Visions

Four: A Set Up

"Karabast," Zeb growled. "It's a set up."

"Quite right you are, Lasat," the officer said with a smirk. "It was quite easy to feed false information into the spies we, so unfortunately, have in our midst." He rolled his eyes.

Sabine tensed, blasters still trained on him. He looked distastefully at them. "Drop your weapons, or Iress and Morras Talkana die."

Sabine exchanged a glance with Zeb before dropping her pistols. People were far too important to lose. And these were their people.

Zeb and Kanan did the same.

The officer cocked a brow and looked at Kanan. "And your lightsaber, Jedi."

Kanan sighed, and dropped that as well. "Now," he said in a firm tone. "Let our friends go!"

The imperial looked smug, and raised his hand. About twenty storm troopers moved into the room from a different doorway, and quickly surrounded the rebels.

Sabine felt like she was gonna spring she was so tense. "I knew I had a feeling!" she murmured quietly.

Two troopers moved forward, collecting the weapons on the floor while three more forced each of the rebels' wrists into binders and removed their coms. One pulled her helmet off.

Sabine went to punch the trooper trying to put the binders on her, but out of the corner of her eye she saw Kanan move his hand slightly, and she couldn't move her arms. She glared at Kanan, even though she knew his eyes were sightless. She could only hope he could sense her feelings.

With no one else to focus her anger on, she turned towards the trooper standing near her. She glared at him. Sabine only glanced away from the trooper she had been giving the death glare to when she heard the Officer's voice again. He was smirking and speaking to the two troopers behind the Talkanas. "They've served their purpose. Shoot them."

Her eyes widened, but the words didn't have time to fully register before a light purple form barrelled out of a closet to her right.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. The trooper behind Iress fired, while the other lifted his gun and aimed at the purple Twi'lek.

He didn't get a chance to fire.

~//~

Ezra woke slowly, and at first didn't remember why he was in his bunk in the middle of the day. Then his vision flashed through his mind, and he shot up.

He practically ran to the cockpit, painfully aware of the silence of the ship. When he got there he saw Hera sitting in the pilot seat, rubbing her temples and looking worried. "Hera!"

She jumped as Ezra spoke, but once she saw him she blew out a breath. "We weren't sure how long you'd sleep. Welcome back to the land--"

"Hera, we need to get to Kanan and the others right now! It's a trap!"

Hera tensed. "What are you talking about? How would you know?"

"I had a vision. A whole squadron of troopers was waiting for them! We need to go help them right now!"

Hera started the ship, her hands flying over the controls with expert ease. "They were supposed to comm in ten minutes ago. They didn't."

Ezra closed his eyes, searching for something. He didn't know what, but the Force showed him.

His eyes opened, and he felt less frantic. "They're still alive, but that could change anytime."

Hera's face wore a determined frown. "Making for Coruscant."

~//~

Ezra stood just outside the Talkana home as he waited for the words from his vision. He knew Kanan didn't know he was there, and he wanted to keep it that way. If any of the crew were aware of his presence, they might unconsciously give off a behaviour that would alert the imperials of a rescue.

Well, rescue attempt, that is. Ezra still didn't know if it'd work.

Even though he was there for the crew, he couldn't keep Arene at the back if his mind. The purple-skinned Twi'lek had looked young, and Ezra would bet she was the Talkanas daughter. His parents had kept him a secret as much as possible, so who's to say that other rebel sympathizers wouldn't do the same?

Finally he heard the words he remembered from his vision. "Shoot them."

Ezra threw the door open and jumped into the middle of the room with a backflip in one fluid motion. He didn't miss a beat before Force-pushing his friends and Arene back at the same time. His lightsaber was in his hand in an instant, and he began deflecting the blaster fire aimed at him back at the troopers.

Though he wanted to see if Arene and the others were okay, he couldn't focus on the two problems at once. He stuck with the trooper problem.

It seemed like only a second later that a blue blade joined his green one in the battle, and Ezra was grateful. Not only did he know Kanan was fine, but he'd been having some difficulty keeping the blasts off of himself.

Barely aware of the officer making a run for the door, Ezra didn't even try to stop him. He didn't have the time or ability to do so, and the officer would probably be demoted for his failure anyway. He smiled slightly at that.

Soon, the last trooper fell to the ground, and Ezra sank to his knees a moment later in exhaustion. He glanced around the room, and felt a pang of sadness as he saw that Iress and Morass hadn't made it.

Zeb and Sabine were taking turns removing each other's binders, Kanan using the Force to remove his own, and Arene? Where was she? Had she made it?

He scanned the room again, agitated. He didn't know why he felt such a connection to her, but he did know that he would forever feel responsible if she had died.

He spotted her finally. She was up against the wall in a crumpled heap.

Only through fire is a strong sword forged.
~Jedi Proverb