Happy New Years everybody! I hope all of y'all are safe, along with your families, and enjoyed your holiday season. Damn, 2020 was such a horrible year. It was just infection and unrest through and through, and we all lost so much. Many lost loved one and all of us lost time. Just so many hardships...
Also, I know that this chapter came up a bit late… I apologize. I was applying to a new college, so I was a bit distracted. On the day/night this comes up, my new semester starts in 2 day.
But anyway, that was last year. Let's go through 2021 with some positivity, shall we? And once again, thank you for all who have been reading my story. Now then… let's get this started.
It has been a couple of weeks since the Rebellion broke the Ibaar Blockade. During that time, Phoenix Squadron has been laying low on Garel.
While in his room on the Ghost, Jaden was reading over his father's journal. He then started to write a passage about Ibaar and their victory. Jaden was lamenting over his time in Phoenix Squadron so far. Even though he partially botched the mission to Nar Shaddaa, the mission yielded so much for them. In addition to helping people in need, they now have a set of hyperspace routes they can use to move around the Empire, courtesy of Jast Karr.
While Jaden was getting his thoughts down, Sabine and Ezra came in. Looking up, Jaden smiles when he sees his friends. He noticed that Ezra had a repainted Imperial helmet on as well.
"Hey guys. What's up."
"We are heading out. Hera has a mission for us." Sabine told her friend. This perked Jaden's interest. It had been a good while since Phoenix Squadron was in action.
"Can I come?" he asks.
"More the merrier." Ezra told him. Jaden then got up and followed the two of them off the Ghost and towards Hera, who was talking to two other Rebels herself.
"Vaux, you're picking up our fighter parts in the market." She told one of them. "The crates are labeled "Ronto Meat" and watch out for Imperial troops. They've increased patrols. Good luck."
The one named Vaux nodded, and he and the other rebel went off to collect the parts.
"You said you had another mission. What do you want me to do?" Ezra asked her.
"Actually, this one's for them." Hera gestured to Sabine and Jaden.
Ezra has a disappointed look on his face. Chopper then deliberately bumped into him and said something snide to him in binary.
While this was happening, Hera was debriefing the two. "There's a courier coming in who has secret information. I need you both to pick him up and transport him to Havok Outpost."
Jaden raised an eyebrow. "Havok Outpost?"
"Don't worry, I know where it is." the blue haired Mandalorian told him. She then turned to Hera. "Sounds easy enough."
"If it was easy, I'd send someone else. This information is important. We have to get it through. Keep a low profile." Hera tells them.
"Don't worry. You can trust us." Sabine assures her.
"We got it." Jaden responds. "But what does the courier look like?"
"I don't know, but they'll respond to this code phrase." Hera then sent the code via her tablet to Sabine's comlink.
"Got it, Sabine confirmed as she put her helmet on.
With that, Sabine and Jaden headed off to meet their contact. In Jaden's head, he was thinking that this was simple enough. He was able to keep a low profile on Nar Shaddaa, well… until the end of the mission. But this is simple, just escort a person from one place to another.
As they were walking, they heard footsteps behind them. It was Ezra, he and Chopper were tagging along as backup.
Ezra was trying to start up a conversation with Sabine. "So, you're the leader on this. Always figured you for a loner."
Jaden did not say anything, but this was causing him to think. Personally, he never considered Sabine that much of a loner. Yeah, most of the time he has on the Ghost, Sabine usually works on her own stuff, mostly her art, which Jaden appreciates.
"Not always. You sure make it seem that way." The Mandalorian told him.
This causes Jaden's brain to fire again. He and Sabine have had interesting discussions since he first arrived. They were not frequently but still interesting. It mostly had to do with the artwork in the Sha journal: sketches of skies of different planets… along those lines. Other than that, Jaden usually left Sabine to her own devices. Personally, Jaden is a little bit more preoccupied on other subjects. Like when Ahsoka is going to call him for another mission.
"You spend a lot of time in your room, alone." Ezra continued as they walked, "And, uh, you actually tend to eat alone. Sometimes. And combat practice alone. And go off probably to be alone. And, uh, I don't know. I guess sometimes, you know, I'll find you alone...""
"Ezra… you're rambling." Jaden told him. "Stop rambling." This caused Ezra to stop talking almost immediately.
Jaden then noticed that Sabine stopped walking with them and was looking at a wall, with her helmet off. He then went over to her and saw what she was looking at, it was a section of the wall that was tagged with an orange symbol.
"What's that?" Jaden asked her.
"It's nothing." Sabine said, putting her helmet back one. With that, the rebels continued to walk to the shuttle bay.
A couple of minutes later…
Upon reaching the shuttle bay, the search for the courier had to begin. The three rebels watch the passengers exit a transport that has just landed.
"So how do we find this courier?" Ezra asked.
Sabine turned to him, "The code phrase is, "It's a long way to Alderaan.""
Upon hearing this, they saw a Rodian about to walk past them. This caught Ezra's interest. "I think it's this guy." He then starts to approach him. "Hey. It's a long way to Alderaan."
"Okay." The Rodian responded with a weird/annoyed expression on his face.
'This is gonna take forever.' Jaden thought to himself.
25 minutes later...
They have been saying "It's a long way to Alderaan", for nearly half an hour, and still no sign of the courier. At this point Jaden was having enough.
"Guys, we can't do this for every person who comes this way. We need to try something else." he says.
Ezra getting tired, sat on a couple of supply crates that were stacked on top of each other. "It's gonna be a long way back to the Ghost if we miss the courier."
"We couldn't have." Sabine told the two. "Hera had confirmation he boarded the shuttle. Are you sure you were saying the code phrase, right?"
"Yes, yes. It's a long way to Alderaan." Ezra told her.
Jaden gave her an 'Are you serious' face. "Sabine… It's not a hard phrase to rememb…" He was then interrupted by Ezra wobbling on the crate he was sitting on.
"What's the matter with this thing?" The blue haired padawan says wobbly. It took a bit but Jaden knew what model droid that was.
"You're sitting on a gonk droid." Ezra then hops off the droid.
"Wait a minute," Sabine says, putting it together. "That is the courier." She and Jaden went to inspect the droid. "He came in with the cargo payload."
Looking at the droid, Jaden spotted gonk's designation. "He's name is EG-86."
"Nice to meet you, EG." Ezra greeted, causing the droid to grunt in response.
Jaden understood what the droid was saying. "Yes, we are your contacts." He says, patting EG on his sides.
"I don't get why they'd hide such important information in this binary box brain." Ezra asked, confused.
"Well, would you suspect that thing of being a spy full of secrets?" Sabine explains.
"I guess not." Ezra told her, getting the point.
"That's too bad..." a modulated voice broke the conversation. An unknown figure jumped down from the landed shuttle in the bay. She was wearing a respirator flight mask that was a similar color to Sabine's armor. "Because I would."
"Ketsu Onyo." Sabine spoke and moved a little closer to her. "I saw your mark, old friend."
"Friend? That's a generous term considering what happened." Ketsu replied as she and Sabine began circling each other. While this was happening, Ezra and Jaden were stationary, with the former looking at Mandalorian and the latter watching the hostile.
"You two know each other?" Ezra asked.
Sabine ignored him and continued to talk to Onyo. "Still a bounty hunter, I see."
"Tell me you don't miss it." Onyo responded.
This caught Ezra by surprise. "Wait, you were a bounty hunter? That explains a lot."
"I don't think Ketsu's here for a reunion." Sabine told her rebel friends.
"You know me well," Onto says cocky. "I'm just here for the droid." This caused Chopper to beep in confusion.
"Not you, Chop. Him." Ezra reassured him, pointing to EG. "So, Sabine, how do you know her?"
"She never told you how we broke out of the Imperial Academy?"
As Onyo began to explain. While the two were circling each other, Jaden got a good look at her helmet, and he was shocked by what he saw. On the back of her helmet, there was a symbol. It was a symbol that he hoped he would NEVER see again. It made his blood boil just looking at it.
"That was a long time ago." Sabine told her. "Before you got greedy and left me for dead."
Jaden's eyes quickly darted from Sabine, back to Onyo, who was laughing at her old friend.
"You'd have been better off dead than joining this band of rebels." She continued. "I didn't believe it until I saw the Empire put a bounty on you."
"You gonna try to collect on it?" The Mandalorian retorted.
"Haven't decided yet." Onyo told her. "Besides, I work for the Black Sun now, and I have another job to finish first."
That name… BLACK SUN. Jaden felt his heart beating faster. He dreaded that name, He hated that name.
"I can't let you do that." Sabine told her.
Seeing Onyo reaching for her blaster, Jaden decided he had enough. He pulled out his blaster and put it at the side of her head, much to Ezra and Sabine surprise.
"DON'T TRY IT, BLACK SUN." Jaden said quietly, gritting his teeth.
"Whoa." Ezra exclaimed.
"Something tells me, even this close, you are going to miss." Onyo said, inviting the challenge.
"Don't worry," Jaden told her in a similar tone, "I won't."
"What are you doing." Sabine asked in complete shock. She has never seen this kind of behavior from Jaden before.
"Hey."
A voice caught the attention of everybody present. It was a squad of Stormtroopers, who noticed the situation going on here.
"What's going on here?" The commander asked.
"DON'T INTERRUPT US!" Onyo yelled, pulling out her blasters and fired at the troopers.
This initiated an all-out fire fight in the hanger. Ezra and Chopper hid behind one set of crates with EG, Sabine and Jaden hid behind a second set of crates, while Onyo hid behind a medium size cargo container. Sabine pulled out her duel pistols and shot two troopers, one in the shoulder, and one square in the head.
"Nice shot. Haven't lost your touch." Onyo complimented, as she shot another trooper in the center of his chest.
"Good thing you haven't either." Sabine told her.
She then turned her attention to Jaden. She noticed that he had a semi-angry expression on his face. Jaden went up from the crates, shot one of the troopers in the head and dropped back into cover. The two rebels turned to Ezra and Chopper trying to get EG onto the shuttle. Sabine and Jaden then moved to Ezra's side, getting closer to the shuttle. EG manages to get into the ship.
"Guys, go." Ezra yelled to them, providing them cover fire with his saber-blaster.
Seeing their chance, the two moved to the shuttle's ramp. Sabine went up first and entered the ship. Jaden was providing her cover fire, before eyeing Onyo, who was still shooting back against the stormtroopers. Jaden then proceeded inside the shuttle; there the pilot droid was arguing with Sabine.
"Chopper, shut him down and take over." she told the astromech.
"That is unacceptable." the droid complained. "This is my ship, and I will not take "no" for an..." He was then powered down.
Jaden moves to one of the shuttle's windows, one again surveying the situation in the hanger. The troopers were turning their attention to the transport, with intent to shoot it down. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ezra on the shuttle's ramp shooting back.
Sabine sat in the shuttle's pilot-seat and activated the engines.
"Bet you're glad you brought back up." Ezra told her.
"Yeah, it's working out great." Sabine responded before looking at Jaden, "Exactly as planned. Now, hang on."
While lifting off from the hanger, Ezra fell out of the doorway and onto the roof of the hanger. Jaden witnessed this.
"Sabine!" he told her. "We dropped Ezra."
"See where he landed?"
Jaden, running to the open door looked. He saw Ezra on the roof of the hangers rim. Luckily the Imperials weren't looking for him.
"Roof of the hanger, they can't see him."
"He'll be fine." She tells him as she closes the door. She then headed out of Garel's atmosphere. While she was piloting the ship, she turned back to Jaden.
"What was that down there?" She asked him.
"What was what?" Jaden asked.
"Oh I don't know… Maybe why you were trying to shoot Ketsu point blank in the head."
Jaden then started to get defensive. "You mind telling me why you are friends with Black Sun trash?"
"We WERE friends." Sabine tried to defend herself. She found it kind of jarring that Jaden was acting like this. "You do know that you nearly compromised the mission, right?"
Jaden rolled his eyes. "Oh, like you were going to defuse the situation any better?"
Chopper decided to interject in the argument.
"I'm sure Ezra's fine. Now, program the hyperdrive." Sabine responded to him. "We need to get to those rendezvous coordinates. We got lucky to get away so easily."
Chopper plugged into the shuttle's computer, but then alarms started to sound.
"We have a ship following us." Jaden says checking the computer.
"Oh no."
It was Onyo, in her ship: The Shadow Caster. She locked onto the shuttle and shot out it's hyperdrive.
"Yep, that's Ketsu, all right." Sabine told Jaden, "She knocked out our hyperdrive, which means I bet I know her next move. Get in a seat Jaden."
She turned to the droids. "Lock yourselves down."
As if on cue, Onyo shot the shuttle again. This time, the door was blasted out, revealing the vacuum of space to the occupants inside. The suction nearly yanked Jaden out of his seat. But he propped his feet to the base of the chair, which was bolted to the floor and secured his back to the ship's console. This was preventing him from being sucked out.
EG was about to get sucked into space, but was caught on his side, getting stuck in the door. Chopper was directly sucked outside.
"Chopper!"
Sabine, with her back against the left side of the ship's interior was about to get sucked out, but Jaden caught her with the Force before she got ejected outside. As this was happening, EG was beeping and grunting like crazy.
"Jaden!" Sabine says, struggling against the vacuum. "I gotta seal the hatch. The control panel..."
Jaden saw what she was talking about. The control panel on the far left, near the door frame with a red button. He did not have a good view on it, but she did. While Jaden was still using the Force to keep her steady, Sabine stretched over EG to the button.
While she was halfway there, a supply crate came barreling down the ship, straight to the exit. Seeing this was about to hit her, Jaden stretched out his left hand and stopped the crate, while keeping Sabine secure with his right.
Fortunately, Sabine managed to reach far enough to hit the button, putting up the security shield and stopping the vacuum. Everybody dropped to the floor now that the vacuum stopped. Jaden picked himself up as Sabine helped EG back on his feet.
"Next time I steal a ship, it'll be one with guns." Sabine says, taking off her helmet.
"Damn Black Sun…" Jaden says under his breath.
Looking out the front window, they both can see the Shadow Caster directly in front of them. A beeping sound soon followed. It was the shuttle's holoprojector, Onyo was trying to contact them.
After looking at each other, Sabine put the call through. The hologram of Onyo appeared in front of them.
"No hard feelings, Sabine." She told her, "It's not personal, just business. And speaking of business, here is the deal... Toss out the power droid, and I'll let you and your friend live."
"And if I refuse?" The Mandalorian asked her.
"I'll blow up the shuttle and scoop my bounty from the debris." Onyo responded without an inch of mercy. While this conversation was taking place, Sabine and Jaden saw Chopper. He flew through space with his thruster, and he was on the Shadow Caster's hull.
"I don't believe it." Sabine says in shock.
"You better believe it." Onyo responded. "I'll do whatever it takes to complete my mission."
"No I..." Sabine then started to buy Chopper time. He was disabling the ship's turret. "...I don't believe you can do it."
"Maybe that's true, but I've changed more than you realize." Onyo said back. "I have new loyalties now."
"Right. finally part of Black Sun."
"Just like WE always dreamed." Onyo expressed. "I got the best weapons, best ship, and I'm feared across the galaxy."
Sabine just rolled her eyes. "Ugh. I can't believe I wanted that."
"The Black Sun are slavers and assassins. All they care about is money, people are disposable to them." Jaden told her.
"What do you know about Black Sun?" Onyo says rudley.
"I know that they take way things that mean the most to people." Jaden snapped back, this perked Sabine's interest.
"They'd kill you too, for a profit." Sabine told her.
"Speaking of which, your time is up." Onyo told them. "Now hand over the droid."
As she was saying this, apparently Chopper finished his work on the turret.
"You can't do it." Sabine goaded her.
"I really wish it hadn't come to this, old friend." Onyo attempted to fire, but nothing happened. Jaden and Sabine witnessed this. Seeing their opportunity, they man the controls.
"That's my weapons array!" Onyo complained to Chopper over comms. "What have you done?"
"So long, old friend." Sabine says, piloting the shuttle over the Shadow Caster. Chopper was rocketing after the ship.
"EG, head to the cargo bay." Jaden told the droid. "I'm letting Chopper in."
EG complied and went into the cargo bay. When Chopper was close enough to shuttle. Jaden activated the bay doors. "Get him inside." He told EG via the intercom.
Chopper, seeing that the doors were open, was making his way. But before he made it in, he was somewhat suspended in the vacuum of space. The cause of this was Onyo. She activated the Shadow Caster's tracker beam and was proceeding to reel the droid in.
Witnessing this, EG went back up to the front of the shuttle to warn the two Rebels. Jaden turned around to face the gonk droid.
"Where's Chopper."
EG frantically grunted, causing Jaden to go wide eyed.
"Oh… you have got to be kidding me." He says under his breath. Jaden then turned to Sabine. "She's got Chopper."
Sabine then keyed up the comms system on the shuttle. She was contacting the Shadow Caster. "All right, Ketsu." She told the bounty hunter. "Let's make a trade."
"I'll extend the docking ramp and get your little friend ready." Onyo responded back. The ships were moving into position for docking.
Jaden was not on board for this plan. "Sabine," he says, getting her attention. "Don't give her one inch."
"Jaden…" Sabine says, making sure to get his attention. "I need you to stay back… and let me handle this."
Jaden was not changing his stance on the matter. "You know I can't…"
"Jaden, you need to trust me."
A bit angry, Jaden turned away and looked out into space. This entire situation was extremely frustrating to him. At the same time, he knew that this whole situation was delaying their mission and Chopper was a part of the team, so he had to make a compromise.
"What is your history with Black Sun?" Sabine asked him.
Jaden looked at Sabine, deep into her brown eyes. "If we live, I will tell you." He told her back.
Finding the answer good enough for the time being, Sabine went out to confront her old friend. As she moved to the airlock, she turned back to the young Jedi. "Just stay here, I'll deal with her."
Opening the airlock, Sabine went forward into the hallway. On the opposite end of the hallway was Onyo, with Chopper behind her.
"Well, well." the bounty hunter called out. "While I've changed, it seems you haven't changed at all." They both meet in the middle of the hallway. Onyo saw Jaden was at the far end of the hallway with EG cowering behind him. It only took her a second to figure out the situation.
"You're not giving up the courier, are you?"
"Nope. You're gonna have to take him."
Upon hearing this, Jaden was getting ready to pull out his blaster. He was not planning on busting out the sabers, but if it came to it… he will. But he was trusting that Sabine was going to handle the situation.
"And this astromech..." Onyo gestured to Chopper. "Not very smart, sticking your neck out for it."
"Chopper's more than a droid." Sabine told her. "He's a rebel and a friend."
"Oh, Sabine." Onyo said a bit disappointed in her. She then took off her helmet and Jaden got a good look at her face. Her head was mostly shaved, she had light tan skin, like Sabine's and she had purple eyes.
"We were once friends." Onyo then put her hand on Sabine's shoulder. "Tell you what. Give me the power droid, and I'll share my cut with you. Like the old days." She then pointed to Jaden, "Even your friend back there will get something. What's his story anyway?"
"Don't worry about him." Sabine snapped back. "And I don't do things just for money anymore."
"That's right. Now there's "the cause."" Onyo said sarcastically, "You really think your little rebel group can overthrow the Empire? Grow up, little sister. You can't be that foolish."
"Once we were like sisters. But... We only cared about ourselves."
"It's called survival." Onyo told the Mandalorian, "You, of all people, should know you can't trust anyone."
Sabine looked at her. "I forgive you."
"For what?"
"For leaving me for dead. And I still trust you."
"And you're wrong" Onyo blatantly told her.
"I met people who gave me a second chance in life," Sabine told her, "and that's what I'm giving you."
Jaden was witnessing this entire conversation. He wasn't sure what to think of this, but he knew that this situation was much better than if he was handling the "negotiations". He looked at EG and put a reassuring hand on the nervous droid. Then, without warning, the shuttles comm system started to sound, and a voice came over it.
"Imperial cruiser to Garel shuttle 63725. Your craft has been identified as stolen. Prepare to be boarded."
Jaden ran to the front of the shuttle and saw the source of the transmission. It was an Imperial light assault cruiser, and it was directly in front of the shuttle.
"Sabine! We got a problem!" Jaden called her.
Sabine and Onyo ran into the shuttle and looked at the cruiser in front of them.
"Hold position for docking", An Imperial Officer spoke on comms, "Attempt to flee, and you will be fired upon."
The three rebels inside were trying to come up with a plan.
"Thanks to your little rust bucket, I've got no firepower." Onyo told the other two. "And as long as we're docked to this shuttle, we can't use the Shadow Caster's hyperdrive to escape."
Sabine looked at Jaden, and then looked at Chopper. "Chop, overload the hyperdrive on the shuttle."
Chopper then plugged into the shuttle computer terminal.
"What are you doing?" Onyo asked.
"Buying us time" Sabine told her, pressing the comms button. "Attention, Imperial vessel. Please be aware, our ships have suffered extensive damage... And are in danger of self-destruction."
After a few seconds, an officer on the cruiser responded. "Shuttle craft, you have two minutes to stabilize. Then we will be coming aboard."
"What can you do in two minutes?" Onyo asked.
"Watch" Sabine says with a smile. "Chopper, purge the reactor, then get over to the Shadow Caster and prepare to disengage the docking tube on my signal."
Chopper beeped in response, getting the reactor ready.
"You're going to blow up the shuttle?" Onyo questioned.
"The chaos would give us a window for use to escape." Jaden says, understanding her plan.
Onyo smiled. "I should have known. You always liked to make things go boom."
"Something I learned from you." Sabine said. "Still got the armory of explosives you used to carry?"
"On my ship."
Sabine's eyes lit up. She then turned to Jaden. "Oh...you're gonna love this." She told him.
With that, the three rebels ran into the Shadow Caster. In the ship's cargo bay, Onyo removed the cover off of a crate. Getting a good look inside, Jaden saw multiple explosive charges, four rows with eight in each row. This caused Jaden to go wide eyes and produce a smile.
"Only friends I've ever needed." Onyo told them.
"Until today." Sabine says, taking four charges from Onyo. "I'll plant them on the shuttle to give the reactor an extra kick."
"That's the Sabine I remember."
"Now you get sentimental. Just get the Shadow Caster ready to fly." Sabine then turned to Jaden. "Jaden, give me a hand?" She then ran back to the shuttle.
Jaden turned to Onyo. "She's a master at destroying things." He tells the bounty hunter.
"She always ways." Onyo told him, giving him four more charges.
Entering the cockpit, Jaden see's Sabine putting the charges on the terminal on the side of the shuttle. Chopper and EG were already making their way onto the Shadow Caster.
"Place them on the main controls." Sabine told Jaden.
Nodding, Jaden planted the charges on the main control consoles. Looking at the ship's power levels; Jaden could see the power spikes. The shuttle is going to blow any minute now.
"Imperial cruiser to shuttle. We are reading a power surge on your vessel. Your reactor core is unstable. Contain the problem immediately."
Jaden took the comms systems. "It is looking pretty bad over here. You might need to give us some distance until we could fix this."
"Whichever one of you thieves is in charge, identify yourself." the Imperial officer demanded.
"Ugh…" Jaden then looks at Sabine, who was getting the pilot droid back on. Seeing where she was leading, Jaden came up with his response. "You should probably talk to our captain."
Sabine managed to get the droid back up. "Hey, Captain. Wake up!"
"Not take no for an answer!" The droid was trying to continue his earlier argument with Sabine.
"Hey!" Jaden called out, catching the droid's attention. "Your ship is under attack."
"You need to exercise emergency protocol." Sabine told him.
"Under attack?" The droid asked, shocked.
"Yes," Jaden told him while pointing to the Imperial ship. "See that Imperial cruiser out there? It's getting ready to destroy your shuttle for being stolen."
"Destroy my ship?"
"Time to go." Sabine tells Jaden.
As they were making their way to through the docking tube, the Imperial cruiser was firing at the shuttle. This caused Jaden and Sabine to be thrown back hitting the wall. Jaden, a bit dazed, managed to regain his senses and saw Sabine slumped beside him. Wasting no time, he helped Sabine up, and walked her through the docking tube to the Shadow Castor, where Onyo was waiting for them.
Walking into the ship, Jaden looked at Chopper. "Chop, seal the doors."
Chopper, tuned into the controls, sealed the doors, just as the shuttle was caught in the Imperial crusier's tractor beam. With the doors safely shut, the Shadow Caster pulled away. But they didn't get far as Onyo's ship was caught in a tractor beam as well.
"It's too late. They've got us." Onyo told them.
"Not for long." Sabine told her. As if on cue, there was a heavy rumble felt throughout the ship and the pull of the tractor beam stopped. The shuttle explosion had just disable the Imperial cruiser. Taking the chance, Onyo ran into the cockpit and pulled the ship into hyperspace, leaving behind them.
"We're clear," Onyo called back into the cargo hold.
Jaden looked at Sabine with a smile. "Nice work."
"Same to you." She told him back. She then looked to Chopper. "The Havok coordinates are programmed in?"
Chopper beeped in acknowledgement. Sabine went up to the cockpit to tell Onyo to continue following the coordinates.
EG grunted in relief, given the situation they were just in. Jaden walked up to the gonk droid and patted him on the head.
"Don't worry buddy, we'll get you on your way." This caused EG to happily bounce up and down, causing Jaden to smile.
Sabine then returned back to the cargo hold. "So… Do you mind explaining to me why you were so hostile to Ketsu?"
This caused Jaden to lose his smile. He remembered that he would tell his story if they survived the mission.
"You really want to know this…?" He asks her.
"Yes, I do."
"You want to know this now…?"
"Jaden… Yes."
Seeing the tense situation, Chopper and EG deliberately shut themselves down to allow the two to talk in private. Jaden took a deep breath and looked at the floor. After a good minute, he looked at the blue haired Mandalorian before him.
"Ok, I'll tell you."
(Flashback: 11 years ago- 15 BBY)
The evening sun was setting on the plains of Ryloth. On the far side of the Jixuan desert, layed a Twi'lek village. This village was bustling, men and women were going about their business.
Within this village, an 8-year-old Jaden Sha was in the Blurrg pens. He was currently feeding his Blurrg, Tindi. While she was eating a Mayloorun, Jaden was rubbing her forehead.
"You being a good girl, huh?" the child asked his pet.
Tindi responded by moving close to him and licking his face, causing Jaden to laugh. During all of this, a young orange Twi'lek girl, Tarra, came in. She produced a happy smile seeing her human friend.
"She doing Ok?" Tara asked him.
"Yep, isn't that right girl?" Jaden asked her, causing Tindi to lick him again. "Yes, you are!" Jaden says laughing again.
Smiling, Tara took Jaden by the hand and pulled Jaden outside into the village. Most likely, she was taking him to play with the other Twi'lek children in the village.
As they were making their way to meet their friends, they heard a rumbling in the sky. Looking up they saw a ship pass overhead. It was a massive freighter passing overhead. Jaden got a good look at it. It was a primarily black freighter with gold paint. It was landing not too far away from the village.
The two children shared a curious look. It is a rarity to have ships land at their village. Deciding to check it out, Jaden and Tarra made their way to the landing site.
After a short walk on the plain, they climbed up on a small cliff overlooking a clearing, where they got a better look at the ship. On the front face of the freighter, there was a symbol. It was a circle within a spiked circle, with a long thin triangle on top.
As they moved closer, a ramp inside the ship lowered… revealing a good-sized group of people. The person in front was a green skinned Falleen, while the rest of the group were all wearing bronze and grey masks with green eyes. Some of their masks had the same symbol that was on the ship.
Seeing these children out there all on their own, a male Twi'lek made his way to where they were standing.
"What are you two doing out here?" He asked as he bent down to their level.
"Watching the ship." Jaden responded, as he was pointing at the ship.
Seeing this, the Twi'lek put his hands on the children's shoulders. 'Stay here,' he tells them, 'This might be trouble.'
Jaden and Tarra nodded as the elder Twi'lek worked his way down the hill to greet the visitors. Seeing somebody approaching their group, the Falleen focused all his attention on him, while the rest of his group was subtly reaching for their weapons.
The Twi'lek made his way to the Falleen. "Hello… what's your business..."
Mid-Sentence, the Falleen pulled out a blaster pistol and shot the Twi'lek in the head, killing him instantly. This caused Jaden to go wide-eyes and Tarra to scream in fear. The scream got the attention of the Falleen, who looked up not too far and saw the scared children. He then raised his hand and pointed at them, causing the group to charge after them.
Filled with fear, Jaden and Tarra ran back to the village with all they had. The group behind them was carrying blasters and were shooting at their legs. The shots were heard by villagers, who saw the children and their pursuers. This caused many of the villagers to run to intercept the attackers. Jaden and Tarra were caught in the crowd and separated by
"ROUND UP THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN! KILL THE REST!" The Falleen yelled. With that, the masked men started to enter tents and shoot the villagers inside. Many were coming out while holding struggling women. They were all being rounded up in the center of the village.
Jaden, getting back up, looked around. He had lost sight of Tarra. He looked over and saw one of the masked men running towards him, only to get intercepted and tackled by a Twi'lek villager. Taking this chance, Jaden ran towards his tent, with tears in his eyes. Looking through the entrance of the tent, he is horrified by what he sees. The people who cared for him, his friends, they were all being rounded up or beaten down by these invaders. Screams of fear and blaster were filling the air. Jaden's eyes went even wider when he saw Tarra, who was being pulled by her lekku by a masked man to the village center.
"Jaden?" a calm voice called out, causing the young boy to turn around.
Sitting on one of the beds was a bald headed, dark skinned and bearded man. It was his father… Rollin Sha. He was looking at his child, who looked like was going to burst into tears. Rollin opened up his arms, and Jaden ran to him, getting wrapped in a hug. Rollin put his right hand on the back of his son's head to calm his son down, which was working.
"Dad…" Jaden says with his voice cracking, "They are taking them…"
Rollin put his hands on his son's shoulders. He looked to the entrance of the tent, hearing the screams of terror. Knowing what he had to do, he looked into the eyes of his son.
"Jaden. I need you to stay here. I will take care of them."
This caused his son to get upset and saddened. "No Dad! They will kill you."
Rollin lightly tightened his grip on Jaden's shoulders. "They would. Just promise me… No matter what you hear, you will stay put. OK?" he asked him seriously.
All his son could do was nod as his father got up. Rollin struggled a bit when he stood up, lightly holding the left side of his waist. He was draped in a dark brown/black cloak and blanket. Once he was up, he pulled up his hood and walked out of the tent and viewed the chaos that was occurring outside.
Looking on the ground, he saw a couple of dead bodies. Lamenting over the fallen Twi'leks, Rollin made his way to the massive congregation of hostels and captives in the center of the village,
Unbeknownst to Rollin, Jaden was watching his every move. He was peeking his eyes from the entrance of the tent, terrified for his father.
Meanwhile, with most of the women and children rounded up and the men brutally beaten or shot, the Falleen was preparing to move them to the ship. When rounded buy was crying loudly and trying to fight back, but the armed men circled them in.
"SHUT UP!" He yells, causing the group to quiet.
"Sir?' one of the men got his attention, causing the Falleen's attention to be diverted.
Looking behind him, he sees a shrouded Rollin approaching him. Not wasting anytime, the Falleen's armed men all left their position and circled the cloaked man instead, just as he stopped walking. While this was happening, many of the men in the village were picking themselves off of the ground and watching the events that were traspining.
The Falleen walked up and pulled out his blaster and brought it to just under Rollin's chin.
"Who are you?" He asked the cloaked figure, more than ready to murder him.
Rollin stayed quiet for a few seconds, long enough for the Falleen to get tense. Then he finally spoke. "You will lower your weapon."
The Fallen then responded. "I will lower my weapon."
Jaden watched in shock as the Falleen lowered his weapon from his father. Tarra and the rest of the group were just as shocked by what they were witnessing.
Rollin then turned his head slightly, facing the other armed men. "You will all lower your weapons."
"We will all lower our weapons." The group responded in kind, dropping their blasters. Rollin then turned back to face the Falleen.
"You will all forget this place and never come back." He says in a slightly louder voice.
"We will all forget this place and never come back." The Falleen and all his men responded. With that, they all began to walk toward their ship, paying Rollin and the Twi'lek's no mind. They simply went into their ship and left without any deviation.
With the attackers long gone, the remaining Twi'lek men got up and ran to their women and children. Relief sighs and chatter were filling the air. Rollin coughed lightly and looked down seeing little Tarra standing before him. Like his son earlier, she looked like she was going to burst into tears. Rollin got on his knees and gave her a hug.
"It's OK. You're safe." Her savior told her. As he was doing this, the crowd began to cheer and rejoice.
All of this was being witnessed by Rollin's son, who was relieved, but more amazed by the events that transpired.
Witnessing this, he realized one thing. There was something different about his father. Something special.
Present Day
"That was the day I learned about the evil of Black Sun." Jaden told his Mandalorian companion. "That was also the day I found out my father was."
Sabine did not know what to say. The story completely floored her. While at the same time, she understood him.
"Jaden… I didn't know… I'm sorry you went through that." She told him sincerely.
"It's alright."
Jaden looked up at her. He can see on her face that she understood. But during this, he came to an understanding of his own. While he still felt great distrust toward Onyo, he was grateful to her for getting the mission back on track.
"We're approaching your destination." Onyo told them from the cockpit. Sabine and Jaden went into the cockpit, to see their destination.
Dropping out of hyperspace, the Shadow Castor approached the planet that housed Havoc Outpost. Upon entering the atmosphere, Jaden was awe-struck by the scenery of this world. It was evening and the moonlight was shining in their region. They were flying towards the cliffs. Jaden took great notice of the light reflecting off the river underneath them, and the mountain range in the distance. The Shadow Castor then approached Havoc Outpost. It was situated on the edge of the cliff, overlooking the river.
Once landed, the Shadow Castor's ramp was lowered. Jaden and Sabine went outside, with EG following behind them. There to meet them was a blue and white Astromech droid. Jaden went up to the Astromech and knelt to eye level.
"Are you Senator Organa's contract?" the young Jedi asked the droid.
The droid beeped in response. This caused Jaden to smile and rubbed the droid's head.
"Nice to meet ya, R2."
Sabine went up to R2 with EG behind her. "You can report to Senator Organa that his intel has arrived safe and sound." she told the Astromech.
EG then went up to R2, and the two began to grunt and beep at each other respectively. This also caused Sabine and Jaden to exchange a satisfying look. Their mission was complete.
"Let's get you home." Onyo told them.
As they got on the ship, Jaden patted Onyo on the shoulder, causing her to turn around.
"Onyo…" the rebel addressed her. "Thank you for helping us out. And… I'm sorry for almost shooting you in the head."
Onyo then developed a smug smile and crossed her arms.
"You know, I've never had someone apologize for an attempt on my life." She told him. "It's actually kinda… refreshing."
That was enough for both to crack smiles at each other. With that, the Shadow Castor began and headed back to Garel.
Not too long later…
Dropping out of hyperspace, the Shadow Castor approached Garel. While flying in, they all notice that the wreckage of the Imperial cruiser and the destroyed shuttle was gone. This made it easy for them to land. Flying into Garel's atmosphere, they flew into the spaceport and proceeded to land.
"Well, look who's here." Sabine tells Jaden, causing him to look to the far end of the hanger. It was Hera and Ezra, who were walking towards the ship. The two were apparently talking about something.
Sabine, Jaden and Chopper exited the ship, with Onyo accompanying them. They approached Ezra and Hera.
"Congratulations on a successful mission." Hera told Sabine and Jaden. She then turned to Onyo. "Thank you for helping our cause."
"Well, it was mostly an accident." Onyo told her honestly. "I'm not sure I'm ready for a full-on fight with the Empire just yet."
"No one ever is." Hera told her. She then proceeded to walk back to the Ghost.
Ezra then approached Onyo. "I'm Ezra. We almost blasted each other earlier."
Onyo smiled. "I know who you are. They told me all about you." referring to Sabine and Jaden.
Ezra began to get nervous and flattered. "They did? Well, uh, what, what'd they say? I mean, it was all good, right?"
This caused Jaden to crack a smile and roll his eyes. Sabine cracked a smile as well.
"Ezra, can you give Jaden and I a moment with Ketsu?" The Mandalorian asked him.
"Uh... sure." Erza said awkwardly, backing away along with Chopper.
Sabine turned to Onyo. "You could've left me on that shuttle, taken the droids and made a good profit."
"It's only money." Onyo told her sincerely. "It must be nice to have people backing you up. I had that once, when we were friends, haven't had that since."
"Look, if you think you'd want to help us out, make a difference, just let us know." Sabine told her.
"I'll think about it." Onyo told her, stretching out her hand for Sabine to shake, which she accepted.
"That's a start." Sabine told her with a chuckle.
Onyo then turned to Jaden and stretched out her hand for him to shake, which he accepted. "It was also nice to meet your new partner."
Sabine smiled as Jaden and Onyo shared a nod of respect.
Onyo then entered the Shadow Castor and took off, as Sabine and Jaden watched. Ezra then came in behind them to watch her go.
"Think that's the last we've seen of her?" He asked them.
"No," Sabine told him. "And I'm glad."
Jaden and Sabine looked at each other. Both sporting an understanding smile.
That's a wrap for this chapter. Just to give you a heads up, the next chapter is going to be an original Jaden and Ahsoka adventure chapter. And, of the appearance of Rollin Sha, I chose to model him after Henry Simmons (Who played Mack in Agents of SHIELD). See you in the next chapter guys.