"And halt!" As the group of cadets come to a stop, they turn towards the two men, their commanders. "Squad LRC-077 for your inspection, sir!" Taskmaster Grint says to Commandant Aresko.
"Cadets, you entered this facility as children. And in a few short weeks, you will leave as soldiers. By the time you complete your training, you will be prepared to serve your Emperor. Today, we will test your strength and resolve. Are you ready to become stormtroopers?"
"Sir, yes sir!" All of the cadets say in unison.
"At ease."
As some of the cadets, like Jai Kell, with blue on his helmet, and Zare Leonis, with yellow on his, remove their helmets, Ezra removes his too, which has red on it. They are part of the top four. Well, he can't exactly say his name is Ezra, now. As he looks at his helmet, flashbacks of his previous time in the academy come back to him. He hears a faint whisper of his new name.
"-v. Dev. Hey Dev. Dev Morgan, you in there." He feels a hand on his shoulder. He looks up to see Jai.
"What. Yeah, oh yeah. Dev Morgan's in here Alright. Th-That's me..." He rotates his helmet nervously.
"Wow. You must really be feeling the pressure."
"Sorry, Jai. Who's under pressure?" He playfully elbows the boy. "Not the guy who's won every assessment." Jai starts to playfully fight back.
"Yeah, but today I can taste victory."
"You said that yesterday and went hungry." As they start to laugh, they feel the floor move.
"Woah!" The cadets are caught off-gaurd as some of them loose their starts to speak.
"Cadets, you are descending into the Well... and must climb out with all deliberate speed." The Well has stopped moving and is at least twenty feet below from where it was previously. "For the top three winners, you will be given the honor of serving as aides in Imperial headquarters. Those who lose will be serving Taskmaster Grint... and wished they'd stayed at the bottom of that well."
"I'm taking that prize," Jai says, pointing towards himself. One of the cadets with green on his helmet shoves him. Ezra catches him before he could fall.
"Not today, Kell."
"Back off, Oleg." Ezra blocks a grab from him with his arm. He was the fourth person part of the top four.
"You too, Morgan. You're both going down."
"Actually," He says, shaking off Oleg's hand, "We're going up." As they begin to fight, Taskmaster Grint starts to count down.
"The assessment begins in four, three, two..." The cadets quickly put on their helmets and get ready.
"How exactly are we going up?" Jai says.
"One!"The squares in the Well begin to move and float, creating moving pathways so they can climb up.
"There's your answer, Jai." Ezra runs to the nearest platform, jumping on it. He jumps from platform to platform, working his way up. "See you at the top!"
"Yes, you will!" Jai says, beginning to work his way up. "From below!"As the other cadets start to follow what Ezra and Jai were doing, Ezra quickly jumps from platform to platform, sensing the quickest way up. A risky move, but he has to be in the top three.
"Failure is not acceptable. This Empire has no use for weakness." Commandant Aresko says. One of the cadets looks up at him but yells as the platform shocks him, sending him to a lower part of the well. Ezra jumps to platforms that haven't even come out of the wall, the pathway like a staircase. The platforms give out waves of electricity, but don't shock him because he is already on the next platform. After about four, he can stand on one that won't shock him.
"Morgan, how do you do it?"Jai says, making sure he doesn't stay on one for too long. "It's like you know the platforms coming before they're there!"
"What can I say?" He says, jumping one up before it comes out before he falls and two more up. The platforms had barley moved before he did. "It's a gift!"
"Morgan's impressive. Perhaps too impressive. Make note of that." Aresko says to Grint quietly, making sure none of the cadets hear him. Ezra helps Jai up onto a platform. He senses Oleg advancing behind them and takes Jai's arm.
"You lose, Morgan."
"Jai, look out!" He pulls Jai with him to an oncoming platform, making Oleg miss them. He falls to the lowest platform. Ezra opens his mask, smiling at Oleg. He gives him a salut mockingly and jumps to the top. Once he reaches the main level, he helps Jai up. They are both breathing hard.
"First again!"
"Yeah. Well, I'll get you tomorrow."
"You said that yesterday too." Ezra smiles. He hears a slow clap from in front of him and loses his smile.
"Quite a finish, cadets. It seems this trial was too easy. Morgan, Kell, you both set course records." Ezra looks at Jai from the corner of his eye. He is helping up the third place cadet.
"And, um... is it... Leonis."
The cadet straightens up and takes off his helmet. "Sir, yes sir!"
"Congratulations, you three are today's winners. But rest assured, your trial will be a great challenge. Follow." Aresko starts to walk off, leading the three to Imperial HQ. Ezra turns towards Jai, but looks down towards Oleg, giving him a pity nod, then follows Jai and Zare.
As Aresko gives them a tour of the facility, behind him follows Ezra, Jai, and Zare. Ezra sees Chopper, disguised as an imperial droid, painted black. When Chopper can see his hand, he sticks out his first finger, puts it back in a fist, then sticks out his pinky finger, the signal meaning he is in the Imperial HQ and was part of the top three. Chopper beeps and continues his journey. Ezra senses Zare's curiosity change to confusion as he traces Chopper than looks at Ezra. He tries to make sure it looks like he didn't notice anything.
When night falls, Chopper sneaks out before they shut the gates. He flashes his light six times, then turns and goes back to HQ.
"Specter-5 to Ghost. Looks like the kid passes the first test. He's inside Imperial HQ" Sabine says to Hera, walking back towards Zeb. They were staying in Capital City while Ezra was inside Imperial HQ along with Chopper. Only Hera and Kanan were on the Ghost in Lothal's orbit.
"Roger, Specter-5. Ghost standing by." Kanan sighs.
"We've been standing by for weeks. I'm sick of this."
"You're worried about Ezra." She says teasingly.
"I'm not worried about the kid. I'm worried about the op. What were we thinking putting him undercover?"
"What were we thinking? This was his idea. He made a choice."
"But what if he gets caught."
"He hasn't gotten caught so far."
"The minute he gets that decoder, Zeb yanks him out of there."
"Uh, that's the plan?" Kanan sighs.
"I should've done this myself."
"Oh yeah. You'd make quite a cadet."
~+~+~+~+~
As Ezra, Zare, and Jai exit the elevator, they put on their helmets, and leave to pass out the new data pads to people in the HQ. Ezra goes to the left and Jai goes to the right. Ezra feels Zare's eyes on him, but he eventually goes left, following Jai. As Ezra turns the corner and walks towards Kallus's office, he almost runs into him.
"Excuse me, sir, I have your new datapad. I can leave it on your desk."
"No, I' ll take it now." Kallus holds out his hand, and Ezra puts the data pad in it. He stops walking and watches Kallus turn the corner. He sneaks back over to his office and puts in an override code in the panel. He walks over to the desk and finds the computer. As he opens it, he turns it towards him. He types in a few commands and the decoder pops out.
"One decoder, as ordered." Ezra knows there is an alarm above the door, so as soon as he crosses it, he has to get to the exit as fast as he can. Ezra puts the decoder in his helmet and starts to leave. He quickly turns around and grabs the stack of data pads. As he is about to walk out, the door opens, and Ezra almost collides with Zare.
"What do you think you're doing?"They stand there for a second, looking at each other. They turn their heads at the sound of a door opening. Zare quickly pushes him inside. Zare walks in and turns around, taking off his helmet. He looks at Ezra then down at his helmet, seeing the decoder. As he reaches for it, Ezra tries to pull back.
"Hey, stop. Get out of there!" Zare pulls out the decoder.
"Figured it'd be something like this."
"It's not what you think."
"I think this device has a built in sensor which will trigger that," He says, pointing towards the sensor above Kallus door. No kidding... Ezra thinks.
"You try waking out with this thing, this whole facility goes on lockdown."
"I know. But wait, are you trying to help me?"
"Do you really want to discuss this? Here? Now?"
"Mm. Not so much." Ezra grabs the decoder and puts it back in the machine. They both put on their helmets and walk out the door, making sure nobody saw them.
~+~+~+~+~
As the HQ's blast-doors go down, Sabine coms Hera.
"Specter-5 to Ghost. Something went wrong. The kid didn't get the decoder and he didn't come out"
"Copy that Specter-5, give him one more day."
"This decoder better be with the risk," Kanan says, sighing.
"What's the alternative. Do you have a better solution? Do you want to stop that kyber shipment or not? You know what the Empire can do with that crystal." Kanan looks over at her, knowing he's defeated. Knowing she's right.
"I know."
"So we give Ezra one more day."
~+~+~+~+~
As night falls over the academy, Ezra and Zare wait until their 'bunk mates' are asleep before sneaking over to the supplies closet.
"What do you need that decoder for?" Zare says, looking over at Ezra who was leaning on a stack of boxes.
"My friends need it to stop an Imperial kyber crystal shipment. How'd you know about the alarm? Only top ranked Imperials have that sort of information. Or notice it at all."
"From my sister, Dhara." Ezra looks over at him. He knows that name... of course.
"You're her brother? Leonis, wasn't it?" Zare looks over at him suspiciously.
"Yeah. She was the star cadet of this place. She knew the entire complex backward and forwards. They told us she ran off, but I don't think so."
"You thought right."
"What do you mean...?"
"Your sister, Dhara, for one is alive, but she is a force sensitive-"
"What's that?" Ezra concentrates on a cadet helmet nearby, lifting it easily. Zare watches in amazement as Ezra gently places it on Zare's head. Zare takes it off, turning it every which way, making sure there were no strings attached.
"That. It's called the Force. Very few people are left. I'm one of them. Zare, your sister is alive and she is on Arkanis. She's force sensitive and is being held by the inquisitor. She's part of Project Harvester."
"Ho-how do you know this?" He asks, looking up. Ezra sees, and senses, the fear in his eyes. He slowly backs towards the practice-blasters, dropping the helmet. Ezra grabs his arm and catches the helmet with the force before it hits the ground.
"Zare. Listen to me. I was there. I was part of Project Harvester. I was able to escape. I came here to get the decoder and find you." He moves the helmet back to where it was, hand still on Zare's arm. Zare eyes him and the helmet warily.
"Why?"
"Because. Your sister knew you were going to be 15 soon. That was a year ago. Zare, she knew you'd look for her. And the inquisitor wants both you and me (I? I think it's me. Pretty sure.) dead."