Star Wars Rebels One-Shots

Ruins of Chopper Base

Yavin was abuzz with activity. Everyone was doing something: whether it was fueling ships for a mission, cleaning ships fresh from a mission, or doing target practice. But on the Ghost, no one was busy with anything important. Zeb was sleeping, Kanan was meditating, Chopper was trying to figure out a way to extremely rudely wake Zeb up, Sabine and Ezra were playing Dejarik, and Hera was in the base's headquarters recieving a mission. She came back to the ship without as much as a curious glance from Ezra and Sabine. Everyone was so wrapped in their own activity that they barely noticed when the ship took off. Nearly everyone did notice when they jumped to hyperspace. The game was paused, the meditation ended, and the scheming stopped.

"Hera," Kanan said, "what's the mission?"

"We received a distress signal," she said, "from a familiar location."

She tapped a button on the console and a planet popped into holographic life.

"Atollon?" Ezra asked, "A signal from Chopper Base?"

"I thought the Empire had the system on lockdown," Sabine said, "what changed?"

"We're not sure," Hera said, "that's what we're going to-- wait a second, where's Zeb?"

Chopper chuckled aloud and wheeled out of the room. A few seconds later they heard the screams of pain from a Lasat followed by a rage fueled roar. Chopper wheeled back in with Zeb hot on his tail.

"He zapped me!" He shouted.

"We have a mission soon," Hera said, "we'll be arriving shortly."

A couple minutes later they emerged from hyperspace. Amazingly, there were no ships over the planet. No stardestroyers, no light cruisers, nothing. Just debris from the battle that happened many weeks ago.They kept their sensors alive in case the Empire was waiting for them. They split into two teams: Sabine, Ezra, Kanan, and Zeb all were to head to the surface on the Phantom while Hera and Chopper were to remain on the Ghost in case the Empire was waiting for them. The Phantom undocked from the Ghost and headed down.

They went straight to Chopper Base. They landed and exited; Sabine and Ezra were wearing their helmets. They saw just how little it had changed. There were blaster holes in the ground, carbon scoring everywhere, and carnage as well. They went to the command console and tapped it. It came alive and showed a woman with a semi circle  necklace looking intently at a data pad.

"Arden Veo," she said, "have you finally decided to report in?"

Everyone stood in confusion. She looked at the crowd and was visibly confused.

"You aren't Arden Veo," she said, "who are you? Are you with the Pikes, Hutts, Black Sun, or Zann Consortium?"

"Who are you?" Sabine asked.

"I am Qi'ra. Leader of Crimson Dawn. Now state who you are your purpose for being in this sector."

"We are with the Rebellion. We received a distress signal nearby."

"More likely you wiped out my forces and are now trying to track me down."

"If we'd never even heard of Crimson Dawn," Ezra said, "what makes you think that we'd be trying to destroy you?"

"Because you are rebels," Qi'ra responded, "who detest criminal syndicates."

The hologram went dead.

"We'd better hurry," Kanan said, "there's no telling how large Crimson Dawn's forces are."

They all made their way down to the actual surface of the planet. They found the source of the signal and they were stunned to see black armored figures on the ground who weren't deathtroopers or TIE pilots.

"Whatever Crimson Dawn is," Zeb said, "it clearly has thugs. An army of them at that."

"Let's get back to Yavin." Kanan said.

They all got to the Phantom and launched to space. As soon as they docked and got to the cockpit, a small fleet of ships dropped out of hyperspace led by a tall, thin ship with a circle in a circle cut in half with the top lit and the bottom not.

"Attention, Corellian VCX 100 freighter," said Qi'ra's voice, "this is Crimson Dawn. State your purpose in this sector or be destroyed."

"Kanan?" Hera asked.

"Apparently they're a crime syndicate," he responded, "only, we've never heard of them, and I think that they're holding it against us."

The Ghost flew towards the fleet, as that was the only safe way to Yavin. The ships in front of them opened fire. Hera navigated the ship through the onslaught to the other side of the small fleet. Once they were at the other side, their sensors started blaring with ships coming out of hyperspace. And they weren't friendly. Two stardestroyers dropped out of hyperspace. Thinking quickly, Hera shot the Ghost up to the topside of the ships.

"Chopper," she said, "plug in coordinates that will leave the Empire in the middle of nowhere while we jump to Yavin."

Almost as soon as she said that the stardestroyers opened fire on Crimson Dawn.

"Maybe they're too preoccupied with them to know about us?" Chopper beeped.

"Maybe," Hera said, "but just to be safe, do you have the coordinates?"

"Yes."

"Jumping now."

The ship jumped. It stopped soon after and readjusted its course to Yavin then jumped again. After arriving at Yavin again, they had to debrief the mission.

"So," Mon Mothma said when Hera entered followed by the rest of the crew, "what was behind the signal?"

"A crime syndicate," she responded, "does the name Crimson Dawn mean anything to you or anyone in the Senate?"

"It might. Thank you for this intelligence."

They all went their separate ways: Hera to training pilots, Kanan back to meditation, Zeb to the mess hall, Chopper with Hera, and Ezra and Sabine back to their game of Dejarik.

I'm still here. And I'm still open to suggestions.