Notes:

Wow, this one is the longest yet. (not what she said) I apologize for my absence this past week due to everything happening during this time of year. However, I'm excited to slow down and get back to posting again. I've been slowly chewing on a few ideas and coming up with an outline for some more chapters. Maybe they'll be a little more organized than my previous hodgepodge of drama, feelz, action, and that closing scene from the last chapter. (I had to make it short, but hopefully I balanced your satisfaction and anticipation for chapter eight!)

Also, It's cool to be getting into the more meaty episode of SWR season two. This past episode was a fantastic HELL YEAH moment for Ahsoka, because, well… she's one of the most badass Jedi… Like ever. (I think her fighting style heavily contributes to my opinion)

Disclaimer: I do not own or make profit from any content within the Star Wars universe. I merely write for the entertainment of myself and others. All things Star Wars belong (unfortunately) to Disney now.

CHAPTER EIGHT:

(I wish I added this first paragraph to the previous chapter, but hey, I was busy and pressed for time. Now here, let me throw some fluff at you.)

Ezra simply sat in silence as he let Sabine sleep in his arms. It felt… true… it gave a whole new aspect to the cause he was fighting for. Something, no, someone to protect. Yes, Ezra knew without a doubt he was attracted to Sabine, but this was more than just hormonal attraction. The girl he had with him now was more than just any girl that struck his fancy. Sabine was his friend. Sabine was his moral support. Sabine had his back during their missions. Sabine was his comrade. Sabine laughed at his tacky, sometimes awkward humor, and empathized with his troubles. Sabine rarely had anything deep or sentimental to say, but still, she chose her words wisely and purposefully when she did. "Ah, Sabine…" Ezra couldn't really decipher what it was he was feeling, and so he too, resigned to sleep.

"Ugh, why did I have to wake up? It's so comfortable..." Sabine thought drowsily before coming to the realization that the 'it' was in fact Ezra. She opened only her right eye and looked up curiously into the face of her quite luxurious pillow.

"I was beginning to think you'd never wake up."

"As if I wanted to."

"Ya know, pretty soon, you won't be able to use the hole in your back as an excuse to nap on me."

"Hey, I haven't thrown out a single petty excuse yet." She said with a snort. "But yes, it is a shame. Slowing down has started to grow on me, and I could use more vacation time. I wouldn't mind doing this more often."

Ezra had a smirk, and was visibly trying to contain himself.

"Ezra, get that stupid grin off your smug little face, you know what I meant."

Sabine shifted from her side to her back, still supported by Ezra, but contorting her face as she did so.

"You need some more pain relievers? I could go get some from the medical wing."

It was then that a third voice intruded the officer's lounge. "That's real sweet of you, but we have a situation." Hera blurted with crossed arms, head tilted, and playful smile breaking out on her lips.

"When did you get a sunburn, Ezra? Well, never mind. Just meet back in the conference room as soon as you… untangle."

Sabine stood, scowling and mumbling about Kanan and something that sounded like "basically married".

"Well, I uhh… guess I should get going. Sorry you gotta sit this one out Sabine."

"Hera better watch that lekku of a tongue she has before I graffiti the Ghost with some questionable depictions." Sabine spat, not really paying attention to Ezra.

"Yeah, you do that… I'll see ya around when I get back." Ezra said as he quickly rose and headed for the door, Sabine still muttering in the background.

Ezra entered the conference room to see Ahsoka, the trio of clones, a somewhat fidgety looking Kanan, and of course Hera, who stared at him with curious, yet playful eyes.

"Thank you for gracing us with your most desirable presence." Hera was oozing a concoction of sarcasm and mock flattery. The others, and most notably Kanan, all had expressions as if trying to understand an inside joke.

"Sorry, I got here as soon as I could."

"Sure ya did. Now please allow Ahsoka to explain the op. We don't have all day."

As Ahsoka brought up a hologram, Kanan shot a sternly confused look over to Hera, expressing he was going to find out just what was happening.

"We just received a transition from Captain Cromwell and his recon team on the planet Sardazour," Ahsoka began, "It's a frozen wasteland of a planet that the Empire has taken a liking to, mostly because of its mining prospects. They have essentially enslaved the few inhabitants and force them to mine resources for the ever-ravenous Imperial aspirations. Cromwell and his team were undercover, but security was recently tightened. Information is now harder to acquire, and the risks are at an all time high on Sardazour. Additionally, the Empire has been decreasing the rations of any workers who show signs of dissatisfaction. We have a dual purpose mission: Get our troops off of Sardazour and deliver rations to the workers unfortunate enough to be stuck in the mines. I deeply regret our inability to free the workers, but our windows of opportunity are small and scarce. Providing food is the best we can do for them right now."

Ezra noticed the Lasat was there. "Sorry to interrupt, but where's Zeb? He would be pretty useful on a mission like this, especially if things take a turn for the worse."

"The problem is that a lasat's anatomy is drastically different from that of a human or another humanoid species. When they scan the life forms on the shuttle we stole, we only want them to see humans. A togruta is closer to a human, so Ahsoka should be fine."

"So how are we getting in? Even if we have an imperial shuttle, their security protocols will be tough to slip past." Kanan posed.

"Kanan," Ahsoka began with a grin, "I once fought alongside Rex as a commander in the Republic, now known as the Empire. I know my fair share of bypassing their security. Rex, Wolffe, and Gregor have all the military experience they need to perfectly impersonate stormtroopers. We have everything handled."

"I'm not so sure about this, Ahsoka," Gregor spoke up, "It's kind of, well… been a while since we actually followed any form of military procedure. Sure we still have some fight left in us, but a couple of clone geezers like us might be a bit rusty in terms of all that regulation and formality garbage."

"Not to worry, Gregor, I'm confident in our team. I just hope the rest of us are… on board." She finished turning to Kanan with an expression of concern. Kanan breathed out a sigh.

"I'm fine. It's just complicated considering the fact that one of these exact faces gunned down my master without question or reason."

Rex spoke up, "Order 66 took it's toll on all of us. By no means am I trying to undermine your master's passing, but we all lost something in one way or another. In the end, that brought us together… here. As I vowed to protect the Republic, so I now would willingly give my life for the cause we share." As Rex finished, he straightened and saluted. Gregor and Wolffe followed suit. How could Kanan remain so cold with these troopers? They were willing to fight alongside him even in their old age. Even to the end, however grim it might be. Kanan knew he couldn't hold a grudge forever, so "might as well let go now." He raised himself to full height, and solemnly returned the salute.

"Please don't do anything unnecessarily stupid." Sabine thought as she watched the shuttle fly out of the Destiny's hanger. Up until this point, Sabine followed her conscience almost unquestioningly. It was imploring her not to let any feeling besides friendship link her to Ezra, yet this time, her conscience seemed to be mistaken. She needed to balance the power of her head and her heart. Previously, Sabine had always choked out anything related to romance. Realistically, she had no time, and she always heard how certain feelings cloud judgment… But she also remembered that she would most likely be dead or captured if it wasn't for Ezra's feelings clouding his judgment. "Damn, emotion is like a dual-bladed saber. Don't know how to manage it and you get killed."

As Ezra and the others were headed to Sardazour, thoughts were flooding Ezra's head and slipping away before he could process them. He knew for certain that Sabine was a close friend and that she cared about him but he couldn't help but assume it was only because he grew up alone. "Why does she pity me… Can't she just treat me like a normal person?"

"Hey Ezra, you alright?" Kanan asked, trying his best to balance concern and a casual tone.

"Ye- yeah, I'm fine… Can't wait to get the supplies."

"Ezra, we aren't on a supply run. This is an aid and rescue mission." There was a pause for some time.

"Listen, I know it's about Sabine. I'm not trying to probe your thoughts or anything, but you're brain is screaming a little more than I think you realize. It's quite difficult to ignore."

"Ok, look, can we talk about this later? I obviously have no idea what to do on the mission, and you're running out of time to explain."

"You're right, but I actually do want to talk about this later."

"Fine, now tell me what I have to do."

Rex and Ahsoka sat silently in the cockpit of the shuttle. They had known each other for so long, silence was not awkward for either of them in the slightest. It was peaceful.

"Hey, thanks for that back there, Rexter." Ahsoka commented as they flew through hyperspace.

"Thanks for what? I'm unaware I did anything."

"Back with Kanan during the briefing. He's a broken man who still hasn't healed after the war. You didn't just tell him what he wanted to hear. Every word you spoke was sincere."

"Well, yes, I suppose I um… helped get things rolling. We couldn't do the op if he didn't trust us clones."

"Stop making excuses and learn accept a compliment."

"Hmm. Sure… Ya know. It's been a while since you called me Rester."

"Hearing you talk about the war got some nostalgia kicking around in my head." Ahsoka replied with a sigh.

"You and me both… kid." Rex couldn't hold off a smirk.

"I miss those times when everything was simple, Rex. Back when we didn't have to worry about politics all the time. Back when we followed orders."

Rex walked over and embraced Ahsoka. He had always been an uncle of sorts to her. During the clone wars, such behavior was unthinkable, but oh, how times had changed. Occasionally taking a respite from the stress of war was required. Especially if one was on the side with far worse prospects. Ahsoka wasn't particularly fond of the feeling of armor pressed against her, but it was ignored because she needed this.

"Thanks, Rexter." She whispered.

"Any time, kid. Any time… I think we're getting close to Sardazour. We should go tell the others."

Wolffe and Gregor were currently discussing plans in the back with Kanan and Ezra.

"When we land here," Wolffe was pointing, "We sneak in through the main entrance with the Imperial armor, and head to the facility were Cromwell and his men work under cover. Me and Kanan will be Ahsoka's prisoner escort. Ezra, you and Gregor will take charge of getting the supplies to to the other workers. Once were inside, locating Cromwell shouldn't be too hard since the mining station is small. It shouldn't be heavily guarded, but be alert. Getting in is the easy half of the mission. Whatever has been holding back Cromwell's task force from leaving will probably get in our way as well."

"It's weird that an entire team undercover can't manage to find a way out." Ezra was thinking out loud.

"Whatever security measures they have in place, they are extremely effective. What surprises me is the lack Imperial personnel needed to run an operation like this." Kanan replied.

Rex and Ahsoka emerged from the cockpit and announced they would be coming out of hyperspace shorty. They all had on their stormtrooper armor, Ezra in his cadet's uniform, and Ahsoka was now putting on the cuffs.

"Wolffe, take the controls, and give them the access codes when they com the shuttle." Ahsoka ordered. "Rest of you, get in character. We want this to be convincing."

"Last time I checked, you're the one with the cuffs on. I'm not so sure your in a position to be in charge here." Rex teased with an air of exaggerated importance.

"I see you've got your part memorized, but aren't you a little fat for a stormtrooper?" Ahsoka's comment brought out a round of laughter from the others.

"What can I say?" Rex shrugged, "Old age doesn't always agree with us clones."

They came out of hyperspace on schedule, and made their way toward the icy planet of Sardazour. There was only a single star destroyer in orbit, but they couldn't hope to land before giving the code that identified the shuttle as Imperial.

"Shuttle Furtivus, This is the Chimaera. Your presence is unexpected. Identify and state your business."

Wolffe put on a monotone, uninterested voice. "Chimera, this is Captain Farthin. I apologize for the fortuitous arrival. We are carrying a prisoner and supplies to be delivered to hanger two of Minox Station. Our access code 3B9-75Q-54."

"Furtivus, your code checks out, but the prisoner needs to be processed for labor. We will alert the security staff you are on your way. You may continue following your course."

Ahsoka hadn't expected this. She pondered what 'prisoner processing' consisted of. The others gave her a curious glance.

"I'll be fine. I can handle whoever they send to 'process' me."

"Yes sir," Wolffe commed back to the Chimera, "We will begin our descent."

They landed without incident, and luckily, there were hardly any stormtroopers in the vicinity. Those that were paid the group no attention. "So far so good." Kanan thought, "I bet I jinxed it now. Comfort on enemy territory is a few steps away from disaster." Gregor and Kanan led the way, Ahsoka between them under 'guard'. Ezra, Wolffe, and Rex were pushing carts with the supplies. As they neared the entrance, a stormtrooper strolled up and lazily searched their cargo. Having found nothing of interest, the bored trooper grunted and gave a wave for the blast doors to be opened. Fortunately for them, the cargo was consistent with what they told the security officer on the Chimera. The doors groaned open and they were met by an officer in a gray uniform. "Her," He began with a tone of disdain, "Get her down to level four for examination. After that, I want a chip imbedded Immediately." He seemed a bit haughty for his rank.

"Last time I checked, Grand Admirals didn't wear communist jumpsuits, and they usually command a fleet instead of supervising security on a frozen rock." Ezra thought to himself.

Gregor and Kanan looked at each other hesitantly. "What's the chip for?" They both were silently questioning.

"Of course," the officer sneered, "Amateurs... All prisoners brought in for work require a tracking chip. It triggers ray shields to keep runners, from, well… you get the picture." Turning to Ahsoka, he taunted, "I would tell you to try it out yourself, young lady, but we are running short on able-bodied workers. It would be a shame to be burnt to a crisp on your first day."

"Yes, sir." Kanan said as he took charge. He began to walk past the officer with a confident stride only to be stopped by the sour officer and told to take a left instead. Gregor nudged Ahsoka forward with his blaster, and they followed Kanan. The officer, with his pride in being superior to stormtroopers, had taken no notice of the other two troopers and the cadet who pushed their carts onward.

The elevator doors opened to a corridor identical to the previous one, but the only door was the one that led to the prisoner processing office. "I guess there's no avoiding it, Ahsoka." Gregor commented.

"Even if we could bypass it, I would choose not to. If we learn more about the tracking chips, we could find a way to remove them from Captain Cromwell's task force. It's vital that we do so if we want to make a clean, quiet escape."

"Ahsoka's right." Kanan concluded, "We can keep playing along and use a mind trick if things get out of hand during the prisoner processing."

The carts were safely on their descent to the lower levels where the fatigued miners spent the majority of their day. It truly was a dismal sight to behold this far below the surface. Contrary to the surface, the vast caverns were significantly warmer, but also grimy and treacherous.

"How do they convince anyone to work here?" Ezra pondered with concern.

"The Empire has three tools," Wolffe replied coldly, "Coordination, large numbers, and the ability to strike fear where they see fit. I wouldn't be surprised if many of these miners were blackmailed. Many were enslaved simply for being in the Emperor's way at the wrong time."

"Speaking of which, here's a group of them now. Let's see if they know anything about Cromwell." Rex suggested. The miners understandably attempted to avoid the Imperial armor. Wolffe took off his helmet and addressed the small group of miners on their way back from their shift.

"Have you seen this man?" Wolffe asked after producing a hologram of the Captain.

"Even if I had, I'm not quite sure I would remember," the miner replied cryptically. "Lots of faces come and go here in the mines."

"We don't have time for riddles," Rex broke in, "I'll give you three reasons why you can trust us: What stormtroopers take off their helmets before speaking to enslaved miners, what stormtroopers are in their sixties, and why in hell would stormtroopers smuggle in extra food to compensate for your lacking supply?"

"That's a good point, but I don't see-"

Ezra stepped forward and threw open the lid of the first crate. It wasn't anything extraordinary, but the ration bars and supplements widened the eyes of the miners. The doubtful one, who seemed to be the leader, stepped forward and extended a hand to Wolffe.

"I don't know who you are, or what you're up to, but it's apparent you aren't Imperial. I'm Jackar by the way, and this is my blasting crew."

"Alright, Jackar, we need to know where the man I just showed you is. He's a friend of ours." Rex said earnestly.

"Lerale? His blasting crew has the shift before ours. If you keep following the tunnel and take the first right, you'll find the living quarters. It's small, so you shouldn't have trouble finding him."

"Thank you, Jackar," Wolffe said, relieved this hadn't taken long at all. "Here, take some supplies now. We'll take the rest back to your quarters."

"We can't thank you enough. They've starved a number of us already, and who knows how many were on the brink."

By now, Ahsoka, Kanan, and Gregor had bypassed the planting of the chip without incident. Getting the information on how to deactivate the chips was another matter however.

"If there was a strong enough electromagnet somewhere in this labyrinth, we could probably wipe the chips clean." Gregor proposed.

"No, I doubt they would have any equipment like that here." Kanan countered, "It's a mine, and from my experience, they don't have anything like one lying around."

"Guys get over here, I found something."

What Ahsoka found was a circuit box located on the wall behind the desk of the security office.

"It seems almost too easy, but we could cut power to the ray shields at the exit leading to the hangar."

"Looks like our best bet. I'll get in touch with Rex. I really like how smoothly this is going for once. Rex, we found a solution for the chips. Have you found the Captain yet? We can get going as soon as you're ready."

"We did, quite easily in fact. We will meet you back at the shuttle in ten minutes."

Captain Cromwell was very please indeed to see them. "We owe you one," he was saying, "Been stuck here on a never-ending reconnaissance mission. Well… not never-ending anymore. Lets go home. I've seen enough of the inside of this frozen rock."

"You're very welcome, Captain. We need to move now. We still have a ways to go before we can get to the shuttle." Ezra interrupted.

They began to sprint toward the corridor that contained the elevators. Time was a luxury they had precious little of. It was only a matter of time before they would be discovered. They were on the way up when Ezra opened his eyes wide.

"Get to the sides of the elevator. When the doors open, you won't want to be directly behind them," He said as he took out his lightsaber."

"Understood." the clones responded. Ezra gave them a curious look. "Sorry for being so formal about it," Rex said with a sheepish smile, "Just reminds me of the good ol' days, fighting alongside Commander Tano."

The doors opened, blaster bolts screaming toward them. Ezra was ready deflecting the shots from the four stormtroopers in their way. "I wouldn't mind some help about now, guys!" Ezra shouted back. Rex and Wolffe unloaded their own barrage, and the guards were soon out of commission. Ezra motioned for the others to follow, Captain Cromwell and his men collecting the blasters from the fallen guards, and then a dark wave of cold washed over Ezra… "I've felt this chill before." He thought, knowing what he was about to face. He rounded the corner of the passageway, the rest close behind. The sight that greeted him made him grit his teeth. Ahsoka stood, her back toward Ezra, at the end of the corridor. In front of her, and on the landing platform, was a sinister figure that previously haunted Ezra during the night. The Grand Inquisitor smirked, gave a chuckle, and ignited his lightsaber. He hurled it, the red blades trained on Ahsoka's middle. In swift motion, she ignited her sabers and deflected the spinning menace with calm ease. She used a technique Ezra had never seen before, but now was not the time to marvel at the wonder of Ahsoka's soft white dual sabers. "Get the others around and onto the shuttle." Ahsoka ordered. Strangely, he now felt Ahsoka's calm. It seemed as if he could sense that she had control of the situation. He remembered that he didn't always have to be the hero. Right now his duty was to get the Captain's task force on board the shuttle and back to safety. Back to…

"Sabine?"

Ezra didn't fully comprehend what he had just felt, something in the force maybe, but a pulse sent a new wave of energy through his system. He knew, something was calling him back. He would return to that call. Alive.

More Notes:

Damn, this was really long… like 4000 words long. (normally, the chapters are around 2000) Yessssss… I can sleep in peace now… I need to stop staying up so late…