We quickly guided General Syndulla up to the lounge, where everyone was already waiting. She deftly inserted a data drive into our holoprojector, bringing up an image of three people, all of whom I recognized.

  "Approximately three hours ago, Rogue Squadron was set to meet with a prospective Imperial defector," She explained. " is an Alderaan native who recently reached out to another ex-Imperial and once classmate,, a member of Rogue Squadron. Tycho had reportedly spent weeks breaking through the internal lie that the Imperials were not involved with the destruction of Alderaan.

  Once he had his proof, any allegiance he felt to the Empire shattered, and he began gathering intelligence, with the intent to turn it over to us when he finally joined. Unfortunately, his defection, which was set to take place on Dantooine, was uncovered, and he was followed. Once captured, Pilot Klivian and Wedge Antilles, Rogue Leader when Luke Skywalker is away on training, attempted to rescue him but were captured as well when the Storm Commandos forced them to surrender by threatening both Celchu and the rest of the Rebel assets on the planet to aid in the defection."

  My mind raced as I listened to Syndulla talk, all of the names I recognized weighing heavily on me. These three people alone changed the course of the Rebellion, and now they were at the mercy of the Empire. It wasn't until she finally mentioned Luke that why this was happening slid into place. I wasn't familiar with this moment in particular, but Luke was currently still on Nirn, advancing his Jedi training. He spent a lot of time there, way more time than he canonically spent training with Master Yoda. If I were a betting man, I would put money on him being there when Celchu was defecting, preventing him, Wedge, and Hobbie from being captured in canon.

  And now, because of the changes I had made, they were captured.

  "Do we know where they are being taken?" I asked, tearing my eyes away from the three images on the holo projector.

  "The force that captured them was too small to contain proper interrogation resources," the Twi'lek leader responded. "Standard Imperial procedure is to bring assets like them to the nearest Imperial base for processing and initial interrogation. If their processing triggers any red flags, then they may be brought off the planet to even better facilities. The closest Imperial base to Dantooine is Tolita VI, a terrestrial moon that is just over a one-day hyperspace trip from Dantooine."

  "How far are we?"

  "By or estimate, just under two days."

  "Calima?" I asked with a frown, looking towards the bridge. "Any thoughts?"

  "Bringing it up now, Boss," she responded, focused on her console, which was barely visible from where I was standing. After a long moment, she spoke again. "I could push it down a bit. But the Talos Chariot won't survive diving into a planet with a solid Imperial presence."

  "... what about one of the ships we have here?" I asked after cursing under my breath and chewing my lip. "Is there anything that could get us there faster?"

  "The ST-70s are almost all thruster. One of them could get us there in a day and a half. Maybe less." She pointed out. "But it won't survive either."

  "It doesn't have to," I responded before looking at General Syndulla. "Are you sure we are the closest you have?"

  "Who can do the kind of infiltration we are looking at? Yes, absolutely," She responded confidently. "We are trying to replicate your teams, but…"

  "We are just that kind of special, I know," I acknowledge, standing up and looking around at my crew.

  For a long moment, I was silent, looking into their eyes, seeing how seriously they were taking Syndulla and her request. Both Ahsoka and Tatnia had noticed something off with me as she had given her report, and I could see that Nal was realizing it as well.

  "This is going to be quick, rough, and brutal," I said, looking at each of them. "We will be flying by the seat of our pants and most likely getting dirty in the process. I will only accept volunteers, because this… this is not something we can pause and wait for the optimal conditions for. Every minute counts, because every minute we delay is another minute those Rebels are in Imperial hands."

  Julus looks around for a moment, confused, before leaning forward.

  "Boss… Of course we are all in," he said, everyone nodding like it was a stupid question. "But what's so important about these guys?"

  "Luke is usually Rogue Leader," Ahsoka cut in. "How would he react if he found out his people were captured while he was away, training to be a Jedi?"

  "Oh… yeah, good point," He said with a nod. "We need to get his back."

  "I'm glad you all agree," I said with a nod, feeling proud of my team. "Alright, everyone, pack up and move our shit to the best-looking ST-70. Calima, you're staying here, but I need you to teach Tatnia and Ahsoka everything you know about pushing an ST-70 as hard as it can go. You've got twenty minutes, people, let's move."

  My order was simple, and my crew all but lept to get started on preparations. I turned back to Syndulla, focusing on her while my crew rushed around.

  "We accept your mission, and expect to be properly compensated," I said, giving her a pointed look. "I need everything you can get on the Imperial base on Tolita VI within the next fifteen minutes."

  "I can get that for you," She responded with a nod. "Anything else?"

  "Yes, put a fleet together, as big as you can, and put it in deep space as close as you can get to Tolita VI," I responded. "Coordinated with 3rd Group, they are the ones waiting in orbit. I need you to get as many ships as you can get to cover our escape, if needed. They may just be hanging out until we can give the all clear, or they might just need to pop into the system long enough to scare the Imperials off for a few seconds."

  "I'll see what I can do," She assured me with a nod.

  "It might be the difference between life and death, so I hope you do well," I said before turning back and watching as Racer headed down to the first deck. "That's all, General, I need to help my people prepare."

  "Very well, I'll go do my part," she said, walking past me to head for the stairs. "Thank you, Deacon. And may the Force be with you."

  I nodded, watching her leave before rushing to my room, double-checking my armor was in its case, before moving on to Ashoka's. When I was sure everything was in place, I carefully lifted both crates and carried them out of our room. As I stepped out into the hall, I spotted Julus doing the same with his and Tatnia's crates.

  For the next ten minutes, we rushed back and forth, transferring everything we would need to the new ship, securing it in place where ever we could find room. I also had Nal grab an unmodified commando droid from the hold, securing it in a corner of ST-70

  When we were finally done, I confirmed with Racer that the General had come through with the information delivery. Within a few minutes of that, we were leaving the planet behind. We sent one final farewell to the 3rd Group, who we had, of course, been keeping in the loop as we prepared to leave.

  Now, while we had absolutely made the right choice in terms of speed, the ST-70 did have a problem. It was tiny, ideally meant for a max of four people, and even that was cramped. Considering we had six heavily armed and armored people stuffed inside meant things were going to get cramped. It did have a storage bay, which could be used to carry some cargo, but it was long and thin, not really the kind of space you could run around in or spar. With all the equipment we had brought, we barely had enough room to set up a few cots to sleep on.

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  Still, it was fast, which was what we really needed. We could spend our time reviewing what little data General Syndulla could scrape together, rather than stretching or burning off energy with a spar.

  Ahsoka and Tatnia stayed in the cockpit nearly the entire time, watching the readouts and listening for issues. They were pushing the ship's hyperdrive past what was really considered safe, so they needed to be ready to shut it down at a moment's notice, lest we end up scattered across a solar system or something equally horrific. Early in the trip, I stopped in during one of Ahsoka's shifts, since I knew she would have questions. I entered and tapped the cockpit bridge control, sealing us in alone.

  "Hello du d'bhem," She greeted, using a Togruti affectionate pet name, as I leaned over and kissed her cheek, before claiming one of the passenger seats. "Everything okay?"

  "Yeah, figured you would have questions," I said, letting out a long breath.

  "I filled in the blanks pretty easily," She said, turning her seat to look at me. "I assume one of the taken people is… important?"

  "All three of them are," I responded, shaking my head. "All three of their threads flow directly through the Rebellion, and even… Well, they are important. But that's not the problem, not really. Ordinarily, I would have faith in their skills, for the Rebellion to solve their own issues. I may have untangled and adjusted their threads, but that doesn't suddenly make them incompetent. They can normally handle their own problems."

  "Then what's different about this one?" She asked, reaching out to take my hand. "What makes this situation different?"

  "I don't recognize this particular thread… but I'm pretty sure Luke was supposed to be there, to keep it from happening," I explained, continuing quickly. "I know Luke's and Wedge Antilles threads pretty well, Tycho's slightly less. Putting together what I know about all of them… I'm almost certain that Luke being at Nirn so much with Yoda is what kept him from going on that mission, which doomed Rogue Squadron to fail."

  "And you're worried they can't get themselves out of this one on their own," Ahsoka finished, and I nodded.

  "I'm worried that if we were the closest ones available, no one else would make it in time," I explained, chewing my lip. "I'm worried the Force lined us up to rescue them rather than some other Rebel group."

  "Well… If that's true, then I'm just glad we were in the right place and time to help," She said, giving my hand a squeeze. "We can handle this. We will get them out."

  "Yeah, I know," I agreed, letting out a frustrated huff. "Doesn't mean I like it."

  We sat there for a few minutes, enjoying each other's presence, before I eventually left to double-check our armor, leaving her to get back to watching over the ship.

  The trip took a total of a day and nine hours, considerably less than the day and a half that the Chariot could have done, even if we could absolutely feel it. The hyperspace unit was audibly struggling, sending reverberations through the ship that we were all working very hard to ignore. When we were only an hour out, we started getting dressed, putting our armor on, and double-checking that all the systems were functioning. This was going to be one hell of a ride, so everything needed to be perfect.

  All of us were carrying at least a little bit extra, stashed in hip bags or utility belts, holding extra blaster packs, explosives, cordage, and everything we might need. Tatnia, Nal, and I were wearing bags filled with a single folded uniform, the logo removed, for the prisoners to wear once we found them. The beskar would give them a significantly better chance of survival, at least if we found a chance for them to change.

  Ten minutes before we dropped out of hyperspace, all of us were ready, our blood pumping as we waited.

  "The goal is to find the rebels and get them out of harm's way," I explained, repeating the plan we had managed to come up with the last day or so. "Once we do that, our next target is a ship off world. If there is one on the base, we can try that. Otherwise, we should head out into the city around the base, find cover, and do our best to fade into the city."

  Before I could continue repeating myself, Ahsoka came down from the cockpit, joining us in the cargo bay.

  "We are due to hit Tolita VI's gravity in a few minutes," she explained. "The commando droid knows the plan."

  "Alright, helmets on people," I said, grabbing my own from my hip. "Time to prove why we are the best."

  I watched as my team clipped and sealed their helmets in place. They looked imposing and lethal with their on, and I couldn't help but smirk under my own helmet. I watched as Tatnia checked over Racer as well, the droid whistling excitedly.

  Once everyone was sealed up, we each reached around for the various handholds and netting that dotted the cargo bay of the ST-70. We also locked out mag boots onto the metal plating beneath us. Just under a minute later, we could all feel the hyperspace generator stop, sputtering out as we decelerated from lightspeed.

  While I couldn't see what was happening, I could absolutely feel it as the commando droid immediately pointed us directly downward, dropping us into the planet's atmosphere, no doubt ignoring plenty of warnings and demands to stop. As we punched through the atmosphere, bouncing and vibrating through turbulence, we all held on tightly. Suddenly, the turbulence was the least of our worries, as whatever patrol or defenses the planet had started shooting at us, rocking the ship aggressively.

  "Shields aren't gonna hold much longer…" Julus pointed out.

  "They don't need to hold through much more…" I responded, managing to sound much more confident than I really was.

  A few tense seconds passed, sparks starting to fire around the hold as the ship was hammered from several directions at once. Finally, the timer ran down, and I nodded to Nal.

  "Do it."

  He nodded and hit a detonator, the cargo bay door exploding as several charges around the opening went off at once, tearing the door free and sending it flying away through the air behind the ship. Suddenly, we were being buffeted by winds, and only our desperate grips and mag boots were keeping us standing.

  Only a few seconds passed, and I could feel the ship evening out, the cloud layer orienting itself perfectly as the ship flew straight, with no more juking or dodging.

  "Go, go, go!" I shouted, my voice carrying over the comms

  My shout got us going, all of us running out of the back of the ship. One by one, we jumped, Tatnia going first, dragging Racer along forcefully, clearing the ship and disappearing. I was the last one out, following Ahsoka out the door, turning to look at the starship as we fell. It looked like a mess, broken and bashed, with both thrusters pouring out smoke.

  Suddenly, a tight grouping of lasers, coming from a larger ship higher up in the atmosphere, slammed into the cockpit, carving it out completely. Before the starship could even start to drop, however, it detonated, the damage finally too much. The shockwave buffeted all of us, though not enough to do any harm or knock us off course.

  With a bit of struggling, we aimed ourselves downward, pulling our limbs in close to accelerate at a blistering rate, punching through the clouds and disappearing from the sensors of any ship scanning the expanding ball of fire and debris that had once been our ride.