I do not own Star Wars or any of the characters.
Back With the Team
Damian silently climbed up the ladder out of the sewer tunnel they had been using to get around. As he reached the top, he paused, checking to make sure the coast was clear of stormtroopers, then used the Force to make something in Trayvis's ship, he wasn't sure what, fall over. Then, he climbed out of the hatch when the droids went to investigate, the others following. Kanan sent Sabine and Zeb up to the roof and the other four walked through the door. Inside was something like a lecture hall, with Trayvis standing in front of a podium, the New Hope mural on the wall behind him.
"Hello, who's that?" Trayvis asked.
"Senator Trayvis!" Ezra said. "We're friends."
"Oh thank God," Trayvis said. "I was starting to think no one on Lothal had gotten my message."
"Senator, you're in terrible danger," Hera said. "The Empire knows you're here."
"That's impossible!" Trayvis gasped.
"Excuse me?" Damian scoffed. "You fly around in a dignitary ship! You really think the Empire wouldn't notice one of those passing its blockade? You think the poor people of a backwater world like this wouldn't notice a ship that expensive and valuable flying around? I'm amazed you've lasted as long as you have."
Just then, a pair of red blaster bolts flashed past, killing the two droids. Damian spun, aiming his blaster at the ISB agent in the center.
"You must be Agent Kallus," Damian said. "I've heard so much about you."
"And who might you be?" Kallus asked.
"Grand Moff Tarkin," Damian said, Kallus sighing and rolling his eyes.
"Wonderful," Kallus sighed. "Another smartass. Alright, so we have Grand Moff Tarkin, Kanan Jarrus, former Jedi, Padawan Jaba..."
Damian smirked, glancing at Ezra, who looked terrified.
"And what's this?" Kallus continued, looking to Hera. "A Twi'lek I haven't met. From your regalia, I suspect you must be our talented pilot."
Hera narrowed her eyes as Kanan and Ezra both extended their lightsaber blades.
"I'll warn you one time, surrender peacefully, or you die," Damian said.
Kallus laughed. "Really? You're telling us to surrender?" He laughed again as eight more stormtroopers ran in using the side doors. "You're outnumbered three to one, the entire building is surrounded, and you have to worry about protecting Senator Trayvis. This hardly seems fair."
"You're right," Damian nodded. "You're going to need a lot more troops."
Kallus's smile dropped just as the Imperial minister stepped into the room behind him.
"Where is the Lasat and the Mandalorian girl?" the minister demanded.
"They're at your house waiting to fuck you when you get there," Damian said.
"If you won't talk, then my troopers will become a firing squad," Kallus warned.
"And?" Damian smirked. "I already warned you, you don't have enough troops."
"You'd better do as he says," Trayvis advised quietly.
"Don't worry Senator," Ezra smirked. "Our friends will be along." He winked and turned back to the front as the stormtroopers began to advance.
Damian grinned, gripping his blaster with both hands, keeping it trained directly on Kallus, the minister standing directly opposite Kallus from Damian. Then, four smoke grenades landed around them, filling the room before they all took off, Damian pausing at the door and firing several times, killing everyone in the room except Kallus and the minister, then followed the others. Just as he cleared the doorway, a thermal detonator went off inside.
The shuttle Trayvis had brought was gone, not that Damian had intended to ride it anyway, so they all ran for the sewer. However, as they reached it, Kallus ran into view with a bo-rifle, a more advanced model than Zeb's, and began to shoot at them. Several stormtroopers joined him after a moment but Ezra and Kanan began to block the blaster bolts as the others all hurried into the sewer, much to Trayvis's dismay and complaints. Damian dropped down beside Sabine and shouted up to Kanan and Ezra to come down. A moment later, both were in the tunnel as well and Sabine sealed the door. Damian drew his lightsaber instantly and extended the blade, dragging the end of it along the seams, sealing the hatch shut.
"Good thinking," Kanan said.
"I've been at this a long time," Damian said, putting the lightsaber away.
"All three of you are Jedi?" Trayvis asked.
"No," Damian said. "I'm a smuggler. I stole the lightsaber off of my former boss after I killed him."
Trayvis's eyes widened.
"We need to move!" Kanan said.
They nodded and began to run, but after barely a minute, Trayvis leaned against the wall, panting.
"Ezra, wait up!" Hera called after them, having been the only one to notice he was missing.
"Sorry Senator," Ezra said. "We just want to get out of here as fast as we can."
"I am the one who should apologize my young friend," Trayvis said. "I've been pursued, but never in a place such as this!"
Hera's eyes nodded and Damian drew his pistol.
"I figured you'd be used to running from the Empire," Kanan said.
"Oh...well...I've...never come this close to capture before," Trayvis said.
Damian stepped forward, raising his pistol only for two stormtroopers to run into the far end of the tunnel. Damian shoved Trayvis down and shot both stormtroopers, one of them managing to get a shot off, only for it to slam into Damian's Mandalorian Iron chest plate harmlessly. "Sabine, have I ever told you how amazing your people are at making armor?"
"A couple times," Sabine said, raising her blaster and shooting a third as he was peeking around the corner. "You missed one."
"So I did," Damian nodded. "Time to move."
They kept running, heading for the hatch out, only to meet more and more small groups of stormtroopers, restricting their movements. Finally, they took cover as a group of stormtroopers fired at them in a constant stream.
"We'll draw them away, get Specter Two and Trayvis to the hatch!" Kanan shouted over the blaster fire, shooting back and managing to kill one before the rest took cover in side tunnels.
"Wait, how will you find us?" Ezra asked.
"I can smell you, remember?" Sabine asked.
Ezra opened his mouth to speak but Hera beat him to it.
"Think of something clever to say later!" Hera said. "Let's move!"
She, Trayvis, and Ezra turned to run away. Damian glanced at them and Kanan nodded. Damian returned the gesture, then fired five times by wrapping his hand around the corner, keeping his head behind the wall, and then took off running.
"That jerk just killed five stormtroopers without even looking," Sabine said. "Not bad."
Damian caught up to Ezra and the others just as they reached a large room with a fan on the wall. The tunnel they were in was one of four in a square, the bottom two being sealed. They all dropped into the room, Trayvis falling to his hands and knees, and walked over to the fan.
"What do we do about this?" Hera asked.
"We could try to cut its power," Ezra suggested.
"Watch our backs, will you?" Hera asked, holding her blaster out to Trayvis.
He accepted it and as they turned around, Damian held up three fingers, Hera watching him count it down.
"That's enough," Trayvis said. "We're not going anywhere. Put your weapons down. Now."
"What?" Ezra asked. "Senator Trayvis? You're with the Empire?"
"Told you," Damian said as Ezra put his lightsaber down, Damian not making any move to drop his weapons, though also not drawing them. "All those transmissions were under orders from the Empire, and the planets he visited he got everyone who showed up arrested, that way no one found out. Am I right?"
"No," Trayvis said. "Nobody knew, not even my droids. Insurgents are not arrested, they're identified and watched. Troublesome ones have...accidents after I'm gone."
"But, you're not a traitor!" Ezra said. "You're a voice of freedom. A...A light in the darkness like my parents!"
"Parents?" Trayvis snorted. "No one's spoken against the Empire on Lothal since...the Bridger transmissions! I remember them. The original voices of freedom. You're their son!"
"Why?" Ezra asked. "Why!?"
"I joined the Empire, like your parents should have, for their lives, for you," Trayvis said. "Your parents were very brave. And very foolish. Where are they now? I'll tell you my boy. They're gone!"
Ezra staggered back a step, holding his hand to his forehead.
"They're not gone, Trayvis," Hera said, walking forward.
"Stop right there!" Trayvis snapped.
"As long as we fight, all that they spoke out for lives on," Hera continued.
"I said stop!" Trayvis shouted.
Hera stopped with the blaster pressing against her abdomen, giving Trayvis an irritated look. Trayvis squeezed the trigger and...nothing.
"What?" he gasped. "No!"
Hera took her blaster back, punching him across the jaw, knocking him out. "A true rebel would know if he's holding a charged blaster."
"Good punch," Damian said, raising a hand and using the Force to stop the fan. "Shall we?"
"You knew?" Ezra asked.
"Right from the beginning," Hera nodded. "Things weren't adding up. However, I wasn't certain until we were running. He tried to get us to surrender, he wasn't tired when he stopped, and he wanted our secrets." She sighed heavily. "I didn't want to believe it."
Just then, Kanan, Zeb, and Sabine all ran into view in the other pipe, staring at Trayvis, then the others.
"He was a traitor," Damian said. "Now let's go."
"Ugh, is there anybody on our side?" Sabine groaned.
"I guess he stays here then," Kanan said. "Let's go."
They all ran through the fan and Damian let it continue spinning, dropping his arm and running after them, though not before flipping off Kallus as he appeared in the tunnel with a handful more stormtroopers. After a few minutes, they reached the hatch they had entered through and found it was welded shut, though Chopper was cutting through it, almost finished. Kanan extended his lightsaber up through it, cutting it the rest of the way open before they all climbed out, running away from the city and back to the Ghost.
"I didn't see it," Ezra said, as they were climbing the ramp. "I was so wrong. You always say to trust in the Force. I thought that's what you were doing."
"Your emotions clouded the vision," Kanan said. "It takes-"
"Training and discipline?" Ezra smirked.
"To see things clearly, yes," Kanan said. "Visions are difficult, almost impossible to interpret."
"What was the last vision you had?" Ezra asked.
Kanan sighed. "I saw this bratty kid that constantly caused me trouble," Kanan said.
Ezra chuckled. "I guess you read that one wrong."
Damian smirked.
"I guess so," Kanan smirked back at him before climbing the ladder, heading for his room.
"What about you, Damian?" Ezra asked.
"Me?" Damian asked. "Well...the last one was more my worst fears than a true vision, or at least, I hope it was. The last real vision I had...I saw myself fighting against a creature made of darkness. My wife was fighting alongside me, but then, all of a sudden, she just disappeared. Then there was a bright light, and I woke up. I'm still waiting to find out what the vision meant."
"I see," Ezra said. "Doesn't sound like a good one."
"No, it doesn't," Damian agreed. "I'm going to go clean the scorch marks off my armor."
He raised a hand and Ezra and Hera returned the gesture. Then, he entered his room and sat on his bed, quickly polishing the blaster burn off the chest plate before beginning to meditate.
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