Luke's New Teacher:

D1/0 ABY

Hera and her crew watched from the safety of the Ghost, far removed from the battle, as the Death Star exploded into a billion little pieces. They'd listened, barely breathing, to the comms as the battle was fought and pilot after pilot was lost in a desperate attempt to hit a tiny target. One minute, Hera was wishing she were out there fighting with them, making that run through impossible odds herself. The next she was glad she was far removed, not wanting Jacen to grow up without a mother. Losing his father was bad enough. She also sort of wished that Kanan and Ezra were here; knowing either of them could have made that shot using the Force, yet would never have wanted to see them take the risk.

There was a massive cheer from her crew of males, and Hera finally relaxed, allowing herself to enjoy the sight of Imperial fireworks. Aside from her Jedi, the only thing missing right now from this moment was Sabine. The biggest explosion ever caused by Rebel forces was taking place and she wasn't here to see it.

Speaking of, Hera set the comm to call Sabine. A moment later, she answered sounding rather stressed. "Yes, Hera? Please tell me you have good news this time."

Hera smiled. "Do I ever. The Death Star was just destroyed, only seconds away from being in range of Yavin 4."

"Yes!" Sabine cheered. "Thank the Force. You have no idea what it's been like, sitting here, not knowing what was going on. I'm comming Ryder with the good news and then I'm on my way there. I have a new little brother to meet."

Hera laughed and so did all the guys around her, who'd stopped their cheering and back slapping to listen to the conversation. "That's great, Sabine. We'll see you on Yavin soon."

Everyone could hear the smile and relief in Sabine's voice as she replied with a firm, "Yes you will."

Hera ended the call and turned to her crew of Zeb, Rex, and Wolff, and the along for the ride Kallus, because Zeb refused to let him stay on Yavin with the Death Star approaching. (He'd practically carried Kallus to the Ghost to make it happen.) "Alright boys, break time's over. Back to the base we go, as I'm sure there is going to be a lot of work for us to do." As they groaned behind her, Hera smiled to herself and steered the Ghost back towards Yavin 4, just a speck in the distance.

D2/0 ABY, Hyperspace, en route to Yavin IV

Sabine tossed restlessly on her bed in the Lothhawk. She was supposed to be catching up on sleep while the ship took her to meet her new baby brother, but she just couldn't settle down. She should be ecstatic right now.

The Rebellion had defeated an Imperial super weapon.

Hera had safely delivered her son, even as a war was going on.

Lothal was safe again and starting to thrive.

All things that should have Sabine resting easily for once. But she couldn't sleep because something was missing. SOMEONE was missing.

Ezra should be here too.

I NEED Ezra to be here too.

Shabla, Ez'ika. I miss you.

Sabine hugged a pillow to her chest tightly, wishing it was him, slow tears winding down her cheeks and falling into her hair.

Happy fourth anniversary, Ez, wherever you are.

At the same time on Cerulia,

Ezra gazed up at the stars in the brilliant night sky as he lay on his back with his fingers interlocked behind his head on the beach by the gently swooshing ocean. He'd long ago lost track of what day it was exactly, but he still had a general idea, and somehow, it felt right as he thought, Happy fourth anniversary, Sabine. I hope you're okay.

Yavin IV

Luke Skywalker picked up the medal hanging on his chest and couldn't decide if he was amused by it or thrilled to get it. He'd only done what was needed, and didn't feel like a medal was really necessary. On the other hand, the absolutely amazing and beautiful Princess Leia had given it to him, so he was pretty sure he was going to treasure it forever. He wished he could maybe work up the courage to ask her on a date or something, but he'd seen the way she and Han looked at each other. They might fight like tookas and deny it until the nerfs came home, but the attraction between them was undeniable.

"Luke. Luuuuke."

"Yo, Luke. Her 'Highness' wants you."

Luke finally realized that he was being addressed. By the two people in question no less. He looked up and pulled the medal over his head, stuffing it into a pocket as if that had been his intention all along, trying not to blush in embarrassment for getting caught ogling it. 'What? Sorry," he mumbled. "What's up?" he asked again.

Leia laughed at him and grabbed his arm, tugging him along the hallways and towards the exit to the base. "Come on, Luke. I have someone you should meet. General Syndulla is our best pilot and I'm sure you two will have lots to talk about."

Luke glanced back at a somewhat glowering Han, who was following them and they exchanged a confused shrug, He looked at Leia again, willingly letting himself be pulled along. "If this General Syndulla is your best pilot, how come he wasn't in the battle yesterday?" Luke asked curiously.

"Yah," Han added. "Even I pitched in, and I'm not part of your Rebellion."

Leia came to a dead stop and dropped Luke's arm, whirling around and smiling oh so sweetly up into Han's face. "Actually, Han Solo, I do believe you are part of this Rebellion now. You came back. That counts for a lot in my books. And if you stay, I'm sure we can make it worth your while." The innuendos were dripping from her overly sweet voice, and Luke had to swallow the laugh that tried to escape. She pressed a hand to the smuggler's chest, and Han visibly stopped breathing. "We need talented pilots like you, Han. Please say you'll stay." Luke couldn't see her eyes, but he just bet their chocolate depths were doing a first class job of begging and smouldering right now, based on how Han gulped.

"Um, sure. I guess Chewie and I could stay for a little while," Han admitted.

The Princess must have smiled at Han like the sun, because his face lit up in return. "Excellent," she purred, patting his cheek, before turning back to Luke and grabbing his arm again, like he couldn't be trusted to walk in the same direction as her. "And to answer your question, Luke, the General didn't fight in the battle yesterday because SHE just had a baby. I haven't seen him yet, but the rumours flying around the base are that he's the cutest baby ever born."

Luke gaped at Leia. This general, best pilot, whatever, was a female? And had a baby? That didn't sound very military. But hey, who was he to judge? He had no formal training and yet he'd been welcomed into the Rebellion with open arms. He glanced back at Han, who wasn't glowering any more but appeared to be staring at the back of Leia with a dreamy expression, and they exchanged shrugs again.

It didn't take very long for them to reach daylight, which Luke had to blink a few times to see in, after the darker hallways of the ancient base. Leia led them past what was left of their fleet of fighters and the Falcon, towards a Correllian freighter that had been fitted with some very impressive guns. Parked beside it was a gorgeous red and black Gauntlet class Mandalorian ship that Luke was drooling over in an instant. He'd never seen a Mandalorian ship in person before, but he'd seen images on the holonet and thought they were the best looking ships in the Galaxy. He nodded at the Gauntlet. "Who's ship is that?" he asked. "It wasn't here a few hours ago."

Leia looked at the Gauntlet as well and sighed. "That's Ez... umm, Sabine Wren's ship. She's part of the General's crew. At least, she was. Then the whole thing with Lothal happened and everything changed." She sighed again. "It's a long story, but it can wait for another time."

Luke and Han both looked at her curiously but held it in. There had been rumours about a planet called Lothal. Rumours that Lothal had made their Imperial fleet disappear. Most people thought the rumours were a bunch of bantha poodoo. Maybe there was some truth to them.

Leia walked up to the open ramp of the freighter, and Luke glanced at Han again, seeing the older man looking at the ship assessingly. "Well, it's no Falcon," he mumbled to himself, "but not bad." Luke and Leia grinned at each other.

"I'll have to tell Hera you said so," Leia teased. "The Ghost is our most successful ship in the entire Rebellion with more wins against the Empire than any other three ships combined. And it's only because of Hera of course. She really is the best pilot we have." Catching the hurt looks from the guys, she quickly tacked on, "Until now, of course," which mollified Luke and Han.

Leia walked up the ramp, the guys following behind her, and then climbed a ladder into the bridge area, which was empty right now. Luke glanced around curiously, impressed with what he'd seen so far. They walked through a door, down a hallway, through two more doors and they were suddenly in a common room that was already crowded with people. Luke saw a bunch of humans, including his new friend Wedge, a purple striped lasat that was in an assessing glare off with Chewie, a female Mandalorian (judging by her armour), and holding centre stage, a pretty light green twi'lek with a human hybrid baby in her arms. Luke was guessing the twi'lek was the infamous General Syndulla.

Hera looked up and spotted the newcomers, a big smile crossing her face. "Leia! You're back!" She patted a spot beside her on the bench. "Come. Sit. Jacen's awake this time, and somehow, everyone heard about it and we seem to be gathering a crowd." Her eyes rolled at the multiple people milling in the common room. "I'm going to have to start charging admission," she teased lightly, raising her voice just enough that everyone could hear her, getting a chuckle from the assembled.

Leia sat beside Hera and gave the baby an appropriate amount of admiration and cooing, before introducing the guys that had followed her. "Hera, these are our heroes of the day, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. Luke is the one who made the shot that saved us all."

Luke felt his face heat in embarrassment and ducked his head, staring at his boots. "It was nothing. Really. I had the help of the Force."

Sabine spun around from where she'd been talking to Rex and Wolffe when she heard someone mention the Force.

Hera's eyes widened and she looked at the young man closer, spotting the lightsabre hanging off his belt. "You're a Jedi?"

Luke looked up again, surprised she even knew the term. Jedi had basically disappeared from the Galaxy and the Empire had done their best to make people forget. He shrugged. "Sort of? My father was a Jedi. And I had just started training with Master Kenobi when he was killed by Darth Vader. I actually know very little about being a Jedi, but I do have the Force I guess."

Hera and Sabine paled at hearing that Master Kenobi was dead. Ezra had gone looking for him once, believing Kenobi to be the answer to everything. He'd be devastated to hear the sad news. If he ever came back to hear it, that is. "I'm sorry, Luke. I wish things had turned out differently for you," Hera said as she looked down at the baby in her arms, her face now filled with sadness. "I had two Jedi in my family once. This little one's father was one. He could have helped train you. But he's gone now, lost in the war."

Her voice was breaking at the end, and her eyes misting, making Luke feel awful for ever mentioning the Force in the first place. As Leia wrapped a comforting arm around Hera's shoulders, Luke looked away and was caught in the gaze of the Mandalorian female.

He sucked in a breath, stunned by how exquisite she was. He'd thought the Princess was beautiful. Now he knew he'd underestimated what true beauty really was. This female had massive amber eyes that were lit with an inner fire and shoulder length chocolate hair that transitioned into purple near the ends. He glanced up and down her lean body, noting the curves, while admiring the colourful artwork on her armour plating. He'd never seen anything like it. She had two blasters strapped to her upper thighs and he had a feeling she knew how to use them. Mandalorians had a reputation for being deadly. This must be the Sabine Wren that Leia had mentioned. The one that owned that beautiful ship. When she raised an eyebrow in question, Luke realized he'd been staring for a rather rude length of time. "H... Hi," he finally managed to say. He cleared his throat and stuck out a hand. "I'm Luke."

Sabine's mouth curled up into a half smile, amused by the boy's gawking. He reminded her of Ezra the first time he'd seen her without her helmet. This boy was about Ezra's age as well, although blond and blue eyed, with a cute face that was so much more innocent and naive compared to Ezra's accumulated years of war and heartbreak that lived in his eyes. He couldn't compare to Ezra's absolute gorgeousness either, but he was cute enough. He shouldn't have any problems finding a girl here on the base if that's what he wanted, being the hero of the battle and everything. She grasped his wrist in the Mandalorian way of greeting a fellow warrior and squeezed, pleased when he yelped and pulled his hand back. "I'm Sabine," she said, suppressing a laugh. "I couldn't help but overhear. I've encountered Darth Vader once. He is one scary Darksider. As long as he's alive, no one in this galaxy is safe. And since you seem to be the only 'Jedi' left who could possibly defeat him anytime soon, I think we should do something about your lack of training."

Hera looked up at this. "Sabine! You're not thinking what I think you're thinking? Are you?"

Sabine nodded at Hera, eyes serious. "I think I am, actually. What's the point in having a Force User on our side if he doesn't know how to fight?"

Luke looked back and forth between the two women, completely confused. "Ummm. What are you talking about?"

Sabine grinned at him, making him catch his breath again. Force, she was gorgeous. "I'm going to train you. At least as much as I know, and you'd be amazed at how much I know. Not just about lightsabre fighting either. I had to listen to Kanan teach Ezra for years about the Force and I remember every word. The least I can do is repeat it for you. It'll be up to you to figure it out from there."

Luke gawked at Sabine, along with almost every other person in the room. "You can't be serious? You know how to fight with a lightsabre?"

Sabine nodded, one hundred percent confident in herself. "Yes. I do. Not like a real Force User of course. I can't do all of those fancy gravity defying moves you guys like to do, but I can show you everything that involves keeping your feet on the ground. I know all of the Forms and have watched our Jedi practice many many times."

Luke gawked again, wondering what gravity defying moves she could possibly be talking about. Obi-Wan had never done anything like that that he could remember. He swallowed heavily, suddenly overwhelmed. "Okay. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to learn what you know."

Sabine beamed at him and headed for the door, calling back over her shoulder. "Meet me outside in two minutes. Let's see just how much you do know."

Luke stared at her retreating back, and gulped again. "Not much," he mumbled to himself. Now he was worried about looking like an idiot in front of everyone present and the young woman who had suddenly decided to train him.

He startled when Han clapped him on the back. "Looks like you just found yourself a girl, kid. Congratulations."

Luke blinked up at the taller man. Is that what had just happened?

Hera cleared her throat, and Luke looked back at her. She was shaking her head at him, along with almost everyone in the room. "What?"

Hera sighed. "Sabine is... how do I put this?" She couldn't say married, could she? That still wasn't common knowledge. "Committed, I think is the right word. Ezra is away right now, and will be for awhile yet, but she's quite dedicated to him. Don't get your hopes up."

Luke nodded in understanding and heaved an inner sigh. Of course she was taken. A girl who looked like that would be. He reluctantly walked towards the door, to face his doom at the hands of said girl, followed by every person in the room. Even Hera, who gave the green haired baby to an old C1 droid and told it to take good care of Jacen while she was gone for a few minutes. The droid beeped back an affirmative and held the baby gently in its manipulators, making soft cooing beeping noises to it.

Luke emerged out into the sun where he met Sabine, and his followers quickly formed a loose circle around them. Sensing something interesting happening, all the Rebels in the area quickly joined the circle. Luke suddenly felt like a bug under a magnifier. Of course, Sabine was as cool you could get and smiling like this was going to be fun. Luke was thinking his two days of training with Obi-Wan were going to be woefully inadequate.

And he was right.

Sabine ignited a green lightsabre and Luke followed suit with his blue one. They exchanged two exploratory parries and then she launched into the offensive and ten seconds later, Luke's lightsabre went flying through the air and landed on the ground with a thud. Sabine pointed her lightsabre at him and shook her head. "Alright. That was kind of sad. Shall we try again?" Luke nodded and sighed, wishing this wasn't happening in public. She glanced at his lightsabre pointedly. "Aren't you going to get that?"

Luke started walking towards it and stopped suddenly when the green sabre was instantly in his path. "What now?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Not that way, di'kut. Use the Force and call it back."

Luke didn't know what di'kut meant, but he was sure it wasn't good. "I don't know how to do that," he very reluctantly admitted.

Sabine sighed and turned off her lightsabre. "We have a LOT of work to do. I think I better find some sticks before you get hurt."

Zeb laughed from the sidelines and glanced at the thick forest that surrounded them. "At least there are a lot of sticks here to choose from."

Sabine and the rest of the crowd laughed as well. "You're right, Zeb, unlike a few other places we've been." Sabine turned serious again and addressed her new student. "Okay. Let's try this. If you really are a Force Sensitive, you should be able to call back your lightsabre. From what I understand, there is a crystal inside of it that sings to you, yes?"

Luke nodded. "Yes. It's very nice. I can hear yours too, if I concentrate on it."

Sabine smiled. "Good. That's good. I'm quoting Kanan here when he said that your lightsabre is your life. You need to be able to keep it all times. Close your eyes and feel the crystal inside of it." Luke did as told and connected to his crystal, smiling as the song filled him with peace and happiness. Sabine's voice continued softly in the background. "Now imagine that crystal in your hand. Bring it to you."

Luke wasn't the only one who gasped as he suddenly felt the lightsabre in his hand. He opened his eyes and stared at it in wonder, then looked at Sabine with equal wonder. "Thank you, Sabine. You can teach me anything you want to," he gushed.

The crowd laughed again and Luke flushed red, again, as he realized that might be taken the wrong way. But Sabine just laughed along with the others. "Sure, Luke. I don't mind. But you'll have to come back to Lothal with me, I think. I have a job to do there and training you is going to take longer than my allotted time off. I think I'll teach you how to fight properly while I'm at it. Not just with a lightsabre. It never hurts to know how to punch someone out and I'm getting the impression you've had absolutely no training in anything combat related."

Luke glanced at the ground, embarrassed, but then he looked up and smiled. "Just some street fighting with the other boys on Tatooine. I might not be able to fight with my hands like you, but I bet I could outfly you."

Sabine glanced towards the X-Wing that Luke had used to attack the Death Star with, parked further down the line of ships, and grinned good naturedly, thinking about her Defender and how it was pretty much the fastest fighter ever made. Even Luke wouldn't stand a chance if she was flying her Defender. And honestly, she was no slouch of a pilot either. She had been taught by the best, she thought as she glanced at Hera and saw her smiling indulgently as well. "Possibly," Sabine told Luke. "But I think we'll continue this once we get back to Lothal. Something tells me we need to start at the beginning, and that we should do it where it's a little more quiet," she said to the crowd with a pointed look.

That got more laughter from the crowd as they slowly dispersed, realizing that the training session was over for the moment. A lot of the people on the base had never met the famous Kanan, Ezra, or Ahsoka, but they'd definitely heard about them. They'd also heard a lot about the equally famous Sabine Wren. The common thread of conversation was that everyone was in agreement that the Rebellion's new Jedi was in good hands with Sabine.

Mon Mothma walked up to the crowd of people, regal eyebrow raised in question at everyone not doing their jobs, and whatever stragglers were left instantly vanished, leaving just Hera's crew, Sabine, Luke, Han, Leia and Chewie. Mothma seemed to be headed for Hera, so the rest made way for her. "Hera, can I speak to you in private for a minute?"

Hera nodded. "Of course." She turned and walked back up the ramp of the Ghost, the Senator beside her. Their heads were already bent towards each other as they talked quietly.

Luke joined Han, Leia, and Chewie. "Does anyone know what di'kut means?" he whispered. He sighed when they all shook their heads. Maybe Sabine would explain it one day, or he could try looking it up when he got a chance. Luke was always curious about new things and not knowing something was driving him nuts.

"It means 'idiot' with a hint of friendly affection in Mando'a," a voice said behind him. Luke turned and saw an older man with a grey beard and friendly golden brown eyes behind him. The man stuck out his hand and Luke quickly returned the gesture, this time not surprised when his wrist was grabbed. "The name's Rex. Formerly Captain of the Five Oh First Clone Legion under the command of your father, General Anakin Skywalker. You have no idea how good it is to meet you, Luke Skywalker."

Luke sucked in a breath in surprise. This man was a clone? And he knew his father? "You have to tell me all about him. Please?" he begged. "I know so little."

Rex smiled, happy to tell stories about his time with the often exuberant Jedi Knight. "Sure, Luke. You remind me a lot of him, you know. You look a lot like him and he was the best pilot in the Republic. Except when we were crashing of course. We seemed to do an awful lot of crashing," he said with laughter in his voice along with a healthy dose of nostalgia. Rex glanced up as the women returned from inside the Ghost's cargo bay, spotting the heavy frown on Hera's face. "Uh oh. That look is never a good thing." He focused back on Luke again. "Meet me in the mess hall tonight for dinner and I'll fill your head with stories of your father and the other Jedi. His padawan, Ahsoka Tano is still around somewhere, and whenever she gets back from 'finding Ezra' I'm sure she'll be happy to tell you even more stories."

Luke smiled, overwhelmed again. All this time, he'd been stuck on Tatooine and these people had been out here, fighting a war against the Empire, and they all seemed to know so much more about himself than he did. He finally felt like he was in the right place with the right people.

Hera stopped beside Sabine while Mothma continued back to the base. "It looks like Jacen and I are coming with you back to Lothal, Sabine."

Sabine's head whipped to the side, eyes wide with amazement. "To stay? And why?"

Hera sighed, feeling both lighter and heavier at the same time. Her precious baby would be away from the war but that also meant that she would be as well. "For a year or two. Now that the crisis is over, I'm being put on maternity leave for the next six months whether I like it or not. And Mothma just told me the location of the new base that the Rebellion will be evacuating to shortly."

Sabine studied the frown of displeasure and the shiver that Hera tried to hide and smiled. "It's an ice or winter planet isn't it?" She knew how much Hera hated ice and snow.

Hera raised a brow. "It's Hoth. How did you guess?"

"You shivered," Sabine grinned. "Only the thought of ice and snow makes you shiver when it's perfectly hot out. I take it you don't want to raise Jacen in the snow?"

Hera smiled ruefully. "You take it correctly."

"What about us?" Zeb asked, joining the conversation.

Hera looked at each of her crew in turn, assessing their expressions. "Rex, and Wolffe, you will stay with the Rebellion of course, being much too valuable to the cause for you to leave now. Zeb, Mothma has left it up to you if you want to stay with me or your new friends. I'm fine either way. If you want to stay with the Rebellion, I'll leave you the Phantom 2 and you can come see us on Lothal whenever you have some free time." Her eyes turned to Luke. "And you have been granted permission for a month of training with Sabine. You can stay on my ship in Rex and Wolffe's room for the duration of your stay with us, then Mothma wants you back. We need every pilot we can scrounge up right now. The Empire might have lost their big toy, but they still have thousands of other toys to call back into action. This war isn't over yet."

Zeb looked towards the Temple where he knew Kallus was hard at work sorting through reports, and was torn between wanting to stay with the best friend he'd ever had, or keeping an eye on the new kit and Hera. Hera could see the indecision on his face. "It's okay, Zeb," she said, placing a comforting hand on his arm. "I really am okay with either decision. And you can sleep on it too. Sabine and I aren't leaving until tomorrow."

Zeb still didn't know what to do. "Thanks, Hera. I'll let you know in the morning what I decide," he said, but something in him was already leaning towards staying with Kallus. Hera and the kit would be alright on Lothal, away from the war. Kallus needed him more. He was just starting to get Kallus to relax from his Imperial shell. If Zeb left him now, Kallus would bury himself in a datapad and forget how to have fun again.

Hera's wrist comm chirped and Chopper beeped out a frantic sounding message that the tiny organic was starting to cry and nothing he did was helping.

"I'll be right there Chopper. He's probably hungry," Hera replied, already most of the way up the ramp.

Luke watched as Sabine and Hera's crew all made their way into the ship, wondering what he'd signed himself up for.

Han clapped him on the back again. "Well, kid. I don't think I envy you over the next month. I have a feeling you're going to regret training with that Mando girl."

Luke shook his head slowly. "I certainly have my work cut out for me, that's for sure. I wish Ben was still here. I liked training with him."

He closed his eyes as he felt a wave of comforting Force swirl around him. "I'm always here, Luke," Obi-Wan's voice whispered in his mind, making Luke feel so much better about his current course.