Freaks of the Force

The Cliffs

I was feeling incredibly sorry for myself as I glided beside Thalia, off to who knew where. The blaster wound in my side had already closed and mostly healed, but it still hurt like crazy. And my neck was hurting too, but for different reasons. Thankfully the collar had been removed. But so had the communicator Kanan gave me.

Oh yeah, and my insides felt like they were on fire.

"Where are we going?" I asked. Thalia scowled back at me.

"I'm supposed to bring you to the cliffs," Thalia replied.

"Who told you to do that?" I gasped, faltering slightly in the sky.

"Keep up!" she called back to me.  I flapped my wings harder to keep up.  Thalia circled and began to glide lower, towards the cliffs below.  She landed neatly, but I stumbled to the ground beside her.

"I'm not sure I'll be able to make it back," I told her.

"You won't have to," a voice announced.  Forms stepped out from behind rocks.  Imperial soldiers.  And leading them was Doctor Carther. His familiar white lab coat looked larger than ever, almost as if he was shrinking.

"Thalia, we need to get out!" I told her.  "Jump off the cliff, they can't follow us there."

"Don't even try it," she said, grabbing my arm and holding me fast.

"Yes, Thalia here has agreed to hand you over," Doctor Carther added.

"You're my cousin," I said to Thalia.  "We're family.  How could you betray me?  Betray us?"

Thalia looked away and shoved me towards Doctor Carther, who caught me.  I didn't even have the energy to fight back as the fire inside me grew.

"Sir, ship incoming!" one of the imperials announced.

I glanced up as a ship landed a ways away. It took me a moment to recognize it. It was the Ghost.  It fired on the cliff and the stormtroopers moved to scatter.

"Stand your ground!" Doctor Carther ordered.  "They wouldn't risk hurting the boy!"

The stormtroopers gathered closer to us, blasters held ready.  The Ghost circled one last time, firing along the ground, before landing a short distance away.  Kanan, Zeb, Sabine, and Kina emerged from the cargo hold.

"Doctor Carther," Kanan called. "I should have guessed you would be behind this."

"I assume you're here for the boy?" Doctoe Carther asked.

"Looks like you're finally putting that big brain to work," Zeb growled, activating his borifle.  Doctor Carther's grip tightened on my shoulder.

"DROP!" Kanan ordered.  I went limp, dropping to the ground even as Doctor Carther tried to grab me.  Blaster bolts fired from all directions as I rolled away from the imperials and towards my friends.

"I'll grab him!" Kina shouted, charging towards me.  I stood up just as Thalia tackled me to the ground.

"You're not going anywhere!" Thalia growled.  "I wasted too much for you to just throw away our protection!"

Then Kina came in from behind, grabbing Thalia and pulling her off of me.  The two dodged and attacked, moving farther and farther from me.

Kanan was fighting Doctor Carther.  The rest of the rebels has their hands full with the imperials.  And Kina and Thalia were moving dangerously close to the cliff's edge.

I grabbed a nearby blaster from the ground and stood, firing at Doctor Carther.  The first shot missed him by inches, but the second shot caught his shoulder.  His eyes were filled with murderous rage as he turned to glare at me.

"Now you die, little bird!" he growled, raising his blaster.

"Jump, Ezra!" Kanan shouted.  "He can't follow, and we'll catch up in the Ghost!"

I didn't want to leave them, but I didn't have much choice.  I wasn't any use during the battle with the feeling of fire inside of me.  I ran a few steps and jumped off of the cliff, spreading my wings to catch the wind as I fell.  The draft pushed me upwards, over the battle.  I glanced down.

Kina and Thalia were mere inches from the side of the cliff when the ground cracked, sending Kina and Thalia tumbling over the edge.  Thalia spread her wings, floating upwards with the draft.  But no matter what Kina did, her wings wouldn't catch any wind.  She spiraled downwards, shedding feathers and screaming.

"Kina!" Thalia cried, folding her wings and plunging after her.  Another shout cut across my thoughts.

"Kanan, what is he doing?" Sabine demanded.

"We've got a problem!" Zeb agreed.  I turned my attention to them.

Doctor Carther had ripped off his large lab coat, glaring up at me as he did so.  With a smirk, he unfurled his black wings.

"Sharing DNA is a wonderful thing!" Doctor Carther called up.  "It really evens the playing field!"

He flapped his wings, launching into the night sky towards me.