"This is your fault." Ezra muttered under his breath. It wasn't entirely true, but it felt satisfying to direct the blame at the only other person there when he couldn't hear it.
"What was that?" Zeb flicked an ear his direction, sounding just as put out by the whole situation as Ezra was.
"Nothing." Ezra spoke up and resisted the urge to kick at the hull of the ship. The mission was cursed from the very start.
The Empire was supposed to be unveiling some new weapon with a lot of pomp and circumstance, and the mission was supposed to be simple. Go see the event and try and determine if it was something worth being concerned about or if it was just making a big deal about changing up the paintwork and calling it an improvement. If safe to do so, ruining the event and making the Empire look foolish and ill-prepared was a possibility, but not the primary objective. They were supposed to be dropped off, blend in for a few days, no offworld communications that might raise any short flags. They'd had a contact point outside the city they could com in an emergency, but that was it.
It had taken then nearly half a day after being dropped off to realize something was very off. Even with a few days to go, there should have been signs the Imperial Base was getting ready for an event. Instead there was almost no one, and a little asking around told them the full story. There had been an issue with the main stage not being constructed in time, and the whole thing had been moved one system over. Reactions were mixed between on if people were glad they were gone and annoyed at the loss of potential revenue, but none of that helped them much. There wasn't any good way to contact the Ghost and let everyone know they'd ended up on the wrong planet. And then they saw the Imperial shuttle.
It had seemed like a perfect solution, just steal it, hop a ride to the next system over, complete the mission. It sounded a lot better than just waiting around doing nothing for days just to get picked up and have to tell everyone it was a failure. They'd left a message with their contact, easily stolen the shuttle, and taken off, never once thinking there might have been a very good reason the shuttle was sitting out and mostly unguarded.
The engines had failed not long after they entered hyperspace, falling out into the gravity well of what was thankfully a planet and not a star or worse. It had taken everything to get the shuttle down in one piece. They were stuck on an unknown planet with no ship, no communications, and no apparent civilization anywhere nearby. The only small upside was neither of them had gotten hurt in the crash.
"I guess we need to review our options." Ezra scowled at the shuttle again. It looked intact, but that wasn't saying much. "First, we could set out and look for civilization."
"Assuming there is anything, and assuming we don't get lost, or eaten by something, and assuming we even head in the right direction. Guess we could look for light pollution after dark, unless you've got some sort of Jedi thing to sense the right direction?" Zeb sounded annoyed and sarcastic, and Ezra bit back the urge to snap at him.
"Good idea." Ezra closed his eyes, breathing out and taking a moment to try and calm himself. It was harder than it should be, but after a few long moments he opened them again. "I don't sense anything more intelligent than an animal anywhere nearby."
"So finding help is out. We go with option two, we see if we can rig up a distress beacon and put it somewhere high in hopes of getting a signal out." Zeb started back inside and Ezra cleared his throat.
"Or option three, we get the ship flying again. Even if the hyperdrive's messed up we can't have gotten too far. Then even if we can't make it anywhere in a reasonable time, we'll be in a better position to contact someone, so it's the best of both." Ezra pointed out.
Zeb snorted. "Right, no tools, no parts, no experience, we'll just fix the engines. Easy. "
"Yeah, and sitting around waiting for Imperials to investigate a distress beacon because our own people don't even know we're missing yet is so much better?" Ezra shook his head slightly.
"It's worked before." Zeb pointed out.
"When we knew you were missing, and knew about where to look. Besides, how many times have we done maintenance on the Ghost or Phantom? It can't be that much harder to fix this piece of junk." Ezra shifted on his feet and then started back inside. It didn't feel like it was below freezing, but it was still uncomfortably cold out. The ship might not hold heat for long, but it would block the wind at least.
"Maintenance is one thing, even then we had Chopper helping us. Hera oversaw all the big repairs herself and you know it." Zeb followed him inside. It was dark, but it was a little warmer at least.
"It's still worth trying." Ezra said stubbornly.
"Karabast," Zeb muttered. "Alright, fine, distress signal's not really a two person job anyway. How about I do that, and you fix the engines. And if you somehow magically get the ship flying then we'll need the beacon anyway. Have fun." Zeb left him then, heading up to the cockpit to get the communication equipment out. Ezra scowled at his back and turned, heading towards the engines instead. It wasn't like a shuttle was nearly as complicated as a ship like the Ghost, If Imperials managed to get these things working, it couldn't be that hard.
Ezra worked stubbornly to restore power to the diagnostics panel. Zeb had left some time before to find a good location for setting up the distress beacon. Having some distance from the downed shuttle would give them time if Imperials or pirates showed up before friendlies did, and there wasn't really anywhere near the shuttle for a ship like the Ghost to land. The area around was forest, the trees had probably cushioned their fall somewhat and there were plenty of downed ones in their wake because of it. He wasn't sure if the crash site would be noticeable from overhead, or if the trees would obscure the shuttle from view. Either way, hopefully it wouldn't matter.
His annoyance at Zeb's lack of confidence provided a nice distraction for a while, but eventually he had to take a break. The shuttle was stocked with a few emergency supplies, but not much, that combined with the supplies they'd brought with them for the mission would give them food for almost a week, maybe longer if they rationed it harder before they had to start foraging. Water was heavier and they didn't have as much, but for now there was clean water he didn't have to purify. He opened up a sealed pouch of it, and dug around in one of his many pockets.
Ezra hadn't admitted it to anyone, but an additional reason for his annoyance had started even before the mission. He'd been feeling like he was coming down with something, but he hadn't wanted to be pulled from the mission over a few pathetic sniffles. He'd worked through much worse back on Lothal, and that was without any sort of reliable source of medication. He'd just grabbed a handful of cold meds from the first aid kit, tucked them into his pockets, and considered the problem solved. He'd either be able to get more or be over the cold soon enough. But either the meds had expired or the cold was more tenacious than he'd expected and he was going through them faster than he liked. He covered his mouth, coughing hard and deep to try and ease the tight feeling in his chest while Zeb was still gone. He took one of the pills, hoping it would be enough and he could take the second before he slept. He didn't know exactly how Zeb would react if he found out he was sick, but he didn't really want to find out. He didn't want Zeb teasing him, or acting like he was weak. With any luck the cold would be over before he had to worry about running out of meds for it.
Ezra finally decided he was done for the day when he could hear Zeb returning. The engine diagnostic still wasn't powering on, but he was fairly sure he'd found all the broken wires and it was just a matter of splicing them all. He'd keep at it, but his hands were getting less steady as exhaustion was setting in. He wasn't going to risk doing something clumsy and hurting himself and slowing down progress even more. He'd made that mistake often enough on his own before. He sat back, rubbing his hands together to chase away the chill that had settled in them even though his gloves, before he hauled himself up to go looking for Zeb.
Zeb was in the process of yanking the padding off the shuttle's passenger seats. Ezra watched, confused for a minute before it clicked. Trying to sleep sitting up in the seats would be uncomfortable and the padded benches weren't really wide enough for a full grown Lasat, but with the padding off it would work perfectly well to make a mattress of sorts. Better than nothing between Zeb and the hard floor but clothing and thin emergency blankets designed for heat retention instead of thickness.
Zeb finished ripping the padding off one of the chair, adding it to the pile, and then glanced at Ezra.
"Distress signal is set up, as secure as I can make it." Zeb said casually enough. "How's the engine repairs?"
Ezra searched for any sort of mocking in the question and then decided to answer it in good faith. "I've almost got the diagnostic computer up and running. Could use an extra hand holding the glow rod tomorrow if you're done with the beacon. Once it's up we'll have some idea what we're dealing with."
"Should be able to. There's a few things I'd like to get done in case we're stuck here for longer than a few days, but I can take time to hold a glowrod."
Ezra nodded, glad most of the tension seemed to have dissipated now that they'd both had time to cool off and do something productive. He grabbed his share of the emergency blankets, starting to spread them onto one of the benches against the wall "Think you could get me one of those headrests for a pillow?"
"Sure." Zeb wrenched one off a seat, passing it over, and Ezra took it gratefully. "I'm going to grab some grub, want me to grab you one of the packs?"
Ezra shook his head, taking off his boots to start getting under the blankets. "Nah, I'm good." He hadn't eaten anything, and he knew he probably should, but the thought of food left him feeling a little nauseated. It wasn't a big deal, sometimes he spent colds starving and wanting to eat everything in sight, and sometimes it was all he could do to find anything other than water disgusting. He'd eat when he was feeling better. "Going to try and sleep already."
"Alright. Just don't complain about me waking you up when I come back to sleep." Zeb took his own glow rod with him as he headed up towards the store room and Ezra hesitated before he switched off his own. The sudden darkness with only the dim light from Zeb's glowrod across the shuttle main area made it suddenly seem colder and creepier. He fought down the urge to turn the glowrod back on, it would only drain the power cells down for when he might need the light later. The urge to cough made him fumble in his pockets again, finding the packet with the single pill and the half empty water pouch by feel. He furtively swallowed it, draining the rest of the lukewarm water and then laying back, trying to get comfortable.
Ezra was still awake when Zeb came back, keeping his eyes closed and feigning sleep. The bench was harder than his bed back on the Ghost and the shuttle was cold, it seemed like no matter how well he'd tucked the blankets around any little shift of movement let heat escape and the cold in. Not that there was much room to move on the narrow bench, turning over involved as much scooting to stay in place and not fall off as it did turning. He was used to having room to move away from the wall at the side of his bunk if he wanted to stretch out a knee or elbow that direction. No matter how much he tried to berate himself for getting spoiled and remind himself that he'd slept in a lot worse places over the years, his body refused to listen and start finding the bench comfortable.
Ezra shifted a little, trying to curl up without anything hanging over the edge or digging uncomfortably into the wall or letting more cold air in before he gave up, laying stiffly in the least uncomfortable position. He turned his head a little, staring at the darkness in the direction he could faintly hear Zeb's snores coming from. The temptation was there to get up, tell Zeb the benches were too hard and to make room, they were sharing the chair padding nest. Zeb certainly didn't seem to have any problem falling asleep on it, after all. But after an internal debate his pride won out and he gritted his teeth, resolutely trying to relax and get some rest.
"Hold the light a little more to the left." Ezra muttered, trying not to fumble as he carefully spliced the broken wires back together. One of the panels had come loose in the crash and fell on them, cutting power to the diagnostic computer.
"Right." Zeb shifted the glowrod to illuminate the wires better, as Ezra was finally satisfied with the contact he'd made and started wrapping them in repair tape.
It was harder than it should have been, Ezra had taken a full dose of cold meds with a few bite of ration bar for breakfast, which was all he was able to stomach. Even with them in his system he had to fight the urge to cough every time he spoke, taking shallow breaths when it felt like someone had clamped some kind of metal band around his ribs. He'd barely slept, making due with meditation when real sleep was denied him. It made him feel a little more rested at first, but Kanan had warned him before that it wasn't a substitute for real sleep and already his energy was flagging. He'd already resolved that once he was done with this he was going to try and take a nap in the padding nest.
"There." Ezra tried to sound normal as he leaned back. "Here goes nothing." He leaned over to turn on the computer, grinning when it powered up.
"Good work." Zeb handed him the glowrod to switch off. "I'm going to go check on the distress signal, want to come with?"
Ezra shook his head. "Nah, I'm going to stay here and wait for the diagnostic." He started the computer running, knowing it would take a while to scan all the system sensors and generate a report. It didn't really need to be watched, but it made an easy excuse to avoid a hike through the woods.
"Suit yourself." Zeb sounded none the worse for wear after his night on the floor and Ezra envied his ability to fall asleep in any situation like an overgrown loth-cat.
"Maybe I'll have some good news for you when you get back." Ezra said, getting a snort from Zeb.
"Hope for sun, plan for hail, eh? I'll be back in about 40." Zeb made his way out the open ramp. The hydraulics were powerless, but Zeb was strong enough to force the matter. It helped that the shuttle was laying on its belly rather than any sort of landing gear, meaning he only needed to force out the ramp enough to get the doors open.
"Don't get into any trouble." Ezra rubbed over the front of his chest as Zeb lazily waved without looking back. He made his way to one of the chairs that hadn't been stripped to make the nest, flopping down and waiting on the report.
The computer beep brought Ezra out of a fitful doze, rubbing over his face and trying unsuccessfully to shake off the clinging haze of sleep as he stumbled to the computer to read the report. And then read it again in hopes he was mistaken.
Total engine failure, they had been lucky they hadn't exploded, but it was hard to feel lucky. And most depressing, according to the previous logs the shuttle had been in maintenance for a slow fuel leak that had been logged and a request put in for a repair a dozen times. Each time the shuttle had just been topped off before use and the repair pushed back again until the leak had done enough damage to the engine components to make repairs unfeasible. The shuttle had been slated to be towed off for scrap before they showed up. It meant he didn't even have a shot at trying to get basic systems like heating and lights online, even with the tiny power drain of the computer the estimated power remaining was less than a week. The cells wouldn't last a day with the heavier drain on them, making any efforts to get them online not worth the time. Ezra kicked the panel beside the computer, cursing a little breathlessly.
"Something tells me that's not good news." Zeb spoke up. Ezra hadn't even heard him come in.
"Shuttle was headed for the scrap heap before we even took the thing. We just sped up the process a little." Ezra was too tired and talking was too much of a struggle to try and tell the whole story, so he motioned at the computer where the report was still glowing red like some sort of ill omen.
Zeb stepped over to glance over it himself, shaking his head. "Good thing we went ahead with my plan then, eh?" He sounded smug.
Ezra knew Zeb was just trying to get a rise out of him, but he was tired and he wanted to sleep, he wanted to stop feeling quite so awful, and the smug teasing rubbed him the wrong way. He scowled, drawing in a breath to retort, and then jerking as his entire chest felt like it seized up. He coughed hard, unable to stop it, and each deep breath in just made his chest feel even tighter. He was dimly aware he'd doubled over, one arm braced against the wall as he wheezed and fought to get his breathing under control.
"Ezra!" Zeb was there before he even saw him move, one huge hand supporting his chest and the other rubbing over his back. Ezra wasn't sure if the touch was hurting or helping, but with the coughing fit there was no chance at getting any words out.
Finally after what seemed like a small eternity Ezra was able to fight off the drowning feeling, even if every shallow breath felt like he was struggling to breathe through little foam packing pellets. His legs felt weak under him and he started sliding down, unable to brace himself, only to be caught up in Zeb's arms.
Zeb cursed, pressing his hand against Ezra's cheek. "You're burning up. How long have you been feeling sick?"
Ezra tried to make a small sound and then Zeb shook his head. "Don't talk yet, I'm an idiot. Just… just keep breathing, alright?"
Ezra nodded a little breathlessly.
"Karabast, what are we going to do?" For the first time since they'd crashed, Zeb sounded scared. Ezra wished he had an answer.