Thrain sat in his quarters, staring at the holocron sitting on his desk. Seeing it conjured out a list of memories he thought he'd never have to deal with ever again. He told himself he needed to change in order to survive and he did. Thrain became the complete opposite of everything he once was. He became so good at playing pirate that it became less of a role and more of who he really was. Now those Jedi and their companions had to drop in with this holocron of theirs to throw everything out of whack.

Thrain's mind recalled back to lessons so old they were almost forgotten. He stretched out his hand as well as his mind. It's been so long since he's tried this but he's never had a reason to do so.

"This is Master Obi-Wan Kenobi," a voice spoke.

Thrain opened his eyes to see the holocron displaying a holographic image of the famed Jedi Master.

"I regret to report both our Jedi Master and the Republic have fallen with the dark shadow of the Empire rising to take their place. This message is a warning and a reminder to any surviving Jedi. Trust in the Force. Do not return to the temple, that time has past and our future is uncertain. We will each be challenged. Our trust, our faith, our friendships, but we must perceiver and in time, a new hope will emerge. May the Force be with you," the image spoke before freezing in place.

Thrain stared directly into the hologram's eyes. He had a few words to say and since there was probably no Jedi Master left alive, this little beam of shaped light will just have to suffice.

"I remember you from a lecture during my Initiate days. I thought you were everything a Jedi could ever hope to be. Wise and humble yet powerful. I listened to you, Yoda, Windu, and all the others, hanging on their every word. But that's the thing, I didn't know any better. I grew up being told my entire life that becoming a Jedi Knight was the most important thing in my life. I never volunteered, I never consented. My parents did that for me and condemned me to a life I had no choice in. I was a slave to your dogma and your ideals. There were no physical chains but you placed plenty of mental ones on us all. Don't do this or you'll never be a Jedi. You better do this or you'll never be a Jedi. The Republic this and the Republic that. All the lectures and the scolding and for what? So I could throw my life away for your beloved Republic instead of enjoying my life and having freedom to choice whatever I want. Well the Jedi are gone and I'm still alive. It's not because of your training but because I cast it aside. I am no one's slave. Not the Empire's, not the Hutt's, and certainly not the Jedi's," he spoke.

Thrain rose to his feet. "So this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to sell those Jedi to the Empire as well as that rebel cell then I'm going to pawn this holocron off to the highest bidder and I'm not doing it just to be petty. I'm doing it so I can be rich and you, your precious order, and your precious Republic can all go to hell!" he snapped.

The holocron deactivated, as if somehow realizing he was a Jedi no more. Deep down Thrain already knew it but seeing this wretched cube brought back memories that for a moment made him think otherwise. There was no going back. The Jedi were gone as was the Republic. This galaxy wasn't worth fighting for and never had been.

Thrain activated his wrist-com. "Xar meet me at the cells. It's time our guests give us their answer," he said.


Sister tried to suppress the migraine she was developing listening to Zeb bang against the wall, hoping to weaken his restraints. The only thing he was accomplishing was getting on the former Inquisitor's nerves.

"Zeb will you give it a rest?" grunted an annoyed Ezra.

"I've already been in an Imperial cell once already, I'm not going back," hissed Zeb. He raised his fists to slam his restraints down. Kanan held on his hands and telekinetically held the Lasat's hands in the air, preventing him from moving.

"Hey!" shouted Zeb, realizing what was going on.

"Zeb those restraints are magnetically locked meaning you'll break every bone in your hands before you loosen them up. Save your strength," explained Kanan.

"Yeah use your head instead. It's not like you use that for anything useful," muttered Sister.

A klaxon heard overhead interrupted whatever retort the Lasat was about to shout. "What's going on?" asked Ezra.

"I could be wrong but I think the ship is under attack," realized Hera.

"Could it be Commander Sato and Ahsoka?" Ezra asked hopeful.

"Do you really believe we could ever be that lucky?" Sister scoffed.

"Whoever it is, now's the time get out of here. C'mon let's see if the Force works on these restraints," said Kanan.


"Kintara what's going on?" Thrain shouted into his wristcom. He had been on his way to the cells with Xar when the alarms went off. The distinct sound meant that the ship was under attack.

"Ten ships attacked us the moment we dropped out of hyperspace. They knew exactly where we'd be and are attempting to dock on our hulls," reported Kintara.

"It's Narel. He's the only nerf herder stupid enough to attack this ship. Shoot them," ordered Thrain.

"We can't. The weapons systems were undergoing a full diagnostic when the attack began," explained Kintara.

"Who authorized that?!" shouted Thrain. Whoever did this didn't inform the Captain beforehand which mean their bones would be used as toothpicks by Tiny for that.

He didn't get the answer he was expecting. A series of blaster fire and screaming could be heard through the intercom.

"Orkus what are you doing?" Kintara could be heard shouting before another blaster shot.

"Kintara report!...Report!" Thrain shouted. He got no response.

"We've been betrayed," realized Xar.

"I'm going to feed Orkus his own intestines. That kriffing schutta's in league with Narel. Get the men ready for our guests," ordered Thrain. Xar rushed off to get the crew ready for battle.

Thrain tapped his wrist com. "Jaybo I need you to lockdown the bridge controls remotely. Orkus has betrayed us and I'm not going to let that kriff turn this ship against us," he ordered.

Thrain's been betrayed plenty of times but never by someone like Orkus. The guy always seemed a little slow but smart enough to get his job done and more importantly loyal. Still the Captain was prepared for something like this. Jaybo, Xar, and Kintara were the only crew members he truly trusted so he made sure the four of them knew about his contingency plan.

"Understood. Do you want me to prepare the red carpet protocol?" Jaybo asked.

Thrain smiled, "Wait until all their ships docked with us then give them our welcome party."


Orkus clenched his side, the blaster wound to his ribs nearly bringing tears to his eyes. He just cleared the bridge of opposition but Kintara managed to fire once on him before he could take her out. Orkus was lucky she didn't get more time to line her shot or he might be dead. But the quartermaster was now dead just like the rest of the bridge crew. It was important for the room to be cleared before Narel and Grakus entered the ship. The diagnostic cycle stalled the bridge crew from attacking but wouldn't stop them for long. Now the invaders could enter the ship unopposed. So far everything was going according to plan.

He shoved Kintara's corpse off the command console and started accessing the security systems.

"Narel do you read me? I've taken control of the bridge," reported Orkus as he locked down the room's entrance.

"Shut down all security fields and blast doors. My men outnumber Thrain's so this will be quick. I've already got a team near the detention block to secure the prisoners," ordered Narel.

"I'm on it," replied Orkus.

"Orkus I know you can hear me," Thrain's voice came over the com. Orkus tried his best to ignore it. "I wanted to thank you for bringing Narel here. It'll save me the trouble of hunting him down and the rest of the traitors hiding among my crew. Just for that, you won't need to worry about Tiny but Kintara was a good friend of mine. For that, I'm going to kill you with my bare hands."

"Good luck with that," scoffed Orkus.

"Orkus!" shouted Narel from the com.

"Give me a minute, I'm almost done," sighed Orkus.

"The droids are shooting us. You said they didn't have any weapons!" screamed Narel.

Orkus gasped. The left over droids from the Clone Wars all had their weapons removed on Thrain's orders. They were only used for maintenance purposes or simply scaring intruders onboard. Did the Captain really keep them armed all these years and lied to the crew?

His terminal suddenly went red, indicating a lockdown protocol. Orkus was locked out of the controls. That kriffing son of a Hutt Thrain was prepared for something like this.

"I'm coming Orkus," Thrain's voice warned over the com.


"C'mon concentrate," snapped Zeb. Sister, Ezra, and Kanan were all focusing on the Lasat's shackles, trying to use the Force to rip them open.

"Shut it dead weight," grumbled Sister.

"Yeah Zeb. This isn't as easy as it…" Ezra agreed before he was interrupted by a scream.

"Do you hear that?" asked Hera. The others quickly moved to the door where they could hear shouting and blaster fire. There was a fight going on outside the cell.

"Is this a good thing or a bad thing?" asked Ezra.

"Depends on who's fighting out there and who's winning," remarked Sabine. The cell door opened with three humans stepping inside. They were armed with blaster rifles and ragtag armor. Definitely not members of the rebellion judging from the tattoos on their faces. Most likely a rival pirate gang. Sister's suspicions seemed confirmed as she glanced outside the cell to see at least two pirates lying on the floor dead in the detention hallway.

"You're all coming with us," said one of the goons.

The Ghost crew all looked at each other than back at the newcomers. "There's only three of you?" asked Hera.

"Excuse me?" frowned the leader.

"I was just wondering why there's no else with you. Thrain was never stupid enough to leave us with only three guards," smiled Hera.

"We don't work for Thrain. We work for…" protested the leader.

"Don't care," Sister said before she, Kanan, and Ezra all unleashed a force blast that knocked the three goons right into the wall with enough force to break bones and render them all unconscious.

Zeb quickly grabbed some fallen blasters and started shooting the restraints off everyone. The crew scrambled outside the cell and grabbed additional blasters from the corpses lying in the hallway. Looks like the rival pirates had a lot more people before they got into this room. After that, it became a slaughterhouse for both sides with all of Thrain's guards dead and only three left from the invaders.

"Okay we need to take advantage of this. We need to find Chopper and get back to the Ghost," said Hera.

"But where do we find that droid? This ship is massive," pointed out Zeb.

"This is a Providence class dreadnaught. I'm boarded more than one during the Clone Wars. They're all designed the exact same way which means you're droid is probably in the machine shop near Main Engineering," said Sister.

"Then you'll lead the way," said Hera.

"You all go on ahead. There's something I've got to do," said Kanan.

Everyone stared at him in disbelief. "You're going after the holocron aren't you?" realized Ezra.

"It's the only way to ensure that the Jedi manage to continue should anything happen to us all and Ahsoka," explained Kanan.

Sister rolled her eyes but didn't say anything.

"Kanan I realized how important it is to you but it's too risky. We've got to get off this ship as soon as possible and you don't know where Thrain could have put it," argued Hera.

"He'll probably have it in either his quarters or on him," Kanan said.

"He could bunk in any one of a hundred different rooms and that's assuming he even put it in his quarters," protested Sister.

"Then I'll find Thrain and ask him," Kanan said firmly before he took off running.

"Kanan!" Hera shouted at him but the Jedi was already gone.

"And you complain when I run off?" quipped Sister.

"I'm going to kill him. Zeb you and Ezra go after him," sighed a frustrated Hera.

"C'mon kid. We might be saving him from pirates but we won't be able to save him from Hera after all of this," Zeb said as he and Ezra broke off from the others.


Thrain burst onto the bridge like a raging Rancor. He scanned the room, ready to blast anything with his personal disrupter. He was already enraged at the betrayal of Orkus and now seeing the corpses of his crew members especially Kintara. She had originally been a member of a wealthy family that fell on hard times and had been on the run from the Hutts who decided her family's debts were her's. She picked up work when she could on different ships until joining up with Thrain and Xar who at the time had just recently took over a small band of pirates. She was with them after they found the Scimitar and managed to get it up and running. Now she was dead and her murderer was going to suffer for it.

Orkus leaped up from behind a console and opened fire. Thrain rolled out of any incoming blaster fire and with a motion of his hand, sent Orkus's blaster flying out of his grasp. The Weequay stared at his hand, stunned.

"You're…you're a…" Orkus stuttered.

"Jedi? You'll only wish I was," Thrain smiled. With a motion of his hand, Orkus found himself flying right into the captain who grabbed him by the throat. Thrain unleashed a fury of fists right into his jaw and nose. Orkus dropped the ground, spitting out blood. Thrain sat down on his chest and punched him again and again and again and again. Letting his anger take over, Thrain continued pummeling the Weequay. By the time he stopped, Thrain was covered in blood and Orkus's face was barely recognizable.

The pirate captain looked at the blood dripping down his hands and smiled. He never felt more alive.


Hera fired a blaster bolt that destroyed a ray shield generator on the ceiling. "Not going to run into one of those again," she remarked as the three were on the move.

"If another hoard of pirates was attacking the ship, how come we haven't seen any more of them?" asked Sabine.

A group of two metallic balls rolled down the hallway before unfolding themselves, revealing they were Destroyer Droids. Their shields activated and they opened fire with their blaster arms. Hera, Sabine, and Sister all quickly took cover behind wall alcoves.

"Never mind. I think I know now," said Sabine.

"I hate these droids," grumbled Sister.

"I guess Thrain was lying about these droids being unarmed," Hera commented as she returned fire. Her blaster bolts harmlessly dissipated on the droids' shields.

"Gee a pirate lied. What a shock," chuckled Sabine.

"Hera give me your blaster," ordered Sister.

"Excuse me?" frowned Hera.

"Just do it!" shouted the former Inquisitor. Hera wasn't happy about but tossed Sister her weapon.

"Draw their attention Deathwatch," ordered Sister. She then tossed both her weapon and Hera's through the air towards the Destroyer Droids.

"What are you doing?!" shouted Hera.

Sister ignored her and focused. The two blasters flew over the droids and then stopped in mid-air with the Force. Sabine fired at the droids, her shots no threat to the droids' shields but it draw their attention. They turned their blasters on her as the two floating blasters slowly descended in the air towards the Destroyers. Sister concentrated, she needed the weapons to move as slow as possible. Destroyers' energy barriers were designed to stop energy or physical matter that moved above a certain speed. Go slow enough and something can harmlessly pass through.

"Anytime now Nut Job!" Sabine yelled at the former Inquisitor.

The blasters' barrel penetrated the shields and Sister clenched both of her fists. The weapons opened fire, hitting the Destroyers in the head. The droids stumbled then collapsed to the floor, their shields vanishing as the machines short-circuited and went offline.

Sister threw a smirk at Hera and Sabine who were stunned. "Glad I didn't leave for Nar Shaddaa now?" she mocked.


Kanan didn't know where he was going but he didn't need to. After spending so many years with it, Kanan learned he could feel the small machine's location via the Force. It was why he allowed Ezra to steal it when they first met as he didn't have to worry about losing it. He would always know where it was so now all he had to do was follow his instincts and they would lead him right to the holocron. The problem was fighting all the pirates along the way. They weren't easy but they also weren't a match for a Jedi, even one who was missing his lightsaber.

He followed the Force's guidance and realized he was heading towards the bridge. Of course it just had to be on the most important room on the ship and probably the most heavily guarded. Kanan knew the basic layout of the old Separatist ship from his days in the Clone Wars but it wasn't a clear picture. He would just have to use his stolen blaster and the Force to get the Holocron and get out.

Kanan was ready for a fight so imagine his surprise when he entered the bridge and found nothing but a room filled with corpses. Most of them had been shot but one of the bodies had his head bludgeoned so badly his skull was practically a bloody stain. Did the invading pirates try to take the bridge? If so then nobody won especially the guy who lost his head.

That's when he felt something different in the Force. Pure rage was emanating from the room. Acts of violence don't cause this kind of ripple. Only someone who could use the Force could create such a powerful emotion like this. Aside from maybe Second Sister, Kanan had no idea who else could have done this but the former Inquisitor couldn't have. There's no way she could have beaten him to the bridge and also, this kind of violence wasn't her style. She could be brutal but her brutality had a sense of purpose to it. Whatever happened here was just pure rage.

Kanan sensed something else and turned too late to see someone rushing at him. It happened so fast that he didn't have a chance to react before he was tackled and slammed onto a computer console. He was finally face to face with his attacker and realized it was Thrain. Something was completely different about him. Not just the sadistic smile on his face but his eyes were yellow. They were blue last time Kanan saw him. No way, this was impossible.

"You..you're…" gasped Kanan as Thrain choked him as well as swatting the blaster out of the Jedi's hand.

"Jedi? You're the second person to say that to me today. I crushed the skull of the last person," Thrain said almost gleefully. The Dark Side could twist your mind especially to those who embrace it completely as Thrain seems to have done. Kanan thrusted his right leg up and kicked the pirate in the face. The blow loosened his grip, allowing Kanan to Force Push him away. Thrain was tossed backwards but simply rolled with it and landed on his feet.

The pirate smiled as a drop of blood dripped down his mouth. "And here I thought you survived Order 66 because you got lucky. Turns out you do have a spine," he mocked.

"You can't be a Jedi," protested Kanan.

"The Trial of Skill, The Trial of Courage, The Trial of the Flesh, The Trial of the Spirit, and The Trial of Insight. Any of those sound familiar? I passed them all," mocked Thrain. Those were the names of the trials Jedi Padawans had to pass in order to become Jedi Knights. Kanan wouldn't have believed such a claim by the pirate except for the fact was that those trials were kept secret by the Jedi. Only members of the Order knew about them and swore never to tell.

"I was the good little soldier fighting for the Republic then one day, the Council chose me for a dangerous assignment. They wanted me to infiltrate a gang of pirates and use them to find another band that was raiding Republic supply convoys in the Outer Rim. It was supposed to be a simple few weeks undercover but it turned into a permanent assignment when the Jedi suffered the most epic fail in recorded history with Order 66. Nearly ten thousand wiped out in a single day. Now that is pathetic," laughed Thrain.

"I, on the other hand, had been safely deleted from the Jedi archives with only the Jedi Council knowing about my real identity. With all of them gone, it was the perfect time for a fresh start," continued Thrain. Kanan sensed something and turned to see one of the corpses flying at him. Thrain distracted him and used the Force to throw one of his own crewmember's bodies at the Jedi. Kanan jumped out of the way only to get tackled to the ground by Thrain. The pirate mounted on top of him and rained blows down on Kanan's face. The Jedi cover his head with his arms, trying to block the onslaught.

Kanan caught Thrain's left fist and pulled the pirate closer to the ground, allowing the Jedi to hit Thrain in the face with a forearm shot. Thrain just seemed smile from the blow but was distracted long enough for Kanan to summon his fallen blaster to his hand. Thrain blocked Kanan from firing a kill shot as a blaster bolt harmlessly passed his head and hit the ceiling. Thrain slammed Kanan's gun hand over and over again until the Jedi's weapon went flying out of his hand. Kanan then used the Force on a datapad his noticed sitting on a nearby console and sent it flying right into Thrain's head. The impact knocked the pirate senseless and allowed Kanan to shove him off.

The Jedi quickly got to his feet to see Thrain back on his as well. The pirate was incredibly resilient which might explain why he was the captain of such a large ship. The fact that he used to be a Jedi only made it worse. Thrain was trained to fight like a Jedi which meant he knew exactly how to fight one. Gone was the martial arts approached that he was probably trained with in the Temple and was replaced by a brawling style he probably picked up during his days as a pirate.

Kanan blocked a left hook and countered with a quick jab. Thrain retaliated by suddenly rushing forward and wrapping his hands around Kanan's head, putting him in a clinch. Kanan suddenly found himself trying to protect his face more than fighting back as Thrain shoved his head closer to the ground so he could hit the Jedi in the face with a series of knees. Kanan caught his opponent off guard by suddenly dropping to the floor and tripping Thrain by knocking his legs out from under him. The pirate kicked Kanan away before he could capitalize and the two quickly got to their feet.

"Glad to see you're ignored most of those hand to hand combat lessons the old Temple masters gave. They may look pretty on a training floor but not so much in the real world," chuckled Thrain.

"What happened to you?" demanded Kanan.

"I don't need to tell you because you already know. You've already experienced it," chuckled Thrain. "The betrayal, the running for your life, hiding what you really were, being hunted down for simply existing. I went through all of that but I got stronger from it. It's why I run this ship and its crew. It's why the name Arden Thrain is the most feared pirate in the entire Outer Rim."

"And what about the vows you took becoming a Knight? What about the Masters who raised you and trained you?!" shouted Kanan.

"Why are we talking so much? This is a fight," shrugged Thrain. With a downward motion of the pirate's hands, several ceiling tiles came crashing on top of the Jedi.


"C'mon kid. Can you sense where Kanan is or not?" grumbled Zeb.

"The Force isn't a compass Zeb," snapped Ezra. "I think we're closer but I can't give you an exact location."

"I'm starting to think this whole Force thing is vastly overrated," muttered Zeb.

"Oh can it Dead Weight. Kanan's around here somewhere," retorted Ezra.

"You did not just call me that!" snapped Zeb.

"They went this way!" a voice shouted behind them. Zeb and Ezra turned around to see a band of pirates rushing down the corridor after them.

"Run!" shouted Zeb. He fired a few shots at the pirates before he and the kid took off running, ducking from the various blaster bolts that were fired back at them.


The three female members of the Ghost crew stormed into the droid maintenance shop. It was massive with dozens of various battle droids and maintenance droids all lined up waiting to be serviced. Considering how big this ship was, Sister was surprised there weren't more droids here.

Hera motioned for everyone to take cover upon hearing a voice. Everyone quickly hide behind droid stacks. Sister glanced out from cover to see a single individual at a work station. She recognized him as Jaybo, the pirate who found Kanan's holocron. Chopper was on an examination table nearby, strapped down with metallic restraints.

"Most of the invaders have been neutralized and our fighters have destroyed the last of their boarding crafts. The survivors are falling back to the main hangar bay," Jaybo spoke to someone on the com.

"Make sure your droids take Grakus and Narel alive as well as those rebels. They've escaped again and the captain wants them alive," Xar's voice ordered.

"Don't worry. They won't stay hidden for long," Jaybo replied before cutting the transmission.

"You're right about that," called out Sister. She stood up and thrusted her hands out, using the Force to fling Jaybo over his work console and into a droid rack. The column of droids keeled over, burying Jaybo amongst deactivated machines. Sister wasn't sure if he was alive or dead and quite frankly didn't care.

"You're in a bad mood today," remarked Sabine.

"I don't like jail cells," grumbled Sister.

"You don't like a lot of things," quipped Sabine.

Hera quickly undid Chopper's restraints and reactivated the droid. "Chopper are you alright?" she asked.

Chopper muttered something about wanting to kill some meatbags. What was that supposed to mean?

"We don't have time for that Chopper. We need to get to the Ghost and get out of here," said Hera.

"I'll check the computer. Make sure any information they got from Chopper is scrubbed," said Sabine. She started working away at Jaybo's work console.

"What about the ship's tractor beam? There's no point in escaping while it's active," Sister pointed out.

"We don't need to. There's an old trick to avoiding tractor beams though it's not used very often. We keep the Ghost close to this ship's outer hull. Too close for them to get a lock on us. We just stay there long enough to plot a hyperspace jump and escape," explained Hera.

"And what's to stop them from shooting us with their turbolasers or sending fighters after us?" pointed out Sister.

"Like I said, it's not used very often," shrugged Hera.

Sabine spoke up, "Hey this is the droid control console."

"Can you turn the pirate's droids against them or at least shut them down?" asked Hera.

Sabine shook her head. "Already tried. The computer requires a security code to access commands like that and we don't have the time for me to slice it," she answered.

"Figures," grumbled Sister.

"Okay all of the info they downloaded from Chopper's been deleted," said Sabine.

"Then let's find the others. We'll sabotage the hangar bay guns and get off this ship," stated Hera.


"Think they're gone?" whispered Zeb. Ezra wasn't sure but he couldn't hear their pursuers anymore. They ducked inside of a storage room to hide and they haven't heard anything for the past several minutes.

"Zeb I've been thinking. Since no one else clearly doesn't want Sister as a roommate, maybe we should change it up. How about she bunks with me and you bunk with Kanan," suggested Ezra.

"Should we really be having this conversation now kid?" muttered Zeb.

"Well I like to be optimistic and plan for what we're going to do after we get outta here," chuckled Ezra.

Zeb laughed. "You really don't want her to leave do you?"

"She saved our lives Zeb. More than once and we've done the same for her. We're stronger with her then without her," stated Ezra.

The Lasat didn't give him an answer. He just opened the door to the hallway and glanced out. "The coast is clear. Let's move," Zeb said.

The two headed outside and were back on track on finding Kanan. Or rather as best as they could with Ezra trying to sense his Master's presence.

"You're a lousy compass," grumbled Zeb after he was certain they'd walked in circles.

"Hey I'm just following the Force," protested Ezra.

"Well then that is a terrible compass," replied Zeb.

The two of them nearly leaped out of their skins as two figures came crashing into the hall. Kanan had Thrain in a choke hold but didn't have it locked in, allowing the pirate to carry Kanan on his back and slam the Jedi into a wall. Thrain forced Kanan's arm off his neck and landed an elbow into Kanan's chin.

Ezra pulled out his blaster to try and shoot the pirate.

"Kid!" Zeb yelled. Ezra turned to see what he was talking about only to see the butt of a massive rifle coming right at him.


"Kid!" Zeb yelled but the youngest member of the Ghost didn't have time to react before Xar Zorem knocked him out with the butt of his heavy repeating blaster. The Fallen XO turned his weapon on Zeb but the Lasat managed to tackle the brute and slam him into a wall. The two struggled before control of the pirate's large weapon. Zeb would easily overpower a normal sized Fallen but this guy was massive for his species and incredibly strong. The Lasat released his grip on the weapon and pulled out his stolen blaster.

Having only to struggle with one of the rebel's hands, Xar wretched his weapon free and used it to knock the blaster from Zeb's hand. The Lasat decided to throw caution to the wind and grabbed the pirate's weapon again only this time he head-butted the large brute. Xar staggered but held on tight to his weapon. Zeb then fell backwards, holding onto Xar then pushing up with his legs once Zeb's back his the floor. Xar was monkey-flipped over Zeb and landed painfully on his back, finally releasing his hold on his blaster.

The Lasat got back to his feet and went for Xar's blaster. But the large weapon suddenly flew through the air away from his grasp. Zeb had been around enough Kanan and Ezra enough to know when someone was using the Force except why in the galaxy would those two try and stop him from grabbing a weapon? He glanced up to see the heavy blaster now in the hands of Arden Thrain. What in the universe was happening?

Before Thrain had a chance to shoot Zeb, Kanan came flying at him with a kick to the pirate's chest. Thrain was knocked off his feet and the weapon fell from his hands. Kanan didn't have time to capitalize before getting grabbed from behind by Xar who lifted the Jedi into the air and hurled him face first into a wall.

Zeb quickly rushed over to grab his fallen blaster but that oversized Fallen came charging at him. Xar kicked the blaster away before Zeb could grab it and now the two brutes found themselves fighting hand to hand. Zeb might have been trained in the Lasan Honor Guard but it was clear after blocking a few punches of the Fallen's punches that Xar wasn't your typical opponent. He wouldn't be surprised if the Fallen is a pit fighter in his spare time because he punched like a Wookie.

Zeb blocked a punched and countered with an uppercut. Xar took the blow and retaliated with a series of chest punches. Zeb tried to kick the pirate away in the chest but Xar once again just took the blow and kept on fighting like nothing happened. Zeb blocked a roundhouse punch with his forearm but Karabas it hurt. Xar then punched Zeb's ribs then sternum followed by a quick jab to the face. Fighting hand to hand with this guy was going to get the Lasat killed so he decided to use more than just his hands.

The moment Xar tried another roundhouse, Zeb grabbed the Fallen not with his hands but with one of his dexterous feet. The brute wasn't expecting such an attack and was caught off guard when he was suddenly yanked off his feet by the Lasat's feet. Zeb landed on top of him and started punching the Fallen, desperate to end this all before more pirates show up. Problem was the big brute didn't seem ready to let up. He blocked all of Zeb's blows and suddenly grabbed the Lasat by the wrists and spun, causing Zeb to topple over and now it was Xar on top of him.

Zeb received one blow after another, his vision getting blurry and his mind dizzy which meant he probably got a concussion. A headache would be the least of the Lasat's problem if he couldn't get out of this. But the brute was just too strong and his attacks too vicious. Xar then grabbed Zeb's neck and started squeezing, choking the life out of him.

"I'll settle with just collecting the bounty on your corpse," smiled Xar. Zeb gasped for air, his vision starting to go dark.

A sudden noise echoed in the room followed by a gasp from Xar. The horrified Fallen glanced down at his chest which Zeb realized had a burn mark on it. Someone just shot him. Xar's expelled one breathe and fell to the side, toppling over Zeb and releasing his grip. Zeb kicked the pirate away and turned to see Kanan standing with a blaster in hand, it's barrel smoking.

"You sure took your time," grumbled Zeb. Kanan gave him a smirk in response.

"XAR! NO!" Thrain yelled. Zeb turned to see the pirate captain who was on his feet and he was furious. Thrain thrusted out his hands and, to Zeb's surprise, suddenly found himself, Kanan, and an unconscious Ezra flying across the hallway.

Zeb came crashing down on the metallic floor, knocking the wind out of him. It took a moment to recover himself and sit up. Down the hallway, Thrain was dragging Xar's body to the safety of a nearby room. As soon as the captain got his XO inside, he slammed the door shut. There was no point in going after him.

"Wait a second. Did he just do the whole Force thing?" Zeb asked as he picked up the unconscious Ezra.

"Yeah. Long story," explained Kanan.

"Well tell it to me another time. We need to leave," Zeb said.

"I'm not leaving the holocron," protested Kanan.

"Kanan we barely survived that fight and that was just two pirates. Thrain's probably calling reinforcements. If we stay here, we're going to die! Hera will die! Sabine will die! Ezra will die!" snapped Zeb.

Kanan was clearly conflicted. Zeb knew how important the holocron was to him but was it worth all their lives?

"Alright fine let's go," Kanan sighed.


"You're going to be okay buddy," Thrain tried to assure his XO and tapped his com unit. "I NEED A MEDICAL DROID ON LEVEL 1, ROOM A-23!"

"You used that trick you used to do boss. You haven't done that since we first met back on that Zygerrian slave ship," Xar chuckled before coughing up blood. He was referring to seeing Thrain use the Force.

"Yeah I'll use it to yo yo Narel above Tiny once this is all over. I'm sure you'll get a kick out of that now you hold on," Thrain told him before tapping his com unit again. "WHERE'S THAT MEDICAL DROID?"

"You broke us out of our cells then we broke out the rest of the prisoners. We took over the ship then we whipped those Zygerrians with their own energy whips until their corpses were burnt crisp. I told myself I'd follow you into the mouth of a black hole after that," Xar smiled.

"Captain we haven't been able to contact Jaybo. We've got a few prisoners including Narel and Grakus but the Jedi and other rebels are missing," reported Phaedon, one of the Scimitar's flight crew.

Thrain was about to shout that he knew all about the missing prisoners when he noticed Xar wasn't breathing. He checked the Fallen's pulse but there was nothing. Xar Zorem was dead.


Kanan blasted another pirate as he rushed down the corridor with Zeb right behind him carrying an unconscious Ezra. The kid took a nasty blow from the pirate XO and Zeb was busy carrying him not to be completely effective with his single blaster. That left Kanan to be the one to provide him cover and deal with any pirates they ran into. Another problem was they were seeing less pirates and more battle droids. They were old models used by the Separatists during the Clone Wars but still dangerous. So far they hadn't run into any Destroyers yet but Kanan expected their luck could run out at any moment.

"Ezra's starting to feel a little heavy. I think the kid's been eating too many jogan fruit," grumbled Zeb.

Kanan didn't say anything to the Lasat's jests. He was still too furious at letting the holocron slip through his fingers. Its presence still echoed in the Force and he could easily track it back to its location. The problem was there was no telling how many pirates and battle droids were in between the holocron and Kanan. The pirates attacking the ship were probably judging from the lack of any pirates with tattooed faces Kanan has seen since escaping the detention block. That meant Thrain would concentrate his troops on finding the Ghost crew and taking on an entire ship filled with pirates and droids would be suicide. They needed to get out of here.

Kanan and Zeb blasted two battle droids coming down the corridor. "You know I can't believe Jedi actually had problems with a bunch of droids," scoffed the Lasat.

Almost on cue, they rounded a corner and came face to face with a Destroyer Droid. Kanan remembered them back during the Clone Wars and that they were one of the most dangerous droid in the Separatist Army with their heavy blasters and shield generator. It opened fire, forcing Kanan and Zeb to take cover in a doorway. Kanan opened the door and the two ducked inside. He closed the shut door behind them but knew that wouldn't keep the Destroyer out forever. It might even be contacting reinforcements which meant they were in deep trouble.

Kanan glanced around, realizing they were inside some kind of equipment storage room with rows of spare parts hanging on racks.

"Me and my big mouth," grumbled Zeb as he set Ezra down.

"I don't think we'll be going back the way we came," Kanan said. "See if you can wake Ezra up, I'll try and find another way out of here."

"C'mon kid. Enough sleeping on the job," Zeb said, shaking Ezra and lightly slapping him on the face.

Kanan searched around for another door but the one they came in was the only one. Next he scanned the ceiling for any air vents. There was an opening but it was too small for them to squeeze through.

"I take it back. That door we came through is the only way out," Kanan said. The door started shaking as well as spewing smoke, indicating something was shooting from the other side. The Destroyer was trying to get inside.

"Will you stop hitting me?" grumbled Ezra who had regained conscious and shoved Zeb's hand away from his face. "Where are we?"

"In trouble. There's a nasty droid on the other side of that door and he's got an energy shield which makes our blasters useless so we're going to have to improvise. Can give you me a hand?" asked Kanan.

Ezra groaned as he held the back of his head. "Do I have a choice?" he asked. "Oh who am I kidding? Of course not."

"Zeb move that tool rack near the door," Kanan ordered. The Lasat did as he was told while the two Jedi get into position.

"The moment that door opens, you and me send that rack flying out the door. Got it?" asked Kanan. Ezra nodded in response.

"Zeb stand back," ordered Kanan. The Lasat nodded and moved back. The door started to melt from the constant barrage of firepower, specifically in the upper portion. The droid must be trying to cut the door open and wasn't going to take him much longer.

"Get ready," Kanan warned. Suddenly the shooting stopped and the door began to cool. Kanan thought maybe the droid was waiting for reinforcements until he heard a knock on the door.

"You boys going to stay in their all day?" a familiar voice asked.

Ezra's face was beaming with relief as he quickly rushed towards the door and opened it to reveal Hera, Sabine, Sister, and Chopper waiting outside. The remains of the Destroyer lay at their feet. They must have snuck up on it while the droid was preoccupied with the door.

"Nice timing," Ezra said.

Hera stormed over to Kanan and slugged him in the chest, nearly knocking the wind out of his chest.

"Ah! What was that for?!" Kanan shouted.

"For running off like that! Now you listen to me Kanan Jarrus. You will never do something that stupid again!" snapped Hera.

"She was very worried about you," quipped Sabine. Kanan was annoyed by his crewmates enjoying the argument as if it were entertainment.

"Enough with the soap opera. I've had my fill of pirates for one life," Sister grumbled.


Getting back to the hangar bay was nearly uneventful compared to what they'd experienced earlier. Thrain's pirates and droids were still taking care of the invading pirates which allowed the Ghost crew to get the hangar bay unscathed. Sabotaging the hangar guns wasn't that hard. All Sabine had to do was shoot out a couple of power relay stations and the hangar bay was switched to emergency power. That meant the environmental shield keeping the atmosphere inside was still up but none of the guns.

The hangar bay was a warzone with wreckage from various different fighters littering the massive room. Looks like the invaders landed in the bay with a large invasion force, engaging Thrain's own fighter ships in the process. There had been heavy casualties on both sides judging from the wreckage but strangely enough no sign of any survivors. Either the fighting moved into the other decks or everyone here just died. Sister was many things but she was not an optimist. Nothing was ever this easy.

"Please tell me the Ghost wasn't in the middle of this," sighed Zeb as the crew rushed down a catwalk above the room.

"I don't see it. They must have stored it on the cargo bay one level down," commented Sister.

The rebels climbed down a latter to a maintenance terminal. Sabine quickly skimmed through it and typed away.

"Okay good news. The Ghost is fine. Just give me a minute and I'll bring the crane controls to move the ship onto on the cargo elevator and bring it up here," the Mandalorian said.

"It's about time something good happened for us," remarked Ezra.

"Don't jinx it kid," grumbled Zeb.

Sabine typed a few more buttons and the cargo elevator nearby lowered itself, disappearing below.

"Why aren't there any guards? This is the first place Thrain and his men should be looking for us," grumbled a nervous Kanan.

"Maybe they have their hands full," suggested Hera.

Sabine frowned and Sister noticed her watching a yellow flashing light on the console. "That's strange. The weight limit warning on the elevator's gone off but the Ghost shouldn't be that heavy," she said.

Sister then saw the blood drain from Ezra's face. "Uhh…which level was the Ghost on?" he asked.

"The one below us. Why?" asked Sabine. She got her answer from a monstrous roar. A large clawed hand reached up out of the cargo tunnel followed by another. To everyone's horror, a massive Krayt Dragon pulled itself up into the cargo bay. Tiny certainly wasn't living up to his namesake. He was probably the biggest monster Sister had ever seen in her life.

"Uh…I think I know why Thrain didn't leave any guards with the Ghost," gulped Hera.

(I was hoping to conclude the arc with this chapter but it was just too much for it all to fit in and I figured you folks would want something rather than waiting some more.)