The Rebel Twins

by GradGirl2010

For 15 years I was alone. Fixing spacecrafts to numb the pain. The Clones' betrayal of the Jedi stole my brother from me. At the time, it seemed as if it would be forever. Reunited through this war of Imps and Rebels, Caleb...huh...Kanan wants me by his side again. The problem is...the idea of fighting again terrifies me. The screams...they won't stop.

17. The New Recruits

The New Recruits

Moving on.

I'm back guys. Sorry for being gone so long. I'll give you two chapters.

xxx

A crisp spree Autumn morning. Long hours before the sun will ever peek above the Lothal Horizon. The stark chill icing the murky waters surrounding the outskirts of the planet carrying the heat of inevitable battle on its current. And the intense silence the morning wrought as another glorious day in name of The Empire beckons their enemies to dare to attempt to tarnish what is rightfully theirs. The perfect hours for The Imperial Academy to break in the fresh, vivacious, and glory seeking batch of cadets wishing to do their Empire proud in the fight against evil. Now, mind you, this may be one of several locations where those who believe themselves strong, worthy, and loyal come to hone what meager skill they've deluded themselves into believing they possess. And where only the willing and steel nerved will come to see themselves cultivated into full fledged cadets that will become bonafide Stormtroopers. But do not be fooled by the training. What lies within those walls is nothing short of a signed death warrant on the precipice of receiving The Reaper's signature. Every single cadet that steps through those doors - regardless of their species or gender or homestead - will immediately face a danger so terrifying, so horrendous, so absolutely body numbing that even the most veteran of soldier shudders at the thought of ever returning. These are no mere drills or exercises. The physical requirements here are ONLY bureaucratic nonsense that ensures you see beyond the front door. Cadets are rigorously and ruthlessly pushed beyond their limits and farther, rendering their bodies completely immobile by the 12th hour. The whining at having to awaken so early with sore bodies tickles the instructors. That pain is only the start and it will be engraved into them, resulting in oiled, sturdy machines completely devoid of any fear of pain, and assuring them that loss is not even in their vocabulary, let alone in the regime. Drills come at the drop of a hat. Emergency assemblies, reaction tests, responses when their guards are lowered. No mercy will be shown. Those who are not prepared will face certain death. Not necessarily on the battlefield. Traitors are common, and they are to be dealt with expediently, and with notable joviality at having thwarted the enemy's plans. The training will weed out the weak and useless, leaving them as the trash they once were the second they set foot inside. The first hour will be their blessing. By hour two...there will be no gods to save them. Only their instructors. Commandant Cumberlayne Aresko, and Taskmaster Miles Grint.

AT-RT walkers were filed for their weekly service in the Imperial Academy's hangar. Part of the service is for a thorough diagnostic to be run, weaknesses and failings to be identified, and then they are to be repaired swiftly and sent on a test jaunt. Precisely where the lady mechanic of the hour comes in. Her long brown hair tied tightly into a bun ensured those clunky machines wouldn't snag and kill her. As an added measure she wore a vibrant orange bandanna. Saves her from profuse sweating, keeps stray hairs in check, and looks amazing with her skin tone. The industrial goggles she stole from one of the rooms weren't too shabby. Heavy, but came with a magnifying feature that made her work less strenuous on the eyes. She wasn't thrilled about the uniform though. It was too snug. The Academy staff outfitted her in one of the officer uniforms. This horrible gray monstrosity that they tried to flatter her into by mentioning it was modeled after Governor Price's uniform. Needless to say, the mechanic got rid of the shirt and stuck with the snug black tank top. The pants were roomy enough and allowed her leeway, and the boots made climbing around on the walkers a sinch. The gloves weren't half bad either. But that shirt. How do Tua and Price live in those things? The fashion sense aside, her work was cut out for her. At least ten of these Walkers returned hobbling from failed missions. Or just failed piloting by mediocre operators. It's amazing they survived the trip. One or two were in terrible shape. She didn't need a report to tell her that. The rest, superficially, were in prime condition. But her ears weren't fooled. The clacking at the ankle joints, and the grinding at the cockpit. Not to mention the smoke coming from the exhaust port was too thick. She'll need to give them her special touch.

"LEFT! LEFT! LEFT-RIGHT!" The melodious voice of Miles Grint quaked the hangar. Hell, his every step broke the faultlines. Not even the relaxing hiss of the blow torch could drown him out. Wrapping her legs to turret she was in the process of mending, the new mechanic dangled herself upside down, catching Grint's eight man squad of cadets marching in. For newbies they marched with decorum. Grint couldn't stop himself from jumping on each step. "And...HALT!" He and the squad crisply stopped and snapped sideways, facing one another. Aresko awaited this new ragtag team on a platform, studying them with a harshly scrutinizing eye as he reviewed the roster on his datapad. Needless to say, he wasn't thrilled or expecting much. "Squad NRC-O77 for your inspection, sir!" He reported lacklusterly.

"Cadets!" Aresko beckoned their full attention. "You entered this facility as children! And in a few short weeks you will leave...as SOLDIERS!" He puffed his chest and stood tall, proud of the soldier this academy made him into. "By the time you complete your training, you will be prepared to serve your Emperor. Today we will test your strength and resolve." Neither of which he thinks they have. But he has nothing better to do with his time. "Are you ready to become Stormtroopers?"

"SIR, YES, SIR!" The cadets resounded. The mechanic felt a churn in her stomach. One of the cadets...she saw the face of another who long since passed. The blood rushing to her head wasn't helping either.

"At ease…"

The cadets went limp and relaxed. Those that removed their helmets, the excitement was bustling on their brows. Another step closer to becoming stormtroopers. This is a dream come true for them. They couldn't wait to get started. Especially Dev Morgan. Also known as Ezra Bridger. He was going to enjoy this. So long as he and his partner aren't caught. The adrenaline pumping in his veins made him twitchy and ready for action. What would they be doing first? How much of chumps can he make these guys with his force powers? Do they have good academy food or those dehydrated caps?

"OYE! STARK!" Grint barked, spying the mechanic hanging around on the job. Ezra gasped and spun with wide eyes. She pointed like a wise ass at herself, feigning confusion. "Stop your ogling and get back to work!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP, GRINT!" She hollered back. Ezra and The Cadets dropped their jaws in utter shock. No one's ever spoken that way to Grint, and she did so without flinching. She removed the bandana and goggles, shaking away the sweat. The long voluminous hair of Katerina Dume, aka Anastasia Stark, fell from its band. Her aquamarine eyes emanating with her usual disgust and defiance. "DON'T GET YOUR PANTIES IN A TWIST! I'M ON BREAK!" And she intends to take it. She climbed her way down, flexing off the ease of fixing the walkers. She get's more of a challenge on The Ghost trying to fix up Chopper.

"Then get on with it and THEN get back to work!" Grint howled again with a maddening flushed face. Katerina and Ezra don't want Aresko and Grint becoming too worked up. It'll ruin the finale of Ezra's training they have cooked up.

Katerina rolled her eyes, scoffing at his orders. "Before I do that, there's an issue I've been having." She crooned, strutting with a resonating obstinace that made Grint want to sucker punch her. She came within two feet of the larger man, wearing that smug smirk he hates. Then she and Ezra met eyes. The impish pair winked at one another. The chocolate skinned cadet - Zare Leonis - noticed the friendly gesture but remained silent. "You brought me here to work on the latest TIE! Or rather, you twisted my arm so I WOULD come work on the TIE!" That reminds her that she has an important call to make. Katerina shoved Grint aside and climbed onto the platform, meeting Aresko head on with anxiously fidgeting cadets wishing they had popcorn. "I've been fixing your Walkers, Blasters, and those damn tanks of yours for weeks. They are mundane and simple! Put me on one of those walkers again, Aresko, and I'll be crushing you with it!" They aren't even worth a breath of her talent. "I want to see the TIE NOW!"

"Fine!" Aresko grudgingly acquiesced. "If it will expedite your departure!" He snapped his fingers to a technician. He came to the foot of the platform, standing at a attention and waiting for his orders. Katerina was rather turned off by his scruffy features. That missing tooth spoke volumes for his country bumpkin years. Long blond hairs half tied and half loose were matted. And looked greasy. Judging by the smell, and those stains on his uniform, he doesn't shower much. "This is Specialist Ace Hardlight. You will be coordinating with him on the TIE's construction." Hardlight huffed derisively, eyeing Katerina like she were dirt under his toes. Aresko handed him the datapad for the TIE. "You are to assist Specialist Hardlight in the completion of the TIE, and report you work to Agent Kallus." Ezra and Katerina felt their insides come out of their rear ends. The Ghost Crew's luck working true to form. Figures Kallus would be here! "Now go!"

"And try not to get in my way, Little Girl!" Hardlight scoffed. He was stopped by her hand at his chest.

"Shouldn't be too hard." She strutted with an exaggerated sway of her hips, plucking the tablet from his hands. "You'll be too busy drooling like the moron to do any real work." Hardlight growled with a vengefully clenching fist. Katerina and Ezra met eyes. With a simple smirk they confirmed their plans were a-go. The academy will be left upside down when they're finished. A flip of her hair swatted Hardlight in the face, and she snickered on her way.

"Don't be surprised if she isn't here tomorrow!" Hardlight warned Aresko and Grint. Not that they would complain. They've been trying to wring her dry for weeks now.

xxx

"No...no...BIG FAT NO!" Katerina stroked the screen repeatedly, skimming the contents of the new TIE's schematics. The schematics were, thankfully, under the lists of Typo and Prototype, granting her access to make edits. A lot of edits. Know what? Let's not be kind about it. She rewrote the entire schematics and significantly changed them. She left the before so the officers can marvel at the after. "WHAT ARE THEY THINKING? Attaching a radiator core with a flux converter! Do they want the thing to implode when it hits half a mach speed?" The novices working for her and Dominique wouldn't make such a blunder. "And then they have the gaul to use anesthesia coolant as a cheap replacement for synesthesia coolant! That will fry the systems the second they start opening fire!" Aresko insults her with this. The technicians of this facility will know how belts feel being stretched inside engines. "Wrong...wrong...way wrong...my god!"

Hardlight wanted the tablet back, but couldn't help being transfixed in her analyzing the data. She barely takes five seconds to glance, spouts out the flaws in the design, and uses the next ten seconds to make adjustments. She's been doing this process since the moment they left the hangar. Hardlight nearly panicked when Stormtroopers came from ahead or suddenly from adjacent hallways. Her face was glued to the tablet he thought she'd crash. She weaved past them, and even caught an officer's lunch with one hand. Never looking away from the datapad.

"You're oddly engrossed in this." He remarked with a sense of wonder.

"Only because you're so bad at this!" She threw the tablet. Hardlight clumsily caught it, exhaling with relief. Then he scrunched his nose at her insult and irrational response. She jabbed a finger in his chest. "You're the Chief Technician on this planet right? This sort of neglect and amateurish patch job you've allowed to shape this wonder of technology earns you the right of a tar and feathering while being waterlogged!"

"What did you just say?!" He growled.

"You heard me!" He cringed when her glare came uncomfortably close. The way her eyes shimmered in her anger was...frightening. "I did not have my friends threatened so you and your team can make a mockery of our craft!" Hardlight was enraged to silence, clenching fists to break in that obstinate face of hers. How do he be talked down to like this! And by an upstart with no prestigious credentials. "Now Aresko may find some worth in you, but from this point on you're working for me! And if you don't like it, we can just show Kallus the shawdy work you wanted to put in the Empire's pride and joy!" Hardlight's continued silence spoke volumes on how much he didn't want that to happen. Kallus isn't an engineer, but he'd be able to note the significant differences in their work. "Glad to see you're on board. Now let's head to the garage!" She's glad he took her bluff. If Kallus see's her, it's all over.

Hardlight grudgingly led her for the TIE, muttering all sorts of punishments he hopes befall her. Meanwhile, Katerina smirked at the black C1 astromech rolling on his merry way. Two taps to her thigh, and erecting her pinkie and thumb, index and middle, and ring and pinkie, the Astromech beeped in confirmation. Still going smoothly. As she meandered after Hardlight, she became lost in her thoughts. It's been six weeks since she and Ezra infiltrated the Academy. Though she was invited, Ezra had a series of assessments, background checks, and trials in order to set foot in the academy. Living as Dev Morgan was a struggle seeing as how he's only ever been Ezra his whole life. He's mingled in perfectly. No one is seeing through him or her. They've taken Anastasia Stark and Dev Morgan in as one of them. She only hopes they can keep this up for a while longer. Thunder struck at her skull each time a Stormtrooper meandered by. Every hallway, every restroom, and dark corner had a Stormtrooper. They were like cockroaches. How many of these guys has she helped The Ghost Crew crush? And how many take their place? These Stormtroopers...they disgust her. Just like the clones. To think her sole mission to eradicate them changed so swiftly all those years ago.

xxx

Flashback - Six Years Ago

It was nine years after Order 66. The Jedi were gone, and the Clones and Battle Droids were decommissioned and destroyed. The Empire was drafting new recruits left and right, building their numbers on able bodied young men and women. Some had particular skill, some didn't. Those with noteworthy potential were nurtured and cultivated into cold blooded killing machines. Those who didn't make the cut were tossed aside like garbage. Those who refused to join faced a worse fate. That being sad...on Katerina's 17th birthday, the worst fate imaginable came to pass. One she hoped Chandrila would never have befall her.

Katerina hid herself in the underdeveloped basement of Mothma's Garage. It's the only place she has for privacy, and to properly vent when her temper becomes unmanageable. The dummies she'd arranged and the semi automatic firing blasters set to fire at random intervals were a grand distraction. With her trusty staff, nothing could stand before her. She set these obstacles to move, making it more of a challenge for her. Though she was making novice mistakes in her steps and strikes. The announcement blaring over the holonet was burrowing into her skull like a gnat. "Good People of Chandrila! Come together in unbridled joy!" Mon Mothma's voice rang with its harmonious chime. Her voice had the power to quell the savage minds of thousands, and bring peace to lands around her. This time, however, every word she spoke made Katerina's strike unfocused and clumsy. Her efforts to not look the woman's projection in the eye fumbled her handling more. "Rejoice in the auspicious future gifted to us by the benevolence of The Emperor, His Excellency, Sheev Palpatine! Today Chandrila has decided to join the Galactic Empire in our united struggle to bring peace to the Outer Rim and beyond!"

Katerina growled through gritted teeth. SMASH! CRASH! "HAAAAA…!" She destroyed the dummies and balsters, and then emptied her pistols into the floor. A scorching hole broke through the solid steel. Crazed and filled with unrelenting rage, Katerina huffed heavily. Searing fumes exhausted on her breath. Her finger futilely clicked the trigger. The empty, hollow clicks resounding in her mania as gunshots. "Peace...unity...a future…" She snarled rabidly. "You dare to speak these words...knowing WHAT THEY'VE DONE!" She crashed the staff to an old engine, breaking it into hundreds of pieces.

"From this day forth, in place of the treacherous Jedi and decommissioned Clones and Droids, Stormtroopers will be dedicating their lives to protecting us, and seeing our glorious future come to fruition!"

"DAMN YOU! SHUT THE HELL UP!" Seeing Mon hold that smiling face in the middle of this disaster sickened her. She reloaded a pistol and destroyed the holoprojector. Somehow...it was soothing. "You call the Jedi traitors? You're the traitor, you bitch!" She screeched. "You...and every single one of you who turned your backs on us! You'll all be dead!" She'll be nothing but a magnet devoured corpse just like the rest of them.

"Ahem."

"GRAH!" Her less than precise strikes devolved into a barbaric swing, charging for the head of the interloper. The grief that engrossed her when a the hand of Kendril Mothma narrowly stopped the lance from connecting. His long red hair was slicked back into a ponytail. A smile was able to be seen behind his full beard, but his green eyes betrayed how melancholic he was feeling. "Ken? What...what are you doing down here?" She panted.

"You were late for work. Grim was worried about you." He replied simply, again betraying his disconcertion for her.

Katerina scoffed in revulsion, returning to her training. First she needed new dummies. "I don't need the newbie worrying about me!" She doesn't need the fake concerns of a street urchin.

"He's not new. We've known him for a year, and he's proven himself." He's mad that she hasn't seen past his raggedy features. Katerina can play it off as if it was Grim she doesn't like. That ego of hers would never let her admit she felt threatened. Grim is a talented young man. The first to rival Katerina. As a result, she gives him the cold shoulder.

"Good, then he can be me for the day." She shooed him off, arranging new sparring dummies. She wishes she had real troopers to bash around. "That should bring a light to his dull life." Kendril knit his brow, then ogled her staff with intrigue. She twirled the staff, using her violent imagination and giving the dummies life. In a rage she swung. Nothing but air met the dummies. Katerina blinked confusedly and went to see if her staff was on the fritz, only to find her staff was gone. Her hands were empty. "What...the…" She didn't drop it. Where did it go?"

"Most interesting…" Kendril hummed. Katerina turned to him. Dismay slackened her face. Kendril had her staff and was flicking at it, testing the durability of the metals and listening to the humming of the bulbs. Needless to say, the staff earned his seal of approval cosmetic wise. It's as new as the day he got it for her. Internally, with a flip open of the power ports, Kendril was blown away. The wiring was switched around, and a few extra components. "You've been doing regular maintenance on this staff. No!" This was more than maintenance. "You've upgraded it these past few years. Five by the refurbishments by my count."

"Six. The bulbs conduct a higher level of electricity, and are refined like actual lance heads." She traced a finger, wanting him to note the change in alloy. She demonstrated with a flick of the staff, scratching it on the ground for effect. Sparks conjured the lancehead. The vibrant screeching of ethereal colored electricity surged at both ends. Kendril stood ten feet away, but was not spared the static cling. "Theoretically, I could leave a gash in steel. May even be able to cut these damn Stormtroopers that keep popping up everywhere down to size." The demented cackle shook Kendril to the core. Her face was twisting maliciously. The glow of the lancehead illuminated the darkness coating the dark imaginations in her eyes. "Did you know bone, when crushed, can be mixed with certain metals to give it a pristine, durable, and semi-flexible acrylic substance? The marvels I'd be able to make." The strong tingling didn't phase her as she traced her tongue an inch off the lancehead.

"That's enough!" Kendril swatted the staff away, then wrenched her around by the shoulders. The look of utter impassiveness scared and angered him. "I will not hear that sort of talk from you!" He roared.

Katerina slowly blinked with absolutely no care in the universe for him feelings. Why should she care? Everywhere and everyone stopped caring for the grief tearing her to tatters. She's only adhering to what is socially accepted. "Maybe you wouldn't have to hear it if Mon wasn't such a sell out." Kendril's grip was loosened under his shock. Her emotionless reply caught him off guard. Katerina shoved his hands off, grabbing her staff. No dings or scratches from his assault. Good.

"Katty, please. Mon's decision wasn't one she made lightly." He pleaded.

Katarina hissed murderously under her breath. She doesn't care for her reasons. She doesn't care for his excuses either. The fact remains as is, "I can't believe you went along with hers and...whatever Organic's decision to join the Empire!"

"Katty, we've been through this. His name is Bale Organa," She really, from the bottom of her blackening heart, doesn't give two flying rappig asses what his name is. Kendril erected a finger to stay her usual ignorant retorts, "And he and Mon had to agree! Their lives and ours were on the line." He approached her with open arms, desperately urging her to see the bigger picture. "Do you really want to see Leia harmed?"

"I barely know the brat. And that one time I met her she was a right bitch to me!" The Little Princess Leia Organa. Given everything she wants, works for absolutely nothing. Knows nothing of true hardship. The very person Katarina has come to despise. "Thinks she's so special because Daddy is Prince of Alderaan ."

"Katty, please. Come to work. It relaxes you."

"I CAN'T RELAX! Not while Chandrila continues to be overrun by these Imperial Pricks!" They choke the planet she's called home for years. They corrode it with their presence. A plague of locusts and a foul pollution contaminating their air. And worst of all they come to their place of business and bully their way into a free repair. "Everyday you let them twist your arm for discounts or free work! I'm sick of their abuse, and I'm sick of everyone cowing down to them!"

"Katty-"

"NO, KENDRIL!" She won't let him rationalize this. She won't let him assuage her rage at this. She spent years after Order 66 running and keeping her head down. Friends and family taken left and right. She stayed silent, and forced herself to turn a blind eye to Troopers brutalizing innocent people. "I won't live on my knees while they stomp on us! Come Hell or High water I am going to remove The Empire from my home!" Kendril was physically impassive to replacing the bulb of her staff at his neck, but was inwardly trembling at the Demonic rage seeping from her pores. "And I'll cut down anyone who gets in my way!" Including him if he dares to cross her. That was her final word and she took her leave. She grabbed the helmet and jumped onto her speeder. The lower garage maybe underdeveloped, but there was an exit it had that would take her out of the capitol.

"Where are you going?!"

"To the forest! It's only place the stench doesn't reach!" She jumped and stomped on the peg, revving the engine to a start. She strapped on her pistols and staff. The security those objects brought were therapeutic.

"Katty, be reasonable! You know what will happen if you're caught with that weapon."

She's scoffed disgusted at the warning. As innocuous as a dead Droid. "You mean what they'll TRY to make happen. Stormtroopers are less competent than both Clones and Battle Droids!" Since that day in the cave with Master Kenobi six years ago but she's proven her mettle and laid waste to dozens of Stormtroopers. She'll do the same again if they approach her. "And much like both before their decommission, I'll leave the Stormtroopers as nothing but stains."

"Katerina…" She heard no more. Katerina took off down the tunnel, leaving Kendril crestfallen at the darkness trailing above her head. Tears bed to fall down his cheek. His heart was being ravaged. He doesn't recognize the girl he's watched grow from childhood. "To think that light would grow so dim in just a few short years." he bowed his head and failure. He swore to look after her, to help her grow. And yet here he stands helpless as she begins to wither on the vine. "Master Kenobi, Master Yoda - I do hope this isn't a result of...no." He can't think that way. THAT hasn't had a single adverse effect on her. It wouldn't. It shouldn't. She's never told him of any reaction. Not that she would know what to look for."That shouldn't have affected her. It didn't when the order was called."

Flashback End

xxx

The Stormtroopers were the bane of her existence. Every breath they take infuriates her. Who'd have thought she'd work so closely with them? Folding her hands behind her back, Katerina pondered the odds of every single circumstance that's come to pass. One in a million came to mind. The odds of her ending up paralyzed from a lightsaber wound. Or reuniting with Kana after so long. Or how about two Jedi in on place still alive. And then there's Master Kenobi finding her. When she thought about it, the odds for the improbable grew favorably. Depending on the circumstance. Funny how the universe works. A weighty topic that brought a warm smile to her cheeks. In spite of the trauma and nightmares, miracles have come to pass. She can only hope they continue. Hope if all anyone has these days.

"YO!"

"AH!" Katarina was scared out of her skin. She clung to the wall with Hardlight pretending not to be amused by her scare. "WHAT?!" She frothed, patting at her pounding chest.

"We're here." Hardlight gestured to the repair hangar's entrance. Katerina felt fundamentally stupid. She walked 20 feet passed it. "Where's your head anyway?"

"In the past." She breathed nostalgically. She brushed her hair behind her shoulder, trailing the hand to her heavy chest. "I was lost in thought at how much everything has changed these last 15 years."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Hardlight shrugged indifferently, walking inside the shop.

"Not entirely…" She moaned. Glancing to a window, she was entranced by the millions of stars shimmering brilliantly just outside. She feared the tyranny of The Empire dimmed every light known. Nice to see how the people may change, but the beauty of nature hasn't. It's tenacity grants it a means of symbolizing hope for what seems to be a bleak future. Caleb. He's changed. Her thoughts drifted. He's not as impulsive when he was a child, but he still isn't the best at masking or conveying his feelings. And he hasn't lost his bite when speaking what's on his mind. I guess I've changed too. She laughed at herself. SPeaking of her big brother, she wonders how he's holding up. Patience isn't his strong suit. That being said, Zeb has the patience of a rabid bull. He must be losing his mind too. Thoughts of him made her blush cherry red. Her fingers curled at her lips. Her heart throbbed recalling the...the kiss. He came in so fast...and his lips were surprisingly soft. She didn't...she couldn't resist. HM! UGH! She shook her head violently, slapping her cheeks until they stung. Troops walking by thought something was wrong with her and walked in the opposite direction. Why is she thinking about that NOW of ALL TIMES? He just...he just planted one on her...and she went blank. Had Hera not come...that would have been an awkward conversation. One she's gone to enormous lengths to avoid. Maybe I should thank Aresko. This mission has to come to an end someday. And there will be no avoiding him. That...idiot!

xxx

The dead of night claimed Lothal in the midst of the new cadets' training. Stormtroopers traded shifts, none to enthused about defending the one building - second the the senate building- with security that invented the word impregnable. The consolation is it pays the bills and their armor stays shiney. Vanity comes with the uniform and weapons. Inspections are a cinch too. So they can't complain too much. Unbeknownst to the disgruntled guards, the black and silver C1 droid, Chopper, rolled casually into the yard and hid between two storage containers. He had to pause briefly to laugh at the incompetence running the academy. He's literally perused every inch of that facility for the past few weeks without hassle. The feasibility was starting to become predictable and boring. Hopefully that will be changing soon. He flickered his light in a steady rhythm, repeating the process a few times. Then he quickly returned inside as smoothly as he exited. Troopers may pay him no heed, but they will bring the lights down on him in a split second if they find him in odd places. Again, security is a top priority.

Crosshairs from yards away in the housing units intercepted Chopper's signal. They bobbed up and down as acknowledgement of the signal. Sabine lifted her viewfinder, quietly stalking to her hiding place with Zeb. "Specter 5 to Ghost. The Kid passed the test, and Alias is getting access to the new TIE as we speak." Codenames for Ezra and Katerina Sabine took a liking to. They fit perfectly.

"Roger Specter 5. Ghost is Standing by." Hera confirmed.

"About time! Could she have taken longer?!" Zeb huffed uneasily, tossing a hand in the air. He paced in agitation back and forth with a hand on his hip. Her was short on breath, and on patience, with how long this operation was taking. Everyday breeds chances for things to go upside down. "Damn Monkey Wrench probably fell in love with all the toys in there!" Like a kid at Christmas. "There hasn't been a fuselage - or whatever the Hell she gushes over - that doesn't capture her eye."

"Whoa there, pal! Take it easy!" Sabine laughed with her hands raised. He's more volatile than usual. "Riina and Ezra are doing fine." Though he never mentioned Ezra. He's one track when it comes to her lately. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were jealous of Riina's work." She winked behind her helmet.

"I'M NOT JEALOUS!" Zeb clamped his mouth closed, his roaring echoing between the homes. The silence surrounding them was suffocating. No seemed to hear him miraculously. He exhaled and repeated softly, I'm not jealous of a damn thing! Why should I be?!" He spun away from her, leaning on a hand to the wall. Sabine shrugged in surrender, knowing she wasn't going to get anymore out of him. She went to the corner to wait for Chopper, but strained an ear in case Zeb became restless again. His ears drooped with his falling head. The turmoil within him ushered a sadness that weighed heavier than the burdens he carried. "It's not like she's going to give me the time of day anyway." He mumbled under his breath. He brushed fingers over his lips. The look on her face when he...when he kissed her. Man...I kissed her! He doesn't regret it either. But her expression could have differed from...terror.

xxx

Outside Lothal's orbit, Hera and Kanan waited patiently in The Ghost for the extraction. Through sheer willpower they've remained on the edge of their seats and were constantly on their toes. The dangerous of this mission can come from all sides. Returning troops spotting them in space, Katerina and Ezra being discovered, Sabine and Zeb losing focus, or Chopper being...Chopper. Brr. The variety of contingencies - not even they would be able to wiggle their way from this one. Not that past missions with no wiggle room haven't emerged...and they've barely escaped. Right now, however, waiting was the worst danger. Kanan was slowly losing his mind.

"We've been standing by for weeks! I'm sick of all this waiting!" He thrashed in his seat, punching at the walls. If he doesn't get out of that ship and into action soon he was going to go postal.

"You're~ worried about Ezra and Riina." Hera teased with a croon. A Master and a Big Brother. Two kids for the price of one. The pressures of parenthood is strong in this one.

"I'm not worried! They can handle themselves! I'm worried about the OP!" Whoever he was trying to fool sure wasn't sitting on Hera's side of the ship. Kanan hasn't sat still since Ezra and Katerina entered the academy. Katerina's infiltration was a shoo-in thanks to Aresko's less than amicable offer. With that in mind, Vizago better be coming through with what they're offering him. Otherwise he'll have both Dominique and Katerina to deal with. Unless the workers at Unique Fix were safe, Katerina won't be leaving anytime soon. Ezra's infiltration was a shot in the dark while on a balance beam. The smallest misstep, the second he loses sight of the goal, and he was done. The OP was done. And everything that rested on him getting inside will be for nothing. These two have never been more vital to the team than they are now. The Decoder for the Kyber Crystal shipment and the New TIE are in their hands. The responsibility was crushing. "What were we thinking putting them undercover?"

"What were WE thinking?" Hera stressed insulted. She didn't really have a say. "This was YOUR idea, and Katerina was the one who decided-"

"Katerina didn't decide anything, and Ezra isn't ready!" That has been drawn in the sand and sealed by heat. "Neither of them should be in there. Ezra's not experienced in undercover work. And Katerina…" He sank miserably. The idea she might be lying helpless somewhere and unable to move. Her legs...barely began functioning less than a month ago. She shouldn't be undercover in the one place where he'd never get to her. Where he can't get to her without getting her killed.

Hera reached and lightly caressed his cheek. The tenderness pulled Kanan from his fears, but not from his doubts. "Her legs are fine, Kanan. She's snuck away on her own time to the Sumar's, and Alyss says the trauma is minimizing." For the first few days, Katerina's legs were shaky and would collapse under her. As to be expected. As she walks more and works off the atrophy, the muscles will grow stronger and the nerves will stabilize to handle her agile escapades. Though it is stressed that she takes it slow. "As long as she takes it easy, doesn't do anything too strenuous, she shouldn't have any sort of side effects."

"What if she and Ezra get caught?" Does that count as strenuous?

"They haven't gotten caught yet." Yet being the operative word. Hera likes to optimistic in situations like this.

"I should have done this myself. You with me." He declared.

"Oh yeah. You'd be a great cadet, and I could TOTALLY pose as the human Anastasia stark." She rolled her eyes, putting the ship on sleep. Kanan knows full will there were no other options, and no time to come up with another plan. Knowing that he sent Ezra and Katerina to their deaths - again - made what he's feeling churn in him sour every second. This isn't Stygeon...this isn't Stygeon. He had to keep telling himself that. Or he'd betray their faith in him.

xxx

Hardlight jumped right in his work in redoing the recent work his team put into the new TIE. The design was for a small, sleeker craft. Faster, deadlier, and more efficient. All the symbolizes The Empire. The curved wings were larger in height, slimmer in width, and thinner in the plating for sharper turns and less resistance in certain weather conditions. The cockpit was marginally smaller and compensated with extra features to ensure the pilot's utmost safety. Ejector seats were outfitted with a lessened eject time and a more powerful thrust. The seats are also meant to hug the pilot tighter in order to reduce injury and would less likely cause them to rebound inside. The controls had been reconfigured to work the whole ship rather than a shift of the wings, allowing for maximum maneuvering in heavy fire. The armor was thickened and new shielding was applied to deflect a larger number of weapons. At least that's the plan. So far what Anastasia outlined in her edits was proving correct. The ship was in poor shape. Hardlight turns his back for five seconds and his whole team throws their hard work down the damn drain. The plattings were loose, the turbines were shawdy, there was no steering fluid, and he's pretty sure the brakes were from five years ago. These guys are trying to ruin his career. He doesn't know where to start.

"HEY! I could use some help over here!" He hollered to Katerina who had her nose buried in the datapad again. Something about the engine design was bugging her. "We have to work on the shielding and platting. It's a mess!"

Katerina set the pad down, humming while stroking her chin. "Before that, do you think you can fire it up?"

"Huh? Why?"

"Call it a hunch." She strutted closer, winking at him. Hardlight doesn't believe in hunches. Only what's on blueprints and what he sees for himself. And while he doesn't enjoy a kid telling him how to do his job, he saw for himself that her critiques of the ship were spot on. He climbed up and slipped into the pilot seat. A few switch flicks and the TIE was up and running. Katerina shielded herself from the musty gust of air. Sopping humidity caked her in sweat. Hardlight isn't a pro when it comes to flying, but he can at least hover with the best. He steadied the ship, engaging the autopilot for that one spot. He leaned to shout to Katerina from the radio, then was stunned silent. Her eyes were closed and she her hands up to her ears.

"What are you doing? He scoffed.

Katerina tuned him out. She needed to focus. The second the ignition was hit she heard it. A whirring with an irregular beating was intermingled. Then the screeching at the end as the engine revs. The inner workings were in shambles. "Do you hear that dull whir that climbs into a brief skip screech?"

"Yeah? What of it?" Hardlight asked intrigued.

"That skipping whir is caused by a clogging in the main power conduit tubings. Likely a tear." As power tries to feed into the engine, traces of it is either blocked from reaching its destination or the tear is leaking it, causing internal damage. "And that gurgling is from the wrong type of fuel and fluids being injected." Hardlight was surprised. He hadn't noticed the gurgling. "And have you noticed the slight jerks?"

Hardlight arched a bewildered brow, the took in a sharp breath at the dips to the sides. "Yeah...I have! What is that?!"

"An imbalance in the flight patterns, and likely too much weight, is centered to a particular spot." She can't be sure until she gets her hands on it. It's pure speculation right now. "TIE's are precision flight weapons that function on the essential shift of weight, and the dire need for drag in order to stop on a dime, make sudden sharp turns, and to go at full speed." Or so those guide archive's she forced herself to read depicted. They were interesting in a way. "Their maneuverability is key if pilots don't want to die. The jerking and this whirring have to be fixed or irreparable damage will make this TIE moot in production."

Hardlight landed the TIE, climbing out halfway and leaning to the cockpit edge. "How do you propose we proceed?" He wiggled a finger in his ear. The loud ship left a buzzing in his ears.

"Let's start with the tubes and work from there." Working inside to out is the swiftest and safest method. Other issues with the design may be discovered too.

"Alright...then…" Hardlight showed her a list of tubes he's used for the other TIE's and what would compensate nicely in the newer model.

Katerina was listening intently, nodding agreeably with his suggestions, then Hardlight's voice dulled to muffled hums. Footsteps in the next hall caught her attention. Her vision regressed to a funnel. She was drifting with the passing by Stormtroopers and the cadets at their heels. Her brow furrowed angrily. The lengths The Empire will go to in order to beat the status quo and oppress those who know their protection to be full of it. Anyone who remotely showed potential that wasn't part of their ranks, and didn't placate to their authority were punished on the spot. The lucky ones are executed. In my case, the lucky ones put them in their place...without real fear of any consequences.

xxx

Flashback Six Years Ago

The moon was already high in the sky by the time Katerina reached the forest. She didn't keep the best track of time while training in the tunnels. She never does. The second she thrusts her first kick everything that isn't sweat or exertion is moot to her. Not that she's complaining. The forest is pleasantly quiet at night. Chandrila has its share of nocturnal animals, but they leave people well enough alone if they don't venture into their territory. Turning off her speeder, her ears rang like bells in the symphony of silence. The harmonious chirping of the crickets assuaged her boiling blood, and the cooling night breeze cleared the steam whistling from her hears. That clearing haze slammed unbearable guilt onto her shoulders.

"Ken...I shouldn't have spoken to you like that. Or about Mon and...Origami." Whatever the name of that Alderaan Prince guy is. He has those annoying droids will him. The gold one got his dumbass stuck somewhere. What a waste of her talents. "Grr. Guess I should apologize to Grim too." She did call him a useless upstart who wishes he could be her. Man! When did she become so vain? Or this...hostile? "Ugh...Caleb. I could really use one of your idiotic quips right about now." He always had a way of making her feel better. His dumb jokes jostled a chuckle out of her. Grah! This topic was bringing her mood down.

Katerina dismounted from her speeder. Taking her staff in hand she shifted into her stance. The staff ran parallel to her arm, crossing her upper back to her shoulder, safeguarding her open six. Her free arm was bent at the front, ready to counter vanguard offensives. Her feet were off sided and parted, firmly planted to the moistened grass. She quieted herself, taking in a fresh breath, and then moved in the basic steps to limber up. Slides, skips, and X-steps combined with arm and staff blocks, counter strikes, ending with her staff being twirled ground to air and up her body. Somehow she felt her movements were more fluid and controlled now that she's calming down. If Master Kenobi were there he'd rub it in her face about keeping a calm mind and spirit while fighting. The Great Obi-Wan NEVER loses his cool in the face of danger. Yeah right.

'Click, click, click, click.' Katerina paused in mid swing, her brow knitting angrily. The dulcet tones of blasters set to kill. She'd know that sound anywhere. 'Great. Just what I don't need.' The bushes rustled loudly from all around her, numerous footsteps crunching the leaves and twigs. The moonlight illuminated the stained armor of encroaching stormtroopers. She felt the heat of their laser scopes burning into her skin. "Freeze! Drop your weapons! Now!"

Which was it? Drop her weapons or freeze? They should really plan this out better. "Evening, Gentlemen. What can I do for you?" She greeted impassively. Her menacing smile rankled their pride.

A handful inched closer, wrapping their fingers to their triggers. "Drop your weapons and get on your knees!"

"No, I don't think so. I'm not doing anything wrong." She shrugged them off. The only views of right and wrong are what The Empire views.

"What's wrong is what we say is wrong! And right now you're in violation of Imperial Law!" Like she thought. Their way or the highway.

Katerina scrunched her nose. She scoffed revoltingly, placing a hand to her hip. "Which one is that?" She glared at the one barking orders. "You bastards make them up so often that I don't bother to really keep track."

"Civilians in possession of weapons will be named as criminals and apprehended. Mandatory sentencing of five years." That was made up in the last 24 hours. Leave it to The Empire. "Now lower your weapon before we charge you with treason."

Her lips twisted into a malignant grin. A cackle she struggled to stifle agitated the troopers. Confused them too. "Can't charge me with that one." She hummed darkly.

"And why is that?" A trooper challenge.

Katerina thrust a backwards kick, knocking his blaster into the air. She then spun and crashed the crook of her foot to his neck. He head collided with a protruding rock, rendering him unconscious. The troopers gasped and intensified their stances, closing in as she returned to her offensive posture. Her eyes glowed in the moonlight, radiating demonically. "Because I was never loyal to this Pissant Empire! And I never will be!" She showed her teeth.

"Then you will die here, Traitor!"

"I'M NO TRAITOR! YOU ARE!" Neither trooper was able to blink. Katerina quite literally disappeared and reappeared before the commanding officer. The bulb of her staff was at his neck. Powerful tingles of static snaked to his throat. His windpipe closing as the surge intensified. Reflecting like a storm in her crazed aquamarine eyes, the electrified lancehead materialized and phased right into his neck. Horror was frozen to his face. That final breath choked from him. Muscles spasmed wildly, and then he dropped hard to the ground, departed to the heavens.

"SHE KILLED THE COMMANDER! GET HER!" Katerina's head snapped back. Her glare made a couple troopers yelp. One in a fit of rage at losing his commander practically emptied his magazine. Katerina spun with spread feet. The rapid twirling of her staff hypnotized them, rooted them like the children victims of the Pied Piper. Her expression never betraying her as she effortlessly spared herself from his onslaught. The deflected laser bolts shrieked past their heads. Those absorbed by her lance turned the ethereal bluish white to a malicious pink. Flourishing the staff behind her, she noted the heads turning for it. Katerina charged at high speed, slicing the lance across the firing trooper's torso. A jagged gash tore the armor clean open. Spatters of red spilled out. Katerina connected the back of her heel to his head, and adding him to the body count.

"Th-th-th-that speed! Those moves!" A trooper's knees were knocking together. It can't be! It's impossible! Katerina locked her glare to him, daring him to say it. "SHE'S A JEDI!"

She bit her lip, drawing a thin trickle of blood. Jedi...Jedi...always comparing her to a Jedi. She's so sick of it! "DON'T...CALL ME THAT!" She kicked his helmet clean off. The utter look of terror was highlighted in the moonlight. She pressed her pistol to his forehead, absorbed the tears scrolling down his cheek, and shot him in the head. The light died in his eyes, and he fell limp with his mouth open. His screams forever stuck in his throat. "I'm no Jedi! I'M WORSE!"

Flashback End

xxx

"E-Excuse me, Ms. Stark!" A cadet called and pulled Katerina from her work, and her deep recessed thoughts. She gawked dumbly at how much work she'd finished with Hardlight. The tubing, along with the couplings and frayed belts were good as new. The oil and other fluid traps were cleaned and filled, and the shielding apparatus was improved. Before her mind came back, they were already on the outside. "Sorry to bother you! I have some documents you need to sign!" He hollered up at her.

Katerina lifted her goggles, smirking at the cadet. She can see Ezra smirking behind his helmet. He looks adorable in that getup. "Thanks! I'll be right down. I'll be right back." She told Hardlight.

"Actually, take your time. It's our break time anyway." He shrugged.

"Cool. See you in an hour then!" She rode a rope to the cadet and exited into a nearby hall. Katerina brought him into a small room, locking the door behind them. She listened for a moment in case if anyone wandered by. They were alone. She giggled impishly, smashing Ezra into a bear hug. "Ms. Stark? You know you melt my heart with how adorable your formality is." She gushed.

"Shut up!" Ezra pried her off and then took his helmet off. He was red ear to ear.

Katerina cupped her flushed cheeks, "And you look so cute in that uniform!" She wiggled like an enamoured worm.

"WILL YOU SHUT UP! THIS IS IMPORTANT!" He screamed, steam whistling out of his ears. Katerina took him up on his command. He was too easy to tease. "So, how's it being a cadet?"

"Egh, not that big a deal. These tests are too easy." He waved a hand. His Jedi powers make the trials too easy. "How's it being a mechanic for The Empire?" He wriggled his brow.

"Less nauseating, but not easy to swallow." It's like there's a rock stuck in her throat that keeps growing. "What's the status on our little coup?"

Ezra sighed abysmally, folding his arms. He leaned to the wall. "Getting the decoder isn't going to be cut and dry like we thought." Not that anything ever is.

So she isn't the only one in a bind. "Yeah well sabotaging this beauty isn't going to be easy either. What's wrong on your end?"

"Sensor in Kallus's office. He's the one with holding the decoder. You?"

"Amateurish engineering with a lick of talent." Her harsh critique before was to trip Hardlight up. People with enormous egos like him are easy to make question himself and his team. "The people working on this thing did such a pisspoor job that I can't make my special fixups without Hardlight growing suspicious." And her pride as a mechanic can't let a marvel like this go to waste. Besides, Hardlight's ego is huge, but he'd recognize a sabotage from a mile away.

It was Ezra's turn to tease her. "You saying the Prodigy Mechanic can't break a fancy toy?" He crooned, leaning in.

"Are you saying the Prince of Sticky fingers can lift a two inch floppy disk?" Katerina leaned in, bringing her head to his.

The two bumped fists and said, "Never!" This mission finally became fun. "Kanan's not going to like this." Katerina groaned, itching her head. "Looks like we're held up another day."

"After being here for over a month, who's counting?" Ezra shrugged it off. Speaking off which, he'd better get back to his barracks before someone misses him. "Catch you on the flipside?" He fanned two fingers.

She erected two fingers. "One more day, then we bolt." The others should catch on when Chopper doesn't come out.

"Not a second later." Ezra confirmed, then left.

Katerina curled a hand to her chin. Getting the Decoder and sabotaging the TIE won't mean a thing. Not if Dominique and the others are still in danger. "Vizago…" She murmured, "Please hurry."

xxx

"Specter 5 to Ghost, sending coordinates for Imperial Jump Route. If you leave now, you should still be able to intercept." And Sabine will finally learn the mystery behind the Katerina and Garazeb awkwardness.

All those weeks of hovering in the dead of space are finally paying off. They'll finish the mission, snag the krystal, and be on their way to their favorites bars for a decent meal. "Coordinates received. We're heading out." Hera acknowledged. She woke the ship from sleep and powered up the hyperdrive. Time for some action.

"Good work, Specter 5. And you Specters 6 and 7." Kanan praised. And to think the others doubted they'd be able to handle it.

"Uhh..." How does Sabine put this gently so he doesn't freak out? "Specters six and seven aren't with us."

"WHAT?! WHERE ARE THEY?!" He's taking it better than she thought. Unfortunately The Ghost launched into its jump, effectively slicing Kanan's communications with the planet. And denying him answers. "Specter 5, repeat! Where are Specters 6 and 7?!"

"Kanan, we're out of range." She donned it on him gently. Only static would be his response. "All we can do now is complete the mission and be back as SOON as POSSIBLE." Hera swore, with the complete arsenal of pilot skills at her disposal, she will have them back in time to pull Ezra and Katerina from Lothal. They've nearly lost these two once. She won't be forced to endure that again.

xxx

Hardlight fell asleep at his work station. Right in the middle of putting together another component he is sure will increase performance in the new TIE. He was currently using it as a pillow, drooling all over it. This was going to make or break his career. Precisely why Katerina was going to feel guilty about a few wire switches. Hardlight has the most potential out of anyone she's met. Second to Grim. To sabotage him like this, and the surprise inside the TIE, will destroy him. Next on her list are the walkers she repaired. Once they go down, that will be it for Hardlight. The Empire will not show him mercy simply because a secondary party was directly involved. They will use Hardlight as the fall guy and make an example out of him. Yes, she knows the fingers will be pointed at her as well. But he will be the ultimate scapegoat as he was put in charge, and because Anastasia will be so far away they'll never dig their claws in.

Katerina closed the new component, feeling confident and torn that Ace will never notice her sabotage. "Forgive me, Ace." She meandered for Chopper who was waiting for her around the corner. "The universe doesn't decide for me at this point." She followed several feet from Chopper, not wanting the troopers to grow suspicious. She glared ahead, boring hateful holes in the walls that are condemning her to betray a standup industrial worker. "Where are they?"

"^In the armory on the south side.^"

"Good. Then maybe more light can be shed on Ezra's plan." She's very chilled by the promise of fireworks.

"^There's one more thing. Vizago came through.^" She glistened hopefully. "^Dominique and the others have been evacuated and are on their way to a rendezvous to be taken to another location.^"

"Thank goodness!" She exhaled with relief. This is the best news. Because know she doesn't half to hold back when she brings holy Hellfire down on this place.

xxx

This mission in the academy was bigger than Ezra, Katerina, or Leonis. Too big for just the three of them to complete. With Jai's neck on the line he was the perfect candidate for their merry band of saboteurs. Though it was a recruitment easier in theory than done. After what Ezra did to him during their last test, and what he said, Jai may never trust a word he says again. Unfortunately that wasn't an option at the moment. Either Jai helps them with their plan or The Inquisitor takes him, and he'll never be heard from again. Ezra hates the second option. He won't let another friend be taken by that monster.

Suffice it to say, the easiest part of Ezra's plan was convincing Jai to come with him. Ambushing him in bed, holding his mouth closed, and cryptically asking him to trust and come with him wasn't the wisest approach. Zeb and Sabine would approve. Hera, Katerina, and Kanan not so much. Needless to say, Jai was reluctant to go anywhere with Ezra or do a thing he said. But the urgency in the voice of someone who's a jokester spoke to his wavering level of trust. Besides, Jai wasn't exactly able to sleep. And he wanted to give Dev a piece of his mind.

Leonis was waiting for them in the armory. The hard part already started when Jai took a standoffish stance to their plight. The danger he was in, this Inquisitor - he wasn't buying any of it for a second, but at least granted them the courtesy of listening. Ezra went into gory detail of what would happen to him if he stayed there. The nightmare he'll be subjected to.

"NO!" Jai drew his line in the sand. He won't be swayed. "This is just another dirty trick to get me busted out of the academy!"

"Uh, yeah!" Ezra admitted without hesitation. "But not the way you think-"

The armory swished open. Jai, Leonis, and Ezra crouched behind massive crates. They didn't so much as breathed, pressing their backs to the crates as they listened to footsteps draw closer to their position. Panic rose in their chests. The only exit is on the other side. They were trapped. They were going to get caught. The encroaching person might as well have been a giant. Each step resounded like a quake. The moment they're spotted they're dead. No disciplinary measures, no formal hearing - they will be shot on sight. Leaving them with only one option. The trio shared paling expressions, reading one another's mind on the next step. Neither cadet wanted to go this far. Jai didn't want to risk being thrown out, and Ezra and Leonis can't risk their plans being exposed. Sitting around and waiting to be caught holds the possibility of a similar result.

Leonis poked half his head around the corner. In the darkness he made out a mass drawing closer. He flexed three fingers to his friends. On his mark, they go. 3...Ezra took a pouncing stance...2...Jai cursed himself and grabbed a staff...1! With mighty roars the trio jumped. Hands twisted Leonis arms, flipping him onto his back, followed by a kick to Ezra's neck and pinning him to the wall, and Jai was stopped by a pistol barrel at his forehead and the staff above his head. Leonis groaned dazedly, wincing under the twisting pressure mounting to his restrained arm. Ezra limited his movements, feeling the boot at his neck crush his esophagus. Jai...well...he already had his hands above his head.

"DON'T SHOOT! PLEASE! THIS WASN'T MY IDEA!" He dropped the staff, surrendering in a dead sweat. "I was...we were...I mean-" They were so dead.

"You guys really suck at ambushes, you know that?" Jai was baffled by the comment. He ogled the lowering gun, confused why the attacker was holstering it. And why he sounded like a woman.

"Kat-Anastasia?!" Ezra caught himself, voice hoarse from the kick. Their eyes adjusting to the darkness, and the humiliating haze clearing, Leonis and Ezra made out Katerina and her cat-like smirk of victory. "Geez! Did you have to be so rough?!" Ezra complained. He mentally thanked her for removing the boot.

Katerina helped Leonis to his feet, dusting his embarrassment off. He cleared his throat, playing it off like it's nothing. "You know if I wanted to I could have snapped your necks before you blinked." She scooped up Jai's lost staff. He retreated away with his hands still up. She placed it on the wall, wiping it clean for prints. "Those training courses should come with self defense classes." She said with a playful smile.

"Is that where you learned to do that?" Jai snarled.

"Nope. Street brawling." Jai and Leonis gaped, then glanced to Dev. He waved a hand, pleading they don't take her seriously...though she is. "Our merry band of ne'er do wells keeps growing. This must be Jai."

"Yeah...and...aren't you the mechanic that mouthed off to Aresko and Grint?"

"Guilty as charged." She shook his hand. "And I take it by your earlier conceding that you haven't decided to help us."

"Help us? You're in on this?!" He motioned to Leonis and Ezra.

"Dev and I are the original two. Leonis joined later. Now we're looking to you."

"Nuh-uh! No way!" Jai spread his hands. No way is he getting involved in this. Whatever this is? "Dev already tried convincing me. Didn't work then, and won't work because you're here."

"I'm not here to force you into anything." She promised him. That's the last thing she wants, and he can see it in her eyes. "I'm here because Dev said you were in danger from The Inquisitor." Jai knit his brow heatedly. Ezra wasn't sorry he opened his mouth. "Jai, you need to know, this man-"

"PLEASE!" He stopped her with raised hands. "I don't believe this Inquisitor even exists! And even if he does, then maybe it's a good thing!" That set off a chain reaction of sparks inside Katerina. Her wound started to burn. "The Inquisitor trains me! I get a top rank in The Empire..." Katerina is two seconds from breaking his neck.

"You got a family, Kell?" Leonis shocked everyone.

"It's just...me and a my mother." He sheepishly answered.

"And how would she fell if she never saw you again?" Jai AND Katerina were frightened. Leonis got in close, wanting Jai to mark his every word. "My sister disappeared from this place, and I'm betting it was The Inquisitor who took her away." He'd stake his life on it. "So unless you're ready to say bye to mom forever-"

"No! You're lying! This has to be a trick!" Joining The Empire is all Jai has to support his mom. He'll be able to keep her safe. The Empire defends families of their soldiers. No one would dare to touch her. "The Inquisitor is going to train me! I'm going to rise to greatness!"

"Jai…" Katerina rasped. Her arms hung limply. "I want you to see something." Her fingers stiffly curled to her shirt. She HAD to pause and breathe in order to muster the strength to move the shirt. Her eyes squeezed closed she lifted it. Leonis and Jai frantically debated between watching or covering their eyes. Ezra...had to look away. What Jai and Leonis saw sank their hearts to their stomachs. To the left, just beneath the rib, was a wrinkled, deflated welted scar. A burn by the patter. It was almost perfectly spherical, the size of a fist. "You both know The Inquisitor uses a lightsaber."

"We've heard stories." Leonis swallowed a massive lump. "He has powers like a Jedi."

"Well he isn't! Far from it!" Katerina's motherly demeanor was paved over by her fury. She approached Jai, cornering him to the wall. "This scar has two parts! This is the exit wound, the entrance is at my back to the left of my spinal cord!" She latched onto his wrist, yanking his hand to touch the wound. The glove prevented contact, by the swelling inside curdling his stomach. He was going to be sick. "The Inquisitor pierced his saber through my back and out of my stomach! I was paralyzed for weeks! I nearly died several times according to my friends!" Ezra grimaced, hissing through gritted teeth. He wished he didn't have to listen. "The Inquisitor is very real, and he will unleash a Hell on you like none a boy your age should ever experience!" Jai was able to pry his hand back, sinking to the wall. Katerina gave him breathing room, stepping back to calm herself down as well. Boys your age shouldn't even be wielding guns. "He will treat you like a toy! Break you down, let you build yourself back up, and then shatter and remind you where you stand while in his presence! A hollow marionette for him to play with!" That's what he's done to her. What he's doing now as he draws closer.

"I...I…" Then he gasped. He's seen soldiers like this. When the PTSD sets in. The trauma that lingers tears them apart. His father suffered from it. "You've met him."

"Met, fought, barely survived to tell the story." She fixed her shirt. "Jai, he is not going to help your rise. He's going to make you fall." She waited when he flinched from her, then gently eased her hands to his shoulders as he relaxed. "Too many young men your age are whisked away by The Empire. You have a good head on your shoulders. I don't want to see if on the ground."

Jai was at a crossroads. On the left if a dream that was slowly dwindling. On the right is a sketchy path with no foreseeable end. On the left he's known where that path will lead. Greatness, power, and protection for his family. But if the cost is never seeing his mother again...its not worth it. Leaving him with the right path that is winding, and the ending could bring him anywhere. Good or bad, he isn't sure. The look on Katerina's face told him, in volume, that if he went with The Inquisitor he won't be alive to regret it.

"Alright. I'm in."

"Good man." Leonis pat him on the back.

"Okay, here's the plan!" Ezra drew everyone in. "The three of us have to finish first tomorrow. Simple, right."

"Not so simple." Leonis stressed.

"How is that going to get us out of here?" Jai voiced his doubts.

"Because it gets you both inside the one walker I haven't tinkered with yet." Katerina winked. Ezra shuddered at what she's done. "Trust me, you guys are going to LOVE this. The darkside of mechanics are A-MAZING!" She giggled, prancing outside.

"Your friend is scary." Jai whispered.

"Trust me, you haven't seen anything." Ezra groaned. Katerina cleared the hallway, posing as their escort back to their barracks. Better an officer in engineering be with them than they getting busted alone.

"But what about her? What are you going to do?" Leonis fretted.

"I'll be on a walker of my own." An encrypted message made it to Katerina's datapad. Free Parts blinked on the screen, bringing a liberating smile to her face. "And since my leash has been removed," Katerina played with a remote, unnerving Jai and Leonis, "There's nothing preventing me from leaving Aresko and Grint one my favorite going away presents."

"Which is…" The two boys shuddered to ask.

"Put it this way: I LOVED remote controlled cars when I was a kid." She winked and then departed down an opposite hallway. She waved casually, unable to wait for tomorrow.

"Yep, she's weird." Jai declared.

"I know." Ezra chimed happily. "And she's mine!" He boasted, running after her. He promised to meet up with them later. Jai and Leonis gasped in disbelief. Watching those two walk together, they pondered the impossible. There's no way he got that. They took those thoughts and went back to bed. This whole week is too stressful.

xxx

"Hey. I know it's a bad time," Ezra walked backwards, not backing down under her judgemental leer, "But are you and Zeb fighting?"

"No! Of course not! Why would you ask that?" She hasn't spoken to Zeb in weeks, save for that message last night.

"It's just you two haven't been on speaking terms lately. And whenever I brought him up to you, you changed the subject." And yes, he brings up Zeb and Sabine a lot. Worrying that they've been spotted or worse. Communicating with them through Chopper isn't always a comfort. "Did...did something happen between you two?" Ezra's never seen Katerina stop dead in her tracks before. This was worth it. It was like she ran into a wall that was 30 degrees below freezing. She went pale with a touch of pink in her cheeks. Ezra's mouth gradually slacked, eyes widening as she sucked on her lips. Shifting eyes, cold sweats, and she's doing that thing with her fingers. "Oh my god! Something DID happen!"

"SSHH! SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" She clamped his mouth closed, shoving him into the nearest closet. This time karma dropped a mop on him. She waited a moment, wanting to confirm the silence wasn't temporary. "Yes. Something...happened. But...it was an accident! I didn't want to do it! I mean I wanted to! But he dropped it on me! Then Hera came, and this whole thing with Aresko and Dom-"

"KATERINA!" It was Ezra's turn to close her mouth. She was spitting out words thousands of miles per hour. Gatling guns would quiver. "What are you talking about? What did Zeb do?" He was taken aback by her heating face. She took his hands of by the wrists, braced herself, took a deep breath and said-

xxx

"YOU KISSED HER?!" Sabine shrieked, throwing her helmet.

"SSHH!" Zeb put his paw over her mouth. He effortlessly caught her flying helmet. "KEEP IT DOWN!" He shoved it into her chest.

"Sorry! But you kissed her!" She cheered, squealing like that girl who got asked out by a prom king. She was positively beaming like a supernova. It finally happened. Why it took him so long is a mystery to her. The most anticipated couple on The Ghost sealed it with a kiss. "Wait? On the lips?"

"No, on the bloody forehead. OF COURSE ON THE LIPS!" He frothed with reddening cheeks.

"Wha...ugh...when? Why? How did she take it?" She deepened her tone. She wants no detail spared.

"The day Aresko blackmailed her, went for it on impulse, and she…" He rubbed the back of his neck anxiously, "She...never said a word. Didn't get the chance before Hera came after her." He slapped a hand on his thigh. "And...she...hasn't said a word since then." He murmured crestfallen. Sabine nibbled remorsefully on her bottom lip. Landmine.

xxx

"Whoa…" Ezra spread his hands. He needs to wrap his head around this. It may be the small space, but Katerina was ready to pass out. "So if that call hadn't come in…" Ezra took in a breath. The ultimate epiphany was on the crown of his head. Though he had to be sure before he jumped to conclusions. "What would you have done?" He quizzed. He learned from Kanan that, sometimes, instead of using the force to bring someone to you, open yourself and let them come to you.

"I don't know." She sighed, lying against the wall. She tilted her head back. "Probably would have run. I always run when things get too serious."

"You do? Why?" That doesn't sound like her at all.

"Because when they turn hot there's no going back. And when that happens," She saw a discarded stick of broom, her staff coming to mind, "You're stuck living with what comes next."

xxx

Flashback - Six Years Ago

Kendril entered his office, none too surprised - yet crestfallen - to see Katerina taking apart her weapons. The staff's powerpack was pried out, the bulbs robbed of their conductive source removed, and the extending function stunted. Her pistols were robbed of their ammo and firing pin. She passed the window overlooking the flooded garage, passively admiring the bustle of her coworkers. She locked her dismantled weapons inside a safe, chose the combination that will be branded into her mind, and closed the door for the final time. Never will it be opened, and never will she bring herself into The Empire's carnage.

"Katerina, you don't have to do this." Kendril begged.

"Yes I do. I don't deserve this." She closed it inside the cabinet, putting it so far out of her mind that she'll forget it within the hour. "I swore to protect people from The Empire. What I did in the woods...I'm no better than they are." She's a disgrace to the training she's had. She's disgraced Caleb, Master Kenobi, and Master Yoda's memories.

"That's not true. You're a saint compared to them." Kendril cooed, hugging hands to her shoulders.

"A saint who brutally murdered several Stormtroopers, found a thrill of her life, and then ended a young boy's life."

"That does not mean you give up! It is only through hardships that we thrive."

Katerina was another word from ridiculing his Jedi borrowed sage advice when rampant footsteps silenced them. Grim barged into the office, out of breath from the marathon he ran to get there. "Grim?" Katerina gasped.

"HOLONET! TURN ON! NOW!" He barked between heaves for breath. Kendril and Katerina exchanged frightened expressions, then he darted to the projector. "The channel doesn't matter! It's everywhere!"

"What's everywhere?" Katerina muttered nervously.

Kendril flicked it on. He was startled by dozen of flashes flooding the projection. The channel adjusted itself to the paparazzi photo's, dimming the flashes until they were almost invisible. A press conference at the Chandrila Senate building was heatedly underway. The atypical bombardment of questions were hurtled at a the Chief Officer. A man by the name of Leggroan. A burly man with facial hair so thick he could use it to bludgeon someone to death. The numerous, variety of ribbons portraying his outstanding service to his unit were only paled by his dominating persona. Slickened back black hair, a uniform that belies the weapon of mass destruction facing the barrage of reporters. If one of them wouldn't stop diverting the conversation back to cases decades before his years of Chief Officer he just might give a demonstration of his power. Beside him facing the same attack was a sobbing, early 30's woman clutching at her handkerchief. Her brunette hair stayed in its ponytail, but the loose strands kept attaching to her moistened cheek. Her makeup was streaming down her cheek, melting apart the composure the cosmetics were meant to display. The black pant suit she wore didn't hide her uncontrollable shaking either. This woman was a wreck. One more blow from falling over.

The projector took on a few angles of the conference. Hundreds of people must have been present. All of them were screaming for answers, yelling accusations that it's a publicity stunt, and someone even accused the woman of faking her tears. At the time, Representative Gall Trayvis quieted the crowd, urging them to calm themselves. Their questions will be answered, but right now a situation most dire must be addressed.

"Thank you all for coming. I shall jump right to the point." Trayvis diverted to a datapad with all of the information. "Three nights ago, around midnight in the Tamboo Forest close to the Lazareth Reservoir," Katerina's spine liquidated, her fingers clawing her biceps, "This brave young man," An image was plastered across the station. Katerina choked on bile shooting into her throat, clutching at her stomach, "With strong hopes and dreams of one day becoming a Stormtrooper and serving our great Empire," Trayvis sucked on his lower lip, feigning collecting himself for sympathetic effect, "Had his life savagely cut short. Amongst other veteran Stormtrooper, who shall be duly noted for their valor and bravery, Mason Harlow," Grim shoved his arms under Katerina, catching her before she hit the floor. She was trapped in this spiral, "Was found left to the element to be disposed of." While Kendril is disgusted at how exaggerated Trayvis made this to be, creating a spectacle for the cameras, he was glued to Katerina. Her eyes were the size of dots. This cold sweat was drenching her clothing, seeping into Grim's own sleeves, and she was going pale as a sheet. "This boy was part of the first few in a long line of child cadets that the Empire wishes to draft. Though we appreciate the brave men and women who volunteer, we wish to give everyone of every age a chance for greatness and valor. Thus Mason was chosen." Trayvis dropped his head, shaking it with abject sorrow. "And with a routine scouting operation into the forest...his hopes and dreams were decimated."

"Greatness?!" Grim scoffed. "He was a child!" Katerina whimpered, tears running down her cheeks.

"Grim, hush." Kendril pleaded. Katerina was fading fast.

Trayvis shifted attention to the sobbing woman beside him, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "With me now is Narissa Harlow, this brave young man's mother." Katerina gunned for the trash bin. She hasn't eaten in these three days, making it a mystery as to what she was emptying into the trash can.

Grim was losing patience. There's a loop in that room and Kendril and Katerina are going to great lengths in order to keep him out of it. This woman, this boy, Katerina's physical reaction - "What went on in that forest, Kendril? Answer me!" He boomed. He's new to the facility. He get's it. The newbies aren't privileged to the know-how or the private goings ons of their coworkers. But he's seeing a girl he cares for bringing up her famously known iron stomach into a trash bin like she's smelt rotting fossil oil.

"She...um…" Kendril bit his tongue. Katerina was lurched over, hands and knees on the floor. Her hair was matted, dangling and masking the terror from either man. It isn't for him to say. Though he wants to. The mother began speaking.

"My son...just turned 15." She tried to speak between hyperventilating. Katerina didn't turn, but she stiffened at the woman's voice. "The Empire...sent out newsletters...that they want young men like him for their ranks." The memory brought on a half smile, true bliss in how excited her son was. "They said the age range was 14 and older and he jumped at the chance. He wanted to...ha-ha...drive the walkers, play with the big guns. He was like a child during the holidays." She earned a few snickers from Trayvis and others on the stage with her. The joviality died on the wind as his death sank in. She was gripping at an old photo of him, resisting her penting up rage's instinct to snap it in half. "The animal that robbed my boy of that joy will pay! By any means, I will see that this monster is brought to justice and will be front and center when their head is severed from their shoulders!"

Katerina clawed at her scalp, curling into a ball. She ground her teeth together, fighting off all urges to scream. Kendril cut the feed, shutting down the whole projector. He threw himself to Katerina, burying her face into his chest. Her screams vibrated his chest, her nails hooking into his sides. Grim was lost for words. Every question was centered what happened in that forest, and what happened that has brought Iron Will Katerina to her knees.

"It's alright, Katty. It's alright." Kendril cooed.

"Master Kenobi would be furious with me! If Caleb were alive...he'd be disgusted with me!" She breathed hysterically. Hairs came loose in her vicious grasp. Her nails scarred the scalp.

"Katty...no…" Kendril's heart plummeted. "No, no…" He rocked her, running hands up and down her back, soothing the rampant breaths, "Do not think that. He'd never be disgusted." He tenderly coaxed her hands down, smoothing her shoulder length matted locks down her back. Her body jerked in between her heaves. He felt himself crumbling as she fell apart in his arms. Katerina has been a rock since Order 66. He never dreamed he'd see her in shambles like this twice in one lifetime.

'Seldom in our span do harsh lessons bring forth revelations.' That is a quote his cousin Mon said to him when they were children. Until now, as Katerina's whimpers dulled to a heavy sigh, he never understood its meaning.

Katerina broke free of Kendril, ignoring Grim's hand as she stood. She doesn't need his help. She doesn't want it. And she sure as Hell doesn't need the sympathy of someone who can never understand. "Good thing he's dead then." She stroked hairs behind her ear, slinking off for the door. "Because I'll never have to find out."

"Katerina…" Grim threw himself in her path. He flinched at her despondent and depraved glare. He hasn't become accustomed to how terrifying she can be. "What you did was an accident?"

"Was it?" Of all the idiotic things to come out of his mouth, this one drove a drill in her urge to hang him by his head tails. Instead she saved it for an arm yank. "Was it an accident when the clones killed the Jedi? Was it an accident when The Empire demolished thousands of homes. No!" Grim was unknowingly backed into a corner, shrinking several inches shorter under her supernova hot rage. "These past six years, ever since the clones and droids were decommissioned I've felt it." She clawed at her chest, "There's this rage...this evil bloodlust that consumes me every time I fight! Street thug looking for a handout or The Empire thinking they can bully me!" She stared at her open hand. The curling fingers cracked in chimes to the ribs and face bones of the Stormtroopers she left for dead. The heartbeat of the boy she murdered died in her palm. There was sadness...and a certain glee. "Every punch I throw, I want to throw a dozen more. Feel them break under me. I LOVE that feeling. It pleased me. MADE ME FEEL ALIVE!" That thrill drove her punch into the wall, indenting the metal two inches. Grim and Kendril both were rooted in shock. The adrenaline robbing her nerves of the slightest twinge of pain. The hand slide down, trembling as it opened, "And because of that thrill I killed a boy." She rumbled. She tarnished the training Obi-Wan gave her. She defiled the memory of her brother and the faith The Jedi held in her. "I don't deserve to fight. I don't deserve those weapons in there. Not if I'm going to be like the monsters I swore to fight against." She moved Grim aside, opening the door. "That fight is over."

"The fight is never over!" Kendril frothed, standing firm in that light.

Katerina knocked on the doorway, appreciating that famous Mothma naivete. "Well it lost one more fighter." And it was going to stay that way.

Flashback end

xxx

When did she start not keeping her promises? Maybe in another six years she'll have broken another one. "I'm not sure what that means, but I think you and Zeb should talk about it." Ezra encouraged her. "I mean, you like him don't you?"

She blushed madly up to the ears. Ezra raised a brow, not planning to buy any form of denial. Especially after hearing about the kiss. "I...I don't really know." She pressed her back at the wall, sliding to her butt. "My head is spinning." She moaned.

"Well when it stops and this mission is over, you both should talk." He pat her shoulder, meandering down the hall. "In a way you're made for each other."

"How do you figure?" She raised a brow.

"You both know how to grind each other's gears in just the right way." He chuckled.

"EZRA BRIDGER!" She roared. Ezra laughed childishly, running away before she could pull him apart. She shook her head, knowing full well she'll never catch him. "That boy…" Know how to grind each other's gears the right way. What a thing to say. Zeb is uncouth, pigheaded, borish, has the worst temper of anyone she knows, is destructive for thrills, sadistic, and loves to treat her and ezra like kids. Worse still is how he makes fun of her height all the time. And she hates it when he calls her Monkey Wrench or Grease Monkey. She doesn't even look like a monkey. He's the one who climbs on walls and trees, and he eats bananas. And his sense of hygiene is terrible. "Huh…?" Her face feels hot. Finding a reflective surface she saw a blush. And...it could be work fatigue...but she looked gleeful. She's pretty sure she listed off Zeb's worst attributes. So why does she feel...happy? It's not at insulting him. More like...she's gotten to know him so well that...it's endearing to know these things. "Oh man...no way!" This can't be happening. It's not possible. Him? Of all people. "Am I...am I falling in love with-OOF!" She ran full force into someone, both falling to their butts. The person she hit dropped their tablets. Thankfully they weren't broken. "Oh, I'm sorry!" Katerina gathered the tablets, handing them back, "I was lost in-" Katerina went pale, terror gripping her, "Thought…"

"Think nothing of it." The woman craning her neck giggled. Her gloved hand retrieved the tablets. Casually smiling, Minister Tua of The Empire was grateful to Katerina for her assistance. "I was lost in my head as well."

xxx

Sabine had to pace in order to wrap her mind around this. Zeb kissed Katerina, Katerina did not resist the kiss, both have kept it hidden for weeks while not speaking about it, and now are being crippled because of that silence. At least she's sure Ezra is questioning Katerina about it as they speak. He did notice along with her before the OP even started. What she's having such a hard time comprehending is...why did it take them so long? Zeb was getting dizzy watching her. Mostly because the suspense of her judgement was killing him.

"Can you answer one thing?" She requested.

"Just one?!" Zeb scoffed. After all this, she only has ONE question?

"This mission has to end, and you two are going to be trapped in The Ghost together for a while." A circumstance that is making Zeb sweat like a pig. "What are you going to do?"

To that Zeb didn't wait to respond with a shrug, "I don't know." His head and ears drooped, his arms wrapping to him in a barrier, "Not sure I want to do anything."

"What?! Why?! You guys are great together! On missions you're compatible in skill, tactics, and you both counter each other in your debates so flawlessly you'd think you both have been friends for years!"

"Exactly! And I would like to be friends with her for years!" He boomed. Sabine was taken aback. Zeb clawed at it, racked it in his brain, and bit at it. He dropped his hands, slapping them at his legs in defeat. "Relationships within teams are complicated and eventually become messy! The bonds shared, experiences you face, and the laughs you have a withered into nothing!" He tore the air apart, ripping up past histories he's described. "You become the worst pair of strangers than when you meet...and then there's this...this void! It never fills!"

"You've been in relationships before." She mumbled in dismay. "Bad ones…" She sank.

"That weren't bad before primal feelings brought on by the brain ruined them." He moaned. "I don't want to do that to Katerina. I can't...lose her to that."

"How do you know unless you both talk?"

"Because there's one philosophy Katerina and I have undeniably in common."

"Which is?"

"When things are too good…" He climbed to his feet, meandering off into the night, "They turn extremely bad in a breath." And that alone will keep him from pursuing her. That kiss was amazing. It will only turn to ash in his mouth.

xxx

"Minister Tua! My apologies, My Lady!" Katerina adhered to the reactions of a devout Empire supporter and shot to her feet. She stood at attention, swallowing a massive lump. This is bad! This is bad! This is very bad! Of all the people to run into at the academy it has to be her. Could be worse. She could have run into Agent Kallus. Then she'd really be sunk. Her only consolation is that Tua doesn't seem to recognize her.

"Please relax, dear. Think nothing of it. I was lost in my thoughts as I said." She laughed it off, dusting herself of the minor fall. Telling Katerina to relax is easier said than done. Tua isn't another second away from having the entire force of The Empire dropped on her head. Katerina did feel something hard drop on her. Minister Tua's face scrunched, her eyes scrolling her form with familiarity. Oh man! Her heart beat at 20 miles per hour. She recognizes me! We're done for! "Do I...have we met before?" She squinted.

"I don't think so. I mean…" Her body tensed. A faulty CPR pounding at her ribs. She took a step back, turning her feet to make a run for it. Zeb and Sabine have her weapons. "To have the privilege of meeting you face to face, it would have left an impression." "And not to boast, but would you REALLY forget someone like me!" That's it, Katerina! Help her remember and get yourself killed!

"No. I don't think I would." Tua chuckled warmly behind a hand. Her hand to Katerina's shoulder, it's amazing she didn't feel that electroshock jolting her nerves. "You have an air about you that begets skill and beckons command. The right stuff for our Empire." She knocked knuckles to her shoulder.

"Long may it reign." Katerina mustered he best face. Inside, those words were acid on her lips. She wished she was able to vomit all over this woman. Although, deep down, she admires Minister Tua for her devotion. She bid Katerina farewell, continuing on her business. Once she was in the clear, Katerina wanted to fall through the floor and land in a pit of spikes. "I have never wanted to punch myself in the face SOO badly." Not only doesn't she keep personal promises, she became a sell out in recent years too.

xxx

The Ghost erupted from hyperspace inside the ring of an asteroid field, coming face to face with three cruisers. Only one of them has the crystal on it, and only once will they have to make this right before Ezra and Katerina blow their cover. Kanan was in The Phantom ready and waiting for Hera's signal.

"Kanan, there are three ships!" She alerted, preparing The Ghosts weapons, and initiating The Phantom's decoupling. "We're only going to get one shot at this!" She gripped the bars, ready to take them down.

"The crystal resonates with the force." Kanan elucidated. He closed his eyes, emptying his mind of all distracting thoughts. Ezra, Katerina, the mission - the weight bearing on his shoulders was lifted immensely. Taking his hand, reaching to the energy that guides and protects him, Kanan granted permission for his spirit to be projected to the outside. Tendrils of strong force energy gently wrapped to his hand, as if pleading for him to follow. Closer he was drawn, strong the connection grew, and louder was the cry for freedom from the metallic prison. He drawn past the ship on the left, looped back to the ship on the right, and finally the force pinpointed him to the middle. The Kyber Crystal beckoned to him. His aquamarine eyes flared open with a glow. "It's in the middle ship!"

"You sure…" Hera tested.

"I'm sure." He smirked. The Phantom was unleashed. Kanan charged full speed ahead for three ships. In response, as it was expected, the ships released TIE's to intercept. A discouraging tactic considering the numbers. Unfortunately for The Empire, they aren't aware that significant numbers excite the ever impulsive Kanan to do the reckless and dangerous. Besides, this is the most fun he's had in weeks. He isn't going to pass this up.

And neither was Katerina.

xxx

Her time in the academy was up. And as much as it hurt her to do it, she slipped Hardlight a powerful sedative in his coffee. Hard headed, stubborn, and prideful though he is, Ace is passionate, determined, and always looks for a solution when facing problems. She won't betray him to his face. That will only make him lose faith. This way, while he sleeps inside the cockpit of the new TIE, Katerina won't have to see the look of dismay when he comes to realize her treachery. To him. Not The Empire.

"Please forgive me." She whispered, locking him in. At the same time she had inserted the shielding unit to the ship, activating the little surprise she had installed. Empire Day doesn't usually have fireworks. These will be a treat. If she hurries, she'll be able to have her own treat before Ezra and the boys finish their test.

xxx

The test was vastly underway with every cadet firing on a million cylinders and beyond. The prize and glory had every one of them drooling, transformed into ravenous beasts. They pushed, they shoved, one went so far as to leap onto another's shoulders for a leg up and was swung back to the bottom by that very leg. He wasn't looking so good. Grint called for a medical evacuation. It would be a few minutes.

Ezra, Leonis, and Jai had a huge lead on all the cadets. Three more jumps and they were on that walker and gone before anyone knew which way was up. Leonis and Ezra were about to secure the finish line. Jai was bringing up the rear, about to make the net jump. Ezra paused to see how Jai was doing, then saw from the corner of his eye Oleck was taking aim.

"JAI! LOOK OUT!" Ezra dove for him. Oleck fired. Jai cowered behind his arms. Ezra was hit in the shoulder, rolling off and down two platforms. Oleck cackled victoriously, leading on both boys. Jai dropped to the ledge, fearing Ezra was down for the count. Nothing could keep that boy down. "Keep...going!" The other cadets were hot on his tail. Jai scrambled to the top, clawing after Oleck. Ezra managed to regain a second wind and chased them down. But by the time he reached the top he came in fourth place. Last to finish, and banned from entering the walker.

xxx

Katerina snuck into the yard, cradling a large satchel at the strap. That bag of goodies is all that's standing between her and capture. She hid between the academy's crevices, keeping every movement of the patrolling stormtroopers under the tightest scrutiny. Unless the housing units another 50 yards away moved closer, Her only cover for her Frankenstein work are the heavy armaments, the walker outside, and the units in the middle of drill. Thankfully, what she needed was easily accessed from a remote datapad that she had in the satchel.

It was another five minutes until noon. Ezra and the boy should be completing the trial and making their way onto the walker. Last night before their plan was set into motion, Katerina mentioned that the one walker the boys would be on is the only one she hadn't tinkered with. That was going to be her surprise for them being such good little cadets. And once the signal transmitting from the datapad syncs up with the five receivers on her latest and greatest fix ups, this will be a finale the likes of which The Empire and Rebels have never seen.

A presence was at Katerina's back. She swept a foot, tripping the assailant up and pinning them with a slam to the concrete ground. Her fist was drawn back, then she stopped finding a black and silver droid swearing he came in peace. "CHOPPER?!"

"^Yes it's me, you crazy!^" He zapped her with his prongs, throwing her off. She smoothed her hair with an unappreciative glare. "What the heck are you trying to do? Kill me?!^"

"Trust me, Droid, I wouldn't have to try!" She snarled.

"^Yeah well you'll have to TRY at this. Ezra blew it! He lost the trial by a foot!^"

Katerina's jaw fell. If he lost, that meant that, "Ezra's not on the walker?" She cried. She peered around the corner. The academy hangar was just ahead. She grabbed binoculars from her satchels, bringing the filing cadets into full zoom. Chopper was right. Leonis, Jai, and that kid Oleck were boarding the walker for training. That walker was an integral part of Ezra's escape. If he can't get on… "How did he lose?"

"^That creep Oleck shot him down to last place.^"

That kid is seriously on Katerina's list of acrylic metal victims. Later. "Then it's time for an adjustment!" She tossed Chopper a thermal bomb. "Stick this on that walker, and I'll take care of the others." Chopper saluted and went for his target. She looked at the datapad. The sync was another ten percent from being completed. She just needed to be in the right spot. And what better place than right in front of the Commandant and Taskmaster themselves.

xxx

Meanwhile in the asteroid ring, Kanan was artfully giving the Empire much needed flying lessons. Their approach to shooting him down was nothing short of amature. Come on! The same old pincer attacks? Child's play. A slow stop, draw them in, and a sudden drop does them in. Every-single-time. His favorite tactic had to have been they drove him towards the asteroid. A smart move. A big ship stood now chance maneuvering those rocks and evading blaster fire. They'd have the perfect advantage. Were it not for the fact that the field was at its least densest towards the bottom. Kanan dove for the underbelly, adoring their following him like lambs to the slaughter, then quickly pulled the ship up into the field. In their haste the trooper crashed and burned. The first round was done in seconds. He just needed rounds two and three to follow suit.

"Come on, boys, take the bait." He impishly coaxed. Kanan pressed his luck and drove past the three ship barricade. In return, losing all patience for this brazen insurgent, the ships released their remaining TIE's and gunned after The Phantom. Just as Kanan intended. "Hera! They're good to go!"

"Copy that!" It's time for the real pilot to send these jokers to the academy.

xxx

The moment Hera remotely budged The Ghost those three ships were delivering volleys of laser bolts at her. The green bolts packed a heavier punch than she anticipated. The shields deflected them, but not without jostling her. Hera wasn't deterred. In fact she was more eager than ever to meet that middle ship and decimate its body guards head on.

xxx

Back at the academy, Chopper fixed the defending walker with the thermal bomb. He quickly darted to a tank, awaiting the signal to release Hell upon this factory of drones. Katerina casually entered the hangar, putting up the pretense of working on very complicated adjustments on her datapad. No one batted an eye seeing as she was one of the engineers. She'll give the clones this much for their lessons. The greatest disguise is not wearing one. She'd give an informal wave to the passing troopers, none of them the wiser of the transmitter ready for her input. She spotted Ezra amongst the group of jealous cadets. He nodded firmly and she nodded back. She scaled a ladder to the secondary platform. Attention was imbedded on the walker. She feasibly made it to the blast door control panel. Those doors would be dropped like bad habits the moment their plan is initiated. A few changes in wiring, moving a couple of chips, should slow the doors. Stopping them would no doubt trip an alarm. This is wear Sabine would come in handy. She's a hacking, reverse wiring genius. Needless to say, Katerina loves matching wits with her.

Katerina meandered from the panel, flicking a light at Ezra. He in turn glanced to Chopper, receiving the same signal. He nodded to both, then moved into the background and waited. The thermal grenade blew off the outside walker's foot, sending it falling into one of the buildings.

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" Grint so blatantly stated.

xxx

Inside the walker, right as the training trooper was explaining the functions of the machine, he caught sight of the blast. "WHAT WAS THAT?!" He barked.

"My signal." Jai ominous retorted and shot him with a stun ring. Oleck became enraged and attacked him. Jai shook him off, shooting him with great pleasure. A stormtrooper and a cadet have been shot. "Guess there's no turning back now."

"No." Leonis declared. It was all or nothing now.

xxx

Hera drove The Ghost full speed into the fray. The ships were relentless in shooting her down. Though it seemed the closer she drew the greater the fault in their accuracy. Those that landed bounced off, leaving barely a scratch or gash. Even so, The Ghost won't be able to take much more of this. She returned the favor with her own heavy ordinance, coming in hot for the middle ship. Mere seconds from a head on collision, Hera roared loudly and dragged the ship up into a 90 degree scale. Her close call yielded an amazing result.

"Calculate the jump to hyperspace!" The commanding officer authorized. That near death call proved this mission was bordering on a failure on their part. "Have every remaining buy us the time we need!" The middle ship pulled away from its flock, retreating for the asteroid field while the jump was programmed.

Hera and Kanan danced around the TIE's and heavy fire, lapping up how easy The Empire was making their work.

xxx

"WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! REPEAT, UNDER ATTACK!" Aresko's alert echoed on the academy PA. Grint rushed the cadets to safety. "LOWER THE BLAST DOORS!" The enormous doors reverberated the hangar slipping from the slot. Tendrils of electricity snaked the ports. Crackles and pops of the frying circuitry blew holes in the solid metal. The doors jerked, howling ear piercingly loud to a halt. "WHAT?!" Aresko barked. Katerina watched in pride of her monstrosity coming to life. Her rewiring overheated the system and caused several fries. The doors bounced repetitively, hammering to free themselves from the pinch. Those gears were moving anytime soon. "CONTROL, GET THOSE BLAST DOORS DOWN NOW!" Control was running an override that would bypass the damage. Time was running out.

Katerina placed a communicator in her ear. It connected with the walker's frequency. "Hey, if you guys are done fooling around, you mind getting your asses in gear!" She hissed. Leonis and Jai exchanged looks, finding themselves safer way up there with unconscious cadet and trooper. The walker trudged thunderously for the faltering doors.

Control was better than Katerina gave them credit for. The door were already on the move again. Time for her to get ready. Leonis developed a last ditch plan. His control over the turret left much to be desired. The end result more than made up for his lackluster aim. He took out a piece of the door, and shot the back end of another walker. It collapsed under the door's direct line. Hopefully those things are built as sturdy as they looked.

"COMMANDANT!" Grint barked. The retreating cadets came back to see the carnage. Academy life is boring. This isn't something to miss. "Whoever's controlling that walker is part of attack!" Traitors in their ranks. Aresko will see them hang.

"This LRC-01! A rogue walker is loose in the academy! Advance and Destroy!" The tank outside was already ahead of him. The walker wasn't even halfway to the doors. Two shots and the walker's turret was disabled. Leonis and Jai were hosed.

"Just the words I needed to hear, Commandant!" Katerina announced, standing atop the railing from above.

"Stark! What are you doing here?!" He snarled venomously. "Why are you not arming yourself?!"

"Because I'm not in any danger here! YOU ARE!" She balked with hands on her hips. She waved her tablet tauntingly, directing their attention to the antenna signal. "Consider this a graduation gift for the future martyrs here!" She pushed on the antenna. Five receivers tapped into the main controls of walkers across the yard. The behemoths came to life with a feverish jolt. Workers cleaning the walkers, or anyone doing minor maintenance was bucked off. Cue the Wilhelm scream for a little chuckle there. "A harsh lesson for these cadets! All war is deception, and no one is spared!"

xxx

In the distance, Sabine and Zeb heard the alarms coming from the academy. Ezra and Katerina had begun their coup. Whatever it is, they seriously hoped alerting all of Lothal to their presence was part of it. They panicked under the three walkers near their position coming to life. Their aggressive stomping within the housing units almost broke them into a marathon run off the academy grounds. Being spotted now before they can pull Ezra, Katerina, and Chopper secured them all personal spots on the chopping block. That's when Sabine stopped Zeb from firing up their ride. Something was off about the walkers. Watching their movements, seeing how uncoordinated and clumsily the walkers were progressing, Sabine highly doubted anyone was inside. They stomped through the housing units, crushing them like ants. Their huge bodies dragged alongside buildings, tearing a crumbling groove from one end to the next. A woman in the shower screamed and a man took a one way ride down in his bathtub.

"Either those pilots need some SERIOUS training…" Sabine trailed off.

"Or our mechanic's fingerprints are all over this!" Zeb cheered. That maniacal genius!

"She's using a remote transmitter. The walkers are going to head straight for it." Leaving Sabine and Zeb with the perfect cover.

xxx

Hera and Kanan were having a blast playing with the Imperial Convoy. But, like a wise man once said, all good things must come to an end. The middle convoy's engines charged for the jump into hyperspace. Piercing blue shined vibrantly amid the blaster fire and abyssal space. Their window was closing fast.

"Hera, that transport is gonna be gone any second and it's cargo along with it! TAKE YOUR SHOT!" Kanan howled. They don't have time to play anymore. Hera dove in hot from above, bobbing and weaving between the oncoming fire. The ship took on shots as it came closer but she didn't falter. This would be her last shot. If Hera misses it's all over and all they've done would be for nothing.

Squeezing dry what time they had were the finished calculations of the transport's hyperdrive. Full power was diverted to the engines, and the ship screeched as it prepped for launch. Hera counted to five, came in with hardly any room for maneuvering, and fired upon the ship. She pulled up with seconds to spare, trailing her rampant shots from stern to bow. Hera and Kanan both looped around just as the bolts pierced the hull, the ship coming undone by the seams. The energy siphoned to the hyperdrive caused the core split. The engine was melted like ice thrust into the searing sun. That nuclear plasmic energy seeping within the veins of the kyber crystal trapped on board. Green, glitching streams of electricity constricted the ship, spanning rapidly into a wild, spasming web. Kanan and Hera marked this as their victory, but knew they weren't out of the woods yet.

The initial explosion was forestalled as they shattering Kyber Crystal and destroyed hyperdrive core merged in a nightmarish reaction. The green coils amassing as a field fed on the rabid power, then burst like a collapsing star. An envy green sphere inflated at mach ten speeds. The fiery debris within the center was eaten before it had a chance to even disperse. That inner explosion fed the widening sphere. The frayed glow corroded and ate away at the asteroids and ships in its wake, but it was the smooth sphere within that was worst of the beasts. TIE's caught in that plasmic field were evaporated, ripped from reality as if they'd never been. The sphere devoured everything in its path, and would soon add The Ghost and Phantom to its plate.

"HERA!" Kanan hated how close that field was getting.

"I SEE IT! COME ON!" She slowed down as best as she could. The hyperdrive was set. Unless Kanan attached, its over. That static cling of the field taunted The Phantom's stern. It need only snag on the back. Kanan looked back, then gunned the ship forward, thrusting it into port. Hera sealed the locks, and The Completed Ghost was gone in hyperspace. The supernova blast gone on the space wind. And to think they were worried.

xxx

Katerina activated another treat. Her splicing was cued to the weapons. She switched them from semi automatic to full. The possessed walkers unleashed heavy fire in every direction. Squads were blown to pieces, tanks were destroyed, pieces of the academy were taken out. She activated one last tidbit from the datapad. A timer. In three minutes her tour de force would leave a welting scar like The Inquisitor left on her. The Academy and its students will never recover.

"WHAT ?! HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?" Aresko frothed at the mouth.

"Remote control, Commandant! I can do anything from here!" She teased him. She swung by the railing, leaping onto the walker as it came under her. "Maybe having me work on those walkers was a good idea after all, Aresko! Have fun explaining this to The Inquisitor!"

Aresko didn't care for how she knew of The Inquisitor's arrival. "You will pay for this Anastasia Stark! Mark my words!" He vowed murderously with a grin. "Your friends at the shack are dead!"

"I wouldn't be too sure about that! Even I have friends across the board, Commandant!" Vizago was so going to bleed her dry later.

"HEY! YOU DONE GRANDSTANDING?!" Ezra waved hanging off the edge of the crippled walker.

"LOOK! Morgan is attempting to fight of the insurgents SINGLE HANDED!" Aresko voiced his praise. This is a cadet to be admired.

Katerina was baffled by how he got up there, then saw the ladder. The boy jumped. Katerina helped him up, patting him on the shoulder. "LET US IN!" Ezra knocked on the hull. Aresko was disappointed in an instant. Morgan wasn't fighting anything. He was part of the attack.

Neither Jai or Leonis were able to open the hatch and let them in. The tank at the blast doors wasn't finished with them. "EZRA, LOOK OUT!" Katerina tackled him down. Twin shot bolts breezed past their backs. The tank ran shots up and down the walker, shooting for the weak spots. Leonis hadn't stopped for a second. The walker was almost homefree. A few more steps. The tank operator wised up and shot at the ankles. "DAMMIT! HOLD ON!" Katerina braced Ezra. Leonis and Jai held on to something.

The walker's ankles keel under the damage. It toppled like a massive domino, coming just under the blast doors and stopping them cold. Katerina and Ezra were thrown off the roof, bouncing to a painful roll onto the concrete. They were going to feel that in the morning. Ezra and Katerina groaned dazedly, holding their spinning heads. They rolled onto their backs, shaking off the haze to finish the run. Blasters were aligned with their heads. They threw their hands up. Six troopers appeared and surrounded them. It was over.

"I guess this means I'm fired." Katerina joked weakly. No one was laughing. Especially not Hardlight, who the troopers found and brought to face his attacker. "Yeah. So fired."

Hardlight pried a blaster from a trooper, shoving his way to the mouthy traitor. Volunteering to personally deal with her he looked her dead in the eye. The fury, the betrayal, the hurt - Katerina absorbed it all. She wounded him. "You may not have chosen this life…" Hardlight drew the hammer back. Katerina's life flashed before her eyes as she waited for the shot, "But the universe has spoken for where it ends." He squeezed the trigger. Katerina closed her eyes. PEW! "ACK!" Her breath hitched, her skelton leaving her flesh.

Katerina was checking her body when Hardlight's hit the ground beside her. A fresh burn was in the back of his shoulder. He was shot by someone else. In pure disbelief she looked to where the troopers sought out the shooter. She saw him before they did and smiled. Zeb saved her. And right when Ezra was about to be shot, Zeb popped off another shot and saved him. The troopers saw him on the roof and opened fire. Sabine leapt over the tank, dealing a kick to one trooper and shooting the second in the shoulder. About time, guys.

"Thanks!" Ezra said as Sabine helped him up.

"Don't mention it."

"Could you have cut that any closer?" Katerina teased, dusting herself off. A thanks if ever Sabine heard one. One trooper came from the shadows to take Ezra out. Chopper hit him with a stun ball. He was proud of that shot.

Three knocks boomed from the damaged walker. "Help me! We have to get them out!" Ezra ran to the walker.

Three more troopers came out of nowhere and started to shoot. "RIINA! GIFT FROM KANAN!" Sabine tossed her the staff.

Katerina caught it, feeling old strength come back to those fingers. "Oh yes!" She flourished the staff, bringing the lanceheads to life again. "I've missed you, old friend." She licked her lips hungrily.

Sabine and Ezra freed Jai and Leonis. They were fine on the outside. "Look!" Jai panicked as Katerina stood there while she was surrounded. "Run, Anastasia!"

"Don't worry. She'll be fine." Sabine crooned. Ezra leaned to the walker, planning to enjoy this. Leonis and Jai thought they were insane. A trooper lifted his balster. Katerina twirled her staff above her head, swatting the blaster in a high fly behind the tank. She dealt a kick at his neck, reminding Ezra of that uncomfortable moment. Then in a few swift swings and twirls, she disarmed the other two. She swiped the lance up one's torso to his neck, then brought it down on the head of the other, and was planted her staff in victory. Jai and Leonis were speechless. "Told you. Now let's get out of here!"

"Wait! Jai," Leonis stopped him by the shoulder, "Give me that blaster."

"Uhh...sure. Why?"

"Because I'm staying." He proclaimed without hesitation. Katerina, Ezra, and Jai gasped in dismay. "It's the only way I'll find my sister."

"We got bucketheads inbound!" Sabine warned. Aresko, Grint, and a handful of troopers were getting close. Arguments would have to wait.

"I'll keep in touch!" Ezra promised.

Leonis stalled as they made their escape. Zeb arrived with their ride, urging them to get in. Ezra looked back as Leonis shrank in the distance. Katerina put a promising hand to him, swearing they'd get him one day. And for appearance, Leonis opened fire and ensured that he missed while making a few knicks. Once they were out of range he stopped. He held himself with pride that he chased off insurgents for his officers, but was jumping for joy that his friends would live to fight another day.

xxx

Zeb and the others met up with Hera and Kanan in the outlands of Lothal. The adrenaline from the day finally wore off, leaving Jai questioning if his decision to join Ezra was the right one. Now he was going to be on the run from The Empire. Escaping the academy was easier. Katerina let Hera and Ezra help him cope. Right now she was in dire need of a Ghost Ship shower and a real bed. Maybe that shower will be a bath.

Greeting her and a pleasant distraction from her plans was Kanan. He had his hands on his hips with his classic judgmental smirk, and eyes scrolling his sister. "I like the color scheme." He wagged a finger, bringing on flattery before the brutal honesty. He tugged at the uniform shirt tied at her waist, "But military isn't your style."

"And yet I still look better than you." She flirted. Kanan snickered with a lowering head. Right to the quick with the below belt hit. "I missed you big brother."

"I missed you too, kid." They hugged one another so tight it'd be impossible to pry them apart. Katerina spotted Zeb leaning at hers and Hera's room. Seemed like he wanted to talk, or go hide in his room. "Vizago is helping your friends escape back to Chandrila as we speak. He's going to charge us a fortune." As if she expected anything less. "Meantime, go shower and get some rest. Empire Day is around the corner, you know."

"I do. And I also know you have a padawan to say hi to." She strutted on her merry way. Kanan nodded to Jai as Hera showed him where he could stay. Katerina entered her room, wordlessly letting Zeb enter with her. He has something on his mind. Previous experience taught him not to hold it in. Katerina bent forward, then with a loud yawn she stretched tall and cracked her spine. It felt amazing to be free of that school. She was starting to feel her skin peel.

"Good to have you back." Zeb broke the silence.

"Good to be back." Katerina glowed. She planted her butt to her bed. Rapturous bliss flushed through her skin, filling her with a warmth she's be deprived of. She might just got to bed. Forget the shower.

Zeb cleared his throat, braving a few more steps in. "So...how was it?"

"How was what?" She moaned in her provincial bliss.

"Working for them."

The bliss was ended. She didn't need to ponder long for an answer. She wrapped her knees to her chest, resting her chin on the top. "Weird. I don't think I'll be able to shower enough." That place was a sewer she's been forced to crawl through.

Zeb was able to loosen up. This was a steady icebreaker for their prolonged silence. "Must have been hard for you with all those cadets there." Katerina's brow knit. Her fingers clawed into her legs. "You know...considering-"

"Zeb," She snapped. She didn't mean to have such a bite, but he was treading on that thinning ice of his. "I don't bring up your demons, so don't bring up mine!" At least not now. She just got home. She doesn't want to talk about that. "I'm glad that you're concerned...happy even." Her cheeks turned a light pink. "But can we please not talk about that? It's the only thing I've thought about these past few weeks." And she isn't sure she's come to grips with it.

"Right. Sorry." Zeb backed against the door. That went south fast. He sank beneath his own ice and was drowning. Me and my big mouth. Now is the time to leave before things get worse. "Welcome back...and sorry." He shied away, escaping into the hallway. He gripped at the doorway, pausing briefly. "About that and...the other thing." He turned slightly so she'd see his hand at his lips.

Katerina turned beet red, hiding her face in her knees. That's right. Ezra said...we should talk. She swallowed an anxious lump. "Ze-"

"We don't have to talk about it. I'd prefer it if we don't." He threw out there, catching her completely by the jugular.

Katerina's words died in her throat. The glow from earlier was gone. Her eyes glossed instantly. "Oh...um...okay...?" This luke cold sensation pooled to her stomach. A weight pressed on her heart. Everything was buzzing, and felt unbearable snug. When she wanted to say something more, Zeb's posture changed. His ears were straight up, his fistss were balled, and he hunched his back so she wouldn't dissuade him. "Y-Yeah. We-uh-we should just forget about it. I mean-HA-we make better teammates than we ever will...anything else!" She put on her best - if not least convincing - smile, waving off this awkwardness like it was nothing. Deep down though...she wants to cry.

"And it's not because I don't like you! That's far from it!" He drew that line now. No sense in denying it having crossed it. I...I love you, dammit! "I just don't…" He growled loathingly at himself. He faced her like a man, startling her. "I don't want to lose what we have. You understand." He prayed she did.

"I do, actually. And I agree."

"Good." He breathed.

"Okay." She nodded, a bubbly smile on her cheeks.

Zeb looked at the time. He should get going. "Well...I'll just...see you around." He closed the door behind him.

"Yeah...bye…" Her voice wavered, her body trembling.

xxx

Zeb meandered into his room with his head down. He could hear Ezra and Kanan talking about his time in the academy, though dulled it to a mumbled as he locked himself in his room. He stood there in the darkness and silence, thoughts swirling in his head, and invisible fists beating the ever living Hell out of him. He was supposed to talk with her about this. NOT TALK FOR HER! And he just made a decision that suits his own selfish needs and didn't bother to ask her opinion on it. What the Hell is wrong with you Garazeb Orrelios?! He plowed a fist into the wall, biting at his lower lip.

Of course he wanted to talk about it! He wanted to hear her thoughts on that blasted kiss. To know if...what possessed him was felt by her too. To know if...what he's feeling...is really love. Instead he completely brushed it off like it was a fluke. Not meant to be. All because he's scared he'd lose another special person. No. Not someone special. Katerina isn't special. She's...she's...too amazing to be labeled as special. Gods on Lasaan would quiver under her. Were it she had the powers of a god she'd smite him now. He'll never know how she felt. And he'll never know if she loves him. He'll be trapped that on that ship, week after week, with the one woman he's terrified of losing...and may have just lost.

"Friends? Really? How pathetic are you?"

xxx

"Friends…" Tears beyond her control slipped down her cheek. Her heart tore itself into dozens of ribbons that shredded themselves. "I don't...friends?" She spat in disgust. That pisses her off. It pisses her off so much! YOU think it's best if we're friends? WHERE'S MY SAY?! She frightened herself, throwing herself under her pillows. The tears kept falling, soaking the bed.

This is becoming ridiculous. Why is she acting this way? WHY THE HELL DOES IT HURT SO MUCH? That kiss! That stupid kiss! In order to counteract the cadets it's been that stupid kiss that's plagued her. Woken her up from a deep sleep and made her long for- she slapped hands to her mouth. "No...NO!" She can't accept it. It can't be happening. She can't be...in love with Zeb? Why him? Him of all people? … … … Why not? She sucked on her lips, hugging a pillow to her chest. "Because he doesn't want you...that's why." She buried her face in the pillow and drifted off to sleep.

xxx

Hours after the attack, Aresko found himself in the middle of another humiliating inquisition. The difference here is Agent Kallus was charged with a portion of blame since one of the insurgents visited the Imperial HQ on account. This gave Aresko a sort of chipper feel to this inquiry. Rare is it that Kallus is called on for his blunders. Lyste can sleep easier now too. Though it was a whimsical and pathetic moment for him. Reminding him of the severity of this circumstance was The Inquisitor being his interrogator, and bringing to him the reality of who it was he surrounded himself with. The Imperial Academy is the breeding ground for their soldiers. And after years of spotless achievements and graduations, the Commandant ruined it all in a matter of seconds.

"This is a blackmark, Commandant." The Inquisitor rumbled. In his hands were three files on the trio who betrayed The Empire, and made every single person there and in the HQ look like gullible fools. Kallus and Aresko bowed their heads contritely. Leonis, who was called to the meeting for his valor, kept his attentive stance. Inside he was trying not to giggle. He loves seeing higher ups get their butts chewed out. "I do not know this boy," He set aside Jai Kell's record, "But THIS ONE I know." He showed them Ezra's file. "This is the Padawan I encountered on Stygeon Prime." How that boy made it from there to this academy without raising any alarms is a matter he must delve into thoroughly. "And I also know this one." Next was Katerina. He obscured the animalistic pleasure at discovering his victim lived. "She is also one I encountered on Stygeon Prime. Not a Jedi, but skilled enough to be confused for one." And apparently possesses the same unwillingness to die. He will savor the time until their next encounter.

"Anastasia Stark, Inquisitor. She is a renowned mechanic of a high caliber, and well respected by those she's worked for and worked with." Aresko explained in cliffnotes why she was allowed inside the academy. Kallus sneered his nose at her image. "We had the shop she operated out of in the Capital under our control. Incentive to keep her on her best behavior." A good plan until it wasn't. "Needless to say, with her escape, we've all but confirmed that our forces were nullified and the shop abandoned."

"Abandoned?" The Inquisitor spot.

"Yes." Aresko had the report in his hands. "Our men sent out distress beacons. But by the time they arrived everyone was gone and every ounce of equipment was sabotaged." That place was surrounded top to bottom by troops with the latest in weaponry. And they were dealt with like cadets. "No work history, no records of any sort, and certainly no indication of where they have gone. It's as if the shop was never there." But he knew better. He frequented that shop in hopes of condemning it.

"May I see that?" Kallus asked for Katerina's file. The Inquisitor shared it, finding any input Kallus has of value. He has faced this girl on a couple of occasions. "I've encountered this one as well. On Chandrila."

"Chandrila. A planet under Imperial Thrall." Aresko elucidated as if from an archive.

"She was the owner of a shop there called Mothma's Garage. The name given was…" If he recalls correctly it was a name to describe her personality. "Katty Dume. Likely an alias like Anastasia."

"Did you not bother to do research on this girl?" The Inquisitor hissed at Aresko. "By your own reports you've encountered her several times."

"That's just it." Aresko jumped onto The Inquisitor's desk, accessing a file on Anastasia/Katty. "Our attempts are blocked by an official seal by…" He let his keystrokes be the drumroll when received the blaring SEALED marker, "The Galactic Empire."

Kallus shoved his way behind the desk, unable to believe it. He and The Inquisitor saw the same sigil, and the completely redacted file on this girl with a thousand faces. "This is indeed a legitimate seal. And her file, as you say, is redacted to being a blank page." Kallus stated as a fact, still refusing to accept this as it is. "But why is our Empire protecting this girl? Who is she to us?"

"All remarkable questions." The Inquisitor attempted to use the name Kallus gave. K-AT-T-Y D-U-M-E. He entered the name, waited for the page to load. SEALED...SEALED...SEALED. A vein clenched in his temple. "And how is it that two pseudonyms are permitted to be sealed?"

"This girl clearly has friends in high places." Aresko slammed an angered fist to the table. "Our pleas with the senate to have this girl's file opened have been met with heavy resistance from our leading senators."

"Which senators are those?" Kallus planned to personally investigate.

"THAT I was able to come across." Aresko is also one with friends in high places. He went around the redacted file, revealing the family sigils of two families and the official signatures of three. "Senator of Alderaan, Bale Organa. Princess of Alderaan, Leia Organa. And Senator of Chandrila, Mon Mothma." Leonis breathlessly gasped. He knew those names well. Anastasia has it in with Senators?

Mon Mothma. Mothma's garage. The senator of Chandrila has ties to that shack. Why Kallus didn't link the two is beyond him. But why the Senator and Princess of Alderaan? "Why do those three care about this girl so much?"

"Perhaps we should ask them ourselves." The Inquisitor purred.

"Inquisitor," Aresko whimpered, rising to his feet, "It is unwise to poke a hornet's nest. And with Empire day so close."

"We shall wait until the festivities are done and over with." He reassured him. "Afterward we will shed some light on this mystery mechanic." And The Inquisitor will be there when her mask is removed. "Now then, about this boy. Who is he?" He tapped on Ezra's file.

"That one is Morgan. His aide was named Kell." To which he lead Leonis into the spotlight, shining glory upon a fine example of what The Empire looks for in its cadets. "Cadet Zare Leonis, here, came close to stopping the escapees. He was part of the traitors squad and knew them well. Or thought so." Aresko added grimly. Leonis didn't much care for how The Inquisitor was smiling at him.

"How admirable." The Inquisitor remarked. Sounded like he was mocking him. He meandered from the desk, folding his hands behind his back. "Well, Leonis, let's take a walk, shall we?" It was a command not a suggestion. "I want to know EVERYTHING about your FORMER friends." Leonis cringed underneath those golden orbs. Magma meeting chocolate irises, burning his insides to nothing. The Inquisitor's smile projected him like a savage beast about to rip him to shreds. She was right. This man's a monster.

To be continued.