A/N: A bit of a rehash here, but I thought Hera's perspective on what happened at the end of their last chapter was important.

Never Too Far Apart (part 3):

Yavin IV...

Hera lay sprawled across her bunk, panting, trembling, and sweat soaked. On her heaving chest, the holodisk with the image of Kanan showed that he wasn't in much better shape, but from experience, she knew that he didn't tremble in the aftermath of climax. (Too manly for such a weakness to ever make itself known or something like that.)

Give me your child…

Did I actually say that?

Where the kriff did that come from?

Kanan must have thought the same thing, because the second he caught his breath he whispered, "Did you mean that? Are you finally ready to have a child with me? Even with the Rebellion escalating?"

Her breath caught again at the hint of hope in his voice that he tried so hard to hide, but she heard it. Maybe only because she knew him so well. They'd talked about children a few times over the years, and her belief had always been that she would happily have children with him (if they could, or adopt if they couldn't) when the galaxy was no longer under the tyrannical rule of the Empire and peace had finally been won.

But now she'd blurted out this random thing that was loaded in so many ways and now she had to answer him.

But first, she had to answer herself.

I don't want a child yet… Do I?

We're in the midst of a full scale rebellion that could turn into a flat out war at any time. But I'm not getting any younger. And we've been together for more than decade already. And there's no guarantee that we'll both survive to see actual peacetime.

So what the kriff am I waiting for?

To cry myself to sleep one day after Vader catches him and I realize that I'd missed my chance to create something special with my soulmate while I still had him?

Or to leave Kanan without a piece of me to hold when some lucky TIE finally blows my fighter to bits?

How bloody stupid is that?

And so she sucked in a breath for courage as she sat up again, propping herself against the back wall. Then she cupped the holodisk in her palms as she drank in the miniature features of her handsome love, his expression calm and patient with that subtle undertone of hope in it that (again) most wouldn't pick up on. He wants this so much, doesn't he? Just to be like normal people in love and make a family together. "Yes. I think I am." But she had to put a little voice of reason into it, just because that's who she was. "We could start trying, anyway. But you know the odds are extremely low."

Kanan's shirtless image beamed at her anyway as he sat up a little taller in his chair. "I know. But I don't care. Just the fact that you're ready to move our relationship another step forward is enough for me. I love you more than anything, Hera."

And now she was melting as a sense of the rightness of her decision filled her. Stars, what did I do to deserve him? "I love you more than anything too, Kanan."

"Good," he rumbled, still grinning wider than a tooka as he rubbed at his chest absently. (His spend was no doubt starting to dry and thus starting to tickle, which she knew from experience.) "Although it seems that we could never be too far apart for our bond to work, I can't wait to see you in person so that we can get started with the trying. When does your contraceptive shot expire, anyway?"

She giggled at his eagerness and then even louder as he blinked his sightless eyes in surprise at his hand as he realized that he'd just rubbed his seed into his skin. "You might want to hit a refresher when we're done, love, and in eleven days."

He cleared his throat and clenched his fist as a flush appeared on his cheekbones even with the blue overtone of the holo. "Ummmm, yeah. And… lothrats. But I guess that's not that far away." His expression lit up again like a little boy. "But there's nothing stopping us from practicing till then, right?"

She laughed even louder. "Right."

Contented silence reigned for a few seconds as she just looked at her happy mate, which was suddenly broken as her comm chimed another incoming call in a tone that indicated it was from High Command.

Considering that it was the middle of the night on the base, that meant that it was undoubtedly important. "Kanan, I'm getting another call. Can I comm you back after? You actually haven't even told me how it's going over there lately."

"Sure," he said, rising to his feet. "Gives me a chance to find my shirt and the refresher... Maybe not in that order."

Her amused smile returned. "Good luck." (While Kanan's Force sight allowed him to see many things such as solid walls and living signatures, non living things like shirts didn't show up very well.

"Thanks," he said dryly, and then his holo image disappeared.

Hera pushed the button to answer the second call. An image of a concerned looking Mon Mothma showed up, dressed in a night robe and her short hair sticking up comically. "Hera. Good. You're awake."

"I often am. What is it, Mon?"

"We just received a call from Gerrera that I've since confirmed with our spy network. It's very troublesome. Rather than repeating it, I'll just play it for you."

"All right," she nodded, worry starting to invade once again.

Mothma's image flickered out and was replaced by the gruff looking countenance of Saw Gerrera.

"This message is for my gifted friends who helped me out on Geonosis and who I believe are now on Mandalore, so if you could please pass it on, I would appreciate it."

How the kriff does he know that? Does Gerrera have an informant here?

Of course he does.

"One of my spies, who is placed on a Star Destroyer in the Coruscant Defence Fleet, said that half of their ships were sent to a rendezvous location no more than four hours from Mandalorian space and that they met up with Vader's flagship. They have amassed a fleet more than a hundred strong so far and more ISD's are popping in every minute. My spy doesn't know how long they will remain there before they move out, but the rumours flying around the ship is that the transmission from the new Mandalorian leader has riled the Empire into eliminating the Mandalorians once and for all."

What transmission? What did I miss?

Gerrera paused, his expression looking almost afraid. "There's something else that I wasn't going to tell you all about yet, but I think I have to. I have another spy in the Kuat Drive Yards and she says that they've been building multiple units of something big. Really big. As in almost twelve times bigger than a regular ISD. And one of them is ready to go with a crew arriving and everything. Rumour is that they're only waiting for one of the bigwigs to come inspect it before it's deployed in the next day or so. My guess is that Vader's attack won't happen until that dreadnaught joins their massive fleet and then Mandalore is toast. I don't like the looks of this at all, and if it were Onderon, I'd be evacuating the planet while I still could. But they're Mandos so who knows what they'll do. Just… don't go down with them."

Hera was holding her thudding heart in her chest, throat tight and eyes wide with terror as Gerrera's recorded image was replaced with Mothma's live one again. Mon gave her a sympathetic look. "That's pretty much how I reacted as well. You need to call your Jedi and get them out of there. Tell the Mandalorians, too, since you're our closest link to them. We can't fight this battle for them, we're just not ready for an all out war of that scale. In another year, maybe. Just... not now. But what we can do is offer them sanctuary on various planets throughout the galaxy. Tell them that, please. You can give them my frequency."

Her swallowed hard. "I… I will. What… What transmission was he talking about?"

Mon grimaced. "I was going to show everyone that in the morning as we all cheered for the Mandos in their success, but I don't think this is going to end up the way they think it is anymore. I'll play that one for you as well, then promptly end the call so you can comm your crew."

"Okay. Thank you."

This time Mothma's image was replaced by a red-headed Human woman with durasteel infused green eyes and wearing blue and grey armour. There was something about her that practically screamed 'I am a Badass and I have no problem killing you if you annoy me.' She also had the Darksabre blatantly hanging from the front of her belt. This has to be Sabine's distant cousin that she once told me about and that she looked up to. The one who temporarily won Mandalore back from Darth Maul until the Empire took over practically the next day. Bo something, I think her name was. I doubt Sabine would give the Darksabre to anyone else.

The recording's opening words confirmed her theory.

"I am Duchess Bo-Katan Kryze, the new Mand'alor," the warrior woman said in a no-nonsense tone. "And as such, I am the new leader of all of the Mandalorian systems. We will no longer recognize Imperial rule, and as of right now, I'm declaring all Imperial ships to be trespassing in our space and they will be seized or destroyed if they don't immediately jump out of the Mandalorian sector." She glared at the camera as if daring the Imperials to do anything else.

I can see why Sabine gave her the Darksabre. This woman is born to rule a warrior people.

"Furthermore, any facilities and supplies located on our worlds will be seized and or destroyed." An image of a smouldering Star Destroyer crashed on the ground by the dome of Sundari replaced her person for three seconds. "As you can see, I've already begun by taking control of or eradicating the Star Destroyers located on Mandalore. For those Imperials that are caught, you will be given three choices. Whether you live, die, or get locked up for the rest of your life in the pits of a mining planet is entirely up to you. Anyone wishing to switch their allegiance to the Mandalorian way of life will be allowed a trial period to prove your sincerity. Those who were raised Mandalorian but switched their allegiance to the Empire either by choice or by force will also be given a second chance. But not a third." The unspoken warning was clear enough in her tone and her hard green eyes. "Those who wish to stay loyal to the Empire can pick either of the latter choices."

Another image of the fiery woman appeared, this time with her holding the ignited lightsabre to the throat of an Imperial in a Captain's uniform as a row of officers knelt in handcuffs behind him. The image lasted only long enough to see her swing her arm back for a killing blow to the man with hate in his eyes before it cut off and returned to the previous version of her standing calmly and alone. No one in their right mind would question her when she finished with, "This is your Mand'alor, and I have spoken."

Holy poodoo, have you ever.

And look what it's going to cost you.

Hera commed Kanan back via Chopper.

When Kanan's image popped back up, he looked almost as worried as she felt. And he was on the move.

"Hera. Sorry, I'll have to comm you back again in a bit. Ezra just told me that there's some dangerous emotions brewing in the camp and that Ketsu looks fit to murder someone. I'm off to try and keep everyone's heads intact, at least."

"But..." Was all she got to say before his image vanished.

Hera huffed in disgust. "Mandos and their bloody hot-headed emotions are going to be their own undoing," she muttered.

Might as well go have a shower and get dressed for the day; there's no way I'm getting back to sleep now.

And then I'll comm Chopper again until he makes Kanan and those bloodthirsty Mandos listen.