Star Wars Rebels - Lost

Chapter Fourteen: Speeder Chase

The turbolift zoomed downwards, giving Sabine and Ahsoka a moment of peace to gather their thoughts. With a sigh, Sabine heaved the backpack over a single shoulder, having just been able to retrieve it during the fray of the fight. On the outside she seemed calm, but Ahsoka knew her better than that. In fact, Sabine was beside herself with anger, she couldn't believe that they'd once again been tricked into giving Thrawn exactly what he wanted. He'd lured them to that planet with the droideka on Pillio, having somehow managed to carry the control signal to it, just so he could scan the hyperdrive of their ship for his own escape. He had certainly lost none of his former self in this place.
"I can't believe he outsmarted us again" she seethed quietly, fingers tightly gripped around her westar blasters.
"We will deal with him, don't worry about that, but right now we have to find a way off this ship" Ahsoka answered, turning her head from side to side as she tried to think of a solution to their problem. At that moment, a worrying sight revealed itself from the windows of the lift. The pair saw a huge room, inside the vessel, where thousands of engineers were working on a huge device. The hyperdrive. They already seemed to be close to finishing it, it wouldn't be long until Thrawn used it to escape this place. And then the safety of the New Republic would be at risk.
"We have got to hurry, we need to return to the Gauntlet and figure out a plan to make sure this thing never flies" Ahsoka stated, causing Sabine to nod with agreement. As their conversation drew to a close, so did their journey in the lift. The doors opened, and the pair found themselves faced with a trio of B1 battle droids, looking confusedly at them.
"You're not supposed to be-" one of the droids started, cut off by a blaster bolt straight through the head courtesy of Sabine. The other two droids raised their blasters, but Ahsoka instantly leapt forwards and sliced at their chests in a single killing blow.

The din caused by this brief fight began to gather attention from other droids in this vast room, and slowly but surely, more units started to approach Ahsoka and Sabine, gradually surrounding them.
"Come on! We can't let them cut us off! This way!" the togruta shouted, leading the way and slicing any enemies that got in their way in half. As the droids began to realise what was going on, fiery red laser bolts started flying over the heads of Sabine and Ahsoka. The togruta couldn't help but smile, it was good to see that the aim of these droids had gotten no more accurate. As they continued charging forwards, a large group of B2 super battle droids marched out of several turbolifts ahead of them, cutting them off. Ahsoka slid her feet across the ground as she turned in a different direction, leading Sabine to the side. Every turn they made seemed to bring them closer to a group of droids too large to defeat.
"Ahsoka..." Sabine began with panic.
"I know!" the togruta answered in frustration, it was now or never. They had to find some way out of this ship, or they risked being trapped here permanently. But then, Ahsoka spotted a possible salvation ahead of them.
"Over there! STAP speeders!" she shouted, gesturing to a large group of speeders stationed ahead. Sabine nodded her head, glancing back and firing a shot or two into the mass of droids that were now chasing them. As they ran forwards, Ahsoka opened her palm, using the force to pull down a lever on the wall ahead of them. This deactivated the ray shielding protecting this hangar-like area, giving them approximately ten seconds before the control system realised this error and reactivated the shields. Ahsoka was the first to reach the speeders, her force abilities giving her an enhanced stamina, and she slid onto it, quickly powering it up. Sabine followed a second later, she had never flown a speeder of this model before, but right now was one of those times where complaining was not an option. She flicked several switches on the interface, causing the engines beneath her to power up, and took a deep breath before pushing the flightsticks forwards. Simultaneously, Ahsoka and Sabine flew ahead, blasting out of the hangar at high speed.
"Whoa!" Sabine shouted in surprise, shocked at the speed that these speeders could reach. She glanced backwards to see several B1 units clambering aboard the remaining STAPs. Three of them managed to fly out but then the ray shields reactivated automatically, causing the remaining two speeders to slam into them and explode in a ball of flames. Sabine smiled, for once they were using Thrawn's own weapons against him. But the whistling noise of a laser bolt zooming right past her head brought the Mandalorian back into the moment, they were still being chased by a trio of STAPs. Sabine tried to turn to fire at their pursuers, but was quickly forced to turn forwards once again by the volley of bolts coming her way. She couldn't turn her speeder around to face their opponents without getting shot down herself.
"Ideas?!" Sabine shouted out with panic as another bolt hit her in the back of the helmet. Thank goodness for beskar armour plating.
"My old master had a move for facing these things, phew...may the force be with me" Ahsoka answered, taking a deep breath. Sabine frowned in confusion, but her frown was replaced by a gasp when she glanced to her right and watched her friend's incredible movement. Ahsoka pushed up on her speeder, using it as a launch pad, and propelled herself backwards in a backflip movement. For several tense seconds, she gracefully glided through the air before landing right on top of one of the enemy speeders. The B1 piloting it let out a noise of surprise, but was soon silence by the togruta's blade.
"Holy kriff..." Sabine said slowly, even Kanan had never done anything quite like that before. Ahsoka then flipped herself around, so that she was not even controlling her current speeder, and was facing the final two enemies behind them. One of them attempted to fire at her, but she swiftly deflected the shot, sending the red bolt flying right back at her opponent and causing that speeder to explode immediately. Now there was only one enemy left. But this B1 was clever, or at least as clever as a battle droid could be, and didn't risk firing at its Jedi opponent. Ahsoka smiled confidently, she knew exactly what to do. With a powerful arm, she threw one of her lightsabers forwards, sending it right through the middle of the final speeder and slicing it in half. She called the blade back to her hand with the force, and span back around to take control of her own vehicle as the last enemy crashed onto the ground behind them.
"That was amazing" Sabine commented over the droning noise of the STAP's engines.
"Yes...well...the time to celebrate will come later, for now, we must return to the Gauntlet" Ahsoka responded, and the pair each increased their speed, zooming off into the night.

Compared to the many hours that the previous trip had eaten up, the STAPs managed to cover that same distance in around twenty minute, and by the time Ahsoka and Sabine reached the Gauntlet, they were both exhausted. Thanks to the damage taken in the previous fight, both of their speeders spluttered at the last second and gently collided with the ground just shy of the campfire. The pair clambered out, and slowly walked towards the wreck of the Gauntlet. Sabine couldn't help but yawn when the heat of the campfire hit her aching bones, she was in desperate need of some rest. As they approached their ship, Skorn suddenly walked out, holding his rifle in hand.
"Ah...general...you're uh back...you're probably wondering why there is all of this droid...stuff...on the ground" the clone stated slowly, pointing at the broken limbs of the super battle droids scattered across the ground. Ahsoka glanced at it, before turning back to Skorn.
"In complete honesty Skorn, I'm tired and have got much bigger things on my mind. I didn't even notice them" she said, moving to enter the Gauntlet, but Skorn quickly moved in her way. Ahsoka frowned in suspicion.
"Before you enter I...I would prepare yourselves for a shock" he said, scratching his head idly. Sabine's heartrate suddenly increased tenfold, there was only one possible thing that the commander could be referring to with such mysterious wording. She shoved her way past him, not out of spite, simply out of excitement and a wish to see if her hopes had been met. A huge grin appeared on her face as she scanned the cargo deck, and she laid eyes on a miracle. In the corner of the room, sat lazily on group of crates with that same mischievous smile on his face was the one person in the galaxy Sabine would trust with her life. Ezra Bridger. He looked weak, like he had been woken from several years from sleep, but from a single look she could tell that he was himself once again.
"H-hey 'Bine...long time no see" he said so casually, like nothing had happened at all. Sabine couldn't help it, she ran forwards and embraced him tightly, shocking him a little as he stuttered awkwardly for a second. After a moment, he smiled warmly over her shoulder, and wrapped his arms around her. In an instant, they remembered each other perfectly. For Ezra; it was the faint smell of paint that surrounded Sabine at all times, it was that soft hair with such beautiful and wild colours and it was the fire in her eyes. For Sabine; it was the long head of cobalt hair that had grown so that Ezra looked a little like he did when they'd first met, it was the cheeky grin that seemed to cover his face in every waking moment and it was that undying determination that drove the Jedi to do anything to protect his friends and those he loved. As they continued to hold one other tightly, Sabine couldn't help but think about how much this would boost the boy's ego. At this point she didn't care, she was just over the moon to have him back.
"Heh...if I'd realised all I had to do to get a hug from you was disappear for a few years...well I'd have done it when we first met" Ezra commented in a cocky tone, causing Sabine to roll her eyes with a smile from over his shoulder. They separated, and shared a look that was worth a thousand words. At that moment, Ahsoka and Skorn both entered, and the togruta pulled a look of shock upon seeing Ezra alive and in one piece.
"Ezra?! By the force...you're alright!" she said, a smile plastered on her face. The two shared a brief embrace, by no means as lengthy as Sabine and Ezra's but still full of emotion. This was the reunion that they had imagined, this was the moment that had kept Sabine going, no matter how many times hope was lost. Ezra was back, and now, it was time to take the fight back to Thrawn.      

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