Chapter 38

Sabine POV

Although the flight was short, Thrawn woke himself back up just before they arrived at Ryder's camp site.

Groaning as he climbed to his feet, Thrawn looked over at Ezra flying, then at Sabine, to which he commented, "Miss Wren. I should've suspected that you were accompanying Captain Kryze. A pleasure to see you again."

"Quiet," Sabine demanded shortly.

Seeming unsurprised by her lack of willingness to play his game, Thrawn instead looked around the Defender Elite's cockpit and said, "Well, my new ship certainly performs admirably. How does it handle, Captain Kryze?"

"Quiet," Ezra responded just as Sabine had, not answering his question.

Thrawn fell silent for another moment, then as they flew within sight of Ryder's camp, Thrawn observed, "A well-defended camp, I must say. It must've been difficult to locate. Am I correct in assuming that we are somewhere within the northwest mountain regions near Capital City?"

At that, Sabine slightly winced, as that was precisely where they were, even if it was a very general location. Seeming equally disturbed by Thrawn's observation, Ezra leaned back to say, "Hey, Sabine? If he says one more word, would you please knock him out? I'd rather drag him into a cell than continue listening to him."

Sabine happily turned towards Thrawn and threateningly cracked her knuckles, prompting the Grand Admiral to immediately shut his mouth and keep it closed for the rest of their landing.

Once the Defender set down in the middle of the clearing, Sabine opened the top hatch and climbed out first, expecting that Ezra would be the best candidate to pull Thrawn out. As she jumped out of the ship, she found her Rebel friends all surrounding the Defender with looks of mixed concern and awe. Ryder had his sniper rifle out and was aiming it warily at the fighter.

Approaching Hera and Kanan, Sabine held up her hands and said, "So, about our recon mission-"

Hera put up a hand to stop Sabine there while using her other hand to pinch the bridge of her nose, then sighed out, "Just… don't. We sent you and Ezra on a mission together, and something went wrong, as usual, and you ended up stealing valuable Imperial property, also as usual."

"You forgot the part where we brought back a gift as an apology!" Ezra called down to them as he poked his head out of the top of the Defender.

Raising an eyebrow, Hera said, "A gift other than the fighter itself? It better not be an army of stormtroopers coming this way."

"That would be fun," Ezra admitted, reaching down into the Defender beneath him, "but we got you something even better!"

He then pulled Thrawn into view, and all of the Rebels froze in shock. Ryder lowered his rifle and stared at Thrawn for a moment with wide eyes, then smirked at Ezra and said, "I knew I liked you, Spectre-6!"

Hera just glared up at the Admiral with narrowed eyes, then ordered, "Put him in the brig of Ryder's ship. We'll interrogate him and decide what should be done with him next."

Line Break

About ten minutes later, all of the Rebels were gathered in the hold of Ryder's U-Wing ship, discussing their recent capture of Thrawn.

"We should use him as a bargaining chip against the Empire!" Ryder insisted. "With a prisoner of his ranking, we could demand that they all leave Lothal and never return!"

"Only to have Thrawn come back after drawing us out so he can crush us?" Kanan questioned. "I don't think so. We can't risk him falling back into their hands."

"What we should do is take both the Defender Elite and Thrawn back to Rebel Command, and they can decide what should be done with both of them," Hera argued.

Finally, Sabine silenced them all by loudly saying, "Listen, Ezra already has a plan!"

Everyone quickly fell silent and looked around at Ezra, who was typing away on his vambrace while he silently let them all argue. Under their gaze, he didn't even pause, staying focused on his work while seeming unconcerned about their differing opinions.

"Uh, Sabine?" Ryder asked uncertainly. "Look, I get that from what you told us, this guy single-handedly beat Thrawn, and that's great. But he's young, and also pretty new to this war of ours. It's much bigger than he could know. What we do with Thrawn needs to be carefully thought out. We probably won't get a second chance."

Stepping up next to her boyfriend and clapping him on the shoulder, Sabine said, "Ezra's more than a strong fighter, Ryder. He's a brilliant strategist, and an ex-Imperial. He hasn't told me all the details of his plan, but I think we should at least hear him out. After all, he's the reason we even have all these options."

Ryder looked around at the others for support, but he was surprised to receive none. Sabine knew why, though. Despite the relatively small amount of time they had spent together, everyone in this crew had learned to trust Ezra's judgment. Not being one of the Spectres himself, Ryder didn't trust him so much just yet, but Sabine imagined that that would soon change. When he found the others all looking at Ezra expectantly, Ryder finally just sighed and waved for him to go on.

Sabine placed her hand on Ezra's wrist to get his attention, and he finally looked up before asking her, "Is it my turn to talk now?"

Sabine nodded to him, and he nodded back in acceptance before he pressed a few last buttons on his vambrace before holding it out in front of himself, causing it to emit a small hologram of a cluster of large metal orbs supported in standing positions and surrounded by tall, thick walls.

"We came to Lothal to stop the Defender project from progressing," Ezra said as the lights in the hold automatically dimmed. "We stopped their prototype Defender, just like we were meant to. Now, I say we take it a step further and end Thrawn's project permanently. This hologram is an image of the Empire's fuel reserves that are being set aside purely for the Defenders. I say we take it out, and the Defenders will never fly again."

Kanan stroked his beard and asked, "Why the fuel reserves? Why not the factories?"

"Factories can easily be rebuilt within weeks using the resources on Lothal, or even by taking apart some of their other factories temporarily," Ezra explained. "The amount of fuel they're storing here took them about a decade to amass. Not to mention, it's all extremely combustible, and breaching just one of these storage containers with a powerful enough blast would destroy their entire supply."

Zeb leaned down to examine the orbs and noticed, "Speaking of, where are we going to get that kind of firepower? We don't have any handheld weapons powerful enough to create a sizable breach in these containers, and the city's air defenses would take out our ships before they could get close, even the Defender."

Stroking his chin with one hand, Ryder added, "Well, we do have one weapon that could do the job. Kanan's lightsaber could easily do it."

"Yeah, but then he'd be too close to the blast to survive," Hera said. "Ezra and Sabine both have lightsabers too, and they could use their jetpacks, but they'd still be too close to the blast, and besides, the air defenses would still take them out. Our only hope of flying in would be to use an Imperial patrol ship."

Turning to Ezra and Sabine, Ryder asked, "You two have lightsabers?" They both nodded, and Ryder asked, "Are either of you… er, you know. Jedi?"

Sabine gave Ezra a look, but he just shook his head and said, "No, we're not. We just find lightsabers useful."

Ryder looked down with apparent disappointment, and Sabine internally frowned to herself. Why didn't Ezra want to tell Ryder about his abilities? It wasn't like he was going to tell the Empire.

Speaking of, as every day made their lives harder, Sabine was becoming increasingly worried that Ezra's secret would soon come out. After that happened, it would only be a matter of time until the Empire sent everything they had after him, including Vader. And while Sabine had been working on ways to neutralize Vader if the situation arose, her designs weren't ready quite yet. There was still quite a bit to be done before they would be. Yet when they were finished, she would have more than a few tricks up her sleeve for when Vader arrived. While she'd seen the effects of the Duchess firsthand, she wasn't so much of a fool to assume that it alone would be enough to destroy Vader. In the meantime, she just had to make sure that Ezra didn't bite off more than he could chew.

Ezra POV

Hera crossed her arms and said, "I'll admit, Ezra, the plan has merit. But we still need more details. How would we get in? How do you plan to breach the spheres? What's the escape plan?"

Putting up a finger, Ezra said, "Those are… good questions. First of all, I'm kind of hinging the success of this mission on us getting caught in the act. Right now, the Imperials on this planet are lacking a certain leadership element. The Governor of Lothal has been missing for months, and now they won't be able to establish contact with their 'dead' Grand Admiral. My hope is that once they see us and begin to give chase, they'll deploy AT-ATs to chase us, one of the only things powerful enough to breach those spheres. With Thrawn in command, he'd never let them deploy those walkers anywhere near his fuel supply, but if they deploy without his command, we can hijack one of the walkers and target the fuel lines ourselves. Again, all we'd need is a single hit to destroy the entire place."

Hera nodded and said, "Alright, that could be doable, assuming that it's you doing the hijacking. No offense, Kanan. But getting in and out is still gonna be a challenge."

"Using Thrawn's code cylinders from his jacket, we could get the Defender into the city, but it wouldn't hold more than four of us, three if Zeb was one of them," Sabine said.

Chopper whirred something out, and Sabine rolled her eyes before responding, "Yes, Chop, I'm counting you as a person here. You may be smaller than most humans, but you're about as wide and heavy as our average adult."

"Sabine and I could stick to the side of the sides of the Defender with our grappling lines, but that'd still leave one of us out," Ezra noted.

Frowning, Ryder said, "Uh, two of us. There's seven in this group now, in case you forgot."

Looking at the former governor with sympathy, Ezra told him, "No, one of us. One of us needs to stay back to watch Thrawn while we're gone, and our crew works best together. Sorry, Ryder, but it's best for the mission if you stay behind."

Scowling, Ryder looked down and said, "Great. So while you all run off and destroy the Empire's project, I get to sit back and babysit Thrawn."

Suddenly, a rough, gravelly voice above them said, "Don't bother. I'll take him off your hands."

Before any of them could react, Ezra sensed a life form drop from the ceiling above to land on Kanan's head. As it collided with him, Kanan began to sway back and forth and struggle to pull it off of him, but oddly enough, Ezra couldn't see whatever was attacking his Jedi friend. Whatever it was, it was invisible.

Kanan stumbled around as he struggled to fight the invisible creature, and it forced him back into one of the walls before slamming him against it roughly, then Ezra sensed it jump away from him to land in front of Zeb instead. Even more confused than Kanan, the mighty Lasat quickly got the wind knocked out of him by a few quick strikes to his stomach, unable to fight back against what he could not see.

As she managed to piece together that they were under attack by an invisible adversary, Sabine ran towards the approximate location of their enemy and wrapped her arms around it, seeming to be struggling to restrain the air, and suddenly it flipped her over and onto her back. Whatever was attacking them was both fast and strong, and while it was invisible, Ezra found himself having a difficult time trying to get a lock on it.

Luckily though, Sabine seemed to have realized this issue and seen fit to do something about it. Looking up at the invisible creature from her place on the ground, Sabine smirked and said, "Boom." There was a small moment of silence and stillness, and then a quiet whirring let Ezra in on Sabine's plan, and then there was a small explosion from the air where the creature was, spraying paint in all directions, and suddenly Ezra could see the outline of the creature, its silhouette highlighted by the paint that now covered its body.

It was the shape of a small humanoid creature, kind of hunched over. It looked down at itself in surprise as it suddenly became more-or-less visible, and Ezra smirked as he suddenly used the Force to lift the creature into the air before throwing it against the wall and pinning it there.

He then stretched out his other hand and summoned the source of the creature's invisibility, and immediately, a small device flew off of the creature's wrist to land in Ezra's palm, and the creature became visible to all of their eyes. It was a Noghri, a species of small, gray-skinned humanoids with spiked ridges on their heads from the planet Honoghr, and it was carrying an electrostaff/rifle on its back, clearly a customized weapon, typically the mark of a bounty hunter or assassin.

Judging by its species, weapon, and apparent devotion to Thrawn indicated by his opening statement, Ezra thought he knew this particular creature, despite never having actually met him. "Oh, no," he groaned.

Raising his bo-rifle to aim it at the Noghri, Zeb asked, "What is it? What is this thing?"

"I'm pretty sure this is Thrawn's personal assassin, Rukh," Ezra explained. "Never met him, but supposedly he's a master tracker and fighter. Apparently, he followed Thrawn here to try to free him. Unfortunately for him, he marked Kanan and Zeb as the biggest threats in the room."

"I'm sorry, I'm confused here," Ryder said as he pointed back and forth between Ezra and the immobile, struggling creature that was Rukh. "Ezra, you… You said you weren't a Jedi, but minutes later, you sure look like one."

"I'm no Jedi, Ryder," Ezra insisted. "A Jedi holds back."

And with that said, Ezra suddenly used his grip on Rukh to tug the Noghri towards him, then quickly activated his lightsaber and sliced the creature's arms off with two quick strikes before releasing him. As Rukh fell to his knees in pain and let out a loud yell of pain, Ezra clipped his lightsaber back to his belt and turned to look at his wide-eyed companions, then shrugged and said, "I didn't kill him. I guess you guys are rubbing off on me."

He then gestured at Rukh and said, "He's probably still dangerous, just so you know. I'd advise taking away his weapon and putting binders on his feet. I'm gonna work on finding a way for our last person to get into the city. Oh, and Ryder, I guess you have someone else to babysit now."

Ezra began to walk away to find somewhere to think but then Hera put up a hand and called out, "Wait, Ezra, I've got it!"

He turned back to her and raised an eyebrow in curiosity, and Hera continued, "We can take the hyperdrive out of the Defender and have Sabine fit it into Ryder's U-Wing. Then, I can be our sixth person and take Ryder, Thrawn, and Thrawn's assassin to Rebel Command, along with the Defender Elite's flight data recorder to show the Rebellion how dangerous it is, then I can return with a fleet of starships that can take out the Defender factory."

Frowning, Ezra warned, "Just because we have a hyperdrive doesn't necessarily mean that we can just leave. The Seventh Fleet is still in orbit, and I'm sure that Thrawn's defenses are holding strong, even in his absence. Officially, the fleet has been operating without his command for months."

"Hera can make it through," Kanan said with certainty.

Hera gave Kanan an appreciative glance, then looked back to Ezra with determination and confidence. Ezra looked back and forth between Hera and Kanan for a moment, then sighed and said, "Alright, you can try it. We'll take out the city's perimeter cannons while you're gone so you have a straight shot to the factory once you clear the atmosphere. My plan for a ground assault will be Plan B."

He turned to Sabine and gave her a look, and she instantly nodded in understanding before saying, "I'll get the hyperdrive hooked up to the U-Wing."

She then quickly ran outside to get to work, and Ezra told the others, "Hera, get some rest and prepare to make your run on the Seventh Fleet's blockade. Everyone else, take inventory of our weaponry. Thirty-six hours after she leaves, we're going to blow the city's perimeter cannons so that they're destroyed by the time she gets back with her squadron."

Everyone nodded in acceptance and began to walk off to do their part, except for Kanan, who stayed back and approached Ezra. "I see you're taking charge again, just like on Mandalore," the Jedi observed.

Ezra just shrugged and said, "I've spent much of my life studying war rather than practicing it. Not common for a Mandalorian, but it taught me how to counter my enemies rather than just fight them."

"You're no slouch in combat either," Kanan joked.

Looking down modestly, Ezra responded, "I trained my entire childhood to be better than anyone else, and I only increased that training over the years. But I've still done a lot more preparing for a fight than actually fighting. Sometimes I wonder if I think too much and act too little because of it."

Kanan placed a hand on Ezra's shoulder and said, "In this case at least, I think you do just the right amount of thinking. The Jedi taught that fighting was never the first option, and this is why. Your plans are keeping people safe rather than just throwing them into a fight. I'm proud of you for stepping up."

Smirking, Ezra gently pushed Kanan's hand off of him and said, "Watch out there, Kanan. You're not my father."

"Something tells me that you actually appreciate that fact," Kanan said with a smile. "But if it makes you feel better, I may not be your father, Ezra, but you'll always have a place among our family."

Touched by the Jedi's words, Ezra looked down and quietly laughed to himself before saying, "And to think that when we met, we tried to kill each other."

Chuckling as well, Kanan added, "And I said that you weren't Sabine's type. Look how that turned out. Seems so long ago, doesn't it?"

Ezra nodded in agreement. The last few months of his life had been more eventful and exciting than the previous seven years, and Ezra had loved every second of it. Before, he had separated himself from everything that didn't involve his mission, but since then, he had found more than he ever could've dreamed, and created something truly worth fighting for.

Suddenly, as they stood there looking at each other with mutual gratitude, Zeb suddenly ran back into the hold, seeming out of breath, and struggled to speak to them. "Kanan, Ezra, the ship- We've been-" he stammered out, and Kanan quickly said, "Zeb! Take a deep breath, and tell us what's wrong."

Zeb nodded as he did just that, drawing in and releasing a deep breath, then panickedly said, "It's Thrawn! We went to put his assassin in brig, and Thrawn was gone! He's escaped!"

A/N: I know that this chapter was rather uneventful, but it was an important part of the plot that will be continued in the next chapter, which I will try to post tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading!