Sabine's Lothrat:
D201/5 BBY, The Ghost
Sabine
I woke up before my alarm, as usual, with a smile on my face because today was special. Today I'm going on my first mission with my new crew. Yes, it's supposed to be an easy op, but it's still a mission. I'd been trained my whole life to do stuff like this; first by my Mandalorian family and then by the Empire at the Imperial Academy. (I doubt they ever thought their training would be used against them, though. Hehe.)
Getting out of bed, I made a quick trip to the refresher, then back to the exercise mat in the middle of the floor of my room. Going through my morning exercise routine was the perfect way to calm my hyper mind. You wouldn't think I would be all that excited about stealing a few crates, but I was finally going to prove to the Spectres that I was a worthwhile member of the crew. That I was worth feeding and giving my own room to. I hated feeling like a charity case.
I had this driving urge to earn my keep and repay Hera and the others for rescuing me. They had stumbled upon Ketsu and I on Garel in a firefight with the Imps over a small misunderstanding about a bounty. Just before someone had hit me with a lucky stun bolt, I remember seeing a green twi'lek drawing the fire of some of the Imps and Ketsu making a run for it. When I woke up a few minutes later, I was being carried over the shoulder of a very smelly and large purple striped lasat as he ran up the ramp of a freighter full of crates in the cargo hold. I was grateful for the rescue, I assure you, but I never want to repeat that experience again. Not even the filters in my helmet could disguise Zeb's distinct fragrance. I swear I'm getting used to it, but you won't catch me giving him a hug any time soon. (Friendly punching's more my style anyway.)
Workout done, it was back to the refresher for a shower and then into my bodysuit and armour. After that, it was time for breakfast, and then I was going to scout the city where the op was taking place as I hadn't been to this planet yet in my travels. We had arrived on Lothal late last night; too late to scout then.
When I got to the galley, I was not surprised to be the first one there. I seemed to be the only early riser in this group. Then again, as far as I knew, I was the only one with real military training. (No such thing as sleeping in there.) After scarfing down a protein bar with still no sign of the others, I sighed to myself and left them a note on the table on a datapad; 'Gone to scout the city. Will be back in an hour. Sabine.'
I walked off the Ghost into the grey light of early dawn. Hera had parked the ship in the local spaceport, which was already starting to buzz with early morning activity. Then I wandered, searching for the Imperial Headquarters. I figured that would be the best place to start.
As soon as I left the spaceport, the giant dome was easy to spot. I snorted to myself as I headed in that general direction. Of course the Imps would park one of their portable domes in the city. I should have expected it. Based on it's location, I wondered how many buildings they'd blown up to confiscate the prime real estate near the ocean.
Shabla Imps. Steal and enslave. That's all they were good at. One day, if it took me to the end of my days, I vowed they were going down.
Hera
I woke up to the feel of butterfly kisses being scattered all over my bare back. Moaning at the delicious sensation, I reluctantly rolled over to look at Kanan. He had a big smile on his handsome face, with his eyes radiating happiness. I couldn't help but smile back at him and pull him down to me with a hand behind his neck for a luxuriously long kiss. Humming happily afterwards, I let him go and sat up, the sheets falling down to my waist and baring the girls for Kanan's admiring eyes. (I'll never get tired of that.) "Good morning, love. You sure know how to wake a girl up," I more or less purred.
Kanan looked quite pleased with himself and the view. "You're welcome, darling." He dropped a kiss on my nose before saying, "I wish we could laze about in bed all day, but we have work to do, and that girl has already gone off on her own to scout the city."
I raised a brow at that. "I knew I liked her."
Kanan chuckled as I reluctantly rose from the bed and headed for the small locker that contained my clothes. "I think she's going to be an incredible asset to our little family. She's actually got a work ethic, unlike someone else I won't name."
I glanced back at him as I shimmied into my underwear, catching his eyes watching me avidly, and grinned at my mate. "I think almost anyone has a better work ethic than Zeb, Kanan. But he does enjoy the fighting parts, and you can't deny he's good at it."
"I wouldn't do that," Kanan said. "But he could at least try not to sleep ALL the time." I laughed lightly as he sighed exaggeratedly. "I guess I'll go start breakfast and wake up the furball in question."
"You do that, dear," I said as I pulled on my flight suit and turned around to watch him leave. I held in a sigh of admiration as I watched Kanan walk out of the room. He was just so incredibly nice to look at; even from the back. (Broad shoulders, narrow waist, cute tushy, confident walk.)
Kanan banged on Zeb's door just before my door closed the sound out and I laughed as I finished getting dressed. Any day waking up with Kanan was a great day, but today felt even nicer than normal. I had a good feeling about today.
Kanan
We were all chowing down on space waffles when Sabine sauntered into the galley and smiled at us. The colourful girl looked truly happy for the first time since we'd picked her up and her Force signature felt content and settled for once. She would definitely fit in with us if scouting for a mission against the Empire made her day.
Sabine propped a shoulder against the doorframe, helmet tucked under her arm, where it seemed to live if it wasn't on her head. "Hey guys. You ready to go? An Imperial Star Destroyer just stopped over Capital City. It must be the ship the blasters are being transported to. That means things are going to get rolling pretty quick. It looks like they'll load up the blasters by the main square before transporting them to a waiting shuttle here in the spaceport. The shuttle will most likely be too well guarded, but I doubt there will be much of a guard on the loading area in the main square as they wouldn't want to attract attention to what they're moving. I think we should steal them there. A little explosion for a distraction, a few appropriated bikes, Hera meets us outside of the city for a pick up, and that's it, mission accomplished."
"That sounds like an excellent plan, Sabine," Hera said, beaming at the girl.
I, meanwhile, had temporarily lost the ability to talk, surprised at how much she'd already accomplished and how simple and efficient her plan was. Hera glanced at me when I didn't say anything and then kicked me in the shin. I covered the wince with a fake cough. "Right, excellent plan," I said, recovering my wits. Shoving my half finished plate of waffles away, I nudged Zeb and said, "Let's go to work," before standing up.
Zeb looked at his plate and stabbed the last waffle with his fork and shoved the entire thing into his mouth, smirking at Hera's eye roll around the massive bite of food. I wished I could pull off the same manoeuvre, but I knew Hera would not be impressed and despite being together for years, I still couldn't bring myself to do anything that might turn her off. (Such is the life of the lovesick male.) On the other hand, I knew Hera would save my waffles for me for later, so it wasn't all bad.
Sabine had continued on while Zeb and I were having our separate resolutions about our waffles. "Also, last night I went through what explosives you do have, Hera, and I made a few presents." While I was still glancing at my waffles with a longing eye, she tossed homemade grenades to Zeb and I. I caught mine out of instinct as it sailed at my head. Zeb's bounced off his chest and then he caught it after fumbling it a few times with wide eyes. "In case you need them," Sabine continued, laughter in her voice now. "Easy to use, just push the button and wait five seconds."
I'm ashamed to say that at this point, we were both gawking at Sabine like she'd lost her mind. I swear I had no hang ups about explosives, but having one tossed at you when all you really wanted to do was finish your waffles and their equally delicious yogan syrup was just wrong.
"Umm, thanks?" Zeb managed to mumble out around his waffle that he'd yet to swallow.
Hera kicked me again. (She was so helpful.)
I put on a fake smile and tucked the grenade into a pocket. "Thanks, Sabine. This is great."
Sabine was smirking at us. She'd completely seen through my cavalier act, of course. I'm getting the feeling that nothing much gets past her. "Yeesh, you'd think no one had ever given you an explosive before. Grow a pair, boys, and let's get this show on the road." Turning her attention to Hera, she said, "I'll keep in touch via the comm, Hera. I'm going back to the main square to keep an eye on things." She turned and left the galley, radiating satisfaction into the Force.
Hera nodded in acknowledgment, but she was snorting behind her hand, holding back the worst of her laughter.
"It wasn't that funny," I complained.
Hera just raised a brow and snorted again.
I stared at her in consternation. "Really?"
Her eyes twinkled at me like emerald fire. I supposed being called ball-less was worth it to see Hera's amusement, but it was close. I sighed and rolled my eyes at Zeb. "Come on, Zeb, let's go catch up to the overly enthusiastic one."
Hera
I followed the guys as they ran out of the galley and watched as they dashed into their rooms, then re-emerged just a few seconds later. Kanan was strapping on his blasters on the run, and Zeb had his bo-rifle slung over his shoulder. After they left the ship, I looked down at Chopper, who was beside me. "Well, that was entertaining. I think that girl is just what this family needs. Did you see their faces when she tossed bombs at them?"
Chopper gave some beeps of laughter. "I like her. She's much nicer than the first two meatbags you added to our ship."
"C1-10P," I scolded. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call Kanan and Zeb meatbags? They're our family. You do not call your family members a meatbag."
Chopper just gave the equivalent of a snort and rolled away.
I glared at his retreating form as it rolled down the hallway towards the bridge. "You might as well prep the ship while you're in there, so it's ready to go once they get their act together."
Chopper raised a manipulator.
I chose to interpret that as a wave of acknowledgement and not a rude gesture, and then went back to the galley to clean up breakfast. (Including the plate of waffles I had put out for Sabine, but she never took the time to stop and eat. Sigh. I'll just have to park it in front of her later.)
Ezra
My day started out normally enough: Wake up, ignore the grumbling from my stomach, take a freezing cold shower in the ancient refresher (because someone stole the hot water heater long ago), get dressed in my only outfit that fit (but it was orange, so it's all good), continue to ignore the grumbling from my stomach, then go outside and watch the sun rise over Capital City. My city and planet might not be the most beautiful in the galaxy but it was mine and the sunrises were worth getting up early for. The sunsets were pretty good too.
Then I went into town on my 'acquired' bike after seeing an ISD stop over the city, inspiring me to put on a little more speed than normal. Imperial ships stopped over the city often enough that it wasn't newsworthy, but it usually meant something interesting might be happening. I parked my bike in its usual alleyway at the edge of town under some garbage and then climbed up to the nearest roof to make my way to the centre of the city where things tended to happen.
Next on my list of things to do was find myself some breakfast with my usual combination of con artistry, fast hands, and trickery. Today, this meant stealing the comm unit off an officer's belt who was harassing poor Yoffar about his yogans. I called in a false 'code red' and watched the officers and troopers toss Yoffar and his yogans to the ground, wincing in sympathy. Then I helped myself to a few and stuffed them in my backpack as I helped him pick them back up. Yoffar wasn't exactly pleased, but he just shook his head at me as I dashed off and up to the roofs.
The merchants had known me long enough to consider me a helpful menace. I did what I could to keep the Imps off their backs during the day when I had nothing else better to do and they sort of turned a blind eye when I appropriated some food here and there. It beat digging through the dumpsters all the time, that's for sure.
I happily munched on a fresh purple yogan fruit as I wandered over the rooftops to see if my false code red call had caused any fun chaos. I smiled to see that it had when I got to the edge of a roof beside the main square. Two officers were having it out and they were both turning red in the face.
I laughed to myself softly so they wouldn't hear.
When I finished my yogan, I tossed the pit at a buckethead and stifled a guffaw when he jumped about half a metre in the air, then looked around wildly before settling back into his bored stance. Another prime example of the Empire's finest.
At that moment, I got one of my FEELINGS. This one was strange though. Instead of warning of danger, this one was... Uggghh. I don't know. Different? It wanted me to do something? I don't know how else to describe it, so I'm giving up.
Anyway... I followed the feeling to the other side of the roof and looked down at a tall man in green with light brown hair tied back in a tail. The feeling was definitely about him, but I had no idea why.
Suddenly, he whipped around and moved as though he was about to look right up at me. I dropped to my stomach, hoping he hadn't seen me.
About ten seconds later, I peeked over the edge of the roof and saw the man signal to a big purple... thing. It took me a moment to figure out that it was a lasat since I'd never seen one before. I had heard about them though. In fact, just a few weeks ago, one had caused complete chaos in the city. I was willing to bet everything I owned (which was basically nothing but a fine collection of Imperial helmets) that this was the same lasat. I also knew that lasats were supposed to be extinct or very very rare, thanks to the Empire wiping out the entire population of their homeworld.
Bastards.
The man then moved on to signal a female in Mandalorian armour. I think my heart stopped when I saw her.
Don't get me wrong, I'd seen plenty of beautiful girls on the holonet and occasionally wandering the city streets, but I was blown away by this one. And this was without even seeing her face, since she was wearing a helmet.
It was the way she carried herself as she strolled down the road like she owned the world. It was her lithe shape that her bodysuit and armour did absolutely nothing to hide. It was the incredibly colourful way she'd dressed herself. It was the blasters on her hips. It was the sway of said hips. It was the perfection of her rear end.
I had no idea if she even had breasts under her chest plate but that didn't really matter to me, I'd always been more drawn to a well curved backend anyway.
And to add icing to the perfection that was this girl (don't ask me how I knew she was a girl and not some forty something old person, I just did) she meandered past an Imperial air bike with troopers and officers standing near it and tossed an explosive at it and then walked away as if absolutely nothing had happened.
Five seconds later, the bike exploded and the Imps went flying.
It. Was. Kriffing. Awesome.
I'm pretty sure I fell in love then and there.
Sabine
I watched the stormtroopers attach crates to the back of three air bikes. Kanan walked over to where I was standing, trying to look inconspicuous in my full armour. (Ha. As if I could ever be inconspicuous.) He gave me the signal that everything was ready to go.
I casually walked over to the other side of the square, where the troopers were talking with officers. Tossing a grenade on an air bike that didn't have a crate attached to it, I walked off as if nothing was happening.
Five. Four. Three. Two. And one. The lovely sound of exploding air bike rang out behind me, and I grinned inside my helmet. While everyone was concentrating on the chaos, I quickly climbed up to the roof of a nearby building. Pulling out one of my WESTAR-35s, I set out to make sure the guys had back up if they needed it.
I gave a quick glance around to make sure the area was clear and was surprised to see someone else on the roof across the way. Seeing that he was just a boy, a street rat by looks of his clothes, I dismissed him from my mind.
From my sniper position on the roof, I watched Kanan block the troopers' exit with an appropriated speeder. Then he kicked the nearest trooper off his bike. Pulling out his blaster, he exchanged fire with them to keep them distracted from the real threat sneaking up behind them. Zeb grabbed a stormtrooper and threw him into another one, knocking them both out. Then he did it again with the last two still standing. His crude, but effective attack made me smile.
Just as they were celebrating their little victory, the boy I had dismissed earlier jumped off his roof and onto one of the air bikes. Then took off with our crates. After a second of shock, I couldn't help but admire the guts it took to steal from the stealers. I took off after him. He had stolen the bike I was supposed to ride. I was getting it back.
Racing across the roof, I came to the other side just in time to see the boy on his stolen bike pass below me. Taking a moment to calculate the distance, I jumped off the roof and thankfully landed on the last crate, barely.
When the boy turned around at the sound of my landing, I was stunned by his appearance. He had the cutest face with big eyes and shaggy black hair that I swear glowed blue in the sunlight.
"Pretty gutsy move, kid," I said to him to cover my surprise at his appearance, as I drew one of my WESTARs and pointed it at him, still determined to get my bike back.
Seeing the blaster pointed at him, his eyes widened in dismay, drawing my attention to them. They were the most amazing shade of sapphire blue I had ever seen and that was through the visor of my helmet. What would they look like in real life? After a five millisecond struggle with myself, I gave up. I just couldn't make myself shoot him.
Sighing to myself at my own gullibility, I warned the boy about Zeb. "If the big guy catches you, he'll end you." He blinked and then smirked in self confidence. Apparently he wasn't worried about getting caught. I liked that.
Cutting my losses, I shot the connector between the two crates, thankful these things were on anti grav mode. I yelled, "Good luck," to the boy, as I was left behind, still in a state of disbelief at what I had just let happen. Since when do I let a cute face interfere with a mission?
The answer: Never.
I have never, ever been so attracted to a boy that it interfered with my duty to my people or my family. I have no idea what was wrong with me now, but it couldn't be good.
I watched Kanan and Zeb speed by on their bikes, in hot pursuit of the boy. I pushed my crate into a nearby alley. I still had to evade the Imperials until I could get to the Ghost. Based on where I was, I decided the best thing to do would be to keep to the back alleyways until I got to the Spaceport since it wasn't far.
I called Hera on the comm. "Hera, you are not going to believe what just happened over here."
"Call signs, Spectre 5."
"Right, sorry, I forgot, Spectre 2. I'm on my way to you, but you should be ready to go. There's been a small complication, and we're going to have to chase after the guys. Good thing we all have trackers in our comm links. I have no idea where they are going to end up."
Hera
After the call from Sabine, I turned on the tracking monitor to see where the guys were. The little dots that represented the guys were speeding through the city and towards the outskirts. Sabine's dot was almost at the ship. I started the engines.
"I'm on the ship Specter 2, let's go," came over the comm.
Hitting the button to close the ramp, I lifted off and made for where the tracking dots were headed. I arrived at the highway out of the city just in time to see Kanan and Zeb being chased by stormtroopers, also on air bikes. Zeb opened up his bo-rifle to its electric staff mode and took out a stormtrooper with it. Silent cheer. Then I saw Kanan blow up the other trooper.
I had to tell Sabine. This was great. "Hey, Sabine. Kanan just used the present you gave him," I called over the ship comm.
"Was it pretty?"
"It was a great explosion. Sabine. Good work."
I watched Kanan drop off his crates for Zeb to pick up, and then take off after another air bike in the distance. I couldn't see who was on it. Setting down on the highway, I lowered the ramp so Zeb and Sabine could load his bike and all the crates into the cargo hold. As soon as they were done, I was off after Kanan.
"Spectre 2, I'm going to need a pick up." I heard Kanan say over the comm.
"I'm almost there," I told him. Kanan was standing on the highway beside his fiery mess of an air bike. What in the galaxy happened now? I lowered the ramp once again for Kanan to jump on. At this point I decided to just leave the ramp lowered. We could fly with it down for a while.
"Okay Hera, head out across the plain to the west. We still have one more crate to get, and it's going that way," Kanan said from the hold. "Oh, and there's TIEs in the area, so keep a look out."
I quickly caught up to the air bike, with the last crate still attached to the back, but I still couldn't really make out who was driving it. Spotting a TIE in the distance, I had to wait to get close enough to shoot it. Unfortunately the TIE shot at, and hit, the air bike before I could take it out. I hoped whoever was driving the bike wasn't hurt.
There were four more TIEs coming in from behind, moving in much too swiftly for comfort. I could see a figure in orange clothes get off the ground from where he'd been thrown. He ran to the crate, which miraculously was still intact. Then he booted it towards the Ghost, pushing the crate in front of him. I hovered as close to the ground as I could, but it was still at least four metres from the ground since there was no time to land with the TIE's closing in. Then the person made an absolutely amazing jump, before disappearing from my line of sight. "What happened? Did he make it?" I called down to the cargo bay.
Zeb's voice came back, sounding just as shocked as I felt. "Yes. He did. Crate and all."
I closed the ramp for hopefully the last time this morning, and took off towards the atmosphere, TIEs shooting at me the whole way.
Sabine
From my position inside the cargo hold, I could see the boy running toward the ship with his stolen crate.
Kanan yelled, "Leave the crate! You'll never make it!"
When the boy made the jump with the crate in his arms, my heart stopped, I swear. He made it! I was a bit awestruck. Even I couldn't make that jump with a crate in my arms. Without it, sure, no problem. But with it? Not shabla likely.
We all stared at the boy in our cargo hold. Zeb was doing more of a glower then a stare. Kanan looked inscrutable. And me? No one was going to know what I was thinking. I still had my helmet on, and I intended to keep it there for now. It wouldn't do for anyone to realize I thought the boy was amazing and brave and cute. My helmet was staying on until I knew I could keep my feelings to myself.
I watched as the boy and Zeb fought over the crate of blaster rifles. His fearlessness in the face of a much bigger opponent kept a smile playing on my lips. I was definitely enjoying the show. Eventually Kanan must have decided he'd had enough. He pushed the two apart, before making his way up the ladder to the bridge. This made the arguing stop for the moment and change into a glare off.
I decided this was even funnier. Zeb easily outweighed the boy at least three or four times over. But you'd never know it by the boys' attitude. I think he'd make a good Mandalorian. We're not exactly known for backing down either.
Ezra
My mind was in chaos as I fought with the disbelief of where I'd ended up.
Somehow, my normal day had turned into what had to be the most interesting of my life. I was standing in the cargo hold of a ship I'm pretty sure I've seen flying over the grasslands a time or two, glaring at a lasat over a crate of stolen blaster rifles, and trying not to go all ballistic over the fact that the girl of my dreams was standing not even a metre away from me with her arms crossed over her chest and watching the lasat and I.
I'm not sure how I knew, but I was pretty sure she was amused.
So glad to be entertaining.
Better than disgusting or repulsive, anyway.
And then there was the weirdest part of it all. The feeling that had started all of this in the first place was still going strong.
It wanted me to follow the man. Why, I have no idea, but I'd had to ignore it like no tomorrow when we were both on the highway and he'd offered ever so nicely to remove my hard won crate from my care. The feeling didn't like it when I left him to get blown up by a TIE either. What was up with this? I refused to become some sort of slave to the guy, no matter how much I was drawn to him.
It was kind of creepy too, because I really don't swing that way, as my extreme attraction to the girl should attest to. Fortunately, the man didn't give off any repulsive boy wanting vibes either. (I'd felt those in the past, trust me, and I'd learned to stay far away from people like that.)
So it begs the question; What the kriff is going on with my stupid FEELINGS today?
Hera
I heard Kanan's footsteps climbing the ladder to the bridge, and addressed him as soon as he was close enough to hear. "You said this was a routine op. What happened down there?" Then Chopper voiced his opinion too. And it wasn't very nice. I had to agree with him. The morning had done anything but go according to plan. And I had to waste fuel flying all over the area.
"Ugh, Chopper, please. It's been a difficult morning." I could hear the stress in Kanan's voice. He sounded about ready to blow up.
"He has a point, love. We've got four TIE fighters closing in." I pointed at the external monitor to emphasize my words.
"Hera, how about a little less attitude and a little more altitude?" Kanan asked snidely.
Now, I understand that he'd had a less then an ideal mission so far. We all had. But there was no call for him to talk that way to me. So I decided to put him in his place a little. While in the guise of evading more enemy fire, I flipped the ship onto it's side momentarily. I watched out of the corner of my eye as Kanan fell into the co-pilot's chair.
Lucky for him that chair was there.
I heard Chopper hit the wall, then sidle back to the middle, so he could resume watching the action. I kept my grin to myself. That was perfect.
Kanan glared at me. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you did that on purpose."
Keeping my face straight, I said in retaliation, "If you knew better, we wouldn't be in this situation." Deciding he'd been put back in his place enough, I gentled my tone. "Seriously, Kanan, what happened?"
Kanan looked back at the cargo hold monitor and said, "He did."
I finally got a good look at the extra person in the hold for the first time and was I ever surprised. "A kid tripped you up? Must be some kid. Spill it."
"Aren't you a little busy at the moment?" I could see Kanan trying to shut me out.
"Spill." I said, with a 'do or die' look.
Sabine
Zeb and the boy were still in the midst of their stare off when the Ghost suddenly tipped onto it's side.
We all went flying.
The boy, being closest to the wall, hit first, but somehow he kept enough of his balance to grab me out of the air, and put me back on my feet. The feel of his hands on my waist gave me a little thrill. I could feel the lean muscles in his chest under my hands, where they had ended up in my fall. I was so flustered I couldn't do more than mumble out a, "Thanks."
I was soooo happy no one could see me blush under my helmet.
"Hey now, none of that," growled Zeb, from his sprawl on the floor. As Zeb was getting up, the boy let me go, and casually sat on his crate as though nothing had happened.
But something had. For the first time in my life, I think I just felt real desire for another person. For two whole moments I'd stared into his eyes through my visor and seen a possible future with him that scared the hell out of me. I knew Mandos were supposed to be able to tell if they'd found the 'right' person almost instantly, but I'd never believed it. Now I was starting to think there was something to the old tales. This boy was doing strange things to my insides and turning my brain to mush. I have yet to decide if I liked it.
"Look, I was just doing the same thing you were; stealing to survive," said the boy, resuming his argument with Zeb. And off they went again, neither willing to back down. Zeb poked the boy in the chest, and he jumped off his crate, to get all up in Zeb's face.
Then the ship was struck by enemy fire, and everything shook. Zeb managed to fall right on the boy. Maybe even on purpose. I wouldn't put it past him at this point.
The boy gasped out, "Get off. Can't breath."
Zeb, all offended, said, "Hey, I'm not that heavy in this gravity."
"Not the weight. The smell," wheezed the boy. I had to agree with that. Zeb did smell. A lot. Think wet mooka. All the time. Fortunately, I was getting used to it. Sort of.
Zeb had apparently had enough insults to his ego today. He grabbed the boy by the ankle, draging him all the way to the common room, which required a trip up the ladder in the engine room that came out in the hallway near the common room door and continued up to the top gun turret. I winced with every bump his head made on the floor and the ladder. That had to hurt.
"Ummm, Zeb? Don't you think you're taking this a little far?"
"No." Zeb bit out.
"Okaaayy." I winced again when Zeb threw the boy in the closet like a piece of trash. If that was me, Zeb would have to worry about how long he'd be living, once I got out.
Kanan
I sighed, grumbled, "Fine," and gave a quick summary of my morning.
"So everything was going to plan despite the weird feeling I had for a moment. Sabine's distraction worked like a charm. Zeb and I took out the troopers riding the air bikes easily enough. And then this kid came out of nowhere and steals one of the bikes. No matter what we did, we couldn't catch him. Although I think Sabine almost did. She did get one of the crates from him." My eyes widened at what I had just said. "If she was that close, why didn't she shoot him?" Shrugging it off, I continued. "And the stormtroopers just kept appearing, trying to get their crates back. Then I thought I finally caught the brat, when he takes off again, leaving me to get shot at by a TIE. It blew up my bike, and I almost died. Then you picked me up."
Hera gasped and put her hand on my arm momentarily in comfort. "I'm sorry for being cross with you at first. I was just upset with how crazy this mission went."
I grabbed her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, before letting it go so she could fly properly again. "I shouldn't have taken my frustration out on you, Hera. It's all that boy's fault."
"You have to admit, Kanan, the kid sounds impressive," Hera said, glancing at me meaningfully.
"You're not thinking what I think you're thinking!" I exclaimed in disbelief. Sure the kid had talent and tenacity and was almost certainly Force sensitive after making that jump and being just way too lucky, but I didn't want another kid on the ship. I liked things the way they were.
"He held onto a crate of blasters with a pack of troopers on his tail," Hera pointed out needlessly since I knew that. I. Was. There!
"Because I was there to save him!" I protested. "He's a street rat. Wild, reckless, dangerous and... gone?" my voice faded out as I glanced at the cargo monitor and saw absolutely no one.
"Zeb, Sabine, where's the kid?" I called on the ship comm, feeling a strange moment of panic. Why was I worried about the brat?
"Calm down, chief," Zeb said back. "He's in... uhmm here?"
"Zeb, where is he!?" I had really reached the end of my patience. (My Master would be so disappointed. I should be able to keep my cool better than this, but so many years of NOT being a Jedi has let a lot of things slip. Patience being one of them, apparently.)
"Well, he is still in the ship," Zeb pointed out needlessly, since the boy couldn't possibly be off the ship unless he jumped out an airlock while the ship was in flight in the upper atmosphere. Even in my bad mood, I didn't wish that fate on the boy.
I'm pretty sure I growled like a rabid mooka.
And judging by the raised brow Hera shot at me, I think she heard me.
Fragging hell.
Ezra
There was no way I was staying in the closet the purple stinkball had thrown me in, not when there was a handy vent right there for me to crawl into. I've never been a fan of ductwork, but I'd spent a lot of my time in them back in the day. It's amazing what you can steal when you're small enough to crawl through vents. They were getting a little too tight these days, but I could still manage it with determination.
I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to the day I don't fit at all anymore or not.
I definitely got a kick out of hearing the stinky one that I'm assuming is Zeb get yelled at by the man.
I also learned the girl's name.
Sabine.
What a pretty name. I liked it. it rolled off the tongue just right and suited her, as far as I could tell.
"Oh, he's in the ship alright," she responded to Zeb's comment, with a healthy dose of sarcasm.
I liked her voice too, what I could hear of it through her helmet's speakers. I couldn't wait to hear her without a helmet on, not to mention see her. She just had to be as pretty as she sounded. The stars would be downright cruel if she was otherwise.
Hera
I smiled to myself when I heard the boy was actually IN the ship. "Very creative. Sounds like someone I used to know."
Kanan didn't seem impressed with my pointed reference to his past. He heaved a sigh and left the bridge. Presumably to find the boy.
Of course, while all the little dramas where happening, I was in my element flying my ship, with enemy fighters trying to take me down. Nothing made my day more than to test my skills against the enemy. I had finally reached open space, time to make the jump out of here.
"Battle stations everyone," I called. "We can deal with our guest later. First, lets get out of here. Shields are holding for now, but you need to buy me time to calculate the jump to lightspeed."
"Buying time... Now!" my always reliable mate called back. I gave a silent cheer when one of the TIE's blew up.
Go Kanan!
Have I mentioned lately how much I love him?
Sabine
At Hera's call to battle stations, I dashed into the bridge and down the ladder to the nose gun.
Somehow, I wasn't surprised to see the boy sitting in the chair. He HAD been headed this way.
He appeared to be a bit awestruck by the view in front of him. Space was impressive for those who had never seen it before, I supposed. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to indulge in his gawking. I grabbed him by the back of his vest and literally tossed him out of my chair.
Taking off my helmet, I glared down at the sprawled out boy for slowing me down. He was now staring at me with the same amazement he'd looked at space with, his beautiful blue gem eyes wide in admiration. It was really flattering to be as awe inspiring as space, but there was no time to talk. Duty calls. I sat at the gun and started shooting at the TIE's, determined to get at least one.
"My name's Ezra, what's yours?" came from behind me a few seconds later, in a ridiculous, over affected voice from the boy. I rolled my eyes at the silly attempt at flirting. Couldn't he see I was busy right now?
Ezra
The stars were more than kind to Sabine.
She was absofrickinlutely the most gorgeous girl I'd ever seen.
I think I sighed like a fangirl.
She didn't hear me, thank the stars, since the cannons covered the wimpy sound.
But geez, what else was I supposed to do? Sabine was perfect. Her hair was blue and orange. Her eyes were huge and an incredible shade of rare amber. And her face was sculpted by a master.
Oh, and she was shooting at TIEs like she had a serious vendetta against them. I had no problem with that. Her fierceness just turned me on more.
The fact that she might be a year or two older than me did absolutely nothing to discourage me either. Age was only a number after all.
Too bad she came with a giant purple bodyguard.
"My name's Zeb, you lothrat." I heard Zeb growl from behind me before he picked me up and glared right in my face. I gulped and then put on my most charming smile. No surprise it didn't work. Zeb just growled some more.
A female voice that I didn't have a name for yet came through the comm system. "Calculations complete, but I need an opening."
This distracted Zeb enough that I was able to wriggle out of his hold and scoot closer to Sabine again. She was still shooting at the TIEs.
She grinned when she finally lined up the perfect shot. "Found one!" she called excitedly.
The pilot quickly took advantage of the opening in the enemy line, and jumped to hyperspace.
Now, I thought normal space was pretty awesome to look at, since I don't remember ever being up here before, but hyperspace was in a whole other league.
It was better than a hundred sunrises all put together. I think I was mesmerized as I stared at the blue and white lights zipping past.
Sabine
I looked back at Ezra to see his eyes as wide as saucers. He definitely had never been to space before. I was glad I got to see that with him. His face was so expressive. And cute. Did I mention cute? His copper skin shone in the reflected light. His nose was a little big maybe, but it suited him somehow. His slightly parted lips looked kissable, and I'd seen his smile enough to know I liked it. And those eyes. I'd never seen such a vibrant colour of blue on a human before. And for some reason, my fingers desperately wanted to run through his hair to see if it was as soft and silky as it looked.
Yeesh. I needed help.
Zeb started to drag Ezra away by the arm.
"Wait! My backpack," he said, trying, and really really failing, to drag Zeb back towards me. Now that was a funny sight. I'd remember that one for a long time. I looked at the floor by my chair, and there was a backpack. I threw it to Ezra. "Thanks, beautiful," he said, before being cuffed on the back of the head and dragged away by a grumbling Zeb.
I was glad they were gone because my cheeks felt aflame. No one had ever called me beautiful before.
My Mandalorian family wasn't given to needless compliments that had nothing to do with training. When I was in the Imperial Academy, fraternizing had been strictly forbidden and we were all too scared of the officers to even try and disobey that rule. And the bounty hunting crew Ketsu and I occasionally hung out with had all been waaaay older than me. If anyone had thought it, no one had dared to say anything inappropriate to a minor.
So here I was, blushing because a cute boy had called me beautiful. Even if he was at least a year younger than me. And a bit shorter. And I could probably kill him in a fight. None of that mattered because I knew he'd grow, and I knew he was a fighter at heart and could learn to fight hand to hand if he didn't know how. The thought of teaching him how to spar made me blush harder as I pictured our bodies touching and hands grabbing body parts. A wave of heat swept through me and I buried my face in my hands as I tried to think of something less... erotic, and failed miserably.
I needed to get myself together. This was ridiculous.
