(A/N) I'm back. Hope you all enjoy this chapter.
Guest Reviews:
TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne: haha, nope.
Guest 1: Haha, me and West were ribbing on David long before this review. You made our day with this one.
Red 2: Indeed, we shall see.
Brandon Palmer: Glad you enjoyed, but I will not reveal anything about my story. You'll just have to wait patiently like everyone else to see when they get together :D
Achillies453: Glad you enjoyed it.
Guest 2: Technically your right, he should have beard in the image. However, because it was the image that inspired Nomral, I didn't want it to be altered to much from the original.
Chapter 23
The Nightbrother's ramp lowered. Ezra and Sabine stood side by side with their weapons poised, ready to leap into action and take on whatever danger lay inside.
K-4 was standing in the entrance holding what seemed like a young girl with pink skin and red hair in his one hand and was trying to grab something else with his other.
"LET GO OF ME!" the girl yelled. She was punching the droid's metal arm with her fists until she realized the ramp door had opened, "They're back! Run!"
Another smaller, pink child with blue hair shot around K-4, who only just missed grabbing onto the youngling's arm. The kid tried his best to get around Ezra and Sabine as well, but Ezra managed to snag the boy's arm in his free hand and scoop him into his arms, "Woah. Where are you going."
The kid started screaming and trying to punch him, but Ezra waved a hand in front of his face, "Sleep." he said, and the kid fell limp in his hands. Seeing as there was no actual danger, he turned his lightsaber off and clipped it back to his belt. Sabine once again followed his lead and holstered her blasters. If Ezra was satisfied there was no one else lurking around, she was too.
The girl, thinking her companion had got away, was still punching and kicking at K-4 until Ezra and Sabine stepped further into view. "Ezra, Sabine," the droid said. "Welcome back. I caught these two trying to break in. Should I contact the nearest authority and have them arrested? I would have thrown them in the brig, but we do not have one."
The girl's eyes, before wild with desperation, widened in panic when she saw the unconscious boy and screamed, "LET HIM GO!" She reached out with her arm and Ezra had to brace himself against the concussive blast of air that tried to knock him off his feet. Sabine just barely managed to duck behind him in time. The girl didn't seem to realize what she had just done, but the effort had tired her out, and she stopped struggling. "What did you do to him?" she asked.
Ezra and Sabine shared a look. This was not how their day was supposed to go.
"Relax, he's not hurt. Just sleeping." Ezra replied. "I'm Ezra and this is Sabine. What's your name?" He gave the girl ample time to answer, but she remained tight lipped. The silence stretched out and Ezra took the opportunity to get a better look at her. Her skin was a pale pink colour with darker mottled patterns. She had hooves instead of feet and three small horns above each eyebrow. The same went for the boy in his arms. They were theelins, one of the rarer species in the galaxy, but not the first he'd ever come across.
When it became obvious the girl wouldn't reveal her name, Sabine decided to ask a different question, "Where are your parents?"
The girl glared at her.
Sabine sighed, "Look, you can answer a few questions so we can figure out what to do with you two, or we can go call the authorities and let them sort this all out."
The girl still didn't answer.
"Come on, work with us please." Ezra said.
"Don't got none," the girl finally replied.
"Uh, who looks after you then?" Ezra asked.
"I look after myself."
Ezra knew what that meant. The girl was a street rat, which would explain the dirty and frayed clothing she and the boy wore. He took a moment to study her in this new light, and noticed that she also seemed to be a little thin, which would reinforce her statement. The boy on the other hand had some more meat on his bones. He wouldn't be surprised if she was giving him larger portions than she gave herself. They were close, probably brother and sister considering they were of the same species.
"I see." Ezra said, "How long have you been looking after yourself?"
"I don't need your pity."
Ezra smiled, "Wouldn't dream of it."
He shared a look with Sabine and a wordless conversation passed between them. If the girl was going to be so stubborn, they'd have to change the way they played this, and Sabine, dressed head to toe in Mandalorian armour, made a better bad cop than he ever would.
"What were you two doing on our ship?" she asked.
The girl glared at her again, a look that was already becoming a familiar sight on her face.
Sabine crossed her arms and put her 'I'm not amused' look on. "I need an answer." The girl looked away and refused to make eye contact with her.
Ezra sighed and moved into her line of view. "Look, we're only trying to help, but we can't do that if we don't know what's going on."
She looked on the verge of telling him, but wasn't quite there yet.
"K-4," Ezra said, "Let her down."
"That is not a good idea-"
"K-4." Ezra cut him off.
"The probability of her running is-"
"She's not going to run." He said. As long as he had her brother sleeping in his arms, the girl wasn't going to leave, but to make his point, he turned his attention to her. "Are you?" he asked.
"...No."
K-4 made a sound reminiscent of a sigh, but complied and let the girl out of the oversized hand that made her look even smaller than she actually was.
"We needed stuff." The girl grumbled once she was on the ground, "And your ship looked easy to get into."
Ezra laughed, "Yeah, I guess it does look like easy target right now. What kind of stuff do you need?"
"Just stuff."
"Like?" He pressed.
The girl sighed, "Anything that can be sold on the black market or fenced."
Ezra nodded in understanding. The girl had a handler. Someone who forced kids to steal for them in return for protection and food. If they were lucky. "Who put you up to this?"
The girl seemed to break a small bit, shying away ever so slightly. "Fa-Jin." She said. "We can't go back empty handed."
"Or what?" Sabine asked, softer than the tough persona she was displaying should allow for.
"Nothing good."
A blaster shot slammed into the Nightbrother, catching the attention of all in the room. Outside, Rachel ran as fast as she could across the hanger bay to the ship. She was holding a briefcase in one hand and cradling her left arm as carefully as she could. Another shot rang out from behind her and hit her in the leg. Rachel screamed and fell to the ground as two armoured figures quickly rushed in to finish the job.
Sabine drew her Westars and fired two quick shots at the bigger one. Both found their target, slamming into his chest plate, but his armour must have been strong enough to absorb the blow because although he stumbled, he didn't go down. Still, she managed to check their pursuit and force them both into cover least.
The two hostiles changed their target's and began firing up into the Nightbrother's hold, forcing everyone to hide behind the ship's walls with Sabine on the right laying down suppressive fire, and Ezra and everyone else on the left.
Ezra passed the sleeping child in his arms to K-4, "Keep them safe until we get back and get the engines started."
"Acknowledged." The droid said,
"Just let us go!" The girl said.
"Look, kid," Sabine shouted from across the hold. A bolt of green, ionized plasma passed just inches in front of her face, but she didn't flinch, "if you think you can carry your brother safely across a battlefield, then go ahead."
Another blaster shot flew across the length of the hold and impacted the far wall. The girl wisely decided to follow K-4's prodding up the ship's ladder.
With K-4 and the kids safely out of the way, Ezra and Sabine nodded to each other, then charged out of the doorway.
o~0~O~0~o
The girl, Aurora, paused briefly to take a look at the second floor. It was old and worn out, but tidy at least. Out of habit, she took note of anything of value. A holovision was mounted to the wall in the living room and a Mandalorian helmet sat on the kitchen counter. Although both items would make Fa-Jin very pleased with her and spare her and her brother another beating, there was no way she'd be able to smuggle either item past the owners.
The hallway of the third floor wasn't much different, if a little less homely. Her hopes of maybe scoring anything valuable lessened with each passing second. For all she knew, the rooms behind the closed doors could be in better shape, but she doubted it. She'd likely be going home empty handed… again.
K-4's finished climbing up the ladder and she found herself being guided to the ship's cockpit. K-4 sat her in the co-pilots chair where he could keep an eye on her and sat in the very colourful captain's seat. He began flipping a series of switches and levers to prime the engines.
Aurora eyed her brother. Alex was still resting comfortably in the droid's arm. Was he really just sleeping like the man, Aurora thought he said his name was Ezra, had said? All she knew was Alex was running away one second, and the next he was out cold. What had Ezra done to him?
She reached out and poked him. The boy shifted and groaned, but didn't wake up. K-4 looked down at them when Alex moved, but said nothing and continued the start-up sequence.
The sound of the battle raging outside filtered its way through the ship and into the cockpit. She remembered the lady that had been shot and crumpled to the ground just a dozen feet short of the Nightbrother's ramp. She also remembered the way Ezra and the tough lady, who's name she couldn't remember, had reacted to the sudden onslaught. Just who were these people?
Not that she should really care about them, right? She had just met them after all. Something had drawn her here though. A feeling, and she trusted her feelings. They had got her and Alex out of more situations than she could count.
At first, she had thought it had been the ship itself the feeling had been calling her toward. A promise of something big to appease Fa-Jin. But instead of reward, they had been caught by K-4. Then Ezra had come back and that feeling had returned. That was why she had eventually talked with Ezra, not because of the good cop bad cop routine the two had going on. Any normal sentient would have taken them straight to the cops or smacked them around a bit. Ezra and the tough lady had simply started asking questions. These people, though battle hardened, were good people. She knew the second she laid her eyes on them, they wouldn't hurt her. Their moral code wouldn't allow for it.
"Are they going to be ok?" She found herself asking.
K-4 turned to look at her. "Jedi and Mandalorians are renowned for their skills in battle. Ezra and Sabine will be fine."
The transpara-steel windows shook in their frames as something exploded somewhere behind them.
"They will probably be fine." K-4 amended.
Aurora gave a slight nod of her head, not reassured in the least bit. She strained forward in her seat to try and see what little of the fight she could, but the angle was all wrong. She couldn't see anything from here.
o~0~O~0~o
Ezra and Sabine flew down the Nightbrother's ramp as one.
Ezra's blade was up and moving in a blur of green light to deflect any incoming shots that came close to him. Sabine took cover behind him and started shooting between Ezra's strikes in a more complicated iteration of the sword and shield technique they'd come up with.
They quickly ate up the distance between the ship and Rachel and soon had her covered. Sabine stooped down low to grab Rachel and help her up. She began gently leading the injured woman back to the ship while firing the occasional shot back at their opponents.
Ezra, seeing Sabine had Rachel taken care of, decided to take the offensive and rushed the pair, intending to disarm them.
The zabrak apparently decided engaging a Jedi in close proximity wasn't the smartest decision ever made and she popped up and threw a thermal detonator at him. He only had just enough warning to throw up a shield to spare himself the worst of the explosion, but he was still thrown back a couple dozen feet and the wind was knocked out of his lungs. He hit the ground hard and rolled a couple times before coming to a stop near the Nightbrother's ramp.
"Ezra!" He heard Sabine yell from inside the Nightbrother's hold. She jumped down and helped him back to his feet as the Nightbrother's engines came to life. He leaned on her shoulder and staggered up the ship's ramp.
"K-4! Get us out of here!" Sabine yelled into her comm unit.
The Nightbrother lifted off the ground and out of the hanger.
o~0~O~0~o
Neelin watched the Nightbrother lift up into the sky and fly away. Rachel was onboard and now had an excuse to stay. Mission success.
She was about to turn and leave when some sort of small ship whizzed by overhead, just barely above the roof of the hanger. The sound of its engines were deafening. She watched as it slowly gained altitude and fell into position behind the Nightbrother before opening fire.
Kriff. Who besides them knew that they were even here…
Fa-Jin! This was his territory. That Sleemo! She'd paid the Dug off to be here and keep him out of her business. This was treachery, plain and simple.
She would comm Davos in a little bit to inform him of Fa-Jin's betrayal. This would not stand! But right now, she and her partner needed to disappear before the authorities showed up.
(A/N) I was expecting the Malastare arc to be one chapter long, and after writing the second chapter, I now know it will be three