ABOARD THE ERRANT VENTURE, 40 YEARS ABE:

The former stormtroopers sat side-by-side in narrow, mismatched chairs dragged from the room's various corners. Mit, the blonde one who had tried to stab Leia, sat with her arms folded and her chin lowered, glaring lasers at the lightsaber dangling from Leia's belt.

The lightsaber didn't react. Neither did Leia. Nor did Stella, who sat on the narrow counter that abutted the aging food recycler. One leg dangled gracefully while she toyed with her new vibroblade, her dark eyes fixed on Mit.

Lando lounged against the wall beside his daughter, his handsome brow furrowed in dubious concentration.

Han stood on the opposite side of the troopers, his blaster now returned to its holster but his palm resting pointedly against the DL-44's well-worn grip.

Threepio stood hesitantly a meter or so behind the others. His stiff posture radiated nervousness and he looked very much like a droid who had been ordered to step back out of the way but didn't want to go too far lest his services be required.

Leia stood facing the former troopers, centered precisely at the middle of their cramped line. Bail hovered just off her shoulder where he was doing his best to look intimidating. He kept his arms crossed and his brow furrowed in an attempt to compensate for his generally amiable nature.

Leia didn't need to make such an effort; the icy glower on her face would have (and had) moved Moffs to spill their secrets. It certainly worked on these stormtroopers.

"They showed-up two months ago," explained the talkative trooper, the one who had been so impressed by Lando and Han. "The two of them. They'd contacted one of the Moffs-"

"Nobody ever told us which one," the shortest trooper chimed-in and the others nodded agreement, all save for Mit, who only grunted.

"Yeah, whoever it was brought them to Imperial Command on Bastion, and the others fell in line fast." The talkative trooper swallowed, his dark cheeks damp with sweat. "The ones who didn't…" He shook his head. The weight of his silence was eloquent. The shortest trooper shuddered. Mit blanched and swallowed, as if fighting the urge to retch.

"Well," the talkative trooper continued, "by the time Pellaeon knew what was going on, it was too late. Revan couldn't be turned away, and the Empire had an Emperor again."

"Revan?" Bail repeated, sounding scandalized; Leia shook her head once, tersely, and he fell silent.

The stormtroopers didn't seem to have noticed the interruption; when they weren't staring at the floor, or at Han's blaster, or at Stella's knife, or at Leia and Bail's lightsabers, they stared into the distance as though they could look past the shadows of Booster's cheap glowpanels and see their recent memories uncurling in the darkness.

"Phasma was put in charge of the troops," explained the trooper at the end of the line. He grimaced. "She was...brutal."

"Well, that wasn't new," the talkative trooper clarified with a wince and a shrug, "we've all had brutal sergeants before, that's practically the point of a sergeant, but she…"

"She was different," affirmed the shortest trooper. "Scary. Everything was. It didn't feel…" She glanced from Leia's lightsaber to her face, then quickly looked away. "Right. It didn't feel right. And the stories about Revan…" She shook her head and shivered.

The other ex-stormtroopers joined in the shuddering, even Mit. Especially Mit.

"It's been years since the Empire had any real Force users," Bail muttered in his mother's ear. "They wouldn't be used to it. And after spending so much time and propaganda making sure their citizens and troops were all terrified of Jedi witchcraft, having to answer to a Dark Side version of their worst nightmares would have been more than some of them could handle."

"Yeah," the talkative topper confirmed, his voice hoarse. "Yeah, I guess that's about how it was."

Bail winced; he hadn't thought he'd spoken loudly enough to be overheard.

The trooper didn't seem to notice, continuing bleakly, "We talked it over and decided to get out of there. Before it was, you know...too late."

"Liss was in pilot training before she got transferred to the troopers," another added helpfully, pointing at the shortest trooper, who shrugged.

"Washed out," Liss mumbled.

"Still meant she could fly a shuttle, so next time we were sent on a single-squad transfer we mutinied."

"Sir," Threepio protested, turning to face Han, "Imperial Remnant regulations dictate squads of ten members. There are only five-"

"I know, I know," Han waved the droid off, scowling suspiciously at the ex-troopers. "Where's the rest of your squad?"

"They chose to...to stay with the Empire," the talkative trooper said. He looked uncomfortable; they all did.

"We shot faster," Mit said gruffly. "So here we are."

There didn't seem to be anything to say to that. Lando swallowed, loud in the silence, and tugged restlessly at the intricate fastenings of his cape.

"What do you know of Revan's flagship?" Leia asked.

"Flagship?" The troopers exchanged curious looks. "You mean the Malachor?" asked the talkative one. "The Super Star Destroyer?"

Leia nodded.

"That came with Revan. The Empire hasn't had a Super Star Destroyer since the Reaper went down at Celanon."

Lando's anxious question of, "Where did Revan get it?" was met with shrugs.

"Where did Revan and Phasma come from?" Leia asked.

"Could be the Unknown Regions," the talkative trooper offered.

"That's a stupid rumor," Mit growled. "Everyone knows they were hiding in the Maw."

"No," Liss interrupted, "I heard it was some secret base of Emperor Palpatine's, somewhere deep in the Core Worlds-"

Leia held up a hand for silence. The troopers obeyed so quickly they might have been hit with Stun Blasts. Liss's teeth actually clicked together audibly, like armored plates hitting the floor.

"So lots of rumors, no hard facts," Bail observed.

"My favorite kind of Imperial," Han muttered. He fiddled with the stock of his blaster.

"Sorry, sir," Liss said, wincing.

"It's not your fault." Leia's tight smile made all five former stormtroopers flinch and shrink in their seats.

"The Super Star Destroyer is definitely Revan's flagship, though?" Han pressed.

"Yessir," the talkative trooper said. The rest echoed his firm nod.

"That must be where they're holding Mistress Breha captive, then!" Threepio exclaimed excitedly.

"Then that's where we need to go," said Lando.

"Is there anywhere else Revan keeps prisoners?" Bail asked, unable to keep himself from stepping forward, as though proximity to their answers might be enough to bring him closer to his sister. "Prisoners who are important, or special?"

The ex-stormtroopers shook their heads in eerie near-unison. "Revan doesn't leave the flagship often," the talkative trooper said carefully. "A few short inspections sometimes to...to make sure everybody is following orders, sure, but that's it."

"And Commander Phasma is always on the Malachor whenever Revan isn't," Liss added with a grimace. "She does most of the off-ship enforcing of Revan's rule."

"That's interesting," Lando muttered. "I wonder why Revan's so attached to that ship."

"If you had a Super Star Destroyer, would you leave it in the hands of your minions?" Han retorted.

Lando granted that point with a grudging nod. "So what's our next move?" he asked. "That ship's going to be a tough nut to crack, even for us…"

"I don't suppose we could simply negotiate for Mistress Breha's safe release?" Threepio hazarded. "The Empire might be reasonable..." Everyone else sensibly ignored him.

"I don't care how tough it is," Han said, his gruff voice cracking with suppressed emotion. "We're getting her back."

Bail reached over to grasp his father's shoulder. "Of course we are, dad," he said. "No matter what. That's not a question."

Stella slipped her confiscated vibroblade into her boot and looked up. "I can get us onto the ship," she said. "I can even slice a few security doors onboard if I need to. But they'll find us pretty quick once we're there if we don't have a guide to keep us from attracting the wrong kind of attention."

The others variously winced, nodded, or murmured, based on their past experiences infiltrating Imperial vessels. There was a brief silence as they all ran through their mental rolodexes of potential allies, searching for someone who might be both capable and available for such a mission.

The silence snapped suddenly around three short words:

"I'll do it."

Everyone turned to face the talkative trooper. He sat with his hands clasped before him, shoulders hunched, head bowed low. He said quietly, "I'll go. I'll guide you."

His fellow stormtroopers looked at him askance; the others exchanged glances overhead.

It was Han who finally spoke, his brow furrowed in concern. "What's your name, son?"

"Finn," the trooper replied. "Finn Ghanti."

"Why do you want to help us, Finn?" Leia asked. Her voice was gentle. "It's going to be dangerous."

Finn flinched at being addressed so directly by the dainty Jedi, but he answered frankly. "I am-was-a stormtrooper, sir. Dangerous is something I'm used to. And...this Breha that's been captured, you all care about her, right?"

"She's my sister," Bail said simply. He made no attempt to hide the hurt and worry he felt for his twin.

Finn nodded. He finally looked up, meeting Bail's eyes. "My family all died when I was a kid. If there'd been somebody who could have helped save them, I'd have wanted them to try."

Bail's pained expression softened. "Thank you," he said.

"Oh how courageous!" Threepio exclaimed.

Liss leaned in and muttered, "Finn, they'll kill you-"

"They'll try," Finn corrected. He mustered a crooked grin. "And only if they catch us."

"Let him go," Mit growled. "There's no arguing with him when he's like this." She looked furious, arms crossed so tightly in front of her that her muscles strained, and refused to lift her eyes from the patch of floor at which she now glowered.

Liss nodded sadly. "Be careful," she said to Finn. Another trooper clapped him on the shoulder but said nothing. Finn looked nervous, but forced a smile.

"So...when do we leave, sir?" he asked Leia.

"Sooner the better," Han started to say, but Leia was shaking her head.

"Breha's not our only concern anymore," she said. "If there really is a new Emperor...another Dark Lord of the Sith...then we need to destroy this Revan, too."

Han sighed. "I knew you were going to say that," he muttered and pushed himself away from the wall. "Wait here, kid," he said, pointing at Finn. "You too, Goldenrod-make sure nobody tries to pull a fast one on us while we're gone. We'll be back once we've figured out the plan."

They filed out one by one, leaving the former stormtroopers alone with the startled-looking protocol droid.

"Oh my goodness gracious me," said Threepio, glancing askance between the door and the not-quite-prisoners he had been saddled with watching. "Such responsibility! I'm not sure my servos can take it!"

The stormtroopers ignored the droid, staring at the door through which the Rebels had disappeared.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Liss muttered.

None of the others argued with her, not even Finn.