Chapter Text
Ezra Bridger's heart is going a mile a minute as the two new Inquisitors lead him and Sabine Wren down the dark hall of the supposedly abandoned facility to which they had come to get medical supplies for the Rebellion. Only, they, Zeb Orellios, and their astromech droid, Chopper, had promptly run into two new Inquisitors, even though they had originally thought the last of them were gone when the Grand Inquisitor died only several months ago.
"Once we have the others," the female Mirialan Inquisitor says, "We'll dispose of them both." She glances over her shoulder, a cruel smile twisting her lips. "Very slowly." She pushes a button on the control panel and the doors in front of them slide open, letting them enter the hanger of the facility.
Ezra glances nervously around the empty area. He hopes that Zeb is going to have the sense not to do something stupid. Better for the Inquisitors to get him and Sabine then everyone. Discreetly looking around, he promptly spots a certain very familiar ship that's attached itself to the top of the hanger. The Phantom.
His eyes widen in alarm, and he glances over at Sabine. "What?" she hisses back. He motions ever so slightly with his head, and she looks up, alarm flashing through her eyes as she spots the ship too. Zeb waves at them, then gives them a thumbs up, a maniacal grin on his face where he hangs upside down in the pilot's seat.
Ezra exchanges another worried look with Sabine. He's pretty sure he knows what Zeb has in mind. They'll have to get out of the way at the right moment. The Mirialan narrows her eyes suspiciously as she watches their exchange and looks up, following their gaze, immediately spotting the ship. Instantly, the Phantom detaches itself from the top of the hanger flying down heading straight for them.
Now. Ezra and Sabine dash out of the way as the shuttle's guns' open fire on the Inquisitors who instantly activate their lightsabers to block the blasts. Ezra raises a hand, Force-yanking his lightsaber away from the Mirialan. The familiar hilt lands in his hands and he ignites it, holding it defensively in front of himself and Sabine in case one of the Inquisitors tries something.
The female Inquisitor catches sight of him and glares furiously, even as the ship lands in between the sides, and they run for the open ramp. The moment they jump onto the end of the ramp, the shuttle blasts off into the air again, towards the open hanger doors. Only to suddenly jerk to a stop, straining against an invisible force gripping it. Ezra spins around to see the male Inquisitor standing with his hands raised, trying to hold it back with the Force. The ship struggles again the grip, continuing to inch towards the open hanger door. The Mirialan raises her hands and starts shutting the door with the Force.
No. They can't let this happen. Ezra exchanges a glance with Sabine before she whips out her blasters and starts shooting at the two. Their Force grips' immediately break, and the ship races towards the opening. But the male Inquisitor has other ideas. Igniting his lightsaber, he runs after, leaping right up onto the ramp. The same moment, the Mirialan races back to the entrance, slamming down on a button on the control panel and the doors to the exit immediately begin to slide closed again.
Ezra ignites his lightsaber, meeting the man's blow. Their blades clash as the Inquisitor spins his blade in a circle, attacking him furiously. The intensity of the blows forces Ezra back a few steps. In moments like this, he really wishes they did have backup here. It was hard enough defeating one Inquisitor before; how are they ever going to defeat two of them? Sabine instantly takes the opportunity and starts shooting at the Inquisitor at close range.
He spins his red blade, deflecting the blasts – straight back at them. Ezra dodges as one of the shots nearly hits him. Sabine stumbles back a step as another blaster bolts strikes her in the arm. The Inquisitor uses the opportunity to lunge at her, blade slicing through the ends of her blasters. In a flash, Ezra lunges at him again, and he spins to intercept it.
The doors finish sliding closed, locking them into the hanger, sealing off their escape. Ezra tries to ignore the chilling fear that runs through him. One of them will have to get back over to the panel to open the doors without getting killed by the Inquisitors on the way, and then, get back to the ship before they close the doors again. That's not going to be easy.
The Mirialan runs back over, jumping onto the ramp of the ship with them. One of her small droids flies forwards, heading for Sabine. The Mandalorian dodges out of the way, kicking it aside as it goes for her leg, but another promptly latches onto her arm.
Ezra dodges a slash that would have otherwise taken off his head, swinging his blade up to clash into a saberlock with the man. He throws all his weight again the blade, using the advantage of having the higher ground, before kicking the Inquisitor hard, and throwing a bit of the Force into the move as well. The man slides backwards, falling straight off the edge of the ramp and crashing to the hanger floor below.
But any moment of satisfaction is short lived. "Drop your weapon, boy, or she dies," the Mirialan warns darkly. Ezra whirls around to see the woman holding onto Sabine with one hand, her ignited lightsaber held up to her neck with the other. The same moment, Zeb runs down the hall with his blaster raised, but pauses in his tracks when he sees the situation.
Ezra glares at her, hand clenching on the saber hilt. He doesn't really have a choice. Not unless he's going to risk Sabine's life. His best friend... practically like a sister. He won't do that, not if there's another option. "Then let her go," he snaps, deactivating the blade and dropping it to the floor. Zeb lowers his weapon as well, glaring at the Mirialan with a look almost murderous enough to kill.
She cackles. "You are in no position to be giving me orders." She looks over at Zeb. "Now land the ship." The Lasat disappears into the cockpit, and all Ezra can do is hope that any useful information on the ship has already been wiped. They generally delete everything after every jump, but Zeb was the one flying. He doesn't know if it's all gone yet or not. Apparently, the Mirialan is thinking along the same lines.
"Follow him and make sure he doesn't try anything," she snaps, looking to the other Inquisitor. The man leaps back onto the ramp without replying, disappearing after Zeb into the cockpit.
Ezra draws in a deep breath, trying to stay calm. He needs to think. They've been in many tight situations before. They can get out of this one too. If he can only figure out what to do. One wrong move, and the Mirialan will kill Sabine. And that's not something he's willing to risk.
***
"Pretty much all information from the ship's records is already gone," the man reports as he walks into the cabin area of the Phantom where the Mirialan is standing guard over the three, now stun-cuffed prisoners. Chopper is sitting a short distance away looking less than happy, although that's something Ezra can only tell because of how well he knows the astromech.
The Mirialan scowls for a moment, before her expression returns back to a sinister smile. "That's fine, because we're going to use them as bate to lure the others out here." Ezra tenses, exchanging a glance with Sabine and Zeb. This is bad.
Just then, the man's comm beeps. "We have an incoming transmission," he informs.
"We'll take it out in the hall," she decides, then turns to her hovering droids. "Watch them." The two Inquisitors disappear out the door towards the cockpit, leaving them temporarily alone. But anything they say or do will be recorded by the droids anyway, so it hardly matters.
If Ezra had enough time, he could try getting the binders off them with the Force, but they don't even have weapons with them anymore. If they try something, more than likely one of them is going to end up getting killed.
They sit in a tense silence, waiting. Ezra can make out some of the talking in the hall, but not much. Just enough to gather that, apparently, their titles are "Fifth Brother" and "Seventh Sister". He hears more movement outside before the shuttle suddenly lifts off the ground and through the small viewport on the wall, he can see that they're flying into space. What's happening now? Where are the Inquisitors taking them? The silence is practically agonizing now. He hates having no idea what's happening and feeling so helpless like he does right now. If only Kanan was here with him. Together, he's certain they'd be able to do something, but alone...
A few minutes later, the ship streaks away into hyperspace. "I wonder where they're taking us," Ezra mumbles under his breath finally, unable to take the silence any longer.
"Somewhere we don't want to go," Sabine supplies glumly.
"We had no idea," Zeb mutters in response. Chopper beeps grumpily, something about annoying organics infected with the 'Dark Side' virus needing to be deactivated.
Ezra's reply dies on his lips as the door slides open and the two Inquisitors stalk into the room again. "Now," says the Seventh Sister, "We will discuss the location of the Rebel base." He gulps, certain his hammering heart can be heard by everyone in the room at this point. Whatever happens, they can't tell them anything. He presses his lips together, pointedly staring a spot on the wall behind the Inquisitors.
Neither of the others say a word either. "We'll find out what we want to know, one way or the other. Just tell me willingly now, and maybe I'll make your deaths a little quicker."
No reply. Does she really think Ezra is going to betray hundreds of people, including Kanan and Hera – basically his parents – for a lame offer like that?
The Fifth Brother suddenly steps forwards, grabbing Sabine's arm, igniting his lightsaber, holding it up to her neck. "Tell us where it is. Now," he growls.
Ezra swallows hard, his heart practically pounding in his throat. Sabine... he can't let her die. But there's nothing else he can do. He's not going to betray the Rebel base's location to temporarily stay their executions. No matter what they do, he's not going tell them anything. He won't. He can't betray the rest of his friends like that, even if he doesn't want to watch Sabine die.
He moves the blade a little closer, almost near enough to burn. Ezra really wants to stop watching because there's no way he can see this, but he's too panicked to think straight, let alone move. The Inquisitor scowls, looking over at the Seventh Sister for a moment.
She pauses a moment, considering. "Leave her for now. She'll be more useful alive once we get back to the base." Wait, base? They're going to an Imperial base? Well, he should have guessed. Where else would they take them?
For a moment, memories of Kanan's capture not long ago flash through Ezra's mind. The condition he was in after... and the amount of time it took him to fully recovery from what happened.
They have to find some way to escape and soon.
***
Ezra finally finds the opportunity to act once he's been separated from Sabine, Zeb, and Chopper and is being led to a more secure area of the facility, probably meant to contain Jedi. He discreetly reaches out with the Force, flipping the blaster on one of the four stormtroopers accompanying him onto stun. Now.
In a flash he throws up his hands, sending the two guards in front of him flying head first into the wall. He spins around as the guards behind him are starting to react, kicking one of them as hard as he can, knocking him to the ground. Ducking out of the other stormtrooper's grip, he rips away the blaster with the Force, stunning him with it before he has a chance to duck. The other three are already getting back to their feet, but he hastily stuns the second one before dodging behind part of the wall as one of the others shoots at him.
The second stormtrooper runs over to push an alarm button. No, just no. Ezra hastily stuns him next, ducking the blaster shot that nearly takes off his head before stunning the last of the stormtroopers. The body collapses to the floor with a resounding thud. Hopefully nobody heard that, not that it matters, considering the alarm has already been triggered. Glancing anxiously up and down the hall, Ezra drags the four guards into the cell before changing into stormtrooper armor and running back out into the hall.
He's a little short for a stormtrooper, but thankfully, no one stops to question him as he hurries through the facility, trying to stay inconspicuous. There's got to be some really short stormtroopers, anyway, right? Now he needs directions. Ducking the patrols who are all scrambling to investigate his disappearance, he stops at a nearby computer console and looks for where the detention levels are, and where they might have taken Chopper to get data from him. Several people passing by cast a few glances at him, but otherwise they don't pay him any attention. And then finally he finds what he's looking for. Trying not to look too suspicious, he hurries off through the facility again.
Ezra darts up to the door of his first destination, sprinting into the room. Two stormtroopers are working on trying to break into Chopper's memory. He stuns the two before they have the chance to react, running over to the droid and quickly getting to work on reassembling it. Why were poor Chopper's wheels and other parts removed anyway? A flicker of amusement crosses his face for a moment. Probably because it refused to cooperate no matter what, and may or may not have been electrocuting people right and left.
The droid beeps grumpily as Ezra sets him back on the floor. "I know, I know. We just need to find the others and then we can get out of here." Hopefully before someone shows up and realizes that the droid is missing.
He hurries back out into the hall with the astromech at his heel, and they take off again. His mind is whirling as the lift goes up towards the detention level where Sabine and Zeb are being kept. He'll have to have some excuse for what he's doing there, or he'll never be able to break them out. Maybe blasting his way through will be the easiest.
He readies his blaster as the doors to the lift slide open. Several Imperials are working at the controls in the main room, and they immediately look up when he steps out. Ezra doesn't give them a moment to question his presence, instantly stunning the first of them. The second one goes down almost equally easily, but the third whips out a blaster of his own, shooting back.
Ezra dodges out of the way, backing against the wall to avoid the shots. If only he had his lightsaber with him right now, but he isn't sure how he'll ever get back since the Inquisitors have it. Chopper zips across the room towards the man as Ezra ducks out from behind the wall, firing several stun shots at him in rapid succession before ducking back again. Glancing around, he quickly shoots out the cameras also, although it's probably too late for that anyway. The droid zaps the man unconscious from behind as he prepares to shoot again.
The comm on the desk center is blaring already. "Chopper, figure out what cells they're in," Ezra hisses, "I'll handle this."
He scrambles over, answering the call. "What's going on up there?" demands a voice.
"Everything is under control. Situation normal," he reports.
"What happened?" He can hardly say that there's a rogue stormtrooper up here, or they're going to be sending reinforcements, correctly assuming that said person was trying to free the prisoners.
"... Uh, we had a slight weapon's malfunction. Everything is under control now," he offers lamely.
"We're sending a squad up." The reply is almost immediate.
Great. Well, no point hanging around. He disconnects the call without another word. "Chopper, did you find them?"
The droid whistles affirmatory, zipping away down the hall. Ezra bolts after. They're out of time.
He unlocks the door to Sabine's cell, a sigh of relief escaping him when he sees that she's still alright for now. At least the Inquisitors haven't been interrogating them yet. "Ezra!" she exclaims in surprise.
"Come on, hurry," he calls, running back into the hall with her close behind. Chopper has already opened the other door for Zeb.
"We need to move quickly. They're sending a squad up already."
"Got a plan for getting out?" Zeb demands.
"Not really," Ezra admits sheepishly, "But at least we have these." He holds up to the three blasters he collected from the guards in the main area.
Right on cue, there's a sudden explosion on the other side of the lift. "Sounds like they're already here," Sabine says grimly, as she takes two of the blasters, "So we better figure something out fast."
Ezra glances furtively around the hallway. He really doesn't have any idea what they do from here. But he does know one thing. Either they escape now or never. They aren't going to get another chance. After this, the Inquisitors will be far too careful. They'll never be able to get away again. They can't fail. And that's when a sudden idea occurs to him.
"I have an idea, but it's risky," he blurts out.
"Considering the circumstances, I'll take the risk," Zeb growls, already cocking the blaster to fire the moment stormtroopers round the corner.
Ezra raises his weapon, firing at the grate near the floor. The blast tears it loose and he darts over, yanking it off. The stormtroopers are already coming down the hall. They don't have much time.
"Follow me," he urges, jumping down the grate into the garbage area below. And carefully ignoring how awfully it stinks down here.
"You know they're going to figure out we're down here pretty quickly right?" hisses Sabine as she leaps down next to him.
"There's a way out over there," Ezra whispers back, pointing. There's a small maintenance hatch on the far side of the wall. Maybe they can escape through there.
"Assuming we can get it open."
Zeb squeezes down next, looking decidedly unhappy. "Quite the smell you've discovered," he grumbles.
Chopper beeps equally unhappily as he flies down there too, landing next to them. Something about hating how dirty it is. "At least you can't smell it like we can," Ezra shoots back.
"Just try to get that hatch open, Chopper," instructs Sabine. The droid flies over, extending an arm and cutting through the seal along the sides of the hatch.
It finally comes open as Ezra can hear footsteps right near the entrance to the garbage masher. "Come on, let's get out of here," he mutters, slipping out the opening into the hallway. He really can't wait until he can get out of these clothes.
Alarms blaring is the first thing Ezra hears as he steps out into the hall, the others close behind. Great. They probably already know that now Sabine and Zeb have escaped too. So, it's only going to be a matter of time before they're spotted." We need to get to the hanger bay and find the Phantom before they find us," Sabine warns. Without another word, they take off running.