The New Rebellion
Chapter 1 – Hope
Disclaimer – I don't own anything.
Ezra POV
The busy hustle of the Rebellion base once again woke me from my sleep. Begrudgingly I rollover and look to the clock to see the time as midday. Eyes widening in realisation I leap from my bed change into my normal clothes and pulls my lightsaber to me before darting out the door towards the training room on Yavin 4. Probing out with the force I sense the frustration coming from my masters before entering the room.
"Ah Ezra how nice of you to join us." Kanan says sarcastically with his back turned to Ezra.
"Sorry masters, normally I am awoken by the busy hustle but I guess not today." I say as I make my way over to the water fountain and fills myself a cup.
"Perhaps we need to set an alarm for you Ezra." Ahsoka says calmly appearing alongside Kanan.
"Perhaps so." I say casually as I finish my drink and places the cup down.
"Now that you are here Ezra I think it is time for us to do a little spar." Kanan said stepping forward. Kanan switched his lightsaber into training mode and I swiftly follow him.
"Ok Ezra no pressure just play your game and you'll be fine." Ahsoka says off to the side. I only nod in reply before igniting my lightsaber and getting to ready position.
'Ok Ezra, you know how Kanan fights, he likes to probe around and try to find an opening before striking a decisive blow. Perhaps if I can open up an area that Kanan won't be able to resist I can lead him straight into a trap and capitalise from it.'
I glance up from my saber and see Kanan smiling at me before he also takes his ready position and charges towards me. Being prepared for the initial attack I easily block the first strike and manage to spin away. Blocking a series of attack I decide to do my own probing, between saber strike I manage to sneak in a few jabs that are easily batted away by Kanan.
After several more saber locks I decide to push the offensive. I make a decisive downwards slash that Kanan blocks, I quickly follow it up by spinning backwards and swiping across low that Kanan easily jumps over.
"Clever." Ahsoka comments from the sidelines.
"Is this all you have got Ezra. I thought I trained you better than this." Kanan tries angering me. 'I won't let it get to me.'
For what feels like the fiftieth time me and Kanan's sabers lock but this time instead of breaking it straight away it holds for longer forcing me to put more and more effort into holding back Kanans strength. Thinking on my feet I take one hand off my saber and force push Kanan away from the saber lock which temporarily gives me some time to recover.
"Wasn't expecting that I must say. But it won't matter." Kanan says confidently.
It was during this short period of rest bite that I realised the room have filled up since the start of the fight. Sabine had come and sat down on one of the large containers watching aswell as Rex and Echo leaning against the door to the room.
"Eyes on Bridger!" Kanan says as he charges at me. Instead of instantly blocking I decide to let the force decide my next movements. Closing my eyes I allow my body to be guided by the force dodging all of Kanans attacks.
"This is a first." Sabine mutters beside Ahsoka noticing Ezra's new technique. Ahsoka is too dumbfounded to respond so instead just nods.
Finally seizing the opportunity I open my eyes to instantly block Kanans attack before thinking, using Kanans surprise I push the offensive sending many jabs and slashes Kanans way making it as awkward as possible for him to block each and everyone. Eventually I back Kanan into a corner only to have my attack predicted and countered perfectly by Kanan which is followed up by a swift kick under the legs knocking me to the floor before pointing his saber at my face.
Accepting my defeat I rest my head back and deactivate my saber whilst letting out a breath I didn't realise I was holding. The thing that surprised me the most was the round of applause that sounded around the room while I was still lying on the floor. 'They are clapping Kanan again for another win, it won't be the last either.' I say to myself.
The applause keeps going for a while and I start to wonder why they haven't stopped. Lifting myself from the ground I look up at Kanan and see even he is clapping. 'Why is he clapping, they are clapping for him in the first place'.
Kanan briefly stops clapping to pull me up to my feet. Finally able to take in the surroundings I take notice of the people that have gathered during the match. Hera was here, along with Chopper, Zeb, and even Commander Sato which surprised me the most. Slowly the clapping stops and Ahsoka is the first to speak up.
"I don't know who you are but what have you done with Ezra?" Ahsoka asks with a smile on her face and is followed by a series of laughter.
"Kid that might have been the best I have seen you fight." Kanan says as he claps me on the shoulder smiling.
"What did I do?" I ask confused. My first response was in the form of stunned faces before Rex spoke up.
"What you did Kid was attune yourself with the force allowing your movements to become fluid and instinctually which ultimately gave you more time to formulate an attack over several attacks from Kanan."
"Kandosii." Sabine says in her native tongue.
"Sabine you know I can't understand Mandalorian." I groan as I shift my gaze over to Sabine.
"Well looks like you have another thing to add to your list, learn Mandalorian." Sabine said with a smile. "You might even be able to keep up with me now in a fight, key word maybe." Sabine continues to smile at me.
"I hate to break up the moment but we have something to discuss." Commander Sato said stepping forward. Chopper plugs into the hollow projector with pops up with a series of map charts.
"We managed to pick up a faint distress signal from the Agamar system. From what we can tell there is no imperial presence there so it should be a simple mission of checking out the distress signal. I have personally selected Ezra and Sabine for this mission, you may take the gauntlet. We are expecting a report once you have arrived in the system and have assessed the distress signal." Sato finished.
"Now you two be careful, we don't know what is out there but unfortunately we can't afford to send more than your lot but of course if you get into trouble we will be sending support." Hera said as she came and rested a hand on each Sabine and Is shoulder.
"Will do Hera." I reply confidently and Sabine nods along with me. "Now then off you go."
Sabine and I leave the training room/ conference room and make our way towards my ship, the gauntlet. "You think they will be ok?" Kanan asks Hera.
"I'm sure. Those two have the deepest bond out of all us, they know each other's limits, strengths, weaknesses, they trust each other and would probably give there lives for each other. There would not better pair then them to do a mission together." Hera says with absolute confidence.
"I agree." Kanan says simply looking towards the door Ezra and Sabine just exited before turning back to the meeting.
Normal POV
"Ezra… what was that back there?" Sabine asked confused.
"To be honest Sabine I don't know, I just let the force guide my movements and I guess it payed off." Ezra said.
"You can't just shrug that off Ezra, you managed to dodge several of Kanans well placed attacks without even breaking a sweat. That's not something that just comes naturally." Sabine said as she and Ezra walk up the ramp of the Gauntlet.
"Anyway what do you possibly think could be out there in the Agamar system?" Ezra asked as he sat in the pilot seat.
"I'm not sure, I did some reading on this system before and there wasn't much apart from some old clone wars station but that was said to have been destroyed." Sabine replied as she took her seat.
"Gauntlet you are cleared for takeoff, have a safe trip." The flight commander said over the comm.
"Thank you Tower, see you in a few." Ezra said into the comm as he took off from Yavin 4. "Clone wars you say?" Ezra replied to Sabine.
"Yeah, how much do you know?" Sabine asked as put her legs up on the dash.
"Not much, only that the Jedi had an army of clones and they were fighting the separatists who had a droid army." Ezra replied as he put the coordinates of the Agamar system into the ship and made the jump to hyperspace.
Sabine laughed before saying. "You weren't lying, you really don't know much." Sabine continues to laugh.
"Alright laugh it up." Ezra says with a smirk as Sabine's laughter slows down.
"It's a lot more widespread then a few system Ezra, this war covered most of the known galaxy, it purged planets of their people, it sent many a government into disrepair and most importantly Ezra it caused the death of so many people, including some in my own as well as yours." Sabine said seriously.
"Mandalore had a lot of presence in the clone wars didn't it?" Ezra asked.
"You could say that." Sabine says with a small laugh. "Mandalorians and Jedi don't often mix, something about the pride both of us carry gets in the way of each other and often leads to conflict."
"Well we haven't led to conflict yet." Ezra says with a smile.
"Don't push it." Sabine says smiling.
"So what could possibly be out here then if the station was destroyed?" Ezra asked.
"Honestly don't know, it could be anything, an imperial ship, a rebel cell ship or maybe a beacon left behind by that station that has only now just be activated." Sabine said.
"Maybe." Ezra said simply before thinking back on his sparring session. Ezra didn't even know what he was doing, never before had he thought of allowing the force to guide his movements in a fight before and it seemed to work out well. Despite this Ezra knows that he can't always allow the force to guide his movements he also needs to use his mind to figure out his opponents form and the weaknesses that it has so Ezra can capitalise on it. The rest of the trip was silent until Ezra's ship pinged notifying the pair that they were exiting hyperspace.
"Time to see what this was all about." Sabine said taking her feet off the dash and pressing multiple buttons.
The ship lurches out of hyperspace and comes to a stop. Both kids stare open mouthed at the sight before them. "I thought you said it was destroyed." Ezra said breathlessly.
"I thought it would be… Ezra do you realise how big this is! This could be our new base away from base!" Sabine smiled widely. Ezra had never he her so happy since she met her parents again on Krownest. Ever since the day Ezra joined the Ghost crew he had always admired Sabine and her talents, but he would be lying to himself if he denied that fact that he was massively crushing on her then. Now it had changed, Ezra and Sabine were the pair that could completely rely on each not only during combat but also on much more personal matters.
Ezras little crush never went away, it's always been there he has just learned to hide his feelings in times when emotion is dangerous. He told himself that he would always be open with her and do anything to keep her and their family on the Ghost safe no matter the cost. Sabine voice broke him out of his trance that he didn't realise he was staring at Sabine the whole time. "Why are you staring at me?" Sabine snapped the smile now vanished from her face.
"I've never seen you so happy Sabine, at least since Krownest." Ezra said quietly.
Sabine immediately felt bad for the tone she used. "I'm sorry Ezra I shouldn't have snapped at you." Sabine said resting a hand on his shoulder.
Ezra rested his own hand upon Sabine's and squeezed it gently before saying. "Let's go check out this station". Sabine released her hand from Ezra's shoulder but not before noticing his hand linger where hers had been. Ezra took the ship in towards the station and as expected wasn't contacted by anything from within the station so decided to land in one of the many hangars.
"Can you imagine the amount of ships we could store in here." Sabine said in awe.
"Can you imagine the amount of ships we could build in a station like this. Just look around, this place was designed to house, build and repair fighters." Ezra said in addition.
"Put it down Ezra let's go take a look around." Sabine said moving out the chair and towards the ramp.
Ezra put the ship down and joined Sabine in the back just as she put her helmet on before opening the ramp into the hangar. Scattered around the massive hangar was hundreds of unopened crates. Curiosity got the better of Sabine and before Ezra knew it she had popped open one of the crates and peered inside. The only response Ezra heated was a loud wolf whistle before she had popped open another two crates.
"Ezra you weren't wrong. This place was designed to house, store and build fighters maybe even battleships." Sabine said coming back over to Ezra. "Ever single one of these crates is full of repair kits, to wing parts and even some hyperdrive parts."
"This is big Sabine, this is exactly what the Rebellion needs." Ezra said smiling now.
"Come on, let's go check out the command centre!" Sabine said excitedly as she practically dragged Ezra around the station pointing out almost everything the station had. A old but fully equipped medical centre that could easily be upgraded, cabin quarters for at least a couple of thousand people at first guess but likely a lot more.
What shocked Ezra and Sabine the most was there was 5 more hangars at the station all filled to the brim with parts for fighters. Eventually the pair made it to the command centre to no ones surprise to find it empty.
"Sabine don't power the station up the Empire will notice." Ezra warned.
"Well duh yeah of course you doofus." Sabine replied with a smirk as she got to work on a terminal.
Ezra's smile faded into a frown at her words that didn't go unnoticed by Sabine. Sabine sighed before making her way back over to Ezra. She placed both of her hands on his shoulders before saying. "Alright what's up with you?" Sabine asked seriously.
"What? Nothings wrong.. Sabine!" Ezra said with a stutter.
"Uh huh nope. Not now Bridger. You have frowned at every tease or comment I have made today, what's the matter with you." Sabine said with a stern expression. Ezra thought to himself 'I can't tell her the real reason she will just shrug it off and say that she is fine by herself which I don't doubt.'
"So Bridger what's it gonna be." Sabine pushed again. "Don't make me force it out of you because I will."
"Alright fine." Ezra finally caved. "I feel like it's my duty to protect you and everyone on the Ghost. I have thought about this a lot Sabine, why would I end up in a crew, a family with all of you for no reason, there has to be a reason why I am here with you and the crew."
"Ah Ezra." Sabine said before she quickly wrapped him in a hug. Ezra froze at first before settling into the hug and bringing his arms around to hug Sabine back. Sabine only smiled more into Ezra's shoulder. After a minute or so Sabine slowly began to remove herself from Ezra's arms only to stare him right in the face.
"You know Ezra I can-" Sabine started before being cut off.
"Take care of yourself I know." Ezra said with a sigh as he walked away slightly turning his back to Sabine. Instinctively Sabine reached out toward Ezra but quickly withdrew her arm. "I knew that's what your answer would be Sabine, that's why I didn't want to say."
"Ezra." Sabine paused slightly. "Where have these thoughts come from?"
"Just looking around at Yavin 4, everyone has a job, a role there. You, you're the weapons expert. Hera, she leads Phoenix squadron into battle. Kanan and Ahsoka, they are more and better trained then me and can help with important decisions. Me, well I don't have a role, I train with Kanan and Ahsoka for a short period every day, go to the gym, eat food and then sleep. It's the same everyday." Ezra finished quietly.
"Your looking for a purpose." Sabine summarised sadly.
"Putting it simply yes." Ezra said.
"Ezra why do you have to be like this." Sabine said seriously now.
"Like what?" Ezra asked turning to look at Sabine.
"You know you are far from useless or purposeless." Sabine said taking a step forward.
"But-" Ezra started before being cut off.
"Ezra Bridger!" Sabine shouted and Ezra instantly shut up. "Listen to me Ezra." Sabine said her tone much softer. "You know you are from useless. You are one of four known Jedi in the entire galaxy that in itself is a purpose. Not only that but you have helped build this Rebellion from the very beginning, most would say you deserve a break." Sabine finished a bit louder again and stopped right before Ezra.
"Ever since you joined us 2 years ago, it has never been the same." Sabine said taking Ezra's hands in her own. Ezra froze once again but Sabine continued. "At first I just thought you were another cocky kid that's doesn't care about anyone but himself and by god how wrong I was. Over the 2 years you have become my best friend Ezra not only on the battlefield but also the person I know I can trust no matter the circumstances. I know I can talk to you about anything Ezra and I know you feel the same. This rebellion, this life, my life wouldn't be the same without you or anyone in it for that matter." Sabine finished smiling widely at Ezra.
Ezra was in shock. Never had he thought in his life that Sabine would be able to say something like that to him without any errors or second thoughts. Ezra didn't know what to do except smile and keep holding Sabine's hands.
"See there is the Ezra I know." Sabine laughed and Ezra quickly joined in. To Sabines surprise Ezra hugged her this time but she relished in the contact and was quick to hug him back.
"Thank you Sabine, for everything." Ezra whispered with his mouth right next to Sabine's ear, Sabine only hugged Ezra tighter. The moment was broken by a ping from one of the terminals. The two separated and Sabine went over to the terminal.
"What is it?" Ezra asked taking a step forward to stand at Sabine's side.
"Oh yeah sorry I forgot, before 'that'" Sabine said whilst pointing to where they were just standing. "I programmed the long distance communicator towards base so that we could comm them and tell them what's here." Sabine said before hitting the button and Hera appeared in the middle of the room and if she was really there.
"Sabine Ezra? What's the problem?" Hera asked frantically.
"Wow chill out Hera." Sabine said trying to calm the Twi'lek down.
"You kids have been gone for hours, we thought you would have commed us already." Hera said.
"We are fine Hera, there is just so much here." Ezra says.
"What do you mean so much there?" Hera asks with concern.
"Come see for yourself, trust me it's worth it." Sabine said with a smile.
"If you say so, we will be there soon kids." Hera said as she moved to turn off the comm.
"Was that them?" Kanan asks as he walks into the cockpit of the Ghost.
"Yeah, they told us to come to them and Sabine said it's worth it." Hera said with a shrug.
"I guess we should get going shouldn't we then." Ahsoka says as she joins the pair in the cockpit.
"Not without me you don't." Zeb said as he and chopper arrive.
"I guess we are all going." Kanan says pointing out the obvious.
"Something tells me the Rebellion is about to turn over a new leaf." Ahsoka says.
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Hi guys thanks for reading the first chapter. I plan on uploading a new chapter every week on Thursday so look out for the next chapter. Don't forget to follow if you like the story and review if you have any questions or any suggestions for this story moving forward. Thanks again, see you next Thursday!