Kallus sat in the communications center at the base and looked up when he heard someone mention that a message from a Fulcrum agent was coming through. When he heard the code phrase, he knew that it wasn't from the agent that he'd been waiting to hear from. It was now yet the end of another month without any contact. As much as he was worried, he had to push his thoughts aside. He had work to do.

At the end of his shift, though, he saw a U-wing that he didn't recognize. Once it landed Kallus saw that it was Hera at its controls. She'd brought the flight data recorder from one of the new TIE Defenders that Thrawn was having manufactured on Lothal. Kallus had only hoped to see the computer readouts but to have the recorder could be a game changer.

Kallus volunteered to join the team to go over the recorder with a fine-toothed comb to see to it that every ounce of information that it could give them wouldn't go unnoticed. He only hoped that he'd be able to help find a weakness in the ship's design that Thrawn missed.


Kallus attended a meeting after he and the team assigned to go over the flight data recorder finished their investigation. In Kallus's report he made sure that he let it be known that if the ship was allowed to go into mass production that the rebel fleet would quickly become obsolete. There was only one choice. The factory must be destroyed. He knew that Hera Syndulla felt the same way. He hoped that the recorder would be enough to finally convince the leaders to authorize an attack on Lothal.

After he and the lower ranked officers were dismissed, Kallus stood outside the command center while he waited for Mon Mothma and the others to mull over their decision. Hera was waiting along with him. The two stood in comfortable silence, neither wanting to make a sound as they tried to glean what information that they could through the closed door. They each had their own reasons, but both agreed; the only real choice would be to attack the factory.

When Mon Mothma came out to speak with Hera, he watched what she'd told the Twi'lek, and then wasn't surprised when the woman burst through to the inner office where the meeting was taking place. Kallus followed and stood in the doorway as Hera addressed the Rebel Leadership.

"Captain Syndulla, this is a closed door-" The holo-image of Bail Organa was in the middle of speaking as Hera interrupted him.

"Senator, if I may. I know the odds are against this attack's success. But if that fighter goes into production, our squadrons will not stand a chance. I believe it's a risk worth taking. And whether we fail or succeed, at least our actions will show the Empire and the galaxy that we will not stand down, that we will not be broken by fear, that we are strong, united by our courage. Now is our time to strike."

Kallus wanted to applaud Captain Syndulla's sentiment. Not only was she an excellent and skilled fighter pilot but she likely could win in nearly any battle of words as well. It was no small wonder that in the face of her reasoning, that the leaders had no choice but to agree with her. To authorize the attack on Lothal.

Kallus sort of wished that he'd be flying into battle with the woman. Sadly, his Imperial training hadn't specialized on flying fighters. That wasn't what he excelled at. Instead, his training had been geared toward other endeavors. He'd never considered it a shame that he wasn't given the specialized training that pilots were given until today. Still, he would watch on from a distance as Hera and her squadron went into battle to destroy Thrawn's pet project.


Kallus stood in the command center as reports from the attack on Lothal began to flood in. He listened to every transmission from start to finish. Everyone had started off hopeful and almost jovial while remaining focused. It wasn't a large fleet; only twenty-four ships of varying sizes and abilities. It was all that Command would devote to a single operation. As the attack went on, however, Kallus's stomach began to tie up in knots. Something was wrong. Thrawn was waiting for them, and he had the might of the Empire behind him. That meant that he had the odds in his favor.

Kallus knew that the saying was that fortune favors the bold but sometimes it kicks the bold in the gut and strikes it down. That was precisely what appeared to be happening in the Lothal System. More and more fighters reported that they were hit as even more simply screamed into their comm before they went eternally silent. When the second wave of TIEs were sent out Kallus swallowed hard. It was over.

The comm went silent after a few pilots reported that they were in the process of crashing onto the planet's surface. Captain Syndulla was among them. He never heard any report from the pilots once they made it to the surface.

If they made it to the surface.


Loth-wolves could be heard howling in the distance. Scattered bits of conversations could be heard joining the howls. The painted image of an older man flanked by a young woman and young man flitted into view. The Loth-grass burning in the distance. The acrid smoke met the nostrils. Loth-cats were running all around, mewling with delight before they screeched in hatred. A pack of Loth-wolves then began to run in circles all around as the bits of conversations were made clearer.

"Wanna ride?" An adult male could be heard.

"The Jedi temple is in danger." Another, younger, could be heard.

Next a woman's voice was heard. "Kanan, you haven't gotten me a present since we first met."

"You can learn what it truly means to be a Jedi," was once again spoken by the man.

"You didn't prepare me for this, Kanan," the voice of a young man could be heard.

Finally, a white Loth-wolf came into view as everything else faded away momentarily. "Dume."

It talked. Do wolves talk?

"There's something I need to tell you." Again, the man's voice.

"I know I can always count on you," the younger male's voice broke through once more.

"Dume." Warm breathing fell all around. Almost as if the wolf was leaning directly overhead. "Jedi. Temple." The Loth-wolf nudged forward and said once more, "Dume."

What is that supposed to mean?

The Loth-wolf growled, irritated at the lack of understanding. More howling could be heard in the distance. "Dume. Together."

That's when the last sequence flooded the vision. An Imperial Walker moved its way toward the factory at the Imperial Complex, just in view a transport was waiting for a pair who were running across the top of a fuel pod. When the walker fired upon the pod, it erupted in flames. Flames held back with the force by a human male who had been racing to jump onto the transport. A Twi'lek woman was then force-pushed onto the ship while the inferno was held back. After a momentary pause both the woman and the transport were pushed away as the flames overtook the man.

Waking in sweat, breathing heavily, all that could be done was to try to make sense of the dream. No. Not a dream. A vision. Dreams don't leave you feeling the heat of the flames even after waking.

Force visions were notoriously difficult in deciphering and this one was no different.


"We can't just leave them to the Empire. We have to send in an extraction team," Kallus insisted. "Hell, I'll lead the team myself."

"A noble gesture, Agent Kallus," Mon Mothma said with her calm and quiet voice as she shook her head. "But we don't have the resources. Nor are we even able to discern if there were any survivors. We shall endeavor to seek just treatment for any potentia-"

"There won't be just treatment. Only torture and once the Empire has surmised that they have gotten all of the information that they can, they'll execute them!"

"I appreciate your passion, Agent, but I'm afraid that the matter has been decided. I'm sorry."

Kallus was left with his mouth agape as the senator walked away. He stood standing in the middle of a corridor where he'd cornered Mon Mothma for several moments. He was only pulled out of his stunned stupor when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Kallus looked up to find the old clone trooper standing beside him with a look of understanding and sympathy on his face.

Kallus wished that he had a ship of his own. If he did, he wouldn't have needed to wait around for authorization to go to Lothal and try to get the survivors out of custody. They wouldn't have liked it but by the time that they would have known what he was up to he'd hopefully would have freed the prisoners. At least that's how it would have gone down in his head. But he didn't have a ship of his own, so it was a moot point.


"Dume." The white Loth-wolf chose to once more visit in a force vision.

"What?! What do you want from me?"

"Stop. Empire."

"I'd love to! Care to tell me how?"

"Dume."

"UGH! What does that even mean?"

The vision returned to the fuel depot and the fiery blaze.


Minister Hydan looked at the lieutenant standing before him in disgust. He didn't care that this individual hadn't had leave in more than nine months. That wasn't his problem. What he did care about was that he didn't want to be short-staffed. Even if only for one night. He didn't know why this woman wanted to go on leave out of nowhere and head all the way back to Capital City. Frankly he didn't care.

"No. Leave is denied. You are to return to your barracks and wait for your next shift. I will not be responsible for the slowing of the progress of this excavation simply so that you can go have a night out on the town. Now, leave me. I have work to do."

Valour watched as the old man walked away. She breathed out a heavy sigh. Great. Just great. Well, now what? Kiara started back toward the barracks and spotted where one of the troopers had left a speeder bike nearby after they'd returned from a patrol. She glanced around and knew that if she left there may be no coming back. She had a decision to make. Or did she even really have a choice?

She quickly raced to the speeder bike and began her long trek. She wouldn't get all of the way to Capital City on it. No. She only needed to get far enough away to call for Tac.

When Valour boarded her ship, she was greeted by her droid who seemed ecstatic to finally be seeing her after such a long stretch of radio silence.

"Mistress Kiara! I'm so pleased to see that you are well! I had begun to worry. As had Master Ka-"

"Tac, we'll have to discuss this later. We have to get to Capital City."

"What? Why?"

"To be honest? I'm not sure. I just know I have to. I need you to hover the ship on the outskirts. Hopefully this will be a good test run for the cloak and that the hibridium holds up."

"Of course, but-"

"Trust me, as soon as I can, I'll explain." Valour then muttered while making sure that the droid didn't hear, "I hope."

When Kiara got into the city it was on high alert. Kiara listened to the comm channels as it appeared that some rebels were in the process of trying to break out one of their own. She spotted Pryce boarding one of the walkers that had no doubt been called into action to stop the rebels. Kiara concentrated on the walkers as they made their slow trek toward the factory. In her ear she heard Pryce's orders to the operators of not just her walker but the one beside it.

"Target that fuel pod! Now!"

One of the walker's operators dared to question her. "But, sir, the fuel-"

"I gave you a direct order."

The operators knew better than to question twice. The weapon's officers of both walkers pressed their buttons to fire upon the fuel pod. The problem was nothing happened. They both tried to fire again.

"I told you to fire!"

"Sir, the weapons are malfunctioning."

"Of both walkers?!"

Kiara opened her eyes and looked up into the night sky and watched as the transport ship flew away. Once the rebels were at what she felt was at a safe distance, Valour released her hold on the systems of the walkers, causing them both to fire the blast-bolts that had been intended for the fuel pod while the transport had still hovered over it. The explosion stretched out from the pod and Valour's ship rocked from the shockwave that the fiery blast had caused.

Her breath came out in shallow bursts. She felt as if she'd just run all the way to the city from the excavation site. But she'd done it. She'd prevented her vision from coming true. Now, all she wanted to do was sleep. She knew she couldn't, though, until she got back to her barracks. She ordered Tac to slip the ship in next to the dig site so that she could return, hopefully unnoticed. She then leaned heavily back into her chair as she allowed the techno-service droid to fly the ship back out into the Imperial encampment where she was assigned.


Governor Pryce's mouth fell agape as she watched the fuel pod explode as the ground beneath her feet began to shake and rock. When she got back to her feet she bellowed, "Report!"

"Sir, the fuel pod for the manufacturing unit has exploded."

"I see that! Was it you? The rebels?"

"We don't know, sir. Both walkers appeared to have fired upon it, but we didn't do it. We'd released the targeting systems already."

"I want answers. Now!" If she expected Thrawn to be unhappy about Syndulla's escape, he'll be absolutely furious with her over this latest development.


Tac floated over to where his mistress had fallen asleep in the captain's chair while they had flown the distance from Capital City out to the excavation site of ancient Jedi Temple out in the middle of nowhere.

"Mistress Kiara, we are nearing the dig site."

Kiara groaned as she felt that the light nap that she'd gotten wasn't close to being enough. She supposed that was what she got for not actually developing her skills adequately. When she did actually use them, especially on purpose, it always wore her out. As she took a deep breath, she sat up straighter in her chair.

"Alright. I'm awake." Kiara looked at the chronometer and saw that she only had about two hours left before her shift was to start. She also caught a flashing alarm on the control panel. "Wait, what happened?"

Tac turned and saw what had caught the woman's attention. "I'm afraid that the shockwave from the explosion has damaged many of the hibridium crystals, those that are still functional are beginning to fail as well. We are still mostly concealed thanks to the darkness but I'm afraid that we will need to replace them before we are able to reactivate the cloak."

Kiara groaned. It had taken her years of sabacc games along with several other gambling endeavors to earn the credits to get the crystals on the black market. It would take just as many years before she'd be able to earn enough credits to replace the ones that she'd damaged overnight. That cloaking device was supposed be her contingency plan for if she ever needed to make a run for it away from the Empire. Now, she may still have her ship and it could mask its digital presence, but the Empire will certainly be able to see it if she ever called for it in her time of need. Valour hoped that those people that she'd helped to escape on the transport had been worth it.

Of course, if it meant that the white Loth-wolf left her dreams alone, that would most certainly be enough for her. She'd grown up here on Lothal before the Empire and she never once had ever even seen a Loth-wolf. Yet she had been haunted by them recently.

Kiara had Tac let her out of the ship and told him to take the ship back to the mountains where he'd hidden the ship for the last nine months. She'd walk the last leg of her journey. She knew that with the flickering of the ship's cloak, she didn't want to push her luck. If the Empire spotted her approach, they'd shoot her down. That was something that she wouldn't allow.