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And then there's what comes after any new plan is announced – preparation. Target practice, assessing equipment and supplies, reviewing skills that could come in handy. Hera has been reviewing what they know of the Empire's primary communications tower on Lothal, distance, surrounding settlements or Imperial installations, routes in and out, likely weather fronts, flight times. She'll know more once they've run reconnaissance, as she considers the prospect of a flying a pickup with the Phantom, and every possible way she could be fired on in the process.

Eventually, once she's learned all she can for the moment, Hera sets this aside. Leaving the Ghost's cockpit, she climbs down, through the ship. Chopper's in the galley, playing Dejarik against the board, and she directs him to run a diagnostic on the Phantom so they don't run into any of the problems they faced on Fort Anaxes. Chopper reluctantly trundles off, and Hera continues onward, down to the cargo bay, its door and ramp already open onto the warm Lothal fields. She doesn't have to look too long to spot a slice of blue light above the high grass, swinging along the tops of the grass, occasionally singeing it. As she approaches, the sounds of it, the blade of the lightsaber sizzling through the air, become clearer.

She keeps up her approach, though she waits until Kanan notices before she speaks to him.

"How's it going?"

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Kanan flicks his lightsaber blade off, quickly fastening the hilt to his belt to keep his hands free. The smile he offers Hera is crooked and more than a little tired.

"I feel less rusty, so that's something, right? Any new data breakthroughs since I came out here?"

Tying up any and all loose ends and missing pieces would be great. It never happens, but it would still be great if it could.

"I feel more confident about the target."

And more confident that it's their best bet to do any kind of mass broadcast. "Though I'll be even more confident once we have a holomap."

"Are we on target to get that? Or is that one still pending a firmer plan and an opportunity?"

As long as they don't have to be inside a specific facility in order to get the info, Kanan has faith in Sabine, Chopper, and Hera's ability to find a way to get it out.

"I was thinking you could run recon?"

She glances out over the fields, and back toward the Ghost. "You'll need Sabine. And you could take Ezra, too. The rest of us will make sure the Phantom's ready to go."

"Recon I can do. Ezra's a good call, it should let him stretch his wings a bit."

Kanan doesn't quite smirk.

"And Sabine can cover our asses when it all goes south."

Look, he's met himself, okay?

"She's also the one who can hack into an Imperial comm tower."

Not that long ago this would've been a 'crazy even for us' plan.

"Well, if you're going to be precise about it . . . "

Kanan trails off, sobering up after a moment.

"I'll bring them both back."

"I know you will."

Hera sighs, folding her arms as she looks back to him.

"If we do this," she says, slowly, "And it works out, we get a message through - what do you think the Empire's response will be?"

It's not always a thought she wants to focus on. But at the moment, she'd rather not only keep it in her head.

"If we thought they were coming for us hard now, it's only going to get worse. I'm not sure we'd move up to Imperial enemy number one, but we'd be a lot higher than we are now."

He exhales, loosening up his shoulders.

"I think it's worth it. We've got to give people reasons not to despair."

"I think so, too."

She looks back over the fields, as the breeze around them picks up sending waves through the tall grass.

"But we might have to be ready to lock down for a little while, after."

Kanan, too, scans the horizon, taking in the plains, the hazy hint of mountains in the distance . . . all of it.

"On-planet, do you think? Or off."

There's benefits and drawbacks to each of the plans. Some of it probably depends on what the actual Imperial response is.

"We could probably do more off."

Even if their message reached beyond Lothal. "But I don't _'

She shakes her head. "I'm not sure about taking Ezra away from here."

"Because it would hurt him?" Kanan asks after a momentary silence.

"Or because off-planet raises the chance that he'd find something out about our looking into his parents?"

"If he finds out, it'll mean it's time for him to find out," she answers.

"But he'd never been off-world before meeting us. And leaving your home..."

Well, they all have some idea what that's like.

"Maybe it'd be a dry-run for the worst case scenario."

Maybe if he knows a little bit about leaving, it'll be different for him than it was for the rest of them.

Stranger things have happened.

Quietly -

"It's not the worst case scenario."

Kanan's voice goes quiet, too.

"I like to think if we did hit the worst-case scenario, or one of them -- at least the kids would be able to get away."

So sue him.

Hera nods, though she doesn't look back at him.

"After the Perilous, the Empire came down hard on Ryloth. I was off-world when it happened, and I came back to a place that was suddenly so different from what it had been before."

And things hadn't exactly been easy before. "My father had put the whole movement into that one moment, he had to completely rebuild it after."

Edited 2018-05-03 00:00 (UTC)

Kanan stays quiet, though he does reach out his hand to rest it on Hera's shoulder for a few moments. If she'll let him.

Then --

"At least we can be pretty sure we're not going to do that."

There's a hint of a question to it, too, the sorts of questions Kanan doesn't usually ask. Questions like 'who's giving us these missions?' and 'is there a way we can access outside support?', among others.

Hera doesn't move away, and after a few seconds, she puts her hand over his.

"I wasn't planning on it."

She lets out a breath, lowering her hand again. "And I don't see the Emperor coming to Lothal anytime soon."

"There's really not much for him here, even if he developed a taste for mining and industrial production."

There are plenty of worlds Core-wards that have that kind of thing, with more grandeur and gilding than Lothal could ever dream of.

Or would dream of.

"I guess that's lucky for us."

She's not sure what could have drawn the Emperor to Ryloth, either. Or maybe she'd rather just not think about it.

But then, she sets this all aside in her mind. The Empire can respond to even the smallest threats to its power with enormous cruelty. Yet if they let that quell them, that cruelty will go on, regardless.

"So let's say this all works," she says, instead. "We get into the comm tower, hack the broadcast, get out. Have you thought about what this message will be?"

Kanan's quiet for a minute, letting his mind go quiet. So many words leapt to the forefront when Hera asked her question, and he's not sure where to put any of them.

"A little, but I'm not that good at speechmaking on my best day. You?"

Maybe they can workshop it with Ezra and Sabine and Zeb.

And Chop, he guesses. They'll just have to take out all the profanity.

Edited 2018-05-03 01:12 (UTC)

"I don't think I'd be the right one to make it."

She lifts one hand, pressing it to her forehead. "Ezra would know the most about speaking to Lothal. What it's like here."

"Yeah, he would."

Kanan's voice has gone quiet again. But --

"I think it would mean a lot to him, too. To be the one that gives people the message, especially the people here."

"It might put a target on him."

She sighs, lowering her hand. "But I think you're right. We'll talk to him, anyway."

"He's going to put one on himself soon enough. Ezra's got a temper, and we don't have the time to keep him out of high-pressure situations."

It's far from ideal, but it's what they have to work with.

"He's a good kid, but -- "

"It might already be there."

He was in that broadcast too, after all. But now she does look up to him, with a slightly sympathetic smile. "But I think dealing with his temper is your job."

"True," Kanan says wryly, probably in response to both comments.

"I like to imagine I'm getting better at it, but . . . I have a feeling that's just wishful thinking."

"I don't think it's all wishful thinking."

She shakes her head, her smile fading. "He is changing, Kanan. I think we all are."

"I just hope most of those changes will be for the better."

Bitterness, despair, rage . . . that's a dangerous path. Kanan knows it well.

"We can try to make them that way, right?"

"I think we'll have to," she agrees. "Make sure we don't become something..."

But she lets her voice trail off at that. Instead, keeping her eyes on him, "This was a good idea, Kanan."

He musters up a very faint smile.

"It's good to hear you say that."

"I don't know what you mean."

She smiles back. "I always tell you when you have good ideas."

Kanan huffs a laugh, almost a snort.

"It's why every time is a treasure to me."

(He's not lying.)

"All right, dear."

She lets her smile last a little longer, before she has to say -

"But in any case, we should get moving soon."

Kanan sobers quickly, at that.

"You're right, we should keep the momentum going. The holomap isn't going to steal itself."

She nods, blinking down to the lightsaber.

"We probably have a little more time, if you want to practice longer."

"If anything," Kanan says, also looking down at his 'saber, "I should drag Ezra out here for a few more drills. I'm rusty, but he's still learning the basics."

"If you think so."

She glances up toward the sky. "But we'll want to get the recon done before dark."

"Better start now, then," Kanan says, checking that his lightsaber is securely fastened to his belt.

"No sense pushing the clock if we don't have to."

Hera turns, already beginning to head back to the Ghost.

"I'll call in Ezra and Sabine."

"I'll be right there," Kanan says, standing stock-still for three long breaths.

There's not really time for meditation, but grounding himself --

Even that will help keep his mind clear, for what's to come.

(He can't afford to be afraid.)

Hera nods, turning and walking back through the tall grass toward the Ghost.

At the base of the ship's ramp, Chopper's now rolling from side to side, spinning his dome wildly, apparently playing a game with his newly adopted porg friend that involves seeing how long the bird can stay perched on him while he flails.

She stops, watching these antics for just a few seconds, before deciding she'd rather not get involved. Instead, she continues on into the ship, to see if Chop had at least managed to run that diagnostic.

Edited 2018-05-07 07:31 (UTC)

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