Hey all, hope you enjoy this chapter.

Might not be able to post next week, but I plan to have a double chapter finale the week after the same way I did with part 1.

In the meantime, don't be shy to share any concrit you have!

It would have been the understatement of the century to say that Hera was concerned.

Pacing around the bridge of the Ghost was all she had done for the past rotation. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that she had created a circular ditch in the shape of her feet smack dab in the middle of the bridge.

Kanan on the other hand chose to remain silent. He knew Hera the best. And he knew better than anyone that telling her not to worry or even making a slight joke would do more harm than good.

Now, if only Zeb got the memo about that, then he wouldn't have been chased out of the room by Hera and her army of flying objects.

But alas, we live and we learn.

Eventually, after pacing around for what seemed like an entire rotation, a beeping sound could be heard coming from the control console. Unfortunately, it wasn't the good kind of sound.

"Hera…" Kanan began carefully, pushing himself off his seat.

"No," Hera said, shaking her head furiously. "There's still time,"

"The alarm you set tells the opposite story," Kanan replied.

"They just need more time," Hera insisted, planting her feet firmly on the ground.

Kanan simply smiled at her stubbornness. There was no point in trying to push her to do this, especially when she didn't want to.

"Sato needs us back soon you know," Kanan reminded, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Hera took that gesture with a shaky sigh, leaning her head into Kanan's grasp. "I just don't know what to say to Mira,"

Smiling was about the only thing Kanan could manage. He rubbed her shoulders comfortingly, hoping to ease some of her worries.

"We can wait a few more minutes," Kanan decided. "I still have to prep the hyperdrive for our return trip,"

Another sigh left Hera's lips, this time, more grateful than the last. "You're right. We can't stay here for too long," She settled into her seat, resting her tired legs.

"Let me do the preparations instead," Hera proposed.

"You sure?"

"I need to do something to take my mind off of this,"

Kanan nodded mutely before stepping away. "I'll be right here if you need me," He said, but Hera was too defeated to come up with a response.

Taking her time, Hera went through the motions of activating the hyperdrive with a blank stare. The disappointed looks on Mira and Ephraim's faces were all she could think about. She had lost all hope, and nearly dismissed the unannounced transmission she didn't realise she was receiving.

"Wait," Kanan's hand immediately shot out, catching Hera before she could decline the call.

An irritated look flashed across Hera's face before she realised the reason why Kanan had grabbed her so suddenly.

Hera nearly jumped out of her seat as she jammed her finger on the button.

"Hey uh, is anyone there? This is Ezra- I mean Specter 5,"

"Ezra!"

After sending a quick report to Sato, Hera wasted no time in directing her ship towards the coordinates which Ezra had given her.

Joyful faces were abound the moment the Specters laid their sore eyes on Ezra. He returned their happy expressions with one of his own, while also doing his best to convince Hera that he was absolutely fine.

Sabine was the next one which Hera saw after Ezra. There was a lot of uncertainty between the two, but after some words of affirmation from Ezra, Hera's trust was restored.

Then came the real test. Ketsu. And Hera's reactions to the poor woman were not mild to say the least.

"Hera," Ezra said calmly. "We wouldn't be here if it weren't for Ketsu. She helped out a lot in our escape,"

With a sharp glare, Ketsu too was eventually let aboard the Ghost. Although there was still a long way to go before she had redeemed herself.

And finally came Mera, who Hera also reacted by giving a distrustful stare.

"We came on Mera's ship, so her coming with us was a given," Sabine explained.

"We can't reward you with anything," Hera immediately said. "The Rebellion's in a tough enough spot already,"

But Mera simply shook her head.

"I just need a place to lie low," She replied. "With Crimson Dawn gone, I need a place to hide so that I don't feel too exposed. Just let me crash at your base for a few rotations. I'll be gone once I got my bearings,"

"As long as you don't cause too much trouble, that shouldn't be a problem," Hera reluctantly agreed. "Anyways, we don't have much time to talk. Sato asked us all to head back to base. Our problems with munitions have only gotten worse, and we'll need to discuss with all the cell leaders on what's our next step,"

"That's good," Ezra said, earning him a surprised look from everyone. "Because from what I've found out, we're going to need all of their help if we want to survive what comes next,"

"What do you mean?"

Ezra turned to look at the Spectres with a serious look. "There's a weapon out there which could destroy us all. And after what happened to Crimson Dawn, the Empire now has free access to it,"

The room had gone deathly still. After the Spectres had landed on Atollon, they had practically forced their way into the meeting, making some think that they were orchestrating a coup.

But the commotion died down once they heard Ezra speak in full. Eventually, despite everything, Ezra's words had to be accepted as fact. His information contained no lies. It was too unbelievable to be one. But that did not make accepting it any easier.

"I think everyone can agree when I say that Captain Bridger has no reason to lie to us here," Sato was the first to speak. And rightly so. As always, he stood by Ezra. And his words were a demonstration of that.

"Regardless of whether or not the Bridger kid is lying, I think there is something more important we will need to discuss," General Draven paused for a moment, glancing around the room before continuing. "Is it even an option for us to try and stop the Empire? Especially given our situation with the munitions,"

"Are you serious?" Ezra asked incredulously. "Of course it's an option. What else are we supposed to do?"

Draven sighed into his hands. Shaking his head, he showed his clear disapproval about Ezra's attitude. "It's a lot more complex than you think, kid," He replied.

"Is it?" Ezra replied, once again pushing Draven's buttons.

"You're talking about a superweapon. A Sith superweapon," Draven repeated. "From what you told us, they're the enemies of the Jedi right? If we take the term Jedi very liberally, there's no more Jedi in here then there are fingers on my right hand," Draven raised his hand mockingly at Ezra. "We're just not equipped to deal with this kind of thing,"

"But I am," Ezra replied, gesturing to himself. "The three of us are," He pointed to Kanan and Ahsoka. "We're hardlyJedi Masters, but we're more than capable enough to deal with this thing,"

"Then deal with it," Draven said with a wave of his hand. "We don't even have the munitions to defend ourselves if the Empire attacks us today, let alone try to launch an attack on a Star Destroyer,"

"You don't need to take on all of the Empire's navy," Ezra explained. "You just need to deal with them long enough for us to get to this weapon and disable it before the Empire gets to use it,"

"Easy for you to say," Draven said with a roll of his eyes.

"The young man seems to have a plan," Another general besides Draven voiced out.

"I have the beginnings of a plan," Ezra admitted, eliciting a few groans across the room. "But if we're going to do this, I'm going to need all of you to help out. The only way we can succeed is if we give this everything we have,"

Another round of groans rang across the room.

"You're asking for a lot, Captain," The general replied. "Even if your plan works, how will we be able to defend ourselves when we have nothing left?"

"If we don't do this, then we'll be left with nothing anyways," Ezra insisted.

But his answers only made the murmurs from each general grow louder.

"How do we even know his plan is going to work?" One of the generals argued. "What if we give him all we have, and the plan fails?"

"If we don't do this, then we're dead anyways," Another general replied.

"If you're so eager, why don't you give your munitions?"

"If the Rodian is giving his munitions, then I'm keeping mine!"

The arguments were endless, and the true intentions of each general was on full display. Their selfish and stingy natures were grating on Ezra. He saw this in the Empire, and he had hoped to not see it in the Rebellion.

Sabine and the rest of the Spectres could see he was slowly losing his temper. Even Ketsu and Mera were not blind to his emotions. With a hesitant step forward, Sabine looked to give some comfort to Ezra.

But Hera stopped her. Unlike the rest of them, she was aware about the politics of the Rebellion. She knew what was going to happen next with Ezra, and she knew that it needed to happen.

Slamming his fist against the table, Ezra sent a wave of electricity across its surface. Electricity reverberated throughout the room, running up the walls and causing the lights in the room to flicker.

There was a shift in his mood, and Ezra's parents witnessed the whole transformation. The slow change from calm to anger to calm once again surprised them. He was still their son, but for the first time, they were seeing him in a different light.

"If we don't stop our pointless arguments, there's not going to be anyone left to stop the Empire," Ezra said softly. His eyes shone dangerously, daring anyone to speak against him.

Eventually, he let his temper subside. With a calm expression, he relaxed his fist, looking across the room as he prepared his words.

"You're right when you say that my plan might not work. But that's why I'm here with all of you. To discuss, and come up with a better one," Ezra spoke plainly. The clarity of his voice reached the hearts of everyone in attendance.

"If we don't take action now, things will only get worse. You think the Empire's unstoppable now? Imagine how they will be once they get their hands on this weapon,"

The opposition was slowly relenting, giving in to Ezra's convincing. But a few holdouts still remained.

"Do we even know where this weapon is?"

Ezra's mouth opened instinctively to reply. But nothing came out from his lips. In the heat of the moment, he had forgotten to obtain the most crucial information of them all. The crowd was losing him once again.

"Malachor,"

A voice suddenly saved him from his plights. Immediately, all of the room turned to the odd one out amongst the Rebellion. Mera.

"What?" She asked, perplexed by their stares. "I snooped around Maul's office a while back. Wasn't too hard to figure out,"

"If the weapon is anywhere, it's there," Ahsoka supported. "I remember Malachor. It is an ancient Sith planet, hidden even amongst the Jedi,"

And with that, all hostility had quelled. The room was all in agreement in one thing. They had to do this.

"Now that we're all on the same page," Sato said with a sigh of relief. "I think we should discuss the details of this operation," He pulled a chair towards the table, offering it to Ezra who gladly took it.

Just like the moment Ezra barged in unannounced, all eyes were on him as he shared his plan.

"Let's get to it then," He said confidently.

But with all eyes on him, no one was any wiser when a certain somebody snuck out of the room. The red skinned Twi'lek quietly disappeared from everyone's sight as everyone talked. Where she was going, no one knew. Yet one thing was clear. She had an agenda, and it was one which served only her purposes alone.

Sabine watched with a neutral expression as the members of the rebellion slowly filtered out of the room. Their discussion with Ezra had concluded on a high note, and it was decided that some swift preparation was needed before they embarked on their latest operation.

Everyone had a part to play in Ezra's latest plan. Even Hera and the rest of the Spectres. She, Kanan and Zeb had already left a while ago, flashing a knowing smile at Sabine as she insisted on staying to wait on Ezra.

Even Ketsu decided to follow suit. Joining the Spectres temporarily to at least pull her weight for a problem she was partly to blame for.

While Ezra had already finished his explanations, his attention was still being kept occupied by a handful of generals who approached him, seemingly noticing his militaristic mind for the first time.

With a few words here and there followed by some pats on the back, the last general concluded his discussion with Ezra and eventually left. But then, his parents were next.

Mira and Ephraim were amongst the group which participated in the discussion. And they were also the first to react to Ezra's electrifying display.

The Bridgers had a mixture of awe and uncertainty plastered across their faces. It was as if it was their first time seeing Ezra behaving in such a way. Ezra simply flashed them a wry smile, probably trying to assure them that deep down, he was still their son.

Sabine tried not to stare too much. But she couldn't really help herself. She wasn't close enough to hear them, but she was still curious to see their reactions.

A relieved sigh escaped Sabine's lips as she watched the three Bridgers enter into a touching embrace. It looked like Ezra had kept his promise, apologising to his parents for the way he had acted before this.

Sabine tried to keep herself small as the Bridgers released each other from the hug. A momentary look was shared between Sabine and Mira, who despite not reacting as negatively as before, still did not seem to accept Sabine's existence.

With the generals and the Bridger elders finally gone, Sabine and Ezra were the only ones left. Sabine flashed a comforting smile to Ezra, waving a hand to him as he came over.

"That was good," Sabine praised.

Ezra smiled in return. "Are you free now?"

Sabine nodded, following as Ezra beckoned her to come with him somewhere.

In a comfortable silence, Sabine kept in step with him as he took her through the hallways of the Rebel base. She stuck by his side as he led her through most of the areas of the base.

After passing what looked to be the shooting range, Ezra finally stopped. He had led her to the edge of the base, stopping just short of an electrical fence.

"Do you mind staying with me for a while while I meditate?" Ezra asked, setting himself down just a few steps away from the fence.

"Of course I don't mind," Sabine said with a smile. She plopped herself down comfortably right next to Ezra, still smiling at him as she watched him slowly sink into his thoughts.

With Ezra no longer available for conversation, Sabine let her attention wander to her surroundings. She wondered about the electrical fences right in front of her. They looked similar to the anti-personnel fences which the Empire used to keep the public out of any restricted areas.

However Sabine couldn't imagine them being useful in a place this remote. They were probably being used to keep something else out instead of people. Something a little larger than people.

A cool gentle breeze pulled Sabine away from those thoughts. She would ask him later she thought, deciding to fully immerse herself into the now. It was a rare thing being able to enjoy such calmness and serenity.

But Sabine's enjoyment was unceremoniously cut short. A quiet crittering sound jolted her awake as she snapped her head towards its source.

Squinting her eyes, Sabine spotted several glowing eyes, all seemingly focused on her. The eyes were moving in tandem, as if they all belonged to one creature.

Slowly, said creature began to emerge from its hiding place. The figure which Sabine was expecting to be small slowly grew in size. Eventually, the creature had fully come out of his hiding place, revealing itself to be some kind of giant spider.

It took everything out of Sabine to stop herself from running scared. The spider was almost as tall as the fence. Even at this distance, Sabine could sense its size, and it did not comfort her. She was about to shake Ezra awake, but stopped as she realised that the spider wasn't approaching her.

Instead, it simply stared at her with curious eyes, almost as if it was interested in her. Step by step, the spider walked closer and closer, gradually approaching the fence until…

Zap!

The fence did its job, electrocuting the spider once it got too close. The spider reacted as one would expect, letting out sharp chittering in pain. Curious eyes turned furious as its mandibles vibrated. Now Sabine really wanted to get out of here.

But before she could do anything, Ezra suddenly stood up. He pushed his hands out, making Sabine think that he was going to Force push the spider away.

But he didn't. Instead, he closed his eyes, seemingly focusing his thoughts on it.

"No," He said firmly, almost as if he was talking to the spider. And surprisingly, the spider listened.

With what looked like a slight bow of its head, the spider retreated back into its hole, disappearing into the darkness much to Sabine's relief.

"Did… did you just talk to that thing?"

"It's called a Krykna spider," Ezra replied as he sat himself right next to Sabine. "And yea, I guess you could say I was talking to it,"

Sabine's mouth remained agape. Ezra seemed to have gotten more and more amazing the longer she spent time with him.

"So the fences are for those things, and not the Empire?" Sabine asked, still trying to digest Ezra's ability to talk to animals.

"It's really the only thing it's good for," Ezra explained. "I heard from Hera that those spiders really did a number on some of the Rebels here when we found this base. They were a bit aggressive when they discovered that we were planning to set up here for good,"

"And so you decided to talk to them?" Sabine asked, a slight teasing smile on her face.

Chuckling, Ezra nudged her lightly. "This place. It's not… strong in the Force. But there is something about it which gives me many opportunities to grow,"

Sabine nodded mutely at Ezra's explanations, not even trying to understand. Even now, the mystical ways of the Force still elude her.

Calming down, Sabine let herself relax in the cool breeze once again. She set her hand just beside that of Ezra's, her fingers nearly touching his. She purposefully kept the gap between them like this, afraid of going too far. But then Ezra suddenly laid his hands on hers, gently squeezing them as he met his gaze with hers.

"You're still leaving after this aren't you?" Ezra asked. But Sabine knew that it wasn't a question.

Biting her lip, Sabine quickly averted her gaze from his. She did not want to see the look of hurt on his eyes at her answer.

"It's ok," Ezra comforted. "I understand,"

"No it's… it's not, Ezra," Sabine began. "You're too good to me sometimes you know that?"

Ezra chuckled. "I just don't want you to hate me,"

"Neither do I, but I just keep on hurting you somehow,"

Another silence fell between the two friends. Their intentions with each other were clear, but the words just weren't there.

"I'll come back," Sabine promised. "One day, once I've dealt with my guilt, I'll come back. I'll tell you everything, and I won't leave again,"

Sabine pulled her hand from below Ezra's and placed it on top of his. She wanted to reassure him that this was not the last time they were going to see each other.

And Ezra understood fully. He smiled, turning his hand so that they could interlock their fingers with each other.

"I'll hold you to that," He said, trying not to get misty eyed.

Sabine scooched ever closer to him until their shoulders touched. With a sigh, she leaned her head against his shoulder, surprising Ezra despite their current closeness. There was no longer any need for words between the two of them, at least for now.

Dev was late, very late. The transmission from Sato told him that there was going to be an extremely important meeting which involved all of the leaders in the Rebellion. It was going to be a treasure trove of information, and he needed to be there.

Unfortunately, that meeting had ended hours ago. And Dev had only just arrived.

With a pitiful sigh, Dev and his crew disembarked from his ship. It wasn't really that big of a deal really. He'd be able to catch up on the topics discussed by asking around. But nothing beats being there in person to listen to said information first hand. It was the best way to do his job properly after all.

Bidding farewell to the rest of his crew, Dev made it his goal to find someone who had taken part in the discussion. He wanted to glean some info about the extremely high profile meeting before giving his report.

"Hey Dev! Just got back?"

Hera's voice caused Dev to turn on a swivel.

"Hera!" Dev greeted with a smile. "Yea, Draven basically sent me halfway across the galaxy just to look for some munitions. We ended up finding some droids instead,"

"Droids?"

"Yea. And get this. They're Separatist droids. Became sentient after the war ended,"

"That's interesting," Hera replied, mulling over the thought.

"Yeap. Unfortunately, they weren't so interesting that they had munitions. I guess we're just back to square one again,"

"We have the same situation here," Hera replied with a sigh. "Ezra's mission was a bust. He ended up meeting Sabine instead and getting kidnapped by Crimson Dawn. Wasn't a really fun experience for the rest of us,"

Dev seemed to freeze for a moment. His mind seemingly hearing something unexpected. "Sabine?"

"Oh yea, Ezra never told you right?" Hera realised. "It's his old friend from back when he was in the Empire. Apparently she had some connections with Crimson Dawn after she left," She turned to look at Dev but found that he had already disappeared.

"Huh," Hera said to herself, not really minding much before carrying on with her own tasks.

Dev had a scary look on his face as he ran towards the forest. He seemed angrily determined to get somewhere, pushing past people without caring to be polite.

Once he got deep enough into the forest, he finally stopped. He twisted and turned rapidly, as if he was looking for something.

Finally, a certain tree caught his attention. To the uncommon eye, it probably looked no different from the other trees in the forest. But Dev knew what made it so special.

Running his hands across the branches, Dev found a very specific carving etched into the bark of the tree. It was a mark he made himself, an identifying mark.

Kneeling on the ground, Dev began digging around the roots of the tree. He dug until his hands reached a steel metal box. Its surface was slightly dirtied by the mud, but based on its condition, one could tell that this box had not been buried here for long.

Pulling the steel box out of its hiding place, Dev opened it only to find that the one thing he was looking for was not there.

Frantically, Dev searched around. He knew this place was secure. This wasn't the first time he had dug around this area. Standing up, Dev immediately pulled his blaster out of its holster. If the transmitter wasn't there, then someone must have taken it.

And if someone had taken it, then he had been compromised.

"You really need to get better at hiding things babe," Mera suddenly emerged from the corner of his vision, holding in her hand the exact item Dev had been looking for.

Dev narrowed his eyes as he spotted the all too familiar red skinned Twi'lek. Her face seemed to infuriate him, as if he was irritated by her presence.

"What are you doing here," He spat. Although his venomous tone did not seem to dissuade Mera's teasing smile.

She waltzed on over to him, purposely swaying her hips as she approached him. "Can't I come to say hi to a colleague?" Mera placed the transmitter in Dev's hand, playfully touching his cheek as she did so.

"You're supposed to be in Crimson Dawn," Dev said sternly, pulling his face away from her hands. "You're compromising both of our assignments. You better leave, or I'll-"

"Tell your mother?" Mera smiled. "You think it's time she knew about our relationship?"

Dev kept his stern expression on Mera, still demanding an explanation from her side.

"Crimson Dawn was taken out," Mera finally explained with a disappointed sigh. "I managed to get out without getting compromised. I followed the protocol you love so much ok? That's why I'm here,"

But Dev's mood didn't improve. He seemed angry about something, and Mera couldn't guess what.

"The latest order from your mother was to come here, you know that? You've won our competition. The Rebellion which you talked up so much has been chosen for the next phase," Mera continued, trying to cheer him up.

"I heard Sabine was in Crimson Dawn," Dev replied, ignoring all of Mera's previous words.

"Yea?" Mera asked unwittingly. "So what?"

"She was in Crimson Dawn, and you didn't think to tell anyone about it?"

The look in his eyes made Mera's heart stop. She didn't get it at first, but now. The implications of what that would mean would destroy her.

"I just found out okay? I didn't know it was her until she actually told me her name,"

"No. You just didn't care," Dev spat even more harshly this time. "You've never taken even the simplest things seriously, Mera. Our protocols, our rules are there for a reason. And because you don't take them seriously, Sabine flew under our radar for years,"

"How was I supposed to know it was her?" Mera desperately shouted. "She called herself Ria!"

"We were all supposed to remember her face," Dev said harshly. He jabbed a finger at her chest, letting his anger get the best of him. "You messed up Mera. And there's no getting away from it,"

Mera's face slouched, her jovial attitude disappearing almost immediately. "I'm.. I'm sorry,"

"Sorry doesn't cut it," Dev said, but a little more quietly this time. "You knew why I wanted to find her so bad. You knew why we all wanted to find her," A sharp breath left Dev's lips as he saw Mera's face sag even further.

"Just go," He said with a heavy sigh.

Those words seemed to hurt Mera more than anything else. She bit back tears, but her fears she had of him treating her this way forever pushed them out even more.

"I know you don't want to hear it," Mera began. "But I'm sorry," Her eyes remained stuck on Dev, hoping that he would meet her gaze once more and accept her apology.

But he didn't. He remained resolute in staring anywhere but at her.

"My ship's next to the Spectre's. If you're willing to forgive me, you know where to find me," Mera announced, a last ditch attempt to fix what she had done.

Even so, Dev kept his gaze far from her. Not even watching to see if she had gone.

Calming his breaths, Dev eventually activated his transmitter.

"This is Operative R129. I have located our key target. Sabine Wren has been found on the Rebel base of Atollon. Prepare the containment measures as we practised,"

"Copy that. Your mother will be happy to hear that the traitor has been found by none other than her only son. We'll be there soon, Tristan,"