A Good Excuse

•Ok this is picking off where the Servants Of The Empire series left off. Someone asked me the other day if I thought our favorite Rebels got away with stealing the Ghost. This is my honest answer to that.

Zare and his family watched as the Ramp of the Ghost closed. Then the Jewel shaped ship lifted off the ground. Merei turned around just in time to see the ship make the jump into hyperspace.

"Good bye Ezra. Your a good friend to have." Zare says.

"We'll see them again Zare." Dhara says placing her hand on his shoulder. "Until then I wish him and his friends the best of luck."

"Well someone has to prevent what happened to our family from happening to others. I almost lost both of you to the empire." Their mom says.

"Are you guys coming or not?" Merei asked.

"Right behind you Mer." Zaire replied. The family then went to follow.

"Your being awfully quiet dear. Is something wrong. Their mother asked their dad.

"I thought the Jedi where killed off." He replied in almost a whisper.

"They were." His wife replied.

"Ezra's blaster was also a lightsaber. I haven't seen one in years. I almost didn't notice it."

"Maybe he bought it on the black market." Merei suggested.

"Jedi didn't carry blasters during the days of the republic. That was custom built recently." Mr. Leonis said.

"Are you saying that boy is a Jedi? Isn't he a little young to have even survived the purge?" Mrs. Leonis asked.

Zare turned around right there and pushed the group down an alley.

"Just stop right there. To answer your questions. Yes, Ezra is a Jedi, even though he was born during the purge. One of his other friends survived the purge and is training him. However now is not the time or place to discuss this. It's not safe to talk about the force, Jedi, and rebels right now." He says in a quiet but stern voice so only the group could hear. Then they all continued as they set out for their new lives.

Back on the Ghost the three Rebels were all in the cockpit.

"Hera is so killing us over this." Sabine says.

"At least we have a good excuse." Ezra says.

"Your vision of a friend in trouble might work for Kanan, but not on Hera. Besides it was my debt to Old Jho that got us into this." Zeb says. "Somehow, I still haven't paid him off."

"At least you lived a long life. I still don't know why I let you two drag me into stuff like this. Actually, Zeb why did you drag Ezra into this in the first place?" Sabine says.

"We're roommates. He was dragged into this the day he moved into the bunk above mine. Plus the kids good at making rescue attempts." Zeb answered.

"So you anticipated a rescue mission?" Ezra asked.

"Did you see Jho's ship. I don't know how he even gets it off the ground." The Lasat replied.

"Oh your dead too Ezra. Your friend's rescue mission scratched paint on the ship." Sabine said.

"Is it bad?" He ask.

"No, but she'll notice it before I get a chance to touch it up." Sabine says.

"If we live long enough to do that. Karabast, the kid might be safe being a Jedi and all." Zeb says.

"Kriff, that's right Hera goes easier on Kanan and him because of that." Sabine says.

"Wait, what? Hera goes easier on me because of the force?" Ezra ask.

"You mean you haven't noticed?" Zeb asked.

"I just figured she was doing it because I'm still getting used to all these rules, having someone else in charge of me, being around people in general, and well pretty much everything." Ezra says.

"That's why the rest of us treat you the way we do. Kanan's the one that's normally in charge of getting everyone adjusted to the changes like that." Sabine says.

"Yeah, but nether one of us had to get use to regular meals, proper hygiene, and medical care when we joined." Zeb said.

"I thought he was used to that stuff already?" Sabine says with a giggle.

"I'm still here guys!" Ezra says.

"We know." The two say together.

"You never stop eating, and you take forever in the shower." Zeb says.

"I still wish you could see your face when Hera pulled that syringe out to run a blood test that first time." Sabine adds.

"Yeah well you should try some of the nutritional supplements she has me on. They taste disgusting." The Padawan says.

"How are your growth rates anyways?" Sabine ask.

"I'm still a few pounds under weight for my age and bone structure. Im also still a little shorter than I'm supposed to be, but literally starving to death for seven and a half years tends to stunt ones growth. The workouts Kanan has me on for Jedi training is really helping me from gaining to much at once." He replies.

"The kids come a long way from where we found him. He's actually starting to take little things for granted." Zeb says.

"Well we're approaching the fleet. I should probably bring us out of hyperspace." Sabine says.

"Well let's get this over with." The Lasat sighs.

"Oh come on, she can't be that mad at us." Ezra states a bit optimistic as the lines turn into stars.

"Says the person with a Master/Padawan bond and the force to protect them." Sabine says. Then she turned to the external comm. "This is the Ghost requesting permission to dock."

"What is your clearance code?" A rebel said on the other side.

"121815" Ezra said quickly.

"Permission granted doc with Home one immediately. Someone will be waiting on the three of you as soon as you dock." The voice says.

The three specters looked at each other.

"Yep, we're dead!" They all say at once.

"Ugh, I can't believe those three. I swear, they better have a good explanation for doing this." Hera said as she paced inside the airlock to the Home one.

Kanan was kneeling with his eyes most shut. He was trying to meditate to keep himself calm, but she wasn't making it easy. He kept looking up and watching her. It had been a while since he had seen Hera this mad. He took note that the tips of her head tails were stabbing into her back and her accent was starting to break through.

"As if stealing the Phantom wasn't enough for the three of them. No, they had to take off in the Ghost leaving us stranded in the Phantom with no hyperspace to escape if necessary." She continued.

"Do you mind the rants are a little distracting." Kanan finally said.

"Sorry Love, I'll stop, but if there is a single scratch on that ship they are dead." She said.

"You might want to calm down a little before they land. I really don't want to lose my Padawan to an angry green twi-lek."

That earned Kanan a death glare.

"Fine, I won't kill Ezra for your sake, but your his master. Your in charge of his punishment." She replied. "The rest of the kids are mine, and if C1-10P is in on this I'm dismantling that droid for an entire day."

"That sounds reasonable. After all you just started teaching Ezra to pilot a ship in the first place. He definitely can't fly the Ghost yet. He probably got dragged along." Kanan says.

"That's why Chopper and him talked Sabine into stealing the Phantom last time they tried something like this." Hera says. She looked at Kanan remembering the last time. "I knew I should have grounded all of them for that."

Kanan got up and kissed her. "They had a good excuse then." He whispered.

"Ezra should have never had to step in like that. I made my choice in order to protect them, especially him. He saw through me." She said with a hint of sadness and guilt.

"I know. I never should have put you all in that situation." Kanan says quietly.

"Why exactly aren't you mad at them now?" Hera asked remembering why they were there.

Kanan laughed a little. "Trust me dear. Your mad enough for both of us. Plus someone has to stop you from killing three of the kids."

"Which three?"

"The three that can't be repaired with a screwdriver, of course."

"You honestly believe I would kill them?" Hera said looking at him. A hint smile turned up her lips.

"Not intentionally. Anger is a path of the dark side though." Kanan teased.

"You do know I'm not Ezra, right? I can't sick a pack of wild Lothcats on whoever I'm mad at." She says.

"Thank the Force. I don't think I could handle a pack of angry Lothcats attacking me every time you're mad at me." He laughs.

"It was funny to watch when he did that to you though." She admitted.

"Yeah, I regret teaching him that trick. It's already caused us a lot of trouble. He has a natural talent for making connections though." Kanan trailed off thinking about his students skills. His thoughts were interrupted as he finally felt a familiar force presence on the other side of the airlock. "They're here."

"Good, because I was about to go out there looking for them." She replied.

The airlock makes a beeping sound to confirm that the Ghost has docked. Kanan and Hera stand ready. The doors slowly open to revile the four other members of their team.

"We can explain!" The three breathing rebels of their team say in unison once they see the angry captain.

"You have five minutes," Hera replies. "And it better be good!"

Ezra quickly opens himself to Kanan through their Force bond to allow him to see what they had been through. In the meantime Zeb starts to explain.

"Well, their was a transmission from Old Jho. I owe him for something, and well I thought this would repay the favor…" Zeb trailed off telling the story of how this all began.

"It ended up being a contact we made a while back on Lothal needed safe passage for herself and a group of people. She had information on Ezra's friend from the imperial academy." Sabine added in. "We've been contacting her when Ezra needs to meet up with him."

"Go on." Hera says.

"Sabine and I decided to drag Ezra along in case she his friend had something to do with why they needed such a quick escape. Chop was so we could contact Jho for the exchange." Zeb continued.

"Told you they dragged Ezra along." Kanan said.

"For the first part. The second part was my idea." Ezra said through the bond.

"What do you mean the second part was your idea?" Kanan asked.

"The mission got a little more complicated after that." Sabine said. Zeb and her looked at Ezra.

"I could sense something was wrong with Zare. Actually I saw it." Ezra said.

"You had a vision and you didn't tell me!" Kanan said.

"We had already stolen the Ghost and you were nowhere near. It was just the four of us. There wasn't time to get you and Hera. We had to act quickly." Ezra said frantically. He ended with "They had a firing squad on Zare."

"He's right, we had confirmation of his vision almost immediately once our contact was aboard. I checked Zare's files myself. They showed that he had been arrested for treason was awaiting trial and immediate execution." Sabine confirmed.

"So, we decided to make an emergency rescue mission of my friend and his sister." Ezra says.

"I've heard enough. Kanan take your Padawan and get him out of my sight. The rest of you are mine." Hera says.

Ezra looked up with a little relief. Sabine and Zeb looked scared.

"Ezra, come on. The rest of you," Kanan said. Ezra quickly jumped to his side. Kanan looked at his other three crew members as he put his arm around Ezra's shoulders. "May the Force be with you."

Then the two Jedi disappeared down the hall.

"Chopper, I want a full report on this before I dismantle you to rewire your logic circuits." Hera demands the droid.

Chopper beeps a response then rolls off making a taunting noise that Sabine translated as "Your going to get it!" over and over again.

"As for you two, I expected better from you. You two know better than to take off with my ship without my premise." Hera says.

"Like the kid said. We didn't have the time to wait on you and Kanan. We had to act quickly." Zeb said.

"While did you pay off your debt?" Hera asked.

"Um, not exactly." Zeb answered scratching his back.

"Than was it worth it to steal my ship?" Hera asked.

"Maybe that part could have waited." Sabine said.

"My point. You two can not make decisions for the group for personal reasons. I understand that you rescued multiple contacts, but you went on an unauthorized mission to do so. You could have informed the rebellion, and accomplished the same thing. That's behavior I expect from Ezra, not you two." Hera explained.

"Told you she would go easy on the kid." Zeb mumbled.

"Ezra will be punished for his part in this as well. Other wise Kanan is going to be in trouble himself." The twi-lek says.

"You let Kanan decide Ezra's punishment?" The two ask.

"Only because he's his master and as such the roll of punishing his Padawan falls to him. Plus Jedi have different ways of pushing their own." She answers.

"Lucky kid probably gets out of doing extra chores to meditate or something." Sabine mumbles.

"Well, as much as extra chores sounds like a just punishment,"

Hera starts up. "That doesn't even cover this. You two are grounded until further notice. All privileges outside of assigned missions are temporary suspended. Also all transmissions must go through Kanan or I. Understand?"

"We understand." Sabine and Zeb both say.

"Also, Sabine no holo research on art styles." Hera says.

"What, not fair. What about Zeb's poster collection?" The girl complains.

"Well, as much as I would love to make him take them down. Not just as a punishment, but also because of their influence on Ezra. They are part of the decor of his cabin and I cannot force him to take them down. Just like I'm not making you remove the paintings in your room." Hera says.

"Besides, I'm still being punished for leaving the kid behind by bunking with him." Zeb says.

"Seems more like Ezra's being punished for there not being enough cabin for us each to have our own." Sabine says.

"Um, little of both." Hera says under her breath with a hint of a smile. Then she spoke up again. "Don't think I won't be examining the ship for scratches and dents next time we're planet side. You are both dismissed."

The two run off before she changes her mind.

"She went easier than expected." Zeb mumbled.

"Totally." Sabine admitted.

Meanwhile Kanan and Ezra were outside Ahsoka's cabin.

"What am I going to do with you kid?" Kanan asked.

"I don't know, send me back to where you found me?" Ezra suggested.

"I think you know as well as I do why that's not an option. Besides I would never even consider that even if it was an option. Your stuck with me whether you like it or not kid." The Jedi says looking down at his Padawan.

"Sorry it's still the first thing that comes to mind. Even after all the time I've been around you guys." Ezra admits.

"I get it. It's hard to learn to trust people again after living among the worst of society. Believe me I know what that's like." Kanan says as he knocks on the door.

"Come in you two." Ahsoka responds.

"How did she know it was both of us?" Ezra asked.

"First of all because she sensed both of us. Secondly she can probably hear us. We weren't exactly talking quietly." Kanan answered.

The door opened and the two Jedi walked in.

"Hello Kanan, Ezra. What do I owe this visit to?" Ahsoka ask.

"Ezra and a few other members of our crew got in trouble for an unauthorized mission." Kanan says.

Ahsoka burst out laughing.

"Sounds like something my master and I would be in trouble for." She replied when the laughter calmed down.

"Yeah, about that. Hera left me in charge of punishing him. Besides meditation I have no idea how to do so. Figured you probably had a better idea of what would be appropriate given the situation." Kanan says.

"Well this does bring up a few memories. Actually I probably got a way with this more time than not. What was the extent of this mission Ezra?" Ahsoka asked.

"A rescue mission of a contact and friend of mine." Ezra says. He then went into full explanation of what happened.

"Why does this sound like something my master would have done?" Ahsoka asked looking at Kanan when Ezra finished.

"Probably because the two of you were famous for going against the Jedi council for stuff like this." Kanan says.

"Yeah I don't think help with a lecture for the younglings works when you're the only force sensitive youngling around. The council had me help out in the library and archives once for misconduct once. That was mostly guarding the holocron volt, aiding Madame Jocasta when someone needed help." She replied.

"There's only one holocron to guard now and he's already helping to protect it." Kanan replied.

"The rebellion does have files that need organized though. He can help commander Sato there." Ahsoka suggested.

"Isn't some of that above my security clearance?" Ezra asked.

"The holocrons were above mine. Besides your security clearance is higher than you might think." Ahsoka answered.

"You know filing papers, and two hours of extensive meditation with some extra training sessions for a week does sound like an appropriate punishment." Kanan muses.

"It sounds boring and like a lot of extra training to me." Ezra mumbles.

"I'll make the arrangements with commander Sato. You can report to him first thing in the morning." Ahsoka says.

"After morning training that is." Kanan adds.

"Great, something to look forward to." Ezra says a little annoyed.

"I could have made you scrub the entire fleet. That still would have been easy compared to what Hera will have Sabine and Zeb doing when she gets through yelling at them." Kanan says. "They're probably on 24/7 call with all extra privileges suspended for a while."

"Does that mean less chores for the rest of us?" Ezra asked.

"Sorry buddy, your not getting out of your chores that easily. I'm pretty sure that Hera left your list of chores alone." Kanan laughed a little.

"Great so I still have to fix the Phantom's autopilot." Ezra complains.

"Well either you, Chopper, or Sabine have to. You three are the only ones that fit in the craw space." Kanan says. "Plus you happen to have a knack for mechanics and wiring that no one else seems to have."

"What did you guys ever do without me?" Ezra ask.

"It was a lot less excitement, and we got into a lot less trouble. I wouldn't go back to it even if someone paid me though." Kanan answered.

"You sure about that?" The kid asked.

"A hundred present kid. You're my Padawan, and I'm not playing on that changing any time soon." Kanan replied.

"Hera's right, you two are a good match for each other." Ahsoka muses.