Chapter 5: Siblings of the Broken Horn
That was probably the most intense action that Ezra and Sabine had had so far in their relationship. The boy had indeed shown his repentance by giving his girlfriend multiple peaks of ecstasy, all the while she enjoyed forcing him to hold back until she was done.
Nonetheless, by the end of the night, Ezra was reassured that Sabine had forgiven him for ignoring her and now their relationship was stronger than before.
In the following days, Ezra ingratiated her even more by keeping the other promise and bringing her in the workshop as he worked on creating another cloaking device for himself. For the two lovers it brought back memories of months before, when he was teaching her how he built his unique lightsaber, creating a melee weapon able to fire like a blaster. That period was the one when they actually became aware of their feelings. They would enthusiastically talk about the argument at hand, but whenever they found themselves touching or brushing each other the atmosphere became increasingly embarrassing.
And worst of all, Jaral was waiting for them every time they finished to tease them both and making them turn red like tomatoes. Though, in the end, it did help them to figure out the truth.
Now, however, it was only the two of them, officially in a relationship, and while they worked with due diligence on the project, they openly enjoyed the chances to touch each other, since that was a relatively private space. It was certainly a good way to build up excitement for the night whenever they knew they had the cabin for themselves.
It wasn't all nice and dandy, however. Jaral, for example, spent more and more time on the Liberator, specifically between the control bridge, her own fighter and Darvos' cabin. After they met the Inquisitors, Jaral became more and more involved into planning the route of the fleet, as she had some experience dating back to the Grand Inquisitor hunting the Ghost the year before. Of course she also asked for Ezra's opinion more than once. All the while they both had to keep themselves sharp with constant training and providing the necessary maintenance for their armors.
And in the midst of all this, Jaral had also officially received the rank of Sergeant, which was a cause for a small party aboard the Ghost.
Two weeks later the episode on the medical station, and after more than a month spent faring in space, the Phoenix fleet finally made its first stop into a proper spaceport: Garel.
Using different spaceports in the capital to hide the various ships, the fleet was able to conceal itself. It was a long overdue pit stop. Staying so long in space had got on the nerves of most of the personnel, even the Ghost crew.
Jaral used the opportunity to spend two days finally customizing a bit her A-wing, with Sabine's help. She had it painted with various blue motifs and, most importantly, a blue nova on the tail.
Once that was done, she joined the Ghost crew for some time off.
One morning, the siblings were in the hangar bay, making some long-range target practice with the blaster rifles under Rex's supervision.
They were doing pretty good, shooting at the helmet that Chopper was moving with his handler behind some scattered crates. Still, almost 30% of the shots were missing.
"Keep focus." Rex instructed. "At this distance, you have to anticipate the enemy's movement."
"Even if we anticipate him, this bolts are moving so slowly." Ezra commented sarcastically.
They were then interrupted by Kanan, who walked behind Ezra's back.
"There you are. You are missing Jedi training." he chastised him, which made Ezra grimace.
"You know, I can't be in two places at the same time." he said widening his arms before slumping them back on his sides.
"As a soldier, you'll have to learn how to prioritize." Rex said calmly.
"Well, Ezra is not a soldier, he's already a Jedi." Kanan retorted.
Ezra just rolled his eyes and Jaral patted him on the arm giving him a light smile to try and encourage him.
Luckily for him, Sabine suddenly ran out from the Ghost's cargo bay ramp and made an announcement.
"Hey practice squad, Hera wants us in the common room for a briefing. Attendance is mandatory." and she ran back into the ship.
"Thank the gods." Ezra whispered jokingly, putting his blaster away and jogging toward the cargo bay, followed by his sister.
As the siblings reached the common room, they found Hera, Sabine, Zeb and Chopper listening to a hologram of commander Sato.
"As we speak, the frozen planet of Rinn is facing an energy crisis." Sato's image was replaced by that of a thermal generator. "When their supply of fuel cells is gone, the settlements will not be able to power the heaters they need to survive."
"They'll freeze down there." Sabine commented grimly.
"Since we're on Garel, we should check out the black market." Ezra suggested.
Kanan and Rex had by now reached the room and the Jedi spoke up.
"Bound to be generators or something we can get our hands on."
"See what you can find, without delay. And Bridgers…" Sato said, attracting the attention of the siblings. "There are some news that regard you two."
Sato stepped aside, disappearing from the projector, and leaving Darvos to step in with a datapad in his hands.
"Sergeant. Ezra." the lieutenant said politely. The siblings nodded with a smirk. "I'm afraid we need to ask you to stay aboard the Ghost for this mission."
"What? Why?" Jaral asked in disbelief, as her brother was.
Darvos made a grim expression and pressed his datapad. His image was temporarily substituted by two wanted manifests with the Bridgers in their armors.
"Because of these. One of our informants just told us that the Empire is pasting these leaflets in every street of the capital. We're still not sure if there are leaflets with your faces too or if the Empire thinks that you go around exclusively with those like mandalorians, but for now, me and Commander Sato believe that it would be too risky for you two to roam around the streets."
"So we'll just have to seat this one out?" Ezra asked with a bit of frustration in his voice.
"I'm afraid so."
Ezra and Jaral understood the reason. For those two, getting around in the streets right when there were probably entire platoons of stormtroopers looking specifically for them could not only be dangerous for them, but also compromise the safety of the fleet.
"Fine." Jaral said with a sassy tone. "We'll stay right here. Spending our first stop on a planet after a month aboard a ship." she went to seat for the wooden chair.
"It's only temporary, guys. I'll go test the waters myself, see if you can start feeling a bit more secure starting tomorrow. But for now I need you guys to be patient."
"Oh, we're masters of patience, trust me." Ezra joked.
Darvos closed the transmission, and while the rest of the crew started to leave the room to gear up, Jaral slumped in the chair, while Ezra leaned lazily against the ladder to the Phantom.
"Well," Ezra said with a sly smile. "if you guys want something funny to do, then you might clean the ion scoring from the Phantom's exhaust ports."
Ezra looked at her with a gaze telling 'really, Hera?', but then he sighed. "I guess it'll help us kill the first hour, at the very least. Sis?"
Jaral sighed as well and groaned as she returned on her feet. "I guess...maybe we might also clean the glasses. Force knows they need it."
"How kind of you guys." Hera said, her grin not yet gone.
Chopper laughed at them as he tried to leave the room.
"What are you laughing for? Uh-uh." Hera stopped him with a severe tone. "You're going to help them."
Chopper grunted in defeat and went under the ladder of the Phantom.
Seeing the grim faces on the siblings, Kanan intervened.
"If you accept a suggestion, guys, use today to give yourselves a little time." the kids looked at him in confusion. "You two have been taking on too many responsibilities in the last few weeks. I think you could use a free afternoon to relax and clean your thoughts."
"If you say so, Master…" Ezra concluded. "Come on, sis, let's make some ship-washing." he said as he climbed up the ladder.
As predicted, cleaning the Phantom's exhaust vents took barely an hour for the siblings and Chopper's forces combined. So they quickly moved to clean the transparisteel of the dorsal turret, the nose turret and the cockpit, specifically they had to clean the encrustations in the corners and borders, as they could become the biggest structural liability on the long run.
As the rest of the crew left the ship, the siblings were almost done with the cockpit, and thus the entire vessel.
And once they were done, they decided to just lay down on the top of the Ghost, just relaxing and looking at the sky through the open roof of the hangar.
They couldn't see it at first, but Kanan was right: they needed some time to just lay down and relax, unburdened by the enormous amount of responsibilities that joining the Phoenix Cell had put on their shoulders in a relatively short time. As they stared at the quiet and clean sky, or closed their eyes to enjoy the warm wind, the siblings let out a satisfied sigh that seemed to blow away all of their worries.
"I didn't know that simply lie down on a durasteel roof could be so relaxing." Jaral commented.
"I guess we really were tired."
There was around a minute of silence before Ezra spoke up with a thoughtful tone. "Do you ever think that things are becoming way too complicated?"
"What do you mean?" Jaral asked back, still enjoying the warm breeze.
"I mean, we always have a training session, or a strategy meeting...sometimes I just want things to return easy. When the Ghost was just wandering around the stars, heck even when it was only the two of us just fending for ourselves."
"Ok, now you're being ridiculous, Ezra." his sister stopped him. "Besides, when we were alone we had to watch out for each other. That was a pretty big-ass responsibility in my opinion."
"I know what you mean. Still, I just feel overwhelmed these last days."
"That's why you should just lay down and let it go for a moment. Or maybe you should meditate, it always seems to work for you."
Ezra thought about that proposal for a moment. "You know...it's actually a good -."
He was interrupted when Chopper suddenly beeped and moved the dish on top of his dome. It seemed like he was intercepting a transmission of some sort. The siblings sit up and listened to it.
"This is the Broken Horn...-assistance…" the transmission was partially damaged, but the siblings recognized both the voice and the name of the ship.
"Isn't that Vizago's ship?" Ezra asked.
"It is."
"Should we go and see?"
"Our orders are to stay here." Jaral replied.
"No, our orders were to not let us be seen in the city, but according to this coordinates, the ship right now is in orbit, so…"
Jaral rolled her eyes, it might have been a technicality but Ezra was right. Unless the Empire was boarding his ship, Vizago should be alone with his droids aboard.
"Come on." Ezra tried to push her. "This will be a much needed distraction for today."
Jaral looked at him with a bit of a scowl, but then her mouth bent into a lopsided grin which seemed a trademark of the siblings and she made a soft scoff. "All right. You win."
"Chopper, track the signal. We're going on a rescue mission." Ezra declared with a smile.
The astromech wasn't so enthusiastic, but in case the rest of the crew came back, he didn't want to be alone, explaining why the young siblings had disappeared, so he decided to tag along.
As the three Specters entered the Phantom, Ezra made a request.
"Hey, mind if I pilot on the way there?"
"You sure?"
"What, I can't learn if you guys never let me do it." he shrugged with his lopsided grin.
"All right." Jaral acquiesced. "But if shit gets real, I take the controls."
"Deal." he said, dashing on the pilot's chair.
With the necessary caution, Ezra switched on the engine and cautiously pushed the Phantom out of its docking port and managed to get out of the hangar.
"Well, that's a good start." Jaral joked to him. Ezra chuckled.
The flight was not interrupted by anything or anyone. They soon found the Broken Horn on the Phantom's scanner. The hyperdrive of the ship was disabled, and there was some minor damage on the hull, but the vessel could still fly.
Ezra docked the Phantom on the main hold of the Broken Horn. Overall, Jaral praised her brother's flight and the two prepared to board the merchant vessel. They didn't want to use their armors yet, so they used two new helmets: since Ezra was by now too big to wear the cadet's helmet he kept from his undercover mission at the Academy on Lothal, now he wore a customizes scout trooper helmet (painted by Sabine, of course); Jaral had instead got the mask of a bounty hunter that tried to capture her and Ezra in a mission a week before. Thing is, the siblings had just had a pretty intense mission and Jaral was particularly on edge, meaning that when that rookie simply showed up in front of them, she just grabbed his chest-plate and slammed him on the floor, most likely crushing a few of his ribs, then she took the mask as compensation for wasting their time.
The siblings and Chopper boarded the ship. Ezra held his lightsaber in front of him while Jaral took out her E-11. The hallways were eerily quiet, and there was no one to be seen.
Things got worse when a door closed suddenly because of the lack of energy and separated the siblings from Chopper.
"Chopper. We're heading to the bridge. Find another way." Jaral talked loudly so that her voice could reach Chopper on the other side of the heavy door.
The astromech beeped an affirmative.
"Jaral, look." Ezra said behind her back.
The girl turned and saw some of Vizago's droids, standing motionless and deactivated in the middle of the hallway. Ezra was analyzing the nearest one with his omni-tool.
"No damage to the circuits or its energy source. It seems like someone just pushed the power button." he commented with surprise before turning off the omni-tool.
"Well, let's take a look at the bridge." Jaral dryly stated.
They passed in between the deactivated pack of droids, which were taller than the two of them by the way, and finally reached the bridge.
All they found were other two deactivated droids, high-volume music sent through the cockpit's speakers and someone working belly up under the main panel.
"Vizago? Cikatro Vizago, is that you?" Jaral asked.
The man under the panel mumbled in surprise, then immediately came out from under the panel.
"Uh, not exactly." he said defensively.
The siblings noticed that he was a Weequay, not a Devaronian. His facial horns were fairly long, denoting his advanced age for his species. But since he was a stranger, the two young humans pointed their weapons at him.
The Weequay wiped his clothes a couple times then presented himself with the smile of someone very well-versed in the art of acting.
"Well, hello there!" he then turned off the music to make the conversation easier. "Uh. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Hondo Ohnaka, proud owner of this fine but currently inoperative vessel." his tone was definitely overly dramatic to the point of resulting almost likable and he accompanied every word with theatrical gestures.
"Where's Vizago?" Ezra asked. "This is his ship."
Hondo gasped. "You guys know Vizago? Well, then it seems like we have a mutual friend." he chuckled. "Yes, it was his ship. But we were enjoying a friendly game of Sabacc and...well...now it is my ship."
Even though they had helmets on, the siblings exchanged a quick gaze of disbelief.
"You are telling us, Vizago bet away his ship?" Jaral asked with a dubious chuckle.
"Right after his droids, which are now also mine." Hondo added. He took out a small remote from his belt. "Watch. I turn them on…" he clicked the button, which made a faint beep.
The two droids at the door suddenly activated, but by the time they could calculate what was happening…
"I turn them off." Hondo said switching again the remote. "I love that." he added with a laugh.
The siblings didn't believe a single word. But they both reached the conclusion to play Hondo's game. So they put away their weapons.
"I guess that could happen." Ezra said with a faked confusion.
"You know about me, but who are you two?" Hondo said with his usual theatricality.
"I'm Lando Calrissian." Ezra said confidently, while the siblings removed their helmets.
"Lando!" Hondo said almost surprised. He walked to Ezra and put an arm around his shoulders. "So at last, I meet the semi-famous Lando Calrissian. A tad younger that what I thought, but still...and who is the lovely lady?"
Jaral was looking around, ascertaining the fact that many panels in the cockpit were fried and the commands were in a pitiful state, but she heard when she was called by Hondo.
"I'm Lando's associate, Nala." she said confidently as well.
Hondo hummed in thought. "I didn't know that Lando worked with someone else."
"I'm trying to...broaden my horizons." Ezra said trying to imitate Lando's grin.
"Ah, that's perfect, Lando." Hondo immediately bought it. "If you are looking for a crew, then Hondo is hiring." he offered.
"Well, I'm afraid we already have a crew back on Garel. Though we lost our droid on our way here."
"Oh, you lost your droid? I lost my whole crew, thanks to the Empire." Hondo turned toward the viewpoint and sighed. "I once was a captain, you know. Oh, the stories I could tell. So many of them true." Hondo spoke with a melancholic voice.
They were all interrupted by the beeps of on of the computers, warning them of an incoming imperial Arquitens-class cruiser.
"You want to tell a story?" Jaral commented as she gently pushed the two men away from the control panel and she got under it to work. "Tell it to them while we restart the hyperdrive."
Ezra went to the controls next to him to make sure Jinx calculated a route through hyperspace and jumped as soon as Jaral was done rewiring the energy.
Hondo went to the ship's comlink, pushed the button and cleared his throat.
"Hello? How can we help you?"
"Attention, transport. You have breached an Imperial checkpoint."
Not even two seconds later, the cruiser fired on them.
"Now they don't even ask to surrender anymore?" Ezra commented sarcastically.
Luckily, Jaral was basically done.
"I got it!" she said.
Right at that moment, Chopper barged in chirping and plugged his prod into the bridge's socket, helping Jinx to finish organizing the jump.
"Well, Lando and Nala," Hondo announced excitedly. "it looks like we are off on an adventure!" as he finished, the ship finally made the jump.
The group on the bridge took a couple of minutes to sigh their relief, before Hondo spoke again.
"It is as if we were in each other's heads." he chuckled. "We only just met, and we already make a remarkable team." he said with satisfaction, slumping on the co-pilot's chair.
"Yeah, but we're not." Jaral retorted suspiciously.
"Not yet, perhaps." Hondo got back on his feet immediately, he was clearly trying to win them over to his side. "You know, I might use your help for a job. A little trade, that is all." he inhaled sharply. "I am an old man. I could really use some young, strong arms pushing a few crates."
"Crates of what?" Ezra asked.
Chopper then went on and projected the hologram of some crates he found in a nearby cargo room while he was wondering the ship. The siblings' eyes widened.
"Whoa! Power generators?" Jaral asked in surprise.
"That's what you're smuggling." her brother asked. Then Ezra smelt the opportunity immediately, as he was the one with the sense of business between the two of them. "These are pretty hard to get these days, old man. Expensive too." he said with a knowing smirk.
"You're right." Hondo said. "Which is why we will sell them at a fair markup." he sniffed. "500%."
"Oh, okay." Ezra said. "We help you, you give us our cut in power generators. Three crates."
"All right. Two crates and you have a deal."
"Two. But we split the profit of the third." was Ezra's counteroffer.
Hondo chuckled in satisfaction and shook Ezra's hand. "Deal!" he then put an arm around Ezra's shoulders again, almost with a sense of pride for him. "The way you strike a bargain, you remind me of a great pirate I know...me! Ha!"
While Hondo was ranting, however, Ezra had stolen Hondo's remote from his belt without him noticing.
"Now, let's go split up the merchandise." Hondo said as he started walking out of the cockpit.
Jaral noticed the remote and gave her brother a raised eyebrow and a prankster grin, that Ezra returned before turning to Chopper and letting him hide the remote from Hondo.
After some time in hyperspace, the Broken Horn arrived on the frigid world of Nixus. Which, despite its frozen wasteland and a gravity so low that made it look more like a moon than an actual planet, hosted several trade hubs. Specifically, they docked at the trade hub marked with the number "218".
The group had already placed the five crates of generators on two different carts. Ezra was pushing the one with three crates that they were going to sell. When the elevator door came down, Ezra turned to Jaral and Chopper and whispered.
"You guys stay here in case there's any kind of trouble."
"We are already in trouble, brother." Jaral replied wittily.
"I know. Just make sure to keep the omni-tool's comm open." he concluded before putting on his scout helmet and pushing away the cart and reaching Hondo at the door.
Passing through the hallways bustling with a multitude of alien pirates and scoundrels, Hondo and Ezra reached the hangar where the buyer was waiting. But Ezra didn't like when said buyer revealed himself to be an old acquaintance.
"Azmorigan." he whispered between his teeth, thanking the Force that he didn't lift the frontal part of the helmet.
"All right, where's Vizago?" Azmorigan asked as he stepped down a hover-cart that was transporting his fat body. In his left arm he was holding a small metallic crate full of credit ingots.
Hondo stepped forward with his chatter. "Ah, Vizago is indisposed, uh, so to speak, granting me the privilege of conducting business with you, o legendary one." he chuckled as he stepped forward and made a bow. "Hondo Ohnaka at your service."
Azmorigan chuckled in amusement. "Is this a joke?" he went back to serious mode. "I don't deal with washed-up old relics."
"Come now, let's leave your wife out of this." Hondo replied smartly. "There is no need for such impropriety among thieves. I am certain we can reach an accord."
Azmorigan chuckled under his piggy nose. "I'm certain we can. Hmm?" and his two guards charged their blasters up as other four armed men came out from their hiding spots and pointed their guns at them.
Hondo and Ezra raised their hands.
"That was easy."
"Nice going, partner." Ezra hissed. He hoped to resolve this with negotiations, but just in case he sent the neural signal and the comm opened so that Jaral and Chopper could hear his next words. "Looks like you got us captured. It would be nice if we had some backup."
A sense of alarm through his Force bond was all he needed to understand that Jaral was on his way, possibly with Chopper.
The two prisoners were pushed on a hover-cart and forced to sit down.
"Uh, just a thought," Hondo talked to Azmorigan, who was standing in front of them with a sneer of satisfaction. "but why don't we just call it even and go through with the original deal?"
"I appreciate you offer, humbly," Azmorigan replied sarcastically. "but I don't think you're gonna be around to collect." he laughed, then tapped a panel and the sealing doors of the hangar opened.
Ezra quickly realized that the hover-cart was on a magnetic rail, so Azmorigan intended to use it as a catapult to shoot the two of them into the nonexistent atmosphere of the planet.
As to why Azmorigan would take the extra trouble of killing both of them rather than just steal the generators, Ezra could easily guess.
"I suggest you take Hondo's advice." Ezra said calmly, drawing gazes his way. "because otherwise there is a lot of trouble waiting for you."
Azmorigan was infuriated. "And who would you be? Uh?" he motioned one of his guards, who removed the scout helmet.
"Wait…" Azmorigan squeezed his eyes to look at him. "I know you...from Calrissian's farm."
"Well of course you know him," Hondo said. "this is my longtime friend Lando Calrissian."
"Him?" the jablogian looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "He is not Calrissian."
Hondo gasped. "You lied to me?" Ezra actually felt a bit guilty. After all, Hondo did tell his true name. However, the pirate said the next sentence with admiration. "I knew I liked you!"
"But..."Azmorigan went on. "...who were you again?"
Ezra made a lopsided grin. "Maybe you might remember my sister."
"Your, uh, sister?" the jablogian thought for a moment, then a realization dawned on him and Ezra could swear that his red skin suddenly became closer to pink. "Uh...don't tell me…" he stuttered.
The door leading to the hallway suddenly opened and Chopper charged in warbling, pushing the cart with the fifth crate to smash into the other fours, sending them in all directions and making them fly against different guards.
Then Jaral rushed in, guns blazing. The DL-50 in her right hand, the E-11 in her left, shooting everything that had a dark-green uniform and those ridiculous helmets.
Ezra didn't waste a second and activated his armor, destroying his handcuffs in the process and immediately kicking the guard next to him, then he turned to face Azmorigan, but he saw that the jablogian had drawn out his blaster pistol, so Ezra activated the bubble shield, to protect Hondo as well.
From one of the cut down guards, Chopper recovered Ezra's lightsaber and threw it to him. With that, Ezra freed Hondo from his handcuffs.
Despite his mass, Azmorigan had already brought himself behind a hover-cart with a heavy cargo on it (mainly a ladder and other tools for everyday maintenance) and pushed it against Ezra and Hondo. This was something that the bubble shield couldn't stop, so Ezra prepared himself for impact.
Then Hondo pushed him out of harm's way, taking the hit instead.
Azmorigan cackled at the scene, but then, on his left, Jaral appeared. She had already killed all the 6 guards in the hangar. Her helmet couldn't her furious grunts, both for apprehending her brother and because she still remembered clearly how that pig tried to buy her as a slave.
Seeing her armor, Azmorigan panicked. He threw away his crate full of ingots and ran away, screaming, toward his smaller freighter.
Meanwhile, Hondo had actually bounced back on the cart, and the panel got destroyed in the impact, so that he suddenly found himself on a one-way ride toward the frozen void of space.
As fate would have it, the ingots' crate fell right on his lap.
"I'm rich!" he exulted. Then turned behind him. "I'm dead!"
As the cart reached the hand of the rail, slinging him in the air and toward the other side of the force field, Hondo suddenly stopped midair. He quickly noticed that Ezra was extending an arm in his direction.
"Oh…" it wasn't the first time Hondo had seen something like that.
The pirate fell on the ground just as Azmorigan flew away. Hondo taunted him a bit and Ezra gave him a grin.
Jaral quickly rushed to Ezra and deactivated her armor.
"You ok?" she asked, worried.
"Of course, sis. Thanks." he simply said. Jaral gave him a quick, very tight hug.
"My friend, my friend." Hondo interjected with a finger raised. The siblings looked at him. "You might not be Calrissian, but I know one thing you are…"
Ezra and Jaral looked at each other in surprise. He wasn't…
"You are a Jedi." Hondo said with admiration before laughing a bit.
As the group returned back to the Broken Horn, Hondo turned to Ezra.
"Why didn't you tell me you were a Jedi?"
Ezra seemed to search for a way to apologize, but Hondo, apparently, didn't need it. "I'll let you know that I am an old Jedi sympathizer. I know. I wouldn't believe me either, but one of my best friends was a Jedi. At least I think we were friends."
"Well, it's not exactly wise to tell everybody you're a Jedi, these days." Ezra apologized. "Sorry if I lied to you, but me and my sister don't exactly trust strangers."
"Sister?" Hondo gave a better look at the two of them. "I don't recognize your faces, but your armors from before…" realization dawned on him as he let out an amazed 'Ooh'. "You must be the Bridgers."
That actually annoyed the siblings a bit. However, as always, they remembered that their armors were unique in the galaxy, so of course even looking at their bounties even once would leave an impression on everybody.
"Yup. I'm Ezra."
"And I'm Jaral."
Hondo laughed as the door ramp brought the group back into the ship. "Now that's what I call a surprise. I thought I was having an adventure with a semi-famous gambler, and now I know that I am working with the fearsome Bridgers, the Knights of the Lothal Sector."
"The what now?" Jaral asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, I heard that on the streets. Probably because...you know, most people only knows your armors."
"Yeah. Look we really have to go back now, so how about we make you another offer?" Ezra intervened.
"I'm listening." Hondo said with a grin.
"You keep that nice box full of credits, while we get the generators. It will be like we bought them from you."
"You-have-a deal!" Hondo laughed while hugging Ezra with the arm that wasn't holding the box.
"Oh, this calls for celebration." the pirate announced. "Droid, droid! Go to the galley and bring me the most expensive drink you can...and something for my friends."
"Uh, yeah, maybe we'll go with him." Jaral said.
"Of course, partners. Don't forget yours!" Hondo replied while going to the cockpit.
The siblings and Chopper turned an angle and could finally talk to each other.
"Well, so much for your 'pleasurable diversion'." Jaral commented the whole affair sarcastically.
"Come on, it wasn't that bad." Ezra tried to diminish it.
"You were almost thrown into the dark space!"
"I knew that you would come and save me."
"Don't even try the cheesy lines!"
"And then there was Hondo."
"That's supposed to be a good thing?"
"Maybe not entirely, but, to be honest, I don't dislike that guy completely."
Jaral looked at her brother like he had gone mad. "Hondo is a self-serving old man that only works for himself. We better stay vigilant until we are out of here, because I'm sure he'll try to get rid of us."
"And we both thought that I was the distrustful one." Ezra replied with a smile while Jaral rolled her eyes. "Beware, I'm not saying that we can trust him, I'm just saying that I find that buccaneer likable. I also think that he's the first to underestimate himself. After all, he took a hit for me back in that hangar, almost died to save me."
The memory of Hondo pushing Ezra out of the way of the cart thrown by Azmorigan came back to the mind of both teens. Perhaps, Jaral thought, Ezra was up to something. Maybe Hondo could still have some redeeming feature.
Her trail of thoughts was stopped when she heard a metallic clacking coming from behind a door.
"What is that?" she asked with a low voice.
Ezra focused on his hearing and heard it as well. They both opened it and they found what they least expected: Vizago, closed into a cell. The tickling was him, bumping an empty cup against the bars while he was bored.
"Vizago?!" the teens asked in unison.
The Devaronian came out of his thoughts and his eyes showed complete surprise.
"You?" he sat up. "What are you two doing here?"
Jaral snorted. "So here is how Vizago lost that 'bet'."
"We answered a request for help from the ship. Only we found Hondo and not you. He said you lost the ship in a bet, but we didn't have exactly the time to verify it." Ezra explained.
"More like you believed him." Vizago rolled his eyes.
"Hey, I'm not the one who is locked up in his own brig."
Vizago snorted and stood up.
"He shot me in the back with a stunner, eh, disabled my droids somehow."
Ezra knocked gently on Chopper's dome, and the droid took out the remote Ezra had stolen from Hondo.
"With this."
"You must help me reclaim the Horn." Vizago asked.
Ezra didn't even think about it. "Ok, but we take the generators as compensation."
"What?! My generators?!" Vizago bursted out.
Jaral had already got the gist of what Ezra wanted to do, so she stepped in.
"Oh, a pity we have so many things to do, right now."
Vizago didn't have any other choice. So he gulped down and said "Fine! You can take the generators."
"Deal." Ezra said and Chopper immediately went to short-circuit the lock of the cell. "Chopper, get the generators onboard the Phantom. We'll be back in a minute."
While Chopper went ahead with the task assigned, the siblings and Vizago walked into the cockpit. Ezra was in front of the three, the remote hanging from his belt, Vizago and Jaral were behind him.
"I believe you two know each other." Ezra said wittily to Hondo, who was happily counting the credits.
"Partners," Hondo said scandalized. "how could you leave this dangerous criminal out of the brig?"
"Yeah, right. You lied from us from the start, Hondo." Jaral accused. "So why should we do something that you like?" she shrugged her shoulders.
Ezra stepped between the two of them.
"So here is our proposal. Me and my sister take the generators. Hondo, you get a safe passage with us down to Garel, but only if you give half of Azmorigan's credits to Vizago as compensation."
"That is a fair deal…" Hondo pondered. "and it disgusts me." he finished with a half-snarl.
"For once, I agree." Vizago spat back.
"Well, we don't actually care if you agree, guys. But, Hondo, just know that, when we leave, we reactivate the droids." Ezra said waving the remote in his hand.
Hondo sighed in defeat. "I have no counteroffer to that."
"Great. Go on, then." Jaral said with a smirk.
Regretfully, Hondo handed over half of the credits to Vizago, who, in the end, decided that he was satisfied with those and let the four intruders go free on the Phantom. As promised, Ezra reactivated the droids the moment before they closed the Phantom's hatch and destroyed the remote.
The trip back to Garel and the Ghost was quick and painless. As the small fighter docked on the freighter, the rest of the crew was awaiting for them. As Ezra was the first to slid down the ladder, he was met with furious gazes from everybody.
"Where in blazes have you been?!" Kanan chastised. "We have been trying to contact you for hours!"
Before Ezra cold answer, Hondo got down from the ladder.
The next few minutes were spent narrating the adventure the pirate and the Bridgers had just had. But most importantly, the fact that now they had the generators needed for the mission, since the rest of the crew didn't have any luck in finding new ones.
"Contact Commander Sato," Hera said to Rex. "tell him the Bridgers had found his generators." and looked at them with an amused grin.
Anyway, the siblings accompanied Hondo out of the cargo bay.
"You know," Ezra said to the pirate. "for a moment, back there, I might have actually joined your crew."
"You might…" Hondo bursted out laughing for a second. "Oh, Ezra, you truly are a Jedi." he said to him with a sincere smile for him, before leaving the hangar.
"What was that all about?" Kanan asked from behind them. His furious gaze had long disappeared and now he smiled at them.
"Oh, we were just trying to figure things out." Jaral said vaguely.
"And what did you discovered?"
"That we used to be a bit like Hondo." Ezra commented. "Thinking only about ourselves, though, at least, we had each other to take care of. Now, however, we have you guys. We have something that is worth fighting for."
The siblings smiled at each other for a second, before following Kanan back into the Ghost as night fell onto the spaceport.