Chasing Your Shadow (a sequel to Ezra Lost)

Chapter 5

5

WELL, THAT was bad news.

Hera's green eyes stretched wide in horror. "No. Ezra, you don't - d-do you mean -"

"Probably not," Ezra said hastily, struck by guilt when he realized just what he had implied. "I doubt Shadow's still a slave gatherer. I mean, bounty hunters are supposed to go from job to job.. right?"

"They do," Ahsoka mused, her voice low. "But we don't know for sure if this Shadow is truly a bounty hunter or not."

A silence again fell over them. Ezra thought it felt cold.

Cold. Like the oceans of a frozen planet lying beneath the ice, waiting to envelop him like the shadowy arms of the Dark Side..

Ezra bit back a whimper and shook his head wildly, driving the memories away with all his might. No, no, no, no, no. He couldn't let them creep back in.. not now.

Hera sat back down hard in her chair, pressing her hands to her temples for a moment as her mind raced. Then she lifted her chin and glanced back over at Ahsoka.

Ahsoka gazed back at her. "I would say it's very much worth searching. But to be safe, we should still undergo the plan I came up with a few minutes ago. We must discover and address all possible leads."

Hera felt her heart swell up with gratitude and relief. She hadn't been completely sure if Ahsoka would help her. When Kanan had been captured by the Empire, the Togruta had advised against it for Ezra's safety and the safety of her crew. But this time, things were different. Ahsoka was no longer merely someone to advise Hera and provide them with ops and intel every now and then. She was a much closer ally now.

Her emotions must have showed on her face, because a small and gentle smile crossed Ahsoka's.

"Wait," Ezra interrupted suddenly, leaning forward. He had been hovering in the background in confusion as the two spoke. "Uh.. I just wanna go back and clarify on something for a second. Where are we searching, exactly?"

"First, we check with Tseebo's Imperial files, then send you and Zeb out to where he was taken, like Ahsoka suggested." Ezra could tell that Hera had composed herself and was now thinking like the Hera he knew. He found that it made him smile. "And then we investigate the biggest slave trade planets to see if any of them are still dealing with Shadow."

Ezra's eyes widened in alarm. He opened his mouth, then closed it. They had to do everything they could to get Kanan back, and if that meant going to a place that was positively crawling with extremely dangerous and deceptive scum.. then so be it.

"Ezra," Ahsoka said, switching her intense blue gaze to him. "Would you happen to know which planet Shadow was taking slaves to in the first place? That might be a good place as any to start."

As it happened, Ezra was clearly already trying to remember. His brows met, and it was obvious from his expression that he had to struggle even harder to break through the walls in his memory and recall this smaller piece of information.

"Easy," Ahsoka told him calmly. Hera was straining to stay silent and still, fear written all over her face.

Ezra began to tremble, and Hera was just about to leap to her feet again when he opened his eyes and slumped against the wall, weakened.

"Tattooine," he muttered breathlessly. "He was taking them.. to Tattooine."

As Hera was staring at Ezra and Ezra was listlessly gazing towards the floor, neither of them witnessed the shadow that swept across her countenance.

It was gone by the time Hera quickly swiveled around in her chair to look at her. "We head there tonight."

Ahsoka nodded once. "Ahsoka out."

The holocall switched off on its own, terminated from the Jedi's side of the transmission. Hera hurriedly got up and walked over to Ezra, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"You sit down and rest a moment while I find Tseebo," Hera murmured. "Thank you, Ezra."

"No problem," Ezra told her with a weak smile and a cheeky thumbs-up.

Hera smiled back slightly, ruefully. Her hand lingered on his shoulder for a moment before she stepped past him and left the cockpit.

Ezra, meanwhile, was not about to do a thing that he was told.

He walked over to Hera's chair and sat in it, then quickly started up his own holocall.

Wherever you are, Kanan, hang on. We're coming for you.

I'm going to fix this.

***