Kallus stood back as Kiara finished her message to the Moff. When she closed the transmission out, she turned and nodded that it was done. "Now we just need to meet with Hera. Out of all of us she is the best pilot."

Kallus couldn't deny that. And for what they were going to do, they would have the best shot at getting Kanan back and making sure that Kiara isn't taken in his stead with Hera at the helm of the Shadow Chaser. "She and Sabine are bringing the transport that you requested. How did you know that there was a freighter back at command that matched the Chaser's description?"

"I had a lot of time on my hands for the last several months." Kiara shrugged as she sat in the captain's chair and plotted a course for their rendezvous. "I wonder how Zeb drew the short straw to remain back with the Ghost and Jacen."

"Well, I know from experience that Hera wouldn't leave her ship in the hands of just anyone and as for her child, I'm sure that the list of those whom she'd trust with him is even shorter," Kallus said. "Hera would make sure that whoever she leaves her son with can defend him. Personally, I can't see how she and Kanan are able to keep him safe while still working with the Rebellion. I have to admire how they have been able to keep everything balanced."

"That means that you don't think that you could figure it out if you had to?" Kiara chuckled. "Finally, a scenario that you can't figure out. Parenthood."

Kallus gave her a look before shaking his head. "You think you are funny, don't you."

"No," Kiara grinned. "But I just got the image of you trying to babysit Jacen instead of Zeb."

"I'm not volunteering any time soon."

Kiara's lips continued to twitch as she tried to imagine the man who had still yet to even hold the baby try to watch him for an afternoon. Maybe when they weren't all trying to outsmart the Empire...

It was only a quick jump to meet with Hera and Sabine. Kiara went to meet them in the airlock during the trade of the ships. Sabine was in her full armor and looked ready to face off with any Imperials who had the misfortune to cross her when they stepped through the airlock where the two ships were joined.

The Mandalorian stepped forward and asked, "I still don't get how you plan to get this ship down to the surface."

"Once I'm on it instead of my own ship I'll be able to allow the force to guide me down to the surface." Kiara shrugged before she then added, "Just make sure you and Alex stay in the ship until after the Imperials not only have arrived but have already run their scans and landed, too."

"How did you get Kallus to agree to that?"

"Simple. He doesn't have a better plan," Kiara said in a matter-of-fact manner. "And we don't have the luxury of time to try to come up with one, either."

"Which is the only reason why I'm agreeing with this plan of yours, too," Hera said seriously.

"I know. But we need to get moving. We have to be in place before Elios and his men show up."

"Be careful," Hera said as she and Sabine continued past her in the airlock.

"You too," Kiara replied as she closed the hatch behind her.

She then went toward the cockpit of the Fleeting Fae and initiated the sequence to disembark from the Shadow Chaser.

"Alright, I'm all clear. I'll see all of you at the rendezvous."

"Just make sure you are careful," Alex's voice could be heard.

"Always." Kiara smiled as she set course for the planet of Shantipole. After she made the jump, she could sense the force surrounding her again. She missed it and wondered how long her ship would be shrouded by the force suppression bubble. Hopefully, the effects of the torpedo would dissipate in time.

When the ship dropped out of hyperspace, she could feel the difference in the ship she was piloting when it started to fight her guidance down toward the planet's surface. "I'll never take Tac and the upgrades that he's helped me with for granted again."

Kiara leaned on the force heavily to safely land on the hostile world, and it gave her a whole new respect for Hera and her piloting skills. She has flown here with only her skills and nothing else. She could only imagine how good she could have been if she had been able to use the force on top of all of that.

Once the ship had landed and she'd completed the shutdown procedures Kiara wasn't surprised to get a very brief message from Alex to make sure that she'd successfully made it this far. She assured that she had, then set about to making sure that the ship gave off false readings to indicate that it was damaged enough to not be able to fly off of the surface again.

In a way, she sort of wished that she would have at least brought Tac with her, so she'd have someone to talk to while waiting for the Imperials to show up. Alex had tried to insist that he should have tagged along but she pointed out that she was alone when she sent out her transmission and the Moff was bound to have a scan for life-signs to be run. Which meant that he needed to be in the Shadow Chaser under the cloak.

It was nearly a half rotation when she spotted the Star Destroyer show itself overhead. She waited by her ship as she spied an Imperial shuttle head her way. Actually two. The first one crashed before it got far into the hostile atmosphere. When the second one landed nearby, she held her hand on her blaster at her hip but knew that it would only be used as a last resort. She had other cards to play, first. She watched as several stormtroopers headed her way with weapons drawn. They approached her and seized her weapon as she knew that they would and brought out a comm device to project an image of her father in front of her.

"At last, it would appear that a family reunion is overdue."

"We had a deal. Where is Caleb?" Kiara glared at the man as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Did we? Well, I suppose I've decided to alter it. After all, I have the upper hand."

"Do you really?" Kiara gave a suspicious smile. "Because it would appear that you need me alive. For what, I've yet to determine. So, release Caleb or you lose me."

"You seem quite sure of yourself. Why is that?"

Kiara hoped that her years at the tables helped her pull this gamble off well.

"Have your men run a bio-scan. I have a bio-chip installed. Among other things, it can be used to end my life if I so choose. Whether I activate it manually or if your trigger-happy troopers decide to stun me again like last time. Either happens, and you lose. So, where is my brother?"

"You'd really willingly die?" Elios chuckled at the theatrics of his daughter. Still, he did instruct his men on the ground to run a scan.

"Considering that whatever you have planned can't be good for me or anyone else, hell yes!"

Moff Dume glanced at the results and wanted to growl. "And if I call your bluff and kill Caleb instead? He is just a bonus, after all. He is of no real use to me."

"This is no bluff. You hurt him; you lose us both. Release him and you get me. Not hard to see which way would benefit you."

"Alright, I'll put Caleb on a shuttle just as soon as you are my ship. But that is the last concession that I will make."

Kiara took a deep breath and nodded. The others will have to be prepared for the alternate plan. It's a good thing that they are good at flowing with the changes that tend to happen when things go sideways.

"Alright, but just remember, I can still activate the chip if you try to do anything once I'm on the ship." Kiara then allowed the troopers to steer her toward the shuttle, leaving her borrowed ship behind. She hoped that Kanan was ready for his chance to escape.


Hera watched as the shuttle barely made it out of the planet's atmosphere after several near drops out of the stratosphere. She watched as the Imperials took Kiara back up to the Star Destroyer as she said, "Looks like we are going with Plan B."

"Was there ever any doubt," Kallus asked as he watched from behind Sabine as Hera followed the shuttle then steered the cloaked ship toward the underside of the Imperial Star Destroyer. She then used the magnetic clamps to fasten the Shadow Chaser into place to wait for the next phase of the escape plan.

"I'll go ahead and tap into the Imperial comms. We should know when Kiara and Kanan make their move," Sabine said as she started to work the system in front of her.

Kallus sat with the women not liking the fact that there was now nothing that they could do until they got the signal that stated that Kanan and Kiara were making their way out. All of this waiting was driving him crazy. He wanted to do something.


Kiara followed the troopers toward the bridge of the Star Destroyer and realized she was being taken to the Moff's office off of the bridge. She took in her surroundings along the way and took it in both visually as well as with her senses with the force. She mentally catalogued what may come in handy on her way back out. When she finally stepped forward through the office, she saw Kanan restrained, standing behind Elios.

"Kanan! Are you alright?"

He nodded and responded, "Yes... Everything is fine."

Kiara swallowed hard. Good. He could sense the force, too. "You're getting out of here. Now. Right, Elios?"

The Imperial tightened his jaw and studied his two children. He had to decide if his daughter truly was bluffing. "I think not."

Kiara narrowed her eyes. "Wrong choice, Elios."

"And what will you do? Threaten to kill yourself again?" The man laughed. "We both knew that was never going to happen."

She glanced around at the troopers and addressed them, "I know you have just been following orders up to this point. But if you want to make it out of this alive, I suggest that you get to an escape pod. This ship is about to become a graveyard."

The troopers exchanged looks as the ship rocked only to be shocked even more when their weapons all became crushed and crumpled pieces of metal in their hands.

"What?!" Elios placed his hands on his desk as the room shook around him.

Kanan reached out with his hand and called his lightsaber to him as his restraints fell from his hands as Kiara called for her blaster.

"Looks like you made the one mistake that you should have known better than to make, Dad. You made her mad. And you already know what can happen when that happens."

When Kanan stepped closer toward Kiara Elios bellowed at them. "You'll never get off of this ship!"

"Is that a bet?" Kiara laughed. "Because if anything, you should know that when I gamble, I never really lose."

She focused on the ship's propulsion systems that kept the Star Destroyer in orbit over the volatile planet. When she did the ship made a noticeable shift to one side, sending many to slide across the deck plates. Kiara grabbed Kanan's arm to see to it that he stayed with her before they both turned toward the door of the office and ran out.

Kanan used his lightsaber to deflect the random bolts of blaster fire that were sent their way while Kiara concentrated on closing the blast doors behind them with her recently found control over her force abilities. As they made their way toward the hanger Kiara figured that she'd best give Kanan a heads up.

"About the force suppression weapon that the Moff used, it attached itself to the ships. That means, once we start getting close to the ship, you'll lose your ability to use the force, again." Kiara pushed several troopers with the use of the force before she closed another blast door and crumpled the control panel.

"So, once we get close?"

"Sabine and Alex should be getting into place now to help cover us once we lose the force, again. You stay close to me, and we'll get out and leave the bucket heads for them."

Kanan nodded his understanding. He wasn't looking forward to being force-blind again, but he'll take it over staying on this Star Destroyer any day. Just as he started to lose his ability to sense what was going on around him, he heard two familiar voices.

"Fancy finding you two. Come here often?" Sabine asked cheekily as she sent a series of blasts past her friends to cover their escape.

"Too often," Kanan replied. He felt Kiara's arm slip through his as she led him into the darkness that now shrouded him.

"Then why don't I suggest that we get out of here?" Kallus's voice was then heard just ahead of him and Kiara.

"Gladly."

Kiara randomly shot either in front of the team or behind but for the most part she trusted Alex as well as Sabine to deal with the troopers. When she saw the hanger come into view, she spotted Hera firing at troopers from the lowered ramp of her ship. When the Twi'lek saw her family making their way toward the ship she kept firing until Kanan's boots hit the ramp; she then pulled him into a quick hug before she left to run up to the cockpit to get them out of the Star Destroyer before it went down.

Kiara led Kanan to the cockpit where he could strap in then sat in the navigator's chair in her ship while Alex took the turret cannon. Sabine was standing by in case she needed to make some quick repairs as they made their escape.

Up in the turret cannon Kallus shot at as many targets as he could when the TIEs were sent out to stop them from getting away. Up in the turret was also the first chance that he had gotten to see just what kind of damage Kiara had been able to cause by focusing on the propulsion engines of the ship. It was turning and looked as if it was a blade pointed downward as it approached the planet's surface.

Off to the side, he spotted a shuttle disembarking from the private hanger of the Moff. With anger shadowing his vision he placed the shuttle in his sites and fired. When the shuttle exploded, he felt a sense of relief that he'd not expected. For a few seconds he was wrapped up with the fact that the Moff was gone, that he missed a couple of TIEs as they started to fire at the ship. Once the cloak was activated, he then saw that the short-ranged fighters seemed lost as to what to do. They no longer had a ship to return to and taking the ships down toward the planet wasn't desirable.

Kallus watched as those who hadn't been able to escape in a pod, or on the Moff's private shuttle that he had shot down, met their end as the ship began to burn upon its entry into the planet's upper atmosphere. When it hit the surface, it exploded into a giant ball of fire.


The team split up and flew both freighters back to where Hera had left the Ghost. When they finally were able to sit and discuss the events of the last several days from not just the rescue but the initial blast from the force suppression weapon, it was after they all docked at one of the cruisers in the fleet.

"So how long will this last? Being able to use the force anywhere but in my own home?" Kanan asked.

"There's no telling," Kallus answered. "It is likely that even the Moff's own scientists didn't know. And now since they've been killed, the Moff likely had the only copy of their research, at least you shouldn't have to be worried about anyone taking up the project and running with it now that he's gone."

Kiara frowned, "But what if he wasn't the only one to have been looking into Thrawn's special projects?"

Hera looked back and forth between the siblings then down to her son in her arms. If someone else continued where both Thrawn and Dume had left off, then it could be very dangerous for her family.