Chapter 1: Saving a Count
Indeed, the morning after, it was Ezra's turn to prove his ability by dueling with Tristan and other warriors in the training hall, both with melee weapons and hand-to-hand combat.
The first one he won easily, being accustomed to the lightsaber. The second was harder. With Tristan, it was a draw, other times he managed to win, only a couple of older warriors managed to outsmart him. Ezra was used to fight in such a way only against stormtroopers, who weren't exactly specialists of fistfights. He had trained with Jaral, Sabine, Jordan and even Karg and other Marines of the Constantinople, but simple training was different from fighting for real.
Nonetheless, his ability and his spirit impressed the clan favorably, to the point that nobody frowned upon him and Ursa gave her official blessing for an engagement between him and Sabine. Still, Ezra insisted that there would be no marriage until they rescued the Count, Alrich Wren.
Which was about to happen. For the next three days, Jaral worked tirelessly, having Ursa and Rau update her on every possible detail about the civil war and whatever intel they had about Alrich.
She was put in contact with the leaders of other clan of House Viszla, which still retained some kind of contact despite their House had been shattered decades ago.
Meanwhile, Ezra and Sabine led joint exercises between the Marines and the warriors of clan Wren, so that both parties could learn how their allies operated and improve the coordination for the upcoming battles. It was immediately clear that the Marines were less mobile, since only the Legionnaires carried a jetpack, but they still carried a wide variety of weapons, allowing them for greater firepower and even to fortify a position rapidly. Their vehicles also granted for precious fire support, that the Mandalorians, having been almost entirely demilitarized from the Republic first, and the Empire later, severely lacked.
In the meantime, on December 28, the INS Ravenna also visited the planet, bringing the Constantinople the replacements for its losses: three human Marines joined the crew, and High Command had also sent a squad of four N7 operatives, some of the best soldiers of the Milky Way, aside from the Legionnaires. These guys were specialized in fighting behind enemy lines and to win even against entire enemy formations.
Jaral decided they would be immediately put to work and had clan Wren provide them and Fenn Rau a safe passage to Mandalore, to the main base of the resistance movement that was opposing the Empire on the planet.
Finally, on January 2 2224, the Constantinople transported its crew and its allies to Mandalore. When the ship came out of hyperspace, the situation looked grim, as there were dozens of Star Destroyers and other imperial ships blocking every spaceport.
But hey, the Mandalorians were able to bypass the blockade regularly, so the Constantinople and its shuttles, which were equipped with a cloaking device that made invisible to radars, certainly didn't have any problem.
Thus, Jaral, Ezra and Sabine mounted on one of the shuttles, along with a mix of Marines and Wren warriors, while Jordan, Ursa and Tristan went on the other one and, while the Constantinople waited in orbit, the shuttle brought the allied forces across the stratosphere and headed toward the coordinates given by the N7 squad, which was named 'Noble Team'.
During the traverse, the siblings had the chance to observe how much of a desolate wasteland Mandalore actually was. Beneath them there was only an expanse of dried and dead soil, with a color similar to that of sand.
"Your planet is definitely something else compared to Lothal, Sabine." Jaral commented with a hint of pity for the state of the planet.
Even if all their faces were hiding behind helmets, Sabine replied with a nostalgic tone. "Once upon a time, these plains were covered with grass, but I never saw it."
"And it never grew back?" Ezra asked.
"Never had a chance to. This is what continuous war has done to my home."
They watched outside the window of the shuttle, until eventually Ezra spoke again.
"Well, maybe this is your chance to help change things here." he said, pointing with a nod of the head to the Darksaber, which was hanging on the back of Sabine's belt.
"I hope you're right." Sabine murmured.
There was silence, only tampered by the whirring of the shuttle's turbines. It took another five minutes or so before the group reached the camp, hidden at the base of a mountain, which was so burnt that it was only a giant, barren rock.
The camp was quite large, with clans coming from every corner of mandalorian space. Nobody supported the Saxon clan except the Empire (which alone could very much keep said clan in power).
Many curious gathered around the shuttles, eager to see the allies from another galaxy they had been told about. They had only see the N7, who were all humans, and the mandalorians certainly were impressed with the armors of the Legionnaires and some of the aliens they brought with them.
There was no time to waste on presentations, though. The group was greeted by Rau, who led them into the biggest tent, where the clan leaders gathered. Among them, a woman with short, red hair stood out, and most of the leaders seemed to have more respect for her than the other chiefs.
The woman saw Ursa and she went to shake her hand almost on instinct.
"It's good to see you again, Ursa."
"Likewise, Bo."
The two seemed genuinely glad of their reunion. Then the red-haired woman turned to face the three Jedi.
"I never thought I would see another Jedi. Much less three." she commented.
The three chuckled. "Yeah, everybody tells us that." Kanan replied.
"It's weird that we are always asking our ancient enemy for help to liberate our planet. First Ahsoka Tano and now…"
But when the Jedi heard the name, they jumped at attention.
"Hold it!" Ezra couldn't keep it for himself. "You knew Ahsoka?!"
The woman hesitated, not expecting such a reaction. "I...yes. Why, has she survived the Clone Wars?" she then asked with a hint of hope.
But the faces of the Jedi said everything.
"She sacrificed her life so we could escape during a mission." Jaral dryly replied.
"I'm sorry. She was a great person." the woman said somberly.
"Yeah...she was." Ezra said dejectedly.
Sabine gave him a light squeeze on his armored hand, before stepping forward.
"I'm sorry if I sound rude, but may I ask your name?" she asked to the woman, but it was Rau who answered.
"Grand Marshall Bridger, Ezra and Kanan, this is Lady Bo-Katan of House Kryze." the Protector explained. "Her sister, Satine, once ruled Mandalore. Bo-Katan and Countess Wren led the liberation of Mandalore from Maul's grip at the end of the Clone Wars and made regent by the Jedi. She's still seen by many as Mandalore's rightful leader."
Jaral looked impressed. "It's an honor to meet you, Lady Kryze. I'm Jaral Bridger, as from the previous week, Grand Marshall of the Rebel Alliance."
The two shook hands.
"The honor is mine, Marshall. I'm looking forward to fight on your side."
Jaral nodded in agreement.
Then Sabine stepped forward, with the Darksaber in her left hand.
"Your commitment to Mandalore's freedom is legendary, my lady." she said with reverence, then offered the hilt to the woman. "This belongs to you."
Bo-Katan, however, turned her head away.
"I have had my chance to rule and I failed." she sentenced. Then she turned away. "I'm not the leader you seek." she concluded before going back with the assembly, leaving Sabine demoralized.
Deciding that it was better focus on the work, Jaral headed for the holotable in the middle of the tent.
"All right, gentlemen, how about we focus on winning this war?"
"Sounds like a great proposition." Bo-Katan said supportive.
The various Counts and Countesses gathered around. Jordan as well joined the briefing, standing beside his daughter.
"I understand you found the location of Alrich Wren?" the young Marshall asked. That was the entire reason she had moved the Constantinople at all, since the presence on clan Wren on Mandalore irrevocably marked them as traitors, putting Alrich in a dangerous situation.
"So it would seem." Rau said, pushing a button on the table and the hologram of a prison appeared. "According to our spies, Count Wren is held into this tower in the middle of the desert. Noble Team is scouting the area and has already signaled a heavy imperial presence. Stormtroopers, jump-troopers, turrets…"
"Have they detected any life-form inside the building?" Jaral asked.
"They tried, but it seems like the turret is shielded and their scanners can't go through."
Jaral lightly stroke her chin, her eyes deeply concentrated.
Ezra's hunch was telling him that something was off, and it seemed like Jaral thought the same when she searched for his gaze and the two exchanged quick opinions through their bond.
"It seems a little too easy." Jaral sentenced. "We shouldn't commit all of our forces to this mission."
"What's on your mind?" Jordan said.
"Ezra and Sabine should join Noble andlead a strike team against the tower, but we're keeping the marines here. If Alrich Wren is inside the tower, fabulous. If he's not, The Constantinople can intercept their communications from orbit and see if he's somewhere else."
"And we can react immediately, in that case. Sounds legit." Jordan agreed.
"You really think this is a trap?" Ursa asked.
"Indeed. The Empire is probably keeping him somewhere else and had voluntarily leaked this info to us, so they may transfer your husband to the capital while we are distracted."
"And if he gets into the capital, we will be unable to break him out." Bo declared grimly.
"That's right. Sabine, gather a squad, I'll contact Noble and tell them to signal a path where you can approach safely. Countess, you and Tristan should go investigate the possibility of your husband being detained somewhere else."
Both Sabine and her mother acknowledged the plan and immediately got ready to depart.
Sabine assembled a group of twelve, which included Ezra, Kanan and Rau, to attack the tower. Plus Chopper to serve as a carrier for one Jinx's processors for scanning and communications. Since she was staying behind, Jaral lent her brother her lightsaber and the strike team boarded one of the Kodiaks and left for the tower, around 30 km north-east.
The N7 team met them a couple of km before the tower, so the sensors wouldn't pick them up, or the sentries simply wouldn't see them. They would approach the tower using some of the old trenches dug during the wars and that could still allow them to approach until they were less than 900 meters away from the tower.
Sabine decided to send Rau and Kanan, together with the N7, to take position on her right flank, so they could attack the imperials after the main force charged frontally.
When everything was ready, Sabine gave the signal and as she stood outside the trench, with the Darksaber ignited toward the sky, the warriors went over the top as well, Ezra was standing right beside her with his jetpack materialized on his back and the lightsabers ready at his belt.
"Forward!" Sabine yelled and a battle cry from the mandalorians ensued.
The main force charged forward, flying toward the tower. As the stormtroopers started firing in that direction, Rau and Kanan went over the top as well, followed by the N7, which were composed of a sniper, two troopers and a machine-gunner.
Both Ezra and Sabine used their lightsabers to take out the turrets with a slash, while avoiding the blaster fire coming from below. From the roof of the tower even started to come down the jump-troopers, but even they were quickly dispatched.
"Ezra, answer me." the voice of Jaral suddenly spoke into the young man's mind.
"Sis, what's happening?"
"The Empire is jamming your transmissions. This is a trap, and the Constantinople has detected a transport with two AT-DPs coming your way."
"Understood, I'll report it."
"I'm sending clan Kryze to support you, hit them hard."
"Damn straight."
He cut down one last jump-trooper before he linked his comlink with Sabine.
"Sabine, we got imperial reinforcements coming."
Sabine nodded and gave order to press the attack, but it changed little, because the two walkers, along with another squad of jump-troopers.
Then, the commander of Noble contacted Ezra and Sabine.
"Take out the troopers, Commander, we'll handle the walker."
Though the Mandalorians did have their rockets on their jetpack, those were small and couldn't destroy those walkers with a single shot, and under the intense enemy fire that came to them after the reinforcements arrived, they didn't have the time to fire. A battle ensued, in which two of the Wren warriors lost their lives, but the jump-troopers and their commander were dealt with, also with the help of Bo-Katan and two of her warriors who came to reinforce the Mandalorians.
The N7 sprinted forward. The machine-gunner unleashed a rain of fire with his weapon, which had been modified with piercing bullets to penetrate the light armor of the biped walkers. It was so intense that the bullets killed one of the pilots, then even found their way into the main reactor of the walker and the machine quickly powered down.
One of the two troopers, was also a Demolisher, and he had a special gift: two homing grenades that packed the power of a rocket launcher.
First he hit the back of the walker, damaging its commands, then he blew up the left leg and the vehicle fell down.
"Hey, I want those!" Sabine exclaimed.
"You may always ask them." Ezra quipped. "Come on, let's take the tower."
Sabine landed in front of the tower's entrance and pointed the saber.
"Clan Wren, follow me." she ordered.
Ezra and Kanan flew or Force-jumped their way toward the roof and the landing platform at the top of the prison, to cut off any possible fugitive, but no Imperial came out of there for the next minutes, until Sabine and Rau got out of there. Sabine took out her helmet, revealing a frustrated face.
"The outpost is empty." she growled.
Meanwhile, the N7 found and destroyed the jammer that was blocking the communications, so the comlinks of Sabine, Kanan and Ezra warbled a bit as the voice of Jaral became clearer.
"...peat...Specter-1, 5 and 7, do you read me?"
"We read you, Blue Nova." answered Kanan. "The outpost is empty."
"I know. Ursa had just found out that Governor Tiber Saxon has changed his plan. He's transferring Alrich Wren to the capital of Sundari for a public execution."
Sabine gasped silently.
"Where is he?" she asked urgently.
"I already sent the Countess and Tristan with the Marines to ambush the convoy he is being held in. You three take Rau and Lady Kryze and head to this coordinates and wait for his transport to deviate there."
It just so happened that Bo-Katan had arrived on the roof as well and nodded when Ezra was about to ask for her opinion.
"Understood." concluded Sabine. The coordinates arrived to Ezra's omni-tool, and they all departed with their jetpacks. Kanan was brought by Ezra, while the Kodiak was arriving to take away the survivors of the joint force.
Ezra and his group landed on the ridge of a canyon where Jaral expected the convoy to deviate once the Marines started their attack. They waited for a few minutes, staring with their integrated binoculars in the direction where Ursa was laying the trap.
"Given the hurry, I thought the convoy would be closer." Ezra commented after ten minutes.
"Better for us. Gives us more time to prepare." Sabine replied.
Behind the Jedi and the three Mandalorians, Kanan was reporting to Hera, whose hologram was being transmitted by Chopper. She called him partially because Jaral was too focused on managing the battle, partially because she wanted to hear his voice.
They were discussing the situation and how much Hera needed her squad back at the base. Then Ezra heard Kanan say something definitely not regarding military strategy.
"Oh, having trouble overthrowing the Empire without me?"
The amused tone the his Master used, had Ezra turn his head toward the conversation.
"You have our Grand Marshall, you know." Hera answered. "And our squad is a great asset…to the Rebellion."
"An asset? Is that what we are?"
"You know what I mean."
"Well, you know how I feel…"
'What the heck?!' thought Ezra. When did Kanan became so straight-forward with Hera? He immediately nudged Sabine's elbow and pointed at them.
"Are we still talking about the mission?" Hera asked confused.
"That depends…" Kanan replied calmly, but with a suggesting tone.
Now Sabine as well was awe-struck.
"On what?"
"You know…" insisted Kanan.
Then Chopper protested that this wasn't the right moment.
"Way to go, Chop…" Ezra whispered disappointed.
Sabine sighed. "Worst part is, he's right. We need to focus.
Barely had she finished that sentence, that the rumble of big explosions came from the distance and two smoke columns raised from the direction where Ursa and Jordan's forces were supposed to ambush the convoy.
"Yup, that's my mom." Sabine commented amused.
Ezra chuckled. "Blowing things up, definitely runs into your family." he said with a tone that sounded half-flirty.
"It's a Wren specialty." Sabine replied tilting her head and pretty much following the vibe of her partner's tone.
Rau and Bo were a bit confused by the fact that the two teens seemed to have chosen the worst possible moment to go at each other. Luckily, the voice of Jaral came to bring back some order.
"Specter-5, the diversion worked. Three imperial transports and their escorts have changed course and are coming your way."
Rau turned again toward the canyon and spotted them. Three ITTs with four speeder-bikes to cover them.
"I'm scanning a single passenger, no armor, in the central transport." he said. The central transport also had four supercommandos sitting on the roof and ready to attack.
Sabine pondered. "If we attack the lead vehicle, my father's transport will fall back, then someone can sneak up and sabotage its controls, forcing it to stop."
"By then, the rest of the convoy will be too far ahead to do anything about it." Rau agreed. "So, who's going in?"
There was a second of silence.
"Yeah, that sounds like a 'me' plan." Ezra declared.
"I guess your armor gives you some perks for this." Sabine said. "All right, let's get started." she declared, rising up.
"You're not doing this just to make a good first impression on the Count, are you?" Jaral had heard the conversation on the comlink and teased her brother through the bond.
Ezra made a mental chuckle. "Hey, you taught me that they are extremely important." he replied, smirking under the helmet.
Jaral laughed and closed the bond.
Sabine positioned herself so she would be the first to drop.
"Go easy on them." Ezra quipped.
"No chance." she replied as she ignited the Darksaber.
A couple of minutes later, the convoy was finally near enough and Sabine jumped down with her jetpack, making sure that the Imperials spotted her and the shooting the missile of her jetpack to the central transport's viewport. The missile had been filled with purple paint, though, since she only wanted to blind the transport, and it worked. The vehicle stopped all of a sudden, and while the supercommandos lifted with their own jetpacks, the last ITT crashed into the central one. They didn't suffer any damage, but the lead convoy stopped temporarily.
The Imperials started shooting at Sabine, both with the turrets of the vehicles and their personal blasters. The girl flew around, dodging bullets left and right and even managing to destroy the speeder-bike in the rear. At that point, it was Rau and Bo-Katan's turn to intervene and fire on the convoy.
Kanan was instead waiting right on the track that the convoy was following, and he used the Force to jump on the lead speeder-bike, destroy it and then jump on the roof of the lead transport. The Saxon captain ordered the central vehicle to fall back like Sabine hoped, and so Ezra was finally able to jump down and land on the roof of the transport. Using his magnetic boots to hang on not be blown away by the high speed.
He ignited his two lightsabers and used both of them to start making a hole in the roof. The driver, however, was quick in his reaction and put the pedal to the metal, crashing into the other two vehicles and making Ezra lose balance.
Which was actually good for him, because the Saxon captain shot a couple of bolts toward the roof, and Ezra avoided them exactly because he was leaning backward.
Deciding that the lightsabers would be too cumbersome inside that tight space anyway, Ezra hanged them back on the sides of the belt and instead used the roof to sling himself into one of the doors, hitting the mandalorian captain with a double kick and flinging him out from the opposite door.
The two assault drivers quickly put their hands on their blasters, but Ezra was quicker and smashed their heads against the controls, making them faint.
"Are you with Sabine?" a voice talked behind him.
Ezra turned around and finally saw Alrich Wren. He was different from all the mandalorians Ezra had seen so far: he had quite a gentle face and was so well-dressed. He looked more of a diplomat than a warrior.
"Yeah, I'm with her." he said openly in the heat of the moment, also putting his fists on his hips to strike a pose.
Then he realized he was being extremely cringe-making, so he was quick to correct himself.
"Oh, blast, what have I done…" he stopped.
Alrich was looking at him with absolutely no clue.
"Ah, forget it!" Ezra exclaimed, the ignited his lightsaber to go and free the Count from the handcuffs that bounded him to his seat.
"Are you a Jedi?" Alrich asked amazed.
"Let's hope so." Ezra said.
He easily cut the handcuffs and they both headed toward the doors. Chopper, who was still on the ridge, jamming the imperial communications along with Jinx, warned him that the transport was heading at full speed toward a cliff.
Ezra only took a quick look and noticed that it really was a few seconds away. That, however, gave him an idea.
"Excuse me, sir." he said, then hugged the count from the back before placing his own back toward the door.
"Ezra, get out of there!" Sabine screamed in the comlink.
When the ITT finally jumped over the cliff, Ezra threw the both of them backward and activated his jetpack. While the convoy fell to its doom, the Jedi brought Alrich safely back on the track of the canyon, where they were reached by the others.
"Thank you, young Jedi." Alrich said with a grateful smile to Ezra.
"Don't mention it, sir." Ezra replied gently as he dematerialized his helmet.
"Father…" the voice of Sabine broke from their side and they both looked at her.
Ezra made a step back to let space for the two. Sabine was still holding her helmet on, while the expression on Alrich was unreadable.
There was a quite long, intense silence, until Sabine finally revealed her face, which was half-hopeful, half-severe.
"When I got word that you had return, I...did not believe it." Alrich said with a neutral tone.
"And…?" Sabine asked hesitantly.
In response, Alrich stepped forward and hugged her.
"Sabine, you are my daughter." he said.
Sabine finally melted and hugged him back with a relieved smile.
"I was pleased then," said Alrich once they separated. "Even more, now."
"Well, we would never leave you in the hands of the Empire." Sabine replied.
"Oh, that was fine. I meant your artwork."
And while father and daughter reunited by discussing art, Ezra activated his omni-tool and called his sister.
"Specter-7 to Command. We rescued Count Wren. He's safe and sound and we are waiting for extraction." he announced.
"Copy that, I'm pulling out our forces already, but something is strange."
Ezra didn't like this: when even Jaral found something 'strange', it meant troubles on the horizon.
"What's going on?" he asked.
Outside of the canyon, in a plain of drained and sandy ground, the allied forces were engaged in an intense shooting against the rest of the imperial convoy. The initial strike by Ursa and her warriors had managed to destroy the head vehicle, which had been reduced to a burning wreck and now the Countess and Jordan were using it as a cover from where they were leading the respective forces.
Between the Marines' shields and the superior Beskar armor of the mandalorians, the imperial stormtroopers were in total disadvantage on that open field, since their weapons were also less effective from the range they were shooting at each other.
"Command, this is Spirit," said Jordan in his comlink. "the enemy forces are falling back."
"Understood, Spirit, stand-by." Jaral answered.
While the guns kept firing and other imperials fell on the ground, a few seconds later, the Grand Marshall spoke again.
"Spirit, be advised, Specter-5 and her team have successfully rescued Count Wren. I'm sending you the shuttles to pull you out of there."
"Acknowledged."
"What's the rush?" Ursa asked confidently. "The Imperial dogs are running like the cowards they are."
"Because I intercepted a transmission from Saxon to his captain. It looks like he has some trick up his sleeve, and you're not taking useless risks, Countess." the girl replied sternly.
"What kind of trick?" Jordan asked.
"I'm not sure. The Constantinople is detecting an imperial transport coming your way."
"Reinforcements to cover their retreat?" Sabine asked on the comlink.
"Hold on, I see it." Tristan said from the frontline. He put down his range-finder and looked in the direction of the retreating imperials.
Jordan did it as well and saw what looked like a modified AT-DP.
"It's a single walker." the young Wren said. "It looks like the stormtroopers are gathering around it."
"I don't like this." Jordan said. "Command, tell the Constantinople to come down here immediately."
"Right away...what's that thing doing?"
Jordan looked better. The walker had been detached from the transport, while the allied forces were still pushing forward, the Mandalorians particularly.
Then, the strange, circular weapon that was replacing the usual cannon of the AT-DP started whirring a deafening sound and a white light came out from the center of the wheel.
"Mother, get out of there, now!" Sabine screamed through the comlink.
Jordan immediately called Gutierrez, Michalina and Thabo and he himself dashed toward the Countess and the warriors in the rear-guard.
"Legionnaires, bubble shields!" he ordered urgently.
He and the other super-soldiers activated the shields, creating a perimeter around the formation.
"Countess, get your warriors in here, immediately!"
Ursa, however, didn't have the time to do that, as the weapons finally unleashed its potential.