Chapter Text
Sabine stalked into the common area of the Ghost in a foul mood. "How come missions in the Mid Rim always go so horribly wrong!?" She plunked her helmet down on the table with a huff. "Our Outer Rim missions are child's play, but the moment we fly a little too close to the Empire, they're all over us!"
They had been attempting to free political prisoners from the Empire and, unfortunately, instead of prisoners there had been several squads of stormtroopers. They had made it out alive, but only just. Kanan patted her on the shoulder. “Sounds like you know the reason. At least we’re all here and safe.”
They sat down on the couch as Zeb passed through on his way back to his cabin. Ezra made to follow him but only got a few steps before he froze. Sabine noticed Kanan stiffen beside her at the same time.
“What is it? Is something wrong?” Kanan’s mask hid most of his face, but it didn't hide the downturn of his expression. Concern or focus, Sabine couldn’t tell. She turned to Ezra next but he just looked overwhelmed and bewildered and clearly had no idea what was going on.
Eventually, Kanan spoke. “The balance of the force just changed… a lot. I’m gonna go meditate, see what else I can find out. Ezra?”
Kanan stood up and headed towards his cabin, Ezra following wordlessly. Sabine shrugged to herself. She tried to stay out of Jedi business as it generally didn’t affect her much but not ten seconds later, Hera’s voice sounded over the intercom.
“Attention all crewmembers, I can’t contact Chopper Base and until we can or figure out why we can’t, we’ll be staying in the area for a while.” That couldn’t be a coincidence, but what did the balance of the force have to do with Chopper base? Sabine sure didn’t know, but maybe Hera would so she got up and headed towards the cockpit to inform her of the situation with their two resident Jedi.
An hour later, Kanan and Ezra finally reemerged. Hera had tried raising the base on every channel she could think of but had run out of options so she was playing sabacc with Zeb until she could try again or think of another approach.
She looked up as Kanan entered the room and sat in a nearby chair, looking even more confused than when he had left. “Did you find out what it was, love? Anything to do with the base?”
Kanan sighed. “The answers I found only left me with more questions and I don’t know how it relates to the communication issue, I'm just certain it does… somehow.”
He paused, trying to gather his thoughts. “There are a lot more Jedi in the galaxy than there were yesterday, and I don’t mean force-sensitive kids, I mean actual fully trained Jedi. I haven’t sensed this many since I was a kid. I just don’t know how…” he trailed off.
Ezra, leaning against the wall, piped up. “Wouldn’t that be holo-newsworthy?”
Kanan, Hera, and Zeb all turned to him. “Well, I mean, think about it," he explained. "Jedi have been mostly gone for years. Surely someone would be reporting if ten or twenty thousand just… appeared!”
Hera nodded and went to switch the sabacc table to news mode. “You’re right, that would definitely get people’s attention.”
The sabacc display changed to the head of a woman from one of the nearby systems who was reporting the news. “For those of you just tuning in, the galaxy is in chaos as the galactic layers are now separated not only by space, but by time as well. Here in the Mid-Rim, we are eighteen years ahead of the Core Worlds, nine years ahead of the Outer-Rim, and seven years behind the Inner-Rim. No reason has yet been found for this anomaly nor the significance of the years each layer now exists within. Jallo, how can we expect this to affect our glorious empire?”
“...That’s probably the freakiest thing I’ve ever heard,” Zeb said.
Hera muted the holo-news to give them all some time to digest. “Chopper Base is in the Outer-Rim. That’s why we can’t contact it; it doesn’t exist…” Hera thought of all the friends she’d had on that base and wondered if any of them were still alive, just in a different time zone.
Ezra had another thought. “Wait… eighteen years ago was, like, the middle of the Clone Wars, right?”
Kanan nodded slowly. “Yes, that’s why there are so many more Jedi now, because the Jedi Temple was on one of the Core Worlds.”
“We need to warn them about the clones,” Ezra said. “And the Emperor too!”
Hera nodded in agreement. “Yes... and perhaps you and Kanan could stay there after to help them fight the Empire.”
Ezra looked at her, confused and a little hurt. “Why would we want to do that? I can fight just fine here, with you guys.”
Hera was quick to clarify. “I know you can. You’ve proven that many times. I just have a feeling that the Jedi won’t stand for a Sith-lead government and will fight it, just like we do. I want some of our people involved there so we can coordinate. Kanan, what do you think?”
Kanan crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat. “I… think it’s a good plan. But what about you? What will you do?”
Hera scoffed. “We’ll do what we’ve always done, fight the empire. I’ll see who’s active in this area and who’s rebelling elsewhere and we’ll rebuild the Rebel Alliance in no time.”
Ezra still looked uncomfortable with the idea and Zeb took notice. “Don’t worry, kid. I worked with a Jedi once during the Old Republic days and, I mean, he was a little creepy, but he was very good at what he did. This’ll be good for you.”
Ezra did not seem entirely put at ease. “I guess.”
Hera stood up and began heading towards the cockpit, giving Ezra’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze as she passed by. “Then to Coruscant we go!”