The Mandalorian of Lothal

Chapter 3

15 minutes earlier
(Aboard the Raven's Claw)

Ezra finished take-off procedures and spun around in his pilots chair.

"Now, brother, tell me WHY IN MANDALORE'S NAME WOULD YOU COME AND FIND ME?!!!!" He said, breaking into a shout at the last part.

"Calm down Ez. If it wasn't serious I would never have risked getting a shot to the head." The other replied with a half smirk, that faded by the end of the phrase.

Ezra's angry expression instantly turned into a worried one.

"What happened on Krownest, Xen?" Ezra questioned, his voice sounding worried and almost scared of the answer that he might receive.

"War" Xen said quietly.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" Ezra muttered. "It can't be, the clan isn't ready. It's destabilized. Grandfather is loosing support. He needs to deal with political problems and rebuilding the clan not with war...!" He continued.

Suddenly Ezra sharply turned his head to Xen.

"Which clan?" He almost spat.

"What do you mean, which clan?" Xen looked confused.

"I mean, which clan are we at war with?" Ezra was beginning to get frustrated.

"Clan Fett." Xen almost whispered, but Ezra still heard it.

"Oh no! Not them!" Ezra exclaimed with an expression of deep worry on his face. "We cannot beat those brutal bastards without an ally, and our clan has always been rather secluded from the rest."

"Ez, do you think it's that serious?" Xen was getting worried for his brother. Ezra was never one to panic. "When grandfather sent me to find you I thought it was bad, but judging from your expression it's way worse than that!"

"War in our weakened state is bad enough, but a clan as brutal as clan Fett will decimate us!" Ezra was getting more and more agitated. "We need an ally..."

"Can't we ask clan Vizla for help?" Xen inquired looking up to his big brother.

"Clan Vizla has their own war to deal with." Ezra shot back. "Although..." Ezra fell silent and seemed in deep thought.

"What?" Xen was beginning to grow more hopeful. He knew his big brother well, and knew that expression. It meant that Ezra already had a plan.

"I know someone who might be able to help." He decided. "I mean what's the worst that could happen at this point?"

"So, where are we going?" Xen asked.

"To the rendezvous point." Ezra replied annoyed. "I already said that when we were taking off."

"Well, I was kinda hoping that we'd go straight to Krownest right away." Xen replied a bit shyly. "After the way you greeted me down on the surface I don't think those people will take to me very kindly. Who are they anyways?"

"My crew." Ezra stated bluntly.

"You joined a crew?!" Xen's face was pure shock.

"Yes. Now stop babbling." Ezra snapped. "You're distracting me. I haven't piloted in several months."

"Why?" Xen's questions never seemed to stop.

"I needed to maintain my cover." Ezra snapped. "Now, shut up!"

"Why did you need a cover?" Xen just seemed to ignore Ezra's annoyed expression.

"I said, shut up!" Ezra was almost screaming.

"All right, all right!" Xen railed his hands in submission. "Wow, someone is snappy today!"

"We're at war!" Ezra was already screaming. "There are a billion reasons why I should be in a bad mood right now! First my 'long lost brother' who helped my mother turn me into a slave in all but name comes to find me and acts like nothing happened. Then I find out that the war that I was hoping would not come in at least the next year already started. Then I find out that the clan were at war with is not clan Awaud as I had hoped. And now I have to tell the crew the entire truth to have the smallest chance at saving my clan! So, yeah, I'm in a bad mood."

The rest of the trip passed in silence.