Coruscant - Two weeks later
"Imperial Senate control, this is shuttle Valoren requesting permission to land, sending clearance codes now," Hera said into the com as the shuttle began its descent through Coruscant's outer atmosphere – not to mention the heavy planetary shields that would otherwise leave the ship and everyone aboard space debris orbiting the planet. To be honest, every instinct she had was telling her to turn tail and jump for the nearest seedy port she could lay in a course for, but they were here now, and Hera had no intention of leaving without making contact with this Jedi.
Her fingers tapped nervously on the shuttle's control panel as she waited for the traffic comptroller to verify the codes. After their covers had come through, it had been two weeks of rehearsal and ensuring Sabine, Ezra, and Chopper weren't going to get themselves into trouble. Hera had let Sato handle most of that; Kanan had been off-and-on distracted and Hera had to make sure he didn't get lost in his thoughts. Not that she minded, but she was worried. After losing his sight and recovering from that, Hera was sure Kanan was grappling with what had to be an identity crisis – to regain his sight, or some form of it, he had to rely on abilities that he hadn't needed or readily admitted to for fifteen years, if not longer. But with that came all the baggage of his old life, of Caleb Dume. Hera made a point not to pry, but given that their possible recruit was someone Kanan – or, rather, Caleb – had known was throwing off their usual vibe for a mission.
"Shuttle Valoren, clearance codes accepted," the comptroller replied, and Hera had to exhale slowly in relief. "Sending you course to docking bay seven-five-zero at the Senate spaceport. Senator Organa and his retinue will be there to greet you."
"Course read in and confirmed," Hera reported as the navicomputer twittered with the uploaded coordinates. "Thanks, control, on our way, Valoren out."
Flying the shuttle wasn't like flying the Ghost; once Hera activated the course, the autopilot could take them most of the way down, and if she needed to make a correction she just had to type the commands through the console. No yoke to speak of, so if they had to make a quick escape she had to hope the computer could keep up with her.
"First time to Imperial Center, captain?" her copilot – one of Organa's men, fully aware of the Rebel team slipping down with him and the princess – asked as they cleared the last of the shields and descended through a mild lightning storm.
"That obvious, lieutenant?" Hera asked in answer. The man smiled faintly and nodded.
"So long as you keep a fair step out of the Empire's view, you'll be all right," he advised. "As soon as one of their snoops gets a scent, they won't let go until they know where you stand."
"I doubt we'll be here that long," Hera insisted, "but I'll keep that in mind. You have the landing?"
"Yes, ma'am," he agreed, switching the controls over to his side of the cockpit. "You going to check on the passengers?"
"One, really, but since he's not howling I think he's all right," Hera replied with a grin before getting up from her seat. She even gave her jacket a small straightening tug – not quite sure what to make of wearing something so smooth, really – before keying opening the door separating the cockpit from the main cabin. As expected, Hera noted that Princess Leia was calmly in her seat, strapped in against the light turbulence of the storm outside; Zeb was folded up in the back, but his eyes were narrowed very unhappily and kept tugging at the collar of his new armor. He at least gave Hera a small nod when she came in, so she was sure Zeb wasn't making trouble like he might have been for once.
Kanan was across from the princess, arms crossed over his chest and head leaned back. Hera wouldn't have admitted it to the rest of the crew, but the diplomatic wear he'd received for his cover really did suit him. Instead of the crisp military look she and Zeb had, Hera imagined the outfit was closer to what Kanan might wear as a proper Jedi Knight, just with more color and probably less chest showing. The white undershirt hung open to Kanan's sternum, a small collar just brushing along the edge of his neck, and gave a crisp backdrop for the green coat layered over it. The coat also came with a fairly deep hood to hide his eyes, and Leia had even gifted Kanan a carved metal visor to wear under it to hide his eyes. Apparently the Miraluka of Alderaan were aware of a Jedi passing as one of their own and they were more than happy to even distantly welcome him into their community. Kanan hadn't put on the visor yet, so the faint scarring across his eyes was clearly visible.
As Hera stepped inside and closed the door after getting the nod from Zeb, Kanan's head came up to half-turn for her. Hera still felt a sickened pang in her chest when she saw Kanan's eyes were open, but his eyes – once bright blue-green and full of life and mischief – were pale and blurred, the color burned out to an off-white no thanks to a Sith.
"So we got through?" Kanan asked after his eyes wandered a bit, eventually focusing just to Hera's left. "No trouble from the Imps?"
"None so far," Hera confirmed, and the princess offered them a smile.
"At least that much," Leia pointed out. "Usually the comptrollers make us wait in high orbit for some other bureaucrat to move out, or in. I've never understood or cared for whatever precedence they try to invent."
"Better than getting pulled in for a scan, or, worse, a full search," Kanan agreed. "So, what's next?"
"We land and meet with my father," Leia answered over a rumble of thunder and a brief shiver through the shuttle's fuselage. "He can give you full details on the patterns he's noticed with this Jedi and hopefully point you towards her next target."
"No chances of finding her base of operations?" Hera asked. It was usually easier to find recruits by tracking them from a raid to where they went to ground, and approaching their stronghold, or somewhere on neutral ground, to make that initial contact. Dangerous for them, sure, but if there was trouble they did have Kanan to sense it coming.
"If it's Raen, she won't make it easy to find," Kanan answered. "She's going to go down to the lower levels, somewhere only she can get to. She used to talk about some of the dens she'd made on Nar Shaddaa and moving whenever it got too cramped or anything bigger than her got in."
"Which is going to make following her even more difficult," Leia added. "Below the first hundred levels or so the Imperial presence does increase somewhat, but so does the criminal element. It gets worse even further down."
"Well, it's a start," Hera decided.
"It'd better be, so's I can get outta this rig," Zeb grumbled from his corner, unfolding to stand and resettle closer to them. "Itches somethin' fierce."
"Stop complaining already; you've had to make a comment every time I come back here," Hera sighed, shaking her head even as Zeb tugged at his collar again.
"Even more, trust me," Kanan pointed out with a faint smirk, and Hera couldn't help but return it. Sometimes Kanan was still the same he'd been since she met him, and it was good to see that.
"Besides, you're still not fully dressed yet yourself," Hera teased slightly. Kanan's coat still hung loose – a brown sash was meant to secure it closed – and the Empire would never buy him being Miraluka if his blinded eyes were blatantly visible for the whole capital to see.
"Fine, but I still want to get into my clothes once we don't have to keep on with these covers," Kanan muttered. He sat through another shiver of turbulence before standing from his seat and getting the sash tied around his waist. With it, the coat and shirt formed a layered V neckline that almost made Kanan seem taller than he already was, and there was an obvious shift in his stance as he reached back to raise the hood – from the smuggler she knew to the Jedi he had once been, or was becoming.
"Ah, wait, you're missing something," Hera insisted before he had the hood fully raised, reaching to where Kanan had left the visor aside when they had taken off from Atollon. He paused long enough for Hera to rise up on her toes and gently slide the visor over his eyes. For a brief moment, it felt like Kanan was looking at her; those blank pupils fixed directly to her, and Hera was sure he knew how close she was. It left warm shivers running down her spine, even as she set the visor in place and let her fingertips trail gently down his cheeks. "There. Now you can finish the look."
"Wasn't the only thing missing," Kanan teased with a smirk, even as he dropped the hood over his head. Hera still gave him a punch to the arm for that.
"Later, love; now, we get to settle in to our landing," Hera told him before settling in next to Leia and strapping in for the rest of the flight into Coruscant proper. Kanan sat back down with Zeb, and luckily the initial turbulence trailed off as they descended. The shuttle didn't come with windows, which was probably easier on all of their nerves.
"Making our final approach, princess, stand by for landing," the lieutenant announced over the com, and Hera sighed. So far, no problems; that was either a good sign or an indicator of just how bad things were going to get. Hera heard and felt the shuttle's engines switch off, power getting routed to the repulsorlifts, and imagined the shuttle sliding smoothly towards a docking platform, wings folding upward neatly as the landing struts extended. She didn't notice she was holding another breath until she let it go after proper gravity kicked in with the shuttle's landing.
"Somebody was nervous," Zeb prodded with a fierce smirk as Hera got up.
"Hey, it's not a ship I'm flying, of course I was nervous," Hera countered. The last thing she wanted Zeb guessing was that she didn't like being in the very heart of the Empire they wanted to overthrow. It was still nice that Kanan's hand took hers, squeezing gently as Leia's proper guards formed up near the hatch. Zeb remembered his role and grumbled before marching up to join them, and Kanan had to slip his hand free to stand next to Leia, roughly in the center of the guard formation. Time to make sure the Empire didn't suspect a thing.
–
The smell and feel of Coruscant hit Kanan like riding the Phantom out of hyperspace: a lot of vibrating and shaking, but hanging on just enough to manage through the initial drag. He had never wanted to come back here, not after he had aborted a lightspeed jump when he received Master Kenobi's warning about the Temple's fall to the Empire. Coruscant had been home for Caleb Dume and somewhere Kanan Jarrus had never wanted to go to. Now he was here and all Kanan wanted to do was turn and run all over again.
Not alone this time, part of him insisted. Find Raen. Save Raen.
Kanan ground his jaw slightly before he automatically put his hand onto the princess's shoulder when he sensed the guards starting down the ramp, with them soon to follow. The sooner they found Raen, Kanan decided, the sooner they could get out of here and not risk being caught. How Organa managed it, he'd never know.
Leia, at least, kept a light, gentle pace that he could easily match as they descended the ramp, and Kanan automatically tried to get himself oriented by turning to look around; obviously, that didn't work like it used to. But the Force filled in a little of what he needed: a burst of power megablocks away had to be the Jedi Temple, but much closer was a steady pulse of darkness with a similar feeling like Vader. The only difference was this one was purer darkness, less present than Vader was but no less dangerous and malevolent. Kanan suppressed a shudder and remembered to scatter his Force-presence as much as possible – keep hidden from whomever that feeling belonged to.
He refocused on the immediate scene in front of him and sensed a familiar masculine presence full of both calm and conviction. Bail Organa was an impressive man, something Kanan couldn't quite rectify with himself ever since he and the rest of the Ghost's crew had met him nearly a year ago. The man was a senator from not just any Core world, but one of the founding members of the Old Republic – and was one of the leaders of the rebellion Kanan now found himself a willing operative for. The fact that Organa was somehow keeping his ties to the rebellion secret enough that the Empire couldn't do anything about it to the point of denying Alderaan's culpability – like when Leia had delivered three cruisers to Phoenix Squadron and they had staged their theft – was enough for Kanan to decide Organa was a trustworthy ally.
"Welcome to Coruscant, ambassador, a pleasure to meet you again," Organa greeted Kanan warmly. Kanan's grip moved from Leia's shoulder to extend for the senator's hand, a gesture Organa returned firmly. "I see you had no troubles with your arrival; was the rest of the journey as smooth?"
"Very much, thank you," Kanan remembered to reply; he was the ambassador, not Leia. Way to go, Kanan, shoot yourself in the foot while you're at it. "I'm sorrier your daughter's shuttle had to be rerouted into the Rim to pick me up."
"It really wasn't any trouble, ambassador, you're too modest," Leia replied for her father, and Kanan managed an embarrassed smirk because Leia's honesty flared out. He let go of Organa's hand as the Senator turned towards his daughter.
"Now, let's head for my private suite; we can discuss business there," Organa decided. "Not to mention I want to hear all about your new bodyguard, Leia. However did you cross paths with a Lasat?"
"I ask myself that every day since she took me on, uh, sir," Zeb answered, only stammering once. Not bad, big guy, Kanan had to allow. "Served in the Honor Guard before Lasaan burned, and it's nice to get out'f the merc trade for awhile."
It had been Leia's insistence that Zeb stick to his own story rather than inventing a background like Kanan and Hera had; that way, there was less chance of Zeb possibly offending anyone outright and he didn't screw up details that could draw too much attention. Zeb's initial argument had been he was perfectly able to keep his story and a cover straight, but some practice caught him slipping up more than even Hera could stand. Part of Zeb's discomfort had been less the disguise and more the details for the rest of the trip after that.
"Glad to hear it; we can discuss the full details of your employment at the same time," Organa informed them. "Follow me, if you will. Leia, could you continue acting as our guests' guide?"
Leia nodded, not without kissing her father on the cheek in greeting before she returned to Kanan's side and let his hand land on her shoulder again.
"Nicely done, ambassador," Leia murmured to him as they got underway, Organa in the lead, into the Senate building. "Looks like the last-minute fix to your friend's cover is going to pay off."
"Just so long as I keep myself in order, this whole job should go smoothly," Kanan agreed in an undertone of his own. He sensed Leia's amusement clearer than hearing her chuckle and allowed himself a small smile of his own.
Kanan couldn't have retraced their steps from the shuttle's docking bay to Organa's private rooms even if he could see. They twisted through corridors and past more bureaucrats than Kanan could have expected even before the end of the Republic, not to mention plenty of stormtrooper patrols that spiked Zeb's temper though the Lasat didn't outwardly react beyond his usual bad mood. Here and there they emerged from aide-specific corners into wider spaces where Organa paused to greet colleagues and introduce Leia and "Ambassador Kifeoth of the Miralukan Enclave". Kanan shook more senators' hands than he cared to count, but he heard and sensed enough to figure out how Organa kept his rebel ties hidden: he had political allies that shared those sympathies, forming a solid faction against the Empire being even worse than it already was.
After the hand-shaking and a few more weaving twists, their little band reached what Kanan assumed was their destination. Their surroundings were quiet enough that Kanan could hear Organa type a code into a pad, opening what he assumed was a secured room that maybe the Empire didn't have bugged. Better than Organa's main offices, that was sure.
"Captain, are we secure?" Organa asked after Kana heard the faint pneumatic hiss of the door. The long pause was enough for Kanan to kick at Zeb's ankle.
"What, what?!" Zeb griped.
"Captain," Kanan growled faintly. "The senator asked if we were secure. Answer him."
"…oh," Zeb sighed as he remembered, then padded forward, beyond the doorway as he swept for bugs. Kanan took a chance to try and sense things out himself, but there wasn't anything he could make out. After a few minutes, Zeb called out, "Suite's secure, senators, ambassador."
"Thank you, captain, I'm sure you were thorough," Organa commended, though Kanan sensed Organa was all right with Kanan prodding Zeb back into his role. Leia guided Kanan inside, and about twenty paces in she guided him down onto a couch. Zeb flopped down next to him and passed Kanan a tumbler of what Kanan prayed was something alcoholic.
"Is Hera part of this meeting?" Kanan asked when he heard the door close but didn't sense Hera in the room.
"Unfortunately due to procedural requirements, I couldn't find a way to bring her up physically," Organa apologized. "I've my comlink on so she can hear this briefing, and she can rendezvous with you after we get you two settled in your quarters."
Kanan nodded acceptance of the situation before sniffing, then sipping, his drink. It was a decent whiskey, probably and undoubtedly a very nice Corellian vintage, with some water to reduce the edge on the burn. Training Ezra had forced Kanan to keep sober to the point of having a dry ship, but Kanan knew not to rush back into drinking too much.
"So, now that we're here, fill us in," Kanan insisted after he'd had maybe half of the whiskey, enough to be polite but not being too casual. "You think there's a Jedi survivor on Coruscant and causing trouble for the Empire."
"More than just 'think so', Master Jarrus," Organa answered; Kanan couldn't help a slight uncomfortable shift at the honorific. "She's struck another convoy while you were en route, and this time the ISB couldn't edit out the lightsaber."
Kanan heard a holorprojector activate and he swallowed his sigh of exasperation, along with some more of the whiskey.
"A couple more things I've noted; although she has a lightsaber, there's no traces of it on any of the transports she's raided, and she doesn't leave a single dead soldier even though her lightsaber's struck them," Organa added. "I'm sure you understand lightsaber construction better than I do, Master Jarrus –"
"Just Kanan, Senator, please," Kanan had to insist.
"Kanan, forgive me," Organa corrected himself. "But it doesn't seem as though her lightsaber's at full power."
"Kanan'n Ezra have low-power modes, for sparrin'," Zeb pointed out. "Maybe she don' wanna make a bad name killin' anyone she don't hafta."
"Maybe," Kanan muttered, "and in all this time she could've built her own full-powered lightsaber."
Unless she tried referencing anything from the Temple and it kept her from getting to any instructions, Kanan added silently. Training lightsabers were locked in low-power mode, and if Raen couldn't build herself a real lightsaber then all she had was that training blade. It was strong enough to knock out an opponent on a good strike, but it didn't do much more damage than that.
"Whatever the case, she still moves too quickly to effectively trace where she goes after she steals supplies," Organa continued. "Usually, she leaves a speeder near where she plans to hit a convoy, ensures the supply transport is closest, then moves the cargo over after causing some small mayhem to distract the Imperial escort. Within ten minutes, she's gotten the supplies and taken off in the speeder with them."
"No chance to track the speeder?" Kanan asked.
"She hotwires a new one for each target, and dumps her ride fairly quickly after the strike in case of that very thing," Organa replied.
"Then how do we find her?" Zeb pressed. "What, jus' sit and wait for the next supply convoy and run her down?"
Kanan sensed that smile long before Organa actually gave it. That was when he drained the whiskey and was ready for another.