The prison cell in the Nest, as the Rebels were calling it, was far less comfortable than the one on the Firestorm. Here, Mara didn't even have a proper cot, just a sleeping roll laid out in the small space she inhabited behind the ray shield. The scenery hadn't even improved, just a bulkhead a few meters beyond her cell. This had been an ore storage compartment, she guessed at some point, but for now it was just a head and a sleeping roll. She got meals twice a day, but that was it.

Mara passed the time with exercise. There was only so much you could do in a confined space. In the eternal day of a space station's illumination, it could mess with a biological clock. Constant light, no concept of the passage of time, could disturb even someone who had lived as a space traveler her entire life.

She had her first visit in several days. It was a Togruta, the Jedi outcast Ahsoka Tano. Mara sat up, still slightly sweaty from pushups. Mara went through everything she knew about Ahsoka in a moment, like rifling through a file on a datapadd.

Mara arched an eyebrow at the older woman. "Ahsoka Tano, formerly Jedi Apprentice to Anakin Skywalker, Commander in the Grand Army of the Republic, and rebel insurgent codenamed Fulcrum."

The Jedi crossed her arms across her chest. "I can't say I know that much about you in return, Miss Jade."

She smiled at Ahsoka, trying it on for size. "What do you know about me, then?"

"You're a Force user, that much I know. But you're not as skilled as others I've met. Are you an Inquisitor?"

"That's grand," Mara laughed. "No, by no means am I an Inquisitor. I'm something much more." She enjoyed the dynamic here. Even if she was behind a ray shield in a cell, she was by no means playing without a full sabaac deck. "I'm Lord Vader's hand."

"His..Hand." She arched a brow, intrigue peaking on the white markings on her head, mimicking the raise of an eyebrow. "Not an Apprentice."

"Lord Vader has an Apprentice, and a powerful one." Mara remarked. "I am his personal envoy, his will made manifest, and so forth. His assassin."

"But my apprentice whipped you pretty good," Ahsoka's little smile, her taunt, made Mara's blood boil, but she recovered quickly. She would not allow the Jedi to gain the upper hand, especially in such a Sith tactic as dun moch.

Mara decided to play the game then, tossing down her Idiot's Array. "Lord Vader's child, even untrained, is a great warrior."

Ahsoka's eyes widened for a moment, then narrowed as she walked right to the ray shield. "You don't know a thing," She hissed.

Mara smiled. "On the contrary. I know that Padme Amidala bore twins. One of them, she took to Naboo. Her name was Leia. The other, Luke, we did not know about until Prince Luke was unveiled as he came of adolescence. You hid him for over a decade, Ahsoka, be proud of that."

She could see Ahsoka tense, hands curling into fists. "How long has the Emperor been watching?"

"You hid him. He knew of his existence, but it was your actions on Mustafar that drew his gaze. He doesn't know, Ahsoka. Didn't have the heart to do it?"

Ahsoka took a deep breath trying to calm herself. "He's not old enough. I was going to tell him when he was ready."

Mara scoffed at that. "He's in a rebellion now, and helping lead it." She leaned back against the wall in her cell. "One you can't hope to win without help."

The Togruta frowned. "What are you saying?"

"The Empire is planning a big operation. Apparently a punitive measure for your nascent rebellion. The details have been kept from me, but you should look into it."

Ahsoka looked down at her. "What's your agenda, Jade?"

Mara smiled, her own face her best mask. "Just look into it. You'll see I'm not lying."

Luke found a military uniform to be a complex idea. Being raised on Alderaan, he had long preferred the styles of his homeworld with bright colors and sweeping formal wear. The tight cut and high collars and sleek lines of military garb weren't something he was used to. But now he wore what Lando and Garm Bel Iblis had decided on for a new uniform that would see production for the fledgling Rebel fleet. It was a tan affair, with a jacket and trousers.

The notable thing was that Luke lacked rank insignia. After a day or two of debate, Luke hadn't been given a rank. Instead, he was given the nominal position of command of Task Force Red, which didn't actually have a single being assigned to it. Instead, it would be a makeshift unit for whatever emergency that the Alliance had to take care of.

They were on the bridge of Rebel One, a large room that had over a score of officers working at different stations. The engineering crews were hard at work trying to restore the ship, to bring it back up to fighting shape after years of abandonment in the asteroid field.

Rex stood across from him at the other end of the holotable at the rear of the bridge, which spewed out sensor data from the dreadnought's network. The once-clone commander wore a loose jacket the hungover his bulky frame, with a blaster pistol strapped to his thigh. "I've seen two or three of these ships in my time. I remember one of them was tasked with attacking Thyferra. One of those, several smaller cruisers, and a Lucrehulk control ship. Battle lasted three weeks. We won the battle but we couldn't crack either the battlecruiser or the command ship. The Seppies made them tough."

Luke had other thoughts on the mind, though. "Why did you come here, Rex?" He asked.

"When the Empire rose, most clones stayed with the military. We're soldiers, not much else better. Empire kept using the clones, though they started varying up the templates. I didn't want to keep being a solider. I just decided to get out while I could. Opted out, like every clone had the option to after the war. Most just didn't take it."

Ahsoka and Serrin walked in, with Mon Mothma following a few minutes later. The elegant Chandrillan woman began. "Miss Tano has information for us."

"Indeed. And I think I have a mission to follow it up with." Ahsoka entered a few commands on the console as she spoke. "I have reason to believe the Empire wants to make an example of us. They don't want to just stamp out a cell or two, they want to make a very public example. But what that is, we don't know yet." A planet with two moons came up on the screen. "Celtris IV. It's not a particularly noteworthy world, even for all the trade routes it lies on. The moons operate some small spaceports, but the main feature is an Imperial base on the planet.

"It's a hub for Imperial Intelligence. They operate a major listening and coordination post on the planet. We're going to infiltrate it, see if we can find the Empire's deployments for their upcoming project."

Mon Mothma looked over to Luke. "Do you think you could assemble a team to infiltrate it?"

Luke nodded. "Yeah. We've got the Firestorm, which still has Imperial codes on it. We can use the codes to land a strike team. Infiltrate the base, use Artoo and Winter to gain access to the Imperial networks. From there, we download every fleet movement we can, and try to draw a pattern."

"That works." Ahsoka nodded. "We should be able to use a small team to get in."

Rex raised a hand. "I'll volunteer for the strike team."

Luke nodded. "I'll be glad to have you on board. For a strike team, myself, Ahsoka, Winter, Rex, and Artoo would be small enough, I think." Luke looked down at the planet. "What's the name of the facility?"

"The Lusankya complex," Ahsoka said.

Luke nodded. "We'll keep the Firestorm on standby. We can have Wedge's Red Squadron ready as standby in case things go hot. Any chance we could requisition a gunship or two for standby in case real trouble shows up?"

Mon Mothma. "One corvette and the Valiant would certainly be doable."

A smile crossed Luke's face. "Alright then. Let's go raid Lusankya."