Yep, I'm back with another chapter. And, as the title of this one implies, we see the beginnings of Leia, Han, Cassian, and Candace's assault on the Armengoltiax Station. It's a tad short, but I can promise you the next one will be both longer and not to far off in the future. Also, a bit of backstory on AZI-3; If you are a true Star Wars fan, you will know about Fives, a secondary character in the Clone Wars TV Series who appeared sparsely, and always as a major character in the episode he appears in.
In season 6, only available through Netflix, a the inhibitor chip of a clone trooper named Tup malfunctions, activated order 66 early, and forces Tup to kill a Jedi. Following this, Tup dies and Fives does his own investigating. Then blah blah Count Dooku blah blah Sidious pissed at kaminoan scientists blah blah...Fives dies.
As Clone Wars story arcs go, it's one of the more depressing ones. But the one upside to it all is AZI-3, an upbeat surgery droid who joins Fives on his quest for answers. He was likely deactivated and memory-wiped after Fives was taken to Coruscant, but I'm not pleased with that, so I resurrected him, and have him living in the lower levels of Tipoca City.
Anyway, enjoy the chapter!
"Just who in the hell do you think you are, Commander?" Commodore Brittho snarled. Garavle silently thanked the powers-that-be that there was a holo-transmission between the two of them. "Ordering security checks on late transports? Do you know how many rotations I'm behind already?"
Garavle turned around in his chair to face her.
"Yes, Commodore. I thought it prudent to search the ship based on its lateness, and-"
"So it was late! So what?"
"There was also the nature of which the craft flew."
"Oh?" Garavle took this as a sign that perhaps he should stop and apologize, but he mentally shook his head and soldiered through with his explanation. If they were rebels, stopping them early would save lives.
Imperial lives.
"The flight path S8-8117 took was similar to those of the Zeta-class shuttles. Given that the defector who prompted my ship's reassignment to your nebula piloted shuttles of tha-." Brittho snorted.
"Who do ya think you are? The next Thrawn?" Garavle gritted his teeth and fought the urge to remind her that the story went that Grand Admiral Thrawn had identified fighter pilots based on the way they physically assaulted him, not which ship they most often flew based on how they flew another ship.
"Well you better-" Brittho began, but the holo-transmission cut out. Garavle looked out the viewport in Needa's office, and the whole station was dark. He walked out onto the bridge.
"Report!" he barked.
"The station suddenly lost all power, sir!" a lieutenant reported. Garvle had to keep himself from growling. So it was rebels. "We're reading-"
"Get some men over there now!"
"How many?"
"As many as you can spare!" he shouted, as an idea struck him. "And those new armored war droids High Command sent us. I want those tested."
"Yessir."
Thirty seconds.
That's how long the power was out. At thirty-one seconds emergency power came online and routed its reserves to the red strip lights in corridors and throughout the station. At thirty three-seconds, emergency power went to life support, the server room, and shields.
By one-hundred-and-forty seconds, or one minute and ten seconds after the reactor was shut down, security protocols would go back on, and Team B would lose their advantage.
That meant Phineas had to work fast.
"So the clone who killed the Jedi died, but his friend illegally investigated the cause of the murder and subsequent passing?" Ferb asked, walking fast. He and AZI-3 were moving away from Ferb's point of egress.
"He convinced me to help too. We were able to remove a biotech inhibitor chip from both him and the deceased clone's corpse, and then discovered that the inhibitor chips were placed in all clones during the fetal stage.
"We were then confronted in quick succession by Nala Se, the leading Kaminoan cloning scientist, and the Jedi in the primary cloning chamber."
"How did that go down?" Ferb asked.
"Nala Se insisted the chips were meant to prevent the clones form being particularly aggressive and unresponsive to orders. It is likely she was correct; during the confrontation Fives acted extremely paranoid and angry, going as far as to hold Nala Se hostage in front of the Jedi to get her to listen."
"So what happened?" he prompted.
"The Jedi was initially suspicious of both Fives and Nala Se's account. She arranged for the three of them to meet with the Chancellor on Coruscant."
"And you stayed here?"
"Of course." AZI replied. "The Kaminoans wished to wipe my memories of the incident. However, as you can see, I managed to escape."
Ferb gave a nod. "Clearly."
The duo came to a door. Ferb reached for the switch.
"Wait, don't!" AZI shouted, just as Ferb opened it. A large, hulking Imperial sentry droid stomped through and knocked the duo back.
"What...is that?" Ferb growled.
"A rogue sentry droid." AZI replied. "After it began malfunctioning, the Empire just threw it down here. Didn't bother to deactivate it or anything."
"What?" Ferb said, throwing both himself and AZI out of the way of the cannon on the droid's forearm.
"How do you think I lost my eye?" the droid retorted, referring to his missing photoreceptor. "Cataracts?"
When the power went off, the Inspector began to slip out of the trance.
When the emergency lights bathed Team C in a scarlet glow, the officer fully woke up.
"Wha-what am I doing h-here?" he asked. Luke and Han glanced at each other, and even with the Stormtroopers helmets on, it was clear they were both thinking 'Shit.'
"Why am I here?" he demanded.
Before Luke could reply, or try to use the mind trick again, the man shuddered and groaned, collapsing to the floor. Behind him stood Buford, a smoking blaster in his hands.
"I stunned him." the boy said sharply. "If that's what you nerds are worried about."
"Buford," Luke commented. "You can be surprisingly pragmatic when necessary."
"I dunno what that means, so I don't like it."
Luke began to reply but thought better of it. He looked towards Han, who was hurriedly dragging the unconscious body of the Inspector into a nearby closet.
"Let's just get a move on."
"I'm through!" Phineas announced, pleased with himself. "I've reset the security protocols to allow only us access."
"What's the password?" Cassian asked, turning on an input monitor.
"Isabella."
Cassian stared at him for a moment, but shook his and typed in the name. The monitor beeped, and its display changed to show various files accessible to him. He clicked on one, and a revolving holo of the station appeared next to him. Cassian enlarged various points and giving a satisfied grunt, turned back to Phineas.
"Can you reset the security droids' programming." he asked.
"Gimme a second…" the boy muttered. "Yeah. Done."
"Okay, instruct them all to converge on the main TIE Hangar. Re-program their objective to 'destroy all the TIEs they can', but they have permission to kill any Imperials who ty to stop them." Phineas rapidly typed a series of commands into his personal tablet, hooked up to the nearest server, and a second later it beeped.
"Done." he said.
"Good." Cassian replied.
"Open up in there!" a voice shouted. A slight tapping at the door began. Phineas pulled up live footage from the camera outside the door, before turning to Cassian.
"It's just two stormtroopers." the boy informed him. "You can take them. There's no one in the surrounding corridors to see it, and the alarms will drown out any blaster fire."
"Just to be on the safe side…" Cassian muttered, fitting his blaster pistol with a silencer and putting the officer's cap back on. He walked to the door, and deactivated Phineas' seal. The door hissed open.
"You're here!" Cassian shouted at he troopers, putting on his best faux Imperial officer impression. "One of our men-he was electrocuted by a stray spark when the power went out! He needs attention."
The two troopers looked at each other, and then at Cassian, and walked in. The Intelligence captain sealed the door behind them.
"Where is he?" one asked.
"Right here." Cassian growled, shooting one in the back.
"What the-?" the other said, ducking behind a bulkhead. He shot at Cassian, but the spy dodged the ruby blasts with ease and shot back, killing the trooper.
He grimaced as he holstered his blaster, and dragged the bodies out of the entrance corridor. Phineas walked back up to him.
"I've rerouted the turbolaser sys-" the boy began.
"We are you just an engineer on one of our freighters?" Cassian interrupted. "You hacked through level four Imperial security systems in less than two minutes, can reprogram an entire station's worth of sentry droids with just a few keystrokes, and remotely operate security cameras. I had some reservations when Senator Organa said a child would be my slicer, but you proved me wrong. So again, why are you just an engineer for a freighter?"
"That's nothing compared to what my brother can-" Phineas stopped suddenly, a look halfway between contemplation and regret appearing on his face. "Although I suppose Ferb is safe back on Tatooine."
As he ducked and jumped to avoid the rogue sentry droid's potshots, dragging AZI behind him, Ferb idly wondered when the last time he had been in a situation that could remotely be considered 'safe' was.
The duo stopped, briefly sheltered behind a crate. After telling AZI to stay put, Ferb pulled out his lightsaber, and moved to attack the droid. He leapt at it, but it ducked and sidestepped his move.
Ferb did a somersault mirroring the droid's direction and sliced of its left arm. The droid looked at it and grunted before firing again. Ferb deflected the blasts back at the sentry droid, which only served to dent its armor further.
He then leapt right at the machine, stabbing it through its central processor.
"Nice job." AZI commented, drifting out from behind his hiding place. Ferb let out his breath slowly.
"Anything else I should know about?"
"There's the Kaminoan crime lord the rogue droid worked for." Ferb's head whirled around.
"What?" he spat.
Suddenly, an electro-net soared through the air and caught Ferb's back.
The young Jedi screamed in pain, and watched as what appeared to be a stun blast hit AZI. He reached for his new friend as the droid's body short-circuited and fell to the ground.
As his vision began to fade, Ferb could hear several voices arguing over what to do with him.
"So what's he? Some kinda mini Jedi or something?" a gruff voice asked. "I thought they was all killed off by those clones you Kaminoans created?"
"Possibly a Youngling who survived Clone Protocol 66." a second, smoother voice replied. "I'm not entirely sure, but I believe he might be the one responsible for the battle that took place above our heads just a few hours ago."
"Either way, Kan Be will not be pleased." a robotic voice chimed in. "He will want the subject to be taken back to him."
"No doubt." the second voice agreed. "We'll bring him back and let the boss decide…."
Their voices began to fade as Ferb groaned and slipped out of consciousness.
Another stormtrooper ran through the door.
Candace shot him. She, Isabella, and Liea were crouching behind a hastily-built barricade consisting of stacked crates and bodies of fallen stormtroopers.
"You've got six more coming in from the left entrance." K2-SO called from behind a tech station at the base of the reactor's central cone. The droid was busy attempting to lock out any Imperial slicers from bringing the reactor back online before the plan needed it. I suggest you deal with them
True to the droid's word, half-a-dozen Stormtroopers raced into the room. Some remained out in the open, but the smarter ones ducked for cover. Candace almost formed out of respect for them. They weren't just finding cover from blaster fire, they were assessing the skill level of their opponents by how quickly their comrades were dispatched. It was a tactic she recognized well.
She shot at one of the dumber ones, and the trooper fell. Another was shot by Liea, and he staggered backwards, falling over the railing and down to the deeper part of the chamber. Isabella, for her part, just shot wildly around the room with the rifle she had been given, hardly hitting a thing.
After one of her blasts deflected off of a reflective bulkhead and bounced back, nearly hitting Candace's head, momentarily forgetting the battle.
"You're trying to hit them, not us!" Candace shouted at her.
"Sorry, this is not exactly my type of combat!"
"Oh yeah?" Candace shot back. "And what would your type of combat be? A romantic conquest of a younger man who is oblivious to-"
"Less talking, more shooting please. This is all very unprofessional." Liea said, ducking back behind the crate. "There's just one left. Candace, you want to do the honors?"
Candace grinned. "Gladly."
The trooper barely even had time to scream.
Commodore Brittho was sure of one thing;
Even if she made it out of this alive, her career was dead. She had ignored warnings from both her sector governor and that Commander Garavle, and now she payed the price.
She sat in her command chair in the middle of the station's central control room, and tried to ascertain what exactly was going on. Several technicians and junior officer clamored for her attention
"Ma'am!" one technician said, "We're reading several rebels assaulting personnel in and around hangar bay 4. The appear to have come from freighter S8-8117 and-"
"there appears to be a rebel incursion in the core deck, primarily in the reactor room. Analysis suggests-"
"We are still having a degree of trouble accessing the main computer systems. It's possible-"
"Ma'am, we have located the missing security droids."
That last statement drew her attention. "What do you mean, 'missing security droids?'"
The young ensign looked momentarily confused, but he cleared his throat and continued.
"The, um, sentry droids on hand for emergency security backup disappeared shortly after the reactor shut down. They did not arrive at their designated security stations, and-"
"Where are they?"
The ensign gulped. "The TIE hangar. They appear to be-"
Suddenly, an explosion breached the security doors that had descended over the entrance to the station's control room. Several blaster shots rang out, piercing the smoke and hitting several of her officers and sentires. Some of the Navy Troopers put up a fight, but the rest of the technicians and officers fled. Brittho herself ducked and rolled out of her chair, crawling behind a computer console with several technicians. She slowly peeked out, and watched the assailants as they entered.
There were two of them, both dressed in stormtrooper armor, as well as a blue-domed astromech rolling along behind them.
"They're all gone." one said, taking off his helmet to reveal a mop of blonde hair and a young, boyish face.
"Yeah, kid." the other agreed, removing his helmet. He in turn had neatly styled brown hair, and a face that betrayed a certain degree of cynicism in his personality. "Just us. "
"Okay," the younger one said, resting his blaster on a table. "You two go outside and make sure no one comes through here." With a start, Brittho realized that he was talking to two smaller, troopers, all but obscured by the smoke.
"What should we say?" the thinner of the two said.
"Just make up some story about a reactor leak." the cynical one replied. "Never fails. Except half the time."
"Ok, reactor leak." the wider of the small ones repeated, grabbing the thin one, who yelled in surprise. "Let's go, nerd."
Slowly crawling to an overturned com station, Brittho hurriedly typed in the emergency access code.
"This is Lieutenant Thobel, of the Thunder Wasp." a voice said over the com. Thankfully, Brittho had remembered to lower the volume. "Is everything alright over there? You went dark ten minutes ago and-"
"I don't have time to explain everything," she whispered hurriedly, "but the rebels have-"
The com beeped, indicating that the call was dead.
"You took the station's coms offline?" the younger one asked, cutting through the sudden silence like a vibroknife.
"Yeah, I turned them off." the cynical one replied. "They were using up valuable reserve power and we all have our own coms anyway."
The young one sighed. "I just hope we won't need them later."
Brittho fought to keep a snarl down. The rebels were defiling her station. She could only imagine what devilry the smaller duo were plotting outside her door.
"Which is better?" Baljeet asked, already bored with the assignment. "Apple pie or Jogon pie?"
"Hold on." Buford replied dumbly. "There's more than one kind of pie?"
Steeling herself, the Commodore gripped her blaster pistol, and prepared to launch herself at the rebels.
"Wait, what's the new password?" the cynical one asked, stopping her. She moved her head, just enough so her right eye could see over the overturned console
"Hold on.." the other replied, checking something on his communicator. "It's, uh, 'Isabella'." The cynical one swore.
"Why is it-you know what? Never mind."
"No caps." the other replied, sighing.
Brittho ducked back behind her hiding spot, concealed once more.
"What's our course of action, ma'am?" the Lieutenant from earlier asked.
"We have the codes." the Commodore responded. "Now we just need to get rid of those two. And I have an idea."
The storm above Tipoca City seemed slightly more malevolent than usual as a shuttle landed on the landing platform outside Darthensmirtz's facility.
Darthensmirtz and his entourage walked out to meet it.
At the front of the queue was, of course, the Sith Lord, flanked by Yaami and NORM. They in turn were followed by four of the death troopers, creating a barrier between them and the ones in the back; Colonel Crefet, with his arm in a sling, and Dr. Tanmi, who held a bemused smile on his mouth.
The shuttle's boarding ramp lowered, steam hissing from cavities within the craft. Two figures stormed out, a menacing feeling radiating off of them.
The were clad all in black, with black helmets covering their faces. A set of armor pauldrons on their shoulders bore the Imperial cog logo, and circular lightsabers hung at their hips.
They were Inquisitors.
"Welcome to Kamino," Darthensmirtz announced. "I am Lord Heinz Dar-"
"We know who you are." one of the Inquisitors interrupted. "I am the Thirteenth Brother. She is the Twentieth Sister." The other Inquisitor bowed her head.
"Really heavy on the sibling numbering thing, there." Yaami muttered.
"So you were sent to help us with our little, ah, problem?" Darthensmirtz asked.
"I think it's a lot more than just 'a problem', Heinz." a third voice said. Darthensmirtz's eyes narrowed.
"That voice…" he muttered. "I know that voice. Did you two come here with someone else?" The Inquisitors remained silent, just moving to the sides of the shuttle's entrance ramp. A squat, oddly shaped figure exited the craft, escorted by a single Shadow Trooper.
"Hello, Heinz." said Darth Diminutive, stepping onto the platform.
Team A made it back to the hangar S8-8117 was quartered in with time to spare. Pausing at a transteel window overlooking the docking bay, a collective gasp issued from the three women.
"That looks delightfully chaotic." K2-SO remarked, a degree of callousness to his voice.
The hangar was indeed engulfed in chaos; rebel commandos and marines fought with the Imperial forces, several Zeta-class cargo shuttles were burning, and a different Gozanti-class exploded before their very eyes. As they watched, S8-8117 itself provided cover fire, hitting an Imperial weapons emplacement. The bay itself was split into three distinct areas:
One corner, towards the back, was controlled by several platoons of Navy and Stormtroopers. They had fortified their position with stacked crates, and an overturned pair of speeders, and had mounted heavy cannons at every possible opening.
The second area was a very distinct portion of territory around S8-8117 itself; a partition of boxes and mining droids from the rebel's hijacked freighter made up a barrier, and a commandeered portable Imperial AutoTurret was laying down cover fire for the Alliance forces in the third zone; the no-man's land between the two factions' bases.
Between the rebel area around S8, and the corner controlled the Imperial Naval forces, there was a large section of the hangar bay. Covered in oil fires and burning TIE fighters and shuttles, it almost reminded Candace of the twisted mess of walker and fighter wreckage she entered all those months ago during the Battle of Naboo to search for the hostages. She almost smiled. Good times.
Amongst the wreckage, rebel and Imperial forces continued to fight in the melee; an Alliance mortar blasted a squadron of Navy Troopers pausing near a smoking piece of metal, twisted and warped beyond recognition, and stormtroopers with heavy blasters cut into a group of Pathfinders. Fuel tanks continued to explode, inflicting heavy damage to both sides.
"My god…" Isabella whispered. "Our guys are getting butchered down there.."
"To be fair," K2 cut in, "so are theirs."
"We have to do something!" Isabella protested.
"But what?'' Candace shot back. "How can-" She stopped suddenly, catching sight of an Imperial sniper nested in a window on the same deck as them. He was firing several potshots at an Alliance squadron nestled behind the wreckage of a Lambda-class shuttle. "I think I have an idea.."
Ferb came to, groggily beginning to make sense of the world around him.
"He's finally up!" the gruff voice shouted. "Someone get the boss!"
He opened his eyes wider. His vision was blurry, but he could make out several shapes moving around him. He shook his head, and the world solidified.
The first thing he noticed was that he was hanging upside down by his ankles.
The second thing he noticed was that he was roughly four meters above the floor, in a spacious chamber.
Below were several thugs. Most were Kaminoan, but one was an IG-series assassin droid, and a Gotal (likely the source of the gruff voice) rounded out the group.
On a table sat Ferb's blaster, wrench, and recently acquired lightsaber. Next to them was the limp metal body of AZI.
"Who..are you people?"
"My name is Kan Be." another voice said. "And who are you, little Jedi?"" Twisting his head around, Ferb was able to barely see another Kaminoan enter the room.
He walked with an arrogant swagger that clearly indicated he was the boss of the gang. An electrowhip and a blaster pistol were attached to his hips, and he was accompanied by another assassin droid.
He circled underneath Ferb's spot, like some bizarre reverse buzzard. He kept his eyes fixated on the boy, and his hand glued to his pistol.
"I asked you a question, kid." Kan Be repeated. He released the electrowhip from its holster, in what was clearly an attempt to subtly threaten Ferb.
The young Jedi regarded the crime lord for a second, and then spat on his head.
Wiping the spittle from his cranium, the Kaminoan actually growled. He ignited the electrowhip, charged energy coursing through it.
"That," he snarled, "was a very stupid move."
"So you're telling me," Buford was saying, "the reason pie sometimes tastes different is because pie itself is different?''
Sighing, Baljeet pinched the bridge of his nose. "For the fifth time, there are different flavors of pie depending on which fruit or nut is the dominant ingredient."
"Now that just don't make any sense."
"Guys!" a voice shouted. The duo turned and saw two fellow rebels running towards them.
The first was that intelligence Captain. The second was Candace's brother.
Baljeet regretfully admitted to himself that he had never gotten to know the boy very well; he spent most of his time hanging around Isabella, and Candace had expressly forbade the two of them from having any contact with the young smuggler.
"Look, Buford." the boy said, trying to muster the same degree of cynicism Candace and Captain Solo so readily had at disposal. "It's triangle head!"
"Yeah," the bulkier teenager replied. "and 'I-Spy-Guy'!"
The two former stormtroopers shared a laugh at this, but stopped when they saw the stony expressions on the faces of their comrades.
"You need to open that door right now." Cassian ordered.
"Hold on." Buford cautioned, gripping his rifle a bit harder. Baljeet did the same. "We have strict orders from flyboy not to let anyone in here without the proper actuality-ization something."
"He means Commander Skywalker told us not to let anyone in here without the proper authorization." Baljeet translated.
"We have reason to believe both Luke and Captain Solo are in danger, so we need to-"
"No!" Buford said, more forcefully. "Do I have to put up the velvet rope?"
"The what?" Phineas said, arching an eyebrow in confusion. "Did you-did you say velvet rope?"
"Yeah," Buford replied, who was indeed attaching each end of a purple-ish velvet rope to either side of the doorframe. "I carry it with me wherever I go."
"Enough of this." Phineas said, pinching the bridge of his nose, er….head. He reached into his satchel and pulled out a datapad, tapping a single command into it.
The door hissed open, and Cassian and Phineas stepped over the rope, and through. Buford shrugged, grabbed his rope, and followed. Baljeet shook his head and darted after them,
What he saw next made his blood freeze.
"For the last time, what in the name of Maul are you doing here?" Darthensmirtz demanded. Diminutive did not reply.
Upon revealing himself, the recently arrived Sith Lord had dismissed most of his and Heinz's subordinates, and retired to a conference room. Two of the Death Troopers and Yaami were all that remained.
"I asked you a question, Diminutive." Darthensmirtz continued.
"You've failed, Heinz."
"Excuse me?"
"Our master is most displeased with the way you have handled this Ferb Fletcher a mere child!"
"I understand Lord Sidious' concerns, but-"
"You're being replaced, Heinz." Diminutive said, grinning evilly. Darthensmirtz's and Yaami's eyes went wide.
"Wh-what?" the taller Sith replied.
"I've been handed oversight of the efforts to recapture this boy, and the security of the Military projects you and your allies are working on in Tipoca City."
Darthensmirtz gaped. Yaami looked between his master and the newcomer with apprehension, now replacing the surprise on his face, and the Death Troopers moved to execute Diminutive should Darthensmirtz order it.
"Look on the bright side," the stout man smirked. "If you and your people do everything I say, I just might let you and your 'secretary' over there keep your offices." Yaami's face flushed at the suggestion that he was a mere assistant, though even he knew it was the truth. D
Diminuitve gave his one-time friend a final look, and then stormed out of the meeting chamber. The door hissed shut behind him.
"Lord Darthensmirtz," Yaami began slowly, afraid on angering his master. "Shall I contact Director Krennic? He has oversight over the security for the Advanced Weapons Development projects, and might be able to uncover some illegitimacy in Lord Diminutive's claim."
"No, Lieutenant." Darthensmirtz said weakly, sitting back down. He had removed his helmet and was running his hands through his hair. The stress was clearly getting to him. "The last thing I need is for Orson to find out how poorly things have been going here. At least, not until I have an excuse ready."
"So, what do we do?"
Darthensmirtz sighed. "Apart from having the Concierge find us a bar in which to drown our sorrows in wine? Nothing."
Suddenly, Darthensmirtz's communicator buzzed. He pulled it from his cloak, and flipped it on, a holographic Stormtrooper appearing.
"What is it?" he snapped.
"Sir, we believe we have found the boy."
Darthensmirtz grinned madly, and the fire returned to his eyes. "Excellent."
If anyone's wondering why it's Doctor Diminutive and not Aloyse von Roddenstein, it's simply because Diminutive has more of a personality.
Secondly, differences between Shadow Troopers and Death Troopers:
Shadow Troopers are elite commandos dressed in black stormtrooper armor equipped with a personal cloaking device. Death Troopers-everything but cloaking device, and have upgraded armor.
Also, thanks to the guest reviewer who's been with me since Ch. 1 for pointing out the Tortuga/Togruta mixup. Dammit autocorrect. Anyway, I'm the future I'll have to double check any mentions of that species for typos. Thanks again, not just for pointing that out, but for sticking with the story thus far. Your support in particular has been a major player in helping me get chapters finished.
So, to recap, (so huge posting gap isn't an issue):
Candace, Isabella, Leia, and K2 - about to come to the aid of the rebel forces in a mysterious manner.
Ferb - held hostage by a crime lord along with AZI, and making some very foolish choices.
This Brittho officer - clearly up to something sinister.
Cassain, Phineas, Buford and Baljeet - attempting to thwart Brittho
Luke, Han, and R2 - possibly victims of Brittho's plot
Bohdi, AP-5, and Chopper (C1-10P) - stuck in S8-8117, but providing cover fire.
Garavle - on Avenger, and pissed.
Darthensmirtz and Yaami - having to deal with newcomer Diminutive, and finally narrowing down Ferb's position.
Colonel Crefet - suffering from injuries sustained during his encounter with Ferb
Platypus Commandos and N0RM - on Kamino and not doing anything at the moment
Dr. Tanmi - remaining an enigma. More to be revealed soon? You'll see. ;)
Boba Fett - en route to Armengoltiax Nebula
Director Krennic - On Coruscant somewhere, I guess? We'll see him again in a few chapters.
Captain Needa - *see above*
C-3P0 and Chewbacca - likely with the Freedom, wherever it is. I honestly forgot to provide an explanation as to their locations.
Darth Vader - likely somewhere in the Outer Rim
Alright, that's everyone. I think. Let me know if anyone was missed.
See you guys next time (which is hopefully soon!)
P.S.
Next chapter- couple of big announcements. One regarding course of story, and another regarding fan art I'm working on related to Tales from the Rebellion.