(Super sorry for the wait It has been a busy couple of months. The college grind is getting to me. But I made you guys a promise, and I'm (very slowly) keeping it.)

Jaden was resting easy. He was happy that the Rebellion had completed a successful mission against the Empire, but they did not pick up any shield generators. They did manage to steal fuel instead from the Imperial shipment, so it was not a total loss.

Have docked with Phoenix Home, the command ship, less than an hour ago, Jaden was in one of the runner's corridors, reading his father's journal. While doing this, he was rubbing his kyber crystal necklace. He had always asked his father if he can look at his journal when he was a little kid. This journal was his only link to an order he never knew about.

He then heard footsteps heading towards him. He looks up and smiles as he sees it was Sabine walking towards him. Sabine crossing her arms and leaned gingerly against a wall, wearing a small smile. "There you are." she says, "This is how you're celebrating your first victory? Reading?"

Jaden, with his nose still in the journal, responded in kind. "Yep." This causes Sabine to chuckle, and then kneeled next to him, looking in on his reading material. She noticed the beautiful drawings and sketches in it, her curiosity overtook her.

"Whatcha reading?" she asked.

Jaden turned to her. "My journal, well my dad's journal. When he was in the Jedi Order, all those years ago, he chronicled some of his adventures here." He smiles and continues, "He used to tell some of these to me as bedtime stories."

He then turned to a double page drawing in the journal that depicted a starry night sky with 3 crescents yet jagged moons. He then showed it to Sabine and they both looked at it in awe.

"It's beautiful." she says, getting a hold of the journal. "Your dad drew this?"

Jaden nodded. "He told me when he was on a mission during the war, he got a good look at this skyline on the planet. When he had the time, he drew it."

He was still rubbing the necklace. That caught Sabine's attention. She then put the journal down and reached out, holding the crystal in her hand. She was enamored with the blueish-white crystal. While holding it, she looked up into Jaden's eyes. Jaden was doing the same thing with her eyes.

Then, their moment was interrupted by Ezra calling for them. "Sabine, Jaden, where are you guys?" They quickly turned their heads and got up as Ezra turned the corner and looked at them. "Hera wants us on the bridge, we're starting."

The two nodded and followed him to the bridge. At the same time, Jaden was thinking to himself, 'What was that'.

Upon making it to the bridge, Jaden sees that Hera, Ahsoka, Zeb, Kanan and Sato we are discussing the mission. They all turned to face them. Jaden saw Ahsoka, who nodded at him, and he to her.

"You called us?" he asked.

"Indeed." says Sato, as he turned to face Hera, "You and your crew have proven invaluable to our fleet, Captain Syndulla. The fuel acquired in you convoy attack has helped keep us one step ahead of Imperial patrols."

"Thank you, Commander Sato. I'm just sorry our intel about shield generators being on that shipment was wrong." she replied.

"Perhaps with your next attack, Hera." says Ahsoka.

"Besides, stealing their stuff is a good way to piss of the Empire." said Jay.

Then Chopper came into the bridge, interrupting the meeting. He was going on about an incoming transmission. Sato glared at the droid.

"What is the meaning of this?" he asked.

"An incoming transmission. Who from Chop, why don't you play it?" Kanan said.

Jaden noticed that Hera gave Kanan a glare, then they turned to look at Chopper.

"Chop, cloak us with a one-way transmission." she ordered.

Chopper then activated his hologram projector, projecting a holographic image of an Ithorian with a translator around his neck. Ezra recognized the Ithorian, widening his eyes.

"Hey, it's Old Jho." he says.

"I can't see you, but I can hear you, my friends." Jho spoke, "Time is short, and there's someone here desperate to speak with you. I told her I couldn't find you, but she wouldn't take no for an answer. She says she needs your help."

"We're always ready to help someone in need." Kanan replies.

"Yeah, well this one's different." Jho says.

Then, a human woman entered the hologram image beside Jho. Jaden does not know who she was, but the Spectres did, very much.

"Minister Tua?" Hera says in shock.

"Who?" Jaden asked.

Sabine then leaned into his ear and whispered, "Minister from Lothal, Ezra's home." Jaden nodded understandingly,

"Aw, we can't trust her. She's an Imperial." Zeb said.

"Please, I beg you. Listen to my request." Tua cried.

Kanan was not having it. "End transmission now, Chop" he ordered.

Before Chopper did, Hera stepped forward. "Wait! Minister, what do you want?" she asked.

"My life is in danger. I need you to give me safe passage off Lothal." Tua pleads.

"You're not really considering this." Zed starts.

"Quiet!" Hera yelled.

"I assure you; my intentions are sincere. To prove it, I will trade secret Imperial information." Tua said.

Sabine folded her arms. "You're defecting from the Empire?" she asked skeptically.

"Yes, I am." Tua replied in a nervous tone.

"She's telling the truth. I can sense her fear." Ezra says.

"Yeah, but of what?" Kanan asked.

They look at Jay, and he nodded with them, he felt fear coming off her too. Like nothing you could believe.

"So, what do you got to trade, Minister." Hera asked.

"A list. Of rebel sympathizers on Lothal. And on other nearby systems." Tua replied.

"How come these sympathizers have not been arrested?" asked Sato.

Some have powerful friends in the Senate. Imperial Command watches them but can do nothing. I know you need allies. Get me off Lothal, and I will give you the list."

"Allies, we can always use more allies." says Jaden. This causes Sabine to look at him with her eyebrow cocked.

"We shouldn't even consider this." protested Kanan.

"It's obviously a trap." Sabine agreed with him.

"There's something else. I've discovered the true reason the Empire came to Lothal." Tue exclaimed.

"We know that one," Hera replied, "The Empire has a factory there, and they're stripping the planet's resources to fuel it."

"No," say Tua, "There is another reason. Known only to a few and ordered by the Emperor himself."

This sparked conversation among the group. Jaden turned to Sabine.

"The Emperor?" he asked her. "We have a chance to shut down one of HE'S plans?" He then turned his attention to Ezra, who approached the hologram.

"We have to do this." he said.

"I agree." said Ahsoka.

"So, do I" says Kanan.

"Me to." Jaden comments.

"All right, if Commander Sato approves the mission." Hera says facing Kanan.

"I believe it is worth the risk." Sato said.

"Minister, we'll get you out. Send us your coordinates." Ezra says, turning to Jaden and nodded at him. Jaden nodded back.

"Thank you." Tua replied with relief. Her hologram faded out.

"Well looks like we are heading back to Lothal." say Hera.

Jaden noticed that Kanan had a very disapproving look on his face. "I guess we are." Kanan replied, rolling his eyes, and walked out of the exit to the bridge. Hera, with an upset look on her face, followed him out.

Both Ezra and Jaden looked at each other with confused looks. Jaden looked at Sabine, and he knew she did not know what was going on. The two young Jedi left the bridge, while walking through the hallway, they heard Kanan speaking to Hera in a maintenance corridor. They choose to listen in on their conversation.

"And I'm grateful for that Hera. But that still doesn't mean I want to join their little army. When you and I started together, it was, "Robbing from the Empire, giving the needy." A noble but true cause. Now we're getting drawn into some kind of military thing. I don't just like it."

"We are fighting a bigger fight, but it's still the right fight." says Hera.

Kanan was then facing the wall as he spoke, "I survived one war. I am not ready for another one. I saw what it did to us."

'The Clone Wars' Jaden thought to himself.

"To the Jedi?" Hera asked. This caused Ezra and Jaden to look down a bit.

"To everyone" Kanan says grimly. This caused Hera to shy, and they proceeded to leave. Ezra and Jay then looked at each other with a mixture of unsurety and guilt.

Hours Later…

In the Ghost, Jaden was doing a gear check. He had his lightsabers clipped to his sides, his SE-14 blaster pistol in its holster on his thigh and he rubbed his Kyber necklace. After admiring the blue hue of the crystal, he got up from his bunk. He then looked at the right shoulder side of the fight suit's jacket. He smiles at the small orange Starbird that Sabine tagged it with a few days ago. She said she could not help herself. That the jacket was too boring and that it needed a splash of color. Jaden smiled as he looked at it. He loved it. He felt like he was officially part of the Ghost Crew now.

'I'm ready' he thought to himself. He exited the Ghost through the docking tube and proceeded to head towards the Spectres in the transport to Lothal. On his way, he says Ahsoka walking towards him in the hallway.

"Off then?" she asked him. Jaden nodded.

"Nice of you to ask." he says jokingly. This causes Ahsoka to crack a smile. "I'm eager to see Ezra's home, he talks about it a lot."

"Well," she says, "Good luck." They then proceeded to walk separate ways, but then she stopped.

"Oh, Jaden." she asked. They caused Jaden to turn back to her. "When you come back, could you help me with something?"

"Of course." Jaden says, as he starts to walk away again.

Ahsoka spoke again, "Also," Jaden turned to her, "May the Force be with you." she says smiling at him.

"You too." he says before leaving again.

He walked into the transport ship attached to the side of the command ship. He then saw the Spectres on the transport. He saw them in the seats at Chopper was at the controls.

"So we're not taking the Ghost?" Jaden asked as he sat next to Sabine.

"And we're letting Chopper drive?" Sabine chimed from her seat behind Ezra.

"After our little stunt on Mustafar, there's a very good chance the Galactic Empire will be able to be tracking it." Hera replied.

"Great mission for us so far." Zeb says sarcastically.

Chopper then detached the transport form the command ship and flew the ship away from the fleet and into hyperspace.

"So, what's the plan?" Kanan asked as he took out his blaster and spun it around.

"Okay, so Prime Minister Tua is scheduled to visit Governor Tarkin tomorrow." Ezra explained. "She leaves Lothal via shuttle at 1800 hours. We wait at the main hangar, stealing the shuttle and taking her to safety."

"Ezra, I do hope you're sure about this" Sabine said cautiously.

"After all the trouble she's been making for us, why should we help her in return?" Zeb asked.

"Because that's what we do Zeb. We Help those who can't help themselves. Plus, her list will help us out." Ezra replied.

A few moments later…

The transports emerged for hyperspace. Jaden noticed the massive blockade over Lothal. He has seen a few Star Destroyers over Ryloth when he was younger, but this is something else. One of the Destroyers contacted the transport.

"Shuttle 593, this is Lothal Control. You are clear for landing."

The transport is starting to descend toward Lothal. Jaden noticed he started to become uneasy.

"I didn't think I'd miss it but I…" Ezra started.

"You alright?" Jaden asked.

"What is it?" Kanan asked.

"Do you two feel that." Ezra asked, "I feel so cold."

"Hmm." Kanan hummed.

'Cold? Yeah, I feel it too.' Jaden thought to himself.

As the transport entered Lothal's atmosphere, there were multiple Star Destroyers in the air above the city. It was clear to Jaden that the Empire has a tight iron grip on this world. Jaden pushed out his senses on the city, just like on Ryloth, so many people are afraid. Soon, the shuttle land in the landing bay.

As the Ghost Crew exited the shuttle, they stopped and looked around. Ezra looked up at the sky and Jaden did with him.

"I've never seen so many Star Destroyers here." said Ezra. "It's gotten worse."

Hera turned to Zed. "All right, Zeb, Chopper, stay with the shuttle just in case we need a quick exit." she ordered.

Chopper beeped, informing her that they will keep the engines hot for them.

"Tua's leaving from Bay 24. Let's go." Kanan said.

The crew then split off. The rest of the Ghost crew nearly reached Bay 23, where they saw stormtroopers guarding the main entrance.

"We'll need a distraction." Hera said.

"Well, I'm gonna go make a few friends." Kanan replied. "When Tua arrives, I'll keep 'em busy while you drop into the main hanger from above."

"Make a few friends?" Hera asked.

"It'll be fun." Kanan replied, smirking.

"Fun?" Hera asked.

"Don't worry, General Hera. Just be ready to move." he says, patting her on the back.

Kanan then walked near one of the stormtroopers, while the other trooper walked away.

"Hey, didn't we meet in basic training?" he asked the trooper. The trooper faced him. "You look familiar."

Before the trooper can answer, Kanan knocked him out quickly and quietly. Then he dragged the trooper's unconscious body into the alleyway. The rest of the team, watched as Kanan come out of the alley, wearing the stormtrooper's armor. Kanan waved at them and walked away.

"Nice." Jaden commented, impressed with Kanan's strategy.

"Kanan's gone bucket head." said Sabine.

"I don't believe it." Hera said as she folded her arms.

"I'm kinda jealous. I only have the helmet." Ezra replied.

Jaden looks around. "Let's move on." he says quietly.

The group made their way up to the rooftop, then jumped across to the next landing bay and stayed at the vintage point. Ezra saw Tua in a landspeeder heading towards the bay.

"She's here." He reported.

Jaden noticed somebody else with her. He whispered to Ezra, "But, she's got company."

In response, Ezra took out his macrobinoculars to take a closer look at the other person with her.

"Oh, fantastic. Agent Kallus." he responded sarcastically.

Below them, the landspeeder stops. Kallus escorts Tua to the entrance of the landing bay. She stops and looks at the troopers guarding the entrance. Kallus turns to look at Tua with a puzzled look.

"Thank you, Agent Kallus, but there, there was no need for an escort." Tua says.

As she and Kallus talked, they walked to the shuttle. But then, Sabine and Jaden landed behind them and drew their blasters.

"Hey!" Sabine yelled.

Kallaus turned around. She recognized the Mandalorian, but not the other one. But nevertheless, she pulled out his blaster and fired. The other stormtroopers in the bay followed as well.

"Minister, take cover!" Kallus yelled.

As the stormtroopers approached Jaden and Sabine, one of them stepped back and locked the bay doors. The trooper was Kanan.

"Surprise." he said.

"REBELS!" growled Kallus.

Kanan ran to cover behind a few crates, only to find Tua, Ezra and Hera.

"Minister, get to the shuttle! We'll be right behind you." Ezra told her.

"Right." she replied.

Sabine and Jaden were providing cover fire for them. Sabine looked behind them and saw the landspeeder. Both nodding to each other, they climbed into speeder, Sabine in the driver's seat. She rose the speeder up high enough for them to get onto the roof of the landing bay. Just as the stormtrooper below shot the engines, causing it to explode.

Now at their vantage point, they saw Tua running towards the shuttle with Kanan and the others followed. Tua entered the ship, but when the rebels approached the landing ramp, the ship exploded, and the blast radius pushed the rebels back.

"What the hell!" Jaden yelled, completely floored by what he just saw. Minister Tua was dead. He in turn looked at Sabine.

"YOU DID THIS." Jaden heard Kallus yell, as more troopers started flooding into the bay.

Sabine clicked on her comlink to contact Zeb and Chopper back at the transport.

"Zeb, we need a pickup. Now!" Sabine said.

"Copy. We're on our way." Zeb replied.

"We have to help them." Jaden told Sabine. He then proceeded to jump down to assist the rest of the team.

Kallus noticed the unknown rebel and tries to shoot him, with Jaden managing to dodge the blast. Sabine then jumped down too, to cover Jaden's back. Jay was about to reach for his lightsabers when he looked up. It was the transport. The landing ramp opened, and Zeb was hanging out with his rifle.

"Come on!" Zeb yelled as he fired his blaster at the troopers near Kallus.

The Spectres quickly boarded the transport and sat down in their seats. The transport's landing ramp went back up and the transport left the landing bay. As the transport left, an Imperial Walker stood outside the landing bay. The walker fired on the transport's engines, and they exploded! The transport came down onto the Lothal streets and crashed. Inside, Sabine stood up and looked around, as did the rest of the rebels.

"Come on! Up, everyone! We're moving!" Sabine said.

Jaden clicked a button to lower the landing ramp, then they all left the damned transport and escaped into the darkness. They were running for dear life through the streets of Lothal.

"What the hell do we do now?" Jaden asked, panting a little.

"Safe House, my old house." Ezra replied, panting in a similar way.

Hours later...

The Spectres, Jaden included managed to make it to Ezra's old home. They hid downstairs to watch the HoloNet, the announcer spoke about Tua's unfortunate death at the landing bay.

"A beloved citizen of Lothal, Minister Tua's life was cut short by this criminal band of rebels. If you see them, summon Imperial authorities immediately. Trooper corps have been mobilized in an extensive search…"

Hera turned off the HoloNet in disgust, she heard enough. So did her colleagues. They knew they could not stay on Lothal any longer, they had to leave.

"They did this to turn Lothal against us. We can't do any more here. We have to leave, for good." Hera said.

Ezra looked at Hera and the others with a puzzled and yet a surprised expression. "We can't just run." He protested. "The people have to know the truth."

Sabine approached Ezra and placed a hand on his shoulder, he looked up at her and frowned slightly.

"I don't think the Empire is giving us much choice, Ezra." Sabine said.

"I'm sorry Ezra." Jaden said, looking at him across the room.

Just then, there was someone knocking on the door loudly. Luckily, Chopper was able to inform his friends there was stormtroopers at the door.

"Open up in there!" The troopers yelled.

"We're in trouble!" Ezra said with a sigh.

"Isn't there another way out of here?" Jaden asked.

Hera pointed to a door behind them.

"Back door, hurry!" She yelled.

Chopper flew down to them, and they all left through the back entrance. Then they climbed up to the top of the safehouse to regroup. Just before the Imperials blew up the safehouse.

"If they know about this hideout, they'll know about our others." Ezra said.

"There's no more hiding, we need a ship. Maybe we can try one of the local Imperial airfields." Hera said.

Chopper displayed a hologram of the city and marked the Imperial airfields.

"They're locked down." Sabine said.

"We won't be able to get outside the capital." Jaden said, studying the map.

"The Empire's looking everywhere for us." Zeb said with a sigh.

"Not everywhere..." Kanan said as he pointed to a place on the hologram.

Hera looked to where Kanan was pointing, she looked at him as if he was crazy.

"The Imperial Complex?" Hera asked. "Are you crazy?"

"Does anyone ever say yes to that question?" Kanan asked.

"He's right, deploying troops to block every city exit has spread the garrison thin. It sounds crazy, but the area with the least troops will be here, near the factories." Sabine said.

"Right. There are landing platforms outside these hangars." Jaden said as he pointed them out. "They're our best chance if we're gonna find a shuttle."

"I'm already dressed for the part." Kanan said as he put on his stormtrooper helmet.

They all then proceeded to walk across the power lines to the next rooftop. Both Ezra and Jaden noticed Ezra's destroyed home.

"I guess there is no going home." Ezra said grimly.

"I'm so sorry Ezra." Jaden told him. They both shared a brotherly smile for a moment before Ezra put his stormtrooper helmet on and they proceeded to move forward.

Later...

Kanan disguised as a stormtrooper and Ezra was disguised as a stormtrooper cadet. They were moving three crates near the Imperial Complex. They saw a trooper on guard, he approached them to inspect the crates.

"What's this?" He asked.

"Power cells in need of recharging for the rebel pursuit." Kanan replied.

Kanan and Ezra continued moving until the stormtrooper stopped them again.

"Hold it right there, cadet. We have to check inside." He spoke.

Ezra approached the trooper and looked at him closely. Ezra waved his hand around the trooper slowly, trying to use a Jedi Mind Trick on him.

"No, you don't have to check inside." Ezra said.

The stormtrooper pushed Ezra and stepped forward.

"Did you just try to give me an order, cadet?" He asked.

Kanan stepped forward and looked at the Stormtrooper and tried to do the Mind Trick on him.

"No! He just said, you don't have to check inside." Kanan said.

"I don't have to check inside." He replied.

"Well, then, as you wish, Trooper." Kanan said as he turned to Ezra. "Cadet, let's move. Hurry it up!"

Ezra and Kanan continued moving the crates towards the Imperial Complex.

"I wish that worked for me." Ezra said.

"I wish it worked on you" Kanan replied.

Soon, they entered a room inside the Imperial Complex. Jaden, in the crate on the top came out first.

"Nice." He quietly said.

The lid of another crate was pushed off, then Zeb's rose out of breath, trying to regain it. Hera rose her head up as well and glared at Zeb.

"Zeb, will you be quiet?" Hera asked.

"What? I need to breathe. Have you smelled me?" Zeb said.

"Don't think it matters if you're noisy. There's nobody around." Sabine said as Jaden helped her out of her crate.

"This was a good plan." Hera said with a grin.

"Of course, it was a good plan. We came up with it." Kanan replied with a wink.

Before the rebels were about to head to shuttle, Chopper was still in a crate, they stopped and looked back.

"Somebody get Chopper." Hera said in frustration.

Zeb smirked and grabbed Chopper out of the crate and placed him on the floor. Then the rebels made towards the shuttle depot, once they arrived, they saw an Imperial shuttle on the landing pad.

"There's a shuttle. What'd I tell ya?" Kanan said with confidence in his tone.

"You did good." Hera replied.

They continued walking to the shuttle, just then, Sabine spotted something of interest.

"Hera, over here. Shield generators. Military grade." Sabine said.

Hera turned to see the shield generators Sabine spotted, she smiled in relief. She and Sabine clicked a button that made the generator hover and started pushing it towards the shuttle.

"Zeb, Ezra, grab all we can carry. These might help turn this day around. The fleet could sure use them." Hera said.

Ezra and Zeb each took out and pushed it through the shuttle, Kanan and Jaden followed behind them.

As they nearly approached the shuttle, Jaden felt it, and it caused him to stop walking. It hit him like a wall. The feeling was almost indescribable. It was like a wall of cold and pure darkness.

Kanan and Ezra stopped walking too. They felt the cold, dark presence as well.

"Do you feel that?" Ezra asked his master.

"The cold..." Kanan replied.

Jaden looked in the direction they were looking in. He then saw him, and he could not believe what he saw.

It was a dark figure. A masked man at the hanger exit. The dark figure was mechanically breathing and ignited a crimson red lightsaber. The Jedi looked in surprise and horror. The masked man approached them with a squad of stormtroopers in tow.