Chapter 7: Empire Day
A few days passed.
The Specters had just reached the small village of Jhotal, named after the pit-station of 'old Jho', the only real landmark in that desolate, although peaceful, angle of Lothal. It had a small spaceport, that only consisted of a fenced area and a small warehouse.
As Zeb and Hera walked toward the entrance of the tavern, Jaral, in her casual attire, stopped outside for a moment and looked out in the prairie. Curious, Sabine stopped as well, removing her helmet. They looked at Kanan and Ezra, out for another Jedi lesson. There was visible concern in the sister's eyes.
"Step outside of yourself." Kanan explained. "Make a connection with another being."
Ezra was nothing but disheartened that morning. "Can we do this tomorrow? Or any other day?" he asked with a tired and frustrated tone.
"We can do it now." Kanan promptly replied. "Focus."
"Just throw the damn rock."
Kanan took the rock standing at his feet and threw into the grassland. The sound of an angry loth-cat followed, and the feline jumped into the barren soil the two humans were standing in, hissing and with an angry attitude.
"I don't think he wants to connect." said Ezra, his hands stretched out toward the cat.
"You're resisting. He can sense it."
"Sense it? What is he, a Padawan cat?"
The Loth-cat suddenly jumped forward. Ezra's reflexes allowed him to dodge the attack and make the cat with chicken feet land behind him.
Kanan chuckled. "You don't seem to be getting this."
"I get this fur-ball is trying to kill me." Ezra replied while watching for another attack from the cat, which instead circled around him, hissing and snarling.
When it became clear that the cat was now just trying to intimidate them, Ezra relaxed the muscles.
"I'm sorry, but I really don't see the point of this."
"The point is that you're not alone." Kanan closed his eyes and reached for the Force with his left arm.
Ezra looked at him with a bored gaze.
"You're connected to every living being in the universe. But do discover, you have to let your guard down. You have to be willing to attach to others."
Ezra turned and noticed that the loth-cat was now sitting and meowing, making a happy, cute face.
"And what if I can't?" the boy asked.
Kanan straightened himself back. "If you hang on to you past, if you always try to protect yourself, then you'll never be a Jedi."
Ezra folded his arms on his chest and sighed loudly. "Look, Kanan. It's all very interesting, but I don't feel like learning, today."
"Ok. Why not?" the Master asked calmly.
"Today is not a good day. It's never a good day." Ezra replied, only anger and frustration on his face.
"Today?"
"Empire Day."
The cat suddenly hissed at the sky and ran away.
Kanan and Ezra looked up and noticed first the sound, then the sight of three TIE fighters heading for Jhotal.
"What are they doing in so far a place?" Ezra asked with a bit of alarm.
"Nothing good, let's go!" said Kanan. The two sprinted toward the village.
The TIEs landed right in front of the backyard entrance to Old Jho. The pilots dismounted and walked into the tavern, blasters in hand.
Ezra and Kanan came in from the stairs of the main entrance. Since the pilots didn't seem to acknowledge them, the two decided to calmly walk up to the counter, where Jho, an old Hytorian, was cleaning some cups.
The pilots went around the tavern, inspecting every faces. The rest of the Specter team was dispersed among the tables or leaning against the walls.
"Over here." one of the pilots told his colleagues.
The three surrounded a rodian customer, who started to panic. Two of them forced him to stand up and look at the third pilot, who took out a small device with the picture of a rodian and inspected the frightened man.
Ezra took a quick look at the picture and his eyes widened.
"Tseebo?" he whispered.
"What?" Kanan asked him. Ezra turned back and signaled Kanan he would talk about that later.
"It's not him." the pilot declared, and they left the patron alone, to the huge relief of the latter.
The rodian they were looking for had a brighter green as skin color.
One of the pilots walked up to the counter.
"The Imperial HoloNet broadcast should play here at all times!" he landed a punch on the table and even slapped away the cup Jho offered him in anger.
"No one has ever asked for it for, well, ever." Jho answered calmly, his voice coming out of an emulator attached to his throats that translated his language in real time.
"It's the law." the pilot replied sternly, one of his comrades showing up to strengthen the argument.
Jho decided to not stir up problems and turned on the television standing on the wall behind the counter.
A triumphal march played over a propaganda poster and the voice of the announcer proclaiming the 15th anniversary of the foundation of the Empire on that day.
As the announcer kept talking about Emperor Palpatine and the soon-to-be-held parade in Capitol City, Ezra looked at the screen with pure hatred, to the point that Kanan found him intimidating.
"You heard the man!" one of the pilots shouted to the patrons with a somewhat threatening voice.
"Raise your cups to the Empire!"
As soon as he finished the sentence, the transmission on the HoloNet was cut abruptly and the picture of Gall Trayvis showed up.
"Citizens, this is Senator-in-Exile Gall Trayvis.
I bring you more news the Empire doesn't want you to hear.
I urge you to boycott all Empire Day celebrations to protest the ongoing injustices
of the Imperial regime."
"Shut it off!" the pilot at the counter commanded.
Jho simply turned around and said with all the sarcasm in the universe.
"Can't. It's the law."
The pilot grunted.
"We're done here."
The pilots left. As soon as the TIEs flew off, Jho turned off the TV and the Specters all went to the counter.
"TIE pilots on search patrols?" Kanan asked to Jho. "What's going on?"
"Imperials have locked down the ports and put Destroyers in orbit. It's a full planetary blockade."
"They're after a Rodian." Ezra said bluntly. He left his stool and motioned Jaral to get closer.
"Have you seen the picture?" he asked her, though everybody else could hear them talk.
"No. I didn't have a good visual, why?"
"Because they're looking for Tseebo."
The name sent a shock down Jaral's spine. She widened her eyes in alarm for a second.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Ok, kids, what's going on?" Kanan asked.
The siblings looked at each other. Ezra didn't seem in the mood to explain, so Jaral took the lead.
"Tseebo was...a family's friend. A few months after our parents were taken away, he went away. We never heard of him since."
"So you want to find him?" Hera asked.
Jaral turned to her brother, who seemed deeply concentrated.
"I...feel like we need to find him." Ezra murmured. Then he turned to see the rest of the crew. "But we shouldn't just drop the mission. You guys go on I'll...meet you when the fireworks go off."
"Where are you going?" Kanan asked.
"To make some connections". Ezra dryly replied before heading for his speeder-bike.
"What's wrong with him, now?" Zeb asked.
Jaral sighed and turned to the crew after seeing Ezra go away.
"It's been 8 years already…" she started with a meek tone. A sorrowful expression on her face that took everyone else off-guard. "Today, it's the day our parents were taken away." she declared, struggling to get the words out.
As she put two fingers on her eyes to try and repeal the tears swelling, Hera stepped forward and enveloped Jaral in a gentle hug.
The girl didn't say anything, for a moment she enjoyed that hug, which reminded her of her mother.
The rest of the group gathered around here as to create a wall of comfort for her.
"Thank you, guys." Jaral said after regaining her composure.
"Anytime." Hera said with her motherly smile as she left Jaral free.
"Jaral, if you wish to get back to the Ghost…" Kanan started to say, but Jaral stopped him,
"I'm fine, Kanan. Really. I've come to terms with it a long time ago...though, of course the memory is still painful."
"There is no shame in that." the Jedi said while putting a hand on the girl's shoulder.
"Ezra, on the other hand…" Jaral resumed. "He never actually came around to it."
"Tell us."
"You may have noticed that Ezra is...protective with me, although I'd say he became a bit protective with you guys too."
Everyone nodded.
"That's just who he is. But...he never accepted that fact that we couldn't save our parents. In all these years, he never understood that we were just children, that things were out of our control.
"Worst of all, we never actually knew what happened to them."
There was a brief silence, Jaral had walked out in the backyard and the group had followed.
"A year later, we actually broke into an office of the police, using Jinx to search for info about our parents."
"Wait." said Zeb. "You broke into the police office? As kids?"
"It was a small outpost, and it took us months to find the strength and come up with a plan. In the end we didn't find any information about them, but Jinx did manage to erase any information about me and Ezra, along with a hundred more people to cover our traces."
The crew was stunned by this revelation. It explained why the Empire was struggling so much in finding any lead about the siblings.
Jaral stopped talking. She didn't feel like she had anything else to say, not while Ezra wasn't around.
"It takes a lot of courage, and a lot of strength to do what you guys did." Kanan said with an air of comprehension. "Abandoned by everyone, and yet retaining the focus to take such actions...I wish I had even a bit of your resolution." he said with a faint smile.
Somehow, Jaral felt like the discussion was drawing Kanan into some bad memories of his own, so she decided to drop the matter. She straightened herself up and talked firmly.
"The past is the past. We need to stay focused on the future. And in our near future, I see a lot of troubles for the Empire at this evening's parade."
Ezra ran through the plains for almost three hours, as that was the time needed to reach his old tower from Jhotal.
Ezra took the turbolift and reached the top of the old building. He took a minute to lean on the handrail and enjoy the view of the capital that he and his sister could witness from up there, back in the days.
Yet the biggest question came back to his mind. Why were the Imperials looking for Tseebo? And if he was on Lothal, how could he find him before the Empire?
He stepped into the large room at the top. A bit of nostalgia passed through his mind as he looked at the collection of imperial helmets, the old radio equipment and the make-shift beds he and Jaral used to sleep in.
He then walked in front of the table with the equipment and rustled into a bag of fabric. A magnetic remote. He looked at it in pain and put it near his chest.
"Ezra…"
His eyes went wide open. "Mom?"
"Ezra…"
"Dad?!"
Ezra looked around, but there was no one. He quickly realized that this was the Force talking.
He closed his eyes, letting his feelings flow out.
"Ezra, we have to stand up for people in need, especially those in trouble with the Empire." the voice of his father guiding him through the endless stream of the Force.
Ezra opened his eyes again. "I know where to find Tseebo."
The parade was held on the Main Street of the capital, the one leading to the main gate of the Imperial Dome. First came the battalions of regulars, stormtroopers and even the combat engineer corp. Then followed a long stream of AT-DP alternately with ITTs.
Among the crowd witnessing there was some genuine enthusiasm from some, but most of the people simply came because attendance was mandatory, although not officially.
Among the crowd, agent Kallus was still inspecting every single Rodian he could find.
In an alley near the main gates, the Specters gathered. Jaral had already activated her armor.
"All right." said Kanan. "Let's start the celebrations."
"Copy that." said Sabine. "commencing festivities." she donned her helmet on.
The group separated. Sabine and Zeb going a little behind the crowd, Hera and Kanan slipped behind the parked vehicles and Jaral stood ready to blast things up if the crew got discovered.
A voice came from the speakers.
"Citizens, I am Minister Maketh Tua. Governor Pryce sends her regrets, but she's been invited on Coruscant, to celebrate with Emperor Palpatine himself!" the voice of the Minister was vivid. She was also being filmed and her images projected onto a floating screen.
"Lothal is as important to our Empire as any other planet in the galaxy." she kept going. "And she wanted me to show you why. Citizens, I present you with the latest vessel from Lothal's Imperial Shipyards, the Sienar Systems advanced TIE starfighter!"
As she finished the speech, a new model of TIE, with half-moon-shaped wing, was brought next to the podium where minister Tua was standing, and was follower by a consistent amount of applause. Even Hera was impressed with the ship and sarcastically clapped her hands twice.
"Pretty, isn't it?" said Kanan with a smirk.
"Yeah. I almost feel bad about blowing it up."
"I sense we'll need to make a quick exit."
They separated, as Kanan went further into the parking lot and Hera went back to go prepare the Ghost for the extraction.
Meanwhile, while Tua was announcing that Lothal's imperial ace, Baron Valen Rudor, would take the fighter on its maiden voyage, Sabine passed a grenade to Zeb.
"On my mark, throw this as high as you can." she said.
The Lasat noticed that the detonator had already started beeping.
"Ok. Now?"
The beeping intensified.
"Now?!"
It was only when it made an unusual click that Sabine gave the signal.
"Now."
Zeb threw the detonator as instructed. What followed was a small spectacle of fireworks that illuminated the parade and got everyone's attention and awe.
While Zeb kept throwing the special grenades, Kanan managed to slip past the security and plant a detonator under the cart that was dragging the TIE Advanced around.
However, as he tried to leave, he met a stormtrooper, who pointed the gun at him.
"You there, this area is off-limits!"
Kanan struggled for a second, then he assumed the most ridiculous expression he could find and talked with an inebriated tone.
"Oh...you see the fireworks?! They're so...colorful...like a rainbow."
The trooper was actually confused.
"Dad, what are you doing?" the voice of Ezra came along with him in his orange attire.
The boy put himself in front of the blaster and raised his hands in apology, while Kanan kept the show going on.
"I'm so sorry sir, my father is just so patriotic...and I'm afraid he might have had a drink too much."
"Empire Day!" Kanan shouted. "I love it!"
The stormtrooper shrugged and lowered his weapon. "All right. Move along." he said, letting them pass.
"Thank you, sir." Ezra said feinting humility.
"Thanks for the save. Where have you been?" said Kanan once they were out of reach.
"How's the plan going?" Ezra asked, ignoring the question of his master.
"Just watch." Kanan said excitedly.
A few seconds later, the detonator he planted exploded, causing mayhem, destruction and panic.
While Tua screamed and ranted about finding the perpetrators, the Specters blended with the fleeing crowd and regrouped in a nearby alley, still running.
"Nice of you to join us again, kid." said Zeb once he saw Ezra.
"Follow me." he said as he powered up his armor.
Kanan, Zeb, Sabine and Jaral decided to acquiesce.
"Where have you been the whole day?" Sabine asked behind him.
"Why, did you miss me?" he replied sarcastically. Sabine just shook her head.
Kanan contacted Hera.
"Specter-1 to Ghost, we're heading to the rendezvous."
"Negative, Specter-1, I can't reach it. The streets are blocked."
Hearing this, the squad stopped in its tracks.
"I know a place where we can lay low until things calm down, but Specter-4 might have some problems taking my route."
"Then we need another option." said Kanan bluntly.
"No, it's fine." Zeb said before reaching his comlink. "Specter-2, can you reach the Old Market?"
"Affirmative."
"I'm on my way." Zeb started climbing the wall next to them to reach the rooftops.
Ezra tilted his head to signal the others to follow, which they did.
Using the ventilation systems, and carefully avoiding the patrols in the alleys, Ezra finally brought the rest of the group in front of a rundown house, with a big imperial sign of warning.
Jaral gasped quietly.
"What is this place?" Sabine asked after noticing the warning.
"This is our home." Jaral replied bluntly.
Ezra drew out the remote he got back at the tower and swiped it into the security lock, which turned green.
"So this is were you guys grew…" Kanan commented, but Ezra shut him abruptly.
"We lived on the streets. On our own." he forced the door open, as the open mechanism was rusty and barely worked after years of inactivity.
The group entered and Kanan shut the doors. The windows were barred and the inside was barely illuminated by the twin moons' light outside.
"Ezra, why here? And why now?" Jaral asked. She and Ezra removed their helmets, as did Sabine.
"I had this...feeling." Ezra looked around for a moment, then walked straight to the old couch.
In front of it stood a circular, small table, the form of which was able to conceal a secret ladder leading down to a basement.
Ezra pushed it away and looked into it, gasping in response.
At the bottom of the pit stood a rodian, with a gray suit, huddled at the end of the ladder and crying in fear.
"Tseebo!" Ezra called. "Tseebo, it's me, Ezra Bridger!"
Jaral had rushed forward the moment her brother said the name and looked into the pit as well.
Tseebo raised his head, noticed the boys and immediately climbed back into the living room, looking around with am absent gaze.
"Wait, what is this thing?" Jaral noticed a weird device onto the backside of Tseebo's head.
Jinx intervened. "It's an AJ^6 cyborg construct."
"Correct." Sabine intervened. As Tseebo walked forward, mumbling something, the girl stopped him and inspected the device. "The Empire has been known to implant lower-level technicians with cybernetic circuits. Personality sacrificed for productivity."
Tseebo suddenly jolted. "Tseebo's productivity is 19% higher than average Imperial data worker."
"Wait. So Tseebo went to work for the Imperial Information Service?" Jaral asked, surprised.
Tseebo started to speak again in Rodian. Jinx, who could understand it in real time, waited for him to finish.
"He's detailing Imperial fighter deployments on Lothal." the AI said calmly.
"That's it!" Kanan exclaimed. "Tseebo has intel the Empire doesn't want getting out. Sabine, can you access it?"
Sabine looked hesitant for a moment. "Uh, think so. Jaral, Jinx, can you help me?"
"I can't access it without a physical port." Jinx said. "But I can tell you where to put your hands."
"That's good enough." said Jaral, activating the scanner on her omni-tool.
Ezra quietly moved toward the ladder. Kanan noticed.
"Ezra, you okay?"
"I'm fine." he answered with a void tone.
"I told you, sometimes you have to let your guard down."
"I said I'm fine." and slid down.
Jaral heard it, but stayed focused on the task at hand. Jinx was analyzing the device while Sabine stood behind Tseebo to work on the circuits.
The rodian spoke up again.
"Ezra Bridger. Brother of Jaral Bridger. Son of Jordan and Mira Bridger. Born 15 years ago, today."
Jaral was caught off-guard, and couldn't stop Tseebo to divulge the last information.
"Wait…" Sabine peeked over. "Empire Day is…?"
Jaral nodded. "Yes, it's both the day our parents were taken away...and it's Ezra's birthday…" the simple thought brought only more pity toward her brother, so Jaral went back to tapping buttons on her omni-tool. Sabine and Kanan couldn't help but feel sorry for the younger Bridger.
Ezra reached the bottom of the pit and entered the secret basement that his parents used to broadcast their transmissions against the Empire.
It was also the place where Jordan hid him and Jaral 8 years from that day.
Ezra took a brief look around the room. Nothing had changed since he and Jaral left it years ago.
He moved near the old radio that their parents used. Inside of it was a small holodisc. He grabbed it.
The living room, eight years ago. Ezra is on the couch, Jaral is next to him, hugging him.
In front of them Tseebo, Jordan and Mira are arguing.
"The risk you Bridgers take. Tseebo say you must think of your sons."
"They are all we think about! We're teaching Jaral and Ezra to stand up for people in need."
"We're fighting for our children's freedom."
"Tseebo not fight battle Tseebo know cannot be won."
...
Night. Ezra and Jaral sleeping in their room.
Jordan rushes in.
"Kids. Come here."
He takes them in his arms and brings them into the living room.
"Get in!" he orders.
The kids climb down the ladder.
"Stay here!" he orders before closing them in.
In a few seconds, chaos.
The sound of the doors slammed open.
"Freeze!"
The sound of a blaster firing.
"Jordan!"
"Da-!" Ezra tries to scream.
Jaral is squeezing him and keeping a hand on his mouth. Her eyes closed in fear.
"Take them away!"
Sound of crashing.
Tears flow from his eyes.
Fear.
Desperation.
Anger.
Anger for being weak.
Anger for not being able to protect his family.
Anger for those who are taking them away.
…
"You'll want to see this."
Ezra snapped out with a gasp. On his right, Sabine was talking to him.
She sees his face, but doesn't know what to say.
"What's that?" she asks while indicating the holodisc Ezra's holding.
Ezra mumbled before regaining focus.
"My parents used to broadcast anti-Empire transmissions using this disks." He slammed it on the radio, startling Sabine. "It's probably just one of those." he says with a hint of rage before heading to the ladder and starting to climb out.
The boy reemerged in the living room. Sabine followed not long after. Jaral was almost done with making Jinx access Tseebo's implant.
As she pushed another sequence of button on her omni-tool, Tseebo squirmed a bit then his holo-projector turned on. Tseebo stood perfectly still while a quick sequence of drawings, maps and blueprints played.
"Jinx, what do we have here?" Jaral asked, putting her bent arm along her side.
"Goodness...it's everything." the AI sounded a bit excited, which was pretty rare. "Projects on the new TIE models and weapons. Schedules of troops movements, tactics...strategies...some of it it's heavily encrypted but it seems like there is a 5-year plan for Lothal and every other Outer Rim's world."
The projector turned off.
"No wonder his brain's shorting out." Ezra commented. "All that data would overload anyone."
"These secrets could be very dangerous for the Empire if only fell into the wrong hands…" Jaral reasoned.
"Precisely. We'll need to smuggle him off Lothal." Kanan determined.
"We're gonna need to smuggle him off city first." Ezra said.
"And we need to it fast." Sabine intervened. "You know, the only reason they hadn't caught him yet is because their forces were busy with Empire day. But the day is almost done…"
While they all planned, Tseebo had started to wander aimlessly until he ran into one of the interior doors with a loud bang, falling down and making all the other groan in anguish.
"This is gonna be a painful job…" Jaral commented. She moved to go help Tseebo.
"Yet, the city right now is swarming with vehicles." Sabine said. "It shouldn't be difficult to steal a transport."
"Leave that to me." Ezra said calmly.
The boy donned on his helmet and took out his Suppressor pistol from the omni-tool.
"Jaral, you keep Tseebo safe. Give your Suppressor to Sabine."
Jaral obliged and took out her pistol, extending it to Sabine. The mandalorian girl looked at it like a kid in front of a candy.
"Remember, I want it back." Jaral chuckled.
Sabine pouted jokingly and grabbed the gun, inspecting it.
"All right, just a pair tips." Ezra said seriously.
Sabine reached him and listened.
"Since this gun has to keep everything bottled, it overheats pretty quickly. You can fire at most 4 bolts before the security mechanism kicks in and the lock opens to let it cool down." he tapped the small lock on the right side of the pistol.
Sabine nodded in understanding.
"Second, the price for it being quiet is that its range it's severely limited, if you want it to penetrate an imperial armor you have to be no further than 10 meters, and aim for the head."
The mandalorian acknowledged the tips and the two teen readied to get out from the door.
"Jinx, intercept their comms and find us an ITT." Ezra asked.
The AI signaled a transport with only three guards: two stormtroopers and an imperial combat pilot.
Ezra and Kanan decided that it was doable and they finally went out.
They sneaked throughout the alleys, hearing speeder-bikes and patrols running all around. Ezra, being the one who knew the alleys back and forth, led the way, followed closely by Sabine, who more than anything seemed eager to try and use the new pistol in her hands. Ezra had instructed her not to shoot unless it proved strictly necessary.
Finally they reached the ITT marked by Jinx. It was still guarded only by two stormtroopers.
Ezra and Sabine sneaked behind them and liquidated them with two clean shots. Ezra then walked up to the door of the transport and knocked a couple times.
The combat driver opened the door to check out what was happening, and Ezra shot him dead in the head from the side, then dragging the corpse out of the vehicle.
Kanan was following not too further back and Jaral was dragging Tseebo if a bit forcefully.
Sabine took commands of the transport, and after everyone was on board, she started moving toward the southern gate, the closest to their position.
The Imperials noticed that a transport had been stolen a bit too late. By then, the team was in front of the roadblock.
Commandant Aresko was leading it, with Taskmaster Grint waiting beside him.
The block consisted of a small squad of stormtroopers, an AT-DP, two speeder bikes and an ITT used as stopgap.
"Jinx, jam that walker." Jaral ordered as she connected the omni-tool to the communication device of the stolen transport.
Using that, Jinx reached the antenna of the walker and easily violated the comparatively weak firewalls. The pilot struggled to understand why the systems were powering down on their own or why the pixels on his targeting computer seemed to explode, nullifying his ability to watch what was happening.
By the time Aresko realized that the transport coming to them was not slowing down and thus the rebels were on board, it was too late.
The walker tried to fire, but without the assistance from the computer it didn't even got near to hit the rebels. The stormtroopers and the bikers tried to shoot, but their weapons were too weak to penetrate the armor.
Eventually they all had to dive out of the way as Sabine pushed the vehicle to his limit and crashed it into the barrier ITT, breaking the roadblock and continuing running on the highway outside of the city.
Unfortunately for the rebels, Kallus was aboard another ITT nearby the gate and saw the scene, immediately giving chase together with tow other bikers.
The rebels didn't take long before spotting their new chasers. Jinx took control of the dorsal cannon on the ITT and tried to fire on them, but the elevation of the weapon didn't allow that.
Kanan had already contacted Hera to inform her and Zeb of their position.
While they were running away, Jinx intercepted a communication between Kallus and the Inquisitor, which he transmitted into Jaral and Ezra's comlinks.
"This is Agent Kallus, ISB-021, calling the Inquisitor. The rebels are through the main gate and headed south."
"Their ship will be waiting. Slow them down. We're on our way."
Jaral contacted the Ghost.
"Specter-6 to Ghost, the Imperials know where we are going. Their TIEs are taking off."
"Copy that, Specter-6. Specter-1, we'll have to turn this recovery into a scoop job."
Suddenly, the left door of the transport was engulfed by a stream of electricity and sparks. A breach charge had been set outside, probably from one of the bikers.
As the sea of sparks disappeared, the door had been incinerated. Ezra pointed his repeater in that direction, but all he saw was an unmanned speeder bike keeping pace with the ITT.
Ezra cautiously walked toward the door, but when he was close enough, the assault driver slung himself into the vehicle, hitting Ezra with a double kick and managing to make the boy fall down.
The soldier immediately noticed Tseebo, but any other action was cut short by Jaral, who pummeled him and threw him off the door, right onto the second biker who was just starting to reach the door with his bike and the two went out in a crash.
The ITT behind them fired a few shots with the frontal cannon, which didn't do much damage.
Then it rear-ended them, but right after that, they heard the unmistakable sound of the Ghost's engines firing upon them.
From the cargo bay, Zeb opened up the ramp, holding his Bo-rifle and aiming at Kallus, who had jumped on the rebel's transport when his own rear-ended them.
"Remember me?" the Lasat screamed with a grin, remembering the last confrontation he had with Kallus.
Zeb shoot a few bolts, but shooting at such high speeds tends to be extremely hard if not inefficient with infantry weapons.
Kallus easily dodged the bolts and moved beneath the cargo bay.
"Specter-5 to Ghost, coming in hot." Sabine told Zeb.
"Can see that." the Lasat answered on the comm. "You got company upstairs."
Kallus crouched and pointed at the Ghost with his own Bo-rifle, talking to the imperial ITT.
"Take them down!"
The imperials fired with their dorsal cannon, and this time the Ghost was a doable target.
The ship got hit three times and violently shook.
"Shields holding, but I need that transport taken out." Hera communicated. "Chopper, you got this?"
Chopper had already understood where this was going and had already reached the Phantom, using one of his manipulators to use the firing controls of the auxiliary vessel.
The droid shoot repeatedly, until the ITT was hit hard and the pilot lost control of the vehicle, which overturned disastrously.
At this point, Zeb exposed him from the cargo bay, aiming at the back of the ship toward Kallus. He fired a few bolts, which prompted Kallus to lose balance and fall down backwards.
"Ok, you're all clear." Zeb announced.
"Jinx to Ghost, I detect multiple TIEs inbound."
"I see them. We have to move fast."
Ezra was now taking care of Tseebo, who, after hearing the word 'TIEs', reported mechanically that TIE fighters would begin mass-production on Lothal within the following six weeks.
"Your fun facts are really interesting, Tseebo…" the boy joked while helping the rodian standing up. "But we really need to go."
He passed Tseebo to Jaral. Then the boy was the first to climb onto the roof via the now removed left door. He took a crouched position, keeping his repeater ready to fire upon any other sudden appearance of imperials.
Kanan followed suit, and he helped bring Tseebo upward from Jaral.
Only the two girls left in the vehicle.
"You ready?" Jaral asked Sabine.
"Yes. Auto-pilot engaged. This thing will run till it's out of fuel." Sabine said, then moved toward the door as Jaral was already pulling herself up.
The Ghost lowered itself until the ramp barely touched the roof of the ITT.
"Come on, get aboard!" Zeb urged them.
Jaral pushed Tseebo inside, then Sabine followed.
Unbeknownst to them, Kallus didn't fall out of the vehicle, but manage to hang on on the rear wall of the ITT, and right at that moment he managed to climb back, enough to recognize Tseebo and trying to shoot him. A Bo-rifle is hard to use with a single hand, let alone while the user is struggling to hang up to a wall.
"Go! Go!" Ezra urged Kanan while he fired a burst to Kallus' direction, missing hit by a few inches.
It gave him time to jump on the ramp and keep Kallus preoccupied with another burst until the Ghost was too high for the imperial agent to reach.
Kallus took his comlink.
"Kallus to Inquisitor, the Rodian Tseebo is confirmed aboard the rebel vessel."
Right then, a squadron of four TIE fighters, led by the new TIE advanced of the Inquisitor, flew over his head.
On the Ghost, the squad was spreading out onto the various positions. Kanan was climbing to the dorsal turret, Jaral went to the cockpit to link Jinx. Zeb, Sabine and Ezra were with Tseebo in the common room when a burst rocked the rear of the Ghost, making the lights waver for a moment.
"Karabast!" Zeb exclaimed. "That came from behind. Is that scrap heap even paying attention?!" he kept grumbling while climbing up the ladder.
"I've to man the nose gun." Sabine told Ezra, who simply nodded in response.
Another burst shook the ship, making the teens and Tseebo stumble. Sabine managed to hold herself onto the wall, while Tseebo fell on the couch. Ezra managed narrowly not to fall on the rodian with the full weight of his armor.
The hit, however, seemed to make Tseebo snap out of his trance. Ezra noticed it and removed his helmet, looking at him with a worried face.
Tseebo turned around and saw him, and a smile formed on his trumpet-like mouth.
"Ezra? Ezra Bridger?"
The boy was actually shocked for a second.
"It's you!" Tseebo said after mumbling something in his language.
The rodian tried to hug the boy, who find himself a bit embarrassed, but tried to return the gesture.
"Yes, it's me, Tseebo. But now it's really not the time for a reunion." he said while trying to smile.
He didn't notice immediately that Sabine, hearing that Tseebo regained consciousness, had stopped and was looking the scene from the doorstep.
Tseebo grabbed Ezra's shoulders with urgency, mumbling something in his language.
Irritated by the unintelligible (to him) speech, Ezra gently pushed down Tseebo's hands and turned to Sabine.
"What is he saying?"
"He said…" the girl took a second to make sure she translated correctly. "He says he knows what happened to your parents..."