Chapter 7: Never Tease a Mando

A/N: Everything before this chapter has been rewritten with the TLR's new writing style. Everything after and including this chapter is the original version of this story and will never be completed. (But feel free to read on if you wish.) I am working on a new version that has a different plot from here on out. Check out No Kriffing Way! on Star Wars: REBELS page.


Never Tease a Mando:

Only four hours after leaving camp, the triumphant army was back, and they were already celebrating in a VERY loud fashion as they disembarked their ships. Those who had bothered to come back that is. Many were joining the party taking place in the streets of Sundari where the food and the bars could be found.

Not only had they accomplished their goal of destroying the Duchess and Imperial Headquarters, but they had also destroyed all FIVE Star Destroyers that had taken up residence around Mandalore.

After deciding to continue the fight, Sabine and Bo-Katan had quickly come up with a plan; their brilliant strategic minds working almost in sync as they came up with similar ideas.

While they'd been talking, the Super Commando Captain had flown up to them with the last eight members of his squad accompanying him. Blasters had been drawn, but the Captain, who they now knew was named Jett Hark of Clan Saxon, had raised his hands in surrender and sworn himself and his men (also Saxons) to allegiance with the new Mand'alor. Sabine and Bo-Katan had immediately incorporated them into their plans.

Kanan, Ezra, and Chopper were sent to the first Star Destroyer approaching them to turn off the shield generators from the inside in a stealth mission.

The Super Commandos were sent to the second ISD, pretending to go back to their alliance with the Empire. Once inside, they also made their way to the shield generators and turned them off.

Once the two teams had flown off Bo-Katan had called for the many fighter ships waiting on standby at the camp to come to shoot down the ISDs the instant the two stealth teams were clear.

Then Sabine and Bo-Katan had taken what warriors they had with them and split into two groups. After taking out the communication satellites so they couldn't warn the ISDs in space or send a long-range comm to Coruscant, they harassed the bridges of the ISDs from the outside, causing utter chaos within as the officers tried to deal with Mandos blowing up their work stations.

As the fleet of Mando Kom'rk and Fang fighters approached over the horizon all the parties in jetpacks had retreated from the ISDs and let the fighters do their jobs. With no shields, the two Star Destroyers were quickly demolished and crashed into the desert with the smoldering remains of Saxon's ISD.

Included in the fleet of Kom'rks was a familiar gold, silver, and black paint one called the Jai'galaar (Shriek-Hawk) which had belonged to Sabine's mother, and an even more familiar one painted in red and black belonging to Ezra.

The fliers had then boarded ships they were associated with. Bo-Katan took the Super Commandos with her to her ship. Ezra, Kanan, and Chopper had gone to his. And Sabine and Fenn Rau had made for the Jai'galaar. There, Sabine had found her father flying the ship. He had commed the few members of Clan Wren that were left behind to guard the camp and had them pack up and bring the ships to Bo-Katan's much bigger camp.

Alrich had been quite excited to be part of the action, artist or no. Despite his refined, mostly pacifist sensibilities, he'd been raised a Mando and was still a Mando.

Ezra and Sabine took over-flying their respective ships and they joined the fleet of close to a hundred starfighters in their ascent to space. Then they split into two groups and went all badass on the last two ISDs above the planet, raining vengeance down on the Star Destroyers and engaging the TIEs that emerged from the bellies of the massive ships.

They lost about ten of their impromptu fleet by the end, almost all of them the unshielded Fang fighters, but they won and the deceased would be remembered for dying an honorable death.

Mandalore was now free of the Imperial army and Bo-Katan was determined to keep it that way. She was also going to do whatever was necessary to regain control of all of the hundred or systems that Mandalore called part of their corner of space. The good news was that the Empire had mostly concentrated on taking over the capital planet, so most of the others were either unoccupied or only lightly so. Only a few mining planets were heavily occupied and Bo-Katan was already making plans to get those back.


Still running high on adrenaline, Ezra landed his Gauntlet beside the Jai'galaar only moments after Sabine's ship touched the dry, dusty desert. He quickly powered down his ship, eager to see Sabine, while the two Clan Wren members quickly made their escape from the bridge, already chattering away in excited Mando'a as they spotted friends giving hearty back slaps in the camp.

Rising from his chair, Ezra clapped Kanan on the shoulder and shot him a grin. "Good shooting, Master. Those TIEs didn't stand a chance against you."

Kanan smiled slightly, indulging Ezra's enthusiasm but not really feeling the same euphoria pretty much everyone else was. Kanan just wanted it all to be over so he could go back to Hera. Four days felt like an absolute eternity when he wasn't in her company. "Your flying was pretty good too, Padawan," he stressed the word teasingly. "Hera would be proud."

Ezra shrugged as he flushed slightly at the praise. "Well. When you learn from the best..."

Kanan chuckled as he turned his attention to Chopper. "I'll tell her you said that. Chop, call Hera. She's probably paced a hole in the Ghost's decking by now waiting to find out what's been going on."

"Tell her I said hi," Ezra called as he left the bridge, leaving Kanan to talk to his mate in privacy. (If you didn't count Chopper; the blackmailing, mood destroying, pain in the ass droid from hell.)


Sabine landed her mother's ship while feeling a confusing mixture of victory and defeat. Yes, they'd won the day, but Sabine herself felt like she'd lost too much. The very fact that she was flying her mother's Kom'rk with her father in the co-pilot's chair was a testament to that.

Her mother should be in the pilot chair and her brother should be in the co-pilots. Her father should be at home on Krownest or at his art gallery in Sundari. But he wasn't, and the latter had been confiscated and trashed by the Empire's brainwashed troopers. And she... She should be with Ezra on his ship. Was it wrong that all she wanted right now was to hide in his arms and disappear from the galaxy for a while?

But she couldn't. She was the bloody Shabla Countess now. She had duties. Responsibilities. Obligations. Her relatively carefree life was over. Forever. And all because she was too smart and too cocky and too stupid. Why did she have to invent the Duchess in the first place? She'd thought she'd hated herself before when the Empire had first tested it against her people years ago. Now it had murdered a portion of her clan and family, and she downright loathed her past self at the moment. All of this was HER fault. If Sabine could go back in time, she'd probably murder her younger self in her current frame of mind.

Kriff, she needed some of Ezra's upbeat enthusiasm right now. She was getting depressingly morbid.

Without even really thinking about it, she automatically powered down the ship. A gentle hand on her shoulder brought her back to the here and now, from where she'd been staring blankly at the console. Sabine looked up at her father, his eyes looking both sympathetic and just as morose as she felt.

"Your mother would be proud of what you have accomplished today, Daughter." He gulped as his voice wavered and she could see how he was visibly trying to keep it together for her sake.

Sabine bit her lower lip to stop the trembling, but the sorrow was fighting past her willpower again. She turned her face away, not able to look at him, or she would start bawling like a child. "I'm so sorry, Father. I'm sorry I killed Mother and Tristan. And some cousins and second cousins. And... I'm not even sure who else. I'm sorry I killed your wife and son."

"Sabine, stop." Alrich interrupted her before she could start claiming responsibility for every death caused by the Empire. He grabbed both her shoulders and forced her to look at him again, kneeling in front of her chair. "You did NOT kill Ursa and Tristan."

"But..."

"No!" he said, shaking her shoulders just a little. "No, you didn't, and stop blaming yourself for it, because I do not, and does my opinion not count the most?"

Sabine abused her lower lip some more as she nodded slowly.

"Yes, they died by a weapon that you invented, but if you manufactured blasters, would you claim the deaths of every person shot by one?"

"No. The person holding the blaster is the killer," she said quietly, seeing where her father was going with this. "I understand." She sniffled. "But that isn't going to help me sleep any better."

Alrich smiled wanly. "That, I can sympathize with. I haven't slept well for a very long time. Not since your mother cast you out. I loved her, don't get me wrong, but we've lived separately ever since she did that to you. I could not forgive her for choosing her honor over our daughter. I didn't even know you had reconciled until the rumors reached the city that you were back, had dueled Gar Saxon and won, and that Clan Wren was rebelling from Imperial rule." He smiled for real as he smoothed a hand over her vibrant hair. "I am proud of what you have accomplished all on your own, too. I know nothing would have changed if you had not come home and made it happen. You always were my Little Fighter. It warms my heart to have you back in my life, Sabine."

"Daddy," she all but sobbed and fell out of her chair and into his arms as they finally grieved together for what they had lost. "I missed you too! So much!"


Ezra bounded down the ramp of the Gauntlet and then waited semi-patiently for the ramp of Sabine's ship to descend. After a minute of watching what seemed like herds of Mandalorian warriors cheer, laugh, backslap, kiss, and playfight as they celebrated their victory while being completely ignored by the lot, it did. Fenn Rau and a Mando dressed in Wren silver and gold walked down the ramp, all smiles. Fenn tossed a smile Ezra's way before aiming for Bo-Katan. The Wren booted it for his fellow Wrens hanging out with some Kryzes.

Ezra peered up the ramp, but no one else appeared. Where were Sabine and her father?

Thinking that they might be talking or something, he leaned against the hull of the ship and decided to give them their privacy. So he continued to people watch, occasionally catching a word of Mando'a that he recognized. (Mostly the swears that Sabine used on occasion.) He thought he should probably start paying more attention to whatever Mando'a was spoken around him and actually learn it if he was going to be Sabine's significant other. He didn't want to make her life any harder than it already was.

He'd seen the looks some of the Mandos had given her last night at dinner with him sitting beside her. They hadn't done anything more exciting than sitting close enough that their shoulders and thighs touched and maybe blush a little when they looked at each other, but that had been enough to upset more than a few people. They were clearly not happy with him being a Jedi, and some still resented her for inventing the Duchess, even though she'd vowed to destroy it again. The least he could do was learn her language. There was no helping who he was though. Ezra would never be able to just give up being a Jedi, not even for Sabine.

He was proud of who he'd become. It had taken a lot of work, a lot of sweat and tears, a lot of backward and sideways steps as the Dark Side tried to lure him away from Kanan's teachings, but he was finally content with who he was now. Everything within him just felt right. Balanced. He was living a life somewhere between the Jedi of old and the more normal life of a person who came with a family and was very much attached to them. It worked for Kanan, and it worked for him.

Which made him wonder why the old Jedi Order frowned so heavily on attachments. If he and Kanan could do it, then why not everyone else? Even Ahsoka had said the attachment rule was a bunch of Bantha poodoo. She'd said she considered her Masters to be her father and brother, and that most Master / Padawan relationships developed into the familial quickly if they'd been paired correctly. And before she'd died, he knew for a fact that she and Rex had been talking about getting married.

Poor Rex. He still wasn't the same, and that was about a year and a half ago now. He didn't even really cheer up when they finally found someone to reverse-engineer the accelerated aging gene and set it to go the other way. There was actually some brown in his beard now and you could definitely see that he, Wolffe, and Gregor were getting younger again. They planned to have the gene disabled when they looked their proper age, which should be about forty-five by the time it evened out, since they were thirty-two now, but looked like sixty-something.

Wondering what was taking Sabine so long, he peeked at her feelings and flinched as a wave of sorrow hit him. Now he was left with the conundrum of whether or not to go try and comfort her or to leave her be since she was with her father. He wished he could ask Kanan for advice on how to deal with a sad female that was now more than your friend, but he was talking to Hera and he didn't want to interrupt them. And... Kanan was blocking him anyway. That could only mean that Kanan and Hera were having one of THOSE conversations, that Ezra wanted absolutely nothing to do with.

On the other hand, he wouldn't mind having one of THOSE conversations with Sabine. Just the thought of it was enough to wake up the one-track mind of the appendage in his pants. Ezra scolded it back into sleep mode by picturing Darth Vader, his aura of ice-cold, and that Red Lightsaber held to his throat.

Yep, that did it. His entire body was cringing now.

Works every time.

And when it came to Sabine and her incredibly hot figure in that bodysuit that she didn't always have the armor attached to or her silky blue pajama set that left her arms and most of her legs bare and did nothing to hide the shape of her breasts... Let's just say he needed to picture Darth Vader a lot.

Living in a confined space with the girl of your dreams, but not being able to touch her, was both a blessing and the worst form of torture. It was also a good way to inspire him to practice his meditation more frequently to help with body control.

Thank the Force she'd finally returned his interest. Not that he wouldn't have waited another decade if he had to, because he most definitely would have, for her. But he doubted anyone would blame him for exalting over her loving him back.

Which brings him back to his current conundrum... Should he go try and comfort her again?

It was easier when they were just friends and he didn't have an instant link to her feelings. Back then, even if he felt her in a sad mood, it had never been his place to try and cheer her up except in a roundabout fashion that didn't give away the fact that he was sensitive to the feelings of his family. Now that they were bonded for real, her emotions felt like his own and he felt almost compelled to do something to help her.

But she was still Sabine. Still, the girl who liked her space and dealing with her stuff on her own. He didn't know how much she'd welcome his interference now that they were... Dating? Engaged? Friends with benefits? (What were they anyway? Force, he hoped it wasn't the last one.) Shrugging that question off for later, he focused on his current problem; whether or not to barge into the ship and distract her into feeling happier again. She'd welcomed his presence last night, but that didn't mean she'd do it again, not with her father present. Maybe not even if she was all alone.

He waffled for another minute but finally decided to throw caution to the wind. The worst she could do was yell at him, and she'd done that plenty over the years, so that wouldn't be anything new.

Decision made, he was striding up the ramp of the ship in an instant and aiming for Sabine's signature at the front of the large troop fighter.

He paused at the closed bridge door, second-guessing himself again. Sabine was still feeling sad, but happiness was creeping in there as well. What to do? What to do?

Scrunching up one side of his face from the indecision eating at him, his finger nevertheless moved towards the button to open the door. In slow motion.

The instant before he actually touched it, the door opened on its own. To say he was relieved would be an understatement.

Ezra smiled brilliantly at Sabine and Alrich as they blinked at him in surprise to see him right on the other side of the door. "Hi! I was just..."

"Coming to get us?" Sabine supplied helpfully with a small smile.

"Yeah. That." Ezra smiled dopily at her as her smile widened and her emotions settled into contentment once again. He did that, he thought. Seeing him made her truly happy again. That just made his day more than anything else he'd done by a long shot.

Sabine had known for a few years now that being in Ezra's vicinity had a tendency to lift her spirits, but she hadn't realized quite how good he was for her until the last twenty-four hours. And now, being the entire recipient of his unabashed focus was doing funny things to her heart. She swore it was melting and skipping beats as she got lost in his twinkling blue eyes.

Alrich looked from his daughter to the Jedi and back again, his eyebrows rising almost to his hairline as the seconds ticked past. His mouth twitched in amusement, thinking back to younger days and courting Ursa. He cleared his throat, making them both startle a little and look at him. "I'll just... Leave you two alone, shall I?" he said as he sidled past Ezra, holding back a chuckle. He walked a few steps and then looked back over his shoulder to see both of them still blinking at him, but now their faces were turning quite red. "If you're not outside in ten minutes, though, I'll come and get you."

He let the laugh out when Sabine said, "Father!" in a distressed tone. "We're both adults! And we're not going to do anything you'd disapprove of anyway!" she yelled to his retreating back as he hot-footed it for the exit. The second he had a door between himself and them, Alrich was snorting with laughter.

Bo-Katan and Fenn Rau were nearby, heads close together as they talked quietly. They looked over at Alrich in curiosity. "What is so amusing?" the man who Alrich had taken an instant liking to last night asked. He was sure they were going to be good friends, and he owed him as well, for looking out for his family when he couldn't. (Not that Alrich was that great at the warrior arts, but he wasn't completely helpless.)

Alrich sorted himself down to just a few chuckles and nodded towards the ship. "The kids. They're so infatuated with each other, you'd have to be dead to miss it."

Fenn and Bo-Katan nodded in understanding. "I have observed this myself," Fenn said with a small twitch of his mouth. "Even before Sabine knew it herself. Ezra, on the other hand, has always known what he wanted."

"Much like yourself?" Alrich said in a teasing tone with a flick of his eyes towards the new Mand'alor.

He smirked as Fenn blushed and Bo-Katan said, "What?"

Alrich couldn't help but notice that she looked at Fenn differently after that. Assessing would probably be the best way to describe it. Good.


"We're not?" Ezra said, only half in jest. He pouted a little, his eyes going all wide and pleading, but sparking with mirth at the same time.

Sabine smirked, dropped her helmet, and pushed him back against the wall beside the doorway with a thump. "Of course we are."

He ooomphed in surprise, but grinned almost immediately, whispering a triumphant, "Yes!" as she grabbed his head and pulled him down to her. She gently bit the lip that had been sticking out just a moment ago and then demanded entry into his mouth.

Ezra opened willingly and their tongues immediately got tangled together as they fought for dominance. His hands found their way to her waist, kneading the supple flesh through her bodysuit, before lowering to cup her sweet rear end and press her against himself, lifting her off the floor to do so and leaning back against the wall again at the same time.

Sabine pulled her mouth away from his, her hands still holding the back of his head tightly, and stared into his dilated eyes. "You need to grow your hair out again," she said between panting breaths.

Ezra's brows rose in surprise before he grinned. "I can do that."

"Good," she murmured before attacking his lips once again. Kissing was amazing. Kissing was better than blowing things up. Just barely, but it was, and she never thought she'd think that. Kissing him as much as possible was her new goal in life.

Being pressed against his hard body was nothing to laugh at either. His kneading fingers on her ass were sending little thrills through her that settled right in her core. He held her effortlessly, too. And that was turning her on even more. She never knew he had so much strength in his lean body. She's been under the impression that he used the Force to power his feats of strength, but maybe some of it had been just him. Kriff, that was hot.

Force, oh, Force, she tasted so sweet; like fire and candy and Yogans all in one. He didn't know how that was possible, but he didn't care. Ezra just wanted to stay locked like this forever. But he had a mental clock ticking in his mind and he was allowing himself just one more minute of the heart-pounding pleasure of holding her via squeezing her perfect round butt cheeks and having her weight pressed against his chest, and delving into her mouth as they took turns chasing each other's tongues in a game of teasing kisses.

He didn't trust Alrich not to keep his word and show up back on the ship. There was no way he was getting caught with his hands on his daughter's ass and his tongue in her mouth. No way in hell.

When he was sure his time was up, he very reluctantly straightened off the wall and put her back down, hands running up her back once her feet were safely on the decking again. He eased off the kisses to just two final presses of his lips to hers ever so softly and then propped his chin on top of her head as he held her close in a hug and started talking his electrified body back into submission, beginning by concentrating on his breathing and slowing it down and then adding his racing heartbeat to the equation. And then he added a little image of Darth Vader for the final touch.

All those years of practicing meditation were coming in very handy indeed.

Sabine didn't want to stop but she knew he was right. Now was not the time to get too carried away. But kriff, sometime soon, they were going to have a very long and very uninterrupted makeout session. She vowed it.

How far she let that makeout session go in terms of intimacy she had yet to figure out.

For the time being, she simply wrapped her arms around his narrow waist in return and breathed in his startlingly good scent. Under the hint of sweat (which surprisingly wasn't repulsive), he smelled like grass and fresh air. He smelled like Lothal. (Before the Empire started burning it.) "How do you smell like Lothal, when, as far as I know, you haven't been back for weeks or longer?" she murmured into his collar.

Ezra shrugged slightly, a chuckle escaping him at the completely random question. "I don't know. My home is in my blood, I guess."

She rubbed her cheek against his shirt, sighing softly at how comfortable she felt right now. "Well, I like it."

Ezra smiled and kissed the top of her head, breathing her in return. "For the record. I like how you smell too. Like citrus, and paint, and a hint of just fired blasters. You smell just like what you are."

Sabine looked up at him, dislodging his chin, a teasing smile playing with her lips. "Like a painted Yogan exploded on me?"

Ezra snorted and rolled his eyes at her, a hand moving up to her hair and combing through it in apparent fascination. "No, silly. Like a warrior goddess who also happens to be the best artist I've ever seen."

"Flattery will get you everywhere, Bridger," she said, stretching up and kissing his cheek.

Ezra beamed at her. "Awesome. I have a lot more where that came from."

Sabine laughed and rolled her eyes at him as she stepped back and crossed her arms over her chest. "Please. Not if it's like your attempts at flirting four years ago."

Ezra leaned a shoulder against the wall as he crossed his arms and ankles, adopting a negligent air. "My flirting was not that bad, but even if it was, I like to think I've gotten better at it."

Sabine raised a brow. "Oh? And who exactly have you been practicing on, Ezra Bridger?"

Ezra smirked at her. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Sabine narrowed her eyes at him, a niggle of jealousy winding its way into her. She punched him on the arm, not exactly lightly. "Tell me!"

Ezra laughed as he rubbed his arm in an exaggerated fashion. "Well... There were other girls on the base on Atallon, and you were gone for months."

Sabine's eyes narrowed further and she wound up punching him again.

Ezra caught her fist before she could let it fly, laughing harder. "Whoa! I was teasing! The only girl I've ever flirted with since I met you is you. Believe me. Any and all practicing has been in my mind and my dreams only, I promise."

Sabine huffed, relaxing. But she let fly with her left fist, just because. "Don't joke about stuff like that," she said as he winced for real and rubbed his other arm. She crossed her arms over her chest again and gave him a warning glare. "I think I might be a very jealous Mando, now that I've decided to claim you as mine. You do not want to anger a jealous Mando."

Ezra raised his hands in surrender, his mouth still twitching with humor. "I see that. My mistake." He reached forward and cupped her face in his hands, leaning towards her, his eyes very serious all of a sudden. "I promise you'll never have anything to get jealous about from my side of things. You are the only girl I've seen for more than four years. No one will ever make me look elsewhere." He sealed his vow with a gentle kiss to her red and somewhat swollen lips from their earlier kisses. He rested his forehead against hers and gazed into her amber eyes. "And to add to the record, I have always been yours, so you don't need to claim me."

Sabine found herself cupping his face in return, eyes searching his and seeing only sincerity and truth. "Oh, I'm still claiming you. But, I think, somewhere in me, I've always known that, because I'm yours too, Ezra. Do you know how many guys I've turned down over the last four years?"

Ezra shook his head slightly within her grasp, eyes wide and he appeared to have stopped breathing. "Do I even want to know?"

Sabine's mouth quirked up. "Probably not. I'll just say that none of them ever felt right. None of them were you." She kissed him just as gently as he had her and then pulled away, but laced the fingers of one hand with his, not willing to lose their connection entirely. She tugged on it and started walking towards the exit. "Come. Talking about Lothal earlier made me realize we aren't done yet with our fight against the Empire. Mandalore may be free now, but your homeworld is not and I've been coming up with some ideas that might just work."

Ezra walked beside her willingly, blinking at her in shock. "At the same time as everything else we were doing and talking about?"

Sabine turned her head and smirked at him. "Of course. I'm a girl. We're fully capable of multitasking, unlike the male of the species."

"Hey!"