Encroaching Darkness

Nal Hutta

  Hera's voice over the loudspeaker got everyone's attention. "Alright everyone, we're here. Get ready to go get the... slaves. I never thought I'd ever actually say that." They all smirked at her little joke then made their way to the bay door. "Alright, so the girls will be staying here with the ship and make sure no one runs off with it or the children. Kanan your with me, let's go."

  Walking into the putrid city they hear the ramp raise then lock ss they walk on. After several minutes of silent uninterrupted walking, Kanan breaks the silence. "So where are these kids of yours?" Not answering he kept walking then turned and walked into an apartment building. Striding past the desk and towards the elevators, he hits the eleventh-floor button. Kanan sticking to his heels the whole time. "Good answer Ezra. Good answer." Finally reaching the eleventh-floor they step out if the elevator. Ezra immediately went left for four doors then started pounding on apartments eleven R's door.

  A Rodian woman answered and seemed relieved at his arrival. "Oh master Bridger, your finally here! Come in come in." She said while opening the door the rest of the way. The hushed silence that fell over the room when Ezra entered was almost palatable. "Hello, children. You know who I am, at least vaguely. So, I have one question for each of you. Are you ready to be Jedi?" The screeching they all have nearly deafened them all due to the confines of the small apartment. "Alright, let's go to the ship! Follow me!"

  Marching up the ramp with a small mob of children got the attention of everyone on board. "Ezra, you said a few, not fifteen!" He shrugged at her and went to go see Sabine. Walking into what was her room she's sitting on her old bed. "Hey, Bean. Wanna tell me what's bothering you?" He asked while moving to sit down. "Ez, don't be mad at her but Hera told me you weren't happy for along time. I-I mean, uh, not healthy kinda unhappy." The silence that fell over the room made Sabine think this conversation was a mistake, she was about to tell him to forget about it when he spoke up.

  "I wasn't Bean. For the first few years after my parents, I was more or less on autopilot. I realized when I was eleven that I wanted to die but was too scared to do it myself. 'Let the empire finish their job' I kept telling myself. Even after I met you guys I still wanted that release. Do you remember that time at the medical station with the inquisitors? I wanted them to kill me, I'm still surprised they didn't. The time I 'fell' of the ghost when Kanan and I were training? I had finally worked up the guts to do it, then Kanan goes and catches me. All those times I jumped in front of a hail of blaster fire, that wasn't bold heroicst. Then I lost it a few times, the Grand inquisitor, Maul, Tseebo, countless stormtroopers. They all got to me so badly that I nearly fell to the dark side. Those times you or any of the others got hurt. The way you just forgave your family after there betrayal. I just couldn't do that, they didn't and still don't deserve forgiveness Bean."

  "E-Ez, I, uh. Ezra, I don't know what to say to any of that. What stopped all of that? What made you so happy that all of that could be overlooked?" He just smiled at her then put his arm around her. "You did Sabine. You gave me a future, love, a place, and a person to always be with, my son and, and everything I could have ever wanted. Only you could have done all that for me, Sabine."

"Ezra, where are we going next?" Hera asked him through the ship's intercom. Pressing the button on the panel with the force he tells her to make way to Bastion. "Got it." Thanking her he turns to Sabine. She pushes him onto his back and crawls on top of him. "I love you too Ezra. Wanna do it?" She questioned. The wolfish grin she could see him sporting right before the lights went out answered her question.

  The ruckus the kids and the few teens were making throughout the ship would normally bother Hera. But she couldn't be mad at them when she found about six girls crooning at Aiden and Jacen sleeping in the crib. "Are they yours?" One of them askes. "The one with green hair is mine. His name is Jacen. The other is Aiden Ezra and Sabine's son." The room was silent for a moment than one of them spoke up. "They're like us, right? I feel like I can feel it. They're like us, right?" She smiled and laughed quietly at a question. "Yea, they are like you kids."

  Ashoka normally wouldn't let people clamber onto and over her mandrils. 'But when it's three toddlers it's a different story.' She told herself as they continued to use the Ashoka jungle gym.

  Four younger boys where chasing Chopper around the cargo hold. Apparently having the time of there lives. Tel'drin was sitting on a crate right next Talia. "Do really think this was a good idea?" She asked him while looking at the boy's chase the astromech. "It might have been a bad idea to got along with it. But so far, this is a whole lot better than trying to take care of all the others while living on the streets. Do you think it was a mistake?" She was thinking deeply, the way she bit her lower lip showed that clear as day. "No, but now we all don't get freedom. The one thing we wanted more than anything."