Hera kept her eyes forward as she thought about how to punish Sabine and Zeb. They all wanted to avoid another 'Lando' incident, but none of them went as far as pulling blasters on the leech when he was aboard. No matter who the contact was, this would not stand on her ship!

They are in so much trouble! the pilot thought.

She glanced at Caden to see if he was alright. He was messaging his bandaged shoulder at one point during the meeting, and thought about detouring to the med-bay again just to check. Caden may not be trustworthy but the idea of letting him leave injured did not sit well with her.

"Sorry about that," she sighed. "My crew is usually more polite than that when we have guests aboard. Do you want to stop by the med-bay again to check your bandages?"

Amira looked up in shock. "No, he can't!"

The child clung to Caden's hand as if someone would drag him down the hall. Instead of acting like the terrified little girl they first met, she was warily watching the pilot to see what she would do. The pilot did not know what to think of this girl's behavior; no child her age should be this overprotective.

The mechanic shook his head. "Thanks for the offer but I'll be fine. This is no different than an shot."

Hera lifted a brow. "I see."

Their customers probably have tried to kill them after realizing that they were cheated out of who knows how many credits. It would not be the first time she's seen black market dealers walk around with injuries they got from angry customers. The pilot wondered how this effected Amira's family life. How did her parents handle knowing that criminals could be on their doorstep because of one bad deal?

"How long have you been an dealer on the black market?" she asked.

"Six years," Caden told her. "Interested in my career choice?"

Hera rolled her eyes at the suggestion of a career change. She enjoyed piloting, and would do so as long as the Empire oppressed the galaxy. It was worth being chased by groups of TIE fighters if it meant helping refugees.

"I'm just curious about how you managed to convince two bounty hunters to hand over the Intel you gave us."

Caden's grey eyes turned to stone. "You still think I work for the Empire."

"That's not what I think." Hera said, "I want to make sure who you say you are."

The dealer wanted to answer right away. He knew black market dealers had a bad reputation for being ruthless and greedy, but he ignored that thinking. It was something they were not proud of.

He slid down the ladder before letting the twi'lek pass Amira into his arms. Setting the toddler on the metal floor, Caden tried to clear his head enough to answer his hostess. What answer could I give her that would not make her want to kick me off this cliff face?

"Well, I can tell you I wouldn't take care of Amira if I were."

This seemed to help her relax a bit but did nothing to earn the pilot's trust. Caden had to admit to himself that she was an tough customer. Then again, she was an rebel.

Hera opened the hatch. "Do you want us to pick you up?"

"It would help," he nodded. "My own ship is low on fuel. We had to put it in storage a year ago after our last mission."

The twi'lek nodded in understanding. There was something behind his words that made her look into Amira's innocent eyes and back up at him. It must have been bad if her guardian refused to speak of it.

"Alright, we'll meet you at the hanger."

She watched the man carry Amira to the ship before closing the ramp. The walk back to the common room had her thinking of what could have happened to her family. Hera felt tears well up in her eyes at the thought of another child having to grow as an orphan. She wiped her face before walking in to find the rest of the crew whispering about something other than the incident she witnessed today.

"Hera, are you okay?" Zeb asked.

"I'm fine," the pilot reassured him. She gave them both pointed looks. "Tell me why you were reaching for your blaster?"

Zeb and Sabine glanced at each other. Judging by their unsure expressions, they could be using the Force to debate on whether or not to tell her why they wanted to execute an ship guest! Of course, she was lucky they only had one jedi board at the moment. The Force knew what she would do once they had Ezra back again.

"Are you sure we can trust him?" Sabine decided to ask.

Hera folded her arms. "No, but we should at least give him an chance. That's what this is all about?"

Chopper commented, saying they should have waited until she and Kanan were distracted.

"Yes," Zeb and Sabine answered at the same time.

"If this dealer turns out to be like Lando, he'll be off this ship before he realizes what's going on," She said, using her captain's voice. "He may work in the black market but that does not mean we try to kill him. Until we look at the data chip Caden loaned us, you're going have to be patient with me and Kanan."

The twi'lek understood their worry about either of them having another lapse in judgment. When she found out Kanan approved of betting Chopper, the thought crossed her mind to leave him stranded on Lothal while they smuggled whatever it was. It turned out to be an Puffer, of all things. All she knew was that farmers used them to mine their land. That is, if they did not get caught.

"When will that be?" Zeb asked.

"We'll view the data chip at our landing spot," the pilot determined.

It made her nervous to have the Ghost out in the open where the Imperials could catch them off guard. If the ship was damaged a second time, she knew there would an mutiny while they survived the heat for another few days.

"You mean the one where we crash landed?" corrected Sabine.

"Yes, that spot." the pilot told the, "Do you know where Kanan went?"

Zeb stood up, yawning. "He probably went to bed early."

Kanan never took naps unless Ezra wore him out during Jedi training. A few times in the past the jedi escaped to his room after completing missions or when something overwhelmed him. It worried Hera that he could have locked himself inside again. Walking down the hallway, she wondered what could have brought on this bout of depression.

Hopefully, I won't need Zeb to bust down the door, she thought, worried.

After finding his door, she knocked and waited for someone to answer. Eventually, the silence became too much. Whatever was going with Kanan, it was never good if he just ignored an member of the crew. The twi'lek sighed in relief to find he did not lock it.

The jedi was sitting on the edge of his bunk with his head bowed. He looked too vulnerable to be meditating, which scared her more than Darth Vader. The Sith Lord may be able to hunt them down through the Force, but seeing their fearless leader break down was worse.

"Kanan?" she questioned.

He lifted his head as she sat beside him. "Something wrong?"

Hera knew this information made him nervous. She did not need to be force-sensitive to know that. "I was worried you locked yourself in again when Zeb told me you went to bed early."

"I'm worried about what the Empire is doing to the kid," confessed Kanan. "You know what they did to me on Mustafar. He may not be able to handle it."

He still had nightmares about what happened on that cold planet. Being strapped to that table while the Inquisitor put him through so many unmentionable things was just one of them, but the worst was thinking his student was dead. There are nights where he has to remind himself that the man was burned alive; that Ezra was still out there somewhere. That alone was enough to keep his hope alive.

"We won't let that happen,"Hera said. "If we could break you out of there, then we can do the same for him."

Kanan nodded as he remembered that his Padawan grew up on the streets. However, it still was not enough to know the kid could survive. That planet would kill him if the Imperials did plan on transporting him there.

"You do realize that happened after we took control of the communication tower on Lothal?"

She nodded. "We've been through worse."

"You're right," the jedi sighed, sitting up. "Aren't we supposed to be heading back to the canyon?"

"I'm going to cockpit now," the twi'lek smiled. "Do you have that data chip?"

"It's in my pocket. Are we going go over the Intel now?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm just make sure you didn't lose it."

Kanan smiled as the pilot walked out. As the jedi sat cross legged on his floor, he took an deep breath and reached out to the Force. The strained Master-Padawan bond he and Ezra shared sometimes told him where the boy was in the galaxy; at other times, it was a brick maze. Every now and then, he sensed Ezra's emotions and rarely got an response back. This was how he knew his student was still out there.

Taking another deep breath, the jedi latched onto their bond. Ezra!

There was no answer. He sharpened his focus until his student's familiar presence faintly jolted in surprise. Kanan?

Ezra, are you alright?

There was a pause on the other end. It might have taken ten minutes for him to think of an answer unless the kid was given an Force inhibitor. How are you here?

I told you that we would never leave you.

Kanan's heart broke at that question. He could sense Ezra knew why, but something else was on his mind. Before the jedi could answer, their connection broke shortly before fear and anger took over. He frantically tried to call out to his student again but the black wall separated them.

Ezra, answer me! That's an order!

The thought went unanswered. Kanan did not know how he found his footing through the panicked blur. All he knew was that his Padawan could be locked in an Imperial detention cell, trying to break through the drug induced barrier. The rest of the crew was probably waiting in the common room to view the Intel. The flight to the mesa from their landing spot took about thirty minutes to reach, leaving him with enough time to tell Hera.

The jedi leaned against the doorway, gasping. "Hera!"

"What?" The twi'lek spun around, hand over her heart. One look at Kanan had her setting the ship to autopilot and guiding him to the co-pilot's seat. "What is it?"

He took a few calming breathes. It was hard to think when your own student suddenly stopped talking and let his emotions take over. Whatever was happening to Ezra, it couldn't be good.

"It's Ezra," he managed. "I sensed him a few minutes ago."

Hera's green eyes lit up at the news before growing sober. "What did you the Force tell you?"

"He's still alive but something was not right. Ezra sounded confused as to why we're on this planet," Kanan softly says in disbelief. "Something else was on his mind, also. I couldn't figure out what it was before he stopped answering."

Hera paled. "You mean they could have used an Force inhibitor on him?"

"Possibly," he nodded.

She did not know what to say. They always counted on Kanan when it came to the Force, but there were a few times where he ran into strong mental barriers. It had to be frustrating knowing he was unable to contact Ezra.

Hera switched off the autopilot settings and took manual control of the ship again. She looked over to see Kanan wearing the same worry on his face.

"Then we have to go over that Intel tonight," the pilot decided. "I hope he's alright."

"Me, too."

Kanan watched the landscape turned an dark reddish brown as they flew over the empty desert. The cliffs and mesas were starting to look like distant ruins instead of natural rock formations seen during the day. When they landed, both of them walked to the common room in silence. The closer they got closer to the door, he and Hera could hear Zeb and Sabine's muffled voices coming from inside.

"What do you think is going on with Kanan?" Sabine asked.

"I don't know, but you've got to admit he's been a little off since running into that kid," the lasat admitted.

Pulling out the chip out of his pocket, the jedi hit the same black wall from earlier. "Let's get this over with."

Zeb and Sabine stopped talking as they walked in. It was obvious that their crewmates were coming up with ideas as to why he would be losing his mind. Well, it didn't matter anyhow. If they were going to pull off this break in, they needed to know what they were up against.

"Done yet?" he dryly commented.

"Took you two long enough," Zeb muttered.

Sighing, Kanan messaged his temples. "Let's just go over this Intel for tomorrow. We all don't want another repeat of what happened last time."

His chest tightened as silence fell over the room. It reminded them all that what happened to him could be what Ezra is experiencing if he wasn't now.

Zeb deflated. "Alright, for the kid."

Sabine quietly inserted the chip. The holocron displayed information they were expecting to find, but the crew did not count on finding reports of two high ranking officers who were on Lothal when they smuggled Tseebo off the planet on Empire Day five years ago. The public, no doubt, must know by now.

The young woman scanned the scrolling lines. The reports included sightings of the Ghost throughout the galaxy. There was also a long list of failed and successful raids and supply runs, but they all knew the Empire would compel something like that after they escaped so their forces so many times. Caden said he and his 'partner' tricked two bounty hunters into giving them this data as payment. Their customers either free lanced or were dumb enough to fall for whatever they pulled.

"Where did this come from?" she asked, suspicious. "I don't remember seeing four high ranking officers on Empire Day!"

"Well, it is an important event to them. They could have been stationed in other areas of the city," Hera thought out loud.

"It looks like Caden went over this." Sabine determined, "The Empire usually encrypts information like this when they store this in their system, especially if its transferred across the galaxy."

Who is this guy? thought Kanan. Who exactly is his partner?

Normally, people like Caden would do anything to obtain this instead of making the effort to uncover the information. Heavily guarded targets like communication towers would be risky missions for two man crews to take on by themselves without back up.

"Why would they risk being captured in the first place?" Hera asked, confused. "If it was just him and his partner, they should have known they would get themselves killed."

"You're on to something," Kanan nodded. "It's like they knew it would become a suicide mission."

The jedi felt sick. This did not sound like the kid he got to know during his short time on the Ghost. Ezra did push boundaries sometimes but nothing this risky.

Zeb ground his teeth. Kid, what have you gotten yourself into?

Kanan crossed his arms, fisting his hands. He knew Zeb was just as frustrated about why the boy would willingly put himself in danger. As far as he was concerned, the man had everything to do with his capture. Wasn't Ezra his "business" partner?

"We'll have talk to him about that tomorrow," he said. "For now, let's focus on how to get in without being noticed."

"Well, the Imperials definitely upgraded their weapons system." Sabine pointed out, sighing, "Don't even get me started on their ground forces. They basically turned the tower into an land based Imperial carrier. How does this guy expect us to break into this place?"

No matter how she looked at it, the end results were all the same. The young woman did not need to see an projection to know it would be another suicide mission. She wondered what Kanan was thinking. The place was no different than an high security prison.

"Will you be able to create an distraction like last time?" the jedi asked.

"I can, but remember what happened the last time we broke into an communication tower?"

"We don't need you captured by those bucket heads again," the lasat told him. "It's bad enough the Kid's probably sitting in an holding cell somewhere on a carrier."

Kanan pushed that imagine out of his head. He did not want to think of what would happen if they failed Ezra this time. "That's why we need to come up with a plan."

"Well, one of us could get inside posing as one of the storm troopers." Sabine suggested, "Caden did say they were checking ID of anyone going in or out."

Hera folded her arms uneasily. She didn't want another repeat of that episode. It nearly tore the crew part knowing Kanan was being held captive by the Empire. If both of them were captured, chances were they both could be publicly executed for all the 'crimes' they committed in the past. That would not happen on her watch!

"Too bad the Phantom can't mask its own signature," the pilot sighed.

"After we're in, it shouldn't take long to download the information we need. " Kanan confidently explained, "Just remember to keep an eye on Caden. Since he's the only one who knows what were looking for, the Empire cannot get their hands on him."

"Don't you mean its because he knows too much?" Sabine said. "Besides, we don't know how large the file is."

Kanan looked at her and Chopper. "Which is why you and Chopper are going to protect him."

"And will we be doing?" Zeb asked.

"We'll act as back up," he told the lasat. "If everything goes according to plan, then finding Ezra should be easy."

Chopper disagreed with his assignment. After rejoining the crew, the droid has since developed trust issues with everyone except Hera. No one could blame him after his 'traumatizing' experience as Lando's guide.

"Come on, Chop," Sabine set an hand on his orange top. "Let's get some rest for tomorrow morning."

Watching the pair leave the room, Kanan knew he was going to pay for assigning them as Caden's body guards. They were the only present crew members who knew how to hack the Imperials' system without activating the tower's alarms.

"Good job," chuckled Zeb.

"Not helping, Zeb."

The lasat would enjoy watching those two get their revenge. "I'd watch my back if I were you, Kanan."

He watched the door close as Hera stood beside him. They both knew the crew didn't need to verbally agree to this mission, but it worried them what Caden's involvement might be. It was Hera who finally spoke up after the silence stretched out for light years.

The pilot looked up at Kanan. "So, what do you think?"

"About what?"

"Does Caden's information remind you of the Senator's?" Hera wondered.

"A little," he sighed. "But its better than following Vizago's Intel. I know what you're thinking, and it won't end like that again."

The twi'lek relaxed, but she still looked nervous. "Just be careful. None us of will be able to survive if you were also captured."

The first time Kanan seen her look this worried was after Zeb joined the crew. A 'good citizen' tipped off the authorities they were seen talking outside an cantina. The Imperials were resourceful when they wanted something, or in their case, someone bad enough. Apparently, the street rat was a miner who went undercover for the Empire in exchange for her freedom, in hopes of returning to her home world. They dropped the woman off in a town on the opposite side of the planet before leaving the system.

"No one on this crew wants to see that happen again," he reassured.

"I hope you're right."

The jedi understood her fear. There was a reason why it was forbidden for Jedi to form attachments, and part of it was the risk of someone going mad from grief. He learned that lesson after the fall of Order 66, his master and the friends he made during his time at the temple. Is this the Force's way of teaching me this all over again?

Another silence settled over the room before he spoke up again. "You should get some rest, Hera."

"Let's hope this mission goes smoothly tomorrow," the twi'lek sighed.

"It will. Am I ever wrong?"

Kanan regretted asking that question. There were too many examples of how his pride has gotten him into trouble, not counting his imprisonment. Thinking back to his time as an padawan to meeting Hera and forming the crew, his master would say he needed to spend more mediating instead of blindly rushing into things.

"With the luck we've been having, not as of late."

"Trust me," he told the pilot. "I got something planned the Imperials will not be expecting."

She shook her head as he went to bed. As much as Hera loved him, Kanan's cocky attitude sometimes put them in situations that nearly endangered the whole crew if Ezra or Zeb's antics didn't.

Whatever Kanan has planned, it better be good, the pilot thought grimly.

Well, how is the story so far? How you think this op mission will turn out? And here's another one, will I survive Kanan's brutal Jedi training?

Disclaimer: I do not own Stars Wars: Rebels.