Chapter 14

473 14 1
                                    

Ezra woke up from his nap, groggy and tired, but he wanted to play Lothcat hunt with Chopper. Chopper told Ezra he would explain the game after his nap. Ezra was excited to hear the game, but he was a little nervous about hurting Lothcats. He was also interested to find out how they were going to play the game when they were not on Lothal. 

    Ezra hopped up from the bunk, noticed that the rebels were all in the common room discussing the mission and joined them. Chopper was with them and they looked like they were having an important meeting, so instead of interrupting, Ezra listened to the meeting with them. The crew’s focus was on Hera, and when Ezra entered, Kanan subconsciously allowed the boy to hop onto his lap. Hera pointed out areas on a holo image. 

    “These  points are our best bet for entry. Zeb and Kanan, you can go through the west entrance and make your way to the information port. Sabine, you need to sneak through the entry here and set up some bombs. After the mission is complete and everyone is back on the ship, you can detonate. Everyone understand?” Hera made sure that Kanan, Sabine, and Zeb looked at her and nodded. 

    “We will be landing in an hour, so get what you need.” Ezra barely realized that the meeting was over until Kanan nudged him. 

    “Sorry, bud, I have to get ready. Why don’t you find Chopper for your game?” Kanan asked. 

    Ezra was about to say something when he started coughing and sputtering. Kanan looked at him, worried. 

    “That doesn’t sound good, are you okay?” Ezra nodded and hopped off of Kanan’s lap, excited to find Chopper. After his coughing fit, Ezra’s throat felt really raw. 

    “Can I have water, please?” Ezra croaked, unable to talk. He coughed again. 

    Kanan filled up a cup for him. 

    “You sure you're okay?” Ezra nodded. His crew was going on a mission, they didn’t need to worry if his throat felt a little scratchy. 

    Ezra ran into the cockpit to find Chopper. Upon seeing Chopper, the droid buzzed that Ezra took the longest nap ever and rolled around him, explaining the game he had in mind. 

    Ezra ran to get his stuffed Lothcat. Chopper would hide the Lothcat around the ship and Ezra had to find it before the timer ran out. 

    As Ezra looked for his cat for the third time, he felt his head getting cloudy and he felt really tired. But he told Chopper he could find the cat in less time than the last two rounds, so he was determined to finish the hunt. He barely saw Sabine in front of him before running into her. He stopped and swayed on the spot. 

    “Hi, S’Bine!” 

    “Hi, Ezra. Watcha doing?” 

    “I havta find my cat before Chopper’s time runs out.” Sabine had no idea what this meant, but she shrugged and went to the cockpit to find the rest of the crew. 

    Ezra made his way slowly down the ladder to the cargo hold, making sure not to slip. He looked for the cat behind a few supply crates and saw it in between two of them. Trying to reach in between, Ezra realized his arm wasn’t long enough. He decided he was small enough to go behind to reach the cat. Once he fit himself in the space between the supply crate and the wall, he felt himself getting attacked by another coughing fit. He struggled to stay straight up, and soon he was scrunched against the wall, not able to catch his breath. Finally, he gasped. He stood straight up, but stars clouded his vision. Ezra’s vision went black and he fell unconscious between the wall and the supply crate. 

    In the cockpit, the crew went through last minute prep for the mission. Kanan and Zeb went over the plan for entering with Hera once more. Sabine sat in one of the seats, checking her bombs and then securing them to her belt. 

    An alarm started going off on the ship. 

    “Alright, we are entering the atmosphere. I want everyone buckled into their seat. We are entering a part of the planet that may be scanned by the empire. We need to enter at a certain speed before turning in a different direction. With any luck, this should be an easy move, but we need to take precautions,” Hera ordered the crew. 

    “Where’s Ezra?” Zeb asked, looking for the boy. 

    Chopper buzzed. 

    “What do you mean you don’t know, you were the one watching him!” Hera said. 

    Chopper beeped again. 

    “He’s only four, of course he needs supervision on a still unfamiliar ship.” 

    Before Hera could get angrier, Kanan grabbed her shoulders. 

    “Hera, worry about our landing. I’ll worry about Ezra.” Kanan turned his attention to the droid. “Where did you see him last?” 

    Chopper a single buzz. 

    “That’s not very helpful, all of us saw him here last!” 

    “Kanan, I saw him pass me in the hallway. I think he was headed to the cargo bay,” Sabine answered. 

    “What? Why would he be going there?”

    Chopper answered with a series of beeps.

    “You hid a lothcat there for him to find in ten minutes? What?” Kanan lifted an eyebrow but he made his way toward the cargo bay, followed by Chopper and Sabine. 

    “Ezra?” Kanan called. With no answer, Kanan asked. “Where did you hide the cat, Chopper?” 

    Chopper led them to a set of crates. Kanan could feel a faint signature near them, but Ezra was nowhere in sight. 

    Sabine crouched to look around the crate. She saw a mess of blue hair peeking in between the crates, along with Ezra’s stuffed Lothcat. She jumped up and looked behind the crates to find Ezra. 

    “Kanan, he’s tucked behind the crates.” Sabine released the crate lock and moved the crate away from the wall, slowly so Kanan could grab Ezra. 

    Kanan’s worry instantly increased when he picked up a limp Ezra. He held the boy with one arm, letting the kid’s head rest on his shoulder. He could feel the kid’s breath, but it was shallow, which worried Kanan. He grabbed the Lothcat and let Sabine move the crate back. 

    “Ezra, are you okay? Can you wake up?” But it was obvious that Ezra wasn’t asleep. Kanan set him carefully on the replaced crate. The two watched as Ezra shuddered awake and started to cough and gasp for breath, shutting his eyes tight as tears streamed down. 

    Sabine leapt into action, making the boy sit up and Kanan started rubbing his back. 

    “It’s okay, Ezra. Just breathe,” Kanan spoke as he sent calming waves through the force.

    When Ezra stopped coughing, he started to cry, more tears streaming down his face. He finally opened his eyes and gripped onto the first person he saw which happened to be Sabine. Sabine almost stumbled back at the close contact, but instead, she gripped onto Ezra. 

At Sabine’s pleading eyes, Kanan gently unwrapped the boy’s arms and picked the boy up into his steady arms. Ezra calmed down at the close contact of the Jedi. 

“Are you okay, Ezra.” The boy nodded. “Okay, I’m going to bring you to Hera and we’ll find out what’s wrong.” The ship shook as it entered the atmosphere of Lothal. 

Taking In An OrphanWhere stories live. Discover now