I do not own Star Wars or any of the characters.
Back With the Team
Damian walked onto the Ghost as Barriss and Riyo left with the Wraith, taking it to go on a vacation to Zeltros. Damian shook his head. He had had the time of his life when he went to Zeltros before meeting Barriss and the others. And to be honest, he was a little jealous that Barriss and Riyo were going there together. After all, Zeltros was renown for three things. Fun, alcohol, and sex. Part of Damian really wanted to take Ahsoka there. He was perfectly happy being monogamous, and he had no intention of being anything else, but there was still a large part of him left over from back when he used to fuck anything that moved, and that part of him wanted to take Ahsoka to Zeltros.
Damian stopped as he reached the common room of the Ghost, finding Ezra holding a lightsaber, a blue blade extending from it and the metal of the handle having a square finger guard on the front, a small barrel opening at the top of the guard. He smiled. Apparently he had missed a bit.
"Nice lightsaber," Damian smiled, Ezra turning to him and smiling. "Is that a blaster barrel I see in the front?"
"Yeah," Ezra nodded. "It uses the kyber crystal as a power source to fire plasma bolts, like your blaster. Took me weeks to figure out how to make it work, though. And I was lucky that Sabine had a spare Mandalorian Iron barrel."
"I bet," Damian nodded. "Still got the pistol I loaned you?"
"Sorry, I used parts of it in this," Ezra said.
"That's fine," Damian said. "I assume Kanan's been training you to wield it."
Ezra nodded. "In between us getting swindled by a gambler named Lando Calrissian."
Damian chuckled. "Yeah, he's a pain in the ass. Come on. I'll train you for a bit in lightsaber combat."
"I was just about to teach him to deflect blaster bolts," Kanan said, walking in with a stormtrooper's helmet.
"After," Damian said. "I want to see what you've taught him."
They walked outside and Damian took Ezra's lightsaber, inspecting it for a moment before humming thoughtfully.
"You didn't put a safety on it," Damian said.
"Safety?" Ezra asked.
"Training mode," Damian said, activating his own lightsaber's training mode. "It's used for sparring when someone has it so that they can do this." He smacked himself on the forearm with his blade, Ezra shouting in surprise as Damian hissed in pain, showing Ezra the welt. "It hurts like a bitch, but it's not fatal."
"So, does that mean we can't train?" Ezra asked.
"Of course not," Damian said. "It just means that I'm not letting you hit me, meanwhile, you're going to be covered in welts."
Ezra grimaced. "Fair enough."
"Begin," Damian said.
Ezra stepped forward, making a wide slashing motion at Damian, who deflected it over his head and smacked Ezra on the side. Ezra attacked again with a similar result. Then, he stabbed at Damian, only for Damian to deflect it and swipe Ezra across the back. Ezra groaned in pain, turning back to Damian, who deactivated his lightsaber.
"Yeah, I'm going to teach you directly now that I'm back," Damian said. "You need so much work."
Ezra sighed, nodding.
"Our turn?" Zeb asked.
"Yes," Kanan nodded, setting a stormtrooper's helmet on a rock then tossing Ezra an Imperial cadet helmet with a blacked out lense and markings covering it. "Ezra, deflect the blaster bolts into this stormtrooper helmet."
Ezra nodded, pulling the helmet on and readying himself. Then, both Zeb and Sabine began to fire at him. Ezra deflected the shots well enough, if sloppily, but not a single shot went toward the stormtrooper helmet.
"You're not focused," Kanan said.
"I'm just excited to listen to Senator Trayvis's transmission tonight," Ezra said, pressing a button on the side of his mask and making the facemask retract into the helmet.
"You don't even know if there's going to be a transmission tonight," Kanan said.
"He's been on more frequencies lately, and I have a feeling," Ezra said.
"Oh, yeah, what a coincidence," Kanan said. "I have a feeling you're going to get stunned if you don't focus on the moment. This moment."
Ezra sighed, nodding, and lowered his helmet's face mask again, resuming his training. However, as he continued, he began to become uncoordinated, raising his mask only to keep blocking the blaster shots as his eyes rolled back into his head, every single shot hitting either the mask or beside it suddenly.
"Stop!" Damian said, Zeb and Sabine looking over at him just as Ezra collapsed.
"Ezra!" Kanan shouted, kneeling beside him.
As he did, Ezra groaned, opening his eyes.
"I got stunned, didn't I?" Ezra asked.
"No," Kanan said. "Actually, you deflected every shot at the target."
"I saw something," Ezra said.
"You had a vision?" Kanan asked.
"Yeah," Ezra nodded, looking to Zeb. "You were there. And you were there." His eyes had shifted to Sabine, before going back to Kanan. "And Senator Trayvis. He was fighting with us. And there were Imperials everywhere."
"Sounds like a normal day to me," Sabine said.
"This was different," Ezra said. "Trayvis was there. He knew my parents!"
Kanan's eyes widened just as Hera called Ezra inside to listen to Trayvis's transmission. Sabine and Zeb followed Ezra inside, but Kanan and Damian hesitated.
"What do you think?" Kanan asked.
"I think I've had a number of visions that came true, and a number of them that didn't," Damian said. "Without seeing his vision myself, I can't know. but if the images were detailed, like he was actually there, there's a good chance it might happen."
Kanan nodded. "Let's head inside."
They walked in to find the transmission was already over.
"Trayvis is coming to Lothal," Ezra said. "He's going to be at the Old Republic Senate Building tomorrow at sunrise."
"That's a bit conspicuous a location, isn't it?" Damian asked.
"I agree," Kanan said. "There's a good chance the Empire will figure out where the meeting is."
"Don't worry," Ezra said. "I'll talk to my contact on the inside."
"Ezra, about your vision," Kanan said.
"I know, I know, don't be to quick to take it literally, right?" Ezra asked. "But you're the one that's been teaching me to trust in my instincts, and I know this was real."
"Ezra, some visions are self-fulfilling prophecy warnings," Damian warned. "Be careful of that. In trying to prevent some disasters that were foreseen in a vision, the person trying to stop it set the conditions to allow it to come to pass."
Ezra nodded. "I'll be careful."
Damian nodded and Ezra left. "So, Kanan, you ready to train?"
Kanan sighed and nodded, connecting the pieces of his lightsaber, both of them walking off the Ghost again and beginning to train. After about an hour of training, they all left the Ghost, heading to Ezra's old house, apparently, then down a concealed ladder to an underground bunker where there was a communication hardware setup.
"Is this Ezra's?" Hera asked.
"It's pretty old, apparently," Sabine said. "Ezra's mom and dad used to use it to speak out against the Empire."
"I don't get it," Zeb said. "They weren't soldiers, just civilians, so why'd they risk it all?"
"They had hope that they could do something to make the galaxy a better place for their son," Hera said, just as Ezra reached the bottom of the ladder.
Sabine coughed into her fist to get Hera's attention. "Cutting it a little close. I know you don't want to miss Trayvis's meeting."
"Neither does the Empire," Ezra said. "And you were right Kanan, they know where the meeting is. Kallus has an operation planned, probably to catch Trayvis. Or worse."
"Imperials will have numbers," Zeb said.
"We'll have surprise," Kanan said.
"Maybe not," Damian said. "I don't like it. It feels like a trap."
"Yeah, for Trayvis," Ezra said. "We have to go. Now."
"I'm trying to be optimistic," Kanan said.
"I'm trying to be realistic," Damian said. "I don't fancy walking into the Senate building and finding a certain Imperial Assassin waiting for me, or a group of Inquisitors."
"There's more than one?" Kanan asked.
"Oh yeah," Damian snorted. "A lot more."
"Lovely," Kanan sighed. "Let's go get ready to save Trayvis."
The others all nodded and headed for the Senate Building. As they arrived, they began to survey the area from a rooftop. There were stormtroopers everywhere, locking down the entire area. However, Damian was more interested in Trayvis's ship. It was a dignitary ship, big, fancy, and easy to spot.
"There's a dignitary ship and two protocol droids on the platform," Sabine reported, using her helmets monocular. "Trayvis must already be inside. I'm not seeing any Imperial forces."
"That's because you're not looking at the streets," Damian said. "They've got the area totally locked down."
"We've got to get Trayvis out of there before the Empire moves in," Ezra said.
"Wait, why haven't they moved in?" Hera asked.
"It's a trap," Damian said. "The ship confirms it."
"The ship?" Sabine asked. "How so?"
"He's supposed to be a Senator in exile, right?" Damian asked. "Hunted by the empire?"
"Yeah," Zeb nodded.
"So then why the hell is he flying an unarmed and unshielded dignitary ship to an abandoned senate building used by the Old Republic with nothing but two protocol droids for escorts?" Damian asked. "There's no fucking way. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. If he really was on the run, he'd have been captured and executed within two months."
"I hate to say it, but Damian's right," Kanan said. "It doesn't make sense."
"What, you think he's working for the Empire?" Sabine asked. "Then why would he do those transmissions?"
"For us," Damian said. "Look at us. You all want to go in there to meet him because you think he's a rebel, despite the fact that the Empire has the place locked down, and despite the fact that it's obviously a trap. I think Gall Trayvis lures in groups of rebels each time he visits a planet, and then the Empire uses him as bait to capture and kill the rebels."
"It's a good plan," Kanan nodded.
"We won't know unless we go in there," Ezra said.
The others were silent for a moment before Sabine sighed and raised her hand. "I vote we go in. If it's a trap, we can escape it like we always do."
Damian looked around the circle as the others agreed, leaving only him and Kanan. Damian sighed. "Fine, but if I say to run, you do it. No questions asked and no arguing. Understood?"
The others all nodded.
"That goes especially for you, Ezra," Damian said. "Even if I tell you to abandon us all, and to abandon Trayvis, you have to do it. Understood?"
Ezra hesitated, but nodded. Damian nodded, sighing.
"Okay. How we getting in?"
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