I do not own Star Wars or any of the characters.


Geonosis

"The bugs sealed it. They were terrified of something."

"The bugs sealed their own tunnels?" Rex asked. "They didn't even do that when we were winning the war and going after the Queen. What could scare them that badly?"

"I'm going with the Empire," Damian guessed. "I'll take the lead."

Everyone nodded and Damian dropped into the tunnel, drawing his blaster as he began down into the tunnel. He kept his mask's cameras on, but used the Force to see, since everyone's flashlight was behind him. Using the Force to see, of course, was a lot more literal than before Felucia. Before he could just tell where things were. Now, his mind actually had a recreation of the tunnel before him, though everything was tinted white-blue. It was like he was seeing, except with his eyes closed. As he turned his head, the image in his mind swiveled accordingly. It was actually kind of cool.

"So what do they look like?" Ezra asked. "The Geonosians."

"Well," Rex hummed for a moment. "They kind of look like Battle Droids to tell you the truth. Ugly Battle Droids that smell."

They passed several collapsed passages before pausing, Damian resting a hand on the debris. Sure enough, it had been the Bugs who did it.

"All these passages have been blocked off," Ezra said.

"Deliberately," Damian said. "I can't feel why, though."

"The air is still down here," Kanan said.

"These blocked side passages must be restricting the air flow," Rex said. "It certainly limits our options going forward."

"Here!" Ezra said suddenly, everyone turning to him, seeing him holding a Rebel Trooper's helmet. "I found a helmet."

"I know this marking," Rex said, inspecting it. "It's from Saw's team."

Chopper reported another off to the side, suddenly.

"More than just one other, Chopper," Damian said, looking down the tunnel with his senses, finding almost a dozen more, the others seeing them as well when they shone their flashlights down the passageway.

"All from Saw's unit," Rex said.

"But where are the people?" Ezra asked.

"They must have been attacked," Rex said.

"By who?" Ezra asked, just as Damian sensed something further down the tunnel, hidden against the wall.

"There's something up ahead," Damian and Kanan both said.

Damian took the lead, keeping his blaster at his side, ready but non-threatening. He could sense fear from whoever was ahead of them. However, he stopped as they began to back away, then flee.

"They're gone," Damian said.

"We should go too," Kanan said.

"Go?" Ezra asked. "But why? Kanan, we have to find Saw and his team."

"Ezra all we've found are sealed up tunnels and some rebel gear," Kanan said. "There's something working against us. I'm not sure what, but we're out of our element and away from our team."

"We'll just call for backup," Ezra said. "Chop, get Hera."

After a moment, Chopper reported nothing. Kanan sighed.

"We must be too deep," Kanan said. "The signal can't reach her."

"Someone's down here, and I bet they know what happened," Ezra said.

"You're right," Damian said. "When I sensed it, I felt its fear. I think it was a Geonosian. Maybe the last Geonosian. But he's too afraid of us for us to ask him questions as things are. We should be careful."

"Rex, what do you think?" Ezra asked.

"Well, I think we should press on," Rex said. "I know Saw would do the same for me."

"Agree to disagree on that last part," Damian said. "Stay behind me, and stay calm. I'll see if I can calm him down with the Force if we meet him again. Try not to use your weapons if you don't need to."

The others nodded and they all turned and continued along the tunnel. As they walked, Damian sensed the Geonosian watching them from above, and began to slowly use the Force to calm him. Finally, they stopped as they reached a dead end and Ezra picked up the last helmet.

"I don't understand," Ezra said. "Where did the rebels go? It's just a dead end."

"Do you have to call it that?" Kanan asked.

They turned, just as a half-dozen shadows began to pass over the far wall from whatever light was there.

"Look!" Ezra said. "Are those Geonosians?"

"Not Geonosians," Damian said, opening his eyes and staring at the Battle droids, all of whom had mismatched paint jobs, like several droids were scrapped to make them.

"Clankers," Rex said.

"Halt," one of them said. "You will be eliminated."

"Battle Droids," Kanan said, extending his lightsaber, Damian swapping his blaster for his own lightsaber as Ezra extended his green one.

"Oh, uuhh," the lead Battle Droid said before they all stepped out of a droideka's way. "Blast them!"

"We don't want trouble," Damian said. "We come in peace."

The droids opened fire, so Damian sighed, beginning to bounce their blaster bolts back into them, along with Kanan and Ezra, Rex staying behind the three. Just then, something exploded, hurling the droids. Damian quickly drew his blaster and finished the droideka as whoever had come to help began to blast the other droids.

"We've been outflanked!" a droid said just before being blasted. Within seconds, the fight was over.

Damian put his lightsaber away as Saw stepped into view, glaring at them all.

"Saw," Rex said, walking forward.

"Captain Rex," Saw said. "So, you decided to come to Geonosis after all."

"Yeah," Rex snorted. "To rescue you."

"Is that what's happening?" Saw chuckled.

"Sorry to break up the party," Damian said, walking over. "We should move. Those droids were built by scrapping more, and I'm sure there's no shortage of droids to pull from."

"Right," Rex said. "Saw, I want you to meet Damian, Kanan, and Ezra."

Chopper complained about being left out.

"Oh, right," Rex said. "And Chopper."

"So, you're Jedi?" Saw asked.

"We do our best," Ezra said.

"Never thought I'd meet another Jedi," Saw said. "Much less three."

"The galaxy is full of surprises," Kanan said.

"Including what's happening here on Geonosis," Saw said.

"You've found something?" Rex asked.

Saw grinned. "I have. The Geonosians were protecting something. There's a shield generator on the surface."

"A shield generator?" Rex asked.

"Separatist model, as old as you, Rex," Saw said. "But someone's kept it operational. Been maintaining it."

"Probably the same someone that sent the welcoming committee," Damian said.

"Couldn't the Battle Droids do it?" Ezra asked.

"These old Clankers?" Rex asked, kicking one. "Not a chance. The technology's too advanced. Besides, by the look of it, someone's been repairing them too."

"More like scrapping some to build more," Damian said. "I was right. The thing I was sensing was a Geonosian."

"We were definitely following something," Ezra agreed. "That's how we ended up in this trap."

"It was a bug!" Saw said. "Had to be! He got my unit using the same tactics! I was the only survivor."

"Yeah, the more I hear, the more I don't like this," Kanan said. "We should go back and report to Hera."

He turned to leave, Ezra and Rex following.

"Back!?" Saw scoffed. "No! wait! You can't! That bug is the key to finding out what's going on here! Don't you know what's at stake? We know the Empire wiped out the entire population of this planet. We need to find out why! The Empire is hiding something! Something important! And that bug...knows what it is!"

"I actually agree with Saw," Damian said. "The Geonosian could be the last of his race. He could know what the Empire was building, but he's scared. if I can find him, I can calm him down and get him to tell us what the Empire built. We'll just probably have to go through all of his Battle Droids to get to him."

"And if he won't talk, I'll force it out of him," Saw said.

"No, you won't," Damian said. "I'll just ask nicely. And if that doesn't work, I'll reason with him."

"And then I'll reason with him," Saw said.

"No, you won't," Damian said again, more forcefully this time. "You're not torturing information out of him. He's alone and terrified. We're not adding 'in pain' to that list."

"I will do whatever it takes to bring the Empire down," Saw said, drawing himself up.

"And I will never allow you to harm this Geonosian," Damian said.

Saw glared at him, but rex set a hand on their shoulders, stopping them.

"We should focus on finding him first," Rex said. "Then we can let Damian ask. Trust me, Saw. Damian's good with this kind of stuff. If he says he can get the information we need peacefully, then he can do it."

Saw huffed. "Fine. We'll do it your way. For now."

Damian nodded and turned, closing his eyes and extending his senses again, following the tunnel the way Saw had come from.

"We have to warn Hera about the droids first," Kanan said.

"I can feel air flowing from this direction," Damian said. "There should be a way to the surface where we can call her."

"While you are correct," Saw said. "There's no way you can feel the air flowing down here."

"You just don't know how to feel it," Damian said. "It's a Jedi thing."

"Can you feel the air flowing?" Saw asked Kanan and Ezra.

"Damian's a bit of a special case," Kanan said. "His connection to the Force is stronger than almost anyone else I've met."

"Almost?" Damian asked.

"Master Yoda had a stronger connection," Kanan said.

"That makes sense," Damian nodded, just as he walked out into a massive, round shaft that extended up to the surface as well as far below them. There wee walkways around the sides of the chamber and stone bridges spanning the gap, but the bridge in front of them was broken off.

"Watch your step, Master Jedi," Saw said, chuckling. "It's a long way down."

Damian looked up at the surface, humming thoughtfully and tried calling Hera using his helmet's communicator. "Wraith to Ghost, do you copy?"

"I tracked the bug to this shaft, but it severed the bridge so I've never been able to get across," Saw said.

"How far down does it go?" Ezra asked.

"Thousands of feet," Damian said as he listened to his communicator trying to reach Hera over and over. "Probably more. Wraith to Ghost, come in Ghost."

"Wraith, I read you," Hera responded. "Where have you been Damian? What's going on?"

"We found Saw Gerrera, but his team is gone," Damian said.

"Gone?" Hera asked.

"Hera, listen to me," Kanan said, just as Damian was about to warn her about the droids. "There are operational battle droids here. Some patrol the surface. Better keep an eye out."

"Sabine and Zeb found a shield generator!" Hera said. "They're out there extracting the deflector core."

"Oh, the droids are not gonna like that," Damian said. "Call them and pass the warning. Oh, and we're hundreds of feet underground, so we won't be able to call you until we return to the room we're in, or to the surface."

"Hera, you have to warn them!" Kanan said, stressing his words. "Gerrera says that once the storm dies down, the droids will be coming!"

"Okay, I'll warn them," Hera said. "Good luck."

Damian disconnected and looked to the door across the shaft from them. "I'll bring Rex and Gerrera with me. Kanan, Ezra. You two head over and be ready to defend as needed."

Both nodded just as Damian sensed the Geonosian on the far side of the cavern. Kanan opened his mouth to ask about it, but Damian held his hand out to stop him, then swung it toward the door.

"He's there," Damian said calmly, trying to calm the Geonosian. "We're not going to hurt you."

Just then, Chopper's light flicked on and found the Geonosian, who shouted at them in his native language before pressing a button on a small metal object in his hand.

"Dammit Chopper!" Damian snapped. "I almost had him calmed down!"

"Kanan, we've got a problem!" Hera said. "The droids have been activated!"

"The bug did it!" Ezra said.

"Sabine and Zeb are in trouble!" Kanan said. "Let's go!"

"We're not leaving without that bug!" Saw snapped, stepping into Kanan's way.

"He's not as important as our friends!" Ezra said.

"You'll never reach them in time," Saw said. "We capture the bug, we shut off the droids, we save your friends."

"What do you think, Hera?" Kanan asked.

"It's a good plan," Hera said. "Get the bug."

"Ezra," Kanan said. "I'm sending you over there on three."

"Three," Damian said, hurling both of them at the door with the Force.

Both shouted in surprise, flipping and landing inside the door on the far side.

"Not cool, Damian!" Ezra shouted at him.

"Kanan, get ready to catch!" Damian shouted.

"Ready!" Kanan said, holding out his hand.

Damian hurled Saw first, Kanan catching him and bringing him to the door. A moment later, Rex followed as Saw took off running. Then, Damian sprinted forward and launched himself to the door. Ezra had taken off as soon as he landed, so Damian and the others ran after him quickly. After several minutes of following them, Damian finally rounded a corner in time to pull the droids' remote from where it lay on the ground, hitting the button instantly and shutting down the droids. The Geonosian screamed instantly, backing up against a pillar and trembling, letting out a warbling sound, like a soft crying.

"It's over," Ezra said.

"That's right!" Saw said. "We got you!"

"Put the blaster away," Damian said, pushing Saw's arm down and kneeling in between him and the Geonosian.

"Make it tell us what we want to know!" Saw ordered.

"Put it away!" Damian said more forcefully, glaring back at Saw. "Let me handle this without you scaring him half to death."

"He should be afraid of me!" Saw said.

"Put the goddamn blaster away!" Damian snapped, standing and turning on him. "I'm not asking you again! If you don't do what I tell you, I'll slam you into a wall so hard you don't wake up for a week, then complete the mission!"

Saw was silent for a moment before holstering his blaster. Damian sighed, turning and kneeling again, slowly extending his hand until it rested on the cowering Geonosian's head just below his eyes. He used the force to connect their minds, calming the Geonosian slowly.

"It's alright," Damian said. "We won't hurt you. I won't let Saw hurt you either."

Slowly the Geonosian began to calm down, the warbling noise it was making fading, though it continued to cower and look around at them all in fear.

"Rex, kindly escort Saw back to the shaft," Damian said. "He's scaring our new friend."

"Right," Rex said. "Come on Saw. He's got this handled."

Saw made no move to go anywhere, so Rex gripped his arm and pulled. Finally, Saw relented and walked back the way they had come, Rex following.

"Is that better?" Damian asked, smiling.

The Geonosian hesitated before nodding.

"Alright," Damian nodded. "Can you tell us your name?"

The Geonosian told them, sounding something like Kree-Crack Kree-Crack, but no one in the room spoke Geonosian, or were able to repeat what they'd heard, and what Damian understood through their connection didn't translate well.

"Yeah, I think I'm just going to call you Klik-Klak," Ezra said.

"Is that alright?" Damian asked.

Klik-Klak nodded.

"Okay," Damian said, stepping back and sitting down against another pillar, motioning for Ezra and Kanan to sit down as well, both complying.

Klik-Klak said something in Geonosian and poked Chopper's head, Chopper warning him that he'd fight him. Damian chuckled.

"Chill our Chopper," Damian said. "He was just saying that you aged well for a droid of your model."

"You can actually...understand him?" Ezra asked.

"Sort of," Damian said. "Not in the sense that I understand his words, but I connected our minds, so I can understand the meaning, more or less. Klik-Klak, can you tell us what the Empire was building here?"

Klik-Klak began to speak in Geonosian, talking about building a "metal moon," if Damian was understanding him properly, and reached down, drawing a circle in the sand, then a smaller circle inside the first and off to one side.

"Circle inside a circle?" Ezra asked.

"Anything, Damian?" Kanan asked.

"I've seen that," Damian said, frowning as he stared at the circles.

"The symbol?" Kanan asked.

"Not...no," Damian frowned before something returned to his memory before sharpening.

He had seen it. A half-built station with a satellite dish on it. A metal moon.

"Ooohhh," Damian breathed. "It's the space station."

Klik-Klak began to chatter excitedly, bobbing his head.

"What space station?" Kanan asked. "I don't recognize that symbol."

"That's because it's not a symbol," Damian said. "It's a drawing. Remember when we left Ryloth and we had to Lightspeed Skip?"

"Yeah," Kanan said. "We nearly died."

"Me and Zera stumbled across this," Damian said. "It was still under construction somewhere in dark space, and it was surrounded by more than twenty Star Destroyers. It could have fit them all inside, and going by it's shape, it was going to be spherical, and it had a satellite dish on it."

"Okay," Kanan said. "How do you know this is what it was?"

"Well, aside from being round with a round depression in it that looked like this, Klik-Klak described this as a metal moon," Damian said. "The space station looked like it'd be about the size of a small moon when it was done, maybe a bit smaller. This is what they were building. Then when they built it as much as they were going to here, they exterminated the Geonosians."

"That makes sense," Kanan said. "We should report back to Hera. Maybe we should bring him with us.

Chopper began to beep at them suddenly.

"Chopper says he detected an energy reading from the direction Klik-Klak was going," Ezra said. "Down below us."

"Is there something valuable down there?" Damian asked.

"This isn't the time for a salvage job, Damian," Kanan said as Klik-Klak was speaking hurriedly to Damian.

"It's not a salvage job," Damian said. "And he keeps calling it...the future?" He glanced at Kanan, who nodded. "Can you take us there?"

Klik-Klak nodded and the three Jedi stood, following Klik-Klak further into the tunnels. After a few minutes, they reached a small room with metal plates and scrap, tools, and odds and ends, like a pristine Clone Trooper helmet, around the room. Klik-Klak walked over to one pile of scrap and began to dig through it. As he did, Damian heard Ezra talking about a transmitter and glanced back, seeing him typing on a screen of some kind. Klik-Klak said something else and Damian turned as Klik-Klak held a brown rifle of some kind out to him, telling him he could have it.

"Look out!" Saw shouted, Damian hearing him drawing his blaster.

Damian spun, igniting his lightsaber and deflecting a half-dozen shots into the walls, protecting Klik-Klak. "What the hell are you doing, Saw!?"

"He's got a Sonic Blaster!" Saw shouted.

"He was giving it to me!" Damian snapped. "How many times do I have to tell you that I have this under control!?"

"Saw!" Rex said, putting his own blaster to Saw's head. "Put it away."

Saw snarled angrily, but holstered his blaster again. Damian retracted his lightsaber blade and put the holt back in its sleeve on his thigh, then turned back to Klik-Klak and knelt.

"Are you alright?" Damian asked.

Klik-Klak nodded, once again offering him the Sonic Blaster. Damian thanked him and accepted it before Klik-Klak walked over to a second pile of salvage and reached behind it, pulling out an egg that glowed softly with a yellow light.

"That's...an egg," Rex breathed.

"Oh," Damian said. "That's what he meant. It's the future of his people. It's a queen."

Klik-Klak nodded, holding the egg with himself between it and Saw.

"It's alright," Damian said. "We won't hurt it or take it from you."

"The Empire will, though," Rex said. "That's why we came back in. Hera radioed us. There's an Imperial Light Cruiser here."

Damian swore, looking at Klik-Klak. "We can't leave him here."

"I agree," Ezra said. "We should help him protect the egg. If we leave him here, the Empire might find him."

"We'll bring him back for interrogation," Saw said.

"Klik-Klak, follow us, alright?" Damian asked. "We'll get you out of here safely."

Klik-Klak nodded and they turned, running back through the tunnel, Rex telling them that Hera had agreed to meet them at the central shaft they'd passed through. As they ran, Klik-Klak chattered constantly, warning them again and again that they were taking the long way, but when Damian brought it up, Saw outright refused to follow Klik-Klak, so they continued. He also mentioned that he didn't want to die from the "bad air" the Empire used last time. Damian glance at him unsurely at that one before turning back to the front. He would leave that alone until the current Empire situation was dealt with.

Klik-Klak stopped suddenly, saying he wanted to go down a different passage, but he was outvoted by Rex, Saw, Chopper, and Kanan, so Damian promised him they'd be back. Klik-Klak nodded and continued to follow them. Finally, they reached the shaft just as the Ghost hovered down in front of the, filling the shaft so much that there was only a foot of clearance between the nose and thrusters and the wall of the shaft.

"Oh, now that is a tight fit," Damian said. "Points to Hera for managing to get down here without scratching the pain."

They all boarded the ship quickly. However, After about thirty seconds later, Saw shoved Damian away from Klik-Klak, sticking a small metal disk to the back of Klik-Klak's head before pressing a button on his right vambrace. Electricity arced over Klik-Klak instantly, his fear and pain spiking in Damian's own head through the connection he'd formed.

"Get in that shuttle, bug!" Saw ordered.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Damian demanded.

"What's going on?" Kanan asked as he and Hera rushed into the room as Saw electrocuted him again. "Saw!"

"I'm taking your shuttle, and I'm taking the bug!" Saw said, electrocuting him again.

"You're not taking our shuttle anywhere!" Sabine scoffed.

"You're not taking Klik-Klak to torture him either!" Ezra said.

"You don't need to do this!" Kanan said.

"Your methods are soft, Jedi!" Saw spat. "We lost the last war because of you! I won't lose another one! And I'm not trusting the word of some child who says he can read a bug's mind!" He electrocuted Klik-Klak again. "Now get moving, bug!"

Rex grabbed Saw under the arm, holding him back. "Easy there, soldier, you're not in charge here!"

Saw reached back, grabbing Rex by the bottom of his armor before hurling him over his head. However, as he electrocuted Damian again, Damian shouted in annoyance, using the Force to slam Saw into the wall, pinning him with his left arm out to the side and his right straight out in front of him.

"That is enough!" Damian thundered, pulling with the Force and taking Saw's vambrace off before pinning that arm to the wall too. "You are not going to continue hurting him!" Damian pulled the small device off Klik-Klak's head before making a fist, crushing both the device and its controller, Saw's entire vambrace being crushed into a ball. Then, he took Saw's blaster and his other vambrace and crushed those too. Just to be safe. "Ezra, get some binders. I've had enough of Saw doing what he wants."

Kanan nodded and Ezra ran out of the room, returning a moment later and holding out the binders. Damian took them with the Force, then bound Saw's hands between his legs before setting him on his feet.

"That aughta hold him," Sabine said.

Damian knelt, resting a hand on Klik-Klak's shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Klik-Klak thanked him for protecting him, hugging the egg tight to his chest. Just then, Chopper rolled into the room, shouting that the Empire had found them and was cutting them off. Damian swore.

"We've got rocket troopers inbound!" Hera said from the cockpit.

"Kanan, stay here and keep Saw from doing anything to hurt or scare Klik-Klak or that egg," Damian said. "Ezra, Sabine, Zeb, and I will handle the rocket troopers."

Everyone nodded and they all scrambled up tot he roof of the Ghost as it began to descend. Above them, the rocket troopers opened fire, only for Ezra and Damian to begin deflecting the blaster bolts away from the ship and the two non-Jedi on the top of the ship, Damian covering Zeb and Ezra protecting Sabine. As they fought, Damian quickly got tired of trying to deflect blaster bolts back into the rocket troopers, as they were moving around too fast to do it well. Finally, he drew his blaster as a trooper landed off to his left. Damian fired a bolt through his face, then deflected a blaster bolt into another. Rex suddenly began to man the Ghost's top cannon, blasting rocket troopers quickly. Sabine managed to get one just as Ezra deflected a blaster bolt aimed at the back of her leg into one. Zeb managed to hit one's jetpack and sent it crashing into the wall of the shaft. Finally, the last four retreated to several rock outcroppings above them, only for Rex to shoot one through it. The last three hurled detonators and Sabine shouted a warning. Instantly, Damian swung an arm upward, all three detonators streaking up and hitting their throwers' helmets before exploding. More rocket troopers began to fly down into cover and Damian grinned, looking to Sabine.

"What are you waiting for?" Damian asked.

"Permission to have some fun," Sabine said.

"Go crazy," Damian said. "Just don't bring the shaft down on us."

Sabine nodded and took off with her jet pack. She flew past the blaster bolts, landing behind two and blasting them, then blasted two more from across the shaft before hurling a grenade at one and blocking him up. Two pulled out their own grenades, so she shot them, setting them off instantly. Then, she took off again, shooting the last three before flying back down to the ship.

"Nice!" Ezra said, Sabine giving him a high five. "I want one of those jetpacks."

"I know," Sabine said, undoubtedly smirking behind her helmet, since she and Damian hadn't told him that the one Damian had stolen was being personalized for him.

Sabine walked back into the ship and Ezra pouted for a moment before following, along with everyone else.


Damian glanced at Klik-Klak. He was nervous. They had reached the bottom of the shaft, but whenever Damian asked him what was down there, he just kept saying whatever Geonosian word translated to "bad air." Finally, the door opened and everyone, including Saw, who was still cuffed in his awkward position, walked out of the ship, finding massive metal containers with the Empire's emblem on them, each twice Damian's height.

"Those cannisters..." Sabine said. "Imperial Weapons division."

"They're for poison gas," Saw said.

"Bad air," Damian said. "The Empire tricked the Geonosians into sealing their tunnels, then dropped poison gas in to massacre them."

Saw glared at Klik-Klak, who looked like he'd be crying, if he was a different race, then sighed. "You can let me out, now. The Geonosian belongs here. Those canisters are all we need to prove the Empire wiped out his people. Everyone loses family in war. The Geonosians deserve the same chance to rebuild his people that we do."

Damian waved a hand, Saw's binders falling to the ground before he knelt in front of Klik-Klak. "Chemical weapons can affect fetuses and eggs. May I?"

Klik-Klak held out the egg and Damian held it in his left arm carefully, as he used to hold Alina, then rested his right hand on it, allowing the visions in. There was a stab of pain as his headache returned, then images flooded his mind. For a moment, they were random, and he couldn't make sense of them. Then, he saw a Geonosian Queen that had somehow been fused to a portable droid factory, which was spitting out modified Battle Droids that looked like Geonosians. He focused, beginning to try and heal the egg. Light shone from his hand, and after a moment, the images faded, being replaced by a thriving hive of real Geonosians. He suppressed the images again, his headache fading slowly, and held the egg out.

"There," Damian said. "All better."

Klik-Klak thanked him, though he wasn't sure what exactly Damian had done. Damian held out his Sonic Blaster and Klik-Klak accepted it before walking over to a small pile of rocks off to the side.

"Where's he going?" Hera asked.

"I don't think this is the bottom," Rex said as Klik-Klak uncovered a small tunnel under a large flat rock. "Huh. They sure are a resourceful people."

"That they are," Damian nodded as he let the connection he'd made with Klik-Klak fade just as Klik-Klak lowered the rock back into place over the hole. "And now they have a fighting chance.

"What did you do?" Hera asked.

"The queen was sterile from exposure to the poison," Damian said. "I just repaired the damage. Now. How do we get out of here?" He looked up where the cruiser was blocking the hole.

"First, let's load some of these canisters as proof for the senate," Hera said.

Damian carried one over with the Force, Ezra and Kanan bringing another. Just as they got them in place for them magnet clamps to grab, the Light Cruiser blasted the edges of the tunnel, which began to crumble instantly. Then, blasts began to slam into the cruiser's shields. The cruiser began to turn to try and engage whoever was attacking, allowing the Ghost to angle upward and begin to accelerate up the shaft without worrying about them sending more debris down at them. Zeb and Sabine worked together to blast any debris in their path, but the cruiser was still over their exit. Everyone began to fire forward, just as the other ship began to rain blasts on them at a speed that only one ship could possibly have. Then, the Wraith's guns blasted the stabilizers on one side of the cruiser, sending it veering off to the side, allowing Hera to slip past it. Howevern as she did, Sabine reported they'd lost the canisters.

"Hey Ghost, you dropped something," Shaeeah said from Damian's wrist comm suddenly. "We went ahead and picked it up for you. They looked pretty important."

"Good job Shaeeah," Damian said. "Leave it to you to pull off a low altitude, midair pickup. Now do us a favor and make sure those Imperials don't tell anyone we were here."

"Will do, boss," Shaeeah said.

The Wraith began to fire on the back of the cruiser again, and after a moment, several explosions ripped out of the hull before a larger explosion blew it into multiple pieces, scattering them around the shaft, which collapsed a bit more but held mostly solid.

"There," Damian said. "I'm sure Klik-Klak will enjoy the salvage."

"Probably," Ezra said.

"Thanks for the assist, Wraith," Hera said. "Time to head home."

After a few more minutes, both ship had left the atmosphere and jumped to Hyper Space.


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