I do not own Star Wars in any capacity.

So this is... basically the beginning of the last big storyline for this fic. It's going to be a wild ride, and I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

Enjoy chapter 57!

Hera stood in front of Kanan's cabin, staring at the door. This was not going to be an easy conversation.

She had just gotten off a call from Fulcrum who had tasked them with a time sensitive mission. While Hera would normally accept such a job without question, the nature of this one was… troubling. She knew she had to talk to Kanan first. So, taking a deep breath, Hera knocked on his door.

"Come in."

She opened the door to find the cabin completely dark, Kanan kneeling on the floor. "Oh, I'm sorry, love. Were you meditating?"

"I was… until I sensed you standing outside my door anxiously." He opened his eyes and looked up at her. "What's going on?"

Hera stepped inside, the door closing behind her. "May I turn on the lights?"

"Of course."

She flipped the switch, and Kanan got up to sit on his bunk. "I take it this has to do with your call with Fulcrum?"

Hera sat down next to him, placing a hand on his leg. "Yes… They need our help to track down an Imperial shipment to be destroyed."

Kanan raised an eyebrow. "Not steal it?"

"We wouldn't be able to," Hera said carefully. "There's too much cargo, but we can't let any of it stay in Imperial hands."

He shifted in his seat. His expression was neutral but edging close to frowning as he considered Hera. "And what exactly is the cargo?"

"According to Fulcrum's sources, the shipment departed from a planet called Ilum." She saw the tiny tick of Kanan's eyebrow twitching. "They're reporting that it's kyber."

Kanan's jaw dropped slightly as he sat straighter, pulling his shoulders back as he processed the information. His eyes were wide as he gazed downward. "They're… they're mining Ilum?" he said in quiet horror.

Hera frowned slightly at Kanan's reaction as she gave a nod. She knew kyber was powerful and used as the core of lightsabers, but his tone spoke of something more personal. "You know of Ilum?"

Kanan visibly swallowed. "That's… that's where I got my crystal. It's where all Jedi get their crystals. There's a Jedi temple there and…" His horror transformed into anger as he ground his teeth and clenched his fists against his thighs. "I don't know why I'm shocked," he practically spat. "They massacred us, took our Temple on Coruscant as the Emperor's personal throne… They destroyed the Great Jedi Library..."

Hera wrapped an arm around Kanan's shoulders, squeezing him tightly as she pressed her cheek to Kanan's shoulder. She thought about how the Separatists and then the Empire bastardized her home world, defiled ancient holy sites with no regard to their cultural significance to the people of Ryloth. "I'm so sorry, Kanan…"

He also wrapped his arm around Hera's waist, pulling her into a tight hug. He was trembling slightly as he squeezed her. "They're violating Ilum… And collecting the kyber." He suddenly pulled back, looking at her. "How much kyber?"

"Apparently enough to power all of Coruscant for a full cycle…" she said softly.

Kanan paled slightly at that. "What could the Empire possibly want with that much kyber?"

"We don't know," Hera said. "But that's why Fulcrum wants to destroy the cargo. There's not really much hope of salvaging any of it, and we can't risk the Empire keeping it."

Kanan was nodding as he listened to her, his eyes searching the air in front of himself as he processed what she was saying. "Okay," he finally said softly. "So where's this shipment going to be?"

"That's the problem. Fulcrum's network wasn't able to get that intel. All they know is that it's going to an unknown science station for processing. They know when it's scheduled to leave, but nothing else."

"Then how does Fulcrum expect us to carry out this mission?"

Hera bit her lip. Now they had reached the difficult part of the conversation. "That's part of the mission. It turns out…" She hesitated as she tried to find the best wording for this. "... Fulcrum's network is good, but we're the only ones in proximity to a full Imperial complex."

Kanan stiffened, his eyes widening slightly. "Fulcrum wants us to infiltrate an Imperial complex?"

"Just to get intel," Hera clarified.

"Oh, because that makes it so much easier…" Kanan replied sarcastically.

"We have three weeks," Hera said, gently pushing on. "That's enough time to carefully come up with a plan that will minimize any actual confrontations."

Kanan was grinding his teeth, his lips pulled back in a small snarl of frustration. Hera could see the conflict between his need to avoid Imperial contact and his desire to make sure the kyber didn't stay in the Empire's grasp.

"Fulcrum really has no one else that can get this intel?" Kanan asked skeptically.

"Their network isn't all knowing. And while they have operatives in the lines of the supply chain, this kyber shipment was something entirely separate. Fulcrum says we're lucky to even know about it."

Kanan gazed at Hera carefully, as if he could judge the truth of Fulcrum's word through her account. They had never really spoken in great detail about Fulcrum, and that was by design. Kanan didn't want to know, and Hera knew that the less he knew the less he could reveal to the Empire if he were captured. It was just good practice.

"The truth is, I think part of the reason we were given this mission is because of you," Hera said quietly.

He raised an eyebrow. "Because of me," he echoed.

"Because you're a Jedi," Hera said carefully. "Fulcrum didn't say this but… who else would understand the gravity of what the Empire is doing on Ilum?" Hera hadn't even known that Ilum was significant to the Jedi; Fulcrum hadn't mentioned it. But now Hera suspected that she must have known. It's why she believed that Kanan would take this mission, despite the danger it would put them in. That, and they were the most capable team to accomplish this.

That being said… "I haven't accepted the mission yet," Hera said. "I needed to pass it by you first. If you think the risk is too high for our crew… I'll tell Fulcrum to find another way."

Kanan's lips were pressed together into a thin line, his fists clenched against his legs. Then he suddenly relaxed. His fists unclenched, his shoulders fell, and his expression went neutral. "The Imperial complex is relatively light on security," he said quietly. "While getting an encryption key will be tricky… it'll be nothing like trying to get Luminara out of the Spire."

Hera smiled, something inside of her uncoiling. She had been confident he would take this mission, but it was relief nonetheless.

"I want to go about this carefully though," Kanan said. "This can't be a one night operation. Lothal is Ezra's… Lothal is our home. I don't want to have to abandon it for the sake of this mission."

Hera nodded. "I agree. Once I speak to Fulcrum again, we can bring the others back up to speed. Maybe Sabine will have some insights on how to build a plan."

Kanan sighed, pulling Hera into a tight hug. She could feel that he was still trembling slightly. She hugged him back just as tightly. This still wasn't easy for him, taking orders (optional as they might be) and surviving just at the edge of the Empire's periphery...

But they would be okay. They always were.

"So we've got a new mission."

They were all gathered in the common area. Zeb was standing next to the doorway, leaning against the wall. Hera had taken her usual seat in her chair next to the storage closet, Chopper standing between her and the bench. Ezra was sitting next to Sabine at the holo table. The Mando was leaning back casually, her arm stretched out along the top of the bench.

Kanan was standing in the middle of the room, his arms crossed as he addressed the crew. "The Empire has been mining large deposits of kyber. We know they've taken shipment of it to an unknown processing station."

"And what exactly is kyber?" Zeb asked.

"Kyber crystals!" Ezra said, eager to contribute his own knowledge. "Jedi use them to power their lightsabers. But…" He looked back over at Kanan with a frown. "Why would the Empire want so much? Are they mass producing lightsabers?"

"Kyber crystals are centers of Force-attuned energy," Kanan said. "While anyone can use a lightsaber, to wield one effectively requires Force sensitivity. If the Empire wanted to mass produce blades for their everyday troopers, it would be much cheaper and easier just to design full length vibroblades."

"But there might be other ways to use the crystal's energy…" Sabine said. "The Empire has been investing a lot of money in a wide variety of military grade projects. They could be trying to find another way to weaponize it."

Kanan nodded. "And if they do, that much kyber could potentially wipe out an entire army in moments. That's why it's important to find this shipment."

"So what exactly is our mission?" Zeb asked.

"The intel we have on the shipment is encrypted," Kanan said. "Some of the general information was easy to extract, like the amount of kyber, the kyber's origin, and the fact that it's being processed over the next three weeks. What we need to know is where it is and where it's going. In order to access the rest of the data, we need an Imperial encryption key of a Captain's rank or higher."

"Well you're not going to find that just lying around," Sabine said.

"No. But part of the reason we were given this mission is because of our proximity to the Imperial complex here on Lothal. We need to find a way in, steal an encryption key card, and get the de-encrypted data back to Fulcrum's network so they can destroy the kyber before the Empire gets away with it."

Ezra looked around the room as Kanan finished speaking. Hera and Kanan were glancing at each other. It was obvious they had talked about this mission beforehand. Zeb seemed pensive, and Sabine was biting her lip and tapping her fingers on the table.

"Well, we snuck into the Spire…" Ezra said. "Why can't we do something similar to that?"

"Getting into an Imperial prison is completely different from getting into a full on Imperial complex," Sabine said bluntly. "Prisons are designed to be hard to get out of. Complexes are designed to be hard to get in to. You can't just hack your way in. Generally there's no way into an Imperial complex without a code cylinder, and those are just about as hard to get as encryption keys."

"Have you ever been in a complex?" Zeb asked her.

Sabine leaned forward slightly, looking pensive as she leaned forward and folded her hands on the table. "A couple times as a cadet. Each time I was invited by higher ups. They like to bring the top students in to show off and motivate them to be even more ruthless in order to climb the ranks and gain more perks."

"That sounds like the Empire…" Hera said dryly.

Kanan hummed as he rubbed the hair on his chin. "Well… that could be a way in."

Sabine frowned. "What could be a way in?"

"Through the Academy," Kanan said thoughtfully. "The Empire has been ramping up their recruitment in recent months. Forging the proper paperwork would be easy, and you've already proven yourself as a top student at a much more prestigious Academy than this…"

Ezra felt a spike of revulsion emanate from Sabine, dark and sticky in Ezra's stomach. Kanan must have felt it too, because he gave a slight cringe. "Sabine…" he started apologetically.

"It wouldn't work," Sabine snapped, crossing her arms and sitting back away from the table. "At my age, I would assigned to the Imperial Service Corp, with no chance of becoming a high ranking officer. They only did those trips with the Imperial Cadet Corp. And I would have to be much younger to pull off being a fresh cadet."

"How old are new cadets?" Ezra asked.

"Like, ten or eleven. There's no way I'd be able to pull that off."

"Well… what about me?"

The room went silent as every one of them - even Chopper - turned their heads to stare at Ezra. It made his insides squirm a little, but he made a point to gaze back at them confidently. Particularly Kanan. "I-I'm the right age range, I'm even technically a Lothali native…"

Kanan suddenly blinked rapidly as he quickly shook his head. "No," he said, as if what Ezra was suggesting was unthinkable. "Absolutely not, no way…!"

"Why not? I'm small for my age, so I'd easily pass as ten or eleven years old. They're looking for new cadets, so the fact that I don't know anything about Imperial code or stuff won't matter. And I already know the basics of hand to hand and how to shoot a blaster…"

"You are not going into an Imperial Academy by yourself, and that's final!"

"And what else are we supposed to do?!" Ezra shouted. "How else are any of us going to get into the complex to get the encryption key?"

Kanan's anxiety and his abhorrence to the idea were rising up so strongly that Ezra could feel them keenly even through their mental shields. "We will figure out another way," Kanan said sternly.

"This was your idea!" Ezra protested. "You were fine with Sabine doing it! Why not me? Because you don't think I can?"

"No, it's not that! It's…!" Kanan scowled as he tried to find his words.

Ezra took advantage of his hesitation and started to list off his fingers. "I have experience going undercover. I'm the perfect age. I can shoot a blaster. I even have the Force to help me become a top student and get into the Imperial Complex…"

"NO!" Kanan shouted, snapping his hand out and cutting Ezra off. "That is exactly why you can't go on this mission!"

"Kanan…" Hera said, getting up from her chair.

"If you use the Force and the Empire finds you - !"

"They won't! We're on the edge of the Outer Rim, and I won't use the Force actively. I'll just rely on it during tests and stuff passively like you've taught me."

Before Kanan could retort, Hera grabbed his arm. "Kanan." She didn't raise her voice, but the stern word cut through the argument sharply. "Let's talk this through…"

Kanan's head snapped to her, his eyes wide as a deep sense of horror radiated from him. "You can't possibly…"

"It's an idea," Hera said calmly. "We just started working this out. Of course we need to brainstorm some more. Just keep an open mind and don't panic." She pointedly growled out the last couple words.

Ezra curled up slightly, sticking his hands in his lap petulantly. Kanan just didn't believe in him. Even after all this training, the missions he's helped out on, Kanan still wanted to treat him like a helpless kid.

"Alright…" Zeb said. "So if we're not getting into this complex through the Academy, what are our other options? Don't suppose we could storm the place through a weak point in their defenses, like the cargo bay or a back door?"

"Imperial complexes aren't designed like that," Sabine said. "Their dome structure means there is no 'back door' and they don't have a cargo bay. It's an administrative building and a center of military control for a planet. Their main points of entry are landing bays which are dozens of meters off the ground."

A tense silence fell over the common room. Ezra squirmed a little at the awkwardness, glancing up to look at Kanan, but Kanan was pointedly looking down, his brow furrowed in concentration. "Who carries code cylinders?" he asked. "Maybe not stormtroopers, but what about supply officers?"

"Only if they have a rant of at least lieutenant," Sabine said. "And even low ranking officers are rarely out somewhere we could easily knock them out and grab them."

Chopper added that the codes would be changed the moment the cylinder was reported stolen anyway.

Kanan glared at Chopper, as if it was his fault such a thing would happen. "There has to be another way…"

"Well…" Sabine said slowly, "I could go with Ezra."

Ezra perked up at the suggestion, gazing at her in slight surprise that she would be willing go to the Academy. From what little she spoke of her own experiences as a cadet, Ezra thought she would do anything in her power to avoid going back.

"You were okay with me going to begin with," she added quickly when Kanan looked as if he was about to protest. "And I wasn't lying before when I said I'm too old for that to work. But if there is active recruiting going on right now, it wouldn't be strange at all for both of us to start around the same time. I can go in first as a new eye-ess-see recruit, get the lay of the Academy before Ezra comes in as a new eye-see-see kid."

Hera and Kanan exchanged a look, doing that thing where they had an entire conversation without words. Ezra had no idea how they did it so naturally since Hera didn't have the Force. He just knew that while Kanan was still anxious at the idea of the plan, his reluctance was slowly getting worn down and turned into a dull and reluctant acceptance.

Finally, Kanan's body relaxed slightly as he closed his eyes and sighed through his nose. "Let's give it a day to talk it through and think it over."

"Well we're not going to want to wait too long," Sabine said. "It's going to take time for us to settle in and for Ezra to start his classes and training. He probably won't qualify to even compete for those trips for at least a week, and if we only have three weeks to get the encryption key…"

"Just a day," Kanan said, his voice strained. He looked a little sick.

"We can work out the details and see how viable this actually is," Hera elaborated. "Whatever we plan to do, we should be ready to get started tomorrow after a good night's sleep."

"Sounds good to me," Zeb said. "Honestly, if the two kids are going in together, I can't imagine anything going wrong. They've both more than proven themselves at this point."

Ezra's chest warmed and fluttered at the compliment, but he knew that it was all going to come down to Kanan. If he decided that Ezra just couldn't handle this… Then he knew the plan was as good as dead.

The thread was small and trembling. It was hot and burned everything that it touched. The waves of energy around it were attempting to calm it to no avail. The Force was trying to push and guide it, but it simply did not want to be soothed.

How could it? The glimmer of light was about to be pulled away, plunged into darkness where it had no hope of protecting it, of shielding it from the dangers that could befall it. And it was happening by design. The Force may exist everywhere, but it didn't. The bond connecting them was only so powerful. It couldn't protect that spark of light if it was out of reach.

It could not be cooled. It could not be calmed.

It may not have any choice but to suffer and burn alone.

With a soft sigh, Kanan dropped out of his meditative state and opened his eyes. He rubbed a couple fingers on the back of his head under his nerftail, where he felt his bond with Ezra resided. He knew the bond had no physical manifestation, but he always felt as if that was where his end of the bond connected him to his son.

But that hot thread… that was in his chest. And that was just his anxiety, which he was feeling so keenly that it seemed to echo in the Force around him. It felt as if it was burning a hole inside of him, and he knew there was nothing he could do to calm it.

They had spent hours working out this plan. The more details they worked out, the more groundwork they laid, the more viable the plan had become. Especially since no one could think of an alternative that didn't risk massive injury to the crew or failure of the mission as a whole.

Ezra had been practically thrumming with nervous excitement as it all came together. He had come up with his own alias and listened intently as Sabine talked about what it would be like once he was enrolled.

If this job had been for any other reason - food, medical supplies, ammo and weapons - Kanan would have stayed firm in his refusal to do this. But this was a giant shipment of kyber. He couldn't even imagine Empire would do if they somehow managed to harness that kind of power.

And he had to face facts. Ezra wasn't that timid helpless little boy anymore. Ezra had helped out on missions. He's proven himself under pressure. He has excelled in using a blaster and his slingshot, and his control of the Force was strong and steady. They were on the edge of Wild Space, the chances of the Inquisitor coming anywhere near here were slim to none. And it wasn't even just Sabine going in with him. They were going to paint Chopper up as an Imperial droid to monitor things as well.

Still… Kanan didn't think there was anything that could completely quell burning coal that had lodged itself in his chest. Even meditating wasn't doing much to help. In fact, it seemed to make it worse, the Force doing nothing to suggest this was a horrible-bad-unthinkable idea. If it had, Kanan would have had the perfect excuse to scrap the whole mission.

There was a knock on his door, and Kanan reached out just enough to see that it was Ezra. "Come in," he said.

The door opened and Kanan could see Ezra standing with his hands clasped behind his back. He stepped in, not bothering to turn on the lights as the door hissed closed behind him. "I… I wanted to apologize."

"For what?" Kanan asked quietly.

"I know you don't want me to do this mission. But…" He visibly swallowed. "I know I can do this. And I know we need to do this." He rocked a little from foot to foot, and Kanan could tell that Ezra was resisting the urge to fiddle. He was trying to prove a point. "It won't work with just Sabine, and there's no other way to get into the complex."

Kanan nodded slowly. "I know," he said. "And I know that you and Sabine are more than capable of seeing this plan through."

"... But you're afraid," Ezra whispered, his shoulders slowly rising defensively. "Th-That's why I wanted to apologize."

"You don't need to apologize," Kanan said. "You're right that this is the best chance we've got of getting that encryption key. It's just… You're my padawan, my son. Of course I'm going to worry, especially when you're going to be in the heart of Imperial territory."

Ezra looked down and bit his lip. "I'll be careful," he promised. "I haven't used the Force accidentally since Saleucami. I just need to do good enough on the training to get into the complex. And I won't be alone…"

"I know, I know…" Kanan said tiredly. These points had been repeated ad nauseam at this point, both by the other crew members and from inside his own mind. He stood up and walked over to Ezra, putting his hands on his shoulders. They were still stiff and hunched with tension as he looked up at Kanan. "I support you. And I support this plan. But you have to promise me something."

Ezra gave a slight nod, waiting for Kanan's request.

"If gets to be too much, if you think there's any chance you're in danger… you let Chopper know as soon as possible so we can get the three of you out of there."

Ezra gave a small huff and Kanan could feel his annoyance. It almost made Kanan smile. Ezra was confident that he could do this job without having a safety net. It was the same foolhardy confidence a younger Caleb had the first time he had entered the field of battle. The youthful arrogance so common in young teens.

But Kanan had to make sure that Ezra understood the gravity of this plan. He gave Ezra's shoulders a squeeze. "I mean it, Ezra. I won't just come blasters blazing without your say so, but you have to promise that you won't put yourself in any unnecessary risk and that you will tell Chopper if things start to go south."

His shoulders slumping slightly, Ezra nodded. "I promise," he said. "If I think anything's gone wrong… I'll tell Chopper."

Feeling his sincerity over their bond, Kanan smiled. "Good." He patted Ezra's shoulder. "That being said, let's go over your cover story again. We need to make sure it's ironclad before you get into the Academy."

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