Stowaway: A Star Wars Rebels Story

Military Exercise

It's been several days since I last spoke to Sabine. I've tried repeatedly to reconcile our relationship, but so far nothing has worked. I ran through every scenario of what I thought I did wrong. I tried remembering what I said during the briefing and debriefing for Skystrike. I even asked my crewmates why Sabine was the way she was, and they seemed more lost than I did. The only somewhat useful advice I've gotten was from Ezra, and that was to let her recover enough and have her come to me. Sadly, I don't think time is on my side anymore. We're still technically 'dating,' but it certainly doesn't feel that way. Piling this on top of my already demanding responsibilities of the Rebellion is asking for stress to take over me. Sadly, I have to focus on now and continue to succeed in our missions.

Speaking of missions, the Ghost dropped out of hyperspace and touched down on the planet Agamar. We were looking for a valuable commodity: proton bombs. The ramp opened and we embarked on our mission, with our team consisting of me, Ezra, Kanan, Rex, Zeb, and Chopper. "You sure you don't need help?" Hera asked again. "I'm sure things will go horribly wrong," Kanan said sarcastically. "We'll be fine. We got a Clone Wars veteran with us," Ezra assured. "Ready, Captain?" Kanan asked the clone. "Yes, sir, uh, General. Kanan," Rex muttered. Hera flew the Ghost away from our destination as we began our search. "There was a battle here during the Clone War. This old transport's the perfect place to find weapons, ammo, and hopefully some proton bombs," the war veteran explained. We took our time getting to the outpost because of the lack of Imperial presence on the planet. As we got closer, I saw something in my path and knelt down. Is that a head? I picked the object up and analyzed it, but I didn't recognize what it was.

"Hey, what is this?" I inquired. "Woah! Is that a Separatist battle droid?" Ezra wondered. "Oh, yeah. A little piece of one anyway. This place used to be crawling with them. We called them clankers," Rex said. "Clankers? Hahaha, I like that," Zeb laughed. "How many of those things do you think you blasted?" "Thousands, probably tens of thousands. Never kept count like some of the boys," Rex replied. "They don't look very dangerous," Ezra said. Rex stopped in his path and turned to face the Jedi. "Listen, those droids wiped out a lot of Republic troopers. Many of them were my friends," he condescended before trailing off. "He's been through a lot. Battles leave scars. Some you can't see," Kanan stepped in, sharing a thought-provoking statement about the impact the war left on its warriors. Although I was never directly involved in any type of war before coming to this galaxy, I would see countless struggles on the news in other parts of my homeworld. I learned how life would drastically change for those unfortunate enough to be caught in the crossfire. Almost always were there no true winners.

Picking up the pace, we entered the base. "Hold up, let me recon first," Rex said before running off to scan the base for potential traps and the munitions we needed. "Well look at that. Jackpot. The depot is fully loaded. More proton bombs in there than we can carry," he reported. "Good job, Rex," Kanan complimented. I ran toward the entrance to the depot, eager to get what we came for. "Careful, kid. The droids used to protect their armories with ray shields," Rex warned. "What's a ray shie-" I was interrupted by a bright white light flashing in front of me. I turned around to find the entire team was trapped inside this circular beam. "This is a ray shield," the clone finished my thoughts. Then, a repetitive clanking sound filled the room. As the figures came into view, I saw the weird shapes of their heads. They look weirdly familiar. Then it hit me. The head on the ground from earlier. "Are those battle droids?" I thought they were all shut down!" Ezra said, stunned. "Well, these ones weren't," Zeb stated the obvious. "You have been captured by the Separatist Alliance," a droid with yellow markings on its head declared. "Separatists?" Rex wondered aloud. "Prepare to blast the Republic invaders," the droid ordered. "Republic invaders?" Kanan said. "Delay that order. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Roger, Roger," the droid said, communicating with someone. "Wait, who's Roger?" Ezra asked. I facepalmed at his dumbfoundedness. There's no way he hasn't said that before. Roger that? Really? "We have new orders. Incapacitate and capture. Activating stunner," the droid said while pressing a few buttons on a control panel. "Wait, no!" I cried out, but it was in vain. A pulse of electricity stunned us all, sending everyone into unconsciousness. Where would we wake up next?