Prestory Authors Note!
In light of the responses I got to the question I posted at the bottom of the last chapter (which were more "yes" than "no" in case you were wondering) I'll be posting a separate story (may be a one shot, might end up being longer) about how that person died and the crew finding out about it and the various reactions. It'll take a few days, and depending on how long might count as the weeks update for the story (SORRY!). Feel free to continue voting "yes" or "no" on whether you want it to happen in the reviews and if the general opinion changes I'll retract the story and let you all know. Mmm, 'k, that's all so enjoy the chapter!
Fighter Flight: "All for fruit!"
Zeb opened the communications channel once they were almost over top the convoy.
"Attention, transports. This is Imperial Commander Meiloorun."
"Meiloorun?" Ezra hissed, smacking Zeb on the arm. "Seriously?"
"Ssh!" Zeb cleared his throat and turned back to the communicator. "There's a report of rebel activity in your sector. Reduce speed."
"Acknowledged Commander," came the reply and the convoy slowed.
"You sure, kid?" Zeb asked, ears twitching uncertainly.
"Just get me in close," Ezra answered, opening the hatch and climbing out.
Wind slammed into him and he hunched over, fingers gripping the metal beneath him as he let the lower half of his body hang free. He silently prayed he could hold on long enough for Zeb to fly over the transports. As soon as one was beneath him he let go. His feet the metal roof and he tumbled end over end until he crashed against the canon turret.
Rubbing the back of his head and wishing he'd jumped the other way, he watched Zeb fly off. He pushed himself to his feet staggering as the transport picked up speed. The canon behind him spun and fired at the TIE.
"Zeb better not get hit," Ezra muttered, looking around for the captured farmers. Spotting grey hair, he dashed over and called down, "Mr. Sumars!"
The old man jumped and looked around. "E-Ezra?"
"Hold on. I'll have you out soon." Ezra bit his lip as he surveyed the people below him. He had wanted to have them climb out since there was nothing preventing that, but now that he got a good look at them it was clear all three were too old and weak to do so. And he wasn't strong enough to pull them out. With a sigh he looked around and spotted the control panel. Plan B it was then.
He stretched, trying to reach the panel.
"You'll never reach it," Sumar called over the wind. "It's too dangerous!"
Ezra ignored him.
'Come on.' His fingers brushed the top of the panel. He closed his eyes. If he could just hit the button, just unlock them, just free them. 'Please.'
A detached calm came over him and he felt the lock shift, the mechanism moving to his will. He opened his eyes and sat up, unsurprised to see the doors had opened.
"Well, it had to work eventually," he muttered, pulling out a tool. "Hold up your hands!"
They did and he hastily unlocked the cuffs, talking as he worked. "You have to jump. Jump and scatter."
"We're moving too fast!" Sumar argued as Ezra pulled his cuffs off.
"So you'd rather stay prisoners?" He moved to the last person, the Sumar's Aqualish farm hand. "Look, bend your knees, keep your bodies loose, and roll. Ok?"
The last pair of cuffs came off.
"Now jump!"
They did and Ezra was relieved to see them stand up.
'They're more durable than they look,' he thought, waving farewell. The hairs of his neck rose and he ducked. A streak of red flew through where his head had been. Over head a TIE screamed and a canon fired.
"That gun turrets gonna be a problem," Zeb's voice muttered from the comdevice at his waist.
"Working on it," Ezra called back, twisting and sidestepping the stormtrooper's fire. He jumped across to a different transport, rolling across the supplies and ducking behind the crates.
The lid to one was shot off and he peaked inside, hoping for something usefull. Meilooruns, plump and bright, bounced around inside the crate.
"Well, hello, stranger," he muttered. He ducked to avoid fire and primed his sling, returning fire. The shots, as one of the trooper so kindly informed his fellow, didn't penetrate their armor and weren't strong enough to do much more the knock them slightly off balance. He scowled and felt around for a better weapon. His hand closed around something hard and roundish and without even looking to see what it was, he threw it.
The object flew through the air, smashing into the head of one trooper and knocking him unconscious. The trooper's blaster fell, smacking against the deck and going off, hitting the second trooper and sending him crashing to the ground.
"I'm not appreciating the irony here," Ezra growled to the universe as he picked up a couple more meilooruns. He'd searched all day for the stupid fruit only to end up literally throwing them away!
Distracted as he was, he didn't notice the unconscious trooper wake up until his arm load of fruit exploded. Grabbing a surviving meiloorun he jumped to the last transport, stumbling as the canons fired and rocked the ship.
"Stop!" A trooper jumped in front of him, blaster raised.
With nowhere to run, he hid behind the fruit still clutched in his hands.
"Wait!" The trooper lowered his blaster slightly. "You did all this. . .for fruit?"
Even through the helmet the man's incredulity was obvious and Ezra bristled.
"No!" Well, actually if he thought about it this did all start because of fruit so. . . "Ok, maybe a little."
He threw the meiloorun as hard as he could. It hit the trooper in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to double over. Ezra grabbed the trooper's blaster and yanked, ripping it from the soldier's grips and pulling the trooper more off balance. Ezra jumped, spring boarding off the trooper's back and ducking around the gun turret which was still firing at the Zeb driven TIE.
"There's gotta be something I can use." The blaster in his hand hummed and he bit his lip. "I hope this works."
He pulled the battery pack off and shoved it down the canon's muzzle. He chucked the useless blaster at the trooper charging at him as he backed away from the gun turret. A pitched whine reached his ears and he dove down just as the gun turret exploded, blasting the persistent trooper off the transport.
"All for fruit!' Ezra shouted after him, picking up the discarded meiloorun and placing it in his bag with the other.
The sound of something hitting metal made him turn and he groaned as several more troopers joined him on top of the transport. A TIE screamed overhead, canon's firing. Ezra turned, eyes widening, and froze.
Time slowed in a way only sheer terror could provide as jets of green carved a path on either side of him. The short laser blast cut so close he could feel the heat and the smell of burning hair and metal made him cough. Dimly he heard the screams of the stormtroopers behind him as they were blasted off the transport. The canon fire ceased and time returned to normal.
"Not bad ace," Ezra laughed weakly as his heart settled back into his chest.
Zeb circled back around, flipping the TIE over. The hatch popped open and Zeb's torso dangled in the air.
'Oh no,' Ezra thought. 'This has "bad idea" written all over it.'
Despite his massive misgivings he raised his arms. Better dislocated arms then dead.
"Gotcha!" Zeb's hands closed around his wrists and Ezra was wrenched off the transport.
"Uh." Ezra eyed the plains flashing by underneath him. "How are you flying this thing?"
Zeb grunted for an answer and pulled them higher, slowly righting the ship and pulling Ezra inside.
'Well, there goes 10 years of my life,' Ezra thought, rubbing his tender shoulders. He glanced at Zeb, who'd been unnaturally quiet the past few minutes, and cleared his throat.
"Thanks for the save." He rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding the questioning eyes sent his way. "Guess I owe you now."
"Let's just say we're eternally even," Zeb replied and Ezra looked at him, surprised. "Oh, you collect these, right?"
Zeb chucked a pilot's helmet at him and he caught it, stunned.
"I - Yeah." He'd been about to say he already had one, but something stopped him. "Maybe, I can get Sabine to paint it for me. So, yeah, thanks."
He placed the helmet off to the side, head spinning as he tried to process everything that had happened the past few minutes. Zeb had rescued him, again, told him he wouldn't hold it over him, something Ezra was having a really hard time believing, and then Zeb had given him something?!
Ezra's head throbbed dully as he shook it. He was too confused to think about this now. It was time to think about something else.
"So," Ezra nudged Zeb with his elbow. "What do we do about the TIE?"
Zeb thought a moment then smirked at him. It was a surprisingly conspiratorial look. One he'd seen many times on that person's face, usually right before they caused someone a lot of trouble. Seeing it come from Zeb. . . made him laugh.
He punched Zeb lightly on the shoulder and Zeb responded in kind.
Zeb inspected the area, making sure it was as secure as they could make it at the moment. Yep, this was as good as it was going to get. . . for now anyway.
"I don't know, kid." He said, coming to a stop next to Ezra. "This could come back to bite us later."
Ezra gave him an exasperated look and stood up. "It was your idea!"
"True enough," Zeb shrugged. "Come on. We've wasted enough time."
"Ah, they should have been back by now," Kanan sighed, irritation not quite masking the concern.
Hera, having heard several such comments already, ignored him. Kanan huffed, arms uncrossing as he scanned the horizon. Again.
"Over there!"
Kanan's head snapped around, looking in the direction Hera was pointing. Two figures, one tall and massive and the other short and stringy, trudged slowly toward them.
"One fresh meiloorun, as orded." Zeb said, presenting the fruit to Hera with a bow.
"And another for the wait," Ezra added, giving her the second.
"Thank you, kind sirs," Hera replied, eyes twinkling with amusement.
"Team effort," Zeb told her, nudging Ezra.
"Forget about the fruit," Kanan snapped. "Where's the TIE fighter?"
The two trouble makers exchanged looks and Zeb sighed, bracing himself for the lecture he was sure was coming. "I crashed it."
"On purpose," Ezra tacked on quickly. "We didn't want it falling back into the Empire's hands. Sooo. . .Yeah."
Hera looked between them, clearly unsure if she should believe them, but Kana nodded.
"That's what I like to hear." He gave them one last approving nod and headed back into the Ghost. Hera gave them a slightly bemused look as she followed after him inside.
Zeb sighed in relief and looked at his partner in crime. As soon as Ezra caught Zeb's eye he snorted and then out right laughed. Zeb joined him as they ran up the ramp, pushing and shoving each other and throwing mock punches as they made their way to their shared cabin.
"Finished."
They paused at Sabine's announcement.
"Uh," Ezra lead the way through the door, but not before landing one last playful punch on Zeb's arm. "Finished with what, Sabine?"
"Thought it was a moment that needed to be immortalized," she answered, nodding her head at the wall. There, above the door to the fresher, was a cartoonized graffiti painting of Ezra and his bunk landing on Zeb while Chopper stood off the side holding two tiny metal rods. "And you did say you wanted to be my inspiration."
"Yeah, but that makes me look like a fool," Ezra protested, silently adding, 'With a really big head. My head's not that big. . . Is it?'
"Makes me look like a bigger fool," Zeb muttered.
"I paint what I see," Sabine replied, uncaring her 'inspiration' was less than pleased with the result.
A broken, rusty laugh sounded from the doorway and the group looked over.
"Chopper!" Zeb snarled.
"This is your fault!" Ezra shouted as the two advanced on the droid, which rolled away still laughing. "Come back you metal menace!"
"I'm tearing the rust bucket apart!" Zeb growled as they chased after Chopper.
The droid rolled its way to the smaller landing bay, probably to seek shelter behind Hera and Kanan who were taking inventory. Zeb and Ezra, unaware that the crates had been moved, crashed into them.
"It's his fault!" They shouted, glaring at Chopper.
"At least they got rid of the TIE," Hera commented dryly. Kanan closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he shook his head.
"Just clean this up," he ordered tiredly, following Hera out of the bay. Behind him Ezra and Zeb sat up and slowly set about righting the crates, the atmosphere between them much lighter than it had been the past few weeks.
It was late, long after even Chopper had retired, and Ezra was back in the small utility area by the engine. A small holopicture gave him enough light to see as he worked on fixing the tear in his hat.
"So," he began, trying to make himself as comfortable as possible. "Today was. . . .intersting. I broke so many rules, and I'm sorry! But it so wasn't my fault! Well, maybe a little, but mostly NOT! It all turned out ok though. In fact, it was really fun."
Ezra smiled, then sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"I'm – I'm not really sure what to think about Zeb anymore. He saved me, came back for me. A lot. And I'm just – I'm confused! Really, really confused, because. . . Why?"
The picture remained silent.
"I wish you were here. You always some how knew what was going on."
Author's Notes:
I got an idea from Lt Basil who requested I do a chapter for Street Rat Rules over the idea "no one gets left behind." After getting the suggestion I got the idea for Rebel Rules, a companion story of sorts to Street Rat Rules and basically the same thing except over the stuff Ezra learns from the rebels. It's a work in progress right now but, like before, idea and suggestions a more than welcome. Pm with your ideas or leave them in the reviews and I'll get back to you. Thanks!