Chapter 26

One simple ruse and a half-hour later, Sabine's rebel family were being marched into the command center of the Chimaera. As expected, the Ghost crew were speechless when Ezra led them onto the bridge like he owned the place (though technically, he did now). Personally, Ezra thought that getting to see their expressions made the whole thing well worth it to steal a few Star Destroyers.

Spreading his arms to help them take in the scene, Ezra backed down the central walkway and smirked at the rebels as he said, "Not a bad haul for just a few months, eh?"

As they all removed the fake binders from their wrists, Hera asked, "You do know that this ship is still swarming with stormtrooper guards, right? You haven't fully taken the ship yet."

"Ah, but we have!" Ezra said joyously. "We have full control of the entire fleet! We just haven't let the Empire in on the secret yet. So sure, maybe it has a pest problem, but the plan to deal with that is already underway. As soon as we receive word from all of the other ships, we launch the Imperials into space and begin either sorting prisoners or practicing our aim with our new cannons."

Taking his lightsaber back from one of the Mandalorians that had confiscated it as part of the ruse, Kanan said, "I'll admit it, Ezra. I'm impressed. It's not everyone that can steal a Star Destroyer in a day, much less a fleet of them."

Just then, Kallus limped forward, leaning against Captain Garazeb Orrelios for support, and told the Jedi, "That's not all, Kanan. From what I overheard, Captain Kryze has also seen fit to offer the Rebellion two of the Destroyers captured today, as well as the Interdictor."

Garazeb snarled down at Kallus and said, "No way! He's not just going to hand over a few Star Destroyers!"

"Actually, Captain Orrelios, I am," Ezra confirmed for him. "You will be given two of the Imperial-II class Destroyers, as well as the Interdictor, at no cost and with no strings attached. However, consider it a gift from Sabine, not me."

"He means that it's a gift from us," Sabine's voice called, and Ezra turned around to see a small hologram of Sabine standing on a nearby control console, her arms crossed over her chest.

She smiled at her family, then turned to Ezra and said, "We have all the Imperials in their escape pods, Ezra. We faced some resistance, but luckily most of them are well-trained to follow orders without question."

Ezra nodded in satisfaction and ordered, "Launch them."

Sabine bowed her head slightly in acceptance, and then the image flickered out. Looking out into space, Ezra saw their new fleet launching hundreds of escape pods into space. The few that went further than was deemed acceptable, or attempted to flee to Atollon, were immediately shot down.

Smiling in satisfaction, Ezra turned to Chopper and said, "Droid, lock all the doors on the Chimaera. We won't be able to launch these soldiers in the escape pods, so we'll have to sanitize this place one room at a time."

Pointing across the room at Trev, who was standing next to the entrance to the room, Ezra continued, "Coordinate with my friend Trev Pattol here. He'll tell you which doors to open and when. After that, search our new prisoners and get me the high-ranking officials from this fleet rounded up. One in particular that I want is named Captain Pellaeon. I want him brought to the Chimaera, and the rebels can have Governor Pryce."

Chopper hummed an affirmative response, and Garazeb growled. "Why does that bucket of bolts listen to you?" he asked. "I've been on the same ship as him for years, and all he does is give me grief."

"Perhaps you should take a closer look at your droid friend's motives, Captain," Ezra said as he patted Chopper on the head. "He's a soldier, albeit a temperamental one, so all I have to do is give him orders, and he knows to do the right thing."

Chopper let out a few grunts, then turned back to his work as Trev nodded to Ezra and left the room, taking a few more Mandalorians with him.

At the feeling of a small, now familiar tingling in his head, Ezra then turned back to Sabine's family and told them, "Sabine's on her way. She'll be here shortly, though it may take a few minutes before she arrives on the bridge with all our doors being locked. Until then, feel free to wander. We're still waiting on some more astromechs to fly these Destroyers. Even with our combined groups, we're a few thousand short of being able to control one of these things manually."

Their group slowly broke off to go do their own thing. Captain Rex went over to examine the ship's armament. Zeb began to take care of Kallus' injuries, grumbling under his breath the whole time. Hera jumped down into the technicians' pit on one side of the command bridge and began to examine the flight controls for the Destroyer, no doubt wanting to familiarize herself with them before the Rebellion needed to know how to use one. Even if they would be getting Imperial-II class Destroyers and an Interdictor and this ship was an Imperial-I class, the controls weren't really that different, as far as Ezra knew. Finally, Kanan decided to walk forward and talk with Ezra.

"You're getting the hang of this leadership thing, Ezra," the blind Jedi said as he placed a hand on Ezra's shoulder. "And managing a victory like this? I don't suppose you've been starting to get the hang of using the Force also?"

Lowering his head, Ezra sighed and said, "Look, I know I said that I didn't need it, and now that I'm using it I sound like a hypocrite. I just… What you said to me about it being a wasted tool in my arsenal really stuck with me. And it's proven so useful."

Kanan nodded sagely and responded, "It certainly is. But I'm wondering, are you sure that you don't want any sort of Jedi training? It would make you even more formidable than you already are. I also see that you've taken to using the Darksaber."

Looking down at the hilt on his belt, then back up at Kanan's masked face, Ezra said, "How do you… Nevermind. I'm sure it's more of that Jedi stuff that I never understand. Yeah, I have the Darksaber. So what?"

Raising his hands in a gesture of surrender, Kanan said, "Nothing. But I guess you got over whatever it was about that thing that bothered you, huh?"

Frowning down at the weapon, Ezra responded, "Well… not entirely. But it's a weapon, and I can use it in ways that neither a Jedi or a Mandalorian can. I used it to take over this fleet today."

"Then just think what you could do if you really knew how to use it, and the Force too," Kanan pushed him. Ezra thought it over, and just then, Sabine walked onto the bridge with her helmet under her arm.

Gesturing over her shoulder, Sabine said, "This place is a bit treacherous to navigate. All the doors are shut tight, and every few doors that you walk through, you run into a couple stormtroopers. Seriously, it's like a spaceport out there."

"The Imperials?" Ezra questioned, wanting to have this all dealt with so they could get back to work.

Placing a hand on her hip, Sabine reported, "Most pods were destroyed, but we're almost done rounding up and sorting out the prisoners."

Then, the Countess Wren entered the room behind her daughter with a gold and gray astromech following closely behind her and added, "And we're finally ready to get moving. A ship just arrived to deliver our new pilots. Ezra, if you would move that C1 unit out of the way, R6 here can get plugged in."

Turning to Chopper, Ezra told him, "You heard her. Time to unplug."

Chopper just sank further in place and shook his head, grumbling out a denial. "I don't care if you like flying this thing, you need to move aside now!" Ezra told him, then tried to push him out of the way, but the dumb droid wouldn't budge. Growling in frustration, Ezra complained, "The droid's magnetically locked himself down!"

Hera peered over the edge of the bridge and ordered, "Chopper! Unplug and get over here now!"

Chopper let out a sad moan, but nevertheless obeyed and rolled his way over to Hera as the Twi'lek pilot climbed out of the hole in the floor to tightly hug Sabine as the new R6 pilot droid wheeled over to take Chopper's place.

Tightly squeezing Sabine around the back, Hera said, "Thank you for coming when we needed you, Sabine. You don't know what your support meant to us today."

Sabine finally pulled out of Hera's embrace to say, "I want to return the favor, Hera. We're about to make our move on Mandalore, and even though we've gained some advantages, we could still use all the help we can get."

"You can go and take Kanan with you, but it looks like I now need to bring our survivors and a few giant starships back to Rebel command," Hera said apologetically.

Sabine nodded in silent acceptance and Ezra teased Kanan, "You hear that? Your girlfriend is unloading you on us. What'd you do to make her want to get rid of you?"

Going along with the joke, Kanan responded, "Well, I did almost die earlier today. She probably just wants to get away from the drama for a while."

Clapping the Jedi on the shoulder, Ezra smiled at him and said, "Well, don't worry. You're gonna have fun with us. Working with these rebels will seem like paradise compared to what we're about to get into."

Kanan frowned and said, "Somehow, that's not exactly comforting."

Ezra just waved him off and looked back over to Sabine, where he saw her trying to introduce Hera to her mother. Hera put out a hand and said, "We are grateful for your assistance today, Ursa."

The Countess looked down at Hera's hand, then grabbed it and shook it firmly. "And I am grateful for all that you've done for my daughter, Captain Syndulla," Ursa said in response.

"Please, call me Hera," the Twi'lek requested. "And taking care of Sabine was our pleasure. You raised a wonderful daughter, Ursa."

"I would argue that both of us raised a wonderful daughter, Captain," Ursa said gratefully.

Kanan then looked over and called out, "Hey! What about me?"

"Ah, yes. And Kanan was there as well," Hera said jokingly, and Ursa laughed. Kanan looked affronted and began to protest, but then he just slumped forward with a sigh, giving in.

He perked back up as he remembered something and turned to tell Ezra, "Let's change the subject. I forgot to ask you earlier, whatever happened with Maul? Did you find Master Kenobi?"

His face suddenly turning guarded, Ezra said, "No, we didn't. But we took care of Maul."

"Well, you're lying," Kanan instantly said.

Scowling, Ezra told him, "Stay out of my head, Jedi!"

Ignoring him, Kanan asked, "You found him, didn't you? Master Kenobi… he's really still out there."

Looking up from the console he was examining, Captain Rex asked, "I'm sorry, did you just say that General Kenobi is alive?"

"No!" Ezra insisted. "He's dead. Very dead."

"So Senator Organa was wrong when he confirmed his death. Why isn't he helping us then?" Rex asked, no longer listening to Ezra.

Ezra marched up to Rex and said sternly, "Listen here, Clone. The Jedi you may have once known is dead. If you've got a problem with that, I'd be happy to knock some sense into you."

Rex glared back at Ezra, and suddenly Sabine said, "Look, everyone calm down! Ezra's telling the truth. Master Kenobi wasn't there, just some old remains that Maul seemed to think were his."

While grateful for her support, Ezra glanced over at Kanan, who would still be able to sense their lie, but the blind Jedi just lowered his head in resignation and didn't speak. Rex cast his gaze down sadly, his hopes crushed, and Ezra sighed as he felt the need to relieve his guilt.

"No," Ezra said. "Sabine, much as I appreciate your help, they deserve to know."

Sabine looked at him with concern, but nodded encouragement.

Ezra addressed them all as he said, "We didn't find his remains. We found him. Obi-Wan Kenobi is alive on Tatooine, and we're pretty sure that he took out Maul before we left. We asked him to leave with us, but he refused."

Frowning, Zeb asked, "What could this old guy have to do on Tatooine of all places that's more important than saving the galaxy?"

"Perhaps it is something that we cannot understand yet, but may learn in time," Kanan said wisely.

"Well, we'll have to leave 'in time' for later," Hera said. "Now that we have our droids, we need to get our Rebels back to home base."

Hera walked over to Kanan before placing a hand on his shoulder and telling him, "Be safe."

"Aren't I always?" Kanan asked, taking her other hand in his.

"Hardly ever," Hera responded with a smirk, then turned to walk out of the room, followed by Chopper, Rex, Zeb, and Kallus.

Sabine POV

Before Hera got out the door, Sabine remembered that she should probably tell her something. Calling out, "Wait!" as she ran to stand in front of her leaving friends, Sabine quickly told them, "Er… Before you go, you need to know something."

Raising an eyebrow, Hera said, "Alright. What is it?"

Giving Ezra a nervous look, Sabine told her surrogate family, "Um… Well, Ezra and I are… dating now."

Their reactions were not what Sabine had been expecting.

The first one was from Zeb, who laughed uproariously and said, "You're dating your kidnapper? Sabine, who never wanted to date anyone during her time with us, chooses her kidnapper to be her first boyfriend? Ha! You Mandalorians are crazy!"

Kallus, who Sabine had first found out was their Fulcrum agent a few months ago, leaned heavily against Zeb and said calmly, "It seems that congratulations are in order. I wish you both the best of luck in your new relationship, though I imagine that a first-time romance will have trouble blossoming in the fires of war."

Rex scowled and pointed his thumb over his shoulder at Ezra, asking, "You mean the Mandalorian with the unnecessary cape and the attitude problem?" Sabine nodded hesitantly to him, and Rex looked back at Ezra before smiling at Sabine, saying, "I like him."

From where he stood next to Ezra, Kanan leaned over to the younger man and said, "I didn't think that Mandalorians did the whole dating thing."

"Sabine does," Ezra explained, and Kanan just nodded in understanding.

Finally, Hera just crossed her arms over her chest and asked, "Does he make you happy?"

Not even needing a moment to think about it, Sabine answered, "Very."

Hera nodded in satisfaction and told her, "Then hold onto him, Sabine. I hope that your relationship is everything that I have with Kanan."

And with that, Hera walked out of the room, lightly patting Sabine on the shoulder as she walked past, the rest of the rebels (except Kanan, of course) following behind her.

After they were gone, Sabine walked over to Ezra and said, "Well, I guess we'd better get going as well. Your mom is going to wonder why we needed three astromechs sent to the Atollon system when we were supposed to be on Krownest."

Ezra nodded in agreement and said, "Agreed, and we'll get going soon, but first…" He turned around to the main control console and pressed a button to contact the other ships in the fleet. "Mandalorians, this is the Chimaera command ship. The Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn is currently on Atollon's surface somewhere with his ground forces. He has no ships or communications, and we have no intention of letting him contact anyone for an escape after we leave. All batteries, target the former location of the Rebel base and commence orbital bombardment."

Sabine's eyes widened as she watched hundreds of heavy cannons, formerly the weaponry of the Empire, all turn to aim at what had recently been her second home, and then open fire. Hundreds of massive green blasts of energy flew through space and lit up the surface of Atollon in fiery explosions. From this distance, high above the planet, the sight was almost beautiful.

Crossing his arms as he looked at the destruction, Kanan commented, "Well, let's hope that this will be the last we see of Thrawn. I can sense hundreds of deaths down there, but I can't guarantee that any of them are him."

"I'll live with the assumption, Master Jedi," Ezra said with a smile. Finally, he ordered, "Cease fire. All ships, double check to make sure that all Imperial trackers and self-destruct sequences on your ships have been deactivated, then head back to Concord Dawn. We need to get our newest assets back to base."

Line Break

Not wanting their new toys to get damaged, Sabine forced Ezra to radio ahead and warn the Mandalorian base on Concord Dawn that they had three friendly Star Destroyers inbound. He would've preferred to just show up with them and enjoy their reactions, but their reactions would probably involve an all-out attack on the Destroyers, so Ezra would have to make do without his surprise.

Still, he was saddened by the loss of his little joke, and as she watched him slumping dejectedly in the co-pilot's seat of the Absolution as they flew down to the planet below, Sabine leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek to try to cheer him up, and it seemed to work, at least a little bit. She didn't want him to be sad when they arrived, even though his pouting was the reason that Sabine was being allowed to fly his ship right now.

As he saw Sabine give Ezra a kiss, Kanan gave a small chuckle from behind them, and Sabine turned to glare at him, asking, "Something funny?"

Still smiling, Kanan responded, "Not funny. Just… nice. In the Force, I can see this… shining line connecting you two together. All living creatures look like bright lights to me, connected to one another with these lines, and people with close connections have brighter lines connecting them to each other. You and Ezra share one of these lines, and sometimes, like just now when you kissed him, it gets a little bit brighter. It's amazing how beautiful love can look in the Force. Maybe the one thing that my lack of sight has actually improved."

Sabine was rendered speechless by Kanan's words, and Ezra asked, "How has Hera not married you yet if you say things like that to her? I'll need to take notes from you sometime."

"Yes, you will," Sabine told him eagerly then turned to Kanan and sincerely said, "That was beautiful, Kanan. I wish I could see things like you do."

Kanan scoffed and asked, "Really? The artist wants to be blind?"

"On second thought, I'll just let Ezra take his notes," Sabine said.

Soon, they landed on Concord Dawn's surface. As the three of them walked out of the Absolution, they saw Lady Kryze waiting for them with several Mandalorians standing behind them.

Some of them rested their hands on their weapons as they noticed the lightsaber hilt hanging on Kanan's belt, but luckily no one attacked. Sabine felt relieved by that fact. From her past experiences fighting Kanan, Sabine highly doubted that any of the Mandalorians here would be able to take on Kanan and win, except perhaps Ezra if he performed at his absolute peak.

As they approached Ezra's mother, Bo said, "Well, Ezra, you are still full of surprises, aren't you? You were supposed to be on a routine mapping mission."

Ezra just shrugged modestly, and Bo turned to Kanan to say, "Kanan Jarrus, I presume. I am Lady Bo-Katan Kryze of Clan Kryze. My son has told me of you, Master Jedi. Are you here to help us, or are you a prisoner?"

Ezra gave a small cough of embarrassment, and Kanan smiled before shaking Bo's hand and answering, "I'm here to repay the favor for your people coming to our rescue when we were ambushed at our base on Atollon. I look forward to working with you, Lady Kryze."

Bo released Kanan's hand and raised an eyebrow at Ezra, saying, "Unfortunately, Master Jarrus, I wasn't made aware that they were going to help you, or I would've gone to assist them. Yet I'm sure that my son performed admirably in my stead."

Pointing up to the sky at where the three Star Destroyers could still be seen in low orbit, with multiple smaller ships flying to and from each of them, Kanan said, "See for yourself, my Lady."

Looking up at the Destroyers, Bo said, "Yes, I was just about to get to that." Looking down at her son, she asked him, "Ezra, how is it that you go to Krownest to find a place to put our extra ships and end up accidentally commandeering three Star Destroyers?"

"Well, technically it was five Destroyers and a cruiser, but we gave a few of them away," Ezra answered innocently. "As for how, we saw them. We wanted them. So we took them."

Bo face-palmed, sighed, and muttered, "Every time I take my eyes off this child, I swear…" After a few seconds, Bo looked back up at them and told Kanan, "My apologies, Master Jedi. You must be tired, and we haven't been very accommodating. I'll have a tent set up for you immediately."

Holding up a hand to stop her, Kanan said, "Actually, I'd prefer to set it up myself."

Looking confused, Bo began to say, "But aren't you…?"

Clearing her throat, Sabine walked up to Bo and whispered in her ear, "He's blind, but he can still see. He wants solitude for a while. It's a Jedi thing."

After Sabine stepped back, Bo still looked confused, but she just shook her head and said, "Very well, Jedi. I will have a tent brought to you so that you can choose a spot and set it up yourself. Please, make yourself comfortable."

Kanan nodded his head to Bo and said, "Thank you, but you can have the tent brought here and left next to Ezra's ship. I'll pick it up later. For now…" He began to walk away in one direction and gestured for Ezra to follow him, finishing with, "Ezra, come with me. I need to talk to you."

Sabine turned to meet Ezra's gaze questioningly, but he just shrugged. He then walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her before pulling her close and whispering to her, "I'm gonna go after Kanan, but you did a good job today, Commander Wren. I know I kind of took over with the whole 'stealing the Destroyers' thing, but this is your win. You were amazing."

Sabine blushed with pride and lightly pushed Ezra away shyly, smiling to herself and telling him, "Go after your Jedi, flatterer."

Ezra smirked and pulled her in to kiss the top of her head, then released her and ran after Kanan.

Still smiling after he was gone, Sabine turned back to face Ezra's mother, who was raising an eyebrow at her, and Sabine said, "He's nice, isn't he? I suppose I have you to thank for that."

Bo shook her head and responded, "Like I told you before, I had nothing to do with raising him to be kind or charming. And he's not just nice to you, Wren. My son truly does love you."

Blushing once again and looking after Ezra, Sabine smiled to herself in joy. He really did love her. And she loved him. She could hardly recall a time when she didn't feel like she needed Ezra Kryze in her life, but she was much happier now that she did.