Pulling out of hyperspace, the Sweetie Drop reduced speed as it made way to the atmosphere to the Agamar system. Punching through clouds, the freighter found itself flying above a barren, rocky planet that seemed almost desolate. No signs of life of any kind except for the structures a few miles ahead of them. A massive CIS supply vessel laid dormant in the wastelands, near multiple Quonset buildings, aligned as if they were a small community. All of which lay to one side of a structure, equal parts fortress and hangar, still standing after all these years.
Finding a spot to land, the ship gently set on the ground with a ramp out, allowing the flesh and blood Rebels to leave first.
“Well, here we are. Agamar,” Adagio declared, stepping out of the ship first.
“Another dustbowl of a planet in the Outer Rim,” Lyra said, following suit.
Captain Rex and Flurry Heart were the last to follow, with Cheep and IG-11 about to follow behind.
“Stay with the ship, guys. We might need to alert Yavin in case of an emergency, and we don’t know if there’s anyone here who wants to blow up our only ride home. If we don’t come back or respond in the next half hour, hour or so, contact home and send a distress signal.”
“Chirp chirp chirp churp!” Cheep saluted.
The assassin droid and astromech went back inside, allowing the group to go forward. To their surprise, the place looked like there was someone, or at least, a couple of people who had lived here. A few buildings were intact, despite their old structure. Speederbikes and landspeeders were parked on sidings, a few empty crates about.
Flurry’s eyes shifted around, not moving her head to alert any possible strangers.
“Mom. I’m getting a feeling we’re not alone,” Flurry said, quietly whispering.
“I sense it too. Something about this place doesn’t feel empty,” Lyra agreed, looking around.
Passing by a few more of the smaller dwellings, the group walked inside the massive hangar. Inside was just as rundown as the runway and other remaining barracks/buildings. Parts and boxes laid strewn about, there were a few droid parts in pieces all around. It was just an all-around mess.
“Sheesh. Look at this place,” Flurry said, stepping inside, her voice softly echoing. “The Clone Wars must have been really hectic.”
“Hectic isn’t exactly the word I’d use to describe it,” Lyra said, rather seriously. “Now then, trooper. I don’t suppose you know anything about Agamar, or what this place was?”
“As far as I know, there was a battle here during the Clone War. Not that I participated in it, but that is the extent of my knowledge,” Rex answered.
Flurry felt her leg bump into something. Looking down, she saw a tan droid head on the ground, curved in shape. “Whoa. Is this an original battle droid head?”
“Huh?” Rex looked back. “Oh, yeah that is. A piece of the original class, anyway.”
“So that would make the commando droids we have on the Sweetie Drop…?”
“Upgraded soldiers for later in the war,” Rex finished. “But for an outpost like this, the place would be crawling with those droids. We called them clankers.”
Flurry giggled. “Clankers. So how many do you think you blasted?”
“I don’t know. Hundreds, thousands. Maybe tens of thousands. I never did count, unlike some of the boys,” Rex admitted. His head darted around the hangar, looking closely for something, anything that stood out.
Flurry stopped momentarily in their walk, noticing something long and triangular sticking out from behind one of the cargo crates. But she was too far away to get a good look, not that it mattered since her crew was walking away from her. But she did get a good view at what was up at the ceiling. She couldn’t make it out, but she swore she saw what looked like massive droids hung from the ceiling.
“Personally, I can see why some of your fellow brothers counted them. Earn the right to brag and boast, flaunt your success over others,” Adagio purred. “It makes good competition for war, after all, you need to find a way to have some fun, otherwise you’d break.”
“Now where exactly is this soldier who called us?”
Suddenly they heard the sounds of doors sliding open. The doors in front of them, leading to a deeper corridor of the abandoned base revealed a figure inside. Stepping out of the darkness was a white boot, connected to a white suit. Padded armor underneath a black spandex suit, the uniform of the Clone Army. A simple helmet attached to his head, with soft green stripes across the arms and the helmet. But something was off with how stiffly this trooper moved...
“I have a bad feeling about this…” Rex muttered.
“Captain! I was afraid you would never come. I’ve sent the signal for weeks, I was afraid no one ever get here.”
The group froze in place.
“So… what’s your name, trooper?”
“My… name?” He said, confused. “Right, right, it is… um. CT… 55… 97.”
“That was Jesse’s number, trooper. What is your real name?” Rex ordered.
“Sorry Captain, my real name is… um…”
Adagio rolled her eyes, but she felt something tingle down her spine. She turned her head, eyes moving all around, feeling a sense of unease. Some small noises echoed inside this abandoned outpost, but something inside gave her the feeling she wasn’t alone just like Flurry Heart felt.
“Why don’t we just go deeper inside, trooper. You have other comrades who are alive, correct?”
“Yes sir.”
“Then how about you show us then… trooper?” Lyra emphasized, stepping forward, making the trooper step back.
“Roger roger.”
Rex didn’t hesitate, he pulled out his pistol and shot the trooper in the helmet, killing him instantly. Flurry Heart let out a panicked scream, horrified by the fact the captain shot one of his own men.
“Rex!? What the hell!?” Flurry panicked.
“Relax…” Rex nonchalantly said, squatting down to the trooper. He pulled the helmet off, revealing not skin, but fried circuitry of a black commando droid. “Just as I thought; commando droid. Used the same tactics on me and Cody down on the Rishi outpost a long time ago.”
“Commando droids?” Lyra intrigued. “Wait. Rex, if they did this before, what followed after that?”
“Well, it was followed by an ambush, and if that was just one… Oh no.”
Everyone came to the same conclusion, just based on how quickly everyone stood together, all of them facing their backs against each others, holding up their weapons. Clicking and metal noises echoed throughout the hangar, sending shivers down everyone’s spines.
“Stand your ground. If there’s possibly more still online, we need to be—agh!!”
A stunning blast hit Lyra’s body and she fell to the ground. Another one zapped Adagio, and she too fell to the floor. The last shots hit Rex and Flurry who all dropped to the ground. Rex was getting near to passing out, and he swore he heard someone talking…
“I can’t believe that worked! We never captured anyone in years!”
“We haven’t captured anyone in forever…”
And in seconds, Rex’s vision went to black as the stun blast worked over his entire body, along with the others.
Flurry’s eyes slowly opened up, wincing at the bright light that flashed in the room. She tried to block it with her hand, but she couldn’t. She felt something hold her arm down, not allowing her to move. And when she looked behind her, she saw her wrists were held in place by magnetic cuffs, and so were her feet. Bound in cuffs, on her knees with no means of getting out so easily.
“No, no, no, come on,” Flurry struggled, trying to get her arms out. “I gotta get out of here, I gotta—”
“Flurry, calm down!”
Flurry looked next to her, Lyra was locked into a similar position as her. Hands and legs shackled so they wouldn't be moving.
“Mom, we gotta get out of here," Flurry panicked.
“Stay calm, kiddo, we’re going to be okay,” Lyra reassured in a calm tone.
“How can you stay calm about that!?”
“I’ve been detained before,” Lyra replied, looking back at her hands locked behind her. “This isn’t new to me.”
“But we’re still not on the bright side of this situation,” Rex groaned, sitting next to Flurry. He however had his hands locked forward, and his legs left free.
“Definitely not new for me,” another voice hissed from next to Lyra. Flurry looked over and saw Adagio Dazzle was also held in place, just like the rest. “I’ve been on both sides of this situation; the best thing to do is play along.”
“Relax, we’ll get out eventually. Just be a little bit,” Lyra said.
“I’ve been awake for an hour now, and we’re not getting out so easily. Do you not even realize who’s holding us?” Adagio asked.
“No. Who?”
Adagio glared over to the doors, snarling at the skinny, metallic warriors who stood guard. A curved head, similar to those tan battle droids she destroyed when she turned rogue, only this one looked much more advanced.
“Wait a minute, commando droids, how are they still online?” Lyra asked, squinting.
“Mom, we brought our commandos with us, right?” Flurry asked.
“Those aren’t ours...”
“Not just them, Jedi,” Adagio warned, looking at another figure who was approaching them. Someone rose up from a command chair in the middle of the room, looking much more buff than the commando droids, and the regular looking battle droids. A super tactician droid, with dark green paint and faded yellow streaks. And as it turned around, its face revealed two red eyes with a middle eye looking piece. It stomped towards them, and finally halted.
The droid looked left to right, looking down at the prisoners that were locked up tight. His legs creaked as he leaned forward, looking at Flurry Heart.
“Uhhh, heyyy??” Flurry tittered.
The tactical droid said nothing, just observing her. His hand moved up with more loud creaks and winces, which only made Lyra mad.
“I swear if you hurt my little girl, I will melt you down and make sure your type can never be built again!” Lyra threatened, trying to fight her wrist locks.
The tacticial droid however didn’t touch or grasp at Flurry’s face, thank goodness. But instead, took a few steps backwards and paced in front of them.
The tactical droid paced back and forth in front of the prisoners, his joints wincing with every movement he made. “Near the end of the Clone Wars, designated Separatist droids significantly outnumbered Republic units.” And as he paced, he looked at Captain Rex’s repainted Phase I helmet which he clutched in his hand. “By my calculations, our probability of being defeated was only 23.6%.”
“Who are you, anyway?” Lyra asked.
“I am General Kalani,” the super tactical droid introduced.
“Great. Just what we need right now,” Rex groaned.
“Is that bad?” Flurry asked.
“Extremely. This tactical droid’s extremely intelligent,” Rex shook his head, then turned his attention to Kalani. “After Clone Order 66, all of the droids were given a shutdown command. How are you even operating?”
“The Jedi betrayal ended the war for most of the galaxy. Word of the Storm King's defeat reached us, but here on Agamar, I assumed it was a Republic trick and so I prevented the shutdown command,” the general replied in his usual monotone voice.
“You’re the one who sent out that clone distress signal, aren't you?” Lyra glared.
“Correct, Jedi. By sending that signal I knew your units would have to come to save your allies. But I did not calculate the visit would come until after seventeen years, nor did I anticipate only one clone to arrive,” Kalani observed, getting a glare from Rex.
The captain struggled to move his wrists, trying to break free from his restraints. “Well it doesn’t matter how you did it, and it certainly doesn’t matter if you were trying to spring a trap or not, the war is over! Now let us go!”
“Negative, Captain,” Kalani disagreed. “I calculate that this will be my only opportunity to end the Clone Wars as I planned, with a victory for the Storm Army.”
Captain Rex was appalled. “What do you want us to do? Surrender?”
“On the contrary, you have already lost,” Kalani said, this time with a bit more aggression in his voice.
“No, we haven’t,” Adagio spat. “You think Rex is the only clone trooper left? You clearly need a reality check.”
All of the battle droids turned their attention to Adagio, including the tactical droid who slowly stomped towards her. “Explain.”
“I’m saying, there are more clones than you think, and you clearly are out of touch with the reality you walking scrap pile,” Adagio sneered.
“If there are more clones, then they will need to come and perform a rescue. Now we can have a real battle,” Kalani concluded, walking away from Adagio to pick up a blaster.
“Battle? What are you talking about?” Lyra asked, a little scared by what he was saying.
The general stopped, and turned around to face them again, hands behind his back.
“I originally wanted you to fight, to prove whose tactical strategies were effective in battle. But now that I know more clones remain alive, we can have a complete set of components to make this last battle,” Kalani said, starting to walk out of the room. “Unit CD-546 and CD-547, make sure they do not escape. I must make contact with their forces. Their ship will be sufficient enough to send a signal.”
The two commando units nodded before standing in front of the containment fields, letting the general leave the room. Realizing what they needed to do, the group struggled with their restraints as hard as they could, trying to break free. Rex however had an idea. His legs were free, and he could still move his wrists, slightly. If he could just disarm the droids, he could have a chance...
Realizing what he had in mind, the group remained silent as the captain slowly got up, trying to avoid making a sound to alert the commando units. Adagio made a move as well, reaching for the tops of her boots. Her wrists were locked, but she could still reach her hidden knives. Pulling one out, she slid it behind her, creating a scraping sound. Rex quickly got back down on the floor as the commandos looked behind them.
"Do not make any sudden moves, clone," the commando threatened. "It will be better for everyone if you stay still."
"Sorry, one of my legs ached," Rex stalled, moving his legs into a crossed pose. "Just needed to stretch for a brief moment."
Not finding any other reason to watch, the two commandos turned forward again. Moving behind him, Rex grabbed the vibro-blade that Adagio had slide and stood up again. Taking his chance he kicked the back of one of the commandos and stabbed the other one with the blade into the main power source.
The other commando who was kicked went back up and fired a few shots at Rex, forcing him to dodge behind Kalani's chair. Luckily he saw the weapons had been placed there, kept out of their sight. Grabbing a blaster, he got back up and fired two shots into the commando's head, finishing him for good.
Quickly running back, he fired at each of the Force-users cuffs, freeing them all one by one. Lyra and Flurry got their lightsabers back, while Adagio grabbed her extra set of blasters.
"They'll probably send a couple of others up here to check on them," Rex thought. "We should get going as fast as possible."
"Agreed," Lyra concurred. "And if they're going to call any others, we need to stop that tactical droid before he does. Now let's move--"
"--Wait, hold on," Rex stopped. "Kalani is a war machine, built for tactical strategy. There's no way he wouldn't predict this," the captain thought. "Leaving us guarded by two commandos and leaving me an easy chance... he wants us to escape."
"Okay but why?" Flurry asked.
"He's had this planned for a long time. He wants to win, that's what he's programmed to do. The only way we'll stop him is if go against what he'd plan for us."
Lyra would have rolled her eyes or groaned, but she didn't. While she had problems with the clones, she still knew how great they were in the field and wasn't going to question Rex's intellect or wisdom.
"So, how do we counter that?"
"We split up, throw off his game. He'll have to divide his forces, he can't send them all at once if we're split," Rex suggested.
"As much as I love throwing off their strategy, we can't. We don't know the layout of this structure," Lyra pointed. "We're gonna have to just fight as hard as we can and find a way to break off his strategy when we know how much he has against us."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Adagio nodded, priming her stolen blaster.
"Then let's get a move on," Lyra ordered.
All four of them ran out through the doors and entered the hallway. Not surprisingly, there was a large group of battle droids there, waiting for them.
"Blast them!"
Lyra and Flurry pulled out their sabers, blocking their attacks while Adagio and Rex took cover behind openings in the walls. Both of them peaked their heads from the cover before consistently swiping out and in, taking potshots at the battle droids.
"Been a while since I've fought clankers!" Rex shouted over the fire.
"Miss fighting them, trooper?"
"Can't say I'm against it!" Rex bantered, taking out two more coming their way.
Flurry blocked another attack, deflecting the blaster bolts away from the group and towards the ceiling. One of the bolts came back and hit the droid's head, dropping one. Taking her chance, Flurry yanked the blaster out of another's hand before slicing the head off with perfect precision. Adagio's eyes locked on target, taking out all of them with head shots through very short but well-timed bursts of laser. She smirked when she watched the last one fall, crying out in agony.
Taking their chance to keep moving, they heard the sound of marching towards them, coming across a new wave of battle droids; B2s. Heavily armored, with blasters locked into their arms. All of them unlocked a single arm and aimed them at the squad, forcing them to take action again.
The super tactical droid had made his way far from the top to the ground of the hangar. He along with a handful of droids were marching towards the Sweetie Drop, traversing through the little shanty-town that surrounded him with a few battle droids behind him. Raising a finger to his head, he tapped into a comms to speak.
"We have Jedi intruders," he spoke.
"Don't let anyone leave, but don't destroy their ship," a voice spoke on the other end. "I want to see who invited themselves here."
"Understood," Kalani answered.
--
The others soon enough found their way to the ground, running out of an elevator that still functioned back to more hallways. The sound of metal rolling across the floor made their heads turn in all directions, looking for the sources. Not long enough did three droids rolling across the ground appear, all unfolding into curved droids with bubble shields to protect themselves.
Quickly running, the group ran from the blasts, deflecting them back at the droids as best as possible. Taking their chance, the droidekas rolled after them, catching up fast.
"Flurry, get ready!" Lyra warned.
Flurry waited until one of them got closer, just a little closer and--
SHUNK!
Flurry's lightsaber emitted and slashed through the rolling droideka, with Lyra slashing apart the second one. The last one stopped rolling, unfolding itself back and resuming fire to the group. Lyra and Flurry continued to block the attacks, while Rex and Adagio charged forward. Taking their chance, Lyra and Flurry grabbed some nearby debris, throwing it at the droideka to force it to charge, bouncing it off the shield. Taking the bait, the droideka started to roll again until Lyra and Flurry, working together, stopped the droid mid-roll and crushed the droid to prevent it from continuing.
Rejoining the group, they made their way back through the hangar, only to be greeted by a wave of battle droids marching towards them. Most of them were marching per usual fashion, but some of them were wobbling, acting very stiff as they marched to their imminent destruction.
"Fire, fire!"
The group scattered to evade being mowed down by the onslaught of blaster fire, with Lyra and Flurry being the only ones standing to deflect the shots. They hit back against a few droids, but there were still plenty coming. Thankfully Rex and Adagio had other ideas. Looking to the sides, they found some crates that hadn't been moved, either intentionally or by accident, it didn't matter. Inside were plenty of leftover droid poppers that had long been stolen by a retired clone company.
Taking the poppers, Rex threw a couple of them overhead, past Lyra and Flurry as they got to a few droids, zapping a few of them. Adagio however upped the ante by taking a whole arsenal of them through the Force, and flung them forward at the droid, making them all look down. Several loud beeps were emitting at once, and it took them completely by surprise as a wave of electricity wiped the droids out, zapping them all to the ground.
"Nice shots you two," Lyra complimented, looking forward. "Keep an eye out for any more waves, usually they keep on coming..."
But to their surprise, there weren't any more waves.
"... or they don't," Lyra thought. "This seems unorthodox. They keep sending them, wave after wave until they mowed us down. Why did they stop?"
"What if that's what they want?" Rex inquired. "Kalani has had a long time to think about this, he probably thought about every possibility that would come if he sent in waves. And by the looks of things," he surveyed the hangar they stood in. "He cannot waste every resource he has on us. He has to play it smart."
"Smart or otherwise, he's only getting closer to stealing your ship," Adagio interrupted. "Which means, time is gone standing here."
"Right. Come on, let's move!"
All of them set off on the run, except for Flurry Heart. She paced forward to look at the battle droids, picking one of them up. It was steaming from the zap, sure, but something else she noticed caught her eye. The joints on the arms and the legs looked rusted, not enough oil or any oil at all kept them moving. How long had they been on this planet?
She was about to focus back on running with her family, when she heard something through the Force. Her eyes looked up and gazed at one of the dwellings on her left outside the hangar. To her surprise, she saw a little girl, a decade younger than her, held close by her father. Both of them looked at her afraid, stepping back as they saw her. Flurry didn't understand at first, until they saw her lightsaber. And then she looked at the droids that she and the others destroyed. Confusion washed away into realization as an epiphany reached her brain.
Quickly assessing to herself, she paced for a moment, trying to think. What could she do, what could she do? Her mom and Rex had history with these droids, old wounds that scabbed over and never healed. But this fighting? The Empire was the real threat, they couldn't just fight here against a foe that had... wait. Battle droids.
She looked back up, and looked back at the droids. The biggest smile crept on her face as she had an idea.
Kalani and a small legion of battle droids were getting closer to the ship, ready to board it and send out a signal to bring others like Rex and the Jedi down. If there was still more out there, then they would make a complete set of components for their challenge. Unfortunately they did not anticipate a walking assassin droid coming down the hatch as stiff as always, facing the battle droids.
“Stay right where you are,” the assassin droid bellowed, stepping out of the ship.
“Who are you?” Kalani asked.
“I am IG-11. I am the Heartstring family’s nurse droid, and remand that you stay right were you are,” IG-11 ordered, standing still.
"Stay in formation, assassin droids have a 76% success rate of termination and attack," Kalani ordered.
“What can he do? He’s just a skinny assassin,” one of the battle droids mocked.
But IG-11 heard that, and he started taking a few steps forward. “Are you refusing my request?”
The battle droids weren’t intimidated. “Get out of the way, tin can!” He tried to push IG out of the way, but that was a bad decision. IG-11 grabbed his wrist, yanking it hard and ripping it off his body. “OW!”
And with his other hand, IG-11 grabbed the battle droid and slammed him against the ground, throwing him into the air and on the ground like a wrestler. The second battle droid was ready to open fire but IG-11 swung his claw around, ripping his head off and let his body fall onto the ground. And the last battle droid had just as much luck as the others, with IG-11 picking him up and slamming him against a rock, breaking him into a scrap pile.
Once they were all down, IG-11 turned his scopes back to Kalani and pulled out a blaster.
“I will not repeat myself. Stay where you are,” IG-11 stated.
“On the contrary, IG unit, you are outnumbered.”
From the confines the alleys surrounding the dwellings, a few rolling droidekas came out to join, unfolding as they stood next to the general, unfolding their weapons, ready to shoot on sight. Super battle droids ran out of a few dwellings, along with the regular B1 units who outnumbered the group.
“Hold it right there, Kalani!”
The droids turned their attention towards Lyra and the others who were running after them, finally caught up with them near the ship.
“You’re not calling anyone, Kalani. Because we’re not fighting,” Rex glared, keeping his pistols pointed at the tactician.
“I disagree, captain.”
The droidekas pointed their weapons at the group of four instead, ready to shoot. With tensions rising, everyone was ready to fire until--
“Wait, stop!” Flurry yelped, stepping in between the two. She kept her arms up to both Rex and Kalani, trying to ensure neither one of them fired on each other. She looked at them both, nervously trying to calm them down. “Look, ignoring Kalani’s pride, he doesn’t know what’s going on. He doesn’t even realize the Empire is out there.”
“I am well aware of the Empire’s existence, young Jedi.”
“Well I don’t think you realize how big they are,” Rex interjected, still keeping his fingers locked onto the trigger, ready to fire.
“Which is why we aren’t going anywhere.”
A new voice interrupted, making them all turn their heads. Stepping out of one of the buildings was a human figure, shrouded in dark green pants, a dark blue shirt covering long green sleeves, a poncho, and a mask that covered her entire head, stepped out from one of the dwellings. A blaster was visible in pouches, and her voice was distorted by the mask. Standing by her side were two men in coats and masks with heavy filters, distinguishable from one another.
“And I’m afraid you won’t be going anywhere, either,” she said, pulling out her pistol and aiming it at them. Her two men also joined her, pulling their blasters out.
“Who are you?” Lyra asked this time.
“It won’t matter,” she glared from behind the mask.
But before she could pull the trigger, her blaster was yanked out of her hands and into Flurry’s, who then slapped it onto the ground.
“NO! No more fighting! We need to talk!” Flurry insisted.
The woman in mask stopped for a moment, looking at the teen curiously. “You’re a Jedi, aren’t you?”
“No! … Maybe. … a little. Does that really matter right now?” Flurry asked. “Look, um… what’s your name again?”
“I am Tawni Ames; representative of Agamar,” the woman answered.
“I don’t recall any representatives of Agamar. Isn’t this planet supposed to be desolate?” Adagio asked this time.
“It is home. And now you five have trespassed onto our home,” the woman clenched her fists.
“Tawni, wait,” Flurry still stepped up. “We don’t want to fight, we’re not here to steal; we just want to talk. Please… I’m begging you here.”
The confirmed governor looked at her battle droids, still waiting to attack if needed to. She looked at Kalani, who glanced back to her, processing his own internal thoughts on the matter. And back to the group; another Jedi, she could tell by the lightsaber. A clone trooper, cursed men as she believed. And a rather attractive but strange woman with long hair as well.
“We will put down our weapons, if you in turn will turn off yours,” Kalani said, breaking the silence.
Everyone was tense, looking at one another, waiting for someone to strike. Flurry, made the first move. She grabbed her lightsaber, and placed it down on the ground, gently, lifting her hands as a sign of friendly protest. Lyra wasn’t sure if this was a good idea, but she followed as well, placing her lightsaber, and her blaster on the ground. Rex then placed his weapons on the ground too. Some of the B1 units lowered their blasters, letting them drop to the ground with a few thuds. Droidekas folded their arms, and so did the super battle droids. The two living men behind Tawni put their weapons away, wanting to follow suit. Last of all was Adagio, who took her knives and her blaster out, dropping them on the cracked domain.
“Speak, young Jedi,” the governor insisted, willing to give this a try despite all of her inner thoughts screaming ‘NO’.
"Not until you all sit," Flurry ordered. She ran back up the family's ship, making loud clattering inside as everyone awkwardly waited for her to come back. Chairs came sliding down the ramp for Lyra, Rex, Tawni, Adagio, and even Kalani along with a foldout table that was unfolded once it hit the ground. Adagio and Lyra looked at each other with questioning faces, as if to silently ask 'is she serious?'. Kalani and Tawni both silently looked to one another, just as confused by what was happening. Flurry only nudged her head to the seats, urging them to still take them. Deciding to humor her, one by one, they all took a seat, even if it was rather uncomfortable to be across from one another. Rex still glared at the tactical droid, even under the helmet.
"Okay, now that we're seated, can we talk?" Flurry asked, standing at the end of the table, looking at both her family and the Separatists. "Good. Look, I know you all think I'm just some kid, and maybe you don't want to hear me. But the way I see it, we're fighting over nothing here. We didn't know there were St..." Flurry had to correct herself for a moment. "Separatists, still here. And we certainly didn't know someone wanted to play one big war game," she looked to Kalani. "But we aren't here to cause problems, and now that we know there's people here... I think we should talk this out, and invite them to join us," Flurry said, looking to her teammates.
"Do you have any idea what they did--"
"--I will never know what it was like fighting in the Clone Wars, I know," Flurry interrupted, sternly but calmly. "I'm not trying to disrespect you Captain, but this isn't the Clone Wars anymore."
The teenager stopped for a moment to recollect her thoughts before speaking again. "The only reason we were able to push through all of those droids is because they're old. If they've been here for this long, no one is taking care of them. Kalani sent a signal to seek us out, yes, I know that. What if the Empire found them first? They would all be dead if we didn't show up first. Imagine how stronger the Separatists will be if they join us in unity."
Lyra was ready to say something snarky, but she stopped. She hesitated as she put her hand up, then set it back down, thinking that last statement over. While her family's unit of commando droids were no more, she had considered the idea a few times of having an army of the dead-named Storm Army units on their side to fight with them.
"We do not have interest in joining forces with the Jedi. Not after you ruined everything for us," Tawni sneered under her helmet.
"Big talk coming from the woman who represented a king who invaded our home," Lyra argued back.
"Ahem!" Flurry snapped, making them both jolt. Flurry took another deep breath, trying not to let any anger burst out. Her fists were clenched but she let go as she took another steady breath. "Okay. I guess I'm going to need to be a bit more blunt, aren't I?"
Throwing her head back and letting out a massive groan she looked at the seated adults with a mild smirk. "So here's the problem. Are you ready for this? You are all the most stupid people I've met in my life," Flurry grinned.
"You want to repeat that to me again, young lady?" Lyra warned.
"Oh I'm not sorry, Mom. And I'm going to keep talking. This, all of this right here... this is why the Empire wins. You keep wanting to push each other down, win this war, 'oh they did this,' or 'they did that', it doesn't matter who started it!" Flurry slammed her hands down on the table. "I didn't want to say this, but I'm going to," Flurry looked to all of them, letting her words become clear to them all.
"The Jedi were wiped out..."
Lyra winced at the harsh reminder.
"... the clones were decommissioned in exchange for expendable troopers and forced to destroy Kamino..."
Rex's eyes closed in sorrow, reminded of the harsh fate his brothers had endured.
"... the battle droids were shut down..."
Kalani simply sat there, head slightly twisting with a click of his joints.
"The Stormtroopers were all taken in under the Midnight regime and given a rebrand. The Separatist government was dissolved, and everyone was either executed, went into hiding, or had a fate worse than what we can imagine..."
Tawni's fists clenched tightly, hiding the growls she let slip under her mask.
"The war ended... but why. If none of you won, then who did?"
The entire table went dead silent. Lyra was deep in thought, her expressions constantly changing between confused and intrigued as she looked to the masked woman across from her. Despite her face hidden, Tawni was also having thoughts of intrigue. Kalani and Rex also shared some contemplation, even if one of them was made mostly of gears and sparks.
Standing straight, Flurry folded her arms as she faced them all. "You've all fought each other for years before. What makes you think that this time will actually turn out any differently?"
Once again, more quiet from the table.
“It appears we have reached an impasse.”
“Indeed, it does,” Lyra quietly replied.
Silence filled the outside of the outpost, with only the sounds of the wind whistling in the air. Everyone just went dead silent as they stared at one another, waiting for someone to make a move.
“Mom. Rex. You two sided with the Republic, right?” Flurry asked.
“Yes.”
“That is correct.”
Flurry then faced the super tactical droid. “And Kalani, is it? You represent the former Storm Army, back to Separatists, along with all parties associated with it, right?”
“Affirmative," Kalani answered.
"And Tawni, you represent the political party, right?"
"I am," the woman confirmed.
Flurry nodded. “What were the original Separatists fighting for?”
“According to my programming, freedom from the tyranny of the Republic,” Kalani monotoned.
“Why were you fighting against them, what drove you to fight them?” Flurry asked.
Kalani was silent for a moment, but then he spoke. “Your mother and captain may speak otherwise. we were fighting for our own freedom. We fought the Republic because of their hubris,” Kalani replied, swiveling, and turning around to face the barren wasteland that surrounded their outpost. “The Senate was focusing only on needs they deemed important, never once thinking about the needs of the many, and so more credits and money were pushed into making the war everlasting. Despite the Storm King’s ambitions, my creators informed me that we were fighting for a noble cause. But with this information of no victories for any battling participants, it seems that purpose is no longer important.”
Rex’s weapons lowered slightly. “We were nothing but pawns. All of us were.”
Everyone went quiet again, exchanging glances with one another.
“Isn’t fighting for freedom what you all were fighting for?” Flurry asked, getting them all to look at her again. “I understand you weren't going to win, but what if we worked together? Midnight’s forces are strong, we’ve encountered them head on. But what if we combined them with the numbers and forces of the droid army, upgrading them with our current weapons, armor, people, so they can stand a chance against them? You all lost, but now is the chance for us to win. This war split us apart, but now we face an enemy that can only be stopped if we work together. All of us. Droids, Jedi, ex-Sith, Clones, everyone.”
Kalani, Lyra, Rex, and Adagio were all quiet as they took in this information. Tawni especially was calm as she sat there, considering her proposition.
"And before anyone says anything, I want to say something else," Flurry interrupted again. "I know it won't be easy to work together. But if we do... we'll make things better for everyone involved. I don't want to lose just because we couldn't put aside our differences. We cannot be like Saw Gerrera or his partisans. The Neo-Republican Collective. The Irontail Railway Legion. The Sectorists. The Storm Revolutionaries. Galaxy Partitionists. Or anyone else just because they didn't like a few people we had on our side. The only way we'll get anywhere is if we work together..." Flurry looked to her mother with a solemn expression. "It's what you taught me."
Now Lyra was really put in an awkward position. She looked at her daughter with a puzzled face, mixed with fear, and confusion. She wasn't sure what to say, or do. She wanted to be the bigger person, but she didn't know how to say it. She was so befuddled right now, she couldn't find a simple way to say it.
Tawni looked to her tactical droid, silently asking for any advice. Then she looked back to the teen. "The last time I was willing to offer my hand in peace, I was shot and left for dead. How do I know you won't do it again?"
"You won't," Flurry sadly replied. "But I am serious about making things right with you and your people."
The tactical droid simply stood up, facing the crew.
“You are against the Empire. I am against the Republic. Now, the Republic and the Storm Empire have become the new Galactic Empire,” Kalani processed.
Lyra and Rex waited for an answer, wondering how he was going to interpret all of this…
“I accept your logic. From now on, we are on the same sides,” Kalani declared. He opened up his palm to shake hands with the captain, having some bits of programming that understood some social cues. Reluctantly, Rex extended a hand as well, and shook the General’s metallic hand as a sign of truce. In turn, Tawni extended her hand, and Lyra shook hers as well.
Rex removed his helmet. “I guess we are.”
Flurry smiled. “Hey, maybe I can defuse an argument after all! So, um, Mom? Now that we’re all on the same side… what do we do now?”
Lyra leaned back slightly as she stood up from the makeshift chair, putting her hands on her hips as she looked around her. The outpost was in the middle of nowhere, with no Imperial probes or spies, or anything that could detect them. And if the Empire didn’t know they were here… they had all the time in the world to try and figure some things out.
“General, Governor. Since we’re going to be working together; may we see what remaining forces you have at your disposal?”