Her dreams were haunted. Sabine was back in the control room listening to the others discuss various plans to stop Thrawn's siege on the city. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Ezra moving away from the group, popping open a vent hatch to sneak away to meet Thrawn's terms. She had watched him leave, even distracting the others so that they didn't miss his absence until it was too late. And as the memory replayed itself repeatedly in her mind, he tells her, "one last time". Then suddenly she is looking up at the sky as one of the purrgil's wrap its tentacles around Thrawn's command ship. Her own words pulse through her thoughts,
"Ezra, get out of there!" but while her words were full of panic and fear, his response wasn't.
"I can't do that, it's up to all of you now," he'd said. The world in her dreams faded to black and all she could hear was his final message to the Ghost crew, the one he'd recorded for them before they had even seized control of the Dome. He'd known this final battle would require sacrifices and so he'd prepared a final farewell. But her focus was fixated on the words he directed at her, "Sabine, don't forget, I'm counting on you. I couldn't have wished for a better family, I can't wait to come home," Those words, he was counting on her for what? A weight sunk into her chest, crushing her. Panic clawed at the back of her mind as she struggled to breathe.
Sabine awoke with a start. The motion sent Murley flying off her and onto the floor. Outside, the early morning rays peeked through the window, and she let herself sink back against the pillow. Cool sweat trickled down her forehead and she wiped it away as she stared at the overhead roof of twisting pipes and metal, his words still ringing in her ears. He'd said he was counting on her. To keep fighting? To finish the war? To find him?
The empire had been defeated and they'd travelled throughout the galaxy to look for him. Hera was still looking for him, always following any lead no matter how flimsy. The twi'lek had let so many opportunities for advancement in the New Republic military slip through her fingers to further her search. A dedication Sabine admired but hadn't been able to copy. She rubbed her throbbing temples. Every failure to locate her friend had slowly chipped away at her resolve until nothing had remained. When she'd first come to Lothal, she'd hoped being here might renew her will. But it hadn't
The pager she'd left on her console the previous night began emitting a series of beeps and Sabine blinked open her eyes. Had she dozed off? Murley had climbed back onto her cot and was now curled up at the foot of her bed sleeping. The pager beeped again, breaking her train of thoughts and she moved lazily across the room to answer it. The name of the source halted her hand. Fulcrum. Surely not. Hesitantly, she let them know that she'd received their transmission and sprinted out to the balcony. As she leaned out over the railing an all too familiar red and white ship flew overhead escorted by two fighters.
She couldn't believe it, after all these years… why had her former master come now? Memories she'd buried deep within began bubbling to the surface. But she shoved them under. The only information the message gave was that it was urgent for Sabine to come meet with them. Breathing deeply, she cleared her mind. Letting the thoughts churning within get carried away by a stronger current of calm. When it had settled, she pushed away from the railing, grabbed her helmet that she'd left by the entrance to her room and headed for the lift.
Sabine rode the lift back up into the towering building she'd fled from only yesterday. The doors opened to reveal a platform teeming with workers, guards and citizens who'd come to see the Mural up close. The sight caught her off guard as she searched the open room for Ahsoka. She found her, Azadi, and Huyang standing at the very edge of the platform, the jedi shuttle hovering in the air beside them. Sabine weaved through the crowd towards them. The governor noticed her and smiled.
"Sabine!" he beckoned her closer, "you left the ceremony early yesterday; I thought you were going to say a few words," he said as she joined the small circle of people.
"I'm sorry," she said, her smile coy, "I had somewhere to be," they looked at each other, neither one of them fooled, and Azadi added, his tone gentle.
"You were missed, Sabine. Everyone was there, and they all would have loved to hear from you," Sabine crossed her arms, her gaze falling to her boots.
"Not everyone," she said. The governor shifted uncomfortably, an awkward silence filling the space. It was Huyang who broke it.
"Greetings, Lady Wren," he said dipping his chin. Sabine smiled, a familiar warmth igniting within. He looked well as did Ahsoka, though her former master had yet to say a word.
"Hello, Huyang. Still in one piece?" she asked in jest, motioning to him.
"Oh yes, and still 75% original parts," he held up a finger as though he was about to launch into one of his lectures, though he referred to them as clear explanations. He didn't though, instead he glanced at Ahsoka, waiting for her to speak. Sabine's gaze followed his as she took in her former master.
The years that had passed since they'd last seen one another seemed to have changed nothing. She still wore the same clothes, though much was hidden by a poncho made from a thick gray fabric. But Ahsoka said nothing. Instead, her gaze was looking past her former apprentice, perhaps at the mural or simply the crowds, Sabine mused. She could read the discomfort in Ahsoka's posture, the crossed arms, the refusal to meet her former padawan's eyes.
Though she was here, she clearly wanted to be anywhere else. Sabine fought the urge to leave as Huyang spoke, "well then, I'll be on the ship," he turned and strode up the plank into the shuttle. He seemed almost defeated and Sabine let her hands fall to her hips. Finally, Ahsoka met her eyes and though her former master projected an aura of peaceful serenity, the years Sabine had spent by her side allowed her to see through the cracks. Worry and guilt was etched into the togruta though she did her best to hide it. Still, Ahsoka seemed reluctant to speak even with the privacy Huyang had granted them. Sabine turned to leave, tired of waiting but Azadi spoke,
"You're going to want to hear what she has to say," he said and placed a weathered hand on her shoulder, leaning in close enough so that his whispered words would reach only Sabine, "for Ezra". Sabine stared at him in shock, but he departed before she could say anything. Sabine and Ahsoka were left standing alone, staring at one another. Finally, Ahsoka reached into her cloak pulling a round metal object out. A star map, Sabine realized, her heart fluttering with hope as Ahsoka finally spoke.
"I think I know how to find Ezra," she said stepping forward to hand Sabine the map. Sabine stared in disbelief at the strange object now held in her fingers, the nightmares still fresh in her mind.
Nothing had changed, Sabine realized as she stepped into the main hangar of the jedi shuttle. As always, the ship had been maintained to pristine condition. The floors polished and not a speck of dust to be seen. Her feet carried her unconsciously towards the bunk room while Ahsoka wandered off towards the small kitchenette on the other side of the hanger. Curious, Sabine let herself sink into the firm mattress of her old bunk. A smile slipped onto her face when she noticed that the wall by her bunk was still covered by the art. Drawings, she'd created during her tenure here. The only trace of her that Ahsoka hadn't erased, or perhaps her old master had simply never noticed it. But Sabine dismissed the thought.
Those days training at Ahsoka's side had been strange. While the rebellion had been fighting the Empire, she and her master had been off in the far reaches of the galaxy. "Training their minds, strengthening her connection to the force," or so Ahsoka had said, but to Sabine it had only felt like hiding. Still, she mused, some good had come of it. If they hadn't been there, on that planet, they never would have found Huyang.
Sabine shivered at the memory; the icy feeling of dread as sharp as it had been the day they'd come across the ship.
Her lungs burned. Her legs trembling as they fought to carry her up the steep path carved into the side of one of the many canyons that sliced through planet. When at last she reached the top, Sabine let herself sink down among the large boulders and graveled earth.
Overhead a distant sun burned beyond the indigo atmosphere. The neighboring planets seemed to hang in the sky, so close she could count the craters dotting many of them. Her mind connected them like dots. Forming shapes and images. Some were random, others weren't. The largest, which occupied the entirety of the planet side facing them, resembled a wolf running across a great expanse. Her own eyes embellished it. Adding grass, and other wolves. On their backs rode figures but she'd never bothered to fill them out. She shook her head, letting the image-turned-memory go. This place was nothing but rocks, she told herself as the constant breeze cooled her down until gooseflesh covered her bare arms and she was shivering.
"Not too bad," Ahsoka's voice drifted down from one of the large boulders and Sabine ran a hand through her chin-length hair, tucking the purple tipped brown locks behind her ears.
"I beat my best time, didn't I?" Sabine said, standing up to stretch now that she could finally breathe.
"You did," Ahsoka said, jumping down to join her on the ground, "but let's see how well you paced yourself," she reached out her hand and the two bokken sabers she'd left propped among the stones flew towards her. She kept one, and tossed the other to Sabine who caught it with a groan. Still, she fell into her starting stance.
They sparred only a few rounds before Sabine's weariness seeped into her fighting and Ahsoka decided to send her off on another run across the top of the plateau. She'd decided to follow a different path through the maze of massive rocks when she came across it.
An old, rusted shuttle. Much of the paint had been washed away by the winds and rain, but Sabine had recognized the old symbol etched into the metal plates. It had been years since she had seen it, but she had known what it was without a moment of doubt. The ship had once belonged to the jedi order. At the time, Sabine had wondered where the vessel had come from and what it had been doing. Only after its discovery did Ahsoka tell her that the planet had once held one of the old jedi temples, though it had already fallen into ruin long before the end of the republic.
Sabine had returned with Ahsoka, and the togruta had hesitantly opened the hatch, fingers fumbling with it. Her master had told her of the atrocities done to the jedi at the end of the Clone Wars, and she herself had witnessed their cruelty but still…. Though decades had passed, some things weren't easily lost in the passing of time. The distant sun's rays filtered through the layers of dust suddenly thrown up by the movement of air.
It had been a massacre. The clone armor still held the remains of their wearers. And the other bodies… well the bones could have only belonged to children, younglings.
Sabine had felt it then, the Force, or so she'd assumed it was. For through it she had felt something else; pain, anger, and then hate seeping from her master's cloaked form like water through the cracks of stone. The togruta had unhooked one of her sabers and Sabine had stumbled back. In one perfectly executed move, her master had beheaded the nearest clone. His helmet had fallen from his body with a crunch rolling until the crest was facing them. Sabine's eyes had swept across the chamber then, her focus latching onto the different helms. They all had the mark, a hole through the top the size of a single blaster round.
Ahsoka had sunk to her knees then, a strangled cry ripping itself from her throat. A wall of twisted emotions struck Sabine and she'd fled, blocking it off as her legs carried her away from the shadows of the ship. Outside, her twisted stomach emptied itself as she fought to regain her composure. Eventually Ahsoka's weary voice had called for her padawan's help.
They'd found Huyang in the cockpit, his body broken in half. Together, in silence, they'd carried him all the way back to the cave where they'd set up semi-permanent quarters. Though it had taken Sabine the better part of a day, she was able to repair the droid but when they at last woke him up, his yellow eyes had just stared dimly ahead. Sabine had checked her repairs once, twice and would have done it a third time if Ahsoka had not stopped her.
"I'm going to try something else," Ahsoka had said. Huyang had said nothing as Ahsoka shut him down once more.
"What do you have in mind?" Sabine had asked.
"I need you to show me where his memory banks are, and how to wipe them." Sabine had helped her, erasing the final year of the war from his system. When Huyang had woken up again, Sabine had been off training, but she'd caught the end of Ahsoka's explanations of all that had happened. The togruta had passed the droid a memory chip, "if ever you want to remember, just ask us, and we'll reinstall it." Huyang had said nothing. He'd accepted the chip and crushed it, letting the remains fall to the floor.
"Sabine?" Ahsoka asked, pulling her former padawan from her thoughts. Sabine let the memory fade away as she brought herself back to the present, to the current problem.
"Do you really thing Ezra's still out there?" she asked, letting her finger trail over the strange object resting in the palm of her hand. She'd heard of star maps before. They were a popular source of tales among the guilds of treasure hunters. But this was the first time she'd seen one in person.
"Nothing is certain," Ahsoka began but stopped to take a sip from her glass of water, "however, our enemy is actively seeking Thrawn, and their hunt led them to this. Or it would have."
"Where did you find it?" Sabine asked but Ahsoka didn't answer right away.
"Follow me," she said, tossing her cloak onto her own perfectly maintained bunk before heading back out into the main hangar. Sabine had no choice but to follow. Letting the memories slip away as her thoughts turned to the future.