Mission after mission flew past, Ben taught him how to fly the lambda class shuttle they were using as transport, he learned how to repair it while helping out the technicians on board the Chariot. The outer rim was a hive of pirate activity and his squad was constantly deployed, some pirates were competent with guards and gun emplacements around their camps, others got drunk every night and were slaughtered in their state of insobriety.
Ezra didn't think about the killing too much, it was somewhat telling of the conditioning the Empire ran it's troops through, yet also it clearly showed the pirate pandemic that was constraining the outer rim. Ezra happened to spend his short periods of free time between: deployments, shadowing technicians and doing the few minor chores he was given, however he also spent time training. Ben had been a fencing champion in his youth on Alderaan and many of the skills and moves he knew could be converted to the use of an electrobaton, the same moves and skills he taught Ezra, he also spent his time training recalibrating the DLT-19 repeating blaster, EC-17 hold out blaster and A280C he had chosen from the armour to be his standard loadouts.
While the Chariot was being repaired the squad, like much of the crew, were lounging around at a way station set up for refuelling in the corporate sector. Ben took Ezra to a few Cantina's and to experience nightlife; on the promise that Ezra made sure Ben didn't sleep with anyone. Ezra happened to develop a taste for Mandalorian Gin, a slight misnomer as it was a silky smooth drink that had a sharp aftertaste, and corellian brandy- it was cheap and also a good replacement for oil as a lubricant. However the squad's R&R was cut short when they were deployed to Corellia alongside 12 other squads of scout troopers and 8 squads of stormtroopers after a possible Jedi sighting.
He was almost positive nothing would come of it, however they were all still equipped with standard gear as well as flash grenades and an electrobaton each. Their squad was on their third day of searching and along with 2 other squads had been assigned to check a warehouse, their temporary squad captain pulled the short straw so they were expected to explore the warehouse while the other two squads waited outside as 'guards'.
Ezra was barely glancing over the shadows with the glow rod attached to his E-11, he had been given for the mission, he wasn't expecting anything to happen, all the Jedi were dead. The captain was the first to realise the mistake of listening to Imperial propaganda as he was sliced in half vertically, a brief hiss and a flash of light was the only warning of the attack. They were being hunted by shadows.
Ezra's already uneasy gut seemed to churn in despair and he ducked away from the wall he had been shadowing, a snap hiss was the only warning as a lightsaber snatched at where his body had been previously, he was already firing, however the Jedi was gone in an instant. His gut seemed to be trying to force its way out of his back as he span on his heels, ducking low and firing blindly, he caught a glance at Ben who was crumpled against a wall, his head resting against the jagged remains of a metal pipe which had tore the side of his helmet open; his shots had missed the Jedi, however warded them away from Ben.
A game of cat and mouse was not what Ezra wanted and the remainder of his squad seemed to agree, one member was smart as he threw several glow rods around the room, illuminating the shadows, however he was attacked from above in a storm of blows that left him in pieces. Ezra dived to one side, having seen a fizzle of green out of the corner of his eye, the Jedi landed where he would have been, the blade slicing through the duracrete like a harvest droid through grass. Ezra fired on the Jedi who, like a wrath, was gone before the blaster bolts could connect, the only evidence left behind being the blaster burns on the wall and the duracrete that was red hot and cooling. He was madly scanning the rafters when his gut seemed to physically pull him towards Ben and he saw the Jedi jumping for his friend. He fired and fired, the blaster bolts were harmlessly deflected into the walls before his E-11 was wrenched from his grasp, shattering against the duracrete walls. His hands went to his waist and he yanked his electro-baton free from where it had previously rested, innocent to the events occurring around it.
His baton snapped up to block what could have been a decapitating blow, his knee automatically driving forwards for a kick against an opponent who wasn't there. The Jedi had disappeared once again. He slowly turned on his heels, scanning the room, his gut saved him once again. The Jedi had been crouched behind a crate and once Ezra had turned to face him, they had lunged forwards, their lightsaber activating with a snap hiss, however it was pushed to one side with his electro-baton while his hand yanked the vibro-dagger from his hip, a gift from Ben for saving his life on their first mission, the dagger found itself buried in the Jedi's throat.
The Jedi's last action was to crush their lightsaber in a durasteel grip, they didn't even try to stem the bleeding, their life blood was spurting out of their throat and with a single minded determinism, they crushed the hilt of their lightsaber, a bone shaking scream originating from the hilt as it shattered. Ezra couldn't help himself as he rummaged through the remains of the lightsaber hilt, such a deadly weapon should not be able to fit into such a small package. He found a crystal in the remains, it was cracked though still in one piece, he pocketed it without really thinking as he picked up him comms, he called in the 'guards' who had located to a local cantina, he also called in the death of the Jedi to the imperial command on the planet while asking for medevac for an injured trooper and for the dead to be collected.
Ben happened to be alive, he was missing a chunk from his ear, however he would live. He searched the warehouse, finding a painted mural of a clone on the back wall next to what must be a makeshift bed. He rummaged around and found a data pad he pulled from the layers that made up the bed. He powered it on and found it lacked a password, however the only application of it was a diary.
Thanks for reading this story, lease review.
regards,
Ding 007