The working-class district of Vesta was quiet at dawn, the neon signs dimmed, and the streets were washed in pale gold light. Inside a modest apartment above a noodle shop, Ezran sat beside his father's bed, tail curled around the leg of his chair, ears twitching with worry.
"What happened to him?" Leonidas asked.
"Mining job gone wrong. They say the collapse happened fast. He was pinned beneath a fractured support beam, his spine shattered. Paralysis from the waist down."
"This is the reason you left the Academy. Why not tell me Ezran?"
"Why? So that you can fix it? I didn't want you treating me like some charity case. A man has his pride. Besides the damn surgery needed to fix this, it costs way too much to ask."
"What about the company he worked for? Imperial Law states that your father should have hazardous pay" he reasoned.
"Damn company, they blamed him for the whole thing. Claimed he was cutting corners with safety protocols. Released him from employment without severance. No compensation. No appeal."
Ezran's hands shook with anger. The injustice of it all. This was the reality of all in the Empire who were not lucky enough to be born within the noble class.
"Years of service, and they threw him out like scrap. He gave them everything, yet they left him to rot."
Leonidas was silent. He was not blind to the injustices of the commonfolk. Many a times he had heard Illiana complain about such cases, and how she had tried to bring them to the attention of the Emperor. He did nothing but ignore her pleas. How could he do anything. The corporations funded the Imperial Army. So the Emperor turns a blind eye to their ill dealings.
"How much Ezran?"
Ezran stared at the quote on his terminal: 1.2 million Lunari. It might as well have been a death sentence. Then he tossed it to Leonidas.
Leonidas looked at the numbers. He did not care. If the roles where reversed he does not doubt even for a second Ezran would do the same. He placed his finger on the terminal for a scanner. The payment went throught without difficulty.
"It's done. Before you say otherwise. You can just join my crew, and pay me back that way. Friends are not just for the easy times. Countless moments you have stood by me in my troubles. Why should I not do the same for you?"
Ezran blinked. "You...you paid for it?"
Leonidas shrugged.
Ezran's voice cracked. "I don't know what to say."
"Then don't," Leonidas said gently. "The medics will come for him. Just be there when he wakes up. I will be at hanger bay D-65. Waiting for an answer. I hope he makes it old friend. "
Leonidas and Titus left the tiny apartment.
The surgery was a success. Ezran's father opened his eyes three days later, groggy but smiling. The implant had taken. He could feel his legs again. Move them. The old fire returned to his gaze.
Ezran sat beside him, speechless.
"You've got that look again," his father said, voice raspy. "The one you had when you left for the Academy. The look of a man who's about to chase something bigger himself. I had missed that look in your eyes."
Ezran chuckled. "I'm not sure what I'm doing."
"You are getting on that ship, and your are leaving for something better."
Ezran hesitated. "I don't want to leave you"
"OH, Ez. I'm alive. I'm well, and it's enough. There are whole worlds out there, and I want you to go see them." Gripped his son's hand.