Chapter Text
Traveling in hyperspace felt different when purrgil led the way. Ezra guessed he should have expected it to, but the thought hadn’t occurred to him until now.
Ezra’s first time in hyperspace had been on the Ghost . Back then, the blue lines stretching across his vision had been straight, consistent. Hera had told him that nav computers were programmed to plot jumps in as straight a shot as possible given the ever-changing nature of the galaxy. If their route curved at all, it did so gradually enough to go unnoticed to occupants of a ship.
Purrgil didn’t navigate the way computers did. They had no problems rounding sharp corners or seemingly doubling back on their path. Ezra sensed their intent through the Force, but that didn’t mean he could make sense of it.
Before, it was easier. He’d felt their collective hunger as several latched onto the Chimaera’s hyperdrive. Once they’d eaten their fill of its fuel, Ezra had asked them to guide all Imperial ships away from his home (“my nest”, he’d called it). The flock agreed.
One problem: Ezra had made no suggestions regarding a destination. He had no idea where the purrgil were taking this ship or any others, for that matter. At points in their travel, he thought they may not either. He didn’t see a destination in their mind, only a vague intention to remove the “hunters” (Imperial ships) from the flock’s migration path.
The trip passed slowly at the speed of light. Everything moved in suspended animation. Ezra could feel Imperials panicking through the Force, but few of them dared move during the journey. Any who tried got jerked around by the purrgil. It didn’t help that no one knew when they would exit hyperspace. Until the ship returned to realspace, most counter attacks were impossible. The rest were just wasteful and generally bad ideas.
In that moment, Ezra wasn’t as concerned about the enemy crew as he was the purrgil. The one who’d knocked Thrawn unconscious acted ridiculously vague when answering Ezra’s questions. Ezra couldn’t use language with a purrgil, so he let his confusion and anxiety about their destination pass in its most instinctual form from his mind into the creature’s. “ Where are we going, where are we going, where are we going, where….”
All the purrgil offered him in response was quick dismissal of his concerns. She was trying to concentrate. Could the small being please let her fly in peace?
Ezra felt his own panic rising to match the rest of the ship. He’d done it. He’d sacrificed himself to save Lothal.
But didn’t a rebel’s sacrifice involve death? Should Ezra be dead by now? Was he about to die? This moment could be his last.
Or this one.
Or maybe this- what about this one?
...No? Okay.
Now Ezra wished Thrawn was awake. If he had someone to fight, some goal to focus on while the purrgil flew, he would feel a lot better. He fiddled with the blast door, working out a plan to open it once the battle resumed.
After an eternity of jagged blue lines, the purrgil stopped in the middle of a congested asteroid field. Just like that, the Force lifted its finger from the battle’s pause button.
A cold female voice sounded in time with numerous alarms. “Commodore Hammerly to all crew: cannons, continue fire. Fighters, launch and lure the purrgil away from the ship. Kill them if you can, make them flee if you must. All ship mechanics and engine room techs, report to proper channels to confirm your status. Evacuate all damaged areas of the ship. Stay in contact with your commanders. Rescue anyone you can, yourself included.”
The already damaged ship floated into asteroid after asteroid, some large enough to make the ship shudder. A field this congested would have been trouble for the Ghost to navigate, but at least that ship could fly in a place like this. There was nowhere for a Star Destroyer to go in here. How the purrgil even got the ship into this squeeze would forever remain a mystery.
Ezra felt his awe travel across the mental bond he’d formed with the purrgil nearest him. She responded with a smug sense of satisfaction. Pleased with her work, she released Thrawn from her embrace, tossing his limp body across the room where it caught behind a sturdy piece of debris.
Thank you. You saved my nest.
The purrgil blinked, giant eye devoid of emotion. Ezra smiled until she pulled away from her place on the ship, opening the room Ezra occupied to the vacuum of space.
No… wait, no!
She couldn’t leave. There were still thousands of Imperials alive on this ship! Ezra freaked out as the purrgil’s absence vented him out into space. He panicked with the Force, pulling himself back towards the door without thinking. He pried the blast doors open, sending himself, Thrawn, debris, and bits of corpses inside with one giant push that left Ezra winded.
He didn’t need to push so hard. He was wasting energy. There was still so much to do, so many Imperials running in every direction. Ezra felt individual footpaths traversing the pathways of his mind, boots pounding a headache as the shrill of alarms continued.
From there, he reached back out to the purrgil, begging them not to flee just yet. Ezra was ready to die for the rebellion, but he wasn’t ready to live. Not on a ship full of enemies with nothing left to lose. Not among people who’d lost all hope and whose only substitute was rage.
He needed the purrgil to stay. He broadcast every fear, every bit of pleading and hope through the Force. He presented himself to them as a lonely calf, one trapped in a hunter’s claws. Ezra did everything he could to show them how desperate he was for them to continue their prior assault.
Most ignored him. They’d had members of their pod shot by enough TIE fighters to know how many blows a purrgil could take. They’d helped a friend in need and gotten a meal out of it, too. The purrgil’s work was done. They swam out to the space beyond the asteroid field, taking off one by one into the oblivion.
The only purrgil who listened to Ezra’s pleas was the smallest of the pod. As the runt of his group, he knew how it felt to be lonely. He did his part to wreak more havoc on the ship, dodging cannonfire and TIE attacks as he worked.
Ezra had no viewport in his hallway, but he watched through the Force and helped where he could. Exhaustion rapidly took over as he caught sight of threats too late. Despite Ezra’s faltering, the purrgil still looked to his bond for guidance.
Thank you for staying. I’ll let you go soon. Ezra tried to show a mental image of him dying with the last of the ship. The picture had seemed so clear when he’d stood above Lothal. Why was it blurry now?
The last purrgil’s size proved an advantage. He was big enough to whack through the wings of a TIE, but small enough to hide from cannonfire behind asteroids. Ezra felt as if he were riding atop the purrgil, constantly turning around in search of threats.
The Imperials knew only one purrgil was left. They were concentrating all their anger and firepower onto one small male. Ezra could relate.
Crunch!
Ezra lost his footing as the Chimaera collided with yet another asteroid. He tumbled to the ground, his bond to the purrgil fumbling in the confusion. His disorientation traveled across the bond, causing the space creature to pause its assault.
No! Don’t stop for me. Don’t listen! You need to-
A lucky gunner landed a cannon blast square in the purrgil’s chest, sending one end of the bond shriveling towards the other. In the span of a split second, Ezra was shouting to himself.
“Uh!” a squeak escaped his lips. Ezra sank into the ground, his will to rise fading.
Ezra knew better than to stay connected to a being when it died. Kanan had specifically warned him against it. Death was a one-time experience for all creatures of the Living Force. Ezra should never seek to repeat it.
Cold crept through his veins as splinters of the bond punctured Ezra’s confidence. The last emotion that purrgil had felt was loneliness. It echoed through Ezra’s mind. He knew he was away from its flock, but believed he’d be able to catch up. That purrgil fought on because it had trusted Ezra.
Feeling that sense of trust fade away… It disappeared from Ezra as well. He’d used so much Force today. His confidence was draining, his adrenaline was draining, every thought in his head… broken on the bridge.
He landed on his back, hands raised… not in surrender to any person. The only thing Ezra surrendered to was his own limitation.
Ezra didn’t stir until he heard someone else move. Instinct took over before he could determine who it was. He used the last of his strength to shimmy into the corridor’s vent shaft. He collapsed on his stomach, feet barely concealed in the passageway.
The air vent. It was an escape route Ezra had used numerous times. Only now could he barely breathe in it.
The shifting… it had to be Thrawn. Thrawn was waking up to a battle over. His last act before blacking out had been to fire at Ezra. Ezra had no reason to believe his first action awake would be different.
Now his instincts were at war. He should flee, but he’d wanted to die here.
He needed to end everyone. Everyone was aboard a nonfunctional ship trapped in a field of asteroids headed for death. Their consciousnesses screamed louder than ship alarms.
Real Jedi faced their enemies. Smart thieves lived to steal another day.
Regardless of the path he chose, no one laid there frozen. Not like Ezra was doing.
This was how he was going to die. Shot from below, cowering like a Lothkitten. Thrawn was going to take his only possible shot at revenge and end him in the most undignified way possible.
Thrawn stood, felt around the corridor for a weapon. He picked up a fallen death trooper’s blaster. He surveyed the hall, eyes no doubt landing on Ezra’s hiding spot.
The alien admiral paused less than a meter behind Ezra, raised his blaster-
-and ran right past Ezra’s hiding place.
What? But… why? Why was Ezra still alive? Why had he brought Thrawn in? Nothing made sense anymore.
Ezra wasn’t shot, but he did fall. Deep into an exhausted stupor.