Cad Bane's Apprentice

Plan of Dissent [3]

Skysati was helping Fives with decrypting the ship as Hardcase sat in the pilot's seat "Okay, there. Try that out. It should be a little easier,"

"I got it," Hardcase said as he lifted the aircraft up.

Skysati flinched as the aircraft began to wobble. "Oh,"

Fives pushed Skysati out of the way as Hardcase knocked over some containers "Hardcase, what are you doing?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't be doing it!" Hardcase argued.

"Great. This can't get much worse,"

"Trooper, what's going on down there?"

Skysati felt frozen in place as Master Krell's voice came over the comms.

Fives noticed the freeze and pushed the clone aside from the comms "Hey, hey, I got this,"

"Trooper! Report, trooper!"

"Uh, yes, sir, everything's fine in the hangar, sir. Uh, nothing's out of control down here,"

"Then why have the alarms been triggered?"

"Eh, uh, uh, it's just a drill, a safety drill, sir,"

"Safety check occurs at 0600. Who authorized this drill?"

"Uh, we are decrypting the alien hardware, sir. A standard operating procedure,"

Skysati tried to use the force to limit the amount of damage Hardcase was doing to the hangar.

"That didn't work," Hardcase muttered.

Skysati yelped when Hardcase managed to get the blasters working.

"Who is this? What's your CT number?" Master Krell demanded. "Trooper, identify yourself!"

"Okay, how about this?" Hardcase wondered.

Skysati looked up wide-eyed as Hardcase began to freak out.

"Oh, no, no. No-no-no-no-no-no! That's gonna leave a mark,"

Skysati shook her head in distress "Now we are screwed,"

***

"Explain this. Now," General Krell ordered as he entered the hanger with Captain Rex following behind.

Skysati moved to take the blame but Hardcase spoke up before she could.

"Sir, we were decrypting the enemy craft when what appears to be an enemy booby trap went off,"

"A booby trap?" General Krell asked.

"Yes, sir. The fighter went haywire, and had I not been able to get control of it and aim the missile at the doors, something worse might have happened,"

"Is this true?" General Krell questioned Skysati.

"Uh, ye-yes, sir," Skysati replied. "That is what happened, no doubt,"

"Well, Captain Rex, looks like I was correct. The Umbaran fighters are dangerous and not fit for flight,"

"But, sir, we now know how they work," Hardcase argued "We just need practice,"

General Krell shook his head "Lockdown these fighters. I don't want anything else exploding,"

Fives pushed Hardcase "Nice work. Now we know how to fly them and we won't be able to get near them,"

"Oh, come on." Hardcase said "That won't stop us. It's just procedure. We can sneak in and be out before Krell knows anything,"

A clone walked over and began to clap mockingly "I thought the plan was to destroy the enemy ship with the fighters, not blow up our own hangar,"

"Look, I agree we should go through with this," Skysati told the group "so are you two volunteering to be my pilots or what?"

"I'm in," Hardcase said immediately "regardless of the consequences,"

"Flying these fighters beats blindly walking into a bunch of missiles," a clone said "so I'm in. We just need a plan,"

"Already got one," Fives said. "General Skywalker blew up a droid control ship when he was just a kid, and he told me the trick was hitting their main reactor from the inside,"

***

"I want a full perimeter sweep." Skysati ordered the troops as they began to walk from the airfield "Be on high alert,"

Rex seemed shocked that the young Padawan had joined the group "Skysati, what are you doing out here? You should be in the barracks,"

"I've found my pilots. We're going after that supply ship,"

Rex took off his helmet "Are you out of your mind? It's a suicide mission, not to mention against orders,"

"It's the right thing to do. We have to try,"

"It sounds like you intend to go through with it,"

"If you're going to try to stop us, we need to know," Skysati challenged.

Rex sighed "I can't help you when you get caught,"

"I understand. That's why Fives had me join you,"