A few days after receiving their shots, Sabine and Ezra were back to normal. After the small fevers and sore arms from their shots went away, they were now getting a bit restless from the past few quiet days. Hera and Kanan were relieved when Fulcrum sent them on another mission. The mission was a simple supply recovery from an old abandoned base on Hoth, so the whole crew decided to go, leaving Chopper to watch the ship. Ezra was extremely excited to go on another mission. Hera and Kanan liked to give Ezra experience with the safer missions as much as possible.
That's why Hera was bundling Ezra up for the cold.
"Why do I have to wear this?" Ezra asked, not complaining, but simply curious.
"It's cold on Hoth. The temperature is below zero almost every day." Hera knew Ezra didn't know what that meant, so she tried to explain. "Lothal's winters usually only get down to 20 degrees Fahrenheit while Hoth's can get down to -40." Ezra tried his best to comprehend this.
"Is it 40 today?"
"No. If it were -40, we would not be doing the mission today. None of our species can survive that weather. Today it's about 10 degrees out, which is cold, but is survivable. It should get up to 30 today if we're lucky. Right now it's summer on Hoth, so the temperature is warmer."
Ezra followed Hera to the cockpit. He looked out at the white expanse.
"Why is it all white?" Ezra tried to get a closer look.
"It's snow. Lothal doesn't get a lot of snow."
"I wanna see the snow!"
"Alright, I'll take you out there in just a minute." When Hera finished shutting down the ship and ordering Chopper to keep an eye on the ship's inner temperature, she felt a tug at her hand.
"Can we go now?" Ezra asked. Hera nodded and Ezra pulled her out toward the exit ramp. There, she met Kanan, Zeb, and Sabine, all in their snow gear. Ezra tugged her over to the controls of the ramp, which he was too small to reach. Hera pressed the button and the ramp opened.
Ezra watched, wide-eyed at the volume of snow outside. Before anyone could stop him, the excited boy rushed out into the snow. He jumped around, scrambling the newly fallen snow around. Ezra ran around, watching the snow kick up from behind him. Once, he slipped and fell, but the snow softened the impact. Ezra laughed as he sat and let the snow fall on his face.
The crew inside watched the boy, chuckling at his excitement as they got ready. They warmed up the two speeders they had, and Hera checked to make sure they would all be warm enough.
It was still early in the day, so the weather would be cold for a few hours - especially on speeders. Kanan and Ezra wore hats, gloves, a warm coat, and a scarf, as well as snow pants, and boots with warm clothes underneath. Hera was glad they made the last supply run to get warm clothes before their trip. They had other cold weather missions and would probably need the clothes. Sabine had a coat pulled over her armor, but refused to wear a hat because her helmet protected from the cold. She also wore snow pants, even though she didn't want to. Zeb was mostly protected by fur, but he had a hat that protected his ears, warm gloves, as well as long pants, a long sleeve shirt, and boots. Hera had a hat that fit over her long lekku, and the same clothes as Kanan and Ezra. She also wore goggles to protect her eyes from the snow while she drove the speeder. She assumed Zeb would be fine with the other speeder (his eyes were different than human or twilek eyes.)
"Alright, we're ready to go. Ezra, come on, we're leaving." Hera beckoned him in. Ezra was a bit disappointed, but he was also excited for the mission they were letting him go on. "If the mission is successful and you aren't sick of the cold when we get back, you can play later," Hera reassured him.
"Okay. This should be a simple supply pickup. The base is supposedly abandoned, but we need to be careful, just in case there is someone or something there." Hera looked at each of them before continuing. "If anything goes wrong, Sabine, you and Ezra get out and back to the speeders, okay?" Sabine gave Hera a nod and thumbs up. "Okay, then we are ready to go."
Zeb and Sabine took one speeder while Hera, Ezra, and Kanan took the other. Kanan put Ezra in between him and Hera for safety purposes and protection from freezing winds on the ride. Ezra grabbed onto the back of Hera's coat and Kanan held the back of his coat, just in case.
"Okay, all set, Hera." Hera sped off. Zeb made sure Sabine was safely holding on before following Hera.
About 15 minutes of cold riding later, the crew arrived. The door to the hidden base was frozen solid. Kanan had to use his lightsaber to cut a hole through so they could get in. The musty air met them. It was dark, so Hera lit up her goggles, which had night vision. Kanan lit his lightsaber and grabbed Ezra's hand. Sabine lit the light on her helmet.
"Okay, everyone spread out and search for anything useful for us or other citizens. Sabine, you and I will continue on to get the missiles from the other side of the base." Hera said. The info from Fulcrum had a location of exactly where the desired missiles were in the base and Hera had a holopad tracker with her. She and Sabine left.
As the scavenger he was, Ezra wanted to look around for useful things, too. He tugged on Kanan's arm and Kanan bent down.
"Can I look around, too?"
"Sure, just stay in this same area." Kanan looked over to the right wall while Zeb moved to the left. Ezra chose to look in the middle.
"Kanan! Blankets!" Ezra said excitedly, very happy he found something useful.
"Great job, kid! I'll load them up." On their next relief mission, the rebels could hand those out.
The three found a few more items, including warm clothing, medical supplies, a shut down droid, and a few scattered weapons. Sabine and Hera hurried back and they all left.
"Wow, that mission went extremely easily," Hera said on the way back.
"That's true. And we got a bunch of helpful supplies," Kanan told her.
By the time they were back at the ship, everyone was getting a little tired and cold. Except Ezra. He was cold, but not cold enough to stop him from playing in the snow. Sabine offered to play with him outside for a while to tire him out.
"Alright, Sabine. If you get cold, we can switch out." Hera felt bad for Sabine.
"Okay," Sabine agreed.
Ezra ran around for a little bit, and then started to build with the snow.
"Look, 'Bine, I made a bad guy." Sabine walked over and studied the figure made out of snow.
"Yeah, well now he needs to be beaten down by us good guys!" Sabine said. She pretended to punch the structure.
Ezra laughed and started to fake-punch the snow, too.
"Oh, he got me." Sabine said and she fell to the ground, laughing. Ezra giggled along with her and then tackled the snow figure.
"I got him!"
"Ez, you're a hero!" Sabine said.
"'Bine, you build a guy!" Sabine smiled and started to shape a snowman.
"He needs eyes. Can you see any rocks anywhere?"
"Over there!" Ezra said and ran to get them.
Sabine continued to build the structure, but paused. She remembered a time when she was Ezra's age, making snowmen with her older brother. The memory was very bittersweet for her. A loud crack and a cry followed by splashing broke Sabine out of her memories.
"Ezra?" Sabine looked around and found him twenty feet away, struggling to stay above water. The ice had been too thin there, and Ezra had fallen into a lake that wasn't frozen.
"Ezra!" Sabine didn't know what to do. She knew if she went for Ezra, she could fall through the ice, but so would anyone she could get to help. Except Kanan.
"I'll be right back, Ez. Try to stay afloat and don't go under."
Sabine sprinted inside, yelling for Kanan. She found him in the hallway. Out of breath and panicking, she tried to tell him what was happening.
"Sabine, I can't understand you. Slow down." But every second was precious and could be the last moment of Ezra's life.
"Ezra… ice broke… use the force… help." Sabine managed to spurt out. Kanan got the message and he rushed outside, quickly followed by Sabine and a terrified Hera, who heard the commotion from the common room.
Ezra was struggling to stay afloat. He could feel his snow pants filling with water, dragging him down. He grabbed for the ice, but it cracked some more, leaving it weak and almost unable to hold his weight. Ezra didn't know what to do. He screamed and cried. Struggling not to drown.
"Where? Where is he?" Kanan shouted as he rushed outside. Sabine pointed in the direction of Ezra's bobbing head. Kanan sprinted toward the figure, but stopped ten feet away, not wanting to fall in himself. Focusing, Kanan imagined lifting Ezra up.
Ezra had not noticed Kanan and he continued to struggle. The ice finally caved and he fell all the way in. Ezra squirmed around, trying to find a way to stay afloat. He tried to breathe, but just swallowed ice cold water. Then he felt himself being lifted up and out of the water. His face met cold air and he let out a shaking breath, opening his eyes and seeing Kanan with his arms outstretched, holding him up with the force. Then, Kanan dropped Ezra with the force and physically caught him. Right away, Ezra gripped onto Kanan, scared for his life.
"It's okay, you're alright now, Ezra," Hera said, grabbing him from Kanan and comforting him.
Kanan tried to lessen his panic so that Ezra wouldn't feel it through his bond. Ezra continued to shiver.
"I'm cold."
"I know, buddy. Let's get you inside and in a warm bath. I'll make some hot chocolate. How does that sound?" Hera started toward the ship.
Sabine and Kanan followed her in and Zeb met them on the way.
"Well, I guess no mission can be that easy without something going wrong for us. Let's get off this frigid planet." The whole crew agreed.
