Hello! So there's not too much happening in this chapter, and I apologize for that, but I promise the next chapter will have more action.

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Chapter 7 – Caught

Sabine froze. Before her stood the principal, looking as stern as ever. She was busted. She just hoped Ezra had not followed her. It would not help if they had both been caught. Sabine was a fast runner, and had made it halfway to the stairs before he had shown up out of nowhere.

"What?" Sabine was too shocked by the sudden appearance to think of anything else to say. Sabine was suddnely grateful that her hand holding the data card was behind her back, away from the principals view.

"Young lady, this is a restricted area. I don't care how well you're doing in school, you're coming with me." As he was speaking, Sabine subtly slid the card in between two boxes on the shelf behind her. After concealing it, she knew that she was going to be alright. The principal could not know that the real reason she was down her was to steal information.

"Yes, sir. Sorry. I got curious." Sabine shrugged her shoulders, hoping to get out of punishment, but it was no use.

"Your parents will hear about this." Sabine was led out of the basement towards the office.

No, her real parents would not hear about this. But Kanan is not going to be pleased, having to sit through another parent meeting with the loyalist. But Sabine just hoped that Ezra would find the data card.

Now, the whole mission depended on him.

Kanan sighed as he approached the school, yet again.

He had been called in for a meeting with the loyalist principal. But this time he felt slightly anxious. If Ezra and Sabine had gotten caught during the mission, there would be no hope in retrieving the data, and the mission would be a complete loss. But then again, Sabine and Ezra were more than capable of pulling it off. Kanan even saw Sabine slip a few explosives into her backpack, but knowing Sabine, didn't question it.

He just hoped they had gotten the data card.

But then another thought crossed Kanan's mind. What if Ezra had gotten into a fight again? Then what would they do? Kanan knew that they could not risk staying in the school; they could be recognized at any time, and that would be a disaster.

But if Ezra got into another fight, he might be kicked out of the school, leaving Sabine having to do it alone. And Ezra would probably not talk to anyone about it like before, something that bothered Kanan. He just wanted to know if his padawan was alright, and he could not help him if he did not know what was wrong.

Kanan opened the door to the office, and the secretary recognized him.

"Ah, yes. Mr. Morgan. Go on in." Kanan was thrown off by being addressed as that, but continued on. He opened the door to the office, and there sat Sabine. Kanan felt relieved to see she was okay, but he noticed that Ezra was not with her. He looked up at the principal, who motioned him to sit down. And he did not look happy.

Time to put on a show.

Ezra froze and immediately crouched down. Thoughts raced to his mind. Had they been caught? Did they know that they were rebels? Were they going to be arrested and tortured?

Pressing away his fearful thoughts, Ezra made his way over to the slightly ajar door and peeked through. He heard the principle scolding Sabine, and he watched Sabine slowly slide the disk in between two boxes.

Leave it to Sabine to think of a way out.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Ezra quickly ran up to the place where Sabine had been standing, and took the data disk. He was relieved that Sabine had done so; if the principal had found it in her hands, it could have gone a lot worse.

He shoved the disk into his pocket with the papers. As quickly as he dared, he raced up the stairs as they creaked beneath his weight, and cracked the door open as quietly as possible. Ezra had no idea when the principle would be back, or if anyone else had seen them enter. How had the principal sneaked by them? The stairs were too loud; they would have heard him coming. Something did not feel right to him. It just did not add up.

He stuck his head out, checking down the hallway, before opening the door all the way. But that was when the feeling came back.

Ezra stiffened. This time it felt more intense. Realization struck as Ezra whipped around to see what his feeling was trying to warn him against.

But it was too late.

After what seemed like hours, Kanan and Sabine were finally on their way back to the Ghost. The loyalist had droned on and on about 'teaching kids respect' and 'keeping out of other's business'. Sabine fell asleep at one point, but Kanan was thankful that she did not snore like one of their other crew members.

They reached the ship, too tired to make conversation, but when Hera, Zeb and chopper were waiting for their return, they knew something was wrong.

Before Kanan or Sabine could get a word in edgewise, Hera had begun talking.

"Where have you been?" Hera crossed her arms, looking angrily upon the two of them. Kanan sighed, knowing that he was going to have to explain.

"The principal would not stop talking. I didn't think it would take that long."

"Yes, and I'm glad for that, but how long did one simple meeting take?"

"I told you, he was a loyalist. He would not stop talking about how great the Empire was."

"So you just sat there? You could have walked out. It's not like we're going to be going back to the school."

Kanan started to protest, but then stopped. He sighed in defeat. He looked over at Zeb, who handed a few credits to Sabine. Kanan was confused, but then quickly drew conclusions.

"Did you just bet on us?" He asked, and Sabine and Zeb looked startled at the question. Looking at each other, then back at Kanan, they replied in unison.

"Yes."

"Honestly, I don't even know why I still bet on him." Zeb said, continuing the conversation with just Sabine. "He's always losing."

"I know; it's making me rich." She replied.

Kanan shook his head, and was about to tell them how they were not helping, when Hera stopped him.

"Kanan, where's Ezra?" This froze the whole crew in their tracks, and all at once they began talking.

"Wait, you mean he's not with you?"

"What!?"

"I thought he was with you!"

"What do you mean, 'he's not with you'?"

"He was right behind me!"

The voices grew louder, and Zeb was the only one who had not spoken up, and he was getting frustrated. Chopper's frantic chirping at the crew did not help matters either.

"STOP!" Zeb's voice echoed over the crew, who all turned to look at him. "Will someone please explain what happened?" He looked at Hera and Kanan, but they looked at Sabine.

With all eyes on her, she started speaking.

"We had the plans, but as we were getting out the principal caught me. Ezra was still in the room that we came from. I hid the disk and I was brought upstairs, but no one else was with him."

"Then what happened to him?" All five crew members were quiet. In each of their minds a hundred possible scenarios played through, all of them ending badly. After a few moments, it was Kanan who spoke up.

"Well, looks like we're going back to school."

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R & R

~ Kavella ~