Road From Ruin: Star Wars Rebels

Chapter 10: The Temperamental Hyperdrive

Azulia's P.O.V

"Azulia?"

Thwack

As my name was called, a cool, solid surface made a harsh contact with my forehead.  I froze in pain momentarily and bit my tongue in order to stop an unpleasant word from escaping my mouth.  Shoving myself out from under the communication panel, I rose, rubbing the now sore spot on my head.

"Thanks." I spat out groggily. I looked up to see Bridger, to my dismay.

"Sorry." He apologised, although he didn't sound it.  I tried to shake off my grogginess and glared up at him before taking my mechanic goggles off.

It had been a week since I'd come back from Felucia. It was safe to say that me and Ezra hadn't really spoken. In fact, I'd barely seen him at all, or maybe it was more accurate to say that I'd been avoiding him. Ezra had tried to approach me three days ago, but I'd made a point of having to get back to work, despite having been exhausted that day.

"What do you want?" I went about collecting my various tools and equipment, attempting to get my bearings back from the rather rude awakening.  After getting back to the command ship, I'd gotten changed into a slim fitting grey and white mechanic jumpsuit and had a pair of goggles strapped to my head from when I had been welding the previous night.

"They want you in command." That made me stop.  I turned to face him.

"They want me in command?" I asked skeptically. He nodded. "Um... ok." I said awkwardly. "Thanks." He didn't leave. "Don't you have a command to report back to?" I snapped.

He was looking at the holo-tables pushed around the room. "Did you do all of these? What time did you sleep?" He asked, his eyes widening slightly.

"I dunno?" I massaged my head trying to think. "Two, three o'clock?"

There was an awkward silence as I collected my thoughts and tidied up the mess I made. I had successfully turned the once organised mechanic room into my workshop; it was now an incomprehensible mess.

Once I dragged myself into a presentable state and didn't look like I'd slept on the floor, I begrudgingly followed Ezra through the halls of the main command ship, the Hope.

It was just my luck that my favourite guard was at the door.

As I walked up to the door behind Ezra, the guard held out an arm to block me. Seriously, doesn't this guy take lunch breaks?

"Look, I have to get through." I said tiredly, still too shattered to pick a fight.

"She's with me." Ezra confirmed.  Reluctantly, the guard let us through, but not without giving me a scowl.  The door slid open to reveal a vast room.  A holo-table was in the centre and steps led up to a dais of which the Hope's flight controls lay.  About seven workers sat at the horseshoe shaped controls.  Screen showing various statistics adorned the walls the it was the people around the control panel that brought my attention the most.  The entire crew of the Ghost stood there, as well as Ahsoka Tano and a middle aged man, who looked like he was just starting to push into elderly years.  His hair was greying slightly and he wore armour similar to that of Stormtroopers, but different.

"Nice to see you could join us." Kanan commented to Ezra.  I suddenly became aware of the large dark circles that had formed under my eyes from working into that late hours of morning.

"How were the holo-tables looking?" Ahsoka asked me.

"A lot of internal problems.  Loose shilo pins were the biggest issue as well as fried circuits.  Although, you did have a corroded fan on a couple and a cooling generator had completely failed from age.  I fixed most of them though and there are only about three more to go." I said smoothly, trying not to sound as if I was to drop dead at any second.