Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters except for my OCs

Chapter 2

The Ghost was traveling through the blue expanse of Hyperspace as it made its journey to Belsavis. Inside the ship, the Ghost crew was gathered in the Common Area with Ahsoka. The Togruta woman boarded the ship as soon as she arrived back from her mission. At the moment she was debriefing the crew of the Rebels on Belsavis.

"The members of this cell call themselves Dragon Battalion and is one of the largest cells known to the fleet. My contact in the cell is named Astrid Hofferson-Haddock, she'll meet us when we land."

"Are we sure we can trust her," Sabine asked suspiciously. Hera shot the teen a look but was silenced by Ahsoka.

"It's alright Hera," Ahsoka assured her friend. She turned her attention onto Sabine with a small smile. "I think you and Astrid would get along well. She doesn't trust easily either and believes actions speak louder than words." Sabine turned her head away with a small blush.

"Why are they called Dragon Battalion," Ezra asked from his spot against the wall.

Ahsoka let out a small snort. "They named themselves after one of indigenous creatures that can only be rarely found on Belsavis." She pressed a few buttons on the Dejarik board and the image of a large lizard that had a beaked, armor-platted face, feather-ridged back and crest, a long powerful looking tail, and five toed feet.

"Varactyls," Hera said with astonishment, "also known as Dragonmounts." She added for Ezra's benefit.

"What's so special about these things," Zeb huffed. "You can find Varactyls on Utapua as well."

Ahsoka allowed a smirk to appear on her face. "Take a closer look at its back." Ezra came closer to the board and looked hard at it. There, camouflaged across its back were four folded wings. The members with more knowledge about these creatures stared in astonishment before looking to Ahsoka for an explanation. All except for Kanan, whom Ezra noticed wasn't surprised about this information.

"That's impossible," Sabine breathed. "Varactyls have always been known to be wingless. How is this possible?"

"You're going to have to ask the 'Dragon Master' when we arrive," Ahsoka answered cryptically. "As for the matter of the Empire, there is a low-level of Imperial presence but they mainly stay in the vicinity of larger cities. Which is good news for us since we'll be picking up my contact in Del Sol. From there she'll direct us to the base."

"Not that I'm complaining," Zeb started as he crossed his arms over his chest. "How come there isn't a larger imperial presence on the planet?"

"I heard rumors while I was at the academy," Sabine said suddenly. "The Belsavians were a people of fierce warriors, who believe in a show of strength. When the King was murdered, his advisor allowed the Empire to set up an Imperial presence as long as it remains low and he receives a monthly 'reasonable' pay."

"Which is one of the reasons why the rebels planet side choose to fight," Ahsoka finished. "Now we need to convince their leaders to help us."

"Alright," Kanan said with finality. "Zeb, pull out the winter gear, we're gonna need them." The Lasat grumbled under his breath but got up from his chair and walked out of the room. Just then the alarm went off signaling that they were about to come out of Hyperspace.

Hera made her way to the cockpit with the rest of the crew and Ahsoka following. She took her seat in the pilot chair with Kanan taking his place in the co-pilot chair, Ezra and Sabine sitting in the last two chairs; leaving Ahsoka to lean against the wall. As Hera took control of the Ghost, the blue lanes of Hyperspace disappeared to reveal the ice-covered world of Belsavis.

Ezra really couldn't call the planet an ice ball since he could see the occasional large crater filled with vegetation. He was happy to notice that there weren't any Star Destroyers forming a blockade around the planet. As the ship drew closer to the planet, the blue-haired teen noticed that they were flying past the various craters. They continued traveling for a few minutes when they came upon the small spaceport of Del Rio. They could see ships of various sizes and models parked along the port as well as various figures walking around. Hera settled the Ghost on an empty berth, which bounced gently as it touched the icy ground.

The crew and Ahsoka gathered in the cargo bay as Zeb began to hand out fur-rimmed coats to everyone. Sabine mumbling under her breath at how plain the coats were. Ahsoka led the crew out of the ship into the cold air of Belsavis. Ezra and Sabine immediately shivered as the cold wind hit their faces. Chopper let out series of warbled complaints before rolling back into the cockpit to wait.

"Remember, we are not here to cause trouble," Kanan reminded the crew as the walked into the crowd. "Let's not cause a ruckus and let's not compromise our informant. We don't need the Empire getting in our way."

"Don't worry, everyone here is either a tradesman, merchant, or smuggler, and none of them have any love for the Empire," Ahsoka reassured the Jedi. They stopped for moment as a Belsavian human started a fight with a Rodian over rotten produce. "However, we shouldn't start a fight with the locals."

The group stepped around the fighting duo and had to drag Zeb along when he stopped to watch the fight. They made their way to the Nordic North cantina, which seemed to be the only cantina in the small town. Luckily there wasn't a bouncer at the door, so they got into the building relatively easily.

The inside of the building was to say the least, in the crew's opinion, actually nice. One thing for was sure that the place was cleaner than most places they've been to. The place was moderately lite. A small band was located on the left side of the bar with the band playing a catchy tune. And a variety of species were seated at various tables enjoying their drinks and filled the cantina with the buzz of their talk and laughter.

Ahsoka led the crew to the bar. "Hail Stoick the Vast, true king of the Belsavians," she whispered to the short Besalisk standing behind the bar. The four-armed alien regarded the group with a critical eye before inclining his head to the only shadowed part of the cantina. Ezra looked to see a hooded figure sitting in the large booth where he could also see a large two-sided axe leaning against the table.

Ahsoka raised an eyebrow at the figure before walking towards the person. The hooded figure turned their head slightly to acknowledge the group before rising from the booth. "Well, well, well, Ahsoka." A feminine voice sounded out from beneath the hood. The woman pushed the furry hood of her shawl back to reveal a human woman in her early thirties with cobalt eyes and blonde hair styled into a thick braid that hung over her left shoulder. "Fancy meeting you here? Surprised to see me?"

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes at the woman and subtlety placed her hands on the hilt of her lightsabers. "Surprised? Not really. It's hard to be shocked when you have that ridiculous axe with you." The woman narrowed her eyes at Ahsoka, causing the Ghost crew to place their hands on their weapons. However, Kanan and Ezra couldn't sense any malicious intent from the woman.

The woman suddenly smiled and let out a small laugh as she relaxed her stance. "What took you so long?" Ahsoka smiled in returned and the two women embraced each other. The Ghost crew relaxed as they stared at the duo with raised eyebrows.

"It's good to see you again old friend." Ahsoka smiled as she released her friend. She turned her attention to the Ghost crew. "Everyone this is Astrid Hofferson-Haddock. My informant here on Belsavis." She turned back to Astrid to introduce the crew. "Astrid these are some of my friends. Kanan Jarrus, Hera Syndulla, Zeb Orrelios, Sabine Wren, and Ezra Bridger."

Astrid nodded her head in greeting. "It's nice to meet you all. Come sit." Everyone soon started occupying the space in the booth except Zeb and Sabine, who went to order drinks. She smiled at Kanan and Ezra. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you two wouldn't happen to be Jedi, would you?"

Kanan and Ezra stared at the woman incredulously then started making weak attempts to dissuade her assumptions. Astrid smirked at the duo and held up a hand to stop them. "It's alright, I won't tell anyone. But if you hadn't figured by my name, I'm married to a Jedi."

Kanan smirked, as he knew who exactly married the woman in front of him. Ezra looked over to his mentor with a slight frown. "So your friend's last name is Haddock?" The older Jedi sent a side eye glare to his Padawan.

Astrid huffed out a small laugh. "I see you haven't told your apprentice about my husband." Her smile slowly turned into a frown as she crossed her arms on the table. "However, he might not be the man you once remember."

Kanan looked at the woman in shock before leaning forward slightly. "Did something happen to him?"

Astrid shook her head slightly. "You know as well as I do that a lot of things have happened since the years following the Clone Wars. Our people went from being proud, independent warriors to becoming dependent on the Empire. You may not see it, but the Empire's lapdog has forbidden us from following our traditions, driven most of our food sources to extinction, and has put a restriction on most of our trade." She let out a sigh as Zeb and Sabine came back and handed her one of the drinks. "These acts were put into effect five years after the Clone Wars and the king was murdered. My husband was devastated when these changes occurred however he refuses to outright fight the Empire."

"Why wouldn't he fight," Sabine asked as she took a sip from her drink. "From what I know, a Belsavian craves a good fight just as much as a Mandalorian does."

"Because he wasn't raised the Belsavian way, he raised the Jedi way," Kanan responded. "Even when we were younglings, he always preferred doing research over learning how to fight. And when he was in conflict, he would always try to find ways to end the fight in a peaceful solution."

"And that doesn't settle well with most of our people, but they would never revolt against him," Astrid stated while bringing her fist down onto the table.

"Why not," Zeb asked after he took a swig from his drink. "It's obvious that they don't like the way he's running things."

Astrid opened her mouth to respond when something at the entrance to the cantina stopped her. The Ghost crew glanced over the booth and saw a couple of Stormtroopers and Belsavian soldiers by the entrance. The troops were shoving their way through the crowd and roughly pulled the hoods off a few patrons.

"Friends of yours," Hera asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not in the slightest," Astrid responded. She looked over to troops quickly before standing from the booth. "You all need to get out of here before they see you. Meet me outside by the front entrance."

"We'll need a distraction," Ahsoka countered.

"Give me a second." Astrid grabbed her axe and placed it on her back. She strolled past one of the Belsavian troops and subtlety stuck her foot out. The bulky man tripped and knocked himself into a fierce looking Trandoshan causing the lizard to spill his drink on himself. The Trandoshan snarled before slowly turning to the man and punched him in the face. Thus causing a bar brawl to ensue.

Soon the sounds of furious patrons began to sound with the Imperial troops caught in the middle of the fight. The Ghost crew along with Ahsoka began to make their way out of the building through the back door. Kanan had to pull Ezra back when one of the patrons was sent flying through the air and smacked into the wall next to them. The Quarren groaned as he slid down the wall passed out before he touched the ground.

The group had to go down a darkly lit hallway before finally exiting the building. Sabine peeked out from doorway and signaled that the alleyway was clear. They rounded to the front of the building where a bit of the fighting spilled out from the cantina. Astrid was standing a bit of a distance away from the fight next to a speeder bike.

The group made their way to the blonde-haired woman and started walking away from the scene with the woman pushing the bike along with her. Astrid had a self-satisfied look on her face but caught the raised eyebrow from the Togruta. "What?" She shrugged her shoulders and allowed a smirk to appear on her face. "We got out of there without having draw our weapons didn't we and no one got hurt." One of the patrons from the bar hobbled past them before falling onto the ground in an unconscious heap.

Ahsoka raised an eyebrow and pinned her friend with a look. "Okay, no one we know got hurt." Astrid had a sheepish smile on her face that made the Togruta smile softly.

They soon came up to the Ghost and quickly entered the ship to escape the cold. The Ghost crew breathed in relief as Hera and Kanan climbed up into the cockpit to start ship. Astrid leaned against the wall of the cargo hold and crossed her arms over her chest.

Now that they were under proper lighting, Ezra finally got a good look at the woman. Astrid was wearing a form-fitting red shirt, a fur skirt with spike-studded leather stripes sewn in, blue tights with leather knee pads sewn in, large fur-rimmed armbands covered in leather twine, knee-high fur covered boots, leather twine wrapped around her upper arms, and hidden under her blonde hair was a leather headband. Ezra's eyes then landed on the large decorated axe next to her. Astrid caught Ezra looking and smirked at him.

"You can touch it if you want." Ezra smiled and walked over the woman. He placed his hand on the wooden handle and was amazed at how smooth it was. Suddenly, he gripped the weapon and tried to lift it up. It was then that he realized how heavy it was. He started making grunting like sounds as he was barely able to lift it, much to the amusement of the occupants in cargo hold.

"Don't hurt yourself," Astrid said lightly as Sabine came over to examine the weapon. She was amazed by the intricate design on the blades and the skull that was shaped at the end of the handle. Sabine tried to lift up the axe as well but only got it an inch off the ground.

"It's so heavy." Sabine grunted before she dropped the weapon onto the ground.

"It's suppose to be," Astrid muttered as she grabbed her weapon and easily placed it on her back. "However, over the past fifteen years we have developed metal as light as air, but strong enough to deflect a lightsaber blade." This amazed the two teens much to Zeb's amusement.

"Speaking of which," Ahsoka interrupted the blonde. "We really need to get to your base."

"Of course." Astrid started up the ladder with the rest of the group following close behind. They found the blonde leaning over Hera as she inputted the coordinates to her home base. The Twi-lek woman smiled at the blonde before bringing the ship up into the air. "We should be there in half an hour. Hopefully the TIE fighters aren't out on patrol."

During the time spent traveling to the base, most of the crew led Astrid to the Common Area where she lectured Ezra and Sabine about her culture with the two listening in interest. Ezra curious about the Belsavians and Sabine due to how little information was gathered by the Imperials. Soon a chime echoed throughout ship signaling that they reached their destination. The blonde looked up from her arm wrestling match with Zeb and allowed a smirk to appear. She slammed their fists onto the table and laughed victoriously while the Lasat groaned.

She continued to chuckle as they went back to the cockpit with Ezra teasing the Lasat. Once entering the cockpit, they were greeted with the sight of a long mountain range range. With no sign of a base anywhere. Ahsoka turned to her friend and saw she had a smirk on her face. Astrid leaned over Hera again and entered a series of codes before sending them out. A tense moment passed before two glaciers parted to reveal an opening in the mountain.

"Welcome to Dragon's Edge," Astrid said as Hera guided the Ghost into the mountain.

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