The others heard that as well and they all looked up, spotting an Arquitens-class cruiser coming from the direction where the dish was slightly pointing to.
Jaral sighed. "Of all the moments to be true to your name…" she said to Jinx, before sprinting to go hide with the others.
"If they spot you, the mission is blow…" commented Kanan.
"Doesn't look like they spotted us." Jaral replied calmly. "Sabine, Chop, get a move on." she then instructed while she kept an eye on the cruiser.
Sabine opened one of the panels at the base of the antenna, while Chopper plugged into the nearby socket and both him and Jinx quickly violated the systems.
"Ok, isolate secondary console…" Sabine mumbled together with other things before she triumphantly announced. "There, we're in!"
And as she said that, a transmission started to speak from Chopper's speakers.
"Jalindi outpost this is Marauder, requesting permission to dock."
The youngsters looked at each other.
"What's happening?" Jaral asked.
"We must've patched into the main comm circuit by mistake," Sabine explained. "we're intercepting all incoming transmissions."
"Jalindi outpost, your signal is garbled, please, repeat."
"Chopper, run a bypass, connect that ship to the outpost commander now!" Sabine whispered as strongly as she could.
"Wait." Ezra intervened. "Chopper, patch me in. Jinx, make sure to warble my voice to them."
The girls looked at each other, then at him again.
"What are you planning?" Jaral asked.
"You will see." Ezra said quite smugly.
"When you use that tone, it usually doesn't end well." his sister commented, but Ezra ignored her and spoke into Chopper.
"Marauder, this is Jalindi outpost, you were not scheduled to arrive until next rotation." he said with an Imperial accent. "You're creating a lot of difficulties for us. Maybe come back tomorrow?"
Behind their helmets, Jaral was barring her eyes, while Sabine was just confused.
"What difficulties? Who is this?"
"This is, uh...Commander Brom Titus!" Ezra said in the spur of the moment, sure that he had done it.
"Is this some kind of joke? I am Commander Brom Titus. And I demand an explanation, immediately."
Ezra sighed and whispered. "This is so typical of our luck." while Sabine shook her head and Jaral facepalmed on her visor.
Then the dish started to realign in the direction of the cruiser, and the guys were soon brought down by gravity.
"Jinx, switch it back!" Ezra exclaimed before he lost the grip on Chopper, who was still plugged into the socket and could lock his struts down to keep stability.
But seeing that, Jaral had an idea. "Ezra, the boots!"
The siblings pointed their feet in the direction they were falling and activated the magnetic function of the boots. It took a few seconds, but they managed to stop halfway across the dish, then they could both use the Force to stop Sabine's falling right before she fell off the edge.
"Well, so much for stealth." Jaral declared. "Sis…"
Sabine stood up and took a pack of thermal detonators from one of her pouches.
"I take it we're changing the plan?" Ezra asked with a joking tone.
"If we can't use it, we can't allow the Empire to keep it either." Jaral simply stated.
"Let's blow this thing." her brother commented.
"Specter-6 to Ghost, the cover is blown, we need a pick-up." the Marshall said in the comlink.
"Copy that, we're on our way."
The three started to run along the edge of the dish, to find a suitable place to place the detonators, when a group of stormtroopers came out from some hatches that were placed in the middle of the disc.
"Way to go, Brom Titus!" Sabine said jokingly.
"Wha- I didn't know!" Ezra defended.
"Focus!" Jaral recalled them. "Sabine, place the explosives, we'll keep you covered."
Ezra ignited his lightsaber, drawing as much attention as he could, while Jaral activated the directional shield of her omni-tool and covered Sabine from incoming bolts. When Sabine was done, Jaral ordered Chopper to level up the dish, which he promptly did and turned the antenna to the opposite side. This made the stormtroopers fall into the abyss beneath the structure, while the three used their jetpacks to safely wait until they could land again.
Meanwhile, they heard shots being fired from the cruiser, then Hera called them.
"Specter 5 to 7, I've got a little problem to solve before your pickup."
The three watched the skies and they saw the Ghost being chased by not one, but two TIE Defender.
"Hold on, I'll be right back."
"Oh, great." Ezra commented sarcastically. "That cruiser will not wait for our pickup." he said.
In fact, the Marauder was already flying around the mountain to get a visual on the three rebels, and when it finally came into view...it was attacked.
A black U-Wing came out of nowhere and hit the cruiser with its blaster cannons, taking out its shield generator while the deflectors were down.
"Who are those?" Sabine asked.
"I don't know, but they are my new favorites." Ezra commented.
"Wait...I think I know that ship…" Jaral said, not very enthusiastically.
The U-Wing approached the edge of the dish and the teens rushed to greet them.
When the lateral door of the transport/fighter opened, a familiar figure waved at them and loudly asked "You rebels need a ride?"
"Saw?!" Ezra and Sabine asked in unison, while Jaral refrained from any comment.
The old rebel pushed down three big explosive packages.
"You better run. Those things are set on a very short fuse!" the man declared with a chuckle.
The three didn't think about it, obviously, and while the surviving stormtroopers ran for their lives, the siblings and the mandalorian jumped on the ship, recalling Chopper as well.
"We got them, go!" Saw ordered to his pilot.
The U-Wing left right when the proton explosives detonated, taking out the entire structure and even the Marauder, who was too close to structure.
"Now that's how you deal with the Empire." Saw boldly declared.
Sabine and Ezra had already removed their helmets and watched at him in approval. Jaral, on the other hand, wasn't so happy.
And neither was Hera, when she called them. "Specter-6, talk to me!"
Jaral put two fingers on the left side of her helmet. "We're fine, General. We got a ride out of it."
"Relax, General Syndulla, I've got them." Saw said as loudly as he could so his voice went into the microphone inside the helmet.
"Gerrera…"
As the ships reached orbit, they were preparing to connect so the Ghost could recover its crew, but a Star Destroyer came out of hyperspace and a squadron of TIE fighter clearly told them this wasn't a good idea.
"Hera, abort the recovery and get out of here." Jaral ordered.
"I'm not leaving you guys alone."
"Relax, General." Saw intervened with his own comlink. "Your people will be safe with me."
"That wasn't a request, Ghost. Get back to the base, that's an order!" Jaral commanded. "Gerrera, get us out of here!" she ordered.
Saw chuckled. "Yes, ma'am."
And the U-Wing quickly entered hyperspace.