Chapter 6: The Occupation
Despite many efforts to find any other clue about this super-weapon, little progress was made. Jaral asked Kallus to dig into the darkest corners of his memory if he knew anything about imperial weapons projects that required kyber crystals. Kallus only recalled that the Empire had hypothesized a new type of turbolaser ran by the crystals, but the project had been discarded because of the rarity of the resource in question.
Still, it meant that the Empire was trying to weaponize the crystals, and this was bad in itself.
In the meantime, Ezra finally got promoted. The rank of Commander was still quite far from the high ranks, but now he had enough responsibilities to get a job in the Command room, basically becoming an assistant and advisor for Jaral. For the young woman, her brother was definitely a huge boost in morale. Having him around, supporting her and taking all the menial tasks out of her mind, always knowing when she needed help even for the smallest thing.
One could say that now it was Ezra the one overbearing, as he had to balance between the new job, his Jedi training (though, at this point, Kanan wasn't teaching anything anymore, because they were at a stage where they were both learning from experience) and his wife, who was busy with her own tasks anyhow.
In fact, Sabine had taken the time to change her looks again, now pointing much more on a darker tone. Her hairs had become pitch black and only one point was purple. The armor was a mixture of light purple, yellow and some orange.
April 3.
While Jaral was with Raddus, planning a new series of raids along the Perlimian Trade Route, she received an urgent communication from the Constantinople and she picked it up.
"Jari," the hologram of Jordan said. "We are receiving a transmission from Earth. I think it's time…"
Ezra was nearby and he heard that as well. The siblings exchanged an excited gaze.
"Go get the crew." Jaral said with a hint of enthusiasm.
"Yes, ma'am." Ezra replied eagerly and rushed outside.
"Dad, can you reach Ryder on Lothal?" she asked in the meantime.
"Actually, I wanted to talk about it. Remember when, on Atollon, the Empire managed to prevent even our quantum communications? It seems like they're doing the same on Lothal."
Jaral hummed, then decided who she wanted to call. She called in Darvos, so he could encrypt the call to Nimbus. The Mirialan appeared a few moments later.
"Grand Marshall Bridger." she said amicably. "What can I do for you?"
"Hope you're doing well, Nimbus. I need any intel you can sell me about Lothal."
The Mirialan quickly tapped the buttons on her own device and sent a file to Jaral's omni-tool.
"There isn't much, actually. The occupation is a complete lockdown, I myself have only a small team cooperating with the resistance, but they only managed to send short messages from time to time."
"Maybe we have something…" Darvos mumbled as he checked his datapad.
"What do you have?" Jaral asked.
"Before you called me I was unfolding a message we received from Lothal...and it looks like...yeah, it's from Ryder!" he exclaimed at the end.
Jaral barred her eyes, but recomposed immediately. "Ok, let's wait for everybody else, then we'll play the message."
That didn't come too late. Ezra was pretty much galloping into the room, followed by the others. Even Mon Mothma showed up around the holotable.
When everybody was accounted for, Jaral gave the permission to proceed.
Jordan's hologram touched something on his own device and, on top of the holotable, finally appeared the hologram of the Empress.
"Your Majesty." Jaral greeted respectfully.
"Grand Marshall Bridger." the woman replied in kind. "I think you already guessed the reason of my call. I'm here to inform you that the invasion fleet is ready. The last ship assigned has been upgraded with an hyperdrive, two divisions of your new Army are waiting. All forces will be in position around the wormhole in three days."
Jaral couldn't hold back a smirk. "Thank you, Your Majesty. I will start organize another strike against the factory on Lothal immediately." then she turned toward her husband. "Darv, play Ryder's message, let's see if he can tell us anything."
Darvos complied. What followed was only a garbled voice record of Ryder.
"The Empire is beginning trials on a new version of its TIE Defender. Intel from our spies in the capital reveals the upgraded fighter is…"
"What happened?" Ezra asked.
"That was all the message. The Empire must have cut it short." Darvos explained.
"If the Empire is building a new TIE Defender," Mothma intervened. "the Rebellion needs to know."
"I agree."Jaral said. "Dad, prepare the Constantinople for my arrival. I'm moving there."
"You're always welcome aboard." Jordan quipped.
"Marshall, please wait a moment…" Mothma tried to say, but Jaral replied with her reasons.
"Madam Senator, if that TIE Defender enters in production, this war will already be lost. It's not just liberating my home-planet, it's to make sure that the objective will be achieved at any cost. So I'm going all the way to the end." she explained with a willful tone.
Mothma sighed. "Well, we gave you full command for a reason. Who's going to be your acting officer?"
"Admiral Raddus will manage perfectly. Besides, we have already planned the next campaign, there won't be need for me around so much."
"I understand, Marshall." Mothma extended a hand. "Then May the Force be with you."
Jaral made a lopsided grin and shook hands. "I appreciate the thought, Madam. But I'm gonna count on my wits, mostly." she quipped.
"Not to kill the moment," Rex intervened. "but we need to think of a way to infiltrate the squad on the planet."
"He's right." said Kallus. "Even the Kodiaks would be too exposed without someone on the surface to provide a secure approaching vector."
"Perhaps I can help with that." Nimbus intervened, drawing gazes on her. "An old acquaintance of yours, Cikatro Vizago, now has a legitimate business on Lothal and Imperial permits to pass the blockade. I can tell him to help you guys if you can provide some puffer pigs for him."
"How do you now all that?" Jaral asked puzzled.
"I managed to have him become one of my business partners in the sector. I can guarantee that he has already smuggled multiple times in and out of Lothal, including the team I told you before."
"All right, so all he needs are some puffer pigs?"
"Yes. Give them to him and he'll bring you at Jhotal, from there, you'll be on your own."
"Copy that. Senator, you think any of our contacts can give us a hand?"
"I think it can be arranged quickly." Mothma replied.
"Perfect." Jaral turned toward the Empress. "Your Majesty, once we destroy the factory, I'll come to the wormhole myself with Magellan behind."
"Understood, Marshall. I hope in your success." and her hologram disappeared.
"Nimbus, do you know if Thrawn is back on Lothal?"
"He is, unfortunately. And his fleet has been reinforced with a new naval squadron...under Rear Admiral Iulius Tanis." she stated grimly.
Everybody was puzzled.
"Rear Admiral?" Darvos asked. "When did that happen? He was a Captain just two months ago."
"A source of mine told me that Iulius has spent most of these two months on Coruscant, and even got a private audience with the Emperor himself...who is the only person in the Empire that can allow such a leap forward in an officer's career."
Jaral hummed in thought. "All the more reason that I see it for myself. Ghost team, prepare to get on the Constantinople. I want all of you equipped with omni-tools, as well."
"What?" the crew asked in unison, except for Ezra.
"The omni-tools allow us to have a safe channel of communication, and, when you will learn to use them, they will increase your efficiency drastically. The lab team of the ship will provide them, right, Dad?"
"They're already waiting for them."
"Kallus, you'll get your omni-tool finally unlocked. Rex, I want one on you too. Darvos, you and these two gentlemen will follow me into the strategic room, I might need your assistance."
"Yes, ma'am." Darvos replied.
"Ok, everybody got their assignment, let's roll." she concluded.
All the presents scrambled away to go get ready. Only Ezra stood there for a moment.
"So here we are, uh? We're going back home." he said a bit excitedly.
Jaral sighed, but then turned her mouth into a smile. "Yup. It's now or never. But this time, I've got a plan to deal with Thrawn and Iulius."
"Really?" Ezra asked.
"Yes, but I'll tell it to you more down the line. It relies mostly on you guys not knowing the details." she said sincerely.
Ezra huffed amused. "Look, if there is one person in the universe I don't mind being manipulated by, it's you. I trust you, sis. You will lead us to victory, and I'll be on your side."
Jaral smiled again. "I know you will. Now go get ready, Commander Brother." she quipped.
Ezra made an exaggerated salute. "Yes, sister ma'am." and he ran away.
The atmosphere on the Constantinople was no less than thrilling. The soldiers of the Federation knew that the moment they had been fighting in Andromeda for more than a year was coming. Soon, the fleet of their nation would start what promised to be a changing moment in military science and history: a large-scale invasion of another galaxy through a space anomaly.
While the crew of the Ghost was going through the implantation process of the omni-tools and Ezra instructed them on how to use them, Jaral headed straight for the strategic room. Nimbus put her in contact with Vizago, and they contracted the selling of a stock of 8 puffer pigs in exchange for his help. Mon Mothma managed to find a supporter of the Rebellion who happened to have a cattle of the small animals and was more than willing to donate them for the mission.
On April 5, Operation 'Lighthouse' was a go. The Ghost team dressed in civilian clothes, with Chopper being loaded with a couple of crates containing their weapons. Vizago would smuggle them behind the Imperial blockade, they would make then contact with Ryder and find the camp. From there, using the local communication devices, Jinx could elaborate a safe approach vector for one of the Kodiaks, allowing Jaral, Darvos and Jordan to reach the surface as well.
After loading the pigs in the Broken Horn's cargo hold, the crew reached the cockpit of the freighter, which was flying into hyperspace.
Chopper was the last one to enter and mocked everybody's clothes.
"Don't make me paint you, again." Sabine had to threaten to shut him up.
Just a few moments later, Vizago warned that they were coming out on Lothal.
And what appeared in front of Ezra's eyes, when the blue tunnel disappeared, had his eyes widened in terror.
Aside from the Star Destroyers and other imperial ships blockading the planet, the main continent of the planet was completely scarred, one could see the fires ravaging the surface and a black clout covering it.
"Look at the sky…" Ezra mumbled. "What have they done? Lothal looks like it's dying." he exclaimed with pain in his voice.
"Your home isn't the same as you remember, kid." Vizago said. "You better prepare yourself."
The comlink of the ship beeped.
"Supply ship Broken Horn, we have a lock, transmit clearance codes."
Vizago pushed the buttons necessary to send the codes and mumbled "The things I do for money."
There was a few seconds of silence on the cockpit.
"Broken Horn, clearances granted, you're approved for landing."
Vizago made a devilish grin and brought the ship forward, passing the imperial ships and penetrating the thick black cloud of smoke coming from the surface.
When they finally pierced all the way near the surface, the prairies of Lothal were clothed in a sky red as fire and with columns of smoke still rising from the ground.
"They burned it...they burned it all the way…" Ezra commented, both sadness and rage mounting inside of him. His fists clenched down his sides. One was immediately taken by Sabine's hand, while Kanan put a hand on the other shoulder to reassure him.
"Ezra, what's happening?" the voice of his sister suddenly spoke into his mind.
"I...I'm not sure I can describe it, sis. But it's horrible. Lothal is dying...we must not fail."
"We won't, Ezra. I promise. Now stay calm and focus on your objective." she patiently instructed him.
Ezra closed his eyes and quickly found a calmer state of mind, just in time to see a couple of TIE fighters flying alongside the freighter.
"What are those TIE Fighters doing? You said you had Imperial permits." Hera asked Vizago with suspect.
"The permits are good," Vizago tried to reassure her. "It's standard procedure to have a TIE fighter escort...sometimes."
"How can it be 'standard procedure' sometimes?" Zeb asked irritated. "How many times has this happened to you?"
"Well, this is the first...time." Vizago still tried to sound convincing.
The Broken Horn reached the outskirts of Jhotal, and immediately got stopped by some imperial regular troopers who put gravity locks on the ship. Plus, a technician was clearly directed toward the access lifter, escorted by some stormtroopers.
"Gravity locks and a search crew?" Hera understood. "Must have scanned us on the way in."
"Hey, if they don't find us, they got nothing." Ezra immediately declared. "Stall them, Vizago." he added.
The crew ran into the cargo hold and Ezra instructed them to free up the pigs, while only Zeb waited in hiding.
Around three minutes later, they were done opening the cages.
"Ezra, you sure this is going to work?" Sabine asked worried.
"As much as I ever am...ready, Zeb?" the young man said.
The Lasat was waiting behind the threshold separating the hold from the corridor.
"Yeah, let me put on my useful face." he said, a bit embittered.
Ezra herded the pigs to walk outside into the corridor, only then Zeb frowned and easily scared them. The pigs escaped exactly in the direction the rebels wanted before dilating for the fear, bouncing all the way to the cockpit and against the imperials, who were still interrogating Vizago, and blinded them for the time necessary to guarantee the escape.
The squad dashed outside, but Vizago pushed his luck too much when he tried to abduct the last puffer pig that was still normal-sized and the creature blew up in his face, trapping him against the wall, but the crew only noticed that when they were already into the village.
"Vizago went back for the pig, didn't he?" Ezra asked with resignation.
"Yeah," replied Kanan. "but if there's anyone who can weasel his way out of trouble, it's him."
"I figure we can start at Old Jho's." Ezra suggested. "He'll know how to contact Ryder."
"If he is still there." Zeb commented.
"We split up." Hera decreed. "You, Sabine and Chopper head for Jho's. Make contact with Ryder. Kanan, Zeb and I will get us a transport."
Ezra and Sabine, followed by Chopper, made their way toward the tavern. Along the way, they saw some 'wanted' fliers with their face on it...except that they portrayed them as they were 4 years ago, when the siblings first joined the Ghost.
"How can they be so idiotic?" Ezra mumbled.
"Relax, that's a good thing." Sabine said.
"I know, I'm just wondering how does the Empire keeps running when it's filled with so many incompetency."
As they entered the square in front of Old Jho's tavern, aside from hearing the voice of the propaganda speaker, they also spotted two stormtroopers stopping a couple of civilians, saying that they were out after curfew. Deciding that it was better to speed up, the teens headed toward the entrance of the tavern, telling Chopper to stand guard.
"You think Old Jho is still there?" Sabine asked before they descended the stairs leading to the door.
"The Empire would never touch him. The people won't stand for him. This was the only place on Lothal where you felt the Empire was never welcome." Ezra replied calmly.
Yet, when they approached the door, they could hear the faint sound of the Imperial March on the speaker. And when they finally took a look inside the bar, they saw that it was filled with imperial soldiers and officers.
After staring dumbfounded for a few seconds, Sabine noted. "Okay, guess they feel pretty welcome, now."
"Just back out, casually." Ezra whispered. They did it, only to saw that, at the top of the ladders, a stormtrooper was interrogating Chopper.
"Any other ideas?" Sabine asked.
"Let's just...get something to drink." Ezra decided on the spur of the moment, and waltzed into the tavern.
"I meant good ideas." Sabine commented under her breath, but followed him nonetheless.
Dodging a guard and an officer, the two sat at the counter.
"Are you trying to get us caught?" Sabine growled between her teeth.
"Look, if we walked in and walked out, it would've been suspicious." Ezra whispered. "It's not like anyone's gonna recognize us." he added, confiding in the fact that the imperials generally had a very bad memory and their fliers were completely outdated.
However, Sabine put a hand on his forearm. "Ehm, he might."
Ezra turned toward the direction she pointed at. A small holo-picture of an imperial pilot was sitting there.
"Baron Valen Rudor." he murmured in distress.
"Correct." the bartender spoke proudly. "Your eyes do not deceive you, young man. I am the daunted Imperial Ace, Baron Valen Rudor." he kept going as he served them two glasses and a bottle.
Praying every spirit he knew, Ezra hoped that the baron wouldn't recognize him and made an amazed gasp.
"What's a great pilot like yourself doing here?" he asked feigning to be an admirer.
"Why, this establishment belongs to me. Well, the Empire of course, I've just been tasked with running it." then the baron looked better at Ezra. "You...you look familiar."
"Uh...I used to come here when it was called 'Old Jho's'." Ezra feigned ignorance.
"I guess you haven't heard, then," Rudor explained. "a few days ago there was a raid on a suspected rebel cell. The ISB caught Old Jho trying to help them escape."
A chill ran down Ezra's spine, but he managed to hide it. "Jho has been captured?"
"Captured and executed." Rudor reported clearly.
Jaral had tried to prepare herself when Ezra told her how bad the situation was, but when the Constantinople came out of hyperspace in front of Lothal, with her cloaking device engaged, she couldn't hold a shocked expression as well as she stared from the viewport of the cockpit. Jordan and Mira were next to her and tried to comfort her, though they, too, were dismayed by the conditions of the planet.
Raniza was watching from the sensors, making sure that the Empire wasn't seeing them.
"By the Goddess…" she whispered. "It looks like Thessia all over again." Raniza was on the Asari homeworld more than 40 years before, when the Reapers attacked it and quickly overrun the small joint military of the Asari Republics. Many planets during the war had been reduced even worse than Lothal, but seeing a planet so full of life burn down was always a tragedy.
"Make sure that everybody get a look of it, Raniza. If we don't stop the Empire here, this will happen to all of our planets back in the Milky Way." Jordan calmly instructed.
"Yes, sir." Raniza said before heading toward the command center.
Meanwhile, Jaral tried to reach Ezra with her bond. After poking a bit, he finally answered and she was brought up to speed, about Jho and how they just managed to leave the tavern because an old acquaintance of Ezra, Jai Kell, was waiting for Ryder's contact there and recognized him immediately.
"Any news about Hera and the others?" Jaral asked.
"They got the speeder, now we…"
Jaral perceived a spiking sense of danger rising from Ezra's side.
"Ez, you okay?" she asked once the sensation burned out.
"We are okay, but the speeder is busted. We're gonna need another solution...we're heading for the sewers."
"All right, when you're in there, use your armor, so I can follow you."
"Copy that."
She jogged toward the strategic room, just in time for Undir to announce that they were tracking Ezra's signal.
"All right, gentlemen, give me the map of the sewage lines, so we can help their navigation." she ordered calmly.
The holotable soon showed the map and the flickering point that signaled Ezra's position. Furthermore, Ezra managed to establish a safe connection with the ship and transmitted the images on his helmet-camera.
"...repeat. Specter-7 to Constantinople. Do you read me?"
"We read you and we see you, Specter-7." Jaral answered. "What's the situation?"
"We got the Empire on our tail." he said while distributing the weapons hidden in Chopper's crates and freeing the astromech from its bulky bags.
"Ma'am, the scanners are picking up probe droids being dispatched into the sewers." one of the operators in the room warned.
"Strike team, be advised, you got incoming probe droids. Keep moving while we plan a route for the outskirts."
"Make it fast, please."
"Jinx…" Jaral said.
"Many sewer's accesses have been sealed along with some of the lines. I'm intercepting imperial communications to have a clearer view."
"Incoming!" the voice of Zeb resonated in Ezra's comlink, followed by shots fired. One of the probes had found them.
Ezra looked on his left and the camera caught another one.
"Watch out, they're on our flanks, too!" he pushed Jai on the ground then activated his directional shield and ignited his lightsaber, dashing forward and trying to slash the probe, but the machine dodged.
A third probe emerged from another direction of the crossroad and Sabine had to repel it along with Hera.
"They're transmitting your positions." Jaral warned.
"Let's split up." Kanan said. "This way." he, Hera, Jai and Chopper headed in one direction, the remaining three into another.
Then Jinx's beeped. "Analysis completed. Elaborating the course to reach the main highway outside of the city."
"Send it to Chopper and Ezra as soon as you're done." the woman ordered.
Jaral could only watch as her brother's group managed to dispatch two probes that caught up with them before Jinx finally sent them the coordinates of the hatch they could use to get out to safety.
The strike team reunited under the hatch, which, however, had been sealed by the Empire and the ladder was withdrawn upward.
Before the stormtroopers caught up with them, Ezra managed to jump upward and slashed the controls, making the ladder fall again.
Sabine was the first to start climbing, but the stormtroopers finally reached them. Ezra activated a bubble shield and then came out of it. Using his TL-50, he easily gunned down three troopers, freeing up their right flank, then moved on the other side, but those troopers had seen what happened to their comrades, and saw blaster bolts bouncing off Ezra's improved shields, so they backed off into the pipe they came from, giving much more room for the rebels.
Ezra kept firing, making sure the stormtroopers wouldn't target his friends while they climbed up, as there was one section of the ladder that the bubble shield couldn't cover.
When everyone had climbed, Ezra folded his repeater, ignited his lightsaber and jumped upward, slashing part of the ladder so the imperials couldn't follow them.
"Sabine, open the hatch." Hera ordered.
"I can't. Ezra slashed the controls." Sabine replied.
Jaral struggled to think of a solution, but the radar operator interjected.
"There are three contacts heading for the hatch. They are allies."
Jaral was surprised, but grinned.
A few seconds later, the hatch opened and Ezra's helmet-cam showed that it was Ryder, along with two armed men that looked like Nimbus' mercenaries.
The three helped the rebels come out of the sewer while Ezra and Kanan deflected incoming bolts with their lightsabers. When the hatch was closed, the group mounted on a modified U-Wing that now resembled more like a land-speeder, though it could still fly and, potentially, reach space.
"Thanks for coming, Ryder." Ezra said.
"Least I can do. You came back here for us." the former governor replied as he sat in the co-pilot seat. "Wasn't even sure my message got through to the Rebellion."
"It did, Ryder." Jaral said from the comlink. A moment later, Jinx managed to link her hologram to the panel on the U-Wing.
"Jaral, always a pleasure to see you, too."
She made a kind smile to reply.
"We got your warning on the TIE Defender. As soon as you reach your camp, we're gonna need the coordinates so I can come down. We got many things to discuss in person."
"Understood, see you soon, Grand Marshall." Ryder quipped.
Jaral then turned to the Intercom of the ship. "Dad, get a shuttle ready, we're going down."
"Right away."
"Rex, you're coming down on the surface too, we need your tactical expertise." she concluded.
"Yes ma'am." he answered from around the holotable.
"Be careful, down there." Darvos simply said.
"Don't worry, my love. I have no intention of dying after coming all this way." she reassured him with a confident tone, then she and Rex left the room, heading for the hangar bay.