"Right. I'm done waiting." Kanan announced as he entered the cockpit. He received three stares and Chopper's silence in response. "What? Don't tell me you aren't feeling the same?"
"Of course we are, love, but are you sure this is wise? Ezra did say to trust him." Hera didn't seem too convinced by her own argument.
"I know he did, but something's wrong. He didn't get in contact last night, and- frankly- I'm done standing to the side." Kanan tried not to let his impatience show too much.
"I'm with Kanan." Zeb nodded at the Jedi. "Kit can handle himself out there, but this has been going on for too long."
"So it's settled then?" Sabine asked, beginning to grin, "because I sure wouldn't mind blowing some things up right now!"
Chopper replied with a series of beeps, indicating that he was ready to get their youngest back. The droid was making it very clear that he was wishing they'd hurry up and get on with it.
"Looks like we're ready to set a destination. The only problem is that we don't know where Ezra is headed." Hera gave a wry grin.
"I may be able to track his com, if he's still got it online." Sabine suggested, moving over to the computer panels.
"It's worth a try, but knowing Ezra, that com is going to be off…" Zeb chuckled.
"I might be able to help there." Kanan said, mind whirring. "If I can get a good grip on our force bond, I should be able to track down where his force signature is." He explained. He received a few more blank stares from his crew members, but just shut his eyes and smiled. "Just- trust me." He tried, before submerging himself deeply into the force, determined to follow his padawan's signature wherever it went.
That's how the next couple of hours went. Kanan stayed deep in thought, only mumbling out the occasional instruction ("no, no, more left"), directing them through different solar systems until they eventually arrived at one planet- the planet Tatooine.
The doors slowly opened to the planet's dusty surface. Ezra pulled the hood up over his face before taking his first steps out onto this new planet. He supposed it was a bit like Lothal in the way that it was pretty dry, but there weren't any flowering plants or bustling cities. In fact, it looked like they would be walking a little while before reaching the town that Ezra could just see blinking at them in the distance.
He looked behind him to see Vizago and a few guards exiting the ship. One was pulling a brown crate along with him; it was fairly large in size, completely boarded up leaving no way to see inside, the oak looked old…this presumably was the precious cargo Vizago had spoken so much about he. Ezra was still curious as to what could've made the pirate go to this much trouble for. He would be getting a good deal out of it- that was almost definite.
"You- do not take your eyes off that crate understood?" Vizago snapped to the guard.
With that, the small group started their trek out into the desert. Sand blew up into Ezra's face, but he was so transfixed by his new surroundings that he hardly noticed.
Finally they reached the beginnings of the town. It was certainly an interesting set up. The houses that lined the streets looked like they had been moulded up from the ground, as if the locals had used all kinds of natural resources to stick their houses together. It didn't make them look like the most stable buildings in the world, but, Ezra had to admit, it was pretty clever.
As they made it to the heart of town, more and more makeshift stalls started to pop up, made from rags of cloth and wonky tables. The merchants yelled out all the great offers they had, advertising all sorts of questionably helpful products. The streets were incredibly busy now, and they had to stay close together in order not to lose each other in the masses of market-goers. Ezra felt his arm being pulled by one of the guards, clearly making sure he didn't try to slip away amongst the sea of people.
Eventually, Vizago led the group down a couple of smaller alleyways. The town seemed a lot less vibrant here and it put Ezra on guard.
They were just approaching another alley way when suddenly a red blur shot down from above. A laser blast! It singed the ground next to the crate, centimetres from the guard dragging it.
"Quick! Take cover!" Vizago ordered, shoving himself behind a stack of crates. Ezra snuck round behind a dumpster, trying to see where the shot had come from.
One guard tried to make a run for it, and more blasts ensured he was on the ground before Ezra could blink. All was tense. Every fibre of Ezra's being was on edge. The shots continued to fire around them for a good few more minutes, the sound deafening, before at once everything went dead silent.
"Hellooo…Vizago!" A harsh female voice cooed, "I know it's you!"
Ezra's head whipped round to stare at Vizago. Clearly the pirate had not been expecting this; it was written in the shock on his face.
"I admit- I'm surprised you would risk coming back after last time. Clearly you're cockier than I give you credit for!" The voice laughed. A few random shots hit the crates Vizago was crouching behind- a warning. "Give us your valuables now and we might not harm your crew."
"Jedi!" Vizago whispered, ignoring the voice as best he could. "Jedi- we aren't going to get out of this unless you use some of your tricks. Understand?" Vizago commanded him quickly, leaving no room for argument.
Great, Ezra thought, rolling his eyes, going in the line of fire again.
With a sigh, he jumped up out of his hiding place. Immediately, shots rained down on him. He activated his sabre and went straight into action- dodging every laser he could, and deflecting the rest with his sabre. He moved himself into a good positon, making sure he could be the shield for Vizago and his crew.
"A Jedi?!" He heard the same voice yell out "Vizago you never play fair!"
Ezra was, frankly, done with this creepy voice.
"Vizago, move now!" Ezra yelled, happy to be ordering the pirate around for once. He sent a force push in the direction of the shots before quickly turning and running, managing to deflect a few stray shots that came over his shoulder before catching up with Vizago. They ran for a little while more, clearly trying to put distance between their attackers.
"We're here. Quickly- inside" Vizago pointed towards a shady-looking building coming up ahead.
Huh, a shady exterior, Ezra commented internally. I bet it'll have dim lighting and no air conditioning as well. Kriffin' typical.
The Ghost crew had made quick work of travelling down to Tatooine, Kanan thought it was lucky they had been fairly close to the system to begin with but he was focusing on other things right now. As he had been so submerged in their bond Kanan had been getting all sorts of feelings coming from Ezra, most of them didn't make him feel any less worried. Ezra seemed to be very on edge, a little scared and annoyed… Considering the lack of positive emotions Kanan wasn't getting any good feelings about this, he knew for some reason that they were working with time against them. As they landed on the dusty surface, none of the crew hesitated before marching out, ready to bring back their own.