Star Wars Rebels - Odyssey

Chapter 3: Ord Mantell

The Ghost's engines exploded to life as Hera began the lift-off process from the cockpit.  The Phantom was docked and secure, complete with all of the Imperial logos it would need and the crew were all gathered on the bridge.  Hera expertly brought the ship into an ascent and flew it out of the planet's atmosphere marking the end of break time and the beginning of the next fight.  As they re-entered the vast emptiness of space, Hera activated the hyperdrive with the flick of a lever and sent the Ghost hurtling towards Ord Mantell.  She then stood up to face the crew and set the ship on autopilot.  "Alright, it'll be a good couple of hours until we reach Ord Mantell so I recommend you all make final preparations and get some rest because I get the feeling we're gonna need it" she suggested causing the group to split apart.  Zeb headed to the storage bay where he'd set up a rudimentary target range and began to test his skills with his new rifle on some unlucky dummy drones.  Hera climbed up to the Phantom and started checking all of the systems to make sure the crew wouldn't get stranded on Olansk Station.  Kanan watched his training holocrons one more time while Chopper pottered around staying by his side.  Finally Sabine and Ezra both set off in the direction of their rooms which were opposite of one another, still not saying a word.  Just as Ezra was about to seal off his room, Sabine tapped him on the back.  "I think we need to talk about what happened, we can't go on ignoring each other.  Come to my room and we can get a snack and have a chat" she offered making him nod and follow her.

Sabine's room was unrecognizable as part of the Ghost, nearly every surface had been painted in one bright colour or another creating a happy atmosphere.  She pointed Ezra over to a seat with huge splatters of yellow paint on it and he sat down as she opened her fridge and brought them some snacks and drinks.  She passed him the snacks and he thanked her while his heart raced and almost beat out of his chest.  She quickly sat down on a chair opposite him with a similar red paint splatter on its back.  "Okay, so first of all, I'd like to thank you for the holo-image from the bottom of my heart.  I've been looking at it non-stop when I've had a chance and it means a lot" she stated pointing over to a small holo-chip that was sat on a table on the other side of the room.  "Hey, you did the same for me a long time ago" Ezra replied thinking back to Empire Day on Lothal, an adventure from a distant time.  "Also, thanks for spending Christmas with me.  The snowball fight and the star spotting were brilliant memories that I'll treasure forever" she continued.  "Me too" he interjected quickly before allowing her to continue her statement once more.  "And finally, waking up in your arms was an entirely new experience and I should...should have felt uncomfortable but for some reason, and I can't quite say yet, but for some reason I didn't.  I'd appreciate us staying as good friends like we always have been for now and then after this mission...maybe we'll see what happens" she concluded waiting desperately for an answer.  "Good idea, and by the way...I'm glad we're talking again.  It was horrible passing you silently Sabine" he answered whilst taking a sip of the drink.  "Me too Ezra" she replied sitting back in her chair and relaxing a little for the first time that day.  They continued chatting for hours and things went back to how they'd always been for a short and golden time.  But that didn't last.     

A couple of hours later, the pair were jolted out of their seats as the ship rocked mercilessly. "We're out of hyperspace!" Hera shouted from the bridge causing the two of them to rush out of the room towards the cockpit. Ahead of them lay Ord Mantell, a huge mass of deep blue oceans and scorched drylands. They zoomed towards the planet and entered the atmosphere within seconds, heading straight for the capital, Worldport. Worldport was a sprawling city of trade, rife with markets, cantinas and backstreet sellers working to gain a profit on the black market. Hera carefully guided the Ghost towards the nearest landing platform, a large circular arena of sandstone with a clear space in its centre for a ship to park. They touched down with a gentle bump and so the mission began. Hera and Chopper remained in the Ghost while the others all left for the cantina where they were supposed to meet their contact. They left the relative safety of the landing pad and entered a bustling city street and Kanan turned to Zeb, Ezra and Sabine. "Alright, in short the Empire has special scanners that will register us as enemies regardless of whether we're in uniform or not and in order to avoid these we'll need the chips that stormtroopers have embedded within them. Don't worry, we don't need to stick 'em in our brains or anything, just having them on us will suffice" he explained in a quiet tone as they began to walk down the street covered by brown and manky cloaks. The trio nodded at him and followed his lead as they searched for the right cantina. Ezra looked all around him, amazed by the sheer variation of different species that lived and traded here. From Rodians to Ishi-Tibbs, there was no shortage of strange and wonderful species here. After a few minutes they found the cantina and looked up to see the sign, "Lady Fate Casino". As they entered the establishment, Kanan uttered one more bit of advice. "Apparently this is quite a well-known social spot so try to look inconspicuous and let's just get out of here as soon as possible" he said whilst adjusting his cloak so that it covered him more. "You try looking inconspicuous in bright pink Mandalorian armour with only a cloak covering you" Sabine muttered as the doors opened with a hiss. Inside, strange jazz music filled the air and the mood was both joyful and tense at the same time. At least fifty different patrons sat at the bar drinking or at the tables playing numerous normally outlawed gambling games. A few of the bar residents looked back as the crew entered but most were too preoccupied or simply too drunk to care so they went relatively unnoticed. "Who is our contact anyway?" Zeb asked whilst trying not to stare at the many odd-looking denizens of the casino. "He's...a bit of a wildcard, I'm not even sure he'll be here, he's not known for his reliability but when he's got his head on straight there's none better" Kanan replied cryptically clearly not wanting to utter his name out loud. They stood in the centre of the room looking furtively for their contact when at last a man sat in the corner waved them over. He was sat alone at the table drinking a soft drink and on closer inspection it was clear to see that their contact was not man but boy, no more than seventeen years old. "Welcome, welcome. I presume you're the ones I'm supposed to meet here judging by your lost faces and ahem unusual armour" he said looking at Sabine's torso and gaining a glare from her. "The name's Han Solo and somewhere around here, probably getting sloshed, is my wookies associate Chewbacca" he continued with a sly grin. Kanan sat down opposite him while the rest of the crew remained stood up. "My name's Karlos and this is my team, now we haven't got much time. Did you manage to acquire what we requested?" Kanan asked, impressed by his ability to blend in with the locals. Han sat forward a little and looked around warily before placing four small metal chips on the table. "Not easy to get but...well let's just say the Imperials should invest in bigger locks for their warehouses" he stated. "There's no chance they'll catch on that these are stolen is there?" Kanan asked. "None at all, Chewie and I did the job all stealth-like for ya. Now down to the real important part, we agreed on five hundred credits for the four of them" Han replied reassuringly. "Yeah, I've got the payment right here, don't you worry smuggler" Kanan answered, placing a large pouch of credits on the table and taking the chips into his pocket. "Huh, I didn't expect that to be so easy, people I usually work for aren't so...honest. Well, it's good doing business with you and from what I heard the guards at that warehouse saying, you just need to have those chips activated in your pocket for them to work" Han concluded before standing up and waving the crew goodbye as he joined a large wookie at the bar. Kanan stood up before ushering the crew out for a hasty exit. As the door closed behind them they heard sounds of fighting and laser bolts from within and the roar of an angry wookie. "Good job we got out when we did, told you he was the best when he put his mind to it" Kanan said as they walked back the way they'd come. "I didn't like him one bit" Sabine remarked in a sulky tone. "Me neither" Ezra piled on. "Well it's done with now, next we have to break into an Imperial station without raising suspicions, ought to be easy" Kanan remarked sarcastically as they returned to the Ghost.