AN: After seeing a few reviews here, I wanted to respond to everyone as best I can. For Abigor27 and two of the Guests, you certainly don't need to worry about this turning into a Sabine/OC romance. The end game will always be Sabine and Ezra finding their way to each other, but they do have a long path to get there, especially since I don't plan to veer too far off of the show.

For the first Guest, I can't confirm a set schedule for updates, but this story is definitely not going to be left hanging. I just have to feel right about a chapter before I submit for you all to read. In the end, I'm my biggest critic, which is why I try not to read my own fics once they've been published (because I keep seeing errors and wonder how I could have missed them). Ezra is definitely going to go through the whole gambit of emotions as he struggles not to fall to the Darkside. As for Gavyn, he definitely will have more of a role for the story as we move forward, at the very least during the time they stay on Atollon. Don't worry about Sabine wanting to get the crew whole again. She hasn't forgotten, and if it wasn't for Ezra becoming upset, they would have spent more time together. You'll have to wait and see when the story gets back to that. After all, we haven't even gotten to Season 3 Episode 1 of the series yet.

More is definitely coming, along with Sith theme goodness (for the time being, at least).

Ezra ran around the corner of a hallway, pausing briefly so that he could turn and fire his blaster at the lone Stormtrooper who'd chased him from his post. With his pursuer temporarily taken care of, he leaned against the wall and let out a sigh of frustration. Why couldn't a single mission go as planned?

He never cared before about added complications. On more than a few occasions, he was even the cause behind unplanned complications, but that was before Malachor. Ever since then, he'd learned that missteps could quickly lead to someone getting hurt or dying. He now knew better than to goof around and simply believe everything would turn out alright.

He was admittedly angry about the current situation, but that was because it was supposed to be a simple data spike upload at a lightly guarded Imperial facility. He wasn't in charge of this mission, because he wasn't thrilled with a good portion of the selected personnel he was stuck with. In his opinion, they were all too green, and apparently, even for the simplest of missions, it seemed, because now he was going to have to save all their asses.

First, he needed to determine where everyone was, starting with the mission leader as he enabled his comm. "Spectre five, we're cutting things a little tight here. What's your status?"

"We need five more minutes," Sabine responded. "We just got to the terminal a minute or two ago."

"Well, time's up," Ezra said. "Because the Empire knows we're here and reinforcements will come quick."

"No, we can still complete the mission," Sabine said. "We just keep them occupied with a distraction to buy us the time we need."

"Right," Ezra grumbled to himself as he began to internally debate how he could stall them and where to best coerce the bucket heads into going.

He didn't get much time, however, to come up with anything before another voice chimed in. "I've got it."

Gavyn. Why did it have to be Gavyn? Ezra's fists clenched tightly, the more he thought about the rookie getting to play a more pivotal role than he'd been assigned. Ever since that guy had shown up in the Rebellion, and more importantly, in Sabine's life, Gavyn's presence alone had been driving Ezra to a dark, angry place. He was really starting to hate that guy.

The door to Ezra and Zeb's room slid open as soon as Sabine's access codes were entered onto the panel. She had an angry look plastered on her face, but her motivation was temporarily halted because of the sight before her. Ezra was standing there, a towel in hand, while still pressed against his still slightly damp hair. He wasn't wearing a shirt, and his pants, in her opinion, were hanging dangerously low on his hips.

Ezra eventually noticed his state of undress too, and went over to grab a fresh shirt. "I've already heard it from Rex," he said as he pulled his shirt over his head. "So if that's why you're here, you can just save your breath."

"I want to know what your issue is," Sabine said after regaining her focus. "And I doubt Rex went to that level with you."

"Well, I don't have an issue," Ezra responded. "That is aside from you barging in here unannounced after I just got back from the fresher."

His response caused Sabine to recoil just a bit. She'd almost expected Ezra to jump at the opportunity to turn the situation into some juvenile sexual innuendo. Or at least, he would've used it as an opportunity to throw in a lame attempt at flirting, instead of almost seemingly being angry with her. In fact, he always seemed angry anymore. "That's exactly what I'm talking about," she pointed out. "Your attitude has changed so much since whatever happened on Malachor, and quite frankly, I'm getting sick of it."

"Well, if you're so sick of it, then why don't you just check on your boyfriend in the med center and leave me alone?" Ezra said.

"Is that what this is about?" Sabine angrily asked. "Are you jealous of Gavyn?"

Then it was Ezra's turn to recoil a bit. She'd made a good point, and he was jealous. Sabine bringing it out in the open forced Ezra to admit it, even if only internally. But that didn't mean he was about to acknowledge it to her. "What reason would I have to be jealous of him?"

"Then if it wasn't jealousy," Sabine said, not trying to hide her disbelief in his claim at all. "Then why did you try to humiliate Gavyn in the sparring session? Which by the way, only made you look like an or'dinii to everyone else."

He wasn't sure what that name meant, but he was certain it wasn't complimentary. "Look, Sabine, I really don't care what everyone thinks. I've been getting stronger every day, not just through the Force. I just thought maybe Gavyn would be more of a challenge for me, but I guess I was wrong."

"Then maybe you should go up against a Mandalorian, since you think you're so strong now," Sabine suggested as she stepped into Ezra's personal space.

He considered it for a moment, but then decided that things were getting a little too heated between Sabine and himself. Instead, he managed to step around her with a sideways glance. "I'm not interested in fighting with you now. Maybe some other time."

"Di'kut," Sabine muttered as she stood there in Ezra's room until he was out of sight. She wondered not for the first time what had gotten into the boy who had been a good friend? Was there something she could do to get her friend to come back? She couldn't believe her last thought, but wondered if she still wanted to get him back to his old self anymore.

The floor started to quake ever so slightly, which was a good indicator that an explosion occurred. "Was that you, G?" Sabine asked over the comm.

"Yup," he confirmed. "Looks like your lessons are starting to pay off. That should keep the Imp's occupied for a little bit."

"Definitely," Sabine replied, before turning her focus back to the mission objectives. "Spectre five, get your team back to the extraction point. We've got about two minutes left until the spike will finish installing, and then we'll meet you back there."

Ezra wanted to argue his opinion that his team should stay at their stationed points to keep an eye on things until everyone was ready to go. But he wasn't the mission lead, Sabine was. She'd given her orders, and he'd already gotten on her bad side enough recently. So he complied, following her orders, and informed his part of the team to return to the shuttle.

Ezra was the first to arrive in the hangar bay, where their "liberated" shuttle was stationed, and completed a headcount as the members of his team started to arrive in pairs of two's. As the fourth and final pair arrived, Sabine announced the data spike was successfully uploaded, and ordered her team to head back. But that was when things took a turn for the worse.

"We've been spotted!" Sabine yelled out over the top of blaster fire in the background.

"I've got another miracle just about ready," Gavyn replied. "There's still a lot of Imps around here, but I think I can still set it off."

"Don't worry about that!" Sabine barked out. "Just get to the…."

The transmission cut off as soon as the Empire jammed their signal, and Sabine's last command was lost in static. Ezra had a bad feeling about the situation they were in, and debated for a moment whether he should wait for Sabine and her team to return, or if he should go in after her, but his decision was made for him when he heard yet another explosion.

"Keep the ship secure," Ezra ordered. "I'll be right back."

Then Ezra charged back into the conflict, intent on ensuring that Sabine and her team could escape. At first, he headed in the direction where the explosion occurred, and wasn't meeting much in the way of resistance along the way. When he came across a few Stormtroopers, they were luckily headed in the same direction as he was, which made it easy to get the jump on them from behind.

Sabine, however, wasn't so fortunate. She was heading almost in the opposite direction, running into conflict, and forcing her to alter her course at almost every turn. If she could have spared the time, she would have worked on the comms being jammed. With no communication, it became more difficult to find a clear path back to the ship.

She knew that if her team was stopped anywhere for long, they'd become pinned down, and then they were all as good as captured if they survived. So she tried to maintain at least two possible paths forward at all times to keep that from happening. Still, she knew her team was quickly running out of time, and they didn't seem to be getting any closer to the hangar bay.

They needed to come up with something to help clear their path, and that answer appeared for them once when Ezra suddenly appeared behind the group of Stormtroopers currently standing in their way. He had them flanked, and they didn't know what was about to hit them, causing Sabine to smile behind her helmet.

She couldn't recall a time she'd been happier to see him than when his lightsaber came to life and he began to dispatch their opposition. "Come on, let's go!" She barked to the rest of her crew, before opening fire and charging forward to join him.

They ended up making short work of the Stormtroopers before meeting in the middle. "Head back that way," Ezra announced while pointing in the direction he'd come from, and turning to lead them back to the shuttle.

"Wait!" Sabine called out, grabbing Ezra by the arm too. "I still have two missing from my team. Part of the plan had Whif and Gavyn breaking off to serve as a fail-safe if we needed a distraction to give us the time we needed. I don't know if they received my command to head back to the extraction point or not, but I haven't seen them."

"I'll get them," Ezra said as he turned fully to Sabine. "You're the best pilot we've got Sabine, and we need you to be ready to leave as soon as we reach the ship."

Sabine wanted to stay and help retrieve her team, but deep down she knew that Ezra was right. If any of them were going to make it out of there, she needed to be ready to pilot them away to safety. Every second, the situation was becoming increasingly volatile and critical to their success. "Alright," she conceded. "Don't take too long. We need to leave as soon as possible, or none of us is getting out of here."

"Got it," Ezra confirmed and then headed farther into the complex. He started by using his senses to get a feel for where to go, but it was difficult with all the scurrying about happening around him. So, as soon as he came upon a small clearing, he closed his eyes and reached out through the Force until he found two Force signatures filled with concern and fear.

He quickly realized they weren't too far away, but he also discovered they were pinned down, and had a closed blast door preventing them from getting away. Ezra knew he didn't have time to work around, so instead, he placed his hand on the door, and felt through the Force before plunging the blade of his lightsaber into the metal of the door, and then began to cut a hole into it.

Once he finished his circular cut, he used a Force push to throw the hunk of metal out of his way, creating the access needed to reach his comrades. As soon as he had a clear view of the situation, though, he discovered he hadn't gotten there in time. Wini Shif was laying on the corridor floor, curled away from his view, and not moving.

Ezra saw numerous pit marks caused by blaster fire extremely close to her backside, and an obvious blaster wound on her upper torso too. She was lying prone on the opposite corner of the hallway, away from Gavyn, who was virtually cowering in between a random and wild blind shot from his blaster in the general direction of the enemy.

"I can't get to her!" Gavyn yelled once he noticed Ezra was there. "She didn't have a chance. They hit her as soon as we were spotted, and she hasn't moved since! I think she might be dead!"

Ezra growled in anger at the bucket heads responsible, but managed to focus back on the task at hand. "Get back to the ship," he ordered. "I'll get Wini and be right behind you. Have them ready the ship to take off as soon as you get there."

Gavyn nodded in response, before sprinting through the hole created by Ezra just moments earlier, and Ezra readied his lightsaber for the impending onslaught of blaster fire he was about to face. He readied himself with a deep breath as he stepped out into the view of his enemies. His blade was already spinning so fast, it was just a blur to the human eye by the time the Stormtroopers took aim. Blaster fire connected with the swinging blade, and was sent back to the Stormtroopers, who fired at him with incredible accuracy. More than a few Stormtroopers managed to duck away and avoid being hit by their own blasts, but numerous others weren't so fortunate.

The instant Ezra made it over to Wini, he knelt down next to her and felt for a pulse. It was faint, but he could still find it. He knew right away that he needed to get her out of there, but to do that, he first had to have time to pick her up without being shot himself. Unfortunately, Sabine and he hadn't been on speaking terms for the most part in the last couple of weeks, and as a result, he never received one of her miracles. The only way out of his situation was to rely on his increased powers to give him the time he needed.

Ezra closed his eyes and focused on his surroundings. Within seconds, the sounds of blasters firing faded away until the only thing he could hear was the beating of his own heart. He reached further out, finding the Stormtroopers Force signatures, who had begun to advance on his position. Once he was focused on all of them, he built up his strength and then sent out a staggering wave of Force energy at them.

The power of his Force push was incredible. Not a single Stormtrooper evaded it, and when it made contact with them, they weren't just knocked off their feet. They were also driven back down the corridor quite a significant distance. By the time they could return to their original position again, the two remaining Rebels were already gone.

The hangar bay was filling up quickly with danger as Gavyn ran into it. He was able to take out a few Stormtroopers as he sprinted toward the waiting shuttle, before jumping into the ship to safety. "Where's Ezra and Wini?" One rebel asked as Gavyn fought to regain his breath.

"Wini was hit." He responded in a short burst, still trying to catch his breath. "I couldn't get to her, and Ezra said not to wait for him. He said to have the ship ready to leave as soon as I got aboard."

Gavyn's message was then relayed to the cockpit, where Sabine was already prepping for flight. If the comms weren't jammed, she would have radioed Ezra herself to confirm if he had another exit planned or not, because she knew they needed to take off.

Sabine saw some bucket heads come into the bay with heavier artillery, which would surely ground the shuttle if they didn't leave immediately. So she lifted the shuttle off the hangar floor, and that was when Ezra appeared.

"There he is!" One of the crew called out loudly, before stepping out of the shuttle door and opening fire in hopes they could assist Ezra in reaching the shuttle.

The Jedi saw everything as if it were all in slow motion. Blaster fire was flying all around the hangar bay, heading in seemingly all directions. Ezra had Wini in a fireman's carry, using his blaster and Force pushing whenever he could to keep them moving forward. He couldn't stop. He knew that Sabine would wait as long as possible to ensure no one would be left behind, but she couldn't wait much longer.

Ezra's good fortune up to that point, however, quickly ran out as a blaster bolt struck him in the left thigh. The pain was staggering, and with the added weight of Wini on top of his shoulder, he nearly buckled to the floor. But Ezra gritted his teeth, trying to fend off the pain surging up and down his leg as he continued toward the shuttle, determined he would not fail. Not this time.

Limping next to his goal, floating just off the floor, Ezra took Wini in both arms and hoisted her up to the shuttle's ramp, where some of his fellow Rebels stopped firing blasters long enough to help pull Wini's limp body aboard. Once they had her securely, Ezra then jumped off his good leg and was just able to latch onto the ramp as the shuttle exited the hangar.

Ezra managed to climb onto the ramp into a kneeling position. He was breathing heavily and nearly exhausted, but they were all safe. They'd made it back to the shuttle. When Sabine heard some members of the team announced that Ezra and Wini were on board, she began to elevate the craft even higher. She began to plot the course to make the jump off-planet when suddenly she heard it. A single blast echoed through the shuttle's cabin, followed by desperate yelling. The yelling was a single word, a name. and that name was Ezra's.

As soon as it registered to Sabine that the Rebels were yelling Ezra's name, she didn't think of anything else other than getting back to where she knew he'd been. She left the flying to the current co-pilot, and raced back to the ramp, looking all around for her injured friend. But when she couldn't immediately locate him, a chill crept down her spine. "What happened? Where's Ezra?"

No one answered, and she wasn't in the mood for silence. She looked directly at one of the few Rebels who still made eye contact with her. "What…Happened? Answer me Gellad."

"We…we thought he was safely on the ramp," Gellad said. "But then the Imps got a lucky shot off. It…It knocked him off balance. I tried to grab him, but he fell off the ramp before I could reach him."

"What?" Sabine asked in utter disbelief. She almost couldn't believe what she'd just been told.

"After he was shot, he fell."

After beginning to catch his breath, Ezra stood up, and that was when it happened. He didn't even sense it until it was already too late. A single shot that struck him just below the right shoulder managed to knock him off balance. As he stumbled forward, his injured leg was the one he attempted to regain his balance with, but it failed him. He then tried grabbing for anything to prevent him from falling, but his right arm was the only limb with anything close enough to latch onto. It also happened to be the side of his body where he'd just been shot, and because of that, his arm couldn't seem to gather the necessary strength or mobility in time to grab onto anything but air.

The next thing Ezra saw was the ground, as it rapidly came up to meet him. He struggled to keep from panic and did manage to keep it at bay long enough to use the Force, assisting him in easing his landing. It wasn't much, but was enough to prevent him from dying on impact. Still, his landing definitely wasn't soft, and after impact, he tumbled for some time before coming to a stop.

Ezra was sore all over, but in his leg and back especially, and to top it off, he was also having a hard time breathing. He knew though that he had to move, or his pain would only increase via torture once the Empire found him. Ezra grunted from the effort as he worked to pull himself up. His leg was absolutely throbbing in pain from the gunshot wound, but he forced himself to get moving.

He needed shelter and medical supplies. Much like Lothal before he met the Rebels, there were still some towns on this planet that weren't completely overrun by the Empire. He just needed to make it to one before he was captured. So Ezra virtually dragged his injured leg along as he sought some much-needed distance between himself and the Imperial facility he'd basically plummeted from.

Hours passed, and Ezra had managed to avoid the Empire up to that point. As he continued moving forward, his mind began to wander to where it always tended to, or rather who. He hoped Sabine and the rest of the crew escaped and made it back to Chopper Base safely. He just hoped Sabine was alright.

Eventually, due to his continued push to keep moving forward, exhaustion became an ever-growing issue. He started to become weaker with every passing minute. He managed to force himself through another hour and noticed he'd come up to a clearing, but was completely exhausted by that point, dropping the rest of the way to the ground. He knew he needed to keep moving, but when he closed his eyes, intending to rest for a minute or two, he didn't reopen them.

Mando translation: or'dinii = moron or fool, shabuir = massive jerk