"This job is a nightmare, we can forget about hitting the shipment in the docks. A single whiff of trouble there and the whole garrison will come down crashing on us. I mean, I'm good, but not good enough to handle so many bucket-heads" Sabine commented, giving up on continuing to scout the area. Dax had reached that conclusion himself almost at the same time.

The dock was fitted with more sensors and guards than any commercial dock could even imagine. Owing to the fact that it was a primarily-military hub for weapons, vehicles, and even Imperial Intelligence, that wasn't surprising at any rate. The garrison stationed within spitting distance of the docking facilities was a bit overkill, but within the expectations he had for Imperial security. Assaulting the shipment head-on would be nothing short of suicide. Maybe they could get to the shipment. Maybe they could even liberate it from the security detachment that would inevitably come with it. But getting out would be out of the question, they would be drowning in blaster fire and thermal detonators before they could take a step towards freedom. The only way to successfully get out of there alive was to be ghosts, and not upset the security in any way.

"I agree, if we waltz-in blasters blazing we'll end up with extra breathing holes in ourselves. How good are you at keeping things silent?" he asked, shifting his attention to the girl, who seemed to think long and hard about the situation laid out in front of them.

"I don't like it very much, but I can do it. You really think we can ghost this one?"

"If we want to live to see the profit, we are going to have to. Unfortunately, that means our employers don't get to participate on the score. We can't babysit three others and do the job at the same time. Might as well just go heavy and accept our fates" he gave his final assessment, already putting the optics back in their case and leaning with his elbows in the table they had shared.

"Well, there's the annoyingly-overcautious coward I heard about" she teased with a smirk, putting her tough-girl façade that she loved so much.

"You are a lot friendlier with a lightsaber aimed to your neck…"

Sabine gasped with mock-indignance and rapidly used her empty caf cardboard mug against him. Dax dodged the improvised projectile with a loud snicker, laughing at Sabine's frustration when she missed her objective. It wasn't lost on him that, as predicted by their employer, they had gotten along just fine. Hell, to an outsider it would probably seem like they were best friends for a long time now. No one would guess that just the day before they almost killed each other.

"I told you not to be shitty…"

"And where would I have learned to follow your orders?"


They were heading back into the safe house before sunset, riding a two-seat speeder among the busy traffic of Lianna City. It was standard procedure, and common sense, to bunk up in a relatively secluded area, so they had to drive a fair amount of time there. While Dax did so, Sabine seemed particularly fond of teasing and berate him for his, according to her, poor driving skills.

"By the Force, even a blind Tooka drives better than you!" she whined, willing him to go just a tad faster. However, he was, as usual, unfazed by her impatience, and stuck to his careful and conservative driving. The last thing they needed was to be pulled over by the Empire for a speeding ticket.

"If you want to blow the job before it even starts, go ahead and walk yourself into an Imperial garrison and pick a fight. I didn't get where I am by taking unnecessary risks" Dax simply commented, keeping an eye on the way forward. Sabine rolled her eyes at him, the hint of a smile tugging at her lips, as she leaned back into her seat and looked at the sights speeding past them. The silence that followed was a comfortable one, it allowed her to see some of the things she was too busy ignoring a few days prior, and him to get a respite of the girl's energy and spunkiness. He had to admit, had he been looking to get attached to someone, he couldn't have done much better than her. She was a stark contrast to him, and would reluctantly admit that her energy was an extreme offset of his own cautiousness, and her target-like colorfulness clashed with his own drab preferences. For every intent and purpose, she was the opposite of him, and that fact sold the idea that they both complimented each other.

Too bad he wasn't looking.

Meanwhile, Sabine's thoughts were similar to his, all of it without any of them knowing. She would lie if she said that she didn't found his attitude… interesting. Here was a guy who had been convicted of one of the most heinous crimes in the galaxy, falsely, to boot, and instead of giving himself to the drink or grade A drugs (lots of which existed in the circles he moved on) he had decided to take on a job -however shitty it was- and had cultivated a cautious, calculating, and deadly persona. Maybe it was a bit of stretch to say he was a clean person, but she had seen junkies and drunkards by the ton in her rather short stint as a bounty hunter. He wasn't the type. His armor, though with a dent or two showing its use, was otherwise in good shape, his weapons were properly maintained (on the outside at least), and he didn't reek of alcohol, drugs, or desperation. For all intents and purposes, he was an honest-to-Force mercenary in an unsavory societal rung. She could see herself with someone like him, but it wouldn't be him. He was obviously more interested in finding something, whatever it was. The vibe he exuded was that of someone looking for something to continue forward, something to give him a purpose. Whether he knew it or not, he was looking for something far more meaningful than doing someone else's dirty work for money. And that was something she envied with her whole self. Besides her painting, there was nothing she was expecting to get out of life. Hell, not even that, at this point. The Empire frowned heavily upon artistic expression, quelling any dissent that threatened to defy their power. If she got caught, or worse, killed, her work would go the way of Mustafar, and nobody would ever know that Sabine of Clan Wren, House Vizsla, even existed, and that she had dared to defy the gloominess and darkness that had engulfed the galaxy. It was a depressing thought, even more so now that she was sitting beside a guy who seemed to already have big ambitions, consciously or not.

Well, now I'm depressed, Sabine thought with a bit of a sarcastic tinge, as she ignored his glare when she set her feet over the dashboard.


"That was not part of the deal, kid. We agreed to a fee renegotiation just so you could tell us it can't be done?"

"I said the dock assault is not happening. If you really want those weapons so bad then you are going to go with our plan, whether you like it or not"

The Mandos stood their ground as incredulous looks peppered them, coming from the three other individuals of assorted species across them from the holo-table. A 3D holographic map of the target was displayed, with indicators hovering all over the place designating the transports that the couple had recorded in their scouting.

"What plan? You are basically winging it, kid, and I don't care to make that wager very much, thank you, so the answer is no" his employer, Derso Walig, was really starting to annoy the kriff out of him. If Sabine thought he was over-cautious, then this guy was a whole other level above him

"Fine, then good luck dying of acute plasma poisoning, because you are never getting out of there alive, and I most certainly will not go with you…"

"Then The Artist will cover us…"

"No, I won't, I'm not in a hurry to die either. You proceed with the assault you go alone, I'd rather have to pick up another job than this being my last one" Sabine countered, arms crossed in front of her chest and looking dead-serious.

The three grown-ups glared at the teenagers before looking at each other and taking a few steps back to converse among themselves, leaving them to guess what exactly is it that they were saying.

"You think they'll wise up?" Sabine inquired, sitting at the edge of a crate alongside him. Her refusal to help them get killed had thoroughly surprised Dax, who had figured her for the loose-cannon type. If you ever asked him who he recommended to lead a suicidal charge into an Imperial fortification he would have recommended Sabine Wren (or The Artist, rather, since that was her professional name in the lower levels) without giving it much thought. Yet, here he was, pondering about the exact reason why she would agree that frontal suicide wasn't her cup of Juma.

"They'll try to come up with a way to go forward, but in the end, they'll probably realize that they would rather live to spend the profits than taking a needless risk that will be their last for sure. If not, well, I was thinking we could give the heist a shot on our own after they get killed. Does half and half sound good to you?"

"Are you asking me out on a date? How bold of you!" Wren teased, dedicating a smirk to Dax, for which she got a pronounced eye-roll in return.

"Keep it up and I'll do it on my own"

"Fine, fine. Fifty-fifty sounds fair enough. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, though, our hosts might just have a brainwave"

"I wouldn't hold my breath on that. I'm going to hit the sack, wake me up when they reach a consensus?" he asked, taking care of not giving her much of a window to tease.

"I thought you said you weren't sleeping anywhere near me? I'm still very much in the building" Wren asked, throwing his words against him as a way to get back to him for saying them. Force, could she be annoying…

"There's this beautiful new thing called 'door lock', which you will not violate unless you want a plasma bolt straight to the neck" he cautioned, rubbing his own neck and starting towards the bedrooms.

"Yeesh, passive aggressive much?" Sabine muttered, glancing towards their retreating employers. Come to think of it, she was feeling a little tired herself, and was already threading around the idea of catching some Zs herself when her eye caught onto something that must definitely not be where it was. Dax had removed his armor's gloves and left them above the crate he had been leaning on. Sabine toyed with the idea that maybe she should take them to him right until another far more dangerous thought occurred to her: he could use a bit of color in his life. With a mischievous smirk firmly plastered in her face, she swiped them off the crate and sauntered to her temporary quarters, locking the door behind her and setting her pack on the workbench, laden with art supplies that she liked to take with her everywhere. She took a good look at the austere pieces of gear, the cogs in her head already spinning and cranking out different ideas, anything from the colors to be used, to the patterns and textures.

Let's do it simple. He likes his 'Hex' shapes, along with camouflage patterns. Seriously doubt he's planning on spending too much time in jungles and deserts, so that leaves most green and sand color swatches out of the question…

She was normally not a fan of grays and drab, but his customized WESTAR had caught her eye, and she had to admit it suited his collected and level-headed personality. Besides, there was no harm in trying new things every now and then, and Sabine Wren wasn't one to turn down a challenge.


The first thing he noticed when he was finally back on his senses was that there was not a single noise coming from anywhere in the safe house. Adding to that, nobody had come knocking to wake him up, when he had distinctly asked Wren to wake him up when the new plan had been approved. With suspicion brewing inside him, he headed for the fresher to splash some ice-cold water in his face and rinse off the morning breath that inevitably accompanied a trip to the land of sleep. A haggard and tired young man peered at him from the mirror's reflection, leaving him to wonder if he really looked so old. Not stopping to ponder his existence, he left the room and made a trip around the place, looking for someone. Anyone. Not even at the kitchen, where they seemed to spend a lot of time, going by their questionable physical fitness.

'Kitchen' immediately triggered a feeling of hunger, and his stomach growled in confirmation, then nearly in frustration at finding the fridge empty. And shut off.

No power? Check. No friendlies? Check

The heavy thumping of plastoid boots faintly made its way to his senses, growing stronger by the second. Not a march, something more… casual.

Door breach. Sons of two-bit prostitutes!

They had been sold, of that he was sure when he bolted back upstairs and forced open Sabine's room door. She was sleeping peacefully, strewn all over the single tier bunk that occupied the opposite side of the room's door. In other circumstances, he would have found the scene amusing, maybe bordering on 'cute', but right now there were more pressing concerns.

"Wren, wake up! We have to move!" he ordered while shaking her awake. Still in a sleepy state, she mumbled a little incoherently, but came back to her senses when she recognized the urgency of what he was trying to convey.

"Wha… what's going on? Why are you in a hurry?"

"We've been made, the Emperor's lapdogs are coming. They'll breach the entrance in a couple of minutes, we need to hold them and find an exit or we'll be very, very dead, very, very soon."

"What?! How did they find this place?

"Give you one guess who…"

"Walig… Force damned di'kut! I bet he sold us in exchange for the shipment. I'm going to end him!" Sabine seethed with rage. One thing a Mando never forgives? Treason. When you so happen to have already lived through it, it was all the more infuriating.

"Revenge later, staying alive now!" Dax whispered, listening as the soldiers outside affixed a detonator to begin their breach, "where are my gloves?"

He frantically looked around for them, not wanting to lose two perfectly good blades in oe go, before a blur of drab and solid color was thrusted into his sight. The blur resolved into the shape of his colored armor gloves, and he gave the most incredulous look of question towards his associate.

"I thought… you could use some color…" she innocently answered, looking a lot less like a proud Mandalorian warrior and a lot more like a child caught red-handed.

"You could have asked!" he snipped, still recovering from the shock, but doing his best not to show hostility. After all, it wasn't that he hated the work, he just didn't like the liberty she had taken with his stuff.

"Sorry"

"Never mind that, we need to get out of here"

"But I need to pack my art supplies!"

The sound of the door blasting open and a group of Stormtroopers barging into the structure made her priorities shift, although the loss of any of her supplies would make her less than happy.

"Move upstairs, find the traitors! Check those corners and shoot to kill, let's not take any chances with these thieves!" came from the staircase, signaling the approach of danger. Dax stacked on the door, motioning for Sabine to stay close and quiet. The door parted open again, revealing the barrel of a DLT-19 heavy blaster rifle, an armored glove attached to it too. In one swift motion, he kicked the barrel downwards, drove his fist into the faceplate of the helmeted shock trooper, and then delivered a headbutt with his own. The stunned opponent had time to call out, making the others down the hallway turn and aim towards the both of them. Thinking quickly, he used the superior armor of the shock trooper as cover, having it take the majority of the incoming fire and effectively having the Imperials kill their own man. During the scuffle, he had acquired the DLT-19 for himself and now turned the tables on the bucketheads, using the remaining charge in the magazine to gun down the group. The screams, the smell of burnt flesh and ozone… it was a good thing both of them were already so desensitized towards the carnage of warfare, because the sensory overload would be enough to slowly drive others insane.

The DLT's barrel smoked all the way to the floor once Dax was done, unholstering his WESTAR blaster.

"Are you hit?" he asked, peeking into her room, hoping he wouldn't have to carry an injured person while fighting the intruders.

"Pshht, that was child's play, don't insult me like that" she boasted, probably meaning it. Probably not. Dax was in no mood to play those games at that moment. Sabine put on her helmet and followed him towards the staircase, where they stopped to observe and try to find a way out. The rest of the troopers had been alerted to the blaster fire, and were setting up a pattern of fire that would effectively pin them if they tried to go down the stairs.

"If we try to move downstairs they'll cut us down in no time…"

"Yeah, but there's no way out from this level, they probably have the place surrounded" it was a fair point, and Dax could Ill afford to ignore her expertise, so going outside was out of the question.

"Wait, remember the city maps? Wasn't this whole place built above an old catacombs nexus?"

"Yeah, so?" Sabine wasn't exactly seeing how such a realization would possibly save their skins.

"Just… we need to cross this hallway, I'll go low, you go high, cover to cover. We need to make it to that room above the kitchen" Dax instructed, ducking as blaster bolts began peppering the wall they were using as cover.

"You first!" Sabine half-joked, pulling out her own blasters and laying down fire with both at the same time. While she moved in a standing stance, Dax moved on his own on a crouch, adding his own fire to the fight. The armored enemies ducked for cover, having depleted their magazines in their first barrage and making targets out of themselves. Nevertheless, the teenagers' focus wasn't on killing, but driving them to cover, just long enough to be able to move. The dreadful crossing was done before long, Sabine remaining near the door to keep them from coming up the staircase.

"What now?"

"Keep me covered, I'll breach the floor to the kitchen, and then make a second breach to the catacombs!" he explained, setting thermal detonators in a circle on the room's floors.

"Won't they be able to follow us?" Sabine asked, firing at an incoming trooper and catching him square in the chest piece, sending him tumbling down the stairs into another two of his comrades. Another trooper tried to prime a thermal detonator, but a single-handed shot from the girl set it off right on his hands, obliterating the unlucky guy and everyone in a 2 meter radius around him.

"Not when the explosives cache downstairs goes off"

If she hadn't been wearing a helmet, she would be giving him a withering look.

"Where did all this impulsivity come from?" she had to ask, keeping an eye out for the enemies' next move.

"It's a calculated risk. Besides, I don't see you proposing a better idea"

"Fine, let's do it!"

As soon as she finished that sentence the detonators went off, cracking the duracrete below their feet and sending a shower of rubble into the house's kitchen along with the two teenagers, who landed rather ungracefully. Without stopping to check anything else, they collected themselves off the floor and got to the second phase of the plan.

"In the kitchen! It's them! Fire, fire!" Another trooper shouted, and a volley of blaster shots was soon on its way towards them.

"You alright?" Dax asked, blind-firing over the counter, not really interested in hitting anything.

"I'm fine, just a sprained ankle" Sabine spat, mad at herself for forgetting how to land properly after a fall and having sustained an injury for it. So stupid!

"It'll heal, you'll be fine"

"It's not that what I'm worried about, laserbrain!"

"Whatever. Get these guys off me, I'm setting the second breach" he nearly shouted, the roar of the firefight making it hard to hear each other even when crouched side-by-side. Sabine herself blind-fired at the enemy, sending them to the nearest corner and hitting two troopers who had been overconfident enough to stand on open ground. The enemy fire nearly died down, giving her opportunity to aim and pick off other troopers too slow to quickly take cover, thinning down their ranks until only experienced fighters remained. These ones she could only suppress, for trying to openly engage them would quickly turn into an ugly situation that would end up with Dax short of a partner. In her adrenaline-fueled state, she barely felt the second explosion, or Dax shouting at her to go down the hole in the floor. Sabine was only snapped out of it when she felt some pull her backwards, making her land on her back inside the gaping darkness. Something landed over her just before the whole world around her exploded and the house came down on them.


"Everyone alright? Sound off!" the commander ordered over the network, gradually receiving affirmative answers, with a call for medical help every now and then. The Imperial leader took a good look at the structure they had been occupying just a few minutes ago. The explosion alone was enough to kill anyone standing inside without armor, and that's not taking into account the tons of rubble coming down on them. The traitors had to be dead.

"Anyone that's not injured, have a look around, try to find corpses…"

"Sir, no one could have survived that…"

"Search anyways! If you see them, if they move, you shoot them until they stop doing so!"

"Yes, sir!"


"You alright?"

"You are boring me with that question" Sabine whispered back, squinting her eyes as Dax activated a small hand-held flashlight and illuminated the cavern they were in. He had rolled off and taken her with him just as the house caved in, avoiding being buried by the falling building. The armor they wore had taken the brunt of the damage, in any case, and it allowed them to remain conscious to drag themselves further in and away from any more possible entombment. Right now, they were waiting for the enemy to give up looking for them, sitting in silence and listening carefully. It would take a while, they concluded in no time, so they set themselves comfortable to wait.

"Show me your ankle" he ordered in a whisper, taking her foot into his hands.

"Usenye! I'm fine!"

"Stop being a baby!" he snapped back, removing his helmet to look at her. The serious look in his face told her that she wasn't going anywhere until he checked on her. Looking sideways for a moment and sighing, she removed her own helmet and gave up, letting him take her boot off and cut into the body glove with a small vibroknife. Around a piece of rebar, "You call this a sprained ankle?"

Sabine huffed and sucked air in when she felt the piece of shrapnel being touched.

"Are you going to… you now…"

"Well, unless you want to walk around with a nearly shredded foot… yeah, I have to pull it out" he wasn't a doctor, per se, but he knew enough to perform basic procedures in the field. And Bacta was magical, anyways…

"It's gonna hurt…"

"And here I thought you were fearless…."

"I still feel, you shab!" she half-joked, gritting her teeth for the pain sure to come. While doing this, she felt a hand taking her own, and was taken aback when she realized it was his.

"Ready?", he almost seemed to care, waiting for her to nod affirmative after accepting the incoming sensation.

It couldn't be too fast, lest he caused more tissue damage, nor too slow so he caused unnecessary pain. It didn't matter, anyways, as Sabine's eyes watered and her jaw hung low in a silent scream, eyes shut tight. Not even after the rebar was out did she find solace, as the pain caused her to breath faster, and the tears to now become river. She wouldn't scream, but Force if she didn't want to…

A dose of quick-clot powder kept the bleeding at bay, and a Bacta patch of a particularly strong variety followed it.

"I h-hate these ones... M-make me drowsy…" she mumbled, keeping her eyes closed to ward off the throbbing coming from her foot.

"I know, I don't like them either, but they'll have you up in 12 hours, give or take. After all, you wouldn't want to miss out on payback, would you?" he invited, bandaging the wound to facilitate the healing factor. Sabine smiled despite it all, thankful for a partner that wouldn't choose his own ass over her integrity. It wasn't lost on her that she had trusted someone she considered a sister and ended up with nothing, while a complete stranger had just performed a possibly life-saving procedure on her (you try to avoid Imperial patrols on a shredded foot, see how well that goes for you). Yes, galaxy was, indeed, 'kriffed up like that'.

"Thank you" this time she was honest, no sass or sarcasm on her voice. It was pure Sabine who was thanking him for the help. And the smile she dedicated to him, that was genuine too, he hadn't seen it on her before.

It's a pretty smile too…

"Sure thing", he tried to reciprocate, but they both realized it was not his thing to smile, chuckling at how flat-out dumb he looked while trying to do so, "rest up, I'll listen in for another while and grab some more shut-eye. We'll need it"

Sabine nodded and tried to get as comfortable as possible, considering she was lying on top of rocks and concrete. Her foot ached, her back will be killing her in a couple of days from the uncomfortable sleeping accommodations, and the Empire was looking for them to finish the job. There was too little that could go worse, but there was no other way she would rather ride a storm out than with someone who knew just what the hell it was that he was doing.

The intensity of the beam of light was lowered to a level where they would easily be able to sleep without complication, and the soothing low-light soon took the toll on her, sending her into dreamland peacefully, soon followed by Dax after he settled the light by her side and picked a different napping spot to stave off any post-slumber awkwardness.

Before dozing off, he stole a glance at Sabine's sleeping form, looking away almost as soon as he had settled her eyes on her.

You are not looking, so focus on what's important and be done with this.

Attachment had put him in these situations. He couldn't afford to do worse.

He settled with his back towards her and just dozed off, dreaming of star birds, fire, color streaks, and a face that he couldn't quite put his finger on…


Took me long enough.

So... Ezra and Sabine's travel to Madalore is coming today, if I'm not mistaken, on Disney XD. I don't know about you, but I am VERY excited for it. Hopefully there'll be some Ezrabine references, like in a certain other episode (references, people, not confirmation), but I'm mostly pumped to know just who Sabine's mother is.

Anyways, please take time to Review, I can't improve on stuff if I don't know what is it that you don't like, remember that. See you around.