42
A FEW mere minutes after the Phantom was roughly set down in the docking bay, Kanan heard a loud rap on the shuttle's closed entry ramp.
"Open up!" someone shouted from outside.
Just in time, Kanan thought. His pathetic disguise was complete, and not a moment too soon.
Kanan had remembered that Sabine had once left a small paint kit by the seats in the back. So he had taken that and hurriedly applied the paints to his face like makeup, relying on his reflection in the windshield to do it a little less sloppily than he could have. And while Kanan felt completely mortified about painting his face so it resembled a Lothcat's, at least he wouldn't be immediately pegged as a match to the image in his prisoner file.
(And hopefully Sabine wouldn't mind his taking her paints without asking - but Kanan was less worried about that and more worried that they were explosive.)
Kanan opened the entry ramp with the pressing of a button, then quickly walked out to meet his probable doom.
At the entry ramp's foot stood the captain of the ship, flanked on either side by an armed stormtrooper. (Stormtroopers. You just couldn't leave home without 'em.)
As Kanan appeared, the Imperial Star Destroyer captain stared at him with the most ridiculous what the space waffle expression you will ever see.
To the captain's credit, however, he didn't otherwise break protocol. "E-er - come with me, pilot. You are under arrest."
"What? Why for?" Kanan demanded innocently.
"For illegally interfering with the deliverance of highly perilous cargo," the captain sneered. They were always so snobbish, Imperial captains. "Stormtroopers, take him away."
The troopers stepped forward, approaching Kanan with their blasters cocked.
"Mmmm..." Kanan studied them briefly. "I'd rather not be taken away, thanks." He kicked their blasters away with one sudden sweep of his boot, the smashed the pair together with the Force. The stormtroopers both slumped to the floor, unconscious.
The bewildered and horrified captain rapidly backed away, lifting his comlink to his mouth, but Kanan sent him flying into the Phantom with a loud clang before he could say a word.
The unfortunate captain slid off the Phantom's roof to land on top of the even more unfortunate stormtroopers.
Kanan smiled triumphantly and turned away. That was surprisingly easy. They'd never stood a chance.
The cocky smirk abruptly faded from his face.
Neither had he.
The entire docking bay was bristling with TIEs - and there was a stormtrooper waiting inside every single one, aiming the guns at Kanan.
