The reflection in the mirror was her but also not. Her personality went through a big change recently yes, but she wasn't sure if she was the same person anymore at all.
As long as she could remember, she was wearing the tight fitting, dark grey Imperial Inquisitor outfit, with the Imperial insignia on its shoulders and the black breast plate over it and the pointy helmet on her head with the shield that hid her face so often. Her hair barely saw the light.
Now that Inquisitor outfit was gone, probably in the trash or maybe on the bottom of a box, in a forgotten corner of a storage room, if anyone bothered to stow it somewhere. Instead of that she was wearing clothes she recovered from a rebel warehouse and her black hair was falling down freely on her shoulders, free for Bridger to stroke it.
Her face. It was still the same, yellow skinned, red tattooed face that Bridger called attractive while they were speeding through hyperspace with a stolen Imperial shuttle. And yet it somehow looked different than it was before she switched teams.
And her eyes. She knew exactly that normally they shouldn't look like this. There was a time when her white eyeballs were ruled by big, sparkling, blue irises. Now pitch-black eyes and eerie, golden irises framed by red were looking back at her. Menacing Sith eyes that were capable of striking fear into almost everyone with a single look. But Bridger most certainly wasn't among those who were terrified of her look. Every time they were facing each other he didn't show any sign of trying to avoid her gaze, he always kept looking right into her flaming Sith eyes.
Oh Force, his eyes….. Honest, manly and almost too blue eyes, they weren't ominous like hers. No, they were warm and calming and somehow always gave her the feeling of safety, that someone cares about her.
And why is that so important to her? She was the Seventh Sister, a former Inquisitor of the Empire who still possessed her abilities and strength. She still wielded her red lightsaber with the same precision and lethality as before. She still fought with the same determination and Mirialan grace and flexibility as before.
With her Mirialan grace that looks like charmed a certain young Jedi.
On top of everything, there was the main question above all: who was she? Where did she come from? Who was she and what was she like before the Jedi, before the Clone Wars, before the Empire, before the Inquisitorius, before the Rebellion?
These thought were occupying the mind of the Seventh as she was sitting on a chair in her room before the mirror on the wall, with her arms crossed.
But for now she had to cease thinking about these things, Syndulla ordered her and the rest of the crew to join her at the Ghost.
Honestly, she didn't mind. As for her time with the Spectres, she could say that she was having fun after all. Though a few more days without any excitements would have been nice.
Moreover as she heard, she and the crew will be assigned for "special actions" as last time. Again, the Seventh didn't mind, she was still not afraid of death. However there was now a chance that she might survive this whole nightmare and live a new, peaceful life. This was conditional on the victory of the Rebel Alliance, and therefore she'll do everything she can for this rebel victory, even risking her life. If she can't outlive the Empire… she'll get really, really angry. If she falls, she'll haunt that stormtrooper who was skillful – and foolish – enough to kill her until his last day.
With this she stood up, placed her lightsaber on her belt and headed for the Ghost.
"Well children, we're visiting Horuz this time." said Hera once they were all there. "But this time we will join the main fleet and not play the role of vanguard."
"What is our objective?" asked Sabine.
"To put an end to the presence of the Imperial Fleet in that area. However we will do something else."
"Why am I not surprised." thought the Seventh, sighing mentally.
"The High Command wants us to capture at least one Star Destroyer."
"Now that's something we're not used to do." frowned Zeb. "What do they want with one of those bloody, ugly arrowheads?"
"Mainly because what we may find in the computers onboard. Codes, data, informations, etc. Plus, we need raw materials for a secret project, and Star Destroyers can give us plenty." explained Hera. "We are particularly curious about what we can find in their computers, because perhaps we can learn something about what the Empire is up to near Endor."
"This might be an embarrassing question, but where is Endor?" asked Ezra.
"It's a small, forested moon in the Outer Rim, in Moddell Sector. It's located in grid H-16, not far from the Unknown Regions. " answered Hera.
"Then whatever they're doing there is something they really want to hide from unwanted eyes." stated the Padawan.
"I've heard a few words about it back then." said the Seventh.
"Really?" crossed Hera her arms in interest. "What have you been told?"
"I've been told nothing; I only heard rumors and fragments of officials talking. But as far as I know, they're building some new weapon system." said the Mirialan.
"Gods, you could tell this sooner."
"I wasn't asked." shrugged the Seventh with a cocky smile. "Even by the interrogators."
"Whatever." shook Hera her head. "Tell them about it when we come back."
"If we come back."
"Don't be a waybird." said Kanan.
"Does it bring bad luck Master Jedi?"
"No, but it doesn't help on the moral."
"Before we start another useless debate about how we see the world, let's get on board and prepare ourselves for the upcoming mission." suggested Hera, cutting the conversation.
Not long after this the Rebel fleet got permission to take off and start the operation.
Thanks to the scouts they had quite reliable informations about the positions of the Imperial Fleet at Horuz, their formations and locations of their warships. The Ghost Crew and the other assault squad were meant to target Star Destroyers in the outer parts of the enemy fleet, that were not as much defended as the ones in the inside of the armada.
Once again, the Seventh couldn't help but think about how odd this was. About six years earlier she was standing on the bridge of an Imperial Star Destroyer, together with the Fifth Brother, Admiral Konstantine and Kallus as they were preparing to assault the Rebel Fleet at Garel. Now the Fifth and Konstantine were dead and Kallus became a rebel. So did she and right now she was about to attack a fleet of Star Destroyers together with the Rebel Fleet.
In that moment if someone told her that years later the very Empire she served and the Sith that freed her from the chains of the Light will betray her and want her death, she would have just laughed at him with that menacing, evil laugh of hers, or perhaps cut him down with her lightsaber for annoying her with such nonsense.
But the nonsense became reality.
And she still couldn't solve the identity crisis she was dealing with for a long time by now. She was still nameless, a stigmatized ex-Inquisitor, hated by countless beings in the galaxy.
She should have been grateful to Mothma and the other Rebel leaders who gave her a chance that she didn't deserve. And she was grateful indeed. But in mean time she couldn't put aside how much revulsion they had against her. Once this is over and if she'll be still alive, she wouldn't mind staying away from them for the rest of her life.
"Jarrus."
"What is it Spectre Seven?"
"What are we going to do exactly?"
"When we find a lonelier Star Destroyer, the fleet will help by separating it from the others. After that we'll board the Destroyer through one of its airlocks and capture it. Roughly that's what we're going to do." replied Kanan.
"I don't want to be a "waybird" again, but aren't we too few to occupy an Imperial Star Destroyer?" asked the Seventh doubtfully.
"Once we neutralized the ship's defenses and secured its bridge we'll get reinforcement. It's the same with the other team, the Shadow Crew."
"You sure like to be risky, don't you?" asked the Mirialan. "It's far not guaranteed that we'll succeed."
"I could list many things that are not guaranteed in the world. That's why we need to believe in ourselves and our success."
"Still. Aren't there too many "ifs" and "what ifs"?"
"You've asked yourself a lot of "what if" questions in the past months too, haven't you?" asked back Kanan. "Maybe you're still asking those questions."
This question hit the Seventh unprepared. She just grimaced and turned her head away. No, she'll not discuss about her transformation with him or any other member of the crew again, at least not now, she was not in the mood for it.
"You know." said Sabine. "We still don't know how to call you. Spectre Seven is just… too rigid."
"Why a rigid name doesn't suit me?"
"Still, it would be nice if you could find an ordinary one." said the Mandalorian while checking her pistols.
"Like I said before. At first I'd need to know some Mirialan names outside of Luminara because I have still no intention to choose that."
"We'll help on that. We can search in the database or ask other Mirialans in the Alliance."
"I highly doubt that they're willing to talk to me." noted the Seventh. "I don't know too much about the traditions of my people but I do know that individuals like me are disgraces to them. Mirialans believe that the actions of one of them affect the fate of all of them. I'd prefer not to imagine what they could think of me."
"We know that you changed and that's what matters." stated Ezra.
The Seventh looked at him and once again she met those eyes. Kriff, why do they have to look this honest and caring? For the Seventh it felt as if their gaze was burning through her skin.
Whenever Bridger switched to this emotionally supporting mode she always felt strange. It felt good indeed, but strange. She felt as if her deepest insides were wavering. Was she unfamiliar with feeling good and protected in general? Perhaps. Or almost certain. But his look… It was something different. It was warm and calming. Maybe even cute…
"I changed? Are you sure about that?" asked the former Inquisitor.
"Pretty sure." nodded Ezra.
"And what makes you think that I'm not just pretending? That I'm not just abusing your trust and waiting for the right moment to turn my back on you and leave you in trouble so I can get away? That I'll not go where the tide flows?"
"I feel that you'll not."
"I see, you feel it." said the Seventh pretending to be surprised. "That's all?"
"Yes, that's all."
"And do you trust your instincts?"
"He taught me to trust them." said Ezra, gesturing with his head at Kanan. "So that's what I do."
"Did he also teach you that they can fool you?" asked the Seventh, looking at the older Jedi.
"He did." replied Ezra. "That's why I question them when I feel it's necessary. In this case however I don't feel it's necessary."
"As you wish Padawan." Again, the Mirialan had to face confusion. Can he really read her this well? If so, when did she become like an open book? But whether he was reading her mind or not, he was right. She was not planning to suddenly turn against him or any of them. But even if it was true there was one thing she couldn't ignore: he trusted her.
Who was the last person who trusted her? Whoever it was she didn't remember him/her, like so many things from her life before the Inquisitorius.
And now here was this young Jedi Padawan she battled countless times, and he trusted in her. And this gesture of trust – though she was absolutely not used to it – was enough to cause further cracks on the thick ice covering her heart. Even though that ice was one of the things she refused to let go easily, she viewed it as a part of herself.
A slight vibration was felt as the Ghost exited hyperspace and the rest of the crew joined Hera in the cockpit.
"Welcome to Horuz children." announced the twi'lek commander.
Before them there was the Imperial planet. And at the altitude of its equator there was something that looked like a gigantic swarm of wasps. But these wasps were made of steel and the swarm consisted of two dozen Imperial Star Destroyers, frigates, light cruisers and TIE Fighters. There was no doubt, that they were unquestionably a dreadful strike force indeed that could cause unimaginably big damage to the Rebellion in the nearby sectors.
And the Rebel Navy came here to prevent that.
On the bridge of the Star Destroyer Revenger
"General quarters, general quarters, all hands man your battle stations!" sounded from the loudspeakers
Captain Vryte watched through the window as Rebel warships emerged from hyperspace one after another. Mon Calamari Cruisers, corvettes, X-Wings, Y-wings…
What is happening here? Who could the Intelligence fail to learn about such a large scale attack?
"Sir! The Admiral gave fire order!" reported the first officer.
"What are you waiting for then? Open fire!"
The gun turrets on the Imperial warships began rotating and soon hundreds of powerful green laser beams were speeding toward the Rebel cruisers and corvettes.
X
As the Imperial counter-attack began Admiral Ackbar got the reports from the squadron leaders and other officers that they are ready.
"Ghost Crew and Shadow Crew! You may join in too." said the mon cala admiral.
"This is Shadow Crew! Affirmative!"
"This is Ghost Crew! Understood Admiral!" replied Hera through the radio and staying a bit behind, they started searching for an ideal target.
It didn't take long however before a group of TIE Fighters targeted them and Zeb had work hard in the upper gun tower.
"I assume this was not part of the plan." said the Seventh in a stoic way compared to the circumstances.
"No, but this time we counted on it. Besides: What's an assault like this without excitement?" said Hera with a half-smile as she was doing her best to evade the shots of the Imperial starfighters.
"I'm afraid we would have had far enough "excitement" anyway." commented Sabine, holding onto a pipe.
As the pursuit continued the TIE Fighters behind the Ghost were slowly decimated by its cannons and other Rebel ships. And as Hera stabilized the ship, she noticed their prey.
"We're going there everyone!" she pointed at the Star Destroyer before them that was stationed above the rest of the Imperial fleet and relatively unprotected by other Destroyers. "Gold Leader, do you see that Star Destroyer up there?"
"Yes I do General." came the reply from the commander of the Y-Wings.
"Make it busy for us!"
"Copy that!" And so a large group of Y-Wings followed by two corvettes concentrated their attack on the Star Destroyer Revenger.
X
Before Captain Vryte noticed, his ship got separated by the fleet due to the maneuvers he had to perform to fend off the fire of the Y-Wings and corvettes.
By now a few ion-torpedoes also hit the Revenger causing blackouts in some compartments, malfunctioning in some systems and reducing the engine-power to its half.
"More power to the shields!" commanded Vryte.
"But Sir! Our weapon system and the engines!" argued the artillery-officer.
"I gave you a direct order." hissed at him Vryte. His command however decreased the sensitivity of their sensors too.
X
In all the chaos the Ghost remained undetected, despite being extremely close to the Revenger.
"Listen everyone." said Hera. "We'll use the airlock behind the starboard quad-laser battery like we did when we got Zeb back."
"So you got in there." thought the Seventh. She's been wondering where did the Spectres boarded the Destroyer where she met Ezra after almost six long years. Where she first saw what a fine young man he became from the boy she last seen on Malachor…
She shook her head. This was not the time for wondering. Despite of this she couldn't resist to look at him and admire how well he looked while checking his lightsaber, with his manly features, stubble and his concentrated look.
The Mirialan also took her lightsaber off her belt as the Ghost turned its bottom against the Destroyer and carefully placed its bottom hatch on the airlock.
"You may go. And be careful!" warned them Hera.
"Careful? What's the fun in that?" teased her Kanan.
"That you'll come back in one piece Love." sighed Hera.
The rest of the crew climbed through the hatch and found themselves on the Destroyer.
Kanan, Ezra and the Seventh were in front with ignited lightsabers, and with Sabine and Zeb behind them with armed guns.
The corridor was dark; the lamps were only glimmering, likely because of the ion-torpedoes of the Y-Wings; their surroundings were only lit by the blue blades of Kanan and Ezra and the red saber of the Seventh.
The quintet waited almost a whole minute and not a single Imperial soldier showed up, so they started moving toward their target, the bridge.
The Seventh looked around. She hadn't been on a Star Destroyer or any imperial related place ever since the Empire tried to kill her on Belderone. The planet where she first met Bridger as someone who's not an Inquisitor. She thought that this will be nostalgic, like returning to home. But it was nothing like that. Because this "home" betrayed her. Moreover this "home" caused her so much pain in her life, even if she still thought that pain made her stronger. And because this former "home" was threatening Bridger, her… partner? Comrade? Lover? Boyfriend?
"Just call him "mine" for now." she thought. The Mirialan had to face yet another fact: she was protecting him. And not just because it was in her interest. She was protecting him as a partner.
The reason for this was pretty simple but she was not familiar with this feeling either in most of her existence: she liked him. Liked him. It was so strange to say this, even if only mentally. Nevertheless it was true.
She really changed ever since that evening in that cold cave. And she changed for the better as most beings in the galaxy would have said. Yet, the small voice in the back of her mind still didn't leave her alone and was telling her that she was not worthy of a second chance and especially of him.
She kept telling her that it was not true. But it was not easy to believe it.
She just hoped that every step she took on this hostile territory, in lethal danger was paying just a little back of what she had done.