Star Wars Rebels - Lost

Chapter Thirteen: Old Foes

"The admiral demands your presence" the B1 stated in an authoritative tone, causing Ahsoka and Sabine to gulp. The Mandalorian's hands slowly reached down her leg, grasping carefully around the triggers of her holstered blaster pistols, but Ahsoka shook her head. There was no way that they could take on this many droids. Times like this it paid to act like a Jedi, step confidently into the lair of one's enemies.
"We will come quietly" the togruta said calmly, eyeing up her surroundings before slowly strolling up to the officer droid. The officer turned its head towards Sabine, who sighed and nodded in agreement, following behind. The droidekas parted, letting the pair walk through them as they followed the officer droid. It was only now that they noticed an entire army of B2 super battle droids, hidden just out of sight. Enough soldiers to easily kill the two of them, so for some reason or another, the admiral wanted them alive. Sabine swore that when she saw that sleemo Chiss again, she'd put a blaster bolt straight through his head, and watch it burn through to his skull. A little extreme perhaps, but he had been personally responsible for some of the worst moments of her life. And for that, he would pay. Ahsoka could sense her friend's anger, even at the mere mention of the admiral, Sabine was at boiling point. Her fists were clenched at her side as they were escorted past rank upon rank of droids. The togruta knew it would do little to calm Sabine's demeanour, but regardless she used the force to send a small wave of calmness to her friend, if only to keep her focused for what was to come.

The pair were marched for miles and miles, through many hours of the day, the constant clanking of metal feet all around them the entire time. Ahsoka managed to enter an almost meditative state during the journey, her mind absent as her body simply walked forwards. Sabine did not have that luxury. The whole time for her was spent imagining breaking free of the shackles that they had not so gracefully been forced into and blasting every single one of the droids here. Perhaps this was a mere fantasy, but she was sure that the anger driving her right now would allow her to take out at least half of this army, if not more. However, she never got the chance.

After what seemed like a lifetime, the group finally ascended over a small hillock, and the view from the top of it shocked even Ahsoka, forcing her out of her meditation. Sabine gasped at the sight in front of her. A massive Separatist warship stood before them, a machine of war and death, colossal in size and scale. But unlike the other ships here, this was no wreck. The bulky hull of this vessel was suspended in the air, and hundreds of droid engineers welded at its exterior, repairing it in every sense of the word. By the looks of it, the ship seemed ready to go into space at that very moment. Ahsoka recognised the model of ship immediately, a Munificent-class star frigate, but this ship had been heavily modified, it was almost twice the size of a normal vessel of this type. It was armed to the teeth, covered in hundreds of heavy turbolasers that could tear apart an entire fleet. In short, it was an invasion waiting to happen.
"Look at the size of that thing..." Sabine whispered in awe, a little afraid at the power before her.
"If Thrawn made it back into known space with that vessel...he could slaughter the cosmos" Ahsoka answered, but both of them were suddenly whacked in the back by super battle droids.
"Prisoners will remain silent" the droids muttered in unison, and the pair shared a worried glance. What had they gotten themselves into this time?

Meanwhile, back at the Gauntlet, night was beginning to fall, and Skorn could not help but find himself worried. The scavenging team had been gone for far too long, and before they had set out they had agreed to be back by nightfall at the latest. Something had happened. It must have done. He longed to rush out into the shadows immediately and find them, but he had his duty, he had to protect the boy. Speaking of which, it was time for him to do his routine check. The clone pulled himself aside from the rudimentary campfire that he had set up outside the ship, and walked inside, standing over Ezra. The boy was sleeping soundly, no rapid convulsions or variations in heart rate, that was a good sign. Skorn had seen some of his best men reduced to gibbering maniacs thanks to that damn plant, the general seemed to be right when she had said that Ezra was strong. He might just pull through after all. Suddenly, the clone heard a noise from outside, a sort of scuffling sound. With a suspicious frown, he grabbed his rifle from its position on the wall nearby, and slowly walked outside. The night was dark, and without the flashlight on his helmet, Skorn could only see as far as the light from the campfire allowed him. After several seconds of silence, he heard a whirring sound from nearby, and the rustling of leaves after that. Something was out there.