Chapter Two
For a moment, a dead silence hung over the landing field.
The Rebel troopers shifted uncomfortably, their blaster pistols still pointing at Ezra. Zeb's purple face was contorted in a look of amazement. And on Sabine's pale face was a look of mixed joy and shock.
"Ezra?" she asked, her tone laden with disbelief. When the young man didn't dissolve into vapour or collapse from a fatal wound, as he had so often in her dreams of late, Sabine leapt forward and flung her arms around him in a crushing embrace. She felt Ezra tense in surprise, his body going rigid for a moment. Then he relaxed, and brought his arms up to return her embrace, pulling her into a warm hug. For a long moment, Sabine hugged Ezra tightly, her arms holding him close, noting in surprise that Ezra's lanky frame had adopted some muscle in his three-month absence.
After another moment, Sabine released Ezra and her friend let her go. Taking a step back, she surveyed the younger human, taking in his jet-black outfit couldn't hide his increased height and developed muscle. More than his physique had changed, with his jaw growing more defined, some of the childhood fat having vanished. His face had grown paler in his absence, throwing the two dark scars on the right side of his forehead into sharp relief. But the greatest change that Sabine could detect was in Ezra's eyes. Once they had shone with a bright innocence and carefreeness that had been Ezra's hallmark. There was no trace of levity in the boy's eyes now, and they stared out at Sabine and her comrades with a cold, hard intensity.
"I can't believe you're alive," Sabine said, her voice filled with wonder and a bit of uneasiness.
"Yeah," Zeb added, "We thought for sure Maul was going to kill you as soon as we left that asteroid."
A flash of emotion crossed Ezra's face at the mention of the Dark-Sider, but he didn't say anything.
Sabine raised an eyebrow at his silence, and looked at him closely.
"Where have you been, Ezra? It's been three whole months since you stayed behind with Maul."
"And why did you attack our troopers?" Zeb asked angrily.
Ezra gave the Lasat a cold glare.
"They pointed their guns at me," he said flatly.
"Because you came down without any notice and in an unidentified ship!" Zeb growled back.
"Nice paint job by the way," Sabine interjected, glancing at the jet-black A-Wing that was parked a dozen meters away.
"A bit unimaginative," she continued, throwing Ezra an amused smirk, "You know, there are other colors in the universe besides black."
An almost-smile appeared on Ezra's face, his hard expression softening for a moment.
"Yeah, stygian-prismatic polymer doesn't really come in any other colors," he replied, "But the stealth features definitely make up for it."
For the first time since his arrival, he grinned ever so slightly.
"Your A-Wings could barely see me, let alone catch me."
"Is that really stygian polymer?" Sabine asked in, her voice awash with awe, "That stuff's almost impossible to find!" She took a step towards the A-Wing, peering at the starfighter's matte-black paint.
"My master knows how to find the impossible," Ezra replied with a hint of smugness in his voice.
"In fact," he added, turning his gaze back to an impatient-looking Zeb and the Rebel troopers, who had now lowered their sidearms.
"That's why I'm here. To talk to Hera and Commander Sato about helping them find something that's hard to get."
Zeb glared at him and huffed angrily.
"What makes you think they want to see you?"
Ezra's face grew angry as well, and he began to raise his right hand in the Lasat's direction when Sabine quickly grabbed the limb and pushed it back down.
"Hey, hey, there's no need to fight," she declared, "We're all on the same side here."
"Oh yeah?" Zeb bit back.
"Tell that to them, he said, gesticulating to the unconscious troopers scattered across the landing field.
"They'll be fine in a few hours," Ezra replied with a hint of steel in his voice, "And next time they'll think twice about pointing a blaster at me."
Zeb growled again and moved towards Ezra, his muscles rippling in anger.
"Okay, okay, let's all just calm down," Sabine said hastily, stepping in between the human and the Lasat.
She looked at Zeb, "Zeb, why don't you and the troopers look after our injured. I'll take Ezra to see Hera and Sato."
She gave the Lasat a very firm look, holding his gaze until he gave a grunt of assent.
Stepping around Sabine, Zeb headed off towards the fallen troopers, throwing Ezra a dirty look as he did. The ten Rebel troopers paused for a moment, looking at Ezra cautiously. But Sabine waved them off reassuringly, and they turned to follow Zeb.
Looking back at Ezra, Sabine gestured towards the bunker that housed the command center.
"Come on Ezra, let's go."
The young man nodded and stepped to Sabine's side. Together the two of them exited the landing field and entered the command center. As they entered the main chamber, Sabine saw both Hera and Sato standing around the main holoprojector, a tactical representation of an Imperial Battle Fleet hovering in front of them.
"Hera," Sabine called out, "Look who's come home!"
The green-skinned Twi'lek turned quickly to face Sabine, her long lekku swaying behind her as she did. When she saw Ezra, her pale green eyes widened in surprise and joyful expression.
"Ezra!" she cried out, dropping the datapad she'd been carrying and dashing over to the young man, her arms spread wide. This time, Ezra didn't accept the hug, throwing up a hand, palm-first and Hera skidded to a stop, as if hitting an invisible wall. The Twi'lek captain stumbled backwards, her slender face contorted in surprise.
"Hera…." Ezra ground out slowly, the words coming almost to painfully to Sabine's ears.
"Just don't."
The Twi'lek stared at him in confusion, her eyes wavering with hurt.
"Ezra, where have you been? What did Maul do to you?"
Ezra shook his head once, a sharp and dismissive motion.
"That's not important," he replied curtly, turning his cold gaze to Commander Sato. The greying officer had been studying Ezra with an inscrutable expression on his weathered face.
"Commander, I'm here to offer you an opportunity."
Sato's expression remained inscrutable, but his brown eyes hardened.
"Lieutenant Commander Bridger," he barked, "You abandoned your post three months ago. You embarked on an unauthorized mission to rescue Captain Syndulla and went off the grid completely, taking your A-Wing with you."
His voice was as cold as vardium steel and Sabine could see Ezra's cool confidence waver just a fraction under the Commander's biting tirade.
"Are you now returning to active duty, Lieutenant Commander? Or are you here for something else?"
Ezra met Sato's unyielding stare without flinching and looked at him for a moment before speaking.
"I'm not part of your squadron anymore, Commander," he said evenly. Sabine couldn't detect more than a hint of the anger he'd shown towards Zeb in his voice.
"But," he continued, forestalling Sato's angry response, "I still have some information for you. Information I know you'll find valuable."
Sato frowned, an expression of disapproval emblazoning itself on his face.
"I'm listening," he said, a grudging note in his voice.
Ezra threw a glance at Hera, who was staring at the young man with a mixed look of sadness and resignation.
"You were looking for proton bombs when I was still here," he began, "Without me or Kanan to help you, I'm guessing you haven't found any yet."
A flash of anger crossed Sato's face at the implication that his men were helpless without the aid of Jedi. Sensing the start of another tirade, Sabine quickly spoke up.
"No, Ezra," she said, "We haven't found any."
Ezra threw her a brief smile, thankful for her support.
"My master and I have located a large supply of them," he continued, "And I can lead you to them."
"Why does Maul want to help us?" Hera asked, a look of horror on her face at Ezra's reference to Maul as his master.
"Yeah," Sabine added, turning a quizzical look on Ezra.
"Last time we saw him, Maul nearly killed us all," her voice grew heated at the memories of being completely overwhelmed by the Force-Wielder and his invisible power.
"Now he suddenly wants to help us acquire weapons?"
Ezra hesitated for a moment and Sabine almost expected him to rub the back of his head, as he usually did when he was nervous or abashed.
"Maul has his own reasons for wanting the Empire to fall," he said, albeit with diminished confidence.
"As do we all," he gestured at the occupants of the room.
"Helping you acquire proton bombs will only make you stronger and lead to the destruction of the Empire's factory on Lothal."
Sato looked pensive for a long moment, his brow furrowed in thought.
"Where are these proton bombs?" Hera asked, her tone wary.
"That's the tricky part," Ezra replied with a hint of his old humor. He gestured to the hologram pod in the center of the command center.
"I can show you."
Sato looked at him for another moment, then gave him a nod of assent.
Ezra strode to the circular pod and withdrew a slim datacard from one his flightsuit pockets. Inserting the card into one of the pod's data ports, he stepped back and blue light shimmered around the projection cone. The tactical display of the five Star Destroyers vanished and was replaced by an image of an agrarian planet, mostly covered in green-brown continents with a few small oceans scattered in between.
"The bombs I found were on the planet Agamar," Ezra said.
The image changed to that of a derelict warship, lying on a snowy field, near the edge of a yawning crevice. The ship resembled a wide sphere broken into two halves, with a short rectangle connecting the two. The lower half of both spheres was completely flattened, no doubt having been crumpled in the crash that had marooned the vessel.
"That's an old Trade Federation supply ship," Sato remarked, his voice going distant with recollection.
"That's right," Ezra confirmed, "This one was actually part of the Separatist Fleet, back in the Clone Wars. It crashed near the southern pole of Agamar during the battle there and was missed by the Imperial cleanup teams after the war ended."
He tapped a key on the pod and the image changed again to a hangar interior. The interior was crowded with catwalks, cargo pods and dozens of squat supply crates. The image hovered on one crate that was half-open, a row of long, slim grey cylinders visible within, a circle of red bezels visible at each of the cylinders.
"The ship was carrying a full supply of proton bombs," Ezra said with a note of smugness, "They're still there, just waiting for you to take them."
Sato and Hera both drew closer, studying the hologram carefully.
"How many proton bombs are in there?" Sato asked.
"I counted at least a dozen crates," Ezra said, "More than enough for you level the Imperial Factory on Lothal."
"Very well," Sato replied, a note of satisfaction in his voice.
"We'll send a recon team to scout out the location and confirm your findings. If they turn out to be accurate, I'll order a retrieval team to be prepared."
"Don't bother," Ezra rejoined smugly, pulling another datacard from a pocket and handing it to Sato.
"I already did a full recon when I found it. All the details are in there."
Sato raised an eyebrow and accepted the datacard.
"Impressive, Lieutenant Commander," he allowed, "I will review this data with Captain Syndulla. Once we are convinced that it is genuine, we'll prepare a team for you to lead to Agamar. In the meantime, you may remain on our base."
He raised a finger, "Just don't attack any more of my people."
"Wait a minute," Hera said in alarm, "Commander, he's not part of our squadron anymore. We can't let him lead our people anywhere."
Her voice rose in pitch, "Sir, this could all be a trap, set by Maul to destroy our entire group."
Sato shook his head, "We will have our best people review the data, Captain Syndulla. If there are any falsifications, we will detect them. But we need these proton bombs."
He turned to look at Ezra, "And I trust our young friend here. He has not failed us yet. And if he is the one that scouted this supply ship, he is the best person to lead us there."
The aged commander turned and headed out of the command center for one of the smaller analysis rooms that lay deeper within the structure. Hera hesitated and threw a single look at Ezra that mixed concern and regret, and then she too turned away and followed Sato out of the room.
Ezra watched them leave, his gaze lingering on Hera's retreating form until the durasteel blast doors sealed behind her. Loosing a single deep sigh, the young man bent down to retrieve his datacard from the projector. Once he had, he turned to Sabine, a hesitant look on his pale face, as if he wasn't sure he should ask this at all.
"Hey Sabine," he began, his voice going low and losing all of the calm confidence he'd displayed moments before.
The Mandalorian girl looked at her friend with open concern and stepped closer to him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"What is it, Ezra?"
Ezra dropped his gaze to the featureless floor.
"Has Kanan been back since I left?"
Sabine sighed and shook her head.
"I'm sorry, Ezra. Nobody's seen him since he disappeared into the desert."
Ezra blew out his breath and raised his face to look at her.
"It's just…it's been seven months, Sabine. You guys didn't hear anything while I was gone? Not even a comm transmission?"
"Nothing, Ezra," she replied sadly, "Hera even convinced Sato to send a full search party into the desert for him after we got back from Maul's asteroid. She was hoping he could help us find you and rescue you from Maul. They looked for three whole weeks and didn't find a thing."
Something seemed to die inside Ezra then. The hint of human emotion vanished from his scarred face and he straightened up.
"Thanks, Sabine," he said in a flat tone, "If Sato and Hera need me, I'll be at the top of the mesa."
Turning, he left the command center without another word, the heavy blast doors hissing shut behind him. Standing alone in the dimly-lit chamber, Sabine stared at the cold, grey metal and wondered when her family had broken apart so completely. And if she'd ever be able to put it back together.