"Hey! Wait." the boy says, walking up to me. I pulled my hood up when I was firing from the window, hiding my features. That comes in handy now. The woman who helped me walks out from behind a dumpster, as does the Mandalorian girl. The girl pulls off her helmet, shaking out her short, blue-green hair.
"Thanks for that. It was a close one," the boy says.
"Too close," the girl adds, checking something on her wrist.
"No problem." I look up at the woman, who looks back at me. "I guess we're even now." I look back to the boy. "But why were they after you all? I've never seen anything like that before."
The boy looks confused. "You've never seen a fight?"
Before I can say that's not what I mean, I've seen several fights, the woman answers him for me. "She's never seen anyone rebel, Ezra; it would not happen here."
"Yeah. I don't know how it is on other planets but no one fights back here anymore. And if someone does..." I sigh. "It's not pretty. The last execution was when I was younger. No one's rebelled since."
Ezra looks shocked. "As in public?"
I nod.
"Wait, they held public executions?" The girl also looks surprised. She hisses something to Ezra that sounds like, "Academy never...mentioned...public executions!"
The woman thinks about it for a moment, then seems to understand. "That's what he meant..." she mumbles to herself.
"Why do you think we haven't rebelled?" A second after I say that I hear the first bell ring, signaling 30 minutes before curfew. "You all should get going. Curfew starts in half an hour."
"Actually, do you know where this place is? All we have are coordinates." The girl says and shows me the coordinates on the device on her wrist.
Are they going to Jack's? "I know where that is. I'm going there actually, and it's not that far from here."
They follow me as the snow begins to fall faster. The girl, whose name I learn is Sabine, puts her helmet back on and I pull on my hood. I also learn the woman's name, which is Erica. I also learn that Erica and Ezra are siblings.
When we get to the back door I do the "special" knock that Jack told me about a few days ago. The door opens and Jack looks past us, scanning the area for Imperials. His eyebrows rise in surprise, but all he says is, "You all come in, quickly."
We file inside and Jack looks around outside before shutting and locking the door. "I was expecting that all of you would meet each other for the first time here, but I guess some things aren't meant to be," he chuckles.
The four of us look at each other in confusion. Jack smiles before motions for us to come upstairs to the supply room. Out of earshot of people passing by I suppose. As we walk upstairs I notice that his usually open and bright shop has its windows shut and the door closed, for curfew. And maybe for us? Apparently, I wasn't the only one that he was expecting.
We walk into the supply rooms, a surprisingly organized place compared to the shop downstairs. Clean shelves, labeled boxes line the two walls and an open window overlooking the city with a clear view of the Complex complete the room.
Jack looks at Erica. "You were sent by Hera, correct?" He asks Erica.
"Yes. And you must be Raydonia's agent then." Erica replies.
He nods. What? Before I can say anything Erica asks, "Where is the girl?"
"She's right here." Jacks gestures to me, and something registers in Erica's eyes. As if she's just realized something.
I open my mouth to speak despite the confusion but Jack cuts me off.
Jack sighs. "Willow, I'm afraid that there's not enough time for me to explain everything. But what I can explain is that...there are people fighting back against the Empire. There have been for a long time."
There's a moment of silence. For me, stunned silence. Ezra looks at me empathetically, as if he knows what this feels like. And it feels like something just sparked in me. A feeling that I haven't felt since the Empire came to Raydonia. "There's a Rebellion?" I ask hopefully.
"Yes," Jack says. "I've been working with them for a while now." He nods to the others. "So have they. They can get you off the planet, Willow, which is what you need right now."
A mixture of relief and panic hits me. "But what about Jaina?" I look him right in the eye as I say it. "I am not leaving her here."
"We've agreed to rescue her too," Sabine interjects before Jack can respond. "The rest of our crew is working on a plan to get her out of the Complex."
"And," Ezra adds, "Why is she in there? What happened?"
Guilt burns through my insides. I stare at the ground. "I did something that the Empire didn't like." Jack looks at me sympathetically. "And Jaina got caught in the middle of it."
I reach into my pocket, feeling for the drive. "I hacked her prisoner log out of the Imperials system a few days ago. That's why the Empire's really after me now."
Ezra and Sabine share a look, but they don't ask any questions.
Erica and I make eye contact, and she has a sympathetic look on her face, almost apologetic. Why can I understand her so well?
Jack interrupts the silence. "I can get you the more detailed specs for the Complex. I'll send them over to the Ghost after you all head out. Which you should now; curfew is starting soon."
We turn to and Jack quietly says to me; "They're good people. You can trust them."
I nod slowly. "Okay. I'll see you soon."
"You will. Well, hearing more from me." he starts to turn away.
"What do you mean-" I begin to ask when the door shuts.
~<-*->~
We're almost to the spaceport, where their ship, the Ghost is when suddenly a chill runs down my spine. Something begins to radiate through the air, something...intense.
"Wait," Erica commands. I turn to see her staring into the darkness behind us, along with the rest of us.
"What is it?" Sabine's hand rests on one of her weapons.
The street is old, one that I've taken many times, without any fear. No one resides in the empty apartments. Now it shoots through my system. "I'm always alone when I go this way. No one takes this street." I explain.
Erica keeps staring, her hand slowly moving towards...a flashlight on her belt? I didn't realize that she had one before. "Ezra," she says calmly. "Are you feeling anything?"
What? As I question Jack's judgment Ezra looks around. "All I feel is..."
Before he can finish his sentence a loud BOOM comes from the other side of the city. Immediately a siren shrieks, echoing through the streets. In the distance, flames began to light up the sky.
Over the noise, I shout, "It's the fire alarm! One of the lumber storages must have caught fire." Appreciating the distraction we run, seeing the walls of the spaceport in view.
~<-*->~
Behind the empty apartments, the hunter watched her prey ran. She smiled. The woman sensed the hunter, as did the boy. The girl did not. While her primary target was the prey, taking in a Jedi, a Padawan and a Mandalorian along with it would greatly please her master. She would identify them later.
Not much was known about the prey. Not a name, a story, hardly a face.
But one thing was known. As evidenced by the security camera footage provided by a colleague, the prey manipulated the Force to escape. Which was why the hunter was brought in on the case. The hunter had played this game before and was victorious time after time.
The hunter heard the whispers about her, in halls with those of little rank. The rumors. She didn't try to stop them. What was the point in hiding the truth?
The prey vanished into the mist. The hunter hated letting her prey runoff, especially with rebels. Not her ideal situation, but it was one that she could work with.
It would involve her having to wait, but after all, patience was an important virtue.
Especially for an Inquisitor.