The Pull of the Dark Side

The Trip

Hera and Ezra headed towards the cockpit, where they were about to take off for Ryloth, to aid Cham Syndulla in his attempt to assassinate The Emperor and Darth Vader. Cham's daughter had been told by Commander Sato himself that she was to lead the Rebel fleet that was to fly to her homeworld.

"Can I fly for a bit?" Ezra asked Hera. Ezra was certainly in a much more joyous mood since he had woken up from what he and Kanan claimed was "force persuasion", but Hera wasn't so sure about it all. She was skeptical as this may just be a ruse so that Ezra can get his comlink and lightsaber back, and betray the crew again. The Twi'lek was probably just overthinking it, like always.

"Sorry, Ezra, now's not the time to experiment. This could be one of our most important missions ever," the female Twi'lek replied. The Ghost rocked a bit, but then took off out of the system of Atollon. In mere seconds, the ship was in hyperspace.

Kanan came into the cockpit now, whilst Ezra departed. "Hera, something's not right. I can't place it, it's just not right," he said.

"What do you mean, not right?" Hera asked, confused.

"With the ship. Something's not right with the ship. I don't know what, though. Hera, just trust me," he replied. Hera walked out of the cockpit and into the hub of the Ghost.

"Everybody to the hub of the ship!" she yelled. Everybody, including Chopper, rushed in at once. "According to Kanan, we have a problem with the ship, but he doesn't know what. Sabine, you check the guns and cannons and make sure they're fine. Zeb, you go check on the coolant pipes and the engines. Chopper I want you to check the hyperdrive. I'll check the cockpit. Ezra and Kanan just make sure all of the pipes and webbing are intact." Everybody walked off to their respective jobs, but Kanan looked troubled.

"What is it, love?" Hera asked.

"I don't know. Something is wrong with the ship, but I sense it is a plot and not accidental. The plot I feel also coincides with a strong force presence, somewhere in the galaxy. It is very faint, almost dormant, but there. It is not like Maul or Vader either," Kanan said.

"I believe you, Kanan. Just try to alert us if anything is going to happen," she replied and walked to the cockpit, checking the controls and buttons.

<< 15 MINUTES LATER >>

Everybody reported back to the hub of the ship, with no defects to report. Kanan was still troubled, and told Hera that the plot was progressing, although he did not know how. Suddenly, however, Chopper came rushing from the hyperdrive, whirring and beeping.

"Calm down Chopper, what is it?" Hera asked. Some incoherent beeping and whistling followed.

"There's a problem with the hyperdrive?" she asked. Some more inaudible beeps ensued.

"He says that once he opened a strange looking file stored in the hyperdrive it told him that there was a problem with the main internal wiring and started a countdown until the circuit blew!" Hera exclaimed.

"Damnit I knew there was a plot!" Kanan shouted. "What should we do?"

"There's no stopping it now. I'll bring us out of hyperspace now, what planets are we near?" Hera asked.

Kanan consulted the holo-map of the known galaxy. "Well, the closest is Cato Neimodia, but we wouldn't reach it by the time the countdown has ended we would have to crash land," he told Hera. "Head there now, and we might just make it." Hera pulled the Ghost out of hyperspace and told Sabine to contact the fleet and tell them the issue.

"Blast doors up, Zeb," Hera said as the Lasat rushed over to the control panel. He switched the doors to "ON" where the hyperdrive was. The planet rushed at them through the cockpit viewport like a pack of hungry dogs.

Hera checked the timer. The countdown had 30 seconds left.

15 seconds remained, and they were readying for the repulsorlifts to lower them to the surface. 5 seconds, the repulsorlifts were on and the Ghost was moving down. 3, 2, 1 and touchdown. There was no initial blast, but it was easily as possible an internal combustion.

"That was overdramatic," noted Kanan who had just entered the cockpit. "Let's get going again, there's nothing wrong with it. Probably someone playing around." Hera gave him a look of disgust.

"Are you serious? It was probably an internal combustion. Do you fancy flying in this thing, with the possibility we could crash any second? Me neither. We'll hire a professional to check, meanwhile we lay low. Hera's comlink beeped.

"What is your landing designation?" the voice asked. It was vocoded, but Kanan thought that it wasn't for identification's sake.

"Umm...we didn't have one, but our hyperdrive has internally combusted and we need somebody to check it over," Hera replied.

"Meet me at the bar. All of you should come. I will help you," the voice said and the comlink shut off. Kanan was in awe.