Author's Note: Little late on the chapter from writers block :P


Jarik POV...

The door to our bedroom opens up, and Ahsoka helps me move inside and towards the bed. She helps me to sit down, and I grimace slightly when the lightsaber cut stings from the movement, and let out a soft exhale. She gives me a concerned look before moving towards the shelves, getting the medpac. I pull off my cloak and armor pieces covering my torso, leaving just my shirt to allow easier access to the wound, which was a long slash along my left side.

Retrieving the medpac, Ahsoka comes back to sit down as well on my left and pulls up my shirt, revealing the injury. She takes a good look at the wound with a frown, as well as the damage done to my mechanical arm, then returns her gaze up to me with searching eyes.

"Alright, what exactly happened? Who could you have possibly fought for this too happen?" she asks, and pulls out an irrigation bulb to apply a small amount of fluid to clean off the wound,

"Well, I don't know if you would believe it, but... I fought Palpatine," I state simply.

"What?!" she exclaims in shock, halting her progress with a jerk and causing my injury to sting painfully for a moment.

"Ahh geez," I grimace, holding a hand near the wound.

"Sorry," she quickly apologizes, returning to cleaning it before setting the tool away, getting out some other things. "What in the universe do you mean you fought the Emperor?!"

"It's complicated, but remember how the Lothal Temple is the entrance to the World Between Worlds?" I ask rhetorically.

She nods in remembrance, taking a cloth to wipe away dirt or cauterized skin, along with the cleaning fluid, and then grabs a bacta patch. "Uh huh."

"Well, somehow, he managed to tap into one of those portals and send himself back in time, and I had to follow him," I tell her.

"Wait, the World Between worlds can also travel between time?" she asks in alarm. "How did Sidious do that?! Please tell me he hasn't done anything or can't get that power again!"

"I don't know how he did it, but he projected himself to Satele in the past, and her son Theron. When I followed through to that other time period, I helped fight him back to the present, although it was really hard, obviously," I summarize, gesturing to the injury.

She stares at me for several moments, worry and uneasiness evident on her face before she returns to my injury, and places the bacta patch over it. I grimace at the slight sting before letting out a quiet sigh at the relief I could feel as the healing substance takes effect.

"Why would Sidious go back in time like that?" she asks me warily.

"He considers us, more particularly, me, the most dangerous threat he has right now. Have been for some time apparently," I say with a shrug. "He decided the best way of getting rid of me was to make sure I would never be born, so he tried to kill Theron."

Ahsoka widens her eyes in alarm for a moment before letting out a shaky sigh of relief. "Well, I guess it's safe to say he didn't succeed," she manages with a small smile, before growing concerned again. "But if he broke time like this once, who's to say he won't try it again?"

I look down grimly, unsure. "I don't know. In order to physically be in the past though he had to seize one of us with Sith sorcery to allow him to travel through the portal, probably because he never physically entered the World Between Worlds, which let me pass through with no problem."

"So in theory, he should he trapped from it," she decides.

"Hopefully..." I trail off, sharing a concerned look with her.

"But now the Empire is in control of the temple," she says sadly.

"Yeah. If he manages to figure out how to enter the World Between Worlds from there..." I start.

"...he'd gain dominion over all of time, and reshape the galaxy into however he sees fit," she finishes knowingly.

We sit together with each other in silence, afraid to think bout the possibilities of what could happen should the Emperor ever discover the secrets of the Lothal Jedi temple. If he ever does, then we can kiss our entire galaxy, and its history goodbye, replaced with only the vision of Darth Sidious. It's too horrible to even want to consider.

"We'll have to do something about it," I say. "We could try to drive them off and away from it, but at the same time that would never work. A prize like a Jedi temple will not be leaving their hands unless the Emperor has a change of heart."

"Which of course won't happen," Ahsoka sighs.

"...then that means we'll have to destroy the place, so that Sidious can't control time," I say in resignation.

"Jarik, the World Between Worlds is a whole other plane of existence, beyond our power or comprehension," Ahsoke replies. "How would we, just two regular Force users in the galaxy possibly hope to do something like that?"

"You hold Morai's spirit, and I share the bloodline of one of the most powerful families in history! Surely we could come up with something!" I try to reason.

"We are still just mortal," she points out. "Even with all of that, we aren't like the Mortis Gods, much less the Force itself."

"Then we could just destroy the temple itself, make the entrance inaccessible to him," I offer fiercely.

"Maybe," she says, although still unsure. "Until then, why don't we leave that issue for later? There are other things we have to worry about," she suggests.

"Yeah, you're right," I agree with a sigh. "It's just really stressful to know that he could access it at any moment if he finds the entrance."

"I have a feeling that he won't, at least not for a while," she says. "And if he does, we'll be able to sense it I'm sure. You have before."

"Don't disclude yourself, I'm sure you'd be able to sense it as well. You're a lot more gifted in the Force," I reply.

"Maybe," she comments. "Now that I know more about the place."

We remain in silence for a few moments, during which she takes the time to start the rest of me after noticing part of a bruise on my back, and tells me to remove my shirt. She starts looking over all the bruises littering my back and chest with deep concern, causing me to wince whenever she pressed too hard on some. Most of these had to have come when Sidious was slamming me into the rocky ceiling and ground with the Force, which was not fun.

I don't even know how I could prepare to fight someone like him. Despite his age he is still really fast and skilled with a lightsaber, not to mention full of extreme power in the Force.

Ahsoka adds some small amounts of bacta fluid to the bruises to help them heal faster, and I roll my right shoulder, feeling a kink in it.

"The things you do to yourself Jarik..." she mutters to herself while going about her work.

"In my defense I was fighting the Emperor," I point out.

"If Satele wasn't there you'd be much worse I'd imagine. Guess I'll have to thank her if she ever decides to say hi to me," she replies.

I roll my eyes but let her continue applying the bacta, rubbing it along the worst of the bruises. I'm just glad R5 wasn't a part of this... oh and speaking of droids...

"How bad is your arm?" she asks me.

I glance at my metal arm, noting the saber slash through it and attempt to move it a little. In response the lower half beneath the cut sparks a little and trembles in a vain attempt to move, and I grimace when the connection between flesh and metal is shocked a little.

"Not very good," I admit with a sigh.

She grabs the area of the slash on my forearm and narrows her eyes at it, examining the damaged wires and twisted metal.

"He may not have cut through your arm completely but, a lot of the wires are cut through or melted together from his lightsaber," she observes grimly. "Most of this will have to be replaced."

I let out a frustrated sigh.

"Great. That's gonna take a while to fix, considering the lack of thing to fix something as sophisticated as that," I grumble.

"The good news is that none of the wires connecting with your nerves up higher are damaged, so me and R5 should be able to repair it with the right parts," she adds, disconnecting it at the elbow.

Ahsoka sets the ruined part of the arm aside, and I look at the bit that remains, just my upper arm, with a glum look. She notices and frowns down at me, sitting beside me again while I pull my shirt back on, struggling for a moment since I only have one hand to work with.

"Are you alright?" she asks softly.

"I'm fine, it's just... hard not having a real arm sometimes. Even years later," I admit.

"Maybe you'll never be able to get over it, but you've done really well," she reassures me. "Loosing your arm during the Bombing wasn't your fault, but sometimes we just have to... live with these things," she trails off sadly.

I look at her with a worried frown, noting the sense of sorrow in her voice and through the bond, which wasn't fully connected to me. It was something else.

"And... are you alright?" I ask her.

She looks up at me with some confusion, so I explain further.

"In the temple... you saw something too I'm sure. It's heavy on your mind," I tell her knowingly.

She sighs sorrowfully, glancing down to try and suppress some of her grief.

"When I was alone in the temple... I heard Anakin's voice," she says. My breath catches slightly in realization, and she continues. "He was so, upset... and mad at me. He was saying that I abandoned him after the Bombing."

"You're not at fault for what happened to him Ahsoka," I interrupt firmly. "If anything, I'm more at fault than you."

"But what if it is my fault?" she insists. "I could've come back to the Order, but I just left! He needed me, wanted me to come back to him but I didn't! I pushed him away..."

"Ahsoka, you did not push him away!" I tell her with a look. "He didn't blame you for that, and neither did I! You had every right to do so."

"But he needed me," she continues. "If I hadn't left, he wouldn't have gotten so upset, I'm sure! He was married, and I'm the only other person that knew about it. He was alone without me-"

"Ahsoka!" I exclaim through the bond, making her stop in surprise. She whips her head around to look up at me, and I can see the hint of tears welling up in her eyes.

"You've helped me to overcome my guilt many times before, so now I'll do so as well," I tell her. "Anakin's turn to the dark side was not your fault. Palpatine was manipulating him ever since he was a child. The rules of the Jedi gave him no one to turn too, and barely any of the Council members trusted him! They didn't understand what he needed!"

She listens to me, sniffling every so often, and I look at her sadly, feeling an ache in my heart at the sight of her so upset.

"Whatever you think, just understand that you leaving the Order is not something he would've ever blamed you for," I tell her gently. "There were too many other things going on that added to his fall. It's not your fault."

Ahsoka lifts her gaze to look at me through her tears, and eventually wraps her arms around me in a hug, seeking comfort. I return the embrace with my right arm, seeing as I couldn't do it with my left, and send soothing feelings of comfort over to her. She buries her face in my chest while I hold her tightly.

"Why did it have to be him?" she asks quietly.

"I don't know," I reply sadly. "We just have to remember the good person he was, and hope we can save him in the end."

"Thank you Jarik..." she whispers.


Afterwards, the two of us returned to the common room area, where Kanan and Ezra were sitting down, chatting with Mara and each other. Ahsoka was doing a lot better now, and I had pulled my cloak back on as usual. They looked up at our arrival.

"There you guys ar- WOAH!" Ezra exclaims in shock. "What happened to your arm?!"

"It needs to be repaired," I say simply.

"Wait, your left arm is a prosthetic?" Kanan asks in surprise.

"Yeah, has been since the War," I tell him impassively.

"Are you serious?! How'd you lose you arm-" Ezra starts to question in bewilderment.

"Ezra," Kanan interrupts with a frown of disapproval.

"Sorry," he apologizes. "But... what happened at the temple for that?"

Despite his disapproval, I could tell Kanan was also curious like him, as well as a little confused. I suppose that could be confusion on how I got injured when we were just receiving visions.

Although, I wasn't.

"Story for another time, new topic of conversation please?" I answer in exasperation.

"We'll be back with the fleet in a few minutes," Ahsoka announces.

"Okay, great," Mara says.

"Keep trying to find a base for your group. There's bound to be some places in the Outer Rim that the Empire wouldn't think to look," she suggests, continuing. "Once you do, we'll focus on what Master Yoda told us."

"You aren't going to help?" Kanan asks.

"We have to wrap up a few things, and prepare ourselves for the trip to Malachor. You should as well," I advise them.

"Dad, wasn't Malachor, y'know, destroyed during the Mandalorian War?" Mara asks in confusion.

"Destroyed?" Ezra asks in confusion.

"One of the systems planet's was destroyed when the ancient Jedi Revan activated a superweapon in the middle of a battle thousands of years ago. It killed a lot of people, on both sides," Kanan explains.

"Malachor has more than one planet, that's just the name of the system," Ahsoka explains. "Malachor V is the planet that was destroyed."

"So, if it's the system, then what planet are we going to?" Mara asks.

"There's five planet's in the Malachor system, but if I have to take a guess, we're going to Malachor I," I tell them.

"Okay, so then what's on Malachor I?" Ezra questions.

Me and Ahsoka share a brief look, having a silent conversation through our bond about what we knew of the place; specifically, about the fact that Snoke told me to go there as well in the Mirror Cave.

"I'm not sure," I finally say in response. "But Malachor has a dark past, and has been really significant for the dark side throughout history. So it will not be pretty."

Mara gives the both of us a suspicious look, which means she knew we weren't telling the full truth. Ahsoka replies with her own look to assure her that we'd explain later.

"I don't like the sound of it," Kanan admits. "But if his is what Master Yoda advises, then I don't us having much choice."

"In the mean time, keeping searching for a suitable planet for a base," Ahsoka says. "I'd talk to Rex and Boil, since they know the Outer Rim better than most. See if you can contact Rylla or Ketsu Onyo as well. They're bounty hunters, so I'm sure they'd have some suggestions."

"Will do," Kanan says in understanding.

"Then we'll meet up with you for the trip to Malachor after you've found a place," Mara says, glancing up at us. "Right Mom?"

"Yep," she confirms with a small smile.

"One last thing. As I've already said, Malachor wreaks of the dark side. So you should train yourselves to recognize and resist its influence, as well as improve your saber skills," I tell them. "There may be worse things than Inquisitors there."

"Okay, I get it," Ezra says determinedly. "As long as we can learn how to defeat them and Vader, I'll be ready for anything."


Once we had spoken with the two members of the Ghost crew, we arrived back with the rebel fleet and dropped them off. During our brief stop, the rest of the crew inquired about my arm in obvious surprise, so I probably haven't told them about it yet. Must've never came to me.

I assured them it was alright and could be fixed. However they rummaged up some parts in their cargo that Sabine felt would be enough to repair it, which I was surprised at, but also grateful for. Ahsoka confirmed the pieces were enough for what she needed, so we thanked them before setting out again, this time back to Ahch-To. Going to Malachor might be one of the most dangerous things we've done yet, and that's say something. So we'd need to be prepared for anything that might happen.

And to talk with Hiccup, Stoick and the rest of them in case something... horrible happens, when we're there. But by the Force, I will not let something happen to Ahsoka and Mara, and definitely not the latter. She still had so much life to live, and had friends in the gang as well, who would be filled with grief for a long time.

Kids shouldn't have to go through that. Not like me and Ahsoka did.

"Hey Dad, I'm curious," Mara says, pulling me from my thoughts in the cockpit. "I know Malachor V was destroyed when Revan set off the superweapon, but what happened on Malachor I?"

I'm silent for a moment before responding. "Well, as we said already, Malachor is a place full of the dark side, and it's always been off limits to Jedi. There was another reason as well."

"Which is?" she asks, sitting down.

"Several thousand years ago, there was an event known as the Great Scourge of Malachor I, a few centuries after Revan's time," I explained. "We don't know what exactly happened there, but many Jedi confronted the Sith on the surface in an all out war. In the end, both sides took a huge toll."

Mara looks surprised and unnerved by the story. "Wow, that's hard to imagine," she admits. "Is that why the Jedi banned the system?"

"It was the final straw," I reply in agreement. "Most of what we know about it now are old legends, stories told to us as younglings. Some of which describes some sort of weapon that wiped out everyone."

"If there is a weapon there, do you think that's what Master Yoda wants us to know about?" she asks me with wide eyes.

"I'm not sure, but it's possible," I tell her.

Ahsoka then walks into the cockpit, taking notice of us being there.

"What's our time?" she asks.

"We're still a few minutes away from Ahch-To," I answer.

"Alright, well I just came to let you know that R5 and I have done some work on repairing the arm with the parts Sabine gave us, so it should be ready soon," she tells me.

"Thanks," I reply gratefully.

"How much longer do you think it'll take the crew to find a base?" Mara questions.

"I don't know, but their search should be close to finished. They've been at it for some time," Ahsoka answers.

"It'll have to be well hidden, if they want to evade the Empire, and one person in particular," I remark.

"You mean Thrawn?" Ahsoka asks with a frown. "He's not focused on Phoenix Squadron."

"Yet," I reply. "When they become big enough of a threat to the Empire they'll send him in I'm sure. I've been monitoring his progress against a group led by someone named Nightswan, and it's only a matter before he defeats them. They're smarter than most rebel groups, but he's smarter."

"Well that's encouraging," Mara says sarcastically. "Everytime he's in the picture he always comes out on top."

"That's just who he is," I say with a helpless shrug.

"If he turns his sights towards Phoenix Squadron, then we'll focus on that then. For now, we should focus on our current problems," Ahsoka suggests.

"Fair enough," I say in agreement.

"I guess until they find I base, I'd be interested in spending more time on Berk, see how the gang is doing," Mara says.

"I think that sounds good, for all of us," Ahsoka adds in agreement.

"What do they even do there usually?" I ask her.

"Sometimes crazy things," she admits. "The last major thing that happened when I was there was when Hiccup, Snotlout, Toothless, Zenna and I were stranded on Outcast island."

"You were stranded where now?" Ahsoka asks in bewilderment, and we both stare at her wide eyed.

"Hey in my defense we managed to get out of there pretty successfully. It was kinda fun," she says defensively, although with some amusement.

"How in the universe did you even get stuck on Outcast Island of all places?" I ask with a frown.

"I was riding Toothless with Hiccup and Zenna during a search and rescue mission," she explains. "Snotlout was being- well, Snotlout, and things escalated from there when a waterspout sent us there, breaking Toothless's tail."

"Why didn't you call us then to come pick you up?" I ask.

"Hiccup found things to fix it, and besides, I thought it was a good teaching moment for me to survive on my own for a little bit," she tells us.

I raise an eyebrow at her response while Ahsoka shakes her head simply in some amusement.

"You've certainly grown a little bit wiser," she observes.

Mara turns a little bit of a sheepish red. "Thanks. Biggest threat for me there is Calder and he's kind of a chump," she says quietly.

"Hmph," I reply in amusement. "Chump with a sword made of an unknown metal that can resist lightsabers."

"Still don't know what it is," Mara says in agreement.


Phoenix Squadron; Outer Rim

3rd person POV...

The crew of the Ghost were standing around a hologram projecting two maps of several star systems, one blue and one yellow. Along with them were Commander Sato, Rex and Boil, Ketsu Onyo, as well as Rylla and her partner Hayden.

"Thanks to Rex and Boil's old Republic map, and the map Zeb's lasat friends made I think we finally have a suitable location for our base," Hera explains, and the holograms merge together, allowing a certain spot to glow brightly.

"The Yost system," Ketsu says in recognition. "There's no sign of the Empire, but there is a habitable moon, one that I think will provide everything you need."

"Promising, but Yost is several parsecs away, and our carrier does not have enough fuel to complete the journey," Sato says in concern.

"We can't afford to leave it, unguarded and immobile," Rex adds.

"So, then find a place nearby that has fuel. I'm sure the Empire has several ports that you'd be able to snag a little bit," Hayden suggests.

"Well, I've been tracking Imperial fueling shipments. There's one schedules to arrive at the horizon base soon," Sabine informs them.

"It's risky. The Empire's tightened security on all of its depot's in the sector," Kanan warns them.

"If there's fuel there, what choice do we have?" Ezra asks rhetorically.

Rylla frowns at the hologram. "Those fueling stations often come under siege from pirates and criminals, considering its successful business," she says. "However those raids happen on cargo ships that depart. So most of their attention would be more focused on defenses beyond the base, instead of right on it."

"That sounds like a plan then," Boil decides.

With everyone in agreement, the group begins to disperse to do whatever it is they need to do to prepare for the upcoming mission, while the bounties hunters stick around for a moment, Ketsu keeping to herself.

"With all the crap we do, I never once thought we'd be getting involved the Rebellion," Hayden mutters to Rylla.

"Would you rather it be the Crimson Dawn?" she replies with a raised eyebrow.

"No!" he shoots down immediately. "Honestly, what were you thinking when you decided to take on a job for them?"

"We were desperate, and they offered. I didn't know better," she explains with a shrug

"Whatever," he says. "I still don't know if helping them out is a good idea."

"Hayden-" she sighs.

"I know you have your morals and all that, I get it. But if the Empire finds out we've been helping them, no one is going to accept us for a bounty!" he interrupts with uncertainty.

"They won't find out, my friends will make sure of that," Rylla reassures him.

"If you say so," he says, before glancing at Ketsu. "I'm gonna be honest though, she's the last person I would've expected to come here."

"I heard that Hayden," Ketsu suddenly says, glaring at him.

"Well you can't blame me, you were always a sourpuss!" Hayden retorts. "I would've thought being mentored by us would've made you turn out better."

Rylla rolls her eyes in exasperation at the argument between the two.

"You were never the mentor, Rylla was. And you were always irritating," she shoots back with a frown of annoyance. "Anyways, don't get used to me being here."

"I wouldn't expect anything less," Hayden says, getting the last word in.

Sabine then walks up to the group, a pleased smile on her face. "Hey, thanks for coming out to help you guys. Your intel was really good."

"It was no problem Sabine," Rylla says with a smile.

"Yeah I had to bust my entire work schedule to put that together," Hayden says in dramatic annoyance.

Rylla elbows him for his behavior, but Sabine rolls her eyes, knowing him well enough to know he was just being sarcastic.

"You think you guys will come around some other time?" she asks.

"Well I've got stuff to do for my clients, so don't count on it," Ketsu tells her.

"Same here," Hayden adds.

"But if you ever need help with something, I'd be glad to help out," Rylla promises her.

"Thanks," Sabine says with a smile, before heading of with the rest of the crew.

"Hey Rylla, speaking of 'friends,' when were you ever going to tell me that you were friends with the Jarik Shan?!" Hayden asks incredulously.

"Seriously?" Ketsu mutters with a dark look in her eyes.

"Was never important at the time," Rylla shrugs in reply.


There's only three more chapters I have planned before the fated Twilight of the Apprentice episode happens, and everything changes! :O

I'm so excited to get working on that, and it certainly is going to be crazy! Nothing will be the same again after that chapter.