Star Wars Rebels: When Hope Is Lost

Chapter 28: Dangerous

Kanan had been born a fighter. First he fought for peace with the Jedi, now he fought for freedom with the rebellion.

He had just never thought that he would be fighting a Sith Lord, one of the rulers of the entire galaxy and an extremely powerful dark-sider, over two boys.

"Spectre One to Spectre Four, what's your status?" Kanan shouted through his helmet's comm, tuned into the rebels' special frequencies and coded specially for the mission. All around him, stormtroopers raced towards the diversion battle. Except that these other stormtroopers–the real ones–didn't carry long metal tubes on their utility belts, and they weren't paused in the hallway. Otherwise, he and Ahsoka blended right in, wearing the same armour as everyone else.

"We've got this, Kanan! Go get the kids!" Zeb yelled. Kanan heard a grenade explode in the midst of the background noise of lasers firing and bullets spraying. A TIE soared over the comm, screeching as it hit the ground in a blaze. 

"Copy that! But be careful!" Kanan shut off his comm and turned to his accomplice. "Let's go."

They raced towards the cell block, pushing through the other stormtroopers, who barely stopped running to yell at the two, unbeknownst to them, impostors. Finally, the Imperials around them thinned out and the shouting became fainter. Kanan and Ahsoka discarded their helmets after the Imperials disappeared completely and kept running, vision clearer now without the helmets.

"Cell 817 is just around a few more corners!" Kanan panted, full-on sprinting. Ahsoka kept pace with him well, surprisingly. Sometimes, he forgot that she had once been a Jedi apprentice, just as he had been.  

Before the Empire had ruined everything. 

Keep it together. 

The two rebels whirled around the next corner and came to a direct halt. They were facing six stormtroopers, all carrying blaster rifles. The lead stormtrooper stared at the faces of a Togruta and a human who were wanted all across the Outer Rim in shock.

Ahsoka nodded once at Kanan and their own blasters sprang to life. Before any of the troopers could fire off a shot, they all lay quiet on the metal floor. The two Jedi holstered their weapons and kept going.

"One more turn!" Kanan said after a minute, checking his holoplayer. The pair skidded to a halt in front of Ezra's cell a moment later. Kanan tapped furiously at the security keypad. "I've got it, I've got it...."

The door slid open.

"Fulcrum? Did you get the kid?" Someone yelled into Ahsoka's spare comm that was strapped to her belt, but neither of them were listening. Especially Kanan. 

His attention was on the scruffy headed kid in front of him, lying on a table, strapped down by multiple restraints. Blood stained his now tattered and torn jumpsuit, and his hair was messy. But he was alive.

"Ezra?" Ahsoka questioned the form. She got no answer. He was sleeping heavily, likely drug-induced. Kanan couldn't take his eyes off of his Padawan. They had found him. They had done it!

"I'll signal the others." The other Jedi grasped her comlink.

She turned around and slammed into metal. Staggering from impact, she backed away. "Vader," Ahsoka breathed.

Kanan whirled. "Sith." The word was out of his mouth before he had even seen–or suddenly sensed–the black figure. How did he find us? I clouded our signatures! It didn't matter. He was here. Kanan's hands curled into fists and he reached for his lightsaber.