Always in Motion

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Five: Flying Solo

Leaning against the doorframe of the Imperial Communication Tower that had long since been abandoned, Cassie surveyed the place that had served as Ezra's home for the better part of eight years.

All it took was one look to see just how lonely his life had been; from the looks of things, no one besides him had set foot in this place for quite some time. Cassie herself might have had an unusual childhood, but at least she'd always had Ahsoka; the Togruta had never once let her feel as though she were alone and it both pained and angered her that no one bothered to do the same for Ezra.

On the streets from seven . . . that was beyond harsh, but what surprised Cassie the most was that, despite his upbringing, he still managed to have such a kind soul. She had noticed that, when he asked her what would happen to the Twi'lek doctor, if the "bucketheads" ever found out they were there.

"That's why we're leaving now," Cassie told him, "before anyone starts poking around, asking question that we don't want them to. Anyway, I left my comm. number for her, just in case something happens."

Ezra looked surprised but nodded, relief flashing through his electric blue eyes as he clambered onto the speeder behind her.

Originally, she was going to head straight for the spaceport but when he asked if they could swing by his place to grab some things, she couldn't say no.

But seeing the tower and seeing what his life had been like . . . it very nearly made Cassie curse the Force for not showing her something sooner, for not giving her the vision until Ezra had been captured by Imperials. Why now, after all this time, after he had spent so many years alone? Why hadn't it shown her something before now? So much time . . . she could have done something long before now . . .

Even as the thoughts floated through her head, an old saying popped into her head; she didn't know where it was from but it seemed apropos.

When the student is ready, the master will appear.

Well, Cassie considered, perhaps the opposite was true as well; maybe it wasn't just Ezra being in trouble that was the reason the Force had guided her to him . . . maybe she needed to be ready . . .

Maybe they both needed to be.

Pushing herself off the doorframe and stepped fully into the tower for the first time since they arrived, Cassie brushed her hand against a dusty Imperial helmet, amusement rippling through her; there were quite a few, she noticed, glancing over at the kid that was shoving stuff into an old backpack.

"You've got quite a collection here."

"Huh? Oh . . . those," he said, shrugging as he saw what she was referring to. "Yeah, I usually take them when the bucketheads get distracted—while I'm stealing some of their tech," he added sheepishly, looking away but Cassie was having a hard time keeping a straight face.

"I see . . ."

Automatically, he got defensive. "Hey, do you know how much some of that stuff is worth on the black market?"

"Actually, yeah, I do; I've sold a lot of stuff there when I was desperate for credits."

Surprise appeared in his eyes again before he looked back down at what looked like spare droid parts, fiddling with them absently.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did," she teased, "but you can ask another one."

He managed a small grin but looked up at her seriously. "How did you know where to find me?" he wanted to know. "I mean . . . you said that you broke into that Star Destroyer so you could find me; you weren't there for anything or anyone else. So . . . I mean, how did you even know that I was there—or even that I was in trouble?"

Cassie sighed; she should have expected this question sooner or later—though she had hoped it would be 'later'. But now that he had asked it, she wasn't going to lie to him or even withhold the truth.

"It's complicated," she admitted, moving to sit down next to him, stretching her legs out while he was fiddling with the spare parts. He scowled at her, but she held her hand up, stopping him from retorting. "Let me ask you something first . . . have you ever done anything that you really couldn't explain . . . sensed something before it actually happened or known about something that maybe you wouldn't have known about? Or maybe your reflexes have always been quicker than others?"

Ezra blinked at her, his eyes growing wide with awareness, and he seemed to shrink into himself as he nodded once.

"Maybe . . ."

Allowing him to leave it at that, Cassie explained to him, "Well, I'm the same way; some of the things that I can do, most people would be oblivious to; they don't sense the same things that I do or know without really knowing how they know the same things I do. Part of what I can do is see things before they happen. They can come to me in dreams; sometimes the images are blurry and unclear and other times, they are as sharp as a melee blade. That's how I knew that you were in trouble," she continued, images flooding her mind, of the vision that had brought her to this boy. "I saw you in my dreams, of you being on a Star Destroyer with some others . . . a human male, a Mandalorian, and a Lasat?"

Speechless, Ezra nodded unblinkingly.

"All I could see was all of you running; I couldn't see what you were running through, but you were definitely running from something. And then you were grabbed by someone—I believe his name was Agent Kallus? Next thing I saw, the others just left and you were left behind." She took a deep breath, watching him. "All of that actually happened?"

Ezra swallowed, nodding once. "Yeah . . . I should have known better than to trust them; everybody's out for themselves."

Cassie sighed. "Not everyone. Not always."

He just shrugged as he carried on with packing what little belongings he had before standing up, walking back onto the balcony to stare out across Lothal. Cassie followed him, joining him on the balcony as she watched the sun slowly rising into the sky, turning it to a multitude of colors.

"Thanks for saving me," Ezra said after a long moment. She glanced at him. "I know I said it before, but . . . thanks."

"You're welcome," she told him, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "You're sure that's everything you need? I don't know if or when we can come back."

Ezra opened his mouth, then paused, as though thinking of something and dashed back into the tower, returning only a minute later with what looked like a passkey in his hand, shoving it into his backpack. She wasn't sure what it was but nor did she ask; he would tell her, in his own time, when he was ready.

Rejoining her on the balcony, Ezra stared across Lothal as though he were trying to capture it in his memory. The sight pained Cassie and she hated that she was having to take him away from the only home that he knew, but at the same time, she would never forgive herself if she left him here and something happened to him.

"How'd you know this is where I was from?" Ezra asked suddenly and she glanced at him, confused. "When we landed here . . . you woke me up, figuring that I'd want to see Lothal after being away for so long . . . how'd you know I was from Lothal?"

Cassie chuckled. "Because it was the first place that you thought of when we were escaping that Destroyer," she answered simply. "There's only one reason that you would think of it offhand—because that's your home."

He opened his mouth, and then shut it just as quickly as he folded his arms across the balcony, laying his head on them as he watched the sunrise, committing it to memory. She didn't really blame him though; she might not have had a home in the traditional sense, but she did know what it was like to have to leave everything that she'd known behind to face an uncertain future.

"Won't the bucketheads figure that out too?"

"What's that?" she asked, frowning at his question.

"If you figured out that I was from here just because of the planet I chose, then won't the bucketheads figure out that we're here because they know that I'm from here?"

Cassie blinked, startled; she hadn't considered that. But he was right, she thought in utter realization, they might have figured out that they were here, especially after that shuttle explosion. Aakib'japi had pretty much said that they were looking for anyone suspicious and if they put together that the shuttle was the same one that they had used to escape on, then they might be looking for their faces; they might know exactly who they were looking for.

"You're right," she breathed, feeling stupid for not having realized this sooner. "We can't use the Imperial transport; they might have our names . . . faces . . . they could very well have our faces plastered on wanted posters all through the sector." She groaned, wanting to bash her lightsaber through a wall.

Looking worried, Ezra asked, "Then how are we gonna get off Lothal?"

It was a very good question but the answer was obvious; they couldn't use Imperial transport, so they would just have to smuggle themselves off. And wasn't it lucky, she thought with a grin, that she knew a pair of smugglers that would be all too happy to do the job—for a price, of course.

"I know exactly how we're gonna get off," she said, ice-blue eyes gleaming.

The speeder slowed down to a stop at the predetermined coordinates, which was right smack in the middle of nowhere, in the vast plains of Lothal. Ezra looked around as he slid off the bike, but there was nothing and no one in sight.

Which, he considered, might have been why Cassie had picked these coordinates.

Casting a quick glance around as though to reassure herself that no one had followed them, Cassie climbed off the speeder bike after him, slinging the bag she'd been carrying since they'd left that Twi'lek doctor onto her shoulder as she scanned the sky intently for any sign of the ship that her friend was coming to pick them up in.

Or so Ezra assumed; her friend was a Wookiee, so he hadn't understood much of what was being said through the howling and growling, but Cassie apparently was fluent enough that she could understand what he was saying. Whoever this friend was, she'd had to bribe him in order to come pick them up.

Not this really surprised Ezra; nobody did anything for Free. Except for Cassie, maybe, he reconsidered that particular thought. She did things that he hadn't expected—like offering to take him in, for one.

Truth be told, he was half-expecting her to back out of her offer but something made him think that she wasn't going to. He'd already asked her, once, whether she was sure about this or not, taking in some street kid that was hunted by the Empire, just to see what she would say.

Instead of being insulted about her charity or deciding to take back her offer, Cassie had just chuckled good-naturedly.

"I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't sure," she had told him. "Besides, once the Empire figures out about me, they wouldn't mind sticking me in the highest maximum security prison that they've got, so being hunted by the Empire really isn't out of my way."

Not for the first time, Ezra was starting to wonder just who this girl was; she was the most peculiar person that he had ever met, holding her head high like she was royalty yet wanting to keep off of the radar at the same time. And then there was that laser-sword that she had, he thought, eyeing it now; it was peeking out from underneath her jacket, just out of sight. It looked almost like the one that Kanan had, except that the design was different.

And the only people that had laser-swords were—

"There he is."

Startled, Ezra looked skyward to see a rugged ship descending overhead. He shielded his eyes from the sun in an attempt to see it better, but the closer that it got, the more he realized that his impression of it wasn't gonna get much better.

Incredulously, he stared at the old Corellian-class ship that was landing in front of them, looking as though it had seen better days—or years.

"That's how we're getting out of here?! It's a piece of junk!"

Giggling, Cassie clamped a hand over her mouth, but her ice-blue eyes sparkled with mirth. "I thought the same thing the first time I saw her too," she admitted, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, "but she can make it .5 past lightspeed, kid." Ezra looked disbelieving at the ship. "Trust me, she'll get us to where we need to go. But don't let the captain hear you trash-talk his ship; he's proud of it."

"Has he seen it?"

"And put her back together more times than I care to count," Cassie answered dryly. "Trust me, nothing makes him angrier than hearing someone talk bad about his baby."

Shaking his head in amazement, Ezra followed her to the ship—if it could even be called that—as the ramp began to lower and a guy walked out. Human, a few years older than Cassie, with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes; behind him was a Wookiee, probably the one she'd spoken to on the comm. earlier.

"So Windchaser . . . you finally give up on that sorry-ass ship of yours and come join up with Chewie and me?"

Ezra looked quickly at Cassie, but she was having a hard time pretending to be annoyed as she folded her arms over her chest, shooting an exasperated glare at him.

"Not even if you paid me, Solo," she drawled, "and I'd keep the 'sorry-ass' comments to yourself, because the Falcon isn't much better. At least the Knight's got style."

Solo, as he had been dubbed, only smirked. "Yeah, but the Falcon's got it where it counts. Anyway, Chewie said you needed a ride to Naboo."

"Yeah, long story."

He just snorted. "When are there any short stories with you?" he pointed out. "So, who's the kid?"

"Jabba the Hutt," Ezra responded, but obeyed Cassie as she beckoned him closer, keeping closer to her as she placed a hand on his shoulder as though to reassure him.

Grinning, Solo looked at the Wookiee.

"You hear that, Chewie? Looks like Jabba finally caught up with us," he said, grinning wildly at Ezra. "So, Jabba . . . I know that I owe you for that last shipment, but since I'd done such great smuggling jobs for you over the years, I don't suppose you could . . . you know, forget about that little minor incident where I had to dump your cargo?"

Cassie shook her head in exasperation but Ezra actually grinned.

"Yeah, I think that I can do that," he agreed, "so long as you stay as far away from my smuggling jobs as possible from now on."

Solo pointed at Chewie. "You heard it, pal," he said excitedly, "Jabba himself has generously agreed to forget our payment in exchange for never going near him again. I think this has worked out to our benefit, don't you?"

"Oh, in that case, you can forget about the eight that Chewie and I agreed to for passage to Naboo," Cassie said dryly, looking amused but Solo looked as though she had gone completely insane.

"Eight . . . only eight?" he complained, looking accusingly at Chewie. "Pal, what are you, trying to put us in the poorhouse? Or is it eight each?" he asked hopefully.

"No, just eight," Cassie said, "I was shooting for seven, but Chewie promised to tell you that you're an insufferable, scruff-looking nerf-herder to sweeten the deal and I caved."

Solo scowled at his partner, who just shrugged and growled.

"Anyway, Ezra, this is Han Solo and Chewbacca," she introduced, "gentlemen, this is Ezra Bridger. Shall we get this show on the road?"

Sighing, Solo gestured towards the ramp gloomily. "All aboard."

"Oh," Cassie added as they boarded, "and if we could avoid any Imperials, that'd be fantastic."

Solo just groaned.

AN: Hey, guys, sorry for the long update, but I was kinda disappointed by the lack of reviews for the last chapters. Only one, so sad . . . Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please, please tell me in a review, I always love hearing what you guys have to say. I also hope you enjoyed seeing Han Solo; this was kind of my first time writing him, so let me know how I did. May the Force be with you.

Lady Dawson