(A/N)- This may be slightly less proofread than normal, my apologies. I was scrambling to finish.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Still nope. Darn.
Reunited
Ezra stumbled out into the open air and stopped to take a moment to pause and breathe.
The biting chill nipping at his face had never felt so good. He took a deep inhale, feeling it move through him. His body still reverberated with adrenaline, a tingling sensation loud in his ears, vibrating through his bones.
The cold sharpened the soreness he felt. Ezra bent at the middle a moment, hands on his thighs, recovering.
The hardest part had been crossing the gap between the broken pillars. Ezra had wound up scrambling down first, almost to the gurgling water, hopping from broken piece to broken piece before painstakingly climbing up the first intact pillar, a feat that his side was still hating him for.
Ezra exhaled and straightened back up. No time to rest. He was getting off this iceball today.
He took a few long steps away from the entrance to the caves, looking back and up, straining to see. He thought he could glimpse the folded wingtips of the gauntlet poking out behind the ridge. Ezra considered it hesitantly. After Maul had just let him go it seemed almost rude to repay him by stealing his ship.
Almost.
Ezra's feet had only taken two steps towards the Mandalorian craft when a blazing flare came to his senses through the Force, whipping his head back the other direction.
His breath caught at the familiarity, at once warm and recognizable.
Kanan. Kanan was here.
Ezra's heart almost leapt but the flare was tinged with something else. A foreboding. A prickling sense of... danger.
A bit worried now, Ezra turned around, facing towards the wide flat fields, straining after the feeling. The Force was unhelpfully vague, only calling him more insistently in that direction.
With a quick glance back and forth, between the gauntlet and the plain, Ezra surrendered to its will, and let his feet start to carry him away from the mountains and out into the wilds. Fresh snow squashed under his boots with a soft squeaking.
The wind picked up, nipping at him with a prickly chill.
Ezra's steps slowed momentarily, his arms coming around himself as he bit his lip at the vast distance before him. He really didn't want to have to walk all the way...
Considering, Ezra took a deep breath, closing his eyes and reaching out, melding into the Force around him.
After a few moments, a soft feline puffing could be heard, and soft footfalls padded their way to him.
Ezra opened his eyes, smiling at the smaller gray one of the creatures he had summoned before. It stood there before him, blinking curiously, its head tilted. The gash in its side from Maul's lightsaber had nearly healed up, but still looked ugly and red under its short-cropped fur.
"Hey girl," he called soothingly, reaching out a hand to touch the bony, cartilaged nose and tufted forehead. "Sorry you got hurt on my account."
The feline's throat rumbled deeply, a low bass purr, as it leaned into the gesture, affectionately.
"Do you think you can give me a ride?" Ezra asked softly, impressing the request through the connection as well, gently, touching the creature's mind with calm serenity.
The feline swiveled, crouching sideways, nudging at his legs with its shoulder. Ezra carefully swung a foot over its back, settling himself low across the creature's shoulders, in-between its trailing sensory tendrils.
The creature waited until he was settled, his fingers gripping tight handfuls of its short gray-white fur, and then it took off at a swift lope, bounding across the snow-covered field.
He ducked into the creature's back, hanging on as cold wind whipped over his head.
-SWR-
"Anything?"
Sabine shook her head, still doubled over her receiver in the co-pilot's chair. "Plenty of Imperial chatter on the fringes but nothing from the beacon." She finally sat back in defeat. "Maul's probably destroyed it."
Hera's hands tightened on the steering yoke. If Maul had already gotten to Ezra...
She shifted in her seat, her shoulder bumping up against Kanan's hand on the back of her chair, and she tried to relax, glancing back at him. His other hand was extended softly, reaching out, as if searching. He seemed to be in meditation.
He spoke up, sensing her concerns. "Ezra's here," he said, his voice tinged with relief. "He hasn't left the planet."
Suddenly he frowned, distracted. Hera turned a bit in her seat, her mouth opening to ask—
Kanan suddenly jerked back in alarm.
"Hera, look out!" he shouted in warning.
The next second the onboard sensors flagged an incoming ship. Hera reacted on instinct, yanking the steering column hard to the left.
Sabine gasped and latched onto whatever she could to keep from losing her seat, and somewhere in the galley she heard a dismayed and indignant yelp from the Iron Squadron kids, Kallus, and Zeb.
A heartbeat later the roar of an Imperial TIE fighter accompanied the stinging blasts of the laser volley that streaked just shy of their starboard.
"Sithspit!" Hera cursed. "Chopper, plug in and try to remote-jam that thing's transmissions; if it sounds an alert we'll have a whole squadron on our backs!"
"WHOP?" Chopper protested. "WUB WUBBA WUB—?"
"Let me and Sabine off," Kanan interrupted him, speaking to Hera. "We'll find Ezra. You deal with the TIE." He looked down towards where Chopper's blorts were coming from and gave the droid a little nudge with his toe. "Do as she says."
Chopper saluted with a snappy, "WHOMP." and rolled over to plug into the console.
Springing from her seat, Sabine grabbed onto Kanan's wrist, helping him around and out into the hallway. Kanan left her at his door, opening it soundlessly and rummaging around in his room for his lightsaber, while Sabine continued on to her own room, loading up a satchel full of explosives and slinging it across her back, grabbing the darksaber and clipping it to her belt as well.
The galley door hissed open and a concerned Kallus stepped out, the kids trailing behind him.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Imperial TIE," Sabine explained breathlessly, emerging from her room while awkwardly struggling to attach her jetpack. Eventually she was forced to slide the satchel strap off first, quickly rearranging herself as she joined Kanan back in the cockpit. "Hera's gonna drop us off to go look for Ezra while she handles it."
"We'll go too!" Mart volunteered, brushing past Kallus's right while Gooti and Jonner dodged left around him.
Kallus made an ineffectual and half-hearted grab for them before watching them crowd Sabine and Kanan at the ladder down to the cargo hold.
"Hey!" Zeb yelled from the open living area door, leaning heavily on the frame, his side half-bandaged. "Where are you kids going? You haven't finished patching me up!"
-SWR-
A frigid blast of cold and snow eddies blew into the cargo hold as the ramp lowered, Kanan running down as soon as he could hear the struts locking.
Kanan leapt, his shins rattling as he landed. Then Sabine hopped down, her feet sinking into the snow next to him, and heavy thumps followed after her as Iron Squadron followed.
The Ghost lifted off, the ramp already retracting behind them, not waiting for them, already lifting back up in pursuit of the TIE fighter.
The five of them rushed into the white void.
-SWR-
"Kallus, get down in the nose gun!" Hera shouted down the hallway.
Kallus obeyed quickly, settling into the worn leathery seat and gripping the handles.
"This feels familiar," he muttered under his breath.
"Ya better get used to it," came Zeb's voice over the comms.
Kallus squinted, peering out the front window through the snow for signs of the TIE. "What are you doing up in the turret?!" he cried. "You shouldn't be straining your injury!"
"I'LL BE FINE, STOP TALKING AND BLAST THAT TIE!" Zeb shouted back.
"You are all going to give me a premature heart-attack!" Kallus complained as he opened up with the nose gun, sending fiery blaster bolts after the fleeting form of the TIE.
-SWR-
The Ghost banked sharply, rising up in pursuit of the small metal Imperial vehicle now desperately climbing away from it.
-SWR-
The nose gun's shots flew true, and with a bright orange burst the TIE fighter exploded into flame.
Hera flew through the sizzling pieces, bringing her ship up and around. She leveled out, trying to see what she could from their high altitude.
Artificial lines and patterns dotted the gully below them. It looked like an impressive Imperial setup. A landing pad, refueling station, drilling facility and refinery. Hera could only think of one material on the planet worth anything to the Empire and her mouth pursed into a frown.
Nothing good could come from their harvesting kyber.
Spotting several moving dots lifting from the landing pad and rising towards them, she called in warning over the comms.
"We've got incoming!"
Zeb's growl sounded in her radio. "I thought Chopper jammed its transmissions!"
Chopper gave an indignant and profane string of binary.
"He did, but, not quickly enough," Hera translated, irritation coming through her voice. "Aaaaand now there are more of them."
"Well that's just... fantastic!" Kallus pronounced in exasperation.
"Don't panic yet, I know a few tricks," Hera growed, throttling forward to meet their charge.
They would find their lost Spectre. In that, she had faith. She just needed to stall the Empire's forces and keep their attention off the others on the ground until they could.
Hurry Kanan, she begged inside her head, as she dove into the blazing dogfight.
-SWR-
There was a bustle in the control tower like nothing the mining facility had ever seen. An operator ran up to the officer in charge, breathless.
"Pilots identified the unknown craft, sir," he reported. "It's a VCX-100 light freighter. Markings match those of the Rebel vessel known as the Ghost."
"The Ghost?!" the officer repeated. He leaned down over the nearest sensor station, watching the blips of the TIE fighters ping the strange bogey. "There's an all-sectors alert out for that ship, ordered by Grand Admiral Thrawn himself." He jabbed a finger towards another station. "Send a transmission out to the nearest sector patrol, tell them we have Rebel insurgents and require backup immediately!"
The technician nodded. "At once sir!" he promised.
-SWR-
Sabine tugged at Kanan's sleeve to signal him to hunker down, glancing back and making hand motions to tell Mart and the others the same.
He and Gooti and Jonner quickly obeyed, crouching low and creeping up next to her as she stretched herself flat along the edge of the ridge.
She peeked down into the vale.
Bright strobes lit up the landing pad, which flurried with activity as mechanics rushed to fuel and check fighters, which launched one by one, rising up slowly into the sky and streaking off in the same direction; over their heads and behind them. The garrison didn't have a very large outfit—maybe twenty fighters all told—but they were all in use now, the only ships left on the pad the temporarily-grounded cargo haulers. The mining drills continued working, their shrill buzz grinding with vibrations that unsettled her teeth inside her skull.
Kanan carefully pulled out his comlink, switching it on soundlessly.
"Hera, we're at an Imperial garrison," he whispered. "Sounds like they're pretty excited down there."
"Yeah I noticed," Hera quipped back, the roar of the Ghost's engines sounding in the background. "They're trying to bring that excitement up here to me."
Sabine leaned her head back over her shoulder, peering through the gray clouds. She could only faintly catch flashing glimpses of silver off the hull and tiny green and red bolts.
"Where are you?" Kanan asked, also craning his head and straining his ears.
"In cloud cover for now," Hera said. "I'll try to draw them towards the mountains and away from the facility."
"All right," Kanan acknowledged. "Be safe."
"You too."
Sabine heard the unspoken admonition. Find Ezra. She gripped her hands, nails scraping against her palms, determination in her heart.
She wasn't leaving this planet until they had.
She felt Kanan leaning in closer.
"Talk to me Sabine," he said, one hand on the back of her arm. "What do you see?"
Sabine squinted down at the facility. "Entirely too much Imperial gray for my taste." Mart nudged her from the other side and she angled backwards, gratefully taking the offered macrobinoculars. She brought them up to her eyes, taking a closer look through them. "Sentries on the landing pad..." She glanced up at the gray-tinted buildings. "And the command center. Turrets on the roof, looks like maybe one troop transport floating behind that cargo hauler." She sucked in a breath through her teeth. "And they are loading up a lot of kyber."
"I know," Kanan confirmed. "I can hear it."
"Isn't kyber the stuff they put in lightsabers?" Mart asked, looking through the macrobinoculars himself as Sabine handed them back to him.
"It is." Kanan had an oddly distracted look on his face. "We should be on the other side," he said absently.
Sabine peered aside at him at the cryptic remark, but in typical Jedi fashion, he didn't elaborate.
"It'll be hard going around all that without getting spotted," Gooti pointed out, leaning up a bit on her arms, lips pursed. She scanned across the vale with her eyes. "Best bet's probably going to be going through the refinery," she said, pointing.
Sabine agreed with a nod.
"Let's move," she urged, tugging at Kanan's arm.
The group of them slowly rose, creeping low, and picked their way along the ridge.
-SWR-
"Captain Payla!"
The woman turned sharply from her conversation with an annoyed look at her underling.
"This had better be important," she grumbled.
The lieutenant clipped to attention, shoes scuffing the bridge floor with a squeak. "We've picked up a transmission from Mining Outpost GG57 in Quadrant 10, ma'am. They claim to have spotted a Rebel ship—the Ghost, formerly of Phoenix Squadron."
The captain's amber eyes lit, and her idle conversation was forgotten entirely. She stabbed the air as she ordered, "Reply back to them at once, tell them we are on our way and they are not to let that ship escape!"
He scurried at once to comply and a palpable excitement pricked up on the bridge as technicians whispered furstively, scrambling to their stations.
"And beam a message out to Imperial High Command!" the captain snapped in afterthought, taking up her place on the bridge.
Several "Yes ma'am"s rang out as the Imperial light cruiser lumbered to life, sublights thrumming up as it diverted course from its patrol route, turning to head into hyperspace.
-SWR-
Ezra nearly collapsed off his mount as the creature finally padded to a stop. Groaning, he slid from its back, shaky legs wobbling unsteadily underneath him as he found his balance. His hand crept back to his side, wincing with a drawn-out hiss through his teeth. The bleeding had slowed, he thought, but a slow stabbing ache had been emanating persistently from his injury, aggravated by the rough unsteady ride, the jolt of the ground rattling up through the creature's feet. It hurt when he inhaled too deeply and he was beginning to worry that his rib was cracked.
He shook his head, straightening. His free hand patted the feline, feeling its warm coarse fur against his palm. "Thank you," he whispered to it, reaching out one last impression to its animal mind.
Go in peace.
The creature lazily loped around, padding back through the snow and heading off towards the mountains.
Ezra straightened, shivering slightly in the open air. The Force was still calling him further south and Ezra knew exactly what lay over the next rise, which was why he'd stopped the creature before they reached it.
He hung back for as long as he could stand, before the insistent tug from the Force pulled at his feet, giving him the will to climb the last few steps.
As he peeked over the edge of the rise, he steeled his mind.
There seemed to be more Stormtroopers than last time, more than was probably normal, actually, all very anxious, running this way and that on the landing pad. The TIE fighters were all gone, and he didn't see any shuttles, just a couple heavily guarded cargo haulers.
His brain prickled with faint static at the familiar cacophony of Imperial noise, but there was also a certainty pulsing in his skull, a conviction that his path home lay ahead of him.
Ezra bit his lip, hesitating, reluctant
Are you sure? he asked the Force.
His feeling of certainty didn't waver. And Kanan's warm presence was close, so close now he felt like he could reach out and touch it.
With a heavy exhale, Ezra pressed forward, prying his feet from the snow drifts, descending into the vale like a quiet shadow.
-SWR-
It was emptier inside the facility than he expected it to be. Everyone must've been up in the command center or out on the pad. It was easy enough to avoid the occasional pair of Stormtroopers patrolling the halls.
Ezra's mind was agitated, his body on painful edge as he snuck through the facility. He wasn't sure what he was looking for. Kanan, maybe—the man's signature in the Force was growing stronger by the minute. He thought about calling out to him, but the anxious buzz inside his head made it hard to focus.
He stopped and shook himself, willing away the trickling adrenaline, trying to tell his heart to calm.
I'm not on the Chimaera, he reminded himself. I'm not there. I'm going to find Kanan. I'm going home.
A couple slow inhales steadied him for a moment. He was okay. He held in a breath and crept along the wall, listening intently, passing his hand along the cold surface.
The noise of the drills was a lot louder down here, the squeal of them mashing against Ezra's ears like ringing hammer blows, tingling through his jaw uncomfortably. Rock screeched against metal, a horribly electric sound and for just a moment Ezra's thoughts started to drift...
He stopped again, squeezing his eyes closed, tensing and waiting it out. Breathe in slowly. Exhale. Don't think about what it sounded like. It was a drill. It wasn't that table. He was okay.
He focused on the steady clatter-thump of rotating wheels under the shrill whine. The kyber was humming warmly underneath all the noise. There was a frantic sort of edge to their song. It sounded almost like a warning.
Ezra paused at a fork in the hallway, confused for a moment which way to go. Kanan seemed no nearer than before.
After a few moments of indecision he just picked a direction.
He was only a few steps down the hallway when he glimpsed Stormtrooper helmets coming around the next junction.
Cursing inside his head Ezra flailed back, nearly skidding and sliding on his feet in his rush to about-face and turn around, lunge back behind the corner.
Not quickly enough.
"Hey! Who's there?" came the sharp demand.
Ezra's breath tightened in his throat and he didn't stop running, increasing his speed as he heard the thumping sound of pursuing boots behind him.
Less okay,he thought, scrambling down a service ladder into what looked like a generator room.
He could hear the Stormtroopers on his tracks, armor clanking.
"Comm Ops, we have an intruder on Level Five. Possible Rebel saboteur," someone was reporting.
The generators roared to his left, but not loud enough to hide the clanking of the metal scaffolding under Ezra's frantic feet.
"There he is!" someone shouted.
Blaster shots rang out from behind him.
It was a practiced instinct so automatic he was moving before he could stop himself, lightsaber flashing into his hand, igniting with a surge of green as he whirled around and expertly batted away the two deadly red bolts, deflecting them harmlessly into the walls.
A surge of panic and dread immediately filled his stomach, freezing him momentarily in horror.
"Jedi!" came the screech of recognition from several voices, and now troopers were climbing down after him, shooting with vigor now.
Less okay! screamed inside Ezra's head as he turned to run from the room, frantic echoes following behind him.
-SWR-
Gooti and Jonner were whispering to themselves as they studied the controls to the whirling, grinding refinery mechanisms, trying to discern which lever would power the machinery off. There were definitely far less people here, but the gears and ramps and pounding hammers themselves made picking their way through treacherous. Sabine only caught snatches of their conversation under the cacophonic noise.
"—doesn't seem right to just let this place keep—" Gooti was saying.
Mart leaned in close over her shoulder, his own murmurs covering her own. "—reveal ourselves either way, we might as well—"
Sabine glanced up from the interface in her gauntlet. Kanan was standing a ways apart from them, distracted, staring off into the smoke billowing up from the belching engines.
Suddenly he took off at a run.
Alarmed, Sabine jerked up from her crouch.
"Kanan!" she hissed through her teeth, but the man had already disappeared, Jedi reflexes finding him a path of quick steps and Force-assisted leaps through the machinery.
Sabine bit her lip, staring after the place he'd vanished worriedly.
-SWR-
It was hard to stem the echoes pounding at his ears, hard to stop the stream of panicked thoughts rushing through his mind. Ezra gulped, backing towards the wall where they'd cornered him, three troopers, closing in. They'd cut him off just short of what sounded—from the open-air feel of faint wind blowing through—like a concourse, more footsteps tapping around the corners and from other hallways.
He kept his blade in guard position, nervously stepping back as the three troopers moved to surround him, blasters raised.
"Nowhere to run, kid," growled one of them.
Ezra fought back against a swell of memories that threatened to press on him. Hands latched on his arms, burning, cackling electricity, Pryce mashing his chin with her sharp fingernails as she gripped his jaw—
No, he told himself, forcing himself free of the deluge. No. I can do this. Break the problem down.
His lightsaber trembled slightly as he collected himself, focusing only on the next breath, the next heartbeat, the next second.
From around the corner in the concourse, another patrol alerted to something, yelling in alarm, blaster shots ringing out.
And being met with the sound of another lightsaber.
The trooper nearest him started back ever so slightly in bewilderment and that was the split-second Ezra needed to rush in and slam his body into the man's diaphragm, knocking him over.
A quick slice through the barrel of the next nearest blaster pointed at him. A hard Force push sending the other two slamming into the wall. And then Ezra barreled down the hallway and whipped around into the concourse—
—to stop dead as he saw Kanan pulling his lightsaber from the last trooper.
-SWR-
The clunk of armor against the floor as his adversary dropped was almost drowned out by the blaring vibrance in the Force.
Kanan tightened up with a soft gasp, turning towards the presence.
His sightless eyes strained behind the mask. The warmth felt so much like him, had to be him, couldn't be some kind of cruel trick like Luminara in the Spire prison, it was too clear and too strong and—
He swallowed carefully, emotion lodged in his throat.
"Ezra?" he called.
A soft breath. The gentle hum of a lowering lightsaber.
"K... Kanan?" a voice called back, timidly.
Ezra's voice.
The dam broke and their Force Bond rang and Kanan lurched forward with a soft cry.
-SWR-
Ezra took two steps and met the man's embrace, Kanan's arms gripping around him tightly and Ezra following suit, clutching handfuls of the back of Kanan's shirt, burying his face in his chest.
"Oh stars!" Kanan cried, his voice shot through with sheer relief, the whole air around them ringing with it. "Ezra."
"Kanan..." Ezra strained. He hiccuped, a sob choking up halfway through his chest as his eyes squeezed closed, blurring as he pressed his nose into Kanan's front. "Are—are you—?"
"It's me, Ezra," Kanan assured him, squeezing the boy with a firm strength. "I'm right here, I promise. It's really me."
Ezra's breath shuddered, tears dripping from his eyes and down his cheeks. All the terror, the static tingles, the lingering panic inside him seemed to melt away, softened into warmth as Kanan held him. He trembled, shaking all over as it sunk in that this was real. It was really happening. A hand stroked gently though his hair and Kanan's beard tickled against his forehead and he was safe—he was safe—Kanan was here holding him and everything was okay.
They lingered in the hug, the bond between them pulsing with reassurance and comfort on both sides. Ezra's fingers curled into the fabric of Kanan's shirt and clung tight, his shuddering breaths slowly steadying and calming into softness.
The embrace ended all too soon, Kanan pulling back slightly in order to turn off his saber and hang it from his belt. Both hands returned to Ezra's shoulders, running down his arms, brushing the sides of his head, checking him.
"Are you hurt?" he asked anxiously. His fingers found the peeling edges of the bandages on Ezra's forehead, lingering there.
Ezra stepped back, his saber arm dropping, reaching up with his free hand and wiping both his eyes in turn. "Yeah..." he replied, voice tight. In so many more ways than one. He took a shaky inhale. "But it can wait until we're back on the Ghost," he determined.
Kanan's trailing hands found the gash on Ezra's side and stopped. "Are you bleeding?" he asked, horror dropping a few notes into his tone.
"I was, but—"
Kanan's hands tightened on Ezra's arms protectively. "Where's Maul?" he demanded, almost growling. "Did he do this?" He looked off behind Ezra as if he could stalk over to the man himself and give him a beating. "I'm gonna—"
Ezra grabbed at him in alarm when it looked like he was going to stomp off to confront him. "Kanan—Kanan, it's okay!" he assured him quickly. "He's not here. He..." Ezra paused. "...he let me go."
Kanan's head whipped down, incredulous. "He what?" he said in disbelief.
Ezra scratched his free hand behind his head. "Well... I kind of had to beat him in a lightsaber duel first."
The man leaned back at that, staring—or seeming to stare—at Ezra, looking both shocked and impressed. "You... beat him in...?" he repeated slowly.
He was silent a moment, processing.
He shook his head, pulling himself to the present.
"Well, we'll have to talk about it later," he said. His voice turned soft, expression warm. "Let's just get you out of here," he continued.
Ezra nodded, watching Kanan pull out his comlink and switch it on.
"Spectre 1 to Ghost," he reported. He turned his head back towards Ezra, face tingling with a smile. "I found him."
"Ezra?! Is he okay?" came the immediate frantic question. "Is he hurt?"
Ezra blinked back a fresh round of relieved tears at Hera's voice. "Hera..." he responded. "I'm okay, I'm..." He swallowed down the emotion in his throat. "...ready to go home."
He could hear her smile as she said, "All right. Let me get these TIEs off my back and I'll be right there."
"We're on our way up," confirmed Kanan. He switched off the comlink and pocketed it again. The lightsaber flipped back into his hands and ignited with a casual hiss! "Let's go, kid," he urged, smiling.
Ezra grinned and raised his lightsaber as he followed Kanan out the concourse.
-SWR-
They fought their way up and out onto the landing pad. The troopers grew thicker as they went, coming at them from both sides now, flanking them. Ezra worried for a moment that they might get pinned down outside the gates, but Kanan ricocheted a blaster shot off his saber and into a cargo crate full of kyber crystals.
Their ringing hum became audible, shrill and pitching higher. Stormtroopers immediately whipped heads around, recognized the sound, and scattered, tripping over themselves in their haste to get away and clearing a gap that Kanan darted them through, his hand clasped tight to Ezra's wrist, before the crate exploded, sending splinters everywhere.
They ducked behind a boarding ladder for a moment, and Ezra's chest heaved, his side burning painfully. He was starting to feel a little light-headed, the ringing in his ears continuing long after the kyber had shattered.
Kanan tapped him worriedly. "You okay?" he asked.
Ezra sucked in a breath, his side panging sharply at the motion and his face twisting. "I'm good," he insisted, heaving himself up.
Just have to hold out... a little longer... he thought, slightly delirious.
Stormtroopers set upon them again, charging forward. Kanan pushed Ezra on ahead of him, urging him forward, shielding his back as he blocked rapidfire volleys from the multiplying blasters.
Ezra glanced up the slope they still had to climb to get out of the vale, feeling a bit of vertigo. Determinedly, he holstered his saber, grabbed handholds, and began to ascend.
Blaster shots nicked the rock next to him and he flinched. He couldn't turn to help Kanan block, he was exposed on the slope and he could hear the turrets on the rooftop ratcheting up, swiveling towards them.
Then suddenly there was a whirling whoosh of air as a projectile flew, and a rending of metal as something exploded apart.
BLAM!
Ezra strained his neck, craning around, glimpsing a flying figure buzzing the turrets, going methodically from gun to gun and taking them out, and the troopers manning them along with them.
He laughed in relief and elation, eyes watering at the graceful form. He had never been so happy to see Sabine.
Kanan was next to him now, yanking at his shoulder, and Ezra had to turn and concentrate on climbing for a few moments, his side screaming at him for every move.
He was panting heavily when they finally made it to the top, unable to get off his knees until Kanan slipped a hand under his arm, pulling him up.
"Almost there," came the whispered promise.
Ezra clung to that thought as his shaky legs steadied under him.
The whine of speeders battered his ears now, a pair of them soaring up over the ridge, laying on a pursuit. Kanan tightened his grip on Ezra's arm, trying to pull him along faster, Ezra's lungs tightening up and holding his breath to keep himself from shrieking at the jostling pain in his side.
The speeders were closing in. Ezra could practially feel their exhaust heat behind him.
But then underneath their whine there was a bass roar of familiar engines.
Ezra's head jerked up as he felt the Force tingle, heart leaping to see the Ghost swooping down.
Three shots and the first speeder blew apart. Four more and the second was destroyed, its pilot flying off with a yell.
The Ghost roared as it passed low over their heads, turning around and slowing to land.
Another blast sounded behind them from the facility—Ezra glanced back to see smoke pluming from the engine of a cargo hauler—and then Sabine was zipping through the smoke and passing above them as well, turning in a sharp circle and dropping rapidly.
She landed moments before the Ghost did, feet sinking into the snow.
As soon as her balance was steady she was hurling herself forward, face pinched with emotion. Behind her the Ghost's ramp lowered, Kallus trotting out and quickly down it, sidearm brandished for threats.
The relief he felt at seeing them was dizzying, and Ezra had to straighten his spine to keep from falling over.
Sabine ran straight for him.
"Ezra!" she cried, voice heartwrenching.
Ezra shoved off Kanan and stumbled forward as Sabine flung her arms around him and they crashed into a desperate embrace.
They held on so tightly it hurt, but Ezra didn't care, Sabine's warm, fragrant, paint-tinged scent was melting into him, taking his mind back to soundless nights with her breath and her heartbeat by his side, soothing away his nighttime anxieties. She was shaking, gasping, he was pretty sure both of them were crying, their breaths shuddering against each other as they hugged.
"I'm so, so sorry!" she was choking out, her voice muffled against his neck. "It was all my fault!" Her voice quavered, clogging around her words. "I said I'd protect you and I didn't even—"
"Don't say that!" he interrupted sharply, squeezing her tighter, eyes pinched closed. "Sabine... I'm so glad you're here," he breathed in a thin whisper.
That set off another round of sobbing breaths, and Sabine pressed into him like he would vanish if she ever let go.
His hand drifted up behind her head, tangling in her hair, and he pulled his face up as Kallus reached them, wearing a worried expression.
"Where are the ensigns?" he asked, glancing anxiously back towards the facility.
Sabine swallowed, pulling a bit away from Ezra and composing herself enough to answer. "They're coming," she assured the ex-ISB agent. "Said they had something to do first."
"What could they possibly—" he started to ask, but then an explosion, louder and more concussive than ever, blasted across the vale, fire searing up from the buildings behind them.
The whole group startled, stumbling from the aftershock, and a couple Stormtroopers cresting the ridge flailed and shrieked as they were blown away.
Plumes of smoke billowed high, belching into the atmosphere.
"Karabast," came a muttered voice from the Ghost's ramp. Ezra uncovered his head to see the Lasat leaning against the closest strut, hand pressed to a bandaged side. He marveled at the conflagration rising over the ridge. "That's them all right," he said, nodding sagely.
The three of them were crawling over the tip of the slope now, breathless and grinning. Mart carried Sabine's now-empty satchel of explosives.
They ran for the Ghost, calling Ezra's name with excitement as they came within range.
"Gooti? Jonner?" Ezra said, bewildered. He couldn't believe it. "Mart?"
He grunted loudly as all three of them captured him in a tackling hug, staggering back breathlessly.
"Oh my gosh we were so worried!" Gooti trilled.
"You look like hell, buddy," Jonner commented, pulling back first. "But it's really good to see you," he added, genuinely.
"You too," Ezra marveled, shaking his head. "You all came for me?" he asked.
Mart nodded once, seriously. "You would have done the same for any of us," he said, conviction burning in his eyes.
Kallus was still gawping between the fire on the garrison roof and his charges. "What—but—how did—what in—what did—what was—" he sputtered, gesticulating helplessly.
"Oh." Mart glanced back at the conflagration and then turned forward again, shrugging. "We blew up the refinery," he said.
Kallus pressed a hand over his eye, closing both of them tightly.
"Of course you did," came his strained acceptance.
"We figured we couldn't let the Empire keep strip-mining the kyber so we overloaded the main circuit breaker for the cooling pumps and planted a few charges in the gearboxes," Gooti explained.
Kallus had his head pillowed in both hands now, leaning forward.
"Good work Ensigns, I'll write you a commendation when we get back," he muffled through his fingers.
Zeb was laughing from the ramp. "They'll be cleaning that up for months!" he crowed.
His guffaws cut out as blaster bolts pinged past his head, singing his delicate ears. More Stormtroopers had ascended the ridge and were closing in on foot, shooting as they came.
"We'll have to finish this reunion later," Kanan determined, feeling out for whatever shoulders he could find and urging the youths they belonged to to get moving.
Zeb unslung the bo rifle from his back, planting his feet and laying down cover fire. "Get inside, everyone!" he barked.
They didn't need to be told twice. Iron Squadron scrambled across the distance and up the ramp quickly. Kanan guarded their backs with his saber, deflecting shots as they peppered the fleeing forms of the Rebels.
Ezra tried to hurry along, but felt a sudden exhaustion dragging down his steps.
Sabine slowed in concern, looking over at him. "You okay?" she asked.
His head was swimming. Now that he was here, so close to finally being able to go home, his energy seemed to be running thin, and he suddenly realized how tired he was.
"A-actually..." he stammered, feeling his head spin and the snow covered plains warp around his vision, "I—I might need—"
His knees buckled. Sabine gasped and caught him before he collapsed, her arms coming up underneath his, holding him steady.
"Easy," she whispered. "I've got you. It's okay."
He just murmured in response, leaning on her heavily as she walked them across the short distance to the ramp and helped him up.
-SWR-
"What do you mean there are no TIEs left?!" the officer screeched.
His junior officer's face pinched with discomfort. "The Ghost destroyed them all. We have none left to pursue them," he repeated as calmly as he could.
The officer's face was red-hot, fuming and steaming as he struggled to come up with a strategy. "Well... shoot them or something!" he said. "We can't let them escape!"
Another junior approached nervously, expression clearly reluctant. "Uh, sir?" she called, timidly. "Technicians in the refinery are reporting that the uh..." She coughed. "...the kyber seems to be absorbing the energy of the fireblasts and um..."
She fidgeted on her feet.
"...starting to charge," she finished.
The officer blanched, glancing back towards the raging fire he could see from the control room.
"Oh hell..." he said in a small voice.
-SWR-
The Ghost shuddered from a hit from the troop transport's cannons, jostling the occupants as it lifted. Sabine helped a weakening Ezra down the central hallway, awkwardly smacking her hand on the control button to open the door to his and Zeb's room.
"Ya can take my bunk for now," the Lasat said as he shouldered past, making his way towards the top turret again. A genuinely soft look was turned on the boy. "Rest up, Ezra," he said. "You've been through a lot, I reckon."
He only mumbled an incoherent agreement, already beginning to sag as Sabine brought him across the room and to the lower bunk. She helped him into it, pulling her knees up onto the bed and laying his head across her lap, holding his shoulders softly.
"It's okay, Ezra," she told him, whispering tenderly. "Just sleep. I'll be right here," she promised.
He settled quietly against her, his breaths growing longer and deeper as he lost awareness, exhaustion overtaking him.
Sabine held his head, as he fell asleep in her lap. She stroked her hands through his hair and down his cheek tenderly, watching him breathe, tingling with the knowledge that he was here, he was safe, he was in her arms and they were going home.
Her hands stopped and a vague annoyance crept into her head as she sensed, rather than saw, Kallus behind her, staring at her back.
The ex-ISB agent had pursed lips and a severe frown on his face. Irritation crept through Sabine, and a rising irrational hostility.
Kallus watched her cradle Ezra for a long, uncomfortable moment. Then—
"Are you sure you don't have feelings for him?" he asked.
Her hands tightened around Ezra's head and she glared at the wall. "Bugger off Kallus, or the next time I catch you asleep," she threatened flatly, "I'm painting your face green."
He held up his hands and backed off, leaving them alone and walking away.
-SWR-
Hera gunned the throttle, pulling more power from the sublights to rocket them away from the facility. The weak shots from the troop transport faded, Kanan's hand on her shoulder as they poured on speed.
The ship rattled from a last shockwave, blowing through the hold and the cockpit as the refinery disappeared into flames, but they were soon too high up for the blast to reach them.
The air turned white, and then clear, and then exploded into black as they left Ilum's gravity.
Proximity sensors screeched out a warning, sounding the arrival of a large ship, but the hyperdrive was already engaged and stars were streaking out the window and they were pulling away, pulling away—
Gone.
-SWR-
No sooner had they emerged from hyperspace than a flashing blue bolt seared past their port window, sending shockwaves crashing into their bridge.
Sensors trilled in alarm and sparked popped from a damaged console. The captain uncovered her head, coming out of her flinch.
"What was that?!" she cried.
Her second-in-command checked over the data readings and the captured record of the fleeing ship's transponder. "I... think that was the Ghost, ma'am," he reported with a thin voice.
Captain Payla blanched, her face draining of all its color as she tilted upright. She glanced back towards the back of the ship, as if she could see the Rebel vessel escaping even through the durasteel and metal.
"Ohhhhhh-ho the Grand Admiral's not going to be happy," she said, voice wavering, eyes crinkled in distress.
-SWR-
She was right. He wasn't.
Pryce glanced nervously at the Grand Admiral as he sat and listened to Captain Payla's report with an ever-increasing frown. The hapless sector patrol captain babbled helplessly as she explained the damage to the mining outpost, the retrieval of Ezra Bridger from his apparent captivity, and how her light cruiser had arrived only just in time to watch the Rebel vessel escape. She apologized profusely several times throughout her rambling, and it was only the tightened knuckles Pryce could see clenched against the desk table that betrayed Thrawn's absolute fury with the situation.
She watched the Grand Admiral take a careful breath, seemingly composed as he queried, "And I suppose you were also unable to locate Bridger's captor?"
Payla's image shifted nervously in the holoprojection. "Actually... I ordered a sweep as soon as I set down. We did manage to locate where the Zabrak was keeping Bridger but..." She looked aside, grimacing uncomfortably. "Well..." She fidgeted for several moment. "I... have a recording from the patrol that encountered him."
She nodded at an unseen party and the projector switched focus, piping in what looked like headcam footage from a Stormtrooper helmet as the owner approached a Mandalorian-style craft.
The trooper in the headcam footage stepped cautiously, weapon extended. A figure could be seen staggering drunkenly down the gauntlet's ramp, limping on a bad leg, stopping when he noticed the troopers around him, staring blankly ahead at them.
"You there!" came the barking order of a trooper. "Halt!"
The Zabrak in the recording paused halfway down the ramp, head swiveling in confusion, as if he couldn't quite comprehend the soldiers around him.
"Where is my apprentice?" he asked, an absent look on his face.
The troopers in the periphery of the camera view stepped closer, brandishing their weapons.
"Put your hands up and come quietly!" someone ordered. "We have questions for you about who you are and what you're doing here."
A manic look appeared in the yellow eyes, a strange clarity and certainty.
"He's not here, is he?" the man asked. "He has escaped."
All of a sudden he chuckled, his laughter growing stronger and more unhinged the longer the moment dragged on.
The troopers in the footage murmured nervously to each other.
"Is he on something?" someone asked next to the headcam.
The Zabrak's eyes fixated on the troopers, shining with madness. "You want to know about Ezra Bridger then?" he guessed, dissolving into another round of insensical chuckles before he continued. "Let me tell you a secret," he said conspiratorially. He took a step down the ramp, causing all the troopers to back up in apprehension. "You cannot contain him," the man arms gestured with vague motions as he continued. "Just when you think you've broken him, when you think he's surrendered and defeated, he will surprise you."
He turned and looked straight into the eyes of the helmet camera, as if addressing the unseen listeners.
"You will underestimate him, and it will be your doom."
He dissolved into hysterical guffaws.
"I've heard enough," someone off-camera declared. "Stun him."
The Zabrak's laughter brayed out even more loudly, his face twisting as twin red blades ignited and whirled, the man flinging himself towards the camera to a startled, terrified scream from its owner.
The blade slashed across the feed and it cut out, dissolving into static.
Payla replaced the footage, looking down in embarrassment.
"That's... that's all there is," she admitted. "And... there was no trace of the gauntlet when the second patrol arrived."
Thrawn inhaled very slowly through his teeth.
"So he has escaped too," he concluded flatly.
"It would appear so, Grand Admiral," the captain confirmed, shrunk so low into her shoulders Pryce thought she'd wilt outright.
Thrawn gave a careful exhale, his face utterly unreadable, pinched with only the barest traces of anger.
"Thank you Captain. That will be all," he said.
Fear flashed across the woman's face through the holocam. "Grand Admiral I assure you I did everything I—"
"That will be all, Captain," Thrawn repeated, tone far less neutral, laced with a distinct irritation.
Payla nodded meekly and nodded, ending the transmission. The room fell utterly silent, a tension lingering in the air.
Pryce wrung her hands behind her a few moments, watched the Grand Admiral sit stiffly at his desk.
After a long minute, he rose from his seat, quietly clasping his wrist behind him and stepping over to look at his sample of Sabine's wall graffiti, red eyes staring straight ahead at it.
He hadn't said a single word and Pryce still felt the weight of his disappointment, his anger, his trembling frustration.
She pinched her lips, taking a step to approach him, reaching out with hesitation towards his arm. "Thrawn..." she called, soft and informal, with the worried tones of a friend.
"Leave me, Governor," came the short, sharp reply, and Pryce flinched, her hand withdrawing. A bit quieter, Thrawn turned his head and added a neutral, "Please."
Pryce acquiesced, dropping her chin and nodding, going quietly out of the room. Her footsteps slowly faded from hearing, and then a low hiss from the door sounded her exit.
Thrawn let out a harsh growl, losing composure, hurling his fist into the surface of the wallpiece.
Bang!
The massive boulder tilted slightly from the force, wobbling back into place.
Thrawn exhaled heavily, straightening back up, looking down at his still-vibrating, half-clenched hand in distress.
He tried to comprehend what he was feeling. He was flushed, feverish, his face cold and clammy and his collar hot.
This... this couldn't be natural. This was devilry, some kind of fiendish Jedi magic. Or... perhaps he was simply ill?
He latched onto the thought, his mind settling. Yes, that was it. His breathing steadied, the strange anxious feeling inside him fading back out into chilled anger, heating his veins. His hands clasped behind his back, his eyes narrow, glaring at the painted Loth-cat on the wall chunk. The laughing words of the red Zabrak echoed in his mind.
His fists gripped, his frown stiffening.
"I will not underestimate him," he muttered to himself, voice carrying a sharp edge. "Not again."
Ezra Bridger was an anomaly but he was not remarkable, he was a statistical error and Thrawn would understand and correct it.
The boy would not surprise him again.
-SWR-
Hera hovered softly in the doorway, watching Ezra sleep with a fond expression. Sabine had nodded off too, her head slumping back against the ladder, arms settled loosely around him. They looked at peace, just breathing softly together, curled up on Zeb's bunk like children exhausted after vigorous play.
All her doubts from before had vanished, conviction settled into her bones. This was where Ezra belonged. No matter what being part of the Rebellion had put him through, she knew he didn't regret a thing.
And now, neither did she.
Heavy boot thuds clipped down the hallway and then Kanan's arms were wrapping around her waist, his lips pressing a soft kiss to her temple.
"Hey," he greeted, whispering so as not to wake the sleeping teenagers. "How is everything?"
"Better," she replied, winding her arm around his at her midsection. "Now that we have him back."
"I told you we would," he teased smugly.
"So you did," she chuckled. "You have more faith than I do sometimes."
He shrugged. "Practice, or something."
Hera's gaze turned somber, her smile fading. She took in the haggard lines on Ezra's sleeping face, his bruised, bandaged skin, his worn dirty clothes that needed a washing yesterday and a thorough mending for the rips and tears, and the faint, shallow wheeze in his breaths as if he was still feeling some pain.
"He's hurt." She meant physically, but the two words seemed to encompass the entirety of what Ezra must have been through.
Kanan nodded. "I think his rib is cracked. He insisted it could wait until we were on the Ghost."
Hera groaned softly, stepping out of his arms and moving into the room. "Ugh that's just typical," she sighed, crossing over to the bunk.
Sabine stirred immediately when Hera shook her shoulder.
"Wha?" she blurted, groggy.
"Naptime's over," Hera said. "Ezra needs medical attention."
Sabine obediently started prying herself loose, her movement disturbing Ezra's sleep and rousing him.
"'biiiiine," he whined, grabbing for her petulantly as she slipped off the bed and he lost his pillow.
She creeked as she straightened, grimacing and rubbing her back. "Gonna feel that one tomorrow," she complained.
Hera was helping Ezra sit up, carefully, hands around his left bicep steadyingly.
"Hey sweetie. Come on, get up," she urged. "We're just going to fix that rib, okay?" she promised, soothingly.
His face squeezed as he finished straightening, movements sluggish and tired. "Okay," he rasped without protest.
"Do you need anything else?" Hera asked, cupping his cheek.
Ezra tilted his head against her hand for a moment, eyes peeking open, shining with gratitude.
"I'm... really hungry," he confessed.
From the doorway Kanan smiled. "I think we can fix that," he said, moving off down the hallway.
Hera eased her hands under Ezra's armpits and helped him up from the bunk, not letting go as they slowly made their way past the central ladder into the living room, angling past Sabine, maneuvering around Kallus and Zeb and the kids—it was now quite crowded on the Ghost—and settling him down in the cushioned wooden seat.
She left him there for a moment, already bantering animatedly with Zeb, complaining at him about, "Your bunk stinks, pal! Didn't you shower at all while I was gone?" to Zeb's huffy protest of, "Hey! We were all under a lot of stress! Hygiene wasn't exactly our top priority!" She joined Kanan in the kitchen. He was feeling around in the cupboard for the pots, and she nudged him aside and got the large one down for him before crossing over and opening up the cabinet with the medkits.
"So what happens now?" Kanan asked, hand brushing across the utensil rack, searching.
"What do you mean?" Hera asked absently, reaching up into the cupboard.
"Well, Maul knows about Yavin," Kanan replied. He squeezed open a jar of spice. "Though it sounds like he won't be coming after us again." He placed the cutting board flat on the counter.
"One can only hope," Hera muttered. She took a deep breath. "I was thinking... we should go back to Lothal."
"Really?" Kanan said, surprised. He angled his head at her. "Is that something you want?"
"It's what I think Ezra wants," she explained. "We'll stay on Yavin long enough for him to get healed up. But I'm pretty sure he'll want to go home to help his people, once he learns what's been going on."
Kanan absorbed that a moment, then shrugged. "All right. Sure," he agreed. "At least we know what to expect there. No surprises."
Hera's face pinched with chagrin and slight embarrassment. "Actually..." she drawled. She set down the medkit supplies. "About that..."
She turned around, reaching over and capturing Kanan's hands, stopping his work.
He shifted to face her, concerned. "Hera?"
She pulled her face up seriously.
"I have something to tell you."
-SWR-
From outside the galley, all the others heard was an incredulous, "You're what?!" that stopped the conversation dead in confusion.
(A/N)- *wheezes* Whew! I'm not doing that again. Have some chapter notes.
1. I affectionately dubbed this climax "the three-way custody battle for one Ezra Bridger". Still fits, lol.
2. Hugs! So many hugs! All the hugs! They were so satisfying to write.
3. Maul miiiiiiight have cracked just a little. And Thrawn is also starting to show some Villanous Breakdown signs.
4. Back a few chapters when I hinted that something was up with Hera someone of you immediately concluded, "She's pregnant with Jacen!" and I was like, "...shhhhhhhhhhit okay well, now I have to throw that in, now that it's in people's heads." And the foreshadowing actually still fits, with Hera being distracted and really tired. So thank you for that bit of accidental genius you guys.
Monster chapter done, and there's just a little bit left to tidy things up. I do hope you've enjoyed this journey everyone.