Hi, again thank you for your patience! I keep saving and loosing everything I'm working on! Getting so damn frustrated Wrote this chapter at least 4 times and I feel like I loose stuff each time I have to rewrite it! Anyhow this is the second to last chapter! Still cant believe the original story for this was 200 words! (I do also have more of the flashback if anyone wants but it was orginally to long to post in the chapter)

Last update should be on Thursday

Thanks for reading and liking! -Chefke

Chapter 5:

'Pappa!' Hera had been chasing her semi built droid around in circles under the doting watchful eyes of her father when the shouting had started. All at once there were loud noises and bright lights that filled Hera's vision and sight. She could only hear a loud ringing in her small terrified ears. Pieces of ground were exploding all around her and she could see her friends and Rylothian soldiers laying unnaturally still. Hera remembered thinking that they looked like they were sleeping very uncomfortably, some with their eyes open. It had been the first time she had seen the grisly death that war provided. She turned to look for her father when the ground began to move around her. She remembered one of the Rylothian school teachers reaching his arms out for her. She could see his mouth wording her name as she tumbled backwards but all she could hear was the loud ringing as she fell backwards into darkness.

Hera woke up and looked around her. It was dark and cold and her feet were wet with something odd and thick and sticky. She could feel her head pound and her fingers shake. Where was she? She was about to call out for her Pappa when she heard methodical clicking of boots. Rylothians did not march in uniformed calculated footfalls. The Separatists did. She immediately crunched herself into a small ball and pushed herself deep into a crevice against the wall. She could feel under the crevice was a small crawl space. She looked back for the noise and getting on her knees she quickly crawled into the small tunnel space. The further she crawled the softer the footfalls got. She kept crawling until she put her right hand down on what she thought would be the ground and she fell. She remembered falling and having enough time to calmly think of her Pappa. Where was he? Was he safe? The Separatists must have attacked like he had said they would; if only she could have warned him.

She landed face down with her arm underneath her body. There was a resounding crunch echoing through the darkness. She tried to look around her but it was too dark. The darkness was crippling. It was so dark it made it hard for her to breathe let alone move. She felt a wall behind her and slowly pushed herself up against it. She sobbed quietly. Where was her Pappa? He always caught her when she fell. Always. He was like lightening in the sky. If she tripped or fell or was pushed, he always caught her as quick as lightening. She sobbed some more. Where was her Papa? Was he going to leave for the great skies like her Mother had at the start of the Clone War? Her body shook violently at the thought. Her Pappa was all she had left in the Galaxy. War was cruel to families.

She cried for some time. She thought quietly of all the hiding places she could go. She could hide under the floorboards in their kitchen, or behind the fruit sellers large baskets, or inside of the Ryloth Summer tree. Sometimes Pappa would hide too, in the old tunnels under their Village. Her tears stopped immediately. What if Papa was in the tunnels like she was? She thought happily. She pulled herself upright smiling and then she froze terror holding her body captive.

What if her Pappa was in the tunnels? She had heard Separatist droids! What if Pappa did't know that the Separatists were in the tunnels? She needed to warn Pappa! She remembered scrabbling down the tunnels aimlessly with one arm on the wall so she could at least stay in one direction. She had only one thing on her mind. She needed to find her Pappa and warn him.

She was never able to tell how long it took her to finally reach some light but she had never appreciated her eyes until she turned a corner and suddenly there was some light streaming into her unsuspecting eyes. She cried out at the contact breaking her careful silence. Her hands still sheilding her eyes she felt herself be lifted off the ground. She could hear someone bumbling and holdingher too tight. She cried out again when her arm was moved.

'My Hera. My little Hera. I thought we lost you.' She opened her eyes immediately.

'Pappa!' She threw her one good arm around her Pappa. 'The droids Pappa-'

'I know my little Hera. It's okay they're above ground. Pappa will keep you safe. I won't let you out of my sight ever again.' She looked at him confusion coloring her small dirty blood covered features. She shook her headtails violently.

'Pappa! No! That's why I was running! I heard them in the tunnels!' Whatever low talking around her stopped immediately. Her father insisted she have her arm splinted before they continue but she refused. She stood proudly and told them everything she knew down to how many turns she had made with her hand on the wall. Her father stood over her beaming with pride. It was the last day he ever called her Little Hera. That day she became a soldier.

Hera woke up feeling oddly calm. She had accepted that she would die, now she was just going to wait and see what happens. 'All in good time Little Hera.' Her father used to say. He was the reason there was no trace of her. Before she had left his selfish rebellion he wiped all trace of her existance. Little Hera she mused. She hadn't been called that in years. Kanan had called her that once and she had all but snapped his head off. After she was calm she explained to him it was her father's pet name for her before she became just another soldier to him. The door slid open interrupting her thoughts. Her torturer walked in haughty and tall and overly self confident.

'Awake already Twiilek?' He spat. She snorted at him.

'Given your lack of... cooperation we will be moving you to Mustafar. You will be questioned by the High Inquisitior himself, an honor a twiilek such as yourself doesn't deserve.' He was looking at her as if she was dust beneath his boot. She had to stop herself from laughing. It didn't bother her at all. If she had been human it would have been a different type of torture. One that would likely end up with her mangled body and pregnant. Her being a Twiilek was the best thing that could have happened to her.

'And here I thought you were here for the view.' She laughed. She was going to die she knew that. They were moving her to this High Inquisitior where she would die anyway after lengthy and numerous tortures. She could at least make sure her death was on her terms no matter how grisly and she take as many as the bastards with her as humanely possibly. She could make sure she didn't betray Kanan and the Fulcrum. He sneered at her and pulled out several round circular collars. She knew those. Every Twiilek in the Galaxy knew those. They were Slave Collars. He attached one around her neck. She felt a sting as the needles on both sides punctured her neck. She refused to flinch or show any fear. She simply looked into his eyes with a bored look on her face. This seemed to infuriate him. He roughly attached collars on each of her wrists, ankles, and oddly around her waist. Smiling at his handiwork he straightened up and released her from the chair she was bound to. Shoving her he stood behind her as he steered up the four steps out of her prison cell.

He steered her left as they left the cell and they walked down the hallway in silence. Hera pretended to trip and fall every couple of feet in order to slow down the process so she could plan. It also added the benefit of angering her Capturer whose patience seemed to be on a short fuse. If he was angry enough she reasoned he could be easily distracted that and she might not even have to off herself he would probably do it soon. She had to force herself not to shudder when she remembered what Fulcrum had told her about the Inquisition. Fulcrum had been worried there would be an Inquisitor on Gorse. She had said they could pull things from your mind whether you allowed it or not. She sighed internally, she could not make it off this ship. It was dangerous. This was an old ship there were plenty of ways for her to make sure she did not make it to the transport. She would not leave this ship, she swore to herself.

As she was looking for anything volatile looking the hallway opened up into a big windowed room. She stopped to take it in in awe. It was a circular room with a glass dome overhead and open windows showing the deep dark space beyond. There were no ships or transports out the windows so this Ship must have been abandoned or very quiet. As she took in the room she realized this was not a Ship. It was a Station.

The oval room had grates on the floor that she could see up and down through. It seemed there were identical looking floors above and below them that seemed to go on for eternity. The room was lined with terminals and droids that were either decommissioned or moving around lazily. She could see several other masked robed personnel but only four on this level. The floor ended about fifty feet into the room and dropped into a well lit Chasm. She couldn't see the bottom from where she was standing but there had to be one, right? Across the empty circle in middle of the room was a bridge. The floor was made up of the same metal grate and she was pretty sure it probably could not hold a lot of weight. In the center of the bridge was a midway center with smaller and lighter looking Terminals. There was gray piping that went down the middle of the midway station and connecting to all the other midway stations above and below it.

He shoved her towards the bridge. She added two trips before they made it to the bridge. She gingerly put one foot on the bridge. It shook a little. As she was about to put her second foot on she heard dark chuckling behind her.

'So the brave nameless Twiilek is afraid of heights? That will look great in my report.' He continued to laugh as he shoved her forward again hitting her hard in the head in the process. She rolled her eyes. She was a pilot she wasn't afraid of heights, she lived for them. His arm had shifted to her neck above the collar and he was now steering her down the bridge choking her like an animal as she stumbled. She felt what little hope she had evaporate as her mind attacked her with cruel thoughts and doubt.

She would never be able to protect Kanan. She would give him up and he would be caught and crucified. Made an example of like so many others. She would have to watch him be tortured and killed because he was born special. She tried her best to blink her tears out of her eyes. She would not betray Kanan she tried to chant to herself. Her mind was tired of fighting it just wanted to rest. It sighed as it provided her gruesome images of her betraying Fulcrum, the Rebellion, and of course her beloved Kanan to the Empire. Their bodies were mixed with that of Wookies, Twiileks, Togrutans, and many other slaves. She closed her eyes as she tripped and landed face first on the platform. She would NOT betray them. She would die first. She would die before betraying Kanan. He was what made her world spin round. She had a ship and a roof over her head but he had given her a home and a place. Something she had not had since she had left her father's madness crusade.

She opened her eyes and felt her insides light up. This was what she needed. She was looking under the bridge. It was a long fall, but would it be a fatal fall? She thought. Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw past the depth of what was below her and she saw what it was housing. At the very bottom of the chasm was a generator. The generator, like the one that must be powering this whole space station. She knew the design, it was extremely fragile. If anything over 75 pounds hit it, it would combust and cause a chain reaction that could blow up half a planet. She smiled to herself. It was a good thing Kanan was always trying to fatten her up. She remembered when she had yelled at him because he had used extra credits to bake her a cake when she hit a hundred pounds. He had been so proud. She had let the issue go as soon as she tasted the cake, it was damn delicious. She felt her Prisoner tug her up by her Lekku muttering obscenities. She could feel her smile light up her face. She probably looked mad. That was okay. She was in control now. She had a plan.

The thought of leaving Kanan alone in the Universe again filled her with a sadness she hadn't expected but she couldnt let herself get caught. It was too dangerous for Kanan. His secret was too special. He was special. She wished she had told him more often how much she valued him. How much he made her world turn round. She loved him. She thought bitterly. A little too late.

She caused herself to trip and sway, each accidental misstep bringing them closer the side. She would stop them before they could get to Kanan. She would just be another nameless faceless body among millions of others in this war. She had done her last trip and she could literally put her foot over the edge of the bridge. They were nearing the midway station, she had one last calculated trip that would send her over the edge. She put her foot down to make her last trip when all of the lights went out.

The Inquisitior's hand bit into her arm until it stung and she could feel blood. He threw her to the ground and started to bark orders as the emergency lights flashed on giving a little light in the darkness. The generator below them glowed a dark deathly red. People and droids alike started yelling and loud bangs could be heard echoing through the dome above her head. Once he was done yelling he grabbed her by the Lekku and dragged her down to the middle of the Midway station where the pipe was. She refused to cry or scream as her body erupted in pain from her Lekku's abuse. Lekku's were one of the most sensitive parts on a Twiileks body.

Her captor looked at her with disgust then he tossed her against the pole bruising her back and causing her head to swim. He grabbed her left arm and pinned it under and behind her back using the Slave collar to chain her wrist to the pole. He procured another collar and chained her elbow. If she moved even an inch the wrong way she would snap her arm. He grabbed her right arm and bent it over her shoulder pinning it behind her back in the pipe the same way he did her left arm. Her finger tips were just brushing from opposite directions. She felt uncomfortably exposed. He knocked her head back twice into the pole making her head spin and leaving her dizzy and confused. He yanked her legs out until they were laying straight in front of her. He tied her down again by her knees and her ankles.

He looked down at her smiling; she was successfully chained to what she was realizing was an old fuel line. If she tried to scratch it, it could combust. Not in a way that would cause much damage but enough to probably knock her out. Based on his smug smile he knew this. He leaned into her making her extremely uncomfortable and whispered in her ear.

'Move and I will personally make sure your torture becomes more... physical once we board the transport.' He sneered before he swirled his long robes and stomping away. Red emergency lights flashed on the dark platform enough to give Hera a swirling headache. She could hear people rushing all around her but she couldn't move her arms. It was an odd configuration that left her little if any wiggle room. It was very smart. This hit on her head was making her see fuzzy things. She could have sworn she saw a flash of Kanan's armor two levels above her.

She closed her eyes trying to calm herself down so she could think of a way out of this mess. Her hallucinations became more vivid as someone untied her arms and whispered,

'Stay here little Hera. I'll be back. I need to clear the way out.'

She sighed at the hallucination. This was too much. She spoke to Fulcrum and Kanan in her hallucination. In her hallucination she told Kanan that she loved him. She had since she first met him when he was an unruly bartender.

'I'm scared you'll realize your worth and leave. But I'm also scared that you won't realize your worth. I'm so confused. What if you realize your worth and join the Empire? I can't loose you Kanan. I can't. I need you. I love you.' She whispered tears pouring down her face.

Slowly, as if in a dream she felt herself stand. What happened to her restraints? She opened her eyes. There was clearly some sort of fight going on. She could see droids firing at each other. She had no strength to fight, that much she knew. Any chance of her commandeering a ship or a shuttle out of here was slim to none. She had to remove herself from the equation though, what if she told them about Fulcrum or Kanan? She discarded the idea. She could never betray her Kanan. The Empire would never stop hunting him. She closed her eyes. She knew what she had to do. It was the logical thing. She had been preparing herself for it now she just had to do it.

Kanan. Kanan. Kanan. Please forgive me.

The emergency lighting were still flickering. Its red hue making the black walls look eeven more ominous. Detachedly, she realized how close she was to the end of the platform. She needed to stop thinking about it and just do it before she lost her chance. For Kanan. For the Rebellion. For Kanan.

She closed her eyes and stumbled to the edge.

For Kanan.

For Love.

For Family.

She leapt.