Orbit over Ord Lithone - Aboard the Assault Frigate Stubborn Fool

Rahm Kota stood on the bridge of his ship facing the view port. Even though his eyes were useless to him now, the force allowed him to comprehend a great deal more than if he still had natural vision. He could sense the urgency of the Mandalorians and the Rebels aboard their ships. He could sense the droids, though they gave off no emotions. They were simply there without the sense of life or emotions - simply machines with a programmed mission. At the same time, the Imperials were taken completely by surprise. He could sense shock as decades-old separatist ships dropped onto formation and tractor beam locked with the rebel formations. A hard smile crossed the general's face as he ordered, "General Kapernus, have your fighters and bombers go for the interdictor ship. All rebel fighters, stay back and guard the ships against enemy attacks. Marines and security troopers, prepare for boarding."

Confirmations came in. Behind him, Kota heard Juno murmur, "I'm taking the Shadow out there."

"You be careful;" said Galen.

Suddenly, there was another gasp and Kota sensed that a lot more individuals had just dropped into the system. "Admiral Pryce's fleet just dropped out of hyperspace, Kota;" said Starkiller, his voice tense."

Kota nodded and waited. As expected, he felt the dark siders attempted to drag the flagship towards them and found that they would have to drag the whole of the fleet. It lasted only a few moments before releasing and Kota smiled tightly. "Nice try, boys."

"They're attacking, General;" said Kallus. "All of them. We won't last thirty minutes."

Kota knew it to. He had mere moments to come up with a plan, or else it would be far too late to escape.

Aboard the Executor-Class Star Dreadnought the Executor

Lord Vader braced himself as he stepped into his private communications chamber. Kneeling, he waited for the transmission to come through. The wrinkled face of the Emperor appeared and even over the holo-communicator, his eyes seemed to glow with rage. "You have tried to deceive me, Lord Vader. You told me that the stalker clones were originated from Darth Maul, not from your apprentice Marek."

"My master, I-"

"Enough!" snapped the Emperor, his hologram flickering with his temper. "When the Starkiller clones return, you will slaughter them, do you understand?"

There just a moment of pause before the Dark Lord in dark armor said, "Yes... my master."

"Good;" said the Emperor, seeming to calm down. "The end of the Rebellion is near, my friend. We have many new weapons that will be in use. In the mean time, you will continue to hunt for the rebel's leadership. Take the ship I have given you and destroy the Yavin base."

Vader knew that he was tempting his master's ire but he thought it to be a great waste of time. "My master, by now the base will be mostly abandoned. The vast majority of the rebel leaders will have fled."

The Emperor nodded. "Yes, I know. But it is time that the rebels saw just the first finger of the fist that we will bring down upon their insignificant little uprising. The sight of the Executor will strike fire into their hearts and any who escape will understand the absolute futility of their actions and they will spread the word onto there rebel friends."

"As you wish, my Master;" said Lord Vader.

Imperial Center - The Imperial Palace

The Emperor cut connections to the Executor and leaned back, scowling deeply. Of all of his former apprentices and all of his many created monsters, it would seem that Darth Vader had become the most unpredictable. Perhaps in the coming years, it would be prudent to find a new apprentice - one that he could mold to his will much more thoroughly. Palpatine smiled at the thought. Yes, a new apprentice was definitely necessary - one that could be raised from birth perhaps, the way the Jedi had - the way that he himself had raised Mara Jade.

For just a moment, the Emperor contemplated the girl, wondering if maybe she could be his new apprentice when Darth Vader was gone. But then, he dismissed the idea. If allowed to, Mara Jade could be a powerful Sith Lord but her current purpose served him too well. That, and her selfless service and loyalty to not only him, but the people and ideals of the Empire, was not in keeping with the thought and philosophy of the Sith and he had instilled it far too firmly in her to change her now. That, and would be a shame to ruin a perfectly good assassin, intelligence agent and investigator.

Speaking of Mara Jade, she would be returning from her most recent mission and the Emperor suddenly had a thought. Perhaps he would have her watch him for awhile - a few months at least as he hunted the rebels down. That way, if there were any other sign of treachery, the Emperor would know about it immediately.

Orbit over Ord Lithone - Aboard the Assault Frigate Stubborn Fool

"General Kota, have all your rebel and Mandalorian ships fall into formation behind mine;" said the Super Tactical droid Kapernus. "We will cover your retreat."

"That might work;" said Hera, "but then, they'll just have another sector fleet waiting for us."

"We'll have to split up;" said Sabine, putting her helmet on and turning towards the exit from the bridge. "I'll get to the Mandalorian Dreadnoughts ships and we'll take them to a different location in the sector. I'm sure that Pryce's kath hounds will follow you and we'll just have to rancor roll our way through whatever sector fleet meets up with us."

Ezra turned to go with her, but Sabine lifted her hand. "Not this time, Ezra. The Jedi need to stay together for this to work properly."

Ezra wanted desperately to protest but he also knew that it was right. "At least let me see you off;" he said, stepping up next to her.

Kapernus said over the comms, "I'll make sure that the Imperial's interdiction ship is eliminated and then buy you all enough to make your escape. You must choose your destinations quickly."

"Break tractor lock;" ordered Kota, "and pass it on to all our other ships. Mandalore, go."

Ezra and Sabine ran from the bridge.

"Where to next?" asked Hera, who was over at the navigational officer's station. "What direction are we heading?"

Searching back in his memory, Kota said, "Go to coordinate I-J, the system of Roxuli. It's sparsely populated and far off any main hyperlanes and, if I'm not mistaken, it's outside of any sector army's jurisdiction. If we run into any trouble, it will be with some Imperial warlord's expansion forces."

"Then do we really need to split up?" asked Starkiller, "wouldn't it be better to keep out forces together?"

"Unfortunately not;" answered Hera as she studied the holomap of that region. "If there is a warlord in the area, Pryce would still contact him. No, we still need to split up."

"Ordo, you'll head to the system of Celdaru as soon as Mandalor is aboard;" order Kota. "General Kapernus, we have our destinations. We just need that Interdictor Star Destroyer out of the way."

"Understood, General Kota;" said the droid, "It's been an honor serving with you against the corrupt Empire. I will see to it that you escape, even though it means the destruction of my command."

The droid ships were already moving into a perimeter formation around the rebels and Mandalorians. The nav officer was working furiously and Hera was leaning over his shoulder, checking and double checking his work.

Kapernus watched as the Imperial ships advanced. They were the natural evolution from the Republic Venators and Acclamators - larger, more heavily armed and, were he a human or a more feeble service droid and not a tactical combat model, probably even more intimidating. He had a few tricks up his cover plating. "Command all fighters and bombers to execute self destruct runs on the interdictor, aiming specifically for those gravity well generators."

Off in the distance, he watched as every fighter and bomber droid that he had dive-bombed the ship. It took all of them but one after another, the gravity well generators blew. "Prepare all dropships and battle droids. We are going to board their command ship. Perhaps we can kill the commander and give our allies some time to get away."

Turning to the tactical droid behind him, he said, "The bridge is yours. Have all boarding forces meet me in the hanger."

Aside from the regular battle droid, super battle droid, droidekas and commando droids, their were also six IG-100 Magnaguards and two EG-5 Jedi Hunter droids. They filed aboard the Separatist dropships and the Magna guards and EG droids jump into the cockpits of eight Rogue-class Fighters. The rest were racked in the boarding ships.

Admiral Pryce watched with impressed disbelief as the old Separatist relics charged the sector fleet. They were grossly outnumbered but that didn't matter in the end. All at once, they attempted to ram the Star Destroyers and cruisers nearest to them. Many of them were successful as well. As she watched, Separatist boarding ships, an old shuttle and eight starfighters streaked towards her ship. Dozens of them made it past the turbolasers and slammed into the haul of her Star Destroyer at numerous points. "I want troops to get to those ships and destroy the droids inside."

Turning, she said to the Dark Jedi behind her, "Prime, I request that you remain here while you send your Stalkers to destroy those droids with my troops."

Stalker Prime was already pulling his comlink from his belt already. "Request granted, Admiral;" he replied before say, "This is Stalker Prime to all Sith Stalkers - the ship has been boarded by enemy war droids. Find them and destroy them."

The droids did not do very much damage to the ship itself though they did kill hundreds of the ship's on-board personnel, including stormtroopers, guards, technical staff and so on. The IG-100 droids didn't stand a chance against the Stalkers but the EG-5's reached the bridge, managing to cut down three of them between them.

The two crimson colored droids with their crimson lightsabers charged onto the bridge. They were about to behind a full scale slaughter of the bridge crew when Stalker Prime engaged them. At first, the twin droids seemed to hold their own but the Sith Apprentice soon proved to be far too vicious for them and they fell to his red blades. When it was clear that they were down, Pryce used the comms station on the bridge to contact security teams. "All security teams, report the situation."

One after the other, they checked in, revealing that the droids had been repelled. "Sensors and scanner officers, do we have their trajectory?" she demanded as the rebel ships turned away to retreat.

"Yes, Admiral;" said the officer, "They're headed towards the expansion regions but towards two different destinations, it would seem."

Pryce smiled triumphantly and turned to face the main viewport - just in time to watch every droid boarding ship to explode! All over the haul of her Star Destroyer, she saw explosions and alarms began to go off. She vaguely heard overhead that the main hanger was on fire where the shuttle and starfighters had landed. The damage would look worse than it was of course but it would also take far too long to repair. "Are any critical systems damaged?" she demanded.

Several tense moments passed before an answer came, "No, Admiral. We should even be able to make the jump to lightspeed as soon as the haul breaches are sealed off."

"Do it;" she snarled.

Ezra watched out the hanger entrance and saw that the space was swarming with TIE's. "Sabine, I don't know."

"I don't have a choice;" she said, more harshly than she intended. "I can't just disappear again or they'll never trust me."

"Yes;" insisted Ezra, "they will! They know your worth. They know your integrity. But if you go out there now, you're going to die. I can feel it!"

That caused Sabine to pause and look at him. His electric blue eyes were wide in anxiety and his fists were clenched at his side. He was all but willing her to listen to him. Growling, she hit her gauntlet comlink, "Gaverous, this is Mandalore, do you read?"

"I hear you, Mandalore. It's pretty hairy out there."

"I know;" replied Sabine, her voice angry. "I can't make it to you. Set your comlink to record."

"It's set, Mandalore."

Sabine uttered a long stream of Mando'a before saying in basic, "Did you get all that?"

In a voice filled with a new resolve and determination, Gaverous Ordo said, "You can count on me, Mandalore. I will not let you down."

"I know you won't;" said Sabine, "I'm sorry, Gaverous."

"No need for that;" said the older warrior, his voice gentle. "Even Mandalore can only control so much. We'll give them hell in your absence."

Sabine dropped down to the deck, her face stony but her eyes looked as though they were filling with tears. Gently, Ezra put an arm around her. "Come on;" he said, "let's get to the bridge."

Using his comlink, he said, "Make the jump when ready, General."

They didn't see it since they were still moving through the corridors of the ship but outside, the rebel ships entered the blue tunnel of hyperspace. Sabine was taking it harder than either she or Ezra expected her too. Tears began to roll down her cheeks and her expression remained frustrated as they did. When they reached the bridge, she put her helmet back on to hide her tears but Kanan still came over and gave her shoulder a squeeze. He didn't say anything. He just smiled sympathetically. "At our next stop, we're going to need to refuel and resupply - which is why I chose Roxuli. There is a large but lightly armed and defended supply station there. Supposedly, it was set their to supply the warlords and their expansionary forces. We're going to hit it, refuel, rearm and resupply. It's still a few days away so rest and get everyone ready."

They all agreed and immediately, Sabine walked off the bridge. They all looked at Ezra who, taking the hint, hurried after her.

He found her in the forward turbolaser battery where she had found him earlier. Her helmet was sitting beside her and her head was buried in the crooks of her elbows. Ezra hadn't seen her break down like this in some time. Clearly, this was hitting her very hard. The young Jedi sighed. His heart ached for her. Quietly, he went over and sat down beside her, just putting an arm around her and not saying anything. For awhile, neither of them said anything or did anything. Sabine wept until she seemed to have shed all of her tears. Then, she looked up and over at him. "Is it my destiny to fail my people?"

Ezra's mouth fell open for a moment before looking rather sternly at her. "You are not failing your people, Sabine. Tell me, do you trust Gaverous?"

"Yes;" she said firmly. "I trust him."

"Then you have someone who will lead your people faithfully while you are gone, right?"

She nodded again. Ezra squeezed her with the arm around her shoulders and said, "See? You aren't failing them."

She was silent for some time before murmuring, "First, I designed the weapons that would kill them. Then, I left them to join the Rebellion - twice, now, abandoning them again to the depredation of the Empire. How is that not failing them?"

Ezra thought about this for a long while. Finally, he said, "Because you are still assuring that they have a leader. What did you say to him anyway?"

"In short, I said, 'As Mandalor, I declare Gaverous Ordo to be my regent in my unwilling absents. I have faith that he will faithfully execute my wishes and will with our people. Any who rebel or regent his regency will be my enemies when I return.'"

Ezra smiled and gave her another squeeze. "See - you are doing right by your people. You're also doing right by the Rebellion. Sabine, could you look at me, please?"

She turned her green eyes on him, her face still streaked with tears. Ezra pulled one of his gloves off and gently rubbed them away. "You should be proud of yourself. You're handling a tough situation very well."

She nodded. With one final squeeze, Ezra stood and said, "I'm getting hungry. Want to go grab some food or do you want to be alone for awhile?"

Sabine looked up at him. "I think I've been alone enough. But I don't want to go eat."

She stood and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Ezra hugged her back, resting his chin on her shoulder beside her head. "Remember what I said about how we can't think about this - us - right now?" she whispered in his ear as she pulled away.

Ezra nodded slowly and she did the very last thing he expected her to do. Sabine closed her eyes, leaned in and kissed his lips. In response, Ezra's entire body locked up and his mind seemed to blow a fuse. By the time it started back up, she had pulled away. Smiling she said, "Because I feel the same way about you, though at first you kinda just annoyed me or amused me."

"Oh that's nice;" said Ezra, getting a small modicum of his sense of humor back through the surprised haze of being kiss. "I'm glad you found me entertaining some-" but she silenced him with another kiss. Between kisses, she said, "Just shut up and kiss me, Bridger."

And he did, over and over again. They weren't sure exactly how long they stood in the forward battery, holding and kissing one another and they really didn't care. When they stopped, Sabine looked flushed and bit her lower lip before taking his hands. "Come on."

"Are we going to go eat?" asked Ezra hopefully.

Sabine laughed, "No, nerf brain, we aren't going to go eat. You're coming with me to my quarters."

"What?" said Ezra, looking totally baffled. "Why are we going to your quarters?"

Sabine gave him a patient look and didn't answer. She looked like she was waiting for something. Ezra frowned and though of every possible reason before it dawned on him and his face turned bright red. "Oh!" he said, and then it really dawned on him and he stopped dead. "WOAH! Hold, on Sabine. We just- and I mean- I don't want to take advantage or anything."

"Fine then;" she said with a laugh. "I'll take advantage. You can just enjoy."

"But- but-" but he had no real objections and he was nervous as hell.

It was pretty obvious to Sabine too. She had gotten used to Ezra's mannerisms by now so she moved in close, wrapped her arms around him and whispered, "Ezra, the girl you care about and who cares about you is depressed and needs comforting. What's more, she needs it the worst possible way and wants your help relieving it in the best possible way. Are you really going to say 'no' just because you're suddenly nervous?"

Before Ezra could answer either yes or no, she kissed him again, using her tongue to run along his lips. He tried to say something and she decided that him opening his mouth was the perfect time for her to depend the kiss. Ezra's eyes went wide again as her tongue went past his lip and caressed his. That seemed to be enough to get Ezra at least moving in the right direction. Even so, he had to make a few more protests, half-hearted and empty as they were. "But Sabine, we just committed to this. At least, I'm committed to you. Don't you think that this is going a little fast?"

Sabine smiled at him over her shoulder. "Why? Afraid I'm going to change my mind? I've already seen you naked, which I found very gratifying by the way and I know you liked seeing me naked. I'm not going to change my mind, Ezra - not after everything we've been through. Now stop struggling and come on. I want to see you naked again."

Finally, Ezra stopped fighting and they ran towards Sabine's quarters. When they rounded the corner into the quarter deck, they nearly ran smack into Galen and Juno. "Hey! Easy there, you two?" chuckled Galen, studying Ezra by his shoulders. "Where are you off to anyway in such a hurry?"

"Uuhhhh..." said Ezra, blushing fiercely.

"We're um..." Sabine was clearly struggling as well, her face just as red as Ezra's.

It took all of two seconds for Galen and Juno to pick up on what was going on. Their smiles faded and they looked at each other. "Okay now, wait one second. I think maybe you should talk to Hera and Kanan... separately."

Frustrated, Sabine glowered and said, "I am Mandalore of an entire race of people, dammit. I can do as I please."

"True;" said Juno, "but maybe you should go to the bridge and-" and she trailed off as both Ezra and Sabine glared at them.

Starkiller looked up and seemed to sigh with relief. "Thank the force. Kanan, you may want to come over here."

Ezra and Sabine turned around and there stood Kanan, one hand on the wall as he headed their way. "What's going on?"

"Well, uh-" and Galen fumbled for words before Juno leaned in and whispered to Kanan. The Jedi Knight's stubbly face suddenly became serious and he said, "Come with me, you two. We need to talk."

On the verge of groaning with frustration, Sabine and Ezra followed him with the look of prisoners going to be interrogated on their face. Behind them, they heard Galen whisper, "You know, I think they had a good idea."

Juno giggled and said, "Right. It is getting late. Let's go."

Kanan was talking into his comlink as they walked. "Kanan;" groaned Sabine, "why are you all making a big deal about this? We're both consenting adults and everything. No need to make a big deal about this."

"We aren't making a big deal about anything, Sabine;" chuckled Kanan. "We're just covering all our bases."

Hera came in, breathless and slightly flushed. "Alright;" she said, all business. "Ezra, you're coming with me. Sabine, you'll got into that lounge with Kanan. Move."

Ezra's had a frightened expression as he followed her into the conference room. "Sit;" she said, plopping down across from him.

The green skinned Twi'lek studied him carefully, a look of concentration on her motherly yet beautiful face. "So Ezra;" she said casually, "it's very clear that you and Sabine have become quite close in the last few years. But isn't this a bit of a sudden decision for you both? I mean, sex is a pretty major step and all."

Ezra was mortified to be talking about this with Hera. She was like his mother in so many ways and in was just so awkward to be talking about stuff like this with her. Refusing to meet her eyes, he muttered something to the effect of, "It's not that sudden or that big of a deal, is it?"

Hera reached over and forced him to meet her eyes. "Not for everyone, no. My people are a lot more promiscuous than you Humans are - well, for the most part anyway. Ezra, do you care about Sabine, and I mean as more than just a friend?"

"Yes, I do;" he said earnestly and insistently. "I care about her very much. I-" and he suddenly stiffened and closed his jaw with a snap.

Hera nodded slowly, leaning back in her seat. "See? There it is; you aren't ready to say that you love her, are you?"

Ezra looked away again and said, "I care very much for her. She means so much to me and I would never hurt her or just leave her."

"I know you wouldn't;" said Hera, patting his hand. "I just want you to be sure that this is best for both of you."

Ezra couldn't say with any surety that it was.

Kanan sat across from Sabine, who glared defiantly at him. "This is none of your-" she started but Kanan stopped her with an upraised hand.

"Easy, Sabine;" he said soothingly. "Take it easy. I'm not here to judge you or to try and convince you not to do this or even to say that you shouldn't. I just want you to be sure."

"I am;" she said firmly.

One of Kanan's brows lifted. "So when this is all over and you and Ezra wake up tomorrow, naked next to each other, how will you feel?"

The blunt question nearly made Sabine squirm with absolute discomfort. What's more, he continued, "Can you say for certain that you'll wake up and not feel at all uncomfortable or maybe even regretful?"

"Do you honestly think this is my first time?" she asked, just a little defensively.

"No;" said Kanan to her surprise, "but it will be Ezra's. You should be more conscious of that, too."

There was a long pause and Kanan sighed before saying, "Look, I understand that you're going through a rough time right now. You just want to forget your troubles and lose yourself in something, or even more preferably, someone. You care for Ezra. Anyone who knows the two of can see that. Even I can see that and I'm blind."

That managed to get Sabine to smile before she could master her expression. Kanan chuckled. "My point is, if you care that much about him, wait until you are both so certain that you are ready to make this step, ready to make this commitment before you just jump into it, alright?"

"It's not like we're getting married;" she said quietly.

"I know;" chuckle Kanan. "There was a time that it would be preferred that you were, especially on Lothol - and on Mandalore too."

Sabine nodded. The more she thought about it, the more frustrated she became because she knew that Kanan was right, as usual. Sighing and burying her head, she said, "I'll think about it, Kanan. That's not a no but I will think about it."

"Good; that's all I ask."

They both stood and headed back to where they had all split up. Ezra was so red, it looked like the twin suns of Tatooine had burned. It made Sabine giggle, despite her embarrassment. Winking at each other, Hera and Kanan walked off and the former could be heard murmuring, "They did have a good idea though."

"What is it with people and not whispering quietly enough?" demanded Sabine loudly.

The two didn't turn around but they did quicken their step towards the crew quarter deck. Ezra and Sabine looked at each other and Ezra said, "Listen, Sabine, I care a great deal about you. You mean so much to me and so does our relationship. That's why I think we should be taking this just a hair more slowly. Back on Lothol, it's considered rather scandalous to sleep together on the first date and you and I, we haven't even really been on any dates."

Sabine smiled and said, "Well then, let's start with that. Want to go on a date? We missed dinner and I know you're hungry. Why don't we go see if there's anything left in the mess and spend time together?"

Ezra nodded and offered his arm. "I'd like that. Let's go."

Recently I was told I should add more author's notes so here I go. In truth, this chapter was going to have a good section of lemony goodness but then I decided to wait. Even though it would most likely be right up Ezra and Sabine's alley to jump right into bed together, I really felt like Kanan and Hera would have a lot to say so there you go. Hope everyone enjoyed. Please read and review and request via PM.