"Sabine? Sabine? Lothal to Sabine Wren," Ezra said, shaking me lightly. I brought myself back into reality, having been lost in memory.

"What?" I responded.

"Just trying to bring you back to reality, cyar'ika. Anyways, shall we get going?"

"Sure," I responded, smiling. I don't know what made me smile. Maybe the fact that Ezra liked the ship, maybe the fact that he was back, maybe just Ezra. Definitely Ezra, though. I sat down in the pilot's seat and started the engines, which purred throatily and got us up in the air as the gravity slings readied and the hangar opened. Ezra sat down in the copilot's chair and braced himself as I touched a button and gave the gravity slings orders to fire in five seconds. Silently, I held up one hand, four fingers outstretched.

3…

2…

1…

I pushed the throttle all the way forward as the grav slings fired, sending us hurtling out of the cave at roughly 900 kilometers per hour, albeit only for a second. I knew I had a ludicrous smile on my face as the ship screamed at my attempts to make it pull up. Somehow, I succeeded, the ship doing a graceful loop-de-loop and slowed down to fifty KPH.

"So, Ezra, how do you like your ship?" I asked.

"Bit fast," Ezra responded, as deadpan as you can when you were just hurled out of a cave at speeds that make people dissolve if they're on the outside of a craft. "Other than that, this thing has only improved."

"Would you like to fly it?" I questioned. Ezra nodded, and we switched seats.

"So, same controls as the Phantom?" Ezra asked. I nodded. He flicked a few switches, one of them being 500+ KPH to Off, and began to fly around. Mostly in circles.

"You know, Ezra, this thing is able to do things other than circles…"

"I know."

I was pressed back into my seat as the ship did a loop-de-loop while spinning to the side in a barrel roll. I could feel the rolls- Oh, that's what Ezra had done: He had turned the artificial gravity off, the crazy di'kut. "Ezra, why did you turn the AG off?"

"Aww, do you not like it?"

"Oh, I love it, but why did you do it?"

"Seemed like it would be fun."

"My god, you're so insane."

"You love me for it."

I leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Yes, I do."

Ezra began to kiss me back. I pushed his head back to the airspace.

"I'd love to continue this, blueberry, but if we did we would crash," I said, trying to not sound sultry.

"I'd be worth it."

"But it could be so much better. Like, instead of a chair, we could use an actual bed, and we could do it again, and again…."

The conversation carried into M-Rated topics next, which I will not record on paper or otherwise. I'm not poisoning the minds of my children.

The trip to the LDC was otherwise uneventful. Ezra's landing had a few rough bumps, but overall, I'd rate it… let's say a B-. (Better than most, frankly.)

As the boarding ramp descended, a captain by the name of Richard "Dick" Marcinko (I'm not lying) greeted us.

"'Ey, Miss Wren. What brings you here? Who's this you brought?"

"Hello, Dick. This is Ezra. He'll be helping out around here. He's a Jedi."

"Hi," Ezra said. "Haven't seen you here before."

"New Republic Military Advisor, got here about five years ago. So you're a Jedi, huh?" Dick answered, perhaps a bit aggressively.

"You have a problem with that?"

"You seem kosher enough, shabiur. You'll do."

"Children, stop fighting," I joked. "Captain, if you'll please show us to the Commander?"

"Tosho? Yeah. Follow me."

'Tosho,' real name Toshoshori Yamamoto, was the commander of the LDC. He was a strategist, but also an operator. A 'straight shooter,' so to speak; he told you what he thought of your operational plan, then gave you advice on how to improve it. Nice guy.

Dick led us through about five hallways, most of which had about four or five doorways until we reached CDEF's (Commander for DEFense) office. He welcomed us immediately.

"Hello, Miss Wren, Mister?..."

"Bridger. Ezra Bridger."

"Mr. Bridger. I'm Toshoshori Yamamoto, Commander for Defense," Tosh said, in his crisp Mantellian accent. "You two come here for a tour, or to help with decor?..."

"We're here to volunteer," I responded, which brought a questioning look to Tosho's face.

"Joshua," Ezra volunteered. "The bomber."

"Oh. Him," Tosho realized. "We can use the help. You have a past with him?"

"Yeah. I… don't want to discuss it."

"That's fine. Oh, and about the ammunition request? We've got a quarter of the SCDIV on it right now." SCDIV was the SCience DIVision of the LDC.

"Thanks. Anyways, have you got any leads on Josh?"

"Three. One kidnapping, two seemingly unrelated murders that I have a funny feeling about. Have you got anything for us, information or otherwise?"

"A bit. Josh uses poisoned knives."

Ezra added in a bit. "The knives are made of a cortosis weave."

"How do you know that, Ezra?" I asked.

"He shorted-out my lightsaber with one. Thanks for the hand-to-hand training, by the way. It saved my life again."

"Uh… thanks," I mumbled, slightly embarrassed.

"Both murders had traces of poison. I'll send a team. Anyways, do you two want to handle the kidnapping? We have a team ready and are triangulating where the kidnappers are. I'll send you an alert when we have something significant to report."

I nodded my thanks. "Is the team the same one as Dark Totem?"

"Yes."

"Alright, good. Tell them to meet me at the tower in one hour."

I turned to leave, grabbing Ezra's hand. Before I could leave, though, Dick caught something that Tosh threw and placed it in my hand.

"Vutyc traat'aliit cuir?" I asked, looking at the insignia. It meant 'Special Team Four.'

"You've volunteered and were originally a Commander, so now, you're recommissioned," Dick said smoothly.

"Great. Paperwork."

"Ahh, but you get to give orders."

"Not a great trade-off."

"Better than most."

I smirked a little bit. "What about Ezra? He's former Rebellion, right?"

"We didn't realize you were bringing friends, so we only made one patch. We'll send you another in three hours."

"Okay, good. Speaking of which, how did you even know I was going to volunteer?

"You take Lothal's protection rather seriously, so we figured that a terrorist attack would probably pull you out of your forced retirement."

"Okay. That makes sense. Again, thanks."

"No problem, Commander."

Ezra looked at me curiously as we walked back to the Gauntlet, probably wondering why these guys had come to Lothal. Simple answer: I put out a request for help. If you wanted a detailed answer…. Well, you don't. I'd need an additional chapter to explain it all.

"I put out a request for help, Ezra," I said.

"I was wondering why you didn't rename our ship."

"Oh. I'm… not sure."

"Couldn't think of a name?"

How did he know I was thinking that? Belay that. He probably just read my mind or used some sort of Force trick. "Pretty much."

"Lightjay."

"Lightjay?"

"Yeah. When you fly, you feel like a bird, or a Jay, right?"

"Yeah. But, why light?" Maybe because of the light side of the Force? I thought.

"Because of the light side of the Force."

"Makes sense," I drawled.

"It should. Anyways, to the tower," Ezra said, making a cavalry charge symbol. I half smiled and began the launch sequence. The newly christened Lightjay rose into the air and began to head for the tower, where two speeders were waiting. I opened the hangar and slid the ship in. The route almost gave me deja vu: along the hangar floor, over the black and yellow line into the cargo area, past the boxes of excess building materials that I kept here for no real reason, into the elevator, and up to the living area. Ezra tagged behind me the entire time, reminding me of a small tooka chasing it's mother. Smirking at the thought, I gave Ezra a quick kiss, just before trying to open the door.

It didn't open.

Hello, momentary panic. Goodbye, rational thought for a moment. Ezra laid a hand on my shoulder in a calming gesture.

Okay, think, Sabine.

"We can cut open the door," Ezra suggested. I shook my head.

"I want to keep the door intact," I responded, my mind racing. Two of my squadmates got here before me, so what could be happening in there? Attackers? They're Mandalorians, they can handle themselves. I guess…. Wait for them?

"Let's just wait," I said.

A mind game and two limited sparring sessions in a cramped elevator later, I heard the door unlock. Immediately, I got up and opened said door, barely avoiding kicking it in.

"Hey, commander. Hello, Ezra Bridger," Davide said in a conversational tone, lounging on one of the couches with a cup in his hand. "Do you want wine or caf?"

"Caf," I answered, accepting a cup from him and sitting down. "So, how's Maloia?"

"She's fine. Right now, she's in the refresher, getting cleaned up… that's not what you meant, was it?" Davide responded. I chuckled.

"Ezra, this is Davide Wren, my cousin and demolition expert of Special Team Four. Currently attempting to covertly date Maloia Vizsla-" Davide tried to protest but I cut him off- "And failing miserably at doing it covertly."

"Nice to meet you," Ezra said.

"Just to make this clear, Maloia and I are not dating," Davide insisted. Ezra laughed in response.

"Sooner you just tell your friends, the less awkward and annoying subterfuge will be," Ezra advised, sounding like a sage.

"Oh, so I just walk out and yell, 'Hey, Maloia and I are dating'?" Davide asked. "Which we are not."

"No, just when friends ask, you say, "Yeah," and ask them who they're dating," Ezra answered. "And yes, you are. So, how do you know me?"

Both Davide and I laughed. "I think everyone on Lothal knows your name, cyar'ika," I explained. Davide's eyes temporarily widened at the word cyar'ika, which didn't surprise me at all; the word translates to soulmate in Basic.

"Yes, the great Jedi of the Plains, missing since the disappearance of the Imperial Seventh Fleet, supposedly lost in the unknown regions," Davide said. "Also known as the Animal Jedi, the Jedi of the Chimaera, and the Purrgil Jedi."

Maloia chose this moment to walk out of the refresher, fully clothed, just as Davide said 'Purrgil Jedi.'

"Oh, we're talking about the Space-Whale Jedi again?" she asked with a dopey smile. "Maloia Vizsla, Special Team Four. Pleased to meet you, Bridger."

"Space-whale Jedi? Seriously?" Ezra asked.

"Seriously," I responded. "Hey, not the weirdest thing to be called."

"Pretty weird, though," Ezra shot back.

"Hey, Davide, can you grab me a cup of caf? I'm going to go and get some cheese and crackers," Miloia said, walking into the kitchen with a certain amount of swagger in her step. I caught Davide looking at her go for just a little too long.

"You sure you're not dating?" I asked. Davide denied that adamantly, which made both Ezra and I laugh. They were almost certainly dating.

Evidence? You want evidence, dear reader? Allow me to present you with the night of Day 167, 6 BBY: I was mailed a recording from Dilloi, taken just outside Maloia's room. He had found Davide's bunk empty and looked around, then discovered Davide entering Maloia's room. The tape had the following lines of dialogue:

Hey, Maloia.

Hey, Dav'ika… how you doing, hmm?

Pretty good, now that I'm with you. Are you sure you want this?

Yes, I want it. I want all of it…

Of course, my lady…

Then, the tape, shall we say, devolved into more carnal matters.

Oh, you want more evidence, reader? How about a security recording this time, showing the two on a date, or perhaps several dozen after-action reports where they were shown to have selected each other to be partners, even when they probably shouldn't have been? Or perhaps a simple dodgeball game, where their first picks are always, you guessed it, each other? The list goes on.

And now, I ask you, my dear reader: Is that enough evidence?

*Running from social life*

This chapter is crazy late. Sorry! I've been busy, doing... things. Stuff and things.

*Continues running*

:) Joking around aside, this chapter is crazy late, and I was doing many things. Plus, I thought I had to write an OC into a book of my choice for my summer reading, so I wasted two weeks on that, then found out NOPE! You can't be that creative, you have to write the plot for the story. Excuse me while I fall asleep from boredom. So yeah, lost my writing spark for a bit, but... longer chapters? Will that make up for my tardiness?

I mean, it will make updates less frequent, but... if you guys want, tell me.

-RebelliousWaffle (as you probably know.)