The young woman was having none of that. She merely let out a cry of exasperation and stormed out, leaving Hera to offer her apologies to the base crew.
That night, Sabine gathered a supply bag and snuck out of the Ghost, but not before she jammed Chopper's sensors so he couldn't wake up the others. She went to the airfield and climbed into a prototype A-Wing with a cloaking device, activating it and leaving Yavin.
"I'm coming, Ezra."
On an Imperial shuttle, Thrawn calmly stretched his fingers while the Doctor examined something in a cage. "I take it the procedure was successful? I have yet to see the results."
The Doctor nodded frantically. "Oh yes, yes. A resounding success. The formula created the perfect super soldier. Isn't that right, Mr. Bridger?"
There was a hissing sound and the snapping of jaws from inside the cage, making Thrawn question the validity of the Doctor's statements.
Xandin was a somewhat normal world, it's primarily-forested landscape only occasionally blemished by snow-capped mountains or an ocean. It looked beautiful from space, possibly the inspiration for many scenery paintings in different corners of the galaxy.
When Sabine's ship exited lightspeed, she saw a surprisingly small Imperial blockade: One ISD, two Acclamators, and two Arquitens.
The Mandalorian activated her ship's cloaking device and snuck past the blockade, landing in a heavily forested area. She scanned within a 100 kilometer radius and detected a large unnatural obstruction a mere 5 kliks away.
That had to be the Imperial facility.
Where Ezra was being held.
Sabine trudged all the way to the edge of the forest and saw a large building towering over the flat grasslands. She examined the terrain through a pair of macrobinoculars and was confused by what she saw.
The facility had no exterior guards.
Hera was right. This could very well have been a trap.
"Damnit."
It was too late to retreat now, and Hera would probably kill her if she called in for reinforcements, so Sabine decided to just follow through. She walked across the plain right up to the facility's main gate. Much to her surprise, it seemed to open on its own. She walked in to find a large courtyard, overlooked by the facility's main command tower. On the far end was a large cage, it's interior too dark for Sabine to see what was inside.
All of a sudden, an amplified voice echoed across the courtyard via an intercom system.
"Greetings, Miss Wren. I presume you're here for your Jedi friend. He's in the cage in front of you. You're free to take him and leave."
Thrawn.
"I'm unable to hear you from up here, so don't bother trying to respond", the Chiss quickly added.
Sabine slowly drew one of her blasters and walked up to the cage. "Ezra? You in there?"
The only response she heard was a soft hiss, followed by a pair of glowing blue eyes opening. Sabine took a step back.
It wasn't Ezra.
It was some kind of animal. The beast moved forward and revealed itself to be a giant serpent with orange and white scales. What surprised Sabine was that it had two humanoid arms on its underbelly.
"What the...?"
The snake didn't attack, merely positioning itself upright and waiting.
"Your disbelief is understandable, Miss Wren", Thrawn sneered, "But that is young Mr. Bridger. He is the first in a new breed of living Imperial weaponry. All I have to do is give the command signal."
Monster
Zacznij od początku
