On Lothal, Ezra, Sabine and Kanan stood on top of a building outside of Capital City with both Mandalorians having their helmets over their heads as they were watching a squad of stormtroopers patrolling the streets below with two AT-DPs as one of them walked past a stormtrooper from behind as Chopper stood between the three Force-Wielders.
Both Mandalorians then flipped down their helmets' rangefinders and looked at the Imperial Complex with three Star Destroyers hovering near the Imperial Complex with a few TIE fighters patrolling the area as well.
"Look at all those ships," Ezra muttered before he and Sabine flipped their helmets' rangefinders back up.
"You're right, Ezra," Sabine muttered, agreeing with her husband, "Those are a lot of ships for a planet like Lothal, even if it was once a planet of our people."
"Ryder said it was bad, but this is worse than bad," Ezra stated, "Lothal is the ancient homeworld of my clan before the Mandalorian Excision. I can't stand seeing it like this."
"So, let's do something about it," Kanan suggested as he looked at him.
"He's right, Ezra," Sabine muttered, agreeing with their master, "Remember, we're going to free Lothal and the entire sector and reunite them back to Mandalore Space."
"If only Ryder would hurry up and get here," Ezra said before Chopper heard a beeping sound and started to grunt as he turned towards him and pulled out his left metal arm and pointed it forward, causing the Mandalorian to flip his helmet's rangefinder back down and saw Ryder piloting a reddish-orange colored RGC-18 landspeeder towards them with him being chased by two scout troopers piloting speeder bikes and firing their blaster cannons at him, "There he is. And he's been spotted."
Ezra then flipped his helmet's rangefinder back up as the three Force-Wielders began to run across the building and towards Ryder with Chopper following them as the former Lothalite governor evaded the lasers from the blaster cannons of the scout troopers' speeder bikes as well as one of the AT-DPs as it began firing upon him with its laser cannon with one of the stormtroopers firing their E-11 blaster rifle at him before Ryder maneuvered around the AT-DP and the stormtrooper.
"Hurry. Get on!" Ryder said, calling out to both Mandalorians and kanan as he approached the building that they were standing on top of with his landspeeder before they jumped onto the landspeeder as Chopper used his rocket booster to jump off the building and landed on the co-pilot's seat, while Ezra stood in front of the landspeeder as Sabine and Kanan stood in the back as the scout troopers continued to chase them with their speeder bikes along with the AT-DP.
"Look out! Blockade!" Ezra warned Ryder as he turned around towards him as he saw a stormtrooper aiming an infantry turret cannon at them as they began to fire it at them and the landspeeder, "Oh!" He and Kanan then moved to the landspeeder's thrusters as Ryder stopped the landspeeder with Sabine moving onto the same thruster as her husband as Ryder made a U-turn.
Both Mandalorians then took out one of their WESTAR-35s with their right hands and fired them at the stormtrooper that was manning the infantry turret as Ryder piloted the landspeeder back the way they came from as both Mandalorian fired their WESTAR-35s back at the scout troopers with Kanan doing the same with his DL-18 blaster pistol as he pulled it out from its holster with his right hand as well.
Their blaster bolts missed the scout troopers as they rotated their speeder bikes around and continued to chase them before the three Force-Wielder turned around and saw the AT-DP as it began to fire upon them with its laser cannon.
Ryder then clicked a button with his right hand's index finger on the landspeeder's controls, causing it to fly on its side as Ezra placed his WESTAR-35 back in its holster and grabbed his lightsaber from his armor's belt with his right hand and ignited one of its blades with Sabine and Kanan placing their blasters back in their holsters as they grabbed their lightsabers from their belts as well and ignited them as well before they used their sabers to slash the legs of the AT-DP as the landspeeder flew underneath the walker.
"Sure is good to have you back on Lothal," Ryder chuckled as the landspeeder flew back upwards before Sabine jumped onto the front of the landspeeder.
"I think you're the only one who feels that way, Ryder," Kanan told the former Lothalite governor as the landspeeder began to fly down the highway that leads to outside of Capital City.
"Uh, Ryder? What's the plan?" Ezra asked the former Lothalite governor as the scout troopers began to follow them down the highway, "We can't outrun these guys."
"Yeah, he's right," Sabine said, agreeing with her husband, "What's our plan on getting out of this as we can't outrun them?"
"Don't need to outrun 'em. Just have to get 'em up to 190," Ryder explained to both Mandalorians.
"Does this thing go up to 190?" Kanan asked him as he deflected the lasers from the scout troopers' speeder bikes with his lightsaber.
"Sometimes," he answered, "Think fast thoughts."
As the scout troopers fired their blaster pistols at them with one of their blaster bolts colliding with the thruster of the landspeeder that Ezra was standing on as Chopper grunted, frustratedly at the former Lothalite governor as Kanan and both Mandalorians deflected the scout troopers' blaster bolts with their lightsabers.
"I'm thinking fast thoughts. Nothing's happening," Ezra told Ryder.
"Keep watching," Ryder urged him and within moments of him saying that, the engines of one of the scout troopers' speeder bikes began to overheat and blow up, surprise both Mandalorians and Kanan before the debris of the destroyed speeder bike flew onto the other speeder bike, taking it out as well, "Those bikes are from the Imperial factory." Ezra then turned towards him, "I have people on the inside who build them to break."
"You infiltrated the assembly?" Kanan said with disbelief in his voice as he looked at him, "I'm impressed."
"Me too," Sabine said, agreeing with him.
"That's the perfect cover to do some serious damage," Ezra stated as he, Sabine and Kanan deactivated their lightsabers and clipped them back onto their belts as Sabine hopped back onto the back of the landspeeder.
"I wish I could take credit," Ryder told him, "Idea came from an old friend of yours." He then piloted the landspeeder off the highway and onto the planet's grassy plains that were next to the highway as they began to head towards his hideout.
Soon they arrived at Ryder's hideout, which appeared to be a camp and around a few Lothalian mound-like structures as well as a large one at the edge of the camp as it was in the wilderness of Lothal as it was the base of operations for the Lothal resistance movement and saw Old Jho, Sumar, who was holding a datapad in his left hand and was tapping on it with his right hand's index finger as he stood next to a holotable as Marida stood nearby in the back of the camp.
"Mr. Sumar," Ezra said as he and Sabine removed their helmets.
"Is that Ezra Bridger?" Sumar asked as he looked at the Mandalorian as he and Sabine got off of the landspeeder as he placed his datapad on the holotable before walking up to them, "I hardly recognize you. You're so tall. Oh, and you cut your hair."
"It's good to see you, too," Ezra told him as he rubbed the back of his head with his right hand for a second before he lowered his right arm, "I would like you to meet my wife, Sabine."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sumar," Sabine said with a smile on her face, "I've heard a lot about you from Ezra, Mira and Ephraim."
"Yeah, I'm sure they have," Sumar muttered before Marida began walking towards them as he placed his left hand over the right pauldron of Ezra's armor, "You know, Ezra, it's thanks to you I got a chance to make a difference against the Empire. Your parents must be so proud of how much of a warrior that you've become since you reunited with them about a year ago."
"Yeah, they have," Ezra assured him.
"And from what I heard, they've slowly been recruiting people into your clan after what happened on Tehron when you were a child," Sumar stated.
"Yes, they've been working hard to rebuild our clan," Ezra said with a smile on his face, "Although, at times, I hope that some actually survived despite what they were told when they were imprisoned."
"And I'm sure your cousins would be so proud to see you now," Sumar told him.
"And I'm sure that they'd agree, there's much more we can do," Ryder said, agreeing with them as he and Kanan got out of the landspeeder and stood next to it with Chopper, who stood behind Kanan as they began to approach them, "Tell them about your plan."
"Phoenix Squadron is enlisting help from another rebel cell to take out the Imperial factory here on Lothal," Ezra told them as a rebel trooper behind him had their arms crossed.
"An attack?" Sumar said with surprise and disbelief in his voice.
"Finally," Jho stated with excitement in his voice.
"At last," Marida muttered, happily.
"When will this strike happen?" Ryder asked Kanan as he looked at the Jedi Knight.
"Soon hopefully. It depends on what we learn while we're here," Kanan answered.
"Our contact, Fulcrum, said the Empire's building a new type of weapon," Ezra told them.
"But we don't even know what it is," Sabine added.
"If we knew what it was, the other cells might agree to attack sooner than later," Ezra told them as Sumar placed his left hand over his chin.
"They did just tighten security around section A-2, transferred their best workers over there," Sumar informed them as he removed his left hand from his chin, "That must be why they had to recruit us to their labor force."
"Can you get me and Ezra into the factory?" Ezra asked him.
"Well, I don't know," Sumar told them, "Do you have any manufacturing experience?"
"Uh, not really," Ezra answered.
"Then you'll fit right in," Ryder stated as he chuckled.
"Sabine, you'll have to stay here, 'cause if you come with us, it will over complicate things," Kanan told Sabine as he looked at her.
"I understand, Kanan, I'll wait for you guys here with Ryder," Sabine assured him with a smile on her face.
Later on, at an Imperial factory, Sumar walked into a line of workers inside one of the factory's assembly lines, where there were AT-ATs and TIE fighters were being produced and wearing laborer uniforms with them being colored orange and white and with most of them wearing helmets of the factory that had tinted visors.
Ezra and Kanan were among them and were wearing the same type of uniform and helmet as the others after Ezra had removed his Beskar plates from his undersuit with Chopper, who was now painted white, black and red by Sabine before they went to the factory as he stood next to them.
Stormtroopers stood around each line of the workers with a stormtrooper commander with a black colored pauldron standing in front of the workers as Ezra saw Lieutenant Lyste, Governor Pryce and Agent Kallus walking down the room as the stormtrooper commander began walking towards them.
"Agent Kallus, make sure the workers are all present and accounted for," Pryce ordered the ISB agent.
"Yes, Governor Pryce," Kallus replied before he walked forward.
"Kallus has a new boss," Ezra stated, "Must be the one Sabine told us about."
"It seems like it, Ezra," Kanan muttered as he looked at Pryce.
"Look sharp. This factory is being honored by a surprise visit from Imperial High Command," Kallus said as he stood next to Sumar for a brief second before he continued to walk past the factory's workers before stopping as Thrawn walked forward with his arms behind his back with Faro and Pellaeon.
"Thank you for the introduction, Agent Kallus," Thrawn told the ISB agent, "Our visit is not an honor, however, but an investigation."
"We're here to ensure the efficiency and security of this facility," Faro stated, "Any lapse, no matter how minor, will not be tolerated."
"And remember, the strength of the Empire lies in its discipline and order," Pellaeon added, "Let's make sure this factory exemplifies that."
"Thrawn and Faro," Ezra muttered under his breath as he instantly recognized the Chiss Grand Admiral and his second-in-command.
"Vehicles assembled in this factory malfunction at a rate far higher than that of others," Thrawn said as he walked down the room in front of the workers, Sumar, Kanan, Ezra and Chopper, "I believe poor craftsmanship is to blame, and it has cost your Empire troops and missions. This will not be tolerated." He then stared at Ezra for a second, thinking he recognized him from somewhere before dismissing it as he turned towards Sumar, "Worker 5473. You were pressed into the Empire's service?"
"Yes, sir," Sumar answered, "After losing my farm."
"Do you stand by your work?" Thrawn asked him.
"I do," Sumar answered.
"This 614-AvA is the last bike you personally inspected and assembled," Thrawn said as he gestured to an Imperial scout trooper's speeder bike that was underneath TIE fighter pods that were being produced from the assembly line with his right hand, "Please demonstrate for me how quickly it can achieve full speed." Thrawn then placed his right arm behind his back again as Sumar looked at him and the speeder bike as Ezra looked at his master with the corner of his eye before looking at Sumar as he feared what Thrawn wanted Smar to do, "We don't have all day." The stormtrooper commander then dragged Sumar over to the speeder bike as he grabbed his left arm with his right hand.
"Back in line," one of the stormtroopers ordered Ezra as hatched as he tried to intervene and stop the reluctant Sumar from going over to the speeder bike that he assembled and as Sumar approached the speeder bike, he hopped on its seat and powered up the speeder bike's engines as a speed meter next to it went from green to red as it beeped.
"Something's wrong. It's overheating," Sumar said as the speeder bike's engines started to turn an orangish-red color with Ezra and Kanan watching before he began to power the speeder bike down, "Gonna have to shut it down."
"No. The demonstration is not yet over," Thrawn told him as he took out a datapad with his right hand and clicked on it with his left hand's index finger as he used it to power the speeder bike back up as its engine began to accelerate at a high speed as the speed meter next to the speeder bike began to beep rapidly as it went from green to red again, but even farther than before.
"I can't stop it! No!" Sumar cried out with fear in his voice as the speeder bike continued to overheat and closed his eyes as the speeder bike exploded, killing him and leaving only the charred remains of his worker's helmet from the explosion.
Every worker including Ezra and Kanan gasping in horror as one of the workers placed their hands over their helmet with Kallus having a horrified expression on his face. Lyste was also vaguely disturbed by what happened as well, while Faro simply narrowed her eyes with disapproval of what happened. Pellaeon frowned, his eyes hardening in dissatisfaction with the unnecessary loss of life as well, while Pryce just smirked, sadistically.
"Now that I have your attention, know this," Thrawn said as he began to speak to the factory's workers again, "Whatever you build here, you will test personally. I expect your malfunction rate to drop substantially." Ezra then went to charge at Thrawn with anger, only for Kanan to hold him back as he grabbed his left shoulder with his left hand as Thrawn began to approach Lyste, Pellaeon, Faro and Pryce, "See to it that no one leaves or enters the facility. I wish to inspect the line for sabotage."
"Hold them here," Lyste ordered the stormtroopers as Thrawn, Faro, Pellaeon, Pryce and Kallus walked away from him, "The factory is on full lockdown."
"Ryder, Sabine, get word to Hera," Kanan said, trying to contact Ryder and Sabine with his comlink as he held it in his right hand as the stormtrooper commander walked towards the line of workers, "We're trapped inside and need help."
"They've already jammed the comms," Ezra told Kanan as Chopper grunted nervously.
"Workers, form two lines," Lyste ordered the workers as he walked away from the stormtrooper commander, "Prepare for verification and questioning."
"Present your identification card for examination," one of the stormtroopers ordered the workers as they formed up in two separate lines with Ezra and Kanan lining up the lines opposite of each other before one of the workers handed their identification card to the stormtrooper in front of them.
"Better get lost before they take a closer look at our IDs," Kanan suggested to Ezra.
"Psst. Chopper," Ezra muttered as he looked at Chopper as he stood next to him, "Get their attention." Chopper then grunted a response before rolling behind them towards a speeder bike and plugged his scomp link into the astromech port onto the display that the speeder bike was standing on and rotated it around, causing the speeder bike's engines to power up before it flew across the room.
"Look out!" One of the stormtroopers called out as he jumped out of the way as the speeder bike flew towards him before crashing into a group of rectangular-shaped containers that were on top of a loading dolly, distracting the Imperials as Kanan and Ezra quickly left the room as Lyste, the stormtroopers and a couple of the workers landed on their stomachs.
"Droid! What is the matter with you?" Lyste asked Chopper as he looked at him before the astromech droid grunted an explanation, "Report to maintenance." Chopper then grunted a response as he left the room as well.
"Now's our chance to find out what the Empire's up to," Ezra said as he and Kanan ran down one of the factory's corridors.
"From what Sumar said, section A-2 is a good place to start," Kanan suggested as they ran down another section of the corridors.
"Not dressed like this. The workers are on lockdown, remember?" Ezra reminded him as they went down yet another corridor before they stopped in front of a scout trooper and a stormtrooper that were patrolling the factory's corridors.
"Hey. You two weren't dismissed," the scout trooper told Kanan and Ezra, only for him and the stormtrooper to get punched in their helmets by Ezra's left fist and Kanan's right fist as the two Imperial troopers groaned as they knocked them out and fell to the floor before Ezra used his left foot to kick the scout trooper's helmet into his hands.
"Grand Admiral, you don't think the rebels have infiltrated section A-2 as well, do you?" Pryce asked Thrawn as they along with Kallus, Faro and Pellaeon walked back into the room of the factory where they were keeping the workers as the Chiss had his arms behind his back again, "The secrecy of that project is…"
"Is imperative," Thrawn finished for her, "Which is why I've ordered anyone attempting to enter the area without my personal code to be terminated on sight. You should not have compromised security here by hiring locals."
"Security should always be our top priority," Faro said, agreeing with the Chiss Grand Admiral.
"I concur with Thrawn and Faro, Governor Pryce," Pellaeon stated agreeing with the Chiss and commander with a hint of distaste towards the Lothalite governor in his voice, "The integrity of this operation is paramount. We must ensure that all security measures are upheld to the highest standard."
"This factory has quotas to meet," Pryce explained.
"I can question the workers, but I won't know if they're lying without more information about this new project," Kallus told them.
"All you need to know is that the Admiral has a new fighter initiative here," Pryce told the ISB agent.
Faro and Pellaeon then exchanged a glance, but they remained silent, giving nothing away about the secret project.
"A new fighter?" Kallus said with surprise and confusion in his voice as they stopped walking as they stopped in front of an AT-DP, "Difficult to see how one small ship will change much."
"Agent, victory and defeat are often determined by the smallest detail," Thrawn explained to him as he turned around towards him before looking at the AT-DP next to them, "For example, take this walker." He then turned towards a human male worker with dark skin, brown eyes and black hair that was wearing one of the factory workers' helmets over his head, "Is this your work?"
"Yes, sir. I oversaw its construction," the worker answered.
"Have the walker step forward," Thrawn ordered Kallus as he looked at him as the ISB agent took out a datapad with his left hand and clicked on it with his right hand's index finger, causing the AT-DP to move its pod from right to left before moving back to look forward as it began to step forward a bit before it began to fall to the floor.
"Watch it," one of the male workers said as he got out of the line that they were formed up in.
"Get out of the way," one of the female workers ordered as she and the other workers got out of the line that they were formed up in as well.
"Get out of the way! Oh!" the male worker said as the AT-DP fell on its left side between the stormtroopers and workers before Thrawn stared at the worker that oversaw the walker's construction with anger as he narrowed his eyes before the stormtroopers around the man aimed and cocked their E-11 blaster rifles at him.
"No, no. It wasn't me," the man protested as the stormtroopers were ready to arrest and detain the man as they dragged him away by the shoulders, "It was the one next to it!"
Faro and Pellaeon then exchanged another glance, their expressions unreadable, but were clearly taking in the situation.
"The factory is on full lockdown," Ryder reported to a hologram of Hera ass he was being projected from the holoprojector of his camp as Sabine stood next to him, "Communication is jammed. We can't reach Ezra and Kanan."
"The new Imperial in charge is pretty thorough," Ryder went on from the holotable on Atollon with Hera, Sato, Zeb, Mira, Ephraim and Markus standing around the holotable with Zeb having his arms crossed, while Sato had his behind his back, "Didn't catch his name, but I hear he has red eyes."
"Does he have blue skin, Ryder?" Sabine asked the former Lothalite governor from the holotable's holoprojector.
"From what I've heard, he actually does," Ryder answered.
"Then he's a Chiss," Sabine stated, "They're a rare warrior species from the Unknown species with high intelligence."
"He also came with two other Imperial officers," Ryder added, "One was female with brown hair and the other was male with graying brown hair and wearing the same type of tunic with markings over their shoulders."
"Grand Admiral Thrawn, Commander Faro and Captain Pellaeon," Hera said bitterly, remembering her encounter with the Chiss Grand Admiral and his second-in-command on Ryloth and learning about Pellaeon from Sato later on.
"My team will attack the Imperial compound's east gate," Ryder informed the rebels on Atollon from his holotable on Lothal, "It's the weakest point, so this Thrawn might expect it. But at least it'll keep his eye along with his lieutenants off the factory for a bit."
"I'll join him too, Hera," Sabine told the Twi'lek, "To help my husband and Kanan escape the factory."
Kanan and Ezra were now wearing the stormtrooper and scout trooper armors from the stormtrooper and scout trooper that they encountered a while ago as disguises as both of them hid behind a wall as they reached the edge of one of the factory's corridors with Chopper.
Ezra then looked over the edge of the wall that they were hiding behind and watched as a stormtrooper exited a room in the corridor ahead of them as an R4 courier astromech droid rolled inside the room that the stormtrooper walked away from before they quietly walked through the corridor and stopped near the door as they hid behind another corner.
"Halt. I need your clearance code," a stormtrooper that was guarding a sealed door with another stormtrooper told the astromech droid as he approached the astromech droid, who pulled out a clearance code tape from its storage area below its holoprojector from its dome and beeped a whistle.
The stormtrooper took the clearance code tape from the astromech droid and inserted it into a panel on the wall next to the sealed door before the door slid open.
"Code checks out. Proceed," the stormtrooper told the astromech droid as he handed the clearance code tape back to the astromech droid as it chirped a response as it rolled into the room within section A-2 with the door sliding shut behind the astromech droid.
"Hey, if we can get Chopper one of those tapes, we can get him inside," Ezra told Kanan as he flipped the visor of his scout trooper's helmet up with his right hand as he turned towards him, "Then all he has to do is find the design database and download everything."
"Now we just need one of those droids," Kanan said as an R4 courier astromech droid suddenly rolled up behind Chopper, who turned around towards it and started to grunt at it before Ezra smirked as he flipped the visor of his scout trooper's helmet back down as Kanan approached the R4-series astromech droid as he switched his accent to an upper-class Core World one, "Hey, droid. This is a restricted area. I need to see your clearance code."
The R4-series astromech droid then pulled out their own clearance code from its storage area before Chopper pulled out his spark projector and electrocuted the R5-series astromech droid with it, powering the astromech droid down.
"I got it," Ezra said as he stopped the R4-series astromech droid from falling over and placed the astromech droid against the wall.
"Here you go," Kanan told Chopper as he bent down towards Chopper on his left knee as he handed him the clearance code tape before Chopper took it with his right metal arm as he pulled it out from his dome.
"Make it fast, Chop," Ezra told Chopper as Kanan stood back up on his feet before Chopper grunted a response as he rolled away from them as he haded towards the sealed door that led to the room within section A-2.
"Clearance code," the same stormtrooper that was standing at the sealed door with another stormtrooper ordered Chopper as he approached the two stormtroopers before he handed the stormtrooper the clearance code tape that Kanan handed him.
The stormtrooper then inserted the clearance code tape into the panel on the wall next to the sealed door before he handed the clearance code tape back to Chopper as the astromech droid rolled into the room within section A-2.
As Chopper entered the room, he saw multiple Imperial weapons technicians working at computer consoles with one of them looking at Chopper as they watched him enter the room before going back to their work.
Chopper then plugged his scomp link into the astromech port that was in front of the computer console that was in front of the door that he entered the room through and rotated it around with his scomp link as he began to download files from the database with it.
Meanwhile in Thrawn's office within the Imperial Complex, the grand admiral and his second-in-command were examining various artifacts. Thrawn had an image of Hera and her parents from when she was a child, an artwork of Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders from the Mandalorian Wars fighting Jedi from a mural on Mandalore inside the domed city of Sundary being projected from his desk. Hera's kalikori and a Jedi temple guard's mask were standing on his desk behind him.
Faro, while not as versed in art as Thrawn, was trying to understand the significance of these pieces. She watched as Thrawn studied a painting on a canvas made by Sabine that had her starbird on it painted orange with a loth-cat painted at the bottom of the starbird with an anti-stormtrooper symbol painted on the top right corner of the canvas.
Thrawn had his right arm crossed with his right hand holding the elbow of his left arm as he had his left hand clenched in a fist and in front of his chin. Faro knew better than to interrupt him during these moments of contemplation. She waited patiently for him to share his insights, knowing that these artifacts were not just pieces of art to Thrawn, but valuable sources of information.
"Admiral," Faro said as she looked at the Chiss, her tone respectful yet questioning, "The demonstration earlier… was it necessary to go such lengths?"
"Commander, the Empire requires discipline. Without it, we risk inefficiency, failure… chaos," Thrawn explained as he continued to study the painting without turning towards her, "It was a regrettable, but necessary demonstration."
"I see, sir," Faro muttered as she nodded her head, understanding the rationale that Thrawn took earlier, but still troubled by the method, "I hope the workers understand as well."
"Sir?" Lyste said as he, Pellaeon and Kallus entered the room.
"Lieutenant, what can you tell me about this?" Thrawn asked Lyste as he, Pellaeon and Kallus walked up to him.
"Uh… It looks like a section of the retaining wall, sir," Lyste answered, not knowing much of the painting that Thrawn was staring at.
"Ah. Agent Kallus?" Thrawn asked the ISB Agent.
"It's the mark of the Phoenix Squadron," Kallus answered, "A creature of flight rising in the flames. A symbol of their commitment to victory."
"The Phoenix Squadron has been known to leave their mark as a sign of defiance," Pellaeon added, "It's possible they're trying to send a message."
"An interesting observation, Captain Pellaeon. It is that and more," Thrawn said, agreeing with both Kallus and Pellaeon as he removed his left hand from his chin, "I've seen it everywhere, marking territory. It is a commitment, but to this world specifically. These rebels have an attachment to this place and will always return." He then turned around towards them as he opened his left hand, "So, have you found more subversives?"
"Actually, sir, we've…" Lyste began to say before clearing his throat, "Lost some. Two workers went missing after your speech. We found their uniforms."
"I am confident we will locate them once we issue an alert," Kallus told the Grand Admiral.
"No, I think now," Thrawn said as he walked away from the painting as he placed his arms behind his back, "The defectors will have new disguises by now. They'll hide as technicians or troopers to gather data and escape."
"So, you think the rebels are more than saboteurs?" Kallus asked him.
"Indeed I do, Agent Kallus," Thrawn answered as he stopped walking and turned back around towards him.
"I'll have our men increase their vigilance, sir," Pellaeon stated as he nodded his head, "Especially around section A-2."
"Excellent, Captain," Thrawn replied, "These rebels are likely heading to section A-2. Secure it."
"What's taking him so long?" Kanan groaned as he and Ezra were still standing in one of the corridors of section A-2 as they were waiting for Chopper to return with the intel from the design database.
"Uh-oh," Ezra muttered as he saw a stormtrooper commander with a black colored pauldron along with two stormtroopers walk down the corridor across from them.
"What are you doing here?" The stormtrooper commander asked them as he began to approach them, while the two stormtroopers that were with him stopped walking.
"Uh, we're on guard duty, sir," Kanan answered as he turned around and looked at him.
"And what exactly are you guarding?" The stormtrooper commander asked him, clearly not buying it.
"We go where we're ordered, sir," Ezra told him.
"This is highly irregular," the stormtrooper commander stated before he continued to approach them with the other two stormtroopers, "What's your operating number?"
Chopper then left the room within section A-2 and grunted as he approached and rolled past Kanan and Ezra as he left the room that he entered to download files from the design database from.
"He's got it," Ezra muttered to Kanan, "Let's go."
"Wait. Is this section B-17?" Kanan asked the stormtrooper commander.
"A-2," the stormtrooper commander answered.
"I told you we were in the wrong section," Ezra told Kanan as he walked up to him, pretending to be a scout trooper as Chopper rolled down the corridor behind them, "Sorry, Commander. We're new transfers."
"Come on," the stormtrooper commander ordered the two stormtroopers that were accompanying him as Kanan and Ezra walked down the corridor as they followed Chopper as the stormtroopers went to chase him.
"I want exits locked down and all IDs checked and verified," Lyste ordered two stormtroopers across the corridor from Kanan and Ezra as they watched him giving them their orders.
"Not that way," Kanan said before they ran down another corridor.
"You there. Halt Come back here!" The stormtrooper commander ordered Kanan and Ezra as they ran across the corridor in front of them with Chopper following both Force-wielders.
Kanan, Ezra and Chopper soon reached a group of turbolifts as Kanan clicked on one of the turbolifts' call buttons with the palm of his left hand multiple times with it beeping after he pressed it.
"Okay. This might get messy," Kanan told Ezra as he looked at him before one of the turbolifts slid open, revealing Agent Kallus as he stood inside one of them, causing Kanan and Ezra to look at each other for a second before looking back at the ISB agent.
"You two. Come with me to secure the perimeter," Kallus ordered Kanan and Ezra before they walked into the turbolift that the ISB agent was inside of with Chopper following them.
"Stop them!" The stormtrooper commander ordered the ISb agent as he ran towards the turbolift as the turbolift's door slid back shut before he could even reach them.
"Don't move, rebels," Kallus told Kanan and Ezra as Chopper rotated his dome around towards the ISB agent and grunted with fear in his voice before Kanan elbowed him with his right elbow, while Ezra turned around towards him and began punching him right fist before Kanan pinned him to the turbolift's wall with his left hand, "Listen to me. I'm Fulcrum."
"Yeah right," Ezra scoffed with disbelief in his voice.
"You want us to believe that?" Kanan asked him, sarcastically.
"By the light of Lothal's moons," Kallus told them, causing Kanan to remove his stormtrooper's helmet with his left hand, while Ezra flipped the visor of his scout trooper's helmet up as they stared at him with shock in their eyes.
"The code phrase. He's Fulcrum?" Ezra said with disbelief in his voice.
"Your friend Zeb trusted me on the ice moon. I saved your wife, Sabine Wren at the fighter academy, and now I'm trying to save you," Kallus told them, "But you have to trust me." Kanan and Ezra then looked at each other as they were hesitant to believe him before Chopper grunted a response, "Your droid trusts me."
"Yeah, that's not a good thing," Ezra stated as he looked at Kanan.
"Fine. You want to help us so badly?" Kanan relented as he looked at Kallus, "We need to get a signal to our friends and his wife."
"Then we'll have to move quickly," Kallus told them.
"Watch out. They're rebels!" Kallus warned an Imperial officer and two stormtroopers that were inside the factory's communications center as he pretended to fight Kanan and Ezra as he backed into the room and fired an RK-3 blaster pistol at them as they extended their left hands out as they used the Force to push one of the stormtroopers towards Kallus with the stormtrooper falling unconscious before Ezra used the force to push the other stormtrooper towards the glass wall in the center of the room as they fell to the floor unconscious as well.
Ezra and Kanan then entered the room with the Mandalorian having one of his lightsaber's blades ignited and began to approach the Imperial officer, who went to pick up a blaster from behind him, only for Kanan to fire a stun blast at him with the E-11 blaster rifle that he was holding his his hands.
"You could've warned me you were gonna do that," Kallus told Ezra as he groaned and placed his left hand over his forehead as Chopper rolled up right next to him.
"Where's the fun in that?" Ezra asked the ISB/Fulcrum agent, rhetorically.
"Your droid can open your comlinks from this port," Kallus told them, "I'll provide the access codes." Chopper grunted a response and looked at him as he pulled out his left metal arm before placing it back in his dome as he plugged his scomp link into the communication center's astromech port, "He doesn't need them?" He then stood up as he said that, "This C1 of yours is quite efficient." Chopper pulled both of his metal arms out of his dome and grunted, excitedly at Kallus' compliment.
"Figures Chop'd get along with an Imperial spy," Ezra muttered as he deactivated his lightsaber as Chopper grunted a response before Kanan's comlink chimed.
"Ryder, Sabine, it's Kanan," the Jedi Knight said as he grabbed his comlink from his hip with his left hand, "Are you both there?"
"Yeah, we are, Kanan," Sabine answered from his comlink.
"And closer than you think," Ryder added from the comlink, "We're about to hit the east gate, give you a chance to escape. You'll need to move if you want to make it out."
"We will. And thanks," Kanan told Ryder with his comlink before he and Ezra began walking towards the doorway with Chopper.
"Make for the east vehicle pool. You'll find a walker there you can escape in," Kallus suggested, "Now, I just have to make this look convincing."
"Okay," Ezra said as he turned around towards Kallus and extended his left arm out towards him as he used the Force to push him through the glass wall, shattering it on impact as the ISB/Fulcrum agent yelped and fell underneath the command console.
"Ezra!" Kanan said, scolding him.
"What?! That is convincing," Ezra stated as he stared at him.
"Yeah, but I was gonna do it," Kanan told him.
"Well, if he's one of us now, you'll get your chance," Ezra assured him as they along with Chopper left the room, while Kallus groaned on the floor as he placed his left hand over his forehead again.
"An unlicensed droid accessed the computer in section A-2," Thrawn told Pryce and Faro as he walked towards them as Pryce was now in his office with them as she stood in front of one of the holographic artworks with her arms behind his back as Faro was now sitting on one of the seats in front of the Chiss' desk.
He held a datapad in his left hand that displayed a diagram of Chopper on it along with words in Aurebesh before he handed it to Pryce, who took it from him with her left hand as he placed his arms behind his back.
"I can only assume that they have acquired my plans," Thrawn surmised as he stopped in front of Sabine's canvas and stared at it again as he crossed his right arm and placed his left hand near his chin again, "But something has changed. The rebels should have attempted to escape via the factory by now."
"Maybe they realize they're trapped," Pryce suggested as Thrawn lowered his arms and walked away from Sabine's canvas and towards his desk.
"Or they found an unexpected ally," Faro stated, trying to understand Thrawn's line of thought.
"Indeed, Commander Faro," Thrawn said, agreeing with her as he walked around his desk, "Or perhaps an unexpected one."
"I'm not sure I follow," Pryce admitted.
"The rebels will attempt a different means of escape," Thrawn clarified as he placed his arms behind his back again, "And we must adapt our strategy accordingly." His desk's communications system then chimed, causing him to activate it with his right hand's finger.
"Grand Admiral, there is a small band of rebels attacking the east gate," they heard Lyste report from the desk's communications system.
"Me and Captain Pellaeon have deployed AT-ATs," Lyste went on as he held his comlink in his left hand and a datapad in his right hand with Pellaeon standing next to him and holding a comlink of his own in his right hand as well as unbeknownst to them, Kanan, Ezra and Chopper entered one of the AT-DPs behind them, "Should we send backup?"
"Yes, Lieutenant. Let's play their game," Thrawn said, agreeing with him as he reasoned that the rebel infiltrators will take advantage of the rebel attack to escape.
"Understood, Grand Admiral," Pellaeon replied, "We'll be ready for their next move."
"Deploying walkers now," Lyste said as Kanan formed his stormtrooper helmet from his head as he sat in the seat behind Ezra.
"You hear that?" Kanan asked Ezra as the Mandalorian flipped the visor of his scout trooper helmet back up, "We'll fit right in."
"I hope this is one of the good walkers," Ezra told him, expressing his concerns with the walker.
Outside the factory, two AT-ATs were firing their heavy laser cannons at Ryder's landspeeder with the former Lothalite governor piloting it as Sabine sat on the landspeeder's co-pilot seat as she held an RPS-6 rocket launcher in her hands with Marida sitting on the seat of the landspeeder behind the female Mandalorian.
Jho was in a modified V-35 courier landspeeder behind them a bit with it being painted red and having a turret cannon attached to the back of it as he fired the landspeeder's turret cannon at the AT-DPs with the sound of the cannon being fired causing two loth-cats that were in the grass nearby to scurry away.
Sabine fired the rocket launcher at one of the Imperial troop transports near the factory, heavily damaging it. At the same time, the AT-DP that Kanan, Ezra and Chopper were inside of walked between the two AT-ATs.
"AT-DP-216, what are you doing here?" One of the pilots of the AT-ATs asked Kanan and Ezra with his AT-AT's communications system, "You're not part of this operation."
"Uh, we're your reinforcements," Ezra answered, hoping that his lie would work on him.
"Attention, walkers. Disregard the speeders," the AT-AT pilots suddenly heard Thrawn say through their walkers' communications systems.
"That AT-DP is under rebel control. Destroy it," Thrawn went on from his office within the Imperial Complex as he used his desk's communications system as he activated it with his right hand's index finger with Faro now standing up from the chair around the desk that she was sitting on.
With that said, the two AT-ATs began to turn around towards the AT-DP that Ezra, Kanan and Chopper were inside of.
"Kallus set us up!" Ezra said as he and Kanan saw the two AT-ATs rotating around towards the walker that they along with Chopper were inside of.
"Maybe, maybe not," Kanan told him, "We'll figure it out later. Now get to cover!"
"Not a whole lot of that around!" Ezra said as one of the AT-ATs began firing its heavy laser cannons at them as he piloted the AT-DP behind the other AT-AT.
"Now there's something you don't see every day," Ezra muttered as he used a pair of macrobinoculars as he noticed that the AT-ATs were blasting the AT-DP with their heavy laser cannons with the AT-DP evading the AT-ATs' blasts before he looked at Sabine, "That's gotta be your husband." He then took out his comlink with his right hand and contacted them with it, "Kanan, Ezra. Is that you?"
"Yes! And we could use a pickup," Ezra answered with his comlink as he held it in his right hand as one of the AT-ATs continued to fire upon him, Kanan and Chopper with its heavy laser cannon as he evaded the AT-AT's lasers, "Sooner would be good!"
"Walker 414, blast them already!" One of the pilots of the AT-AT that was firing its heavy laser cannon upon the AT-DP ordered the other AT-AT with their walker's communications system.
"You're in my line of fire 271," one of the pilots of the AT-AT known as Walker 414 told one of the pilots of the other AT-AT, "I can't get a shot."
"Let's crush them," the other pilot of the AT-AT known as Walker 414 suggested to the other pilot of the AT-AT before they pulled levers on the walker's console down, causing the AT-AT to begin to crush the AT-DP with its body as it lowered its legs.
As this was happening, Kanan grabbed his lightsaber and ignited it with Ezra doing the same with his and ignited one of its blades before they stabbed them through the ceiling of the AT-DP and moved them around in a circle to create two holes to escape the walker through.
Kanan and Ezra then jumped through the holes they had created with their lightsabers, while Chopper activated his rocket booster and flew through one of the holes on the ceiling of the AT-DP as Ryder watching what was happening with his macrobinoculars before he widened his eyes as he removed them from his eyes as the AT-DP's pod exploded.
"They didn't stand a chance," the AT-AT pilot said as he looked at the other AT-AT pilot.
"We had a chance," they suddenly heard Kanan say as they saw him and Ezra standing behind him with their lightsabers ignited as Chopper stood behind them after they entered the walker through the hatch below the AT-AT's cockpit.
"Pretty good chance," Ezra added before they quickly knocked them out and deactivated their lightsabers as Sabine fired the rocket launcher at the AT-AT known as Walker 271 with the rocket colliding with its front legs, not realizing that her husband, master and Chopper were inside that AT-AT.
The AT-AT then began to topple to the ground, but before it could fall to the ground, it fired lasers at the AT-AT known as Walker 414 with its heavy laser cannon, destroying it as Ryder watched what happened with his macrobinoculars again with Sabine and Marida watching what happened as well before Ryder removed his macrobinoculars from his eyes.
The three of them then looked at each other for a second before Ryder placed his pair of macrobinoculars back over his eyes as he saw that the AT-AT that Sabine fired the rocket launcher at finally toppled over and landed on the ground.
As the AT-AT toppled to the ground, Ezra climbed through the walker's hatch on top of its cockpit and helped Kanan out of the AT-AT with his hands before they stood back up before Ryder laughed with relief as Chopper used his rocket booster to fly up through the hatch.
Ryder and Jho then flew their landspeeders towards them as Ezra gave them a salute with his left hand before Ryder and Jho stopped their landspeeders in front of the toppled AT-AT as they approached it.
"I don't believe it," Ryder told them, "I thought you were in the smaller one."
"Me too," Sabine said, agreeing with the former Lothalite governor as Ezra jumped down from the toppled AT-AT.
"This one's roomier," Ezra told them as Kanan jumped down from the AT-AT as well with Chopper, who activated his rocket booster and flew down from the AT-AT and ran towards Ryder's landspeeder.
"Sumar?" Ryder asked them as he didn't see him with them.
"He didn't make it," Ezra answered, causing Marida to lower her head with sadness.
"I'm sorry for your loss, Marida," Sabine told Marida, sympathetically as she placed her right hand over her left shoulder before Marida heard laserfire being fired and saw AT-DPs firing their laser cannons at them.
"More walkers incoming!" Marida announced as Ezra, Kanan and Chopper hopped onto the landspeeder that she, Sabine and Ryder were riding on before fleeing the factory on the highway with Jho's landspeeder as they evaded the walkers' lasers.
A while later on Atollon, a hologram of Sabine was decrypting the blueprints of Thrawn's secret project from the holotable from Ryder's camp on Lothal as she stood with her husband, Kanan and Ryder, who had his arms crossed as Kanan and Ezra were out of their Imperial disguises as the Jedi Knight was now wearing his clothes, while Ezra had his Beskar plates back over his undersuit as Hera and Zeb, who had his arms crossed as well as he stood next to a black and gold colored astromech droid with a see-through dome.
"I think I almost got the data decrypted," the hologram of Sabine said as she finished decrypting the data of the blueprints of Thrawn's secret project, "Sending it to you on Atollon now." The holotable on Atollon then displayed a diagram of a TIE fighter, but unlike normal TIE fighters, this one had three solar panels, two of them being where they usually are as well as over the top of the pod with words written in Aurebesh over the left side of the plans, causing everyone to widen their eyes, "Whoa."
"I've never seen an Imperial fighter like that," Hera admitted before looking at the hologram of Sabine, "Sabine, talk to me."
"Looks like some new kind of TIE interceptor, but this one has shields," Sabine said as she read the description of the plans they were examining from the holotable on Lothal from the words on the left side of the plans that were written in Aurebesh.
"But TIE fighters never had shields before," Hera stated.
"Maybe that's why it's so secret," Zeb surmised.
"This changes everything," Mira stated, "We rebels need to adjust our tactics if we are to defeat the Empire.
"Agreed," Markus said, agreeing with the female Mandalorian.
"It seems like the Empire are calling these new TIE interceptors as 'TIE defenders,'" Ephraim stated as he read the Aurebesh on the side of the plans.
"If they're actually building these in numbers, it'll be like what Mira said, our pilots won't stand a chance," Hera said as Kanan crossed his left arm and placed his right hand over his chin with his left hand holding the elbow of his right arm.
"And neither will the Rebellion," Kanan added.
"How'd you get past Thrawn with these plans?" Hera asked them, "Someone's losing more than their job for that."
"Yeah, how did you manage to get past him with these plans, Kanan?" Markus said, agreeing with the Twi'lek.
"I guess we can thank Agent Kallus. He knew Fulcrum's secret code phrase," Kanan answered, surprising everyone as he lowered his arms.
"Wait, wait, wait. Kallus is Fulcrum?" Sabine said with confusion and shock in her voice, "How does that even make sense?"
"Karabast," Zeb cursed to himself as he placed his right hand over the back of his head for a second before lowering it, "I must've recruited him. You know, accidentally."
"You mean when you were stuck on that ice moon with him?" Ezra asked him.
"Yeah, well. We didn't kill each other," Zeb confirmed, "So, I guess we're friends now."
"I never thought that Kallus would betray the Empire and help us," Markus stated with the same surprise and confusion in his voice as everyone else.
"Still, we'll use caution with our new friend until we're sure we know what game he's playing," Hera advised them.
"You're exactly right, Hera," Mira said, agreeing with her, "Let's hope this is not the same as when Pre Vizsla allowed Maul to temporarily join Death Watch when we took over Mandalore, only for him to stab us in the back again."
"Agreed," Ephraim muttered as he looked at her, "Let's hope that doesn't happen again. But we should do as Hera suggests and be cautious about this revelation."
"Thank you, Lieutenant. Dismissed," Thrawn told Lyste as he stared at the canvas of Sabine's painting with her starbird as Pryce, Kallus, Faro and Pellaeon standing behind him with his right arm crossed and his left hand near his chin as his right hand held the elbow of his left arm as Kallus had his arms behind his back before Lyste left the room as the ISB/Fulcrum agent removed his arms from his back, "Agent Kallus, I read your report. Several troopers confirmed your encounter with the Jedi. It was very helpful."
The Chiss then turned around towards the ISB/Fulcrum agent, Lothalite governor as well as his second and third-in-commands as he placed his arms behind his back.
"You know, after analyzing the rebels' escape, it's clear to me they had help from one within our Imperial ranks," Thrawn went on as he began walking around his desk
"The rebels have a mole?! Then all personnel must be interrogated," Pryce said with anger in her voice as she pounded her right fist into the palm of her left hand, "This spy must be found!"
"We should proceed with caution, Governor," Faro urged Pryce, "A thorough investigation will root out the traitor."
"And within time, we will find them," Pellaeon added with a hint of distaste in his voice.
"They're absolutely right, Governor. Acting out of anger will not serve us here. We must wait and watch," Thrawn said, agreeing with Faro and Pellaeon as he walked away from his desk and past them, "And when we find our spy, and we will find them, we shall turn them from an obstacle to an asset." He then stopped walking as he looked at the ISB/Fulcrum agent with the corner of his eye, "Wouldn't you agree, Agent Kallus?"
"Your strategy is without flaw, Grand Admiral. As always," Kallus responded, feigning his loyalty to the Empire.