Uuuum, I just wanted to point out that with the help from a helpful reviewer I noticed I did get my facts a little wrong. Vader wasn't put in charge of the Executor until after the Battle of Yavin, where Luke and the rest blew up the Death Star... sooooo, it appearing in both 'Abducted' and in 'Deadly Intrigue' was historically un-accurate. I'd like to thank the reviewer who pointed that out to me, 'OOMAC001,' and dish out apologies as necessary to anyone else who caught that and was offended or anything like that... hey, these days you can't be too sure.

Disclaimer: If I owned Rebels, don't you think I would have a team of editors and story-board people at my beck and call. Since I don't... yeah.

When Hera had been little and young, she had often played with toys. Models of ships that flew in space, liberating her world, fighting against those that carried only droids programmed to enslave her people. She had always flown them around, making her own sound effects, watching as the light glinted off of the silver paints. In her little toy sessions, the Republic triangular ships had always prevailed over the Separatist ovals. The good guys had always triumphed.

This time, though, the triangular Star Destroyer in front of her, the only remaining evidence of its' Republic ancestor, was not the good guy. It was not the symbol of hope against the endless droid armies of the Separatists. It was not what she looked at in admiration. This time the triangular ship was the enemy in this play-session.

And Hera would not let it win in this battle.

The Maelstrom had more Tie fighters than a normal Star Destroyer should, and the Imminent Pursuit had less than usual from its' battle with the Rebels forces. But they also had four other rebel ships on their sides, as well as their own contingent of X-wings. Number-wise, they were evenly matched. Skill-wise, she wasn't so sure.

The rebels piloting the X-wings were weaving and dodging with such speed that Hera felt a slight twinge of jealousy that she wasn't fighting with them to prove herself. The ones in the unfamiliar Tie-fighters, however, were struggling slightly. The different controls made for different handling, and it took them a little but to actually get used to the vehicle. The stromtroopers, however, had been trained in their fighters, and had proficient skill in maneuvering and operating their vehicles.

Meanwhile, the actual Star Destroyers were evenly matched. They had the same number of turrets, the same shields, the same engines, the same systems of operation. The only difference was their crew.

The Imminent Pursuit had a skeleton crew without the thousands of officers required to fully man the ship. The Maelstrom was fully manned, with every necessary officer in their place, doing whatever their commanding officers told them to do. There were no delays between orders and execution there, while with her ship, it took a second or two for a rebel to actually get to what was needed for their task. The foreign layout of the ship didn't help much either.

But in the same way, the Imminent Pursuit was being manned by men who were putting everything they had on the line, who were fighting to better the universe for their families and planets. The Maelstrom was staffed by soldiers who only did what their commanding officers told them. They also had something else that the Imperials didn't: a willingness to think outside of the box, to use every resource in ways that would best get the result they wanted, whether it was intended or not.

That was why, instead of furtively calling out orders left and right, Hera was sitting in the chair of the scanners, looking around them for anything they could use to their advantage.

The thing was, they couldn't just jump into hyperspace and run away. Kanan and Ezra were still on the Maelstrom, along with Fulcrum. If they left them now, taking the Imminent Pursuit out of the battle, the three Force-sensitives would still be left alone on the ship, with only the Phantom as a get-away vehicle. Hera might have confidence in Kanan and Ezra's Jedi abilities, but she still wasn't about to put their lives on the line like that.

But if the battle continued on as it was now, they would soon have no other choice. The Maelstrom's Tie-pilots were good at their job. Especially a few squads, who flew with such precision and skill it reminded Hera of the time the Ghost had taken on the Executor, and Vader's specially trained fighters had entered the fray...

And that was why she was at the scanners, desperately looking for anything that might give them an edge in the battle, to tip the scales in their favor before they were defeated. So far, other than the planet of Dathomir, she wasn't reading anything special that could help them.

"Come on, there's gotta be something..." an explosion rocked the ship slightly, and Hera turned her head away from the consoles to check with the other personnel on the bridge. "Shields?"

"Holding!" Came the cry from someone on that station. Hera bit her lip, looking out of the view-port at the mass of Ties and ships outside. In front of them, the Maelstrom sat, cold and intimidating as any other Star Destroyer they'd seen.

"Sabine!"

"I know, I know! We're firing everything we have!" Sabine called out from her position at the gunners station. While she wasn't actually pulling the triggers, the Mandalorian had immediately taken to controlling where the turrets were firing, controlling all of the shots the Imminent Pursuit took. Well, sort of. She had given the men in the turrets free reign, letting them shoot at whatever target they liked, but when she gave an order to fire at a specific mark, almost all of them responded to her call. She fired at the places where she knew would do the most damage, in essence becoming a targeting computer.

Zeb, meanwhile, was standing behind Hera anxiously. He was completely out of his element here, with no stormtrooper heads to bash in and nothing to shoot at. Hera had suggested that he should try and organize an infiltration party to go into the Maelstrom, but every man on board the Imminent Pursuit was needed, and the other rebel ships didn't have the speed or maneuverability to successfully make it to the enemy Star Destroyer without being blown to smithereens. So, the Lasat was stuck on the Imminent Pursuit, with no enemies to fight or ships to fly in.

"What's that?" Zeb pointed a purple finger back onto Hera's scanner screens, which were now looking so far away from the battle the Twi'lek had almost given up hope trying to find anything to change the battle's outcome. When she turned her focus back to the screen, however, there was a read-out that made her eyes widen impossibly far. "Oh my stars...!"

Hera shook her head, certain that she was seeing things wrong, but the sensor blip remained there. Is the equipment faulty? Hera's fingers flew across her data-pad, pulling up a star-chart of the region. When she found what she was looking for on there, and confirmed that the sensors were showing here were indeed correct, she sagged slightly in her seat.

Well, if they wanted something to change the outcome of the battle, that certainly could. Although it might kill everyone involved if they played their cards wrong. But if they flied skillfully, with plenty of luck on their side, this could most definitely be the end of the Maelstrom.

"What!? What is it, Hera?!" The Twi'lek looked at Zeb, a look of incredulous thought all over her face.

"It's a black hole."

Argh, the cliff-hangars return...

But I do want to say, there is actually a black-hole near Dathomir. You can look it up on a Star Wars map of the universe, the specific one I use is on , though you can find it on Google and stuff. And don't worry, both Hera and I took the crash-course on black hole physics, so we know what we're talking about... mostly. :P