Chapter 5: Breaking Ranks
Just another day at the Academy for Young Imperials on Lothal. In the highly trafficked main bay, squad LRC-077 was marching under supervision of Taskmaster Grint.
As the squad of 8 young cadets passed in front of the podium where commandant Aresko was waiting, Grint ordered a halt.
The cadets stood on attention.
"At ease." Aresko said.
The cadets adopted the 'at ease' stance.
"Cadets." Aresko started his speech. "You entered this facility as children. And in a few short weeks, you will leave as soldiers. By the time you complete your training, you will be prepared to serve your Emperor. Today we will test your strength and resolve. Are you ready to become stormtroopers?"
"Sir, yes, sir!" the squad answered in chorus.
On the right extreme of the first line, Ezra removed his helmet with a red stripe, and looked briefly at it with a bit of scorn. That thing was absolutely horrible compared to his real helmet, but as long as he had to stay in the Academy, we would have to endure a bit of discomfort.
"Hey, Dev." the cadet next to him called him with the fake name he enrolled at the Academy with.
"Uh?" Ezra snapped out of his thoughts.
"Dev Morgan, you in there?" the cadet with the blue-striped helmet was Jai Kell. Around the same age as Ezra, reddish short hair and light dark skin.
"Oh, yeah. Dev Morgan is here." Ezra replied.
"Wow, you must really feel the pressure." Kell said jokingly.
"I'm sorry, Jai, who's under pressure?" Ezra joked as well. "Not the guy who had won every assessment."
"Yeah, but today I can taste victory."
"You said that yesterday...and went hungry."
The two started to playfully push shoulder against shoulder in a mock strength competition, until the terrain under their feet started to sink all of a sudden. The squad of cadets were brought down several meters.
"Cadets, you're now descending into the Well." Aresko declared. "And must climb out of there with all deliberate speed."
Aresko and Grint were standing on a platform right at the edge of the Well, looking down to the cadets.
"You will be given the honor of serving as aides in Imperial Headquarters. Those who lose will be serving Taskmaster Grint and wish they'd stayed at the bottom of that well."
"I'm taking that prize." Jai proclaimed proudly.
Behind him, a cadet with a green-striped helmet pushed him aggressively.
"Not today, Kell." the cadet said with a hiss.
Ezra stepped in and pushed aside the aggressor easily. "Back off, Oleg."
Oleg grabbed Ezra's wrist and retorted. "You too, Morgan. You're both going down."
"Actually, we're going up!" Ezra said with a smirk, pushing aside Oleg and putting his helmet back on.
Taskmaster Grint's voice suddenly rumbled from top. "The assessment begins in four…!"
"How exactly are we going up?" Jai asked.
The Well's wall were straight vertical and smooth, and composed by what seemed to be rectangular panels, not exactly something a human could climb out from without gear.
As Grint finished the countdown, he pressed something on the remote he and Aresko shared, and different panels started to come out from the walls and even the ground. They turned out to be mobile platforms, some of them started moving horizontally, others vertically.
"There's your answer, Jai." Ezra joked. Then he rushed forward and jumped on one of the platforms.
"See you at the top." he proclaimed, as he started to climb out with unmatched agility and speed.
Kell was the second to start running, quickly showing promising capabilities.
"Yes you will...from below!" he said to Ezra as he struggled to catch up with him, though staying significantly ahead from the others.
As everyone tried to find their way to pass the test first, Aresko suddenly declared something.
"Failure is not acceptable. This Empire has no use for weakness."
He pushed some other buttons on the remote and some of the platforms started to send out electric discharges at random. They were low power, but still hurtful.
One of the cadets was caught and fell down to a lower platform.
Ezra, thanks to his connection to the Force, was able to jump out from several platforms before they sent the shock.
"Morgan, how do you do that?" Jai asked while climbing up. "It's like you know where the platforms are coming before they're there."
"What can I say? It's a gift." Ezra remarked wittily.
"Morgan is impressive." Aresko commented at the top to Grint. "Perhaps too impressive. Let's make a note of that."
Jai and Ezra found themselves on the same platform, very close to the top. Behind them, Oleg tried to push them down, but Ezra was warned by the Force and jumped with Jai on the next platform. Oleg's push hit the air and he fell down several platforms.
Ezra gave him a taunting salute and then he jumped out, followed by Jai.
"First again." Ezra proclaimed to Jai.
The reddish boy took off his helmet. "Yeah. Well, I'll get you tomorrow."
"You said that yesterday too."
"Quite a finish, cadets." Aresko congratulated while stepping down from his podium.
"It seems this trial was too easy. Morgan, Kell, you both set course records." then he turned head to their left. "And...is that Leonis?" he asked.
The third cadet had a yellow stripe on his helmet. He took it off. The boy had a dark skin, golden eyes and a black mohawk.
"Sir, yes, sir!" the boy answered fanatically.
"You three are today's winners." Aresko continued. "But rest assured, your next trial will be a great challenge. Follow!"
The three winners followed him into the hallways of the Headquarter.
In there, they crossed Chopper, covered in black paint to make it look like an imperial droid. It was quite an approximate job, but it's not like the Imperials ever paid attention to droids.
Ezra gestured something with the hand he was keeping on his flank while walking. Chopper made a short sound to signal he understood.
As he kept walking obediently behind Aresko, Ezra realized he had been in that place for three weeks now, and his mind lingered on the memory of his last days on the Ghost before this mission.
Hera had called a general meeting. The entire crew gathered in the common room.
"Guys, this next mission will be probably the most delicate we've ever done until now. If you don't feel like doing this by the end of the briefing, it's fine." she explained. Her gaze mostly going to Ezra.
"We received news that the Empire will be moving a very important cargo through the Lothal sector in about a month, but our source couldn't find out the exact coordinates, as they are heavily encrypted." Kanan explained.
"We're gonna need someone to infiltrate the Imperial Headquarter on Lothal, find a decoder and bring it out of there, so we may find the coordinates and intercept the cargo with the Ghost."
"You make it sound easy." commented Zeb. "How do we event get near the facility without getting shot?"
Hera and Kanan turned to Ezra, who noticed immediately that this wasn't gonna be funny for him.
"Ezra." said Kanan. "We discussed this a lot and...we would like you to pose as a cadet at the Academy on the planet. You'll have to stay there some time, blend in and steal the decoder as soon as you can."
"You're joking, right?" Jaral intervened. "What if someone recognizes him?"
"I don't think they will, sis." Ezra stopped her. When Jaral glared at him, he stood his ground and kept going. "Until now, we never engaged the Imperials without our armors and our helmets on. I'm pretty sure the Empire doesn't even have our images."
"That's what we thought." Kanan concurred.
"Our contact, Fulcrum, confirmed us that the ISB is conducting a full investigation over the two armored warriors that wrecked the prison on Stygeon Prime, but so far they are not even sure about their names." Hera added this with a calm tone but a pleased smirk.
The siblings smiled at the idea that they just became a bane to the Empire.
"So, assuming Ezra gets inside and gets the decoder." Sabine recalled everyone on the briefing. "How do we get him out?"
"I'm not gonna lie, this is going to be a long assignment." Kanan replied with a hand on his chin. "We're gonna need to split up. Sabine and Zeb are going to stay on Lothal and keep an eye on the facility. We'll mask Chopper as an imperial droid so he can act as courier between Ezra and you.
Me, Hera and Jaral are going to wait on the Ghost in case you guys need a quick extraction, and to go straight against the shipment if the need arises."
"Wait…" Jaral interjected. "Why you want me aboard? I can do much more damage on the ground, in case we need to extract Ezra rapidly."
"I know, dear." Hera said with a motherly voice. "But I want you to use the Phantom when we attack the convoy."
Jaral stared in disbelief. "Wait, I only know how to fly normally, but we still haven't trained in dogfight."
"Yes, but as we said, this job is gonna take weeks. I need you here to train and prepare yourself for the task."
"Jaral, we all saw how quick you picked up Hera's lessons." Kanan encouraged. "Honestly, I think you can already be considered the second best pilot on board."
Everyone else, except for a grumpy Chopper, nodded in agreement. Jaral still wasn't completely sure she wanted all this responsibility for her first mission as pilot.
"Sis." Ezra gently touched her shoulder and made her turn a bit to look at him. "Trust me. I'm gonna be fine. Besides, I'll have Jinx with me."
Jaral looked at him for a second. Somehow, she didn't just know that her brother was serious, she felt like he was completely relaxed about the mission. In the end, she sighed.
"Just don't do anything stupid, okay?" she said jokingly pointing a finger at him.
Ezra left her shoulder and moved the hand over his hear. "I promise." he said feinting solemnity.
Then he touched his chest for a second. He immediately realized they were leaving out an important factor.
"Jaral, I'm gonna need you to keep my armor for this mission." he said her, and everyone in the room came to the realization. Jaral simply nodded, fully understanding.
"Makes sense." Sabine reasoned. "They're going to put you through medical checkups, and that thing in your chest will stand out like a sore thumb."
Despite all that, Jaral spent almost two hours talking with Ezra, or better, making sure he knew what he would be doing. She made him repeat his fake name time and time again, forced Sabine to teach him the basis of Imperial protocol from her time at the Academy on Mandalore, checked at least two times his Omni-tool...
As he walked through the HQ hallways, tasked with delivering datapads to various officers, Ezra left a feeble chuckle escape his mouth. Good thing he was alone.
As he reached the office of the ISB, Ezra prepared himself. In there would surely be the decoder.
He approached the door, as he did have to deliver a datapad, and for a moment he froze as he noticed that Agent Kallus came out of it before him. Right now, he thanked that he had to wear that lousy helmet, as he was sure his expression might have raised suspicions. At least Kallus seemed to be very focused on reading another datapad, as he walked in the opposite direction of Ezra.
"Excuse me, sir." said Ezra, smelling an opportunity. Following Kallus and trying to hand him the datapad he had to deliver. "I have your new datapad. I can leave it on your desk."
"No. I'll take it now." Kallus said without even looking at him, moving his hand backward.
Ezra had no choice but handing the datapad and renounce his only justification to enter the office.
Not willing to back down right now, Ezra carefully looked around. After making sure no one was around, he neared his omni-tool to the control panel. In the blink of an eye, Jinx input the combination and the door opened.
Looking around, Ezra noticed a small reinforced suitcase. He opened it, finding the coding machine inside of it. After a couple of seconds, Jinx hacked it and the decoder came out. It had the shape of a small floppy, enclosed in a durasteel hatch.
"One decoder, as ordered." Ezra whispered under his breath.
It was a shame that Jinx couldn't just use the decoder right there and then. As he had explained on the Ghost, he would need to assume control of a computer with the right hardware to read the disc, and the omni-tool didn't have anything like that. They would need to smuggle it out of the facility.
Ezra put the decoder into his helmet, still in his hand. He was about to put it back when the door opened and he recognized cadet Leonis.
The two stared at each other for a couple of seconds, then Leonis stepped in and closed the door.
Leonis quickly grabbed the decoder.
"Hey, wait." Ezra wasn't expecting him to notice it immediately, since the lights of the office were out and the natural light coming from the windows was pretty faint.
"I knew something was up." Leonis whispered.
"It's not like you think." Ezra said, trying to come up with a very good excuse.
"I think…" Leonis waved the disc a little. "That this has a built-in sensor. Which will trigger that." he pointed at a small photocell right above the door.
"You bring this out, the entire facility goes on lockdown." Leonis explained.
"Wait...you're helping me?"
"You really want to discuss this here and now?"
Ezra pondered for a second. "No. I don't." he took the decoder and put it back in the suitcase.
The two of them managed to slip away from the HQ undetected.
Chopper made his way out from the facility a minute before the gates were officially closed. Posing himself between two ITTs, he used the flashlight on his dome to send out a warning.
Hidden between the nearest line of decrepit houses were Sabine and Zeb. The girl intercepted the message thanks to the scope on her mandalorian helmet.
"Specter-5 to Ghost." she called. "Something is wrong. The kid didn't get the decoder and didn't come out."
On the Ghost, Hera answered. "Roger that. Give Ezra one more day."
Kanan sighed. "I hope this decoder is worth the risk."
Since the start of the mission, and for these three weeks, Kanan seemed to be increasingly nervous. Even though he didn't want to admit it, Hera knew that he was worried about Ezra's safety.
"You know we can't leave that kyber crystal in the Empire's hand."
"Don't worry. He's safe." Jaral said to both of them. They were all sitting in the cockpit, and Jaral was on one of the passenger's seat.
Hera and Kanan noticed that, even she was slumped on the chair and her arms folded in front, she seemed deeply concentrated. Her eyes closed and wrinkling.
Kanan didn't take long before he sensed something uncommon was at work.
"Jaral…" he asked in awe. "Can you...feel Ezra?"
The girl opened her eyes and looked around, uncertain of what was happening.
"I...I noticed it since he left. Sometime I have this impression...like I can sense his emotions…
"I mean, I always know what he's thinking. I know him inside and out. Yet this feels...odd. Unusual."
Kanan quietly slipped from the co-pilot to the other passenger's seat, in front of Jaral.
"Jaral, I think you might be a Force-touched."
The girl looked at him bewildered. "What do you mean? I don't have Ezra's abilities."
"No, you don't. However, as I always said, the Force binds all the living creatures together and it flows into everyone. Some people may not have special abilities like the Jedi, but are able to perceive the Force anyway.
"This connection you share with Ezra, who is a powerful sensitive himself, is proof that you too can feel the Force to a certain degree. Though you may not use it in a fight, I'd recommend you join at least our meditation lessons. Who knows what you might learn from all of this."
Jaral took a moment to reflect.
"If you think it's worth a shot, I'll trust you, Kanan." she nodded.
Kanan nodded in response.
"Now, I think it's time to run another simulation." Jaral stated while getting up from the chair.
That night, Ezra and Leonis woke up from their bunk bed and sneaked into the near storage room, to discuss what happened in the evening.
Ezra explained him his situation, without giving all the details, of course, he still didn't trust this new guy enough, even though he had probably saved his life earlier. From what he saw until now, Ezra thought Leonis was a fanatic supporter of the Empire, so the fact that he helped him avoid capture made Ezra doubt that preconception.
While they were talking, Ezra could feel that the dark-skinned cadet in front of him was sincere. Even if his training about feeling other people's emotions with the Force was still at the beginning, Ezra could already say when someone was being sincere or if he hid something.
"What do you need that decoder for?" Leonis said.
"My friends need it to stop an imperial shipment." Ezra explained. "How'd you know about the sensors?"
"From my sister, Dhara." Leonis said with a point of pain. "She was the star cadet in this place. She knew the entire Imperial complex backwards and forwards."
Ezra made a few calculation in his head. Both him and Leonis were 14 years old, which was the minimal age to enter the Academy on Lothal. If Dhara had already been there enough time to become the star cadet and explore every meter of the HQ, she must have been older than Leonis.
The idea that both of them had an older sister somehow helped Ezra to empathize with his new accomplice way better.
"What happened to her?" Ezra asked, sensing a hint of resentment in Leonis' heart.
"Well, they told us she ran off. But I don't believe it." he said with a low tone, but still frustrated.
Then he turned back to Ezra. "What were you doing breaking into Kallus' office? That's a good way to get shot."
"I need that decoder, and that was the quickest way. It's still the quickest way." Ezra assumed a calmer tone. "You know, I could use a partner who knows his way around."
"And what's in it for me?" Leonis asked in suspicion.
"Do you really need a reason to mess with the Empire?" Ezra pointed a finger jokingly and smirked.
Leonis seemed to feel the same way, as he tended his hand, letting Ezra shake it.
"Good. We have to finish in the top three tomorrow if we want another shot into the HQ."
"Then let's do it. I'm Zare, by the way. Zare Leonis." the cadet said with a face that expressed confidence and trust in his new accomplice. "You're Dev Morgan, right?"
"Yeah. That's my name." Ezra felt a pinch of remorse. His moral code was screaming against the fact that he was lying to the guy who was risking so much to help him, but it was imperative that he kept his real name a secret.
The two quietly slipped back in the barracks and into their bunk beds. Talking about Zare's sister now made Ezra thinking about his own. He wondered how Jaral was faring, up there in orbit.
The two of them had never been separated for more than a few hours in all of their lives. The first few days into the Academy had been particularly hard for Ezra, as he was used to confront every decision with Jaral at his side, share every emotion or comment with her. And now he was alone. That didn't stop him to commit entirely to the mission and win every single test until now, knowing that she was training hard on the Phantom for sure.
As he tried to get back to sleep and use the few hours remaining until morning call, he closed his eyes and he figured Jaral in his mind. For a short, brief second, he had the impression to feel a warm sensation in his chest. It was as if Jaral was there, grabbing his shoulder and telling him that everything would be alright, and the feeling seemed to be a little more intense than usual.
Thinking that it was just being too sentimental, Ezra just focused on sleeping.
The following day, Ezra's squad found itself again in the Well. This time they had been supplied with E-11 rifles, set on training mode with small-intensity electric bolts.
"Today's assessment will be a bit more challenging." Aresko declared from the top. "You'll have to shot the panels with a sensor on it in order to activate them and climb out."
Ezra had already noticed that some of the panels had a photocell like the one in Kallus' office. As Aresko finished the briefing, the sensors' lights went from white to red.
Once Grint finished the brief countdown, all the cadets started firing around at the panels, trying to figure their way out.
Obviously, Ezra and Kell were once again ahead of everybody else. Ezra noticed that the troublesome Oleg was using his rifle to shoot down a few cadets down their platforms or disable the platforms under their feet.
Bridger heard Aresko commending Grint for "correcting" Oleg the day before, no doubt the cadet was playing so dirty under instruction from the brutal Taskmaster.
As he was near the top of the Well, on the same platform with Jai, Ezra realized that Zare wouldn't be arriving third, but fourth right after Oleg.
"Sorry, Jai." Ezra said, before pushing down Jai without warning.
In the end, he, Zare and Oleg won the day.
"Cadets, you should all follow Morgan's example." Aresko said while his mobile podium landed in front of them.
"There is no friendship in war. All that matters is victory. Victory at any cost." the Commandant stepped down the podium and moved toward the three winners.
"Tomorrow's test will push you to your limits. The victors will be awarded with a training session on an Imperial walker."
The other cadets had already made their way out. Jai angrily grabbed Ezra's arm.
"Morgan, you sabotaged me."
"I did what I have to do." Ezra shrugged off.
"...Good to know."
Ezra walked away. For the second time in a week Ezra was grateful they had to keep their helmets on, because he wouldn't have been able to watch Jai in the eye.
Later, Ezra and Zare were placed in front of Minister Tua's office, which just happened to be relatively close to Kallus'. They had just finished their tasks inside the facility and no one would question them if they took a couple of minutes to casually chat in the hallways.
The moment the Minister left her office and walked away, the two slipped inside. Ezra intended to use the ventilation shafts to sneak into Kallus' office and steal the decoder from up there.
"How are we supposed to get anything from up there?" Zare rightly asked.
"Don't worry." said Ezra. "I've been trained to be a Jedi." he said that half-jokingly, knowing that the cadet would never believe him.
"Yeah, right. Who isn't." Leonis asked as Ezra predicted.
Ezra jumped from the table and up to the ventilation panel, opening it and slipping in.
"You'll see." he jokingly told Zare before closing the panel behind him.
Ezra crawled for a few minutes until he reached the panel right above Kallus' desk. The agent was still at work, bent over his datapads. Ezra could have swore he saw two images of him and Jaral fighting somewhere.
The suitcase with the decoder was still there where Ezra left it the day before. By focusing on the internal mechanism, he could extract the decoder without the need to power up the device, but that would require Kallus to be away from the desk.
To that end, Leonis came in front of Kallus' door and bleeped inside.
"Come in." the agent said. The door opened.
"Sir. Here are the transferring orders for today's prisoners. I need your signature before carrying them back to command."
"Yes. Wait there." Kallus finished scrolling something on the datapad quickly, then rose.
Zare was actually skeptic about this plan. Kallus would come to the door, rather than let everyone get into his office, even for a simple signature, but Ezra would have a very short time to steal the decoder.
He would have changed his mind a few moments later, however. As Kallus took the handheld device from Leonis and started to draw his signature multiple times, he peeked over Kallus' side and saw the decoder get out from the suitcase and swiftly floating back to the shafts, disappearing a few seconds before Kallus handed back the device and dismissed Zare.
Ezra put the decoder into one of his pockets and started crawling back. He wanted to come out from a storage room, where nobody would suspect anything and where should have been able to get out undetected.
"As usual, the assessments have proven quite illuminating."
The voice of Commandant Aresko drew Ezra's interest as he passed over another door panel. With the necessary caution, he opened the door partially, but only saw Aresko talking to someone else from an angle that didn't allow Ezra to check.
"I believe we've identified two cadets, Morgan and Kell, that meet your special criteria, Inquisitor."
The name sent shivers down Ezra's spine.
"Excellent, Commandant." the voice of the Inquisitor clearly came from a communication device. Probably a life-size hologram.
"Tomorrow, I will arrive on Lothal to test them myself. If the tests are conclusive, I will take them into custody."
Ezra shut back the door, avoiding any sound at all. He was more than relieved when he realized that the Inquisitor wasn't on Lothal yet. He could've followed the plan, find Chopper and run away with the decoder, but he knew that that would leave Jai, the only one he considered a friend inside the Academy, at the mercy of the Inquisitor. That wasn't something we was going to accept.
The doors of the Academy were about to close for the night. As usual, nobody cared for Chopper as he rolled out of the gate and went straight for the alley where Sabine and Zeb were posted, like every other day.
"You get the decoder?" Zeb asked hopeful.
Chopper warbled something, then the decoder came out from one of his barrel. Sabine took it out.
"Great. Where's Ezra?" Zeb asked, looking around.
"Boop Booop."
Sabine stuttered in disbelief. "Wha- What do you mean he went back to the Academy?!"
Zeb too was gesturing in desperation from the kid's apparent craziness, then Chopper played a recording that Ezra had tasked him to deliver.
"Guys, I know you are expecting me, but I had to stay back at the Academy.
There is this kid there, Jai Kell. And he'll get scooped out
by the Inquisitor if I don't help him.
I know you think I have lost my mind, and maybe you're right.
But it's your fault. The old me would have never gone so far to help a stranger.
Clearly I have spent waaaay to much time with you heroes.
Send the coordinates to Specter-1...oh, and if you're not too busy, attack
the Academy tomorrow at noon, I could use a distraction to get out of here.
Specter-7, out."
The expression on Zeb and Sabine went from one of total disbelief, to a proud one.
They let Chopper do the decoding, and then Sabine contacted the Ghost.
"Specter-5 to Ghost. Sending coordinates for Imperial jump route."
In the cockpit still stood Hera, Kanan and Jaral. The latter had just sit down in a meditation pose when the communication kicked in.
"If you do the jump right now, you should be able to intercept the cargo." Sabine finished.
"Coordinates received." Hera acknowledged, inserting the coordinates in the navicomputer. "We're heading out."
"Good work, Specter-5" said Kanan. "and you too, Specter-6."
"Huh...Specter-6 isn't with us."
"What?!" Kanan jumped. "Where is he?!"
The Ghost entered into hyperspace.
"Specter-5, repeat, where is Specter-6?" he insisted.
"Kanan, calm down." Jaral said, opening her eyes and standing up. "I saw his emotions. He is indeed still in there, but he's not in danger."
"Are you certain?" Kanan asked.
Jaral nodded firmly. "It felt like...urgency. I think he wants to settle something inside the Academy, though I can't tell exactly what."
"Well, the only thing we can do right now is complete our mission and get back as soon as possible." Hera intervened resolutely.
Kanan nodded.
"I'll go prepare the Phantom." said Jaral "But first…"
Her Omni-tool lightened up. She pressed a few buttons, then approached the dashboard on the right side of the cockpit, where the terminal usually employed by Chopper stood.
"Jinx, transfer four procs into the Ghost."
Before leaving for the Academy, Ezra thought it would be better to leave only one of Jinx's processors inside his omni-tool, as there was hope he'd never have to fight his way out of there.
Since they were about to attack an imperial convoy, Jaral had talked to Hera and received the authorization to allow Jinx a limited access to the ship's system.
The Twi'lek would never allow a machine to take full control of the ship, aside from Chopper. But there was a feature of Jinx that Jaral thought it would be essential to attack the convoy: cyber-guerrilla.
Using the Ghost's communication devices, Jinx could infiltrate the systems of every ship in range and use his vastly superior calculating capacity conduct small-scale cyber-attacks. Since all the ships in the galaxy relied heavily on computers to handle pretty much everything, even the slightest thing could tip the balance in a battle. Theoretically, Jinx could infiltrate the enemy ship and mess with the aiming software, jam the weapons' cooling systems as well as those of the engine's.
He couldn't take control of an entire ship, not without a physical access to its systems, but messing up with these and many other features would be a significant counterweight to their numerical disadvantage, disorienting the enemy and making its shot miss by a wide margin.
The coordinates led the Ghost to an asteroid belt, where the convoy of three Gozanti-class transports had to make a stop-over to adjust its trajectory before making another jump into hyperspace.
The Ghost jumped out right in front of them as they had just finished traversing the asteroid belt, but they were still not in position to make the jump to the next stop.
Jaral was sitting at the commands of the Phantom. She had just finished the diagnostics and was waiting for the signal. One of the processors of Jinx was still with her, to assist in targeting and to add a proximity alert to the HUD in her visor. He would also act as a conduit to speed up the process of transferring energy to the shields, the engines or the weapons according to Jaral's wishes.
"This is Specter-6. Ready and waiting to scramble." she said, trying to hide her nervousness by using formal language.
"Just remember what I taught you and you'll do great." Hera encouraged her with a comforting tone.
Jaral took a deep, silent breath. She put her hands on the yoke of the Phantom, waiting for Kanan to signal the target. Since the kyber crystals resonated with the Force, the Jedi was using exactly to that to find the cargo. Kanan was sitting in the dorsal turret of the Ghost; Chopper was manning the nose gun.
"The crystal is in the central transport." Kanan declared after a few seconds.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
"Specter-6, you're clear to take off!"
Jaral pushed up the handle of the thrusters. In three seconds, the Phantom burst out, banked on its left and made a complete turn, moving toward the imperial convoy.
The Phantom rushed forward to draw the attention of the escort TIEs, still anchored at the two lateral transports. The left transport was the first to detach the escort, sending four fighters against the Phantom, which slipped on their side and didn't allow the to fire immediately, but to give chase.
Jaral activated the automatic turret on the top of the Phantom, to which Jinx gave some of his processing ability. The turret managed to shoot down the nearest fighter, and soon even the transport on the right released its escort.
"Specter-6 to Ghost, I got their attention!"
"Roger that, Specter-6. Ghost moving to intercept."
The central transport was already making a full turn, preparing to jump into hyperspace on another route while the rest of the convoy tried to buy them time.
The Ghost went straight for its target. The other Gozantis opened fire with their light cannons. Jinx managed to break into their firewalls fairly easily and started to do his job, messing with the imperial's communications and targeting software. Thing was, scrambling the home-ship sensor sensibly reduced the TIEs overall efficiency, and they were being already outmaneuvered by Jaral's crazy stunts and sharp reaction times, which became even more of a hindrance when supported by Jinx.
The Ghost was only hit twice, and the shields held fast. Jaral managed to destroy two other fighters, fueling revenge in the remaining pilots, who didn't notice that their objective was now seriously in danger, thanks to Jinx interrupting their transmissions and scrambling their sensors.
The Ghost now was in range. Hera and Kanan used all the cannons of the freighter to the stern of the ship, as it was still turning heels and its starboard was completely exposed to the rebel ship.
In total, six barrels hit the transport four times, the thin armor couldn't hold and they hit the storage room. A green light started to grow from the transport. The Ghost had hit the intended target, but now it was a race against time. The kyber crystals store energy, which means that, when hit, they unleashed a shock-wave of extreme magnitude.
The green blaze alerted all the fighter pilots that they had failed, and they needed to run for their lives.
Jaral immediately noticed that and took an evasive maneuver out of the swarm and headed toward the Ghost.
The blaze in the transport now transformed into a sphere of green energy, its sphere reducing to dust whatever and whoever got caught inside its expanding sphere.
The Ghost had to run at full engines to get away from the blast, and even then the blast was slowly approaching.
As the imperials were caught one by one into the blast, Jaral ordered Jinx to put full power into the Phantom's thrusters and slowly caught up to the Ghost, managing to reattach it just in time for Hera to punch the button of hyperspace and escape the explosion.
During the night, Ezra had informed Zare about his idea to break out and take Jai away from the Academy before the arrival of the Inquisitor. Jai had been distrustful at the beginning, but in the end Zare's testimony about his sister's disappearance made him understood that he would end up being taken by the Inquisitor and his mother would be left alone forever.
Jai finally accepted the idea of leaving. Ezra made them clear that they all needed to win the following day's assessment and get access to the walker.
The assessment was pretty much the same as the one of the previous day, with blasters and all, only that the platforms moved faster and were more opportunities, but also the serious risk that two platforms may collide.
As usual, Oleg was being merciless, playing dirty whenever he had the opportunity. In the end, Ezra jumped down to protect Jai from one of the bolts shot by Oleg. He managed to recover pretty quickly, but not enough. He ended up 4th, right after Oleg, Jai and Zare.
Commandant Aresko proclaimed the winners and awarded them the prize, showing an AT-DP that was waiting for them.
"You were supposed to be in there with us." Jai whispered to Ezra with a hint of dread. "What do we do?"
Ezra reassured him. "Just stick to the plan. I'll find my way on board."
It was noon. As asked, Zeb and Sabine were preparing the diversion. Chopper, still camouflaged as an imperial droid, got near the walker guarding the blast door of the main bay and stuck a detonator to the machine's left foot.
Then he turned around and sent a flashlight to Ezra, who nodded in response. The three cadets were already on the AT-DP, learning the controls as fast as they could from the driver before the anticipated attack.
The detonator on the sentry walker exploded, sending it crashing down and alarming the entire complex.
Aresko ordered for the blast doors to be closed immediately. Jai at this point had already stole the driver's blaster and stunned both him and Oleg.
Zare took the controls and moved the walker forward. Albeit frantically, he shot with the cannons, managing to destroy an ITT standing guard at the door.
A small platoon or regulars was out the blast doors and turned around to face the rogue walker, but they came under fire from Zeb, who had been lying in waiting for the last hour, taking a nice sniping position with his Bo-rifle.
Ezra noticed that his friends' walker was about to pass in front of a ladder used for entering into the machines. He ran up on it and threw himself on the machine, managing to climb up to the hatch.
The imperials actually ceased fire momentarily, as the believed that 'Dev Morgan' was actually trying to stop the rogue walker all by himself. Still, another ITT shot at the feet of the AT-DP, which finally collapsed. The hatch, however got caught under the blast doors, blocking it.
Ezra fell down from the machine's head. Three regulars for a moment pointed the weapons at him, and it was then that Sabine jumped out of nowhere and took down the regulars.
"Thanks." said Ezra.
Sabine helped him get up. "Don't mention it."
Even Chopper reached them.
Ezra ran up to the hold door of the walker and pulled it open. Zeb arrived with a stolen speeder to get everyone out.
"Wait, give me that blaster." Zare said to Jai.
"Uhm, sure. Why, though?" Jai passed the weapon.
"Because I'm staying." Zare declared proudly.
Jai and Ezra watched at him with visible confusion.
"It's the only way I'll find my sister."
Ezra remembered their discussion about Dhara and immediately understood. He quickly squeezed Zare's arm.
"I really hope you find her." he said before jumping onto the speeder.
As Aresko arrived with a squad of stormtroopers, all the imperials saw was Zare shooting at the rebels so much that it seemed like he wanted to consume the weapon's battery. Yet that overdoing was enough to convince the Imperials that he was just caught in the middle of Morgan and Kell's desertion.
In the afternoon, the Inquisitor had arrived and both Kallus and Aresko had been summoned to report about the breakout. Leonis had been brought by Aresko to give his testimony.
"This is a black mark, commandant." the Inquisitor said gravely, as he studied the pictures of the two cadets.
"I don't know any of these boys, and yet…" the Inquisitor lightly tapped his chin with a finger.
He turned around and showed the image of Ezra, alias Dev Morgan.
"From what you told me about this boy. I have reason to believe that he might be the Padawan I met on Stygeon Prime. One of the armored warriors of the rebels."
"That is Dev Morgan." Aresko explained with a bit of shame in his tone. "The other is Jai Kell."
He turned to look a Zare.
"Cadet Zare Leonis here, was in the same squad as the deserters. He knows them very well…or at least he thought. He tried to stop them during their escape."
The Inquisitor left the handheld device on the table. Kallus had already taken it away to investigate on the identity of the cadet with blue hairs and sapphire eyes to see if he really was one of the armored warriors that thrashed their defenses at the Spire.
"How commendable." said the Inquisitor with a smirk, as he walked up to Leonis with his usual air of solemnity. "Then, Cadet Leonis, shall we take a walk? I want to know everything about your...former friends."
The rebels had managed to leave Capitol City and reach the Ghost at its momentary hideout.
Jai was being briefed by Hera about the necessity for him and his mother to hide, with the help of the Ghost crew, of course.
When Jaral came out of the ramp and saw Ezra, she immediately rushed to him and the two shared an energetic hug, laughing almost hysterically for the joy of seeing each other after almost a month of separation.
"I'm so happy to hug you again, lil bro!"
"Me too. I heard you whopped the ass of an entire imperial convoy."
"She did, indeed." added Kanan, coming near them.
"Hi, Kanan." Ezra got out of his sister's hug and went in front of his Master.
"It's good to have you back, kid."
"Don't let his calm demeanor fool you, Ezra." Jaral said with a devilish smirk. "He had been worried sick about you."
"No! Well, a bit...but I was worried about the op, mostly."
Ezra and Jaral chuckled at his reaction.
"Anyway." Kanan regained composure. "Ezra, I think we should talk about something."
"You mean the bond between me and Jaral becoming something...strange?"
Both the girl and the Jedi watched in surprise.
"So you noticed." Kanan said.
"Only in the last few days. I happened to think about her for a moment and, when I fell asleep, I felt this sensation. Like she was there working her big sister magic and make me focused enough to face the challenges in front of me."
"Oh, Ezra." Jaral jokingly rubbed the boy's hair.
"I already told her, but we're gonna need to investigate this further. If even she is something more than a mere Force-touched, we have to know."
The boy looked at her sister with a smirk.
"Oh, come on. You couldn't handle the fact that I was doing something on my own, for once?"
Jaral chuckled. "Well, I'm still skeptical about the possibility of me ever being able to lift rocks or anything like your force abilities, but I guess having a mental connection is something that we need to figure out. You know, I wouldn't like to end up accidentally violating your privacy. Or you doing the same with me, actually." now she started to get worry.
Ezra was not happy about the topic Jaral chose, so he decided to divert the attention.
"I'm sure we'll only find out that you're even more annoyingly astonishing that you already aren't. However, I'm finally back home and I want to enjoy it while I can." he said while going to the ramp.
Kanan and Jaral looked at each other, smirked about Ezra and followed him.