Ronin was standing in the hangar again. His friend, Goose, was standing just outside the shuttle, along with two other figures he vaguely recognized. Suddenly, the stormtroopers were there again, walking towards the shuttle, and taking aim at the three figures near the shuttle. Ronin rushed forward, trying to shout a warning, but no words came out of his mouth.

Goose and the other two figures turned around, leaving Ronin shocked. The two people standing next to his friend were… his parents! They smiled at him.

Ronin opened his mouth, trying to warn them again, but he still couldn't make a sound. Goose and his parents continued to smile at him. The stormtroopers opened fire…

"Are you okay?"

The sudden voice woke Ronin up. He found himself in an unfamiliar bunk. Right next to him sat a man, wearing a green shirt and a piece of armor on his shoulder. "Are you okay?" he asked again.

"Where is Goose?" The words left Ronin's mouth before he knew it.

The man gave him a curious look. "Goose?"

"Goose, I held him, he-" Ronin couldn't find words, as the scene from the hangar replayed in his mind.

The man seemed to understand. "I'm sorry kid," he began, "your friend is gone."

Goose was gone.

Ronin had known it the moment his friend's body hit the floor. Still, to hear someone else say it made it feel all the more real.

The man gave him a sympathetic look. "I'll give you some more time to rest," he said. "When you feel a bit better, you can join us in the common room. It's just down the hallway."

The man got up and left the room. As the door closed, Ronin laid back down in the bunk. The scene of Goose dying playing in his head again and again, every now and then interrupted by the shots that killed his parents.

A part of him wanted to kill the people who had taken the shots. But he didn't even know their faces. They were just wearing the same helmets as any other. The face of the Empire.

The Empire had done it. The empire had killed his parents, his best friend, and everyone he cared about. The individual who pulled the trigger didn't matter. It was the empire that would pay.

Ronin didn't know how long he lay in the bunk. Eventually, he got up, the rational part of him having convinced him that there was nothing he could realistically do, other than figure out what situation he found himself in now.

The hallway outside the room was nothing like what he'd grown used to during his months as a cadet. The imperial hallways were clean and gray, but this was… not as clean and way more colorful. A small part of him kind of liked it.

Ronin made his way down the hallway, as the man earlier had told him. At the end, there was a door, behind which he could hear voices.

When he opened the door he was greeted by a a living room. It felt warm and cozy, and there were several people who were doing various things. The man that had woken up Ronin earlier was sitting together with a green Twi'lek at a table with a checkered pattern. He waved Ronin over. "Come, sit," he invited.

Ronin sat down on one of the couch seats. After sitting down, he looked around. There was a purple alien sitting in a chair not too far from the table, and across the room, a girl in colorful armor was busy painting on the wall.

"I'm sorry, we haven't properly introduced ourselves," the man said. "My name is Kanan. This," he pointed towards the green Twi'lek, "is Hera. The big purple guy over there is Zeb, and the colorful Mandalorian over there is Sabine." He finished before being interrupted by a scream from behind a door on the other side of the room.

"CHOPPER!"

"And that is Ezra," the man, Kanan, muttered. "Chopper is our droid," he explained to Ronin, while the others chuckled. "So, who are you?" He asked.

Ronin hesitated for a moment. "I'm Ronin," he finally said.

"Ronin? Nice name," The Mandalorian, Sabine, commented, looking up from her work. Ronin wasn't sure how to respond.

"So Ronin, would you maybe like to tell us what happened back there?" Kanan asked. "It's fine if you don't want to talk about it," he quickly added after a look from Hera.

Ronin didn't respond immediately. "Goose died," he finally said, so quietly that almost no one but Kanan could hear him.

"Goose? What- ohh," Kanan started, before an understanding expression dawned on his face. "He was the one you held in your arms, wasn't he?" Ronin nodded.

But before he could get lost in his thoughts about his dead friend, the door at the other end of the hallway opened, and a boy with black hair and an orange jacket stumbled in. "Hera, Chopper threw my soup-," he began, before his eyes caught Ronin, "...oh, sorry if I interrupted."

Hera sighed, "It's fine, Ezra," she said, before yelling a bit louder, "Chopper, stop stealing Ezra's food!" A string of angry binary came in response, which she ignored.

Ronin saw the boy, Ezra, still staring at him. "What?" he frowned.

"Oh, sorry," Ezra stammered, quickly looking away. "It's just, you're so powerful."

Ronin looked confused. "Powerful?"

"In the Force," Ezra continued, before receiving a reprimanding look from Kanan. "Sorry Kanan."

Kanan sighed and then turned to Ronin. "Do you know what the Force is?"

Ronin shook his head. "I've only ever heard the name."

"It's an energy field that binds the galaxy together," Kanan explained. "It flows through all living things. Some beings are stronger in it than others, like me and Ezra." He nodded towards the boy. "And you."

Ronin was still confused. "What do you mean 'strong in the Force'?" he asked.

"It means you can use the Force to help you with things. Like this," Kanan held out his hand, and suddenly a piece of metal that was lying on the floor started floating in the air.

Ronin was taken aback, momentarily forgetting what had happened just hours ago. "That's… the Force?"

Kanan nodded. "And it's strong with you," he said.

"So… I can make things float?" Ronin asked, still amazed.

"With proper training, you could," Kanan answered. "But it's much more than that. With the Force, you can also feel things. Things like other people, things that are about to happen…"

Ronin got lost in thought as Kanan continued. Some of these things he recognized. He'd often had some sort of feeling of warning before something bad happened. He'd always thought of it as instinct, but perhaps it had been the Force? He then remembered how the stormtroopers had flown backwards when Goose had died. He hadn't thought much about it, but the way Kanan explained how the Force worked, it certainly made sense.

But the thought of Goose quickly brought back what had happened in the hangar, and any interest in the Force-related things Kanan was explaining immediately disappeared, replaced by grief.

The change in Ronin didn't go unnoticed by Kanan, who had stopped talking. Hera had noticed too, and moved a bit closer with a compassionate expression on her face. "Everyone out," she ordered, adding a bit quieter, "you too, Kanan."

Kanan nodded in understanding and left the room with the other Spectres. As soon as the door had closed behind a grumbling Chopper, Hera moved closer to Ronin, putting a hand on his shoulder. This seemed to bring him back from wherever his mind had been.

"Why," Ronin whispered, "why did he have to die?"

He didn't specify who he meant, but Hera had a pretty good feeling she knew. "I don't know," she finally responded. She wasn't sure if that was the right answer, but it was the best she could come up with.

A few tears rolled down Ronin's cheeks. "The empire," he spoke quietly, "they killed him. They killed them." His voice rose a bit. "They took everything." His voice filled with anger. "Everyone that mattered!"

After this, he fell quiet again. Hera thought she now understood him better. He'd lost people to the empire, more than just his friend. She could sympathize with that. Everyone in her crew had lost people to the empire. The same could be said for many others in the rebellion.

"Don't worry," she said softly to the boy, "you'll be safe with us."

"So, what do we do with him?"

The question was to be expected, but Zeb's voice still startled Kanan when it came. Before he could answer, Ezra cut in. "I think we should help him."

"Didn't you see his uniform? He's an imperial! It could be a trap," Zeb argued back.

"Wouldn't be the first time we've helped an imperial cadet," Sabine pointed out. It was no surprise she defended the boy; she'd been an imperial cadet herself.

They were interrupted when Hera returned, after she had brought the boy, Ronin, back to Kanan's room. "What's going on?"

"Zeb thinks we shouldn't-" Ezra began, before Zeb interrupted him.

"We shouldn't help him, he's an imperial!" He insisted. But nobody else seemed to want to agree with him.

Hera looked at Zeb. "He has no love for the empire, if that's what you're worried about," she said.

"It could still be a trap," Zeb muttered, but most of the hostility had already left his voice.

Sabine looked at Hera. "What makes you say that?"

"He's also lost people to the empire, just like the rest of us," she responded, before turning to Kanan. "What do you think, love?" she asked.

"I don't feel any deception in him," Kanan said. "And he is strong in the Force, but..."

"But?" Hera insisted.

"But he feels… disturbed. And emotionally very vulnerable," he continued. "I think we should get someone else to help him with that."

Right as he said this, Ezra quietly left the room. Hera didn't pay it much attention. "Who do you have in mind?" she asked.

Kanan only gave a short answer: "Ahsoka."

Ronin hadn't laid back down on the bunk yet when the door opened again. He half expected to see the green Twi'lek Hera or Kanan, but it was neither. Instead, the boy who had talked about him being strong in the Force earlier, Ezra, stood in the doorway.

Ezra closed the door behind him and walked a bit closer. When he stood next to the bunk, he spoke, "Hey, are you okay?" Ronin murmured something inaudible in return. Ezra sat down on the bunk next to him and continued, "I know how you feel."

Ronin didn't respond. He didn't want to respond. He'd just lost his best friend, the only person who still cared for him. And before that… there was no way this kid could understand what he was going through. Couldn't he just leave him alone?

Ezra seemed to ignore Ronin's silence as he continued talking. "I also lost people to the empire, you know. They took away my parents."

That got Ronin's attention. "They also killed your parents?" He asked.

Ezra nodded. "They were captured and later died. I… only found out recently." Ronin could hear the sadness in his voice. Perhaps this kid was more similar to him than he'd first thought. "What about you? Did you lose your parents as well?" Ezra interrupted his thoughts.

Ronin's first impulse was to not answer. But Ezra's voice reminded him of something. A voice that had assured him things that would be okay earlier. So he spoke. "I … I lost my parents too," he began, "they were killed… when I was eight." He tried and failed to hold back the tears, as he remembered the moment. The sounds of the shots were carved into his memory.

"So how did you end up with the Empire?" Ezra asked.

"When they killed my parents, I had a feeling… They were there looking for me. I thought if I… the last place they would look for me would be in their own ranks." He was still struggling to keep calm, but at least he now started to retake control over his voice.

"What changed?"

"At the Academy, I had a friend," Ronin continued. "We worked together on everything. His parents were supporters of the empire and made him join. He didn't want to stay."

"Was that the body you were holding when we found you? Your friend?" Ezra asked. Ronin nodded, trying to hold back tears once again. Ezra put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry to hear what happened to you," he said. "If there's anything I can do to help, let me know."

Ronin nodded. "Thank you." As Ezra got up and started walking to the door, Ronin called after him. "Ezra, right?" Ezra turned around and nodded. "Please, don't tell anyone what I told you."

"I won't," Ezra promised, before turning and leaving the room.

Ronin turned to lie down on the bunk. The loss of Goose still weighed heavily on him. But talking to Ezra about it had definitely helped him feel a little better. It had been nice to talk to someone who had gone through something similar, who understood him more than most people would.

"We've arrived at the origin of the tracker, Inquisitor," an officer informed. "There are no life signs on board the shuttle."

The Fourteenth Sister looked out of the light cruiser's window at what remained of the stolen shuttle. After figuring out which ship the cadets had taken, it had been easy to activate the transponder to find the ship. Unfortunately, nobody at the academy had thought of that before her arrival; otherwise, they might have caught the force-sensitive cadet sooner. Now, if the cadet was still alive, he had slipped through their fingers.

Somewhere inside the Inquisitor smiled, though she didn't show it to the outside. She could enjoy a good chase, and it looked like this cadet might give her one.

"Move us in," she ordered. "I want to take a look on board." The captain obliged, moving the cruiser to dock with the shuttle. The inquisitor herself made her way to the cruiser's airlock.

"Stay here," she ordered the stormtroopers already waiting at the airlock. "Let nobody enter or leave this shuttle unless I order otherwise."

"Yes, Inquisitor," the lead stormtrooper answered, before taking position.

The first thing she saw after entering the shuttle was chaos. Equipment and other cargo were scattered everywhere. The walls were cracked, as if something very strong had tried to break out. In the middle of the cargo bay lay the body of the other cadet who had tried to escape, but she didn't pay it any attention. He was dead anyway.

Instead, she examined the cracks in the wall. It was more confirmation of what she'd already concluded. This cadet was force-sensitive, and in his rage, she guessed, he had caused damage to the shuttle. It had all the signs of an untrained force-sensitive using the Force without knowing how to control it.

But he wasn't here anymore. Even without the lifeform scans, she hadn't felt anyone on board through the Force when they arrived. As she had thought, he had already escaped. As she further inspected the ship, she noticed that the main damage had been done in the cargo bay. The rest seemed fairly undamaged. She made her way to the cockpit and looked around. The navicomputer hadn't been used, and the jump had been completely random. She decided to take the security footage of the inside of the ship with her, to examine later. A further search of the ship revealed nothing of interest.

"Release the shuttle," she ordered once she was back aboard the cruiser.

"But ma'am-" the captain started to protest before being silenced by the inquisitor's glare.

The cruiser released the shuttle and jumped back into hyperspace.

After talking with Ezra, Ronin had been able to sleep for most of the trip. It was only when they'd almost arrived at the rebel fleet that he was woken up by nightmares of Goose and his parents getting shot again. This time, it was in the living room of his old house, where his family had actually died. A small feeling of anger rose up in him as he remembered the moment, while still lying in the bunk.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt the ship leaving hyperspace. The Mandalorian girl, Sabine, he reminded himself, opened the door to tell him they'd arrived. "Kanan asks if you can also come to the briefing," she added, before leaving again.

By the time Ronin left the room, the entire crew had already left, save for the astromech, Chopper. The droid was mumbling, and while Ronin couldn't understand binary, he could tell from the tone that the machine wasn't happy about something.

The droid led Ronin through the ship, which he now knew was called the Ghost, into another ship, which was docked at the airlock.

Even from the inside, Ronin could tell it was a very different ship from the one he'd just traveled in. While the Ghost was a bit more colorful and a little dirty here and there, this ship felt cleaner and more professional. Although looking completely different, the hallways somewhat reminded him of those from the imperial academy, giving him the impression of a similarly organized military.

When they reached the briefing room, Ronin felt all eyes briefly turn to him. As such, he didn't feel like following Chopper to the Holotable and instead opted to stay near the wall. Hera gave him a small nod before returning to her report about the mission.

As she continued, Ronin didn't pay much attention, instead studying the people in the room. Aside from the Ghost crew, there were several other humans in uniform present. Alongside them was an orange-skinned Togruta, who looked at him several times with an interested look in her eyes. For some reason, she felt important to Ronin, although he couldn't tell why.

"And then we found this damaged shuttle, floating near the jump point." Hera's voice suddenly caught Ronin's attention. "As mentioned before, we found one survivor on board, who is now here," she gestured towards where Ronin was standing.

Ronin felt a little uncomfortable when everyone's attention went to him again for a moment. Hera continued to explain what they knew of him, and then they continued the briefing by talking about other things. Ronin kept noticing the officers throwing glances at him, and the Togruta studying him more closely throughout the rest of the meeting. He was surprised no one asked more questions about him, although he may have just missed them.

When the meeting was over, Ronin started to leave, before being stopped by Kanan. "Stay here a moment," the man said. Most of the others left the room, with the exception of Kanan, Hera, and the Togruta.

"So, this is him?" The Togruta asked, after everyone had left. Kanan nodded. The Togruta approached Ronin. "Hello… Ronin, is it?" Ronin nodded. "My name is Ahsoka," she said, holding her hand out. Ronin shook it. She examined him for another moment before continuing. "What do you know about the Force?"

"Only what Kanan told me earlier," Ronin answered. "Something about an energy field?"

"An energy field that flows through all living things," she finished. "I take it Kanan already told you that you're force-sensitive?" She asked.

"He did," Ronin said, throwing a glance at Kanan who was watching them from a distance, "but I still don't really get what that means. He showed that It could make things float."

"That, and a lot more," Ahsoka said.

"But only if you train to do so," Kanan chimed in. "It takes a lot of training and discipline. Especially if you want to be a Jedi."

"A Jedi?" Ronin hesitated. He didn't know much about the Force, but he definitely knew about the Jedi. "I don't know... I'm not sure if I'd want that."

"If you don't train your abilities, sooner or later they will fade away."

"Perhaps I could train you," Ahsoka offered, apparently having noticed Ronin's hesitation when he said the word 'Jedi'. "I'm not a Jedi, but I could teach you some of the basics about the Force, and then you can decide for yourself what you want."

Ronin thought about it. He'd only ever heard terrible things about the Jedi, so he didn't really feel like he wanted to be one himself. But being able to use the Force could perhaps still help him...

"Okay," he finally said, "we can try that."

"Alright," Ahsoka smiled, "come, and we'll begin."

Author's note: it took longer than I'd hoped, but I'm glad this chapter is now done. Any feedback through dms or reviews would be appreciated :)