Sabine waited behind the mural while Ryder spoke with the other Lothal officials. She placed a hand on the cool white stone. When the governor had first mentioned the idea of painting a mural to celebrate the liberation of Capital City and of all of Lothal, she'd been surprised. Even more so when he asked if she'd be the one to do it. Still, she'd accepted without a moment's hesitation and now, they were about to reveal it to all the citizens who'd gathered below for the celebrations.
Ryder waved the rest of the officials away and they took their places at the front of the platform looking out from the tower. From it, one could see the entire city from the Capitol Building at its center to the great sparkling sea that reached out into the horizon. On the other side, spread the great plains and rolling hills that she'd come to love during her time here. All around her, great skyscrapers reached towards the clouds, a memory of the Imperial occupation. However, their original cold gray color had been repainted to a shimmering white.
"You should be proud," Ryder said, pausing beside her.
"It was nothing," Sabine brushed him off, though they both knew she was lying. The mural had been her sole obsession for the past couple of months. But he merely smiled at her and asked,
"Perhaps, since you're already here and you are the only representative of the Ghost crew present, you would like to say a few words,"
"I don't think so, I'm just here to watch the ceremony," she said, crossing her arms and leaning back into her heels.
"I know, but the people would love to hear from you. It wouldn't need to be long, maybe just a short speech honoring the memory of all those who fell during our fight for freedom," Ryder was still smiling but Sabine realized the request was more of a command. Biting her lower lip, she wondered if this had been the governor's plan since he'd invited her to the ceremony or if the idea had simply occurred to him when she'd arrived. Either way, she doubted she'd be able to convince him otherwise.
"If you insist, I think maybe I could come up with a few words," she smiled tightly and Azadi nodded, pleased as he turned away.
He strode to the front and center of the platform, the other officials stood on either side of him as he addressed the people below. He opened his mouth and the sounds of the crowd vanished, all eager to listen. But Sabine began inching away, moving towards the lift on the far side of the room.
"On this day several years ago, the Empire was defeated thanks to the heroic efforts of Commander Ezra Bridger, who sacrificed himself to liberate our world," Sabine reached the lift but paused to listen to his words, "This monument we dedicate here today stands in recognition of Commander Bridger and the rebel leaders who fought so valiantly on our behalf. May their courage and commitment never be forgotten," he paused to take a breath and Sabine entered the lift, shutting the door as the Governor continued to address the crowd though his words no longer reached her.
Sabine didn't waste a second after leaving the tower and within minutes she was on her speeder bike heading out of the city following one of the highways that ended at a landing platform. When she'd cleared the city limits, she toggled a switch on her control panel and music began to play, emitting from the speakers on the interior of her helmet. The wind and air rushed by her purple and orange hair streaming behind her. She shut her eyes and inhaled deeply. Her peace was short lived. Despite the music blasting in her ears, she heard the incoming ships that settled on either side of the highway to fly alongside her. Sighing, she closed her comms channel before they'd could contact her and kept her gaze locked on the distant comms tower she now called home.
The two e-wings didn't back off though and their continuous pinging to open her comms channel could be heard despite the music resounding in her helmet. She glanced to the left but didn't recognize the pilot. However, she did recognize the pilot on the right. Braez. Sighing, she lowered her music and opened the channel.
"Repeat, this is Specter Two-One, Specter Two-One. Commander Wren, do you copy?"
"What do you want, Porter?" she asked, looking at him through the canopy of his star-fighter.
"Governor Azadi is looking for you," he said his tone mild.
"And why is that?" Sabine asked, glancing at the other pilot who seemed more bored than anything else.
"Well, you're missing the ceremony,"
"Oh, was that today?" The words left her mouth sounding more sarcastic than she'd intended, still she hoped the intention was clear.
"I thought you'd want to be there. It's a big day for you, hero," he said kindly, unfazed.
"Well, you thought wrong," Sabine said and turned her attention back to the road, preparing to accelerate though she knew she couldn't outrun them, even with all the modifications she'd done to the bike.
"Look, Commander, I have my orders and I'm going to need you to pull over," he said, extending a final olive branch.
"Then here's a new order: get lost," Sabine said, and moved to turn her music back-up though the comms channel remained open.
"I can't do that," Porter said and signaled the other e-wing to move into position. It soared on ahead and came to land horizontally on the right side of the road, trapping her behind it and the walls on both sides of the road, "Stand down, Commander," Sabine ignored the order instead giving him one final look as she accelerated towards the ship, "Commander, stand down," he tried once more but Sabine had made her decision.
She was hurling towards the other star-fighter, her bike continuing to accelerate beneath her, her music pounding in her ears. "Sabine? Sabine, stand down," Porter said, panic beginning to etch itself into his voice as the distance between the two vehicles shrunk rapidly. At the last possible moment, she disengaged the hover device, dropping the speeder onto the ground. "Sabine!" She turned the bike horizontally and slid it under the starfighter. The metal hull of the ship was a mere handspan above her, but she fit. She then twisted the bike back into a front facing position and reengaged the hover function.
Ahead, the end of the highway was quickly approaching. This time, only a single e-fighter drew alongside her, and she cast a curious glance its way. Porter nodded once in farewell, and she returned the gesture. Then the ship pulled up and away, leaving her free to continue on her way into the Lothal plains.
The last of the sun's amber rays streamed past her body and into her room at the top of the old communications tower. Though the interior was dark, she didn't bother turning the lights on as she dropped her helmet by the entryway. A friendly meow greeted her as her spotted sand-colored loth-cat leapt off the table to trot over to her. He rubbed against her calf, and she knelt to scratch his chin. He closed his eyes, pleased. She smiled and said, "I missed you too buddy," when she moved her fingers from his chin to scratch behind his ears, he leaned into it, purring. "I bet you're hungry," she added and at the sound of the familiar word, Murley ran from her to his empty food bowl. She followed.
When she leaned down to pick up his food bowl, the dying rays of light caught the visor on her beskar helmet. The cloth sack that normally covered it had slid off exposing her reflection. Her locks of dyed hair hid much of her face, the length reminded her that it had been years since she'd donned the armor. She hadn't worn it since… but Murley interrupted her musings brushing against her hand to remind her that his bowl was still empty. She set it on her workbench, digging around to find his food container amidst all the tools and gadgets.
She eventually found it buried beneath sketches and her loth-cat chirped gratefully when she set his bowl back on the ground. This time filled to the brim with his meal. After giving him one final pat, she pulled out an old metal box from beneath her work bench. She crossed her room to sit cross-legged on her bed as she dug through the keepsakes to find what she was looking for. Her fingertips brushed a lightsaber hilt, but she pushed it aside to pluck a holochip from the bottom of the box. She needed to return to her workbench for the holorecorder but soon she settled back on her bed, her room darkening in the twilight. After inserting the chip, she shut the box and placed the recorder on the lid, letting it play.
Ezra appeared waving at her and adjusting his orange jumpsuit. His nervousness shone through as he cleared his throat, "Hey Sabine," he began, his voice trembling slightly but he pressed on, "I'm sorry for disappearing on you. I made this recording because, more than the others, I need you to understand. As a Jedi, sometimes you must make the decision no one else can. So that's what I did to defeat Thrawn. We've been through a lot. Grew up together in this Rebellion. And while we're not really family," he paused reaching back to the rub the back of his head, "you, and the rest of Ghost crew took me in when I had no one left. You guys gave me a home, and I guess we became like a new family," he chuckled nervously as his hand fell back to his side, "I know the fight isn't over, and now I won't be there to help you. But I'm counting on you to see this through. May the Force be with you…" his voice trailed off at the end and then the holorecording ended.
His food eaten, Murley jumped into her lap. He curled up and rested his chin on one of her knees. For a few heartbeats, he blinked lazily at Ezra's frozen frame and then closed his eyes. Reaching out, Sabine tapped the machine so that it replayed the message. As Ezra's voice spoke again, her eyes moved past him to the room he'd once called home. One corner of the place still held his collection of stormtrooper helmets though they were covered in a thick layer of dust for she hadn't touched them since she'd moved here not long after the Battle of Endor.
The victory the rebellion had so desperately needed, and yet for her, the news of the Empire's fall had brought as much pain as relief. Though her people had suffered for years under Imperial rule, the total destruction of her planet had been one of the Empire's final atrocities. For her, the rebellion had won too late. Ezra's voice faded as his message came to an end once more. Sabine removed the chip and returned it to its place nestled in the bottom of the metal container. Careful not to disturb a sleeping Murley, she slid the box under her bed.
From the window above her bed, she could see the clouds twisting their way through a night sky brimming with stars and planets. She wondered if it was true what the spacers said, that the purrgil were capable of not only jumping from star system to star system, but also from galaxy to galaxy. Huyang had thought so, and he'd been around for thousands of generations. Then again, according to him, no spacecraft had been built that had been able to replicate the purrgil's galaxy-jumping capabilities. A phenomenon Sabine thought unlikely, for if the space whales could manage it surely someone would have figured it out. Still the thought that perhaps Ezra had simply been taken to a neighboring galaxy was more comforting than the alternative.
The young woman paced around the demolished building. Beneath her, heat still radiated from the black sand. Her throat and lungs itched. The explosion had sent clouds of smoke and debris into the atmosphere, and she considered returning to the transport for an air filter. Not for the first, or even the second time, she wondered when her master and the blacked-out inquisitor would return. They'd disappeared into the ruins in search of something, what it was, she had not been told. A welcome breeze drifted through the rubble, and she turned so that it blew against her face. A few paces away, Elsbeth stood looking out in the direction their two companions had gone. Elsbeth's pale hair, which was braided into buns and her dark red robe reminded the girl of something, but she couldn't quite remember what. Still, it was interesting to finally see the woman. Despite their dealings with her, Shin had never seen her face or even met her.
The way Elsbeth surveyed this strange land unsettled her as did her eerie calm. Something was off, Shin felt it whenever she reached out for the force. The way this woman interacted with it was different, unnatural. And so, to keep her mind occupied, she spoke, "what was this place?"
"An ancient temple built by my ancestors, the Nightsisters of Dathomir, I trust you're familiar with them," Elsbeth said, her gaze remained fixed on the rubble while Shin's focus fell solely on her. Her master had briefly spoken of them when they'd first journey to Dathomir after the fall of the Empire. But it had been brief, "mystic force-users" was all that he'd offered. Still the planet itself spoke of them; their presence still haunting the place though the Nightsisters had long since died off. Unlike this land, Dathomir still had a life of sorts as twisted and strange as it was.
"You're a witch?" Shin asked and Morgan slowly turned to face her, disdain sewed in her features,
"A survivor," she said as two figures approached them through smoky haze.
"There's not much left back there," Shin's master said coming to stand at Morgan's side, "either the Jedi has the map, or it was vaporized," Shin moved closer to the two for neither of them was speaking loudly.
"She has it," Morgan said, looking back into the city.
"Well, if she does, you're lucky," her master's tone was disproving, and the corner of Shin's mouth turned up slightly. When her master had learned that Morgan had sent self-destructing assassin droids after the Jedi, he hadn't been pleased. He seemed as interested in the star map as Morgan. Why, Shin wasn't certain.
"Luck has nothing to do with it. Fate has decided our next move," she said and looked over her shoulder at Shin, her eyes wandering up and down as if she was measuring the other woman's worth. Shin's master seemed bemused by the witch, and awaited Elsbeth's next words, "send this one to the planet Lothal. She'll be of some use to us there," Without saying anything more, the witch left the master and apprentice behind to head into the ruined temple. Her inquisitor moved to follow, but she waved him away. Shin came to stand by her master, his presence soothing her unease as they watched Elsbeth kneel in what was once the center of the temple.
"Master?" Shin asked,
"Do as she says," he said, catching her a little off guard. Though Shin was eager to escape Morgan's presence, Lothal wasn't even close to what she had in mind.
"Why Lothal? What thread is she spinning?"
"No," her master said sharply, "it's not witchcraft. The Jedi Ahsoka Tano's former apprentice is on Lothal," at this Shin peeled her gaze away from Morgan to look at her master who met her confused gaze.
"You're looking for Sabine Wren. Find and apprehend her, then contact me," at this Shin's unease fell away. The thought of engaging an opponent also trained in lightsaber combat was an appealing one, "when you have her, there will be no need to hunt the Jedi down. Her apprentice will draw her to us," he added, confident. Shin wasn't so sure.
"Will the apprentice be enough?" she asked.
"If Ahsoka is anything like her former master, and I suspect she is, then yes," Shin nodded. She turned to leave but a great gust of wind suddenly blew through the area carrying away the last of the polluted air. The haze gone; Shin finally saw what Morgan was kneeling at the foot of. A great statue, broken but still standing. It was alone, for its companions had long since crumbled into dust. Shin quickly hurried away for she couldn't help but feel as though she was intruding just by watching the woman.