Imperial Academy: A Star Wars Rebels Story;

Chapter VII: Through Imperial Eyes (Part II)

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

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.

Review Response;

So I'd just like to thank everyone for your time and care when it comes to this story or any of them!

BOOMman123 - Thanks! I hope this next one follows suit!

Combat Room Alpha-1, Imperial Academy

Sabine couldn't tell how long they'd stared at each other. But when she finally realised the exact position Ezra and she were in she shoved him off. Sabine really hoped that he couldn't see the way her cheeks burned. She clamped down on that feeling, she couldn't be distracted right now.

"You said something about The Rebellion. You're not just a shabla jetii! You're a Rebel. You really are an aruetii!" Sabine let a hand settle onto her blaster. Ezra's eyes flicked to her blaster then back to her face. Something there hardens though.

"You know some might call you the traitor, building a weapon that can incinerate your opponents without even getting near them." Sabine's throbbing jaw dropped. Her eyes narrowed.

"I should shoot you right now, if you live let Viceroy Saxon sort this out, if not…" the words wouldn't leave her lips. They were stuck in her throat as she thought of Ezra's corpse lying there on the floor.

"It'll take more than a single bolt to kill me, even if I am unarmed." Ezra tucked a hand behind his back as he continued to watch her. There was something calculating in his gaze. She'd seen it before when they were in combat. He was weighing his options, finding the best one.

"Do you not care if you live or die?" Ezra shrugged at her.

"I've lived on the streets most of my life, then I found out I was… special, being like that meant I could die at any minute. What's the point in worrying about the people who've made up their mind to kill me?" Sabine wanted to be shocked, appalled even, here was a Rebel Spy, a Jedi one no less, so cavalier about his continued existence.

"You're not exactly making me want to shoot you any less." A chuckle burst from his throat and he dropped to take a seat on the floor.

"First, I have that effect on people, I'm aware. Second, if you wanted to shoot me, you would've done it by now." Sabine drew her blaster and flicked the setting off stun. She kept the weapon level with Ezra's head. "Wow you drew a blaster, I should be so afraid."

"Are you mocking me?" Sabine watched as he crossed his legs, closed his eyes, and his breathing evened out. She stepped close, her blaster still aimed at him. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to meditate while you decide what you're going to do." Now her weapon dropped from the kill shot and she smacked her hands to her head. Her yell of frustration echoed through the room.

"I told you I could shoot you." His eye cracked open to track her as she paced in front of him.

"That time you said could." Sabine stopped. She turned back and did her best to bore into his skull with her amber gaze.

"So what? A millennia of hatred between our peoples and I'm the first Mandalorian that won't shoot a Jetii who is my enemy." Ezra shrugged again and Sabine stomped her foot.

"Not the first, but you are the first one to actually talk to your enemy, even if you did it while fighting." Sabine holstered her blaster. She stood in front of him, images in her mind's eyes of ringing his neck more than prevalent.

"What's that? Some kind of Jetii wisdom?" Ezra refused to open his eyes, but he could picture her, standing in front of him with her hands on her hips. Not unlike how Hera would with Kanan.

"No. It's an observation. We're talking, and I think it's because you know that what The Empire is doing is wrong." Sabine huffed and dropped to the ground in front of him. One of her hands rubbed her jaw, Manda it stung.

"You know you throw one hell of an uppercut." His lips quirked upwards slightly. Sabine wanted to shoot him again. "Alright then, let's game this out. Since I won't shoot you, what will you do now? Knowing I could blow your cover whenever I want."

"Continue on. I need to locate and destroy the prototype of your weapon and all related data." Sabine rolled her eyes.

"Oh is that all."

"No." She cocked an eyebrow at him.

"No?" Ezra opened his eyes, and he looked more at peace than she certainly felt.

"I need to convince you to come with me." Sabine started to wonder if there was anything else Ezra could drop on her like a bomb.

"Convince me to go with you?" He nodded. Sabine really should have shot him when she had the chance, but the more they talked the deeper the hole she was digging.

"You designed the weapon, as long as you remain within ease of access to The Empire, they can ask or force you to recreate it. Therefore the best course of action is that you aren't here for them to force you to do that." Sabine blinked once, then twice.

"So your best idea is for me to runaway, like a coward?" Ezra shook his head. "Well that's what that sounds like. It sounds like you're saying that I have run and hide otherwise The Empire will use me to make The Duchess again."

"You don't have to hide, you don't even have to go that far. You just can't be right here, in the heart of Imperial power for them to grab and abuse you. You can even fight them-"

"No. I swore an oath to The Empire!" Sabine shot up from the floor. Ezra groaned.

"Sabine, that oath means nothing to them. Tomorrow they could decide you aren't important and kill you and your family just to make sure you won't turn against them!" Her foot stopped just shy of the ground. Sabine's head slowly swivelled to look at Ezra. He had stood and was staring at her.

"What do you mean?" He looked away.

"That's what happened to my family. They were in Lothal's government before The Empire came. Worked with Governor Ryder. They chose to leave The Empire, and when they spoke out demanding better conditions for the people, others listened. Next thing I know they're gone, my house is forfeit and I'm living on the streets. The Empire saw them as a threat, so they dealt with them." Sabine's foot softly landed on the floor. She couldn't imagine what she would do if her Buir, either of them, were arrested. "They died in Imperial custody about five years ago."

The silence stretched. Sabine had nothing she could say. The Empire she supported had convinced her to build a weapon that could slaughter and enslave her people. They had arrested and killed the parents of her people's ancient enemy, for calling on them to be better. Ezra started for the door.

"Where are you going?" Sabine spun as he went past her. Ezra didn't stop.

"I still have a mission to do, regardless of whether or not you know what you're going to do." The doors hissed, and Sabine was alone.

The Viceroy's Office

Gar Saxon heard the tone, but continued to stare at Bridger's file. Another tone invaded his mind and his eyes narrowed. A third time and Saxon finally let his gaze rise to the door. He pressed the control beneath his desk.

The door hissed open and in stalked a blonde in stormtrooper armour and his helmet under his arm. A pauldron sat upon the trooper's armour. He walked with purpose to the centre of the room. His bright shiny armour stood out against the dark grey of the office.

"What is it Tiber?" Gar's eyes rose to meet his brother. The blonde shook his head and moved to the chair on the opposite side of Gar's desk. He slid into the chair and dropped a data pad. Gar slowly glared at it. Tiber pushed it to him.

"Why has progress on The Duchess stalled?" Gar cocked an eyebrow and he locked eyes with Tiber. He carefully reached out and pushed the data pad back towards Tiber.

"The Duchess is a weapons project that falls under my jurisdiction. I have chosen to have its creator focus their energy elsewhere for the moment. I also have doubts about the premise of it." Tiber huffed and pushed the data pad back towards him.

"It could be the difference between our continued rule or an Imperial Governor. Gar, The Duchess can secure our legacy as the ruling clan of Mandalore. No Clan could stand against us, especially with The Empire's backing." Gar snatched the data pad and dropped it into one of the drawers of his desk.

"Yes it is possible it is just that, but I have a far more delicate issue than The Duchess right now. We received a new recruit, possibly a jetii. I have the designer of The Duchess working with this new cadet to see if they can uncover whether they are a jetii or not." Tiber shook his head and pushed out of the chair.

"Gar we are not the largest clan, many of our brothers, sisters, cousins, practically all of our family paid the price for Maul attempting to flee Mandalore at the end of The Clone Wars. The only Clan as reduced as ours is Clan Kryze." Tiber turned back to his brother. The grey haired man watched him carefully. "We need this weapon. If The Protectors-"

"Do not speak to me of The Protectors! Those traitors of Mandalore will get what is coming to them. I must be careful Tiber. I cannot act whenever I want. As you have so clearly spelled out, we are reliant on Imperial muscle to help enforce our rule. That means every action we take must be controlled and measured against the possible outcomes." Gar narrowed his eyes on his brother. "The Duchess is an asset yes, but it could also lose us what respect and allies we have among the other clans as it is. If we lose any other clans we will be solely at the mercy of The Empire. If they failed to send us reinforcements the other clans could easily overwhelm us."

"If we had The Duchess, any rebellion by our people would be pointless. The clans would face destruction for rising against us!" Tiber stepped closer again. "The Duchess is the method by which we could rule Mandalore. We already know it works, the test worked on the chunk of ore."

"Tiber! It is not close to full power, and that test was conclusive at destroying beskar, but we have no idea if it will work against the warrior wearing the armour. More tests and work needs to be done on it. I'm worried though, if we do have a jetii infiltrator and they find The Duchess at full power? He could destroy us all." Gar stood, he stared down at Tiber. The younger Saxon huffed and turned away. Finally he looked over his shoulder at Gar.

"Have you called The Inquisitorious? One of their Inquisitors might be able to flush out the Jedi better than a Mandalorian."

"I wanted proof before requesting an Inquisitor, but you're right. If he hasn't slipped up enough by now then an Inquisitor might be the only one who can get him to." Gar sank back into his seat. Tiber walked up and grabbed his helmet from the desk.

"Then do it Gar, we need The Duchess to avoid the same fate as Clan Kryze." Tiber turned and stalked from the room. Gar looked back down at the file he'd been examining. Ezra Bridger's file. Tiber was right, Sabine had done her best and he had pushed this boy. For all intents and purposes he should have snapped. The only reason he wouldn't have is if he had some kind of training, which might mean there was more one.

Elsewhere, Sundari, Mandalore

Magenta eyes scanned the alleyway as she ducked into the small darkened space. There was nothing that really drew her attention. She pulled the hilt off her belt and looked at it. There were a variety of different pieces and random sizes all fitted together. Then there was the odd rectangular guard and… That was a barrel and a trigger system. She flipped the weapon around in her hands and at the assembly.

There was no doubt it was homemade and done by hand, but it was skilled. No doubt whatever powered the sabre had more strength than tibanna gas powered blasters. Then there was the way the firing mechanisms connected together with the blade activator. She stopped and connected the weapon back to her belt.

So the boy had an understanding of weapon design and at least a minor capability at engineering. But it isn't his specialty, he was a spy… What would a spy need with weapons design and engineering understanding? She stopped dead. Sabine's special project, the one Saxon pulled her off of. He didn't care about Sabine, he cared about the weapon. Which begged the most important question, what was it that Sabine was working on?

She remembered Sabine was taking detailed analysis of Beskar, but she was also looked into alternative firing systems. Nothing like Tibanna Gas or kinetic propulsion. She looked at energy dispersion. Sabine said something about an Arc generator. Arc generators could distribute mass amounts of power and energy into confined electrical energy beams. Such weapons were usually effective at breaking down armour. Specifically they could be used against power armour and other metal based armours to hit the user directly. It didn't work on Mandalorian armour though, the beskar alloy would redistribute the energy and make the user impervious…

Her head shot to her chest plate. She rapped her knuckles against the metal. She thought back to the sweat that had clung to her skin as she'd worked with The Armourers at her clan stronghold. The heat needed to work beskar alloys was extreme, that was part of why it worked as well it did… but if an Arc generator was reworked so that it could and would target specific chemical compounds it could target whatever it was and superheat it the way it normally would, even Mandalorian armour.

She stumbled back to the wall and slid down. Sabine had designed a weapon that would make their people's one defence their greatest weakness. There was no way to defend against Arc generator weapons without outfitting personal deflector technology, which was expensive and far too energy intensive to work in the long run.

Her lips curled and she brought up the data pad. Ezra Bridger was the name of The Jedi. She could work with that. He was from Lothal and he was after Sabine's extremely dangerous weapons project. Her best bet would be to wait for whatever Bridger had planned before she made her move. She could get revenge against Sabine and Bridger at the same time.

The Viceroy's Office

He pressed the last control and waited before the holoprojector. A beep resounded and Gar glanced up as blue light filled the darkened room. Standing as nothing but light in the air, yet somehow chilling the room with his presence, was a dark figure. Clad in black armour with a cloak with the symbol of The Empire embolized on his shoulder plates. He stood tall, his white head and scarlet ringed yellow eyes flickered in time with the projection lag on the comms unit. His lips pulled back to reveal sharpened teeth and his gaze narrowed on Gar.

"Viceroy Saxon. I am in the middle of an important operation to secure a Jedi Sympathiser, I do hope you have a reason for interrupting me." Gar dipped his head ever so slightly, he'd learned from Maul that there were sometimes it was better to bite one's tongue.

"Grand Inquisitor, I believe there is a Jedi among the cadets in my academy, he is too young to have been at The Jedi Temple… there is a chance that he has been trained by another." The Inquisitor let a nasty teeth-baring smile break across his face.

"A Master and Apprentice. I find such an option intriguing. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I shall attend to this matter personally. Expect my arrival as soon as I have completed this assignment." He turned and drew a circular guarded hilt from his back. The Grand Inquisitor stopped though and looked back over his shoulder to Gar. "And Viceroy Saxon, do not ruin my chances of capturing this Apprentice and their Master, or you will answer to me."

The blue glow faded and darkness enveloped the room. Gar had no choice, he needed this Jedi out of his academy before The Empire decided to bring more troops to Mandalore, if they did there would be no way for him to stop them from finishing The Duchess, then The Empire would no longer need him anymore.

A/N:

I am so sorry for not posting last month. I kinda got sick for a bit there and it threw off my sleep schedule so I wasn't able to write as much. That said here is the chapter that was meant to come out last month. I'll do what I can to get a chapter sometime in January, but don't be suprised if it is a bit late because of the holidays.

We're making progress… Things are close to getting out of hand. Ezra and Sabine are at odds and we have Gar and Tiber Saxon at the same time, this can't end well, right? Ketsu figured it out and she wants her revenge. Also The Grand Inquisitor is yet to have died, which means he gets to finish what he started this time around… maybe.

I've planned out another 8 chapters plus an Epilogue. I will be posting a chapter of this story every month. Hopefully by the time this is posted I'll already have gotten a decent headstart on the next chapter. I am also working on Strong as The Steel We Carry so I should most likely be posting on two stories every month.

Thank you to everyone who has stayed with me for this long ride. I'll be engaging a bit with the recent reviews at the top of the story. I've included Mando'a translations for those who want them!

Mando'a Translations

Shabla = screwed up

Jetii = Jedi

Aruetii = Outsider, traitor, colloquially 'non=Mandalorian'

Buir = Parent

Beskar = Mandalorian Iron

Big shout out to Anonymous Noob the 2nd for requesting this story! I'll see you with the next one!

-Six Out!