Ending4,251 words

Hopeless

Author's Note:

Thank god, we're back up. I want to thank Scholars again for proof-reading this, so that we can get back on the road. And as far as a particular song in this sequence goes... I did change it as much as I could to be fitting here.

Hope you all enjoy, and thank you for your patience.

Flurry Heart was trying to suppress it, but she was nervous. The plan – which had been to pass her and Sandbar off as newly arrived troops, with Ocellus impersonating the officer accompanying them – had run into an unexpected snag. Bon-Bon and Applejack’s efforts to counterfeit Midnight trooper armor had worked out just fine for Sandbar, and reusing an officer's suit for Ocellus also worked fine, but in crafting the plating for a suit for Flurry? Something had gone awry and the plates had shattered in the “kiln,” as Applejack referred to it.

There was no time to start over fresh, and make a new set of armor from scratch. General Sunset had nearly called for Flurry to sit the mission out over the mishap, but after a lot of back-and-forth (and arguing from the younger Rebels on the team) it had been reluctantly decided to let Flurry go along anyway: Sandbar had said that she could be presented as a trooper candidate, with him playing the role of the actual soldier in the trio.

So far, the plan seemed to be working. The troopers at the front gates had scrutinized Ocellus’ identification, but General Shimmer’s intel had been solid – the codes still checked out.

“You’ll have to wait,” the trooper who had comm’d in the ID code Ocellus had given him said, “ID check is cleared, but no outsiders set foot on base without approval from one of the higher ups.”

“And that,” one of the other guards added, “goes double for you.”

He had directed these words to Smolder and Gallus. Figuring out a plan for the non-human members of the team had been a challenge; Rainbow Dash had come up with the idea of having them pose as bounty hunters, hoping to drop off prisoners with the new “Imperial arrivals.”

Yona, her arms shackled as part of her role as one of these “prisoners,” bared her teeth and growled at the guards. Silverstream, next to her as another fake captive, looked less angry and more intimidated by the sight of the soldiers with blasters in hand. She wasn’t the only one feeling the pressure, Flurry felt, as she tried to push back the knot of anxiety forming in her stomach. What if this didn’t work out, and a fight broke out? What if she had to shoot someone? What if they got inside and it turned out that the Empire was leading them into a trap? Or what if--

“ATTENTION!!”

The earsplitting shout from behind the gate startled everyone. Even the troopers on guard seemed to snap to a new level of focus, as a squad of Midnight troopers arrived on the scene. The squad of soldiers parted, to make way for a trooper whose dark purple armor was marked by cobalt blue pauldrons on his shoulders. Something Sandbar had said earlier ticked in her mind; this was some kind of sergeant in the Empire’s Midnight Corps.

“Trooper!” barked the sergeant, as he stalked forward to the first of the gate guards. “What’s this I hear about new arrivals at my base? Oh! And bounty hunters too?” He added, sarcasm dripping from every word, “It must be my lucky day!”

Flurry gulped and she started to shake. Sandbar just tapped her shoulder, trying to remind her to stay in character and not break the illusion.

“ALRIGHT NOW LISTEN UP YOU MIDNIGHT MAGGOTS! I HAVE HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH SHIT GOING WRONG TODAY, SO I’M GOING TO MONITOR THIS ACTIVITY VERY CAREFULLY TO MAKE SURE NOTHING GOES WRONG!! GOT IT!?”

“Sir yes sir!” Sandbar, Flurry, and Ocellus all shouted at once.

“GOOD!” He snapped. After a moment passed of him slowly breathing in and out to try and keep some form of professionalism, he looked at the trooper. “Identify yourself.”

“I am SB-666, and with me are troopers FH-32616 and officer OC-32418,” Sandbar said, playing his part. “We have found Rebel insurgents who were going to strike the Emperor’s throne, but we were ordered to bring them here for their sentence.”

The sergeant glared at them with a nasty look in his eye. “I see… and what about these… bounty hunting scum buckets?”

Smolder snarled at him, but didn’t speak up.

“They were the ones who caught them, sir. They won’t leave without payment, and they did do the job for us,” Sandbar continued.

“I don’t even care about that right now, maggot. You!” He looked at Flurry Heart who quivered underneath the Phase II clone trooper helmet that Lyra and Bon Bon tried to mold to look more like the Midnight Troopers. “WHY THE HELL ARE YOU OUT OF UNIFORM!?”

Flurry cleared her throat, trying to speak up. “Sir, I… M-M-My uniform was broken during the pursuit of these prisoners, I-I tried to fix it as best as I could, s-sir—”

“—DO I LOOK LIKE A MO-RON!? YOU ARE OUT OF UNIFORM, AND YOU’RE WEARING A HELMET THAT BELONGS TO A CLONE TROOPER WHO ALL SHOULD BE BURIED IN THE GROUND!! WHEN YOU GET INTO THAT BARRACKS, YOU ARE GOING TO GET A PROPER UNIFORM ON YOUR BODY, THEY ARE NOT EXPENSIVE TO FIND!”

“Y-Yes sir,” Flurry whimpered.

“Um, sir,” one of the guards near the entrance explained. “We still are waiting on spare armor.”

"..Are you kidding me right now," the sergeant muttered, in a dangerously quiet voice, before the shouting resumed in full force. “WHAT KIND OF OPERATION DO THEY THINK WE’RE RUNNING HERE? THOSE TAPE-SWITCHING JACKASSES, HOW THE HELL DO THEY EXPECT ME TO HANDLE THIS WHEN THEY CAN BARELY GET ME DAMN SOLDIERS WORTH KEEPING AROUND!?"

He looked at the prisoners, and then towards the troopers.

“Alright, you troopers can go through. BUT YOU!” He pointed at Flurry. “THE NEXT TIME I SEE YOU, YOU BETTER HAVE A PROPER UNIFORM ON, OR I’LL CUT YOUR ASS OFF AND ROAST IT FOR DINNER! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME YOU LITTLE MO-RON!?”

“Y-Yes! Yes sir!”

“GOOD! NOW YOU MAGGOTS TAKE THESE DAMN SMELLY BEASTS TO THE REST OF THE PRISONERS IN THE CAMP, AND PLANT YOUR BOOTS IN THE JUMPSUITED JEDI’S ASS! AND DO NOT LET THESE TWO SCUM-BUCKETS INSIDE!”

The ‘troopers’ escorted Yona and Silverstream inside without question, allowing them to infiltrate perfectly. Sadly, Gallus and Smolder weren't allowed in, no thanks to the guards. But the two of them quickly glanced at each other, hearing an order on their coms. And without words, the two of them walked away to try and trick the guards.

“Guess they got the message. Good, makes the payment process shorter,” the sergeant rambled, resuming the scary low tone again. But he resumed to speak loudly when he saw four astromech units start to roll up towards him, hauling a hovering flatbed behind them. “Oh what do we have here. Outdated tin cans WHO ARE SHITTING OIL ALL OVER THE GROUNDS! WHAT ARE YOUR NAMES RUSTBUCKETS!?”

The lead droid, G-G, who looked the most imperial out of all of them, spoke.

“WHY ARE YOU SPEAKING LIKE A REPUBLIC DROID YOU GOLDEN-STREAKED MO-RON!? YOU ARE ADDRESSING A SERGEANT, AND YOU WILL ADDRESS ME AS SUCH, OR I WILL WEAR YOUR CONE AS A HAT, IS THAT CLEAR!?”

G-G fixed his stance, tilting his body up a bit to address him like a private.

“That’s better,” he uttered, dangerously low again. "NOW WHAT ARE YOU OIL-DRIPPING TRASHCANS SMUGGLING INTO MY BASE!?"

G-G still followed the plan, acting calm as he tilted his head back and showed a blueprint display of a part they delivered. Not believing them, the sergeant was all set to rant and rave as he walked over to the cargo container to take a look.

“DO YOU EXPECT ME TO BUY THAT BANTHA-SHIT FROM YOU!? YOU FOUR ARE COMPLETE STRANGERS AND WHOEVER PAINTED YOU MUST HAVE DONE IT WITH THEIR HEADS SHOVED UP THEIR ASSES IF YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST CARRY IN—” and when he opened the box, he was speechless. It was a shipment of fuel cells, for the TIE Defenders, or at least, made to look like it. “--… ah… I see. Well, you droids are clear,” he cleared his throat. “NOW DELIVER THAT LOAD, OR I WILL KICK ALL OF THE CLIFFS MYSELF!”

Either way, the astromechs were finally allowed through. G-G led the group down the hall, in search of a security office to oversee all sections of the base. Several troopers, both Death Watch and Midnight alike walked past them, just believing to be another courier service, fooling them. Stopping at an astroech port, G-G accessed the console, searching for any internal signs or routes for them to go.

"Bwoop boop, bowop," G-G whistled to his compatriots.

R2 beeped back, shaking a little with anticipation. G-G checked one last time, head moving side to side to make sure no one else was watching. And with a happy beep, he unplugged from the console to lead the way again. The triage of astromechs rolled down the hallway, passing by some more workers who were standing around, either moving to another workstation, or having idle chit-chat.

"You think this project might get off the ground?" A Midnight trooper asked to a Death Watch soldier.

"Maybe, who knows. I just care about getting paid, I don't care either way. As long as I get paid, I have a roof over my head, and I can feed my family," the Death Watch shrugged. "How's the missus by the way?"

"Doing good, thank you."

G-G cursed internally as he strolled past them. Now it wasn't going to hinder him or his thinking, but he did hate knowing that there were some of these creeps who did have families and lives outside of the Empire.

Coming into another hall, G-G turned his head to his other counterparts giving them a few details on where he was going. And so, the gold-streaked R4 unit strolled off in the center hallway, letting the trio take over from there. Spike accessed the door for the disguised cargo to be pushed through, allowing them open. Inside, there was a small security team monitoring the cameras, who quickly noticed the crates being pushed inside.

"Hey, hey, hey, this isn't an unloading dock! Take it outside!"

Spike snickered a little as he moved away from the door, and backed against the wall. The doors slammed shut, and the trio listened carefully.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

After a moment of silence, Spike opened the door again to check; the officers were down, and the three commando droids were pushing their dead bodies to the side as they took over their seats. Spike, R2, and Cheep rolled inside to stay hidden, locking the doors behind them.

"The security office is under our control, General," the commando droid reported through the coms. "You and the two Jedi can infiltrate without tripping any outside alert systems."

"Excellent," Sunset answered. "Keep your eyes out, we're going to get some suits. If anyone tries to get in, do what you can to defend yourselves and keep the doors sealed."

"Roger roger," the commando replied.

"You're in?" Spike asked.

"Yes sir."

"Great. R2, Cheep, I think we have some searching to do," Spike whispered, leading the way.

The astromechs left the security booth, and moved back down the halls. Spike split off one way, while R2 and Cheep went the other way, to continue their patrol. Now that they were in places to search, the rest of their team could move in to do their parts.

Sandbar's group trudged along another hallway, passing by the troopers and officers without much difficulty or anything hindering their progress. A few stared at Flurry's mismashed armor, but didn't say a word. "Ugh, this thing keeps slipping off, I feel like it's going to drag my pants down," Flurry winced as she tried to keep pushing the armor down on her body. "How do they walk in these?"

"I don't know, how do you wear the shoulder armor?" Sandbar questioned.

"That was modified," Flurry protested. "Shouldn't we be letting the adults in?"

"General Shimmer is nearby the east doors. Make two more turns, left and right, and you will get them inside," one of the commandos said through their com units.

"Thanks guys," Silverstream quietly whispered, obscuring the hidden com on her wrist.

"Don't smile, you're supposed to look sad!" Ocellus shushed.

"Oh, sorry." And immediately Silverstream's small excitement dropped back into a depressing anguish frown.

Following orders, the group of five made their way to the east wing of the base, passing by more officers who were off to do their assignments. Along the way, an Imperial protocol droid stopped in their way, before passively walking by out of fear of Yona and Silverstream.

Footsteps echoed throughout the cold steel floors, with the small accompaniment of chatter from nearby troopers off doing their jobs. There were stares at the two prisoners, but they were kept short, mainly cause of the trio escorting them away.

Finally hitting the east wing, Sandbar used his access card to swipe against the door, letting it open up. Standing outside were Sunset, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, now wearing stolen Imperial officer uniforms. Rainbow Dash had a bit of trouble trying to readjust hers, thanks to the prosthetic limb, so she resorted to straight ripping a sleeve off the uniform just to let her arm come through.

"Great work guys," Sunset whispered as the three Jedi walked in. "Where are you off to now?"

"We need to keep up appearances and get Silver and Yona to the prisoner barracks," Ocellus answered. "But we don't know where that is."

"If you go outside the main doors in the south wing, you should exit outside to the compound area. There are a few tram systems leading to other areas of the facility; including the generators keeping the power running throughout the base, and the fuel refinery," one of the commandos answered.

"Okay, good," Sunset sighed. "Lyra and Bon Bon are at the tarmac looking for a way to dismantle the ships. Hmm..."

"Wait, Sunset, I have an idea," Flurry interrupted. "Um. If you don't mind me pitching," she said, looking down the hallway to make sure no one was spotting them. "If they'll be expecting prisoners, why not have Sandbar take Yona and Silverstream to the camp where they are, while Ocellus and I sneak off to the power generators, leaving you guys to take care of the fuel?"

The three Jedi looked at each other, thinking over this small change in plan.

"I don't see why not," Applejack said, agreeing with the idea.

"Not a bad idea. But stay together, and move fast," Sunset ordered.

"Yes General," Sandbar nodded. "Come on, let's go."

Sandbar led Yona and Silverstream with him as they proceeded to go down a corridor to find their way to the main camp areas. With them gone, Ocellus and Flurry nodded to each other before going off on their own way. Sunset, Rainbow, and Applejack looked at the corridor in front of them. It was out in the open, and knowing the Empire, they would be needed to be checked for identification; and if they had ID'ed Applejack and Rainbow Dash back on Tatooine, they'd be caught in a second.

Seeing another route, Sunset led the two girls up into the ventilation system, crawling on their hands and knees as they proceeded to sneak. Rainbow even closed the hatch behind them just in the nick of time as a trooper passed by that corridor, checking for any weird noises.

RG-G1 strolled through more various sections of the base, most of the environment turning into blurs for him. Every room looked the same, he was thankful to have the commando units instructing him on where to go in some places. Accessing a door, the droid rolled into a red-lit hallway where two Death Watch soldiers stood on guard.

The R4 unit rolled forward and stopped, looking up at them.

"Courier droid? Huh, they never told us about that," one of the soldiers thought.

"They rarely tell us anything," the other soldier snarked before looking at the droid. "Nice streaks droid. Identification?"

G-G flashed a holographic image of the identification code he was supposed to use to sneak around the more restricted areas. The two Death Watch troopers examined the picture, and a few minutes later, the door opened.

"Go on through, just don't interrupt the work flow, some of the guys have lunch in half an hour," the guard said.

"Bwoop boop," G-G acknowledged.

Having access to the facility, the astromech rolled forward and went inside. What he saw made his power core sink. Inside were factory workers, all dressed in orange jumpsuits. Sparks sizzled as machines and parts were assembled, pieces of machinery were loaded and unloaded for inspection. Sweat ran down the heads of the overworked employees, only to keep pushing forward out of fear from the Death Watch soldiers threatening them with the end of a blaster. There were so many prisoners, he couldn’t get an accurate count.

Regardless, he pressed on and went down the middle of the factory where security would walk through to make sure the employees kept up productivity. As instructed, he tilted his head side to side to capture some recordings of what he had seen. His memory circuits did remember some of the files that the Rebels presented, catching a few familiar faces that were working among the others. Most of them were either human, Yakyakiee, or Equestrians. Very small number of other-worldly species here.

But then, out of nowhere he heard something. The sounds of the factory were still clear to his audio receptors, but he swore he heard something that sounded like… singing. He turned his dome around and looked, seeing an Equestrian with dark blue skin and black hair sweating like he was dehydrated and in the sun, forcing himself to turn another bolt with a wrench.

I can't take this kind of pressure
I must confess one more rusty bolt
Would put me down and out

And with his lack of pushing forward, a single Death Watch member shot him straight in the head, right in front of the workers. That only incentivized them to keep on working.

Hopeless

And then someone else started singing; a poor woman with raggedy hair, with gray skin and black stripe patterns on her body.

I just can't, I just can't,
I just can't seem to get started
Don’t have the strength to build these weapons
All my hope’s turned to doubt

Just like the man before, the moment she stopped being productive, she was shot on sight.

Hopeless
And there ain’t nothin’ you can do about it!
Hopeless
Pardon me while I panic!
Hopeless, hopeless, hopeless

“G-G, what’s happening?” Sunset whispered into the com.

“Bwooop…”

Another worker, a man with tan skin and a thick accent started joining the choir.

I come from sweaty Appleloosa
I got my kicks puttin’ fruit on a stick
Every small town from Detrot to Gotto
Macintosh Hills to Phillydelphia
It was a sweet life I had away from the war
Before I got dragged from there to Iago

Shot on sight, and body hit the floor. Until another man started to sing as well, one with a checkered tattoo running down his left eye.

Hopeless

I was gamblin’ in Las Pegasus
I must confess I’m impressed how I did it
I wonder how close that I won
Now I got a hurtin’ sensation
I was prayin’ to God I might have one more chance
Sayin’ goodbye to my girl on Alderaan

The others could hear G-G’s com unit, needless to say they were horrified at what they were hearing. They were Equestrian alright, but the added noise of the blasters and sweatshop conditions were enough to make them all mortified. Sunset’s eyes closed as she tried not to explode, only to feel a small hand reach her fingers; Applejack. Sunset looked back down at Applejack and smiled softly. She was lucky to have her and Rainbow here. Regardless, they had to keep moving….

Another woman working the assembly line sang, with a toolbelt attached to her waist and a hard hat on her head.

Once helped a princess with a wedding
Once helped a princess with a wedding
She was so happy, upbeat and dappy
But slain before the rise of the sun

A slender man, so skinny he looked like he was about to die from starvation joined his fellow slaves with the last few ounces of energy left in his body.

I shot a clone on the warzone
Don’t try and fight, it’s quite hard enough
Just living with the things that I’ve done

Hopeless

With another body collapsed, he was dragged off by the coroner of the factory for another body added to the pile.

A woman with a blackened eye and several cuts on her face, was forced to shove several crates onto a loader all the while dealing with the Death Watch guys hovering over her.

Once knew a pilot from Sunset
He was so funny and sweet as honey
Oh Roddie had pushed me to get
Goji, let’s get you some goodies
Goji, let’s get you some goodies
If only I knew where that pilot had gone
I could have said goodbye at dawn

Hopeless

Once she had them loaded up, she slowly climbed out and got back to her work, desperately trying to avoid being shot at like her fellow co-workers.

The last slave to sing was an older gentleman, probably in his late 70s or 80s, with a gray beard and mustache on his face. Heavy, sad, and weary eyes looked around as he looked at where his workstation would lead; a tread that would drop heavy metals into a massive cylinder to forge more metal.

I worked on some preservation
Who would believe they’d disgrace all the men
Who gave up their will to save the day?

Not waiting for the guards to shoot him, the man just up and rolled himself on the tread with an exhausted face, waiting for his fate to arrive.

Once in an Separatist Nation
I trained the kids on the skids where the boss
Was glad til I heard him say…

He didn’t even wait for the slaves to finish, the Death Watch guards said it for him.

“You’re hopeless.”

And so the man was seen falling off the tread and into the hot cylinder, where all people saw was a large splash of liquid metal engulf him, and nothing more. The poor R4 unit who saw it happen, shivered in fear, whimpering from the sight. They had to get these people out of here, they just had to. Realizing that he was about to attract attention, G-G proceeded further through the assembly room to another set of doors, hoping that these people would be freed from their hell.

Checking the coast was clear, the trio of Jedi climbed out of the vents into an clear hallway where no officers were wandering about. Sunset, Rainbow, and Applejack carefully crept down the corridor, now dressed in the officer’s uniforms that were stripped. There were cameras around, but they were trying their damnest not to be seen. Sunset raised her finger to her ear, tapping her com device.

“Boys how are we doing up there?”

“Main security office is still under control,” the commando droid replied. He looked around, watching as the other two commando droids sat at the control chairs. “Closing all channel circuits and rerouting signals to tactical droid's computer.”

“Good,” Sunset replied. “K2, are you in yet?”

The tactical droid sitting back on the Sweetie Drop turned on the computer monitors within his set up station. “I can monitor all visual security systems from the ship. I have spotted multiple Rebellion prisoners in the detainment cells just up ahead.”

“Great work. Thank you K2,” Sunset nodded. “Keep monitoring and contact us for any hostiles.”

“Affirmative.”

With that confirmation settled, the group continued to move forward down the hallway, blending in with the rest of the guards.

“Ugh, jeez, this uniform’s too small,” Applejack grunted, trying to straighten out the pants.

“Look a little tight on you, AJ,” Rainbow smirked.

“Hush you,” Applejack snapped with a whisper.

They stood in the middle of a hallway with another corridor down on their left. Taking the turn to the left, what they saw made them all freeze in place. The doors were right in front of them, but also in the hall was a cage that had been left behind. A few small toys and boxes were near the cage; and standing on all fours in a relaxed demeanor was a massiff, gazing right at them.

The three women didn’t move, but instead froze in place, questioning if this animal was going to attack. Based on the surroundings, it seemed like it was intended for security purposes; and yet it was just standing there menacingly.

“Suddenly I wish we had Fluttershy right now…” Applejack gulped.

“You have the knockout meat sticks, right?” Sunset asked.

“… didn’t you say you’d bring them?” Rainbow asked.

“No, I told you to bring them,” Sunset whisper grunted.

“So none of us brought anything useful for this situation?” Applejack deadpanned.

“No,” the two veterans whisper-yelled.

The animal didn’t move from it’s current position, still standing there. But what concerned them more was what they could only assume was either drool or foam around it’s mouth.

“I’m no animal expert, but usually when massiffs have foam around their mouths, that means… well, you know…?” Rainbow asked.

“Rabid. With rabies. Fantastic…” Sunset cursed herself.

"So, what do we do?" Applejack asked.

"Well I don't want to kill it. I don't think I can live knowing I killed a massiff," Sunset answered. "Assuming it won't react or move... let's just move past it. And if it gets aggressive, let's just try to calm it down with the Force."

Applejack and Rainbow Dash nodded to each other, and slowly took a step forward. And then another. The animal continued to stand there in place, just looking at them viciously, but it didn't attack. The girls braced themselves for the animal to attack, only to watch as the doors behind it opened up, revealing two Midnight troopers who were walking through, and stopped. The two of them looked at the trio, and then at the massiff.

Sunset felt sweat running down her head; she blew it. She screamed inside, knowing she had blown their cover, and there would be no way of slipping past them. No way these troopers would just buy three random officers they never saw before walking about--

"Is Bruiser bothering you?"

--Or not.

Sunset gulped. "B-Bruiser?"

"Yeah, sorry, he's my guard dog," one of the troopers said, walking over to softly pet its head, making him calm down slightly.

"Um... I dunno if you should pet him, he's, uh... he's got a little somethin' around his mouth there..." Applejack gestured.

"What?" The trooper asked before looking down. "Oh geez, I knew this would happen. I'm sorry about that, officer, I meant to take him outside, I know I shouldn't have him inside, but... look, the other officers are telling me I should put him down, I don't want to do that. He's one of our best guard dogs, I can't just put him down, and besides he hasn't done anything wrong," he apologized, almost sounding like he was about to break down if he was told to kill it.

"Trooper, it's okay. Look, we don't know what the others have been saying, but we aren't going to tell you to euthanize this animal. At best, just take him outside so he doesn't cause harm, or take him to see a vet. I mean, do you even know if he's got rabies?"

"What difference does that make?" The second trooper complained. "You're keeping an animal here that can get us all infected."

"He's not infected!"

"Troopers," Sunset sternly, but calmly said, breaking up any fights between them. "I don't want to believe this animal has rabies; for all we know, this animal could have just eaten a bar of soap. Has he been attacked or bitten by any animals in the past few days?"

"No ma'am."

"Has he been routinely vaccinated and cleaned?"

"Yes ma'am, I just got his shots last week, and I cleaned him this... morning," he facepalmed.

The second trooper groaned. "I keep telling you, do not let that animal eat the soap, and you never listen. 'Oh, he won't think it's a chew toy or a bone'," he mocked.

"Just... take him outside, just to be on the safe side. Don't need to send out an alert for quarantine on a case of false alarm, do we?" Sunset asked, playing the part of the officer in charge.

"No ma'am. I'll take him outside," the trooper answered.

"Good. Now if you'll excuse us, we have work to get back to," Sunset said, slipping past the troopers. Applejack and Rainbow Dash followed behind her, leaving the troopers alone to deal with the massiff.

"Nice work," Rainbow winked, once they were alone.

"Eh, it's just simple improvisation," Sunset shrugged.

The commando droids kept monitoring the security systems, making sure their friends were safe. They locked the doors to ensure no one else could get in, but it would only be a matter of time before someone busted through. One of the commandos tapped into another console, checking for any areas to dispatch troopers to throw them away from the crew, or to better yet, help direct their allies to where they need to go.

"The main power generators are not far from the slave camp," one of the commandos reported, speaking into Sandbar's com-link. "Take the main paths to the camp, and you can split a division through the shallow waters to where the generators are stationed."

"Awesome, thanks! Is anyone giving you any problems?"

"Negative. But K2-B4 has dispatched IG-11 to our location--"

BANG BANG BANG.

"Open up! You aren't supposed to have these doors locked!"

"Uhh, what was that?" Sandbar asked.

And at that moment, the door had been blasted open, slamming down right in the security room. A few troopers charged in, and froze when they saw the commando droids had taken their places. The commandos were ready to fight, but the troopers were faster. The first droid went down, flying on his back and onto the ground. The second one leapt from his chair and swatted at one trooper with a blade, knocking him down for the count. But even with the one trooper taken out, the second one fired again, striking a shot in the chest.

The commando's back arched back with extreme agility, almost like he was about to fall down... only for some bizarre sounds to emit from his circuitry and sent his upper torso standing back up straight, and his fingers armed with a blaster. The commando fired back, taking out the second and third trooper in the process.

"Guys, what's going on out there?"

Realizing they were about to get caught, the commando droid pulled out his blaster and fired a shot at the door, making sure to take out another trooper who was coming. But the troopers kept coming, and there were too many for two commandos to handle. The second commando was taken out, and soon enough, the third one was blasted to pieces, destroying him in the process. The Imperial officer who finished off the last droid quickly dashed up to the consoles, gritting his teeth in anger. Who were these droids, why were they here?

But then he saw something on the camera systems; there was a group of officers walking outside of the base, none of which he had ever seen before. Realizing what was happening, he quickly flipped a silent command, then looked to another camera where some troopers who were on standby. The troopers gathered together and ran down the hallway, moving to intercept.

Sunset, Rainbow, and Applejack were now outside, and watched as a few troopers scouted around the shoreline, making tracks on the sands. They were continuing the scouting, and saw a group of Yakyakiees pushing some more cargo onto a hauler to be sent off to it's destination. Once it was loaded, the driver escorted the cargo away while the Yakyakiees got a thank you with the sound of harsh whippings, and brutal force. Sunset grit her teeth in anger as she watched, but didn't express much else. Pushing forward, the trio continued to search for the fuel line.

"Commandos, you there? We need another route to the fuel supply," Rainbow whispered. All she got on the coms were static. "Commandos?"

"Why aren't they responding?" Applejack whispered back.

"You don't think there's a chance they were found, do you?"

"That's exactly what happened, General Shimmer."

A Death Watch trooper landed in front of the trio, flying down with his jetpack. And then another soldier dropped down. And another. And another. And another. Eight Death Watch troopers surrounded the trio, blasters pointed at them to keep them in place.

"... Great," Sunset growled.

"Do we kill them?"

"No. We take them to the main courtyard. The commander will want to see them," the captain ordered. "Tell the others to keep a look out; we have intruders."

Outside in the tarmac area, various workmen and guards walked about as they kept setting the fighters out onto the empty parking spaces. The pilots who flew in the regular TIEs were eager to give the Defenders the tests they wanted, but hadn't gotten the expressed permission yet, inspections were still necessary to ensure they were 100% functional.

Unbeknownst to any of them, Lyra and Bon Bon kept sneaking around, trying to find a way to disable the fighters. Lyra initially wanted to use her lightsaber, but Bon Bon vetoed the idea, knowing her lightsaber would make too much noise and alert the men of their presence. So Bon Bon settled on simply placing small detonators on the edges of the spots where the wings were connected to the joints. The first one had been set and she activated a small timer that would buy her and their friends enough time just in case.

Moving onto the next one, Bon Bon took to moving up on a ladder to climb into one of the Defenders, checking to make sure no one had seen her. With Lyra Force-lifting some objects at a farther direction, it enticed the nearby guards to go investigate in that area and pull them away from their handiwork. Bon Bon climbed into the cockpit and slipped another detonator, this time placing it under the seat. Climbing out, she rejoined Lyra as the two of them took cover behind some crates to make sure no one saw them. When the coast was clear, the duo made their next run to another Defender.

Lyra saw that the next TIE Defender was available to ruin, and so the duo repeated the same process; pull out a ladder, climb into the ship, place a bomb under the seat, rinse and repeat. They repeated this step for two more vessels, and were about to put another on the next one they saw until--

"Watch your kriffing hands, skids."

Lyra and Bon Bon slowly turned around, hearing a blaster cocked. Several of them. Their eyes were locked onto masse of Death Watch soldiers and Midnight Troopers surrounding them. They were outnumbered, outgunned, and they had no where else to run. Not even the sheer strength of the two of them combined would be enough to take them on, especially after they dropped this little bit of info.

"We already got three of your friends. Unless you like to watch them die, you'll surrender now," one of the guards grunted, shoving the blaster at Bon Bon's chestplate.

Grunting softly, Bon Bon slowly raised her arms up to surrender, and so did Lyra. The two adults kept brave faces, but inside, they were hoping the rest of their friends would be okay.

Sunset, Rainbow, and Applejack were forcefully pushed with their hands behind their backs, cuffs ensured to keep them from escaping. They could see a handful of barracks meant for the Midnight troopers and Death Watch collaborators. Entire groups stood in formation outside, showing their numbers to the captured Jedi.

And unfortunately, the trio could also see Lyra and Bon Bon had been placed on their knees, in the same positions they were about to be in. The three of them were forced to get down on their knees, and with weapons pointed at their heads if they dared move.

“Greeeaaat,” Bon Bon rolled her eyes. “Of all the things to go wrong, it’s the responsible adults who get caught.”

“Relax. We’ve been captured tons of times,” Rainbow shrugged off. “Your people caught me and Applejack at one point.”

“If you think Death Watch represents my people, you’re dead wrong,” Bon Bon sneered with an icy glare. “Just hope the others are fine…”

A pair of boots landed on the ground in front of them; the commanding officer in charge of the base, or at least, one of them. She slowly lifted her helmet, revealing a light green woman with golden fiery hair, and a lightning streak tattoo running down her face.

“I waited for someone to try and break in here. I just didn’t think it’d be you, General Shimmer,” the commander chuckled. “And what do we have here… Applejack and Rainbow Dash. It’s nice to see you again.”

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Star Wars Episode IV, Rise of the Rebellion - FourShadow

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