A/N: Hello Everyone! Thank you so much to everyone who read, followed, favorited, and reviewed. I know I say it every chapter but I really do love you all.

Ichigo urahara Shihoin:No. Padme is not alive in this fic. That scene last chapter was Ahsoka's idea of what might have happened to Anakin. Which, of course, is not remotely true. ;) Fangtasia21: She knew about Anakin's past as a slave. She just doesn't know about what happened in AOTC on Tatooine. Anakin told NO ONE about that. Only he and Padme knew. And given that that was the only time he ever met Owen at all… she doesn't know about him specifically. Hope this clears some things up! Themugglepadme24: I'm glad to be back! Everyone…definitely…has stuff happening… Anakin included… Other than that, spoilers! *Evil author laughter* Odeclock: ch. 1: Thanks! I do tend to write a lot of AUs lol. Ch. 2: Oh definitely. A lot has happened very quickly. Leia needs time to process, Anakin just needs… general help, and Luke has massive shoes to fill reviving the Order. Ch. 3: I do love that little nerd. Ch. 4: Yeah… he very much was. Sidious started working on him when he was nine. Nine. Maul wasn't kidding when he said Anakin was groomed. How Obi-Wan didn't put a stop to it is… tragically more easily explained than I would like it to be. Ch. 8: No, she very much isn't. She has her own issues and they will continue to be a problem. Ch 11: Luke didn't realize that was a secret lol. Meanwhile Anakin isn't mentioning their connection to respect Leia's privacy and hopefully avoid messing up her life by association. Ch. 13: Oh, he very much did. People can blame the fight choreography in the OT all they want, the fact remains that Vader was not fighting at his best in those duels. Luke winning those by merit alone is impossible, and narratively unnecessary. Ch. 14: Yeeeep :) Ch. 15: Sidious is not around, but just because an abuser is dead, doesn't mean the power they hold over their victim is gone. Ch. 16: Someone will soon enough, once the Order has sorted that out for themselves. Granted, Obi-Wan sat around ducking out for most of the OT, so he's kind of in the habit lol. Ch. 20: More like:

Anakin with gold eyes about to choke him out: I hear you didn't take out the garbage

Ch. 21: Yeah, it did. Ironically, that's where what little knowledge Ahsoka has came from. She was able to find a few scraps in old temple ruins. Ch. 22: Hey, he knows she'll show up to a fight lol Ch. 25: They do indeed. The disconnect is unfortunate, but there was no way he was going to tell Obi-Wan (or anyone not directly involved) about the events of AOTC, especially since he was under direct orders not to go there. Hope you keep reading!

Stevonnie-U: Sneaking places and getting captured in an attempt to fix other people's messes?.. Yep! Sounds like this family to me lol! Courtesy Trefflin: I'm so glad you like it! I'm trying to do justice to all the available source material, which does get hard when it's still coming out lol. Ironically, no matter how much Ahsoka tries to piece things together, she isn't going to get it right because she is starting from a few fundamentally wrong assumptions: Sidious caused his mutilations, those mutilations were the cause of his fall (or at least involved in it a lot more than they were), and more subconsciously, Anakin didn't choose. She wants to remove any responsibility he could bear for his actions because the alternative is accepting Vader as something he was, something he did, rather than something done to him. The past is viewed through rose-colored lenses and she will fight tooth and nail to keep those glasses on. Korkie has… his own rabbit hole to go down lol. I hope you keep enjoying what I have to offer, and that you keep reading for a long time to come Enjoy!

I do not own Star Wars or it's characters.

Chapter 26

The plan was made easily enough. Star Destroyers were all of a standard layout, after all, so they had a map to work from. Consequently, they also had standard weak points and vulnerabilities. True, some officers were aware of these and coordinated security accordingly, but waiting to try to do reconnaissance would just burn time they didn't have. The plan was made on the way, staring at a map from R2D2's hard drives.

They would land in a lesser hanger, leaving a man behind to watch the ship, then make there way inside. The cell number would likely be on a terminal, and from there they could find the detention block, rescue Kryze, and escape.

If their presence was noticed before they rescued him, he would likely be immediately shot, so stealth was paramount in the first half. This would be the most difficult part.

They found a computer terminal in a small guard room. Once the troopers inside were dead it was time for the next, possibly easiest, part of the plan.

Luke gestured to the small droid. "R2, come unlock this."

Ever obedient, it rolled over to the terminal and got to work, inserting its data spike and twisting it back and forth as it attempted to connect to the terminal.

He continued, "We need the cell number of the mandalorian prisoner. Last name Kryze. Hopefully he's the most recent."

Several of Sabine's companions took up post by the door, ready in case anyone came along.

The seconds ticked by, turning into one minute, two.

"Come on, we don't have all day." Muttered one man under his breath.

A chime emitted from the terminal, and writing appeared on the screen.

"There you go R2!" Luke praised. "I knew you could do it!"

The man rolled his eyes under his helmet. Maybe it was just a Jedi thing to be irrationally affectionate with droids.

The trip down to the detention level was harder. Try as they might they ran into several patrols, and it was getting harder to hide the bodies. They also suspected that the decreased traffic on the ship's internal comm channels was likely getting suspicious.

Finally they found it in the row of cells, a windowless black door recessed into the wall, down a couple of stairs. After double-checking the number, everyone drew their weapons, and they opened the door.

A man was inside, hanging from a scaffolding in magnetic binders. He was young-ish, perhaps not quite forty, with distinctive reddish-blond hair, kind blue eyes, and a long aquiline face.

Kanall Kryze, Luke assumed.

There were two guards in the room, presumably conducting the interrogation, but they were quickly dispatched by a few well-placed blaster bolts.

Korkie, for his part having already assumed that he was going to die here, was shocked to see a small group of apparent allies suddenly appear in the doorway.

"Well, hello there." He said, making an effort to sound casual.

"Room's clear." Said one of the mandalorians as she finished clearing the corners. At her pronouncement the rest of the party moved inside and got to work.

"Has anyone alerted command? Bo-Katan, my family… they need to be moved!"

One of the madalorians moved around to the terminal, getting to work spicing in and cutting him down from the cuffs.

Sabine spoke reassuringly, getting on the terminal. "Don't worry. She's been told." She was both trying to access any intel she could, and delete anything he might have told them. "Did they get any information from you?"

"I don't know what I told them. They pumped me so full of truth serum I could hardly think. Anything that we can change, we need to."

"What are you even doing here?"

"I'm after Gideon."

"Gideon? He's on this ship?" Sabine responded in slight shock. Of all the high profile, vital missions he could have been on, that one hadn't even crossed her mind. But still… "Why would you come here alone?!"
"I will not risk other people's lives on a plan so likely to fail." He continued, "I had reliable intel that he was on this ship, but I haven't seen him since I got here. I suspect he isn't here, or never was. He couldn't have resisted gloating if he had the chance."

He fell out of the cuffs. Ahsoka just barely caught him before he could collapse on the floor.

"Master Tano. It's been a long time."

"Yes it has."

One of the armored figures held out a couple of blasters they had brought for him. He took them with thanks and set them aside while he continued working on a quick recovery.

Kanall nodded toward Luke, while still massaging the circulation back into his hands, "Who's this?"

Sabine motioned dismissively, still focused on wiping or accessing any information she could. "Oh, that's Luke Skywalker. He came along to help."

"Luke Skywalker?" 'Korkie' was impressed. "You're the one who blew up the death star, aren't you. I hear you're higher on the Empire's wanted list than I am!"

Luke smiled at him. "Yeah, I guess."

"Always an honor to meet a Jedi." He returned the half-joking look. "And a fellow terrorist." He paused, returning his focus to the mission and the other mandalorians. "They took my armor."

Sabine nodded. "Alright. Don't worry, it just means that we amend the plan."

Their 'in and out' rescue mission seemed dangerously close to getting sidetracked. Luke broke in, "Come on, do you really need it? I mean, you can always get some more armor, right? We should be focusing on getting out of here."

The Mandalorians all turned to stare at him momentarily, then returned to their conversation.

"There's nothing about it in your file. Where is the beskar?" Sabine asked.

"I'm not sure. In either a storeroom or one of the officer's offices would be my guess."

"One of the guards might know."

Well, clearly there was no dissuading them. Might as well get it over with. Luke broke into their conversation. "I'll handle this."

He sneaked down the hall, popping out right in front of one of the guards. He couldn't risk the man having time to alert anyone. "You will not call anyone." He said, using the Force to influence the guard's mind.

"I… will not… call anyone."

"You will tell me where the Mandalorian prisoner's armor is stored."

"I will… tell you…"

"Where is the armor?"

"…The admiral's office…"

"Where is that?"

"Forth level… room 4768…"

"You will tell no one of this conversation."

"I will… tell no one…"

"You will forget about this and return to your post."

"…I…will…"

The man wandered off, and Luke returned to the others.

He was quite pleased. That had gone much better than his attempt at Jabba's.

"It's is in the admiral's office, forth level, room 4768."

Ahsoka looked at him proudly. Most impressive, She projected, clearly not wanting to say such things around their current companions.

"Kryze shouldn't come." Sabine seemed to have come to a conclusion. "I'm sorry, sir. I can't afford to risk your life further. How would I explain to your aunt if you died now?" She paused. "Luke, would you please take him back to the ship? We'll get the beskar and meet you both there."

Korkie nodded, seeing the wisdom of the idea. "Very well."

Luke was very aware of the trust evidenced by the charge. "We'll meet you there." He finished on their way out the door.

They fought their way back, hiding when they could, fighting when they had too. The patrols were becoming more frequent, almost suspiciously so, as if they were trying to push the pair in a specific direction.

Luke told himself he was just being paranoid.

It wasn't, but it felt like it was hours before the hanger was in sight. The doors were still open, their ship easily visible from the hallway. For a second they thought the rest might go smoothly.

Korkie had barely made it through when the hanger doors closed, an unexpected obstacle.

Not a difficult one, however. Luke activated his lightsaber and got to work cutting through it.

A second and third set of doors closed over the first, covered by a ray shield. Access was entirely blocked by that route.

"I'll meet you over there!" Luke yelled through the door before getting to work finding another way in.

Similar to the last Imperial station he had visited, to his right there was a set of stairs leading up to a control room. He quickly took them, finding himself in a small security room.

On the wall was a weapons cabinet, full of spare blaster rifles in case of attack. In front of him was a control bank and chairs for technicians.

What got his attention, though, was the picture window above it, offering a clear view into the hanger.

Troopers surrounded the ship and filled the room. Accompanying them was an officer, an admiral, Luke thought, from his insignia.

Korkie had been captured.

"Why have you come here?" The officer asked him.

Luke scanned the room for an opening as stormtroopers forced the man to his knees, hands behind his head.

Korkie, for his part, seemed remarkably undeterred by this. He glared determinedly up at the admiral as the man approached him. "Where is Moff Gideon?"

"What could a savage like yourself possibly want with an Imperial Moff?"

"I want a lot of things. The restoration of our planet, the beskar you stole from us and melted down, and our ancient pride and heritage intact. I want revenge for every man, woman, child, and warrior that your Empire has murdered. I want the Rebellion to win, and the restoration of the Republic. But for now I will settle for single combat with Moff Gideon, for the honor of Clan Kryze and for our property that he stole."

"Well. I shall be sure to let him know." The Admiral lifted one amused brow. "Perhaps he will be interested. In the meantime, you will be killed as the terrorist you are. The bounty money on you will get me some wonderful new furniture for my cabin."

"He has no right to that weapon!" Regaining his calm, Korkie completed his challenge. "Tell him to come fight me, if he is anything more than the worst kind of coward."

"As you are to be finally executed, I will tell him nothing. Kanall Kryze, you are hearby sentenced to death for crimes against the Emperor and terrorist acts against the Empire at large. The sentence is to be carried out immediately. Present blasters."

A quick succession of clicks proved the guns were ready.

Korkie smiled, starting to laugh under his breath.

"What's so funny, Kryze?"

"Your Empire is crumbling underneath you and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Whatever happens to me today, your days are numbered. How does that feel, Admiral? To know that it's all coming to an end? Are you looking forward to the wrong end of a tribunal? Are you looking forward to the Republic executing you for treason?" He lifted his head, making triumphant eye contact while he smiled. "No matter what, We. Will. Win."

"Regardless, you shall not live to see it. Ready… Aim…"

"What about the rest of you? You know, I hear the Rebellion offers pardons to defectors. I know for a fact that they take stormtroopers. You don't have to die with your commanders."

In desperation, Luke sliced an X in the glass and leapt through. Korkie spotted him falling on top of him and rolled out of the way with surprisingly quick reflexes, and Luke landed in front of him just in time to block the shots.

Wordlessly, he quickly Force-pulled a couple of blasters from the hands of their shocked owners, being careful that they landed near enough that Korkie could quickly grab them.

"I didn't know if you were going to show up." He half-joked.

"Well, you know. I didn't have anything better to do." Luke replied in kind.

He glanced over to where Korkie was regaining his feet, shooting trooper after trooper with remarkable marksmanship.

Luke reflected bolts back at the enemy while shielding his partner, a maneuver he and Han had developed fighting together. It was an effective strategy, and they slowly edged around to the ship's entrance while fighting.

The admiral escaped out the door, protected by his men. The mandalorian made no effort to stop him. As he was no longer a threat, neither did the Jedi.

Finally it was over.

"That was close." Luke said.

Korkie walked over to one of the stormtroopers, gazing down at him sadly. "I always do try to offer them a way out. They never take it." He knelt and got started relieving the body of weapons, strapping the armor over his prisoner's jumpsuit for some minimal amount of protection. It was cheap, terrible quality, bearing out every stereotype he had ever heard about it, but it was better than nothing. It was "military grade," shorthand for "lowest-bidder."

He wouldn't touch that helmet, but he'd wear the armor for a few minutes.

Luke, meanwhile, had found their ship's guard. "I found our guard. He's dead."

"Someone will have to tell his family." Korkie responded, rifling through the other bodies for their blasters, emptying them and stashing the spare chargepacks just in case there was another firefight.

He got on his comm to alert the others to what had happened, then there was little to do but wait.

"You mentioned you have a family earlier, didn't you?"

"Yes. A wife, two children... I hope they're all right after this."

They moved over to sit on the entrance ramp, now taking the place of the guard. They had to keep a lookout, but otherwise the dead time was remarkably boring.

"Can I ask you a question?" Korkie said.

"Now?"

"Well, you don't get a lot of opportunities to ask Jedi questions." He paused, then continued, evidently taking Luke's silence as assent. "How do your abilities work? The Force, and everything?"

He hadn't explained this often, but at least he had Obi-Wan and Yoda's explanations to work from. "The Force is everywhere. It surrounds us, and penetrates us, binds the galaxy together. It flows, like a current. Force Wielders have a special connection to it. They can sense that flow and manipulate it." He lifted a crate nearby to demonstrate, moving it as he spoke. "It's like water displacement. You manipulate the object's position by manipulating the flow of the Force around it."

Korkie watched with clear interest. "Is there a way to tell? You know, if someone is, uh… what's the word? They have the Force, or whatever?"

"'Force-sensitive.'" Luke corrected. "Why do you want to know?"

"Just curious. Like I said, you don't often get to ask Jedi things."

"Yes, there is. Nothing definite, but there are a few signs. They tend to be unusually good with ranged weapons: able to make statistically impossible shots easily, quickly proficient with weapons they haven't ever encountered before. They have quick reflexes, strangely so. Again, going above what normal people can do. Excellent pilots. It's all really a matter of degree. Force-sensitives are also empathic, especially with people they are close to, so they may be very attuned, or even sensitive and reactive to what people around them are feeling. Sometimes there's a tense situation where they display more obvious abilities, but from I hear that isn't typical. Master Tano once mentioned something about a blood test too, but I don't know much about it."
Korkie looked oddly thoughtful. About what, Luke didn't know.

"How did you find out? About yourself?"
"There was a… Jedi… that lived near us. I didn't know he was a Jedi, of course, but he noticed what I was. He told me."
"What happened to him?"

That was still a sore point. More so since Vader had turned out to be more complicated than he had initially thought and so he no longer had an inhuman demon to blame for it. "He died. The Empire killed him."

Korkie didn't press the issue. It honestly would have been stranger these days if a story about a Jedi didn't end with his death.

He decided to go back to the previous topic. "And if… hypothetically…someone did run into someone who seemed to exhibit some of those traits…what would you recommend they do?"

"Contact the Jedi. They can get instruction, support. We're here to help." He paused, time passing at an agonizing pace as he tried to pick a new topic. "How do you know Master Tano?"

"She came to visit my school when I was a kid." At Luke's confused face he continued. "I was a teenager during the Clone Wars. My aunt - not Bo-Katan, my other aunt - suspected corruption in her government, so she requested a Jedi to help investigate. The Republic sent her." He paused. "She has continued to help us periodically over the years, though I haven't seen her in a long time. I had started to wonder whether she was still alive."

"Who is this 'Gideon' guy anyway? Why were you so desperate to find him?"

"He holds the Darksaber. If I can get it, I have hope that I can save a great many lives."

In truth, things weren't good. Since losing Mandalore, Bo-Katan's hold on the clans had become weaker and weaker. If something didn't change, they could be facing another civil war, their third in as many decades. He had had hope that if he could find Moff Gideon, he could fight him for the Darksaber and then present it to his aunt. After all, it had been given to her last time.

He knew pacifism hadn't been the right path for Mandalore (according to Bo-Katan anyway), leaving them helpless and vulnerable to attack, but he had his doubts about the "old way" as well. There had to be a way that didn't leave them vulnerable, but also didn't result in constant infighting and death. Those couldn't be their only options.

"Let's get out of here!"

The others ran through the doors, carrying the armor, then hurriedly got under way with soldiers on their heels.

Sabine spoke once they were in hyperspace, clearly still in search of answers. "So what was your plan anyway? Just walk up to Moff Gideon and challenge him to single combat?"

"More or less." He looked around at his comrades' concerned faces, "He isn't Force-sensitive. Lightsabers are so useful to Jedi because of their enhanced abilities. A lightsaber in the hands of an ordinary man isn't going to be much defense against a blaster. It'll be easy if I can just find him."

All of the armored people clearly had opinions on this, but remembering the outsiders' presence (and consequently the intel that could easily be leaked to the Rebellion) they were quickly shushed. Conversation switched to their own tongue, and discussion continued all the way back to Lothal.

Locked out of the mandalorians' conversation, Luke's attention shifted to Ahsoka, sitting near him.

He was still thinking about their conversation the night before. She clearly knew his mother.

Maybe he shouldn't ask Ahsoka; She would probably refuse on the basis that "that's your father's business," and tell him to go ask him, which was clearly a nonstarter. So far he hadn't been able to pry that info out of Father with a crowbar.

Maybe Rex. If Ahsoka knew he probably did to, and while he might also try to hedge he was a terrible liar.

Regardless, there was little to be done at the moment. Instead he closed his eyes, focused on the Force, and meditated for the rest of the trip.

Conversation was brief once they reached Lothal. Everyone was busy, so while Luke again approached Korkie the talk consisted mostly of pleasantries and parting words.

"Thank you for coming to rescue me."

"Goodbye, Korkie. And may the Force be with you."

"Goodbye, Luke. And may it be with you also."

"If you happen across any Force-sensitives, I hope you'll contact me. Sabine knows how."

"I will."

Korkie needed to prepare to leave, and so Luke wandered back toward the others.

He could hear Ahsoka and Sabine talking, discussing the possibility of extending their stay, possibly even to meet with Bo-Katan.

That bad feeling he had had earlier was still there, a rock in his gut. He couldn't shake the feeling that every passing minute they spent away from the fleet something terrible was happening.

He projected into Ahsoka's mind, "We need to get back. I have a bad feeling."

"Couldn't it just be anxiety?"

He shook his head.

Ahsoka changed tacks slightly in her conversation. "I'm sorry. I'm afraid it won't be possible for us to stay any longer. I'll speak to you at our usual check in. Maybe we can make new plans to meet then."

Sabine nodded an agreement. "I just hope that Thrawn is dead."

"If we're lucky, Ezra shot him. It'll save us a lot of time."

They hurried back perhaps a bit more quickly than a 'feeling' really warranted, but both had worried about leaving Anakin alone and any shift in the Force was consequently quite frightening.

Rex stood near the end of the ramp when they got back to the fleet, his face grim.

"Hey, Rex," Ahsoka said. "How did things go?" Nervously she continued, "What's wrong?"