Wars Amongst the Stars: Rebellion: Vol. 2

Chapter Twenty-One

Keen is sitting next to Ezra on a transport ship, along with some rebellion crew, and Commander Sato. She has her eyes closed, trying to get some rest, which is difficult with Ezra repeatedly smacking her seat. The Jedi sighs, shifting slightly in the chair, as once again the Padawan hits the chair. "Ezra," she says, not opening her eyes.

"Yes?"

"You hit this seat one more time and I will throw you out the exhaust port."

"Oh...sorry." Almost immediately the seat stills, and the Jedi sinks further into the uncomfortable chair, arms crossed.

From behind her, a crewmember says, "We'll be arriving in the Del Zennis system any minute."

"Well, we're coming up on the last known position of our missing patrol, but I already checked the star charts, there's nothing out here. But obviously that's not true since the ship went missing, so you know, there must be something out here," Ezra rambles.

The Jedi Master sighs, sitting up in the seat, deciding that sleep at this point is completely impossible, as Sato says, "When Captain Syndulla said you volunteered for this mission, she insisted you could be helpful. Let us hope that is true."

The Padawan closes his eyes, drawing the Force around him, concentrating, he snaps his eyes open, and says, "Something's about to happen."

Keen quickly grabs a hold of one of the straps on the wall, preparing for a crash, or something similar. From the back of the cockpit, she hears a crewmember say that they've lost their control for hyperdrive.

"Emergency positions," Sato calls.

"What's happening?" Ezra shouts. "Are we under attack?" he specifically asks Keen.

"We're being pulled out of hyperspace," the crewmember answers.

"Oh, so we're fine then," Keen shrugs.

"Being pulled from hyperspace isn't how I'd define fine!" Ezra shouts at her.

"All life support is functioning, so nothing all that bad to worry about."

"Secure all stations and get me a status report," the Commander orders one of his men.

"Instruments are frozen!"

The ship falls all the way from hyperspace, an Imperial vessel coming into view. "It's a Star Destroyer!"

"No, that is something else," Sato states "Send a distress signal, now! Phoenix home to Ghost, we've been pulled out of hyperspace. The Empire..."

The hologram cuts out, just as the rest of the ship darkens as well. Suddenly the ship starts to move forward mechanically, clearly locked into a tractor beam. "Okay, now it should be a bit more worrisome."

Once the rebel ship is drawn aboard the Imperial ship, the crew is extracted by an army of Imperial Troopers.

"Don't worry, Commander," Ezra says, as the rebels are led to the cockpit of the Imperial ship, "I'll get us out of this. I've been captured many times."

"You're not putting my mind at ease."

"Well, I've escaped a lot too."

"Yes, sadly," Ar'iabel snarks at him, to which he replies by sticking his tongue out. The Jedi Master rolls her eyes, a movement going unnoticed through the mask covering her face. The three are shoved rather unkindly through an open door into the cockpit.

"Rebels," the Imperial Admiral states, sneering at the group, "Out here searching for your missing patrol, I assume."

"We are members of the Corporate Alliance. You have taken possession of my ships illegally and I demand you release us."

"You are in a position to demand nothing, Commander Sato. Ah, yes, I am familiar with your activities in this sector. I suspected if we captured even one Rebel ship, others would race to the rescue, but I dared not hope we would capture someone as significant as you. And what might your name be, young man?"

"Jabba the Hutt," Ezra sasses.

"Indeed. You are a tad small for a Hutt, but I know someone else who goes by the name "Jabba", Ezra Bridger. I imagine Agent Kallus will be quite pleased to hear you have joined us. And the mask just gives you away, Master Jedi. Secure them."

The insurgents are drug from the cockpit, two Stormtrooper's per person.

The Jedi Master is unceremoniously tossed into a shallow cell, slamming against the opposite wall. A mere two seconds later the doors slide open, Ezra standing in the doorway. "Well, you didn't waste any time," she mutters. From around the corner, two Stormtrooper's burst into view. The Padawan wastes no time in shooting each of them with his lightsaber. And then Chopper wheels in.

"Chopper?" the Padawan bursts out. Keen chuckles, walking amongst the  fallen Troopers, before grabbing her bag from one of them.

Chopper grumbles at the boy, telling him the identity of the 'Stormtrooper's'. Carefully, Ezra removes the helmets to reveal a groaning Kanan and Rex, much to Ezra's chagrin. "Kanan. Rex. Rex, come on," he says, shaking the boys.

"What just happened?" Kanan slurs, as he looks around.

"Oh, uh, did you see them? We were so outnumbered. There was a fire fight, a big fire fight actually. You guys fought great."

"Oh yeah," Ar'iabel laughs. "So many Stormtrooper's. Who knew you two work together so well," she adds, finally turning to face them.

"Thanks. All I saw was you." Chopper rolls forward, showing a hologram from a few minutes ago. "You shot us! I can't believe you shot us!"

"I mean, you were dressed like Stormtroopers."

"Kids got a point, Sandy."

"You shot us," Rex laughs, standing to his feet, rubbing a hand over his head.

"I set it to stun."

"Yeah, well, you should have used kill."

"What?" Kanan protests to the Clone.

"Well, just in case it wasn't us, I mean."

The Knight scoffs, climbing to his own feet, "This armour doesn't protect you from anything."

"Well, I told you," Rex argues.

Keen grumbles under her breath, before stating out loud, "Now is not the time. We need to find Sato, and sabotage this ship."

"Yeah, they have this gravity weapon thing that–" Ezra sees the faces both rebels are giving him, "You already know this."

"So, what's your plan?" Rex asks them both.

"Well, we should probably split up. I'll take Keen and Chopper. He can get us to the reactor that powers this thing. You two bust out Sato."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," the Jedi protests, "We are not splitting up. Let's get Sato and get out of here."

"The kid's right, we have to destroy this ship."

"Do you know how many stormtroopers are heading this way?"

"Doesn't matter."

"We can't afford to separate."

"We have to protect the fleet."

Throughout the argument, Keen is standing off to the side shaking one of her lightsaber hilts which one of the Troopers fiddled with. It's not working correctly, the blade all wobbly. A scowl deepens across Ezra's face as the back and forth continues, until he finally snaps, "Will you two quit it already? Part of the reason I took this mission was to get a break from this. OK, Chopper, Keen, and I will meet you at Sato's ship."

The boy storms off into the ship, grabbing Keen's arm dragging her along behind him. Chopper trundles after the two, grumbling.