Chapter 4: To Plan a Rescue

Angel Island Village, 16th October 3241, 10:30 am…

The door to the war room opened as Roman and Ashley stepped through, finding the inner circle of the Freedom Fighters already there waiting for them: Sally, Sonic, Tails, Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor, Seth, and Ahsoka.

"Morning, Rome." Sally said, smiling gently.

"Morning." Roman replied icily as he stepped further into the room, placing his hands on the table around which they were all assembled. "So, anything on where Caleb might be?" He asked.

Sally nodded. "I have Nicole scouring the Imperial databanks for anything to do with him. So far, we've found nothing."

"Fuck." Roman growled. "That usually means they haven't listed him as an official Imperial prisoner yet. And are likely interrogating him for more information. Either on us or any other rebel cells."

"Somebody's optimistic." Ahsoka remarked sarcastically.

Ignoring the remark, Sally said: "Optimism aside, there's still the possibility that he could be scheduled to be executed."

"Doubtful." Roman said. "The Empire always announces when an execution is going to be held. It should be no different with Caleb."

"Maybe the Empire has a different approach to those it views as traitors." Tails suggested.

"Could be." Roman said. "But I'm not willing to accept that conclusion until I see proof. Until then, I'm considering Caleb to be alive, being torturted, and soon to be executed."

"Which means heading deep into hostile territory to get him back, I imagine?" Seth asked.

"It does." Roman replied. "Eren needs something to hold onto, something to remember his mother by. If we lose Caleb, we lose the last living family he has left. And while I'm not a father, I have lost family. In fact, I have no family besides you guys. So I know how Eren feels. We all do."

"And you don't want the same happening to Eren." Sally said, smiling.

"No child should grow up an orphan." Roman said. "No-one."

Sally nodded approvingly just as Nicole suddenly materialised, smiling.

"Good news, Roman. I've found something fresh in the Imperial database." She said.

"Well, spit it out!" Roman shouted.

"Okay, it's good news and bad news:" Nicole declared. "The good news is that Caleb's still alive. The bad news is, he's deep in Imperial territory and is being held in Mobotropolis Prison. And his execution is scheduled for this Wednesday coming."

Roman scowled as this came forth from Nicole's lips. It was Monday today, which meant they needed to devise a plan to rescue Caleb, and they needed to do so as quickly as possible. "Then I suggest we get planning, then." He said.

Sally's jaw dropped as she said: "Rome, are you crazy? There's no chance we'd be able to pull off something like that!"

"Um, yes there is." Roman said. "Me and Seth did something similar during the Clone Wars when Roth had been captured and sentenced to be executed. And we pulled it off just fine."

"Yeah, although it did leave me, Anakin, and Obi Wan with the task of getting you all out of there." Ahsoka said, folding her arms.

"Yet, we pulled it off." Roman said. "Who's to say we're not going to succeed again?"

"You're forgetting that when we rescued Roth, no-one was present that would conceivably pose a problem for us save for the Magnaguards." Seth said. "This time, we have trained Dark Side Acolytes possibly guarding the place. I'm talking Elias, Second Sister, and the Third Brother. All three of them. I'm not being pessimistic here, but I'm at least aware that our chances of success aren't the same as they were during the Clone Wars."

"Yet there's still a chance." Roman said. Eyeing everyone, he spread out his arms. "And ask yourselves, would it hurt to at least try? I know our chances aren't very good, but we can at least try to rescue Caleb." He paused before he added: "We owe it to his daughter to at least try and rescue him so that Eren has some family left to be raised by."

Sally sighed. Roman raised a strong point. It never hurt to try, even though the odds seemed to be stacked against them. She reminded herself that she and the Freedom Fighters had faced worse odds than what she saw before them, and had come through. Looking to Roman, Sally asked: "What do you propose?"

Roman responded by looking to Seth and Ahsoka. "Send Shatter and Tusk into Mobotropolis under the guise of retired clones, and have them find out where the Empire are planning on executing Caleb. Then have them report back and await our arrival in New Mobotropolis."

"And then what?" Sally asked.

"We show the entire galaxy that even the Galactic Empire bleeds when struck." Roman replied.

"Fuck yeah." Seth said as he turned to Tails: "Get Shatter and Tusk here now. We've got a mission for them."

Later, 11:15 am

"So what you're proposing is that me and Tusk head into Mobotropolis and find out where the kid's grandad is going to be killed?" Shatter asked.

"Yes." Roman said. "Eren needs someone to raise him, and while Ahsoka has good maternal instincts, she's not going to cut it. Eren needs Caleb if he is going to be raised right."

"And once we find where they're planning on knocking him off? What then?" Tusk asked.

"You'll report back to HQ and await our arrival." Roman replied. "At that, on Wednesday, we'll proceed to give the Empire a butt-fucking the likes of which they haven't seen since the Artika Base attack."

Shatter broke up laughing as he nodded. "Sounds good to me, General." Shatter said.

"Same." Tusk said. "I've been itching for a good fight."

"Haven't we all been?" Roman said with a chuckle, clapping both Shatter and Tusk on the shoulders. "And I'm itching to ensure that Eren has a bright future ahead of him. With his grandfather raising him to be both a leader and a fighter."

"True, true." Seth said as he entered the room. "Just like I want my kid to be."

Roman smiled and said: "Yeah, but Eren's got a good three years on your kid. Yours hasn't even popped out to say hi yet."

Seth burst out laughing at the tasteful joke, saying: "Yeah, still got a month or two before that happens."

"I know." Roman said. "Just saying."

Seth stopped laughing before saying: "Anyway, how're they getting into the city?"

"Shade's gonna fly them in under cover of darkness." Roman replied. "It'll be up to them then to get into the city and find out where Caleb's going to be executed. And then it's a simple matter of getting the strike team in there and preparing to kick ass."

"Who will be on the strike team, General?" Shatter asked.

"Me, Tails, Seth, you and Tusk are all guaranteed." Roman replied. "Me and Sally still have yet to decide who else to bring."

"Very good, General." Shatter said. "We'll prepare ourselves for the mission immediately."

"Awesome." Roman said. "Dismissed."

Both clones saluted and left the room, leaving Seth and Roman alone.

"So what now?" Seth asked.

"Now?" Roman replied. "Now we get to training Tails. He'll need all that he can get before Wednesday."

Seth nodded and together, the two friends left the room, their minds on the imminent mission, and training Tails to be prepared for it.

Short chapter, I know. But it serves its purpose in that it furthers the plot.

Anyways, thank you all so much for taking the time to read this chapter. If you enjoyed it, then please leave a review in the appropriate section, and tell me what you enjoyed, and what I could improve. In the case that you really enjoyed it, then I invite you to favourite and follow this story, so you can be notified whenever I post a new chapter.

With that said, thank you all again, and I will see you all tomorrow (Hopefully!) with the next chapter, which has the clones infiltrating Mobotropolis to find out the time and place of Caleb's scheduled execution.

T-Rock14