Locating Tantiss has turned out to be a more complex affair than previously assumed, but with two episodes remaining to wrap up the final season of Bad Batch, it seems the final showdown is going to happen in the secret Imperial stronghold after all. In the previous episode, Omega was taken back to Tantiss by the covert Clone operative, where Hemlock imprisoned her in the vault along with other test subjects and force-sensitive children as part of Project Necromancer. Omega tries to appeal to project overseer Dr. Emelie Karr’s senses, but to no avail. On the other hand, Crosshair suggests his Clone brothers take the help of their former adversary, Vice Admiral Rampart, whom he presumes might have an idea about the coordinates of Tantiss.
Despite formerly being an active orchestrator of the atrocities perpetrated by the Empire, Rampart was thrown under the bus by the despotic government and has been held as a prisoner ever since. With the help of Phee Genoa, the batch escapes from Pabu and breaks Rampart out of Erebus. In exchange for freedom from the Imperial forces, Rampart agrees to help the batch locate Tantiss.
Spoilers Ahead
How Does Omega Plan To Escape From The Vault?
The episode opens in the vault at Tantiss as Omega gets acquainted with the fellow captive children. She meets Eva, Jax, Sami, and Bayrn and learns about the stringent rules the troopers and researchers put in place to monitor them, with Emelie being the exception as she is somewhat compassionate to them. During routine sample checking, Emerie visits Omega, who once again tries to appeal to her better judgment by mentioning the plight of the children. Omega notices the droids sending the samples via a duct inside the wall panels, which could possibly work as an escape route; therefore, she sneakily steals a prying tool from the testing kit. After all, for years now, the kid has been taking lessons from her Clone brothers to navigate her way through tough situations. Later, Dr. Scalder, one of the scientists involved with the project, shares her grievances with Emerie about letting Omega mingle with other kids, given the fact that she had escaped Tantiss once before. Emerie quickly reminds her that at present she is the chief overseer of the project, and she will decide how things get done at the end.
Pretending to be engaging in play activities, Omega secretly shares her escape plan with the rest of the children by creating a layout of the vault. The children express their concern, as Jax’s previous attempt to escape resulted in disastrous failure. Omega assures them that she had escaped Tantiss once, albeit with some help, and that, having a rough idea about the prison’s outside sectors, she can help all of them escape as well if they manage to get free from the vault. Getting a slim chance to inspect the hatch, Omega peeps through it and returns just in time when a suspicious Dr. Scalder arrives to inspect. Later, she informs her new friends about the hopeful news that she has found a way out, much to their surprise and delight.
Can the batch rescue Omega in time?
On the other hand, Echo joins the batch with a stolen Imperial space shuttle, as they plan to venture into Tantiss with it after prying out the information from Rampart. The former Imperial vice admiral describes the tricky situation with locating Tantiss, which is so secretive that the only way to get there is to get coordinates from Imperial outpost 003, situated in the orbital plane of Coruscant. To infiltrate a heavily fortified Imperial outpost, a stolen Imperial vessel won’t be enough to keep up the disguise, and given the unique genetic alterations of the batch members, it’s tough to keep their identities hidden as well. Which is why the members decide to disguise Rampart as Imperial captain to gain easier access to the outpost, and despite having hesitations at first, Rampart smoothly slips into his Imperial past by donning the captain’s uniform.
Reaching their outpost, the group faces serious questioning by a lieutenant, whom Rampart easily manipulates to allow the team access by using his positional superiority. Hunter, Crosshair, Echo, and Rampart enter the outpost while Wrecker stays in the shuttle, and as the lieutenant returns to their shuttle once again to verify their journey route, Wrecker promptly knocks him out. The trio, on the other hand, make their way to the control station, from where Echo learns that a science shuttle is prepared to launch to Tantiss, which will surely have the coordinates sent to its navicomputer. However, trouble arises as the team discovers that the coordinates will be provided to the shuttle after it conducts its launch to hyperspace, as a measure of foolproof protection. Rampart deems the mission to be a lost cause and starts panicking about getting captured by the Empire once again, when Echo states that he will infiltrate the ship and defuse its proximity sensor to allow Hunter and the rest of the batch to follow the ship.
As planned, the group returns to their stolen shuttle, with Echo making his way into the Tantiss-heading shuttle through the droid transfer tube. Both shuttles take off and reach outer space, and Echo tries to defuse proximity sensors and knocks out a suspicious patrol trooper, creating a tense situation among the batch members due to the last-minute delay as the shuttle to Tantiss is about to make the jump anytime soon. An anxious Rampart asks Hunter to abort the mission as he fears they won’t be able to pull through. Hunter refuses to do so as he has faith in Echo’s expertise, and his gut feeling proves to be right as Echo manages to defuse proximity sensors just in time for Hunter to latch onto the Tantiss heading shuttle moments before it makes the jump into hyperspace. With the end of this episode, only two remain, which will showcase the final showdown between Hemlock’s Imperial forces and the Batch members. Omega’s attempt to escape might help the batch a bit, as it will minimize the hassle of infiltrating the vault, and together they will be able to free the rest of the captive Clone Troopers.
