FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD EZRA Bridger's life changed the morning an Imperial Star Destroyer rumbled over his communications tower hideout The massive vessel didn't shoot at him nor did its complement of TIE fighters spot him on the tower's observation deck Rather it was Ezra who acted He grabbed his backpack got on his jump bike and followed the craft to Capital City on Lothal Wherever the Empire went there was expensive tech Ezra could steal and more helmets to add to his collection In the marketplace Ezra found Commandant Aresko the head of the local 3
Imperial Academy and his second-in-command second-in-command Taskmaster Grint picking on a Gotal fruit seller who didn't have a sales license As white-armored stormtroopers began to drag the fruit seller away Ezra walked past Aresko and unclipped the new-model new-model comlink from the man's belt Moving out of sight Ezra put on his most adult voice and spoke into the comlink All officers to the main square This is a code-red emergency Ezra watched in glee as Aresko Grint and the stormtroopers released the fruit seller and rushed off to the square The fruit seller thanked Ezra and gave him a few juicy jogans as a reward Ezra then headed to the square himself via the rooftops Perched on a roof's edge he peered down into the square Imperial Supply Master Lyste was supervising stormtroopers loading hover crates onto speeder bikes Aresko and Grint arrived huffing and puffing They demanded 4
to know why Lyste had called a code red Lyste claimed he hadn't While the Imperials argued Ezra noticed a human male with a goatee and a ponytail standing in the square There was something strange about him something that made Ezra tremble The man tapped his thigh twice signaling a muscular nonhuman and a female in multicolored Mandalorian armor who didn't look much older than Ezra The girl in armor walked past Lyste and the stormtroopers flipping a round object at a speeder bike The object magnetically clamped to the vehicle's side Moments after she left the bike exploded Those troopers who weren't blasted off their feet rushed about searching for the culprit But the girl was long gone Get those crates out of here Keep them secure at all costs Lyste yelled A stormtrooper leapt onto the lead bike 5
