Chapter 41
Ghosts of Geonosis
ATOLLON
Chopper Base, the Revenant
Ahkilleon sat inside his private quarters aboard the Revenant, he was laying on his bed and was holding datapad he just deleted something "Okay, let's try again." he said as he pressed record. "Master, I hope you're well um I mean I hope you are getting well, Turok told me you were starting to make recovery. Things have proceeded slowly here since getting back to Atollon, I haven't seen any of Iron Squadron thankfully not that I think they'd want to see me. Commander Sato has accepted the Tigers here for now, I hope you got that in my last message before I left." he said as he sat up looking at the holopad. "I have continued my training, physically, mentally and saber training as well. Kanan and Ezra have been more than willing to help, Ezra has gotten a lot better but think Kanan is holding back."
He paused, "Recently we encountered the fallen Sith, Maul… Kanan still thinks there is a better way than killing him, but I don't see it and we learned something, we… probably best to say it to you when you're in person." Ahkilleon said as he finished the message and entered the encryption codes to send it.
Later, rebels were packing up for a mission, Turok and Ahkilleon were speaking in the shadow of one of the rebel ships on its landing pad, "Really?" Turok said as he tapped out some ashes from his pipe, "Kenobi's alive?"
Ahkilleon shrugged, "So says Ezra, it's ot like didn't get it from a questionable source?"
"Right, Dathomirian Nightsister Magic, always reliable." Turok said, loading his pipe up with fresh dried tobacco, "Stars, Kenobi was an interesting Jedi, sassiest one that's for sure."
The young jedi leaned back, arms crossed, "My mom used to tell me he was the only jedi who could annoy or maybe reason with her Master?" He asked aloud. Ahkilleon looked over at the rebels boarding the Ghost, "You still remember your old trade?"
Turok lit his match and froze, not raising his one good eye "Hmhmm."
"Good, I want you to find him." Ahkilleon said to Turok, the trandoshan raised his eyes up, he flicked his match out after lighting his pipe and sucked in smoke. "What makes you think he wants to be found?" Turok asked, breathing out his nostrils.
Ahkilleon locked eyes with the old trandoshan, "We need to find him before Maul does."
"Not disagreeing with that, but if he's been alive for this long, hasn't come to Raxus to join the New Jedi, makes me think there's a reason?" Turok asked him.
"There's a war on, Master Kenobi was one of the High Generals of the Republic, he was legendary among the Jedi, the last surviving Council Member. We need him."
Turok sucked on his pipe, "We or you?"
"What that's supposed to mean?" Ahkilleon asked.
Turok leaned in "You defeated the Inquisitors, you found the Great Holocron to the Jedi, finding a lost Jedi Master, you're building quite the reputation?" Turok said.
Ahkilleon frowned "I'm not doing this for the glory, like I didn't do the rest of that stuff, I did it because it was right."
"If you say so, but don't forget you're also part of the Militia, not just the jedi. People are talking about you." Turok explained "In a good way I hope?"
Turok looked around "There's a reason that the General sent you back to the rebels, I've gotten word from Caliban."
"What do you mean?" Ahkilleon asked getting closer "There's a spy, how else do we explain the Empire's reprisal at Naboo, their surprise attack on Lothal, and the assassin after Sabine." Turok whispered.
Ahkilleon grunted "Any leads?"
"No, but Caliban is working on it, whoever it is, we think it's someone in high command. Maybe even a Warlord." Turok told him, Ahkilleon looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was listening. "But if it was a Warlord they could just give the Empire the hyperspace route to Arcadia?"
Turok cocked his head "Maybe, but what better way to justify the Empire's existence than barbarians on their borders, the Empire's war machine versus the Militias, I wouldn't bet against the imps."
"You don't think we can win, all the more reason to find Kenobi."
"There's more." Turok said to him, "You've caught the General's eye, and maybe not in a good way." Turok told him.
Ahkilleon furrowed his brow unsure what that meant, "I thought the General liked me?" Ahkilleon asked, "He does, but he likes you behind him, not ahead. Caliban thinks he's worried you're becoming too popular, that's why sent you here."
Ahkilleon shook his head "Caliban is insane." "No doubt. But he's the reason the Empire never found out about us. But if you hope to be the Jedi King, you can't have a rival."
"I'm ending this discussion now Turok, I asked you to try and find Kenobi not try to-" "Lad, this is serious." Turok said grabbing his arm,
Ahkilleon tensed up "You want to be the Jedi King, yes?"
He nodded, "Then stop thinking just like a soldier or a jedi, you have to be ready to make hard choices."
HYPERSPACE
The Ghost
The Specter's were in the cockpit of the Ghost soaring through hyperspace, Ezra had his feet propped up on the dashboard with Sabine and Zeb behind him, Kanan sat in one of the back seats with Hera in her usual pilot chair "So, do we finally get to find out what this mission is about?" Ezra asked, Sabine slapped the back of his head "Hera already told you."
"It's secret." She added, Ezra rubbed the back of his head "Isn't that everything we do"
"Some things more than others." Zeb pointed out, "Okay, Chop, put Command through." Hera told the droid.
Chopper plugged into the ships computer and projected a hologram with Commander Sato and a familiar face "Senator Organa?" Hera asked seeing him.
"I wanted to explain the mission personally, Captain Syndulla. There is much at stake"
"How can we help?" Ezra asked, "Rebel Command received your report on the apparent disappearance of the Geonosian people. After some debate, we decided to take a risk and investigate."
Zeb leaned in his chair behind Ezra, with Rex watching quietly in the corner "So we're looking for Geonosians?"
"No. You are looking for the team we already sent." Organa said "We lost contact with them two cycles ago."
"Do you think it was the Empire?" Kanan asked him "Unknown. Contact was lost after the team reported an energy source on the planet's surface." Commander Sato said.
"Energy source?" Zeb asked them "When we went to Geonosis, there was nothing. No signs of life or power."
"Your primary mission is to recover our people and any intel they gathered." Sato commanded them, "Use… hnnn Commander Tano and his men, that you brought along." The rebels looked to the sealed door in the cockpit and could hear Ahkilleon and his men in the back.
"Who is it we're looking for?" Ezra asked, "Saw Gerrera." Rex said, breaking his silence "Rex, you knew about this?" Kanan asked.
Rex nodded, arms still crossed "Yeah, I did. I've known Saw for a long time, and I've learned that when he's concerned about something, it's usually worth taking a closer look."
"So, Saw is worried about what we found?" Ezra asked, "He's worried about what we didn't find." Rex added. They heard a loud crash from the back and Hera rolled her eyes "Sabine can you go make sure the riff raff aren't breaking my ship?" She asked.
Sabine left the cockpit to see Ahkilleon had brought his personal soldiers, Breacher, Turok and his nicknamed squads Tano's Tiger's, some were asleep on the floor, others chatting, but the largest group was in the center, forming a ring. Where Ahkilleon and Breacher were having a wrestling match, their arms locked around another twisting and spinning to try and grapple the other into a submission.
Rolling her eyes Sabine took out her blaster and shot into the ceiling "Hey!" Hera snapped.
"Keep it down, we're almost there." Sabine told them. Ahkilleon spun Breacher over his shoulder and slammed him into the floor "You heard the lady, get ready to land." Ahkilleon said partially out of breath. He made his way up to the top of the ship.
"Really, wrestling?" She asked him.
Ahkilleon shrugged, "The men are antsy, just glad you convinced Hera to let them come." Ahkilleon said leaning on the railing next to her.
"Don't flatter yourself, Sato wanted them off his base." Ahkilleon rolled his eyes that time, "Right, Sato's base, so where we going?" Ahkilleon asked.
"Geonosis, a search and rescue-" The ship came out of hyperspace and Hera saw the orange sphere of Geonosis with it's rings around it, already occupied by an entire Militia Fleet. "That's not good." Zeb said.
Ahkilleon pushed forward into the cockpit "Did you know about this?" Hera asked him "The construction modules and debris we saw last time, it's all gone." she added. "Well, I'm picking up a power source on the surface right where Command said it would be, but I can't raise Saw on any channel." Sabine said.
Ezra looked forward and saw a squadron of Hawk fighters heading their way lead by an interceptor "They've spotted us."
"That's definitely not good." Zeb said, "Let me talk to them." Ahkilleon said, Hera glared at him "Hera, let him." Kanan urged.
She gestured to the controls and Ahkilleon pressed his hand out to open a signal, "Unidentified light freighter, this is a restricted area under the protection of the Militia, identify." A female voice said.
Ahkilleon groaned recognizing the voice. "This is Commander Tano, of the Vanguard, on a special operation with a rebel team known as the Specter's, we have Militia personnel onboard, roger?" he asked.
"Roger, Roger 'Commander'." The rank was given a sly tone of the voice and they heard a thud as the Fighters flew overhead, looking up they saw a black clad dragoon standing on the top of the ship, their gray fleece leather jacket around their flight suit, attacked to her jacket under the Militia Hex, was a blue winged horse. "You know them?" Ezra asked.
"I do." Ahkilleon nodded to Dragoon Sawyer Gererra signaled them to fly to the lead Dreadnought, the Maverick fleet flagship the Peagasus. "They're the Maverick fleet, and they don't care for the Vanguard. They want us to fly to the flagship."
"Do we have a choice?" Hera asked.
Ahkilleon shook his head "Not if you want to get on General Gerrera's bad side."
"Wait, Saw Gererra?" Ezra asked, "No, Steela his sister."
The Ghost flew to the Militia fleet, the large MK 2 dreadnoughts had smaller support ships around them and were in a stagnant position with the ships facing broadside out from the planet and the surface. As it flew into the Dreadnought, the Ghost landed inside the hangar and rebels got up. Ahkilleon let Breacher know which ship they were on and who's fleet it was before they disembarked.
Upon leaving the Militia soldiers walked out and the rebels took note of the difference in the Mavericks to the Vanguard troops they'd met. The Maverick fleet all wore knee high burgundy tunics, and their armor was adorned with light blue stripes in intricate patterns. The officer had short capes and the Black Dragoon, Sawyer, had come off the top of the ship.
"What's Vanguard got to do in this part of the Galaxy?" Sawyer asked Ahkilleon.
"Watch yourself flygirl, he's a commander now." Lt. Breacher said to Sawyer.
She shrugged, 'Good for him, still doesn't answer the question.'
"We're on a recon mission, to find a missing team." Hera said without giving the full truth, "And the Mavericks?" Ahkilleon asked.
Sawyer cocked her head "New strategy remember, we're setting up a base here on Geonosis, the bugs may be gone but the planet still has plenty of resources, and a good strategic location."
"A sound plan, why haven't your ships landed yet?" Ahkilleon asked, "We're waiting for the storm to pass. I'll let the General know your here, Commander." She spoke to him with a conceited tone.
Ahkilleon frowned, "What's up with her?" Ezra asked.
"Bad blood between the Mavericks and The Vanguard." Breacher explained "Not just them, remember Dathomir?" Ahkilleon asked, "My Father he and the General here have a history." Ahkilleon said with a grim look on his face.
Ezra gapped "Wow that's…. Dark."
"I told you, my mother never claimed my father was perfect, but if Saw here maybe we can make this family whole again." he whispered to Hera.
Hera shook her head "This is a mission from the rebel command, I can't let them know what we're after."
"And we're supposed to search the planet with just us, Saw is the General's brother who knows when they last spoke, I can't change what happened to Dathomir, but maybe I can make amends to the Gererra's." Ahkilleon pleaded with Hera, he was also thinking of what Turok had said to him before they left.
Hera was quiet, thinking it over before she could give an answer. They heard a loud boisterous voice thunder "Tano!"
The rebels and Ahkilleon turned to the voice to see waltzing toward them was the big orange and blue Harch Jedi Master, Nareua Stormblade. His brown robes were sleeveless like Ahkilleons, and unlike Ahkilleon he had six muscular hairy arms, and walking beside him with her body head to toe covered in her own brown robes even her face and head was Padawan Fatima, "Master Stormblade, Fatima what are you doing here?" Ahkilleon asked.
"The Council has agreed to General Freeman's request for more Jedi to join in the war effort, mostly of them as healers but myself and Master Stormblade are among the few War Jedi who are assisting the other fleets." Fatima said plainly.
Ahkilleon's smile faded "About Terro, Fatima I-" "Please Ahkilleon, let it lie. I'm lucky to be assigned to Master Stormblade now." She asked him.
He nodded, "It is good to see you again Master Stormblade." He said to the large spider.
"Indeed click-click-click. And a pleasure to meet fellow Jedi click-click-click under less hostile circumstances click-click." He said looking at Kanan and Ezra.
Zeb put his hands on his hips "When you stole the Holocron you mean?"
"Traded clicks-click-click, sadly damaged beyond repair." Nareua clicked at them, his upper arms crossed, the middle ones on his hips and the others resting on his belt.
Kanan and Ezra looked at one another "Probably for the best." Ezra muttered.
"It would be a great tragedy click-click-click, if not for Padawan Tano's click-click-click recovery of the Great Holocron, click-click-click millennia of knowledge returned to the Jedi." Nareua praised holding up a fist in triumph.
The conversation was interrupted by a loud whistle, at the far entrance of the hangar, Sawyer waved at them "Come on, General's Gererra's ready for you."
Ahkilleon watched the other rebels follow Sawyer, "I need to speak with you soon, not here, planetside when you can."
Nareua looked intently at him with his many green eyes "Of click-click course."
"Stay close to the ship." Ahkilleon told Breacher and the men, the Spectere's along with the War Jedi followed Sawyer to Steela, her mother's star deck at the top of the ship. Unlike Lord Asimov who had a large open floor plan with the traditional table in the center of the room and his meditation pad at the front. Steela's had a desk at the front on the elevated platform, which she sat at looking at holopad's. The walls and corners had some light furniture in it, rifles hung on the walls with old Onderonian armor for soldiers and for an equine creature.
Sawyer walked in and went to stand behind the desk, also in the room sitting in an armchair, was a large brown furred wookiee with a militia harness around his shaggy body, he had a hookah on the table and was smoking it steadily. "General Gerrera." Ahkilleon said hands behind his back "May I present Captain Syndulla, and the Specter's rebels from Phoenix Squadron."
Steela didn't look up, she kept reading the holopads in front of her, she was dressed in the Militia trench coat and dark blue uniform under it, her blackish brown hair tied neatly behind her head in a bun of locks. Then she asked them, "What are you doing here?" She asked.
"General Gerrera, we-" "I wasn't speaking to you Captain." Hera was cut off by Steela abruptly, which earned her some scowls from Ezra, Zeb and Sabine.
The woman refocused on Ahkilleon, Hera eyed him to see what he would say "A rescue mission, a different rebel cell was sent down to the surface and they lost contact, my men and I are assisting with the rescue."
Steela leaned back in her chair, "We've sent multiple signals down to the surface, haven't heard anything from the Geonosians or anyone for that matter."
"But your scans would pick up a poor source?" Sabine pointed out.
Steela glanced at her, looking her up and down noticing her colorful armor "We have, but the storm has prevented our ships from landing." She explained.
"Well the Ghost is more than up to the task." Hera said confidently, Steela glanced at her "Perhaps I misspoke, we plan to make contact with the Geonosians, establish base and form an alliance, what we don't plan to do is run in blind only to get ambushed by the Empire." She said, looking at Ahkilleon making note of a Vanguard defeat on Ryloth and Naboo.
There was a long silence before Steela rose from her seat, she was nearly as tall as Kanan "There's only static so far, so we are waiting for the storm to pass before we send ground parties to secure the landing zone, and attempt to establish contact."
"Geonosians live underground. It's possible Saw and his people can't hear your transmission." Kanan said, this got her attention. She noticed his lightsaber and Ezra's.
"You two must be the rebel jedi we've heard so much about, Kanan Jarrus and the Lothalian Ezra Bridger." She said, "The Jedi promised to free my homeworld in the last war you started, by the time it was over my daughter's father was dead along with our king, and our planet was under 'new' occupation." She said firmly.
Clearing his throat, Ahkilleon stepped forward "That was years ago, now we have a common enemy, the Empire, and more."
"More?" Sawyer asked.
Ahkilleon looked to Hera, who paused for a moment "We believe the Empire was up to something here, there was construction equipment and derby in the atmosphere last time we came here, the away team was supposed to investigate what the Empire was doing here."
The wookiee in the corner let out a chuff of shrywook before Steela nodded "For those of you who don't speak wookiee, yes, we know the Empire was mining the ore from the planet's rings and surface, the same reason we're here."
"It's not that General." Rex said, pushing his way to the front, "General this is-" "I know who he is, he fought with us on Onderon, Captain Rex." Steela said, seeing the old clone.
Rex turned to Hera waiting for her nod and she gave it, "The away team was part of a cell led by someone we both fought with, your brother Saw."
"My uncle?" Sawyer asked eyes wide but Steela kept her steely gaze, on the rebels then to Ahkilleon who nodded, "Let us go down to the surface, if Saw is tough as Rex says he'll be down there, we'll bring him here."
There was another long pause, "He'll want to see you Steela." Rex added.
Again she said nothing, "Go to the surface, find your missing rebels, but I want my own squad down there, Commander Wrargafir will lead it." The wookiee or Wrargafir let out a light chuff of acknowledgement and got up to go prepare.
"Thank you General." Ahkilleon gave a Militia salute, and then Steela looked to the Specter's who just stood there. Hera reluctantly gave a salute followed by the others doing the same in a lackluster way.
Later the rebels were outside the Ghost, as Commander Wrargafir walked toward them with Maverick soldiers behind them, all wearing the yellow lined armor with the burgundy kamas. One of them had captain antennas on each side of their helmet and carried a vibrosword on their back. Lt. Breacher and the Tigers stared them down, the Tigers were two dozen while the Mavericks were only a quarter of that but the rest of the hangar was full of their army.
"Come on, enough dick wagging." Ahkilleon said to them all as they boarded up "Let's get down there and find out, what's going on."
The Ghost was boarded by the rebels, the Tigers and the Mavericks filling the hsip to the brim, more than had ever been before, the Ghost departed from the Pegasus down to the surface of Geonosis entering into the orange and brown maelstrom of storms. Dust heavy winds swatted at the ghost and everyone had to grab hold of something to keep steady. "Hang on. This storm is wreaking havoc on my scopes- Chopper, stabilizers!" Hera shouted at the droid.
Zeb let out a chortle of laughter "How's it feel to be back, Rex?"
"Honestly? I was hoping I'd never have to come back to this dust ball." Rex grunted as they flew down to the surface, his tone was heavy with begrudgement for the world. Finally Hera managed to set the Ghost down on the surface with a sigh.
"I had to set her down, but we're in the neighborhood." She said as everyone got up from where they'd been sitting, or holding on with dear life.
Rex cleared her throat "According to Command, Gerrera's recon team entered a structure two klicks north of our current position."
"Maybe they took shelter there?" Ezra asked looking at the others "It's possible. Sabine, what about the power source you detected?" Kanan asked her.
"Different location, and close, but thanks to the storm, I can't get a precise reading about where or what it is.
"Keep working on it, until we know more about that power source, we'll split up into two groups. Rex, Kanan, Ezra and Chopper, go check out the coordinates of Saw's last transmission."
"What about me?" Zeb asked.
"You're staying here with us, in case the Empire comes along." Hera replied that made the lasat chuckle. "So I can bust some buckets.
Ahkilleon was in the doorway, before he turned from them to address the Militia, "Alright, this is a rescue op, Commander Wrargafir and I will lead the ground units, Lt. breacher I want you to divide the men, we send half with us the other half stay with the ship, and are to obey Captain Syndulla's commands, to the letter." he said loudly, Hera and the other rebels took note of that .
Lt. Breacher sighed out his cigar, "Roger, roger." he said with a salute.
Standing down on the cargo hold floor Commander Wrargafir let out a wookiee bark in his own language, and Ahkilleon noticed he was wearing a translator neck piece, it had a small light on the center that glowed when it translated "We are looking for a high priority target, Saw Gererra, the General's brother, be on the lookout for the Geonosisans. No one has seen or heard from them in years, but that doesn't mean they aren't any less dangerous." the wookiee's translator had a masculine voice.
"That's why we brought these." Breacher said as he opened up some crates to reveal four long thick barreled rifles, with canister under the barrel with handles over the top "Modeled after the Blast tech X series 42's, these are the MT-10s, Militia Tech flamethrowers."
Breacher started to hand them out to the men who would be going on the mission, Ezra, Rex, Kanan and Chopper came down to see them "Flamethrowers, why?" Ezra asked.
"The Geonosians are tough fighters, they can crawl on walls, fly and through the Republic of Geonosis, halfway through the war." Rex explained.
Breacher nodded "They were a warrior people, this is their home we have not come to invade but to forge an alliance with the Militia, when the war against the core began it was Geonosians who shed their blood on the sand we're about to walk out on so even if we do come as friends, we need to show them we mean business."
"Do you want to be friends with them or fight?" Ezra asked, holding an painted scout trooper helmet under his arm. It had the Phoenix Squadron emblem on the side and some other marksing around the visor.
Ahkilleon grabbed his own helmet as the doors opened, "We want friends, but we know to prepare for the worst.
The searchers left the ship and into the storm that was still blowing furiously, Wrargafir had put on a pair of goggles over his eyes, with Rex and Ezra wearing their helmets like everyone else except for Kanan. Chopper moved forward with his scanners as they headed north to the energy source, beeping at them. "Well, I can't see anything either."
"There's a temple up ahead and probably an entrance to the underground passages." Rex said as he took the lead, the teams made their way into the ruins of some cave-like structure only for their eyes to adjust to prove Rex right, it was a temple. "Saw? Saw Gerrera?" Rex called out.
Ezra joined in "Anyone here? Saw?"
"Spread out and see if you can find the entrance to the underground." Rex ordered, Ahkilleon and Wrargafir did the same to their squads, but added "Set up a communication relay to the fleet, let them know we landed." Wrargafir's translator said to the two antenna captains.
"I can't believe it. Did the bugs build this?" Ezra gasped looking at the intricate work of the Temple.
"Oh, yes. They're more clever than you would think, and creative. That doesn't mean they aren't dangerous as well." Rex pointed out.
"So, Rex, how do you know Saw Gerrera?"
"Oh, we go way back. I trained him and his sister, Steela, during the Clone War. They were part of a plan to help localized militias fight for themselves against the Separatists. She didn't make it. But he carried on and even started his own rebel cell after the Empire took over." Rex said taking off his helmet, he didn't look proud of it but there was a faint glimmer of nostalgia in his eyes.
"Hey, I think I found something." Ezra shouted, the others came over including Ahkilleon and Wrargafir, "Looks like some kind of passage down there."
"This is the entrance to the tunnels, looks like it was deliberately sealed."
Ahkilleon cleared his throat "And for good reason, I know this temple." Ahkilleon said kneeling down beside Ezra.
"Long ago, during the Clone Wars, Poggle the Lesser- the leader of the Geonosians Separatists tricked the Queen of Geonosis into rebelling against the Republic, they were convinced the Republic had abandoned Geonosis. The Queen hid down in these caves and used these things called brainworms to infect clone minds, the jedi went in and defeated the Queen." Ahkilleon said, pressing his finger to his head to show them "They'd enter in the nose, mouth, or the ears."
Ezra scrunched up his face "That's disgusting, how do you know this?"
"... my parents fought here, they were on a transport heading to pick up supplies when the brain worms infected the whole ship, my mother told me my father let one of the brain worms infect him so he could speak with the Queen."
"But you said they defeated her?" Ezra asked, Ahkilleon frowned "She somehow lived on in the brain worms, or at least a memory of her. Or maybe she never died when they sealed it?" Ahkilleon said, looking down into the darkness.
"Well, not sealed enough." Ezra told him "This must be where Saw's team went in." Wrargafir's translator said.
The droid Chopper rolled up to scan the ship "Chopper's still not picking up signals of any kind."
"Let's go take a look." "Wait." Ahkilleon warned Ezra by his arm, Ezra and Rex had removed their helmets, but the Militia, with the exception of Commander Wrargafir, all kept their helmets on. Even Lt. Breacher kept his helmet on, he wore the traditional X visored helmet with a breathing apparatus, and smoothed top. He, like the other Tigers, had the orange and white markings like Ahkilleons.
Ezra groaned "What now?"
"We're about to enter a tunnel in the middle of a sandstorm that's messing with our coms, Lt. have our men set up a relay station to try and boost the signal, who has their shields." Ahkilleon asked.
Lt. Breacher nodded, two Militia soldiers walked up with their laser shields slung on their backs "Khast, Hooser, take point and scout ahead." Ahkilleon said.
"Roger, roger." Both men said before they headed down into the tunnels, they turned on their helmets' headlights and activated their shields moving in a two by two wall. The rest followed with them.
After making their way into the tunnels Ezra asked "So what do they look like? The Geonosians?"
"Well, they kind of look like battle droids, to tell you the truth. Ugly battle droids that smell." Rex said while they went deeper into the. Khast and Hooser were walking up ahead with their shields.
They came to some caved in tunnels with rubble piled up and covered in dust, "Hmm. Looks like all these side passages have been blocked off."
"Yeah. Deliberately. Just like above." Rex added.
"Why would they do that?" Ezra asked.
Ahkilleon rolled his eyes and slapped Ezra atop the head "The zombie brain worms moron."
Wrargafir let out a soft roar down to his Captain who followed him "These are the infamous rebels?" his translator said.
"The air is still down here, the sealed passages must be blocking the airflow." Kanan observed "Certainly limits our options for going forward."
"Here! I found a helmet!" Khast shouted up ahead, Rex came up to the others and took the helmet from the Umbaran, "I know this marking. It's from Saw's team." Rex said, it had a blue rebel mark on it, the helmet was a simple cap with a short brim and metal ring around it. "There's another. Oh, and more down there." Ezra said seeing them.
"All from Saw's unit, but where are the people?" Rex asked aloud, Ezra "They must've been attacked.
Kanan was handed the helmet and he felt it with his fingers "By who?" he asked before he looked up, seconds later what he sensed the others heard, a soft chittering sound coming from the darkening caves.
"There's something up ahead." Wrargafir said.
"It's moving away." Ahkilleon said "What is it…. It's gone." Ezra said, trying to listen.
Kanan set the helmet down on Chopper before he said "We should go too."
"Go? Kanan, why? We have to find Saw's rebels." Ezra asked him.
Kanan turned to his padawan "Ezra, all we found are sealed up tunnels and some rebel gear."
"There's something working against us." Kanan said to them. "I'm not sure what, but we're out of our element and away from our team."
Wrargafir and Ahkilleon looked at one another, "The Geonosians?" Wrargafir asked.
Ahkilleon shook his head "No, I sense something else down here."
"We'll just call for backup. Chop, get Hera." Kanan ordered, the droid grunted at him and tried to send a signal "We must be too deep. The signal can't reach her." Ezra said to them, he turned to Ahkilleon who pressed his finger to his helmet comms behind the fin on the side, "Lt. how's it coming up there?"
A staticy reply came out "Signal Is weak, storms heavy-zzzt-we're going to try boosting it, I'll send -zzzt-zzzt-zzzt- up lights -zzzt- beacons along the tunnel after we clear the rubble."
"Roger, roger." Ahkilleon replied, Rex rolled his eyes "Do you really have to say that?" he asked.
Ahkilleon met his gaze, "What?"
"Droids say Roger, Roger, you're not a droid." Rex said walking up to him, "No, but I fight alongside them, they're just as brave any soldier." Ahkilleon said.
Commander Wrargafir took note of that as he scanned ahead into the darkness, "Droids did terrible things in the clone wars Ahkilleon."
"This is a different War Rex, the only way we can match the Empire, man to man, is with droids. How is this any different than the Republic using clones?" Ahkilleon replied.
Rex's jaw nearly hit the cave floor, "Don't even for a second compare me to-" "Someone's down here, and I bet they know what happened." Ezra said, looking ahead with Wrargafir cutting off Rex before they could start an argument. Even though he was wearing his helmet Ahkilleon din't look away from Rex.
Ezra turned to them "I say we go on. Rex, it's up to you to break the tie?" Ezra asked him, Commander Wrargafir walked forward "We push forward, Captain make sure the men mark our location. I don't want to get lost down here." he translated as he led his Captain and his squad deeper.
Rex focused on Rex and Ezra as the Militia moved forward. "Well, if you want my opinion, I say we press on, I know Saw would do the same for me."
"Okay, we'll keep going." Kanan said as they followed the Militia "But there's times I hate being right, and I hope this isn't one of 'em."
They moved deeper into the caves, but kept a good distance from the Maverick squad who was moving behind Khast and Hooser, "I don't understand, if the Militia are united why don't the Mavericks and Vanguard like each other."
Ahkilleon grunted next to Ezra, "I haven't asked my Master yet, but Sigma told me it came down to a battle that happened five years ago."
"A battle?" Rex asked, Ahkilleon nodded "You didn't know the Militia were idle while they were preparing, it takes a long time to build up a fleet our size without going noticed, we had to look to other worlds for resources, places in the unknown regions not even the Empire knows about, and the Militia weren't the only ones out here."
"Sounds rough, but we should focus on the mission." Kanan said keeping them on track despite not wanting to go any further. They walked further and further underground using their flashlights to light the way. The Maverick Captain had her squad start to mark the walls with lights that drilled into the stone illuminating the path as they went.
Finally Khast and Hooser came to a dead end, Commander Wrargafir was speaking with some of his squad who were looking around the caves for another tunnel that had one rebel helmet left "Where did the rebels go, it's just a dead end." Hearing that Kanan let out a groan .
"Do you have to call it that?."
Ahkilleon looked at the holes in the walls, "Maybe for us, but a Geonsian could have climbed through these holes." He said as he stuck his arm in one and then sensed danger.
"Somethings coming." he said pointing back down the hall they came "Look! Are those Geonosians?" Ezra asked.
Wrargafir and his men turned around, and the wookiee barked "Weapons ready."
"Not Geonosians. Clankers." Rex said seeing a squad of geonosian camouflage B1 battle droids. They had mismatched parts but were mostly red painted with yellow tops on their heads. The commander droid approached them and spoke "Halt. You will be eliminated."
"Battle droids." Ezra grunted taking out his lightsaber, We can do this."
The commanding droid looked at them and then noticed the Militia with them, Khast and Hooser had moved to the front with their shields, the Militia Mavericks behind them blasters ready. The droids scanned their Hex patches on their uniforms.
"Oh. Uh…" the droid looked at the others, "Are these Separatist soldiers, I thought we were the only ones?" the droid next to the commander asked "Of course we are, right?" the Commander asked.
Ahkilleon hummed to himself, and walked forward putting his arms on Ezra and Kanan's saber arms to lower them "Yes, uh Comrades we are the 'Militia of the Separatist Alliance'." he said in a tone that meant to sound more archaic.
The B1's all looked at one another "But those are Jedi, we blast Jedi."
"Right."
"They scrap droids, blast'em I say." a few of them chanted, just then they parted and a Droideka rolled up turning on it's shields. Ahkilleon held his hands up "Whoa, whoa, these aren't uh Jedi, they're our prisoners, but good prisoners so we let them keep their lightsabers." Ahkilleon said to them.
The droids lowered their blasters, "Hmm I don't know."
"Karking B1's, they're all halfwits." Khast grumbled behind his helmet.
The lead droid walked forward "If you're really members of the Separatists, prove it."
"Of course, Count Dooku sent us to reinforce Geonosis to uh fight the Republic."
The commander droid cocked his head "I didn't get any notification from our Commander that we'd-" There was a giant explosion behind them fire and stone flying everywhere taking out the back half of the droids.
"It's a jed trick!" the Commander shouted "We've been out flanked." the droid opened fire into the smoke behind them, Kanan and Ezra rushed forward to cut down the droids in a matter of seconds. Wrargafir grunted his translator saying "What a waste."
As the dust settled, Kanan turned his lightsaber off "It was worth a shot." he told Ahkilleon who looked down at the droids. "More than you think." Ahkilleon said as Ezra, Rex and Kanan noticed the Mavericks walking to the droids and kneeling in front of them, placing mournful hands on their metal bodies.
"What are they doing?" Ezra asked.
"They may just be droids to you Jedi." The Maverick Captain said, her voice deep and muffled from her helmet "But they are brothers in blood and iron to us."
Ezra turned his lightsaber off "Where'd that blast come from?"
"From me?" A stoic voice said from the dust that was starting to clear, out of it walked a tall man with brown skin and dark eyes, he had a scar across face running diagonal between his nose and eyes, wearing mismatched armor over traveling gear, he held a blaster pistol in his hand and held himself as almost as taller than Kanan. "Saw." "Captain Rex." The man said, greeting Rex.
""So, you decided to come to Geonosis after all." The two of them greeted one another, Rex taking off his helmet "Yeah. To rescue you."
Saw smirked and snickered "Is that what's happening?" he kept chuckling and the two of them clasped arms in a manly fashion "It's good to see you alive, my old friend." Rex said, smiling under his beard.
"I want you to meet Kanan and Ezra." Both Ezra and Kanan approached with Chopper who grunted up annoyed at being forgotten "Oh, right, and Chopper."
"So, you're a Jedi." Saw said skeptically, "We do our best."
"Never thought I'd meet another Jedi, much less two." Saw said, his voice was like the sound a tree would make when cracking "The galaxy is full of surprises." Kanan said, greeting him.
"Including what's happening here on Geonosis."
"You've found something?" Rex asked Saw, who turned to notice the Militia who had stayed in the back, Commander Wrargafir and Ahkilleon approached, Ahkilleon removed his helmet for a proper introduction, "Seems like you did too, who are they?" he asked.
Ahkilleon stepped forward, Saw eyed his lightsabers on his chest "My name is Ahkilleon Tano, we're the Militia."
Saw nodded and side stepped so he was standing his side facing them, blaster arm hidden "Tano eh, I know that name."
"I know you do sir, she was on Onderon with you, my mother."
Saw looked him up and down "You don't look much like a togruta?"
"I'm only half, my father was human." Ahkilleon replied his green eyes meeting Saw's who started to see a familiar face, "That so-" ""I am Commander Wrargafir of the Militia, Maverick fleet under the command of General Steela Gererra."
The connection vanished "What did you saw?" Saw asked.
THE SURFACE
The Storm
Up on the surface, the Militia were still working on establishing an outpost in the Temple, out in the sands Sabine and Zeb were walking through the storm. Breacher's men had hammered blinking beacons from the Temple to the Ghost so they could walk to and from "How's it going out there?" hera asked from the Ghost cockpit.
Sabine groaned under her helmet, "This storm is gonna seriously damage my paint job."
"I meant with the mission." Hera rolled her eyes.
"We're closing in on the power source, it's just up ahead."
Zeb was wearing a gas mask, and grumbled "Whatever it is, it's big."
"How do you know that?"
Zeb pointed up to a large mound ahead of them outlined in the sand storm "Look."
"Oh, I don't believe it." Sabine said looking at a gigantic shield generator half buried in the sand "Spectre-5, what do you see?" Hera asked from the ship.
"Hera, it's a shield generator."
Hera looked out into the storm "Did you say "shield generator"?"
Sabine looked it over with her flashlight dust flakes passing by her visor "Oh, yeah. Military grade, looks like it's fully operational, this is what's responsible for those power readings."
"Can you extract the deflector core?"
"Hold on." Lt. Breacher said over the coms, "If it's working, then then someones been working on it, we got to have some Geo's around here?"
Hera heard him, "You think if we extract it'll they'll take it as a threat?" she asked.
"What would you do if I came into your ship and stole that trashcan you call Chopper?" Breacher asked.
UNDERGROUND
"A shield generator?" Rex asked, and Saw gave him a stern nod "Separatist model. About as old as you, Rex." Saw had filled them in on what Sabine and Zeb had found on the surface, all the while Commander Wrargafir's men were setting up lights around the tunnels and keeping defensive positions in case of another ambush.
"But someone's kept it operational, been maintaining it." Saw said to them, Ezra then asked Battle droids?"
"These old clankers? Not a chance, technology's too sophisticated." Rex chuckled, kicking one that made Wrargafir snarl at him. "Besides, by the look of 'em, someone's been repairing them too."
"Well, we were following something, that's how we wound up in this trap." Ezra stated, Ahkilleon kept eyeing Saw's blaster, he also noticed down the hallway the Maverick Captain glancing back, "It was a bug, had to be, he got my unit using the same tactics. I was the only survivor."
"Yeah, the more I hear, the more I don't like this. We should go back and report to Hera." Kanan said, still cautious.
Ahkilleon tapped his helmet under his arm, "If this whole place is boobytrapped, we should return to the Temple, Lt. Breachers should have communication up and running soon. We can sweep the tunnels as we go." Ahkilleon said.
"Back? No. Wait- you can't, that bug is the key to finding out what's going on here. Don't you understand what's at stake? We know the Empire wiped out the entire population of this planet. We need to find out why the Empire is hiding something, something important, and that bug knows what it is." Saw argued.
Commander Wrargafir let out all on series of roars and chuffs it took a moment for his translator to catch up, "I agree in part, but if there is a Geonosian here, it was defending itself, this is it's world one or not, the Militia's mission is to establish contact with them and a base. To recruit them into the Militia."
Saw cocked a brow at the Wookiee, "What my sisters orders?" he asked.
"It is." Wrargafir's translator chuffed, in it's robotic voice. Saw's sharp eyes softened and he turned to Rex, "Is it trie, Steela… my sister, she's alive?"
Rex smiled and patted him on the arm "I saw her myself, more than that you're an uncle, a niece named Sawyer."
"Is that right?" he said softly, he rubbed his hand on his face as if he were thinking, no he was wiping his eyes, crying?
Ezra broke the silence "He's right. I say we help Saw."
"Hmm. I second that." Rex replied.
Wrargafir barked out "My orders are to return with the General's brother to the ship, we've found him we should go."
"I disagree, Commander." Ahkilleo nsaid "There had to be a reason for the sterilization of the Geonosians, and with what we know now we have the advantage of Saw's knowledge." Ahkilleon said.
The wookiee looked to his Captain who just glanced back, and if Ahkilleon hadn't been looking for it, he wouldn't have noticed the two taps the Captain gave on her E-7 rifle, a signal of some kind. She wasn't who she appeared to be.
"Okay, we can stay and search for the bug, but we have to warn the others above about the droids first." Wrargafir grunted.
Ahkilleon nodded "Khast, Hoozer returned to the surface and alert the others, if you see any droids try not to shoot."
"What, they're droids?" Saw objected, "We fight alongside droids, they can always be allies." Wrargafir told Saw who glared at the wookiee.
Saw scoffed at that "Droids, all they do is kill and destroy."
"What about medical droids, astro droids that fly ships, stars even the computers in our ships are part droid?" Ahkilleon asked him.
Saw glowered at him "I didn't ask you."
"Regardless, we need to find a way to contact Hera, so they know we found you Saw." Kanan said clearing the tension in the room.
Looking on Kanan Saw "I can help you with that, this way. I've been able to map a fair amount of these tunnels." Saw led them down another tunnel and some wind ruffled Ezra's exposed hair "There's a breeze."
They came to a large sinkhole, not just large, it was colossus sinking down down and down into the darkness before rising up to the surface with a hole in the top showing the brown sky "Whoa. Watch your step, Master Jedi." Saw said to Ezra who smiled at the term Master.
"It's a long way down." Ezra said looking down.
"Whoa. I tracked the bug to this shaft, but it severed the bridge, so I've never been able to get across." Saw explained.
"How far down does it go?" He asked.
Saw looked into the darkness calmly "Down, I don't know. But it goes all the way up to the surface."
"That's why you feel the air, so... We can contact our ship." Ezra said, putting it together.
"Exactly." Saw replied smiling, showing he proved himself to the rebels and Rex, he glanced at Ahkilleon and that stern look tried to figure out what about him was familiar.
Kanan held up his comlink and walked to the edge to reach out to the Ghost on the surface "Spectre-1 to Ghost. Do you copy?" Spectre-2, come in?"
"Spectre-1, I read you." Hera replied, Kanan sighed in relief "Where have you been, Kanan? What's going on?" Hera asked him.
"We found Saw Gerrera, but his team is gone." Kanan said.
"Gone? Hera, listen to me. There are operational battle droids here, some patrol the surface, better keep an eye out." Kanan warned them.
Lt. Breacher heard it too and he ran over a nearby crate they'd brought in to help set up the relay station, he took out a round datapad looking device with two short antenna on it. "Sabine and Zeb found a shield generato, they're out there extracting the deflector core."
"You have to warn them, Gerrera says once the storm dies down, the droids will be coming."
"Along with the entire Maverick fleet, this whole desert could turn into a warzone."
Outside the ship, the storm was lifting and Zeb removed his gas mask to breathe the dry air "Looks like the storm's letting up." They heard Hera speak over their comms, as Sabine continued to remove the core.
"Spectre-4, Spectre-5. Get back to the Ghost immediately."
"Affirmative, Spectre-2, we've got the deflector core, and we're-" "Leave it if you have to. There are battle droids in the area. I don't know how many."
Zeb cocked a brow looking around the area, with sand and stone plateaus rising around them "Battle droids? I don't see any battle droids. I just saw a bunch of rocks."
"I'm not sure those are rocks…." Sabine looked closer to the mounds of dirt Zeb was looking at and it wasn't stone that was poking out of the sand, but chassis. "Destroyers." Sabine gasped.
"Oh, no." Hera whispered under her breath, all while Lt. Breacher was running out of the Temple muttering "Stupid, stupid, stupid rebels, yeah let's mess with the fifteen year old military machine and nothing wrong will hapen…. Ugh how did the Commander survive these idiots."
Zeb took out his borifle and got read y"We'll make short work of these tin cans."
"No, there's too many, Zeb. If you blast one, you'll wake them all up." Hera told them from her cockpit where she watched the two of them out in the distance.
Sabine stood by the disconnected core and said "Okay, what about the Ghost cannons?"
"No good, the sandstorm's clogged up the barrels." Here replied.
Thinking up a plan Zeb noticed how spread out the droidakas were "They're spread out enough. I guess we can just sneak past them on foot."
"No, we can't just leave the deflector core." Sabine argued, Zeb turned her her snapping "Are you crazy? Like Hera said, if we bump into one of those things, they'll all wake up."
Sabine argued in favor of the core "Okay, okay. So we'll take our time and we'll go carefully."
Zeb glanced at the sleeping droids uneasy "Are you sure it's not too big to make it through?"
"Hey, you made it through….Good point." Zeb said as he started to push the core, which was roughly the size of three zebs and a long metal tube that floated on it's own with anti gravity generators inside it, as they started to push. Breacher came over the hill out of breath, he took his helmet off "Put… the Core… back." he said holding his hands up, just the none of the droidekas started to wake up.
Down in the tunnels, Hera's voice echoed "All right, boys. I'm calling it, get back to the surface before these battle droids or anything else wakes up." Kanan sighed in relief, Ezra held up his comlink to reply "Copy that, Hera."
"Now wait a minute, we're not going anywhere." Saw objected.
"We need to go help our friends." Ezra responded confident it was the right move, "You want to help your friends?" Saw asked "Then find out who's controlling those droids."
Kanan suddenly felt they were being watched, Ahkilleon felt it also "Ezra, far side of the chasm, directly across from us. Do you see anything?" Kanan asked, "Chopper, light it up." Chopper turned on his spotlight and they looked across the chasm to see standing in the hole where the other side of the bridge would be was a small gangly creature with large round eyes a long face and brown leathery skin, a real life Geonosian.
"There! Look! I knew it!" Saw shouted pointing at it.
Wrargafir held his hairy arm up "Hold your fire."
"Still ugly." Rex said as the Geonosian said something in it's own dialect and held up a small device "What's it holding?" it pressed the button and back on the service, the droidekas all woke up.
"Hera, the droids are waking up!" Sabine shouted, Breacher slapped his helmeted forehead, "Kanan, we've got a problem, the droids have been activated." Hera's frantic words shot up everyone's spine and Saw snapped "The bug did it."
"Would all of you SHUT UP!" Breacher said holding up the datapad and pressing a button, the armed Droidekas all fidgeted, and went limp for a half second before lowering their blaster arms.
Hera looked out to see the droidekas in standby mode as Breacher walked through them, "If you wanted a deflector core, we could get you one Captain, a modern one." Lt. Breacher spat as he walked by the droids holding the strange datapad.
"Um… what just happened?" Zeb asked looking at the droidekas, they were still activated but not attacking, "You really think we'd use droids if we didn't know how to control them?" Breacher said.
"Hera, is everything alright." Kanan asked, "Yeah, Lt. Breacher he- I'm not sure what he did, but the droids aren't attacking?"
Down in the tunnel edge, both Wrargafir and his Captain at the same time said "Puppetmaster."
"Puppet what?" Ezra asked, the Maverick Captain answered, "We've raided a lot of Separatist storehouses, weapon depots and most of them had droids still on security. Lord Hood built Puppetmasters, it's a device that syncs up with our droids to control them. All B series droids rely on the same binary command code as their foundation, Puppetmastersx can seize that with a flick of a button." the Captain said under her helmet.
"Then why didn't we use it when the droids first attacked us?" Ezra asked them, "Because we use it as a last resort, droids are equal to the Mavericks." the Captain said.
Saw grumbled "It's getting away!" Saw shouted pointing at the bug. "We're not leaving without that bug, we need to know what the Empire was doing."
"And if there are any other survivors." Wrargafir's translator said.
Kanan got ready to make a move "Ezra, I'm sending you over there on three." Ezra backed up and got a running start at the edge before he was launched by Kanan across the chasm and onto the other side. Ahkilleon used the force to launch himself and then latched onto the other side with the force pulling him to where Ezra landed following him into the darkness.
"Chopper, go with him." Kanan said, the droid activated it's small rocket booster and soared over the gap.
"Even with your help, I can't jump that far." Saw said to Kanan "I've got a better idea."
Kanan looked up to one of the bridges above them and used the force to tear it off it's sides, then hover it down to the lower depths, his arms shook but he held onto the rock just long enough for Rex, Saw, Wrargafir and his men to run across.
Kanan dropped the bridge letting it smash into the lower bridges below, taking off other ones, by the time everyone was across Saw asked "What about Kanan?"
And with that Kanan used the force to take one giant leap across the chasm and ran into the cave "Come on, we gotta get moving."
"I always forget they can do that." Saw said remembering his time with Jedi "Yeah, but he's no Skywalker."
Kanan called out Rex's comment "I heard that."
Back on the surface, Sabine and Zeb were observing the droidekas, "Don't seem so tough now do you?" Zeb snickered as he poked one, Breacher was recalibarting their programming and updating their software with the Puppetmaster, "Alright, there are few more droids over the ridges that were on patrol, but got caught in the storm. But with these droids up and running we can monitor if there anymore. Now put the core back."
"Why?" Sabine asked Breacher.
The Lt. groaned under his helmet "Because that is a planetary shield Generator."
"Right, and we need one." Sabine said looking at it, "We can get you one, now PUT-IT-BACK!" He barked.
"Oh yeah?" Zeb asked, not one for being bossed around by anyone who wasn't Kanan or Hera, put his hands on his hips, "You and and what army?"
Breacher dropped his arms before he held one up pointing to the sky, and they looked to the sky to see the Maverick fleet was sending down mark two landing crafts of dark navy blue to the surface, with frigates laid in with cargo to build their new base, "Oh yeah, that army?"
Down below Ezra and Ahkilleon were running briskly after the Geonsian, "Down here. I think. Chopper, any sign of him?" Ezra asked the droid who squawked with no idea.
Ezra turned to Ahkilleon, "Saw doesn't seem to like you very much?"
"Your doing this now?" Ahkilleon asked, "What, you brought it up earlier?"
Ahkilleon groaned "Fine, back in the clone wars when my father was a spy he occupied Onderon, the General and her daughter's homeworld during the clone wars, a blood civil war happened. Sawyer's father died in the final battle and my father marooned her mother on a planet while she was pregnant, Saw went missing."
Ezra gaped at him "And you're telling me this now?"
"It wasn't important."
"Oh yes it is." Ezra snapped "You forgot to mention that family history that uh ruined another family?"
Ahkilleon took his helmet off "I told you, I know my father wasn't perfect, no one is. You think Kanan's idea of Jedi were perfect, they weren't, the war that started here is what caused the Geonsians their entire world?" Ahkilleon asked.
Just as they started to argue, the Geonsian they were tracking got curious and was looking down over them in a hole above, "What does that have to do with this?" Ezra asked.
"Because, it's above us Ezra, this whole thing that we're all here for is 'Above' our heads." Ahkilleon said two things at once, Ezra got it and used the force to leap into the hole and grab the Geonsian who was screaming and chattering in its own language before Ezra shoved it down.
Just then Saw and the other came running in, Saw grabbed the Geonsian and smashed him into the nearby wall holding his forearm as its neck blaster pointed at him "It's over. That's right, we got you, and now you're gonna tell us what's been going on here. What were you building for the Empire?"
The Geonsian chittered in terror, "He doesn't speak basic?"
"That's fine, I have ways of making them understand." Saw growled.
"Hold on, Commander." Ahkilleon turned to the wookiee, "Does your translator speak Geonosian?" he asked.
Ahkileon said walking forward "He's a bug, he killed my unit he-" "Stand down Saw." a voice said from behind, the rebels and Saw looked back to see the Maverick Captain removed her helmet to reveal, Steela in disguise. "That's an order from your General."