The figure in black ignited a lightsaber, blood red lighting the dark platform. Their helmet retracts, revealing pale green skin, bright blue eyes, and a mocking sneer.

She looks…familiar.

The woman points the lightsaber directly at him. "Cal Kestis," she calls out. "Surely you didn't think you could hide?"

Cal backs away slightly and tenses even further. "Didn't realise I was famous."

The woman hums. "Infamous, more like." She twirls the lightsaber in her hand. "We can do this the hard way, if you'd prefer, but I would like to get this done without any violence."

Cal's eyes flit around the platform, trying to find some way of escape. "Big of you," he mutters, noticing the way the scrap seemed to form a slide down. He just needed to get over there somehow.

"Perhaps you could help me." He looks back to the woman, who is now holding the lightsaber loosely at her side. "I will allow your fellow workers to live, provided you answer one question for me."

Cal narrows his eyes, plan forming in his mind. "Yeah? What's that?" He just needs to keep her distracted long enough to reach the edge.

"Quite simple, really." The lightsaber shifts in her hand. "Where is Ahsoka Tano?"

Ahsoka…Ahsoka Tano? As in, one of the coolest Padawans in the entire Temple? Student to the legendary Master Skywalker?

Cal locks eyes with the woman. "Dead," he answers. "She was a Jedi. There are no Jedi anymore. The Empire killed them all."

The woman hums again. "Disappointing. But not unexpected." The lightsaber suddenly returns to her belt. "You answered. I shall keep my word." She glances at one of the dark-armoured troopers. "Get them out of here. Allow them to return."

Then it's just him and her.

He's shocked this...whoever this is...has some measure of honour. He was more expecting him to answer and for her to kill them all anyway.

He can sense Prauf hanging back, but Cal waves him away. He knew this day was coming; he's not gonna let his friend get caught up in his mess.

"I'm afraid you will not be so fortunate." The woman begins walking towards him. "As you said, there are no Jedi anymore. So you will come with me."

Cal finally sees his opening. "Yeah. No thanks." He looks to the right and twitches that way, and when her lightsaber ignites to cover that direction, he bolts to the left. Ducking under a sudden second lightsaber, he rolls away from her and jumps off the platform.

Then he's falling.

. . . . . . . . . .

"TK-147!" A hand roughly grabs him and Caleb twists to see the captain of his unit behind him, arms folded. "You're late."

Caleb cringed under his helmet. "Sorry, Sir. I got held up."

"Is that so?" He gets the distinct impression the man is glaring at him underneath his own helmet. "By who?"

Caleb twitches back, preparing for another stint working sanitation. Lies were never well received, and this isn't worth a Mind Trick. "I-uh-

"By me." Some trooper steps forward to be beside Caleb. He can't look at them, but he's still grateful. It bugs him, though. The trooper's voice sounds like...but that's impossible. "TK-147 is being moved to a special unit, 048. He is relieved of his previous duties. Understood?"

The captain salutes. "Yes, Commander!"

Then he leaves Caleb alone with the commander.

He can't quite hide the sigh of relief. "Thank you, Sir." He turns to the commander. "I am-"

His voice dies as he sees the armour the commander is wearing. It's clone armour. At least, modified clone armour. Some unique helmet with a stylized wolf on it.

Caleb backs up a pace. Why did a clone just save him? Clones don't save Jedi. "Are you here to kill me?"

The clone laughs softly. "Nope. You're good, kid." The commander waves a hand. "Follow me, kid. We'll talk in my office."

Caleb follows slowly, and touches the pieces of his lightsaber stowed in a hollowed-out section of his gauntlet. Whatever this clone wants, Caleb won't help him. He's not going to help someone who killed his Order.

It's a short walk to this clone's office, and Caleb enters slowly, trailing behind the clone. The office is dull and bland, consisting of a desk, holoprojector, and a chair. Not even a viewport.

Caleb stops walking a good few feet from the desk. "For the record, this really does feel like a 'killing me' sort of room."

The clone laughs, taking off his helmet to reveal an ageing clone with a brutal scar across his face and a cybernetic eye. "Don't worry, kid. You're safe."

Caleb folds his arms. "What do you want with me?"

The clone sighs and takes a seat. "My name is Wolffe," he introduces. "And you're the young upstart who's doing too well in the field."

Caleb scowls underneath his helmet. "What does that mean."

Wolffe sighs again. "Can you take the bucket off, kid?"

Reluctantly, Caleb obeys, tucking the helmet under his arm as he glares at the clone. "What do you want."

"Wish I could say I can get you out, but no luck." Wolffe puts his arms on his desk and leans forward. "You're doing too well, kid. Higher-ups notice your skill and you're being put on special assignment." The clone stares at him for a moment before shaking his head. "Can you at least do better at hiding the Jedi skills?"

Caleb draws back in shock and barely keeps from drawing his lightsaber. "You-"

Wolffe chuckles. "I fought alongside a Jedi for years. I know how they think. And this is a good plan, kid. Hide in the army; in plain sight. They'd never think to look for you here."

Caleb plays with his gauntlet, debating whether to draw his saber or not. "You gonna report me?"

"Nope." Wolffe leans back in his chair. "Been trying to protect you, but even I can't overrule an Inquisitor."

Oh, great. Caleb sighs and looks away. The fun missions. "Which Inquisitor?"

"The Third Sister." Wolffe slides a datapad across his desk. "You're hunting a fugitive; the details are on that. Transport leaves in ten; better hustle."

Caleb grabs the datapad and shoves his helmet back off. "If this is a trap…"

"Yeah, yeah." Wolffe raises his hands. "Look, last thing in the galaxy I want is an angry Jedi after me. You'll be fine, kid. Just don't do anything obvious or Jedi and you'll be okay." The clone stands and offers him a sad smile. "Better move, kid. Be careful."

Caleb gives him a single nod before sprinting away. Transport leaves in ten minutes; nine, now. As he runs, he skims the briefing. Hunting some fugitive on Bracca. If it's an Inquisitorius mission, that means they're probably a Jedi. Which means he has to play this very carefully.

He hates these missions.

. . . . . . . . . .

"-bad time, brother."

A reg's voice draws Omega's attention, and she quietly slips out of the cockpit. Pausing near the commons, she watches as Echo talks to some reg commander; probably Wolffe.

Echo sighs. "I get it. But if we can find him-"

"Been trying to do that for eighteen months." The reg shakes his head. "He's gone, Echo. Either that or he doesn't trust us, which I don't blame him for in the slightest."

"He's in danger." Echo leans forward. "Wolffe, we can right the-"

"-can't change the past, though." Wolffe gives a bitter laugh. "Don't matter how many we save; we still destroyed the Republic. Killed our friends; our brothers. I know General Plo would have died for me or any of my men, and we still..."

There's silence for a long moment before Echo nods. "I know, Wolffe. I know. But this is a chance to fix that."

The reg just shakes his head. "We don't get a redemption story, Echo. We just watch the embers of our destroyed lives. General Plo is gone. All the Jedi are gone. It's all in the past." He sighs sadly. "Just leave them there."

The reg's profile vanishes and Omega watches as Echo sighs and tosses a comlink on the table. He just shakes his head and keeps staring at the holoprojector.

Omega vanishes back to the cockpit.

. . . . . . . . . .

There were only a few missions that he felt actually scared during. Mostly large-scale firefights where hundreds of stormtroopers would fall every hour. Then, it didn't matter if he was a Jedi; a mortar shell would still kill him.

This was one of those missions where he felt scared.

Caleb swallows nervously as the shuttle lands on Bracca. He can already see the dark profiles of the purge troopers, and a caped figure he can only assume is the Third Sister.

The loading ramp lowers, and his squad moves out. Caleb keeps watching the Inquisitor out of the corner of his eye, but he stills when he catches a glimpse of her face.

He is so dead.

That's Barriss Offee and now Caleb is terrified.

Caleb had only been Master Billaba's Padawan for a few months when news of the Jedi Temple Bombing had reached them. It was difficult to follow the story while in the field, but he had heard most of it. Ahsoka Tano had been the main suspect, expelled from the Order, and was about to stand trial when Barriss Offee was found to be the actual culprit.

Caleb hadn't heard what had happened to Barriss after that, but her being here as an Inquisitor was terrifying. He knew Ahsoka; he knew of Barriss. She could recognise him.

But if she's here now… what happened to Ahsoka Tano?

Caleb walks stiffly past Barriss and grabs a sniping rifle from the stand. This mission…he has no idea how he's making it away alive. His best-his only course of action is to just ignore her and hope she doesn't sense him.

He can remember talking to Barriss Offee once. She wouldn't recognise him, right? She spent all her time with Ahsoka; he doubts Master Skywalker's Padawan talked about him.

There's a chance he lives past today. A very slim chance, but still. It's better than being skewered right here. Unless Barriss already knows. But, no, that, no…

Caleb shakes himself and kneels down on the platform, steadying the rifle in his arms. Just do the job. Get it done. Get out.

Simple.

. . . . . . . . . .

"Gregor is a dead end as well," Tech reports. "As is Cid. Hunter, we're running out of contacts."

Omega sits back in her chair and watches Hunter pace. She's wondered how he's handling this constant failure the squad seems to have following them. Every op to get intel fails, and she watches Hunter grow more frustrated after each one.

But he won't listen to their arguments about taking other missions. At least Omega knows where she got her stubbornness from.

Hunter sighs. "Cut's in the wind. Fulcrum has no further intel." He shakes his head. "Do we have any contacts left?"

Omega shifts forward. She can think of one. "Hunter? What about Ryloth?"

All eyes turn to her, and Omega leans back in her seat. It's a solid idea. And it's tactical. Captain Howzer's working with the Resistance since Echo rescued him. And the Syndullas might have heard something. Seeing Hera Syndulla - one of her only friends - isn't even a factor here.

But she still hopes Hunter agrees.

Hunter stills and looks away, frowning lightly. "They're fighting their own war. I don't see how Cham would know anything."

"It's possible," Echo contributes. "General Syndulla worked with General Windu during the War, and General Skywalker met with him a few times. Could be General Plo met him as well."

Omega grins at her brother before facing Hunter. "It's worth a shot."

Hunter frown deepens for a moment, and his eyes narrow slightly as he looks at her. Suddenly sure he knows her other reason for suggesting Ryloth, she grins at him. "C'mon, it beats just wandering around the galaxy, right?"

Hunter looks at her for another moment before sighing. "Right," he mutters. "Better than nothing."

Yes! Omega can't hide the wide grin that takes over her face, and she twists away in her seat. She's been dying to go visit Hera since they left Ryloth. And now she finally can!

Hunter glances over at her while typing in coordinates. "What are you planning?"

Omega smothers the grin on her face and tries her best to look innocent. "Nothing!"

"Uh-huh." Hunter folds his arms. "Just don't get into trouble."

Omega rolls her eyes. "When have I ever got into trouble?"

"I stopped counting," he fires back as the Marauder jumps into hyperspace. "This got anything to do with Hera Syndulla?"

"What?" Omega whirls to face him before remembering to play it cool. "No. What would-why would I do that?"

She's very convincing. At least, she thinks so. She's not so sure Hunter agrees, since he just rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "There's no guarantee we'll even see Hera on this op."

"Oh, I'll see her." Omega smirks and folds her arms, leaning triumphantly back in her seat. "You taught me how to sneak around. I'm just gonna practise and make sure my skills don't get rusty."

Now Hunter sighs and walks away, and Omega grins as she catches his exasperated complaint of 'kids'.

But now that he's gone, there's no distraction from her own thoughts, which are now worrying about meeting up with Hera and wondering why she's worrying. It's just Hera! Not a big deal. It's fine.

Long trip, though.