Sabine dozed off at some point. When she awoke with a start, it was just her and Spectre-3. Or whatever the astromech's name was.
Sabine stared at Spectre-3 for several minutes. He didn't have eyes, but Sabine knew he was staring right back. She snorted, and Spectre-3 gave an offended chirp.
"I didn't say anything," Sabine said.
Spectre-3 chirped darkly. A scomp link unfolded from his front and sparked.
"Are you… threatening me?" Sabine shook her head, then winced at the motion. "First time an astromech's done that."
Spectre-3's dome spun as he gave an annoyed squeal.
"No, you aren't really that intimidating." Sabine stole a glance at the closed door, then whispered, "You're too cute for that."
Specre-3 squealed and raced backward, crashing into the wall and knocking himself over. Before Sabine could make a move to help him -astromechs were notorious for falling over and beeping helplessly until someone lifted them up- Spectre-3's struts flipped over backwards, pushing him back upright.
"Alright, I'm impressed," Sabine said over Spectre-3's furious beeping.
The door slid open. Sabine jerked herself upright, hissing when the sudden motion made her lungs clench. But she didn't cough, so she leveled a glare at the door.
"Good, you're awake," Hera said, ignoring both Sabine's glare and Spectre-3's beeping complaints. "Are you hungry?"
Sabine opened her mouth, then her stomach growled. She felt her expression turn sheepish.
"...yeah."
Hera handed the tray in her hands to Sabine, then went to the door. Sabine thought she would leave, but Hera just grabbed a second tray and a chair from the hall, and sat beside the bed.
Chopper left the room, grumbling that it was Hera's turn to watch "the prisoner." Sabine looked at Hera, who was watching her.
"You aren't our prisoner," Hera assured her.
Sabine averted her eyes, deciding to focus on her tray. It held a mug of water, a sandwich, and a fist-sized purple fruit. Nothing fancy, but way better than anything she'd eaten at the Academy.
"Why?"
Hera, her own sandwich halfway to her mouth, paused and raised an eyebrow. "Why what?"
"Why are you helping me?" Sabine asked.
Hera tilted her head. "Why wouldn't we? You're just a kid."
"I can take care of myself," Sabine hissed, turning her head away.
"SS36, you-"
Sabine jumped, jerking her shoulders straighter and turning her head back to Hera. She stopped herself from saluting, but not before her hand was raised halfway.
Hera stared at her, whatever she was saying forgotten. Her expression held such confusion and concern, Sabine knew it wasn't fake.
Sabine wanted nothing more than to tell the kind woman and her crew that she was a criminal, a runaway. Maybe they wouldn't care. Maybe they'd help her.
Sabine looked away. "You're very kind to help a stranger, but I should go."
"Where are you headed?" Hera asked, something new and sad in her tone.
"I…" Sabine's mind raced for a destination, any place at all! "I…"
Heavy footsteps saved Sabine from answering. She and Hera looked toward the door as a stranger appeared.
Sabine didn't recognize his kind. Purple, slightly furry with green eyes, pointed ears, and knobby joints, Sabine might have called him a tooka frog if he wasn't easily the tallest person of the Spectres so far.
"We've got TIEs on radar," he told Hera.
Sabine stiffened, but Hera rolled her eyes.
"I thought we lost them in the asteroid field," Hera said. "Spectre-4, get to the tail gun, and tell Spectre-1 to get up top."
Spectre-4 nodded. Giving Sabine just a brief glance, he ran down the hall. Hera stood with her tray.
"Wait here. We can talk later," Hera said.
Sabine narrowed her eyes, but Hera just gave her a kind smile before hurrying out. Moments later, Sabine felt a sinking sensation as the ship quickly rose.
Sabine leaned against the wall. As long as she was alone for a bit, she should figure out someplace for the Spectres to bring her. They hadn't shown any interest in turning her into the Empire; maybe they'd agree to drop her off someplace and pretend they never saw her.
The ship lurched suddenly, nearly throwing Sabine to the floor before she caught herself. A crash came from down the hall, then Spectre-3's offended shriek rang through the ship.
"Well, get up here and fix the stabilizers!" Hera yelled back. Over the ship comm, she said, "We lost the shields. Everyone, hold on!"
Even with the warning, Sabine slipped to the floor when the ship whipped up sideways. She tumbled across the room and into the hall before the ship leveled.
"Ow…"
Holding her head, Sabine sat up. She looked to her left, where the hall led to a big room, then to the right, which opened into the cockpit.
Spectre-3 was in front of a control panel, working with his scomp link while complaining nonstop. Hera, seated in the pilot's chair, ignored the complaints, solely focused forward.
Sabine watched, impressed, as Hera dipped and dodged through pillars of stone. Red bolts struck the pillars around them, but Hera weaved through them all with a grace Sabine had never seen, not even in the supposedly best instructors of the Academy.
The image was shattered when the ship jolted forward. Sabine stumbled into the doorway and caught herself. Spectre-3 squealed and toppled backward, sparking.
"Oh-" Hera glanced back, then threw the ship around a pillar. "Hey, sit down, this is going to get rough!"
Sabine edged toward an extra seat, but paused beside Spectre-3. He was still sparking, but he didn't seem damaged overall. Maybe… Sabine knelt beside the astromech.
Flipping a switch, Hera added over the comms, "Spectre-3 is down, so we're not getting shields. Spectres one and four, get shooting would you?"
"We are!" came two annoyed responses.
"Yeah, well, do it better. Hey!"
Sabine jumped at Hera's shout. She looked up from where she was fiddling with Spectre-3's wires to see Hera turned halfway in her seat, glaring.
"Get away from my astromech," Hera ordered.
"Who's-" Kanan started over the comms, then changed to, "Do you have a death wish, girl?"
"Just fly," Sabine snapped with all the attitude that always annoyed her instructors. "I can get him working again."
Hera raised an eyebrow, and Sabine got the sense that Kanan wasn't exaggerating about the death wish. But Kanan shouted about an incoming wall, and Hera had to turn back to her flying to avoid it.
With Hera distracted, Sabine reached back into Spectre-3. All that had happened was a short burst of power had blown a couple wires out of place, so Sabine quickly secured them. She switched his power back on and closed up the panel, raising her hands when Spectre-3 powered up with a shriek.
"What are you doing back there?!" Hera growled, unable to turn yet.
"Easy, easy, both of you." Sabine had to chuckle. "Feel better, little guy?"
Spectre-3 stopped shrieking, then gave a small chirp of confirmation.
"What? You-"
Hera turned for a few seconds, eyeing Spectre-3 righting himself. When Hera's gaze landed on her, Sabine raised her hands defensively.
"I don't want to get shot out of the sky, either," Sabine said.
Hera's annoyed expression faded to a pleased smile. "Can you shoot?"
"Top of-"
Sabine clamped her mouth shut and mentally kicked herself for her habitual response. Hera's head tilted, then she faced forward.
"Go down the ladder behind you and get into the nose gun," Hera said. Over the comms, she said, "Spectre 1, guns forward; I'm tired of being chased."
Sabine jumped to her feet and slid down the ladder, then had to grab the ladder to steady herself. Blinking away her doubling vision, Sabine pushed herself down a short hall to a small gunner post.
"In position," Sabine called to Hera.
"Hold on."
Sabine jerked forward as the ship came to a complete stop mid-air. Before Sabine could react to the crazy stunt, three TIEs shot by.
Sabine automatically tracked the TIE furthest to the left. She swung the gun around and fired twice, hitting the TIE on the second shot. The highest TIE was struck from the top cannon a second later.
"Now you're shooting!" Hera cheered as the ship leaped after the final TIE.
"Great shooting, kid!" Kanan praised.
Sabine flushed. She was just doing what she'd been taught for the last few years. She was top of her class, but nobody had ever praised her skills. It felt… nice.
Sabine shook off her thoughts as the TIE dropped under a stone arch that Hera had to pass over. She regretted the action as her vision doubled again. She tried to blink everything back to normal, as the TIE was staying too low for Kanan to take out.
Squinting, Sabine tracked the TIE as Hera maneuvered recklessly after it. Her head pounded harder the longer she concentrated, making it harder to focus on the TIE.
"Steady," Sabine murmured as she lined up the cannon. "Steady…"
The first shot went high, and the TIE dropped lower in response. Sabine quickly readjusted, firing as the TIE shot under another stone arch, receiving temporary protection.
Hera said something, but Sabine was too focused on the TIE to listen. Sabine guessed where the TIE would reappear, and fired. An explosion lit up the sky.
"Got it!"
Sabine threw herself back in the seat, grinning amidst the Spectre's cheering.
"Scans show we're clear," Hera said. "Everyone can relax."
Sabine put her hands on her knees and started to stand, but froze when the room spun. She scrambled to grab the seat, creating a clatter when her hands struck the cannon controls.
"Everything okay?" Hera asked.
Sabine opened her mouth to answer, but couldn't get the words out. Or maybe she did, but her ears had begun to ring and she could barely hear herself think. She pushed herself upright, thinking it would help.
Instead, white pressed on her vision. The others were shouting, but she couldn't make out the words. Everything tilted sideways, then the world went dark.
A/N: I think Sabine holds the record of being KO'd in canon (primarily thanks to the loth wolves XD) so I'm just... continuing that theme.