Hey, Everyone. Hope you like the Chapter.
Attolon Base-training field
Now the members of Phoenix Squadron were mostly Naval forces. Dealing with either starfighter or cruiser warfare. But they did have a little area where they could practice being a boarding party and face off against other members of the squadron to try and get better. It was made into a bit of competition, with the members of the Ghost crew almost always taking the top spot. Now Jun Sato wanted to test the effectiveness of the two Starkillers.
The training module was nothing more than about a dozen shipping containers that were mocked up on the inside to resemble the hallways of an Imperial star destroyer. And to test Ezra and Galen, Sato wanted to see them perform individually against the Ghost crew defending. It was in the same vein as capture the flag, on the back wall would be a button you pushed if you were able to get through. Then the officers could go over everything and decide different strategies for boarding parties and for fending off the empire's boarding parties.
"Okay, so I think I understand the concept. And I assume that my lightsaber needs to be set to its training setting. But what about force powers? How far can I go?" Ezra asked as everything was being set up.
"Well, obviously we don't want you to do anyone any permanent damage. But you can use force pushes/shoves, grips, and in you and your brother's case, force lightning. Just be careful about the lightning. Last time I faced a force user with it, I nearly passed out after just a few seconds. So just go for a simple static shock, don't go to harm. Understand?" Kanan answered as the two walked around the inside so Ezra could get a feeling for the module. It wasn't that special, just six lined up with the other six acting as branching hallways, but each one had differing levels of debris. Thus could always provide an accurate representation of what one could expect to see if they were boarding a disabled ship.
Ducking under some mocked up cables Ezra turned the corner to find his brother, Juno, and the rest of the Ghost crew talking. It was decided that since Hera was the highest ranking member of the rebellion, she would observe and then give them any pointers she could think of. Whereas Galen would watch Ezra then vice versa.
"Bereit Bruder?" (Ready brother?) Galen asked as he saw the two approaching, nodding to Kanan in the process. While the two weren't drinking buddies, they had a better view of the other since their talk on the way to Pantora. Juno, already starting to show signs of her pregnancy was starting to slow down. Though she fought like hell to help out wherever, usually running scouting missions with the Rogue Shadow, using its stealth ability to gather intelligence discreetly and right under the Imperials noses. Though after the morning sickness set in she started to fatigue. But it never seemed to deter her from trying. Zeb was watching as Ezra nodded in acknowledgment of his brother before sitting down by Sabine. She leaned her head against his shoulder and smiled before she whispered in his ear, "So, you gonna go easy on me?" she teased.
"I don't know. I wouldn't want the other guys around the base to know that I got my ass kicked by my, my. Uhh, what are we again?" Ezra asked the last part came out as an embarrassing question.
"Well, I don't like labels. But if you force me to give one I would say that I am your girlfriend, and you are my boyfriend." Sabine said after rolling her eyes and smacking him with her hand.
"Girlfriend, never had one of those before," Ezra said to no one in particular as he watched Sabine interlock her fingers with her. Zeb narrowed his eyes as he saw them interact. He still wasn't sure, and the whole development with Sabine went too fast in his opinion. But he saw that Sabine looked happy around him and figured that it would be okay. Just so long as Ezra didn't hurt her, everything would be fine. During this time Commander Sato came up and addressed everyone.
"Okay, I am glad that everyone is here. I wish to run several simulations to test both Ezra and Galen. First Ezra will go by himself, with Galen watching and the Ghost crew defending. Then they will switch, then they will run the course together. After that, we will finish up with Ezra and Galen defending against the Ghost crew. Everyone understand?" Sato said, before turning to Hera, "Captain Syndulla, I wish for you to be up on the observation deck with the Starkiller that isn't running the course so you can determine where your crew can improve."
"Sure thing Commander," Hera saluted before turning to her team, "Okay guys, just like always. Watch your fields of fire and try to make sure that you keep them at a distance. Cover Kanan and Zeb, Sabine. They will use their melee weapons if they get too close. Set up your usual traps and whatnot. But you only have five minutes to do so, Starting now." And with that Hera turned sharply and followed Commander Sato and Galen out. As Ezra went to the beginning of the course and prepared himself for the signal. He hated that he wasn't granted time to go through his saber ritual, but it wouldn't matter for now. Kneeling down, he figured that this would be an excellent opportunity to practice a force technique that Galen and he had been working on.
Calling on the Force and using all his concentration, Ezra began bending light waves around himself, effectively making himself invisible, after three minutes he was able to complete it but was nearly exhausted. Pushing through he started trying to hide his force signature, so Kanan wouldn't be able to detect him. However, he was only able to partially do it, as he heard the countdown for the beginning of the run through.
"Ready, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Begin." Sato barked over the intercom, signaling the start. Ezra rose up and walked through the mocked up airlock. As he took his first step, he had to dodge a barrage of blaster fire immediately. Only for it to cut off, and hearing confused calls from the Ghost crew.
"Hey Ezra, the exercise has begun!" Sabine called out in confusion, giving away her position. Apparently, his invisibility technique was working, for now. The hallway was roughly one hundred yards long with a mix of debris and crates lined up at varying intervals the entire way down. He started to look out for any traps set by the crew members. Seeing a paint grenade put up at ankle height four feet in front of him with a trip laser, meant to take out anyone who wasn't careful. Coming up on the first 'hallway' Ezra saw Sabine crouched down, right where he predicted she would be. Stealthily sneaking past her, Ezra moved on toward the one-quarter mark. And saw Zeb standing behind some crates that were stacked up and acted as a form of cover. As he went to move past him, he was warned by the force mere milliseconds before Kanan's stun shot hit him in the chest. Dodging out of the way and letting the shot hit behind him. Figuring Kanan was able to sense him Ezra dropped the stealth act and launched a series of punches right into Zeb's side, not before spinning him around and having him absorb two more shots from Kanan's blaster. As the Lasat fell unconscious from the blasts, Ezra leaped at Kanan who was ready and drew his lightsaber. Ezra thought about drawing his sabers, before smiling and maybe showing off to Sabine a little. Reached out with a force grip but was unable to penetrate Kanan's force wall.
As he was doing this Sabine had joined the fight. Firing a few shots from her pistols. Only for Ezra to dodge out of the way and force Kanan to deflect them into the opposite wall. While Kanan was distracted, Ezra used the opening to leap off the wall and connect his elbow against the Jedi's jaw causing him to stumble back a few steps before he was hit with a blast of force lightning. Not robust enough to cause any damage but enough to knock him out. Ezra let a single grin leak out, now all that remained was Sabine, but she was on the opposite side of him. Allowing Ezra a straight sixty-five yard shot towards the button to end the run through.
Sabine then ducked down and launched a mock rocket, filled with paint again instead of explosives, at Ezra. Only for him to catch the rocket with some difficulty between his hands with the force and redirect it straight back at Sabine who was too surprised to even move out of the way. And thus got herself splattered with paint.
"Really? I just got done painting this armour!" Sabine said in mock anger.
"I know, now it is a whole new colour." Ezra teased as he strode to the end of the hallway. Only to have a massive paint explosion to go off and coat him in three separate colours of bright paint. Sabine saw him stiffen, then slowly turn and she couldn't help it. It started out as a small cough, then transformed into a giggle, then finally she fell to the ground roaring in laughter. Ezra stood stock still, blinking away the paint before he walked over to Sabine and wiped a big glob off of his face, then streaked it right on her helmet. Causing Sabine to stop laughing and take off her helmet,
"Oh, so that's how you wanna play huh?" Sabine said as she pulled out another paint bomb and lobbed it at Ezra. Who ducked, and for it to miss and hit Kanan, who was just getting up from being knocked out earlier. They all froze when they heard the sound of laughter. Looking over it was Hera and Galen, with a happy looking Commander Sato.
In the control room during the exercise
Sato watched as slowly Ezra started to disappear from the visible eye. Turning to Galen, Sato asked, "What just happened? Is he messing with our camera's?"
"No, he just managed to get a force technique right that we have been working on for several months. He can bend light around himself, thus making himself practically invisible to the naked eye. And due to his diminished force signature, he is currently trying to hide that as well. Probably due to Kanan." Galen noted as he watched with interest. Galen was no master of the ability but was able to sustain it for much longer than Ezra. But he had never thought about hiding his force signature.
As this was going on Ezra jumped and hit Zeb with several quick jabs before whipping him around and using his body to absorb the stun shots from Kanan's blaster. Hera gasped as Ezra was able to take down their strongest physically in a matter of seconds. Looking down she made a few notes on her datapad before moving her eyes just to see Kanan get Ezra's elbow to his jaw as he stumbled back. Then got blasted by a burst of force lightning and crumpled to the ground unconscious like Zeb. It was amazing to her, they had faced off against the Grand Inquisitor before, but never had her team been so dominated like this before. She watched as Sabine fired the rocket from her wrist only for it to be turned one hundred and eighty degrees and right back at her. Hitting Sabine before she could move and splatter her with paint. She saw Ezra say something, but she didn't hear any of it. It was an abject failure; her team was not capable of handling a top tier force user. Even with a trained Jedi Knight on it. As she was mulling this over, she felt Galen tap her on the shoulder.
"Don't be so hard on them, this exercise plays right into our hands, we were trained to take on numerically superior opponents and come out on top. To put it simply. We fight dirty to win." Galen told her as she watched from her periphery as Ezra strode down the hall. And then saw him get pelted with a paint bomb trap that Sabine had put out for him. Galen started to chuckle along with Sato and Hera. Then they saw Ezra streak paint on Sabine's helmet.
"Oh no, Ezra is going to get it now," Hera said as she watched Sabine grab a paint bomb from one of her pouches and lob it at Ezra. Who ducked and let it hit Kanan. This caused Hera to break down into outright fits of laughter as she watched her husband turn purple from the paint.
"Let's go down there before they make too much of a mess," Hera said through her laughter, striding out of the command center. Galen walked over to a rack that had fresh towels just for this sort of thing. Before following the Twi'lek captain out and followed by Commander Sato.
When they entered the room they all saw Kanan coming to terms with his new paint scheme, Galen could feel his annoyance through the Force as the Jedi moved to take off his paint covered mask to try and wipe his face off, only for more paint to dribble down to his eyes. Seeing this Hera took one of the towels from Galen and walked up to her husband and started to clean off his face and neck despite his obvious annoyance.
"Just hold still, and let me get this off before it dries," Hera scolded only for Kanan to continue squirming. After she had got the majority of it, she let him have the towel to try to clean off his shirt. Kanan was a little upset that he was covered in paint, but mostly he was upset at himself, he didn't sense Ezra until too late, and he managed to take out their muscle and thus to allow Ezra to overpower him without much regarding backup. Sure Sabine helped, but she was more marksman, and he didn't know how she would fare in a true one on one fight against a Sith who wanted to harm her. And that is what made Kanan furious; he should be better than this. Being a Jedi Knight wasn't enough anymore if they wanted to take on the likes of Vader, and remembering back to what Galen said, there will come a time when Galen isn't around. Meaning Kanan needed to at least be on par with the brothers before that time came.
While Kanan was having his private pity party, Zeb started to come too. When he woke up, he noticed that his ribs hurt like hell and that he had burning sensations on his chest where he was shot.
"What the hell happened?" Zeb mumbled as he was helped up by Ezra.
"Ezra happened, the kid used a force technique that I have never seen used correctly before." Kanan said as he balled up the towel and walked back towards the hamper that a lieutenant had brought in for the dirty towels, "It fooled us for a bit and then when I sensed where he was he hit you a few times before twirling you around, right into my shots I fired." He finished as he turned towards Zeb, he figured that since he shot his teammate, he at least deserved the ridicule that comes with being covered in paint.
Seeing the paint spattered members of the exercise, the Lasat started to guffaw at them. Mostly amused at the different pinks and oranges that Ezra was covered with due to the paint bomb Sabine had set up to get him. Since Ezra had taken out all of the defenders, he won by default, even though he didn't take the objective, something that he was talking to Galen.
"Ich hätte wissen müssen, dass der Flur mehr als nur der erste war." (I should have known that the hallway was boobytrapped more than just that first one.) Ezra spat out in frustration, why didn't he think of that?
"Es ist okay Bruder, du hast sie alle ohne die Hilfe deiner Säbel genommen. Das ist eine ziemlich beeindruckende Leistung. Und du hast es geschafft, die Unsichtbarkeit ziemlich gut mit dem Verstecken deiner Kraftunterschrift zu bekommen." (It's okay brother, you took them all down without the aid of your sabers. That is a pretty impressive feat. And you managed to get the invisibility down pretty good along with hiding your force signature.) Galen encouraged, not wanting him to forget about his achievements. "Außerdem denke ich, du hast deine Freundin beeindruckt." (Besides, I think you impressed your girlfriend.) Galen teased as he went over to the starting room so he could do his runthrough.
The remaining run throughs went pretty much the same as the one that Ezra did at the start. Each and every time the Ghost crew was outsmarted and thoroughly manhandled by the brothers. On their turn defending Ezra was even able to catch a punch by Zeb, granted through lots of force enhancement and concentration, but with the Lasat being the last one standing it didn't matter at that point. By the end, the fighters from the Ghost crew were completely demoralized by their failure. Even Hera, who was usually the one that could lift their spirits when they were down couldn't raise the morale as they all went to hit the showers.
Once completed Ezra tried to catch up with Sabine only for her to blow him off and say that she wanted to finish up painting the mural that Ezra had seen. Sensing something was wrong Ezra tried to follow her and ask what was wrong.
"Sabine, what did I do? Why are you so mad?" Ezra questioned, hoping he didn't ruin what he had with the gorgeous Mando before it got off the ground.
"It's nothing Ezra, trust me. I just want to go finish my mural." Sabine said hotly as she started to try and walk faster. Only to have Ezra keep pace.
"Bullshit. I sense that you are upset with me. Why? And how can I fix it?" Ezra asked, hoping that she wasn't going to break up with him just because he had beaten her team in a mocked up training exercise.
"Stop trying to read my mind!" Sabine nearly shouted at him, "Like I said, I just want to go finish my painting!" And with that Sabine walked up the ramp of the Ghost leaving Ezra standing there with a look of pure shock on his face. He wasn't sure what he did, or how he could make the situation better. Disheartened he remembered the original mission he was on before he ran into Sabine asking him about the Pantoran.
Not wanting to have that can of worms be opened now that Sabine was mad at him. Ezra walked over towards the Shadow to see if he could talk to Juno. She was the one that the Starkillers went to whenever they had a situation that they couldn't solve themselves. Usually, her experience dealing with other people diplomatically was better than the two assassins. So this meant that when they needed someone, they could ask about the many intricacies of human interaction they went to Juno.
Walking onboard he probed outwards. Only to find the ship empty, which was odd. Typically Juno was performing some maintenance on the ship during this part of the day. However, the blonde pilot was nowhere, probing outwards it suddenly hit him. She was probably at the med-station getting a regular check-up done. Ever since the first ultrasound, she and Galen had been spending a lot of time trying to get ready for the baby. Ezra's mood was lightened by the thought of his new nephew. Still only a month pregnant Ezra still had some time to wait before he could meet the child in the flesh but he could still sense things about him, like his temperament and force connection, but not much else.
Going towards the med-center Ezra kept probing outwards, his mood had shifted back into less dreary one, but not truly a happy one. Entering the med-center Ezra noticed that Hera was sitting in the waiting room reading a holo-pad while quietly humming to herself. Glancing up and seeing Ezra, Hera smiled and motioned for him to sit beside her.
"Ezra, I'm happy to see you. How are you feeling?" Hera asked, her calm force signature helping Ezra with his nerves.
"I'm fine, just came to see Juno. Is she with the doctor now?" Ezra asked, causing Hera to frown.
"There's no need to lie to me, Ezra. I can see that something is bothering you." She stated as she set the holo-pad down on the chair beside her.
"I don't want to talk about it." Ezra moped, hoping the Twi'lek would drop the subject. But to no avail.
"Why not? Maybe I can help you." Hera prodded, hoping to get the young man who her surrogate daughter had attached herself too, to open up. And it seemed like it was starting to work, as Ezra sighed and then closed his eyes.
"I-I don't want to go into specifics. But I think I might have done something to upset Sabine. And I don't know what to do to fix it." Ezra said looking down, he could feel the motherly protectiveness flare up in Hera, before she shoved it down and went back to the task at hand, "And this is why you wanted to see Juno? Why?" Hera asked
"I don't know, Juno is the one who was always better at the whole interacting with others thing," Ezra answered truthfully, growing up under Vader had certainly hindered his people skills, although he was a little better than his brother.
"Hmmm. I can guess a few reasons why she would be a little upset right now. Most of her anger is probably frustration, and also due to you and your brother showing off in training." Hera spoke, trying to gauge how he would react to the perspective.
"I guess, but wouldn't that just warrant a rebuke or something like that? Why would she stay angry at me?" Ezra questioned further.
"Probably for the same reason Kanan was upset after the training. And to put it simply, you guys opened the crew's eyes to what it would be like to fight an actual sith lord like Vader. You two dominated out there and were able to put down everything they tried. Now, Kanan is a bit more constructive with his frustration and is going to train some more with your brother, at least that is what he said. But Sabine is different; her people don't take a loss well. Much less loss to a force user. So she feels upset because she feels like a failure in her culture, Mandalorians are famed for being able to handle force users, and you two showed her that she isn't at that level yet." Hera stated, before stopping and allowing Ezra to absorb what she had just said.
"So she is upset that I can beat her in a training exercise?" Ezra asked hoping he got the point of Hera's explanation right.
"Yeah, and unfortunately the only thing you can do to try and fix it would be to give her some space and time for right now. She will approach you when she is ready." Hera cooed, as she said this Ezra saw Juno walk out of the doctor's office with Galen in tow before she went to the front counter to schedule her next appointment.
"And one more thing that might help is if you tell her about how you were able to beat her, don't lie about it either. Because that will only make her more upset. Just tell her the truth." Hera finished off before turning to greet the expecting couple.
Mulling over what Hera had stated Ezra figured it would be best to meditate on everything before making a decision that huge and talk it over with Galen, despite his brother already telling the Jedi about their pasts. This did irritate Ezra a bit, but he understood why Galen did it.
Getting up from his seat Ezra walked over to his brother and Juno. They seemed so happy together. Ezra hoped that someday that he would have this level of happiness with someone that Galen had with Juno.
"So, what did the doctor say?" Ezra asked Juno.
"Oh, more of the same. Telling me that I need to slow down, and make sure I am taking the vitamins that she gave me." Juno replied as she walked out of the office with the others in tow behind her.
"Sie mag es nicht, dass sie nicht in der Lage sein wird, unsere Unterstützung in den folgenden Kampagnen zu sein." (She doesn't like that she won't be able to be our air support in the following campaigns.) Galen explained to Ezra, who merely nodded before going out to find a place to meditate on what Hera had told him, along with deciding if he could tell Sabine about his past.
"Ezra, Kanan asked me if I could help him with his lightsaber work after Juno's appointment. Do you want to come with?" Galen called out to Ezra. Sighing Ezra knew that he needed to improve his lightsaber combat. Kanan had nearly bested him on one of the training exercises. But luckily Ezra figured out what form Kanan used, and was able to overpower him with a flurry of Juyo strikes.
"Sure, why not," Ezra said as he turned to Hera and Juno, "If Sabine asks can you tell her where I am?"
"Sure thing Ezra, I am going to talk to her right now," Hera said as she broke off from the group to go get some maintenance done on the Ghost.
Ezra walked over to the area where the two brothers practiced with their sabers on a daily basis. Galen, Kanan, and Proxy were already there waiting for him to arrive for the training.
"So anything you want to work on in particular?" Galen asked Kanan once Ezra was there.
"Well not really. I just want a general improvement. I was able to handle the last Grand Inquisitor with some degree of difficulty. But compared to you two, my best just won't cut it." Kanan admitted, looking a little embarrassed at the revelation.
"Hey don't worry, we can spar with you, and Proxy is almost always available. I will just have to adjust his initial programming," Galen trailed off as he started to make a few adjustments to the programming of the holo-droid.
"Why is that?" Kanan asked as Galen finished putting control panel back on Proxy.
"Oh, Proxy's original programming calls for him to try and ambush and kill us," Ezra said as he watched Proxy come back to life from being shut down.
"Really, and how good was this programming?" Kanan said as he started to feel his nerves start to get the better of him.
"Pretty good, just not good enough. Ezra and I have been saved many times by the valuable training experience that Proxy has given us." Galen finished as Proxy's last bootup finished.
"What exactly did you change master?" Proxy asked, reaching up and clutching his head. "Oh no! It appears that I have had my primary programming deleted. How will I ever be of use to you two again?" Proxy stated as he tried to search for the code that told him what it was. But it appeared to have been deleted.
"Oh don't be such a drama queen Proxy. You are always useful to us." Galen playfully scolded, "Now Kanan wants to spar against your Qui-Gon Jinn Program. Do you think you can do that?"
"Of course master." Proxy said as he reached into his compartment that held the training sabers he utilized. Before booting up the program and taking on the visage of the late Jedi Master.
While Kanan sparred against the form, four master Galen and Ezra moved off little ways so they could truly let loose with their force powers for sparring practice. Reaching a flat area twenty yards away the two brothers started to circle each other. Galen charged out first attacking at Ezra with a flurry of strikes and thrusts. Only for Ezra to dodge out of the way and to try and use force based attacks against Galen. Throwing rocks and plants at his brother, before conjuring up a massive dust cloud to disguise himself. Only for Galen to blast the dust right back at Ezra forcing him on the defensive.
As they were doing this, a crowd started to gather and watch the two and watch Kanan's spar against the holo-droid. It was kind of amazing to see, Kanan was doing pretty good against Proxy and was even gaining some ground against him. But the larger crowd was watching the two brothers. Who although didn't have many friends within the rebellion, outside the Ghost crew, were never seen practicing with their sabers and sparring where everyone could see. That didn't mean they didn't feel or hear them though since they were the only ones aside from Kanan who could walk beyond the outer fence without much fear.
During the duel it was interesting to see them fight, the crowd especially liked the displays of force lightning and the throwing of massive boulders. To the two brothers credit, they knew there was a crowd gathered, but weren't actively trying to show off. Taking what Hera told him to heart, Ezra decided just to spar and not be an arrogant ass about his skills. This, unfortunately, led to him being super-focused on what he was doing and not actively trying to form a game plan. So Galen was able to grab him in a force grip and slam him against the ground. After this, it became apparent to them that they had gathered a crowd.
"Wow, the Commander wasn't kidding when he said you guys are powerful," One of the pilots in the crowd shouted.
"Yeah, there ain't no way the empire can stand up to the rebellion with these two leading us!" another shouted, causing a bit of rabble to form until they were silenced by Hera, who came up to check on the brothers and Kanan. Seeing the crowd, she hoped there wasn't a problem. But just found them awestruck by the way the two sparred. Looking over she saw that while Ezra did display some discomfort, he was putting on a brave face and even smiling a little for the crowd while Galen seemed completely out of his element when dealing with the group, still tried to lighten up.
"I think that is enough spectating and training." Hera called out, causing many groans of frustration, "If you all have free time then might I suggest cleaning the carbon scoring off of the A-wings." Hera said as she turned and walked over to Kanan who was just finishing his spar with Proxy. Coming out on top, just by a tiny margin, while the crowd dispersed to go and try to look busy so as not to be assigned to the difficult job of cleaning the carbon build up off of the many ships in the Phoenix squadron.
As this was happening Ezra sensed Sabine coming through the crowd, turning back to his brother, Ezra made his decision about telling Sabine in that very moment and figured it would be best for her to know before they got any more involved.
"Ich werde es ihr erzählen." (I am going to tell her.) Ezra said, causing Galen to get a look of confusion on his face before he saw Sabine and all the pieces clicked into place. Sighing Galen just nodded before saying, "Alles was ich sagen kann ist vorsichtig." (All I can say is be careful.) Looking at his brother, Ezra knew that it was difficult for him to allow it. But since he had told the Jedi he was letting Sabine know.
Sabine approached the brothers. Wearing a simple garb of jean shorts and a t-shirt, she wrapped her arms around herself.
"Ezra, can I talk to you for a moment?" Sabine said as she came upon the two.
"Yeah, sure. Just one sec." Ezra said as he turned to Galen, "Do you want to spar some more afterward?"
"No, I need to go make some food for Juno and myself here in a little bit," Galen said, turning around and waving goodbye before walking back towards the base and the Shadow.
Sensing Sabine's impatience Ezra turned around and looked her over. Sabine had lots of paint splatters on the jean shorts and her t-shirt along with some on her flight boots she wore out towards the sparring area.
"What do you want to talk about Sabine?" Ezra asked, hoping that she wasn't still mad at him. It had been roughly two hours since Ezra saw Sabine and he didn't want her mad at him again.
"I just wanted to say, sorry about how upset I was earlier. I shouldn't have let my frustrations get the better of me." She said as she looked at the ground embarrassed.
"It's fine; I talked with Hera about it. And I think that I deserve some of the blame, I was kind of showing off." Ezra sheepishly said, looking at her and trying to judge the reaction.
"Yeah, she talked to me also. Said you were pretty distraught, I didn't mean to do that. I was just a little ashamed is all." Sabine answered looking at the ground, "I don't have much to hold onto regarding where I come from. So hanging on to the fact that I could handle top level force users like my ancestors before me was all I had left. But you and your brother kinda gave me a wake-up call. So, sorry about being mad."
"It's fine Sabine, and I-I, I want to talk to you also. About, my, past. And why I am so good with my powers. And I want to do it before we go on a date. That way if you don't like what you hear, you can call it off." Ezra said, his voice quivering a little at the end. He didn't want to lose what he had with Sabine. But he remembered the old saying, 'the truth will set you free.' At least that is what he hoped.
"Are you sure? You and Galen seem pretty tight lipped about it. I've even heard Kanan and Hera arguing about it. She doesn't like that Kanan is keeping it secret from her." Sabine asked, really honoured that he would be willing to divulge that kind of information with her.
"Yeah, I'm sure. All that I ask is that you don't go around telling everyone about it. I did a lot of things that I am not proud of. So please understand what I am trusting you with." Ezra told her, looking her straight in the eye. As he caught her gaze, he probed outward with force trying to get a feel for how this would go.
Ezra started to look around before settling on an outcropping of rocks that overlooked the canyon below the base. The Sun was just beginning to set, and the view was gorgeous. As they sat down on the ground, Ezra took a deep breath before looking at Sabine before gazing off at the view.
"When I was a kid I lived with my parents in Lothal city. I was pretty happy, I think. My memories are pretty fuzzy regarding that time in my life. I can't even remember what they look like, nor do I know if they are still alive, I was seven when they were taken. It is one of the few times that I remember as if it had just happened. I was down in the area where they did illegal broadcasts against the empire. Then I remember a loud noise. A scream, and then lots of footsteps. There was a secret exit that my parents had shown me that would give me access to the sewers. I ran to an old comm tower at the outskirts of the city that my parents told me to go too if we were ever found by the Empire and that they would come get me when they could." As Ezra said this, his voice broke before he tried to disguise it as a cough. Sabine just scooted closer and laid her hand on his. As she did this Ezra continued, "I stayed there for five days before I had to venture out into the city for supplies. I was able to pick up pick-pocketing relatively fast, helped me scrape by. About six months after the raid that was performed I snuck back towards the house. What I saw inside was horrifying, blaster marks on all the walls. The furniture turned over, and the basement had had a firebomb thrown down into it. It was at that moment I realized my parents weren't coming back. So I set off and lived off the streets, scrounging for food, stealing what I needed. I spent many nights outside restaurants waiting for them to throw out their unused food so that I could eat. After around six months of that, I celebrated my eighth birthday with a piece of moldy cake and some stagnant water from a storm drain. Then three days later I saw an imperial shuttle set down in an abandoned part of town. I followed it to its location when I saw Galen for the first time; I was completely weirded out by him. He was wearing dark robes despite it being the hottest time of the year. I watched him go into the imperial academy on Lothal. At the time I didn't realize it, but I felt something wrong happen in there. Galen doesn't remember much about it. All he said is that there was an officer in there who was thinking about defecting from the Empire. I took the time to sneak down and see if I could pick-pocket the Imperial in charge of watching his ship. Only I didn't realize that he was already finished in the academy and he saw me. He chased me through the streets before he cornered me in an alleyway. I remember being so scared, seeing his crimson blade lowered to my chest. But he suddenly just told me that he could help me get justice for whoever made me live on the streets. When I said that the Imperials took my parents and that is why I was on the streets. He said that his master would make sure that the Imperials were brought to justice and that all I had to do was go with him, or die. It was my choice. So I followed him, and that is how my journey began as a Sith apprentice to Darth Vader." Ezra said the last part in a hushed whisper while keeping his eyes shut. He could feel Sabine's shock through the force, but instead of being angry at him, she only felt sympathy and horror at what he must have gone through. Ezra took a few breaths before he opened his eyes and saw Sabine's wet eyes staring back at him.
"I didn't know, that must have been horrible to go through," Sabine said as she tightened her grip on his hand.
"I am only getting started," Ezra stated in a hoarse whisper, before continuing, "I spent the next two years being molded into a fierce warrior. Galen and I would spar with Proxy, each other, or Vader almost constantly. Sometimes Vader would break our bones and then make us fight him individually. He said it was a way for us to connect with the dark side easier."
"Why is that?" Sabine asked, not liking that she was interrupting, but she was curious.
"The dark side is fueled by dark emotions, so if you want more power, you feel more anger. One way to get angry is to feel pain. While physical pain works in a tight situation, emotional pain works the best. It's why I struggled with the dark side for so long." Ezra admitted, before continuing with his tale, "By the time I turned ten I had performed my first execution, when I turned eleven I performed my first assassination. And when I turned twelve, I-I conducted the massacre of Pantora." Ezra's voice broke at the last part as tears started to stream down his face, the memories that he had buried deep within himself were starting to resurface. Faces, noises, smells. All as if it happened at that moment, but he was surprised when he felt Sabine pulling his body to hers as she wrapped him up in a hug. Holding him close as he let the tears out. After several minutes of comfort, Ezra pulled back, trying his best to recompose himself.
"So that's how you know the Pantoran? Because you're the one who killed all those Pantorans?" Sabine said after giving Ezra a moment.
Ezra shook his head, "No, I didn't know it at the time. But her family was there. Her sister, brother-in-law and, her niece." Ezra took out the plushie doll he kept in a pouch that was on his belt. "This belonged to her, I killed her and didn't even care. I took this as a trophy as an achievement. Now it only serves as a reminder of what I was."
"Ezra, you're not that person anymore. Trust me, would a Sith go out of their way to save a group of random strangers? Or save a group of rebels that had helped them in the past? What about rescuing a near death Pantoran? You are no longer the person you were. Trust me." Sabine said with a smile, as she pulled his hand to hers, before continuing, "But you are going to go tell that Pantoran the truth. And no matter what happens you always have me, your brother, Juno, And Kanan. Heck, go ahead and add the other members of the Ghost crew. We're all here for you."
"So, you still want to be with me? Even after what I told you?" Ezra asked, with just a touch of hope in his voice.
"Yeah, you're stuck with me." Sabine grinned, before getting to her feet and offering Ezra a hand up, "Now, you need to go pack. Before we leave you better let the Pantoran know the truth."
"Okay, I will." Ezra smiled back before walking with Sabine back towards the Shadow to grab his clothes and a few supplies.
So this looks like a good place to end. Sorry that I didn't get to the date part of the story. Though I will be working on it as you read this. Hope you enjoy the chapter and good luck on your finals if you have them.
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