"Block high." Ahsoka instructed as she attacked with her lightsabre. Immediately, I brought my sabre up and horizontally blocked her attack. "Middle." She said, pulling back as she came back for another attack. This time, I blocked vertically, and without saying anything, Ahsoka pulled back and reeled in for another attack, this one high that I blocked, and then a low attack, which I also managed to block. "Good." She said, stepping back. "Now, the Shii-cho forms." She told me. I nodded and saluted with my sabre, which she returned. "You attack, I'll defend." She said as we took our stances.
"One." She said, and I attacked, a downward vertical strike. She instantly blocked it. "Feel the Force flow within you." She said. "Two." I pulled back and gave a leftward slash, which she blocked. "Be mindful of your stance, it is the root of your attacks. Three." I pulled the right and brought my sabre around to attack in an inverted version of the second attack. Again, Ahsoka blocked with little difficulty, if any. "Stay in the present, never lose focus. Four." I gave a massive sideways sweep, which she blocked with a pivot of her sabre over her shoulder. "Never drop your guard. Five." I gave a right-diagonal downward swipe, which she dodged. "Even a mighty tree can fall. Six." From the position it was currently in, I brought my sabre back up in a left-diagonal upward swipe, which she blocked. "Visualise the Way of the Sarlacc, Lance." She said as we both pulled back into our ready stance. "You're improving at an impressive rate." She complimented me.
"Thank you." I returned with a small smile. "I have an excellent teacher." I noted, getting a smile from her.
"Let us continue. I'll attack, you defend." She instructed. I nodded, my stance ready. "One." She attacked with the downward strike. I blocked with my sabre high and horizontal. "Ground yourself through the Force. Two." She transitioned much more smoothly than I did into the leftward slash. I blocked with my sabre hard and vertical. "Again, be mindful of your stance. It is the root of your defense as much as attack. Three." She transitioned in the rightward slash, and I inverted my stance to block. "Do not see the attacks. Feel them. Four." She transitioned into the massive sideways sweep, and I blocked with the same pivot over my shoulder. "Sense the tides shift within the Force. Five." She moved to a diagonal swipe, which I dodged, as she did. "If you can survive a hundred blows, you can survive a hundred wars. Six." She brought her sabre in an upward swipe, inverted from her previous attack. I blocked it before it went above the waist. "Perseverance is the key to Shii-cho." She said as we pulled back into our ready stances. At that point, she deactivated her sabre, and I did the same, letting my tired arms rest for a moment. "If it were anyone else, I'd say your skills are developing at a staggering rate." She told me.
"But?" I asked, an eyebrow raised.
"But when one takes into account your connection to the Force, and the fact that you attended a Martial Arts dojo for several years, it makes sense that you'd have a reasonable head start in your training." She said thoughtfully.
"Martial Arts do require a fair bit of focus and concentration." I noted. "When the owner started teaching me herself, she had me do all kinds of meditation and focus exercises before we got to any of the strenuous stuff." I said as I sat down on one of the crates. We were having our lesson in one of the hangar bays in a Spaceport on a planet called Garel. It was close to Lothal, and had enough space for the Fleet to hide, but it definitely wouldn't be a permanent solution.
"Is there any particular reason you started attending in the first place?" Ahsoka asked, making me freeze. "Oh, I didn't realise… I'm sorry." She said quickly, noticing my reaction. She probably sensed some less than serene emotions at that point as well.
"No, it's alright…" I said slowly, shaking my head. "I probably shouldn't keep it in." I sighed. "Ten years ago, when I was 12, my father died, leaving my mother and I alone with my sisters, both of whom were only three at the time. I spent the first few years of my adolescence helping my mother take care of them, because she was in the worst condition of us all." I said, looking off into the sky.
"That's a terrible burden for such a young child to take on." Ahsoka said sympathetically.
"I didn't have much choice." I shook my head. "It certainly didn't help that I was ostracised and an outcast amongst my peers in school. As an autistic individual, I'm different from the average human being. At least on Earth."
"Autistic?"
"A disorder that impacts the social development of the afflicted person. Some Autistics only have a few quirks that barely affect their lives at all, others have it so bad that they can't even speak, make eye contact, or even recognise the environment around them. I'm in the middle, and no two people have the exact same experience with it." I explained. "Suffice it to say, people could tell I was different, and on my planet, not everybody reacts well to what's different."
"The same could be said throughout the galaxy." she commented thoughtfully.
"Anyway, all through my teens, I endured rejection, verbal abuse, and constant ostracisation. When I was 16, depression and anxiety eventually got to me. I can usually handle people not liking me and insulting me, but when it happens everyday for no apparent reason, for years on end, you just shut down." I sighed, remembering those times. "I eventually just stopped going to school, and stopped taking care of myself, let alone my sisters. For the next two years, I couldn't get out of bed in the morning, I gained a fair amount of weight, and my hygiene was horrific." I gave a humourless laugh. "My teeth were the worst. It's embarrassing how many fillings I have." I shook my head. "Things only got worse when I got addicted to the sleeping pills I was taking."
"You recovered eventually, I take it?" Ahsoka asked. I nodded in response.
"My mother recovered first, after a while that is, and ended up going back to University. She dropped out when I was born, but completed three years of Psychology study before that. She worked full time by day, and studied at night. She eventually got her degree and started working as a Guidance Counselor at some High School. Once her success started piling up, she grabbed me by the ear and threw me into a clinic." I chuckled at the memory. All I wanted to do at the time was go back to sleep. "After six weeks there, I went back home, a fair bit better than I was before, but definitely not 100%. Mum said she would throw me right back in if she caught me slacking on my medication, relapsing, or not even trying to live. It took a bit of time, but I eventually got into some kind of groove."
"That's impressive for someone so young." Ahsoka noted, taking the new information in. I suppose if we're going to have a functional Master-Apprentice relationship, we should be knowing more about each other, something neither of us took into consideration until now.
"It wasn't exactly a glamorous road to recovery, but thank you. Anyway, after that, my mother sent me to a private school, where I could complete my studies, but she demanded I do something outside of school or home. I tried things like golf and archery, and though I enjoyed archery for a fair while, it eventually became tedious. I only really got the results I was looking for when I enrolled in my Sensei's dojo, just a little while after I turned 19." I recalled my first day there. I remember thinking how it probably wasn't going to be any different than the others. How wrong I was. "I learned under the employees for those first few months, but it stopped being enough. The owner, seeing this, decided to take me under her personal wing. She taught me to use a staff, some basic Kendo, which is actually rather similar to Shii-cho, and we were going to start with Escrima soon, which isn't too different to how you fight with two lightsabres, only with shorter bamboo sticks instead. But then…" I trailed off.
"You ended up on Lothal." She finished for me. I nodded. "You're strong Lance, and not just in the Force." She told me. "I don't know many people who could go through so much and then handle being marooned in a different galaxy for the past month on top of all that." She said.
"I don't think I would be doing half as well as I am now if I didn't have the Force." I noted. "When we first spoke, I could feel that I could trust you, and Hera, and the Ghost crew. If I didn't have that, I doubt I would be here with you right now." I said honestly.
"I suppose we'll never know, will we?" Ahsoka asked humorously.
"No, I suppose not." I agreed with a small chuckle.
"Now, let's do one more round of Form I, then you can head back to the Ghost for some rest." She told me. I nodded as I got up, taking our places. We ignited our respective sabres and readied our stances.
All in all, I was pleased with my progress, as was Ahsoka. She'd hinted that we may be starting with some other Forms soon enough, and since the encounter with Inquisitors, I've been able to do a lot more with the Force. Summoning my stuff to my hands is easy enough, though it's not as fast as when Kanan, Ezra, or Ahsoka do it. That'll come with time, and I've successfully levitated one crate up and on top of another, but levitating several things at once is still limited at best. Do I feel a little cheap knowing that it's my ridiculous connection to the Force that allows me to progress so fast? I do, I admit, but who wouldn't grin like a maniac after summoning a weapon to one's hand at will?
I'm certainly not on that list.
As I arrived back in the hangar bay in which the Ghost was docked, I noticed it was rather empty. From what I knew, Kanan and Ezra should be having their Jedi lesson right about now, and if I recall, Hera was waiting for a call from Commander Sato involving a mission of some sort. Had they already left? Well that's just rude.
As I was about to go inside, I noticed that one Ezra Bridger was sitting on top of the Ghost, with a certain mechanical menace up there with him. In the two weeks since we encountered the Inquisitor's, he'd gotten worse in his pranks and troublemaking. He's shocked me, tripped me, stolen my shoes and had me chase him across the whole Ghost to get them back, and just yesterday, he pushed me into Sabine's room and locked me in there. Boy, was THAT one difficult to explain when she came in two hours later. I repaid him by giving him a cylindrical dent with my staff, and used some paint that Sabine leant me to draw a penis on his head. Hera tried to scold me for being so juvenile, but I didn't let it get to me. Chopper was not happy when she decided he needed an oil bath to wash the paint off, and be powered down to have the dented area removed and repaired.
Maybe that'll teach him not to mess with me. Unlikely, but one can hope.
"So, what brings TweedleDee and TweedleDum up here?" I asked as I joined the two of them up on top of the Ghost.
"Scrubbing practice." Ezra shot back irritably. Chopper bleeped indignantly at my remark. I doubt they knew what TweedleDee and TweedleDum meant, but they gathered that I was quipping. Apparently, someone's not in the mood for it.
"What bug crawled up your ass?" I asked, sitting next to him as he stopped what he was doing.
"Clean the Ghost, lightsabre training, blaster training, ugh!" he threw his arms in the sky.
"Oh, I get it." I said realisation.
"Do you really?" He asked, doubt in his voice.
"You're overwhelmed by all the responsibility you've been given, and you're starting to miss the days when everything was simple." I guessed. He blanched a bit at the accuracy of my deduction. "I know what it's like Ezra, I was the same when I was your age." I told him. "I was stuck helping my mother raise two six year old girls, and doing whatever I could to make sure she herself didn't break down." I explained.
"Yeah, well, what responsibility could you possibly have now?" He asked, sulking. "You're not even from this galaxy."
"You just answered your own question." I responded dryly. "I have to shoulder the fact that everything I've ever known is at LEAST a whole galaxy away, I have to blend into a completely foreign society made up of thousands of different cultures, and I have to learn to control my new abilities so I don't accidentally hurt someone." I listed off with my fingers. That got him to look away, indignant that I'd made him eat his own words. Before anything else could be said, Chopper came over, whomping and bleeping at us as a strange beeping sound emanated from him. "I still don't understand Binary, what is he saying?" I asked the young Jedi.
"He's picked up a distress signal." Ezra said, standing up. I followed suit.
"This is the Broken Horn, require assistance. Repeat, this is the Broken Horn, require assistance." A voice repeated itself over and again from Chopper's speakers.
"Broken Horn? That's Vizago's ship." Ezra told me.
"Vizago?" I asked.
"He's a smuggler we used to do odd jobs for." Ezra explained. "He's currently in distress, and if there's one thing Kanan has taught me, we always help someone in distress." He said with a wide smile as he took off towards the Phantom.
"I get the distinct feeling that Ezra's about to do something that the others wouldn't approve of." I said dryly. In response, Chopper gave a single, beep that sounded suspiciously like a cheerful 'Yep!' before following the kid. I sighed and followed after them, and their destination ended up being the Phantom. Honestly, I'd seen enough of this shuttle. I was starting to get claustrophobic just looking at it. "So, what exactly is the plan?" I asked as Ezra took the pilot's seat.
"We'll see what Vizago's gotten himself into. I owe him a favour, and this could square us." He said, prepping the shuttle.
"Do you even know how to fly this thing?" I asked, crossing my arms as I sat down.
"Yes, I know how to fly." He responded with an eye roll. He ate his own words again when he pushed forwards, causing the Phantom to scrape at the sides of the shuttle port, rather than taking off. Ezra panicked and frantically moved to fix the issue as Chopper bleeped in terror. I even fell off the seat and onto the ground before the Phantom slid off of the Ghost with no issue.
"You know how to fly eh?" I asked in annoyance as I got back back up. Chopper laughed at me, pointing one of his arms in my direction as I sat down again.
"I forgot to release it from the docking port." Ezra defended himself.
"When Hera sees the scratches, she's going to kill you, you realise that, yes?" I asked.
Ezra didn't respond. He just kept piloting the Phantom up and out of Garel's atmosphere. Admittedly, he was flying the shuttle rather smoothly, but the difference between his and Hera's skill was tangible. After a few moments outside the atmosphere, Chopper rolled up bleeped in Ezra's direction.
"No, I'm not running away from my problems. I'm helping someone else with theirs. There's a difference." The young Jedi defended himself from the droid's accusations.
"I'm not sure there is." I piped up.
"I'm not sure I asked for your opinion." Ezra shot back, flicking a few switches. I had to shake my head. I briefly wondered if that was what I sounded like when I used to talk back to Mum. "I think that's it." He spoke up a few minutes later, as we approached a ship that looked dead in the water. "Yeah, that's Vizago's ship alright." He concluded. "I wonder what happened?"
"Don't ask me." I wryly as he pressed a button on the control panel.
"Cikatro Vizago, do you read me?" He asked into the comm. No response. Comm must be down. Chopper threw a few questioning beeps in Ezra's direction. "Well, of course we're going to board the ship." Ezra responded.
The kid took the controls and eased us towards the ship. Our landing was a lot smoother than our taking off. There was no docking port for us to scrape against. Ezra just connected the Phantom to one of the Broken Horn's airlocks and got up. He brought his cadet helmet with, the one that Sabine painted. He slipped it on and left the Phantom, Chopper and myself close behind as he left and started through the halls of the Broken Horn.
As we walked through the halls, I noticed how eerie and quiet it was. There was almost no power, so the only light we had came from these dim lamps built into the walls. The walls and floor were a light shade of green, which only added to the eeriness. I also noticed that there was no sign of life anywhere on the ship, and a ship this big needed a crew to function. As I pondered, Ezra and I walked through an open door to a new hallway, when suddenly the door closed, separating Chopper from us. I tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. We even heard a loud clang from the other side of the door, indicating that Chopper walked right into it. That made me laugh a little.
"Well, what do we do?" I asked. Ezra knew this place better than I did.
"We should just keep going. Chopper will probably head back to the Phantom."
"Alright then."
I wasn't totally on board with the idea of leaving Chopper alone like that, not because I cared in any way, shape, or form, but because Hera would have my head and Ezra's if something happened to her droid. I haven't seen her royally pissed off yet, and I don't plan to any time soon, if ever. However, if Ezra's not concerned, then I don't see any reason to be. Plus, I don't sense anything bad in the ship, so I'm not going to worry myself over what's probably nothing. Still though…
"I swear, if we turn a corner and find a Stormtrooper or an Inquisitor, I'm going to throw a fit." I said tiredly as we walked.
"Relax, I'm sure that's not going to happen." Ezra responded. "Mostly." He added. Well that just makes me feel so much safer. As he turned another corner, he suddenly walked right into something and fell to the ground. I quickly caught up and saw a large, menacing humanoid figure standing over the boy. Immediately, we both grabbed our blasters and aimed them at the figure, only to calm down when we saw it was just an inactive droid.
"Well, it's not a Stormtrooper." I dryly as I helped Ezra up.
"It's an IG-RM. Vizago's muscle" Ezra told me, looking at the droid. "But they're shut off. What are they shut off?" he asked as we continued down the hallway, which was filled with even more of these droids.
"You mentioned this guy was a Smuggler?" I asked.
"Well, Smuggler, Information Broker, Black Market Trader, anything illegal that brings in a lot of credits."
"And you used to work for him…"
"Just some deliveries, a bit of smuggling, selling him weapons, etc."
"Can he be trusted?"
"Hah! No, not one bit."
"Fantastic…"
As we continued to walk, we came across the bridge, which was smaller than I'd expected. Maybe a bit bigger than the Ghost's, which was strange given how much bigger than the Ghost the Broken Horn was. As we walked in, there was some strange music playing, the likes of which I'd never heard before. Then again, Star Wars universe. There's bound to be some strange music. Anyway, lying on the ground, underneath the main console, was a humanoid figure, trying to fix it apparently. There were some sparkly bits going around the bridge's terminals. Not to mention two of those droids.
"Vizago? Vizago, is that you?" Ezra asked, taking a cautious step forward.
"No, not exactly." The individual responded, getting up. With that answer, I placed my hand over my blaster, ready for a fight if need be, as the man stood up and pressed a button on the console, turning the music off. He wasn't human, that's for sure. He had brown, wrinkly skin, had white spines extruding from his jawline, wore a maroon and grey jumpsuit, and a grey hat with goggles. Something about him seemed familiar… "Well, hello there!" He greeted us with a wide smile. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Hondo Ohnaka! Owner of this fine, but currently inoperable, vessel." He said with a friendly demeanour. Aha! I remember now! I couldn't remember his name, but I know his voice, and his appearance fits. I think he's that pirate from The Clone Wars who tried to ransom Dooku, and raided the ship that Ahsoka and the Younglings were on for the Gathering.
"Where's Vizago?" Ezra asked, not entirely convinced. "This is his ship."
"Oh, you know Vizago." Hondo said. "Well, then we have a mutual friend!" he said with his smile still wide. "Yes, this was his ship, but you see, we were having a friendly game of Sabacc, and now… well, now it's my ship." He said happily.
"Vizago bet his ship?" Ezra asked doubtfully.
"Only after he bet his droids, which are now also mine." Hondo responded proudly as he pulled out a small, cylindrical device with a few buttons. "Watch. I turn them on." He used his thumb to press a big button, causing the droids to light up and activate. "I turn them off." He pressed the button again, shutting them down with a laugh.
"Well, I guess that could happen…" Ezra said, lowering his sabre/blaster.
"You know about me, but who are you?" Hondo asked expectantly.
"I'm… Lando Calrissian." Ezra said as he took his helmet off, making me blanch. Did he just say that?!
"Lando! So, at least I meet the semi-famous Lando Calrissian!" Hondo said happily, putting an arm over Ezra's shoulder. "You're… a tad younger than I imagined, but to be so young, and flying to my rescue proves that you must be the scoundrel I've heard so much about!" He grinned widely.
"Yeah, well, I'm pretty good."
"Oh, pretty good…" Hondo chuckled. "And you!" he turned to me, his smile never falling. "Am I correct in assuming you are the just-as-semi-famous as Lando here, Han Solo?" he asked eagerly.
"Who knows?" I asked dryly.
"A perfect answer!" He hurrahed with a hand in the air. Man, is this guy dramatic… "Are you boys looking for a crew? Good news: Hondo is hiring." He said, trying to make a sales pitch.
"We already have a crew, sorry." Ezra said apologetically. "Speaking of, where's our droid?" He asked, turning back.
"Oh, you lost your droid… I lost my whole crew thanks to the Empire." Hondo sounded genuinely upset at the memory. "Oh, the stories I could tell… So many of them, true…"
I'm guessing he was about to dive right into one of these stories, but he was interrupted by an alarm coming from the Broken Horn's terminal. In the distance, out the window, we could see an Imperial ship approaching. Ezra immediately threw his helmet at me and slipped under the console where Hondo had been before, hopefully to do a better job than the pirate.
"Yeah, you want to tell a story? Tell it to the Empire while I get the power back on." he told the old man. Within seconds, a few of the consoles lit up. Ezra must have restored their power, so Hondo activated the comm.
"Hello, how can we help you?" Hondo asked nervously.
"Attention Transport, you have breached an Imperial checkpoint."
"Sorry about that. We had a bit of engine trouble, and we've been dead in the water for a few hours now." I said, trying to buy Ezra some time. "Don't worry, we'll be out of your hair in no time."
"Transport, send in your codes and prepare to be boarded."
"That really won't be necessary, we're almost done with repairs." I told them. They responded with weapons fire, not the answer I was hoping for. "Lando, Hyperspace, any day now!" I said to the kid.
"Working on it!" He returned. Just as he was about to finish up, the lights turned on, and the doors opened. "I think I got it." He said as he stood up. Right as we took a hit, one endured by the Broken Horn's shields, Chopper came rolling into the room, whomping frantically. With the power back on, he could probably get through the doors now, and it wouldn't take a genius to figure out what was going on. Immediately, he inserted his scomp link into an astromech interface and put in coordinates. Within seconds, we'd made the jump to hyperspace, much to our collective relief.
"It was as if we were in each other's heads! We only just met, and already we make a remarkable team!" Hondo said happily as he leaned back in the captain's chair, propping his feet up on the console.
"Yeah, but we're not…" Ezra replied.
"Not yet perhaps." Hondo replied as he got up. "You know, I could use the two of you for a job. Just a little trade. I am an old man, and I need help pushing a few crates." He told us.
"Depends on what's in the crate." I narrowed my eyes at him.
At that moment, Chopper rolled up to us and projected a hologram, showing the crates and their contents. Power Generators. At least, I think that's what they are. They were cylindrical devices that had glowing, vertical yellow stripes around the sides. It seemed Chopper had taken a stroll when we got separated, and found these.
"Whoa, power generators? That's what you're smuggling?" Ezra said in surprise, his eyes glued to the image. "These are hard to come by these days, Old man. Expensive too." He said to Hondo, his arms crossed.
"Yes, and that is why I will sell them at a completely fair mark up." He told us calmly. "500%" His calm face split into a wide grin.
"Alright, we'll help you." Ezra told him. Wait, what? "But in exchange, we get three crates of Generators."
"Two crates, and you have a deal." Hondo responded, his smile never waiving.
"Two crates, and a third of the profits." Ezra returned. When did this become a haggle?!
"Deal!" Hondo said happily as they shook hands. "The way you strike a bargain, you remind me of a great pirate I know. Me!" He laughed, putting his arm around the boy's shoulders again. "Now, let's go split up the supplies." He said, walking off. As soon as he left the room, Ezra handed something to Chopper.
"Here, this could come in handy if he gives us trouble." He said to the droid, who took the device. It was the control for the droids. I didn't even see him take it. I remember the others mentioning that Ezra was a fantastic pickpocket. He even lifted Kanan's lightsabre off of him when they first met. Although, since Kanan was expecting it, he immediately noticed it was gone, but he didn't know it'd happened until after it was done, which I had to admit was impressive.
"Ok Ezra, two questions." I told him as he picked up his helmet. "First, Lando Calrission and Han Solo? Do you know these guys?" I asked in genuine confusion, though I doubt it was for the reason Ezra was thinking.
"I don't know who Han Solo is, but a couple of months before you joined, we did a smuggling job for Lando on Lothal." He explained. "We took a puffer pig, an animal that can sniff out precious metals, to his farm." Now, I haven't seen the original Trilogy in several years, but I don't recall Lando being a farmer in those movies. I'm guessing that's how he made all the money he had in the Trilogy. Or at least the start. He was a Smuggler in the Solo movie, but that wasn't the case in Empire Strikes Back.
"Alright, fine, but why are we haggling for power generators?" I asked.
"There's an ice planet, Rinn, that's suffering from an energy crisis. If they don't get these generators, the settlements over there will freeze over." He explained.
"I'm guessing this is where the others are?" I asked.
"Yeah, they're looking at the Black Market, but the odds aren't good." He confirmed. I gave him a momentary look before sighing.
"Alright, let's get this over with." I said. Ezra smiled and put on his helmet.
"You worry too much." he told me. Yeah, sure.
A little less than an hour later, we arrived at our destination, a planet called Nixus, where the trade would be made in a hangar bay of a large hub. Apparently, it was a stop for many Black Market Trades and deals. Throughout the whole trip, Hondo kept talking about his adventures. I couldn't say if they were true or not, but one thing I can say is that I'd never met someone whom I found so amusing, but grinded on my nerves so much at the same time. Seriously, this guy can talk. He reminded me of my grandmother when she got going.
Anyway, once we'd landed, we pushed all of the crates over to the ramp and exited the ship. Well, Ezra pushed four of the crates on an anti-gravity trolley-type thing, while Chopper pushed the last one, also on one of the hovering carts. I'm not sure what they were called. Once the ramp was down, Hondo walked off, leaving the three of us behind to push the crates. Well, not really. I wasn't pushing anything.
"I think you two should stay here, just in case there's trouble." Ezra said to Chopper and I.
"If this is what you think is a lack of trouble, I'd hate to see what you consider trouble." I said dryly, looking at the kid with a 'Really?' look.
"I know there's already trouble." He said with an annoyed sigh. "Just, keep your comm channel open, please?" he looked up at me.
"Alright." I said with a shrug, sitting on the lone crate.
"Thank you." he said, bringing the visor of his helmet down before following after Hondo, whilst I activated my comm.
"Well, all we can do is wait now." I said, shaking my head. What a fine clusterfuck we'd gotten ourselves into. "Chopper, I'd just like to remind you that I have a lightsabre, and if you shock me, I have no qualms using it to remove your arms." I warned the astromech, turning to see he was indeed sneaking his electro-prod thing towards me. He gave a yelp and backed off. "That's what I fuckin thought." I said, turning to face the door again.
And so I waited. Fortunately, or rather, unfortunately, depending on how you view the situation, I didn't have to wait too long. It was less than five minutes before my comm bleeped, and out came Ezra's voice.
"Looks like you got us captured. Be nice if we had some back-up!" he said, probably speaking to Hondo, but speaking loud enough for us to hear from the come.
"Loud and clear Ezra." I said deactivating the comm. "Chop, let's-" I turned to face the droid, who already had his hands on the cart's handle. And I was still sitting on the crate. "C1-10P, don't you fucking daaaare!" The last word of the sentence was enunciated by the fact that I started speeding through the air as Chopper pushed the crate at top speed, his retractable wheel having been released and his legs flailing up and down as he rolled on said wheel. We zoomed through the halls, much to the chagrin of the people walking through there. Chopper howled a Binary 'Woohoo!' as we approached the door to the hangar where the meet up was, and it opened.
He crashed the cart right into the other one, sending the crates, the carts, and most important of all, ME, flying through the air. I landed on my stomach with a grunt of pain. Yeah, that did not feel good. As I pulled my head up with a groan, I heard a weapon being cocked, and looked up to see a goon wearing a grey, bland uniform aiming a gun at me. He looked humanoid, but he wore a helmet that looked like a giant bug's face, so I had no idea if he was human or something else. I just knew he was aiming a gun at my face.
"Hey." I said simply, punching him in the crotch. He hunched over in pain, his grunt confirming he was indeed male, and spun on the ground, knocking him over with a swipe of my legs before getting up. As more goons shot at me, I immediately took cover behind one of the overturned carts, with Ezra and Hondo.
"Die you Pirate scum!" The one I'm assuming was the leader of this merry band yelled. And boy was he uuuuuu-glee!
I've been trying to keep an open mind when it came to non-humans in this galaxy, but this was on the wrong side of the line. He was short, fat, red-skinned, and just plain repulsive. Call me racist if you have to, but that guy was one of the most hideous things I'd ever seen. He was carrying a case of some sort. There was even a copious amount of drool dripping from his lower lip. Shaking my disgust away, I shot Hondo and Ezra's cuffs off, and the latter gave me a confident smile.
"Hey! Get my blaster!" He yelled out to Chopper as I fired several blasts at the goons who were surrounding us. Chopper rolled over to the goon that carried Ezra's weapon and shocked him into unconsciousness, removing Ezra's sabre from the goon's belt. "Chopper, over here!" He called out to the droid, his hands up and out wide. Chopper threw the weapon at him, which he caught with ease and fell back into cover.
"Now you die Hondo Ohnaka!" The fat red thing hollered. Hey, I know that voice! He sounds like James Hong! Hah! That's hilarious. If this were an actual series, which would be pretty cool actually, James Hong would be perfect for the role. I'm guessing that the case he's holding so closely was filled with credits.
With his weapon in hand, Ezra joined in the firefight. He managed to stun one of the goons who came out of fire to take a shot. Admittedly, my blaster was set to stun as well. I barely remember the firefight on Lothal, so I don't know if I killed any Stormtroopers back then, but I'm not ready to just up and kill anyone yet. I'm not naive, I know it's going to happen eventually. I'm in a war now, and people die in war. If I don't want it to be me or one of my friends, I have to learn to kill, and soon.
Anyway, after Ezra and I had stunned all of the goons, the fat red guy was all that was left. As we fired on him, he ran to the side as fast as his stubby little legs could carry him. He took cover behind another hover-cart that had a large ladder vertically attached to it. With a grunt, he kicked the ladder cart, causing it to fly right towards us. Hondo and I saw it before Ezra did. Hondo immediately pushes Ezra out of the way, and I was about to grab Hondo and jump, but the ladder slammed into one of the normal carts, pushing it forward and into Hondo. I was barely able to jump out of the way in time before the cart hit another cart. The impact caused Hondo to fall right onto the cart that hit him.
Azmorigan, as I later learned the red guy was named, saw that I was the only one left standing and fired upon me. His mastery of the blaster was abysmal, so I was able to find cover before he hit me. At that point, Chopper rolled up to one of the unconscious goons and grabbed his weapons. This caught Azmorigan's attention, who yelped in fright as Chopper rolled on his center wheel, guns ablazing. I had to admit, Chopper was annoying, but that was hilarious.
As Hondo regained consciousness, it was brought to both our attention that the console that controlled the cart he was on practically destroyed, and the cart revved like a speeder almost. Before anyone could do anything, the cart automatically rolled right towards the hangar bay entrance, which was open with only shields active. Shields that protected us from the vacuum of space, but still allowed solid matter to pass through.
Right as the cart passed Azmorigan, who was still being chased by Chopper, the small astromech landed a hit with a stun bolt, causing the fat alien to accidentally toss his case full of credits into the air. The momentum was just right for said case to fall right into Hondo's lap. Literally.
"I'm rich!" The old pirate cheered in joy. Then he remembered the situation he was in. "I'm dead!" He yelped as the cart got ever closer to the hangar entrance.
Mere seconds later, the cart was flung out into space, taking Hondo with it. Fortunately, Ezra chose that moment to act, throwing caution to the wind. He reached out with his arm and grabbed a hold of Hondo through the Force, the pirate floating in the air for a few seconds. His expression was all we needed to know that Hondo had us figured out, and with the pirate safe, Ezra allowed him to fall to the ground, which I admit was funny. Meanwhile, Chopper had managed to chase Short, Fat, and Ugly back into his ship, which he almost immediately flew right out of the hangar bay, right over Hondo's head, getting a yelp from the old pirate.
Well, this wasn't exactly how we expected the day to turn out, but it wasn't bad. We had all the generators, some credits, and minimal injuries. Ezra had a slight bump on his head, but upon closer inspection, I concluded he wasn't concussed, and I just had a few bruises from when Chopper sent me flying, which I'll get him back for. As we shared a look, and then looked at the generators, we shared a nod. Our thinking was the same. We got to work on putting the crates back on the carts to take back to the Broken Horn.
"Very good! Now…" Hondo laughed at the retreating ship before turning to us. "My friends, you may not be Calrissian and Solo, but I know what you are." He said, grinning widely. "You two, are Jedi." He jabbed a finger at us as he approached, laughing.
I wasn't sure how I felt about him knowing about us. I don't really think of myself as a Jedi, but Ezra and I could be in real danger here. Hondo certainly seemed like the kind of guy who would turn us in for a profit, and I'm betting that the case he's holding is pocket change compared to what the Empire would give in exchange for us. Especially considering how Vader wants me alive, and Ezra's been causing trouble a lot longer than I have. But, Hondo's demeanour stayed as free, and happy, and laughable as per usual. There was no malevolence or shadiness in his tone or body language. I didn't even sense anything off.
"Why didn't you boys tell me you two were Jedi? You know, I am an old Jedi sympathiser myself." he told us, smiling widely as always. "I know, I wouldn't believe me either, but one of my best friends was a Jedi!" He said proudly, before pausing. "Well, I'm pretty sure we were friends." he said sheepishly.
"Well, I'm not really a Jedi yet." Ezra admitted.
"You're a better Jedi than I am." I pointed out.
"Well, then be a Pirate Jedi! Oh, we will make an excellent team!" Hondo said wondrously, imagining the possibilities. "But first, I would know your names. Your real names."
Ezra cleared his throat. "Ezra Bridger."
"Thank you Ezra Bridger." Hondo said sincerely before turning to me.
"Lance Mikaelson, and I'm not really pirate material, sorry." I said unapologetically.
"Suit yourself." The old pirate shrugged.
With the generators loaded back onto the Broken Horn, Hondo, Ezra, Chopper and I headed back towards the bridge. I was quite surprised that Hondo hadn't reported us to the Empire the moment we saw a squad of Stormtroopers on the way back to the ship. He didn't even glance at them. Maybe I misjudged him. Still, I wasn't about to let my guard down. He was still a pirate after all.
"So, the two of you must have many responsibilities." He commented as we walked through the halls of the Broken Horn.
"Yeah, too many at the moment." Ezra responded, his head down.
"They're not always terrible." I said.
"Well then, join my crew and I will split it right down the middle 50/40!" Hondo declared with his usual grin. "You won't get a better deal than that, especially from me."
"And what do you plan on doing with the remaining 10%?" I asked with an eyebrow up, my tone dry.
"Oh, you want me to spend that on expenses, trust me." Hondo grinned slyly.
"Well, how about this: zero for us, but we get the generators." Ezra gave his counter offer. "All of them."
"You have a deal partner!" Hondo said happily, hugging the boy. "This makes me happy!" He laughed. I saw Ezra's uncomfortable look and had to shake my head in amusement. "You get the generators, and I get you for my crew! Let us celebrate!" he cheered as he separated from Ezra. Wait, what did he say? "Droid! Go to the galley and bring me the most expensive drink you can! And something for my friends!" He said to Chopper.
"Uh, I think we'll go with him." Ezra told the pirate.
"Of course, of course. Don't forget yours." he told us before walking off. Probably going to count the credits.
"Ok, correct me if I'm wrong, but did we just join a pirate crew?" I asked the young Jedi, who looked at me.
"I think we did." He responded.
"And at what point in time did we agree to do that?" I asked.
"I have no idea." Ezra said, running a hand through his hair. Chopper bleeped at him questioningly. "No, I don't want to leave the Ghost! I mean… not really…" he responded with a sigh.
"You think being a pirate will be better?" I asked with crossed arms.
"Well maybe I would make a good pirate." he returned. "Inquisitors don't hunt them, do they?"
"At this point, I don't think it matters." I shook my head. "They know you have the Force, they know who you are, and they know what you look like." I told him. "Rebel, Pirate, or even a bloody prostitute, they're coming for you. For both of us." I said. His face twisted at my choice of words, but I think I made my point. "That's what we signed up for when we…" I stopped, looking off to the side. "Do you hear that?" I asked. There was a metal clanging resounding through the halls.
"I do… What is that?" He asked. Without any other way to find out, we followed the direction of the sound. After about a minute, we came across a door, which Ezra opened to reveal what was probably a brig. Each corner of the room had a 'cell' of metal bars, and in one of them sat a lone figure, lazily leaning against the wall, banging a cup on the wall. Said figure was definitely humanoid. His skin was greenish yellow, and he had two horns protruding from his head. He basically looked like a stereotypical devil, but without the pitchfork.
"Vizago?" Ezra asked in surprise.
"You?" The apparent owner of the ship was just as surprised to see Ezra. "What are you doing here?" He asked, standing up.
"Wait, Hondo told me you lost your ship in a bet." Ezra said in confusion.
"And you believed that swindler?" Vizago demanded. "By the moons of Gozgo, you are hopelessly gullible." He said in angry exasperation.
"This coming from the guy locked in his own brig?" I said dry, getting a heated glare.
"Who's this, another Jedi friend?" He asked, seeing the sabre on my belt.
"Not exactly…" Ezra trailed off, unsure how to answer the question.
"Let me guess: Hondo stunned you and locked you in here?" I asked of the demonic alien.
"Yes, and he disabled my droids somehow." he said, annoyed. Ezra looked thoughtful before banging Chopper on the head. Why he did that, I have no idea. But, when he did, Chopper opened one of his compartments and handed Ezra the device that Hondo used to activate and deactivate the droids.
"Probably with this." He showed the device to Vizago.
"You must help me reclaim the Horn." He told us.
"Sorry, but we've got other things to worry about." Ezra made to leave the room.
"You owe me remember?" Vizago reminded the young Jedi. "I gave you information, and it helped save your Jedi friend. I'm calling in that favour, now." Chopper whomped at Ezra.
"I know what I said Chop." The kid snapped in the droid's direction. "Alright, I'll get you your ship, and then we're even." With that, Chopper rolled up to the cage door and shocked the lock, which opened it, allowing Vizago out. "Chopper, get the generators on board the Phantom." Ezra ordered the droid.
"My generators?" Vizago snarled at the boy.
"No, my generators." Ezra shot back, flinching. "Now come along and behave." he said, turning and headed towards the bridge.
"Yeah, you tell him Ezra." I said sarcastically, like pissing off a criminal like Vizago was a good idea.
As we headed to the bridge, I sighed in exasperation. I could just feel a big headache coming along. Next time Ahsoka says rest, that's what I'm gonna do. Who would have thought that after a month of being in this galaxy, after Inquisitors, Sith Lords, and Stormtroopers, my biggest headache would be an old Pirate and a Smuggler. Things never work out the way you think they will, do they?
"I believe you two know each other." Ezra said as we entered the bridge, finding Hondo in the captain's chair, counting credits.
"Partners, how could you let this dangerous criminal out of the brig?!" Hondo exclaimed in shock. He also seemed hurt.
"Save it, partner." Ezra said as he stepped forward. "Let's all relax. Here's what's going to happen: we'll be taking the generators, and you two will be splitting Azmorigan's credits." He told the two criminals.
"That is a completely fair deal, and it disgusts me." Hondo shook his head in disappointment.
"For once, I agree." Vizago piped in, holding something up. "Care to hear my counter-offer?" he asked. Oh God, it's the control for the droids. He just activated them. It seems Ezra wasn't the only skilled pickpocket on the ship.
As the two droids in the room activated, and a third one entered the room, Ezra and I grabbed our lightsabres and activated them. Immediately, I sprung into action, slicing the gun one of the droids carried and stabbing it through the chest. I pulled back and kicked the droid in what would be the stomach if it was organic. This caused it to fall on top of Vizago, who then fell onto a console. He must have hit a button or something, because at that moment, the ship pulled out of hyperspace, showing Garel in the distance.
Hondo was doing his best to shoot the droids, but they seemed to be resistant, except in key areas like the eyes. As he nailed one of the droids in the eye, I took the opportunity to horizontally bisect it, whilst Ezra cut off the gun hand of another, and then slashed it across it's torso, disabling it.
"Excellent work! I will invest your share wisely!" Hondo calls out to us as he opens a vent on the ground and slips in, taking the credits with him.
"Thanks for nothing, Partner!" I yelled into the vent as more droids piled in.
"Keep the Jedi occupied!" Vizago ordered the droids, having been able to escape from the disabled droid on top of him. As soon as he walked towards the door, Ezra reached out with the Force and was able to grip the droid control, but as it was floating towards his hand, one of the droids interrupted his concentration, and he dropped it. The droids kept firing at us, and we each dodged as best we could. I was still practising my blocking of blaster fire, but Ezra did well enough to protect both of us in this small space. Whilst he was on that, I dived for the control and immediately deactivated the droids, much to our collective relief.
"Thank fuck for that." I sighed, standing up as we deactivated our lightsabres. At that point, Ezra's comm went off, and Chopper was beeping frantically. "Don't tell me…" I groaned.
"What could have possibly gone wrong now!?" Ezra whined loudly as he ran out the door.
"Yep, that makes sense." I grunted, following him.
We ended up heading back to the airlock, where the Phantom was docked. As we arrived, we saw Vizago shooting at the airlock, and I slowed down. Unfortunately, Ezra was not so wise, and slammed right into the devil.(Heh.) As they recovered, they looked at the airlock, and Ezra's face was hilarious, I have to admit, but it wasn't worth the fact that Hondo had just taken off with not just the Phantom, but also the generators.
"Well, fan-fucking-tastic." I said with a facepalm.
"Hera's going to kill us when she finds out." Ezra whined, slouching.
"No, she's going to kill you. After all, this was your idea." I reminded him, earning a look of betrayal from him. "Hey, if you think I won't throw you under the bus to escape Hera's wrath, you've got another thing coming." I defended myself. Not a good one, but it's what I'm going with.
"At least you got your ship back." Ezra said to Vizago sheepishly.
"But I lost all my credits. And my generators!" The devil-like alien was not happy.
"Technically, they were our generators." Ezra reminded him, earning himself a scathing look from the criminal mastermind.
"Ezra, has anyone ever told you that you need to learn when to shut up?"
And that concludes the story of how Ezra, Chopper, and myself had been literally thrown into an escape pod and ejected into space. It was cramped, and I most certainly did not like it. As Chopper rolled forward to work the console and navigate us back to Garel, I noticed that Ezra was sulking in depression where he sat in the pod.
"You alright Ezra?" I asked.
"I don't know how we're going to explain this." He said with a gloomy sigh.
"All we can do is hope Hera doesn't get too mad." I said with a shrug. "But, at least your debt to Vizago is paid, now he can't cash that in to get something bad from you." I reminded him.
"Hondo still got away with the Phantom and the generators." The young Jedi sulked before Chopper bleeped in his direction. "What do you mean you know where Hondo is?" He asked the droid.
"Wait, what?"
Chopper is a genius. Never will I allow that bucket of bolts to know that I thought that for a moment, but in this instance, I will not deny it. In the privacy of my own mind. Apparently, he'd set the Phantom on autopilot to head right back to the Ghost, and only he knew how to undo it. Given how Hondo was fairing with the Broken Horn back when it was powered down, it was doubtful Hondo would be able to override Chopper's settings. I think I respect that droid just a little more now. Not that I would ever tell him.
As we headed towards the Ghost, we saw the ramp was down, there was the sound of voices coming from it. One voice in particular: Hondo's. He laughed at whatever story he was telling as the rest of the Ghost crew looked at him with varying faces of suspicion.
"-and then they let Vizago out! The villain was upon us, I'm telling you!" Hondo said dramatically as we approached. "But, young Ezra stood tall in front of me as strong Lance attacked the-" I interrupted him with a tap on his shoulder.
"Hey." I greeted simply.
"Hey." He returned with a nod before turning back to the others. "Now, as I was saying, I-" he stopped when he realised just who it was that he just spoke to. "My friends!" He greeted us with enthusiasm, putting his arm around Ezra and I. "I was just talking about you! How we rescued the generators from the evil Vizago!"
"That's not true. You stole the generators, and my ship." Ezra said, prying the hand away.
"Such an accusation! You wound me!" Hondo cried out in fake hurt. Hey, it was convincing, I admit, but we knew otherwise.
"Chopper had the Phantom on autopilot." Ezra deadpanned.
"Well, that's another version of the story, I suppose." Hondo said with a hand on his neck. "Tell you what, you may keep half the generators, and I-" That was it. With an annoyed growl, I grabbed my lightsabre and activated it, bringing it right up to Hondo's neck. He froze when he saw the blade, looking at me with sheepishness and fear. "Hehe… Red blade…" He gulped. "Why don't you keep the generators? Consider them my gift to you!" He declared happily, slowly edging backwards.
"That's what I fucking thought." I said, sheathing the blade.
"Language!" Hera scolded.
"That's never going to work, you know that right?" I asked her tiredly. She simply crossed her arms and gave me a 'oh really' look. The one Mums give to their misbehaving children.
"You look terrible." Sabine told me as Ezra went to say goodbye to Hondo.
"I'm exhausted." I said with a sigh. "An intense lesson, a shootout, being swamped by droids, and then being thrown into an escape pod will do that to a guy. Not to mention how exhausting Hondo and Vizago can be." I groaned, running a hand through my hair.
"Vizago?" Kanan asked.
"Ask Ezra." I sighed, stretching my muscles. "I just want to use the sani-steam and then go to sleep, if no one has any objections?" I asked, looking at Hera specifically. I figured she might want to yell at Ezra and I before we do anything else.
"Go ahead." She told me with an eye roll. "And Rex, contact Commander Sato. Tell him that Ezra Bridger and Lance Mikaelson found his generators." She said to the Clone Captain, who nodded.
And with that, I headed straight for the sanisteam. Still, in spite of all that happened today, I couldn't find it in me to think badly of Hondo. He was annoying, for sure, and I predict that he'll be a recurring annoyance in the future, but I don't think he's a bad guy. That being said, I fully intend on punching him in the face next time he causes trouble for us.
So, I finally managed to get another chapter up. Life has been a bit hectic lately. I'm now working two jobs, and I've gotten stuck into a massive open world game by the name of Assassin's Creed. Nuff said.
