"As a veteran TIE pilot, I understand that the Rebellion is a vile movement against the true government, but in all honesty I have to respect the aggressiveness and ability of its pilots. Though most of them have not been formally trained, their experience in battle has more than made up for it."
―Flight Leader Trel Skutu
MANDALORE
The trap is set... Kanan stood idly on the burnt sand, waiting... They'd been planning this for two days now. And now their target is being transferred from a different prison to Saxon's star destroyer hovering outside the capital city of Sundari.
A nearby explosion signaled the start of the attack: Rau and Countess Wren's diversion has begun. The smoke quickly rose to the air like a squadron of TIE Fighters deployed from a carrier.
Now all that they needed was the caravan of hovering vehicles they planned on ambushing...
It didn't take long. The caravan arrived quickly, consisting of an Armored Assault Tank (AAT), speeder bikes, jump troopers, Mandalorian supercommandos, and the main transport. The transport itself was a HCVc A9 Juggernaut; an Imperial turbo tank stripped of most of its weaponry to make space for command equipment and prison cells. This one only had one prisoner: Ulrich of Clan Wren and House Viszla.
Kanan waited for them to approach, deflecting blaster fire. One of the deflected shots hits a scout trooper square in the chest, killing him instantly.
Sabine activates her jetpack, stealing a speeder from one of the scout troopers. Once she achieves stability on the vehicle, she activates the darksaber. The jet black plasma of the blade cut an intercepting speeder bike in half with a single swing.
Chopper, as planned, positioned himself at the front of the juggernaut and attached an electromagnetic pulse charge. Mechanically chuckling to himself as he flew away, he activated the charge. The juggernaut halted almost immediately; its wheels no longer able to function. The turret on its dorsal hull being used to attack the agressors ceased firing, and the gunner manning it was knocked out by the shock.
Bo-Katan and Rex agreed on a plan as they hovered in front of the juggernaut.
"I'll take the two on the right." Rex said, raising his twin DC-17 blasters.
"I'll take the two on the left." Kryze said, before turning to fire at her selected targets.
Bo Katan took the two supercommandos out quickly and efficiently, her yellow blaster bolts punching through the weakest places in the beskar armor.
Rex's less powerful blue blaster bolts, which were use most effectively against droids, took multiple shots to kill a supercommando. The second one was facing away from him to fire at Korkie, giving the old clone a good shot at his jetpack. Once the jetpack was shot, the man was thrown into the durasteel walls of the juggernaut by the chaotic movement caused by system failure.
Meanwhile Kanan used the Force to jump on top of the downed Juggernaut. A hatch opened, dropping inside...
Several stormtroopers aimed at him. "Drop your weapon..."
"Oh I have another idea." Kanan smugly said. Swinging his lightsaber's plasma blade, he proceeded to cut all of their E11 blaster rifles in half. All the others saw was a massive side hatch opening, and the stormtroopers being flung out.
"Captain, the propulsion systems are online..." An Imperial combat driver began to press on the controls, reactivating the wheels Chopper disabled.
"Ahead full. We need to escape them..." Captain Hark yelled into his comlink. He was the last line of defense to the small prison cell at the back of the massive armored tank.
The small room became cloaked in blue light... The heat of the Jedi's lightsaber sliced through the thick durasteel bulkhead, which was build to survive direct attacks from starfighters. The air began to produce a suction effect; the chamber now exposed to the outside.
"You will not escape with the prisoner, Jedi... Your treachery has brought chaos to Mandalore..." That was what Hark wanted to believe... The Jedi were the most hated people in the Galaxy following the Clone Wars. The fact that they survived the purge was reason enough for many worlds to bend the knee to the Empire. Most clans blame the Jedi for starting the tyranny of the Empire, Clan Hark included.
Kanan didn't respond to the supercommando's remark. He simply lifted him from the ground, demagnetizing the man's boots. He didn't think twice before letting him go, only for the Imperial to be sucked into the juggernaut's slipstream. It was obvious that the captain would survive, after all.
Chopper made an extremely long set of grumbled warbles as he flew towards the Juggernaut once again. In his manipulator arm was another ion mine, which he set in the heavy tank's path. He laughed as the mine detonated, making a spectacular discharge of static electricity. The tank's controls were fried for a second time, bringing the vehicle to a permanent halt.
"Are you with Sabine?" A man bound in the cell said... Ulrich Wren...
"I'm a close friend." Kanan said, deactivating the cell's force field...
Outside the juggernaut, the others face heavy fire from the AAT, which avoided both ion detonations. It was impervious to all their strategies. Sabine's paint bombs couldn't work because it lacked windows, the ion mines didn't work on hovering vehicles, and the rest of their weaponry can penetrate its thick durasteel armor.
They hid behind the juggernaut, which had armor that can resist the AAT's heavy artillery. The AAT's firing blast became a constant rhythm, as it attempted to break through... Until it suddenly stopped.
The team used their jetpacks to jump to the top of the vehicle to see what went on. A cloaked figure was cutting through the AAT's top hatch with a green lightsaber. They watched as he pointed to the two combat drivers inside, silently ordering two small probe droids to shoot them in the back...
"Who could that be?!" Sabine exclaimed, as she watched the droids climbed onto the figure's shoulders... They then watched as it jumped onto a speeder bike positioned at its left flank—a blind spot—and drove away at a freakishly high speed...
The noise of another jetpack firing took their attention... Captain Hark was getting away.
Hark answered a transmission from Sundari; a message from Saxon. "Captain Hark, is there trouble with the prisoner."
"The renegades and the Jedi attacked my convoy, and were able to liberate Ulrich Wren." Hark replied, changing his direction to fly towards the nearest Imperial outpost. There he could get a ship to take him to the Relentless...
The static made it difficult to glean Saxon's tone, but the words remained...
"They have planned well... Withdraw all forces, I am going to deploy the weapon... Before the end, they will all kneel before the Duchess."
Hark couldn't believe it... He hoped that Saxon would only build the weapon as a way to force the renegades into submission; he didn't think Saxon would be treacherous enough to use the weapon. Such a device is an insult to the Mandalorian way, for Hark believed in defeating his enemies in single combat.
The renegades carefully landed inside the blast-charred turbo tank. At the end of the door stood Ulrich, who was speaking to Kanan.
"Thank you, Master Jedi."
"Father..." Sabine's words caught his attention... He had not seen her in years, since before she left for the Academy... When she removed her helmet, he began to reminisce of the long days where he painted with her, and those times when he attempted to train with her... That was always Ursa and Tristan's specialty.
"When I got word that you had returned... I did not believe it..." He thought she would never stand to face the dishonor she brought to herself and her family... The Sabine he knew would always find a way to avoid her troubles, but it was obvious to him that she had grown...
"And..." She simply stood, waiting for a harsh lecture on Clan Wren's honor... Or a remark saying that she was a traitor... But she was genuinely surprised when he walked forward and hugged her...
"Sabine, you are my daughter..." She struggled to process what went on at first, but finally began to hug back... She's finally healed her old wounds...
"I was pleased then, even more now..." He looked at her artwork, which decorated her armor beautifully... "Your artwork has progressed... Your use of color and line is better."
"Better? What do you mean better? It's great..." She missed these conversations deeply... It was wonderful to speak to someone knowledgeable in art for once (that isn't Lando).
"I-It's getting there... Your design aesthetic is still derivative of the pre-exile masters..." Rex and Kanan looked at each other with slightly confused looks under their headgear... Sabine had never spoken about art in such a complicated way before... Not since Lando, and sometimes Ezra brought up the topic.
"Tojan was an influence obviously, but I made it my own... I thought you had a sharper eye..."
Rex quickly cut off the discussion... "I see where she gets her creative side..." He said to Kanan.
"Oh no, Captain Rex, Sabine gets her artistry from her mother. Ursa knows how to destroy her enemies in so many spectacular ways." The name drop immediately worried the clone.
"How do you know who I am...?" The clone was confused...
"I've studied the use of Mandalorian symbols in clone decals... You are the only trooper to have jai'galaara'la sur'haii'se (jaig eyes) in that specific shade of blue..." The trooper was impressed by the amount of detail the man knew...
"I must say, your eye for detail is like that of a shriek-hawk..." Shriek-hawks were the creatures that inspired jaig eyes in the first place, known for their extraordinarily sharp vision... "If you were a warrior you'd be an excellent sharpshooter."
"We need to get moving, we're too exposed here..." Bo Katan had to end the party. Imperial troops were most likely on their way to secure the convoy... A single strafe run from a TIE/sa bomber can destroy them all in one swoop.
Rex tapped into his comlink. "Countess Wren, we've rescued your husband... Ulrich's free."
The staticky response came quickly. "Then we have two victories today. Saxon's forces are dwindling far more quickly than we anticipated. Rau's team is staying behind to finish them off..."
Tristan's voice cut in to the feed. "Looks like we've got an incoming Imperial transport. The rest of Saxon's forces are retreating from Rau's position on the plains..." Sabine considered the possibilities of the transport's presence...
"Reinforcements to cover their retreat?" She asked...
"They've deployed a single scout walker... With no other support." Tristan report, followed by shots from his dual blaster pistols. "It's moving into attack position..."
"Laughable," Ursa remarked... A single scout walker won't survive multiple hits from their rockets. "Rau's team will destroy it within seconds. We'll go to the rendezvous point immediately."
A high-pitched humming overwhelmed the static... Sabine's worst fears have been realized in a matter of seconds...
"That sound... Mother! Tristan! Tell Rau to get out of there now!" The humming ended abruptly, as if it were a weapon charging and firing...
"Mother! Tristan!" There was no response. Whatever that was must've cut off their communications... or worse...
The explosion can be heard even from there...
"What is that?" Rex asked...
"No..." Sabine could simply say, before activating her jetpack... She began to fly to Clan Wren's position. The rest followed, but Kanan and Ulrich were forced to ride a speeder bike to the destination...
Base One, Yavin IV
The Rebel generals stood at the end of the hangar... Watching the massive Incom cargo ship hover above them...
"Senator, I must ask what the cargo ship contains." Hera asked. The Incom Corporation always provided something useful for their cause. They provided U-Wings to many rebel cells, such as the infamous Partisans led by Saw and the newer Lothal group led by Ryder.
"Senator Organa secretly purchased several shipments of the Incom Corporation's T-65A2 X-Wing starfighters. Along with older ARC-170 starfighters." Mon Mothma said to Hera and the other Generals. "We provided this information only to General Dodonna, to preserve its secrecy. Due to the Empire's threats of placing stricter control on the Fresian company."
"I was unaware that the Fresians actually manufactured the X-Wings prior to nationalization... But I did read the plans Voorhoorian provided for a T-65B XxWing starfighter. I assume we are stealing that model from the Empire's facility." General Draven questioned, reading his datapad on Incom intel...
"Correct, General. Voorhoorian has stated that the T-65B is fitted with cutting edge technology, which can provide an advantage over Grand Admiral Thrawn's TIE Defender." It was rare to see Mon Mothma speak so passionately about an object that could be used for war, which she despised... But it can be assumed that she saw that they were necessary for the Rebellion's very survival. After all, there will be no peaceful resolution between the Empire and a pile of ashes.
"Senator, transports from Ryder's cell have landed in Hangar C." The Senator's assistant reported to her.
"I'd like to speak with them. We will need all we can to capture the shipment leaving Lothal..." Mothma said... "That includes your crew, General Syndulla. Inform them that they are to return to Base One when their mission to Mandalore has concluded. For now, we simply gather our forces..."
They watched the engineers carry the space superiority fighters out of the massive cargo ship on repulsorlifts. Perhaps they are ready to fight...
-Who is the mysterious figure?
-The I'm gonna make major edits to the "In the Name of the Rebellion" arc to involve Lothal and X-Wings. It'll bridge directly with "Occupation"/"Flight of the Defender".
-The next chapter has Darth Vader and a few other important Imperials...
-Please leave a review. I usually answer questions via pm, so people can see my little quotes.