Elios stepped into his quarters after spending yet more hours attempting to break his prisoner. It had been three days already without any sign of the rebel breaking. He had to admire the fortitude of the man. If only he hadn't chosen to make himself the enemy of the Empire. But he had and that meant that he needed to pay for that error in judgment.

He prepared to rest for a few hours and knew that it would only be a matter of time before the man would break. Everyone had a breaking point. Elios would sleep for only a few hours. Then he'll return to the Detention Block.

After slipping into his bunk, he turned the lights down and relaxed. When the alarms sounded that the ship's security had been breached, he knew that the rebels had come to extract their comrade. He sat up and put his legs over the side of his bunk and prepared to deal with the situation.

It was then that his eyes flew open as he searched for the source of a painful sensation that induced panic. He brought both hands to his throat to look for the invisible hands that seemed to be holding him tightly. He couldn't breathe nor could he reach his panel to signal to his guards outside his room that he needed help. His legs moved by instinct as he squirmed and moved on the bed as he tried to move away from his unseen attacker. He could feel his eyes begin to leak as he gasped for air. Still looking all around him to see who had dared to attack him in his own bed.

Suddenly, as quickly as it had begun, the invisible attack ceased. Elios gasped for air as he tried to compute what had just happened to him. He had heard of some of his colleagues facing a similar fate when they had the misfortune of displeasing his Emperor. Had this been a warning? That the man was growing impatient with his lack of progress?

He was then struck with a horrifying thought. He knew that the rebels were on his ship. What if his daughter was with them? What if she had gained enough control to have been his attacker? In the past, the danger that she'd always brought with her had been because she had no control. But first, the display in his office at Trilex, and now this? His hands shook as he reached out for the light at his bedside. He then sat there for a few moments to calm himself.


Kanan knelt beside his sister and called out her name, trying his best to reach her through the dark energy that she had called up. He put his hands on either side of Kiara and shook her, trying to snap her out of the trance that she had fallen into.

"Kiara, listen to me. You have to pull back. You can't give in to the dark side!" Kanan plead with his sister. He tried to lure her back from the darkness that was calling to her. "Listen, we got him out. We got Kallus. He's here. You hear me, Kiara? We have Kallus."

He sensed a crack in the dark shell that surrounded Kiara and continued, "Kallus is in his cabin. We got away. He did. Come on. Let's go see him while we head back to the fleet."

Kiara could hear Kanan in the distance. She focused on that light in the darkness that seemed to surround her, licking at her like waves of the ocean on a beach. She listened as she heard him say that he'd returned with Alexsandr. He was with them. He was safe. She mentally stepped away from the darkness that beckoned her further.

She glanced up at her brother's face and his look of concern. When he sensed that the shadows no longer surrounded her with dark side energy, he pulled her into a hug and held her to him. As the darkness faded, she held tight to him for several minutes, absorbing his body heat since she was so incredibly cold before she leaned back.

"Is he..."

"Zeb is in with him trying to tend to his injuries. Rex has contacted Rebel Command and they've instructed a Med-ship to alter course to meet us halfway."

Kiara waited for Kanan to continue to say the one thing that he hadn't. That Alex would be okay. But he didn't. She stood and left her cabin to go across the corridor to his. When she opened the door, she saw that Zeb was doing his best with the ship's med-kit. Saw that he'd even had to resort to putting the emergency respirator on Alex. That meant that he'd been having difficulty even drawing his own breath without the device to help him breathe.

Zeb looked up when the young woman came in. He could see by the look in her eyes that she'd never seen anyone with these kinds of injuries before. She'd never seen this side of the war. The results of torture. All color in her face drained as she looked at the broken body of Kallus. He wanted to tell her that it looked worse than it was, but the truth was, it was likely worse than it looked. He couldn't be absolutely certain, but he'd be willing to wager that the man had internal injuries to match his external ones. That meant that they were racing the clock to get him to the Med-ship and treated.

When Kanan heard the intake of air at the sight of Kallus he put a hand on Kiara's shoulder. It was when both men heard a dangerously low tone coming from her.

"He deserves to die. You shouldn't have stopped me. He did this to Alex."

Zeb saw the look in the young woman's eyes and was shocked. The look that crossed her face as she stared at Kallus spoke to the fact that if the Moff was in the room right now that he wouldn't walk out alive. But he was curious as to what she meant that Kanan shouldn't have stopped her. Stopped her from what?

"He may deserve to die but not at your hands and not with the force." Kanan turned her to look at him. Forcing her to turn away from the visual reminder of the source of the anger that wanted to take over. "If you let him steer you down that path then he wins even if you do end up killing him. Because it would be crossing a line that you can't come back from." Kanan leaned his forehead against hers before he added, "He is a monster. Don't let him turn you into one by pushing you over into the dark side."

With a ragged breath as she concentrated on pushing the darkness away, Kiara nodded.

Kanan turned her back to the door. "Let's let Zeb take care of him while we go sit in the other room."

Zeb gave Kiara a nod to say that he'd watch over Kallus as she looked back at him before allowing the other man to steer her away. Right now, the injuries were just too raw for her to witness. When they left the cabin and impromptu infirmary, he went back to trying to clean the wounds that he could and using the meds that he had to ease the pain that the man was in, even if he couldn't tell them that he was hurting.


Elios watched as the bodies of both his admiral and head of security were hauled out of his office. Their incompetence had cost him not just the deserter who was a treasure trove of rebel secrets, but they had allowed the cell that his daughter was a part of escape, as well. And he'd come to the conclusion that the attack that he'd endured had to have been her. If it had been the emperor, he would have preferred to watch the effects of his power to deny life. So, he would have contacted him over subspace, first. The same with his henchman and acolyte, Vader.

That made her even more dangerous.

Dume gritted his teeth knowing that his failure to extract the rebels' location will not please his Emperor. He only hoped that he would not face a similar experience when he contacted the man as he'd had in the early morning hours during the rescue of the deserter.

The Moff gave barked out orders and the men around him all snapped to do their jobs quickly as they eyed the bodies of their former superiors. If they had been expendable, then they knew that they were as well.


Rex waited for the clearance to come through before he headed to land in the hanger of the Med-ship with practiced expertise. He called down to the others to let them know that they should stand by for the medical personnel to board to help take Kallus aboard.

Kanan and Sabine sat with Kiara in the common room of the ship. The cabin would be too small for all of them to help with Kallus and the best thing that they could do would be to stand back and let the staff work without their hindering them. Zeb could help fill them in on what had happened as well as what he'd already done to try to help the injured man.

When the ship docked it was only a matter of moments before Kiara watched as strangers were led by Tac floating ahead of them in the hall to lead them toward Alex's cabin where he'd been taken. Her own breaths seemed to be labored and strained as she waited for those same strangers to walk back past the common room. This time with Alex on the floating medical stretcher. When the team took him away Kiara couldn't help but wonder if that would be the last time that she'd get to see him.

The crew then followed as far as they were allowed before they began the long vigil to wait to see if their friend would survive his extensive injuries. Kanan worked with Kiara to help her meditate to find her calm, still wary that she'd reach out to touch the dark side again. Especially if Kallus didn't make it.

Kiara did her best to concentrate on Kanan's instruction to help her meditate but she couldn't clear her mind. Not knowing that just a mere few corridors away Alex was in a fight for his life. One that he wouldn't be in if she had made sure that everyone was onboard before she flew the ship off of the surface of Suaren. There had to have been a way to make sure that he hadn't been left behind. She knew that they had been losing ground to the stormtroopers every moment that they lingered on the surface but there had to have been a better solution. She shouldn't have left him behind.

The force was in all living things, Kiara thought. That includes him, right? She wondered... She focused on Alexsandr and found the light that was his life force energy. It was dim; too dim. She focused on that light and tried to let its presence calm her. She imagined that light getting just a little bit brighter. Barely. Nearly indiscernible from where it had been. She then clung to that image of the light that represented him. She couldn't help him but as long as she could sense his lifeforce then that meant that Alex was alive. It meant that he could recover.

Hours later doctors joined the crew to inform them that the surgery was complete, and that Kallus had survived it. To Zeb it sounded as if the man was surprised by that fact. Likely had expected for Kallus to die on the table. He then explained that Kallus would need extensive bacta submersion sessions in twelve-hour increments. They would reevaluate his prognosis before and after each session and he would be heavily monitored for the time being.

Zeb listened and heard the words that they didn't say. Right now, they still didn't expect Kallus to survive. So, they wouldn't give the hope that he'd be okay. They didn't want to raise their expectations. He looked over at the young woman that was the closest thing that the man had to family, outside of he and the rest of the Ghost crew, and saw that she understood what he did, as well. He stepped closer and put an arm around her and was glad that she leaned into him for support. This wasn't easy on the woman, and he knew that the next several days would be a heart-wrenching game of wait and see.


Kiara sat beside the bed that Alexsandr was lying on in the infirmary. He looked better than he had when she'd seen him when she saw him back on the ship, but he still looked... broken. She wanted to reach out and touch him, hold his hand, but she was afraid. He'd always been so vital and full of life but now, he looked as if fate itself had decided to abandon him and only gave him the slightest scrap of life to cling to. Instead, she simply sat off to the side and watched as the machines worked to keep him alive. Already, Alex had been given four bacta submersion treatments. That meant that he was no longer on the edge of death itself, but he was still so very battered.

Kiara sat as close as her chair allowed and watched as Alex slept, that's how she preferred to think of it, and did her best to keep a one-way conversation up. The doctor had said that it would help him to hear people talking so each of the crew of the Ghost had agreed to fill a shift of a few hours at a time by speaking to him about nearly anything that they could think of. She wasn't sure what the others spoke with him about when they were here. It didn't matter. Just that they spoke.

"You know one thing I was thinking about? You remember that one kid back in the academy, Zuiol? I got a flash of how the two of you used to practically turn nearly every possible activity into a competition."

Kiara let out a forced laugh to pretend that she was actually having a good time. No need to bring Alex down by acting depressed. She could pretend to flirt with gamblers at Canto Bight with ease. Pretending that she wasn't scared to death at the moment and wanted to take a stroll down memory should be easy. Should be. Should be, but it seemed so incredibly difficult.

"I swear, the two of you likely even turned a trip to the refresher into an opportunity to compete against the other. Both of you had to be the first at everything. The fastest, strongest, and the brightest. But we both know how that turned out, don't we? I still hold with my assessment that I had a while back. You are an overachiever. Always have been." Kiara swallowed hard. "Always will be."

She put a hand down to join Alexsandr's where it lay on the top of the sheet that he was covered with between his bacta treatments. Each time she reached out she was still surprised to feel how cool to the touch he was. This wasn't the touch of the vibrant man that she knew.

Kiara willed him to move. Twitch. Show in any way at all that he was coming back from the edge of death. But no matter how much she willed it, he didn't give her a sign. Nothing. Still, she would keep waiting for one.

"Hey," Zeb said softly from the doorway. He was there to relieve her. He'd spend the next few hours talking to his friend until it was time for him to have his next bacta treatment. "You alright?"

Kiara shrugged. How could she answer that? It wasn't her who was laying there somewhere between life and death. So, in comparison, yes, she was alright. Did she feel alright, though? Hell no.

"When was the last time you slept?" Zeb asked as he took the seat next to her.

"I don't know."

"Then go and get some sleep." The Lasat then added, "He'll be alright, and I'll make sure that you are the first to know if he wakes up."

After a brief moment's hesitation, she nodded. She stood and kept her hand on Alex's as she told him that she'd be back later. Truth be told, she was disappointed that the declaration hadn't elicited a response. When it didn't, she sighed and made her way out of the room and slowly put distance between her and the infirmary.

Zeb waited until the woman was gone before he started to speak to the unconscious man. "You know, I have to say I'm just a bit jealous. I wish I had someone who would look at me like she looks at you. You are one lucky bastard where that's concerned. The two of you are quite the match, too. You the by the book officer, her always seeming to want to tease you. Sabine, I think she was trying to see what Kiara saw in you for a while. Not that she didn't have fun kidding both of you about your relationship. All harmless, and all."

Zeb took a deep breath. "But I guess you just showed everyone the real Kallus that you had hidden deeply back when you were in the Empire. Because the man who I met several years ago back on Lothal wouldn't have sacrificed himself so that others could get away. When we were stranded on the moon back at Genosis, the last thing that I would have ever expected would have been to see the man that you are now and trying to get you to wake up so that I can tell you that am honored to call you a friend."

Zeb shook his head since he knew that Kallus didn't need talk like that. He needed more uplifting talk. "Anyway, Hera and the baby are coming here to see you. Quite the honor, pal. The baby's first trip and it is all for you."

Zeb gave a grin before he told the man about latest holo-message that Hera had sent stating that she was joining the rest of them and if anyone thought about stopping her that they'd best reconsider.