The Mandalorian Rebel
Chapter 4
First off I'd like to thank all you awesome reviewers out there, you are true bros to me, with your kind words and support. I know I said I'd update one I received 35 views but I had to make an exception with this one. I'd also like to give a special thanks to sgt surge for helping me formulate new ideas for my story. I give you my longest chapter yet!
But first off I have something to say to a particular viewer:
BluebirdSong09: I took some of your advice and this chapter shall focus on an inner darkness that resides inside Leonidas.
Disclaimer: Star Wars is property of Disney all I own are my OCs Captain Krunglin and Leonidas.
"Father!" a younger Leonidas cried. Xerxes was force pushed against the wall by the Inquisitor who was currently preoccupied with Jeremiah. Xerxes had buzz cut black hair with a short beard on his face, and hazel eyes.
"Son." Xerxes said to Leonidas.
"Yes father?" Leonidas asked with tears in his eyes.
"Take my Darksaber and get off Mandalore, you are our clan's future." Xerxes said softly to his son.
"No father, come with me, you can still make!" Leonidas yelled desperately.
"No son, Mandalore is my home and I'll die defending it." Xerxes said to his son with a few tears in his eyes. Leonidas weakly nodded and took his father's Darksaber.
Xerxes stood up with a grunt and trudged towards the battlefield, but Leonidas stopped him and asked, "What are you doing?"
"Having one last battle alongside my friend, now go!" Xerxes ordered. Leonidas ran away so it appeared as though he was leaving but in reality he stayed put out of his father's sight.
Xerxes charged forward with his Cortosis Vibroknife and slashed the throats of a few imperial elites. Xerxes stood beside his comrade Jeremiah and fought the Inquisitor. Jeremiah used his electrostaff to distract the Inquisitor while Xerxes used his Vibroknife to attack weak spots in the Inquisitor's fighting techniques. The cycle continued for a while until the Inquisitor had enough and force choked the two clan leaders. The Inquisitor used the force to snap Jeremiah's neck and had a weak and vulnerable Xerxes on the floor. The Inquisitor ended the warlord by plunging his lightsaber into Xerxes's chest.
Leonidas felt grief overcome his mind, but that grief was soon replaced by something far more sinister: Anger. Leonidas activated his Darksaber and charged the Inquisitor. The Inquisitor reacted by parrying the shadowy blade. Leonidas attempted to mutilate the Inquisitor's leg but he easily countered it and punched Leonidas's face.
"You are no match for me boy!" the Inquisitor tormented Leonidas in a dark tone.
"You will pay for what you have done, fiend!" Leonidas screamed. He rapidly attacked the Inquisitor who could barely keep up with blocking his strikes. The Inquisitor low swept Leonidas and kicked off his helmet.
"You will die slowly, and I will enjoy every second of your pain." The Inquisitor said with a demonic smile. The Inquisitor slowly slid his blood red blade across Leonidas's face. Leonidas screamed in agony as the Inquisitor laughed darkly at his pain.
"Aah!" Leonidas screamed. He was drenched in cold sweat and he realized it was only a dream. Leonidas breathed a sigh of relief that he didn't wake up Sabine.
"I never forgot that day," Leonidas thought to himself, "It was the day I pledged that I'd purge myself of any weakness so that I could avenge my clan by killing the Inquisitor." Leonidas slowly got out of bed and went to the rec room to find that Ezra was only other person awake.
"What are you doing up so early?" Ezra asked Leonidas.
"I should be asking you the same thing." Leonidas replied.
"I'll tell you my reason if you tell me yours." Ezra told Leonidas.
"I was plagued by a recurring nightmare of my clan being slaughtered and my father dying at the hands of the Inquisitor." Leonidas said mournfully.
"I was up early to make sure you weren't going to hijack the ship." Ezra answered with distrust evident in his voice.
"Ezra, why do you distrust me so much?" Leonidas asked.
"Because you seem to be flawless in everything you do, and you won the crew's trust easily!" Ezra said angrily.
"Ezra, I assure you I myself have weaknesses, the Inquisitor gave me my scar and whenever I see an officer who was involved in the genocide of my clan I'm overcome with anger and fury that clouds my judgment, I'm still working on keeping my anger away." Leonidas explained.
"Ezra are you jealous of me?" Leonidas asked.
"What, no!" Ezra replied evasively.
"Who are you trying to convince me or yourself?" Leonidas continued.
"Alright I am, it just seems that I'm always the child of the group, the one who has to stay away from the action and I'm never treated as an adult." Ezra admitted.
"Ezra listen, you are strong in the force and with the proper training you will be a great warrior." Leonidas said to the boy.
"But when will I be treated as an adult?" Ezra asked.
"When you start acting like one" Leonidas explained, "You won't be treated as an equal until you start making decisions for yourself and pitch in to help the team on the battlefield, trying to show off and attempting to curry Kanan's favor won't get you anywhere."
"What do you know?" Ezra snapped.
"Because when I was raised, my father said when I started acting like a man then I'd be fed like one, this taught me discipline and to act like an adult at a very young age." Leonidas explained.
Ezra now saw what Leonidas meant. Ever since Ezra joined the crew, he's attempted to show off and be the best out of the team, he lacked discipline, humbleness, and being courteous to his fellow team mates. Ezra was silent but Leonidas snapped him out of thoughts.
"I know I'll have to earn your trust, but you have to be respectful and realize that I'm not perfect, no one is and no one will." Leonidas finished and left to activate his HK unit. Ezra was now alone in the rec room with only his inner demons to think about.
Leonidas was sparring against his droid who used his holographic disguise to take the appearance of the Inquisitor in the training room. The Mandalorian and Holo-Sith parried each other's lightsabers. Every time Leonidas saw his droid take the form of the Inquisitor he was plagued by visions of his father being slaughtered. Leonidas lost control and violently attacked the Holo-Sith. The Holo-Inquisitor could hardly block all of strikes before his lightsaber was knocked out of his hand. Leonidas had the Holo-Inquisitor at his mercy but then another memory surfaced.
"Remember son, when a Mandalorian embarks on a journey to avenge a loved one he must make his decisions based on how it will affect others, not just how it will satisfy his own personal vendetta." Xerxes said to a six year old Leonidas who nodded at his father's wisdom.
Leonidas deactivated his Darksaber and sat down with his hands on his scarred face. HK-51 deactivated his holographic disguise and sat next to his master.
"Master you could've finished me off right there, what is on your mind?" HK-51 asked.
"My mind can't seem to decide which path to take, the path of vengeance would allow me to get revenge for my father, the path of mercy would have me follow my father's teachings." Leonidas confided in his faithful droid.
"It's quite the dilemma master but I don't have any opinion on this matter, I'm just an assassin droid, but I can tell you this, do what your father would've wanted you to do." HK-51 said to his master.
"I wish it were that simple", Leonidas replied to his droid, "My father was always an enigma I don't know what he would've wanted."
"Then do what seems right at the time." HK-51 advised.
"Thanks." Leonidas expressed his gratitude to his droid. Leonidas left to ask something to every member of the crew.
Leonidas went back to the rec room to find that Hera woke up as well.
"Morning Leonidas." Hera said.
"Morning Hera," Leonidas said to the Twi'lek, "may I ask you something?"
"Sure" Hera answered in her normal happy tone.
"You seemed to trust me right away without any suspicion why is that?" Leonidas asked.
Hera thought for a moment and answered, "I can just tell if a person is good or bad just by looking at them,I use my intuition, how else do you suppose I trusted Kanan when we first met?"
"I know but you don't know of my past." Leonidas stated.
"Kanan already told me about your past, I'm sorry about your clan." Hera answered sympathetically.
"You and Kanan sure are close, are you two…you know?" Leonidas asked.
"No, no!" Hera answered with a blush on her face that didn't go unnoticed by the Mando.
"Alright then, later." Leonidas said.
Zeb woke up and stretched out a bit. When he came out into the halls he came face to face with Leonidas. "Ah, don't surprise me like that kid." Zeb said after recovering from his borderline heart attack.
"I've got a question for you Zeb." Leonidas told the Lasat calmly.
"What is it?" Zeb asked.
"Back at the cantina on Tatooine after I told you my past you said that I'd earned your respect, and judging from the reaction of your fellow teammates I'd say that you rarely respect anyone, how did I earn your respect?" Leonidas asked.
Zeb thought for a moment and answered, "Its simple boy, back on Lasan my people were trained to be warriors, but the Imperial Army led by Agent Kallus massacred my people and took over Lasan, by some miracle I escaped but I no longer had a family until I joined the crew, in short you and I both lost our loved ones to the Empire and I can respect a man who doesn't use his skills for his personal gain."
"Thank you for your time Zeb." Leonidas saluted Zeb and left.
Kanan woke up and immediately got to his feet for the mission, despite the fact that it didn't begin for a few more hours. Kanan went to the training room to practice with his lightsaber on a training probe.
Leonidas walked in and asked, "A moment of your time sir?"
"Sure thing Leonidas." Kanan answered.
"When we met on Tatooine you seemed to already trust me after I revealed my past to you, why?" Leonidas asked.
"Because we rebels have one thing in common, we all lost loved ones to the Empire and anyone who is brave enough to fight the Empire deserves to fight alongside me and my crew" Kanan answered, "besides this crew is like a family and in my eyes you are a member of the family, and we rebels are scarce we have to stick together."
"I see thank you for your time." Leonidas said respectfully and left.
Sabine was the last to wake up, which was rather rare. She looked over to the other side of the room to see Leonidas was absent and his bunk was made neatly. Sabine stretched out and put her armor on and clipped her helmet and spray-paint to her belt. When she walked by the cockpit she saw Leonidas marking a spare chair with the Mandalorian symbol.
"Leonidas, what are you doing here?" Sabine asked the Mandalorian.
"I'm marking my seat in the cockpit like you did with yours", Leonidas answered, "but I want to ask you something."
"What is it?" Sabine asked curiously.
"When we first met at the bazaar you were friendly with me even though I was a stranger and you trusted me, why?" Leonidas asked.
"I don't know myself but I can tell you this, according to Kanan you carried me to the medics and you didn't threaten me when you found me spying on you in the bazaar, my mother always told me if someone trusts you then you should give them the benefit of the doubt," Sabine answered, "Also you went out of your way to train me and comfort me in my time of self-doubt."
"Thank you Sabine." Leonidas said to her.
Everyone was in the rec room chewing on jogun fruits for breakfast and going over the plan. Kanan pulled up a hologram of the ISB headquarters, it could easily be mistaken for a prison. The base consisted of a base monitoring station to make sure no unidentified personnel took another step in or out of the base. There were four sentry towers that had scout troopers on them with sniper rifles. A giant security checkpoint lasergate protected the main entrance and only made the base look even more like a prison. Imperial riot troopers patrolled what appeared to be a courtyard full of ammo and supplies for the imperial occupants on Lothal, in pairs of two. There were tons of doors that lead inside of the bases' mighty walls, but there was one door in particular that contained high value information, and that information contained the location of high value individuals both slave and imperial.
"Here's the plan", Kanan explained, "HK-51 will pave a way for Chopper to access the controls in sentry tower alpha." Kanan pointed to the top left sentry tower on the hologram.
"Then Leonidas and Sabine will infiltrate sentry tower gamma." Kanan continued.
"Ezra and I will deal with sentry tower beta, and Zeb will take care of sentry tower omega. Once we successfully capture all four towers we will proceed to sabotage and commandeer as much supplies as we can, after that we must infiltrate the lower levels of the structure to obtain the files that have the locations of high value slaves that we can free." Kanan said. "And finally the communications center is the empire's main means of long range communications on Lothal, and Captain Krunglin of the ISB elite will be present." Kanan finished. Leonidas had another memory resurface.
"Move out men slaughter every one of those Mandalorian mutts." Captain Krunglin ordered to his troops.
Captain Krunglin was a rather bulky man wearing special imperial riot armor. He had green eyes, a flat top of brown hair, and a brown mustache.
"What about the women and children, sir?" a stormtrooper asked the ISB officer.
"What about them, slaughter them too sergeant!" Krunglin ordered.
"Yes sir!"
"You alright?" Zeb asked Leonidas.
Leonidas looked startled for a second before answering, "I'm fine just zoned out."
"I don't know about you but I'm really looking forward to killing some imperials." Zeb said while cracking his knuckles.
"Same here." Leonidas replied with a dark tone in his voice unnoticed by the Lasat.
On the planet Lothal it was night time which as always was dark and silent. A pair of stormtroopers were guarding the entrance to sentry tower alpha and they were bored.
"Why do we even bother guarding these doors?" One stormtrooper asked.
"They pay me well enough not to complain." The other stormtrooper answered.
The two troopers heard footsteps and drew their blasters and had their fingers on the triggers. A figure came out of the shadows and it appeared to be an imperial scout trooper.
"ST-1706685 get back to your post." One of the stormtroopers ordered.
The scout responded by pulling out a DC-17m and put a laser bolt in the two soldiers' heads. The scout shimmered before revealing that he wasn't a scout at all, he was HK-51 using his holographic disguise module! A beeping was heard on the dead soldier's holocom.
"ST-17096421, we heard blaster fire are you okay?" a voice from the holocom asked.
"Just some Lothal meatbags trying to pick our pockets we're fine." HK-51 answered in the voice of a stormtrooper.
"Alright, that's good to hear, out!" the voice said.
"We're clear Chopper do your stuff." HK-51 told the astromech while holding his rifle at the ready. Chopper fiddled with the lock to the door while HK-51 covered him. After a few more minutes Chopper opened the door and HK-51 took point. HK-51 saw an imperial scout trooper on the balcony of the tower. HK-51 signaled Chopper to stay put and took out his Vibroknife. The assassin droid came up behind the scout and slit his throat, he then dragged the scout's body inside the tower. Chopper got on the tower's controls and disabled the AA-batteries so Hera could evacuate them when the mission was complete. HK-51 attached a scope and nozzle to his blaster to turn it into its sniper feature, before signaling Leonidas. "Master, sentry tower alpha is secured."
"Affirmative HK-51, proceeding to phase two." Leonidas answered his holocom.
Leonidas signaled Sabine to move into position so she'd have a visual on the pair of guards protecting the entrance to sentry tower gamma. This pair of guards were a lot more attentive than the ones who fell prey to HK-51's wrath. Leonidas took out a vibroknife and Sabine followed suit. Leonidas held up three fingers and moved them down one at a time. Once his thumb went down the two Mandos threw their knives and they both hit the stormtroopers' throats. Leonidas motioned for Sabine to come up and hotwire the door controls. Once Sabine was through Leonidas took point and move to the top of the tower that had a scout trooper on the balcony just like sentry tower alpha had. Leonidas crept forward and snapped the scout's neck, then he dragged the dead scout's body into the tower while Sabine disabled the alarm system in the data center. Sabine contacted Kanan via her holocom and said, "Kanan sentry tower gamma is secured."
"Alright, well done you two, initiating phase three." Kanan replied into his holocom.
Kanan asked Ezra if he had a visual on the guards by sentry tower beta. Ezra responded, "The guards appear to be exchanging stories master." Kanan walked up to the two guards.
"Freeze Loth rat!" One of the troopers demanded.
Kanan waved his hand and the two troopers fell asleep. Ezra hotwired the door panel just like the other teams did, and Kanan took point. Like the other sentry towers this one had a scout on its balcony, but suddenly a silenced blaster bolt came across the whole base and hit the scout right in the head. Kanan saw that the shooter was HK-51 who gave him a salute. Kanan hid the body while Ezra hacked into the controls and disabled the one way shield that domed the courtyard. "This is Ezra, sentry tower beta secured, you're on Zeb." Ezra spoke into his holocom.
"Copy that, initiating phase four." Zeb said back into his holocom. Zeb casually approached the two guards who immediately aimed their guns at him.
"Fellas fellas, no need for hostility I'm expected here." Zeb told the two troopers.
"Is that so?" one of the stormtroopers asked.
"Then let's see your clearance I.D." the other trooper said.
"Sure I got it right… HERE!" Zeb yelled and punched the two troopers into a state of unconsciousness.
Zeb just smashed the door control and got the same results as the others did. And as expected, there was a scout on the tower's balcony. Zeb took out his Bo staff and used it to choke the scout. Like his fellow teammates he hid the soldier's body. Zeb hacked the controls and disabled their spotlights. "All teams this is Zeb sentry tower omega is secure, I repeat, sentry tower omega is secure, stage two of operation Sabreback is a go!" Zeb reported into his multi-communicator.
One riot trooper patrol was on alert when the spotlights went out. They had their electrostaffs at the ready, but they weren't prepared for a Jedi and his force sensitive apprentice. Kanan and Ezra activated their lightsabers and killed the two guards, before moving on to acquiring ammo and rigging the supplies to detonate once they left. Another patrol was also in panic, and didn't see the Mandalorian with a Darksaber approaching them. Leonidas decapitated one of the riot guards while Sabine shot the other. The two Mandos proceeded to acquire and sabotage the imperial supplies with Sabine's special explosives. Two more troopers fell victim to HK-51's deadeye sniper. The two droids moved into the courtyard and did what the others did. The final patrol was beaten down brutally by Zeb.
The team converged on the data center and Sabine placed a breach charge on the blast door.
"Charge armed, clear!" Sabine shouted and went to the side of the door. When the door was blasted open, Ezra tossed a thermal detonator at the squadron of stormtroopers who were waiting for them on the other side.
Leonidas whistled, "Nice toss Ezra."
"Thank you." Ezra replied gratefully.
The team proceeded to the data center and disposed of the intelligence officers rather easily. Chopper downloaded the data file and anything else worth downloading.
"Stage two complete, moving on to the final stage of operation Sabreback." HK-51 announced.
"What do you mean the base's security systems are down?" Captain Krunglin demanded.
"The sentry tower controls are on the fritz sir, I can't reactivate them!" an ISB officer replied.
"Then try harder darn it!" Captain Krunglin ordered. The door then blew open and the ISB elite took out their electrostaff and combated the intruders. ISB put up a great fight but were no match for the rebels. Leonidas fought Krunglin with his Darksaber and Krunglin used a Cortosis electrostaff.
Krunglin attempted to lunge at Leonidas using his staff but Leonidas easily dodged the big man's strike. Krunglin twirled his electrostaff and hit Leonidas across the face. Leonidas sprung back up and parried Krunglin's attempt to impale him. Leonidas struck Krunglin's stomach with his palm, and followed it up with a knee kick to his chin. Krunglin got mad and charged Leonidas straight into the wall. Leonidas sheathed his Darksaber and wrestled Krunglin for his electrostaff and tossed it across the room so they fought fist to fist. Krunglin's bulky body gave him the upper hand in hand to hand combat, but Leonidas's athletic abilities allowed him maneuverability, so each combatant had an advantage.
Krunglin grabbed Leonidas's throat and began to choke him. Leonidas was losing oxygen in his lungs fast, so he kicked Krunglin's knee with all the force he could muster. The kick caused Krunglin to buckle in pain which allowed Leonidas to escape the chokehold. Leonidas attacked Krunglin while he was stunned and performed an uppercut on his chin, this caused the ISB captain to fall on his back and Leonidas pinned him down and started punching the captain rapidly in the face. The whole crew was in shock at how aggressively Leonidas was attacking Krunglin, having disposed of the ISB elite, they considered helping the Warlord but decided against it.
Krunglin was beaten down so badly that he couldn't even stand. Leonidas drew his WESTAR-35 pistol and aimed it at the bulky ISB captain's seriously bruised forehead. When the Mando looked into the captain's eyes he had another memory flash.
"Sir we've rounded up the women and children, what should we do with them?" a stormtrooper asked Captain Krunglin.
"Begin executions Lieutenant." Krunglin ordered.
"Yes sir, right away sir!" the Lieutenant replied with a salute. A line of women and children from Clan Akaan were lined up in front of a row of stormtroopers with rifles aimed at the sky. The women hugged their children tightly.
"Ready!" the Lieutenant shouted to his subordinates. The troopers loaded their rifles. The children began to cry.
"Aim!" the Lieutenant continued. The troopers aimed their rifles at the women and children.
"Fire!" the Lieutenant finished. The soldiers pulled the triggers on their weapons, and blaster fire broke the silence of the night. A few of the local birds flew away from the sound. The prisoners fell onto the floor lifelessly. Leonidas, who was watching from a distance out of sight was crying softly to himself.
"I remember you," Krunglin exclaimed, "You are Leonidas Akaan, one of the Mandalorians who destroyed an ISB monitoring station on the moon of Mandalore!"
"You will pay for what you have done!" Leonidas snarled with more venom in his voice than a Rakghoul had in its entire body.
"Leonidas that's enough!" Kanan intervened.
"What are you waiting for you Mandalorian mutt," Krunglin taunted, "Pull the trigger and end my life, or are you to weak and afraid just like your father!" Leonidas pulled the trigger and his pistol's blue blaster bolt went right between the captain's eyes. The captain's eyes rolled back and his body went limp, he was dead.
"Why did you do that Leonidas?!" Kanan demanded.
"What do you care, he was just another lowlife imperial?" Leonidas snapped back.
"He could have had valuable information!"
"You think you could just ask him nicely and he'd tell you the valuable information of the ISB?"
"We could have reasoned with him!"
"There was no reasoning with that man!"
"And how would you know?"
"That's personnel!"
"When we get back to the ship you will have some serious explaining to do!" Kanan ordered Leonidas.
The rest of the crew was wide eyed at the argument, Leonidas is always calm and collected, but something about that captain made him snap. "Let's go, Hera has landed the Ghost in the courtyard." Zeb said braking up the argument between the two warriors.
The crew made their way back to the Ghost with looks of concern for Leonidas.
"How'd the mission go?" Hera asked always concerned for her cremates' well-being.
Leonidas didn't answer and went straight to his bunk.
"What's with Leonidas?" Hera asked.
"He executed an ISB captain who may have had valuable Intel." Sabine answered.
"Why would he do that?" Hera asked.
"I don't know but there was something about Captain Krunglin that set Leonidas off." Zeb answered this time.
"I will go speak with him." Kanan said.
"I must warn you meatbag, my master is unstable when he is angry, but he is also unstoppable." HK-51 warned.
When Kanan entered Sabine and Leonidas's room the lights were all out. When he walked through the entrance he was ambushed by Leonidas.
The Mando snarled at Kanan, "Leave me ALONE!" Leonidas fled back into the room's shadows.
Kanan attempted to use his lightsaber as a light source, but when he reached for it he discovered it wasn't there.
"Looking for this?" Leonidas asked in a venomous tone. Leonidas had taken Kanan's lightsaber when he ambushed him.
"Leonidas we can talk this through." Kanan said.
"The same way you wanted to talk to Captain Krunglin!" Leonidas demanded from the shadows. Leonidas lunged from the darkness and literally kicked Kanan out of the room.
"How'd it go Kanan?" Sabine asked feeling mostly concerned for Leonidas.
"He sounded and acted like he was someone else, and he literally kicked me out of the room!" Kanan exclaimed.
"I'll talk to him, Kanan." Sabine said.
"Don't Sabine, it's too dangerous!" Kanan said with concern laced in his voice.
"He won't be hostile towards me." Sabine stated calmly.
"How do you know that?" Ezra asked.
"Because, when we were moving his things into my room he said that besides Maximus, I was the only friend he had." Sabine explained.
"Alright but be careful, there is an unstable Mandalorian warlord in that room with a Darksaber and my lightsaber." Kanan told Sabine.
"I know the risks." Sabine replied.
When Sabine entered the room the light near Leonidas's bunk was on. Leonidas himself was on the bunk crying softly into his hands.
"Leonidas, talk to me." Sabine said while sitting next to him on the bunk.
"Sabine, do you know why that captain set me off?" Sabine shook her head.
"He lead the massacre of my clan, he had no remorse for the lives of the children or the women." Sabine remained quiet and let Leonidas continue. "He executed the women and children of our clan right in front of me, he hated Mandalorians and didn't care what it took to kill them all, he thought that making them slaves would be a mercy and he wouldn't show any, so he executed them. He was the Inquisitor's lab dog and seeing him reminded me of my father's slaughter, and I couldn't let all those innocent Mandalorians go unavenged so I killed him. When Kanan said he wanted to keep the captain alive, my lust for revenge drove me to believe that he was sympathetic towards that madman. And seeing his lightsaber reminded me of the Inquisitor's blade, the Inquisitor slowly brought his lightsaber across my face, torturing me, relishing my pain, he gave me this scar." Leonidas finished gesturing to his giant scar. Sabine had a few tears in her eyes as well now.
"I understand now why you did what did." Sabine said.
Leonidas stopped crying once he got his emotions in check. Sabine was still there with him though. "Sabine, thank you for listening to me, someone understanding me is just what I needed to help me calm down." Leonidas said.
"You helped me in my time of self-crisis, it's only fair that I do the same." Sabine replied with a small smile. Leonidas gave a small smile back.
"Look let's go sort this out with Kanan." Sabine said to her fellow Mando.
"Alright Sabine let's go." Leonidas said now acting a lot more like himself.
The two Mandos made their way to the rec room where the rest of the crew was waiting. Leonidas sat next to Sabine on one of the crates/seats.
"I believe this belongs to you." Leonidas said while handing Kanan his lightsaber. Kanan accepted it with a nod of gratitude.
"First I'd like to apologize for my rash actions regarding Captain Krunglin." Leonidas told the crew sincerely.
"I want to know why you were so aggressive when you fought Krunglin." Kanan stated.
"And why did you act so hostile towards us?" Ezra asked. Leonidas answered them both by telling the crew what he told Sabine.
"I wasn't aware that you experienced that much trauma during your clan's massacre." Kanan said to Leonidas who answered, "It's one thing to see a fellow warrior fall, but witnessing the execution of the women and children of my clan shattered my mind and caused me to lose control whenever I see someone or thing that was involved in the massacre."
"I'm sorry for your loss." Hera said.
"You and I have our differences Leonidas but what you experienced was cruel and inhuman, you deserve a family, and that family is this crew." Ezra said. Leonidas was shocked at the fact that Ezra didn't criticize him for his actions much less feel sympathetic towards him.
"Forgiveness is what differentiates us from the Empire, if we ridicule you for your rash actions, then we are no better than the Empire." Kanan chimed in. "You are all too kind." Leonidas said.
Hera cooked the team Nuna legs for dinner in honor of the mission that not only achieved valuable Intel, but also got the crew to trust Leonidas a little more. The meal went on with conversation, giving Hera a blow by blow of what happened during the mission, HK-51 beating Chopper at holochess, and Leonidas learning a bit more about his crew mates' pasts.
After dinner Hera announced, "I've set coordinates for Malastare, we'll be meeting with the Broken Horn syndicate there." The crew nodded and went off to their bunks.
Leonidas and Sabine changed into their sleepwear and talked a bit. "Sabine would you tell me your past, I want to know you a little better?" Leonidas asked.
"You told me your past, I think it's fair that I tell you mine." Sabine answered. Sabine told Leonidas about her clan and how she left it when her family became negatively involved with the Empire. She also told Leonidas where her love of art originated, it was when she visited Felucia as a young girl, the color of the wildlife created her love of color. Her inspiration to paint was born when she visited Alderaan and saw the sunset by a mountain ridge. Ever since then she saw art as a way of life, just as Leonidas saw combat as a way of life, she would put some art into the things she did to spice life up a bit.
"You left your clan to stand by your convictions, you should be proud." Leonidas complimented.
"It wasn't easy to leave my clan, but I couldn't stand them getting involved with the Empire." Sabine said.
"Do you ever regret it?" Leonidas asked.
"Never", Sabine replied, "Mandalorians are supposed to serve no one but the clan we were raised under."
"I saw that independent flair in you when we fought the ISB, but I must ask, when I first met your crew on Tatooine I observed your interaction with them and came with conclusion that it's hard to earn your respect, so why did you respect me on Tatooine?" Leonidas asked.
"You already asked me this." Sabine said.
"No last time I asked why you trusted me, not why you respected me." Leonidas pointed out.
Sabine thought a moment before saying, "When I saw you fight Borga and Zeb during the tournament I could tell that you were well trained, and when you showed that you respected me when we met in the bazaar I knew that you earned my respect."
"Are you happy that we met?" Leonidas asked.
"Of course, if it wasn't for you then I wouldn't have had the most exciting moments of my life!" Sabine exclaimed.
"And if it wasn't for you, Sabine, I wouldn't have faced my inner demons and I wouldn't have met this crew I now call family." Leonidas stated.
"Fate works in mysterious ways doesn't it?" Sabine said.
"Or as Kanan would say, it's the will of the force." Leonidas said mimicking Kanan's voice. Sabine giggled at the imitation.
"Goodnight Leonidas Akaan." Sabine said.
"Goodnight Sabine Wren." Leonidas responded.
"Where am I?" Leonidas asked. He was in a completely white room.
"We are here to make your mind stable once more son." A voice said from seemingly nowhere. Leonidas looked around to see a man in Mandalorian armor made to resemble an Acklay, his arms painted to look like the Acklay's spider-like legs, his helmet made to resemble an Acklay's head and the top part of his helmet stuck out like the Acklay's bizarre forehead in the form of a Mohawk making it look like a crown.
"Who are you?" Leonidas demanded. The green armored Mandalorian removed his helmet to reveal Xerxes.
"Hello son." Xerxes said to Leonidas.
"Father!" Leonidas exclaimed and hugged Xerxes.
"I thought you were dead." Leonidas stated.
"I am, this is merely a dream my son." Xerxes explained. Leonidas was happy to see his father again even if it was just a dream.
"What are you doing here?" Leonidas asked.
"Weren't you listening, I'm here to make your mind more stable?" Xerxes explained.
"How, I can't keep those horrible images out of my mind." Leonidas stated.
"Captain Krunglin was one of your inner demons, the source of your lust for revenge, now that he is dead your memories of our women and children's massacre will no longer plague your mind." Xerxes said in a comforting tone.
"But what of the Inquisitor, father, my mind will be unstable again the next time I see him?!" Leonidas exclaimed.
"That is one problem I'm here to remedy, it will not be vanquished completely but it will be weakened, you must do the rest yourself." Xerxes explained.
"Remember my teachings son, you are now part of a group so you must trust them to decide the proper fate for the Inquisitor when the time comes," Xerxes continued, "Killing the Inquisitor will not bring me back, you must be a better man then him with your judgment, take solace in the fact that Clans Oberus and Akaan are still alive inside Maximus and yourself, and when the time comes your children will remember you as the savior of Clan Akaan." Xerxes finished.
Leonidas contemplated and saw his father's wisdom and realized that these memory flashes were generated from his sorrow and lust for vengeance.
"Thank you father." Leonidas said.
"You're welcome my brave boy, I must go now, now go make me proud!" Xerxes said before a bright white light enveloped Leonidas.
Leonidas woke up yelling, "Father!". He was once again drenched in sweat and this time he woke Sabine up.
"What is it?" Sabine asked concerned.
"My mind is at peace Sabine, my mind is at peace." Leonidas said calmly.
And done! Read, Review, and most importantly enjoy!
God Bless! Glory to Mandalore.
Remember no Flames. To all you reviewers you are the best, your encouragement does wonders to my confidence level and if you'd show my story to your friends if they like fanfiction I'd be grateful, I need to know that the readers want me to continue.
I'm also fully aware that some of you may not like my story and you are entitled to tell me what you think needs improvement but you can't be harsh with it.