Here you are! Another chapter. Stay home, stay safe.
Ezra and Ahsoka would talk everyday for a few minutes. Sometimes, Ezra would talk about his time in the Empire, Ahsoka might talk about the days of the Republic, and other times, Ezra wouldn't be so open to talk. Come to think of it, Ezra was actually pretty closed off from the outside world. He was stuck inside the cell. He receives food and water, and he has a bathroom, but aside from Ahsoka, he doesn't get any social interactions. She imagens that it's lonely.
"No way." Sato told her.
"Hear me out." Ahsoka tries. "I'm only asking for an hour outside. I'll watch him. He needs the fresh air."
Sato counters. "He has a window that allows air to come in and out."
Ahsoka says back, "Yes, but he needs to at least get out of the cell for a while. I'm not talking about free roaming the base. I'm just talking about a walk outside."
"Commander Tano," Sato says with a sigh, "He has been very cooperative with us, yes. But he is still considered dangerous. He was not raised by Jedi. By the Sith. What if all this time he has been faking this, and an Imperial fleet is waiting for his signal to pick him up and then bomb the base?"
"You and I both know that the Empire doesn't care about it's loyal followers. If he had sent a signal, they would have already attacked the base." Ahsoka reasons.
Sato sighs again. "What makes you think that he would not use this opportunity to kill us all? He managed to defeat Kanan."
"This time, we will be ready to stun him if he tries to attack. Besides," Ahsoka smirks, "have I ever taken a needless risk?"
Sato just grunts in annoyance. Finally, he caves. "He is to be given one hour a day. And that hour will be used when you talk to him."
"Thanks Sato."
The next day, Ahsoka goes to Ezra's cell with a squad of troopers. It had been almost a month and a half since he came. And for the first time, he is about to be let out of his cell.
Ezra sees Ahsoka with the troopers. "I take it your leader has ordered my execution?" Ezra senses the nervousness of the soldiers.
"On the contrary." Ahsoka explains. "You are being given one hour outside of your cell from now on. However, it will be used with the time that we would use to talk."
"You're letting me out?" Ezra asks in shock. "What makes you think I won't try to escape?"
"Well, we are about to find out." Ahsoka answers as she opens the cell door. The Togruta enters with a pair of handcuffs.
Under his breath so only she could hear him, Ezra says, "You know I can break out of these right?"
"It makes the others feel safe." Ahsoka says. "Don't do anything stupid, or you will get shot." She leads the teen outside.
Ezra looks at the men with guns. "Don't worry." He says to everyone. "I have no plans for escape." Yet.
For the next few days, Ezra would be taken for a walk around the base. He would take in every detail. How many Rebels are patrolling the outside of the base, where the pilots were walking to and from. Even to where air vents are. If going through the halls don't work, the vents are always a great way to hide and get around through.
The teen would always get this feeling from the Force that something was watching him. Okay, EVERYONE was watching him. But to clarify, it felt like someone was following him, and it wasn't someone from the squad that would walk with him and Ahsoka. This person has to be trained to follow without being seen. Ezra cannot think of anyone he has met that could have that sort of training. Except for one. The Mandalorian. She's been following us to make sure I don't try anything. When I get out, I'm gonna have to be extra careful.
Almost 3 weeks since Ezra got the privilege to walk outside the cell, Ezra decides to make his escape. Ahsoka enters the cell like usual, and as she puts her hand on his wrist, he does a quick 360 to throw her towards the squad of troopers outside. Ezra rushes out of the door, and goes in the direction where they take him when he gets to go outside.
SITH SPIT! He thinks. My saber. I gotta get it back. Ezra knows it's risky, especially because the hanger is to his left, but the teen decides that he needs his saber. Ezra gets into one of the vents, and crawls as fast as he can.
Ahsoka comes to after a few minutes. The force of the throw had knocked her out. She didn't expect him to do that, or throw so hard. She quickly gets on her comm.
"Commander Sato?" Ahsoka asks worried.
"What is it, Commander Tano? I'm in the middle of a briefing."
"It's Ezra. He's escaped. He knocked me and the other men out." Ahsoka hears the alarm start blaring. And so does Ezra as he is crawling through the vents.
Sato's voice comes up on the base. "All units, stay on the look out for Ezra Bridger. I want a squad of men guarding the ships in case he tries to escape. Everyone else, stay alert. If you see him, shoot to kill."
Well, THAT'S not helpful. Maybe I should have planned this better Ezra thinks. With his lightsaber and a gas mask in hand, and his head screaming that there are people outside of the weapon room, he gets back into the vents, and crawls to the hanger.
"Commander, I don't think it's wise to shoot to kill." Ahsoka says. "I recommend stun."
"No." Sato says sternly. "If he is strong enough to knock you out, he is too dangerous."
Ahsoka tries again. "With all due respect, if he didn't want any alarms to sound, he would have killed me when he had the chance." The Togruta is running around, looking for any sign of the kid. She thinks that he didn't go right to the hanger. The Force is telling her that he is still here, but he is blocking his signature. Ahsoka enters the weapons room, and finds drawers opened. She notices that his lightsaber is missing. "He came for his lightsaber." Ahsoka alerts Sato. Her foot steps on something that doesn't feel like a drawer. A vent? she thinks when she looks down. Looking up, she notices that a vent is open. Reaching out with the Force, she is able to hear thumping. "And he is in the vents."
With that information, Sato orders the vents to be purged. His reasoning is that the teen will suffocate. or he will get out of the vents and they can either kill him, or arrest him again.
Ezra's head starts warning him of danger. The teen doesn't know what, until the vents start getting fumes and foggy. Luckily, the ex-Imperial was trained to be prepared for anything. He quickly puts on his mask, and continues on.
The Ghost crew and Ahsoka were following Sabine. She was the most experienced at tracking. Ahsoka was trying to reach out with the Force to see if she could sense the kid. But Ezra was hiding his signature so well.
Ezra couldn't see where he was going, so he was having to feel where he was going for the most part. Not feel with the Force, but feel with his hands. He reaches a vent that can be opened. He gently opens it so it makes as little sound as possible. He peeks his head out slowly, and only as far as he needs to go. The teen looks at where he is, and he is right where he wants to. The only problem is that there is a squad of Rebels guarding the Imperial shuttle he was going to escape in. He tucks himself back into the vent again, and takes out the comm he stole as well.
Making his voice as deep as possible, Ezra says, "The Imperial was spotted heading into the mess hall. He's trying to get food! I need backup!"
That does the job Ezra wanted because he hears the following, Everyone to the mess hall. Do not let him back in the vents.
The troopers guarding the ship race to the fake sighting. Ezra smiles now that he has completed his goal. Now, he just needs to jump off of the high vent area.
The Ghost crew and Ahsoka just stand there for a second, unsure what to do. They were about to go to the hanger when a squad of troopers race past them.
"It can't be that easy, right?" Hera asks.
"It is pretty concerning. Suddenly, he is spotted in the mess hall, and we are all just supposed to head there?" Sabine agrees.
Ahsoka pauses for a moment to keep her head calm. She looks at the hanger, and just as she is about to make a decision, they all see a figure fall to the ground. The figure uses the Force to soften his fall, and they all immediately realize it's Ezra. He starts running when he realizes he is seen. They race after him, Kanan and Ahsoka being faster.
Ezra takes out his saber, and to everyone's surprise, shoots a red energy bolt. It hits the control panel, and the doors start shutting. Ahsoka and Kanan jump to keep from getting blocked off.
Sabine and the others are trapped behind the door.
"Sabine, can you get it open?" Hera asks.
The Mandalorian replies, "Maybe. I need a minute." She starts to work on the door lock.
Zeb is getting impatient. "Well?"
"Give me a minute!"
The 2 Jedi see that the kid is about to get on his ship. Ahsoka gets up, and Force runs to catch up to the kid, and jumps with her white lightsabers on. Ezra turns around, and blocks with his red saber. Quickly countering her right saber, he blocks her left saber with his metal arm. He kicks her in the stomach to get her to move back, and starts striking her sabers. He is using so much power that her hands are not able to to withstand his brute attacks.
Anytime she tries to attack, her saber is countered, his form 5 training showing, and he immediately starts another attack. Kanan sees that Ahsoka is struggling, and Force pushes the kid away from her. Ahsoka takes a moment. Her hands were hurting like hell.
Ezra gets up, and blocks just as Kanan's saber is about to strike. "Ready for a rematch?" Ezra asks.
"You won't catch me off guard this time kid." Kanan replies.
Ezra pushes away Kanan's saber, and Kanan again comes at Ezra. The teen just pushes the blue saber to his right, and strikes at the older man's right shoulder. (Similar to Finn vs Ren.) Ezra then Force Pushes Kanan away from him.
Sabine finally gets the door open, and she, Zeb, Hera, and Chopper sees Kanan get pushed back and Ezra's red lightsaber. They all start running to check on Kanan. Sabine keeps running to back up Ahsoka
Ezra starts to walk onto the ship again, but hears Ahsoka's sabers. He dodges by taking a side step, and blocks the right saber as Ahsoka strikes at him on his left side. Ezra senses her left saber coming at him, so he uses his metal arm to grab onto the blade. Seeing the position they are in, Ezra takes advantage of it. He headbutts Ahsoka, causing her to lose focus. As she stumbles back, Ezra kicks her leg out from underneath her. Ahsoka falls onto her side, and tries to get back up. To finish her off, the teen kicks her in the stomach, sending her back a bit.
Seeing the 2 Jedi injured, he is satisfied. Ezra quickly turns around to start the- PEW
To Ezra's surprise, the Mandalorian was standing in front of him. Sabine had went around the Force users as they were fighting, and waited to see if she needed to shoot.
The ex-Inquisitor looks down to see her blaster and looked for a laser hole, but he couldn't find any. He starts to feel tired, and realizes he might have been stunned. Ezra starts to collapse. Sabine sets him onto the floor gently. "Don't worry. I'm not going to kill you." She aims her pistol at him and Ezra closes his eyes, ready to be stunned again.
PEW
Ahsoka looks in the direction of the blast sound. She sees Ezra close his eyes. Ahsoka almost panics but Sabine says, "He's fine. I just stunned him. I knew you wanted him alive."
Ahsoka gets up, still sore from... Well, just about every injury she received from Ezra. Sabine and Ahsoka carry him back to the cell. Sato is waiting for them.
"He is to be taken to a more secure cell." Some Rebel soldiers try to take him away, but Ahsoka resists.
"What are you doing?"
Sato says, "A 15 year old had almost escaped from Chopper base. He defeated you and Kanan in saber combat. If it wasn't for Sabine's surprise attack, he would have escaped."
Ahsoka says, "We were caught off guard. He has tried to escape, and if he tries to escape again, we will be ready. You can't cut him off from people."
"You will still be allowed to talk to him, but he will be put into a different cell. One without a window. And there will always be guards outside of his cell." Sato explains.
Ahsoka tries again. "He is just a kid."
"A dangerous kid." Rex says.
Ahsoka looks at him. "You can't be serious."
"He will not be allowed to walk around supervised. Visitors will be allowed, but he will stay in the cell." Sato says.
But Ahsoka is tired of this. "Have we taken a moment to wonder why he wants to escape? Or have we become like the Empire and fear that every prisoner works for the enemy? He's 15. He is alone. He's scared. He is running!"
"You don't really understand what that's like." Sabine interjects her 2 credits. "Being young, and running away from everything you know. I'm not saying we should let him go, I'm just saying, show some sympathy."
Hera says, "She is right commander."
Kanan looks at her. "You seriously think that the prisoner shouldn't be put into tighter security?"
"You were younger than him when the purge happened." Hera tells him. "Did you forget how scared you were?"
After a few more minutes of arguing, Sato says, "Enough!" Everyone becomes quiet. Sato sighs. "We will compromise. Bridger will not be moved from his current cell. However, he is no longer allowed his one hour of walking. He will stay in the cell. There will be guards at all times in front of the cell. And Ahsoka, I know you have been going into the cell and talking with him. That will no longer be permitted. You can still talk to him, and he will have visitors, but no one will go into the cell with him. Does that meet everyone in the middle?"
Ahsoka reluctantly agrees. They then set the unconscious teen onto the bed. As the others walk away, Sabine and Ahsoka stay behind.
"Were you even trying in the fight?" Sabine asks.
"What do you mean?" a confused Ahsoka responds.
Sabine clarifies her question. "I've seen you fight better than that. Were you just going easy on him, or...?"
"*sigh* I had too much on my mind to stay focused." Ahsoka admits. She was worried that the kid would get away, and if the Empire captured him, they would get him to talk, or he would die trying. And she didn't like the idea of him dying like a martyr for a cause he didn't believe in.
Sabine shrugs. "I guess that makes sense. But I never took you for the distracted type."
Ahsoka sighs again. "Only if I'm focusing on 2 things I view very important."
With that, they leave the cell. No sense in waiting for him to wake up. His body will do that on it's own time.
Alright. Hope that was a good chapter. Let me know. All of my other stories are going to be updated. I just don't have enough time. Anyways, stay home, stay safe.