Star Wars: Rebel Dogs
Chapter ll: Spectres of the Rebellion
Part 2: Thrill of the Hunt
Balto's head was spinning as he regained consciousness. His eyes felt heavy as he tried to open them to get his bearings. He could feel that his body had been laid up against a wall. His wrists were bound together behind his back. His cloak was gone which left him with his worn and torn smuggler attire remaining. All in all, not the worst way Balto has ever woken from but still could have been better. Still found it hard to recollect what happened. Last thing he knew was that he was talking with Ezra before the rest being a blur. In fact, where was that boy anyway? He was right in front of Balto before everything went black.
"I can't believe you just jumped in like that!" Balto's ears picked up what sounded like the voice of a young man. Probably Ezra judging by the pitch.
"What?" said a female voice.
Once his vision cleared up, Balto saw that Ezra was speaking with two individuals. One being a male Lasat, and the other was a teenage girl in Mandalorian armor. Seemed they were buried in an argument.
"This is why I wanted to handle things differently." Ezra blatantly stated.
"Hey, we lost the element of surprise when he spotted me," The Mandalorian rebutted, "I thought he was going to grab you to use as leverage. You know like you said he did back on Lothal? You have no idea how tricky these bounty hunters can be."
That stirred up some memories within Balto. After pointing out that he knew where the Mandalorian was hiding, Balto placed his hand on Ezra's shoulder. That was when everything broke down. The Mandalorian, who Balto heard Ezra call Sabine, jumped into action seeing the Anthro as a threat. Firing off her duel blasters at Balto's feet to make him back off from Ezra before dropping down in between them. She continued firing off rounds at the Anthro who was attempting to close the gap between them. Sabine was stunned by the sheer speed that Balto possessed as he quickly closed the distance and swatted the blasters from her hands. Balto wanted to talk her down from this, but he couldn't get a word out with Sabine wishing to take him on in hand-to-hand combat. She was able to get a few shots to the Anthro's stomach and muzzle. She would have gotten more if Balto didn't block them and pushed her aside with ease.
"He only did that because he was trying to help me," Ezra's voice pulled Balto back to the present, "Besides look at him. He's dressed more like a two-bit smuggler than a bounty hunter."
"Yeah, well he sure doesn't fight like a smuggler." the Lasat chimed in. Balto noticed how he rubbed his nose with his right hand and carried Balto's cloak in the other.
Oh, that's right. After pushing Sabine aside, the Lasat jumped out from behind to tackle the wolfdog. Zeb, he was called if Balto recalled. Anyway, Zeb's sneak attack didn't go as planned. The second he was close enough, Balto back kicked him square in the face. After being knocked for a moment, Zeb pulled out his bo-rife in its electrostaff formation to charge him again. But Balto was prepared. For he not only dodged the assault but in one fell swoop pulled off his cloak and threw it over the charging Lasat. He used the edge of his cloak to direct the stunned Lasat back around him; letting go when he led the Zeb into a wall.
"Besides you're one to talk kid," Zeb said which yet again brought Balto back to the present, "You're the one who knocked him out!"
Now Balto remembered. After he threw Zeb into a wall, Sabine jumped back into the fight. Giving the Anthro a series of jabs which he managed to block. Zeb soon recovered and, after removing the cloak from over him, attempted to attack Balto again. After the wolfdog was pushed back from Sabine's constant onslaught, Zeb made a swing for Balto head. However, not only was Balto able to dodge the attack, but also quickly grab Zeb by the arm with lightning-fast reflexes and throw the Lasat over his shoulder. Sabine believed she had an open window to land a decisive kick to the Anthro's head, but he caught the boot before it made contact. Balto then proceeded to grab hold of Sabine by the ankle and threw her over to where Zeb laid. After he did this, Balto felt an electrical surge suddenly shoot through his body. Turning his head, he caught a quick glimpse of Ezra pointing the hilt of his lightsaber at him. He hadn't been prepared to be up against someone with a lightsaber-blaster hybrid before this point. It wasn't long before he keeled over and passed out. That was until he woke up to the argument that was going on right now.
"Hey, I panicked!" Ezra blurted out, "I had to do something before you three killed each other."
Balto let out a cough to garner their attention, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I think there's been a huge misunderstanding that I would really like to clear up."
"It's not like you're in any position to say otherwise," said Sabine, "Start talking."
Balto readjusted himself so that he was at least sitting in a more comfortable position, "It's no secret who you three are. You're rebels. I also know that you've been having trouble with Imperials knowing your whereabouts as of late, and you assume I have something to do with it."
"Can't be a coincidence that you appeared on every planet we're on," Zeb interjected.
"Well, you're right to assume that."
"So you're admitting to helping those stormtroopers?" asked Sabine.
"I didn't say that," Balto was quick to retort, "On the contrary, I'm trying to help you with them." both Zeb and Sabine scoffed at that. They clearly weren't buying it, "If you don't believe me, you can just turn to Ezra," like that, all eyes were on Ezra. Who, up until this point, had remained silent, "If I wanted any of you, I could've just allowed Ezra to be captured by the stormtroopers who were chasing him through the market on Lothal, hand him over when he was trying to escape the alleys, or jump him when he was sitting on the ramp of your ship. But I didn't. That should at least tell you something."
"He does have a point," Ezra rushed to his defense, "I don't sense that he's lying."
"Don't be so daft, kid," Zeb replied, "For all you know, he put a tracker on you when you weren't paying attention."
"That way he could catch us when we're all together," Sabine concluded
"Believe me there's no tracker on Ezra," Balto assured them, "I can prove that I'm here to help you. Fulcrum sent me."
"Hate to break it to you, but the Empire knows about Fulcrum," Sabine retorted, "You're going to need to do better than that."
"Do they also know her real name is Ahsoka Tano?" Balto's words stunned them all, "The two of us go way back."
The three rebels were silent by this revelation. Everything that Balto was saying seemed to be on the up and up. Turning to each other, they had silently agreed that he was worth listening to. For now at least.
"If you're not after us then who is?" asked Sabine.
"You are being pursued by two bounty hunters," Balto said before taking a deep breath. This would take time to explain, "Hunted by a chalk-white woman that goes by Aurra Sing, and a Trandoshan named Bossk. The Empire hired them to better track you down. The second either one of them gets your location they will alert the troopers stationed on the planet of your location. They were promised a substantial bounty if they could get you captured alive. When your fleet was able to intercept their transmission, Ahsoka sent me to aid you."
"Why you of all people?" Sabine asked.
"She wanted someone who was better at tracking than those two put together."
"You sound pretty sure of yourself." Zeb chimed in.
"Well, I did get here before they did," Balto muttered to himself, "I'm still willing to help, and show you how they were able to track you if…" Balto lifted his bound hands as high as he could from behind his back, "…you're willing to get me out of these."
"Okay, that's not happening." Sabine was quick to deny his request.
"I don't know," Zeb replied while stroking his beard, "I've dealt with Trandoshans before. Nasty creatures they are. Might could use the help."
Sabine was surprised by this, to say the least, "You can't be serious! We still know nothing about him."
"Well, he's been raising some good points right now."
"Or he's trying to lure us into a false sense of security!"
While Zeb and Sabine were beside themselves on this one. Not knowing if they could trust this Anthro right out the gate. Ezra though could sense nothing but sincerity coming off of him. Sure he was still new to using the Force, but Kanan had said to trust in it. Right now the Force was telling him to believe in Balto.
"You know you're more paranoid than usual right now!" Zeb shouted in frustration.
"I'm just trying to make sure we don't have another Governor Trayvis on our hands!" Sabine retorted.
Both, however, ceased their fighting when the activation of a lightsaber could be heard. They could see that Ezra was already by Balto's side using the saber to cut is bonds. The young boy proceeded to help the Anthro off of the ground as Balto massaged his aching wrist. He had shown his gratitude by giving Ezra a small bow of respect. But Ezra could tell that his friends were less than thrilled by this decision.
"Listen I know you both are probably going to disagree with this, but remember this is my operation." Ezra said with a new-found sense of authority that quite frankly put both Zeb and Sabine in awe, "Right now I'm saying we should put some faith in him. He hasn't been stirring us wrong so far."
Sabine had to take a heavy sigh before she answered with, "Alright fine. It's your call kid."
Though his wrists were still sore, Balto was willing to approach and greet the two other rebels, "Since we'll be working together it would be best for us to introduce ourselves. Hello, I'm Balto." he offered out his hand for the two to shake.
"Name's Sabine," she said withholding her hand from meeting the Anthro's. Though Balto could sense a deeper meaning behind it. Right now though was not the best time to look into it
"I'm Zeb." the Lasat greeted having no problems with taking Balto's paw-like hand into his own. If anything, he was relieved to have someone who was closer to his own height.
"Now that introductions are out of the way, let's get back to the problem at hand," Sabine said bluntly.
"Yeah," Zeb agreed while still holding onto Balto's hand, "You can start by explaining how those bounty hunters keep finding us."
Balto gave the Lasat a light smirk, "If you say so."
Without warning, Balto tightened his grip on Zeb's hand and pulled the Lasat into a headlock. The three rebels were understandably surprised by this turn of events. From Zeb struggling from Balto's hold to Sabine drawing her pistols at the wolfdog. Ezra just couldn't help but facepalm at the what was transpiring in front of him. How is it that he couldn't go five minutes with these three almost on the brink of killing each other?
"Hold up!" Balto was quick to say as he raised his left hand up to Sabine to halt her action while keeping Zeb in a hold with the other arm, "This will only take a second."
The Anthro then took his free hand and proceeded to shove it down the back of the Losat's armor. Zeb did his best to struggle out of this; not appreciating the violation of his personal space. Little did he know this was only dragging things out much longer then they needed to be. It wasn't long before the sound of ripped fur was heard followed by the pain-filled shrieks of a full grown Lasat. He was let out the hold now that the canine had what he was looking for.
"This is how they've been tracking you," Balto showed them a small circular device that had a patch of Zeb's fur attached to it, "They were able to plant it on you all the way back on Lothal."
Such a statement caused both of Zeb's crewmembers to give him stern looks, "What?"
"You didn't know that was on you this entire time!?" Sabine shouted with Zeb scratching the back of his head nervously.
"This is why you should wash more often," Ezra said jokingly.
"We were busy at the time!" Zeb retorted, "Besides I don't even remember anyone getting a chance to plant anything on me."
"Are you sure?" Sabine asked sternly, "You didn't run into anyone while we were on Lothal?"
"Yes-wait…no," Zeb confessed, "I did run into someone before I rendezvous with you guys. Some woman, couldn't make out her face because it was hidden behind a hood, bumped into me. She said she hoped I was okay before patting me on the back and left."
"You didn't at all think that was peculiar after we were being chased by stormtroopers?"
"I was more concerned with dodging blaster fire to think about it."
"You know we're never going to let you live this down," Ezra said with a smile.
Zeb just growled in annoyance before turning to the one who humiliated him, "So If we're all done having fun at my expense, what do we do now Mr. Expert Tracker?"
"Shouldn't we just destroy it?" Ezra chimed in.
"Sure, but it won't do you much good," Balto answered, "They probably tracked you here the second you left hyperspace. I was just lucky to get to this planet before they could. Even if you do leave, that won't stop them from hunting you down. It will only be a matter of time before your luck runs out, and those two are right on top of you. What I have planned is that we face them head-on. Send a message to those bounty hunters to reconsider their contract to come after you."
"You sound so sure about this plan," said Ezra.
"Oh don't get me wrong it won't be easy," Balto clarified to the boy, "But I've heard enough to know that you three are more than up for the task. Besides, there's one thing those two didn't take into account."
"And that is?" asked Sabine.
"Me."
"Well if you're so sure of yourself then why haven't you caught them yet?" Zeb called him out.
"I'll admit, they've been able to elude me," Balto said as he flipped the small tracking device off his fingers, "But the way I see it is that we now have the advantage here. Not only do you now know who's after you, but you learned of it before they got here."
"And how do you know that?"
"Because if they were here, we would be swarmed with stormtroopers by now."
"Okay enough you two hairballs," said Sabine, "So, we don't destroy it. Guess that means you want us to use it."
"Exactly!" Balto confirmed the Mandalorian's assumption, "Aurra has a number of cybernetic implants. One of which is a built-in comlink in her head that she's using to track down this device. She's also a skilled sniper aided by a biocomputer which helps with her reaction time, so we'll need to stage this ambush somewhere with limited vantage points to flush her out. I can trust that you and Ezra can deal with her."
"And the Trandoshan?"
"Bossk may be a good marksman, but he takes much more pleasure in engaging in physical combat," Balto said before patting Zeb on the shoulder, "I'm sure the two of us could handle him. Probably for the best since Aurra brought him to go track Zeb's scent."
"Is that a jab at the way I smell?" Zeb asked as he waited in baited breath for Balto's response.
"No offense, but you weren't exactly standing downwind when you tried to jump me." such a response elicit a growl from Zeb and a chuckle from Ezra.
Almost an hour had passed since their discussion, and now a small wave of seven stormtroopers was roaming through the streets of the small town. They weren't alone though. Among them was a Trandoshan bounty hunter branding a Relby-V10 mortar gun lead the charge. Bossk was tired that these rebels that he along with his compatriot were hired to catch were continually slipping through Imperial hands. It was time to let a professional to bring them in. Least then he could hope to get paid for his work. Just in time too. He only caught the scent of the Lasat nearby. He signaled for the troopers to fall in on his position as he closed in on the smell. Bossk followed it to a small remote building across the main street of a now barren marketplace. A small brick shed of a sort that was boxed in between two establishments and sitting against the wall of another. No windows were visible on its walls, and with a narrow archway that was the only way in and out.
Bossk looked up behind him to see Aurra Sing positioning herself in the rooftops. Trying to get the right angle to aim her Czerka Adventurer slugthrower rifle through the narrow passage and at the door of the storage unit. Seeing this along with her comlink extended from out of her head helped confirm Bossk's suspicions. The rebels have trapped themselves in a tightly confined area just asking to be gunned down. Why these stormtroopers had such a hard time catching them, he'd never know. Perhaps the Imperial Academy is not as cracked up as the propaganda posters have people to believe. Either way, he was just ready to get this over with and get paid already. Bossk alerted the troopers to rebel's location so to finally end this.
Three of the stormtroopers pushed forward on the small structure in preparation to breach it. With the door sliding open, the troopers rushed in expecting to discharge their weapons on the defiant rebels, but to their confusion the building was empty. A quick look around, one of them noticed the tracking device laying on the ground. Said trooper picked the device up to see that it is covered in purplish fur. Only then did any of them noticed several beeping sounds echoing throughout the room suddenly growing more rapid and their rhythm. Before they could even escape, it was too late. The whole interior now engulfed in an explosion.
Outside, Bossk and the remaining troopers ducked behind cover from the force of the explosion. A sense of shock overtook the Trandoshan as smoke billowed out the of the building. Those rebels had pulled a fast one on them. Aurra was scoping the area around the troopers and Bossk to see if there was a sneak attack on the way for them. Little did she know that she should've kept her guard up around herself, for out of nowhere she was kicked off the rooftop by Sabine. Landing in the alleyway with a hard thud.
"Aurra's down." she communicated through her helmet, "Zeb, Balto you two are up."
On her mark, Balto leaned out of the corner of another building across from the where the explosion had taken place and chucked a smoke grenade at the unsuspecting troopers and Trandoshan. As the smoke enveloped the area, Zeb sprang from behind an empty stall to attack. He was able to knock out two via smashing their helmets together. The remaining two troopers did their best to maneuver through the smoke ridden area before one of them was pulled deeper into the shroud by an unseen force. Before the last of them could react, Balto quickly caught him in a sleeper hold. Slowly the canine directed the stormtrooper to the ground and was let go when he finally lost consciousness. As the smoke cleared, only Bossk remained with the now exposed rebels. The fierce bounty hunter hissed in frustration as he took aim at the duo.
Back with Sabine, she jumped down from the building to face Aurra. The chalk skinned woman was quick to pick herself up despite such an awful fall. The pair pulled out their duel-wielded blaster pistols and began firing on each other. What Sabine didn't know was that Aurra's DX-13 pistols featured two individual triggers; the second of these allowed her weapons to go into a rapid fire. Sabine though was fast enough to jump out of the way and into cover behind a metal crate. She did her best to shoot from behind it, but Sing was not letting up on the assault.
That was, however, until a stun bolt from behind shot right past Aurra's head. She was quick to dodge two more round to face whoever had now been shooting at her. She had now trained her blasters on Ezra; she fired fiercely at the young Jedi. Ezra had activated his lightsaber to deflect Aurra's attacks. One such blast was deflected right back at the blaster in her left hand causing it to knock out from her grip. Sabine saw this as an opportunity to open fire again, but Aurra's augmented reflexes were significant enough to shoot Sabine before the teen could follow through. The blast hit her helmet which knocked the Mandalorian out on the ground. Ezra rushed to aid his friend but stopped when Aurra pulled out an electrostaff to hit the young Jedi back.
"Guys!" Ezra spoke into his wrist communicator while also defending against chalked woman's strikes, "Sabine is down!" Ezra had a hard time speaking what with being assaulted by the bounty hunter.
His struggles could be heard through the coms. Even with being blasted at by Bossk, Balto felt an overwhelming amount of concern for the young Jedi. However, the ferocity of Bossk had to be dealt with first, for he stood in the path needed to reach Ezra and Sabine. The Trandoshan took aim at the Anthro once again only to have his gunshot out his clawed hands. Balto saw that it was Zeb who took the aforementioned shot.
"You go help them!" Zeb demanded with a toothy scowl towards the Bossk, "I'll handle that bounty hunting sleemo."
"You sure about this?"
"Oh I'm sure," Zeb said with a gleam in his eyes as he changed his bo-rifle to its staff mode, "Heard a lot about this Bossk guy. Know he has some Lasat blood on his claws. Wouldn't mind making him pay for every one of them."
Balto nodded in agreement as he bolted to aid Ezra. Bossk grabbed hold of his blaster and prepared to take aim at the fleeing canine. That was until he was stopped by a charging Zeb. Bossk acted fast to block off the Losat's attacks by offering his own rifle as a shield. The two's weapons soon clashed in an intense struggle.
"Lasat," Bossk hissed, "If it weren't in my contract to bring you in alive, I would enjoy mounting your pelt on the wall of my ship."
"I like to see you try."
Back in the alley, Ezra still did his best to fend off Aurra. Wasn't easy with her augmented reflexes and agility allowed her to send quick strikes to Ezra's saber. Her constant jumping off the walls to get an aerial advantage did little for Ezra to go on the offensive. The best he could do for the time being would be to block and wait for an opening. Such opening never came when Aurra kicked him against a wall. His concentration broken for only a moment was enough to have his lightsaber swatted from his hand. The abnormally tall woman followed up by shocking the young Jedi until he was too weak to stand.
"You know, we were supposed to bring you all back alive," Aurra told the now barely conscious Padawan, "But in such a huge skirmish there are bound to be casualties." she then drew her remaining pistol and aimed it at Ezra's head, "No offense, but I really can't stand Padawans. Besides they'll still pay us handsomely for your master."
Ezra saw her grip tighten around one of the duel triggers the blaster. His eyes closed in preparation for the shot to come. Why oh why did he think it was a good idea to not bring Kanan along on this. Ezra would've felt more comfortable knowing that he was here to have his back. The bolt was heard being fired with Ezra sure that was the end of it, but opening his eyes, he saw that the blast missed him by several inches. Instead of hitting the wall behind him.
Aurra was also surprised to see that she missed her target at point blank. After a quick inspection of her blaster, she took aim once again. This time though, before she had time to fire, the blaster flew out her hand and into the alley. From out of the shadows, Balto emerged with the blaster in hand. Ezra, to say the least, was awestruck by what he had just witnessed.
"You?" Auras sneered at the mere sight of this wolfdog, "I was led to believe there would only be two Jedi on this bounty."
"Well, it wouldn't be the first time you made mistakes with your career choices," Balto said while tossing Aurra's blaster aside, "Thought you would know better than to go after Jedi again. What with what happens every time you move against us."
"What can I say?" Aurra twirled her electrostaff with a sadistic glee, "The offer was too good to pass up, and I'm sure I will be paid extra for bringing you to the Empire."
Ezra was a gasp by what he was hearing. All this time he had felt there was some sort of connection between him and this Balto; couldn't quite figure it out until now. That and multitude of thing about the Anthro that were in question were starting to make sense. Like a puzzle, everything had been pieced together to form a bigger picture.
Balto's a Jedi.
A fact made evident when the canine opened up the left side of his jacket, and in its inner pocket Balto pulled out a lightsaber hilt. Very different from what Ezra was used to seeing. The base of the hilt was not made from any metallic materials, but of wood. The wood of a Brylark tree said to be as strong as metal, a fine wood for constructing a lightsaber. Along the wooden surface were carvings of some sort, Ezra couldn't quite make them out. The wood's reach stopped just short of the emitter which, unlike his master's saber, was fully exposed. The pommel was a short cone-shape, but what drew attention were two black feathers tied to it by a leather strap. With a flick of the thumb, Balto activated the saber, who's blade now hummed a greenish glow.
"Well, come on then," Balto taunted the bounty hunter by gesturing to her with a flick of his wrist, "Neither of us are getting any younger here."
Aurra was all too eager to oblige; jumping to strike down this extra Jedi. Balto was quick to block the staff from making contact with his head. After being pushed back, the chalk-skinned bounty hunter made a valiant effort to strike him down, but Balto's lightning fast reflexes blocked them all with ease. As the battle between the two raged on, Ezra made a run to check up on Sabine. When he reached her side, Ezra thanked the Force that Mandalorians had some thick armor, or else Aurra's shot would've taken her head off. Pulling said helmet from her head just as when Sabine came back into consciousness with a groan.
"Hey Ezra," she said still groggy from experience, "Did we win?"
"Not yet," he said while lifting her up.
"Then you should worry about Aurra more than me." Sabine was soon lifted up to lean over Ezra's shoulder.
"Don't worry," looking over, Ezra saw how Balto was doing against the bounty hunter. Currently, Aurra attempted to strike Balto's left side, but the Anthro caught the staff with his off-hand and pulled her past him with ease, "I think Balto's got this."
Aurra recovered from being tossed aside to charge at Balto again. Before she could take her first step, Balto Force pushed her enough for her to tumble out of the alley. She was furious right now. This was supposed to be a simple job; find and turn in some rebels. Should've been some easy credit. However, this Jedi had to appear and be all self-righteous and get in the way of her job. She thought, why couldn't he disappear or die with all the rest of them? Aurra hoped that she could make the latter a reality as Balto walked out of the alley to face her again.
Jumping back into action, the two's weapons clashed again. It had now become a test of strength with them both trying to push back against each other. Aurra's furry was so high that she almost didn't notice an opening right in front of her; a wicked grin grew as she did see it. One that she capitalized on as she amplified her electrostaff to admit a blinding light. With Balto's vision temporarily impaired, Sing took this advantage to knock the lightsaber from his hand.
With victory seamlessly in sight, Aurra thrust her staff to send this Jedi to unconsciousness. Balto was, however, able to catch the staff inches from his chest with such blinding speed to give Aurra pause. She tried to push the staff against his chest, but Balto would not budge. Now a quick reminder that Balto is around the same height as Zeb; such as that has to do with having longer legs. What this means having a good reach when kicking as Balto demonstrated with one of Sing's shins. Now that she was off balance, Balto took the staff from her grasp and proceeded to press one end to the still exposed antenna on Aurra's head. Sending surges of shock waves through her skull until she finally collapsed. With the threat taken care of, Balto reached out with his right hand which his lightsaber flew into. He used it to cut the staff in half before addressing the barely conscious bounty hunter before him.
"Let this be a lesson for you Sing," Balto pointed his saber at her face, "Next time someone asks you to hunt Jedi, no matter how much they're offering, just say no."
Aurra's head just fell to the ground with a groan. Balto deactivated his lightsaber before hiding it back inside his jacket. Uncertain he was if bounty hunter would heed his warning.
"Room for one more?" Balto turned to see Zeb coming over with an unconscious Bossk on his shoulder, "Think this will help them get the message straight." he then threw the Trandoshan right on top of Aurra; knocking the wind out her before falling unconscious herself.
"Knew you could handle him, Zeb," Balto said which elicited an all too full of it smirk from the Lasat.
It wasn't long before Ezra emerged from the alley with Sabine in tow. Seeing their comrades in such distress, the two aliens went over to check up on them. Balto even held his hand in offering to aid Sabine, but results were not what he was expecting.
"I'm fine." she picked herself up completely ignoring the hand being offered to her.
It was disconcerting, to say the least, Balto thought. However, such talks were hardly the time or the place, for the four unconscious stormtroopers were beginning to awake. Most of them were ready for another fight on their hands, but Balto stopped them. He urged that they should hide as he took care of this. Seeing that none of these troopers have seen his face, there was a chance this new plan would work as they stirred from their slumber.
"Are you all okay?"
"What happened?" one trooper said as the rest still struggle to get back on their feet.
Once he was sure they were all conscious, Balto swiped his paw-like hand in front of their face before he said, "The rebels were never here."
Like under a trance, the head trooper repeated, "The rebels were never here." The other tree troopers were unfazed by this as if also under the same trance.
"You were all betrayed."
"We were betrayed."
"The bounty hunters were setting you up. You should arrest them."
"We should arrest them."
"You'll all forget I was here," Balto concluded his mind trick before walking past the trooper.
Once he was out of sight, the stormtroopers snapped back into reality. Now, they were under the full belief that the bounty hunter the Empire had hired were working against them. They marched forward to apprehend them; not even questioning why the two laid unconscious at their feet. Balto just slipped out of the streets utterly unnoticed by the Imperials. Through the darkness of the alley, he was quick to regroup with the Ghost crew who were awestruck by what had transpired.
"You're a Jedi." Ezra finally found his voice, "Why didn't you say anything earlier?"
"Think of it as a bit of a test," Balto explained to the Padawan, "I was hoping you would be able to sense it sooner or later."
"Could've saved us a lot of headaches if you disclosed that sooner." Sabine chimed in.
"Yeah, but then I wouldn't be able to see the faces you guys made just now."
"Wait that's how you've been able to follow us," Zeb hypothesized, "You were sensing us through the Force."
"Oh no, that would have taken too long," Balto was quick to correct him, "So, I put a tracker on the bike I gave Ezra." the three of them were stunned by this confession with Ezra receiving dirty looks from his two friends. From Sabine out of disappointment, and Zeb for how the boy mocked him earlier for making the same mistake, "Hey don't know if this is a bit much, but I landed my ship in some rough terrain several klicks from here. Wouldn't mind giving me a lift?"
Back on the Ghost, Kanan was spending his time meditating or trying at the very least. Truth is, is that he was worried: worried for Ezra, Sabine, and Zeb for leaving earlier. It had been hours since then, and there had still been no word from them. Plus, with them all getting ambushed by stormtroopers throughout the day did little to calm him down. Thus when the ship's ramp was heard coming down, Kanan was quick to exit his quarters to check and see if they had returned. To his relief, both Sabine and Zeb were already in the lounge area trying to relax from what seemed to be an exhausting day. Nevertheless, Kanan was relieved to see his crew members intact; he wished to let them know this.
"WHERE HAVE YOU ALL BEEN!" it didn't go as planned, "How long does it take to scout out a small town?"
The two were naturally hesitant to dare further angering their superior.
"We sort of gotten sidetracked for a bit." Sabine managed to answer.
"But," Zeb was quick to chime in, "We're pretty sure we've settled our problem with the Empire."
Kanan sighed in frustration as he rubbed his forehead. He'd like to know the detail of these events, but noticed that person was missing, "Where's Ezra?"
"Chatting it up with that friend he made on Lothal," Sabine said with a not too pleased tone in her voice.
Kanan's confusion to this was sated when Ezra was heard climbing up the ladder to the bridge while still in conversation, "…so I was wondering if you could help me with a few things I'm kind of struggling with…oh hey Kanan." Ezra stopped his conversation when seeing his master at the other end of the hall. Blocking off the entrance to the lounge with his arms crossed and a stern look in his eyes, "Okay I know I may have bent the truth with what we were doing, but you won't believe what we found. You know that guy I told you who helped me on Lothal? Well, it turns out he's a…"
"Balto?!"
Kanan couldn't help but interrupt Ezra's story; especially when he saw who had followed his apprentice up the ladder. Ezra though was utterly confused as the anthropomorphic canine soon joined his side. Did these two know each other?
"Hey Kanan, it's been awhile."
The confusion didn't stop there, however. Not when Hera came around the corner that leads to one of the airlocks with Chopper in tow, "Kanan, Chopper and I think there's tracker a located somewhere in the cargo…hold…" she stopped when seeing a practically petrified expression on the Jedi's face. Following his gaze, she now understood why "Balto!"
Unlike Kanan, who just stood in place, Hera was quick to assault the Anthro with a huge welcoming hug, and Balto was more than willing to return it. Ezra was beyond lost at this point, and looking across the hall he found he wasn't the only one. Both Sabine and Zeb came peering through the room to see what all the commotion was about. When they saw their captain hugging who they believed to be a total stranger up until this night. They turned to Ezra for answers, but alas he had none.
"It's good to see you again too, Hera," Balto said cheerfully before he broke the hug when a certain astromech was tapping at his leg while making a series of beeps to him, "Yes, and you too Chopper." Balto got on one knee to better pat the top of the little droid, "You haven't been causing any trouble since I left have you?" Chopper once again responded in binary. It was clear that Balto could understand him after he gave a snicker.
"What did he say?" Zeb asked.
"He said no."
Zeb then could be heard muttering, "Lying little scrap pile."
"Okay, wait one minute!" Sabine said before pointing between Balto, Kanan, and Hera, "You all know each other?"
"Know him?" Hera's statement baffled Sabine quite a bit, "Before you and Zeb showed up, Balto used to be a part of this crew. Didn't he tell you that?"
"He neglected to mention it among other things." Sabine muttering in suspicion as she sauntered off back in the lounge.
"Well, whatever the case," Kanan stepped forward to take Balto's hand for a shake, "It's good to see you again."
"Likewise," Balto gave Kanan's hand a firm shake, "By the way what have you've been teaching Ezra? I have been with him for practically half the day, and not once could he tell I was a Jedi."
"And here we go." Kanan said with a heavy sigh, "Not one minute back and already you're questioning my training."
"Someone has to."
"I like happy reunions as much as the next guy," Zeb stepped in, "But we promised to give Balto a lift to his ship after helping us with those bounty hunters."
"Bounty hunters?" Hera asked with a whisper. Ezra just gave her a look that says he'd explain later, "Guess this means you'll be leaving already."
"Actually I have a message from Ahsoka," Balto said as he reached into his pocket to reveal a holo-recorder.
The wolfdog activated the recorder which displayed the adult Togruta, "Greetings Ghost, if you're listening to this then you've met up with Balto. You may be wondering why I sent him to aid you this matter. Given the Empire's increase in trying to snuff out our activities, the road ahead is beginning to be more treacherous. Given your past history, I believed that your joint union will aid in your future endeavors. Until we meet again, let the Force be with you."
With those final word spoken Ahsoka's image blinked out. With that, the entire corridor was left in silence leaving each of the crew there with their own thoughts on the news. Ezra and Hera glad about what they heard, and Kanan and Zeb utterly confused. However, there was no denying what this meant.
"That's right, I'm staying."
End of Chapter ll
A/N: Now the journey is ready to begin for these groups. There is a lot of things will arise from Balto joining up with the Ghost Crew. Instead, it's demons from the past to all new threats yet to come. With friends both old and new needed to go in. How will they all fair? Only time will tell. Till next time.
