Two days had passed, and, although the crew of the Ghost tried to carry on with their day-to-day activities as per usual, it was impossible to ignore the gundark in the room: the Sith-spawned she-dog (Kanan had taken to referring to her in his head) that had unwillingly taken up residence in their cargo hold.
The ysalamiri oil was bothering him too. The presence of the Sith woman was maddening enough, but what was worse was that he couldn't feel through the Force where she was. He knew in his mind, of course, but he was so used to having awareness of the entire ship on another level that it was extremely jarring to suddenly have a blind spot occasionally mottled with the sheer power of the Dark Side show up on his mental map of the ship.
And he was worried about Ezra. The kid was far too trusting, and no matter how many people had betrayed or let him down in some way, he would still believe everyone who crossed his path until it was too late.
Kanan had lost that trust within the first three days of the Operation Knightfall. Ezra's naiveté was both a blessing and a curse, and he would probably be better off without it, but the kid was a part of the crew and his apprentice. And Kanan would protect what was his.
He looked over at the kid, who was walking beside him as they made their way down the hallway of the Kyzeron Sunset, Teri's blue-and-white corvette, where the rest of the crew was interfacing with Commander Sato, who was aboard another ship flying alongside them.
He sighed quietly. The fact that they were on Teri's ship wasn't easing the feeling of unease that had been twisting itself into a knot in his stomach for the last few days, either. It was the belly of the beast as far as he was concerned.
"Ezra," Kanan began, but realized belatedly that Ezra probably wouldn't take his views on the situation well.
But it was too late to take it back, because Ezra spoke up a moment later. "Yeah? What is it?"
"Kid, you need to keep an eye out." On the inside, Kanan winced. Bad start, he thought, exhaling quietly.
Ezra shot him a look. "What? Why?"
"I don't like the looks of this. Teri's got stuff going on that I don't think is good for us, okay? He's way too protective of that Darksider for no reason at all, and I don't like it."
"What are you talking about?" Ezra asked, just a hint of hostility discernable in his tone. "Teri is one of the nicest guys I've ever met! He hasn't done anything to hurt us... The Inquisitor woman was just him trying to think ahead, like he said."
"I'm not so sure about that. Just..." Kanan looked up, noting that they were getting close to the door to the bridge, as well as about to come across another obstacle. "Watch your step, kid."
"I'm okay, Kanan!" Ezra huffed. "Why won't you just let me–"
He broke off with a cry of surprise as he suddenly tripped over a raised section in the floor – a metal cover for a pipe of some kind – and was sent sprawling. He rubbed his backside, a little dazed from the fall.
"I didn't mean that figuratively," Kanan said with a chuckle, offering Ezra his hand to help him up.
Ezra smiled, taking it. "I'll try to be more aware next time, I guess."
The door in front of them slid open just as the hologram of Commander Sato flickered into view. It wasn't safe to stop the fleet so that the Sunset could dock with the newly appointed flagship, and that need for mobility was the reason why they were communicating with him via HoloNet instead of in person.
"The destruction of our command ship has severely limited our ability to fight the Empire in this sector," the commander intoned.
"So maybe we don't fight," Ezra said, walking into range of the projector. Then, as the figure in the hologram turned to give him a look, he shrank back uneasily, offering up a half-hearted salute. "Uh... Commander Sato, sir... When things got tough for me on Lothal, I'd go find some place to hide."
"You are never shy with your opinions, Ezra Bridger." Commander Sato raised a condescending eyebrow, but his posture relaxed from still to merely formal a moment later. "But, establishing a base is a good idea."
Hera put her hands on her hips, her expression pensive. "The problem is none of the potential bases we know of have the tactical advantage we need to protect what's left of our fleet."
Kanan stepped forwards. "Or aid the nearby systems suffering from Imperial oppression."
"We can't help others if we can't help ourselves, Kanan," Hera said, and, although she was very good at hiding it, something in her voice very clearly conveyed that her patience was wearing thin.
What did I do this time? He wondered, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. Can I not be trusted to think aloud and bring up points that need to be addressed during briefings, or something?
"If only we had more allies," Hera concluded after a moment with a sigh.
"I know someone... who might be able to help us."
Everyone present looked up as Teri spoke up.
"Several someones, actually," he corrected himself, getting up from where he was leaning up against a wall to walk closer to the hologram. "But the first guy's the ticket – if we find him we'll find the others quickly enough." He smiled. "He's great military commander with a vast knowledge of the Outer Rim. He could definitely assist us in finding a base.... And his experienced leadership would make him a powerful ally."
"How do we recruit this 'leader'?" From the look on his face, Commander Sato hadn't yet been informed of the use for that force field, and he didn't like that he was being kept in the dark. It was only natural that he was skeptical.
Teri looked up, his grey eyes thoughtful. "Therein lies the problem. I lost track of him a few years back, and all my transmissions since then have gone unanswered."
"We can find him," Ezra volunteered immediately. "Let us try."
"Well, there is one option I haven't yet tried. But the probability that it would work is quite slim..."
No one missed the teasing smile on his face. Kanan knew Teri was egging the kid on. He wanted them to try and see how it all played out.
"I'll meet you all back on the Ghost. I have to get something from my quarters." He turned back to face Commander Sato's hologram. "All right if I tag along with them for this mission?"
He nodded.
"See you as the phoenix flies," Teri said, reciting what Kanan had learned was the first half of the customary parting phrase between higher-ranking members of the Rebellion.
"Over the Empire's ruins and into the sunset," Sato finished. "Commander Sato out." Then he ended the transmission, and the hologram dissipated into the air.
-:-:-:-:-:-
Sabine installed herself in her usual spot in the seat behind Hera, smiling as the painted fabric and stickers tickled the back of her neck. She had been meaning to spruce the old, faded colors on the chair for a while now. Her hair and armor had already been redone, and she painted new things in her room at least once a week, so this was the last thing to do.
But such plans would have to wait until later – the door to the cockpit slid open, and in came Teri, with what appeared to be a piece of old, tarnished machinery in his hands. But as far as Sabine's inner mechanic was concerned, it was a wonderful treasure; a relic of a time she knew about from stories alone.
"Is that... the head of an old tactical droid?" Kanan asked, looking down at the metal component that Teri had just dropped in Sabine's lap.
"These droids were great at finding things; calculating." Teri sighed as if old memories were suddenly getting to him. "They've found our foot soldiers deep in the Onderonian jungle when we thought we were beyond range of all sensors... And even in the best hiding spots on the plateaus we could think of."
"And the Separatists during put a ton of time and money into designing them back during the Clone Wars, too. Made them really hard to hack," Sabine added. "To be holding a part of one now is... incredible!"
Teri nodded. "The only reason I was even able to get ahold of this one was because we were able to take advantage of a blip in its programming after a battle to override its self-destruct." He smiled. "We grabbed the head and ran like mad!"
Wonder what battle he's talking about, Sabine thought. Somewhere on Onderon, I'm guessing... He would have been old enough at the time to fight in the war and be involved when these droids were still being used, wouldn't he?
Ezra gestured to the metal head Sabine was holding. "How in all the galaxy is that droid going to find your friend?"
Chopper chattered irately for a moment, apparently choosing to take that comment as an insult to droid-kind.
"Well, he'll probably be hanging around one of the Warded planets. I know he's got friends on Tyre... But then again, the pirate colonies are also a pretty good bet. Best if we checked on Ashkelon or Seelos."
"Wait, Tyre?" Hera turned back towards them where she had been fiddling with her controls, an incredulous look on her face. "Teri, you know those are just old spacer stories!"
"There's always a bit of truth in legends," he said with a smile that looked to Sabine like he knew things they didn't. "I've been there a few times myself."
"What, on glitterstim?" Kanan jibed.
Everyone laughed heartily at that. Even Chopper squawked and chirped his amusement in droid binary. For a moment, it looked as if Teri was about to reply, but his eyes narrowed eyes went back to normal and he simply said, "Believe what you want. But I'm not doing 'stim nor am I lying."
He thought for a moment. "Yeah. Okay. Last I heard from him he was somewhere around the Seelos system. Trouble is that system's got three or four habitable planets and thrice that many colonized moons. And Rhea..." He chuckled. "Well, it's Rhea. Let's just hope he's on Seelos for the game season."
"That doesn't narrow it down much," Kanan said, standing up.
Teri narrowed his eyes fractionally – he obviously hadn't missed the slightest hint of a challenge in the Jedi's voice. "Well, it's the best I can do right now. Hera, set a course for the Seelos system. You can start there."
"You're not coming with us?" Ezra asked.
"Of course I am!" Teri replied with a chuckle. "I wouldn't miss a chance to see Maddox and the guys again for the world! I've just got some research to do, so I might be in the back when we get there."
"Who's Maddox?" Sabine asked.
But Teri was already halfway out the door. "You'll see," he called.
"All right, then," Hera said to herself. "Setting a course for the Seelos system."
"Wait." Kanan looked the Twi'lek pilot right in the eye. "What about our 'friend' in the cargo hold? The longer we leave her there the more time she has to figure out how to escape and kill us. Not to mention call in the Imperial Navy."
"You know it's too dangerous to move her now that she's awake," Hera replied. "We'll just have to hope for the best until we can figure something else out."
Then there was a gentle tremor as the Ghost freed itself of the Kyzeron Sunset's docking clamps. As Sabine turned the old droid head over in her hands, examining it, the ship flew away from the rest of the fleet.
A lever was pulled and the white points of light against the backdrop of space faded into starlines, and they were on their way.
*THE DUMBNESS STRIKES AGAIN!!!! Meaning that I should be studying but instead I chose to finish the last page of this update, yay!! Hope you guys liked it!
Anyways, I'm pretty happy with the way the talk went between Ezra and Kanan, for one very simple reason: the way he mistakes what Kanan says and trips just seems like it could totally happen in the actual SWR, and it's just such an Ezra and Kanan thing to have happen XD
And Sabine's POV! Yay! I'm going to try to write stuff from her perspective, just because it could be really interesting and I feel like she has a lot to say that wasn't really touched upon much in the Rebels material that's already been released... Although this wasn't a SUPER interesting half a chapter to have her tell, I'm definitely going to be writing more about her in the future, but perhaps not in the ways you would all think...
The rest of the chapter was me ripping off the first couple of scenes from the episode, but hey, that's okay! There were a few little references made to planets that are going to become important later in the story to spice it up, and to the mysterious 'Maddox'...
(Also, it is REALLY fun to tell the briefings from Kanan's POV. I don't know why, it's probably the fact that he kind of hates authority figures and is so independent that even when he's trying to be helpful he's just sarcastically stating the obvious XD)
But anyways, NEXT CHAPTER *pauses for dramatic effect* is going to get interesting. And I mean REALLY interesting. (I'm looking at you, Storm-Shadows7.) But, sadly, there'll be a little bit of a wait for it because I'm still not out of this mess known as exams yet...
SOTE is next on the list. It's already partially done, and as soon as the weekend is here, I promise I'll write it up and post it, my friends :)
WISH ME LUCK and may the Force be with you (AND ME),
Sharron