Sitting back in his chair amused, the probe droid had exploded upon its return back to the Empire as it most likely had been the intent of those who had reprogramed it. He wondered who had come up with that particular plan. To him, it was ingenious. He was just glad that he hadn't been on the ship that the probes returned to when the explosion rocked it.

Kallus sent out a message to the Shadow Chaser, Valour's ship. Tac informed him that Kiara had yet to reach out to share where she'd been reassigned so far. As a result, Kallus had devised a plan to use the ship as a relay when he'd send out a message to his rebel contacts when there was time for the delayed messages. That way when he wasn't on Lothal he'd have an added layer of protection for his messages so that they couldn't be as easily traced either to the point of origin (him) nor toward its intended location. Kallus knew that if a message was traced then it could be used to locate the Rebel Base. Not something that he wanted at all.

After the message relay system was ready, he sent his message of congratulations to his contacts.

"I can only assume you found and reprogrammed the lost Infiltrator I warned you of. Well, as you no doubt planned, the droid did self-destruct on its return to base. I don't know how you pulled it off, but you have my congratulations. Fulcrum out."

Kallus smiled as he signed out. He then prepared for his meeting with Thrawn as he had been called in thanks to the same droid's explosion.

"How did this happen, Agent Kallus?"

"I suspect the rebels captured a unit in the field and reprogrammed it to self-destruct upon its return to base. Quite ingenious, really."

"I'm inclined to agree."

"You seem in surprisingly good spirits, considering the loss," Kallus eyed Thrawn with a bit of confusion and suspicion.

"Loss, you say?" The amusement in the Chiss's voice was clear. One that spoke of the fact that he always remained three steps ahead of everyone else around him. "Mmm, the rebels may have protected the location of their base for now, but in doing so, they have narrowed my search." Thrawn pushed a button that caused the galactic map that had been displayed on the holographic display to shift and alter. Many planets fell away and disappeared from the map. "Before today, they could have been hiding in any of a thousand systems. But now... Now I know they are almost certainly on one of the ninety-four planets surveyed by my Infiltrators. The rebels have won this battle, but the war will be ours."

Kallus's stomach sank when he realized that even when Thrawn lost, he won. It showed just how dangerous of a threat the man was to the Rebellion.


Kallus spent the next several weeks going about his usual routine while keeping an eye out for anything that could put his rebel contacts at risk. He also sent several messages to Tac to check to see if Valour had made contact with him since she'd been transferred away from the Imperial Complex on Lothal. He didn't like that after all of this time she had yet to send out a message. Not to her droid nor to her own rebel contact through Tac. He tried to make some discreet inquiries to try to figure out where Valour had been transferred.

All that he could determine was that there was some archaeological dig that the Empire had an interest in. That confused him. What could possibly interest the ruler of the Empire at an old dig site?

With no answers and no other choice but to sit back to wait and trust that everything was alright, Kallus went to sleep. At least he had the benefit of knowing that he'd sent a message back to Phoenix Squadron in the last week that he knew could help the team. So tonight, he'll set his worries and troubles aside for the time being and try to get some sleep.

He awoke hours later to the blaring of an alarm. He stumbled to his door and saw where troopers were running past his quarters in response to the alarm. When one trooper saw him standing in his doorway he ran over and informed him that the call for battle stations had been sent out.

Kallus closed his door and went inside to the small refresher area of his quarters and ran the water in his sink so that he could splash some cold water onto his face to help him wake up. He then made his way to the bridge of the light cruiser that he was stationed on over Lothal and demanded to know if they were under attack.

Lieutenant Lyste was in charge on the bridge at the moment who explained that there wasn't an attack. Rather, he'd sounded the alarm when a stolen shuttle that had blasted its way out of a spaceport on Lothal came into range. He was preparing the Imperial forces to intercept it. Kallus found the call to battle stations to have been a bit of an overreach for such an incident, though he didn't say anything.

He was losing sleep over this?

With the shuttle captured in the tractor beam Kallus announced that he'd head up the landing party. When the troopers manhandled the pilot of the shuttle out of his ship Kallus noticed who the pilot was when the helmet was removed. It was Ezra Bridger. When the boy did his usual spouting of insults, he had to school his face to not reveal the fact that he found it to be a bit amusing. Amusing yet also concerning. Did the boy not realize how much danger he was putting himself in by coming here? Kallus ordered for the boy to be taken to the detention cells.

Once there he ordered the troopers, "Leave us. I'll interrogate him myself."

Once the troopers left Kallus turned the surveillance to the cell off before he stepped into it and closed the door behind him. "Don't you realize how dangerous it is for you to be here? If anyone recognizes you-" Kallus demanded as Ezra interrupted.

"They won't. You know how big the Empire is. Most troopers don't even know what I look like now."

"I hope that's true for both our sakes. If they discover you here, I'll be executed for treason!"

The most annoying thing was that the boy chuckled in response. "You might be anyway. We think the Empire was monitoring your last Fulcrum transmission."

"So, you got captured to warn me?" Kallus asked incredulously.

"Nope. To get you out of here." Was this boy always so cocky? Actually, Kallus already knew the answer to that. It came with being a teenaged boy with superhuman abilities like that of a Jedi, he was sure.

"Well, I guess I have no choice now." How could he have been found out so soon? Kallus's frustration was mainly directed at himself, but Ezra was a convenient sounding board for it.

"Look, I'm not happy about it, either," the young Jedi rebutted. "For all I know, you're playing a long game to set us up."

"I could say the same to you," Kallus sneered. "I suppose for now, we'll just have to trust each other."

And no, the irony of the fact that this conversation was happening in a detention cell didn't escape him. Though at least he had the comfort to know that if there was one thing that the boy before him was good at, it was escaping from the reach of the Empire.

Kallus would have liked to continue the conversation, but they were interrupted by Lieutenant Lyste demanding to be allowed into the cell. The boy then thought fast on his feet and grabbed Kallus's fist and used it to punch himself in the face so that he fell to the floor just as the cell was opened. He then pretended to beg Kallus to stop his interrogation. That he'd tell him anything that he could.

That truly seemed to impress the lieutenant. However, the Grand Admiral's ship had arrived and was summoning their presence. As a bit of a peace offering, Kallus supposed, Lyste decided that the prisoner would be taken over as well to show just how good of a job he was doing.

Kallus then joined the others onto the shuttle to head over to the Grand Admiral's star destroyer, Chimaera. He couldn't help but wonder what the Chiss wanted with them. Especially since the boy had told him that his last Fulcrum message was intercepted by the Empire. As he and Lyste headed toward Thrawn's office they both noticed that sector command staff were aboard the ship. Lyste asked what they could possibly be doing on the ship. Kallus didn't really have an answer for him. Their presence only served to make the churning feeling in the pit of his stomach even heavier.

After going through extra measures just to get into Thrawn's office he found the man in question battling against some assassin droids as a form of exercise. Kallus had no doubt that they were made privy to his routine to show off his fighting skills; to instill a bit of fear in them. The door to Thrawn's workout room then closed and he and Lyste were guided further into the office to reveal Colonel Yularen. A man whom Kallus had admired for his entire career within the Empire.

"Colonel Yularen." When the older man stepped forward, he couldn't help but to share his admiration of the man with him. "I don't know if you remember me from the academy..."

"Of course, young Agent Kallus. I keep tabs on all my star pupils."

Kallus felt a swell of pride that such an important man, one whom he'd practically idolized, would deem him worthy to remember. Much less for the man to follow his career. "What brings you to Lothal?"

Instead of Yularen, however, it was Thrawn who answered. Freshly changed back into his uniform after his workout. "We are in need of his expertise." Thrawn finished setting his uniform in order as he approached. "There's a rebel spying on me. Codename Fulcrum. And perhaps today, we're going to learn their true identity."

It was all that he could do for Kallus to keep his face schooled to not give away the panic that he felt as he heard Thrawn use his codename. So, the Jedi was correct when he said that the rebels believed that his last transmission had been intercepted. Blasted!

The intel had been time sensitive, so he hadn't had time to use the relay system that he'd set up to use the Shadow Chaser.

Kallus's attention was then split between listening to Thrawn's explanation of what he knew and his own thoughts as he began to think about everything that the man could do to him if he learned that he was in fact the rebel spy. He was sure that death would be a welcome relief if his identity were fully revealed.

Considering that Thrawn didn't trust him enough to run the investigation, electing instead to bring Colonel Yularen in despite the fact that he already had an ISB Agent at his disposal, perhaps Thrawn did suspect him. As he said, few were above suspicion. And apparently, he wasn't among those few. Especially since even he would be questioned.

As the meeting wore on Thrawn revealed that he was close to locating the rebel base in the sector. Kallus didn't know how he'd narrowed it down from the ninety-four that he'd last revealed to him but now on the display there were only a couple of dozen highlighted. He'd narrowed his list down by a series of factors that the man had clearly been quite tedious about. From the hyperspace lanes to the history of various attacks and missions led by the rebels, and of course to their proximity to Lothal. Kallus knew that if he didn't do something quickly then the man just might find the base sooner rather than later.

Upon being dismissed Kallus walked with Lyste out of the office as the other officers who had been called in for the meeting went their separate ways. He was stopped before he could go far, however, by Colonel Yularen.

"Agent Kallus, you've had multiple encounters with the rebels in this sector. Any thoughts on our traitor?"

"A high-level intelligence leak suggests an officer."

"True, but in our technological system, accessing information tends to be easier than having the means to transmit it without the Empire's knowledge."

Kallus knew that he had to be careful when diverting attention from himself. He needed to look at things logically as if he didn't already know that it was, he, himself, who was the very spy that the Colonel was looking for.

"Perhaps the communication division?"

Yularen shot down that suggestion quickly. "Too obvious. Whoever this spy is, they have a method of transmitting that we are, as yet, unaware of."

"If I can do anything to help..."

"I'll let you know," the older man replied before dismissing him. "Agent."

As Kallus made it back to the main hallway outside of Thrawn's office he found that Lyste had stopped and waited for him. The moment Kallus joined him the other man spoke up, "It is said no traitor escapes the eye of Yularen for long."

"I guess we'll see." Kallus, too, had heard that Yularen was the best. It was, after all, a primary reason why he'd idolized the man for so long. Never in his life did he think that he'd be the prey that Yularen would hunt for. He had to think fast about how to shift suspicion away from himself. That was when Pryce rounded the corner and gave Kallus an idea.

"Agent Kallus. I saw a report that a shuttle theft from Lothal was prevented."

Kallus stepped back and pushed Lyste in front of him before saying, "Actually Lieutenant Lyste was responsible for that."

Pryce was clearly surprised. "Really? Well, that deserves commendation."

As the woman stepped around to pass the men the younger officer expressed his thanks to the Governor. As she got out of earshot range Kallus whispered to Lyste as he steered him in the opposite direction; putting an arm around the man in a conspiratorial manner so that he could exchange his code cylinder with the other man's without notice.

"Step carefully. ISB is watching her. You should, too."

"What? Why? You don't mean Pryce is the rebel spy? That's why she wasn't in the meeting!"

It was all that Kallus could do to not roll his eyes at how simple-minded the other man was. "Thrawn has no proof yet, but I'm sure he'd be grateful if you kept an eye on her."

"He can count on me."

When the younger man exclaimed and headed off to shadow Pryce he wondered if he'd ever appeared to be so naïve. But at least he was able to put that naïvety to good use. Kallus looked down at the code cylinder in his hand and then headed off toward the detention block that Ezra Bridger had been taken to.

When he got to B-7 he found the two rebel droids that had come with the boy arguing about how best to try to break him out. Kallus strolled forward and used his acquired code cylinder and not only opened the cell but turned off the recording device inside. When it appeared to be empty, he growled in frustration.

"Please stop that."

With that, a still shackled Bridger jumped down from the ceiling before replying, "What? It worked before. Now let's get out of here."

And Kallus knew that it did more than it should. He couldn't believe that he never saw how easily fooled the Empire could be most of the time. Thrawn was the extreme exception to the rule.

One of the droids came to the cell's door to bemoan the difficulty that being transferred to Thrawn's ship had created. "None of us will be leaving without the clearance codes to this ship."

Bridger spun around at Kallus's prodding to unfasten his restraints and grunted. "I hadn't thought of that."

Kallus didn't want to be the bearer of more bad news, but he had to add, "And I'm afraid there's another complication. I've just learned that Thrawn is very close to locating your base. You have to tell me where it is."

"So, you can tell him? No way! You'll find out when we get there."

Kallus gritted his teeth. After all of the risks that he's taken, how dare this boy doubt his devotion to the cause. He risked his life numerous times. He lived every day knowing that he'd be executed if his secret was found out.

"Not if Thrawn destroys it first." Kallus's face softened just a fraction as he explained, "I need to know its location so I can remove it from his database."

"If it's even on his list."

Kallus had worked with Thrawn enough to know that the likelihood of the base not being on the list was extremely low. But then, the boy in front of him had little actual contact with the Chiss in question.

The droid spoke up once more from the door to offer a compromise. "If I may. We can accomplish both of our goals by infiltrating Grand Admiral Thrawn's office. Agent Kallus can keep our base hidden and we can gain the clearance codes we so desperately need."

Once decided, the two humans and two droids headed out toward Thrawn's office after checking in with Lyste to see where Pryce was. The lieutenant told him that Pryce, Colonel Yularen and Thrawn were headed toward the detention area. That meant that they had to move, but first, Kallus had to take Bridger to get changed into an officer's uniform. As they approached the office the boy complained as he adjusted his cap.

"I liked being a bounty hunter better."

Kallus was amused and replied with just a bit of sarcasm. "We all make sacrifices." After leaving one of the droids behind to stand watch he led the young Jedi toward the guard standing outside of Thrawn's office. "See that trooper? Convince him you are Lieutenant Lyste. Here is his code cylinder. Get him to open the door with it."

Kallus slipped the cylinder discreetly to Ezra and waited for the boy to do his force trick. When the young man used his abilities on the trooper Kallus found himself a bit envious. Was it really as simple as the boy made it look? The two strolled through to the inner office along with the astromech droid.

Kallus did have to remind the boy to stay on target regarding why they were there when he spotted an item that belonged to Hera Syndulla. They weren't in the office to steal art, after all. After a bit of back and forth the trio got back to work. The droid that Ezra called Chopper pulled up the codes and Bridger told him to send them to Kanan.

"Are you crazy? They'll intercept the transmission."

"Yeah, that a secret code was transmitted from Thrawn's office."

Kallus's brow was raised in amusement. Perhaps he didn't give the boy enough credit. "Good point."

Next, the droid pulled up Thrawn's map that showed the planets still on his list of suspected planets that could contain the rebel base. The base was indeed on one of the few dozen planets that was still on the list of suspected targets. Kallus instructed the droid to remove the planet from the map and add another to replace it.

Before the trio could leave the office, however, Thrawn was entering it. They had to hide. Kallus slipped into the workout room off to the side of Thrawn's interior office while Bridger hid behind the retaining wall section that was kept in the office.

Kallus knew that the boy wouldn't stand a chance at getting out without a distraction. Looking around, his eyes fell on the repurposed assassin droids and was hit by inspiration. He quickly accessed their programing and altered it so that the override command wouldn't work any longer. He then sent them in and slipped out of the office and waited for the young Jedi to join him as they raced toward the hanger where the extraction team was to pick them up.

When Kallus arrived at the hanger with his rebel companions in tow, he spotted Governor Pryce approaching the extraction team in trooper disguises. One rebel trooper was then stunned as Pryce attacked the other and began a hand-to-hand combat with him. He wasn't doing too badly, especially since he appeared to be holding back at first. But Pryce was a woman on a mission.

As the droid named Chopper sealed the doors to prevent reinforcements from entering the hanger Kallus looked across the way and saw Lieutenant Lyste. He was making his way toward where the skirmish between the rebel troopers and Pryce was taking place. Just as she was about to fire upon one of the troopers Lyste stunned the governor.

Bridger and the droids strolled onto the shuttle as one rebel trooper helped the other up off of the ground where he had been lying since he'd been stunned by Pryce. Bridger, in his usual cocky fashion, told Lyste that he'd made the wrong choice. Just as Lyste recognized the boy as the prisoner Kallus knocked him out and replaced his code cylinder to regain his own one once more. When Ezra called to encourage him to hurry to join the rest of them on their way-out Kallus made his decision.

"There's been a change of plans now that I've captured Fulcrum." Bridger gave a slight nod in understanding. "I can do more good here."

As the shuttle made its way out of the hanger storm troopers blasted their way through the doors and began to fire upon the shuttle with their blasters. Kallus pulled Lyste to his feet as he declared, "Traitor! You're the rebel spy! Troopers! Seize him!"

The other man was immensely confused. How could Kallus think that he was the spy? He'd told him that Pryce was.

Kallus hated that he'd set up the other man, but it was a necessary evil. He was congratulated by Colonel Yularen personally. Kallus filed the appropriate reports and attended a meeting where Colonel Yularen gave a final breakdown for Thrawn on how he suspected that Lyste had broken the rebel out of the detention cell.

He did his best to appear humbled by the thanks for his service in his capture of the rebel spy before he was dismissed. When he left Thrawn's office he went straight to his quarters that were assigned to him on the ship and only once he was sitting on the bunk did he allow the effects of the day to wash over him.

Almost. Almost.

He'd almost blown it all. He'd almost been caught. But now, he had a new chance. He'll just have to be extra careful, now. But at least he's bought himself some more time. Time to gather more information that the Rebellion could use.