Hey guys. This is my first Old Republic AU, and this is inspired by a similar story by Paul Andrew Young. Shout out to him and "Falling For The Enemy." Without further adieu, enjoy.

Chapter 1: Mandalorian Entanglements

It has been many years, and already the war between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire did not look like it was going to end anytime sooner. In fact, most of the galaxy believed that this was going to be a stalemate for a long time according to the outcome of things; Republic and Imperial forces fighting across the galaxy like the darkness and the light with no signs of either side giving up. Even with the support of various factions on both sides, barely little to no progress was being made. Most of the time, both sides were interested in securing various planets for their sides, only to fight it out for days on end with battles raging on for days. The Republic and Empire were not going to let that happen to their interests in their territories. Balmorra was no different.

Due to the planet's well known reputation for advanced droid and weapons manufacturing, the Empire knew they had to make a move on it. However, the Republic was aware of this potential in the past week, and so began the battle for it. For those few days Balmorra was a war zone, with ground forces controlling several different sections of that planet, fighting for control of its resources and for galactic territory. Neither side was successful in securing it. The Republic needed backup, and so the "diplomats" were dispatched.

Arriving at a station orbiting Balmorra to get transported to the planet's surface, Jedi Knights Caleb "Kanan" Dume and Ezra Bridger exited their ship once they docked with it. Kanan wore traditional brown robes draped over his shoulders while the robes underneath were dark green. He wore gray pants and black boots. He also had dark brown hair in a pony tail, a goatee, and green eyes.

As for Ezra, the only 17 year old wore the same brown cloak that Kanan had over his shoulders, except the robes underneath were orange. As for the tunic, it was yellow. He wore brown pants and black boots. The only reason for the younger Knight to wear the colors he'd chosen was because he wanted to change into something that was more of his color once he was knighted by the council. Kanan convinced him to keep the regular boots and pants, and Ezra did just that. A native of Lothal, he had dark raven hair in a buzz cut and blue eyes.

The two of them made their way down the halls, meeting up with a protocol droid. "You must be the diplomats." it said. "This way please." It gestured for them to follow it and the two Jedi did. They followed the silver droid to a conference room, taking their seats. "My people will be with you two shortly." it said before walking away. The Jedi removed their cloaks.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Ezra questioned, making his old master chuckle.

"You always did." he replied, making his former apprentice role his eyes. At that moment, an imperial walked into the room. He wore a standard imperial uniform. He was blonde and he had two muttonchops on the side of his face, and brown eyes.

"Thank god you two made it." the imperial said.

"Kallus, do you have the intel?" Kanan asked him. Kallus was their inside man, going by the code name "Fulcrum." Though an imperial, he secretly defected at one point, becoming the Republic's inside man. He was always extremely careful about his new secret identity. If the Empire found out about him, he would have been slaughtered on the dot. With that, Kallus had to be secretive and make sure no one was watching or listening.

"I do." Kallus answered, inserting a code cylinder into a code cylinder drive somewhere at their table, a hologram of a map popping up. "The south east quadrant has severe pockets of imperial troops and droids. The target is an imperial weapons factory located 15 miles southwest of this settlement." Kallus said, pointing to it. "We destroy it, that'll be less weapons on their end. I have prepped your transport."

"Thank you, Fulcrum." Ezra replied. The two Jedi got up, when suddenly, the door blew open. Kallus groaned as he got caught up in the explosion, Fulcrum going fully offline that time. The Jedi quickly got up and drew their lightsabers, Kanan's blue and Ezra's green.

"Open fire!" An imperial trooper yelled, the squad opening fire on them. They deflected their attacks swiftly, the bolts going back into them. Their attackers dropped dead.

"Let's go, come on!" Kanan ordered, the two knights heading down the corridor, deflecting the blasts of and slashing away at their enemies when any came their way. After a while of being on the move, they finally found the transport that Kallus told them about. However, there was something seriously odd. Nobody was here, but they had a feeling that somebody was. "Keep your guard up." Kanan told his old apprentice. Ezra nodded. They took a few steps towards it, until a voice called out in the distance.

"Cease hostility, Jedi!" The voice was female. Their lightsabers up, the two Jedi circled around the area back to back, looking for their potential attacker.

"Show yourself!" Ezra retorted. Kanan sighed mentally. Sometimes his former apprentice acted reckless, and still does sometimes to this day. When does the kid ever learn?

A loud thud sounded off, then another. They looked behind them, meeting their attackers.

Mandalorians.

Out of all people in the galaxy, Mandalorians were trusted as mercenaries for the Empire. They allied themselves with them due to their warrior reputation and the fact that the war time was the perfect opportunity to make some credits. Not to mention, their hate for the Republic and the Jedi Order as a whole.

"Come to die a warrior's death, haven't you, because we will grant you one." the male said. He wore white armor with a unique visor. He pulled out a blade, twirling it before gripping it firmly, assuming a defense stance. The female in pink armor, a rather rare color for a Mandalorian out of all people especially, pulled one out also. Ezra and Kanan removed their cloaks and assumed their defense stances. The four opponents glared at one another, waiting for the first one to strike.

The male came at Ezra while the female came at Kanan. Both came at the Jedi with their jetpacks. While Kanan dodged the pink one thanks to the force, the male went into Ezra. He took the Jedi into a wall, the young Jedi groaning at the pain. He force pushed him back and then came at him with his lightsaber, striking at his head, the Mando blocking it. Ezra's eyes widened when he realized that his sword was a cortosis blade, a material known for withstanding lightsaber strikes. The Mando smirked underneath his visor. "What's the problem, kid? Surprised to see a cortosis blade?" he taunted. Big mistake.

Ezra, with a grunt, kicked him with a back kick in the stomach and then came at him with saber, trying to jab it into his body. The Mando blocked and then began to come at the Jedi with more hits until they locked blades. Ezra broke the lock thanks to an opening with a kick to the Mando's nuts, the male groaning as he fell to the floor. Ezra pointed the tip at his face, kicking the blade to the side. "You're done for." Ezra said, lifting his head up slightly to see that Kanan and the female were locked in a blade lock.

"Ezra, help me out!" Kanan called out to him. Ezra leaped to his master's aid with the force, the male Mandalorian seeing that his partner was gonna be done for unless he reacted. Using his jetpack, he came at Kanan, taking him into a wall and punching him repeatedly in the face. Kanan headbutted him and kicked him in the stomach, coming at him with strikes. He blocked the older Jedi's attacks and then Kanan did the same thing when the Mandalorian came at him with heavy strikes, grunting as he threw each one. They two of them exchanged heavy blows.

As this was happening, Ezra and the pink Mando were engaged in heated combat. The female put up a good fight, Ezra couldn't deny that. The two of them locked blades. "Y'know, kid, you're not the first Jedi I've killed. And you won't be the last."

"Oh yeah? You fight like a girl." he taunted, kicking her in the stomach and then force pushing her to the ground before kicking her in the face. That taunt was a huge mistake. Catching him off guard, she released a lasso-like gadget from her tool set from her wrist gauntlets, lassoing his body. She yanked him towards her and then repeatedly punched him in the face, grunting and shouting Mandalorian cuss words as she beat the living tar out him. His face began to show bloodiness and he suffered brutal cuts to it. She felt like he suffered enough punches, and then grabbed his wrist. Using another gadget, she tazed the Jedi. Ezra cried out in pain, and then yelled even louder when the pain increased.

"That's it, beg for your master!" she told him. The pain was so bad on Ezra's end that he couldn't utter a single word to Kanan, except moan, groan, and scream in pain as the pain increased even more, to the point of near death until she tuned it down. She didn't want to kill him. Not yet. Ezra lost consciousness from the pain, closing his eyes as he lay there. The Mando smiled to herself underneath her helmet, waiting on her partner to deal with his Jedi.

However, while Kanan heard everything, it was not going well for him either. He and his opponent were both going at it so hard that their bodies got even more tired each time. However, the male Mandalorian may have been tired, but he had enough energy in him left to perform one last maneuver. Locking blades with his Jedi opponent, the Mandalorian grabbed his wrist and then tazed him, just like how she did with Ezra. Kanan groaned and then yelled in pain, and then screamed in pain even more. He increased the intensity to the point where Kanan almost also died. His consciousness gave out and Kanan lay there as well. Satisfied with how that went, the Mandalorians looked at each other.

"Good job, Sabine." the male said in Mando'a.

"You did good today, my brother." she replied, also in Mando'a.

"Now, we follow through on our orders. Get those Jedi."

"I'd rather kill those dogs now."

"Sister, you know that we are getting paid big by the Empire just by doing this. As soon as we bring them to the loyalist camp, we receive our payment, and then we... we can have plenty of fun getting to know them." Sabine's brother put a huge emphasis on those last couple of words, making Sabine smirk underneath her helmet. Boy, was she going to have fun taking care of the younger Jedi.

"Yes, indeed, Tristan. Let's go." Sabine replied. Sabine dragged Ezra's body back to the ship that the Jedi were supposed to use for transport, an imperial Mark VI Supremacy-class starfighter. Tristan took care of Kanan's body, placing both of them in the hold of their ship as the siblings got to their cockpit. Sabine sat in the pilot's seat and then they were on their way down to the surface.

An hour later, the Mandalorians arrived at their loyalist camp on Balmorra, loyalists taking care of their bodies. "Put them in a cell." Sabine ordered two of the loyalists. They nodded and took care of the Jedi. "Oh, and strip them of their weapons." she added. A loyalist came over and took their sabers. Once the loyalists and Jedi disappeared from them, Sabine and Tristan headed in themselves, going up to their quarters.

Sabine and Tristan slept in separate quarters away from one another. Sabine's was distinguishable due to its colorful nature. She sighed as she got in, taking off her armor and helmet and throwing on a t shirt and shorts, crawling into bed. She stared at the ceiling, thinking.

Sabine was looked down upon by many Mandalorians, even her own brother from time to time. It's not typical that you find a Mandalorian who prefers doing art over fighting a useless war. Though she doesn't hesitate to fight when it comes to it, Sabine never wanted part of this war to begin with. She wants honor restored to Mandalore the way it has been before all of this, honor restored to her clan. She just wanted to live the life of a Mandalorian artist, but got dragged in with her brother. Even the Empire looks down upon her for her personality, but the only reason why they kept her employed was because she was lethal and skilled, and she rarely failed a mission. To this day, after being a mercenary of the Sith Empire for several years, the 18 year old questions where everything lies in this with her. Sighing, she turned on her side and let drifted off to sleep.