Chapter 4


Sabine was just trying to rest in her cell when she heard something.

"I'm coming", a voice said. It was Ezra's voice.

She looked around frantically, but she knew he wasn't there. She placed a hand up to her head and pretended to just be imagining things, though she knew she didn't imagine it.

The friendly Elite was sitting down there, keeping an eye on her. He had a broken comm box in his hands that he was fixing, but he disguised it as just a piece of metal to mess around with.

"You're awake. Did you sleep well?" he asked.

Sabine turned around and saw the Elite sitting on a bench outside her cell, working with the comm box. She knew what it really was, but kept up the act that it was just a worthless piece of metal.

"As well as any prisoner physically could," she replied.

The Elite smiled… at least what they consider as smiling.

"I suppose it's not too bad," he said. He was trying to remember the code phrases he and Sabine made up just days before. He could tell Sabine was trying to remember them, too.

"Still playing with that stupid piece of metal, huh?" she asked, making it click to the Elite that was one phrase.

"I'm getting tired of it, but it's all I can do on this ship right now," he replied, catching on. That was another phrase that meant 'I'm almost done fixing it.'

"Well, I guess that's better than nothing," Sabine said. "H-how close are we to your base?"

"I'm not really supposed to say, but I can tell you we're not far off now," he said it in a way that meant they didn't have much time. It wasn't a code phrase, but his tone made it clear.

Sabine nodded, sadly, and sat back down on her bench. She buried her face in her hands and felt tears well up in her eyes.

The Elite could tell she was very upset again and entered the cell. He placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

"Don't be upset," he said quietly. "I'll finish messing with this sooner than you think. You will get out of this alive."

"How?" she asked.

The Elite grinned as much as an Elite could, "I'm not the only one here. I have command over a squad of Elites and they are loyal to my cause."

Sabine didn't understand very well, but she nodded anyway to get him to back off.

Pretty soon, the Elite left Sabine alone again, but she needed to be alone.


"Sir, Sierra 117 reporting for duty," the Master Chief said, saluting Lasky. Normally he didn't do that, but he respected him enough.

He and his entire Spartan unit, Blue Team, along with the ODSTs, stood at attention.

Lasky looked at every one of them and nodded, "At ease."

His soldiers relaxed.

"Let's keep this short, shall we?" he began. "One of this fine young man's people has been taken by the Covenant and we need to know where their base is. She's been missing for a week now, so we need to find her and fast."

"Sir, if I may," an ODST said.

"Go ahead, Sergeant," Lasky said.

"I've been picking up slipspace ruptures all over the galaxy with long range sensors. I believe the Covenant are trying to be as unpredictable as they can," the ODST sergeant said.

"Jumping to random locations before going back to their base," Lasky said, catching on to the sergeant's explanation.

"We've done that before to keep the Empire from finding Yavin," Ezra said. "It's effective, but costly."

"Until we can pinpoint where their base is, we need to remain on high alert," Lasky said. "Keep all long range scanners and communications open, we need to find any leads to this ship."


"Grand Admiral, I'm picking up a lot of chatter about an unknown vessel bigger than our Star Destroyers," a bridge officer reported, handing a data pad to Thrawn.

"Huh, fascinating," he said, looking over the data.

"So far, every ship that got close to it was destroyed, easily," the officer added.

"This is not Imperial design," Thrawn started. "I want to get a good look at this ship."

"But sir, we could be destroyed as well," the officer said.

"Oh I think not. We'll just look on it from a distance," Thrawn said. "I need to study this vessel and who it's crew is."

"Yes sir, I'll see what I can do," the officer said before retreating back to his station.

"Grand Admiral, are you sure about this?" Constantine asked.

"Admiral you of all people of the Empire should know better than to question your superiors," Thrawn said.


"Sir, another Slipspace rupture just on the other side of this system," a bridge officer reported. "Do we intercept?"

"Negative, track its next jump and follow it," Lasky ordered.

"Yes sir!"

The Infinity jumped to slipspace just when the Covenant assault carrier jumped. They were both heading the same direction. Coincidentally enough, that jump was taking them straight to the Covenant's base on an ice planet known as Hoth.

Ezra ran onto the bridge then, "Did we find them?"

Lasky turned around, "Yes, we are following their jump coordinates now. However, they managed to get to Slipspace before we did so we are behind them.

Ezra looked down, but then right back up. "Well this could get us closer to what we're looking for."

"Exactly what I thought," Lasky said with a grin.

"Sir, I'm picking up a transmission," the Comms officer reported. "It's a Covenant Elite!"

"Trace the transmission," Lasky ordered.

"I don't think I have to, sir," the officer stated. "He's telling us exactly where to go. I've checked the charts and their jump patterns and it seems authentic."

"What are the coordinates?" Lasky asked.

The officer's eyes grew wide in surprise, "We're already heading there, sir!"

"The Covenant has started placing some of their best Elites undercover to undermine hostile Covenant operations. I believe that's one of their contacts," Cortana said.

"Whoa what's that?" Ezra asked. He's never seen an AI like Cortana… or any AI at all.

"I'm Cortana. An AI for the UNSC. From what I understand I'm the second Cortana to the Master Chief," the AI said.

"What happened to the first one?" Ezra asked.

"She's gone. AIs normally don't last very long, though she was very unique," Lasky said. "It's a long and complicated story."

A second AI appeared next to Cortana.

"I double checked the coordinates, there's no Covenant ship except for that carrier. Sure enough there's also a base on the surface," the second AI said.

"Thanks Roland. What's our ETA?" Lasky asked.

"About 10 minutes," Roland said.

"That would be enough time for them to transfer Wren to their base. We can distract the carrier while we deploy the drop pods," Lasky said.

"Would I be in the drop pods?" Ezra asked.

"No, but you will be deployed with the normal Marines by pelican," Lasky replied.

"Pelican?"

"Those huge, green, winged ships you see flying in and out of our hangars. They double as gunships and troop carriers."

"Right," Ezra said.

"We'll send down Pelicans to clear an area. You can lead the clearing team, Ezra," Lasky said.

"Why me?" he asked.

"This is your friend we're rescuing, and you are a Commander."

Ezra reluctantly gave a small, but determined, nod.

"I've read your combat record, too. You are pretty good at breaking into things without blowing the doors to smithereens," Lasky said, almost laughing.

"That what you guys do?" Ezra asked.

"We usually place explosives on the doors, if we don't have an AI to open them, and you can guess the rest," Laskey said.

"Sounds like Sabine," Ezra said with a sad smile.

"6 minutes until we reach our destination. I estimate the Covenant have just exited slipspace and have begun prisoner transfer," Roland said.

"Give us a 10 second countdown from our arrival," Lasky ordered.

"Yes sir," Roland responded.


Sabine was being led down the hallways into a hangar bay, escorted by her friendly Elite, but also by a unit of hostile Elites. She was thrown into some sort of gunship by the look of it.

"Welcome aboard a Phantom," the friendly Elite said to Sabine. She didn't answer, or even nod.

The pilot flew the ship to the surface of the icy planet and straight to a structure which Sabine guessed was their temporary base. As soon as the ship "Landed", she was taken inside of the base and straight to a prison cell, similar to the one on the super carrier. Only this time, she was cuffed to the wall. All the Elites, except for her friend, left while they waited for their leader to arrive.

"I finished playing with the scrap metal. It's been sent away," the Elite said.

Sabine's eyes filled with tears a little bit, half grateful, half terrified. Nevertheless, she nodded at what he said.

"I'll delay the interrogation for as long as I can. After that, there's nothing I can do," he added quietly before walking away.

The door to the detention level was shut and Sabine started to let some tears fall. This could be the last time she could see anybody friendly.


"Grand Admiral, we have detected something in the Hoth system. Shall we set a course?" Constantine said.

Thrawn looked up from his studies, amused that Constantine actually did something right for once.

"Yes," he replied calmly. "If it's the Rebels, then we'll have to leave them alone. But if it's that strange ship, this will be interesting."

"Leave the rebels alone?" Constantine asked, completely surprised. "But Grand Admiral, we should crush them while we can!"

"Do not question me, Constantine. I have plans for these rebels," Thrawn replied, slightly annoyed. "Jump the fleet to the Hoth system at once, Admiral."

This admiral the Empire assigned to Thrawn's fleet reminded him too much of the old Konstantine; The same one whose arrogance cost him not only his life, but their chance at destroying the Rebellion.

"As you wish, Grand Admiral," Constantine said.

Not long afterwards, the 7th fleet was in hyperspace, course set for the Hoth system.


Sabine was being tortured, beyond belief. The pain was worse than anything the Empire could do. Another thing she didn't understand; was why they were treating this like capturing a spy.

"Tell us where in the universe we are, human!" the interrogator demanded. This guy was as big as the Elites, but hairier and reminded Sabine a little of the Wookies.

"I would if I could!" Sabine spat out, defiantly, just to get another jolt of electricity. They had injected her with something that tripled the pain. Even worse, whatever they injected into her, was also a major conductor of electricity. That was something the Empire didn't have.

"Why do you resist to help us?" the hairy behemoth asked.

Sabine took a breath to try to say something, but he didn't give her time to speak. Her screams filled the entire base, and even made the loyalists cringe. The undercover Elites had it worse though. This was something they've seen before and never wanted to hear again.

Suddenly, the warning sirens began blaring throughout the base, stopping the torture and everything else.

"Atriox, sir! Slipspace rupture on our port!"


"10… 9… 8… 7… 6…" Roland was counting down the Infinity's arrival to the Hoth system. "3… 2… 1! Exiting Slipspace!"

A slipspace rupture appeared just portside of the Covenant carrier. They barely had time to maneuver out of the way when the Infinity came barreling towards them. Their shields connected, and both ships were thrown off course, but that didn't matter to the UNSC.

"Strident-class heavy frigates are green for launch. All combat wings green for launch. Alpha and Beta wings, defend our Pelicans! All other combat wings, you know the drill!" Lasky ordered throughout the ship's intercoms.

"You ready, Commander?" a Marine asked Ezra.

He just stared blankly at the soldier. "As ready as you are."

"Well great, cause I'm not ready for this at all!" another soldier said.

Ezra shook his head. "These guys are not trying to act brave at all!" He thought to himself.

The Pelicans flew down to the surface, but Ezra looked back to the UNSC fleet and saw a massive firefight between the two massive ships. But he also saw ten smaller ships, which confused Ezra a little bit.

"Where'd those smaller ships come from?" he asked the Marines.

They grinned, "Just another thing the Infinity can do. That UNSC supercarrier can hold up to 10 Strident-class heavy frigates!"

"FRIGATES?" Ezra asked, amazed.

"That's what you get with a 5-kilometer-long starship," a Marine said.

"Super Star Destroyers are bigger than that but they don't carry normal Star Destroyers!" Ezra exclaimed.

"Because we thought of it first," the Marines said.

They seemed calm now, more like a soldier should be in a combat situation.

"Alright boys, we've got touchdown in 3… 2… 1… NOW!" the pilot said. The guns started firing for a few seconds, then the doors opened, letting Ezra and his clearance team out into the open.

Considering this was an icy planet, they were dressed for the occasion; Winter combat gear for everybody there.

Luckily for them and the Marines, there was only one Elite waiting for them, who charged them and took out only one Marine before Ezra jumped on its back and stabbed it with his lightsaber.

The rest of the Covenant troops in the landing zone were Grunts, so the Marines did their job and took them out, which was easy considering they just ran around in circles waving their hands above their heads.

"Why do they do that?" Ezra asked, annoyed.

"Because they've got nothing better to do!" a Marine sergeant answered.

"Infinity this is clearance team 1. We have a clearing for you. Still a bunch of Grunts, but we're holding them back!" a radioman called through his comms.

"Copy that, Deploying ODST and Spartan units. Standby!" an officer replied.

About a minute later, there were some orange dots above their heads. There was chatter on their comms then.

"Clearance team, take cover. Orbital contact in 3… 2… 1…!"

Just then, a bunch of pods hit the ground, hard enough to break Ezra's legs if he was in them. The doors shot open and the ODSTs jumped out of their pods and began firing on the Covenant Grunts.

"Spartan pods cleared reentry. Stand by!"

More pods hit the ground, a lot harder than the others, only something was different with these ones. The other drop pods had air brakes to slow their descent, but the ones that just landed didn't have them. Just when Ezra was about to ask, a bunch of airbrake remains peppered the ground around them. Those doors shot open then and a bunch of ODSTs came out… or at least, Ezra thought they were more ODSTs.

Some Elites appeared on the field and some of the bigger UNSC soldiers ran up to meet them.

"Is that was the ODSTs do?" Ezra asked.

"You mean the guys running towards the Elites? No way in hell, those are the Spartans!" a marine called back.

Ezra heard some more chatter through his comms.

"ODSTs, keep any reinforcements from reaching the building's entrance. Spartan teams, and Commander Bridger, you are cleared for breach," Laskey said over the comms.

Ezra followed a bunch of Spartans into the buildings while the ODSTs took care of the enemy troops outside.

"Cortana, do you know where our target is?" the Spartan Ezra knew as John-117 asked his AI.

There was a bit of silence before he pointed down a hallway. "This way!"

He ran down the hallway and after a few stops and turns, as well as firefights, the Chief stopped in front of a door.

"Form a perimeter," he ordered. "Bridger, can you get that door open?"

"I can try," Ezra said. He tried to cut through the door with his lightsaber, but a shield appeared just as he began cutting. The sudden appearance of the shield broke the lightsaber's blade, causing it to shut down for a while. "There's a shield, I can't cut through."

Some Covenant troops turned a corner and began firing on the UNSC troops.

"Ezra, there's a chip on the back of my helmet. Take it out and plug it into the terminal!" Chief ordered.

Ezra found the chip and pulled it out, but hesitated to plug it in.

"What is it?" he asked.

"No time, just plug it in!"

Ezra plugged the chip into the terminal and a blue AI appeared.

"Next time, kid, don't hesitate!" Cortana said.

"Sorry, I've never seen any of this before…" he replied.

"Can't blame you… shield is down, but I can't do more. Pull the chip and give it back to the Chief!" Cortana said.

Ezra did as he was told and after he returned the chip into the Chief's helmet, began cutting through the doors again. There was an Ezra size hole in the door and he pulled it out.

"Everybody DUCK!" he called out. The Spartan and the ODSTs all dropped to the ground as Ezra threw the piece of the door at the Covenant, killing most of the Grunts and an Elite instantly.

He jumped into the room and saw something he didn't expect to see: Sabine chained to a wall, seemingly unconscious.

"Sabine!" Ezra called, running up to her. He cut the restraints and she fell first to her knees, then would've fallen to the ground had Ezra not caught her.

"Sabine! Wake up!" Ezra said, tears welling up in his eyes.

Sabine began coughing, and opened her eyes.

"E-Ezra?" she asked.

"I'm here, Sabine. I'm going to get you out of here."

Sabine smiled weakly. She had obviously been through so much pain. Ezra helped her out of the room then, supporting her.

"Keep me covered," he called out to the Spartans.

"I'll go up ahead and clear out the halls!" Chief said, his voice steely calm. Some Covenant Elites turned a corner, but they didn't fire.

"Master Chief, over here!" one said.

"Thel 'Vadam?" Chief asked.

"It's been a while, Chief. There's an exit with minimal security just down here. Follow me," the Arbiter said.

"Ezra… I…" Sabine began, but Ezra interrupted her.

"Save your strength, Sabine. We're getting you out of here," he said.

"But…" Sabine tried to say, but she was losing consciousness.

"Sabine, stay with me!" Ezra said, lightly tapping her face.

They managed to get her back to the Pelican and medical officers immediately began treating her for anything the Covenant did.

Ezra held Sabine's hand the entire trip back to space. The battle up there was still going on, but a slipspace rupture appeared before the Covenant carrier, allowing it to get away.

"UNSC Infinity, this is the rescue team. Are we clear to dock?" the Pelican pilot asked.

"Affirmative, rescue team, however combat landing protocols are in effect," the flight commander said.

"Copy that," the pilot said.

Sabine tried to stay awake, but everything was getting dark for her. The Covenant drained her energy, and she couldn't stay awake. But Ezra kept her awake and so did the medics. They kept injecting her with something to keep her awake and Ezra just kept tapping her face.

"Come on Sabine…" he pleaded. "Stay awake."

"I… I can't… too tired…" she murmured.

"Sabine, don't stop fighting. We need you to stay awake, alright?" a medic said.

(If I had a dollar for every time I said 'awake' in this chapter)

"I'm… trying…" she replied, her voice fading.

"Hang on tight, people. This is going to be a rough landing," the pilot said through the intercom.

There were a lot of bumps and screeching as the Pelican slid through the hangar. The sudden jolts were enough to keep Sabine conscious for a good while. Eventually the Pelican stopped moving, and the doors opened. The medics immediately got Sabine to the medical bay, Ezra by her side the entire way.

About an hour of tests later, Sabine was finally able to rest. The doctor entered the room and Ezra stood up.

"Before you ask me anything, I already know," the doctor said, holding up his hand. "She hasn't suffered any major physical or psychological injuries. However, the Covenant used a formula to increase the sensitivity to the pain receptors on her nerves, so she felt pain three times worse than normal. The effects have worn off pretty quick. She'll be sore for a bit, but she'll be just fine. Right now she just needs rest."

Ezra stood in silence for a few moments. "Can I stay here? Until she wakes up?"

"Of course. The captain has granted you permission to stay as long as you see fit," the doctor said. "And medically speaking, I see no reason why you can't."

"Thanks doc," Ezra said, shaking his hand.


"Sir, we've picked up another ship that just entered the system," the Ensign said.

"Let's see it," Lasky said.

Roland pulled up an image of a starship, a few kilometers off their starboard side.

"Captain," the AI, Roland, started. "I'm picking up multiple ships entering the system. If I had to guess, I'd say it's an Imperial fleet."

"Alert all stations. It seems we can't run from this any longer. Keep weapons hot, but do not fire unless I say otherwise," Lasky said. "Keep the Slipspace Drive spinning. I want it ready if we need a quick escape."

"Yes sir," Roland said.

"The lead ship is attempting to contact us," the comms officer said.

"Open a channel. Visual and audio," Lasky ordered.

"Right away sir."


A blue image of an unknown person appeared on Thrawn's holotable.

"This is Captain Thomas Lasky. To whom am I speaking?" the man asked.

"I am Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Imperial Navy. I have been sent to investigate many matters that seem to be caused by you," Thrawn replied.

"I believe you are mistaken. My people and I are not from this galaxy and are trying to find a way home. And if I may ask, what are these matters you speak of?" Lasky asked.

"Many ships have been attacked and destroyed by a large ship. I see your ship is… impressively large," Thrawn said.

"Indeed she is, but I assure you, my crew and I haven't done any such acts against any ship… except for the one you might really be looking for," Lasky said.

"I am aware that your ship is not connected to these attacks, now. I have seen images of the vessel I seek. I believe you have information that we could use against it?" Thrawn said.

"I'm sorry, but from where I come from that information is classified. I strongly urge you to not engage that spacecraft however. Let us deal with it," Lasky said.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you and another unknown vessel wreak havoc across my galaxy without our say," Thrawn replied, his voice cold as ice.

"Believe me when I tell you, and I say this by firsthand experience," Lasky began. "Your ships could take out this one, but you would need a bigger fleet than that. As for your ground forces, you can't beat them any easier."

"And what makes you so sure?" Thrawn asked.

"My own men can barely take them down," Lasky said.

"Maybe that's because you seem to use a lot of ballistic weaponry and they energy weapons," Thrawn said.

"You've never seen what the Covenant can do," Lasky warned.

"Is that what they're called? And who exactly would you be?" Thrawn asked. He was really starting to get on Lasky's nerves.

"Captain Thomas Lasky of the UNSC starship Infinity."

"U-N-S-C," Thrawn repeated.

"United Nations Space Command," Lasky said.

"Fascinating, truly. But I must warn you now, Captain, that you are not permitted to continue your conflict with this Covenant in this galaxy without our part in it," Thrawn said.

"I understand, Grand Admiral," Laskey said.

"Sir, I have the bioscans for the crew and there's two people on board you are familiar with," and officer whispered into Thrawn's ear.

"I appreciate your report. I shall ask them," he said.

The officer saluted the Grand Admiral and returned to his post.

"I've just been notified you have two wanted criminals of the Empire aboard your ship. Ezra Bridger and Sabine Wren," Thrawn said.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about," Lasky said, but not very convincingly.

"I order you to surrender them to the Empire, immediately."

"I'm sorry, Admiral, but my people and I have promised not to be involved in your conflict in any way. That means, as long as they or any of your people are on board my ship, they are under my protection," Lasky said.

"I'm warning you not to make an enemy of the Empire," Thrawn growled.

"We are neutral in your conflict. I don't wish to make enemies of anybody here. We're taking all the help we can get whether it's from the Empire, or the Rebellion. You must understand that," Lasky explained.

Thrawn took a moment to think, but finally agreed. "Alright, but under no means must you use that as an excuse to transport them anywhere of Imperial value."

"We wouldn't dream of it. Now, if you'll please excuse us, we should be leaving now," Lasky said.

"Until we meet again, Captain," Thrawn said.

Lasky nodded and the channel was closed.

"Should we track them, Grand Admiral?" an officer asked.

"No, we should uphold our temporary truce. Set a course for Coruscant; I wish to speak to the Emperor about his personally."

"Yes sir."


Lasky watched the Imperial fleet jump to hyperspace and he turned to his AI.

"Are they tracking us?"

"Negative sir, no foreign objects detected anywhere. They seem to trust us for now," Roland said.

"Yeah, for now." Lasky was quiet for a few moments. "We should contact Command and see what ships they can send to us. We'll need all the help we can get."

"Sir, once they arrive they'll be just as stranded as we are," Roland said.

"I understand, but if these Imperials turn hostile towards us, we won't last very long against a battle fleet. Besides, if we managed to find a way in, then we can also find a way out."

"Understood, Captain. I'll establish communications immediately."


I hope this chapter was alright, considering this was one of the 5 prewritten chapters of this story. Feel free to give me your thoughts and what I could do better with in the story.