Chapter 9

Sabine POV

Sabine sat at the controls of the Phantom II, the new replacement for the shuttle that they'd lost at Reklam Station.

It was a repurposed Sheathipede-class Separatist shuttle. She didn't know where they'd acquired it while she was gone, but it controlled well. Since getting it, they'd also upgraded the shields and added guns on the front, which added to the hyperdrive already fitted inside, made it a very capable, if small, shuttle, and it could still dock on the Ghost, just as the first Phantom had been able to.

In the back sat the rest of her group: Chopper, Kanan, Ezra, and Fenn Rau.

Fenn Rau was the leader of the Protectors, a group of Mandalorians on the planet of Concord Dawn that excelled especially in piloting, maintaining their borders fiercely. Last year, the Protectors and the Rebels had gotten into a disagreement, and Rau had been their more-or-less prisoner since then, ensuring safe travel for the Rebels through the Protectors' space zone. Now that they'd lost contact with the Protectors, Rau had insisted on being present when they went to investigate.

In the back, she heard Ezra whistling to pass the time, making her smile in amusement. Rau's voice then noted, "You have Mandalorian blasters. How have they served you? Exceptionally, I'm sure."

"Well, it's not the weapon, it's the one wielding it," Ezra responded.

"When it's a Mandalorian wielding it, the weapon becomes something more," Rau countered.

She then heard Kanan say, "Don't try it, Rau."

"Don't try what?"

"What you were about to do," Kanan responded. "Grabbing for Ezra's blasters and commandeering the shuttle."

There was a pause, then Rau said, "Your sorcery does you credit, Master Jedi."

"Not me," Kanan's voice responded. "Just warning you before you make the wrong move and Ezra breaks your hands."

Rau scoffed. "I think you underestimate my speed, Jedi. I could grab his blasters and have him stunned before he even realizes that his weapons are missing."

"Especially since you picked the locks on your cuffs ten minutes ago," Ezra's voice responded.

There was another silence, during which Sabine had to try to hold back her laughter, and then Rau said, "Clearly you are better prepared to deal with me than I'd expected, and I know when I'm outmatched. But you need to understand, I need to land on the planet. I worry about what the silence of my men could mean. We've been defying the Empire for you for some time now, and I need to know that they're alright."

Once again there was a short pause, then Ezra said, "Sabine, take us down."

Acting on instinct, Sabine began to fly closer towards the planet at Ezra's request, but then stopped for a moment as Kanan argued, "Ezra, wait. Our orders are to simply scout it out and report back. I know you're not used to this sort of setting, but-"

"You don't understand, Kanan," Ezra cut him off. "A Mandalorian clan is more than our fellow soldiers. This is Rau's family we're talking about."

There was a short silence, then Rau asked hesitantly, "Are you… You're a Mandalorian?"

"Ezra Kryze of Clan Kryze," Ezra introduced in his typical fashion.

"Son of Bo-Katan Kryze," Rau himself finished in understanding. Clearly, he'd heard of Ezra's family, which caused Sabine to suddenly realize that she had not. She was annoyed to discover that she still knew so little about Ezra, but she determined to herself that she would figure out more of the details at some point after this mission.

She pulled the Phantom II in to land on the surface of Concord Dawn, right in front of the Protectors' base. Or rather, in front of the smoking ruins of the base. As they landed, Fenn Rau stood up and walked forward to look out the viewport with horror, then he quickly ran to get outside of the shuttle, as though the viewport must be obscuring his vision.

The rest of the group followed him outside, standing next to him as he looked at the burnt remains of tents and the scorched armor pieces of Protector Mandalorians. Rau bent down to pick up the helmet of one of his fallen soldiers, holding it up to his face and staring into the empty visor.

Wanting to help relieve some of his pain, Sabine began to say, "Look, Rau-"

"This is all your fault!" Rau cut her off, spinning to face her in a rage. "If I'd been here instead of locked away by you rebels, I could have prevented this!"

Ezra leaned down to inspect the blast marks on the ground, then said, "No, you couldn't. You would've just been another body. The angle of these blast marks indicates that they were precision strikes, coming from above. Imperial droids. And Mandalorians. That can only mean…"

He looked around and suddenly whipped out one of his pistols, firing it into the distance. Sabine followed the path of his blast and saw that he had fired through the eye of an Imperial probe droid, which had been watching them from a distance.

Ezra then looked at Sabine and Rau and continued, "Clan Saxon."

They nodded at him in agreement, and Kanan asked, "Who are Clan Saxon?"

"They make up most of the Imperial Super Commandos," Rau explained to him. "Mandalorian traitors that serve the Empire."

Behind her, Sabine heard Ezra bitterly mutter, "Like me."

Underneath her helmet, Sabine frowned to herself. Ezra still carried a lot of self-deprecation for the time he spent in the Empire. It was unhealthy, and she hoped that her plan would help him to recover from those reactions.

Just then, the antenna on top of Chopper's head spun upwards and he beeped out a warning.

"The Empire are here?" Sabine repeated back as a question.

Ezra then looked around at the sky and pointed in the direction of eight flying figures. Most of them wore the same white armor, much like Tristan's, though without the yellow on the shoulders. Only one was different, and he wore the same armor but with red on the legs, vambraces, helmet, and jetpack.

"Gar Saxon himself," Ezra explained before she could ask who the red one was. "Imperial Viceroy of Mandalore. And my old boss."

"We should really take cover!" Kanan urged.

Ezra just shook his head and said, "They're Mandalorians, and our ship is stuck here for now. If they don't find anything, they'll hunt us down. I have a better idea. C1… Chopper, Kanan, and Rau, hide yourselves among the wreckage here. Rau, I'm going to need your binders, and you can take Sabine's weapons for now."

They all looked at him like he was crazy, and Ezra sighed in exasperation. "Just listen! I'm going to take Sabine prisoner to throw them off guard, make them think that they have their intruder, then you all can strike when the right moment comes."

Sabine hesitantly handed her pistols to Fenn, then told Ezra nervously, "Ezra, you're not one of them anymore. They'll kill you."

Ezra smirked as he took the binders from Rau before the rest of the group ran off and pulled Sabine's wrists behind her back before cuffing them together, though she could feel that they weren't all the way secured, merely giving the appearance of being locked. "Well, then it's good that my armor, my one big giveaway, isn't here right now, isn't it?"

"Not gonna lie, when I expect them to shoot at you, I'd prefer that you did have your armor right now," Sabine hissed as Ezra pulled her forward to face Saxon and his men as they came in to land.

Ezra POV

As Saxon landed, surrounded by seven of his soldiers, Ezra tried his best to play it cool. Some part of him actually agreed with what Sabine had said, wanting to have his armor right now in case the Super Commandos opened fire, but the other part of him knew that right now, his face without his armor was probably his best bet.

"Governor Saxon!" Ezra called out to the leader of the Imperials.

"Captain Kryze," Saxon responded, lowering his rifle as he recognized his second-in-command. Saxon held great respect from Ezra and he knew it. Even Gar Saxon's brother, Tiber, was less respected by Gar than Ezra, as Gar disliked the way that his brother seemed to idolize the Empire. Gar Saxon liked that the Empire made him more powerful, but Tiber liked to serve them instead. Gar Saxon respected Ezra as a proud and honorable Mandalorian, and Ezra was counting on that respect to help him now.

"I hadn't expected to see you here, Captain," Saxon said.

"I didn't expect to see you either, sir," Ezra responded, "But I heard that the Protectors were suspected of consorting with rebels and came here looking for possible information on Wren."

He pushed Sabine in front of him and pulled off her helmet, finishing with, "I found something even better. I believe I owe you thanks, Governor."

Saxon stepped forward and removed his own helmet to look down on Sabine, who glared at him murderously. "Sabine Wren herself. Hmph. Well done, Captain," Saxon said, then turned to two of his soldiers and ordered, "Secure Wren here! Keep your blasters trained on her, and kill her if she moves."

The soldiers nodded and walked forward to take Sabine from Ezra, forcing her down on her knees as the rest of the group walked closer to Ezra. "Where is your armor, Captain?" Saxon asked.

Ezra just looked down and responded, "Needed cleaning after a nasty attack. My ship too, which is why I came here in this shuttle."

He gestured to the Phantom II, and Saxon narrowed his eyes. "You mean that this isn't Wren's ship?"

"No, sir," Ezra answered. "I was going to secure her inside my shuttle and search the planet for her ship just before I saw you coming."

Saxon nodded in satisfaction, and just then, they heard blaster shots coming from behind them.

Saxon and his soldiers spun around to see Rau running into the opening, firing bolts into the helmets of the two soldiers guarding Sabine, who both were knocked unconscious by the force to their heads, despite their protection. Closely following behind him was Kanan, wielding his glowing blue lightsaber, which he used to deflect the fire that the rest of Saxon's men returned.

Saxon growled and donned his helmet, saying, "Rau…" He didn't see Ezra behind him as Ezra picked up one of the fallen Protector helmets and slammed it down on Saxon's helmeted head with all his might, knocking him down, instantly unconscious from the trauma.

Before they could realize what had happened, Ezra then drew both of his pistols and shot the soldiers on either side of Saxon, making sure to shoot between their armor plates. As they collapsed, Ezra stepped calmly over the three fallen forms, pausing and stooping down as he passed them to grab the jetpack off of Saxon's back, knowing that he wasn't down permanently. Part of him was tempted to shoot Saxon where he lay, but it was against his instincts to shoot a downed enemy, so he simply ran forward to join the rest of his group.

As he approached, Kanan, Sabine, and Rau managed to take out two more of Saxon's men and Ezra used his one remaining free hand to shoot the last one in the shoulder. When he stopped next to them, he grinned and commented, "Well, that was fun."

"You're going to be actively hunted by the Empire now, you know?" Kanan asked as he deactivated his lightsaber and clipped it to his belt.

"Not only that. Saxon will want revenge on you personally. He'll want you more than perhaps anyone else in the galaxy," Rau added, clearly having begun to understand Ezra's significance to the Super Commandos after seeing how easily he'd managed to lower the Governor's guard.

Upon hearing Rau's claim, Ezra saw Sabine narrow her eyes at Saxon's unconscious body as her hand drifted towards the one pistol that she now had back in its holster.

Ezra quickly stepped forward, placing a hand on her shoulder, and said, "He's down. Another day."

Sabine looked back into his eyes for a moment before she looked down and nodded grudgingly. Trying to cheer her up, Ezra handed her Saxon's jetpack as he walked by to enter the Phantom II. "Here," he said shortly.

Sabine took the jetpack and stared at it with awe, then excitedly asked him, "Really?!"

"You said you wanted one, right? Every Mandalorian is better with a jetpack," Ezra responded, trying to play it off as no big deal, but inside he was elated that Sabine liked his gift. He'd promised her vambraces, though he wasn't sure where he'd acquire some, but he hadn't planned to get her a jetpack until just now, yet he was glad that he'd done it, even just in passing.

He boarded the Phantom II and called back, "Alright, rebels. Let's get going before Governor Crazy wakes up."

A/N: I know that this was probably shorter than you all expected, but fear not. This is not the last we'll see of Gar Saxon.