Chapter 1: A Trip to Kessel
The entirety of the Ghost crew was there in the common room. Ezra and Jaral decided to accept the invite but still kept a bit of distance between themselves and the rest of them. Respectfully waiting with a straight pose and their helmets underarm.
Kanan and Hera were standing in front of the couch and the table. Zeb and Sabine sat on it. They all formed some sort of circle, though there was a small gap they intentionally left to make sure their two guests wouldn't feel excluded.
Kanan explained.
"We have a new mission. Vizago acquired the flight plan for an imperial transport ship full of Wookiee prisoners."
"Most of this Wookiees were soldiers for the Old Republic." Hera added.
"I owe those hairy beasts. They saved some of my people." commented Zeb.
"Excuse us…" Ezra started asking. "You said your intel came from Vizago? Devaronian, greenish skin, a crew solely of droids so he doesn't have to pay them…?"
The Ghost crew watched each other a bit surprised.
"How do you know him?" Sabine asked.
"We worked for him a couple times." Jaral explained.
"...And it was a nightmare." Ezra added, though his tone seemed like he was almost amused at the remembrance.
"Ok. Vizago's works usually turn out to be more dangerous than he lets you believe, but he doesn't lie." Kanan said.
"Hey, don't get us wrong, we're all in, if you still want us." Ezra was quick in trying to reassure his new allies.
The Ghost crew smiled at the kids.
"Then let's push our way through that transport." said Hera.
"We'll have a tight window to save them." Kanan resumed the explanation. "They have been sent to an unknown slave labor camp. If we miss this ship we'll never find them."
While Hera went back to the cockpit, the rest of the group gathered around the holotable as Kanan started to explain the plan he envisioned.
As the Ghost was still in the blue tunnel of hyperspace, Hera was running a check-up on the ship's systems. They were nearing the destination, then the door behind her hissed, revealing Ezra. His armor still on, the helmet in his hands.
"Mind if I join you?" he asked.
"Sure. But shouldn't you be with the others, getting ready?" she asked with surprise.
"I should. But once Kanan told us the plan, I started having a hunch that something would go south. So Jaral ordered me to stay here and be sure nothing comes out to catch us off guard." he explained it calmly, one would almost say he was a professional at this.
"A hunch?" the Twi'lek asked skeptically.
"I know it sounds stupid." he justified. "And I hope I'll be wrong...for once." he diverted his gaze and waited a second. "Anyway, we thought it could help to have someone to stay as backup, just in case." then he took his helmet back on his head.
Hera hummed like saying 'whatever'. As she finished her check, she sat back in the pilot's seat.
Ezra took place as co-pilot. It was then a matter of second before he saw Hera disengaging the hyperdrive. The ship made a rumble as the tunnel of light disappeared, making way for a distorted image that immediately became clearer. Looking at the scanners, Ezra could see the transport they were looking for.
Hera hailed them,
"Imperial Transport 651, this is Starbird, coming inbound."
"State your business." answered formally the officer on the other end of the communication.
"Bounty." explained Hera. "We captured an additional wookiee prisoner and we have transfer order to place him with you."
"We have no such orders…" answered the confused captain. From the transport, two of the four TIE fighters docked on the belly of the ship detached and moved to intercept the Ghost.
"That's fine." said Hera without a care. "We already got paid by Governor Tarkin. If you don't want the oversize monong, I'll jettison here. Let you explain to your superior why the Empire has one less slave."
The TIEs now followed the Ghost at a safe distance. After pondering for a few seconds, the officer gave his answer.
"Starbird, you're cleared to dock. Bay 1."
Hera wasted no time into actualizing the maneuver, connecting the docking shaft of the Ghost with the transport.
In that shaft, Kanan and Sabine were about to pose as bounty hunters, with Zeb being the captured "Wookie".
When the door opened, they found two stormtroopers waiting for them. They stared to Zeb, and one of them immediately found himself skeptical.
"That thing's not a Wookiee." he said
"Never saw a rare hairless Wookiee before?" asked Kanan as if that was common knowledge.
"Ghhhhrr…" Zeb tried to imitate the Wookiee language, which to most of the galaxy were simple growls with the mouth.
The two stormtroopers looked each other, then Zeb again. They had absolutely no idea if that was a joke, a fraud or if the strangers were telling the truth. After all, the Empire was very human-centric, and the members of the military were especially disregardful of alien appearances and knowledge.
"Oh, forget it!" Zeb snapped. Then he dashed forward and threw them both to the wall with a single punch.
"Told you they wouldn't buy it." commented the Lasat.
"You didn't exactly give 'em a chance to buy it." sarcastically joked Sabine.
"We should move before others show up." behind them all, Jaral walked in, urging them to move as they were still inside an Imperial ship.
"She's right. Let's move up." Kanan agreed.
Aboard the Ghost, Hera and Ezra were listening their allies through the comlink.
"No troopers. Security's soft." said Kanan to them. But just a second later the channel was overflowed with static signals.
"Specter-1, you there?" Hera tried to reach them. "Specter-4? Specter-5…? Damn, Comm's down."
"No, they're being jammed!" Ezra snapped to the realization.
The boy looked out of the window for a moment. In the back of his head, his instincts were telling him a danger was approaching.
And it wasn't long before a Star Destroyer came out of hyperspace, aiming directly at the transport.
"This whole thing was a setup!" Ezra exclaimed.
"It's starting to look that way." Hera could do nothing but agree.
"Get ready to leave, I'm getting the others." proclaimed the boy, putting his helmet on and sprinting out of the cockpit.
Hera was taken aback for a moment. He thought that Ezra was staying there because he was afraid to get himself into an imperial ship, and she didn't blame him at all. Now, however, it was clear that he was sincere about staying behind as backup. She looked him go with a confident smile as she made sure the ship would be ready to leave the moment everybody came back.
Ezra sprinted down the hallways in order to get to the hatch. He went over it and he was immediately into the transport. Using Jinx, he immediately tracked Jaral's position as the sensors of the Omni-tool warned him that the Star Destroyer was almost done with the tractor beam. Soon the ship would be filled with stormtroopers.
It took him a little less than a minute to reach Jaral, who was in group with Zeb and Kanan.
"It's a trap!" Ezra screamed as soon as he saw them in the distance. They were preparing to breach the door where they thought the Wookiees were kept.
"Ezra, what's going on?" Jaral asked.
"The whole thing is a setup. We're docking into a Star Destroyer and the ship will soon crawl with stormtroopers. We need to get out, right now!" he explained in a hurry, but the crew understood very well.
As if to prove Ezra's point even more, the door Kanan was about to blast open, opened by itself, revealing an entire squad of stormtroopers.
Ezra crouched. Shot a burst into the small shaft with the repeater, hitting two troopers before they could react, then he aimed at the door's panel, shutting it and giving them a few seconds to get some distance with the pursuers.
"We have to contact Sabine and Chopper." Jaral said.
"They're jamming the communications, that's why I had to run here!" explained Ezra.
"Don't worry." Kanan reassured them. "As long as they stick to the plan, they'll be back in time."
In the engine room, Sabine and Chopper had two different tasks. The latter was hacking the gravitational support of the ship, while the former was filling the room with thermal detonators set to explode on command. Then they started running back to the exit. On Sabine command, Chopper disengaged the gravity support of the ships, sending everyone floating in the air.
It was good for the other team, as a squad of stormtroopers was about to cut their way back.
Jaral and Ezra in this case could use one of the many perks of their armors: magnetic boots. As everybody else struggled to keep themselves balanced, the two siblings had the opportunity to calmly raise their heavy repeaters and rain fire on the imperials, leaving only corpses to float.
Ezra then moved on the back of the formation, pushing Zeb and Kanan as Jaral led the way.
Just as they neared the crossroad of hallways that would bring them back on the Ghost, they found Chopper and Sabine. The latter, as planned, restored the gravity.
"Where are the Wookies?" asked Sabine, seeing everyone come back empty-handed.
"No Wookies. It was a trap." explained Jaral while going over her.
"You and Chopper go back on the Ghost and man the turrets." ordered Kanan.
"Ehm, right." replied Sabine after wrapping her head over what was happening.
Jaral stopped them at the last crossroad, as she dodged a blaster bolt to the head by a matter of nanoseconds.
"We got company! They're cutting us off!" she said loudly.
They were literally 5 meters away from the door. The stormtroopers were coming from the hallway on the right line with the hatch, and there were many, firing at will just to prevent to rebels to try and cross that small space.
"Jaral, use the portable cover!" screamed Ezra, running up to her.
The older sister nodded. Her omni-tool lightened up before she dived in the middle of the hallway. She took two hits, but her shields held firm. She punched the floor and that prompted a semi-round, red holographic cover to spring up. It was short, barely covering up to the abdomen of an average human., but it made its job of repelling bolts perfectly.
"Go. We'll cover you." Jaral said to the Ghost's members. Her brother dived behind the cover and the two of them replied to the stormtroopers by raining down fire with their repeaters. One of the troopers fell down immediately, prompting the others to flatten themselves against the wall to find what little cover the arches of the hallway gave them.
As their part of the hallway was finally free from the bolt storm, the droid and the three crewmen sprinted over to their ship. Kanan and Sabine kept going in order to reach the turrets, only Zeb stayed behind.
"Come on, kids!" said the Lasat, gesturing them to hurry.
Jaral got first, while Ezra slowly started to stand up, but always shooting in the direction of the stormtroopers, in order to discourage them to attempt any bravery.
Jaral traversed the hatch and got back on the Ghost.
"Ezra, move!" she insisted.
Her brother obliged and started running in that direction, but barely he had left the square of the crossroad that he was hit in the back by a precise volley of bolts. His shields couldn't take it and exploded, making him lose balance and dropping on the floor, slightly stunned.
There was a squad of troopers, led by agent Kallus, who had just maneuvered to flank the barrier. Kallus himself dropped onto Ezra. Two other stormtroopers started firing to Zeb and Jaral, forcing them to take cover. Ezra was about to shake Kallus off, but two more imperials assailed him, and he wasn't strong enough to lift all that weight.
"Ezra!" Jaral screamed, but she couldn't leave the cover without incurring his same fate.
Now there were at least 5 stormtroopers firing at the door. And they started to slowly advance towards it.
"Zeb! Take Jaral away!" the boy pleaded.
"Sorry kid!" screamed Zeb to Ezra. In his eyes there was a sincere sorrow, but also a deep respect.
"NO!" Jaral tried to extend her arm, but couldn't prevent Zeb from pressing the button, as the controls were on his side of the door.
The moment the sensors signaled that the hatch had been closed, Hera immediately started to detach the Ghost, announcing their departure.
At the hatch's door, however, there was only grief, and anger.
Jaral was furious. She took off her helmet. Her eyes glaring at the Lasat, tears barely holding in.
Zeb, on his part, didn't have the courage to face her.
They both knew it was necessary. They couldn't save him at that moment. In fact, Jaral didn't say anything to the Lasat because she heard Ezra herself. She heard him begging the Lasat to save his sister, rather than him. She couldn't help to storm into the hangar bay and kick the first crate she found, before collapsing on the floor.
Hera pushed the engines at maximum speed. While the captain of the Star Destroyer commanded them to surrender or be shot down, Hera simply shut down the comlink, while Chopper was jamming their tractor beam to hamper their targeting speed.
"Blow it out your exhaust vent." mumbled Hera in response to the officer's rambling. Chopper answered with an amused chirping.
"Literally…Sabine?" Hera continued.
Right beneath her, Sabine was sitting in the nose gun. With a smirk, she clicked the detonator in her hand, causing the charges aboard the transport to blow up. The imperials had already evacuated, but since the smaller ship was still anchored to the Destroyer's lower hangar, the explosion damaged heavily the tractor beam device, allowing the Ghost to escape by going the exact opposite direction the capital ship was pointing.
"Ugh. I can't see it from here…" Sabine lamented. Then she took a more confident tone. "How'd it look?"
"Gorgeous, Sabine. As always." Kanan answered from the main cannon on the upper side, as he was staring right at the Destroyer.
Before the Empire had time to react, the Ghost finally jumped into hyperspace.
Hera breathed a sigh of relief, before Kanan and Sabine walked into the cockpit.
"The whole thing was a setup." Kanan admitted in frustration.
"You think Vizago was on it?" asked Sabine.
"He would sell his mother for a couple of credits." commented Hera. "But we're a source of income for him." she folded her arms in front of her. "Even odds, he didn't know."
They all fell silent in thoughts, barely noticing that Zeb walked in with a broken look. He sat in the last passenger seat left free.
"The kids did pretty good, uh?" Hera commented.
"Indeed." Kanan admitted. "Where are they?" and everybody turned to Zeb, only now noticing that something was wrong.
"I...I couldn't…" the Lasat stammered. The others now were on edge as well.
"Zeb? What did you do to them?" Sabine leaned forward.
"I didn't do anything!" the Lasat repelled the accusation immediately. "But...that ISB agent got the boy…" he didn't know how to continue, but that was enough explanation.
"WHAT?!" the rest of the crew shouted in unison.
"The boy got grabbed, okay?" Zeb snapped.
"Garazeb Orellios!" Hera reprimanded firmly.
"And what happened to the other one?" asked Sabine.
Zeb could do nothing but point a finger to the security camera looking into the cargo bay. Everyone could see Jaral sitting on the floor. Her face covered by her hands and the upper body was trying to hide between her knees. She wasn't crying, though it was clear that she was struggling in order not to do it.
A sense of guilt and grief washed into the crew in the cockpit. After all, they encouraged them to walk into that venture. The kids actually tried to warn them that the whole ordeal was too suspicious and that this could be a trap, but the crew didn't listen, and yet the kids offered to help anyway. Even going as far as staying behind and cover their escape. And now, one of them had paid the price for an error that wasn't his own.
Aboard the Star Destroyer, Ezra had been handcuffed and brought aboard a minute before the transport exploded. He didn't resist the capture, mostly because he understood that they needed to get out of that ship as soon as possible.
Kallus had ordered some troopers to remove his helmet, but they quickly found out that it was pretty impossible for them. As many other components of his arsenal, Ezra could remove the helmet with a mental command, as everything was run by the Omni-tool, which in turn was a sub-dermal implant, linked to the nervous system of the owner, and the imperials had absolutely no clue what this technology was about.
They still removed his comlink from his wrist...not that he actually needed it: it was there just to confuse his foes in situations like this, making them believe that he wouldn't be able to communicate at a distance anymore.
The shield had already recharged, though no one seemed to have noticed, and the boy just let himself to be obediently led to the detention cells.
He was left to wait for about half an hour, then Kallus stepped into the room, his helmet removed.
"I am Agent Kallus of the Imperial Security Bureau." he said while walking down the few stairs and positioning himself in front of the boy. "And you are…?"
"Jabba the Hutt." Ezra answered plainly.
Kallus was a bit annoyed that he couldn't see his prisoner's face under that helmet. Still, he kept his composure, firmly believing he was in control of the situation.
"You possess an interesting piece of technology, 'Jabba', where did you find it?"
"You should ask my father. It was a gift from him." the boy responded without showing emotions.
Kallus wasn't expecting such an answer, yet he could tell the boy wasn't lying.
"Look." Ezra sighed. "I met those guys today. I don't know anything…"
Kallus was about to reply, but when he opened his mouth, Ezra anticipated him.
"And if you're planning to use me as bait, well, good luck. They will not come back for me." he said that with apparent sincerity.
Kallus, however, knew better. While the statement seemed sincere, something in the boy's voice let
the ISB agent thinking that he still had a mild hope that those rebels would actually come back for him.
The agent leaned forward, staring right into the boy's visor with a look full of curiosity, but still serious. Then he tapped one of the boy's shoulders with his right finger, before leaving the room.
Ezra waited for a few minutes, making sure that agent Kallus had left the prison altogether, then he summoned Jinx.
The AI had this unique perk to be able to separate his own consciousness across his own 6 processors. Each of the siblings held 3 of these processors in his own omni-tool. All of this, meant that the AI was able to be in two places at the same time, no matter the distance. However, the two parts of him could not communicate unless their hardware (in this case the omni-tool) were able to establish a connection with each other, and the omni-tool in itself was powerful enough to talk to one side of a planet from another, but not across the void of space without supplementary equipment.
Now Ezra had his comlink confiscated. Even if the Ghost was still at a reasonable distance in the sector of Lothal, and the boy had no guarantees about that, he couldn't directly call Jaral and come up with a well-coordinated plan to escape.
"You really like to get into trouble. Don't you, Ezra?" the AI noted sarcastically into the boy's helmet audio.
"It was to save Jaral, this time."
"Right. Then I guess you're completely fine with staying indefinitely in an Imperial prison?"
"Of course not. We need to find a way to the hangar. Once I'm out of here, you have to intercept their transmissions and download a blueprint of the ship." the boy calmly explained.
Even though Jaral was the undisputed mind of the siblings, Ezra had absolutely no problems in using his wits rather than his temperament whenever he found himself alone in a dire spot.
"That implies that you can actually leave this cell. You know, I can't access their controls from here."
"Watch me…" he said confidently.
"No, no, no, no way! You cannot be serious!" Zeb said, a tad bit angry at how senseless that request was.
"Excuse me?!" Jaral growled at him, her gaze expressing all her angry resolution in recovering her brother. She pushed her helmet onto Zeb's chest.
"My brother was there because we didn't listen when we warned us it was a trap." she left Zeb go.
"I really should've listened to him. Damn!" she hissed through her teeth. The others were indeed struck by her words, as she was literally verbalizing their sense of guilt.
"This...hunches…" Kanan started asking. "Does he often have them?"
Jaral sighed. "Pretty much. It's like he can always predict if there is a danger incoming…" she
realized she was wasting time with this comment.
"Anyway, we owe him a debt! You have to chase that Destroyer and help me board it."
"I don't approve of you going alone…" Hera immediately interjected. "But she's right. We brought him in there and he stood out his neck for us."
"Oh, come on Hera!" Zeb intervened. He was conflicted. He wanted to go back and repair to his failure of leaving an ally behind, but he knew that, as long as he was aboard that Star Destroyer, the recover could very much be a suicide mission. "We're talking about five of us boarding a damn Star Destroyer!"
"They'll be waiting for us. We can't save him." Sabine was dejected. She had immediately felt in tune with the two siblings, but as much as she wanted to help Jaral storm that ship, the outlook seemed pretty grim, even factoring in Jaral's ability and equipment.
Silence fell. Jaral was clenching her free hand in frustration, but then another member spoke...sorta.
"Woorp wooorp woooo!" Chopper warbled, his manipulators making small but apparently resolved movements.
"What? What's he saying?" asked Zeb.
"He voted with me." Hera said triumphantly. Then she leaned to the man sit in the co-pilot's chair. "Kanan, you have the deciding vote."
The man posed his gaze on Jaral. She responded with the most confident expression she could conjure up.
"And you bucket heads are going to be so sorry when my uncle, the Emperor, finds out about this!"
Ezra had been yelling from inside the cell to the two guards outside the door for a couple of minutes. Then he started coughing violently.
It was only at this point that the troopers decided to check in. After all, a dead bait is pretty worthless.
However, they didn't see him. They immediately rushed in, checking better. They didn't notice that Ezra had actually climbed on the roof, stretching his limbs in order so flatten himself up there, where they wouldn't suspect a thing.
Once the soldiers where right beneath him, the boy left himself fall, crashing on the two unfortunate troopers with a body slam. They immediately passed out.
Ezra took one of their rifles, walked out and closed the door to hide the unconscious soldiers as long as he could.
After finding a terminal, he immediately called up Jinx, which managed to download the blueprint in two seconds, while plugging himself into the imperial transmissions.
Thanks to him, he found the nearest armory, where the imperials had deposited his repeater and his comlink.
"All right. Found the way to the hangar?" asked Ezra while checking his weapon.
"The quickest route would put around 63 troopers between us and the nearest shuttle. The probabilities of success are pretty much non-existent." the AI reported the situation with absolute clarity and his usual shade of sarcasm.
"You really are the bringer of misfortune…" Ezra answered with absolute leisure. "What about the longest route?"
"The longest route involves you entering that ventilation shaft over your head and crawl all the way to the lower hangar." the AI explained.
Ezra looked up, finding the panel that would bring him to the shafts. Despite all those modified genes, Ezra and Jaral weren't much different in physical dimensions than their peers. Though he would surely reach Jaral's 174 cm one day, right now he was only 167, just a pinch shorter than Sabine, as he had noted on the Ghost.
The boy climbed up on the crates stockpiled in order to reach the panel. However, he quickly realized that the armor would only hamper his movements in there, so he decided to shut it down, for now.
With a simple thought, the Omni-tool lightened up and both the armor and the nano-suit vanished back into the main device on his chests, letting him wearing his usual orange outfit again. Before venturing into the shafts, he stole a stormtrooper cadet's helmet, which fitted him just fine and allowed him to listen to the communications aboard the Star Destroyer.
Then he jumped right into the shaft, and started crawling for at least ten minutes, which looked like an eternity to him. It was at that moment that a conversation on the radio picked his interest.
"This is trooper LS-005, reporting to agent Kallus."
"I'm listening."
"Sir...the prisoner escaped."
"What?!" Kallus was indeed surprised. Ezra smirked under the helmet, wondering what kind of face the agent was doing.
"How did the rebels get on board?" Kallus asked, believing Ezra must had received outside help.
"Sir, it wasn't the rebels…" the trooper tried to explain, but then a radar operator on the deck interrupted them.
"Agent Kallus, there is a security breach in the lower hangar! I don't know how, but the Rebels managed to get close without alerting our sensors."
"They came back!" Ezra whispered, surprised. "I can't believe it."
Sure, Jaral was still on board, but it's not like she could've coerced all of them. She wasn't that strong and those guys were pretty good in combat. Besides, she certainly wouldn't resort to such measures.
"Order all troopers to converge to the lower hangar." Kallus' order reminded Ezra that he was still in trouble and that he needed to act quickly in order to favor his breakout.
So he cleared his voice and put two fingers on the comlink button on the left side of the helmet.
"This is LS-123, reporting an attack from the upper hangar. Sir, I believe the lower hangar is just a diversion." he tried to sound calm but a bit alarmed.
"Maybe." answered Kallus. "Maybe not." he pondered for a moment, leaving Ezra hanging. "Squads 4 to 8 converge on the upper hangar. The rest proceed as ordered to the lower hangar."
"Well, every bit helps." Ezra said to himself, now crawling as fast as he could.
The lower hangar had been previously evacuated after the explosion of the transport used as bait for the Ghost. As such, it was easy for the freighter to land unimpeded. Chopper took commands, as Hera stayed back on the ramp while the rest of the group disembarked, Jaral leading the way.
Sabine slowed down a couple of seconds to spray some of her paint on the floor.
"So, what's the plan?" Kanan asked Jaral while they ran through the hangar's main door.
"Our armors can send a short-distance signal to each other, if we can just-" she cut short as said signal suddenly sprung up...right over her head.
She clearly heard the sound of someone thudding knees and elbows on the durasteel.
"Ezra?" she asked.
A second later, a kick threw open the panel over the group of four. Ezra jumped out, landing straight in front of Zeb. The Lasat, however, as soon as he saw the cadet's helmet Ezra wore, instinctively punched him, making the boy wobble a few steps back.
Ezra removed the helmet with comprehensible frustration, throwing it on the floor.
"First you ditch me, then you hit me?!" he snarled.
"How was I supposed to know it was you?! You were wearing a bucket!" Zeb tried to defend himself.
Jaral just put a hand on her brother's shoulder, gently squeezing it as a sign of affection, at the same time she decided it was no time to banter.
"We'll discuss this later. Let's move before they catch up to us."
"Specter-1 to Ghost, we're leaving." Kanan said through the comlink. As Ezra reactivated the armor, they were halfway back when Kallus and the stormtroopers reached the hangar and started shooting at them. The team retaliated, pushing the imperials to take cover behind the few crates left in the room. Hera gave some cover fire with her Blurrg-1120 blaster. Without wasting a second, the crew rushed on the ramp and into the cargo bay of the Ghost, allowing Hera to close the door and Chopper to take off.
Kallus ordered the troops to advance.
"Aim for shield generator and engines, don't let…" he noticed the stain of orange Sabine left on the floor.
The agent rubbed two fingers on it and smelt it quickly. The realization made his eyes widen.
"Take cover!" he screamed.
Just in that moment, Sabine pressed her detonator again. The explosive stain opened a breach on the floor, causing a vacuum to open. A few troopers and crates were sucked out in space, but Kallus managed to hold onto the edge of the hole.
Jaral and Ezra moved to the cockpit, the sister smiling and keeping an arm around her little brother's shoulder.
"You really made me worry sick, this time! Don't ever do that again." she retorted.
"Are you seriously asking something impossible like that?" said the snarky boy. "Besides, I had full faith in you, sister."
Hera watched them with a smile. She couldn't help but find their relationship heartwarming.
"Welcome aboard...again." she joked with Ezra.
"Thank you." the boy answered. He didn't want to express his past doubts about them coming back for him.
"I'll take you guys home now. Your parents must be worried sick."
She said that casually, but then immediately realized that something was wrong in her statement. She turned around to make some questions, but noticed that her words had made the kids assume a much sadder expression.
"We...don't have parents." Jaral said dryly.
Hera immediately regretted talking. It was so obvious! What parent would let their children run around with some rare military weaponry and a set of armor unique in the entire galaxy?
"And you guys have somewhere else to be." Ezra followed.
Kanan and Sabine came into the picture, sitting respectively as the co-pilot and the left passenger.
"I know where the Wookiees are." said Ezra, gaining everybody's attention.
He locked gaze with Jaral, showing his forearm. It was a sign that Jinx had the information, and they needed to reveal his existence at this point. Jaral decided that the Ghost's members had proven themselves to be worthy of trust, so she nodded.
"Jinx." said Ezra. The others in the room raised an eyebrow each. Zeb was entering in the room too. "Time to present yourself."
Jinx appeared in his usual form right over Ezra's hand.
"Greetings." he said.
The crew jumped on their seats, literally. Chopper made some alarmed blaring.
"My apologies. I didn't mean to cause you any distress." the AI followed with an honest tone.
"Liar." commented Jaral.
The AI ignored the remark of his mistress. "I'm JX-1653, also known as 'Jinx'."
The others were still with their mouth open. Only Sabine took courage and got a little closer to the blue figure.
"Who...what are you?" she asked confused.
"I'm an advanced Artificial Intelligence developed by Synthetic Insights on the Terra Nova laboratory N°49. I'm responsible to improve the performance of my masters' omni-tools and armors. I can also assist in hacking; cyber-guerrilla; real-time translation…" his tone was getting more and more cocky.
"Yes, Jinx." Ezra cut short. "You're amazing, but you can gloat later."
The crew was completely clueless: all the names Jinx gave meant absolutely nothing to them.
"Guys, we will explain everything once the mission is done." Jaral said in conciliatory tone, well aware that their hosts were in total confusion. "But for now you have to trust us. If Jinx has a lead to the Wookiees we have to exploit it now."
The crew, luckily, accepted that suggestion immediately and they straightened themselves back, all paying attention to the virtual figure.
"Tell us, Jinx." Jaral ordered gently.
"While Ezra was playing as a tunnel rat, I monitored all the transmissions on the Star Destroyer and I also analyzed the flight schedule of their transports in the region. I found out that the transport we're actually looking for was switched with another one a few minutes before our arrival per order of Agent Alexandr Kallus of the ISB.
"The real transport is still on its course. It's scheduled to land with its wookiee cargo on Kessel; Spice Mine K-48; in around 45 minutes."
"What's Kessel?" Ezra asked, after the AI had finished his report.
Jaral and Ezra had never left Lothal until that day. Though they studied Jinx's database to know something about the sector in which Lothal was central, they didn't know much about the rest of the galaxy.
"Slaves sent there last only a few months. Maybe a year." Sabine explained with a note of discomfort.
"And for Wookiees, who are born in the forest, is a death sentence." Hera completed the statement.
The two siblings nodded at each other. Jinx's image disappeared.
"Then we better go save 'em." said Ezra with a smirk, swinging his left fist in a gesture of encouragement.
The crew was actually stunned by that bold declaration.
"Are you...sure? After what happened…" Sabine tried to ask, but Ezra interrupted.
"Let's call my capture a minor setback and focus on finishing the job."
"Setting course for Kessel." Hera said with a reinvigorated tone, turning around to insert the coordinates in the navicomputer.
Zeb, Sabine and Kanan were still surprised by those kids' eagerness to get back into the fight, but they gave them an approving smile.
"I like these kids." Zeb smiled with a profound respect in his voice.
It took exactly 40 minutes for the Ghost to reach Kessel's orbit. By using the scanners, Jinx intercepted the signal of the imperial transport, which was finishing the docking operation at the mine.
The squad had already established that their better chance at saving the Wookiees lied exactly in that moment. Attacking on the docking pier would allow them to find all the Wookies in one place and leaving the guards in no particular advantageous position.
Everybody except for Hera and Chopper was waiting in the cargo bay, checking their weapons. Kanan had his blaster pistol; Sabine her two mandalorian WESTAR-35 pistols, painted as pretty much every part of her equipment; Zeb owned his unique Bo-rifle, a weapon of his people. Since they already established in the previous firefight that the two siblings' armors could take a few hits before their shields broke down, they insisted on being the first to land, to draw the enemy fire.
The forces defending the pier were not actually that frightening. A mixture of alien species working as security forces for the Mining Guild. Over-glorified mercenaries with little to no experience in an actual fight. The imperial transport only had a small squad of 10 regular soldiers of the Empire, armed with E-11 blaster rifle but their only personal protection was their helmet and their body vest, which protected only the torso and the abdomen, both of them of poor quality and only useful in a fistfight.
When the Ghost came out of nowhere, they were caught completely by surprise, reacting only when the ramp went down and the two siblings jumped out, firing at them. Since they didn't want to risk hitting the Wookies, who were hoarded in the middle of the landing platform, the Bridgers resorted to use their own E-11, firing a bolt at a time and taking extra care, using the aim assistance provided by Jinx.
When the guards returned fire, it was imprecise and badly coordinated, not to mention the fact that they didn't run for cover, contrary to the Ghost's crew, who had a line of crates to defend themselves with and from which they could safely return fire.
Kanan nodded to Ezra, who started to move on the flank of the imperial formation, using another line of crates to cover his approach while his allies kept drawing the sentinel's attention, gunning down two more of them.
Ezra reached the pack of Wookiees, raising his hands in a sign of peace.
"I'm here to help." he said them.
He then used his omni-tool to deactivate the handcuffs on the hairy giants, one by one. The Wookiees then, eager for revenge, assailed the guards from behind with their bare hands, knocking them out in a few moments.
Just when they thought it was all over, the sound of three TIEs coming down from orbit crashed their hopes for a quick op.
The TIEs hit the rear of the Ghost with a precise barrage, as it was standing still in front of the landing platform.
"We're hit!" Hera screamed. Though the shields were still holding together. "Chopper, aft gun!"
The astromech rolled out of the cockpit and went into the aft gun just in time to hit the TIE in front of its cannons, sending it down in a ball of fire and making the other two break the attack run and reorganize.
Then a Gozanti-class, the same type of transport that the crew boarded before, came down from orbit. The fighters formed up on it as the Ghost moved out of the way.
Ezra and Jaral immediately realized what was going to happen with the transport coming at that angle.
"Form on us!" they both screamed to their allies and the Wookiees in a commanding tone, and they immediately complied.
As the Gozanti fired with its only turret on the platform, Ezra and Jaral's omni-tools lightened up and they stretched their arms out, balancing their legs accordingly.
Two bubble shields irradiated from the kids, just in time to protect everybody from the blast.
It was another of their "powers". Though it wouldn't have sustained the blast of a more powerful weapon, it held against the light turret of the Gozanti, which then resorted to land.
The siblings turned down the shields as the transport pulled out its landing gear.
"That was sick!" Sabine exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Save it for later." Jaral said with a smirk, before stretching out her left arm in the opposite direction. "Everyone, take cover! Ezra, on me!"
She indicated a line of crates that would provide cover from whoever would come out of the transport. As she and Ezra aimed their repeaters to the transport, the others listened to her and made a run for it.
The main ramp of the transport came down, loaded with at least a dozen stormtroopers and agent Kallus.
"Gun them down!" Kallus ordered immediately.
The stormtroopers started firing when the Wookiees were still in the open. There was a baby among them, who panicked and run in the wrong direction. His father tried to reach him but was hit in the shoulder by two incoming stormtroopers. Ezra noticed the kid fleeing, and a stormtrooper spotting the baby and giving chase.
But Ezra couldn't follow them right now. He jumped in front of the wounded wookiee as Zeb lifted him and brought him to safety.
Soon, the stormtroopers had taken a good position behind a line of crates themselves and they exploited their numerical advantage to unleash a savage barrage of bolts against the rebels and the prisoners.
Some of the Wookiees had stolen the guard's rifles and tried to shoot back, but one of them was hit in the arm almost immediately by the accurate firing of the stormtroopers. Kallus ordered five of them to form on him and they started advancing in a 'V' formation to get on top of the rebels.
"Don't you guys have any other trick in those orange beauties?" Sabine asked the siblings.
"The 'bubble' takes a lot of energy. They are still recharging right now." Ezra, who was the closest, answered.
The nanobots inside the omni-tool had the peculiarity of reproducing at very high speeds, as they were essentials to create whatever the omni-tool was programmed to do. The bubble shield was a very useful tool, but it was the most expensive in the siblings' arsenal, draining the nanobots population up to 90%. It would take at least a minute before the security measures of the omni-tool would allow them to resort to another of their powers.
Meanwhile, in the skies, Hera was still trying to shake off the two remaining TIEs.
"I can't hold position." she said in the comlink without losing focus.
Crouched behind his only cover, Kanan responded.
"Go away. Get yourself some room to maneuver and lose those TIEs."
"I'm not leaving you behind!" she said resolutely.
Kanan looked in front of the direction he was facing. Right at the edge of the pier there was a pretty big container, which gave him an idea.
"No, you're not. We're running a 22 pickup." he declared.
"Copy that." Hera complied.
"A 22 pickup, seriously?" asked Sabine to Kanan.
Ezra shot another burst before kneeling again just in time to avoid a bolt directed at his face.
"22 pickup? Mind to let me on the secret?" he asked trying to sound optimistic.
Kanan chuckled. "Seems legit. You guys had shown us many of yours, already."
After saying that, he stood up and climbed over the crate protecting him.
"What the kriff are you doing?!" Ezra screamed, finding that move absolutely nonsensical.
"Whoa." Sabine said jokingly. "The language, kid. Let Kanan work his magic."
As he peeked over his cover, Ezra could see Kanan, walking with absolute confidence in the middle of the bullet storm. The bolts, however, seemed to just avoid him completely, and he only slightly bent his neck twice to avoid two bolts directed at his head.
Then he took two pieces of equipment from his belt, connecting them.
On the other side, Kallus made a gesture to suspend fire, not sure to believe what was looking at.
Ezra felt something. The humming that led him to see Kanan for the first time came back.
Then, a blue ray came out of Kanan's equipment. Once Kanan's wielded it clearly, Ezra recognized the strange stick he saw in the man's cabin.
Both him and Jaral looked in awe. They had only heard stories about that thing and yet they recognized it immediately. It was a lightsaber, the weapon of the ancient Jedi.
The Imperials were astonished as well at first. Then Kallus refocused and pointed at Kanan vigorously.
"All troopers. Focus your fire...on the Jedi!"
A barrage of laser bolts was shot in the direction of Kanan. The Jedi parried or avoided all of those who seriously risked to hit him.
"Everyone in the container, now!" using the distraction provided by Kanan, Sabine instructed her peers.
Ezra saw the male adult wookiee he helped before, stretching his wounded arm in the direction where his son was.
The boy knew it was stupid. And that this time he may not be as lucky as to simply wound up as a prisoner for the Empire.
Yet he couldn't help but feeling compelled to try.
"Jaral!" he screamed to his sister. She was about to enter the container as well, but stopped on her track to listen.
"Cover me." he said. A strong determination in his voice. Jaral understood immediately.
She jumped behind Kanan, using his lightsaber as a shield while she unleashed a barrage toward Kallus' squad, gunning down two troopers and even grazing Kallus on the left arm, forcing him and the rest of his squad to fall back.
Ezra immediately exploited the chance given to flank the imperials, slip past them and run toward the direction he saw the young wookiee flee, hoping it wasn't too late.
"Sir!" a stormtrooper called to Kallus. The agent looked that way, seeing that the trooper was pointing behind the formation. The agent saw Ezra sprinting.
"I'll take care of him." he said with a vengeance. "Focus on the prisoners!"
Ezra sprinted toward the next catwalk of the mine, which ended right above the bottomless pit of the spice mine beneath them.
There he saw the baby Wookiee, still chased by a stormtrooper, running out of space to flee.
Tired and irritated from the chase. The stormtrooper aimed his gun and approached the cub.
"Hey!" a voice behind him challenged him.
The trooper turned around and found the armored Ezra, who had just put away his repeater on the magnetic seal on his back. Then the boy bowed on one of his knees, as if he was preparing to jump.
The soldier fired a shot to him, but Ezra jumped forward...and pretty high.
Ezra was able to jump higher than most people. That was a perk of his genes, but sometimes he found himself able to jump over distances way too great and too fast. Jaral was almost at the end of her growth process and she couldn't do nothing similar in terms of jumping.
Ezra somersaulted and landed in front of the cub and already facing the back of the trooper, who was taken aback by that move and stared the wrong direction for a couple of second.
Ezra exploited this time by focusing on him. Then he stretched his right arm, the fingers spread and the palm facing the trooper.
As if he was hit by the full force of a speeder in movement, the trooper was suddenly pushed to the ledge, smashing on the rail and rolling over it. He was sent down the pit, screaming.
It had been almost a year since it first happened. From time to time, Ezra had noticed the fact that he was able to push forward objects when he was particularly focused on them. Usually it happened in situation of immediate danger for him, or Jaral, as he was desperate to avoid injuries to his beloved sister.
Whatever that was, now it proved to be useful. Ezra turned to the cub, who was still afraid. The boy removed his helmet, this time recalling it into the omni-tool, and showed the baby a gentle smile.
"Don't be afraid. You're safe."
He then freed the baby from his handcuffs. Then the baby groaned while he was looking over Ezra's shoulder.
The boy immediately grasped the E-11 attached on his belt, as it was quicker to extract, and turned around, kneeling in front of the Wookiee to protect him.
"It's over for you, Jedi!" Kallus intimated, a rifle in his hands.
"A master and an apprentice." the agent noted with a small bit of surprise. "Such a rare find these days."
"I don't know what your delusions are, bucket head." Ezra replied defiantly. "I work alone."
"Not this time." a voice from the pit replied.
On the side of the catwalk appeared the Ghost. Kanan wielding his lightsaber on top of hit.
While Ezra was making his save, the rest of the crew managed to board the container and being recovered by Hera with the magnetic seal of the freighter. Only Kanan had stayed outside while they were heading toward Ezra.
Kallus fired a shot angrily at the Jedi, who instantly deflected it back to him. The bolt hit the agent on his chest armor with a force strong enough to make him lose consciousness.
"Jump, kid!" Kanan said.
Ezra nodded, took the cub in his arms and propelled himself on the Ghost using the handrail as a springboard. He landed fair and square. Kanan leaded them to the nearest door to the inside as the freighter gained altitude.
The three fugitives finally got to the cargo bay, where the Wookiees and the rest of the crew already assembled.
The baby Wookiee saw his father and immediately glided down the ladder to run into his arms. Jaral looked up to his brother, giving him a proud smile, something Ezra always appreciated.
"You did good, kid." Kanan said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Even though he usually ignored compliments from strangers, this time he accepted it wholeheartedly, nodding to him with a smile. He looked down for a couple of seconds before turning completely to Kanan.
"Kanan...ehm, can I call you Kanan, right?" he asked, thinking he was being rude.
"Of course, Ezra." the man replied with a conciliatory smile, turning his body in front of him as well.
"Thanks." he pondered a moment how to say the next sentence. "Can I ask you something, in private?"
Kanan answered by tending gently an arm toward the hallway they came in and leading him further from the others.
"You felt it too, right?" Ezra asked bluntly. "That weird feeling back on Lothal and now on the platform?"
Kanan looked dead serious now.
"Do you know where my abilities come from?"
Kanan took a moment to respond.
"It was the Force, Ezra. You are a Force sensitive." he said with a warm voice, as a teacher explaining something.
Ezra was taken aback.
"The Force...what is it?"
"The Force is everywhere." Kanan answered by giving a quick look around and slightly expanding his arms outward. "It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together."
He took a moment to readjust himself and staring right into the boy's eyes.
"And it's strong with you, Ezra. Otherwise you could've never been able to use it in combat as well as you do, without even knowing."
Ezra was in a bit of a shock. He took a step back, to balance himself as his head seemed to spin around. Kanan didn't flinch, standing still where he was.
"I heard stories…" Ezra mumbled. "But I never believed them before. I thought the Empire wiped out all the Jedi." he said surprised.
Kanan shook his head. "Not all of us."
Ezra took a couple of steps in the direction of the common room, slowly thinking.
"Then…" he started. He turned back to face Kanan with a stern face. "Can you help me?"
Kanan was actually surprised by the request, but showed a friendly smirk.
"Can you teach me how to wield this abilities?" the boy finished.
"If you wish so…" Kanan said, assuming a more straight posture, his arms folded behind his back. "You can come with us. Come with me. And learn what it means to be a true Jedi. And of course, you sister is welcomed as well."
Ezra turned his gaze down, pondering.
"I'll have to discuss this with her, first."
Kanan acknowledged with a nod and they went back to the cargo bay.
A couple of hours later, the Ghost let a smaller freighter dock to it. The crew of the small cargo has acquiesced to bring the Wookiees back to their home planet of Kashyyyk. Ezra was warmly said goodbye by the cub, whose name turned out to be Kitwarr, and his father.
The journey back to Lothal was pretty quiet. Ezra and Jaral stayed on their own in the cargo bay, undisturbed by the rest of the crew. Kanan had already explained his teammates the offer he had extended to Ezra, and they all agreed that the two would be welcomed additions. Chopper was the only one to complain, saying they couldn't trust Jinx, but complaining was pretty much Chopper's thing and he was completely outvoted anyway.
The Ghost landed in front of the radio tower the Bridgers called home. The kids went out the ramp and stared at their old tower, waiting for the rest of the crew to reach them in the brisk of the morning.
"So…" Kanan started, unsure about finishing the question.
The two siblings turned around and showed a complacent face.
"We discussed for long." Jaral said, slightly tending an arm to point at his brother.
"And we decided that we might give it a shot." Ezra added jokingly.
A smile manifested on the Ghost crew. Hera went in front of them.
"Welcome aboard, Specter-6. Specter-7." she said, shaking hand with Jaral first and Ezra second. She decided it was better to give names based on the age, in their case. All of the other Specters had join the crew singularly in the past, thus earning their number.
"We still have a few things to recover at the tower." said Ezra. "Nothing cumbersome, just the tools to maintain our armors."
"You mean, I have to recover." Jaral said scowling.
"What?" Ezra said confused.
"Uh...you got shot, arrested, escaped from prison and went way overboard to save a life." she said that while raising one finger every time she added something to the list.
"And while I'm absolutely proud of you, I want you to go to rest now." she said, not budging her stern tone.
"But…" Ezra tried to complain.
"No buts!" she retorted, putting her index right in front of his nose. "You stay here and rest. I can take the few things we need without problem." and she turned around to walk toward the tower.
Ezra sighed and conceded, the crew couldn't help but chuckle at the scene.
"Come on, Zeb. We're going to help her." said Sabine, and she and the Lasat followed Jaral, who didn't seem to mind the help now.
"I swear she does this just to mess with me…" Ezra complained.
"She's only worried about you." Hera commented with a smile.
Kanan then tapped the boy's shoulder.
"If you want something to do, come with me. There's a test we need to do." and started to walk back into the Ghost.
Ezra followed him, wondering what the man meant. They ended up in Kanan's cabin, where the Jedi pulled out one of his items from the drawer, bringing it in front of Ezra.
"Your strange cube?" the boy asked.
"It's called holocron." Kanan explained. "It's many things, but what's important is that it can be opened only by those with a fairly strong connection to the Force." he gave it to Ezra, who took it after a moment of hesitation.
Kanan motioned the boy to take a seat on the small sit with cushion Kanan used for meditation, and the boy obliged.
"Close your eyes and focus." the man instructed calmly.
The boy did just that. Before long, he could feel it again. The strange whispers in his head, only this time they resemble more of a distant chant, more harmonious.
In just a couple of minutes, the holocron started to open. The speed of the process actually took Kanan by surprise. It was an unmistakable sign that the boy had great potential. Probably he had already cultivated his bond to the Force without even realizing it in the first place.
The holocron lifted itself from Ezra's hand. The angles revealed themselves as mobile pieces of the cube, turning right angle and then gently pushing away from the overall structure. The faces of the cube separated as well, revealing the small internal orb. Ezra kept focusing, until a voice compelled him to open his eyes in disbelief.
There was a recording inside the holocron. A men with a long robe, his hands hidden into the large sleeves. A well-groomed beard, mustache and hair. He spoke with a somewhat sad voice, but still confident enough to keep an aura of respect and steadfastness.
"This is Master Obi-Wan Kenobi.
I regret to report that both our Jedi Order and the Republic have fallen, with the dark shadow of the Empire rising to take their place.
This message is a warning and a reminder for any surviving Jedi.
Trust in the Force.
Do not return to the Temple. That time has passed.
And our future is uncertain.
We will each be challenged.
Our trust...our faith...our friendships.
But we must persevere.
And in time, a new hope will emerge.
May the Force be with you...always."
The recording stopped and the holocron slowly put itself back together in Ezra's hand.
Aboard the Star Destroyer that carried him in the chase of the rebels, agent Kallus found himself alone on the command bridge, making an important call.
On the holotable stood the figure of Pau'an in a black armor. He stood firmly, as soldier at ease.
"Pardon the intrusion, Inquisitor." Kallus politely said. "But in the course of my duties, I have encountered a rebel cell.
"The leader of that cell made good use...of a lightsaber." there wasn't fear in the agent's voice. He was merely reporting and doing his duty as a loyal servant of the Empire.
The Pau'an nodded in understanding.
"Ah...Agent Kallus. You did well to call." the man closed his eyes, as if meditating, before reopening then a few seconds later, showing his yellow iris. It wasn't a natural color, but the representation of something sinister inside him,