A/N: I'm aware its not December yet but uh here I am earlier than I thought, I'll talk some at the end but this chapter ain't that long so I'll let you guys dive into it.
Disclaimer: Nope don't own star wars, not yet anyway.
Chapter Four
Above and Beyond
Nine Days after leaving Sabine
Imperial shuttles were almost becoming a norm, Ezra felt like he'd been in enough of them to know their ins and outs fairly well. Sitting in the cockpit of one, his feet propped on the dash, Kanan flying calmly next to him. It felt like almost every other shuttle always did. Course now Ezra's mind was occupied elsewhere.
The member of the crew who was with them on this mission caught Ezra's attention in more ways than one. Namely where she came from, and the fact he thought he knew her clan bugged him even more further.
"Something on your mind?" Kanan questioned from his side not taking his eyes off the blue of hyperspace.
"Just wondering about Faith, you know a few questions I have." Ezra said, looking at his Master.
Kanan shrugged. "Just try not to pry too hard, don't want to scare her or insult her in any way." He said reaching over and rubbing his head affectionately.
Ezra half ducked out of Kanan's way before subsiding, nodding to the wise words of his Master.
"Yeah I know…"
The remainder of their trip was ridden in silence as the two Jedi's exited Hyperspace over the planet, Kanan tugged the controls toward the moon of the planet Ezra sitting up as he got the base on his sensors.
The comm crackled and Ezra glanced towards Kanan. "Shutte E-76y8 state your business and transmit clearance codes."
The ragged voice of an Imperial officer came over the shuttle's comm channel. Ezra gave Kanan a weary glance but didn't say anything.
"Yes this is Shuttle E-76y8, we have a shipment aboard. Transmitting codes now." They leaned back both waiting with baited breath as the channel briefly remained silent.
"Codes accepted, you are cleared for landing at bay 3E." The voice of the Imperial responded Ezra letting out a breath he hadn't known he was holding.
Kanan switched off the channel and removed his transmitter, opening a line to the Ghost that was waiting for their signal. The large hangar doors opened in front of them and Ezra moved from his seat as he headed towards the back of the shuttle waiting for the doors to open.
He checked his lightsaber and blaster pistol before Kanan appeared behind him. "Alright, are you ready?" He asked his padawan.
Ezra gave him a nod of reassurance and Kanan gave him his own warm smile as the ramp lowered. Ezra strode out the ramp, the Stormtroopers immediately in front of him instantly recognized something was up when they saw the lack of Stormtroopers on the shuttle.
"What th-" He didn't get to finish as Ezra dropped him with a blaster shot, his companion going down with a shot from Kanan.
Immediately following their rather obvious display Klaxons blared overhead and more blaster fire peppered the immediate area they were surrounded in. "To the control center." Kanan blurted, deflecting more blaster bolts away from them.
"Right." Ezra nodded his lightsaber, a moving blur of motion as he stumbled towards the lift on the other end of the hanger.
The two jedi danced across the hanger making it to the lift door with a sigh of exasperation from both parties. Ezra felt the door tug upwards and he glanced towards his master. They wordlessly asked each other ready?
The doors slid open and the two Jedi flung themselves right back into action. Kanan flipped over the first stormtroopers, slicing the controls and closing the door that led further into the base. Ezra made quick work of the remaining stormtroopers.
The battle was over in seconds, the room falling silent as Kanan hit a sequence of buttons to reopen the Hanger door. "Alright Specter Two you're clear to make your landing."
"Glad to hear it love. You and Ezra ok?" Hera's smooth voice came over Kanan's comm device.
"Aww are you worried about me?" Kanan teased a smirk playing on his lips.
Hera took that as they were both fine and cut the line with a click. Ezra could feel the eye roll from all the way over here. He shot his master a knowing look, to which Kanan gave him a shrug that indicated what?
Before either of them could do anything further the screech of engines filled the hanger as the Ghost flew in setting down as far as back as it could possibly fit. The cargo ramp dropped and Zeb and Faith appeared firing at unseen targets below them.
"Alright Ezra no lightsabers now." Kanan said seriously, tucking his own away.
"What why?!" Ezra cried in protest.
Kanan shrugged. "Faith is a plausible ally but we don't need her to know that she sleeps on the same ship as two Jedi. I just wanna feel her out a little bit more to see if her intentions are genuine then we can tell her." He said carefully.
"You mean you don't trust her…" Ezra deadpanned.
"That's not entirely true…" Kanan tried to defend himself.
Ezra rolled his eyes. "Fine, no lightsabers."
"Thank you…" Kanan voiced, giving Ezra's shoulder a solid squeeze before moving off behind him.
Ezra made no further comment as he got onto the lift with Kanan, the platform slowly lowered towards the ground Ezra shuffled back and forth briefly glancing nervously at the wall. The lift ride was in reality only seconds but it felt like hours as the doors slid open and Ezra drank in the details quickly, picking the place he could be of most use.
The Ghost had parked itself nearly all the way in the back of the Hanger. The Cargo ramp had been extended and Hera carefully took shots from the cover. Faith was in the middle of the Hanger providing Zeb with coverfire.
Zeb had backed himself into a somewhat corner as he grabbed fuel pods loading them onto a hover pallet, ducking under blaster fire.
Kanan leaped towards Zeb intent on providing the Last cover from the continuous fire the Stormtroopers were laying down.
Ezra made a move for the middle of the hanger, almost reaching for his lightsaber. Remembering Kanan's request he grabbed his blaster and slowly made his way next to Faith ducking under a bolt that nearly clipped him in the side of the head.
Faith ducked down next to him. Her voice was a bit distorted through the helmet but he could still hear it with little to no problem.
"How was your part of the mission?" She asked jokilny as if they were having a casual conversation and not in a deadly grapple for their lives.
"Flawless." Ezra responded, popping over the crate to shoot at the Stormtroopers that were pouring from the main hangar door.
"I see." Faith's evident smile could be heard in her tone as she joined him in firing at the Stormtroopers.
To Ezra's disappointment he could see more and more troopers appearing from down the hallway, at this rate they'd have to fight the whole base before they got the fuel on The Ghost.
"Alright I got a plan, it's a bit risky but risk is my middle name." Ezra said coming back to the safe side of the crate.
"Shoot." Faith said, dropping next to him.
"Gonna go and close the blast doors, give us the time to get the fuel and get the hell outta here. It'll be simple enough." Ezra glanced towards the doors trying to locate the panel to close them.
"That sounds not only risky but stupid and likely to go wrong." Faith said her tone even.
"You, my friend, have described my entire life for the last three years." Ezra quipped with a chuckle as he prepared to move to the Hanger doors.
Faith made no move to respond as she gave him a concerned glance watching his next move with heightened interest. Ezra wasted no time keeping his profile low as he sprinted across the hanger using speed no human should be able to achieve to get to the door without being shot.
He ducked for cover near the door, his face drawn in a tight line of concentration. Part of his brain heard some words over the comm, probably some kind of command to stop doing whatever it was that he was doing.
Too Late. He thought to himself as he studied the entrance. There! Maye fifteen feet in front of him sat the control console that would allow him to close the doors.
It occurred to him he could close it with the force but he was briefly aware of Faith watching him from the middle of the room. He internally rolled his eyes, of course he'd have to do this the more difficult way.
He glanced at the Stormtroopers and saw more approaching from deeper parts of the hallway. Practicing in his head the sequence of buttons to close the door he jumped up making it to the wall as he furiously typed in a flurry of commands to the console.
Instantly he felt blaster bolts go around him but he ducked under them his force enhanced abilities allowing him to know what to do and when to do it. Ezra felt a prickle in the force and nearly didn't duck in time to avoid the bolt that flew past him and slammed into the control panel frying it and nearly frying his hands.
The door briefly started to close, only for sparks to fly from the panel in front of him and for the door to stop closing. Ezra ducked closer to the wall cursing.
"Karrablast!" He said to no one in particular.
Another moment passed and he weighed his options, he was suddenly wrenched from his deep thoughts when the beeping of a thermal detonator filled his ears.
Ezra threw himself far from the bomb as quickly as possible, using the force to aid him in his distance. The detonator exploded with harsh ferocity and Ezra could feel the heat of it as he tucked slammed into the hard ground.
Smoke filled the air briefly and Ezra dragged himself to an upright position, letting a groan escape his body as he tried to push down the immense pain he felt at the moment. The smoke cleared and Ezra found himself on the wrong end of an E-11 blaster pointed at him by a Stormtrooper.
No sooner did he perceive the threat than the Stormtrooper collapsed into the ground from a blaster bolt that came from directly behind him.
He glanced over his back to find Faith crouching practically overtop of him, her blasters firing into the Stormtroopers as her other hand dragged the Padawan towards the safety of a crate.
Ezra felt a prickle in the force and barely moved his leg in time to not get caught by a blaster bolt from a Stormtrooper.
He could feel more bolts coming their way, and see the troopers take aim with a renewed interest.
Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that disobeying Kanan was probably a poor idea but he found that he had little choice as he righted himself and ignited his lightsaber blocking the plethora of blaster bolts coming his direction.
Faith made no further comment at his sudden reveal, but the shock on her face was hard to hide.
Ezra glanced off to his side and upon seeing his padawan break cover Kanan also dropped the ruse using his lightsaber to deflect bolts away from Zeb as he pushed a crate of fuel over towards the waiting ship.
Carefully and cautiously Ezra moved himself backwards towards the ship, covering Faith as he did so, he felt the Mandolorians presence behind him making sure that she had ample room to maneuver.
The Stormtropers seemed to fight with less interest now that the Jedi had revealed themselves and they seem to be content with just keeping the Rebels from leaving the hanger rather than try to actually stop them from obtaining the fuel.
After a few more seconds Zeb threw the second pallet into the storage, turning to add his bo-rifle into the constant stream of fire that the Stormtroopers received.
The Specters carefully backed up the ramp, the two Jedi blocking the last bit of fire as Hera slipped past them to get into the cockpit.
The Thrusters on The Ghost fired and the modified freighter slowly lifted into the air, Stormtroopers moved further into the hanger their shots mattered little as the ramp closed and the Ship's sublights powered it through the atmosphere and out of sight of the base.
As soon as the cargo bay sealed Ezra collapsed against the wall letting out an exasperated breath, and moving a hand down to clutch at his side.
Kanan approached him, getting down on one knee to get a closer look at him.
"Are you ok?" He asked, worry evident in his voice.
"I'm fine, I'm fine…" Ezra said, batting his hand away as he forced himself into a standing position.
"You sure, you weren't exactly far from the detonator when it went off, kid." Zeb said, stepping forward slightly.
"I'm good." Ezra affirmed, removing his hand and giving them all a weak smile.
Silence settled over the group temporarily but it didn't take a force user to tell Faith had something on her mind, and finally she removed her helmet settling it next to her hip, her voice was even when she spoke.
"So you and Kanan are Jedi?" Faith asked, she didn't seem to care her question was off subject and she just glanced at the two mentioned people.
"We are…" Kanan said carefully.
"I didn't think there were Jedi left…" Faith responded by looking at the two in a much different life.
"Look we're sorry we didn't tell you immediately, it's just, there wasn't really a good time to say anything…" Kanan said uneasily, giving her the best apologetic look he could.
Faith nodded, "I understand." She said her tone was even difficult to tell if she was actually put off by it or not.
"That aside." Ezra said, stepping next to Kanan. "Thanks for the save back there, I appreciate it."
Faith gave him a confident smile nodding towards him. "No problem." She said shifting her stance.
"Yes, Faith you fight incredibly well, you were a great asset on that mission and you have my gratitude for saving Ezra, something I'll be in debt to you for a while I suspect." Hera said as she appeared from the front of the ships descending the ladder.
"Thank you." Faith said, turning her smile towards the green Twi'lek.
"I'll put in the word but as far as I'm concerned you can skip the training you're ready for combat now." Hera said, giving her something akin to a proud smile.
Faith said nothing for a brief moment but her next words her voice was soft almost timid. "If it's not too much to ask, I'd like to see if I could work with you guys… If I can request a specific squad…"
Hera's smile grew and she glanced at Kanan who gave her a quick nod of approval, neither Ezra nor Zeb made a comment to oppose so Hera affirmed it with a nod.
"I don't see why that request can't be made." She slapped a hand on the Mandolorian's shoulder.
"I'll make it official with Sato when we return but as far as I'm concerned. Welcome to The Ghost crew Faith."
A/N: Whooooo fun no? I figured I'd drop this chapter this Sunday since its a short chapter ( I had it done ) and its mostly filler.
I know its not the most fun to read and honestly I feel a bit rushed but I didn't want to write a bunch more filler and I'm sure you didn't want to read more filler so I just kind of moved towards this point where Faith is apaort of the crew!
I think her saving Ezra ( Or anyone for that matter ) was a viable way to get accepted into the crew quickly and without bending their character attributes to much. SO I picked on poor Ezra to need the rescue.
Sue me.
Anyways, I would like to inquire something dear readers, what is it you prefer: Shorter chapters ( 2.5-3.5k word length ) that come out on a weekly basis. Or longer chatpers ( Like 5k range ) that come out maybe every week in a half or two weeks. Please do tell.
Next chapter were going to jump into the latter half of Season Four with "Through Imperial eyes." things are a bit diffrent but we'll see how next week. We are probably a 35% of the way to when Sabine will return into the Story ( Yes it will happen and yes it will be juciy ) I have nothing else so I'mma sign off I apolizge for the shorter chapter but a neccacry one nonetheless.
Stay safe!
See you all next week!