The real reason why this outpost had the security it did suddenly became clear. This was no holding outpost. Entire lines of conveyor belts, moving parts for machines. Arms and parts working like a well oiled machine. But the parts being put onto the line; some looked like basic cannons and turret pipes, like the kind you see on starships. Hand-held blasters, detonators, any weapon of every kind.
And there it was, laying on a large repulsor lift platform, sealed inside an armor-plated container. The main power source, a large glowing crystal which was showing raw energy flowing from it's shell, through series of tubes and coils leading to machines on the conveyer belt.
This entire base was hiding a factory.
"This place, it's... a weapons factory," Derpy gasped. "And that's a Kyber crystal!"
"I'm sorry, a what?" Commander Bubbles asked.
"A Kyber crystal is the main power source for our lightsabers, otherwise this--" Derpy ignited her green blade. "--wouldn't be possible."
"Ahh... I see," Bubbles said, observing. "But why would it be here?"
"I don't know. But I believe Master Sparkle said that if they had fallen into Sith hands, they could be used to create deadly superweapons," Derpy shivered. "And I think they're making something incredibly big..."
"Well whatever they're making, we can't let them develop much more of it," Sandalwood said.
"But shouldn't we take it back?"
"Maybe," Derpy said, feeling a little anxious. "But how?"
"If they're developing weapons, I think we should blow this factory immediately," Mohawk suggested.
"Blowing up the base should be a last resort," Derpy said. The cross-eyed girl looked out into the open factory, while some of the clones just wondered if they were looking forwards or back at them. Until she had an idea. "Captain Planet, you said there are still more troopers held here, right?"
"Yes General," the captain nodded. "When General Sandalwood and I were making our final stand, only six of us remaining. Five us were clones, including myself."
"Then maybe we should go back and save them first before we blow this facility up," Derpy suggested.
"General, are you sure we should do that? I mean, we're just clones... we're made to be expendable," Tap said, frowning inside his helmet.
Derpy's face didn't change. "Not to me, you are. You're living breathing things, and we don't leave soldiers behind."
"So, what do we do then, General?" Commander Bubbles asked, putting his weapons away.
"Let's get to the hangar and make sure our ship is still here. We'll send out a signal letting the Alliance know of our progress and try and rescue the remaining troops," Derpy said. "If we're too late... then I suggest we get out of here and blow up this factory. I don't want these weapons to be unleashed on our soldiers."
"You're right, General, lets move boys," Bubbles ordered.
And off they ran again.
A set of doors slid open and the group walked through, finding the main hangar bay. It seemed pretty basic for a Storm Army hangar, some mortar shells stacked up nice and neatly, some cargo crates and containers sorted ready for loading and unloading. And even though they didn't see them, there were a few deactivated vulture droids hanging from the hangar ceiling ready to be deployed for their next mission.
And coming right through the open doors was the frieghter that Derpy had brought her troops in, opening it's landing gear and perching safely on the ground.
"Well, there's the freighter," Derpy said.
The hatch opened up and running down from the ship were the other three clone troopers; Knight, Ace, and Stinger. Weapons clutched carefully at their sides, with no scratches or injuries whatsoever.
"General," Knight saluted.
Derpy smiled. "Glad to see you three are still in one piece. Did anyone see you?"
"No General. We were well hidden, no clankers or Stormies anywhere in our vicinity," Knight answered.
The R4 unit that stayed with them, rolled out and replied with a series of beeps and boops.
"Well I'm glad you all weren't seen. We need to get moving, fast. This factory's holding something it shouldn't," Derpy said with great urgency.
As Derpy filled the remaining three troopers on everything that had happened to them, the clones kept their eyes up on their surroundings, looking for anyone nearby. They weren't taking any chances on the idea that they were alone, someone could be nearby and watching them.
Bolt looked up, confused under the helmet. "Um, General?" He pointed to the platform above.
Everyone looked up, to their surprise, there was Stretch. He stared at the group down below. Almost... menacingly.
"Oh, there you are. Stretch, where have you been, you've had us all worried!" Bubbles called.
No reply. The soldier in the suit just stared down at them, creepily all the while. Derpy felt her heart starting to pound, feeling a disturbance in the Force. Something wasn't right...
"Stretch!" Coil shouted.
Fuse was just as confused as everyone else. "Why isn't he talking?"
Stretch stared at them even more, cracking his neck softly. He raised his com-link up, and pressed the button. The doors that led to the factory slammed shut. Everyone looked back at the doors with some confused faces, until they looked right back up at Stretch. Out of nowhere, Stretch began to climb up onto the railing, and performed a backflip to the hangar floor, perfectly landing on his feet. Very... unnaturally.
Derpy shivered and quaked. "That's... not... Stretch."
The person in the trooper suit stared at them, and whipped out a weapon. A curved lightsaber which ignited in the hand, emitting a harsh, blood red.
"... Run."
Just then the hangar doors slammed shut, locking the freighter and everyone else inside. 'Stretch' slowly walked towards them, swinging the curved lightsaber around like a madman.
"Okay, I don't know who you are, but stand down!" Derpy shouted.
He didn't back off.
"I'm warning you, stand down!"
Still nothing. Realizing there was no chance, she ignited her lightsaber and got herself ready to fight. The clone trooper charged at her ready to swing and made the first slash against Derpy. Derpy, quickly thinking, moved her blade up and blocked his attack.
"What the heck is happening?" Bounce gasped, keeping his gun pointed towards the opponent.
"I don't know! But whoever he is, he's not Stretch!"
'Stretch' with quick thinking kicked Derpy in the stomach and kicked the lightsaber out of her hand, making it shut off and drop to the floor. Thinking with her wits, Derpy used a soft force punch which kept the clone a short distance from her, and while he took a moment to try and get back up, Derpy roundhouse kicked the helmet right off his head, letting it bounce on the ground with a soft clatter.
Using the Force again, Derpy got her lightsaber back in her hand, but her face fell in horror at who was underneath that helmet. One thing was right, it was no clone. But the one underneath... she had no idea who she was. A face of marigold, with orange poofy hair. A scar ran down her left eye, those magenta colored eyes. And the way she smirked, it had the look of flirtatiousness and evil mixed together.
"What the...?"
"Surprised?" She said with a chuckle. She got up on her feet, still chuckling. "For a Jedi, I would have thought you would have picked me out by now. You're either dense... or naive."
"Leave her alone, Sithee," Bubbles snarked, holding his pistols.
"What are you going to do, droidbait? Shoot me? You know there's no clones who have gotten close to taking down a single Sith," She said, swinging her lightsaber around.
"Hold on... who even are you?" Derpy asked, keeping her lightsaber gripped.
"Darth Dazzle... well, formerly Darth. I prefer if you just call me, Adagio Dazzle," She giggled, wiggling the clone armor off her sleeves and shoulders. "I came here for one thing and one thing only... I'll give you a hint. It's not your Jedi, or your precious battle plans..."
The two Jedi gasped.
"The Kyber Crystal..." They said in unison.
"Exactly. When I came here, that was my only goal. Lord Hydia believed I was becoming too powerful, and so she put some hitmen out on me. So I decided to take my chance and rebel... Only problem was getting past all of the Storm securities... that is until I sensed your presence, and soon, you and your clones. I must say, I was really appreciative that you all did the job for me. You took down the doors, all I had to do was take my chance... until I ran into this poor soldier," she said, holding the helmet and looking at the front of it. "He had no idea I was coming..."
"You killed him..." Derpy felt her breath being taken away.
"Oh, I did... but he gave me something else. With my chance to sneak around, I took it. You never even sensed it..."
Derpy felt her skin start crawl. She began shaking, scared. She dread the possibility of losing just a single trooper, and now she had already lost one on her first mission. It would have only been a matter of time before all of her troops would be annihilated!
"I wouldn't stand still if I were you. It'd certainly make an easy target for those battle droids," Adagio smirked, looking at the dashing battle droids running inside.
"Blast them!"
Snapping out of her panic, Derpy gripped her lightsaber and blocked a few of the shots.
"Stinger! There should be a spare lightsaber in the weapons storage! Bring it here, and get it to Master Sandalwood!" Derpy ordered. "Bounce, Tap, cover him!"
"Yes General!"
The clone ran back inside the ship, quickly avoiding all of the blasts from the incoming battle droids. Bounce and Tap stood near the hatch, and locked onto target, trying to hone in on the battle droids and take them down. The first one lost it's head, now all they had to do was shoot down the rest.
Bolt and Patch quickly joined in the action, providing extra cover for the two troopers.
"Looks like we're going to have our hands full with this one!" Bolt said.
"Not for long!" Knight yelled. He joined the battle holding a holofield shield. He had picked up that particular shield as a trophy from some commando droids who made him lose his last one. The shield also came with another perk, he could prod his weapon through without fear of being shot! Well, from the front that is. He would still need to keep an eye out from behind, he could be shot by anywhere regardless.
Ace finally came back out of the freighter and tossed the lightsaber over to Master Sandalwood. The Jedi turned on the blue weapon, and blocked a few lasers. But his eye turned to the main thread at hand; Adagio Dazzle who was still swinging.
"Mind giving me a hand?" Sandalwood asked.
"O-Oh! Uh, of course!" Derpy stammered.
The two Jedi stood ready and Adagio came at them, swinging. Sandalwood made the first block as Derpy slashed her lightsaber down, but Adagio did a quick maneuver and blocked.
"R4! Get the hangar doors open!" Derpy ordered.
The astromech beeped and made a scurry towards one of the accessible control panels. There was a few shots of laser fire that flew over his head, but he was successful in his dash. One of his tools opened up and he began searching through the power sources and controls. Had to be here, had to be here... got it!
The hangar doors slowly slid open, finally allowing the outside to peer back in again.
"Great job buddy!"
Adagio still swung, until she used a force push to slam Derpy against a wall until she slid back down. Master Sandalwood however stepped in and continued to keep Adagio busy.
"Come on you whiners, let's get dirty!" Stinger yelled from the freighter. And jumping into the air, the jetpack on his back activated and he soared right over the battle droids. He flew above them and gripped two pistols, firing with double the laser fire. A few of them caught on and started to shoot him back, but he flew out of the way just in time. And when their eyes were all on him...
"Okay, clankers!" Ace yelled. And the rest of his comrades ducked and moved as he whipped out a gatling gun. "SUCK LASER!!!"
He unleashed all of the pent up adrenaline inside, letting his gun go heavy on the battle droids. Clankers were dropping like flies, many of them only taking a single shot to be dismantled.
"Come on, lets cover him!"
Bolt and Bounce came up behind Ace, and added to the heavy fire. The two took out droids that were coming on the left and right. Shot, down! Shot, down!
Mix who was still wounded, found a place to take cover. But he still had ton of fight left in him! He pulled a pistol out, and began leaning side to side, shooting a few droids that were walking right past him for his brothers. A few of them were quick to catch on and they began to move towards his position until Mohawk stepped in with his rifle.
Captain Planet and Commander Bubbles hid behind a few crates, shooting at the battle droids who were emerging from other doorways and halls in the hangar. The two higher ups were working like a tag team, combating against each and every one!
The other green clone trooper kept firing nonstop at the onslaught of droids that kept coming his way, thankfully holding himself up for a good while. Until he turned around and gasped.
"What the!?"
Three laser shots were fired into the poor trooper who fell to the ground, now deceased. And a few heads turned and were in shock at who had fired the laser rounds. Three green clone troopers, just like the one that joined the group were the cause.
"What the!? Troopers, stand down!" Captain Planet ordered.
But the troops didn't stand down. And they turned their focus on their former captain, now firing at him!
"I see my backup has arrived," Adagio smirked. She slithered over to the three clones and her eyes glowed a menacing green. The red gem around her neck glowed as well, and she began... singing.
Ahhh, ahhh, ahh, ahh ahh...
Ahhh, ahhh, ahh, ahh ahh...
Ahhh, ahhh, ahh, ahh ahh...
Ahhh, ahhh, ahh, ahh ahh...
The three clones who had turned their weapons on the Sith Lord stood locked in place. But when Adagio's voice called to them, they were now focused on her and her alone.
"Troopers. Will you follow me?"
"Yes ma'am," The three said in unison, sounding the same as all their brothers.
"Excellent... come boys. We must get out of here," Adagio said, running towards the open hangar doors. But just before she left, she looked behind to the Jedi master one last time. "It's been fun, but I have much more important business to attend to. I think these three will serve me much better," Adagio smirked. "Ta-ta for now, Master Derpy."
She slowly began to fade away, her hips swaying side to side in an exaggerated manner. Until she stopped to look at her one more time.
"Oh and one more thing? Give the Galactic Alliance my regards. I hope for their sake they'll take down The Storm King... unless I kill him first."
And like specks in the wind... she was gone.
Commander Bubbles ran out into the open and jumped behind some cargo containers, taking cover. And close by was Derpy who was taking some cover as well.
"General, I think we're going to need to get out of here. General?" Bubbles asked.
Derpy was still trembling out of fear, breathing heavily and shakily.
"General, are you alright?" The commander asked.
"No... I'm not," Derpy said, breathing in between. "To tell you the truth Commander... I'm scared."
"Scared?"
"Yes, okay, I'm scared! I thought this was going to be a simple rescue mission, and then I found out all of... this! I wasn't ready for this," Derpy admitted.
"General, sometimes missions turn awry! I cannot tell you the number of missions that have turned into opposite directions for me and my men," Bubbles replied.
"But..." Derpy sighed, feeling defeated. "I wasn't ready for this. And you know something else? I. Am. Scared!"
Bubbles, somehow in the midst of all the laser fire, could hear her loud and clearly. And he didn't get back up from where he was crouching, but instead, provided her all her undivided attention.
"Bubbles, I have to be straight with you. Ever since we began this mission, I have been nothing but scared. Every step we make, I keep thinking I'm going to get us all killed. And before you say anything else, I know about the controversies with your team. Every Jedi that you all get paired with kept dying, and... I... I don't wanna die with them!" Derpy sighed and held her head. "I'm... I'm sorry. I know I sound completely selfish right now..."
"General?"
She looked back up to the clone commander. Even though she couldn't see his face, she was looking right through the helmet as best she could.
"I'll be straight with you, General. I was hesitant when you joined us. But after all we've done on this mission so far... I think you're probably the best general we've had leading our team. All our previous Jedis, they... they never made it past the first mission. But you're not like them. And I know it."
The commander pulled the helmet off his head, revealing the same cloned face that was just like the others. But there was one other thing on this clone's face that was much different; a cybernetic eye with a small scar reaching down it, that looked just a wee bit out of place.
"H-How... what happened to your eye?"
Bubbles smiled. "I pinned down by one of those Stormies, did a number on my eye. In the end, I had to get a new cybernetic replacement. But that didn't stop me. And I can tell even by your eyes, you haven't let that stop you. Which is why I ask; you've survived up to here, why do you now believe you're going to fail?"
Derpy thought back to everything that had happened upon their arrival. Every decision she made, every action she made, everything she had done to ensure their mission was a success. The truth finally hit her as a newfound burst of confidence exploded.
"You're right, Commander. I'm not going to die, not here, and not today! And neither are any of you!" Derpy raised up her comlink and spoke as loud as she could. "Okay, can everyone hear me?"
"We can hear you fine, General!" Bolt shouted as he ducked from more laser fire.
"Alright, listen! Adagio has escaped, but that doesn't change our mission. We cannon allow any future weapons or technology leave this planet as long as that Kyber Crystal is still here! We've got to get out of here, now!"
"You heard her boys, fall back, fall back!" Bubbles shouted.
"We'll cover for you! Just get back to the ship!" Sandalwood said, blocking more of the laser attacks with his lightsaber. Captain Planet soon joined him, and the two began standing together, fending off more droids as best as they could.
Patch and Bolt rushed over to Mix, carefully giving him cover as he tried to get himself towards the ship. And it wasn't long until Mohawk, Bounce, and Tap joined him, running inside to the shuttle. Stinger landed back down on the ground, and ran inside too. Knight, Coil, Fuse, Ace, and eventually Derpy and Bubbles came behind them. Sandalwood and Captain Planet ran inside the ship and so Bubbles and Derpy were last to follow.
"Stinger, get us out of here!"
Stinger slammed his foot on the pedal, and the ship blasted right out of the hangar once it's landing gear disappeared within it's inner compartments. The battle droids still kept shooting at them even as they left, but they escaped.
"So... do we tell Lord Hydia that they escaped, or what?"
"I don't know, I just work here," another droid replied. "Wait. What's that?"
"Oh no..."
All the droids saw was direct static and black as a missile was launched into the hangar, blowing them all up in a fiery inferno.
The freighter was now hovering above the temple firing down at it's doors, ready to finish the job.
"That temple's not going to blow itself up at the rate we're going," Fuse said, continuously mashing the fire buttons in a gunner chair.
"Then let's nuke the entire sight from where we hover!" Bolt suggested. "General, permission for another missile attack?"
"Launch them!" Derpy ordered.
An arsenal of missiles unloaded from the ship's compartments and fired directly towards the temple, setting off explosion after explosion. The temple cover was blown into nothing but cinders, and pieces of metal and scrap were launched into the air. But the last missile that made the impact created a large red mushroom cloud of an explosion. The Kyber Crystal had been hit, along with the energy cells that were pumping the machines.
"Punch it, Stinger!" Derpy ordered.
Stinger slammed the lever down, and a burst of flame shot out from the ship's thrusters. Everyone was gripping onto their seats tightly, trying not to fly up into the air and slam right into the walls. The ship took off as fast as it could, escaping the explosion as fast as possible.
The team could all hear the explosion, but eventually the sounds died down the further away they got from the planet's atmosphere. Derpy and Bubbles clinged to their chairs, listening carefully and with some heavy breathing in between. The two of them looked at each other for a brief second, and Derpy slowly pulled herself on her feet.
"Did... did we escape?"
"We are out of the planet's atmosphere," Stinger confirmed. "I believe it's safe to say, mission accomplished."
"We... We did it..." Derpy gasped.
Bubbles grinned under his helmet. "That was a close one."
"We survived! Whoo-hoo!" Derpy yanked Bubbles out of his chair and swung him around in an overly joyous demeanor that would make Pinkie Pie feel happy and warm inside. "We did it!"
"Heh, um, General? You can let me go now," Bubbles said, trying to pry his arms out of Derpy's grasp.
"... maybe a few more minutes," Derpy cooed.
The freighter idly traveled through the void of space, with the pilots changing it's course directly for back home.
"So you were able to get in and out, no problems at all?" Master Sparkle asked over the hologram projector. She was seen standing with two clone troopers, and the newest addition to the Jedi; former sith apprentice, now Padawan learner, Sunset Shimmer. All of them looked incredibly filthy, covered in scrapes, some black ash, dirty all over.
"Mmmhmm," Derpy nodded. "But I do think you should keep a lookout now. I feel like I haven't seen the last of Adagio Dazzle, she might come back again."
"Understood. And if she does, we'll be ready. How is Master Sandalwood?"
"Master Sandalwood is with us, safe and sound. Thankfully the Storm Army weren't able to get the secret battle plans from him," Derpy smiled.
"Great job, Derpy. And what about your troops, you didn't lose any, did you?"
"Unfortunately, we lost one during our search," Derpy explained. "But everyone else is still safe."
"Acknowledged. But I guess what I want to ask is, how do you feel about leading clones now? If you want, you can still say no to not leading more, if you don't want to."
Derpy paused. She spun around in her chair, looking back to the helmeted Commander Bubbles, and to trooper Bolt who were in the room. She looked at them with soft smiles before looking back at the holographic projection.
"Actually, Master Sparkle? If you don't mind, I would like to lead the Baker's Batch some more. I think these guys and I can't operate without each other," Derpy said, twiddling her thumbs a little.
Twilight smiled. "That is fine by me. See you when you get back to Equestria. Right now, we're picking up the Horn Company over on Felucia, and then we're going to make our way to the medical station. Sparkle out."
The hologram turned off, and Derpy giddily spun around in her chair some more, with some adorable squeaking noises.
"Heh, you're alright there, General?" Bolt asked.
"Never better," Derpy cooed. "You know... if it's all the same to you, Commander. I think we work quite well together."
"So do I, General," Bubbles nodded.
"And maybe, if it's okay with you guys... I'd like to do more missions with you guys."
Bubbles gave the Jedi general a sincere smile. "I would too, General."
Derpy squeaked. "You know... since we made it through this mission... what do you say we go to Equestria and celebrate the Baker Batch's first win?"
"I'm on board with that," Bolt nodded.
"Make that two," Coil added.
"Three!" Fuse shouted.
"Mind if I do the catering?" Mix asked.
"As long as it's not just jogan fruit cake," Mohawk commented.
"Then everybody, strap yourselves in!" Derpy smiled. She pressed buttons on the control panels, preparing the ship's hyperdrive. Everyone looked out into the open vast void of space with smiles, and readied themselves for the jump. For now, it would be celebration. But when the time would come to go back out into battle and fight the Storm Army... they would be ready.
"Next stop, Equestria!"
One pull on the lever, and the ship vanished into hyperspace.