There were Storm Troopers everywhere.
Ezra simply couldn't begin to count, there were just so many.
He wondered if it had to do with the incident the day before.
Since he knew Capital City like the back of his hand, he couldn't remember a time – other than that time the Star Destroyer loomed over the city for a few days – where there had been so many Imperial soldiers storming the joint like they owned the place.
He had been eyeing off the entrance to an air duct for some time now but had taken no advance for there were just too many soldiers.
Earlier that day, the kid had tried to get the prototype of a cloaking device to work on him. His first attempt was successful, but it took him half the day to become visible again. The second attempt failed completely, having had the circuits randomly decide to backfire and burn the top of his hand.
Thinking about it made his hand ache.
A Storm Trooper strolled by, and Ezra hid behind an Imperial Troop Transport Vehicle that had been parked near the outer walls of the prison building. There were rows of ITTV's here, but not enough to hide him long enough to get inside.
He had to get into that ventilation system, but how?
Another Imperial soldier came into view and stopped. He only seemed to be looking about in one direction, but Ezra stayed as still as could. After what felt like years, the Storm Trooper turned and walked back the way he came, and the teen let out a sigh of relief.
He glanced around the corner of the vehicle again and scanned the building's high walls once more for any alternate entrances to any other air vents, ducking away whenever a spotlight approached his position.
His eyes settled back onto the duct entrance he had been contemplating for some time now, the easiest one to get to by far, but there were at least four or five soldiers standing around. There was no way to get there.
Unless I caused a distraction…
Ezra removed the backpack he always carried with him and felt around for a homemade explosive device. He had taken the liberty to carry one around with him in case of an important mission he may ever come across.
I guess this is the important mission I've been waiting for.
He'd been hoping for something like the ultimate destruction of a Star Destroyer, or the ultimate collapse of the Lothal Senate Building.
But this will have to do for now.
After a while of scavenging, Ezra's hand grasped a large, round device and pulled it out. It had a time limit of up to five minutes before it went off… or, it was supposed to.
He remembered a time when he had almost brought the whole communications tower down.
Ezra winced.
He looked between the row of ITTV's and found an unguarded wall. Without hesitation he snuck over to the area, keeping himself low to the ground, but as soon as he reached the wall he stopped.
If the boy were to plant the mine inside a vehicle, it could look like an accident.
He glanced around and saw one of the vehicles driver's doors was open. He waited, for he could sense a Storm Trooper inside, probably fixing some of the controls.
Perfect.
A few moments passed and the soldier stepped out and walked around the side of another vehicle. Carefully, Ezra made his way in and placed the explosive device underneath the main control booth. There, he activated it for a one-minute time slot. Glancing around quickly to make sure the coast was clear he made his way back to the area he was hiding in before. With as much distance put between him and his hand-crafted explosive device, he waited.
Man, I hope this works.
Ezra covered his head with his hands as he counted down.
Three.
Two.
One.
An almighty explosion rattled the ground and knocked the parked vehicles as the ones closest to the blast pushed them outwards.
The kid held his position momentarily to make sure the air vent was clear before he bolted over as fast his legs could take him. As swiftly as he could muster, Ezra pulled out the clamp and opened the barred hatch. He climbed in head-first and allowed the hatch to shut behind him.
Darkness obscured his vision as he began crawling through the tight space.
The teen made a left, then a right, and headed straight for a time before the Force touched his mind and caused him to stop in his tracks.
He could sense his Jedi friend he hadn't quite met face-to-face just yet, and using this as an anchor, he continued through the ventilation system.
At times Ezra had to pause to reduce making noise when a Storm Trooper was nearby. He didn't know if it was a normal Jedi thing or not, but he could tell how many soldiers were in a room even when he couldn't see them. He suspected his ability to will a precognition was less common than the ability to sense other bodies, so he shrugged this assumption off.
The kid would get some answers soon… hopefully.
After some time within the confined spaces of the air vents, twisting awkwardly this way and bending stiffly that way, Ezra came to a barred hatch that led into a brightly lit hall.
He grabbed his screwdriver after silently battling to grip it in such a tight area – hitting his head noisily at one point with the word "ow" closely following afterwards – and fiddled with the clamp until it pulled up, unlocking the hatch. He poked his head out to look around before crawling out as quietly as he could. It didn't help that some of his stuff in his bag was making a muffled 'clanging' sound.
The teen closed the small door and stood up. He glanced around again and headed left before stopping at a corner to bent right into a hall.
Ezra's Jedi friend was close, but so were two Storm Troopers guarding the cell.
The need to use his laser swords at this point was there, but when he looked down at the handle, his finger hovering just above the ignition button, he thought, I guess this could be useful without the blades.
As soon as he strolled around the corner, the Imperial soldiers quickly noticed and, with a swift gesture of raising their blasters, one announced loudly, "halt!"
Ezra looked around innocently, acting confused, then glanced back at the white armoured soldier and said, "Who, me? Oh, don't mind me. I'm just a little lost."
The Storm Trooper who had spoken lowered his gun slightly, suggesting puzzlement.
"Could you point me in the right direction?" Ezra asked, trying to look small and naïve.
The first soldier glanced back at the second as if considering whether to help or not. The second Storm Trooper only shrugged, and before the first could answer Ezra hurled his lightsaber's hilt as hard as he could onto the soldier's head.
As he stumbled, stunned, the second fired, but the teen flicked on one of his laser swords on to deflect the plasma bullet, then extinguished it again to hit the first on the back of the head, knocking him out. Meanwhile, the deflected bullet scarred the second Storm Troopers hand, causing him to drop his gun. At this point Ezra had tripped him over and thwacked him hard on the head, knocking him out too.
The boy looked down at the two soldiers who had been standing guard moments ago and said, "Hmm, I think I did alright."
He hooked his lightsaber back onto his belt and brought out his handy screwdriver. He wandered over to the security access panel and slid the screwdriver into a small hole below it. The gadget spun once and clicked, then began to hack its way into the system to get the door to open. It was similar to the ones used by Astromech droids.
Ezra leaned on the frame of the door and thought as he waited.
He had been thinking a lot about this Jedi and whether or not he would be able to go with them. He was sick of Lothal, sick of the Empire, sick of these… these, bucket heads. He hated it all and wanted to get out so badly now. He felt this was his only chance. Sure, the kid would miss some of the perks of stealing and purposely causing trouble among the Storm Troopers, but he sensed there was something bigger out there awaiting him, something he was destined to do, or destined to be.
The Force jolted the kid out of his thoughts as an Imperial soldier appeared around the corner. It took him a little while to realize Ezra standing there for the teen was standing so still, but when he did he nearly shouted in confusion, "Hey, what are you doing?"
As calmly as if he had just noticed the Storm Trooper, the kid looked at him and said, "Oh, how's it going?"
Before the soldier could respond, Ezra lifted a hand and waved it in front of him, concentrating on the trooper. "You did not see anything," he said.
A moment passed, and the soldier repeated, "I… did not see anything."
"You have to go back to work now," said the boy, his hand suspended in the air.
"I… have to go back to work now," echoed the Storm Trooper. Without another sound he turned and headed back in the direction he had some from.
Ezra let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and lowered him arm.
He had manipulated plenty of Storm Troopers before, but this felt more intense.
Probably because I'm in the middle of saving some possibly important people who will hopefully take me with them far away from here.
Just as he turned to face the access panel, the door slid open, and four pairs of eyes stared curiously at him.