Star Wars: A New Hero (Star Wars Rebels) Read online

  a New Hero

  written by

  pablo hidalgo

  Illustrations are concept art developed for

  Star Wars Rebels by

  the Lucasfilm

  Animation Art Department

  Note: This book features illustrations created by the team that makes the Star Wars Rebels animated

  series. This art was used to determine the look and feel of the characters and environments in the

  early stages of the show’s creation. Some designs and details will be different from what appears in

  the finished series.

  Copyright © 2014 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ® or TM. All rights reserved. Published by Disney • Lucasfilm

  Press, an imprint of Disney Book Group. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

  in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by

  any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For

  information address Disney • Lucasfilm Press, 1101 Flower Street, Glendale, California 91201.

  ISBN 978-1-4847-0945-0

  Visit www.starwars.com

  My name is Ezra Bridger.

  I lived alone on the planet Lothal. I know what you’re

  thinking—Where are his parents? The truth is I don’t know.

  But that’s just fine. I live my life the way I want to. Or try to,

  anyway. It isn’t always easy, and it’s gotten a whole lot more

  complicated lately.

  I’ve lived my whole life on this planet. I know the ins and outs

  of this world and how to avoid the wrong kinds of attention.

  These are important things to know, because this planet isn’t

  the easiest place to live on these days.

  Lothal is such a tiny speck

  in such a great big galaxy that it’s hard to imagine

  it being the center of anyone’s attention. We’re way

  out on the edge; fly past us and before long you’ll

  run out of galaxy. That’s how deep this planet is in

  the Outer Rim Territories.

  This sounds like an astronomy lesson, right? I wouldn’t know. I didn’t learn my lessons in

  a classroom. I learned everything I know from the spacers who come into town and from

  overhearing people talk in the marketplaces. I’ve taught myself what I need to survive by

  keeping my eyes and ears open.

  Most of Lothal is just seemingly endless grasslands. The most excitement you’ll find in

  these parts is a Loth-cat chasing down a Loth-rat for a quick snack. Walk far enough

  and you’ll see the grasslands broken up by huge old stones sticking straight up from

  the ground. Where these rocks crowd together makes a good place to hide and lie low.

  Remember that, because it’s good to have hiding places these days.

  In the grasslands, farmers and ranchers make a living

  through hard, honest work. They’re good people, but

  I’ve never been one for farming.

  Capital City is where you’ll find the most people on this world.

  It’s where people run the businesses of Lothal. Besides farming,

  this planet’s business is in minerals. Lothal is lucky enough to

  have a trove of valuable gems and ores in its rock. But it’s also

  unlucky, because that’s what drew the Galactic Empire here.

  When they think it’s safe and no Imperials are listening, the old pilots at the spaceport

  talk about a time when there wasn’t an Empire. I don’t know anything about that. Seems

  to me the Imperials have always been around. But lately they’ve become a lot harder to

  ignore. Even out in the grasslands, where there’s nothing around, you might see Imperial

  ships soar by.

  You always hear them first.

  Twin ion engines make TIE fighters howl as they fly by

  on patrols, looking for trouble. I’m too small to show

  up on their scopes, and that’s fine by me.

  The city is filling up with soldiers in

  white armor. They call themselves

  stormtroopers, and the

  Empire uses them to keep order on Lothal.

  They say they’re here to protect us. What

  they’re really here to protect are the factories,

  farms, and mines—to profit the Empire. They

  don’t care about Lothal, or the people who

  work hard. They only care about what they’re

  taking out of Lothal.

  What makes it worse is that, underneath

  those white stormtrooper helmets and

  black TIE fighter pilot helmets, a lot of the

  Imperials actually come from here. There are

  training academies set up now that turn good

  Lothal folks into soldiers of the Empire.

  I guess a lot of people here, being so used to living out

  on the edge of nowhere, signed up because they wanted

  to connect to something bigger. Can’t they see what

  they’re signing up for?

  The Empire only wants power. It’s the

  biggest bully in the galaxy. It wants to

  tell people how to live and what to think.

  And if you disagree with the Empire,

  you disappear. No one is safe. So people

  on Lothal just go through their days,

  pretending that life is okay and normal,

  even though they’re really afraid.

  Imperial ships keep appearing in the skies

  over Lothal. Somebody in the Empire has

  decided that Lothal and its minerals are

  worth guarding. Huge Star Destroyers—

  ships bigger than you can imagine—fly

  overhead. You can’t help feeling small

  against ships that big.

  And you certainly don’t feel safe.

  Me, I avoided the Empire by living outside Capital

  City. I’ve made myself a little roost at the top of an

  old communications tower. These towers used to

  serve a purpose here. They were used to guide the

  few visitors who came to Lothal to the spaceports.

  That was before the Empire. Now the Empire

  controls most of the traffic in and out, and it has

  left these old towers empty. That’s how Imperial

  progress works. Throw away the old. I won’t let this

  one go to waste, though.

  From here, I can see Capital City. I can see the smoke coughed out by the factories

  where a lot of Lothal people work, slaving away to make more and more TIE fighters for

  the Empire. It’s hard to imagine a worse way to spend a beautiful Lothal day. It’s easier

  to imagine what Lothal might have been like if its people hadn’t been so quick to let the

  Empire settle here.

  I can imagine what this planet might be like without the Empire, with people who weren’t

  afraid all the time and didn’t have anyone breathing down their necks.

  I thought I was the only one who thought

  like that. I thought nobody would be brave

  enough to take the fight to the Empire.

  It’d be hopeless, right? Countless Imperial

  troops, endless TIE fighters, and warships

  that can fill up the sky—who would dare to

  take a stand against all that?

  Someti
mes the galaxy finds just the right

  mix of crazy and brave. That’s where my

  new friends come in. I didn’t know they

  were out there, trying to do right. They

  flew around in their starship, the Ghost,

  doing what they could to rebel against the

  Empire. From slowing down Imperial cargo

  ships to stealing Imperial supplies, the crew

  of the Ghost specialized in making things a

  lot more complicated for the Empire.

  When I met them, they were a tight-knit

  crew of five, each with their own grudge

  against the Empire. They all have their

  own strengths and can fight together like

  a team. Keeping a low profile is important

  to them. They operate with code names

  like Spectre-1 and Spectre-2 so the Empire

  can’t find out their true identities. I can

  appreciate that. With the Empire around,

  you have to keep some secrets.

  Their ship’s name, the Ghost, and their

  Spectre code names reflect how they

  operate. They strike quickly and then

  vanish. The Empire can feel their presence

  but can’t grab them before they disappear.

  Maybe it’s time for the Imperials to feel

  spooked for a change.

  I’ve been on my own for most of my life.

  I survive on the streets by taking what

  I need. I’m not hurting anyone, just the

  Empire and its stooges. Besides, the

  Empire’s not going to miss a few scraps of

  food and the odd piece of tech.

  I made the mistake of thinking there were

  some new stooges in town. They didn’t

  look like they were from Lothal, which fit

  my plans. I figured if they were leaving the

  planet soon, they wouldn’t waste too much

  time chasing down a street kid who nicked

  a bit of their cargo. They probably had

  bigger, brighter places to be than Lothal,

  after all.

  That’s what I was thinking when I stole from

  them. It’s what I do best, but that day I

  guess I wasn’t at my best, because I forgot

  one of my most important rules.

  Not to lecture you, but one of Ezra Bridger’s most important rules of life on the streets

  of Lothal is this: Looks can be deceiving. I count on that. That’s why the Empire is always

  underestimating me. I’m not what it thinks. I’m not just a street kid who’s afraid of a

  stormtrooper like everyone else on Lothal is. When people assume that, they turn their

  backs on me and let down their guard. But that day in the marketplace, I was the one

  doing the underestimating. I misjudged this crew.

  I noticed that they were thieves like me. Their supplies were stolen from the Empire.

  I knew because I had been eyeing the goods. It turned out they had no intention of

  keeping the loot for themselves. No, this crew was going to give away those stolen

  Imperial supplies (Can you imagine that? Just give them away!) to the poor farmers

  of Lothal that the Empire had pushed around. I didn’t see that coming, and I’m usually

  pretty good at seeing things coming.

  So while Imperial stormtroopers were chasing them, this crew started chasing me to get

  back what I’d stolen. I guess I made a memorable first impression.

  That’s how I met Kanan.

  He was the one who caught up with me. It

  was instantly clear that Kanan was in charge of

  the group, that he was the guy who called the

  shots. He’s smart, like some sort of battlefield

  general. He’s a crack-shot gunslinger and a born

  leader. And trust me, he’s nearly impossible to

  shake when he’s chasing you! So we outran the

  Imperials together.

  Kanan invited me to be part of his team. He

  said he saw something special in me. He knew

  something about me that I’ve never told anyone.

  The truth is sometimes I can see things

  before they happen. It’s not like clear pictures

  or in ways I can describe. . . . It’s like my body

  knows what’s going to happen next and

  moves me out of the way. Kanan knew I could

  do this. He told me it’s because I can sense

  something called the Force.

  Once aboard the Ghost, I met Kanan’s crew. I’ve never seen a better pilot than Hera.

  The Ghost is her ship and she knows every bolt and plate of it. She’s great at getting us

  out of trouble, which I’m quickly finding out happens a lot!

  She’s a Twi’lek from the planet Ryloth. I

  hear the Empire hasn’t been too kind to

  Ryloth, so I figure that’s why she’s fighting

  back. Though, now that I think of it, she

  doesn’t talk much about her past, or herself.

  Hera seems more interested in finding out

  how others are doing, and how she can

  help. That took some getting used to.

  This junky little astromech droid keeps

  the Ghost running. Lucky for him he’s

  good at it, because he is a pain. His name

  is Chopper, and he’s a patched-

  together, creaky-jointed antique. He’s

  always cranky about something and bleeps

  and blarps his complaints nonstop. They

  don’t pull out his batteries because he’s

  useful. The Ghost is so modified and

  powered up that it needs an expert to keep

  it in top shape, and Chopper’s the one to

  do it.

  Sabine is the weapons expert of the team. She’s a real

  know-it-all and not afraid to show it. She’s an artist, and

  that’s someone you don’t meet every day on Lothal. She’s

  really talented, too. It’s like the Empire wants to paint over

  everything with its boring shades of gray, black, and white.

  Sabine puts the color back. I think TIE fighters look a lot

  better after one of her paint bombs has gone off.

  Yeah, I guess you can say I really admire her.

  That is, I admire her work. Let’s be clear: she’s

  gifted. I mean, anyone with a good eye would

  say so, right? I have no idea what she thinks

  of me. Not that I care. . . . Anyway, let’s move

  on to Zeb.

  Zeb is the muscle of the group. He’s great

  at smashing things, including things he

  doesn’t mean to smash. He’s good to have

  in a fight, but he gets carried away. For a tall

  guy, he’s got a short temper—which is why it’s

  so much fun to get him going. Chopper and

  I take turns seeing who can get him riled up

  the most. Are all Lasat this touchy? I don’t

  know because I’ve never seen another Lasat.

  It turns out not many people have.

  This is the Ghost. On the outside, it can pass for just any old

  freighter, going about its business of moving cargo from one star

  system to another. But remember that Ezra Bridger lesson about

  looks being deceiving? On the inside, the Ghost has many surprises.

  Hera and Chopper have installed a device so that the Ghost never

  shows up on Imperial ships as the same ship twice. It can’t disappear;

  no ship this small has a cloaking device.

  But it can disguise itself from scanners, so those thick-headed

  Imperials d
on’t realize that the sensor blip that left the system in

  a hurry is the same one that’s later arriving at a leisurely pace. It’s

  like the Ghost grew up on the same streets I did—stealthily slipping

  under the radar and never afraid to return for more action.

  Another great surprise the Ghost packs is

  the Phantom. It’s a starfighter that’s hidden,

  in plain sight, on the back of the Ghost.

  The Phantom is small and fast and packs a

  punch with its double laser cannons, and it’s

  gotten us out of a few tight spots, because

  two ships are better than one.

  I had never before been in space until that day Kanan brought me aboard the Ghost.

  Now I can’t imagine life without outrunning or outshooting Imperial TIE fighters. Maybe

  someday I’ll get a chance to pilot us out of trouble.

  I’ll admit it: it took me a while to get used to operating with a team. You’ve got to

  remember, on Lothal I worked alone. So on our first mission together, which involved

  freeing Wookiee prisoners from the Empire, there were times I was thinking about

  myself first. It’s what had always kept me alive and out of Imperial hands, after all.

  I thought the crew of the Ghost would leave me behind on Lothal when we finished

  our mission. I needed to make sure I got something worthwhile for my troubles. I

  figured that laser sword that Kanan carried would fetch a few credits or maybe come

  in handy in a scrap. So I took it.

  Kanan knew. But he wasn’t mad. Getting mad is not the Jedi way.

  See, I found out that Kanan is a Jedi.

  Jedi Knights were guardians

  of peace and justice before the Empire

  nearly wiped all of them out. And now it’s

  a very dangerous time to be a Jedi, but

  Kanan is one because the galaxy needs

  people to fight for those who can’t. He