Prologue: Spark of Rebellion

It was a clear day on Lothal. Yet Ezra Bridger, 14-years-old, couldn't help but feel nervous. He was leaning on the rail outside its refuge, the radio tower staying just in sight of Capitol City. Suddenly, his attention was caught by a deafening rumble coming from behind him, followed by a great shadow covering the sun from him. He stared right up and he saw it: Star Destroyer, the one he had been waiting for. The recoil of the behemoth flying so low into the atmosphere making his middle, sapphire hair wave in the air.

The automatic door of the tower opened up. It was his sister, Jaral Bridger, recently turned 17. Differently from him, who had taken both his eyes and hair colors from their father, she inherited the chestnut brown hair and eyes of their mother and her fair skin.

They might have not resembled each other much, but their undying loyalty to each other, their ability to act in perfect synchrony and the fact that they were indivisible were proof enough that they were indeed bound by blood.

She was the only person he ever trusted in his life, the person who raised him and whom he would go any length to protect, just as she had protected him since that night. The night the Empire came for their parents.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

Ezra nodded and went back inside. The tower was pretty roomy and allowed for both of them to have separate beds...or what they improvised into beds. The room's greatest feature would be different helmets and imperial "souvenirs" they stole along the years.

"Jinx? You can start." she said to what an untrained eye would call a holodisc.

From the small circle in the center came a blue image, but it wasn't an image. One could see strange stripes of light flowing all around the body of the small figure, which looked like a human male with a butler's dressing.

The name was Jinx, and "he" was nothing like anything the galaxy knew: an Artificial Intelligence. Jinx had been one of the gifts their father, Jordan Bridger, left his children right before the Empire came to arrest him and their mother, Mira. Jordan had given them two peculiar devices. He called them "Omni-tools".

"Very well, then. Please take the triggers and put them onto your chests". Said the AI.

The siblings walked in front of a small chest on the table, inside of it were two thin rhomboidal mechanisms and each took one of them. After a quick glance to each other, the siblings did as instructed, placing the devices between their chests, after pushing aside their clothes for the procedure.

Jinx did a quick countdown. "3...2...1...dive!".

The devices suddenly seemed attracted to their owner's body as they literally sank into them. The kids couldn't help but let a small grunt escape their mouth, but the small pain would last only a few seconds.

They could feel the devices linking with their nerves, their skin...as predicted, they were becoming part of them.

"Now…" said the AI. "Picture the device in your mind and order it to activate."

The kids obeyed. After a second, their bodies got enveloped by a black suit. Over that suit stood a full set of white armor, event their heads were covered by a full helmet, both of them with a wide visor on the side of the face.

"Congratulations...You are now Legionnaires" the AI announced.

Legionnaires. That's what their father was. After he was taken away, Jinx had explained them the real story about their parent.

Jordan was not from this galaxy. He came from another one. A galaxy far far away called "Milky Way". He was a Legionnaire, a human super-soldier who had been raised by the military of the human nation called Imperial Federation. Since childhood he had been subject to various genetic enhancements, making him stronger, faster and smarter than most of his kin.

He was one of many, though. There were so many Legionnaires in the human population that they became much like a sub-category of humans. And they were trained to one purpose: being sword and shield of mankind.

Jordan was the leader of security onto a small frigate of the Federation. One day, the ship suddenly found itself caught into the gravity well of a black hole. Jordan had to stay behind in order to let everyone else escape to a safe distance, then let himself and what little was left of the ship into the astronomical phenomena.

Long story short, Jordan found himself stranded on Lothal. After destroying the wreckage of his ship, he and Jinx found Capitol City. Hiding his own identity, Jordan had to survive until he met Mira, who taught him Galactic Standard and eventually they fell in love.

This happened 20 years ago. 3 years later, Jaral was born, then Ezra a little more than 2 years later. The important thing was that both of them inherited their father's enhancements. They were far stronger and quick to learn than their peers since a young age.

That meant they could inherit the Omni-tools, and a Legionnaire most formidable weapon: the armor.

Jordan had his own, plus a second set for good measure. This was the greatest gift he left his children. This would be their legacy. And now, they intended to use it to hurt the Empire.

The armors were something unprecedented in this galaxy. The black suit was called "nano-suit" and it was composed by lots and lots of "nanobots" as Jinx called them. A technology common in the Milky Way, but out here it was a field of study completely unknown. These nanobots had three important tasks:

They enhanced the strength of the owner by 3 times, making the already strong Legionnaire an almost unstoppable force of destruction. It also meant that a regular human, without the enhancements of a Legionnaire, could not survive wearing one of those. A simple movement could break their bones and muscles, while a Legionnaire had diamond-hard bones and extremely elastic musculature.

They made the owner more agile and faster by 1.3 times, allowing him/her to jump higher and run faster.

Most importantly. They provided personal shields, something that was completely unheard of in this galaxy, except for some model of droids back in the Clone Wars.

These advantages would be their greatest strength. Ezra and Jaral knew that very well. If they wanted to fight the Empire, they could only count on aggressive tactics. Something they would put to the test very shortly.

Ezra and Jaral had overheard some imperial policemen the day before. The Star Destroyer was coming to drop various crates of supplies and, most importantly, weapons. The siblings were interested particularly in one of them. In a crate of advanced weapons they could steal and use in the future.

For now, they were moving in their civilian clothes, under which they hid their devices. Jinx's mainframe was into Jaral's Omni-tool, communicating through their ear-pieces.

The Omni-tool was a prodigy in itself. A holographic computer in the forearm of the wielder, that showed up only when the possessor wanted it, otherwise it was invisible. It also included a wide array of what the kids jokingly called "powers": electrical charges, flames, ice streams...used in creative ways they could very much kill or injure an opponent, organic or droid. Besides, it was very useful to store databases, hack other computer devices, and store Jinx, of course. The AI could use the additional power of the Omni-tools to assist its protegees, from translation to hacking.

With so many advantages with them, the two siblings were sure they could pull this stunt off.

While walking through the market in the poor district, Ezra witnesses two imperial officers, accompanied by two standard troopers in their green-grayish attire and blasters, harassing Yoffar, a Gotal merchant that the kids know very well. Jaral would prefer to just slip around them, but Ezra thinks otherwise.

"I'm just trying to sell a couple jogans here" Yoffar begged after the colossal Taskmaster Myles Grint demanded his ID.

"All trade must be registered with the Empire" cynically stated Commandant Cumberlayne Aresko.

"I remember what it was like before your ships showed up…" Yoffar said with a sigh, before staring defiantly at the imperials. "Before you Imperials ruined Lothal like the rest of the galaxy."

"This is LRC-01" Said Aresko after grabbing his comlink. "I'm bringing in a citizen under a charge of treason."

The operator on the other end of the comlink replied by giving him direction on where to bring the prisoner. Grint took the entire basket of jogans while the troopers grabbed Yoffar by the arms and started dragging him off.

"Jinx." Ezra whispered to the Omni-tool.

"Yes, Ezra?" said the AI with composure.

"Link me to that gentleman's comlink."

"With pleasure."

"I think I know where this is going…" Jaral said jokingly to her brother's ear. They both exchanged a quick smirk.

"I'm into their comms. Have fun, Ezra." said Jinx after just a couple of seconds.

"All officers to the main square!" said Ezra with the most serious and authoritarian voice he could muster. Jinx used one of its programs to distort the voice even more and make it look realistic.

"This a code red emergency!" the boy finished.

"It's your lucky day, Lothal scum!" Aresko said with despise to the merchant.

The four imperials dropped everything and went away, leaving Yoffar dumbfounded and with his merchandise spilled but still in good shape.

Ezra approached him, making sure the merchant saw him talk into the fake comlink he was holding for the sake of appearance.

"Stay on alert! I repeat, this is a code red!"

As expected, Yoffar understood immediately.

"Ezra...Jaral Bridger!" he said with a smile dawning on his face.

"You Ok, mister Yoffar?" said Jaral while reaching for him.

"Yes. Thanks to you." said the Gotal. Then he took two jogans and handed them to the kids, who nodded in response. They accepted the token of gratitude and went on their way.

"I'm proud of you, Ezra." said Jaral to her little brother. "It's your first time saving someone just because you could."

"Yeah, well…" answered Ezra with a faint smile. "That's what Mum and Dad would do."

With just a few bites, they both ate the fruits they were given, then proceeded to climb onto the rooftop of one of the houses. In that crowded and miserable neighborhood, it was quite easy for them (for anyone in good physical shape, really) to move around up there.

They quickly reached the main square, where they found the two officers they tricked before asking to a Lieutenant what the red code was about. Of course, the officer was as clueless as them, stating that he only had to take those crates to the Imperial Dome.

"There they are!" said Ezra.

"The weapons we're looking for are in the black crate over there." said Jinx in their ears. The kids quickly noticed their objective, towed with another red crate behind one of the last speeder bikes of the convoy.

Immediately, they turned on their armors, which immediately dawned on them.

"This is it, brother." said Jaral with resolution, then turned to Ezra. She stopped when she noticed her brother was clearly distracted, his face contorted in a weird grimace.

"Hey, you're not having one of those right now, right?" she said urgently, but without raising her voice.

"Don't you feel this...humming?" said Ezra, still looking around. Then he suddenly stood up, looking in the direction he felt that weird whisper.

Since she could remember, Jaral had noticed that Ezra was special in more than a way. He wasn't just the little brother that meant everything to her, but he also seemed… disconnected, at times. This wasn't the first time she saw him stare into nothingness right in the middle of a danger. He always seemed to have a special "hunch" to avoid danger, or to know what they were supposed to do in unforeseen situations.

She usually was the one to get him out of trouble, yet sometimes she could've sworn her brother was way more talented than he himself believed.

Ezra was sure that this weird sound was calling him to a man, standing a few meters from the convoy. That man had a green attire, and a piece of armor on his right arm. He looked like a mercenary, or a fighter anyway. His brown ponytail didn't completely hide his tan skin and his beard, also brown.

Then he saw him suddenly turn, and look right into the siblings' direction with his teal-blue eyes.

Ezra immediately ducked. He couldn't say if he was spotted.

"Brother, are you here?!" asked Jaral a little more concerned.

"Hm? Yeah...yeah, I'm here" answered the boy, still confused.

"Look, if you don't feel like it, we don't have to do this…" said Jaral while putting a hand on his shoulder.

However, Ezra pointed at the man with the green attire. Jaral noticed him, right when he tapped on his left leg twice, and a tall, purple Lasat came out of the shadow.

Following his next movement, the two noticed what seemed a girl in a multi-color mandalorian armor, mostly pink. At a sign of the green man, she started walking toward the convoy, just keeping enough distance between her and the imperials in order not to raise their attention.

Then they noticed her throwing something on the bike at the back end of the convoy.

Two seconds later, the bike exploded, throwing the square into a tantrum.

The siblings looked amazed, while down there, the imperial lieutenant ordered the drivers of the three bikes with the crates to depart immediately and protect the cargo.

The siblings exchanged a quick glare. They already decided their course of action.

The three pilots quickly turned into an alley not far from the square, only to found their road closed suddenly by a speeder, driven by the man in green.

"How we going?" he said with a sarcastic smile, before drawing out his blaster pistol and shooting the first driver, forcing the other two to dismount and equipping their E-11 rifles.

The firefight quickly called in the troopers from the square, 4 of them. Ezra and Jaral were already on the roof on the left of the imperial squad. Without hesitation, they dropped themselves onto the two troopers closing the formation, crashing their backs with a loud snap and stealing their rifles in a matter of a second. The other two troopers turned around, but the kids were already standing and charged them in a melee. Their out-of-boundaries strength knocking down the unfortunate troopers down with a heavy punch, probably breaking some bones.

Then the two immediately raised their newly acquired weapons, aiming at the two drivers, who were now without cover.

Ezra shot first, then Jaral. The drivers went down with a blaster burn right on their helmets.

The man-in-green and the Lasat, who was waiting to ambush the Imperials in vain, stared dumbfounded. In front of them were two guys, kids if one had to look at their form, who just eliminated 6 imperial personnel in under 5 seconds, with surgical precision.

"Hey, uh...thanks for the help…" the man started saying. Then Jaral approached the black crate and cracked it open.

"W-What are you doing?!" The Lasat screamed, rushing forward. Ezra put himself in front of him with his arms open.

"Calm down, big boy. We're just taking our due. The rest is all yours." he said calmly.

"Here they are! Come to mommy, sweethearts!" Jaral said triumphantly as she took out from the crate their prize: two TL-50 Heavy Repeaters, Special Forces Tier stuff.

She launched one to her brother, who caught it midair.

"Sorry for interrupting, good sirs." said Jaral while the two started approaching the furthest bike.

She then charged up her new weapon and shot the tow of the bike, freeing it from its cargo.

"As my brother said, we don't care for the rest. It's all yours". While Ezra took controls, she sat in the rear, placing herself back to back in order to look behind the bike.

Ezra then turned on the vehicle and the two went back to the square, leaving the other two robbers confused and unsure of what the heck just happened.

Ezra had to go back through the main square, where the officers were still waiting for reinforcements. Of course the kids' armor attracted the Empire's attention immediately.

"This is LRC-1" said Aresko in his comlink with rage and some degree of alarm. "Two unidentified armored robbers are trying to leave the city!"

Jaral immediately understood that they had to move fast if they wanted to leave the city with little resistance. However, she was a bit surprised to see that the human and the Lasat they just interacted with, were already following them with the other two bikes.

They carried three crates each, which would make them slower; it also looked like they were heading towards the same exit from the city.

"Seems like those we left an impression on those two!" Jaral noted jokingly.

"You sure they didn't want the bike as well?" suspected Ezra.

"Why? There's only two of them there."

Just as she said that, the girl noticed the two bikers go separate ways, while the two of them were approaching the city gate.

Without any checkpoint to stop them, Ezra went right into the highway, and only there two bikes on patrol started chasing them, even firing with their light cannons.

Jaral immediately returned fire with her new repeater. With some calibrations from Jinx she was able to quickly dispatch one of them.

Still, they were two fully armored people on a single bike, which ultimately slowed them down. The second biker tried to close the distance, but in the end that made him an easier target for Jaral, who blew him up with a single, precise burst.

But as fate would have it, Jaral noticed in the sky a TIE Fighter, coming straight for them. She had to concede it: the Empire's reaction was really as quick as anticipated.

"Ezra!" she screamed.

The boy looked briefly over his shoulder and noticed the new foe. He started drifting left to right and vice-versa in order to elude the bursts coming from the ship. Jaral answered with one of her own, which managed to damage the ship. A trail of black smoke started coming out of one of the engines of the fighter and the pilot was forced to pull out, only because, behind him, there was another fighter incoming.

Ezra desperately made the bike jump out of the highway and headed full speed to the hills, hoping to lose the fighter in the midst. This time, however, the burst found its mark.

"Jump!" Jaral screamed a moment before the bike was hit by the laser cannons.

The vehicle exploded, but thanks to their shields and the fact that they jumped out just in time, the Bridgers didn't suffer any major injury. Still, by the time they came back on their feet, they saw the fighter preparing for another strafe run. The siblings took separate direction and aimed their repeaters, waiting to see who that fighter would chase...but it suddenly blew up.

Looking behind them, the siblings noticed a VCX-100 light freighter hovering over them. It shot down the TIE with the nose guns.

On the lower part of the nose stood the door to the cargo bay, and on the ledge there was the man in green from before.

"Hey kids, do you need a ride?" the man told them trying to make his voice go over the rumble of the engines.

As Ezra and Jaral saw that 4 more fighters were coming, they both glanced at each other and immediately took the decision. There wasn't much choice. They sprinted toward the ship, then they jumped with all their strength. The door was at least 5 meters over their heads, and yet they reached it. The man in green was impressed.

The ramp closed behind them. Ezra and Jaral took a moment to breathe and took off their helmets.

"Some kids?" a grumpy voice asked. The siblings got back on their feet and noticed that the Lasat and the Mandalorian girl were in the bay as well.

"You got a problem with that?" Ezra asked defiantly, but Jaral reached him with a hand to calm him down.

"Apologies. My brother tends to be defensive around strangers." she straightened herself up. "My name is Jaral Bridger. This is my younger brother, Ezra." she said with composure.

"Kanan." said the man in green with a conciliatory smile. "Kanan Jarrus."

A rash tilting of the ship remembered them that they were all in danger.

"I'll be happy to talk later, but first we need to shake off those fighters." said Kanan before starting to climb up a yellow ladder on the starboard side of the ship.

Ezra and Jaral were just hanging onto a pair of bars in the cargo bay, their helmets by their sides. Keeping an eye on them were the Lasat, his gaze of what seemed like a bit of resentment toward the kids. The mandalorian girl was just standing there, hanging to one of the crates.

"So, lil' bro." Jaral said to Ezra, in order to break the tension. "You always said you wanted to fly, one day."

"Being chased by a TIE fighter squadron wasn't part of the plan!" Ezra complained with a bit of concern.

"Speaking of which…" said Jaral now looking at the two individuals watching them. "Shouldn't you guys...you know...using the turrets of this ship?" she tried to keep a conciliatory tone.

"We shoot back when our captain says we shoot back, is that clear?" the Lasat replied with a snarl.

Jaral threw her free arm in the air in a sign of surrender.

"Ok, ok. I was just asking."

"Please forgive my friend, here." the mandalorian girl spoke up.

"He doesn't like people stealing Imperials he is about to punch." the girl turned her face to the Lasat, her tone suggesting she was smirking at her colleague.

"That's not…" the Lasat tried to reply.

The ship was then shaken violently. A burst hit the hull, however, the freighter had shields equipped, so there wasn't any damage yet.

The Lasat, who until now stared angrily at the two white-armored kids, was keeping his arms folded in front of his chest, and the violent shakeup caught him by surprise, thus he tripped in front of him.

He was falling right over Jaral, who managed to catch him with a single arm.

"Man, you are pretty heavy." she commented, a bit of struggling in her voice.

"I'm not that heavy in this gravity." The Lasat retook his balance. He fixed himself up, looking a little embarrassed with the meager figure he just did.

"Thanks, anyway." he said. After all, she just spared him the pain of falling on his face. "The name is Zeb." said to the two of them.

"Nice to meet you, Zeb." the siblings answered in chorus.

Another burst hit the hull, this time compelling the pilot to begin climbing up in the sky.

"Zeb, Sabine, bring our guests to the common room, then go man the guns." a female voice declared through the speakers.

"You heard the captain." replied the mandalorian girl, waving a hand to invite the Bridgers to follow her and Zeb up another ladder.

They followed obediently, not wishing to appear like bad guests. After putting their helmets back on, They were brought into the common room. It was relatively small, but comfortable. In a corner there was a small, half-round couch with a holographic table, which supposedly was also a table for the game of Dejarik.

"You guys stay here, we'll be done in a minute." Zeb instructed them.

While he proceeded to another door, headed for the rear cannon, the mando girl climbed up a ladder on the opposite side of the table in the room. That one leaded to the dorsal turret.

The two siblings sat there for a while, until Jinx warned that there had been an explosion on the nose turret.

After a quick glare, the two decided they had been sitting around for too much and took the route to the cockpit.

When the door opened in front of them, they were met by Kanan, an astromech and a green-skinned Twi'lek glaring at them.

"I thought Zeb told you to stay still!" reprimanded Kanan.

"We know, we know…" said Ezra trying to calm him down. "But we can help you fix the turret."

"Please. Let us help." Jaral asked rigorously.

There was a short silence. Then the Twi'Lek smiled at them.

"Alright, kids. Let's see what you can do."

With a finger she pointed them to the entrance to the turret, right under the pilot and co-pilot seats. The siblings immediately slipped inside. Behind them, Chopper was warbling something and waving the manipulators it had on its dome. The tone didn't seem very gentle, but the two ignored it.

"The condenser has short-circuited." declared Jaral.

Her Omni-tool now showing its orange glow. A digital keyboard right over her forearm. Sit 90° over the keyboard there was what seemed to be a monitor. She was scanning the turret while Ezra was using his tool to run the emergency repairs.

"And...done!" he said satisfied after just 10 seconds.

It was in that moment that they finally found out that the ship had just left the orbit.

"Sis...are we in space?" asked Ezra in awe.

"I think so…" answered Jaral meekly.

"Good job, kids!" the pilot said encouragingly to them. Then turned to the astromech.

"Chopper, prepare for the jump into hyperspace."

The droid interfaced with the controls once again. While the green bolts of the still ensuing TIEs glowed around them, the Bridgers saw it for the first time: the stars distorting until everything was engulfed into a tunnel of a vibrant blue light.

The freighter finally came out of hyperspace after a few minutes. Ezra and Jaral had watched out of the window all the time. By the time they realized that, the crew of the freighter had already regrouped in the cockpit.

They even noticed that the mandalorian girl had removed her helmet. The first detail the guys noticed was that she was indeed young, her age was probably just a little less than Jaral's but more than Ezra's. Other than that, her skin color was yellow tan and her hair was dyed. The tips orange, the rest purple. Her eyes almond brown. Ezra couldn't help but think she was cute, but most importantly, it made the two siblings feel less out of place, seeing another teenager among the crew.

Then they took a moment to analyze the pilot. Her attire was definitely the one of someone with a deep love for mechanics and ships. Her skin and her eyes were light green. Her lekkus adorned at the base with what seemed a piece of a pilot helmet. Over that were a pair of elastic goggles.

The kids removed their helmets.

"You really have a knack, kids. Nice job." said the Twi'lek with sincere respect.

"Thanks." the two said in unison. They were still a bit nervous.

The Twi'lek extended a hand to them. "Hera Syndulla. Captain of the Ghost."

The siblings shook hands one by one and presented themselves to her.

"So…" Ezra started after a second. "Can we ask you to bring us back outside Capitol City?" he said as politely as he could.

"Well, we're going back to Lothal…" started Hera, bringing her right hand to rub her neck.

"But our job is not done, yet." Kanan finished. "But you're welcome to stay aboard until it's over."

"Make yourself at home. You earned it." concluded the alien woman.

The two nodded and got back to the cargo bay, were they felt they could speak more freely. Once there, they sat on the floor, their backs against one of the walls and finally felt like they could breathe again.

"Well…" commented Ezra. "For being a simple stunt, this escalated quickly."

"I know." said Jaral. "At least these guys seem relatively gentle." she turned to look in the direction of the upper gangway.

"Maybe...how do we know they won't rob us next?" Ezra murmured.

For most of their lives, Jaral and Ezra had to watch their backs. Everyone who tried to approach them, in the end, did so in order to exploit them, and he grew somewhat cynical toward strangers.

"They already had the crates. Why would they come back and save us from those TIEs?" Jaral tried to reassure him.

"Let me think...uh...because we are wearing some ground-breaking pieces of technology, never seen in the galaxy?" pointed out Ezra.

Jaral couldn't help but recognize that point. Many arm dealers and smugglers would surely like the idea to grab those armors off their corpses. Sure, they would eventually find out that nobody aside from the kids could wear it without incurring mortal injuries and fractures, if they could even power it up without Jinx.

"I guess we should learn something about our hosts, after all…" she replied. "Jinx. Can you tell us the name of the ship?"

After a few second, during which Jinx got access to the mainframe of the freighter without no one possibly noticing it, the AI replied.

"This freighter's nickname is Ghost. It's a VCX-100 light freighter built on Corellia. I also detect a smaller ship placed just over the three engines and perfectly integrated into the hull. They call it Phantom. Its frontal guns also serving as a rear turret for the Ghost when the two ships are interconnected."

The two kids exchanged looks. In case of emergency they could've tried to steal this "Phantom".

Luckily for them, they would've quickly found out that the Ghost's crew was not that type of crew.

After a few minutes exchanging thoughts on their first mission ever, Jaral and Ezra were reached into the hangar by the rest of the crew.

"You guys all right?" Kanan said gently when approaching them.

The kids stood up.

"Yes, mister Jarrus." answered Jaral.

"We were just...exchanging opinions. We didn't expect our first mission against the Empire to end up like this."

Hera had just reached Kanan' side. Hearing Ezra's words, the two exchanged what seemed to be a glance full of hope.

"Well, you did quite good. I'm surprised you guys even thought of taking on the Empire at such a young age." said Kanan.

"We didn't exactly took that decision light-heartedly, mister Jarrus…"

"Please, you don't need honorifics with us." Kanan interrupted Jaral.

"Ok, then. We know what we're capable of, and we really wanted to give it back to the Empire. That's all."

Jaral's tone had suddenly gone darker. By the time she finished the sentence, she and her brother were avoiding gazes, an expression of anger on their faces.

Kanan thought it was useless to push them, so he relented.

"Well, we need to go now. But if you want to spit in the Imperials' face, you might want to help them with those crates."

Zeb and the mandalorian girl had activated the anti-gravity lifters on some crates. Among those they stole, Kanan and Hera took the gray ones, the black one from which the kids stole their new weapons. Those contained E-11 blaster rifles and some explosives.

On the other hand, the other two took some brick red crates. Ezra and Jaral decided to do the same, taking not one each, but two.

When they stepped out of the hangar, they noticed it was night on that part of the planet. In front of them, at the foot of the hill they landed on, there was a village. Very few lights giving away its position.

When they stepped in, the siblings realized it wasn't actually a village, but a slum. Beggars and people completely devoid of hope lingering on the street of dirt or limping around.

"Lived on Lothal our whole life. We never saw a place like this." commented Ezra, speaking for Jaral too.

"The imperials don't advertise it." said the mandalorian with a bit of resentment.

"Locals call it Tarkintown." added Zeb.

"Named after Gran Moff Tarkin. Governor of the Outer Rim. He kicked these folks off their farms when the Empire wanted their land."

"Anybody tried to fight back got arrested...for treason."

They finally reached the center of the slum. Dawn was breaking.

"Who wants free grub?" Zeb proclaimed loudly, raising his arms to attract attention, then he uncovered his crate. It was full of fruits and vegetables.

The other guys did the same. Ezra and Jaral were caught a bit off-guard by the amount of people of many species going there, taking something to eat, then thanking them.

Before long, they looked at each other and decided to go back, to wait in front of the Ghost.

"I know it wasn't what we expected but...I feel quite good." commented Jaral.

The siblings were sitting on the ground on top of the hill, just outside the Ghost's hangar.

"You do?" said Ezra with a bit of indifference.

"Come on. We sacked it to the Empire and we helped these guys doing something good for the needy." Jaral seemed confident. A proud smile appearing on her face. Then she turned her neck to look at her brother.

"Isn't that what Mum and Dad always said? That we should stand up for those who can't defend themselves?"

"Yeah." said Ezra coldly. "And look what happened to them."

That simple statement couldn't help but break Jaral's optimism. It was true. Their parents spoke out against the Empire. They tried to defend the helpless, and they paid the price when the Empire showed up at their door.

They spent a few, silent minutes, before Jaral stood up.

"Well, since they told us to make ourselves at home, I'm going to take advantage of the restroom. Don't cause any trouble while I'm gone." she said at the end, jokingly nudging her brother's head.

And Ezra stayed there. Not causing any trouble. Until the same humming he felt with Kanan some hours before started again.

Ezra tried to ignore it. "You're just tired" he thought. Yet the humming became louder and louder. Jaral still hadn't come back, so he decided to investigate himself.

He carefully followed the source of the sound, leading him to one of the cabins. He drew out the E-11 he stole and still had with him, thinking it might be a danger in there. He opened the door, keeping the rifle aimed in front of him. However, there was nothing. The cabin was pretty much sober and bare. Yet he was sure the whisper came from there, from a drawer. Honestly, Ezra was becoming nervous. He hated that sensation, not knowing what he was dealing with. Keeping the rifle pointed in front of him, he carefully reached for the drawer before opening it with a quick movement.

The humming stopped. Yet all Ezra saw was a strange cube and what seemed to him like a well-crafted, decorated stick.

He lightened the flashlight on his helmet to take a better look, but saw nothing else. Still, the noise stopped. He could consider himself satisfied. He shut the drawer.

"I know we said to make yourself at home, but…"

The boy startled for a second. Then turned around and saw Kanan at the door. Followed briefly by Chopper and Hera.

The droid baffled some of its sounds, like he just caught a thief.

"I…" Ezra didn't know how to explain it. So he decided to be sincere. "I'm sorry. I just...felt something. I thought it might be dangerous."

"You felt something?" Kanan asked with curiosity.

Ezra had just got out the room.

"Ezra! What did I just tell you?" The booming voice of an infuriated Jaral stormed the entire corridor.

She quickly walked to her brother. Any single step thudding loudly on the metal of the floor.

"Jaral, I didn't do anything wrong." he tried to defend himself.

"So for you going into a stranger's room is nothing wrong?!" the girl kept her arms on her hips.

"I just...felt something...I thought…"

"Wait...again?" Jaral tone drastically went from mad to alarmed.

"Again?" intervened Hera. "So does it happen quite often?"

"Sorta." Jaral tried to explain. "My brother has been having very...vivid dreams, and sensations for quite a long time." she reached her brother's shoulder, compelling him to put the rifle away.

Kanan and Hera exchanged a quick glance.

"Look, it's been a hard day, and I'm sure he needs some rest. Why don't you guys go in the kitchen and get something to drink?" Hera offered courteously, pointing to one of the doors in the next section of the ship.

"Yes. Thank you very much." Jaral bowed her head with humility.

"I'm sorry...seriously." Ezra added, pinching the bridge of his nose while Jaral gently pushed him toward the destination.

They entered the kitchen. Inside there was only the mandalorian, sipping a cup of caf.

"Rough day?" she asked, looking at the dejected Ezra.

Jaral helped him sit at one of the two benches around the rectangular table.

"He'll be up in no time." Jaral defended the brother with a calm, conciliatory tone.

The mandalorian took out another cup from a drawer and poured some caf in it.

"Here." she posed it gently in front of the boy.

"Thank you…" he tried to remember her name. "Wait, you didn't tell us your name, right?" he figured.

"Yeah. I guess I should." the girl chuckled. "The name is Sabine." she smiled at the two.

"Nice to meet you, Sabine." Jaral shook her hand with a cordial smile.

"Then, thank you, Sabine." Ezra finished before taking a long sip from the cup.

"Hey, can I ask what are you guys?" the boy continued after putting down the beverage. He looked at Sabine with an inquisitorial look. "I mean, you don't look like thieves, exactly."

Jaral didn't question her brother's behavior, since she was curious as well about the answer.

"We're not exactly anything." Sabine explained. "We're a crew. A team." she paused for a second, wondering. "Sometimes even a family." The girl refocused her gaze onto them only to notice that the term struck something into them. Even though they were trying to look calm, she could see a hint of dejection in them.

"What happened to your real family?" Jaral tried to regain composure and asked it.

"The Empire. What about yours?" Sabine said.

The conversation was however cut short from the arrival of Zeb and Chopper in the kitchen.

"Hera wants us in the briefing room." said to Sabine. Then he turned to the kids on his right.

"You're welcome to join us, if you want some more action." he said with a smirk.

"Does it involve poking the Empire again?" asked Jaral with a calm face and yet a bit of interest in her tone.

"Hehehe...yes." said the Lasat, smiling mischievously, showing his pretty intimidating teeth.

"Then count us in." said Ezra. He took a last sip of caf then stood up, and they all went to the common room.