WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 12, "Rescue on Ryloth," streaming now on Disney+.
While Clone Force 99 became aware of the Empire's evil in Star Wars: The Bad Batch's series premiere, they have yet to officially join in the fight against the Empire's rise. However, Star Wars Rebels' Hera Syndulla may have brought the team one step closer to officially becoming rebels themselves. And in the process, she showcases why, even as a child, she's truly a Rebel hero.
In "Devil's Deal," Hera's parents are taken prisoner by Imperial Forces, who frame them for an assassination attempt on Senator Orn Free Taa. Throughout The Bad Batch's latest episode, "Rescue on Ryloth," Hera takes an active role in freeing her parents. First, she and Chopper scout out the capitol where her parents are being held. Then, she contacts Clone Force 99 to enlist their aid. Even after Hunter declares the rescue impossible and offers to get Hera offworld to safety, she still persists in her goal to set her parents and their allies free.
Given the circumstances, Hunter's reluctance to help is understandable. His main focus throughout the series has been keeping the team, his family, safe. While he does consider the possibility of helping Hera at first due to Omega's request, he immediately abandons the idea once he knows that Crosshair is aware of their presence. The last time the team encountered Crosshair, he came close to executing them all. Still, while his concern in reasonable, the Imperial forces are quickly making neutrality in the conflict impossible, and, as Eleni Syndulla states later, soon, the war will come to them.
Hera and Omega establish a strong bond that both leads to the mission's success and sets up the possibility of them teaming up again in the future. When Hunter gives up, Hera is momentarily disheartened. However, Omega quickly bolsters Hera's spirits. Working together, the duo comes up with a strategy of their own to attack the Imperial refinery as a diversion while members of the team break in and free the Syndullas and their allies. While Omega and her strategies are a major factor in the plan coming together, it's still firmly based on Hera's knowledge of her homeworld and the intel that she has gathered about the Empire on Ryloth. Hunter even acknowledges that the team is going to "follow Hera's lead."
When the plan goes awry, Omega takes the lead to suggest that they use a shuttle to take out the refinery's cannons, a plan that Hera knows her parents would not approve of. Once on the shuttle, Hera gets a chance to do what she loves best: fly. She takes out the cannons herself, and her flying proves to have strategic value. Tech states that her "dangerous and uncontrolled maneuvering is as confusing to them as it is to us." While Hera's shaky flying is not on purpose here, it does foreshadow her future flying skills and unorthodox methods as a part of the Rebellion as well. This give and take throughout the episode shows that Hera and Omega both lead by building up their friends' strengths, a defining feature of Hera's own leadership in Star Wars Rebels.
Overall, this team up is significant because it shows Hera's first mission as a part of the Rebellion. Also, "Rescue on Ryloth" emphasizes her growing friendship with Omega. While Omega has made friends briefly with other children before, her friendship with Hera is the strongest one established so far. Hera may also influence Omega more toward the rebellion as the Empire extends its reach throughout the galaxy.
New episodes of Star Wars: The Bad Batch air Fridays on Disney+.