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This is not how the day was supposed to go at all.
This was supposed to be a simple recon mission to find out if the planet they were considering as a base was habitable. If there was an area for a camp far enough out that they may go unnoticed by anyone already inhabiting the planet. If there could be a food and water supply nearby. The usual things.
Instead, they ran into trouble.
He had to admit though. Trouble always did have a way of finding them, even on the simpler missions.
He just didn’t know why it had to be an Inquisitor this time.
The last planet had angry predators. He would have happily handled predators again.
Ezra and Sabine were voluntold to go check out the next planet on their shorter-by-the-day list. Ezra didn’t mind so much. The ship was feeling small these days, what with all of the refugees that joined them, and the clones.
One of these planets had to be suitable for their base. With the Empire’s reach growing, the galaxy was getting smaller and more difficult to move around in without being noticed. It made sense that Captain Sato and Hera were speeding up the searches, and Ezra was eager to get out and explore again.
Kanan was the only one who was feeling a bit hesitant about this mission. He pulled Ezra aside before he got into the shuttle to head out and reminded him to keep a sharp eye out for anything dangerous. It was vague, even for Kanan, but when Ezra asked if he could be more specific, the Jedi just shrugged and said that he had a weird feeling about this trip.
Ezra promised to look out for anything out of the ordinary and they hugged briefly before they had to go off to do their respective duties.
As soon as the Phantom entered the atmosphere, Ezra felt something. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he didn’t like it. It wasn’t quite the cold that he felt when they encountered the Sith Lord on Lothal, or that time with the creature on the asteroid with the “abandoned” clone base, but it did feel...bad. Slimy, even. He thought he recognized it, but as soon as he reached into the Force to investigate, it disappeared. Almost like it...withdrew.
He tried not to think about it too much. He knew some creatures could sense the Force, and that all had a connection to it, and he figured it was something like that. The planet was supposed to have a nearly zero intelligent population, but that didn’t mean that there couldn’t be something out there to notice their presence.
The shuttle landed and, after confirming that they could breathe on the planet’s surface, they exited the shuttle. They started to collect the samples the scientists on Phoenix Home had requested for their research when it happened again. It wasn’t as sudden as when they entered the atmosphere, or else Ezra probably would have been able to notice it sooner. This time, the feeling, that slimy, cold sensation, creeped up on him and he didn’t notice until it was too late. He turned to shout a warning to Sabine right before the feeling overtook him and he passed out.
When he came to, the first thing Ezra noticed was the cold. The planet had been cooler than Lothal, but not this cold. Keeping his eyes closed to feign unconsciousness, he reached out with the Force to try to get a sense of what was going on around him. He could feel Sabine’s signature and he was relieved. If they had been separated, or if something had happened to her, he wouldn’t have been able to sense her. He tried to broaden his reach around him, but was stopped by something hitting his head. Hard. He groaned and opened his eyes. His focus was gone and he wasn’t counting on getting it back now.
He was prepared for something bad, but not this bad.
The female Inquisitor they had encountered on the medical station was perched on a rock, holding Sabine up by her hair.
“Nice of you to finally join us, boy,” she purred.
Ezra panicked and all of his sense of reason, the inside voice telling him to play it cool, left him.
“Let her go! You get away from her before I break every bone in your body!”
“Oh, somehow I doubt you will be able to do that.” The Inquisitor grinned, and Ezra felt sick to his stomach. But he couldn’t give into his fear. He needed to get her away from Sabine.
“Try me!”
Without warning, Ezra’s arm was wrenched behind his back so hard that he felt a weird pop in his shoulder. He screeched out in pain.
Through the haze of pain, he realized something. She wasn’t the only one holding them prisoner.
He heard a laugh from behind him. “Miss me?” The other Inquisitor. He had heard someone on the ship say something about them traveling in pairs, but he didn’t pay it much mind at the time. He hadn’t heard anything regarding the pair since their first meeting. He had hoped, prayed, that it would be the last time he had to face them alone.
Ezra laid in the dirt on the ground, panting through the pain, trying so hard to focus.
Kanan and he had been working on communicating through their Force bond, but it was hard enough to do it when they were in the same room. He knew he couldn’t do it if he didn’t get through the pain first.
“Leave him alone!” he heard Sabine yell.
The laugh came from behind again and Ezra had a split second to brace himself before the Inquisitor kicked him in the ribs. He felt a different kind of pop and knew from his days of living on the streets of Lothal that his rib(s) were fractured, if not totally broken. He also knew there was little hope he was going to be able to ignore the pain to reach out to Kanan now. He could barely breathe.
“Stop it!”
“He said he would break every bone in my body. I am merely challenging him to do so after my partner here has broken most of the bones in his body,” the female Inquisitor replied with a sadistic giggle.
This went on for some time. Ezra couldn’t tell how long it had been. After his other arm had dislocated from being dropped, he had no sense of anything. He prayed for the pain to end, or to at least pass out until after it was all over. Something stomped on his hand as it lay outstretched since he was unable to move his arm close to him to protect it and that was the last contact he felt.
There was a flurry of movement nearby and he tried to open his eyes to see what was happening, but his face was too swollen. He was in too much pain to reach out to sense if Sabine was still there, since he couldn’t hear anything over the shouts of the Inquisitors.
Then it was quiet.
He felt something brush against his face and he flinched away. Even if he hadn’t been expecting more brutal treatment, his face was too battered to tolerate being touched, no matter how gentle the person was.
“Oh Ezra.” He recognized the voice now. He managed to ignore the fog of pain just enough to reach out with the Force to his master.
Kanan?
He felt Kanan reach back, tentatively. “Ezra, if you can hear me, I am going to have to pick you up to get you back to the shuttle. It’s going to hurt. But I’ve got you.” You are safe.
That was the last thing he could remember before he blacked out completely.
When he awoke again, he still couldn’t open his eyes, this time because there was something pressing on them, like an eye mask. It wasn’t unpleasant but he also needed to see where he was. He tried to move his arms to pull the mask away, but the effort of moving them just a little was excruciating. Kanan! He reached out wildly for his master’s signature nearby. A gentle touch to his undamaged hand made him feel calmer.
“I’m here, kid.” You are safe.
“Sabine,” he managed to mumble. He must have bit his tongue at some point, because it felt incredibly swollen.
“She is safe. They didn’t hurt her. She is giving the planetary report to Sato.”
“Not that it’s an actual option now. Can’t very well settle on a planet that has Inquisitors vacationing there.” Ezra heard Zeb interject from somewhere in the room.
“Who...else...here?” Ezra asked.
“It’s just me and Zeb for now. The others will be here soon. Ezra, they are going to have to put you in the bacta tank for a little while. Hera and Sabine will be here before, but right after they come in, the medics are going to take you to the tank, okay?” Kanan explained.
“No...don’t….alone…” Ezra tried to pull away, to move, anything, but his body would not cooperate. It had been through too much.
“Shhhh. It’s okay.” You are safe.
He calmed a little, but he still didn’t want to go into the bacta tank. He knew he’d be unconscious for the time he was in there, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t feel the isolation. He wouldn’t dream about what happened.
“I’ll be with you the whole time.” You are not going to be alone.
Ezra relaxed a little more. He could feel more of Kanan’s Force energy surrounding him, willing him to calm. He didn’t know if Kanan was doing it on purpose, but he also didn’t mind. It made him feel safe.
He dozed a little while waiting for the rest of the Phantom crew to arrive, waking to a very gentle squeeze of his hand from Kanan.
“Ezra, Hera and Sabine are here.”
He was able to sense them vaguely, but the pain was starting to cloud all of his senses again and he shifted uncomfortably.
“It’s okay, Ezra. We just wanted you to know we are here. And we will be here when you wake up again, okay?” Hera’s voice said in a soft, soothing tone that reminded him of his mother.
“Sabine?” He needed to hear her. He knew Kanan hadn’t been lying to him, but he needed to hear her to be sure she was safe.
“I’m here, Ezra. I’m okay. You need to get better now. We’ll talk when you wake up, okay?”
“....kay.” He hadn’t heard the medic come in with the others, but he knew someone else had to be there since the drowsiness he felt now wasn’t from his pain or exhaustion.
Kanan?! He felt so tired.
It’s okay. You’re safe. I won’t leave you alone.
We love you, kid.