Star Wars Rebels - Odyssey

Chapter 2: A Call to Action

Ezra's eyes slowly flicked open as he realised that he'd fallen asleep in the pilot's seat on the Ghost, he'd been lucky that no-one was in any hurry to fly away from the snow planet.  He turned to his side to see Sabine fast asleep in the co-pilot's seat with her head leant on his shoulder.  At that moment everything felt as if it should and Ezra didn't even bother to move, he just put his arm around Sabine and closed his eyes again.  After all, it was still only seven o clock in the morning and yesterday had been a long day.

Sabine's POV:
A couple of hours later, the movement of Sabine waking up also dragged Ezra out of unconsciousness.  She slowly opened her eyes to find herself snuggled with Ezra and felt a flush of embarrassment as she realised.  However, although she wanted to move incredibly badly something also felt very right about where she was which made her both confused and scared at the same time.  Fortunately Ezra was now awake and he moved his arm without a word allowing her to move away and head back to her chambers.  She swiftly walked away without speaking but stopped in the doorway and turned to see Ezra sat in the chair with his back to her and his head in his hands.  She wanted to say something but couldn't find the right words, besides she needed to sort out her emotions.

Ezra's POV:
Meanwhile Ezra walked back into his room to find Zeb snoring loudly on the bunk bed.  Normally he'd wake him up and tease him to anger him but today he just couldn't be bothered, he felt as if he'd made a mistake putting his arm around Sabine but didn't know what to do or say to her.  He climbed up onto his bed above Zeb and sat there looking at the painting Sabine had created of them back in the glory days when he'd just joined the crew.  It felt like such a long time ago because so much had changed but throughout his time one thing had stayed the same, his feelings for Sabine. 

Suddenly Chopper glided into the room bleeping loudly, waking Zeb who groaned in an annoyed tone.  "What's that Chopper? Hera's calling a meeting, right we'll be there right away" Ezra said, pulling himself up.  He hoped it was going to be a mission, that would allow him to clear his head a little.  He passed Zeb who was rubbing his head grumpily and headed to the meeting room, a small chamber with a circular table surrounded by seats.  The others were already there and Ezra and Zeb quickly sat down to hear what had to be said.  "Okay, last night Kanan and I received a message from Commander Sato but we didn't want to bother you since it was Christmas.  Now, break time's over and we have some grave news, I'll play the message" Hera stated whilst pushing a few buttons on the table.  She pulled a lever on the wall causing the lights to dim and a blue hologram of the commander to appear on the centre of the table.  "Spectre Team, we have received intelligence from a very reliable source that the Empire has almost finished a weapon that will be able to wipe out our alliance in one fell swoop.  Our source could not tell us what the weapon was or where to find it but he did say that the location of the weapon can be found at Olansk Station in the Ord Mantell system.  We need you to find this weapon and destroy it, by any means necessary.  With the Empire clamping down on security in our home system and the imminent threat of their inquisitors we will not be able to send help, you're on your own Hera.  Good luck"  Sato explained before disappearing once more.  The crew all looked at one another gravely and Ezra immediately regretted his wish for a mission.  Hera pressed another button and brought up a hologram of Olansk Station.  "Now, this station is a former Republic Medical Station and has bee renovated into one of the Empire's forward operating bases.  With this we'll be travelling closer to Coruscant than we've ever been before and thus the Imperial presence will most likely be higher but we have to do this so we need a plan" she described as Zeb shook his head in disbelief.  "Can't we just hack their database remotely, keep our distance" Sabine suggested.  "Only if we want the Empire to know we're after the weapon, we have to sneak into the station and access the file without raising suspicions.  In other words this is a stealth mission" Hera replied making Zeb groan and begin to pace uncomfortably.  "Alright, how about this? We enter the station in the Phantom which Sabine sprays in black and white to make it look Imperial and then we use some of the stormtrooper outfits we've gathered over the years to move around the base and find the files before leaving again in the Phantom once more.  No fuss, no mess" Kanan suggested provoking a glare from Sabine.  "Black and white? Black and white Kanan?! The things I do to rebel against the empire..." she muttered whilst trying to remember if she even had any black and white paint.  "That sounds good if there are no objections, well apart from Sabine's art style not fitting the colours we need.  Okay, we stay planetside until Sabine finishes preparing the Phantom and then we head for Ord Mantell.  When we get there Chopper and I will stay on the Ghost down on the planet while the rest of you head up to the station." Hera remarked shooing everyone away to prepare for the mission ahead.

Sabine's POV:
Sabine took hold of the Phantom's controls and slowly detached it from the Ghost before flying it to a nearby forest clearing to get to work in peace.  She set the ship down in the snow and stood up,  opening the crate of new paints Ezra had bought her.  Fortunately the paints were brand new and therefore Sabine hadn't had time to throw out the boring colours yet which was exactly what she needed for this job.  She loaded her spray gun with the black paint sighing as she did so and walked outside to get a good look at the ship.  "Shouldn't take more than a few hours, then I'm throwing out this black" she muttered as she began to spray the hull of the Phantom. 

As the process of painting the Phantom became monotonous and repetitive, Sabine began to think back to the previous night and how comfortable she'd been waking up in Ezra's arms.  She should have felt repulsed and completely ashamed of herself for falling asleep on his shoulder but instead it was as if a new and previously unknown feeling had awakened within her.  She did one final test in her mind to see how she truly felt, asking herself if she had the chance to wake up in his arm again, would she want to?  The answer to this question truly shocked her.

A couple of hour later, Kanan appeared through the trees coming to see the progress of the work.  Sabine hadn't noticed him and continued to work on the top section of the Phantom.  "You know, for someone who doesn't like boring colours you seem to be very skilled with them" he shouted up at her, scaring her a little.  "Oh hi Kanan, I didn't see you there.  Thanks, I'm just about finished now.  I just need to apply the Imperial insignia and then she should be good to go" Sabine replied looking down at him.  He leapt up to her and admired her work on the Phantom.  "You seem a little distracted, is everything alright?" he asked as she stood there daydreaming.  She wanted to tell someone about her emotions and Kanan would be perfect but she just didn't feel ready.  "The mission, it's not exactly your run of the mill steal the Imperial cargo job is it?" she replied trying her best to hide her true thoughts.  She knew Kanan sensed something but it seemed as if he couldn't see what she was really thinking.  "You're right there, this could be the biggest fight we've had in a while, we'd best be ready for it" he answered looking back at the vague outline of the Ghost through the trees.