Chapter 12

Planet Zeltros, Blue Palm Hotel and Resort

Kanan had sensed them coming. He'd already been on alert but his Jedi senses had told him that something was happening. However he still had to continue doing his job. It was an easy one however, with it being a relatively slow day around here.

His station was right in the front facade of the main building of the Blue Palm where guests arrived and checked into their rooms. This was where the main offices were located along with the most exclusive rooms and the parking garage. What he had to do was stay out front, help unload luggage and take turns with his fellow valets in driving the speeders people came in to the large parking garage that was three stories tall above ground and five stories down below ground. It was off to the side of the main blue colored glass building, with a large entryway marking its entrance and was guarded by a member of the large security team. It was disguised as a gardened terraced hill, with vast expanses of grass, flowers, trees, and gazebos where guests could reserve a spot for massages in peace and quiet.

It was shaped like a horseshoe, with the entrance in the outer bend of the shoe where it goes below ground. In front of it was the main party pool, with a large waterpark of slides, fountains, lazy rivers, wave machines and anything else that could be found in the galaxy. Scattered among that place were small islands covered in gazebos with palm trees and stages for bands and dancing. Swim-up bars and grills were also bordering the pool complex, and were always busy serving up the finest booze and food to their customers.

He'd been walking back to the front of the building after putting away a particularly expensive luxury speeder when the first boom and the sounds of blaster fire erupted. The ground shook as screams started becoming the most prevalent sound as people began running for lives in all directions. Kanan saw a shadow fall over him from behind and looked up to see the rotating orange craft come crashing down on top of the parking garage. Pieces of concrete rained down as the laser cannons of the craft fired into the hole its powerful mechanical arms created.

"Not the speeders!" Kana groaned after he leapt up and behind the cover of a brick wall.

He saw smoke rising in a thick black cloud.

Before he could do anything else however he saw a group of droids he recognized leap from the access hatch in the side of the ship. He counted at least twenty of them athletically fall to the ground, rolling with the momentum or their leaps and come up blasters blazing. He saw three of them shimmy down a water drainage pipe on the side of the garage with one arm holding their blasters in one hand as they fired in his direction.

"Droid Commandoes, can't say I've missed you," he grumbled as he looked around for a weapon, the only thing he found was a row of white metal tables outside one of the grill bars above the pool, "Fantastic."

The droids were now right on top of him, and Kanan realized he had to improvise. The droids had crossed the short expanse and were leaping or climbing up towards him and the guests behind him. He knew that he had a responsibility to protect the innocent and launched his own attack against these familiar foes.

Using the Force to lift up a table in front of him he launched it like an enormous sledgehammer at two droids in front of him as they opened fire on him. The white table flew straight and true, but didn't impact its targets. The two droids leapt over the table, rolling onto the ground and aimed their blasters at Kanan. He was ready for this, and held out his hands and wrenched the E-5 blaster rifles out of their hands and into his own, handles first and fired as soon as they were in his hands and created a red hole in the heads of these droids.

This wasn't an easy fight however, as soon as he'd fired one of the blasters was hit by a stray red blaster bolt that sent it flying from his hand. He turned as a third droid kicked away the second and last weapon he had in hand. The droid tried swiping with an arm that Kanan felt coming through his Force connection and caught the arm with both hands and then twirled himself and threw the lightweight droid commando and used the force to fling it through the air and sent it right into a thatched hut's roof twenty yards away. He looked back to his right as a fourth and a fifth commando jumped up and landed on the food court and prepared to aim at him.

But a blaster bolt struck one from behind, going through the back of commando's small head and then a familiar purple crackling staff practically ripped the next one in half. The owner, a very pleased Zeb, stomped on the top half with the point of his bo-rifle and killed the commando.

"Thought you could use some back-up," Zeb confidently called out as he tossed Kanan his belt with his blaster pistol and his lightsaber still attached.

"I could also use that," Kanan responded, taking his belt and fastening it around his waist as a few explosions thumped in the near distance.

"Seen the kids or Hera?" Zeb asked as Kanan grabbed onto his pistol, spinning it on his finger.

"Not since we left the house."

"I don't see Ezra's cleaning rig," Zeb noticed, "That's not good."

"No that isn't," Kanan responded, looking up towards the building, getting concerned about the lack of visual on his Padawan, "We can't do anything for him right now. But Sabine's on the beach and alone. We need to get to her and then find Ezra and Chopper."

"Yeah, got it," Zeb replied as a laser blaster from the ship in front of them struck the buildings behind them as they began backing away.

"Oh yeah, definitely heading to the beach," Kanan responded as more blasts hit the ground and sent tables flying.

Both Kanan and Zeb ran away towards the beach, running through a gap between a bar and the exploded restaurant. They ran to the railing over the pool as another blast cratered the ground behind them and jumped clean over it just in time to have the concussion lift them up into the air and shove them out into the clear water. Both Lasat and Human landed with a splash and had to scramble to the opposite side in the waist-deep water choked with pieces of debris. Thankfully there were no bodies to be found aside from a pair of black-armored Imperial Storm Commandoes laying on the concrete steps leading to the beach.

"Those aren't your average Imperials…" Zeb grumbled as they climbed out of the water and examined at the Imperials closely.

"Yeah, never seen Imperial armor like this before," Kanan agreed, looking at Imperials as he went up the stairs ahead of Zeb with his blaster pistol in hand.

Another set of explosions and blaster fire reached their ears as several familiar screeches from TIE Fighters roared overhead. The two of them knew they needed to find Sabine quickly, as the longer they were separated the lower the chances that they would find their young compatriots alive. It was a powerful motivator for the two Rebels, and it drove them forward through a tropical garden where several guests were hiding.

"Hey!" Kanan yelled upon seeing them, "Have you guys seen a human girl with blue hair and orange highlights? She was wearing a dress and bikini top when she went to work her shift."

"I haven't seen her," one of them said with a lot of fright in her voice, "W-what's happening?"

"I don't know, just stay here and stay down. Don't go near those droids," Kanan commanded the young woman and her friends.

"Come on Kanan," Zeb suggested, and they returned to their quest.

As they ran forward Kanan commanded them to halt and then ducked down behind a high flower covered line of bushes. Kneeling down in the grass he shivered at the familiar noise of the clanking and metallic steps of what could only have been droid commandoes. Zeb growled lowly as he adjusted his grip on his bo-rifle and brushed his hand against a branch and saw eight droid commandoes walking parallel to them amongst the rows of bushes, flowers, and palm trees. Their blasters were pointed and ready, held up at the droids' shoulders. Their white eyes glowed on their brownish gray bodies, and stood out like sore thumbs amongst the bright greens of the beach-side garden.

"Yeah, this is definitely familiar, not in the good way," Kanan growled as he reached for his lightsaber quietly, knowing how tough these droids always were.

"How tough can they be?" Zeb chuckled, but his question was about to be answered by the droids themselves.

As soon as he said that two droids leapt over their cover and landed behind them. Kanan lashed out his hand at the two droids right as they aimed their blasters at them. With the might of a focused force push the two droids went flying, crashing through a hedge ten feet tall. Kanan knew that this would not destroy them, and started firing at the droids as they got back to their feet, striking one right in the chest three or four times as the second one jumped back up and fired several bolts from his blaster. Kanan felt this coming through his connection to the Force and lit his saber as the droid fired and deflected the first shot up and away and then refocused the second blast into the droid's head.

As soon as Kanan had started dealing with the two droids behind them Zeb had faced the six commandoes and stepped in behind Kanan to cover his back. He aimed his bo-rifle and fired at the closest droid, blasting it at the base of the neck, severing it and causing it to lurch backwards and then fired at the one next to it as it aimed at him and struck it in the shoulder and caused it to bend over backwards. The droid recovered quickly, curling up and brought its blaster back to aiming at Zeb and fired. Zeb dodged it as best he could, barely missing being hit and fired again, this time striking the droid's blaster. The mechanical commando fell back upon its secondary mode of assault, hand-to-hand.

It leapt into the air, aiming a kick at Zeb, landing its foot against Zeb's forearm and kicked him, hard. This sent Zeb backwards into Kanan and both of them stumbled back onto the ground.

"Zeb!" Kanan yelled at having been knocked over onto the ground.

"What?! These ain't Stormtroopers!"

"I noticed!"

The droid then came back at Zeb on the ground but Zeb had his blaster ready and shot it in a vulnerable point underneath its chest as it leapt down at him and fell in a heap next to them as three more droids stood over them and prepared to fire. But as Kanan and Zeb took the sight in it changed.

All three droids flew off to the right as if cables had been attached and then yanked away. Zeb didn't quite know what it was, but the familiar presence let Kanan know who had just saved them. It was Ezra, and he wasn't alone. Sabine stood to their left, firing a stolen blaster rifle as the last pair of droids came towards them, striking both in the head and caused them to collapse immediately. Then a familiar orange astromech head leaned over them and wharbled to them in binary smugly.

"No Chopper, these aren't your average droids, don't get any ideas!" Kanan snapped at him as he got up and looked to see Ezra and Sabine standing there, acting equally as smug as Chopper.

"Needed some help I see," Sabine chirped as she turned to face them.

"Thanks," Zeb replied with an indignant grumble.

"Looks like you both owe us one now," Ezra said calmly as he smiled at the two older Rebels.

But they'd both just turned their backs on three droid commandoes. And Kanan and Zeb saw it immediately. Zeb grabbed Sabine and pulled her away and spun away as a shower of blaster bolts cut through the air. Kanan reached out and lifted Ezra into the air and tossed him into a large pond with a fountain still sending up a series of water arches into the air. As Ezra landed with a splash into the protection of that pond Kanan activated his lightsaber and deflected several blaster bolts. This caught all three droids' attention and they focused their fire on him. He had a tough time as he ran forward, unable to use his pistol as the focus required with three commandoes was so intense.

But thankfully he had Zeb. And Zeb was looking to trash these particular clankers and activated his rifle's staff and charged with a Lasat snarl and swung in a diagonal uppercut. His blow caught the droid unawares, and the impact pretty much destroyed the droid's skull and sent the light bodied droid flying straight up and on top of a massage gazebo with sparks flying from its head. And he wasn't finished, and attacked the middle droid with a hammer blow that struck it in the shoulder but the droid took it in stride, spinning with the blow and tried to bring its blaster to bear against Zeb's body. But as it swung its blaster arm Zeb's staff was there to block its movement and then Zeb spun his weapon, wrenching its mechanical wrist and twisted it around his bo-rifle and then lifted the droid up over his head and slammed it into the ground. But the droid wasn't done, and tried kicking up at Zeb but he grabbed the leg and slung it like a bat and crushed it against the trunk of a nearby palm tree.

The third droid's programming for anti-Jedi tactics kicked in and attacked Kanan head on. This one was different, on its back it had a vibroblade sword, a weapon commonly favored by droid commando commanders. It drew this weapon with one hand and held its blaster in the other, and attacked, trying to close the distance and give Kanan as little time to react as it could. He jumped up off of a bench, firing down at him, but using the Force Kanan leapt up at it, deflecting the bolts perfectly, and landed a kick into the droid's chest, sending it back and rolled backwards onto the ground and fired at him as he landed mere feet in front of him. Kanan deflected the fire, trying to knock the blaster fire back to this droid, but it caught the red bolts with its own vibrosword. With this sword it then attacked, swinging at Kanan from his right as the blaster fired at him from the left.

However Kanan pulled his coup de gras. He stepped into the attack, deflecting the droid's sword attack with his saber in his left hand across his body as he pulled out his pistol with his right hand and fired into the droid's chest, causing it to lurch back, giving it pause before it reacted again. But Kanan gave it no time to react and swung across its neck, slicing through the droid so quickly it stood there a moment with its eyes flickering.

"And that," Kanan chuckled, pushing the droid over and caused its head to roll away from its severed neck, "Is how we did it in the Clone War."

He turned to see both Ezra and Sabine with their jaws agape, absolutely amazed at the skill exhibited by their older team mates. Ezra was holding himself at the edge of the fountain, water dripping from his hair as he now started pouting at the fact Kanan had rectified his owing Ezra by saving him and Sabine pouted as well as Zeb held his arms over his chest chuckling at Sabine for saving her life.

"Fine, we're even," Sabine grumbled.

"Well technically you still owe me. You saving us just then got you even for us saving you on Davenport," Zeb pointed out smugly.

Then an explosion roared out as an Imperial shuttle, covered in flames, came crashing towards them and flew over them. They all ducked in time to feel the ground shake as the shuttle smashed into the beach behind them and then the Trident Assault Ships started lifting off in pursuit and several black armored Storm Commandoes with jet packs went right towards the crashed shuttle.

"Well, the day's not over," Sabine grinned with confidence as Zeb tossed her a familiar pistol belt with her preferred WESTAR-35's in the holsters. He'd been carrying them in a pack on his back all this time.

"Let's go," Kanan ordered them, "That isn't our fight."

"Oh um…did we mention that there was a…Tarkin here?" Ezra asked, but it was more of a suggestion.

"Well that explains a lot," Zeb responded, "Good thing I brought these then."

He reached into his pack and yanked out a handful of detonators and passed them out to everyone. Sabine grabbed several of them, hugging them in relief.

"Hello old friends, it's been too long," she said with relief in her voice. She hadn't blown up anything in such a long time.

"Fine," Kanan groaned, "We'll just check him out. See what happens and then alert Hera and get out of here."

He started moving towards the beach where the smoke from the crashed shuttle was rising into the sky. The group was soon confronted with a large crowd of Storm Commandoes surrounding a seriously mangled Imperial shuttle with a man in an officer's uniform standing amongst them giving orders back and forth with a blonde haired woman grasping onto his arm. They could see the black trail where the craft had impacted the white sand beach with one of its wings resting on the sand with hundreds of pieces of wreckage scattered along its path of destruction.

They could see that this Tarkin was a perfect specimen, tall, strong, and handsome. He also demanded presence, as the orders he gave to his unit of Storm Commandoes were quickly followed without hesitation. TIE Fighters dueled with the overmatched and outnumbered Tridents now, preventing them from attacking the Imperials. But even worse, the shadow of an Imperial Star Destroyer fell over them as it descended upon the battle. A cloud of TIE fighters buzzed the area as the ship settled in, keeping a careful overwatch over the island.

"That must be Tarkin's ship," Sabine suggested, remembering what she had been told by the bar tender earlier, before the attack had begun.

"And he wouldn't be returning to it," a new voice called out as the four of them turned to see five individuals come out of the thick brush the Rebels were hiding within, "If it weren't for you!"

The man talking to them was a human male. He was aiming a modified E-11 Blaster Rifle at them alongside a very angry Wookie with a Kashyyyk long rifle, a younger human girl with an elecrostaff, a pair of Kage Warriors, and a familiar Dathomiri that gave Ezra a wink as she aimed her plasma bow at him in particular.

"Karabast," Ezra grumbled.

"Hey we're on the same team here!" Kanan snapped, motioning to the other group to put down their weapons.

"No, we're not," the girl replied, "Anyone who defends these kinds of…trash," she growled, waving at the burning hotel behind them, "Is no friend to our cause."

"Those people were innocent, if you want to fight the Empire fight it!" Zeb snapped back at her causing the two Kage Warriors to point their weapons at his chest.

"That's rich coming from a Lasat," the guy chuckled, "You know better than anyone what kind of fight this truly is."

A pair of TIE fighters came screeching overhead, alerting them to the fact they were not in the best of spots to be having this discussion.

"Killing civilians is not how the Empire will be defeated," Sabine responded, "You're only feeding their propaganda machine. We try to battle them calling us terrorists and here you are doing exactly what they want you to."

"There are some things that are absolutely necessary but morally unacceptable," the girl growled back.

"We're willing to do what has to be done to win!" the Dathomiri said calmly, "Think very hard if you're willing to do the same."

"The Empire is willing to do so, and so are we. The next time you get in our way, we will do what we have to. This is your first, and last warning," the man growled right at Kanan and then turned to his team, "There'll come another time. Let's go."

They all backed away as the Ghost crew stood there, weapons pointed at each other before the others backed out of sight into the bush and disappeared.

"Uh…Kanan, who were they?" Ezra asked.

"They're as close to terrorists as there can be fighting the Empire," Kanan replied with a sigh, "I've seen it before. I didn't want to believe that they'd survived through the Clone War."

"You're not thinking of who I think you're thinking? Are you?" Sabine quietly asked, her eyes as big as saucers.

"I'm afraid so," Kanan responded, "Anarchy Squadron."

"Who's Anarchy Squadron?" Ezra demanded.

"They are the people who just attacked myself and my wife."

The Ghost crew turned to see the subject of all this fighting standing behind them with a black armored cuirass like his Storm Commandoes with an officer's insignia upon his chest. Its rank signified him as a Captain, but his family name gave him an all-powerful authority greater than that of any lowly Imperial Captain. This was Captain Andru Tarkin. He was blonde haired, cut short and military-like and his eyes showed a deathly serious intent that the Ghost crew knew belonged to such men. He was aiming a DH-17 Blaster Pistol at them alongside a ring of Storm Commandoes. There was no way out of this one, that was the only thing that they all agreed upon.

"Yet, you fought them and their droids. And in the process you probably saved my life, the lives of hundreds of people, and more importantly, my wife," Tarkin listed out, "Intriguing."

"Sir," one of the Storm Commandoes piped up, "The hotel tour barge is on approach."

"Let it come. They'll need it if they're going to be getting back to their ship," Tarkin said calmly, greatly surprising the rebels.

"There's no way you're letting us go."

"You're right I didn't. My commandoes successfully drove off a terrorist attack upon this hotel and myself. The terrorists escaped and several employees went on vacation while the facilities were being rebuilt," with that he turned his back on them, "Saving my wife has earned you mercy," he said to them, "It shall not be shown again."

The Storm Commandoes lowered their weapons and followed their commander back to the large group gathered on the beach as a new shuttle started its approach and the familiar form of the white and blue barge made its appearance known by flying overhead and the comm link on Kanan's belt called out.

"Spectre One! You okay?"

"Spectre Two, Spectre One, we're alright, meet us back at the condo, we're leaving."

The group turned and started running back towards their condo and Sabine couldn't help but sigh in disappointment.

"Well, so long Zeltros, we're gonna miss ya."

I shall miss this planet too. But if you're gonna say good bye to a chapter ark it had better be one like this. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was long overdue I'm afraid but I'm glad I got it done. The next chapter ark will be set in Season 2 so Ezra will have a lightsaber and Sabine will have her hair in that turquoise color instead of her orange one.

Also, what did you guys think of the new episode tonight? I really like Kallus as a character, and I really hope they develop him some more, potentially having him go from loyal servant to informant to perhaps a rebel himself. But I'm not holding my breath for anything huge this season. If anything's going on with him it will happen next season.

Next Chapter Preview: A new adventure that I have yet to decide on. But it has to do with Star Destroyers.