Chapter 27: The Forgotten Allies

Members of the Citadel Council:

Asari – Irissa Poxila

Salarian – 'Dalatrass' Tasena

Turian – Sextus Manus

Human – Dorel Weygand

Krogan – Urdnot Bakara

Hanar – Ny'zalian

Volus – Num Rozal

Elcor – Kur Gatan

Batarian – Yorhan Vaz

Tau - Lan'Ru'Nas


September 26, 2226.

Ilium was safe, but now the Tambaran were going straight for federal territory into the slim panhandle of the Traverse. Admirals Shepard and Fukuwara reassured that they could handle them and were preparing to ambush the aliens in the Minos Wasteland.

Benedetta wasn't much worried about that: without their dreadnought, the Tambaran had basically lost the ability to hold up against the federal fleet, but what worried her most was the ship herself, and the alarming information that Chief Engineer Reissner was giving her.

"There is no doubt, my lady. The most advanced electronics we found on the command bridge were all pieces of the Alliance military that had gone missing along the years. We thought they were just smugglers, but they have all converged on this one ship."

She looked at Francesco and all the councilors who had followed her on the inspection. Their faces, for all those who were able to express more than one mood, were concerned. The only one who seemed to have some degree of contempt and even frustration was the Salarian councilor, Tasena.

"Thank you, Chief Reissner." the Empress said after reading the first few lines of the list she had been given on the datapad. She handed the device over and added "Keep investigating. I want to know how many of our hardware the Tambaran have."

"Yes, Your Majesty." the man said with a quick bow before he returned to work.

"This news is most alarming." councilor Dorel said. "If there are forces conspiring against us we need to know immediately."

"May I point out," said Tasena. "that me and my predecessors have been pointing out for decades about the need of keeping a watchful eye on the Terminus?"

"Yes, Tasena. But now it's not the time to gloat." Bakara countered.

"But who is financing the Tambaran?" asked Irissa. "We have never interfered with the people of the Terminus since the end of the Reaper War."

"People don't just lay down because you leave them alone." Tasena said, now however she had regained her calm and analyzing demeanor that was expected from a Salarian. "The simple fact that our Federation holds power means that those outside of our borders will always covet it."

"With concern:" Gatan started with the unmistakable flat-sounding voice of the Elcor. "are you suggesting that we should've meddled in the affairs of independent peoples. That would've granted us their hostility."

"No. I'm just saying we should've kept an eye on them, and be prepared in case they were planning against us, as it turned out to be the case."

"Councilors, please." Francesco intervened firmly. "Whether our foreign policy was correct or not is something we should leave to academics. Right now we need to focus on the matter at hand."

Benedetta was listening, but as an idea sprang into her head, she turned around and that alone called the attention of the politicians. "You are right, Councilor Tasena. However, I should've seen this way before. Two years ago, when the Tau suffered the aggression of the Farvant State." she said with her usual collected attitude. Her final words had been pronounced as she looked at Councilor Ru'Nas.

The councilors were at first confused, but then the Tau murmured in thought and an important detail came to his mind. "Yes. The Farvants were using technology on par with us. Even considering that is a nation of immigrants, they have never been able to produce those kind of weapons before."

"Mother, are you suggesting…?" the prince started asking, but not entirely sure if he wanted to finish the phrase.

"Yes, Francesco. I believe there is somebody stirring the Terminus' nations and species against the Federation, and whoever it is, they are also making sure to arm their pawns."

"Yes." Rozal intervened after his suit creaked. "That makes sense. But the fact that they are able to smuggle our technology indicates that they might have supporters inside our borders."

"That's what I fear." Benedetta replied. "We need to act quickly to find out how great this threat really is." she put her hands behind her back and straightened her back even more than she already was. As if she was back in the military and preparing to give orders. "Councilors, I advise you put the Spectre Department on track. Also, our intelligence agencies must immediately move to establish a stronger network in the Terminus."

The councilors pretty much agreed, as there was nothing else to say. Diplomacy was not an option, as implying the existence of a compact aimed at destroying the Federation might be taken as an offense by the various nations in the Terminus and used by them as an excuse to trigger an invasion.

No, right now, the Federation needed to show ignorance while looking out for where the next blow against it might come from.

With that settled, the Empress and her entourage left the ship-works, and while the Council returned on the Citadel to deliver the new assignment to the Spectres, Benedetta and Francesco headed down on Earth, returning to Rome to convene with the Prime Minister and his Cabinet.

As the shuttle cut across the atmosphere, Benedetta spoke up to her son. "France'." she said, calling him with the abbreviation that was still a very common thing at every level of culture in the Italian peninsula. "I want you to be the one to expose the situation to the government."

Francesco was just sitting rigidly and neatly on the seat next to her and turned his head with a jerk as he was taken by surprise. "M-me, Mother?"

"Yes. It's time for everybody to understand that you are my successor. This war will be your first trial as a leader."

Francesco stayed silent for a moment. She could understand: he had waited so long for a chance to show what he had learned. Despite not being ambitious, the Crown Prince knew that this was his duty and was ready to take it on with all his forces.

"I will not fail you, Mother." he said with a tranquil tone.

Benedetta smiled. "You have become a better man that I could ever hope for, France'. I know you will make me proud."

Francesco nodded and clearly suppressed a smile, but he couldn't hide a light blushing even if he turned his gaze in front of his direction.

The Empress gave her heir another look, her mind wandering in the future possibilities. Then she lowered her head and passed a hand on her waist, more or less on the spleen. That would have had to wait.


September 30, 2226.

Ezra was taking a look at the reports from the Hydian Front, as the battles along the grand hyperspace lane had been designated. Now more than ever, the raid he had planned on the planet Null couldn't have come at a better time. Admiral Ackbar had managed to halt his imperial counterpart Rax on the Taris-Denova line, blocking the Hydian Way. At the same time, Admiral Edrix had used the coordinates given by Ezra to seize Wayland and set up a base from which he was hitting the imperial fleet on the flank.

To Rax's merit, one had to say that he had organized a good defense, and his forces were not giving up ground that easily.

Which is why Ezra had decided to depart from the Liberator to attack the main imperial supply hub in the region. If he and his team could destroy it, the imperial fleet would have to either retreat and give the Coalition some respite.

In turn, the imperials might have decided to focus more resources on the frontline, thus making the infiltration of the Liberator and her Task Force much easier.

Seeing that he had read all the document, Ezra shut down the datapad. He was sitting on one of the passenger seats of the Ghost and turned to Kallus, who was as usual in the co-pilot seat, going through reports and data files while Zeb waited pretty bored at the radar console, with Chopper looking the same next to his socket.

"Kallus, did you manage to contact the rebel cell on Null?"

The blonde man shook his head slightly. "The planet is under complete lockdown. No transmission gets in or out. We only have the location of their base. Provided the imperials have not found them in the meantime."

"I see the planet." Hera said.

The crew turned toward the viewport and indeed they spotted the blue-gray surface of the third planet of the Null system, the only inhabitable world there. It was a mountainous body, with only two large but enclosed oceans that covered around 22% of the surface. The super-continent covering the surface was 73% made of mountains, and there were only four major cities concentrating in the few plains, and around each of them were several mountain villages.

"I'm giving you the coordinates." Kallus said, keying in the navicomputer the coordinates of the resistance's hideout.

Ezra called up the Silver Bullet, which was flying right behind them. He ordered them to wait in orbit while he went down on the surface and made contact with the rebels and assessed the strength of the imperial garrison, so after telling Hera to bring them down, he reached the cargo bay, where he found Jyn and Cassian waiting for him. Both were wearing their combat uniform of ICO agents, consisting of a light protection for increased mobility and of an overall dark brown pattern.

"You two ready? We'll have to climb a few mountains."

"As ready as we'll ever be, General." Cassian replied confident.

"Ezra- uh, I'm sorry...General, I…"

Ezra raised a finger at her. "Ezra is completely fine."

Jyn made a half-smirk and answered. "Then Ezra it is. My father has been talking with some of his old colleagues who defected from the Empire, and he found someone who used to work in the Denevar lab."

"Really?" Ezra asked very interested.

Jyn nodded. "A geneticist, apparently. Which I guess points in the direction of that place being perfect for the imperials to study Jaral's genetic mutations."

"All right, when we get back to the Liberator I'll need to speak with him."

"Thought so. Dad has already brought him on Lianna, he will be waiting for our call."

Reassured by those words, Ezra heard the Ghost nearing the surface and once the ramp opened, the three sprinted out, the Jedi having already materialized his armor. They took position inside a small field of rocks and waited until the freighter took off before acknowledging that there was nobody else in the vicinity and they could leave in all safety.

Only at that moment they noticed that they were quite up in the mountains, and there was a thin layer of snow that still covered most of that area. It was the point indicated for the drop, and Cassian had a map of the region on his omni-tool, but to better distinguish their position they needed to climb onto a lower crown of the mountain and take a look around.

The view in itself was quite the spectacle. In front of them, the landscape descended into one of the plains, then it quickly rose again to form another set of mountains. Ezra however also noticed that it was early dusk, meaning that soon they would find themselves in the shadow.

"So, where should we find the resistance?" Ezra asked after giving Cassian a few seconds to analyze the map.

The man, who was carrying a rucksack with food and equipment for their allies, took another couple of seconds and then answered, pointing at the foot of the front mountain. "There is a village over there where we should be able to find a contact."

"Good. You sure you don't want me to carry that?" Ezra offered, waving a hand at the pretty large backpack.

"It's nothing, really." Cassian politely declined. "Besides, if we run into the imperials, I prefer you to be able to move freely."

"All right. Let's move."


In the orbit of Karlinus, just a jump away from Naboo, Iulius was strolling down the new space colony, followed by his Death Troopers, Yagler and with Namedra and her team of engineers showing him around.

This space station was intended both as a way to enhance the trade of the agricultural world with the rest of the Chommel Sector, thus increasing the amount of food for the population and the military, and it also had a dockyard under construction, which was going to be useful as a repair and refit station for the Navy, instead of going all the way to Fondor.

"An impressive work, Chief Engineer. Especially considering that you built this structure in record time." the Lord-Protector said with a controlled tone.

Namedra made a proud smile, but when Iulius turned his gaze on her she lowered her head and feigned to adjust a strand of her hair.

"It's nothing, really. Actually, the speed is all thanks to the Death Star."

Iulius was taken aback. "In what way?"

They halted as Namedra regained a professional appearance and explained. "In our last hiring spree, I managed to get my hands on some constructors who worked on the station. They have learned a lot of useful tricks to build super-structures rapidly and efficiently."

The Lord-Protector was very impressed. "And I hope you are making them share such knowledge?"

Namedra tilted her head sideways, looking a bit ashamed. "Well, I tried to have them teach to the most promising engineers, but they are very reluctant to share their experiences."

"Oh." said Iulius surprised. Then a suspicion started to come to his mind. "And why is that?"

"If you ask me," Namedra replied with conscience. "Project Stardust have been the quintessence of intrigue and survival of the fittest. Those with technical knowledge were treasured and made to advance their careers, those who ran out of utility mostly disappeared. Literally or figuratively."

Iulius sighed softly. Once again, the Emperor's favorite way of pitting everyone in the Empire against each other was halting its progress and adaptability in front of enemies that could take it down.

"Well, do your best to convince them that they don't have to worry about those things anymore." Iulius concluded.

Namedra made a positive nod, then pointed a finger in the direction they were going before halting. "Now, my Lord, if you would like to take a look at the defensive system, let's go to that viewport."

Iulius followed the invitation and he took a better look than the one he had the chance to take when his shuttle flew him into the system. The colony, which was now going to be a vital infrastructure for the Mid Rim Forces, not only had a small garrisons of TIEs with pilots from the Chommel Sector Defense Force -a new type of local volunteer militia that Iulius had recently created in all the sectors under his management- but also a grid of satellite defenses and, most importantly, two Golan-I defense platforms that were being completed right in those minutes.

"We're confident that we can hold back any pirate force until the Navy can come to assist."

"Well, I hope you can prove that, sir." Yagler said calmly, yet with a tone that made everyone suspicious. "Because our comms are being jammed right now."

The surprise was total, but Namedra quickly snapped out of it and called up the command center of the station's defenses.

Before she was finished asking, the alarm started blaring around the station.

"Attention. Pirate incursion detected. All hands to battle stations, civilians head to the shelters." the registered female voice said through the speakers.

Luckily, since the station was still to be inaugurated, there were no civilians yet, except for the engineers.

"Yagler, bring them to the shelter, then reach me at the CC." Iulius quickly instructed.

The ISB agent nodded and started gathering the group of Fondor workers, but Namedra stood in her place, instead referring directly to him. "Let me come. I know this station inside and out, and I need to assess if the platforms are ready to fire."

It was a good reason, though not good enough for Iulius to acquiesce. On the other hand, he knew that she wouldn't back down, so he agreed and they rushed to the control room at the crescent disc at the pole of the station. That was where a group of military operators under the direction of Major Rotaka from Naboo was directing surveillance and the automated defenses.

"Major, report." Iulius said.

Rotaka pointed at the main screen with a holomap presenting the space outside as the sensors picked it up. "There are 8 vessels incoming. A mix of 7 frigates and corvettes and one mandalorian cruiser."

Indeed, the biggest figure on the screen Iulius recognized it as a Sabaoth cruisers, like those he encountered and defeated at the first battle of Taris. Even if the other ships had markings of the Hutts and the Black Sun, Iulius knew full well that only a criminal syndicate had put its hands on mandalorian designs.

"Zann…" he hissed under his breath. "We need to find a way to alert Naboo."

"Don't worry, they know already." Yagler said, looking at her watch.

"Is there something I don't know?" he asked almost annoyed.

Yagler, however, didn't seem fazed by that. "Since the attempt on your life on Naboo, we changed the protocols for your security. Specifically, me and Qathora were sending regular signals every three minutes with our devices. If even one interval missed, the Admonitor and her escort would immediately come at full alert...and the last interval was up twenty seconds ago."

Iulius wasn't very comfortable in hearing that the ISB was doing things behind his back. But since this thing was about protecting him, he decided it would be very rude and stupid to complain about it.

"That's great." Namedra said. "So they should be here in, what? Eight minutes?"

That was the standard time necessary to hyperspace jump from Naboo to Karlinus, but that assumed that a ship was already outside the gravitational pull of the departing system. If the Admonitor and the other ships were already in position, then yes, but there was a chance that they were waiting next to Naboo.

"Let's assume thirteen, just for good measure." he calmly stated.

"Give me a status of the satellites and the platforms." Rotaka said with an authoritative voice.

"Satellites powering up...ready to fire." one of the officers reported.

"The platforms report that they are still adjusting the power converters."

"Give me a line with them!" Namedra said with absolute confidence and walked to the console. The officer was unsure whether it was the case, but Iulius nodded to him and so he did as he was told.

"Fighters and bombers?" the Major asked next.

"Loading at 80%, sir." the flight commander reported.

Iulius could do little but watch. Rotaka even turned around to tell him that he should head to the shelter, or even get his shuttle ready for an emergency escape. Iulius replied that the pirates were probably there to kill him, but that he trusted the capability of the defense force. Rotaka nodded and returned to his duties.

The pirate ships were closing in, aiming straight for the colony. Fighters and bombers were rushing forward in a clear attempt to exploit the element of surprise before the imperials responded more efficiently. The Golan platforms were shut down, so much that the pirates, having a limited fleet, decided not to waste their firepower on them.

A detail that unsettled the Lord-Protector: these pirates seemed to know a bit too well what they were up to. He had no doubts that somebody told the Consortium when and where they could make another attempt on Iulius' life.

But who could have done this? The project on Karlinus wasn't exactly a secret, but the fact that he would visit today was such.

As he pondered on that, the fight outside the colony heated up. The imperial fighters took off from the hangars and rushed to intercept the pirates.

Among those fighters there was also a squadron of N-1 starfighters, sent from the Royal Guard of Naboo with some of their best pilots to defend this vital infrastructure.

After Lantillies, Iulius had been working hard to reform the Mid Rim Forces. In particular, he had encouraged the local authorities to either create or expand local militias following the old model of the Planetary Defense Forces of the Republic, a model that Iulius believed it was actually an advantageous system, provided that the central state had some actual Navy and Army that would benefit from this.

The militias were basically meant to be volunteer forces, with part-time soldiers that could take up the duty of defending their worlds and local clusters so that the actual Armed Forces of the Empire could free up manpower and ships to go on the offensive, or to focus their strength against bigger enemy offensives.

While the imperial factories provided much of the equipment for these militias, worlds like Naboo had a small core of armed professionals and vehicles that they could use and produce.

And the N-1 was still a formidable piece of equipment, as those pilots were showing. The superior training and discipline of the imperials quickly whittled down the pirate forces, but when the major vessels came in the tide quickly turned.

"Focus the satellites on the frigates, protect our fighters." Rotaka instructed.

A good choice, Iulius thought. There was no way the satellites could take down the cruiser anyway, so it was better to focus on the frigates that were cutting down the TIEs.

"Squadron 5 has been eliminated." the Flight Commander duly reported with a hint of pain in his voice.

"Satellites 3 and 9 destroyed!" an operator added.

However soon after two pirate frigates actually blew up, giving the TIEs a bit more room to counterattack.

But when things seemed all-in-all positive, an explosion coming from the roof of the disc made the entire room tremble.

"They destroyed a shield generator!" a voice yelled.

"Hold tight!" Rotaka ordered firmly. "We still have three of them. Send our fighters to defend the roof. If they take out the shields, we're dead meat."

Meanwhile, the cruiser started bombarding the station itself, apparently dead set on damaging the structure while the remaining corvettes kept destroying the satellite grid.

"Iulius!" Namedra snapped all of a sudden, making him turn his head. "I got the platforms online, but we had to discard the shields."

"With their armor, I think we can take the risk. Have them open fire on the cruiser, now that it is close." Iulius calmly instructed.

Soon after, lights on the Golan platforms came to life, and so did the turbolasers, missile launchers and ion cannons that unleashed a deadly cross-fire on the pirate vessels. The weapons that couldn't turn toward the cruiser focused on the smaller crafts and vessels.

The pirates understood that this was as far as they could go. With the platforms that were presumed unusable now pouring hell on them, they quickly turned around and tried to reach the hyperlane exit.

"Don't give them respite." Rotaka ordered. "Bombers, attack their ships, but not the cruiser."

The old officer had another good intuition: it was unlikely that the few TIE Bombers available could make significant damage on the Sabaoth until the other ships were protecting her. So the imperial pilots fell down on the smaller vessels, torpedoing them out of the skies.

And just as they were halfway between the planet and the hyperlane, the pirates were suddenly faced with the Admonitor and her escort flotilla coming out in front of them. In the end, Ciena had only took nine minutes to bring them all the way there.

The pirates clearly focused all their remaining power on the engines as they tried to go past the flotilla. The Admonitor used her tractor beam to halt the last remaining corvettes, but that wouldn't work on the Sabaoth. The ships fired on the cruiser and managed to heavily damage it, but they didn't manage to take out the engines, and she, along a few fighters, were the only survivors that managed to escape this ill-fated raid.

Iulius heard Rotaka breath relieved and he went next to the old officer. "Excellent work, Major." he said with the proper tone expected from a Grand Admiral, but a sincere expression.

The officer nodded gratefully. "Thank you, Lord Tanis."

He turned toward Namedra. "And good work to you, Nam. You saved a lot of lives, bringing those platforms to life."

The woman smiled satisfied, then the command room was hailed from Ciena on the Admonitor.

"This is Tanis." Iulius replied on the speaker. "Good to see you, Admonitor."

Ciena sighed. "Thank the Emperor, you are alright, sir."

"I was in good hands. But now we have another job to do. Order STEVE to track that cruiser. I want to know how those pirates managed to get all the way here undisturbed."


Ezra and his companions found out that, even though Null had three satellites orbiting around the planet, there were rotations where none of them was on the dark side, and probably because the Force really was on their side, that night was one of those rotations. The absence of a moon reflecting the light of the local star meant that Ezra, Cassian and Jyn had a much easier time than anticipated in slipping unnoticed into the village where their contact was waiting for them.

The contact was an old shepherd that led them up the hills and then left them at the beginning of a mountain trail, gave them a few directions and the trio eventually managed to run into the local rebels. Those people recognized Ezra's armor quite easily and while the rest of the sentries remained on alert, one of the rebels led them inside a cave.

Actually, it was more of a mine. An old mine which was now abandoned and the rebels used its incredible extent to build their haven.

The cell per se clearly wasn't that big. Ezra only spotted maybe a dozen of people, clothed in rags and with only old, rusty blasters laying on the tables and racks. Certainly Ezra's armor and even Cassian and Jyn's uniforms made the insurgents look at them with a certain astonishment.

The trio was led into what seemed to be the greatest section of the cave, where the insurgents had their headquarters and they saw a middle-aged man with a dense black beard. He was relatively short but very sturdy and he went to greet them.

"You must be the Jedi. Irv Kerret, I more or less manage this small club of Empire-haters."

Ezra dematerialized his armor and shook his hand. "Ezra Bridger. These behind me are Captain Cassian Andor and Lieutenant-Commander Jyn Erso of the New Republic."

While Kerret went to shake hands with the two agents, a voice that took Ezra by surprise called him from the sides of the room. "So you really are a Jedi, now?"

Ezra turned toward the direction he heard that voice. He seemed two black-skinned people, a man and a woman, with very similar traits. The man was smiling openly at him, the female seemed a bit more timid but happy to see him anyway.

"Zare?!" Ezra exclaimed and walked quickly toward the young man.

They loudly clasped their hands and shook their arms at the wrists.

"By the Force," the Jedi said pleasantly surprised. "I honestly didn't think I would meet you again like this."

"Imagine my surprise." Zare replied. "I heard some voices about you and a new Jedi Order, but on this planet news come very rarely."

"Yeah, you have to explain me how you ended up here." Ezra said, then turned his attention toward the young woman. "Nice to see you again, Dhara."

The woman gave him a smile. "Glad to see you are doing well, Ezra. I never thanked you properly for rescuing me."

"Don't even mention it. I owed a huge favor to Zare."

Ezra's mind rushed back to that time when he and Jaral had just joined the Phoenix Cell. Before they even met their parents again, Zare had reached the Specters with a request for help. He had found where the Grand Inquisitor had brought Dhara, who had turned out to be a Force-sensitive.

The Specters had taken up the request for help and flew all the way to Arkanis to break out Zare and Dhara from the structure, then they brought them to their family back on Garel.

"So, why are you all the way here? Last time I left you on Garel."

"After the Empire occupied the planet directly, with the Inquisitors still on Dhara's trail, we decided it wasn't a good idea to stick in the Lothal Sector." Zare explained. "Our parents had a few contacts among the rebellion who helped us settle here."

"Since we both studied at an imperial academy, we knew that Null was basically free of any imperial presence. This worlds is not very productive and is way out of the major hyperspace lanes." Dhara added. "That was, until a few weeks ago, the imperials arrived and built that major supply base. I assume you are here for that?"

"Yes. We came here to contact you, but I have a strike team waiting in orbit. Once we find a landing zone, you'll meet them, too."

"I suppose Jaral is with you? I heard she has become a Jedi, too." Dhara asked with a hint of curiosity.

Ezra felt as if a knife plunged into his heart every time his sister was named. His expression became almost cold, which the Leonis siblings noticed. But before the worse scenarios could form in their minds, Ezra answered. "Almost a month ago, the imperials drew us into a trap. We all escaped...except Jaral, who has been captured."

After a moment of hesitation, Zare spoke up and put a hand on Ezra's shoulder. "I'm so sorry, man. I wish I could help."

Ezra reassured him. "Destroying the imperial supply base here on Null will serve many purposes, among which giving us a chance to rescue her."

"So you know where she is held?" Dhara asked.

"Yes."

Another young woman with light skin, brown eyes and short black hair walked up to them. Ezra recognized her, too.

"Come on, Zare, it's not fair to keep the Jedi all to yourself." she quipped.

"Merei Spanjaf." Ezra named her. Zare's girlfriend, who had helped in breaking out Dhara and was thus familiar with the Specters. The two shook hands. "Glad to see someone is looking out for Zare."

The woman grabbed Zare's arm and pulled him closer. "It's only natural, now that we're married."

Ezra made a light chuckle. "You too, uh?"

"Oh, I guess you ended up with Sabine?" Zare asked.

Ezra made a nod, then couldn't help himself but make another statement in a more gloomy tone. "For Jaral is even worse: she birthed a daughter just four months ago."

The Leonis gasped softly, especially after hearing where Jaral was. "Oh, stars." Dhara whispered in a jolt of empathy.

Ezra, however, strengthened his resolve. "For me, it's just another reason to get her back. Come on, let's get to work." he proclaimed in the end and was about to walk at the table when Dhara quickly stepped forward and spoke respectfully.

"Excuse me, Ezra. But after we discuss this, I would like to talk about my affinity with the Force. Your help would be invaluable."

The Knight had almost forgot it: Dhara had been abducted by the Grand Inquisitor in the first place because she was Force-sensitive. A part of him probably assumed that he tried to forget everything and live without it since she had taken refuge on Null.

Still, he put a gentle attitude. "Of course. When this is over, perhaps you might want to come back to Lothal with us. A lot of things happened in the last five years." he concluded before finally reaching the table and start planning the attack with the resistance.