Author's Note: Nothing to say here. I'll explain at the end.

Chapter Two: Ambush

For the first time in years, Ahsoka was visibly concerned, and the information she had on the matter didn't make it any better as she looked at her datapad. Several weeks ago she had heard about the journeys that former Senator Trayvis was making in an attempt to undermine the Empire, which, if the events that followed didn't happen, she would have considered Trayvis's actions to be completely genuine. However in the days after each of his messages, Ahsoka would lose contact with the Rebel cells under her coordination that were located in the systems Trayvis visited, and that was what concerned her. She wasn't sure if it was because of Trayvis being not as he seems, or that the Empire had cracked Trayvis's method of encryption. But in this day and age, Ahsoka could never be sure of the things happening around the galaxy. But the fact that the Rebel cells being lost all happen to be stationed at Trayvis's sporadic destinations had to be more than a coincidence,

After hearing Trayvis's latest message and uncovering Lothal as his next destination, she had voiced her concerns to Hera, but if she knew the Spectres based on what Hera had told her, then she wouldn't be surprised if the group still arrived at the rendezvous point, and she would be powerless to do anything if something went wrong.

She was still looking at her datapad when the door opened, revealing Captain Sykes.

"Sir we will be arriving at the Esseles system shortly." He stated.

"Thank you, Captain Sykes. When we drop out of hyperspace, order all ships to activate the signal scramblers. Hopefully, we remain undetected so we can make it to the planet's moon in time for the pickup."

"Understood Sir," Sykes replied before leaving, shutting the door. Ahsoka then turned to look out at the beauty that was hyperspace and went back to thinking. Despite the role that Fulcrum played in the Rebellion, they had little in the way of true firepower that can defend the fleet, since their fleet was made up of corvettes and frigates. After getting in touch with various firms and corporations, they found a group of Rebel sympathizers within the Damorian Manufacturing Corporation. The group had secretly been smuggling Frigates to the local Rebel cell based in the Asteroid ring around Esseles, and Ahsoka had asked them to send them some frigates as well. The group had responded in a few days saying that they had smuggled two Frigates to Esseles' moon, and in no less than a couple of hours since this message, Ahsoka was on her way in the Slicer, along with another CR90, two GR-75's, which were carrying enough men to man the two future Fulcrum vessels, as well as a fighter complement of 4 ARC's and 4 A-wings. Ahsoka knew full well the risk they were taking venturing so deep into the core, but without the extra firepower these frigates would provide, then this Rebellion Ahsoka was helping to build wouldn't last long against the might of the Imperial Navy.

Ahsoka felt the familiar jolt as the ship left hyperspace and she was left to look out towards the hundreds of thousands of stars. And far off to the right, she could just make out the planet of Esseles and in front of it, the moon where they were heading to. Deciding to get a better view, Ahsoka headed off to the bridge, arriving a short while later only to be met with the view of a Star Destroyer and two Arquitens. Though for the moment, they didn't seem to have noticed the small fleet of Rebels. Luckily the Signal scramblers Ahsoka had helped to develop were holding up. However, seeing such a large Imperial presence worried her.

"I thought our contacts said that security was lax here," Sykes said, forehead furrowed in confusion.

"They've probably noticed the disappearance of these ships," Ahsoka responded.

"Well, luckily the scramblers are working like a charm, I don't think they've noticed us yet," Sykes replied.

"That may be, but we can't neglect this information, this could be a trap," Ahsoka stated.

The bridge crew looked on at the sight for a few more moments before Ahsoka spoke up again.

"Let's hurry this up, the longer we stay here, the more likely we'll be found."

"Understood Sir."

Looking at the Imperial ships above the planet, Ahsoka breathed a small sigh of relief that their exit point was so far out of range of both scanners and visual view. Slowly the convoy of ships made their way to the moon, the ARC's slowly swaying from side to side as they protected the convoy. The A-wings though were held in reserve as they stayed attached to the CR90's docking tubes. But as the convoy made its way into the moon's atmosphere, the A-wings detached and took over the close escort while the ARC's sped down ahead and took up landing positions several kilometers away as a precaution if the Empire did come, but also acting as an early warning system thanks to their advanced sensors. Meanwhile, all the other ships landed in a clearing just outside the rendezvous point, with the A-wings landing on the edge in defensive positions. Out of the Slicer came Ahsoka and Captain Sykes along with several soldiers. From the other ships came several more soldiers but were mainly technicians and engineers who would take control of the frigates. Ahsoka looked around at the people before turning to the head soldier beside her.

"Cara, have the troops position themselves in the treeline, we need this area secured," Ahsoka said.

"Yes Sir," Cara replied, stepping away to co-ordinate the troopers. Sykes looked at his datapad and turned to face Ahsoka.

"The rendezvous point is just through the trees."

"Then let's not keep them waiting," Ahsoka replied.

The walk to the rendezvous was brief but calming, as they walked through a forest of tall tropical trees, trudging through shallow pools of crystal-clear water surrounded by an outline of sand, and although the buzzing of insects wasn't the nicest, in the distance Ahsoka could hear some of the smaller mammals and reptiles indigenous to the moon, and the feeling of the moon was soothing through the force and teeming with life. As they reached the next clearing they were met with the sight of two large vessels, which Ahsoka recognized to be Carrack class frigates. They lay there in the clearing, with some of the larger trees draping down over the top, camouflaging the two vessels slightly. Ahsoka's awe was interrupted by movement coming from behind one of the ship's landing gear. After a moment the source of the movement came into view, revealing several humans dressed in what Ahsoka recognized as DMC uniforms, with a Sullustan who she assumed was the leader of the group thanks to the white bands on his sleeves walking in front.

"So you must be the one they call Fulcrum!" The Sullustan declared. He spoke good basic but had a thick sullustan accent, which Ahsoka wasn't surprised by.

"You could say that. I am but a messenger. Helps keep Fulcrum's true identity secret." Ahsoka said, making sure that her cloak kept her sabers covered

"So I've heard." The Sullustan replied, looking at Ahsoka before turning back to the ships behind him. "Two of the finest ships DMC has made. Carrack Class, 350 meters long, packed with…"

"I know what they are, I've seen them before" Ahsoka cut him off. "But let's make this quick. I'd rather not risk my forces in this system for too long considering the increase in security."

"Ah yes, the planet has been graced with the presence of a Star Destroyer." The Sullustan replied, a mocking tone in his voice. "No doubt by the increasing actions of the Esseles Resistance. The use of Carrack's as a mainline ship is a cause of concern for the Empire, considering the amount of power they pack into such a small area of space."

"That may be so, but the chance that Esseles receives a visit from an ISD at the same time as my team seems more like a coincidence than retaliation."

"Well, it has become harder to smuggle these ships off the assembly line and into the hands of people like you." The Sullustan said. "In fact, it has become very hard. With each ship we smuggle out, the tighter security becomes around the production line." The sullustan says before moving closer to Ahsoka, his voice becoming no more than a whisper. "I've even come to suspect that they have spies in our group."

Hearing this, Ahsoka briefly reached out into the force, gently probing the minds of each of the workers standing behind the Sullustan. For the majority of the group, she felt no deception. However, from the fourth and final member, the force felt slightly shrouded. She also noticed out of the corner of her eye that the same person was reaching for something in his jacket. She was about to speak up when her own commlink starts to beep. Turning away from the Sullustan she activates it, hearing the voice of Trapper Wolf.

/Trapper, what is it?/

/We're pic… up seve… en… ignals… comi… in… Mov… to… rcept./

/Trapper. Trapper, do you copy?/ Ahsoka asked, hearing nothing but static.

"What is it?" Sykes asked. Ahsoka was about to reply when she heard the tell-tale whine of a TIE fighter. Looking up, she saw 4 TIE's moving towards them in attack formation.

"Everyone take cover!" Ahsoka shouted as the TIE's opened fire. Several emerald green shots hit the ground, while another chain of blasts hit one of the Carracks. causing several sparks to fly but the ship remained intact. Brushing dirt off of her, Ahsoka turned to Captain Sykes, who was dusting down his own attire.

"Captain, get back to the landing zone and tell our fighters to take off and get our ships ready for evac," Ahsoka shouted. Captain Sykes nodded and ran off back towards the landing zone. Ahsoka then turned to the engineers and technicians, who were slightly shaken but nonetheless unscathed.

"Get on the Carrack's we need to take off as fast as possible," Ahsoka shouted as she heard the TIE's coming in for another pass, and in the distance, she could make out the outline of 3 shuttles just entering the treeline behind the frigates. Just as the TIE's began to fire, she heard a new sound reach her montrals, and spun around to see a pair of blue lasers tear through a TIE fighter, sending it careening into the ground in a ball of flames. Another pair of lasers flew through the sky, narrowly missing a second TIE. In the distance, four ARC's flew into view, with Trapper Wolf's ARC adorned in grey and the wolf markings in the lead. Together the group of fighters took out another TIE which blew up mid-air. As this happened those who were watching the dogfight were taken by surprise as a volley of shots flew past the trees, missing the majority, but a few unlucky souls were caught, falling to the ground in pain. After the volley though, the Rebel troops were quick to open fire on their adversaries, who stuck out like a sore thumb thanks to the near sterile white armor.

Ahsoka meanwhile stood by the boarding ramp of a Carrack, DC-15 Pistol in hand, protecting the technicians and engineers as they boarded the ship. The DMC workers also stood by the other Carrack, firing on the stormtroopers with their own blaster pistols as other technicians.

Ducking beneath another shot, Ahsoka let her own shot fly, embedding itself in a stormtrooper's chest, but more stormtroopers kept coming. Over the noise of battle, she could just about hear Cara yelling out orders to her troops, who dodged and weaved between the trees taking out stormtroopers as they went. Up in the sky, the A-wings had joined the fray, while another wing of TIE's came down from space to reinforce the two from the first wave who were just about dodging the blasts of Trapper Wolf and his wingmen.

As the battle raged on, and the Empire lost more men, Ahsoka was shooting at the stormtroopers when she heard the noise of ion engines firing, and she noticed several stormtroopers being flung away and crashing into a multitude of trees, and she could just make out the distinctive cracking of plastoid as the bodies flopped to the floor, and seconds later the bodies were covered in a blue glow. Turning around back to the landing zone she could just make out the fleet taking. Knowing that it was time to leave, she yelled out to Cara who was just a few meters away taking cover.

"Cara get the troops onto the frigates, we're leaving."

She barely heard an "Understood," as a reply, and soon men and women started pouring onto the ships, returning fire as they did, slowly followed by Cara who was the last to make it up the ramp of the first Carrack. Turning around to face the DMC workers, she was about to yell out for them to get on board when the man she had sensed earlier turned his blaster on the others, gunning them down and leaving them to crumple to the ground. He then pointed his gun at Ahsoka who was too slow to raise her gun.

"Drop it!" the man yelled. Ahsoka slowly complied. In the distance, she heard the chatter of stormtroopers as they slowly made their way over to the pair. What the man didn't know, was that she was still armed.

"Now, you die!" the man declared, but as he pulled the trigger, Ahsoka pulled out her shoto, igniting the pure, white blade and in one single motion, she deflected the shot, which flew back into the man's chest, killing him instantly.

"So uncivilized," Ahsoka said as she clipped her shoto back to her belt and picked up her pistol. As she ran to the boarding ramp, she spared one last look at the DMC workers, who didn't deserve to die this way. Shaking her head in brief mourning for the brave souls, she ran up the ramp closing it behind her.

"Get us out of here!" Ahsoka yelled, and moments later, she swayed on her feet as the two Carrack's took off. On the way up out of the moon's atmosphere, the two Carrack's joined up with the rest of the fleet and their starfighter escorts, who had luckily all survived.

As they broke through the atmosphere and into open space, Ahsoka had just reached the bridge only to be met with the image of the two Arquitens she had seen earlier, but were now accompanied by two Gozanti's and a Quasar. She suspected that the ISD was still stationed above Esseles.

"Sir we have enemy ships blocking our exit path at heading 218." one of the officers said.

Onboard the Imperial Carrier, the senior officer looked out of the viewport at the convoy of ships.

"Sir, we have enemy ships approaching directly ahead of us." An officer said.

"Good, our first catch of the day. Launch all fighters. We'll overwhelm their defenses and blow them to pieces," The Senior officer replied.

"They're launching fighters," the officer continued.

Ahsoka looked back out the window, seeing the swarm of fighters making their way towards the fleet. However, behind them, she noticed that the imperial cruisers were holding position, which gave her an idea.

"Open a line to Captain Sykes and Trapper Wolf." She said. The officer complied, and moments later the holograms of Captain Sykes and Trapper Wolf were at the holotable.

"Ahsoka we're cut off." Sykes opened.

"The pilots we have are good, but I doubt 8 fighters would be enough to defend against that swarm of TIEs," Trapper added.

"Not to mention those cruisers." Sykes included.

"Perhaps we don't have to defend against them." Ahsoka simply replied, confusing everyone present.

"What do you mean?" Sykes questioned.

"The Imperial officer most likely wants to seize glory, and a fleet this big is a prime target. But he clearly underestimates the power of these frigates. Captain Sykes take the corvettes and transports and make for bearing 267. Trapper, tell the A-wings to escort them while your ARC wing follows the frigates. We'll distract the fleet long enough for our weaker ships to escape, and then we'll follow."

"Copy that." Trapper acknowledged, and his image disappeared from view.

"Are you sure those frigates can handle those odds?" Captain Sykes asked.

"These frigates may be old, but they can still pack a punch. Combined with their speed, these ships tore through Separatist vessels back in the clone wars. They can handle it. Just get to bearing 267 and make the jump. We'll catch up."

Sykes hesitated a moment before answering.

"Understood." He said before his hologram disappeared.

Off to the side of the viewport, the people on the bridge watched as the corvettes, transports, and A-wings veered off to their new heading, while up ahead the ARCs created an aggressive attack formation.

Wait for it. Let them take the bait." Ahsoka said.

Back on the Carrier, the senior officer watched as the fleet of rebels split in two.

"Cowards." The senior officer growled. "Tell all fighters to target the escaping vessels!" he commanded the officers around him.

"But sir, what about the frigates directly ahead?" An officer spoke up.

"Those ships don't matter. The more ships we destroy, the better. Now target those escaping vessels."

"Yes sir." The officer replied, pressing buttons on his console, and the senior officer watched with glee as the TIEs changed course.

"Sir the TIEs are changing course." The bridge officer announced.

"They took the bait," Ahsoka said, before turning to the others. "Trapper accelerate to attack speed and get after those fighters!" She shouted.

"Understood!" Trapper acknowledged, and Ahsoka watched as the ARC's broke off, catching the TIEs completely off-guard, destroying several.

"Helmsman, have both frigates accelerate to max speed and target those cruisers."

"Yes Sir," the officer replied, and everyone in the room except Ahsoka had to grab hold of something as the frigates accelerated to max speed, the distance between them and the Imperial fleet rapidly closing.

Back on the Imperial carrier, an officer got out of his seat in alarm.

"Sir, the two frigates are rapidly closing in to attack range!"

"No, it's impossible!" he gasped, surprise etched on his face. "Re-Recall all fighters and target those frigates! NOW!" He yelled, as the officers around him frantically worked the controls, and the officer watched in suspense as the turbolaser batteries opened fire.

The ship around them shuddered as blasts from the imperial turbolasers peppered the shields, but Ahsoka still breathed a sigh of relief as the corvettes and transports disappeared from sensors, indicating that they had jumped to hyperspace. The four A-wings that had accompanied them had now turned around and were now tailing the retreating TIEs, firing on them alongside Trapper's group in their ARC's, and several more TIE's disappeared from their sensors, turned to debris.

"Sir we're in range!"

"Target the lead cruiser and fire all weapons!"

"Yes sir!" the officer said, and Ahsoka watched as a volley of red turbolaser blasts and blue ion blasts intertwined with the Imperial's green blasts and pummelled the lead cruisers shields, cracking it in some places, allowing some lasers to pass through and cause explosions on the ship's exterior. The Carrack's were hit by the Imperial's own volley but remained unscathed thanks to the shields. Whatever damage the Carrack's did take meant nothing to the crew as they opened fire again on the lead cruiser and they almost jumped with joy as the Imperial's ships shields dissipated and the volley of explosions hit the ship dead-on, cascading up towards the bridge, which subsequently disintegrated from the barrage, and the crippled cruiser drifted off into one of the Gozanti's, which buckled under the impact, and both ships exploded in a ferocious fireball. The remains of both ships floated away, either into open space or into the rest of the Imperial fleet, causing the shields to shimmer from each impact.

"Good, now target the carrier!" Ahsoka ordered.

"Yes sir!" The helmsman answered, and the volley of fire now turned onto the dissipating shields of the Carrier.

"Sir, those fighters are back!" Another officer said as the ship shook with several laser blasts, and what was left of the TIEs flew overhead, the majority of them trailing smoke as the ARCs and A-wings chased them. As the Rebel fighters scythed their way through the pack of TIEs, the Carrack's fired another volley at the carrier, which was enough to completely overwhelm the shields, which died off in a splutter of sparks.

"Trapper, the carrier's shields are down, begin a bombing run, Ace Squadron keep those fighters off of them," Ahsoka said into her commlink, hearing a string of acknowledgments, and she watched out the viewport as the ARC's broke off their attack on the TIE's and redirected their attention onto the carrier while the A-wings of Ace squadron rallied the TIE's keeping them occupied. In the lead ARC, Trapper looked into his targeting scope and locked onto the carrier's bridge.

"Torpedoes away!" he shouted as he pulled on the joystick, pulling up as the torpedoes flew towards the carrier.

Back on the Carrier, the officer watched in horror as he looked towards the torpedoes rapidly closed in.

"Intensify forward firepower." He yelled, his voice echoing with panic.

"it's too late." Another officer yelled as the torpedoes drew ever closer. The officers tried to run but any form of escape became impossible as a pair of torpedoes hit the bridge, leaving nothing behind. The remaining torpedoes cascaded across the dorsal hull, tearing areas of the hull off to float away. As this happened, Trapper's wing of ARCs had repositioned behind the carrier and let off another volley of torpedoes, hitting the engines, ultimately crippling the carrier, and it proceeded to drift away, its right side dipping down.

"Enemy Carrier down!" Trapper declared through the commlink, and everyone on the bridge of the Carrack let out a cry of joy. Ahsoka however, remained level-headed throughout the brief moment of celebration, though she did let a smirk creep across her face as she saw the reactions of the others on the bridge.

"Alright settle down, everyone, I believe we've overstayed our welcome. Activate scatter protocols and set course for Teth."

"Yes sir." The helmsman answered as the frigates and fighters broke off and headed towards open space, jumping into hyperspace moments later, leaving the remnants of the Imperial task force to limp back to Esseles in defeat.

The journey back to Teth was nothing short of boring, and despite the excitement from earlier, the atmosphere was almost somber. Several good soldiers had died, their losses gut-wrenching to some, while others were injured, some critical, some minor, but apart from that everything was okay. People cracked jokes and others got some shut-eye. Ahsoka however, had been speaking with Captain Sykes, Cara, and Trapper about the mission. Overall the mission had gone well. They had acquired two new ships to their fleet, and on top of that, they had also taken out 3 Imperial ships and a large number of TIE fighters courtesy of Trapper and his expert pilots. But that had come at a cost: 7 dead and 13 injured, as well as the deaths of the DMC workers. Ahsoka had hoped that the growing Rebellion could form an agreement with the DMC workers to provide ships, but instead, they were betrayed, something Ahsoka knew all too well. But war was never fair, and no-one was guaranteed to survive. At that notion, Ahsoka could do nothing but sigh as she watched the comforting sight of hyperspace soar past the viewport.

Arriving back on Teth, the Slicer had docked with the Carrack and Ahsoka had promptly vacated the frigate so she could return to the surface while the two frigates were incorporated into the fleet. What followed was a brief journey back to Fulcrum Headquarters. Leaving the Slicer behind on the landing pad, Ahsoka was walking past the docked fighters for the main building when she noticed the ARC pilots from the mission marking their ships with small TIE designs, with even Trapper Wolf, arguably the calmest member of the squadron outside of Master Plo, getting involved, and she noticed that his tally number had gone up tremendously from this last mission. When Wolf Squadron was formed by Trapper and Master Plo, it had become a bit of a running gag as to who could get more confirmed kills, with Trapper Wolf racking up over 30 confirmed kills since the squadron's formation, though this did lead to rivalries springing up between the fleets 4 squadrons of fighters. Still, watching as the pilots argued between themselves over who got the actual kills put a smile on her face. Wolf Squadron may be competitive, but they were by far the deadliest pilots in the fleet, despite having the disadvantage of using old Republic fighters. Refocusing, Ahsoka headed inside the main building and was on her way to her quarters when she was greeted by Master Plo.

"Koh-to-Yah Ahsoka." Plo greeted hands together in welcome.

"Koh-To-Yah Master Plo," Ahsoka replied as she mirrored his welcome.

"I take it the mission was a success?" Plo asked, hands now by his side.

"More or less," Ahsoka answered. "We got the frigates but not before a spy brought the empire along. We lost several good men, and others were injured, but the Empire paid a much higher price for this engagement."

"So I've heard from Cara. One carrier, a light cruiser and a transport, not to mention several TIEs." Plo replied. "I'm not surprised, you always took after your master when it came to battle."

"This engagement was out of my control," Ahsoka replied.

"I know. I was being." A pause. "Sarcastic," Plo replied before he looked around for something. "Where are the DMC workers?"

"Dead, I'm afraid. Before I could do anything, the spy gunned them all down as we were trying to escape. I could have done something about it. I'd sensed his intentions before the Empire even arrived, but I did nothing to stop it." Ahsoka answered, a glum expression on her face, and she moved over to the side and sat down on a nearby ledge, arms balanced on her thighs.

"You can't beat yourself up over this. Like you said, they died before you could do anything. The Empire interrupted you before you could reveal the culprit. Like you said, this engagement was out of control."

Ahsoka sighed. He did have a point. There was nothing she could have done. The spy had probably been preparing this since she had made contact with the group. After pondering over this thought, Ahsoka stood up and looked at Plo.

"You're right Master Plo, there wasn't anything I could've done. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did."

"Don't worry about it Ahsoka," Plo said, placing a hand on Ahsoka's shoulder. "These things happen to all of us. Even the best of us, like you."

"Huh, I'm flattered at the compliment, Master." Ahsoka quipped."

"It's not a compliment Ahsoka. It's the truth."

"Thanks, Master Plo," Ahsoka replied, warm, fuzzy feelings rising up inside her, but she dared not show it. She was better than that. She was more mature. And she had a job to do that her emotions could not interfere with. It may have made her sound cold had she spoken it out loud but with the Empire in power, such emotions were dangerous to express in the open. Bottling the emotions down within her, she turned away and headed off to her room.

Arriving at her quarters, Ahsoka entered and took off her cloak, hanging it off to the side of the room, and looked down at her clothes. The engagement on the moon left all of her clothes stained and smeared with mud, but Ahsoka wasn't too surprised. War was never clean and you were almost guaranteed to return from a mission covered in dirt or soaked with water. Removing her armor plates, she left them off to the side to clean later and she removed her belt and sabers and slung them over the side of her chair by her desk. She was about to head into the refresher when her holoprojector beeped. Confused at who could be contacting her, she nonetheless checked that her appearance was masked before taking a seat at her desk and activating the holoprojector, and she was met with the face of Hera.

/Fulcrum do you read me?/ Hera opened, the tone of her voice not sounding particularly enthralling, which slightly worried her.

/I read you Hera./ Ahsoka replied, still unsure why Hera was contacting her, but from what she could tell, what she had to tell wasn't good.

/You were right./ Came Hera's reply, which slightly shocked her, but she was quick to remember her conversation with her earlier that day.

/About Trayvis?/ Ahsoka queried.

/Yeah. It was a trap from the beginning. The Empire knew exactly what was going on because Trayvis was a traitor from the beginning./

/What happened?/ Ahsoka asked, and she noticed Hera visibly slump.

/We arrived at the rendezvous point specified on time, but the Empire wasn't far behind. We protected Trayvis while we escaped into the sewers only for him to turn on us. Luckily, thanks to your warnings and the intel Ezra was able to uncover from the Imperial Complex, I was able to put the pieces together and managed to figure out his ruse before he turned on us. We managed to escape, but it's had an effect on Ezra./

/What do you mean?/ Ahsoka asked.

/Trayvis knew of his parents and the work they did./

/The Bridger Transmissions?/

/Yes./

/They were a beacon of hope during these dark times./

/I know./ Hera replied.

Ahsoka paused, thinking Hera was going to say something else, but she didn't so she decided to ask something back.

/What will you do now?/

/I'm not sure./ Hera replied. /We don't really have a plan. The team is out on a supply mission right now while I stay back at the ship. We'll probably decide something then./

/Ok./ Ahsoka replied /Just don't do anything rash. Your cell is too valuable to lose at this point in time./

/But what are we supposed to do./ Hera retorted. /We can't just do nothing and lay low./

/That's not what I'm saying./ Ahsoka responded. /I've heard rumors from Senator Organa. Apparently, the Empire is planning on sending one of their higher-up members of the military to Lothal to deal with you. From what Senator Organa told me a couple of days ago, it appears to be a Moff or even a Grand Moff the Empire is planning on sending./

/You know that this won't stop us right. Our team is, strong-willed to say the least, and I doubt I can convince them to lay low./

/I'm not asking you to do that. Whether you lay low or not, this Imperial will still show up. Just don't do anything extreme enough to outright provoke him into using all his resources, otherwise, there is nothing we can do to help you. Understood?/

Hera looked like she wanted to continue the conversation but decided against it.

/Understood Fulcrum. I'll be standing by for your next mission./ She said before deactivating the holoprojector. Ahsoka turned off hers as well and she stood up. She didn't want to tell Hera to lower their amount of interference with the Empire, but it was necessary. She couldn't allow the Jedi to be captured or worse, yet she knew deep down that something was going to change, and she would have to get involved at some point. Weeks ago the force had been quiet about such things, but recently the force had been giving more and more nudges on the matter, and she could not ignore it for much longer. It was in her blood to do good, but the way she was doing it at the moment was wrong. She would have to get hands-on on the matter if she was to appease her nature, and it felt more likely that this moment was fast approaching. But no matter what came up in the future she would be prepared to face it with Master Plo by her side.

Author's Note: Ok that's the chapter done. I hope you enjoyed it. I've added several references from the films and shows. I wonder how many you found.

And now, the reason why there's no author's note at the beginning. Several days ago I received a PM from an unknown account. At least unknown to me. But the message they sent was completely inappropriate for me. The caption was some cheesy, seductive greetings which I didn't like but the message horrifies me. A web address to some LGBT, most likely 18+ website. This is wrong. I am a minor and I should not be getting messages like this. I want nothing to do with shit like this. I am disgusted. I am disgusted and ashamed that someone would do this, let alone to a minor. I joined fanfiction to write authentic and liked stories and one-shots, not receive creepy inappropriate messages I'm sorry but this can't stand.

That's it. I have nothing else to say.