Chapter 36 - Unexpected Encounter, Part 4
(Summary: "What is your name, youngling?" Maketh tried to make the question as soft and unthreatening as possible. "...Ezra." "And how old are you, Ezra? Six?" "'m seven.")
Takes place immediately after Part 3
Everything exploded into smoke.
Maketh gasped, stumbling as the troopers holding her suddenly collapsed. She staggered in the direction she'd last seen Ezra, but only made it a few steps before something huge loomed out of the smoke beside her.
"'Scuse me, Minister." Large hands scooped her up, and Maketh couldn't contain a squeak as she was suddenly carried from the room at a high speed. Once outside and free from the smoke, she was able to identify her rescuer as the Lasat member of the rebel crew who'd become so troublesome on Lothal.
"Ezra- my boy-"
"He's fine, Minister, Spectre Five's got the kid. We'll meet them at the rendezvous with Spectre 2." Maketh started to object, but the words were replaced with a shriek when the Lasat jumped from the balcony to a nearby rooftop. They continued onwards in the same fashion for a few blocks, until finally stopping on a warehouse, where the Lasat set her down. As Maketh tried to bring her racing heart down to a healthy speed, she scanned the skies back towards Imperial headquarters. The smoke had begun to dissipate into the open air, as official transports and Tie fighters converged on the site.
"Oh dear..."
"Ride's here, ma'am." Her rescuer's words got the woman's attention, and she turned in time to see the now-familiar Corellian freighter coming around to their location. The Lasat picked her up again, and leapt from the rooftop to the ship's extended ramp. This time, Maketh managed to keep from crying out, but only because she was entirely focused on one of the figures already waiting inside.
The instant her feet were back on solid metal, she started towards Ezra. He only let her get two steps before dashing forward himself, plowing into the woman and wrapping his arms around her midsection. Neither spoke, merely held on and shook with relief. The rebels left them to it, jumping off to their usual stations in order to complete the escape.
"I'm sorry," Ezra finally murmured. "I didn't think- you've never- I'm so sorry-"
"Shh, sh, it's alright. I'm not- not upset." Maketh pulled back a little bit to smile down at him, blinking back the tears that had begun to form. "An Empire that would willingly torture and execute a fifteen year old is not one I want to serve. Let alone when that fifteen year old belongs to me."
Ezra tried to choke out a laugh, and wound up just burrowing back into another hug.
Eventually, the Jedi leader of the crew came to get them, showing first Maketh and then her boy to the 'fresher, followed by a quick tour of the ship. Ezra ended up staying in the cockpit, helping the astromech sort out which information transmitted from Imperial headquarters needed to be sent off straightaway to someone by the name of Fulcrum. Maketh ignored this, instead following Kanan, as the Jedi insisted she call him by his first name, to the guest room where a bunk had been made up for her.
The woman laid down, muddling through her mess of thoughts and emotions. It was a hard thing, dealing with first a betrayal by one she'd raised as a son for eight years, and then her superiors, the very Empire she'd dedicated her adult life to serving. Friends had become enemies, enemies had become allies, and Maketh had absolutely no idea how to proceed with her life.