It was nighttime in the streets of a quiet city on Lothal, the inhabitants were sleeping peacefully without worrying about what was going on around them. Suddenly, blaster fire was heard as Sabine ran from rooftop to rooftop.
She was running from building to building to escape blaster fire, being chased by Stormtroopers shooting at her, but missing every time.
Either because of her reflexes or because of obstacles. She tried to shoot at one of them, but this prevented her from seeing another one that had climbed on top of one of the buildings next to the one she was on and shot her in the foot. This caused her to lose her balance and fall off the building before landing in one of the city streets.
As she stood up, she could only see that all the Stormtroopers were targeting her. Leaving her no chance to escape.
"We've finally got you, rebel." Said a Stormtrooper as he picked up his communicator to warn his superiors.
As he rejoiced in their capture, a male figure, clad in a black cloak and heavy armor, landed behind them.
The helmet appeared to be an all-gray, male version of Sabine's. The torso consisted entirely of gray plates with a black metal bat emblem on the pectoral area. His entire body had similar protections.
He had black mandalorian vambraces on the handles with three small blades on the back diagonally upwards, ending in a square.
His boots were black and reinforced. At his waist was a leather belt so dark brown it looked black, and on it were several storage compartments, including a holster for a blaster, and a strange angled pommel, with a hand guard and a slotted emitter with an emblem at the bottom of the pommel similar to the one on his torso.
The figure pulled an object from his belt into each of his hands and threw them quickly, causing them to slam into the necks of two Stormtroopers who instantly fell to the ground.
This alerted the others, who turned to see him move toward some of them to attack them.
Sabine took the opportunity to attack the Stormtroopers as well. Soon, the entire squad was out of action.
"Who are you?" Asked Sabine, looking at the man who had just helped her.
The man simply pulled a notebook from his belt and threw it in front of her. He then pulled a grappling hook from his belt and used it to climb up a building and escape.
Sabine took off her helmet, picked up the notebook and opened it to see Aurebesh letters with a letter from a language she didn't know next to each one.
She looked over and could see in front of her a message written with paint in the letters on the notebook. She looked at the letters and compared them to each one in the notebook and used the corresponding letters to translate the message saying "we'll meet again".
"Was it the Dark Mandalorian?" Thought Sabine before she put her helmet back on and quickly left for the Ghost.
Once there, she was greeted by Kanan who was obviously waiting for her.
"What were you doing Sabine?" Asked Kanan.
"There's a rumor going around the streets right now about a black Mandalorian attacking Stormtroopers. I wanted to investigate and find out who it is, or contact him. He could help us, Kanan." Answered Sabine, not caring about the lecture she might receive.
"But like you said, it's just a rumor. It doesn't have to be true." Said Kanan.
"I don't think so." Murmured Sabine thinking of that man who helped her.
She returned to her quarters to study the notebook in more detail until she memorized each letter and the one it corresponded to, until she fell asleep. Outside not far from the ship, the man observed the ship before riding a black Speeder Bike and leaving.
"We will meet again... I promise." He said before riding away much further, there was a ship.
A week later, Kanna found herself on top of the ship in flight with Zeb and Chopper watching Ezra stand on his hands with difficulty.
"You need to focus and let go." Said Kanan.
"In this situation, I prefer to hold on tight." Said Ezra standing with difficulty on his hands.
"Enough joking. Just focus. Do it or don't do it, there are no tests." Said Kanan echoing the words of a certain Jedi master.
"What? What do you mean, what? How can I do anything if I don't even try." Said Ezra trying to stand on one hand without losing his balance.
"Well actually... I always had trouble grasping the subtlety, but Master Yoda used to come out with that line all the time." Said Kanan before Zeb began to yawn.
"I thought your little Jedi tricks would be more interesting. No wonder there aren't any more." Said Zeb. "Come on give me a little trick. Use the force." He finished,
Zeb then shook Ezra, causing him to lose his balance of the young man causing him to fall into the crate right behind him.
"We have to put up with it." Asked Ezra.
"He's annoying, but your attention will always be diverted. But you have to focus despite that. Go do another exercise." Said Kanan taking his lightsaber and giving it to the young man. "Chopper."
Kanan gave the droids empty boxes and threw them at Ezra.
Meanwhile Sabine was at one of the firing stations, looking at the notebook wondering why this Dark Mandalorian gave it to her.
"Why did he give it to me?" She thought as she suddenly heard herself hit the glass. She looked up from the notebook to see Ezra slip and fall.
"Ezra!" She shouted.
The ship eventually dived so that Kanan could pull it closer to the ship with the force that would allow Zeb to catch it. Sabine could hear them arguing, but her attention was soon caught by the notebook which had a paper hidden in the back cover. She took it and saw the letters in the notebook, "I forgive you.". She wondered why this person had given her this. Or what he meant by this word. When her reflection was interrupted by a voice coming from behind her.
"What are you looking at." Asked someone behind her, there making Sabine turn around to see Zeb there.
"Oh, it's nothing Zeb." She replied, hiding the notebook as best she could.
Zeb found it hard to believe, but decided not to insist. Sabine wanted to get to the bottom of the mystery of the figure before she told the crew. She joined the entire crew in the main room before seeing Hera watching on a holographic table as he talked about his nighttime escapade.
"A group of Stormtroopers were found unconscious with two members of that team dead with broken necks last night. According to locals who witnessed the scene, awakened by the sounds of blaster fire during the chase, they were chasing a rebel they had in their grasp before a man matching the description of the Dark Mandalorian appeared and killed the two Stormtroopers before he and the rebel knocked out the others. If you have any information about this man, be sure to inform the authorities. Said the voice announcer.
"You didn't tell me about that." Said Kanan looking at Sabine before the holographic table did not show the portrait of Senator Gal Trayvis.
"This is Senator in exile Gall Trayvis. I've come to tell you some news that the Empire doesn't want you to know." Said the person pictured in the image who obviously hacked into the empire's communication systems.
"Who is this Gall Trayvis?" Asked Ezra.
"The only member of the Senate who has the courage to speak out publicly against the Empire." Said Hera.
"One of the Republic's greatest mediators, Jedi Master Luminara Unduli, is alive and illegally imprisoned somewhere in the Stygeon system. As a citizenry we call upon the Emperor to present Master Unduli and give her a fair trial in the presence of the Senate." Said the senator before his transmission was cut off and Sabine turned off the holographic table.
"This Luminara, did you know her?" Asked Ezra to Kanan.
"I only met him once. She was a very great Jedi master. She was brave, compassionate, disciplined. In fact, she would make an excellent teacher for you. It has always been rumored that she survived Order 66, but this is the first information that indicates where she is. This is a unique opportunity." Said Kanan to Ezra's surprise.
"I knew you would say that. I'm setting a course for the Stygeon system." Said Hera.
"Thank you Hera." Said Kanan as she left for the command room.
"As for the rest of you, get ready for the operation." Said Kanan as everyone left for their respective quarters.
A few hours later in the prison, Sabine wearing her helmet and Zeb were in the corridors beating up all the Stormtroopers on their way to the moment when Ezra and Kanan would return with Master Luminara. But to their surprise in the hangar where the ships were landing, where there were supposed to be the most, they were all lying on the floor dead or unconscious with the Dark Mandalorian hitting the last one still conscious to the point that his helmet broke.
Zeb was surprised to see all the soldiers beaten by obviously one person, but Sabine remained almost unmoved, for she had already seen him at work. They wondered why he was fighting so violently against them.
Sabine then decided to come out of hiding despite Zeb's silent protests and spoke to the man.
"Why did you save me last night?" Asked Sabine.
"Because we are fighting for the same thing." Said the Dark Mandalorian before dropping a bomb between him and his interlocutors, which in exploding turned out to be a smoke bomb.
He took advantage of the distraction to escape through the air ducts to his ship, a black Scimitar with white windows, and left the prison to return to Lothal, to a secluded area where he could conceal his ship.
The Ghost crew was also back on Lothal, completely empty-handed. The capture of Luminara was just a decoy to lure the Jedi. Luckily, Kanan and Ezra were able to escape with them.
Ezra was now out of the Ghost followed closely by Kanan.
"It's okay, don't bother saying it. I don't want to be a burden to you anymore." Said Ezra.
"What are you talking about?" Asked Kanan.
"I know you wanted to get rid of me by leaving me with Master Luminara. Just because she's gone doesn't mean you have to keep me." Answered Ezra.
"I didn't want to get rid of you see. Look, I just wanted you to have the best teacher." Explained Kanan.
"Well, I didn't have the best teacher. It's you that I want." Said Ezra, before realizing the meaning of his sentence. "That doesn't mean that you're not the best. But..." Said he before being interrupted.
"Ezra, I'm not going to try to teach you anymore. If everything I do is tried, that means I don't think I can succeed in teaching you. So from now on, I'm going to train you for real." Said Kanan, surprising Ezra before standing up. "I may fail, you may fail. But between us, there are no trials."
"Yes master." Said Ezra standing up as Kanan gave him his sword and picked up some stones to resume his training where he left off.
On Sabine's side, she was doing some research on the "Dark Mandalorian". But all she could find were articles about Stormtroopers being violently attacked with witnesses giving a description of the attacker that matched. Until she found one that talked about his first appearance.
It told of how he had saved a minister of the Empire, who wished to remain anonymous, from a tormenting assassination attempt by an officer who wished to take her place. This ended with the officer committing suicide with a blaster shot to avoid the consequences of his actions, and the Dark Mandalorian being hailed as a hero, but disappearing before he could be properly thanked.
"Why did he save an imperial minister, if he is fighting against the empire? Was he an ally?" She asked herself as other similar questions lingered in her mind.
Elsewhere in a darkened room, a teenager about Sabine's age, with his hair slicked back, entered and lay down on his bed before wrapping himself in his blankets. He looked exhausted, while on the table in his room was a frame containing a photo of a younger version of him and Sabine with his hair dyed white with a matte painting of a ship behind them.
