A/N: Sabine time!

Star Wars Rebels: The Boy From Lothal

Chapter Three

The Girl From Mandalore

By RocketTortoise

"Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?"

- Frida Kahlo

If there is one thing that Sabine Wren can respect about the people of the Unknown Regions, it's that they for damn sure know how to make some sweet music.

Sabine sits on top of an old-looking industrial chimney, high above the bustling city below. The chimney is attached to some metalworks factory which would usually be spouting hot and toxic smoke into the planet's atmosphere. But right now, it is deep into the night and the factory workers had been sent home for the day hours ago. Sitting on the chimney's metal surface, you can't tell whether the factory had ever been operational as the metal grate that runs across the mouth of the chimney has long gone cold from the high-altitude winds.

Sabine sits on the edge of the circular chimney, her legs dangling off the side. She has music playing through her helmet into her ears, a modification she had applied practically the day she had reforged the helmet with her family. Normally, she could connect the computing processor within her helmet to the holonet and load music from there but being on the wrong side of an all-but-impenetrable blockade of solar storms and black holes had ended her dreams of watching lothcat videos until she falls asleep.

And after months of listening to the same songs over and over again, Sabine spent an inordinate amount of time figuring out how splice into the Unknown Region's version of the holonet. As it turns out, they don't have a single network that reaches the entirety of the Unknown Regions thanks to the interference from previously mentioned solar storms and black holes. Instead, each system has their own separate network, with next to no interconnection. This fascinates Sabine because it has lead to massive cultural diversity between systems. Sabine and the crew haven't travelled to too many systems since passing through the Rikishi Maze but each one had been wildly different from the others. And this leads to some sick music.

The Unknown Region song that Sabine has been listening to drifts to a close, and Sabine groans when it is replaced by an all-too-familiar track. The spiralling melodies and angelic harmonies of the Unknown Region music are replaced by an electronic monstrosity, filled with chaotic drum crashes and a vocal line that sounds like it had been recorded underwater. Sabine leans forward and rests her jaw against her palms, deciding to sit through it rather than hitting the fast-forward button.

Ezra had spent months trying to get her into this music, you would have thought that he had written the song himself with how desperate he was for Sabine's approval.

A small smile grows on Sabine's face.

After a while, the music did start getting stuck in her head, and so when Ezra started playing the music on the Ghost's comm system and asked her to dance, she would only refuse politely and wouldn't tell him to shut the godawful garbage off.

Sabine can feel a small lump in her throat form, and she sighs. It's been six years since she last saw Ezra. Since the war for Lothal between the rebels and the Empire. Since the bombardment from Grand Admiral Thrawn's Star Destroyer and Ezra's decision to surrender himself to the Imperials. Since the arrival of the Purrgils, intergalactic space whales that had responded to Ezra's call for aid and Ezra's ultimate sacrifice, disappearing into hyperspace along with Thrawn and his Imperial fleet. It has been six long years, six long years of waiting.

While Hera, Zeb and the others had gone off to help topple the Empire, Sabine had stayed on Lothal. Ezra had left behind a holo-recording before his disappearance where he had told Sabine that he was counting on her.

He was counting on me.

So, for five years, Sabine stood watch over Lothal, ready to die before letting the Empire retake Lothal and letting Ezra's sacrifice be in vain. But the attack never came. And so, for five years, Sabine did nothing but wait, while the Rebellion brought freedom to the galaxy. She did nothing but wait, while Ezra was gone, alone, in the deepest corners of the galaxy, surrounded by who-knows-what and potentially suffering like Sabine could not possibly imagine.

And as the years passed, and no attack came for Lothal, doubt had begun to creep into Sabine's soul. A doubt that would keep her awake for nights on end.

Was he waiting for me?

Sabine is interrupted as a spaceship flies by her overhead, much too close for comfort. The air displacement from the ship is almost enough to knock Sabine off the chimney altogether.

"Woah!" Sabine cries, grabbing a tight grip on the metal grate below her. Turning her gaze up at the ship, she realises that it is heading for the spaceport. It is not a design that Sabine is familiar with, but the ship's expanded undercarriage leads Sabine to assume that it is some sort of shuttle or troop carrier.

Sabine turns her wrist over and presses a button on her vambrace, activating her commlink. "Ahsoka, do you read me?"

Almost immediately, the former Jedi replies, "I read you. What's going on?"

"We've got some sort of shuttle landing at the spaceport. Looks like trouble."

Dropping her rangefinder over her helmet's viewplate, Sabine zooms in on the distant spaceport. The ship is completing it's landing and the moment the ship settles on the platform, the people-carrier opens, and a swarm of armed men file out.

One look at the company of men and Sabine can tell these aren't some low-life thugs or mercenaries. Each man wears a full set of armour, made of a charcoal grey metal with fluorescent aqua lights the seem to pulse in the cracks between the armour plates. And as soon as the men leave the transport, they scatter to strategic positions around the spaceport. Sabine grimaces.

"Yeahhhh…" Sabine says, letting the 'yeah' last for several seconds. "This just got way more complicated."

"I can sense them." Ahsoka states. "Around two dozen of them."

"And these guys look military." Sabine adds. "With enough firepower to make getting that shuttle out in one piece really annoying."

As the last soldier reaches their position, one final figure exits the shuttle. A green skinned non-human, dressed in what looks like officer attire, walking with perfect military posture: straight back with his arms clasped together behind his back. Beside him walks a much smaller creature, holding a datapad, perhaps some sort of aide.

Coming out from one of the spaceport hangars to meet the military officer are two more individuals. One, a human that Sabine had earlier identified as the manager of the spaceport, along with a second individual, a creature that from the waist up seems humanoid, but below that has an insect-like abdomen with four spider-like legs. It is wearing a white garment over its torso that looks somewhat like a straitjacket except the creature's arms remain fully mobile.

The manager and the spider creature meet the military officer and his aide in front of the old Imperial shuttle and begin conversing. From this distance, Sabine can't hear what they are saying but from the looks of it, they are just sharing basic pleasantries.

"Ahsoka, what's the plan?"

"Well," Ahsoka begins, "if we can avoid the legion of heavily armed soldiers, that would be ideal, but if that shuttle is leaving before they are, then we're not going to have much choice."

Sabine grits her teeth as she looks down the rangefinder. The officer and the spider creature begin walking into the shuttle, the aid tossing the manager some currency before following his superior. "I'm not liking our chances here. Got a better plan?"

"I'm already working on it!"

Something catches the corner of Sabine's eye and she flips up her rangefinder. Her eyes widen when she sees Ahsoka sprinting along a rooftop of a building surrounding the spaceport. Dropping her rangefinder back down, Sabine zooms in on the Togrutan, who, sensing Sabine's gaze, looks straight back at Sabine through the rangefinder, grinnging and giving her a wink for her trouble.

Ahsoka leaps from the building onto the spaceport and begins scaling the control tower. Avoiding the eyes of the soldiers, Ahsoka climbs all the way onto the control tower's roof and lays down prone on top.

Sabine can see her reach out with one hand and the soldiers' transport seems to flinch. The transport must have made one hell of a loud noise because just about every soldier on the spaceport platform spins towards the transport. Their weapons all raise in unison as the transport begins to slide away from the shuttle. By now the officer, his aide and the spider creature have come out of the shuttle to see what is going on.

"Sabine," Ahsoka mutters, her voice noticeably softer. "Throw a thermal charge in this direction, as hard as you can."

Sabine grins and pulls a detonator out from what Ezra had affectionately liked to call her 'Boombox'. "No need to tell me twice." Not setting the timer, Sabine tosses the bomb as hard as she can. The bomb freezes in mid-air for a moment as Ahsoka catches it with the Force before it begins sailing towards the spaceport. The detonator droops low, barely above the roofline and just about clips the ear of one of the patrolling soldiers before implanting itself into the hull of the transport.

"Sabine." Ahsoka says.

Sabine lets out a chuckle like a child with a toy to play with and raises her vambrace. She presses a button, and the bomb explodes.

Oh, it is majestic. Whatever these people put in their fuel needs to be made a galaxy-wide mandate because the transport goes up in a wild green explosion that Sabine would be lying if she said she had seen before. The shockwave throws a significant amount of the soldiers off their feet and knocks them out. Sabine silently thanks Ahsoka for moving the transport away from the shuttle because that explosion was no joke. The shuttle is rocked to one side, spilling it's three occupants off it's entrance ramp, but otherwise takes no discernible damage.

"Sabine," Ahsoka calls. "That's our cue."

Sabine flips up the rangefinder and with a laugh, she slides off the edge of the chimney. She kicks off from its side, pushing away from the chimney before letting herself freefall. Sabine can feel the air rattling against her armour, and she maybe lets herself indulge in the adrenaline for a few moments longer than she needs to before she kickstarts her jetpack.

Letting the jetpack pull her where it wants, Sabine beelines for the spaceport like a falling star. Eyes locking on one poor, unsuspecting soldier, Sabine kills her jetpack and somersaults mid-air. The soldier turns around just in time to see Sabine's boot introduce itself to his chest. His armour probably saves his ribs from collapsing in on themselves, but he is sent flying across the spaceport, crashing into the wall on the far side.

Sliding on her back from her still remaining momentum and passing several startled soldiers as she did, Sabine rolls onto her side and digs her boot into the ground. Her foot catches a ridge in the spaceport platform and Sabine is sent into a twisting somersault. As her boots touch the ground once more, Sabine kicks off and jumps, activating her jetpack with perfect timing, sending her on one long, elegant backflip from the platform all the way to the roof of the spaceport.

The soldiers that she had passed raise their guns towards Sabine to fire but a few of them are distracted by the rolling metal balls trailing in Sabine's wake. While some of them open fire of Sabine's position, the rest can only watch in panic as Sabine presses the detonate button on her vambrace and the detonators release their electrical currents. The spaceport is filled with the soldiers' cries as they are electrocuted to the point of passing out, collapsing with a chorus of clunking metal on metal.

The remaining soldiers find cover and begin firing at Sabine. She retreats behind the slanted rooftop and turns her eyes up to the top of the control tower.

"Now would be good." Sabine mutters.

As if waiting for Sabine to ask for help, Ahsoka leaps off the top of the tower, her arms spread to the side with her two lightsabers in hand. Sabine groans to herself. Although she does not call herself a Jedi anymore, in true Jedi fashion, Ahsoka finds a way to unintentionally frame herself perfectly with the moon shining behind her, giving her the look of a angel soaring from above, before she falls and lands in the centre of the platform.

Well and truly ready for an attack now, the soldiers turn and fire on Ahsoka without hesitation. Ahsoka's lightsabers ignite, emitting their pure white glow, and she starts deflecting blaster bolts in all directions.

Avoiding deflecting the shots into the shuttle or any of the enemy combatants, Ahsoka glances up at Sabine. Not needing to be told twice, Sabine sets her blaster pistols to stun and jumps out from behind cover.

She pops two soldiers shooting from one of the second-floor balconies before turning 180 degrees and leaping off the edge of the rooftop backwards so that she would be facing the rest of the soldiers. Activating her jetpack as she leaps, Sabine stuns three more before the jetpack kicks in and sends her flying behind the flaming wreck of a transport for cover.

With Sabine drawing some of the fire off of Ahsoka, the former Jedi reaches out with one hand and pulls the blasters off of a group of soldiers and tosses them over the edge of the platform and into the deep canyon.

The final two, perhaps sensing the futility of continuing to fight, both hesitate and their firing pauses for a beat. In that moment, Ahsoka rips the weapons out of their hands with the Force and then grabs both by the head and bangs them together, knocking both out simultaneously.

Deactivating her lightsabers, Ahsoka turns towards what remains of the transport, from behind which Sabine emerges, slotting one of her pistols back into its holster.

"Well, that went well." Sabine remarks, looking around at their handiwork.

"Did you have any doubt?" Ahsoka replies, tilting her head with a half-smile. The two of them head towards the shuttle. "We better get out of here before they realise they're being robbed."

As the two approach the entrance ramp, the spider creature regains consciousness and begins freaking out. After looking at the carnage and the fallen soldiers around it, it locks eyes with the two women and begins screaming at them. The two of them have no idea what it is saying, but after hearing quite enough of what she assumes are horrible, horrible things, Sabine shoots the creature in the face. Set to stun, of course.

The two enter the shuttle and Sabine heads straight for the cockpit, taking off her helmet as she does so. No need to overstay their welcome. She sits in the pilot's seat and takes a glance at the controls. Although there are some modified panels here and there, most of the shuttle's dashboard remains in its original state.

Sabine begins running through the pre-flight checks, just like she had been taught in the Imperial academy, and before long, she was ready to start the engines.

The engines begin to stir and with a pull of a lever, Sabine activates the hover thrusters, lifting the tri-wing off the platform. Sabine lowers the two side wings into flight position and gently pushes the thrusters. The shuttle takes off, leaving the spaceport in their wake.

Ahsoka's voice calls out from behind Sabine. "I don't think this is just a shuttle. They have retrofitted this thing out with a bunch of tech that make it seem like a mini-laboratory."

Sabine takes a glance back into the rest of the shuttle. Ahsoka is gazing over the machinery that lines the walls of the shuttle, none of it looking like standard Imperial technology.

"Any idea what it all does?" Sabine asks.

"Not a clue." Ahsoka replies. "Hopefully nothing important enough for them to come looking for it."

Sabine rolls her eyes. "I'm sure they just use it to fry Nuna legs and bake cookies."

Ahsoka chuckles but then gasps, "Oh! I hope there was no one left on that transport when we blew it up."

Sabine's eyes widen as her jaw drops, "Ahsoka!"

Ahsoka laughs and leans on Sabine's shoulders. "I'm kidding. Don't worry, I checked it was empty beforehand."

Sabine's brows furrow and her grip tightens on the wheel. Still leaning on Sabine, Ahsoka activates her comm link. "Miara, we've got the shuttle. Sit tight, we're going to come to y—"

An alarm starts sounding from the ship's systems. Sabine's eyes dart to the radar and sees three dots gaining on them from behind. "We've got incoming! Three fighters, closing in fast."

Ahsoka punches a code into her comm link. "Miara, scratch that. We've got some company. I'm sending you coordinates now. We'll meet you there once we've shaken our tail."

"Copy that, Captain." Miara replies. "Coordinates received."

Ahsoka scans her eyes over the shuttle's dashboard. "Do we have any weapons on this thing?"

"Not one." Sabine groaned. "It looks like they replaced them all with sensors and extra power cells. I'm taking us into the canyon, we might get some cover there."

Ahsoka sighs and turns towards the rear of the ship. "Open the door then. I'm going outside."

Sabine elbows her. "I don't think so. I'm the one with the jetpack, remember? Take the wheel."

Ahsoka sighs again and grudgingly complies. She grabs the wheel and steers the ship as Sabine slips out from the pilot's seat. Grabbing her helmet off the dash and slipping it onto her head, Sabine marches towards the rear door. Without needing to be prompted, Ahsoka presses the button sequence that overrides the safety protocols preventing accidental door openings mid-flight and the door begins to lower.

In the distance, Sabine can see three small dots that appear to grow by the second. Dropping her rangefinder to get a better look, Sabine can see the three fighters in pursuit. They are in a tight V-formation, and more or less level with one another. What surprises Sabine, however, is that the fighters look scarily Imperial in design. Each fighter has the traditional TIE fighter spherical cockpit but rather than having plates on the side, the fighters have what look two-pronged claws on both sides pointing forwards towards Sabine.

Sabine's hands curl around her two pistols sitting in their holsters but hesitates. I suppose this is one of those situations, Sabine thinks and letting her blaster pistols slip back into their holsters, she unlocks a hardcase strapped below her right blaster holster. The cap opens and a lightsaber is ejected from inside.

Sabine catches it and holds it in front of her helmet. It has been a while since she had used it on an actual mission but there are times like this when she doesn't have much choice.

Her attention is pulled back by the fighters when they open fire on the shuttle. One shot grazes the rear deflector shields but Ahsoka is able to evade the rest. Sabine loses her balance but catches herself by grabbing one of the stanchions to the side of her. Ahsoka yells out from the cockpit. "What are you waiting for? These shields aren't going to be able to take too much more fire!"

Sabine steadies herself and looks out towards the enemy fighters, taking a couple of seconds to size up their distance and angle in relation to the shuttle. "Should be doable." Sabine mutters to herself and leaps off the ramp.

The moment she leaves the shuttle's interior, Sabine spreads her arms and legs to pick up as much drag as possible. It isn't particularly necessary because the fighters are on her in an instant. A burst from her jetpack to avoid becoming a bug on the central fighter's windscreen and quickly igniting the lightsaber, Sabine swings a wide vertical slice through the coupling holding the fighter's cockpit and right wing together. The fighter barely misses her but with one green flurry, the fighter is separated from its wing and quickly spirals to it's left. The fighter to the left is barely able to get out of the way before the crippled fighter crashes into the canyon wall.

Sabine starts up her jetpack before she plummets to her death and chases after the remaining fighters. However, while her jetpack is fast and she's able to keep pace with the fighters, that was about all she could accomplish. She wasn't gaining any ground on the fighters. If anything, she might be slightly falling behind as the fighters creep a little further away.

Sabine draws a pistol with her free hand and takes aim at the fighter to her left. She begins firing shots at the fighter's rear thrusters. After landing three or four shots, the fighter pilot realises what is happening and begins taking evasive action. But it seems Sabine's blaster had left its mark, as a small trail of smoke begins to develop from the fighter's thrusters. And gradually, Sabine is catching up.

Sabine tries some pot shots at the fighter on the right, but it quickly peels off before Sabine can land a shot. Returning her attention to the remaining fighter, Sabine starts judging the distance between the two of them. I might just be close enough, Sabine thinks, raising her vambrace towards the fighter.

But before she can put her plan into action, the fighter suddenly kills its thrusters and opens all flaps, drastically dropping its momentum and effectively turning itself into a rock for Sabine to crash into.

Realising the imminent peril, Sabine swings her legs forward and kills her jetpack, slowing herself down and rolling into a backflip. Now, flying feet-first towards the fighter, Sabine twists her body so that she is looking towards the ground and a moment later has her whole body pointed downwards. Without hesitation, she restarts her jetpack and flies out of the way just before she slams into the fighter.

Pulling up before she flies into the ground, Sabine turns towards the fighter, which has restarted its engines and was lining her up for a burst of cannon fire. Sabine flies straight up, hearing the rock from the canyon wall explode below her as the fighter opens fire on her. She can see the fighter pulling up as it approaches her, trying to get Sabine within its line of fire.

In a moment, Sabine realises that it is going to catch up and holds the lightsaber with two hands in front of her body, trying to cover as much of herself as possible. She tucks her legs up into her chest and braces for impact.

The shot hits her lightsaber and Sabine can feel the recoil through her entire body, like her limbs are going to be ripped from their sockets. The lightsaber is wrenched from her hands and she is thrown back away from the canyon. She hits the ground and skips across it like a pebble upon water. She bounces three or four times before finally rolling to a stop.

Still conscious, if barely, Sabine tries to get to her feet, but with a scream of pain, she collapses. Her left arm is probably broken, heck, the entire left side of her body is hurting. Who the hell is that pilot? Sabine thinks bitterly. That was some wild flying for a rank-and-file pilot, especially that low to ground in a narrow canyon gulley. If Sabine didn't know any better, she would have sworn it was Hera Syndulla flying that fighter.

Gritting her teeth through the pain, Sabine rises to her feet. Ahsoka still needs her. Sabine may have bought some time for Ahsoka to get some distance, but those fighters have a massive speed advantage on the shuttle, and Ahsoka has no way to defend herself.

Sabine spots the lightsaber lying some way to her right, and using her one good arm, she fires her grapple at the lightsaber and pulls it into her hand.

Static feedback buzzes into Sabine's ears and she activates her commlink. "Sabine, you still there?" Ahsoka says.

"Barely." Sabine replies.

"Well, I could use some help over here."

"I've fallen way behind, Ahsoka." Sabine tells her. "I need some time to catch up."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Ahsoka replies. "I'm bringing the party to you."

In the distance to Sabine's right, the shuttle soars out of the gulley, smoke trailing behind it. The two fighters are close behind it, firing kill shots that Ahsoka barely evades.

Not wasting another moment, Sabine takes a running start and activates her jetpack, racing up to meet the shuttle. "Ahsoka! Bring them over here!"

"I see you." Ahsoka replies and the shuttle soon banks towards Sabine.

Sabine flies just over the shuttle and kills the engine, landing on top of the shuttle's cockpit. Sabine runs the length of the ship and jumps off the rear, sending herself at the smoking fighter with the insane pilot that had just shot her. She ignites the lightsaber for another slice, but the pilot reacts in time, making the fighter dive to get out of Sabine's reach.

As Sabine flies by the fighter, she twists her body and aims her one good arm at the rear of the fighter. She fires her grapple, which implants itself into the fighter's hull. She feels the tug on her shoulder as the fighter pulls her along. Forcing her other arm to move through sheer will, she presses a button on her right vambrace, causing the grapple to retract and shoot Sabine towards the fighter.

The pilot must have realised what she was doing to some degree because before Sabine reaches the fighter, the pilot pulls up into a backflip, swinging Sabine underneath and slingshotting her forwards. The grapple rope goes taut and Sabine screams as her shoulder feels like it is going to separate from her body before the grapple dislodges from the fighter's hull.

Sabine is sent tumbling forward, but she has just enough sense remaining that she is able to activate her jetpack and steady herself out.

As the smoking fighter peels off, the other pilot notices her moment of weakness and begins lining her up to fire upon. Sabine realises just in time and kills her jetpack. She catches the drag, slowing right down, and she slips between the blaster shots from the fighter's two cannons. Heading feet-first at the fighter's cockpit, Sabine reactivates her jetpack just before impact to lessen the blow before plunging the lightsaber through the fighter's windshield and through the pilot's helmet. The pilot goes limp, causing the fighter to spin out of control and Sabine leaps off the cockpit, taking flight once more.

Two down, one to go, Sabine thinks to herself. Her breathing is ragged, more of a heaving now than anything else, but the final pilot has no intention of giving her a timeout. The smoking fighter drops from the sky, uncomfortably close to Sabine and Ahsoka's shuttle.

Sabine and the pilot stare at each other for a moment. Sabine can just about see the pilot through his windscreen, or at least, see his helmet staring blankly back at her. But just as the fighter was lined up with the shuttle to fire, Sabine leans forward and fires her missile.

The fighter is too close to evade so the pilot fires the cannons and takes out the missile, causing a large explosion between the shuttle and the fighter. But before the fighter can see clearly through the smoke, Sabine appears, lightsaber ignited with its brimming green glow. The pilot can do nothing but watch as Sabine slashes through the fighter's wing, finally sending it spiralling out of control.

As Sabine activates her jetpack and flies after the shuttle, she can see the pilot eject from the fighter before it crashes into the ground.

Before she can even think about going after him, Ahsoka slows down the shuttle and opens the rear doors. Sabine practically crashes into the shuttle's interior, not able to find the strength to land properly.

Struggling to even move, Sabine can hear Ahsoka barking orders into her commlink. "Miara, we're on our way. And tell Kaeden to get the bacta tank ready, Sabine is badl…."

The rest of Ahsoka's orders seem to get quieter and quieter, like Sabine had fallen out of the ship and Ahsoka was getting further and further away. Sabine doesn't even feel her eyelids close. All she feels is a hot tingling throughout her body. And as her mind drifts off to god-knows-where, all she is left with is one thought that lingers on until she falls unconscious.

Where is Ezra?

A/N: Well, that was fun to write. If you've enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, make sure to hit the Follow button so you get updated when a new chapter comes out. Also drop a review and let me know how the story is going so far. Boy, do I love positive affirmation.