Both Ezra and Chopper moved across the dry, crisp dead grass towards the base that held their objective. Swirling winds mixed with heat brushed up against Ezra's neck as the Ghost ignited the engines to take off. Something tugged at the young man through the Force causing him to turn around to watch the ship disappear from view behind some of the rocky mountains that decorate the plains of his home planet. He frowned once he was alone with Hera's droid and wondered what had caused him to turn around. It felt as though something wanted him to watch it fly off like it had done so many times before.
Beeps from Chopper broke his ruminations and brought him back to the present. Distractions would only get him killed today. Ezra shook his head to clear his thoughts and brought his attention back to the task at hand. The orange and white astromech droid kept its optical port on him the entire time. It beeped once more in its binary language that the young Jedi luckily understood.
"No Chop, nothing is wrong with them. I just…felt something". More beeps and toots followed the quick response by the Jedi earning Hera's droid a serious glare. "I won't compromise the mission due to my 'lack of focus'. Let's just go".
The pair walked in silence, which was more than fine with Ezra. He didn't want to deal with the droid's tormenting proclamations during the length of their walk. It wouldn't take very long for those to become unbearable to the point where he would probably leave the droid at the base to be taken care of by the Stormtroopers. Sure, he would probably feel bad for Hera since Chopper was a sort of family heirloom, but the droid has cause serious problems for everyone else. There could be a better droid out there for them to use as well, maybe one not so abusive.
Dead grass crunched beneath Ezra's feet creating a pleasing ambiance of sound along with the wind that came by them both. Chopper's wheels added to the soothing mixture of noise that served to calm his stress from the morning. Every few crunches were followed by deep breaths in an effort to center himself in the Force. There was no time for meditation right now, nor was there time to do it this morning so this makeshift version would have to do. A calm mind was the most effective after all.
Between the deep breathing exercises and listening to the sounds of his surrounding area the journey towards the airbase seemed to go by quick. Outlines of cargo crates, people, and obviously fighters came into view then became more detailed as the pair walked closer towards the main runways. Ezra began to quicken his pace while hunching over to avoid detection by the guard towers that stood ominously around the perimeter. Chopper needed no further instruction as the droid raced past Ezra and right towards one of the closest cargo containers.
Ezra ducked behind the same container right next to the droid then voiced more frustration with it, "you can't do that Chopper. Attracting the attention of the guards is the last thing we need, and a droid with non-Imperial paint is going to do just that. Let me scout for Stormtroopers then I'll give the go ahead, got it?" Reluctantly, the droid agreed with the assessment, but it was an agreement nonetheless.
Closing his eyes, Ezra reached out with the Force to sense his surroundings. He felt the small animals on the periphery of the base and the Stormtroopers on patrol just a couple hundred feet away from them. In his mind's eye he could make out the shapes of the container that made up a semi wall around the corner of the long metal platform that made up the runway. The one that he and Chopper hid behind now was a short distance away from another couple containers that formed a three tier pyramid that would allow him to have a good view of the base. If he could get up there undetected then there was no way he wouldn't be able to find the TIE defender.
"Alright Chop, I'm going to go move to that stack of containers" Ezra said pointing to their right. "From there I'll give you the signal to come over and I'll try to find the ship. After that it should be a piece of cake". For once, Chop seemed to agree to the plan he proposed. Feeling his ego rise just a notch Ezra made his way to the corner of his cover then took a quick glance to make sure that there were no troopers looking in his direction. With no chance of being spotted Ezra ran to the next set of containers then immediately climbed up to the next tier, then the next, ending up laying on his stomach about forty-five feet in the air. He motioned towards the droid who was waiting for his command and who rolled over to his position shortly after.
A vast amount of area could be seen from his view atop the pyramid of containers. A small squadron of six troopers were awaiting command from their officer in his usual gray Imperial garb while another small group of TIE pilots were talking over their breakfasts at some small table. The main command center of the base stood several hundred feet away from his current position and hopefully he was out of its main line-of-sight. He continued to scan the runway until he spotted the ship that Hera had brought up during their briefing that morning. No patrols were around its isolated position, but there were small metal boxes that could shield him from prying eyes so long as he crawled there. The only problem was that he would have to crawl from the last small pyramid which was going to be around ninety feet or so. In the grand scheme of things, it may not be that bad for him, but Chop on the other hand would have to stand pat for the time being.
As quietly as he could, Ezra slid down from the top tier of the pyramid of containers to the next tier all the way until his boots crunched against the dead grass on the ground. His mechanical companion rolled up to him then adjusted it optical camera towards Ezra. For the first time that he could recall Ezra realized that the droid was awaiting instructions as opposed to rushing in blindly to a situation.
"Okay, I saw the TIE defender, but it's a little ways off. The only way I can get there is to crawl on the ground over to its position. You've got to stay here until I get back with the flight recorder and anything else that I can find. Got it?" Of course the droid protested vehemently about his assignment, and was absolutely stubborn about being left in its place behind the action. "Look Chop, it's the only thing I can think of that has a pretty good chance of us escaping. If you roll up to the TIE behind boxes that are shorter than you then it would definitely raise some eyebrows and we'll both get caught. If you stay here then I may be able to sneak around since I can crawl at a short height". Chopper turned around in response with its mechanical arm crossing over its main body, but the point had been made.
"I'll be back quickly. Keep out of sight" he said then was at a crouched run to the end of his current cover. At every junction of containers he looked towards the base to see if someone was looking in his general direction, every time finding that the Imperials were too enthralled in their morning rituals to see him. He came to the point where the crates met the last large container and he dropped to his stomach with as much gentleness as he could. Taking a breath, he began to crawl towards the end of the end of the crates.
To his right he could hear bits of conversation that had no consequence to his situation. One group talked about their training scores from their respective academies while another spoke about the families they had on their home planets. Family Ezra thought to himself feeling the familiar gut-punching sensation from earlier that day. No matter how much time had passed the pain of not having his mother and father was always crippling or close to it. Kanan, Hera, Zeb, and Sabine had been the best substitutes he could ask for, but nothing could fill the hole in his heart where his parents had been.
"Keep focused, Ezra. Worry about that later" he said to himself.
Just as he was about to reach the end of the crates Ezra's eyes grew wide as a blaster round dove into the dirt inches from hid outstretched hand. Had they spotted him? What had given him away? Ezra was so sure that he had kept out of sight of the troops. Making sure to make as little noise as possible, he reached for the lightsaber that hung on his hip. He was about to sense them with the Force when another shot hit the grass in nearly the same spot.
"Wasn't even close! These blasters couldn't hit a bantha if it was standing right in front of us. How are we supposed to hit any insurgents if we can't hit a simple rock within a few yards? I swear, it's like the Emperor wants us to fail using these things".
Ezra looked to his left and sure enough there was a decent sized rock the size of his fist. His face contorted in a look of skepticism. These troopers weren't anywhere close to the rock! They had to have been off by at least a foot or so. No wonder these idiots couldn't shoot the Specter crew when they were trying to escape from these guys. Two more shots rang out as the 'sharpshooters' attempted to hit the rock, missing both times.
Another stormtrooper's voice replied to the one who spoke before him, "sounds like you aren't wrong. It's either the rifle or the helmets since these cursed things don't allow us to see a thing. A rock may as well be an atom wearing these things".
This would be a while if these men kept trying to hit this rock, and as long as they were there he was going to have to wait for them to leave. Ezra folded his hands in front of him then laid his chin on top. His eyes watched every shot fired from the Imperial's rifles and pistols, each time trying to recognize their distinctive sounds. For the first time that morning he kept his mind on the task at hand rather than focus on anything personal.
Then the shots stopped suddenly. Boots ran across the metal surface of the runway with shouts coming from Imperial commanders. The situation had taken a complete 180 from the relaxed shooting just a moment ago. He could feel the adrenaline rush of the soldiers through the Force as they ran to their fighters to take off for their purpose. No sirens went off, which made Ezra wonder if this was just some drill that the men were supposed to go through today. He moved closer to the edge of the crate where the shots had been coming from then poked his head around to see the white armor of the Stormtroopers running off towards the North of the base. Looking to the left he saw the black suited pilots scrambling up their ladders to the cockpits of the regular ties and thankfully not the TIE defender.
"Maybe things are looking up now" he said to himself.
Ezra waited for the last of the squadrons and fighters to leave before he summersaulted behind the wing of the TIE defender. Once more he surveyed the area to find the area scarce of any noticeable Imperial presence. Despite that knowledge Ezra still made haste getting up the ladder, and dropping into the open hatch to the TIE's cockpit. A feeling of relief washed over once he was in the cushioned seat. His hands traced the buttons on the console looking over the different labels for them.
He felt overwhelmed almost at once as the numerous labels described things he couldn't understand. Ezra was lucky enough to find the engine's ignition and the yolk with which to control the ship at this point. The data recorder was nowhere to be seen as it was more than likely lost among the seemingly infinite number of buttons on the ships dashboard.
Ezra rose his wrist up then pressed the button that connected him to Chopper, "Chop come on over. I need your help trying to find the flight's data recorder. The Imps went off for some test or something so you should be all set to roll on over". The Jedi Padawan was awaiting some snide comment or remark from the droid, but it never came. As a matter of fact, no response came to Ezra. "Chop come on, don't make me ask again". Just like the time before, there was no response to his request.
"Guess I'll just have to do it myself" he said aloud. His blue eyes searched the panel as hid hands hovered over the different switches. Any switch would work hopefully. Ezra pressed one of the buttons to his right that resulted in the hatch sealing shut above him.
"Nope" he said quietly. He pressed a second one that caused the ship to stir. A loud whirr could be heard from the top and sides of the ship. Ezra leaned forward to look out the window and saw the TIE's canon's glowing. "Definitely not that one either. How many buttons could this thing have?"
His eyes danced across the interior of the ship until he saw a blinking red switch above his head. Reaching his left thumb up he flicked the switch earning him voices of an Imperial officer issuing commands. Ezra rolled his eyes and was just about to turn the radio off until he listened to the commands the guy was issuing.
"I repeat, all forces are to be mobilized! The Rebel ship has been spotted North West of the base, it cannot reach the TIE Defender! Squads are to all have anti-air canons and TIEs are to shoot to destroy. If this is the Ghost as we are to believe then whoever shoots destroys this menace will be receive the bounty that the Empire has placed upon the ship and her crew. Last heard it was over 50,000 credits. All TIEs and squadrons report it".
Ezra's hands retreated from the button above his head. The pit in his stomach from this morning was nothing compared to what it felt like now. It felt as if he had an enormous weight placed on his stomach. As the voices of the pilots called in Ezra counted them aloud, and the weight became worse as they finally stopped at twenty TIE fighters. Shots could be heard over the intercom in the ship with each pilot hooting or hollering after they scored each hit. Even with Hera's incredible piloting skill the chances of them escaping this were very low.
"Not again. I won't let the Empire take this family too" he vowed. Ezra's hands found the ignition switch that he noticed when he first dropped into the ship. The TIE defender roared to life at once, and with a pull back on the control yolk the Jedi took the ship off of the runway and into the air. Flight recorder and stealth be damned, his family needed him.
The TIE Defender soared off into the skies of Lothal with such speeds that it left Ezra pinned to his seat. He tried his absolute best to fight the sickness in his stomach and the pressure on his skeleton while the ship turned on a time towards the direction the Imperial commander spoke over the intercom. He could see the faint white armor for only a split second as the Stormtroopers were a blur from his position in the cockpit. No doubt they were confused at seeing the experimental fighter, but they more than likely assumed a brave pilot decided to take it for overkill on the Ghost.
Fighting the forces of gravity, Ezra brought his wrist computer into view and pressed the button that should have linked him to the Ghost. "This is Specter Six to Ghost! Can you guys hear me?" There was no answer to his contact. He tried again, and again both times earning the same response. Between that and his problems reaching Chopper he could only assume that the Empire was jamming any outgoing transmissions from their frequencies. Didn't mean that he couldn't contact them however.
Trying to pilot a stolen ship and cycling through frequencies was not a very easy task. Ezra tried to keep his eyes focused on the terrain in front of him while his hand typed in the numbers that would bring him into contact with the Ghost. The device beeped in response to the last number being entered that confirmed he had done well. For the moment he waited on contacting his crew and chose to focus on tracking down the TIEs on his radar.
With the speed the Defender has it didn't take very long for the ship to catch up to the chase. The ground still looked like a swirl of browns and tan colors, but he could make out the details of the ships in front of him.
Ezra didn't know if he could have been more horrified at the situation. The Ghost was trailing smoke from several different places on the hull. The shields must have been down as well since every bolt that hit it seemed to cause another hole which smoke poured out of. Hera was doing her very best to avoid the mass amounts of round fired at her, and while her efforts were valiant they were still failing. By the looks of things, she didn't have much left.
Feeling fear bubble in his stomach and in his mind Ezra steered quickly behind the closest TIE then laid on the firing buttons. Green streaks flew from the six canons on the Defender right into the wings of the Imperial ship forcing it to explode in an array of colors that would make Sabine jealous.
"Hera!" he yelled into the intercom, "Hera it's me, I'm in the Defender! When I tell you to you need to bank to the left. You may not be able to respond to me right now so just do as I say please". He readied himself at the controls and lined up several fighters in his scope.
"Now!" he yelled to his surrogate mother and to his relief she banked hard as the Ghost would allow. Ezra's fingers cemented the trigger buttons as far down as they would go and rained down green fire upon the TIEs that were trailing his ship. One after another the TIEs flew into the bolts causing five explosions in rapid succession. Only fourteen more to go.