Kiara felt like an intruder as the crew listened to the message that the younger Jedi had left behind. She slipped back outside, and she watched as several Loth-cats darted along the tall grass of the meadow where the ships had landed. She'd have to leave soon if she were going to leave Lothal on one of the few ships that the Imperials had to evacuate the remaining staff left on the planet. She leaned against the loading ramp support and allowed herself to zone out for a bit. After a few moments, though, she heard someone walking down the ramp.
"There you are," Kallus said as he spied his old friend whom he'd not seen since the night he'd first been accepted into the ranks of Fulcrum. "I was almost afraid that you'd already left."
Kiara turned and smiled with a small laugh. She stepped forward and raised her hand to brush the beard that Kallus had grown out while with the rebellion; replacing the mutton chops that he'd had when she'd last seen him. "Now this looks much better."
"I'm glad you approve," Kallus chuckled.
He moved closer and pulled the woman into a hug, grateful that after being concerned for her for nearly a year that he was finally able to see that she was safe. She leaned into the hug and tucked her head under his chin as Kallus rested it on top. The two remained in comfortable silence for several moments. When Kiara pulled away, they both turned to look toward the city.
"I have to head back soon. Otherwise, I'll miss the transports when they leave Lothal."
Kallus eyed Valour and raised a brow. "You sure you want to go back? If you don't, the Empire will just assume that you died in the dome."
Kiara shook her head. "I wouldn't be much use to the Rebellion if I don't go back. In fact, I could be a bit of a hindrance. The last thing that the rebels need is for their computer systems to fritz out when the Empire shows up to attack." Kiara stared toward the city as she spoke. "It's something that I have to do. I can do more good by going back."
Kallus nodded. He may not like the idea of her returning but he understood her reasoning. The rebellion needed as many eyes and ears within the Empire as they could get. He had been a set for the time that he could. His time as a Fulcrum had been brief, however, Kiara had already been working as one for several years now. Yet she didn't feel that she'd done enough. He felt that he needed to say something, but he wasn't sure what. Instead, he started to walk in step with her as she slowly began to make her way back toward the city.
"What if you asked Kanan to help you train?"
Valour glanced over her shoulder toward the Ghost. "He will need time to heal. Training someone like me wouldn't help with that. Not right now."
Kiara became lost in her own thoughts for several moments before she heard the howl of a Loth-wolf once more. She paused in mid-step and turned to see a pack running nearby. The leader of the pack, the white Loth-wolf, turned and seemed to stare at her.
"Before I go," Kiara spoke up as she started to chew on her lip. "I need to tell you something, Alex."
Kallus raised a brow as he waited to hear what Valour had to say.
The crew of the Ghost and the rest of the rebels on Lothal spent the next several weeks waiting for the Empire to retaliate against the planet after the attack that they had led on that fateful day. But it seemed that with the loss of not just the Imperial Complex on the planet but also the entire Seventh Fleet, a counterstrike was decided pointless. Retaking the backwater world offered little now. Not only had Thrawn's factory project been lost but the man himself was nowhere to be found. Still, while they waited, the rebels helped to teach the civilians the best that they could so that they'd be prepared if the Empire did decide to strike back.
Eventually, though, they would need to return to Yavin IV. Kallus flew the Shadow Chaser with Wolffe, Rex, and Mart onboard while the crew of the Ghost chose to wait a bit longer before they would fly back together. The absence of Ezra was still a fresh and raw sore spot for them all. The rest of the rebels knew that they needed time to heal together; to mourn the absence of the youngest member of their family. While all of the rebels felt the loss of the younger Jedi, it wasn't in the same way that the crew of the Ghost would feel.
As they approached the jungle moon Kallus sent in his clearance code and then chose to let the young teen land the ship. Mart, while still quite young, was an able pilot and had even accompanied Hera as a member of her squadron during her doomed attack on the factory on Lothal. In fact, other than Hera, he'd been the only survivor. For a boy of such a young age, he'd seen much and had lost his entire family to the Empire. Kallus had learned that the boy's uncle had been the one to sacrifice his life to destroy one of the Interdictors during the battle of Atollon. After hearing that, Kallus had taken to befriending the younger man.
As the Shadow Chaser landed Kallus watched as the younger man took the ship through the shutdown procedures. He hadn't had to correct the boy at all. He'd only watched him, and Tac, fly the ship once and already he'd committed the process to memory.
"Impressive. I suppose I know where to come if I end up needing a co-pilot," Kallus put a hand on the boy's shoulder as he then stood to head down to the loading ramp along with the other rebels who had flown in with him.
Mart smiled as he followed the other men down the ramp. He was left behind, however, when the men were told that Mon Mothma was waiting to speak with them in the Command Center.
Kallus walked with the two clones to meet with the higher leadership of the Rebellion on Yavin IV. He, and they, knew that they wouldn't be pleased about the unauthorized attack on Lothal. Still, there was little that they would really do to them. So, he wouldn't be put in command of a mission for a while. He could live with that because, right now, there were no Imperials on Lothal. Even if the win would only be temporary, it showed the galaxy that the Empire could be beaten back. That win could also go a long way toward boosting the morale of those within the Rebellion.
Kallus was quick to point that out as Mon Mothma berated the men regarding their recent unauthorized mission. In fact, he'd learned on his way back to the jungle moon that after the decisive win on Lothal, there had been an increase in recruitment to the Rebellion. People didn't want to join if they thought that they were choosing to back a side that had no hope of winning. Kallus had even learned that his and the others' actions had encouraged others to take on their own personal unauthorized missions. That one large win on Lothal gave others in the galaxy hope.
And hope was priceless.
Valour stepped off of the transport as she took in the base where she'd now be stationed at. She wondered how long she would be stationed on this planet. She'd been transferred closer toward the Mid-Rim Worlds. Trilex was a smaller world that had long since fallen into the market of several vices. The more that the Empire tightened its hold on the planet to regulate those vices the more it seemed to thrive. In fact, to Kiara, it seemed to be more of a symbiotic relationship. With each clampdown on the people of the planet the more drugs and other recreational activities were sold to take the minds of the people off of their troubles. Then the more the Empire took a cut out of the profits.
One thing that Valour was surprised to learn was that just like on Lothal, the Empire had another archaeological dig. Apparently, the Emperor had sent out numerous teams to countless planets. She supposed that he was hoping that another temple like the one on Lothal could be found. Where there is one, it only seemed to be reasonable that there could be another. But the one on Trilex was hidden in plain sight. The Imperial Dome had been built directly over the dig site. So, the civilians of this world had no idea what was taking place, just on the outskirts of the main city of the planet.
Valour waited as she listened to the droning of the transfer procedures. It was nothing that she'd not heard before. She could practically rote it off by memory. She then headed to the cabin that she'd be sharing with seven other individuals. She sat down on one of the bottom bunks and leaned back. She was given the evening rotation today to head down to work at the dig site more than eighty flights below the dome, deep into the heart of the underground.
Kiara stared at the bottom of the bunk above her and wondered how everyone was doing after the battle of Lothal. She hadn't been able to hear of what had happened after the evacuation of the planet. She figured that for such a small and insignificant planet that far away from the core worlds few of her colleagues would be interested in gossiping about it. Though, if the dig here on Trilex had anything to do with the one that had been on Lothal, perhaps there may be some information that she could glean once she went down for her shift.
Kallus was in the Command Center when the report came in regarding the squadron who had gone in search of more information about a secret weapon that there were rumors circulating about. While the squad had been able to get a message with the plans to Operation Stardust out, the whole team was lost. A strange hush fell over the entire Communications Room of the Command Center as each took in the news.
Kallus left the room as it remained humming with activity. So many were sharing what they knew or thought that they knew had happened, so rumors abounded. He didn't really want to listen too closely. Didn't want to but it was hard not to. Especially when reports came in that the transport that had intercepted the plans that had gotten out before the squad had died was carrying the princess from Alderaan. The same transport that had been seized by the Empire as it passed by one of the worlds on the outer rim. Though Kallus couldn't figure out why they had gone there. Likely enough, it had been a random jump to try to lose their Imperial tail. A gambit that hadn't been successful.
After the evening meal with Rex and others, Kallus decided to head a little ways into the jungle for an evening hike to clear his mind. He was surprised that the crew of the Ghost still hadn't left Lothal. He'd contacted Zeb and he said that they likely would be about another week before they planned to head out. They were helping Ryder and the others on the planet with setting up a new planetary defense network. Sabine's invention, no doubt.
As he made his way toward the jungle's edge he turned as he heard someone coming up behind him. Kallus wasn't surprised to see the younger man and he nodded and smiled at him.
"Mind if I come along?" Mart asked as he finally caught up to the former ISB Agent. He'd found that he enjoyed hanging out with the man since they'd returned to Yavin IV. He also felt that he could learn a lot from the man who had gotten to such a position within the Empire. And he admired the man for risking so much to become a rebel.
"You're always welcome, Mart." Kallus shifted his small pack that he always carried into the jungle. It was something that he'd been trying to instill in the younger man. Even though they didn't plan to go far it was best to take at least a small amount of supplies should they get caught out in the jungle overnight. Taking in the lack of a pack as Mart approached, he figured that the lesson had yet to take root. "Though I thought that you would be training with Rex. Aren't he and Wolffe working with some of the newest recruits?"
Mart made a face as he thought of the newest recruits. Some former stormtroopers who had defected to the Rebellion. "Train with the former troopers? No. I don't think so."
"Because they are former Imperials?" Kallus asked with a bit of amusement since if that was the case then why was he so willing to shadow after him?
"Are you kidding? No. It's because Wolffe and Rex will have their hands full trying to teach them how to actually shoot their blasters!" Mart then laughed as he did his best to imitate Rex. "The Empire may have taught you to become stormtroopers, but I'll teach you how to become soldiers."
Kallus laughed at the boy's impression of the clone. "It still wouldn't hurt for you to learn how to fight with a blaster. You may be a pretty decent pilot, but you won't always be in an X-wing when you need to go into battle."
"I know. I just figured that there's got to be a better way to learn than shooting at targets." Mart slipped in beside Kallus as they picked their way through the underbrush.
"You want to skip the steps that you feel aren't as necessary just because they don't seem as fun," Kallus snickered. He remembered being the teen's age. "But you can only build up your skills by doing the boring stuff first. You want the skills; you have to put in the work."
Mart looked down and thought for a moment, "I just would rather find a different way to do it."
Kallus chuckled. "Okay, I have an idea. You work with Rex on your target practicing and in two weeks' time, if Rex says that you've been working hard then we'll head in toward the other Masassi Temple a couple hours away from here, and we'll go hunting. There are some large beasts that some of the others have brought in to help add to the food storages."
"Hunting?"
"Putting that target practice that you seem to find so boring to good use," Kallus said with smile. "Maybe by then Zeb will be back. He's the real hunter. He and I went out shortly after I first came here to the moon."
Mart's brows went up in excitement. "You mean it?"
Kallus nodded. "But only if you agree to take your training with Rex seriously. Knowing how to fight with a blaster could end up saving your life, one day."
Mart thought about having to join the ex-stormtroopers with their target practice training and groaned. But, if it meant that he'd get to join Kallus on a hunting trip, then maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
