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Kanan made a cursory glance around to make sure none of the supervising droids were nearby. Satisfied that he wouldn’t be caught “slacking,” he stopped for a moment, stretching out the aching muscles in his back. As he looked over to where Ezra sat on an abandoned crate, the kid looked up, sensing he was being watched. He smiled, waved to Kanan, and turned his attention back to the mess of wires and scrap metal that made up his latest secret project.
A sharp pang shot through Kanan’s chest as he just stood there and watched Ezra for the few seconds he knew he could get away with it. He would give anything to just be able to play with the kid, help him with his project or his educational sims, anything but make him sit there quietly and entertain himself. But he had to keep both of them fed somehow, and for the past two weeks, that had meant this job.
After arriving on this planet, Kanan had managed to find work at a spaceport, getting goods that had been unloaded from freighters shipped out to their final destinations. It was a steady job that would last him a while as long as he managed to never miss a day. The pay was practically insulting, but it would keep him and Ezra fed until he could find something better or move on. And most importantly, the dockmaster had said Ezra could be there, as long as he stayed out of everyone’s way. Until the heat died down from the incident on Metalorn, Kanan didn’t want to let the kid out of his sight.
Satisfied that Ezra was still occupied and content, Kanan turned back to the pile of crates he’d been tasked with loading onto hovercarts. Another advantage of the monotonous work was the fact that he could keep his focus on the Force, actively searching for any sense of danger. Three months had passed since they’d left Metalorn, and the security bulletins only had the vaguest description of him, but Kanan wasn’t about to drop his guard yet. He’d made a promise to the Bridgers the day he and Ezra escaped, and he intended to keep it.
It was almost the end of his shift when he felt it. At first, it was just a sense that everything was too quiet. When he stopped and looked around, he saw that most of the workers in this area had cleared out. He glanced at the large chronometer on the far wall, wondering if he’d misjudged things and it was already time to clock out. But it was still forty minutes until shift change, when a skeleton crew would come in to work this landing bay overnight. The others should still be here.
A loud mechanical hum echoed through the air, making Ezra jump. It didn’t take long for Kanan to spot the source of the noise. The large doors on the far end of the landing bay, that had remained wide open the entire time Kanan had been working here, were closing. Those doors were how the crates were moved from the bay to the transports that carried them, and so they rarely closed.
They were also the most obvious escape route if you needed to get out quickly.
“Ezra.”
The kid’s shoulders were tensed. Kanan could sense Ezra’s anxiety mingling with his own, prickling at the back of both their necks.
And then he heard it.
The clunking of armored boots on durasteel floors.
He knew. He knew with absolute certainty that those footsteps belonged to stormtroopers. He’d spent years outrunning that sound, until it was as familiar to him as his own name.
And he knew why they were here.
Running all the way here hadn’t done them any good.
The Empire had found them.
As Kanan bolted toward Ezra, a door opened and those booted footsteps poured into the landing bay. The sound of blaster fire began echoing off the walls. Kanan leaned into the current of the Force that flowed around him, letting it guide him as he dodged stun blasts. His eyes remained fixed on Ezra, who had dropped from the crate and was now hiding behind it, flinching as the shots flew over his head.
A dull pain struck Kanan’s back and numbness quickly followed. His legs gave out, sending him sprawling to the floor. He’d been hit. The next blast would knock him out for sure.
“Ezra, run!”
The kid was frozen in place, blue eyes wide with terror.
“Go!” Kanan shouted. “Now!”
Ezra lurched to his feet as the stormtroopers closed in around them in a pincer-like formation. They were getting closer by the second, but the kid was small and fast. If Kanan could make him an opening, he might be able to get away.
Kanan’s hand twitched, but only one stormtrooper was knocked back. The stun blast was affecting his abilities. Still, Ezra took the opportunity and ran. He darted forward, heading for the gap in the line of stormtroopers only for one of them to lunge at him, arms closing around his middle and hoisting him off the ground.
“No!” Kanan shouted. He tried to push himself up off the floor, but his arms would barely move. “He’s just a kid! He didn’t do anything!”
As Ezra kicked and squirmed in the stormtrooper’s grip, another soldier pointed their blaster at the kid’s chest.
“No!”
The blue flash struck Ezra and the kid’s struggles stopped as he went limp. Kanan was helpless to do anything as he felt a blaster being pressed against his own back.
“I’m sorry, Ezra,” he muttered. “I’m so sorry. I –”
There was a sharp jolt against his spine and everything stopped.
Every muscle in Kanan’s body was stiff. Just forcing his eyes open seemed almost impossible. For a moment, he struggled to remember what happened. He’d been working at the spaceport. Everything had been fine, until…
Suddenly, Kanan was sitting bolt upright, ignoring the screaming protests of his body. His heart hammered as he whipped his head around, looking for Ezra.
The kid lay on the floor a few feet away from him. He was still unconscious, but his chest was rising and falling steadily. Kanan crawled across the floor until he was close enough to gently pat the kid’s cheek, his other hand gripping the boy’s shoulder tightly.
“Ezra,” he said. “Wake up.”
The boy’s eyes twitched beneath his lids, but didn’t open. Kanan shook his shoulder, panic gripping his chest like a vise as he stared down at the kid. Finally, Ezra let out a quiet groan, his eyes opening slowly. He lifted his head, blinking as he took in the sight of Kanan’s face.
"Ashi?” Ezra’s voice was quiet and strained as he spoke. Kriff, what did a stun blast do to someone so little? “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” Kanan said. In spite of his fear, the tightness in his chest eased a little as the life returned to Ezra’s eyes.
Satisfied that Ezra was going to be okay, at least for now, Kanan looked up and glanced around. The room they were in was bare and dimly lit. There were no windows, only one door with a camera above it.
A cell.
Just seconds after the realization settled in, an unsettling feeling crept down Kanan’s spine, just as it had at the spaceport. Someone was coming. Kanan could sense the icy cold presence in the back of his head, drawing closer and closer. The presence coiled around his mind like a snake, pressing and squeezing, as if testing to see how easy it would be to crush him.
Ezra whimpered, the sound cutting through Kanan’s focus. He didn’t need to ask to know that the kid could sense the presence, too.
Kanan pulled Ezra into his arms, settling the boy on his lap and holding him close. He began gently stroking the kid’s hair, though it did nothing to ease Ezra’s terrified shaking. With each step that presence took toward them, Kanan’s arms tightened around Ezra, as if he stood any real chance of protecting the boy from whatever came through that door.
The soft mechanical hiss of the door opening felt like a knife sliding quickly between Kanan’s ribs. He clung to Ezra as he raised his eyes to the two people who stood in the doorway; a Mirialan and a Pau’an, both wearing black armor and meeting Kanan’s gaze with the bright yellow eyes of Sith.
Ezra was shaking violently now, and Kanan could feel tears soaking his shirt where Ezra’s face was buried in his shoulder. As the Imperials stepped into the cell, the door sliding closed behind them, Ezra’s grip tightened, his nails digging into Kanan’s neck.
The silence as the Imperials observed them seemed to close in around them, crushing Kanan further into the corner he was already backed into. The silence dragged out for far too long before the Pau’an spoke, his eyes darting briefly toward the Mirialan.
“Take the boy.”
“No!” Kanan tightened his arms around Ezra enough that the boy cried out. But he didn’t struggle, instead clinging to Kanan even tighter as the Mirialan approached.
“Don’t kriffing touch him!” Kanan shouted. He kicked, not daring to let go of Ezra with even one hand, his heel catching her shin as she drew closer.
“I think I will,” she said, undeterred by Kanan’s attack. “But how much I hurt him is up to you.”
Kanan pressed himself to the corner, turning so his left side was facing the Mirialan, using his body to shield Ezra as much as he could while still keeping his eyes on the Imperials.
“Get back!” he growled. He knew his grip on Ezra was likely hurting the kid by now, but he couldn’t let her take him. He wouldn’t. He’d sworn to protect Ezra and he wasn’t about to break that promise now.
Ezra was wailing as the Mirialan grabbed his arm, yanking at it as she tried to wrench him away from Kanan. He clung to Kanan just as tightly as Kanan held onto him, refusing to let go.
With a growl of frustration, the Mirialan released her hold on Ezra’s arm. There was a blur of movement in the corner of Kanan’s vision and pain burst across his head as her fist struck his face. Kanan blinked rapidly as his head spun, and it wasn’t until the Mirialan’s hand had slid between him and Ezra that he realized he’d loosened his grip on the kid just enough to give her an opening.
“No!”
But it was too late. The Mirialan pulled Ezra away from him, holding the boy back against her chest as he thrashed in her arms, his eyes frantic as he reached for Kanan.
“No!” Ezra screamed, kicking against the Mirialan’s legs as she carried him toward the door. “Let go! Kanan, help!”
Kanan stumbled to his feet, lunging at her. He didn’t have the slightest shred of a plan. He just knew that he had to get to Ezra. He had to get his son away from her.
A pale hand shot out, closing around Kanan’s left arm. The Pau’an quickly grabbed his right as well, wrenching his arms back. Kanan struggled, desperate to reach Ezra, but the Pau’an’s grip didn’t waver as he held Kanan back, forcing him to watch as his son was dragged out of the cell. As the door closed, Kanan could still hear Ezra screaming, pleading for his help, begging the Mirialan to let him go.
As Ezra’s screams faded, the Pau’an released Kanan, shoving him to the floor.
“Now,” the Pau’an said, circling Kanan until they faced each other again. “I think it’s time we discuss the terms of your surrender, Jedi.”