As Ezra dived into the gateway created by the moving pictures of the Loth-wolves, he couldn't even conceive what he would find on the other side. As he stood up, he first realized that the stormtroopers didn't follow him, but then he turned around and his mind almost melted.
Aside from the circular door that he had used to escape, he now found himself in what seemed dark space, since he could see the stars around him, but there were white lines that seemed to define paths, like they were corridors on a floating structure.
He dematerialized his helmet and noticed that he could breathe.
In the distance, he could spot other of those gates, but what unsettled him were the various voices that murmured all around him. Some of them he thought they were familiar, some things he thought he had already though in real life and some he had no clue about.
He started to walk, trying to figure where he was, but he could only hear those voices, while the floor beneath him (if it could even be called floor, since there was nothing, created small waves for every step he took, like if it was made of water.
He kept going. He noticed that there was always a specific voice coming from any gateway that he surpassed, but he couldn't see anything in particular.
He continued until he spotted another being: a convor, a type of bird that was always around Ahsoka when she was on Atollon, as he had noted to Sabine while he and her were trying to interpret the new mural discovered by the Imperials.
"Hey, I've seen you before." Ezra said. "How did you get here?" he asked.
The bird hooted.
"Can you help me?" Ezra asked, since the convor seemed to understand him. "I was sent here, but I'm not sure why."
The bird hooted again, and this time, the portal it was standing on illuminated itself. It was composed by the circular gate, but was surrounded by a triangle and various signs along the two forms' borders. The white contours suddenly were bathed in a blue light and the void space inside of the circle became red.
Ezra squinted his eyes. Something was taking form inside of that circle.
A red lightsaber was ignited, and Ezra finally recognized what that was.
He was looking at the moment Ahsoka died. Both the Togruta and Darth Vader were in front of him. The young man watched in absolute disbelief as he revived that moments. He saw himself when he tried to go back to save Ahsoka, but Jaral had kept him back and even Ahsoka pushed them away a bit until the top of the Sith temple collapsed, separating the two parts.
Vader lifted his sword and bore it down on Ahsoka, who still managed to ignite her white lightsabers and parry the hit even when she was giving her back to the Sith Lord.
Ezra kept watching as the two dueled, and until Ahsoka was right at an arm's length away from him.
The convor squawked in a hurry.
Ezra thought he understood, but he didn't know if he could believe it.
Until he saw Ahsoka being completely vulnerable to Vader's saber.
"Ahsoka!" he yelled, and extended his arm toward the gate with a jolt. To his great surprise, he actually managed to enter it and grab Ahsoka's shoulder, then he yanked her back with a thrust.
Some strange shards of glass (at least they seemed like that) came back with Ahsoka, so Ezra immediately materialized his helmet and used the inertia of launching Ahsoka to get down on the floor and protect himself.
After making sure everything was clear, he raised his head slowly, afraid that this might have been all a dream.
Yet, when he looked in the opposite direction of the gate, he actually saw Ahsoka, who was just starting to regain her senses. He was only able to watch in disbelief as the Togruta slowly pulled her self up on her knees and massaged her head, while the hilts of her lightsabers were still in her hands.
"Ahsoka?" he finally dared.
The Togruta turned around, looking as confused as him.
"Ezra?" she asked in disbelief as well.
"You look...wait, where are we? What happened?" she asked as she stood up.
"You were fighting Vader. I thought he was about to...so I pulled you out of there." Ezra explained the few things that he understood of all this affair.
Ahsoka murmured "Anakin." with a sense of melancholy, then watched behind Ezra's back and saw the convor, which hooted at her.
"Morai? You're here?" she asked as if it wasn't all that incredible for her.
The bird flew from the edge of the gate on Ahsoka's right forearm, which she stretched for the occasion.
"Morai?" Ezra asked.
"She's an old friend." Ahsoka explained while smiling and patting the creature. "I owe her my life...and now I owe you that as well."
Ezra made a half-hearted grin as he dematerialized his helmet.
"How did you get here?" Ahsoka asked with curiosity. "And where's Kanan?"
The young man lowered his gaze at the remembrance of the still fresh wound.
"You've missed a lot." he said.
The Togruta didn't take too long to understand and gave an empathetic look to Ezra. The Padawan, gave her a very quick recap of what happened in the last days and notified her that the liberation of Lothal was imminent. Still, they had to solve the mystery at hand, first.
"What do you think this place is?" he asked the Togruta.
She turned around, still hosting Morai on her forearm and took a look.
"This place is ancient. Like a world between worlds."
"Yeah, it feels like that dream where I met Dume." Ezra commented.
"The creature named Dume...It appeared after Kanan died? That has to be more than a coincidence."
"I know. Caleb Dume, a wolf named Dume...what does it mean?"
"Perhaps Kanan's will is still at work through the wolf."
"Is it...really possible?"
"Well, Kanan is part of the Cosmic Force, now." Ahsoka explained as they resumed walking around. "There are ways those who have passed on may still guide or influence the living." she added indicating a constellation with the shape of a wolf.
"But, if it was Kanan who sent me here..." Ezra mumbled, then his eyes barred in a realization. "Wait, if I found you...then maybe..." he said frenetically, then he looked around before dashing away to look at the other gateways.
"Ezra, wait!" Ahsoka tried to stop him, surely realizing what was going on into the Padawan's mind. Morai as well flew away to follow him.
Ezra, however, was too fast for them, with his armor on. He focused around, following the voices of Kanan's memories.
"This way!" he yelled.
Then he found it. The portal that led to his Master's death.
He stopped in front of the gate, and relived the scene. Kanan dashing to create a Force Shield to protect everyone.
Kanan was there, yet, something in Ezra's mind was telling him that this was a bad idea. It was Ahsoka, though, who gave voice to that thoughts.
"Ezra," Ahsoka said with caution. "Kanan gave his life so you could live. If he is taken out of this moment...then you all die."
Ezra realized it. And he knew that Ahsoka understood that very well.
Like she couldn't save her Master, he could not save his own.
He stood still as he saw again the moment when Kanan was engulfed in flames and Hera screamed his name in desperation.
The young man turned away from that.
"I'm sorry. But Kanan saw the moment he was needed the most." Ahsoka said while putting a hand on Ezra's shoulder. "And he did what he had to do. For everyone."
Ezra sighed. "That's the lesson."
A sudden rumble put the Jedi on alert.
"We can't stay here." Ahsoka admonished. "You opened the door to the world, can you close it?"
Ezra stepped forward. "Sabine will know. We can do this together...they will be so happy to see you." he said with a point of happiness.
"I can't come with you." Ahsoka said as she searched for an exit as well.
Ezra turned around to look at her and ask why, but then he noticed in horror that the gate he just visited was open again.
Except that there wasn't Kanan, but a man with a dark hood in front of a brazier where a blue flame was burning.
"Perhaps I can." the man said.
Ezra recognized that voice, since he had heard it a few minutes before.
That was Emperor Palpatine himself.
--------------------------
Ezra had disappeared inside the rocky wall, but Sabine was very much into that camp, and that could not stand. Such was the thought inside Jordan and Hera's minds when they devised a rescue mission.
Jordan took out one of his favorite tools: an M-92 'Mantis' sniper rifle. Until now, he had always found himself in close quarter fights and he was itching to use it for once. From the perimeter of the quarry he could easily keep an eye on the imperial camp and be ready to open fire when the time came.
He ordered Thabo and Michalina to follow the Specters down into the camp. The Legionnaires could easily sneak around thanks to their cloaking device, finding the safest path for Hera and Zeb to cross as well.
The plan was to get below the prefab that was hosting the Minister's office, because that structure had a peculiarity: its four 'legs' had also reactor boosters. So, if Hera could slip down there, she could use her new omni-tool to easily alter the systems to suddenly ignite a couple of the boosters on one of the short sides of the rectangle and flip it over.
Jordan helped them by keeping watch on the camp, signaling when their path was clear and when to hide. Meanwhile, Chopper was standing guard with Jordan, using his sensors to intercept communications and cooperating with Jinx to boost Jordan's instruments inside the helmet.
Thus, it wasn't difficult for the Specters and the Legionnaires to reach the prefab on the other side of the quarry.
"Guys, there is a patrol that is coming too close to you. How long?" Bridger senior asked in the comlink. He could see the group waiting right next to the prefab, meaning that Hera was surely at work. Thabo was wielding his assault rifle while Michalina a shotgun.
"General Syndulla is almost done." Thabo replied in a hushed tone. "We'll signal Sabine when we're ready."
"I'll right. I'll open fire when the fireworks begin." he announced.
He waited, regulating his breathing to keep the weapon steady. His musculature and the micro-systems of the armor did most of the work of keeping the rifle perfectly aligned to whichever direction he wanted.
The 'Mantis' was a single shot rifle, meaning that he had to pull back the bolt each time so the weapon could discharge the heat, but it still granted a shot fired every 3 seconds in the hands of a trained marksman.
He looked around, trying to figure which of the stormtroopers he should target first. He saw some NCOs with their pauldrons of various colors, but his priority were the Death Troopers, if they ever came out of the prefab.
Finally, the reactors were ignited, and the deafening rumble was also a perk for him, because nobody down there would be able to hear the echo of the shot.
Hoping that his daughter-in-law would get out of there alive and well, Jordan aimed at a corporal's helmet and shot.
The bolt, comprised of plasma and a metal shard, pierced the helmet of the trooper apart, the plasteel shattered both in the point of entry and exit and a spurt of red blood came out together with the projectile.
The impact was so strong, that the trooper was literally slammed on the floor by the inertia, his body guided by the sudden jolt of his head.
As the two troopers that were with the corporal tried to understand where the shot came from, the rest of the camp was in confusion. They didn't understand what was happening and Jordan used to opportunity to take out a sergeant, this time.
The prefab then was put in a vertical position and, finally, Sabine came out of it.
While the rest of the team cleared the area of stormtroopers and quickly recovered Sabine, Jordan kept firing. At one point, the imperials finally noticed him and half of the camp started to fire in his direction, but he had the high ground, a very good cover, and his shields could easily take on the very small number of bolts that actually managed to graze him, so he just kept firing, making sure to draw as much attention as he could away from his comrades.
Chopper warbled something and suddenly flew away.
"Where is he going?" he asked Jinx.
"I believe Chopper's intent is to use that excavation driller as an escape."
"And to sow death and destruction. I get it." and shot another bolt, taking out a simple trooper.
While the prefab finished turning itself upside down, the squad was moving toward the big painting on the rocky wall that, Jordan was sure, was moving just before Ezra disappeared.
Deciding that he would ask for details later, he kept firing, until the battery of the Mantis seriously needed to stop or it would melt away. So he put the sniper rifle away into the omni-tool and materialized his pistol, an M-3 Predator.
He also materialized his jetpack and flew down toward the others, reaching them at what seemed the gate behind which Ezra had disappeared. The gate was interesting because it was formed by the bi-dimensional paintings of some Loth-wolves walking constantly in a way that formed the contour of the circle.
And just when the group reached it, with the Legionnaires still firing wildly at the incoming horde of stormtroopers, the portal fizzled and Ezra suddenly came out of it, still wearing his armor, and he fell on the ground rolling on his side a couple times.
"Ezra!" Sabine said with a hint of panic as she went to help him.
"Come on, come on," she said in a hurried tone. "we need to get out of here."
"No!" Ezra exclaimed, even though he lumped a bit in the movements. Zeb went to sustain him. "We need to close the portal first." he said, pointing his head toward the painting of the three figures standing.
"Micha, grenades." Jordan ordered.
The woman in red armor eagerly materialized a grenade which had the shape of a spray can, and in fact it was. Those were some of the handcrafted explosives that she liked to build as a pastime.
Specifically, those were small napalm bombs. Not only they exploded with the violence of a frag grenade, but the shards that dispersed also were soaked with the chemical. A first group of stormtroopers discovered it the hard way. Two died in the explosion, three others were hit by the splinters and a small part on their body caught fire. They had to drop their weapons and pat it vigorously to try and extinguish them.
While Thabo, Jordan, Hera and Sabine gave covering fire, Zeb and Ezra rushed toward the base of the painting as fast as they could. As they reached it, the stormtroopers had reorganized and there was a dozen of them advancing toward the allied squad, firing a rain of blaster bolts against them. The Legionnaires took some hits and their shields were about to fall.
But then, the excavation driller arrived...with Chopper at the commands.
The astromech warbled a triumphant sound and drove the driller against the stormtroopers, who fled in panic.
Zeb cackled. "All right, Chopper got them."
"Sabine, which one do I activate?" Ezra asked.
The mandalorian pointed at the figure on the right. "The Son. That one."
Ezra dematerialized his armor and nodded at Zeb, so that he could load him on his shoulders. Standing atop of them, Ezra could reach the hand of the Son, which was the left one, closed in a fist. Ezra thus used the same appendage and closed his eyes, letting the Force guide him.
"Stop him." Minister Haydan yelled from behind the screen of dust that Chopper was lifting.
However, there was little the troopers could do. Those few who managed to dodge the driller's rampage, were met with the accurate fire of the Legionnaires, which gave Ezra the few seconds he needed to activate whatever there was in that painting.
The circle around the Son's hand suddenly shined with a red light, then Ezra passed out, being caught on the fly by Zeb.
Now the paintings definitely moved, as the allies could see, and whatever they were doing, the temple was starting to crack and collapsing.
The group immediately headed on the driller. Climbed on the small ladder and aboard the vehicle.
Sabine and Thabo stayed behind to provide cover fire while Hera ordered Chopper to get them out and Jordan and Zeb transported Ezra into a bunk bed inside of the big machine.
Minister Haydan went to the base of the painting, perhaps trying to stop the process somehow, but all Jordan could hear was his screams.
The entire area was being engulfed by a blinding light and everything was crumbling around them.
"Hang on to something!" Jordan exclaimed.
"It's gonna be close!" Hera reinforced.
The light kept growing, and growing. At one point, even Jordan's visor wasn't enough to protect him and he closed his eyes.
-------------------------------
Despite all the rumbling and shaking, coming out of the wormhole wasn't that traumatic.
"Are we...have we passed?" Jaral asked to Rut.
The Salarian checked his holo-terminal and quickly reached the answer.
"Affirmative. Home, sweet home." he quipped with his Salarians speedy tone. "Oh, and here comes the fleet."
Jaral raised her gaze, looking out of the viewport of the cockpit.
Her heart clenched, her eyes barred and her mouth half-opened at the absolute spectacle in front of her.
Ships. Stretching from horizon to horizon. Left or right, up or down, the Constantinople was soon surrounded on all sides by a literal jungle of warships.
The first line was composed almost entirely of turian and human frigates and cruisers, which were supposed to be the vanguard.
It was simply breathtaking for the young woman, who had never seen so many ships before. And to think that all of them were coming to help liberate Lothal.
She almost felt like she could explode in laughter of joy, and in fact her mouth was already twisting into a lopsided grin.
"Marshall..." Rut called patiently for a third time.
Jaral snapped out of her awe and regained focus. She cleared her throat to signal she was ready to listen.
"Admiral Edrix is contacting us."
"Patch him in." she asked, and Rut quickly obeyed.
The voice of Admiral came through the speakers of the pilot panel. "Edrix to Constantinople, come in."
"We read you, loud and clear, Admiral."
"Ah, Marshall Bridger. I hope the trip wasn't too drastic."
"I've got way worse, Admiral. I'm honestly having more of a hard time keeping my emotions in check among all these flying beauties."
The admiral chuckled. "It is quite the show, uh?"
"Priceless." Jaral replied with a lopsided grin.
"Good, we're sending you the approach vector for the Protector. Meet us there, so we can put these ships to work."
"Right away. Lieutenant Rut, bring us in." Jaral ordered nicely.
"With pleasure." the Salarian replied with a grin on his mouth.
It took around five minutes. While the rest of Task Force Magellan waited near the wormhole, the Constantinople navigated among the crowd of Alliance ships. Jaral managed to spot designs of other species and other ships' classes that she saw in the Codex: salarian stealth cruisers, Asari battle-cruisers, Geth frigates, T'au long-range spacecrafts; then carriers, battleships, corvettes. On the sensors she could also see the fleet of civilian transports that were loaded with the troops of the new Rebel Army.
"Holy blazes..." the voice of Darvos arrived from behind, making Jaral almost jump.
She chuckled. "It's glorious, isn't it?"
Darvos didn't take his gaze away from the viewport as he nodded and hummed positively.
"Truly...with these..." he huffed in amusement, then looked at his wife with a wide smile. "We can really liberate Lothal. We can finally have a chance at taking down the Empire."
Jaral rubbed his hair quickly. "Go get prepared." she said chuckling. "We're getting on their flagship."
Darvos made a mock salute. "Yes, ma'am." and he quickly went to the refresher to groom himself a bit.
Then the ship finally entered in visual range of the INS Protector. When saw up close, Jaral realized that the ship was way larger than she believed. That thing was longer than 10 Star Destroyers together and mounted some really big guns, among probably hundreds of more 'regular'-sized turrets.
The triangular shape reminded the young woman of a Star Destroyer, and she chuckled a bit at the incredible coincidence of design while Rut brought the frigate near the command bridge, which was situated on top of a pillar, much similar to Star Destroyers.
It was unusual for Milky Way ships to expose the bridge so much, but that section alone was so big, that the naval designers decided that it was way more convenient to build it like that, on the rear quarter of the ship, as far as possible from the fight. Besides, that battleship was designed to provide long-range support to its escort and its large number of fighter and bomber squadrons located in its hangar section.
In short, that ship was as big as a small city. There were hundred of AI aboard that helped the organic crew to manage the incredible amount of tasks necessary to keep it running.
'Heck, the bridge itself is bigger than the Constantinople.' Jaral noticed in her mind as the ship neared the airlock of the bridge and the two ships interconnected.
"I'm ready." Darvos said as he walked toward her. "Are you?"
Jaral nodded and stepped out of the cockpit.
The two officers walked toward the door, passed through the decontamination chamber and finally entered into the bridge of the Protector.
A human crewman welcomed them with the salute.
"Grand Marshall Bridger, Captain Tanis. Admiral Edrix and His Highness are waiting for you."
"Good, please accompany us." Jaral asked formally.
The man made a small bow with his head and turned around, gesturing them to follow.
They passed at least two different rooms, one for damage control and one for the sensors and respective operators, until they finally reached a small corridor with two windows at the sides where they were finally met with Admiral Edrix and a man with a pigmentation more similar to orange than olive, a shaved head, very short beard and mustache, the gray uniform of the Imperial-Federal Army and a bearing which was definitely a symbol of someone from the high-levels of society.
Edrix moved forward to do the presentations.
"Welcome aboard the INS Protector, Grand Marshall Bridger."
"It's good to see you again, Admiral." she replied.
"Allow me to present you His Highness Claudio dei Vignoli, first child of Her Majesty, the Empress, and leader for the upcoming ground invasion of Lothal."
The Prince instinctively extended a hand, while always keeping a deadly serious face.
Jaral shook it. "It's an honor to meet you, Your Highness."
"Likewise, Grand Marshall Bridger. My Mother and the Admiral has spoken very highly of you."
"I'll make sure to not prove them liars." she quipped to ease the tension she was feeling.
"Considering that my mother is one of the subjects, I appreciate the enthusiasm." the Prince replied with a grin.
Then he straightened back. "Grand Marshall, are you ready to lead the best that two galaxies have to offer against the Empire?"
Jaral could feel the fire burn in her chest. She assumed a determined expression and nodded. "Count on it."
"Then let's make sure the fleets are ready." he said. Then he turned around and motioned the rebels to follow him into the next room, which was the real command bridge, with a big holotable in the middle.
Claudio stepped in front of it. A crewman with a datapad in hand saluted him with a bow.
"All fleets are listening, my Lord."
Claudio nodded and the man stepped back.
The prince straightened up and assumed a solemn tone.
"It is said that every generation faces its own challenge.
40 years ago, our fathers and our mothers faced their challenge when
the threat of extinction came in the form of a ruthless enemy.
40 years ago, the previous generation banded together, setting aside
the differences between species and cultures to stand together.
They surpassed their challenge, and from the ashes of the old galaxy, they created
for us a future so prosperous they themselves couldn't believe in.
Today, the future our predecessors won is in danger. A new enemy, ruthless and tyrannical,
is preparing to invade us as soon as it's done oppressing its own people, but hope is not lost.
Today, the free men of two galaxies will fight side by side
to preserve our future and win a new one for our successors.
The path in front of us will be marked by blood, but we shall face it with united forces.
Stand strong, stand together, and today, we shall mark the beginning of a new era.
Gold Eagle, out."
The Prince stepped back and the channel was closed. All the officers and crewmen, who had stopped to listen, went back to their posts.
"Nice speech." Jaral complimented.
"Speeches alone will not win us the war." Claudio remarked. "So, you said you wanted to revise the plan of invasion?"
Jaral nodded. "Yes, but you can tell the fleet to start the crossing. It won't take long."
"Yes, Marshall." Edrix answered before turning toward a human officer.
"Captain, full speed ahead. It's time."
"Yes, Admiral." the man saluted.
And as the massive fleet of the Systems Alliance and its allies started the crossing, Jaral went at the holotable and exposed her plans, while ordering Darvos to use the quantum communicator of the Protector to get an update on the Rebel Fleet.