How To Appropriate a Star Destroyer (part 1):

"How does your own little fleet of ISD's sound to you?"

Bo nearly laughed (and there were quite a few skeptical snorts over the comms to back her up), but then she realized that Sabine was dead serious. "Uhhhhhhh." What do I even say to that? We're good but we're not THAT good. Blowing them up is going to be hard enough. Hijacking them without doing too much damage is simply ridiculous.

Isn't it?

By the Mand'alor's continued silence, Sabine realized that she'd need to explain further to win her over to the idea. And she didn't have a lot of time to do it. "Do you trust me?"

I do! Ezra thought rather enthusiastically, even if he had no idea how Sabine expected to… capture… five Star Destroyers. But this was Sabine, and as far as he was concerned, his girl could perform miracles with her genius mind and her never quit attitude.

Kanan echoed Ezra's thought, even if his mouth quirked up at the irony of a Jedi trusting a Mandalorian.

"Uhhhhhhh." Sort of? Mostly? Bo was once again reduced to sounding stupidly indecisive and she didn't like it. But what was she supposed to do when the girl kept asking questions that came with complicated answers? She glanced at Fenn for help, not even sure why she did it. (It's not like she was becoming attached to him or anything. Ha.) He nodded his helmeted head, and somehow, that was enough for her. "Yes. I trust you."

Sabine nearly sighed in relief. "Thank you. I'll explain while we fly." And with that, the colourful girl took off in the direction of the two Star Destroyers now hovering around the biggest part of the wreckage of Saxon's ISD. She had a feeling the comms were going insane on the Imperial channels as the Imps tried to figure out what was going on within the dome and what had happened to the Revengar. They needed to take advantage of the temporary confusion while they had the chance.

Ezra, Kanan, and Chopper were right on her heels, flying through the sky that wasn't quite as pitch black as it had been as the planet rotated them ever closer to sunrise.

Bo-Katan and company essentially all looked at each other and shrugged before flying after them.

"So what's your big plan?" Ezra asked, too curious to wait any longer. (After flying for approximately five seconds.)

He wasn't alone.

"Yes, Wren, tell us," Countess Rook demanded.

Sabine was only too happy to oblige, but first… "Just a sec. I have to make a call."

Leaving the others to stew in their curiosity for a minute, Sabine switched her comm over to the command center back at Bo-Katan's camp but left her helmet on external speakers for the benefit of those around her. "Father, are you there?"

"I'm here. What do you need?"

She smiled briefly at his efficient question, foregoing any other unnecessary but fatherly questions like 'how are you?' Mother has him well trained.

Mother…

Osik.

She pushed back the wave of sorrow for later. "I need you to have someone bring Ezra's Kom'rk" (they all refused to call it by Maul's title of the Nightbrother, and Ezra had yet to rename the ship) "and the Jai'galaar to Sundari, and summon the backup fleet to distract and pester but not destroy the ISDs orbiting Mandalore. Have them target the long-range communication satellites first." (Said fleet was sitting just outside the sensor range of the orbiting ISDs.)

Bo raised a brow at the command as she heard it, but she didn't counter it, trusting Sabine as she said she would.

"Brian Kryze is summoning the fleet now. The satellites should be down in five minutes or less. And as for our ships, they're already here at the Kryze camp. I had a feeling we'd need them."

"You're the best."

"Thanks, Daughter. I'll be there as fast as possible with the Jai'galaar and Ezra's Kom'rk."

Sabine's eyes widened in alarm at that; her father was supposed to stay safe at the camp. "But you're…"

"I'm coming to help. I'll be safe enough piloting a Kom'rk, Sabine. Worry not."

She huffed. "Fine. I'll give you further instructions when you get here."

"Understood."

Bo had waited long enough, and they were rapidly gaining on their targets by the dome. "All right, Sabine, what's your big plan?"

Sabine looked over at the blue and silver armoured woman who had flown up to be beside her. "First, we split into two teams, one for each ISD…"

As Bo listened to Sabine's plan, her eyes grew wider and her respect for the girl's incredible mind for battle strategy solidified into a solid trust, because what she was proposing was entirely feasible. (The fact that the plans relied on their Jedi companions inspired a grimace, though.)

In fact, by the time Sabine was finished outlining her plan, every single person present in their group firmly believed that what they were about to attempt was entirely possible.

Sabine was that convincing.

And Ezra was practically beaming inside his helmet from his pride in her. I would happily follow that woman to the end of the universe and back.

Ketsu tried comming Sabine's personal channel first, but only got a busy signal. That inspired a huff of disappointment. And since the mere thought of talking to Hera's incredibly disrespectful droid left her feeling rather violent, she tried for Ezra's Kom'rk next.

And was successful.

"Hello? Is this the comm frequency for an appallingly painted red and black Gauntlet?" she asked in Basic, hoping that Ezra was there to hear her teasing.

"Hello? Who's this? And yes it is, with equally horrid interior decorating and all."

Ketsu smiled at the familiar voice she hadn't heard for years but would always remember fondly. "I'm hurt that you don't remember me, Alrich," she said teasingly, switching to her native Mando'a.

"Ketsu! My little protégé! I didn't recognize you speaking Basic, I'm sorry. And you're voice has matured a bit, I think. A little huskier."

"That's all right," she said laughingly. "And I hope that's a good thing?"

"Of course it is," he replied warmly. "Males go nuts for a voice like that."

She smirked. "I have noticed that men are quite easy to talk into doing things my way."

Alrich laughed over the comm. "You always did have a way with the boys, little Ketsu."

Still do, if I do say so myself. Lando's probably STILL recovering his strength from the workout I gave him.

But talking about her love life wasn't why she was calling, so she changed the subject. "Boys aside, I seem to be flying right towards Mandalore. My C.O. says there's a battle going on and I happen to be in the area. Do you guys need any help?"

"Oh. Most likely. Sabine's hatching up something crazy but rather inspired."

"Then I'm definitely in. The crazier Sabine's plan is, the more fun we have." Ketsu grinned in anticipation as Alrich chuckled in agreement. "My E.T.A. is about forty-five minutes. I'll comm you back just before I pop out of hyperspace for an update and location."

"Sounds good. It's nice to talk you again, Ketsu."

"You too." Ketsu closed down the comm signal and settled back into her chair with a smile. She'd forgotten how comforting it was to talk to a fellow Mando who didn't automatically despise her.

Ezra, Sabine, Fenn, three ex super commandoes, and the team from Clan Rook flew for the bridge of the ISD on the left. Kanan, Chopper, Bo-Katan, Captain Hark, the last two commandoes, and the Kryze team made for the ISD on the right.

With the last minute of jetpack assisted flight, Ezra used the time to chat with his Master.

"Hey, Kanan?"

"Yeah?"

"So… Where would you say hijacking a Star Destroyer falls under the Jedi code?"

Kanan nearly chuckled aloud at his Padawan's sass filled question. "Well… I think we're going to have to go with it falls under the category of 'for the greater good… sort of'."

Ezra smirked inside his helmet. "That's what I thought."

"Just try not to blur the lines too much. I'm not entirely sure this would be considered the will of the Force, but I'm not sensing anything that says it isn't either. For now, it seems content with our path as long as we remember that we're committing acts for the sake of this war that as peace-loving Jedi, we would not normally even contemplate."

Ezra sobered instantly. "I understand, Master. There's been too many deaths already."

"Exactly. You're a good Jedi, Ezra, remember that."

"Thank you, Kanan. You know that means a lot to me."

"I know. I know you still need to hear it sometimes."

Ezra spent half a moment remembering just why that was before he forcibly pushed back the familiar wave of guilt. "So do you, Kanan. You're a good Jedi. The best even."

Kanan scoffed good-naturedly. "Considering the extreme lack of Jedi to choose from at the moment, that's not saying much."

As Ezra's group approached the bridge of their target he sent his Master a mental eye roll. "Shush. You know what I mean. Even if we were surrounded by every Jedi that ever lived, I'd still consider you the best."

Kanan's nearly choked on the swell of emotion that filled his chest. "Ezra… "

"You can hug me later," the boy teased as he ignited his lightsabre. "Time to earn our dinner."

Kanan pulled himself together and realized that his team was also only seconds away from the huge observation windows of his target. "Right. Show time." He ignited his lightsabre, the Kyber crystal within humming into the Force a little louder in anticipation, and Kanan slashed at the first transparisteel window.

Ezra flew around the entire curve of the bridge viewports at the fastest possible speed, burying his green lightsabre in the transparent material in a horizontal line right across the center of each, skillfully jumping the framework without damage on purpose. Behind him, as each window was weakened, a Mandalorian flew through it feet first, crashing into the bridge with a gusto that startled the people within.

By the time Ezra reached the window on the far side of the half circle that looked into the small side room that contained the weapons and starfighter stations, more than a score of heavily armed Mandalorian warriors had landed inside the bridge of the ISD and were already shooting anything that breathed, lighting up the space with a blue glow. Only those few who instantly put their hands up in surrender were spared a stunning.

Ezra slashed through the last viewport and pushed it into the small room with the Force, right onto the startled officers contained within. The two men were knocked out by the sudden impact as they and the transparisteel pieces flew out into the chaos of the main chamber and all the way down into the pit. Ezra flew in and landed on solid decking, grateful to back on his feet. He pulled his blaster with his free hand and was running down the length of the corridor in only moments, joining the others who'd already headed this way to stun anyone deeper in the command center of the ISD. He also kept an eye out for Sabine while he was at it.

Sabine crashed through the first window Ezra slashed, landing in the side room on the right that contained the defense and shuttle control stations. She'd stunned the officers before they could even think about touching a button. Then she took off at a bolt for the communications station diagonally across the way and a bit to the right inside the main foyer. The second she cleared the bulkhead, she had a line of sight on the communications officers and took them out as they were craning their heads around to see what all the crashing noise was about.

Trusting in the rest of her team to take care of all the Imperials behind her, she kept running deeper into the command center, taking out a couple more officers in the foyer before they could raise an alarm or even think about drawing their blasters. Fenn joined her as she approached the security room.

Sabine stood to one side of the door and Fenn took the other. He hit the door control and they stepped partially into the doorway, blasters taking out the half dozen technicians and officers in only moments. The unconscious bodies slumped to the floor or over their workstations bonelessly, prompting a smirk from the pair of likeminded warriors.

As a team, they stepped into the room filled with monitors and moved to the door off to the right. Unless someone had randomly changed the design of an ISD, which was highly unlikely, this room contained the main holo station for the ship. If anyone was in there, talking to whomever, they were in for a rude surprise.

Caressing the trigger of her blasters, Bo nodded to Kar and he hit the button with a fist. They peeked around the corners of the doorway. She wasn't surprised to see the captain of the ship standing at the holotable, talking to a life-sized image.

What she was surprised at was WHO the image was.

"… done well informing me. I will leave Coruscant shortly. Jarrus and his annoying little Padawan have eluded me for the last time."

Bo cursed mentally. Shabla. Five minutes too slow. Now we've got about nine hours until the 'fun' arrives. I was hoping for a little more time than that. And definitely not with THAT man in command of the enemy fleet.

The captain bowed his head to the unmistakable, hulking, black masked and caped figure of Darth Vader. "Very good, My Lord. We will stop all traffic off the planet to prevent their escape."

"I don't think so." Bo switched one of her blasters over to deadly and shot the holotable. Vader's image flickered out just as he raised his helmeted gaze to the doorway. There was no question in Bo's mind that Vader had seen her and would bring an appropriately sized fleet with him to deal with whatever was going on on Mandalore.

The captain spun around as Bo and Kar strolled into the room. He visibly blanched as he realized just who was on his ship, but made a valiant effort at playing it cool. "Countess Kryze, I believe?"

Bo smiled with a whole lot of teeth inside her helmet. "That is correct, Captain…?"

"Tigfeld, at your service, My Lady," he answered, heavy on the sarcasm.

"Oh, you have no idea how accurate that statement just was, Captain Tigfeld," Bo told the very tense blond haired man with glee. She gestured with her blaster towards the doorway. "Come, back out to the bridge."

Tigfeld's upper lip curled in distaste at taking orders from a Mando, but he marched his stiff form out in front of her.

Back in the security room, the unconscious Imps were already being dragged out of the room by their feet or wrists or armpits by Bo's warriors. In the hallway, even more unconscious officers were being dragged from further rooms and towards the pits, were they were being dumped in without care to injury or space issues.

As Bo passed Captain Hark, she nodded towards the turbolift door. "Station your men in the lift. No one comes up to the bridge. Give whatever excuse you have to. Or knock them out. Don't care."

Hark nodded. "Understood." He turned and barked out orders to his men who were dragging Imps by the ankles. The two white armoured men dropped their burdens and jogged over to the lift, disappearing inside. Hark grabbed an ankle from each of the two abandoned officers and dragged them both in a nearly effortless show of strength.

Captain Tigfeld had to be prodded to jump down into the pit on the left, which had a fraction more empty space than the other side. "I demand to know what you think you're doing!" he said as he looked up at the circle of blaster welding Mandalorians that now guarded every officer from the command level of the ISD. He startled slightly when he noticed a scarred and snowy eyed man not dressed in the usual Mando armour amidst the circle of guards. A man who also happened to have a lightsabre blatantly hanging off his belt. The same man that Darth Vader was hunting.

Kanan smirked at the Captain, casually twirling his blaster around a finger. "Isn't it obvious, Captain? We're hijacking your ship. And you're going to help us."

Sabine paced the central bridge slowly and deliberately, broken transparisteel crunching underfoot, looking down into the pits on either side, reading the contempt and fear on the faces of the trapped Imperials as she waited for the rest of the crumpled forms to wake up from the mild stunning. To the ones already awake and shifting restlessly, she said, "I don't recommend moving in any way suspicious; we're all more than a little trigger happy here," she warned with just a hint of cheek that made Ezra chuckle silently as he found an empty spot against a window frame and leaned back against it.

Her badass warrior goddess persona was such a turn on.

Sabine paused her menacing pace only momentarily when the comm in her helmet buzzed, indicating a call on her private channel. She answered it with a blink of her eyes thanks to the advanced computer in her helmet that ran her H.U.D. and comm systems. "Yes?"

"We're nearly there," her father's voice answered cheerily. "What do you want us to do?"

Sabine was amazed that ten minutes had already passed so quickly. "Just hang back for now. Maybe find some clouds to hover in or something. I need you to be bait and I need it to look real. Having you hanging out by the ISD's is not going to be very convincing."

Alrich laughed. "I guess not. Comm me when you want me to show up."

"Will do. Thanks, Father."

"Oh, Sabine!" He caught her just as she was about to close the channel.

"Yes?"

"One more thing; Ketsu is on her way. She was in the area and was sent here to assist you. E.T.A. is approximately thirty-five minutes."

"Okaaaaay? Unexpected. But not unwelcome. If she contacts you again, tell her to meet our fleet in orbit."

"That's what I thought. Talk to you soon."

"Kay." As soon as she ended the call, another one chimed a request for attention. That's probably Ezra, wanting to know what diverted my attention. She answered without looking at the frequency, her attention caught by a groaning officer as he woke up sprawled over a workstation below her. "What's up, babe?"

A feminine laugh was the response she received.

Oops. Sabine winced. "Sorry. Wrong person."

She could still hear the laughter in Bo-Katan's voice when the other woman said, "No, it's fine. I'm finding your quickly evolving relationship with the young Jedi rather entertaining. And inspiring, I have to admit."

Sabine grinned in her helmet. "You do seem to be rather chummy with a certain Protector," she teased, flicking her eyes at the man in question as he stood in the circle of warriors along the edges of the bridge, guarding their prisoners. "I'm surprised you let him out of your sight."

Bo-Katan audibly huffed. "He's used to working with you in combat situations; it made the most sense to put him on your team."

"But you'd rather have him on yours, wouldn't you?"

Now the new Mand'alor sighed softly before answering, "Yes."

"Welcome to the Recently Infatuated Club."

Bo-Katan laughed. "How true that is." A pause. And then a much more serious tone of voice. "But discussing our love lives is not why I called, regardless of how much more entertaining it is than waiting for grumpy Imps to wake up. Your plan is going perfectly so far, and I'm quite impressed, except for one not so little problem."

A feeling of dread settled in the pit of Sabine's stomach, and she saw Ezra stiffen slightly as he sensed her change of mood. Knowing he'd start mentally eavesdropping if he sensed something wrong whether she liked it or not, Sabine changed her comm so she could hear what was going on in his helmet as well. (Two could play the eavesdropping game.) "What is it? What's happened?"

Another short pause before Bo-Katan answered. "We were about five minutes too slow enacting our plan. The Captain on my ship was on the holo with Darth Vader when I found him."

"Shab."

"Karabast."

Sabine's frown twitched upwards at Ezra's simultaneous curse with her own.

"Exactly. And it gets worse. Someone from the Revengar must have gotten word to the other ships that your Jedi were present. Vader seemed quite pleased to know their location and said he was coming to get them. He also saw me just before I ended the transmission, which means he knows that I'm involved in today's coup and will bring enough reinforcements with him to make Mandalore a very bad place to be in about nine hours."

"Haar'chak, I'm sorry, My Lady. It wasn't my intention to make this into an all out war for you."

"Don't fret too much about it, little cousin. This was coming anyway. Maybe a little sooner than expected, but anticipated nonetheless as soon as we decided to openly defy Imperial occupation. We'll deal. The Emperor was bound to send either Vader's or Thrawn's fleets whether you and your Jedi were here or not. At least, because of you, I'll have a minimum of two ISD's and all of their accompanying toys to fight back with."

"That's something."

"Yes. Now, I thought it would be best if I left it to you to tell your Jedi about the impending threat to their lives, and let you three decide what to do about it. I won't ask you to stay and fight with us if you don't want to, not if they are going to be targeted specifically."

Sabine looked over at Ezra again as she walked the bridge. He was standing tall and tense now, fingers grazing his lightsabre restlessly. She wished she knew what he was thinking, but she knew he would fight if she asked him to. Die for her if he thought it would help. The question was; did she want him to? "I'll have to get back to you on that one, Bo-Katan."

"I understand. We have a little time. You can tell your Jedi after the ISD's are secured."

Sabine laughed without humour. "They already know."

"Uhhhhh… How? Some Jedi thing?"

Sabine all but snorted as Ezra shifted again, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the wall. She didn't need to see his face to know he was smirking. Someone's proud of himself. "You could say that. Ezra's eavesdropping on my mind and whatever he knows, Kanan knows."

"Hunh. I don't think I envy you right now."

This time Sabine definitely snorted. "I've lived with them for years and didn't know they could do that. I don't suppose it makes much difference now that I do know."

"I guess not. And now that I think about it, there could be some advantageous uses to Ezra's mind snooping."

Sabine grinned as she pictured herself and Ezra in a bed, naked. He practically squirmed in his boots and his breathing suddenly panted in her ear over the comm. "Oh, I've already thought of them, trust me."

Bo-Katan laughed. "I bet you have. On a completely different note, have your ships arrived yet?"

"They have. Father's hovering nearby."

"Good. Because all of my Imps are awake now."

Sabine scanned the pits on both sides. "So are mine."

"Time for some 'persuasive' speeches."

"Yep."

"Have fun."

"You too."

Sabine closed the channel with Bo-Katan and opened the one to Ezra properly. She looked directly at him and purred out, "Soon, babe."

"Oh Force," he breathed back as their helmeted gazes all but locked across the pit between them.

She smirked and then turned her attention to the Imps below her, positioning herself at the head of the central bridge so they could all see her. And then she said something she'd been dying to say for what felt like her entire life. "All right, Imperial scum, here's how it's going to be…"

Despite what Sabine thought, when Ezra heard that Darth Vader was coming, his first instinct was to keep that information to himself.

He didn't want Kanan to fight the Sith Lord because he was afraid Kanan would die if he did.

So he buried the thoughts about Vader to the furthest corner of his mind to hide from his Master, and instead concentrated on Sabine.

He'd worry later about how to keep Kanan safe from the impending arrival of their worst enemy.

Mando'a translations:

Jai'galaar – Shriek Hawk