A/N: It was certainly nice to see that I haven't lost too many readers. I do apologize for taking a tad longer to get this chapter out, but I want it to be worth the read and I'm incredibly picky with my writing. Probably why I still attempt to catch everything with proofreading that turns into me re-writing a good portion of the chapter again and again. With that, let's get to the comments.
For crispybear, I do think it is needed sometimes with a character like Sabine to get the point of view from someone else's eyes. I think we're going to get a nice mix of confusion, poor choices, and bad advice for a bit longer before they make the choice that will be obvious to everyone who knows them. Wini and Gavyn definitely will have more of a role in future chapters too. I hope it is as interesting as I can see it in my mind.
Abigor27, I do enjoy JellyBine, and I do hope you like this chapter too.
CC, There's going to be more ebb and flow around Ezra's dabbling in the Darkside. We'll see a bit more in a specific manner during this chapter.
For the four guest reviews, I hope the wait wasn't too long for you. I've got just an outline, so it takes a bit of time to get the chapter to at least an acceptable standard before I post it. Sabine as a Sith Lord in a dream sequence? I like where your imagination is going there. We will see. I'm glad you think it is a great story, and hope you continue to enjoy it. And finally, don't worry about me losing motivation. I will admit that it was disconcerting with the lack of reviews on the last chapter, but I've put in too much already to just let this story die. Thank you for the vote of confidence though. It is truly appreciated. As for the rift, it's definitely still festering, but they will eventually find their way out of it. I do think Sabine getting jealous is more entertaining than Ezra, but I do plan on the jealousy bug continuing through for the both of them. I will let the cat out of the bag, in that Gavyn isn't and will not be a double agent. He does have a purpose though, so stay tuned!
Chapter 8: Call for Help
As things on base return to normal, a friend in need comes along
With Ezra having returned to participating missions, things around the Atollon base seemed to go back to normal once again, for the most part. The overall focus had returned to growing the Rebellion and occasionally taking it to the Empire whenever an opportunity presented itself. Supplies were now being brought in with more regularity and training sessions had fully resumed, but for some, the more personal side was anything but back to normal.
Sabine, for one, was exceptionally moody for several reasons, and none of them were known to anyone else. That left everyone else to pure speculation as to the only explanations to be offered. She'd become exceptionally fierce whenever Rex had the Rebels face off in sparring sessions, as even Ezra hadn't managed to avoid her wrath the only time they faced off against each other.
In fact, it was during that match where he learned just how far ahead of him Sabine still was in hand to hand combat. Had Ezra not resorted to utilizing his Force powers, Sabine would've had him either out cold or submitting within the first two minutes. Even as it stood with the help of the Force, he only managed to keep her from completely humiliating him in the eyes of others. Regardless, the result was still the same, gifting him with a sore jaw and some nasty bruising on his arms and legs.
That also brought about a vigorous argument between the two of them which ended with Sabine virtually dragging a somewhat terrified Gavyn behind her once Ezra and she arrived at an impasse. That impasse was Ezra wanting to know what her problem was and Sabine standing her ground by saying that there wasn't anything wrong with her. She'd even gone so far as to suggest that he needed to ask that question to himself.
"How can you say that you don't have a problem when you've been so aggressive against everyone you've been training with lately?" Ezra asked with his voice rising steadily as he followed after an angry Sabine.
"Because it's not me who has the problem, Ezra!" Sabine adamantly fired right back. "Maybe all of you just need to learn how to fight better."
"I'm not the one who's taking their frustration out on everyone else." Ezra pointed out. "You're lucky no one was seriously hurt. And to think, you took issue with how I sparred against your new best friend a little over a month ago. Now you're just being a hypocrite."
Sabine's eyes widened for a split second before she immediately narrowed them, anger quickly beginning to sap any chance at logic breaking through. A cooler head would've realized that Ezra had made a valid point, but Sabine was quite a distance away from having a cool head at that particular moment. "Speaking of Gavyn," Sabine growled. "Since he's obviously my new best friend, he would be the one to tell me if I'm being too aggressive in training, but he hasn't said a word."
Ezra snorted at Sabine's lame excuse for how she'd been acting. "Maybe he's just being nice to stay on your good side," Ezra suggested. "I'm pretty sure that's been his goal this whole time anyway."
"The difference between what you did and what you're accusing me of is that I'm not treating anyone any differently, but you singled Gavyn out," Sabine replied.
"So, I treat one person like crap and that's horrible, but you treat everyone like crap and it's perfectly acceptable?" Ezra angrily asked. He'd just about had enough of Sabine's poor attitude, and especially with how hypocritical she was being.
"You don't know what you're talking about." Sabine vehemently fired back.
"Oh, I don't know what I'm talking about?" Ezra heatedly parroted. "You've been acting like this ever since I started training again. Or maybe it's that Wini was the only person willing to spar with me and I took her up on her offer."
"Di'kut," Sabine grumbled. "You just proved my point. You training again has nothing to do with how I train with others. Oh, and by the way, this whole thing here, you started after we just finished sparring. So Wini isn't the only one willing to spar with you."
"Well, with the way you're acting, you're going to have a hard time finding anyone to spar with," Ezra said. "But why would you listen to me? You think I don't know what I'm talking about."
Ezra then turned to leave, having nothing more he wanted to say to her at that moment. Sabine didn't wait around either and instead went the opposite direction toward where she was certain Gavyn would be. He'd serve as confirmation that Ezra was wrong and that she wouldn't have a problem at all finding someone who'd spar with her going forward. As Ezra had said, Gavyn was her friend, and as her friend, she knew that he wouldn't let her down.
After their last little blowup, Ezra and Sabine had both independently concluded that some space was needed between the two of them. What they didn't know though, was that their counterpart equally struggled with maintaining that space.
When Sabine did cool down a little, she realized that Ezra was correct about how she was acting. He'd only gotten the part about it having to do with his training being the cause wrong. Rather, it was what she overheard later that day which was the actual trigger.
Sabine had been walking through the base after partaking in some target practice with Gavyn when she overheard some giggling off to the side of the hangar. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have given such a sound a second glance, but it just so happened that in the midst of all that giggling, she also heard Ezra's name amidst the playful laughter.
Her curiosity piqued, she moved in closer, finding a crate to slink in behind without being noticed. From there, she found a small group of girls lounging around with drinks in their hands. Ensuring she wasn't spotted, she managed to make out the new, young pilot named Cleat along with Lissa and Cerra, who were all looking directly at the smiling face of Wini in the middle of the group.
"Honestly, I think the stars kind of aligned for me is all, I swear," Wini told the group of seemingly eager girls around her.
"Oh, come on, Shif," Lissa complained. "You can't honestly expect us to believe that it was just written in the stars for you to wind up with him, can you? You can tell us how you broke the hold she's always had over him."
"That's just it," Wini responded. "I don't think I really did anything. If he hadn't saved my life during that mission, then I'm probably still in the same position as anyone else aside from Sabine. So, now I just have to make sure I don't screw up my chance."
"What do you mean?" Cerra asked. "I thought you were already in with him."
"A kiss on his cheek isn't anything to write home about it," Wini answered with a scoff. "I mean, he's let me go out with him while he trains and we've wrestled around a bit during some sparring matches, but he hasn't even tried to make a move yet."
Sabine wasn't sure why, but a smile crept up on her face upon hearing that Ezra and Wini hadn't actually gotten physical yet. But she knew that "yet" was the keyword in that thought as Wini continued.
"That's why I'm here with you all" Wini said. "I'm hoping that you guys can help me come up with a plan to sort of coax Ezra into seeing that he can have more if he wants it."
"What's wrong with the direct approach? Cleat asked. "It's always worked for me."
"Has that worked with anyone else when it comes to Ezra?" Wini asked in response.
"No," Cerra replied. "From what I've been told, if Sabine were to do it, I think he'd notice, but as for everyone else, he seems to be oblivious."
"Maybe that's partly because of all the times she's rejected him," Wini added. "I can't prove it, but I think he stopped letting me go with him while he trains because he knew that she didn't like me going with him."
"If she isn't interested in being with him aside from friendship, then I don't understand why she wouldn't just be happy for him," Lissa said.
"And according to Ezra, she is his best friend," Wini pointed out. "Even though they haven't been getting along lately, he still feels that way, and I don't want him to think I'm causing an increase in the strain between the two of them if I can help it."
"And you say she knows that you're interested in Ezra?" Lissa asked for confirmation.
"Yeah," Wini confirmed confidently. "I mean, before I went off base with Ezra for the first time, I talked to Sabine about how I didn't think she was interested, and that if it was true, then he should be fair game for someone else. She didn't say anything, and I asked her to wish me luck. I might not have come right out and said it, but I definitely didn't make it difficult to know that I'm interested."
Sabine was grinding her teeth by this point. She hadn't spoken up and knew that Wini was speaking the truth. She could've said something to refute the idea that she wasn't interested in Ezra, but why would she have? And more importantly, why was she now wishing that she had?
She was supposed to be Ezra's friend, and the girls were right. She should be happy that someone was interested in Ezra, but she wasn't. Not even a little bit. And she wasn't angry either. She didn't know what she was feeling, but what she did know, was that she didn't like it.
By that point, Sabine had heard enough and just wanted to slink away unnoticed, but as she began backing away, her communicator chimed, indicating she had an incoming message while also giving away her eavesdropping position. She immediately knew that she was caught red-handed, and just gave in, simply standing with her back facing the group of girls as she activated her comm and walked away.
"Sabine," Came the voice of her friend, Ketsu through the speaker before the 3-D image even had the chance to appear.
"Ketsu," She responded in surprise, wondering what had her old sister was reaching out. "What's up?"
"I'm in a bit of trouble," Ketsu explained. "And I may need some help if you're willing, little sister."
"Sure," Sabine said without an ounce of hesitation. "Just let me know what you need."
"My ship's damaged," Ketsu said. "I guess the Black Sun wasn't happy after all when they found out that I was leaving them for the Rebellion. Right now, I'm losing altitude over Garel, and the Shadow Caster isn't responsive. So, it's looking like this is going to be a crash landing, and I'm going to need a pick up if you can manage too."
"Just send me your coordinates, and I'll be there as soon as I can," Sabine said as she started to jog in the direction of the Ghost.
The girls in the hangar, however, just stood there, dumbfounded until Sabine was out of sight. Once the Mandalorian was gone, their brains finally started to function again. "How much do you think she heard?" Cerra asked.
"My guess would be all of it," Lissa responded as she looked over to the one who had gathered them all together in the first place. "Sorry, Wini."
"Well, she definitely has to know that you're interested in Ezra now," Cleat half teased before she decided to return to her fighter.
Ezra was meditating with the Sith Holocron in his personal quarters. He finally seemed to be back on good terms with the A.I. of the Sith database again. It'd been difficult at first, not because of the Holocron, but because of the new company he'd been keeping. He actually wasn't all that broken up about Sabine's attitude when she found out that Wini was accompanying him for his Jedi training.
While he didn't understand what Sabine was so upset about, it did give him a better excuse than "I want time with a Darkside artifact and I don't want anyone else to know it." The Holocron seemed to agree with him too, but it also continued to tell him how he'd been presented with an opportunity to get Sabine if he still wanted her to be his.
Upon hearing this, Ezra's initial reaction was almost laughing at such a notion. Of course, he still wanted to be with Sabine, but he didn't understand how it could work in his favor. Things between Sabine and he were still getting worse, and nothing about spending time with Wini seemed to be improving things.
Besides, there was just something about using his growing friendship with Wini that made him feel dirty to even consider using her. She'd been nothing but nice to him, he did find her attractive. She just wasn't Sabine, but that wasn't her fault. And besides, Sabine just didn't seem to be interested in him that way at all. So, if she wasn't, then maybe he did need to look elsewhere. After all, things had gotten so bad that she wasn't even considering him on her missions anymore.
As Ezra continued to ponder what to do about his current situation, some ruckus outside his door brought him out of his meditative state. He briefly glanced at his chronometer and decided that it'd be best to put the Holocron away anyhow. Surely, Zeb would be arriving sooner rather than later, and so he closed the Sith artifact before opening the door, only to hear Sabine in the middle of a discussion with Hera.
"…in trouble, Hera." She said. "If she actually asked for help, then it has to be bad."
"I understand Sabine and I haven't forgotten what she did, but you're still not going on your own," Hera replied with a stern look on her face.
"Who's in trouble," Ezra asked, butting into the conversation.
"Ezra can come with me then," Sabine offered instantly. "But we need to leave now."
"Fine but Chop comes along too," Hera conceded. "Take the Phantom and bring her back safely."
"Okay," Sabine agreed, not wanting to delay getting to Ketsu any longer than necessary. "Come on Ezra. I'll explain once we're in hyperspace."
As Ezra watched Sabine disappear in the direction of the Phantom, he immediately knew that she wasn't going to wait for anyone or anything, so he began to follow after her, but also reached back with the Force to pull his lightsaber to him.
The ride to Garel was rather quiet compared to any of the other missions that Ezra and Sabine were on together. The main difference this time though, was Sabine's focus on how to reach her sister, Ketsu, and Ezra's basically walking on eggshells around her. He wanted to talk to her, to see where they stood, but he knew that she wasn't in a good place to try getting into that, so instead he readied himself as best he could for the task at hand.
As soon as they arrived above the planet, Sabine managed to locate a spaceport for them to land just on the outskirts of Garel City, and then she went right to work alongside Chopper. They focused on any type of communication that could be hacked into in the hopes of hearing some type of chatter, while Ezra left the ship to try finding any leads his way.
Once he was out and among the populous, Ezra reached out into the Force. His goal was to look for any emotions that seemed to be out of place. Perhaps he would get lucky and sense someone who witnessed the Shadow Caster crash landing. After all, a crashing ship was certainly something that should have caused some excitement.
The one thing they didn't do was move hastily though. Both of them knew that there were still questions that remained unanswered. Questions such as who was actually after Ketsu? While she had assumed that it was the Black Sun, Ketsu hadn't provided them any solid evidence to support that claim.
Still, it wasn't difficult to believe or accept that the Black Sun was the most likely culprit for the time being, but they also couldn't allow themselves to forget about the Empire as a distinct possibility either. There was even a part of them that hoped it was the Empire, if only for the simple fact that bucket heads were far easier to spot than members of the Black Sun would be.
In order to run a successful criminal industry, the ability to blend into one's surroundings is paramount. It was also far more efficient when seeking someone out as well, and both Sabine and Ezra knew that if they were indeed up against the crime syndicate, they would need to be especially aware of their surroundings, or they might become easy targets themselves.
To help combat this, Ezra used his abilities with the Force. As he walked through the town, anyone who didn't know better would've thought that he was utterly lost. He didn't seem to be going in any specific direction and looked more like he was just wandering around aimlessly. In reality, though, he just hadn't been able to sense anything really out of place to that point.
As he continued reaching out, everyone's emotions just seemed to be normal for the area. Random merchants ranged anywhere from happy to frustrated based on that day's work, and the general populous only seemed to have more of a wide range of emotions. Nothing seemed to stand out, but that quickly changed when he came across a local cantina.
From that building, Ezra was able to pick up on strong emotions of elation radiating off of some while others were covered by a hazy fog, likely brought about by their choice of drink. But there were a few who triggered his senses with a large amount of frustration and even some anger. It wasn't, but being that there weren't any other leads to go off of, Ezra figured it was worth investigating.
"Spectre six to Spectre five," He called out into his communicator. "I might have something, but I'm not sure yet. I'm going into a local cantina close to the east end."
"Be careful, Spectre six," Sabine replied. "Spectre three and I finished combing over every form of communication we could get our hands-on, and there's absolutely nothing being reported. It's almost too quiet if you ask me."
"I'll keep my eyes open," Ezra answered.
"Let me know when you leave," Sabine replied. "I'll head that way and see if I can't help figure it out. We obviously aren't doing any good here listening to comm chatter. But if you are still there when I come inside, don't acknowledge me."
"Understood," Ezra said as he shut off his comm and headed toward the cantina entrance. Once inside, the first thing he noticed was how dimly lit it was inside. He gave the place just a quick once over, not wanting to appear like he was there for any reason aside from coming in for a drink.
From what he initially saw, no one there made him think that they might not be a part of the Black Sun. Everyone seemed to be at least somewhat shady, but he was certain that what he'd felt earlier came from inside the bar. So, he kept a low profile and headed to the bar where he ordered himself a drink before he once again reached out through the Force.
He was able to search everyone at the bar by the time his drink was handed to him, but he still hadn't managed to ascertain who had been putting off the larger than normal angry frustration before. And no one there was giving him that same feeling.
Meanwhile, Sabine had just arrived at the entrance of the cantina. She instantly spotted Ezra by the bar, sipping on a drink, and she made to avoid him by finding an open seat toward one of the exterior walls. From what she could tell, everyone inside the cantina fit in with who one would expect to be there. And just like with Ezra, no one seemed to stand out to her as a questionable possibility.
She wondered if this was just a big waste of time, and if it were any other situation or anyone else, she would've just turned right back around, but she was with Ezra. While he might've been just a kid when they first met, he'd never given her a reason to doubt him before and she wasn't about to this time. For a little bit of time, she was going to play along, maybe get herself a drink, and then if nothing stood out, she would make her leave.
But ever since Sabine walked in the door, Ezra became bombarded with different emotions from quite a few patrons. Most of them were filled with apprehension, likely the result of seeing a Mandalorian, but there were a handful of characters off in a corner who were setting off some red flags to him.
These people were instantly filled with elation instead of surprise about seeing Sabine, and it was strong enough that Ezra couldn't help but to glance in their direction. What he could then see with his own eyes was enough to confirm any lingering suspicion as well. One of the men facing Sabine's back tried and failed to discreetly point her out as they all leaned in closer to each other, obviously discussing something quietly amongst themselves.
The Rodian with his back to Sabine reached for his blaster, and Ezra almost leaped up to defend her, but then noticed that the Rodian wasn't pulling out his blaster, he just kept his hand on it. There was definitely something going on with these guys and it definitely had to do with Sabine. The question was why they were so interested in her. So, Ezra quickly finished his drink and then headed right for the exit.
Sabine noticed this and initially wondered why Ezra would just leave so abruptly unless perhaps, he'd spotted something. Fortunately, she had yet to have someone come to her table to take her drink order, so she made her way over to the bar where Ezra had been standing previously and requested her drink from there.
She didn't waste time with her beverage, quickly paying for and then downing it in a couple of gulps as soon as it was handed to her. Her moving to the bar was in the hopes that Ezra would've put something out for her to pick up on, but he didn't leave anything, which left her a little frustrated. She didn't like being left in the dark, but just then, her comm chimed, and that gave her reason to head out for some privacy.
Catching her by surprise, a group of people slid their chairs out loudly as soon as she started to head out, causing her to glance back at the noise. She counted four of them trying not to look at her as they stood up and began to make their exits as well.
As soon as she was outside, Ezra made himself noticeable to her and immediately gestured to her that four individuals had gotten his attention. She knew these were the same men she'd seen, and gestured for Ezra that she was going to lead them away so that they could set a trap. All she needed him to do was follow behind so that he could box them in.
And this was why she wanted Ezra to come along. They both seemed to know what the other was thinking. They didn't need to speak to each other and just seemed to know. So, she would lead these men away, and when they were where she and Ezra wanted, the trap would be sprung.
Sabine made sure to keep going at a pace that wasn't too fast to seem like she was trying to get away, but also not too slow for the men following her to catch up. It was a delicate balance to pull off without being able to check behind her, but she did it beautifully.
She continued to draw them into the spaceport she had landed in and left the doors open. As soon as she was inside, she ducked off to the side and looked for anything that might provide some form of cover.
Sabine didn't have to wait long, and it was more than obvious that these goons had no military training. They weren't even being that careful, as all of them marched straight into the port, not anticipating that she would be waiting for them to come into view. As soon as the door slid shut behind them, she opened fire and instantly knocked the one closest to her down with a single blast. It was a good start, but by opening fire on them, Sabine only opened the flood gates as the remaining three men returned fire.
She knew that she was pinned down and outgunned because of the situation around her. Aside from her meager cover, the area was wide open, and if she were to step out, she'd only be opening herself up. Under normal circumstances similar to this, she would fall back to her default defense of utilizing her explosives, but in this instance, she needed at least one of them alive for questioning.
But, while the remaining men in the spaceport were indeed not military, they still understood the basic concept of how to subdue an opponent when they had the numbers. As two provided cover fire, the other moved into a better position so that they could begin boxing Sabine in. Once he was in a good position, he joined in to continue with supplying cover fire, and another one then moved.
By the time her opposition had successfully surrounded her, Sabine knew that she was only moments away from being defeated if she didn't resort to using her miracles. As she began to accept that she was out of options, she briefly wondered where Ezra was. Had she read his cues incorrectly and inadvertently put herself in such a precarious position?
Brimming with confidence, the three remaining men advanced on Sabine's position. In a matter of seconds, they had her pinned down to the point that she could barely get a shot off without endangering herself in the process. And when victory was just within their grasp, suddenly their blaster arms involuntarily shot up to the air. Before they could figure out what happened, they were all flying through the air, with each one of them slamming bodily into a wall and knocking them all unconscious.
"Took you long enough," Sabine huffed as she popped up and out what little remained of her cover.
"I wanted to make sure it was just the four of them before I came in," Ezra explained as he picked up blasters from two of the downed men. "And besides, I knew I could count on you to hold them off."
Sabine wanted to argue, but she couldn't help but appreciate the vote of confidence he'd just admitted to having in her. "Let's just get these hut'uuns restrained before they come to, and then maybe we'll finally get some answers."
Ezra and Sabine then went to work restraining the surviving three thugs. Unfortunately, they wouldn't be able to separate each prisoner so that they could use them against each other, but this wasn't an ideal situation. The Phantom was almost as wide open as the spaceport they were docked in.
The one fortunate thing they did have go their way, was that their prisoners didn't take too long before they began to come to, and once all three men were conscious, Sabine began the interrogation by pulling out her blaster. "Alright, sleemo's," She called out. "Who here is going to tell me what I want to know?"
Two of the men simply scoffed at her question, while the third was a tad more vocal. "None of us will talk, and there's nothing you can do to make us."
"Maybe a blaster wound to your leg will help loosen your tongues," Sabine said as she placed the end of her blaster just above that man's knee.
He only smiled up at her. "Do your worst, Mandalorian," he said. "I've been shot before. You still won't get anything from us."
Ezra then stepped forward. He knew that they spoke the truth and intended to go through any form of torture Sabine or he would be willing to dole out, but he also knew that there was another option they could use, something he'd learned from the Sith Holocron. "Let me try something," he said as he stepped in front of their prisoners.
Sabine was just as confused about what Ezra planned to do as their prisoners. They'd already called her bluff, and she knew Ezra was less inclined to resort to torture than she was. Which only made her more curious about what Ezra was up to.
So, she watched as he slowly paced in front of each of the three prisoners at first. She figured that he was deciding who the lucky person was going to be, and he proved her assumption correct when he turned back to the man in the middle. Then he raised his hand in front of that prisoner's face and closed his eyes.
At first, nothing seemed to be happening, but soon enough she noticed the strain growing on Ezra's face. Then the prisoner's face suddenly contorted into one of pain. The prisoner began to groan in discomfort as he tried to shy away from Ezra's hand.
The level of effort Ezra was forced to use caused beads of sweat to grow on Ezra's brow as he struggled to break through, but he wasn't about to let this piece of Bantha fodder get the better of him. So, he redoubled his focus on what he was trying to do, or rather, what he was doing. There is no try.
Sabine continued to watch closely as Ezra continued doing whatever it was with the Force. She may not have known what he was doing, but she could take comfort in the fact that it was making things uncomfortable for one of the di'kuts who tried to slag her. And after a couple more minutes, it seemed that he was making some headway when the man began to scream in pain.
"He doesn't know where she is," Ezra suddenly said. "They were following orders to take out anyone who showed up to try and rescue Ketsu before they found her."
One of the other captives didn't try to hide the look of shock on his face upon hearing Ezra revealing their orders. He didn't know how Ezra did it, but the information had clearly been forcibly taken if their comrade's continued screams were anything to go by.
"The crash site was just out passed the south side," Ezra continued. "But they've already removed any evidence, including Ketsu's ship."
"Do you know how many we're up against?" Sabine asked.
Ezra wanted to find that out for her, but he had to release his grip, as he was already exhausted from the effort it took to find out what he did. He was breathing heavily, albeit through his nose in an effort to hide just how taxing the effort to dominate the captive's mind was. "I don't know how many there are," he said. "But there are definitely more of them. And Ketsu was right, they are the Black Sun."
Finished relaying what he was able to pull out of their captive's mind, Ezra then somewhat gingerly walked over to where the Phantom was parked, and as soon as the door closed, Ezra collapsed onto the ship's floor. He was completely wiped out and couldn't hide it any longer.
Sabine had a pretty good idea why disappeared into their ship, but had to return her focus to the captives. She made short work of them all, taking aim with her blasters and firing upon all three of them, stunning them back into unconsciousness. Then, with them out of the way, she turned back to the Phantom as concern for her teammate took over.
But by the time Sabine opened the door to the Phantom and was able to locate Ezra, he had already managed to stagger back to his feet. Still, she knew better than to think he just needed to get away for a moment. "Are you alright?" She asked.
"Yeah," Ezra responded in a tone that said he was lying. "I'll be fine. Besides, we should get moving if we want to find Ketsu before the Black Sun does. They've got enough of a head start already."
"Yeah, but I need you at full power here, Ezra." Sabine pointed out. "I won't pretend to know what it was that you did out there, but it obviously left you drained."
"Don't worry about me, Sabine," Ezra fired back, standing ramrod straight to show her that he was good to go. "Now, let's go find your friend."
Sabine wanted to argue that perhaps Ezra should stay behind and conserve his energy but knew that every moment they wasted arguing was another moment lost in finding Ketsu. So, with a roll of her eyes, Sabine turned to the door, and mentally prepared to find her sister.
Meanwhile, Ketsu ducked down an alleyway to avoid being spotted again. She'd been successfully evading capture for hours already. She was short on ammunition, having not gotten a chance to grab some of her precious friends before she left the Shadow Caster, and her last skirmish left her with a damaged blaster, leaving her with just her fighting skills to keep her free from capture.
Believing that she was safe for the moment, Ketsu removed her helmet, feeling as though she needed to get some fresh air before she continued on the run. Things were getting desperate for her, she knew. If Sabine didn't find her soon, she was sure to be captured or worse.
Ketsu also knew that the Black Sun crew was slowly herding her in. Up to that point, every time she tried to head in a direction they didn't want, she was met with fierce resistance and left with retreat as her only option. "Where are you, sister?" She quietly asked to no one. "I could really use some help here."