Chapter Text
“Don’t worry. Your family will be arriving in a few hours.” The mysterious stranger lit a fire for her. “You should rest and let yourself heal.”
“I’m fine.” Hera rubbed her sore leg. She felt as long as she can still move that she should be moving. “I need to get back to my ship.”
“The Ghost will ok for now. You really should rest,” he insisted. How did this white-haired guy know so much about her? This freaked her out more than his glowing skin.
"Who are you?"
“A friend.” He noticed her fidgeting. The truth might calm her down. He doubted that she would believe him. “I’m a Starbird.”
“Where are your fiery wings?” She was unnerved. “This has to be a dream, or I’m dead.”
“I would never let anything harm you.” He suddenly grabbed her shoulder. “Calm down.”
She pulled away from his touch. “I can’t stay.” She stroked her shoulder. “Thank you for saving me, but I must get back to my crew.”
“They will come to you if you’re patient.”
Hera refused and started to rise.
“Don’t,” he held her hand. “Stay, dear. Please, I need you to stay.”
A tear dropped her face.
His skin stopped glowing. “I’m sorry. I hurt you.”
“No, I hurt myself.” She sat back down. “My father used to call my mother dear. Kanan called me that once too. I tried to laugh it off like our hopes for the future. Maybe, if it wasn’t official, nothing would happen. Nothing was supposed to happen to him. I should have known. War taught me the painful truth.”
“The darkness is patient. It always wins.”
“Yes.”
“But it didn’t win, your children are coming for you.” He took her hand again. “If you take a brief nap, I promise that I will take you to your ship.”
“Ok.”
He released her hand. She felt tired. Within seconds, she had fallen asleep. She awoke in her son’s bunk in the Ghost. The ship was empty and heavily damaged. She spent an hour getting power back online. While she worked on the hull, she heard a familiar beep.
Chopper rolled over to her. She hugged Jacen, Ezra and Chopper.
Sabine was the last one to join the group hug and the first one to break from it. “What happen to your Rakatan pursers?”
“It’s hard to explain. There was this guy…” Ezra’s expression startled Hera. “What is it?”
Ezra couldn’t respond fast enough so Jacen did it for him. “There’s a white kitty.” He pointed to the top of the ship. “Can I pet it, mommy?”
Sabine looked at the ship and then at Hera’s bewildered face. “We don’t see any cat.”
“It’s not any cat. It’s a white Loth cat.” Ezra kept staring at the empty space.
Hera didn’t understand what was going on, but she knew what it meant. She kneeled down to her son. “Jacen stay with your Uncle Ezra. Don’t leave his sight.” She turned to Ezra. “Be careful. Come back to us.” She and Sabine watched as they followed some invisible cat.
The white Loth cat strolled down the mountain side at a steady pace. Once it hit the grassy plains, the cat dashed away from them. Ezra held onto Jacen’s hand while they chased after the cat. In the middle of the field, they lost it.
“It’s him!” Jacen escaped from Ezra and bolted towards a stranger in the distant. He wrapped his leg. The stranger had shoulder length white hair.
“Hello little one,” he gently attempted to detach Jacen from his leg. After realizing that was a lost cause, he lifted his head. “This is the boy who you have been observing and helping? Do you really believe he’ll win?”
At first, Ezra thought the man had been talking to him. Then the white Loth cat appeared and meowed.
“True, he has proven himself. Still, the Father couldn’t defeat her. What makes you think this far weaker boy can?”
Ezra interrupted, “Defeat who?”
On the neighboring planet of Ossus, the Chiss, the Imperial forces and two unexpected volunteers helped explore and check the Rakatan’s portals. They were looking for any escaped aliens. The portals worked like powerful elevators. They went to the one portal which can teleport them to each portal. There were five destinations, so they set up five teams. Ahsoka Tano’s team went first. Once it was verified that she was safe, Commander Drask’s team would go next.
“Despite its limitation of only functioning on a planet’s surface, these portals are impressive.” Thrawn admired the device from a distance. “The Rakatan are highly advance to create instant teleportation.”
“Of course, you would like a race of conquering enslavers,” Rex remarked under his breath.
Drask’s team used the portal. “It was only temporary.” Thrawn watched them leave. “Sacrifices had to be made in order to strengthen the Empire.”
Rex packed his gear. “Enslaving, killing and torturing people to satisfy your whims. Yeah, you suffered greatly. Didn’t you?”
“It was done out of necessity and accomplished with restraint.”
“Restraint?!” Rex scoffed as he carried his gear into the cave.
“Yes, we never tortured a child.”
Rex stepped onto the portal. “Just pregnant women.”
Thrawn looked at him confused.
“Hera Syndulla was pregnant during your interrogation.” He pushed the button. Rex and his team vanished.
“You didn’t do that. Right?” Eli Vanto asked Thrawn.
“I didn’t know. I should have known. Pryce was never thorough.”
Eli picked up his gear. “You don’t feel bad that it had happened.”
“Bad things happen in war. It was necessary.”
“No,” Eli regarded him in disappointment. “It was choice.” His team left.
If you allow yourself to be weaken by sentiment, you will lose. Grand Admiral Thrawn wasn’t going to lose his position or his men over a compassion heart. His team was the last to enter the portal. They came out of the portal and arrived in a new cave surrounded by a rainforest. Their previous surrounding had been deciduous forest.
“We got a dud location,” One of the Deathtroopers commented. “There is nothing on our scanners.”
Thrawn disagreed. “Someone was here. Notice the tree trunk. Those forms aren’t natural. Someone carved a design into them.” He inspected the tree bark closely. “They are symbols from various different worlds.”
“Does it look pretty though?” A green skinned woman inquired. She was laying across an unusually thick branch.
“Who are you?” His men fixed their blasters on her.
“How rude of me,” she tilted her head. “I am Abeloth. I killed your brother Thrass.”
Thrawn pulled out his blaster. “Why shouldn't I end your life now?”
“For two reasons,” she sat up with a big grin. “First, you have questions for me. What is my goal? To bring peace and prosperity to the galaxy. Why did I kill your brother? I was bored.”
“Bored?” Thrawn rose his eyebrow in contempt. “I hope your other reason is less trite and more compelling.”
“Oh, it is,” she waved her hand. The ground trembled as hug bushes sprout from the ground and blockade the entrance to the cave. Vine sprung up and broke their blasters apart. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not bored.” The grass rustled around them.
They were surrounded by large insect beings. “Now, your former indentured servants or should I say slaves. They aren’t as peaceful.” The creatures sliced through his troopers. She slided off the branch while one of the creatures stabbed Thrawn through his chest. “Bad things happen in war.”