Star Wars Rebels - Lost

Chapter Fifteen: Battle Preparations

"So...let me get this straight, not only did Thrawn survive that crash, he's spent the last few years building up an army of Clone Wars era droids and now the fate of the galaxy is in our hands...the four of us...stood in the middle of a shipwreck..." Ezra asked rhetorically, stood in the centre of the cargo bay with his arms folded. The group had spent the last quarter of an hour bringing him back up to speed; explaining the downfall of the Empire, the Battle over Jakku that was currently raging and the more recent events involving their old friend Thrawn. They all silently nodded at Ezra's statement, unsure of quite what his reaction to this news would be.
"Well...it's just like old times then isn't it?" Bridger said with a smile, causing Sabine to shake her head with a grin. It was amazing how little he'd changed, despite everything.
"Alright...so this admiral wants power, and he has the forces to gain it. What's our play general?" Skorn asked from the corner, having spent much of the previous conversations fiddling with his rifle in the background.
"We don't the firepower to attack that frigate from the outside, nor do we have any form of long range communications to contact somebody in known space and warn them. Whatever we do, it has to be from inside Thrawn's ship" Sabine explained.
"So we have to find a way on board..." Ezra concluded with a grimace, the Mandalorian nodded. This statement filled the room with silence, as each member of the team solemnly tried to come up with a way to get themselves on board the frigate without being detected by the army of droids. Then they would somehow have to make their way to the control deck, find a way to disable the vessel or at the very least send a signal to their allies in the New Republic. And to top it all off, they would have to make it off the ship again alive. Not an easy task at the best of times, and all of that wasn't even taking into account the fact that this ship was under the command of Grand Admiral Thrawn. That crafty admiral would probably have a hundred countermeasures in place to prevent what they were planning from ever being possible. It was a suicide mission.
"We could...use the Gauntlet" Sabine suggested slowly, stroking her tan chin in thought.
"Skorn? Is that possible?" Ahsoka questioned.
"Well...looking at the pieces you managed to bring back with you, we should be able to repair the ship so that it can function. However...we don't have enough capacitators to bring the shield generator back online, whatever we do, there's no way that the Gauntlet can break atmosphere" the commander explained. There was hope, whatever plan they concocted, it had to get them onto Thrawn's ship before he entered space.
"Evacuation tunnel!" Ahsoka shouted with a sudden epiphany.
"Excuse me?" Ezra said in confusion, he wasn't sure if she was onto something or is she'd just finally gone mad.
"No...she's right, in Munificent class star-frigates there's a built in evacuation tunnel for emergencies. High level operatives would fly their personal shuttles out of them if the hangars were compromised. It's depressurised, so we'd need the Gauntlet to get through, but in theory...it should give us access to the interior of the ship" Sabine explained, pacing up and down.
"And from there, we just need to take a turbolift up to the bridge, kill Thrawn, and personally ensure that the ship never makes it to the New Republic" Ezra finished in realisation. They had a plan.
"That...that could work. The Gauntlet needs some work to survive that tunnel, but if we flew right through there as the frigate was leaving the atmosphere, we ought to be protected by their shields. We could sneak right in" Skorn commented, nodding his head in approval of the plan.
"Okay people, we have a plan of action, now let's make it happen. We'll take shifts on repairing this junk-pile, anybody who's not on repair duty, get some rest, it's gonna be quite a fight we've got ahead of us. Let's do this" Ahsoka ordered, truly fulfilling her role as 'the general'.
"Hah...cue the montage" Ezra quipped, grabbing a nearby welding mask with a grin. And so, they set to work.

Work on the Gauntlet was tough, with a lot of its hull having been torn away in the crash. In her expertise, Sabine had managed to use the few power capacitators that they'd scavenged to create a temporary shield to account for the gaps in the hull. There weren't enough capacitators to power a full ship-wide shield, but here they had been put to good use. Skorn aided the Mandalorian, using his limited technical expertise to help her establish the shield matrices. It was long and difficult work, repetitive to the point of boredom, but everybody knew what was at stake here. Meanwhile, Ahsoka used her own knowledge to tutor Ezra, the pair of them busily working together to fix the 'beyond repair' engines. If there was one thing that Phoenix Squadron was good at, it was making a plan work out of nothing.
"N-no Ezra...not that circuit...no, no the one to your right...no, yes that one" the togruta said, looking over his shoulder as he welded away.
"Okay...I respect Sabine even more now...this stuff is difficult!" Bridger commented from behind the mask, causing Ahsoka to smile a little. Skorn and Sabine's work with the shields encountered many problems, and the response was always the same. The Mandalorian would swear, physically beat the power capacitators in frustration, and then quickly realise her mistake and correct it so that they began functioning again.
"Skorn?! Skorn hit the red button! Quickly!" Sabine shouted, unable to move as she held down a vital lever. The commander looked over the capacitor and gave a confused look.
"Which red button?! There are six?!" he shouted in return.
"The big one! If you don't press it then the power cells erupt and we all die horrible deaths, hurry up!" The Mandalorian explained in panic. Skorn rolled his eyes, the one time he was actually supposed to press the big scary-looking red button. As he pressed it down, the capacitator made a hissing noise for several seconds, before calming down and allowing Sabine to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Out of curiosity...how long did we have?" the clone asked.
"Seconds" Sabine answered casually, letting go of the lever.
"Seconds...right...okay then" Skorn said slowly, walking away with a look of shock and fear on his face.

By the time the ship had been repaired, there were very few hours of night-time left. At dawn, they would put their foolhardy plan into action, and no matter what happened then, there would be no way they'd ever return to this planet. Now they were left with several hours of quiet. Skorn took this opportunity to have a well-earned rest, sleeping atop several cargo crates that he had lined up next to one another, with a thin woollen blanket covering him. His snores filled the entire ship. Ahsoka, meanwhile, was using this precious time to meditate on the events to come, calming her mind in preparation. She knew that she had to be at her best to face Thrawn and his forces. Neither Sabine nor Ezra felt particularly tired now when it came down to it, the adrenaline of the repairs had left them eager for battle. And Ezra certainly didn't feel like meditating at a time like this. So the pair of them spent the time sat on top of the shuttle talking, partly to look at the view of the stars above them, but also partly to escape the symphony of Skorn's night-time snoring.
"I'm sorry" Sabine suddenly said out of nowhere, breaking a long silence and causing Ezra to frown in confusion.
"Sorry? For what?" he asked.
"I'm sorry about what you've returned to. I...I can't imagine it...you sacrificed everything, and here you are, greeted after so long by another fight...another threat" the Mandalorian explained. Ezra sighed.
"Yeah...I suppose...it's been so long since I haven't had to fight though...don't know how I'd manage a peaceful life" he admitted. It was true, he'd been on his own since he was eight years old, and then even when he joined the crew of the Ghost, every day brought a new battle. Yes there were blissful moments, but they had always been few and far between, with the dark shadow of the Empire constantly looming over them. Even now, when the imperials were apparently near defeat, they still could not rest.
"Hm...maybe one day we'll find out...still, I suppose I should be fortunate for the last few years...I've had some quiet times...by our standards" Sabine stated, almost in shame, comparing herself to Ezra's past few years. Bridger looked up and turned to her, taking her hand into his.
"That's not what I've heard...Ahsoka told me what you did, staying on Lothal...to protect it from the imperials like some guardian angel. Thank you" he said in sincerity. No cocky comment this time, just serious gratitude.
"I-I suppose so...I wouldn't use the word angel though" Sabine said with a small chuckle.
"I would" Ezra muttered under his breath, hoping that it was too quiet for his friend to hear. It wasn't. After several seconds of awkward tension, he let go of her hands and returned to looking up at the stars. Minutes felt like hours. But any awkwardness soon disappeared, and even in silence, the two simply relished in the luxury of one another's company. Before long, despite the incredible discomfort that laying down on the top of the Gauntlet provided, they both fell asleep with exhaustion. Their respite would be short-lived, ahead of them was the final push, the last battle before the finishing line. Ezra had decided that it would indeed be his last battle, no matter what happened tomorrow, he wouldn't raise a weapon again after it. And just like breath on a mirror, the night before the battle passed away quickly, and dawn arrived.