CHAPTER THREE – THE APPLES OF ANGER

KANAN

Fulcrum spends the entire journey back to her ship telling off her crewmates. Particularly, her husband Lux.

"You took a job without my knowledge? Lux, do you have any idea what Katooni, the kids, and I were thinking when we got home and none of you were there?"

"It seemed simple, Soka. I figured, how wild could it possibly get?"

"You clearly don't remember the New Year's Eve party."

The others freeze.

…

Music pumped through the hangar bay, so loud it almost rattled the streamers haphazardly thrown over the rafters and drowned out the sounds of the party below.

Captain Rex couldn't hear his own thoughts as he watched Ahsoka rush up to Lux and drag him over to the bar. The purpose quickly became evident: the rest of the women were at the bar, waiting for him to ignite their flaming shots.

Lux touched the tip of a lighter to each glass. The women blew the flames out and slammed each dose of liquor, Lux not far behind with his own flaming shot.

He turned his attention away from the women, to where Saw and Hutch were playing a drinking game.

For full-grown adults, he mused, they can still act like teenagers at a house party.

The next day was much calmer, as everyone at the party was too hung over to move.

…

"I vaguely remember blowing out flaming shots." Steela recalls.

"I drunk kissed Shara Bey." Saw groans. "And then her boyfriend Kes Dameron punched me in the nose."

Sierra moans. "I played beer pong with my ex after helping Steela finish off the flaming shots."

"I was the one who poured the flaming shots." Lux remembers.

"What happened at the New Year's Eve party?" Ezra asks innocently.

But before I can deliver a lecture about drinking responsibly, Zeb speaks. "They all got lit."

"You could have at least called me." Ahsoka says, back to business. "It's a good thing you left Mina and Molly on the ship, otherwise I don't know what would have happened to you all."

"Wait, I didn't tell them where we were going." A woman who Ahsoka calls Hero protests.

"Molly tracked the comms." Ahsoka offers as an explanation. "And once she found out where you were, Katooni went back into the call log and looked up the last number you called to find out who you were meeting."

Hero looks at a man I'm assuming is her husband.

"That would explain a lot." He says.

"They get it from you, Hutch."

"Hey, they're hacker's daughters."

"Enough," Ahsoka breaks in. "Kanan, Hera, what were you doing hiring my crew?"

"We didn't know they were your crew," I begin, "And we were getting desperate for credits, so..." Just get it over with, Kanan. "We were going to rob them and return the goods to Azmorigan for a reward."

To my shock, Ahsoka doesn't blink. "So you were both trying to run a game on each other. Nice. Sierra, want to tell me why you almost got yourself shot?"

"It was on stun." I interrupt.

"The job went south," Sierra says, removing the red wig she was wearing and revealing her real hair, a dark brown.

Ahsoka isn't very happy, but it's clear the grifter isn't a priority right now. Lux is.

"Do you have any idea what a panic your mom is in?" she demands. "She's frantic!"

Lux raises his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Ahsoka, I'm sorry. I'll take care of it when we get home, and we'll explain everything all at once."

…

Ahsoka's ship is enormous.

Then again, it would have to be. This group is enormous; I've already counted ten members, plus this "Mina" and three children brings us to fourteen.

Ezra comes up next to me. "Kanan, are we really going to go on board?" he whispers.

"If we can't trust Ahsoka, then who can we?" I answer, leading Ezra up the boarding ramp.

"I don't have a problem with Ahsoka," Zeb grumbles. "It's the rest of this crew I don't trust!"

"The big guy is a little intimidating." Sabine mutters.

"He just didn't know, Sabine. I didn't when I grabbed the grifter." I go to defend the big guy. He seems to be reasonable enough. "Mostly, I'm concerned about the bartender."

Saw, The man who was posing as the bartender is tall and strong, and he clearly knows how to fight. His ego may be inflated, but that does little to take my concern away from the way he almost tackled Zeb across the bar. They both would have gotten scars if Steela, the dark-skinned woman from the bar, hadn't run over to tell them they were both on the same side.

Hera holds out her arms. "We'll be fine, everyone. As long as we stay together, then we'll be fine. Nothing bad is going to happen."

The boarding ramp opens, and Lux stops short.

"Hutch, did you do that?"

Hutch shakes his head and points. "Nope, but I know who did."

I follow Hutch's point. Standing at the top of the boarding ramp are three kids, a boy and two girls.

Lux waves "Hello, Tav and Kiara. How was your training mission."

The Togruta girl waves. "It was good, Dad. Did Mom tell you how much trouble you were in?"

"Lots," the boy clarifies. "Grandma's going nuts."

Everyone from Ahsoka's crew winces.

"I have a feeling that's not going to be good," I whisper to Hera.

"Tell me about it."

The second girl, a human with light brown hair and a rather large nose, waves to Hutch and Hero. "Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad."

"Molly!" Hutch greets. "Hey Molly, where's your sister?"

"In the ship," the human girl says. "With Mrs. Bonteri."

"It's a good thing none of the actual kids went on the job." Saw, the bartender, says.

"I can't imagine." His sister replies.

Hera looks at me. I can tell this "Mina" person has already gained her attention. But mine is somewhere else.

I nudge Ezra. "Do you feel something?"

Ezra nods, just a little. "Yes. But it's not like the other things I've felt before. It's…"

I finish the thought for him. "Pure. Selfless. Calm."

Ezra nods.

"That's the Light Side of the force, Ezra." I say. "There are people here who have it."

Ahsoka turns around. "You're right. Besides us, there are three more on board."

I point to the kids at the top of the boarding ramp. "All three of -."

"No," Hero shakes her head. "Molly doesn't have it, but Tav and Kiara both do."

"What can I expect?" Ahsoka says, smiling broadly. "They're my kids."

…

We've barely walked onto the ship when our ears are assaulted with: "Who are all these people?"

I turn toward the sound. An older woman stands in the doorway, with one hand on the doorjamb and the other holding a caf mug. Her wire frame glasses, pastel-colored dress, and wholesome face give the image of a lovely, caring woman; everybody's mother, everybody's grandmother. If this woman showed up years ago to comfort me when I was alone, I wouldn't have minded a bit.

Only if you look deep into her eyes do you see it.

This woman is capable of transitioning from caring mother figure to hellbeast in less than a second. She doesn't take any crap from anyone.

I know this look because I see it in Hera's eyes all the time. My entire crew does too.

Ahsoka just smiles. "Mina, meet the crew of the Ghost. They're allies of ours. Everyone, meet former Senator Mina Bonteri. She's my mother-in-law."

Hera steps forward and extends her hand. "Hera Syndulla, ma'am. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Mina Bonteri smiles and takes Hera's hand. "The pleasure is all mine, Ms. Syndulla."

That's all the evidence I need to confirm the theory that women like Hera and Mina Bonteri know when they see each other. They just do.

"This is the rest of our crew. Kanan Jarrus, Garazeb Orrelios, Sabine Wren, Ezra Bridger, and our droid Chopper."

I shake Mrs. Bonteri's hand. "Good to meet you, Senator Bonteri."

"Most call me Mina," she says, squeezing my hand. "It's very nice to meet all of you."

Ezra rubs the back of his neck. "You, too." He says awkwardly.

Mina turns her attention to the rest of the crew. "Have you been formally introduced to the rest of our team?"

Those who live with the likes of Hera and Mina can translate that to Ahsoka, introduce them to the rest of our team.

Ahsoka straightens up. "Right. I guess now's the time for formal introduction." She loops an arm around Lux's. "This is Lux Bonteri, my lovely husband who thinks he's the leader of this crew."

"Because I am." Lux jokes and points to two of the children. "These are Tav and Kiara, our wonderful children."

Ahsoka goes on, pointing to another. "Sierra Bonteri, grifter. Next to her is Steela, our thief."

Sabine's jaw drops. "Steela? You're Steela Gerrera?"

Steela nods. "That's me."

"You led the rebellion on Onderon during the Clone War!" Sabine says excitedly. "I painted you."

"Really?" Steela asks. "If you have any holoimages later, I'd love to see them. If your armor's any indication, you look like a pretty good artist."

Sabine is in seventh heaven. "Of course! Thank you."

"Her brother Saw is our physical muscle," Ahsoka continues, pointing to Saw. "Our digital muscle, on the other hand, would have to be Hutch St. James. Hacker."

Hutch waves. "What's up, everyone?" he says, grabbing a bag of cheese curls and looking inside. "Molly, were you at my workstation."

"Yup."

He shakes his head. "This is Hero, my wife and the best cook the galaxy's ever seen. Our oldest, Katooni, is behind Mina. Molly over here is the youngest."

Ezra looks over at the Tholothian Katooni, then at her fully human parents. He's about to say something when Katooni butts in. "I was adopted after the fall of the Republic. Molly came two years later."

"And that leaves us with Rex, the former captain of the 501st Legion." Ahsoka says proudly. "And Tandin, the rightful King of Onderon."

This time I can't stop Ezra before he speaks. "You're a king?"

Tandin laughs. "For a time, young man. A long, long time ago."

"You were the best king the planet has seen in lifetimes," Saw tells him. "The people couldn't have asked for a better ruler. I just wish we could have kept you on the throne longer."

There's silence.

"That's why we do what we do," Lux says. "For the people."

Zeb breaks in. "That's very nice and all, but we have a problem too. Now that you've fallen through, we don't have a paycheck on the horizons."

Lux and Ahsoka look at each other.

"I think we can change that, Zeb."

…

"We know the Empire came to Lothal for a few reasons," Hutch St. James says, standing in front of a projector. "One, the planet is rich in ore for their factories. Two, the land is fertile. Meaning the Empire can profit greatly from agriculture. And how do they get their hands on agricultural land?"

"They take it from the local farmers." Ezra says. "My friend Moreena's farm was taken over."

"Exactly," Hutch affirms. "According to their records, the Empire takes away these families' farms and they have to go live in Tarkintown, where the Imperials send labor agents to hire day laborers. These families are so hungry they'll work for anything, so -."

"So they pay them next to nothing and the Empire reaps a huge profit?" Hero asks.

"Exactly. It's like in this book I read. The Apples of Anger, or something."

"It's The Grapes of Wrath, Hutch." Lux corrects.

"Apples, grapes, whatever." Hutch says, waving dismissively. "The point is that the Empire makes the people in Tarkintown work their own land, and then pays them peanuts. Actually, paying them peanuts would be an improvement."

"All right, we get it." Saw says. "But what's there to steal?"

Hutch changes the image on the screen. "Here's the deal. This system is working out very, very well for the people in charge. So well, in fact, that they don't have to spend all the money the Empire provides to pay the workers."

"A funneling scheme," Steela realizes. "They're skimming the top off the funds for themselves by shorting the workers. Impressive, in an evil way."

"It is," Hutch explains. "So, if we were to gain access to the funds somehow-."

"We can take that extra portion to give back to the workers." Hera says.

"And some extra for ourselves." Saw muses. "We could use a new compressor."

All eyes go to Lux Bonteri.

"What do you say?" Ahsoka asks.

Lux nods at Ahsoka, then at the monitor, and then at us.

"All right," he says, standing up. "Let's go steal some shady farmers."

A/N: Another job begins, this time with some allies.

In his last review, Johnt12345 asked about this story's placement in the timeline. For everyone else's reference, I'd like to post the information here.

This story takes place after "The Protector of Concord Dawn", and fourteen years after "While Others Fought For Justice". In this timeline Lux, Ahsoka, and Steela are 33, Saw is 36, Sierra is 30, Hero and Hutch are 35, Tav is 15, and Molly and Kiara are 12.

Thank you to Johnt12345 and starwarshobbitfics for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!

Until next time,

Lux's Sister