“Juggernaut”

Return to Tantiss
CX-2 and the captive Omega land at Tantiss Base in CX-2’s CX Dagger vessel. CX-2 leads a bound Omega down the docking ramp, where Dr Royce Hemlock greets her on the tarmac. After removing her restraints, Hemlock compliments Omega for surrendering and leads her inside the base. After walking through the main corridor, Hemlock takes her down a turbolift to Nala Se’s laboratory, which Emerie Karr has taken over.

Hemlock orders Karr to begin testing Omega’s Midi-chlorian count. Karr initially hesitates but complies with Hemlock’s orders. When Omega asks about Nala Se, Hemlock says that the Kaminoan scientist has been imprisoned and will not be helping her to escape again. Hemlock leaves and says he will return for the results. Omega tries to reason with Karr but says she has no choice. As she extracts a sample from Omega, Karr expresses relief that her younger sister is safe but momentarily hesitates when Omega brutally asks if she is safe.

Crosshair’s plan
Meanwhile, on Pabu, Imperial forces begin returning in their LAAT gunships to their Venator-class Star Destroyer. Hunter and Batcher join Crosshair and Wrecker in their hiding place. He reports that the Imperial troops have withdrawn but that the cruiser is still jamming communications. Wrecker is upset that Crosshair allowed Omega to surrender herself to the Empire. Crosshair responds that the Galactic Empire would have destroyed the town if she did not, adding that she stopped them. Wrecker grumbles that they have lost Omega and their starship, the Marauder. Hunter adds that they have no way of finding Tantiss Base.

Crosshair suggests that the former Vice-Admiral Edmon Rampart may know the coordinates to Tantiss Base, explaining that he sent Nala Se there when the Empire “decommissioned” Tipoca City. Hunter asks why he has not said anything about this before. Crosshair replies that Tantiss is a place he doesn’t want to return to. While Rampart is untrustworthy, Crosshair adds that he is their only option.

Before Crosshair can finish, Batcher barks. Phee Genoa and AZI-345211896246498721347 ascend via a trapdoor concealed beneath a table. AZI tells them not to shoot. He explains that he found Genoa while scouting. Genoa has been briefed about the Imperial search on Pabu by AZI. When Hunter asks how she arrived unseen, Genoa says she used the hidden cavern access when she docked her ship. Genoa tells Crosshair that Tech told her about him and accepts him as a friend. Crosshair tells the group that Rampart is serving his sentence at an Imperial labor camp on Erebus.

Infiltrating Erebus
On Erebus, an HCVw A9 turbo tank travels on a bridge to a different part of the labor camp. Rampart is working in a mining facility under the supervision of a masked alien prison foreman, from whom he resents taking orders. While traveling through hyperspace aboard Phee’s ship Providence, Genoa tells the Bad Batch that she has obtained a holomap of the labor camp from a contact. Hunter asks if she can get them close to the camp’s perimeter undetected. Genoa says she can but warns about the guards and security systems inside the camp. Wrecker thinks they can handle the Imperials.

Crosshair says they can use a terminal at one of the checkpoints. Hunter tells Genoa they will contact her for a pickup once they have acquired the target. The Providence exits hyperspace. With several Class Four container transports, Genoa takes her ship into “stealth mode” by switching off the engines and descending into Erebus’ atmosphere. Once they reach the lower atmosphere, she restarts the engines and lands the clones on a mountain near the labor camp.

The Bad Batch approaches a large suspension bridge where they stun two TK stormtrooper sentries. They then access a terminal, which they use to find Rampart’s location. Rampart waits impatiently for the end of his work shift. He has trouble understanding the Ugnaught foreman since they don’t speak the same language. The two join other prisoners in lining up outside a turbo tank, Transport One, that has been repurposed as a prisoner transport.

Crosshair tells Hunter that Rampart is scheduled to be transported back to the prison from the mining structure. Hunter peers through his macrobinoculars and says the prison is on the other side of the bridge. Hunter proposes intercepting Rampart when they are en route from the mine. Wrecker is excited about taking on a turbo tank, but Crosshair cautions them against taking it on head-on. Studying the surrounding geography, Hunter proposes going under the turbo tank.

The rescue
On Transport One, Rampart is secured into a holding cell. A stormtrooper tells the prison they are heading back to base. As the turbo tank approaches the bridge, Hunter says he will secure the cockpit while the other two secure Rampart. The clones board the turbo tank using grappling cables, which arouse the sensor alarms. A stormtrooper climbs out of the roof hatch to investigate.

The Bad Batch enters the turbo tank using the hatch. Wrecker knocks out the driver. With the door to the holding cells magnetically sealed, Crosshair tells Wrecker to remember Plan 55 as they enter the block. The clones use their blasters to shoot the stormtroopers guarding the prisoners. Rampart recognizes Crosshair, addressing him as CT-9904. They contact Hunter about the target. When Rampart asks if they want to kill him, Crosshair quips it is tempting. The clones free the other prisoners, who can disembark from the tank into the wilderness.

At a bridge control tower, an Imperial weapons technician informs the warden that Transport One has made an unscheduled stop mid-route. The warden orders the technician to run a diagnostic on their comms. Back at the transport, Rampart deduces that the clones need something from him. When Crosshair asks about the location of Tantiss Base, he asks how much that information is worth to them. Crosshair responds that he is not in a position to bargain. Rampart disagrees, saying he will talk only when they get him offworld. He says that they don’t get what they want if he doesn’t get what he wants.

Rogue Turbo Tank
Hunter tells Wrecker to man the cannons as they approach the bridge. Meanwhile, the technician reports that Transport One’s comms appear to be jammed. The warden and technician look out the window and notice the tank is accelerating. Realizing the transport has been compromised, the warden orders that gunships be deployed and the bridge be sealed off. Transport Two is rerouted to intercept the hijacked transport while the bridge deploys several barriers.

Hunter ploughs Transport One through the heavy barriers. The Bad Batch also exchanged fire with Transport Two, approaching from the opposite end. Unable to penetrate its armor, Hunter orders Wrecker to take out the wheels with rockets. The rockets succeed in disabling Transport Two. Hunter accelerates the turbo tank over Transport Two and lands safely on the other side. Rampart attempts to grab a blaster, but Crosshair shoots it out of his hand before stunning him.

Stormtroopers board two LAAT gunships as Transport One plows through a second set of barriers and crosses the bridge. Once they are past the perimeter, Crosshair carries Rampart into the cockpit, and Hunter requests a pickup from Phee Genoa. Wrecker manages to shoot down one of the gunships, which crashes and explodes. The second gunship pursues Transport One across a narrow cliffside road. Several stormtroopers are deployed from the troop bay and disable the dorsal turret cannons. Hunter manages to shake off three stormtroopers, with two falling off the cliff and one being crushed against the cliff.

The LAAT gunship manages to disable the wheel controls before Genoa destroys the gunship. Genoa flies the Providence over Transport One, allowing the clones and the unconscious Rampart to board her ship via a forward docking ramp. Wrecker jumps off the turbo tank just before it falls off the cliff. Hunter and Crosshair pull him to safety.

Rampart’s bargain
Once in space, the Bad Batch confronts Rampart, who has woken up. Crosshair demands he uphold his side of the bargain. Rampart admits he doesn’t know the coordinates to Tantiss, a closely guarded secret, but says he can get around that. When Crosshair threatens to send him back to prison, Rampart says that they are doing this together.

Test subjects
Meanwhile, Karr finishes analyzing Omega’s blood, which has a high M-count. Hemlock returns to the lab and informs Karr that her blood sample yielded a favorable M-count replication. Hemlock is not surprised. When Omega asks what it means, he leads her to the Tantiss vault, which is heavily guarded by Clone commandos. Hemlock tells Omega that an individual’s M-count cannot be directly replicated and that earlier attempts have failed. As they enter a red screening room, he alludes to Project Necromancer’s experiments, which include mixing samples from various specimens. These failed until they combined her sample with one of their M-count specimens.

In the third section, they pass through a second line of Clone commandos. Hemlock tells Omega that she is vital to their work here. When they enter the vault, Omega encounters three other Force-sensitive children, including Eva, Jax, and the Pantoran child. The children are playing with hologram blocks. When Omega asks who they are, Hemlock says that these are the rest of the puzzle and that this is her new home. The doors shut. Above, Scalder and other scientists work in an observation room.