Yes I am back with a chapter. I'm glad you guys enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you'll enjoy this one just as much or more. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the fact that you took the time to leave me a few words makes my day. As I said before and am saying again I may not update regularly or quickly I am very busy. I am a junior in high school and between AP classes, MESA, participation in multiple bands, Chess club, and acting as Stage manager for a play I don't usually have a lot of time. I really enjoy writing so that's why this is here. I want to say thank you again to those of you who left a review. I really do appreciate you taking the time to leave a message for me or a few tips. They make me a better writer and help me think more about what I'm writing. Also I am kinda AUing some of Kanan's past hopefully parts of this chapter will make up for some of the last chapter's plot holes.
Ezra's head snapped back as the man slapped Ezra hard in the face. Stars erupted in his eyes. His head lolled forward and Ezra let it rest there as he tried to breath through the fuzziness in his head. The man gripped Ezra's hair and roughly yanked his head up.
"What is your name?" the General hissed voice low and seething.
Struggling to fight his pain Ezra defiantly glared back loathing eyes meeting the cold and cruel ones of the general. There were several tense moments as both stared each other down noses only inches apart. The door slid open causing the moment to snap. Five storm troopers then flooded into the room. Slowly the General stood breaking eye contact to meet the inquiring soldiers. His expression was soured and he looked disgustedly at them.
"It's nice to see we have such a quick response team on this base" The general spoke sarcastically.
The men made no response other than an awkward incline of their heads. At this point the Lieutenant stepped forward. Nervously he cleared his throat.
"Recent orders have placed the majority of our men guarding our perimeters and entries. I informed them of our containing the breach. Haste seemed secondary to leaving their posts without proper communications"
The general turned his condescending eye on the Lieutenant making the man physically shrink back. A cold stone of silence fell created by the General's vehement glare.
"Very well Lieutenant"
He seethingly replied.
"I hope upon my further inspection I find the perimeters as well guarded as you've stated. Though I think it will come as a surprise in my report when I include our mysterious intruder in my detailed and weighty report."
The Lieutenant paled eyes growing wide as saucers in alarm. The General then turned to leave.
"Put the boy in the detention cells. We'll continue our conversation away from unnecessary disturbances. Of course after I have a discussion with the Lieutenant about the base's protocol. And don't forget to remove his ear piece. Track it. I want to find all the perpetrators."
"Yes Sir" The Lieutenant stuttered. He saluted as did the other troopers all of them stepping aside letting the General walk by and out of the office. Several men followed after acting as escorts. The door shut behind them and the pale Lieutenant let out a shaky breath. Turning to view Ezra he said
"Take this intruder to the detention cells as soon as you've placed and secured him report back to me."
The troopers saluted and walked over to haul Ezra off.
Ezra during this time had been very quiet and still. His leg throbbed and despite his hands being firmly pressed against it blood continued to leak out. The hits in the head weren't helping him much either and he found himself struggling to think clearly. Blood loss was obviously beginning to affect him and he was feeling weak and exhausted. During his bouts of clarity that lay between the for Ezra tried to come up with a solution to his predicament. He thought about trying to slip out when the storm troopers had entered but dismissed that idea because their attentive eyes had stayed on him and the general.
Ezra with all this happening was scared. Completely and unashamedly afraid. The General had shot him within seconds of seeing him and Ezra could only imagine spending hours being interrogated by the man. Ezra inadvertently shuddered as a chill went through him wen he heard the General's voice promise to continue their "talk". He wasn't sure if he was going to get out of this or not. He missed the crew and was finding himself craving Zeb's teasing and Hera's warm smile. Kanan and his strange talk about the force and Sabine's graffiti even sounded appealing to him. He desperately wanted some kind of comfort. Thinking this thought he immediately withdrew from it. They might not want him back for screwing up the mission. Not only that the Empire now had the ear piece. Hopefully Hera would catch on quickly and cut off the signal. Still Ezra's screw up had placed the entire crew in a plethora of emotions Ezra tightly shut his eyes trying to imagine a soft memory of him and his parents in the dry grass fields of Lothal on a picnic. It was the memory he always used to use when he went back to the abandoned house stomach shrunk from another day without food and heart heavy from the jeering and glares sent his way through out the day. Right now though he was having a hard time picturing the light breeze and joyful feelings of love and hope.
Before grabbing Ezra one of the troopers took out Ezra's ear piece and Lieutenant watched as the two remaining storm troopers lifted Ezra up by the arm pits and began dragging him out. Just as they left out the door the Lieutenant spoke noticing the bleeding increasing in Ezra's leg.
"Bandage his leg. We can't risk incurring General Akshay's wrath by letting the boy die."
The men nodded and continued moving dragging a stumbling and half walking Ezra with them. The Lieutenant no left by himself sand at his desk fearing for hi sjob after the General's threat in reply to the Lieutenant's explanation.
As the Men dragged Ezra along he felt the blood flow increase in the hole in his leg. Not helping was the pain being inflamed by the disturbance of the forced movement. As they roughly pulled him along it got worse and Ezra's head swam even more. Thinking suddenly of a plan Ezra began breathing more heavily. Stripped of energy and seeing an opportunity Ezra collapsed. The soldiers not expecting the dead weight let him fall to the ground. Ezra lay there eyesight blurred. He heard the soldiers shout at him several times but he ignored it trying to collect himself as he saw his chance coming.
As soon as the kid went limp the soldiers had released him in surprise. Looking at him they waited for him to get back up but he stayed there.
"Get up!" the first trooper barked. There was a short silence as they waited for him to respond.
"Get Up!" He yelled louder this time but still the kid didn't even stir. Fed up he crouched down to look at the kid. Without warning the kid kicked out with his good leg knocking the man down.
Scrambling to get the gun Ezra launched himself forward tearing the gun from the momentarily surprised Storm trooper. He whipped around and blindly fired at the other storm trooper both shooting at the same time. Ezra luckily was hit in the shoulder; sent sprawling back pain erupting from his shoulder. The other man less lucky then Ezra was hit directly in the chest by Ezra's desperate shot. He crumpled to the ground dead. The other man had recovered by now and tore his gun from Ezra's lax fingers.
Ezra squeezed his eyes shut at the new pain. It immobilized him and more precious blood was leaking out wasted by Ezra's reckless attempt to escape. His hand was clutched over the shoulder and he was cursing himself for trying to escape with every roll of pain. He was suddenly aware of his surroundings as he felt the gun pulled from him. He opened his eyes just in time to see the trooper bash him over the head with the but of his gun. Instantly Ezra was out.
The soldier breathing hard from adrenaline stepped back now that the immediate threat was displaced. He turned his eyes to his companion and saw the dead body. Silently swearing he called in back up to administer to the prisoner and finish the escort. The Lieutenant was not going to be happy. With this unpleasant thought came the thought of General Akshay. The trooper grew alarmingly pale behind his mask. This was not good.
Hera was seated in the cockpit mapping out the route to the base. To sneak in it would've taken at least a day maybe many more. However Kanan wasn't worried about stealth in this case. He wanted to blast in there and blast out. Timing would be tricky. They wanted to be dropped off several minutes after the bomb would go off. The pandemonium would be a perfect cover and the presence of their ship would be an afterthought. The effect of course would only last for a while and lucky for them the detention cells were far away from the center of attention, the unfortunate Lieutenant's office.
Hera sighed. It was risky but far better than trying to get in there without the bomb. There was the possibility that the bomb had been found but according to what Hera had stopped to listen to the Empire had no idea it was there. As soon as the ear piece had been taken away from Ezra she had disconnected it. Somehow it made her fell guilty despite it being necessary to keep the crew safe. It felt as if she was cutting off her only connection with Ezra at the moment. Sighing she set herself back to the task. Her mind however quickly began to wander again. Usually Kanan would have never agreed to sending Ezra off by himself. She remembered the mission at the academy where Kanan had literally going crazy not knowing if Ezra was ok. This mission was special to Kanan though. General Akshay had been one of the men involved in the destruction of the Jedi Order and ultimately the death of Kanan's master. It was what had made Hera less certain about this mission. Kanan didn't think clearly when motivated by emotion, it was what made the influence of the force so important to him. Now Ezra stood at a precipice. He could die because they had rushed the concoction of the mission.
Hera knew it was her fault too. She should have told Kanan that it was too risky that they should wait and hold off. General Akshay could be taken down another day. Her emotions unfortunately had blinded her too. She hated the Empire and anything seemed in the throes of anger a worthy and willing sacrifice. The guilt however was slowly ebbing her once stone determination. They had discovered the intel of General Akshay's visit only a day before and the gem of opportunity had shone too bright. Greed in making the Empire pay was now becoming a double-edged sword. Hera stopped and leaned her head against her hand. Ezra was paying for her and Kanan's lack of judgement. It was unspoken but everyone kept an eye out for Ezra trying to ensure his safety. His ability and talent did not cover up the fact that Ezra was still just a child. Hera's child, the whole crew's child. They had taken him in and they had decided making a decision that fateful day in the cockpit on whether or not he was worth it. And now she had just broken the very thing she had silently sworn when she had asked Kanan if Ezra could stay.
Sabine was in her room sorting her bombs. Carefully she laid them out and prepared them for the upcoming party crash. They were going to surprise the Empire with more than just one bomb. Her thoughts turned to Ezra as she picked up each thing and gently examined it. He was kinda like that annoying kid brother she had never had. The Empire had taken all her family from her. He was bothersome and rude and absolutely idiotic. She almost couldn't believe half the time that he was still trying to flirt with her. She thought back to the time right after Kanan and Ezra had returned from fighting the Inquisitor. He had been subdued and depressed. She remembered turning the old memory card in her hand considering when to give it to Ezra. It had taken her a while but seeing Ezra staring off into space she had felt inspired. Unlike inspiration she usually felt for art this was more soft and gentle. It was with a caring love and worry that she had handed it over to Ezra. And with a striking similarity to the contentment when she finished a painting she watched Ezra's eyes light up at the picture of his family. Gulping hard Sabine smiled. Ezra was her annoying kid brother and what the Empire had taken away her little motley crew had given back. Sometimes it felt really good to have a family. And right now one of the most important parts of that family needed help.
Ok I'm done with that chapter. I hope it satisfies you all just as much as the last. I think I'll try to update weekly but again as I said I'm not sure if that will be regular. Please leave me a review give me some sort of feed back and tell me what I'm doing wrong. I wanted to real quick send a thank you to Jillie Chan for her review I hope I cleared a few plot holes and though rough I hope the story got back some appeal.
Good Night! Or Good morning! Live long and prosper! And don't expect me till at least next Monday!