Chapter 16: Showdown
While most of the group was preparing two of the captured gunships for the next phase, Ezra was standing in front of the Ghost, contemplating the prairie in front of him. Jordan had gone back to the camp to escort Pryce along with his Legionnaires, plus Ryder and Kallus.
He and the Legionnaires would pose as stormtroopers using their holograms. Only Kallus would go on wearing a stolen Navy trooper uniform, so he could stay close to Pryce with a pistol at her back. Hera and Chopper would pilot the gunships and come out only when the fight would start.
The young Commander closed his eyes, reaching down the bond with his sister. She shared with him the last part of her plan to win the battle and, while it suddenly included a much more dangerous role for him, he knew that he was the only one who could achieve the will of his sister.
'You can count on me.' he thought in the end.
He could sense that Jaral was feeling a really big burden, asking her brother to enact such a dangerous ruse, but she was trusting him with all of her soul, and he intended to fulfill that trust.
He took out the lightsabers and joined them, then he ignited them both. While she was waiting in orbit, Jaral would definitely be on his side even for that battle.
He then deactivated the blades, but kept the sabers joined in the double-bladed saber. He wanted to somehow stress that his bond with his sister was the one thing that would bring the success of the upcoming operation.
As he attached the hilt at his belt, he felt the presence of Hera behind him and turned around. The Twi'lek was indeed walking toward him.
"They're bringing her up." she notified him.
Ezra nodded, and from the valley he quickly saw Pryce being forced to walk by Ryder and Kallus, while the Legionnaires formed a triangle around them with their assault rifles ready, but for now relaxed.
Pryce was snarling at Kallus, but Ezra only heard the last part.
"To join a band of rebels and some invaders who don't stand a chance."
"Yes, we do." Ezra replied calmly but loud enough to be heard.
Once Pryce was dragged in front of him, Jordan and Michalina stepped aside, while Thabo kept standing in the rear of the group.
"Especially with your help." the young Jedi said.
Pryce scoffed. "I will never helped you." she said with a sarcastic tone.
"Yes, you will. As your final act of Governor of Lothal, you will help free your homeworld." Ezra stated, still unfazed.
"I will do no such thing." Pryce growled.
Ezra sighed. "If that's your wish." and he whistled to someone behind the group in front of him.
Almost out of nowhere, the white Loth-wolf came around. The rebels stepped away, while Pryce was left frozen in terror with her hands still bound. The beast approached, snarling and growling at the Governor, who whimpered and also stumbled backward.
The Loth-wolf approached its face (its teeth especially) to the Governor, who crawled on her back until she bumped against Ezra's feet.
The Jedi looked at her from the upside down.
"Or, you could transmit the victory codes and let us into the Imperial Dome as your prisoners." he said. "If the odds against us are so bad as you say, what do you have to lose?" he then suggested.
Left with very little choice, Pryce conceded. "Fine. Fine, I'll do it. Just call off your dog!" she begged.
Ezra lifted a hand toward the wolf, which finally allowed Pryce some room to breathe and then walked away.
With their ticket into the Dome secured, the rebels didn't waste time. Ezra ordered all hands aboard the gunships. Only Wolffe, Matt and Vizago would stay there to guard the Ghost and be ready to make a pickup if things went south.
After no more than five minutes later, the gunships finally took off toward the capital. Ezra was on the same vehicle as Sabine, Kallus, Ryder, Nimbus, Jordan and Pryce.
Flying at the highest speed possible, they didn't take more than an hour to reach the outskirts of the capital. Ezra had been looking outward for most of the time. While the hologram hid his expression, Sabine still noticed that something was bothering him. She nudged him on the elbow.
"Hey, you okay?"
'Not quite.' he thought, but he couldn't tell her about the upcoming task he had been given.
"I know I can always count on you." he said, turning in a way that would also be heard by his father, who was standing behind the two teens.
Jordan looked puzzled, and Sabine even more.
"All right, what are you up to?" she asked, but the comlink and the following Hera's voice stopped the conversation.
"We're coming up on the Capitol, better get ready."
Sabine answered, thought she still gave a suspicious look at Ezra. "Copy, head for platform 0-Delta."
Pryce looked astonished. "The Command Center…you're going to attempt to launch the Dome." then she chuckled. "Your plan is worse than I thought."
Ezra hummed, unfazed by the provocation. "Bolder. The word you're looking for is 'bolder than you thought'."
Sabine turned as well. "More creative than you thought."
Now Kallus handed a comlink to her. "Now, about those landing codes…" he said in a tone that clearly wasn't asking nicely. "And remember, I will know if they're not correct."
Pryce gave him a surly expression and grabbed the comlink. "Gladly. The sooner we land, the sooner you will be my prisoners."
As the gunships neared the landing pad on the top of the Dome, Pryce started giving the codes.
"Executive code 6-2-7-3-1-1."
Shortly after, an operator answered. "Code's authorized, Governor. You're clear to land. Security will take the prisoners on the platform."
The moment of truth had arrived. Ezra closed his eyes briefly and unloaded all his negative feelings into the Force, reaching a clarity of mind that would've been vital for his survival and that of his friends and family.
The gunships touched down. The polarized glass of the cockpits easily hid Hera and Chopper from the stormtroopers on the platform, while the Legionnaires started unloading the 'prisoners' and Kallus forced Pryce to walk calmly in front of him.
Ezra went in front of the group, keeping a stolen E-11 in his hands, to meet a stormtrooper officer and other two troopers that met them.
"We'll take them from here." the officer said.
"They're all yours." Ezra replied calmly, making a light gesture.
Right behind him, Zeb growled and motioned like he was about to free himself.
"Look out!" the stormtroopers raised their weapons, but then Zeb showed that he was free and pushed Ezra against the troopers, like planned, then he jumped over them and started running toward the entrance door.
"Stop him!" Ezra yelled.
The troopers turned around, but Ezra took out his double-bladed lightsaber, cutting off two blaster rifle in a motion. Then he hit the officer with a stun shot of the omni-tool, before using the Force to push away the two troopers around him, who were still trying to figure what was happening.
While Zeb made a mad dash toward the blast door, which was about to be sealed, Sabine and Ketsu followed suit. While Zeb strained himself to keep the door opened, the two mandalorians slid on the floor and managed to get in before Zeb had to release the grip and jump inside as well.
On the platform, Ezra and the others engaged the few stormtroopers guarding the area, who took cover behind the pile of crates on the other side than the one the rebels chose. Shots flew left and right, while Kallus still kept Pryce hostage. The Legionnaires, however, were much more precise, and they soon took out the stormtroopers.
Right then, Hera and Chopper came out of the gunships and ran toward the door. Ezra incited the others to do the same and they managed to arrive right when Ketsu could finally open the door.
Ezra and Nimbus took the lead with their lightsabers, but they didn't encounter much resistance to the control room. They took position outside while Jinx hacked into the internal systems and saw with the cameras of the room that there were only a handful of officers armed with simple handguns.
Since those RK-3 were very much harmless against Legionnaire's armor, Ezra decided to simply have Jordan and his guys push. Michalina took out her shotgun while Sabine went to hack the door with her omni-tool.
Once the door opened, the officers in the immediate vicinity were blasted by Michalina's shotgun. The only two remaining fired at the general direction of the door, but Thabo threw some kind of energy spheres at high speed that knocked them out as well.
Once the dust settled, Ezra went into the room, took a look around and assessed the situation. He finally turned toward Thabo and Michalina.
"Lock them in the storage bin." he ordered. The Legionnaires nodded and started to drag the bodies.
Ryder and Zeb were the last to come in. The former was keeping Pryce at gunpoint, while the last made sure to close and seal the door.
"It's only a matter of time before you're discovered." Pryce stated confidently while she was forced to kneel. "You can't hope to defeat my forces."
"Defeat them?" Sabine asked sarcastically while she approached one of the many consoles in the room. "That's not our purpose. But we do want them all into the Dome."
"We will initialize Protocol 13." Kallus announced her.
Protocol 13. The new order that stated a complete evacuation of Imperial personnel from a planet. Once all force would have been inside the Dome, the squad would have started the engines of the Dome, sending it into orbit.
The Chimaera was now just a few minutes from leaving hyperspace above Lothal. Thrawn was analyzing every single report sent by the local command, but nothing was very specific. He only knew that Pryce and Rukh had supposedly found the rebel camp and stormed it, but all communications had stopped for a few hours.
He didn't take long to realize that something went very wrong for the Governor, otherwise she would've already be gloating and using a successful capture of the rebels to make amend for her mistake with the fuel depot.
What he really was afraid of, though, was the possibility of the Imperial Federation already being on the offensive, but, so far, there had been no signs of its fleet. All the outposts had sent regular reports, but it was also true that the Empire had absolutely no way to monitor the wormhole. For all they knew, the anomaly might have closed already and they wouldn't know.
For the first time in his life, Thrawn was getting into a battle completely blind: he only had a blurred report of his forces' situation, and absolutely no intel about the enemy.
All his attempts at contacting Rukh had been met with failure, until it was the Noghri himself who finally contacted the Chimaera. The signal was coming from a gunship, perhaps he had managed to recover one from the failed attack.
The Grand Admiral moved at the holotable of the bridge and opened the communication. A hologram of Rukh's upper body appeared and the assassin quickly made his report.
"The Rebels have captured Pryce. I have no doubts they've used her codes to infiltrate the Imperial Headquarters. To what purpose, I do not know."
Thrawn looked both surprised and upset.
"I expected Governor Pryce to fail, but not so completely. You must get inside and deactivate the shield generator before the Rebels lock down the Imperial Dome." he instructed, understanding that the Rebels wanted to use Protocol 13, since it was the only logical explanation for their bold move.
"And then?" the Noghri asked.
"Then, wait. I'm almost arrived." Thrawn replied.
Rukh nodded and closed the transmission. The Grand Admiral walked toward the viewport of the bridge, passing among the busy operators and officers in the room and in the two pits of the Star Destroyer.
It took another 14 minutes for the Chimaera to leave hyperspace right above Lothal.
Thrawn immediately turned toward his commander.
"Bring us right over the Dome and order the Adjudicator to follow us over the capitol."
The officer nodded and it didn't take long for the Chimaera to move at full speed toward the atmosphere of Lothal and right above the Dome.
The scanners indicated that the structure was in full lockdown and the rebels were preparing the launch sequence of the thrusters, however, when the shadow of the Chimaera obscured the sun from them, they realized that they had to stop the launch. If they completed it, they might destroy the Chimaera with sheer kinetic force, but the ship's debris would fall down on the city, causing massive damage and losses.
It didn't take long for Thrawn to receive a communication from the Control Room.
From the holo-projector at the center of the viewport, appeared the figure of Ezra Bridger, with his armor on and only his head uncovered.
"Thrawn." he said calmly.
"Commander Bridger." Thrawn said with just a hint of surprise. "I was expecting the Grand Marshall."
"My sister is unavailable at the moment. Sorry to bust your party, Admiral, but the entire Imperial occupation force is now inside the Dome and we can just blow this place up with all of them. If you don't want to explain your Emperor how you lost a ton of troops, I suggest you get back in orbit."
Ezra said all of that with quite the resolution, but Thrawn just looked bored.
"Are you quite finished?" he asked sarcastically.
Ezra clearly was taken aback, even though he still kept on a stoic facade.
"If you really wish to save your friends, Commander Bridger, the only term I will accept is your immediate and complete surrender." he intimated.
Ezra shrugged. "Why would I surrender when I have your entire army hostage?"
"No. You just moved my assets to a safe position. So that I can bomb your city and its citizens without the risk of incurring imperial losses." Thrawn countered.
Bridger's eyes widened.
The voice of Sabine Wren resonated in the distance of the holo-projector. "Rex, raise the planetary shield, now!"
"The controls aren't responding. We're cut off!"
Just a few seconds later, the voice of Rukh reached Thrawn's comlink.
"Grand Admiral, the shield generator has been secured."
Thrawn immediately spoke with Ezra again.
"Your shield is now under my control. To assure you that my intentions are genuine, I will give you a demonstration."
He turned toward the artillery officer. "Target the city." he ordered bluntly.
Ezra watched in horror as the two Star Destroyers above him opened fire against the city. The surveillance cameras in the room could let him see the death and destruction that were being unleashed on his city, the people fleeing and screaming.
"Enough!" he yelled almost immediately. "I surrender!"
Thrawn made a nod with his head and the rain of turbolasers stopped.
The Grand Admiral had now regained his confident posture and attitude.
"You will reach me on the Chimaera." he dictated. "And, don't be mistaken, come alone. If you try any...heroics, I will resume the bombardment, and destroy your people, along with your friends."
The hologram disappeared.
Ezra steeled his resolve and turned around, heading for the door, but he was halted by Sabine and Jordan, who barred his way.
"No way! You're not going!" Jordan ordered.
"Dad, this is what I'm meant to do." Ezra replied calmly.
"No!" Sabine interjected. "We will find another way. There is always another way."
"Not this time." the Padawan calmly stated. "We can't possibly retake the generator without Thrawn noticing before we do it. This is the only way."
"Ezra…" Jordan started.
"Guys!" his son immediately countered.
Ezra took his double-bladed lightsaber and separated the two hilts that composed it. He then handed them to the two persons that were most important to him in that room.
"I need you to trust me." he said calmly, with the tone of those who have already taken a very difficult choice and were at peace with their conscience in doing so.
Both Jordan and Sabine, as warriors, knew that tone very well, and for how much it tore their hearts, they grabbed the sabers firmly and took them, then stepped aside to let him pass.
Ezra opened the door, stepped outside and had Jinx seal it again.
He then ran back to the landing platform and quickly mounted on one of the gunships. He dematerialized his armor, but also went even further: he unzipped part of the jacket and removed the trigger device that, for four years, had been implanted in his chest.
After putting in the security code, the device pinched him just a little bit before falling into his hands. Ezra decided to hide it into the omni-tool, because he was quite sure that Thrawn knew about the trigger, by now, but not about the omni-tools, which were implanted under the skin of the user and were thus very hard to study.
He lifted the gunship and headed for the Chimaera's lower hangar. Taking a huge breather and sending a message down the bond.
'Here we go.'
In a few seconds, he brought the gunship into the hangar, where the alarm was blaring and a full detachment of stormtroopers with the personalized colors of the Chimaera scrambled to arrest him.
Ezra had only brought his blaster pistol, which he surrendered voluntarily to one trooper while another one put handcuffs on him, binding his hands in the front.
As expected, one of the troopers inspected his chest, and was a bit surprised when he found nothing. Still, they had orders and the two trooper escorted the Jedi into Thrawn's office.
Ezra found the Chiss sitting behind his desk, waiting patiently.
"It was a wise decision for you to surrender." Thrawn said with his cold tone.
"Didn't have much of a choice." Ezra replied sarcastically while the troopers left.
"Oh, nonsense." Thrawn objected. "You could have chosen to let your people died. However," he stood up and started walking slowly around the desk. "you chose to be a Jedi. You follow a historical path written by the Jedi where they always do what they think is 'morally correct', instead of what is strategically sound."
"And yet the Jedi survived." the Padawan replied coldly.
Thrawn hummed softly. "The Jedi once numbered in the thousands. Those who are left are hiding in fear or are poorly trained children like you and your sister." the Chiss explained.
Ezra sneered lightly at him.
"I must say, the ways of the Force are a mystery, to me." he stopped in front of the desk and took one of the many trinkets: the mask of an old Temple Guard. As he examined it, he kept talking. "Yet, for all that power, all that knowledge…the Jedi always lacked the resolve to weaponize it."
"The Force isn't a weapon." Ezra countered. "But you will never understand."
"Oh, I don't need to." Thrawn replied, putting the mask back on its pedestal. "It was not my intention to utterly destroy Lothal, but it seems inevitable now." he turned his head toward the young Jedi, who still retained an air of calm. "Because your sister is leading the Federation here, isn't she?"
Ezra didn't flinch. Calling in all of his self-control and tapping into the Force to ease his mind and not leave Thrawn any sign.
"Perhaps." he answered.
Thrawn observed him for a few seconds before heading to the side of the office, where there was the section of wall filled with Sabine's paintings.
"These are a few of the artifacts I've gathered from your home-world. I saved what I could." the Grand Admiral said. I have even taken some of Sabine Wren's work...or is she a Bridger now, as well?"
Ezra simply looked at him with an upset gaze.
"She is quite talented." Thrawn said with respect. "Or was quite talented."
"You think you can take whatever you want," Ezra hissed. "things you don't know, things you don't even understand...you don't deserve to have Lothal or these paintings."
Thrawn slowly paced toward the young man.
"Who deserves what is irrelevant. What matters is who, has, power." he said closing a fist in front of his shoulder. Then he lowered it again. "But that's something the Jedi won't teach you, so, I'll take you to someone who will."
Ezra was almost tempted to jump into the action right then and there, but that wasn't the moment. The last piece for the plan relied entirely on his friends retaking the shield generator.
"How could you?! Your own son?!" Hera asked in total disbelief to Jordan, who thanked every god that he was wearing a helmet to hide his own fear for his son. True, he was capable, but Jordan didn't like the idea of letting him go alone into the wolf's den.
"Hera, we have to trust him." he calmly replied. "The best thing we can do is to get that shield up, so when Ezra makes his move, we're ready."
"He's right, Hera." Sabine supported him. "Over there." he pointed at a screen with the map of the building on a wall. "We should use the primary schematic if we're going to find a way to raise the shield. We need to get to these lifters first."
Everyone gathered around.
"How do we pass all those stormtroopers who are locked in with us?" Zeb asked.
"We can bypass the upper barracks by using the executive turbolifts." Kallus explained.
"That would take time." Jordan simply replied. "The generator room will certainly be well guarded, so we're gonna need two teams to maximize our offensive action. Me, Thabo and Michalina will form the spearhead. We can make a lot more damage, draw them away while the rest of you guys storms the other side."
Everyone looked at him as if he had gone crazy, except Thabo and Michalina, who walked to stand on his side.
"I know you are very strong," Ryder said. "but can you actually handle all those troopers?"
"Just watch us, sir." Michalina said confidently with a hand on her hip.
"My son is risking everything to make sure the plan works. I'm not holding back." Jordan declared with a resolute tone.
"Hera, Sabine and Chopper should stay here. Keep an eye on the sensors and be ready to raise the shield." the Legionnaire suggested furthermore. "Ryder, watch our guest, here."
The two women looked at each other and nodded. "We'll be ready." Hera answered.
Ryder nodded as well. Pryce had been handcuffed to a handrail and wasn't going anywhere.
"Good." he replied, then turned toward his brethren. "Load your weapons, lads. It's time to show what a Legionnaire can do."
"We're with you, boss." Thabo reassured.
The three stepped in front of the door, checked their weapons again and then assumed the combat posture.
"Open it." Jordan ordered Chopper, who was plugged into one of the room's sockets for droids.
The door was opened, revealing a group of four stormtroopers that were coming to blast it open.
Sporting reflexes and a speed that he never showed before, Jordan quickly placed a shot in the head to each of them and the troopers fell down, their armors clanging on the floor.
The Legionnaires went out and assumed a delta formation. At the end of the corridor, they saw that the biggest group of stormtroopers and regulars was coming from their right, so they charged in that direction.
The Imperials fired, but they were no match for the super-soldiers in front of them. The fast reflexes of the three allowed them to dodge most of the bolts that would actually hit them, while they rarely missed a shot. Michalina also took out her shotgun, every close-range shot of that weapon sent a man flying backward with a giant hole in his body, scaring the others and allowing the Legionnaires to push forward.
Sure enough, most of the imperial troopers were deviated toward the Legionnaires, who clearly showed why they were the most feared combatants of the Milky Way. Using their arsenal, the various powers of the omni-tool or the mind, with their almost perfect aim, for which one shoot was a guaranteed kill, they took out at least 40 imperial soldiers while they ran toward the generator room. At one point, Sabine managed to close the blast doors between them and the swarm of troopers, allowing the squad safe passage toward the lift.
Jordan and his team entered the lift and ended up at the upper levels, which were defended only by a handful of engineers. Though they were armed with blaster rifles, they certainly were not very good at using them.
The Legionnaires made short work of them and then they looked downward. They saw that the rest of the group had split into other two groups, since they were so many and the Legionnaires were drawing most of the stormtroopers their way.
Now there was a team trying to take control of the reactor at the bottom of the room, composed by Nimbus, Rex, Hondo and Ketsu.
Gregor, Kallus and Zeb were advancing in the middle level, trying to reach the commands of the shield generator, since Kallus knew how to activate them.
The first team had been blocked on one of the platforms right before the controls. They were pinned down by Rukh and two Death Troopers on the other side of the room, but also because the bridge to the controls were retracted.
"Control, we need that bridge extended." Rex said in the comlink.
"Calm down, I got this." Nimbus announced confidently.
While she parried the bolts coming her way with her lightsaber, she swiped her right hand toward the central control unit of the room, where the controls for the bridge were, and she switched it on.
The bridge started to extend.
Rex chuckled. "I forgot you can do that, as well."
Jordan took out his sniper rifle and started to provide some cover fire, taking out three imperials, but from his position he didn't have a clear shot on Rukh. Michalina and Thabo kept their eyes on the two ends of the gangplank to make sure no stormtrooper came to try and kill their Captain.
Once the bridge was extended, it was Melch who arrived and charged head-in first.
"Look at him go." said Hondo.
However, when he was almost on the other side, the Ugnaught was hit in the chest and, after making quite the theatrical fall, he stood motionless on the ground.
"No!" Hondo screamed, then he dashed toward the body of his friend, took his blaster rifle and took out a couple of stormtroopers on the other side of the room. He dragged Melch's body on the other end of the bridge.
"All teams, I don't have a shot on their leader." Jordan reported. "Any ideas?"
"Cover me, I'll push him down with the Force." Nimbus said, but Zeb opposed.
"He will just climb backward. I'll take care of him." he declared.
"Zeb, no!" Kallus said from the gangplank beneath Jordan.
The Lasat made a dash on his four limbs, jumped down a level in front of the astonished imperials and then came down on Rukh, who was caught by surprise as well.
"He's crazy!" Gregor exclaimed from below.
"No, he's giving you a chance!" Jordan said. "Go!" he ordered and then shoot one of the engineers defending the controls right through his helmet.
Kallus and Gregor complied and charged forward, taking down other two engineers, while Jordan took out the fourth and last.
"All clear." Jordan said to his brethren. "Let's reach those two." he ordered.
The Legionnaires jogged on the gangplank in order to reach the point right above the console where Kallus and Gregor were.
Right before they looked down in order to jump, they heard another blaster shot fired and Gregor made a painful groan.
They quickly noticed that one of the engineers that Kallus and Gregor shot down was trying a last stand and had shot the old clone when he was distracted, right in the chest. The fact that Gregor was only wearing a t-shirt didn't promise anything good.
Thabo and Michalina shot a burst each that screened the engineer, making sure he was dead. Then Jordan was the first to jump down. He and Kallus helped the commando to sit down while Jordan already prepared the medi-gel.
"Get the shield up, Kallus." he ordered and the Lieutenant obeyed.
"Jinx, give me a bio-scan."
The Legionnaire passed his omni-tool over the wound and the AI spoke.
"Half of his arteries have been severed by the burn. I'm afraid medi-gel won't be enough to save him."
Gregor groaned. "It doesn't matter."
Bridger had destroyed the remainders of the Jedi Temple. It looked like even the Emperor could not win over the boy.
On the bridge, Thrawn stepped into the viewport section.
"All batteries, prepare full scale bombardment of the city. On my command." he ordered.
The crew went at work immediately, but it took around two minutes.
"All batteries ready, sir." the artillery officer reported at the end.
"Fire." Thrawn ordered.
He could hear the sound of the turbolasers firing, though he couldn't see the effects by standing in the middle of the bridge, and the size of the ship would hide his view anyway.
"Sir, they've engaged the shield." the officer reported urgently.
The Chiss took his comlink immediately.
"Rukh, Rukh! What's your status?" he asked quite alarmed.
However, the only thing he heard about Rukh were horrible screams, instead it was the voice of Garazeb Orellios that answered.
"Sorry, you'll have to call back, he's busy at the moment." then the sound of flesh exploding came through. "Uh...yeah, actually, never-mind about calling back."
Thrawn sneered at himself, and then he heard the door behind him open and his Death Troopers being shot almost immediately.
He didn't need to see who understand who was there. Thrawn took his pistol from his belt, but didn't raise it as he turned around.
Ezra was again with his armor on and a stolen E-11 in his hands.
"Look like you lose, Thrawn." he declared calmly.
"A momentary setback." Thrawn minimized.
"You sure about that?" Ezra asked with a smugly tone.
The sensor officer spoke up alarmed.
"Sir, Captain Palleon is reporting of a massive fleet arriving from Dornea's hyper-lane."
Thrawn raised his brows slightly and turned around. "How many?"
The officer stammered. "A-At least 200 sir...and they're still coming! They look like Federation's ships."
Thrawn suddenly felt a cold sensation in his spine.
"All ships move toward Kamdon." he ordered.
"Sir...there's the Rebel Fleet barring our way there."
Another sensor operator spoke up.
"Sir, another Federal fleet is coming from...Dark Space?" he asked.
"There are no lanes that way!" the sensor officer said out of patience.
"That you are aware of…" Ezra answered them.
Thrawn looked at him, after taking a silent breather.
"Your sister's work, I suppose."
"Hey, taking the Dome was my idea." Ezra replied sarcastically.
"Grand Admiral, two of their ships are hailing us." the comm officer reported.
Ezra motioned him with his rifle. "You should pick up."
Thrawn turned around and went in front of the holo-projector located at the end of the viewport. The transparisteel was obscured and the holograms of Jaral Bridger and a Turian in uniform appeared.
"Grand Marshall." Thrawn greeted coldly.
With a lopsided grin, Jaral greeted back. "Grand Admiral. Allow me to present you Admiral Edrix of the Systems Alliance."
Thrawn gave him a quick look. The Turian made a small nod.
"Grand Admiral, let's be clear about this." Jaral proceeded with a hugely satisfied expression, though her tone remained serious. "Your fleet is surrounded, you're badly outnumbered, my friends have your planetary shield and my brother has a gun pointed at your head."
"So what, you want me to surrender?" he asked.
"Oh, no. I'm not accepting your surrender this day." she said, mimicking the words Thrawn had told her on Atollon. "But he might." she added, nodding toward Edrix.
"As you can see, Grand Admiral, I cannot guarantee the conduct of my allies, but I offer you the chance to surrender. You and your men will be treated according to our laws regarding prisoners of war." Edrix calmly explained.
Thrawn didn't reply immediately. True, he had no chance of winning or escaping without being destroyed. And he wasn't one to make useless last stands.
"Do I have your word, that my men will be treated fairly?" he asked.
"You treated ours correctly on Dornea, Grand Admiral. I swear on my honor as a soldier that your men will receive food and accommodations, thought we will have to build a camp on Lothal, and all those in shape will have to accept working 8 hours a day to help the reconstruction of the planet."
Thrawn closed his eyes. While he resented having been completely fooled, he understood his situation.
He let his pistol fall and took his comlink, speaking on an open channel. He made a nod toward the communication officer, who bitterly increased the power of the transmission so that every device on the planet would receive it.
"This is Grand Admiral Thrawn to all Imperial forces on Lothal. You have done everything that duty required you to do. We are surrendering to the Imperial Federation and its forces. Lay down your arms and do not react. It is over." he announced.
Jaral now made a satisfied smile.
"Have your Star Destroyer move over an uninhabited area, Grand Admiral. My troops will come to take over." Edrix instructed.
"Do as he says."
The helmsman reluctantly obeyed while the ship's commander sent the order to the Adjudicator as well.
Thrawn took a breather and turned toward Jaral after Edrix had closed the transmission.
"I must congratulate with you, Grand Marshall." he said with a sincere respect. "You have nullified all of my options before the battle started."
Jaral removed her smile and spoke with a dignified and respectful tone, now. "I've learned that from you, Grand Admiral."
"I appreciate it."
"I'm coming with a ship to take back my brother. Tell your men not to try anything funny." and her hologram disappeared.
As the hologram disappeared, Jaral wasn't able to get rid of the new smirk on her face.
"Rut, take us near the Chimaera."
"Yes, ma'am." the pilot replied eagerly.
The marines were starting to arrive on Deck 2 to board the Chimaera once they united the airlocks with the bridge.
Jaral waited at the door as well, while Darvos and Mira came up there and went to hug her while chuckling.
Raniza also showed up with a smirk and stood at a respectful distance.
"Congratulations, Grand Marshall." she complimented. "I think you just achieved 'Supreme Excellence'."
Breaking the will of the enemy without fighting. Yes, she had definitely done it. Lothal was now saved and had been spared a Base Delta Zero from Thrawn.
While the Constantinople went toward the surface of the planet, the warships in orbit were surrounding the imperial vessels and boarding them. The frigates were sending strike teams to key points on the planet, including the capitol. The transports were coming into the system and it would only be a matter of time before the allies started the landing operations of large units.
The Rebel Fleet under Admiral Raddus had been ordered to keep watch on the hyperlane it came from. Jaral had sent the flanking force to reinforce them, now that there was no need for them anymore.
Down at the Dome, the squad had now received the order to hold the control room until the Alliance came in to take over and make sure the imperial troopers wouldn't attempt any vengeance against the civilians, but it had been decided that the ones to land into the capital would be largely the troops of the new Rebel Army.
Jaral was curious to see them, but for now, the priority was to recover her family.
As the frigate approached the Chimaera, they received a transmission from the Ghost, who had already recovered the survivors of the assault at the Dome, including Gregor's body, once the INS Ravenna had left its marines.
The hologram of the Specters, Jordan, Rex, Kallus and others that were cramped into the cockpit appeared in the frigate's cockpit. All of them were smiling at her.
"Jari...I have no words...You did it." Jordan said with pride swelling in his voice.
"We, we did it." she replied.
"Right, you and my husband." Sabine quipped.
Jaral chuckled. "Don't worry, I'm going back to get him."
"Good, because I need to beat some sense into him."
Everyone laughed. The immense joy they were proving wasn't just given by the fact they won, but from hope. Hope that now things were going to change. Hope that Lothal's future was assured, with a massive fleet to protect it, now.
"Wait above the city, we'll rendezvous once we get Ezra."
"Aye, aye, ma'am." Hera said with a smile before they closed the transmission.
It didn't take much longer to reach the Star Destroyer and the Constantinople attached its airlock with the one in the rear of the ship's bridge.
Gutierrez led the first team of marines into the structure. Jaral had been asked to wait on the ship but it was fine to her.
A couple of minutes later, Gutierrez signaled that the bridge was theirs. Ezra had already confiscated all the weapons on the bridge and not long after, he arrived jogging into the frigate, his armor removed as well.
Their bond was sending literal sparks. Jaral met him in the decompression chamber of the Constantinople and the two hugged energetically, unable to stop laughing and pushing their foreheads together. They sent jokes and counter-jokes with their mental conversations and soon they included Darvos and Mira in the hug.
Meanwhile, the Marines of the ship had finished boarding the Chimaera, so the Constantinople detached and, after leaving the shuttles to fly in circles around the bridge, to rescue the marines in case of emergency, the frigate headed toward the capitol.
In time to see the new transport ships of the Rebel Army to come down. They were green, bulky ships with four engines, two triangular wings and a small turret mounted right below the cockpit. Apparently the model was called 'Pelican'.
Alliance 'Trident' fighters were already flying over the capital, establishing a 'no-fly-zone' and providing air cover, though it seemed that the Empire had accepted Thrawn's orders.
Through the sensors, the siblings could see the new Rebel soldiers. They wore a green uniform with what seemed to be some light armor. Not exactly looking like those of the Alliance, perhaps because they were thought to provide mobility more than heavy protection, but they did give the soldiers the feeling of being an actual army. The humanoids wore helmets with polarized visors, while most of the aliens serving in the ranks either didn't wear a helmet or had a customized one. And they were all armed with blaster rifles, manufactured by the workers of BlasTech Industries who had fled to the Milky Way in the last year and a half.
Soon, the streets started to swarm with joyful civilians, though. The rebel troopers had a bit of difficulty to move around, but the Marines had already secured the spaceport and other vital points, so they simply accepted the jubilant crowd, who greeted them as the liberators they were.
"Looks like the people is with us." Ezra commented to his sister as they were still keeping an arm around each other.
"Then I guess it's time for the real work to start." Jaral replied with a serious tone, but a confident expression. "For now, though...Rut, bring us to our friends."
The Constantinople hovered over the city, receiving another cheer by the crowd as the Ghost joined her and theyheaded outside of the city...toward the old tower.
And here we are!
Boy, this has been a wild ride, but as you already know, I'm not done yet.
Now that I need to write original material, I may not publish at the same rate, since I will need to find new inspirations and to make sure the new story follows logic. Though I have a timeline planned all the way until the Battle of Scarif and beyond.
As such, if you want to keep reading this Saga, now more than ever suggestions are welcomed.
The upcoming arc will be the liberation of Mon Cala.
I thank all the readers and those who gave me suggestions and their opinion through reviews and private messages all the way here. I hope I will see you again.
May the Force Be With You
Ganel750
Side note: Yes, the new Rebel Army trained and equipped by the Federation looks pretty much like Halo: Reach troopers, but with the usual Rebel weapons: A280 rifles and variants, etc...