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Ezra held in a sigh. He could understand why the Mandalorians couldn't help, he really could. But, understanding their reasons wasn't going to help his squadron escape the blockade on Atollon.
"Goodbye, Sabine," He said, passing her on his way out. It came out more bitter than he intended it to, and he hoped that she could understand that his frustrations didn't lie with her.
She had a real home to protect for once, complete with parents and a sibling. Far be it for him to hold it against her.
"You're not going alone," Sabine said, and he stopped, "I'm going with you."
A relieved smile slipped onto his face, even if it were just Sabine, just Sabine was a force to reckoned with, and a force he's dearly missed in the time she's been gone.
Before he could get his hopes too high, her brother intervened, "I can appreciate your loyalty for your friends, Sabine, but the mission is impossible." And he was right, with just the two of them, things weren't going to be in their favor, but Sabine probably already knows this.
"I never thought I'd be back on Mandalore again, let alone surrounded by my family. And I'd also bet that you never believed that the Clan would be free from the grip of Gar Saxon," She said, looking between her brother and Fenn Rau, "But we are. And not only is it because of their assistance, but it's because my friends make the impossible, possible.
"If Ezra didn't think we could make a difference, then he wouldn't have come at all. But if he thinks we can help, then I believe him." She looked at her mother, the person who at the end of the day, would be making the call.
The Countess sighed, nodding her head, "Bridger and his friends brought Sabine back home, and we are indebted to them. Understand, Bridger," She met his steeled gaze, "that after this, Clan Wren will have no more reason to be of assistance."
She stood up and strode down the steps, "It would not only reflect badly upon my own judgment as a leader, but it would reflect badly on my Clan if we were to show favoritism to an outside rebellion when we aren't making much ground on our own."
Ezra nodded his head, and she turned to her daughter, "You may take a few ships and a small task force of those who are willing."
Sabine's shoulders visibly relax, "Thank you, Mother."
Her brother still wasn't convinced that this was a good idea, though, "There is an entire blockade, Sabine. You aren't going to be going in with an army to try to break it."
She smiled, "We shouldn't need an army, not if we're strategic about it." She turned to her mother, "Give me some time to create a game plan. Once I have a good idea of what I need, I can brief you guys and any volunteers who are willing to go."
Her mother nodded, "We will reconvene in twenty. You do not have the time to waste."
Sabine dragged Ezra and Chopper to a smaller room with a table and chairs that were once used for more casual meetings between inter-clan personnel.
"Hey Chop," Sabine asked, closing the door behind them, "Can you show me what the field looked like when you were last there?"
She pulled out two chairs and Ezra took the hint, sitting down next to her while Chopper displayed a 3D hologram of the battlefield when they last left.
Sabine gasped quietly at the sight of the littered space field. Initially, there were two Interdictor-Class Star Destroyers and four Imperial-Class Star Destroyers. On the screen were one of the Interdictors sliced down the middle, four regular star destroyers looking a little roughed up, and the final Interdictor in the back, holding the line.
Not only that, but the stilled image showed all of the rebel ships either blown to pieces or turning tail to run back to the ground. It was not only unsettling but despairing as well.
Sabine sat back in her seat and her hands fell limply to her sides, "Oh."
Ezra nodded and watched as her eyes flickered to the different parts of the screen, trying to find any sort of strategy. Slowly, he reached over and slipped her hand into his own with a reassuring squeeze.
She squeezed back, but her eyes were locked with the back of the Ghost, "We've got twenty minutes to figure out some ideas." She huffed, her brain leaving panic-mode and going into work-mode, "First off, is that an Interdictor? I've only seen pictures from when I was in the academy, they had too many technical faults to be mass-produced, but they're a force to be reckoned with." She pointed to the ship in the back with her free hand.
He nodded, unconsciously running his thumb over her own, "Yeah, it stopped the first ship from even making it into hyperspace. Commander Sato... he flew his ship into the second one to give me an opening to get out of the blockade to call for help." He pointed to the ship that was split down the middle.
She nodded and asked Chopper to pull up what schematics of the Interdictor ship he had on hand. Luckily enough, since they refused to wipe Choppers memory, he had a blueprint stored away. He had picked up during one of the many times he was gathering (see: stealing) information from the Empire.
Sabine stood up, pushing her chair back and making him lean forward when she dragged his hand with her. She turned the ship so the top of it was facing them, "These four bulbs up here are called gravity wells, if we can destroy all four of them, then the ships should be able to jump to hyperspace, ignoring the other star destroyers completely."
She jerked his hand up, and this time he got the message: come on, stand up.
He leaned against the table, practically seeing her gears turn while hand-in-hand.
"I think the issue was the fact that gravity wells use a massive amount of power, almost double the amount of a hyperdrive. They're not very stable either, so even the smallest rupture would cause a mass explosion. Despite the idea being so useful, the ships took too many resources to make and they aren't even safe. I suppose the Empire asked themselves: why should they waste the effort to prevent a few ships from jumping into hyperspace, when you could just massacre their people with fewer resources later on."
Her eyebrows furrowed in thought, "So really, we'd only need to blow up one of the gravity well projectors, and it may blow up the entire ship."
She looked to him, "What do you think?"
He raised his eyebrows innocently, "Could you say that again?"
Yanking her hand from his, she demands, "Were you not listening?"
Chuckling at her response, he stepped closer to her and dragged her into a hug, "No, I was. I just like hearing your voice."
She huffed but quickly relaxed, wrapping her arms around his waist in kind, "When did you become such a smooth talker?"
He chuckled, "Since my partner in crime left me to go save her world. But down worry, I haven't had anyone to practice on, so you'll be my first test subject." He grinned down at her, "Is it working?"
Her lips curled into a smile against her will, "You'll just have to find out after we kick some Empire ass."
Humming, he rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, "I can work with that."
A knock on the door made them jolt apart. When Fenn Rau and Tristan walked in, Ezra was scratching his neck, saying, "Ya know, my idea was to hi-jack one of the other star destroyers and ram it into the Interdictor. Or, we could sneak on and plant a bunch of explosives in their main power core, deactivating their gravity wells."
Sabine's face was quite flushed for the present conversation, and the two men looked at each other in confusion.
"Well, see," she started, "It'd be kind of difficult to hi-jack a star destroyer with only a few people. Even if we managed to, I'm not sure if we could get everyone off in time. If we were aiming for the engines, we'd need to use long-distance bombs, otherwise we'd get caught in the explosion, which is—well—something to be avoided—"
Her rambling gets cut off by Rau, "Did you manage to come up with any good ideas, Sabine, or have you only been deliberating the bad ones?"
"She had a good one!" Ezra rushed out, "It was the only good one, really. The rest was just explaining why my ideas wouldn't work. Her knowledge from the academy really is impressive, why don't you tell 'em?"
"Tell them what?" Sabine blurted out, eyes wide. She wasn't going to explain what she was doing with Ezra to her family. Not that it was anything too incriminating. Yet.
Her brother gave a huff, "The plan, Sabine. The one Bridger is defending so heavily."
"Ah! Yes, the plan!"