Chapter 19

Ezra and Sabine packed their things and boarded the Starbird. A little R2 astromech droid was in the cockpit, plugged into the ships systems. Ezra had ordered the droid to start the engines and ready the ship for space travel.

The droid beeped in binary, which Ezra understood a little bit of. This little droid's way of speaking was different than Chopper's.

"Thanks Trix ," Ezra said. Trix was the name he and Sabine gave their droid. When Ezra told him to prep the ship for departure, the sneaky, but helpful, droid took the liberty to calculate the jump back to Yavin. R2-T6 was a wedding gift from the Organa family, fresh from the production lines. So far he was still silver, by the order description Senator Bail Organa placed for the droid. He knew how much of an artist Sabine was so he figured she'd want to paint the droid. T6 was skeptical of the idea at first, but after scanning the artwork in the Starbird, he concluded it was safe. His intelligence was equal to R2-D2 and Chopper, with an apparent mix of both attitudes. There's been records of Choppers behavior on the Starbird which this R2 unit learned and somewhat adopted. However, it mostly held onto Artoo's intelligence; Something not quite heard of with a droid, but R2 units have been known to be very smart.

"Sabine, do we have everything?" Ezra asked, sitting in the pilot's seat.

"Yup. I checked and double checked... and triple checked. We're good to go," she replied as she sat in the copilot's seat.

Pretty soon, they were in hyperspace, there course set straight to Yavin 4. It didn't take long to jump; As soon as they cleared the atmosphere, Ezra pushed the throttle up to max power and jumped the ship, all thanks to the extra work Trix did for them.

Sabine looked to Ezra, who sat quietly in his seat. They were having a great morning and this happened. Nevertheless they were grateful their time alone together lasted as long as it did without any interruptions.

Sabine let out a quiet sigh, which their droid heard, but not Ezra. T6 whined a bit, detecting a grim mood from the two newlyweds.

"E-Ezra..." she said quietly.

Ezra turned to her and they locked eyes. They held hands, trying to comfort each other. They knew something was terribly wrong; Millions of people were in danger, but they didn't know what the threat was. It was all so sudden.

"Are you alright, Sabine?" he asked, worried.

"All this, the concern in Hera's voice, the cold I'm feeling from our baby... and you..." she began, "It's scaring me, Ezra."

"Everything will be alright. Whatever it is, I'm sure we'll get rid of it," Ezra said, the calm in his voice was soothing to Sabine. "I'm going to make some caf. You want some?"

Sabine shook her head, "No, I think Mira's had enough of that already. If anything, I should get some sleep. Mira already knows how to sap my energy."

Ezra grinned, "I'll check up on you later." He walked out of the cockpit and into the kitchen and began filling a mug with some caf. Sabine stepped into the living quarters.

Now that they shared a room, she began painting the walls again. Ezra had no objections and didn't even think of trying to stop her. He loved her art and did not want to see the end of it. She carefully laid down on the bed and pulled up the covers. She rolled to her side, to spare her the back pain later. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, slowly drifting off to sleep.

Ezra was speaking to some Rebel contacts through a secured channel to find anything about the Alliance's sudden panic, and the cause of the all too sudden Disturbances. It was as if multiple ice shards were piercing his body at the speed of light.

"I'm telling you, we don't know what's going on. Rebel leadership denied some sort of operation, but a rogue squadron identified as Rogue One left anyway," the contact said.

"Where are they going?" Ezra demanded.

"Last I heard they are off to Scarif. There's a Rebel fleet inbound to support the ground force."

Ezra pondered this. 'Is that where this weapon is?'

The contact could read Ezra's expression even through the hologram. "Sir, I recommend you do not go. It's already been confirmed a suicide mission!"

"I have to help them. They'll have better moral if they have a Jedi there," Ezra countered.

"They already have high moral. They know what they're doing," the contact said. He was trying desperately not to let Ezra go to Scarif. "I'll patch you in to Hera. Stand by."

The contact connected the channel to Hera, who was flying the Ghost with the fleet to Scarif.

"Captain Syndulla," a voice came over her comms.

"Who's this?" she replied.

"I'm one of Commander Bridger's contacts. I've been speaking to him and I'm patching him to you now."

"Very well. I'm going to have a talk with him when we finish up here," Hera said. She's already told Ezra not to have private contacts without Alliance permission.

"Hera?" Ezra's voice was heard through the comms.

"Ezra Bridger, what have I told you about having these contacts?" she asked.

"I know you're upset, but," he paused a moment. "I know what's going on. I want to help."

Whatever anger Hera was feeling was gone, "We could use all the help we could get, but I'm afraid you're too late."

Ezra's anger flared, "I don't want to sit back. I want to help!"

Ezra's outburst woke Sabine, who was now standing on the other side of the closed door. Her hand was covering her mouth, trying not to make a sound. She didn't know what he was yelling about, but she could hear the entire conversation.

"Ezra, if you come you could die!" she heard Hera say.

"I could have died with every mission we've been on!" Ezra replied.

"This one's different in every way. There's... There's not even a guarantee that I'll return," Hera said sadly, thinking of Kanan and her child.

"So why can't I come?" Ezra asked.

"You already know the answer to that," Hera said. "I have to go now. I will see you when I get back."

The channel was closed, and Ezra stood in silence.

From the other side of the door, Sabine was leaning against the wall, trying to comprehend what she had heard. She heard footsteps and the door opened.

Ezra didn't expect to see Sabine standing outside the room, but didn't question it. He guessed his yelling probably woke her. The look on her face said it all.

"Sabine..." he began, but Sabine wouldn't listen. She ran back to her room and locked the door; Locked Ezra out. He knocked on the door.

"Sabine, please. Let me explain!" he pleaded.

Through the locked door, he heard Sabine's answer... but it wasn't much. His heart dropped. He had wanted to help so much that he forgot the fact Sabine needs him with her. He had almost forgotten his unborn child.

"Sabine," he said, sadly. "I'm sorry. I really want to help in this attack."

The door shot open, revealing an upset Sabine.

"Did you even think about me when you say that? Did you think about our child?" she asked, hurt in her voice. She knew he really wanted to help; Joining the Ghost crew all those years ago changed him from a selfish brat to a selfless man.

Her words got to him, "Sabine..."

"I don't blame you for wanting to help, believe me I would, too. But... I don't want to lose you," she finally said. "I need you... We need you."

A couple tears slid down her cheeks as she said this. Any other mission would be fine, but Hera said this one was suicide. The odds of returning were not good, and Sabine did not want to take that chance.

"I'm sorry, Sabine. You're right, I wasn't thinking clearly. I only wanted to find whatever is causing the disturbance... To help," he said.

Sabine managed a smile, "I know you did. That's all you ever want to do since you joined our crew."

Ezra pulled her into a hug, and she buried her face into the crook of his neck. "Promise you'll never leave me."

Ezra kissed the top of her head, "I'll never leave you. I promise."

Sabine tightened their hug for a moment before letting go. She stared into Ezra's blue eyes, and he into her teary golden brown eyes.

Their R2 unit beeped behind them, asking if he should change course. Ezra looked to Sabine and she just stared at him.

"No, keep our course on Yavin," Ezra said as he looked back to the droid, who beeped happily in reply. He returned to the cockpit to plug into its charging station. He wanted to be fully charged by the time they arrived.

The Ghost dropped out of hyperspace, along with the rest of the attack fleet at Scarif. Countless wings of X-wings and Y wings appeared alongside the CR90s, Hammerhead corvettes, Braha'tok-class gunships, Nebulon-B frigates, bunch of GR-75s, and an MC75 cruiser leading the assault. Hera heard the chatter of squad leaders calling in their pilots. Squadrons Blue, Gold, Green, and Red were standing by. Blue squadron was tasked with supporting the ground forces currently fighting on the surface.

"Phoenix Leader, glad you could join us. Are your two Jedi here?" Admiral Raddus said from the bridge of his MC75 cruiser.

"No they are not. One had to stay at home and the other is returning home," Hera replied.

"That's right, I've heard of your little surprise. My congratulations to you. When you see Commander Bridger again, tell him I said congratulations," Raddus said.

"Why don't you tell him when you return from this battle, Admiral," Hera said.

"I hate to break into your conversation like this Admiral, but we're in the middle of a battle here," an X-wing pilot said.

The Starbird appeared from Hyperspace in the Yavin system. Ezra would have been in the cockpit, but he was pinned against the wall by Sabine, who was resting her head on his chest. He managed to slide to a sitting position in the hall not long after their small argument about the ongoing battle at Scarif. Their R2 unit rolled up to them and beeped in binary, letting them know they have arrived at Yavin. Ezra nodded at the droid, acknowledging the notice, but never let go of Sabine. He tried to move, but received a quiet growl from Sabine, who was comfortable on his chest.

Ezra reached over and traced circles on her lower back, sending chills up her spine. She gasped softly, pleasure filling her senses and snuggled closer to Ezra, who was smiling.

Sabine opened her eyes, as they've been closed the entire time, and stared into Ezra's eyes. (They seem to do that a lot, don't they) She traced the scar on the bridge of his nose, then the double scar on his cheek. As Sabine carressed the scarred cheek, Ezra leaned his head into her hand, holding it with his hand.

Sabine spoke softly, "I suppose we should fly our ship to the surface, shouldn't we?"

"Yeah we probably should. I wouldn't want to be shot down by any remaining spacecraft," Ezra joked, receiving a laugh from his wife.

There trip back to Yavin took a couple days because they had to stop a couple times for food and supplies. They almost had trouble with a Star Destroyer, but fortunately for them, it had other things to do; Probably headed to Scarif. Those couple days brought Sabine into her fourth month. Just a few more months to go, and they will have Mira with them.

Ezra piloted the Starbird to Yavin's surface, and after landing and leaving the spacecraft, looked around at the seemingly empty base. Sabine stood next to him, holding his arm to keep stable. The gravity on Yavin was not too different than on Alderaan, but the difference was still noticeable, especially if you're 4 months pregnant.

"Well we know there's still people here. We had to get clearance to land, after all," Sabine said. She also didn't see very many people, if at all. Ezra nodded and turned to R2-T6 (Trix).

"Primary astromech charging bays are near the hangars. It's hard to miss them," he said. Trix chirped as Ezra led him to the command center. Sabine was about to follow, but she heard a familiar voice call out.

"Sabine, welcome home," Rex said as he walked up. He had a ground crew inspecting the Starbird for anything that needs repairs, and refueling it in case they would need it later.

"It's good to see you, Rex. Good to be home," Sabine replied.

"Where's Ezra? I thought I just saw him," Rex asked, looking around.

"He went to the command center, likely to check up on the operation at Scarif. He's also giving our new droid a tour of the base," she replied.

"New droid?" Rex asked.

"Yup. A wedding gift from the Organas. A brand new R2 unit, fresh of the production lines. I still need to give him color, but I could always do that later," Sabine said, smiling.

"Very nice. I'm sorry I couldn't catch the wedding. Congratulations," Rex said. There was a bang heard from the Starbird's outer hull; A rebel mechanic dropped his tool box on the fuselage of the craft, his tools scattered all over.

"Hey, careful!" Rex called out. "You don't want to get a scratch on the paint job!"

"Sorry, sir. Just slipped," the mechanic said as he gathered all his tools.

"What's going on here?" Ezra asked, just returning from the Command Center.

"Oh, just some routine checkups," Sabine answered, before Rex could.

"Of course," Ezra said. Then he looked to Rex, "How are you doing, Rex? Still holding together alright?"

"Always," he replied. "There's not much that can bring me down."

"That's good to hear," Ezra said. Sabine grabbed his hand and just held it, curling one arm around his as well.

"It's good to have you two back," Rex turned to leave, but suddenly stopped. "I almost forgot, our scanners are picking up some interesting readings in the woods. It's pretty far away, about a 20 minute ride by speeder."

"Which way is it?" Sabine asked. Ezra looked to her.

"Sabine, maybe you should just stay here..." he began, but Sabine interrupted.

"Ezra, I want to know what this is."

"I assure you it's nothing dangerous," Rex said. "There doesn't seem to be any sort of hostile creature on this planet."

Ezra thought for a moment, studying Sabine's face. She was stubborn, there was no arguing against that. She hasn't worn her armor in a while, but she always had at least one of her WESTAR-35s with her at all times.

"Speeder bikes are too dangerous for her right now. What else could we use," Ezra said, wanting to see what speeders they had before leaving.

Rex grinned, "We actually managed to get our hands on an RGC-18 landspeeder."

Sabine's eyes grew wide, "An RGC-18?"

"Yup," Rex laughed.

Rex led Ezra and Sabine to the speeder bays and uncovered a freshly repaired and repainted speeder. Sabine ran her hands over the sleek design.

"I spoke with Command about it, and they agreed it can be the Alliance's wedding gift to you two," Rex said.

Sabine's eyes lit up, "Really?"

"Yup."

Sabine had a big smile on her face. Ezra looked over to Rex who nodded his head.

"Go ahead," he said, "Take her out for a spin."

Ezra grinned finally as he climbed into the pilot's seat. Sabine climbed in next to him, careful not to hurt the baby.

"Never actually used one of these," Ezra said.

"It's very simple, really. I'm sure you can figure it out," Rex said.

Ezra started the engines and immediately, the speeder began to hover as its repulsorlift engines were activated.

"I'll upload the coordinates to the speeder's computer," Rex yelled over the noise.

"It's a little loud, don't you think?" Ezra called.

"That's because one: you're in the hangar and two: the sound dampeners haven't been reinstalled. It should sound quieter once you get outside," Rex replied. He pressed a few buttons on his data pad and called out, "I sent you the coordinates. Go take a look, will ya?"

"You bet," Ezra replied. He piloted the speeder out of the hanger and into the jungle of Yavin 4 at full speed; Careful not to crash into any trees.

Sabine was looking all over, watching the trees zip by as they past. Pretty soon, they arrived at the coordinates Rex gave them and Ezra hopped out first. Sabine noticed he changed into his Mandalorian armor, but he didn't have the helmet on.

"I can't really see anything out here," he complained, but Sabine only giggled.

"Maybe that's because you're not wearing your helmet."

Ezra turned around and saw her holding his helmet. She had a playful smile on her face. He held out his hand to grab the helmet but Sabine held it away from him.

"Sabine, come on," Ezra said, trying to be annoyed but he couldn't keep a stern face. Sabine giggled as she ran to the other side of the speeder when Ezra tried to catch her.

She hid behind a big tree, making sure Ezra didn't see her hide. He didn't, but he didn't have to see her. He could always sense where she was, and the fact she was pregnant with their Force-sensitive child made it a whole lot easier. He waited for the perfect moment, and when it arrived, he jumped around the tree and pinned Sabine to the trunk. She dropped the helmet as Ezra stared into her golden brown eyes. She was also giggling non stop.

"I win," Ezra said.

"Well it certainly took you long enough, love," Sabine said as she kissed him.

They broke the kiss when Sabine felt a kick, causing her to gasp with surprise. "Ezra!" She had a big, excited grin on her face. She grabbed his hands and held them to her belly, and Mira kicked again.

"Her kicks are getting stronger," Ezra noticed.

Sabine threw her arms around Ezra's neck and they held each other for a few moments.

Ezra cleared his throat, "We should get back to work."

Sabine nodded, agreeing and not at all disappointed. She was alone with Ezra again, so it was hard to be disappointed.

Ezra put on his helmet and began scanning the terrain. Sabine was walking with him and just a few minutes past before something caught Sabine's eye.

"Ezra, over here." She walked over to a pile of overbrush, and inspected it.

Ezra ran over to her and knelt next to the heavy vegetation. He tapped the communicator on his helmet.

"Rex, Sabine thinks we found something over here. How copy?"

"Good copy, Commander. I don't think that's natural formation," he said. Rex was tapped into the helmet camera installed in Ezra's helmet.

"Sabine, what do you think?" Ezra asked.

"It... has a familiar shape... almost like a triangle," she said.

Ezra unclipped his lightsaber and began cutting through the plants. Moments later Sabine grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Wait..." She knelt and picked up what looked like the remains of an astromech's dome. "Ezra, look at this."

Ezra grabbed the dome and looked at it. He wiped off the dirt and vegetation and gasped. It actually is the remains of a droid's dome.

"Sabine, stay right here," he said as he began using the Force to throw any vegetation off the strange formation. What they found took their breath away.

"Ezra... do you know that that is? Or at least, used to be?" Sabine asked.

"No... but it looks like the remains of a starfighter," he replied.

Sabine walked up to the burned remains and after a few minutes, looked up with surprise.

"Ezra... this is was a modified Delta 7 starfighter!" she exclaimed.

"What's that?" he asked, pulling off his helmet.

"It's an old Jedi Starfighter during the early years of the Clone Wars," Rex explained.

"It's mostly blown up and burned, but we might be able to rebuild it if we had the design plans for it," Sabine said.

"Aethersprite-class starfighter... right?" Ezra asked.

"Yes! How'd you know that?" Sabine asked.

Ezra grinned, "Kanan."

Sabine rolled her eyes, but she was smiling, "Of course, he told about them hasn't he?"

"Yup. Hey, Rex. You've seen these in combat before right?" Ezra said.

"All the time. General Skywalker flew many different kinds, and this one he called the Azure Angel. He said he lost it in some jungle. I believe we just found our missing craft."