Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars Rebels that goes to Disney, Lucasfilm and Dave Filoni.
A few days later, Hera, Kanan, Zeb, both of the Mandalorian twins with Sabine have dyed her hair blue and green and reforged her armor with its breastplate being white, orange, red and yellow while one of its pauldrons being painted blue with Chopper, Ahsoka and R4-G6 stand next to them in a command center of a CR90 corvette with a hologram of Commander Sato.
"The destruction of our command ship has severely limited our ability to fight the Empire in this sector," the hologram of Sato told everyone.
"I know this isn't Mandalorian-like, but maybe we don't fight, uh, Commander Sato, Sir," Satele told Sato, "Uh, when things got tough for me on Lothal and couldn't fight the Empire before my sister found me after our father left me with Mira and Ephraim Bridger, I'd go find some place to hide."
"You are never shy with your opinions, Satele Wren, but establishing a base is a good idea," Sato told her.
"Problem is, none of the potential bases we know of have the tactical advantage we need to protect what's left of the fleet," Hera told him.
"Or aid the nearby systems suffering from Imperial oppression," Kanan added.
"We can't help others if we can't help ourselves, Kanan," Hera told him, "If only we had more allies."
"I know someone who might be able to help us," Ahsoka spoke up, causing everyone to turn to her, "A great military commander with a vast knowledge of the Outer Rim." She then began walking around the room, "He could assist us in finding a base, and his experienced leadership would make him a powerful ally."
"How do we recruit this leader?" Sato asked her.
"That's the problem. I lost track of him a long time ago, and all my transmissions have gone unanswered," Ahsoka admitted as she placed one of her fingers on her chin and crossed one of her arms as she stopped walking.
"We can find him," Satele told the Togruta, "Let us try."
"Well, there is one option I've not yet attempted," Ahsoka told her.
A while later, Sabine and Satele walked into the Ghost's cockpit and sat in the seats behind Hera as Kanan entered the cockpit with them and approached one of the cockpit's computer systems with the door closing behind them when Ahsoka suddenly entered the cockpit holding the head of an offline T-series tactical droid in her hands.
"Is that the head of an old tactical droid?" Kanan asked Ahsoka as he recognized the droid's head that Ahsoka was carrying as she gave it to Sabine.
"These droids were great at finding things, calculating," Ahsoka explained before scoffing, "Found my master and I a few times when we didn't want to be found."
"How in all the galaxy is that droid gonna find your friend?" Satele asked Ahsoka with disbelief, causing Chopper to grunt as he turned to her as he was offended by what she just said, "I didn't mean all droids, Chop. I meant droids built for combat like battle droids and tactical droids."
"Well, I heard he was last seen in the Seelos system," Ahsoka told Satele before turning around as she went to leave, "You can start there."
"You're not coming with us?" Satele asked Ahsoka with disbelief as she got off from her seat.
"I have something else to attend to," Ahsoka answered.
"The Sith Lord," Kanan said as he knew what she was referring to.
"There are questions, questions that need answering," Ahsoka explained.
"I wish we could go with you," Satele told Ahsoka.
"You have your own mission, Satele," Ahsoka told the Mandalorian as she approached the cockpit's entrance with the door sliding back open as she approached it before turning to Kanan, "And, Kanan, if you find my friend, you must trust him."
"If he's all the things you say, we can't afford not to," Kanan told her.
"Trust him," Ahsoka told him, repeating herself before leaving the cockpit as she went to leave the Ghost.
"What was that about?" Satele asked Kanan as the door slid back shut.
"I have no idea," Kanan answered as he walked over to the Ghost's co-pilot seat as he sat next to Hera as the Ghost detached from the corvette that it was docked with and flew off before jumping to Hyperspace.
"We get all the way to Seelos, and now you tell me the Hyperdrive wasn't completely fixed?!" Hera snapped at Chopper as the systems inside the Ghost's cockpit sparked with electricity as the Ghost jumped out from Hyperspace near Seelos which was a desert planet as Chopper grunted a response, "You and RG finished the important repairs? How do you and RG define important?"
"What's going on?" Kanan asked as he climbed up the cockpit's ladder from the Ghost's cargo hold.
"Chopper and I are staying here," Hera answered before gesturing to Chopper after the cockpit's dashboard sparked with electricity, with the electricity shocking her, "To clean up his and RG's mess," Chopper then grunted a response, "Take the Phantom. Hopefully, we'll be ready to go by the time you get back."
A few moments later, the Phantom detached from the Ghost and flew towards the planet below and as the Phantom flew within the atmosphere of Seelos, Sabine was holding the tactical droid's head as she walked towards the shuttle's dashboard as its eyes and mouth powered up.
"Well, let's power this thing up," Sabine said as she plugged the tactical droid's head into the dashboard with the tactical droid's head making a warbling sound, "I think it's scanning for a signal of some kind."
"Good luck, Bine. You could really get lost out here," Satele told her twin sister as she had her jetpack on her back which she had repainted to match her armor's current paint scheme, "Besides, this planet looks similar to Mandalore outside of Sundari."
"Maybe that was the idea," Zeb told her, "What if this great commander we're looking for doesn't want to be found?"
"7567. 7567. 7567," the tactical droid's head said, repeating itself as it detected something ahead of them in the distance.
"It's homing in on something," Sabine realized as the tactical droid continued to repeat the numbers 7567.
"There," Zeb said as he noticed something in the distance, "Up ahead."
"Whoa," Satele said as the Phantom flew past an old and modified AT-TE that had a floorboard as a roof and as a floor on the AT-DP in two seperate locations with them being painted multiple colors including blue, green, yellow and a bit of red and may have looked like it was repurposed for fishing as it had a fishing-like pole where its crane and cannon was.
"Now, that is a work of art," Sabine gasped as she saw the AT-TE as well.
"Yeah, it is, Sis," Satele said as she agreed with her twin sister.
"Looks like an old Republic tank," Kanan said as he saw the AT-TE as well, "Used during the Clone Wars."
The AT-TE stopped walking as the Phantom's wings folded back up as it landed behind the walker.
"Sabine, Satele, be on guard," Kanan told both of his Padawans as they exited the Phantom's rear hatch with Zeb after both Sabine and Satele placed their helmets over their heads and they stood in front of the walker for a few seconds as Zeb crossed his arms before they saw three nearly identical old men with tan skin exit out of the walker with two of them wearing armor that looked like that it belonged to Clone Troopers while one of them was wearing a tank top and bracers and boots from Clone Trooper armor with two of the other nearly identical men also being bald with one of the bald men having a full beard as he wore armor while the other bald one's face was shaved and was the man wearing a tank top as the other one in armor had a scar around his right eye as he had a cybernetic eye that was missing its color and had white hair with sideburns that connected to a mustache while he had a beard that was shaven as he and the man in the tank top held DC-15A blaster rifles.
"It's just a bunch of old geezers," Zeb scoffed with disbelief.
"Well-armed old geezers," Sabine added.
"Their armor looks similar to Mandalorian in design," Satele said as she saw the armor the old men on the AT-TE were wearing.
"What do you want?" The bald man in armor asked them.
"We're looking for someone," Kanan answered.
"Well, that's too bad, 'cause there's nobody out here," the bald man in armor told him.
"Hey, uh, does the number 7567 mean anything to you?" Satele asked the bald man in armor.
"What did you just say?" The bald man in armor asked her with disbelief.
"Uh, I said 7567," Satele answered the bald man in armor.
"I haven't heard those digits in…" the bald man in armor began, "Well, that's my birth number."
"Birth number? Are these guys Clones from the Clone Wars?" Satele muttered to herself.
"They're clones," Kanan realized as he took out his lightsaber and ignited it as he stepped in front of Zeb and both of his Padawns.
"Kanan, wait. Stop!" Satele said, pleading with her master.
"Jedi," the clone with hair and armor muttered as he aimed his blaster rifle at Kanan and began firing at him, "They've come for revenge."
"Drop the blaster, old man," Zeb ordered the clone with hair and in armor as he aimed his bo-rifle at him as Sabine pulled out WESTAR-35s and aimed them at the clone as well after Kanan's lightsaber deflected the blaster bolts from the clone with hair and armor's DC-15A blaster rifle.
"Don't try it, boyo! I'll gun you down," the bald clone with a tank top told Zeb as he aimed his DC-15A at them as well.
"Stand down, troopers. Now!" 7567 told both of his fellow clones, "That's an order soldier."
"But he's a Jedi. A Jedi!" The clone with hair and armor protested as he aimed at Kanan again.
"I know. I know. but they weren't the ones who betrayed us," 7567 told the clone with hair and armor as he placed his hand on his DC-15A, "Remember? Wolffe, remember?"
"Kanan, Ahsoka said to trust them," Satele reminded Kanan as Wolffe lowered his DC-15A.
"Sorry about the um, weapons malfunction," 7567 told them before chuckling, "My friend here is just a little defensive. See, we haven't seen a Jedi since, uh…" Kanan narrowed his eyes as the clone said that, "Well, it's been a while."
"Well, my name's Satele," Satele said as Kanan deactivated his lightsaber and gestured to Kanan, Sabine and Zeb, "This is Kanan. That's my sister, Sabine and that's Zeb. It's nice to meet you, 7567."
"Actually my name is Rex," the bald clone in armor corrected her, "Captain, 501st Clone Battalion. Meet Commanders Gregor and Wolffe."
"We were sent by Ahsoka Tano," Satele told him.
"Ahsoka Tano," Rex said as he recalled the times he had with her, "I fought by her side from the Battle of Christophsis to the Siege of Mandalore. And a friend of hers is a friend of mine."
"Hey. You're a big one, aren't you?" Gregor asked Zeb as Rex led Zeb, Kanan Sabine and Satele into the AT-TE as he sat in a chair in the AT-TE's command center across from Wolffe, who was standing in front of one of the AT-TE's computer systems.
"Bigger than you," Zeb remarked as he walked past Gregor.
"Whoa," Satele said as she saw a Clone Trooper helmet that was a mixture of the Phase one and Phase two Clone Trooper helmets that looked like that it once had a macrobinocular viewplate's rangefinder but had been either removed or destroyed as well as the helmet having some blue painted on it and saw a Mandalorian sigil on the part of the helmet where the helmet covers the wearers eyebrows which she recognized as Mandalorian Jaig eyes or Jai'galaar'la sur' haii'se in full Mando'a as she picked up the helmet before turning to Sabine as she showed her the helmet, "Look, Sabine. Jaig eyes!"
"Whoa, where did you earn those?" Sabine asked Rex, "They're a medal of honor for us Mandalorian warriors who had shown courage or who fought with exceptional valor."
"I earned those for my heroic work during the First Battle of Geonosis and was gifted to me by the Mandalorian who trained me, Daral Janik after we returned to Kamino," Rex answered as he sat in a seat at one of the AT-TE's computer systems, "But, can you put my helmet down, Satele? We don't want it to get damaged even more or want it to get misplaced, now do we?"
"I guess you're right, Captain," Satele said as she placed Rex's helmet back on the ledge next to her where she picked the helmet up from as she turned to him, "You fought in the Siege of Mandalore? So you fought alongside our mother."
"Who was your mother?" He asked Satele and Sabine.
"Ursa Wren," Satele answered, "One of Bo-Katan Kryze's Nite Owls."
"Yeah, I fought alongside her, didn't know much about her though as we were just acquaintances besides she acted as a spy for us," Rex told her.
"Well, look what we got here," Gregor said as both Sabine and Satele removed their helmets and placed them under their arms, "Clones!"
"Actually we're twin sisters," both Sabine and Satele corrected the Clone.
"Same difference to us," Wolffe told both of the Mandalorian twins as he walked past them.
"How is Commander Tano?" Rex asked Satele.
"Uh, well, in need of help. We all are," Satele answered, "Look, we're trying to fight the Empire, but we're outnumbered, over-matched and taking a beating. We could use your help."
"Well, I'm not sure I'm much help to anyone these days," Rex told her as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, "Didn't you hear? The Emperor said the clone army has outserved its purpose and retired us. Now we spend our days just telling stories and slinging for joopas."
"This was a wasted trip," Kanan told Satele as Rex placed his arms and placed them behind his head as Sabine and Satele turned to him, "You heard the Clone. He's not interested."
"Wait. You don't like the Empire, do you?" Satele asked Rex as she and Sabine turned back towards him as Kanan went to leave the AT-TE's command center.
"Well, the Empire certainly isn't the Republic, but you can't do anything about that," Rex answered Satele.
"You could fight," Satele told him.
"Sorry, girl. My days as a soldier are over," Rex told Satele.
"Well, okay. Okay, then maybe there's one thing you can help us with," she told him, "We need a base. Ahsoka said you knew about all sorts of secrets locations in the Outer Rim." Rex then looked at Greggor who nodded in agreement before turning to Wolffe did the opposite of what Gregor did as he shook his head in disagreement.
"Well, my memory isn't what it once was, but, um, there are a few spots I never reported to the Empire," Rex told Satele as he got off from his chair as Zeb began to leave the AT-TE's command center as Rex placed his hand on Satele's armor pauldron that didn't have the Mandalorian styled Jedi Order symbol that she painted on, "Look, why don't you just wait outside and I'll put together a list of coordinates."
"Listen, they are in some kind of trouble. If we help them, we are putting ourselves in danger," Wolfe," Wolffe said, pleading with Rex and Gregor as Kanan, Zeb, Sabine and Satele left the AT-TE's command center.
"Wolffe, relax," Gregor told Wolffe as he placed his hand on his shoulder, "We got the situation under control."
"Oh, really? Really?" Wolffe asked Gregor as he removed Gregor's hand from his shoulder, "What do you think the Empire will do to us if they find out we're helping a Jedi, hmm?"
"Yeah, I don't know what the Empire would do but I'm going slinging," Gregor told Wolffe before chuckling as he left the AT-TE's command center.
"You know, I was thinking, since we're providing you with a list of bases, um, there's something you can do to help us," Gregor suggested to Sabine and Satele who were standing at the AT-TE's deck leaning against its rail next to Kanan and Zeb.
"No thanks," Kanan immediately answered.
"Sure," Satele told Gregor, "What can we do?"
"Out there, deep below, roam the joopa. Elusive big game," Gregor answered, pointing at the desert in the distance before chuckling as Kanan turned to him, "When we're lucky enough to sling one in, it'll feed us for the whole year."
"Okay. What do you need?" Sabine asked Gregor.
"Him," Gregor answered as he pointed at Zeb after chuckling.
"Huh? What?" Zeb asked with confusion as he turned to Gregor.
"Commander, we've received a binary transmission from an old Clone unit on Seelos," an Imperial navigational officer told Kallus, who had been promoted to a major as his rank badge and neck collar had changed since he last encountered Hera, Kanan, Zeb, Sabine and Satele on Lothal and as the Imperial navigational officer approached Kallus at a holotable in a Star Destroyer's bridge, the Imperial navigational officer was holding a datapad, "Something about a Jedi."
"That system is remote," Kallus told the Imperial navigational officer as he turned from a hologram of a planet that he was staring at that was projected from the holotable's holoprojector as he took the datapad from the Imperial navigational officer.
"Haven't all the Clones been decommissioned?" Konstantine asked with confusion as he stood next to them around the holotable.
"Yes, and while the Clone's number checks out he has a record of calls of delusional distress," the Imperial navigational officer answered as they began walking past the holotable.
"I wouldn't take him too seriously," Konstantine told Kallus.
"Send a probe to investigate," Kallus told them, "All leads must be pursued."
"Okay. You don't trust these clones but they haven't done anything," Satele told Kanan as she approached Kanan who was looking into his lightsaber's hilt where the blade emits from as he stood on board the Phantom which was transported onto the AT-TE as the AT-TE was walking through the desert and brought it with them do they didn't lose it.
"You don't understand. They're dangerous," Kanan told her, "They could…"
"They could what?" Satele asked as she interrupted him, "Rex doesn't seem bad at all. Ahsoka said to trust him. You trust her, don't you?"
"You weren't there. You were on Krownest with your sister and father," Kanan said as he snapped at her, "Besides, may I remind you that clones occupied Mandalore at the end of the Clone Wars."
"They had no choice," she told him, "But why do you have a grudge against clones?"
"I don't feel like discussing it," Kanan told her as disconnected his lightsaber's emitter from his lightsaber's main body before sighing as he sensed Satele walking away from him as she began to leave the Phantom, "It was at the end, the end of the war. Our fellow soldiers, the clones, the ones we Jedi fought side by side with, suddenly turned and betrayed us. I watched them kill my master." As he said that, her eyes widened in horror as sure she used to have a grudge against the Jedi but has gotten over it but even if she didn't she wouldn't want an entire culture wiped out, "She fought beside them for years and they gunned her down in a second, and then they came for me, but the clones that came for me weren't normal clones, they were a squad of clone commando special forces that had genetic mutations who called themselves the Bad Batch and thought they were good till one of them named Crosshair tried to shoot me as their commander who was named Hunter tried to convince me that he was as confused as I was but I didn't believe him. Later, two of the clones that served under my master named Captain Grey and Corporal Styles came for me as well and said that they had chips in their heads that made them do it. Said they had no choice."
"I didn't intentionally betray my Jedi," Rex said from the Phantom's doorway, "I had Ahsoka remove my control chip after I tried to kill her on a Star Destroyer named the Tribunal after it left Mandalore with the former Sith Lord known as Maul in custody." He then pointed at a scar on the side of his head, "I then Met up with Hunter, Wrecker, Tech and Echo and had their control chips also removed on a Venator on the planet Bracca before I met up with Wolffe and Gregor and did the same for them." He then went to leave, "We all have a choice."
"For what it's worth, I believe we can trust Rex," Satele told Kanan as she left the Phantom as Kanan sat in the Phantom's pilot seat and sighed while unbeknownst to him, an object crash landed in the desert's sand in the distance away from the AT-TE and this object was the Imperial probe droid that Kallus sent to investigate the clone transmission as it began to hover around the area it crashed into and slowly began to heads towards and follow the AT-TE.
Satele soon climbed down a ladder from the top of the AT-TE as she walked past her sister and approached Gregor, who was standing near the edge of the AT-TE's walkway as he had Zeb walking through the desert with an energy line attached to him from the AT-TE's crane.
"If we're lucky, we'll catch Big Bongo today," Gregor told Zeb from the AT-TE.
"Let's get this over with. I'm getting hungry," Zeb muttered with irritation in his voice.
"Keep on going forward. Just a little more," Gregor reassured Zeb as he made a cheering-like gesture with his arms, "We're coming up on a hot spot!"
"Your hot spot looks like everywhere else on this desolate rock," Zeb told Gregor before turning around as he heard an explosion in the distance.
"Out there," Sabine gasped, pointing at the explosion in the distance as she too heard the explosion.
"All right, full stop," Rex ordered from the AT-TE's crane which Wolffe stopped the AT-TE from the AT-TE's cockpit as he was piloting the AT-TE as Kanan stood up from the Phantom's pilot seat and stood at the Phantom's doorway, behind the crane that Rex was using.
"All right. Just a little more," Gregor told Zeb before chuckling, "Little more."
"Oh, really?" Zeb asked sarcastically as he continued to walk forward.
"You know, we really appreciate this," Gregor told Satele as he turned to her, "I mean, we, we should do well today, with your friend here."
"Yeah, well, Zeb packs quite a punch," Satele told him.
"Oh, oh," Gregor said before laughing, "I'm sure, I'm sure, but, really, I mean, joopas supposedly love Lasats."
"They love them?" Sabine asked Gregor with confusion, "What do you mean?"
"Well, they say they love the smell or I guess they love the taste as well," Gregor began as Satele stared at the AT-TE's crane's energy line that was attached to Zeb, "And maybe it's about the texture, you know…"
"Wait, Zeb's not the hunter," Satele realized as she widened her eyes with disbelief, "He's the bait."
"Oh, hunter, bait, it's all the same," Gregor told her as he chuckled.
"No, it's not!" Kanan told Gregor from the AT-TE's floorboard above him near Rex when they suddenly heard a rumbling sound in the distance.
"Huh?" Zeb muttered to himself as he felt and heard the rumbling sound.
"Zeb, you better get back here right now!" Kanan ordered Zeb.
"Zeb, what is that?" Sabine asked Zeb.
"Zeb, run! You're the bait!" Satele called out to Zeb as a large worm-like creature began to appear from the sand below as the ground began to crack open, "Zeb, it's gonna eat you!"
"Oh, karabast," Zeb swore to himself.
"Zeb, run!" Kanan urged Zeb.
"Get out of there!" Satele urged Zeb as she tried to save him.
"What are you doing?" Kanan asked Zeb as he saw that Zeb wasn't moving.
"Run!" Sabine called out to Zeb only for Seb to have tentacles wrap around him as the ground below him opened up.
"Zeb, no!" Satele yelled as Zeb was brought below ground, luckily the energy line that was attached to Zeb was still active as it was moving away from the AT-TE at a fast pace.
"Whoo-hoo! This could be him! Our Big Bongo!" Gregor cheered as the joopa underneath the sand was moving fast as it was making tracks within the sand as Wolffe pushed one of the AT-TE's control sticks forward, causing it to walk forward again.
"Hey, I bet either you or your sister know a thing about mechanics," Rex told Sabine.
"Yeah, good bet," Sabine answered as she looked up at the crane that Rex was sitting in, "I've been teaching Satele mechanics."
"Keep an eye on this regulator. The line can overheat and shutdown, " Rex told Sabine as he referred to two colored cables that were attached to the front of the crane colored red and yellow, "No line, no joopa, no Zeb."
"Got it," Sabine told him as she went to check the crane's energy lines and cables.
"What about me and him?" Satele asked Rex as she referred to herself and Kanan.
"You've got the best job of all!" Gregor answered the Mandalorian as he gave her an electro-pole that he was carrying, "When the line swings around, you'll charge it with the electro-poles. Hit the line with the rod and it'll send a bolt of energy down to the joopa. Do it enough and you should bring it up to the surface." Satele activated her electro-pole as she walked forward as Gregor held another electro-pole in his hand, "Here's one for you, General."
"Don't call me that," Kanan told the clone, "I was never a general."
"Uh, my mistake," Gregor told Kanan as he handed him the electro-pole that was in his hand, "Sorry, Commander."
"No, it's not…" Kanan grunted before ignoring him as he took the electro-pole from Gregor as he stood next to Satele as Rex rotated the AT-TE's crane around in a circle, causing the joopa to move around the sand that surrounded the AT-TE before stopping.
"Hit it! Now!" Rex ordered both Kanan and Satele before they hit the energy line with the electro-poles' electricity colliding with the energy line, causing the joopa under the sand to run from the AT-TE.
"That's it! That's it!" Gregor cheered happily, "Ooh! He didn't like that! Hit him again!" Both Satele and Kanan then zapped the energy line with the electro-poles again, causing the joopa to continue to run further.
"He's a runnin'," Rex remarked as the AT-TE's crane rotated again, "Hit that line! Bring him up!"
As Rex said that, Satele hopped onto the rail that surrounded the walkway and reached out for the energy line with the electro-pole.
"We're losing the regulator," Sabine announced as she hopped onto the AT-TE's energy line generator that was connected to the AT-TE's crane as it started to make a warble sound.
"Full stop, Wolffe! Dig in!" Rex ordered Wolffe, "This is where we finish the battle!"
With that said, Wolffe pulled one of the AT-TE's control sticks back, stopping the AT-TE's movement, causing Satele to almost fall off the AT-TE but luckily for her Kanan grabbed the back of her armor before she fell off the AT-TE as the joopa continued to run further away from the AT-TE as Sabine realigned the energy line and its regulator.
"Kanan, hand me your electro-pole. I'm gonna use both of ours into the line," Satele told Kanan as she activated her jetpack as she lifted off from the AT-TE's walkway, "Sabine!"
"I know, I know, Sis," Sabine told her twin sister as she was repairing the energy line's generator, "Working on it!"
Wolffe then pulled the AT-TE's control sticks back as the joopa continued to run yet again, but as Wolffe went to make the AT-TE walk backwards, one of its six legs began to strain the desert floor as it became harder and harder to pull the joopa up due to the pressure between the joopa and the AT-TE.
"Got it," Sabine announced as the AT-TE's energy line crackled back to life as Satele soon stabbed both her's and Kanan's electro-poles into the energy line, causing the joopa to fly up from below the desert floor and growled as it towered over the AT-TE as Satele soon deactivated her jetpack as she landed behind Kanan on the AT-TE.
"It is Big Bongo!" Gregor said happily as he saw the joopa and within seconds later, Rex fired the cannon of the AT-TE's crane at the joopa's open mouth, causing it to startle back before falling as the energy line disconnected from within the joopa's mouth after it fell to the desert floor on its side.
Kanan and Satele ran to the side of the AT-TE as Sabine approached them from the floorboard above as the three of them looked at the dead joopa that was on the desert floor, hoping to see Zeb climb out of it and after a few seconds of looking, they heard a muffled voice coughing within the joopa before seeing something lifting the joopa's mouth up from the inside.
"What a smell," they heard Zeb complain as he lifted the joopa's as he was getting out of the dead creature and and soon as they saw him, they saw that he was covered in slime from the joopa.
"Ah, Zeb!" Satele cried with relief as she saw him leave the joopa's moth after hearing his voice.
"Nice catch, old-timers," Sabine told the clones as she turned to Rex, who saluted her.
"Yeah! Way to go," Gregor said, laughing as he climbed down the AT-TE's ladder to the desert floor and extended his hand out for Zeb as he approached the dead joopa, "Now that, that was impressive."
"Impressive?!" Kanan asked the clone with disbelief as Gregor placed Zeb's arm over his neck as he got Zeb out of the dead joopa, "You almost got my friend eaten!"
"Yeah. Ugh," Zeb said, agreeing with Kanan before removing his arm from Gregor as he went to yell in the clone's face, "I was in that thing's mouth!"
"Oh! Head to toe. But look at you," Gregor told Zeb as he turned him around to show him the dead joopa he was in, "You brought in our biggest catch ever."
"I… I did?" Zeb muttered to himself before turning around towards Kanan, "Actually, it wasn't so bad, Kanan. I… I knew I had the beast from the beginning."
"And you are a natural," Rex told Satele as he climbed down from the floorboard above after Zeb chuckled.
"We held up our end of the deal, Captain," Kanan told Rex as he turned towards him, "Now it's time to get us those coordinates so we can go."
"I'll go get 'em," Rex told Kanan before looking at the dead joopa where Gregor, Wolffe, Zeb and Sabine were standing, "But you might consider staying for dinner."
"It's gonna be delicious!" Gregor cried happily.
"That thing tried to eat me. Only fair I get to see how it tastes," Zeb reasoned as he placed his arms on his waist.
"Can't say no to that. Right, Kanan?" Satele asked her and Sabine's master as unbeknownst to them, the Imperial probe droid that Kallus sent to Seelos scanned the AT-TE as well as the rebels and the Phantom before taking a photo of them.
As it was getting dark, hours later, Kanan was speaking to Hera with the Phantom's holocommunicator.
"Clones, huh?" Hera chuckled as she was still repairing the Ghost, "Ahsoka's always full of surprises."
"Well, don't get your hopes up," Kanan told her as he crossed his arms, "The great leader's not coming back with us."
"And you don't want him to," Hera told him as she knew why he had a disdain for clones, "I understand your fears, but I also remember when the Jedi and clones fought side by side. They saved billions of lives, including my own."
"I know " Kanan sighed as he slumped back in the Phantom's pilot's seat.
"Then maybe that's a start," she told him, "I gotta get back to these repairs if we're ever gonna get out of this system. Signal when you're en route."
With that being said, the holocommunicator turned off as Kanan stood up from the Phantom's pilot's seat and left the Phantom, but unbeknownst to him, a probe droid was floating behind him, heading into the Phantom to gather information.
"I've assembled a list of potential bases and clearance codes and a few protocols the Imperials still use," Rex told Satele and Sabine as he left the AT-TE's command center, "Should be of some use."
"Thanks, Rex," Satele said as she thanked the clone.
"They're on our main computer," Rex told her, "You're gonna need…"
"Data tapes?" Sabine finished for Rex as she went to enter the AT-TE's command center, "I got this."
"You were brave today, Satele. You jumped right in there to help," Rex told Satele as they stood by the walkway's railing as Kanan climbed down the ladder from the floor where the Phantom was to the floor where Satele and Rex were standing on, "A great Jedi once told me that the best leaders lead by example. You do that well."
"Thanks. I'll take that advice if I become Mand'alor one day," she told him, "But besides my parents, I've learned from a great Jedi too, Kanan."
"Mmm. You know, I don't think he likes me. Or ever will," Rex told the Mandalorian before chuckling, "Can't say I blame him. The war left its scars on all of us."
"Won't you reconsider joining us?" Satele asked the clone.
"You know, I've outserved my purpose in that kind of fighting. I'm afraid," Rex told her, "After the war, I questioned the point of the whole thing. All those men died and for what?"
"I guess what they thought was right," she answered, "But can you tell me what you and Ahsoka did in the Siege of Mandalore?"
"Sure, Satele," Rex answered the Mandalorian, "As you probably know Bo-Katan recruited Ahsoka and Ahsoka wanted her former Jedi Master and their friend Obi-Wan Kenobi but as we were planning the attack to begin the Siege of Mandalore, the capital of the Republic, Coruscant was being attacked by the general of the Separatist droid army, General Grievous who kidnapped the Chancellor of the Republic, causing my Jedi General to split the 501st with me and my part of the split of my clone battalion to go to Mandalore with Ahsoka, Bo-Katan and your mother. But as we were nearing Mandalore Prime Minister Almec contacted us and told us that the invasion we were planning was a violation of a treaty that your people and the Republic signed centuries ago when Bo-Katan stepped forward and told him that his time had come and that we were coming for him and Maul. During the Siege after we encountered Maul he captured one of my Lieutenants named Jesse, who was an ARC trooper and used the Force to tell him what we were planning while me, Ahsoka and Bo-Katan were interrogating Almec inside of the prisons on Mandalore only for one of Maul's forces to assassinate him before Bo-Katan went to hunt him down as Almec told Ahsoka that Maul wanted Obi-Wan and her master there instead of her as he died. Later that day, me, Ahsoka and Bo-Katan faced Maul in the throne room on Sundari and saw that he had Jesse as a prisoner next to with stuncuffs around his wrists before Bo-Katan charged at Maul as she fired her blasters at him, causing Maul to use the Force to lift her up and choke her for a second after he used the Force to deflect her blaster bolts and asked her if that's the way to treat her 'rightful' ruler before me and Ahsoka checked to see if she was alright before he let Jesse go who told us that Maul made him tell him everything and soon after that me and Bo-Katan began to battle his force within Sundari and after Maul told Ahsoka that he had a vision of her master turning to the darkside she began to fight him within the throne room before they soon fought on the beams near the top of Sundari's dome and during that battle she lost both of her lightsabers and soon she grabbed one of of his lightsaber and slashed one half of the beams with it, causing him to fall, but she used the Force to stop him from falling to his death and ordered her to let him die and that we were all going to burn as Bo-Katan's Mandalorians tied him up with grapples and I used my blaster to stun him, knocking him unconscious."
"Wow, seems like that was a fierce battle," Satele told him, "Wish I was part of it, but I was with my father and sister at the time at our ancestral home on Krownest as me and Sabine were just toddlers at the time.
Meanwhile inside the AT-TE's command center, Sabine approached the computer as she heard a beeping sound from it and clicked a few buttons on the computer's console to see what the beeping was and what she found shocked her before she ran out of the command center as she headed back to her sister.
"The clones gave us up," Sabine announced as she left the AT-TE's command center with a datapad in her hand, "They warned the Empire we're here."
"What, what?" Satele said with disbelief.
"You're mistaken," Rex said with confusion, "We would never do that."
"Oh, I found the binary transmission to the Empire," Sabine told him as she showed him the datapad, "And there are messages Ahsoka sent to Rex and he never answered her!"
"What?" Rex said with confusion as he took the datapad from her, "I never got any messages from Commander Tano."
"I knew it!" Kanan said as he began to approach them as Wolffe, who was standing with them turned around, "I told you, they can't be trusted."
"Kanan, wait," Satele told Kanan as she stopped him before she turned to Rex, "Is this true?"
"Wolffe. What did you do?" Rex asked Wolffe as he realized that he was being suspiciously quiet.
"I… I contacted the Empire," Wolffe admitted with regret, "If they found out we were helping Jedi, they'd wipe us out."
"Sabine, go warn Hera," Kanan told Sabine, "Tell her to scan for incoming ships."
"I wanted to protect you guys, protect our squad," Wolffe explained to Rex as he turned around as Sabine climbed the ladder to the Phantom.
"The war is over. We are free men," Rex told Wolffe as he placed his hand on Wolffe's shoulders, "We can't live under the fear of the Empire for the rest of our lives, Wolffe. That's not freedom."
"You're right," Wolffe told him as he realized that Rex was correct, "They're not our enemy. I'm sorry."
"A probe?" Sabine said as she saw the Imperial probe droid in the Phantom as she stood at the shuttle's doorway before the probe droid turned around and saw her as it began firing blaster bolts at her as she evaded the blaster fire, "Kanan!"
Kanan heard her from above and Force jumped up and landed behind her and began to chase the probe droid around the corner of the floor that the Phantom was on as the probe droid fired at him with him dodging the blaster bolt as it hit the Phantom instead before it flew down towards the desert floor below the AT-TE.
"Oh, my," Gregor said as he and Zeb noticed the probe droid behind them, "Look out!"
"Probes! I hate probes!" Zeb said as the probe droid began firing its blaster at them as they evaded the probe droid's blaster bolts before Kanan leaped down to the desert floor with the Force and began to fire is DL-18 blaster pistol at the probe droid, only for each blaster bolt to miss the droid.
"Rex," Satele called out to Rex as he stood with Wolffe as they watched the probe droid flee the AT-TE before they turned and saw her holding one of their DL-15 A blaster rifles, "You gotta make this right." She then threw the rifle at him before he aimed the rifle at the fleeing probe droid as he closed one of his eyes and fired a blaster bolt at the probe droid, causing it to spark with electricity before exploding as Satele made a fist with her hand, "Yes."
"Huh. Nice shot," Sabine told Rex as she stood next to the Phantom.
"Whoo-hoo-hoo! Rex got him," Gregor told Zeb as both of them laid on their stomachs underneath the AT-TE.
"Probe deserved it," Zeb chuckled as Kanan turned around and looked at Rex before placing his DL-18 blaster pistol in his polster as he walked away.
"How long has this thing been watching us?" Satele asked Kanan as she, Kanan, Zeb and Rex stood over the probe droid that Rex destroyed as Sabine walked towards them.
"Long enough," Kanan answered as he had his arms crossed before turning to Sabine, "How's the Phantom?"
"Well, engine took a direct hit. we're not going anywhere until I can fix it," Sabine answered.
"Wait. You mean we're stranded?" Zeb asked her.
"Yep. And the Empire's on their way," Rex confirmed as the five of them looked up at the sky as they knew that the Empire was on their way to Seelos.
To be continued
Please favorite and review. Would you like me to continue adding the Imperial scenes or not?
Also who else have seen the ninth episode of the Bad Batch?