Author's Note: Sorry about the late update. Schoolwork came in and ruined my schedule, and I was also working on another project as well.
Chapter Three: Journey to Crait
/I've got a mission for you./
Ahsoka visibly sighed. She had only been awake for an hour since retiring to her quarters the day before, and she had been hoping to take a short break after the mission to Esseles. But it would seem that Bail wouldn't let her. She may be the head of Fulcrum, but even leaders needed a break every now and then. However, it was always unexpected when Bail called up with a mission. So when he did, Ahsoka knew that it must be important. Today though she would get a surprise.
/Can't I ever get a break Bail./ Ahsoka sarcastically replied.
/Not even for a moment./ Bail replied in a sarcastic manner as well, and after a short stare down through the holoprojector, both started to chuckle, which turned into a short but full-blown exchange of laughter. After a moment, Ahsoka had composed herself, as had Bail.
/Seriously though, what's the mission./
/Nothing too much, it's something you don't even have to do. All I'm asking of Fulcrum is that you send a team to the planet of Crait./
Ahsoka thought hard. She had never been to Crait, but she did remember the general description of the planet. A planet covered in salt and filled with vast caves of valuable minerals.
/I've never been to the planet./ Ahsoka admitted. /But I have heard of it. What do you need doing?/
/My sources have told me that there is an abandoned mining facility on the Northern continent of the planet. I want you to check it out, and, if possible, set up an outpost there to listen in on Imperial transmissions beamed around that sector of space.
/I understand./ Ahsoka said. /I'll head out there with Master Plo. If the facility is feasible, I'll call in reinforcements and set up that listening post./
/Good luck Ahsoka. Don't overwork yourself though./ Bail replied, a stern look on his face, before ending the transmission. With nothing else to do, Ahsoka grabbed her sabers and her blaster, as well as a fresh cloak that she had grabbed the day before. Leaving her room, she activated her commlink and heard a beep when the receiver picked up.
"Master Plo, head to the lower docking bay, we've got a mission," Ahsoka said.
"Understood, I'll be waiting for you to inevitably arrive." He replied before disconnecting the call.
With that done, Ahsoka headed off to the closest mess hall, grabbed a quick bite of breakfast and a cup of caf, before making her way to the lower docking bay, where she was met with the view of the Dorin Akul in all its glory, with Master Plo and R7 stood at the base of the boarding ramp.
"So where are we going?" Master Plo asked after greeting Ahsoka. R7 let out a whistle of beeps in greeting as well as Ahsoka patted his dome.
"We're heading off to the planet of Crait, by order of Bail Organa," Ahsoka explained. "There's an abandoned mining facility that Bail has pointed out to me. He wants us to check the facility out and if possible, set up a listening post there."
"Well then what are we waiting for then," Plo replied before he started heading up the boarding ramp.
"Come on R7," Ahsoka said, hearing a beep of acknowledgment as she walked up the ramp, and she internally reminisced at the noise R7 made as it trundled up behind her, reminding her of all the times she boarded the Twilight with R2-D2.
Closing the boarding ramp behind, her she took the short walk up to the cockpit and sat down beside Master Plo, who had already powered up the ship, with R7 setting up beside the astromech interface. Giving Master Plo a nod, he slowly piloted the Dorin Akul off the lower docking bay and up into the clouds. Before long, they had left the atmosphere and were passing through the defense fleet into open space.
"R7 set course for Crait," Ahsoka said.
The astromech gave a beep of acknowledgment and plugged in, inputting the co-ordinates for the system, giving off another beep in confirmation. Satisfied, Ahsoka turned to Master Plo.
"If we're all ready then let's go." She said.
Giving a nod in reply, Plo slowly pulled down the lever and Ahsoka watched as the stars elongated and she was met with the view of the blue swirls of hyperspace. In her mind though, she could feel a familiar presence somewhere in the ship.
"R7, you have control of the ship, signal us when we arrive," Ahsoka said, getting up out of her seat before walking down into the main section of the ship, hearing the droid beep in confirmation. Plo however looked at her, wondering slightly what she was doing. However, the force gave no warnings so Plo paid no notice of it, and got out of his seat, and headed off to his quarters.
Ahsoka followed the hum that came through the force, coming to a stop at her quarters. Entering and shutting the door behind her, she heard a hoot reach her montrals and she turned to face a now-familiar convor.
"Hello, Morai." Ahsoka softly said, bowing her head in greetings. Morai only hooted in reply, but through the force, she could faintly hear the Daughter's voice.
Hello again, Little one.
"It's been quite a while," Ahsoka remarked.
It has, the Daughter replied.
And she was telling the truth. She had seen Morai many times over the years, but hearing the Daughter's voice was a very intermittent thing to happen. The last time she truly remembered hearing her voice was back on Raada.
"So what brings you here. It's been a long time since I heard your voice."
My power is a part of you Ahsoka, I can speak to you whenever it's necessary, but as for right now, I speak to you because I have a warning for you.
"A warning?" Ahsoka replied, almost dumbfounded. What could've happened for the Daughter to reveal this, she thought. As she thought this, Morai had slowly approached her and cooed at her, and Ahsoka couldn't resist petting her. She had noticed the bird several times since Mortis but it had always been at a distance. But more recently Ahsoka had seen her more frequently and much closer to her, and she always had a comforting feel, which Ahsoka really appreciated. But she had always felt a connection to the bird, and after hearing the Daughter's voice on Raada, she now knew why and made her feel a lot safer. Her thoughts were interrupted by the faint voice of the Daughter.
Yes, a warning. Something will happen to you, something you won't like.
Ahsoka knew it would be fruitless if she asked what it was, but that didn't stop her from asking anyway.
"Can you tell me what will happen?"
I'm afraid I cannot, my Father's rules forbid me from revealing future events. But I have faith that you will overcome it. It is your destiny to help bring back balance to the force.
And that was it. One blink of her eyes and Morai was gone, the Daughter's voice along with it, leaving Ahsoka to ponder on the words of the Daughter in the small confines of her quarters. Knowing this, and knowing that they were still a ways out from arriving at Crait, Ahsoka took this as an opportunity to get some more rest, and she laid down on her bed, nodding off minutes later.
Ahsoka was woken up several hours later by R7, and she followed her faithful astromech up to the cockpit, and she had just sat down when Master Plo had pulled the ship out of hyperspace and the trio looked out onto the grey and white sphere of Crait. Master Plo flipped a couple of switches before turning to Ahsoka.
"So where is this abandoned facility then?"
"According to Bail, it's on the northernmost continent," Ahsoka replied, pulling out her datapad from a satchel. "This datafile here says that the facility is on the side of a cliff overlooking a large salt flat."
"Then let's start searching then," Plo replied.
The information that Bail had sent Ahsoka was quite helpful, however, the exact location was a mystery even to Bail's sources, which resulted in a thirty-minute search until Ahsoka and Plo had noticed the large hangar door carved out into the cliffside. Setting the Dorin Akul down in front of the large door, Ahsoka, Plo, and R7 left the ship and looked up at the imposing door. However, what made things frustrating was that there didn't seem to be an accessible entrance or any sort of controls for the door.
"How do you suppose we enter?" Plo asked. "I don't see an entrance or controls anywhere."
"Neither do I," Ahsoka replied, and she turned around and crouched in front of R7.
"R7 give the area a scan. See if you can find any controls or entrances anywhere."
Giving a beep in reply, R7 trundled forwards with his scanner extended while Ahsoka and Plo watched on. Minutes later R7 returned and his holoprojector activated, revealing a small map of the area with a small section of the cliff wall blinking in red.
"There appears to be a control panel here," Plo said, pointing towards the blinking area of red.
"Yeah, there is," Ahsoka replied, placing a hand to her chin. "What worries me is if there is even any power left for the panel to be useful."
Plo understood that, and he suggested that he get some power cells from the ship, an idea which Ahsoka agreed to. As he went off to do that, Ahsoka followed R7 to the location of the panel, arriving a short while later. Looking at the panel though, she knew it had seen better days. The panel was old, a couple of decades at least, with the corners covered in rust. Inspecting the panel she played around with the buttons and switches to see if there was any power left, and internally cursed when nothing happened. By this point, Plo had returned and with the power cells and several trials later, they managed to get the panel working and the trio had to move back while the door screeched and creaked as it slowly opened, allowing light to stream into the massive inner compartment. Once the door had stopped, Ahsoka and Plo made their way inside, R7 following behind. In front of them stood several large drill vehicles, transports, and digging vehicles which were all neatly lined up to the left-hand side of the room and were all covered with dust. The other side of the room was filled with large conveyor belts. At the end of the room lay a tunnel while to the left of that several viewports were visible. After the brief visual scan of the room, Ahsoka turned to R7 while Plo headed off towards the viewports.
"R7, see if you can get a geoscan of the entire facility and locate the power generator while you're at it," Ahsoka asked.
As R7 moved off into the tunnel, Ahsoka followed him, passing Plo in the control room as he tried to access any files that may have remained on the systems. The further the pair went into the tunnel, the darker it got, but Ahsoka could still see reasonably well thanks to her togrutan eyesight, not to mention the echolocation that her montrals and lekku offered. Not that it would have mattered much considering that R7 had his flashlight on and the walls glistened as small crystal fragments refracted the light from the flashlight. As Ahsoka looked on, she noticed R7 turning into another room. As she was about to follow him, she stopped upon hearing a distant shriek. Looking on into the darkness, she noticed a pair of eyes following her movements. Reaching into the force, she noticed that there were two more of the creatures, and she noticed that the force felt clouded around the group, as if they were afraid, or even in pain. She felt a nudge on her leg, and she looked back to see R7 beeping in concern.
"It's nothing R7. See if you can activate these generators."
R7 beeped something in reply.
"I'll be fine R7, just try and activate the generators."
R7 waited a moment before beeping a reply and he trundled back into the room. Pulling out one of her sabers, bathing the tunnel in white light, she slowly made her way down the tunnel, soon entering a small cavern, and she noticed the set of eyes again, now accompanied by two more. As her saber slowly illuminated the room, she could now roughly make out the shape of the creatures. They appeared to be some sort of fox, white in color and covered in a sort of crystalline-like fur. They had long bushy tails with the same fur covering it, and short snouts filled with small teeth. One appeared to be laid down with another beside it, the final one in front of them. As Ahsoka moved towards them, the closest creature backed away slightly, and Ahsoka now knew why. The one laying down was barely moving, only lifting their head every once in a while, to nuzzle with the one standing beside them. From where Ahsoka was, she noticed that one of the creature's legs was swollen and a reddish color, almost like a bruise. The one laying down was injured, and the others didn't want to leave it. Outstretching her hand, she slowly moved towards them, sending calm feelings through the force to them, and within seconds, they had all calmed down and let her through.
"Don't worry, I'll help out your friend here." She said to the creatures as she kneeled down beside the injured one, who lifted their head up for a moment before laying back down and letting out a whimper. Placing her hands on the creature's leg, Ahsoka closed her eyes and opened herself to the force. Picturing the wound in her mind, Ahsoka drew on the force and slowly, gently, let the force flow into the wound, internally wincing when the creature whimpered in pain. Continuing, she carefully healed the damaged nerves, then painstakingly healed up the creature's femur, which happened to be broken. After the bone was fixed, Ahsoka reduced the inflammation left in the leg. Opening her eyes, Ahsoka was met with the sight of the creature's fully healed leg. Standing up and moving to the side, Ahsoka watched on with happiness as the other creatures stood around the other as it tentatively stood up and took a few steps. Those few steps became a jog around the cavern and it returned to its friends, who nuzzled it in joy. All three then approached Ahsoka and rubbed their heads on Ahsoka's shin, and Ahsoka couldn't help but kneel down to pet the three of them. Separating, Ahsoka watched as the creatures moved off into an adjoining tunnel, but the one she had healed stopped to look back at Ahsoka, and Ahsoka could have sworn that she felt a connection with the creature when it had moved off out of sight.
Turning back, Ahsoka returned to the facility to find that R7 had indeed gotten the generators working as well as the lights, though the lights were flickering, and the little droid had now joined Master Plo in the control room, who hadn't found much in the systems except for an old map of the tunnels. As Ahsoka entered the room, Plo turned to face her.
"And where have you been?" he asked.
"I came across some crystal-covered foxes. One of them was injured so I used the force to heal them."
"Well, you didn't miss much. This map shows how big this facility is, and we probably only need a quarter of this space to set up the listening equipment." He noted.
Ahsoka examined the map. Plo was right. The tunnels stretched on for at least a mile or so in some directions, and there were several large cavernous structures littered around the place, though whether they were natural or carved out she wasn't sure, but she assumed that the scattering of caverns close to where they were now were man-made and would be suitable for the listening equipment.
"R7, pull up a map of the galaxy."
Listening to her instructions, R7 rolled to the side and activated his holoprojector, revealing a map of the entire galaxy.
"Zoom in on the systems around Crait," Plo said, and R7 turned off the projector for a moment before reactivating it again, revealing the systems around Crait. Ahsoka hummed in satisfaction.
"I guess Bail was right about this place being a good listening post.
"And why is that?" Questioned Plo.
"Look at the systems around us. Naboo, Sullust, and Eriadu are important worlds to the Empire. Naboo is the Emperor's homeworld, and both Eriadu and Sullust are important industrial worlds, with Eriadu also being Tarkin's homeworld." Ahsoka replied. Plo sensed anger and disgust in her voice when she mentioned Tarkin, but he paid no attention to it because he wasn't surprised by it. Tarkin basically wanted her dead and probably would have reveled in it if it did happen.
Turning off the holomaps, Ahsoka, Plo and R7 made their way back towards the entrance, stopping just before it to look out towards the Dorin Akul.
"R7 open an encrypted channel to Teth," Ahsoka said as they came to a stop.
Giving a beep of reply, R7 extended his comm array, and around a minute later they were met with the image of Cara.
"Sir." She answered upon seeing them.
"Cara, contact the fleet. Get them to send a tech crew to our location. We need to set up a listening post."
"Ye… ir… w..'ll get th… to you …soo… as… pos…e."
Ahsoka furrowed her brow in concern upon seeing the holo fill with static then cut out completely.
"What happened?" Ahsoka asked. R7 gave a beep in reply.
"Something's interfering with the comm signal." Plo stated.
Ahsoka was about to reply when something hit her arm. As she looked down at her arm, something else hit her chest, making a distinct ting against her armor plate. Looking out the entrance, she soon saw where these mini projectiles were coming from. All she could see was a wall of grey of what she could only assume was salt.
"Uhh, Master Plo, I believe that is what's causing the interference," Ahsoka said, pointing her finger towards the wall of grey. Following where she was pointing, Plo saw the wall of grey.
In the control room on Teth, Cara huffed in frustration as the signal cut out.
"Something's blocking the transmission." The comm operator stated.
"Do you know what?" Cara asked.
"No." The operator replied.
"I don't like this," Cara said under her own breath. It could just be a false alarm, with something natural happening like a cosmic storm, but then again it could be the Empire. She couldn't take the risk.
"Has the tech crew been notified?"
"Yes, they're already loading the equipment onto the transport. Should I tell them to hold off?"
Cara waited a moment to contemplate her options before replying.
"No. Tell them to continue and group up with the fleet. Contact Wolf squadron and get them in the air. And contact the Carrack's to prepare to jump into hyperspace."
"Yes sir." The operator replied as he relayed the orders through his equipment.
"We need to get inside," Plo answered.
"Why, what is it?"
"That, Ahsoka, is a saltstorm. Remain in it for too long, and you'll be mummified forever."
"But what about the ship?" Ahsoka said as more salt particles hit against her figure.
"I can go and get it," Plo said. "Just get into the control room and wait until I get the ship inside before closing the door."
"Ok, just be safe," Ahsoka said after a moment before she ran off to the tunnels, R7 trailing behind. Plo however ran the other way towards the ship. Getting on board, he ran to the cockpit, powering up the ship just as the storm started to pick up. Gently lifting the ship off the ground, he was about to maneuver the ship into the facility when he lost all visibility as the salt storm overwhelmed his position. Not knowing where to go, Plo closed his eyes and reached out into the force to guide him.
As Ahsoka and R7 reached the control room, the salt storm had just arrived at the facility's entrance and was at full force, and Ahsoka watched as the minerals within the storm scraped against the vehicles in the bay and chipping the viewport in several places. With her worry increasing for Plo's safety, Ahsoka was about to activate her commlink when the Dorin Akul burst through the storm and landed in the only open space in the bay.
"Close the blast door!" She heard through her commlink.
"Hurry R7 close it." She said.
Acknowledging, R7 plugged in, and the blast door started closing. As the door shut and the whirlwind within the room died down, Ahsoka left the room and stood anxiously as the boarding ramp lowered, relief overcoming her as Plo exited the ship unscathed. As for the Dorin Akul however, less so. The armor plating was covered in scrape marks and some of the plates were just outright missing, but luckily from what she could see none of the important stuff seemed to be damaged.
"Well we might be fine, but the ship will need to be repaired," Ahsoka remarked. Plo looked back at the ship.
"That's true, but considering it's still operational we can still leave this planet," Plo replied.
"Yeah if this storm lets up." Ahsoka sighed.
"Agreed. For now, though let's see what supplies we have on board."
"Ok, Master," Ahsoka said before turning to R7. "See if you can find a way to look outside the facility buddy. We need to know when this storm lets up so we can leave. And keep monitoring any transmissions in the sector if you can."
Beeping in reply, R7 rolled away while Ahsoka joined Plo on the Dorin Akul.
Captain Sykes watched as the view of hyperspace swirled past the viewport of the Slicer. What Cara had told him wasn't particularly pleasing. Losing contact with the leaders of Fulcrum could mean anything, but the possibility of Imperial contact could have been devastating to morale. Luckily Cara had kept this information close to only the oldest members of the organization which included the members of Wolf squadron, the men and women who now manned the Carrack's, as well as the higher-ups of the organization outside of Ahsoka and Plo, which included Sykes himself. Still, he couldn't think that this was an Imperial action. Whilst en-route to Crait, he had taken the time to read up on the planet's profile. He knew of the salt storms that ravaged the planet and he had theorized that one of these storms was the cause behind Ahsoka and Plo's holo interference, but he couldn't blame Cara for being so cautious. It didn't hurt to be safe during the time of the Empire, in fact, it was almost a good thing to be cautious. Hearing the door open behind him, he turned around to be met with the face of his bridge officer.
"We'll be arriving at Crait shortly sir."
"Thank you, Eres, I'll be up shortly."
Saluting, Officer Clark left, shutting the door behind him. Sykes waited a few moments longer before leaving the room himself.
Ahsoka finished looking at the floor map of the facility and made a mental note of what to tell the technicians when they arrive. It had been several hours since they had ended up stuck in the old facility, but during that time they had been far from idle. After checking the ship, and being thankful that they had enough ration packs and water canteens to last a week or two, the two had been shown the periscope that allowed them to look out onto the storm, which they took various shifts to observe the storm. While one kept watch, the other had spent their time working on shutting off certain tunnels, turning the maze of tunnels into a smaller number of specific tunnels that led to caverns of various size, and now Ahsoka was just finishing up the addition of the changes to the map Shutting the holo map down and adding it to a data chip, she left the control room and joined Plo and R7 over to the side of the vehicle bay, where Plo was looking through the periscope into the storm.
"How's it looking?" Ahsoka asked as she pocketed the data chip.
"The storm's starting to dissipate. I would estimate a few more minutes before it's gone entirely. I've instructed R7 to start broadcasting an encrypted signal that hopefully should only be noticed by our own ships." Plo replied as he turned away from the periscope.
"Well considering that Fulcrum has remained mostly unknown, then it's quite unlikely that the Empire would be able to pick it up," Ahsoka said.
"That may be true," Plo replied. "But we can't afford to be complacent in these times."
"I know, just trying to lighten up the mood," Ahsoka answered.
"If you're trying to lighten the mood then you've certainly gotten worse at it over the years." Plo quipped, and Ahsoka looked at him with a disapproving look and her arms folded across her chest. Plo simply shrugged.
"I'm joking Ahsoka, it's just that now is not the time to do such a thing."
"I know, I was just trying to make our predicament better," Ahsoka answered, optimism present in her voice. Plo missed that side of her, but now just wasn't the time.
"I know Ahsoka, but hopefully this predicament will be resolved soon enough."
"Ok, I'll take the next watch then," Ahsoka replied.
"Be my guest then," Plo said, gesturing to the periscope, moving to the side when Ahsoka walked up to it. Knowing that only one person needed to be there, Plo went off to the Akul.
Minutes later the task force left hyperspace above Crait, six ships in total, the pair of Carrack's, a pair of blockade runners, and two transports, and were being escorted by the ARC's of Wolf Squadron, all twelve fighters in all. Everyone present was half-expecting some sort of Imperial fleet to deal with, and they had brought ground troops to act as a boarding party if Ahsoka and Plo were indeed captured, but instead, they were met with empty space. But just because there wasn't an imperial presence here, didn't mean that Ahsoka and Plo were still here.
"Eres, are you getting any sort of beacon on the planet's surface?"
After checking his scopes, Eres turned around.
"It's very faint, but I'm getting an encrypted signal from Ahsoka's Astromech somewhere on the Northern continent."
"Then that's where they'll be. Stay on alert, we don't know if the Empire is here, so I don't want us getting comfortable."
"Yes sir." The bridge crew replied in sync before returning to their respective tasks.
The journey to the location of the beacon was simple but did take around half an hour. Setting down in front of where they assumed Ahsoka and Plo were holed up, Sykes departed the Slicer flanked by four soldiers, only to look up at the imposing shape of the giant hangar door.
Ahsoka had been looking out the periscope for half an hour now at this point and luckily the storm had fully dissipated, allowing R7 to start transmitting the beacon unhindered by any interference. Now they were just waiting for someone to reply to the beacon and arrive. But the past half an hour had been boring though. Ahsoka was already through her second ration pack by the time she heard the sound of thrusters outside. Looking through the periscope she saw the distinctive orange and black of the Slicer parked outside the door, and she could just make out the figure of Captain Sykes and four rebel soldiers walking towards her. She could also see the two Carrack's, as well as the transports, another CR90's, and the white and grey ARC's of Wolf Squadron spread out along the salt flat.
"R7 open the door. Master Plo, they're here!" Ahsoka said.
Hearing her, Plo exited the Akul, joining her by the door as it slowly opened, and they were forced to shield their eyes as the sunlight enveloped them and the room. As they became accustomed to the light increase, the two of them walked out, followed by R7, and met up with Sykes.
"Well, this place seems nice." Sykes joked.
"Yeah well the weather isn't exactly the best," Ahsoka replied. "We were hit by a salt storm when we contacted Cara, and we lost the connection."
"Well thank the force for that. We weren't sure what happened, so Cara mobilized a strike force to come and find you, even if that compromised the organization's secrecy."
"Well, we probably already compromised our secrecy after your mission to Esseles Ahsoka," Plo answered.
"True. Still, at least you took the necessary precautions should such an occasion arise Captain. The group can stay here as protection while we set up the listening post, and then once we finish, we can head back to Teth."
"Agreed. We weren't sure of your status, but we still brought along the necessary equipment to set up the base." Sykes responded
"Good, we can start right away," Plo said.
With nothing else to say, the group made their way back to the congregation of ships.
The group remained there for the best part of a day, ferrying equipment in, and ferrying minerals, other materials, and the vehicles that weren't needed out. They set up the listening equipment, and organized the area, setting up bunk rooms, a mess hall, and a small medbay with 2 beds and a bacta tank, and now they were in the newly set up comms room where they were now calibrating the equipment, with them all smiling when they caught an Imperial transmission within 30 seconds of the equipment being calibrated. That smile disappeared once they saw the information within the transmission
'Incident on Lothal. Local Rebel Cell spoke out against the glorious Empire before destroying the local Comms tower. Tarkin on site. Jedi captured. Emperor wants this dealt with.'
Everyone looked around once the transmission ended. Ahsoka bowed her head in resignation and dread.
"That doesn't sound good," Sykes said.
"No, it's not," Ahsoka replied. "Open a line to Teth. We need to know what's happened."
"Yes sir." The officer replied, and a short while later, they were met by the hologram of Cara.
"Fulcrum, it's good to know that you're safe." She commented.
"Yes, well we have you to thank for that. But we have a more pressing matter to attend to."
"I'm assuming you're talking about the issue on Lothal?" Cara questioned.
"Yes, we just intercepted an Imperial transmission on something that happened on Lothal," Ahsoka replied.
"They spoke out in a live transmission against the Empire to nearby systems. We managed to record the entire speech." Cara noted.
"Can you send it through?" Ahsoka asked.
"We can. It should come through shortly." Cara replied.
A minute later, they all heard a beep on the console as the message came through.
"Thanks, Cara, we'll listen to it now," Ahsoka said.
"No problem Fulcrum," Cara replied before she ended the transmission.
"Alright let's hear what the Spectres had to say," Ahsoka said to no one in particular.
"Agreed," Plo responded.
Sitting on whatever was around them, Ahsoka gave a nod to the console operator, who pressed a button, and they all waited for the message to start.
/We have been called criminals, but we are not. We are Rebels, fighting for the people, fighting for you. I'm not that old, but I remember a time when things were better on Lothal. Maybe not great, but never like this. See what the Empire has done to your lives, your families, and your freedom? It's only gonna get worse unless we stand up and fight back. It won't be easy. There will be loss and sacrifice. But we can't back down just because we're afraid. That's when we need to stand the tallest. That's what my parents taught me. That's what my new family helped me remember. Stand up together. Because that's when we're strongest, as one./
They all listened as the message crackled and turned into static, but everyone present had now heard what the Spectres had to say. Everyone was inspired by their words, but Ahsoka still had a frown on her face, her forehead furrowed in frustration.
"I take it your not happy," Plo commented.
"No, I'm not happy. This is exactly what I didn't want them to do." Ahsoka replied.
Author's Note: There's the chapter, I hope you enjoyed. Again sorry about this being so late, but like I said before, I had a lot of schoolwork, but I was also working on a new multichapter story. We're slowly getting closer to the Rebels Season two content.
Just hang in there, I'll try and keep these updates regular, but I can't make any promises.