Shadows of Tomorrow

Chapter 74 - Shroud of Darkness

"I'm thinking this planet's not gonna work out as a base after all!" Ezra yells above the sound of clashing lightsabers.

"Seeing that the key part of secret bases is the secret location, no, it will not work out!" Kanan calls back, dodging as Athea nearly takes his head off again. He can still hardly believe this, that his former master – the one who saved his life – is now a Sith. Or Dark Sider at least, but either way, she's their enemy. "Where's Chopper?" They need to get out of here. It's never a fight they're going to win.

"I signaled him!" Ezra calls back, frantically trying to keep the other Inquisitor from beheading him. "He's either lost or ignoring us!"

That answers it, then. "He's not lost."

A Force-shove hits him, throwing him to the ground, his lightsaber falling from his hand. He rolls out of the way as Athea swings for him, trying to call his blade back to him, but he knows in that moment that it's never going to be fast enough.

He frantically rolls out of the way again, and Athea's blade stabs into the ground, barely missing his head. And... there's no way that wasn't intentional. She could have killed him, but she didn't.

He doesn't have a moment to consider it, though, just jumps back to his feet and swings up his lightsaber to block hers. A spotlight illuminates the ground around them, the Phantom finally flying overhead.

"Come on!" Ezra yells and they run for the edge of the cliff, jumping onto the open ramp before it flies away.

It's not until they're in hyperspace that he takes the time to think over what happened. It hurts, knowing that his former master betrayed them, but... she didn't kill him. She had the chance. She had no reason not to. If she cared enough to spare him, though, why is she still with the Inquisitors? Marr had seemed quite conflicted over his last meeting with her, and now, Kanan's really starting to wonder.

Still, what he really doesn't understand is why they keep running into the Inquisitors everywhere they go. It's like they're sensing where they're going, using it to track them down. If this keeps up, they'll never be able to find a base. They'll only keep putting the Rebellion in even more danger.

He needs to talk about this with Marr and Ahsoka, so he messages ahead to Hera, asking for a private meeting away from the rest of the fleet.

He's the last one into the room where they, Ezra, and Vizma already are, and he pauses in his tracks for a moment at the sight of the hologram on the table. Anakin.

He... doesn't know what to think of the fact that he's working for the Empire, too. He knew him, and he can't even imagine something like that from him. He doesn't understand why he would do that, and he supposes that's Marr's point. They don't understand it. And they can hardly judge him for it until they do. Still, that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.

"What do you say about us doing the hunting for a change?" Kanan inquires, finally.

Ahsoka reaches over, flipping off the hologram, standing up. "For every one we defeat, another replaces them. Who's to say we won't multiply our problems yet again?"

"And there's Vader," Ezra interjects.

"We need to find him," Marr says, quietly.

"And then what?" Kanan asks.

"I don't know. I want to talk to him."

Ahsoka nods, and he doesn't miss the flicker of pain in both their eyes. "We'll deal with that when the time comes."

"The fact still remains that we can't protect our friends from the Inquisitors," Kanan admits, glancing at Ezra, "I can barely protect you."

"I don't need protecting," Ezra mutters.