Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars Rebels that goes to Disney, Lucasfilm and Dave Filoni.
"We're coming up on Yavin IV," Hera announced as the Ghost entered the Yavin system as Satele sat in the seat behind her, while Kanan sat next to her in the co-pilot's seat as Sabine sat in the seat behind him as she had dyed her hair to a more darker shade of violet and had grown it slightly and had repainted and reforged her armor, breastplate and helmet, despite not currently wearing her helmet from reddish-orange to having a majority of her armor, breastplate and helmet to purple with yellow stripes on her left breastplate as well as her armor's Iron Heart being repainted yellow, while Satele slept in her seat as Janus stood behind her, near one of the cockpit's computer systems, "Sabine, transmit our clearance codes."
"Roger that," Sabine responded as she turned to the computer system across from the one Janus was standing at as she gave the Twi'lek a salute.
"No!" Satele yelled as she suddenly woke up and fell to the floor.
"Cyar'ika?" Janus said, calling out to his girlfriend in Mando'a as he ran up to her with worry.
"Satele?" Kanan called out to her as everyone turned to her with worry as she breathed heavily.
"I saw Old Jho. I heard Ryder. I think they're in trouble," Satele explained.
"We've talked about this, Satele," Kanan told her, "It's just your anxiety about Lothal."
"It's never in the briefings anymore," she argued, "No one even mentions it. We promised Ryder we'd go back."
"And then Thrawn ambushed our fleet," Hera reminded her.
"They're suffering, Hera," Satele told her.
"Everyone is suffering, Satele. You need to be patient," Hera stated, causing Satele to cross her arms and turn away from the Twi'lek in her seat.
Soon the Ghost landed at the Great Temple on Yavin IV with Satele walking down the ramp with Sabine and Janus walked down behind her with Mon Monthma's senatorial attaché approaching them as a man with tan skin, brown hair, eyes and beard wearing a brown Corellian-cut field jacket with a KX-series security droid were walking around the base in the distance.
"Commander Wren, Senator Mothma has requested your presence," Erskin told Satele.
With that said, the Ghost crew entered the debriefings room of the Great Temple, where Mon Mothma was waiting for them.
"We received this transmission two days ago," Mon Mothma said as a hologram of Ryder was being displayed from the holotable's holoprojector.
"The Empire is beginning trials on a new version of its TIE Defender," the hologram of Ryder said, "Intel from our spies in the capital reveals the upgraded fighter is…" Ryder's transmission then cut off as it was breaking up.
"What happened?" Satele asked, confused why Ryder's transmission cut off for no reason.
"Ryder Azadi's transmission from Lothal was cut off, and we haven't been able to contact him since," Mon Mothma explained, "But just yesterday, we received a transmission from a new Fulcrum agent, confirming what Ryder was going to say is true. And Captain Kallus has already identified the voice of the new Fulcrum agent as Colonel Wulf Yularen of the ISB."
"I hear that the Lothal resistance group led by Ryder Azadi has been in contact with you about Thrawn's new TIE Defender," the distorted voice of the new Fulcrum agent, Colonel Wulf Yularen said as the symbol of Fulcrum appeared from the holotable's holoprojector, "What he says is true and is still in the testing phase, if you can get some data of it or steal it, then I believe you'll be able to find weaknesses for it. Fulcrum out."
"I have witnessed the threat of the TIE Defender first-hand. If there's been a new development with these fighters like Colonel Yularen says, the Rebellion needs to know," Mon Mothma told them, "I also know how important other than Mandalore, Lothal is to you, Commander Wren. I'm looking for volunteers."
"When do I leave?" Satele immediately asked her.
"You're not going alone, Cyar'ika," Janus corrected her.
"Janus is right, Satele," Hera said, agreeing with Janus, "We're all going."
"I understand, Captain," Mon Mothma stated, realizing what Hera meant, "Your squad does work best together, besides two of them are sisters with one of them in a relationship with another member of your squad, but by all reports, the occupation of Lothal has become a complete lockdown. Even if you make it in, there's no way the Rebellion can extract you if things go wrong."
"I've had a long time to think about this. We'll get that intel, but we're going to help the people of Lothal," Satele told her, "Which means, we'll be there until the planet is free."
A while later, the Ghost jumped out of Hyperspace as the ship began to head towards Vizago's modified Gozanti-class cruiser, the Broken Horn as Hera piloted the Ghost with Satele, Sabine and Janus standing behind her in the cockpit, while Rex sat in the seat behind the co-pilot's seat and Cody sat in the seat behind Hera.
"This friend of yours, Cikatro Vizago, is a criminal. He can't be trusted," Kallus said as he entered the Ghost's cockpit.
"Yeah, we used to say that about you," Sabine argued.
"Yeah, from what I hear you were a troublesome menace for Satele and the others before you became Fulcrum, Kallus," Janus said, agreeing with Sabine as he followed her out of the cockpit.
"They're right, and besides, Vizago has a legitimate business on Lothal now," Satele stated as she followed both her sister and boyfriend out of the cockpit.
"And who told you that?" Kallus asked her as both clones turned towards the former ISB/Fulcrum agent and Satele.
"As much as I hate to say it, it was Hondo," Satele answered.
"Satele," Hera groaned as she turned towards the Mandalorian.
"Trust me. Vizago'll get us through the Empire's blockade," Satele assured them as she continued to leave, "He needs the money."
Soon the Ghost docked with the Broken Horn as Vizago stood inside of his ship's airlock as the airlock's door slid open and saw Satele standing in front of him inside of the Ghost's airlock.
"Ah! Do you have them?" Vizago asked her.
"Come see for yourself," she answered as he walked through his ship's airlock and onto the Ghost.
Inside the cargo hold were some crates and Vizago gasped as he saw a Puffer pig inside one of the crates as he looked through the crate, "I can't believe it. You actually found some."
"Smuggle us through the blockade with your Imperial permits and the puffer pigs are all yours," Satele told him as she placed both of her hands over her hips after climbing down the ladder.
"Calrissian made a fortune with these rare beauties," Vizago stated, "The Mining Guild pays a very inflated price for them."
Soon everyone but Zeb began to transport the crates with puffer pigs onto the Broken Horn.
"So, you're not gonna help?" Rex asked Zeb as he climbed up the ladder in the cargo hold and looked at Zeb, who was standing on the catwalk inside of an opened doorway after walking back into the cargo hold with Cody following him.
"Uh-uh," Zeb answered, "I'm not allowed near the filthy beasts. I scare them. Apparently, there's something wrong with my face."
"Aw. Well, at least yours is unique," Rex stated as he continued up the ladder to the cockpit.
"What is that, Rex, clone humor?" Zeb asked Rex.
"Yeah, you do have a unique face for a Lasat," Cody said, agreeing with his clone brother, "There's one more thing I want to tell you, could you tell Satele and the others that me and Rex have been in contact with the Geonosians and tell her that they've begun to repopulate."
"I'll tell her, Commander," Zeb assured him.
"Thanks," Cody said as he continued to climb up the ladder to the cockpit.
"You're in command of the Ghost now," Hera told Rex and Cody as they climbed into the cockpit, "Take care of her. I will want her back."
"To think all the times I chased this ship, all the trouble it gave me," Kallus said as Hera left the cockpit and sat down in the pilot's seat, "And now I'm in command of it."
"You? Oh, no, no, no," Rex said with disbelief, "She was talking to me and Cody."
"Why would she give the ship to either of you?" Kallus asked both clones, "I've commanded Star Destroyers."
"Well, I'd say you'd answered your own question, then," Rex told him.
"Yeah, I agree, Rex, it does seem that Kallus has already answered his own question," Cody said, agreeing with Rex as he walked over to the seat behind the pilot's seat as Rex sat down in the pilot's seat and Cody sat down in the co-pilot's seat before the Ghost detached from the modified Gozanti-class cruiser as the Broken Horn soon rotated around as it flew away from the Ghost before jumping into Hyperspace.
Chopper rolled into the cockpit of the Broken Horn as it traveled through Hyperspace as he pulled out both of his metal arms and grunted as he saw what everyone was wearing as Zeb was wearing brown pants, tan shirt, a backpack over his back and a brown cap over his head, while Kanan was wearing something similar but his shirt was green with white sleeves, a smaller cap with a visor over his eyes, with Janus wearing dark gray pants, with a green shirt with a piece of cloth under his neck colored white and gray over his jumpsuit as he wasn't wearing his Beskar armor along with a hat over his head, the twins were both wearing the same type of gray pants and jackets with Sabine's being orange and Satele's was a mix of orange and blue over their jumpsuits as they weren't wearing their Beskar armors either as Hera was wearing black pants, a brown colored tank top, a different headdress and had removed her goggles as Chopper continued to grunt.
"What's wrong with my hat?" Zeb asked the astromech droid before he grunted a response.
"What do you mean, ridiculous?" Janus asked Chopper before he grunted another response.
"Don't make me and Satele paint you again," Sabine threatened the astromech droid as Hera placed her right hand over her hip.
"And this time it won't be just yellow and black, it will be colorful," Satele added, causing Chopper to grunt another response just as the ship jumped out of Hyperspace and saw that the atmosphere of Lothal was heavily polluted with Satele looking at the planet with horror on her face, "Look at the sky. Kanan, Sabine, what've they done? Lothal looks like it's dying."
"Lothal isn't the place you remember, Satele," Vizago told her, "Better prepare yourself."
"Supply ship Broken Horn, we have a lock. Transmit clearance codes," they all suddenly heard a masculine voice say on the ship's communications system.
"The things I do for money," Vizago sighed to himself as he transmitted his clearance codes to an Imperial Light Cruiser in the distance ahead of them.
"Sir, the ship's codes are good but there's a problem with the thermal scan," an Imperial officer sitting down on one of the Imperial Light Cruiser's pilot's seats reported to another Imperial officer behind them as he had his arms behind his back, "I'm reading multiple unregistered lifeforms."
"We've caught ourselves a smuggler," the other Imperial officer stated, "Contact an ISB patrol."
"Broken Horn, clearance is granted. You are approved for landing," the Imperial officer said on the Broken Horn's communications system before the ship began to fly through Lothal's atmosphere.
"They've burned it," Satele said with horror as she saw the plains of Lothal burning as Janus went to comfort her, "They've burned it all away."
"Reminds me what they're doing to our Beskar on Mandalore and Concordia," Janus added as TIE fighters began to swoop around to escort the modified Gozanti-class cruiser.
"What are those TIEs doing here?" Hera asked with confusion, "You said you had Imperial permits."
"The permits are good. It's standard procedure to have a TIE fighter escort," Vizago explained, "Sometimes."
"How can it be standard procedure sometimes?" Zeb asked with confusion, "How many times has this happened to you?"
"Well, this is the first time," Vizago answered before the ship began to land at the town of Jhothal.
"Gravity locks and a search crew?" Hera said with disbelief as she saw a gravity lock being attached to the ship and stormtroopers in front of the ship, "Must have scanned us on the way in."
"Hey, if they don't find us, they got nothing," Satele stated before she and the rest of the Ghost crew went to leave the cockpit, "Stall 'em, Vizago."
With that, the stormtroopers and an Imperial officer began to enter the ship through the ship's lift below the ship and entered the cockpit with the stormtroopers aiming their E-11 blaster rifles at the Devaronian, "Hands up."
"There must be some kind of mistake," Vizago told the stormtroopers as he put his hands up.
"Are you sure this is going to work, Sat?" Sabine asked her sister as they stood in the Broken Horn's cargo hold, where the crates containing the putter pigs were as Satele began to let the pigs out of their cages.
"As much as I ever am, Bine," Satele assured her before turning to Zeb, who stood across from her, "Ready, Zeb?"
"Yeah. Let me put on my useful face," Zeb answered before hiding behind a wall in the ship's corridor as the puffer pigs walked into the corridor and made an angry facial expression as he looked at them before they looked at him as he growled at them, causing them to run away.
"You hear something?" One of the stormtroopers asked as he stood with the Imperial officer, who was holding a device in his hand as they stood in one of the ship's corridors as they heard the puffer pigs squealing before the stormtrooper turned to see puffer pigs inflated, jumping around before jumping towards them, "Get back! Get back!"
Soon the Imperial officer and stormtrooper began to back away as the puffer pigs jumped towards them as the stormtroopers in the cockpit rushed towards the doorway as the puffer pigs jumped towards them as Vizago was arrested with stuncuffs around his wrists as he saw Satele and the others run across the corridor on the other side and ran towards them after evading the inflated puffer pigs.
"Vizago, come on!" Satele said, calling out to the Devaronian as he turned to see one of the puffer pigs that wasn't inflated.
"Here, little piggy, piggy, piggy. Yeah, come on, you little money maker. I will get us out of here," Vizago told the puffer pig as he scooped up the puffer pig, only for the puffer pig to get scared as it squealed and inflated, trapping Vizago between the puffer big and the wall.
"Vizago went back for the pigs, didn't he?" Satele asked as she, her sister, boyfriend, Zeb, Kanan, Chopper and Hera walked out of the ship and entered the town of Jhothal as Hera turned around towards the others as she crossed her arms.
"Yeah, I think you're right, Teal," Janus told her as he suspected that she was right.
"Yeah, but if anyone can weasel their way out of trouble, it's him," Kanan said, confirming their suspicions as Sabine placed her right hand over her hip.
"I figure we can start at Old Jho's. He'll know how to reach Ryder," Satele suggested.
"If he's still there," Zeb stated.
"We split up," Hera told them, "You, your sister and Chopper head for Jho's. Make contact with Ryder. Kanan, Zeb, Janus and I will get us a transport." Satele, Sabine and Chopper then walked in a separate direction than Hera, Kanan, Zeb and Janus.
"Hey, why are they using the younger image of me back from when we were 16 and when we reunited?" Satele asked as she, Sabine and Chopper, who's carrying a rig with everyone's weapons saw wanted posters of them along with the rest of the Ghost crew except for Janus, "I don't even look like that anymore."
"That's a good thing, Sis," Sabine told her as they walked past the wanted posters of them.
"Serve your purpose. Serve your Empire. Protect Lothal and yourself, report rebel activity. Loyalty is obedience," the twins heard an Imperial officer say on a large view screen, spouting out propaganda with propaganda posters being displayed on the view screen above them as they walked past it before it switched to the wanted poster of Sabine from when she reunited with Satele as they looked up at it.
"You're out past curfew," they heard a stormtrooper say as they saw two stormtroopers interrogating two civilians, "Let's see some identification."
"The Empire wouldn't do anything to Old Jho. The people wouldn't stand for it," Satele told Sabine as they walked towards Old Jho's pit stop.
"You sure about this?" Sabine asked her sister.
"It was the one place on all of Lothal where you actually felt the Empire wasn't welcomed," Satele explained as they walked down the steps into Old Jho's pit stop as Chopper grunted in a disapproving tone as the twins heard the Galactic Empire's National Anthem, 'Glory to the Empire' being played in the bar and saw that there was a more prominent Imperial presence in the pit stop than usual as there were Imperial officers, a Death Trooper codenamed DT-L21 and stormtroopers in the cantina as they saw an unfamiliar male bartender with fair skin, blue eyes and brown hair behind the bar.
"Okay, I guess they feel pretty welcome now," Sabine remarked, sarcastically.
"Just back out, Sis," Satele suggested, "Casually."
They went to do that, only to see a stormtrooper at the top of the steps, standing in front of Chopper, "I thought I saw two citizens that looked like twins walk this way," the stormtrooper told Chopper, "You see anything?" Chopper then grunted a negative response to the stormtrooper.
"Any other ideas?" Sabine asked her sister.
"Let's get something to drink," Satele suggested as she walked away.
"I meant good ideas, Sis," Sabine clarified as she followed her back into the bar.
"Pardon me," Satele said as she walked past a stormtrooper before walking past an Imperial officer, who had both of his arms behind his back, "Sorry, uh, excuse me."
"Are you trying to get us caught?" Sabine asked Satele quietly as they sat at the front of the bar.
"Look, if we walked in and walked out, it would have been suspicious," Satele explained, "It's not like anyone's gonna recognize us."
"Um, he might," Sabine told her sister as she grabbed her sister by the arm as she stared at a hologram of a TIE pilot, one they've encountered before, who had their helmet on their lap with red markings around his flight suit's arms, legs and went down the top of their helmet.
"Baron Valen Rudor," Satele said, identifying the TIE pilot.
"Correct, your eyes do not deceive you, young lady," Rudor said, approaching them from the other side of the bar and passing them some drinks, "It's true. I am the vaunted Imperial Ace, Baron Valen Rudor."
"Oh… wow," Satele said, pretending to be impressed by the Imperial pilot.
"Gosh, what's an amazing pilot like you doing here?" Sabine asked, pretending to be impressed by him like her sister.
"This establishment belongs to me now. Well, the Empire, of course," Rudor answered, chuckling, "I've been entrusted to run it. We don't get many civilians in here anymore. You both look familiar.
"Me and my sister here used to come in here when it was Old Jho's," Satele answered, while in a corner from the twins, a man with tan skin, brown eyes and reddish brown hair was drinking caff as he heard this and immediately recognized them as he heard Satele say that.
"I guess you haven't heard then, a few days ago there was a raid on a suspected rebel cell. The ISB caught Old Jho trying to help them escape," Rudor told the twins.
"Jho's been captured?" Satele asked him with disbelief.
"Captured and executed," Rudor stated, causing Satele to narrow her eyes a bit.
"It's like a ghost town here," Hera told Kanan as they walked down an ally in Jhothal as they walked past a sleeping Loth-cat, "Everyone's in hiding."
"Everyone's afraid," Kanan explained, "And they've got every reason to be." He then heard chatter in the distance, "There's someone coming. Get back." He then grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her into a narrow alleyway as two stormtroopers began to walk down the alleyway and walked past them before Kanan quietly chuckled, "I just realized. It's been a while since we've spent some time alone."
"And when we do, it's in situations like this," Hera added.
"I wish I could see you," he told her before she removed his visor from his eyes.
"You could always see me," she said as she smiled before he went to lean in to kiss her when her wrist communicator started beeping.
"We found the speeders," Zeb announced on the comlink.
"Uh, how many?" Hera asked him.
"Uh, not sure how many you guys had when you were on Lothal before you joined the wider Rebellion, but I think it's all of them," Janus answered on the comlink.
"They've been confiscated by the Empire," Zeb added as he stared at an impound with the speeders, using a pair of electrobinoculars with Janus doing the same with a pair of his own as well from a building's rooftop, "Kind of convenient, actually."
"Any stormtroopers?" Hera asked them on Zeb's comlink.
"He said convenient, not perfect, Hera," Janus sighed.
"We better get moving," Hera suggested to Kanan as he placed his visor back over his eyes before she began to leave the narrow alleyway.
"Yes," he sighed as he followed her, "Gotta get moving."
"A shame about Old Jho. I understand he was loved by the community, but, well, a traitor is a traitor, and they must be dealt with," Rudor told the twins.
"Uh, we should go," Sabine told him as she noticed her sister's uneasiness at trying to hide her anger and not to snap at the Imperial pilot and began to leave, "Thanks for the drink, Baron." She then spoke to Satele as they walked away from Rudor, "Hey, will you get a hold of yourself?"
"Okay, okay," Satele said, calmly.
"Hey, stormtroopers, stop them," Rudor ordered the stormtroopers.
"Hold it right there, Citizen," one of the stormtroopers said, Satele and Sabine.
"What's the problem?" Satele asked the stormtrooper.
"Satine, my friend. I've been looking all over for you!" The man with reddish brown hair said, coming up to Satele, surprising her as she didn't recognize him as she and Sabine shared a look, confused on why he was calling Satele by the name of their grandmother, "Did you forget to pay for your and your sister's drinks?"
"Oh! I… I thought they were on the house," Satele answered the man.
"Satine, why not just pay the man?" He asked her.
"With that?" she asked as she chuckled nervously.
"You don't have any credits?" He asked her.
"I thought you had credits," Satele told her sister.
"I don't have any credits, Sis. I thought you had credits," Sabine responded.
"I got it. It's on me," the man relented as he walked over to the bar and handed Rudor some Imperial credits, "This should cover my friend and her sister's drinks. Keep the change."
"That's very generous of you, and I didn't get your name," Rudor told the man as he took the credits that he handed him.
"That's okay," the man said as he walked back to the twins, "Come on, Satine. Everyone's waiting to see you and your sister. Let's not keep them waiting." With that, Satele and Sabine followed him up the steps out of the bar, "Satele Wren, welcome back to Lothal."
"Who are you?" Satele asked the man, confused on how he knew who she was.
"You don't remember me?" The man asked her, "Or that I tried flirting with you when we first met?"
"Jai Kell," she said as she realized who the man was, "Yeah, it's been a while since I rescued you from that Academy here on Lothal."
"Yeah," Jai confirmed, "You got me out of there. Save my life. This is my chance to return the favor." He then pulled out a device from his pocket, "Ryder kept sending me here in hopes that you'd show up with your sister. I'll try to contact someone for a pickup." He then began to activate the device in his hand.
"Don't worry. We got it covered," Satele told him when suddenly there was an explosion in the distance as Chopper grunted when suddenly a speeder with Zeb, Janus, Hera and Kanan were sitting in pulled up towards them with Hera piloting the speeder.
"Get in! Now!" Hera called out to them and as they began to head towards the speeder as Imperial TX-225 GAVr 'occupier' combat assault tanks began to surround them.
"We've been cut off," Sabine said as she saw that the tanks have surrounded them as Hera, Zeb, Janus and Kanan hopped out of the speeder as the tanks fired upon it, destroying it on impact.
"We need an exit, people!" Hera yelled.
"I'm sure that the twins' friend here knows one," Janus stated.
"My name's Jai Kell and I do. It's this way!" Jai told Janus as he began to head back towards the Pit stop as DT-L21 began to run out of the Pit stop through the entrance.
"Uh, there's some rebels outside," Satele told DT-L21 as the Death Trooper ran past her with a couple of stormtroopers, "They just blew up a speeder."
"Out of the way," DT-L21 said as he ran past her and pushed her towards the wall, "Come on!"
The rebels then entered the bar with Zeb punching the door's control panel, causing it to spark with electricity after entering the bar last before they began running to the back of the bar as Jai led them to a hatch that looked like that it was the entrance to a sewer tunnel.
"Old Jho ran smuggler tunnels throughout town. Ryder told me about them once," Jai explained as the hatch entrance to the sewer tunnel slid open.
"Chopper, scan the system and find us an exit," Hera ordered Chopper, who grunted as he activated his rocket booster as he descended down into the sewer tunnel before the twins began to climb down the ladder followed by Hera.
"There's gotta be another way," Zeb muttered.
"You can always ask them?" Hera joked as they heard an explosion in the distance as she climbed down the ladder before Kanan followed her as he began to climb down the ladder.
"I hate the sewers," Zeb groaned as Janus began climbing down the ladder before Zeb began to climb down the ladder as well before the hatch sealed shut as they entered the sewers.
"They went that way. Hurry," Rudor said as he led DT-L21 and the stormtroopers back through the bar and approached the entrance of the sewers that the rebels went through.
"It's an access point for the sewer system," one of the stormtroopers reported as he opened the hatch back up.
"Did you know this wasn't sealed," DT-L21 asked Rudor.
"I had no idea," Rudor answered.
"Well, don't worry. There are only so many places they can hide," DT-L21 assured him as probe droids and stormtroopers began to descend into the sewer system.
"Place is like a maze," Sabine observed as she and the others ran through the sewer tunnel system with Jai as Chopper had his built-in flashlight activated, "Which way?" Chopper then grunted a response.
"Great, you got us lost," Satele remarked, sarcastically.
"How are we gonna know which way now?" Janus suddenly asked the question that was on everyone's minds.
"I seem to remember these tunnels lead to a junction beneath the main road out of town," Jai informed them.
"Well, that's a start," Sabine told him, "You should activate your beacon so Ryder can come get us once we're in the clear."
"Well, so much for our disguises," Satele remarked as she handed everyone their weapons from the crate on the rig that Chopper had been carrying when they suddenly heard an Imperial probe droid.
"Something's coming," Zeb announced.
"What is it?" Kanan asked him when a probe droid suddenly appeared before them and began firing upon them.
"It's a probe. Blast it!" Zeb answered as Sabine ignited her lightsaber with Satele doing the same with her lightsaber with the blue blade as the others started firing at the probe with their blasters.
"Watch out. There's another one," Satele said as she saw another probe droid behind her and pulled Jai to the floor.
As Sabine deflected one of the Imperial probe droids' blaster bolts, she sensed one come up from behind her and evaded it as she slid onto the floor and extended her other hand out towards it as she used the Force to hold it, "I can't hold it for long!"
"I'll do it," Janus said as he fired one of his WESTAR-35s at the probe droid as it began to spark with electricity as Sabine used the Force to push it away from them as it blew up as Hera and Zeb continued to fire at the probe droid they were shooting at as Janus began to fire his WESTAR-35s at the probe droid that appeared behind Satele and Jai, damaging it as it sparked with electricity as it backed away, making a sound that sounded like it was humming.
"It's transmitting our position," Kanan announced as he, Hera, Chopper and Jai ran down one tunnel, leaving the twins, Janus and Zeb together, "We need to split up. Go!"
"This way!" Satele said as she led her sister, boyfriend and Zeb down another tunnel.
"Is this the right way?" Kanan asked Jai as they reached a tunnel within the tunnel they were running down with Hera.
"I… I don't know," Jai answered before he began to climb up the ladder, "I'll go take a look."
"That's a no," Kanan told Jai, grabbing him off of the ladder as the hatch above them slid open and they hid on the walls as stormtroopers stood above the hatch and shined a light down towards the hatch till a probe droid appeared in front of the rebels, causing Kanan to step in the light as he ignited his lightsaber to deflect the probe droid's blaster bolt as it fired its blaster at them and slashed his lightsaber against the probe droid's body.
"Rebels!" The stormtrooper shining the light stated as he saw Kanan holding his lightsaber, "Squad 2, get down there!"
Kanan and the others ran from the ladder as soon as the stormtrooper noticed them as Chopper began following them before stopping as he saw Sabine and Satele's Starbird symbol painted on the wall before grunting in an alarmed tone as he rolled towards them as he continued to follow them.
"We've got trouble!" Sabine yelled as she, Satele, Janus and Zeb were running down one of the sewer tunnels as a probe droid chased and fired upon them.
"Zeb! Janus!" Satele called out to the Lasat and her boyfriend as Zeb turned around and fired at the probe droid as Janus did the same as he fired both of his WESTAR-35s at the probe droid, only for both of them to miss.
"I hate these things," Zeb muttered before firing his bo-rifle at the probe droid in the eye, causing it to spark with electricity before Janus fired his WESTAR-35s at the probe droid again, damaging it even more, causing it to activate its self-destruction programming, which Sabine sensed as she turned around and extended her arm and used the Force to push it backwards before it exploded as another probe droid appeared in front of Satele as she ignited her lightsaber with the blue blade and deflected its blaster bolts before slashing the probe droid in half, "Please tell me you know how to get out of here. Didn't you grow up in a sewer after your father left you with the Bridgers when you and Sabine were five years old?"
"I was born in Sundari, the capital city of Mandalore as was Sabine," Satele told him, "And I grew up on Krownest for five years before Father left me with Mira and Ephraim Bridger and grew up here on Lothal for 11 years. I've never been here."
"What's the difference," Zeb asked her.
"Everything's different, Zeb. It's all changed, and this? This is my fault!" Satele said, blaming herself for what's happened to Lothal, "I'm the one who pushed for us to come back. I never thought it'd be this bad."
"Sis…" Sabine muttered, trying to cheer her up.
"Teal'ika…" Janus said at the same time, trying to cheer his girlfriend up as well.
"Saw said it," Satele reminded them, "I didn't want to believe him. Lothal's gone. We already lost."
"Hey, we haven't lost. Forget Saw," Sabine told her, "You said as long as we're together, we've got a chance."
"Your sister's right, Satele," Janus said, agreeing with Sabine.
"At least we'll go down fighting," Zeb added.
"Hey wait," Sabine said as she noticed something on one of the walls as she activated her flashlight and aimed it at the wall, "That's our symbol, Sis."
"And the symbol of our clan," Janus added.
"Ryder knows it," Satele explained, "Maybe he left a trail for us to follow."
"It's pointing this way," Sabine said as she noticed that the starbird was pointing to their left.
"Let's hope you're right," Zeb muttered as he and Satele followed Sabine down the direction of the starbird.
"I'm pretty certain Sabine's right, Zeb," Janus assured Zeb as he followed him and the twins down the tunnel of where the starbird was pointing.
"Sir, they've destroyed all our probes," a stormtrooper reported to DT-L21.
"Order all our troops to converge on their last-known coordinates, and send a squad to the main junction outside town to cut their escape," DT-L21 ordered before climbing down the ladder into the sewer system as the stormtrooper walked away from the hatch.
"Where is the next symbol?" Sabine sighed as she, her sister, Janus and Zeb arrived at a larger tunnel system, "I don't see it."
"I don't see it either," Zeb told them, agreeing with her.
"Me neither," Janus said, agreeing with them.
"Maybe it's down the next pipe," Satele suggested when stormtroopers suddenly appeared in one of the pipes and began to fire their E-11 blaster rifles at them, causing Satele to ignite her saber with the blue blade as Sabine did the same with hers as they began to deflect their blaster bolts with them as Janus fired his WESTAR-35 blaster pistols, while Zeb fired his bo-rifle at the stormtroopers, "Not this way! Not this way! Come on, we need another way out." Chopper suddenly grunted as he flew behind the Lasat and the three Mandalorians as he appeared from one of the tunnel pipes behind them.
"Turn around, Satele. Go, go, go! They're right behind us," Hera said from the pipe as she, Kanan and Jai appeared from the pipe.
"But they're already here," Satele protested as Kanan ignited his lightsaber and began to deflect the stormtroopers' blaster bolts with it, "We were following these symbols but we don't know where they went."
"We were following them too," Hera told her.
"Looks like we followed them into a trap," Zeb muttered as Chopper looked around before looking up and saw a hatch above them with a starbird painted on them and grunted a response.
"Chopper found it!" Sabine announced as she continued to deflect the blaster bolts with her lightsaber as she held her flashlight in her other hand and aimed it at the ladder on the hatch above them.
"I got it," Satele said before using the Force to jump onto the ladder above before jumping to the top and slashed her lightsaber with the blue blade across the ladder's control panel, sending the ladder downwards.
"Hold on, how do we know there aren't stormtroopers up there?" Sabine asked everyone as she continued to deflect the stormtroopers' blaster bolts with her lightsaber.
"Doesn't matter because we know they're down here," Kanan answered as he continued to deflect the stormtroopers' blaster bolts with his lightsaber behind her.
"Kanan is right, Sabine," Janus assured his girlfriend's sister as he began to climb up the ladder before Janus climbed up the ladder with Hera and Jai as well with Hera firing her blaster pistol at the stormtroopers on both sides of the room with the blaster bolts colliding with two stormtroopers' helmets as Jai began to climb up the ladder as Zeb climbed up the ladder as well, carrying Chopper before Satele, Sabine and Kanan used the Force to jump onto the ladder as they continued to deflect the stormtroopers' blaster bolts for a second before Satele slashed her lightsaber with the blue blade against the bottom half of the ladder as one of the stormtroopers began to climb up the ladder as the piece they had begun to climb fall to the floor and fell off the piece of the ladder as it landed on top of him along with two other stormtroopers.
"The hatch isn't opening," Janus grunted from the top of the ladder as he tried to open the hatch above him by punching the hatch with his fist.
"Figure something out!" Hera told him.
"It won't budge, Hera," Janus explained as he looked down at Hera, "Satele slashed the controls with one of her lightsabers."
The hatch then suddenly opened, surprising everyone.
"Good job, Janus!" Kanan said, thinking that he opened the hatch.
"I didn't do anything," Janus told him.
"Welcome home or in your case, Janus, welcome to Lothal. Now get moving," Ryder said as he appeared at the top of the hatch on one knee.
"Ryder," Satele said as she saw Ryder, causing him to laugh.
"Let's go," Ryder said as he pulled Janus up by the arm and did the same to Hera and Jai before Zeb climbed up to the top of the hatch as Chopper flew to the top of the hatch with his rocket booster as he deactivated his built-in flashlight before Satele, Sabine and Kanan jumped through the hatch before it sealed itself back shut and headed to a U-wing that was parked right beside them, which took off as they entered the ship.
"Nice to finally meet you, Janus," Ryder told Janus as Zeb sat down on a seat in the cargo hold next to Satele as they stood in the cargo hold, "I've heard so much about you from Satele here."
"Nice to finally meet you too, Governor," Janus replied.
"Thanks for coming, Ryder," Satele told Ryder as Janus sat down next to Zeb.
"Least I could do," Ryder said as he sat down in the co-pilot's seat of the U-wing as Marida was sitting in the pilot's seat, "You came back here for us. Wasn't sure my message to the Rebellion even got through."
"It did," Satele confirmed, "Along with one from our new Fulcrum informant, who confirmed what you were going to say. Mon Mothma sent us to help, and get intel on the TIE Defender."
"I'll debrief you at my camp," Ryder told her, "We need to plan an attack on the TIE Defender factory as soon as the rest of your forces arrive."
"Uh, Ryder, there won't be anyone else coming," Satele informed him, "It's just us."
"Wait, I don't understand," Ryder said with confusion, "Just you?"
"The Empire has Lothal locked down tight," Zeb explained, "How are we gonna do this?"
"This is how a rebellion starts. Small. With few people standing together," Satele explained, "We've done it before to Sabine, Janus and my people on Mandalore. We can do it again."
"Well, we'll get a look at this new fighter in a few days," Ryder told her, "Then we'll see if you still feel about our chances."
Please favorite and review. Would you like me to continue adding the Imperial scenes or not?