Imperial Academy: A Star Wars Rebels Story;

Chapter IV:

Characters: Sabine Wren, Ezra Bridger, Kannan Jarrus, Hera Syndulla, C1-10P (Chopper), Garazeb 'Zeb' Orrellios, Agent Alexander Kallus, The Inquisitor, Gar Saxon

Ships: Sabezra, Hints of Kanera, for now

Description:

Sabine Wren is the top cadet in the Imperial Academy on Mandalore, as such she is the one selected to tutor its newest pupil, Ezra Bridger. Ezra is a rebel spy, working for Phoenix Squadron; his objective was simple, find The Duchess and eliminate it. So what happens when the pair become entangled in the web of Rebel plots and Imperial machinations?

Disclaimer:

I do not own Star Wars. I am but a humble fan, may Disney, who may soon be the entertainment overlords please spare me their wrath and lawsuits, I wouldn't have much to give them anyway.

Study Section Bravo-3, Imperial Academy

Time passed slowly for Sabine. First it was just a few days with Ezra not rising to her jabs, then a few weeks, now a month. He grew taller, filled out a bit, and cut his hair short. Sabine knew she had grown taller too, but now he had a bit of height on her. Their training and tutoring sessions were more focused, he didn't try to be friendly, even as he made friends with a good portion of the class at her expense.

During actual exercises and classes Ezra had become the closest to model cadet Sabine had ever thought he could be. And absolutely nothing he did could give away hints of him being a Jedi. She'd tried telling Saxon she'd lost his trust, that pushing him wasn't working, that she should be allowed to go back to her project, but the Viceroy had been adamant she was best for the job, and seemed less than thrilled about the prospect of her returning to The Duchess. Sabine pulled back on her thoughts and focused on Ezra, his stylus floated across the screen of his device. Sabine bitterly thought of her paint applicators back at home, and of the supplies she'd sent back to avoid being caught with contraband. She had never felt like this before, but before she didn't have to contend with Ezra. A hiss built up in the back of her throat as Ezra's eyes rose to meet hers.

"So on this problem I need to-"

"Why aren't you rising to it anymore?" Ezra stopped, his brows scrunched together and he watched her, not unlike how he might if she were a wild animal.

"I don't understand?" His tone was measured, his words seemed carefully picked. "I thought you didn't want to be my friend, I thought you wanted me to be a better cadet?"

"So you're doing all this because you think it's what I want?" Her voice became sharp and her eyes hardened as she stared him down. "Is this all for what I want? Do you hear yourself? Do you even care about The Empire? Do you care about what your actions mean for it? By The Manda! Why do you care what I think? Why am I so shabla important?"

"You say I can't make up my mind, but you're the one who's been slowly losing it over my lack of interaction with you outside your established perimeters. The galaxy doesn't revolve around you Sabine. Maybe you should take a good long look at what you want though; especially if this is how you're acting right now. I'm just gonna go ask one of the other cadets to help me with math, you're clearly not in the right mindset." Ezra got up and walked off. Sabine dropped into her seat. He didn't argue with her, at least not in the heated way they had before, it felt more like getting chastised by an adult. There were a few other Cadets in the study section, their eyes flitted over to her every once in a while. She turned a burning gaze on them and their curiosity died quickly. With a huff Sabine gathered her things and stalked from the room, Manda how she wished she had her paint applicators right now.

Exercise Room Delta-1, Imperial Academy

Sabine's fist smashed into the bag, sending it flying. It groaned as it hit the ground, struggling under its own weight to remain upright, before it toppled down. Her skin was sticky, she felt hot and her muscles ached. How long had she been doing this now? She didn't know. None of the other cadets had come to interrupt her, no one seemed brave to try. She'd seen a Training Officer at one point, probably there to take over the room. The moment the officer's eyes had landed on her though as she launched into another beating on the poor abused bag had sent the officer and anyone with them away. Stupid Ezra, why does he make me like this? I've gone through so many 'friends' that I shouldn't even care, but now getting ignored by him it just… it drives me nuts on a level I can't quite understand. Plus there's the whole him throwing my own words back at me, he never used to disengage from a fight before, he actually always seemed to enjoy the frustration he caused, like some kind of chaotic little mite that just wanted to play pranks. Sabine hissed to herself and stalked towards another bag, she cocked back her hand when the door opened.

"You know if you wanted to abuse some poor training equipment you should have just gone to the explosives room, I'm sure that blowing that up might have made you feel better." Ketsu stepped into Sabine's view. Sabine couldn't help the smile that spread over her lips.

"Where have you been? I feel like I haven't seen you ages, Ketsu!" Sabine tackled the other girl into a hug, then quickly pulled away.

"I've… well I've been thinking through some things Sabine. With you helping train that Lothrat I had some more time to myself and I came to a decision." Ketsu gave Sabine a look, one that felt far too much like the one she'd seen directed at opposing cadets in training exercises. It was dark, with a hint of joy that was most certainly not a good thing. "I'm leaving the academy, I'm not going to waste my life being some mindless Imperial drone. I want to live, I'm going to become a Bounty Hunter, if I'm lucky I can make it into The Black Sun's good graces."

Sabine stared at Ketsu, her amber eyes wide. Ketsu wasn't facing her anymore though. The other woman moved towards the edges of the Training room.

"I want you to come with me Sabine, this place… it's not good enough for you. Your potential is wasted here among Bucketheads. Think of the money you could make as a Bounty Hunter, no more hiding your paint applicators away. It'll be just like old times, when we were young, before this hell hole." Ketsu had thrown her arms wide, a matching smile across her face, as she spun on her heel to settle her wonder filled magenta eyes on Sabine.

Sabine's jaw dropped, this was blatant treason, in the middle of an Imperial Academy. Even more, it was dishonourable. She collected her jaw and her mouth worked to form words for what felt like minutes, but was likely just seconds. With each passing tick though Ketsu's happiness faded further, and the light in her eyes began to die.

"Come on Sabine, you know you hate this place as much as I do, you threw yourself into that project and now they won't even let you touch it. Why should you care about people who do that? You are a Mandalorian Sabine, you should be a warrior not stuck in this stifling place." Ketsu had stepped close, her hand outstretched. Sabine was still trying to get her brain to function. Finally something jump started in there and Sabine's shocked expression faded.

"Ketsu, what are you thinking? That's treason! It's dishonourable, what of your family, of your clan?" Sabine stepped between Ketsu and the door, hoping no one would burst in. "We are Mandalorians, our honour, our family, our clan is more important than our own lives. What are we without those things?"

Ketsu's lips pulled thin and her fingers curled back into her hand as she dropped her arm. She leaned back, something cold coiled in Sabine's stomach. Her amber eyes suddenly noted Ketsu's Mandalorian armour was fully armed.

"You won't come with me. Then get out of my way. I'm leaving." Ketsu set a hand on her blaster. Sabine was in exercise clothes, the only weapon she had on hand was the punching bags. Ketsu stepped to go around, and Sabine placed herself between her old friend and the door.

"No. I won't let you ruin your life just because you got it in your head that its bad here." Sabine's eyes hardened on Ketsu.

"Don't give me that, you know as well as I do that you hate it here, you tried convincing yourself to like it, but let's face it, you hate this place more than I do. What was it you said when you first got here, 'this place could use some more colour' right?" Ketsu went to step again, Sabine mirrored her. "It doesn't have to be this way Sabine, just move, you won't get hurt and I'll leave in peace. You can even go tell Saxon you tried to stop me."

"Not gonna happen Ketsu-" Her voice was cut off by the sound of a blaster round, and pain erupted in her stomach. It spread like wildfire over her abdomen and her knees buckled. The ground rushed to her and she heard someone shriek.

"It didn't have to be this way Sabine, you did this to yoursel-" Whatever the magenta eyed Mandalorian was about to say was cut off as she was thrown backwards into the wall. There was no one near her. Sabine fought as pain enveloped as much of her mind as it could, her eyes cracked open and standing over her was Ezra. His arms were outstretched. She followed their path and found Ketsu pushed against the wall by some invisible force… Oh shab…

A/N;

Thanks to those of you who have been patient, it took awhile to really get where I wanted this to go, but I had some inspiration after remembering that Ketsu leaves, and I felt like I hadn't really explored that option, so here we are. Thanks to Anonymous Noob The 2nd for the request, and I hope you've all been well. Sorry that my writer's block has gotten the better of me recently, there's a lot of stuff changing in my homelife at the moment so we'll see what happens when things settle down again, until then expect my normal haphazard update schedule for my stories. Thanks for reading!

-Six Out!