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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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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."

Hera nods.

"And they must know who we are, too," she points out. "Even if you two left, you don't know that they wouldn't come after us to get to you."

At least with Kanan and Ezra with them, they have that protection.

"They got hold of Sabine and Zeb long enough to recognize them. And they're both fairly distinctive, so -- "

Even with the seriousness of that comment, something in his face (and his voice) brightens. Because it's true, and that means --

"They wouldn't really need us to find the Ghost, in the end. It might speed up the process, but . . . not by much."

He doesn't think it's rationalization, and that's really all they have to hold onto with this. And they have to get it right, for the crew, for the mission, for the movement.

"We're stronger together than we are apart."

It's not a rationalization. Or maybe his agreeing makes it easier for her to tell herself that. But she can't imagine any of the other crew would want them to break apart, either. Not now.

She looks up to him, also smiling slightly, despite everything. "That's always going to be true."

Kanan smiles back, because he can't help it.

"I'm not going to be the one to deny it."

He just worries. Sometimes.

She nods, glancing down to her tea, and finally taking a sip of it. Gatalentan tea was a soft red, and had a mild flavor that made Hera think, fondly, of dust softened by rain. It was supposed to be calming - and maybe it was working. She lets her thoughts cool with it, for a few moments.

And then, carefully, "Have you thought about what you'll tell Ahsoka?"

Kanan doesn't choke on his tea, but it's a near thing.

"I was thinking everything about the Inquisitors? She seems like she'll be in danger, too. Or might want to do better at staying undetected than we have so far. Uh."

For all that she isn't a Jedi, he sometimes thinks Ahsoka makes for a better one than him. Maybe Ezra should --

No. He said he'd stop running. So . . . he's stopping.

"Is there anything else I should be telling her?"

Hera shrugs, taking another sip of her tea.

"I wonder a little about..."

She's not sure how to broach this, and she takes a few seconds to think over her words. "... where they must be coming from?"

"Well," Kanan says, after a long moment. "I'm pretty sure they're not following the Rule of Two. But -- "

He shivers, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

"Do you think there's a . . . a school?"

"Like the -"

But she stops herself, because what she's thinking is, like the old Jedi Temple. And it really doesn't feel right to say that.

Instead, she sidetracks to, "What's the Rule of Two?"

If Kanan were letting himself think about the Jedi Temple, his mind would be following right along with Hera's, so maybe it's good she didn't say that out loud.

"It's -- I guess it's a rule for the worst of the dark Force users, the Sith, that there's always two of them, but only two. They've always been enemies of the Jedi, or so the stories said, and that was always how it worked."

Of course everyone in the creche -- and out of it, too -- thought they were only stories.

"Which I guess is good news for us, in that the Inquisitors aren't Sith, but . . . is also bad news, because it means there can be a lot more than two of them."

Edited 2019-01-24 01:18 (UTC)

Hera... doesn't really understand this. Why an enemy of the Jedi would only want to number no more than two, when there had been thousands of Jedi.

"But you said - that other one -"

The one in the mask, whom she felt certain was the one her father had told her stories about.

Edited 2019-01-24 02:20 (UTC)

"The one in the mask. With the cape."

Kanan doesn't want to say his name, or even the term 'Sith Lord' just now.

"I don't know if that one was the master or the apprentice. I . . . I hope he was the one in charge. But -- "

Hera lifts her hand, rubbing over her eyes for a moment before she lowers it again.

"And they - all of them, they're working with the Empire. So the Empire has to be..."

She's not sure how else to say it. "We know they were looking for others like Ezra."

Kanan presses his lips into a flat line, his stomach bottoming out as that thought takes hold.

"They're recruiting. Forcibly."

Or maybe not always forcibly.

Edited 2019-01-24 02:27 (UTC)

"Do you think it's just to find remaining Jedi?"

Because she can't help wondering how many the Empire thinks may be left, if there are more Inquisitors.