Breaking Ranks

A whole month later, the Ghost crew are on a new mission: Ezra infiltrating the Imperial Academy to gain information. Zeb and Sabine were down in Lothal to wait for Chopper (who is disguised as an Imperial droid) to send them the signal that Ezra has passed the test so that he can get an Imperial decoder which will disclose the location of a Kyber crystal so that they can destroy it before the Empire can use it.

Errol, Kanan and Hera were up in the Ghost, in orbit of Lothal, waiting for updates. Errol told his parents about his visions when he woke up and was alone. They were taken aback hearing this but they told him to not worry about them too much until one of them comes true.

Errol was sitting in the co-pilot seat with Hera in the pilot seat (as always) and Kanan sat behind Errol.

"Spectre-5 to Ghost. Looks like the kid passed the first test. He's inside Imperial HQ." Sabine informed them over the comms.

"Roger, Spectre-5. Ghost standing by." Hera replied.

"We've been standing by for weeks. I'm sick of this." Kanan complained.

"You're worried about Ezra." Hera told him.

"I'm not worried about the kid. I'm worried about the op. *sigh* What were we thinking, putting him undercover?" Kanan questioned. Errol looked at him in utter disbelief.

"Excuse me, but this whole thing was your idea!" He rounded on him, accusingly.

"He's just not ready. And if he gets caught…. We should've sent you down there." Kanan said. Errol detected that he wanted him to go undercover so that he and Hera can be alone together,

"No, I told you before, I'll tell you again, this would be perfect training for Ezra. And besides, he hasn't been caught yet." Errol argued.

"The minute he gets the decoder, Zeb yanks him out of there." Kanan then said, causing Hera and Errol to look at each other confused,

"Uh, that's the plan." Hera told him.

"I should've done this myself." He then said, making Errol snort.

"Oh yeah. You'd make quite a cadet." Hera stated.

"Look, Kanan, why don't you just meditate and calm your nerves?" Errol suggested. Kanan looked at him, thinking he was trying to keep him away from Hera but he realised that he was right as he needed to calm his nerves so he left the cockpit and walked to his quarters to meditate.

"Good suggestion, love." Hera praised Errol. He blushed upon hearing her nickname for him as she started calling him that after the failed mission of rescuing Luminara.

"Thanks. The way he's acting, it's as though Ezra is his son." Errol pointed out.

"Well, he is his Master. It would make sense for him to act that way." She reasoned. Errol couldn't help but nod in agreement as he knew that well with his parents.

As they sat there, waiting for updates, Errol was thinking back to when his dad took over training and one incident which made him laugh at the memory.

"What's so funny?" Hera asked, smirking.

"I was just remembering something my dad did when he trained me one time." He told her.

"Oh, do tell." She requested.

"Well, when my mom left to go get some food, he tried to teach me how to push with the Force. He failed for some reason and would rant about how mom made more progress than him, complaining about how she was a Padawan when they were Jedi and yet he was a Jedi Knight, inadvertently offending mom who arrived back in time to hear this and she chased after him, saying that he's banned from sleeping with her for the next month." He told the story and that caused Hera to laugh hard at the imagery of that story.

"That's parents for you." She said as they just finished laughing.

After a while, Kanan came back feeling calmer but noticing again how close and friendly the two are. He was going to say something when the comms came on.

"Spectre-5 to Ghost. Something went wrong. The kid didn't get the device, and he didn't come out." Sabine informed them of the latest update.

"Copy that, Spectre-5. Give him one more day." Hera replied.

"This decoder better be worth the risk." Kanan said.

"What's the alternative?" She asked.

"Yeah, do you not want to stop the Kyber shipment like I do? Because I've actually seen what the Empire can do with a crystal like that." Errol stated.

"I know, nothing good." Kanan sighed.

"So we give Ezra one more day." Hera stayed with her decision.

Some more time has passed and Errol got some food to eat and had just finished eating some noodles while Hera and Kanan just finished energy bars when Sabine called them up again.

"Spectre-5 to Ghost. Sending coordinates for Imperial jump route. If you leave now, you should still be able to intercept." She told them.

"Coordinates received. We're heading out." Hera replied, piloting the ship to said coordinates.

"Good work, Spectre-5, and you too, Spectre-7." Kanan complimented.

"Uh, Spectre-7 isn't with us." Sabine revealed, shocking them all.

"What?! Where is he?" He asked as they entered Hyperspace.

"Spectre-5, repeat! Where's Spectre-7?!" He asked again, though it was pointless.

"Kanan, it's no use, we're out of range." Errol said to calm him down.

"All we can do now is complete the mission and get back as soon as possible." Hera added.

Errol got into the main turret while Kanan got onboard the Phantom as they exited Hyperspace to the coordinates where three Imperial ships were flying towards them next to an asteroid belt.

"Kanan, Errol, there are three ships. And we'll only get one shot at this." Hera cautioned the Jedi.

"The Kyber crystal resonates with the Force." Kanan said as he tuned in to find the crystal, as did Errol. They both found that it was in the middle ship.

"It's in the middle ship." Kanan told her.

"You sure?" She asked him.

"I can confirm that." Errol backed up his fellow Jedi. Kanan then detached the Phantom and flew right to the ships as TIE Fighters detached and flew to intercept.

Kanan fired at them and destroyed one of them.

"Come on, boys. Take the bait." He said as he flew past the three ships and more TIEs chased after him. They took it.

"Hera, Errol, you're good to go." He told them.

"Copy that." Hera replied. They then flew to the ships that started firing at them and Errol fired the turret back at them and some of their shots hit the Ghost, shaking it a bit.

"Keep this big girl, steady, Hera." Errol said.

"Do you know who you're talking to, love?" Hera questioned him as she frowned in determination, flying right to the Imperial ships. Errol fired back and then Hera pulled the ship up and attracted their attention from more TIEs as the middle ship was about to head into Hyperspace.

"Hera, that transport's gonna be gone any second and the cargo along with it. Take your shot!" Kanan reminded the Twi'lek. She flew directly to the ships again and when she got close enough, Errol fired at it, causing it to explode.

"Let's get out of here!" Errol yelled and so they and Kanan flew away with the TIEs behind them as the Kyber crystal exploded and the blast wave was spreading far.

"Hera!" Kanan shouted, seeing the wave close to the Phantom.

"I see it! Come on!" She told him.

The wave destroyed all the TIEs and then with ease, Kanan attached to the Ghost and Hera instantly got into Hyperspace to Lothal.

"That was close." Errol commented as he got into the cockpit and sat in the co-pilot seat.

"Now we can head back and see what is going on with Ezra." Hera then said.

They made it back to Lothal and were informed of what happened. That Ezra was helping two other Imperial Cadets who realised how evil it was and helped one of them escape. The other stayed so that he could find out what happened to his sister.

Everyone met out somewhere in the plains and Hera talked with the former cadet named Jai.

"Jai, we'll take you to your mother, but you'll both have to go into hiding." She went into her motherly mode, which warmed Errol's heart. She would make a great mother if/when she has children.

"Yeah, from the Empire. No problem." Jai said as he walked up the ramp.

"We'll help with that as well." Errol said as everyone, except for Ezra walked up the ramp into the Ghost.

Kanan came out and saw that Ezra was perfectly fine.

"So how was it, kid?" He asked the teen, about being undercover.

"Forgot what it was like to be on my own." Ezra pointed out.

"You miss it?" Kanan asked.

"No grumpy robots, no smelly Lasats. It's good to be back." He smirked.

"At ease, cadet." Kanan chuckled, walking up the ramp.

"Sir, yes, sir." Ezra saluted and ran in to join up with the others.

This chapter is extremely short, I know but that just happens when you write with characters that have a small role in an episode like this one.