SWRC: Gaining Trust. (Book 1)

Chapter 10 Lothal.

Neeran had left Ezra alone with the little girl for a little while now, giving him time to think of a name for her.

"Well, guess it's about time I checked on them," said Neeran, standing up from her seat and walking out of the cockpit.

When Neeran reached the Med-bay door, she heard a muffled crying sound on the other side. Neeran opened the door quickly and drew a blaster, prepared for any danger.

What she saw was different.

Ezra was huddled in a corner shielding something from her view and whimpering slightly whilst trembling like a leaf.

"Ezra!" exclaimed Neeran, holstering the blaster and hurrying over to him.

"Stay away!" replied Ezra, clutching the something tighter.

"Ezra, it's okay. It's me, Neeran," said Neeran almost reaching him. "You're safe here."

"Stay back!" replied Ezra.

"Ezra, everything's fine," said Neeran, pulling Ezra in for a hug.

At first, Ezra froze. Then he seemed to remember where he was and what was happening.
"Mum," Ezra replied absent-mindedly, returning Neeran's hug.
Neeran was shocked for a few moments but didn't let go of Ezra. She could hear Ezra crying softly.

"Why are you crying?" asked Neeran.
"You saved my life and cared for me," replied Ezra still sobbing into Neeran's shirt. "All I do to repay you is scare you and do nothing!"
"Ezra you don't need to repay me," replied Neeran.
"But I do!" exclaimed Ezra. "That's what I was taught to do."
"By who?" asked Neeran, concerned for the answer.

"By that man with the black hair," replied Ezra, quivering at the mention of him.
Neeran froze for a second, before asking, "When he taught you this, what did he say?"
Ezra gulped and said, "He said, 'No matter what they do to you, you must always thank them and repay them anyway you can....' "

Ezra hesitated.
"Go on," said Neeran.

"Then he called me 'you miserable, good-for-nothing slave,' " continued Ezra, crying a little harder.

"Is that what he was telling you when I came to that area behind the stage?" asked Neeran.
"Mmhm," replied Ezra, too afraid to talk aloud.

"Ezra," said Neeran, stroking Ezra's hair. "I'd never harm purposefully like the people you were previously with would. You're my child now and that means I need to care for you and all of the others I've found and rescued."

"Do you promise?" asked Ezra, looking up at Neeran with his teary eyes.
"Of course I do," replied Neeran looking at him kindly.

Ezra hugged Neeran again and whispered, "Thank you very much, mummy."
"You're welcome, Ezra," replied Neeran, returning the hug.

After a few moments Neeran asked Ezra, "Where's the little girl we rescued Ezra?"

"Kyipen's right here," said Ezra, revealing the bundle he'd been concealing. "But her nickname can be Kyipi. It's quicker to say."

"You chose a name pretty quickly," replied Neeran, picking up the child that was now named Kyipen and nicknamed Kyipi.

Ezra nodded and said, "When I hid, I thought that they'd hurt her so I kept her close to me and concealed her."

Ezra seemed proud of himself, but something was bothering Neeran.
"Who were you hiding from?"
"A strange voice that seemed to echo around," replied Ezra, a little scared again. "He sounded menacing and cruel. He wanted me to join him and his master. To go to the dark side."
Neeran was very concerned now and asked, "With this voice, did you see an image?"

Ezra nodded and said, "He looked like a human, but he had white skin, yellow eyes and fangs for teeth. He also had red markings on his face."
"That's not good," muttered Neeran, standing up and walking to the cockpit with Ezra following and asking, "What's wrong?"

"I believe the person you saw was a Pau'un named the Grand Inquisitor. And he is a very dangerous foe," replied Neeran. "Hey Comm, we need to be ready for a surprise when we come out of hyperspace."

Comm beeped something and Neeran replied, "The Inquisitor has formed a mind-link with Ezra, he'll be tracking us."

The stars of hyperspace vanished and the view of a dry grassy planet below filled the view screen. And the not so welcome sight of a Star Destroyer. The com crackled with an incoming transmission.

"Here goes nothing," muttered Neeran, opening communications with the Star Destroyer.

"This is the Star Destroyer 'Liberation'. State your name and clearance code."
"My name is Neeran Shne. And my clearance code is Spectre 7463-6263," said Neeran. "That good enough or do you want something else?"

"Your name and code are valid. But why is there more than one life form aboard?"

"I'm bringing two of my relatives home from Gorse," replied Neeran.
"Why are you bringing them here?"

"Their father just passed away and I'm the only family able to care for them," replied Neeran, making up the whole story on the spot.

"Permission granted, Niran, proceed to Lothal."

Neeran shut off the communications and said, "Well that went well. And they still can't say my name correctly."
Ezra crawled into the co-pilots chair and asked Neeran, "Why did you make up that story?"

"Well they don't allow just anybody to enter Imperial controlled space or planets," replied Neeran, handing Kyipen over to Ezra and taking up the ships controls. "That and they'd probably blast us out of the atmosphere if they knew the truth about you and me."

Ezra nodded and a thought occurred to him.
"Why is it the Empire knows your real name?"
"It's the name that I've chosen to be known on this planet," replied Neeran. "I'd actually run out of names to choose from and I already knew several people here who knew my true name, so I stuck with it."