Author's Note: To anyone who may hate me for going so long without updating, I apologize for the extreme lateness. Being a college student and a collegiate athlete takes up a lot of time and I have been working on actually work to possibly be published. But here it is for you now. Enjoy.

Screams echoed off the buildings as people scrambled to get away from the marketplace that had become a warzone White armored bodies littered the ground, their armor rent with both saber cuts and scorch marks from plasma bolts. A grenade detonated, sending a column of dirt and sand cascading over Ezra and the girl.

Shaking the grime from his eyes, Ezra reached out with the Force and sent three Imps flying. Their bones rattled and snapped when they hit the side of the building. Beside him the girl deflected a barrage of red blaster fire, her saber morphing into a blur of yellow light.

"You're a Jedi?" Ezra shouted over the din. He drew his blaster and shot an advancing trooper in the chest.

"No, I'm a girl with a glow stick that just happens to be able to deflect blaster bolts," the girl huffed as she flipped over a bucket head and kicked him into the dirt. "Yes, I'm a kriffing Jedi! Well, I mean I'm a padawan. Sort of."

"You're 'sort of' a padawan?"

"It's complicated!" she yelled as she sliced through a trooper's chest plate. "Look, fight now, questions later!"

"Fine," Ezra agreed reluctantly before elbowing an Imp in the faceplate. He threw his lightsaber into another trooper's chest before ripping out the blade and cutting down another.

"Spectre Six, come in." Ezra body seized as Hera's voice crackled through his communicator. "Spectre Six? Ezra?" He slashed off an Imperial's head before answering.

"Hey Hera, what's uh, what's going on?" he asked as casually as he could, but was obviously a front..

"Well that's why I'm calling Ezra. You were supposed to be back by now. We're all ready to leave."

"Yeah sorry, just um, ran into some difficulties. Don't worry, I've got it all under control." He cried out as a blaster bolt zipped by his cheek.

"What is that?" Hera asked. "Is that blasterfire?"

"...no."

"Ezra..."

"No."

"Ezra!"

"No blasterfire."

"Ezra Bridger, what did you do?!" Hera's voice rose in volume. She was definitely steamed.

"Nothing!" Ezra said defensively. "It wasn't my fault!"

"Yes it was," the girl yelled as she deflected a shot back at the one who fired it.

"Ezra, who's that?"

The padawan grunted in frustration. "It's nobody, just the reason I got in this mess." The girl glared at him and he glared right back.

"Look just, please come and get me," he pled to the Twi'lek pilot. "And get the others on the guns, it's gonna be a hot landing."

"This conversation isn't over Ezra," Hera promised before the line cut out.

"She sounds nice," the girl said.

Ezra deactivated his lightsaber and returned it to his belt. "Just shut up and follow me," he ordered. He force jumped up onto the roof of the nearest building, turning around to see the girl copy his actions. The two of them sped over the rooftops, ignoring the stray blaster bolts that flew by their heads and those that pelted into the side of the building.

"So these friends of yours, they gonna make it to us in time?" she asked as they ran.

"They'll be here," Ezra assured her as he slid underneath a clutch of coolant pipes, hopping back onto his feet without breaking stride. In his peripheral, he saw her land an impressive side flip over a open skylight. Her acrobatic skills appeared, much to his chagrin and slight jealousy, even more developed than his own

The Force buzzed in his mind and he ducked to avoid the incoming blasterfire. Several troopers had found their way onto the roofs and were no chasing after them.

"Yeah, I'm really feeling the confidence," the girl mockingly admitted.

"Well, if you hadn't stolen the necklace from me, neither of us would be in this mess," Ezra accused, drawing his lightsaber.

"Oh shut up and fight, ya moof-milker."

Reaching out with the Force, Ezra immediately threw two troopers off the roof, before slashing through a third one's breastplate. He allowed himself a moment's praise as he realized how much easier taking out bucketheads had become due to his training. Of course, it didn't hurt that the Empire seemed to recruit brainless idiots who couldn't aim even if their lives depended on it.

The fight was over quickly, all the troopers dead or dying on the rooftop within a minute. Kanan would be proud, he thought, his chest swelling with pride.

"Oh boy, it feels good huh?" the girl asked him, rocking on jittery feet. She picked up one of the fallen troopers helmets and booted it across the street, laughing with gusto.

"You're scary," Ezra said.

"And you're stubborn. All this over a stupid necklace?" She reached into her pocket and pulled out the chain and pendant, holding it up to the light so she could read it. "I mean, I thought this was valuable or something, for you to go out of your way to get. But it's just a piece of metal. Why?"

"It's for someone," Ezra admitted.

The girl grinned coyly. "Someone special?" Ezra nodded. "Someone with big doe eyes and an hourglass figure?"

"Try twin WESTAR-35 blaster pistols and explosives out the wazoo."

"Mandalorian, huh?" A cheshire grin crept onto her face. "So is it serious?"

Ezra blanked. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, you don't...you don't know what this says, do you?" she laughed.

"Um, not really. Why?"

"I'll let her tell you," the girl said with a sly smile. "Catch Laserbrain," she said, tossing him the necklace. He grabbed it out of the air, running his thumb over the polished metal.

"Name's Lorelei. Just Lorelei," she announced, extending her hand to shake his, which he accepted.

"Ezra Bridger." He nearly winced at the girl's firm grip.

"So, Ezra Bridger, where are your friends at?" Lorelei questioned, scanning the cityscape.

"They'll be here," Ezra assured her. "Hera's the best pilot this side of Corellia."

Lorelei smirked and chuckled. "Well, as a full blooded Corellian, I'd have to disagree," she challenged.

"Corellian or not, Hera could fly, circles around..." Ezra trailed off when he heard a familiar whine in the sky. "Oh Karabast. Run!" The roof they were standing on suddenly exploded under the cannon fire from the TIE fighter that sped overhead.

"Kriff, kriff, kriff!" Lorelei cursed as she ran.

"Don't look back," Ezra yelled as he sprinted away from the attacking ship.

"No, I was gonna sit down and catch a front row seat to my death!"

The two of them ran across the rooftops, the path carving a serpentine pattern as the weaved to avoid the hot green cannon fire from the screeching fighter. Ezra force jumped over a particularly wide alleyway, rolling as he landed on the other side. A grunt told him that Lorelei had also made the jump.

"Quick, get off the roof," he yelled before stepping off into air and dropping to the pavement.

He spun around to see if Lorelei was following, only to see her spinning and tumbling in the air before landing gracefully beside him. She smirked at him before tearing away down the street. "Try and keep up, Laserbrain!"

The TIE pilot wasn't so easily shaken, following them as they hurried in and around speeders and vendors and people simply walking to wherever they were going.

"This way!" Lorelei grabbed his arm and dragged him down a side alley, seconds before cannon fire from the fighter scorched the ground where they had been standing. They cut right, then left, then right again before Lorelei pulled him around a corner and threw both of them into the side door of the building, before it slid shut with a hiss. They both pressed against the wall, breathless, as they listened to the marching of stormtroopers outside. Slowly the armored footfalls grew quieter and then disappeared all together. Ezra let out a loud breath he didn't know he had been holding in, laughing in between gulps of air.

"I think you might be hazardous to my health," he panted, sliding down the wall to take a seat.

"Hey pot, meet kettle," Lorelei answered, hands on her knees as she fought to catch her breath. Ezra chuckled and looked around their surroundings, immediately going stiff.

A dozen pairs of eyes stared back at them, all of them children, mostly human, but some alien species were present. They were all dirty, their fraying clothes having seen much better days. The oldest couldn't have been more than ten, the youngest still a toddler. All of them appeared haggard and thin, clearly none of them having eaten well in a long time.

"Hi," Ezra said dumbly, waving. Lorelei looked at him confused before turning around, similarly giving an awkward wave hello at seeing their audience.

None of the kids waved back. They just sat there, huddled together, looks of caution on their faces as they stayed as far away as could. Their eyes flit back and forth from Ezra and Lorelei's face to the blasters and lightsabers at their hips.

Ezra picked himself up and dared to peek through the window, shying away when he saw two stormtroopers outside. "We aren't getting out that way."

"Any bright ideas, Laserbrain?"

Ezra shook his head in frustration, wracking his brain for a way out of their situation. It only grew worse when someone began pounding on the door.

"Imperial business, open up!" a voice bellowed.

"Come on, man. This place is condemned, just break it down."

Ezra saw Lorelei go for her blaster but he stopped her from drawing it, shaking his head violently. Others would hear the shot and they would ultimately be overwhelmed.

"But, it's regulation to give fair warning," the first voice answered the second voice. If not for the danger they were in, Ezra might have chuckled. He settled for just rolling his eyes.

"Really, man? We're conducting a manhunt. Screw regulation." No sooner had the trooper spoke than sound of E-ll blaster bolts shredding the locking mechanism.

"Kriff," Lorelei cursed. "Still waiting on that idea."

"I don't know! Improvise!"

"What?!"

The door slid open.

Ezra pressed himself against the wall as the first trooper stepped over the threshold, his armor a shiny beacon in the dimness of the room, his weapon readied and primed. His partner followed close behind, equally prepared to fire.

Not taking the time to second guess his bad idea, Ezra barreled into the second trooper and tackled him to the ground. Kicking the weapon away, Ezra threw a punch into the man's helmet before reaching for his lightsaber, only to find nothing attached to his belt clip.

"Karabast," he cursed before the trooper threw him off and he met the ground hard. With a cough, he saw Lorelei grappling with the other stormtrooper, latched on like a Kowakian monkey-lizard and punching him in the head.

A hand grabbed the back of his jacket and hauled Ezra to his feet, driving him into the wall, knocking the wind out Ezra's lungs. The trooper's fist drove into his face, hard, but when he drew back for another blow, Ezra kneed the trooper in the codpiece. A loud shriek was yet more proof that the white armor was next to useless.

With his enemy temporarily floored, Ezra looked around frantically for his lightsaber. It was the only way to end this quietly.

He finally saw the glint of the metallic hilt and moved to pick it up, only to have his feet pulled out from underneath him. Despite the pain he was in, the trooper was persistent and began to drag Ezra away from his weapon. Even as Ezra kicked his helmet, he refused to let go.

As Ezra continued to struggle, he suddenly mentally slapped himself. Jedi, he said in his head. He turned back to his lightsaber and prepared to pull it toward him with the Force.

But someone had beat him to the weapon.

A tiny Togruta girl who couldn't have been more than five or six standard years held his lightsaber in her hands. Her lekku were barely developed and her clothes were caked in dust. The weapon looked bigger than it was in her grasp.

Ezra met her eyes and was taken aback by the well of Force energy he sensed behind her vibrant, colorful irises.

She knelt down and rolled the weapon toward Ezra, and he scooped it up and activated the blade, swinging behind him. The trooper's grip went slack.

"Lorelei!" He threw the lightsaber toward the girl, who snatched it out of the air and brought it down on the trooper's head.

Both padawans were left panting in the aftermath of their skirmish. Ezra stumbled over to Lorelei. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, Laserbrain," the girl answered, shoving his lightsaber hard into his chest. "Never better." Ezra caught the weapon clumsily when she released it.

His commlink crackled to life. "Ezra?"

"Hera! Hera, can you hear me?"

"I can hear you. Where are you?" she asked.

"Uh, I'm not sure. We wound up getting chased by a TIE fighter. There are Imperials everywhere."

"Ezra…" The twi'lek's tone was slowly approaching hostile, making Ezra gulp nervously.

"Again, not my fault," he insisted.

"Well, the airspace is full of TIEs now. We can't get to you." Over the comms, Ezra could hear the rev of the Ghost's engine and the undeniably sound of starfighter blasters. Zeb was probably having a lot of fun right now in one of the turrets.

"Wait, but, w-what am I supposed to do, I mean we are literally-"

"I'll take him to my ship. My crew can get him out."

Ezra was struck mute by Lorelei's answer. Hera was not.

"I'm sorry, who-"

"I'm partly the reason he's in this mess," Lorelei interrupted Hera. "It's the least I can do. Fly out to the Red Peaks, bearing 140.23. I'll get him there."

Hera was silent for several moments. "Okay. Ezra, we'll see you there." The line cut out with a crackle of static.

"Uh okay, so how are we getting to your crew than?" Ezra asked.

Lorelei shrugged. "Hey, that's on you, Laserbrain. You get me to my crew, I'll get you to yours."

Ezra groaned in frustration. She's worse than Zeb. And Chopper. He furiously racked his brain for a solution, anything that would allow them to sneak by the army of Imperials outside looking for them.

An idea sprouted when his eyes swept over the two fallen troopers. Aside from some scorching from Ezra's lightsaber, both sets of armor were relatively intact.

"I have an idea," he announced.

"Am I gonna hate it?"

"Probably," he admitted. "But we're going to need some help," he said, looking at the Togruta girl and her friends.

"Kriff," Lorelei cursed

…

Outside was chaos. Troopers marched in haphazard formation, skirting around lumbering walkers and hovering troop transports. "Nice to know I'm so popular," Ezra said to no one in particular, his voice distorted through the stormtroopers vocal filter. It had been months since he had pulled this trick, and he was pleasantly surprised to find that the armor a perfect fit. All that training's paying off.

"Yeah, and tonight in jail, you can play sabacc with the guards, and talk about just how popular you are to the Empire, because this is never gonna work!" Lorelei hissed behind him. She walked with an awkward gait from inside the too big armor, readjusting the clunky plating every couple steps. "There is no way anyone is gonna fall for this!"

"They never will if you don't shut up," Ezra growled back. "Trust in the Force."

Lorelei groaned. "You sound like my Master."

"He sounds like a wise man."

"...Shut up," she answered after a moment of silence.

Ezra allowed himself a silent chuckle before looking down at the little Togruta walking beside him. She looked even smaller, as she was wearing Ezra's jacket, since he couldn't wear it himself under the armor. Her wide eyes were alight with fear, as were the other children who marched along between him and Lorelei. "Don't worry. Everything's gonna be fine. We're gonna get out of here." The girl nodded timidly, holding her chin high, trying to be brave, causing Ezra to smile at the surge he felt in the Force.

There was no doubt in his mind that the girl was force sensitive. Her presence was untrained and rough, but strong. She flared up like a candle in a dark room, and that put her in danger. Anyone with the Force could have sensed, Jedi, or Inquisitor. And if an Inquisitor found her…

Ezra was not going to let that happen

"Ezra, up ahead," Lorelei warned him. A gated checkpoint had been set up between two buildings, the only way out of the slums and back into the heart of the city. Half a dozen troopers stood guard, armed with repeating turrets and a command tank.

"Karabast." Ezra hefted the E-11 blaster, his finger ready to pull the trigger if the need arose. "Just let me do the talking," he ordered. Lorelei didn't argue.

"Hold up," barked the commanding trooper, an orange pauldron over his right shoulder. "What's going on here?" he asked, gesturing toward the clutch of shivering children being escorted by two armed troopers.

"We found these street rats huddled in a condemned building," Ezra told him. "They had this." He pulled out his own blaster and showed it to the commander, who seized it to inspect it further. "We're taking them in to be questioned further. The governor wants to speak to them personally."

"The governor? I didn't hear anything about this."

"Came through special channels, sir. Priority Alpha," Ezra lied. "Look , I'm just following orders here, sir. The governor wants them and the last thing I want is to end up on the governor's bad side. I'm sure none of us want that, do we?" he asked, tapping into the Force just enough to try and sway the trooper into opening the door.

"No, no we don't," the commander agreed with haste. "Open up! Let them through!" The doors creaked as they slid aside. "Carry on trooper. You'll find transports waiting on the other side," he said, returning Ezra's blaster to him.

"Yes sir," Ezra nodded, grinning a cheshire grin under the helmet. He strode forward with an earnest pace, herding the children through and away from the throngs of white armor searching furiously for their prey that had just walked out the door.

"That should not have worked," Lorelei said once the heavy plates of steel had shut behind them.

"The Force moves in mysterious ways," Ezra quoted, warping his voice to sound wise and sagacious.

"Shut up."

The transports were right where the commander had said they would be, pristinely lined up in uniform fashion. Lorelei took the driver's seat, throwing off the helmet the instant the door closed, while Ezra herded the children into the back. Once they were all secured and strapped in, he clambered into the cockpit and took the passenger seat.

"Let's get out of here," he urged, removing his helmet. Lorelei nodded and punched the accelerator, hurrying away from the army of troopers chasing their tails until they were swallowed up by the city.

Ezra sighed heavily and heartily, sinking low in the chair as he let himself go limp. He heard Lorelei expel a similar breath, finally able to relax. "Do you always get in this much trouble?" she panted, keeping her eyes on the road.

"Nah, this is a slow day," he joked.

"Laserbrain, I think you and I are gonna get along just fine."