(A/N: Apologies on the long delay in updates. Saw TLJ, having this chapter in the can and ready to post that Friday. And then Luke became a lot more complex and a lot simpler at the same time. So I basically had to scrap it and rewrite. Holidays, and blah blah and now here I am. Feedback on Luke's character would be appreciated, because he's really hard to get right. Thanks, and thanks as always for reading.)

"Sorry it took us a moment to get back to you." Hera smiles at Sabine and I before Kanan walks into the picture holding a mug. "Senator Organa."

Leia smiles and waves. "Hello General. How is Glee Anselm?"

"Going well." Hera answers, then looks to Sabine and I. "You said on the message you left that it was urgent? I assume this is why?"

Sabine nods. "Luke's here too. Wanting to get some legitimate Jedi training in."

"Where is he now?" Kanan asks quickly as Hera's eyebrows arch.

"I thought he didn't want to become a Jedi until after the fighting finishes." Hera adds.

"He's tinkering with his lightsaber on the Falcon right now. The new one he built doesn't have a practice feature built in." I explain. "And after Hoth fell, his perspective was changed. By Vader."

Hera winces and moves to walk in a circle as Kanan takes a breath. "Okay, we'll gather the Ghost and head that way."

"Thanks. Hera, can you grab some of that fish that you brought last time? I'd love to make it since we're going to be having a full house." Sabine asks her.

"Yeah, sure. Anything specific you want?"

"No, but maybe ask Mom. You know how she can be." Sabine shrugs, causing both of them to laugh.

"Us, Ahsoka and Lux, Rex and Echo probably as well. Are you sure you'll have enough room?" Kanan asks Sabine and I.

Sabine shakes her head. "No, but we were going to ask if some people would be open to sleeping on their ships. Since we're up here we can park the Star or the Ghost up here."

"We can do that." Hera volunteers. "It'd be no trouble at all, right love?"

"Yeah, make things easier for everyone. We'll bring Zeb too."

Sabine smiles, then looks to me. "That's great. Let us know when you think you'll get here so we can plan around it for food and stuff."

"You don't have to do that dear. It'll probably very early or late." Hera tells her.

"Or we could stay up." I counter her, getting everyone to smile.

"Thank you." Sabine smiles. Hera and Kanan immediately return it, and Hera waves happily.

"We'll comm soon." She says before ending the call, leaving me to turn to Leia.

"That wasn't so bad." I smile.

Leia nods, looking at the white book Sabine's been building with scraps of fabric and bookmarks with her handwriting scribbled everywhere. "Uhm, please tell me this is what I think it is."

"Yeah." I smile as the Force lightens around Sabine, causing her signature to almost give off heat beside me.

"When'd you start planning?"

"When she got hurt." I explain. "Sabine's never had so much free time, and she didn't want to micromanage our cell, telling them how to breathe. So, she started that book."

Leia blinks a few times as Sabine slides up even with me, a thrilled smile on her face. "I know you guys have been married for a while, but and actual ceremony?" She smiles, then blinks back tears. "It looks beautiful."

"Thanks." Sabine keeps smiling. "Nothing's set in stone yet. We've got awhile until this war is over, then we'll get a place and everything."

"I think we're closer than ever." Leia says, her voice gaining strength again. "Luke coming here and training to fight Vader. We can whittle down the Empire here and there in the galaxy. The people are with us."

Out of the corner of my eye I see Sabine look at me before postulating "You're thinking about Han."

"I…it's just…" Leia starts, stops then blinks and sniffles as she tries to get a handle on her emotions.

She really does love him. I've never seen this side of her other than a flash of it on Yavin.

Sabine smiles to herself, then pulls Leia into a hug she quickly returns, causing my breath to get caught up in my chest before I force a smile onto my face. "It's going to work out. Lando's working on ways to infiltrate Jabba's palace and Ezra will talk to Mand'alor about sitting Boba's ass down and making him explain himself."

"Sabine." I frown.

You were doing so well. But on Boba there's not much room to negotiate. He's under Vader's thumb, and by Mand'alor's word Mandalorians can fight for both sides. Just because he took our friend on a legal bounty set by Vader doesn't mean asking nicely will get him back.

"I know there's not much he can do. But we have to try." Leia say, voice gaining strength with every word.

"We will. Now I think you should get some sleep. And please don't set an alarm Leia. You've been running for months. Relax a little." Sabine asks her.

Leia smiles before her eyes find the floor again. "I'll try. Night."

"Night Leia." I smile at her retreating figure.

Poor girl. Lot on her plate, and that's not even the biggest worry in her mind right now. All she really wants is Han back.

"When did you guys know?"

"Huh?" I blurt out, turning to Sabine then spinning around fully to see Leia two steps away looking at Sabine and I.

"When did you guys know you loved each other?" Leia asks, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Uhh…" Sabine stalls before we look at each other again.

The first time I saw her on the Ghost. Easy.

Sabine glances around before shrugging. "It wasn't really a moment. It just kind of grew on me."

"Pick one." Leia asks, causing Sabine to look to me for help.

"I've got mine. When I saw you on the Ghost." I help her out, then smile.

Sabine lets out a nervous laugh, then tucks her hair behind her ear. "Fine, I guess if I had to pick one…a day or two after we came home. The first time. Dad was coming home from work, Mom was working on dinner in the kitchen and you and Sof were watching the holo. Things just made sense. It felt normal."

"That sounds really nice." Leia smiles. "Immediately fit in."

"Like he was always there. Sof instantly adored Ezra, you know how she is. I was gone so long that trip could have been really awkward and weird, but it just wasn't. And after that, yeah." Sabine smiles at Leia, then turns to me.

"You loved him before that." Bo says behind us, and I look back to see her and Prime in the doorway. Leia laughs quietly as Prime flicks his eyes in her direction before looking back to Sabine's mom.

"When did you see it?" Bo adjusts herself so that she's leaning in the doorway.

Bo inclines her head to me. "Sabine brought him and had Ezra knock on the door first. Once the initial shock wore off and Carid and I saw how they interacted, we assumed they were already together but weren't saying it."

Leia smiles, then nods her head and slips out of the room silently, leaving the four of us watching Leia walk towards the guest room.

Sabine deftly slides by me as I continue peeling potatoes while the clanking of pans off to my right continues. "Okay, got the pan, the eggs, flour, sugar, baking soda, chocolate and the icing. What next?" Leia asks Sof.

"Well, we have to make the batter and beat it with this machine."

Leia gestures to Sof for her to go on. "Show me." As Lux and Rex walks in from the back of the house.

"Grill's warming up." Rex tells the room, causing Sabine, who is spearing vegetables, to smile."

"Echo's on the holo, I think with Maddie. New intel." Sabine tells Rex, who subtly turns to go find him.

"Is it the new intel that we supposedly are getting with Zeb?" I ask Sabine quietly. Sabine simply shrugs, trying to pass our conversation off before a light roar is followed by the windows barely rattling and the Ghost to appear, already in preparations to land past the firing range.

"They're here!" Sophie cheers.

"Stay focused." Her father reminds her gently.

"I am, but I was just saying that—"

"Work." Her mother smiles, joining Lux as he opens the door to go outside.

Her father turns away from the potatoes he's coating in butter for flavor. "Sabine, you should probably go out there too."

"I'm fine." Sabine hesitates, causing her hands to wig out a little before she sets her skewer half filled with vegetables down.

"Ad'ika, it'll ease their nerves. Everyone's been worried about you." Her mother joins her husband, then smiles at her. Sabine moves to grab the skewer, only for it to wobble in her hand before she quickly sets it down.

"Fine." Sabine caves, then sidles over to the door and closes it behind her. I silently glance to her parents, expecting a reaction.

I think they saw what I saw.

"Not to intrude, but is that…normal?" Leia jumps in first as Bo and I barely get a look off.

I made a noncommittal movement as her Mom jumps in. "Yeah."

"She's always had steady hands." Lando comments. "How long has it been again?"

"About a year." Her father frowns before Chewie says something quietly behind Sophie and hands her multiple things, including a spatula, rolling pin, icing knife and some wax paper.

"Thanks Chewie." Sof smiles up at him.

Bo smiles before nodding. "I agree Chewie. It's amazing that she's come this far."

"That video…" Leia starts, then shakes her head. "You got the guy?"

"Yeah." I nod. "Lifetime in prison. And it's almost 8 months."

Worse for the deserters that allowed civilians to be gunned down. They were executed by firing squad after being excommunicated by House and Clan. It was controversial and contentious, but Mand'alor won out.

His word is law, and protecting Mandalore is always the number one goal.

"Almost a year." Mr. Wren laughs.

"Long enough." Lando says somberly, twirling her narcolethe in a glass before the gentle sounds of conversation reach the glass door, followed by footsteps and the door opening.

"—figured that they'd try something else. But no." Zeb says as Sabine leads everyone into the house. Before anyone can say anything, Leia's worked her way around everyone and is approaching Zeb.

"The intel?"

"Bothan spies have a report. And a price." Zeb says quietly, then looks to me and smiles. "Ezra."

"Hey Zeb." I smile at him.

Leia takes a datapad from him and drifts toward the couch.

"How are we around here?" Kanan asks as Ahsoka looks around the house behind him.

Looking for Luke.

"In the back office. Ezra gave him homework." Carid explains to them, and Ahsoka starts off towards the back of the house.

Hera slides around Kanan and looks around. "Can we help?"

"Yeah, but would you mind going to look at the Star with Chopper? Ezra and I let Sof do some routine maintenance and she bumped something. Prime and the guys are looking it over, but you're better than everyone here at astromechanics." Sabine smiles at Hera, then at Sof, who looks embarrassed.

"Of course." Hera smirks. "C'mon Sophie, let's go see what you bumped." Sof hesitates briefly, then moves aside so that Leia can take over the cake making duties.

"They had me look over the s-oil that you use in the landing gear. Change it out. The stuff that helps the joints stay loose I think? And now the alarm won't get off. I don't know what I did…" Sophie explains to Hera before Hera soothes her.

I don't think Sof did anything too bad. The Star hasn't even moved an inch.

"Is this verified? Certified and re-checked?" Leia calls out, sprawled out on the couch with her legs and boots draped over the arm of the couch.

Oh don't lie down on the couch like that, you'll ruin the arm…

"Yes. Mon Mothma and the Council double verified before giving it that clearance and sending it along with me. No other physical copies." Zeb nods, prompting Leia to groan.

She looks like she just aged five years.

Sabine looks over to me before Lando asks "What is it?"

"It's…" Leia barely sits up, activates the holo in the corner of the room and throws something up onto the monitors. "That."

The Death Star?

"Okay…what about it?"

"That's not…it. Mr. Wren, sir, according to your math, is there a limit to how big the Empire could build a Death Star?"

Mr. Wren steps forward, taking a look at the schematic. "It's just Carid Leia, and no, not really. It's more of a practicality standpoint. You yourself saw how much it took to finance the first one. Hyperspace is about the energy put into it rather than the size. Since it's shaped like a sphere, it makes it rather energy efficient, most of the trouble seemed to reside in the focusing of the Kyber crystals…besides, wait…" he hesitates, then walks up to the holo and starts typing rapidly. "This isn't a schematic. It's a profile on an existing structure."

"What?" Mrs. Wren says as Lando leans off the wall.

Impossible.

"The Bothans were hired years ago to blend into the Empire's intelligence apparatus. Make themselves valuable. If they found anything important, they'd let us know what and their price. It hasn't really paid off yet, they've missed more than they have found." Leia explains.

"We found the Death Star the first time." Kanan frowns. "So what is it?"

Leia swallows nervously and looks back at the red and white diagramming as Sabine's father is typing rapidly, calculations and formulas working on other screens. "It's a new one, a second Death Star."

Three Weeks Later

Silently, I allow Sabine to lead the way into the MandalMotors lobby and to the lift, blending in with the workers.

"Mrs. Wren." One of them, a man in a suit smiles and moves to shake Sabine's hand. "Pleasure to see you again."

"Thank you." Sabine smiles.

"Big appointment?" The man asks as buttons are pressed and the lift closes.

Sabine shakes her head. "Oh no, just meeting with Daddy before we all go to lunch."

"Has your sister's school resumed?"

"No, not yet, they're still deciding what to do about that back retaining wall that was destroyed. She's up with us in Tokrush right now."

"Ahh, in the Tulvarees."

"She loves it." Sabine smiles as some people file out. "The nature ,the air, the freedom. Fits her better."

"Her father's been asking around about good schools for her to attend in the future, as I'm sure you are aware."

Good schools?

Sabine's face freezes for a moment before she shakes her head. "No, he hasn't."

"Oh." The man locks up. "Didn't mean to speak out of turn."

"What sort of schools are we talking about?"

"I believe, and I'm not entirely sure, just heard thru word of mouth, but he's looking to get a foundational school first. Combat and that end but also an acclaimed sciences academy."

Like he did. He did most of his education off world on Corellia and Alderaan.

"Okay."

Sof did take a detailed IQ and aptitude exam a couple of months ago. Never did hear anything of it. Sof and her father had to go all the way to Coruscant to do it.

Sabine and I caved because we have no power, but both of us agreed that it'd put her on the Empire's radar. He's one of the best designers, builders, theoretical engineers in the galaxy. And he got his daughter a test that cost thousands of credits in the Imperial Capital. That just screams that he thinks something is up.

Blinking, I see that the lift has mostly cleared out before Sabine marches forward, right to her father's door and whips it open before I can reach it. "What'd that test say?"

Uh oh.

"Dear, it's all working out fine. Nothing's been done yet." I hear Carid placate Sabine as I slide inside and spot Mand'alor sitting off to the side with a drink and a plate beside him.

"I told him to rope you guys in on this one." Mand'alor greets me, extending his hand.

"Rope us in on what?" I ask, shaking his hand.

"Sophie aced her test. Her scores lined right up with his scores. Carid's been looking into setting her down a secure path."

"—it's why we allowed you to go to the Academy Sabine. I will not allow either of you to grow up without a path to travel down for success."

"She's barely 9 Dad!" Sabine fires back at her father. "What are you going to do, send her away? Like your parents did to you? You told me before I left that used to kill you inside!"

Carid looks quite uncomfortable before answering "Nothing's been decided yet. Onderon's an option. Hera and Kanan have been looking into getting a place there. She wouldn't be far."

"She…" Sabine stalks around in a circle. "A test is causing you to look into all of this. Tests aren't the end all, be all Dad. Look at me! I'm good in practical applications, but remember my first Imperial Regulations exam that I couldn't fire anything?"

"I do." Her father nods.

"I FAILED!" Sabine shouts. "What if she's like me and sucks at taking tests?"

Mand'alor speaks up. "I'm afraid we can rule that one out after this test Sabine. It's been given for almost a millennia and accounts for almost everything."

"Which is why we aren't acting yet." Her father adds. "I know how young Sophine is. She can always go a different path, she's not locked down to anything. She can always pick up her roots and go play meshgeroya to her heart's content. Your mother and I only want her to be happy."

"But you're pursuing a path she might not want because of a test." Sabine snipes at him.

"Your test was right." Carid smiles. "Very well suited for combat, with an aptitude for creativity and the arts."

"gaa'tayl ni Arasuum." Sabine mutters, then turns to grab a drink for herself. (A/N: So help me gods…)

Carid changes subjects by smiling at me. "Ezra. Easy trip?"

"Nothing to really say about it." I say, then smile.

"Is Skywalker's son really planet side?" Mand'alor asks me.

I nod. "He's training with Ahsoka and Kanan right now."

"And he's not nearly where he needs to be." Sabine adds bitterly, turning around to reveal that she's grabbed caf and a pastry.

"But I thought he's out flown Vader and fought him to a minor loss." Mand'alor comments.

I nod. "He has, but he lost like I did. Our intelligence cell hijacked the footage from a planet called Cloud City. Vader played with his food. Luke got a blow in on his shoulder, and within three minutes Luke was clinging to a comm array for dear life."

"So Vader didn't take him seriously as a combatant." Mand'alor extrapolates, and I nod.

"That, plus this new Death Star development…and suddenly, what felt like long odds seem even longer." Sabine sits on the arm of a chair.

"But there's a plan being drawn up." Mand'alor says.

Carid smiles. "Yes, the smuggler Lando Calrissian has already flown back with a Wookie, Chewbacca to free Han Solo from the Hutts."

"To Tatooine. I meant a plan for this Death Star, but okay."

Lot of balls in the air.

"Right now, we're lying low and letting Leia and Lando plan out Han's escape. The only way we get involved—" I gesture to Sabine and I. "Is if their plan goes bad. We'll shoot up the place and simply take what they need, politics be damned."

Mand'alor nods. "I can handle the Hutts when they get angry for impeding on their sovereign territory. Where is this Death Star?"

"Endor's small forest moon." Carid nods. "We located it last week, after a Bothan spy operation lost every last man to get the information to us." Right away, Mand'alor freezes up.

Heavy price to pay.

"That's asking a lot of them. But the intel is sound. And the security codes." Mand'alor continues.

Sabine nods, then swallows a bite of her pastry. "And the security codes to get us, then Luke down onto the planet."

"You're going?"

I smile, then nod to Sabine. "We are."

"Primus, Will, Darcy, yourself Sabine. All of you." Mand'alor clarifies.

"Yes. We have to try and stop it before it becomes operational and a planet goes full Alderaan. Or Jedha." I say firmly.

"Or our fears the day Jedha fell will become true." Carid speaks up. "And the Empire will strike here."

"How?"

Sabine smiles. "The Star."

"They'll know that's Mandalorian." Mand'alor counters.

"But there's a garrison of commandoes down there, providing backup for the shield generator. We're planning on going and chatting with them." Sabine says casually.

"And if they say no?"

Sabine and I share a glance, then she looks to the floor. "Well, then they won't like what comes next. Because Luke's group will need backup on the surface of Endor." I frown.

Mand'alor sits there for a moment, sips his caf. "Endor."

"That's the one." I smile.

"Never heard of it."

"You probably will have after we're done there." Sabine jokes, which gets a begrudging smile out of him. "Now why'd you call us here again?"