"Spectre six do you copy!" The voice that came over the comm was tinney, the transmission crackled. Blasts clanking off of metal and wood rang out, echoing the ones right near Ezra's ear. He winced away, bunching further behind the box. He had no idea what was in it, but Kanan hadn't told him.
Again.
He had also failed to mention the amount of bucketheads there would be.
"A little busy here Zeb!" Ezra yelled back.
"I said do you copy!" Zeb yelled into the comm before Ezra could even finish his name.
"That's not good." Ezra muttered, switching to Hera's station. "Hera do you copy?"
"I copy! Zeb's trying to get ahold of you!"
"I know! My comm's not working on that station! Tell him I can hear but I can't answer!" More blasts cut the air around him, burning the metal where they hit. The stormtroopers were closing in. Hera said something over his comm but he couldn't hear it.
"Karabast!" He swore as a blast cut through some of his hair. "I didn't want to go bald this fast!"
The closest troopers were close enough for Ezra to hear the orders barked over their comms. Too close.
"Bring them in!"
"One cornered now!"
Ezra took the moment to pop his head above the crate and fire his slingshot, needing to duck down when blaster fire threatened to hit its mark.
"Wrap it up! Keep it safe at all costs!"
"Yes sir!"
A flurry of blaster bolts cut through the air with renewed fervor.
Ezra looked at his blaster and light saber, too far out in the line of fire to go and grab. But…
Despite the battle raging, the teen took a moment and began to enter the Force. It was hard to gain focus with the sounds of troopers so close. It'll only take a second. He reminded himself, pushing the thought of it would only take a second for them to kill me, too. to the back of his mind. Silencing your thoughts was the first step in step in entering the Force. It gave you added focus when you needed it most. I don't have much time… come on. Ezra thought, before taking a breath and plunging into it.
The Force was in turmoil.
Ezra's concentration nearly snapped. He'd been in the Force during battles, of course, but the shock of it was something he hadn't gotten used to yet. When finding an object focus on what's stationary in the Force. Kanan's lesson came into his mind, and he searched among the churning for the immobile things. The ground, the walls, the ceiling. He worked his way inward. The beams. The windows. The vents. The boxes.
The blaster.
Focusing only on that, the closeness of the troopers threatening to break his concentration, Ezra snatched at the threads around the weapon, he yanked it toward him with the Force. The Force responded, zipping the metal at him. He felt the familiar feel of steel in his hands, the cold of it almost painful. His hand closed around it, and he instantly felt safer.
"Converge!" A trooper shouted, so close he couldn't have been more than six paces away.
Ezra dove into the Force, searching for his master. Kanan help! He shouted, knowing the message would reach him one way or another.
The teen kicked out at the box he was behind, causing it to knock one trooper off balance. Still using it as a shield, he popped up and flung another energy bolt at them before ducking back into cover.
The shout of rage and command was muffled as the door of the warehouse banged open. "Ezra!" The voice was unmistakable. Gruff and authoritative and concerned. It was Kanan.
"Where the hell have you been!" Ezra blurted, firing off more energy bolts.
Kanan ducked behind a metal can as he was fired on. "I was fighting off my own troopers! I knew you could hold your own!"
Ezra fired at the bucketheads assailing his master before answering. "Could you not tell I was about to be captured!"
"I was going as fast as I could! I could tell as soon as you lost your focus!" Kanan remained down.
"When did I lose focus!"
"When your comm went out and when you tried to enter the Force."
"There is no try! I did enter the Force!"
"Yeah after longer than it should have taken."
"Excuse me for being alone in the middle of a fire fight! I was trying to get my one and only weapon and my one and only backup was off fighting his own troopers. Where did you run off anyway!"
"I told you as I left! Hera needed me to clear the landing!"
"If you mean told me during the firefight-" Ezra paused to shoot off another couple of blaster shots. "-Then no, I couldn't hear you over the sound of my death whooshing past my ears!"
"We don't have time for this kid!"
"Then why did you start it!"
"I didn't start it, you did!" Ezra shouted as he fired two more blaster bolts at the troopers.
"You're the one who isn't focusing!"
"Because you're the one who's distracting me!"
Kanan gave a grunt as he was struck with a bolt.
"Hey bucketheads!" Ezra shouted, gaining the attention of two of the dozen in the warehouse. He shot one of them with his blaster as Kanan took out three more.
"Set your blaster to kill!" He snapped. "That's what they've got theirs on!"
Ezra clicked the nozzle to kill and popped up again, firing on them.
Three fell dead within a ten seconds.
"Karabast!" Ezra swore when a blast of energy nearly hit him dead in the face, an orb of blue nearly smacking his forehead, pinging against the metal behind him. "That was too close!"
"Are you okay!" Kanan shouted above the melee.
"Better than ever!" Ezra snapped back sarcastically. He peeked around for a second to take note of his surroundings, hoping that he had more cover to duck behind.
There was almost nothing.
Aside from the wooden boxes along the sides of the walls and the windows poles between 20 feet intervals, there was nothing. The windows were barred, something Hera had said had been a precaution from the Clone Wars as they were flying in, the floor laminate tile with scratch marks from God only knew what. Ezra didn't want to think about it.
Kanan was crouched behind a metal can, the blasts already having put holes through it, the metal blackened and almost burned away in some places. Ezra didn't even want to think about the wood boxes.
"Aim for the crates!" a comm squawked.
"Oh no you don't!" Kanan shouted, firing off four more blasts of electricity. Four more troopers fell.
He must have gotten it from a trooper. Ezra thought to himself. It didn't look like his.
"Ezra cover me!"
"What are you going to do!" he shouted back.
"Just trust me! We've only got a few minutes before reinforcements arrive!"
"I do trust you!"
"Good!"
He felt a familiar presence at the back of his mind, and opened it to his master.
What do you need me to do?
Stand up and drop your saber.
You want me to what! Ezra could feel his disbelief radiate into the Force, and knew that Kanan could feel it too. That and his fear.
I won't let anything happen to you kid, do it. I promise, you'll be fine.
Should I tell them to stop firing or something?
No, just stand with your blaster up. On my count. One, two… NOW!
Ezra stood without thinking, raising his hands as he did so and wondering just what his master had in mind. One trooper let out another blast before holding fire.
Ezra winced at it glanced his shirt, a dull ripping sound fading across the warehouse.
Silence and stillness froze time, and for a moment peace reigned the air.
The bucketheads gave shouts as their blasters were thrown out of their hands. "Hey!" One of them shouted, reaching for his comm. Kanan shot the blaster, and another one fell dead.
Ezra clicked his own blaster, hitting one in the shoulder.
Three standing, two of them rushed Ezra, one running toward Kanan. He fell to his knees, sliding on the ground and returning fire as the trooper clicked his blaster, once, twice, five times, sending bolts ripping through the metal trash can.
Ezra fired at the two stormtroopers rushing him, missing one and hitting the other on the black undercover of his suit. He fell, toppling into the running one, catching Ezra off guard.
"Watch out!" Kanan shouted, running at his padawan.
Ezra turned his head, to see beyond Kanan a girl, maybe ten years old. "Wha-" He began, before a sharp pain in his skull stopped his words.
"Leave him alone!" A young voice shouted, laced and shaking with fear. There was a thunk as something-a stone?-clunked off the troopers helmet.
The storm trooper turned to her with rage.
***I will edit like crazy later, probably tomorrow because I have nothing going on. I'm very tired but I did promise this for you guys. Thanks for sticking with me.**