THE MANDALORIAN AND THE JEDI - II.2
ACT 2. MANY MEETINGS.
PART 2.1.1. Tatooine. - 1
The Eravana dropped out hyperspace, a desert planet in full view below - with the twin suns it was orbiting in the distance.
"We've arrived", said the pilot in a muted tone to a heavily-armored figure standing behind him. Black and yellow flitted in and out of view as he shifted in the shadows.
"Contact them", the figure called out in response. "As you wish, Captain", answered his subordinate, similarly equipped though less heavily armored and with the same colors, saluted him, and garbled something into his wristcomm. "Proceed to the rendezvous point as we agreed", said the figure to the pilot. "We will be descending into the cargo hold", he continued, before adding in a threatening tone as he turned towards the door of the bridge, "Follow our terms to the letter and you may yet leave in one piece, together with your ship."
Moments later, an Imperial shuttle approached, coming from the direction of massive mountain ranges on the planet's surface. The ship maneuvered into the cargo bay of the Baleen-class heavy freighter, passing its magnetic barrier before landing. A contingent of a couple dozen heavily-armed and armored troops moved forward in formation to greet the vessel, with the Captain at their head. The ramp lowered, a uniformed individual descending immediately after it came into contact with the floor of the hold - closely followed by four black-armored troopers and eight Imperial pilots.
"I see that the Black Sun means business", the Imperial officer said as he came face to face with the Captain. "Why the heavy escort?", he added, surveying the troop of black and yellow-clad warriors before him.
"I do", replied the imposing Falleen, as he removed his helmet. "We anticipated trouble along the way. Did you bring the payment?", he said sternly.
"In full, as always", the officer bluffed confidently.
"It wasn't, last time", the black and yellowed armored figure snapped back in an agitated tone. The Imperial just stood there, eyeing the leader of the syndicate, before replying.
"We make good on our promises, as you well know by now", he said deliberately, as if he was threading a needle.
"You can begin inspection", the Captain said in turn after taking a moment of silence to consider his options, adding, "Eight newly-manufactured hyperspace cores from Corellia and the fighters, as always; however, we will now be requiring double the agreed fee. The New Republic has increased security, which translates to higher risk and overhead costs - we only just managed to get these, as well as all the parts for the TIEs from the various worlds indicated in your briefing. We lost two of our men during extraction operations", he said, going through his points matter-of-factly, as the Imperial glared at him at the mention of this new demand. "As you can see, we have fully assembled the fighters here during the journey; only the cores remain to be installed, pending your transfer of the funds", directing the officer's attention to the fully-assembled fighters in the rear part of the hold, surrounded by neatly-arrayed tools, excess parts and materials, as well as various lifting and assembly equipment.
"If you mean that credits will be a concern, it won't - but more payment requires that it be backed up with better results, not to mentionrenegotiation instead of this barbarous attempt at taking our property hostage", the officer said snidely. "You took twice as long to get here than usual, and yet you expect us to pay double - without notice?", he ended, irritated but relishing the chance to get back at his counterpart, a smirk showing on his pale face while he adjusted his uniform.
"As I said, little man", the Captain replied slowly, barely containing his aggression as he narrowed his eyes intimidatingly at the officer, making him start and involuntarily lean backwards. "We ran into significant difficulties", taking a step menacingly towards the Imperial, before composing himself. "Or we can always terminate our arrangement if you deem our performance unsatisfactory", he ended coldly.
"That won't be necessary", the officer said after considering his words for a second as he cleared his throat. "But I need to have your request for additional payment approved by my superiors, which will take time - you understand, of course, that we have our own protocols to follow", he ended.
"I suggest you find a way to expedite your protocols, or you leave here empty-", the Captain replied, before being interrupted.
Or we can discuss another arrangement.
A voice rang out in the hold, stopping everyone in their tracks. A tall figure came out from behind a few crates, clad in a gray and black form-fitting bodyglove. A red skirt with a belt holding pouches and a holstered blaster hung on her waist, while a brown chest-plate and black pauldrons covered her upper body. Her eyes gave an intense look towards the Captain and the Imperial officer, her purple irises almost glowing with anticipation, as she rested her staff with a loud thud on the steel floor.
"So, we meet again at last, turncoat", growled the Captain at the new player on the board, turning away from the officer as he fingered the blaster carbine in the holster strapped to his leg.
"Greetings", she answered coolly. "I have a proposition that can benefit us both, if we can come to an understanding", she added with a sly smile.
"How so?", the Captain hissed while the officer eyed him nervously.
"I will double whatever he's paying you", she began, taking care to emphasize her words at just the right time to get her point through. "What's more, I can pay upfront, unlike these guys" she said, nodding towards the uniformed figure uncomfortably shifting around beside the Captain, before showing him the credit chip on her hand as incontrovertible proof of her capacity to pay.
The Falleen's forehead creased as he weighed the new offer. This arrangement had been good for them in the past, especially when the Remnant seemed to be on an inevitable upswing and the New Republic was far too occupied to bother with the security of even its core manufactory planets; however, with the unexpectedly swift and decisive end to the conflict, these last few runs have suddenly become alarmingly difficult and costly for the Black Sun now that law enforcement throughout the galaxy has become stronger than ever before. What made things worse was that their other sources of income were in far worse shape. The entire business seemed to be crumbling at the pressure - they were hemorrhaging men, materiel, and credits by the day - and it was increasingly obvious that they needed to lay low for a while. This new opportunity to make some money at the Outer Rim, out of view from the watchful eyes of the New Republic Defence Force, could just be the solution he'd been looking for. The only was that it was coming from a former member, and one who hadn't left in the best terms at that. "Could she be trusted?", he thought to himself - but he already knew the answer. Trust in this line of work was irrelevant, only one's capability to take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself was.
"You will regret it if you go back on our agreement", hissed the Imperial.
"You don't have the means to effect your empty threat, little man", the Captain snapped back, repeating his insult, but now with more deliberate, malicious intent.
"Not right now. But the Empire will rain its vengeance upon you", the officer answered, his tone high now with increasing urgency and rising panic.
"There is no Empire, fool," the imposingly-built leader of the Black Sun said as he laughed mockingly at him, before reverting back to his usual professional tone, finally adding, "Your last hope was blown to oblivion over Dathomir, if I recall correctly."
The Captain turned to the newcomer. "I accept", he said with a sly tone in his voice. "Though I wonder; how did you come up with such an astronomical amount by yourself, bounty hunter", he ended with a curious look on his face.
"Boba Fett needs these badly to drive his offensive against the Pykes", she answered, now nodding towards the modified TIEs.
"Oh, so you work for him now, do you? As expected for someone with so little loyal-", he said before he was cut off by the sound of blaster fire. A smouldering hole was now visible on his forehead. The hulking Falleen collapsed, revealing the Imperial officer with one of his Death Troopers' blaster carbines, its barrel still glowing; the trooper beside him was stood frozen in an awkward position, looking as if he'd been startled and had just failed to restrain his own commanding officer. The little man, as the Captain so ignominiously referred to him, had apparently shot the Captain in a fit of madness while the latter, after having rather unceremoniously dismissed and unwisely underestimated his former associate, had been carelessly conversing with his new business partner.
"Kriff", the woman said, having been jangled out of her wits, as a hail of blaster fire ensued. In mere moments, all twelve remaining Imperials were dead alongside five of the Black Sun Guards' number. The remaining syndicate soldiers now turned their attention to the dark-skinned woman, aiming their blaster rifles at her. She was out in the open, and she would need a good few seconds before reaching the crates she'd hid behind before she revealed herself a few minutes ago to enact her play - which wasn't enough time at all if she had planned to avoid getting shot to pieces by the remaining guardsmen. She pointed her staff at them as they gathered around her, their eyes bloodshot and wild with rage, steeling herself for a firefight that she knew will leave her as a smouldering pile of ash.
"Traitor!", they shouted at her, as they opened fire.
At that moment, a blur rushed between the guardsmen and the woman, deflecting the red blaster bolts back to the Black Sun associates with an intense purplish-blue flash of light. The handful of syndicate members that survived were cut down in a similar flash - the bounty hunter managed to shoot down two outliers who'd already started to flee in the split-second before the blur would have got to them - leaving the cargo hold empty and silent, apart from the two figures that remained.
"Am I glad I brought you along", the bounty hunter exclaimed, relieved, at the masked, gray-clad figure standing amidst the wreckage of what had previously been an exchange between the Imperial Remnant - or rather, some of what remained of them, after Dathomir - and the Black Sun syndicate.
"Same", he replied with a chuckle. The voice was a deep, slightly garbled, modified artificially by the faded red helmet he had on. He powered down his lightsaber and returned it to his belt on his right side.
"Can your droid get to work on the fighters?", she asked.
"Not a big deal for him; he can take the shuttle too if you want", the red-helmeted figure replied, a bit too cheerfully and amiably for someone who'd just wiped out fifteen of the deadliest warriors and marksmen in the Outer Rim in just a couple of seconds.
"Uh... Yes please, I guess?", the woman answered, a bit bewildered by his demeanor. "Let's sweep the ship for any leftovers", she said after a moment staring at him with an eyebrow raised and a quizzical expression on her face.
The gray figure paused for a few moments. "No need", he said. "There's just the pilot in the bridge", he added.
"You sure?", she asked with some hesitation, but the red helmet only gave a confident nod in response, without so much as a second's delay. "I'll have a chat with him, then", she replied, before voicing out her thoughts. "I feel like I know how to make sure he keeps his mouth shut. This is just the kind of ship one of my buyers wants; I something like having him set up in some business down somewhere in the middle of nowhere - Jedha, or Jakku, maybe - with a new identity could be arranged, easy. The Office will be happy to do so once they find out that he was involved in bringing down one of the last remaining Imperial Remnant cells in the Outer Rim; it's that or I'll have kill him right now, anyway."
"You mean the Wookie? And try not to; that poor geezer has already gone through enough with the syndicate", he asked and implored.
"Yes, to both", the bounty hunter answered back.
A couple of hours later, eight TIEs and an Imperial shuttle exited the freighter, and made their way to the surface of Tatooine. A Sheathipede-class shuttle detached from its hiding place on the hull of the Eravana, and followed closely behind.
PART 2.1.2. Tatooine. - 2
The violet-eyed bounty hunter lounged on a couch, her bare feet propped up on the table in front of her, with her back cushioned by a few pillows. Her ship, a Lancer-class craft called the Shadow Caster, had been hidden for the better part of a week inside a crevice amongst the rock formations on the outskirts of Mos Eisley to avoid any unwanted attention while she and her associate had tended to their own business in the space port.
She'd arrived several hours earlier than her companion, and took to freshening herself up immediately after arriving, having been exposed for longer than usual to the inhospitable conditions on Tatooine. She'd ditched her body glove and instead wore a loincloth and chest band to better indulge in the cool air inside the climate-controlled interior of her ship. Her body had a sensuous form to it, composed of her glistening dark skin, undulating curves, and her sculpted, athletic physique which, paired with the face of an exotic beauty - along with almond-shaped eyes, prominent cheekbones, and thick lips set in a slender face - proved irresistible to so many. It was an asset which she used to devastating effect, having completed many contracts - even terminated or captured a few targets - throughout her years bounty hunting by incorporating it in her disguises, sometimes posing as a pleasure slave, meek and malleable; others as an temptress, hypnotizing and utterly seductive.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of a speeder halting just outside. Instinctively taking the blaster pistol on the table and pointing it towards the door, she waited with anticipation, her senses fully alert and her body tense, ready to pounce should the situation suddenly require it. A moment later, she heard tapping on the hull, moving from starboard towards the tail end of the ship - according to the exact location and rhythm that she and her associate had agreed to for the week. She returned the weapon to where it was previously - though her right hand hovered nearby, just in case. The door opened.
"So, how did your meeting with the hangar engineer turn out?", she asked as the gray-clad warrior took a step inside her ship, finally relaxing and bringing her hand up to smooth down the long, middle part of her hair, adjusting the ties holding it back.
"It went well", he answered. "Peli was brilliant, as always; the hyperdrives have been installed, but there's still a lot of work to do", he added with a tone of anticipation that was apparent even with the scrambler obscuring his voice. He reached up with both hands and removed the red helmet, revealing brown skin, close-cropped hair, a clean-shaven face, and piercing blue eyes. He had a satisfied smile on his face, as though he was tantalizingly close to something he'd long sought after.
"Will it work is the next question, though", she said thoughtfully.
"We'll know once it's done", Ezra said. "Right now, all that matters is we have the hyperdrives we need - all thanks to you, Ketsu", he added reverently.
"All I did was present to you an opportunity to maybe get a couple of modified TIEs", she answered, brushing off his attempt at showing gratitude.
"If you hadn't, Peli wouldn't have had anything to work with at all", he insisted, sensing a pang of embarassment in his comrade. "We couldn't have done this without your help", he said sincerely to her.
She finally relented, smiling and nodding in acknowledgment of what she'd done beyond the requirements of her work or self-interest. "I couldn't have refused anyway when you told me it was for Sabine", she finally said softly after pausing for a few seconds. He smiled at her, then pushed the red helmet gently towards her direction with both hands.
"Thank you for lending this to me as well", he said. "It served me well."
"It was supposed to be just for that day", she said in mock-annoyance. Memories of the first day of the war a little more than a year ago against the Remnant and the Great Mothers came back to her. Images of them inside the hold of a New Republic frigate sustaining heavy damage, dueling with an Imperial light cruiser which had suddenly attacked them out of nowhere filled her mind, followed by the same Imperial ship exploding as the Phantom II detached from its hull and immediately blinked into hyperspace towards some unknown destination. The memory ended with the still-conflagrating wreckage being dwarfed by an Imperial Star Destroyer - repaired in places with a myterious golden alloy, its underside distinctly and uniquely emblazoned with the image of a many-headed creature - dropping out of its hyperspace in the distance, as their ship made its own escape. She smiled and wondered at the thought that the person in front of him, still just a scrawny kid when she first met him, could be capable of such feats.
"Anyway, this is useless to me now - you made sure of that", she said to him as she pushed the helmet back to him. "There's only one credible image of... the Phantom", she said mockingly at him, as she observed him wincing in undignified embarrassment at the silly name the media had given him. "And this helmet now looks suspiciously similar to the one he's wearing. It even has this same contraption you replaced the original breathing tube adaptor with that that helmet also has."
"It's a compact rebreather unit! I built it in so that a separate one doesn't need to be attached via breathing tubes from a chest or back plate", he defended himself before ending weakly. "Really, it works better than before. I'll have it painted a different color if it seems too conspicuous now-", he added before being cut off.
"It's yours", she said intently. Ezra quietly acknowledged the gesture for a few moments before nodding thoughtfully to her as a gesture of thanks.
"Remember, though", with sudden intensity that got his attention immediately, before continuing. "Officially, you've been contracted by the daimyo to assist me in ridding this sector of any threats to his rule and contributing to the larger effort to bring down the rival syndicates. We may have to call upon your assistance in the future."
"As long as it aligns with the interests of the New Republic, I'll be there - or until the ring is complete, anyway", he said, lightheartedly sparring with her verbally. "After that, Boba and the New Republic won't be a priority for a while", he added with a smirk.
Ketsu narrowed her eyes at him. "It just so happens that Boba's objectives do align with the NRDF's", she answered. "In any case, I have orders from the Intelligence Service to make sure that they do", she added. A long pause ensued between them before Ezra finally spoke.
"I'm really bad at playing this game, you know", he said with a laugh.
"Leave it to the professionals, then", she answered, joining in the mirth of the moment.
"So", she said, tentatively. "You leave tomorrow?"
"That's the plan", he replied expectantly. "I need to get to work on some leads on how to decipher the coordinates", he said with a tone of exasperation in his voice. "It's my fault that I wasn't able to complete the decryption of the data before the Chimaera blew up, but we also had to contend with the Witches", he ended with a heavy sigh. "Once l'm done with work on the ring and I have the coordinates, maybe I can finally make that trip back to Lothal; until then it will just have to wait. Thankfully things will be easier now that the war is over-", he said, interrupted suddenly by his fellow operative.
"Technically it still isn't; if it was then we wouldn't have had a situation where an opportunity to get a few TIEs for free was even possible", she pointed out.
He nodded in agreement, but still moved forward to drive his point through. "But their leadership has been all but removed from the board now, as well as the threat of the Great Mothers", he countered.
"You and Skywalker made sure the New Republic faced a crippled Imperial Remnant fleet rather than one at full power", she noted, adding a query of her own. "That last one, though, it must have taken the two of you together, did it?"
"Barely", he said as he lifted his tunic, revealing a large, blackened, cauterized scar running from just below his left chest, down through the side of his abdomen, and ending just above his hip. Ketsu winced at the sight.
"I was fresh from a bacta tank in the Mercy when I received your call, actually", he said grimly, as if he'd just been transported somewhere else in his mind for a moment. "Luke and Hera tried to stop me, but I just can't pass up an opportunity to get components for the ring", he ended with a shaky laugh.
"Crazy; then again, that's what I like most about you. I'm glad to have presented it", she said with a curious smile.
She eyed him for a minute before rising, circling the table and walking towards him until they were face to face. She stood taller by more than half a head than him, and cut a formidable, imposing, yet graceful and statuesque figure in front of him. The mood in the room abruptly changed, as though the heat was uncomfortably turned up by a few degrees.
"Have you reconsidered... my offer?", she said, her voilet eyes giving a sultry look down at him as she put her body tantalizingly close to his.
Ezra sighed heavily after a long pause, fighting against a tense, hot feeling inside him. "Ketsu...", he began carefully. "You're a beautiful woman", he continued, nervously swallowing and unable to prevent his eyes from wandering all over her body again for a few moments. "Extremely beautiful - and you're a supremely talented and skilled person", he went on, mastering himself. "The one who ends up with you will be incredibly lucky to have you - but it can't be me", he finally concluded. "I hope you understand", he said, gently putting his hand on her arm - as if he was desperate to comfort her despite not being able to give her what she wanted of him.
"I do", she answered after a few seconds, surprisingly calm and tender. "I'm sorry for putting you in a tight spot, though", she said.
"Don't be like that", he said as he now put both hands on her arms, pressing them softly. "You have nothing to feel sorry for", he continued. "And I'm honored that you would consider me in that way", he ended with a grateful smile.
Ketsu smiled back, now starting to recover her confidence. Even in this situation he continued to impress her with his grace - much like the woman she now knew he loved deeply for him to have rejected the intense urges she now intimately knew, judging by the slight trembling she was feeling from his fingers together with the prominent bulge she was plainly seeing down below, he was wrestling with at this very moment. A part of her howled with envy. "Lucky girl", she thought before finally deciding to embark on a decidedly different path for her next move.
"Funny", she finally said, with a sly look in her eyes. "There'd only ever been two people who've turned me down", she continued as she moved her face closer to his. "You...", she said slowly. "And Sabine", she softly said, as if with a hiss, observing an incredulous expression form on his face.
"Oh. That... Makes me feel even worse about this", Ezra said sympathetically, not catching the sharp change in her disposition. "Wait. Does that mean-", he worriedly blurted out after suddenly happening on the implication of what Ketsu just revealed, before being abruptly cut off by a painful sting on his neck.
"Jedi training must have been intense", she said with sudden aggression as she moved forward, taking hold of the side of his face. "Being able to resist what I just pulled on you a while ago", she whispered as she bit his ear and reached deep down, forcefully grabbing him with her other hand, making him gasp helplessly. He felt his mind go numb, not quite losing consciousness but unable to concentrate on any thought.
"You've been far too trusting of a bounty hunters, you know", she said as she undid his belt. "You should have known by now -we always get what we want. Besides", she said lustily. "You just said you owe me, remember? And I've decided that this is what I want to collect", she added with a tone of grim amusement, as she pushed him down and slithered her mouth violently around his.
PART 2.2. Peridea. - 6 - Making up for Lost Time.
"How did you get back here?", Sabine asked Ezra finally after a long pause. They were seated side by side, his right arm wrapped around her as she nestled her head comfortably on his neck and chest. The Noti had long ago retired into their burrows, leaving them with a few precious hours to enjoy each other's company.
"It's complicated", he said teasingly, with a grin on his face.
Sabine punched downward playfully, giggling when she hit his left thigh - though she did so with just enough force to make him regret his joke. "OWWW", he said with a laugh. "Guess you can't take your own medicine, can you?", he said, teasing her further. "Careful, Bridger", she said as she narrowed her eyes at him, but she couldn't hide the smile from her face. A few moments of silence passed between them before she tentatively took his left hand and entwined their fingers.
A month had passed by since Ezra suddenly showed up, unlooked for, in the fledgling Noti settlement - and Sabine had just realized, surprisingly, that she hadn't thought of asking about how he'd made it back here. They spent the time since much the same as how she would have : helping around where they could in the village, working with the elders to think of something to add to the growing complement of facilities it had - the latest being the repurposed bits of junk from the wreckage of Ahsoka's ship to build a moisture condenser - and going out with the rangers to hunt for game, fish from the nearby streams and lakes, or ward off any hostile wildlife and keep them at a safe distance from the settlement. After spending time together again after so long, they were pleasantly surprised to find that their connection to each other hadn't weakened in the slightest; they often completed each other's thoughts while discussing something they were planning to do, knew how best to help each other on any given task, and naturally came upon just the right time to lighten the mood with some banter when needed.
During the nightly watch, they swapped stories about what had happened to them in the last two years. Sabine was relieved when she found out that Thrawn and the Witches were thwarted and hadn't caused nearly as much trouble as she feared they could have, largely thanks to Ezra's efforts to galvanize the New Republic and others into action aside from his own active participation; in turn, he had been relieved to find that this planet's corruption had finally been cleansed - though he mourned for Ahsoka's sacrifice.
A cold wind blew past them, making them shiver. "Turn in for the night?", she asked him.
"Yeah, we probably have to", he answered with a hint of longing and regret on his face. "Time to wake up the next watch", he added, turning on the signal to inform them that they're expected. After they'd bid their replacements good luck and good night, they gathered their cloaks and blankets - their shells made the Noti impervious to any weather situation Peridea had to throw at them, and so had no need of them - as he helped Sabine up and to escort her to her quarters.
They held hands all the while as they walked. Sabine broke the silence.
"I almost wish we could remain here", she said to him, squeezing his hand and glancing towards him.
"I know what you mean", he answered, meeting her glance. They strolled past a group of villagers preparing for the next watch - they were cleaning their carbines and putting on bandoliers filled with ammunition, or were chattering away, going over where each of them would be stationed - and nodded at them with smiles, receiving cheerful chattering in response.
"This is nice", as she lifted their twined hands and pressing them thoughtfully against her chest.
Instead of sharing in the joy of the moment, though, Ezra sighed. "I just wish we found each other sooner, though", he said with a tone of regret over the time they lost. "Sometimes I wonder if there was another way."
"I'm just glad that we could count on each other when it mattered", she added intently, letting go of his hand and reaching up to hold his face in her hands, her forehead pressed against his, just like she did a month ago when he finally made his way back to her again. They talked about a lot of things that day, laying themselves completely open to each other, the first time since they'd known each other - who wouldn't after all that they'd been through?
"Well, you are a Jedi now", he quipped. "Hiding like I did with my feelings for you when we were teens wouldn't have worked, anyway", he continued, eliciting a fit of giggling from the Mandalorian. She punched him on his shoulder as he joined in.
"Hiding like we did with our feelings, you mean", as she went in for a peck at his left cheek, grabbing a quick look into his eyes as she moved away. The audible 'ooh'ing and 'aah'ing coming from their audience snapped them back to reality, having forgotten that they still hadn't moved from where they were. 'Why did you bite him?', and, "will you eat each other next?", were the main queries being levied on Sabine and Ezra as they tried to usher themaway and into their duties for the night instead of being distracted by them - that second question made both of them to blush suddenly and quite furiously though, having decidedly conjured some rather indecent thoughts. Together with being surrounded by a group of heavily armed little crab-people ogling at them after their show of intimacy, everything felt just a bit too surreal even for people who basically had magical powers like them. All that they managed was to shake their heads at their situation and laugh at each other, exchanging knowing looks filled with warmth and care.
After finally succeeding at getting the Noti to get on with their watch, they continued on their way with a quickened pace, not wanting to get caught in an embarrassing situation in public for the second time that night. A few minutes later, they arrived at what was now Sabine's caravan, the same one that he had used during his previous time there, the Phantom II parked right beside it. A roaring fire had already been lit in front of the two vehicles, beckoning at them as they shivered in the chill of the night.
"Must have been auntie again", she said as she sat down on the ground with her back rested against a boulder and one of her legs stretched out, warming her hands and taking a glance at one of the houses where she knew the kind old crab-lady must have retired into just a few minutes earlier. Ezra followed her and took a seat beside her. "Did she take care of you as well as she's taking care of me? I feel like I'm being pampered a bit too much be honest", she said with a grateful smile as she looked towards the door of the burrow.
"She was more of a disciplinarian with me, actually", he said, making her turn her head towards him with a look of quiet astonishment. He put her arms around her and squeezed her arm. "I helped hatch her clutch back when I was first being accepted into the clan, and they all turned out to be males", he explained. "That's why auntie always wanted a daughter, you know", he said to her with a knowing look.
Sabine let out a contented smile, as she settled into his embrace and leaned her head against his shoulder, taking his free hand in both of hers. After staying like that for a while, she stirred.
"Mind if I showered again? I know it's the third time today-", she said before being cut off by Ezra. "I know the feeling", he said cheerfully. "You can never take a hot shower for granted again after getting stranded here", he said, eliciting a giggle from her. Instead of proceeding with the task she announced, she lingered there.
"Be right back", she said suggestively as she pecked his cheek again as she stood up and walked towards the Phantom.
He continued to sit by the fire to warm his hands in the meantime, but after just a few uneasy minutes, he followed her inside. He stopped in front of the refresher; he heard the hum of the sonic showering down inside, filling the cabin. He stared at the door of the refresher, still and silent as a rock, until it abruptly opened. Sabine was suddenly there in front of him, eyeing him knowingly. She'd finished wiping down her body, but her hair was still left frizzled. Tension filled the air.
"That bad, huh?", she whispered into his ear after walking over to him, holding the cloth she had used to wipe herself with, her body left bare for his eyes to feast on - which he did for a few moments, unabashed.
"Yeah", he answered as he softly took her hands and entwined their fingers. They smiled at each other tenderly, their foreheads touching, before they began to envelop each other completely.
PART 2.3. A Look Back.
"Hey, Ezra", Sabine called out nonchalantly. He'd been working on cleaning up and inspecting the Ghost's hull for any damage that may need repairs. He knew he had to take this seriously, but he couldn't help but get bored after staring at nothing but metal sheets and bolts for the better part of half an hour now. Tomorrow his report on the mission they'd just finished was due, and he'd been putting off actually doing it - but doing this was worse.
"Yes?", he asked, turning towards her. "I volunteered to check on the relays a few miles out from the base", she continued. "Figured you'd want to tag along? I already told Hera", she ended.
"Anything to get me away from this", he replied with obvious relief. She chuckled at the expression on his face. "Yeah, I think you need to get out for a little bit. Here", she said as she put on her helmet, handed him his jetpack as well as his painted scout trooper helmet, and beckoned him to follow him.
They took off at the outskirts of the base. He felt the wind buffeting his body as he flew just behind her, trying to keep up. The thick jungle canopy below was hiding ground that was riddled with tangled roots or soggy moss that was laborious and time-consuming to tread through; since they had jetpacks, they were one of the few who could do this task in the fastest and easiest way possible. They made sure to use this natural loophole to sneak some time out together from their otherwise hectic schedules on Yavin 4 to have occasional sparring sessions, private talks when they had something in their minds that they needed to share to each other from being so involved and under pressure at such a young age, or simply to hang out.
Several minutes later, they reached the first of fifteen stops. "Let's get on with running the diagnostics so we can get to the next one", she said in a no-nonsense tone.
"You're in hurry, huh?", he said, surprised at the sudden tension in her voice. She ignored his comment and proceeded with attaching their databanks and punching commands on the relay's console. "One down", she said as the device beeped to signal that the transfer of data was complete. They took off and repeated the process over and over again, until they'd finished their run half an hour later, the databanks they were carrying now filled.
He'd accepted her invitation expecting to chat and be at ease with his friend - or get suddenly attacked with stun blasts for some good old, unannounced sparring - but she clearly had other ideas. "Must have needed to blow off steam", he thought to himself as he shrugged, slightly peeved at how their excursion had turned out. Knowing Sabine and her quirks, though, she had probably been upset about something and simply needed his company to process it.
"I... guess that's all of it. We'd better get these back", he said, expecting them to take off again in no time. The sound of her jetpack igniting didn't come as he expected though, which made him turn around. He found her just standing there, unreadable because of her helmet. "Sabine?", he inquired.
"Yeah... Yeah, let's", she answered back - but when they started gearing themselves to take off, she suddenly put up one hand. "Wait", she said as she removed her helmet, a flash of her purple hair registering in his eyes first, prompting him to do the same.
"What's going on?", he asked, now completely sure that she'd be drawing out her blasters shortly - she'd pulled something like this before. He checked his lightsaber and made sure to put it on low power, just to be sure. "You're not getting me as easily as last time", he thought to himself as the image of his face hitting the ground limply came back to him, taking care to not let out the mischievous smirk that definitely would have had he not done so. Instead of deflecting a hail of blaster fire, though, what followed was him having to deal with the awkwardness of an impromptu staring contest with her that seemed to stretch for hours.
"Can we talk for a bit?", she finally said with a barely-hidden hint of hesitation in her voice.
"Of... Of course", he answered, flustered. "Anything. Is there something bothering you?", he asked, now a bit worried at how his friend was acting.
"No", she answered with a slightly annoyed tone.
"Oh? Then what is it?", he asked in turn with a shrug of his shoulders, now completely out of his wits, a puzzled expression on his face making him wince a little. Sabine just stared again, with a surprisingly intense expression on her face and her eyes narrowed.
"Okay. This is starting to weird me out Sabine. What is it?", he said with a defeated sigh as he approached her. When she didn't respond, he finally caved, this time sighing heavily. "If this is about those missing snacks of yours, it was Zeb who took them. He just handed some to me so I wouldn't talk. I'm sorry, okay?", he said guiltily.
"What?", she suddenly said incredulously. "You're unbelievable, you-", she said, her voice steadily rising in tone before she abruptly halted and became silent again.
He was bracing for a telling-off from her to ensue, but after her voice died down again suddenly, he grew a bit concerned. "Are you sure you're okay?", he said with a hint of worry in his voice. She answered with a chuckle to herself, and then a long, heavy sigh of her own, as if she was bracing herself for something.
"Yes, of course I am", she sharply answered back before adding weakly, "It's just that...", her voice trailing off as she closed her eyes tightly, making her forehead crease.
Before he knew what was happening, he found that Sabine had rushed forward and suddenly hugged him. "I wanted to thank you is all", she said as she held on tightly, before breaking off just as abruptly.
He took a moment to process what just happened before finally speaking. "Did she just hug me?", he thought to himself. "You're welcome, I guess...", he said, pleased with the milestone they'd just hit in their relationship with each other, but also more confused than before. "But for what?", he inquired tentatively.
"Lady Bo-Katan told me what you did for me, on Mandalore", she said almost shyly, with a warm smile finally showing on her face.
"Oh", he said, realizing finally why this decidedly awkward interaction between them was happening.
"And also for making sure father made it out alive", she said as she turned her head downwards in a futile attempt at breaking the tension.
"Oh, no, that was nothing Sabine", Ezra said as he shot a silly smile towards her, lightly scratching the back of his head with his right hand just like he did when he was saying something embarassing or didn't really mean. Suddenly, he propped the same hand coolly on his hip in that strange self-deprecating way that he did around her - he'd gotten better at playing off on how he'd been infatuated as a kid with her, and suddenly bringing out his immature, pathetically flirty, loth-rat persona had made for some humorous downshifts from otherwise tense situations with her, just like this one. After a moment though, he slackened his attempt at making light of the situation. "Glad I could help", he said sincerely. "It's the least I could do for you - for sticking up for us back over Atollon", he added with a smile.
He was expecting a reaction from her, but it didn't come. She didn't seem over with whatever she had going through in her mind. He observed her, trying to decipher what this was all about, as she continued to eye him tentatively.
"She said you powered down your lightsaber when they threatened to kill me", she finally said, almost reverently. "They ordered him to stand down, or else. He would have let them shoot him where he stood if Clan Kryze hadn't shown up just then. That was what she said, Ezra."
He froze at the line of conversation she was daring to get into with him. It was uncharacteristic of her to be so direct, so uninhibited - and he felt a slight tinge of fear, as if he'd be discovered with something he shouldn't. He didn't answer, though he shot a wry smile at her.
"Then if I hadn't been there to catch you at the edge of that cliff, you'd have died as well", she continued as she maintained eye contact with him. "Father said you gave him your jetpack to make sure he made it out in one piece. He said you were either too confident in your abilities, or just plain crazy."
There was a long pause between them, as if both of them were tentative, not sure of how to proceed. She broke the silence.
"Why did you risk your life like that?", she asked. "And twice in a single day? Why?"
It was Ezra's turn to be out of words. He just stood there, looking at Sabine right in the eyes.
"Ezra?", she asked with a tone as if she was afraid of what his answer might be.
He stirred, finally.
"Because you mean a lot to me, Sabine", he said finally, and calmly, with a smile on his face and his eyes clear. It was the hardest thing he ever did in their relationship so far, and yet it felt so easy when he finally let the words go.
She stayed still for a few moments. "That will have to do for now", she thought with a slight tinge of longing as she remembered what else her mother and the lady had told her when they pulled her aside for a talk before she left. She pushed it out of her mind to relish the feeling of happiness and security filling her. She smiled back at him, as she started to move closer again, now more deliberately - her hands stretched out, the same as his.
They embraced for what seemed like hours, surrounded by the sounds of the jungle, the sun westering and painting the colors around them with a warm glow.
"Thank you", she said earnestly in his ear, as she tightened her arms around him, her head resting on his left shoulder. Then without warning, she turned her head to the right and kissed Ezra's cheek, before returning to nestle her chin on his neck again.
He felt that tears had also wet the side of his face when her lips pressed against it. The electricity from it sent shivers down his spine - and it could have sent his heart fluttering away if he'd still been that kid fresh from the streets of Capital City - but he was surprised to find, with so much clarity together with it, that all that he felt at that moment was just how far he'd go to show her that she'd never have to feel alone again as long as he drew breath.
After a while, they moved back from each other. Sabine wiped the tears on her eyes and cheeks with her hands while Ezra looked on happily, eyes narrowed with a warm glow behind them.
"It's getting dark", she said, finally.
"Yep. We better get moving", he answered. Smiling at each other, they moved to put their helmets back on - before they did, though, they paused to look at each other one last time, savoring the moment.
"Ezra?", she called out suddenly, as she moved towards him again.
"Yeah?", he answered, as she stopped right in front of him.
"I could say the same", she said with a sudden earnestness, putting her right hand around his left wrist and resting her forehead on his, closing her eyes. "So please, take care of yourself out there", she said pleadingly. "For me."
"I will", he said as he etched this moment into his memory.
After remaining like that for a few minutes, they put on their helmets and took off towards the direction of the base.
AUTHOR'S NOTES : M rating is well deserved for this one, for violence and implied sexual content. First, I wanted to show how powerful someone who is skilled in the use of the Force can be even in such an impossibly high-tech setting as Star Wars ( which the movies and tv shows significantly nerf, in my opinion, to generate drama in action scenes ( even Force Speed, the only ability shown here, would be utterly devastating )), and how that plays with the kind of person that I'm portraying Ezra as in this work. Second and more importantly ( since this is a romance, I keep repeating to myself ), I really wanted to continue to show how beautiful true, selfless love is, but this time by also contrasting it with how destructive and pointless it is to just give in to base instincts. Again, thank you so much for reading.