I Am Not Dar'manda!:
With a last glance at Bo and her group, Fenn and twenty of Clan Kryze's finest, including Kar-Anar, flew to meet up with the group of Clan Rook warriors, led by their Countess, who had disembarked their own Kom'rk only seconds after Fenn's group had.
He watched the two large fighters fly off to join the group attacking the city, which was going to have to be swift and brutal, since having more than a dozen Kom'rks fly into the dome at once was bound to arouse suspicions, especially at this time in the morning, when most people were supposed to be asleep.
As they hovered in the sky, Fenn tapped the side of his helmet indicating that everyone should turn to their agreed upon comm signal. "Comm check. Group leaders check in."
Kar immediately answered. "Kryze Leader, check."
And so did Countess Rook in a pleasant alto. "Rook Leader, check."
Fenn nodded in satisfaction as he turned in the air and started flying in the direction of Sundari. "Good. Troops, sound off to your leaders as we fly. Make sure everyone is connected."
With Fenn at the head, a total of forty-one warriors veed out behind him in a well practiced formation. It took five minutes for the dome of the city to appear on the horizon; plenty of time for the Kom'rks and the warriors within to already start their preplanned attack. (One that had been in the planning stage for weeks, and was just working out well, timing wise.)
The advantage to their fighters was that they were big enough to do extensive damage, but small enough to fit within the openings in the dome. The three Star Destroyers that hovered outside the city like overbearing guards couldn't actually do anything because they did not. And they could not fire directly on the dome itself because it was well shielded and would just be a waste of fire power.
The Imps had basically crippled their best weapons. Not very well thought out, but that was Tiber Saxon's problem.
Spotting his target, Fenn flew for the main hangar of Saxon's personal ISD. Aruetii scumbag. The last living Protector was looking forward to this mission very much.
"They're coming, Sir, as Grand Admiral Thrawn predicted," Captain Jett Hark of the Imperial Super Commanders told his superior. "Sensors have picked up two separate groups of heat signatures flying right at us, one small and one quite large."
Tiber Saxon, pale and lean under his Imperial plastoid armour, stared out into the night from his position in front of the window of the bridge of his pride and joy. He'd called his ISD 'The Revengar' in honour of his older brother. He thought he could just make out the tiny flickers of light that represented the flames of many jetpacks off in the distance. He smiled maliciously. "Excellent."
Jett could see the man's expression in his reflection and was glad he was wearing his helmet to hide his own expression of disgust. Never had he been so torn about his loyalties in his life. Technically, Count Tiber Saxon was his clan leader and he was honour bound to follow him. He was also the Governor of the planet, which gave him even more power. But he was also the cruelest, most selfish bastard that Jett had ever met, and he had no desire to follow such a man for who knew how long.
Jett had never been a huge fan of Gar Saxon either, but at least he led his people with a modicum of respect to their needs and had stayed essentially true to the Resol'nare. And he'd been the Count of their clan for nearly as long as Jett had been alive, making him something familiar and what he'd been raised to follow.
But this man… he was just all sorts of wrong. Jett despised how much Tiber was turning into an Imperial parrot. He wouldn't even speak Mando'a anymore and had banned the language from the city. And he was quite mad, on top of it all. Especially this business with the Mando killing weapon. He'd tried to make Saxon see reason earlier, but it was no use; Tiber was set on promoting a weapon that could very well eradicate the Mandalorian race. (Or at least any who wore the armour. And those that did not were holdouts to the peace loving 'New Mandalorians' and that would just be a crying shame if that was all that was left.)
If that wasn't insane and against everything Jett had been raised to believe, he didn't know what was.
But he couldn't see an out yet, so Jett continued to mentally grit his teeth and play along with Saxon's plans. But not forever. Not even for another month at this rate. If worse came to worse and Saxon started using the weapon on their people on a large scale, Jett was resolved to take matters into his own hands and murder the bastard himself, even if it meant then going into hiding elsewhere in the galaxy.
Tiber turned around and studied his Captain. "Everything is ready for our 'guests'?"
Jett nodded once, stiltedly. "Yes, Sir. What's left of my Commandoes and practically every unit of stormtroopers we have are waiting for them in the various hangars."
Tiber smiled that evil smile once again, making Jett clench his teeth to stop himself from visibly showing his hatred for him. "Good. And I trust you're feeling combat ready again after your dip in the bacta tank?" His voice practically dripped with derision.
A sudden glimpse of orange, and boots kicking him out of a speeding transport flashed through the Commando's mind. His shoulder twinged in imaginary pain from the harsh landing that had sent his already-prone-to-it shoulder into screaming agony as it was dislocated yet again. He'd had to withdraw from yesterday's mission after that, having to call for an evac to take him to the nearest med droid to fix him. He seriously regretted the fact that he had not been wearing a jetpack at the time; he could have saved himself a great deal of pain by simply flying with the kick.
It was shabla embarrassing, being taken out by a surprise kick and bad luck.
Jett nodded once again, standing stiffly. "Yes, Sir. Everything's back in working order."
Saxon all but sneered at him. "I hope so. This is the second time that I know of that you've failed in your duty because of that shoulder. If it happens again, I think a demotion will have to be issued. I can't have a weakling as the leader of my primary force of troops."
Talyc shabla besom. Jett wisely kept that thought to himself, however. Instead he simply said, "Yes, Sir. I understand, Sir."
Their pleasant (not) talk was interrupted by the comms going off all over the bridge.
After standing in shock for a moment, listening to the chaos, Saxon whirled around, stalked forward, and snarled at the nearest communications officer. "What's going on?" he demanded.
The poor man visibly trembled as he stuttered out, "T.. th.. the city is under attack, Sir! With Gauntlet class fighters and hundreds of jetpack powered warriors! Headquarters just took a massive hit! They're also targeting the Academy, the supply docks, the power complexes, and the Imperial garages."
Jett was practically grinning his face off as Tiber Saxon turned as red as a tomato. He whirled on Jett. "How did this happen?! Who let them into the city?!"
"I don't know, Sir," Jett said matter-of-factly. But I applaud them, whoever they are.
Saxon opened his mouth, probably to yell at Jett some more, but a sudden rumble of the entire ship that nearly knocked them off their feet had Saxon snapping his mouth shut in a hurry.
After regaining his balance, he yelled, "What the frag was that?"
As if in answer, Jett's comm pinged inside his helmet. He set it so the comm spoke externally as well so Saxon could hear.
"They're here, Sir. About forty of them just blasted the hell out of the TIEs. Shall we engage?"
Saxon nodded almost frantically.
Jett smiled wider. By the Manda, I hate him. "Yes, engage the enemy. No mercy." As that was enough to satisfy Saxon, he changed his comm back to internal only so his next commands could only be heard between him and his second. "No, wait. New orders. Use the stormtroopers as cannon fodder if you have to. We've lost enough of our men lately. Keep the visiting Mandalorians occupied but try not to kill them. I have a feeling they're going to be our allies very soon."
"Sir?"
"Just trust me on this, Rontil. I'll explain later."
"Yes, Sir."
Saxon was waiting impatiently for Jett to indicate he was done giving his men orders. As soon as he turned his helmeted head back towards the finger drumming man, Saxon huffed out. "Finally. I hope everything is going according to plan down there?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Good. Then come with me. I want to check on my weapon. Surely if the big group is attacking the main hangar, the smaller group is after my new prize."
Jett hid his sigh. "Yes, Sir."
He reluctantly followed the quickly striding megalomaniac. This should be interesting. I hope the Wren girl is here. Unlike the last time, I wouldn't mind seeing her destroy another Saxon. This particular Saxon, to be specific.
Just to keep the boat rocking a bit, because he couldn't resist, Jett asked, "What about the attack on the city? Shouldn't you be seeing to that?"
Saxon whirled on him, his face scrunching up with rage as he got right up into Jett's visor. "I'll deal with them later. First, we have to protect the weapon and capture the Wren bitch so she can make it work at its full potential. Kryze's 'demonstration' of power won't last long once I unleash the new weapon on the occupants of the city. Kryze and Wren can watch everything they've worked for fall to pieces as the city turns on them for the mass loss of life. No one will want to stand with them after that."
And with that last spiteful word, practically spat at Jett, Saxon spun back around and continued his single-minded march towards the small hangar closest to the bridge.
Jett stared after him with his mouth agape. He's insane. Certifiably, unequivocally, categorically, positively beyond a shadow of a doubt off his rocker. Has he no idea what such a plan would do to rally every single Mandalorian against him? I can't believe I'm following this madman.
But his feet were, as if compelled to do so. Maybe it was the desire to see how this all turned out. It certainly wasn't from his now nonexistent sense of duty towards the monster masquerading as a human.
I really really hope Sabine Wren is as brilliant as Tristan said she was. She's going to have to be to get us all out of this ball sucking black hole of a mess.
Fenn and his group of warriors hovered around the edges of the hangar opening, waiting for the signal from Bo to say that they were in place. The other group had further to fly to reach their destination, not to mention a more dangerous approach that required more stealth. And it was possible they would have to try more than one hangar to find the particular Walker that carried the weapon. But they were banking on Tiber Saxon wanting to keep it as close to him as possible and it being located in the hangar closest to the bridge and Tiber's office and quarters, so were heading there first.
Due to his extended 'visit' with the clan, Alrich had been able to confirm the very interesting fact that Tiber spent almost as much time on the ISD as he did in the Saxon mansion in the city. It seemed to Fenn that Saxon had fully embraced the persona of an Imperial and all the 'perks' that came with the position of power in their ranks.
Only two minutes later, Bo's voice sounded in Fenn's helmet and he breathed a silent sigh of relief. It meant they found their objective on the first try and greatly reduced the risk of discovery.
"We've found the Walker."
"That's great."
"The weapon is not attached to it, but it must be nearby. Sabine says it's rather heavy."
Fenn laughed softly at her dry tone. "Makes sense."
"We're going to need that distraction. There's a whole squad of stormtroopers hanging out in here."
"Is it possible they knew we were coming?"
"That, or Saxon's just being a cautious pain in the shebs."
Fenn chuckled. "Distraction in one."
"Thank you. Good luck. Don't get killed."
"You too."
Smiling rather dopily at her open display of concern, and glad no one could see it, Fenn shook himself into action. He switched his comm over to the group one and called out to his team. "We're good to go. Incendiaries ready?" he asked as he pulled two grenades from a pouch and watched them all copy his move. "Target the TIEs on the outer edges of the room. Whatever else is in there, we'll deal with after. If there are troopers, take them out. And if you see any of those shabla Super Commandoes, have at it; they deserve whatever they get."
He listened with a grim smile as a chorus of growls and battle cries sounded off over the comm.
Fenn only gave them a moment to hype themselves up.
"Pins."
As a unit, all the pins were pulled. Holding the ticking bombs in his right hand, he pulled a blaster with the left, mentally counting down in his head from thirty.
At ten, and as if they'd practiced the move a hundred times, they all flew into the hangar and scattered.
Despite the surprise of seeing what amounted to a sea of white armoured troopers waiting for them, they stuck to the plan and lobbed their grenades at the TIEs hanging on the walls.
It made a mighty big bang and many of the troopers fell out of formation as they stumbled on the shaking deck, debris raining down on them, taking out even more, and confusing the rest.
Fenn and company pulled their second blasters, and with the tactical advantage of being airborne in the now chaotic flaming and smoking hangar bay, they started shooting.
Still feeling flushed and tingly from her rather naughty banter with Ezra, Sabine moved to poke her head above the decking of Saxon's Star Destroyer, to look into the hangar. But at the last possible millisecond, Kanan stopped her with a hand on her arm, shaking his head adamantly.
She took that to mean that he sensed people up there. With a quick flurry of hand signals, she asked him how many and he replied two dozen.
Nodding in acknowledgment, Sabine still had to stick her head above deck to see if this was the right hangar. She indicated that she was going up very cautiously, and did so.
Poking just the bare minimum of her helmet above deck, she took a mental picture and then ducked back down a second later.
After hearing no cries of alarm from the troopers above, she breathed in relief at her success. Then she evaluated the mental image she'd memorized.
As Kanan had said, there was a compliment of troops standing in formation in the middle of the hangar full of crates, a couple of midsized transports, a fancy lambda class shuttle, and at the back, one modified Walker.
Gotcha.
She told her little group what she saw via the comms. Kanan, who was helmetless, would just have to eavesdrop on Ezra's thoughts or whatever he did in this kind of situation. (Some of his magical all knowing ways in the past made so much more sense now that she knew that he and Ezra mind talked to each other.) "We've got the right hangar. I see the Walker, but the weapon (She refrained from calling it the Duchess out loud so Bo-Katan didn't get any more pissed off at her.) isn't attached. It has to be nearby though; it's kriffing heavy. There's also a squad of troopers up there, waiting for us."
"Lovely," Ezra commented sarcastically.
"I'll let Fenn know," Bo said calmly. "We'll deal with the troopers when Fenn makes his move."
"Understood," Sabine said.
They waited for Bo-Katan to talk to Fenn.
From their location, they could see the faint glow of explosions happening inside the thick dome, indicating that the simultaneous attack on Sundari was going off well. One of the Imperial facilities being targeting was the Academy. Sabine wasn't sure how she felt about that since the school didn't hold much in the way of fond memories for her except for her friendship with Ketsu. But on the other hand, the building was practically a national monument and the students within were probably innocent in this war. Bo-Katan had promised the living quarters would not be targeted and any who wished to escape would be allowed to do so. At this time of the morning, the rest of the facility would be empty. If any of the students were stupid enough to fight back, then they were on the wrong side of the war anyway.
Then again, Sabine had personally blown up the science labs in her attempt to destroy the Duchess in the first place, so blowing up the rest of the school was just a fitting step up.
A minute of unheard communication later, the Mand'alor said, "Get ready. Distraction imminent. When you hear the boom, we go in."
"There are many crates to use as cover," Sabine supplied.
"Helpful," Ezra said brightly.
They spent the next twenty seconds needlessly checking their weapons and supply of explosives, just to pass the time that seemed to drag impossibly slowly.
And then they heard the BOOM.
In only seconds, Sabine, Ezra, Kanan, Chopper, and Bo-Katan all flew up onto the decking and they dashed into a secluded hiding spot behind some handy crates.
They found the troopers no longer in formation as a few had been knocked off their feet or staggered into each other. In the enemy's moment of weakness, the Rebels opened fire, taking out nearly half the squad in the first few seconds. The rest of the troopers dove for cover and it became a game of shots exchanged.
"We don't have time for this," Ezra thought to Kanan.
"Then let's change the game, shall we?"
With only a glance at each other, Master and Padawan started circling the outside edge of the hangar in opposite directions while Sabine and Bo-Katan kept the attention of the troopers with a steady hail of shots. Using crates as cover and dashing or jumping the spaces in between, the two Jedi snuck up on every trooper and stunned them.
When there were no more opponents to deal with, everyone converged in the center of the hangar amidst the bodies of the troopers.
"Well, that was fun," Ezra said, grinning under his helmet.
"Agreed," Bo said, seeing the advantage to having Jedi on her team. A good Mandalorian could have pulled off the same maneuver, but the Jedi had done it much faster than a normal human could have.
"We have to keep moving," Kanan pointed out pragmatically. He had no desire to run into any more obstacles than absolutely necessary and the longer they were in the ship, the more time was had by the enemy to get in his way.
"Right," Sabine nodded.
And with that, they split up.
Ezra, Kanan, and Chopper dashed off towards the inner part of the ship, hopefully stealthily, but willing to do whatever was necessary to get to the main computer that linked the ship to the Imperial database so that Chopper could delete everything pertaining to the Duchess weapon.
"Good luck," Sabine called over her private comm to Ezra as he hurried away.
"Thanks, gorgeous," he replied. "You too."
Sabine felt herself blushing yet again and was grateful for her helmet. If only she'd known that Ezra was capable of making her feel so special, she was pretty sure she would have pursued him years sooner; dorky teenage stage, stupid flirting, and all.
At least he had hair back then.
I really need to convince him to let it grow back. I miss those gorgeous blue locks.
She and Bo-Katan ran past the red painted AT-DP Walker that had been modified to carry the Duchess and boarded the lift to an upper level beside the hangar, still hoping that the weapon was being worked on nearby.
She was right. The familiar donut shaped power generator was sitting out in the open, not far from the lift. It wasn't exactly the same as her model, but it was close enough to be unmistakable as the thing she'd invented. Sabine cringed to see it whole again and the ghosts of remembered screams whispered through her mind.
Holstering her blasters upon seeing that the area was clear, Sabine gestured at her greatest regret. "There it is," she said quietly to Bo-Katan.
Bo also holstered her blasters and they walked towards the weapon. "It doesn't seem so dangerous like this," she said, eyeballing the object that had somehow turned warriors into ashes. "So how do you plan to destroy it?"
Sabine glared at the machine, reluctant to get closer to it. "I was thinking about blowing it up, but I tried that last time, and they somehow managed to rebuild it. I need to come up with something a little more permanent, apparently."
Bo-Katan unhooked the Darksabre from her belt and looked at it. "What about this?"
Sabine raised a brow under her helmet. "That... just might work. It'll be dangerous though. We won't have a lot of time to run for it."
Bo-Katan's voice was amused as she said, "If danger isn't your middle name, you're not a Mandalorian."
"I guess I qualify then," Sabine laughed. "Ezra is always whining about how I'm always running towards the danger."
"About him," Bo-Katan said hesitantly. "Are you prepared to deal with the fallout of marrying a Jedi? There's going to be more than a few unhappy people who won't be willing to excuse his heritage, no matter how much he's helped us."
Sabine sighed. "I know. I was almost one of them, once, when I first found out that Kanan and Ezra were Jedi. Don't even ask me how Ezra won me over, because I have no idea."
Bo-Katan chuckled. "My sister said the exact same thing about her Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi."
Sabine's helmet whipped around and she stared at the older woman in shock. "What? Your sister and Kenobi were a thing?"
"Without question. Aside from bickering like an old married couple whenever they were together, I caught them making out once, when we were all soooo much younger. That was after Kenobi and his Master had been her protectors for almost an entire year and they were being reassigned to a new mission. I can tell you, they most definitely didn't like the idea of being parted."
"I can't imagine why," Sabine said dryly, thinking of how she'd feel if Ezra were to leave her for long periods of time.
Suddenly, a low buzzing sound filled the area and swiftly got louder. "What's that sound?" Bo asked, hooking the Darksabre to her belt as she moved forward cautiously.
Shit, shit, shit! Sabine almost froze in fear as memories assaulted her. Not again! "Oh no. It's been activated!" And then her feet were inspired and she moved to rush the last metre to the Duchess to try and turn it off.
She didn't make it.
An electrical charge burst from the weapon and struck her and Bo-Katan.
It felt like her bones were being fried and her skin was on fire. It was agony. The worst pain she'd ever felt. And that was saying something, since she'd been shot more than once and broken a bone or two over the years.
It was all she could do not to scream.
As Sabine moved towards the weapon, Bo activated her comm to Fenn. "Fenn. The weapon, it's been…"
And then she couldn't speak anymore because of the pain that slammed her teeth together. She fell to the ground on boneless limbs with Fenn's frantic calls in her ears.
"Bo? Bo?! Talk to me. What's going on?"
And then static filled her ears as the comm short-circuited.
In a distant hangar, Fenn almost abandoned his mission to go rescue Bo. He did stop shooting and moving long enough for a trooper to score a glancing hit off his shoulder guard, which brought him back to the task at hand. His strong sense of duty kept him there, but his heart was crying for him to go.
All he could do was wait for the comms to come back and do his job. If he didn't hear from her again in the next fifteen minutes or so, he was going to go all badass on the Imps between him and Bo and storm over to the other hangar and find her.
For the time being, he went all badass on the Imps right in front of him. Especially the ones in white painted beskar armour trying to blend in with the regular troopers.
His already meager sense of mercy had evaporated into the smoky air.
Ezra and Kanan made quick work of the trip to the computer room. They'd only been spotted by one small squad of troopers and they'd taken care of them as swiftly as possible. Ezra had pulled all of their blasters too him and neatly sliced and diced them as they flew towards him, while Kanan had grabbed the Imps with the Force and tossed them against the nearest wall, knocking them all out.
It was a move they'd perfected over the years of raiding and escaping from Imperial facilities, and they were quite proud of it.
The computer room had a couple of techs working in it and only one guard on the door. Ezra took care of the guard with a Force enhanced punch to the helmet. He immediately slumped against the wall, unconscious. Too easy. After relieving him of his blaster rifle, he threw him down the hallway with a big Force push, until he hit a wall with a thump and sliding down to the floor bonelessly. Okay, that might have been a little much. Oh well.
At the same time, Kanan opened the door with the Force, not bothering to wait for Chopper to do it.
"What are you...?!" came from inside the room before the male voice was quickly silenced by Kanan.
As Ezra walked into the room, carrying his new prize, he saw Kanan stunning the second officer and the man slumping over his console. Kanan twirled his blaster around his finger and holstered it with a grin in Ezra's direction.
Ezra chuckled. "That never gets old."
Kanan grinned wider and shrugged. "Once a gunslinger, always a gunslinger." He glanced at Chopper, who'd followed Ezra in. "Okay, Chop, do your thing. Find anything pertaining to the 'Duchess' or 'Arc Pulse Generator' and make it disappear forever."
"Yes, boss," Chopper beeped sarcastically, disgusted at being told his mission yet again.
Ezra suddenly gasped and almost collapsed as searing pain shot through his entire body and Kanan wavered as the pain kicked back through their bond. Force, Sabine, what are they doing to you? He hated to do it, but to function he had to; Ezra almost completely blocked his bond to Sabine.
"What is it, Ezra?" Kanan said softly, hurrying over and putting a hand on Ezra's shoulder, pouring strength into him through their bond.
Breathing heavily, Ezra straightened up. "Sabine. It's Sabine," he gasped.
Kanan squeezed his shoulder. "Go. Help her. I can hold the room."
Ezra nodded once and then took off, back the way he'd come, running as fast as the Force could lend wings to his feet. I'm coming, Sabine. Hold on. He kept his bond with her almost completely closed so that he could focus, but it was killing him that she was in pain and he wasn't there to save her. He wished he could take her pain and siphon it into the Force, but he couldn't do it and move at the same time. At the moment, he figured it was more important that he save her from whatever was hurting her.
He tried comming her on their private channel, but he got no response and had to assume that she either wasn't wearing her helmet or whatever was hurting her had shorted out the comm systems. Not good.
Not even a minute after Ezra left, a squad of troopers arrived at the computer room. They spotted Kanan and the leader barked out, "Don't move," while aiming his blaster at Kanan.
Kanan wasn't feeling quite as lenient as he had been now that he knew that Sabine was being tortured or something. He smiled coldly and ignited his lightsabre, sensing the troopers' surprise. "Oh, I'm moving," Kanan said mockingly. It was his new favourite response to the command he'd heard much to frequently over the course of his life.
They shot at him, blasters barking in staccato waves.
In the Force, Kanan felt as though he was watching the laser beams move in slow motion. He deflected each one of the shots right back at the person they originated from.
Thirty seconds later, it was over, and there was a pile of white armour clad bodies in the doorway.
"Well done, meathead," Chopper beeped. "Now we can't get out."
Kanan shot the droid what would have been a dirty glare if he wasn't wearing a mask. "You should know better than that by now, C1-10P," calling the droid by his designation number, knowing Chopper hated that just as much he hated being called meathead or meatbag or any of the other insults Chopper liked to throw at him.
Chopper raised a manipulator at him.
Force, I dislike that droid.
Kanan shook his head in defeat. Because he was Hera's droid, Kanan never could toss him out an airlock like he'd always wanted and threatened to do. And dismantling him or crushing him with the Force was definitely off the table, so Kanan, as usual, ended up letting the droid get the last word. After all these years together, they were still frenemies at best. (And that was on a good day.)
Kanan turned his attention to the pile of bodies and started lifting them into the room and off to the side with the Force. While doing the grunt work, he wondered what was happening with Sabine and Ezra. All he could feel from Ezra at the moment was determination and worry, which wasn't very helpful.
Above the sound of her own brain cells frying, Sabine vaguely heard the sound of a door opening and a voice saying, "Stay back, Captain."
White boots came into her line of vision from her prone position on the floor and the excruciating agony finally eased off as the whine of the Duchess faded away.
"Sabine Wren," the voice belonging to the boots said condescendingly. "You truly are brilliant. Except for thinking you could infiltrate my ship unnoticed. Sadly, as much as I would like to end your life, I need you alive. You are going to upgrade your little experiment and deliver a weapon that operates at its full potential."
Rage inspired her abused body to move and she shoved her helmet off her head and stared up at the light haired man she assumed was the next Saxon bastard trying his best to murder her. Just get in line. "Never!" she spat, raising herself up onto one hand and feeling her still twitching muscles tremble in protest. "I'd rather die than help you, mir'osik!"
"Oh, I'm sure that will happen sooner or later, dar'manda bitch. But for now, let's see if I could persuade you," Saxon's ice blue eyes promised more pain and death.
Sabine glared back at the traitorous shabuir wearing Imperial armour and forced herself to her feet. (She refused to lie on the ground in front of him any longer.) "I am not dar'manda!" she spat in his face despite the considerable height difference. "My clan formally accepted me back months ago. And since you killed my mother with this weapon that I never should have made, I am now the Countess of Clan Wren! I will have vengeance on the Saxon clan for everything they have taken from mine!"
Saxon seemed only slightly taken aback by her words, before a light of glee lit his eyes. "Sooo, my little trap caught the Countess, did it? That turned out even better than I hoped."
Shabuir! I'm going to slaughter him until his entrails become his extrails. Sabine snarled at him and was just about to leap on him and pummel him to death when the Super Commando Captain stepped up. "Governor, stop. This is too much. I understand using the weapon against rebels, but if she makes it more powerful, how will we prevent the Empire from using it against ALL Mandalorians?" She wondered what clan he was from. It couldn't be the Saxon clan, or he wouldn't dare to question the head of the clan. Unless he had a death wish.
Saxon was incensed, his face turning red with rage. "I already told you my plans! I am the Empire! Palpatine has shown me the way to true power." The mental image that brought made Sabine shudder at the squidgy thought. "If you can't be trusted to support me, then you deserve this as much as she does," he snarled at his Captain.
Sabine had half a second to process what he meant, but by then it was too late. Before she could stop the pale maniac, he pushed a button on his vambrace and the Duchess powered back up, electricity targeting the beskar armour on those in the room once again.
Sabine cried out and fell to the floor again, unable to stand through the pain. The Captain also fell, his cries anguished, and Bo-Katan whimpered on the floor beside her. (She'd never gotten up yet.)
Saxon laughed evilly, his voice ringing in mocking echoes through her head. "This is not enough power to kill you; just enough to teach you a lesson. But in the end, all of Mandalore will bow to me."
"Not while I'm alive," Sabine said through clenched teeth under her breath.
She thought she heard Bo-Katan and the Captain both say, "Nor I," but the agony was building again and her ears were ringing, so she couldn't be sure.
And the thought that the Captain was willing to change sides was rather ludicrous, so she immediately assumed she'd been hearing things.
Ezra's journey to Sabine was delayed when he came to an intersection and was suddenly caught between two large squads of troopers. Karabast. I don't need this poodoo right now. Sabine needs me.
He ducked back around the corner and then, peeking around the edge, emptied the rifle he'd just acquired into one of the squads, laying them flat with ruthless head shots.
Tossing that to the side, he pulled his blaster and lit his lightsabre at the same time and charged around the corner, running right at the second squad. His blaster sang and his green lightsabre was a blur as he returned shots from where they came. He was so in tune with the Force and so determined, the troopers didn't stand a chance against the blur of motion that was Ezra Bridger.
Two minutes after first encountering the troopers, it was over and Ezra was once again sprinting towards his love, leaving about forty bodies in his wake.
He'd deal with the regret later.
Kanan had taught him that a Jedi always did their best to leave their opponents alive whenever possible. In most cases, Ezra was all for that philosophy. Today was no longer one of those cases.
Ezra finally reached the hangar after what felt like an eternity.
What Ezra wanted to do was charge up to the next level where he felt Sabine was with guns blazing, since he could sense she was once again in extreme pain, but a sudden word of caution from Kanan made him pause.
"Settle down for a second and assess the situation. Don't make it worse."
"Yes, Master."
Forcing himself to take in a big breath to help calm his mind and heart, Ezra then looked up at the bottom of the lift that appeared to be the only way into the workshop area on the second level. Raising a hand, he concentrated on the lift and made it lower a couple metres and then he jumped up onto the platform.
And then he listened, since Sabine's pain seemed to have stopped again and something in the Force (aside from Kanan) was telling him to wait. Perhaps this was something that Sabine needed to do on her own? He didn't like it, but Ezra heeded his instincts.
Sabine was once again gasping for air and praying for strength as the Duchess came to a stop.
"Are you impressed by how well your weapon works?" Saxon taunted. He pressed another button on his gauntlet and two regular stormtroopers ran into the room. All three of them pointed their blasters at Bo-Katan, who was in worse shape than Sabine, since she had a lot more beskar on her than Sabine did. "I believe you can do better. Help me to increase the range of the weapon, or she will die."
Sabine struggled to her feet again, resolve growing in her. The more than half baked idea that had occurred to her hours ago was finalizing itself in her mind; all of her precautionary prep work for this moment coming to fruition. "Stop! I'll do what you want," she said to placate the Saxon bastard for the time she needed to accomplish her task.
"Sabine, don't," Bo said weakly as she struggled up onto her feet as well. Don't help that piece of filth traitor. At least she'd managed to get her helmet off too, before the latest onslaught from the perhaps appropriately named Duchess, or she wasn't sure she'd even be conscious right now.
Sabine ignored her and went to the weapon, accessing the computer system. She frowned in concentration as she swiftly familiarized herself with the new computer they'd given it, and then she changed the command codes and linked the computer to her wrist computer, downloading the new algorithms in just moments that she'd written hours ago on a whim while eating dinner. She also left Saxon his link to the computer, because if this was going to happen, she wanted him to do it to himself.
Captain Hark had also forced his body back into a standing position, unwilling to let the females outdo him. His bleary focus settled on Countess Kryze first, a vague sense of concern for the older but incredibly powerful woman crossing his mind. She might technically be his enemy, but he had always respected her for her determined upholding of her values as a Mandalorian.
He shouldn't have worried; the redheaded dynamo was already looking steady on her feet and ready to stop the proceedings if she had to, fingering the hilt of what Jett immediately recognized as the Darksabre. His eyes widened in surprise. Whadayaknow, the Countess has the Darksabre now. I wonder if she challenged Sabine for it, or if the girl gave it to her?
Jett knew that Sabine had been in possession of the Darksabre as recently as yesterday, having seen her using it during her mission to appropriate her father. But there had been no word of her claiming to be the Mand'alor in the months that she'd had it. (And that was something no one would have missed.) Now that it was in the possession of someone else meant that a long running power vacuum had finally been filled.
Whoa. That means Kryze is now The Mand'alor. I hope. Also a Duchess. Mandalore should be happy to bow to her rule. She's certainly better than Maul. Or Gar Saxon.
Jett smiled in satisfaction. He could now honourably follow her with a guilt free conscience. It was one of the tenets of the Resol'nare, after all; rally to any cause without question when called upon by the Mand'alor.
He turned his gaze to the younger woman next, admiringly. The girl's strength was impressive after taking two hits from the weapon. He'd had just one, and he still felt like he'd rather throw up and pass out than stand there like nothing was wrong. I wonder if she's doing what she says she is, or if she's playing Saxon?
Please let it be the latter. I really don't want to get zapped to death. That footage from the test run was some of the most brutal deaths I've ever seen.
Jett thought about running for it, but that was quickly squashed. He needed to see how this was going to play out. If Saxon won this little mind game, then he was already as good as dead anyway.
"You're doing the right thing, Sabine," Saxon said as she was working. "This weapon of yours... It can unite the Houses. It can bring peace."
Sabine shot him a look of disgust. "As long as our people are on their knees before you and your Emperor."
"Mandalore must adapt to survive. Would you rather we destroy ourselves in a fight that CANNOT be won?"
Yes, I would. But she didn't believe they couldn't win. As a united force, Mandalorians far outclassed whatever the Empire could throw at them. Their problem in the past had been that they weren't working together. Now, under a proper Mand'alor, they were. She doubted Saxon was aware of just how many clans were currently attacking Imperial Headquarters right now. Bo-Katan had already brought more Mandalorian Houses together to fight for their freedom then any leader had managed in the last hundred years. The true-to-her-heritage Duchess was the only weapon Mandalore needed to make everything right again.
She longed to tell him this and gloat childishly, but for now, she had to keep Saxon relatively happy and that meant more or less playing along with his little power trip. "At least we'd die free, as TRUE Mandalorians." She stepped back from the Duchess, raising her hands in supplication. "It's done. The weapon is at full power now, but I'm begging you... DON'T use it."
"I'll take that into consideration." His tone clearly said otherwise.
I hope you enjoy what you're about to get, you fragger, Sabine thought maliciously.
He smirked in perverse glee and then hit the button on his vambrace.
Sabine suddenly remembered that Ezra was wearing an Imperial helmet, painted by hers truly, and she winced. Kriff, I hope he manages to get it off before it hurts him.
And then another had her eyes widening even further. Kanan's mask is made of plastoid too!
Ezra! Frag, I hope you're listening to me right now! Take off your helmet! Tell Kanan too!
The Duchess activated again, its whining filling the room, and its rays of energy seeking targets. It found them in the plastoid alloy of Saxon's and the stormtroopers' armour and then continued out of the room. It was now set to seek out targets as far as a kilometre away in all directions, meaning it would take out every trooper in the entire Star Destroyer.
She looked down at the man now writhing on the floor at her feet and nearly out-of-control glee at seeing him suffer filled her. "This isn't enough power to kill you! Just to make you suffer! How does it feel?!" Her voice dripped with scorn and hatred and her eyes were hard.
"Sabine, stop!" rang out from two voices at once.
Ezra listened and waited.
Kanan sent a mental question mark, and Ezra sent back a mental shrug, implying he wasn't sure what was going on at the moment, but no one was screaming in pain right now, so that was a start.
It sounded like Sabine was doing what the speaker (whom he assumed was Tiber Saxon) wanted. But he knew his Sabine, and he trusted her not to do what it sounded like she was. Which meant she was probably doing the opposite and changing the Duchess to take out Imperial armour instead, like had been suggested in the meeting last night. And explained her obsessive calculations on the datapad.
Through his bond with her, he suddenly felt Sabine's concern for him, so, with a mental grimace in hopes that he was doing the right thing, he jumped past her light mental shield and listened in on her thoughts.
"Ezra! Frag, I hope you're listening to me right now! Take off your helmet! Tell Kanan too!"
It took him a moment to figure out why, but then he quickly took off his helmet and placed it quietly at his feet beside him. "Kanan! Drop your mask!"
It wasn't a moment too soon, for the Duchess activated again, throwing a blue glue above his head and electrical streaks flew through the air. One hit the helmet and it actually jumped and smoked.
"Why?" Kanan asked even as he did what Ezra 'suggested'. And then a second later, after watching his mask and the armour on the bodies of the troopers sizzle with electricity in the Force… "Oh. Yeah. That would have sucked."
Abandoning the mask to its fate, the elder Jedi turned his head. "Come on, Chop. I hope you're done. It's time to go."
"I'm finished," the droid beeped even as he disconnected from the computer system and then went flying out the door as fast as he could roll.
Ezra stared at his helmet wide eyed for a moment. "Yep. That would most definitely have sucked." Shaking himself into action, he leapt up into the room above his head.
"Sabine, stop!" he called. He couldn't let her torture the thousands of troopers that lived on the ISD. It just wasn't right. A quick death was one thing, but this... This was just cruel.
He glanced at Bo-Katan, who'd called out the same thing at the same time, before focusing on Sabine. All that torture must have unhinged her a little, because her eyes were filled with maniacal righteousness.
"Mandalore must be free!" she said fiercely, turning her focus to him and off the writhing man on the ground.
Ezra ran over to her through the blue lightning streaks of energy that went past him harmlessly and put his hands on her shoulders, staring into her eyes. "It will be, I promise. But this isn't the way to do it, and you know it."
Sabine blinked, sanity returning to her eyes. She glanced down at the three men contorted on the decking and then looked shocked at what she had done. "Kriff," she whispered. "You're right, Ezra. I'm sorry."
He brushed her cheek tenderly. "It's okay, Sabine." He held out his lightsabre for her. "It's time to finally put this behind you."
Sabine stared at the lightsabre for a moment. Yes, it is time. She grabbed it, ignited the glowing green blade, and then slashed through the spinning weapon.
Then, just to make sure it stayed dead this time, she pushed the lightsabre into the side for half a minute, superheating the power core. "This is for my mother and brother," she said softly. And then, glancing at Bo-Katan, she slashed it one more time. "For Mandalore," she cried.
"For Mandalore," Bo-Katan, the Captain, and Ezra repeated.
Sabine shot a quick look of surprise at the Captain who was astonishingly still here.
The machine still tried to function, but the energy shooting out now was targeting electrical systems and running through the walls. A computer consol blew up, startling them, and then a bright orange fluid started leaking out of the screaming weapon.
"That can't be good," Ezra said as Sabine gave him back his lightsabre.
Sabine bent down and grabbed her helmet off the floor and plunked it on her head. "It's not. Time to go everybody." She nudged Saxon with a toe. "Except you, you Saxon aruetii." She whipped off a pair of binders from the back of his belt that he probably meant to use on her and snapped them around a wrist. She dragged him bodily along the floor, put the empty binder around a support column on the Duchess, and then closed it around his other wrist. "You can die with the weapon that you never should have used on my clan," she said coldly.
Ezra thought about stopping her for only half a second and then decided it wasn't worth it. The moron was fated to die anyway after everything he'd done to Sabine. She needed this closure and Ezra was willing to let her have it, brutal death or not.
Bo turned to the Commando Captain that was staring at Sabine and Ezra with what she assumed was either horror or admiration under his helmet. "If you value your men at all, you might want to evacuate the ship. This thing is going to blow. Oh, and you might want to consider changing your alliance back to the people you belong to. It's not going to be very healthy for the Imps around here anymore. And that's your Mand'alor speaking."
Jett sucked in an audible breath and nodded once after tearing his gaze off the girl who'd far exceeded his hopes of her and the boy in orange he was ninety-nine percent sure was the one who'd kicked him out of the transport yesterday. "Yes, My Lady. I'll get them. And my allegiance was already in question before this. I'm happy to return to my proper place as a Mandalorian. I did not like Tiber Saxon," he finished as an explanation.
Sabine, Bo-Katan, and Ezra were left gawking at the man as he spun around and dashed out of the room from the same door he'd entered it, followed by the troopers who'd just dragged themselves off the floor.
"Did that just happen?" Sabine asked Bo-Katan.
Bo shrugged as she bent down to pick up her helmet. "Anything is possible. And that one is obviously smart enough to follow the winning side."
"Speaking of smart enough," Ezra pointed out, "Perhaps we should leave as well?"
The girls nodded in their helmets and they all took off for the lift, jumping down to it.
They ignored the swearing and shouting coming from the left behind Tiber Saxon.
Ezra scooped up his helmet from the lift floor and called out to his beloved Master as he and the female flyers jumped down to the hangar floor, not bothering to try and make the lift function. "Kanan. The weapon's power core's been breached. This whole place is going up. Get out of there."
"The data's wiped and Chopper and I are all ready on the way to the hangar. I have a whole herd of shaky troopers on my tail." Kanan didn't sound worried.
Ezra smirked as he waited at the hole in the floor for Kanan; he wasn't leaving without him. "You might want to run a little faster. Things are going up as we speak. Sabine's enjoying it though," Ezra said in amusement as he watched her watch things go boom all around them. The Walker, the transports, the consuls in the walls, even some of the crates; if it could, it was exploding.
"I'm glad someone's getting a kick out of this," Kanan said out loud as he ran up with Chopper right on his heels. "I can feel the energy crackling around me, and it's not a good feeling."
"We should probably go then," Ezra said dryly before they jumped out of the hangar as a group and flew down the underside of the Star Destroyer.
Fenn was almost deliriously relieved when he heard Bo over the comm again as he watched the remaining Super Commandoes retreat through a doorway and the surviving stormtroopers groan as they made sad attempts at getting up off the floor.
"Fenn. It's time to go. Sabine's basically turned her weapon into a giant bomb. We don't want to be anywhere near here when it blows."
"I had a feeling something like that was going on. We're leaving now," he said as he signaled to his squad to move out. "I'm glad you're okay. You had me worried for more than a moment there."
"I'm fine, Fenn. Just a few jolts of electricity. Sabine's weapon is the most brilliantly brutal thing I've ever seen. One thing's for sure; it's a good thing she's on our side, because if she actually did work for the Empire, the galaxy would be whimpering at Palpatine's feet."
Fenn snorted. "As long as she has her Jedi and her family, I can't see that day ever happening. But you take all of that away from her? You're right, the galaxy would be in for a serious wakeup call."
"Does the Rebellion know what she's capable of?"
"I doubt it. And as long as she has her moral compass, it's a moot point anyway," Fenn said "Aside from a somewhat unhealthy love for blowing things up, she's been rather tame as long as I've known her."
"That is both reassuring and disappointing," Bo laughed, just as their two groups met in midair, and then they continued to fly away as fast as they could from the Star Destroyer making alarming booming noises behind them.
When they met up with Fenn's group in the early morning darkness, who looked like they were only one or two members short of what they'd started with, Ezra asked the Protector he now considered one of his close friends, "How was your mission?"
Fenn sounded quite satisfied as he said over the comm, "Successful. Most of the troopers on board must have shown up to try and take us out. I'm sure we were outnumbered thirty to one to begin with, but as you can see, we won."
Ezra and Sabine chuckled at his smug tone.
Behind them, the Star Destroyer rumbled and shook with increasingly louder explosions as more and more systems were attacked by what was left of the Duchess.
"There's two more ISD's incoming," Chopper beeped over the comms. "And more flyers."
"Saxon or someone must have called for reinforcements," Bo-Katan said grimly as they all paused in midair and looked back towards Sundari and saw the Star Destroyers flying around and over the city's protective dome.
They also saw a group of flyers in white armour now quickly catching up to them just in time to watch the early morning light show.
Since Bo-Katan didn't seem alarmed by the Super Commandoes joining their group, Fenn and the others in his squad refrained from pulling blasters on them. There was one at the front of the small pack of six men who bore the insignia of a Captain that Fenn hadn't seen in his hangar battle. Perhaps Bo had had time to talk to this man and sway him to her side?
Everyone watched in silence as Saxon's ISD exploded spectacularly, sending shrapnel in every direction, including at the two new threats. But that just bounced off the ISD shields without doing any damage, unfortunately.
Bo-Katan glanced around at the warriors surrounding her, a sense of triumph and determination filling her, and set her comm to speak externally so all could hear. "Who's up for round two?"
Mando'a translations:
Resol'nare – Six Actions. A way of life. 1. Wear the armour. 2. Speak the language. 3. Defend oneself and one's family. 4. Raise your children as Mandalorians. 5. Contribute to the clan's welfare. 6. Rally to any cause without question when called upon by the Mand'alor.