Chapter 4
"Ok we're clear. Let's keep moving," a mandalorian whispered. The freedom fighters were leading me and Sabine to their camp, which was pretty close to the city.
"It's great to see you're all still alive," I said quietly.
"Likewise, Commander," Tristan said.
"Actually, Tristan," Sabine began, "We were recently promoted to Generals."
"You're kidding!"
I shook my head and lifted my cloak to reveal the General insignia clipped to my shirt. Tristan stared at me and I guessed his eyes were wide by the way he stared.
"Well then, glad to have been of service, General," Tristan said.
"I hate to interrupt and all, boys," Sabine began, "But we should stay quiet until we arrive at the camp."
Everyone was quiet the rest of the trip until we were inside their camp.
Several Mandalorians seemed surprised, but no less happy to see their allies return alive. Ursa herself stepped out of a tent and greeted everybody.
"Sabine, it's so good to see you're alright," she said with a smile.
"Likewise, mother. We were successful in rescuing our engineer," Sabine said, returning the smile after taking off her helmet.
The Countess looked to me and managed a smile. "Ezra Bridger. I've never been happier to see a Jedi."
I smiled back and bowed, "It's an honor to see you again, Countess. You look well."
"As well as one can during a time of war," Ursa agreed. "Please, come in. We have much to discuss."
We all entered the command tent, though all of our men had to remain outside since they were not high ranking officers.
"You're attack on the prison had brought back some old questions," the Countess began. "Questions like if the Empire can still be defeated."
"That's what we were hoping for," Sabine said.
"Ezra's presence as a Jedi seemed to bring back a spark of hope, but it still doesn't seem strong enough to form a new army," Ursa added.
"We've done it before," I said. "We can do it again."
Tristan grinned, "I like him more and more."
"Thanks," I said.
"Alright but I have a question," a mando said from the corner of the tent. "Why do you guys need our engineer?"
Sabine and I looked at each other and I smiled. "We're planning to rebuild the Alliance, but this one is brand new."
"Oh?" Ursa asked. "How so?"
Sabine plugged a chip into the portable holotable and gestured for the rescued man to step forward. "This is our new capital ship. We found something but for security we cannot reveal the coordinates. We want to bring him with us to help oversee construction for new ships, and we'll need resources to build more."
"Isn't that a Venator-class star destroyer?" Tristan asked.
"Not anymore it's not," I said. "We're rebuilding it to a more modern design. All Sabine's idea of course."
"You think very highly of my daughter, Bridger," Ursa said.
I blushed, "It's hard not to..."
"That's sweet of you and all, Ezra, but we need to focus," Sabine stated, though I noticed a light blush on her, too.
"So you want him to go with you to oversee construction?" Ursa asked.
"Exactly," Sabine said.
"We know this is very sudden, but this ship and what we found with it can change the tide of the war in our favor," I said. "We can rebuild our rebellion and possibly grow stronger than we first were!"
I could sense the excitement in everybody, including the Countess. She seemed to be considering the proposal.
"We'll be more than happy to contribute to your group as well," Zeb said.
"We'll have to see," Ursa said. She seemed reluctant. "We'll grant you this request if he agrees to go with you."
The rescued man grinned, "I would be more than happy to go with them."
"Then it's settled. We'll get your ship prepped immediately," Ursa said. Just then a Mandalorian ran into the tent.
"Countess, we're under attack!"
Suddenly, a bunch of explosions were heard soon followed by TIE fighter engines. Everybody ran out of the tent and the first thing I saw was a swarm of TIEs strafing the Mandalorian camp. I saw some troop transports and called them out.
"How did they find us?" Sabine asked.
"I don't know. Unless there's a spy..." Tristan murmured.
"We can't focus on that," Ursa said. "We must repell the attackers! Form ranks!"
Mandalorians lined up behind cover, some manning defense turrets and vehicles, as the Imperial troop transports touched down. Waves of Stormtroopers poured out of the transports and advanced on our position. I ignited my lightsaber and deflected several shots back to the Imperials and noticed Sabine flying through the air. She was leading a group to strafe the Stormtroopers with missiles and blasters. It was pretty effective until the Empire deployed their own Jet troopers.
"General!" a rebel shouted as my rebel unit ran up to me. "The right flank is being overrun!"
I looked towards Ursa.
"Go on, Bridger. I can hold them off here," she said. She shot several troopers as she said that.
I turned and ran to the right flank and sure enough, it was just being overrun. I watched as a rebel soldier was gunned down by four stormtroopers and I was instantly pissed off.
I shouted, "Hey!" at the four troopers and they all turnes to me. They tried blasting me, but I deflected the shots to the ground and ran my emerald blade through one of them and deflected a shot back to the other three. I could sense the moral rising as the remaining troops at the right flank formed a fire wall. Auto cannons and blaster rifles gunned down the faltering Imperial forces. Before I even realized it, the battle was over. The Imperials retreated into their transports and fled, leaving their dead and even wounded behind.
I returned to the command tent where Ursa, Sabine, and their people were interrogating a wounded Imperial.
He said something and a couple Mandalorians walked up to me with a scanner.
"What's going on?" I asked as they scanned me.
Whatever they were looking for... they seemed to find it. They threw me to the ground and pulled something from the bottom of my boot.
A tracker...
"Ezra?" Sabine asked me.
"I swear I didn't know that was there!" I argued as they rid me of my lightsaber.
"He led them here!" a Mandalorian shouted.
Fear seemed to form on Sabine's face as a group of Mandalorians surrounded me. Ursa said nothing as they kicked me in the gut. Spots filled my vision and I tried to blink them away when a fist connected with my jaw. I tried to raise my arms to defend myself, but two Mandalorians grabbed my arms and held me up as a third continued to beat me up. By the time they were done, I was pretty sure I had a broken arm, leg, bruised gut and ribs. Everything hurt. Sabine shoved the Mandalorians away from me and shouted at them.
"He led them here, Sabine! Can't you see that?" one Mando shouted.
"I don't believe it was his fault! How was he supposed to know there was a tracker on the bottom of his boot?" she shot back.
She was defending me... against her own people.
"He's a Jedi, isn't he? He should be able to know!"
"That's not how the Force works!" Sabine shouted.
"How would you know?"
"I've been with him long enough to know!" Sabine turned to her mother then and I was being held up by a few rebels, though they were held at gunpoint. "Mother please."
"Sabine... I need to speak to you. Privately," Ursa said.
I watched as Sabine and her mother stepped into the command tent to speak.
"All hands... lower your weapons," I said quietly to my men. "Do not make a threatening move."
"But General..."
"Just do it!" I snapped. A Mandalorian pointed his blaster at me, but I could sense he wasn't planning on shooting; not without an order to do so.
A few minutes later, the Mandalorian pressed a finger to his comm on his helmet and nodded. "Bring him in," he said.
They carried me into the tent and I heard Sabine and Ursa talking.
"You really care for Bridger, Sabine," Ursa said.
"I do," I heard Sabine reply. Her voice sounded a bit strained.
"Then you'll have no problem with me keeping him here until he either proves his loyalty or until you retrieve him," Ursa said.
"Mother please..."
"That is final, Sabine! I'll allow you to take our engineer with you to wherever you guys are based, but I must keep a close eye on your... boyfriend here."
"Mother...!"
"Keep Bridger in the prison tent, but under no circumstances are you to harm him any more. Treat his injuries as well. What was done out there was not needed," the Countess ordered.
Sabine looked at me with an apologetic look. "Ezra... I'm so sorry. I can't help you anymore. Not right now at least."
I nodded, "It's fine, Sabine. I'll manage."
Sabine gave me a worried look and left the tent with the engineer. The rest of the rebels followed her as well, leaving me with Sabine's family.
"Get him cleaned up," Ursa ordered.
Two Mandalorians dragged me out of the command tent and straight to the prison tent. It wasn't anything like a cell, but they kept a close eye on me for the rest of the day.
...
Sabine's POV
I couldn't believe my mother would keep Ezra prisoner over a clear misunderstanding. But what also worried me, was how I was supposed to explain this to Hera.
"General, we are coming up on our station," my co pilot said.
I nodded and brought the Starbird out of hyperspace. The old Republic station appeared before us and I got on the ship comms.
"Hey Tenith, come to the bridge, will you?" I said.
Moments passed and the cockpit doors opened and the Mandalorian engineer walked in.
"Are we here?" he asked.
I nodded, "There she is." I gestured to a mostly destroyed Venator-class Star Destroyer. "She was working perfectly, but the current design was no match for an Imperial star destroyer. You'll be helping with reconstruction."
"Do we have all the supplies?" he asked me then.
"That will have to wait until your briefing... and my debriefing," I said sadly.
Tenith seemed to see my pain and he placed a hand on my shoulder, "You're worried about the Jedi, aren't you?"
I nodded, "His name is Ezra."
"Sorry.. you're worried about Ezra?"
"He's a Jedi who unintentionally led the Empire to my family's camp, of course I'm worried about him!"
"He'll be fine, Sabine," Zeb said. "He can make things right again with your clan."
"Thanks, Zeb," I said. "Let's get you to our command center."
I landed the Starbird in hangar 4 with the Venator. So far the outer hull is gone and the only thing that remains of the bridge is a small stump on the dorsal hull. It's basically just a frame now. The chief rebel engineer ran up to me with a report.
"We've been working past our usual shifts with this thing. We should have it finished ahead of schedule," he said.
"You shouldn't be working yourselves so hard," I said.
"It's no trouble, General. We all talked about this and agreed," the engineer said before turning to Tenith. "Is he our guy?"
"He is, but first Hera needs to brief him on everything," I said, hurrying past the chief engineer.
"Yes, ma'am."
...
Ezra's POV
"Alright, dinnertime," Tristan said as he handed me a tray of food. "This is all we can spare for now."
I took the tray and began eating. It's been hours since I have eaten anything. The Mandalorians are divided; some want to just kill me while others believe me.
"You know I believe you, right? I know you would never help the Empire," Tristan said.
"Yeah, I know," I replied, taking another bite of food. It's a bit bitter, but the cream that came with it helped with the flavor.
There was a moment of silence before Tristan continued speaking.
"Do you have anything for my sister?"
That caught me off guard and I about choked on my food, "E-Excuse me?"
"I mean, I see how you two look at each other. That worried look she gave you just before she left. Is there something going on?"
"No, there's nothing like that going on... we're just friends," I said, but accidentally letting some disappointment slip into my tone.
"You sound disappointed," he said.
I didn't say anything. I honestly didn't know what to say. I looked down at my food and avoided eye contact with Tristan.
"You don't want to be friends with her?"
"You could say that... I don't really want to talk about it."
"Have you two been fighting?"
"What? No... it's not like we're fighting, it's just..." I said quickly. "It's complicated..."
"I understand... well, sort of," Tristan said.
"Respectively, I don't think you do," I said. "It's just a stupid idea. It's not important."
"If you say so," Tristan said. "I'm going to get my own tray of food. I'll be right back."
Tristan left the tent to get his own food and I just set mine to the side and laid my head in my hands.
How long will I be here?
...
Sabine's POV
"He's what?" Hera asked.
"The Empire planted a tracker onto his boot, I'm guessing while we were leaving the prison. They attacked my mother's camp and half of my own clan wants him dead. My mother is only keeping an eye on him, but she never said for how long..." I explained, only taking a breath after I was finished.
"We should just follow your mother's terms, then," Hera said after a few moments.
"But Hera, I can't leave him behind like this!" I protested.
"We're not leaving him. You of all of us should understand that Ezra should serve his time, as sentenced."
"But this isn't fair! He didn't do anything wrong!"
"Sabine, please. We need you here to help supervise what's left of us. I can send Commander Antilles to negotiate at least a lessened sentence," Hera said.
"No! If anybody's going back there it's me!" I shouted.
"You're a General of the Rebellion..."
"What rebellion? Look around, Hera!" I said. "You call this a rebellion? We don't even have nearly enough people to run this station!"
"Sabine..."
"I'm going back for Ezra, and you can't stop me. Like you said yourself, I am a general!"
"This is not a solo decision! Yes you are a general, but it's a group decision!"
"So a vote? You sound too much like Mothma," I said bitterly.
Hera grimaced at my words and I immediately regretted them.
"Hera... I'm sorry..."
"Don't apologize. You're absolutely right, Sabine."
I grew speechless at that.
"If you wish to go, then I won't stop you."
I thanked Hera and quickly ran back to the hangars.
...
Ezra's POV
Two days so far. That's the amount of time that has passed since I last saw anybody familiar besides Tristan. I've been all over the camp, though we had to move to a new location. Now we were near the mountains. I had no privacy at all unless I was showering or getting dressed. Other than that I had nothing to myself. My lightsaber and blaster were still in the Countess's possession but I don't blame her. I should have checked myself for trackers when we left the prison. After all, a stormtrooper did grab my leg to keep me from leaving.
The Mandalorian that was guarding me stepped into my tent and faced me directly, his helmet was off.
"Can I help you?" I asked him, slightly annoyed.
The guy just stayed silent. He was trying to size me up and I knew it. Normally I would have countered it, but I was in no position to do anything.
Suddenly I heard a voice that was all too familiar.
"Step back, Derrick!" Sabine growled.
"What are you doing here, Sabine?" he asked, turning to face her.
"I'm relieving you of guard duty, that's what!"
"Under whose authority?"
"My mother's," she said, not even wavering or blinking an eye. I probed her with the Force and could sense she wasn't kidding.
Derrick and Sabine continued their intense staring contest before Derrick stormed out of the tent. "Go ahead, stay with your boyfriend! I don't want to spend one more second with that traitor!"
That stung.
"He's not a traitor," she muttered. She then looked at me and smiled. "Hey..."
"Hey..." I replied stupidly. "W-What are you doing here?"
"I came to help out. I couldn't free you, but I lessened your sentence to just a few months. I've also been given permission to be one full time guard duty," she explained.
"Why? Don't we need you back at base?" I asked.
Sabine walked up, "I can't do everything alone now can I?"
"Well you have Hera, Wedge, Zeb, Kanan..." I began listing them off.
"I'd rather work with you over everybody else. Even if we get into fights, I can't trust anybody more than you," she said.
I thought I was dreaming. I was completely speechless.
"When was the last time you've eaten anything?" she asked then.
"Just this morning. Why?"
She took off a bag she had slung over her shoulders and pulled out some food. Real food.
"I've got some fruits, nuts, berries, even some pieces of dried meats from various planets and cultures... help yourself. And before you ask, I've already had my servings."
"Where'd you get this stuff?" I asked as I popped a piece of a meiloorun fruit into my mouth.
"I went shopping in the city today. I got here just last night and I figured you would want something real to eat," she said.
"Thanks a lot," I said.
I ate half of the food in her bag and she closed the flap. I was satisfied with everything and I laid back against a support post and sighed.
"You're very welcome," she said. "Here, you can hold on to this until everything is gone. I could always go back and buy more."
"So... what are you really doing here?" I asked. I knew there was more to it.
I noticed Sabine was biting her lip and she quietly answered, "I didn't want to leave you here."
"Sabine, you didn't have to come back for me."
"I don't care. I'm not leaving you," she said.
"You're willing to stay here for a few months, just because of me?"
"It wasn't your fault and even my mother can understand that, but she was already having trouble keeping everybody together and just letting you go wouldn't help," she explained.
"Thank you," I said, making Sabine smile again.
We talked for a few moments, Sabine telling me the Venator is stripped of the hull and the bridge is gone, me telling her everything we've had to do to keep the Empire off our trail, which was a lot and kind of complicated to explain.
"By the way... why does everybody keep saying I'm your boyfriend?" I asked then.
"I don't know, really," she replied. "I'm about to ask about it, too."
"I mean, we're not doing that kind of stuff. We never were and we never will," I said. The last part I regretted. I could sense the disappointment in Sabine. "I'm sorry I meant... with everything going on nowadays..."
"I understand," she said, giving me a sad smile.
"So uh... what now?" I asked.
"I think it's about time we get to sleep," she said. "I brought a bed roll so I'm going to be right over there," she added as she pointed to one corner of my tent.
"But uh... what about..." I began, not sure how I was going to ask.
"Just don't look and you'll live," she said. "I won't look either."
I blushed as she walked to her corner and set up her bed roll. I walked over to my cot and lied down on it, staring up at the top of the tent.
"Sabine?"
"Hm?" she hummed, not looking away from her work.
"How long exactly are we going to be here?" I asked.
"I don't know exactly, but a few months was all my mother said," she answered.
"Great..." I grumbled.
"I brought a sketchpad and some writing utensils with me. You can watch me draw stuff," she said.
"What about your paint?"
"I brought a few small cans and my applicator, but until I find a good place to paint I can't use them."
I nodded.
"Do you do anything to stay occupied?" she asked me then.
"Not really. All I do in my spare time is meditate," I replied. "It's pretty much the only time I have privacy, at least in my mind."
"If you need some privacy I can just step out," she offered.
"That's not necessary right now, but I'll keep that in mind," I said.
"Alright. Goodnight, Ezra," she said.
I smiled. Those words brought back some memories of before Yavin. Before the full rebellion as well. Back when it was just me and Hera, Kanan, Zeb, and Sabine in the Ghost.
"See you in the morning," I said.
"Sabine laughed quietly and I heard her climb into her bed roll.
Even though I was technically being held prisoner, I couldn't remember the last time I felt safe at night, despite the angry Mandalorians just outside in their own tents or on the perimeter.