Kanan woke and his movement caused the arm around his waist to tighten. Kanan bent his head down and kissed the lekku of the woman that he loved. Last night, up on the fuel pod, she'd finally told him that she loved him, too. Yes, he knew it long before last night, but she'd never actually said the words. Hearing the words had been the greatest gift that he could have ever asked for.

"Morning."

Kanan grinned as he heard Hera's groggy greeting. "How are you feeling?"

Kanan knew that the drugs that the Empire had pumped into Hera likely would still affect her for at least a day in some capacity.

"Tired, but better." Hera shifted so that she could look up at Kanan. It was strange. Even though Kanan couldn't see with his eyes it always felt as if he was looking directly at her. Right to the heart of her very soul. This morning was no different. She snuggled back down into his arms since she wasn't quite ready to get up for the day. The alcove in the cave that they and the rest of their rebel band had sought shelter in wasn't much, but she'd missed waking with Kanan at her side in the time that she'd been back on Yavin IV.

"I'm just glad that you're alright. I was so worried." Kanan thought back to his force visions. He'd been convinced that he wasn't going to survive the rescue attempt. Everything that he saw came to pass; well, except the explosion on the fuel pod. Not that he was complaining. How many times had he told Ezra that he couldn't take the visions, and what they showed, as absolutes? "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Neither do I," Hera responded as she pulled one of Kanan's hands to her lips to kiss it. "And I don't want to think about it, Love."

From further up to the entrance of the cave Sabine's voice could be heard as she, Zeb, and Ezra were discussing how they were going to get off of the planet. The attack on Lothal had failed and only Mart and Hera had survived. Suddenly Chopper could be heard beeping and squawking excitedly.

"Whoa, Chop, slow down," Sabine tried to calm the droid as both Kanan and Hera got up to find out what the excitement was all about.

"What's gotten into him?" Zeb at times hated being the only one of the crew of the Ghost who couldn't understand the bugger.

"The factory, it's shut down," Ezra said a bit bewildered.

"What? Why? How?" Zeb asked as he waited for someone to translate the droid for him.

Ryder glanced between Zeb and the droid before turning toward the younger people. "Why would the Empire shut down the factory?"

"The fuel pod exploded?" Kanan walked up and was shocked to hear what the droid was saying. "The fuel pod was still intact when we left last night. No explosions."

Chopper warbled and beeped more as he moved up and down on his servos for emphasis.

"It exploded after we left? How?" Hera asked as she remembered faintly the image of the walkers from the night before approaching where she and Kanan waited for Ezra and Sabine to pick them up. "You don't know? Huh. But if the fuel pod was destroyed, that means-"

"The mission was completed," Kanan finished for her. "Without the fuel pod, the Empire can't manufacture the TIE defenders. Not for a while, at least. They'll have to rebuild."

Ryder gave Zeb a high-five in celebration as the others all cheered. "So, now that the factory is out of commission, the Empire won't have a reason to stay here on Lothal, right?"

Kanan furled his brow as he thought. "I don't know. But I'd be interested in knowing just how this happened. After all, if we are going to get the blame for it-"

"What do you mean?" Sabine asked as she found a small boulder to sit on.

"How else do you think Governor Pryce is going to explain it to Thrawn when he gets back to Lothal?"

"Good point. Pryce will be trying to save herself anyway she can." Sabine then thought back to the size of the fuel pods and realized that if one had exploded it likely would have taken out the majority of the manufacturing section of the Imperial Complex. The Academy and the rest of the Imperial Complex were as far away from the manufacturing section as possible. But that still left the dome with the barracks and the main administrative buildings that it covered. "And-"

Sabine stopped short when she saw the Loth-wolves, who had first brought them to the cave, approach. Since coming here, they had kept their distance from them but now the lead wolf, the white Loth-wolf, was coming and it looked like he had something in his mouth.

When Hera saw the wolves, she eyed those who were around her. She'd rarely seen wolves on other planets as large as these. "Kanan?"

"It's alright. They won't hurt us," Kanan said comforting the woman leaning up against him.

The white wolf walked up right in front of Kanan and laid a rather large slab of rock with images of three hands in different positions carved into it before him.

Ezra stepped closer to look at the slab. "I don't get it. What's this? Where did they get it?"

"Dume," the Loth-wolf breathed out as he settled onto his haunches in front of the Jedi.

"Did he just-" Hera was astounded at what she heard.

"Yeah. These wolves are deeply connected to the force. They know my real name," Kanan said as he knelt and felt along the carving of the stone. He then tilted his head toward the wolf. "What is this? Where did it come from?"

The white Loth-wolf gave a soft growl before answering. "Jedi. Temple."

"Kanan? Do you think that the Jedi Temple is in danger?" Ezra asked in surprise. "The last time we were there the Inquisitors found us."

"Dume, " the wolf spoke once more. "Stop. Empire."

"How?" Kanan asked.

"Together."

Zeb hated it when things got weird like this. "This mean we have a new mission before we can leave this rock?"

"It means that we have a mission while we are trying to figure out how to get off of this rock," Kanan corrected. He then turned his attention to the wolf. He'd take its lead on how to start.


Valour finished her shift of her careful extraction of yet one more cave painting. It had taken weeks to work this painting away from the rock wall that it had been a part of for centuries. Not for the first time, she wondered what the emperor wanted with these paintings. Still, with the level of exhaustion that she was at after her nightly escapade and slipping back into the camp less than a half an hour before her shift started, she felt as if she was literally about to collapse if she didn't get to her bunk as fast as possible.

Valour headed toward the temporary barracks that have been temporary for the better part of a year. As she finally found her bunk and collapsed onto it, she felt a prick on the back of her neck. Almost like she had been bitten by a bug. But she knew it wasn't the result of any bug. Groaning, she sat back up. She wouldn't be getting any of the needed rest that she so desperately craved yet. Kiara headed back outside and glanced around the camp as she tried to figure out what she was supposed to see. Everything seemed normal enough.

Still, as she scanned the mountainside that overlooked the dig site she felt drawn toward an outcropping of rocks. She didn't know how but she knew that the same people whom she'd seen the night before were there behind those rocks. The same individuals who had been in the vision where the Loth-wolf had driven her to help.

"Okay," Valour muttered to herself. "Now what?"

She turned and looked in the direction that those behind the rocks would be able to see. There the sight of the painting of the Mortis gods could be seen. When she heard a howl, one that she'd only ever heard in her visions over the past week, she knew that they were brought here for a reason. She may not know what that reason was, just yet, but that painting was significant. She'd felt it from the moment that it had been uncovered. When the paintings of the Loth-wolves off to the side had been revealed, as well, that was when her dreams had begun to be plagued by them. At first, she'd thought nothing of it. Seeing them had placed a suggestion in her subconsciousness. But as the work continued, their insistence and prominence in her dreams increased.

Valour looked back to the rock outcropping and felt that she'd connected with someone up there on the mountainside. She moved her hand down to her side as she used hand signals to say one word before nodding in the direction of the rocks. She then turned and walked toward the painting. What was she supposed to see? What did it all mean?


Hera used her binoculars and scanned the dig site below. As she looked around the area that appeared to be what passed as the barracks, she spotted a woman who seemed to be looking up directly at her and the others as they hid behind the rock outcropping. At first, Hera thought that she was seeing things. No one could see her and the rest where they had hidden. Then she saw it. The woman's fingers made very subtle gestures, but Hera saw them spell out one word.

Fulcrum.

Then, after an equally subtle nod the woman turned around and was out of sight.

"I don't believe it," Hera muttered.

"What? What do you see?" Kanan asked as he stretched out his senses. Something was different. Familiar in a way. He couldn't explain it but, then again, everything always felt strange each time he'd come to this temple with Ezra in the past.

"One of the Imperials down there. I don't know how she knew we were up here, but she signed that she was a Fulcrum Agent." Hera spun around and sat down facing the rest of her crew, leaning up against the rocks that she'd been tucked behind as she had studied those at the site below.

"How can we be sure?" Zeb asked. "It could be a trick."

"I guess for now, we can't be." Hera looked up and saw that Kanan was still focused on the temple and the goings-ons that were happening below. "Kanan?"

"The Loth-wolf said that we had to work together to stop the Empire. I thought that it meant that we had to work together as a crew. But maybe he meant that we'd have to work with our Imperial contact down there."

"It seems that the Empire is the most interested in that large painting," Ezra pointed out.

Sabine rested her chin on her thumb and forefinger as she thought aloud, "If we can get closer to it, I may be able to figure out what it's all about."

Zeb looked over at a nearby pass and saw some troopers on speeder bikes and was struck by inspiration. "If you are going to go down there, you're going to need some disguises."


Knowing that something was going to happen, Valour's exhaustion seemed to melt away. At least for the time being. She knew that whoever was up there wouldn't be able to just stroll down to the dig site easily. She decided that she may need to help, but she wasn't sure how much she'd be. She went back to the barracks and found some armor.

She never wore it since it wasn't required of her rank or position within the Imperial Department of Military Research but tonight, she was in need of it. She put it on over her clothing. The Empire believed in making sure that there was no individuality within its ranks. That meant that all of the armor was the same size. All troopers were expected to fall within a set size. For some, the armor may fit a little tight, while for others it would be loose. Kiara knew that the designers certainly hadn't thought about how the armor would fit on a female's form.

Once outfitted and blending in with the rest at the site she began her trek up the mountainside. She got up within earshot of those that she instinctively knew were at the rock outcropping and saw a man with a shield of some kind over his eyes. He looked roughly her own age with brown hair that looked as if he'd tried to cut it himself without looking. As she approached, he turned in her direction.

That's when she heard him say, "Someone's here."

A Lasat pulled out a bow-rifle and aimed it in her direction as the two in borrowed trooper armor raised their blasters.

Valour stayed out of sight of the rest as she spoke a phrase that she hasn't used since being transferred to the temple site on Lothal. "A chaser of shadows must first live in darkness."

The Twi'lek raised a hand to her crew to lower their weapons. "Fulcrum?"

Valour took a deep breath. She knew that these people were rebels, but she hadn't known if any of them would have recognized her code phrase. She removed her helmet and stepped forward. "I am."

A Loth-wolf howled in the distance as the crew of the Ghost studied the strange woman for a moment. Finally, Valour spoke once more.

"I see two of you are already prepared to go down there." Kiara tossed her helmet to the blind Jedi, and he caught it as she expected. "You'll need my borrowed armor, too, though."

"And how did you know I'd need to go down there?"

Kiara shrugged as she unfastened the armor from around her clothing. "This was a Jedi temple. You are a Jedi. You are one of the few who actually have a right to be down there. The rest of us? We're invaders. But the Empire is on the verge of finding something down there. You have to beat them to it."


Kanan, Sabine, and Ezra followed their unexpected ally down the mountain path toward the large painting on the wall that had been excavated by the Empire. Valour groaned softly as she saw a few troopers. She said that she'd try to draw them away as she left the Jedi and Mandalorian. Whatever they were going to do they didn't need an audience for it.

"Don't get too close to the rest of the paintings. You'll attract attention. The minister in charge is a bit of a stickler of anyone getting close to or touching them. You'll want to appear unimpressed and bored. Most of those here were transferred here because they had no other choice. They don't want to be here. So, keep your distance. Go the way I told you and you'll get to the primary painting with the Mortis gods." That was the last thing that Valour said as she slipped away.

Sabine was drawn to the paintings that had been removed from their stone facings already. "Well, they're definitely on to something." She pointed to a nearby painting, "There's a language here. Not so much in words but in pictures."

"We saw paintings like these inside the temple."

As Sabine went to kneel down to get a better look Kanan warned, "Remember, don't appear like you are trying to look at the paintings. We can't afford to draw any attention to ourselves."

Sabine huffed a bit but knew Kanan was right. As hard as it may be she walked past the cave paintings that lined her way toward the larger painting. Just off to the side the trio heard as a trooper told an old man, whom it was understood that he ran the project, that he had a message incoming from Coruscant.

Kanan pulled out his comm device and asked Chopper to intercept the transmission so that he and the rest of the crew could listen in.

"We have recently made some remarkable discoveries, my Emperor," the old man could be heard.

The sound of the decrepit Emperor's voice then came over the transmission. "We must discover the secrets of the temple for even now our enemies move against us."

"We have reached the roots of the temple and found some fascinating work. The symbols and iconography are reminiscent of a report I discovered in the Jedi archives."

The trio exchanged glances with one another as they heard the minister in charge inform the emperor of the dig's progress. As Palpatine's voice returned so did the Fulcrum Agent after steering some of the troopers away from them.

"The Mortis gods?"

"Yes, they are the key to unlocking the temple, I am sure of it."

"There has been a great disturbance in the force. Something has altered the fate of Lothal though how I cannot say."

Kanan turned slightly toward the newest ally to his crew. He felt that the disturbance that the emperor was referring to had something to do with his lack of dying last night. His force visions had shown that he was destined to die. The woman standing beside Ezra was the reason he was still alive. He didn't know how he knew, yet, but he did.

"Perhaps access to the temple will provide some clarity, my Lord." Kanan could practically hear the minister grovel before the emperor.

"We must seize the power within; a conduit between the living and the dead. Proceed, Minister Hydan."

"What would the emperor want with a Jedi temple? What kind of power is he seeking?" Sabine asked as she turned toward Kanan.

"I think I can answer at least part of that," Valour whispered as she glanced around to make sure that no one was around. "The emperor is a Sith Lord."

"How-" Ezra started.

"Because only a Sith Lord would have been so determined to wipe out the Jedi," Kanan answered his padawan. "Only the Sith would employ the Inquisitors."

Valour nodded in agreement. "As for what kind of power the temple holds? I don't know. But this temple does seem different than many of the others that I've gone to over the years." When she saw the looks of suspicion on the faces of those around her, she explained, "I was always interested in archaeology when I was younger. I went on a few digs before the Empire. Mostly of temples from long before the Jedi; their predecessors. It's why I joined the IDMR."

"Why would you be interested in stuff like that?" Kanan asked before motioning for everyone to be still and to duck. He sensed a patrol walk by. The four all remained in the shadows and silent until the patrol was long past.

"It's a long story. One that isn't important right now," Kiara said as the voice of Hera came over the comm.

"I don't like it. With the Emperor involved it's too dangerous. We should fall back."

Ezra shook his head as he replied, "No. Because of the Emperor, we have to get involved. We can't let him enter the temple."

"I'm with Ezra on this," Kanan put a hand on his apprentice's shoulder as he answered Hera.

Sabine also was insistent that they had to stay. "They'll crack the code. It's only a matter of time."

There was a pause as Hera mulled over the reasonings that her crew gave.

"Hera, we have to do this," Kanan said softly. "It's what we were brought here to do."

Hera's reply came just as softly. "Go, we'll keep watch. But I want all of you out of there if I give the order."

With it decided, Valour led the others to a small area just below the painting for better cover. Overhead she heard the orders for everyone to pull double shifts. That meant that someone would notice her absence in her designated area soon. Still, she didn't dare leave.

When the flood lights came on the painting was bathed in more light, it gave it an ethereal look to it.

"Can you make anything of it?" Ezra asked as he saw Sabine taken in the full image of the Mortis gods.

"Mmm, I think so."

The small group approached the image as Valour glanced around to see if they were drawing any attention. When Sabine asked if anything in the painting meant anything to Ezra, Valour watched as the young man looked from one part of the painting to another before he pointed toward the owl-like creature on the shoulder of the female deity in the painting.

"Well, I've seen a bird like that before. Whenever Ahsoka visited us on Atollon, it was always nearby." Ezra looked around more and spotted the wolves off to the side. "And look, Loth-wolves."

After taking in the image in front of her Sabine pulled up a holo-image of a slab with three hands carved into it. A hand turned to one side, then another raised to the sky, then finally a fist.

"Where did you get that?" Valour had been the one to first uncover the artifact, but it had disappeared shortly afterwards. She'd been accused of stealing it and trying to sell it on the black market. Despite the fact that no one had been given leave in the time that she had been at the dig site; her included. It had been missing for months, now.

"The Loth-wolves brought it to us," Ezra told the woman. "You know, we still don't even know your name. You only introduced yourself as Fulcrum."

Valour sighed. She wasn't supposed to know any of the names of her contacts just as they weren't supposed to know hers, but things were already far different than things have ever been since she'd first become a Fulcrum Agent. She was supposed to pass on knowledge, not become ingrained in a mission.

"Valour. Lieutenant Valour." She then asked the younger woman, "So?"

"Look. The hands..." Sabine looked from the image of the stone slab to the hands up in the painting. "They're the same on the figures as the ones here on the stone." She then turned the holo-image off before standing and pointing to the images on the wall.

"Well, that can't be a coincidence," Kanan stroked his freshly shaven chin as he thought about the possible meaning.

"So, the hands mean something?" Ezra asked.

"Ezra, it's art, everything has a meaning."

"Especially in places like an ancient temple," Kiara added.

"The painting on the temple is like a star map, but none that I'm familiar with," Sabine continued.

"I am," Valour moved to find more shadow as even more lights seemed to be directed in their direction as the workers began to head their way. They didn't have much more time before the workers would end up in this area. "I've seen similar ones in other temples that I've worked on in the past. No one ever saw them as a map, though. Could be why, whatever power that the emperor is looking for, he still hasn't found it."

Sabine pointed toward the various lines that were near the drawings of each deity in the painting. "Those lines are like paths and the rings are the planets or... or doorways."

"Doorways to what?" Kanan asked in a whisper.

"Who knows?"

"Okay, but which one leads into the temple?" Ezra asked as he stared fascinated up at the images.

"We're about to find out."