A/N: What I have to say can wait till the end, see you there.
Disclaimer: I do not own Star wars rebels ( Don't worry disney I wouldn't dream of making a profit from 'your' creation… )
Chapter Two
Complications
Eight Days after leaving Sabine
Blaster bolts slammed into the crate next to Ezra's head as he furrowed his brow deep in thought at his current predicament.
"Spectre Six get over here!" He heard Kanan's voice come from his arm.
What do you think I'm doing? Ezra questioned himself as he looked at the group of seven- no eight rebels he had to get halfway across a hanger while being berated with continuous blaster fire.
He sighed as he peaked a head overtop of the crate he hid behind, the Stormtroopers were hidden behind rather efficient cover and there was no telling how long until Imperial Reinforcements eventually arrived.
Ezra furrowed his brow in annoyance as he glanced at the waiting group of specters still fighting to hold the doorway for them.
Halfway between them was another stack of crates, if he could just get them that much closer that would be maybe close enough for him and Kanan to block blaster bolts enough for everyone to make it to safety.
"Alright Lieutenant, have everyone grab a crate. I have a plan." Ezra said, turning to the rebel.
The guy looked rather skeptical but he nodded nonetheless and relayed the orders. The rebels gathered around and Ezra pointed to the stack of crates that would provide safety.
"Pretty simple plan, very reckless but we're out of options." Ezra said carefully.
"I need all of you to get in front of me one by one, push a crate in front of you, and I'm going to force shove each of you and your crate across the gap, you should be only visible for a few seconds, alot less time then if we were to run the same distance." Already at the mention of the plan everyone seemed rather hesitant but it was clear they were running out of options.
The rebel Lieutenant was the first one to respond. "I'll go first."
His voice conveyed his worry but Ezra was grateful for the visible support and he showed it with an appreciative smile.
The Lieutenant grabbed onto a hover crate and placed himself in front of Ezra, his blaster clipped to his side.
"Good luck Lieutenant." Ezra said the tiniest bit of a smile poking at his lips.
The rebel said nothing simply shook his head amusedly. Ezra closed his eyes, extending his force presence to the presence of the rebel. He let himself wrap around it and he shoved, his hands naturally going out as he imagined him flying across the gap.
He opened his eyes in time to see the rebel lieutenant fly across the gap to safety; he picked his feet towards the end, pushing himself the last little bit of the way. Kanan instantly picked up on the plan, moving his position to provide the rebel cover to get into the airlock hallway, and Ezra let a smile reach his lips.
"Who's next?" Ezra said, looking around.
They were already pressed for time so the remaining rebels lined up quickly and Ezra pushed each across the gap the same. As he reached the last rebel he was a small bit tired but he pushed through it gritting his teeth in determination.
He wrapped his force presence around the man he couldn't help but pause, maybe he was going crazy but he could've sworn that he felt not one force presence but two, Before Ezra could focus further the blast doors to the hanger opened and more blaster fire followed, the rest of the Stormtroopers must've broken through Choppers jam and found their way to the hanger.
Ezra pushed his concerns and delusions aside and released his energy into the force as he shoved the rebel and the crate forward. They sailed across the gap without issue and reached the safety of the airlock check point.
Only through the force was Ezra able to tell that he needed to block the laser bolts coming his way as in the same breath he spun around deflecting shots with his lightsaber.
The Stormtroopers had advanced further up and they were at a point that even they themselves could't miss all of their shots. Ezra slowly found himself running out of cover to back into and this would've been a good time for a grenade to come sailing over his shoulder but of course that was Sabine's specialty, another painful reminder she wasn't on this mission.
He let out a sigh of discontemnet and focused his force energy, he could feel Kanan's worry from behind him but he didn't let it stop him, they'd come this far it'd be stupid for this all to become pointless just because some Stormtroopers got in the way.
Ezra deactivated his sabre and in the same breath swung his arms out in a wide arc, force shoving stormtroopers and crates alike off their feet. Using the momentarily break in fire he backflipped towards Kanan using the force to enhance his distance and speed past any human level. He managed to land behind crates and he watched as blaster bolts sailed safely by him.
He let himself relax as he reactivated his sword and deflected the bolts coming from the recovered troopers. Slowly backing up towards the hallway that led to the ghost.
He only let himself release a sigh of relief once he had entered the airlock and felt The Ghost detach from the cruiser and the tug of hyperspace was felt in his feet as he made his way towards the common room.
Gathered in the cargo bay were various rebels, some of whom he recognized from his help with his mission a second ago. They all gave him nods but continued their conversations.
He scaled the ladder, and made his way towards the briefing room just past their rooms. As the door slid open, he took in the scene in front of him. Zeb was spread out at the table watching with an amused expression as Kanan and Hera looked like they were in the middle of a playful argument yet one that also held some relevance.
There was another rebel he recognized as the lieutenant who had been with him in the cargo room and had led the squad to his position. Finally, Chopper was near Zeb, also watching Hera and Kanan with as much interest as a droid without any facial expression could produce.
"I told you there was something off about this mission." Kanan said without any hint of actual anger.
"You did not!" Hera said, stamping her foot, her tone equally playful.
"I did too, I said; 'I've got a bad feeling about this.'" Kanan said, crossing his arms.
"You are impossible…" Hera declared, neither noticing Ezra's entrance.
"I'm not impossible, just right." Kanan shot back, a smirk plastered on his face.
Hera rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to respond but noticed Ezra as he slid into the seat next to Zeb.
"Ezra glad to see you're back safe." She said changing the subject, earning a chuckle from Kanan.
"Yep, without a hitch as usual." Ezra said jokingly, propping his feet up on the table.
Zeb snorted, "You sure seemed like you had no problems when the blast doors opened up and your head almost got taken off by the wave of blaster bolts they shot at you." He said sarcasm laced into his tone.
"Gotta give the bucket heads something to feel good about, let em think they got you, then jump when they least expect it." Ezra was quick to quip back.
Zeb only let out another amused snort as Hera took the floor again with her voice. "I'm sure you had it all under cover... What we were just discussing was how it seemed odd that a simple cruiser seemed to have the security detail equivalent to two or three Imperial cruisers."
Ezra pondered her words a moment before nodding in agreement, it did seem like there were more Stormtroopers than what there should've been on the cruiser.
Kanan voiced his thoughts, "It did seem odd how no matter how many Stormtroopers we took out, more kept coming at us."
"My concern is that somehow the Imperials knew that we were planning on attacking the cruiser as opposed to their transport ship." Hera said, rubbing her chin in thought.
"I don't know about that…" Kanan was quick to respond.
While Ezra agreed with his master that Hera seemed to be jumping to a larger conclusion he did understand her concern, and if her theory was correct that could spell doom in more ways than one for their future plans.
"The reactor guards were surprised to see us, and the guard detail that responded was too small to be planned to deal with Jedi." Kanan said, reinforcing his thoughts.
Suddenly Ezra's memory flashed and a thought he had previously dismissed came to him. "What if they weren't surprised to be under attack, just surprised that it was us that was attacking them…"
Confusion rolled off everyone present save for the rebel that had accompanied him, he pierced together what Ezra was getting at fairly quickly.
"Ezra you aren't making since…" Hera offered her brow narrowing.
"When we were in the cargo area, there wasn't any guard on the inside, I found it to be odd but I decided nothing of it. When I was searching more in detail through all the crates I found all of the guards, hidden away in the corner behind crates." Ezra recounted his story.
Realization dawned on their expressions. "They had a stowaway." Hera said her gears were already turning, rapidly analyzing the situation.
"Or an escaped prisoner." Kanan suggested rubbing his beard in thought.
"This explains the increased security… Though it raises some new questions such as where was this mystery person during our raid." Hera said thinking aloud.
"Perhaps he or she was hiding in the cargo room and we did not see them because they didn't make themselves known." The rebel lieutenant said, entering the conversation.
"That's plausible." Ezra said.
"What does it matter where they were… We know they are not on this ship, and whoever it is an Imperial problem now." Zeb commented dejectedly from the table.
Ezra furrowed his brow in deep thought before Hera's voice broke though it. "Alright fine we'll put it to rest."
She turned towards the cockpit probably to check in with the rest of the fleet and report to the rebel command. "Ezra, Zeb check out the crates and inventory them will you."
Ezra and Zeb let out a mutual groan, while Kanan chuckled to follow Hera. The rebel lieutenant left his face expressionless but a slight smile graced his lips.
He caught up to Zeb and Ezra looking at Ezra. "I never got to thank you, without your help I don't think we would've made it out of there with no casualties."
Ezra gave him a nod, "No problem, erm, I never got your name." Ezra asked sheepishly.
"Phillip." He said straightening.
"Ezra." Ezra stated reaching out his hand for a shake.
The rebel took it, giving it a firm shake before heading in front of them to talk to the rest of his squad. Zeb let out something akin to a yawn as he and Ezra walked out towards the cargo hold.
"Tired big guy." Ezra said a teasing grin plastered on his face.
"Maybe I am, that is besides the point, let's just get these crates inventoried so I can take a much needed break." Zeb said ignoring any sort of tease from his bunkmate.
"Whatever you say, sleepy head." Ezra quipped before he quickly ducked under the doorway to avoid any sort of retaliation from Zeb.
In the Cargo hold, the Rebels were still gathered each talking in their separate groups, Phillip was talking with two other people Ezra didn't recognize. Zeb ignored everyone and walked to the first crate popping the button on the side of it as he leaned over to see its contents.
"Score!" He promptly declared as he removed a datapad and began tapping into it.
"Did you find pillows to increase the quality of your nap?" Ezra said, striding up next to him.
"No, I found tranquilizers to get your big mouth to shut the hell up." Zeb grumbled as he shot Ezra a look.
Ezra rolled his eyes and peered into the crate himself nodding at the impressive pile of incedarinay devices.
Ezra looked for a number on the side, to his dismay he found none meaning he would have to count them by hand, or at least give a general idea how many there were. He begrudgingly began the process of counting the row and column then guessing how deep the crate went.
Zeb laughed at the tedious task and continued popping off crate lids, some of the other rebels gathered in the hold moved to help him taking a peak in the various crates.
It was at times like these that Ezra usually missed obvious signs in the force, sometimes the distractions proved too much and he never got the chance to correct his mistake till it was too late.
So when the lid of an unopened crate suddenly flew off into the ceiling without any prompting from the rebels Ezra was just as taken aback by every other person in the room.
"What the hell?!" A rebel cried who was closest to the crate.
Silence briefly took hold of the room before small reflective orbs rolled out of the crate, the flash of the black glove that threw them barely visible.
"Get down!" Ezra yelled, throwing himself on the other side of the crate next to him, he heard the thunk as Zeb followed suit with the crate nearest him.
Moments after they hit the floor smoke suddenly filled the small cargo hold forcing Ezra to cough as he tried to get a grip of what just happened. Soon after the smoke had gathered the sound of more things moving around and the grunts of Rebel soldiers.
"Over here!" One of them cried only for his voice to cut off and a solid thunk into the hard metal follow.
Ezra wincined. He really hoped that whoever was onboard their ship hadn't killed him and maybe just disabled him. Then again, this was probably some Imperial trap and they indeed had a very large problem at hand.
Ezra quickly steeled himself and brought his brow into a more focused state before spreading his force energy outwards. Pushing the smoke away towards either side of the room, or even up just out of the immediate way of the rebels in the cargo hold.
Ezra didn't really know what to expect when he stood up over the crate, maybe an Imperial droid blasters already whirling, maybe an Imperial themselves some sort of special forces trooper. What he did not expect was to be at the other end of a pair of Westar-35's.
Ezra's hands shot up quicker than a lightsaber could ignite, "Whoah Whoah hold your fire hold your fire!"
Ezra's eyes searched for the owner of the blaster pistols threatening his life and was most undoubtedly shocked to find a Mandalorian in front of him. Or at least someone wearing Mandalorian armor.
The amour was painted a dull blue color with accents of a lighter blue and white decorated around. Score's of scratches and dents hinted at well use, the strangest of all streaks of red ran along parts of the torso, arm pieces, and in a long line across most of the helmet. Decorated on either side of the red streaks was a thin line of black. It certainly wasn't the most pleasing thing Ezra had seen.
Although Ezra didn't immediately recognize it he had to say that it struck a bell somewhere in his mind. Clearly whatever clan this Mandalorian was or had been a part of, they wanted to be marked as different from said clan. Just like Sabine. He couldn't help but think before his mind replaced itself in the present.
"Don't move." He heard Zeb growl from next to him.
Quickly the haze of smoke cleared itself and Ezra drank in the details of the cargo hold. On the ground lay at least two rebels; they didn't seem dead, only knocked unconscious; one was even in the process of getting one of his comrades to get up.
The rest of the non disabled rebels had blasters trained on the Mandalorian, Zeb was closest his bow rifle extended and pointed at the spot between the Mandalorian's armor plates where it would peirce straight through.
On the catwalk Hera held her blaster pistol and Kanan behind her his lips fixed in a tight frown.
"Drop the weapon you're outnumbered." Hera declared from the top of the catwalk.
The Mandolorian tensed as they undoubtedly realized the same thing. She slowly lowered her blasters and a wave of relief washed over Ezra as he carefully moved slightly away from the hostile intruder.
The Mandolorian who upon closer inspection seemed to be femmine, glanced around the room. Hera descended the ladder although she put her blaster to the side. The rest of the rebels made no move to lower their own weapons.
"Who are you?" She asked as she approached the stranger.
"I Could ask you the same question." Was the sarcastic response the Mando gave back, the voice confirming it was a female under that helmet.
"You're on my ship, I'll ask the questions here." Hera said, her eyes narrowing.
The Mandalorian nodding in understanding, she holstered her blasters, the action causing a ripple of uneasiness to go through the group of rebels. She reached her hands up, removing her helmet as she let it rest against her side.
Under the helmet she revealed a dirt stained face, with a messy mop of night black hair on top of her head. Her blue eyes flicked around the room before finally settling back on Hera.
"My name is Faith, and I was a prisoner aboard the Imperial cruiser. I escaped, hid in this crate with the intention of getting off the ship, then one of you people grabbed the crate I hid in and brought me here. Guess I have that to thank you for." She said all of this to Hera, her gaze never leaving the Twi'leks eyes.
"So Faith, you have no affiliation with the empire?" Hera asked tentatively.
"Over my dead body." Faith responded fiercely, her eyes alight with passion that reminded Ezra of a certain other Empire hating Mandolorian he knew.
"Well then I think we'll get along fine." Hera said, sticking her hand out.
Faith tentatively shook it, and Hera gave her a kind smile waving her hands for everyone to lower their blasters. "Welcome aboard The Ghost. My name's Hera, and you are officially in the company of the Phoenix squadron of the Rebel alliance.
A/N: And cut scene. Well that was an enjoyable ride no? Don't fret, we'll learn a lot more about our new Mandalorian friend here in the next chapter. I would like to say one or two things before I sign off.
One: This came out relatively fast, mostly because I'm on a vacation of sorts and have lots of free time on my hands. My update schedule is not this fast on my normal time. But I will be going fairly quickly for about a week while I have the time to do so. After this week except chapters to go up on a weekly basis.
Two: Thanksgiving is on the Horizon here in the states, and I doubt I'll post before then so Happy Thanksgiving to all my U.S readers!
That's really all, I'll have some more to say in the next chapter but that can wait. Don't forget to R&R Please, any words are appreciated.
Stay Safe
See you all next time!