"Hera, shouldn't we be, uh, firing back?" Ezra asks.

"Stay calm. It's all part of the plan." Hera assures him. I'm sitting beside Hera, watching her piloting skills, as is Ezra, who is sitting on behind us.

"Is getting blasted out of the sky part of the plan too? Because if it is, then the plan's going great!" Ezra bites back.

"Ezra, you should know better. There isn't a pilot in the Imperial fleet that can outrun me." Hera scolds him.

"Yeah. So, uh, how 'bout teaching me some of those high-flyin' moves?" Ezra asks.

"You? Fly my ship?" Hera imagines incredulously, and I burst into laughter. "I don't know, Ezra. You really think you're ready?" She asks, and daringly goes head on with a TIE fighter, almost playing chicken.

"Not ready. Not ready!" Ezra yells in worry and fear, causing my laughter to increase.

"Ezra, don't ever ask a skilled pilot if you can fly their ship. It ends in tears." I say in between breaths.

"Well, we've gotten ourselves into another fine mess." Kanan states over the coms.

"I admit, it's a little messier than our intel indicated." Hera admits.

"Yeah, that's been happening a lot lately." Sabine pipes in. "Where, may I ask, does this intel come from?" She asks.

"You may ask." Hera answers.

"Excuse me, sorry to interrupt, but could we maybe focus a little more on not dying?!" Ezra asks in exasperation.

"Hang on!" Hera warns, and manoeuvres us through, before destroying the hyper drive of the transport attempting to flee, causing it to explode in a green energy burst. As Hera pilots the Ghost away, Sabine follows in the Phantom, scraping the underbelly as she docks. The energy burst increases in diameter, gaining on us, but falling short as Hera jumps to lightspeed.

"It's okay. Paint might be a little scratched, but there's no real damage." Kanan assures, referring to the close call.

"Oh, there's damage. Steering's off." Hera argues.

"Not what this says." Zeb counters.

"It's what I say, and I know my ship." Hera furthers.

"Hey, I'm all for sticking it to the Empire, but what was in that convoy?" Sabine asks. "You never told us why the mission was so important."

"Because they had a massive Kyber Crystal on board." I explain to the shock of Kanan. "I've seen that kind of explosion before. Master Skywalker and Kenobi discovered a massive Kyber Crystal while investigating the death of a Jedi Master. They had to destroy it in the end, and the resulting explosion was exactly like that."

"And I've said before, I need to know more." Sabine argues, not caring about that bit of information for now.

"Forget about that for now. Everyone okay?" I ask, growing tired of Sabine's complaining.

"We're fine, but I scraped the Phantom's underbelly." Sabine says.

"You?" Hera asks in annoyance.

"It was somewhat unavoidable once your plan went south." Sabine argues.

"Oh for the love of the Father, enough. I don't want to hear you argue right now. Zeb, go run a diagnostic on the Phantom. Ezra, Chopper, you can help him out." I order.

"Have you met those two?" Zeb asks.

"You work with what you got, Zeb. Now get to it, Hera and I are going to pick up supplies from Fulcrum." I growl in frustration. Once they were out of sight, I look to Hera and sigh audibly. "The Empire is starting to increase their defences at the last minute. I had gotten Fulcrum to send a scout to watch the convoy, and it wasn't that heavily defended then."

"Yeah. It's definitely getting harder to anticipate the Empire's moves." Hera adds

"Yeah, about that, I'd like to know why we're relying on intel from this Fulcrum, whoever he is." Sabine says.

"It's Hera's job to find the missions that create problems for the Empire, and profit us. If she trusts the contact, I trust the contact. No questions asked." Kanan explains.

"At the Imperial Academy, they didn't want me to ask questions either. That didn't work for me. That's why I ended up here." Sabine says.

"And we're glad to have you." Hera assures.

"You are so frustrating." Sabine groans.

"Yeah, I've heard that before." Hera admits.

"Fine. I'm done asking questions. I'm telling you: I'm coming on your run to meet Fulcrum." Sabine states in frustration.

"Sabine, if you fuck anything up, you won't like the consequences." I warn. The plan was to actually meet Ahsoka in person, and I haven't done so in years. I do not want her screwing that up… but then again… I don't think Sabine is ready to know the truth… I might have to put my wants aside on this one.

"I'm still coming." Sabine argues.

"Fair enough. But you have been warned." I say. The three of us head to the Phantom, running into Ezra, Zeb and Chopper along the way, trying to kill each other as usual.

"I take it you've finished the repairs?" Hera asks.

"Uh, you were right. The steering needed fixing and the life support needed purging, which we've done." Ezra explains. Chopper comes up behind him and zaps him, wheeling off again in triumph. "Chopper! I'm gonna dismantle that nut bucket!" Ezra complains, running off again.

"Leave a few bolts for me!" Zeb calls out, and runs after them both.

"Typical of those three." I note. The three of us enter the Phantom, all of us squeezing into the cockpit.

"So what's the deal? Is Fulcrum just another smuggler like Vizago? Why all the secrecy?" Sabine asks.

"Oh, it's not secret we're fighting against the Empire. We need as many allies as we can get." Hera answers without actually answering.

"How do you find a way of answering questions without giving any answers?" Sabine asks in annoyance.

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Hera asks in a deadpan. The coms interrupt the two of them as we are hailed.

"Phantom, this is Fulcrum, come in." Fulcrum calls through.

"This is Spectre-2, Fulcrum." Hera replies.

"Archangel here as well." I add.

"Been a while, Archangel." Fulcrum notes.

"That it has. How is the crew of the Sacrifice?" I ask.

"Anxious for a fight, as usual. They sent a gift within the supplies. You'll know which one by the symbol marked on it." Fulcrum replies with a chuckle.

"Why don't I talk to her?" Sabine asks.

"Don't. You. Dare." I snarl quietly.

"I'm already at the rendezvous, Spectre-2, Archangel. Supplies are unloaded and ready. Should I wait?" Fulcrum asks.

"Yeah, stick around. Spectre-2, Archangel and I would love to talk to you." Sabine speaks up, earning a growl from me in response.

"Spectre-2, Archangel, who was that?" Fulcrum asks.

"Spectre-5. She is antsy about going into missions without knowing why. I guess it's up to you whether you stay now, but do know that she will be punished, because I did tell her to shut up." I answer.

"Understood. Fulcrum out." Fulcrum cuts the transmission. Hera inputs the coordinates and takes us into hyperspace, the familiar blue streaks appearing in our vision.

The console begins to beep, moments before we return to real space, the blue streaks fading to black, with the shape of an old Clone Wars base directly ahead of us. Taking the controls, Hera lands us on the old base. We depart onto the base, taking in the sight of it, abandoned and run down, but still standing.

I make my way to a lone crate, half rusted and old, which held the signature blue handprint that adorned Echo's armour, along with the stylised Rishi Eel that once adorned Fives' helmet. I open the lid, revealing the modified hard-drive and data-pad that I left on the Sacrifice, a holodisk, likely holding a message from the crew, and a few pieces of scrap metal that might hold some importance later. I collect the items and pocket what could fit in my armour. I walked over to the Phantom and placed what I couldn't pocket into the main hold.

"What is all that?" Sabine asks, coming up behind me.

"Memories… and a few odds and ends that I might find some use with." I answer. Sabine stands still for a few moments, absorbing what I said, before walking off. A few moments pass before a shouts brings me back to the moment.

"Vex! Come here!" Sabine calls. Leaving the Phantom, I walk over to Sabine and Hera, who are looking at scrape marks. "There were more crates, but someone's dragged them away." Sabine says.

"Not someone. Something." I correct, pointing towards the shadows, where multiple pairs of eyes watched us. The sun moves across the sky swiftly, casting more shadows, and the creatures moved closer, following the shadows. Electricity sparks across my fingers. "I wonder if they are immune to lightning?" I wonder aloud.

"Well, I think we can guess why this place was abandoned." Sabine says. As the creatures got closer, I unleashed a quick torrent of lightning onto them, frying the closest of them.

"Never seen Kanan do that." Hera notes.

"Because the Jedi aren't taught Force lightning. It's considered a Sith power." I explain. "In my opinion, its only evil in the wrong hands." The sun returns, pushing the shadows back. "Get to the ship. We need to leave." I order. With haste, the three of us fall back to the Phantom, Hera and Sabine moving instantly to the cockpit.

"No, no, no, no, no! We had nearly a full tank when we landed." Sabine yells. "Now we're out of fuel?" I look on the ground near the phantom, noticing a fine liquid on the ground.

"Oh, when I get back there, Chopper, Zeb and Ezra are in deep shit." I growl. Hera opens a channel to them.

"Spectre-2 to Spectre-4, come in." She calls. "Spectre-2 to Spectre-4, come in!" She repeats.

"Go ahead, Spectre-2." Zeb answers.

"You did run a full diagnostic on the Phantom, correct?" She asks.

"Of course." Zeb replies.

"Did you bother to check the fucking results?!" I yell in askance.

"Um, Spectre-2, there might be a small problem with the fuel line." Zeb says sheepishly.

"YOU THINK? WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH FUCKING CREATURES WHO THINK WE ARE AN EASY DINNER!" I yell. "KANAN! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR MY YELLING, SO GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE AND HELP US!"

"We're on our way, Ghost out." Kanan quickly cuts the link.

"Well, if he didn't completely remember me before, he will now. No one else in the entire war had my temper, or my style of language." I note with a grin.

"That's all you can think of right now?" Sabine asks.

"Hey, we have a way of fighting these things. I can electrocute them to death. The only issue, is I can't do it forever… and that asteroid isn't going to help." I explain, pointing to said asteroid, moving to block out the sun. I notice a few marked barrels in the distance, an idea coming to my mind "We could use the left over Rhydonium over there." I offer, pointing to the barrels.

"Huh, that would be helpful. Since we don't know how many of those creatures there are, we can set it up for waves." Sabine adds.

"Well, we should probably start setting it up now." I note, as the asteroid reaches the edge of the sun. Sabine , being the explosives expert, swiftly move off to set up the explosives, then retreat back to the Phantom. As the asteroid fully blocks out the sun, the entire base is casted in shadow. The creatures emerge from the old hanger; slowly advancing toward us. As the leading creatures pass by the first container of Rhydonium, Sabine shoots it, detonating the explosive, killing the nearby creatures. Those further back continue to advance, before arriving at the second container. Once more, Sabine shoots it, resulting in an explosion. This process was repeated until the fifth wave of creatures advance on us.

"What about wave 5?" I ask, a bad feeling shivers along my spine.

"We didn't prepare for a fifth wave." Sabine answers in concern.

"Feared as much. Get on to top of the Phantom. Staying inside will do us no good." I order. I un-holster one of my pistols, grasping it in my left hand as we climbed on top of the Phantom. With my right hand, I unleash a short torrent of lightning on the closest group of creatures, killing them, while Hera and Sabine open fire on the others. Before long, the creatures start to overwhelm us.

"We better move, cause we aren't gonna be able to keep pushing them back from up here." Sabine advises, only for the Ghost to arrive and blast the nearby creatures with the nose gun.

"Sabine!" Hera calls, one of the creatures getting a little too close. Sabine shoots it down, giving Hera more breathing room.

"I got your back." Sabine assures her. The ramp lowers and we jump on. One of the creatures attempt to hitch a ride, only for it to hover in the air, as I grasp it with the Force, before throwing it away like a ragdoll.

"No ticket, no ride." I say as it disappears from sight. The ramp closes and the Ghost shudders.

"Something's wrong. She's not responding." Kanan informs.

"Reroute auxiliary power to the hull." Hera orders. The result is the electrification of the Ghosts hull, frying anything touching it, or attempting to do so. After collecting the Phantom with the magnetic lock, Kanan takes us away from the old base, jumping us into hyperspace. I make my way to the cockpit, to which Kanan had vacated to see Hera, and open a connection to Fulcrum.

"Fulcrum here." She responds.

"This is Archangel. I need an update on Project Valkyrie." I say.

"Relaying communication now." She reports, as her hooded hologram fades, replaced by a man I had met only a few years after the purge.

"Blaze here." He responds in his gruff voice.

"What's the news on Project Valkyrie?" I ask.

"Should be finished within a month. The crew is antsy to test her out, so we might be out of communication for some time after its completion." Grand Admiral Blaze reports.

"I can understand that. But make sure you are ready at any stage to give us a hand. I have a feeling something bad is going to happen." I explain.

"Understood. We'll be ready." Blaze replies. I cut the connection moments before Hera enters. For now, the Titan Class Battleship would be ready to give us a hand.

A/N – Updated again. Figured Denal could wait. He doesn't really make much of an appearance in other chapters yet, so I will re add him later.