A Jedi has restraint.

Kanan had been living one day at a time for a lot of days now. Since that day, every day was no longer a given. A new day meant new dangers around unexpected corners. He had to stay in control, stay hidden, and stay smart. One slip up would lose him everything. His life was the only thing he had left, and he wasn't about to throw it away because he lost control.

Nose to the grindstone, keep up the pace, day in and day out, never stay anywhere long. It had taken him awhile, but by now he was used to it.

"We're heading into pirate space, so keep your guard up."

Kanan nodded, mentally preparing himself. He was acting as a part of a private security force tasked with protecting a freighter shipment from pirate attacks. He was only hanging around until the next paycheck, after that he was off again. If you stayed in one place too long, people started to suspect things.

He and the other four on the freighter ship hung tight. Since Kanan had been with them they had only had one brief skirmish with pirates, but this area of the galaxy was fraught, and slow freighters were a favorite target.

"Is it really worth the effort to steal freighters full of this and that all the time?" asked one of the other guards. He went by the name Kace and was even newer to the job than Kanan. "Do they really make any money off of replacement widgets and ball bearings?"

Another of the guards, Jenna, shrugged as she double-checked her weapon. "They must have some profit from all of this, or else they wouldn't bother."

Kanan turned his blaster over in his hands, frowning at it just a little. He was used to the weapon now, but every now and again he would have a surreal moment where he couldn't believe that he was here, hiding, lying about his entire identity. He pushed away thoughts of the life before. He knew how dangerous an unchecked thought could be.

Glancing up at his comrades he forced a light grin and said, "Maybe we'll get lucky this time and see a little action."

"You would want that, wouldn't you Jarrus," said the commander. She was a tough woman with a strong moral compass. She actually made working this job a little more bearable, as long as you didn't try to slide anything past her.

Kanan leaned against the wall. "I'm just saying that it feels like we're the real cargo on this ship. Being endlessly transported from one place to another."

"You'd just better hope that you don't jinx us, or that could be the last spot of action you ever see." The commander gave him a stern-yet-playful look.

Kanan shrugged. "I guess I'm just looking to live life on the wild side."

Of course, the opposite was true. He played every decision as safe as he could. He left nothing to chance, or to the Force. He trusted his own wits and nothing else. People saw him as a drifter with a knack for danger, people could be easily fooled.

Jenna finished checking her blaster. "Well, if Kanan is so eager for action, I say he goes first in the event we are boarded by pirates." She caught his eye, an eyebrow raised in challenge.

Kanan smirked and said with mock-sincerity. "But, Jenna, you're so good at this. You must have been in a hundred battles, you'll have to go first and show me how it's done."

Jenna opened her mouth to respond, but the commander cut her off. "The two of you stop flirting, we need everyone to be paying attention. An attack could happen at any minute."

The group settled down again. The commander went to the cockpit to confer with the pilot. After she left there was a long moment of silence. As the silence lengthened it almost felt alive. Kanan felt as though there was something important teasing around the edge of his consciousness. He felt like something was about to happen.

Out of habit, almost instinctively, he closed his eyes and let out a breath to open himself to the Force. A second later he opened his eyes and inhaled, pushing away the Force he had almost reached for. The Force was a danger to him now. He couldn't go there.

Pushing down his feelings of premonition, he told himself that it was only normal anxiety, just like everyone had from time to time. He focused once more on his blaster, rubbing his thumb down the grip and across the serial number like he had so many times before. This was now, and now he was Kanan, and Kanan wasn't a Jedi.

The ship lurched to a halt as it dropped out of hyperspace to recalculate for it's next jump. It would take a few minutes which made the ship extremely vulnerable while the coordinates were double-checked. The ship was old and the computers had apparently not been updated for a few decades. Kanan felt his stomach clench, but ignored it. Nothing would happen, and if it did, he didn't know about it beforehand. He clenched his weapon in his fist and exhaled.

Glancing up he caught Kace's eye across the room. "Any big plans for when we get into port? I hear that Trapp City has great food and even better women."

Kace mused for a minute, then said, "I suppose I'll check out the food and see about the girls if I have anything left over."

He may be new, Kanan thought, but he's not a shiny. A second later he mentally upbraided himself for thinking of someone as a shiny, then pushed that from his mind too. He just had to stay distracted until they were underway again.

"You guys are so predictable." Jenna rolled her eyes. "It's always ends up being about booze and babes."

Kanan gave her his most charming smile. "And what do you look forward to when you get into port? Last I heard you've left a string of broken hearts across the galaxy as you work your way through meat and man-flesh."

Jenna smirked a little, Kanan liked the way her lip quirked up on one side when she did so. "And what if I have, I, at least, have the decency to not brag about it like a schoolboy who's desperate to impress his classmates."

"No, you brag about it like a schoolgirl who is desperate to make me jealous, which is not working, by the way." Kanan winked as she glared at him.

"Guys," said Kace, "play nice, we still have a long way to go on this ship."

Jenna responded to Kace, though she kept her eyes on Kanan, "I'm sure no one would be terribly bothered if Kanan was blown out the airlock, by accident, of course."

"Of course," Kanan echoed.

Suddenly, he ducked, then he was knocked to the floor as something impacted the hull of the ship. The others were tossed around too as the hull was impacted again and again.

The commander came flying into the room and said the three most obvious words that day, "We're under attack!"

Kanan rolled to his feet, and he and the others began making their way to the airlock, which was situated at the end of the corridor just outside the so-called squad room. If they were going to be boarded the pirates would have to enter through there. Their freighter was large enough that towing wasn't going to be an option for any but the largest of ships. They would have to be boarded.

Kanan took his place behind one of the ribs that projected into the hallway between the airlock and the corridor that led to the rest of the ship, it would provide some protection while giving him a clear shot to the airlock. Being only a so-so type of security company, they had only ever practiced this strategy a couple of times, and Kanan wasn't sure that Kace had ever been run through it. Things were about to get dicey.

The ship rocked too and fro as it tried to free itself from it's attackers. Kanan felt the hull shudder as it was smote repeatedly by the pirates.

"They must have some kind of hull-cracker," said the commander from behind her own rib. Hull-crackers could batter ships of all sizes into powder if given enough time, and they weren't terribly common. Generally, they only in use by a military or demolition company. It seemed, however, that the pirates had stolen one of them too.

Kanan gritted his teeth. He could feel the ship trying to get away, but the pirates were relentless. Then, he heard the sound of a ship connecting to the airlock. Swallowing, he leaned back against the wall. He could hear the sound of a lock breaker beginning to work on the door.

He forced himself to stay put. He wanted to see what was happening and be able to jump into the fray, he wanted to reach for the Force and sense how many people were out there and use it to protect his ship, he wanted to be holding a lightsaber in his hands instead of a second-hand blaster. He swallowed those feelings and focused his attention on the present. Right now, he only had to avoid getting killed.

The door gave way. Sparks flew into the hall and skittered across the floor. Kanan leaned out from behind the ship's rib and laid down a spray of cover fire. He quickly ducked back under his cover as a more aggressive spray was aimed at him and the rest of the security crew. Kanan remained calm, after living through the Clone Wars he no longer had any trouble staying level headed in the heat of battle.

He tried to remember how many pirates he had seen during his brief foray into the open hall. There was a tall one, a muscled one, one with long hair, one with scaly horns, and one at the back he hadn't seen properly. Altogether, five. One to one odds weren't that bad.

Darting back into the hall, Kanan fired again, this time with more precision. The rest of the squad also peppered the pirates with blaster fire. If the pirates could be bottlenecked at the airlock the ship might still be able to get away.

The blasts pelted into the pirates. As he returned to the safety of his rib Kanan saw the tall one in the lead as he was struck and fell against the wall. The next one, the one with long hair, returned fire. Kanan heard one of the squad scream and fall to the floor. Kanan didn't let himself think about who it was or if they were alive. His only focus was on getting away from these pirates with his life intact.

Another round of blasts was traded between the two sides. Kanan again leaned out just far enough to fire on the pirates. Another pirate dropped to the floor while a furious salvo of laser bolts slammed into the rib he was using as a shield. Sparks rained down on Kanan as he ducked, trying to protect his head.

"Out of the way," barked one of the pirates, and Kanan heard a frantic shuffling taking place near the airlock. A spark of intuition pestered his consciousness, he willfully drowned that spark and stayed put behind his rib. An instant later as small metal orb skittered down the hallway. Kanan only had half a second to register that it was some kind of bomb before it went off.