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IF YOU HAVE NOT READ MY OTHER STORIES, THIS CHAPTER WILL NOT MAKE SENSE AS IT'S JUST A SMALL CONTINUATION OF MY STORIES. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ MY OTHER STORIES, JUST SKIP THIS CHAPTER. THE REST OF THE STORY WILL BE A STORY OF ITS OWN AND DOESN'T REQUIRE THE READER TO HAVE READ ANY OF MY PREVIOUS STORIES.
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"Are you kidding me? Why is he coming along?" Onthant complained as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Dad, it's fine," Athena assured her father as she fiddled with a device on her wrist. Her short hair almost falling into her eyes as she bent her neck down to look at her wrist. "I thought you'd be fine with going Jalo anyways. He was your wife's Padawan. And Kanan said something about you two being brothers, anyway, and that's how Cyla met you when she took him as a Padawan."
Onthant rolled his eyes as he huffed. His eyes were caught by the sight of a person dressed in an Imperial pilot armor approach the Imperial shuttle he stood at the edge of the downed ramp of. They were on Chopper Base as they waited for their time to take off for their mission.
"Ugh, why is Sabine's old suit so tight?!" he heard his wife complain as she tugged at the legs on the suit while she kept her helmet in her elbow. As she approached her husband, she asked in an exasperated voice. "Why aren't you in your disguise? We're leaving here soon. And where's Jalo?"
"How should I know where that little rat is?" Onthant retaliated. "He's supposed to be getting the Stormtrooper armor from Kanan and Rex."
As Cyla looked up, she asked her daughter who was at the top of the ramp, "Where's Rae? You two get the Shadow Cloak to work?"
"She's inside. I'm working little tweaks on mine," Athena told as she continued to fiddle with the device on her wrist. "We got them to condense into these bracelets so in case we stay longer than expected. With the old version, they'd disappear after a certain point. These ensure we are in disguise until we shut them off."
"Good girl," Cyla nodded. " Where's Jalo?"
Athena shrugged, she asked, "Don't know. Is Wedge coming along too? It'd be more believable if we had two pilots."
"Wedge is on another mission with AP-5 and Chopper," Cyla reminded. "We'll be fine."
Athena nodded and hit a button on the bracelet she wore. Soon, pixels formed around her and came together fairly quickly. Soon, there stood a purple twi'lek a little taller than an average Stormtrooper. The disguise Athena now had included a gold dress with two straps over each shoulder and wide neckline that went below her collarbone. The bottom of the dress was cut high in the front, only to her fingertips, and the back flowed to just above her ankles. She wore gold gloves with the bracelet over top that provided the disguise. She nearly tottered over as the silver heels were stupidly tall. A brown cloth was over the base of the lekku and wrapped around her ear cones and she now had brown eyes.
"It works," confirmed in a serious tone of voice, not seeming so overjoyed as she had accomplished this task as she nodded and looked over her disguise. "I guess if I ever have to talk, I'm going to need to use a French accent."
"What a French?" Cyla asked.
"It's a person from a place called France on Earth. They have near the exact same accent as Twi'leki," Onthant told.
"Servants don't talk almost at all," a voice told. Athena, Cyla, and Onthant turned to see Jalo in Stormtrooper armor with his helmet in the nook of his elbow. Another suit of armor was in his other hand with another Stormtrooper helmet. He tossed this armor to Onthant who caught it. Jalo continued, "They keep their mouths shut; just like Stormtroopers if they're in the presence of high ranking officials or public figures like there'll be at this Canted Circle meeting. Especially around Grand Admiral Thrawn."
"Alright, I'll tell Rae that too," Athena confirmed, having a slight Southern accent in her voice. She exhaled sharply as she realized she did the wrong accent.
As he squinted his eyes, Jalo rhetorically asked, "That's what you think a Twi'leki accent is? Hasn't Captain Syndulla not spoke in her accent before in front of you?"
"Yeah, she'll do it when she talks to her dad or she gets mad," Athena said, her arms crossed. "I'd like to see you try it."
He rolled his eyes, Jalo soon uttered a sentence Athena didn't understand as it was in another language. He spoke it with the perfect Twi'leki accent and seemed to be thinking as he spoke fluent Twi'leki.
When he finished speaking in Twi'leki, he looked back to Athena, "I had a stepmother from Ryloth."
"We should get going," Cyla suggested. "Onie, get in your disguise in the 'fresher. We can't waste any more time."
"Yeah, Onie, you should be more time-considerate. We're running on a schedule," Jalo teased.
"Don't think I won't snap your neck, Blondie," Onthant growled.
"Will you two idiots stop fighting for a good fifteen minutes? Is that too much to ask?" Cyla scolded with a snap as she still kept the helmet on her arm.
"He started it," the two said in perfect sync as they pointed to the other.
"I don't care," Cyla snapped. "I'll throw you both into space if you don't act like adults!"
"Woah, go mama-bear," Rae soon came up behind Athena as she came out from the further depths of the shuttle. "You two got told."
"Shut it," Jalo glared at Rae. "Why aren't you in disguise? Get into your disguise."
"Fine…" Rae moaned and pressed the button on her bracelet.
Pixels soon formed around Rae and quickly became a full disguise. A blue togruta soon stood where Rae once stood as she was the same height as Athena's disguise. They both had the same dresses and gloves as well as the same high heels. The three head-tails were a dark grey with gold markings on them and the ends reached to her waist. Her face was decorated with white face markings as they were on her light blue face. She now had dark blue eyes as she looked at her disguise.
"Alright, let's go. It's going to be a long trip to Coruscant," Athena encouraged.
Their mission was simple but extremely dangerous. The four rebels would fly to Coruscant to go to this Canted Circle meeting that Admiral Thrawn was to attend. The Canted Circle was an elite social class that included many important politicians and officers from the Empire. They had gotten intel that Thrawn had the possession of the plans for new weapons factories to be built in the Outer Rim that would be vital to the rebellion.
Jalo, Cyla, and Onthant had the most experience of Coruscant, having lived there for so long. Athena did this mission against the recommendation of Commander Sato and the Ghost crew as this was the heart of the Empire and she was known too well. She did this mission anyway, saying that she needs to go on a mission every once and awhile to keep herself useful. Rae was basically Cyla's Padawan now as they slowly began to form a bond as Cyla trained Rae. It was faint, but still there.
Kanan and Cyla had slightly thought of the idea that Jalo should take over Athena's training because Cyla focused on Rae and Kanan focused on training Ezra, so Athena didn't have the direct attention she needed for her training. She refused; her sudden severed bond with Ahsoka still bled with hurt and refused to scab over. Though, she seemed to be the most non-callous towards Jalo; Rae in second. She seemed to know the hurt he felt just like she understood Rae.
Rae and she both were trained to be Inquisitors, lost their Jedi Master to the Empire, and had no family at some point in their life. Athena seemed to sympathize Jalo because she knew the feeling of hating that part of themselves for things they did before. Rae was still a little skittish to Jalo as she knew him when he was still turned Dark, and that was all she knew of him for so long. But, she knew the feeling of having the difficult road of coming back to the Light.
As Onthant entered the cockpit of the Imperial shuttle, he tugged at his Stormtrooper armor as it was tighter than he expected. Jalo turned to him, his helmet in his hand just like Onthant, and a smirk on his face.
"So, you gained a few pounds, old man?" Jalo joked.
"I'm only six years older than you," Onthant growled.
"Why do you two always fight?" Athena asked as she turned to the two. It was still a little offsetting how Athena was disguised as another species as was Rae.
"It's what siblings do, Syla," Cyla answered as she piloted the shuttle. "Look at you and your brother. You two could kill each other if it wasn't for Hera."
"So, are you two biological brothers, or are you just adoptive brothers?" Rae asked.
"Well…" the two males trailed off as they shared a glance.
"We should be approaching Coruscant here in about twenty minutes," Cyla cut short the conversation as she took off the helmet and put it on her side. "The codes need to be sent yet by the fleet, but I imagine they're coming in soon."
As her new purple lekku swung with her head when she turned to her mother, Athena asked, "Coruscant is basically the heart of the Empire. How are we going to be undetected the entire time we're there? We only made it to Coruscant and back the last time because we spent the entire time in the lower levels."
"After Jalo and Onthant get the plans for the new factories in the Outer Rim from Thrawn's office, we'll all head back to the shuttle. If it goes well, they won't even know we took the plans and we'll leave. If not, we'll have to stay in the lower levels until needed."
"We won't have any backup from the rebels as we're too far for them to travel to," Jalo added. "We have to get in, get out, and be as incognito as possible."
"So, what's the plan, exactly?" Onthant asked. "Where is Thrawn's office?"
As Rae stood from the co-pilot chair, she pressed the bracelet over her gold glove to display a hologram of a grand building. It looked old for this galaxy, but the structure was very well other than one tilted floor. Rae pointed to a platform on the building that was big enough to fit well over a hundred people.
"Here is the main deck, it's where the gathering is," Rae began. "Athena and I will distract Thrawn and the guards at the door while you two patrol the deck."
Athena pointed to the arc of a door that led to the building from the deck, "When we give the signal when we got the guards under control and him distracted, you two will exit through this door and head to his office here." she pointed to a room two floors up. "There'll be security camera's all along your route. Mom, can you hack into them and make a loop so they can't see them?"
"I'll get right on it when we land," Cyla confirmed.
"There's probably going to be a couple guards at his office, too," Rae informed. "You'll have to use the Force, Jalo, to let you pass. They'll be difficult. Maybe put them to sleep for five or ten minutes so they wake up when you're gone and before Thrawn gets back to his office."
"Alright, but there might be a scanner to get into his computer," Jalo pointed out.
"I can possibly reset in and add one of us in," Onthant suggested. "I'll delete whatever we add so they have no idea we were there."
"You guys got a disc you can put the plans on?" Athena asked.
"Already got one," Jalo nodded.
"The Canted Circle is one of the most exclusive clubs there is in the galaxy. There will be plenty of high-ranking officials and such there," Cyla reminded. "You can't even risk having them see you since we are some of the most known people in this galaxy."
"Even you, Onthant," Jalo turned to him. "They might have cameras that scan our eyes and you'll come up in the system very quickly." Jalo turned to Rae and Athena. "And you two, do your best to not break your Shadow Cloaks. You'll be recognized quicker than any of us."
"Got it," the two nodded.
"Alright, let's just make sure we remember what side we're on," Onthant solemnly remarked as he glared at Jalo.
Jalo glared back and was about to say something until Cyla cut them both off.
"Do you want me to stop this ship? Because I will and you don't want that," Cyla warned.
About an hour later, Athena and Rae found themselves holding trays full of drinks as they walked around the main deck as planned. There were a few other servants; mostly droids and twi'leks. Onthant and Jalo had their Stormtrooper helmets on as they held the blasters in hand while they patrolled around, keeping an eye out for the signal Rae and Athena were to give when they were supposed to go to Thrawn's office.
The Canted Circle meeting was fairly fancy as the buildings around seemed to glitter with the sun glinting off them and the deck had many ornate designs fit for such a formal event. There were several plants in pots here and there as well as tropical flowers from exotic planets to add to the decoration. Almost all the members that had shown up to this meeting that day were human, except for one man with blue skin and red eyes. Emperor Palpatine did not show up to this event, thankfully, as their intel showed that he canceled his trip to go due to an increase in rebel activity.
Athena was holding a tray as a couple of men grabbed the sparkling drinks off of the platter and winked at her. Athena internally puked as she hated this flirting from these men, but she just smiled and stayed in character as an obedient servant. She hated this dress, she hated these heels, she hated the flirting, but she shut up and stuck to the plan.
Rae froze when she heard a voice behind her call for a drink. He had a slight British accent and she turned around to face the Chiss with red eyes and blue skin. He was talking to a few other Imperial officials as she walked over to the group, them each taking a drink.
"It is not common for a togruta for have blue skin," Thrawn commented. "You are one of the more valuable of slaves for your species for your rarity."
Rae smiled and nodded, keeping her mouth shut. She silently called out through the Force to Athena to get her attention so she knew this may be the chance she could distract him.
"Would you like to dance?" the Chiss offered, his hand outstretched to Rae.
Rae was doing her best to nearly scream through the Force to get Athena's attention at this point.
Rae smiled and placed her tray next to her on the table not too far away; carefully putting it down on top of the white tablecloth. She let Thrawn take her hand and they walked to the platform where other officers were dancing with other servants. She let him take hold of her one hand and them both soon dance to the song softly playing.
This action made Rae wonder very much. She knew Thrawn would never waste his time dancing with some servant when he could be talking with the officers to help the Empire rule the galaxy. Time was very valuable to him and this wasn't a way he'd spend it. The fact he was the highest ranking officer on the dance floor made Rae worry even more as this was not a way for a man of his power to act; dancing with a servant.
She soon felt a ping through the Force. It was small, but noticeable to her. It was Athena. She darted her now blue eyes to where she sensed her friend and saw the purple twi'lek watching them. She gave a slight nod and Rae gave a confirming blink.
Athena soon made her way to put her tray down and headed to the door where two guards stood. They were no Stormtroopers. They wore black armor with the helmet a bit of a different shape. Their blasters were much more heavy duty than a Stormtroopers and they wore thick, black, combat boots. She faked a giggle as she forced her eyes to flash a purple and she walked past the two and out the door. She was getting used to this power that controlled the feeling of love but refused to use it almost ever. Especially on Ezra.
The two guards seemed to be entranced by her and followed her down the hall.
The hall was well decorated and had silver designs over the turquoise walls. The ceiling was in an arc and the floor was a white marble. She walked a few meters, the two guards following her before she made a turn down another hall. As soon as they turned down the hall behind her, she turned around. She kicked the one guard in the stomach as she took the blaster out of the other's hand. She swung the blaster at the one she took it from, knocking him out cold. She elbowed the other one in the neck, making him hit the floor hard enough that he was also unconscious.
She felt a small shock on her wrist as the pixels around her crackled a little. She looked at her bracelet and began to fiddle with and saw a wire had come loose and was exposed. She tucked it back into the bracelet the best she could and did her best to temporarily reattach it. She hit a jewel on the bracelet that acted as the signal to be sent to Jalo, Onthant, and Cyla before she walked back towards the deck.
Two Stormtroopers passed by her and they nodded. She nodded back at Jalo and her dad as she continued to walk.
"Do you know where we are actually going?" Jalo asked. "Or did you forget already?"
"I remember," Onthant grumbled as they turned to walk to the elevator. "I'm not that old."
The two got into the elevator and Jalo took his lightsaber off the back of his belt and held it in hand. Onthant got seriously nervous and back away as he held his finger on the trigger of his blaster. Jalo could sense his nervousness and turned to him.
"You think I'm going to attack you?" Jalo said with a bit of hurt in his voice as he sensed the fear and tension rise in Onthant.
Onthant said nothing and let out a small sigh.
Jalo knitted his eyebrows together as he still wore the helmet as he turned away, hiding his lightsaber in front of himself.
"I'm sorry," Jalo solemnly spoke. "I-I don't want you to think I'm a part of them anymore. I sense some guards on the next level and…"
"We should ask if Cyla got the cameras froze," Onthant suggested as he pulled out his com. "Green eyes, you got the cameras under control?"
"Got it, Blue eyes," Cyla's voice came over the com. "You and Blondie on your way?"
"We're almost there," Jalo spoke.
Onthant put the com back on his belt.
Jalo asked, "Why couldn't we think of better code names? Your daughter applies to two of this team's code names and I even apply to your code name."
"The girls go by Specter 7 and Specter 8. They know that" Onthant reminded. "And I've called you Blondie forever."
The elevator door opened and they both stepped out as they headed to where Thrawn's office was. Once they got to the corner just before, they stopped and peered around it to see two guards just like the ones Athena had encountered before. Jalo held his hand up to his old brother as his other hand held his lightsaber.
After a moment, Jalo stepped out from the corner as the red blade activated in his hand. The guards noticed and turned to him as they began to fire. It only took a moment for Jalo to block these shots and use the Force to rip the blasters out of their hands. He put his hands in front of his and focused on the minds of the guards.
He searched through their minds and soon came across the memory of what was happening now. He soon clenched his hands into a fist and each of them fell to the ground like flies. Onthant came out from around the corner and the two propped the guards to sit up against the sides of the gray door after Jalo put his lightsaber back on the back of his belt. The guards' blasters propped in their hands also; each out of ammo as they emptied them.
"Alright, how are we gonna get in?" Onthant asked.
"Give me a minute," Jalo said as he kneeled in front of the lock and fiddled with the wires. "I learned a few tricks to these."
Onthant looked up at the door as it slid open. Jalo stood up and the two ran into the office.
The office was fairly dull compared to the rest of the building. It was almost make-shift as it seemed to be lacking in much...anything. There was a desk and a few datapads with a chair.
The two soon began to scour through the data pads as they searched for the information they needed.
"I think I found it," said Jalo as he looked over a datapad.
"Alright, let's download the info on that thing," Onthant handed him a small chip.
Jalo plugged in the chip and waited as he saw it loading.
"This is a little easier than we thought," Onthant commented. "He didn't even have a main computer or any access codes for that."
"Yeah...a little too easy…" Jalo slowly commented as he looked up to Onthant.
Jalo sighed as an alarm split the air and he looked over to Onthant.
"Alright, you were right," Onthant shrugged. "It was a little too easy."
With Rae and Athena, Athena carefully walked around as she sat down yet another empty tray as they drinks had all been taken. She dusted off her golden gloves on her dress. Rae was still dancing with the Grand Admiral, they had been dancing for about three minutes now, the song now coming to an end.
Athena's head snapped around as she heard a small beeping noise. She noticed Thrawn look at a device on his wrist that was like an alarm. The blue togruta Rae was disguised as swung a punch towards Thrawn.
That was a signal if Athena ever saw one.
She grabbed the saucer of a silver tray, she shouted, "SPECTER 8, DUCK!"
Rae quickly ducked as Athena threw the tray as if it were a frisbee in the direction of Thrawn's head. He barely was able to duck and blocked it with his arms over his head.
"Specter 7, Specter 8, get out of there. They know we're here," Jalo's voice came over the coms. "Get to the ship!"
"We figured that out, idiot!" Rae shouted into her com as she ducked the punch Thrawn threw.
Athena looked to her right to see a servant droid with a tray in her hands and seemed petrified in fear Athena snatched the tray from out its hands and ran towards Thrawn and Rae. She ran up behind the Chiss and swung the tray at the back of Thrawn's head. He nearly doubled over from the pain of the tray smashing over his head.
While he was distracted by the pain, the two girls nodded and began to run off in the other direction as did most of the guests at the party. Rae and Athena were at the door, Rae a little ahead of Athena when Athena fell, feeling a sharp pain in her leg as a silver tray bounced off it.
Rae had not noticed this as she continued to run and Athena made no sound to indicate she was separated from her friend or hurt.
Athena turned around to see Thrawn standing a few meters away as he had obviously thrown the tray. She quickly got up and got ready to fight.
The Chiss charged at her and Athena quickly dodged his swing. She knew she was small compared to him, and she knew he was a good fighter. Better than anyone she had ever faced in hand-to-hand combat. Athena didn't want to use the Force or any of her powers. They didn't know who she was behind the Shadow Cloak, it was best to keep it this way.
Athena was near tripping on her heels as she ducked his throws constantly. When she did finally trip from a misstep in her heels, he took advantage of this and landed a full contact punch in the face. She fell backward and hit the ground with a thump. Her bracelet shocked her just enough to keep her awake as the pixels around her disappeared for a brief moment. Just enough for Thrawn to notice her face.
She was weak as she felt drowsiness come from the hit she suffered to the head. She couldn't even get up.
Thrawn came over to Athena and noticed the bracelet on her wrist slightly sparking with electricity. He stomped on her wrist, shattering the bracelet as well as her left wrist. Athena let out a scream of agony as she felt her bones shatter in her wrist and Thrawn continued to press on it with his boot. Her disguise disappeared and Thrawn could see the human girl with short hair.
"So, this is what the rebels are made of now?" Thrawn said. "A bunch of children?"
As Athena began to block out the pain in her wrist, she remembered the others and she needed to get out of there as this was the heart of the Empire. She swung her right fist and made full contact with Thrawn's knee. He stumbled back and Athena stood up, but immediately regretted it as she felt her head was still throbbing.
"Hey!" Thrawn looked up as he heard the male voice. It came from a man in Stormtrooper armor as he stood at the door. His helmet was off and it showed he had dark blonde hair and light blue eyes. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?!"
Athena smiled as she saw Jalo.
"Ah, another rebel has come to the rescue for the child," Thrawn seemed amused.
"Hey, I got a problem with you if you hurt my niece," Jalo said as he stood at the door still. He held his hand out and used the Force to push Thrawn back to the edge of the platform and into the railing.
He hit the marble siding with immense force and he fell to the ground. Jalo ran over to Athena and grabbed her wrist as she seemed to want to collapse. She let out a scream of pain as he grabbed onto her broken wrist. He looked at her wrist and saw it had begun to turn black and blue. Being closer to her, he saw the black eye around her right eye starting to form where Thrawn had punched her as well as a cut lip she got when she hit the ground.
"I'm fine," Athena assured, her head throbbing with pain. "We need to get outta here."
"Come on," Jalo encouraged as he put Athena's right arm over his shoulder and supported her. "You hit your head a little too hard to be running."
"Where's Mom?" Athena asked as Jalo supported her and they walked down the halls.
"She should be at the rendezvous point here soon," Jalo answered. "Onthant is already there and Rae is on her way. They're probably both there by now."
"We have to hurry; the Imperials will attack them here soon if we don't get to cover," Athena said as she took her arm off Jalo and began to run, only to nearly collapse three steps after.
"You can't run," Jalo said as he grabbed Athena's arm to support her again. "You hit your head."
"We have to hurry," Athena opposed. "That or they're going to have to leave without us. I can't be babied and hold your hand all the way to the ship."
"Then you'll need to be carried," Jalo said. He held his hand out in front of Athena as she was about to argue, her argument was cut short as soon as he clenched his hand as he still held it out and she fell unconscious.
Athena began to try to open her eyes as she saw nothing. She couldn't see Abeloth, so that meant her eyes weren't closed. But, she couldn't see. Her head felt light as a portion of the pain was replaced with a coolness on her head. She couldn't even feel her left wrist.
"Is she awake, yet?" a warbled voice could be heard. Athena felt like she recognized that voice...Jalo.
"I don't know," another warped voice said. This one wasn't familiar. "Her right eye is a little too swollen to open and I can't see the left eye under her hair. Why can't ya move her hair away from her eye again?"
"Here, we can move her hair just to see her eye. See if she's even responsive," Jalo suggested.
Athena panicked as she felt a hand on her face by her left eye and her bangs that covered up her eye and her blaster wound. She reacted quickly and swung her right fist in the direction she felt the hand come from.
"Ow!" Jalo complained of pain as he had a nasal voice.
"Ha! She sure is her mother's daughter!" another male laughed. His voice sounded like...a rodian? What rodian does she know? How does he know her mother?
"I-I can't see! Why can't I open my eye?" Athena began to slightly panic. "Where am I?! What happened?!"
"Hey, hey, hey," Athena heard the comforting voice of her mother rush to her side as she placed a hand on her daughter's right shoulder. "You're ok."
"I can't see…" Athena had a shaky voice. "What happened? Where am I?"
"You got a pretty bad hit to the head by your eye," the male voice said. "The swelling should go down in a few hours."
"Who are you?!" Athena demanded. " What happened to me? What swelling are you talking about?"
Letting out a sigh, Jalo calmly asked, "Kid, how much do you remember?"
Athena contemplated for a moment. She wasn't really sure on what had brain felt like mush and her memory was blurry.
"I… I remember fighting you showed up. My wrist…"
"Your wrist is broken," Cyla told. "We were hoping you'd use your healing powers to fix it in your sleep. It wasn't healing so we had to put some bacta on it after we put it in a splint. You had a couple injuries to your head that we also put bacta on. Do you feel light headed?"
"Mom? Am...am I blind forever?" Athena shakily asked as she sat there on the ground. She could now hear some outside noise. Almost like a busy city.
"No," she could hear her father walk in her direction. "The swelling should go down by tomorrow if we're lucky."
Athena could hear her father lightly laugh and she felt in the Force that Jalo was getting annoyed.
"Shut up," Jalo spoke in a nasal voice as he scowled at his brother.
"Did we get the plans?" Athena asked. "Where's Rae? Is she ok?"
"Yeah," her friend answered. "We just gotta wait down here until Imperial forces lessen up."
"Where are we?" Athena inquired.
"Welcome to the Solarburn Repairs and Restoration shop, kiddo," Onthant said.
As Athena turned to where she had last heard that rodian's voice, she slowly asked, "So...you must be that rodian Strive."
"Nice to see ya again, Syla," the rodian held his hand out for Athena.
After a second of the best scowl, Athena could give for a second, Strive realized his mistake.
"Oh...well, it's nice to see you again. Though, you can't see me," Strive laughed.
Athena growled and was about to bark an insult until she remembered when Hondo had made a comment like that to Kanan. He was actually and permanently blind, but he kept his cool and didn't react harshly towards the comments. She could imagine that Kanan would want Athena to stay calm and collective too if she was to become a Jedi. And Ahsoka…she wouldn't want Athena to get upset over something so little.
"Nice to hear your voice again," Athena shook hands with the rodian with her right hand. "People call me Athena. Athena Jarrus."
"So, do you think you're going to be able to heal your wrist and your eye here soon?" Rae asked her friend. "We're expected to leave in three rotations."
"Yeah," Athena responded. "How bad did I get beat up?"
"Pretty bad," Jalo told. "I had to save you behind before you got yourself killed or captured."
As she slowly thought, Athena did her best to remember the mixed up memories from the last time she was conscious. She remembered fighting Thrawn...he hit her head...he stomped on her wrist...she got him off herself...Jalo came. What did he say that she remembered being so complexed about..? She wanted to ask a question about only a little part of what he said…
"You called me your niece…" Athena mumbled.
"What?" Jalo asked, straining to hear what she mumbled.
"You called me your niece," Athena said softly. "Are you really my uncle?"
"You two idiots never told her?" Strive commented as he looked to Jalo and Onthant.
Rae knitted her eyes at her former Master who still kneeled in front of Athena. Cyla knelled behind her daughter as she still had a compassionate hand on her daughter. Strive sat on a crate a little to the right of Athena and Cyla. Rae sat on a crate just behind Jalo while Onthant stood next to her.
"You two are biological brothers?" Rae questioned. "Why didn't you respond to my question when we were on our way? What's the big deal about you two being brothers?"
"It's not relevant," Jalo stated as he looked back at Rae. "We have more important things to worry about rather than me having to share blood with that idiot."
"Do we have to have this discussion now?" Cyla sighed, annoyed.
"I think that it's ridiculous!" Rae exclaimed, her brown eyes seemingly angry. "Why are you two that immature that we can't discuss who we're all related to?!"
"Padawan Styles," Cyla snapped as she stood. "I do not know why you are so mad about this subject. This does not pertain to you."
"It does if I know you can't trust me with these things!" Rae snapped.
"You don't ever mention anything about who your family was. You know more than anyone that it doesn't matter," Jalo said as he looked at Rae.
"What do you know about my family before the rebellion?!" Rae seemed infuriated as she stood up.
"Rachelle," Cyla snapped. "There is no mean to get so upset over this matter."
"But-"
"Either you check your anger or you can just sit on the other side of the shop," Cyla warned. "We will discuss this matter later."
Rae let out a deep, angry, sigh through her nose and slumped her shoulders.
"Alright, let's let the kid have some rest so she can heal herself up," Onthant suggested. "I'll get to work on seeing what we can do with what we got from Thrawn's office."
"Grand Admiral Thrawn, you must realize that we have a great concern for your safety after the attack on you on Coruscant," Governor Pryce argued as she followed not too far behind Thrawn as they walked down the halls of a Star Destroyer named Chimaera. "You can't possibly be thinking of actually further investigating this incident. Why not let another one of our lower officers take care of it and find these attackers?"
As he adjusted the collar of his sleeve, Thrawn stated, "Most lower officers fail to produce results. This meeting I was attending had many high-ranking officials present. This group of rebels could've caused mayhem within the Empire if a number of them were to have been injured or killed. The rebels coming to the heart of the Empire is revealing how daring they are becoming."
"You believe that these rebels that lead the attack are part of a larger rebellion?" the governor inquired, her blue eyes squinting in question.
As they entered Thrawn's office, the Chiss walked over to his desk and hit a button to project a screen in the air as the lights in the room dimmed for it to be more visible. It showed a photo of the blonde man that had used the Force to push Thrawn to support the girl with a green eye.
"This man is a former Inquisitor," Thrawn pointed at the man with dark blonde hair and a faint distinction of a beard. "His name is Jalo Hikra. He mentioned this girl is his niece."
"And what does this have to do with the other rebels?"
"This girl...she actually has the highest bounty on her ever set by the Empire. Athena Jarrus. Her brother is the Jedi Master of the Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger. I would imagine as her name given to her by birth was Syla Dume that she had met her brother and his Padawan, as well as the Phoenix squadron, to have changed her name for them to have the same last name," Thrawn told as he switched the photo over to another of the same teenage girl. This photo was an Imperial identification one as she stood in front of a height marker and had long hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. "She was captured and trained as an Inquisitor at a top-secret location. Her actions while she was there is very...concerning…"
"What do you mean?" Governor Pryce asked.
"She had killed all of the Inquisitors-in-training single-handedly," Thrawn told. "184 students to be exact."
"That's impossible!" she exclaimed in disbelief.
"And that's what we had thought," Thrawn told as he slowly strode from the hologram to the works of art hung across his office. "But, we also thought Earthlings being Force-sensitive was impossible also."
"How would you come up with the idea that she is from Earth?"
As he stopped in front of a picture of some sort of flag that Governor Pryce did not recognize, Thrawn stated, "We have information that this girl had been retrieved after she had killed these Inquisitors-in-training; she was transported by a bounty hunter. This bounty hunter was killed...his body was found on a ship after it was sent to an Imperial base in the Outer Rim. He had a wound that only could be inflicted by an Earthling weapon. A blaster shot almost...but they use pieces of metal to shoot each other on the same wound this bounty hunter had. And there is one country on this Earth that has used bounty hunters in our galaxy previously that I believe would be the home country of this girl."
"And you believe that this 'country' was in cooperation with the girl and the rebellion?"
"No," Thrawn turned from the flag to look towards the governor. "This country is called the United States of America that had retrieved her. And based on the intel I have collected concerning this girl, I can confirm she is indeed an American. This country would not dare get involved with fighting the Galactic Empire, but they would want this girl to fight for them. As she has shown to be extremely useful, these Earthlings would hire a bounty hunter fairly quickly to retrieve her again as they've done it before to retrieve her and the Jedi Kanan Jarrus."
"So...what does this all mean?" Governor Pryce questioned. "Why does it matter that this girl is from Earth? Sure they are more primordial, but not enough to concern the Empire."
"The Americans are a certain type of people that could be a concern, though. The main problem with these people is that even if you were to read every manual they had produced, the Americans feel no obligation to read their manuals nor follow their doctrine. They often are unpredictable...and that's what made their entire country. They often preach freedom and rebellion in their livelihood in this country and it fuels their people to go to war," Thrawn told. "Earth is filled with chaos, so that's what their people are most used to. War can be chaotic if not coordinated, and that's what they are most used to. It's their home field. War is their home field. This girl can carry over these ideas into the rebellion and their attacks."
"And if the rebellion does pick up on this planet's systems of war, would we not know how they'd react? There must be some sort of pattern in their war tactics."
"Barely," Thrawn stated. "This girl and what she was raised by promotes a legitimate concern for the Empire. This is a whole new type of war we'd be fighting if they were to adapt to Earth's tactics of war."
As Rae sat next to Athena on a crate she placed a new ice pack on her friends head on the right side of her face. She had just gotten back from getting rid of her friend's splint as Athena had healed her wrist completely. Her right eye still wasn't able to work as they swelling would not go down. Athena said that for her eyes, she'll just let it go through the natural healing process since she didn't want to risk ruining her right eye's vision permanently.
"Rae, do you need me to watch her for a while?" Jalo asked. "I know you like to go explore big cities. I don't want to keep you stuck inside."
"I'm fine," Rae responded.
"You sure? I'm fine," Athena assured. "I can just hang back for a little while."
As she shook her head, Rae responded, "I'm fine."
"Hey," Athena turned to Jalo. "I know that you didn't meet Onthant until you were like eleven. But, if you're brothers, why did it take so long until you meet?"
"We actually didn't know we were even related until I was fourteen and Caleb was just born," Jalo admitted.
"Wait, what?" Rae asked, puzzled. "You two knew each other for three years and didn't know you were brothers?"
"How did you two figure out you were related then?" Athena asked.
As Jalo let out a sigh, he stated, "When I got my foot cut off, I needed blood. Onthant had to donate blood and we found out then that we were related."
"You got your foot cut off?!" Athena questioned, surprised.
"Yeah," Jalo stated. "I got some cybernetics as a replacement for my foot."
"You never told me either," Rae stated with a smile on her face.
With a scowl on his face, Jalo stated, "That was because you figured it out when you accidentally turned on the magnetic lock on the ceiling one time when you were my Apprentice."
"It was hilarious and you know it," Rae stated. "But, you never said how you lost it."
"And how did you meet Dad?" Athena questioned.
"Well...it's a long story," Jalo said as he stood up and dusted off his hands on his pant leg. "I should see if I can help fix up anything around here. Strive must be overwhelmed running this place by himself."
"Come on," Athena spoke up. "Please? Tell us the story."
"Yeah, come on, Jalo. Will you tell your poor, blind, little niece the story?" Rae put on a fake puppy face.
As he looked to Rae with an annoyed face, he stated, "The last time you did that face, you somehow managed to get me to get you a tooka for your birthday about two or three years ago."
"Whatever happened to that tooka?" Rae asked.
"I honestly have no idea," Jalo shrugged his shoulders. "I think it ran away somewhere in the Outer Rim."
"Are you gonna to tell us the story or not?" Athena questioned, crossing her arms over her chest.
With a sigh, Jalo stated, "Fine."
For those who've read my previous stories and have read this, I have this to say:
AWWW! You guys are really committed to this storyline! Thanks :3
And that this is taking place during the episode "Double Agent Droid"