Chapter 8: Gathering Forces
The Ghost had just left the atmosphere with the TIE squadron hellbent on not letting it flee.
Still maintaining attack formation, the Imperials were sending an endless barrage of green bolts against the Ghost. Jinx had already took his place in the cockpit and was jamming the targeting systems of the TIEs, non allowing them to lock onto the Ghost and forcing them to fire with a line of fire, which in space is almost impossible.
Event so, the barrage was so intense that even Hera was having a hard time avoiding them all.
As another burst hit the rear, Hera pushed the comlink for the Phantom.
"Chopper, I'm rolling us starboard, be ready to fire those rear guns."
In the Phantom, Zeb finally reached the cockpit, only to find out that Chopper was hit by a small explosion of the console command and had short-circuited after a barrage previously hit the Phantom.
"Karabast! Chopper is down." Zeb exclaimed.
The droid was suffering a short-circuit, but its mechanical shell was still in place. They would be able to repair it at the end of all this, but for now Zeb had to focus on manning the cannons.
After putting down the small fire on the console by patting it with his over-sized hands, Zeb took his place on the pilot's seat.
"I got you covered, Hera. Roll away!"
As Hera received the alert, she banked the Ghost starboard, allowing Zeb to open fire and destroy one fighter. It was a short-lived victory though, as another squad of four TIEs arrived and joined the attack, entering into the existing formation.
Now they shot as if they wanted to consume their cannon's batteries.
Another small quake shook the common room. Sabine still hadn't left it as she was waiting for Ezra to absorb Tseebo's words and come up with an answer.
"Sabine, I need you in the nose gun, now!" Hera said urgently through the comlink.
The girl looked Ezra with a compassionate expression. She didn't want to leave him hanging for answers.
Yet, Ezra scolded her. "Didn't you hear Hera?"
She pressed the issue. "Didn't you hear Tseebo?! He said he knows what happened to your parents."
"I'll tell you what happened. They're dead! So, go!" Ezra cut the chat before helping Tseebo stay on his foot.
As Sabine still seemed hesitant, Ezra turned around again and vehemently pointed arm and finger toward the nose of the ship.
"Now, Sabine!" he screamed with a mix of urgency and flat-out anger.
Sabine looked sorry for him as she finally left the doorstep and run toward the access to the
nose gun.
Ezra took a moment to think, then went in front of Tseebo and lightly shook his shoulders.
"Are they? Are my parents dead?"
Outside, the TIEs were still hellbent on the chase.
"Someone want to explain to me why we're extra popular tonight?" she said to no one in particular.
From the side of the cockpit, Jaral answered.
"We found Tseebo. Remember, the rodian the Imperials are looking for?"
"And he's important because…"
"Because his cybernetic implant has downloaded half of the Empire's secrets." the girl answered while rerouting the auxiliary energy to the rear shields.
"Ok, I can see why that's important. Let's get him out of here."
In the common room, Ezra was trying to extract the crucial information from Tseebo, but so far without success.
"The Bridgers should hide, the troopers came. They took Jordan and Mira Bridger away." he said urgently.
"Where? Where did they take them?" Ezra was trying to sound calm, but the frustration was evident in both his voice and face.
Tseebo muttered and looked down.
"Forgive Tseebo."
"Forgive you for what?!" Ezra lost it at this point.
"Tseebo failed...Tseebo was afraid...Tseebo could not raise Ezra and Jaral Bridger…"
The realization dawned on Ezra. His parents must have asked Tseebo to raise their children, knowing that they would be taken away one day in their battle for spreading the truth about the Empire.
Tseebo had been tasked with raising them, to give them shelter. And he ran away.
Ezra was angry. Partially for himself, but most importantly for Jaral. She had been forced to mature very fast in order to raise Ezra and provide for him in the first years of their lives in the streets; Jaral had had to sacrifice what was left of her infancy and her adolescence and become an adult at a very young age. Ezra had lost count of how many times she had exposed herself to save him, even though he had done the same multiple times.
Their lives had been miserable since that nightmarish night. They had been exploited by criminals, verbally abused and abandoned by everyone except for very few gentle persons they encountered along the way.
Ezra's mind flashed with the ton of hardships he, and most importantly his sister, had to endure for 8 long years. All of that, because Tseebo was 'too afraid'.
"Coward!" he screamed. His voice the epitome of anger.
Tseebo cowered and his implant bleeped vividly, signaling that he was escaping into his world of data to avoid the guilt.
Another shake, the lights dimmed.
"Shields failing. Ezra, I need you in the cockpit!" Hera announced on the PA.
"Yeah, on my way!" he shouted back.
He glared Tseebo one last time, before leaving him alone and running toward the cockpit.
As Ezra entered the room, he noticed that the panel on the co-pilot's side was fizzling, emitting smoke and sparks.
Jaral was trying her hardest to save the shields.
"Ezra, navicomputer is offline. With Chopper down, I need you to fix it."
Ezra knelt down to take a look. "Not exactly my specialty."
"Well, make it your specialty and make it fast."
Hera looked out to see the visual emulators on the cockpit show two Star Destroyers in front of them, along with another dozen of fighters.
"...or this ship becomes a real ghost."
The fighters coming from the front fired. It helped the Ghost that the two imperial formations were on opposite vectors and they were trying not to shoot their comrades, a task made harder by Jinx's jammer.
Still, it wouldn't take long for them to assume a better position to fire from.
"Could really use that nav-computer." Hera exclaimed.
Ezra was still messing about with the panel. "Rewiring as fast as I…"
They were interrupted by the door's hissing and Tseebo walking in, talking.
"For fast travel over interstellar distances, hyperspace is optimal." he reached under the panel, prompting Ezra to step aside.
In a couple of seconds, the Ghost signaled that it found a route through hyperspace.
"I don't believe it…" Hera smiled. "Hang on!" she said as she punched the ship into hyperspace.
As they fared the blue tunnel, Ezra stood up and helped Tseebo doing the same. Jaral joined him in the effort.
"Huh, Hera, this is Tseebo." Ezra said awkwardly.
Hera stood up with a grateful smile. "And did Tseebo just transmitted hyperspace coordinates directly into my ship?"
"That would be our guess." Jaral commented happily.
"Well, then, thank you Tseebo." Hera breathed a sigh of relief. "I think you saved our lives."
"Yeah." murmured Ezra. "Guess there's a first time for everything." he said sarcastically as he walked out, leaving Hera and Jaral confused.
The crew met in the common room. Hera and Sabine were reassembling Chopper. The latter took a quick look at Ezra, who was sitting on the couch and mindlessly tapping the Dejarik table. Kanan and Jaral were trying to communicate with Tseebo, but that seemed fruitless.
"So, what do we do with him?" Jaral asked.
"We have a few ideas." Kanan answered before walking in front of Ezra.
"But you guys have a history with Tseebo. What do you think we should do?" he was clearly talking to Ezra, trying to snap him out of his shell.
Ezra looked at him coldly. "Don't know. Don't much care."
"Ezra, you'll never advance as a Jedi if you don't start to be honest with yourself."
"What are you trying to imply?" Ezra retorted as he stood up and walked to the other side of the table.
"I'm saying that Tseebo matters to you."
Ezra scoffed, then looked at Tseebo with disdain. "And why should I? He abandoned us!" he snarled.
"Ezra." the calm voice of his sister made Ezra turn immediately. She was looking at him with a balance of scolding and comprehension. "Can you really blame him for being afraid of the Empire?"
A simple question, as was the answer. Ezra's fury relented a bit.
"And beside, look what he's done since." Sabine said while standing up and walking to look at Tseebo's implant. "The Empire encourages these implants, but they're not mandatory, yet. He must've volunteered, then he uploaded their secrets and ran!"
That wasn't a reasoning Ezra could argue with.
"He's probably trying to make it up for letting you guys down. Why else would he try to take on the Empire alone?" she said.
Tseebo mumbled something in Huttese.
"Did he just said that the Empire can track us right now?" asked Jinx.
"Oh, please." Zeb scoffed. "The Empire can't follow us through hyperspace...can they?"
Tseebo mumbled as his holo-projector came to life, revealing the project of a strange black capsule.
"Imperial XX-23 S-thread tracker was developed by Sienar Systems to trace ships through hyperspace to destination."
Kanan looked at it.
"Hera, could they have tagged us with that?"
"I suppose we better find out." Hera finished the last adjustments to Chopper.
The droid started to whir again, looked around and then snapped. He unleashed his manipulators in what seemed to be his version of martial poses and even spun his dome around, risking to hit the others.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down Chop." Hera intervened. "You've only been off-line for a few minutes."
Chopper seemed to calm down. Hera stood up and pointed at the hologram.
"We need you to scan the ship for that thing."
Chopper looked up at the hologram and chirped angrily.
Zeb couldn't understand binary, but he understood that Chopper was complaining as always. "Stop complaining you rust bucket. This is the easy job."
Everyone shared an amused smile at Chopper's usual behavior.
After almost an hour, the crew was meeting in the cockpit. Chopper had found the tracker, stuck in the back of the Ghost.
"So they did track us." Zeb commented.
Hera smirked. "True, but the good news is, the tracker is actually stuck on the hull of the Phantom."
"And how does that help us?"
"Because it allows us to detach the Phantom and lead the Empire away from the Ghost and Tseebo." Kanan explained.
Sabine interjected. "Whoa, wait a second...you want to detach the Phantom while in hyperspace? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?!"
"Not as dangerous as what I plan to do with the ship." Kanan smirked.
"Can't wait to hear this." Zeb joked.
"I checked our current trajectory." he turned to Hera. "If you can modify our hyperspace coordinates…"
"I could…"
"Then we can pass by the asteroid field where the old clone base is."
Ezra, Sabine and Jaral almost froze.
"You mean the base with the nasties who live in the shadows?" Sabine asked.
"Why would we want to go down there?" Ezra asked.
"He's right, Kanan." Hera intervened. "Why don't we just drop the Phantom into our trail and let the Imperials chase after their tracker?"
"Because there is more than a tracker at work here." Kanan sentenced. "Back on Lothal I sensed it. The Inquisitor is on our trail and as long as me and Ezra stay on board, we are jeopardizing Tseebo's escape."
"So your plan is to get back into the cave full of hungry and angry fyrnocks, attract the Inquisitor and the imperials in there and let the crawly scribbers deal with them?"
"More or less."
"And what will prevent us from becoming the appetizer?"
"I'll tell you along the way. For now I need you to trust me."
Ezra sighed. "Let's fucking do this."
Ezra was in the kitchen, overlooking a still dreamy Tseebo. Jaral had left to prep the Phantom for him and Kanan, leaving the boy to make sure Tseebo wouldn't go crash into another door.
Then Sabine walked into. Ezra looked at her with a raised eyebrow before turning his gaze again. He had removed his armor for now, leaving his orange attire and leather jacket on him.
"So, your parents…" Sabine started after an uncertain silence. "Do you really believe they're dead?"
"Yes." Ezra said grumpily. "No...I don't know. Does it even matter?"
"Yes, of course it matters." the girl was keeping a resolved but gentle tone. "You have to talk to Tseebo before we go." she put her hands on her hips.
"Tried that, he simply goes into his world." Ezra mumbled annoyed.
"Ok, so try harder!" Sabine pressed. "Once Hera takes him away, you may never see Tseebo again."
"Maybe it's for the best." so far, Ezra was leaning against the furniture of the kitchen, now he stood up and moved toward the door while Sabine reprimanded him.
"Wha...How can you say that?!"
"Sabine!…" the boy stopped, then turned to face her. "Me and Jaral have been on our own for 8 years. And if I'd let myself believe our folks were alive...that they would just come back and save us...I'd never learn how to survive and only hinder my sister as well."
Sabine couldn't help but feel sorry and look at him with a sympathetic expression.
They were both startled once the door hissed open, revealing Kanan.
"You ready?"
Ezra gave a quick gaze to Tseebo, then to Sabine, who tried her hardest to convince him to talk to Tseebo. But Ezra simply averted his gaze and left the room.
"Okay." Kanan commented.
The two climbed up on the Phantom.
"Strap in." said Kanan as he sat at the controls. Ezra fastened the security belt on the seat he took.
"Phantom to Ghost." started Kanan. "We're ready to leave."
"Copy that, Phantom. We're reaching the destination. Good luck out there, and Ezra, take care of Kanan."
"Someone gotta do that." Ezra laughed at Hera's request.
Hera started the countdown. When that was over, the Phantom detached while in hyperspace.
Almost immediately the vessel was flung around like a doll, the blue tunnel became a blinding sun
with multi-color rays.
The sheer pressure was almost unbearable. Maybe Jaral, who was a full-grown Legionnaire, would have no troubles, but Ezra was still growing and that part of his organism wasn't ready.
The Phantom came out of hyperspace making spins all around the place. Kanan struggled to get his hand on the lever to activate the stabilizers and reassess control over the inertia.
As the Phantom finally got back on track, the two Jedi sighed a breath of relief.
"Ok. That was the easy part." Kanan joked.
"Can't wait for the hard one." Ezra said wittily.
They noticed they were right were they wanted: in the asteroid cemetery that once was Anaxes.
Kanan set the course for the old base, reaching that in a few minutes.
As they slowly drifted toward the blast doors, Ezra spoke up.
"Mind telling me what the plan is, now?"
"Remember the creatures you and the girls found here?"
"Yes. I'd rather forget them, but yes."
"I want you to establish a connection with them."
"Are you kidding? Is it really time for a lesson?!" Ezra shouted.
"No. But I figured you would learn better in the way you usually do. By surviving."
"Kanan, I can't...I'm afraid."
"Ha!" Kanan laughed. "I've got news for you kid; everyone is afraid. But admitting it like you just did, shows that you are braver than you think and is a step forward."
"Yeah, into the jaws of a nightmare…" Ezra mumbled as they entered into the dark interior of the base and landed the Phantom among the pile of junk.
"I'll remove the tracker from the Phantom. You go make some friends." Kanan said trying to make it sound easy.
The two stepped out of the ship. While Kanan climbed up to go remove the device attached on the front, Ezra walked into the shadow.
It didn't take long for dozens of fyrnocks to show up, hissing and snarling ferociously.
Ezra decided that, in order to let his guard down, he would try and deactivate his armor.
As the pack of creatures started to gather around him, Ezra extended an arm, trying to focus on them and find a connection, but he was shaking.
One of the creatures went dangerously close, but Kanan had already finished his task and came back to help his Padawan, keeping the creatures at bay with the Force.
"You're blocked. Let go!" Kanan shouted.
"I can't." Ezra replied in fear.
"Don't be afraid."
"I'm not afraid of them!" Ezra's eyes closed as his face was still contrived in terror.
"Then what are you afraid of?"
"I'm...I'm afraid of knowing. I'm afraid of the truth!"
One of the creatures jumped forward.
"I'M SORRY!" Ezra cried.
"I'm sorry, I forgive you Tseebo!"
Suddenly, everything became so clear, natural. Ezra let himself be guided by the Force. The thoughts flowing without focus. There was only the Force.
"I too am sorry, forgive me...for everything".
As Tseebo's voice rang in his head, Ezra noticed that he did it. The Fyrnocks were now neatly packed around and sat in front of him like a pack of obedient dogs.
The Ghost proceeded to the rendezvous with Fulcrum, which was apparently on an alderaanian blockade runner. Hera docked the Ghost to the ship.
"Fulcrum to Ghost. Docking complete. Heading to the airlock now." the metallic voice announced.
"Acknowledged, Fulcrum." Hera confirmed. "We're ready and waiting."
"I don't suppose Zeb, Jaral and I could get to meet Fulcrum this time?" Sabine asked sarcastically.
Hera replied with a smile and a pat on her shoulder. "Nope. This time you stay in the cockpit."
"That's what we did last time." Zeb groaned.
Jaral didn't complain. As her gaze wandered around the room, she noticed that Sabine was trying to hide a holodisc in her hands, rubbing it with her thumbs.
"Wait, is that…?" she asked, sure to recognize it.
Sabine thought there was no point in hiding it and showed it to Jaral. "Yeah, it was one of your parent's holodisc. Ezra showed it to me and...I don't know, I think it would be nice as a birthday present if I could restore it."
A big, grateful smile came to Jaral's face.
"I'm sure he'll love it." she said.
"When I'm done, I'll let you inspect it first." Sabine smiled faintly in response.
Hera came down to the common room but didn't find Tseebo. Instead she found him already at the docking bridge.
"You seem...better." she said.
"Tseebo's mind is...clearer now." the rodian responded with much more clarity than he ever showed that day.
"But is difficult." he said while holding his head with a hand. "There's so much information inside Tseebo."
Hera started to escort him through the bridge. "Fulcrum's people will help you with that and keep you safe."
"But will Tseebo see Jaral and Ezra Bridger again?"
"I hope so. Someday. Is there anything you'd like to tell them?"
Tseebo wore a broken expression. "Tseebo failed Bridgers. Did not watch over their children. But Tseebo tried to make it right by accessing Imperial files."
"And that intel will be invaluable." Hera tried to encourage him.
The rodian, however, replied firmly. "No! Intel unimportant, an accident! Tseebo access file on Bridgers' parents. Tseebo knows Bridgers' fate."
Hera grabbed his shoulders. "Then tell me, Tseebo. Tell me, and I'll tell the kids."
Around the Anaxes asteroids, the Inquisitor ship had arrived. After tracking what they believed to be the Ghost, the Imperials assembled a platoon of stormtroopers on a Lambda-class transport aboard which was the Inquisitor too.
After a few minutes, the shuttle landed in front of the old clone base. The team of 10 stormtroopers and their sergeant holding the monitor for the tracker device disembarked and formed a line. The Inquisitor followed them with his confident walk.
"They're here." the sergeant confirmed.
"Keep them contained. I want them alive." The Inquisitor ordered.
The troopers advanced cautiously, maintaining formation. As they entered the dark inside of the base, the order 'lights up' resonated and they turned on their rifles' flashlights.
It didn't took long for one of them to find Kanan and Ezra, sit in a meditative pose.
"Sir, they're over...here?" the trooper noticed what was behind them.
The two Jedi raised an arm each and indicated the imperials. The fyrnocks immediately launched themselves to the attack.
The stormtroopers immediately shot at the creatures, but they managed to take down three or four before the rest was upon them.
Only the Inquisitor kept advancing as the troopers fell back to protect themselves from the almost unending stream of creatures.
As one fyrnock threw itself against the Inquisitor, the latter simply pushed it away with the Force, smiling.
"This was your plan?" he laughed briefly. "To draw us here and let these creatures do the work for you?"
Kanan stood up and ignited his lightsaber. "How you think it's working?" he asked in humor.
Another fyrnock attacked the Inquisitor, whom effortlessly cut him with his lightsaber.
"Pathetically."
"Guess if you want something done right…" Kanan threw himself at the Inquisitor.
As Ezra kept sending fyrnocks against the troopers, Kanan battled the Inquisitor. However, it was still an almost one-sided business. The refined abilities of the Inquisitor were far superior to those of Kanan's. In the end, the hunter was able to force push Kanan violently against a wreckage, making him fall unconscious.
"Kanan!" Ezra said, perceiving his master's state and running to him.
"Your meager training is nothing, compared to true power." the Inquisitor mocked the fainted Jedi.
Ezra rolled and grabbed Kanan's lightsaber, igniting it and pointing it at the Inquisitor.
"Stay away!"
Without effort, the dark-sider used the Force to pull the lightsaber away, which was made easy by the fact that Ezra had very little idea on how to properly wield it.
"What if I don't?" the Inquisitor said with a devilish grin. Then he pushed Ezra to the edge of a cliff.
The boy managed to hold on and put his feet back on solid ground. He knew that pulling out his guns against the dark-sider would be useless.
The Inquisitor started to advance, keeping the two lightsaber in his hands.
"Your dedication to your master is admirable, but useless."
"Shut up!"
"Ah, yes." the Inquisitor said with satisfaction. "Use your anger. Unleash it. I'll teach what your master could not."
"You have nothing to teach me!" Ezra yelled.
"The darkness is too strong for you, orphan. It is swallowing you up, even now."
"No!" fear started to show in Ezra's eyes.
"Your master will die."
"No!"
"Your friends will die and everything you've hoped for will be lost. This is the way this story ends."
"NO!" Ezra screamed with all the air in his lungs.
A blip in the Force. Kanan woke up in that moment, only to see various debris lifting from the ground. Ezra seemed to be enveloped by an invisible wind as he opened up his eyes and a wave of cold and hatred created a disturbance. Even the Inquisitor stopped in his tracks and carefully watched.
From the cliff behind Ezra came a gigantic fyrnock, probably the alpha male, or the mother of that nest.
"Ezra? No!" Kanan murmured, fearing for his Padawan.
Ezra had just tapped the Dark Side of the Force, summoning the horrific creature thanks to his fear and hate for the dark-sider in front of him.
The Inquisitor walked backward toward some stairs behind him, taking a position where he could prevent the creature from flanking him.
With a face expressing struggle and fury, Ezra extended his arm and the giant fyrnock attacked the Inquisitor.
However, Ezra fainted immediately after.
Kanan finally stood up and rushed to Ezra, while the Inquisitor was being pushed back by the fyrnock, which even managed to throw away Kanan's lightsaber.
"Ezra." Kanan said while taking the boy in his arms.
"Kanan?" Ezra said tiredly. "What happened? I-I feel so cold."
"I know. It's okay. We're leaving."
He lifted Ezra and carried him on his shoulder. Kanan managed to recall his lightsaber as the Inquisitor watched them in frustration.
The dark-sider started spinning his lightsaber wildly and yelled a battle cry that managed to break the will of the creature, which fled back into the crater it came from.
The battle between the stormtroopers and the fyrnocks never ceased, allowing Kanan to reach the Phantom relatively undisturbed. The Inquisitor threw his lightsaber at them, but Kanan managed to repel it and drop it to the ground.
The Jedi left Ezra on the floor on the Phantom and rushed for the commands, closing the door and powering up the engines.
They escaped a moment before the Inquisitor reached them, and even destroying the imperial transport, preventing the dark-sider and his men to follow.
While en route to meet with the Ghost, Ezra stayed silent, sitting in one of the seats, his upper body bent forward and each hands gripping the opposite arm, as to shield him from the cold.
After setting the auto-pilot, Kanan went to sit in front of him.
"I...saved us?" Ezra asked.
"You did."
"But something doesn't feel right."
"If your will isn't strong enough when you open yourself to the Force, you become vulnerable to the dark side." Kanan patiently explained.
"Well, I was trying to protect you." the boy defended himself.
"I know." Kanan sighed. "But your anger and fear caused that giant creature to attack."
"I don't remember it."
"Maybe it's for the best."
There was a brief silence before Kanan spoke up with a mortified tone.
"Your powers are growing so quickly, you weren't prepared. I didn't teach you what you needed to know. I'm sorry."
The two remained silent for 10 minutes, when they finally docked into the Ghost.
Kanan was the first to drop down. The entire crew was waiting there, though he was greeted by a very worried Jaral, who walked up to him and firmly asked.
"Kanan, what happened out there?"
Kanan exhaled. "You felt the cold?"
"You're damn right I did!"
Her apprehension vanished when she saw Ezra sliding down from the ladder.
"Ezra, I…" she tried to went straight for him, but Kanan prevented her with his arm.
"Ezra need some time alone, right now."
The boy passed in front of everyone, simply sending a sorry gaze to his sister before lowering his head and going for the nose turret.
"Seriously, Kanan." Hera asked worriedly. "What happened? All we know is that Jaral seemed to have a heart attack not long ago."
"We need to talk." said Kanan. "Jaral, you better come too."
The sister nodded in response and they left the common room to head into Kanan's cabin.
Ezra had already settled on the seat of the turret, staring down at the stars. He was slumped on the chair and his arms folded, still feeling a bit exhausted. His face didn't give away a hint of emotion.
Then he heard the sound of footsteps on the metal plank.
"Rough couple of days…" Sabine's voice commented with a colloquial tone.
"Yeah...it's been strange." he simply responded.
Sabine walked around the seat, reaching the panels on the right side.
"I've just what you need." she said.
Ezra slightly turned his head, noticing the holodisc he showed her.
"It's the holodisc from your old house. It was pretty degraded but I cleaned it up. And I found something…" she inserted the disk into the reader and the console started whirring.
Ezra made a jump on his seat and his jaw fell.
In front of him stood a picture of his family. He remembered that. It was done when he was 5. He was piggybacking on his mother Mira's back, while Jaral was hanging on to their father Jordan's neck.
"Mum! Dad!"
Seeing his surprised expression, Sabine chuckled.
"Happy birthday, Ezra Bridger." she said softly, before leaving the room.
Ezra wanted to thank her, but by the time he realized that she had already left the room. It didn't matter, he thought, he could thank her later.
For now, a single tear was running down his cheek as he lost himself into the remembrance of his parents.
He would make sure to make a copy for Jaral too.