Stowaway: A Star Wars Rebels Story

Creatures of the Beyond

"You see? If we shot at the purrgil, we wouldn't have had-" Kanan said before Hera shut the internal comms off. She sighed out of what sounded like relief but really was just her insistence on the purrgils being deadly creatures. "Those fighters were Mining Guild. They must be from the refinery," Sabine pointed out. "You think you can track where they came from?" Hera asked. "Maybe, give me a minute," Sabine said. Kanan then walked through the cockpit doors to get his point across again. "As I was saying, it's a good thing we didn't waste energy shooting at the purrgil." "I heard you the first time," Hera said, brushing him off. It was then the purrgils made a noise and changed course. "Something's happening. They're turning around, I think we should follow them," Ezra announced. Hera heavily disagreed with this, however. "Following them is the last thing we should do. Sabine, did you find out where the fighters came from yet?" "I did," Sabine answered. "And?" Hera asked. "Follow the purrgil," Sabine said. I audibly laughed at Hera's misfortune, and I ended up drawing an annoyed glare from her. "Yeah, I hate to tell you this, but the purrgil are heading right where I calculated those fighters came from," Sabine confirmed. "That's so interesting!" Kanan and I exclaimed in unison, much to the Twi-Lek's chagrin. "Alright. I guess for now we follow the purrgil," she resigned. She hit the accelerator and went in the direction of the space whales. "Hey, for what it's worth, I've got a good feeling about this," Ezra reassured. "Go check your cabins and make sure everything is switched off. We gotta save every little bit of fuel," Hera ordered. Like the rest of the crew, I went to my quarters and made sure nothing was siphoning our little energy remaining. Fortunately, there wasn't anything to power down, so I returned to the cockpit only to find out the doors wouldn't open. I tried to claw away at the middle, but neither side would budge. I heard a hiss coming from behind me and saw Zeb emerge from his cabin. "A little help?" I said. The Lasat took my place and eventually forced the doors open, leaving a little space for everyone to walk under. " The automatic doors aren't so automatic anymore," he grumbled. "I've rationed what energy we have left," Hera said. "What's your next move?" Kanan asked. "I want to get a secure position to plan our attack. Sabine and Chopper, ready a short and controlled burst of the engines...now!" Hera ordered. The Ghost moved rapidly towards the refinery until Hera gave the command to slow down the ship, landing on a nearby smaller asteroid.

"So how exactly are we gonna pull off this raid with our limited resources?" Zeb questioned. "Well, give me a second and I'll tell you," Sabine said curtly. She grabbed a pair of nearby electrobinoculars and scanned the refinery. "More fighters, not good. Anti-ship cannon, also not good," she analyzed. We waited a little longer until she found something else. "Aha. There's the Empire's shipment. Okay. Lots of guards around, but I think we can drop down there, scoop it up, and go," Sabine suggested. "Forget the scoop job. We have just barely enough fuel to get down there. We'll have to land," Hera said, creating a potential problem within our plan. "Refuel on the platform? They'll blast us to bits. We need a diversion," I pointed out. Too many guards meant we would be exposed to heavy blaster fire, and the anti-ship cannon certainly didn't help either. "I've got one. The gas in that pool is unrefined Clouzon-36. Highly explosive in its pure form. We drop a few charges, the blast will provide all the diversion we need," Sabine devised. "In the chaos, we grab the fuel," Kanan added. "And that huge fireball will destroy the Empire's ability to refine more. I like it," Hera agreed. "Ezra, you hear the plan?" The Padawan was lost in whatever sights he was seeing. "Yeah, sure." He lowered the electrobinoculars and tried to piece something together. "They're using the cannon to shoot the purrgil. Why would they bother?" "Speaking of, how do we get past that gun undetected?" Sabine asked. The Ghost was too big and loud to land on the platform without being heard by the refinery workers. "We jump," Kanan said without hesitation. All of us looked at him, double-checking if we heard him correctly. "We're in the upper atmosphere. We can glide in on the catwalk. With all the purrgil around, we can probably slip by unseen," he explained. "Sounds like a dangerous plan," Zeb remarked. "Don't worry, buddy. You and Y/N are staying here," Kanan said. "Sounds like a great plan," I replied. We all went to prepare for the mission. Thanks to Hera, the automatic doors were briefly online and it allowed me to make it to the Phantom. Once inside, I reached for an overhead compartment and found two breathing masks. Zeb and I needed these as we were the only ones without helmets that would be going out on the platform. Climbing back down, I got word that Kanan, Sabine, Ezra, and Chopper had jumped, and all we could do now was wait for an explosion.