Rule #1

Bought, Never Sold

The air smelled of electricity and metal. It was a coppery scent which burned Ezra's nose. He opened his eyes, squinting against the harsh white glow. Slowly his eyes adjusted and he was able to take in his surroundings.

He was sitting in a metal chair directly under a beam of light. Blue energy cuffs tied his hands together. They hummed faintly with electricity. The walls and floor were made entirely of metal panels. The room had a single door.

"I'm going to ask you again," Cad Bane growled, stepping into view. The shadow from his hat hid his face. "Where did you get this?"

"I made it," Ezra replied. Cad Bane turned the lightsaber over in his hands and activated it. The azure blade lit his features, casting the illusion that his face was an empty skull.

"Why don't I believe you, Ezra?" he asked. Ezra went rigid as Cad Bane continued to speak. "Is it because you're a street rat who steals for a living? Or because you're master Kanan probably made it for you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ezra lied. Cad Bane smirked.

"Don't bother. Jabba? I've done a few jobs for that ball of slime. Be glad this isn't one of them. His slaves don't last long."

"Who are you really?"

"Cad Bane, like I told you. I'll do any job as long as the price is right. And in this case it is."

He deactivated the lightsaber and clipped it to his belt, throwing his face into shadow once more.

"Stay put," he ordered. "My client wants you alive, but I can find other jobs if this doesn't work out."

Cad Bane stepped through the metal door. It hissed shut behind him. The instant he was gone Ezra stood and examined the blue energy cuffs which tied his wrists. There didn't seem to be any way to deactivate them.

Ezra circled the room, searching for anything he could use to escape. There was a sealed air vent in the ceiling. He closed his eyes and extended his hands in the direction of the vent. It rattled for a moment before the screws slowly unwound themselves. The vent seal clattered to the ground.

"That's my cue," Ezra announced, force jumping into the vent and beginning to wiggle forward. The confined space in the vent forced Ezra to crawl on his stomach with his hands stretched in front of him.

Another vent opening was to his right. He paused as he heard Cad Bane's low voice from below.

"Yes, I have the cargo," he said in his gravelly voice. "You'd think these Jedi would take better care of their own after all these years. When will you be here?"

"I'm already on my way," a female voice replied. "I prefer to handle matters like this personally."

"I don't need the details, only coordinates and payment."

"You'll get your money, Bane. I'm surprised you're still working after all these years. I've heard stories if your jobs during the Clone Wars."

"I don't want to watch this brat any longer than necessary."  The woman laughed and Ezra continued through the vent, taking extra care not to make noise as he did.

Ezra figured that Cad Bane had stunned him and brought him onboard a ship, but he couldn't imagine why. He had never heard of Cad Bane before meeting him in the market. Somehow Bane knew exactly who Ezra was. The only remaining question: who was Cad Bane and what did he want?

The vent branched in either direction. Ezra turned left. After crawling a short distance he reached a dead end. It was an uncomfortable crawl backwards and down the other path. A loud clank vibrated through the ship's interior.

Ezra began to count the time in his head. It wouldn't be long until Cad Bane realized he was missing, and Ezra had to escape before then. If he failed he would be locked up again and placed in a more secure area. Escape was a one-time offer.

A section of the vent wobbled beneath Ezra's weight. A microsecond later it burst outward, raining bits of metal and Ezra into the room below. Ezra blinked for a dazed moment as he tried to remember how to breathe.

"My, he's a feisty one, isn't he?" the female voice asked. A hand grabbed Ezra's shirt and yanked him to his feet. He found himself eye to eye with Cad Bane.

"I told you to stay put," Cad Bane growled.

"Oh, set the dear thing down," the female voice chided. "He's nothing a little conditioning won't fix."

Cad Bane snarled and released Ezra. For the first time Ezra was able to identify the other person in the room. It was a humanoid creature that Ezra had only come across once before.

She was a Zygerrian. She was tall, with red hair and pale skin. Her eyes were pools of molten gold. Her large ears were pierced with dozens of golden earrings and she was dressed in a blue and gold dress. A handle was strapped to her hip which reminded Ezra of a black lightsaber handle.

Ezra tried to remember everything about Zygerrians that he could. He had seen one wandering the shipyard once while he was with Kanan. Kanan had explained that Zygerrians loved the Empire since it had helped them become rich and expand their rule. They generally didn't think about other humanoids as sentient, but they could be fiercely loyal to their own kind. And they were slavers.

So that's how this is going to be, Ezra thought.

"Tell me, boy, where did you get the light sword?" she asked. Ezra remained silent.

"He's a Jedi," Cad Bane assured her. She frowned and tilted her head.

"A bit on the small side."

"There aren't many Jedi left. They died out at the end of the Clone Wars. If you're so set on their padawans, you'll have to take what you can get."

"My name is Mijan," she told Ezra. "What is yours?"

"Jabba," he muttered. Quick as lightning Mijan's hand was up and the black handle was in her grasp. It stretched into a cackling yellow whip which curled around Ezra's hands and dragged him to the ground.

"You'll learn respect, boy," she snarled. Her eyes were murderous. "Otherwise you won't last long in my warehouse."

Ezra's heart pounded as he glared up at her.

I will never obey you, he swore to himself. And as Mijan stared at him, he knew that she recognized his thoughts. Her eyes narrowed.

"He's acceptable," she told Cad Bane. "I'll be taking him with me now. He has work to do."