Stowaway: A Star Wars Rebels Story

Friends Old and New

"I saw your mark, old friend," Sabine addressed the lady in front of us. "Friend? That's a generous term, considering what happened," Ketsu countered, prepared to bring up their history. "Still a bounty hunter, I see." "Tell me you don't miss it." "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You were a bounty hunter? That explains a lot," Ezra chimed in. "I don't think Ketsu's here for a reunion," Sabine pointed out. "You know me well. I'm just here for the droid," Ketsu said, revealing her motives. Chopper beeped in fear, but Ezra told him that he's not the droid she's looking for. "So Sabine, how do you know her?" I asked, wondering how these two explosive personalities were able to work together. "She never told you how we broke out of the Imperial Academy?" Ketsu answered, sort of. "That was a long time ago. Before you got greedy and left me for dead," Sabine snapped. "You'd have been better off dead than joining this band of rebels. I didn't believe it until I saw the Empire put a bounty on you," Ketsu taunted. "You gonna try and collect on it?" Sabine wondered, testing to see where her old friend's loyalties lie. "Haven't decided yet. Besides, I work for the Black Sun now, and I have another job to finish first," Ketsu said, standing by her claim. "I can't let you do that," Sabine responded. Tensions were rising fast and a fight was about to break out. The situation needed to be eased quickly. Ezra thought the same thing and spoke up. "How about we all relax before-" "You there," a stormtrooper interrupted. "-that happens." "Citizens, what's going on here? There's a curfew on this hangar. You need to leave immediately," the squad leader stated. "Don't interrupt us!" Ketsu said, enraged by this intrusion. She pulled out her blaster and shot towards the stormtroopers. We all did the same and took cover from the incoming onslaught of laser fire. I took out a trooper shooting towards us, but I saw reinforcements coming fast. "Ezra, we need to get that droid out of here," I stressed. "Good point. Chopper, get Boxy here onto that shuttle," he ordered. Chopper saluted us and led the gonk droid onto the shuttle. "Sabine, go!" Ezra shouted. She quickly nodded and made for the shuttle. I provided some cover fire to distract the stormtroopers, some of whom were aiming towards the shuttle. "Go help her, I'll find another way," I said. Ezra shot some stun bolts, drawing the attention towards him as the shuttle was taking off. Unfortunately, his vantage point was lost when a trooper accurately aimed at the open door, knocking him onto the hangar roof.

Now it was just me and Ketsu against the remaining stormtroopers. "There's no escape, we have you surrounded," one of the troopers threatened us. "Hello boys, I'm afraid this has all been a terrible misunderstanding," Ketsu mocked, flaunting her ability in front of her overmatched enemies. "One that you're gonna answer for. Now drop your weapons," another trooper said. I didn't move a muscle, noticing there was a trooper behind me with his blaster pointed at my back. Ketsu walked towards the troopers, then used the spear feature on her blaster to vault into the air, drawing their attention. Using this window of opportunity, I sent a high kick to the trooper behind me, making him stumble backward, then followed that with a right hook to knock him out. Ketsu quickly dealt with the other three stormtroopers before jumping away. With the danger now gone, I looked for Ezra and found him standing on top of the roof. "Ezra! Get down here!" I called out to him. "Okay, just give me a minute!" He shouted back. I waited until he got out through an air vent, but not before noticing a ship take off from another hangar. He eventually jumped down next to me, but Ketsu was hot on Sabine's tail. "Let's get back to the Ghost, quickly. Sabine is being chased and we have to help her," I punctuated. "Agreed. Contact Hera and let her know we're Sabine's reinforcements," Ezra added. As we started running towards our ship, I pulled out my comlink and began my message. "Hera, this is Y/N, we're en route to the Ghost," I said. "We talked about this, callsigns only," she explained. She was very restrictive with this new military protocol, but that didn't matter at the moment. "I never got one. Anyways, Sabine needs our help. Get the Phantom ready to fly," I responded. "Negative. So far nothing indicates that she has attracted the Empire's attention, and she can handle herself," Hera said. "We kind of already did AND a bounty hunter is going after her. Trust me, she needs all the help she can get," I countered. Hera sighed before speaking again. "Copy that, I'll have it prepped soon." "Thank you," I replied, ending the channel. "What was that about?" Ezra asked. "I have no idea, but let's hurry," I recommended. Picking up the pace, we eventually made it back to our bay. Ezra waved at Hera, signaling for her to lower the ramp. We climbed up to the cockpit and stopped briefly. "Hera, is everything ready?" Ezra asked the captain. "Yes, you're clear to go. But PLEASE, keep a low profile. No need to attract attention if you don't have to," she warned us. "Got it. Thanks," I replied. Running through the doors, we then climbed up the ladder to the Phantom. Ezra got in the pilot's seat and started his ascent into space, much smoother this time. Let's go help our crewmate.