Ezra's mind wasn't exactly calm and rational as it was supposed to when you're responsible for the lives of four companions. Just before he, Rex, Sabine, Hondo, Zeb and Chopper left for Yarma aboard the Phantom Kanan had presented himself in his cabin as the young man was preparing for the mission.
This would normally have been a good thing, had not Ezra left the Sith holocron on the small desk of his and Sabine's cabin as he was still pondering why Jaral had left him her new lightsaber.
Kanan apparently only wanted to talk, but as if bad luck was looking directly in Ezra's direction, the older Jedi just so happened to touch the holocron and noticed it. He gave him a stern warning about how dangerous using the Dark Side was, the two quarreled and then Kanan just walked away with the holocron, leaving Ezra frustrated.
'I don't need him.' Ezra harshly thought as he was staring out of the viewport. Sabine was piloting the Phantom while he was standing right next to her chair.
"From here, we can't jump directly into the Yarma system." Sabine said. "We'll need to make a stop in the Sereeda Waypoint and then jump to Yarma."
"Careful." Hondo admonished. "That is Mining Guild territory. It would be wise not to stay there for long."
"We'll be there and gone before they notice us." Sabine said confidently.
Ezra snorted. "Why did you say that? Now they'll catch us for sure."
"Nah, be optimistic." she commented.
Well, she wasn't being that when they left hyperspace in the Sereeda Waypoint and literally in front of a Mining Guild transport with two TIE fighters escorting it.
"Be optimistic..." Ezra mocked in frustration.
"Ok, I get it." Sabine said between her gnashing teeth.
The Specters were quickly forced to defend themselves as the TIEs attacked them after Ezra ordered Sabine and Chopper to get them out. The fighters were quickly dispatched and Ezra was tempted to attack the transport, but Jinx said that a transmission to the Empire had been already sent, and with the opinions of Sabine and Rex in favor of ignoring the transport and proceed with the mission, Ezra decided to satisfy them.
And so they finally reached the cloudy heavens of Yarma. Sabine brought the craft into the atmosphere while Jinx and Chopper widened the range of the scanners as much as they could.
After a minute or two of searching, Jinx announced that they had found the station.
A hologram appeared on the main panel of the Phantom.
"There." Ezra exclaimed. "Y-Wings. They seem in a pretty decent shape, too."
"Yeah, but according to the scan there's only 15 of them." Sabine commented.
Then they noticed that the conveyor line holding the crafts moved, and one of them disappeared.
"Uh, correction, there's 14." the girl commented with some urgency.
"Damn it!" Ezra exclaimed. "We need to move now or there won't be any more left."
"Hold on," Zeb interjected. "our orders were to recon the station."
"He's right, Lieutenant," Rex added. "we should at least contact the base."
Ezra was actually tempted not to in order not to waste time. But then, a thought calmed his mind. He touched Jaral's lightsaber and he was reminded of what happened before leaving for this mission. He had promised his sister not to screw up, and even if his opinion about her was still shaky at the moment, he didn't want to break that promise.
"Jinx, contact the base." he ordered.
"Wait..." Jinx said as he established a safe line.
...
"Done."
Ezra put his finger on the comlink of the fighter, which was waiting at a safe distance from the station.
"Specter-7 to Phoenix Home, we have an emergency, come in."
Hera answered. "Phoenix Home here. What's going on, Specter-7?"
"We reached the station and confirmed the presence of a small group of bombers, but they're being actively destroyed one-by-one as we speak."
"Then unless you have a plan, abort the mission."
"I have one!" he said with resolve. "If you mobilize the fleet now, you should be able to bring the carrier here by the time we get the remaining crafts. Then we leave before the Empire can react."
Everyone looked at him with interest. The plan was far-fetched, but it wasn't impossible.
After a few seconds, Hera came back. "Specter-7, you're clear to proceed."
A proud smirk formed on Ezra's face. "Copy that, Phoenix Home." and he closed the transmission. "Sabine, take us in." he immediately added.
With a smirk, the mandalorian girl pushed the lever forward and they started the descent.
"So what's the plan?" she asked.
"Okay, first of all..."
Ezra was interrupted by a loud blare of the sensors (intensified by Jinx, actually) that prompted Sabine to make a sudden turn to avoid one of the dismantler droids. In the rush, they had almost forgot about them.
Sabine managed to only graze it, which activated the dome-shaped droid and it started to chase them.
The dismantlers were equipped with two very strong pincers, a flamethrower and a circular saw, all instruments necessary to dismantle old ships, but it could very well tear to pieces anything, including the small craft with the Specters on board.
The first one, Chopper managed to destroy by maneuvering the turret on the roof of the ship. The second, however, managed to take a hold onto the hull of the Phantom.
"I'll deal with that lousy clanker." Rex growled as he climbed the passenger bay of the Phantom.
"Hang on." he said to the other two passengers as he was in front of the backdoor.
"Where are you going?!" Zeb exclaimed, though he already suspected the answer. The latter came when Rex opened the door a moment later and exposed himself, shooting with one of his pistols to the droid. The machine reacted by shaking the craft violently, making Rex almost fall down if it wasn't for Zeb. Eventually, the old clone managed to destroy the droid, but the machine had already caused some damage to the Phantom, which started to fall toward the stormy surface.
After a few other maneuvers, Sabine managed to dock the Phantom beneath the main platform of the conveyor, which allowed them to get onto it.
"I've seen worse landings." Ezra quipped to his girlfriend.
She simply feinted an offended chuckle before following him and the rest of the squad out of the craft and onto the catwalk of the conveyor.
"Come on, we gotta shut down the conveyor." Ezra incited with his armor on and his repeater in his hands.
They rushed toward the control panel, but along the way stumbled upon a group of three Ugnaughts that came out to contest their presence.
"Stand back." Ezra intimidated them. "I don't want to hurt you."
"Wait, wait, wait." Hondo said, putting himself between Ezra and the pigs. "Every situation has the potential to be profitable." the pirate said with his joking tone.
Then Hondo cleared his throat and turned toward the ugnaughts, starting to oink their language.
The others only understood the word 'Terba', but in the end, the pigs seemed quite happy.
Hondo turned around with his thumbs up. "I told them that Terba was my friend and that we're here to liberate them! At least...I think I said it."
"Great." Zeb said sarcastically.
"All right," Ezra intervened directly. "Tell them to stop the conveyor line."
While Hondo executed the order, Ezra turned toward his comrades.
"Guys, once Hondo and the pigs are done, start refueling the bombers and watch out for those droids. I'm going to the control tower to ensure that they don't override the line."
"I'm coming with." Sabine demanded.
"Sorry, Bine, but I'm the one that can literally become invisible. And we need all hands available here in order to get as many bombers as possible."
"He is right, Sabine." Rex supported. "Besides, this station in manned by a bunch of 'regs', nothing the Lieutenant can't handle on his own."
Sabine sighed. "All right, I'll let you have all the fun."
"Thanks." Ezra quipped.
Then he switched weapons. Holstering his repeater and instead taking out both lightsabers. His mind started gathering all the memories of when Ahsoka taught him a few basic principles of fighting with two lightsaber, thought there was a small difference now: he had set Jaral's lightsaber to be shorter, so it would act more like a dagger in case the space to fight became suddenly too narrow for his full saber.
Having his sister's saber felt suddenly so calming. It's like all those months of getting angry at her for being distant were just an unpleasant dream. He still didn't know why she had a sudden change of heart, but he decided that he would have a long conversation with her, once the mission was over.
--------------------------------
Despite keeping a composed attitude, Jordan's heart was beating slightly higher than it should have. After all, why it shouldn't? He was about to see his family again after three months of forced distancing and after spending another week searching the Phoenix Fleet without success.
Finally managing to contact them, and seeing that the one to answer was his daughter had put his mind much more at ease. Though he still wasn't sure what to think about Jaral leaving the base so suddenly.
Now he found himself in the CIC (Combat Information Center) on Deck 2, where the Galaxy Map, his personal terminal and basically the bridge stood. Assisting him was the Communication Specialist Eusebio Salazar from the Federal colony of Paranà, a planet on the edge between the Attican Traverse and the Terminus Systems. He was the one who actually managed to find the signal of Phoenix Fleet on Atollon, where the ship was heading. He was a steadfast guy when put under pressure, which you wouldn't say when seen in his free time, given that he seemed just an average guy with some problems at socializing.
The Galaxy Map was his main post during travels, since it allowed him to select the destination according to the galactic charts that Jinx had given to the Federation, though they were very much incomplete since he only had the locations of the planets in the Lothal sector and the most important worlds in the galaxy. One of the first things to do when they landed on Atollon, Jordan had agreed with the officers of the Constantinople, was to ask the rebels for updated star maps.
He found himself admiring once again his ship and his incredibly varied crew. There was almost every species in the Milky Way. They even had an Hanar in the conference room, serving as an aide to Raya, who had been assigned to the ship as she was the Head Diplomat of the Federation in this galaxy; they had a Volus operator in the Strategic Room, which now hosted Colonel Undir as well; they even had an Elcor in the Marine unit, Mau'kur. Jordan was sure he had never seen an Elcor warrior before, and the definition 'walking tank' was more than spot-on. That guy could carry a small mass driver on his back and act as a living mortar.
The hangar bay not only hosted two shuttles and still have space that could probably fit an X-Wing, but it also had an impressive vehicle park: an Atlas Mech, an M-57 combat tank, an M-17 Armored Combat Car and an M-11 'Mako' Armored Transport.
The marine company in itself accounted a total of 17 soldiers. Thabo and Michalina were in it, but the leader was 1st Lieutenant Pablo Gutierrez, another Legionnaire who was even older than them and who actually fought in the Reapers War. Despite being almost 60 years-old, the man had always refused a promotion and volunteered immediately when he heard that they were putting together a crew to explore and fight a potential war in a new galaxy.
Other than him, Jordan had been impressed with the Krogan in the unit: Urdnot Karg.
He was relatively young: only 221 years old, but he had a lot of experience in fights. First as a mercenary, than as a warrior for his own clan during the unification of Tuchanka carried on by Urdnot Wrex and then against the Reapers. After the war, he had still a lot of fight in him, so instead of simply participating in the peace-keeping operations on Tuchanka, to subdue some small clan that still didn't want to accept Wrex's leadership, Karg enlisted in the reformed System's Alliance and he fought against the Tambaran and other small factions from the Terminus raiding the borders of the Federation.
He had impressed his superior and was now 2nd Lieutenant. He too had volunteered to come to Andromeda, since the idea of having such a strong enemy as the Empire to fight had his scales itching.
Finally, the one that caught Jordan's attention the most: the Tau, Aun'Roi'Ka.
The Taus had been discovered by the Federation only 18 years before, meaning that Jordan had already left the Milky Way. Their society was based around a religious-philosophical belief, the 'Greater Good'. Jordan wasn't sure he understood everything, since he had never delved too much into spirituality, but essentially this 'Greater Good' aimed to create a harmonious society, so that the believers could advance toward a prosperous and peaceful future.
Despite being driven by a spiritualistic code, the Taus (in their language the name was T'au, but they had voluntarily accepted the transcript made by the Humans) were an incredibly open-minded and industrious people, who enacted a very scientific approach to the study of the universe.
When the Federation made contact with them, the Taus had started space-travel only a couple of years before. The Federation helped them find the nearest portal to their home-world, and the Taus were so impressed by the harmony among numerous species created by the polity, that they immediately asked for an association status, to which the Empress had quickly agreed.
Tau society was divided in a caste-system, however it wasn't bound by blood of the parents: the young Taus would be put into an educational system that had to find and encourage their strengths, and when they reached adulthood, they would be put into one of the four castes: Fire (the warriors), Air (the navy, military and civilian), Water (the diplomats) or Earth (the constructors). Technically, a Tau could decide to change caste, but it was a difficult process and it was seen as selfish until the individual had proven himself to be, in fact, talented in his new role.
The highest-ranking caste was that of the 'Ethereals'. They were the most important and they had a great deal of influence over the other Taus due to the fact that they were psionics. Up until their discovery, the Humans were the only ones with a considerable amount of psionics in their population, while the other species had biotics but very few psionics, so the Ordo Quaeris supervised the first contacts with the Taus.
Now the Tau were well integrated, and the Federation was much happy to have them, because their homeworld was on the Eastern Edge of the Milky Way, in the Attican Traverse, right on the border with the lawless Terminus.
Despite their preference for diplomatic solutions, the Tau owned some very impressive military technology, especially related with plasma weaponry.
Roi'Ka was a seasoned warrior of the Fire caste, and he was chosen directly by the Ethereals to participate in this voyage into Andromeda. The Tau were, in fact, very eager to prove themselves to be also very skilled warriors, since that would certainly give them more influence inside the Citadel's Council and the Federation at large.
It had been a lot to absorb for Jordan, but he was overall thrilled at the idea of being the one to bring some Milky Way into Andromeda. His origins into his new home, to present to his family.
Now Jordan had walked all the way up to the pilot's bridge, which the most forward part of the ship.
The Constantinople was a marvel of technology. Despite being a military vessel, it didn't have many weapons, since it was supposed to do mostly recon and exploration. Still, it had an improved Thanix cannon (though it could only shoot in front), two GARDIAN batteries for defense against small crafts and two torpedo launchers.
The new FTL technology had proven to be a good substitute for the hyperdrive, though acquiring the latter technology was still a priority for the crew and the Federation.
"Perfect timing, Captain." the pilot, Staff Lieutenant Nolik Rut, commented once Jordan had walked right beside his chair. "We're about to leave the FTL over Atollon."
Around 10 seconds later, the tunnel of light (mostly blue with some other shades caused by the distortion of the stars they passed) disappeared, revealing the reddish, arid planet where Phoenix Fleet had taken refuge.
Using the intercom of the omni-tool, Jordan ordered Salazar to contact the base.
"Spirit to Phoenix Home, come in." he said calmly.
A few seconds later, Darvos' voice came through. "Phoenix Home here. It's good to hear you again, Spirit."
"Likewise. I request permission for my ship to land at the base."
"That depends. I need the dimensions of your ship so I can assign you an enclosed space."
"Salazar, send them." Jordan said through the intercom. Then turned again toward the microphone on the bridge. "Why did you have to enclose?"
"Unfortunately, while this place is hidden from Imperial maps, it's also infested by giant spiders that don't go down easily. We had to place an entire barrier of sensors, since they don't seem to like their frequencies."
"A corner of paradise." Jordan chuckled.
"Well, at least we're safe inside the enclosure...okay, I found a spot where you can land. One of the arms of the giant corals. Just follow the coordinates."
"Rut?"
"Coordinates received, Captain."
"Then take us in."
The Constantinople began her descent toward the planet. Jordan ordered his two Legionnaire friends to accompany Raya and Colonel Undir at the lower ramp of the hangar bay, from where they were supposed to leave.
Five minutes later, Jordan was in the bay. The crew seemed pretty eager to finally set their feet on solid ground after a week onboard, not to mention this was the first planet on Andromeda they were going to see.
The two Kodiak were still attached to their clamps, while the armored vehicles were neatly parked in the void spot right behind the shuttle on port side. Luckily, the atmosphere on Atollon was breathable, so no one had to worry about putting on their helmets or breathers.
Together with him and Raya were to come the officers of the Marine squad: Roi'Ka, Karg and Gutierrez, along with the Head Scientist Manim Solus, another Salarian.
"Opening ramp now." Rut declared through the intercom.
The hydraulic mechanism started whirring and the ramp lowered in just a few seconds. Jordan was a bit amused in seeing Darvos, at the head of different rebels, all gawking in awe at the Constantinople.
The young Lieutenant, however, as soon as he saw Jordan, smiled at him.
"Welcome back to Andromeda, Jordan." Darvos said once the old Legionnaire walked down the ramp and was close to him.
"It's good to see you again as well, Darvos." he said jovially, shaking his hand.
"Jordan..." the voice of Mira immediately called his gaze among the group of rebels.
"Mira..." he said with a moved expression.
The two adults walked toward each other and embraced in the middle.
"I missed you." Jordan said.
Mira chuckled. "You were the one who simply walked into another galaxy."
They undid the hug but still kept heir hands in each other's.
"But I did miss you too." Mira added. "And I could've really used you with the kids, in these last months."
"Why, what happened?" Jordan asked.
"Later." she shushed him. "We'll discuss when they're back as well. Now, you have something important to do." the doctor turned her head toward the delegation, who was waiting for Jordan.
The entire crew had received the translation software for Galactic Basic that Jinx had elaborated along the years in Andromeda, so all of them were supposed to understand and be understood, but protocol dictated that the Captain of the ship made the introductions.
"Right." Jordan walked back to Darvos. "Speaking of which, where is Commander Sato?"
Darvos nervously chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah...Ehm, about that..."
---------------------------
The alarms were blaring all over the station. Ezra had made an error while infiltrating the structure and he had been discovered. Not that it was a problem for him, since he was cutting down the small garrison with his two lightsabers, but now the tower control had activated the magnetic seals to block the Y-Wings and overridden the commands for the conveyor. Every two minutes they were losing a bomber, and Ezra was sprinting all the way to the control room to rectify this.
When he finally reached the door, this opened.
The two regulars standing guard fired at him simultaneously, but Ezra used the lightsabers to deflect both of their bolts at the same time, killing them. Then he slowly paced toward the control post. While the two officers in the room sneaked past him, Ezra recognized the commander.
"You!" Titus said indignant.
"You?" Ezra laughed slightly under his helmet. "Last time we met you were captain of a super-secret Star Destroyer. Now you run a junkyard?"
"Your capture and execution will mean my return to ranking status!" Titus replied with his funny voice.
"Yeah, get ready for another demotion."
Titus quickly extracted his pistol and shot.
Ezra just swung Jaral's shortened saber and deflected the bolt right back at the weapon, making it jump away from the officer, who stumbled and fell back on the short stairs of the post.
Now Ezra pointed his own saber at Titus.
"I will ask this nicely. Unlock the bombers now." Ezra said.
"Sorry, but I've sabotaged the control unit." Titus said defiantly. "The only way to unlock those bombers is to cut power to the entire station."
Ezra turned head on his right and the HUD confirmed that he was looking at the main power unit.
"Okay." he shrugged and walked toward the unit.
"Wait!" Titus said in panic. "If you disable the power, this station will drop toward a fiery destruction. You would doom all of us and your friends...for a few old ships?"
"I believe in my friends. They'll be fine."
That said, Ezra slashed the unit with his saber, while holstering Jaral's.
"You? You better start running." he concluded.
Titus activated the intercom.
"Abandon station. Evacuate now!"
As the control unit sizzled and hissed, the echo of a giant explosion reached the tower. It was one of the tibanna gas canisters that fueled the reactors holding the station in the small strip of the planet not shaken by violent electric storms.
Titus ran out of the room, while Ezra waited a moment as he was contacted by Sabine.
"Specter-5 to Specter-7, what was that blast?"
"I had to cut power to the entire station. Take the bombers and get in orbit, the fleet should be here any moment, now."
"What about you?"
"I'll go back and take the Phantom, now go!"
Luckily, she didn't argue like she usually did.
Ezra looked for a moment on the surveillance screen and saw a Sentinel-class landing craft taking off from the hangar he had cleared before.
"Hondo," he said in the comlink. "I thought you were guarding the shuttle in case we needed to escape."
"And I am. We are making our quick escape now. Or...at least Hondo is. I will see you again soon, partner!"
Ezra rolled his eyes playfully. Hondo was just being Hondo.
But now he had to run if he wanted to leave the planet too. Pushing the armor to its limits, Ezra sprinted back toward the conveyor, but it wasn't exactly short.
When he was out in the open again, his companions had already left with 8 bombers, with Chopper remote-piloting some of them.
The old structure was now collapsing. The catwalk on the conveyor was literally disassembling under his feet.
He managed, despite everything, to slip downward, until he was near the Phantom, still hanging upside-down, but right then one of the cranes on the catwalk cracked and hit the small craft, sending both of them toward the surface.
Ezra could only watch in horror as his only chance to escape fell down to its destruction.
He immediately put the omni-tool in front of him.
"Specter-7 to Specter-5, do you copy?" he asked. Only statics.
"Specter-7 to Phoenix Fleet, does anybody read me?!" his tone was now desperate, but it was useless: the station had already gone down slightly into the storm, and his comlink couldn't make through.
"Well, Jinx." he commented with a resigned tone. "Seems like I finally screwed up."
"So it appears." was Jinx's only answer.
"However it goes, it's been an honor, Ezra."
The admission actually made Ezra smile. He wasn't used to think Jinx as a construct capable of experiencing some degree of feelings.
Soon, the station entered totally into the storm, as it fell at a very high speed. Ezra had no choice but to hang on as tightly as he could to one of the main barrels of the structure, in hope of not dying immediately when he was going to crash down on the toxic surface of the planet.
He couldn't tell how much time passed. A few minutes, a few seconds...his life was already passing in front of him.
He still had so much to do, promises to fulfill...but apparently, this was the furthest he would ever get.
But just as he thought that, the voice of Kanan reached him.
"Ezra! I'm right here!"
Ezra looked on his right, shocked to see the Ghost trying to keep up with him and Kanan exposing himself from the lateral airlock, with an extended arm.
"Kanan!" Ezra screamed.
He tried to reach for his Master, but they were too far.
"I can't reach you!"
"It's okay! I got you!" Kanan screamed. "Go ahead. Let go." his voice now sounded calmer, and it somehow managed to convince Ezra to abandon the station and free-fall toward the surface.
He managed to push himself a bit toward the Ghost, but missed Kanan's arm. His Master was not moving, and Ezra feared that it wasn't a good idea to trust a blind person.
But then, with a swift movement, as if he knew where is Padawan was, Kanan grabbed his hand firmly and yanked him into the Ghost, closing the door as soon as they were both into.
"I got him, go!" Kanan said in the comlink.
Hera immediately turned around the Ghost, heading toward the orbit.
-----------------------------
Thrawn was standing on the bridge of the Chimaera, studying the maps of the Lothal sector and a new report from the Yawst system. While there was no confirmation, for a brief moment it seemed like the Imperial forces there had detected a ship of unknown origin entering the system, before disappearing like thin air.
Only cloaking technology could achieve such thing, and the possibility of it being a rebel ship was scarce.
Besides, Thrawn knew that the rebel fleet was heading toward the Yawst system the day it made contact with the fleets of the Milky Way. Thus, its unknown craftsmanship suggested that this was a ship of the Federation, trying to make contact with the Phoenix Fleet based on their last known trajectory.
It was most likely that the route had been suggested by Jordan Bridger, who was with the Rebel fleet during the first contact and probably wasn't updated on the new location of the fleet.
That unknown ship having such a refined cloaking technology might make it a very difficult prey to hunt, but after all, Thrawn wasn't expecting an easy fight when he learned he was supposed to hunt down the rebels and face a new enemy from another galaxy.
He concluded that, by now, that ship had already made contact with the rebels, since Jordan Bridger would know their communication protocols, so his attention now shifted on the original task of the day: the imminent rebel incursion on Reklam Station.
At the briefing with Gran Moff Tarkin, Admiral Konstantine and Agent Kallus, Thrawn exposed his theory about the rebels knowing about the station, and that they would most likely try to steal as many bombers as possible.
Since those ships were without hyperdrive, however, the rebels would have needed reinforcements, in case of attack.
Pryce had already informed him that the rebel attack was actually happening and that she was going to reinforce the defenders with a Star Destroyer and its escort cruiser, along with Konstantine and Kallus.
And right now, Pryce was requesting a call.
Thrawn headed into the command room, ordered the other officers to leave him and opened the transmission, revealing the holograms of the three officers.
"Update me on your progress, Governor." Thrawn said.
"The situation is developing much as you anticipated." Pryce calmly explained. "The rebel fleet, composed of three star-cruisers, has come to the rescue."
Thrawn didn't need to think very long about it and shook his head lightly.
"That is not the rebel fleet. Break off your attack and allow them to escape with their...meager reward."
"Very good, Grand Admiral." Pryce replied calmly, while Thrawn could see the hint of surprise on Konstantine's and Kallus' faces.
Then the transmission closed.
---------------------------------
With the Imperial ships not pushing their attack, the rebel squadron managed to flee from Yarma and bring the bombers back to base.
Hera was furious that Ezra had risked his life in such a stupid way, but in the end, his plan worked and he had made sure that his squad was safe before destroying the station, so she also praised him.
When they reached Atollon it was night above the base. The Ghost parked on the runway where the other Specters had landed the Y-Wings.
Sabine was the first to rush to him, first hitting him on the arm, once he had dematerialized the armor, then hugging him tightly.
"You're an idiot." she said with the voice muffled against his chest.
He chuckled. "Yeah, you tell me that twice a day."
"Hey, what is that ship?" Zeb asked while looking on the western side of the base.
It was dim, but the others too could recognize the silhouette of a ship they had never seen before, parked on one of the strongest calcareous platform of the coral protecting the base.
Ezra looked, then a thought excitedly made way through his mind.
"Is that...?"
He gently brushed Sabine aside and ran toward the center of the base. Along the road, he saw a few aliens that he never saw before, and soldiers in blue-colored armors he couldn't identify. However, he could very well identify the blue hairs of a tall man with a new Legionnaire's armor giving his back to him at the holotable.
"Dad?!" he yelled.
Jordan immediately turned around, his face already beaming after hearing the voice of his son.
"Ezra!" he answered jovially.
The two fast-paced toward each other and hugged vigorously.
"Let me see you..." Jordan said after they broke the hug, but still keeping his hands on Ezra's arms. "My goodness, I leave you for three months and you're as tall as me already?"
In reality, it was only a few centimeters away, but considering the gap when Jordan left, this was definitely a huge difference.
Soon, the other Specters joined the reunion. Jordan didn't waste any time in introducing the officers of his delegation.
The only weird moment was when Karg stepped forward with his massive stature and his face that didn't look exactly friendly.
"So this is you son, boss?" he asked with his deep and somewhat croaking voice.
"He is, Karg." Jordan said happily.
The Krogan went near and gave a quick smell, making Ezra raise an eyebrow.
"Who would win in a fight between you two?" the Krogan asked as if it was perfectly natural.
"Excuse me?!" Ezra asked in total bewilderment.
Jordan just shook his head with a smile. "Don't mind him. The Krogans live to fight. You'll get used to it."
"Speaking of which, Captain, can I go kill those spiders, now?"
"Patience, Karg. I promise, tomorrow morning you are allowed to let loose. For now, let's not disturb our hosts."
The Krogan grunted and went back into the ranks.
Ezra just shrugged and took a look around the table. She recognized the blue lady, the Asari, that he had seen the day when Jaral and their Father went to make contact with the Milky Way and...
Jaral!
"Wait, where's Jaral?" he took her lightsaber from his belt. "I have to return this to her."
Sato explained. "Your sister left only a few minutes after you, she said..."
The holotable started to bleep. It was a communication, directly from Jaral's omni-tool.
"Speak of the devil..." Darvos commented, though a bit bleakly.
Ezra went in front of the camera for the holo-projector and answered the call.
The hologram of Jaral appeared. She was standing with her hands behind her back and a lowered head. Her eyes were closed in a grimace.
"Sis." Ezra said. "Where are you? What's happening."
"I'm sorry guys...I blew it up."
"What are you talking about?" Ezra asked.
Right then, the gloved hand of a red-skinned and black-tattooed arm shoved the woman away, making everyone gasp silently.
The face of Maul took her place.
"Hello, Apprentice."