Galactic date: 13 December, 2 BBY

Location: Cassandra

A VCX shuttle jumped out of hyperspace two miles away from the ghost ship. The pilot steered the shuttle towards the Cassandra. "The ship is dead. This can't be good." He slowed down the ship and docked onto its surface.

"Time to get to the bottom of this." Said Ezra. Sabine got up and handed a jetpack to him. Ezra depressurised the back of the ship and opened the hatch. The two spacewalked towards a hatch and cut it open, completely unaware that somebody was watching them from another part of the ship.

Ezra drifted into the hallway of the cruiser. A bizarre and bloody scene lay in front of them. Dozens of crewmen, or what's left of them, were floating around with strands of blood coming from them.

Ezra gasped in disgust to the sight of such horror. He and Sabine flipped a body, and found a very neat slash on its belly. "That's by a lightsaber." Said Ezra. Sabine frowned, a man killing rebels with a lightsaber can never be good. "Who could have done this?" She asked.

Ezra thought for a while and answered, "We'll head to the bridge, perhaps the ship log will give as a lead." Without hesitating, the two made their way through alleys and hallways. Little did they know they were drifting into a trap that meant certain death.

They arrived at the bridge. Shattered glass were knocked out of their way as they got to the main computer. Ezra gained access to the ship logs with his authorization codes. But before he could do anything, he felt Sabine shaking his shoulder frantically.

"What's up Sabine..." He was interrupted when he saw a bright red coming from the way they came in. Ezra turned around and saw the horrifying sight of five star destroyers jumping out of hyperspace.

"Ah! I see someone has finally decided to pay me a visit." Said Marek. He walked out of the hallway and found himself staring at a Mandalorian with repainted armor. She was wearing a rocket pack with a darksabre and a T-7 disruptor attached to it.

Next to her was an ARC trooper covered with orange stripes. A star bird insigna was merged with a Mandalorian symbol on both of his shoulder guards. His helmet was carved with the words of 'Gen. E. Bridger'. He also had a jetpack attached with a lightsaber blaster and a crossguard saber.

Ezra ignited both of his lightsabers, so did Sabine. "Let me guess, you're Vader's new lapdog?" Ezra asked sarcastically, although his heart rate was accelerating in a terrifying speed. He knew this was nowhere close to any inquisitor he has encountered. He's dealing with a Sith, a real Sith.

Marek didn't take Ezra's mocking seriously. "Do you really think I'm as childish as the inquisitors? Hardly. Now, I'll prove you wrong." He stepped on the wall and went flying towards Ezra. Ezra managed to avoid Marek and swung his green lightsaber towards him. Marek easily deflected his attack, and forced Ezra's blade away from him.

Sabine deflected Marek's blow before he could get anywhere closer to Ezra. But her strength was no match to Marek's. He kicked Sabine in her stomach and she was sent flying towards a wall.

"Sabine!" Ezra yelled and ran towards Marek. His lightsaber clashed with Marek's and he held his ground. "Sabine, go!" Ezra shouted. But Sabine was not about to repeat her history on Ezra. She pulled out her twin blasters and fired at Marek, but was countered by him with no sweat.

Marek force pushed Ezra and he flew towards the wall. He landed next to Sabine and groaned in pain. He was about to fight Marek when he suddenly noticed he wasn't on the bridge anymore. Instead, he was boarding a TIE-advanced. "If you get out of this, come find me." That was his last words before volleys of green lasers hurtled towards the dead cruiser and sent parts of it exploding.

"Guess this is when our jet packs come in." Said Sabine. The two throttled out of the bridge just before another laser bolt sent the bridge sky-high. They managed to get back to the Phantom without getting shot down. Ezra powered up the Phantom, but then he noticed a gigantic fireball coming out from the reactor of the Cassandra.

The explosion blasted the Phantom away from the hellfire. The shuttle was caught by gravity and was plummeting towards the surface of Korriban. Ezra did everything he can to regain control of the ship, but to no avail. "Brace for it!" He yelled as the Phantom was only seconds away from impact.

Sometime later, aboard the Dominate...

Marek marched down the alley towards the hologram room. He was ordered to report his mission to Darth Vader himself. He activated the hologram, a masked man in black emerged from the projector. "Did you kill the Jedi?" Asked Vader through the hologram.

Marek cleared his throat before reporting, "No, but the explosion certainly did. And if it didn't, then they must be on Korriban." Vader paused. "I want to be certain. Go to Korriban, and hunt him down." Ordered Vader.

"I'll bring him to you personally, master." Said Marek. To him, Ezra wasn't even a match. "Do not be a fool, Marek. He has become a threat the Empire cannot turn away from, like a cancer. I need you to eradicate this cancer." Demanded Vader. He knew the inquisitors never intended to kill Ezra when his life was in their hands, and that led to their downfall.

"It will be done, master." Marek marched out of the room and summoned his personal Shadow Guards. "The boy is on Korriban. We will hunt him down, kill him on sight, no mercy."

Meanwhile, aboard the Kanera...

Kanan plopped down beside the Dejarik table. He just finished meditating and it sent him going bonkers. He saw their lost ship, turned into solar dust by the Empire. He prayed with all his heart it didn't take his apprentice with him.

He saw Ramin wandering around aimlessly, he climbed up the Dejarik table and shook a toy Phantom in front of him. "Not now son. I'm thinking." But Ramin insisted his father to look at him. He 'crashed' his toy Phantom onto the Dejarik table and whispered a few words into his ears.

"On the surface."

Kanan frowned. He held his head and looked down, still trying to figure out the fate of Ezra. But then a lightbulb went over his head. "I got it! Ramin, you're a genius!" He screamed and ran towards the bridge. "Hera! We have to go to Korriban. Ezra's ship crashed and the Empire is on their tails." Hera raised her eyebrow, she could feel in her guts a search and rescue mission was coming.

"How do you know he met a speed bump?" Asked Hera. "I felt it, and if we don't get there soon, this might turn into a recovery mission." Said Kanan.

"Guess we'll just leave Sato a message and be on our way." Zeb chimed in. Kanan and Hera sprinted to the cockpit and powered up the Ghost. "This is Ghost, transmitting codes for docking bay." The red strip on the cruiser slid open, and the Ghost flew out of the hangar and disappeared into deep space.