Sabine Wren

Sabine thinks about choices and words as she leaps to the top of a Kom'rk-class Mandalorian starfighter. Choices she's made and words she's offered. Both lead her to this place, here and now. Both lead to Hera getting shot down and two pilots of Phoenix squadron killed. It had been her suggestion of using the Concord Dawn system as a short cut. Her idea. Her responsibility for the lives lost.

She had hoped to find Mandalorians who would at least look the other way if not join them in fighting the Empire. A second chance to be what she knew her people should be. That hope had died when the Protectors attacked instead of even listening to their attempts at negotiation.

Now she had a debt and they would pay it. Blood called for blood. It was the Way.

"Where did you get that armor, bounty hunter?" One of the Protectors says through his helmet as they surround her. She leaps to another starfighter, drawing them away from the others she's already planted explosives on.

"Bounty hunter? Not lately. I forged this armor with my family." She replies loudly and hotly, drawing them in closer.

"Family? That's a bold claim. What's your House?"

"I'm Clan Wren, House Vizsla."

"House Vizsla?" One Protector says in shock.

"She's Death Watch! Traitor!" Another accuses.

"My mother was. I'm not. I came here to settle a score and I invoke the code to seek justice through single combat."

Soon enough Fenn Rau appears with Kanan over his shoulder. They exchange words and then their hands are on their blasts, waiting for the other to draw first.

"Sabine..." Kanan says worriedly.

"You have to trust me Kanan." Just as his name leaves her mouth, Fenn Rau pulls his blaster. She is quicker and shots the blaster from his hand and then she's crossing her arms to activate the explosives planted all over the starfighters and their fuel. The landing area goes up in a symphony of light and thunder. Unfortunately she wasn't able to get Fenn Rau's fighter, but Kanan runs off to take care of that while she escapes in the confusion to meet up with Chopper in the Phantom. As she runs she realizes she could have killed Fenn Rau instead of disarming him, but it hadn't felt right somehow.

Sabine hears Hera’s orders, which condemn Kanan to the Imperials, and can’t believe her ears. It’s not that the orders are wrong exactly–tactically they’re sound–but she never though Hera could be so disciplined.

Ezra freaks out, of course, and makes a scene as he nearly storms out of the galley. A large part of Sabine agrees with him, but she’s still conflicted. There has to be a reason for the order.

Soon after, Zeb mumbles some excuse and heads for the Phantom or the cargo bay, Sabine isn’t quite sure. Which leaves her alone with Hera, as Chopper seems to have made himself scarce as well.

Takes a steadying breath, she breaks the silence. “I take it the mission is important, then? More important that any of us?”

Doubt and worry have been creeping up on Sabine for some time. Looking back, it started when Zeb and Ezra stole that TIE fighter. While it'd been a nice surprise for her, and she loved the new canvas to play with, she couldn't help the itch of worry that this was a hard target. Stealing food and supplies was one thing, but a military vehicle was practically a slap in the face of the Empire. One they wouldn't ignore.

Then they'd heard of the Jedi prisoner and while Sabine saw the value and moral obligation in trying to free her, they had still attacked an Imperial prison. Another hard target. And the whole thing had been a trap--the prisoner had been dead for some time--one they'd barely escaped from. Not a good day's work.

The final load in the chamber had been the mission to steal an Imperial decoder so that they could decrypt Imperial intel, which had meant the kid, Ezra, would be undercover as an Imperial cadet for weeks. They'd succeeded this time and Sabine had played her part despite all the bad memories the op dredged up, but she couldn't fool herself any longer. The crew's mission had changed since she'd signed up.

Instead of sticking it to the Empire and turning a profit, they were becoming an insurgent cell.

She trusted Kanan and Hera--knew their intentions were good--but she wasn't sure about whoever was giving Hera the intel and occasional directives. It wasn't that Sabine wasn't against more direct action against the Empire, she just didn't like the assumption that she was. If she was going to be a rebel, to actually attack military targets on a regular basis, she would prefer to be asked.

And she wanted to know who was giving the orders, and if they knew what they were doing. Were they competent or as flawed as their intel has been the last few missions? Could they be trusted? Did they have a goal in mind beyond "harm the Empire"? Wars were not won with such short sighted goals.

All of which lead to Sabine pushing for answers. Hera may not have liked the direct questions for who this Fulcrum was or her pushing to meet them, but Sabine would be damned if she was ever going to blindly follow orders again. Only thing was, Hera stonewalled her. Didn't give an inch or bit of data. Fine, Sabine had thought, before pushing her way aboard the Phantom to join Hera on her rendezvous with Fulcrum. If Hera wouldn't bring her in willingly, she'd force the issue.

Her plan didn't work, Fulcrum ditched as soon as Sabine revealed herself during their in flight communication, but it turned out to be a good thing as Hera would be dead now if she hadn't been there. Honestly, they both nearly died as the Phantom's fuel line was cut and hostile wild life at the supply pick up nearly overwhelmed them.

Funny enough, Sabine made a sort of peace with Hera regardless of not meeting Fulcrum. Faced with death, Sabine had realized she trusted Hera to have her back, which she hadn't really had since she had partnered with Ketsu. Hera explaining how they were a cell and information was kept from other cells to keep from being compromised helped as well. It only made sense. But really it was Hera telling Sabine she trusted her and would share whatever she could, when she could, that had earned her faith and trust.

She could wait for her answers and would keep fighting with the Ghost.

Sabine stood back and looked over her latest art piece; a pair of wookie arms whose shackles were being cut by a blade of green light. Everything would be different now. No matter how quiet or careful they acted, the Empire would come now, and with more than stormtroopers and ineffectual officers.

She had to admit, she felt a little thrill in her heart, much like the first time she'd painted anti-Imperial graffiti. She knew they weren't enough for a full scale assault on the Empire and if the Empire chose, they could snuff them out, but they defied the Empire. They existed and refused to fit into the Empire's narrow box. Kanan had declared himself. And they'd freed wookies in the process.

But the Empire would respond to this. She should set up a program to listen for Imperial mentions of jedi, as well as any new bounties in the area.

A sudden thump on her door, quickly followed by the voices of Zeb and the new kid, Ezra, arguing interrupted her thoughts and she frowned. As amusing as Zeb's frustration with the kid was, Sabine didn't know what to make of Ezra. He was annoying in his flirting, or whatever it was he thought he was doing. She was so not interested. He had proved inventive and useful, escaping from Imperial capture when Zeb had made the tough call of leaving him behind, but still...

She winced at her own stab of guilt at that. She'd voted to leave him behind, when the actual call was put to the vote, and she still felt that way...mostly. It was a tough call; risk family and the mission, or do the right thing and turn back to save him. Okay, maybe she wasn't sure about the call now. Too bad she didn't have anyone to talk it over with.

Would Kanan or Hera bring the vote up again? Did she screw up in her call? Karabast.

Ezra would've made the same call though, right? He was a street kid, through and through. She saw that when they brought the food rations to the people in the slums called Tarkin Town. He'd almost laughed at them giving away food. That is until one of the people thanked him.

Sabine recognized that look of shock on his face then. The idea that you could do something so simple for someone and make a difference. 

Okay, maybe the kid deserved a chance. She got one after all, only fair to pass it along.

Sabine looked back up at her painted and sighed as she reached for the solvents. She loved this piece, but leaving it was too much a risk. As she destroyed her work, she thought of her next piece, a lasat pulling a leg out of a climate system's vent. Yeah.

The Republic has fallen, long live the Empire...or so the propaganda and the government would have you believe.

Things are different than the galaxy far far away we are used to. The Republic still fell, the Jedi branded traitors and hunted to near extinction, but Palpatine's plan didn't go off quite so flawlessly as it had in other realities. Anakin Skywalker had discovered the chip used to control the clones and confronted the Chancelor before he was ready to execute Order 66, Anakin slipped into the Dark Side in an attempt to kill Palpatine, but escaped without managing to do the galaxy a favor.

Goaded into action, Palpatine advanced his plans and turned public and legal opinion against the Jedi. However, since he was forced to move before he was ready, his plans didn't work quite so well.

Forewarned of the potential for clones to be ordered to turn on them, many Jedi escaped death and went into hiding; many taking their closest clones with them for the medical procedure to remove the control chip.

Senators loyal to the Republic and the Jedi secretly meet to discuss means to fight against the corruption of their beloved Republic, forming the early Rebellion.

Out in galaxy, the Separatists still fight their war of expansion, with Count Dooku having never been killed by Anakin, and a new threat to the galaxy is growing as Maul returns to Mandalore after being freed from Republic custody by loyal Death Watch members. A new Mandalorian expansion begins.

Ten years later, the burgeoning Rebel Alliance is being ground between the Separatists, the Mandalorians, and the Empire. Although aided by a much reduced Jedi Order, the struggle may be too great.

Into all of this comes Sabine Wren. A young Mandalorian who grew up loyal to her clan and her people. When she shows early signs of force sensitivity, her mother (concerned she'll lose her daughter to Maul) contacts an old family friend, Bo-Katan, and arranges to get Sabine out of Mandalorian space before her daughter's talents are discovered. Bo-Katan (a member of Death Watch but who believes Mandalore should be lead by Mandalorians) contacts another old friend, Ahsoka Tano, who smuggles the young girl out and accepts her as a student.

Sabine proves an apt pupil, quickly learning any skills shown her, while deep inside the young padawan simmers a conflict; that she is dishonoring her Mandalorian heritage and failing her people.

Details not mentioned above:
- Anakin, while still alive, was gravely injured in his fight with Palpatine and still struggles with the Dark Side. He is kept in protective custody and only a very few people even know he's still alive and where he is. I'm guessing Ahsoka, Obi-Wan, and Padme are the only knows who know where he is, and Padme and Obi-Wan (since Mustafar doesn't happen in this AU) are the ones carrying for Anakin. Bail may know. Ahsoka has not told Sabine about Anakin.

- While the Jedi maintain the padawan learner tradition, they are simply too few to entrust training to one master. Thus padawans are moved around, a lot, with many taking part in their training. Sabine spends most of her time with either Ahsoka or Kanan and the Ghost crew. (The Jedi did take a good 5 years or so to recover and organize, so Kanan's past before SWR can easily have still happened. Order 66 did occur, just not every clone took a part in it.)

 After completing the mission, Sabine goes in search of Hera. The galley is a bust, which means she's likely in the cockpit.

As she climbs the ladder, she can't help the clench of fear in her belly. She knows it's silly--she's bringing good news--but she can't help the thought of what happened back on Mandalore, when she thought was delivering good news and instead it was used to betray her friends. 

Back stiff, she enters and removes her helmet, holding it under her arm.

(It's totally not a comfort thing.)

 "The mission was a success."

 The mission is simple. Stall the cargo ship from take off until the specified time, just fifteen minutes, and then get out before the bucketheads come in force. Easy, especially when you have a Lasan's throwing arm.

 Sabine checks her controls and their connection to the detinators before nodding over to Zeb, aka Specter Four across the way. He in turn looks over to the other alley to get Spector One's go ahead. The Imperials were in for an exciting night.

Back on the slaver's ship, Sabine weighted her options. Most of the other slaves were young, cowed, and poorly feed. They wouldn't put up much of a fight and likely couldn't take the shock required to overload the collars being used to keep them in line. She couldn't blame them, even if it did make her job harder. The Empire already did most of the slavers work for them.

Maybe she was looking at this the wrong way. "Look beyond your expectations," Kanan was fond of saying. Worth a shot, Sabine thought.

OK, stop looking at them as warriors or fighters, she told herself. It was the only way she knew how to look at things and so logically, it was the best place to find expectations. The rodians there were a family and while they never put up a fight, the father always put himself in the path of any punishment the slavers dealt. A natural urge to protect his family but also a clue that he could take more punishment than he seemed.

And the human woman over there. She'd taken two kids who were likely orphans and was giving them her food and water. Again, signs of more resilience than it would seem. In fact the more she looked at their actions rather than their appearance, the more she realized each of them was much more than they seemed.

She could use that. If she could convince them she know how to break the collars.

Voice pitched low and near to the engine noise, she said, "I think I know how we can break out of these collars."

No response. Well, a twi'lek blinked and the rodian might have rolled his eyes.

"I said..."

"We heard you," the rodian hissed. "We just don't believe you or want to invite more trouble."

"Fair enough. You don't know who I am. But look, the collars are simple and brutal. I've seen the schematics. Thing is, in being simple, there's no way to stop a electrical surge from frying the circuits."

"Oh that's great. We just need the guards to shock us to break free. Why didn't anyone think of that?"

Sabine sighed. "No. The charge needs to come from outside the system. One of those whips they use or a power coupling will do the trick."

The rodian shook his head. "Prove it or be quiet."

Fine, Sabine thought and went to work on the panel nearest her. She worked as quietly as she could but dropping a screw, which rattled away. To her surprise, the twi'lek coughed and some of the humans shifted around to hide the noise. Biting back her smile, she went back to work and soon had a power cable exposed. Reaching in carefully, she pulled it out, looked to the twi'lek, who was nearest, and said, "I'll try not to scream but it is going to hurt. Can you cover or pull the cable away if I screw up?"

Nodding, the twi'lek scooted closer. All eyes on her, Sabine touched the cable to her collar and gritted her teeth.

---

Caught completely by surprise, the slavers didn't put up much of a fight. All ended up fighting to the death however and all lost. The now freed slaves held a conference and most decided to see what fortunes they could find in the new freed ship. Sabine asked for a ride back to Lothal and suggested, as payment, that Hera might be able to reprogram the ship's transmitter to give it a new signature.

Kanan and the Ghost crew were eager to help, though quite put out that Sabine had acted on her own without checking in with them first; Hera especially. Kanan seemed to understand that timing was short and Zeb just wanted to hear the story again.

When she finally made it back to her bunk aboard the Ghost, Sabine couldn't help thinking of Ketsu, nor how good it had felt to free those people. Even if she didn't get paid.

 It was just a simple food run. She even had a list. Drop by, load up the crates, and ride off back to the Ghost on the speeder. Simple.

 But when she spotted the slavers loading their own supplies into their freighter, Sabine couldn't help but get involved. Unlike the times before with Ketsu, though, this time Sabine would do more than trip a guard or help a runner escape. This time she had no one to tell her what to do. This time, she'd act and do much more.

 Downloading the slavers's nav-com took a little finessing but she managed it. Intel in hand, or gauntlet in this case, Sabine pulled out her pigment sprayer to leave a quick message for when the Ghost crew came looking for her. Then all that was left was to get herself snatched up into slavery.

 Which proved even easier than the nav-comm and much more satisfying as she felt the crunch of the guard's nose beneath her fist.

 [OOC: The original idea for this came from the Star Wars Rebels magazine. I'm adapting it to have occurred before Ezra joined the crew.]

She awoke without the weight of her armor. More than waking in a place she didn’t recognize, more than waking in a vague awareness of pain, that set her on guard. She opened her eyes a crack, enough to see if there was anyone about. Finding herself alone in a bare room--metal walls and bunks, sparse furniture, all bolted down or with latches--caused her to relax a little. No immediate danger.

Opening her eyes fully, she pulled herself into a sitting position and winced at the burning pull of newly healed skin and muscle across her back. The discomfort reminded her of what happened. Ketsu running and leaving her for dead, the scruffy looking guy offering her bacta in exchange for helping him get back to his ship, fighting, and something else...a wookie? With purple fur?

That didn’t make any sense and she was pretty kriffing certain she did not remember boarding a ship, which this room suggested.

Looking around, she spotted her things sitting on a chair near the bunk she was in, her armor and as important, her blasters. Standing carefully, with only a little dizziness, she grabbed one of the blasters and went to see where she was.

Soon enough, she started hearing voices, which either meant she was on a small ship or just happened to be near where ever the speakers were. Following the sounds, she found the cargo bay and a group of people, among them the scruffy guy. He was standing in a group of people, families if she had to guess. Parents and children, or at least adults with younglings. The races matched and the adults were offering comfort to the children, so it was a logical conclusion.

They also seemed to be laborers or farmers. Rough clothing. Cheaply made or perhaps even hand made.

On the other side of the group Sabine spotted a twi'lek (green skinned and wearing a pilot’s jumpsuit) and a species with purple fur. The “wookie” she half remembered? Wait, a lasat? Weren’t those extinct? She was certain she read a report about how the Empire put down an uprising there. Of course, that meant little she now knew. The Empire’s lies were the least of it’s sins.

“And we’ve got new passes for you. They’re very good and will get you past any security check points. I know it’s not ideal, but the Empire will be on the lookout for your descriptions here. These passes and moving far away are you best chance, unless you want to go to a camp some other folks the Empire has displaced have started?”

The families didn’t look happy but didn’t argue. “Will these really work?”

“They're from our best guy. They’ll work,” Scruffy guy replied just as the lasat nudged the twi’lek and nodded towards Sabine.

“No, they won’t,” she heard herself say with a sigh. “Not unless there’s data in the system to go with the passes. Did your forger take care of that?”

“Uh…”

“Give me a terminal and half an hour.”

Scruffy looked towards the twi’lek for permission (interesting) and she nodded, though her lekku were stiff with suspicion. She looked over to an antique droid, saying, “Show her the way, Chopper, and give her a hand.”

Sabine knew ‘give her a hand’ was really ‘keep an eye on her’, which she could respect. It’s what she would do after all.Three hours later, the people were settled in a new village and the crew turned to Sabine.

“My name’s Kanan. Sorry about not being there when you woke up, but as you saw, I was busy. We got away from the ‘troopers, obviously, but you passed out once we were in a safe area; before we got to my ship here.”

“And you carried me back?’ Sabine asked confused.

“Not quite. Zeb here,” Kanan replied with a thumb jabbed towards the lasat who nodded curtly, “did the real carrying.”

“Why?”

“'Thank you' would be the better thing to say, but it was the proper thing to do. Besides, we had a deal and you held up your part of the bargain.”

“Thank you,” she said, crossing her arms and doing her best to seem in control. The whole situation was unfamiliar and unnerving. “What now?”

“Well,” Kanan said with another look towards the twi’lek who gave a friendly nod, while her lekku’s movements suggested caution towards Kanan (if Sabine was remembering her twi’lik correctly). “That’s up to you. Hera here,” he gestured to the twi’lek, “would be happy to fly you where you’d like to go, but we were wondering if you’d like to fly with us for a little while. You are handy with a blaster and that was a good call with those refugees and the Empire’s datasystem. We’d welcome your help.”

“What are the credits like?”

“Not very good,” Kanan admitted. “But we aren’t into it for the credits. Are credits what your heart fights for or is there another fight in you?”

His question caught her off guard and made her wonder what he knew of Mandalorian culture.

“How about I fly with you for a few days and think about it?”

Kanan, Zeb, and even Chopper turned to Hera so Sabine did the same. Hera in turn looked to each before looking into Sabine’s eyes for a long look before offering a tight smile. “That will be fine. You can have the room you woke up in.”