[S4E6] Flight Of The Defender BETTER

Ryder explains that the new Defender is even more dangerous than the normal variety. The cats suddenly growl, and the Defender Elite flies overhead, blowing Ryder's hat and Sabine's helmet right off their heads. Pulling it back on, Sabine takes a closer look at the new prototype, which Zeb is now willing to admit exists. Sabine recognizes the pilot exiting the prototype as Vult Skerris. Since they have pictures, Ryder states that they should leave, but Sabine has another idea, proposing extracting the fighter's flight data recorder so the Rebellion will know more about the fighter's capabilities. Zeb thinks it is a bad idea, and Ryder points out that since they have no starships, it will be difficult to get the data back to the Rebellion. Sabine points out that transmissions can be intercepted, and that having no way to get the data recorder to the Alliance is what she calls a good problem. Ezra and Sabine sneak off on their mission, while Zeb and Ryder wait.

[S4E6] Flight of the Defender

The two Spectres sneak onto the base, with two Loth-cats in tow. They observe the prototype Elite, noting it is guarded by two stormtroopers. Ezra suggests that Sabine create a distraction so she can sneak aboard. Before she can, however, the Loth-cats emerge from behind the crates the rebels are using as cover and approach the guards. Seeing this, Ezra tells Sabine that the cats are handling it. The stormtroopers, irritated at the animals' presence, wonder if they can fly. One of the troopers shoots at a cat, which jumps out of the way. As the troopers agree that Loth-cats can't fly, the animals, angered, attack them. The cats then flee, with the troopers in pursuit. Sabine notes she likes the cats more and more, before asking Ezra to keep watch while she sneaks aboard the Defender. As Sabine begins to extract the flight recorder, Zeb contacts her and Ezra to report a ship approaching from the south. Skerris meets the Sentinel-class landing craft as it arrives at the airfield. Ezra, in his hiding place, looks over and is horrified to see Grand Admiral Thrawn and Governor Arihnda Pryce exiting the shuttle. Sabine asks Ezra, over the comms, what's happening, and he tells her "something terrible." Ryder notes, horrified, that Sabine is still in the Elite, and Zeb responds that things are about to get interesting.

Skerris, greeting Thrawn and Pryce, states that he has planned a simulation flight to showcase the Elite's capabilities. Sabine, looking up from her work to see the Imperials approaching, asks Ezra to distract them as she is nearly finished. Ezra asks how he's supposed to do that, and she responds that he'll think of something. Ezra prepares to execute a diversion, but is distracted by the sight of a white Loth-wolf on top of a rock across the valley. A TIE pilot catches him off guard, and in defending himself, Ezra is seen by Thrawn, Pryce and Skerris. The surprised commander remarks on the presence of a Jedi, and Thrawn identifies Ezra. Pryce orders the stormtroopers to apprehend him, and Thrawn orders their squad of death troopers to secure the prototype. Sabine, working, is surprised to discover that the fighter has a navicomputer. She looks up to see Ezra fighting the stormtroopers, and tells him he definitely got their attention. He snaps that he's glad things are working out for her. Zeb contacts Ezra, telling him and Sabine to make their way to the south end of the airfield, and that he and Ryder are going to go over there to help them escape. Ezra tells Ryder and Zeb to get the information they already had back to the others, and that he and Sabine will find their own way out. After she removes the flight recorder, Sabine looks up to see the approaching death troopers, and remarks that maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Looking at the Elite's controls, she decides she has a better one.

As she flies the Elite, Sabine tells Ezra that the prototype has a navicomputer, which means it has a hyperdrive, making it their best option for getting the flight data recorder back to the Rebellion. Ezra likes the plan, and Sabine gives him the controls, telling him to keep flying east. She begins to deactivate the prototype's homing beacon, so the Empire can't track them. Several blips appear on the fighter's scope, and Ezra reports enemy fighters closing in. As the prototype is chased through a landscape of rock spires, Ezra shoots down one of the pursuing Interceptors. Sabine tells him to keep it steady, as she is still working, and Ezra retorts that he is trying not to get shot down. He shoots down a second pursuer.

Ezra and Sabine, carrying the flight recorder, are forced to hide from the searchlights of Imperial gunships. Sabine insists that they have to keep moving. Ezra sees the Loth-wolf again, but Sabine doesn't. She recalls it as a creature depicted in cave paintings, and Ezra explains that it was native to Lothal, but that no one's seen one in a hundred years. At this point, the Loth-wolf comes up behind Sabine, and Ezra, nervous, gets her to turn around. The wolf puts her to sleep before looking at Ezra, who asks what he did to Sabine and reaches for his lightsaber. The white Loth-cat appears on the wolf's head, reassuring and surprising Ezra. When Imperial gunships appear in the distance, the wolf and cat growl, and Ezra notes that they don't like the Empire either. Ezra tells the wolf that the gunships are searching for them, and he offers him and the sleeping Sabine a ride. Putting Sabine on the wolf's back, Ezra then picks up her helmet and the data recorder and climbs on as well. The wolf runs, avoiding searchlights, and Ezra looks back as they flee before thanking the creature.

The Loth-wolf drops Ezra and Sabine off near where Ryder's U-wing is landed, after daybreak. Ezra asks the wolf why it helped him, and it gives him a cryptic message, "Dume," before vanishing. Sabine wakes up as the other rebels approach, and Hera is very glad to see the two safe. Zeb asks how they got back to the camp so quickly, and Ezra asks the others if they saw the wolf, only to discover him gone. Sabine says she remembers nothing of the journey except Ezra saying "wolf." Ezra and Sabine show the others the flight recorder, and reveal that they hid the Elite's hyperdrive near the crash site. Zeb congratulates them on a job well done. As they walk back to Ryder's U-wing, Ezra asks Kanan about the wolf. Kanan believes Ezra, but is unsure of what is happening. He says that all paths are coming together, and that they'll know what that means when they get there. Behind them, the Loth-wolf watches the Rebels walk away.

Sabine and Ezra sneak onto the landing field. They have a distraction in the form of loth-cats attacking the stormtroopers guarding the ship. Sabine makes her way onto the ship to take the flight data. Meanwhile, a ship lands at the base and none other than Grand Admiral Thrawn walks down the ramp increasing the danger. 041b061a72