Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars Rebels that goes to Disney, Lucasfilm and Dave Filoni.
"The words you're looking for are 'thank you,'" Saw told the twins, Janus and Chopper as he climbed down from his U-wing's co-pilot's seat as it traveled through Hyperspace as Satele sat on the floor with Janus standing across from her, while Sabine stood at the end of the cargo hold at the wall with her arms crossed.
"We appreciate the save, Saw," Satele told the Onderonian as she stood up.
"I agree," Janus said, agreeing with his girlfriend, "Despite your terrorist tactics. I thank you, Saw."
"We turned the worst-case scenario into the best," Saw told them.
"Yeah, I wish Hera would see it that way," Satele muttered as she walked away for a second as she crossed her arms, "Technically, we just disobeyed orders by blowing up that relay."
"Following orders will only get you so far," Saw stated as Sabine placed her hands over her hips, "Then you have to take control of your destiny."
"Yeah, like when we hit the Empire hard on Mandalore," Sabine said, agreeing with him as she crossed her arms again.
"And officially formed the Mandalorian Resistance, led by Bo-Katan," Janus added.
"I heard about that," Saw told them, "That's why I need your help and that includes Janus here."
"Wait, you know about me?" Janus said with surprise.
"Only from the reports from Mandalore," Saw explained.
"Anyway, you need our help," Satele said with disbelief as Sabine lowered her arms, while Satele placed one of her hands over her hips.
"This is Faos Station," Saw told them as he pulled up a holographic image of a space station, "I recently acquired intel on a secret Imperial cargo being loaded aboard a civilian freighter there."
"What cargo?" Sabine asked the Onderonian extremist as Satele crossed her arms.
"Remember Geonosis?" He asked her as he placed his right arm behind his back, "That's where I got these injuries to my lungs from, requiring me to need an oxygen respirator to breathe every half an hour now from the poison gas the Empire used to wipe out a whole population because they were building something. Something hidden away." He then moved his arm back out from behind his back, "I never stopped looking for it."
"What have you found?" Satele asked him.
"One second," Saw told her, raising a finger up as he grabbed his oxygen respirator and placed it over his mouth and breathed through it for a few seconds before letting go of it as it strapped back onto the chest of his pressurized suit, "Just rumors, whispers. But they all led me to that cargo ship."
"So what do you want from us?" Sabine asked him.
"I think I know, Sabine," Janus told her, "Because you two are good at infiltrating Imperial bases along with Chopper from the stories you both have told me. And he just saved our lives."
"You're right, Janus," Saw said, agreeing with him.
"So what you're saying is that we owe you one," Satele surmised as she lowered her arms.
"Your choice. You can go back to rebel command and run Mon Mothma's errands, or you can help me do something that might actually matter," Saw told them.
"All right," Sabine said after she, her sister and Janus looked and smiled at each other for a quick second, while Chopper grunted a protest.
"Sorry, Chopper. You're outvoted," Satele told the astromech.
"We might make them into real rebels yet," Saw told Edrio, who replied in his native language before laughing.
Soon the U-wing jumped out of Hyperspace and began heading towards the station that Sa mentioned with a civilian freighter docking with it as Satele, her sister and boyfriend stared at it from the window of the U-wing's door.
"Are you sure we're at the right place?" Sabine asked Saw with disbelief, "This looks like a civilian cargo facility. I don't see any signs of the Empire at all."
"Yeah, Sabine's right," Janus said, agreeing with his girlfriend's sister, "This does indeed look like a civilian cargo facility that the Empire has no control over."
"That's what they want everyone to think. Hiding in plain sight," Saw explained before turning to Edrio, "Take us in. Merchant platform." Edrio then replied in his native language as he flew the U-wing in as the ship began to hover above the merchant platform as they saw a lot of RA-7 protocol droids as well as R4 and R5 astromech droids working on the platform.
"A lot of droids down there," Sabine observed before turning to Chopper as she held her airbrush in her hand as Satele did the same with hers, "Hey, Chopper come here. You're gonna need a paint job." She then turned to Satele, "So which one of us should do it?"
Soon the U-wing landed inside the freighter after landing on the landing platform with Saw walking out of the ship, while Satele, Sabine and Janus did the same as they had their helmets over their heads as Chopper, who was painted yellow and black as he stood in the ship's doorway.
"Oh, stop complaining," Sabine told him as she turned around towards him, "I kind of like it better than the orange."
"Yeah, it looks cute on you," Satele said, agreeing with her sister before Chopper activated his rocket booster as he hopped off of the U-wing, which then flew away as it departed from the landing platform.
"You both do realize he might take revenge on you two for saying those things later," Janus told his girlfriend and her sister.
"We know, Janus," Satele assured him, "We'll come to that crossroads when it happens."
"That's freighter 2716," Saw said as they continued to walk forward and walked through a doorway into a room as a cargo freighter arrived at the far side of the room before rushing over to a cargo container nearby, "And here's our way on board."
"Sneaking on board in a cargo container?" Satele asked as Saw climbed up to the top of the cargo container before jumping onto the cargo container with her sister and boyfriend with their jetpacks and hopped into the cargo container with Sabine and Janus through a hatch on top of the cargo container, "Me and Sabine are familiar with this strategy."
Saw entered the hatch after the three Mandalorians did before Chopper began to tow the container onto the freighter.
As soon as the cargo container entered the freighter, Sabine, Satele and Janus flew out of the hatch of the cargo container with their jetpacks and landed outside of the cargo container with Saw as he jumped out of the cargo container and landed next to the three Mandalorians.
"The tracker is activated. Keep this channel open," Saw said as he contacted Edrio with his comlink, "I'll transmit coordinates when we're ready for pickup."
With that, the freighter jumped into Hyperspace as Edrio replied in his native language before he followed the freighter as the U-wing jumped into Hyperspace as well.
"Well, ordinary cargo hold. Nothing looks out of the ordinary," Sabine observed as she walked forward.
"Yeah, I agree, Sabine," Janus said, agreeing with his girlfriend's sister, "There's nothing wrong here."
"You hear that?" Satele asked Sabine, Janus and Saw as she heard a sound that sounded like someone was singing in her head as she removed her helmet and placed it under her arm, "Sounds like singing."
"Yeah, Sis, I hear it, too," Sabine answered as she removed her helmet and placed it under her armas well, "What is that sound?"
"Well, I can't hear anything," Janus told them as he also removed his helmet and placed it under his arm.
"Nor can I," Saw said, agreeing with Janus.
"How can only you and me hear it, Sis?" Satele asked her sister.
"I'm not sure, unless…" Sabine answered before realizing what the only possible explanation was, "Maybe it's something that only Force-Sensitives like us can hear, Satele."
"That's a very good explanation, Sis," Satele told her, realizing that was probably the only explanation why she and her sister could hear the sound when Janus and Saw could not.
"Yeah, that sounds like the only possible explanation," Janus said, agreeing with his girlfriend, "As you both can hear it and me and Saw cannot as we're not Force-Sensitive like you both are."
"These containers are filled with high-quality construction compounds," Saw said as he picked up a datapad from the top of one of the containers he stood at before moving away from the containers towards the three Mandalorians, "Materials used to build the Imperial navy."
"These materials could have come from Corellia or any other planet with shipyards," Sabine argued.
"Or even Kuat and Fondor," Janus added, agreeing with his girlfriend's sister.
"Yeah, it's not exactly a secret cargo," Satele said, agreeing with both her sister and boyfriend.
"There are more holds to search," Saw told them as he said that before all three Mandalorians placed their helmets back over their heads as they followed Saw into a corridor with Chopper following them, "Get back!" He then saw two stormtroopers nearby, around the corner before the stormtroopers walked down the corridor they were in.
"Imperial troops aboard a civilian freighter?" Sabine said with shock and disbelief as she saw the stormtroopers as they walked away from their line of sight, "You might be on to something after all."
"Yeah, 'cause stormtroopers are usually never on civilian transports," Janus said, agreeing with Sabine.
"They're guarding something," Saw suggested before they sneaked ahead, across the corridor, "Your droid should check the cargo manifest."
"You heard him, Chop," Satele told Chopper, who rolled over to an astromech port and inserted his scomp link into it and grunted a response, "There's an Imperial military shuttle in Hold 12. Okay, this ship is more than it seems."
"Find out where we're going," Saw ordered Chopper, who rotated his scomp link around within the stromech port before turning his dome back around towards them and grunted another response.
"Tonnis sector?" Sabine said with confusion and disbelief as she placed her left hand over her hip, "That's just empty space out there. No settlements or stations."
"The perfect hiding place," Saw chuckled.
"Or just a rendezvous point," Satele argued as Sabine removed her hand from her hip.
"I agree, cyar'ika. It being just a rendezvous point makes the most sense," Janus said, agreeing with his girlfriend when Chopper suddenly ejected his scomp link from the astromech port and grunted yet another response.
"Uh, Saw, Janus, Sis, Chopper says Cargo Bay 17 is a restricted area," Sabine informed them.
"So that's where we go next," Saw told them as he ran towards the door to Cargo Bay 17 with the twins, Janus and Chopper, "Here it is. Cargo Bay 17."
"Careful, or you'll alert the whole ship," Satele warned the Onderonian.
"You got a plan?" He asked her.
"I got a droid," she answered as Chopper grunted a response before he began banging on the door.
"What was that?" One of the stormtroopers that was guarding the door to Cargo Bay 17 from inside the cargo bay suddenly asked as he heard Chopper's banging but it sounded muffled from his side of the door when he suddenly approached the door and opened it and saw Chopper standing a few feet away from the door and aimed his E-11 blaster rifle at the astromech droid, "Move along, droid." As he said that, Chopper pulled out his spark projector and fired a bolt of electricity at him with it, shocking the stormtrooper as Chopper began to roll away as he rolled around the corner, "Whoa! Blast that piece of junk!"
"Scrap him!" One of the two other stormtroopers said as they began to chase Chopper.
"Scrap him!" Another of the three stormtroopers that were chasing Chopper added, only to be knocked to the ground by Saw.
"Huh?" One of the other stormtroopers said with confusion as Sabine jumped out of hiding and hopped onto his back and began to punch him, "Hey!" Satele and Janus then jumped down as well and began to fight the other stormtrooper as the door sealed shut as the stormtroopers began screaming but were muffled due to the door being sealed shut.
Soon the fighting stopped as the door opened back up with the twins pulling the stormtroopers that they along with Janus knocked out through the door, while Saw carried the one he knocked out over his shoulder.
"Keep watch, Chopper," Satele ordered Chopper as they entered the cargo bay before he grunted a response as the door sealed back shut.
"I think it's this one," Sabine said as she continued to drag the body of the stormtrooper through the cargo bay as they passed by a cargo container and let go of the body as she approached a panel for the container.
"Let's find out what they're hiding," Saw ordered as he let go of the body of the stormtrooper he was carrying.
"Whatever it is, it won't be good," Janus said as he approached the cargo container.
"Oh, no," Sabine muttered as soon as she opened the cargo container's door, she saw prisoners from all sorts of species including two humans, one being a male and the other female, an Aqualish, Gotal, Ishi Tib, Ithorian, Snivvian and a Theelin.
"Prisoners," Satele said with disgust in her voice.
"Who are you?" The Aqualish asked them in basic.
"It's okay. We're here to help," Sabine told them as she, Satele and Janus removed their helmets and placed them under their arms as Saw crossed his arms.
"This is one of the worst things the Empire has ever done," Janus stated with literal disgust on his face, "Imprisoning someone without a pretense is almost as bad as slavery."
"Agreed, Janus," Satele said, agreeing with her boyfriend before turning to Saw as the prisoners left the cargo container, "Your intel came through. We can free these people."
"My intel wasn't about prisoners. The Empire has prisoners all over the galaxy," Saw told her as he lowered his arms.
"We can still help them, Saw," Satele told him as she, Sabine and Janus placed the bodies of the stormtroopers inside the cargo container where they found the prisoners before they freed them.
"Why are you here?" Saw asked the prisoners as he approached them and crossed his arms, "What do you know about the cargo aboard this vessel?"
"Nothing of any cargo, but I did overhear some troopers talking about the Jedha system," the Ishi Tib answered, "If there's any special cargo, it probably came from there."
"The Jedha system, huh?" Satele repeated as she approached them, "Who are you?"
"Name's Mich Matt," the Ishi Tib answered, "Was a supervising tech on Coruscant's central power generator. Empire tried to hire me away from some secret project, but didn't want to leave my family. So they just took me."
"That's just cruel," Janus stated as he approached them, "Wanting to hire you, but couldn't see your family if you took the job, but instead they kidnapped you."
"Power technician? Hmm," Saw muttered.
"Everyone here is a reactor mechanic or power specialist of some kind," Mich explained.
"Mmm, doesn't make any sense. The Empire wouldn't have all this security just to guard a few techs," Sabine stated as she approached them.
"I agree there's something else here," Saw told them as he walked away and lowered his arms, "There must be."
"Yeah, something that maybe a few of the Imperials have access to," Janus said, agreeing with the Onderonian.
"I believe you, Saw. But we've got to get these prisoners out of here," Satele told Saw as the Onderonian placed his hand under his chin and beard for a second.
"Use that shuttle your droid found," Saw suggested.
"No it'll be guarded," Satele argued, "We can't put the civilians in the line of fire."
"Okay, how about the escape pods?" Sabine suggested, "We can sabotage the Hyperdrive, and as soon as the freighter drops from Hyperspace, they can fly away."
"I agree, that's brilliant, Sabine," Janus said, agreeing with his girlfriend's sister.
Chopper grunting in the corridor before rushing into the cargo bay as he saw stormtroopers walking down the corridor from his corner and entered the cargo bay, grunting in a hurried sounding tone.
"It's a patrol," Saw stated.
"Pretend you're still prisoners," Satele told Mich and the other prisoners as he and the other prisoners reentered the cargo container.
"We are still prisoners!" The Aqualish argued as Satele, Sabine and Janus placed their helmets back over their heads as they hid behind the cargo container with Satele pulling one of her WESTAR-35s out from their holster as the Theelin went back inside the cargo container and as he began to close the door.
"Freeze! Don't move," one of the two stormtroopers called out to the Theelin as they rushed into the cargo bay and pulled the door open just as the Theelin closed it, knocking the Theelin onto his back and aimed their E-11 blaster rifles at the prisoners, "Who let you out? Where are the guards who were stationed here?" As he said that, the prisoners stood in front of the unconscious stormtroopers that Sabine, Satele and Janus placed in the cargo container a few moments ago, hiding them from the stormtroopers' line of sight, "Huh?"
"Surprise!" Satele said as she came out of hiding, aiming her WESTAR-35s at the stormtroopers.
"It's the rebels!" One of the stormtroopers stated.
"Stop!" Sabine said as she came out of hiding from the other side of the cargo container, holding her WESTAR-35s as she aimed them at the stormtroopers as well.
"You better do what she says," Janus said as he came out of hiding from the side of the cargo container that Satele was hiding at with both of his WESTAR-35s as he also aimed them at the stormtroopers.
"Got that right," Saw told them from the top of the cargo container before firing stun blasts at both stormtroopers, knocking them out before jumping back down from the top of the cargo container.
"Saw, wait!" Sabine called out to Saw as he rushed out of the room.
"Chop, get them to the escape pods. We'll take out the Hyperdrive," Satele told Chopper before she, Sabine and Janus went to follow Saw as Chopper pulled out one of his metal arms and grunted a response as he rolled into the corridor after Saw, Sabine, Satele and Janus ran across the other side of the corridor as Chopper guided the prisoners through the opposite direction of the corridor, while Saw pulled his arm in front of Satele, stopping her as she, Sabine and Janus ran towards him as two stormtroopers walked by in the corridor as the four of them hid on the walls of the corridor as the stormtroopers walked by before they continued onwards, only for Satele and Sabine to stop as they heard the sound that sounded like singing again.
"Wait," Satele told them as Saw and her boyfriend went forward towards another doorway.
"Yeah, wait," Sabine said, agreeing with her sister.
"Satele, Sabine. Engine room is this way," Janus told the twins, referring to the door behind him.
"We hear that sound again," Satele explained, "It's like a song."
"And it's coming from inside that room," Sabine added as she pointed at a doorway in front of them.
"Can you get us in?" Saw asked her.
"That's why we're here, right?" Sabine answered as she rushed over to the door that she was talking about and began to tap buttons on the door's panel and within seconds, the door opened and they saw multiple Death Troopers in the room.
"Huh?" They heard a scrambled voice from a Death Trooper that was standing front of them say as they turned around as Saw fired blaster bolts from his blaster pistol at the Death Trooper in front of them before the Death Trooper fell to the floor as Sabine and Satele both threw smoke detonators at the Death Troopers in the center of the room as Satele and Sabine grabbed and ignited their lightsabers as Satele held hers in a reverse grip.
"Look out!" One of the Death Troopers warned the other Death Troopers as smoke began to engulf them as they rushed towards the Death Troopers.
Chopper grunted as he led the prisoners to the escape pods room with the prisoners entering one of the escape pods.
"Thank you. You're a kind little droid," the Ithorian told Chopper as he entered the escape pod with the others.
As the Death Troopers were trapped inside the smoke, they heard a blaster fire as one of them were killed and began to approach the figure that fired the blaster bolt as Sabine ran past them with her lightsaber ignited.
"Where'd they go?" The leader of the Death Troopers, who was female with a black colored pauldron around one of her shoulders and codenamed DT-F16 asked when she suddenly saw two lightsabers colored blue and green past by from outside of the smoke and began to fire at the figure with the two lightsabers with her E-11D blaster carbine when her troops behind her were taken out by Saw and heard this as she turned around to see that they were gone, "Fall back! Take cover," She began to back away as she saw one of her troops get up, "What? 3-6, I said take cover!" Just as she said this, she saw that someone was holding the Death Trooper's dead body, that being Saw as he began firing his blaster pistol at them and soon fired a blaster bolt at the mysterious cargo, causing electricity to flow through the cargo.
"The blocks have been compromised," the Death Trooper next to DT-F16 informed her.
"Cease fire! Fall back!" She ordered the Death Trooper as he fired his E-11D blaster carbine at the rebels, only to miss as Janus fired his WESTAR-35s at one of the Death Troopers, hitting him as DT-F16 escaped the room.
"One of them got away!" Janus announced.
"Forget him. We've found it," Saw said as the mysterious cargo began to defrost.
"Is that… No, it can't be," Satele said with disbelief as she recognized the mysterious cargo, a giant green crystal that is usually used to power lightsabers but was enlarged by ten.
"Yeah. It's a Kyber crystal," Sabine confirmed.
"The very crystal that the Jedi used to power their lightsabers," Janus added.
"That's why only me and Sabine heard the singing, like the ones in my lightsabers when I found them," Satele realized.
"Yeah, only Force-Sensitives can hear them like us, Sis," Sabine explained, "Exactly like the one I got from Malachor when we along with Kanan and Ahsoka met Maul." She then turned to Saw, "These crystals store and amplify energy, so one this big is probably unstable, like the one that we destroyed about 4 years ago after you got the data decoder for the Kyber crystal that the Empire was transporting. Put your blasters away."
"Captain, rebels led by Saw Gerrera have breached Hold 6 and taken possession of the cargo," DT-F16 said, contacting the ship's captain named Captain Wells as she ran through one of the ship's corridors, "Alert Director Krennic at Imperial Command."
"Saw Gerrera?" Wells, who had pale skin, blue eyes and brown hair with long sideburns said in the freighter's cockpit as he turned to the other Imperial officers, "Do you think he means to hijack the cargo?"
"I will not let that happen," DF-F16 replied on the freighter's communications system, "Send all security personnel to meet me at Hold 6. In the meantime, purge the escape pods. No one leaves this vessel." He then gestured to one of the Imperial officers to click a few buttons on the dashboard in front of them.
Back inside the escape pod room, escape poods began to be ejected from the ship with Chopper noticing before he grunted frustratedly as he flew over to the escape pod containing the prisoners with his rocket booster and pressed the buttons in the panel to open it back up with his scomp link as he grunted at the prisoners.
"He wants us to get out!" The Ithorian stuttered as he and the other prisoners exited the escape pod as Chopper gestured them out with one of his metal arms as he pulled it out from his dome as he grunted, "Back to the hold? I don't understand."
"Uh, just an observation, but this is not a very good rescue," Mich stated as they followed Chopper back to the hold where they found him and the other prisoners, Chopper then pushed him with his foot, "I'm going."
"They're trying to weaponize this thing," Saw stated as he stared at the Kyber crystal, "That's why they have the techs, to weaponize it!"
"We gotta stop this ship and get the prisoners out of here," Satele reminded him.
"No!" Saw argued as he turned around towards her, "We need this cargo to reach its destination. We need to find out what the Empire's building."
"We can't take the chance the Empire will get this crystal back," Sabine argued.
"Sabine's right," Janus said, agreeing with his girlfriend's sister.
"You're both right about that too," Saw told them.
"You stay here and guard this thing," Satele ordered the Onderonian, "We'll head to the engine room and stop this ship." Saw then looked at them with the corner of his eye as he watched all three Mandalorians leave the room.
"We better hurry or the Empire's gonna find out what we're up to," Sabine told Satele and Janus as they began to head for the engine room.
Satele ignited her lightsabers as soon as she, Sabine and Janus reached the door to the engine room with Sabine hacking the panel to open the door as the door slid open as Satele immediately slashed one of her lightsabers against the rifles of the stormtroopers standing in front of the door before deactivating and clipping her saber back onto her armor's belt before she used the Force to lift them up and then back down to the floor, knocking them out.
"Okay, there's the Hyperdrive override," Sabine said as she, Satele and Janus rushed over to a computer in the engine room as they removed their helmets, "Prepping to drop the ship out of Hyperspace," she then began to use the computer's console, "Three. Two."
Satele and Janus both were then shot by stun blasts from Saw's blaster pistol, knocking them unconscious as they groaned and fell to the floor before he walked towards Sabine.
"Saw, no!" Sabine said, pleading with the Onderonian, backing away from the computer console before he fired a stun blast at her as well, knocking her unconscious as she groaned as she fell onto the floor.
"I've come too far to give up the quest. I must learn the secrets of my enemy. And today, I will," Saw declared.
Soon DT-F16 ran through one of the corridors with stormtroopers and placed a thermal detonator on the door that leads to the room with the Kyber crystal, which soon electrocuted the door as it blew open with the stormtroopers rushing into the room, only to see that the Kyber crystal had vanished.
"I've retaken Hold 6, Captain. The cargo is missing," DT-F16 reported to Wells as she contacted him as a hologram of him appeared on her wrist's holocommunicator.
"Gone?" He repeated with disbelief and horror, "Commander, if something happens to that crystal…"
"It's both our heads," she finished for him, "Where are the rebels?"
"I don't know. But we've lost contact with the engine room," he answered and with that, she and the stormtroopers rushed out of the room as they began to head towards the ship's engine room.
"We're going to the Tonnis sector," Sabine heard Saw say into his comlink as she regained consciousness and saw the Kyber crystal in the center of the engine room as she, Satele and Janus were stuncuffed before Saw grabbed his oxygen respirator and placed it over his mouth as he breathed through it for a few seconds before letting go of it as it strapped back onto the chest of his pressurized suit as he held one of Satele's lightsabers in his other hand, "Dock at the hatch near the starboard engines. I'll meet you."
"Satele… Janus… Wake up," Sabine groaned, trying to wake both her sister and Janus up as she sat up, "Your friend turned on us, Sis."
"Saw, you shot me!" Satele growled with anger.
"Me too!" Janus said with anger as well.
"Let's be more precise. I stunned you both," Saw said, correcting both Mandalorians.
"You betrayed us!" Satele added.
"Geonosis was only the beginning. The materials, the power technician, the crystal, it all adds up to what the Empire's building. We have to ride this ship to the end, to those empty coordinates in the Tonnis sector. I know that's where we'll find this… This super weapon!" Saw explained.
"There's no guarantee anything will be there. If it even exists," Sabine told him as she, Satele and Janus stood up, "But I guarantee you the Empire will have reinforcements waiting."
"Sabine's right, reinforcements will be waiting there and that makes more sense than this super weapon that you suggest would be there," Janus said, agreeing with his girlfriend's sister.
"I thought we were on the same side," Satele told saw with confusion in her voice.
"The difference between us, Satele, is this. I will do whatever is required to be the victor," Saw explained.
"Why did you bring the crystal in here, Saw?" Satele asked him.
"It's like you said. We can't allow it to remain in the Empire's hands," Saw explained as he approached the crystal's guard rail when an alarm suddenly went off, "Coming out of Hyperspace." He then rushed over to the computer console for the Hyperdrive as all three Mandalorians followed him, "This is it. We're here."
"I hope this was worth it," Satele muttered to herself as the ship jumped out of Hyperspace with a Star Destroyer in a distance from the freighter.
"It's only a Star Destroyer. The Empire's big secret isn't here," Sabine told him.
"Me and Satele were right, Saw," Janus stated, "This was just a rendezvous point."
"It has to be here. It has to be," Saw said with disbelief.
"The freighter captain confirms they have rebels trapped on board," an Imperial officer said as he approached Slavin, who's hair had begun graying as he was commanding the Star Destroyer and had both of his arms behind his back.
"Prepare a boarding party," Slavin ordered.
"Sir! Rebel vessel approaching," an Imperial officer standing in one of the crew pits below reported as Saw's U-wing jumped out of Hyperspace and opened its S-foils as the Star Destroyer began to fire upon the U-wing, only for the U-wing to evade the Star Destroyer's turbolasers as it flew towards the freighter.
"Cease fire! We can't risk hitting the freighter with the crystal on board," Slavin ordered as the U-wing ordered as the U-wing closed its S-foils and docked with the freighter as it landed on the side of the freighter.
"My ride's here," Saw told the twins and Janus as his comlink beeped, "Are you coming?"
"And leave the prisoners?" Satele said with disbelief.
"This is war, Satele," Saw stated.
"What about doing what's right?" She argued, "Isn't that what this war is about?"
"What is right? Let me ask you this. What would you do to save Lothal or Mandalore?" Saw countered, "It's too late for me. My world is gone. I lost everything. And once you do, you can see things clearly, and you understand what's at stake."
"But we do still have something, Saw," Satele told the Onderonian, "The people on this ship. I just want to help them. They need us!"
"That's your choice, Satele. But I suggest you hurry. Because this is what I'm willing to do," Saw said as he ignited her lightsaber with the blue blade.
"What are you doing?" Sabine asked Saw as she saw him igniting one of her sister's lightsabers.
"I think I know," Janus told her, "He wants to turn the Kyber crystal into a bomb by using Satele's lightsaber against it."
"You said these crystals can become unstable," Saw said, confirming Janus' suspicions as he stabbed Satele's lightsaber with the blue blade into the freighter's engine, causing smoke to erupt from the engine and the rail guarding the crystal began to spark with electricity and fired a blaster bolt at the rail guard with his blaster pistol.
"You're turning into a bomb like Janus said?" Satele said, realizing that her boyfriend was correct as the crystal began to become unstable with a wave of energy erupting from as it shot a wave of energy near the door.
"I won't let the Empire use it, so you better get off this ship," Saw explained as DT-F16 and the stormtroopers entered the room.
"Hands up," one of the stormtroopers ordered, only for the crystal to blast a wave of electrical energy at two of the stormtroopers, killing them instantly as the electrical energy knocked them to the floor.
"Saw! Let us out of here!" Sabine said, pleading with Saw before he removed her, Satele and Janus' stuncuffs from their wrists.
"Last chance, Satele," Saw told Satele.
"You fight your war. We'll fight ours," she answered.
"Farewell, friend," he told her as he handed her back her lightsaber with the blue blade before leaving the room, "I hope we meet again."
"Abandon ship immediately!" DT-F16 ordered as she and the remaining stormtroopers began to retreat.
"Can you stop this thing, Sis?" Satele asked her sister, referring to the imploding Kyber crystal.
"No! It'll just keep absorbing power until it discharges," Sabine answered as Satele reignited her saber with the blue blade as she blocked a wave of electrical energy from the crystal with her lightsaber, "And trust me, we don't want to be anywhere close when that happens, which won't be long."
""Then we better hurry!" Satele said as she followed Sabine out of the room after Sabine grabbed both her and Satele's helmet.
"My thoughts exactly, Cyar'ika," Janus said, agreeing with Janus as he also grabbed his helmet before following them out of the room.
Saw soon entered his U-wing with Edrio speaking to him in his native language as he sat in the co-pilot's seat before the ship departed from the freighter.
"Sir, the rebel craft is leaving, but scans indicate the crystal is not on board," the Imperial officer standing in the crew pit below Slavin reported to Slavin.
"Then it's still on board the transport," Slavin stated, "Move us in closer. We need to secure it."
"Captain, another ship is emerging from Hyperspace," another Imperial officer that was standing in the other crew pit reported.
"Rebel reinforcements?" Slavin asked him.
"This one doesn't have any history with the Rebellion, but with mercenaries," the Imperial officer answered as a modified Omicron-class attack shuttle jumped out of Hyperspace and went into attack position as its wings flipped down as it began to fire its laser cannons upon the Star Destroyer, causing it to begin to fire upon the modified Omicron-class attack shuttle.
"Cease fire! Like with the rebel U-wing, we can't afford hitting the freighter or we could destroy the crystal," Slavin said, causing the turbolasers to stop firing as the modified Omicron-class attack shuttle flipped its wings back upwards as it docked with the opposite end of the freighter that Saw's U-wing docked with moments ago.
On board the modified Omicron-class attack shuttle were four clones, a female one, a Gonk droid and an AZ-series surgical assistant droid, every single but one of the clones had light tan skin with one of them having pale skin with three of the male clones wearing modified Katarn-class Commando armor and the one with pale skin having regular clone armor with one of the male clones having the entire left side of his face tattooed with half of a skull, gray eyes, longish gray hair wearing a red bandana with a white skull around his forehead, one of the other clones having brown eyes with goggles over his eyes along with short gray hair, one of the other male clones was larger than the others with a cybernetic left eye and a gray right eye with scars over the left side of his face and was bald, the last of the male clones was bald as well, a few cybernetic implants over his head including an AJ6 cyborg construct over the back of his head and a cybernetic right socket-arm that included a scomp link and had brownish-gold eyes with all of the male clones having black armor with some red on their armors with one of them having some yellow with one of them wearing a red piece of cloth under their neck with the female having blonde hair and brown eyes, wearing a helmet and some armor colored the same color as the male clones were with a Zygerrian energy bow strapped over her back.
"Echo and Omega, you're with me," Hunter, the clone with the bandana said as he began walking towards the modified Omicron-class attack shuttle's airlock, "Tech and Wrecker, you're staying here while we go and get Chopper and Hera's Mandalorian friends."
"Aw! But I want to go too, Hunter," Wrecker, the clone with the scars and cybernetic eyes complained.
"By my analysis, you would complicate things, Wrecker," Tech, the clone with goggles said, agreeing with Hunter, "Besides from my scans the freighter is beginning to implode from Kyber readings from a very large Kyber crystal, so, Hunter, you, Echo and Omega should be quick."
"We will," Echo, the clone with the cybernetic right socket-arm, assured him.
"Fine," Wrecker relented as he sat down next to Tech.
"Don't worry, we'll be back before you know it," Omega, the female clone, assured Wrecker as she, Hunter and Echo headed for the airlock as Hunter and Echo grabbed helmets colored in the same color scheme as Hunter placed it over his head, while Echo slid his onto his head with his cybernetic construct.
"Yeah, just hurry it up, Omega," Wrecker said as the three clones left the modified Omicron-class attack shuttle.
"Chopper, are you there?" Satele spoke into her wrist's communicator as she, Sabine and Janus ran through one of the corridors with their helmets over their heads.
Chopper! Do you read?!" Satele exclaimed from Chopper's built-in comlink as he stood in the cargo bay with the prisoners before he grunted a response as he turned away from them.
"Someone is trying to contact us, Chop?" Satele said into her wrist's communicator with disbelief, "Boost the signal!" He then grunted a response.
"This is Sergeant Hunter of the Bad Batch with Corporal Echo and Advisor Omega, calling Satele, Sabine and Janus Wren," the twins and Janus suddenly heard Hunter's voice say over Satele's wrist communicator, "Are you there? Hera sent us."
"The Bad Batch?" Sabine said with confusion as the three of them stopped running as she looked at her sister and Janus.
"Have you heard of them before, Satele?" Janus asked his girlfriend.
"Yeah, when we met Rex, Wolffe and Gregor on Seelos before we met you, Janus," Satele answered.
"Will one of you pick up?!" They heard Hunter yell from Satele's wrist communicator.
"We read you, Hunter," Sabine said, answering the clone, "How will you pick us up?"
"We're already heading towards your location," Hunter answered, "We're following a tracker that Hera placed in your armors from when you both joined her crew."
"Hera did what?" Satele said with surprise and disbelief, "That is almost as bad as when she and Kanan checked what our midichlorian count was when we were sleeping."
"Let's ask Hera about it when we get back to the Ghost," Sabine told her sister.
"You're right, Sis, now's not the time to discuss it," Satele said, agreeing with her sister.
"Is Chopper with you three?" Hunter asked all three Mandalorians.
"No, he's with some prisoners that the Empire held captive that we're trying to rescue," Satele answered with her wrist's communicator.
"Then contact him and inform him to meet you and us at the other end of the ship, where our ship is docked at," Hunter told the Mandalorian.
"Will do," Satele replied as her armor's control pad beeped as it received both the coordinates that Hunter and the Bad Batch's ship was docked at along with where Hunter, Echo and Omega were running through the ship at, "Chopper, meet me, Sabine and Janus at these coordinates with the prisoners. We found another way out of here." Chopper then grunted a response as she transmitted the coordinates of the Bad Batch's ship to him, "And jam all Imperial communications."
Chopper then extended his transmitter as it began to rotate around in a circle as he began to jam all Imperial communications before rolling back to the prisoners as he pulled both of his metal arms out from his dome, grunting as he rolled past them.
"Now where are we going?" Mich asked him as they all left the cargo hold.
The three Mandalorians pulled out out their WESTAR-35s as they soon reached a squad of stormtroopers and Satele went to aim hers at one of them before they heard a blaster bolt coming from behind one of the stormtroopers as they saw Hunter and Echo wielding DC-17s with Echo only wielding one because of his cybernetic right socket-arm before a pink energy bolt collided with a stormtrooper in the chest, killing the stormtrooper instantly as Satele, Sabine and Janus saw Omega as well before they killed another stormtrooper before the three Mandalorians took care of the rest.
"So you three are Satele, Sabine and Janus?" Hunter asked the three Mandalorians as he placed his DC-17s back in their holsters with Echo doing the same with his, while Omega closed her Zygerrian energy bow and strapped it back onto her back.
"Yeah," Satele answered, "So you three must be the Bad Batch?" Hunter, Echo and Omega then nodded a response, "Although Kanan never mentioned there was a female clone among your group."
"We must have met this Kanan before we met Omega here," Echo explained.
"But I'm sure Hera did," Omega told them.
"Now, that you mention it, she did mention that a female clone named Omega and a squad of rogue clones with genetic mutations helped her free her mother and father when she was a kid when we along with Captain Howzer and a few of his men went to Ryloth to get her Kalikori after the Empire took control of her home although Janus here wasn't there for that as he just joined our crew," Satele recalled as she suddenly remembered her conversation with Hera just before she found her Kalikori in her father's office before Thrawn confiscated it.
"Anyway, we should get going before the entire ship blows up," Sabine told her sister and the clones.
"Yeah, Sabine's right," Janus said, agreeing with his girlfriend's sister, "The freighter could blow any minute."
"Then let's get going," Satele told them.
"Tech, Wrecker, we found the three Mandalorians, heading back to the Marauder," Hunter said into his helmet's built-in comlink as he activated it as the six of them hegan running down the corridor as they began to head back to the modified Omicron-class attack shuttle, "Chopper will meet us there with a few Imperial prisoners."
"We'll await your and Chopper's arrival with those Imperial prisoners," Tech replied on his helmet's comlink.
"Is this where your ship is docked?" Satele asked Hunter, Echo and Omega as she, Sabine and Janus neared where their modified Omicron-class attack shuttle was docked with the freighter as Chopper and the prisoners from around the corner.
"Yeah," Omega answered, "It's a modified Omicron-class attack shuttle called the Marauder."
"Nice to see you again, Chopper," Hunter said, greeting the astromech droid, who grunted a response, "Still same old Chopper."
"Who are you?" Mich asked the clones.
"Introductions can wait," Satele told him, "This ship is about to blow."
"My sister is right, we'll have time for introductions once we leave the system and jump to Hyperspace," Sabine said, agreeing with Satele before they along with Janus, Chopper, the three clones and the prisoners walked through the doorway of the Marauder.
"Took you guys long enough," Wrecker stated as Hunter, Echo, Omega, the three Mandalorians, Chopper and the prisoners entered the Marauder's airlock as the three Mandalorians along with Hunder and Echo removed their helmets and placed them under their arms.
"Powering the Marauder back up," Tech announced as he powered the ship's engines back on as it departed from the freighter with it's wings flipping back down as the ship began to fly away from the freighter, "Scans are indicating massive Kyber readings from the freighter."
"Yeah, that would be Saw's fault," Satele explained, "He used one of my lightsabers and stabbed it into the engine of the freighter so the Empire couldn't use the Kyber crystal they had on board."
"Well, it's probably a good thing he did too," the AZ-series surgical assistant droid told them as he flew towards the Mandalorians.
"Who are you?" Sabine asked him.
"I am AZI-345211896246498721347," the AZ-series surgical assistant droid answered.
"That's a…" Satele began to say.
"Mouthful is one word you can say, Cyar'ika," Janus said, finishing his girlfriend's train of thought.
"That's the very word I was thinking of, Janus," Satele told him.
"You can call him AZI or AZI-3 for short as that's easier to remember," Omega suggested, "That's what we call him."
"Is there room for Hyperspace?" Sabine asked Tech.
"Not at the moment, no," Tech answered as Hunter sat down in the co-pilot's seat as they began to pilot the shuttle towards the Star Destroyer as an Imperial shuttle emerged from the freighter being piloted by DT-F16 as two Imperial patrol transports flew out from the Star Destroyer and began to head towards the freighter, "I'm putting us between that Star Destroyer, Imperial shuttle and that crystal from that freighter we rescued you guys from."
"Wasn't that the mercenary ship that dropped out of Hyperspace a while ago?" Slavin asked, "I wonder what it was doing here."
"Sir, we're getting a large energy reading," one of the Imperial officers from one of the crew pits below him reported from one of the computer systems inside of the crew pit as an alarm from the computer went off, "Something is going critical mass!"
"Oh, no," Slavin muttered to himself and within seconds of saying that, the crystal exploded as the Star Destroyer hovered above the freighter carrying the Kyber crystal as Slavin placed his arm over his eyes to cover them from the blinding green light from Kyber crystal, destroying the freighter, Imperial shuttle and Slavin's Star Destroyer, killing both Slavin and DT-F16.
"Echo, we need full power to the shields!" Hunter told Echo, who approached the ship's astromech port and plugged his right socket-arm's scomp link into it.
"Shields raised to maximum!" Echo reported as the shuttle's shields activated just a shockwave of energy from the crystal flew towards the Marauder, disabling the ship's engines as it spun around, causing everyone but Chopper, AZI-3, Hunter and Tech to grunt as they fell to the floor before Chopper grunted, sarcastically.
"Yep. The engines are fried, Chopper," Tech said, confirming the astromech droid's suspicions, "Even with Echo's cybernetics, we aren't going anywhere anytime soon." Satele then sighed as she and Janus leaned against one of the walls when the Ghost suddenly jumped out of Hyperspace in front of them, which Satele noticed as she raised her eyebrow.
"Or maybe we are," Satele corrected the clone.
"What did the twins do now?" Hera asked as she and Zeb, who was now sitting in the seat behind Hera, saw the destroyed Star Destroyer and Imperial shuttle as the ship's radar was beeping rapildy.
"Those two along with Janus can't go anywhere without blowing something up," Zeb remarked as he crossed his arms, "They're Mandalorians after all." They then saw Satele standing behind Hunter and Tech, waving at them with Janus and Sabine standing next to her, while Sabine face palmed herself in embarrassment as Ghost flew towards them to pick the modified Omicron-class attack shuttle up.
"As soon as we can course a plot, we'll take you back to your home planets," Hera informed Mich and the other prisoners as she had her arms crossed as they along with the Bad Batch stood in the Ghost's cargo hold as the ship traveled through Hyperspace with the Marauder docked with the VCX-100 light freighter as she turned to them, "And once we get to the nearest spaceport, we'll drop your crew off here so you can repair your ship's engines."
"Actually, we've all decided to enlist in your cause," Mich told her, "We figured if the Empire valued our skills, they'd be better to work serving you and the Rebellion."
"I'm sure Command will be grateful for your commitment," Hera assured him, "Thank you."
"We're joining the Rebellion too, Hera," Omega told Hera, "We've been discussing it for a few weeks. But now we've all decided to join your fight against the Empire."
"Well, I'll be glad to have you and your squad fighting alongside us," Hera stated, smiling as she looked at her.
"Uh, I don't like the sound of this Kyber crystal," Kanan told Sabine, Satele and Janus as they stood on the catwalk above as he had his left hand under his beard and held the elbow of the arm with his other hand as Sabine leaned against the railing, while Satele stood in the nose gun behind them, "It's the second one we prevented the Empire from getting their hands on."
"Saw seemed convinced that they're trying to weaponize it somehow," Sabine explained as she turned to him as she let go of the railing, "Is that even possible?"
"Hmm… At that scale? I don't know," he answered.
"I never heard of Kyber crystals being that size before," Janus told him, "Have you heard of any being that large before you and our crew destroyed the first one four years ago?"
"I heard that Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi destroyed one near the planet Utapau as they were on board a Separatist DH-Omni Support Vessel under the command of General Grievous near the end of the Clone War," Kanan answered.
"What if Saw's right?" Satele asked them as she left the nose gun and walked towards them as Kanan lowered his arms as he along with Sabine and Janus turned to her, "And the Empire is already on the verge of winning a war that most of the Rebel Alliance doesn't believe has already begun?" None of them answered that question as they began to wonder if she was correct as below on the cargo hold Hera was talking with the freed prisoners and Omega, while Zeb was talking with Wrecker.
Please favorite and review. Would you like me to continue adding the Imperial scenes or not?