How It Happened - Part 3
The kid was crazy!
That much was clear to see.
Bold and overconfident and crazy and - some might say - a little stupid. After all, he was stood facing off a group of TIEs!
That was how the Ghost crew found him after Kanan had gotten back on board and they'd once again resumed their chase.
The man breathed a silent sigh of relief to himself when he saw they had made it in time. A second later, the kid would have been blasted to pieces! What had he been thinking anyway, trying to stand off against those TIEs like that?
He called out to the boy now, hoping he wouldn't be stupid enough to want to stay on the ground and would instead come with them. But he saw the hesitation in the boy's eyes and could almost hear the thoughts running through his head. He looked doubtful, almost fearful even. What did he think they were going to do with him?
"You got a better idea?" Kanan yelled, trying to get the kid to get a move on.
He looked back over his shoulder at the crate and Kanan saw the look in his eyes, realised what he was thinking. No! He wouldn't!
He would.
And he did.
Kanan stared in disbelief as the street rat made a dash for it just as more TIE-Fighters appeared overhead.
"Leave the crate, you'll never make it!" He hoped the urgency in his voice would push him along as he tried to convey the threat and seriousness of the situation with his words.
By this point, the ship was already starting to take off and Kanan could feel a growing sense of dread in the pit of his stomach. But then the young boy made a Force-Jump that carried both himself and the crate up onto the exit ramp and the ex-Jedi couldn't help but be impressed. That sort of move took some years to master and he'd performed it as effortlessly as walking! He didn't even seem to realise what he'd just done! No one else would have been able to make that jump, but he had!
But as the kid hauled himself into the hangar, pushing his crate further in as he went, Kanan made sure he didn't realise how much he'd impressed or surprised him. He put on a dark scowl and glared daggers at the boy before him. His facial expression matched that of Zeb's and if he could see under Sabine's helmet, her expression most likely would have been the same.
His attention was drawn back to the scrawny, orange-clad figure as he made a beeline for one of the opened crates sat in the middle of the hangar. It just happened to be the one with the blaster rifles inside and Kanan sighed when he saw how the young teen's eyes lit up like Coruscant on a nighttime. There was no doubt what he was thinking in that moment.
"Woah! Do you have any idea how much these are worth on the Black Market?" he gasped, staring at the weapons as if they were the most sacred objects in the world.
"Yes, I do," Kanan ground out through gritted teeth. He knew he had to show the kid who was in charge here, otherwise he could be foolish enough to try for another attempt at stealing their supplies. With the way he'd managed to evade them so easily before, he could very easily become overconfident and too sure in his own abilities - as that little show with the TIEs had proven only a minute ago.
Kanan didn't stick around for the banter that followed between his crew and the young thief who had already caused them so much bother today. He should've just ignored that feeling that the Force was giving him all along! No! It couldn't be the Force - the Force brought balance and this definitely was not balanced, it was downright unfair! Why should they all have to suffer just because that boy was a greedy, little thief looking to make a few credits from people off Lothal?
Before he left, though, Kanan told Zeb to keep an eye on him. He knew his friend would even if it annoyed him that he was having to babysit.
Ezra watched the dark-haired man leave with something approaching fear. Don't leave me here alone with the purple monster thing, please!
He didn't know the manwell - at all, really -and, truth be told, he was a little scared of him. It was a force of habit and he was naturally scared of all strangers. However, he felt more scared of the purple thing stood in front of him, glaring at him like he wanted to kill him in the most painful way he could think of. Maybe he would! He looked like he would!
Things were getting bumpy in the ship. Ezra didn't know if that was normal or not, but he had already made up his mind that he really didn't like it. Were the TIEs still after them? That could explain why the ride was so turbulent.
He was lost in his thoughts for a brief moment when the angry purple monster crashed down on top of him. He's trying to crush me! I was right - he does want to kill me!
"Get off!" Ezra gasped, "I can't breathe!"
"I'm not that heavy in this gravity!" he growled back, getting highly annoyed.
But Ezra was highly annoyed, too, and he couldn't resist bringing a sarcastic, cheeky insult into the mix.
"Not the weight, the smell!" he moaned loudly.
That was a mistake.
"You don't like the air in here? Fine! Then you can have your own room!" Ezra realised he was being lifted from the ground quite roughly and panic kicked in as he struggled and yelled and squirmed and kicked. It didn't work and he gasped as he was thrown into what seemed to be a locker.
Were they planning to keep him here? For how long? Bad memories started to come back to him from the earlier part of his childhood and from after his parents were taken away and he realised he was close to a full-on panic attack.
I need a way out!
He looked around desperately and saw his way out: an air vent. Thank the stars! He wasted no time in getting to work on it and pulling himself inside of the small space.
He was vaguely aware of the crew who owned the ship talking about him and he knew he didn't have much time before they found him. What am I going to do? I need a way off this ship!