Chapter 7: Flight of the Defender
When Jaral announced that the Federal fleet was ready and that the crew was on Lothal to prepare the ground for the invasion, Ryder and the other rebels couldn't hold back a cheer. Finally, the liberation of the planet was in sight.
But there was still the factory to take out before the Federation could do its part, and once the Grand Marshall was done with the announcement, she immediately got to work, getting briefed by Ryder about a new prototype of TIE Defender which was going to be tested in a couple of weeks.
In the meantime, Jaral inspected what resources the resistance on Lothal had, and it was nothing less than depressing: a handful of old blasters, even less thermal detonators and communications outside of the system were still impossible. The Constantinople could still work as a relay to call Rebel Command, though, and the Grand Marshall instructed Task Force Magellan to bring in all the weapons and explosives they could find, establishing a clandestine supply network with the help of Nimbus, as well.
She studied the land defenses of the Empire, sending Jordan and Rex on scouting missions and the Ghost crew to keep an eye on the capital. Ryder's spies contributed as well, and Magellan quickly established the supply network. Soon, the Lothal's resistance movement was finally equipped with blasters for everybody and high-power explosives were finally available to sabotage some of the biggest turbolaser turrets that the Empire had on the surface and could threaten an orbital invasion.
April 14.
Ezra, Sabine and Zeb had reached a hidden position near an imperial airfield together with Ryder for a stakeout. This was the day and place, supposedly, where the new TIE Defender would be tested. The place was many km to the north, in a region where there was a small layer of snow.
Until now, they hadn't seen anything in particular though.
"I see plenty of TIE Interceptors, but that's nothing new." Sabine commented, watching the airfield. "Are you sure this is the place, Ryder?"
"My spies said this is where the test flight for the new TIE Defender would be."
"Well, we've been out here for hours and all I've seen are these stinky Loth-cats." Zeb said, lamenting that two Loth-cats were cuddling on him.
"Be grateful that they like us enough to be friendly." Ezra quipped while scratching the belly of a third feline.
"Glad somebody likes you, Ezra." Sabine teased him.
"Right, because you straight-up adore me." he replied.
"All right, all right, you got me." she conceded.
Ezra noticed that it was time for the regular check with the main camp.
"Specter-7 to Specter-6, checking in. Still no sign of the TIE Defender."
"Copy that, Specter-7." the voice of Jaral replied. "Spirit, how's the recon on the capital going?"
"Spirit here. The Empire has been fortifying AA defenses and I see they've built a refinery near the factory." Jordan, who was doing the recon with Rex and Chopper, answered. "I guess they're getting ready to start full-scale production."
Jaral could be heard humming before returning back. "Specter-7, maintain surveillance until nightfall. If nothing happens, get back to base."
"Copy that. Specter-7, out."
"My contacts tell me this new prototype is even tougher than the one you've already encountered." Ryder explained. "More powerful engines. Upgraded targeting computer."
The news sowed a bit of discomfort.
"Yeah," Zeb dismissed. "I'll believe it when I see it."
Then, Jinx sent an alarm on Ezra's sensors. A moment later, the Loth-cat resting on his back stood up and growled toward the sky.
"We got a high-speed contact coming in fast." he announced.
"How fast?" Sabine asked.
The acute and unmistakable sound of a TIE engine behind them had them turn around and answered Sabine's question.
"Very fast!" Ezra exclaimed right before the Defender passed over the pillar rocks they were using as a cover. The fighter created such a shock-wave that the rebels were forced to flatten themselves and even Sabine's helmet slipped out of her head. Probably Ezra's helmet would have done the same, if it wasn't magnetically sealed to the nano-suit.
Sabine quickly recovered her helmet and she and her husband took a long through their integrated scopes.
This TIE Defender had red stripes along the borders of the triangular wings, and it was faster than before.
"Now do you see it, Zeb?" Sabine asked sarcastically.
"Yeah, but I still don't believe it."
The Defender made a couple of round passages above the airfield and landed, meanwhile, Ezra recalled his sister.
"Specter-7 to Specter-6, transmitting images of the Defender. Do you get them, over?" he said while activating his helmet-cam.
"Loud and clear, Specter-7. Acquire some footage and get out of there."
"Do we have anything that can match that speed?" Zeb asked.
"Well, it'd definitely give the Ghost a run for its money." Sabine commented as she scouted the area with her range-finder once again.
She then noticed the pilot that was coming out of the cockpit.
Ezra chuckled. "Oh, look, sis. It's your old pal, Skerris."
Jaral chuckled as well. "He always gets a bigger ship, but he still can't take me down."
Sabine couldn't hold a small laugh as well, remembering how Jaral had already fooled Skerris twice with her X-Wing.
Ezra kept his camera pointed toward the airfield for a few seconds, then his sister spoke again.
"All right, I think that's enough. Get back to the base so we can transmit those images to our analysts at rebel command."
"Mission accomplished." Zeb commented. He and Ryder stood up and walked away toward the direction where they had left the speeder-bikes they had used to arrive there, but the teens didn't seem convinced, instead they looked at each other.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Ezra asked his wife.
"Pretty sure."
"Guys, no!" Jaral immediately interjected. "You're not sneaking into that airfield just to take a closer look."
Zeb and Ryder stopped to listen while the Loth-cats kept circling around them.
"Jari, if we're going to beat that ship we need something more than some pretty pictures." Ezra stated.
Jaral sighed. "I know. So, what's on your mind?"
"If we can get the flight data recorder, we'll have a complete record of the ship's range, top speed, weapons' payload, and so on." Sabine said.
"If I use my cloaking device correctly, I can create some ruckus into the base and distract the guards, then Sabine can use the opportunity to sneak onto it." Ezra added.
"I don't like where this is going…" Zeb commented.
Jaral pondered for a second, then decided that they didn't come all the way there to stick with half-measures. "Specter-5 and 7, you're clear to go. Be sure to come back." she decreed.
The teens smiled, even though their faces were hidden.
"Yes ma'am." they said in chorus.
"Specter-4, Ryder, you keep an eye on them just in case." Jaral added.
Zeb groaned. "Yes, ma'am." he replied.
The teens then went over the top of the hill and slid all the way downward.
As soon as they stood near the fence of the airfield and prepared themselves to enter, Ezra activated his cloaking device. He was going to be the vanguard of the two, making sure that the road was safe for Sabine. Curiously, he noticed that two of the Loth-cats had been following them.
Using this tactic, the teens easily avoided a few sentinels patrolling around and reached a hidden position near the Defender, noticing that there were two army troopers guarding it. Since they had taken 4 minutes to get there, Ezra decided to deactivate the cloaking device to let it recharge before starting again.
"Any idea on how to distract those guards?" Sabine whispered.
Ezra mumbled in thought. "Maybe I can have a crate fall suddenly…nah, someone else would come...or maybe…"
He stopped as he saw the Loth-cats trotting toward the guards.
"Or maybe, I'll let my little friends to the thing." he quipped.
They heard one of the guards groan when the felines stopped in front of them.
"Great, more of these things."
"That's what we get for building a base out here in the middle of nowhere." the other lamented.
"You think they can fly?" the first guard asked, lifting his rifle.
The Loth-cats were just meowing and making cute faces.
"Kinda like to see if they can." the second guard replied.
His comrade pointed the gun somewhere near the cat's paws and shot a fire. The Loth-cat jumped back and started to growl.
"Nope, they can't fly." the shooter said, right before the cat jumped on his face and making him fall.
His comrade laughed, but he quickly stopped as the other cat attacked him too.
The guards struggled a bit until they bumped into each other and the cats ran away.
"Get them!" one of the imperials said and they ran after the cats.
"Uh, I like those fuzz-balls more and more." Sabine commented. "Okay, watch my back."
"I can watch your back all day." he teased.
She chuckled. "Keep it in your jock, Bridger." and dashed toward the ladder that would allow her to enter the TIE's cockpit.
Not long after she jumped into it, Sabine called again.
"Ok, I found it, just give me a few minutes to remove it from the panel."
"Can't you just copy the data?" Ezra asked.
"No, faster to get the whole thing."
"Heads up, you two." Zeb warned. "There's a shuttle incoming."
A Sentinel-class transport flew over Ezra's head and landed on the opposite side of the airfield, at the bottom of the control tower. The young man cautiously changed position to take a look at who was going to be, and when the ramp went down, he gasped for the horrible surprise.
There stood Thrawn, followed by Iulius, Pryce and two Death Troopers.
"Ezra, what happened?" Jaral asked into the comlink, feeling the spike of concern into their bond.
"Something...inconvenient. Thrawn and Iulius are here." he whispered.
"Damn it. Sabine, how long will it take?" his sister asked urgently.
"I-I need only a couple of minutes. Ezra, stall them." the mandalorian replied.
"Oh yeah, stall them, it's just Thrawn!" he replied sarcastically.
"I'm confident you will think of a solution."
While Ezra struggled to think of such a solution and the imperial officers were talking with Skerris, Ezra was suddenly attracted by a howling sound. He turned to look on the hill in front of him, and standing on top of a rock there was a white Loth-wolf. Or, at least, such seemed to Ezra. The beast was clearly staring at him.
Ezra was intrigued. The beast was majestic, in its own way.
However, the clicking of a pistol snapped him back to reality and Ezra turned around. An imperial pilot had taken out his pistol and was about to pull the trigger.
Ezra ignited his lightsaber at the last possible moment to avoid being hit (even though his armor would have easily absorbed it) and he twisted his body so suddenly that he rolled over the line of three crates that was covering him, making them fall down. He managed to get a glimpse of the rock, but the Loth-wolf had disappeared.
He stood back up and deflected a couple of blaster bolts before the third one was redirected toward the pilot, wounding him on the shoulder, but everybody saw him, and while Thrawn sent the Death Troopers to secure the prototype all the troopers and stormtroopers of the base assailed Ezra.
"Well, Ezra, you definitely got their attention." commented Sabine.
"I'm glad this is working for you!" he exclaimed while he took out his TL-50, shooting back with his left hand.
"Ezra, Sabine, head for the south end of the runaway," said Zeb. "we'll blast our way there to get you."
"No!" Ezra commanded. "Take what information you have back to base, we'll find our own way back."
"He's right, Specter-4." Jaral said. "You and Ryder come back to the base right now."
With that out of the way, Ezra sprinted away, breaking away from a group of regulars that was about to encircle him and headed into the stocking area of the base, full of crates and containers that would channel the imperials into small spaces and limiting their options for attack.
Ezra couldn't tell exactly how long he went on, between saying 'Hi' to Thrawn and his officers when he was exposed for a moment, to jump left and right over the piles of crates to lose his chasers, the TIE Defender eventually took off, with Sabine clearly at the commands.
"Sabine, get out of here!" he ordered into the comlink.
"Just stay down!" she replied.
The Defender hovered on the stock area and Ezra's eyes widened in terror as he realized what she was about to do. He immediately summoned the bubble shield in time to avoid a rain of fire that Sabine started a second later. Explosions started all around him and some bolts even hit the shield, but at least the troopers around him were now dead or dispersed.
"Have you lost the plot?!" Ezra yelled into the comlink an expression that Jordan used frequently with people he deemed crazy.
"Don't just stand there, get aboard!" Sabine replied.
Ezra rolled his eyes, materialized his jetpack, quickly flew on the top of the hatch and entered into it.
Sabine then used the fighter to create as much mayhem and destruction into the airfield, destroying most of the TIE fighters and interceptors parked on the sides of the area. She almost got Thrawn and Iulius, but the two simply shot back with their pistols, in a demonstration of pure stoicism that confused Sabine and she missed them. Deciding it was better not to wait too much, she brought them away.
"Was this part of the demonstration?" Thrawn asked with cold sarcasm to Skerris.
"They won't get far, sir." the Commander reassured. "Its hyperdrive is offline."
"I will activate the kill-switch." Pryce proclaimed, but Thrawn lifted a hand.
"Not yet, Governor. This is a perfect opportunity for a combat test. Skerris, send your pilots to intercept." the Grand Admiral ordered.
"Right away." Skerris replied.
While Thrawn, Iulius and Pryce got escorted at the top of the control tower, so they could follow the battle through the holotable, three pilots took off with the remaining TIE Interceptors, then Skerris reached the other three officers around the holotable and watched as the Interceptors quickly caught up with the rebels, who didn't seem particularly in a hurry. Most likely, they were trying to deactivate the Defender's transponder.
The stolen TIE was marked in red by the operators, the three Interceptors in green. The hologram couldn't give a complete overview of the battle in the sense that the projection was only bi-dimensional. It told the officers the altitude and speed of the fighters, but there was no chance for a visual contact with them.
Still, Thrawn and Iulius could tell that the pilot of the Defender, shortly after the interceptors caught up, made a rapid ascension toward the sky and then turned around, using the gravity to dart among the other TIEs and destroy one of them.
Then, the TIEs started a chase among the canyon beneath them, and the Defender's pilot made a sudden brake to exchange positions with the Interceptors, who now found themselves chased down.
Soon, another one fell down.
"I wonder who else is on that starfighter." Thrawn commented.
"They destroyed two Interceptors." Skerris said. "It must be the Blue Nova."
"I doubt that." Iulius replied. "If my dear sister-in-law was at the controls, our pilots wouldn't have survived this long, the same goes if it was General Syndulla."
"I agree." Thrawn said. "It must be Ezra Bridger piloting. So who might be the second one?"
Not long after he finished commenting, even the third Interceptor was shot down. And a few moments later, the signal of the stolen Defender disappeared.
"Ah, the transponder has been deactivated in record time." Thrawn said. "It's the Mandalorian."
After contemplating what just happened, Thrawn kept talking. "If even someone with the average skills of Ezra Bridger can best three trained pilots, our new fighter will give us an overwhelming advantage against the Rebels and, perhaps, the Federation. You may proceed, Governor."
And while Pryce barked the orders to activate the kill-switch and to secure the crash site as soon as they located it, Iulius walked next to Thrawn toward the opposite side of the tower, so they could discuss a bit more privately.
"So the Bridgers have really come back on Lothal." Iulius whispered.
"Indeed. Which means they are planning another strike on the factory." Thrawn observed.
"How should we proceed?"
"They probably stole the prototype so they could put their hands on the flight data recorder. Now they will most likely try to bring it back to Rebel Command for analysis. And since we're preventing them from communicating outside of the system, we should expect them attempting an escape soon."
"If they are using Federation's ships, it will be quite difficult to stop their escape." said Iulius, remembering Thrawn that they still didn't have a countermeasure against the stealth technology of the Milky Way.
Thrawn stroke his chin.
"Then I guess we will have to wait for the Rebels and make sure we're ready to repel their attack."
"You think they will attack from orbit?"
"The rebels are desperate for a public victory. And even the Bridger siblings would have difficulties assaulting the capital to hit the factory or the refinery. And the only real advantage the Rebellion possess as of now, is their superiority in the starfighter department."
"Which is the main reason for the TIE Defender program."
"Yes. I doubt that our patrols will be able to find Bridger and Wren, so I want you to head back to the Admonitor, Rear Admiral. If you manage to intercept their transport out of the planet, fine, if not, make sure our blockade will be ready for an attack."
Iulius made the salute. "Yes, sir." and went to call a shuttle that would bring him back to orbit, since the one they came in had been blown up by the stolen Defender."
Ezra was rushing toward the surface while Sabine tried to deactivate the kill-switch, but that came too late.
"I got it!" the young mandalorian said triumphantly.
"Got what?" Ezra asked sarcastically. "I only got one wing left."
"Better than no wings." Sabine tried to soften the mood, but they were going very fast.
"Well, I beg your pardon." Ezra said and he hugged her tightly.
Or, more precisely, he was trying to shield her. Because, when they hit the ground, even if it was with the last wing left, they bounced against the viewport violently and Ezra smashed with his back. His personal shields dissolved, but the armor still absorbed most of the force of the impact, so aside from a temporary pain on the back, Ezra didn't suffer any damage.
When the Defender finally halted on the ground he let her go.
"Are you all right?" he asked with a groan.
"I should be the one asking." she sounded pretty concerned.
"Oh, I'm fine." he replied, but the buzzing sound coming from his back signaled that maybe the armor wasn't as fine.
Ezra made a quick scan and it turned out that the power core of the personal shields had been damaged in the crash.
"Damn, I better not risk this." he said, and he deactivated the armor which returned to the main device in his chest.
"Can you repair it?" Sabine asked.
"Not here. I'm gonna need Dad's help on this." he replied. "Come on, let's get out of here."
With caution, they opened the hatch, which was now upside-down, and jumped down on the surface. Ezra was holding the data recorder.
"Specter-7 to Specter-6, do you copy?" he asked in the comlink, but the Empire was jamming transmissions probably in the entire continent.
So Ezra closed his eyes and used the bond to quickly explain their situation to Jaral. When he reopened his eyes, he talked to Sabine.
"Jari asks us if we can take the hyperdrive." he said.
Sabine was a bit confused. "Don't we already have the Kodiak, if we want to leave the planet?"
"Yes, but she believes it's too slow and the skies will soon swarm with Imperial starcrafts. She prefers for us to install this hyperdrive on Ryder's U-Wing and bring the data back to Rebel Command."
"Mmh...makes sense." Sabine agreed. "All right, give me a minute."
It didn't take long for her to detach it from the bottom of the TIE's capsule, but hyperdrives aren't very light, and even Ezra, with his enhanced muscles, could only do so much. They dragged it together for a few hundred meters, but it was clear that they were taking too long and getting tired very quickly.
"We're never gonna be able to take it away like this…" he commented as he panted. "perhaps we can find a place to hide it between those mountains."
"All right, lead the way." Sabine said, holding her helmet with the free arm so she could breathe better.
It was at that moment that Ezra noticed that there was a white Loth-cat looking at him. He immediately recognize it, as it was the same specimen that had led him to his parents, two years before.
"This way." he said, and Sabine followed him.
When they reach the top of a ditch, Ezra spotted a small hole into one of the bigger rocks.
"Look. We can hide it there and come back to pick it up later." he suggested.
"How did you know it was there?" Sabine asked in confusion.
"I followed the white Loth-cat." Ezra replied, thinking it was quite obvious.
"White Loth-cat?" Sabine narrowed an eye. "Are you sure you haven't hit your head in the crash?" she asked a bit worried.
Ezra noticed that the feline had disappeared, though it seemed weird that Sabine didn't see it before.
"Just help me get it in there." he said.
With a last effort, they dragged the hyperdrive core into the small cave, then Ezra took a triangular-shaped rock that was nearby and that was big enough to cover the hole, and put it on the front. After making sure there was no way to spot the hyperdrive, Ezra turned toward Sabine.
"All right, try to mark the position on your omni-tool." he instructed her.
Sabine nodded and activated the holographic device on her left hand. She had had two weeks to train with it, so she quickly accomplished the task.
"I must say, these things are really useful." she commented.
"I know, right? Now let's move. We need to find a place where they can pick us up."
"You have any idea?"
"There." he pointed at a mountain range in the distance. "We should be able to avoid the imperial patrols and try to contact the base camp."
"All right, let's do this." Sabine said, putting on her helmet.
They started the march, which soon became a run when imperial gunships started to appear all over the sky. Luckily, it was winter in that part of the planet, and it was already quite late, so night arrived no more than an hour later, helping the teens to hide from the imperials, who couldn't see anything outside of the cones of their searchlights.
Still, it wasn't going to be easy, and all the while Ezra kept hearing the howling of the wolf. At one point he stopped to take a better look and he was sure he saw it again.
"Ezra, we need to go." Sabine recalled him, only to find him looking in the wrong direction intensely. "Hey, what's wrong?" she asked, now seriously worried that her husband was suffering from hallucinations.
"I think I saw a...Loth-wolf. Nobody has seen them in a hundred years but...I keep seeing one today."
"A Loth-wolf?" Sabine asked with curiosity. "Like in those old cave paintings?"
"Yeah-aaaaahhh…" he looped when he saw the wolf appear right behind Sabine.
"Look out!" Ezra exclaimed.
Sabine jolted around, but the wolf neared his face to her and Ezra could swear he whispered the word 'Sleep'.
Sabine fell backward, unconscious but very much alive, into Ezra's arms.
"Sabine!" Ezra exclaimed worried. "Cyar'ika, hey! What did you do to her?!" he asked to the wold, which made a quiet snarl.
Highly strung, Ezra put a hand on his lightsaber, ready to ignite it, but the Loth-wolf sat down and, on the top of his head, the white Loth-cat appeared.
"I don't believe it." Ezra murmured impressed, letting his lightsaber go. "I though I was imagining things, earlier."
The two creatures turned their heads toward a couple of gunships that were scouting a hill nearby and growled.
"Glad you don't like the Empire, either." Ezra commented. "They're looking for us."
The wold stood up and made a couple of steps forward. It allowed Ezra to touch his nose, which was bigger than the man's palm, then slowly reached for Sabine, biting the collar of her suit to put her up. Ezra thus could hold her while the wolf crouched down on its four to allow the Jedi to load his wife, her helmet and the recorder on his back.
When Ezra loaded Sabine and the other objects, he mounted the beast, staying behind Sabine so he could embrace her and the other items. Then the wolf stood up and started riding into the valley, avoiding the flashlights. In a few minutes, it brought them out of the Empire's search perimeter.
"Thank you." said Ezra. The wolf gave him a quick gaze, like it could understand him.
The wolf rode for hours, until he reached a part of the planet where dawn was breaking. He left them on top of a hill right in front of the mountain range that Ezra recognized as the one with Ryder's camp in it.
The creature crouched down again, allowing for Ezra to gently put down Sabine and recover her helmet and the recorder.
Once he did that, he turned toward the wolf, which was already standing up.
"I don't understand. Why did you help us?"
The wolf turned toward him and whispered a word.
"Dume."
Ezra didn't understand, but a moment later, he was distracted by Hera's voice.
"Ezra! Sabine!" she said loudly with a worried tone. She and the rest of the group was running toward them.
Casually, Sabine regained senses at that moment.
"Thanks goodness, you're safe." Hera said while she and Jaral crouched to help Sabine.
"How did you get back so fast?" Zeb asked with incredulity.
"Didn't you see the…" Ezra started, only to realize the wolf had disappeared. "Loth-wolf…?"
The others looked at each other in bewilderment.
"Sabine?" Ezra asked.
The mandalorian groaned. "All I remember was you saying 'wolf'."
Ezra exchanged a confused look with both his sister and his Master, who could only shrug as they didn't see or felt anything in the Force. Jaral was more interested in the piece of hardware her two sibling brought back.
"Is that the flight data recorder?" she asked.
"Yes. And we did as you asked. The hyperdrive core is hidden not far away from the crash site, Sabine has marked the position on her omni-tool.
Jaral smiled to both of them.
"Wasn't expecting anything less from my little siblings. Ryder, prepare the tools for a recovery. Hera, bring Sabine to the tent, Ezra, we better take a look at your shields."
"Indeed." Ezra replied
"To do that, I need to ask for your trigger." Jordan said.
Ezra unbuttoned the first part of his orange jacket and removed the device planted into his chest, the trigger, and handed it to his father.
While most of the group started to go back, Ezra stopped his Master to talk.
"Kanan, there was a wolf. And there's something more to it. What, I don't know."
"I believe you." Kanan reassured him. "All paths are coming together, now."
Ezra raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"
"I don't know." Kanan shrugged and headed back to the camp. "We'll have to find out when we get there."
Ezra just accepted it and moved to join the rest of the group.