CHAPTER TWO

Ezra and Sabine sit at their table, watching the doors and scarfing down cheese fries. After a while, Ezra picks up the basket.

"They're all gone." He says woefully.

"That's not exactly a surprise," Sabine says. "You were scarfing them down like nobody's business."

Ezra groans. "They were so good! Do you think Hera and Kanan will be mad if I order more?"

"Yes,"

Just then, a waitress drops by their table, holding a second dish of cheese fries.

"Hey kids," she says, setting down the dish.

Ezra's eyes grow big as Lothal while Sabine sputters out "I'm sorry, we didn't order these."

The waitress smiles. "Compliments of the gentleman over there."

Sabine turns around in her seat to see a tall, dark haired man walking toward them.

"Hello," he says, pulls out a chair at their table and sits down with them. "Your names are Ezra and Sabine, correct?"

"What does it matter to you?" Sabine asks.

The man shrugs. "I just wanted to confirm. My name is Lux and I'm sorry to bother you, but I hope the cheese fries can help make up for it."

HERA

The woman from the bar walks over to our table, frustration pouring out of her face. She reaches for a chair next to the redhead, but I put my boots on it.

"Sorry, this one's taken."

"It's fine," the redhead says.

"Uh, no way."

"Steela," Redhead says, more urgently. "It's okay. I've got this."

The woman from the bar narrows her eyes at us.

"Fine," she growls and walks away.

Kanan and I focus our attention back on Redhead.

"Now that we all know that we're not here for dinner, how about we start off with names?" I ask.

Redhead pauses, as if waiting for instructions.

"I'm Sierra. You?"

"Hera and Kanan," Kanan says before I can do or say anything else. "Your friend out there, I take it, is Steela?"

"And over at the table would be Ezra and Sabine." She says sweetly. "Speaking of which, I have to commend her on her very bold fashion choice."

I level my pistol at her under the table. "Call off your man."

"If you shoot me, I guarantee my friends will return the favor. Anyway, why would you want to shoot me if you planned to hire us?"

"You're the grifter?" Kanan asks, even though we know the answer.

"Surprise."

"Call off your man," I repeat.

Sierra leans on the table. "I can't. He outranks me."

"Nobody outranks the grifter," I bait. If I can play off Sierra's ego, then we might stand a chance to get the man away from Sabine and Ezra.

But Sierra just shakes her head. "This one does. Always has, always will. Speaking of backup, will you tell the little orange droid rolling around to leave? My friends are saying his language isn't suitable for children's ears."

Chopper, Zeb is going to turn you into spare parts when he gets his hands on you.

I raise the comlink. "Specter three, abort mission."

"Waugh-waugh Waugh!"

"I know, specter three. Just go back to the ship."

Chopper rolls past us and silently makes a few noises which roughly translate to swear words. Sierra doesn't seem to understand, so Chopper does the next best thing: he reaches out a prod to zap her.

"Yack!"

She jumps backward, away from the offending prod and toward Kanan. Big mistake.

Kanan cinches an arm around her waist and seats her between both of us, still holding on tight.

Sierra stiffens. "Let me go."

"He'll let you go when you call off your crewmates."

"That's not a very good idea." She says. "They're starting the emergency plan. Watch."

Suddenly, a bear of a man rises up from another table and crosses over to Ezra and Sabine's. Without missing a beat he sits down next to Sabine, effectively blocking her in.

The first man moves to block Ezra.

Kanan tightens his grip around Sierra's waist. "Well, that worked."

"What worked?" she asks.

"Now that the emergency protocol is in place," I say, "We just flushed out the rest of your backup. Now, let's talk business."

LUX

"So?" the boy, Ezra, taunts. "What are you going to do now that Kanan has your friend?"

"Ezra!" Sabine growls.

Tandin holds a hand in the "stop" gesture to pacify them. "Quiet, both of you. This is still under control."

It is. Because unbeknownst to Hera, Kanan, and the others at our table, a second couple is listening in on the conversation while enjoying their drinks.

"Guess again, captain." Hero St. James says before taking another sip of her wine.

Behind the bar, Saw Gerrera serves a beer to a customer before glancing over at the tables.

"Sierra, do you need backup? Cough for yes, clear your throat for no." he asks through the comm.

Sierra clears her throat and I internally breathe a sigh of relief. Thank goodness Ahsoka and the kids aren't on this job. I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about them.

Tandin passes the untouched dish of cheese fries over to Ezra. "These are for you two, you know."

"That's nice of you, but right now we have some bigger problems." Ezra responds.

I fish a cheese fry out of the dish. "Fine, have it your way," I say, popping the snack into my mouth. "That woman Kanan's holding is my sister. We'll get her back."

"How do you think you're going to do that?" Sabine half-shouts, lunging.

Tandin grabs her shoulder. "Easy, young Mandalorian. My friend and I mean you no harm. We're simply two people who are good at doing our jobs."

"Your job is thievery."

"As is yours," Tandin says. I can tell he's getting déjà vu of Steela at sixteen. "Aside from art."

Sabine yanks his hand from her shoulder. "Don't touch me."

"As you wish," he concedes, placing his hand on the table. "Lux, how well is Sierra handling the situation?"

"What kind of job do you want to hire us for?" Sierra asks. "Aside from the merchant cartel story."

"We weren't really going to hire you," Kanan says. "We were planning on -."

"They actually thought they could get away with robbing us?" Steela laughs from outside. "Ha! In their dreams."

"She's doing what she can." I say with a smile on my face. "Now all we have to do is get back to the ship."

"How do you plan on doing that?" Ezra asks. "Kanan and Hera can just as easily take your sister back to the Ghost."

Not likely, considering they'd have to go through Sierra, Hutch, Hero, and Steela at the very least. That isn't counting assistance from me, Saw, or any chivalrous types who jump in.

"It's a simple procedure," Tandin explains. "We'll exchange Sierra for you. I'm sure Hera and Kanan will cooperate, they seem to be reasonable."

"Hera and Kanan don't bargain with thieves." Sabine snarls.

"They will when they realize we haven't laid a finger on you." I answer. "Both parties walk away, and no one gets hurt. It's a simple solution to the problem."

"A simple solution." Ezra snorts. "That's still not going to put food on our table."

I push the dish of fries toward him. "We'll box these up for you."

…

Nobody at Kanan and Hera's table looks pleased when Tandin and I march over with Sabine and Ezra.

"We've brought your friends." Tandin says, keeping a firm hold on Sabine's hand. "Now let our grifter go and this will all be over."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sierra mouth the word Lasat.

Lasat? Why does she care about a Lasat? Heck, the only one in here is at the bar, near Steela's old position…

Using Tandin as cover, I step behind him and mumble into the comm: "Saw, the Lasat at the bar is part of their crew. Take care of him."

"Got it," Saw grumbles. "I'll figure something out. Hey, you! You're cut off."

"I haven't even touched a drink!" The Lasat argues.

"All your backup is gone." I say. "Even the droid. So if I were you, I'd accept this kind offer."

"And if we don't?"

"We can bring your crewmates back to our ship; we have enough supplies to make provisions for them." Tandin says. "I trust the same provisions would be made for Sierra. Possibly this should be negotiated with cooler heads."

Kanan pulls Sierra closer to him and presses a pistol into her side. Sierra's apathy tells me it's on stun.

"That's not going to happen."

"Hold it! Nobody is getting shot, nobody is being taken prisoner and nobody is conning the other one!" The most terrifying voice in the galaxy snaps.

Oh, my goodness.

I look over my shoulder as Ahsoka comes over to our table, Steela on her heels.

Ahsoka points over at Saw and the Lasat. "Steela, break that up."

Steela darts off toward the bar, her disposition practically shouting yes ma'am!

"Fulcrum?" Hera nearly whispers.

Sierra looks at Kanan, then at Hera, and then at Ahsoka. "Wait, you two know each other?"

"Kanan, let her go." Ahsoka orders.

Kanan immediately releases Sierra, who starts to scramble out of the booth.

"Ahsoka, what's going on?" I ask. "How do you know these people?"

"It's a good thing I love you, Lux Bonteri." Ahsoka crosses her arms. "Since you all didn't bother to check with me before going on a job, you almost ended up conning your own team."

Hera blinks. "Our own team?"

"We're all rebels, aren't we?" she whispers.

Ezra stares at me. "What?"

Ahsoka jerks her head toward the doorway. "Once Steela breaks up the situation at the bar, we're going somewhere else to talk. Everyone follow me, we're going to have a serious conversation."

A/N: Nobody's been shot, and Ahsoka has the situation pacified. Only one thing remains: Lux and Kanan are both going to be in serious trouble when Ahsoka gets ahold of them.

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Until next time,

Lux's Sister