Star Wars Rebels – E2 P11 – Recovering and a new goal.


The Venator had landed outside the rebel base on this hot, dusty world. While not a true desert planet, Arus V was arid and bone-dry. The rebels were supplied by underground hydrofarms and a large chalk aquifer / reservoir of water, both of which the new arrivals unanimously agreed that they were inferior to the normal stuff they bought at markets.

Sabine strode down to her cabin after giving Wedge's new X-Wing a colourful makeover, and much to Ezra's annoyance, she didn't ask him to help this time. However, he was more preoccupied with something else. Something more important.

Kanan entered Ezra's room. "I could sense that something was gnawing at you. What's up?"

Ezra sighed. "It's about the nexus. What it's done." Kanan frowned and Ezra hurried to expand upon what he meant. "I meant as in what it could mean for me… I was the one who connected with it. And I got so much anger from it."

"You're worried that by experiencing such anger, you won't be able to become a Jedi?" Kanan stated more than asked, but Ezra nodded all the same.

"Yeah."

Kanan unfolded his arms. "Ezra, just because you experienced anger doesn't mean you're a bad person. It won't stop you from becoming a Jedi. There have been Sith who became Jedi, and you haven't done anything nearly as bad as them. You'll become one someday."

"Besides, I'd never let either of you fail," said Hera as she stepped in.

Ezra laughed. "That's all the motivation I need. Take the long, hard path to becoming a Jedi or face Hera's wrath."

"I'd pick the former," agreed Kanan.

Hera sat down on the chair Kanan had left empty and smirked. "You know better than to mess with me."

Sabine and Zeb walked in.

"It's true. It never results in a good outcome!" joked Kanan. "At least not for us."

"And stopping you from eating poisonous fruit is a bad thing?" jested Sabine, reffering to a time when Kanan had almost eaten some poisoned store-bought fruit and had been saved by Hera.

"Ezra, important lesson. You can never win an argument with a Woman." Kanan advised as he leaned back in his chair.

"Oh really?" grinned Ezra. "Sabine, debate me."

"OK. I'm still a much better shot than you," she began, eyes playfully daring him to refuse.

"Are you kidding me? You saw me nut that dude on the bike!" Ezra stretched his arms out in exasperation.

"You've done one single amazing shot in your life! You can't claim you can shoot better when using the force as well!"

"I did not use the force to help!"

"I think you did…" she trailed teasingly, giving him a coy look.

"Want to take this to the range?"

"You're on Bridger," she laughed, pushing herself off from the wall.

They continued their friendly argument as they went outside.

"Was Ezra thinking he might not be able to become a Jedi?" inquired Zeb as they got up as well.

"Pretty much. I told him not to worry about it," replied Kanan, shrugging. "He doesn't have to worry about it."

"Dumb kid. One thing like what he did isn't going to ruin everything," Zeb snorted as he walked out, scratching his head.


Sabine and Ezra reached the shooting range, having grabbed their gear on the way, and set up on one of the lines.

"You ready for this?" asked Ezra, cracking his knuckles.

"I should be asking you that question," she shot back with a smirk, guns ready.

The range targets popped up randomly on their individual sides and they did their best to hit them quickly and move onto the next.

"Feel free to give up anytime," jested Sabine as she hit her 16th headshot in a row.

Ezra frowned slightly, then twitched his wrist just as she fired, sending the bolt just past the target's head. She raised her eyebrow and gave a 'hmmm….' as she aimed again. The next shot missed as well and she glanced over at Ezra, seemingly focused on aiming at the next target. She elbowed him in the ribs and his next shot went flying off over all the targets.

"Hey!"

She smiled at him. "I won't if you won't"

"I didn't do anything!" he said, doing his best to look innocent.

She rolled her eyes and they continued firing for several more minutes. When they stopped they checked the score panel, Ezra leaning over her shoulder to see. They'd hit the exact same number of targets, but due to Ezra's meddling, Sabine had missed 1 more than him. However, her number of headshots far surpassed his.

"Looks like you win," said Ezra. "The Great Mandolorian Weapons Master remains unbeaten."

He smiled slyly at her before continuing.

"But I have more style."

He slapped something to her chest and it released a puff of blue smoke, temporarily clouding her vision. He dashed off, pursued by Sabine, leaving several bemused and frankly amazed rebels watching the pair go.

"Did that just happen?" asked one.

"Yup." Replied another. "They just came yesterday and now they've beaten the squadron record. By 70 points."

The Ghost was parked near the rebel command centre and they stopped off there before they attended the next intelligence briefing. They walked up into Ezra's room, where he searched for something in the drawers under his bed. Sabine spotted something in the cupboard.

"Nice to know you kept it," she commented as she admired the gleaming lightsaber. "Especially after we both nearly died to secure it."

"Mhhhmmm…" mumbled Ezra as he grabbed something out of the back of the cupboard. He passed the jetpack back to Sabine. "I think that's yours."

"About time," she laughed, slugging him on the shoulder. "I was worried you might get too attached to it and get pissed when I asked for it back and then we would've had another huge argument."

His face fell and she immediately regreted having said something to change his mood so much, even though she didn't expect him to do that.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

"No. It's not your fault. It's what was said during the argument that still gets me," he turned away slightly.

She moved round so she could see him properly. "Why? What did I say? You know I don't love Wedge, right? I was just… getting away from it all. Talking to someone different."

"I know. It's what I said to you that's bothering me."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing I care to share." He blinked and looked at the ceiling.

She tossed the lightsaber onto his bunk and put the free hand on his shoulder.

"I don't mind. I know you didn't believe what you were saying," she comforted. He still looked upset, so she embraced him and they stayed like that for several seconds.

He buried his head in her shoulder. "You said I believe it was better if my parents were dead. And I said that at least I didn't start a massacre."

He took a deep breath.

"I'm just so sorry for everything I've done. For abandoning you guys and then on the cruiser with Hera and…"

Sabine pulled back slightly so she could look at him and put a finger to his lips.

"Shhh…. Don't beat yourself up about it."

"It was my fault. I should've seen it coming."

"And how would you have done that?" she stepped back, crossing her arms and looking at him inquisitively.

"Ummm…." he scratched the back of his neck and looked at the floor.

She laughed and tugged his arm. "Stop being di'kut," she said warmly. He knew the meaning of that word was also 'stupid', but he honestly didn't expect her to say anything else in this instance.

"Right," he smiled at her as she placed the jetpack on the desk and walked out. "Let's see what adventures Hera has in store for us."


They jogged to the briefing room and watched a diagram fade away as they entered.

"Any questions?" asked Hera, leaning against the table.

Ezra raised his hand slightly. "Could you repeat the presentation?"

Several rebels sniggered as Hera rolled her eyes.

"Do we want to see it again?" Hera asked the other rebels, to be met with complete agreement from those present.

"OK. Our next target is the Halcyon station on the moon of Halcor. It's both an Imperial Academy and a large garrison and it is having an important visitor soon, so we need to ruin their visit. There happens to be a large training op soon and a ceremonial Guard reshuffle, so there won't be many Imperials in the base itself. By knocking out the central generator, we can expose and attack the VIP in the commander's office. Sabine and Ezra, I'll need you 2 going through the vents to knock out their communications. Kanan, Zeb and Chopper will plant the explosives on the generator, then we'll meet up outside the office. You'll knock out the power, grab the VIP and rendezvous with me for extraction. Got It?"

"Seems clear enough," replied Ezra.

"Ezra, please try not to kill everything this time."

He grinned. "The key word here is stealth. They won't know a thing, unless Zeb gets stuck climbing into an air vent again."

There were some sniggers at the thought of the Lasat getting stuck.

She gave the 2 teens a funny look. "And I swear if you to sneak off for a make out session like you did just before this…"

There was some suppressed laughter as both of them blushed, even though they'd been doing nothing of the sort.

"Would you rather we were doing what you were with Kanan that night?" Ezra shot back, well aware of the ear-ripping he'd get for it.

There was a lot of raucous laughter as now Hera and Kanan blushed.

"I'm not the one who had to be given the talk at 16 years old," she returned as Kanan fidgeted uncomfortably. "and who'd been flirting with Sabine since day one."

"While we were being shot at," added Sabine, nudging Ezra.

"Come on, that was ages ago!" He turned to face Sabine.

"And you continued to flirt with me to the extent that you thought it'd be funny replaced the gun under my pillow with a pink stick!"

The laughter intensified.

"Wait, you have a GUN under your pillow?" gasped Kanan, much to the amusement of those present.

"Uh, yeah," she crossed her arms and looked at Kanan. "What did you expect?"

Kanan sighed and looked out a window.

"To be honest, he took it better than I expected," Zeb half-whispered to them.

"Now Zeb, I'm sure you'd like to join Sabine on a weapons safety talk," said Kanan as he turned around. Ezra could sense he was suppressing a smile.

"No thanks, I'll pass. Have to defend myself from the kid if he goes mad in the night," Zeb patted Ezra on the head. "Don't want to be locking my rifle in 'safe' mode when his mind is taken over by an inanimate object again," Zeb managed to say without getting a jab in the side.

"In all honesty, I think we could probably stop the shooting lessons," said Rex, stepping forward from where he'd been standing at ease. "Not after that shot from the moving speeder bike."

Almost all present looked at Ezra, except for Sabine, who rolled her eyes.

"Sabine? Would you be so kind?" Ezra stepped to the side and extended an arm to present Sabine, who huffed in slight annoyance as she plugged in her PDA and opened the video file. The rebels watched in astonishment as Ezra stood on the moving bike, shot the trooper through the head, and then sat back down, not a care in the world.

"Alright, you can close your mouths now," video Ezra said and those who did hurriedly closed theirs.

"If only we were all that lucky," Zeb winked at Ezra and dodged the fist that came his way.

"As you can see from the evidence, I can handle a weapon fine," smirked Ezra as he leaned against the holotable, feigning nonchalance despite having failed to get one back on Zeb. "And I don't sleep with my weapon like those 2 muttonheads, so I don't think I need to attend it,"

Kanan raised an eyebrow and suddenly his lightsaber activated in training mode while on his belt, causing him to jump up in surprise.

"I disagree," Kanan continued, smiling slightly as Ezra messed around trying to deactivate it.

Ezra decided to unclasp it from his belt and finally switched it off. "Come on, that's not fair!" he complained. "Next thing you'll tell me is that you've been mind-tricking Hera into going into bed with you!"

"Ezra…" was as far as Hera got before he bolted from the room, grinning. "Zeb, would you do the honours?"

"With pleasure," he grinned as he gave chase.


Notes:

I hope you guys enjoy! I really enjoyed writing this and I hope you enjoyed reading it! The final series won't be coming out as often, but I think it's going to be much better quality-wise.
Kudos and/or comment if you liked it or comment with verbal abuse for messing something simple up that I missed in my proof-read.

Also, di'kut means 'stupid', 'waste of space' or 'useless person', but can be used in any of the 3 ways in both banter and being rude.