More than a week later Valour listened on as a pompous old man droned on about how those gathered today should be honored to be chosen for an upcoming project though he refused to say exactly what it was just yet. In truth, he said absolutely nothing but seemed to choose a whole lot of words to do it. During what could only be considered a lecture Kiara caught a glimpse of Kallus as he appeared to be making rounds. It had been the first time that she'd so much as had seen him since she'd been called into his office.

When he noticed her looking his way, he barely looked down only to look back up at her almost as if he was nodding with his eyes. The message was clear. He'd been able to forge her documents, though she couldn't exactly ask how soon after she'd left his office that he'd been able to do it. Still, after a week, if Thrawn had read through her file and found what Kallus had she surely would have found out by now.

Kiara lowered her own eyes for a brief pause to show gratitude then glanced back up and saw that he'd already begun to continue on his way. Though with a slight limp. Kiara wondered how he'd gotten it but figured that she'd find out eventually if it was of any consequence. With her mind set at ease on the status of her secret she tried to tune back in to listen to the old man once more. After all, it appeared that whatever new project that those gathered were to take part in, it would begin soon.


Kallus knew that he'd given his leg enough time to heal, especially with the bacta infusions. If he wanted to lose that limp that he still had, then he was going to have to put in the work and get back to his old exercise regimen. As soon as evening fell, he made his way to the officers' gym and set out to rebuild his strength that he'd lost thanks to his injury. He actually found the pain to be a bit therapeutic as he worked his muscles. He was able to stop doing what he seemed to be doing an awful lot of lately; overthinking.

In this place it was just him, the machines and the weights. The pain kept him out of his head as he pushed himself beyond his limits and instead kept him hyper-focused on his need to get stronger. When Kallus made his way back to his quarters he was dripping in sweat and his limp was much more pronounced than it had been when he'd left his quarters this morning. Still, he knew that it would only be workout sessions like this that would get him back into the shape that he'd been in prior to his injury.

After getting cleaned up he found a book and tried to read it but found that he had no interest in the story. He couldn't even remember why he'd picked up the book in the commissary in the first place. Perhaps it had everything to do with just being bored while healing from his injury rather than to do with the actual storyline. Kallus tossed the book onto the shelf and glanced once more at the meteorite. It seemed to sit there taunting him yet for the life of him he couldn't figure out why.

Maybe he needed a second opinion. After all, a week ago he'd been prepared to discuss the rock and all that happened when he got it with his old friend only to be derailed by her own confession of being a force-sensitive hiding from the Empire within its own ranks. In the time since then he'd been too distracted with watching for any tells from Thrawn that he knew that he'd helped to cover up Kiara's secret as well as creating the fake investigative file to ponder too much on his own life. But now, the glow of the damned meteorite seemed to be just a bit harder to ignore than usual. Along with all of the questions that have been floating around in his head since he first brought it back from the ice moon.

Getting up, Kallus wasn't really aware of where he was going until he found himself outside of the mess hall just before Valour exited it. Both greeted one another as if they were barely aware of the other's existence.

"Lieutenant."

"Agent."

"Lieutenant Valour, there is a matter that I wish to discuss with you in my office. If you don't mind?"

Kiara couldn't read Alexsandr's face, but she could only assume that this had something to do with the documents that Kallus had to forge for her. Maybe he suspected that Thrawn knew, and he wanted to give her a head's up. "Of course."

The two then walked in silence as they made their way through the labyrinth of halls within the Imperial Complex until they were behind the closed doors of Kallus's office.

"What's wrong? I thought that you got my paperwork set up?" Kiara asked as soon as she got sufficiently far enough away from the door to worry about being overheard.

"Actually, this doesn't have anything to do with that matter. As far as I can tell, your secret is still safe."

"Then what? Why did you ask me in here?" Kiara asked in confusion.

"I had actually wanted to get your opinion on something. I'd intended to speak with you about it last week when we had our meeting-"

"But my, shall we call it, situation took precedence." When Kallus nodded to confirm she continued, "Okay, I certainly owe you a favor or two now. What's going on?"

"I need a sounding board. I recently had a situation happen that I'm not quite sure how to make of it and I want to see what you think."

Kiara sat in the chair in front of Alexsandr's desk as he began to tell her about the unusual rebel cell that he seemed to have a bit of a feud with. Kiara did her best to not snicker as he told her of some of the times that he seemed outsmarted and bested where they were involved but it hadn't been easy. She was intrigued, however, that the leader appeared to be a Jedi. She knew that she'd have questions but for now she allowed for the man sitting across from her to speak uninterrupted.

When he got to the part where he'd ended up in a crashed escape pod with one of the members of the cell the story telling seemed to take on a different tone. Kallus spoke of the Lasat who had been trapped with him on the moon with respect. And when he confessed some of the questions that he'd had since his return from his time on Bahryn he sounded more confused and almost wistful. He'd always believed wholeheartedly in everything that the Empire spat out without question. Now, he was learning that the empirical belief in the propaganda may have been a bit misplaced.

Kiara allowed Alexsandr to speak and even ask questions aloud that he likely never thought he'd ever give a voice to before she finally mulled over what to say to him in return.

"So, you are regretting some of the choices you've made. That you feel that you may have misplaced your loyalties?"

"I didn't say that." When Kiara raised her brows in question he added, "Not really."

"You sure about that? Because that's what I heard." Kiara raised a hand to stop him before he could deny it. "If you weren't then you wouldn't have ever helped me and you know it. I was trying to figure out what had happened when you didn't turn me in since you have quite the reputation of being quite relentless in your pursuit of anyone who doesn't tow the Imperial line."

"Fine, I'm beginning to wonder if I wasted my life. Is that what you wanted to hear?" Kallus said with a glare.

Kiara eyed the man in front of her for a moment before she shook her head. "No."

"That's it? Just, no? No explanation, no platitudes, nothing else? Is that the advice you have to give me?"

"Funny, I hadn't heard you actually ask me for any advice, yet." When that comment earned her another glare, she gave a small laugh before she stifled it. "Now I could give you some advice if that is what you want. Or, if you'd rather, I could maybe help you with an opportunity."

"What kind of an opportunity?" Kallus asked suspiciously.

"Depends. If I say anything more, you need to be certain that you want to hear what I know you already suspect. If you don't, then it would be best that you don't officially know anything."

Kallus heard the unspoken words. She was indeed a rebel spy. She hadn't confessed everything to him last week. To be honest, he wasn't surprised, nor did he blame her. "And if I decide that I do want to hear more about this opportunity of yours?"

"I'll have to get access to a transmitter away from the complex. I usually contact those on the next rung up on the ladder by using my ship that I have. But I can't for two reasons. One, I haven't been able to get a message out to my droid on my ship to tell him what system I was sent to when I was transferred. And two, I can't leave the complex yet thanks to protocol." Kiara paused before adding, "But before you make this decision, you need to think long and hard about it. You know better than anyone what the consequences would be if you are ever found out. You need to take a day at minimum to think about it."

Kallus nodded. Yes. This wasn't something that he should rush, even if he was now intrigued. "Alright. I'll take the rest of the week. Then I'll find you so that I can give you my answer."

With that, Kiara stood to leave. "If you choose not to..."

"Your secret will still be safe with me. I may just encourage you to be transferred back out as quickly as possible. I can't continually turn a blind eye if I'm not all in."

With a confident nod of approval for the loose plan of action Valour left the office, leaving Kallus to start considering what had been completely inconceivable not too long ago.


At the week's end Kallus waited for the endless hours to pass until he could slip away and look for Valour. In truth, he had his answer the night the two of them spoke alone in his office, but he'd forced himself to consider every possibility. Every pro and con. Clearly the con would be that if he was caught, he'd be executed. But the more that he thought about it, with his position within the Imperial Security Bureau, the pros began to outweigh the cons. Because when all was said and done, he wanted his life to count. To matter. And he could make a real difference.

Once the last meeting of the day was over Kallus sent for his friend but then didn't wait for her in his office. Instead, he waited where he could intercept her. As she approached, he took her by the elbow and turned her around as he began to lead her toward the motor pool where he planned to borrow a speeder.

"What-" Kiara started only to be cut off.

"Trust me. I'll just say you are with me, and we'll leave. It won't matter that you aren't authorized yet to leave the base."

"And just how do you figure that?"

"Likely enough they will just figure that I'm taking you out for an evening as my date."

"In the habit of dating your subordinates, are you?" Kiara asked with a smirk.

"What? No," Kallus then added with a touch of being offended, "No! I just said that since most idiots can't seem to ever see a man and woman and not think that they are more than just friends."

"True. Okay, so should I pretend to give you looks of blind adoration or snarl at you like I'm being forced to leave against my will."

"Not funny!"

"Alright, alright. Blind adoration it is." Kiara laughed at the glare followed by an eyeroll that she got for that comment.

"I'm not sure you are that good of an actress," Kallus said while remaining stoic despite the fact that he wanted to join in the laughter.

"You may be on to something." Kiara placed a hand under her chin as she pretended to consider Kallus's words. "So, you'd rather that I'd pretend that I want to gouge your eyes out instead?"

"Kiara." Kallus lowered his voice nearly an octave in warning.

Kallus shook his head as they neared the troopers who were working the motor pool. To Kiara's credit, she was able to hold her thoughts and expressions to herself until well after they had left the Imperial Complex. She only kept a look of shear annoyance at having to wait for the speeder on her face rather than either of her initial options that she had given. For that, Kallus was thankful since he wasn't sure he would have been able to carry on with a straight face if she had used either. Though most especially the blind adoration one.

"Alright, so where to?"

"You said that you needed access to a transmitter away from the complex, right?"

Kiara eyed Alexsandr. So, he'd come to a decision. "Yes. Know that you'll likely not be trusted for a while. That any information will be heavily vetted before they really begin to trust you."

"Understandable. But I've already gotten a bit of news that I've discovered while snooping this week."

"Jumping in headfirst, I see."

"There's no turning back, now." Kallus sent the speeder away from Capital City toward the outskirts where the older and more rundown, decrepit communications towers that had been condemned long before the Empire took over sat. Finally, he pulled up outside of an old building that had long since been condemned. When he saw a question in Valour's eyes he went ahead and told her, "There's radio equipment inside."

"Ah." Kiara climbed the stairs up to the tower that sat far above the surrounding grass that covered the landscape as she followed Alexsandr. "So, Alex, how did you know that this was here?"

"That boy, the padawan that I told you about in the rebel cell, this was his home, after his parents died. When he was a street kid. His parents used this equipment to broadcast messages of rebellion years ago. I learned about this hideout and found the equipment after the rebels sent out a message of their own a while back."

"Oh." Kiara glanced around and saw a wide assortment of trooper helmets. Clearly, someone collected them. "I'm sure that he'd be amused to find that his old hideout was once more in use."

"I would like to think so," Alexsandr said with a chuckle before he set to work on getting the transmitter to send out a message to the contact that Kiara worked with. Apparently, she didn't have their name, only a squad call sign. Nor did they know hers. It appeared that all of the spies in the field were simply known as Fulcrum. No names. Smart. This way no one can give away what they don't know. Each one was given a secret code-phrase so that those on the other end would be assured that they were speaking with an actual agent.

After Kiara gave her code-phrase she informed her contact that she had a new addition to the ranks. That she could vouch for Alexsandr and his legitimacy of being willing to spy for the rebellion. After some time, Kallus was able to share his small bit of news. He'd come across information that there were pilots who were looking to defect. He knew that such information was too good for them to ignore. Even if they weren't sure if they trusted him yet. He was told that a recording of his message would be sent to the appropriate cell and that he'd be contacted in a week's time to learn what his code-phrase would be should they decide to trust him enough for the time being. Until then, Kiara would be expected to continue to vet him.

"How did you find out about the pilots?" Kiara asked after first contacting her ship to tell her droid to fly to Lothal and hide her ship on the outskirts of the city while the two of them put the radio equipment back up and made the place look deserted once more before preparing to leave.

"I'm good at listening to rumors and I can read lips when people think that I'm far enough away to not be overheard. I saw a couple pilots who were talking about how they were wondering if there was a way to get word to the Rebellion the other day. They were being sent out for further training at Skystrike."

"When did you pick that up?"

"Shortly after leaving the academy. But I've honed that skill over the years."

"I see. A valuable skill to have in your line of work, I'd assume."

"You assumed correctly. And now, hopefully I can put it to even better use." Kallus steered the speeder away from the old, abandoned tower and pointed it back toward the Imperial Complex.

"You will." Valour said as she watched the rising of Lothal's two moons and began to shine their light. "And I know that you don't want to hear this, but you will have to make sure that you don't jump all in, too fast. If too much information gets out too quickly then it could compromise your position. You'll need to make sure that any information that you send out, especially at first, is absolutely vital. Not just information that would be nice for the contacts to have. Vital."

"So, I suppose you will now teach me the finer art of espionage?" Kallus said with more than a touch of sarcasm with a chuckle.

Kiara crossed her arms and barely controlled the sneer that wanted to make its way across her face. "Go ahead and laugh but remember, I've been doing this on some scale for nearly a decade. I have just a touch more experience at being a rebel agent than you."

"Alright. I'll take your lead. Especially while your contacts are making up their mind about me." Kallus then wondered how he'd be able to consistently sneak Valour out of the Imperial Complex until she had clearance to leave on her own. He had the sneaky suspicion that the two of them were likely to become the source of some interesting rumors in the days and weeks to come.