Star Wars: Rebels: The Rising Darkness
Disclaimer: Star Wars Rebels and all Star Wars characters and Lore are not my property, as they are all owned by Lucasfilm and the Walt Disney Company.
A/N: Now is where the combat situations we've come to expect in Star Wars kick off in earnest. Now enjoy, my most respected readers!
Chapter 6: Cold Steel
Inside the sublevel storage room in the Imperial base, Sabine used her holodevice to try and contact General Dodonna, who had been out of contact with the group since the briefing at the Freedom Coalition HQ. Admittedly, both the teenage Mandalorian and her slightly younger Padawan companion were eager to establish the general's position so they could complete the mission and leave as soon as possible. After a few long moments of uncertainty, finally the older man picked up on the other line.
"General Dodonna, we've successfully infiltrated the base. What is your location and what is the quickest way to reach it?" Sabine asked the aging military leader without delay.
"I'm relieved to hear you made it through the tunnels. The Grand Inquisitor himself has taken command of my troops and placed the entire base on high alert. Fortunately I remember enough of slicing from my days in the field to be of some assistance; I was able to cause a blackout in the security mainframe. None of the visual cameras or autoturrets are currently online, but I can't guarantee how long before someone corrects the problem. I'm currently in the officer's lounge, within sight of the landing platforms. I recommend we take my personal shuttle, currently fueled and ready for takeoff. I doubt one of my usual pilots will willingly aid in my sudden departure. Is one of you a pilot?" as Jan Dodonna inquired with his would-be rescuers, Ezra looked over at Sabine and nodded reassuringly.
"Yes, I have sufficient piloting skills, but we'll need to move out of range of any anti-air defenses quickly," Sabine replied readily.
"Is the Grand Inquisitor currently inside the base?" Ezra asked, wanting to know what to expect up head.
"That's a negative, fortunately. He departed back to his flagship in orbit not long ago, but I have no idea how long he'll be gone. He's not exactly keeping me in the loop, not a good sign," Dodonna replied cautiously.
"What do you mean?" Ezra inquired, confused.
"It means this new Grand Inquisitor may suspect Dodonna means to defect and isn't letting him know his plans. Either way we need to move fast and get out of here before he comes back," Sabine told her teammate explanatively. Dodonna began using a datapad he had with him, addressing them as to add on to his previous update as he did so.
"Be warned, while he may not currently be planetside, he left his personal assassin droid. I've never seen it in action personally, but I've read the reports. The thing is a literal killing machine. I recommend you take the turbolift down the hall to the right of your current location. I'm transmitting an upload of the base's schematics to your rangefinder, young Mandalorian. Follow the route I've highlighted and you'll find me in no time. We'll break out together once we meet up."
Raising a hand to her rangefinder on the left side of her helmet, Sabine verified she received the upload. Ezra could swear he was now hearing footsteps approaching the room from outside, and his eyes widened as he reached out with the Force to confirm his suspicions.
"I've got the schematics, thank you, general. We'll move out immediately," Sabine informed the older man.
"I look forward to meeting your team in person. General Dodonna, out."
With the holocall over, Sabine noticed the concerned expression on Ezra's face. Placing her holodevice away, she faced him as she spoke.
"Ezra, what is it?"
"Shh, Sabine! There's at least a full squad outside the door!" Ezra whispered hurriedly. Sabine gave a silent nod as she understood, knowing at this point not to question the senses of a Jedi. She was already formulating a plan as she reached down into one of the two larger pouches wrapped around her waist.
Outside the door, a full squad of troopers stood ready to storm inside the room, their blasters locked and loaded. HK-47 stood behind them, a repeating carbine in his own hands. The ancient assassin droid eyed the door with his photoreceptors, as if he was analyzing what the two intruders were doing beyond it.
"Observation: the infiltrators know we're here, otherwise they would have exited the room already to continue with their mission. Exclamation: we have them cornered! Get in there and blast them to beautifully charred husks!
"You heard him, men, inside! Take 'em down!" the sergeant ordered. The door flew open once he entered the access code and his squad stormed in, blasters blazing. However, it was quickly apparent to the troopers that they weren't hitting anything but the walls and the crates. "Cease fire! Cease fire!" the sergeant commanded, and his men obeyed.
Once the steam from the carbon scoring dissipated, it was clear the squad was surrounded by electromagnetic pulse detonators, placed on the stacked crates around them. The rapid-paced pinging and flashing of the red lights on each signified activation was imminent.
"Fall back! Fall-!" it was too late. The detonators were set off with a single push of the button atop the handheld plunger Sabine carried with her. The electricity quickly shocked the entire squad into unconsciousness, their startled screams muffled as they lost feeling and fell to the floor. HK-47 payed the disabled unit no need, dismissing them without remorse from his safe distance outside the room.
"Mockery: foolish organics; always such fragile, inferior beings," as he finished, Sabine and Ezra both ran out of the room at that moment, only to find the vicious mechanized killer waiting for them. The teenage Mandalorian wasted no time drawing both her pistols as the young Padawan drew and ignited his lightsaber. "Observation: it is quite apparent that you meatbags have hostile intentions. Assessment: this is going to be fun," as HK scanned his opponents, he raised his carbine to them, keeping a finger ready on the trigger. Ezra narrowed his eyes at the sight before him.
"You must be the Grand Inquisitor's droid. We didn't come this far to be stopped by the likes of you!"
"Clarification: I must disagree, meatbag. While my memory core may be currently damaged, I can still recall slaughtering more than a fair number of Jedi and Mandalorians over the centuries. Addendum: two more won't be a problem."
"Bold talk for a droid!" Sabine retorted as she began firing.
With amazing reflexes, HK dodged her shots as he began firing as well, his carbine rapidly discharging smaller but more frequent blaster bolts. Ezra stepped in front of Sabine to block the incoming blasterfire with his lightsaber before thrusting his free arm out in a Force push. To his surprise as well as that of his female teammate, their mechanical adversary instantly countered by magnetizing and locking his feet down on the metal floor beneath them, not moving an inch as he kept firing, forcing the two to stay on the defensive in the narrow corridor. HK dodged every deflected bolt to return in his direction while analyzing the combat performance of Ezra and Sabine.
"Assessment: target revaluation complete! Calculating optimal termination parameters!"
Ceasing his barrage of blasterfire, within milliseconds HK lowered his right wrist as a concealed flamethrower emerged from his forearm. A hissing noise signified the release of a jet of flame, which projected outward at his organic foes.
"Ezra!" Sabine called out to her slightly younger teammate who remained in a defensive stance in front of her. He extended his free hand in another Force push, this time dispersing the flames the instant they came close.
With his foes pinned down by the blazing onslaught, HK steadily began to approach them, keeping the fire pouring out in their direction. As he neared their location, a single autoturret emerged from its concealed perch in the ceiling above, immediately taking aim and firing at the ancient assassin droid. HK immediately had to stop his assault to dodge the incoming blasterfire, and both Ezra and Sabine quickly understood.
"It's Dodonna! He's directing the autoturrets to assist us!" the young Padawan told the teenage Mandalorian just above a whisper.
"Yeah, but we need to move!" Sabine replied urgently, noticing that while avoiding the turret, HK had pulled out and primed a thermal detonator.
"Mockery: hey meatbags, catch!"
Throwing the primed grenade through the air, both Ezra and Sabine took off in the opposite direction down the corridor. The explosion went off in mid-air, easily disabling the turret above. A short distance away, the two Rebels just barely avoided the blast, but the shockwave sent them both tumbling to the floor. Emerging from the flames behind them, HK-47 moved in for the kill.
As the infiltration continued inside the base below, up in orbit in one of the main hangar bays on board the Furious Vengeance, the Seismic Bomb was firmly secured in place on the Imperial gunship prepped to carry it into the atmosphere. Four more gunships along with an escort squadron of TIE fighters were also being readied for deployment, all for the purpose of keeping the gunship carrying the bomb under sufficient guard. Grand Inquisitor Nachtgeist stood ready to board said gunship with two troopers as other units moved to board the other gunships. Up on the bridge, Vice Admiral Thrawn relayed instructions to the deck officers.
"Bring us down into the upper atmosphere. The gunships are ready for deployment."
"Yes sir!" one of the officers replied without delay.
The sublight engines flared up on the stern of the Imperial flagship, and she slowly began to maneuver out and down from the rest of the blockade, making way for the cloudy sky over Worlport. It was only a matter of moments before the Furious Vengeance entered lower orbit.
Back down inside the sublevel corridor in the Imperial base, HK took aim at Ezra, having calculated that the young Padawan presented a higher threat level than the teenage Mandalorian. Before he could fire, the ancient assassin droid had to dodge another blaster bolt. Sabine had gathered enough of her wits to recover one of her pistols and pull the trigger.
"Observation: Your stamina is impressive for a meatbag, female. Addendum: I'll have to fix that."
Momentarily distracted by Sabine, HK didn't see it coming when Ezra used the Force to throw him into the fire still raging behind them. Sabine almost felt the need to do a double take at the fierce expression on the face of her teammate.
"Ezra!" Sabine stood back up and moved over to him, helping him back up as well.
"Thanks," his expression softened upon shifting to her, and she nodded as she returned his smile from behind her visor.
However, the victory was short-lived, for the telltale sound of mechanical joints in action and the shadowy image of HK rising back to his own feet from within the flames signified their vicious mechanized enemy was not down for the count.
"Come on, this way!" Sabine told Ezra firmly as she took off towards the turbolift down the hall, and the boy immediately followed after her.
Once they arrived, Sabine frantically pressed the buttons on the turbolift console on the left side of the hallway. Ezra reignited his lightsaber as HK emerged from the flames, glowing red hot from the heat, but otherwise appearing unaffected.
"Statement: A pity that you meatbags aren't immune to temperatures up to ten thousand degrees, as I am," with his blaster carbine and flamethrower both easily overheated from being exposed to the fire, the droid extended his left arm his time, revealing a concealed missile launcher in his other forearm.
The former street orphan and the young artist only had mere nanoseconds to spare as they entered the turbolift ahead of the ensuing blast, the small missile detonating where they'd been standing just an instant ago. The doors closed and the lift was off. However, it had just barely cleared the level when both doors were torn out and tossed away, a still-blistering HK peering into the shaft and raising his head to analyze their ascent.
"I think that droid may be even worse than Chopper," Ezra told Sabine while catching his breath as they approached the top level of the base.
"Agreed," Sabine huffed out as she was equally winded.
Both Rebels struggled to keep their footing as the turbolift screeched to a halt. Another blast tore open a hole in the floor of the lift. Blinded by the smoke, Ezra yelped and gasped as two burning metal hands grabbed his ankles and pulled him out of the hole, throwing him down the shaft. HK had latched onto the bottom of the lift with his magnetized feet, hanging upside down as he resumed his assault.
"No!" Sabine shrieked at this terrifying sight, jumping across the hole to avoid HK's hands as they reached for her next. Ezra had used his lightsaber to stop his fall, jamming it into the wall. It slowly sliced downward through the reinforced metal, but eventually stopped, halting the young Padawan's descent. Looking back up as he regathered his bearings, he saw HK climb into the lift to face his teammate head on.
"Sabine, watch out! Don't let him touch your skin!"
Relieved as she heard her teammate's voice, Sabine drew both her blaster pistols again, but HK kicked them from her hands before she could fire a shot. The vicious assassin droid threw a punch, which she ducked to avoid as she attempted to kick his chassis. His left hand caught her foot, and she gasped as he dragged her down onto the floor, and cried out as he swiftly slammed his right arm joint down into her chestplate, slamming her hard onto her back. She gasped again as HK stepped on her chestplate with his right foot, and he moved to step on her unarmored mid-section next with his left, the heat not yet dissipated from his limbs.
"Mocking Inquiry: Well, does it hurt? No? How about now?"
Sabine screamed as she felt the blazing metal foot slam into her stomach, the fabric of her bodysuit incinerated from the spot instantly. HK watched silently, merely recording her torture with his photoreceptors for twisted visual memory.
Enraged and alarmed at the screams of his teammate, Ezra threw his lightsaber spinning up to the turbolift, the blade effortlessly slicing into the interior. His free hand held a firm grip on one of the lift tracks built into the wall. HK easily dodged the weapon, and it hit the wall beyond him instead. However, he was forced to let go of Sabine to do so, and Ezra immediately seized the droid with the Force and pulled him back out through the hole in the floor of the lift. HK managed to grab one of the blaster pistols on the floor of the left as he was pulled out, taking aim and firing at Ezra as he descended down the shaft towards him. Without his lightsaber, Ezra had no way to dodge the shots, and took two before he pushed HK back with the Force again, this time slamming the droid into the opposite wall in the shaft. Stunned, HK lost his grip on the blaster and tumbled down the shaft. Ezra pulled the blaster to his own hand, taking satisfaction as he watched the droid plummet out of sight.
Climbing up the lift tracks, Ezra leaped back into the lift as he neared. He reclaimed his lightsaber as he knelt beside Sabine, taking her helmet off as he did so. He grimaced at the sight of her stomach. It was clearly burned, but at least there were no signs of bleeding, internal or otherwise. He felt her hand grab his own and looked back to her face as she choked out a gasp and caught her breath.
"Seems… seems we've been making a habit of saving each other," she joked weakly with a smirk, and he returned the gesture.
"Sounds... ugh... just fine by me," Ezra grinned weakly as he nearly doubled over, his own injuries evident. Both Rebels helped each other up.
With the lift crippled and clearly disabled, there was only one way to keep going up. Opening the emergency hatch on the top, the young Padawan helped the teenage Mandalorian climb out with him. Using the tracks on the wall as their grip, the two began to climb their way to the top level, only two more floors above them. They both winced and grunted as they worked through the pain, knowing they needed to get to safety before treating their wounds. Buckling under its own weight with its support systems broken, the lift finally gave way and screeched back down the tracks below them.
The two Rebels could only watch as it fell. As it neared the sublevels, a lone missile hit it from below and blew it apart. Through the smoke and burning wreckage, both Ezra and Sabine could make out the glaring yellow photoreceptors of HK-47. The vicious, ancient assassin droid was not finished with his relentless pursuit.
A/N: Well, I hope that was enough action to sate you folks for a bit. I only ask you to please review if you would, as I greatly value your feedback. :) I will be posting the next two chapters back to back, a 2-part special leading into the climax!