Stowaway: A Star Wars Rebels Story

Within Reach

Y/N's POV:

Today is a big day. After moving around the Outer Rim for seemingly forever, our scouts might have found a breakthrough in our most important objective so far: Finding a location for a base. As I was helping move around supplies for our newly acquired carrier, I ran into Commander Sato, who personally informed me to be present at the captain's meeting. I guess affiliation comes with its privileges. Finishing up my assignment, I sprinted down to the hangar bay and found the crew analyzing two holomaps. Standing beside them were Sato, Rex, and even Ketsu, who seemed to have reconsidered her alignment with the Black Sun and was helping us out instead. Hera acknowledged my presence with a nod and stared back at the holomap. "Thanks to Rex's Old Republic map and the map Zeb's Lasat friends made, I believe we finally have a suitable location for our base," she said. "The Yost system. There's no sign of the Empire, but there's a small habitable moon. One that I think will provide everything you need. Food, fresh water, you name it," Ketsu explained. "Promising, but Yost is several parsecs away, and our carrier does not have enough fuel to complete the journey," Sato said. Great. Another fuel run. "We can't afford to leave it unguarded and immobile," Rex added. "Well, I've been tracking Imperial fuel shipments. There's one scheduled to arrive at the Horizon Base soon," Sabine said. "It's very risky. The Empire's tightened security at all its depots in the sector," Kanan pointed out. "Never stopped us before," I replied, perhaps a little too cockily. Finally getting a place to settle down was a new prospect I hadn't fathomed for a while, and the feeling felt great. "Job's not finished, Y/N. We have to actually get the fuel from the base and onto the carrier," Ezra said, humbling me. "Leave as soon as you can, Ghost crew. We need this carrier ready to go sooner than later," Sato told us. "We'll leave immediately," Hera replied. We clamored aboard the Ghost and departed from the carrier, making the jump towards the base.

A little later, we finally reached our destination. As we descended through the atmosphere, I saw a cargo ship on the other end of the base. "There's our shipment," I announced, pointing it out for the crew to see. "Alright. I'm gonna land on the opposite platform to reduce our suspicion," Hera said. "After we grab the fuel, we'll have to blast our way out of here, fast. Chopper, you're staying here. Be ready," Kanan told the droid. The Ghost landed and we all left to intercept the shipment. Chopper, however, grabbed Ezra to get his attention towards something. There was a shop right in front of us and it seemed to have a white leg that matched the one on his right. "Oh yeah, that leg does look like yours," Ezra said. I stopped as he was warbling rapidly to show Hera the same thing. "Chopper, we're not here to shop," she scolded. "Shop? Shopper!" Zeb said before laughing at his pun. Chopper - of course - beeped back in desperation, trying to get his leg. "This mission is important and dangerous. We need you on the Ghost to monitor Imperial transmissions. Let us know the second the Empire suspects anything," she ordered. Chopper grunted again, still fixated on the leg. "You heard her. Stay at your post and get a 'leg' up on the Empire, yeah?" I joked. "Yeah, 'Shopper,'" Zeb said, getting the last laugh before we turned away. After a little more walking, we stopped behind a stack of crates to recon the area. "Kanan was right. There's more security here than ever," Sabine said. Three walkers and multiple patrols were guarding the ship, and it would be a lot to handle. Especially with no real firepower. "We can't afford to leave without getting what we came for," Hera stressed. "Thanks, Captain Obvious," I quipped. "There's the fuel," Sabine said. "Okay, but we do it QUIETLY this time. No complications," Kanan whispered. "As if anything goes according to plan," Zeb said. Quiet, however, wasn't in Ezra's vocabulary. He stunned the trooper carrying the fuel canisters, causing a commotion. The squad of stormtroopers and the walkers fired back, forcing us to scatter for cover. I took a couple shots toward some troopers between the crossfire, but I hit the cart instead, barely missing the canisters. "Careful! Hit one of them and the whole shipment is gone!" Sabine hollered at me. I took a more precise aim and finally hit my target in the center of the platform, creating an opening to get to the fuel. "Ezra and Zeb, get to the fuel! We'll cover you!" I shouted. They nodded at me and made for the shipment as the rest of us distracted the troopers. Barely avoiding the walkers, they got the crate and hurried towards our ship. "Chopper, we got the fuel. Start up the Ghost and wait for us," Hera said over her comlink. I couldn't verify if she got an answer, as I was running and shooting behind us. The walkers were thankfully out of range but the barrage of shots from the troopers seemed endless. Our ship finally came into view and the ramp was still open. I glanced back and thought I saw Chopper in my field of vision. It could just be my imagination. There's too much going on right now. We made it onto the ship and I swiftly climbed up to the nose guns, dealing with the stormtroopers firing at our ship. Hera flew us off the platform and into space, where we made our jump back to the fleet.