Stowaway: A Star Wars Rebels Story

Breaking Barriers - Part 2

Two weeks later

The day had finally come. Sabine progressed significantly with the Darksaber. Finally, Kanan and Rau determined that she was ready to face her family. Ezra and I strongly agreed with this decision. It was now or never. Me and Sabine's daily talk last night was much shorter than usual. Both of us agreed that we needed a long rest before the impending journey. I woke up bright and early to restock the Phantom with its usual supplies, and then I updated the manifest to log the changes made. Even though the rebellion never sleeps, everyone else is asleep at the moment. I made my way back to the command center and collected a datapad, typing in that we would be leaving before the higher-ups woke up. I returned to the Ghost and packed everything up. I sat down in the copilot seat as the rest of our team joined me shortly after. Chopper flew up to his little hatch, Sabine sat next to me in the pilot seat, and Kanan, Ezra, and Rau sat in the passenger bay. I looked at the Mandalorian - who had worked tirelessly for this day - and nodded. She detached the Phantom and flew in the atmosphere, then inputted the coordinates of our destination as we made the jump to hyperspace.

The ride was unusually quiet. Four hours of overcasting silence. Everyone knew what was at stake. We dropped out of hyperspace, approaching the white planet of Krownest. Home to her family. "Welcome home," Sabine said, finally breaking the silence. "You really think it's gonna be that bad?" I asked. "I haven't been back to Krownest since before my time at the Imperial Academy, Y/N. And I didn't exactly leave on good terms, remember?" Sabine answered. Her speech from that night still burned in my head. Her own people not only betrayed her but cast her out, and she still chose to fight the demons of her past. How she made it to this point is nothing short of a miracle. "Well, maybe things have changed. They might be happy to see you," Ezra spoke up from the back. He's always super optimistic no matter the situation. But this is going to be tough. "You don't know my family," Sabine scolded. "I do. Your mother is the leader of Clan Wren, Sabine. She may be with the Empire now, but I believe her true loyalty lies within Mandalore," Rau said. This whole experience taught me that even when everything looks lost, there's always hope. "Even if that were true, she thinks I'm a traitor," Sabine reminded him. "If you can convince your mother to help the rebels, all of Mandalore might follow you and the Darksaber," Rau replied, keeping Sabine focused on the mission. She gripped the blade nervously as we got within communications range. "I should probably let them know we're coming so they don't shoot us down," she said. "Ha! That's funny I- wait you're not kidding, are you?" Ezra wondered. We broke into the atmosphere as Sabine tuned the comms to the correct frequency. She let them know in her native tongue that we were en route. A man from the other end responded to us. Then our comms shut off completely. "What happened?" Ezra asked. "They're jamming us," Sabine said. Chopper beeped in panic, tapping on the hull of the Phantom. "Incoming. Sounds like your family just sent out the welcoming committee," Kanan alerted us as I heard beeping from the dashboard. We all looked out the window to see four Mandalorians flying quickly toward our ship. This could either be really good or really bad.

It turned out to be the latter. They immediately fired something that homed toward the Phantom. "Rockets? Rockets?" I shouted with great concern. Her family clearly wasn't happy that Sabine returned. "I see them!" Sabine said, displeased at me breaking her concentration. She expertly maneuvered our ship, just barely dodging the missiles intended to disable it. The Mandalorians repeatedly shot at the Phantom, but thankfully the shields held firm. "Didn't you tell them who you were?" Ezra questioned. "That's probably why they're shooting at us," Sabine snapped. "Oh no," I muttered as I heard a sound from above. The Mandalorians landed on the hull. Chopper beeped rapidly, signaling that he was being threatened. Then I heard a blast. "We've lost the main thrusters. Brace for impact!" Sabine announced. The Phantom was falling out of the sky, gaining speed as it hurtled toward the ground. Desperate to increase our odds of survival, Sabine guided the steering and pulled up as much as she could. Everyone else held onto something so they wouldn't go flying when the crash inevitably happened. We breezed past a few trees before falling into the snow before us. The snow splattered across our window, obscuring our vision. Then we were jolted forward, only to be stopped by a hill. Thankfully, everyone was okay, and we prepared to depart the Phantom. "Looks like recruiting the Wrens will be more difficult than I thought," Rau said. "You weren't easy to recruit either, so we switch to Plan B. Better stay out of sight. I have a feeling we're gonna need you later," Kanan replied, modifying our approach. "Y/N, you know what to do," Rau told me. I closed the door and opened a floorboard to hide us both, waiting for our next move.