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The crew has made it back – and as it turned out, just barely. Learning of not just one, but two more Inquisitors was enough of a shock. But hearing the whole story as they debrief on the Command Deck only makes it all feel so much worse. How many of these red lightsaber wielding, Dark Force users could there be? How many more might be looking for them? Some quick thinking of Zeb and Chopper had managed to save everyone, but they couldn't count on that the next time. How much could they expect Kanan and Ezra to protect them from?

There were the medical supplies. Not everything the Phantom could have carried off that base, but then, Hera had long since learned that when it came to scavenger run, it was best to plan for coming back empty-handed. What they'd managed to recover would still last them a long while if rationed and conserved well enough. Things were still, for now, better than they had been. Considering those Inquisitors had been out there, had already known about Ezra and Kanan. And even Ahsoka.

Kanan stays silent during the meeting, and as soon as it's over, he pulls Ezra aside. Hera watches them leave together, but she doesn't follow them, instead staying behind to talk to Sato. They'd had a signal through an intermediary from a contact on Ibaar, an agent who'd barely managed to escape the planet as the Empire was building up a blockade. Things had been bad enough before, as the Empire had designated Ibaar an industrial zone and ripped up cities and towns to build factories and mines, with the populations pressed into labor. But apparently unhappy with the output, the local Moff, or maybe Tarkin, had responded by stopping food shipments.

It's the only news Hera imagined could make her feel worse. She and Sato began initial plans to break through the communications disruptions, assess which ships would be most likely to make it through a blockade. But she'd have to see it for herself to really know what might work, and though she didn't say it out loud, she saw no way they'd get food through to the Ibaarians without losing ships and crews in the process.

Which all means a few hours have passed by the time Hera's making it back down into the Ghost. The ship is mostly quiet. Hera can faintly hear music from Sabine's cabin, Zeb and Ezra's voices from up, maybe in the cockpit. Chopper's playing dejarik against himself. He gives Hera a one-armed wave as she passes, and Hera responds by dragging her knuckles gently along his top plating.

It's just a guess, she can't hear anything within. But she stops at Kanan's cabin, and knocks on the door.

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He's quiet for a second, tucking his arm more tightly around her waist.

"Can . . . is there anything I can do? To help with that."

Hera thinks, in this moment, not of Inquisitors, but of the task ahead of them. Of TIEs tearing ships apart, while below, the people on Ibaar -

With her free hand, she touches his, on her hip.

And gently, she answers, "Thank you. But not right now."

Edited 2019-01-17 02:55 (UTC)

"All right," he says, falling quiet again. He asked, she answered, and he trusts that she'll tell him if there ever is anything. And, in the meantime, he can pay more attention.

Speaking of --

"Thanks."

At first, Hera stays quiet. She curls her fingers around Kanan's, she lets seconds stretch into minutes. Eventually, she even closes her eyes.

It's easy to just let the time pass, like this. And as those minutes pass, the idea of speaking again, of breaking this, gets harder and harder to take.

But -

"Do you - want to talk about it?"

"I -- "

The denial is instant, but if he thinks about it longer, that's . . . probably not the best plan. And they're really going to need a plan to get through this, because the Inquisitors aren't going to stop.

"I don't want to, exactly, but we should. It's too much not to have everyone on the same page. Or at least as much of everyone as you think wise."

"All right."

She still waits, for as long as she feels she can, before - "Maybe we should have some caf."

"I'm not sure I need a stimulant," Kanan says, half a laugh caught in the back of his throat.

"But something hot to keep my hands busy would be great."

He fidgets momentarily.

"Do you want me to make it?"

"If you want to stay busy."

After a few more seconds, she starts to slowly shift his weight from her.

"I think we have tea somewhere, too."

It takes Kanan a second to realize why his weight is shifting, and then he hastens to move, standing up and taking one step forward.

"Uh. Yeah. Maybe tea this time, unless you want caf? It might help."

He guesses.

And, unless she's about to stop him, he'll start moving toward the door to his bunk, and the corridor to the galley beyond.

"I'll look for it."

Hera doesn't try to stop him. She does reach out, clasping his hand for a moment, but then lets go before the doors open.

Chopper's still at the dejarik board. He swivels to watch them, as Hera starts looking through the cupboards. "I think there's still some in the back somewhere..."

Kanan tries not to hover over her shoulder, moving to look at the cupboard farthest from her current position.

"I remember smelling something like the Chandrilan stuff recently . . . "

Is it here? No, that's just more protein paste. Hmm.

"Oh -"

Hera shifts to her toes to reach back, her fingers touching the edge of a soft, stiff paper box, and she draws it out. The box is hued with simple shades of white and gray.

"I think it's from the last time we were on Gatalenta."

Which was... a long while ago, now that she thought about it.

Kanan musters a faint smile.

"Guess we should use it before it gets any older, huh?"

He closes the cupboard, heading over to take the package from Hera and start heating up water.

"So. While I do this . . . "

Um.

"Do you have any questions you want to ask, or should I just start at what I think is the beginning?"

Hera hands over the package to him, then moves to the dejarik board to take a seat.

"Mind giving us the room, Chop?"

The droid unplugs, keeping his grumbling to a minimum, and even giving Hera a quick salute with his arm before trundling out of the galley. Hera imagines Chopper knew what this conversation would be about, and wasn't too interested in sticking around for it.

Once there alone, Hera leans back in her seat. "I'd like to hear what you think first."

"I think we're in trouble," he says baldly. "I thought it was bad enough with the Grand Inquisitor, but now there's more. We don't know how many more, but we do know they're onto us -- Ezra and I, anyway. Which makes things a lot more dangerous for the rest of you. And I don't know . . . how to fix that."

He swallows, thinking that over.

"I'd say we could try to avoid using the Force, try to keep our presence small, but I don't . . . I don't think that's going to help. They know too much already, what to look for outside of that . . ."

He trails off.

"So I don't know. But I'm worried."

Hera looks down as he speaks, folding her hands over the table.

"It was always going to be dangerous for the rest of us," she says, quietly. "And - maybe we can go back to how it was before, at least when we're on missions. We can try not to rely on you and Ezra so much."

She presses her fingers more tightly together. "But Ezra still needs to learn."

"Make it a backup for emergencies instead of the base part of the plan? We can try."

Kanan hesitates, at about the same time as he starts pouring the boiling water into two cups, only one of which contains a teabag. He'll fix that in a minute.

"I just don't . . . like the idea of putting everyone in more danger by not using what we can do. But it's a tradeoff. And -- maybe we can . . . I can . . . take him for lessons somewhere that's not the ship? When we get the chance, at least. Just for a while."

Edited 2019-01-23 02:09 (UTC)

"I don't think you and Ezra will be any safer out there on your own," she says.

Maybe a little quickly.

"No," he agrees, looking up at her, hissing as a few drops of boiling water hit the back of his hand. "But you would be. And the mission would be. They wouldn't be able to use our training exercises to track the Ghost down, at least."

His lips are pressed tight, because it's not as if he likes the idea either.

"Not permanently. Not for a long while. But maybe we should think about it as a contingency."

He'll let the teabag steep for another minute, then take it out and put it into the other cup. Hera likes her tea stronger than he does, so --

Her first thought is that it's not just about their safety. They can't and won't abandon him and Ezra just to protect themselves.

But a harsh voice cuts through her mind. Weren't you ready to abandon Kanan, not that long ago?

Hera leans forward, propping her elbows up on the table and lifting her hands to press them into her forehead, her fingers curling into the fabric of her cap.

Kanan finishes with the tea, setting the longer-brewed cup next to her, pausing a moment before resting his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm open to other solutions, too. I'm sure we can figure something out."

Except he isn't sure. He wants it to be true, but he's afraid --

Fear leads to anger

He's afraid it isn't. But they can try.

"I don't know, Kanan," she answers, not looking up.

"This is what I was afraid of. I feel like I don't know if I'm thinking about what's right for the mission, or the crew, or just - in general."

She tilts her farther forward, her fingers curling tighter. "Or if I just don't want you to leave."

"It can be all of those things." Kanan tightens the grip of his hand on her shoulder as he speaks, a small, gentle sort of embrace.

"Can either of us say it hasn't always been? But we've -- you've -- made the hard decisions anyway. And here we are."

He shifts his grip from her shoulder to where one of her hands clutches at her cap.

"It's a lot to balance, and there's a lot riding on it -- more now than before, with Phoenix Squadron, but -- we can do it."

He takes a breath.

"I don't want to leave you, either."

Hera also takes a deep breath, slowly loosening her grip on her cap.

"All right," she says, her voice still soft. A few of her fingers curl around Kanan's.

And then, she lowers her hands, and reaches for her tea.

"Then for now - " She speaks slowly, still sounding it out in her mind. "- I'm not sure you two leaving helps either of us."

Edited 2019-01-23 03:02 (UTC)

He stays by her for another moment, but once she starts speaking he lowers himself into the chair across from her and picks up his own tea.

"You're probably right about that. We all work better together, as a team. It's what we're used to, and it's how we plan our jobs."

The steam is warm on his face as he holds the cup up to his mouth, inhaling deeply before taking a sip.

"But we might also want to be a little more circumspect with the Force powers -- at least until Ezra and I can find a way to tell when the Inquisitors are looking for us."