Title Means: Searching Through The Rubble
I'm not going to say much here. Just that this story did way better than I expected at first, especially considering that I nearly abandoned this story. Thank you guys. Also, it is 1:12 when I'm posting this, which means I have been writing for about five hours now.
To DarthQuill917: Told ya I'd get this out quickly.
To PetaZedrok: Thanks for pointing out my mistake so kindly.
To Dshuh97: Again, thanks for pointing out my mistake kindly.
To Spectre6: Man found.
To MaybeImARebel: You are reading this exactly fifteen minutes after it's posted, I'm guessing.
I think Thrawn had managed to crash in the messiest way possible.
I could tell that the Destroyer was up ahead just by the increasing amount of debris. Durasteel plating was strewn across the fields, and on the way I had seen several unremarkable chunks of metal that were floating in the ocean. I thought they were TIE Fighters, and Ahsoka thought they were just burnt bits of Chimera. We never found out what they were.
The actual ISD had basically buried itself in dirt and water. As it had fallen, it cleaved a path through an island, and the back of the ship was still sticking up out of the water. I didn't see the bridge on the ship, because it was about a mile away from the ship. It was cracked open like a egg. Anyone in there had been guaranteed a very, very painful death as the ship fell. Those Purrgil were not kind to the ship.
Not that I was sad about them. They could burn for all I cared, those Imperial dar'manda. They had ruined my entire life, ripping me away from my family. Although, considering the fact that they had inadvertently given me Ezra, maybe they weren't all bad? I felt dirty just considering that, but it was still a valid question. Were they all bad? The Emperor was, as was Darth Vader, but, what about the average Stormtrooper? Most of Lothal's defense was now made up of disillusioned bucket-heads. TIE Pilots flew either remodeled Defenders or X-Wings, and crashes were unheard of.
A black-clad male guided us down onto a landing spot, near a large encampment. They had on search-and-rescue gear, which is how I was able to figure out that they were our guide down to the crashed Destroyer.
"Welcome," the SaR guy said. "I will be your guide to the Star Destroyer. My name is Bakiel."
He had quite the accent. Sounded… maybe Correllian? I didn't know for sure, but he was quite the cute person. Not that I was interested in him. I guess some might think he was a good match, but not me. I had a far more handsome guy, he was just…. Misplaced.
"Thank you," Ahsoka responded, nodding her head. "May we begin?"
"Of course."
Bakiel turned towards the cliff, motioning to a small locker within a tent. It had climbing gear inside. "We will need to rappel down. I'm assuming that you two know how to rappel?"
I nodded, as did Ahsoka. Normally, I have an excellent head for heights, but for some reason rappelling was scary to me. Probably because of a bad experience when I was about five, when I slipped because of my belayer accidentally letting go, when he had assumed that I had a solid grip on the top of the wall. (Spoiler: I didn't. The fall was very painful, and the fact that I broke my leg didn't help matters.)
The vests were very, very complicated to work with. I had five different straps to try and fit. Honestly, my jetpack would probably have been simpler. Eventually, I did get the straps to work, though, and I hooked into the rapel clip and stepped off the cliff, trusting my life to a little bungee rope and a few durasteel clips. Slowly, I descended, spinning all the way around the entire time. Slightly terrifying, as a matter of fact. I kept my hands on the cliff face the entire time, which ended up possibly saving my life.
Halfway down, the bungee cord snapped.
I felt the decrease in tension immediately, and because of my training, I grabbed onto the wall immediately. The rough stone cut my hands, but I didn't feel it. Too much terror coursing through my veins. The memory of my broken leg flashed into my mind, and I could feel it: the pain, the terror, the… blankness.
My training reasserted itself. It spoke inside my mind. Sabine, you are trained for eventualities just as this. Get your legs onto the wall and free-climb down. You did it before, do it again.
I swung my legs onto the wall and looked down. About fifty feet of stone, then I was at the bottom. Several crags that cut into the wall would make good hand and footholds, but they might be slippery. I charted out my path carefully, then began to move. Tentatively at first, but I dropped down the wall with increasing speed. Forty feet now. Thirty feet. I was right: the crags were slippery with water, which had smoothed the stone. Carefully, I swung myself around them, and kept climbing down. The drop was now only about ten feet. I let go of the rock and dropped, rolling once I hit the ground.
A little old lady looked at me quizzically. "You know, young one, there's an elevator just over there."
I looked back up the cliff. Ahsoka was also halfway down, and her cord had just snapped too. I was torn between laughing at my brashness and getting angry at Bakiel for kriffing me over like that. The whole climb-down ritual was probably just that: a ritual. A rite of passage so we could get into the Star Destroyer.
Ahsoka dropped to the ground lightly. "That cord snap was intentional, wasn't it?"
"Probably," I answered, kneeling. Damn, that Destroyer was kriffed up. Big, too. It would take a while to find Ezra inside of that chaos.
"This is the Destroyer," Bakiel said flatly. Thanks, alor'ad obvious. (Captain Obvious for all you non-Mandalorians.) I looked at him murderously.
"And you made us climb why?" I asked, pointing to the lift.
"To prove that you would be able to handle the insides of the ship. It is chaos in there."
I walk up in full Mandalorian armor, painted vibrantly, ask to see the Destroyer, giving a Rebel ID as Sabine Wren, and they still think that I won't be able to handle it. Give me a break.
"Right," I drawled. "Let's go."
The ship loomed over us as we walked towards it. The engines looked about half as big as the Dome on Lothal, but now they were dark and dead. The ship had cracked in half, with the bow buried straight up in the air and the stern resting on the blackened, seared dirt that formed the trench that had been dug into the Earth. Several boulders had apparently smashed through the port (or left) side turbolaser batteries. The starboard side still had it's guns, but they had been cannibalized for materials. Out here, durasteel was a rare and valuable commodity.
"Where do we start?" Ahsoka asked. I pointed to the front.
"Start over there, then slowly work our way down the ship. We might have to climb a bit, but that should be the fastest way," I answered. Bakiel nodded and grabbed a arc welder. I made sure my blasters were loaded and pulled on my helmet. Ahsoka took out her lightsabers and put her white cloak inside of her backpack, revealing her old Clone Wars outfit.
And together, we delved into the darkness.
Sanctuary, inside the Chimera
6 ABY (Got it right this time)
Day 297, 1545
I clipped my grapple onto a convenient hook next to the door, and threw my foot against it. It split open easily: the lightsaber had done the trick. I looked over the abyss, then put one foot forward and dropped downwards.
"Sabine, have you found anything?" Ahsoka asked through comms.
"Negative. I'm going down to Level Two," I responded.
"Affirmative. I'll meet you there."
I deactivated the comm, took out Ezra's lightsaber, and began to cut through the thick door. It smelled something horrible, but I dealt with it. The metal glowed where it was split by the energy. Once it was cut, I kicked off the wall and swung myself into the door. It provided more resistance than I expected, but my momentum carried me through the door. I unclipped the grapple as I stood up.
The hallway beyond was lit, but still dark. I turned on my helmets night vision and continued down the corridor, which ended with an imposing-looking, reinforced steel door. I prepped the lightsaber. One of my hands trailed along the wall, leaving an indentation in the dust and grime that coated it. My slow, steady steps echoed down the eerie path.
I reached the door, igniting the lightsaber. I had to turn off my night vision, because the blue glow nearly blinded me. Deliberately, I drove the glowing blade into the door, sliding it in a circle motion before kicking it open violently.
The sudden sunlight blinded me for a moment, before something hit me from behind and I collapsed.
I don't know when I woke up, but when I did, my head felt heavy and it was in pain and I just generally felt horrible. I was inside some kind of cave, I could tell, but I had no idea where. All I saw was a person leaning over me, with dark, midnight blue hair and royally blue eyes…
Ezra.
I sat up, realizing I didn't have my armor on. I did have my undersuit, so I decided that Ezra did have some decency.
"You're awake," Ezra stated. "Welcome to the land of the living once more, Sabine Wren."
"Ezra?" I breathed. "Is that you?"
"I mean, unless you know someone else named Ezra Bridger," he responded, smiling. He kneeled down. "Do you, my queen?"
"Wha-" I started to say, before Ezra lightly kissed my cheek. Nine years ago, I would have slapped him. Maybe even seven years ago. But that was then, and besides, it felt so… right. I had to stifle a scream of delight and assumed a angry face. "What exactly gave you the idea that you have the right to do that?"
"Uh, I don't know," Ezra said, putting one hand behind his head. "But you were muttering, 'Ezra, I love you,' in your sleep, so I just kinda…. Assumed."
Chit. Time for a different approach. But what was still open?...
One thing was. I got up and looked at Ezra darkly, not saying anything but instead giving him the best Wren glare I could. Seven years ago, he would have withered under my stare, but now he just smirked knowingly. Endearingly, even. It infuriated and infatuated me at the same time. I couldn't decide if I wanted to kiss him or curse him.
I decided on kissing.
Ezra was only about a foot away from me, and he was also standing, so my approach was easy. I just moved as quickly as I could, wrapping my arms around Ezra's neck and letting my legs go entirely limp. Then, as I hung, I pulled Ezra into a deep kiss. I don't entirely recall what happened next, but several dozen things went through my head, most of them inappropriate and some of them just straight up lewd. Most of my memories were feelings, most of them a mixture of happiness, content, and love. I do remember that Ezra had his hands on my shoulder blades, but I don't remember seeing anything. Probably had my eyes closed. I just know it felt so right.
I began to remember things maybe a minute later, when we broke the kiss. I felt… sated? No. Content? Not exactly. Happy?... Yes and no. Lustful? Maybe.
"So, Ezra," I asked, "What exactly kept you from coming home to Lothal for seven kriffing years?"
"Nothing, just some cartel bosses that put a massive bounty on my head. So much that everytime I go out and see daylight, I get shot at. Oh, and the fact that I had no weapon…." he responded, looking at me pointedly. I took out his lightsaber and handed it to him.
"You painted it." It was a statement, not a question.
"What did you expect? I got bored without you around to kark things up."
"And you painted your armor."
"See reason one."
"And redyed your hair. And cut it short."
I ran one hand through my now-purple hair. How would I explain it? "I guess I felt guilty about your disappearance. I… I wasn't taking it well. I guess you could call this penance?"
"You weren't taking it well? Explain, please."
"I, uh… ask Ketsu when we get back. I don't really want to talk about it."
That was true. For almost a month, I was freaking out every time I heard someone say, 'Ezra.' Usually, I would panic or start sobbing. Or both.
"Anyways, do you have a comm?" Ezra asked. "Are you here alone, for that matter?"
"Yes to the first question. No to the second. Ahsoka's with me. Hera and Jacen are coming soon, too."
"Jacen?"
Kriff, Ezra had missed a lot. "Hera's kid."
Ezra looked at me quizzically. "You mean Kanan and Hera…."
"Got it on? Yeah." I checked my chrono. 2132. Nine thirty-two PM in standard time. Chit, I was supposed to report in at 2130! I activated the comm.
Static. There was nothing to hear for about thirty seconds. I was about halfway ready to run out the door in search of her when the comm blazed to life.
"Sabine!" Ahsoka basically shouted. Ezra covered his ears and turned away. I adjusted the volume, then responded.
"Ahsoka. I found Ezra, but we lost the grappling hook. I'm going to bed down with him, then we'll get back up to you tomorrow. I'm sending you coordinates now," I said. "If you can, get Hera to pick us up."
I shut off the comm and laid down onto the rough stone floor of the cave. Ezra motioned to a sleeping bag. The meaning of the gesture was obvious. You can take it.
"Share it?" I asked. Ezra shrugged. Playing impassive, apparently. I knew that inside, his heart was jumping with excitement. Then, he climbed into the bag. I wiggled in beside him, curling myself into a ball. He put one arm around my shoulders. In past years, I might have been weirded out by the contact, but I was twenty-eight now, and Ezra was twenty-six. It felt natural, now, to be held. I had only had this type of contact once before. A drunken fling. It wasn't something I talked about, nor something I enjoyed putting on paper.
I snuggled up to Ezra as close as I could, pushing myself into his chest. After that, I put one arm behind his back, then wrapped my other arm around him. Sighing happily, I rested my head against Ezra's arm and shut my eyes.