Chapter Text
Later that night when the smoke cleared from the river, the search party disbanded, or so it seemed, Mon Mothma called them back for a briefing, afterwards Hera sat in the middle of the base frantically calling Sabine’s comlink with Rex.
Zeb let out a heavy sigh and lumbered into the girls' barracks Kallus instinctively followed him, it was guilt, he should have said something when he saw Sabine run.
“Where do you suppose she’s gone to?” Kallus asked casually, the girls' barracks were empty just as they had been the last five times they checked.
“I have no clue,” Zeb grumbled. “But she better come back soon, Hera can’t take the stress.”
Something told Kallus it was more than Hera that Zeb was worried about.
Kallus nodded slowly in response and looked over one of the beds, the sheets were pink and stained with purple, Sabine had slept in that bunk at some point, no one else on the base used anything that would stain fabric such an odd color. There was an odd bump on the comforter, out of habit Kallus smoothed it down, it crinkled under his hand, Kallus ran his hand over it once more before reaching under the sheet and ruining its near pristine appearance, underneath the comforter was a folded piece of parchment Kallus turned it over in his hand and unfolded it, after moment he frowned.
“Zeb,” He said getting the lasat’s attention. “We need to check the docking bay, now.”
“Why?” Zeb asked, there was dread in his voice and Kallus knew the lasat had an idea of why, without a word he handed him the parchment, Zeb didn’t even glance at it before running out the barracks. Kallus chased after him, they passed the center of the base where Hera was sitting when she saw them running her face contorted in worry.
“What’s going on?” She asked.
They didn’t stop running and Hera clambered to her feet and followed them, they reached the launching area just as a small transport lifted into the air and shot into the sky stirring up a gust of wind that knocked them off their feet. Kallus stared up at the sky waiting for it to stop spinning and groaned, teenagers were insane. Though the world was still spinning Zeb helped him to his feet and picked Hera up gingerly, she looked at the two of them frantically.
“Was that Sabine?” Hera asked a quiver in her voice.
“We aren’t sure Hera,” Zeb said shaking his head. “She did leave this note.”
“What does it say?” Hera asked.
Zeb looked at Kallus. Kallus was about to take a step away from him and let Zeb handle the problem himself when he remembered the lasat hadn’t read the note and probably didn’t want to do it in front of Hera, Kallus sighed inwardly.
“She said she’s going to look for Ezra,”
Hera let out a scream that sent Kallus reeling backward, it pulsed against his eardrums and made his heart flip painfully. Zeb didn’t seem fazed he pulled Hera into a hug, the noise must have been worse for him thanks to his sensitive ears but he held her anyway. A small audience had begun to gather around the bay their expressions ranging from concern to irritation there was one shout of “That was my ship!” before someone shushed them. A few minutes later Rex made it to the launching bay, he rubbed his knees and grimaced as he walked over to them, he must have finally noticed Hera’s wailing because his expression dropped and he covered his face.
No one needed to say anything, they all knew what had happened and there was nothing that could be done, Sabine was in hyperspace by now, she was smart enough to disable trackers, and could drop off as far as Coruscant in less than twelve hours, she could be at thousands of other planets in ten minutes. The rebellion couldn’t send out a search party for one AWOL teen, they were fighting a war not running an orphanage, as cruel as it sounded, Kallus knew the rebel command would never send out a patrol for her after all, Sabine wasn’t lost, she’d left and the rebellion believed in freedom of choice…
Whether the Ghost crew liked it or not.