AN: UHHHHH...so, long time no see.

Look guys, I think we can all agree that 2020 was a shit show, and after my seven day free trial of 2021, I tried to cancel my subscription, only to find that they already have my credit card information and they're not refunding me. So here we are.

Here's the usual shit of me telling you guys that this ended up a hell of a lot longer than I intended because certain things just went and ran away with me, and some certain things most certainly not in this chapter have gotten...a little out of control, and the next two chapters had to be entirely reworked because I had a categorically awful idea that I had to fit in. I'm sorry. But not that much. The next chapter shouldn't be all that long, but the two after that are actual monsters, one that I've had in my head for, um, years now, and the other which I recently conceived, but it's muuuuuuuch worse than in my original draft and I hate/love it. The point is, I'm a little on fire to write those chapters, but it's gonna take some time because of the sheer size of them. I kindly thank you for your continued patience.

That being said, the other reason this took so long to get out was because Thrawn Ascendancy came out, and it had inspired me to write an absolute piece of trash. If you have any interest in an asexual blue boy and his bitch space wife, go ahead and read it. It's a passion project this will absolutely be continued after the new Thrawn book comes out this year.

I think that's all. Let me know what you kids think, and please enjoy! I certainly hope to have the chance to write more this year.

Chapter 65: Ghosts of Geonosis

The sun dipped below the horizon, the sky a bright, brilliant orange over Capital City as twilight sat heavy in a sky clear of the usual ship traffic in and out of the atmosphere, and by the large, panoramic window overlooking the brilliance of the setting sun and the sprawling city below stood Grand Admiral Thrawn, silent and unmoving, as he had been for hours upon hours, his gaze distant and unfocused as he lost himself in his thoughts.

At long last, Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Shadow King, the Lord of the Sith Darth Lumis had returned, in as spectacular a fashion as he had come to expect from the rebel leader. For years, he had watched Kenobi from a distance, studied his strategy and tactics, learned his history, his behavior, his mannerisms, the artistry behind his combat style and his influence over the mystical powers he commanded. And just when he began more directly engaging the renegade Sith Lord, the Emperor forbade him from engaging with him further, moving him to deal with Nightswan instead. And when finally he had been assigned to deal with Kenobi and his Lothal rebels...he was gone.

The circumstances of Kenobi's disappearance were mysterious at best, though in the time since his disappearance, Thrawn had managed to piece together a vague picture of what had happened. His sudden removal from hunting the Shadow King when the Emperor had personally asked for him to do so, Kenobi's disappearance, the Emperor's illness, the artwork upon Ezra Bridger's cybernetic leg, the sudden command to hunt Kenobi again, all things which the Chiss followed to their most reasonable conclusion. And now, the newest strokes upon the canvas of this piece in the Shadow King's recent history, the security footage from Kenobi's assault on his TIE Defender factory.

Unclasping his hands from behind his back, Thrawn's fingers lightly brushed the cold, flat dome of Hera Syndulla's droid, the C1-series astromech deactivated beside him, its memory already mined for data, despite knowing the rebels were too cautious to leave any truly valuable information within its processors and memory. However, the information that was taken from its temporary data files was enough, providing him with not only the exact files that the rebels had downloaded, but the codes and method that the ingenious droid used in order to open doors during a lockdown and shut off the security recordings. All tactics and methods that the rebels would be unable to implement again, removing yet another avenue through which they could freely travel. It wouldn't be long now before the rebels had burned every path available to them, leaving the entirety of the Phoenix Squadron with no escape.

Due to the efforts of C1-10P, Kenobi's infiltration into sector A2 was entirely concealed, but before that, his and Jarrus' entry into the factory, and after, their miraculous escape with Fulcrum Agent Kallus, Thrawn had an intact security recording and was easily able to piece together their path to and from sector A2 in a perfect, unbroken line. Kenobi's tactics and strategy hadn't changed after his absence, his plan as bold and clever as all of his previous attacks. But something had changed, something small, something that only showed itself for the slightest moment, but it was enough. Kenobi had always leaned heavily on his Force abilities, preferring to employ mental manipulation, telekinesis, and lightning, but he had also proved himself to be equally skilled with a lightsaber when a more physical confrontation was forced.

Thrawn had watched the recording again and again, had checked the rest of the footage in order to identify behavioral consistencies that confirmed his suspicion, went back into Kenobi's files for recordings of the man before his disappearance, and the picture began to paint itself, the image shifting slightly as it accounted for new information and incorporated a new, devastating weakness that could be turned against the renegade Sith Lord.

He had seen the result of the Emperor's confrontation with Kenobi in a possible Sith Temple, as the paintings on Bridger's leg suggested. The Emperor had been left diminished, the confidence and certainty of his victory over his former student shaken enough to point Thrawn at Kenobi once again. But now, Thrawn had the other half of the story, that same confrontation told from the rebel perspective, and while he lacked the details, he could make out the picture of the events that had transpired between Darth Sidious and Darth Lumis. In the security footage, as Kenobi and Jarrus escaped with their Fulcrum agent, Thrawn saw that, as the Sith Lord cut through the floor to drop down to the level below, his saber violently jerked with a twitch of his arm, the smooth, circular cut broken by a jagged line, and the Sith grabbed the hilt with both hands to steady the blade.

Kenobi had been wounded, bad enough that after months of recovery, the use of his arms was still limited and his hands still trembled with the echoes of the injuries he had sustained. Whatever had been done to him, his physicality had been taken from him, crippling the formidable warrior and forcing him to lean heavier upon the Force to draw his strength. And as powerful as the Force could be, for all the impossibilities Thrawn had seen in the past day alone, limiting a warrior and depriving them of the full variety of the weapons available to them was a crippling weakness that could be easily exploited.

And Thrawn already knew how to deprive Darth Lumis of his prodigious Force abilities.

He could hear shuffling and hushed, nervous talking from outside his door, but Thrawn still didn't look away from the window, his gaze fixed on the horizon where the rebels had escaped with a pack of lothwolves the day before. Down below, the disarray they had left in their wake in the courtyard of the Imperial complex was finally coming to order, the bodies of Stormtroopers mauled and partially eaten by wolves cleared away, the blood washed away from the ground, the gates repaired and the carbon scoring upon the walls scrubbed away. Broken speeders, transports and walkers were still being repaired, but the complex had been properly fortified, more than was necessary, in the wake of the rebel attack, the Imperial commanders choosing to triple the present security force, despite Thrawn's insistence that such measures would be unnecessary.

The rebels, he had said, would not return to Lothal, the circumstances of this particular attack both unique and unable to be replicated. Perhaps, in the future, the Shadow King and Phoenix Squadron could have launched another attack on Lothal, perhaps a bigger effort to drive the Empire from the planet, as Thrawn believed Phoenix Squadron's investment in this particular world was far more personal than reasonable. But they would never get the chance to. Before they would ever be ready, before they had the chance to regroup and become bold enough to once again attempt another effort at breaking through the Seventh Fleet's blockade, Thrawn would destroy them.

Their efforts at the factory the other day had guaranteed that. The architects of their own destruction, as he had predicted.

The voices outside his door grew louder, harsher and more insistent, and Thrawn took a long, deep breath, slowly drawing up to his full height as he took in one good, final look out the window, his gaze lingering on the spot on the horizon where the rebels had, against all odd, slipped out of his grasp. This hadn't been the first time Imperial officers had come to his office to give him the situation report, only to lose their nerve and turn away, leaving the task of delivering unfavorable news to another. This time, however, the situation could not be put off any longer than it already had, the delicate balance between delivering bad news and keeping a superior officer waiting finally reached, though Thrawn never cared for such things. The Imperial forces here didn't know that, unlike the crew of his ship, didn't know that he would rather wait for complete and accurate information, didn't know that failure provided insight just as much as success did. They were accustomed to superiors made powerful through political connections, rank without respect or record, cruel and self-serving officers who cared more for politics than the tactics and strategy that would best serve the Empire.

It wasn't a game Thrawn played well, the drive for personal glory over the betterment of the regime they served a thing that sat at odds with his tactical thought process and his Chiss upbringing.

The talking outside the door finally stopped, the silence long and uncomfortable, and Thrawn closed his eyes, counting the seconds under his breath as they passed by, a hard knot forming in his stomach as he grew more certain with each moment who it was that would disrupt his meditations. In the past, it would have been Agent Kallus that would have delivered the report, due both to his position as his ISB liaison and his secret identity as a rebel Fulcrum agent so that he may pass any information he could on to the rebels at the earliest possibility. Not that Thrawn had ever given him anything that he hadn't specifically wanted to fall into rebel hands, the man proving to be Thrawn's most effective tool against the Phoenix Squadron. But he was gone now, escaped with Jarrus and Kenobi, so the next one in line to deliver the report, given the harsh voice behind the door and the time it was taking...

Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty...

The door slid open, the footfalls light and overly confident, and the Chiss' features hardened. A suspect in many things...

"I asked for you specifically, Thrawn," Governor Ahrinda Pryce said tightly, "so you could deal with our rebel problem. Not so the rebels could run through Imperial operations and make a mess of things while you allow them to escape!"

"The report, Governor," Thrawn said calmly, not bothering to move from where he stood quietly looking out the window. Reflected in the window, he could see Pryce stand up straighter, her shoulders back and her head high, the expression on her face filled with outrage and offense, a thing Thrawn had become quite accustomed to in the duration of his military career, both here in the Empire and back home. After a moment of silence, Pryce's shoulders slumped slightly as she exhaled the breath she was holding and crossed her arms over her chest.

"The planetary lockdown remains in full effect," Pryce said, her voice a calm and even neutral that didn't reflect the slight tightening of her throat muscles that Thrawn could see even in her faint reflection. "All ships are grounded, and the Chimaera reports that no ships have even attempted to pass by the blockade. Yet..." She paused for a moment, her eyes narrowing as she examined the unmoving Chiss. "Our ground forces have been unable to locate the rebels."

"Nor will they..." Thrawn said quietly, giving the darkening, ship-less sky one final sweep before he turned to face Lothal's governor. "I am lifting the planetary lockdown so that we may resume our general operations."

"You're...what?" Pryce said in disbelief, her gaze fixed upon the Admiral as he sat at his desk, datapad in his hand as he swiftly tapped his fingers upon the smooth surface.

"The blockade will remain, for now," Thrawn continued, his eyes never leaving the datapad as his gaze swept swiftly over the files and data he pulled up. "But refusing the passage of ships into and out of Lothal is more of a detriment to us than to the rebels."

"The rebels are still on Lothal, Thrawn!" Pryce said through clenched teeth in a voice strained with anger. "If we lift the lockdown, they have a way off the planet, they will escape!"

"Perhaps," Thrawn said quietly. "But we will not find them. Continuing to deprive our own facilities and programs of vital resources in the hope that we may, one day, catch three rebels, is a self-destructive strategy that we will not be implementing so long as I am in command."

"Two rebels and a traitor!" Pryce snapped at the Admiral, those red eyes only glancing up at her for a moment before returning to his work. "And not just any rebels!" the Governor continued, the fury in her voice increasing in the face of Thrawn's seeming indifference. "Rebel leaders! The Shadow King and a Jedi! And Kallus!" she hissed contemptuously. "A rebel spy, right under your nose, and you didn't know about it!"

"I knew about Kallus' identity as a Fulcrum agent," Thrawn said in that same, measured voice, finally looking up from his datapad at the furious Governor, her body heat rising with anger with every second that passed. For a brief moment, he considered an explanation, thought to tell her that Kallus as an Imperial had been ineffectual, but as Fulcrum, had been an invaluable tool in the Phoenix Squadron's inevitable destruction. That by keeping an enemy close, his own timetable of destroying the Lothal rebels' fleet had been moved up several months, that by monitoring Kallus' activities and feeding him very specific information, he had already dealt considerable damage to the rebel resources and assets.

Thrawn turned his attention back to the datapad without saying a word. That information was wasted upon someone so short-sighted as Governor Ahrinda Pryce.

"So, what, that's it?" Pryce asked, her voice tight with cold, controlled anger. "You're just giving up?" The Admiral didn't answer, and Pryce slammed her hand down on the desk, her fury growing when the Chiss didn't so much as flinch. "They are on Lothal, Thrawn, we have them cornered! If you put forth any effort at all, we could have them!"

"You are implying that an effort has not been put forth over the past two days," Thrawn said flatly. "But very well, Governor Pryce," Thrawn said as he glanced up at the woman. "What would you suggest?"

"Tear Lothal apart!" Pryce snarled, her hand clenching into a fist upon the desk. "You have a fleet, use it! Bombard the planet, rain destruction down upon them until any place they could possibly hide has been reduced to rubble!"

"Like your actions on Batonn?" Thrawn said quietly, his glowing red eyes meeting the suddenly cold, steely gaze of Lothal's governor, a tense and heavy silence settling upon their shoulders.

"There are many theories about what happened on Batonn," Pryce said in a cold, even voice. "It's such a shame there's no evidence we can investigate so we can discover the cause of that terrible, necessary tragedy."

"How very convenient," Thrawn said dryly, and the Governor merely shrugged.

"Maybe so," she said almost flippantly. "It certainly worked out well for you, didn't it, Grand Admiral." She flattened her hand upon the desk and leaned in toward the stoic Chiss. "And it can work out for you again. Show them the severe consequences of defying the Empire, drag their bodies out of the wreckage if you must!"

"You assume they are still on Lothal," Thrawn said quietly, calmly, his hands folding before him as he turned his head to once again look out of the window. "I am not so certain they are." For a long moment Pryce just looked at the Chiss, her eyes wide and her jaw slack as she studied the man, trying to decide if the emotionless alien was being glib, or if he truly believed the absurdity.

"They are on Lothal, Thrawn," Pryce said flatly. "They have to be. No ships came to or from the planet! Unless you doubt your bridge crew's ability to do their jobs..."

"Not at all," Thrawn muttered, his gaze drifting up to the sky, now a deep blue as twilight dropped below the horizon into night. "My officers are more than capable to the task at hand. I trust their assessment and analysis of the situation." He turned a cold, hard glare back on the woman. "But just the other day, I watched three men and an entire pack of lothwolves escape from my compound and disappear into thin air. I do not believe it is unreasonable to admit the possibility that Jedi devilry could have spirited them away from Lothal."

"That's insane, Thrawn!" Pryce snapped, and the Chiss merely shrugged, stood up from his desk, and tapped his fingers across the keys of his computer, the holoprojector flicking to life as his com interface was activated.

"Perhaps..." the Admiral said. "Assume, then, the rebels are still on Lothal. My response has not changed. A prolonged lockdown of Lothal would be handing the rebels a victory."

"They have a victory already!" Pryce shouted, her hand once again slamming on the table and her anger growing as the Chiss seemed entirely unaffected by the authority she was so accustomed to wielding. "Two important rebel leaders and a high ranking traitor to the Empire escaped from your hands with top secret military plans! How is that not a victory!?"

Thrawn held up his hand, a gesture for silence that made Pryce even angrier than she had been before, and before she managed to bite out anything else, the Chiss' eerie red eyes fell on her, narrowed with irritation and warning, the intensity of his gaze as cold and dangerous as she had ever seen it, and Pryce felt her blood freeze in her veins, her breath catching in her throat as her heart pounded in her chest. Within the projected holofield, the image of a woman appeared, coming to attention and swiftly saluting the Admiral. Thrawn held Pryce's gaze for a moment that felt entirely too long before he turned his attention to the projection.

"Commodore Faro," Thrawn said quietly, his features softening significantly from the brief, quiet fury the Governor had seen just moments before. "Status?"

"There isn't anything to report, Admiral," Faro said quickly, a frown touching the edge of her lips. "With everything locked down, there hasn't been anything to see. No ships have even entered the system, let alone attempted to approach the planet."

"Are you confident in that assessment?"

"Yes sir," Faro said without hesitation. "And before you ask, we've been paying special attention to the stealth systems that the Umbra employs. If there was anything at all that came within a thousand kilometers of Lothal, Hammerly would have seen it."

"Very good, Commodore," Thrawn said quietly, a faint smile on his lips. "Within an hour, the lockdown on Lothal will be lifted. At that time, you will take the Chimaera to Skystrike Academy and retrieve Commander Vult Skerris and the twenty cadets I have selected from the following personnel files that I am forwarding to your datapad now."

"Can I take that to mean that you've captured the rebels?" Faro asked, and Thrawn shook his head.

"The rebels have evaded capture and managed to escape with the plans for the TIE Defender," Thrawn said calmly, leaning over his desk as his fingers moved swiftly over his datapad, and Pryce could see the Commodore's jaw go slack.

"How...could they escape, sir?" Faro asked tentatively, looking out of frame for a moment before returning her attention to the Admiral. "No ships have left Lothal, we're certain-"

"I agree," Thrawn muttered, looking back up at the Commodore. "I am uncertain if they have managed to leave Lothal, but they have indeed evaded our grasp."

"Exactly how big of a problem is this?" Faro asked slowly, her arms crossing over her chest and her brow furrowing in thought. "If they have the plans for the Defender, they can analyze its schematics, discover its weaknesses and learn how to beat it."

"Perhaps," Thrawn said quietly, a confident smile touching his lips as he looked back up at Faro. "That could certainly be problematic, if they had the time and the resources to form a proper defense. But due to their actions here, they have neither."

"...you have them, don't you?" Faro said quietly, her arms dropping away from her chest as she stared at her Admiral, watching that usually expressionless face light up with what she could only describe as triumph.

"I do," Thrawn said in his calm, chilling monotone. "As I have said, I can lure the Shadow King to me at any time, but now that they have the plans for the TIE Defender, all they have done is given themselves a countdown to their destruction."

"You've located their base?" Faro asked, and after a brief, contemplative pause, Thrawn shook his head.

"Not yet, but I am very close." A few more quick taps upon his datapad, and Thrawn picked the device up and tucked it away into its pouch on his belt. "Kenobi has moved his best piece in order to destroy the nearest threat, but in order to do so, he has lost the game. No matter his next move, I will have him trapped."

"And if he doesn't move?" Faro asked. "If he disappears for months like before?"

"Then we motivate him to action," Thrawn said quietly. "As I said, we are out of time, and no matter how I choose to move next, Kenobi will be forced to respond."

"And what will we do to accomplish that?"

"Patience, Commodore..." Thrawn said, a smile upon his lips as he looked at the woman. "Focus on bringing me the pilots I requested. I am making some last minute adjustments to the schematic, and by the time you return, I will have a squadron of fully operational TIE Defenders, and we will be ready depart to the rebel base to bring them complete and utter destruction."

With a salute, the Commodore ended the call, the holoprojector flickering off, and the smile dropped from Thrawn's face, his red eyes slowly drifting to stare at Governor Pryce. Drawing up to his full, intimidating height, the Admiral walked around the desk to stand before the Governor, and despite her best efforts, Pryce couldn't help but shrink away from the imposing man.

"You," Thrawn said, a calm, cold menace in his voice as he glared down at the woman, "will stay in the Governor's office, and you will not leave until my task is complete."

"Admiral, I-"

"You will let me do my job, Governor," Thrawn hissed, the temperature in the room seeming to drop as the Chiss drew even closer, and Pryce couldn't keep herself from shaking. "Attempt to interfere with my work, and I will deal with you personally. I will not have your short-sighted commitment to winning small, meaningless victories sabotage my ability to win this war when my victory is so close at hand."

"Thrawn-"

"Do I make myself absolutely clear, Governor?" Thrawn asked, sharp, dangerous edge to his voice as his eyes narrowed, and for the first time since Ahrinda Pryce became Governor, she feared for her life.

"...yes, Admiral," she managed to squeak, and without another word, Thrawn walked past her and out of the office without another glance wasted on Lothal's governor. There was work to be done, pieces to move around the board before the Phoenix rebels and their Shadow King made their next move.

And when they did, it would be the end of them.


Kanan and Kallus had left Kenobi and his acolytes behind, the furious, bewildered Sith Lord shoving the datacard with the Defender plans and the piece of blue, shock resistant Stormtrooper armor against the Jedi's chest as he began pacing before the cave they emerged from. Attempting to move the Sith Lord when there was a Force related mystery to be solved had never gone well in the past, so Kanan and Kallus headed off toward the base, their walk slow and silent as they trudged across the red earth of Atollon. It took some time for Kanan to truly believe they weren't still within a Force vision, the entire experience so surreal and strange that reality seemed equally odd for how ordinary and unremarkable it was.

Every now and then, Kanan saw Kallus twitch, the man swiftly looking over his shoulder, his eyes wide and frightened, no doubt looking for the monster that had chased them across these very plains in the depths of the Force. But for Kallus, perhaps, it was more than just that. I saw how I die, he had said. The effects of a person with no Force sensitivity traversing the Force as they had was something Kanan could only imagine, delusions and paranoia and the inability to recognize reality being the very least of what could be done to someone's mental state. Perhaps Kallus saw the destruction caused by the beast in the last vision and assumed they didn't survive. Perhaps the Force showed Kallus something they simply didn't see. Whatever it was, death haunted Kallus, slinking in his shadow and trailing behind him as it stepped in the footsteps he left behind in the red sand.

As reality slowly asserted itself, as his legs became less shaky, as the sun above him touched his face with comforting, physical warmth that was absent in the currents of the Force, Kanan accepted that they were out of the clutches of the Force after it had plucked them from Lothal and so unceremoniously dropped them on distant Atollon. The weight of the datacard and the piece of Stormtrooper armor in his hand grounded him in reality, and with the facts of their miraculous escape finally allowing a sense of momentary safety to fall over him, Kanan's thoughts began to wander to the grim task he had before him.

The mission had, technically, been a success. They had infiltrated Thrawn's research facility, discovered what he had been keeping secret there, and had not only managed to escape with their lives, but managed to get their Fulcrum agent out alive as well.

But it didn't feel like a victory.

If the grim reality of what Thrawn's TIE Defender meant for the fledgling rebellion wasn't enough, the mission had seen him lose Chopper, Hera's beloved droid, the two of them inseparable since she had been a child, so valuable to her that when Kanan had come aboard the Ghost and Hera decided they needed callsigns for missions, Chopper had been given one as well. It was almost entirely unnecessary, but to Hera, it was more than just a convenient way to keep their identities concealed from the Empire, it bound them together as family. And to her, to them, Spectre Three was family.

And now he was gone. And Kanan had no idea how to tell Hera.

The base appeared upon the horizon as they trudged across the sands, and an unsettling wave of relief apprehension washed over Kanan as he contemplated the grim task ahead of him, and closing his eyes, he could once again see the savage beast standing above their refuge as it was torn to pieces. A warning, Kanan desperately hoped, something that could be skillfully avoided, or a partial glimpse into the future as Kenobi's vision had been, a thing that looked final but concealed vital information. But there was a sinking in Kanan's gut that told him it was a vision of things to come, a thing that couldn't be evaded or avoided, not this vision, nor any of the others they had witnessed. It was as if they had been dragged through time, as if past and present and future all converged into a single reality that could not be escaped or avoided.

Now, opening his eyes and looking at the base beneath the sun of Atollon, Kanan could see the dark shadow of the beast stamped across the sky, the intimidating, dreaded visage of a thing he had seen a hundred times before, only clear now that the vivid details of the Force vision were concealed in silhouette.

A Chimaera, the mythological beast etched upon the hull of the Star Destroyer it was named after. Thrawn's ship. He was coming, of that Kanan was certain. They all were, but the vision in the Force made that distant possibility seem immediate, the impending danger hanging perilously over them. The question now was if Thrawn was merely close, or if he already knew. Perhaps there was something in Chopper that gave him what he needed to deduce their location. Maybe it was something else entirely, or nothing at all, Maybe-

"Kanan!"

Kanan snapped out of his thoughts just in time to find himself snatch up by a pair of strong arms and squeezed tightly against a powerful body, hard enough to crush the air out of his lungs. Squirming in the unbreakable grasp, he clutched the muscular arm that held him, his fingers running through soft, purple fur and managed to move just enough to gasp a strangled "Can't breathe, Zeb!" He was quickly dropped and almost gently put back on his feet, his lungs burning as they filled with air and a deep, embarrassed chuckle reverberated above him, the Lasat's large body casting a shadow over Kanan that gratefully blocked out the blazing sun.

"I must have been out here longer than I thought," Zeb said as he flashed a broad grin at Kanan, his large hand resting upon the Jedi's shoulder. "I hadn't heard that you were back."

Kanan tried to speak, opened his mouth to reply, and found his throat dry and parched, and quickly, the excitement on Zeb's face became confusion, and swiftly turned to a deep frown as narrowed greed eyes looked between the Jedi and a human that Kanan hadn't left with, their faces flushed and sun-touched and dirty with the red earth of Atollon. Finally having stopped, and with the safety that another being promised, Kallus' weary legs collapsed beneath him, and with a hissed curse, Zeb quickly lunged forward to grab the Fulcrum agent by the arms and hoisted him back to his feet. He carefully released his grip, but quickly found that Kallus couldn't support his own weight, and without a second thought, he picked the exhausted man up and cradled him against his chest.

"Why are you all the way out here?" Zeb quietly growled as he turned to show the water canteen on his hip, and with a relieved sigh, Kanan swiftly unclasped it from the Lasat's belt and drank, the water so cold it almost burned as it went down. "Where's Kenobi? Is he still with Hera?"

"Hera didn't bring us here," Kanan said in a raspy whisper, his brow creasing as he frowned when he realized how stupid this would sound when it was spoken aloud.

"She did," Zeb quietly insisted. "She had to. She's been hanging outside Lothal waiting for your signal, she said she wouldn't come home without you." Zeb laughed nervously when Kanan only stared at him, his eyes cold, his expression almost blank. "She had to," he insisted in a firmer tone, though it was laced with creeping doubt as he looked over the exhausted Jedi and the seemingly despondent man he held. Cursing under his breath and hoisting Kallus to rest his weight against his shoulder, he snatched the com off his belt, quickly brought his hand up once again to allow the human to slump against his arm and keyed the device on.

"Fulcrum," Zeb said into the com, an almost nervous rasp in his voice as he watched Kallus seem to perk up slightly at the mention of the call sign that he had been using himself for months. "Any news from Hera?"

There was a moment of silence which felt longer than it actually was before a calm female voice answered, "Funny you should ask. She just reported that the planetary lockdown has been lifted. She's going to give it a few hours before she heads in to see what the situation is."

"Yeah..." Zeb muttered in a soft growl. "You might want to tell her not to bother. Kanan's here." Zeb held his breath in the silence that followed, preemptively grinding his teeth and wincing at the prospect of explaining a situation that he didn't understand himself, and shooting a furtive glance at Kanan, he saw the Jedi was doing the same.

"Understood," Ahsoka said, just as calmly as she had been before, which was more alarming than any of the various reactions that Zeb had been expecting. "Bring him to the command center. We have a great deal we need to discuss."

"What, that's it?" Zeb managed to sputter. "You aren't going to ask how he managed to end up here?!"

"Do you have the answers to that, Zeb?" Ahsoka asked almost sweetly, and though the fur on his face hid his skin, Kanan had the distinct impression that it was flushed. "Bring Kanan here, Spectre Four. I suspect he'll tell me all about it when he gets here." The com shut off, and with a heavy sigh, the Lasat dropped the device into Kanan's hand so he didn't have to readjust his grasp on Kallus.

"Ahsoka's going to be awfully disappointed," Kanan muttered as he shuffled beside Zeb as they made their way up the dunes toward the base, much closer than Kanan had realized with a wash of relief as his aching muscles complained. "I'm not sure how we got back here either."

"I had assumed you stole a ship and managed to get past Thrawn's blockade," Zeb said, and in his arms, Kallus uttered a short, almost delirious laugh.

"Nothing gets past Thrawn's blockade," Kanan groaned, shutting his eyes for a second against the blinding sun, colorful spots dancing on the back of his eyelids. "No, we escaped on the backs of Lothwolves."

"Lothwolves..." Zeb slowly repeated, eying his friend critically as they trudged over the top of a dune and began the easy incline down to Chopper Base's airfield. "You hit your head a little too hard, Kanan?" the Lasat asked. "Or maybe the sun's got to you."

"Lothwolves," Kallus said firmly, though his voice was raspy and cracked with thirst, and Zeb felt his heart beat faster at the sound of the Imperial's conviction, the slightest doubt clawing at his mind that what he thought was madness might actually be truth.

"Lothwolves, right..." Zeb said awkwardly when he realized that neither Kallus nor Kanan were going to elaborate, and for now, decided that the subject was best dropped. "What about Kenobi and Chopper? Did they make it out?"

"Kenobi's out with Vitios and Vehemis," Kanan quietly muttered, giving a small, almost defeated gesture behind him, and Zeb didn't miss the flash of pain and regret on the Jedi's face. "He hung back by the caves to see if he could figure out how we got here. And Chopper..." He sighed, his hand dropping to his belt where the datacard loaded with the plans for the TIE Defender was safely secured. "I lost him, Zeb," Kanan whispered. "Thrawn's got him."

"No, that isn't possible," Zeb said reflexively, though disbelief and an awful, frantic sense of loss strained his rough voice. "Sabine and I painted him up! Nobody notices a droid!"

"Thrawn does," Kanan said somberly, and said nothing more, his eyes fixed upon his feet as he shuffled through the dirt, allowing Zeb the time to quietly process their loss on his own. It wasn't the time to mention that bringing Chopper with them to Thrawn's base was a mistake, that Thrawn could have recognized Chopper anywhere. That it was likely Chopper's presence that tipped the cunning Imperial off to their infiltration to begin with.

The walked the rest of the way in silence, a somber, weary trudge across the airfield and toward the command center, both Kanan and Zeb waving off more than one offer by the pilots and mechanics present to bring them to where they were going in a speeder. Kanan desperately needed the time to organize his thoughts, which still remained scattered and confused after all that time, his mind swiftly racing with the visions they had seen, their miraculous escape from Thrawn's facility, the horrifying truth of what it was he was building there, all of it made heavy with Chopper's loss.

Kenobi had plans for Thrawn, he said, had planned to attempt to sway the cunning Admiral to their side, and if that was even possible, which Kanan sincerely doubted, he said he would reclaim Chopper then. If Obi-Wan could make an ally of the man that hunted them, then it would be a small thing to bring Chopper back to them, back to Hera. They would get him back, Kanan had promised himself.

Deep inside him, Kanan knew that wouldn't happen.

"You really did a number on our Fulcrum agent here," Zeb finally said when they stood outside the command center, his grip on Kallus tightening as he hoisted the man higher up his chest.

"It's been a long day, Zeb..." Kanan said with a weary sigh. "As if escaping Thrawn wasn't enough, we may have physically traveled through the Force. That shouldn't be possible, and for someone without a connection to the Force to go through something like that..." He gestured toward Kallus, looked the exhausted man in the eyes, and shrugged. "All I'm saying is that I wouldn't lubricate the inertial dampeners with a lothcat."

For a long moment, Zeb stared at Kanan, his eyes narrowed and his ears pressed flat against his head, and finally deciding that he wasn't ready to even attempt to make the logical jumps necessary to understand the Jedi, his arms tightened protectively around Kallus. Whatever it was that had happened to them, Kanan and Kenobi were made for that sort of weird. Kallus was not, and it showed in the weariness that darkened his eyes and paled his skin.

"I'll take him to medical..." Zeb grumbled, and patting the Lasat on the shoulder, Kanan walked into the command center, giving Zeb and Kallus one final glance to see the former ever so carefully placing the later into a speeder.

He made his way quickly through the command center, the hub especially empty that day, with only a few people milling around at the various stations as they recorded the data and readouts. Most everyone else, he supposed, was out on supply runs, part of the effort to see them properly armed and stocked to launch their counter-offensive against the Imperial presence on Lothal that they had been quietly planning for months now, and Kanan couldn't help feeling a pit sink deep in his stomach, the vision of the monestrous beast flashing before his eyes as it effortlessly tore through their base. Something about that particular vision felt more real than the others, more visceral and far, far closer. For a vision to be able to physically harm them, for a supposedly metaphysical representation of Thrawn and his fleet to grab hold of Kenobi and draw blood as it had...

It was only one of many unexplainable things to happen that day. Kanan wasn't sure why he even bothered being surprised anymore.

Ahsoka was the only one in the briefing room when Kanan walked in, the Togruta pouring over the datapad on the table, her eyes swiftly darting over the screen as her finger swiped away old files as she brought up new ones. Without so much as looking up from her work, Ahsoka absently gestured to the rounded conference table before her and quietly muttered, "Have a seat, Kanan."

He swiftly did as he was told, walking around to sit in the seat beside Ahsoka usually reserved for Hera, and when the woman laid down the datapad and gave him her full attention, he immediately found himself at a loss for words. So much had happened, so much needed to be reported that he didn't even know where to begin. So he grabbed at the first thing he could think of and blurted, "Kenobi came back with us, he wasn't captured or anything. If Hera's waiting on him, she doesn't need to."

"I know," Ahsoka said calmly. "I felt him. Hera's been informed of your arrival and she's heading back now." A small, wry smile quirked her lips. "The long way, just in case she was detected. She'll be back within a few hours, though she seemed somewhat confused about how you got off Lothal."

"I think we're all confused about that..." Kanan muttered, and the sly smirk upon Ahsoka's lips grew wider.

"Really? I'm not." She leaned back in her chair and dismissively waved her hand when Kanan's jaw seemed to drop. "This is the work of the Force."

"Well, yeah, but how-"

"You'll drive yourself mad trying to make sense of something that can't fully be understood," Ahsoka said quietly. "The combined knowledge of millions of Jedi Masters across millions of years wasn't able to comprehend the Force as anything other than mysterious. You and I certainly aren't going to suddenly be able to gain a complete understanding of it."

"That was Kenobi's attitude until we literally crossed space," Kanan said flatly, but again, Ahsoka waved it off.

"As I said, the path to madness, and Kenobi is without question insane. But more than that, he's Sith," Ahsoka said pointedly. "They can't control the Force if they don't understand it, and the mysteries of the workings of the Force stand as the biggest threat to their power. You've seen Kenobi when a mystery falls in his lap. He'll chase after it until he has the answers, or dies in the pursuit of them." She shrugged. "The way he tells it, that's how he fell to the Dark Side."

"And you can just...accept this?" Kanan asked. "We physically traversed the Force to cross space. That isn't supposed to be possible."

"Sure it is," Ahsoka said with a shrug, a small smile upon her face. "We've seen this before on a much smaller scale," she said as she pointed at the lightsabers at Kanan's hip, and Kanan placed his hand over the weapon, his chest tightening in understanding. He hadn't forgotten how he came to possess his Master's lightsaber, but his own journey through the Force left him disoriented enough to make the connection.

"There's something on Lothal..." Kanan muttered. "Kenobi has always said so, he said we keep getting drawn back there for a reason. Not to the planet, but to the Temple."

"He's probably right," Ahsoka said quietly, her fingers pressed together as she. "He often is about these things."

"Ahsoka, if there's something there that allows people and objects to physically traverse the Force and the Empire gets its hands on it, our fight will be over."

"The could be," Ahsoka said thoughtfully. "But we have a more immediate threat we must contend with first." She held out her hand, a small smile on her lips. "What have you recovered from your mission?" With a sharp inhale, Kanan swiftly reached into the pouch on his belt to grab the datacard and the piece of blue stormtrooper armor and laid it on the table in front of Ahsoka.

"Stormtroopers wearing this armor were unaffected by Force lightning" Kanan said, his finger tapping upon the armor piece, and Ahsoka picked it up, a frown on her lips as she examined the lightweight piece of armor. "It would be great if we could figure out exactly how it works."

"Knowing what we do about Thrawn, there's probably something else up his sleeve besides electrical insulation," Ahsoka said as she placed the armor to the side and picked up the datacard. "I'll have Luke take a look to see if its composition has any other clever uses. We're going to need to know how it works so we can pick it apart."

Ahsoka slid the datacard into the reader built into the table, and with a flick of her hand, the lights in the room dimmed, the holotable lighting up with a few swipes of her finger across the controls, and Kanan couldn't help but hold his breath as the holographic image of the modified three winged TIE Fighter materialized in the holofield before them.

It was so much worse on a larger projection.

"Now this," Ahsoka whispered, "is something to worry about." Placing her elbows on the table, she leaned her head against her hands as she scanned the information crawl, her eyes swiftly darting between the files as she pulled them up, and Kanan was keenly aware of the way the tails of her montrails began to slightly squirm, a common trait between Togruta and Twi'lek that indicated agitation or stress.

"We have time to figure out how to beat it," Kanan said when the quiet became too much. "We've got the plans, and so far as we can tell, it's still in experimental stages. If they're not mass producing it, it might not be ready."

"Or it's too expensive to produce in any significant quantity, this ship must cost a fortune..." Ahsoka muttered as she slowly shook her head. "But it might not matter. How many of these ships would it take to destroy a fleet? This starfighter outclasses the standard TIE in every way." She scoffed. "It outclasses any ship we have. We need to take this out before it becomes a threat.." Holding her breath as her eyes swept over the data once again, Ahsoka sighed, leaned back in her seat, and swept her hand over her face. "Our absence from Lothal never sat well with your student, Kanan. It seems Ezra may get his wish. We need to drive the Empire from Lothal and destroy this project, or the TIE Defender is going to end the rebellion."

"Ahsoka, I don't know if we have the numbers to pull that off..." Kanan said, a cautious tone to his voice as he eyed the schematic of Thrawn's Defender.

"Alone, we don't," Ahsoka agreed. "But we have other resources to pull from, and this is important. I'll get in contact with General Dodonna and explain the importance of bringing the Massassi group to help us liberate Lothal."

"Will that be enough?"

"The Massassi group is one of the largest of our rebel cells," Ahsoka said absently as she picked up her datapad, her fingers swiftly moving over its surface. "It's going to have to be enough. I'm not willing to call in more. As it is, the entire rebel fleet can't overwhelm the force over Lothal. I don't want to give Thrawn more targets to shoot at, we can't afford those kind of losses."

"So we just need to outsmart him," Kanan said wryly with a roll of his eyes. "No problem."

"Why should it be?" Ahsoka asked as she slipped the datacard out of the reader and held it up before Kanan, a sly, slight smirk on her lips. "You did it."

"Woah, hold on there, we just got lucky," Kanan said swiftly, raising his hands up before him. "The circumstances that led to our escape were entirely out of our control, and even as lucky as we were, we still lost Chopper."

"Thrawn's a formidable opponent," Ahsoka agreed as she stood and slipped the datacard into her belt pocket. "I've seen his Imperial record. He's a tactical and strategic genius with a knack for pulling victories out of impossible situations." She pointed a finger at Kanan's face, so close that he found himself leaning back to put some space between himself and the accusing digit. "That doesn't mean he's unbeatable, and your victory on Lothal proves that."

"It doesn't feel like much of a victory..." Kanan grumbled, and Ahsoka flashed him a small smile and patted his cheek.

"That isn't for you to decide," she said with a shrug. "For now, your part in our fight against Thrawn is over. Leave the rest to me and Hera. We'll work out a strategy to land us another victory." His lips pressed together in a thin line, Kanan stiffly nodded, and when Ahsoka offered him her hand, he took it and allowed her to help pull him out of his seat. "In the meantime, I've got a mission for you and Kenobi," she said, gesturing for Kanan to follow her out the door and into the branching hallways of the command center. "Time sensitive, and very important. Where did you say he was?"

"I didn't," Kanan muttered. "But knowing him, he's probably still pacing outside the cave we arrived in."

"Great," Ahsoka chirped as she slung her arm over Kanan's shoulders. "Let's go see our Sith Lord."


Darth Lumis paced, restless and predatory, his eyes never leaving the pale, sightless eyes of the massive creature before him, a great, mighty beast that looked like it was made of the very rock outcrops scattered across the wilds of Atollon and positively sang with strength in the Force. This creature was ancient, far older than any living being Lumis had ever known, older by far than Yoda had been, a beast who had seen the rise and fall of countless eons with blinded eyes that knew only the flow of the Force. Not dark, not light, just...the Force.

It was magnificent.

"This was once a quiet place," the beast said in a voice that reverberated both in the very air around them and deep within Lumis' chest. "All was in balance, as it should be."

"You believe there's balance?" Lumis scoffed as he eyed the creature, his stride uninterrupted as he continued his restless pacing. "There hasn't been balance in the Force for many years, creature."

"The natural ebb and flow of the Force," the ancient dismissed. "There is balance in the rise and fall of darkness and light, just as there is balance in the flow of the tides and in the fading of night to day."

"A sentiment echoed by few," Lumis muttered as he finally stopped, his arms crossed over his chest as he looked up at the creature. "Certainly the Jedi would disagree."

"And it was the will of the Force that the Jedi are now dead," the creature scoffed, picking up a hand and pointing a large, gnarled finger at the human that stood opposite him. "It is neither a sentiment that the Sith believe, and that too will lead to their undoing. A thousand times before I have seen it, and will see it again a thousand times more before my own end comes."

"We'll see about that," Lumis said in a low, menacing growl, and the creature just laughed, the Dark Side chilling the air as the Sith Lord fumed, and behind him, Vehemis and Vitios drew closer together at the feel of their Master's fury.

"How very like a Darksider, to believe you will change the nature of the Force," the creature said as it leaned in toward the Sith as he once again returned to his restless pacing.

"This isn't about changing the Force, this is about freeing it from Sidious' grasp!" Lumis snapped.

"Your Sith Master?"

"Former Sith Master," Lumis snarled. "Sidious will destroy us all if we don't act against him, and if he isn't stopped, he will hold absolute dominion over the Force."

"The tighter his grasp becomes, the less he will find himself holding."

"No," Lumis swiftly shot back, his pacing stopping as he turned furious red eyes upon the ancient. "This isn't the normal ebb and flow of the Force! The Force is disturbed! This isn't night, it's a storm, and you're blind for not seeing it!"

"And yet," the creature said quietly, "I slept peacefully until you arrived here, Darksider."

For a long moment, Lumis was silent and still, quietly observing the creature and reaching out to feel its presence, ancient and powerful and pushing back to meet him with equal force. It was confident and wise and unafraid, unflinching in the face of the full wrath of the Dark Side that rested in the Sith Lord's grasp. This creature knew the Dark Side, had seen its horrors, and no longer feared it, if it ever had.

"You're of the Dark Side," Lumis said carefully, more a question than a statement, and the creature laughed again.

"I know the dark, yes," the ancient said, "just as I know the light, though I command neither. I'm the Bendu. I'm the one in the middle." He tilted his head and looked down at the human, still and calm though the Force around him no less disturbed, a the eye of a violent storm. "What do you call yourself, Sith?"

"Many things, these days," Lumis said quietly. "But the Sith have always known me as Lumis."

"Lumis!" the creature chortled. "A name for a creature of light, not for a Darksider."

"I was a Jedi Knight, once," Lumis muttered, a touch of bitterness lacing his words. "Presumably Sidious chose it to mock the Jedi."

"And you now live to mock your former Master, hm?" Bendu asked with a chuckle, and Lumis drew up, his eyes narrowed with irritation. "You think I do not know you, Lumis, Lord of the Sith?" he asked as his blind eyes peered down at the human. "You may be difficult to read, but the way your presence disturbs the Force is all I need to know you." He gestured to the girls standing behind Lumis. "Your acolytes told me the rest."

"Did they..." Lumis muttered as he looked over his shoulder at the Twi'lek and the Chagrian, the two women seeming to shrink under his withering gaze. "You called to them," Lumis said as he turned back to face the ancient creature. "I had been told they felt something was calling them, but when I reached out to feel what it was, I felt nothing." Lumis scoffed. "Me. A Master of the Sith, felt nothing!"

"There is much still you do not understand," the Bendu said, and Lumis scowled, his gaze drifting toward the cave he inexplicably emerged from before he turned his furious attention back on the Bendu.

"You think I don't know that?!" Lumis snapped between clenched teeth as he pointed back toward Vitios and Vehemis. "What did you want with my girls!"

"You brought chaos to this place, Lumis, Lord of the Sith," the Bendu said in a low voice, his blind eyes narrowing as he peered down at the human before him. "Those that follow you are unbalanced with fear and uncertainty."

"We fight against an enemy with overwhelming strength," Lumis said gravely. "We have endured loss with the knowledge that we must endure more before this fight is won."

"Won by whom, I wonder," the Bendu said glibly, and Lumis' eyes narrowed, the gold enveloped by a furious molten red.

"I asked you a question, creature," Lumis said in a quiet, menacing voice. "You're avoiding the answer."

"Am I?"

"Seeing how you haven't answered the question yet, yeah, I'd say so..." Lumis said flatly, a frustrated frown on his face, and again, the Bendu laughed.

"The answer has already been laid before you," he said in a wry voice. "Are you so blind you cannot see it? Blinder than me, perhaps?" Again, the ancient laughed, and Lumis didn't move, only became increasingly frustrated as he waited for the creature to get back to the point. "I wished to learn of the nature of the Sith that brought such disturbance to my world," the Bendu finally said as he pointed a long finger toward the women standing behind the Sith Lord. "What better way to do that than through his students?"

"Is that it?" Lumis scoffed. "Why them? There are many others here that could tell you more, others who know me better, or have known me longer."

"Yet none so free from the burden of being shackled to the whims of the Force," the Bendu said, and Lumis inhaled sharply, his breath held as his frustrations fled before the blind sight of the ancient that saw far further and far clearer than he could. "The ones you brought here disturb the Force," he said in a low, grave voice. "The currents are drawn to them, their movements cause cresting waves and violent storms. Oh, they are certainly meant for greatness," the Bendu said when Lumis began to object, "but greatness never comes quietly." He gestured to Vitios and Vehemis as they stepped closer to their Master. "This is not the case with your students. They are..." He paused, humming as he leaned down to peer once again at the women he had seen so many times before, the corners of his wide mouth turning up into a knowing grin. "They are something quieter. Something at peace with the movements of the Force, even as disturbed as it is. Something that may learn a thing or two from old Bendu, hmm?"

"He's been teaching you?" Lumis asked when the two woman stepped up beside him, and Vehemis shrugged, her lekku squirming slightly and out of the corner of his eye, she saw the brief, swift movement of Vitios' forked tongue. Both signs of discomfort despite their efforts to appear otherwise.

"He talks a lot," Vehemis said. "We'd have to be beyond idiotic to not take away something, right?"

"You were gone, Master," Vitios added quietly. "And he called to us. We figured it was the Force that guided us here, and you've always said we'd be fools to ignore the Force."

"Just so..." Lumis muttered, his eyes briefly raking over the two women before he turned his attention back to the Bendu. There would be time later to discover what his students had learned. "Is that it?" Lumis demanded. "You learned about me and decided to reveal yourself? For what?" He gestured to the cave he emerged from, a swift, almost violent motion. "Is that how I came here? Are you responsible for pulling us through the Force from Lothal?"

"Ah..." the Bendu said as he sat back on his haunches. "A mysterious thing."

"It wasn't your doing?"

"I am a stone in the river, and the stone does not tell the river where to flow," he said thoughtfully. "No, Darksider. It was not me that brought you here." Again, the creature chuckled, this time leaning down close to Lumis and his acolytes. "What's wrong, Lumis, Lord of the Sith? Disappointed?"

"I don't know..." Lumis muttered. "When Vitios and Vehemis summoned you, when I felt how ancient and powerful you were, I was so certain that was how..." He growled, his hand swiftly running through his hair as he looked at the cave. "It seems like the more I learn of the Force, the less I truly know..."

"Such wisdom from a Darksider!" the Bendu said in a tone that was only slightly mocking. "But the answer you seek is right before you."

"You seem to believe that all my answers are right before me." Lumis grumbled as the ancient chortled.

"Often the answers we search hardest for are laid plain before our eyes," the Bendu said wryly. "It is your sight that misleads you into believing the answers lay elsewhere."

"I suppose you suggest I blind myself, then..." Lumis said flatly.

"It couldn't hurt," the Bendu said, an amused grin spreading across his face. "The Force would allow you to see, just as it was the Force that brought you to this place."

"That isn't an answer!" Lumis snapped, his patience with the cryptic creature finally wearing thin. "I know it was the Force that brought me here, what I want to know is how! How was it done!"

"Ah...and what is it you would do with this power, should you discover how it is done?" the Bendu asked, and Lumis hesitated, the creature scoffing at the Sith's reluctance to answer. "Perhaps that is why the answer to your question lays out of your reach."

"But you know what it is," Lumis hissed. "You know how we were brought here."

"I may be ancient, Darksider, but I am not all-knowing. There are things within the Force that will always be beyond my reach."The Bendu frowned, a puff of air sharply exhaled from his nostrils kicking red sand up into the air as he leaned in toward the Sith and frowned, his blind eyes narrowing as he examined the roiling dark that surrounded him. "But perhaps not beyond you."

"...you see something," Lumis said quietly, taking a step closer to the Bendu. "What do you see?"

"I see you filled with the knowledge of the infinite power of the Force ," the Bendu said in a low voice, heavy and distant, "but the power to wield it forever out of your grasp."

"We'll see about that..." Lumis said quietly, his arms crossing over his chest as he stared up at the ancient being. "I've avoided ill fates laid out by the Force before. This is no different than any of the others."

But the Bendu said nothing. He only laughed, cold and hollow and eerie as he gazed down upon the Sith and his students, and for just a moment, as he stared into those gray, sightless eyes, Lumis saw himself, dark and red eyed and wrathful, the incarnation of the Dark Side itself, standing against a being bathed in light with eyes that shone a brilliant silver blue, sightless and all-seeing all at once.

"Kenobi!"

Lumis swiftly looked over his shoulder, squinting against the light as he eyed the two faint silhouettes at the top of one of the massive sand dunes surrounding their secluded alcove. Ahsoka and Kanan, from the look of it, and he frowned as he looked back to the Bendu, only to find that the massive ancient creature had vanished, the only sign that he had been there at all the faint sound of his haunting laughter that rang in his ears.

"He does that, Master," Vitios said flatly into the silence that sat heavy upon them. "A lot."

"It's how I always imagine learning from the Jedi was like..." Vehemis said with a wistful sigh as she sidled up closer to the Sith Lord and dragged a teasing hand across his chest. "Riddles dressed as wisdom that was never wrong because it was so vague it could fit any situation..."

"You're not far off..." Obi-Wan muttered, exhaling a held breath as he ran his fingers through his hair, a slight smirk upon his lips that didn't quite hide his unease at the feel of the creeping chill that scratched at the back of his neck as the Bendu's words echoed in his mind.

"Little wonder the Jedi are all dead," Vitios said with a roll of her eyes as she yanked Vehemis' lekku when the Twi'lek pressed her lips teasingly against the Sith Lord's neck. "Meaningless aphorisms passed off as wisdom is a poor substitute for knowledge."

"There is much I still do not understand, he said..." Kenobi said quietly, his eyes fixed on the spot where the Bendu once sat. "Just think of how much I can learn from that creature..." He again looked over his shoulder at Kanan and Ahsoka, now clearly visible as they made their way down the dune. "When I return from whatever task they are here to give me," Obi-Wan said as he turned back to his acolytes, Vehemis pouting as she rubbed her previously yanked lekku and Vitios pointedly ignoring her dramatics, "Bendu and I are going to have a long talk about the nature of the Force. And you," he said sharply, pointing at the two women who swiftly snapped to attention, "are going to show me exactly what he's been teaching you."

"Kenobi!" Ahsoka called again, and this time, Vitios and Vehemis leaned to look around their Master, and a wide grin spread across the Twi'lek's face.

"Well, look who came to see me..." Vehemis said in a low, sultry voice, and with a frustrated groan, Vitios rolled her eyes.

"He didn't come for you," the Chagrian hissed. "He never comes for you, how many times do I have to say that before it gets through your vacant skull?"

"You're just jealous," Vehemis drawled as she gave Kanan a teasing wave when he and Ahsoka drew near. "Hi, Jedi..."

"Careful there," Kanan warned, matching Vehemis' teasing tone. "Your Master's already laid claim to me, and you know how he feels about sharing..." Winking at the slack jawed Vehemis, Kanan turned his attention to Kenobi, his arms crossed over his chest as he pointedly tried and failed to ignore the cave they arrived on Atollon in. "So, did your obsessive pacing yield any insights about how we got here?" he asked, pointing at the clear, defined track through the sand where the Sith Lord had indeed caused with his restless pacing.

"Kanan dear, the Force brought us to Atollon," Obi-Was said with a frustrated sigh. "I'm ready to leave it at that." He paused, his gaze drifting toward the empty spot where the Bendu once sat. "For now..."

"Well, since you're not presently committed to solving the mysteries of the universe, I have a mission for you," Ahsoka said as she held up a datacard and tossed it to the Sith Lord, the little device caught with the Force and placed gently into his slightly shaking hand. "Your acquisition of General Kalani has finally paid off. He's finished his analysis." A sly grin crossed her face as she pointed to the datacard. "He's found Saw Gerrera."

"Oooh, I knew things were looking up..." Kenobi said , his datapad swiftly sliding out of its pouch to float in the air before him, the little dadtcard swiftly inserting itself into the reader at the top of the device.

"Not all up," Ahsoka countered. "That information you brought back from Lothal is bad news."

"Not so bad it can't be beaten..." Kenobi mumbled as he watched the data load. "What did Hera think?"

"She hasn't seen it yet," Ahsoka said. "Your arrival on Atollon was...somewhat unexpected. Until very recently, Hera was still in the Lothal system, awaiting your signal for extraction."

"Was she detected when she left?" Obi-Wan asked, and Ahsoka chuckled softly.

"Her ship isn't called the Ghost for nothing," Ahsoka said with a smirk. "And you know Hera. She's taking the long way back to make sure that she loses anyone that could have possibly been following her."

"I swear, that woman is constantly after my own heart," Obi-Wan said with a sigh.

"Yeah, mine too," Kanan drawled. "Weird how she does that..."

"Regardless," Ahsoka cut in, "it'll be a while before she's back, so I figured we'd take care of this while we're waiting."

"Agreed..." Kenobi said as he peered at the information that finally finished loading and now displayed upon his datapad. "Geonosis?" he asked, looking away from the datapad and at Ahsoka. "Saw's on Geonosis? Are we sure that's right?"

"It is," Ahsoka said, quiet and confident. "Kalani was certain, and my scouts just returned and confirmed it. He's been back and forth several times over the past few weeks."

"...what's he doing on Geonosis?" Kanan asked, looking between the suddenly somber pair.

"There's only one thing on Geonosis, Kanan," Ahsoka said.

"Or the shadow of something that's no longer there," Obi-Wan said as he snatched the datapad out of the air, the screen flicking off as he carefully tucked it back into the pouch on his belt. "The Empire's secret project began there," Kenobi explained. "I didn't discover it until after it had been relocated, and by the time I made my way there, the Empire had already mass executed the Geonosians to ensure the project's secrecy." A wry smile crossed his lips. "Which wasn't enough..."

"If Saw's keyed in on Geonosis, it's possible the secrecy around the project is beginning to unravel," Ahsoka said as she took a step closer to the Sith Lord.

"Maybe so, but it's too little, too late," Kenobi scoffed. "And it's irrelevant, because we know about it. We don't need Saw for what he knows about Stardust, we need him because he has the information we need that will allow us to destroy it." He paused, his gaze sweeping across the Togruta, the Twi'lek, the Chagrian and the human that stood before him. "So, seeing as how time is of the essence, when do we leave?"

"As soon as we get back to the base and decide on a crew to bring with us," Ahsoka said as she looked up at Kanan. "I know we've kept the Spectres on the outside edge of this particular mission, but I think it's about time we bring you into the loop. You in, Jarrus?"

"I...don't think so," Kanan said almost sheepishly, his eyes averting from Ahsoka as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I want to be here when Hera gets back. She shouldn't hear about Chopper from anyone but me, and I still haven't figured out how to tell her."

"Understood," Ahsoka said quietly, laying a comforting hand upon Kanan's arm. "I want to bring Kallus along with us," she said as she turned her attention back to Obi-Wan, and before she even had a chance to explain her reasoning, the Sith Lord shrugged.

"Sounds good to me," Kenobi said flippantly. "He's only slightly traumatized from physically traversing the Force. I'm sure he'll be fine."

"...we'll bring someone to keep an eye on him," Ahsoka muttered, quickly removing her datapad and typing out a short message. "Are you ready to go?"

"That depends," Kenobi drawled. "Did you bring a speeder, or are you going to make me walk like some filthy peasant?"

"Well now I want to make you walk," Ahsoka said as she tossed the speeder's ignition fob to Kanan and waved him and the Sith acolytes off. "Come, my Lord," she said with a mocking bow. "It's a long walk back to the base."


"I don't understand why they brought me on this mission," Kallas finally said after over an hour of sullen silence, the former Imperial sitting in an armchair and looking out the viewport at the swirl of hyperspace, and lounging on the bed, Zeb propped himself up, barely able to stave off a threatening grin from the relief of his brooding charge breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Ahsoka thought you'd be useful," Zeb said swiftly, almost too eagerly as he jumped up from the bed and strode to stand beside Kallus. "You've fought Saw before."

"I didn't fight him, I fought his Partisans," Kallus mumbled. "And it wasn't a fight, it was a slaughter. I can't imagine what sort of use that kind of loss would be to us here."

"I...d-don't know..." Zeb stuttered, his ears flattening against his head as he awkwardly rubbed at the back of his neck. "Ahsoka doesn't exactly tell us why she does things. She's kinda like that. But if she wanted you here, she's got a damn good reason for it." Kallus was silent, and Zeb was desperate not to fall back into another silent rut. Placing his hand upon the human's shoulder, he felt the strong muscle tense for only a second before Kallus seemed to shudder, his entire being relaxing beneath his grasp and leaning ever so slightly into his touch.

Zeb was quite certain that Kallus could have heard his heart suddenly begin pounding, though he wasn't entirely certain why.

"We aren't even going there to fight Saw," Zeb said as soothingly as he was able, though the low, rough growl of his voice didn't quite sound the way he had intended. "We're just going to get information. Or something. Might be a test for you. The Jedi love their tests." Kallus exhaled a short, soft laugh, a slight smile creeping across his face, the first one Zeb had ever seen upon the former Imperial's face, and his hand tensed, his padded fingers kneading into the pliant muscle of Kallus' shoulder.

"Yeah, maybe..." Kallus sighed, his gaze finally tearing away from the viewport to glance up at the Lasat. "I've never worked with a Jedi before. Before the other day, I mean."

"Well, you'll get your fill of them, running with us," Zeb said flippantly, rolling his eyes despite the wide grin that spread across his face. "They're difficult and irritating. I give it three weeks before you have enough of their insanity and go crawling back to the Empire."

"Unless I find something else to keep me here?" Kallus asked, his eyes locking with Zeb's, and the Lasat swallowed hard, the room suddenly much hotter than it was a moment ago.

"Y-yeah, I suppose so..." Zeb stammered, and he nearly bit down on his tongue when Kallus' hand reached up and lightly laid over his own.

"I've already found that," Kallus whispered, his attention returning to the viewport, seemingly oblivious to the restless clenching of the hand beneath his own. "I can't return to the Empire. Not after everything that's happened. Not even knowing it won't last long..."

"Of course it'll last," Zeb scoffed. "We're going to win the fight against the Empire, we-"

"You can't honestly believe that..." Kallus said flatly as he looked back up at the Lasat, and in his eyes, Zeb could see a haunting hopelessness as he seemed to look right through him, like the human had seen the future and knew what it had in store. "After everything that's happened, after everything you've lost, do you really think any of you have a chance against Thrawn?"

"Kenobi has a plan," Zeb said quickly, the low growl of his voice filled with a confidence that took Kallus off guard. "He got in and out of Thrawn's base of operations, and he got you out of there, didn't he? If anyone can beat Thrawn, it's him."

"Maybe you're right," Kallus said with a shrug. "But maybe you're wrong. I saw things," he said in haunted, quivering voice. "In the cave, or whatever hell we passed through to get to Lothal. I saw..." Kallus' words caught as his throat tightened, his face paling and a small, unsteady smile touching the edge of his lips when Zeb knelt before him, his steadying hand grasping tightly onto the trembling human's shoulder. "I don't know what I saw..." Kallus said in a small, meek voice, though looking at the Lasat, he knew that Zeb had seen right through the lie.

"Don't know nothin' about Force stuff..." Zeb said sheepishly. "But not too long back, all Kenobi could see for months was how he died. The thing he was seeing happened and, well..." He shrugged. "Bastard's still alive, isn't he?"

"It seemed so real, it felt like I was actually there..." Kallus muttered, his hand laying over his chest. "I felt it. Right here. Maybe by some miracle, Thrawn won't be the end of the rebellion, but he will be the end of me."

"I won't let that happen," Zeb said firmly. "He'll have to go through me first. Thrawn's taken too much from us already. I won't let him take any more. Besides..." Zeb said with a grin as he lightly punched the morose human's shoulder. "You're the first thing we've stolen from him. I bet that kills him."

"I doubt he cares much about losing me," Kallus said, a small, wry smirk crossing his face, and Zeb exhaled the breath he didn't know he was holding, the tension fading in an instant with the renewed pounding of his heart. "But the Defender plans?" He chuckled. "Yeah, he hates that."

"He's gonna have to get used to it. That isn't the last thing we're going to steal from him."

"Is that why we're out here?" Kallus asked, his voice going distant again as he once again looked out the viewport. "Is Gerrera's information going to give us an edge in out fight against Thrawn?"

"Maybe so," Zeb said with a shrug. "Ahsoka was vague on exactly what it is, but it's important. That much is certain."

"Hm..." Kallus hummed softly, silence once again filling the space between them, and Zeb's ears flattened against his head, suddenly feeling very awkward and very foolish, though he couldn't quite place why. The silence scratched at the back of his skull, and the Lasat quickly tried to find something, anything, to end the awful silence, though everything that leapt to his mind were things that were absolutely not to be shared, things that if spoken would have made that overwhelming silence preferable to the awkwardness that was certain to follow...

"Geonosis..." Kallus muttered, gratefully breaking the silence that had the Lasat feeling restless and light-headed. "The last time I was there, my entire life changed."

"O-oh yeah?" Zeb stammered. "When was that?" he asked, and he felt like an idiot as soon as he said it, a slight, unsteady smile at the edge of Kallus' lips that made him feel like the worst being in the entire galaxy. Of course he knew when, he had been there with him. Why else would Kallus have cause to be on desolate, lifeless Geonosis or it's equally inhospitable moons?

"You might not think about it much," Kallus said almost too casually. "But I do. There isn't a moment that passes when it isn't on my mind. You saved my life that day."

"You saved Sabine Wren from Thrawn," Zeb said quickly, too quickly, he thought, wincing slightly when he heard the slight edge of anxiety and panic in his voice. "We're even now."

"This isn't about being even," Kallus muttered, and with a short sigh, he rose from the chair, stretched his arms above his head, and looked back at the uncomfortable Lasat. "We've been enemies for a long time. After my part in the execution of your people, you certainly had no reason to save my life. But you did." A small smile touched Kallus' lips as he averted his eyes, and Zeb could see the faintest flush color the man's face. "The Empire wouldn't have been so gracious. I wouldn't have been so gracious, were our roles reversed."

"Good thing they weren't," Zeb said with a nervous chuckle as he rubbed the back of his neck, and Kallus game him an apologetic glance."

"I joined the Empire," Kallus said quietly, "to protect people. To help bring order to a galaxy left in tatters by the chaos of the Clone Wars." He gave a short, bitter laugh, his gaze again dropping to stare resolutely at his feet. "Your rebels scoured the system to find you. I don't even think the Imperials knew I was gone. I don't think I knew the harm I had done in the name of the Empire until I realized how little I meant to them."

For a long moment, Zeb was silent, unable to look away from the reticent Kallus, and before he knew what he was doing, he had grabbed hold of the agent's shoulder and gently pulled the smaller man against him, his heart skipping when Kallus' shoulders sagged with a long sigh, his head leaning against his chest. Closing his own eyes, Zeb quietly reveled in how very alike their night on Bahryn this was, but how very different it felt. Even without having been together in all that time, something had changed between them, something had grown without Zeb even noticing. Perhaps Kallus knew, but he certainly hadn't seen it until Kanan had dragged him back from Lothal.

Zeb still didn't quite understand what exactly it was.

"So, uh, I've been thinking..." Zeb quietly stammered, feeling awkward and foolish as his face began to war, once again desperate for something to fill the silence. "Now that you're here where you belong, you should have your bo-rifle back." He paused, waiting for Kallus to say something, but the man remained silent. The Lasat growled. "You know...the bo-rifle you won from the Honor Guard..."

"I know," Kallus said quietly, his voice muffled by Zeb's chest.

"I-I have it back on the Ghost," Zeb said swiftly. "When we get back from the mission-"

"This is your captain speaking," a smooth draw coming from the ship-wide intercom interrupted just as Zeb felt the change in the very air around them, the swirl of blue and white outside the viewport snapping back into points of stars and the black of space as they dropped out of hyperspace. "Just a friendly reminder, children, that I don't allow sex on my ship."

"I know that!" Zeb snapped at the air as he swiftly let go of Kallus, his teeth clenched tightly together as he snarled and exposed his fangs, as if the absent Sith Lord was standing before him. He may as well have been. Zeb was certain that even though he wasn't there, Kenobi somehow was able to see them none the less. "Why would you even bring that up, huh?!"

"Oh, no reason," Kenobi said dismissively, and Zeb could feel his fur stand on end at the smugness of the Sith's tone. He knew, he always knew. His eyes shot over to Kallus, who didn't seem at all bothered, and Zeb's ears flattened against his head. He had always been so reactive, no wonder he had felt like such an idiot the entire afternoon. Once, just once, he wished he could have had some of Kallus' calm and poise.

"We've arrived?" Kallus asked quietly as he slung his blaster rifle over his shoulder.

"Not quite," Obi-Wan replied. "We're about half hour out from Geonosis. We dropped out a little early so we could make a stealth approach. We don't want to scare Saw away if he's got eyes open for company."

"Do we have the ability to do that?" Kallus asked, and a short, scornful laugh came over the intercom.

"Sweetheart, what ship do you think you're on?" Kenobi asked in a sickly sweet voice that dripped with scorn. "The Umbra has the finest stealth system in the galaxy. They don't call me the Shadow King for nothing."

"Oh, is that why?" a wry female voice said over the intercom. "I thought it was because you make other people do all your work for you while you hide and call yourself king."

"Ahsoka, what is it exactly that you think a king does?" Kenobi sneered, and the intercom quickly cut off, the conversation apparently over.

"Shall we go to the bridge?" Kallus asked, and Zeb quickly nodded, muttered a quick and hesitant "Y-yeah," before following the man out of the room and quickly fell in step beside him as they made their way down the hallway toward the bridge. Again, there was silence between them, as uncomfortable for Zeb as ever, though Kallus seemed perfectly at ease, comfortable with the silence as much as the Lasat was made anxious by it. He wanted to say something to the former Imperial, who had been so open and vulnerable not ten minutes ago, but he didn't know what.

Zeb hated uncertainty.

"Listen, about Kenobi..." Zeb grumbled with an aggravated growl as he scratched at the back of his neck. "He's just like that. With everyone, for no reason at all. You can just ignore him." Kallus said nothing, and Zeb couldn't stomach the idea of allowing the frustrating Sith's words to continue to hang between them, so instead of stopping it, he pressed on. "Everything with him is just...look, he pretends to see and feel everything, but he can't actually..." He huffed, uncertain of where he was going with this, and quite sure that he was only making things worse by validating Kenobi's idiocy with any attention at all. "The Force just...it doesn't work like that!"

"He's not wrong," Kallus said with a casual shrug, and everything that Zeb could have said went straight out the viewport. Kallus looked up at the Lasat, a sly smirk on his face as he met Zeb's wide green eyes. "What? Is that so surprising?"

"Is...I-is what surprising?" Zeb stammered, half uncertain of what he was supposed to be surprised about, and half...something else that twisted his stomach into nervous knots.

"You changed my life," Kallus said quietly, his steady pace slowing to a shuffle as he glanced up at the Lasat. "There hasn't been a moment when you haven't been on my mind since I became a Fulcrum for your rebels. Of course I'd come to have feelings for you." A wry smirk crossed Kallus' lips as he watched Zeb stumble over his feet, barely catching himself from falling, those wide green eyes fixed upon him and his jaw slack.

"How...h-how-"

"I saw how I die, Zeb," Kallus said in a casual voice at odds with the weight of the subject. "In the Jedi Temple on Lothal, or in the cave on Atollon, or in whatever the hell is between them. I don't know if what I saw was a warning of a possible future, or a vision of an inescapable fate, but it seems foolish to hesitate when there might not be time to waste on deciding if I should or should not say anything." He shrugged and turned a slight smile up at the flustered Lasat. "What do I have to lose at this point?"

"A fine sentiment, if I've ever heard one," a languid draw spoke, and Zeb tensed, his teeth grinding together and his fur standing on end as he twitched and quickly looked away from Kallus and down the hall at Obi-Wan, the man's arms crossed over his chest as he casually leaned against the wall.

"Kenobi!" Zeb snarled, his fangs bared in a show of anger he desperately hoped concealed the swirl of other emotions burning in his chest. From the entirely amused look on the Sith Lord's face, it was clear he was unsuccessful. "How is it you always pop up at the least convenient times! What are you even doing here?"

"Uh, it's my ship, Zeb," Kenobi said with a roll of his eyes. "I go where I wish." He flashed Zeb a wide, devious grin. "Why? Am I interrupting something, dear?"

"No!" Zeb snapped. "No, we were just heading to the bridge! That's all!"

"Hm..." Obi-Wan hummed as he pushed off the wall and slowly sauntered toward the pair, his golden eyes slowly raking over the rigid Lasat and the at ease human. "Preliminary scans of the planet have turned up readings of a ship down on one of the old landing sites that we know belongs to Saw's Partisans."

"Do we know Saw is there?" Kallus asked quietly, the muscles in his neck tensing, and Kenobi closed his eyes and gave a small nod.

"He's there..." Kenobi said slowly. "Of course he's there. This isn't the sort of thing he'd leave to anybody else."

"What thing," Zeb asked, his voice calm and even now that he had the mission to focus on. All the rest...it could wait.

"Project Stardust," Kenobi said somberly, and the two other men stared at his as the air around them seemed to grow heavy and cold. "The Empire's dirty little secret began on Geonosis," Obi-Wan continued quietly. "Saw's finally found his way there. Several years after us, of course, but there's no accounting for that man's short-sightedness..."

"I've been in the Empire for a long time, and I've never heard of Stardust," Kallus said quietly.

"Of course you haven't," Kenobi scoffed. "It'd be a poor secret if everyone knew abut it, now wouldn't it?"

"But you and Ahsoka know about it, yeah?" Zeb asked the Sith Lord. "What do we know about the project?"

"Not enough..." Kenobi grumbled. "As I said, we were here years ago, and even then, we were too late. The project had already been relocated and the Empire destroyed all life on Geonosis to cover their tracks." A wry, bitter grin spread across Kenobi's face at the look of horror on the two men's faces. "There's nothing quite like a genocide to keep a secret safe..."

"Were my people not enough for the Empire?" Zeb snarled between tightly clenched teeth, his hand closed into a tight fist that shook at his side.

"No, they weren't," Obi-Wan said flatly. "Your people weren't the first, Zeb, and they won't be the last if we don't stop them. We don't know much about Stardust, information on it has been rare and very difficult to discover, but we do know it's bigger than anything we've seen before." He huffed, his arms crossing over his chest once again as his gaze flicked down to the floor for a moment before looking back at Zeb and Kallus. "Nightswan had information about it. I had hoped to join his information to ours, but you know how that went..."

"Thrawn killed him," Kallus whispered, and sharp golden eyes turned on him, and he found the Sith Lord's finger pointing accusingly at him.

"No, not Thrawn!" Kenobi hissed. "I know he was the commander sent to pacify Nightswan's rebels, but he isn't responsible for the destruction of Batonn."

"How-"

"I just know, Kallus," Obi-Wan interrupted. "There were too many civilian and Imperial casualties, and if you think Thrawn's capable of anything less than the surgical destruction of his enemies, you dangerously underestimate him." He flashed a tight grin at Kallus and patted the man on the cheek. "Ah, but you're just bringing up that tease to distract me, you know I can't resist that awful blue flirt..."

"Seems a bit weird to go after a guy that's trying to kill you," Zeb chortled, and Kenobi turned a wide, sinister grin on the Lasat.

"You're one to talk, dear. Correct me if I'm wrong, but your man helped the Empire execute the genocide of your people..." Kenobi said smoothly, beaming at the sudden discomfort of the two men before him. "But we're wildly off topic. We might not know much about Stardust, but we know more than Saw does, and he's entirely ignorant about his very personal connection to the fine pin holding the entire project together. I don't think it'll be very hard to get Saw to give us what we want."

"And if it is?" Kallus asked, a deep scowl crossing his face. "He isn't exactly known for being reasonable."

"Sweetheart..." Kenobi drawled as he leaned in toward the Fulcrum agent, a sly smirk upon his lips as the gold of his eyes was slowly lanced through with molten red. "Who do you think you're talking to?"


"Saw!"

He wore thick, heavy armor, which concealed the swift, startled flinch, though Ahsoka could feel the quick snap of his emotions, surprise quickly giving way to rage and murderous intent as he turned, his heavy blaster rifle raised and aimed right at her. Ahsoka said nothing, did nothing, showed no fear in his presence, only watched as almost startling green eyes narrowed as he aimed, grew wide with shock, and then softened as he lowered his weapon.

"Ahsoka Tano," Saw sais warmly as he took a step closer to the woman. "This is a surprise. I heard the Empire killed all the Jedi."

"They certainly gave it their best effort," Ahsoka said wryly.

"I'm pleased to see that you made it," Saw said with a smile. "If anyone could survive, it'd be you. The lessons you taught me back on Onderon help us fight back, even now."

"So I've heard..." Ahsoka said slowly.

"You could join us!" Saw swiftly said before Ahsoka could speak again. "If we had a Jedi on our side, we'd be unstoppable!" He paused, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked her over. "How did you know to find me here..."

"Because I trade in information," Ahsoka said quietly. "I've been working to organize a greater rebellion against the Empire by contacting smaller rebel cells such as yours and unifying them against a common cause."

"I'm hardly surprised you're still fighting the good fight," Saw chuckled. "So is that why you're here? To bring me and my Partisans into your rebel force?"

"...no," Ahsoka whispered, her eyes locked with Saw's and never once looking away. "The Partisans are too extreme for the rebellion we wish to lead."

"Too extreme?!" Saw scoffed disdainfully. "This is war, Ahsoka. We do what we must to win!"

"And in doing so, you create terror among those who might otherwise join an uprising against the tyranny of the Empire," Ahsoka said calmly. "We have to be better than the Empire. If we aren't, the people will cling to the order the Empire promises against the chaos of war that a rebellion will bring."

"We cannot win if we are soft!" Saw snapped. "We must match the Empire for ferocity or we will all be crushed!"

"If you use their methods, you stand to become just as tyrannical as they are," Ahsoka said. "But as I said, I'm not here to recruit you, and I'm certainly not here to argue about your methods."

"Then why are you here?" Saw said stiffly, his grasp on his weapon tightening.

"We're here for information," a smooth, male voice said from behind Ahsoka, and stepping out from around one of the bends in the Geonosian tunnels came Obi-Wan, his hands folded casually behind his back. Anger and betrayal flashed across Saw's face, and he quickly raised his blaster, pointing it at the Sith Lord's chest, and before he had a chance to squeeze the trigger, the weapon was torn from his grasp, the blaster moving swiftly on it's own to hover in the air before a smirking Kenobi. A series of swift clicks and snaps echoed through the air, the weapon turning over as it was swiftly disassembled, and with the slightest gesture of the Sith's fingers, the pieces of the rifle clattered to the ground.

"Now, now, none of that..." Obi-Wan mockingly chided with a disapproving shake of his head. "He's so violent..."

"The Negotiator?!" Saw snarled, betrayal and rage slicing through the Force as he reeled on a disaffected Ahsoka. "You allied with that Separatist filth?! After all he's done?!"

"As you said," Ahsoka said coldly. "Anything it takes to win..."

"And you dare criticize the way I choose to fight the Empire?" Saw scoffed. "How are you any different than me?"

"Better question," Obi-Wan interjected. "What are you doing here, Gerrera? It's been a long time since anything existed on Geonosis."

"And I suppose you know all about it!" Saw snapped as he shot a vicious glare at the Sith Lord. "You have something to do with the atrocity committed here?"

"You forget yourself, Saw," Obi-Wan said calmly, which only served to infuriate the rebel further. "It wasn't the Confederacy that became the Empire, if you'll recall. But you're right. I do know what happened here." A small smirk touched his lips as he leaned in closer toward the furious man. "But it wasn't me that did it."

"Who, then?" Saw asked, though a great deal of the anger had drained out of him, replaced instead by desperate curiosity.

"The Empire, obviously," Kenobi said with a dismissive flick of his hand. "Tarkin, more specifically. All done for the sake of preserving the secrecy of what it is they were doing here."

"Obi-Wan tried to expose what had been done here a few years ago," Ahsoka said somberly. "He dropped the bodies of the Geonosians on Coruscant in the middle of their Empire Day festivities. I didn't think something like that could be swept under the rug, but..." She shrugged, her shoulders dropping slightly in defeat. "The Empire managed to somehow cover that up well enough to keep it from spreading."

"...that's what sent me to Geonosis," Saw said grimly. "I only just found out about it. I thought he was responsible," he said, pointing to Kenobi, and the Sith Lord chuckled softly, giving a nonchalant shrug.

"Figures that would be the narrative good old Palpatine went with..." the Sith Lord sighed. "After all I've done for my dear former Master, you'd think he'd treat me better. Life is so unfair..."

"Oh, so you do have a hand in the Empire!" Saw snapped. "I'm hardly surprised. What is it you were doing here, Negotiator?"

"You don't have the information necessary to draw correct conclusions, Saw," Ahsoka said harshly. "You're inferences are flawed and do you no credit, so how about you stop talking so you can learn something."

"I'd love to," Saw said in a voice filled with bitter disdain as he turned his eyes back on the Sith Lord. "Well, Negotiator? You know what happened here. Let's hear it."

"Not so fast," Obi-Wan said, the amusement gone from his voice. "As I said, we're here for information, so what do you say to a trade?" A slow grin spread across Kenobi's lips as he leaned in toward Saw. "We'll tell you all about what the Empire's been building if you tell us where Jyn Erso is."

"Jyn Erso?" Saw repeated, drawing back slightly, his eyes widening slightly before they narrowed with suspicion. "What do you want with Jyn Erso?"

"Nothing," Ahsoka said quickly before Kenobi could get a word in. "This is a favor for one of my contacts, and last we heard, she was running with your Partisans."

"Sounds like your information network isn't very good!" Saw laughed, a snide grin spreading across his face. "Jyn hasn't been with us for years!"

"...excuse me?" Kenobi said flatly, his unwavering stare fixed on the suddenly very amused Saw Gerrera.

"People were starting to catch on," Saw explained in a slow, teasing drawl. "Figuring out who she is, drawing a lot of attention to the Partisans. We...parted ways. For the good of the cause."

"And who is she?" Ahsoka asked, feeling the blistering rage of the Sith Lord beside her slowly, carefully creep toward Saw, a slight grimace touching the rebel leader's face before he turned a disdainful look on the Togruta.

"If you don't know, then you don't need to know," Saw ground out.

"I didn't say I didn't know," was Ahsoka's measured reply. "I only wished to know who she is to you."

"She isn't anybody to him," Kenobi sneered with a dismissive wave of his hand as he turned away from Gerrera.

"You know nothing, Negotiator!" Saw snapped. "I raised that girl as my own!"

"And you abandoned her anyway!" Obi-Wan shot back. "Let's go, Ahsoka. We've wasted our time here, Saw's path to Jyn went cold long ago."

"Agreed..." Ahsoka said with a sigh. "We'll have to start from square one."

"Not so fast!" Saw said in a harsh, raised voice, and Ahsoka laid her hand on Kenobi's arm as she turned to face Saw, the Force snapping cold with the quick flood of the Dark Side. "Your part of the bargain, Negotiator," Saw growled, and Kenobi laughed, a cold, humorless thing.

"We agreed to an exchange of information," Obi-Wan said in a sweet, smooth tone. "You gave us nothing, and nothing gets you nothing."

"That ain't how it works, Negotiator," Saw said with a wide grin, his hand tightly clasping a comlink. "If you don't have any information, then you're of no use to me."

"Saw..." Ahsoka said quietly. "Don't do this."

"If you're going to throw your lot in with that scum, than you're no better than him!" Saw said bitterly as he raised his comlink and held down the transmission button. "Boys, the Negotiator's come out to play," Saw said into the device. "Converge on my location and let's make this bastard face judgement." A swift chorus of acknowledgment came over the com before the feed swiftly cut, and Saw turned a hard, angry gaze on the Sith Lord.

"You really want to go down this path, fool?" Kenobi asked quietly as he put himself between Ahsoka and Saw, and the rebel leader only laughed as he pulled another blaster from a holster at his lower back.

"The moment you showed up, this became the only path," Saw hissed. "You really think I'd let you leave?"

"Do you really think what you'd allow matters at all?" the Sith Lord scoffed disdainfully. "Put that away before you hurt yourself. Drawing a blaster on me didn't work before and it won't work now."

"It will," Saw said flatly. "I'm ready for you this time, and my men are on the way. I think you'll find the Partisans far harder to kill than the Stormtroopers you're so used to fighting."

"I think you gravely underestimate how fragile you mortals are," the Sith said with a sinister grin, the gold of his eyes quickly shifting to red as he folded his hands behind his back. "You are all insects before the power of the Dark Side."

"I wonder how many Jedi believed absolutely in the power of the Force before they were slaughtered like animals," Saw said with a grin as his blaster whined as it was primed.

"A very great deal of them," Kenobi quietly responded. "But of all the lives taken in that slaughter, not a single one was Sith."

"You were right, Kenobi..." Ahsoka said with a sigh as she wearily took the comlink off her belt and activated the device. "Fulcrum," she said quietly into the device. "The Partisans are headed your way. Do you see them?"

"I do," Kallus' voice came over the static of the com. "Maybe thirty or so."

"Understood," Ahsoka said, her face hardening as she slowly took her lightsaber off her belt. "Kill them all. I'll be with you shortly to help finish the job."

"Oh, it'll be my absolute pleasure," Kallus said darkly, the com shutting off at the sound of a bo-rifle powering up, and Ahsoka tucked the device away and took her other lightsaber from her belt. "Kenobi," she whispered as she turned away from Saw and the Sith Lord. "I'll leave it to you to do what you believe must be done." Without another word, her lightsabers igniting with a snapping hiss and a brilliant flash of white and green, Ahsoka ran out of the tunnels, leaving Kenobi and Saw alone, the two men's eyes locked and Saw's weapon leveled right at the Sith's heart.

"You really think you can draw your lightsabers before I fire, old man?" Saw quietly growled, and the Sith only smirked.

"You think I need my sabers to stop you, fool?" Kenobi countered, and with a disgusted scoff, Saw quickly fired two shots and both bolts of red energy hung suspended in the air, as if time itself had stopped, the plasma crackling and jumping as if struggling to continue forward. Before he could recover from the shock of it and fire again, Saw was slammed to the ground, his face striking stone, and he felt hot blood trickle down from the newly formed gash on his forehead. Groaning as he heard the sharp whine of blaster fire and the hard impact of plasma striking shattering stone, he began to lift himself up, reaching for the blaster that had been knocked out of his hand, and quickly found himself lifted into the air, his feet only barely scraping the ground as he looked into the blazing red eyes of the Negotiator.

"I once worked with Cham Syndulla, for a short time," Lumis said quietly, his face impassive as he looked into struggling Saw's face. "An extremist, like you, who saw fit to destroy everything he worked for in a futile effort to kill the Emperor and his Sith servants. His failure left Ryloth worse off than it had ever been, and deprived the rebellion the strength of a powerful ally." He scoffed, his eyes closing as he bowed his head. "His actions directly led to the circumstances that would eventually lead to his death, when his efforts to reclaim the planet he lost called in an opponent far above his ability to defeat." He sighed and looked back up at the furious Saw. "Sometimes I wonder what our rebellion would look like now, had Cham not been such a fool and lent us the full strength of his Free Ryloth movement, instead of leading them to pointless deaths." A slight smile touched his lips as he took a step back from the suspended man. "Now, I wonder the same thing of you."

"I never would have joined forces with you, Negotiator!" Saw spat as he kicked and struggled, his armored feet kicking rivets in the hard earth beneath him.

"No, you wouldn't have," Lumis agreed. "Nor would I have allowed it. This is the lesson that Cham Syndulla taught me. Rogue elements must be destroyed before they infect the whole." With a wide grim, he pat Saw on the cheek, quickly taking his hand away when the man tried to bite him. "I've already rifled through your mind. I've seen your base on Jedha, and after you and your men are dead, we'll be going there to destroy the rest of your Partisans and seize your assets. That, Saw, is how you best serve the rebellion."

"I'm not going down without a fight!" Saw growled as he renewed his struggling. "None of us are!"

"Oh, no, your fight is already over, Saw," Lumis said as he rapped his fingers against the rebel's hard armor. "I know I once led the Confederacy, but I've always detested droids, and you armor yourself like one." A sinister grin spread across Lumis' face as he raised his hand, the struggling Saw rising higher into the air. "Shall I demonstrate my favorite method of destroying them?" He didn't wait for Saw to answer, slowly closing his open hand into a fist, and the hard, green armor shell Saw wore began to dent and cave in under the crushing weight of the Force. Wrath quicky turned to terror as Saw renewed his struggling, his furious curses becoming cries of pain and panic as crushed metal cut into his skin and pressed hard against his chest, restricting his ability to breathe.

It didn't need to take long, but Lumis worked painstakingly slow, indulging in the abject fear that howled through the Force and fed the ravenous Dark Side, the rush of power brought on by letting slack his grip on the chains of the dark beasts making him feel intoxicated as he stood before the void and gazed deep within. The Dark Side roared, but standing in the eye of the storm, the Sith Master felt only the calm, cold silence of the abyss, heard only the wet snapping of bones as Saw's ribs were cracked and his chest caved in, and when he opened his eyes, his shaking hand clenched in a tight fist, Saw Gerrera's body hung still and limp in the air before him, his armor hopelessly crushed and blood dripping steadily into a thick pool beneath him through the splintered openings in his broken armor.

Exhaling a shuddering breath, Lumis ran his shaking hand through his hair, taking a moment to calm the euphoric thrill that sang so sweetly through the Dark Side that ran so thick through his veins before he turned and walked out of the Geonosian tunnels, letting Saw's body drop with a wet, heavy thud to the blood soaked ground. By now, Ahsoka, Kallus and Zeb had surely made short work of the Partisans, but Darth Lumis could always hope that they at least left some of the fun for him.


It was dark when the Ghost returned to Chopper Base, and with a sinking feeling in his heart, Kanan rose to his feet and slowly walked toward where the ship was landing. Nothing he thought to tell Hera over the past few hours had been sufficient, nothing had sounded or felt right, and now that she had returned, he had no plan, only the knowledge that no matter what he said, it wouldn't be enough, wouldn't be what was needed to ease the pain he knew she would feel.

He stopped in front of the ship and waited, still and silent as it powered down and ran through the post-landing sequence of checks. With a hiss, the boarding ramp lowered, and Hera walked down, stopped halfway when she saw Kanan, and with a sigh of relief, ran the rest of the war and threw her arms around him.

"I knew you'd be fine, but damn if I wasn't worried anyway," Hera said as she pulled away from him, flashing him a warm smile that quickly faded when Kanan didn't return the gesture and didn't meet her eyes. "Kanan," Hera said firmly, her hand resting upon his cheek. "What's wrong?"

Kanan chuckled softly, a weak, hollow thing, his eyes shutting tightly for a moment before he finally looked at the concerned Twi'lek. "I'm sorry, Hera," he managed to say through the tightness in his throat. "Chopper didn't make it back."

For a long moment, Hera just stared at him, her jaw slack and her head slowly shaking in disbelief. Then, with Kanan's fingers lightly stroking the back of her neck, she placed her head on his chest and held him tight as grief for her lost, long time friend washed over her.