Chapter Eight
The First move
Twenty-one days after leaving Sabine
The blinding Sun of Alton, slowly drug itself up over the horizon line. Ezra still as a rock lay in wait and meditation. Although his thoughts raced too heavily for him to sink into it truly and every slight nudge in the force and the real world distracted him from his objective.
In particular his most recent conversation with Faith kept him on edge, he still felt an overwhelming amount of guilt at the entire situation and Faith's lack of presence only furthered his concerns.
There was some mission they were planning to begin today quite simple really they were meeting some contacts for a quick and easy refuel. Ezra would have liked more details but he assumed that Hera would fill him in further once they had actually left. Curiously enough Kanan had already left on a supply mission volunteering to sit this particular one out.
Ezra decided that this wasn't a good sign considering Kanan sat in on the original briefing, meaning that he knew more about the specifics than Ezra did.
Ezra slowly rose, rather than wait he figured it would be a good idea to go and find Faith, she had to come with them anyway not to mention he would like it if he could talk to her one more time before they officially left on their journey.
The walk across the base was silent, it was surprsinly empty, a serious lack of personnel. He checked the main hanager finding nobody but a few stray mechanics who seemed to be finding distractions rather than actually working.
The rest of the landing strip and other rooms also turned up nothing. Upon asking a few people and even chopper he still was no closer to finding her then he was before. Finally he placed his hands on his hips sighing in annoyance.
In a last ditch effort he figured he could try to sense her, why not afterall. He closed his eyes slowly exhaling… As his hand naturally raised feeling the waves of the force flow around him.
He felt Kanan's presence in the Ghost a distance away and he immediately swept away from that trying to find the rock that stuck out of the river that would indicate he'd found his disturbance.
Finally he sensed a presence that felt familiar and seemed to be producing enough of a turmoil to be Faith in her brooding mood. He carefully opened his eyes trailing his eyes along a path that lead around the othersdie of the mountain.
He followed it picking his way along the rockface until he approached the othersdie where a flat plateau revealed a rather beautiful view of the sands of the planet the sun could be seen indicating it was still early in the morning. No later than nine o'clock.
She had sat herself at the edge of the ridge, her helmet was discarded against the wall, possibly thrown there she herself hung her head and it didn't take a force user to tell she was upset, possibly had been crying.
Ezra visibly recoiled at the sight, Faith hadn't really ever struck him as a sad or disappointed person, but this was downright depression.
He purposely made noise on the rocks as he approached so she wouldn't be surprised by his arrival although he stopped short of her his eyes full of pity and his mind weighed down by a anchor of guilt.
He said no words for what felt like hours although only a couple seconds passed before Faith shattered the silence between them.
"How long have I been gone?"
Her voice was broken and she didn't even spare him a glance when she spoke, all of this only piled onto Ezras growing sense of guilt.
"Maybe fifteen hours?" Ezra tried, not to be sure of the number himself.
Faith didn't verbalize a response and simply nodded her head.
She still didn't bother to look up and Ezra was just a little bit irritated and his brow twitched as a response. He understood that she was angry at him, it was a fair he'd probably be angry given her position.
"Faith…" He said carefully he wasn't sure what todo so he was surprised when she started talking.
"When the Empire took my home I didn't really know what I was going to do… I barely survived, it was really a miracle Saxon's men didn't find me."
She turned away from staring at the rising sun.
"We were returning from a routine patrol, we were so shocked by the bodies littering the camp we didn't have time to register that the attackers were still in the vicinity. My father who was with me told me to run and I did, I ran so far and so fast and I didn't look back."
"It worked… They must've forgotten about me in the resulting firefight because no one else came for me." Faith finally looked at him and he could see from the bags under her eyes that she had probably been crying for a decent bit of time.
"The base you saw was our main encampment on Concord Dawn but we did have some other spots on the planet, hidden depots with supplies and hide outs. I sat around for what felt like years, though it was probably a couple of days."
"I went down to the main encampment everyday in hopes someone came by… I always slept at the hidden supply base just in case but my days were spent in the wreckage of my home waiting for someone to appear."
She looked up at him. "I must've missed you guys by only a small window of time, since I sat around the supply base for a day or two"
"Eventually scavengers stumbled upon the camp and I practically held them at gunpoint to take me off the rock. Wandered on the streets for a while until I landed in too much trouble with the Empire and got myself stuck on that transport which you so kindly broke me out of."
She smiled at the last part, her joyful cheer finally returning, if only slightly. Until it fell again her feet kicking at the ground.
"I couldn't even wear my armor, for fear I would be tracked by the empire or worse some gang would corner me and steal it…" Her face scrunched in sadness again and Ezra thought she might begin crying again.
Then I ran like a coward… what kind of Mandalorian am I… if anybody from my clan survived they wouldn't even want me back. I'm a disgrace to Mandalore." She walked over to the wall picking up her helmet and tucking it at her side..
"Sorry for running off like that, you guys don't deserve that kind of treatment not after all you've done I-" She stopped as Ezra placed a hand on her shoulder before he even realized he moved close enough to do so.
"Don't apologize for anything Faith, we don't blame you for a second." Ezra said with a smile on his face.
"Look I don't try to pretend to know what it's like to be a mandalorian but I do know that they care about family. I saw an example of that when we went to Knorwrest with Sabine. If your family was alive they would be thrilled you were also alive. You're not a coward. I've seen the things you did, they were quite brave." He waited until she glanced up meeting his eyes.
"Actually you remind me a lot of Sabine, I think when you meet her you'll find a lot in common."
Faith found sudden intrest in the ground. "I bet you Sabine didn't cry like a baby when she found out her family had abandoned her."
Ezra didn't know if he'd seen Sabine cry but he had been pretty close. "Crying doesn't make you weak." He said hoping she would look up at him, which she did.
She gave him a weak smile and nodded to him in thanks. Ezra returned her nod as he motioned her back down the pathway he had originally come from, "Come on, Hera has some mission for us that we need to get started on."
But before either of them could continue forward Faith grabbed Ezra's hand and tugged him back towards her. He looked at her confused as to the purpose of the sudden closeness.
"Thank you Ezra…" She said carefully, breaking her gaze and staring at the wall.
"Thank you for everything…" Her eyes found their way back to his and for a long moment of silence they just stared at each other…
"Y-Your welcome…" Ezra stampered flustered at the proximity of Faith and the edge in her tone he couldn't describe. Not to mention his own Stomach doing flips.
They remained li ke that for a moment more before finally Faith released him and motioned that they should head back to The Ghost like he had originally stated.
Ezra absentmindedly nodded and turned down the hill towards the waiting freighter.
Faith followed behind without any objection and the two teens trudged down the mountain towards The Ghost with a new demeanor.
—-
Commander Lannery watched the domed city of Sundari come into view from far below him, on the bridge of his Star destroyer everything seemed small and unthreatening. He however knew the daunting truth… The truth that the mandalorians were dangerous and not to be trifled with. Even from the safety of his ship, they could reach him here and he would not be ignorant to their power.
Luckily Gar Saxon was guiding the Empire to a way to neutralize this Mandalorian threat for good. Turn these great warriors into sniveling cowards that could be corralled like any other people. It was disgusting really that he would betray his own people so deeply for a scrap of power. Made it hard to respect the man.
He turned on his heel walking along the length of his bridge until his lieutenant stopped in front of him saluting.
"Sir the Grand Admiral called, he wanted to know your status…" The officer finished with a gulp.
"I'll take it in my office." He said curtly walking through the doors to the elevator to the lower level.
"Of course sir. Should we land?" He asked, dipping his head out towards the city far below."
Lannery briefly glanced back out the view port. "No, not yet wait for my command to lower to city level. Inform Saxon of our arrival."
He spun without waiting for a reply although he heard the commands to hold position being shouted from behind him. He briskly walked through the halls, officers and troops saluting him as he made his way down the gray imperial hallways.
If he were honest he disliked the drab and plain Imperial hallways but caring about things like that were above his pay grade. So he would simply keep his complaints in his own mind.
The door to his office slid open and he quietly walked in slipping into his seat as he tapped the controls at his desk. Taking a brief moment to straighten his appearance and dust off his shoulder. The com came to life and an outline of the Grand Admiral appeared before him, a neutral expression set across his lips.
He swore the man was incapable of smiling.
"Admiral, to what do I owe the pleasant surprise." He said the politics removed from his voice he genuinely respected the Admiral.
"I trust you arrived at the planet safely?" Thrawn spoke in his low draw.
"That is correct." Lannery paused to clear his throat. "Although I must admit I am curious as to the nature of my -seemingly random- reassignment?" He was actually unaware of the purpose of his visit and the Admiral gave him the mission therefore was privy to the information.
"I believe that the Lothal Rebels who have troubled us for so long, have allies there…" Thrawn said slowly.
"Yes… The Wren clan has recently been in an uproar that was in Saxon's report to me. I remember that." Lannery said, leaning back in his chair. "You suspect these Mandolarians are in league with the Lothal rebels?"
"That is correct, I thought some extra protection would be in order, so I sent you and your sister ship to the planet to make sure it remains firmly in Imperial hands." Thrawn spoke carefully and pointedly.
Lanner glanced at the wall through which the star destroyer would be hanging in the atmosphere next to him.
"Any other reason Admiral?" He pressed knowing that there was often more than one motive behind any of the captains plans.
"I believe you will find the reasons you are above are many. The majority of which I will speak to you personally sooner or later." Thrawn responded.
"You mean that you will be coming here?" Lannery said in shock.
"Possibly." Thrawn said simply.
Lannery nodded, aware that was the best he'd get, he prepared to cut the comm gleaning from his tone that Thrawn wanted to leave. "Although there is one thing I might ask of you?" Thrawn continued before he could hang up the comm."
"Yes, Grand Admiral." He responded immediately.
"There is a clan of Mandolorians known as "the protectors' ' I need you to gather the information that you can. Perhaps gain a meeting with one of their leadership.
Lannery was surprised by the favor. This task seemed like it would be one that Thrawn would only entrust to himself or maybe one of his other high tier commanders. Certainly not an upstart commander who only recently acquired his position.
"I'll see to it sir." He said quickly.
"Of that I am certain." Thrawn said with a dip of his head as the image flickered off the hologram and Lannery was once again left alone.
He swung his legs on top of his desk drumming his fingers against the metal, Thrawn would be coming to Mandalore? That would spell the end for any chance of a rebellion sparking here on the planet. Certainly they weren't that threatening were they?
He slowly lowered his feet picking himself up as he walked towards the door. It was an interesting problem. One that wasn't his to solve.
The door slid open and he brisky returned to the bridge, the elevator rising slowly to the comm room as he stepped out his feet clanking on the durasteel floor. Officer saluted him and some muttered brief greetings but he returned to his place staring out the front view port glancing left at The Eternal, his sister Star destroyer. A decorated ship that had been in service for quite some time. His own personal destroyer The Justice had been attached to her for a long time the two destroyers making an almost undefeated team.
This mission would be no different. He would crush this rebellion.
"Captain prepare the landing procedures" He yelled behind him hearing the affirmative responses as the large ship lurched forward.
With him already here and watching the city and the potential threat of Thrawn arriving himself. These rebels didn't stand a chance.
A/N: I'm back. With a short one I know but I wanted to get it out there so I have decided to return to this fic. I can't promise when I'll update or how long the chapters we'll be but I can tell you that it is back. No need to give you a super long author note, we'll just go with a quick hello and apology for leaving no updates for nearly a year.
Stay safe. I'll see you soon for another chapter.