Stowaway: A Star Wars Rebels Story

Immoral Compass

(Credit to @Aly-En-Art from DeviantArt)

I went into my dad's office to get a couple pieces of paper and a pencil. This next step of the plan was the most critical and risky. Obviously, robbing from the autobody shop - a place I used to call home for seven hours a day over the past year - is a blatant crime. But since I also left them on not-so-ideal terms, I would run the risk of the public assuming it was me. Near-perfect coordination was required to make this work, and considering I've only known the crew for less than a day, I'd have to improvise to get up to their speed. But nothing would be tougher than going straight back to the Ghost and finishing repairs behind the backs of law enforcement. We nearly got caught just now and they'll be protecting the crash site with more help, so we'll have to plan around that as well. Not to mention all the loud noise that would attract attention. Why does this have to be so hard? There's so much that could go wrong with this plan. So many moving parts, so little time, and everything has to be perfect! I internally screamed at myself and slammed my hand on the desk. Probably not the best way to calm down, but it worked. Returning to the kitchen table, it was time to get the ball rolling.

I placed the papers down, getting the crew's attention. Drawing the layout of the autobody shop, I glanced up briefly and noticed a scowl on Sabine's face. "What?" I asked, but I got no response back. Shrugging my shoulders, I continued my sketch, labeling each point of interest. I had full confidence that we would succeed in robbing the shop, as I knew the shop like the back of my hand. They speak perfect English, which still surprises me, so I won't have to worry as much about miscommunications. One problem solved. I finished drawing the sketch and picked up the pencil. "Alright, the shop's layout is simple enough. There's an emergency door in the back that the employees go through. It's always propped open, so getting in shouldn't be a problem. The other end of the hallway leads to the main part of the shop: the repair area. The garages there serve as our way out. This is VERY important. They can only be opened from inside, with chains here, and- Sabine, what are you doing?" I questioned as she swiped the paper from me. "You need a lot more training to impress me, Y/N," she retorted. "Training, for what?" I said, offended by her remark. "She probably dislikes your artistic impression," Ezra quipped. Whatever, I'm much happier being a mechanic. At least I actually fix people's problems. "Sabine, time is precious. Do you want to get home or not?" Zeb pressed. Realizing he made a good point, Sabine sighed and handed the paper back to Y/N, who continued to formulate his plan.

"Only one of these garages needs to be opened, and make sure it's in front of an open space. I need it to fit my truck through. Once inside, some of you will help me load the machines and materials up into the back of the truck. The rest will serve as lookouts, here, here, and here," I said, tapping on each exit with my pencil. "Be very clear if you see something suspicious. We can hide in the storage room if that's the case. Now, when we exit, there's an order I need us to escape in. Kanan, Ezra, and Chopper will climb in the back on the outside. Do NOT let anything fall off or break," I warned them sternly. "Hera and Zeb will sit in the back seat so outsiders won't see them." They nodded their heads as they understood my use of the word 'outsider.' Stressing about that was tiring but necessary. We couldn't run the risk of any other humans seeing them. "And that leaves Sabine in the front right side. Any questions?" I finished. Nothing has functionally changed since the corporate takeover, so this plan should work very well. We just had to be smart and efficient. "How are we gonna get in without being seen by the security cameras? They're bound to detect movement inside," Kanan argued. I was stumped upon hearing that. How could I have been so blind? They'll detect all 7 of us and there's a possibility it could trigger an alarm. "I...have to figure that out," I said with hesitation. The crew could see a look of disappointment on my face, so Ezra did his best to cover up my flaws. "So, assuming we get the materials and get out with ease, which already sounds hard enough, what do we do when we get back to the Ghost?" "I'll explain that part on the way there. For now, we have to focus on actually getting what we need," I said, regaining a little confidence. "Is there anything specific that we need to get from there?" Hera chimed in. "I was actually hoping someone would ask me this. The glass is easy to get, but I don't know what metals are used for your ship. Something with great all-around strength should work in space, but I might be reaching for hope," I answered. "I'll make a checklist of everything we need, and it should all fit in my truck." "So when do we leave?" Zeb asked. "Today's Friday, so about 9 p.m.," I replied. Silence then filled the room, so I adjourned the meeting. "Hera, can I speak with you in private?" I asked. Hera nodded and followed me into my dad's office.

"What do you need, Y/N?" Hera asked. She had this caring and genuine tone in her voice, and I appreciated that a lot. She knew I stuck my neck out for other people in need, and I had a feeling that she did the same in her galaxy. "I mentioned before that your ship might be built out of metals I'm not familiar with. I wanted to ask you if you knew," I said. Hopefully, I got an answer I could work with. "You know, they say a captain knows everything about their ship. I do, but I didn't build it. I'm sorry, Y/N," Hera trailed off. "Hmmm. I might have a solution to that," I said in an effort to cheer her up. I pulled out my phone and opened Google. After a few quick searches about metals and their different strength attributes, I turned it off and looked up at the Ghost's captain. "Steel and tungsten should be a good substitute. If you make it back to your galaxy, you can re-repair it if you need to. We just need someone to weld it into the damaged parts," I answered. Both metals have great tensile, compressible, yield, and impact strength. Perfect for autobody work, so they shouldn't be hard to obtain. In theory, they should function as intended in space. However, one critical factor I didn't account for was how they'd handle light speed, as it's ridiculously fast and galaxies were light years apart. "It's a good plan, and the best chance we've got," Hera said in assurance. "Thanks, Y/N." She then laid a hand on my shoulder. I smiled at her before she joined the rest of her crew. I might be borderline delusional about this. There's no way to know for certain if the repaired metals will hold at light speed unless we test it out. And we can't test it either, as they might not have enough fuel to make it home, not to mention there's no way to contact them. I seriously hope this works.

Night fell quicker than expected and I still felt stressed. I hadn't figured out how to deal with the security cameras yet, so we had to raid the shop hoping no alarms were triggered. Already an unrealistic prospect, it was interfering with my ability to memorize the checklist I made. Toolset, caulking gun, glass setting stick, frame straightener, tungsten sheets, steel sheets, window frames. Thankfully, Chopper's built-in toolset made it easier to steal the materials we needed and repair the Ghost, but there was still a lot to take. Every minute detail had to be perfect, and any slip-ups could spell death for me and the crew. I can't let that happen, not after what they've been through. Even worse, a certain spaceship was starting to trend on Twitter, so we had even less time now. Looking at my phone, the screen showed 8:55. Time to go.

The drive to the autobody shop took a little longer than expected because of construction on the usual route I take, but this gave me time to rehash the plan. The road leading up to the shop was dark; perfect for stealth. After dropping off Ezra, Kanan, and Sabine a block away, I shut off my truck lights and drove around the plaza to the side where the garages were. And now, we wait.