Chapter 10
Last thing I remember before I was knocked out was crashing into the hangar floors and sliding across the hangar into the opposite wall. Everything else after that was pitch black and pure silence. I couldn't feel anything, either, so that was a bonus.
But slowly, my hearing returned, as did my vision and sense of feeling. I was almost relieved until a wall of pain crashed into me at full force. My vision and hearing started to just fade in and out from then on out.
"We need help over here! The General is hurt, bad!"
"He's flatlining again... Shock him again!"
I woke up and immediately knew where I was. Unlike the last time I was in this situation, I could remember exactly what happened.
I looked to my left and saw doctors and nurses walking about the medical bay, tending to the wounded crew.
I expected to see the same scene to my right, but instead I saw Sabine sitting on a stool, slumped over with her head on the bed. I felt something warm resting on my right hand and I knew what it was. I smiled softly when she gripped my hand tighter for a moment before going slack again.
I slid my hand out from under hers and watched as she slowly woke up.
She blinked a few times and looked around the room before locking eyes with me. I've never seen her eyes as wide as they were now.
"Ezra!" she exclaimed with excitement. "You're... You're awake!"
I laughed, "Yeah. I'm awake... how long was I out?"
"A couple days, but you scared the life out of me! The medics were working on you non stop until you were stable!"
"How bad this time?" I asked
"Some metal pierced your armor, but it missed everything major, except for an artery," she said. Her voice began to break. "I was afraid you were going to bleed out, Ezra."
I sat up and noticed a decent size scar along my left side. Before I could do anything else, I felt Sabine's warm hand on my arm so I turned back to her. I saw tears in her eyes, but she was smiling.
"I'm glad you're alright, Ezra," she said.
I returned the smile and a medical droid approached us.
"He should be able to walk around, but I recommend he takes it easy for a while," the droid said.
"I can still work, right?" I asked.
"Yes, but try to avoid physical combat for the next week," the droid said.
"I managed to repair your uniform," Sabine said. "It's been sitting here for a while." She turned over to the neatly folded clothes on the desk next to my bed.
"Let's get to work, then. I want a status report by the time I get to the bridge," I said, getting straight to the point.
Sabine smiled, "Yes sir. I'll meet you on the bridge."
She left then and some medics helped me up and made sure I was stable on my feet before letting me get dressed in my uniform.
Normally I wouldn't like uniforms, but this is something Sabine designed so I had no problem with it.
As I made my way to the bridge, every single rebel on the ship saluted as I passed them.
…
Applause surrounded me after I entered the bridge and several officers clapped me on the shoulder, though they were careful not to injure me any more than I already was.
"Alright, everybody back to work!" Sabine shouted and everybody slowly began returning to their stations. "Here's that status report I promised." She handed me a datapad and I looked through it.
"If there's anything I hate more than the Empire, it's paperwork," I said as I read the report.
Sabine let out a small laugh, "It's good to have you back."
After reading the report, I handed it back to Sabine and she handed it to another officer.
"We had moderate damage long our structure, not enough to cripple the ship, but enough to knock our weapons offline. We lost two whole squadrons of fighters and last I heard from our clones, Trace survived and is currently being treated in a bacta tank. Other than you, he was the only survivor from the shuttle."
"How exactly did we survive? The pilot died," I said.
"The co-pilot was able to take some control of the craft, not entirely, but enough to direct the shuttle into the hangar and keep it upright. Engines and everything else was offline," Sabine explained. She tapped around on the holotable and selected some security footage from the cameras in the port hangar.
The shuttle was a ball of fire, but you could see the copilot struggling to control the crash landing. Nevertheless, the speed of our approach was too much and we crashed into the wall, effectively knocking the camera offline for a few moments.
"That's about it. By the time the cameras were back online, there was so much smoke and fire we couldn't see anything from them," Sabine said.
"Where are we now?" I asked.
"I don't know, actually. We made a blind jump as soon as our remaining fighters landed, but we're not in any known system," she said.
I walked up to the front of the bridge and looked out. It was clear we took a beating.
"It's just like at Mandalore," I said.
"Though this time the Empire got the drop on us," Sabine said, nodding. "They threw everything at us."
"It was only one star destroyer?" I asked.
"Yes, but after you crashed, they maneuvered to broadsides and opened up on us. We weren't prepared, so we didn't stand a chance," she said. "Then there was me... I watched the crash and it took everything I had not to lose focus..."
"But it was too much?" I asked.
Sabine nodded, "Everything happened so fast, I had no idea what to do."
"It's not your fault," I said. "We can talk about this later. Right now we need to find out where we are and calculate our jump home."
"I think I might have something, sir," the nav officer called out, running up to us.
"What do you have?" I asked.
"We seem to be somewhere in the middle rim, general. We're not in any hyperspace routes or systems, but if my theory is correct, we should be..." the officer opened a small map of the galaxy on the forward console, "right about here." A small, blue dot appeared in the center of the middle rim, nowhere near a planet or hyperspace route . "Our base is over here." A green dot appeared outside of the galaxy, directly behind us.
"Do we have enough fuel to get home?" I asked.
"I don't think so, but there is a planet halfway there that seemed to have no importance to the Empire so we can stay there and call for some assistance."
"Set a course," I said.
"Yes sir! And if I may, it's good to see you're alright," the officer said before returning to his post.
The ship began to turn as the nav computer aligned the ship to the coordinates, and moments later, we were in hyperspace.
"I know you just woke up," Sabine began, "But we should head to the officer's club and relax for a bit."
"We're not out of danger," I pointed out.
"While we're in hyperspace, I'd say we're safe enough for now," she said. She turned to the nav officer. "Let us know when we're exiting lightspeed."
The officer nodded and Sabine urged me to follow her. I finally agreed to join her and have a couple drinks. After all, she did look like she needed it after everything we've been through.
"You alright?" I asked her as we sat down at a booth, facing each other.
The holographic menus appeared in front of us and we selected our drinks.
"I'm just... tired of all this," she said.
"What do you mean?" I asked
"I want to openly fight the Empire like we used to. Just like Scarif," she said. "Only without the Death Star."
"Sabine," I began. "Until we destroy the Death Star, we can't deal with full contact..."
"I know how you feel," she said.
"What?"
"When Lothal was under full occupation, I didn't fully know how you felt. Now I do, and just like you I would do anything to liberate my homeworld."
A droid approached our booth and set down our drinks in front of us.
"I know you're feeling the same way again for Lothal. The Empire taking that back after Yavin and everything," Sabine said.
"Sabine..." I began. I actually didn't know what to say.
"I'm sorry... I brought us here to relax. I shouldn't have gone down that road."
I lifted my glass and gulped down a bit of my drink.
"And I'm actually tired," Sabine said out of nowhere, but the random and sudden change of tone made me laugh.
"What?" she asked, laughing softly as well.
"I'm sorry, it's just. That was sudden," I said.
Sabine drained her glass, ordered another drink, and looked out the window at the hyperspace tunnel.
"Did you work on that armor these past couple days?" I asked, not really sure what to talk about.
"No. I actually left the blueprints and the... prototype at base," she said.
I about choked on my drink. "You never mentioned a prototype!" I coughed.
"I was getting ready to test it after lunch but we were deployed in the middle of that," she explained. The droid returned with another glass of whatever drink Sabine ordered. Before leaving, it picked up the empty glass and left.
"Well then I guess we'll need to work on it when we get the chance," I said.
She raised an eyebrow, "We?"
"If you don't want my help, that's alright," I said, raising my hands.
Sabine smiled, drained a quarter of her glass, then slid around the booth until she was right next to me. "You could be my test subject, then."
"You make it sound like a chemistry experiment," I said.
"I could make it a chemistry experiment," she said quietly. We locked eyes for a long moment.
"Whatever you've ordered," I began, "I think it's getting to your head now."
Sabine winked and rested her head on my shoulder. "I know exactly what I'm doing."
I chuckled, "I don't know about that."
Sabine lifted her head off my shoulder and looked back up at me.
"What are you thinking?" she asked me.
"You're really close," I said. "Not that it's a problem or anything."
She smiled and nestled closer. "I don't know what I would have done if you died. You promised you'd never leave me."
"Sabine?"
"Hm?"
"You're acting strange," I said, blushing.
She looked up at me again, "You don't like being this close to me?"
"That's not what I meant..." I said quickly. "It's just... We're still on duty and everything."
Sabine frowned, but nodded. "Yeah, you're right. One question though: When did you get so focused on work?"
I shrugged, "I... I guess the Empire knocked some sense into me."
"I'm not convinced, there's more to this," she said, staring at me directly. She seemed fully awake now and was off me.
I sighed, "I don't want to lose all this again. We finally have a better shot at fighting the Empire with all we found. More importantly I don't want to lose anybody else... especially you."
Sabine's gaze softened.
"Ezra, you don't need to worry about me. If anything I'm more worried for you. You've been stuck in a medical bay twice within a year with life threatening injuries. I'm amazed you're even alive!" she said. "Not that I don't want you to live or anything, I mean... Many people wouldn't survive a near death experience, let alone two."
I nodded, "I understand you clearly. Honestly I don't know how I'm still alive either."
I finished my drink and set the glass back down on the table when the ship shuddered gently. I looked out the window and saw normal stars again, so I tapped my wrist comm.
"Nav, report," I said.
"I brought us to a normal hyperspace route, general. Trying to get to our destination from where we were was too dangerous."
"That makes sense. Where are we now?" I asked then.
"I brought us out of lightspeed just in wild space, but our coordinates are on point to a hyperspace route. We should be arriving at our destination in about an hour and a half."
"Very well. Carry on," I said, deactivating the comm.
"Paranoid, much?" Sabine teased.
"No, just wondering what was going on. Doesn't hurt to be curious," I said.
She smirked at me, "No I suppose it doesn't."
"I didn't see much about our comm relays on the report," I said then.
"I may have forgotten that part," Sabine said sheepishly. "Our comm relays were damaged as well. The reason we haven't contacted home base yet is because the damage seemed to have affected our range. This planet we're heading to should theoretically be within suitable comm range."
I nodded, "Great."
"Also there's something else," Sabine began.
"Hm?"
"It's about the Reclamation," she said.
"You're not transferring, are you?" I asked.
"No, of course not. It's just Tenith thought it best to add something to the ventral hull; something kind of like a siege cannon."
"Siege cannon?" I asked.
"Well it's not going to be the most powerful thing on the ship," Sabine said. "It's basically just a special turbolaser that will be used for bombardment."
"Our primary cannons and artillery can do that," I said.
"Our cannons and artillery have a limited firing arc. They wouldn't be able to bombard at a closer range like the Empire did on Garel and Lothal," Sabine said. "Yes, many of our turbolasers and laser cannons built into the port and starboard sides have that range, but these cannons would also be able to cover the full underbelly of the ships."
"So no blind spot," I said.
"Exactly," Sabine confirmed.
"I like the sound of that," I said. "Give the Empire a taste of their own medicine for once, too."
Sabine grinned, "I thought you'd like that idea."
A few officers walked into the room then.
"Generals," one of them said and all of them snapped to attention.
"At ease, all of you," I said.
"We may be generals but that doesn't mean we can't talk as friends, you know," Sabine said.
"Yes, ma'am."
Sabine leaned in close to my ear, "I can see why you were annoyed with all the formalities before."
"Sorry it's just basic kicking in," one of the officers said.
"We're all officers here," I said. "Relax for a change. If it helps, first round's on me."
"Ezra, you don't have to do that," Sabine said.
"Course I do. Least I can do after scaring everybody so much," I said.
"Alright, you're the boss," Sabine said with a smile.
I bought a round for the four of us and we all drained our shot glasses.
…
"Sir, we're entering the Maridun system," a navigation operator said once I entered the bridge.
Sabine was down in her quarters, taking a nap. She's been through a lot, physically, emotionally, and of course a lot of alcohol. She could barely stand by the time we were all called up to the bridge, but it showed how much I've matured and grown since I first joined the Ghost crew. Sabine could hold her liquor pretty well since she's been places, but I've developed a strong stomach for those things. Granted I was feeling a strong buzz and couldn't really see straight, I was still talking fine. That and the Force helped me walk straight; focusing on that clears my mind so I felt pretty good.
I acknowledged the operator and looked out the window to see the blue tunnel of hyperspace turn into back to normal. The blackness of space dotted with countless stars. Just off to our port side was the planet Maridun. We don't know what, or who, is here, but it was obvious it wasn't advanced technologically.
"Comm, are we within comm range with our station?" I asked.
"I'm working on it..." the officer said before smacking the console in frustration. "Nothing, sir."
"General, we have spare parts in our cargo hold to repair some of the relay, but we will need to land on the planet before we get moving," a communication operator said.
"If that's our only option, then take us down. We don't have enough fuel to reach our station so we're marooned here until we can call for help," I said.
"Yes sir."
Slowly, we turned towards the planet and it began to grow.
…
"Landing pads deployed, touchdown in 3... 2... 1... brace for touchdown," the helmsman called out. Moments later, the ship shook as the Resolute's landing pads touched down on the grassy land.
"Repulsorlift generators are offline, engines offline. Powering down gravity generators," several console operators said. "Life support is offline, but ready. Laser cannons charged, turbolasers offline. Artillery offline. Shields are down."
"Alright," I said. "Get our repair teams on that relay."
The entire descent took a couple hours. Half an hour to actually reach the atmosphere, another 25 minutes of normal atmospheric descent, then most of the other times looking for a good place to land this thing. The ground was full of rolling hills so we had to be careful.
"General, I'm reading a bunch of life signs approaching."
"Where?"
"Everywhere," the officer said. She looked up as she said this.
"I'll take a team down there," I said. "I expect an away team to be ready by the time I get to the hangar."
"Yes sir!"
As I walked down to the hangar, I passed in front of Sabine's room and knocked.
"Sabine? Are you awake?" I asked.
The door opened a few seconds later and there was Sabine, out of her officer's uniform and back into her Mandalorian armor, but her rank insignias were pinned to her collar.
"Yeah, what's up?" she asked.
"We've landed on Maridun and we've detected several lifeforms approaching. I was on my way down to the surface with an away team to investigate," I said.
"You want me to stay here?" she asked.
"Not exactly. I was going to ask if you either wanted to come along, or supervise the comm relay repairs," I said.
"I'm not sitting in a command center while you have all the fun, Bridger. I'm coming with you," she said.
I grinned, "I figured you would."
I watched as Sabine grabbed a backpack and her helmet and we made our way down to the hangar.
"Oh hey," she said as we walked. She pulled some body armor out of her pack and strapped it onto my chest and back, even strapping parts of the armor to my biceps, forearms, and shoulders.
"I found some pieces of durasteel in the hold and brought them back to my room," she said. "And yes I made sure they weren't needed for the relay."
"I thought you were sleeping," I said.
"I was. I called in a droid to cut and mold them into armor plates," she said.
I checked out my arms and chest before looking back up at Sabine. "This looks familiar."
She grinned, "It's a durasteel replica of the armor I'm developing. It's not the prototype, just a replica."
"Got some weight to it," I stated.
"Again, durasteel. The final product should be relatively light weight. Move your arms around," she said.
I moved my arms around and barely knew the armor was even there. It was very impressive, really.
"It's like it's not even there," I said.
"Good. It's supposed to be that way. Good coverage, while keeping the movement," she said.
All this happened as we walked and we didn't slow our pace, either.
When we got to the hangar, the away team was ready.
"Phoenix home, what's the status of those lifeforms?" I asked the guys still on the bridge.
"They're close, but they've stopped their approach for the moment."
"Alright everybody," I said to the away team. "Keep blasters on stun, and do not fire on anything unless attacked. Understood?"
"Yes sir!"
"Good. Let's get moving," I said. I tapped my wrist comm. "Home, drop the ramp."
The port side hangar doors opened and the boarding ramp extended out a bit, then down, continuing its extension until it touched the ground.
As soon as my boots hit the ground, they sunk slightly into the fresh mud.
It was hot out, humid even, but I'm guessing maybe it just stormed or something. The sun was just below the horizon so it was dusk.
"Sir, over there," one of my men called out. He was pointing to the tall grass in front of me.
I took a step forward.
"Ezra, be careful!" Sabine shouted.
"Yeah, I got it. Split into teams of 2 and spread out. Watch your backs," I said.
Sabine immediately ran to my side, "You said groups of two, I'm with you."
"You should write poems next," I chuckled and she smacked my shoulder.
"Ha ha, very funny," she said, but I could tell she was smiling under her helmet.
Something moved in the grass in front of us and I turned back to it.
"Sabine, stay here," I said.
"No way," she protested.
"Please? I'm sensing more to this," I said.
She hesitantly nodded and stopped following me into the grass.
"I know you're here We all do," I said calmly.
"Ezra, what are you doing?" Sabine hissed.
"Trust me," I replied before turning back out into the grass. "We're not here to cause trouble."
There was some silence before I heard a shout.
"That's what they said the last time, but our village was nearly destroyed!"
"Who's they?" I asked. I couldn't see them visually, but I could see them through the Force.
"The Republic! Who else?"
"The Republic is gone," I said.
"Lies!"
"It's true," I said.
"It's all lies! Visitors are not welcome!"
Next thing I knew, I was on the ground, by hands behind my back, held together by a well made rope, but a very sloppy knot.
"Ezra!" Sabine shouted.
There was something holding me down and when I opened my eyes, I saw a small, hairy creature with large, dark eyes glaring at me.
"Stay down," the creature growled. I heard Sabine running up from her position and she started yelling.
"Get back!"
"Sabine, don't engage!" I shouted.
"Ezra..."
"Do not engage!" I repeated.
"Fine," she growled, but I could feel her scowl on the creature next to me.
"Who are you people, and why have you come?" the creature asked.
I noticed several others like this one gathered around.
"Our communications were damaged in a battle," I began. "We needed a safe place to land while we repaired it."
"Why here?"
"It was the safest place for us. We need fuel to reach our base, but we can't get that until we repair our communications relay," I explained.
"It's true," Sabine said. "Now let him go."
"Why should I?" the creature asked.
"Let him go!" somebody else shouted.
The first creature backed off and another took its place.
"My apologies," this one said. "My name is Wag Too. I'm the chief of my village. I personally don't have problems with the Republic."
I smiled as he cut the rope and helped me sit up. "Good to know, but the Republic is long gone."
"What happened to it?" Wag Too asked.
"The Empire," Sabine muttered.
"The what?"
"The Empire was formed from the Republic. Turns out the entire Clone War was just a big show to get the Emperor in power," I explained. "Most of the Jedi didn't survive the Purge."
"I knew a few Jedi myself. I was quite fond of them," Wag Too said. "Are you a survivor of this... Purge?"
"Me? No, I'm not a survivor. My master was, however."
"That's a nice ship," Wag Too stated then, referring to the Resolute. "If the Republic is gone, are you part of the Empire?"
"No, we're rebels. We found this ship and rebuilt it to combat the Empire's ships," Sabine explained taking off her helmet.
"I'm sorry," I began. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Ezra Bridger and this is my friend, Sabine Wren."
"Who's that over there?" Wag Too asked, pointing behind me.
"They would be my away team. You've already heard everything from before, I assume?"
"I have. Do you all need a place to stay?" he asked.
"We have this ship. It's fully operational except for the comms," Sabine said.
"Let me take you to our village. It's not too far from here," Wag Too said.
"I don't think that's..." Sabine began but I interrupted.
"It's fine, Sabine. Can you stay here with the ship?"
"Ezra..."
"Please Sabine? I trust you more than anyone with everything, and I need you to stay here with the ship. I'll have our away team."
She bit her lip, but finally nodded. "Alright."
We split the away team in half and my group and I followed Wag Too and his people to his village.
"We must be careful. Night time is very dangerous," Wag Too said.
"Wild animals?" I asked.
"Yup."
"Fun," I muttered sarcastically.
My guys had their flashlights on so they could see where they were going.
"How much farther?" one of my guys asked.
"We're almost there," Wag Too said.
We heard a lot of growling near us and a few of my guys jumped.
"What was that?"
"Just one of those animals I spoke of," Wag Too said.
I looked around as we ran and saw a bunch of glowing yellow eyes watching us. I gripped my lightsaber in my right hand, ready to use it if I needed to.
"There it is," Wag Too called out.
Ahead of us was a bunch of lit torches and some huts. We ran into the clearing and we slowed to a walk, but one of my guys was nabbed by something that looked a lot like a vulture.
"Gah! Help me!" the soldier screamed and several of my men aimed at the creature, but they couldn't get a shot off without risking hitting him.
I jumped into the air and stabbed my lightsaber through the creature's back. It let out an ear splitting shriek before falling over, lifeless.
"That wasn't necessary, master Jedi," Wag Too said. "My people specialize in taking the Mastiff's out without killing them."
"I'm sorry, but one of my men need help," I said as I helped up my unconscious soldier.
"I should have mentioned that sooner," Wag Too said. "Again, I'm sorry."
"Do we have medical supplies?" I asked.
"I specialized in healing while my father was leader," he said. "He died a long time ago."
"I'm sorry for your loss," I said.
"Don't be. That was a long time ago," Wag Too said. "Let's get this man to one of our pods. The oil helps with the healing."
While one of Wag Too's top healers worked with my wounded soldier, Wag Too approached me and said he should be well by mid day tomorrow.
"What are these things?" I asked, referring to the pods.
"These were taken and carved out from the massive pods that grow on the large trees some few miles from here. The Jedi I met before came from that direction, but my father wanted no part in helping them. It wasn't until they mentioned one of the Jedi was dying when my father sent me to aid them."
"What were their names?" I asked. "The Jedi."
"I think one of them was named Skywalker," Wag Too named.
"Anakin Skywalker. You knew him as a Jedi?" I asked.
"I have. Do you know if he's alright?"
"Well uh... he's alive, but not himself," I said.
"What do you mean?"
"He's not a Jedi anymore..." I said bitterly. "He turned away from them. My master learned he was the key to the Jedi's near extinction."
"Oh no..."
"Anyway do you remember any others? I mean, do you know Ahsoka Tano?"
"Yes. Yes, I remember her. Is she alive?"
"I don't know, honestly. I don't think she is, but it's entirely possible," I said.
We talked for another hour before we turned in for the night.
"Tomorrow morning, I can show you guys around the land. Give you something to do while you repair your communications," Wag Too said.
"Thank you," I said before he left the pod.