I'm aware that this chapter is two months due. Sorry about that. Stuff came up, and I ended up stretching this one past the 10,000 word mark to keep from further dividing the plot into more and more chapters. I was hoping to get it in Friday the 15th to coincide with Last Jedi, but like always, stuff came up. The Nerf-herders in my life are really demanding.
Anyway, enjoy the well overdue chapter. Sorry for the delay.
Ferb groaned and woke up to the fact that, for the second time today, he was hanging upside down by his ankles. Though at least he could say that this prison seemed to be a little more formal than the old Clone Trooper staging center that had served as Kan Be's smuggling den. For example, he was chained with modern electrocuffs rather than crude metal.
He also appeared to be floating within a small force-field. When he tried to move a little, Ferb found that the field restricted his locomotion to nil.
An Imperial Army Trooper was standing sentry against a wall, though a series of snores suggested that beneath the darkened visor and plastoid helmet, the trooper was asleep. A sensor pad stuck to Ferb's temple ran down the length of the chamber and connected to a beeping monitor on the other side of the room. A technician sat typing into a console. He paused every twenty seconds to check something on the monitor.
Ferb took a moment to silently curse himself for his stupidity. Of course there was no threat of knockout gas in the ventilation tubes! Darthensmirtz wasn't that clever-he would only lead a direct assault into the smuggler's den. The only aspect of the battle that came remotely close to strategy was the stormtroopers deployed on the upper catwalks! There was no need to not follow AZI-3!
Ferb felt a rush of anger directed at himself. To stop whatever Force-supplemented tantrum might occur, Ferb took a minute to meditate-a trick he had taught himself during his imprisonment when it seemed the only option was to scream in fury for hours on end. It had worked then, and it worked now. Ferb breathed, and he was able to relax.
He then tried to use the Force to knock over a test tube, to distract the technician and possibly gain a look at whatever was on the monitor he was watching so intensely. Ferb had no idea if this would serve any advantage, but it might give him an idea as to what was going on here.
He reached out, relaxed some more, and….nothing. No Force at all. He was completely cut off. Ferb looked at the electrocuffs again and realized that they might be Force-dampening. He recalled during his imprisonment that two of the Stormtrooper guards in his cell block often discussed the rumors about Darthensmirtz's latest side project, and around three months prior, or had been modified electrocuffs with the ability to 'lock off' someone's connection to the Force. Star's End. The Sith Bastard must've succeeded!
A door opened, and the Army Trooper jerked to attention. Several beings entered, and Ferb shut his eyes in an attempt to pass off as someone who was still unconscious. Perhaps he could learn something.
He felt twelve presences enter the room. Several of them were heatedly arguing with each other.
"I'm telling you, Heinz, keeping him alive is a security risk. He literally disarmed one of my Inquisitors, and speared the other one. Both of them are in critical condition right now, in your doctor's Intensive-Care unit." Diminutive's shrill voice rang out above the others.
Someone coughed. "We had to move the Twentieth Sister into immediate surgery." It was Doctor Tanmi. "The condition of her heart began to destabilize."
"See, Diminutive?" Darthensmirtz cut in. "Your Inquisitors are weak. What'd you bring, a couple of trainees?"
"Yes, actually."
"What? You're kidding."
"And I thought Mas Amedda was kidding when he said that a Sith Lord named Heinz Doofenshmirtz had the resources of an entire planetary garrison at his disposal, not to mention the Force, and was failing to capture one single kid!"
"To be fair, at the time I submitted the request, I was having trouble finding him. I only started having trouble dealing with him a few hours before you showed up."
"That doesn't excuse it!"
"Sir." Yaami's voice cut in. "Colonel Crefet wants to know what you want done with the crime lord Kan Be and any other captured criminals. Several of them have outstanding warrants for arrest here in Tipoca City."
"Kan Be can be dealt with later!" Diminutive snapped. "For now, we need to focus on the boy. Every second he breathes, he is a risk! You, Long-Neck!" this last part was directed at Doctor Tanmi. Ferb could feel a spike of anger from the evil Doctor towards Darth Diminutive over the derogatory term. "Wake him up."
"I would happily comply, Lord Diminutive." Tanmi replied, speaking slowly. It was almost as if he was checking each word for anything that would betray his anger. "However, any sort of stimulant designed to take Fletcher back into the world of the living is not necessary. He is awake, and has heard every word we've said since our group walked through the door."
"Guess my ruse is up, then." Ferb said drily. He opened his eyes, and took in the scene around him.
Doctor Tanmi was standing next to the console, with a stance that suggested he was attempting to confer with the technician, but was being prevented by his own need to fully explain what was happening. Darthensmirtz and Diminutive were each half-facing Ferb, and half-facing each other. They were only kept apart by Lieutenant Yaami and the Shadow Trooper, who were each holding their respective bosses back. Another Kaminoan was also present. A badge on his right chest pocket denoted his rank as Lieutenant Colonel. Ferb guessed that he was there as a representative of Colonel Crefet and the Tipoca City Security Militia.
Two of the Death Troopers were also present, as were two stormtroopers, and two of the….platypus clones.
Ferb had to admit it was a little disconcerting to stare into the face, er, faces of his childhood friend, and see nothing. No emotion, no twinge of that platypus sarcasm or irritation Perry frequently displayed. Not even the 'don't do much' expression he displayed even more often. Just...hollow, emptiness, and a twinge of red, likely from the Sith cybernetics Darthensmirtz installed to foster obedience in them. Disgusting.
"Do you like them?" Darthensmirtz asked, much like a parent trying to subtly gain approval from other parents over their children's latest accomplishments in the never-ending nuclear arms race of toddlers. "Latest out of the growth pods. Fastest in agility, quickest combat reflexes, and have demonstrated the best problem-solving skills of any platypuses produced here."
"Platypi." Diminutive said.
"What?"
"The plural of platypus. It's platypi."
"Oh, not this again!" Darthensmirtz moaned. "I'm telling anyone who doubts me, the plural is platypuses!"
"Okay, okay, we get it." Ferb snapped, surprised at the sudden irritating nature of something that would usually be somewhat amusing; Darthensmirtz humiliating himself. "Let's just say there's more than one platypus, and they're all very, very, very sodding good at being living weapons."
"The child's right!" Diminutive said. "We're wasting time. And we all have questions we need answered."
Ferb snorted "Yeah, like 'Who the hell are you?' and 'What were those things I faced in that hallway? and 'How is the one I stabbed still alive?'"
"My name is Darth Diminutive, boy, and you should fear me. You should also fear my Inquisitors, whom you faced."
Ferb snorted a second time. "Uh….yeah. Those guys were really hard to defeat. It was a huge challenge to dispose of them."
Diminutive continued, ignoring the remark. "As for the Twentieth Sister, she inserted herself into a Dark Side trance. She barely clung to life. She will recover"
"I just heard she was moved into surgery." Ferb retorted.
"And she will survive." Tanmi said. "My team is working on her. She has a better-than-average chance." Ferb suddenly remembered, as the effects of the knockout drugs and the adrenaline rush from the battle began to wear off, that right before he escaped from Kan Be's pseudo-prison, Tanmi had been there. And, it seemed, he had been going behind Darthensmirtz's back to negotiate over Ferb. For Ferb. Like he was a slave, just an object to be used up and traded around.
That moment was when Ferb began to truly hate slavery. Like most on Tatooine, Ferb just tried not to think about the practice. It was a "keep your head down, and you'll keep your head" thing, really. Ferb did not like slavery, no, but he did not let himself act on it. But then, when to be treated like one himself, to be so powerless, truly jarred Ferb. Though he did not know it, it would affect his actions for the rest of his life.
Tanmi was continuing to talk. "...and though some of my surgeons are unfamiliar with Cerean physiology, I have no doubt that she will…."
"What were you doing down there?" Ferb interrupted. Everyone looked back at him. Confusion from multiple sources spiked through the Force.
"I...beg your pardon?" the Doctor asked.
"You heard me. What were you doing down there, in Kan Be's storeroom?" Ferb repeated. "You were there talking to him right before this idiot" here he jerked his head in the direction of Darthensmirtz. "showed up with his goons. What the hell were you doing there?" Several sets of eyes turned to Tanmi.
The Doctor gave a theatrical sigh, as if being accused of something close to treason was no more than a minor annoyance. "The child is suffering from trauma sustained during combat. Likely, he is confusing me with another Kaminoan who was present there. If we want to keep him stable, we need to sedate him."
"I saw you there." Ferb said.
"You did not".
"Liar." Ferb spat.
"I'm sorry you see it that way." Tanmi said drily. He began to work at a medical table.
"You were negotiating with Kan Be over me!"
"He is clearly trying to sow discord among our ranks." Yaami commented.
"Clearly." echoed Diminutive.
"Indeed." said Darthensmirtz. "Doctor, when will the sedative be ready?"
"It's ready now." Tanmi said, turning to the main group again. He was holding a syringe. "Here." he tossed it to Darthensmirtz.
"Thanks." the Sith said, catching it with the Force.
"Don't mention it." the Kaminoan doctor said. Those words caught Ferb's attention; "Don't mention it." He had heard them before, in exactly that voice, that tone, dripping with that amount of apathy. It wasn't a common phrase nowadays, but Ferb's limited knowledge of archaic slang reminded him that it had been used roughly a decade prior to the Clone Wars. "Don't mention it."
He turned them over in his head again and again as Darthensmirtz jammed the inoculation device into Ferb's beck. "Don't mention it." The syringe emptied itself of the sedative. "Don't mention it." Ferb began to black out.
"Don't mention it."
"Come along." Candace muttered, dragging Commodore Brittho through the airlock tube. The officer protested, but Candace ignored her cries.
After the remaining Imperial ships had jumped to hyperspace, the Freedom had entered the Armengoltiax Cluster and docked with the shipyard. It had unloaded several hundred rebel mechanics and combat engineers who were now working to hastily repair the partly dismantled Clone Wars ships.
The first priorities were the hyperdrive and atmospheric systems. Then the shields, weapons, scanners, communications, and finally tractor beams. They knew they had little time before more Imperial ships arrived; the remaining rebel ships from the Freedom's flotilla were standing guard. Their numbers had been bolstered by the arrival of a winged MC80-type Mon Calamari Starcruiser and two more CR90s, which were positioned just nicely at the mouth of the corridor to allow almost nothing through.
The 3,000-something crew of the Freedom was doing their best to pitch in as well. Most of them were helping to load the Star Destroyer with weapons and ground vehicles. In front of her, she recognized some familiar faces: her old boss the Ithorian engineer from the Tantive V, and Besser, the Twi'Lek gunner from the assault on Grange. They were together carrying a crate of stormtrooper blasters stolen from the station's armory. Behind her, Buford, Baljeet, and the ex-Imperial crewman who defected were each carrying a crate of power couplings salvaged from a components storage room in the facility's factory block. More rebels pushed anti-grav carts with stolen battle droids or com antennas.
Outside the transparent walls of the docking tube, Candace could see a flurry of activity as various rebel shuttles and freighters ferried cargo and personnel between the station and the Freedom. She spotted the Centennial Chihuahua towing a small, sub-light cargo barge towards the Freedom. The older barge was filled with a dozen AT-RTs, and two IG Hailfire droids, each vehicle fastened to the barge with a magnetic clamp.
She gritted her teeth. After the battle had ended, and the Freedom had entered the Armengoltiax Cluster, Isabella had landed her Y-Wing in the rebel star destroyer's hangar, and flown her squat, rounded freighter over to the station. Candace had been there, and witnessed another reunion between her brother and his lover. She hadn't stuck around to see them board the Chihuahua, and had instead spent a good ten minutes firing her blaster in a rage in a side chamber.
After that, she had returned to the control room, where Cassian had promptly ordered her to escort Brittho to the Freedom's brig. Candace tried to insist that another soldier could do this, but was ignored by the spy. The Commodore, for her part, tried to escape not at all, and gave Candace little resistance.
They were met at the other side of the tube by Major Hologram, and the security squadron of battle droids. The handoff was uneventful, and Candace strolled back through the docking tube. She paused in the middle, however, to gaze out into the cluster and to watch the flurry of activity.
The Tantive V, the only other rebel ship actually in the cluster itself, orbited a twin-bridged Venator-class Star Destroyer docked with the station. The small CR90 seemed to be there to supply the two hundred rebel engineers working both inside the ship and out with materials for the repairs. Several stolen Imperial shipbuilding pods were assisting in the action, while several more were busy attaching external hyperspace engine boosters to several Pelta-class frigates and a CIS Providence-class cruiser. Clearly, hyperdrives were first on the removal list as far as the Empire was concerned.
Several Rebel shuttles, of the Taylander model, were in the process of landing at the station and being loaded with supplies and arms. As Candace watched one waiting to land, she saw a trio of Separatist Maxillipede shuttles exit the hangar.
A couple more ships, two CIS Munificent-class star frigates that had likely been slated for dismantling later down the schedule (and therefore required less work on the part of the rebels), were already being towed out of their berths and being loaded up with cargo to be transported to Alliance bases.
Candace wondered why so many ships were still intact. Official Imperial reports stated that "all warships and cruisers of the defeated Confederacy of Independent systems and any affiliated remnants were either completely dismantled or destroyed by five years after the conclusion of the Clone Wars''. Then again, those were notoriously unreliable. It was likely that the Confederate warships, droids and weapons were left over from an isolated holdout that had gone unnoticed until relatively recently. Her time serving aboard the Devastator had exposed her to rumors of things like that happening. The Republic warships, on the other hand, were almost certainly just decommissioned older warships from the Imperial Navy sent here after being retired.
Her com buzzed. She answered it.
"Sergeant," It was Draven.
"Sir."
"Your presence is required in the command center."
"On my way."
Darthensmirtz was doing his best to throw a party to celebrate his victory in capturing Ferb.
The Concierge working for him had contacted some of the Kamino system's best caterers and had them transported through the military cordon around the city to Darthensmirtz's lair. N0RM-3P0 had been temporarily converted into a stereo. Lieutenant Yaami had been the one to rebuild him, being all too eager to remove the droid's ability to speak and move, if only for a few hours.
Most of the upper echelons of the Kaminoan politburo were present, mingling among Darthensmirtz's staff and the geneticists, cybernetics experts, and medical professionals employed in the production of the platypus commandos.
Darthensmirtz himself was conferring with Colonel Crefet and a Kaminoan Junior Minister over the planet's military presence and the possibility of building a military station in orbit, while Yaami used the party as an opportunity to unwind.
Darth Diminutive was also there, along with his bodyguard and the Thirteenth Brother, the latter of whom now had a skeletal android prosthetic arm where his flesh-and-blood one had been.
Later Darthensmirtz would justify that he had the right to celebrate. That he had just captured a dangerous individual, at minimal risk to either the platypus program and the Death Star II project.
And that he had no idea what was going to happen next.
Dr. Tanmi excused himself from the party under the pretense of fatigue. Darthensmirtz barely noticed, though both Yaami and Crefet looked suspicious.
They would have to be removed from the equation before too long.
Tanmi took a public shuttle from the Sith Lord's lair over closer to the main city. He exited the speeder, and after submitting his ID to a Kaminoan security officer and a KX-Series Security droid manning a checkpoint station, was allowed to continue on. He strolled through Tipoca City's sterile hallway, being cleaned up from several riots over the lockdowns. A pair of cleaning droids vacuumed up cracked glass from a destroyed storefront. An Ishi Tib merchant and his planetside partner, a Kaminoan shopowner, were conferring with a pair of officers of the Tipoca City Security Militia. A Brittaro citizen haggled with a native street vendor over the price of meliroon fruit. A patrol of four Imperial riot troopers, armed with stun batons, passed by.
Tanmi distanced himself from the guards; it wouldn't do to get noticed.
He entered a maintenance elevator in a deserted side corridor, and went down.
He exited into a small corridor empty save a small worker droid being down repairing a conduit. The sound of sparks was all there was to be heard, with the exception of a steady 'drip-drip' from a leaking pipe. After going around a corner and down a set of stairs, Tanmi found what he was looking for: a small, grungy, doorway, marked in what was a mixture of Galactic Aurebesh and an old Kaminoan dialect "Ladder-leads DOWN".
He grimaced at the grime. Tanmi had spent the first half-century of his long life on Kamino, and had not left until the Clone Wars began. Reaching into his pockets, he produced a key, and unlocked the door. He slipped inside, locked the door behind him, and clambered down.
And no one was any the wiser.
Ozzel gulped. "How long?"
Captain Piett re-checked the scanners. "Half a day."
"And you're completely sure there's no way around or through it?"
"A Carrack-class light cruiser has already been lost trying. The electric storm is estimated several hundred kilometers in length. I have dispatched scout ships to confirm this."
Ozzel scowled. "Lord Vader will not be pleased."
"No, sir."
An idea struck Ozzel. "Better not to bother him with an easily solved problem. Try to plot a course through the storm."
Piett frowned. "Admiral, are you sure that's a good idea?" he protested.
"Of course!" Ozzel said. "Those rebel cowards are probably contentedly lying behind those electric star-clouds, thinking they have time before we arrive. Well they don't! Full speed!"
Piett gulped. "Full speed." he relayed quietly. "Full speed through the storm."
"Centennial Chihuahua, this is docking control. Please proceed to docking section twelve."
"Roger, control." Phineas said.
"Section twelve...section twelve.." Isabella muttered, drumming her fingers impatiently on her ship's drive-stick.
"It's between docking sections eleven and thir-" Phineas began helpfully. Isabella cut him off.
"I know where it is!" she snapped. Immediately she regretted the harsh tone. Phineas' eyes dropped their gaze, and he returned to working at his engineering console. Isabella felt like she owed him an apology, but was not very good at those. Instead she chose to clear the air with a change of topic.
"You mentioned a while ago you wanted to put in a request for an astromech?" she asked calmly, as though there was no awkwardness in the air.
"Uh, yeah." Phineas replied, slightly quieter than he usually would be when talking about droids or another aspect of mechanics. "A model with a good mechanical build and high data-processing speed. Something like that."
"Did you want to request one from one of the rebel droid pools, or maybe find one ourselves? I have a contact in the Five Points system who co-runs a droid dealership. He owes me a favor, and we could probably get one at a discount or…"
"Whatever you want." he said coldly. The tension was evident, even to his largely emotionally distant smuggler girlfriend. Isabella decided to try something else.
"Have you ever thought about your long-term commitments? To the Rebels, I mean?" Isabella asked. It was an innocent enough question she supposed, but she didn't try to deny that there was an ulterior motive behind it, seeing whom he preferred; her or his sister.
"I haven't really thought about it."he replied, his tone easing a little. "I guess I thought I'd maybe stay with you, but if for some reason you have to leave the Alliance, I might stay here."
Those last three words speared Isabella's heart. She struggled not to act impulsively and space him out the airlock in anger. "Uh-huh." she nodded, forcing an easy tone.
"I mean, there's doing right thing and all," he continued, "and besides, my sister seems to want to stay, and in the middle of a war, who knows how much time anyone has left? I wanna be near her in case…," his voice cracked for a second. "...in case something happens, so I know, and she knows, that we made up for all that time we lost when she was with the Empire." he stopped.
"I see." Isabella said coldly.
"Is...that a problem?" he said slowly.
"Not at all." she replied cooly. "Not. At. All."
The cabin remained silent for the rest of the flight.
"Where are they?" Candace asked.
"Ten light-years from the nebula." Draven answered.
They were standing in the station's control center, the bridge of the old Trade Federation core ship, standing around a command table. A hologram of a star chart, with the position map of the station, nebula and an encroaching imperial fleet were marked. Around it stood Dodonna, Candace, Leia, Cassian, K2-S0, and Bohdi, who clearly felt out of place. Han was lounging on a technician's chair a few meters back, Chewbacca standing behind him. General Draven appeared via hologram, and Luke was not present. Apparently, the ex-slaves of the Empire viewed him as a stabilizing influence, and refused to trust anyone else.
"What's holding them back?" she continued.
"An electric storm, several kilometers wide." the hologram-Draven said. "We're lucky we caught this; some probes of ours deployed prior to the fleet's arrival picked up sensor echoes from the destroyers. The droids have been able to plot a course around the storm for our transports and ships, but it seems the Empire is determined to press through. One of our droids has sent us telemetry of the scorched wreckage of an Imperial cruiser, recently abandoned after being forced through the nebula."
"How many ships are there?" asked Cassian. He, Bohdi, and K2 had arrived at the same time Candace had and knew just as much-or little, rather-as she did.
"We don't know." Dodonna said. "Which is why we need you three. We want you to take that freighter, S8-8…?" he trailed off, not remembering the Imperial designation.
"S8-8117." Liea said helpfully.
"S8-8117," Dodonna continued "and scout around in the storm. Major Hologram's division will send you the basic map we have from the probe droids.
Candace looked at the others two Dodonna had pointed at-Bohdi and K2. The defector, and the reprogrammed Imperial droid. Fun.
"Understood." she said.
"Do I have to go with her?" K2-SO said suddenly, reminding Candace of which droid she was going to be spending close quarters with. "There are several more bearable soldiers we-"
"That's enough, Kay." Cassian said. Clearly, he was not sure his 'pet droid' was up to the task of operations without his ever-constant watch. Candace had to admit she agreed.
"So it will just be the three of us, then?" she asked. "Gozanti cruisers can be crewed by as few as two pilots, but for a scouting mission through an electrical storm, I think we'll need more than three crew."
"You'll have General Syndulla's astromech, and your partners."
Candace scowled. The disgruntled droid C1-0P, or "Chopper", looked like he'd rather happily shove them all out the airlock than actually help them. And although she dealt with Buford and Baljeet on a daily basis, spending time with them in an enclosed ship on a covert scouting mission was not her definition of fun.
"What about AP-5?" this time it was Bohdi's turn to ask a question. His seemed to be regarding the protocol droid that had accompanied Chopper.
"AP-5's specialty is logistics." Leia said. "He is staying behind to help us with assessing the damage to the various half-dismantled warships."
"I thought I was going to help with that." K2 pouted.
"You did." Cassian said. The droid seemed to accept that. Candace, K2, and Bohdi all turned to leave.
"One more thing, Sergeant." Leia said. Bohdi and K2 paused. Candace turned around. "The Alliance, as a whole, rarely stands on protocol. I just remembered, however, that we cannot allow someone below the rank of Lieutenant to command a ship."
Candace fought the urge to curse. So close to her own mission! So close! Damn regulations! Damn procedure! Damn-
"So congratulations, Lieutenant Flynn. You understand how important this assignment is. Do not fail us."
Candace could barely suppress her smile. "Yes ma'am….!"
"Don't mention it."
When he blacked out, Ferb had strangely enough remained conscious. And he had used that time to think.
The Force was telling him to think, to focus on those words. Telling him to focus on Dr. Tanmi.
He remembered all those months ago in Anchorhead, the mysterious voice who had tipped him off as to his parent's location. Was that individual Doctor Tanmi?
The Force seemed to sing. Ferb guessed this meant he was right. So Tanmi was the one who directed him to Mos Espa.
Had Tanmi already been working for Darthensmirtz then? But the Sith Lord and the Kaminoan geneticist seemed not to know each other when Darthensmirtz has arrived on Kamino.
There was strong evidence to support the theory that Tanmi was operating on behalf of his own agenda. For starters, his denial of his appearance at Kan Be's storeroom. That proved something was being perpetrated behind Darthensmirtz's back.
Secondly, the vision he experienced when he touched the lightsaber. Most of it seemed to follow that Togruta Jedi through her life, but the brief appearances of Tanmi provided an interesting glance into the geneticist's scheming.
First, when that Kaminoan control room was attacked during what looked like a Clone Wars battle, Tanmi was the only being other than the Jedi who seemed not to feel fear.
And then, when the Togruta was murdered during what appeared to be the Jedi Purge-Old Ben Kenobi had told Phineas and Ferb about that subject back on Tatooine during their weekly "Jedi Lessons", as Phineas referred to them-Tanmi had stolen her lightsaber, and then left it to sit beneath Tipoca City for the better part of the next twenty years. It was not even remotely protected, having just sat there in that box.
Ferb's unconscious mind consciously moved to think about the box itself. There was nothing remarkable about it, really. It was a small, metal box inlaid with engravings of…what was carved into the box, anyway? Could it be part of the key to discerning Tanmi's motive? Ferb relaxed, and let himself drift back to the moment.
He was standing in the storage room. The box was sitting there. He picked it up. It was made of doonium. It was a waste of the valuable construction ore, he remembered thinking then. A small imprint on the upper corner of the lid identified the mine the metal was taken from was on Handooine.
The flashback shifted as Ferb opened the box. The interior was inlaid with greel-wood, and carved with designs of…..nothing. The box was a dead end.
Ferb would've grunted in frustration if he were awake. As it was, he just let the moment fade. So the box was a dead end. So what?
But still, there was what Darthensmirtz had said. What was it? That the lightsaber had been missing since Order 66? Clearly, Tanmi's game remained undetected.
But what was the game? Was Ferb a pawn of Tanmi or the opponent? Was Darthensmirtz the opponent, or a pawn too? Was the Empire and the Sith the opponent? Or the rebels? What was left of the Jedi? Or the Force itself?
And was it just Kamino that was the playing board? Or was it the whole sector? Maybe the whole of the Empire?
The entire Galaxy?
S8-8117, despite not being as high on the priority list as the bigger capital ships, had still received an extensive re-buffing, updated with enhanced shields, improved targeting array, a torpedo tube, and long-range com. Strangely enough, the engineer responsible for these upgrades was….Phineas?
Candace did a double take. Was her brother actually away from that girlfriend of his? It couldn't be. Her eyes scanned the hangar, looking
"An impressive amount of work for a small, old cargo ship." K2 remarked. Candace . "Especially given the priority placed by command on those warships slated for-"
"I get it." Candace snapped. "My new ship shouldn't be made better."
"Glad we're on the same page for once." the droid said.
"Lieutenant Flynn." a voice said. Candace looked over. A green Twi'lek walked over to them, followed by AP-5 and Chopper.
"General Syndulla." Candace said. "I am told your droids performed admirably under fire."
Syndulla looked back at AP-5, then down at Chopper.
"They did?" she asked. "I see." Chopper grunted furiously, waving the little arms attached to his dome around in a series of exaggerated, dramatic motions.
"I'll bet you did." the Twi'lek remarked sarcastically. The droid waved around an arm in lieu of an eye roll, and grunted once.
"Chopper says-" AP-5 began.
"Yeah, I got it." Candace interrupted. "I'm pretty sure that gesture is universal."
"Anyway, Command told me to remind you not to engage with the enemy if you spot them inside the storm. The moment you spot anything, radio back on channel seven and ."
"Understood," Candace said. "Is there anything else? I find it strange that you would be sent just to tell me that."
The general looked at her droid again. "I..just wanted to check with Chopper one more time." The short astromech looked back up at her. "If he gives you any trouble, just remind him he could be replaced with a newer model any time. Quiets him right down." Chopper started grunting angrily, and spun his square-like orange dome around. Syndulla kicked the droid. It responded by giving a final, indignant grunt before turning towards S8-8117.
"Just ignore him if he complains." Syndulla continued. "He's a good droid, but his priorities get a bit muddled sometimes."
Candace thought about Buford and Baljeet. She smiled. "I can handle muddled priorities, General."
Syndulla smiled. "Good. Now your ship is waiting for you. Go. Lead your mission, Lieutenant."
Candace gave a crisp salute at the General as the Twi'lek walked away. Bohdi came up behind her.
"Who was that?'' the cargo pilot asked.
"General Hera Syndulla. She's been with the rebellion since the days before the Alliance. Started out on some backwater Outer Rim planet called Lothal. And from now on, it's Lieutenant, Ensign. We're both ex-Imperial. We know the meaning of our badges more than most."
"Yes sir-uh, Ma'am."
Candace ignored the stuttering cargo pilot, and stalked over to S8-8117's loading elevator. Right now, the platform was lowered below the ship, and K2-S0 and AP-5 were attempting to load it with supplies necessary for their mission.
However, due to their logistical programming, each droid thought that they should be in charge, and the other should be loading. Right now, AP-5 appeared to have gotten K2 to load, though it seemed the security droid was about to protest. Chopper was watching them, and occasionally grunted something in binary that the they seemed to find offensive. Before K2 could force the lifting back onto AP-5, though, General Syndulla called for the protocol droid to follow her. With a parting remark about K2's lack of efficiency, AP-5 followed the Twi'lek officer.
Candace ignored K2's barked parting retort, and walked towards her brother. She checked the hangar, and after confirming the Centennial Chihuahua was in the middle of a supply transfer between the station and the Freedom. She grinned a tad sinisterly. Perfect.
Phineas was no longer upgrading Candace's new ship. He had repaired the Gozanti-cruiser's shields, both increased the range, and lowered the drain on the power cells of the turret, and enhanced the communications array before General Syndulla told him to start working on fixing a pair of OOM Pilot battle droids.
It was easy enough. The joints were hardly damaged, and required minimal grease to get running again. The blue-marked droids were both standing soon, and Phineas had a datapad wired to each robot's central processor.
The programming was even easier. For the most part, Battle droids relied signals from control ships in orbit or arrays at nearby bases. The OOM models were more advanced, and had basic independent thought, but still lacked too much programming versatility. Security protocols designed against infiltration were practically nonexistent, and inserting the rebel programming was easy enough. However, segregating the combat and function programs from one another was proving harder than the young engineer had thought.
And what else was proving harder than he thought? Keeping Isabella happy. What the heck was her problem? His girlfriend could be icy sometimes but today she had seemed extra….off.
"Death..D-eath to Jedi Dogs...fzt!" one tried to say, before sparking. It fell over, the cord falling with it and yanking the datapad out of Phineas' hands.
"Star's End." the boy swore as he began to focus again on the world around him. He started to step off the crate he was standing on.
"I got it." someone said. Phineas looked up and was politely surprised to see it was Candace. His sister lifted the droid back into position, and handed him his datapad. "What' the droids for?"
"Extra crew for your mission." he replied. "Technical help, navigation, the like. Congratulations on the promotion, by the way."
"You heard? It just happened fifteen minutes ago."
"It ran through the entire tech pool in half that time. You know Ensign Skrizz, the Mirlanian from Anoat? He was on duty in the control room when you received your assignment. He mentioned it to Palthorn, who…"
"There's an engineer gossip network. I get it." Candace remarked. "How soon until the droids are ready?"
"Should be just a few more minutes." the boy replied. "Minor coding difficulties, but there's nothing too major."
"Where's Isabella?" Candace asked.
"In her ship. She's…..busy at the moment. The message on the engineer datanet said someone was needed to repair two droids and a Gozanti cruiser. I volunteered."
That word. Busy. Phineas regretted the way he said it. It implied...things. Things that were better left unsaid.
Candace accepted this with no more than a shrug. "Alright." she said.
Phones relaxed. Candace didn't notice. She wasn't going to worry about him losing his girlfriend.
"Alright." she said. Candace managed to keep a straight face. Her natural military discipline-a coping mechanism she developed in response to Tatooine's barren, anarchistic environment-helped with this, as did her strict Imperial Academy training.
And inside she analyzed. She would turn this latest development to her advantage in the little private war between her and Isabella. And she would use it to win back her brother.
"Have you jeopardized our projects, Heinz?"
Even through a hologram, Krennic's scowl was clear. The impromptu celebration was still going on in Darthensmirtz's lair, but he Sith Lord himself and Lieutenant Yaami were presently enduring a reprimand from the military Director.
"The boy is back in custody, Krennic." Darthensmirtz said. "He poses no threat."
"I do not understand why you continue to keep him." the Director folded his arms. "He is a flight risk."
"The Emperor has plans for him. He is strong with the Force." Darthensmirtz repeated the message given to him six months prior by a red-robed Sentinel Droid. The droid-one of many robotic personal messengers of Lord Sidious-arrived discreetly on Kamino one day and, after incapacitating two stormtroopers, overloading NORM-3P0's circuitry, and locking Lieutenant Yaami in a closet, relayed a message from Palpatine to Darthensmirtz in his office. Heinz still remembered the encounter clearly.
Six months ago
"The boy, Lord Darthensmirtz." the holographic face of the Emperor spoke. The glass screen replaced any distinctive facial features the droid might have. "Your report states he is the same one your barley approved 'Sith-Inator' accidentally converted to the dark side."
"You can confirm for the Emperor as much." Heinz had replied. Despite Sidious' likeness being present on the machine's face-screen, the Emperor himself was not actually communicating with Darthensmirtz. Sentinel droids were simply programmed to look, and in some rumored cases, act like the Emperor. Manufactured in a secret ISB base on Vetine, they were rumored to play a role in a secret contingency plan in the event of the Emperor's death "I...can show you to him."
"That will not be necessary." the droid replied. "You are simply reminded that the Emperor's ability to tap into the Force exceeds all others in the known galaxy. Any attempt to use the boy for your one ends-"
"I would not dare." Darthensmirtz said. The droid had cocked its head and glided over to him. The face of the Emperor disappeared ad left a blank screen, which Darthensmirtz privately found more menacing.
"Let us hope so." the droid replied in a hollow, robotic, voice. It was the first time it had come close to referring to itself. "You are to train the boy subtly, without him realizing it. Do not let him escape."
"I will do as the Emperor commanders." Darthensmirtz said. His eyebrows raised when he realized his mistake. "I-I meant commands." he said, chuckling nervously. "I will do as the Emperor commands. Not commanders. You see, I mixed up there, and-"
"You verbal mistake is noted." the droid responded. "You will be contacted again if Lord Sidious wishes to inspect the boy personally. The Emperor has plans for him. He is strong with the Force."
The droid left as covertly as it had arrived. For awhile, Darthensmirtz paced silently until Dr. Tanmi politely knocked on the open door and informed him Yaami believed the slicer team attempting to open the door was moving too slow and was now demanding someone send for Darthensmirtz to cut the door open.
"Where the Emperor leads, I will follow." Krennic said. "But I will caution you to up the ante on security for the boy."
"Lord Diminutive is in charge of security. Any lapses that allow Ferb to escape fall in his lap, not mine."
Krennic sighed. "Are you letting personal politics get in the way of your job? Heinz, the Empire lets politics get in the way of everything military about it. It is inefficient, and-"
"Oh boy." Darthensmirtz whispered to Yaami. "This lecture is gonna be a long one."
"Yes, sir." his loyal aide responded quietly. Privately, Yaami hoped to learn from the Director's monologue. He was devoted to ensuring Darthensmirtz's success, and using the system against itself was one of many tools that could be deployed in this regard. And learning from Krennic, known for climbing the ladder by setting Empire against Empire, was a sure path to Heinz's job security.
"-have seen many a good officer has been relegated to a forgotten starbase or patrol cruiser because of a petty political disagreement between officers light years above him in rank. If sentiment does not destroy the Empire, than perhaps it will be politics, Heinz."
"And will we be there to see that destroy our Empire too? Because our schedule on that date is already booked for the incident where sentiment will, very interestingly I might add, also destroy-"
"You have made your point, Lord Darthensmirtz." For a moment, Krennic seemed intent on saying more regarding politics, but let the matter drop.
"I expect better from you Heinz." he said. "Do not fail me. Please." the transmission winked out,
"He will not escape." Darthensmirtz repeated to empty air. He turned to his aide. "He is secure, correct?"
Yaami typed something on his datapad. A live holo-stream of Ferb's specially reinforced cell appeared on the screen. Ferb remained unconscious and floating in the force-field.
"What is the security complement around the cell?"
Yaami pulled up a list. "Two shock troopers stand guard immediately outside the bay. An Army Trooper is inside the cell itself."
"Are we sure Imperial Shock Troopers can hold the boy?" Darthensmirtz asked. "I seem to remember Colonel Crefet's after-action report saying that Ferb was able to dispose of his Shock Troopers quickly during the gunship battle."
"Crefet said that Ferb killed them by throwing them out the side of the ship. I don't think he will provide a challenge to them in a hallway."
"True enough. What else?"
Yaami continued reading off the list. "Twelve Stormtroopers and a trio of Imperial Sentry droids stand guard throughout the specialized cell block. Two Phase-II Dark Troopers stand right inside the door to the control room, which is defended by the standard stormtrooper squadron present in a normal cell block."
"He will not escape." Darthensmirtz repeated. "We will go make sure of it ourselves. Have Crefet prepare a platoon."
Ferb came to suddenly, for the third time that day. The special holding chamber was exactly as he remembered it.
Except the force-dampening cuffs had stopped working. The lighting on the bands looked darker. Ferb could...Feel again.
"He's awake." the technician said. The Army Trooper nodded and muttered something along the lines of 'Tell the Sith, not me'. Ferb ignored them.
He closed his eyes and reached out with the Force. He concentrated, and….a latch switched. The force-field dropped, and Ferb fell to the ground. His shoulder screamed in pain and he hissed. Apparently at some point between encountering the probe droid in the air duct and being captured by the Inquisitors he had injured his shoulder blade. Likely, it was either from twisting to avoid the explosion he caused in Kan Be's hideout, or during his brawl with Colonel Crefet in the gunship.
Or from the impact when he crashed the gunship in the hangar. Or when he fought the Perry clones in the air duct. Or when he was dueling the Inquisitors and Darthensmirtz. Or when….
Ferb frowned. Was his life nothing more than long periods of dull inaction separated by intense, violent times of excitement that always left him with scars, both physical and emotional?
"Hey, stop!" the Army Trooper shouted. Alarms began to blare. The lights flashed red. "Stop!" he repeated. Ferb turned and summoned the man's blaster with the Force. He stunned the trooper as the man turned to flee. With the blaster still smoking Ferb was forced to duck when the technician started firing a small pistol.
He shot back, and the man fell stunned to the ground. Ferb switched the setting to 'kill' and shot a blast at the security holo-cam. The recording device sparked as it fell off the ceiling.
In a brief but admittedly pointless display of rage, Ferb used the Force to crumble the camera's remains.
Setting the blaster to 'kill', Ferb turned towards the door. Whoever or whatever was on the other side was likely already aware of his escape due to the alarm and about to storm inside the cell. He sensed through the Force he was correct, and ducked behind an overturned desk for cover.
For easy felt like an hour (though in reality it was twenty seconds), it seemed nothing would happen. Then the alarm was replaced by a loud screeching that filled the air for half a minute. As the alarm returned to the usual blaring klaxon, the door hissed open. Two red-armored Stormtroopers-Shock Troopers, Crefet had called them-stepped through. Their heavy blasters swept the room for a few moments, and Ferb curled up into as tight a ball as possible. Finally, they stopped
"Think it's dead?" one asked.
"Just to be sure…." blaster fire sprayed the room again. Ferb made a face. Naturally, his 'luck' gave him a pair of thorough Stormtroopers. Shock Troopers. Whatever.
They finally stopped. Rifles clicked as they swapped power cylinders. Ferb seized the opportunity and leapt up. He fired off several rounds. One Shock Trooper screamed as he was hit. The other retreated back into the doorway. Ferb allowed himself the briefest of smiles.
And then followed after.
Leia's rarely used office aboard the Freedom, though spacious and luxurious, did not have a locking door, unlike the one aboard the Tantive V. Sure, it could lock down in an emergency, but that always set off alarms in the ship's security center and it switched the lighting in the office to the emergence red. So that was a no-go.
And as a result, her door did not lock.
She had attempted to get an engineering crew to fix it, but both General Dodonna and the Freedom's captain were adamant that the talents of the mechanics and technicians they had available on 'personal privilege'. She definitely could've done it herself, but rarely had time to, between missions and diplomatic summits with various independent resistance cells or governments-in-exile to convince them to join the Alliance. And he few moments she did have in her office were often occupied by arguing with a certain infuriating smuggler.
As such, Liea had been forced to rely on the only other option at her disposal; her personal security detail.
Liea's repeated attempts the get them to modify her door to lock always something like this:
would declare the assignment beneath her and delegate it to Buford and Baljeet.
2. Baljeet would attempt to understand the mechanism behind the door, but get frustrated by the inefficient overall design of the room. He would then lock himself in an empty cargo bay for two days trying to redesign the office, leaving only….
3. ...Buford. Who, with a worryingly poor understanding of the concept of how a door worked, would invite Liea to the mess hall to discuss the door, but then avoid the topic until after they were done eating and depart under false pretenses, leaving Leia with the bill.
The Princess had actually set aside time to do it herself a month ago, but then the campaign in the Grange system happened, and they jumped right into Operation: Retrieve.
So, due to a mess of contributing factors, the door to the rarely-used secondary office of Princess Leia aboard the Freedom did not have lock. And she was forced to endure Han Solo's complaints.
"Why'd you send Flynn our in that Gozanti? The Falcon is the fastest ship in the fleet. If anyone should be scouting through that storm, it should be me. I have done a dozen smuggling runs through storms just like it, and…."
She pinched the bridge of her nose, and tried to tune him out.
"...and the pirates tired following me in, but their ships crashed after a minute. It was beautiful, really, until I realized that I was still in the storm, and…."
No such luck.
"I chose someone who has proven herself again and again dependable, capable, and self-reliant. Candace has demonstrated an ability to think on the fly on multiple occasions-"
"I can think on the fly!" Han interrupted.
"I'm sure the electrical storm will accept your usual blather about a reactor leak." Leia retorted. Han snorted and turned to leave rather than actually think about a reply.
"If you must know, Han, I need you to stay behind because inevitably the Imperial fleet will confront us as we escape. And that patched-together scrap heap you call a ship, as much as I hate to admit it, can actually hold its own in a fight. We need it here."
Han snorted again. "You're just wanting to keep me close."
Leia fought to keep her face from flushing. "Believe whatever you like. Just get the hell out of my office."
"Gladly."
"Our scout ships might have found a passage through the storm, Admiral Ozzel."
"Is it safe?"
"For the smaller cruisers. Scanners also indicate the storm will disperse in roughly four to six hours."
"Very good. Begin moving our smaller ships, but hold back the Star Destroyers until I deem the action safe."
"Yes sir. Shall I inform Lord Vader now that you have a solution?"
"...Yes, Captain. Go ahead."
"So remind me…" Buford said. "Why we takin' this junk cruiser out again?"
"Candace?" Baljeet said. "I believe it is your turn, is it not?"
Candace sighed. Buford had been told four times already about their mission.
"There's an electrical storm a few kilos from the nebula. Rebel scout droids are detecting Imperial ships trying to move through it, and we're supposed to asses the threat."
"That seems dangerous."
"It is." K2-SO said, entering the bridge behind the trio of humans. "I would tell you the probability of our survival, but the recently-promoted Lieutenant Flynn has asked me not to tell anyone else that it is seventy-two to four against. Something along the lines of 'preventing low morale'."
Candace considered reminding the droid that no one had directly ordered her to keep him intact and functioning, but decided against it.
"We're done loading supplies, by the way." K2 reminded her. "You can leave now."
"Are those droids onboard?"
"...No." the droid responded. Candace swore the sentient machine sounded sheepish. "But, but they are just useless B1 Battle Droid units. I made a decision, and I hope you will respect it. I did sort of think hard about it." But Candace was already out of the cockpit.
She walked down the central corridor at a brisk pace. Candace was almost to the main cargo bay when she passed Bohdi headed the other way.
"Ah, Sir!" he said. "Lieutenant? Ma'am? What do I call you again...Ma'am?"
"Lieutenant will be fine, thank you. Was there a question you wished to ask Ensign?"
"Well, yes." Candace gave an impatient 'Go on' gesture.
"Who is….that tiny triangle-headed boy standing outside and how is he such an engineering savant?"
Candace relaxed a little. So that was what he was curious about. "My brother." She answered, forcing a casual tone. "As for his mechanical skill, you're asking the wrong sentient."
"Thank you...Lieutenant." the cargo pilot said. He saluted, turned and continued walking. Candace got the impression that he was not able to entirely accept the fact that his new superior was only two-thirds his age. She shrugged. If it became a problem, she'd deal with it then.
She reached the cargo bay. A dozen-and-a-half supply crates of moderate size were stacked around the bay. A couple sets of stolen stormtrooper armor (probably meant to be used for disguises when they landed) lay next to the holo-table rebel technicians had installed during the crew and supply transfers between S8-8117 and the Taylander Shuttle. Star's End, was it really only four hours ago? It felt like a lifetime had passed since they first captured the Imperial freighter.
Candace stepped onto the boarding platform, and waited as it automatically lowered itself down. Phineas and the droids were standing outside. And it wasn't just the trio of blue-painted, confused looking OOM Pilot Battle Droids out there. K2-S0 apparently had locked Chopper out too. Whether or not the security droid had intentionally meant for the C1 astromech to join the 'Useless old B1 Battle Droid units' Candace couldn't say.
But Chopper was mad. And, surprisingly, so was Phineas. At the very least, the young teenager was mildly annoyed.
"Candace!" he said. "What-what happened? I was all ready to hand off the droids and then your ship just started shutting on me! General Syndulla's astromech is out here too! What-"
"It was K2." she explained. At his confused expression, she elaborated. "That reprogrammed security droid who is partnered with Captain Andor. He didn't want the other droids on the ship, I guess, and tried to get rid of them in his own fashion."
Phineas seemed to accept that explanation, and handed over an older, pre-Imperial data pad explaining how to deal with the droids if they malfunctioned. The trio of battle droids and Chopper moved to join Candace on the platform.
"Goodbye." she said. "Get those ships ready."
Her brother nodded in return as the loading platform retracted back up into the Gozanti-cruiser. "May the Force be with you."
She wasn't sure how to reply to that.
"Bohdi." she said into her com the moment the hatch was sealed. "I got them."
"Copy that, Lieutenant." he replied. "Control has given us clearance to take off. Commencing liftoff procedure now. You might want to strap yourself into a crash couch or something."
"I'll make it to the bridge, Ensign. Thank you." The ship lurched a little as it took off, and Candace grabbed a railing to steady herself. Behind her, she heard the Battle Droids make nasally screams as they tripped. Chopper, who had likely locked his legs down with a magnet-clamp, chuckled in his usual binary grunts.
And so begins the maiden voyage of S8-8117 under the command of Lieutenant Candace Flynn. she thought. By the Force, I hope it's the last.
Cutting through the stormtroopers in the cellblock hallway, Ferb found himself wishing for tougher opponents.
He had felled the second Shock Trooper with one shot, and stolen the heavy blaster. He was now firing at the stormtroopers with no restraint.
And he was enjoying it. A soldier stood up, and Ferb shot him with the smaller rifle taken from the Army Trooper.
The door at the end of the corridor opened, and a trio of hulking sentry droids, exactly like the defective one that served as Kan Be's guard dog, stepped through.
Ferb dived behind a bulkhead. He took a moment to breathe, to block the panic before it enveloped him.
He had barely finished that sentry droid when there was only one. And he had his lightsaber. And it was malfunctioning too.
Now? All he had was a half-charged heavy blaster, and a single small-scale rifle. What good would that do?
He momentarily moved up again and fired. The energy bolts scorched the shell of an Imperial Sentry Droid. He ducked back down.
The stolen blaster rifle was running low on charge too. Ferb nearly slammed the small weapon into the ground in anger. He breathed on and out, calling on the Force to soothe his anger. The Force! He had that to use against the Imperials! After giving himself a moment to plan out what he would do, he launched himself back out from behind the bulkhead with a primal roar and began firing the heavy blaster.
A shot hit the knee joint of one of the droids. It fell to the floor, groaning, and exposed several of the Stormtroopers behind it. Ferb grinned. This was the moment he had been waiting for.
He shoved with the Force. The droids and stormtroopers buckled and fell. Ferb calmly walked through the chaos, shooting any trooper that tried to stand up.
He regretted being so….brutal. It was necessary, yes, but still….it seemed like something Darthensmirtz would do.
Well, not him. Perhaps Darth Diminutive and the Inquisitors. Darthensmirtz would probably fall down with them by mistake.
Ferb had no time to continue his mental deliberation as the door at the end of the hallway opened, and two...giant droids stepped through.
A stormtrooper shouted something about 'Phase II Dark Troopers' and cheered. Ferb guessed that was the name of the droid model. It was imposing. Heavily armed too, and very armored.
Ferb laughed and shoved them back with the Force. They hardly moved. Ferb frowned, and tried again. The remaining stormtroopers stumbled, but the droids held fast.
Blast! They had magna-clamps!
Ferb ducked back behind a bulkhead to give himself time to assess the situation. With the Togruta's-well, perhaps now his-lightsaber he could've jumped over them, and cleaved them both with one swing.
But he didn't have the lightsaber. And those droids were closing in. For the fourth time that day, Ferb slipped into a flashback.
He was standing next to Phineas in front of Blatto back on Tatooine. The Toydarian was cleaning a labor droid arm while talking with the boys.
"You kids were lucky, not growing up during the Clone Wars." Blatto said.
"The chaos and all that, right?" Phineas asked. "That's what you're referring to?"
Blatto shrugged, an odd action for the Toydarian. It displaced his wings temporarily, causing his hover to drop a little. "That, and the droids! The Battle Droids used by the Separatist militia were simply abhorrent to watch fight! Droid connoisseurus like us got nightmares watching them try and perform basic combat functions!" His expression softened a bit momentarily. "Though no droid's perfect. Every combat droid has a weak spot, I suppose. The B1s just had too many."
Every combat droid has a weak spot. Ferb grinned as an idea began to take shape in his mind.
He said a silent, tongue-in-cheek prayer to the nonexistent god of dangerous stunts, and rolled out from behind the bulkhead. He fired wildly with both the short-range rifle and heavy blaster as he leapt over the droids. Some of the bolts hit the remaining few Stormtroopers. Most hit the Dark Troopers. Right in the back of the neck.
The droids sparked and fell to the ground. Ferb smirked, and walked through the door.
A few stormtroopers were clustered in the cell block control room, crouching behind any cover they could find. Blaster fire covered the room the moment Ferb walked in. Ferb dispatched the guards easily.
As he paused to catch his breath, Ferb felt the kyber crystal in his lightsaber calling him. He looked at the other doors leading out of the prison control room. One was marked 'refresher'. The next was open, and seemingly led into another cell block. The third was marked 'exit'. The fourth was unmarked and scratched, but the Force seemed to be….centered, for lack of a better word, around it.
Ferb shrugged and walked over. He waved his hand, and the Force ripped it open. Then he whirled away from the opening. Just as expected, greenish-hued blaster bolts shot out.
He darted in the door, keeping himself as close to the wall as possible.
The room was set up in a laboratory style, with what appeared to be an elaborate device monitoring his lightsaber. It was not damaged, which came as a relief to Ferb. However, the machine was focused on the Jedi weapon in a dozen different ways.
Three holo-cameras were focused on the and a sensor wire was monitoring it among other quickly dispatched the three stormtroopers standing around and summoned his weapon with the Force. After switching the weapon on and off to check that it worked and grabbing his wrench (which happened to be sitting on a nearby table) Ferb turned to leave.
He could feel that door directly across from him in the control room was the one that lead out of the cell block. He jumped over the control panel, slicing through it with his lightsaber as he did, and walks out the door.
And out of the frying pan, right into the fire one could say.
The small rubber ball bounced off the bulkhead and, instead of returning to Isabella's hand, hit her face. She rubbed the bruise, and threw the ball again. This time, it bounced off the bulkhead and ricocheted out of the cockpit and back towards the cargo bay. She sighed and got up to fetch it.
Her ship felt empty. Very empty.
She paused in her ship's central corridor. It was peppered with scorch marks and dents acquired over the years. Some predated her...borrowing of the ship.
The dent when a prototype therapy droid had escaped from Phineas' lab and rammed itself into the wall repeatedly in what appeared to be an attempted suicide. According to Phineas, it had spent so much time listening to people's problems it was convinced all existence was useless.
The scorch mark from that sleemo Trandoshan gunslinger who had hired her to smuggle nerf pelts to Dandoran, and then turned around and then tried to steal her ship. It ended well though. Isabella gained a new nerf pelt bedsheet, and hey, one less gunslinger in the galaxy.
The stain that had been there since she had the ship. It still unnerved her.
She sighed and turned back into the cockpit. She dropped into the pilot's chair-due to her height, she had one that was specially fitted for Chadra-Fan, Lurmen, and other short species-and flipped out her com. She scrolled through her contact list, and clicked on Phineas. It auto-dialed.
The com rung for half a minute, and went to voicemail.
"Hey, uh you've reached Ensign Phineas Flynn. I'm probably fixing a hyperdrive or weapons array while my girlfriend is getting shot at alongside a bunch of people the Empire calls war criminals. Leave a message at the beep, and I'll call you back if I'm still alive."
"Hey, it's me. Just….call me back when you get a chance, okay?"
The lightsaber was gone. This, at least, was in accordance with Doctor Tanmi's plan.
He had secretly hoped that Ferb would be killed fighting his way out of Kan Be's hideout. Naturally, this was against the agenda, but being stuck on the same planet as that child unnerved Tanmi.
And he had snuck into the Jedi Temple in the immediate aftermath of Operation: Knightfall. That would give any normal sentient nightmares for a standard month.
But Tanmi was not normal. And neither was the child.
His powers were growing, and he could likely put everything to ruin. It was a necessary risk though.
Tanmi turned, and walked away from the lightsaber's former resting place. His mind pondered recent events.
With Ferb back in custody, some plans were hindered. With Yaami still alive, nothing could proceed as quickly as the elderly geneticist would've liked. And with Kan Be now in custody, there was a risk the mobster would snitch. Which meant all plans were now On Hold Indefinitely. First things first though, the boy needed to be freed.
Tanmi was now at a back entrance to Kan Be's storeroom hideout. This was the same one Ferb had encountered the malfunctioning sentry droid at.
The scraplike remains of that very droid were still there, actually. A couple of commando droids stood around it, and Kan Be's Gotal henchman was waiting.
"Lord Tanmi." the alien said.
"This is how you found the droid?" Tanmi asked. True to character, he ignored the greeting.
"Yes. The boy was standing over there-" the Gotal pointed. "-talking to some droid."
This piqued Tanmi's interest. "What droid?
"Clone Wars-era surgery droid model. Slightly modified, but-"
"Did you capture it?"
"Yes. I9-7, the blasted sentient scrap pile, shot it with a stun blast. Droid dropped right to the floor."
"And the boy?"
"I9 nabbed him with an electro-net. I swear, that metal bastard chose that just to annoy me. The net's ionic frequencies messed with my one good horn."
"Perhaps if you had devoted more time to not offending that droid, you would still have both of your horns."
"And then what? Would I have gotten to enjoy a headache on both sides of my head? Besides, it's not like I have to worry about I9 ever again. That droid was destroyed by the boy when he escaped."
"Fair point. Continue, please. What happened afterwards?"
"We brought the boy back. When he woke up, he exchanged insults with the boss, and then you showed up right as the child escaped. You left, he knocked us all out, and next thing we know, we're fighting the Empire."
If Tanmi had eyebrows, he would've raised one. "I see. Do you know how he knocked you all out?"
"It definitely wasn't an EMP blast. My good horn would still be screaming if it was. Nor could it have been some sort of massive stun shot. His blaster gave way right before it happened. I remember him throwing it at me."
"So the Force then. Thank you, Geezic. Wait at the rendezvous, and I will forge identification to get you off-world. I must hurry now."
As soon as he finished, he turned and snapped his long fingers. On cue, the commando droids moved to follow.
Important events were afoot, and Tanmi was not one to sit idly by.
The stun blast caught Luke unaware. He fell unconsciously fell to the floor, and was not aware of being dragged into a secondary corridor by two stormtroopers and an assassin droid. Not aware of being placed into a small hovering crate. Not aware of the bounty hunter in Mandalorian armor watching the whole thing.
"This is him?" one trooper asked.
"Yes." Boba Fett replied."Disarm him, and hand the weapons to me."
The troopers did so. Fett was handed a small blaster pistol, an Alliance short-range rifle, and a lightsaber.
"Wonder if the kid's figured out how to actually fight with this yet?" Fett asked. He ignited the weapon and swung it around. IG-88 ducked to avoid it, giving a monotone grunt of annoyance. "But I doubt it."
Fett switched it off.
"So...Lord Vader will be pleased if we bring this Jedi in?" one trooper ventured. "A promotion off of protecting this factory station?"
"Not much of a factory left to protect." Fett snorted. "But sure, Vader will be pleased. You can blindly follow orders all you want. Fulfill your unfulfilling career."
The troopers exchanged glances. After the Rebels had seized the station they had retreated into the depths of the factory, where they had encountered Fett and IG-88. Seeing no other options, they agreed to assist the two bounty hunters with apprehending what now appeared to be a Jedi.
"Hurry up." Fett grunted. "I patched into the rebel coms. Seems there's a pretty big Imperial fleet headed this way. I want to get the kid out of here before the fighting starts."
So we end on a sorry note, with Isabella and Phineas having relationship troubles, Tanmi manipulating in the background, Ferb facing who-knows-what outside of the prison block, Boba Fett in possession of Luke, the Imperial fleet en route to the Armengoltiax Cluster, and Krennic quite likely developing an aneurism due to Heinz's incompetence. As for people noticing Phineas' engineering abilities, I have an end point for that in mind. At least Candace gets a promotion and Ferb finally beings to connect the dots with Tanmi. And who wants to bet Ozzel's decision not to inform Vader turns out poorly?
I borrowed the Sentinel droid in Darthensmirtz's flashback from the Aftermath trilogy. They appeared as described here, and their purpose was to ferry posthumous orders from the Emperor regarding the Contingency-a secret plan to destroy the Empire in the event of Sidious' death. If you want more information on that, head to Wookiepedia.
Special thanks to Feralreality for your review last chapter.
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