Chapter III - "A Phantom Menace"
Agent Kallus stood on the bridge of the Resurgence with a handful of other Imperial Officers going over data from the space battle that concluded some hours before. As the doors to the bridge whooshed open behind them, Agent Kallus glanced over his shoulder and stood at attention as the Inquisitor walked in with his hands folded behind his back.
"What seems to be the situation, Agent?" he asked, joining them at their table. "How goes the search for our two missing vessels?"
"TS-25d has already begun transmitting coordinates, Inquisitor." Agent Kallus replied. "We will know of the location of the Ghost soon enough. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the rebel command ship that our tractor beam failed to capture. All attempts thus far to calculate its trajectory have proven to be futile."
Admiral Konstantine cleared his throat and subtly tugged his collar.
"...I see." said the Inquisitor as be began to stroke his chin. "Then we must focus our efforts on processing the rebel prisoners we have managed to capture while we await the final destination of the so called, 'Ghost'. Perhaps by then we will have extracted the information we need from them and located our final missing vessel."
"If I may interrupt," came the voice of Admiral Konstantine. "Lieutenant Lyste has already secured the last of the rebel escape pods and begun transferring their passengers to the brig now. Shall I have them brought to you for interrogation?"
The Inquisitor turned to Admiral Konstantine and waved his hand.
"Go. Bring them to me."
The Admiral gave a quick nod and went to do as he was told.
"Agent Kallus," the Inquisitor said after a brief moment of silence. "These rebels you've encountered... what do you think of them?"
Agent Kallus exchanged glances with a fellow Imperial Officer before switching his attention back to the Inquisitor.
"They are brilliant and resourceful, Inquisitor." he boldly replied. "They will not surrender without a fight."
The Inquisitor leaned forward and studied the holographic images of the Ghost crew as they came up on the projector table in front him.
"Good..." he whispered to himself. "Very good..."
The Ghost sailed through hyperspace as the doors to its lounge whooshed open, allowing Hera Syndulla and Sabine Wren to step inside. Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger were already there, along with Garazeb Orrelios and C1-10p (who was better known as Chopper). As the two women made their way across the room towards the rest of the crew, Kanan nudged Ezra in the shoulder who in turn did the same to Zeb.
"What's the word?" asked Kanan, straightening up in his seat as soon as everyone was paying attention.
"Well," replied Hera, crossing her arms. "I have good news, bad news, and very bad news."
"Lets start with the good news," said Kanan, leaning back in his chair.
"The good news is, we're safely away from the Empire for the time being."
"And the bad news?"
"We..." Hera cast a glance towards Sabine. "Won't be for long."
Hera pressed a button on the holo transceiver in front of her. A complete holographic schematic of the Ghost popped up along with a 3D rendering of the entire vessel a millisecond later.
"Our systems have detected a bug on our hull," Hera pointed to a blinking red dot near the auxiliary deck of the holographic model. "The Empire is most likely tracking our signal. Soon they'll be able to calculate our trajectory and follow us through hyperspace."
Ezra and Zeb exchanged glances as Kanan crossed his arms.
"We can live with that." he said. "We've outmaneuvered the Empire before. We can do it again. What's the really bad news?"
Sabine stepped forward and pointed to another area of the Ghost which instantly began blinking the moment her finger hovered over the location.
"The Ghost's life support took a hit," she said. "In roughly an hour and thirty minutes, there won't be enough oxygen in here to keep any of us alive."
"Okay..." Ezra began rubbing the back of his neck. "That's bad. Can we land somewhere and make repairs?"
Hera put up her hand and stepped up beside Sabine.
"That's not all," she said. "Our hyperdrive's leaking coolant. Once we manually jump out of hyperspace, we won't be able to recharge the hyperdrive and get back into lightspeed if the Empire catches up with us. Not only that, but we're losing power, too. We need a new motivator."
"Great..." Zeb rolled his eyes. "I'm guessing that's just as bad as it sounds. Is there anything we can do about it?"
"We're doing it." Sabine replied. "We need to discuss our options and come to a decision."
"Okay," said Kanan. "What're our options?"
"We can wait until our scanners pick up a planet in our flight path and jump out of hyperspace to make repairs," Hera replied. "But that's a gamble as we won't know if the planet we land on is inhabited or not or if it has the technology to assist us."
"Wait," Ezra spoke up. "What about the Phantom? It has a hyperdrive too, right? Can't we use it to find help?"
"Nuh-uh," Sabine shook her head. "The Phantom won't do us any good. It got hit during the pickup. Power's out."
"Great..." Zeb rolled his eyes again. "So what you're all saying is that we need to either find a planet to land on within the time span of an hour and thirty minutes, or otherwise we all die?"
Chopper made a comment in binary and gave a quick chuckle.
"Yeah..." growled Zeb. "...everybody but Chopper."
"Sleemo," muttered Ezra, banging Chopper on the head.
The droid whipped out a taser extension from his roughly-cylinder shaped dome and zapped the youth in retaliation. Ezra yelped in surprised, but followed up with a kick to droid's side. Kanan rolled his eyes and moved to intervene, but something in his peripheral vision caught his attention. The blinking red dot that represented the tracking device on the hull of their holographic ship had begun to move.
"What the...?" Kanan narrowed his eyes, leaning forward in his seat to get a better look. "Is that thing moving, or is it just me?
Hera glanced away from the commotion between Ezra and Chopper and followed Kanan's gaze. She lifted a brow as the blinking red dot made it's way to the rear of the ship and stopped just above the engines. Before she could react, something happened. The Ghost suddenly dropped out of hyperspace with a violent rattle.
"What was that?" asked Sabine cautiously as she picked herself off the ground after being thrown off balance by the troubling event. "Did we just drop out of hyperspace?"
Hera scrambled to her feet and pointed in Ezra's direction.
"Ezra, I need you, Zeb, and Chopper in the engine room right now! We need to know what just happened to our engines! Kanan, Sabine, you're with me!"
As Hera rushed towards the cockpit, the members of the Ghost crew quickly exchanged glances.
"Are we deaf?" Sabine shouted, looking around. "Let's move!"
The crew burst into action and split up into their separate groups. As Hera raced to the cockpit along with Kanan and Sabine, the Ghost's artificial gravity gave way and sent them floating into the air.
"Uh... Hera?" Kanan said. "I think something's wrong."
"Ya think?!" Sabine cried, catching a bar on the ladder in front of her to prevent herself from floating down the hallway.
"Keep pushing towards the cockpit!" Hera cried, using an indent on the wall to propel her forward. "We need to find out what's happening to the ship!"
As the three friends made their way into the cockpit and hovered over the controls, Hera began to diagnose the problem on the ships computer. It didn't take long for the Ghost to highlight the root of the problem and relay it to the monitor. Hera narrowed her eyes as the information came up on her screen. The diagnosis made it clear what was happening.
"Sabotaged," she muttered.
"Come again?" said Kanan, looking up from the instruments in front of him.
"That stealth fighter didn't tag us with a tracking device," Hera replied. "I think it tagged us with something worse—a small sabotage droid capable of disabling the Ghost by itself."
"Sabotage droid?" asked Kanan, floating over to Hera. "You mean like a buzzdroid? Haven't had to deal with those since the Clone Wars. They can do some serious damage, if given the time."
"That's not all they can do now," Hera replied. "These imperial buzzdroids have built in homing beacons. They can transmit a signal through hyperspace and lead Empire straight to us. If even half the things I've heard about them are true, we're lucky the hyperdrive is all we've lost so far."
"Wait, wait, wait, Buzzdroids with hyperspace tracking beacons?" asked Sabine with an upraised brow. "That's some serious technology—even for the Empire."
"I doubt they developed it themselves." Kanan muttered. "Probably extorted the CCN for its schematics during the Balmorran invasion some years ago. Whatever the case, this buzzdroid's going to strand us out here unless we do something. No doubt it's next move will be to kill the power."
"Then we have to act now," Hera replied, narrowing her eyes. "If we're going to prevent a full system shutdown, we need to reset—"
The lights and computers in the cockpit flickered off before she could finish her sentence. A moment later, the Ghost's engines followed suit. The ship was completely dead.
"...So much for that idea." Hera muttered. She quickly turned her attention back to the controls in front of her and tried a few buttons. “Everything’s dead. We’re completely offline!"
"What about the external scanners?" suggested Sabine. “Don't they run on a separate battery?"
Kanan turned to Sabine and gave a confused look.
"External scanners? What for?”
"Sabine is suggesting we use the external scanners to locate the buzzdroid." replied Hera with a sigh. "Unfortunately, the external scanners share an auxiliary cell with the life support system. We can't use one without taking power away from the other."
"But we could use it to locate the buzzdroid, right?" said Kanan, turning to Hera. "You're sure about that?"
"Yes," Hera answered, rolling her eyes. "But as I told you, that would take away power from the life support system—which I'm sure you know is already low as it is!"
"It won't use much power to operate the scanners," Sabine argued. "Besides, we need to deal with this Buzzdroid now, or we'll never be able to get the power back online before the Empire catches up with us!"
"I agree," said Kanan. "Nothing we do here will matter unless we deal with that buzzdroid first. This is our only chance to save the Ghost."
Hera closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"You’re right. We don’t have a choice. Sabine, access the auxiliary mainframe on the panel outside the cockpit. Once you've diverted power from the life support systems to the external scanners, I'll use the display up here to imitate a scan of the ship. Kanan will standby with a life-support suit to deploy once the buzzdroid has been located."
"Sounds good," said Kanan. "I'll grab a stormtrooper helmet from Ezra's cabin. That should save me more time than putting on a spacesuit."
"Good thinking, Kanan." Hera said, giving a nod. "Now let's do this!"
Kanan and Sabine went to do as they were told. As Kanan floated down the hallway towards Ezra's cabin to retrieve a stormtrooper helmet, Sabine stayed behind to access the control panel outside the cockpit. When Kanan returned with a stormtrooper helmet a few moments later, he found Sabine working the controls of the mainframe in what appeared to be a successful manner.
"How's it coming?" asked Kanan as he floated up to Sabine.
"I just finished diverting power to the external scanners." Sabine replied. "Hera should see them coming online any moment now!"
Kanan gave a smirk and put a hand on Sabine's shoulder.
"Good work, Sabine. Let's see what Hera picks up on the scanners."
Sabine nodded and followed Kanan as he floated back into the cockpit. There they watched as Hera worked on the controls in front of her.
"What's the word?" asked Kanan as he floated behind the concentrating Twi'lek. "Did you find what we're looking for?"
"No," Hera replied. "Somethings wrong."
Kanan and Sabine exchanged glances.
"What is it?" asked Sabine with a nervous expression.
"I don't know," the Twi'lek replied. "I can't seem to run a scan on the ship. I'm picking up a lot of interference from a nearby planet."
Kanan lifted a brow.
"A nearby planet? That can't be right..." The ex-Jedi narrowed his eyes and looked intensely at the data coming up on the screen in front of them. "We've got to be at least a hundred parsecs from the nearest system. There shouldn't be anything out here but open space."
"Yeah, well, tell that to the scanners." answered Sabine, crossing her arms. "Unless," the teenager continued, pointing to something outside the cockpit window. "You want to tell it to the planet itself."
Kanan Jarrus and Hera Syndulla followed Sabine's gaze only to freeze at the sight before them. There, looming majestically beyond the viewport before them, was a beautiful planet all by itself with a miniature sun and a moon orbiting around it like a sattelite. As the three members of the Ghost made their way to window to get a better look at the unusual sight, Ezra and Zeb floated into the cockpit behind them.
"Hera, we have a problem!" Ezra exclaimed as he and Lasat hovered over to the other members of the crew. "The engines are completely dead, and nothing we do--wait, what are you guys looking at?"
The Lasat and the boy quickly exchanged glances before hovering over to the other three members of the crew and joining them in gazing out the window.
"This planet match anything on record?" asked Kanan after a moment of awe-inspired silence.
"Not that I'm aware of." Sabine replied.
Ezra narrowed his eyes and lifted a brow.
"Is it getting bigger, or are we getting closer?"
The members of the Ghost exchanged glances.
"Karabast..." Zeb muttered. "We're going to crash, aren't we?"
"Everybody, strap in!" Hera cried, pushing them away from the window of the cockpit. "Get to your seats before—"
The Ghost slammed into the planet's atmosphere. Immediately, natural gravity began to take affect on everything in the ship. Once the members of the Ghost crew had recovered from the initial impact, they scrambled into their respective seats around the cockpit and began to work the nearby controls.
"We're burning up!" Sabine exclaimed as the Ghost shook violently in the planets atmosphere. "We have no shields to protect the hull!"
"Shields are the least of our worries!" cried Hera from behind the ships main controls. "If we don't get that power back online soon, we won't have anything to slow us down before we reach the surface!"
"You mean there isn't anything you can do to slow us down?" yelled Kanan. "No wind flaps? No emergency thrusters? Heck, not even parachutes?!"
"No!" Hera snapped. "There isn't anything I can do! We're going to crash—and hard!"
The members of the Ghost watched in complete horror as the Ghost barely made it through the atmosphere and began to plummet towards the ground. Through the viewport, they could see a large forest on the surface rapidly increasing in size as they screamed towards it. At the speeds they were going, death was most certainly imminent. As the Ghost continued to rumble and shake as it fell, Kanan closed his eyes and tried to find peace in the force. Master Billaba had said something about finding that all those years ago on Kaller. In peace, there was focus, and in focus; a plan.
"Ezra," said Kanan calmly, opening his eyes. "I need you to help me with something."
"Help you?!" The boy replied. "With what?!"
"The Ghost is already falling too fast for anything to stop it—even if we did manage to get the power back online. But there is a way we can still save our skins! I need you to use the force! We're going to cushion the Ghost!"
"What?!" Ezra cried. "Kanan, I can hardly cushion a person, not to mention an entire spaceship!"
"Don't argue with me, Ezra! I need you to focus! Find the harmony beyond the chaos! Find the force!"
Ezra took a deep breath and closed his eyes. As he and Kanan stretched out their hands, the Ghost began slow down in mid-air. It did not stop completely as Ezra willed to make it, but eventually the Ghost slowed down enough that it wouldn't vaporize the moment it slammed into the surface.
"Kanan, we're leveling out!" Ezra cried, overjoyed. "We're actually doing it!"
"Hang on!" Hera tightened her grip on the yoke. "It's still going to be a rough landing!"
Kanan peeked open one of his eyes. The Ghost began to pull up as it approached the canvas of the large forest. As the ship skimmed the tree tops of the alien woods, Kanan reached out into the Force with all of his strength to cushion the inevitable impact of the Ghost as much as he could. Would it be enough? Kanan didn't know. All he knew is that he could try his best and wait to see if his efforts would be for naught.
'Five hundred feet...' Kanan thought, mentally preparing himself for the impact. 'Four hundred feet... three hundred... two hundred... one hundred!'
He squeezed his eye shut. The Ghost touched down.
Caleb Dume sat across from his Master, Depa Billaba, on the hard rocky floor of a cave beneath a battlefield withhis legs crossed and his hands folded across his lap. As the two Jedi attempted to meditate in the midst of the battle taking place above them, Caleb Dume peeked open one of his eyes to see if his master was doing the same. Master Billaba did not show any signs of weariness, causing the young padawan learner who was experiencing such things to sigh and rest his cheeks against his knuckles
"Caleb Dume," said Master Billaba without opening her eyes. "I believe you're missing the point of this exercise."
"I just don't get it," Caleb muttered. "Why are we trying to meditate beneath a war zone? Isn't the point of meditation to find peace?"
Master Billaba's face remained neutral.
"Beyond all chaos, there his harmony," she replied, her voice calm and quiet. "Beyond all discord, there is order."
Caleb Dume rolled his eyes.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
Master Billaba opened one of her eyes and lifted a brow before closing it and continuing her meditation.
"Chaos is a word we use to label that which we cannot associate with order. When something we perceive as random or chaotic emerges, we explain it away as unexplainable. This is not true with the Force. The Force explains everything that exists. It explains to us who we are, what we are doing here, and where we are headed on our journey in the galaxy. Everything has a purpose. Nothing is truly random. Everything exists collectively as part of a greater life force. No one can truly choose their own destiny, Caleb Dume. All is only as the Force wills it."
Caleb muttered again.
"I still don't get it."
Master Depa Billaba smiled, but kept her eyes closed.
"Nothing is an accident," she said. "Everything is in accordance with the Force's greater will. Always remember this, Caleb; There is no chaos, only harmony. There is no death, only the force."
Caleb lifted a brow and continued to stare at his master. He could still hear the battle raging on the battlefield above them, but somehow Master Billaba was still deep in peaceful meditation. Caleb sighed to himself and took a deep breath.
"There is no chaos, there is harmony..." he whispered to himself, closing his eyes. "No chaos... only the Force."
Kanan Jarrus groaned as his eyes slowly blinked open, revealing the bottom of a bunk that he quickly identified as Zeb's aboard the Ghost. He sat up as soon as he was capable of doing so and attempted to calm the raging headache he had awoken with by grasping the sides of his head with his two hands. As his pain began to subside after a minute or so of doing so, Kanan scanned his surrounding only to find that he wasn't alone in the dimly lit room.
Hera sat across from him in a chair next to a desk in the corner of the room with a solar lantern in her lap that appeared to be the only source of light in the dark cabin. The exhausted Twi-lek was resting her head agaisnt her arm on the desk—probably getting some shut-eye as she watched over Kanan. However, as the ex-Jedi attempted to slip out of his bunk without awakening her, Hera quickly took notice and got up with the lantern in order to stop him.
"Easy," she said, placing her right hand on his left shoulder as he dangled he legs over the edge of the bunk. "You have a concussion. I wasn't sure you'd wake up anytime soon."
"Ugh... I'm starting to wish I hadn't," the ex-Jedi replied, holding his temples. "Where is everybody?"
"They're downstairs in the cargo hold. They're trying to restore power to the ramp so we can exit the Ghost."
Kanan groaned again, leaning into his palms as his head continued to pulse.
"I had a dream..." he said. "I saw... how long have I been out?"
"Three hours, give or take a few minutes." Hera replied. "You're lucky we had a bacta pack nearby or else you might have been out much longer."
"Yeah, lucky me."
Kanan attempted to stand. This time Hera did not stop him. As the ex-Jedi began to feel his strength returning to him, Hera stood nearby ready to catch him in case he fell.
"How go the repairs?" Kanan asked bluntly as he slowly started towards the door of the room.
"I'm not very optimistic," Hera admitted. "But I could honestly care less about the Ghost. Everybody's okay. That's all that matters, as far I'm concerned."
"And getting off the ship, apparently." Kanan smirked. "You're the only one who stayed to watch over me, remember?"
Hera frowned, unamused.
"You know that isn't fair, Kanan. Or funny."
"Sorry. Just trying to make light of the situation."
Kanan and Hera stepped through the doorway and made their way down the hall to a small catwalk above the cargo hold of the Ghost where Ezra, Zeb, Sabine, and Chopper were working by another solar lantern on a control panel in the wall next to a button that functioned to lower the ramp when the Ghost was operational.
"What's the situation?" Kanan asked, leaning against the guardrail of the catwalk as the remaining members of the Ghost crew looked up.
"Kanan!" Ezra cried, a smile crossing his face. "You're awake!"
"How's the head?" asked Sabine, putting down her tools as the ex-Jedi leaped over the guardrail and started towards them.
"I'll live," Kanan replied, stopping in front of them and glancing towards the control panel they were working on. "You close to restoring the power yet?"
"Not anytime soon," Zeb muttered. "Sabine's been trying to wire power over from one of the solar lanterns in order to lower the ramp, but we're gettin' nowhere, if you ask me. Ship's as dead as a sea born mynock. We're better off using the lanterns for warmth until we fix the climate controls in case this planet gets cold after dark."
"I doubt it will," said Sabine as she turned back to the control panel on the wall and began to work on it again. "Before the auxiliary cells died, the scanners indicated normal temperatures outside. The air seems to be breathable too, which is a good thing considering our life support died hours ago. If it weren't for air leaking in, we'd be dead already. Now if only we could get this ramp down..."
"Leave that to us," said Kanan, smirking to Ezra as he and the youth approached the ramp. "We can lower it if we use the force. You mentioned breathable air outside? What does that mean we should be expecting? Nothing toxic, I presume, right?"
"Hard to tell," Sabine shrugged. "We could all be slowly dying, as far as I know. Based on the readings I got before the cells died, we're in some kind of forest or swamp. Judging from the view of the cockpit, it's either or. Honestly, though, Kanan, at this point it doesn't matter. We're not going anywhere even if we want to. Hera and I can testify to that."
Kanan's smile vanished into a frown as the seriousness of situation began to get to him.
"I'll be sure to lower my expectations then," he muttered. "Ezra, you ready?"
The young Jedi took a deep breath then nodded.
"Ready!"
"Alright. On three. One... two... three!"
Both the student and the teacher extended their hands toward the ramp and began to concentrate. As the Force began to effectively lower the ramp with relative ease, Hera, Zeb, Sabine, and Chopper rolled behind the forcer users and readied their equipment for the environment outside. They would need to be prepared for whatever existed beyond the ramp. Their very survival depended on it.
At last the ramp creaked all the way open and came crashing down on a grassy, woodland floor. As the Ghost crew started down the ramp with Ezra and Kanan taking they lead, they took in the sight of a dark, murky forest surrounding them in all directions.
"Okay..." said Ezra as he and the rest of the crew stopped at the bottom of the ramp, glancing in all directions. "This isn't creepy at all."
"Not as creepy as that nest of Krykna Spiders on Atollon," Zeb muttered. "High marks for finding a close second, though."
"Yeah..." said Sabine, upholstering her blasters. "I have a bad feeling about this."
Kanan narrowed his eyes and took a few steps forward. A strange, unnatural fog seemed to cover the floor of the entire forest. It swarmed around his legs and sent a shiver up his spine. He knew the feeling well.
"Ezra," Kanan asked, glancing over his shoulder at the boy. "Do you feel that?"
"I-I think so," Ezra replied, walking over to Kanan. "What is it?"
"It's the dark side." Kanan frowned. "The Force is strong on this planet. It's especially strong here with the dark side. We have to be on our guard."
Chopper rolled up behind the two Jedi and began to use his scanners. After a moment or two of silence, the droid spoke in his strange binary language and let his comrades know what he found.
"Hyperspace radio signals?" said Hera, lifting a brow. "Where from?"
The droid turned around and gestured with one of his arms towards the Ghost.
"The Ghost?" said Zeb. "That doesn't make any sense. She's completely offline!"
Suddenly, the clanks of miniature droid legs on the hull of the Ghost caught the Ghost crew's attention. As the crew wheeled around towards the Ghost, a small black droid with three red eyes climbed over the wing of the ship and hissed at them as they spotted him.
"Buzzdroid!" Sabine exclaimed, leveling her blasters at the mechanical pest.
"Probably the one that took us down!" Kanan cried, reaching for his lightsaber. "Don't let him escape!"
The imperial buzzdroid quickly dodged the first flurry of blaster bolts that Sabine hurled at it and jumped down onto the floor of the forest. As the droid took off into the woods using the fog on the ground as cover, Kanan ignited his lightsaber along with Ezra and started after it.
"You guys stay here and set up camp! We'll go after that buzzdroid and stop him from sending a signal!"
"Kanan, wait!" Sabine cried. But the ex-Jedi and his padawan had already taken off. "Blast it!" she swore, holstering her blasters. "They don't even know where they're going!"
"As long as they stick together," said Hera, placing her hand on Sabine's shoulder. "They'll be fine. In the mean time, we better do as we're told and set up the camp so we have something to eat when they get back. Zeb, how soon do you think we can have a fire going?"
"Let me check," Zeb replied, leveling his rifle at a bush in front of him. The foliage burst into flames when he pulled the trigger. "About two seconds," the lasat chuckled. "Who's hungry?"
Kanan raced after the imperial buzzdroid through the dense alien forest he and his crew had found themselves in. With Ezra Bridger following closely behind, Kanan weaved through a mess of trees and greenery that would have otherwise proved to be quite the obstacles had it not been for his lightsaber. He used to his senses to guide him through the forest as it was virtually impossible to navigate through the darkness any other way. As Kanan sliced through a wall of tree branches in his path, he watched the buzzdroid ahead of him crest a miniature hill and disappear from sight.
'I'm really starting to hate this guy,' Kanan thought to himself as crested the hill himself and caught sight of the buzzdroid tucking in his legs and rolling away. "Ezra!" Kanan barked as his young padawan jumped over a root and landed some feet in of him. "The droid's curled up into some kind of rolling ball-thingy! Try to cut him off before he gets away!"
The youth turned to his master and nodded before breaking right and disappearing into the woods.
'Now's my chance,' Kanan thought to himself as he took a deep breath and pushed forward. With a single burst of speed, Kanan nearly caught up with the buzzdroid who was now only a few feet ahead of him. As he slowly began to close the final gap between himself and the droid, the buzzdroid suddenly rolled through a gap between two enormous trees that was too narrow for Kanan to fit through. By the time Kanan had drawn his blaster and taken aim at the droid, it was already too late. The buzzdroid disappeared from sight.
"Ezra!" Kanan cried into the comlink on his wrist. "I lost the droid! It's up to you now to stop him!"
After the boy's voice came back in acknowledgement, Kanan dropped to his knees and began to catch his breath. Meanwhile, Ezra narrowed his eyes as he spotted the buzz droid rolling towards him and prepared his trap. The plan he had concocted on the spot was to cut the buzz droid in half as it rolled by him unsuspectingly. As the buzzdroid rolled past Ezra's hiding place, he leaped out of the bushes he was hiding in and swung his lightsaber. Although the executed move was flawless and should have rendered a clean kill, the droid made a slight deviation in its course at the last second and caused the surprise attack to fail.
'Great,' Ezra thought to himself as he rolled his eyes. 'So much for that idea.'
Ezra took off after the droid once again, although now at a disadvantage. The droid was faster than Ezra could hope to keep up with, so he had to come up with something fast before the buzzdroid escaped him for good. At last he got an idea and planted his feet on the ground for a mighty leap. He knew he would only get one shot at the droid, but he figured if it worked, one shot would be all he needed. As he literally sprang into action, he came down with his lightsaber atop the droid and sliced him down the middle. The droid's two halves rolled together for a short distance before crashing into a tree and coming to a stop. As Ezra slid to a halt beside them, he took a moment to catch his breath before sighing in relief and contacting Kanan via comlink.
"Kanan," Ezra breathed. "I got him."
"Good work, Ezra," Kanan's voice came back over the com. "I'll meet you back at the camp. Use your comlink to lock onto Chopper's signal. I'll see you there."
"Got it. Ezra, out."
The youth switched off his comlink and put his lightsaber on his belt. He looked up towards to sky to see if he could tell the time, only to find that the few streaks of sunlight peering through the canopy overhead were fading slowly with every passing second.
'Must be some time in the evening,' Ezra thought as he prepared himself to leave. But something caught his attention in the corner of his eye before he had the chance to set out. A basket. That is what he saw. A primitive, straw-like basket made out of sticks and twigs. The basket was laying on its side with a lovely mess of flowers spilling out of it as if someone had dropped it in a hurry and simply left it there some minutes before.
Ezra lifted a brow and approached the basket. He glanced around to see if there was anyone lingering about, but found no one in particular doing so. After scanning the area for about minute, Ezra kneeled down and picked up a pretty pink flower from the basket that reminded him of Sabine. He debated in his head whether or not he should present it to her, considering the fact that she was a Mandalorian and probably uninterested in such things. But still it was a flower, and although Ezra didn't know much about romance, he was pretty sure that most girls liked flowers.
Ezra shrugged and made his decision. He took the flower and was about to be on his way when all of a sudden he was distracted by a pair of large, beautiful turquoise eyes peering at him from a bush just a few feet away from the basket. Ezra immediately dropped the flower and reached for his lightsaber, but he paused when he noticed the eyes in the bushes back away from him out of fear. Whatever it was, it was afraid.
"Sorry," Ezra smiled, relieved that the creature meant him no harm. "I'm just a little jumpy right now, that's all."
The creature stayed put as Ezra went on to pick up the flowers and put them back in the basket. As soon as he was finished, he set the basket down and pushed it towards the creature with a smile still plastered on his face.
"Don't worry," Ezra chuckled as the creature retreated further back. "It's just a basket of flowers. See?" Ezra removed a single flower from the basket and breathed in its pleasant aroma. "Just a flower. Probably tastes good, too. Want one?"
The creature paused. It inched forward after a moment, revealing the silhouette of a four-legged creature as it neared the light.
"That's it. Nothing to be afraid of. Do you know who these flowers belong to?"
The creature paused again. After another few moments, it slowly nodded its head much to Ezra's surprise.
"Wait, you can understand me?"
The creature nodded again.
"Well," Ezra smirked. "if you know who these flowers belong to, then maybe you can return them for me."
The creature shook its head and took a step back.
"No? Well, I can't take them with me if they belong to someone. I have to get back to my camp before the others—"
Ezra paused when the creature's eyes suddenly shrunk to the size of pinpricks and retreated back into cover. As Ezra lifted and a brow and moved to stand up, he felt a shadow cast over him which sent a shiver down his spine. Ezra was about to turn around to investigate what could be the cause, but all of a sudden a massive tail swiped him off his feet and sent him flying into the air. Ezra cried out in pain as he smashed into a tree and fell to the ground, holding his right arm. His comlink had been smashed to pieces from the impact, but that was of little concern to him at the moment. What concerned him more was the creature coming at him right now with murderous intent.
Ezra couldn't believe his eyes. The creature was large—larger than many of the creatures Ezra had faced in his time. It's tail looked like that of a devaronian scorpion with a stinger as pointy as a sarlaac's beak. Its teeth were sharp and jagged, much like a lothian lions, but its eyes were what caught Ezra's attention the most. They were wild and fierce, untamed by neither man or beast. He doubted he would be able to make a force connection with it in time to save his life. He was doomed.
"No, no, no!" Ezra cried as the creature began to approach him. "Stay away from me! Good kitty! Nice kitty! Ahh!"
Ezra squeezed his eyes shut and prepared for the worst, but then something unexpected happened. A feminine voice, gentle with a stern tone, spoke up and caught both Ezra and the creature's attention.
"You!" came the voice in front of Ezra. "Just who do you think you are, big mister?! Pushing those who are smaller than you around like that!"
Ezra peaked open one his eyes and found a butter-yellow equine species hovering between the creature and him with a pair of wings on its back and pink flowing mane.
"You should be ashamed of yourself!" the voice continued, evidentially from the equine. "Why, I have a mind to find your mother and tell her what you've been up to! A large manticore like yourself shouldn't be hunting poor innocent creatures like the nice young boy you just assaulted! Now apologize right now and don't you ever let me catch you doing this again!"
The savage creature, who at this point was nothing more than a whimpering mess, slunk away from the equine with its tail between its legs. It quickly replied with a low, apologetic growl, then took off into the woods without looking back.
Ezra stared in awe as the equine creature wheeled around and landed next to him with a look of deep concern on her face.
"Oh, my! You're not hurt too badly, are you? Oh, this is all my fault! If only I hadn't been so shy earlier I might have been able to stop that manticore from hurting you at all! Poor thing!"
Ezra forgot about cradling his left arm and stared into the large, turquoise eyes of the compassionate equine standing before him. He pushed himself up a little using his legs to press his back against the tree behind him until he was completely at eye level with his rescuer.
"Oh, my! Is your arm okay?" the equine gasped when she noticed that the device on his wrist was broken. "Let me look at that for you! I have more experience with arms than most ponies do!"
The equine extended a hoof and took Ezra's arm to inspect it. She seemed puzzled by the comlink that had been destroyed on Ezra's arm by the manticore, but she was smart enough to notice that it wasn't an actual part of his body when she took a closer look. As she scanned up and down Ezra's arm with her gaze, Ezra continued to stare at her with awe and curiosity. Without a doubt, she was the most beautiful equine species he had ever laid eyes upon. She was also the only sentient equine he had ever encountered, too. He knew he should have said some word of thanks by now by, but for some reason his tongue was tied. At last he managed to say something as she plucked a large leaf from a tree behind her and began wrapping his wrist.
"Uh... thanks." said Ezra, still a bit dazed from the whole experience. "I thought I was done for. Guess I owe you one."
"Oh, no!" The equine shook her head. "You don't owe me anything! It's my fault you got hurt in the first place! If only I wasn't so shy, none of this would have happened!"
Ezra relaxed slightly and offered the equine a comforting smile.
"Hey, don't beat yourself up over it. I've had worse than that guy try to kill me before. Believe me. I've been through a lot"
The equine paused and gave Ezra a sympathetic look before noticing his smile and responding in kind.
"Well, If you say so... do... do you have a name, sir?"
Ezra's eyes widened when he realized he hadn't introduced himself yet.
"Oh! Sorry about that," Ezra apologized. "My name's Ezra. Ezra Bridger. And you are...?"
"I'm F-Fluttershy..." she dropped her gaze and pawed the ground. "Are you.. are lost in the Everfree, Mr. Bridger?"
Ezra looked at his wrist and found that his comlink was beyond repair. Without it, he knew he would be walking blindly, even with the force to guide him through the forest.
"Yeah, seems like it." he muttered. "I was counting on my comlink to get me back to camp, but I don't think that's gonna happen anytime soon. I knew this was a bad idea!"
"Camp? How far do you think it is from here?"
"Honestly?" Ezra, tapped his chin. "Hard to tell. I can't remember which direction it is and I ran a good distance from it after that buzz droid over there. Maybe you could help me retrace my steps? You seem to know this forest pretty well."
Fluttershy's eyes went wide.
"You want me to lead you through the Everfree after dark? Oh, no! I can't do that! It's already getting dark! We better get inside before all the scary creatures come out!"
"Scary... creatures?" Ezra lifted a brow.
Fluttershy nodded.
"You'd never make it to your camp in time to avoid all the danger. I was just about to leave myself before you frightened me and caused me to drop my basket. You're welcome to come with me back to my cottage though and spend the night. I mean... if you want to."
Ezra glanced towards the canopy of leafs above him and watched the fading sunlight. There was no doubt in his mind that Fluttershy was right. It would be dark soon. Much darker than the forest already was. Ezra didn't like the idea of navigating blindly through the forest in the dark with only the force and his lightsaber to guide him. It didn't seem like a good idea, all things considered.
"Yeah, I guess I can go with you." Ezra answered. "As long as we can set out first thing in the morning, that is. Thanks. That's two I owe you now."
Fluttershy blushed and went to pick up the basket of flowers she had dropped earlier and avoided eye contact.
"You really don't have to owe me anything," she said shyly, picking up the basket with her mouth. "I'm just trying to help a pony in need."
Ezra smiled and started after her as she began to lead him in an unknown direction through the alien forest. He didn't know exactly what to expect next, but he was sure it would be interesting.
Hera, Zeb, Sabine, and Chopper sat around a fire on the make-shift furniture they had created using the supply crates they had unloaded from the Ghost. They had been waiting for Kanan and Ezra to return for about an hour now, and the food they had just managed to cook was getting cold.
"I don't like this," Sabine muttered, barely touching her food with her utensils.
"It’s Jubar meat," Zeb chuckled, already on his second plate. "What’s not to like?”
"Not the food, Zeb," Sabine rolled her eyes. "I mean the fact that Kanan and Ezra haven't returned yet! Don't you think they should have at least reported in by now?"
Hera looked up from her food (which she herself had barely touched) and gave a defeated sigh.
"Sabine... may be right. I'd be lying if I didn't admit I'm starting to get worried about them. It's almost dark now."
"Oh, please!" said Zeb, finishing up the last bit of his second plate. "They've got that force thing they're always going on about. I wouldn't worry about them, too much. Uh, pass the Alderaanian seasoning, please?"
Sabine gave Zeb a look before reaching over to the crate next to her and retrieving a bottle of spices for him.
"Heads up," she said, tossing the spices to Zeb.
"Heh, thanks." the lasat replied.
Suddenly, the bushes some feet behind the ghost crew began to move. Zeb, Sabine, and Hera exchanged glances before getting up and drawing their weapons.
"Kanan? Ezra? Is that you?" Hera called, leveling her blaster at the foliage.
A short silence followed before Kanan suddenly emerged through the bushes and froze at the sight of his friends leveling their blasters at him.
"Gee, it's great to see you too, guys!" Kanan smirked, raising his hands. "Those weapons are on stun, right?”"
The members of the Ghost crew sighed in relief before lowering their weapons and allowing Kanan to enter the camp.
"Good to see you, Kanan. We were beginning to get worried." Sabine said, holstering her blasters.
"What'd I tell you?" the lasat smiled, crossing his arms. "Told you'd they'd be fine."
"We have some rations for you by the fire," Hera said to Kanan, ignoring Zeb's remark. "Jubar meat and mashed potatoes. Hope you're hungry."
"Starving, actually." Kanan replied, taking a seat by the fire. "After chasing that buzz droid through the woods, I wasn't sure if I'd be eating anytime soon. The forest is far more dangerous than I realized."
"So you got the buzz droid then?" Hera passed Kanan a plate of food.
"No," the ex-Jedi replied. "I fell behind. But Ezra got him. Thanks." He accepted the rations and was about to dig in when all of a sudden he paused and looked around.
"Hey, where is Ezra?" Kanan asked, putting his dinner to the side and standing up. "Did any of you see him come in earlier?"
Hera's face turned pale.
"What?! You mean he's not with you?!"
"We got separated!" Kanan replied. "I thought he was with you!"
Hera shot up and began to look around.
"Ezra!" she shouted. "Ezra, are you here?! Ezra!"
"Karabast..." Zeb swore. "This can't be good!"
Kanan frowned to himself and switched on his comlink. Hera, Zeb, Sabine, and Chopper turned to Kanan as he tried to contact the youth.
"Ezra? Ezra, do you read? Ezra, come in, over! Ezra, do you copy?!"
No reply. Kanan swore to himself under his breath.
"He's not picking up his com. Something's wrong."
"Then don't just stand there!" Sabine cried, shoving a lantern into Kanan's hands. "We have to go look for him!"
"Sabine, wait!" Kanan replied, catching Sabine by the hand. "It's too dangerous to go looking for him after dark. We have to wait until morning."
"What?!"
"As much as I hate to leave Ezra alone out there tonight," Hera closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "I have to agree with Kanan. It's too dangerous to go searching for him tonight. We have to wait until morning."
Sabine frowned and violently pulled away from Kanan.
"How can you make that decision?" she seethed. "He wouldn't do the same to you!"
"He would if he was smart," Kanan replied. "Besides, I think you're giving his survival instincts less credit than they deserve. He was living on his own long before we even met him. He should be fine. In the mean time, we better get some shuteye so we can look for him in the morning. I'll have Chopper use his scanners to look for him all night."
Sabine huffed and took a seat.
"Fine. But we set out first thing in the morning. First thing, you hear me, Kanan?!"
"Alright, alright!" Kanan replied, throwing up his arms. "You have my word. We all want him back as badly as you do, Sabine. You know that, right?"
Chopper made a comment in his mechanical voice, causing the members of the Ghost crew to turn around and glare at him.
"Shut up, Chopper," Kanan muttered, strolling past the droid towards the ship. "You can be a real jerk sometimes, you know that?"
The droid chuckled to himself and went after the Jedi. Sabine shook her head and looked away from the others. She peered into the darkness of the woods and made a concerned expression.
"Come home, Ezra," she whispered, her face now of utter concern. "Please. For my sake."
"One sugar, or two?"
"Two, please."
Fluttershy smiled and dropped two cubes of sugar into a tea cup and put it on a tray. After pouring another cup for herself, she hovered over to Ezra and handed him his drink.
"Thanks," said Ezra, accepting the teacup from the equine. "That's three I owe you now." The youth smiled and looked around the cozy wooden cottage that belong to Fluttershy. "Nice place you got here."
Fluttershy blushed slightly and took a seat across from Ezra in a little green couch.
"Th-thank you. It's nothing special, but it is cozy."
Ezra agreed and took a sip of his tea.
"Wow. Nice brew. To be honest, this is the last thing I expected to be doing on this planet. I expected our first night to be aboard the ship."
Fluttershy lifted a brow and tilted her head.
"Oh? Where are you from?"
"Lothal. It's a planet on the outer rim of the galaxy. You probably wouldn't have heard of it, though. Not many people have."
Fluttershy suddenly seemed to shift uncomfortably.
"So, you're an... alien?"
Ezra paused to think for a moment. He hadn't really thought about that before, considering the fact that he had been on so many different planets and none of the people had ever referred to him as an, 'alien.'
"I, uh, guess so. I've honestly never thought about it. Do you not like aliens?"
Fluttershy avoided eye contact and took another sip of her tea.
"No, not necessarily. I've just never met an alien before. Do... do you come in peace?"
She looked up at Ezra with those beautiful turquoise eyes and waited for an answer.
"Honestly? We didn't even mean to come at all." Ezra replied, putting down his tea. "Our ship crashed a couple hours ago and we've been trying to make repairs ever since then. We haven't been very successful."
Fluttershy slowly took another sip of her tea and looked away. Ezra could tell she was uncomfortable with the information she had just received, probably because she didn't know how to process it at the moment. If he was indeed the first alien she had ever encountered before, the very fact that he was an alien could explain why. His briefest mention of a sprawling galaxy beyond the stars had probably triggered her imagination. Undoubtedly her mind was filling with an innumerable amount of questions. Ezra quickly made up in his mind to change the subject.
"So, Fluttershy," Ezra said, smirking as he picked up his cup of tea. "How did you tame that..." he searched for the name in the back of his head. "...manticore? Some kind of mind trick?"
Fluttershy's head snapped in Ezra's direction.
"Oh, that? Um..." a tint of pink appeared on her adorable yellow cheeks. "It was nothing, really... I just have a way with animals. More tea?"
"Yes, please."
Ezra placed his teacup back on the on the table in front of him and relaxed back into the couch as Fluttershy smiled and went to retrieve the teapot hanging over the fireplace. As Ezra watched the butter-yellow equine return and refill his teacup, he couldn't help but question the world around him. Based on what he had seen thus far, it was a strange world indeed; and he couldn't to learn some of the answers.
"So..."Ezra said as casually as he could accomplish. "You guys have space travel?"
Fluttershy put down the teapot and looked up at the youth with an upraised brow.
"Space travel? Oh, no! We're not quite there yet. In fact, we won't be there for quite some time." she picked up her teacup and looked at the youth thoughtfully. "Space ships are mostly science fiction right now. Your species is far more advanced, from the sound of it. Although... to be honest, I'm even not sure what species you are. I thought you were some kind of hairless monkey at first, but I could be wrong."
Ezra managed to laugh at that, even though the news that this planet possessed such primitive technology was upsetting.
"I'm actually a human. There's a lot of us in the galaxy."
Fluttershy's ears suddenly perked up.
"You're a human? Twilight is always talking about your kind! She's been to your world many times before. Maybe she can help you and your friends get off world!"
Ezra lifted a brow.
"...What? I thought you said you didn't have space travel."
"Oh, we don't. But Twilight has this magic mirror, you see, and she uses it to travel to your world all the time!"
Ezra blinked, trying to make sense of the words Fluttershy had just spoken.
"...Right."
Fluttershy smiled and put down her cup of tea. As she got up to pour herself another cup, a little white bunny hopped over to her and tugged her tail.
"Hmm? Oh, Angel Bunny! I'm so sorry! I forgot to tuck you in, didn't I? It's your bed time already!"
The white rabbit nodded.
"Well, hop along, then. I'll be with you shortly. Let me just get our guest settled in, first."
Ezra smiled as the bunny hopped up a pair of stairs leading to the second floor of the cottage. He liked the way the cottage was designed. The animals at were there crawling all about were a nice addition to the place.
'She really likes animals, doesn't she?' he thought to himself.
As Fluttershy put away the dishes and cups she and Ezra used for tea, the youth stood up and decided to look around the cottage before bedtime. With all the strange things he had seen that day, he didn't bother to ask himself any questions about the many pictures hanging on the walls. He instead resolved to ask them later when he was more comfortable with the planet. Right now he needed to rest.
"Are you ready to go to sleep, Mr. Bridger?"
Ezra wheeled around to find Fluttershy with a candle in her mouth and a blanket on her back.
"Um... sure. Thanks. Just call me Ezra, by the way."
Fluttershy nodded and led the boy upstairs where she gestured towards a bed right next to a basket where angel bunny was waiting for her to tuck him in for bedtime.
"Why don't you sleep here tonight?" Fluttershy said after placing the candle stick on the night table on the left side of the bed. "I noticed the couch down stairs doesn't fit you, and I do want you to be as comfortable as possible."
Ezra looked from the bed to Fluttershy and lifted a brow.
"Where will you sleep?"
Fluttershy smiled.
"Oh, don't worry about me. You just get your rest for tomorrow morning."
Ezra walked over to the bed and took off his boots. The room was by far the most restful he had ever laids eyes upon.
"Thanks, Fluttershy." Ezra said warmly upon sitting on the bed. "That's four I owe you now, huh?"
Fluttershy blushed and finished tucking angel bunny in.
"Good night, Ezra." she whispered, avoiding eye contact to hide the tints of pink on her cheeks. "I'll... I'll see you in the morning."
The boy watched the equine disappear through he door and close it behind her.
"Wow," he commented now that he was all alone. "What a weird day. I wonder what tomorrow will be like?"
Ezra kicked back and made himself comfortable. As he lay there on top of the covers resting his eyes, a fuzzy white body curled up on top of him and laid down.
"Huh?" Ezra glanced downwards, only to catch angel bunny in the act of snuggling his chest. "Oh, hey, little guy. Bed not warm enough?"
The little rabbit peeked open an eye and went back to snuggling. Ezra chuckled to himself before closing his eyes and relaxing.
'Okay, so this planet's a little weird. So what? I could think of worse places to be stranded.'
With that thought in mind, Ezra slipped off into a realm of dreams and shadows.