Chapter 43

Ezra POV

By the time Ezra and Sabine left their tent the next morning, both of them yawning and wiping their eyes as they'd been woken up by the sound of lots of movement outside, they were confused to find that the rest of their camp seemed to be missing. The other tents were all gone, the stones they'd used for seats were nowhere to be seen, and the place that their campfire had been was now cleared up like it hadn't been used in years.

"Are we in the right place?" Sabine asked with a frown.

Ezra just shrugged and responded, "If so, someone else moved us. Neither of us move around much in our sleep, definitely not enough to bring our tent somewhere else."

"You're still in the same place," came Kanan's voice as he walked over to them from behind their tent.

As Ezra faced the Jedi, he thought once again that it was going to take some getting used to seeing Kanan with his eyes intact. Having never known Kanan before his blindness, it now felt so strange to see him able to… well, see. "Last night, Hera decided that we would head back to Rebel Command today," Kanan explained.

Shocked, Ezra asked, "Wait, we're going back? But… Lothal hasn't been freed from Imperial occupation yet!"

Looking down, Kanan said, "Maybe not, but that wasn't our mission here, Ezra. Look, I understand wanting to fix all this. Really, I do, and with your abilities, I'm sure you could do it, but we need to be going. Other systems need our help too."

Scowling and storming around his tent towards where the other Spectres were loading up a Rebel transport that must've arrived this morning, then walking up to Hera, Ezra asked, "What's this I hear about us giving up on saving Lothal?"

Sighing in exasperation, Hera responded, "We're not giving up on saving Lothal, Ezra. We just have other missions. Freeing the planet was never our job. We were just supposed to come here to stop the Defender Elite, and we've already exceeded that mandate several times. We not only stopped the Defender and stole its data,, we stole the entire fighter. Then we killed Thrawn's assassin. Then we destroyed Capital City's main defenses. Then we destroyed the fuel depot, stopping TIE Defender production permanently. Then we killed the new acting governor of Lothal. Then, just last night, we destroyed the Empire's latest line of vehicles and hopefully encouraged a lot of people to join Ryder's fight."

"Is something wrong with any of that?" Ezra questioned.

Hera shook her head and answered, "No, it's just a lot more than we came here for. We accomplished a lot here. We're bringing what may be the greatest starfighter ever built back with us. Kanan even got his eyes back while here. But we have other duties. I'm sure that you, as a Mandalorian, can understand putting your duty ahead of your desires."

Ezra began to slump in defeat, accepting Hera's point, but then he propped up again as he had an idea and said, "What if I know what we can do to help the Rebellion more than anything else right now? Something that will both free Lothal and potentially save the Rebellion from disaster?"

Freezing on her way to load another crate on board the ship, Hera turned her head to him and raised an eyebrow before saying, "I'm listening. What did you have in mind?"

Smirking, Ezra said, "It's simple. We set a trap for all of the remaining Imperials on Lothal, and once we have them in custody, we threaten to destroy them. By tomorrow, Thrawn should be getting back to Lothal from Coruscant, and he'll have no choice but to try to stop us. And when he does, we assassinate Grand Admiral Thrawn."

As he finished saying all these things, the other Rebels all looked at him in shock. Zeb dropped the crate he was carrying and put a hand on his head as he asked, "Did you just say 'simple'? That's not simple. It's suicide!"

"While I wouldn't be against killing Thrawn, I agree with Zeb," Ryder added. "You're talking about starting a war with every Imperial force on Lothal at once and trying to win it all within the same day."

"I'm not suggesting we fight them all," Ezra quickly explained. "Merely that we get them all in one place so that they're easy pickings. Like fish in a barrel."

Crossing his arms, Kanan asked, "How would you even accomplish something like this? How could you trap every single Imperial on this planet at once?"

"The Imperial dome in the center of the city can function as an emergency evacuation vessel for all Imperial forces on the planet," Ezra explained. "If we can get a planet-wide evacuation order out, all Imperials would retreat to the dome, and we can launch it into the atmosphere before setting it to self-destruct. And as I said, Thrawn would be arriving right about the time we launch, allowing us to kill him when he's forced to confront us personally."

"And how exactly would you go about killing him?" Hera asked.

"Let me handle that," Ezra said with confidence.

"How could we get a planet-wide evacuation order?" Sabine questioned. "With Thrawn out of the system, the acting governor dead, and the Imperials no longer taking Captain Kryze's orders, we don't have anyone with enough authority to order something like that."

Smirking, Ezra corrected her, "Yes, we do. We have Pryce."

Her eyes widening in realization, Sabine said, "Of course! We can send this ship back to the Rebellion and have them remand Governor Pryce to our custody, and we can bring her back to Lothal and force her to order the evacuation!"

Looking at Ezra uncertainly, Hera asked, "And you're certain that you could convince her to do such a thing?"

"Hera, please," Ezra said, sounding insulted. "To make one of my plans succeed, I bet I could convince Darth Vader to eat his vegetables."

Sighing, Kanan shrugged to Hera and said, "We've seen him do worse. I think it might be worth a shot."

Hera hesitated for a moment with everyone looking to her and awaiting her decision, and finally she seemed to give in. "Fine," she said. "We'll try it. But if anything goes wrong, Ezra, a lot of people are going to get hurt. Thrawn won't be going easy on us."

Not losing his trademark smirk of teasing confidence, Ezra said, "I'm counting on it."

Line Break

Sabine POV

Hera had been the only one to go to Yavin 4 to bring back Governor Pryce, and when she returned, now flying the Ghost, she had also brought along a few extra helpers in the form of Alexsandr Kallus, Captain Rex, and two more clones about Rex's age that Sabine had first met at the same time as Rex himself, Clone Commanders Gregor and Wolffe.

While Sabine hadn't really expected anyone to be coming back with Hera other than Pryce, she was particularly surprised to see Gregor and Wolffe here, as she hadn't even known that they had ever joined the Rebellion. Still, it was good to see them again.

However, knowing that Ezra hadn't met them yet, she pulled her boyfriend, now wearing his freshly-repainted armor, towards the two new clones as they began to disembark their ship when it landed. She stopped in front of Gregor and Wolffe and introduced, "Gregor, Wolffe, this is Ezra Kryze, my boyfriend. I don't know how long you two have been with the Rebellion, but you may have heard of him. Ezra, these two men are-"

"Clone Commander Wolffe or CC-3636 of the 104th Battalion, the famed Wolfpack, and Clone Commando Gregor of Foxtrot Group, Special Ops, designation CC-5576-39," Ezra finished for her, leaning forward to shake both men's hands. He nodded to them with appreciation and told them, "I've read up on your careers, and let me just say that it's an honor to meet you both. Commander Wolffe, your efforts on Lola Sayu were simply incredible. And Commander Gregor! Your sacrifice on the planet Abafar is the stuff of legends! And surviving the Battle of Sarrish? You, sir, must be quite indestructible."

Both clones smiled modestly at Ezra's compliments, and then Wolffe looked over to Rex and asked, "Hey, Captain! This kid is the one you said had the mouth on 'im?"

"Yeah, I don't know about that, Rex," Gregor agreed.

Stepping up next to them and folding his arms across his chest, Rex said, "Ah, give him a minute. He'll start giving you attitude any second now."

"Actually, I only gave you that because I know you like a little moxie, Captain," Ezra said. "Half of the people you recruited into the 501st were hotheads, after all."

Rex chuckled and said, "True enough, they were. It's good seeing you again, Kryze." He then began to walk away to greet Kanan, followed by the other two clones.

Meanwhile, Sabine raised an eyebrow at Ezra. When he noticed it, he asked innocently, "What?"

"You know Wolffe and Gregor?" she asked.

Shrugging, he responded, "Well, they knew you longer than quite a few people you met over the years. Besides, their files were an interesting read."

Sabine just rolled her eyes and began to walk back to join the rest of the group, somewhat disappointed that she was never able to introduce Ezra to someone without discovering that he knew more about them than she did.

Once all the Rebels were gathered together in a circle, Ryder looked around the group and said, "Hera, if you were going to bring reinforcements, couldn't you have brought more than four people? Eleven guns isn't much to fight the Empire."

"I carry two guns," Sabine, Ezra, Wolffe, and Rex all said at the same time.

"And I don't have any!" Gregor added with a mad grin.

Sighing, Ryder clarified, "I meant eleven people. We're going to be vastly outnumbered."

Seeming unconcerned, Ezra waved him off and said, "Hey, I wasn't even counting on reinforcements. Besides, there's actually twelve of us, counting Pryce."

Almost on cue, sounds of outraged yelling came from the open ramp of the Ghost, no doubt the sound of Arihnda Pryce struggling against her bonds.

"Ah, yes, our unwilling member of the team," Kanan said sarcastically.

"And we're trusting her to get us into the dome's command center without trying to betray us?" Kallus asked.

Shaking her head, Sabine answered, "Definitely not. She'll absolutely attempt to betray us. That's where Ezra's powers of persuasion come in."

Nodding, Ezra explained, "Force-users have this ability to control a person's mind. Kanan showed me how it works, and I'm going to do it on Pryce."

Frowning at this new information, Kanan said, "Ezra, I did it on a pair of regular stormtroopers. Pryce's mind won't be so easily manipulated."

Smiling, Ezra said, "I don't have to manipulate it, I just have to control it. I can force my way into her head without her needing to let me, then make her do whatever I want."

Clearly against the idea, Kanan argued, "Ezra, a mind is a fragile thing against the Force. Even if that were to work, you could easily end up breaking her mind permanently. Besides, controlling a person's actions against their will is getting dangerously close to the Dark Side."

Seeing that Ezra wasn't backing down, Sabine then interjected, "What if we just tell her to go along with it, and if she doesn't agree, then Ezra can take control of her mind. We can even threaten her with it beforehand to encourage her to behave herself."

Shrugging, Ezra kept his eyes on Kanan as he said, "Works for me."

Everyone now looked to Kanan for his decision, and after clenching his teeth for a few seconds, the Jedi finally said, "Fine."

Smirking in victory, Ezra said, "Alright then! While you guys ready the gunship, me and Sabine will go prep Pryce for her last act as Governor of Lothal." He then began to walk back towards the Ghost, and Sabine quickly fell in line next to him.

They entered Pryce's cell together, where Pryce's wrists were bound together by a pair of binders that hung on a rack over her head, keeping her trapped in place. When she saw them, she glared at them both and said, "Well, well. Sabine Wren and the Mandalorian who captured me. Judging by this young man's armor, I assumed that he must have some connection to you, Wren."

At that moment, they both removed their helmets, and Pryce's eyes widened when she saw Ezra's face, then narrowed as she said, "So, Captain Kryze. You are the one who captured me. You should know, Kryze, one does not simply betray Grand Admiral Thrawn and hope to live. I will enjoy watching him tear you apart."

Ezra's smile didn't falter as he stepped closer to Pryce and said, "I would like to challenge that claim, Arihnda. Here's what you need to know. We're going to free Lothal from the Empire, and you're going to help us."

Pryce scoffed and argued, "I would never help you. And freeing Lothal? You don't stand a chance. Thrawn would never permit it to happen. This Rebellion you've joined is doomed to fail, Kryze."

Sabine just shrugged and said, "I don't know. We already freed Mandalore. With Ezra's help, we're having a hard time being scared so much these days. He's made us bolder, just like with what we're going to do today. With your help, we're going to launch the Imperial dome."

Her eyes widening again in surprise, Pryce looked to Ezra and asked, "The dome? I thought you were smarter than that, Kryze. You know that Thrawn will stop you."

Leaning against the wall next to the former governor, Ezra asked, "Then what do you have to fear? All we need are your access codes, and I've been told to warn you that I can make you give them to us. You can either go along with our plan willingly or by force. But you should know that if it's by force, it's going to get messy for you."

For a moment, Sabine saw a flicker of fear flash across Pryce's face, but then it was replaced by a kind of fake courage, and she said, "I don't fear you, Kryze, and I will never willingly betray my Empire. Do your worst."

Sabine looked down and sighed with sad disappointment as she saw Ezra shrug and say, "Alright. If you insist."

Unable to watch whatever was about to happen, Sabine turned around and walked out of the room. Just before the door closed behind her, she heard Pryce's screams begin to echo loudly from her cell.

Line Break

"I told you I didn't want you doing that, Ezra," Kanan grumbled as they flew in their stolen Imperial gunship towards the Capital. Most of them were merely holding on tightly in the back while Hera and Wolffe flew the ship.

Charging his vambraces, Ezra responded, "Nor did I, Kanan. But I'm a Mandalorian. I do what is necessary. And maybe it's dar'jetii sorcery, but it works! And maybe you could use someone willing to do something like that a bit more often. Isn't that right, Governor Pryce?"

At the sound of Ezra addressing her, Pryce turned to Ezra and said, "You are absolutely correct, Captain. We must do whatever is required to achieve victory. There is no room for error on the field of battle."

Sabine frowned at Pryce's words. She felt uncomfortable with how the Governor's personality had completely flipped after whatever Ezra had done to her. She acted normal, other than her new loyalties, but Sabine suspected that her mind may in fact be truly broken on the inside.

Keeping an eye on Pryce, Kallus, who was now wearing an Imperial officer's uniform as a disguise, leaned over to Sabine and whispered, "I don't question the Destroyer destroyer lightly, but is it just me, or is Pryce's new look somewhat… unsettling?"

Sabine nodded in agreement. She knew that whatever Ezra had done to Pryce was some sort of dark magic, but this was almost worse than when he had just mercilessly snapped the necks of numerous stormtroopers for her on Mandalore.

Unfortunately, Ezra heard Kallus whispering, and he smiled carelessly and said, "Well, I'm loving this. I can't wait to try it on Emperor Palpatine!"

At that, Sabine and Zeb shared a worried look with one another. The last thing they wanted was for Ezra's power to make him arrogant. They needed him in top condition for what lay ahead.

Soon, they came within range of the Empire's scanners, and a voice over their ship comm system said, "Unidentified Imperial vehicle, we have you on our scanners attempting to dock, but your arrival is not on our schedule. Identify yourself."

Ezra picked up the handheld comm unit and tossed it to Pryce, saying, "Governor, you're up."

Pryce instantly held the device to her mouth and said, "Command, this is Governor Pryce. I've recently escaped from being held in rebel custody and now require docking at the dome immediately."

There was a short pause, then the voice said, "Governor Pryce? You've returned? Well… this is unexpected. Head for platform zero delta. We will certainly allow you to dock, Governor, but I'm afraid that as per Admiral Thrawn's instructions, you still must provide the access code."

"Of course," Pryce responded. "Also know that I am bringing a prisoner. Now, the executive code is 6-2-7 3-1-1."

The voice then said, "Code is good. You are clear to land, Governor, and security will greet you on landing to pick up your prisoner. It's good to have you back, Governor."

Not for long, Sabine thought to herself, and she, Ezra, Kanan, Rex, and Gregor pressed themselves tightly against the walls to stay out of sight as the gunship came in to land. Meanwhile, Zeb groaned to himself as he slipped a pair of binders on his wrists, but didn't secure them together. "I'm always the fake prisoner," he grumbled unhappily.

Drawing his dual pistols, Ezra told him, "You said you wanted to knock some buckets, big guy? Well, this is how we get you closest to them so you can do so."

Chuckling to himself, Zeb said, "Yeah. Well, when you put it like that, maybe it isn't so bad after all."

"Just remember to stick to the plan, Zeb," Kallus warned as the ship finally landed and he climbed out with Pryce and kept his blaster pistol pressed against the back of Zeb's head to maintain the illusion that he was a prisoner.

Third Person POV

Pryce led the way as they walked up to the three-person security team and told them, "Take this Lasat into custody. Lock him up on the detention level under armed guard and prepare him for questioning."

The stormtroopers nodded obediently, but then they looked up in concern as they saw Zeb snarling at them. Predicting what was about to happen, the lead stormtrooper called, "Look out!" but it was too late. Zeb threw the binders off his wrists and surged forward, pushing past Pryce and knocking the stormtrooper captain away with one swing of his mighty arm, then ran towards the Command Center doors at full speed.

Pryce yelled at the remaining two security team members, "Don't just stand there! Stop him!" Both soldiers spun around and took aim at Zeb, but Kallus quickly lowered his blaster at the same time as Pryce drew her own, and they each shot one of the stormtroopers in the back.

At that time, despite their confusion to find that Governor Pryce was part of it, the other Imperials on the platform realized that they were under attack and all began to take positions to fire back, but then the rest of the Rebels burst out of the gunship from their hiding places and began to rain down fire upon all Imperials on the platform, quickly stirring them into a panic.

Two Mandalorians, three Clone soldiers, a Twi'lek master pilot, Lothal's other former governor, and a Jedi Knight all poured out of the gunship at once and began to attack the Imperials as they moved towards the Command Center's open doorway, appearing unstoppable as they went. Chopper wasn't with them as he would be flying the Ghost to come pick them up before they destroyed the dome.

Once the firefight outside was seen, the Command Center's blast doors began to close, but Zeb, who had rushed ahead and was now in the perfect position, jumped in between the heavy doors and began to hold them open with his incredible strength, even as he groaned from the strain.

In the air, Ezra nodded to Sabine, and she instantly flew down into the open doorway between Zeb's limbs and plugged into a wall socket before starting to hack into the building, trying to jam Imperial comms and silence the alarms. While she worked, all of the other Rebels except for Ezra managed to get inside before Zeb released the door and climbed inside with them.

After a few seconds, Ryder said, "Better hurry, Wren, or the Imperials will be on us in minutes."

Sabine continued working as fast as she could, then said, "Almost there, and… Got it!" All of the alarms shut off, and Sabine announced, "Alarms and comms are both down."

Kanan nodded and said, "All right, me, Hera, and Ryder will take the power terminals and secure the planetary shield generator."

Ryder charged his blaster and said, "One of the most important parts, but you all get the fun part. Enjoy!"

The three of them took off, and Sabine looked concernedly back at the blast door behind them and asked, "Ezra's going to be alright… right?"

Right on cue, a loud explosion sounded from outside the door, and Pryce said, "Captain Kryze will be fine. He's just cleaning up the platform. He'll meet us in the Command Center control room, but only if we get there, so let's hurry!"

She then ran off, leading the way to the control room, and they all just watched her go for a moment before Rex shrugged and said, "Ah, who am I kidding? I've seen weirder things than an Imperial leading an attack on her own base. Let's go!" He began to run after Pryce, and the other Rebels followed after him without question.

Ezra POV

After firing a wrist-rocket that took out the remaining Imperial troops on the landing platform, Ezra increased the thrust on his jetpack and flew up to the Command Center's control room window, then slowed himself to a hover right outside. The Imperials inside the room all drew back in shock when he appeared, but he ignored them. He wanted to make an entrance.

Knocking on the window's surface, he called out, "Hey! Is this Imperial tech support? I think my datapad's broken!"

Not answering him, the Imperials began to step back even further in panic at the sight of him. He saw one Imperial officer ordering the others to stand their ground and aim their pistols at him. Sighing to himself and pulling out his lightsaber hilt, Ezra muttered, "Typical. IT guys are always so rude."

Just as he activated his lightsaber to slash through the window, the door at the back of the room opened to reveal the rest of Ezra's Rebel comrades, save for Kanan, Hera, and Ryder, who were Team B and should currently be securing the planet's shield projector system. It could be controlled from the control room here, but Ezra suspected that Thrawn may try to manually override the controls from the power terminals using assistance from his ground forces, if he managed to contact them, then draw them out by attacking the city after they'd cleared it of Imperial forces.

For now, all Ezra knew was that Team A were doing their jobs perfectly at the moment. They stormed into the control room and instantly managed to secure it. With all of the officers pointing their blasters at Ezra, their backs had been turned to their new attackers, and they didn't even manage to turn around before one of them went down as a blast hit him in the back, instantly killing him.

Then, Ezra slashed through the window and flew into the room before landing on the ground and directing one of his pistols at the officers with his free hand, leaving them all surrounded. One officer fired his blaster at Ezra out of fear, and Ezra used his lightsaber to smack the bolt back into the chest of the man who had fired it, killing him.

At that, the other Imperials suddenly became even more frightened, and Pryce stepped forward to say, "Well, I think we've made our point. Now, if you all would be so kind, drop your weapons and line up with your hands on your heads."

The remaining officers didn't hesitate to obey, instantly complying with Pryce's orders, and the woman smiled in satisfaction and reported to Ezra, "Room is secure, Captain."

Ezra nodded and said, "Well done, Governor. Rex, lock them up in the storage bin."

Rex gave a short salute and stepped forward to escort the officers away, saying, "Yes, sir, Captain Kryze."

As they were pulled away, one of the officers looked back at Pryce and said, "Help us, Governor Pryce!"

She just aimed her pistol at the officer and said, "Keep moving and stay silent, Imperial scum."

Not listening to her, the officer asked, "What are you doing, Governor? Why would you do this?"

He was suddenly silenced by Pryce shooting him mercilessly in the face, and after his smoking body fell to the ground, Pryce stepped over him and said, "I ordered you to be silent." She then looked at the remaining officers and said, "And if any of the rest of you have similar questions, what I'm doing is joining the cause. As for why, because I'm going to help save my homeworld from the Empire's tyranny. Now, Captain Rex, take them away!"

Rex looked down at the newly dead officer with the hole in his face somewhat uncomfortably, then looked back at Pryce and said, "Of course, Governor."

As Rex escorted the officers away to lock them up, Pryce then walked over to the control room's intercom and patched herself through to all Imperial comms on Lothal. She then spoke into the microphone and said, "Attention, all Imperial forces. This is Governor Pryce, recently returned to Lothal with new orders. Protocol 13 is now in effect. Repeat, all Imperial forces retreat to the dome for a full-planet evacuation."

As soon as she stopped speaking, a voice came back over the comm and said, "This is Hangar 2-7 to Command. Can we get confirmation on this order?"

Glaring at the speaker, Pryce said, "Your Governor just gave you a direct order. What further confirmation do you require?"

The voice came back again, now sounding nervous, and said, "Well, it's just… this is very irregular, Governor. After months of absence, you suddenly return and order a full evacuation? We were not notified of any approaching changes."

"The Empire gives you your orders on its own schedule, not yours," Pryce responded haughtily. "These orders are from the top levels of the Empire, and I have full authority to carry them out in any way I see fit. What rank are you, officer? Commander? If you wish to continue questioning my authority, that rank can easily be lowered to, shall we say, court-martialed prisoner?"

Immediately, the voice responded, "No, no! There's no need for that, Governor! I was just curious! Proceeding with Protocol 13 immediately."

"You had better," Pryce growled into the microphone as a final word, then deactivated the comm. She turned back to Ezra and questioned, "How was that, Captain?"

"Spectacular, Governor," Ezra responded, then stepped up to the window, removing his helmet, and looked up into the sky, placing his hands at his hips in preparation of the coming battle. Tilting his head slightly back towards his friends, Ezra then questioned, "Sabine, how are Ryder, Kanan, and Hera doing? Do they have the shield generator secure yet?"

Sabine shook her head and said, "They're in the room and making good progress, but they faced greater security forces than they anticipated."

Nodding in understanding and pleased to hear that he had been correct about Thrawn attempting to secure the generator himself, Ezra turned to their three clones and said, "Rex, Gregor, Wolffe, get down to the power terminals and help Team B secure the shield. After you've done that, lock the room down."

All of the clones raised their weapons and Wolffe said, "You got it, Captain." They then all began to run out of the room while Gregor gave a joy-filled laugh and said, "This is going to be fun!"

Shortly after they were gone, Zeb looked at one of their monitors and reported, "Ezra, the Imperials are all inside."

Hearing that, Ezra ordered, "Sabine, launch the dome."

Sabine nodded her acceptance and walked to the launch control console before inputting the necessary commands, and then they all felt and heard massive engines begin to fire, and then the dome began to hum as it prepared to rise.

Looking out the window in awe and barely able to comprehend the size of the ship they were about to destroy, Kallus commented, "If we survive this, Kryze, you may need a new nickname more befitting of this accomplishment."

Just then, there was a large booming sound above them as an enormous ship dropped out of hyperspace, and they looked up and out the window to see a Imperial-I class Star Destroyer flying into position directly above them. Looking up at it, Zeb asked, "How much do we want to bet that that's Thrawn's new flagship?"

"It's big, threatening, and annoyingly right in our way," Ezra answered. "So yeah, I think we're safe saying that that ship belongs to everyone's least favorite art enthusiast."

Checking their scanners, Sabine told them, "This says that the ship is registered as the Portent."

Shaking his head, Ezra said, "I couldn't care less what it's called when it's about to be called nothing more than scrap."

Pryce quickly ran to the control console next to Sabine and pressed a few buttons to stop their ascent, slowly lowering them back to the ground, and said, "If you're going to destroy it, Captain, we'd better make it quick. It's right in our way, and we can't launch the dome without crashing into it."

Narrowing his eyes at the Destroyer in apprehension, Ezra turned to his girlfriend and ordered, "Sabine, put me through."

She looked at him for a moment with uncertainty, but then turned back to the computer and followed his command, establishing a connection between the dome and the Portent over the comms. Immediately after it was done, a hologram of Grand Admiral Thrawn's upper body appeared floating over the hologram projector in the room with them.

Thrawn's red eyes glared down at them as Ezra stepped into his line of sight and said, "It's over, Thrawn. For perhaps the first time in your career, you've lost. We have taken complete control over the Imperial dome and have every trooper, pilot, and officer trapped inside. You failed, Thrawn. Leave Lothal forever, and we might consider letting your troops out before we blow the dome to pieces."

Unsurprisingly, Thrawn didn't even flinch, remaining calm as always. He just looked unimpressed as he asked, "Are you quite finished?"

Ezra didn't answer as Thrawn continued, "I expected something like this of you, Ezra Kryze. You are impulsive and arrogant as always. However, I didn't expect you to be quite this foolish. All you have accomplished is moving all of my assets to a safe location so that I can bombard the civilians of this planet without incurring Imperial casualties."

Now, it was Ezra's turn to surprise Thrawn. Turning to the side, he simply asked, "Sabine?"

Sabine pressed a few buttons on her control console and reported, "Planetary shield is up and running."

Ezra then turned back to Thrawn with a smirk and taunted, "I don't believe you'll do it, Thrawn. Give me your best shot."

Having not heard Sabine, Thrawn just sighed at Ezra in disappointment and said, "I expected more from you, Captain Kryze. But one thing you should know about me: I never bluff." His hologram then turned to face the officers aboard his Destroyer as he ordered, "Give him a demonstration of my sincerity. Open fire."

Almost immediately after he'd said it, massive green blasts began to rain down from the sky towards the civilian homes, shops, and streets of Capital City. However, about midway between the Destroyer and the actual city, the blasts all began to disappear as they crashed against an invisible barrier.

After a few seconds of this, the Destroyer stopped firing, and as Ezra looked on in satisfaction at Thrawn's face finally breaking composure for once, he retorted to the Admiral's earlier comment by saying, "Neither do I, Thrawn."

Narrowing his eyes at the sight of the perfectly undamaged city, Thrawn asked, "What have you done?"

Still keeping his smirk on his face as he knew it would infuriate the Admiral, Ezra responded, "I've outsmarted you, Thrawn. I beat you at your own game by using the fact that you underestimate me against you. You think that because I'm a strong warrior, I can't be a tactician to match your own skill as well? And you call me arrogant."

Nearly snarling by now, Thrawn continued, "You know this will not be the end of this. If I leave, you will not spare the Imperials you've captured. I will return with greater forces that will crush you utterly. "

Ezra just shrugged and said, "Yeah. And you know that I'll be waiting for you."

Thrawn's glare continued in silence for a few moments, and then he straightened up and said, "Very well. Well played, Ezra Kryze. You win this time, but make no mistake, this is not the end between us."

"Agreed," Ezra responded, and Thrawn gave him one last nod before the call ended and Thrawn's ship began to fly back up into space, where the other ships of the Seventh Fleet joined around the Portent to prepare to leave the system.

As soon as Ezra saw him leaving, he nodded in satisfaction and said, "Free Lothal, check. That's half my day worked out."

With that, he pulled up his vambrace and began to ready his jetpack, but suddenly he was turned around by Sabine's hands on his shoulders, and she hugged him tightly around the neck as she said, "We did it! I can't believe we did it!"

Ezra nodded and grabbed her hands as he said, "Yes, we did. Lothal is free, but there's still much to do to ensure that it stays that way. The first step of which you're not going to like."

She tilted her head at him in confusion, then her eyes widened as she looked after Thrawn's ship, then said, "No, Ezra."

"It's the only way," he tried to tell her.

She just continued shaking her head at him, clearly still affected by when she'd recently thought that she'd lost him. He placed his hands on her cheeks and made her look at him as he said, "I'll come back. I promise. I have a plan, but you can't come with me on this one. Stay here and destroy the dome, get everyone out safely, and we'll exchange stories when I get back, deal?"

She stared back into his eyes for a moment, then pulled him into a deep kiss that he immediately returned. After she pulled away, she grabbed the front of his armor and said, "Go. Do what you have to do. But when you get back, we're not trading stories. We're going straight back to Mandalore and saying the vows. How's that for a deal?"

He just stared at her blankly for a moment, then processed her meaning and asked, "Wait, really? You mean you want to- Are you-"

She didn't let him finish his question as she just pulled him into another deep kiss, then pulled back and nodded. "Yes, I'm sure," she said with a smile.

He smiled back at her and leaned his forehead against hers as he said, "I love you, Sabine Wren."

Chuckling to herself, she responded, "I love you too, Ezra Kryze. Now, go finish this."

Pulling away from her, Ezra stepped back and gave her one final small salute before he donned his helmet and jumped out the broken window, then activated his jetpack and rocketed after Thrawn's departing ship.