A/N: Sorry this chapter is so short! Gotta get through exposition. And don't worry, no one dies...yet.

Through the Daybreak

Part Two

The first leg of their mission is harrowing to say in the least. Old Master insists on foregoing disguises, as if a severely disfigured woman and her devilish looking companion wouldn't attract attention aboard a loaded cargo ship. They keep their hoods up and eyes trained towards the ground. Luckily for them, the characters they were dealing with were already shifty and turned a blind eye to strangers lurking about their cargo, so as long as they paid their bribe. Other than that, it had been a simple switch, and no one had been the wiser.

New Seeker took the helm as they sped away from the station, relishing the expanse of open space before her. All was quiet in the cockpit, but it was as if she could feel the weight of the extra crate in their hold. Planning on killing Caleb was another thing entirely-they were going to indirectly murder an innocent person.

The Mandalorian girl's face was a flash in her memory, rushing to escape after operating on Caleb on the rebel ship. She'd been leaning against the docking clamp in the threshold of the shuttle with her hair falling over her eyes, smiling at everyone who walked past. She seemed so blameless; Saneetra had to keep reminding herself that she was complicit in the rebels' scheme.

But all the same-did she have a family? A circle of good friends?

Maul didn't particularly care for her misgivings. "Once the shipment lands, it will be at least forty-eight hours until they come looking for us." The both knew what that meant. As with the time before, the jedi and his friends would be frantic to seek resolution. Though Saneetra expected that this time, when given the chance, Caleb would not hesitate to take her life in retaliation.

"I will soon have another apprentice," he pressed, baring his pointed teeth in a dangerous grin.

Her hands froze over the navigational controls as she resisted the urge to choke him out then and there. "I am not your apprentice," she ground out, though somewhere deep down she knew that she wouldn't have gotten this far without him. In many ways, the New Seeker still felt like a youngling, as her initial training had been quite hasty in the Empire's rush to get her out into the real world on a mission of real importance. But she was through with taking orders from anyone, let alone a rejected sith.

He chuckled ruefully, but said nothing. Saneetra dealt him a withering glance, one that suggested he ought to sleep with one eye open that night. An uneasy silence descended over the two.

They waited.

-0-

"Sabine, slow down!" Ezra huffed, trailing a few paces behind her as they charged across the desert.

She glanced over her shoulder but didn't stop. They were approaching the edge of the barricade they'd built with sensor beacons. A few enormous krykna were coming into view. The eight-legged creatures were notoriously skittish around technology, and this was just as well. They'd already lost one lieutenant to the labyrinth of dens underneath their feet, and didn't plan on losing anyone else.

To one side of them loomed a natural hilltop piled high with stones. The soil was sparse, but precious few plants were poking their heads out between the crags in the rocks. Even before they got there, Ezra knew what she was planning to do.

Inches from the edge of the barricade Sabine dug her boots into the dirt and almost lost her balance. Arms waving, she righted herself, and then began to laugh at her own clumsiness.

Ezra joined in, slightly winded from the chase. As soon as they exited the docking port, they broke into an easy jog which quickly turned into an all out sprint. It often did.

There had once been a time in the not so distant past when the two of them hadn't exactly gotten along. He would be the first to admit that he hadn't been in the right frame of mind after Malachor, having been consumed by guilt over Ahsoka's injuries and Kanan's blindness. Though everyone around him insisted that he shouldn't reopen old wounds, he did, and relived the memories until he could take it no longer. Ezra wasn't aware of it, but the sith holocron was influencing him, causing him to become a more malevolent version of himself.

The day Kanan left to receive his cybernetics, tensions aboard the Ghost reached an all time high. In the middle of the night he left his room, determined to leave Atollon and the awful images that haunted him every time he closed his eyes. Sabine intercepted him; a brief struggle resulted in several unintentionally broken ribs and a complete emotional breakdown. Since then, the influence of the dark side was all but gone in his life. Ezra instead focused on what he should have from the beginning: finding out who he was as an individual, as young people his age often did, and honing his craft as a jedi.

Exhaling raggedly, he made a grand show of collapsing on the ground from mock exhaustion, arms and legs flailing. Sabine joined him sympathetically, elbows resting on her knees. The grenade was still in her hands, and her noticed she was taking extra care to make sure it didn't get jostled in the meantime.

It was now a little after midday, but a few wispy clouds had taken the edge off the heat. He didn't know just how many afternoons they'd spent like this between missions, talking about anything and everything. It occurred to Ezra then that he'd never had such a close friend in his life.

After a while spent in contemplation, he reached out to her, fingers splayed. Sabine grinned and squeezed his hand back, using the extra support to stand.

"I'm gonna hit that rock that looks like Zeb's head," she declared, lining up her sights.

He could see it about halfway up the incline. It did indeed somewhat resemble their favorite Lasat. "Bet you can't," he teased back, even though as far as he was concerned she could do anything.

"Sit back and watch the master." The Mandalorian tested the weight in her hand, hesitating for a moment before removing the pin. She had at least ten seconds before detonation, which left plenty of time for the grenade to reach its target.

To wind up the throw, Sabine brought her hand back behind her head and took a step back. Just as it always did, the fuse hissed and crackled. But this time it detonated prematurely, before it could even leave her grasp.

It's the last thing she ever hears.

-0-

Hera is elbow deep in the machinery of the hyperdrive when her blood suddenly runs cold. Behind her, Kanan forgets to duck as he enters the room, striking his head on the frame of the hatch and causing the contents of the box he was carrying to go flying across the room.

He doesn't have to say anything. Something just wasn't right.

They encounter a wide eyed togruta near the speeders, hands clenched at her side. "It's Sabine," she confirms, and they don't ask questions.

Kanan thought he sensed Ezra's anguish through the force, blaring like a siren and causing his head to pound. Even on Malachor in the aftermath of the accident that had stolen his sight, he'd never felt anything like it. Noticing how Ahsoka was pale faced and stricken, he offered her assistance and together they clambered on to the speeder. Hera followed them, lips pressed in a thin line as she mentally prepared herself for what was to come.

(to be continued)