Chapter 13: Legends of the Lasat
Life for Jaral definitely became more intense after the promotion. Though at least on the first day it was in a good way, because her promotion meant that Darvos had won a bet they made. Specifically, the young lieutenant had predicted that Jaral would become his superior in under a year of service in the fleet, and the Specters had been with the fleet for a few more than 10 months. The reward consisted of Darvos being allowed to decide a little role-play for their time in bed that night.
Now the new Captain had to spend even more time on the Liberator. Her new rank meant that she was now responsible to organize and authorize operations of the fleet's operatives, including the Specters, to scavenge for supplies, possible recruits and info about the Empire. She quickly distinguished herself because she was able to choose the perfect people for a specific job, which was a consequence of her giving much importance into spending time knowing the troops, a habit that she passed on to Darvos. Even though she was in charge of men and women sometimes twice her age, Jaral had proven herself able to command loyalty and respect, other than being a very skillful and gifted tactician.
Darvos had basically become her right-hand man as well, while Sato now relied more on Hera for advice, given her rank of Captain and her experience in interstellar travel. Basically, Darvos and Jaral were responsible for 'land' missions, while Sato and Hera took care of planning the ships' route.
11 days after her promotion, Jaral was approached by Ezra, who had received a message from an old acquaintance about refugees on Nixus being hunted by the Empire.
Jaral approved the mission and gave it to the Specters, even asking Jordan to go with them.
The Ghost landed on the Hub 218, the same Ezra, Jaral and Chopper had visited a few months before. Father and son were clad in their armors and Ezra admired theKatarn-classon his father. Jordan had customized it a bit; the most important piece so far was certainly on the left forearm, where he had built a pretty advanced wrist-pad that could host two of Jinx's processors.
The pad was designed to improve the distribution of energy in the armor, as the Katarn also had personal shields (though nowhere near as resistant as the Legionnaire's armor, they could still make a pretty big difference between life and death), while the plates were still very robust and offered a high degree of protection.
Usually, that armor was too heavy for a normal human (the clones were engineered to wear it), but Jordan wasn't a regular human, so after he adapted to the weight, he was able to wear it as if it was a second skin.
The armor was still pure white, even though Sabine had politely asked a couple times if she was allowed to paint it. So far, Jordan had lived aboard the Liberator and, although he had accepted, there wasn't much time for her to do it.
"So, Dad." Ezra said with a smile. "Our first mission side by side. I must say I'm excited." he said while they were still alone in the cargo bay, readying their weapons.
Jordan made a last check on his new weapon. Darvos had managed to contact the rest of the Rebellion and bring him one of the newest toys from BlasTech Industries: an A280-CFE (covert field edition). A modular blaster pistol that could also be reconfigured into an assault rifle and even a sniper rifle. Given the fact that Jordan was trained in handling any kind of weapon and he had showed prowess with every gun in the fleet, beating even Sabine and Rex during a marksmanship competition, this weapon was basically an entire arsenal in his hands.
The man put the pistol in his holster, while keeping his helmet under his left arm, and smiled at his son.
"Tell me about it. I can't say I hoped for this day to come, but I'm proud to see what you've become, Ezra."
A few seconds later, the rest of the Specters entered the cargo bay. When everyone was ready, with Ezra and Jordan at their head, the entire crew left the ship.
"Ezra, I'm proud to see you taking the lead on this rescue mission." Hera said to the boy.
"You would've done the same." Ezra replied with a smile.
"You said these people are wanted by the Empire." Kanan reminded. "Do you know why?"
"No," Ezra said gravely. "but I hear they're closing in, so we better hurry."
"So where did you hear about these refugees anyway?" Zeb asked.
"One of our contacts." Ezra simply replied. "Speaking of which, Chopper…"
The droid took out a green transmitter from inside him.
"Where did you get that?" Sabine asked in suspicion, but didn't get an answer.
Chopper warbled something into the transmitter, telling the contact that they were arriving, but he accelerated, telling there was no answer.
"Damn it, we better hurry!" Ezra said, materializing his helmet and starting to jog.
Jordan and Sabine put their helmets on as well and they all started jogging behind Ezra.
The group reached a storage bay loaded with container and with little light. Ezra watched the map on his omni-tool, where Jinx was leading him to the supposed coordinates. As they neared them, Ezra detected four heat traces and motioned everybody to flatten themselves against a container right before the coordinates.
The boy peeked out and saw three imperial army troopers and an officer.
"Oh no." he mumbled.
"Drag those refugees out of there." the officer ordered.
Two troopers went to open the metallic doors of the container and pointed their rifles into it. Two figures came out of it, though the troopers blocked the Specters' view. But then one of them moved aside letting the rebels see who the refugees were. Zeb gasped.
They were two Lasat. A tall male around the same age as Zeb and a short old woman with a staff that looked like a shaman. The woman had also a set of hairs coiled up in two hairballs one over the other.
"My people…" Zeb whispered, still unable to believe his eyes.
There was no time to waste. Ezra looked at everybody else and said. "Wait for me to start." and he activated his cloaking device. Everybody else readied their weapons.
As Ezra stealthily passed through the Imperials, reaching the opposite side of their formation, he heard the male Lasat and the officer talking.
"Where are you taking us?" the Lasat asked defiantly.
"To a detention facility for a nice, long stay." the officer replied smugly.
"More likely a blaster squad."
A couple of seconds later, Ezra attacked the trooper standing guard and one of those aiming at the Lasat. Zeb had quickly made a circle and attacked the third trooper on his back after he quickly shot a bolt at Ezra, which was simply absorbed by the boy's shields.
The officer walked backward, fearing for his life and didn't notice the rest of the rebels behind him. Jordan took out an electric-baton that Jaral lent him for close quarter combat and stunned the officer.
Right then, from a container behind Ezra came a voice.
"Hello, hello." the scathing tone of Hondo said loudly. The Weequay approached Ezra and the rest of the group with a crate full of credit chips under his left arm.
"You know, you could've warned me that the Empire was here." Ezra reprimanded the pirate.
Hondo, however just chirped. "Oh, but I sold the Lasats to the Empire knowing that the heroes would save the day. The heroes being you, of course."
"Hondo is your contact?" Hera stressed the name, sounding annoyed.
"To be fair, he contacted me." Ezra defended himself.
"Wait, Jaral approved this?" Sabine was stunned, pointing at Hondo.
"Oh sure, my old friend Jaral trusted me, of course." Hondo jumped on the answer.
"No, she didn't, but he had proofs that there were refugees, so…"
"What kind of people have you been hanging out with, son?" Jordan asked playfully.
"Ehm, I'll explain later, dad, for now let's focus on the deal."
Hondo seemed impressed to hear Ezra call a man in clone armor 'dad', but Ezra's final word brought his focus back on the situation at hand.
"Right, right. I contacted you, because I knew that these two, belonged with that one." he pointed at the refugees first and at Zeb then.
The Lasats looked at Zeb with a mixture of surprise and reverence.
"It's him. Captain Orrelios." the male said, stressing the 'r'.
The woman gasped in surprise. "By the Ashla." she exclaimed. "The prophecy!"
"Captain?" Ezra asked surprised, but Zeb diverted his gaze and wrinkled.
"Yes." the woman answered. "Captain Garazeb Orrelios of the Lasan High Honor Guard." the Lasats knelt in front of him, which embarrassed Zeb to no limit.
Hondo laughed. "A reunion! I was right again. How wonderful." he knelt in front of the unconscious imperial officer and looked up to the others. "Hondo could use some help."
He, Sabine, Kanan and Jordan got to work to hide the bodies into the container while Ezra and Hera listened to the Lasats.
"I thought I was about the last of us." Zeb grunted. "How is this possible?"
"Do you remember me, Captain?" the male asked.
Zeb stroke his chin and squeezed his eyes. "You look familiar."
The man made a Lasat salute. "Gron. I served under you in the guard." then he pointed at the short old woman. "This is Chava the Wise."
"Yeah, I know who she is." Zeb mumbled, looking away.
"I didn't know you were a captain." Ezra said with a bit of enthusiasm.
"He never told any of us." Hera said with a bit of a sadder tone.
"It was a long time ago I...I forgot." Zeb justified.
"We have not." Chava said.
"Well, we've gotta get you out of here." Ezra said with more urgency, seeing that his companions were already done piling the bodies into the container.
"Oh, wait, wait." Hondo asked, standing in front of the container. "Does this mean that I'm not getting my finder's fee?"
"You never were." Ezra said in a playful tone as he and the rest of his group walked away.
"Perfect answer." was all Ezra heard from Hondo before they left him out of hearing range.
The Specters led the Lasat refugees along the tight hallways of the hub.
"So, where are you guys headed, anyway?" Ezra asked. Zeb and Jordan were behind them while the rest of the team was in front.
"Our new world, Lira San." Chava declaimed. "Prophesized in the ancient Lasat writings. It is a safe system where our people can begin anew."
Zeb groaned, not believing a single word. "Look, the only safe system for us was Lasan, and it was destroyed."
"Lasan was not destroyed." Gron rebutted. "It was transformed as part of the future destiny of our people."
"There's no future destiny. Everything's gone."
Chava laughed. "We are not gone. We carry the ways of Lasan within us and will until we reach our new home. Everything is happening as it was meant to."
Ezra suddenly felt his hunch itching and the Force also told him that they might be in danger. He raised a mid-armed fist and said "Halt."
Everybody stopped in his tracks, seeing his Padawan scouting around him, Kanan tried to look into the Force as well, but there was no specific direction from which the danger seemed to come from.
Ezra gestured his father to cover the rear while he took out his DL-50 and took the lead of the group.
"Ezra, my boy." the voice of Hondo came through the communicator that Chopper was still holding.
The astromech neared Ezra, who was checking the hallway in front of him, since it was suddenly desert.
"Yes, Hondo?" Ezra said calmly.
"Just so you know, there are...*sniff*...stormtroopers incoming."
"How close are they?"
His answer came quickly as a bolt: from behind a corner a few meters in front of Ezra, a stormtrooper came out blasting almost blindly; clearly he knew they were there.
Ezra dodged the bolt and took cover.
"Pretty close." Hondo finished.
A gunfight followed. Ezra and Kanan immediately pushed forward and gunned down three stormtroopers that tried to block them.
"They've got backup." Jordan commented loudly from the rear as he and Zeb started blasting toward another squad.
"We have that too." Sabine added. She went to grab the rifles of two killed troopers and threw them back to Gron, but the Lasat simply let them smash into his head and torso and then made a negative gesture.
"Oh no, we do not fight. It is no longer our way ."
Zeb couldn't believe his ears. After pushing Gron down to save him from another bolt, he snarled.
"You're Lasat. You're warriors. Of course you fight!"
"They're pinning us down." Hera yelled.
The stormtroopers were slowly closing the circle around the squad. So far, Jordan and Ezra were the biggest obstacles as their armors and their precision caused heavy casualties among the imperials.
Then suddenly the doors on their rear closed, saving the Specters from encirclement.
"What just happened?" Jordan exclaimed.
"Another successful rescue by Hondo Ohnaka!."
Ezra groaned. "All right, you get off the hook this time." then the turned his head. "Sabine, like we practiced."
The girl nodded with her helmet on.
Ezra glided on the floor and got himself in the middle of the hallway, activating his omni-tool's rectangular shield. This was a re-enactment of the maneuver that Jaral and Darvos did on the Interdictor cruiser, where the Legionnaire defends and the partner shoots from behind.
Ezra made sure to harass the stormtroopers by firing almost blindly with his heavy repeater, but in that narrow space, there wasn't much room to miss. As the troopers tried to not expose themselves too long, Sabine gunned them down one by one.
The crew now fought their way toward the hangar. Zeb was carrying Chava on his shoulder since the old lady couldn't run. Ezra and Jordan took the lead and ran in front of the group, gunning down stormtroopers with ease. When they reached the hangar entrance, Ezra threw a stun grenade that gave his squad a moment of advantage to carve a path to the ramp of the Ghost. When imperial reinforcements arrived, the freighter had already closed the ramp and was starting to lift from the ground.
Hera brought the ship in orbit at full speed and they left for hyperspace right when an Arquitens cruiser with Kallus onboard came out from the same lane.
Finally safe from the Imperials, Gron and Chava were brought in the cockpit, where the crew met to discuss the next move.
"So, where is this new world we're taking you?" Kanan asked.
"We do not yet have the location of Lira San." the old shaman said.
"We have maps if you need 'em." Hera offered.
"There is no Lira San, Hera." Zeb grunted. "It's a myth, an old legend."
Chava decided not to respond. "The time has come to prepare the ritual that will guide us to our new home." she proclaimed.
Zeb rolled his eyes and frowned, looking away, prompting Ezra to scowl at him in frustration. Why was he ignoring his people, after believing for years that he was the last of them?
The boy just raised from his seat and walked to the Lasats. "Come on. I'll help you get set up."
As they left, Ezra glared at Zeb one last time and the Lasat seemed to take it personally.
"Better go make sure they don't drive that kid crazy." Zeb grumbled to the rest of the crew.
"This is gonna be an interesting ride." Sabine smirked with a raised eyebrow.
Ezra led the Lasats and Chopper into the common room. The astromech blabbered something.
"I'm not weird." Chava objected, to which Chopper added more warbling.
"Quiet, Chopper." Ezra dryly ordered.
Chava had a white chalk and she began drawing on the floor as she spoke. "The Ashla led us to the pirate, then to you so that we may find our path to the new world."
"The Ashla?" Ezra asked.
"The spirit of the galaxy."
"Oh, so that's how you guys call the Force." the boy grinned slightly.
Kanan entered in the room as well. They had already had a lesson about how different cultures knew the Force by different names and was happy to see that Ezra could still recall it. Jordan as well stood right outside the room to not disturb the ceremony but looked with interest.
"And it is through your Force, our Ashla, that the prophecy comes." Chava continued. "It is written and it is spoken. The promise of Lira San" now she seemed to have finished her drawings. There were three figures of stylized Lasat-like people. "will follow the fate of The Three.
"The fool, simple and selfish, he would lead.
"The warrior, bold and bloodthirsty to hunt the hope of tomorrow.
"The child, to destroy him!" she banged a fist at that. "We will find our new home only if the child saves the warrior. And the fool."
"Well I don't know who the fool is, and I only see one child." Zeb growled, making Ezra look offended. "And you are not rescuing this warrior."
"He's not the child and you're not necessarily the warrior." the voice of Jordan stated.
Everybody looked at the man who was calmly observing the scene while leaning against the threshold.
"It's a prophecy, a riddle. You can't take rushed conclusions when dealing with these things. You have to take your time and try to find the correct interpretation." he said again.
"Precisely." Kanan acquiesced.
"All right," Zeb folded his arms and looked annoyed. "then care to illuminate me on who is who?"
"Well, the fool is clearly Hondo." Ezra said with a certain degree of security. "She just said that he set the events in motions and is definitely a simple and selfish guy."
"The warrior is 'bloodthirsty and bold', and apparently his role is to destroy the hope of finding…" Jordan came to a realization and smirked at Zeb. "Actually, you fit the bill, Zeb."
"Very funny…" Zeb grumbled. "but I'm not trying to destroy anything."
"Well…" Ezra spoke cautiously. "you are trying to convince your brethren here that Lira San doesn't exist. So, technically, you're destroying the hope of a tomorrow for your species."
Zeb seemed impressed by those words, but they weren't enough to convince him that he needed to stop acting like that.
"I'm impressed, Padawan." Kanan made a lopsided grin to him. "I didn't notice you became so good at interpreting this kind of things."
Ezra made a faint smile. "Me and Jaral have been practicing by trying to understand my visions."
Chava interrupted everyone. "The fool has set events into motion." she declared.
Zeb rolled his eyes again. "The only fools I know are us for listening to this gunk."
Gron looked at him with a comprehensive expression and spoke with a determined tone. "What would you have us do, Captain? Fight? Did that serve us on Lasan?" then the Lasat sat down, his legs crossed.
Ezra looked with curiosity.
"Please, join." Chava invited him.
Ezra exchanged a quick look with Kanan and Jordan, who both gave an encouraging grin at him, so the boy smiled back and sat down around the improvised circle.
The two Lasats started chanting.
"Lira San ko-ko mah-seeta fo-na-ka-tee-lala."
This formula was repeated again and again. Ezra struggled a bit to learn it but he did it and started waving his hands around like the Lasats were doing. Zeb only looked at it scornfully, took his Bo-rifle and headed for his cabin, which was also the temporary quarter for Jordan.
Ezra at this point just couldn't handle it anymore and followed him. He found Zeb holding his rifle, sit on the bottom bunk and looking dejected.
"What are you doing?" the boy asked exasperated. "These are your people. You act like you want nothing to do with them."
"Chanting ain't gonna help save anybody." Zeb complained.
Ezra looked at him and he could feel his remorse and sadness. His gaze softened and he went to sit next to his purple friend.
"You want to talk about this?" Ezra asked.
Zeb sighed. "As captain of the Honor Guard I was responsible for protecting the royal family and every single Lasat." he spoke with rage mounting into his chest. "Their safety was my duty." he lifted his rifle to take a better look at the point.
"You couldn't have stopped the entire Empire." Ezra tried to console him.
"I fought to the end!" Zeb proudly declared. "We held the palace. Then...there was a bomb." his tone was becoming more silent, close to murmuring. "And when I woke up, it was all just gone. We retreated. I was as good as dead…at least until Kanan found me."
Ezra couldn't help but feel compassion now.
"I can't even imagine. You must have lost everyone." then his tone became more determined as he put a hand on Zeb's shoulder. "But look, I thought I had lost my parents and yet I have had a chance to get them back. Now you just have the chance to help your people again."
Zeb didn't seem convinced. "They called me Captain. I don't deserve to be called that! I failed my people that day."
"Then don't fail them now." Ezra said firmly.
Now those words did breach Zeb's walls.
Now the entire crew was looking intrigued at the ritual performed by the two Lasats.
After Chava screamed one last phrase, Gron turned to Kanan, Hera and Chopper.
"We are ready for your map."
Kanan nodded to Chopper, who activated a scale map of the galaxy.
"The path to Lira San will be revealed by the Fates of the Threes." Chava declared after she put a strange gem into her staff.
Then the shaman stepped aside to align the disc at the top of her staff with Chopper's holo-projector. Almost immediately, the gem lightened up and the planets represented on the map turned from blue to green. Sabine noticed that she was partially obscuring the map so she moved away.
"The child must save the warrior and the fool." Chava explained as Zeb and Ezra stepped into the room again.
The old woman looked at the map intensely, before turning toward the last two arrivals. "The child must show us the way."
Zeb smirked and nudged Ezra's arm. The boy grimaced.
"No." Chava stopped him. "The child of Lasan."
Zeb realized. "Wait, wait. I'm the Child?! I really wanted to be the warrior."
"You're acting like a child right now." Ezra couldn't resist the possibility of teasing him back.
Gron explained what Zeb had to do. "Your Bo-rifle, as the ancients used it."
Zeb nodded and started to pull the various levers on his weapon, which started to look differently at every passage. It wasn't just turning from the Gun-mode to the Melee-mode, it was assuming a form that the rest of the crew never saw before.
Now it looked a little like a big torch, adorned with three spikes at the top.
Zeb brought the point close to that of the shaman's staff and an influx of yellow energy started to cackle and various lightnings hit the map. Specifically aiming at the planets represented on the map, as if it was searching something.
Everybody watched in awe as the map suddenly signaled many other systems.
"Those systems are beyond the Outer Rim, in Wild Space." Kanan commented in amazement. "Not on any map."
The two Lasats kept their staffs near until it became clear that the lightnings were pointing at one specific system.
"That's it. That's it." Zeb looked mesmerized. "Lira San."
A trip to Wild Space was no small business. According to the star charts, they could be there and back in around 35 hours, way more than the original mission accounted for.
Ezra made a quick call to Jaral to inform her, and both her and Sato authorized the Ghost to proceed.
Now, while the Unknown Regions are charted but unexplored, Wild Space is completely uncharted. It is basically like walking into a dark forest, at night, without any instrument to tell you what you're going up against.
So until the Ghost remained into the Known galaxy, there was nothing to fear and the first 8 hours of the travel went smoothly. The crew spent them in various way. Playing dejarik, taking a nap, recounting old war stories. Jordan even allowed Sabine to start working on his armor, with Ezra's help, which gave the two teens some time alone to talk about the current mission and also engage in a little bit of snuggling, after making sure the door was locked.
Now it was Sabine's turn to act as co-pilot. The girl was slumping on her chair and leaning her legs against Hera's chair.
"How long until Lira San?" she asked with a groan.
"Well, according to these star charts…"
She was interrupted by a sudden shake of the ship and an alarm blaring wildly. Those were the long-range sensors telling them that there was an obstacle on their path.
"Disengage the hyperdrive!" Hera ordered Sabine, who immediately started the sequence on the panel. "I'll ready the shields. Chopper!"
The astromech rolled in with his handlers up in the air in a sign of panic. Then he went to the socket and got to work.
Ezra, Jordan and Kanan were right behind him.
"What's going on?" Ezra asked, walking between Hera and Sabine and leaning toward the viewport.
"There's something in our path." Sabine urgently explained.
The Ghost left hyperspace a moment later and in front of the crew stood a frightening but mesmerizing show. A gas barrier with multiple whirlwinds of light in its midst, each of them big as stars.
"Uh, an imploded star cluster." Jordan commented, apparently finding that thing fascinating.
"You know about it?" Kanan asked, who had actually never seen something like this.
"The last ship I served in the Milky Way was a scientific vessel, charged with analyzing space anomalies among other things." the older man explained. "I must commend your readiness, Captain." he said to Hera. "A little bit closer and the gravity field would have crushed us like tin cans."
The prospect made everyone else shudder for a second.
"What happened? Are we on course?" Gron asked after he entered the room, followed briefly by Chava and Zeb.
"Sure are," Sabine said worryingly. "but our course is blocked by the worst kind of space anomaly we could've encountered."
"This is what happens when we jump into uncharted space." Hera lamented.
Chava made her way in front of the viewport and pointed a finger to the anomaly.
"Ah. This is the maze that was prophesized."
"Wait, a maze?" Zeb asked with a bit of resentment. "You never said anything about a maze. You prophecy types always pull something like this."
Not a moment too soon had he finished the sentence that another alarm started beeping quickly.
"Now what?" the Lasat snarled.
A few seconds later, the sensors detected an Arquitens cruiser leaving hyperspace right behind them and Hera was forced to advance to get out of his cannons' range.
A familiar voice hailed them.
"Attention, rebels. As much as I might like to watch you consumed by the maelstrom before you, I will offer you a chance to surrender. An opportunity for survival." Kallus said smugly.
"How did he find us?" Zeb asked bewildered and frustrated.
"Hello, my friends!"
"Hondo?!" Ezra's eyes went wide and he frowned. "What are you doing with him?"
"I must apologize Ezra. I hid a tracker on that transmitter. You know, for...insurance purposes." Hondo said with a neutral tone.
Ezra was suddenly hit by the realization that he forgot an important thing and turned to Chopper, who was already chattering angrily and passed the communicator to Ezra. The boy, in turn, just smashed it with his left hand with an angry face.
"Well, thanks a lot, Hondo!" Ezra growled back in the comlink.
Kallus retook the mic. "You have one minute to prepare for boarding or to be destroyed." and closed the transmission.
"I can't believe it. Kallus got us!" Zeb was furious.
Chava turned to him and spoke calmly. "He is playing his part, as a warrior."
"Wait...he is the warrior? And I got stuck being the child?"
"There are many warriors, fools and children, Captain. The child in you can't see how things are but how they can be." he slightly hit him with the top of her scepter. "The fool denies his destiny." then he placed the same top on his chest. "But it is the warrior you are who will create one." he recalled the scepter to her. "You are never one of these. In time, you become all of them."
Zeb pondered those words for a few seconds, then steeled his resolve. "Ezra, bring me my Bo-rifle."
Ezra nodded and ran out of the cockpit.
"What are you thinking, buddy?" Kanan asked.
Ezra came back a few seconds later. The Bo-rifle was still in the strange configuration Zeb used to show the map.
"You can do this, Zeb." Ezra said as the Lasat took his weapon from the boy's hands.
The point of the rifle started zapping again.
"Just like the ancients used it." Zeb mumbled before walking between the two seats.
"Your time is up, rebels."
As Kallus spoke, Zeb growled, lifted his rifle with both hands then hammered it on the floor. The awl at the opposite end started propagating the yellow light bolts on the floor, then Zeb leaned the top near the control panel. Bolts seemed to hit both it and the girls at the commands, but didn't hurt them.
"Zeb, what are you doing?" Sabine asked with a frown.
"Leading the way." Zeb responded as the cackling intensified.
"Zeb!" Hera lamented while shielding her eyes from the blinding light.
Soon, the controls started to move on their own.
"Trust me, Hera." Zeb insisted without avoiding the gaze from the rifle.
After a few seconds, while two TIE fighters were trying to catch up with the freighter, Zeb lifted the rifle again and smashed the awl in the middle of the control panel. The bolts now started to envelop all of the ship. While the TIEs behind them were smashed by the gravity, the Ghost seemed unaffected.
Kanan and Ezra shared a quick glance and nodded. Each of them put a hand on Zeb's back, strengthening the connection that the Lasat was establishing with the Force, the Ashla, through the rifle.
The imperial cruiser opened fire, but the bolts were regularly deviated by the gravitational pulls that came from various directions. Kallus had no choice but to abandon the chase before his ship was destroyed.
"I see it! The way through." Zeb exclaimed triumphantly. And lowered the rifle even more.
"I don't know how but the hyperdrive is activating." Hera exclaimed.
The Ghost dived right into the biggest whirlwind and entered hyperspace inside of the anomaly.
Nobody clearly remembered what happened next. When everyone started to wake up in the cockpit, they noticed they were inside a nebula.
Zeb was bit confused, but what he saw lifted his spirits like never before. A planet with two moons around it and their orange star shining in the distance.
Zeb and the Lasats took the Phantom and the Captain brought his people on the planet. He was gone for a few hours, during which Jordan and Ezra discussed in the cockpit by themselves.
"I can't believe you kept something that a pirate gave you!" Jordan reprimanded his son.
Ezra was still biting his lips over that. "It was a lapse in judgment, it...won't happen again." he said with regret and frustration.
"Correct. Because next time we'll be all dead." Jinx commented.
"Oh, shut up, you do not 'die'." Ezra spat back.
Jordan groaned. "Jinx, do you have a record of what just happened? How in bloody hell did we get through with that?"
Ezra chuckled at his father using words coming from his native language. English, he recalled.
"I'm still analyzing what I recorded. For now, I can only theorize. Apparently, the Lasats developed a technology that allowed them to navigate such anomalies and managed to condense it inside smaller devices like Garazeb's Bo-rifle."
"But the Lasats barely left their native sector on Lasan in all their history." Ezra recalled. "Why would they bother to create something like this if they didn't need it?"
Jordan mumbled. "I might have a theory, but we'll have to wait until Zeb comes back in order to verify it."
They waited for another while.
"Zeb has being down there for a while." Ezra commented, slumping on the co-pilot's chair. "You think he's coming back."
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it." Jordan simply replied with a lopsided grin.
Just as he said it, the Phantom reappeared on the sensors and then flew over the cockpit, headed for its docking bay.
Hera, Sabine, Kanan and Chopper entered the room with the astromech blaring.
"Well, I'm sorry, Chopper." Hera said with a grin. "You're gonna have to put all of Zeb's stuff back in his room
Chopper grumbled disappointed, to the amusement of the crew.
Then Sabine made a bit of a saddened face. "Kinda sad, those two Lasat all alone on that planet."
"They're not alone." Zeb's voice came behind a second later.
"What are you talking about?" Kanan asked with a grin.
"There were already Lasat down there." Zeb said with a satisfied face. "Lira San is where my people originally came from."
Chopper muttered in confusion.
"Yes, Chopper, that means there's a lot more of him." Sabine said with a smile.
While Chopper kept grunting, Ezra turned to his father. "I guess that was your theory?" he asked grinning.
Jordan nodded. "Yeah. It's fascinating. So the Lasats of Lira San created the technology to navigate the anomaly. I bet a wave of migrants founded Lasan but, since keeping communications between Wild Space and the Galaxy is very difficult, eventually the two planets lost contact, and Lasan evolved in its own way."
"To the point where Lira San became just a distant legend." Ezra commented.
The crew listened with curiosity at the Bridgers' theory, which seemed to be also very likely.
Chopper grunted again.
"Yes, we can go home now." Hera said rolling her eyes playfully.
"I already traced a route back to the Galaxy." Jinx said. "Now we can consider this system charted. We can come back here in the future."
"And if we meet any other Lasat," Zeb said proudly. "I'll show them the way."