No rest was to be had for the weary Ketsu. Her whole night was spent simply tossing and turning, unable to get that wink of sleep she so desired.
Sabine's words remained plastered in her mind, creating an uncomfortable feeling on her eyelids every time she forced them shut.
It was probably due to guilt. Though Ketsu would never even admit it. Despite hoping otherwise, she knew that Sabine was going to be furious with her once this was all over. There was no getting over that, but it was way too late to turn back now.
Sighing tiredly and rather loudly to herself, Ketsu pushed herself off the bed. She rubbed her eyes aggressively, trying to wipe away any of the drowsiness in them.
"Couldn't sleep?" Sabine asked in the bed across from her.
Ketsu turned to stare at her with bleary eyes. "You too?"
Sabine shook her head. "Woke up a while ago," She replied, stretching. "We're already there,"
The statement only made Ketsu feel dizzier. "We're… there?"
Sabine nodded. "I think you're going to need the shower. You look horrible,"
So tired was Ketsu that she couldn't even bother to flash a glare at Sabine. "Ughh.." She groaned as she dragged herself to the refresher. Her eyes glanced past Sabine as she made her way towards the door, coincidentally taking notice of her new clothing.
"New armour?" She asked.
Sabine fidgeted slightly. "I figured it was time," Her eyes lowered to inspect her pink armour once more. "Does it look good?"
A disgusted grumble escaped Ketsu's lips. "Ask your boyfriend that. Not me,"
"For the last time-" Sabine began, but was swiftly cut off by Ketsu exiting the room.
By the time Ketsu was done, the rest of the Spectres had already gathered. Of course this meant that Sabine and Ketsu were the last to arrive. And given that they were the last, it didn't take very long for everyone to notice Sabine's new look.
"You look good," Ezra immediately complimented. It earned him a shy smile from Sabine, an eye roll from Ketsu, and a round of chuckles from the rest of the Spectres.
"All right, now that we're all here, let's go over how we're going to find those munitions," Hera announced as she activated the holo projector. A small blueprint appeared in front of them, detailing the layout of the base which Ketsu had led them to.
"Based on our initial scans, it looks like you were right," Hera gestured to Ketsu. "The base looks mostly abandoned. And there seems to be quite a lot of storage for us to look through to find any potential munitions. The problem is, due to the size of the base, we're not able to get a full overview of the place,"
Hera pressed a few buttons and the image shifted to what seemed like the centre of the complex.
"Something seems to be blocking our sensors from getting the full data from here," Hera continued. "This isn't anything weird. The command rooms in any bases are usually installed with some kind of jammers to make it a little bit difficult for people to collect intel on the entire place,"
"So if we start there, we can get a better overview of the place?" Ezra asked.
Hera nodded. "I thought so too. But the Command Room is still quite far away from any of the docking stations I can see. I'm worried that we might spend more time trying to go to the command room instead of looking for munitions. We need to be efficient with our time here. Who knows when a stray Imperial patrol might come by,"
"What if we split up?" Ketsu suggested. "Some of us go to the command room, while the rest of us try to look for supplies in the nearby storage areas,"
Hera hummed to herself. "It's not a bad idea,"
"I think it's worth a shot," Kanan added. "I see some storage rooms nearby where we are and on the way to the command room. So the group which goes to the Command room can also help check out those places while the rest of us check out nearby,"
"That's a good point. We need to cover as much ground as possible in the most efficient way," Hera turned to Ketsu. "We'll go with your plan then,"
Ketsu let a proud smirk form on her face before immediately vanishing as a sickly bile taste rose from her stomach. "Nice," She forced herself to reply.
"I guess the question is, who goes where?" Zeb asked.
Giving it some thought, Hera replied. "I guess Ezra, Sabine and Ketsu could go to the Command room. Me, Zeb and Kanan can search around while Chopper stays on the ship,"
Chopper warbled something about not liking being used as a babysitter. But as always, his complaints fell on deaf ears.
"I guess that's fine," Sabine said. "Ketsu probably knows her way the best around here. And it's probably best to have a lightsaber in each group. Never know what we might come across,"
"Alright then," Hera handed two sets of comms to Sabine and Ketsu. "Keep in contact as much as you can. This place is supposed to be abandoned. But there still might be some smugglers or unpleasant surprises here and there. So don't let your guard down,"
"Copy that," Ezra replied as he followed Sabine and Ketsu off the ship.
"Find anything yet?" Ketsu heard Sabine ask.
"Nothing here," Ketsu replied half heartedly.
"Nothing in here either," Ezra said from a little bit further in the room.
"That's the third room we've checked so far," Sabine groaned. "Are you sure there's even munitions here?" She turned to Ketsu. "What did your friends even say about this place?"
"That there are munitions here," Ketsu replied sarcastically. The glare from Sabine told her all she needed to know about how annoyed she was.
"Maybe we'll have better luck at the control room," Ezra suggested, sensing the frustration in the air. "We should be able to get a better idea of where the munitions could be once we get a map of this base,"
"I hope so," Sabine replied as she checked the map on her display once again. "It should be this way," She pointed, heading in one direction.
As Ketsu followed behind Sabine and Ezra, her mind wandered to how she was going to enact the most critical part of her plan. By pure luck, she had managed to isolate them from the other Rebels. But luck was only going to get her so far. If she couldn't find a way to grab Ezra and put him on Mera's ship without too much complaining from Sabine, she was basically as good as dead.
Eventually, the trio arrived at their destination. Despite being abandoned for what could have been years, the control room looked to be quite operational. There was only a light smattering of dust here and there. Nothing a few swipes of the hand could get rid off.
"Looks like everything is still up and running," Sabine announced as she carefully switched on a few of the consoles. Her eyes scanned each and every one of the monitors as they flickered to life.
"There," Ezra pointed out. One of the monitors had what looked to be the symbol of a map. Hoping that it would display the layout of the entire base, Sabine immediately pressed her finger on it.
Turns out, the base was a lot bigger than what Hera had shown. Based on where they had landed, they had come from the east side of the station. And from the indicators on the screen, it looked like the storage rooms they had been looking through were mostly used to store medicinal goods and food stuff. Not exactly what they were looking for.
"Find anything about an armoury?" Ezra asked.
Sabine shook her head. "Not yet," She replied, remaining hopeful as her eyes carefully scanned through every inch of the map. "Are you sure this is even a military base Ketsu?" Sabine asked, finding no hints about any munition storage.
"Are you trying to say that I'm lying?" Ketsu bit back rather sharply. "Because if you are, you better tell it to me straight and stop beating around the bush,"
Before Sabine could tell Ketsu off about her snappy attitude, a loud crash could be heard somewhere outside the room.
"What was that?" Ezra asked. His eyes squinted as he tried to peer into the darkness of the hallways.
"I thought you said this place was abandoned?" Sabine sharply whispered to Ketsu.
"It was!"
Keeping himself as small as possible, Ezra was eventually able to vaguely spot a small figure floating near the edge of one of the doorways of the room. The beeping lights at the top of the figure indicated that it was most likely not a living being.
"Is that a droid?" Sabine pointed out.
Ezra nodded silently. His eyes were still glued onto the supposed droid. It was only when it brought itself into the light did Ezra realise what it actually was.
"It's… an Imperial probe droid," Ezra said aloud, pulling his head back. But what was it doing here?
The droid suddenly snapped its head towards Ezra, its eyes flaring bright red as it caught sight of the three intruders.
With a flick of his wrist, Ezra quickly used the Force to smash the droid into the ground, disabling it before it did any damage.
"Did we make it in time?" Sabine asked as Ezra approached the remains of the droid.
Ezra didn't immediately reply. As far as he could tell, no signal was sent out, which meant that their location hadn't been compromised. But the droid did not even have a transmitter. It had been modified, and in a way which Ezra was familiar with.
Ezra's eyes suddenly widened. "We have to go," He nearly shouted, no longer keeping his voice low. Before Sabine or Ketsu could ask why, another droid suddenly dashed out in front of their vision.
The droid extended its spindly arms in an attempt to zap Sabine. But Ezra reacted quickly enough to pull her out of the way. He then extended his hand, force pushing the droid away and smashing it into the wall.
But it only bought him a few seconds. Not a moment later, two more droids appeared behind them. Giving chase in an attempt to incapacitate the intruders.
"Run!" Ezra grabbed both Sabine and Ketsu's hands, pulling them away from the droids.
"Why are we even running?" Ketsu basically scolded. "They're probe droids. Can't you handle them? Just use your lightsaber and get us out of this mess!"
"They're not just any Probe Droids, they're Inquisitor Probe Droids!" Ezra replied, turning the corner.
But almost immediately Ezra came to a halt. A familiar sinister face was now standing right in front of him.
A vile smirk formed on the face of his new enemy. And without a word, the new enemy ignited his saber.
Sabine recognised the uniform. Ezra was wearing it almost every day on Lothal. "Is that.."
"Fifth Brother," Ezra replied. Feinting an attack, Ezra raised his hands and pulled several loose cables from the ceiling. Crashing them on top of the Fifth Brother and providing an ample enough distraction for him, Sabine and Ketsu to escape.
"What is an Inquisitor doing here?" Sabine asked as she ran.
But Ezra didn't respond. His mind was racing with the thoughts of escape. There was no way he could deal with the Inquisitorius if Sabine and Ketsu were with him. And he still had to ensure Hera and the other's safety.
"Hello Thirteenth Brother,"
Another Inquisitor suddenly appeared in front of Ezra, one he was even less looking forward to meeting. The eyes of Seventh Sister shone with malicious glee as Ezra slowly backed off, trying to turn the other way.
But Fifth Brother had already recovered, and was now blocking their only way out.
Without any other choice, the three of them brandished their weapons. Ezra tried to keep both the Fifth and Seventh in his field of view. Hoping to block and absorb all of their attacks.
Smirking, the Seventh Sister twirled her blades. "Why so scared Thirteenth Brother?" She asked, relishing the fear she was sensing from the former Inquisitor. "Don't tell me you're afraid of me and Fifth Brother? You've already defeated the Grand Inquisitor. What's there to be afraid of?"
Adjusting his grip on his blade, Ezra tried as best as he could to calm his nerves. "You and Fifth are the last people I am afraid of," He replied.
Seventh's smirk turned into a hearty laugh. "So you say," She said. "But I can still sense your fear," She purposely snapped her gaze to Sabine, forcing Ezra to put all his attention on the Seventh Sister.
Fifth Brother took notice of this, and immediately struck once he was out of Ezra's field of view. His killing intent nearly slipped past Ezra's senses. But Ezra was more attentive than either of them had given him credit for. He turned his whole body back towards the Fifth Brother in one swift motion. Narrowly managing to block the lethal blow.
Sabine and Ketsu reacted in fear. Nearly falling to the ground as the blades clashed.
"Looks like you're not as rusty as I had expected you to be," Seventh Sister taunted. "But it's not going to be enough," The droid on her shoulder hopped off and zapped Ezra when he wasn't looking.
Ezra recoiled in pain as electricity ran through his body. It should have been over right then and there. But it wasn't. His fellow Inquisitors wanted to toy with him. Break him until he couldn't be broken anymore. That was the Inquisitor way.
"Why go through all this pain, Thirteenth Brother?" Seventh said. "Just fight without holding anything back. Don't let your friends stop you from your rampage. Show us the power of the one who managed to take down the Grand Inquisitor,"
Sabine saw the look in Ezra's eyes. He didn't want to say it, but she and Ketsu were holding him back. He couldn't fight properly if he needed to protect the two of them.
If that was the case, then they shouldn't have to fight at all. Clasping her fingers around her gauntlet, Sabine's fingers searched for a particular notch. It should be here, Sabine thought. Confident that Ezra's care had not altered her armour too much. Her lips curled up in silent glee as she found it.
Sabine discreetly poked a finger at Ezra's shoulder, flashing him a look she hoped he'd understand. And through some miracle, he did.
"If you're not going to get them out of your way," Seventh Sister continued. "We will," She signalled to Fifth, and he raised his saber once more.
But he never even got the chance to attack. Sabine pushed the button on her gauntlet, and a loud sound resonated from it. Everyone was affected by the sharp noise, save for Sabine. She was the most prepared for it, and her ears and senses were the only ones left untouched.
"Come on!" Sabine grabbed both of their hands and dashed right past their assailants.
"That's not going to hold them for long," Ezra shouted, his eardrums still numb.
"What are they even doing here?" Sabine asked, noticing for a moment the flash of guilt which flashed briefly across Ketsu's face.
"I don't know, but we'll have to-" Before Ezra could finish, he shoved both Sabine and Ketsu down to the ground and brought his saber out once more.
"You worm!" Fifth charged at Ezra in a rage. Tackling him and nearly causing him to topple over.
Doing his best to stay standing, Ezra used all his might to push the Fifth to the side. "Go!" He urged. Gathering energy in his fingertips and letting it shoot out in a burst of electricity.
Fifth's scream was all Ezra needed to know that Sabine and Ketsu were safe from his attacks. If he stopped now, Fifth would be incapacitated for long enough that he would be able to escape together with them.
But he didn't. A dark emotion welled up in Ezra's heart as Fifth's scream became more and more pained. But it wasn't the scream that Ezra was enjoying. It was the feeling of power. The ability he had which allowed him to inflict pain on those who cared not about.
A voice inside Ezra's mind told him that he liked this feeling. Told him that he loved it. And Ezra didn't argue. Without even realising it, he let himself slip away even further. His need to protect slowly turned into a need to torment. And Ezra would have lost himself entirely. Had it not been for Sabine.
"Ezra!" Sabine's voice pulled him back before he got too far. The hatred which welled up in his heart immediately retreated. But in its place came a piercing pain.
"Agh," Ezra groaned as he held his head. He may not have given in completely, but the damage had already been done. His head was sent reeling as the after effects of using the Dark Side took its toll.
"Come on!" Ketsu urged. The two of them had somehow rigged a door open. But based on their expressions, it didn't look like it was going to stay that way for too long.
Pushing through the pain, Ezra moved as fast as he could towards the two of them. But just as he was one step away, he found himself falling flat on his face.
"Ezra!" Sabine shouted again. The Seventh Sister was now just behind him. Her hands were extended and her face contorted as she pulled Ezra closer towards her. Normally, resisting such a thing would require miniscule effort on his part. But given his current state of mind, there wasn't much he could do.
He could only blame himself for his foolishness. Using the Dark Side had its price. Using the Dark Side uncontrollably had an even heavier price. And he found himself with barely enough energy to do a single thing.
Lifting his head, Ezra focused his eyes on Sabine. "Run," He muttered helplessly, using what little energy he had left to shove the two of them to safety. Pushing them away from the doors, and closing them shut.
Ezra's vision blurred as Sabine and Ketsu disappeared from his sight. He was about to faint from the headache, but Seventh Sister forced him awake.
"We'll find them you know," Seventh chided, roughly planting her foot on Ezra's stomach.
Ezra coughed, but smiled. "No you won't," He said before finally passing out.
"No!" Sabine screamed as she scrambled to her feet. But the doors had already slid shut way before she could even reach them. Once again, she was separated from Ezra. And all she could do was bang her hands helplessly against the doors.
"Ezra!" Sabine called again as she banged her fists.
"Stop it!" Ketsu scolded, snatching Sabine's hands away.
But Sabine remained stubborn. Fighting against Ketsu with the same ferocity.
"Just stop Sabine!" Ketsu pleaded until finally Sabine snapped at her.
"Why? Why should I stop?" Sabine bit back. "Ezra's stuck with two psychopaths and I'm the only one who can help him!"
"Help him?" Ketsu said incredulously. "Sabine, those are Inquisitors. If Ezra can't help himself, we're not going to do any better. We have to get out of here before they decide to cut through these doors and come for us,"
"Leave? You can't be serious Ketsu," Sabine exclaimed.
"I am. We can't do anything against those Inquisitors. It's over for Ezra, but it might not be for us,"
Sabine had to resist the urge to smack Ketsu right in her face. Her selfishness knew no bounds, and it was starting to get to Sabine.
"How did they even know we were here anyway?" Sabine asked. "We expected Imperial patrols to come by eventually, but not Inquisitors," She turned her accusatory gaze to Ketsu. "The Empire wouldn't send Inquisitors to scout a random base. Unless they knew it had something of value to them, like a former Inquisitor,"
"I didn't do anything!" Ketsu defended herself. "It wasn't supposed to- I didn't mean for-" She tried to say, but the words seem to keep getting stuck in her throat.
"You're not acting like yourself lately Ketsu," Sabine pointed out. "You're snappier than usual. And more secretive. You're hiding something aren't you?"
Ketsu felt her heart beat faster. "I'm not!" She desperately tried to convince Sabine.
"I know you were talking to somebody back on the Ghost," Sabine finally accused. "I heard you when I went looking for you. Was it the Empire? Did you turn us in? Just to keep yourself safe against Crimson Dawn?"
"Sabine, you know I wouldn't do that!" Ketsu tried to smile as she forced the lie out of her. But there was no sincerity behind her emotions. Sabine knew full well that Ketsu was lying.
It was clear now that she was hiding something. Perhaps it would not have come to this had Sabine brought it up earlier. But regardless, whatever she was hiding, there was no time for Sabine to get it out of her now.
Sighing, Sabine removed her glare from Ketsu. "You will tell me about this later," Sabine demanded. Ketsu wanted to object, but the look on Sabine's face gave her no room to argue. "In the meantime, contact Hera and the others. Tell them that Ezra's been caught by some Inquisitors. And we might need their help to get him back,"
"Fine," Ketsu replied. Knowing that there was no convincing Sabine to leave.
Rubbing her head, Sabine tried to come up with some kind of plan. She knew she stood no chance against an Inquisitor. She wasn't even that good in hand to hand combat. Groaning to herself, she tried not to think about how Ezra's parents might look at her now. It was already bad enough they didn't want her around Ezra. And now she'd gone and gotten him captured.
"Sabine," Ketsu called out.
"What is it?" Sabine asked. "Did you call Hera?"
"I did. But she's not answering,"
Arching an eyebrow, Sabine grabbed the transmitter. "Hera, do you read me?" She asked. But only static could be heard.
"They must be jamming us," Sabine concluded after trying a few more times.
"Or they've already been dealt with," Ketsu dreaded.
"All the more reason for us to rescue Ezra then," Sabine said. "If the Spectres have been captured, then Ezra will be our only chance to get out of here. We need to come up with a plan to get him out,"
"Plan? You're crazy. There's no plan in the world that's going to help us beat those Inquisitors. We might as well cut our losses and leave. Ezra's as good as dead either wa-,"
The sound of flesh slapping flesh reverberated in the hallway. Ketsu tentatively brought a hand to her cheek, still shocked at the sting from Sabine's hand.
"We're rescuing him. Whether you like it or not," She said dangerously, threatening another slap.
"Sabine, I-"
"I don't care what it is you're going through Ketsu. But you don't get to talk about Ezra like that," Sabine stabbed a finger at Ketsu's chest. "I know I haven't been fair to you lately. But neither have you. So this stops now. Either you help me with this, or I do it myself,"
"But… but how are we going to get him back?" Ketsu stuttered.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Sabine replied. "We're going to have to find him first before we can come up with any sort of plan. We still have the map from the Command Room, so we can at least make some guesses on where the Inquisitors will take him,"
Sabine's eyes scanned the map in her display.
"Based on what Ezra's told me about them, they're going to look to capture us too. So they'll want to have someplace secure to put him while they come looking for us," Sabine searched for a suitable location which matched her needs. "There," She said eventually. "That's where we'll most likely find Ezra,"
"And if he's not there?" Ketsu asked. "What then?"
"Then we find their ship. We'll find their ship, and disable it so that they can't leave with Ezra,"
Seventh and Fifth were currently at an impasse. The defiant gazes on each of their faces remained plastered on their expressions as their argument only intensified.
"We're not going to kill him," Seventh repeated with a snarl, roughly tossing Ezra's limp body into the wall.
Fifth growled back, his hands moving dangerously close to his lightsaber. "We have orders," He reminded.
"Our orders were not to kill the Thirteenth Brother," Seventh countered. "Our orders were to capture the Togruta Jedi, and kill the older human. Lord Vader let us decide what we wanted to do with Thirteenth Brother,"
"And your decision is to keep him alive?"
"For now," Seventh ran a hand over the top of her droid's head. "Lord Vader expects us to deal with all the Jedi which attacked the base. Keeping him alive will draw the others to us," Seventh turned her attention to her partner. "Thirteenth did not travel alone. He brought his friends. Go round them up," She ordered. "I'll stay here to keep watch,"
"You want me to listen to your orders?" Fifth growled in protest. But even he knew there was no point in arguing.
"If you want to be the one giving the orders, maybe next time you should stop being so short sighted," Seventh snapped.
With a begrudging glare, Fifth Brother eventually left to do as he was told.
Once she was alone, she turned her attention to Ezra. A momentary feeling of glee filled her mind. But it quickly gave way to rage. To hatred. Her last memory of him only served to anger her further. It may be hypocritical of her, but there was nothing more she would have loved than to choke the life out of him. She didn't care how doing so would affect the mission. She just wanted to watch him beg for mercy.
"I know you're awake," Seventh pointed out, needing a distraction from her bloodlust.
Dropping the facade, Ezra pushed himself up. "How kind of you to remind me," He said sarcastically, gripping his sides as he leaned against the wall.
Frowning, Seventh Sister marched herself towards him, lightsaber in tow. "You're going to want to treat me with a little bit more respect," She warned, holding the tip of her hilt against his neck. "Wouldn't want your friends to see your head on a pike,"
Sighing, Ezra lazily moved his head out of the way. "If you wanted to kill me, you would have done so already,"
Seventh chuckled. "I don't need to kill you to hurt you," She ignited her saber without warning. The blade singed the sides of Ezra's face. "Which should I take first? Your leg? Or perhaps your arm?"
Ezra glared defiantly, not showing a hint of fear. "If you need a handicap for when we fight later, you might as well take both,"
Anger flared in her eyes, and the Seventh Sister responded by wrapping her hands around Ezra's neck. "I've beaten you more times than you can count!" She screamed.
"But you couldn't beat me the one time it mattered most," Ezra bit back.
His disrespect only made Seventh Sister angrier. But fortunately enough for Ezra, besides being roughly dropped back to the ground, her reactions did not escalate any further. Instead, she reached for Ezra's saber in her pocket, dropping the weapon and letting it roll to Ezra's side.
"Pick it up," She demanded. "Fight me so that I can finally put you in your place,"
Ezra stared at his saber for a moment, before returning his gaze to Seventh Sister. "No," He refused.
Rage flared in her eyes once again. "Pick. It. Up," She said in a dangerous voice. Making it clear that she wasn't going to ask again.
"Look at me," Ezra raised his hands. "I'm practically disabled thanks to all that kark you and Fifth Brother put me through. Maybe next time if you wanted to have us duel like the good old days, don't bring Fifth Brother and your toys,"
"Your excuses won't save you, Thirteenth Brother," Seventh force pushed the saber onto Ezra's chest. "Use it, or you'll fight without it,"
Relenting to her demands, Ezra wrapped his fingers around the familiar metal. His head was still swimming, but he somehow managed to keep himself standing as he pushed off the ground.
"Ignite it,"
But Ezra did not comply. He stared at his lightsaber for a moment, before turning his gaze towards Seventh Sister.
"This is about what happened before I left for Lothal isn't it?"
The memory flashed in Seventh's mind, causing her to charge at him in anger. She brought her saber in a forward slash in an attempt to slice Ezra in half. But Ezra simply stepped out of the way. Only using minor movements to conserve what little energy he had left.
"Beating you was the only way the Grand Inquisitor would let me leave," Ezra continued, dodging another attack. "You know he would have come up with another reason to keep me there if I lost," Ezra managed to avoid a stab from the Seventh's blade, but he couldn't react in time for when she kneed him in the gut.
"Shut up!" Seventh demanded. Using the force to throw a stack of crates at Ezra's face.
The boxes collided into him, sending him crashing to the ground before he could even recover.
"You don't have to do this Seventh," Ezra insisted, somehow managing to roll away from another attack. "I know the Grand Inquisitor hurt you too. And I know beating me was the only thing that freed you from his torture,"
Seventh growled with rage. She tried to stab Ezra with the bottom end of her saber, but it only managed to pierce the ground.
Using all of his strength, Ezra firmly gripped his hands around the Seventh Sister's, forcing her to keep her blade in place.
"Fight me!" Seventh demanded again. Beating him when he hasn't even activated his saber would mean nothing for her.
"I should have told you that I was letting you win all the times we fought,"
Anger welled up in Seventh's mind once again. Completely ignoring her weapon, she forced Ezra to his feet as she pulled him alongside her saber. Putting all her rage into her foot, she planted a kick square on Ezra's chest. Launching him directly into the wall.
"You are a pathetic worm!" She shouted. Aiming her saber towards his heart and charging towards him.
The moment the saber made contact, Ezra's eyes went wide. He thought he had messed up. He thought he had somehow misinterpreted her distance from him. But looking down at where the blade had connected, Ezra let out a sigh of relief as he realised Seventh had missed him by a hair.
"Stop this," Ezra pleaded. This time gripping the hilt of Seventh's lightsaber to keep her in place.
Seventh snarled. Trying her best to pull her weapon out from the wall but to no avail.
"Do you ever wonder why they always paired us together during training?" Ezra asked. He was on the verge of fainting. It took everything out of him just to keep her still. But he knew he needed to at least say his part.
He hadn't planned on trying to pull her out from the dark today. But he couldn't let her take all the blame for what she had done.
Ezra focused his gaze on the Seventh's, and in that moment, she seemed willing to listen.
"We were paired together because they wanted a former Jedi to learn how to hurt the weak, and they wanted a naive orphan to learn how to hate the world,"
"They didn't make me hate you Seventh," Ezra's tone fixated on that statement as he released his hands from her saber. "You don't have to be the person that the Empire wants you to be,"
The last of his strength left him, and once her senses returned, Seventh was finally able to pull her saber out with ease. For a moment, she stared at him. And not a single thought of hatred or rage filled her mind. He was trying to redeem her from what she had done. He was trying to save her.
And weirdly enough, she was grateful for that.
But then, she let herself come back. "It's too late for that," She whispered to nobody. A regretful look passed her eyes for one second, but it was almost immediately replaced with maliciousness again.
"Don't worry. I won't kill you," She continued as she dragged his knocked out body to the corner. "I want you to watch as I take the lives of everyone that you care about. Only then, will I let you die,"
With stealth being their only option to rescue Ezra, Sabine and Ketsu decided to make the decision to crawl through the tight vents in order to get to their destination. It was a very tense few moments for the both of them. With the threat of instant death hanging over their heads, even the tiniest creak made their bodies go rigid.
"Quiet," Sabine suddenly whispered. And Ketsu didn't object. Ketsu stuck her ear on the metal surface, trying to hear what Sabine had heard which made her react as such. After a few moments of hearing nothing, Sabine gave the signal to carry on.
This was the third time she had done this. Usually, Ketsu would complain. But given the situation they were in, she could hardly find it in her to do so.
"We should turn here," Sabine announced. Confidently moving to the right of the intersection.
"Wait,"
Sabine suddenly stopped, and Ketsu bumped her face into her rear behind. "What is it?" She asked, wondering if Sabine heard something of concern.
"I think it should be a left instead,"
Ketsu groaned inwardly. Sabine's map reading skills left a lot to be desired, but she decided it best to keep her complaints to herself for now.
"No, hang on," Sabine stopped again. "I think it's actually a right,"
This time, Ketsu didn't bother hiding her dissatisfaction. Rolling her eyes, she tried to squeeze around Sabine to get in front of her.
"Give me that, let me see," She reached her hand out. But before Sabine could pass her the display, the vents around them made a large creaking sound. And without any warning, the vents suddenly collapsed. Dropping both Sabine and Ketsu to the hard floor below.
Ketsu winced as she rubbed a sore spot on her arm. "Clearly that was a bad idea," She said unconsciously. Surprisingly, Sabine didn't bite back. She probably agreed. It should have been a given that the vents would be in a decrepit condition. Especially considering how old the place was.
"Come on, we have to move," Sabine urged, ignoring the pain and standing up. "I don't want to find out if anyone heard what happened,"
Like a switch in her mind, Ketsu immediately shot up. Her fear of getting impaled overpowering the pain in her limbs.
"Where are we?" Ketsu asked, leaning against the wall beside Sabine.
Sabine carefully peeked her head around the corner. No droids, or Inquisitors. That was a good sign.
"We should go through that hallway," Sabine replied as she pulled her head back. "If they're taking Ezra somewhere, it should be there," She pushed the map in front of Ketsu, showing one of the empty rooms not too far from where they were.
"And if he's not there?"
"Then we go here," Sabine dragged her finger across the display, pulling it to what looked like a dock. "The Inquisitor's ship should be somewhere here. If we're quick enough, we might be able to stop them before they leave,"
"Ok, but I'd still like to point out that this is all based on the hope that we're not the only ones alive,"
Sabine rolled her eyes. "Alright listen. They're not dead ok? So can we please stop acting like they're-"
The sound of an igniting lightsaber cut Sabine off. And almost immediately, the two of them turned their heads to the source of it.
Their gazes were met by the Fifth Brother's menacing smirk. "I don't think Seventh's going to mind too much if I bring the two of you back dead," He didn't wait too long to charge them after his threat.
In a panic, Ketsu grabbed her blaster and fired off a few bolts. But to no avail. Like the Jedi before them, Fifth deflected all of her shots back at her with ease. One of the shots hit Ketsu in the arm, causing her blaster to fall from her hands.
"Run!" Sabine decided, dragging Ketsu with her.
The two of them ran blindly throughout the base. No longer relying on their map to tell them the way.
"Where are we even going?" Ketsu asked.
"I don't know, just run!"
Sabine and Ketsu both lunged forwards as they heard the familiar sound of a whirling lightsaber behind. Fifth's lightsaber flew through the air directly at them.
The two of them jumped into a nearby hallway, narrowly dodging the blade.
But Fifth Brother was already starting to gain on them.
Looking around for an idea, Ketsu spotted what looked to be even more ageing vents above them.
"There!" She pointed to Sabine, and she immediately got the message.
"Good catch!" Sabine quickly rigged a few detonators to her belt. Slipping them off her, she flung her belt to the ceiling above. Its magnetic latch stuck on the metal vents with a sharp clack.
There was no time for celebration however. Given how they could hear the Fifth Brother was closely approaching. The two ran to the far side of the path, standing with their breaths held as they waited for the Inquisitor to come.
Eventually, he did jump out from around the corner. His smirk was still as wide as it was when he first saw them.
"Given up already?" He snarled. Delighted that his opponents feared him so. He approached slowly. Savouring each and every step he was taking before coming to a stop right where Sabine stuck her detonators.
"Nope," Sabine said with a smile of her own. The roof above the Fifth Brother suddenly exploded, dropping a huge amount of debris on him. There was a lot more debris than either Sabine or Ketsu had expected. It looked like they had collapsed an entire floor on the Inquisitor.
"Is he dead?" Ketsu asked hopefully.
"No. They don't die easily," Sabine replied. "Come on. That's not going to hold him for long,"
Ketsu was about to follow, but then a red blade suddenly jutted out from the pile of debris.
"That didn't hold him at all," Ketsu replied. "Sabine, give me all your detonators,"
"What?"
"You're not going to be able to rescue Ezra if two Inquisitors are trying to stop you. I'll try to keep this one as far away from you as I can. You need to get to Ezra," Ketsu urged.
Sabine wanted to argue, but she could see that the Fifth Brother was almost out. So she quickly gathered all the detonators she had left and passed it to Ketsu.
"Don't die," She said before running off.
Holding the detonators in her hands, Ketsu let out a wry laugh as she wondered what she was even thinking. Of course getting to Ezra was important. But getting herself out of there was almost equally as important.
As more and more of the debris was cut away, Ketsu prepared herself for the worst. She refused to let herself die here, even though it seemed like the only option.
Eventually, the Fifth Brother broke out from under the debris, and boy did he look pissed. His breathing was ragged, but it wasn't due to pain. It was due to his anger. Fifth Brother didn't even bother to take his time anymore. All he wanted to do was kill the people who humiliated him. And Ketsu was first on his list.
"Hey Ketsu! Out of the way!" Another voice suddenly said from behind her.
Not even questioning the source of the voice, Ketsu immediately followed its instructions. And not a moment later, several large crates zoomed right past where Ketsu stood a moment ago, ramming right into the Fifth Brother.
"What the.." Ketsu wondered aloud as she turned to look at what happened to the Inquisitor.
Again, it didn't seem like he was dead. Just held against the wall by several supply crates with droid sized rocket boosters strapped at their backs.
"Sabine?" Ketsu wondered again, turning to the opposite side.
But instead of Sabine, she saw someone else.
"Qi'ra's not going to be very happy if you come back with less people than you first left with," Mera appeared, shaking her head as she saw Ketsu.
"You were supposed to wait for the signal Mera," Ketsu said with a frown.
"I did. But then I saw a ship with the Inquisitorius symbol on its tail, and I guessed you were going to need some help,"
"Well thanks Mera, but-"
"But the help doesn't come free Ketsu," Mera reminded. "When you come to me with a plan and tell me to follow it, I don't expect to need to do anything," She gestured at the stack of crates at the end of the hallway. "I'm doing something now Ketsu. And I want to know if it means that Qi'ra will get what she wants,"
"I'm working on it," Ketsu said with a frown.
"Oh good good. So where is your target?"
"Sabine's- Ria's getting him. Once she does, we'll take him to your ship where I'll knock him out,"
Mera didn't seem to catch the slip of the tongue. "And Ria's alright with kidnapping him?"
"She is," Ketsu lied. "Just get your ship ready. We'll need to make a quick exit given that the other Inquisitors aren't too far behind,"
Chuckling to herself, Mera placed a hand on Ketsu's shoulder. "You're not good at lying, but you do have some incredible luck. Just make sure the target is with you once you fetch Ria. Or I'll leave the two of you to deal with those Inquisitors on your own," Mera warned.
Ketsu nodded stiffly. Worried if Sabine would follow through.
"My ship's right next to the Inquisitor's. I've already disabled some of their flight systems. So we don't have to worry about them giving chase," Mera explained.
"Thanks again Mera,"
"Don't thank me yet," Mera reminded. "I'll leave you in a heartbeat if I don't see the Inquisitor I want coming with you,"
The shaking ground shook Seventh Sister out of her thoughts. Immediately she shot up from her seat. Her hands snapping around her saber as her thoughts drifted to the worst outcome.
The only explanation for the vibrations she could think of were explosions. But Seventh knew as well as anyone that Fifth Brother did not use any explosives. Which could only mean one thing. The Rebels were fighting back. And they were putting up quite the fight.
Not even a few minutes later, a second more heavy sound could be heard. Again, the sound could not have come from an Inquisitor. But it at least meant that Fifth survived the first explosion.
Standing at attention, Seventh carefully crept towards the door. She heard nothing else, which was both worrying and comforting.
Was it time she started considering Thirteenth's words? He seemed willing to let bygones be bygones. If Fifth had really been taken down by those two and the rest of the Rebels, there'd be hell to pay when she returned to Vader.
Before she could pursue that line of thought any further, a figure suddenly sprinted into the room.
Seventh nearly jumped in surprise as she ignited her saber. Her eyes focused on the surprising guest.
"Kriff," Sabine cursed as she realised the situation she had put herself in. Running into a room without checking was definitely not a good idea.
With all thoughts of redemption thrown out the window, Seventh immediately launched her attack. She tossed her saber directly at Sabine. The spinning blade moved with such speed that Sabine was barely able to duck before the blade singed the sides of her helmet.
Scrambling to her feet, Sabine took advantage of a temporarily bladeless inquisitor. She burst fired round after round right at Seventh Sister. Hoping to score a few hits on her before she got her weapon again.
But the Inquisitor was too agile. She leapt across the flurry of bolts. Letting them sail harmlessly into the wall behind her. With a snap of her hands, Seventh redirected her blade to her hands. Nearly slicing Sabine in half once again.
"You're good," Seventh seethed. "I'm going to enjoy letting Thirteenth Brother watch you bleed,"
Sabine fired off another flurry of bolts. But her attacks were as harmful as a handful of stones now that the Seventh was armed. She deflected each of Sabine's shots. Turning her own weapons against her.
"The sooner you give up, the less it'll hurt for you!"
Seventh was relentless in her taunts. But Sabine was even more relentless with her attacks. Somehow, she managed to maintain a steady flow of blaster bolts despite having to dodge her own. She ducked and weaved around the environment. Making use of the fallen crates and broken off consoles to shield her from her reflected attacks.
Eventually, Sabine managed to land a lucky shot.
"Argh!" Seventh exclaimed in pain as one of Sabine's bolts landed square on her shoulder. In a fit of rage, she threw a large crate directly at Sabine, knocking the wind out of her and her blasters to the ground.
"You are going to die here," Seventh threatened. She leapt across the room, her hands landing around Sabine's throat and squeezing them tight.
"I wanted him to watch me kill you," Seventh explained, watching as Sabine struggled in her grip. "But maybe it'll be better if he wakes up to your cold lifeless body right next to him!"
"No!" Ezra suddenly screamed from behind her. His hands shot outwards almost immediately. Electricity firing from his fingertips and surrounding the Seventh Sister. Her body was set alight by a glorious blue glow. A magnificent display of Ezra's powers. If only it was completely under his control.
Sabine took a moment to recover from nearly having her life choked out of her. When she did, her heart stopped as she felt the aura around Ezra. With nothing but concern filling her mind, Sabine naively reached a hand out to try and put a stop to his uncontrollable rage. But Ezra could not tell left from right in his situation.
With a snap of his eyes, Ezra momentarily turned the lightning towards Sabine. The hatred meant for the Inquisitor bared its fangs against his closest friend. And it was her pained screams which finally broke him out of his stupor.
"Sabine!" Ezra said as he realised what he had done. His yellow eyes returned to its lustrous blue as he tried to rush to her side. But once again the price of using the Dark Side proved too much for him. His piercing headache led him to collapse just a few steps from her.
"Sabine…" Ezra choked out. "I- I didn't mean to,"
Her muscles were still twitching despite only being electrocuted for a moment. "It's- it's alright," She consoled. Getting mad at him was the last thing she wanted to do. It took every single ounce of strength for Sabine to push herself up. But even then, the pain still lingered.
"Are you ok?" Sabine asked once she stood up.
Ezra shook his head. "I feel terrible," He tried to laugh. But it came out in broken grunts.
"Come on," Sabine said, offering a shaky hand.
Hesitantly, Ezra grabbed her hand. Accepting her offer to lean on her for strength. He let his gaze wander towards the Seventh Sister's unconscious form. His eyes lingering on her for a moment as he wondered about what he should do.
"What do you want to do with her?" Came Sabine's voice, echoing his thoughts.
Mulling for a moment, Ezra eventually shook his head.
"She's made her choice," He said with a regretful tone.
"You found him,"
Sabine and Ezra snapped their heads in the direction of the voice. And the pair came face to face with Ketsu.
"You're alive!" Sabine cheered. "But how?"
"I had help," Ketsu said cryptically, avoiding Sabine's eyes. "Come on. Hera's waiting for us. They found some munitions. We can finally go now,"
Raising an eyebrow, Sabine wanted to question Ketsu's claims. But Ezra was looking bad. And she worried that every second she delayed was only going to lead to him getting worse.
"Lead the way," Sabine turned to Ketsu. "Ezra needs to rest,"
Nodding, Ketsu obediently led Ezra and Sabine out of the room.
Each step felt like an eternity for Ketsu. She knew the way back to Hera's ship. And she knew that Sabine knew it too. Which is why she was silently praying that Sabine was too preoccupied with Ezra's condition to notice that they were going the wrong way.
"We're almost there, Ezra," Sabine said absent mindedly. He was almost completely leaning against her now. Relying completely on her for strength. So engrossed was Sabine in Ezra's condition that she didn't even notice when a red Twi'lek walked up to her.
"Well, well, well. Looks like you two ended up delivering in the end," Mera said impressed.
Sabine's head shot up almost immediately. "Mera?" She exclaimed. "Wait, what are you-" The dots were finally connecting in her head. But it was already too late.
Without warning, Ketsu suddenly fired a stunning bolt at Ezra. His already exhausted mental state meant that he wasn't able to sense the attack and defend himself.
"You!" Sabine looked at Ketsu, who then proceeded to fire another stunning bolt at Sabine.
Sabine was somehow able to still retain her consciousness, but her strength was already starting to fail her. A hateful glare formed in her eyes as Ezra's body pulled her down with it.
"Cut her some slack, Ria," Mera said as she pulled Ezra's body out from Sabine's feeble grasp. "She was the one being threatened by one of the most infamous crime bosses only a few days ago,"
"Come on," Ketsu said, helping to pull Sabine away from Ezra. "It's going to work out just fine in the end,"
Ketsu's words made something snap in Sabine's mind. Without warning, she swept her legs under Ketsu, causing her to fall and drop her remaining blaster.
"Give. Him. Back," Sabine demanded. Holding the blaster against Ketsu's throat.
Staring at the scene, Mera couldn't help but laugh. "Come on Ria!" I couldn't care less what you do to each other. If you ask me, I'd rather go back alone. Claim all the glory for my-" Her eyes suddenly went wide as a flying crate landed just a few steps to her left.
The Fifth Brother screamed in anger as he used the Force to grab yet another crate. Flinging it at the group without a second thought.
"Time to go," Mera decided, redoubling her efforts in pulling Ezra with her.
"Sabine, we need to go now," Ketsu pleaded. Nothing was stopping her from breaking out on her own. But she knew that if she did so, Sabine wouldn't bother coming with.
Another crate sailed past their heads, landing just in front of Mera's ship.
"Sabine!" Ketsu repeated. But Sabine stood stiff. Her eyes glued to the figure of Ezra slowly being pulled away from her.
With no time left to wait, Ketsu rammed the back of her head against Sabine's. Stunning her for a moment and giving her the opportunity to wrestle the blaster back from Sabine's hands. Life returned once more to Sabine's eyes, and she channelled all that newfound energy into getting away from the Inquisitor.
"Come on!" Ketsu urged. She could see that Mera wasn't lying when she said that she would leave the two of them if she had the choice. Her ship was already halfway off the ground. At least she kept the doors open as a courtesy.
Leaping with all her strength, Ketsu barely landed half her body onto the ramp. With panicky motions, she managed to secure herself before turning and extending an arm towards Sabine.
"Grab it!"
Sabine somehow found it in her to leap towards Ketsu's hands. Narrowly dodging another flying crate. With the two of them safely on the ship, Mera wasted no time in getting out of there. Separating Ezra and Sabine from the Spectres once again.
Everything was going perfectly fine on Hera's side. They had somehow managed to scrounge up a few small crates of ammunition, as well as some medicinal supplies. It wasn't necessarily a bad haul, but it also wasn't a good one.
"Why so down, Hera?" Kanan chirped as he loaded another crate onto the Ghost.
"It's not enough,"
"Not enough?" Kanan arched an eyebrow. "It's more than we've found in the past month,"
"But it's still not enough," Hera repeated with a sigh. "I don't think Sato and the commanders are going to help Sabine and Ketsu if we can only find this much,"
With a knowing look, Kanan placed a hand on her shoulder. "It'll work out somehow," He said. But Hera couldn't find it in her to reciprocate his optimism.
"Let's check in with Ezra," Kanan suggested. "Who knows, maybe he and Sabine found some more munitions at their side,"
Agreeing with him, Hera pulled out her comms. "Ezra, how are things at your end? Did you guys manage to find anything?"
Usually, some delay was to be expected. But Ezra was normally a pretty fast reply. Not this time however. Hera had to wait full seconds hearing nothing but static before deciding she needed to try again.
"Ezra, are you there?"
Now even Kanan was starting to get worried. Not being able to reply meant only one thing. Complications. And those complications were never usually a good thing.
"Give me a map. I'll go looking for them,"
But Hera didn't respond. In a flash, she quickly ran right back into the Ghost. She rigged her transmitter to the main computer of her ship. Using her technical know-how, she manually reprogrammed the transmitter to act as a short range tracer. Locating frequencies similar to the ones the Spectres were using, and displaying their locations on the ship's map.
With silent anticipation, Hera watched as her tracer worked its magic. At first, she saw two other dots near her location. That would be Zeb and Kanan. But Hera's heart slowly sank even further as the range increased. There were no other dots besides the ones nearby. Until…
Three dots appeared momentarily. Only to almost immediately zoom out of her tracer's range.
She had found Ezra, Sabine and Ketsu. But they were no longer on the station.
"What are they doing outside?" Kanan asked.
"They're not outside," Hera replied dejectedly, head falling into her hands. "They've been captured,"
And that's a wrap! Of this arc I mean. I will continue to post chapters to this story, but on a weekly basis like before. Don't worry, the story should be finished for you to read as I am done writing everything.
Thanks once again for waiting so long, and thanks also for all the kind comments.
As usual, constructive criticism is always welcome. See you next week!