"Amira."

"I'm Hera," she pointed to the crew standing behind her. "The man that accidentally hurt Caden is Kanan; the other two are Zeb and Sabine."

The girl stared at each of their faces before focusing on Zeb's. She hid in Caden's shadow as her blue eyes widened in fear. Thankfully, the Zeb did not growl to Hera's relief. She remembered Sabine telling her that he became frustrated about something when she peeked around an isle corner, but what for?

Knowing Zeb, it could have been anything, thought Hera, standing up.

She was trying to get over the shock of seeing her here, but found it impossible to breathe. Her heart pounded in her chest as Kanan helped her regain balance. This could be a dizzy spell that were the beginnings of heat stroke yet that did not feel right. She could only think of the one reason why they were here.

"You alright?" he asked.

She nodded. "It's just the heat."

Kanan's expression said he understood. As much as Hera wanted to ask, there were too many questions already forming in the back of her mind. That would have to wait, seeing they were here on official business.

"Sorry," she apologized. "Amira surprised us."

"That kid always manages to surprise at every turn," Caden shrugged. "But we're not here to talk about Amira. What kind of information do you want to know?"

"Anything."

Kanan watched the mechanic think. From the moment they met in Anchorhead, he knew that this guy could secretly be an black market dealer. The signs were easy to spot if someone spent enough time around them. It was either that or Caden operated his own Intel ring.

The jedi crossed his arms. "Let's start with how you know our friend?"

Caden stared at them before bowing his head and blinking. Looking up, his grey eyes were less guarded than when he was shot.

"Please keep the girl in mind here," He explained just as sternly. "Your friend met my crew five years ago on an backwater planet called Lothal. He wasn't exactly easy to find after first running into him on the street."

Sabine was stunned out of her thoughts. She was too busy thinking of who this girl reminded her of that it did not occur to her that another cell spotted him somewhere in Capital City. It was obvious that Amira looked more like her mother than their missing crewmate. She shook her head at the last part.

Ezra? A dad? she scoffed mentally. Yeah, right.

"Did he have dark hair and tan skin?" the young woman asked.

"Yes," Caden gasped in pain. "He was a kid then, no more than fifteen."

Zeb rolled his eyes watching him put pressure on the wound. "Not much for pain, is he?"

The mechanic glared at him. Even though he was smaller, Caden could bring down the giant without using his blaster. He may not be as agile as their 'missing friend' but he knew close combat.

Amira tugged on the bottom of his red jacket. "Does your arm hurt?"

"It'll be fine," Caden said.

"Would you like to talk about this on our ship after we patch you up?" Hera offered.

The pilot did not like how their pale contact was as he applied more pressure to injury. If they did not give him medical attention now, Amira would become an orphan today.

"How do I know you're not really working for the Imperials?"

"Didn't we just go over this?" Zeb told him. "For the last time, we are not working for those bucket heads!"

The lasat sometimes wondered where he got his Intel. If it was not from Vizago, then it was usually from Fulcrum or some other source. He never understood how they found these people; it was like they were cloned and programmed to give them missions resulting in some kind of damage!

Amira flinched at the slight hint of annoyance.

"Spectre Four, calm down." Kanan sternly told him, "You're scaring the kid. Now go prepare the med-bay."

Zeb muttered something under his breath as he and Sabine went into the ship. Once they were out of sight, the three adults guided the girl towards the Ghost. It was only when Amira fell behind that they found her peering into the haul.

"No one will hurt you in there," Caden assured her.

Amira looked to Kanan and Hera. "What about that man?"

The jedi could hear Ezra asking an similar question. It was hard to not think of his Padawan looking at this girl. Shaking his head, he motioned them inside as he thought of who Ezra could have met during the last five years. If so, what did this mean?

"He's just having an bad day," Kanan told her.

The little girl nodded, still nervous.

When they reached the hallway outside the med-bay, Caden knelt down in front of Amira. She nearly choked the man as he tried to pry her arms from around his neck. Wherever her parents went must be dangerous if this child was clinging to him so tightly.

"Don't go," the girl whimpered.

Caden ruffled her dark hair with his clean hand. To their alarm, blood was now soaking through his shirt. "I'll be with you in a minute. Promise."

Kanan carefully helped the mechanic stand up. "Let's get you fixed up first then you can join us in the common room."

Amira panicked as Hera pulled her away. Small sobs shook her small body as the pilot tried to calm her down, watching the door close behind the two men. Zeb was probably in there waiting to leave. It would make the girl hysterical if he walked out now or even followed them to common room. Tightening her grip on the toddler, Hera started walking down the hall as she buried her head into her shoulder.

Hera swallowed her own tears. What could have happened to her family?

"Kanan is only helping Caden fix his shoulder," the twi'lek smiled. "He'll be fine."

The girl was speechless.

Hera chuckled as the toddler stared up at her. This seemed to calm Amira down to where she could walk into the room on her own without disappearing on them. She resisted the urge to hug the girl, not knowing if this will chase her off.

They found Sabine sitting in the booth, deep in thought. Now that they were inside the ship, she had her helmet sitting in front of her. The mandolrian sat up seeing Amira's tear streaked face. "Hera, did -"

"Everything's fine, Sabine," the pilot told her. "Amira did not want to leave Caden's side outside the med-bay, that's all."

Sabine looked down at the orphan. With pleading eyes like those, she would put an Lothcat to shame. That is if they were friendly towards you. She understood where the girl was coming from. After the Empire wiped out her family, she secretly kept tabs on the crew on missions during her first year as an rebel.

She knew Hera would not allow her to show Amira her cabin, but maybe the hallway outside the cockpit would work. Here goes nothing.

"Do you want to see something?" Sabine smiled.

Amira cocked her head. "What is it?"

"A painting." She hoped this would work. "I'm sure Caden wouldn't mind, right Hera?"

Hera watched Amira's face light up. It was hard to ignore Sabine's one of 'masterpieces.' "Well, I supposed it wouldn't hurt."

Both women heard the door slide open, expecting their crewmates to confidently walk in. It was not like that at all. Caden was holding a felt bag filled with small objects that dully jingled. From the suspicious expressions Kanan and Zeb wore, it looks like they were unable to find out what was inside. It was not tied to his waist when they first met unless the man was hiding it under his jacket and somehow managed to smuggle it onto the Ghost. They were so busy thinking this meeting was a trap that no one thought to check.

I should have known this would happen.

The pilot kept eye contact with the black market dealer, not wanting to miss one movement. "Sabine, why don't you show Amira one of your paintings?"

Sabine knew what was going to happen next. Things were going to get nasty fast, and Amira did not need to be in the room when the twi'lek tore the black market dealer apart. If he was not dismembered, then either his face would be rearranged or turned into cheese by Hera's blaster. Kanan blew it this time!

"Sure," She turned to Amira. "There's one out in the hallway. Want to start there?"

The girl looked from Caden to the three adults waiting for them leave. It was a few minutes for the toddler before let herself be led out by the hand. Only when the group heard Chopper's beeps and Sabine's voice echo down the hall, did they corner the mechanic.

"Alright, the joke is over." Kanan folded his arms, glaring. "Are you a mechanic or black market dealer?"

"Both."

Zeb snorted. "And my father's an lasat!"

Caden knew he was in trouble. It took an hour to realize who this group was! His contact told him it was the Ghost cell who took control of an tower on Lothal before one of them were captured. If he also remembered correctly, his partner was once part of this cell before leaving.

"Then tell us what's in that bag!" Hera pointed to the bag in his hand.

"This?" frowned Caden. "It's my stash of data chips. You'd be surprised how many people are willing to hire us to gather Intel."

Kanan could not believe he struck a deal with yet another crime lord; Vizago was bad enough. Tatoonie was starting to scare him. If its residence could look like normal people, then who were smugglers? The more he thought about it, the jedi realized this was the perfect place for Ezra to hide in plain sight.

"Like who?"

Caden sat down at the table, wincing. This would not be the first time clients tried to kill him but they must be desperate. None of them wanted to shoot him in the head yet.

"My partner and I had two bounty hunters come to us looking for information on a human male from Gorse. They told us he was guilty of treason but neither of them didn't say what for," he explained, giving them the lazy eye.

The jedi felt his hand inch toward his blaster. This guy is two times is worse than Vizago!

This guy was talking about hunting down possibly innocent civilians as if it were an bar story! That was unacceptable!

Hera glared at him before looking at the dealer again. "And did you two find information on him?"

Caden nodded.

"The man was innocent. When I hacked into the Imperials' files at the information center on this planet, I uploaded false charges the Empire transferred here at the time onto a holodisk. Supposedly, the guy was 'accused' of leaking information to rebels somehow," he continued. "What they probably didn't know was that I messed with the coordinates of the fugitive's location."

The crew was floored again. Who was this man if he was not an black market dealer?

"Are you sure you're a black market dealer?" scowled Zeb.

The mechanic tensed. If he dislocated his shoulder in the process, then he would be out of the job for a few weeks. "Who said we were?"

"Whose 'we?'" Kanan asked.

This was worse than imaging the Empire torturing or killing him on an star destroyer! After pulling that stunt with Vizago, he and Hera made him promise to never do anything that reckless again. Did the kid have a death wish?

Caden lifted a brow. "Your 'missing friend' and I."

"So you know where they taken him?" Hera suggested.

He bowed his head as if Zeb punched him in the stomach. Kanan was surprised to hear him sigh.

"Do you or do you not know?" the lasat demanded.

"No, but I did..." Caden trailed off, realizing what he was about to say.

"If its something that could help us find him, I suggest you tell us now," threatened Kanan.

Caden could not let his emotions overlap with his business life. It was bad for business, as Vizago would say. But that rule was broken two years ago when Amira was born. Staring at the small bag in his palm, he decided to try convince them it was worth the credits.

"You should know I have the information you want," he grinned. "I'll even throw in the mission detail in for free."

Zeb snarled at him. "Where did Kanan find you?"

"Zeb!" Kanan managed to get the lasat's attention before he could actually give Caden an black eye. "Let him talk."

Caden dumped the small bag out onto the table to shift through the pile of data chips. When he found one with a purple tab on it, the dealer scooped the rest the into the bag and placed it inside his jacket again.

"What makes you think we're buying?" Hera asked. "You're the one who let us repair our ship."

"Because you needed the ship to be in good condition to fly out here," he shrugged. "This is the closest area safe from Imperial eyes."

Kanan could not tell how much time they wasted convincing this dealer to tell them the information they needed. If he didn't give up, then maybe they should look somewhere else in the galaxy.

"If we do decide to buy the information from you, then how much would it cost?"

"One hundred credits," the mechanic told them.

Hera was going to give Kanan a piece of her piece once they were in hyperspace. They just finished repairs and mostly like would go back to Vizago looking for a job. "We spent most of what we had on parts."

"Right," scoffed Caden. "I'll give you a job then. I thought it would a simple recon mission, but ever since my partner was grabbed that all changed."

Kanan shared an look with Hera. Well, they needed to find a job as soon as possible if they wanted to fly back to Lothal. The jedi nodded in agreement.

"What kind are we talking about?"

The dealer's grey eyes dared him to comment on why he was handing over such important Intel. Wasn't he worried they would keep it for themselves?

"Go over the information on this data chip. It may make more sense to you than me," he quietly murmured.

"Where did you get this one?" Kanan blinked.

"Remember those bounty hunters I told you about?" Caden said. "We tricked them into giving us that chip as payment."

He stood up just as Chopper wheeled in with Sabine and Amira. The little girl's eyes told them all that she enjoyed the ship tour while they talked.

"Did you have fun?" he laughed quietly.

Amira nodded. "They were pretty!"

"Thanks!" Sabine smiled. "How about we paint an sunset someday?"

"If this mission goes well, then you might be able to."

Caden didn't know how successful this crew would be. The others he met were unwilling to raid the communication tower on this planet after what happened on Lothal. Since the Empire tightened their security protocol, it was nearly impossible to sneak in without raising some kind of alarm. Besides, his friend would lose it if he learned that Amira was left alone with strangers.

"What is that supposed to mean?" The artist glared at him. "If you haven't noticed, we took the time to meet you here."

"Sabine!" Hera hissed.

Sabine understood the warning in the pilot's tone. Now was not the time to complain when they were talking to an informant.

"You're talking about the Imperials' security changes," the twi'lek said.

"They're starting to check ID of anyone going in and out of their communication towers here," Caden told them. "I'm guessing that's how my friend got caught somehow. Usually, he's able to sneak in and out without raising the alarm."

This mission is about Ezra then, Kanan realized. Why would this guy be interested in finding him?

The jedi could not keep the question from bouncing around in his head. Once they went over the Intel, maybe that can be answered.

"We'll remember that," he said gratefully. "Thanks for giving us an chance."

Caden nodded. "I hope this Intel helps out. Do you mind if I join you?"

"What kind of Intel are we looking for?" Hera asked.

"His location, but you knew that. "

Kanan and Hera shared another look before one of them nodded. Sabine did not know what those two were thinking by letting him tag along.

"What did we miss?" She muttered to Zeb.

"We have another mission," the lasat whispered back.

She felt her hand reach for her blaster. What?!

Zeb grunted in agreement. He did not blame her for wanting to finish the job.

"We really need to get back home," Caden prompted.

"Right this way," Hera nodded.

As she led their guests from the room, Zeb found himself included in her scolding glare. He knew they were in trouble once she came back if Kanan did not jumped on them for threatening their contact. Between him and Hera, they preferred having Kanan on their backs.

Just as they expected, the jedi started in. "I saw that, Sabine."

"What's this about a new mission?" the young woman demanded.

"It looks like the job Caden gave us involves infiltrating a control tower on this planet," he explained. "I don't know why he wants to find Ezra, but its good a thing he does."

"What reason could an black market dealer have?" Zeb spoke up.

Kanan thought about this and filed it away for later. It was hard to believe Ezra would put himself in danger by working with someone like Caden. The jedi remembered how the Imperials tried to trap the rest of his crew after his poor planning skills got the best of him. Thinking back on it now, being captured was worth it; his family was spared. But how could he have failed Ezra?

"We may find out," he finally answered. "He's going to join us."

Zeb watched him slip the chip into his pocket before walking out. Whatever was on it, they both knew it had something to do with the communication tower they were going to break into.


Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. So far, it looks things are looking up for the crew. Do you think they can trust Caden?

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars: Rebels.