Chapter 3: Exposure

Ezra walked off the ramp of the Ghost, feeling more confident by the minute. The mission against the Empire had been a success. Sure, those Imperial pilots had been better than most, but he'd been able to take them out like bugs with the Ghost's turret cannon. And it was Ezra's shot that had ruptured the fuel on the Resolve, causing it to explode. After the rebels had managed to take some of that fuel for themselves, of course. He couldn't wait to tell Kanan.

Walking through the base briskly, Ezra searched for Kanan, finding him near the boundary of the base, where there were several giant spiders hanging around outside. Of course, the spiders couldn't get into the base thanks to well-placed thumper poles the Squadron had placed when they'd first found the planet.

"Hey, Kanan," Ezra called out as he came to a stop near where Kanan was kneeling on the dry ground. Sure, Kanan had seemed like he was avoiding everyone, Ezra especially, but Ezra was sure that talking about the Squadron's victory would help bring Kanan back into the fray. "Good to see you again. I haven't seen for a while, you know."

"I know." Kanan replied shortly and, if Ezra wasn't mistaken, coldly, his back still turned to the teenager.

Swallowing hard, Ezra's gaze dropped to the ground. He knew it was his fault that Kanan was blind. That never would have happened if he hadn't trusted Maul back on Malachor, and encouraged Kanan and Ahsoka to, as well. He knew he deserved to be resented by Kanan for that, but it still hurt him when he was repeatedly brushed off like he didn't matter. Nevertheless, Ezra hopefully pushed on. "We just finished a mission against an Imperial ship, Kanan. And we definitely put a dent in the Empire's side today. You should have seen it, Kanan."

Too late, Ezra realized his mistake and winced as Kanan stiffened. He really should have known better than to talk about his master seeing anything, even if it was unintentional. "I...I mean you should have been there, actually. We really let the Empire have it, and you—"

"I know what you meant, Ezra." Kanan answered, barely turning his head to him, showing his dark beard. "I...appreciate you trying to help. But...if you don't mind, I'd like to be alone right now."

"Oh," Ezra said, sighing in defeat. He was right. Ezra had no business going to Kanan about anything, not after Malachor and Maul. "I'll just...go, then. See you later." But as Ezra walked away from his master, he had a hard time believing he'd ever see Kanan anytime soon.

But he'd make him proud again one day. He just had to work harder.

She was running, and that was all she knew. Running, into the black nothingness. But she wasn't alone. All around her, she saw faces pop up and fade away before she could even process it. She was used to this dream, of course, but that didn't mean it hurt any less.

Rebecca's face appeared out of the shadows again, her violet eyes narrowed with anger as her dark hair flew about her face. "Why did you have to do it?" She bit out angrily. "Why did you have to let us all down? And in such a way!"

Her face faded into Victoria's black surroundings, only to be replaced seconds later by Dakota Farthing, with her gray eyes drooping in sadness and anger. "You just had to do it your way, didn't you?" She shook her head in disappointment as she spoke, even as she was fading away. "Never giving a thought to the consequences of such idiotic selfishness. But then, why should I be surprised? It's not as if nobody saw it coming or anything." With those parting sarcastic words, Dakota fully faded away and Victoria ran faster, determined to leave it all behind.

But the floor dropped out from under her, and she fell down the dark abyss, as her dream always ended. But she didn't wake up. Instead, Victoria realized she could see the bottom of the pit for the first time. Falling hard on the ground, Victoria rolled over and rose, weakened from the fall. Not knowing what else to do, she walked down a nearby corridor lit with torches that flamed with a gold color. Eventually, the corridor widened into a large cave made of rock that was so polished she could see her own reflection, but something was wrong. Her reflection was distorted and grotesque, with stringy, dull hair, and a face twisted in a sneer, whose eyes followed her eerily as she moved away.

As she moved closer to the center of the cave, the ground just in front of her fell away until a large, dark pit formed. Somehow, a bonfire suddenly lit in the pit, its flames lighting up the room as they climbed higher to the ceiling. As Victoria looked away, she noticed a cloaked figure in front of the lit pit, whose arms were raised up toward the ceiling.

As Victoria moved closer to the stranger, the figure suddenly dropped their arms and turned to the teenager, flipping up their hood as they did so.

Victoria inhaled sharply as the features of the stranger became clearer, shocked at what she saw as her green eyes narrowed in confusion. The stranger was a teenaged girl, looking to be no older than herself, and she had dark hair like Victoria, though it fell just below the stranger's shoulders, a pale skin tone, and sharp facial features. Her eyes burned sapphire-blue as they locked onto the other girl's green ones.

And for some reason, Victoria knew that the longer she looked at the stranger, the more burdened she felt, and the more pain she felt.

"Wh-who are you?" Victoria asked as she continued to regard the other girl.

The girl didn't answer, though, smiling thoughtfully instead as she regarded Victoria.

Victoria's eyes opened, and she immediately sat up, looking around her room. Everything was still in order, and she sighed out a breath as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and got up. She was never able to sleep after she had that dream. Instead, she sat down at her desk and put on a pair of headphones as she switched on her datapad. Linking her headphones with the 'pad, she quickly tapped out a command, and the 'pad opened up the Imperial channel. Concentrating on her work, she listened for anything of use to the rebellion, hoping to keep herself from thinking about that dream.

But that girl's face stayed in her mind, along with worry. That face...it was so familiar. But she was certain she'd never seen her before. And yet...the face unsettled her greatly.

Rex looked at Ezra as the boy watched the sun rise over the planet the next morning. The captain stroked his beard as he regarded the teenager. He seemed...sadder today.

"Hey, Ezra, you okay?" Rex asked Ezra quizzically. "You seem...different today."

Ezra stiffened before turning to the aged clone, pasting on a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking. It's nothing to worry about."

Rex raised his eyebrow suspiciously. He knew that Ezra was lying, but, if he didn't want to talk, he honestly didn't see how he could make the boy talk.

As he sighed and made to walk away from Ezra, he spied Jazmine working on a ship nearby, and his eyebrows narrowed. After Jazmine had spied Victoria yesterday, he had gotten the impression that she was actively avoiding Rex. After he'd gotten back from their last mission, whenever he'd seen Jazmine, she was either always busy or immediately walking in the opposite direction from him, and she always seemed more nervous, too.

But he intended to get some answers from Jazmine about Victoria. Making up his mind, he started walking over to her, catching Ezra's attention by his abruptness, who followed. "Hey, where are you going?"

"I need to talk to Jazmine," Rex said, nodding his head over the middle-aged Twi'lek, who had finished up with the ship and was packing away her tools, her back to the two Humans.

"Oh. What for?" Ezra asked quizzically.

"You'll see," Rex said as they reached Jazmine, who had turned and become rigid at seeing the two.

"Oh, hi, you two," Jazmine said with a shaky smile that betrayed her nervousness. "I-I can't talk right now. I...have to go work on some other ships, since they haven't been working quite right, and—"

"Jazmine," Rex said as he reached out and grasped her forearm to keep her from moving away. If he didn't take the chance now, he might never get another one. "I came to talk to you about...Victoria. You seemed to know something about her when you spotted her yesterday."

"It-it's nothing," Jazmine stammered. "It was...just a shock. But I mean, if she's here, I guess that means she's managed to clean herself up..."

"What do you mean, 'clean herself up?'" Ezra interjected as he stepped forward, eyes narrowing. "If you know something about her, we should hear it. So what do you know?"

"What Ezra means to say is that, if you're concerned about Victoria, we think it's important, too." Rex said as he shot a look at Ezra, silently warning him to not push Jazmine. "We value everyone's opinion in this rebellion. So, please, can you tell us what you're concerned with about her?"

"Well..." Jazmine sighed reluctantly as she began. "All right, I'll tell you how I know her. But, before that, I need to tell you about myself. See, I've been...keeping something from you about myself."

"What do you mean?" Rex asked, wondering what kind of secret it was.

"Well, see, I wasn't always a technician," Jazmine began, wringing her hands nervously as her blue lekku twitched. "There was a time when I was...a part of this organization. But...it wasn't a good organization. I was only a secretary-type, but I knew what we were about. You see, the group I was with were called the...Dark Magicians."

"Magicians?" Rex said, remembering Rebecca and Alena's powers that had been explained to him as magic. And Alena had claimed Victoria was one, too, though he personally hadn't seen any indication of it yet.

"Yes, I know it's a little difficult to understand, but that's what they were. What I am." Jazmine snapped her fingers, producing a green flame above her hand as proof of her abilities. "And I...I'm sorry for keeping it from you, but you don't know what it was like in that group." She said as her eyes became glassy, and tears began to gather in her eyes. "It...it was awful, never knowing if you'd make to the end of the day alive, always having to put up a mask the group always wore just so no one would get singled out and punished for daring to go even a centimeter out of line. I...it...was horrible. I finally managed to leave them, and I cleaned up my trail really well, but...I always fear that I'll be found out. I even changed my name. Please...don't throw me out of the Squadron." She begged in a quiet voice as she fell to her knees, bending on the ground before the two Humans. "I...I'll do anything! Just...don't throw me out. Please!"

Rex and Ezra exchanged a shocked glance at Jazmine's story, both never having heard anything quite like their lives had been. Looking at the cowering Twi'lek, Rex felt pain for the horrors she had obviously experienced with the...Dark Magicians. Bending down to her level, Rex tipped her chin up to look him in the eyes. "Jazmine," Rex said softly and kindly, giving her a reassuring smile as he helped her up. "We don't blame people for what group they've been with here, as long as they're willing to change from it, no matter how awful. It's okay. Don't be afraid of us."

"Th-thank you," Jazmine said as she wiped away her tears, recomposing herself. "But I didn't tell you that so you'd feel sorry for me. I told you that I knew of Victoria when I first saw her here. You see, she was one of the Dark Magicians, too. But she didn't have a menial position of being a lowly secretary, like me."

"What was she?" Ezra asked curiously, even as his blue eyes narrowed.

Jazmine inhaled slowly before she continued. "She...she was the right-hand lieutenant to the leader of the entire organization. But she didn't call herself Victoria then. She was called...the Shadow back then. And...she was...awful. She came when she was very young, I remember, not even thirteen yet. But it was clear to everyone who saw her that she was both gifted in magic and completely and utterly dedicated to the cause of the Dark Magicians. She was able to work her way through the ranks quickly before her first year had even passed. She'd even caught the attention of the Dark Magician leader himself, and she became his personal student in dark magic. Then she became his top lieutenant, and she carried out everything he ordered. And I mean everything."

"What does everything mean, exactly?" Rex said as he narrowed his eyes at the new information about the newest rebel recruit.

"Well, oftentimes a platoon of magicians would go to other systems, subdue the population, and then often transport them back to the planet the Dark Magicians rule. And...on the planet, things are very tense there. Magicians are always breaking down people's doors and taking them to their headquarters for so much as looking at a Dark Magician the wrong way. And...I remember the Shadow often led those raids. I'm sorry I have to tell you this, but it's just...I thought you might want to know what you're getting into with her, because I only left a little over four months ago. And she was the most dedicated to the Dark Magicians, especially the leader."

Rex closed his eyes for a moment, exhaling slowly. What he'd just heard was...very, very worrying. Even if he still couldn't help but think there was more to her than what he'd heard, he couldn't ignore the facts. Victoria had a past that, from what Jazmine had implied, she could still be a part of. And if the Dark Magicians were as bad as Jazmine believed...

"I think it's time we have a talk with Victoria about this whole thing," Ezra said vehemently, pulling Rex out of his thoughts. "We can't let her get away with this. Not like with the Saviors and Alena. Let's go." Jerking his head at the other two rebels, Ezra stalked away toward the center of the base, and Rex and Jazmine jogged after him.

"Thanks for believing me, Rex," Jazmine said quietly as they went along. "I know it's hard to take in."

"Not as hard as you might think," Rex said reassuringly. "I've been exposed to my own share of Force-users over the years."

"Mh-hmm," Jazmine said as they went on.

"By the way," Rex said cautiously, "it's alright if you don't want to, but, would it be alright with you if you could tell me what your real name is?"

Jazmine paused for a moment, looking at Rex before slowly nodding. "A-all right, I can do that. I trust you, after all. My name before I left the Dark Magicians was...Jezebel Ramkodah."

"Victoria!" Ezra growled as he spotted the teenaged girl with a pair of headphones on just outside one of the ships. The enemy. He knew he couldn't have trusted her, even without all that had happened on Kalifa. The holocron agreed with him on that point.

Turning towards Ezra's voice, Victoria raised a dubious eyebrow as she pulled down her headphones. "What problem do you have to grind with me, now, Ezra? It's only been a day, for the Force's sake. I mean, really, even you will run out of things to get mad at me about anyway."

"Oh, you have no idea what I have to grind with you about this time!" He growled menacingly at Victoria, who began to seem to realize that he was having a legitimate reason to be angry, though she still looked a bit confused. Until she saw Rex and Jazmine come up behind Ezra, and her eyes immediately narrowed as she zeroed in on Jazmine.

"You," Victoria said angrily as she curled her hand into a fist. "What are you doing here?"

"I work here as a technician," Jazmine said quietly and cautiously. "I told them about my past and...about yours, too. They deserved to know."

"Oh, sure it was, Viper," Victoria said as she took a step closer to the Twi'lek, a snarl etched on her face. "Sure."

"That's enough," Rex said firmly as he stepped between Jazmine and Victoria. "The point of the matter is that you were a...Dark Magician, one of the most dedicated to their cause, and you didn't bother to tell us."

"Tell you?" Victoria said incredulously as she looked at Ezra and Rex. "Why would I ever tell you about my past? After all, you already made up your minds about me after Kalifa, so why does that matter anymore?"

"Because this time, we have an eyewitness account of just exactly who you were. Who you are." Ezra hissed scathingly as he watched Victoria's face contort into a grotesquely angry expression. "This time, you don't have Alena to let you off the hook so easily. And we're not letting you get away with it like you did on Kalifa."

"Really?" Victoria said dubiously before scoffing, even as her eyes narrowed further at the mention of Alena. "I think we've already established that you can't stop me. If you do anything against me, you'll lose Kalifa's support for your rebellion. Oh, and while we're on the subject of dark pasts, why is he," she pointed a gloved finger at Rex, "even here? Because it's his kind that betrayed the Jedi in the first place all those years ago as a result of Order 66, not to mention the resulting Purge being one of the main reasons the Empire even exists today!"

Ezra saw Rex inhale sharply at Victoria's words, but Ezra pressed on. "Because Rex didn't take any part in any of that. He took out the chip controlling the other clones that forced them to do that to the Jedi. Unlike you, that kind of thing isn't part of his past."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Victoria said darkly as she glared at Ezra, her dark green eyes almost turning black.

"Oh, don't play dumb!" Ezra said angrily. "Jazmine already told us about all you did as a Dark Magician. How you've enslaved and kidnapped populations of planets, how you carted people to get tortured and who-knows-what-else for even breathing the wrong way. We know everything now, and we're not going to let you off for any of that. You're a killer. And a monster. And we don't even know if you're not with them or not, since we have no reason to trust you!"

"Oh, please, like you're so perfect!" Victoria said exasperatedly as she jabbed a finger at Ezra. "I know your kind. You people act like you're sooo good and kind, that you could never do anything wrong, and that you yourself should never be judged for your own past. But when it comes to other people's, you have absolutely no problem with throwing all that in their faces to justify yourself! Don't pretend you're some sort of hero, Ezra Bridger, because you're not."

With those words, Victoria pushed past Ezra to leave, but they weren't done with her yet. "Don't walk away from me! You can't run from this!" He said darkly, and Rex reached out when Victoria passed...and grasped her upper arm to keep her from leaving. As the aged clone did, though, Ezra felt an icy tension permeate the air as Victoria slowly turned her head to look at the captain.

With a voice colder than space and narrowed green eyes, she said quietly, "It. Would be in your best interest to let me go, Captain. We wouldn't want to have any accidents happen, now would we?" As Ezra watched, she roughly ripped her arm from Rex's hand, backing away from him, Ezra, and Jazmine, her expression absolutely terrifying as a chill ran down the teenager's spin. Though her face was still coldly blank, he could sense something roiling inside her, coming off in waves, dark and terrifying. As she turned and walked away, Ezra knew that whatever she was keeping under wraps would be something that would destroy them all. And maybe Victoria, too.

A/N: So, all of that just happened. Let me know what you think of this chapter in the comments, since they are food for my soul, and I'll see you in a couple more weeks again!

P.S. And the name Jezebel Ramkodah: does anybody else think that sounds at least a little familiar? Like, maybe it's a name that's been used before? ;)