Rose Squadron: the Inkari Gambit

The Vindictive Empress dropped Annie and Mikasa off at the opposite end of the same forest Annie had entered during her first excursion to Takodana. Mikasa had swiftly volunteered herself to be Annie’s shadow, on the basis that her reaction time was the swiftest out of the soldiers in Rogue Squadron, and that she wanted to make amends with the Imperial Officer. The two girls carefully stepped into the forest, watching and listening closely for any sign of Annie’s comrades.
“I know I haven’t made it clear to you, but I feel shitty for stunning you here,” Mikasa whispered to Annie as they continued forward. “It was an impulse, in all sincerity. When I saw you, I immediately assumed that you were threatening Eren somehow.”
“That’s only understandable though,” Annie assured her. “After all, you’re pretty much his sister. It’s only natural that your instincts would kick in. Though I can’t deny how shocked I was that you were able to stun me without me noticing your presence.”
Mikasa’s lips twitched into a small smile at the remark.
“While Eren is the more brazen, berserker fighter in our group, I’m the silent hunter type. It’s been my specialty ever since he and I began training ourselves in combat. My fighting style was, and still is inspired by the legends of the Loth-wolves of Lothal. I value the ability to silently sneak up on my targets and eliminate them before they can so much as flinch.”
Annie felt herself shudder at how sinister Mikasa sounded describing herself, as she realized that their fighting styles were too similar. Ever since she’d graduated from Inkari’s Imperial Academy, she had developed a similar fighting style to accommodate her lack of physical strength. Over the years, she had trained herself to deftly defeat stronger opponents with an impressive agility that allowed her to evade and counter at the drop of a hat. If she hadn’t despised the Emperor for his cruelty and dismissal of the lives he ruined, Annie would’ve gladly seized a likely offer to become an Emperor’s Hand, one of the Empire’s deadliest assassins.
“What do you intend to say to them?” Mikasa softly asked as they approached the grove where Eren had met Annie.
“First, I need to assure them that I’m completely safe. That’s the easy part. The hard part will be convincing them to come with us back to the Empress.”
“Right. I doubt even they will be thrilled at the prospect of boarding with Rebels.”
“Is your blaster set to stun?”
“Of course. And yours?”
“Naturally. Now...if my guess is right…”
Annie and Mikasa stopped just outside of the grove, and Annie whispered to her, “Hide here, and don’t do anything unless this somehow escalates.”
Mikasa silently obeyed, and Annie stepped into the sunlit space, squinting through the light as she anxiously waited and hoped for her comrades to appear. Despite her history of giving the young men the cold shoulder throughout much of their military career together, Annie couldn’t deny that she was relieved to know that they were desperately looking for her.
After a few painfully long minutes of waiting, Annie froze up as she heard aggravated yelling coming steadily closer from the other end of the forest.
“Her ship’s abandoned, and we don’t have a damn clue where she went!” she heard Reiner snarl. “If I’m right that Rebel scum captured her, I’ll slaughter them all!”
“And I will too!” Bertholdt joined in. “I’ll do whatever it takes to get Annie back to Inkari safe and sound!”
Annie breathed hard, feeling her heart swell at the fierce loyalty in her comrades’ words, and her eyes welled up with tears once more.
“All this time, they never stopped caring about me, even after I kept brushing them off. What did I do to deserve this level of loyalty?”
She couldn’t let herself remain silent any longer, for fear that the tension inside her would make her collapse. Annie took a deep breath, and called out, “Reiner? Bertholdt?”
At first, the only sounds she could hear were the continued calls of the fauna surrounding her, and the soft whisper of the wind rustling through the trees. And then, mad, hurried footsteps came bounding towards her as both Reiner and Bert emerged from the forest into the grove, tackling Annie in a crushing embrace.
“Annie!” Bert sobbed as he clung to her. “We were worried sick!”
“W-what happened to you?!” Reiner asked her as he wept, while Annie allowed herself a moment to enjoy the warm comfort of her fellows’ embrace.
They both towered more than a foot over her mere 5’1” height, making her look like a fairy surrounded by towering giants. Reiner’s powerful bulk rippled underneath his gray Imperial uniform, and Bertholdt’s own uniform accentuated the lithe build his Imperial training had transformed his previously lanky body into. Annie felt safe and secure between her two sturdy comrades, and relieved to be among her fellow Inkarin once again.
Annie patted them both on the back, gently but politely signaling them to stop smothering her with their embrace, and beamed up at them, eager but desperate to relate her plan to them.
“I’m glad to see you both again, but we don’t have much time to discuss things here. I need you two to come with me back to my allies’ ship, where I’ll discuss in detail what I’ve learned.”
“Huh? What allies?” Reiner warily asked her, and Bert glanced down at her with his usual nervous look.
She bit her lip under their inquisitive stare, and muttered, “Look, it’s a really long story, and it’s something that I have to show you two instead of simply telling you. It’s...about Mina.”
“Mina?” Bert asked. “What about her?”
“Moff Datenshi lied to us all,” Annie angrily told them, and they shuddered at the malice seeping out of her. “Again, I need you two to come back with me so that I can show you the truth.”
“Hold on a minute, Annie!” Reiner interrupted, provoking an exasperated sigh from his comrade. “Where have you been? You had us terrified that Rebels had abducted and tortured you! Bert, myself, Chief Uttaka and his assistant Pieck all had a horrifying nightmare about you screaming and sobbing in agony-”
“What?” Annie asked, alarmed at how empathetic her agony over Mina’s murder had become. “How the hell-”
“Answer me, please, Annie!” Reiner begged. “Where did you go?”
“Look, I’m safe, I’m sound, and I don’t want you two freaking out about my safety right now. So please, come with me-”
“Reiner?” Bert cut her off, glaring at the shadows behind them. “Who’s that lurking near those trees?”
“SHIT!”
Reiner and Bert whipped out their blasters as Mikasa bolted out of the foliage, but before they could so much as pull their triggers, Annie fired stunning bolts into both of her comrades, sending them crashing to the forest floor. They gawked up at her as they went unconscious, and Mikasa walked up to her, aggravated that her cover had been blown so quickly.
“How did your friend detect me?” she asked Annie as they reached down and started to haul the boys off towards the Empress. “Not even the best Stormtrooper’s been able to do that!”
Annie grimaced down at Bert, and muttered to her, “It looks like Bert did some serious environmental training to compensate for his previous lack of awareness.”
The rest of the crew helped them haul the unconscious bodies into the backroom and bound them with handcuffs, where they waited nervously for the soldiers to waken. Connie kept twitching with anxiety, knowing that Annie needed him to show her comrades the horrifying footage he had found.
Not long after they had been taken aboard, Reiner and Bert both snapped to attention, snarling at the Rebels surrounding them. Rose Squadron rolled their eyes in unison as the Imperial Officers went ballistic.
“REBEL SCUM!” Reiner screamed. “I’ll kill you all for what you did to Annie!”
“I’ll rip you all limb from limb!” Bert shrieked, and Annie hastily stepped forward, waving her hands in a bid to get them to cease their ranting.
“Calm down, for fuck’s sake, both of you!” she snapped, earning another confused look from them. “These people did nothing to me! So stop giving yourselves an aneurysm and let me show you what I learned!”
She nodded at Connie, and with a nervous gulp, he pressed the main button on the backroom screen’s control panel. Annie watched Reiner and Bert gawk as the screen as the scene of Mina’s murder played out before them.
----
The room was filled with a horrid silence as Reiner and Bert glared up at the screen, heaving, sobbing and panicking at the vile truth they had learned. Annie shuddered and wiped away at her eyes, still agonized over Mina screaming her name as she died.
“W-why?” Bert meekly asked nobody in particular as Ymir moved to undo their shackles. “Why would Moff Datenshi…?”
“That piece of shit!” Reiner hissed, barely able to speak through his thick tears. “So he and the Emperor plotted her death in advance?!”
“Yes,” Annie answered coldly. “And for that, I’m going to ensure that Datenshi dies a violent death.”
Reiner and Bert shakily rose to their feet, rubbing their wrists as they gazed uncomfortably at the Rebels of Rose Squadron looking at them with sheer pity. Connie stepped forward and softly spoke to the agonized Officers.
“I’m...so sorry. I’m...I’m the pilot who snuck into Inkari a year ago on an urge to learn more about your homeworld. Just before I left, one of the security drones literally collapsed at my feet, allowing me to take it with me for further study. When I scanned through the footage it captured, I discovered the horrifying scene you just watched, and became determined to know the full story behind it.”
He turned to Annie, and sheepishly said, “When Annie was brought on board after Mikasa stunned her for looking like a threat to Eren’s safety on Takodana, and after I learned that she’s from Inkari, I played the footage with the hope of her helping me understand its context. I firmly believed that your people knew about this, and that the basic knowledge I assumed you all had about this crime would aid me. Instead...I unwittingly made Annie break down into screaming and sobbing, and learned that Mina’s death was a conspiracy hidden from the Inkarin.”
“Kid…” Reiner said back, weary and drained, “I don’t know what to say. I know you only wanted to learn the truth, but still, you should’ve known better than to have Annie watch this. Mina was her closest friend on Inkari, and the agony Annie felt after learning what happened is what gave us that horrifying nightmare back on our homeworld. But still…”
He reached forward, placed a large but gentle hand on Connie’s shoulder, and softly said to him, “Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for helping us see the truth about what really happened to Mina.”
Connie sobbed at those words, and received a grim pat on the back from both Reiner and Bert as they wiped away their tears. Annie let out a big sigh of relief, and addressed the entire room.
“I’m glad that we got my comrades up to date on this matter. Now, we need to discuss our plan of action. The rest of my people need to know about Mina’s murder, and I want to get my revenge on the Empire itself the atrocity it’s committed against us. Now is the perfect time to strike, with the Empire so desperately focused on Endor and the battle soon to transpire there. Nobody will be paying attention to what I’m planning to unleash on Inkari, and if this works the way I want it to, my people will permanently withdraw their support from the Empire at its most critical moment.”
Bert gently asked her, “How do you want to go about this, Annie?”
She looked up at him, and told him, “We need to get Chief Uttaka on our side, first and foremost. He controls our world’s HoloNet, which we need access to in order to show our people the damning footage of Mina’s murder. I suspect that he’ll become an eager ally. He’s been awfully willing to let us defy the Moff’s order to not let anybody leave Inkari unauthorized, and it’s likely that he’s been subtly subverting that bastard for a long time now.”
“You’re right,” Reiner murmured in agreement. “The Chief really doesn’t care about Moff Datenshi’s demands.”
“Exactly. Now, the one thing we need to worry about is how to enter Inkari without raising any alarms. We need to use your ship, Reiner, to get clearance through the planetary shield. If we all try to go back in Ymir’s ship, we’ll be obliterated within seconds upon arrival.”
Annie turned to face Rose Squadron, and announced to them, “I appreciate all of you for helping me see the truth, and for caring for me with the immense compassion you all have, even for an Imperial Officer. For the purpose of being subtle about this plan, though, I only intend to take Armin and Connie with me on the initial entrance to Inkari. I’ll need them to give the Chief the memory core with the footage on it, and give him whatever help he might need in transmitting it to the entire planet’s HoloNet screens. That, and it’ll be easier to convince him to let the Vindictive Empress through if we don’t pressure him with more than a couple of you.”
“So be it,” Ymir replied.
She addressed the youth, telling them, “Alright ladies and gents, this is the grand fight we’ve been itching for! Armin, Connie, get ready to depart with them. The rest of you, prepare yourselves for battle. We’ll await word from the others once they get the shield down, and enable us to join the fray.”
Rose Squadron bolted out of the backroom towards the ship’s armoury, leaving the Imperial Officers alone. Reiner and Bert gave Annie intensely worried looks, and she gazed up at them, weary but aching to set her plot in motion.
“I’m not going to tell you two that I’m ok, because clearly I’m not,” she told them. “But I’m itching to throw this all back in Datenshi’s face and finally give Mina and those poor factory workers the justice they deserve. I just hope that Chief Uttaka, Pieck and the rest of the Security Department will be willing to comply with this plan. If not, we’re screwed.”
---
Haston and Pieck stood side by side in the middle of the Security Tower’s main room, watching the door warily, knowing that Reiner and Berthold leaving the planet so suddenly with their permission was inevitably bound to send the Moff after them. Their dozens of Security Aides, hunched anxiously over their terminals and all too aware that they were now collectively in the crosshairs of Datenshi’s ire, cast glances at the front entrance, likewise knowing that a confrontation was soon to occur.
Sure enough, loud shouting suddenly erupted on the other side of the metal doors, and the entire Security Department went rigid with tension. A moment later, the doors were yanked open from the other side, and Moff Sebastian Datenshi sauntered in fuming, followed by an entourage of a dozen fully armed Stormtroopers. The two door guardsmen peeked in from the entrance, terrified and unwilling to intercept any further.
“Chief Uttaka!” Datenshi snarled, his entourage forming a half-moon arc behind him, fanning out to both prevent any escape, and to enable the troops to easily gun down their opponents. “For the second time in this week alone, you’ve brazenly defied my orders to not let anybody leave Inkari without my permission. Not only that, but at this critical moment in our galaxy, you’ve allowed three of our best soldiers to leave on some wild Bantha chase! Explain yourself!”
Pieck raised an inquisitive eyebrow up at her superior, but Haston shook his head firmly, not wanting his lieutenant to ignite the tense argument into a fatal skirmish. He saw that his aides were all watching him anxiously, waiting for him to give them the signal they had discussed for situations like the one before them. Haston gave them a confident, relaxed smile, and turned to face the Moff.
“I’m afraid, sir, that I can’t divulge in too great detail why Officers Leonhardt, Braun and Hoover departed from Inkari. Their reasons are deeply personal, and I would be betraying both their trust and basic Security protocol if I were to reveal their motives.”
“Oh, just cut the diplomatic bullshit and tell me what’s going on!” Datenshi snapped back. “I have every reason to arrest and detain every single one of you conniving wretches for deliberately going against my orders, and I’ll gladly have my personal guard incinerate any of you who refuse to comply!”
At that, Haston and Pieck shuddered as they watched their Aides casually reach their arms underneath their desks, where they had all hidden blasters in secret compartments, for the purpose of self-defense. Though the Moff thankfully wasn’t paying them any attention, Haston could see from the malice in their faces that they were all willing to go down in a brutal blaster fight.
“Such violence is absolutely unnecessary, Datenshi,” Haston answered cooly. “You are jumping the gun and freaking out over miniscule things, after all.”
“‘Miniscule’?! You gave those soldiers unwarranted permission to leave this planet without consulting me first! Not only that, but Officer Leonhardt’s leave of absence was due to expire just when you allowed her to leave on this ridiculous ‘personal mission’ of hers, and I have every reason to believe that you knowingly timed her departure to spite me! This is treason!”
The Stormtroopers casually but menacingly raised their blasters, all pointing right at the Chief, who remained utterly unflappable in the face of the sudden adversity. All around him, his Security Aides tensed up even further, aching to whip out their blasters and catch their enemies off guard.
Haston sighed mockingly and told the Moff, “My goodness, Datenshi, you really are riled up over this petty matter!”
“Don’t taunt me, Uttaka!” Datenshi shrieked, the veins around his eyes bulging with fury. “I have the power to slaughter you and all of your precious Aides here and now, and if you don’t tell me everything, these Stormtroopers will gun each and every one of you down!”
Pieck snarled at him, and Haston casually let his head fall back, a high, cold laugh echoing from his mouth all across the interior of the tower, sending chills down the spine of every individual watching him. He lowered his head and gave the Moff a horrid sneer, making the vile man freeze up in fear.
“Power? My dearest Datenshi, do you truly believe that the precious power you think you have at your disposal will give you the assured victory that you so desperately desire? Let me explain this in plain layman’s terms to you.”
Sebastian Datenshi shuddered as Haston spoke softly but sinisterly, enrapturing the entire room with his words.
“You boast so proudly about the power at your disposal, Datenshi, but you forget that your supposed power fails to make you invincible against the laws of this world, and the inherent, all-binding laws of this galaxy, the eternal codes that serve as the ebb and flow of our morality. In your pride, you have forgotten about the thousands of eyes at my Department’s disposal, the unblinking sentinels that see all here on Inkari, every little motion, every insidious misdeed committed in the dark of the night. Your own misdeeds, Moff, have not gone unnoticed. While you may unwisely believe that your position places you above any and all laws set forth, you will learn soon enough that not even a Moff can escape the punishment justly reserved for those who revel in purporting the cruelest of atrocities. Watch where you tread, Sebastian Datenshi, because not even you can escape the ever-watching eyes of Inkari.”
To his satisfaction, the Moff’s face fell in horror, and he waved a hand signal at his entourage, prompting them all to lower their weapons and follow him out the still-open door. When the last trooper had left, the two guards bolted inside as the door closed, and the Security Department collectively breathed an immense sigh of relief.
“We narrowly avoided a brutal fight,” Pieck murmured, still warily eyeing the spot where the Moff had stood. “If you hadn’t said what you did, Haston, we could’ve faced multiple casualties.”
“I won’t let that happen!” Haston snarled, his adrenaline and malice still surging after putting the Moff in his place. “He had the audacity to storm in here and threaten my people, and I’ll never let him lay a finger on any of you!”
To his right, one of the aides collapsed into panicked sobs, his fellows rushing to comfort him. Haston and Pieck grimaced at each other, knowing that the aide had been on the verge of a panic attack the instant Datenshi had entered the building.
“I...I wanted to gun that bastard down for what he’s done, but...I couldn’t make myself do it!” the man wailed to the others, and they all shook their heads sadly, even the two door guards, who were all too aware of why the aide was so stricken.
“It wasn’t the right time, Daz,” Haston assured him. “But that man will receive the punishment he deserves soon enough. For the longest time, Datenshi has brazenly acted as if he’s above the law, but now, he knows that not even a Moff can escape the repercussions he’s meant to face.”
One of his female aides spoke up, asking her superior, “Sir, what is our next plan of action?”
He turned to her, gave her a sly wink, and told them all, “My dears, we wait for Officers Leonhardt, Braun and Hoover to return. And then...we, too, will strike.”