Jedi Fugitive (The Bad Batch)

107:

Astera:

We waited until we were safely out of range from Erebus before waking Rampart, Crosshair and I clustered around him with arms folded while Wrecker sharpened his knife in the corner. Hunter emerged from the cockpit and Crosshair kicked him in the leg, prompting the former admiral to bolt upright with a sharp gasp and a groan, blinking hard to clear his vision.

"We got you off the planet. Now tell us where Tantiss is."

Rampart sighed, attempting to rub his face and giving up quickly when the action proved too difficult with his hands still cuffed. "It's, ah, more complicated than that."

"Complicated how?" Hunter demanded, expression drawing tight in anger. All that effort to get him off the damn planet, and if he couldn't tell us where the base was...

"No one knows the coordinates to Tantiss. It was designed that way. But... I might know how to get around that."

"Either you tell us now, or we drop you back in that Imperial prison," Crosshair threatened, clearly as fed up with his beating around the bush as I was. They probably wouldn't take too kindly to the fact we'd taken him and then returned him still alive, but I could care less.

"Now, now," Rampart tutted, some of that superiority oozing back into his composure. "No need for threats. After all, we're in this together."

"And what do you mean by that?" I glanced almost reflexively at Hunter, who looked just about as confused as I felt. Though judging by the expression on Rampart's face, it sounded like we were going to need him for something more. And I wasn't sure if I liked the sound of that.

*******

"Where in the blasted galaxy did that pirate abandon us? And why are you keeping me here?!" All Rampart had done since Phee dropped us off on Bora Vio was complain, complain, complain. First it was about the dilapidated Kaminoan facility, then the altitude and the gas clouds everywhere, and now it was the planet itself. I was almost ready to stun him again just so he'd shut up.

"You'd prefer we take you back to that Imperial labour camp instead?" Hunter didn't even spare him a glance, focused instead on the datapad in his hands. I, on the other hand, shot him another glare from my spot against the wall, tilting my vibroblade just enough to let it catch the light and catch his eyes.

"We had a deal. I already told you what I know about Tantiss!"

"Quit complaining." I snapped, standing up abruptly and the vibroblade in my vambrace retracting with a sharp hiss. "You're giving me a headache."

"My apologies for the inconvenience," he sneered at me, returning his indignant attention to Hunter. "I fulfilled my side of the deal. Now let me go!"

"You'll get your freedom when we get the exact coordinates to that base." Hunter stowed the datapad and walked past Rampart at the sounds of a ship approaching, bumping his shoulder none-too gently as he went to meet the Rho transport landing in front of us.

"Nice work," he told Echo, clasping the former ARC trooper's hand with a nod when he descended from the open landing ramp. Echo shrugged in response, turning back to observe his own handiwork.

"A stolen shuttle is the best I could do on short notice. The supplies we need are aboard." His gaze shifted over Hunter's shoulder and darkened immediately - I didn't need to look back to know he'd caught sight of Rampart. "You really think we can trust that hydrosnake?"

Rampart scoffed indignantly. "I can hear you."

"No," I admitted, pinning him with a glare over my shoulder. "But he's our best chance at finding Omega. We don't have any other option."

That answer seemed to be enough for Echo - he jerked his chin down in acknowledgment and waved us onto the transport, Hunter making sure to bump Rampart's shoulder on his way past.

Wrecker shoved Rampart into the first seat he could find, standing over him with as menacing a look as he could muster. "Now, start talking."

"Oh, how many times do I have to explain it?" He actually had the nerve to roll his eyes at us. "Hemlock put safeguards in place to keep his base's location a secret."

"But you've been there before?" Hunter pressed, unwilling to be deterred so easily.

Rampart sighed again, almost in exasperation, and rattled off the list of instructions for what was probably the fifth time since we'd picked him up. "Any ship going there must first dock at Imperial Station Zero-Zero-Three, in orbit over Coruscant, where the coordinates are transmitted directly to the navicomputer."

A hologram of Coruscant flickered into existence behind us, prompting us to turn around and study the outline of the planet. True to his word, the Imperial station was there, drifting in orbit around the blue sphere of the main planet.

"Well, his information about the orbital station checks out," Echo grunted, waving his hand at the much smaller shape on the hologram. "But I can't confirm the rest of his story."

"Do you think I'm lying?" Rampart scoffed indignantly, sounding almost offended by the suggestion.

"Yes." Wrecker and Crosshair answered in unison. Hunter glanced at me, the silent question clear as day, and I nodded, reaching out to tap into the Force and read Rampart's intentions.

"As far as I can tell, he's not lying. By his own judgement, his intel is good."

"Of course it is," he sniffed, but no one was paying attention to him anymore, all of us staring at the hologram and Hunter beginning to put together a plan.

"Once we reach the station, we can find a ship departing for Tantiss and pull the coordinates,"

"We're going to need Imperial clearance codes," Crosshair interjected.

"Got that covered."

"Unlikely," Rampart scoffed again at Echo's words. "Those codes change every rotation."

"Which is why we're not waiting around," I told him.

"Even with a stolen shuttle and clearance codes, you can't expect to walk onto an Imperial Station completely unnoticed. Especially not her." He nodded towards me with a distasteful look at my coloured armour. "The only thing more noticeable than a group of clones like you is a Mandalorian. Even if she wasn't wearing those Jedi weapons."

"But you can." Hunter motioned to Echo, the other clone forging into the back of the ship and reemerging with a heap of something soft in his arms. "And we'll be your security detail."

Echo tossed him a pile of folded clothes - an Imperial uniform by the looks of the drab grey colour and the bars fixed on its chest. "You just walk us right onto the station."

"You cannot be serious."

"You were an Imperial before." If his complaining had been bad before, it was really starting to get on my nerves now. "Impersonating one should be easy enough."

"I can't wear this. It's a captain's uniform." Rampart held up the uniform and tapped the bars on its chest. "I was a Vice Admiral?" he elaborated when all we did was share a look.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." At this point I might as well play the Imperial officer. It'd be way less annoying than having to deal with him.

"You've been demoted," Echo said without any sympathy, prompting another scoff and an eye roll from the former vice admiral.

"I hate clones," he muttered underneath his breath.