Kallus' POV:
The Empire. The most dull, unforgiving job in the galaxy. I already defected from its abrasiveness and rejected its ideology. Conquering all these worlds and oppressing the civilians. What did they really gain from it? Why was I blindly following orders this whole time? I confirmed my loyalty to the Ghost Crew after saving the majority of their members on multiple occasions. But my role was to be here. Work in the shadows, feed the rebellion vital information and undercut Thrawn's plans by any means necessary. The Grand Admiral was growing impatient and his lack of progress in finding the rebel base. So, he ordered us to send infiltrator droids to every corner of the galaxy. Only Thrawn had knowledge of where they went. I have to warn Phoenix Squadron of this threat, especially if one of the droids lands on Atollon, as it could find and transmit their base location rapidly. To make matters worse, I was assigned to lead this operation, so I couldn't contact them immediately. I waited for the perfect time to transmit the message, praying something would go wrong in the Empire's plans.
Y/N's POV:
"Move it, Phoenix Squadron, we're behind schedule! Get to the assigned training coordinates!" Hera told us hastily. I ran from the command center to the Ghost and saw the last few pilots getting in their A-Wings. There was a training regimen that required almost everyone's presence. I wasn't aware that we were leaving so promptly, but I couldn't disappoint my superiors by appearing uncaring about this. "I don't understand why I can't come along," Zeb complained. "You're my chief of security, Zeb. I need you to stay here and keep the base in working order." Hera ordered. I felt bad that he couldn't make it, but someone had to be left behind. "Come on, Hera. You could always use an extra pair of hands. Just don't leave me alone. I'll be bored to death!" Zeb pleaded. "You'll have Chopper and AP-5 to keep you company," Hera said, denying Zeb's request. I could see her holding back a laugh. He definitely doesn't deserve this. "Hera, please! Just give me another human to help me out around here!" Zeb begged. Hera sighed, not exactly thrilled about having to assign someone else with him. "Okay. Y/N will assist you," Hera decided. I rapidly turned my head toward the captain, ticked at this sudden change. "I'm sorry, what now? Didn't you say that I needed this training more than anyone?" I defended myself, reminding Hera of an earlier conversation we had. "You're already a pretty decent pilot. Plus Zeb could use some help from you," she countered. "I'm not even close to their skill levels. Please just change your mind!" I said desperately. "It's for the best," Hera replied, unmoved by my response. "We'll be back before you know it," Kanan said, trying to make our absence less depressing. "Sorry, buddy," Ezra apologized. "See you around, babe," Sabine teased. They all went aboard the Ghost and flew away, leaving me, Zeb, and the two nuisances alone on the platform.
"Did they seriously leave you in charge of this entire facility?" AP-5 questioned. "Something wrong with that?" Zeb chastised. "I just assumed you were a 'lift heavy things and punch anything in your way' type of guy. You know, a grunt," AP-5 wisecracked. Zeb grunted at the droid's incessant remark, foolishly giving him the little victory. "Thought so. Now what exactly do you do?" "Don't you have something to do?" I asked, defusing the argument. "Well, while everyone is off practicing, I intend to take this opportunity to conduct a thorough inventory of the base's munitions supply depot. Any of you may assist me," AP-5 answered. Chopper beeped, sounding like that wasn't something he wanted to do. "I don't know what you said, but counting crates isn't exactly fun," Zeb said. "Agreed. I'm going to the command center. Doubt this is the only thing that needs to be done around here," I added, walking off and leaving the droids alone, Zeb following behind me. We got to the command center and saw another captain and a few soldiers hanging out there. "Anything to report?" Zeb addressed the captain. "We tracked a meteor impacting on the surface nearby. It knocked out a perimeter sensor in sector six. Should I send a unit?" he reported. "No, I'll go check it out. Y/N, you're with me," Zeb said. I followed him onto a speeder and we drove to see what caused this malfunction. After a little while we arrived at the crash site. One of our markers was knocked down and a dead giant spider lay right next to it. "Looks like something stumbled upon their nest and got swarmed," Zeb said. He pushed off the spider and saw a blue, metal figure. "Another droid? I thought we kept a record of all personnel back at base," I stated. "That's not one of ours. Doesn't look Imperial, though," Zeb replied. "We'll take it back to base and see where it came from," I suggested, slinging the droid on my shoulder and throwing it in the seat.
We returned to base and found AP-5 and Chopper arguing yet again. This is gonna be a long night if they keep it up. "Hey, Inventory!" Zeb quipped. This stopped their squabble as they turned their attention to us. I threw the rogue droid down on a couple crates, waiting for them to analyze it. "Excuse me, this is a supply area, not a trash compactor," AP-5 ranted. "We found this out in the wastelands. Do you know what this is?" I asked the inventory droid. "Looks like an older model of a protocol droid. I should be able to give it enough power for a system restart," AP-5 analyzed. He pulled a cord from a power generator and plugged it into the back of the droid. Its eyes turned on and they sat up, scanning the surrounding area as AP-5 took out the cord. "Hello? Where do you come from?" I questioned. "Designation: Unknown," it answered. "It's memory systems are damaged," AP-5 said. "Armory and munitions area. Proton torpedoes: 42. Blaster recharges: 928. Thermal detonators: 65," it blurted out. "Did it just take an entire inventory? He's better at this job than you are," Zeb chuckled. "I seriously doubt that. However, he appears to be a logistics droid and could prove useful as my assistant," AP-5 suggested. "Not a bad idea. I don't mind taking on another stray," I said. "Captain Orrelios to the command center. Priority message," a soldier announced over the intercom. "Keep an eye on our friend here," Zeb ordered. I followed him to the command center, where we saw the captain waiting for us at the main holoprojector.
"We have a message from Fulcrum," he said. "Let's hear it. Put him through," Zeb responded. The captain pressed a button, playing back the recording. "The Empire has begun deploying infiltrator droids. They sweep the Outer Rim worlds for rebel bases," Fulcrum began. The projector displayed a file of a humanoid war machine with many weapons and gadgets designed to swiftly deal with anything it deems as its enemy. "Look at that thing. It's armed to the teeth," Zeb noted. "They are extremely dangerous, but can appear harmless while in protocol mode," Fulcrum continued while the display changed to show the droid in its other mode. "Is that what I think it is?" I muttered. "Be advised: One recently failed to report in. If the droid remains out of contact, the Empire will come after it. Fulcrum out," Fulcrum said, then the transmission ended. Oh shit, that's the one. "Come on!" I shouted, breaking into a full sprint toward the munitions section of the storage area. After making a few turns, I found Chopper and AP-5 flanking the disguised Imperial droid. "Get away from that! It's an Imperial infiltrator droid!" Zeb called out. "Rebel base identified," the droid said. "AP-5, what's it doing?" I questioned, feeling myself panic a little. "Designation: Imperial infiltrator droid EXD-9," it said. Then it began to change forms. Limb by limb, it showcased its arsenal, morphing into the war machine we feared would activate. "It's remembering," AP-5 answered. "Let me shoot it down!" I begged, hoping AP-5 would move, but he stood still, stunned at the sight of the Imperial towering over him. "Designation: Atollon. Target: Rebels," the droid said before knocking AP-5 down. I drew my pistol and landed a shot at his head, but it did absolutely nothing. The Imperial jumped on top of a catwalk, dodging me and Zeb's return fire, then it tackled Zeb, hitting him repeatedly. I took some more shots at the droid, but their thick exoskeleton seemed impenetrable. It hopped off of Zeb and onto a stack of crates, drawing its forearm-mounted gunners and shooting at us. "Get down!" Zeb shouted. I leaped out of the way to avoid getting hit. Chopper saw this as his opportunity to strike back and shock the Imperial, but it did no damage either. The droid batted Chopper against the wall and ran to deliver the killing blow. We couldn't let that happen. Zeb and I released a flurry of blaster bolts at the Imperial, eventually finding a weak spot on its forearm. It flew off and the droid began leaking oil, who ran away.
"We can't let that thing report what it saw back to the Empire," I said, stating the obvious. "We must alert Captain Syndulla," AP-5 recommended. "No time. Hera put me in charge because she trusts me. I'm not letting her down. Follow that trail," Zeb said. We followed the oil puddles the droid left and came along a dismantled astromech. "Holy crap, that thing is completely destroyed," I said. "More precisely, its power core has been depleted and several key components have been removed," AP-5 analyzed. "That thing's repairing itself. Even worse, the trail ends here," Zeb deduced. "Chopper, you think you can track it?" Chopper warbled for a bit. "Chopper said its power supply is not registering on his scanners. The power it siphoned from the droid likely was not enough for its needs. It will look for more," AP-5 translated. "I have a plan," Zeb said. "Really? You have those?" AP-5 clapped back. I snickered, unable to hold myself together. "Chopper, get that droid's attention. Lure it to me and I'll blast it," Zeb explained. "May I remind you that we are in an area housing high-explosive munitions? Perhaps not the best place to be firing blasters," AP-5 said. "He makes a good point. We were lucky enough the first time," I replied. "Alright, well I'll just grab it then. Get that thing to the ground and shut it down," Zeb improvised. "Just grab it? That's your plan?" AP-5 questioned. "He's right, AP. The Empire will come after the droid if it doesn't report in. We can't destroy it or we risk exposing the base," I reminded. "Point taken. Chopper, go get it," Zeb ordered. We trailed behind him but stopped in a spacious area. Zeb climbed the crates and got onto a catwalk. We waited until we heard Chopper scream and beep in panic. He rolled into the open as the Imperial got closer, its eyes still on the ground. Zeb ignited his bo-rifle and jumped onto the droid's back, but it shook him loose and stalked towards Chopper and AP-5. I landed a high kick at the droid's back, causing it to refocus on me.
The Imperial appeared angry at my efforts and swung at me multiple times. I barely dodged every attack and tried to find an angle to strike him down. However, its movements were too quick and fluid, and it eventually landed its hand on my throat, choking me out against a crate. "Y/N!" Zeb called out, chasing after me. I was getting rag-dolled against every wall as the droid freely ran around the storage space. Luckily, it cornered itself, allowing Zeb to catch up. He suplexed the droid and I was suddenly free from its grip. I shook myself off as Zeb tightened his arms around the droid's neck and wrestled it to the ground. "Shut it down!" he shouted. "Hold it steady," AP-5 said. "I'm trying!" Zeb responded. I held one of the droid's arms down to prevent it from flailing so much. Zeb saw my idea work and grabbed the other to pin its limbs. "Turn it off now!" Zeb yelled. AP-5 got in between us and reached for the droid's back. "Almost got it, standby," he said. "What does that mean?" I screamed. "Got it!" AP-5 said as the Imperial shut down. "You know, your plan actually worked." "Of course it did!" Zeb condescended. He cracked his joints, slowly standing up after the tense situation we found ourselves in. I slowly got up, feeling a little depleted of energy after that harrowing experience. "Give me some good news," Zeb said. Chopper beeped something. "Chopper can detect no long-range communications equipment, which means the droid has not transmitted our position to the Empire," AP-5 translated. "Well, that's something. It must have a ship nearby. But what's the bad news?" Zeb wondered as I heard a faint beeping sound somewhere. It grew slightly louder, like a bomb. "AP? Is that thing...counting down?" I asked with great concern. "Counting down to what?" Zeb panicked. The inventory droid knelt down and saw a series of red lights flashing in the Imperial's torso. "Most likely it has activated its Imperial anti-capture failsafe. There's probably a proton warhead inside too," AP-5 reported. "And it's gonna vaporize the entire base. And us along with it. How much time do we have left?" Zeb said with a raised tone. "Hmm. I think 20 seconds," AP-5 answered. "20 seconds? We have to stop that timer now!" I stressed. Chopper felt my pain and exerted a sheet of ice from its toolset, stopping the countdown timer along with it.
"This will buy us enough time to move it to a safe distance from the base before it detonates. This part will require some manual labor. Your specialty, I assume," AP-5 recommended while seizing another opportunity to mock Zeb. "Wait. Fulcrum said if this droid doesn't report back to the Empire they'll come here looking for it," Zeb remembered. "Oh, are you suggesting we allow it to return to the Empire with a memory bank filled with rebel secrets?" AP-5 repeated. "Well we can't let it detonate. And we can't let it go back. Think, Zeb, think!" Zeb replied, desperate to find a quick solution. "Can you get inside the droid's programming? I want you to wipe its memory." "I believe I can," AP-5 said. "Wait, no. Its memory core is protected. Any attempt to tamper with it would likely trigger detonation, nor can I disarm the warhead. One way or another it is going to explode. It's just a matter of when." "Or a matter of where," I chimed in. "Send it back to base. By then the ice Chopper put onto the droid will have certainly worn off. Then before the Empire could even extract the droid's memory? Base go boom," I proposed. "Y/N, that's brilliant! AP-5, get to work," Zeb said. "Not so fast. This droid may try to kill us, so I will restore its behavioral system to the disarmed state in which we found it. I will also initiate its return to base protocol, so it should promptly leave peacefully," AP-5 explained. After a little more work, the inventory droid was ready to put our plan into action. "Main system restart...now," AP-5 announced, setting the droid down. We all backed up behind some cover just in case the worst were to happen. Fortunately, it didn't just yet. The droid reverted to its disarmed state, got up, and walked away from the base. "Let's follow it out and make sure it gets home," Zeb said. We all got into the speeder, slowly and quietly trailing behind it.
However, there was yet another complication that arose. "I'm picking up a second signal. Must be its ship," Zeb said. Sure enough, the infiltrator droid's pod lay on top of the rocks. We watched it go inside and power up the ship. As a part of the process, a circular object popped out of the front. "That's a long-range transmitter. It's going to contact the Empire," AP-5 alerted. I quickly hopped out of the speeder and converted my pistol to sniper mode, putting the extra attachments onto my blaster. I took aim at my target and fired. Perfect shot. The transmitter shorted out and fell off, but that didn't seem to affect the droid, who just flew away from the surface. "It'll still return home, right?" I asked. "If it follows its programming," AP-5 said. "I guess we did it," I replied. We cheered at our victory of not screwing up royally. This celebration was brief, though, and there could be a lot of unnecessary questioning if a certain Captain knew something was wrong. "A lot has happened today. I prefer to keep this between us," Zeb said. "Agreed. The base is still safe, so there are zero problems to everyone else's knowledge. Clear?" I asked the droids. "Clear," AP-5 accepted. Chopper also beeped back in agreement. We made it back to the base and got to work as the sun was rising, wondering how the Empire would react to the present we sent them.
Kallus' POV:
The infiltrator droids have all returned to base, except for the one that never transmitted its coordinates. I ordered my crew to stand by and wait for further instructions as we collected the rest of the droids. If no intriguing information was found, we would send our forces after the one straggler. As I pondered how we would progress with this plan, I heard a deafening explosion outside the bridge of my Star Destroyer, which was accompanied by a blinding light that obliterated the other Destroyer. All I could do was take in the destruction. "What just happened? Report!" I shouted. "I believe it was a proton warhead detonation, sir," an officer reported. I looked back at the mangled ship and a smirk overtook my face. The rebels of Phoenix Squadron executed a counterattack brilliantly. I respected this partnership with even more grace, and I wanted to show it. I walked away from the window and into the projector room of the bridge. "Clear out. I have some calls to make," I commanded. The other officers quickly left the room. Before contacting Thrawn to reduce suspicion, I decided to record a message to Atollon first. I pressed a button and began transmitting. "I can only assume you found and reprogrammed the lost infiltrator droid I warned you of. Well, as you no doubt planned, the droid did self-destruct on its return to base. I don't know how you pulled it off, but you have my congratulations. Fulcrum out," I said. I encrypted the message and uploaded it to the rebel cell, then sent a call out to Thrawn. He quickly picked up. "Grand Admiral, we have an emergency," I stated bluntly. "Understood. I will join you shortly," Thrawn replied. I waited for a while before he dropped out of hyperspace in his own Star Destroyer. I took a lone shuttle to meet up with the Grand Admiral, ready to explain myself.
I joined Thrawn in his bridge, where he was analyzing a star chart of the galaxy. The Grand Admiral turned his attention to me as he heard my footsteps. "How did this happen, Agent Kallus?" Thrawn questioned. "I suspect the rebels captured a unit in the field and reprogrammed it to self-destruct on its return to base. Quite ingenious, really," I responded. "I'm inclined to agree," Thrawn said. His tone of voice was a little too positive for my liking, especially since we lost a capital ship during this operation. "You seem in surprisingly good spirits considering this loss," I remarked. "Loss, you say? The rebels may have protected the location of their base for now, but in doing so, they have narrowed my search," Thrawn explained. He pressed a few buttons on the holoprojector, enlarging some planets and highlighting them red. "Before today, they could have been hiding in any of a thousand systems. But now I'm certain they're on one of the 94 planets surveyed by my infiltrators. The rebels have won this battle, but the war will be ours." The Grand Admiral displayed a sense of forward thinking that even I couldn't match. Little by little, his methods were making my work more difficult. The only silver lining was that he didn't have the precise location of the base. All I could do was throw a few curveballs in Thrawn's plans and pray he wouldn't see right through them. Whatever happens, I cannot let the rebellion down.