Chapter 8: Stealth Strike
As promised, and to keep her mind out of the negative thoughts brought by her past, Ezra took Sabine on their first official date the day after.
Right after lunch, they went into the city, changing their usual outfit into an even more anonymous one. Ezra had learned that there was a pretty big art exhibition in the capital so he decided to bring Sabine there, and she appreciated immensely.
"Ezra, I have no words to say how much I'm loving you right now." she said as they walked through the small square.
She was very much clinging on his right arm, keeping her head leaned against his shoulder.
"I'm just happy to know that you're having fun." he whispered and kissed her head.
They spent a couple of hours there. Sabine got also into some of the artwork, starting to explain things about the authors or the meaning. Ezra didn't know anything about them, but he listened closely, since he knew that few things helped her mind to ease up as art did.
As night fell, they decided to grab something to eat at a small kiosk before heading back to the Ghost and into their quarters.
"So, did you like it?" Ezra asked her.
"I loved it." she answered with the happiest smile she had ever put on in years.
"See? I told you you'd love it." Ezra said with a victorious grin.
Sabine rolled her eyes. "Don't get too cocky, Bridger." she said jokingly.
The last part of the day involved the bed and them administering loving attentions to each other.
The days went on. Ezra had turned 16 and the Phoenix Cell kept poking the Imperials at any occasion. Jaral masterminded two daring operations that ended in a complete success while she kept wreaking havoc on imperial installations aboard her X-Wing.
Around three weeks after the incident with Ketsu, the Phoenix Cell was hit by a disgrace as one of the smaller transports disappeared into the Dal Zennis system.
After a heated debate between the three commanding officers, it was decided that Darvos would take the Magnanimous with a minimal crew to go and investigate. To everyone's surprise, Ezra asked Jaral to volunteer him for the mission.
So Ezra found himself in the bridge of the Magnanimous, analyzing the star charts while Darvos sat on the command chair.
On the bridge were only the pilot, an engineer, the co-pilot and the communication officer.
"We'll be arriving in the Del Zennis system any moment." the pilot announced.
Ezra was finishing to look at the charts and his hunch was literally pestering him.
He turned the chair on its linchpin to look at the command chair.
"Lieutenant." Ezra recalled.
"Yes, Ezra?" Darvos asked politely, turning to face him.
"Do you have any idea why our patrol went missing?"
"Unfortunately I can only theorize. What are your impressions?"
"Well, the Del Zennis system is a void system. There isn't even a single planet or asteroid, so why would they stop hyperspace there in the first place?"
"Good observation." Darvos complimented him. "And their trajectory didn't establish for them to stop in that system before making the next jump. Which means, something pulled them out of hyperspace." Darvos said, stroking his chin with two fingers.
Everybody in the bridge was stunned for a second.
Ezra was about to ask Jinx if something like that was even possible, but then he felt his hunch screaming at him, along with the Force.
"Something is about to happen." he murmured.
Barely he had finished that sentence that the ship shook violently.
"Sir, we've lost hyperdrive control." the pilots said urgently.
"Emergency positions!" Darvos ordered.
Everybody buckled up. The blue tunnel of hyperspace suddenly started to emit a red light. Ezra had saw this phenomenon only once.
"We're being pulled out of hyperspace." the pilot said.
A few moments later, the corvette was spinning into the darkness of space.
"Secure all stations and get me status report." Darvos calmly instructed the crew.
However, a couple of seconds later, the bridge was obscured by the contour of a gray, triangular-shaped ship.
"Instruments have frozen!" the engineer said in panic.
"Is that a Star Destroyer?" Ezra asked, not sure if he recognized the shape completely.
"No." Darvos said gloomily. "It's something else. Send the distress signal!"
Darvos put a finger on the panel on his left and spoke up.
"Magnanimous to Phoenix Home. We've been pulled out of hyperspace. The Empire…"
He stopped when everything on the bridge turned off and it fell into obscurity. The corvette was being drawn by a tractor beam.
When Jaral stepped into the Ghost and announced in the common room that the Magnanimous had been captured, everybody looked in shock.
The girl played the message Darvos managed to send before it was cut off by the Empire.
"Wait," Hera asked. "how could they pull a ship out of hyperspace? It's impossible."
"Because of this." Jaral tapped something on her omni-tool. From the database she got from Tseebo a year before came the blueprint of a cruiser with a triangular shape and four spheres on the stern.
"Project Interdictor." Jinx said. "A cruiser equipped with four gravity well projectors, designed specifically to pull ships out of hyperspace."
"I heard about this, when I was at the Academy, it was still a project." Sabine remembered.
"Well, it looks like they finished it." Kanan commented.
"Chances are they're still testing the system." Sabine added. "If they follow Imperial procedure, the testing zone for this type of ship wouldn't be that large. We'll probably it not far from where we lost contact with Commander Sato."
"Good. Then me, Kanan and Rex will take a shuttle and infiltrate the ship."
"What?" Kanan and Sabine said in unison. The mandalorian leaped on her feet.
"I'm coming as well!" the girl declared.
Jaral frowned severely at her. "No, you're not."
"Why?!"
"Because we would be too many. We have to keep the rescue party to a small group."
"Why can't we bring her instead of Rex?" Kanan groaned.
"Because we need Jinx and Chopper to sabotage the ship; you for your Jedi abilities and Rex for his military knowledge that will allow us to impersonate stormtroopers and get on the ship without a fight." Jaral said sternly. "Finally, if we don't find that cruiser, my bond with Ezra will help us find him faster."
Both wanted to protest, but her strategy did make a lot of sense, so Kanan and Sabine gulped down. The girl, however, was not happy to be left aside when the man she loved was imprisoned.
Jaral put a hand on her shoulder.
"You know I'll bring him and everybody else back, right?" Jaral asked confidently.
Sabine nodded and sat back on the bench around the holotable.
The crew of the Magnanimous wisely didn't put up any fight. Both Ezra and Darvos were handcuffed and escorted by a total of four stormtroopers to the bridge. Along the way, Ezra whispered to Darvos.
"Don't worry, Darvos. I'll get us out of here. I've been captured many times." he joked.
The lieutenant made an amused huff. "You also escaped all those times, I assume?"
"Of course. But anyway I sense that Jaral is on the warpath. I bet she received your transmission."
Darvos silently chuckled. "I almost feel pity for these guys…"
Ezra made a light snicker as well. A few meters later, they were introduced into the command bridge of the cruiser. There stood an officer with a black uniform and the tab of admiral.
"Rebels…" the blonde captain said with an amused grin. "Out here searching for your missing patrol, I assume."
"Sir, this must have a been a terrible misunderstanding." Darvos said, trying to keep a diplomatic attitude. "We are members of the Corporate Alliance. We had no idea that this sector was closed, so why don't you just hand us a fine and we all go our way?"
"You are in a position to demand nothing, Lieutenant Darvos Tanis." the admiral replied with an annoyed face now.
Darvos was actually surprised that his name was known.
"Oh, yes, we know everything about you." the admiral said. "Let me introduce myself. I'm Admiral Brom Titus, and I've had the pleasure to work with your father, who is now in command of the Fondor Sector Fleet. When he heard that his son was leading a rebel cell, he was very quick into rejecting you."
Darvos puffed, not impressed. "So my father did bother to denounce my disappearance. How lovely of him."
Titus ignored the comment. "I suspected that if we captured even one rebel ship, others would rush to the rescue. But I dared not hope that we would capture one of their most important officers."
"I'll take that as a compliment." Darvos said as he was bored.
Titus now looked at Ezra and scrutinized him. "And what do we have here? From your abnormal physicality I would assume that you are the Orange Menace, Ezra Bridger. Am I correct?"
Ezra took a smug grin. "You're a smart one, aren't you?"
"I imagine Agent Kallus will be quite pleased to hear you have joined us." Titus said before giving his back to the prisoners and turning toward his side of the holotable. "Secure them."
The two rebels were dragged out of the bridge.
Aboard a Sentinel-class landing craft of the Empire, Jaral, Chopper, Rex and Kanan were sitting among the four seats in the cockpit. Rex and Kanan were wearing two stormtrooper armors they were graciously lent by their owners on Garel.
Kanan was sitting in the passenger seat behind Jaral, who was piloting the ship while Rex stood waiting beside the comlink of the ship. Chopper was standing between the four seats.
"I don't know why she does that." Kanan commented a graffito that Sabine had done on the backward wall of the cockpit, a comic version of him wielding his lightsaber standing beside Rex with his two blaster pistols.
"I believe it's called 'artistic expression'." Rex said trying to sound accommodating.
Jaral, with her armor fully on, was directing the ship without commenting.
"Well, my expression is completely wrong." Kanan protested. "I'm not happy to be on this mission." he glared at Rex.
"Really?" the captain said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Cause that wasn't clear."
Chopper laughed.
"Once we board this thing, Chopper and Jinx will plug in, find out where they have our people, and we get them out of there." Kanan repeated the plan almost in frustration.
"We've got to disable this weapon, whatever it is." Rex commented, and Jaral now paid attention. "If the Empire is able to intercept our ships in hyperspace, this rebel movement won't last long."
"We'll do both, Rex, don't you worry." Jaral reassured him.
The two men looked at her, then they remembered that she already said that in the briefing.
"We're coming up on the Magnanimous' last position." she declared.
"Let's just hope we find that ship fast." Rex exhaled.
As if the Force was listening to him, the moment they came out of hyperspace they spotted the Interdictor immediately, escorted by two smaller Arquitens-class cruisers.
Almost immediately they were contacted by the main ship.
"Shuttle S257, this is a restricted area." an officer warned them.
Rex immediately took the lead.
"Copy that, sir." he said. "Boy, are we glad to see you. We have a 157. Repeat, a 157."
Jaral was listening attentively. Since she was studying Imperial protocols, this seemed like a good lesson on how to bluff. Kanan, on the other hand, seemed very displeased.
"You are not cleared. This is a 675 test zone and off-limits to you, S257."
"Well, if we don't get some help soon, we're gonna have a 3376 on our hands." Rex said, giving Jaral an amused face. The girl chuckled under her breath. "I don't think you're gonna want a 3376 off your starboard side, now, would you, sir?"
The officer seemed convinced. "Shuttle S257, requesting your emergency access code."
"Copy that, sir. Priority protocol 7…"
Kanan groaned and Jaral listened to him commenting to Chopper. "That's what I can't stand. Protocol nonsense."
As he finished, so did Rex.
"Stand by, S257."
Rex removed the finger from the comlink to reassure Kanan. "Cody and I practically invented these emergency protocols back in the Clone War. Trust me, the codes are good."
The shuttle kept approaching slowly to the Interdictor.
"Copy, Shuttle S257. You are clear to proceed on heading 1599 to hangar 11."
"Thank you, sir." Rex said with satisfaction. Then turned to Kanan. "See? They don't suspect a thing." he gloated.
Jaral brought the shuttle into the hangar, passing in front of the Magnanimous in the process, as the corvette was held in the external part of the hangar by two hydraulic claws.
When they landed, they went to the cargo bay and Jaral activated the hologram. Differently from other times, this time she impersonated a regular stormtrooper soldier, without any pauldron.
"All set?" she asked.
The two men put on their helmets. Rex stretched out a bit, since the armor was tight on him.
"I guess." Kanan simply answered.
Jaral opened the door and walked in front of them.
"This must be like old times." Kanan whispered to Rex, subtly accusing him of being a potential imperial.
Rex just chuckled. "Just follow my lead and you'll be okay."
"No, you follow my lead." Kanan protested.
"Both of you will follow my lead." Jaral whispered in a tone that pretty much resembled a furious Hera.
The men decided to cut it out.
As the three undercover rebels and Chopper neared the door to leave the hangar they were confronted by two stormtrooper guards.
"Command deck says you need to make your repairs and depart." one of the trooper said in a tone that resembled more of a question.
Jaral turned her head toward Kanan, who lifted his hand in the air and waved it.
"We need to get to maintenance."
The two stormtroopers stood bewildered.
"You need to get to maintenance." one of them repeated.
"We can go on our way."
"You can go on your way."
The stormtroopers went back to their positions and opened the door.
"Not bad. I've seen better." Rex commented.
"Eh, maybe I'll practice on you some time."
Jaral rolled her eyes and turned to Chopper.
"Chop, plug in and find Ezra and the crew." she said.
The astromech went to a socket nearby and used it to access the ship's registers. In a couple of seconds, he started grunting.
"Damn." she whispered. "They're transferring Ezra to a secure cell. Jinx, show me the way."
Following the blueprint in his database, Jinx highlighted the nearest turbolift and which button she had to press.
Down in the detention block, Ezra was being escorted to the secure cell.
There was only four guards. Apparently, Titus didn't believe the voices that depicted him as a very dangerous individual. Not even a warning sent directly from Agent Kallus himself managed to convince the arrogant admiral.
"Move along, rebel" one of the stormtroopers behind him said harshly. Ezra ignored him.
Instead, the boy focused on the lightsaber hanging on one of the troopers in front of him.
"Just so you know," he said calmly. "when I escape, I won't kill any of you."
"Yeah, that's great, kid." The trooper with the lightsaber said sarcastically before opening one of the cells and aiming his rifle at him. "Now I feel real safe."
"You shouldn't…" Ezra said before closing his eyes.
The lightsaber ignited a moment later, pointing at the floor. The trooper that was carrying it started to agitate in panic. Ezra made a jump and activated his armor. At the same time, Jinx disengaged the handcuffs and Ezra landed on the second trooper in front of him, knocking him out.
Then he called his lightsaber to him while pushing away the screaming trooper.
The two behind him opened fire but their bolts were deflected, one of them got hit in the right arm and fell down in pain.
Then Ezra dashed forward and slashed the last trooper's rifle in two before knocking him down with a kick.
The trooper originally holding the saber tried to shoot the boy in the back, but he felt it and slashed his weapon too, making him cower in fear.
"See? You're all right." Ezra said, smirking under his helmet.
A few minutes later, the troopers were forced to enter into the cell. Ezra even launched them the handcuffs to make fun of them before closing the door.
Then three other stormtroopers came running from behind one of the corners of the hallway. Ezra used the blaster mode to stun the two in front, then shot at the third, who dived on the ground.
"Ezra, stop!" Jaral screamed.
Ezra was dumbfounded. The third stormtrooper suddenly transformed into Jaral with her armor on.
"Jaral?!"
A moment later, even Chopper arrived, asking what happened to Kanan and Rex and Ezra realized his mistake.
"Oh! Oh, no." he then removed the helmet to one of them, founding Kanan groaning.
Jaral went to assist Rex.
Between a headache and a lot of groaning, the two older men finally woke up and sat on their bottom.
"What just happened?" Kanan asked, still dazed.
Jaral and Ezra hummed in unison, trying to come up with something. But then Chopper brought up a record he did of Ezra shooting at them two, with only Jaral diving out. And played it in loop, laughing.
"You shot us!" Kanan screamed, but he wasn't exactly angry at his Padawan, just frustrated that things went down that way. "I can't believe you shot us!"
"I...I mean, you were dressed like stormtroopers." Ezra defended himself.
"Yeah!" Kanan sounded like he was saying 'Obviously'.
"You shot us." Rex said with a small grin on his face. Then he laughed loudly as he stood up and gave the boy a friendly pat on the shoulder with his helmet.
"I set it to stun." Ezra added.
"Well, you should've used kill."
"What?" Kanan asked aghast. Jaral looked at him with wide eyes too.
"Well, just in case it wasn't us. I mean…"
Kanan groaned and interrupted him. "This armor doesn't protect you from anything."
"Well, I told you!" Rex retorted.
"Now it's not the time." Jaral interrupted them. "We still have to rescue Sato and blow up this ship."
"You already know about it?" Ezra asked.
"It was in Tseebo's database, and Sabine confirmed it." Jaral answered.
"Ok, then I take Chopper and Jinx and we go sabotage the reactor. You guys bust out Darvos and the crew." Ezra proposed.
Kanan opposed it immediately, saying that it was too dangerous to separate. Rex supported the idea and the two immediately started to bicker. Jaral was about to recall the two of them, but Ezra snapped first.
"Will you two just quit it already?! Part of the reason I volunteered for this mission, was to get a break from…" he pushed the two men away. "...this!" he pointed a hand at them, before turning away and motioning Chopper to follow him. "Okay, Chopper and I will met you at the ship."
Kanan and Rex looked confused, while Jaral seemed proud of him. Kanan finally chuckled and nudged Jaral's shoulder. "Sometimes I wonder if he takes after you or Hera."
"Nah, he's still too gentle. He definitely takes from Hera." the girl answered, then reactivated the hologram.
Following Jinx's instructions, Ezra and Chopper headed toward the gravity well reactor, which was near the engine room but still separated from it.
An announcement on the PA made him aware that the Imperials were aware of his escape. Luckily, he had the cloaking device that allowed him to let patrols pass over him, while Chopper was completely ignored. Plus, Ezra had not activated his armor when he was captured, meaning that he was able to retained his weapons concealed in the omni-tool, except for his lightsaber, which he didn't like to hide.
Peeking inside the room, Ezra came up with a plan. First, he gave Chopper one of Jinx's processors and while he was gonna bait away the engineers, Chopper would reach the central control pillar so him and Jinx could sabotage it.
Ezra used the cloaking device to get in the middle of the labyrinth of handrail-less gangplanks, then showed himself.
One of the engineers immediately spotted him and warned the others.
Ezra daringly jumped down one of the gangplanks and landed into a lower one, activating his lightsaber.
"Come and get me!" he taunted the soldiers, who grabbed their pistols and started shooting at him.
Ezra dodged or parried the bolts until the gravity in the room suddenly disappeared. Whatever Chopper was doing…
"This wasn't part of the plan!" Ezra screamed.
Since he didn't expect this, he found himself floating around like the rest of the engineers. However, he and Jaral had been practicing movement in Zero-G since they joined the Ghost the year before, so he quickly reached a gangplank and activated his magnetic boots.
When all the engineers alive were floating over the high pit of the room, Chopper reactivated the gravity, letting them fall to their almost certain deaths.
Ezra jumped back to him, retook Jinx's processor and they all left right before imperial reinforcements arrived.
When the alarm sounded int the detention block, Kanan decided that stealth wasn't an option anymore and attacked a group of three regulars that tried to stop them. Jaral decided that the game was up and deactivated the hologram.
The three infiltrators fought their way toward the cell where Chopper had signaled Darvos and the crew were detained.
Still, they were intercepted by a group of five stormtroopers, who engaged them in a gunfight along the hallway.
Rex stood just around the corner, firing whenever he found the opportunity, but he was missing most of his shot.
"I thought you clones were supposed to be infallible, guess I don't have much to worry about you." Kanan said, mocking him.
Rex grunted. "It's this helmet." and he removed it. "I can't see." he angrily threw it at one of the troopers shooting at him. He actually it with it and his next shot found its mark.
Seeing how the adults had the situation under control, Jaral went at the cell's door and quickly opened it thanks to Jinx.
The four crewman were overjoyed to see her, while Darvos simply smiled, as he was just waiting for her.
"I suppose Ezra has already escaped." he commented, walking up to her.
"Yeah, he tends to do that." the two exchanged a quick hug, before Jaral handed him his S-5 pistol, and took out her TL-50 instead. Darvos had left his main weapon on the Liberator because he didn't think it was necessary. "Good thing you left it behind." Jaral commented.
"Of course, I calculated everything." Darvos joked.
The rest of the crew grabbed the blasters of some guards that the rescuers had already took out.
"This is taking too long." Kanan commented behind Rex. He had also took out his helmet so the rebels recognized them. "I draw, you shoot." and he carefully protracted his arm.
Rex chuckled. "Just like the old times."
The three troopers on the other side of the hallway suddenly were dragged into the open by Kanan, while Rex gunned them down with three precise shots.
Now Jaral took the lead, since her armor made her the perfect tank to protect her more vulnerable companions.
As she made the way into the hallways toward the hangar, gunning down imperials after imperials, Ezra finally contacted her on the omni-tool.
"Specter-6, we're making our way toward the Magnanimous, where are you?"
"We're heading there as well. Trace my signal and join us." she answered.
"Copy that."
The group kept fighting, but the troopers, both the elite and the regulars, were converging in growing numbers onto them. Jaral was forced to use a bubble shield to dig in.
"There's too many of them." she heard Kanan saying.
Rex panted. "I'm too old for all this running." and he stopped in front of a blast door that the group just crossed.
Jaral didn't hear the rest of the conversation, because as soon as her shields were back at full capacity, she briefly peeked out of the bubble shield and shot a burst from her repeater, gunning down a regular, a stormtrooper and forcing the others to move backwards.
When she dived back into the bubble, she noticed Rex pushing away Kanan and closing the blast door behind him.
"That clone should really stop trying to die heroically." she lamented.
"I know." Kanan said. "I'm gonna get him."
Jaral looked at him with curiosity, even though her helmet prevented anybody to look at her face.
"Go. We'll meet later." she said encouragingly, then she dashed forward, dropped a concussion shot on the soldiers in front of her and got the way open.
Kanan had to find another way to get back to Rex, though at that point he had been captured and brought onto the bridge.
Ezra and Chopper finally joined the escapees.
"Nice of you to join us." Jaral joked.
"There was a bit of traffic." he said while shooting back from the way he came and then closing the blast door, sabotaging it with his lightsaber.
"Where are Kanan and Rex?" Ezra asked, immediately noticing the two absentees.
"Don't worry. They'll join us."
The crew now was halted in front of a hallway swarming with imperial troopers. That was the last great obstacle before reaching the middle levels and the access to the Magnanimous.
Jaral turned to Darvos.
"You up for a little target practice, love?" she said with a smirk.
Darvos grinned confidently. "Of course, my darling."
"Jinx, full power to the shields." Jaral ordered.
The additional energy enveloped her with a green barrier. Then Jaral jumped in the middle of the hallway and activated the rectangular omni-tool shield. She knelt and planted the shield on the ground. As she transformed into a literal tank, using her right hand to shoot with her repeater, Darvos dashed behind her and used her as a mobile cover, at times standing up and shooting a trooper with incredible marksmanship.
Ezra looked in admiration, then decided that he wasn't going to do anything less and charged with his lightsaber. The boy flowed around the battle with incredible grace and agility, jumping left and right and knocking all the troopers that Jaral and Darvos couldn't reach.
When the hallway was finally clear, Jaral jogged up to her brother.
"That was more impressive than usual."
"Thanks."
Then she leaned closer to him.
"I'll save a recording so you can show it to Sabine." she whispered.
"You're too gentle, sis." Ezra said smiling before moving forward.
The biggest opposition had been dealt with and the rebels finally reached the hatch leading to the Magnanimous. Ezra and Jaral were the last to leave, after making sure there were no imperials on them.
"Kanan, we're on the ship. Where are you guys?" Ezra asked on the comlink.
"I got Rex, but don't wait for us. Tell Darvos to take off."
"Please, tell me you have a way out." Ezra said, exhaling forcefully.
"We have. Now go."
The siblings nodded at each other and closed the hatch before running up to the command bridge.
"Where are the others?" Darvos asked.
"Kanan told us to go. He says they have another way out." Ezra explained.
Darvos nodded. "Pilot, disengage." and the ship started moving soon after.
Then Ezra went to one of the panels and put one processor into it, giving Jinx access to the instrumentation.
"Ezra, I detect an escape pod getting near us." Jinx announced.
"That must be Kanan and Rex." the boy said.
The pilot made sure to deviate enough to make the escape pod landing easier. A couple of minutes later, Rex and Kanan were on the bridge.
"Hey, you sabotaged that thing, right?" Kanan asked Ezra.
"Of course we did. Right, Chop, Jinx?"
Chopper grunted something, so Jinx spoke up.
"Affirmative. But I suggest we don't try the jump yet."
"Why not?" Darvos asked, not liking the idea.
"You'll see…"
"Sir!" the co-pilot exclaimed in disbelief.
Everybody looked out of the transparisteel glass. The two light cruisers were being pulled in by the gravity well.
"Chopper and I tampered with the gravity well so that it would attract ships over a certain mass, which doesn't include the Magnanimous."
"Holy kriff." Jaral couldn't hold back the bad word.
The crew watched in awe as the imperial ships crashed together and the Interdictor started to implode because of the gravitational technology. Then they erupted in cheers.
"Now that's some show." Darvos exclaimed. "Let's get back to the fleet."
The pilot turned the ship toward the hyperspace lane and the Magnanimous finally got away from the system.
As everybody breathed a sigh of relief, Darvos turned around with the chair.
"Gentlemen...and Lady…" he said with a smile. "my crew and I owe you a debt of gratitude. All four of you."
"Don't sweat it, Darvos." Ezra said with a chuckle, then turned to speak with Rex and Kanan. "You know, when you two don't fight each other, you fight well together, Jedi and clones. Now I get it." he concluded and went to sit in his post.
"Kids…" Kanan rolled his eyes talking to Rex. "you know. Crazy ideas."
"Yeah…" Rex rubbed the back of his neck. "You know...thanks."
"Yeah. Yeah. I know." Kanan tried to dodge the compliment. Not because it came from Rex, but because the Jedi was humble at heart.
"Well, I guess there's nothing to say about it." Rex concluded with a chuckle and turned around to leave the bridge.
"Rex." Kanan stopped him.
To Rex's great surprise, Kanan stepped forward and made him a military salute. The captain took a second to absorb that it was really happening and returned the gesture.
The Magnanimous reached Garel in a little more than two hours. The original mission of finding the lost patrol had been officially scrapped, since there was no trace of it or its crew and Darvos had to assume that they had already been transferred into an Imperial prison.
As the blockade runner finally reached her hangar, Darvos, Jaral and Rex headed to the Liberator while Kanan, Ezra and Chopper returned to the Ghost. As the two entered the hangar, from the cargo bay, Sabine and Hera stepped out of the ship's cargo bay. Sabine actually made a quick jog and slammed into Ezra, hugging him and breathing a sigh of relief on his shoulder.
"Thank the Manda you're fine."
"Come on, give me some credit." he said in a playful tone. Sabine chuckled.
Hera and Kanan were a bit more sober, only smiling at each other and taking each other hands'.
"I heard you and Rex saved the day." Hera said teasing him.
"Guess he is on our side, after all." Kanan responded before hugging her.
The two couples then reached for the cargo bay, where Zeb greeted the two men who just returned. After that, they all had dinner, where Kanan and Ezra narrated what happened on the experimental cruiser. Chopper had particularly fun in replaying the sequence where Ezra shot Kanan and Rex, something that made Zeb, Hera and Sabine actually roll on the floor with laughter, while the two Jedi just shook their heads, smiling, and made a toast to celebrate their success.