L  Closed Starter  L  @spectrcsix​

generally-scheming​ // Armitage Hux

If nothing else, Hux had to credit the photographer for so clearly capturing a moment he did not remember himself. The walk from the gala to Alton’s yacht was extremely fuzzy, but he’d hoped that — even inebriated — he’d had the decorum to keep his kriffing hands to himself until they were out of sight. Yet that was unmistakably Armitage Hux in the image, pulling a man into a yacht by his necktie. And that man was unmistakably Alton Kastle with his hand on Hux’s ass.

Hux knew better than to reach for the datapad. That didn’t stop his fingers from twitching when they stowed it out of sight.   (She’d won this round.)   No one who saw that image would have any doubt of what happened on Alton’s yacht afterwards. He narrowed his eyes. Their gown wasn’t so sheer that he could count out hidden armor or weapons. With a gaze every bit as sharp as the dagger up his sleeve, his eyes traced the skin above their neckline for vulnerable arteries. But that was only fantasy — he was not so keen to die today that he would take on a Mandalorian in hand-to-hand combat without backup. Especially not after he’d read Sabine Wren’s file.

“Yet you brought your concerns to me first. How courteous.”  Hux knew as well as she did — she was ex-Imperial — that countless cutthroat officers would love to get their hands on any ammunition that could be used against him. Not to mention that connecting a New Republic reporter to a man who’d tortured Padme Amidala would kill Alton’s career.  “What is it you want from me that you could not get from them?”

_

His eyes turned upon the image, and they smirked at his shift in tone. Like a glacier breaking into the ocean, he grew ever colder with the passing seconds. No doubt he wanted to react with some measure of calculated anger or violence, but he kept his composure all the same. The Mandalorian had to admit, given the brevity of the situation, that it was almost impressive.

“Hey, I’m a nice person, Hux. You ought to know this by now.”

They sipped the wine he’d ordered, looking at him over the rim of the glass the whole time. She took a breath before responding, took the conversation on their own time.

“I want you to owe me a favor.” They exaggerated the words, left them with weight unseen. “I won’t come calling today, or tomorrow, but I will come calling. And when I do, I just want to know that you’re willing to help. Nothing difficult, nothing incriminating. Just good old-fashioned reciprocity, one friend to another.”

Sabine folded their hands together in the space between them, leaning forward and never wavering from his steely gaze.

“What do you say, general?”

@cravked​ // trilla suduri

an eyebrow arched at the other’s clarification about the biker situation. it only made her wonder all the more how she had managed to get herself stuck out here with it again, but she supposed that if she didn’t have any other options, it made sense. trilla had gone from everything that she could have ever needed with the resources of the empire to fending almost entirely by herself. at least then, there hadn’t been so much of a need for technology or transport. sometimes, living like that really didn’t seem so bad. at least it had been easy, even if she had been somewhat crippled with loneliness.

a cough erupted from her lips as the bike burst out with some smoke, waving it away from their face. “get a better transport, perhaps,” she remarked dryly, resisting the urge to roll her eyes as she straightened up and wiped some off the dirt off her hands and onto her dark pants.

“where are you trying to go?” trilla questioned, gaze shifting back toward the human. they examined her armor closer for just a moment, refraining from commenting on it just yet. she was very familiar with what it was, even if the paint job was not what she would have considered predictable. “i might be able to help get you there. or at least get you to someone with the right parts to fix it.” 

Sabine let out a sigh of frustration then wiped their brow with the back of their hand. They never should have come all the way out to this desolate planet. They had been chasing one dead lead after another for weeks now, and she didn’t understand why she thought this one would be any different. All it got them was a busted bike and a raging headache. She hastily stuffed the tools into their pack, then pulled out a datapad, sitting on an outcropping of rock while typing. 

“Ya know, I sure would have gotten a better transport if there had been one available.” 

She grimaced as the screen displayed a glowing map, showing their destination at about 200 klicks northwest from their current location.

“I need to get here,” they said, while pointing at the outpost on the tablet. “I knew it would be too far a ride for this junker. I don’t know why I even bothered with this damned planet...” She muttered, then looked up at Trilla, just now processing the offer she had been given. “You would help me? But you don’t even know me. What if I’m some kind of...assassin or something?”

generally-scheming​ // Armitage Hux

Hux opened his mouth to retort that it might kill her, but an explosive roar drowned him out. The shockwave hurled him to the ground. His ears ringing, broken glass cutting at his hands and knees, he scrambled to find the source of the attack. His eyes darted past smoke, rubble, and the bodies of guests and Hapan navy alike. Overhead, a tall grey humanoid brandished an — eel? It snapped into a rigid spear when thrown to earth, head sizzling bright with plasma. Hux seized Sabine’s arm.   (Just a little push! End them!)    But at a last second realization, he reluctantly pulled them towards cover. They both narrowly escaped the blast.

“That’s not us,”  he hissed. Who but the First Order would attack a New Republic gala? His only clue was the bizarre weaponry, and the Mandalorian beside Hux was perhaps the galaxy’s second-best living mind in weapons development.  “Have you ever seen these explosives? They’re not Imperial. CSA? An enemy of Hapan?”

.

The shift was immediate. Suddenly, Sabine was on the floor, blinking up at passing lines of flame and shadow. Of fucking course something would shit on her one actual chance to preserve the heritage of Mandalore. Beneath her leg was the familiar discomfort of shrapnel digging into skin, and then a pull-- and not a minute too soon. Meeting that familiar face brought an anger to her stomach (of course she was stuck with the one asshole in this gala who would leap at the chance to make their life a living hell). But as another explosion rattled the building, Sabine realized all too clear: it was cooperation or death.

“You sure the bastards you work for aren’t finally ready to dump your sorry ass?” She muttered between gritted teeth, the sharp iron of blood on her tongue. “No, I’ve never seen anything like this!” They yelled to be heard over the din of chaos that was erupting around them. “I don’t know who the fuck this is or who they’re targeting, but it looks like we’re gonna have to work together.” She surveyed the area, tossing him some long shard of wood like a dagger and grabbing one for themself.

“Happy fucking new year, sweetheart.”

galaxywon​ // Hera Syndulla

Hera  had  been  able  to  rely  on  Sabine  when  their  life  had  been,  even  if  they  didn’t  want  to  admit  it,  in  ruins.  They  were  an  amazing  role  model  for  Jacen,  someone  he  could  both  rely  on  for  guidance  and  adore  due  to  their  fun  and  loving  nature.  It  was  hard  for  her  to  rely  any  of  that  to  the  Mandalorian,  even  after  years  of  being  together.  Affection  hadn’t  come  naturally  to  her.  Even  though  she  wished  it  did  sometimes.  “  I  don’t  know.  He’s  got  Ezra’s  trouble  making  tendencies.  “  she  smiled  affectionately,  going  to  stand  next  to  her,  watching  the  emotions  crossing  her  face  as  she  saw  the  designs  that  had  accumulated  since  her  last  visit.  “  He  wants  to  be  just  like  you.  “  they  informed,  her  arm  wrapping  around  their  shoulders,  chuckling.  “  If  he  asks  use  to  borrow  your  jetpack,  say  no.  “  

They  fixed  a  pointed  glare  towards  Sabine,  though  there  was  no  actual  anger  in  it.  It  had  been  one  of  her  hopes,  for  their  son  to  grow  up  with  values  of  all  of  their  family.  She  saw  small  pieces  them  all  in  him.  “  He’s  been  talking  with  Luke  Skywalker,  trying  to  control  some  of  his  abilities.  “  If  only  Ezra  had  been  there  to  teach  him.  He  would  be  remarkable  at  it,  just  like  Kanan  was  once  he  got  his  head  into  it.  She  was  against  sending  him  to  the  Jedi  Temple,  and  thankfully  Luke  had  respected  their  choice.  Family  mattered  much  more  than  becoming  a  fighting  for  the  New  Republic.  

.

Sabine ran their fingers across the art, old and new, and gave the faintest smile. Hearing her parent talk about Ezra...it brought something of ache to the forefront of their chest, and she knew Hera shared the sentiment. With it, though, was joy (and, even still, a little hope).

“Shit, if he wants to be like me and Ezra, no wonder you’ve got your hands full. But, uh, I don’t know about the jet-pack. I’m sure I was much more reckless at his age.” 

They took a seat at the well-worn Dejarik table and rubbed her hand across their neck, taking a moment to reflect on the other’s musings. 

“Can’t say I know much more about the Jedi than whatever Kanan and Ezra were up to during our time as a crew, but I trust your judgement. I don’t know anything about Skywalker other than the legends, but I know Kanan. If you’re right about Jacen taking after Ezra, he’ll turn out alright.” 

She met the tired eyes of her buir and held their gaze for a moment. They didn’t know how to convey the emotions that were conflicting inside her. Sadness mingled with nostalgia and guilt. It was almost familiar, this cocktail of feelings. Instead, they decided to ask about the unusual silence.

“Speaking of trouble-makers, where’s Chopper? I miss that old war criminal.”

thinking about ThemTM

Anonymous asked | Favourite Mandalorian Characters? — The Wren Family

@versios​ // Iden Versio

although most of her time on new republic business was spent with the comfort of inferno squad and those that she knew best, iden still kept in communication with several other members of the rebellion. she was good at what she did, after all, and the rebellion’s strength came from its ability to work together. she happened to be rather fond of sabine –– she thought that the young woman was fiercely capable of quite a bit, and had a rather creative brain when it came to looking for solutions. if she were going to be truly self-aware, then she would have realized part of the reason that she liked sabine so much was the fact that she reminded iden of herself when she had been younger. reckless, but only in the most brilliant way.

“good to see you too, wren,” she remarked with a wry smile in response to the holo-recording. she grabbed her transmitter to get the other on the line, waiting for her to pick up before she spoke again. “it’s good to hear from you again, wren. what part of the galaxy are you in these days?”

The steady hum of the transceiver broke into a crackle, and Sabine’s eyes fluttered open sleepily. They hadn’t meant to doze off in the cockpit (that was risky business), but it had kind of just happened. Luckily, her little R-series droid had kept the flight path relatively consistent, and she gave the droid a pat on its dome before adjusting the frequency to match that of the incoming transmission. Finally, out came the familiar voice of their friend. So it seemed she had received their message.

“Commander, I was starting to think you’d forgotten about me,” they joked in between yawns. How long had it been since she had eaten something? Or had a proper sleep cycle, for that matter? Ah, that was a problem for another rotation. She turned their attention back to coming up with an answer to the question they had been asked.

“You know me, I love nothing more than enjoying all of the luxuries the Outer Rim has to offer. I mean, it just  doesn’t really get any better than the endless sandy wastes of Savareen or Tattooine, does it?” They pushed a piece of hair behind her ear, then glanced over their shoulder into the next room. It wasn’t like her to be distracted, but it seemed to be more and more commonplace over the last few days. 

“Sorry, uh, just looking for the cat. Blue seems to always be getting into trouble these days.” Where could he be hiding this time? “But, er, how have things been on your end, Commander? Anything I can help with? I...I heard about Hosk.” 

A heavy silence took its place on Sabine’s tongue then, until, with a deep sigh, they continued.

“If I’m being honest, commander, it’s not as easy as I imagined, this whole recovering-from-the-Empire thing.”

generally-scheming​ // Armitage Hux

“They work for me,”  Hux snapped. His teeth ground together when the Mandalorian had no answers for him. That scared him most of all — the explosions, the carnage, even the New Republic’s fickle new allies opening fire on their guests paled in comparison to the threat of an unknown enemy. Under other circumstances, any enemy of the New Republic was a potential ally, but the alien warriors did not stop to ask questions as they sliced through the crowd with frightening efficiency.  “Call me ‘sweetheart’ one more time and I might just change my mind about not killing you.”

Hux caught the stake with a grimace.  “We’ll have to do better than this.”  What a joke. Architects of planet-scale superweapons and they were armed with sticks. He ducked under a table, definitely because of tactical advantage and not cowardice. A passing Hapan guard crumbled to the floor when Hux sank the wooden shard into their shin. But they still overpowered Hux when he grabbed at their blaster. He squirmed under their superior strength, grappling for his life. He clawed, he bit, he pulled every dirty trick in the book, and it wasn’t going to be enough.  “Wren— Sabine— your new friends are going to kill us all!”

_

The Mandalorian spat out the blood pooling in her mouth, wiping hastily with the back of her hand. Their newfound ally ducked under a table, and Sabine crouched near him, surveying the scene for anything else that could be used as a weapon. A guard approached with hurried hostility, and Sabine watched as Hux plunged the shard into their leg. Not enough to kill.

“As if you could get out of this on your own.” The statement may well prove to be true of her, too. As sour as the thought was, the two needed each other.

The seconds passed in a fervor, and each brought with it clarity: he’d lose without their help. Reluctantly, she sprang at the guard, tackling them and digging the jagged wood into the exposed skin on their neck. Just as soon, a crack! sounded above them, and she dove at Hux, pulling him out of the way of falling rock.

“Think I’m not trying? And they don’t work for me, either, asshole.”

She swore under their breath, brown eyes scanning the scene for a route of escape. The room would be engulfed in flame in just minutes.

“We’ve got to make for the armory. Either give me the blaster or tell me you’re a better shot than you look. We’ve gotta go, now!”

@spectrcsix 

Star Wars: Rebels // First and last episodes

❛  don’t waste the time i don’t have .  ❜

“Oh, but, general,” she countered in a dry whisper, toying with the hem of his collar, as though brushing off some loose dust. “I think you have plenty of time for me. I think you want to know exactly what I have to say, because you can’t stand the thought of someone holding information over your head. Besides, I know you have nowhere better to be than the lap of another Imperial or holonet reporter. Isn’t that right, Armitage?”

@generally-scheming

❛  can  i  come  with  you ?  ❜ ( from kallus )

Though the war was over, Sabine still found this base to be crowded on occasion; a hangar so close to the Core Worlds had its uses, after all. It was nice to see so many familiar faces, albeit a little overwhelming. But if they were going to leave for the mission, the time was now.

"You know I won't turn down that offer, Kallus." They passed his comlink back, frequency now in tune with the one at her hip. "Besides, I could always use the conversation. Hyperspace can be so boring, you know."