Chapter 18

One Week Later…

Sabine POV

Despite Sabine's many requests, Ezra still did not lightly allow her to fly his ship.

"Please!" she begged from her usual place, in the co-pilot's seat as Ezra flew. "You didn't have any complaints last time I did it!"

Not looking at her, Ezra argued, "Last time you flew my ship was because I couldn't do it myself. The Absolution is my baby, and only I get to fly it."

Sabine smirked at him slyly and said, "But Ez, what's mine is yours and what's yours is mine."

"Okay, first, I only said that to get you to let me re-wrap your wrist without you biting me." he countered, and Sabine chuckled at the memory. "Second, not until and unless we eventually say the vows."

Sabine frowned at him and repeated, "'Unless?' Having second thoughts about us, Ezra?"

"Only when you won't stop pestering me about flying my ship!" Ezra said irritably, and Sabine smirked to herself. She knew that he was joking about changing his mind. In the last week since they had re-labeled their relationship, not too much had really changed, but Sabine knew that he enjoyed being able to call her his, and she felt the same way about him being officially hers.

They had spent most of the last week spending time almost solely with one another, mostly with Sabine helping Ezra learn how to use the Darksaber as Ezra insisted that she shouldn't be overexerting herself too much with other work right now. Not that she had much experience with the Darksaber herself, but she was at least a capable sparring partner. She had even learned some tricks from Kanan, and had used them to help Ezra improve his swordsmanship by leaps and bounds in a short period of time. She also had improved, though she'd been forced to use beskar forging hammers to combat his lightsaber blade.

However, she could tell that Ezra held back, no doubt still worried about hurting her. She could only hope that he would soon feel safe enough to become more aggressive against her in their fights, most likely after her wrist was completely healed. In the past week, her wrist had healed greatly, but it was still slightly tender. She appreciated the way Ezra wanted to keep protecting her, but she didn't want to feel like she needed protecting.

Yesterday, Lady Kryze had gone to Sabine and asked her to return to Krownest to gather her family as allies for the war. Immediately, Sabine had agreed and gone to get Ezra to bring along with her. She had noticed that Lady Kryze had seemed a bit… upset when Sabine had opted to bring Ezra along, but she didn't understand why. Ezra was officially her boyfriend now, which admittedly was a strange concept among Mandalorians, but they were familiar enough with it that it shouldn't come as a surprise when one of them decided to bring the other along with them. It almost seemed that Bo had avoided her ever since she and Ezra had started dating, which made Sabine a little nervous as she felt some lingering displeasure with her son's choice of potential future mate.

She could tell that it made Ezra even more nervous, but that she could understand. In the past week, she hadn't told her mother about her new relationship, wanting to make it a surprise for when they saw each other in person next, but now that she was about to announce it, she considered the possibility that she should've done it behind the safety of a holo-message. In this way, both herself and Ezra would be standing right in the blast radius if her mother went ballistic.

They arrived on Krownest, immediately getting permission to land as soon as Sabine requested it accompanied by her name, and Ezra landed them on the same platform that they had used last time they were here. They both exited the ship and were once again greeted by Sabine's brother, though he wasn't accompanied by any other Mandalorians this time.

Tristan's immediate reaction to seeing them was to look over Ezra's armor and say, "Oh. Wow. Is that you, buried under all that paint, Captain Kryze?"

Ezra pulled off his helmet and shook Tristan's hand. "Yes, it's me, Tristan. It's good to see you again."

Tristan then looked at Sabine and pulled her into a tight hug. "Good to see you, sis. Where have you been? Mother hasn't heard from you in a week! She almost sent our people hunting for you until I managed to talk her down."

Sabine smiled and hugged her brother back just as tightly. "It's been too long, Tristan. I'll explain where I've been once we're inside."

Tristan nodded in acceptance, then looked around nervously and leaned in to whisper something to Ezra. Sabine tried to overhear what he said, but was unable.

After Tristan pulled back from him, Ezra nodded and put his helmet back on as he said, "Understood. Take us to the Stronghold."

Tristan nodded once more, then turned and began to lead the way down the path to the Wren fortress.

As they walked, Sabine leaned over to Ezra and quietly asked, "What did Tristan tell you?"

Ezra hesitated for a moment, his expression hidden beneath his faceplate, but then he answered, "Gar Saxon is here."

Sabine looked at Ezra in shock and whispered, "Then we need to get out of here!"

Ezra just shook his head. "We have a mission to do. And I have a plan." As they passed under the throne room, Ezra looked up at the glass wall and said, "Step one, throw a couple remote detonators onto that window."

Sabine glanced at him, uncertain about the idea of blowing up part of her home, but remained silent, deciding to trust him on this one. She discreetly drew two small, remote-controlled detonators from one of her pouches and tossed them up onto the window, where they quietly stuck to the glass. She nodded to Ezra, and Tristan led them up the steps to enter the throne room.

Sabine's mother was waiting for them inside, seated upon her throne, and she looked up at the sound of the doors opening. "My daughter," Ursa greeted, a tense edge to her voice. She then looked at Ezra and she winced in sympathy, recognizing her child's work. "Sabine, what have you done to this young man's armor? Who is he?"

Ezra pulled off his helmet, and Ursa raised an eyebrow in surprise. "The son of Lady Kryze," she acknowledged. "I must confess, I had not expected to see you with my daughter again for… perhaps ever."

Taking a deep breath as she prepared to announce their new relationship, Sabine said, "Well, Mother, you can get used to it."

Ursa tilted her head and asked, "And why's that?"

"Countess Wren!" Ezra yelled before Sabine could answer. "We have come to request that your clan may ally with Clan Kryze! We are preparing for battle against the Galactic Empire!"

At his words, Ursa paled with fear and Sabine turned to face him and asked, "What are you doing, Ezra? Quiet down!"

Ezra held up a hand as he turned to face the back door, saying, "Wait for it…"

Right on cue, the door burst open to reveal half a dozen Imperial Super Commandos, all of them wearing plain white armor. They all ran into the room and spread out with their weapons raised and directed at Ezra, two of them using their jetpacks to hover up by the ceiling, far out of reach.

Finally, Gar Saxon entered the room, his red armor standing out from the rest, holding his helmet under his arm. He appeared smug and calm as he approached Ezra, who stayed slightly crouched as though he was prepared for combat. Sabine stood by Ezra's side with her hands held over her blasters, but neither Saxon or any of his men spared her a single glance. "Former Captain Kryze," Saxon said as he walked forward slowly to stand directly in front of Ezra. "You just can't help but be a traitor, can you? Betray your family, your clan. Then you betray me. I was like a father to you, boy. I gave you everything."

Ezra looked back at Saxon and growled, "Trust me, being like a father to me is not a good thing."

Saxon looked at Ezra with disgust, then turned away and said, "You know, I always liked you, Kryze. You were the most skilled soldier I ever had. But now you've made an enemy of me. Yet I'll still give you the mercy of a quick death."

Saxon spun around and shot his rifle at Ezra, but suddenly Ezra wasn't there. Sabine hadn't even seen him move, but suddenly he was next to Saxon, pushing his rifle down towards the floor and elbowing him in the face. All of Saxon's soldiers opened fire on Ezra, but two on the ground were swiftly taken out by quick blasts, one from Sabine and one from Tristan, who had clearly decided that his loyalty to his family outweighed his loyalty to his fellow Commandos. The room exploded into chaos and the Wrens then tried to take out the remaining four soldiers as Ezra continued fighting Saxon behind them, but the Imperials were now wary of their attackers and used their jetpacks to avoid the incoming blasts as they returned fire. In response, Sabine and Tristan activated their own jetpacks to combat them in the air, both sides resorting to using their fists as the Wren siblings closed the distance.

During her fight, Sabine heard Ezra yell out, "Sabine! Blow it now!"

Not needing to ask what he meant, Sabine kicked the Mando she had been grappling with away from her, then used her short opening to press a button on her vambrace. Immediately, the front window of the throne room exploded inwards, showering them all in with shards of broken glass that they were only protected from due to their armor except for the two not wearing helmets. These were Ursa, who was too far away from the explosion to be hit by the glass, and Gar Saxon, who yelled as he dropped his helmet and closed his eyes tightly to avoid being blinded by the shattered glass.

Ezra took Saxon's temporary blindness as an opportunity and launched into the Mandalorian governor while activating his jetpack, pulling both of them out the broken window and towards the frozen lake below. "Ezra!" Sabine called after him with worry as he fell out of sight.

Ezra POV

As the two of them crashed onto the ice, which luckily didn't even crack under their combined weight, Saxon spun and threw Ezra off of him with a yell of anger, and Ezra used his jetpack to steady himself before he could hit the ground, then dropped down, landing on his feet with his hands gripping his pistols at his hips.

Saxon climbed back to his feet and growled before he used his own jetpack to launch himself into the air, using his rifle to fire down at Ezra.

Ezra dodged two of Saxon's blasts, then shot his grappling line to wrap around one of Saxon's legs. The governor growled once more in frustration and tried to fly higher, but Ezra activated his own jetpack and flew up behind him before using his wrist blade to make a cut across Saxon's jetpack, which immediately sparked and began to lose power. Saxon began to go down with a yell, and Ezra pulled him slightly higher into the air by the leg before he cut the line, dropping Saxon back onto the ice and causing his rifle to fall from his hand.

Ezra then flew back down to land in front of the older man and aimed both of his pistols at him. "Time to yield, Saxon," Ezra said. "There is honor in accepting when you are beaten. I've destroyed your only hope of escape, and your soldiers will soon be defeated by Clan Wren, if they haven't already. You're alone."

Saxon pulled himself onto his knees with a groan, then glared up at Ezra and said, "I will not be beaten by a traitor, boy. I will never surrender to you. Clan Wren will suffer for their betrayal, and your clan will meet the same fate as the Protectors for yours."

He abruptly raised his left arm to fire a rocket from his vambrace, but Ezra moved even more quickly. He pulled the Darksaber from his belt and cut off Saxon's left arm at the elbow, severing his connection to his vambrace.

Saxon let out a yell of pain and looked down in horror at his missing appendage, then looked up at Ezra as the younger man directed the tip of the black blade at his throat, and Saxon gulped in poorly-disguised fear. "All Mandalorians kneel before the Darksaber," Ezra said, enjoying the surprise on Saxon's face as he slowly recognized the unique weapon in Ezra's hand. "And you're no exception, Governor."

And with that, Ezra turned to walk away, satisfied to take Governor Saxon prisoner rather than kill him now that he was missing an arm. However, he heard Sabine's voice call out, "Ezra!" at the same time that his senses suddenly tingled in warning of danger, and he instinctively brought the Darksaber blade behind his back just in time to deflect a blaster bolt.

Ezra looked over his shoulder and saw Saxon, who had retrieved his rifle from the ground with his remaining arm and attempted to dishonorably shoot Ezra in the back. Now, the governor looked down in shock at his chest, where two blaster holes now burned, one from his own reflected shot and the other fired from above. Saxon's Imperial designed beskar had been too thin to adequately protect him from the shots, and so they had easily melted through the armor and into his chest. Saxon's eyes widened and he slowly fell forward onto his front.

Ezra directed his gaze upwards to see who had fired the second shot, and it had been Sabine, as he'd guessed, who stood next to her mother and brother with her pistol still directed with shaky hands at Saxon's body.

Sabine POV

After Ezra had fallen onto the ice, Sabine's mother had joined the battle herself, quickly helping them to deal with the last of the Imperial Mandalorians. She'd jumped into the battle with ferocity in her gaze, a look that Sabine remembered well, but she didn't remember ever seeing this current expression on her face.

"He… he has the Darksaber," Ursa said in disbelief and some reverence.

Sabine rolled her eyes as she holstered her pistol after shooting Gar Saxon in the chest. "Yes, Mother. He has the Darksaber. If you had been quicker to just accept that fact, you could've helped with the bigger issue. Ezra almost got shot!"

Ursa looked at her with disapproval and argued, "Actually, Sabine, I don't think he did. You see, Saxon fired his weapon. Kryze seems to have had it under control."

"You didn't know that that was going to happen," Sabine huffed irritably, but she decided to drop it. They now had bigger issues to deal with. First of which was, she wanted to finish sharing the news with her mother, and now seemed like as good a time as any.

Folding her arms, Sabine didn't look at her mother as she announced, "I took your advice. Ezra and I are now dating."

Still staring in wonder at the weapon in Ezra's hand as he deactivated it and clipped it to his belt before he began to drag Saxon's body back to the Stronghold, Ursa frowned and said, "Dating? For shame, Sabine. That young man has the Darksaber. How can you not have married him yet?"

"Okay, first of all, when I marry him, it won't be because he has the Darksaber," Sabine protested. "Second of all, dating is-"

Her mother cut her off by pointing a finger in her face and saying, "Aha! You said 'when'!"

Sabine thought back on it and groaned and facepalmed as she realized that her mother was right.

Ezra finally finished dragging Saxon back to the top of the stairs and Ursa immediately adopted her signature look of superiority once again before saying, "Saxon fired on you when your back was turned. He is dishonorable. Strip him of his armor and dump his body in the lake."

Ezra froze, then shook his head. "You couldn't have told me that before I dragged him up here?" he asked, but he nevertheless began to obey. Sabine quickly moved to help him, happy to have an excuse to not have to deal with her mother right now.

Ezra POV

After they disposed of Saxon's body in the lake, they went back inside. The broken glass had been cleaned up, though a large hole still remained in the wall, and the bodies of all of Saxon's men had been taken away to be saved for burial. Their armor would be sent to their families, whoever they were, and the soldiers themselves would receive honorable burials despite their service to the Empire. Clan Wren knew full well that the soldiers had been members of Clan Saxon, simply following their leader. They may have died fighting on the wrong side, but they still deserved honor.

Eventually, they made their way back before Ursa's throne, and Ezra attempted to continue his earlier announcement. "Countess Wren," he said, "As I said before we were interrupted, Clan Kryze requests an alliance to fight against-"

"We'll do it," the Countess answered, cutting him off.

Ezra paused for a moment, then said, "Er, that was a bit easier than I-"

"The Empire took my husband away, and we could do nothing," Ursa proclaimed loudly. "Now, the Imperial governor of Mandalore has fallen, leaving them vulnerable. You are… trusted by my daughter. And most of all, Ezra Kryze, you wield the Darksaber. As such, all Mandalorians are honor-bound to follow you. If you tell us to fight the Empire, very few of our people will deny you."

At the end of her speech, Ezra looked down self-consciously. He had no desire to lead his people. Yet he couldn't back down now. He looked back up at Sabine's mother and said, "Very well then, Countess. I look forward to fighting by your side. Until then, prepare your clan to travel to Mandalore, where Clan Kryze will join us. Three months from now, we plan to land on Mandalore to begin the war. And as a gift to you, our first order of business once we're there will be to free your husband, Alrich."

Ursa nodded her thanks and acceptance, and Ezra turned to exit, Sabine walking by his side. Once they were back outside, she turned to him and asked, "We're going to free my father?"

Ezra nodded. "As soon as we're on Mandalore, we'll begin to search for him."

Sabine smiled and took his hand, squeezing it tightly. "Thank you."

Ezra nodded to her and squeezed her hand back as they walked to the Absolution. Under his helmet, Ezra smiled and thought to himself, You're all the thanks I need, Sabine Wren.