Can you wave to all the readers Mira? Can you? Excellent! Wave to Mira my friends! So precious!

Vision of Hope

"The nose doesn't lie, bub."

In the golden fields of Lothal the training was going well Ezra thought as he swung his blade from point to point, deflecting well-earned bolts away from him. His fingers had a few well earned welts from when he wasn't holding the lightsaber correctly.

'It's the same voltage as your slingshot,' Sabine said.

'Yeah!' Zeb said. 'Good thing we took care of that!'

I took care of that, Ezra thought. Well, me and Sabine. Still, it was no wonder the Inquisitor laughed and soaked in all the slingshot blasts Ezra had shot at him.

"Good form, but stay focused!" Kanan called out from his place in the circle, as observer and Master.

"Incorrect, Master Jarrus," Ezra's lightsaber droid-mind Skippy said. "Ezra's response time has slowed."

"Utoh!" Zeb said. "Hear that Kanan? Ezra's lightsaber has something to say about your training.

Kanan blinked in realization that a kriffin' lightsaber had spoken back at him.

"It's the helmet," Sabine said from her point in the circle with her two colorful WESTAR pistols. "When Ezra trains on his own, he's not normally wearing something like that on his head."

"All the more reason to stop relying on your eyes and more on your connection with the Force, Ezra," Kanan said. "Even a blind Jedi could fight off a hundred soldiers."

There came an annoyed huff from Sabine's direction. "Depends on the soldiers," she said.

"Sabine is correct. A hundred Mandalorians against a blinded Jedi-"

"It was just a metaphor!" Kanan said.

"Well, pick a better metaphor, Professor," Zeb chided. The big Lasat then glanced at the pockmarked Stormtrooper helmet that had over a half dozen blaster marks on it already from Ezra's deflections. "Hey Kid! How long until we kick this training thing up into high gear!"

"Negative on that Spectre-5," Sabine said. "The last time you kicked it into 'high gear?' Ezra nearly fell to his death."

"Sabine is correct." Skippy said.

Chopper warbled something in his astromech binary language that Ezra couldn't quite make out.

"That is not true," Skippy protested as Ezra brought his saber up high and then down low to deflect another two bolts. "I do not always agree with Sabine."

"Hah!" Zeb said. "Wouldn't be a surprise if she programmed the thing to do so!"

"If I want something said, I'll say it," Sabine said. "Through my art with a brush or the barrel of my blaster."

She punctuated that last part with a sudden rapid fire burst from her two pistols. Ezra's dark purple blade caught the first two but the third hit got through his defenses and knocked his head around inside the helmet.

"Ow!" Ezra said and shook his head.

"As I said, Master Jarrus. Though Ezra's technique has bettered, his reaction time has slowed significantly."

"Well, that'll happen under a hot sun and an hour's worth of training," Kanan said and then shook his head. Arguing with a lightsaber on how to train his Padawan. At least Sabine had toned down its cockney-accented snark.

"How are you doing, Ezra?" Sabine said. Her voice was apologetic, maybe because she did just knock me on the head with a blaster shot. Stun rounds or not, those Mando blasters packed a wallop.

"I can hear the bells ringing," Ezra said and shook his head for emphasis. He glanced at the Stormtrooper helmet, not liking all the white still showing. Making a snap decision Ezra held Skippy away from him and with the other hand he unfastened the helmet protecting his head and then let it drop to the ground.

It hit the dirt and rolled away a few meters.

Zeb all but giggled. "High gear!" The Lasat said.

"This will improve Ezra's quickness."

Kanan looked uncertain. "Are you sure about this, Ezra?"

Ezra took in a good lungful of healthy, unfiltered Lothal air. The sky was blue. And despite all the blaster shooting, he thought he saw a few Loth-cats watching from a distance.

"Keep goin' until my arms can't move," Ezra said, and then drew Skippy into a well-practiced Form III Soresu defensive stance. With all the training on his own and Skippy there now to remind him if his form was off, Ezra fell easily into the stance. It must've shown because Kanan had nothing to say about how he held himself or the lightsaber in his hands.

And without that helmet, Ezra found it easier to focus on the Force. Maybe if he made training with a helmet a daily thing both his mind and body would adapt. But right now there was a stormtrooper helmet just begging for a few more blaster shots redirected at it!

With a sigh Ezra felt it through the Force when his Master's reluctance finally gave way. "Okay," Kanan said.

And then the world around Ezra turned into fire. The air was sizzling as blaster bolt after blaster bolt peppered at him and Ezra knew this was it. At this range Zeb and Sabine couldn't possibly miss. So he didn't remain stationary, and began walking and dodging as needed.

In the past, such a situation might've - would've - scared the hell out of Ezra. Now with a growing confidence, he leaned left and right when needed and instead of trying to just deflect every blast shot away with his lightsaber. He chose which ones to deflect - more specifically redirect.

Every time he heard a redirected shot ping off that pristine white helmet, the smile on his face grew a little more.

And that's when it hit him. One moment he's spreading his wings and showing off all the progress he's made.

First it was voices, Hera's and a man he didn't recognize. But there was something distinct that Ezra recognized. The Call. Something Force-y was about to happen!

Kriff.

"Stay close, Senator."

"You want me to go in there?"

White clouded the edge of Ezra's vision as whatever the Force was trying to tell him decided it needed to paint a picture for Ezra. And so in Ezra's mind he saw stormtroopers surrounding someone. Someone he faintly recognized.

Then there was a grate. A sewer grate in Capital City. Again that same person, only now with the rest of the team.

We thought we would lose the stormtroopers in the sewers, but they still found us.

"Your parents were very brave."

Ezra gasped as he came out of the vision, and with only one thought on his mind. And it was a name.

Senator Trayvis!

Ezra groaned and blinked. Lying flat on his back, standing around him were the outlines Sabine, Zeb, and Chopper. Kneeling beside him was Kanan, checking him over.

"Ezra?" Kanan said.

The scene reminded him of a scene from a holo-vid he and Sabine were watching. Someone named Dorothy and these really important shoes? Or maybe he was getting his vids mixed up. Sabine and he had been watching a lot lately.

"Here," Sabine said and handed Kanan a bottle of water from the cooler they had brought with them on this training exercise. He didn't open it but held the container against Ezra's forehead, and the coolness help clear Ezra's thoughts and focus.

He had seen something important. Something big. Was that one of those Force visions he had heard about? He distinctly remembered The Call.

"Thanks," Ezra said. After taking the bottle and opening it, it took him three greedy mouthfuls to recall the vision.

And whose life was in danger? He glanced around, almost expecting the Senator to be there with them, but his eyes instead focused on the charred black stormtrooper helmet.

"Whoa," Ezra said. Did he do that?

"Yeah." Sabine said to the unspoken question. "You and your lightsaber were like? Were like a machine at the end there before you passed out."

"Didn't miss a single blaster shot," Zeb said. "Even when we may have upped the speed."

"I am always at peak performance." Skippy said. The lightsaber sounded affronted at the idea that it would do any less.

"Yeah," Zeb said and the Lasat seemed almost sheepish. Ezra rolled his eyes and drank more water.

"Though Ezra's Soresu, Form III, defensive stance did change."

"Change?" Sabine said. "But he didn't miss a shot!"

"My functions are limited to Forms I and Form III. Beyond that I cannot offer guidance." Skippy said. "Though if I were to use an adjective, I would describe it as aggressive."

"Look!" Ezra said and looked at each of them. "It doesn't matter! I didn't just fall unconscious, I had a vision, a pretty clear one. Senator Gall Trayvis he's in danger!" Ezra's eyes widened. "And he knew my parents!"

"Anything else?" Kanan said.

"No, it was pretty dark, and there were stormtroopers. A lot of them! And you were there! And you were there!" He said and looked at the other Spectres.

"Sounds pretty normal," Sabine said. "That though," Sabine said and looked at the charred remains of the Stormtrooper helmet.

"But my parents-"

"Ezra, visions are tricky things," Kanan said. "Sometimes they show us only what we want to see."

"Ezra!" Hera called from the landing bay of the Ghost. "He's on, hurry!"

Trayvis and his broadcast! That put a pause on everything else happening, visions included! Ezra turned to run but before he could he felt a swat to his head from a big hair hand.

"Ow!" Ezra said and gave Zeb a glare.

"Just helping you hone your Jedi powers," the Lasat said innocently.

Before Ezra could get a word in a second hand, this time folded in a fist, gave his arm a good punch. Ezra gripped his arm and glanced to find Sabine of all people grinning back at him.

"Ow. Stop," he said.

"Maybe if we keep trying," Sabine mused with her own "innocent" smirk and then made tracks to join the others and see Trayvis's broadcast.

Needing no more encouragement, Ezra hurried to watch the broadcast in time with the others.

Kanan was wary, Ezra got that. In truth he felt the same. But between the Senator's broadcast and what he saw in his vision, whatever doubts Ezra still had had all but vanished. But it wasn't like they were walking into a trap.

After the Senator's broadcast requesting aid - their aid - they sat down and 'worked the problem' as Zeb would say in times like these. A trap? Probably. The Senator wouldn't be contacting them for no reason. So if it is a trap then the Senator's life, one of their few precious allies, was in danger.

Joined now by Hera, the Ghost crew put their heads together and came up with a pretty solid plan. But Ezra could tell his Master wanted to discuss what happened in training. And not the vision.

He's worried about me, Ezra thought. Kanan did a good job of hiding what he was thinking but through their growing connection in the Force as Master and Padawan, it was becoming increasingly difficult to hide emotions and true intentions like that.

So Ezra had made a hasty retreat to the galley and was pouring himself a bowel of tasty space-cereal with blue milk. Which is how Sabine found him.

"You ran out pretty quickly, Diasa'yr," Sabine said and took the seat opposite of Ezra and his cereal.

It never failed. Ezra sighed, and a smile grew up on his lips. Her and her calling him Diamond in Mando'a. That nickname she had just for him.

"Unfair, Paintbomb." Ezra said and sighed. Moments ticked by and his cereal steadily turned more into mush.

"I expected to find you in a turret somewhere looking at the picture of your parents. Ideally having taken a shower," Sabine teased. "But if what you saw in your vision was true?"

"He said he knew my parents," Ezra said. "Past tense. Just like everyone I meet."

"Not quite everyone." Sabine said.

Ezra frowned, thinking it over, and then shook his head. "Tseebo."

"I don't know how the Force works," Sabine said. "But I understand signs. You know what one of my first lessons was when I decided to become an artist?"

"Color inside the lines?" Ezra suggested.

"Beside that," Sabine said. She didn't sound thrilled with his answer, but he could see the corners tilting up on Paintbomb's hidden smile.

"I…" Ezra frowned. "I'm trying to learn more about your art, Sabine. I appreciate that about you."

Sabine's smile fell, and she shook her head. "Well, you should stop."

"Huh?" Ezra said.

"You should stop. Ezra, not everyone, is an art connoisseur. If I want someone like that to rate my art, I'd submit a piece to one of those head up their arse core world cake eaters. When it comes to my art? Your appreciation and honesty are what I want."

Ezra was quiet for a moment, thinking her words over. Then smiled. "That, and me and Zeb's muscles when you decide to scrub away half your entire collection."

Sabine gave him a patented eye roll fit for a royal palace. "I don't want to talk about him."

Ezra eyed his cereal, soggy and now submerged in the milk, perhaps beyond all hope of rescue.

"I know. And I'm glad you have Hera to talk to about that. But I guess I'm still just trying to understand. How someone, how anyone, can just show up and enchant you like that. You or anyone, for that matter."

"Well," Sabine said, and tilted her head thoughtfully. "Hera saw right through his ploy. But if you figure out the answer to that question, let me and hundreds of other girls like me know?"

It went without saying that Sabine never wanted to feel like that again. Despite no fists being thrown, what happened to her was an attack. To weaponise sex like that, especially against someone so young. That was Lando Calrissian.

Ezra and Zeb were halfway through starting up the Phantom when Kanan caught them.

Despite Kanan's own reservations, Captain Hera clarified that neither she nor Sabine wished for any of the crew to seek him out and harm him. They had argued that "harm" was pretty subjective, but in the end orders were orders and Spectre-1 gave the order to stand down.

But damn if Ezra still didn't feel tempted. This feeling of injustice. There needs to be justice. A reckoning of some sort. And if no one else was willing to step up then-

"You're dwelling," Sabine said, and lightly kicked his leg under the table. "Stop it. I'll take that," Sabine said and took the remnants of Ezra's meal and stood up from the table.

With her back turned, Ezra spied on his friend's every move as she walked from their table to the fresher in the galley. Slowly he felt the anger simmer down inside.

So beautiful.

Dumping his cereal she hummed as she began to make herself a cup of caf. So focused on her work, she didn't realize Kanan had walked in and had put a hand on her arm to get her attention.

And that was all it took.

Kanan wasn't shorter than her, like Ezra. He wasn't big and scary like Zeb. Unfortunately, he was too similar in size to him. And he was in her space. And Sabine did what she always did when instincts took control.

With a quick jerk, Sabine immediately seized Kanan's arm and had him in a lock. Forcing him down face first against the cold metal of the table top. She didn't stop until she drew her blaster and aimed it at his temple.

And then reality slowly bled back in. She wasn't a short trigger squeeze from ending that bastard Lando. The man she was holding down at gunpoint was different. Familiar. But familiar in a good way. Familiar as in.

Oh Manda.

"I'm sorry," Sabine choked out as tears swelled in her eyes.

Sabine fled the galley, a myriad of emotions boiling up her insides.

Anger.

Humiliation.

Dirty.

But above all else, fear. Was there no end to this? Would she ever get through this?

The scrubbed cleaned walls in her cabin, that once held some of her dearest creations, held no answer.

Back in the galley things weren't much better as Ezra was now of two minds. First this upcoming mission within thirty minutes. And secondly, concern for Kanan and Sabine. This wasn't the first time after all.

"Kanan," Ezra started but Kanan waved him off.

"It's okay, Ezra." Kanan said, doing his best to reassure the boy.

"No it isn't," Ezra said and wrapped his arms around himself. "None of this is."

Kanan smiled and with his good arm reached out and ruffled Ezra's long hair, making it into the shape of a proper bird's nest.

"I have faith that she'll get through this," Kanan said. "You should too."

Silence descended, each of them thinking of Sabine in their own way. For Kanan, despite his stiff arm and having a blaster just pointed at him, was confident they'd get through this together. Or as together as he could hope. A lot of this healing would come down to Sabine with a little help from Hera when the girl needed it. Ezra had very different thoughts, thoughts his Master (with the help of their growing bond) was too well aware of.

"It's going to take her time," Kanan said and began to make a couple of cafs. "And I just need to work on being less stealthy." He paused in his work and studied Ezra carefully.

"I'm more worried about you," Kanan said.

Ezra frowned. "What? I'm fine, she's hurting!"

"And we know she is. We're a family and we'll be there when she needs us. But Ezra. Your connection to the Force and your display today."

Ezra watched his Master carefully, and felt the confusion through their bond.

"I rewatched the surveillance footage from the Ghost. And?" Kanan threw his arms up in the air. "I don't know what I saw. It was fast, though. So fast. And since you were fully in tune with the Force given your vision."

"Are you going somewhere with this?" Ezra said and folded his arms across his chest.

Kanan, the Jedi "Master" who lost everything while he was still only a Padawan, could only shrug. "How is your focus?" Kanan settled for.

"Aside from wanting justice for what Lando did to Sabine. Justice for what the Empire did to my parents, and that if my vision was right the kriffin' Senator may have knowledge of what happened to them?"

Kanan chuckled. "Yeah. Think I'd feel the same way too. Prime me you'll try to keep your head clear though, okay?"

Ezra bit his lip but nodded all the same. He promised.

"Now, if you'll excuse me," Kanan said as he held a caf in either hand. "I'm going to leave one of these outside Sabine's cabin. Then I'll look over the mission details again. Could use a hand with someone familiar with the Capital's sewers.""

"It's a trap." Ezra said.

Kanan harrumphed. "Well, that's the thing about traps. They can work both ways."

LINE AGAIN

Traps work both ways, Ezra reminded himself as both he and Kanan ignited their lightsabers. As expected, finding the Senator turned out to be easy, all too easy. Because ISB Agent Kallus and Minister Tua of all people were waiting. Along with at least one full squad of stormtroopers that had circled them from all sides and had already shot both of the Senator Trayvis's security droids.

Well, at least I've gotten better at deflecting blaster bolts. And no Inquisitor. And then the ace in the hole, as Kanan had said. Traps work both ways.

Not one to pass up the chance of grandstanding, Kallus strode forward.

"Kanan Jarrus, Jedi Knight." Kallus began. He then looked at Ezra. "Padawan Jabba."

Ezra frowned. He'd need a new name. One less obvious. One that he wouldn't mind getting in trouble with the Empire if they ever heard it. It came to him then, a new alias, and he'd smile, if not for the amount of firepower they were facing.

"Good to see you too, Muttonchops," Ezra taunted.

"And what have we've here?" Kallus asked, ignoring Ezra's barb, and looked Hera over carefully. Committing every bit of her appearance to memory, every detail no matter how slight. "A Twi'lek I've yet to meet. From your regalia, I suspect you must be our talented pilot."

Of all the Imperials Ezra had met, none concerned him more than Kallus. If it wasn't for what he did to Zeb's people he could almost respect the Imperial Agent. But since learning the truth, it's hard to see a monster as anything but.

"Where is the Lasat and the Mandalorian girl?" Minister Tua demanded from her "safe" spot behind a long line of stormtroopers.

"If you won't talk, then my troopers will become a firing squad," Kallus said and gestured to all the bucketheads he had assembled for such a special occasion.

"You'd better do as he says," Trayvis said, his voice filled with fear.

"Don't worry, Senator. Our friends will be along." Ezra said.

Ezra could sympathize. He remembered his daring decision to warn Kanan and the others of the trap when they first met and then being interrogated himself by Kallus. The experience terrified him. But with his lightsaber in his hands (albeit with Skippy muted) and his Master at his side, Ezra felt anything but.

It was almost a game then as Ezra took the right side and Kanan took the left, each of them in Soresu and ready to begin deflecting bolts. Every time they tried to angle their E-11 blaster rifle for another shot a lightsaber tracked the angle - ready to defend.

It was as if an invisible string was tied from the blaster barrel to the lightsaber. Where one pointed to get a shot off the other one moved to deflect.

They were all bucketheads and all wore the same armor, but be it by long experience or his own growing sensitivity with the Force Ezra could tell no stormtrooper was here happily. Facing off against two Jedi with lightsabers in close quarters was the last thing they wanted.

What was it Kanan had said? Traps work both ways?

The team had spent a long time studying the layout of the building and saw the perfect hiding spot for Sabine and Zeb in the rafters.

The small balls dropped from the ceiling and Ezra smirked. For they weren't just random balls, but smoke grenades that Sabine had whipped up special. As the room filled with smoke everyone without a filtered helmet began to choke and cough.

That or they held their breath, as Ezra and Kanan both did. Hera had planned a head and had a rebreather ready for both her and the Senator. Zeb heckled and dropped from the rafters, taking down two stormtroopers from the top.

And then most deadly of all was Sabine and her twin WESTARs. Her helmet saw through the smoke and with her perch above the battlefield where she could see them but they couldn't see her? Ezra wanted to cheer when he heard Kallus cry out but knew better than to count the ISB Agent out just yet.

Baster fire rained from above and any stormtrooper that got a shot off at their group had it redirected by either himself or Kanan.

"The shuttle!" Hera shouted through her rebreather mask.

The team formed up and moved out, though never once did Sabine let up on her blaster fire. Who knew how many stormtroopers Kallus must've had waiting for them.

Seeing daylight Hera led the way with Sabine watching everyone's back. She must've placed some sort of bomb because once we were clear of the smoke and out in the daylight, the room Kallus tried to ambush them in exploded.

Classic Paintbomb.

The shuttle they were hoping for was gone and in its place was one of those fancy Lambdas. Twenty stormtroopers, Ezra's mind reflexively thought. And who knew how many they took care of back there. Judging by the blaster fire - not enough.

Plan B it is.

"You want me to go in there?" the Senator said, sounding aghast at the thought of traversing the sewers.

"It's not so bad once you get used to the smell," Ezra said.

"Heh," Zeb said. "You never get used to the smell."

"Go!" Kanan shouted, ending all debate as he ignited his saber and began deflecting more blaster bolts. Powering up my own, I stood by him side by side as we held off the Imps long enough for the others to make it safely inside.

And what do you know, Muttonchops was still breathing. Ezra thought of how he Force pushed him to save Zeb and tried to draw up that kind of power and give the guy a final farewell flight off the building.

Come on! You've done this with cargo crates how many times?

But Kanan was having none of it. "Ezra!"

At the last moment both he and Kanan dropped through the manhole covering the entrance to the cylindrical tunnel that was Capital City's sewer system. A moment later it had sealed shut thanks to some handy slicing on Sabine's part.

"Home sweet home, huh, Kid?" Zeb said as the team ran the route they had mapped.

"I like to think I've moved up in the world," Ezra said.

"Why thank you," Hera said with a smile on her face. "I like to think so too."

White a shuttle would've been nice, the sewer plan was working well. So long as they kept up the pace, which is where they ran into the first obstacle. The Senator, despite how good he looked on camera, apparently wasn't that big on cardio and needed to stop and rest. Hera noticed it first.

"Ezra, wait up," Hera said.

When Ezra saw the Senator's situation, well it was the last thing he expected from a guy constantly dodging the Empire. "Sorry, Senator." Ezra said. "We just wanna get out of here as fast as we can."

The Senator doubled over and shook his head, breathing hard. "I am the one who should apologize, my young friend." Senator Trayvis said. "I've been pursued, but never in such a place as this."

"Figured you'd be used to running from the Empire." Kanan said, as he came back to check on the hold up.

Ezra had to wince a little. The others gave him the occasional jab for the sewers and the smell. But there was never any malice. And in the end they were always appreciative of Ezra's knowledge of the underground maze that saved their lives so many times.

"I've never come this close to capture before," Trayvis said.

And just like that more blaster fire and the team was sitting ducks! Thankfully it was T-Junction and Hera led the way for Ezra and Trayvis down the left tunnel, while Kanan led the others to the right. We're pinned, Ezra realized, as more stormtroopers entered the tunnel and put suppressing fire down on the team's position.

And we're divided.

"We'll draw them away!" Kanan shouted above the roar of blaster fire. "Get Spectre-2 and Trayvis to the hatch."

Kanan leaned out just enough to return fire, and dropped one stormtrooper. It was then that Ezra realized that Kanan was trusting himself with the safety of not just Senator Trayvis. But Hera too.

"Wait." Ezra said. "How will you find us?" he asked as nearby blaster fire illuminated his face in the darkness.

"I can smell you, remember?" Sabine said.

"Oh," Ezra said. And then realized why Sabine might just recognize his scent in particular. Blood rushed to Ezra's cheeks as his mind scrambled to come up with something to say.

"Think of something clever to say later." Hera said. "Move!" She shouted.

It was only once they were clear of the Empire and could slow down did Sabine's comment about smelling him reenter Ezra's consciousness. He knew she had that new olfactory equipment installed on her helmet. He supposed it only made sense she would figure out someway not just to track him but all the rest of their family as well, in such a case as this.

There was one holo-comic about people with genetic gifts who use their gifts to fight a world filled with oppression. One of Ezra's favorite characters has this enhanced smell and could track practically anything once he got a scent for it.

He could even tell when someone was lying to him.

"The nose doesn't lie, bub," Ezra quoted quietly as he led Trayvis and Hera to the exit point.

The Senator was trying to get caught up to speed. Asking about stuff like support and allies. Hah! We wish, Ezra thought and told the Senator as much. But his disbelief made sense. He held back on telling the Senator about Fulcrum. He'd leave that to Hera. He loved his space mom but she could get pretty prickly about her secret contact.

"I hope we could learn from you, Senator," Ezra said instead. "Your transmissions have already helped keep us going."

"Just to know someone else is out there has meant a lot." Hera said.

Finally they reached the point where three tunnels all converged and led to a ginormous fan that would lead to their escape. "Come on," Ezra said and with a wave of his hand led the way. Though the Senator tripped and fell his way out of the tunnel they had traversed.

Both Hera and Ezra were at his side in a second, but the Senator looked okay. Brushing some dirt off his shoulders he gave the pair a confident nod. Hera nodded and looked at the giant fan. The thing was the size of the house and was blocking their only escape route. The question is obvious.

"How are we getting past this thing?" Hera said.

"We could try to cut its power," Ezra said upon seeing a cable junction box of some sort.

Distantly, he heard Hera ask the Senator to watch their backs. Ezra smiled at that. It felt good to have someone other than themselves to always rely on. This was perfect. They would learn so much, Ezra thought as he squatted down in front of the box and began searching cables.

"That's enough," Senator Trayvis said.

Though it didn't sound like him. He sounded cold. Disinterested. And very Imperial? Ezra looked back over at the Senator in confusion. And that's the when the man lifted the blaster and aimed it right at Hera.

"We're not going anywhere," Trayvis said.

"Whoa! Senator?" Ezra said, still squatting near the fan. Instinctively, he reached for his lightsaber. "What are you doing?"

"Put your saber down, boy," Trayvis said, still holding the blaster on Hera. Hera's blaster! Ezra realized.

What the hell is happening?

"Now!" Trayvis said, repeating his order with his finger on the trigger ready to fire.

A second, that's all he'd need to get his saber activated. Another second and he'd have it in front of both himself and Hera.

And in less than half a second he'll squeeze the trigger, your lightsaber is not an option, Ez. Ezra frowned but listened to that inner voice of his from doing anything compulsive. It didn't even register how much like Sabine the voice sounded just then.

Reluctantly Ezra placed the lightsaber on the floor of the sewer. "You're…. You're with the Empire?" Ezra said, his voice still filled with disbelief. It just couldn't be!

"But all your transmissions," Hera said. "Those planets you visited. How did word not get out about you?"

"Because no one ever knew…" Trayvis said. "Not even my own droids."

How is this even possible? Ezra wondered, still in a state of shock.

"Insurgents are not arrested," Trayvis said, and took on a lecturing tone as though they were unruly students of his who needed it spelled out. "Insurgents are identified and watched. The troublesome ones have… accidents after I'm gone."

"But you're not a traitor," Ezra said. He shook his head, untamed blue locks of hair blowing wildly. "You're a voice of freedom, a-a light in the darkness - like my parents!"

Ezra's outburst, passionate and loud, and filled with pain at this betrayal, gave the game away. And the smile on his face showed that he didn't miss the slip.

"Parents?" he said. "No one has spoken against the Empire on Lothal since… the Bridger transmissions. I remember them."

Trayvis's smile grew and his words became cutting sharply. Each one designed to hurt and cut away at Ezra and all the boy had believed in.. He was enjoying the pained look on Ezra's face.

"The original voices of freedom." Trayvis said, as Ezra had to look away. "You're their son."

"Why? Why?" Ezra said.

"I joined the Empire," Trayvis answered. His tone turned dark and heartless. "Like your parents should have."

He leveled the gun on Ezra.

"For their lives." Trayvis said. "For you."

Ezra raised his head, his eyes flooding with tears.

"Your parents were very brave… And very foolish," Trayvis said. "Where are they now? I'll tell you, my boy. They're gone!" Trayvis shouted.

No. It can't be, Ezra thought. Believing them to be gone - that's one thing. But knowing. Knowing for certain? Ezra had to rest his forehead in his palm. This can't be real.

"They're not gone, Trayvis." Hera spoke out and began taking several steps his way.

"Stop right there," Trayvis said. But that only inspired Hera to walk all the closer, heedless of her own blaster being pointed at her.

"As long as we fight," Hera said. "All that they spoke out for lives on."

"I said stop!" Trayvis shouted.

And she did. Hera stopped right within arm's reach of Trayvis and the blaster pistol. Unable to take it Trayvis squeezed the trigger only for it to click. No blaster fire. It was empty. He tried again but only got an empty click in response.

"What?" Trayvis said. "No!" he shouted out in denial.

The thickening sound of Hera's fist against his jaw was the only response. She shook her hand, not used to hand to hand combat, and then peered down at the traitor. One punch and he was out cold.

She glared at him with contempt. For what he was. For what he tried to do. For what he had said to Ezra.

"A true Rebel would know if he's holding a charged blaster." Hera said, her voice laced with venom. She charged her blaster and held it confidently in her hands.

"You knew?" Ezra asked.

"He tried to get us to surrender," Hera said. "He wasn't tired when he stopped. He was waiting for Kallus to catch up." She paused and gestured to the lying traitor. "And he wanted our secrets."

Hera shook her head and their trailing lekku, and placed a compassionate hand on Ezra's chest. "I didn't want to believe it."

Ezra sighed and peered at Trayvis. He wanted secrets. Well. He learned mine. The son of Mira and Ephraim Bridger lives and fights on.

Or does he? Ezra still had yet to pick up his lightsaber, but his blaster was at his side within finger's reach. It would be in cold blood but the less Kallus knows about them the better, right?

"Stop," Hera said and shook Ezra gently. "Don't become the lie they accuse us of. We become like them," Hera said with a gesture at Trayvis. "Then-"

"What? Then what?" Ezra said. "My parents spoke out and they're dead! But what if they had used violence, just like we do. You think maybe they'd still be alive? Hera?"

She had no answer, but then fate answered for her as the rest of the team arrived and the thought of executing Trayvis in front of Sabine or Kanan? The disappointment they would feel. Or more importantly the dishonor that such an action would bring to his parent's memory.

"Guess he gets a free ride," Ezra muttered and scooped up his lightsaber while Hera filled in the rest of the team of the development with Trayvis.

Kanan took care of the fan while I fell into Soresu and blocked the blaster bolts of Kallus and a small number of stormtroopers. I felt nothing as each shot reflected off my lightsaber's purple blade and killed them all until it was only Kallus, but by then he had pulled back.

I guess he concluded that his grand plan to capture us had failed. Just like my plans had failed too.

I caught a glimpse of Trayvis waking up as we were leaving. But there was nothing to be done about it. I recalled how I felt nothing earlier and how I was able to function. I relied on that nothingness and we escaped.

As soon as we reached the Ghost and were in space, Hera contacted Fulcrum. We needed to spread the word.

Ezra reported to the cockpit, as ordered. Well not really ordered. Hera wasn't like that but he knew it wasn't exactly a request.

"Hey," Hera said. And then she cut to the chase. "Still feel like coloring in between the lines?"

Ezra frowned. "Coloring?"

Hera sighed and smiled. "Shades of grey. Questions of morality." Hera paused and then slid out of the pilot's chair. "Take control."

"Huh?" Ezra said. Hera was asking him to fly the ship? No way!

"Sabine's told me of the progress you've made with the guns and engine and maintenance and understanding the fundamentals of hyperspace. It's time you at least learn the basics," Hera said as she slid into the co-pilot's chair.

"Yeah," Ezra said as he stepped into the pilot's chair and took a seat. "Thanks by the way for not telling the others. How close I came."

"We're in a war, Ezra," Hera said. "But the only way we defeat the Empire is with heroes. Making sacrifices and showing there's a better way. A kinder way."

Ezra thought that over, or tried to think it over at least but it was a bit over his head. This flying thing wasn't so bad.

"Especially the Jedi," Hera said. "The amount of power you control and the lies the Empire has spread about you. And we, our alliance, can't afford to give the Emperor that victory we can't."

"But there will be casualties," Ezra said. "Like my parents."

"Yes," Hera said and nodded at him, her eyes filled with compassion. "And in war people will have to do terrible things in order to win. But that's not on you, Ezra."

"So then what happens to people like Trayvis?" Ezra said, almost spitting the name.

Hera smirked.

"I've come to learn that in time most things get taken care of, one way or another."

Ezra sighed and leaned back into the pilot's chair. Trayvis hurt him in ways Ezra never thought possible with words alone. But then, Hera was there. Not only to stop him but help him understand and be a good person.

"I still feel this urger to blast every Imperial I see," Ezra admitted.

"Let's just focus on the flying for now," Hera said. "Nice and easy."

"Nice and easy," Ezra said and gradually began to feel a bit less tense, and some of that anger float away.

It wasn't much. But it was a start.

Hello Hondo's Friends! Thank you for enjoying another chapter, and so many reviews! Uncle Hondo is in shock! Last chapter was difficult and Hondo shares his sympathies. He hopes that this chapter continues to do justice for the events with that despicable Lando! But this chapter, this was an interesting chapter and a return to much of Ezra's point of view as well as showing some affects of lightsaber like Skippy, though Hondo understands the mixed reviews it got. All Hondo can say. Some things are profitable, some things are not! You never know until you try! I hope you enjoyed this chapter my friends. Now wave goodbye Mira, wave bye to Uncle Hondo's readers. We'll see them next Saturday! Until then my friends!