Quiet… Serene… Calm…

I inhaled deeply as I kneeled on the ground, an empty plate floating before me. Gently, per the push I gave it, the plate floated towards the upside down mug, which I'd placed on the ground, and rested on top of it. Following that, I turned my focus, my eyes closed the whole time, towards the empty bowl before me. Gently, it too lifted off the ground, before hovering over to the small tower of dishes in front of me, taking its place at the top.

Finally, I was about to levitate the final piece of the puzzle, a single fork, horizontally across the bowl. As it floated about at my command, the door to the lounge of the Ghost opened, breaking my concentration. The fork fell, landing not on the bowl, but on the side of the plate the bowl sat on, gravity tipping the plate over, sending the bowl flying to the side, and even tipping over the mug.

"Son of a whore!" I snapped at the air, massaging my temple in irritation as I looked up at who interrupted me. It was Sabine and Ezra, the latter carrying his Cadet helmet.

"Whoa, sorry Lance." Ezra said, holding his free hand up in surrender.

"Don't be." I said with a sigh, standing up. "That's what I get for practising in the lounge." I grumbled as I picked the dishes up.

"Why are you practising in the lounge?" Sabine asked, looking at the dishes weirdly as I grabbed the last of the three.

"More space than in the cabin." I said with a simple shrug. "Plus, I was bored." I added honestly.

With Ahsoka away on Rebel business, and our lessons halted, all I've been able to do these last few days was whatever work Hera put me up to, and monotonously going over what Ahsoka and I had already gone through, by myself. I also went over a datapad Hera had gifted me that explained the process of learning Binary. Droids are a massive part of this galaxy, and learning to understand them was more than worth dedicating some of my time.

"Well, you might want to gear up." Sabine informed me. "Hera says there's a mission that needs to be done."

"Ok, that sounds a lot better than sitting her levitating cutlery and crockery." I admitted. "Just let me take these to the kitchen, and I'll grab my stuff from the cabin." I told her, getting a nod in response.

This was good. I was getting sick of constantly meditating or practising with my lightsaber. Yes, I said it. I was getting bored with my lightsaber. How could anyone get sick of the best fictional weapon in all of Earth's history you might ask? Well, when you practice with it every day, go through Shii-cho and Niman forms with it every day, and get your ass handed to you when you spar with Kanan or Ezra or Ahsoka whilst using it every. Fucking. Day… Even something as amazing as a lightsaber can bore you. What a galaxy we live in folks!


A few minutes later, Ezra, Sabine, and myself were exiting the Ghost, fully geared up and ready for a mission. We walked down the ramp to see Hera assigning two Rebel officers their mission, a simple retrieval of fighter parts disguised as a meat shipment. She'd been at this a lot these days. The promotion to Phoenix Leader certainly increased her workload. She's handling it well though.

"You said you had another mission. What do you want me to do?" Ezra asked the pilot once her attention turned to us. His tone was cocky, to the point where I actually felt a physical need to roll my eyes.

"Actually, this one's for them." Hera gestured to Sabine and I. Wait, I thought I was just going to be tagging along. I'm actually being assigned to this mission? "Yes, you are." Hera told me. Oh shit, I said that out loud.

"Every other mission I've just sort of… been there." I noted after a pause. "Now I'm suddenly being assigned officially?" I asked.

"Ahsoka, Sato, and myself all agree you've proven as capable as anyone else on the Ghost." Hera noted, focussing on the datapad she held for a moment. Sabine gave me a small, assuring smile as she nudged past Ezra, jabbing him in the side smugly as she passed him, almost like an older sister bragging that she was picked by the parents for whatever it was that they both wanted to do first or something. Chopper gave a light laugh.

"Alright then…" I said, trying to hide the mild anxiety in my voice as I stepped forward beside Sabine. "What's the mission?" I asked. Ezra was sulking behind me.

"There's a courier coming in with secret information. I need you to pick him up, and transport him over to Havoc Outpost." Hera explained simply.

"Sounds easy enough." Sabine commented.

"If it was easy, I'd send someone else." OK, I do not deserve that kind of faith from Hera, even if I'm working with Sabine. "This information is important, we have to get it through." Hera stressed the importance of the info. "Keep a low profile." She cautioned.

"Don't worry, you can trust us." Sabine said, looking at me expectantly.

"You have more faith in me than I do." I admitted shamelessly, getting an eye roll from the two women.

"What does this courier look like?" Sabine asked.

"I don't know." Hera admitted. "But, they'll respond to this code phrase." She used her datapad to send a signal to the computer built into Sabine's gauntlet, which bleeped.

"Got it." Sabine nodded, putting her helmet on. "Let's go." She said to me, walking off. I followed her lead.

"Hey, I can be low profile." Ezra complained.

"You can be back-up." Hera told the boy. "Along with Chopper, but Sabine's in charge." She said sternly. "You got that Lance?" She called out to me.

"Got it!" I called back, giving her a thumbs up as Ezra and Chopper caught up to us, the former having put his helmet on.

"So, Leader huh?" Ezra asked of the Mandalorian, the faceplate of his helmet retracted. "Always figured you for a loner."

"Not always." Sabine replied coolly.

"You sure make it seem that way." Ezra responded, his head in the clouds. "You spend a lot of time in your room alone, and you actually tend to eat alone sometimes, and combat practice alone, and go off probably to be alone." He went on. "I don't know, I guess sometimes I'll find you alone, after I've maybe followed you, and you're angry, and I've heard you say, more than once, 'I want to be alone.' Actually, I've heard you say straight 'Leave me alone,' and-" Ezra continued his rambling. Clearly, growing up on the streets has not done well for the kid's social cues. He reminds me of me when I was 15, just less broody and dark.

I also noticed that this kind of rambling from him usually took place when Sabine was around. Can you spell 'obvious?'

"Ezra, it's just part of growing up." I cut the kid off before he embarrassed himself further. "I did it when I was her age, I did it when I was your age-" God, I feel old saying that. "-and I still do it every now and then. In a year or two, you'll be doing it too." I told him, before noticing our group was one body short.

I turned and saw Sabine inspecting the wall with a critical eye. I walked up closer to her and saw a graffiti tag on the wall where she was staring. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it looked like a logo of some sort. A gang tag maybe? Perhaps it's just a calling card, like Sabine's Starbird. Did a thief or prankster get to the Empire in this area? I had no clue. Seemed like Sabine did though.

"Everything alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's nothing." She said, standing up and putting her helmet back on. I looked at her suspiciously as she continued walking.

"Sabine, may I remind you that I am Force-sensitive and can tell when people are lying?" I asked rhetorically as I walked after her. She stopped, and I felt her hesitance to share. Sabine was a really private person, and I could respect that. I had no intention of prying into her personal business, but that tag was definitely not 'nothing' as she put it. "Hey." I said calmingly as I placed a hand on her shoulder from behind. "I'm not asking for any personal revelations or secrets, just the truth." I said softly. "Are we in trouble?" I asked simply. A moment passed before she spoke.

"Keep your guard up." She told me. I nodded and let go of her. That was enough for me.

"Thank you Sabine." I said, getting a nod as we continued walking, catching up to Ezra.


Within a few minutes, we'd found ourselves in Bay 22, where a transport shuttle had arrived and quite a number of passengers were exiting said ship. I saw several species that I hadn't encountered in person before; a couple Rodians, an Ithorian, and even an Ugnaut. All sorts of people were here, and I'm not just talking about species. It's easy to forget how commercial space travel is in this galaxy. It was fortunate there were little to no Imperials here.

"So, we just say the code phrase to everyone we can until we find the courier?" I asked.

"Pretty much, yeah." Sabine nodded, bringing up her gauntlet. "The phrase is: It's a long way to Alderaan." She told us.

"Got it." Ezra smirked cockily. "I think it's this guy." He said, approaching a Rodian that was walking by. This one's skin was a light shade of blue, and he had dark purple eyes, which wasn't typical for a Rodian, I don't think. But hey, whatever. "It's a long way to Alderaan." Ezra said to the traveller."

"O… K?" The traveller looked at him weirdly before moving on.

"Nice job Ezra." I said sarcastically, before sighing. "This is going to be tedious." I said with a sigh.

"You'd prefer to be fighting Inquisitors?" Sabine asked dryly.

"I honestly don't know." I said truthfully, shrugging before I walked over to a passing human woman. "Miss, is it a long way to Alderaan?" May as well get started…


And so the process went on for several hours. Sabine, Ezra, and myself would all fit the words 'It's a long way to Alderaan' into any sentence we could think of and say them to everyone we could. I've gotten more weird looks today than I have in a month back home, which I wasn't all that bothered by. I got weird looks even when I didn't do weird things, so I was used to it.

Most of the people we spoke to were human, but Sabine was the one who handled most of the non-humans. She was fluent in twice as many languages as I was, probably more, which impressed me, I have to admit. I was surprised that no Stormtroopers showed up to boot us out of the hangar bay. Would have figured someone would report us to the authorities by now for harassing everyone in the bay with the code phrase. It doesn't take mad detective skills to figure out there's something wrong there.

When there was almost nobody left in the hangar, we were confused. It was highly unlikely that we missed the courier, Sabine made sure of that. Ezra even double checked a few people to be sure. There was little doubt that we said the code phrase to everyone that was in this hangar. With a tired groan, I sat down on one of the crates in the middle of the bay, where the three of us met up again.

"It's going to be a long way back to the Ghost if we missed the courier." Ezra remarked as he hopped onto a taller crate next to mine to sit.

"Yeah, Phoenix Leader is going to be piiiiiiissed." I said with a groan.

"We couldn't have. Hera had confirmation that he boarded the shuttle." Sabine assured us, looking at her gauntlet. "Are you guys sure you were saying the code phrase right?" Sabine asked us, her tone almost accusing.

"Yes, Sabine." I responded with a frustrated sigh. "It's a long way to Alderaan." I that moment, the tall crate Ezra was sitting on started to shake. It spouted legs underneath, and turned to face us, Binary sounds coming out of it. "Whoa!" Ezra yelped as he fell backwards, right on his backside.

"Hahahahahahaha!" I laughed at the kids suffering. Not a full ROTFL, but a laugh. "I needed that." I said, grinning down at the kid, who glared at me.

"Wait a minute, that's the courier!" Sabine realised, pointing at the droid.

"Thanks, my butt hadn't noticed." Ezra shot back with grumble as he got up, rubbing his sore rear end.

"Talk about a low profile." Sabine said, approaching as I got up.

"Yeah, you can say that again." I agreed.

"He came in with the cargo payload." She continued, kneeling before the droid. "He's unit… EG-86." She read.

"Nice to meet you EG." Ezra greeted the droid. I think he was only a little sarcastic. He may have still been a little sour over the fall he took. Anyway, that's phase 1 of the mission done, now we need to deliver him to Havoc Outpost… wherever that is… I won't deny being a little peeved that we spent the whole day talking to people with no knowledge of the fact that our target was a droid, but I'll get over it. "I don't get why they would hide such important information in this Binary thoughts bank." The young Jedi noted as he stared at the droid.

"Well, would you suspect that thing of being a spy full of secrets?" Sabine asked, knowing the answer well beforehand.

"No, I guess not." Ezra admitted, crossing his arms.

"That's too bad." A new, feminine voice spoke. "Because I would." her voice echoed metallically.

We all turned to the direction the voice came from. She was on top of the shuttle, and jumped off, landing a few metres away from us. She wore some kind of armoured flight suit. It was mostly grey, with hints of maroon and brown. Her helmet had two tubes connecting it to her suit, probably to help with breathing in space or other hazardous environments, suggesting this woman was used to dangerous scenarios. She also had a pistol at her hip, and a spear of some sort on her back.

"Ketsu Onyo." Sabine greeted, and edge in her voice. "I saw your mark, old friend." She said, her tone containing some hostility.

"Friend? That's a generous term considering what happened." 'Ketsu' responded as the two young women started circling each other, their posture signalling they were ready to attack.

"Uh, you two know each other?" Ezra asked.

"Still a bounty hunter I see." Sabine said to her alleged friend, ignoring the boy.

"Tell me you don't miss it." Ketsu responded teasingly.

"Wait, you were a Bounty Hunter?" Ezra asked of Sabine, his eyes wide in surprise. "That explains a lot." He realised.

"Ezra, shut the fuck up." I hissed to the boy, who was surprised at my sudden hostility. "Sabine, something tells me your 'old friend' isn't here for a reunion." I said to the girl, my hand on my blaster, ready to fire. I could sense the tension here, and a fight was imminent.

"I'd say that's a good guess." Sabine responded.

"You know me well. I'm just here for the droid." Ketsu confirmed, eliciting a loud cry of distress from Chopper, who waved his hands about in fear.

"Chopper, what part of this situation makes you think you're the target and not EG?" I asked the rust bucket in annoyance. "Another educated guess." I told Ezra before he could ask how I understood the droid.

"Sabine, how exactly do you know her?" Ezra asked instead.

"She never told you how we broke out of the Imperial Academy?" Ketsu asked, probably smiling cockily under that helmet.

"That was a long time ago, before you got greedy and left me for dead." Sabine shot back venomously.

"Hah! You'd have been better off dead, than joining this band of Rebels." Ketsu responded, her head turning to Ezra and I for a brief moment. "I didn't believe it until I saw the Empire had put a bounty on you."

"You gonna try to collect on it?" Sabine asked, her hostility increasing.

"Haven't decided yet." Ketsu replied honestly. "Besides, I work for the Black Sun now, and I have another job to finish first."

"I can't let you do that." Sabine replied, her hands ready to draw her weapons. You could cut this tension with a knife. Both girls were ready to attack, waiting for the other to make the first move, like a Western Standoff. I briefly wondered what I could do to diffuse this situation, though I wasn't all that optimistic about it, before Ezra stepped forward, his hands up in a calming gesture.

"Ok, let's just all calm down before-"

"You there!" The leader of an approaching squad of Stormtoopers called out authoritatively as they approached.

"-that happens." Ezra finished his sentence with a sigh.

"Citizens, what's going on here?" The leader demanded. "There's a curfew on this hangar. You need to leave immediately." he ordered us.

"Don't interrupt us!" Ketsu shouted at the troopers, pulling out her blaster and turning it on them. In a second, she took down two of them, whilst the remaining troopers took cover. Sabine quickly unholstered her blasters and ran over to Ezra, Chopper, EG, and I, and we all took cover behind the crates. Ketsu too, dived behind some crates.

"Well, fan-fucking-tastic." I growled, popping out of cover to fire at the troopers.

"What is that, your catchphrase?" Sabine quipped as she too popped out of cover and took out a trooper with a single shot. Show off.

"Nice shot. See you haven't lost your touch." Ketsu noted from the side.

"Good thing you haven't either." Sabine returned. They almost sounded friendly there.

"OK, are you two friends or enemies? I can't tell." I snapped at the girls as I ducked to avoid being blasted. As I popped out again to fire, taking down a trooper, I noticed a bigger group of Stormtroopers approaching. "Guys, we've got more incoming!" I called out to my companions.

"OK, change of plans." Ezra said as he ducked back down as well. "Chopper, get Boxy here onto that shuttle." he said to the astromech, gesturing to the civilian shuttle that EG had arrived on.

Chopper beeped an affirmative and led EG up onto the shuttle. And by 'led' I mean he shoved the spy in the direction of the shuttle until he complied. Ezra and I covered their escape into the shuttle whilst Sabine and Ketsu were forced to find new cover as the troopers got closer. Sabine joined Ezra and I behind the crates, and Ketsu got further away, which wasn't a problem. We didn't want her getting her hands on EG, so if she could get as far away as possible, that was fine.

"Guys, go!" Ezra told us as he fired at the troopers. "I'll cover you!"

Sabine acknowledged his words and sprinted towards the boarding ramp on the shuttle, with me close on her tail. As she stepped inside and got started on getting the ship in the air, I stayed at the entrance, firing at the troopers to cover Ezra's escape. At the front of the ship, there was a vaguely humanoid droid built into the cockpit, likely built and programmed for piloting. Sabine had shut it down to allow for her own piloting. I felt the ship bulk ever so slightly as the engines revved. I fired heavily to keep the troopers off Ezra, allowing him to get up to the shuttle.

"Any day now Ezra!" I cried as I fired. The young Jedi didn't waste a moment. Within seconds, he was up at the shuttle, taking spot next to me at the door, helping fire at the troopers whilst Sabine readied the ship for take off, pushing buttons and flipping switches.

"Now, aren't you glad you brought back-up?" Ezra asked the girl smugly, firing at the troopers.

"Yeah, because everything is going exactly as planned." Sabine shot back sarcastically, flipping one more switch. "Now hang on!" And with that, the ship took off, with Sabine as the pilot, and Chopper plugged into the astromech port.

With that, I retreated inside, as the door was surely about to close. Ezra, however, opted not to do so, instead keeping up his fire on the Stormtroopers. Bad idea, considering that a blast hit the edge of the door, causing Ezra to fall. I tried to catch him, but I wasn't fast enough. Thankfully, he landed on the roof of a building we'd flown over, and he didn't seem injured. He just stood up and dusted himself off.

"Uh, Sabine, Ezra's not on the ship." I told the Mando as I sat in the co-pilot's seat beside her.

"What?! But I saw him!" She returned, looking back to find that, sure enough, he was not on the ship.

"He fell and landed on one of the roofs." I explained as the ship gained altitude. "It seemed like he was uninjured." I added.

"Well, we can't go back for him. Imperials will be looking for this shuttle." Sabine sighed in annoyance. "Besides, I'm sure he can get back to the Ghost on his own."

"Yeah." I agreed as the sky in front of us slowly transitioned into the black abyss of space. It was baffling how fast we got into space. A NASA space shuttle can get into orbit in about 10 minutes. This shuttle took less than two. Impressive… Most impressive. Yeah, said it. Sue me.

Anyway, with the fourth wall intact again, and us well on our way to the rendezvous coordinates, I allowed myself to relax, but kept my guard up. It seemed that the worst part of the mission was over, but if I've learnt anything since joining the Rebels, it's that plans always go astray. The walkers on Seelos, the Inquisitors on the medical base, Hondo and Azmorigan with the Broken Horn… Yeah, I rest my case.

"Chopper, program the hyperdrive." Sabine ordered the droid. With an affirmative bleep, Chopper plugged his scomp link into the interface and got to work. "We were lucky to get away so easily." Sabine sighed.

"That was easy?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You're surprised?" She returned. Alright, fair point. I was about to reply, when an alarm started beeping from the dashboard. "Scanning a ship." Sabine announced. "Oh no…"

"Lemme guess…" I said dryly.

"Yep, it's Ketsu." Sabine responded, speeding up the shuttle. It did little to protect us from the blasts of her ship's weapons. The ship jolted as we were hit. "Crap!"

"I'm going to take a wild guess and assume that our hyperdrive is out?" I asked rhetorically. I got an answer anyway.

"Yep. And I'm betting I know her next move." Sabine said grimmly. "Lock yourselves down." She told the droids.

"Wait, what?!" I exclaimed. It was too late. A blast hit us, and within seconds, I felt the air being sucked out of the ship from the door, which had been blasted off.

The vacuum of space immediately sucked out anything that wasn't welded or magnetically locked down, which only consisted of me, Sabine, Chopper, and EG. EG was the first to fly, but his size stopped him from going through the door when he turned horizontally. This was a blessing, as Sabine and I were next. Thankfully, we were able to use EG as leverage to not be pulled into space. Chopper was next, and unfortunately, the depressurization of space was holding our limbs down against EG really hard, so we couldn't grab him.

"Chopper!" Sabine yelled as the astromech flew out of the door, though I could barely hear her. I was more worried about us though. Chopper doesn't need air to survive. We do.

"WHAT DO WE DO!?" I screamed at the top of my lungs. Sabine wouldn't hear me if I just yelled normally.

"THE RED BUTTON!" She screamed back, pointing as best she could with the suction. Right beside me, on the wall beside the door, was a red button. Without any other option, or time for an explanation, I reached as best as I could. The button was only centimetres out of reach, so I had to move, which was risky to say the least. If I lost my leverage, I'd be sucked into the void of space.

With a grunt, and black spots appearing in my eyes, I inched towards the button as fast as I could. With a bit of time, this would have worked. I think the air would have held out, but unfortunately, that wasn't the problem. A crate in the back of the ship got loose and started hurtling towards us. If I kept inching, I would get hit by it. If I dodged, I would lose leverage. So, I made a decision. I put all the strength I could into my legs, and jumped. Right before the crate hit my head, I jumped, and it flew out the door, whilst I just barely managed to hit the button. A blue force field appeared in place of the blasted door, and the vacuum ceased. Sabine, EG, and I fell to the ground as the artificial gravity took hold of us.

"Oh thank fuck." I said dizzily, sitting up. Sabine seemed in better shape than I was, given that she had a helmet with air filters in it. I was not so lucky. I was seconds away from passing out when my lungs filled up with air again.

"Next time I steal a ship, it'll be one with guns." Sabine remarked as she took her helmet off.

"And here I am making fun of Americans and their stupidity with guns." I mumbled to myself, standing up. EG helpfully allowed me to lean on him as I wriggled the dizziness out of my face. With that done, I gave EG a grateful pat on the head and joined Sabine in the front of the shuttle, where we could see Ketsu's ship hovering before us.

This ship was a lot flatter and smaller than the Ghost. Rounder too. It was mostly circular, with cylindrical engines on either side. At least, I'm assuming they were engines. There were also two laser cannons on the front, on either side of the cockpit, and a turret on top. We could see the young woman through the window of the cockpit pressing buttons as a soft alert resounded on the console. The comm.

"Should I leave you two alone?" I asked Sabine.

"No point." She responded monotonously as she activated said comm, a holographic form of Ketsu's upper torso and head appearing before us.

"No hard feelings Sabine. It's nothing personal, just business." The Bounty Hunter told her old friend. "And speaking of business, here's the deal: Toss out the power droid, and I'll let you live." She proposed.

"And if I refuse?" Sabine asked, her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. Something tells me she already knows the answer.

"I'll blow up the shuttle and scoop up my bounty from the debris." Ketsu responded darkly. As she spoke, I noticed the form of one C1-10P rocketing up from behind the ship and landing right next to the turret on top. Holy fuck…

"I don't believe it…" Sabine whispered in shock, her mouth getting away from her.

"Well you better believe it!" Ketsu snapped, getting impatient. "I'll do whatever it takes to complete my mission."

"No, I… don't believe you can do it!" Sabine caught herself, keeping Ketsu's attention as Chopper got to work on the turret. Oh, I get it. Chopper's sabotaging the turret…

"Maybe that's true, but I've changed more than you realise." Ketsu responded, her voice sounding almost nostalgic for a moment. "I have new loyalties now." She said, her voice hard again.

"Right, finally part of Black Sun." Sabine said, her tone one of false impressedness.

"Just like we always dreamed." Ketsu shot back. "I have the best weapons, the best ship, and I'm feared across the galaxy!"

"I can't believe I ever wanted that." Sabine scoffed. "The Black Sun are nothing but slavers and assassins. They care about anything except body counts and quotas. They'd kill you too for a profit."

"Speaking of which, your time is up. Hand over the droid." Ketsu demanded, ready to blast us away. Come on Chopper, do your thing!

"You can't do it." Sabine smirked.

"I really wish it hadn't come to this." Ketsu said, almost sadly. Seriously? Mood swings much?

When Ketsu fired her ship's weapons, the turret didn't respond. This confused her, but it was easily explained when Chopper made himself known outside of her cockpit, laughing at her as he held the weapon's array in his hand before tossing it to the side. Sabine took the opportunity presented by her old friend's confusion and accelerated the shuttle. We slipped right past Ketsu, over her head, literally, and on our merry way. Behind us, Chopper activated his little rocket again and headed straight for us.

Sabine had EG open the cargo bay to allow for Chopper to enter, whilst she held the shuttle steady. This, unfortunately, did not go as planned. Chopper was almost inside, but Ketsu had locked onto him with a tractor beam and pulled him into her own ship, as EG had informed us. The power droid was a little frantic, which made him a bit difficult to understand, even for someone fluent in Binary like Sabine. But, she calmed him down enough to get him to talk.

With narrowed eyes, Sabine spent a moment contemplating what to do before she commed Ketsu's ship. She proposed a trade, Chopper for EG. I was wondering if that was really the best idea, but Sabine was smart. She probably had a plan. Ketsu accepted the deal, allowing Sabine to bring the shuttle right next to her ship, and then extended the docking ramp on her ship, which connected to a docking tube from the shuttle.

"Wait here with EG." She told me as we stood outside the airlock. I nodded in response as the airlock opened, showing Ketsu on the other side of the tube.

"Well, well, while I've changed, it seems you haven't changed at all." The young woman said as she and Sabine approached each other, meeting in the middle of the tube, Chopper right behind her. She spared EG and I a look over Sabine's shoulder, seeing we were still in the shuttle. "You're not giving up the courier, are you?" She asked dryly.

"Nope. You're gonna have to take him." Sabine responded simply.

"And this astromech… Not very smart, sticking your neck out for it." Ketsu commented as she crossed her arms.

"Chopper's more than just a droid, he's a Rebel. And a friend." Sabine shot back. This got a pleased, mechanical purr from Chopper.

"Oh Sabine…" Ketsu shook her head, leaning forward and removing her helmet. Her skin was a light shade of brown, almost like Pakistani people, and her eyes were an unusual shade of purple. Not usually seen in humans on Earth, but they may be colour lenses. Her head was shaved practically smooth, with only the top of her head having short, and I mean short, black hair. She also had some red tattoos on the sides and back of her head. "We were once friends." She said with nostalgia. "Tell you what, give me the power droid, and I'll share my cut with you. Like the old days." She offered with a smirk.

"I don't do things just for money any more." Sabine responded, crossing her arms.

"That's right, now there's the cause." Ketsu sighed, shaking her head. "You really think your little Rebel friends can overthrow the Empire?" She asked doubtfully. "Grow up Little Sister! You can't be that foolish!" She said hardly, pointing at Sabine's face. Sabine only knocked her hand away in response.

"Once we were like sisters, but we only cared about ourselves." Sabine looked away. I could feel her shame.

"It's called survival. You of all people should know you can't trust anyone." Ketsu responded. Sabine said nothing for a second before looking Ketsu in the eyes.

"I forgive you." She said softly.

"For what!?" Ketsu asked defensively.

"For leaving me for dead, and I still trust you." Sabine said honestly.

"And you're wrong." Ketsu said softly.

"I met people who gave me a second chance in life, and that's what I'm giving you." Sabine said passionately. It seemed she really cared for Ketsu. A moment of silence passed before a voice ringed out of the shuttle comms.

"Imperial Cruiser to Garel shuttle 63725, your craft has been identified as stolen, prepare to be boarded." An Imperial Officer transmitted. Sabine and Ketsu shared a look.

"Looks like we're friends again." Sabine smirked.

"Don't have any other choice, do we?" Ketsu responded with an amused smirk. With that, the two girls, and Chopper, ran up into the shuttle and up to the cockpit, Sabine taking the pilot's seat and Ketsu in the co-pilot's.

"Hold your position. If you attempt to flee, you will be fired upon." The Officer told us.

"So what's the plan?" I asked, seeing the Imperial ship approach.

"Well, my ship's weapons are out, thanks to your little rust bucket." Ketsu said, getting an indignant bleep from Chopper. "And we can't use the Shadow Caster's hyperdrive as long as we're docked to the shuttle." She added. Sabine looked thoughtful for a moment before turning to Chopper.

"Chop, overload the hyperdrive on the shuttle." She told the droid, who beeped in response and moved over to the astromech interface, plugging in his scomp link.

"Uh, Sabine, the fuck?" I asked the Mando.

"I'm buying us time." She said, activating the comms. "Attention Imperial vessel, please be aware, our ships have suffered extensive damage, and are in danger of self destruction." She told them.

"Shuttlecraft, you have two minutes to stabilise, then we will be coming aboard." The Officer responded after a moment.

"Is that enough time?" I asked.

"It's gonna have to be." She responded, getting up. "Chopper, purge the reactor, then get over to the Shadow Castor, and be ready to disengage the docking tube on my signal." She told the droid, who complied.

"Did you just turn this ship into a bomb?" I asked with half lidded eyes.

"That I did." Sabine beamed, making me sigh.

"You're going to blow up the shuttle?" Ketsu asked in surprise.

"Which will give us the time we need to make our escape." Sabine explained.

"I should have known, you always did like to make things go boom." Ketsu smirked at the younger girl.

"Something I learned from you." Sabine smirked back. "Still got that arsenal of explosives you used to keep around?" She asked expectantly.

"On my ship." Ketsu confirmed before running back to her ship. Sabine and I followed. Ketsu immediately turned to the cargo bay and kneeled in front of a crate, which she slid open. Inside, there were a number of explosives ready to be used. I saw Sabine's face light up like a Christmas tree in excitement. She really likes explosions, doesn't she? "Only friends I've ever needed." Ketsu quipped as she handed Sabine and I a few of them.

"Until today." Sabine quipped back. "Lance and I will plant them on the shuttle to give the reactor an extra kick."

"Now that's the Sabine I remember." Ketsu smirked with a hand on her hip.

"Oh, now you get sentimental." Sabine smirked back. "Just get the Shadow Caster ready to fly. Come on Lance." She said, running back to the shuttle. I followed right behind her.

"Shuttlecraft, we have detected a power surge on your vessel. Your core is unstable, contain the problem immediately!" The Imperial Officer ordered, getting antsy.

"It's looking bad here, mate. I highly recommend a safe distance." I responded as Sabine and I set the charges. It was pretty simple to figure out.

"Whichever one of you thieves is in charge, identify yourself!" The Officer growled.

"You should talk to the Captain." Sabine responded, reactivating the humanoid droid.

I saw the droid's eyes light up as it gained power, standing to attention. I felt a little bad that the droid was going to be destroyed. I mean, I know it's just a droid, with no life or soul, but the same could be said of Chopper, or R2-D2, or C-3PO. Is it a case of attachment? I know that droidst that go long enough without a memory wipe will develop a personality, but is that it? Are these guys even alive?

Does this unit have a soul?

Never really understood the true depths of the question until right now…

"What is happening?" The droid demanded as it looked around frantically.

"Your ship is under attack, you need to engage emergency protocols." Sabine told the droid.

"Under attack?" The droid repeated.

"See that Imperial Cruiser over there?" She pointed out the window. "It's getting ready to destroy your ship for being stolen." She said.

"Destroy my ship!?" The droid panicked.

"Time to go." Sabine responded as I set the last charge.

"Way ahead of you." I told her, taking off towards the Shadow Caster, Sabine hot on my tail I was there within seconds. Right as I stopped on Ketsu's ship, both the Shadow Caster and the shuttle shook at the impact of a weapon.

"We're out of time!" Ketsu shouted. "Droid, release the docking tube, or we're all going to die!" She barked at Chopper, who only beeped frantically in response. EG too.

"Wait, Sabine! Where's Sabine!?" I asked loudly, noticing she wasn't present. Chopper bleeped at me and pointed with his arm through the docking tube. Sure enough, Sabine was still in the shuttle, unconscious. I noticed Ketsu looking hesitantly through the tube. "Are you fucking kidding me!?" I yelled at her, surprising her before I dashed through the tube. Immediately as I stopped by Sabine, I picked her up like a princess and dashed right back through the tube. "Now Chop!" I yelled at the droid as I set Sabine down. Chopper immediately released the docking tube.

"Ugh, what happened?" Sabine asked, getting up to her hands and knees. At that moment, the ship shook again, though not from weapons fire. That was a tractor beam.

"Too late, they got us." Ketsu snarled, banging the wall beside her in frustration.

"Not for long." Sabine smirked. A moment later, the shuttle, which was closer to the Cruiser than we were, exploded, freeing us from the tractor beam and throwing the Cruiser heavily off base. Ketsu jumped into action, heading straight towards the cockpit, and plotting a Hyperspace jump. We were gone in seconds.


A short while later, we had arrived at the rendezvous coordinates for EG, Havoc Outpost. Ketsu had agreed to let us deliver the power droid to the Rebels. I wasn't entirely trusting of her just yet, so I kept my guard up, but Sabine trusted her, so that earned her a few points at least. Honestly, I was just glad to have a short reprieve from any drama or complications with the mission.

You'll never guess who was there to greet us when we delivered EG to Havoc outpost. There were Rebel Officers flanking a white and blue astromech droid.

R2-D2 himself.

I managed to keep a straight face, but inside I was fanboying like crazy. I may have had a nerdgasm.

"You can report to Senator Organa that his intel has arrived, safe and sound." Sabine told the droid, who gave an affirmative whistle in response. As EG was accompanied inside by the two officers, R2 rolled over to me and whistled in greeting.

"Uh, sorry little guy, I don't speak Binary yet." I told him apologetically.

"He was introducing himself and asking for your name." Sabine told me. "This is R2-D2. We worked with him a little while before you came along." She explained. Huh, cool.

"Nice to meet you R2." I smiled at the droid. "My name is Lance Mikaelson." R2 responded with a friendly whistle. "This little guy's a lot more likeable than Chopper. Any chance we can trade them?" I asked Sabine, who shook her head in amusement. Chopper warbled angrily at me, shaking his hand in my direction.

R2 whistled a goodbye before leaving to join the other two Rebels and EG. I was still fanboying inside like you wouldn't believe. I just met the real R2-D2! With a grin, I turned to head back into the Shadow Caster, following Sabine and Chopper.

"Let's get you home." Ketsu said to us as we approached.

"Right, there's something I forgot." I remembered as I approached the Bounty Hunter. "Ketsu." I said sweetly, getting her attention. As she turned to face me, I let my fist fly, nailing her right in the eye.

"Lance!" Sabine snapped at me as I shook my sore hand. "What the hell was that about?!" She demanded.

"Ask her, she knows." I jabbed my thumb in Ketsu's direction.

"Yep, that I do." Ketsu admitted, rubbing her sore eye. There were definitely the early signs of a black eye showing there. "Who is this guy anyway? Your boyfriend?" She asked, grinning at me.

"How original." I drawled. I mean seriously? The boyfriend classic tease? Lame.

"He's just a stray my friends and I picked up." Sabine sighed in annoyance, giving me the stink eye.

"That's a shame. He's cute." Ketsu responded teasingly, looking me up and down. "He's got a good punch too." She noted, nodding appreciatively. "Wouldn't mind having a strong man like you around." She purred.

"Ketsu, I've been mocked, insulted, ridiculed, disrespected, and verbally abused my whole life." I said bluntly. "You're not going to get a rise out of me that easily." I said, walking up the ramp.

"Boring…" Ketsu sighed in disappointment.


The rest of the trip was uneventful. Sabine and Ketsu caught up in the cockpit, whilst I sat in the cargo bay and meditated. Ahsoka had gone into depth in the past of how meditation and focus can help speed up the development of my Force powers, which is why I dedicated at least an hour to meditation every morning, and some of my free time on occasion. Chopper tried bothering me in the beginning, but I put him in his place. I tossed him into the crate with the explosives and sat on the lid. He couldn't ignite his rocket without blowing us up. That made for a quiet trip.

Hera greeted us when we arrived, welcoming Ketsu to the Rebellion, though the latter was still reluctant. Hera was not happy to find out that I socked her right in the face for apparently nothing, and it looked like she was about to give me the lecture of a lifetime once Ketsu left, but I bolted before she could even turn to look at me.

By the time I was back on the Ghost, having spent a considerable amount of time roaming about the streets of Garel minding my own business, it was already night time and half the crew was asleep. I let out a yawn as I walked through the lounge, on my way to the cabin, when I noticed Sabine sitting at the Dejarik table, reading White Fang.

"Hey." I said, catching her attention. "What are you doing up?" I asked.

"I could ask you the same thing." She responded dryly, getting a chuckle from me. "I'm just waiting for the paint in my room to dry. I went a little crazy after the bout with Ketsu." She admitted. "Actually, it should be dry by now. I must have gotten carried away with the book." She noted, slightly sheepish.

"That's good literature for you." I said, amused. "Where are you in the book right now?" I asked.

"Grey Beaver refusing to sell White Fang to Beauty Smith." She told me, holding up the book. "You were right, it is a very engaging read. I've been reading all afternoon."

"I've been avoiding Hera all afternoon." I shrugged, getting a smirk from her.

"She's going to be all up in your face tomorrow though, you realise that yes?" She asked, evidently amused. It seemed she'd forgiven me for hitting her friend, thankfully.

"I'll just tune her out and agree with her whenever she stops talking." I responded with a shrug. Another yawn escaped me, a rather large one at that. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to sleep. After today, God knows I need it." I said, rubbing my eyes. "Good night." I said simply, walking off towards the corridor.

"Lance, wait." Sabine called out, making me stop. I turned to face her, seeing her standing, looking uncomfortable and unsure. "Look, I'm not good at this sort of thing…" She started. "Today, a lot of personal things came up, and you didn't pester me or ask any questions or anything like that, so… thanks." She said, as sincerely as she could manage.

"It's no issue Sabine." I gave her an honest smile. "Everyone has secrets. God knows I have things I'll take to my grave." I noted. The fact that I'm from a universe where everything is fictional, for one. "I trust that if you wanted to talk about anything from your past, you would. If not, then there's nothing else to say." I shrugged.

"I appreciate that, more than I can put into words." She noted. "Ezra, Zeb, or even Kanan would have asked so many questions by now." She sighed. "Also, the hypocrisy of my questioning you when we first met was not lost on me." She assured me.

"Something I never called you out on, if you recall." I responded, amused. "Well, if it makes you feel any better…" I trailed off, looking around to make sure no nosy teen Jedi or pesky droids were around. "I'm a junkie." I said simply.

"What?" Sabine blanched.

"A junkie, druggie, mainliner, tripper, drug addict, whatever you call it here." I said with a shrug. "Now you know something about me only Ahsoka knows." I told her.

"I… what?!" She was shocked, that's for sure.

"I had a rough adolescence." I shrugged. "Aside from one relapse a little more than a year ago, I've been clean for quite a while." I told her, my hands in my pockets.

"I… I don't know what to say." She admitted, tongue tied.

"After today, is there really anything TO say?" I asked expectantly.

"Heh, I guess not." She agreed, calming down.

"Good night Sabine." I repeated.

"Good night Lance." She replied. And with that, we were off to our respective beds.


OK, I enjoyed writing this one. Sabine was one of my favourite characters in Rebels, so I loved the episodes that focussed on her or featured her more prominently.

Also, before anyone goes on about Ketsu flirting with Lance, she WASN'T flirting with him. She was just trying to get a rise out of him. She seems the type to me. That's all. No ridiculously fast-paced crushes or romances in this story. Might be a pairing in the future, might not. Who knows?