Second Sister was in a less then pleasant mood. The Ghost managed to escape from Thrain's pirates and return to the Phoenix Fleet. Hera had been shot during their escape so she was off duty for the past several days while she recovered. Everything seemed fine for the rebels except Sister had one problem that has yet to be resolved. She had to find someone to share a bunk with. This was something she'd been putting off for the past few days and with Hera spending most of her time in the infirmary, Sister could get away with it.
But the Twi'lek Captain had been discharged with a clean bill of health which meant Sister's wasn't going to delay this much longer. She proposed 'bunking' with Chopper in the Lounge where he recharged him every night but apparently that was rejected by Hera. The blasted Twi'lek insisted Second Sister either was a part of the crew or find another. The later was tempting but the truth was Sister probably wasn't going to find anyone else willing to put up with her. Besides, this crew had her respect which was something the rest of the rebel fleet didn't have. They also actually cared about keeping Sister alive as opposed to some insurgents on some random planet that would accept Sister's help but would see her as expendable.
So at the moment Sister was brooding in a corner of the Ghost's common room, just waiting for the inevitable conversation with Hera about bunkmates. Also there were Rex and Zeb who were playing dejarik at the holotable. Although the more accurate term should be Rex was playing and Zeb was floundering. Sabine was off to the side modifying the telescopic lens on her helmet and Chopper was just hanging around Sabine for some reason. Sister assumed he was waiting for the Mandalorian's help with something but couldn't say for sure.
Sabine was at the bottom of potential roommates. The Mandalorian was still livid about Sister leaving her behind on Lothal and besides, the two of them had never really clicked very well. Sure they could put aside their problems to kill a bunch of Imperials coming after them but that didn't make a good bunkmate. Zeb was also out because of his stench. Not that Sister needed an excuse to not be around him. She didn't need to bother asking Kanan as he mostly just tolerated her, he didn't like her and he certainly didn't like how trusting Ezra was of her. Bunking with Captain Deathwish also not a pleasant thought.
The only person who would actually bunk with her was Ezra but that raised another set of problems. Not with the kid himself, he got along with Sister just fine but how the rest of the Ghost crew would react. Kanan would hate it for sure and Hera probably wouldn't like it either. The two of them wanted Ezra to become a Jedi and didn't think Sister wasn't exactly a positive influence. Then again, it might be worth it considering how annoying all of this was to Sister.
Ezra and Kanan stepped inside the room, probably just finishing Jedi training. Sister noticed them practicing earlier but didn't mention the numerous critiques she had in Kanan's instructions. He had been teaching Ezra lightsaber techniques, proper meditation, drills where Ezra was given information about a situation and asked how he would resolve it. Kanan was teaching the kid how to be a Jedi when he needed to be taught how to be a rebel. Defeating the Empire was what mattered most, not upholding an outdated system that was wiped out largely due to its own incompetence.
"Let's end today's lesson by levitating Chopper," said Kanan.
"If I do can I drop him?" chuckled Ezra. The droid hands shot up, protesting in binary.
"Sure," shrugged Kanan. Ezra smiled at the chance to do harm upon his metallic nemesis.
Rex laughed triumphantly as a piece on the board made a game winning move. "Chalk another one up for the clone," he chuckled.
Zeb groaned then smiled.
"Takes more than brawn to win this game big guy," Rex said.
"Maybe I let you win old guy," retorted Zeb.
The clone Captain and Lasat's game had Ezra's attention. Meanwhile Sabine whispered something to Chopper and the droid activated his mag locks. Looks like the Padawan was about to get pranked but Sister had no intention of spilling the beans. The kid needed to learn to keep his eye on what was going on around him and not let himself get distracted.
"C'mon Ezra. Focus," Kanan said. Ezra closed his eyes and held a hand. Sister could feel the ripples in the Force, the kid was doing his best but best didn't rip magnetically locked droids off the floor.
"Focus and use the Force. Look through the Force. Lift Chopper up. Picture it in your mind," Kanan encouraged. Sister had no doubt he saw what happened with Chopper as well but he was letting Ezra figure it out.
The droid shook from Ezra's effort but Chopper remained on solid ground. The astromech started sending out binary taunts at Ezra.
"I can't," sighed Ezra, releasing his telekinetic hold on Chopper. "I can't do it."
"Hey kid. While you're looking through the Force, don't forget to look with your eyes too," suggested Rex. "The droid's got his feet locked down."
Sabine and Chopper chuckled and high-fived each other.
"That's not fair," protested Ezra.
"Life isn't fair kid. Get used to it," scoffed Sister.
Rex stood up. "The Jedi General I served combined the Force with his wits and it made him a great warrior," he spoke.
Kanan frowned. "Ezra's got plenty of wits. What he needs is more discipline," he argued.
"Here we go again," Sister mumbled to herself. Ever since Rex joined the rebels, he and Kanan had gotten into several arguments over the past few days. Sister sometimes found them to be amusing and other times found them to be just plain annoying. Judging from Ezra's face, his feelings were in the latter category.
"Well then you better let a soldier do that," Rex said.
"Excuse me?" hissed Kanan.
The oncoming loth-cat fight between the two was put on hold however, as Hera stepped inside the commons room. She still had a bandage on her shoulder but seemed to be alright. Sister couldn't help but feel the bunkmate talk was imminent.
"Sabine I have a mission for you and Chop. Thanks to Captain Rex I found an old Republic medical facility," Hera said.
"The Republic built a whole bunch of them during the Clone Wars," explained Rex. "Some of them were abandoned but left operational with supplies onboard should the war effort become more important in that sector again. That particular one was built in secret and kept off the books just in case the Separatists gained access to our star charts."
"We'll need all the medical supplies we can get. There will probably be some heavy lifting so Zeb I want you there as well," added Hera.
Zeb sighed in annoyance. This would be a tedious and boring mission and probably a long one if they don't know where the supplies were located.
"Don't get tetanus on any rusty nails," Sister mocked the Lasat.
"Well he won't have to worry about them since you're going too," Hera stated.
"What?" snapped Sister.
"Ahsoka said that as a Padawan during the clone wars, you would have been familiar with the layout of such facilities. Having a guide will speed things up," Hera added.
"I'm going to have words with that Togruta," Sister grumbled to herself. The nerve of Ahsoka to be talking about Sister behind her back.
"Well you can have words later. For now you're going to have to settle with medical supplies," retorted Hera.
"Better find them quick. Captain Wits is about to need them," mocked Kanan.
"Ah so there's the boy's lack of discipline comes from," Rex countered.
"You're saying I lack discipline," snapped Kanan.
Hera had lost her patience at this point and just simply left the room. Sabine and Zeb climbed up the ladder to the Phantom while the Jedi and clone continued bickering. Sister just decided to get this over with and headed up the ladder. On the bright side, this little mission managed to get her out of talking about bunkmates.
Sabine was in the pilot seat and starting her pre-flight check as Sister climbed inside the shuttle. The former Inquisitor was about to shut the ladder hatch until she noticed someone else was following her up.
"You get volunteered too?" Sister asked Ezra as he climbed up into the Phantom.
"I volunteered myself," Ezra answered, closing the hatch. "I'd rather deal with the dangers out there then deal then stay in the crossfire here."
"You say that now," remarked Sabine.
After an hour in hyperspace, the Phantom arrived at the medical station. It was run down in some sections with damage probably from getting hit by small meteoroids but the facility was largely left intact. It was also much bigger then what Ezra imagined, almost rivaling a Star Destroyer in size.
"This whole place was just a medical station?" Ezra asked, staring out the view screen.
"It was war kid and there were a lot of causalities on both sides," stated Sister.
"I heard places like these sometimes treated thousands of injured clones," commented Zeb. Ezra couldn't help but compare the two. Sister and Zeb both fought in the Clone Wars for the Republic and both ended up betrayed by the same government they were fighting for. He decided not to mention that out loud however.
Sabine flew the Phantom closer to the station and sent out a transmission containing security codes provided by Captain Rex. Though Ezra was skeptical if anything would even happen. The whole place was dark with no sign of any power.
One of the loading docks began to open, decompressing the room inside and awaiting the rebel's arrival.
"What do you know. Rex's codes actually still worked," remarked Sabine. She brought the shuttle inside and landed on the floor plating. The airlock closed behind them and automatically restored atmosphere to the room.
Zeb opened the Phantom's rear hatch and everyone filed out. It was incredibly dark with only the shuttle and Chopper providing any kind of lighting.
"Shouldn't the lights come on?" asked Ezra.
"Considering how long this station's been abandoned, we're lucky the doors even opened," commented Sister.
"We'll also be lucky if there's anything useful left on this floating dust pile," grumbled Zeb.
Chopper chimed in about how scary this place was.
"C'mon Chop it's not scary. It's just…dark," replied Ezra.
"Alright you're the expert who knows the layout of this place. Where do we go next?" Sabine asked Sister.
"First we need to get to the command center and get power back online to check the inventory files on the computer. Hopefully when they abandoned this dump, they made a note on what they left behind," said Sister.
"Why would they do that?" asked Ezra.
"Because if the Empire really wanted to abandon this station, they would have torn it apart and salvaged anything useful. They've left it alone because they plan on using this place again. Probably once they start expanding Imperial territory in this region," answered Sister.
"Yeah well judging from the state of this dump, I'd say that's not happening anytime soon," remarked Zeb.
"C'mon let's get moving," suggested Sabine.
They approached the exit and the Mandalorian tried tapping buttons on the control console except they didn't do anything.
"Yep I was afraid of this. No power," Sabine sighed.
"Wait a second. How come the airlock works then?" frowned Ezra.
"The airlock must be on a separate power system," answered Sabine.
With a motion of Sister's hand, the door began to slowly open telekinetically. Zeb was the first through and held the door open as the others passed him by before letting it close. They entered a corridor filled with debris. A mix of left over machines, supply crates, fallen ceiling tiles, broken down light fixtures, and many other things. The years hadn't been kind to this place and it looked like the Empire was going to have its hands full fixing this place up if they ever decide to come back here.
"Gravity and life support are still working at least," commented Zeb.
"How come nothing else is?" wondered Ezra.
"The Empire probably shut down everything non-essential when they left," suggested Sabine.
"Control room is this way," stated Sister who took the lead.
They didn't get far before Sabine spray painted the Phoenix symbol on the wall as a marker should they get lost. Not that Ezra was worried about that. Second Sister once sketched an entire Star Destroyer schematic from memory. She probably knew this place like the back of her hand.
Sister led them to a room that looked far too small to operate a station this large. There were only a handful of consoles, all covered in dust.
"Here it is or what's left of it," Sister remarked.
"Think this would make a good base?" suggested Ezra.
"This place is falling apart and the Empire knows where it is. No thanks," replied Sabine. "Chopper power it up."
The astromech approached the main console and plugged himself in. It didn't take long before the compute booted up and the room lights powered up. Chopper must have restored power to the entire station.
"I didn't mean the whole station," sighed Sabine.
The biggest problem in any manhunt was waiting. It didn't matter how well you organized your manpower and how many potential leads you had to go through, Third Sister still had to wait for results. It was frustrating to simply stand by and wait for those under her command to conduct the search, especially since their incompetence could lead to the rebels escaping. In the end, however, Third was in charge and had to remain on the Star Destroyer Relentless coordinating the manhunt with Admiral Konstantine and Agent Kallus.
The hard drives from the AT-TE utilized by Captain Rex and his two accomplices had been a treasure trove of information. Computer forensics managed to get a list of locations that the last user on the tank's computers was accessing. The locations varied from planets to broken down space stations abandoned during the Clone Wars. Sounded like the rebels were looking for a new base of operations, supplies, or both. Either way, Third needed to exploit this opportunity and set up traps at the various locations with assault teams ready to attack and capture the rebels the moment they reveal themselves. Unfortunately, the list was quite extensive and resources were stretched thin in this search.
So Third decided to create sector of operations where different members of the Inquisitorious oversaw the search in their assigned sectors while Third oversaw the Inquisitors from the Relentless. The rest of her order wasn't pleased by her promotion and some argued that the Emperor technically never granted her the rank of the Grand Inquisitor. But with the original one dead and Second Sister a traitor, that left Third next in line of command. The others were probably plotting against her. Let them because in the end, she now had the authority to punish them as she saw fit. The promotion did, however, come with a catch. Vader was expecting results and should Third not provide enough to his satisfaction, the Sith Lord would punish her as he saw fit.
"Inquisitor I may have something," reported Lieutenant Lyste from the operations console. He was handling the various sensor data and field reports from the various search teams.
"What is it?" demanded Third.
"Probes are picking up a power surge at a decommissioned medical station in Sector 11. Could be rebels," replied Lyste.
"Could be anything," remarked Kallus. "A malfunction or scavengers."
"Perhaps, perhaps not," said Third.
The Inquisitor headed to the holotable and contacted Fifth Brother. The station was in his sector which made him the closest one of the order. It didn't take long before the large grey skinned assassin answered the call, his holographic image appeared on the holotable.
"Five there's has been a possible sighting in sector 11. A decommissioned medical station. Take a small platoon of Stormtroopers and investigate it," said Third.
"I won't need any help," frowned Five.
"Don't test me boy!" snapped Third. Everyone on the bridge went silent at her outburst but she didn't care. What's important was the scowl on Five's face. He remembered when Third Sister used to call him that as she abused and tortured him into becoming an Inquisitor. It was best to remind him of that and that she could do it all over again.
"Investigate the station and if the rebels are there, contact me. Only engage them to prevent them from escaping until I can arrive with reinforcements. Do you understand?" demanded Third.
"Completely," Five answered before he cut the transmission.
"Shut it down you stupid light switch," snapped Sister. "Right now anyone in the system will be able to detect us."
"Will you calm down? If there was somebody in the area, the Phantom's sensors would have picked them up," grumbled Sabine.
She turned her attention to Chop. "But we should shut everything else down except for emergency systems and this console just in case," she added.
Chopper acknowledged her in binary and added a comment about Sister.
"I'd like to see you try you rolling garbage heap," scoffed Sister.
"You actually understand all that beeping nonsense?" asked Zeb. He's never really understood droid talk but usually they don't say much worth listening too.
"Yeah even though it is all nonsense," muttered Sister.
Chopper made more empty threats and accessed the computer's memory drives.
"Chopper's got the inventory files but most are corrupted and unreadable. He can't tell where the med supplies are or if they even exist," Sabine sighed.
"So change of plans then," spoke up Ezra. "Chopper stays here and repairs the files while we search for the supplies."
"It's worth a try I guess," shrugged Sabine.
"Any idea where they might be?" Zeb asked Sister.
"No. This whole station held thousands of patients which meant they probably had medical supplies everywhere so if they left any behind, they could be anywhere," groaned Sister as they left Chopper and headed deeper into the station.
"Well why don't you do that whole Force thing and find the medical supplies so we can get out of here," grumbled Zeb.
"It doesn't work like that Zeb but I don't need my Jedi powers to find them before you do," mocked Ezra.
"What's that supposed to mean?" demanded Zeb.
"Well it means I'm generally more perceptive, I can think on my feet, and I'm faster," chuckled Ezra.
"Oh really?" growled Zeb.
"Unbelievable," Sister whispered to herself, far enough away not to be heard. "I was a high ranking assassin of the most powerful people in the galaxy and now I'm reduced to playing babysitter for two kids and a purple Wookie."
"Look I don't care which one of them finds them first as long as you find them," Sabine sighed.
"I'll find them first," smirked Ezra who took off running.
"Not on my watch," Zeb shouted and chased after the kid.
"Correction make that three kids," Sister grumbled to herself as he followed them.
Up ahead, Ezra pushed a pile of crates on top of Zeb. The Last was knocked down but not injured. It was a childish thing to do but Sister couldn't help but enjoy her rival's misery.
"That's not fair," protested Zeb.
"Fight's rarely are," laughed Ezra. "Next time keep your head down and you won't get hit."
Ezra turned and walked right into a fallen support beam, knocking himself to the ground. Sister burst into laughter. This was the first time she's done this openly since Zeb gotten eaten by that giant worm. She preferred to keep her feelings internalized except for her anger. It helped to keep people at arm's length but every now and then, she couldn't help but crack a smile.
Sabine stepped over Ezra and peered down at his moaning body. "You were saying?" she chuckled.
"Play time's over children, it's time to get back to work," quipped Sister.
After the two women played referee and prevented Zeb from strangling Ezra, the group continued on. They didn't have much luck in their search. Whatever supplies were left behind were useless piles of junk. Maybe the Empire wasn't thinking about coming back to this dump after all.
Chopper's irritating voice came in through the com.
"Chop is that you? Repeat your last," Ezra responded.
"What's going on?" asked Sabine.
"It sounded like Chopper needed help," answered Ezra.
"Well better get back up to the command center," shrugged Sabine.
So now they heading back to the command center that they had already left? This was turning into a game of Ring Around the Sarlac Pit and Sister hated games. Particularly when they still had a mission to complete.
"How about a shortcut?" suggested Ezra who glanced up at an opening to the ventilation system.
"No thanks. Some of us aren't pint sized," commented Sister.
Ezra leaped up and climbed into the ventilation shaft. If he could barely squeeze through then Sister had no intention of trying.
"Can't we just go back the way we came?" sighed Zeb.
"That'll take too long. Chopper's in trouble," replied Ezra.
"We'll be in trouble if we all try to crawl through that. A womp rat could barely fit," grumbled Sister.
Zeb helped Sabine climbed up and then, in a show of absolute lack of brainpower, tried to climb up as well. Sister was tempted to say something but the sight of the Lasat struggling uselessly to fit through the opening was too entertaining to stop.
"Hey wait up!" Zeb could be heard yelling inside the vent. Guess the others got tired of waiting for him.
"Having a problem Dead Weight?" chuckled Sister.
"I'm stuck," Zeb grumbled.
"Starting to regret eating that jumba cake?" laughed Sister, milking this up as much as she could.
"Will you shut up and help me?!" shouted Zeb.
Sister grabbed the Lasat by the legs and tried to pull him down. Problem was Zeb wouldn't budge.
"Are you even trying?" protested Zeb.
"This wouldn't be a problem if you'd just eat a salad once in a while," shot back Sister. She tugged harder and harder, starting to consider pulling out her lightsaber and cutting open the ceiling. Suddenly the large lump of fur came loose and came crashing down on top of her.
Ezra decided not to wait for Zeb and Sister to catch up and moved through the air vents with Sabine to Chopper's last known location. The station was abandoned so the two of them should be able to handle whatever was going on. Sabine was as tough as they come and Ezra was getting better at his Jedi training by the day.
The two propped open a floor covering and climbed out. This was the location of Chopper's last transmission so he had to be nearby.
"Chopper! Where are you?" Ezra called out. The astromech's grunts could be heard down the hallway. They headed around a corner expecting to see the droid but found something else instead.
A miniature probe droid with a single glowing red eye floated in the air, emitting Chopper's binary voice or rather imitating it.
"What is that?" asked Ezra.
"It looks like a probe droid," replied Sabine.
Ezra was about to move closer when he noticed someone emerging from the shadows behind the droid. The machine hovered upwards and onto the figure's shoulder.
"My pet told me you were here. I've been searching for you for some time," the figure spoke in a digitized voice.
"Uhh…bounty hunter?" wondered a nervous Ezra, clenching the lightsaber on his belt.
"Guess again," mocked the figure, igniting a crimson lightsaber.
"Get off my you bloody oaf!" screamed Sister, her cries muffled by the brainless lump of fur lying on top of her. Zeb rolled off of her, allowing the former Inquisitor to finally breath.
"I thought I was going to die up there," Zeb said relieved.
"Well not all of our dreams can come true," grumbled Sister as she got to her feet.
"You think that was funny?" growled Zeb as he got to his feet.
"You know what? I think I'm going to stuff you back up there you rotten odored…" Sister shouted before cutting herself off. She could feel something in the Force or rather someone in the Force. Someone familiar and it wasn't Ezra, Kanan, or Ahsoka.
"What is it?" demanded Zeb, noticing her reaction.
"Someone's here," said Sister.
"Zeb, Sister can you read me?! We're under attack!" Sabine's voice yelled through the com.
"Sabine? Where are you? Who's attacking you?" Zeb replied to the distress call.
"It's an Inquisitor! We're falling back to the control room!" exclaimed Sabine.
Whatever Sister and Zeb were planning on do was quickly forgotten as the two rushed down the hallway to find their missing comrades. Sister was kicking herself for not sensing the danger earlier. She had paid more attention to the Lasat's misery rather than making sure a knife wasn't waiting to strike from the shadows.
They didn't need to search very long before they could hear blaster fire. "Ezra!" Sabine could be heard shouting.
Sister and Zeb rounded a corner to see the Mandalorian pounding on a sealed blast door. "Where's Ezra?" demanded Sister.
"The Inquisitor got him. He sealed this door to save me," grumbled Sabine.
"Move!" snapped Sister, igniting her lightsaber. She stabbed the blast door and cut a circle before kicking the severed potion of the door through. She ducked through the new opening and found no one on the other side. Looks like whoever attacked Ezra took him and ran.
Sister turned back to Sabine as the Mandalorian and Zeb ducked through the opening. "This Inquisitor, describe him," Sister demanded.
"The he was a she and she had a bunch of miniature probe droids with her," answered Sabine.
"Seven," hissed Sister.
(I know I'm evil just stopping it here but better something now then waiting who knows how long before I finish the rest of it. Next chapter gonna have some backstory regarding Second Sister and Seventh Sister. Warning, the next chapter will be a little dark and not just from the flashbacks.)