Ezra shouldered his duffle bag, giving the other people on the transport shuttle time to rush the exit. Delaying just long enough to let the clog of bodies finish squeezing through the doors only took a minute or two, and it wasn't as if he was in too big a hurry anyway. If things had gone according to plan Kanan would be outside with transport to wherever they were staying to meet up with everyone else. If not he'd find his own transport, but he was hoping everything was going according to plan.

They'd all split up for the last mission, and while Ezra was pleased he was considered enough of a full fledged Rebellion member to be sent off on his own he'd quickly remembered the disadvantages. Zeb might snore and worse on the bunk below him, but the Ghost was a safe enough place he could relax and sleep most nights, on his own in unknown territory he barely dozed. It meant after a week of watching his own back he was bone-deep exhausted, eyes gritty, mouth dry and throat sore from breathing in the moistureless recycled shuttle air. As tired as he was though, he was looking forward to the next few days. No ship chores, no interruptions, no distractions he was just supposed to tune out, just him and Kanan and whatever training they could manage wherever they were staying.

Ezra made it outside the door of the shuttle and felt the cold wind hit him like a physical blow. It stole the breath from his lungs and stung the exposed skin on his face as he hunched down a little lower in his collar. He had a warmer jacket in his duffle along with other supplies, but it hadn't seemed that important inside the temperature controlled shuttle. Now he wished he'd taken the time to grab it, but he didn't want to stop and fumble for it. He squinted through the light wind snow as he looked around for Kanan. There was no sign of him, instead a familiar broad shouldered form loomed even larger under layers of cold weather clothing. Ezra groaned quietly to himself, but made his way over to Zeb.

"You're here early?" Ezra looked around him to the rented speederbike and then scrubbed his forearm across his nose where it was running in the cold air.

"Yeah. Kanan's thing ran long, mine went faster. How did you do anyway?" Zeb asked, keeping things vague enough that if anyone did overhear their conversation it would sound innocent enough.

"I did fine. Let's get going then. And here I was hoping to get a few more days away from your snoring." Ezra tried for a joke, but it fell a little flat when he couldn't put quite as much energy into his voice as he planned.

"I think you meant to say 'thank you, Zeb, for gettin' the place and making sure it was ready for everyone.'" Zeb either didn't notice the tone of his voice or brushed it off, getting on the bike and waiting for Ezra to join him.

Ezra got on the bike behind him, settling the duffle against his back where it wouldn't throw off the balance of the bike and then leaning against Zeb's back to hold on. It wasn't until he was gripping at the thick fabric before he belatedly realized he should have taken a moment to pull on his jacket, but he decided it didn't matter all that much. Zeb's body cut the wind at least, and as much as he preferred to be the one driving he was just as glad that Zeb was the one who knew the way. He was tired enough to drive them into a building or something like this.

Any other time Ezra probably would have appreciated the view. Long flat plains mostly white with snow and broken up by fences and scattered buildings, and then off in the distance mountains jutted up suddenly out of the landscape. Ezra just hoped it wasn't a long trip to wherever they were going. He was cold, exhausted, and his nose kept threatening to drip down his face unless he loudly sniffled and caused the cold air to sting the inside of his nose.

Finally, before Ezra started to worry too seriously about if he was freezing to the seat of the bike, they coasted to a stop in front of a small cluster of buildings that seemed to be deserted.

"Go on in, I'll get the bike stowed." Zeb motioned to the closest and smallest building.

"What is this place anyway?" Ezra got down stiffly, mentally informing his legs that he was not going to wobble like a tiny loth-kitten after one little ride in the cold.

"Maintenance station for snow-clearing equipment. Right now the snows are too light to need clearing so there's no one needing to use it, and there's plenty of room for the Ghost once Hera gets here. It's got its own solar power system and water system so we're self-sufficient too." Zeb started walking the bike without giving Ezra a chance to comment on the building, heading to one of the larger buildings, probably an equipment shed. Ezra trudged the short walk to the first building, not wanting to stay outside any longer than he had to.

Inside was just as cold as outside, but at least there was no wind and once he flipped on the lights he found the heater controls quickly enough. Ezra turned the heat on, turning it all the way up for the moment and looked around. It wasn't much, a small sitting area and food prep station and when he ventured in further there was a room lined with bunks and a doorway into a 'fresher. It was obviously for functionality rather than comfort, but at the moment Ezra didn't care. He dropped his duffle with numb fingers onto one of the bunks across from the one Zeb had obviously claimed. Then he followed the duffle's example, flopping down heavily onto the bunk and shivering. At least as small as the area was, it was heating up quickly, but it just wasn't warming him up yet.

Ezra heard Zeb open the door and then close it behind him, but he didn't bother to get up just yet. He should unpack the few items he needed to, especially the jacket. He should probably get his shoes off and maybe hunt for some blankets. He should definitely eat something, he hadn't had anything to eat since that morning and if he wasn't so tired he'd have been starving. All of those things required moving though, and moving seemed like a terrible idea.

"You can crash in a minute, here's your blanket roll, and if you've got a dry set of clothes change into them." Zeb dropped a bulky but soft pile of fabric beside Ezra.

Ezra grumbled, but slowly hauled himself up to a sitting position, flexing his fingers and then unzipping his duffle bag for his sleepwear. They should be dry, he hadn't used them all mission. They were thinner than his clothing and even as warm as the air was he hesitated in stripping out of his regular clothes, but as much as he hated to admit it Zeb was right. If his clothes were even slightly damp with travel sweat they would keep him from warming up as quickly.

"There's heavy duty sleeping bags too, but unless you want to go sleep out in one of the unheated equipment sheds you shouldn't need 'em." Zeb stayed, making sure Ezra got his clothes off and shoved to the end of the bed and his sleepwear on before he bundled up in the blankets.

"No thanks, I'm good here. Your company isn't that bad." Ezra tried for another joke and thought it sounded better this time, at least Zeb grinned at it.

"Yeah yeah. Don't worry, you're not the first soldier I've seen come off of high alert and then fall asleep on his feet. Just get some rest." Zeb patted him through the blankets and Ezra managed a lazy swat at the affectionate gesture before he tucked his arm back inside the blankets. If Zeb didn't care about him just falling asleep like this he wasn't going to argue. He didn't even stay awake long enough to hear Zeb quietly leave the room.

Ezra woke up and wished he hadn't. He was warm enough, but his head ached from oversleeping and his throat was sore. The air in the cabin was just as dry as the transport had been, stuffing up his nose and in general making it unpleasant to breathe. It didn't seem fair that sleeping too long could almost make him feel worse than not sleeping enough. He was tempted to pull the covers over his head and not move, but he knew from experience it wouldn't help anything. He slowly pulled himself up, rubbing over his face and deciding the best thing to do would be dragging himself to the 'fresher to get cleaned up and hope the hot water helped.

Ezra knew, logically, that sonic showers got him as clean or cleaner than water, and they were much cheaper to maintain, there was no worry about wasting time keeping a tank of water hot for a maintenance station like this one, but it was still a disappointment. He was clean at least, and that felt marginally better, but he'd really hoped for a truly hot shower. He ran his clothes through the cleaner in the bathroom, putting them back on and going looking for Zeb. He didn't have far to go, Zeb was in the small sitting area taking up an entire line of seats, staring at a data pad. He twitched an ear, looking up as Ezra came in.

"Little more awake now?" Zeb asked, and Ezra realized he must have come in and slept at some point and gotten up in the morning without him ever knowing. He really had been deeply asleep.

"Something like that." Ezra didn't really feel the need to try and complain about the fact he still felt wrung out, it wasn't like Zeb would be all that sympathetic.

"Eeh, well you didn't miss much. Unless you want to go trekking out in the snow this is it. If you want anything to eat besides ration packs you'll need to head into town, but we've got plenty of those. There's a couple games, set of Sabbac cards, and a whole lot of nothing to do." Zeb waved a hand lazily and Ezra shrugged.

"I'm good with doing nothing for a while." Ezra headed to the food prep area, surveying his options and then putting one of the ration packs in to heat. Maybe the heat would soothe his throat. Drink options just seemed to be water and he grabbed a cup. "No caf?" Not that he cared, but the rest of the crew would be cranky when they showed up and it wasn't an option.

"When Hera shows up she'll be bringing the Ghost and all the supplies, if Kanan shows up first he can buy his own caf, and Sabine never travels without her own stash of tea." Zeb said, and Ezra couldn't fault his logic there. Theoretically if all went according to plan Hera would show up last, and they could all leave. If someone was late they'd wait for them, or rescue them as necessary.

Ezra hoped food would make him feel better, but he could barely taste it and he finished it off more out of unwillingness to waste it than because he enjoyed any of it. He ended up slumped in one of the chairs, toying with his empty cup and trying to figure out if there was anything else he could do to try and shake the general feeling that he just wanted to crawl back into bed for a week or two. He didn't even know why, sure it had been a rough week but usually he bounced back after a decent night's sleep.

Then Ezra sneezed. It caught him by surprise and he barely got his face buried in the crook of his arm in time. His cheekbones throbbed with the force of it and his headache reminded him in no uncertain terms that it was still around and didn't appreciate the sound or movement. Ezra sniffed, grabbing at the one tiny napkin provided in the ration pack to scrub his face off and then paused mid-sniff. It couldn't be, all the various discomforts he was dealing with could have entirely reasonable explanations. Or he could be getting sick. He really hoped it was just a lot of unrelated discomforts, he hated being sick. He balled up the napkin, going to throw it away along with the empty tray. He wasn't getting sick, not a chance. Well, not a very big chance. He was just being impatient and in an hour or two he'd be back to normal. He just needed to take it easy.

Zeb ended up heading out to patrol the perimeter before it got too much later. Ezra could have told him there wasn't anything nearby larger than a loth-rat and nothing felt dangerous, but he was sure it was more to stretch his legs than anything else. When Zeb had said snow earlier Ezra had assumed it was the light dusting from the day before, but fat flakes were thickly falling and looked like that had been for a while.

Ezra uncovered a viewport, settling in and watching the snow fall for a while. He leaned his forehead against it, but whatever the clear material was made of on this planet it was well insulated enough that it barely felt cool. He'd finally admitted to himself that there wasn't any other explanation at this point, he was sick. He didn't feel bad enough to indicate a fever, but everything else was bad enough. His nose was clogged and dripping and he ended up stealing a roll of paper from the 'fresher when there didn't seem to be anything else suitable to blow his nose into. He scrunched down a little when Zeb came back, letting in a cold draft from the outside.

"Did you even move?" Zeb sounded way too perky for being covered in snow and Ezra glared a little before blowing his nose into the wad of bathroom tissue.

"No." Ezra nearly winced at the sound of his own voice, he wasn't expecting to sound so hoarse and stuffed up already.

To his credit, Zeb noticed immediately, pausing in the middle of hanging up his coat to stare at him, ears perked forward.

"What's the matter with you?" Zeb asked bluntly.

"Nothing. I mean, I'm just sick." Ezra hoped it was going to be a short conversation.

"Sick with what?" Zeb moved closer so look him over and Ezra resisted the urge to turn away from the prying gaze.

"I don't know. Some kind of cold, feels like." Ezra shrugged.

"… A cold?" Zeb just looked confused.

"Yeah, a cold." It took a moment for it to click with Ezra that Zeb might not have ever had anyone explain what a cold was. "It's a type of illness, it's uncomfortable but not dangerous. Runny nose, sneezing, feeling like crap, I might get a cough too. It usually only lasts a few days. Hasn't anyone on the Ghost gotten sick before?"

"Ah." Zeb relaxed some at that, rubbing the back of his head. "Lasat have something like that, but most of the time when someone's not feeling great they tend to keep to themselves."

Ezra nodded a little. "Not really anywhere else to keep to here." He rubbed at the side of his head, wishing talking didn't aggravate his headache.

Zeb frowned, glancing around. "We don't have any sort of med kit, and I don't really want to go into town while it's snowing like this."

Ezra nodded, he'd suspected as much when he hadn't seen any obvious medical supplies anywhere. "It's fine, I can handle a little discomfort." Before joining up on the Ghost he'd never even considered using medicine for something as mild as a cold. He'd had to reevaluate that his being in top form to do his job was worth more than what a headache pill cost. Now if he'd had something to ease the symptoms he'd probably take it, but it wasn't like he needed to do anything for the next few days.

"We don't have any other supplies either, no food besides the ration packs and no hot drinks, no juice." Zeb looked more put out by their situation than Ezra was and Ezra found himself smiling a little in spite of how awful he felt.

"That kind of stuff would be nice, but I'm just glad I can rest as much as I want the next few days." Ezra hadn't expected this level of concern, but he wasn't going to argue with Zeb actually trying to show he cared.

"Alright, but if you need anything and it's something we can get, speak up." Zeb said.

Ezra hesitated, then rubbed the side of his head. "If we've got something to wrap some snow up in, a cold pack might help my headache."

"Right, that I can actually do." Zeb seemed to relax some at having something productive he could do about the situation and he grabbed his coat, finding a plastic bag. There was more than enough snow just outside to stuff it and Ezra took the finished pack gratefully, pressing it to his head and leaning back with a sniffle.

The rest of the day passed fairly uneventfully. Zeb made sure he had a glass of water within reach at all times and found a bin to contain the growing pile of damp crumpled tissue Ezra was generating. Ezra was just glad when Zeb stopped twitching at every sneeze or gross sounding sniffle. It wasn't like he was trying to be noisy about it.

Ezra was also grateful when Zeb heated up two ration trays and got him his without having to be asked. It was hard to tell with how overcast the sky was, but it was definitely starting to get darker outside and it had to be around dusk.

"Thanks." Ezra took the hot tray, picking slowly at the food. It was horribly unfair that having a cold always made him hungry, but food ranged from no taste at all to tasting awful.

"Yeah, well, don't get used to it." Zeb said gruffly, getting a tired grin out of Ezra.

"Too late, next time I get sick I'm expecting the same level of care, maybe better since you've had more practice." Ezra teased.

"Nah, next time you get to be Kanan's problem instead." Zeb sat down with his own tray.

Ezra did his best to ignore how the word 'problem' stung a little. "Nope, too late, your job now."

"Maybe next time you can…" Zeb didn't get to finish his sentence, because the lights suddenly dimmed, flickered, and then went out, leaving them with only the quickly fading light from the viewport.