Star Wars: Rebellion and Betrayal

Chapter 25

The Iron Stump touched down on the snow-covered permafrost of Mercuris. Twitch let out a sigh as he leaned back in his chair. "Another successful mission. Ambushing that convoy got us enough rhydonium to fuel the fleet and heat the base for a while."

Jordavi spun her chair to face him. "Yeah, and it was all thanks to Commander Rhodes' quick thinking. Isn't that right, Commander?"

There was no response. Twitch and Jordavi looked behind them to see Rhodes' chair empty.

Twitch grunted before rising to his feet. "Finish the shutdown procedure, Lieutenant. I will go see where he ran off to."

Jordavi nodded before turning back to the controls. Twitch made his way to the ship's exit, making sure to grab a coat before activating the ramp. He stepped out into the frigid air of the frozen moon. Even with the coat, it was still cold.

The landing field was crowded with people running back and forth. Abie was standing in the middle of the chaos barking out orders.

In the past four months, Cloud Squadron had piled victory on top of victory, making quick strikes on under defended Imperial targets. Their efforts continued to pay off. Abie was nearly finished with the base's shield generator, Jordavi had had great success recruiting new soldiers, and Twitch was able to make some solid additions to the fleet.

For Twitch, all he had to do was convince a Serenno nobleman to financially support Cloud Squadron. Sneaking into the former duke's residence was the hard part. Convincing him to help mess with the Empire was the easy part.

Twitch was reminded of his success when their new CR90 Corvette landed next to the other two cruisers. The Tonus was the largest of the new additions to their fleet. Their starfighter complement now consisted of eight A-wing interceptors, four Y-wing bombers, and a pair of X-wing starfighters. Overall, the assorted ships made for a pretty efficient strike fleet.

Twitch couldn't find Rhodes amidst the crowd, so he made his way over to Abie. She quickly noticed him, saying, "That stunt you pulled was reckless but absolutely brilliant."

"I wish I could take credit but that was all Rhodes," he replied while scratching the back of his neck. "Speaking of Rhodes, have you seen him? He disappeared off the Stump the second we returned."

"Where do you think he is?" Abie sighed. "The only place he ever is nowadays."

As the months went by, Rhodes had become increasingly distant. The less he asked about going after Lena, the more isolated he became.

The Jedi spent most of his spare time on top of the mountain plateau that Stratus Base was built into. No one really bothered to go up there anymore. The last time Abie went to check on him, she was met by short one-word answers. After that, she just stuck to the commlink to inform him of their missions. Even Hunter had stopped visiting him, becoming dedicated to the base, offering schematics and his engineering skills to construct the two ion cannon towers that flanked the mountain.

Despite his isolation, Rhodes was still a valuable member of the team. Abie had offered him command of the Tonus, but he declined, opting to stick closely to either herself or Twitch. Rhodes simply offered command advice that usually paid off as well as his skills as a warrior. At this point, he had become skilled at dual wielding both his own and Lena's saber, leading Cloud Squadron boarding parties onto enemy ships.

"He can't go on like this. You know that," Twitch pointed out.

"You're right," Abie conceded. "We can talk about it inside."

She turned to one of the soldiers passing by. "Davant, make sure the rhydonium is offloaded and properly stored. I don't want any more fuel leaks. That last one could have easily destroyed the base."