AN: Greetings, fellow Star Wars Rebels fans. Anzac-A1 here, with my first ever SWR fanfic.

I've had the rough idea for this in my head pretty much since I first saw Episode 1 of Season 2, mostly because Minister Tua has to be my favourite character, even though she doesn't get very screen time or character development. The inspiration for this story came from the fanfic Tales from the Other Side by Mysty Star, which is so far the only SWR fanfic I've seen where Minister Tua survives, and I was inspired as this fanfic sort of rushes through the episode, without very much detail.

Anyhoo, let's get started with the story!

AN #2: For reference, Vin Maral's voice (if he were in the show) would be provided by Dante Basco, specifically his performance as Prince Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Chapter 1: The Siege of Lothal

"But I-I'm needed here! I-I couldn't possibly get away!"

"Not to worry, Minister. Lord Vader and I will manage…in your absence."

As the cold, grey door slid shut, Maketh Tua slumped back into her chair, her face falling into her hands, as she desperately tried to hold back the tears that threatened to burst forth.

The Minister had, for years, prided herself on her strength of will. She was not some weak-willed nobody, she had effectively governed Lothal by herself for a not inconsiderable length, due to Governor Pryce's frequent and often lengthy absences. Honestly, she couldn't fathom how the woman had managed to maintain her position, when it was apparent that she rarely even tried to do her job!

And yet, for all her self-affirmation, now that she was alone and ensconced within her office, Maketh couldn't stop her body from shaking with fear. She knew full well what fate likely awaited her, at the hands of Grand Moff Tarkin, or more likely his chosen firing squad. But she was merely an Imperial Minister! None of her lessons at the Imperial Academy had included information on how to deal with rebels, much less ones as adept and organised as the group based on Lothal! And yet she was being blamed for failing to apprehend them, while Agent Kallus, the man who had ACTUALLY been brought in initially to deal with the situation was apparently getting off scot-free!

Maketh let out a shaky breath, that she hadn't even realised she'd been holding, her hands dropping into her lap as she sat back in her seat. In all honesty, she wasn't surprised things were turning out this way. Lord Vader was well known for his ruthlessness, and it was far more convenient and practical to pin the blame on a mere civil servant rather than a prominent ISB agent. It would make it seem as though the rebels were much less of a threat than they really were.

"Not that accepting it helps me any." Maketh thought. Suddenly, the door to her office slid open again, causing her to quickly compose herself, in case Vader or Kallus had returned unexpectedly. Looking up, she realised it was just a Stormtrooper, and therefore nothing for her to worry about, at least not yet.

"Minister, is everything alright?" the Trooper asked, his voice unusually calming to the still-rattled woman.

"Y-Yes, everything is fine, Trooper. Thank you." Maketh replied, inwardly cursing herself for stuttering. To his credit, the Trooper seemed to not notice. He nodded, before stepping back out, closing the door behind him. Maketh felt her body relax slightly, grateful for the brief distraction. With nothing better to do, she powered up her terminal, searching for a few seconds before pulling up the personnel file she was looking for.

Stormtrooper TK-740, formerly known as Vin Maral, before, as with all Stormtroopers, his name had been taken away, replaced with a mere set of letters and digits. He'd been assigned to Maketh as her personal guard when she first officially took over as head of Imperial operations on Lothal, a little over a year ago. Originally from Coruscant, his file contained little regarding his background, and Maketh had heard rumours that he'd been an orphan living on the streets, before an Imperial officer recommended him to the Imperial Academy after catching him attempting to pickpocket the officer in question. Maketh had come to rely on Maral quite a bit more than had expected, and definitely more than protocol allowed. The Trooper had proved more than capable, protecting the Minister from several assassination attempts by various dissenters, while also offering Maketh someone to converse with when she felt stressed or overwhelmed, without the fear of anything getting out and ruining her reputation. In fact, Maketh had begun to suspect that Maral's loyalties lay more with her than with the Emperor, a man he'd never met or even seen.

"If that's the case, then I might just have a way out of this." She thought. Maketh had heard rumours about a cantina in the remote outpost of Jhothal, that the rebels supposedly frequented. She'd never given the rumours any attention before, but now they presented her only opportunity for escape. If the rumours were true, then someone there might be willing to contact the rebels for her, allowing her to ask for passage off Lothal. However, she knew the rebels would likely never simply agree to help someone like her. She would need something to offer in exchange, some the rebels couldn't resist.

A plan now formed in her mind, Maketh quickly set about preparing her bargaining chip; a list of individuals sympathetic to the rebels' cause , both on Lothal and in other nearby star systems, who had only remained free due to having powerful allies within the Imperial Senate. With the information stored on a datacard, and any trace of her activities erased, Maketh called her guard back inside her office.

"Minister, you called?" He asked.

"Yes Trooper, I did. I need to step out for a moment. If anyone asks, tell them I'm busy and have asked not to be disturbed." She explained.

"Understood, Minister Tua. Stay safe." He replied. She nodded, before making her way through the door, heading towards the outside.

She could only hope her gamble would pay off.

Hours later, Minister Tua found herself riding along in a two-person airspeeder, piloted by Agent Kallus. She'd been suspicious when the agent had offered to escort her to the shuttle, but decided to play along, lest Kallus become suspicious of her as a result. In any event, she'd already sent Maral on ahead of her an hour earlier, to ensure that everything was in order, and more importantly, that she would have one less anonymous Stormtrooper to worry about. Maketh was broken from her contemplation, as the speeder pulled up outside the hangar entrance. Three regular Troopers along with a lone Stormtrooper Commander were waiting outside the entrance, all armed with their standard-issue E-11 blaster rifles, and Maketh could see another Trooper just exiting from the hangar as they arrived. Unlike the others, this Trooper was carrying a DLT-19 heavy blaster rifle, which told Maketh that it was Maral. She knew he favoured the heavier blaster for its long-range capabilities, which were ideally suited to planets with large, clear, open areas, like Lothal. As she exited the speeder, Maketh turned to face Kallus.

"Thank you, Agent Kallus. There-There was no need for an escort." She said, struggling to keep herself calm and composed. She could feel her heartrate increasing, as her nerves started to betray her once again.

"Lord Vader asked me to make sure you reached your shuttle safely." Kallus replied, looking decidedly smug, as he usually did. In spite of herself, Maketh hesitated slightly in responding.

"I see." She replied, stepping past the agent, allowing her false smile to disappear. She was getting increasingly nervous. What if the rebels weren't actually there?

"We can't be too careful about security these days". Kallus said, following a short distance behind her. At the same time, she noticed Maral approach them.

"Minister, I've had the shuttle fully prepared and readied for take-off, as per your instructions." He explained, standing to attention before the group.

"Excellent. Thank you, Trooper." Maketh replied.

"Minister, might I ask what is going on here?" Kallus asked, moving up to stand to Maketh's right.

"Ah yes, I forget you haven't been introduced." Maketh replied, gesturing towards Maral, who continued standing to attention. "This is Stormtrooper TK-740, assigned to be my personal guard on Lothal. I sent him ahead to make sure there weren't any delays with the shuttle. I wouldn't want to keep Lord Vader and Governor Tarkin waiting."

"I see, very well. We should be on our way, then." Kallus replied.

"Yes, I suppose so." Maketh replied. Suddenly, she heard someone drop to the ground behind them.

"Hey!" a female voice shouted. As everyone turned to face source of the voice, Maketh saw that it was the same Mandalorian girl she'd met on the shuttle a while back.

"The rebels! They're here!" she thought, her heart filled with joy. She was going to make it! The Mandalorian girl whipped out a pair of blaster pistols and opened fire, causing the Stormtroopers apart from the Commander and Maral to scatter and hastily return fire.

"Minister, get to cover!" Kallus shouted, as he quickly drew his own blaster pistol and opened fire. Maketh did just that, hurrying into the main hangar area, with Maral just behind her. The trooper had his blaster trained on the Mandalorian girl, but held his fire. To anyone else, it would've appeared that he was refraining from opening fire as Agent Kallus was in the way. In reality, Maketh had briefly explained her plan to him earlier, and he knew to avoid firing his weapon if at all possible. As the pair moved away from the main firefight, the Stormtrooper Commander slammed his left fist against the hangar door control, shutting the other Troopers outside with the Mandalorian, before turning to face Kallus. Apparently, one of the rebels had elected to disguise himself, and it had worked flawlessly.

"Surprise!" the Trooper remarked, after which he blasted the door controls, effectively cutting Kallus off from his men.

"Rebels." Kallus growled, opening fire on the rogue Trooper, who skilfully dodged every shot, taking cover behind several crates. Maketh and Maral took cover behind another pile of crates, just as a young boy and a green-skinned female Twi'lek jumped down from the hangar roof and joined them, along with the rogue Trooper.

"Minister, both of you get to the shuttle! We'll be right behind you!" the boy explained.

"Right!" Maketh replied, before she and Maral made a break for the Sentinel-class shuttle, with Maral leading the way. Just as they entered the shuttle, Maral spotted something; a laser trip-line…that they'd just broken. And that meant only one thing.

"Minister!" he shouted, wheeling around and shielding her with his body, just as the interior of the shuttle was torn apart by a massive explosion. The blast threw both of them well clear of the shuttle, landing them on the ground next to each other. Thanks to Maral's quick reaction, Maketh found herself unharmed, if rather dazed by the short flight. Although Maral had taken the brunt of the explosion, his armour had demonstrated its superb blast protection capability, leaving him with only a few bad bruises on his back. "Minister, are you alright?" he asked. Maketh managed to nod in reply, as she felt herself hyperventilating slightly.

"Ye-Yes, I-I'm alright." She managed to say, her whole body still in a bit of shock. "You?" she asked, to which Maral shrugged.

"If there's one thing this armour does protect you from, its explosions." He replied. The rebels hurried over to them, with the one in the Stormtrooper Commander armour now carrying his helmet, and the Mandalorian now visible up on the hangar roof, seemingly talking to someone via comlink.

"No!" Kallus roared, as the hangar doors opened again, allowing a dozen Stormtroopers to storm in, all firing on the group, which quickly dove behind another lot of stacked crates. Maral hefted his DLT-19, firing off short bursts of fire, forcing the opposing Troopers to spread out and find cover, just as a red/white Star Commuter Shuttle descended out of the now smoke-filled sky above. The left-side hatch was open, with a male Lasat standing on the open ramp.

"Come on!" he shouted, while firing in the direction of the Stormtroopers to hold them back. As soon as the shuttle landed, the group rushed over, piling through the open hatch as quickly as possible. Once they were all inside, the piloting astromech immediately lifted the shuttle back into the air, as the Troopers below continued to fire into the ship's hull, with little result. Once level with the hangar roof, the Mandalorian also jumped onboard, closing the hatch behind her. The shuttle then turned left and flew away, leaving the hangar behind. Seconds later, the shuttle was rocked by two heavy impacts to the rear, clearly the impacts of two, powerful, blaster cannon shots, which took out the shuttle's engines, causing the ship to nose down violently before slamming into the deserted street below. As the craft slid to a stop, alarms blaring on the console, everyone inside struggled to pick themselves up from the rough, forced landing. The Mandalorian girl was the first on her feet, and began urging everyone else to do the same.

"Come on, come! Everybody, we're moving!" she shouted, rushing over to hatch, opening it before dashing through, past a few startled residents. The rest of the group followed close behind her, ducking down a nearby alley, as the people behind them stared in disbelief at the wrecked shuttle.

Later, the group had temporarily taken refuge inside an abandoned house in one of the city's older districts, which Maketh determined used to be the young boy's family home, judging by his knowledge of the area and possession of the door's keycard. She, the Twi'lek, the Mandalorian, and the man wearing the Stormtrooper armour were currently stood within a hidden basement room, while Maral stood guard upstairs with the astromech. At the moment, the group down below was watching the latest Imperial broadcast, regarding the events that had just transpired.

"Beloved citizens of Lothal, Minister Tua has betrayed the Empire and you, her people, by conspiring directly with this criminal band of rebels." The announcer explained, as the image switched to a shot of the group in front of the burning shuttle. "If you see them, summon Imperial authorities immediately. Trooper Corps have been mobilised in an extensive se-". The voice was cut off as the female Twi'lek turned the broadcast off, a hand held to her forehead in frustration.

"They did this to turn Lothal against us. We can't do any more here. We have to leave…for good." She explained. Maketh removed her hat and held it in her hands, feeling terrible at the other woman's words.

"It's my fault. You wouldn't be in this situation if it weren't for my selfish request." She mused, unable to meet anyone's eyes.

"Minister?" the boy said, causing Maketh to look up at him. "We're the ones who agreed to help you, because it's what we do. This isn't your fault." He explained, smiling the whole time. Maketh couldn't help but smile gratefully in response.

"Thank you, all of you." She replied.

"Besides, we can't just run." The boy continued. "The people have to know the truth."

"I don't think the Empire is giving us much choice." The Mandalorian girl replied, standing up. Suddenly, they heard the doors above being cut open, before a series of rapid blaster shots rang out, and the doors were quickly shut again. Moments later, Maral appeared at the top of the entrance to the lower room.

"We need to move, now! Troopers have found us! I took care the first two, and your astromech welded the doors back up, but we can't stay here." He explained.

"We're in trouble." The boy remarked. Ignoring his comment, the group plus the astromech hurried into the back of the house as quickly made their way up onto the roof, just as the inside of the house was blown to pieces by the Stormtroopers down in the street below. The group hid behind the structure on the roof, as an AT-DP walker passed by the building.

"If they know about this hideout, they'll know about our others." The boy observed.

"There's no more hiding, we need a ship. Maybe we can try one of the local Imperial airfields." The female Twi'lek suggested, as the Mandalorian brought up a hologram of the city area.

"Not an option. If they follow protocol ,every TIE fighter and shuttle in every airfield will be completely locked down. On top of that, it'll be next to impossible just to get outside the Capital." Maral countered.

"He's right. The Empire's looking everywhere for us." The Lasat agreed.

"Not everywhere." The man wearing the stolen Trooper armour countered, indicating the main Imperial Complex building.

"The Imperial Complex, are you crazy?!" the Twi'lek exclaimed.

"Does anyone ever say 'Yes' to that question?" the man replied.

"Hm, he's right. Deploying troops to block every city exit has spread the garrison thin. It sounds crazy, but the area with the least troops 'll be…here, near the factories." The Mandalorian agreed, switching the hologram to a view of the Industrial Sector. "There are landing platforms outside these hangars. They're our best chance if we're gonna find a shuttle."

"We've already got two people dressed for the part." The man wearing the armour remarked, Maral nodding in agreement.

A short while later, the plan to steal a shuttle was in motion, as Maral, the man wearing the stolen Stormtrooper Commander armour (now known as Kanan Jarrus) and the young boy (called Ezra Bridger) approached one of the Imperial Complex's hangar entrances. Kanan, dressed as a commander, led the way, with Ezra following behind him, now dressed as an Imperial Cadet, and pushing a repulsorlift cart carrying two crates, which secretly contained Maketh and the other rebels. Maral brought up the rear, as the plan was for Kana to get them past the guard outside, though he had no idea how the man planned to accomplish this. As they approached the guard, two Imperial Troop Transports exited the hangar, likely heading out to deliver additional troops to some of the city exits.

"What's this?" the guard asked, waving his rifle in the direction of the crates.

"Power cells in need of recharging for the rebel pursuit." Kanan replied, nodding for Ezra to continue on. The guard grabbed Ezra's shoulder, halting his progress.

"Hold it right there, cadet." The guard ordered, letting go of the boy's shoulder. "We have to check inside."

"I got this." Ezra confidently announced, moving in front of the guard, before waving his hand in front of the guard's face. "No, you don't have to check inside."

"What does that idiot think he's doing?!" Maral silently cursed. Clearly, Ezra was a little too cocky for the situation. Apparently the guard thought so, too, grabbing Ezra's shoulder again, shoving him back.

"Did you just try to give me an order, cadet?!" the guard replied, before Kana put an arm over his shoulder, moving between the guard and Ezra.

"No, he just said," Kanan replied, before waving his in the guard's face, albeit in a slightly different motion. "You don't have to check inside."

Amazingly, whatever he did worked as the guard responded by saying, in a very monotone voice, "I don't have to check inside."

"Well then, as you wish, Trooper." Kanan replied, briefly saluting the guard with his left hand. "Cadet, let's move. Hurry it up!" he ordered, as the small group walked past the guard, who turned his back to them as if they'd never been there in the first place.

"I wish that worked for me." Ezra remarked, looking at Kanan.

"I wish it worked on you." Kanan replied.

They continued further inside, eventually locating the entrance to a storage room, where they would drop their disguises, and head for the landing platform. As they arrived, a passing Stormtrooper saluted Kanan, thinking he was one of his superior officers, which Kanan returned, before opening the door, allowing Ezra to pull the crates inside. Once inside, the first crate opened, revealing the Twi'lek, Mandalorian, and Maketh. In contrast to their quite exit, the Lasat burst out of his crate with a shout, panting as if he was out of breath.

"Zeb, will you be quiet?" the Twi'lek asked firmly.

"What? I need to breathe! Have you smelled me?!" the Lasat, known as Zeb, replied, to which the Twi'lek gave a decidedly deadpan look. Meanwhile, the Mandalorian girl quickly checked outside the room, before closing the door back up.

"Huh, don't think it matters if you're noisy. There's nobody around. This was a good plan." She remarked.

"Course it was a good plan. We came up with it." Kanan replied, taking off his helmet as Ezra came up behind him.

"This way." Ezra explained, indicating the exit on the other side of the storage room. Before following him, Kanan divested himself of his stolen armour, while Maral swapped his current armour for a set of Scout Trooper armour that was available. He preferred long-range shooting, for which the helmet's enhanced macrobinocular viewplates were ideally suited. Plus, it would help distinguish him from his former comrades, as the armour was less common, especially on Lothal. It also had the added bonus of being much more comfortable and easier to move around in. At the same time, the astromech, still stuck in one of the crates, began protesting rather loudly, creating a loud metallic banging noise as he thrashed around.

"Somebody get Chopper!" the Twi'lek ordered (obviously referring to the astromech), in a very frustrated tone.

Exiting the storage room, the group continued their way forward, until they heard the voices of some approaching Troopers. Zeb moved up in front, just as two Troopers rounded the corner, clearly having not noticed the group yet.

"You think we'll find 'em this time?" One of the Troopers asked the other.

"We'd better." the other replied, before they both walked right into Zeb.

"Found me!" Zeb announced, before slamming their helmets together, causing the Troopers to crumple to the floor, clearly knocked out. The group rushed past, leaving the two unfortunate men lying on the floor. At the end of the corridor, Chopper unlocked the door, revealing the hangar and landing platform. Outside were four TIE fighters, about as many AT-DP walkers, and a Sentinel -class shuttle sitting on the landing platform itself. As they headed towards the shuttle, Maral passed his handheld comlink to Maketh, then split off and headed for one of the parked TIEs.

"What are you doing?" the Twi'lek asked. Maral looked over his shoulder, still heading towards the starfighter.

"Never hurts to have an escort, right?" he replied, to which the Twi'lek nodded. Satisfied that the others now understood what he was doing, Maral climbed the boarding ladder and dropped down into the TIE's cockpit. Securing his rifle on the floor, Maral removed his new helmet, revealing his short, raven hair, which fell slightly longer in the front, light blue eyes, as well as a relatively pale complexion. He quickly ran through the fighter's start-up procedure, which never took very long, due to the cockpit's straightforward design and layout. Although he'd not been trained as a pilot, the TIE's controls were incredibly intuitive and simple to use, greatly helping the situation. With fighter now powered up, Maral gently lifted the craft off the ground, manoeuvring it over the walkers, before coming to halt just past the shuttle and swinging around to face back into the hangar, allowing him to provide covering fire with the TIE's cannons. He could see the rebels were grabbing a half dozen shield generators that were lying around, likely hoping to ensure that the mission was worth all the effort.

Suddenly, Maral noticed a black-garbed figure appear at the hangar entrance. The figure then ignited what looked like a red-bladed lightsaber, thus confirming his identity; Darth Vader, the Emperor's most feared and powerful enforcer. As Vader calmly advanced forward, about a dozen Stormtroopers flooded into the hangar, before splitting off to cover the group from both sides. Maral could see both Kana and Ezra activating blue-bladed lightsabers in response to Vader. Now Maral realised how Kana had gotten them past the outside guard; Kana was a Jedi! And evidently, Ezra was as well. Kana turned to call out to the Twi'lek, who was boarding the shuttle along with Maketh and Chopper, before Vader swung his lightsaber forward, forcing Kanan to quickly turn back around to parry the strike. Despite only using one arm, Vader was seemingly holding Kana at bay, even though the Jedi held his saber with both hands. At the same time, the Troopers on both side of the hangar opened fire on the rest of the group. As Zeb and the Mandalorian turned to face the group on the left, Maral pivoted the TIE around to the right and opened fire. The fighter's twin laser cannons screamed into life, firing powerful green blaster bolts at the six Troopers, who frantically scattered to avoid getting hit.

Not long after that, a sudden explosion forced Maral to glance back over to the left, just in time to see Kanan and Ezra hurl Vader back, right underneath a pair of AT-DPs which collapsed in a burning heap on top of him. At first, it seemed that Vader must have perished, but then the two walkers floated upwards, with Vader, apparently unhurt, standing underneath them, before the walkers dropped to the ground behind him. A few seconds later, the rest of the group quickly boarded the shuttle, which proceeded to quickly lift off and fly away. Maral swung the TIE around, pulling away from the hangar as well, soon drawing level with the larger craft thanks to the fighter's superior speed.

The sky was still dark, as the shuttle and TIE fighter glided through the Lothalian sky, passing over some of the enormous flatlands which stretched across the planet's surface. Maral had long since put the fighter on autopilot, directing it to keep pace with shuttle, allowing him to dismantle the fighter's locator beacon, preventing the Imperials from tracking the craft. Maketh had just called him a few moments ago, letting him know that Kanan and the Twi'lek, Hera Syndulla, were in the process of negotiating with a smuggler they knew, in order to get help slipping past the Imperial blockade in place around Lothal. Just then, his helmet's comlink crackled into life.

"Maral, are you there?" Maketh asked, her voice slightly distorted by the device.

"I'm here, Minister. What's the situation?" he asked.

"Maral, please, call me by my actual name. We both know I'm not exactly a minister anymore." Maketh replied, at which Maral chuckled a bit to himself. She'd already told him the same thing before, but it was hard to break his usual practice.

"Of course, Maketh. So, what's the news?" he asked.

"Miss Syndulla just informed everyone that the smuggler they know has agreed to help us. He isn't on Lothal at present, but assures us that his droid will be able to provide what we need. Just follow our course."

"Roger that." Maral replied.

The next morning, the shuttle and its lone escort arrived at what appeared to a small farming outpost, right near a massive slope, leading down to an enormous flat plain. The two craft touched down just outside the outpost's perimeter wall, as an RQ-series protocol droid walked out to greet them. Maketh and the rebels disembarked the shuttle via the front ramp, while Maral was forced to open the TIE fighter's hatch and then jump down, lacking the usual gantry that allowed the fighter's pilots to easily enter and exit the craft.

"You must be Lando's droid." Hera remarked.

"Yes ma'am, welcome. I have prepared everything according to Calrissian's instructions." The droid explained. "Is one of you a mechanic?"

"Oh, that must be me." Sabine, the Mandalorian girl, replied, to which the astromech, Chopper, let out a short series of sharp sounds in clear protest. "Definitely NOT you." Sabine retorted, as the group followed the protocol droid inside the farm.

As they did, Maral noticed Ezra staring off to his right, where the former Trooper could now see a huge column of thick black smoke in the distance. The boy seemed to hesitate for a moment, before running over to a pair of Undicur-class jumpspeeders sitting next to a nearby fence, hopping on one of them, and speeding away in the direction of the smoke.

"Hey, kid-" Zeb started to say, before Kana put an arm out to stop him.

"Let him go, Zeb." He said. Kanan then walked over and hopped on the second jumpspeeder, proceeding to follow Ezra at a more leisurely pace. Maral continued to watch, as the pair soon became tiny dots on the landscape, as Maketh came over to join him.

"I believe that smoke is coming from one of the refugee settlements. Tarkintown, I think they call it." She explained.

"Who do you think ordered this? Agent Kallus?" Maral questioned, to which Maketh scoffed.

"No, of course not. Agent Kallus may be ruthless and effective, but he's not unnecessarily cruel. I imagine Vader gave the order." She replied.

"I see. You're probably right." Maral agreed.

"Believe me, I wish I wasn't." Maketh replied dryly, turning towards her former guard. "Maral, I can't thank you enough for everything you've done today. You had no obligation to come, and you could have easily reported my actions, or stopped me back at the hangar. And yet, you've given up everything you had, just to help me."

"You've read my file, Maketh. You know I had nothing to begin with, so I'm used to it by now. I only became a Stormtrooper because I had nowhere else to go. And now I have a chance to use everything I learned for something better." Maral replied, facing the woman beside him. "And I've seen all the hard work you've done. Honestly, you've already done a lot of good for Lothal, even if others might not appreciate it. I'm just glad I was able to be a part of that, even if all I did was protect you."

Maketh nodded in reply, as the pair continued to watch rising smoke off in the distance.

About an hour later, the two former Imperials spotted Kanan and Ezra approaching the farm again. The two Jedi came to a stop just inside the farm, where Sabine and the others were waiting for them.

"What happened out there?" Hera asked Kanan, as the older Jedi climbed off his jumpspeeder.

"The Empire burned Tarkintown." He replied, at which Sabine looked up from the transponder she was working on.

"Did anyone survive?" she asked.

"The population's been taken captive." Ezra explained.

"Gah, let's go bust 'em out. Where's my rifle?" Zeb growled, before Maketh moved to stop him.

"There's nothing more you can do here. Besides, going to rescue them is exactly what Vader wants you to do. He'd almost certainly be waiting there himself." She protested.

"And you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" Zeb growled, the underlying implication obvious in his tone.

"I beg your pardon?!" Maketh responded with indignation. "I would NEVER resort to something like that!" Before the two could continue their fight, Kana stepped in to separate them.

"Enough, both of you." He demanded. "Tua's right, we can't help them at the moment. We have to leave."

"For the good of Lothal." Hera added.

"So, what's the pan for getting out of here?" Ezra asked.

"Lando had these old transponders lying around." Hera replied, indicating the half dozen large devices behind her and Sabine. "Sabine's gonna tune their signature codes to match this shuttle's."

"Sounds like a lousy Lando plan." Kanan joked, eliciting a few laughs from Zeb.

"No, it's Lando's gear, it was my plan." Sabine explained, leaning against a nearby transponder. "With these transponders beaming out the same signal as the shuttle, we…should be able to slip by unnoticed."

"Ooh, sounds like a lousy Sabine plan." Zeb remarked.

"Better than Lando's." Kanan replied.

Once all the transponders had been loaded, both the shuttle and Maral's TIE took off once more, now heading into the upper atmosphere. As they flew along, Maral could see Zeb and Sabine periodically releasing the transponders, with hovered in place behind the shuttle via onboard repulsorlifts, continuously broadcasting the shuttle's own transponder codes. As they neared the upper atmosphere, the last transponder was jettisoned.

"Maral, it looks as though the Empire is taking the bait. Their fighter groups are splitting up and heading for the transponders. We're about to make our run for orbit, so get into position." Maketh explained over the comlink.

"Understood, moving now." Maral replied. Carefully, he manoeuvred his fighter into a position just above the shuttle's cockpit, and just in front of its vertical fin. Since the TIE lacked its own hyperdrive, the only way for both ships to jump away would be for the TIE get into a position such that it would be contacting the shuttle, thereby allowing the shuttle's hyperdrive to act on the TIE as well. The position Maral took meant that the fighter's cockpit area was level with the point where the front of the vertical fin of the shuttle sloped down and back towards the rear of the shuttle, before joining the main fuselage. This meant that the fighter was essentially jammed into place, eliminating the risk of the two craft separating in hyperspace, which would result in the TIE being ripped back into realspace, something its light construction would never withstand. Once Maral had the TIE in position, he cut the fighter's engine, causing it to settle back against the shuttle's fin. "TIE in position, standing by for jump."

With his part done, Maral felt the shuttle pull its nose up and accelerate forward, breaking out of the atmosphere minutes later. At the same time, Maral managed to catch a glimpse of several TIEs screaming their way, before the shuttle jumped to lightspeed, leaving the fighters in its wake.

An hour later, the shuttle and TIE combination exited hyperspace, arriving just ahead of a small fleet of ships. Maral counted six ships; five Corellian CR90 corvettes, and a single Pelta-class frigate, which he guessed served as the small fleet's command vessel. As they approached, a pair of A-Wing starfighters came alongside the shuttle.

"Phoenix Home, this is Ghost away team. Clearance code 121-815." Hera announced. A few seconds passed, then came a reply.

"You clearance code checks out. Welcome home Ghost team."

"Acknowledged. Also, we have one TIE fighter that needs to dock as well." Hera explained.

"Roger that, Ghost team. Have them head to the ventral docking hatch." [AN: I know Phoenix Home doesn't actually have a ventral docking port, but I'm putting one in for the purposes of this story. Hope no one's too annoyed at this small inaccuracy.]

"Affirmative. Maral, did you get that?"

"Received, heading there now." Maral replied, powering up the TIE's engine. The fighter gently moved forward to avoid damaging the shuttle's cockpit, before Maral peeled off to the left, and headed for the docking port on the Pelta-class' starboard side. The docking port extended as he approached, to provide ample clearance for the TIE's wing-mounted solar arrays. Maral slowly pulled the fighter upwards, connecting to the docking port with a dull 'thunk'. Grabbing his DLT-19 from the floor, Maral opened the fighter's hatch, climbing up the docking port's ladder before boarding the ship itself. Just then, Maketh called him, her tone frantic

"Maral, the rebels' astromech just told us our shuttle has activated a tracking device! We're heading up to the bridge now!" she explained.

"On my way!" Maral replied, breaking into a sprint as soon as he heard her voice. He soon arrived on the ship's bridge, where the rest of the group were also arriving. Standing next to the main conference table were an older man and an orange-skinned Togruta female.

"Commander Sato, we need the fleet to jump out of here! Our shuttle was tracked!" Hera announced.

"Commander, I'm scanning a ship entering our sector." One of the bridge crew reported. The rebels looked apprehensively towards each other, as the unknown craft approached the fleet, its progress now shown on the holographic monitor. "We're tracking one target, no other ships have entered the system."

"Move Phoenix Squadron to intercept." Sato ordered.

"Commander, permission to head out as well?" Maral asked. He could see Sato hesitate, clearly apprehensive about sending someone he still didn't know out to help.

"Very well, you may go." He replied. Maral nodded in thanks, passing his rifle over to Maketh.

"Hold this for me, alright?" he asked, before dashing through the bridge's door. After a short run, Maral made it back to the docking hatch. Not wanting to waste any time, he ignored the ladder's steps, instead choosing to slide down the ladder, slowing his descent towards the bottom before jumping down into the TIE's cockpit, closing the hatch behind him. Having left the fighter powered up just in case, Maral disconnected from the docking port, and throttled up, flying forward just as eight A-Wings emerged from the frigate's ventral hangar. Maral quickly drew alongside, falling into formation with the other fighters.

"Good to have you with us, friend." A voice said over the comlink. "This is Phoenix Leader. What should we call you for now?"

"Acknowledged, Phoenix Leader. You can call me 'TIE One' for now. You can get to know me better once we get out of this little mess." Maral replied.

"Roger that, TIE One." Phoenix Leader replied, as the nine-ship formation continued on. Suddenly, the lead pilot's voice broke over the comlink again "Fighter, coming in at Mark 3!"

Looking ahead, Maral could just make out a fighter heading toward them. The cockpit area looked like that of a TIE fighter, but the wings were much shorter, angled inwards at the top and bottom. Maral recognized it as the TIE Advanced x1, a recent prototype version of the standard TIE, possessing a hyperdrive and deflector shields.

"Phoenix Leader, be advised. That TIE has deflector shields." Maral explained.

"Acknowledged, TIE One." Phoenix One replied. As they closed in, Maral and the other pilots all opened fire on the lone TIE. Amazingly, the enemy pilot evaded their fire, rolling his craft left, then right, firing back as they passed. The opposing TIE's fire hit home, destroying the two lead A-Wings, as the fighter continued past the rest of them, heading for the fleet itself.

"He's coming in too fast." One pilot called out.

"We've lost Phoenix One and Two!" another cried out. Maral turned his TIE around, almost turning on the spot, before taking off in pursuit, as the rest of the A-Wings scattered. Surprisingly, he found himself slowly closing on the other TIE, which he could now see was slightly longer than a standard TIE, which likely meant it was heavier as well, which was allowing him to catch up. The other TIE fired several shots at the lead CR90, before turning towards the frigate. Maral immediately opened fire, despite not yet having a lock in his targeting computer. The other fighter evaded his shots with apparent ease, its course unchanged.

"Enemy fighter's making for the command ship!"

As they approached the frigate, the TIE Advanced fired again, blasting the area just below the ship's command tower, penetrating the ship's relatively weak shields and causing reasonable damage. Frustrated, Maral fired again and again, forcing the other TIE to break away to the left, with Maral following. Maral could tell that the other TIE's increased weight had also hampered its agility, but the pilot manoeuvred the fighter with such skill that this deficiency seemed non-existent. Just then, two of the surviving A-Wings joined Maral, both firing at the other TIE as they passed one of the corvettes on its port side. In an amazingly display, the enemy TIE's pilot spun the fighter through 180 degrees, facing towards them while continuing in the same direction as before. Maral barely had time to react, before the other TIE fired again, destroying first one, then both of the A-Wings with ease. Maral himself barely managed to avoid disaster, sustaining one hit to his starboard solar array, on the upper edge. Luckily, the damage seemed light, the shot having only been a glancing blow. But Maral knew that any closer and he'd be joining the fallen A-Wing pilots, although his armour would only protect him for a precious few moments. The enemy fighter ignored him, screaming back towards the command ship. Maral scrambled to turn and follow him, as the other TIE blasted the frigate again, this time causing significant damage to the ship's dorsal area. As the fighter turned away to make another pas, Maral noticed that the larger ship's shields had been taken out of commission by that last attack. As the two TIEs cleared the frigate, Maral could see the Ghost now moving to engage as well. Behind them, multiple explosions rocked the frigate, showing the extent of the damage it had sustained.

"Phoenix Home to Ghost! We can't withstand another attack from that fighter!" Commander Sato shouted. By this time, the TIE Advanced had circled back around, and was now approaching the frigate from the stern. Both Maral and the Ghost's crew opened fire, but the single fighter somehow continued to avoid being hit, not deviating from its course. And then, unexpectedly, the enemy TIE broke off its attack, instead flying over the top of the frigate without firing, with Maral's TIE and the Ghost still on his tail. "Captain Syndulla, whatever you're doing, keep it up. The fleet CAN recover."

"No! Commander, you need to get the fleet out of here, now." Kanan protested.

"I will NOT abandon our command ship!" Sato retorted. Meanwhile, the enemy TIE had managed to drop in behind the Ghost and two of the three remaining A-Wings, one of which was quickly blasted to pieces. Maral had also managed to stay behind the other TIE, but had yet to score any hits.

"You don't have a choice, sir! Without a hyperdrive, you must abandon ship!" Hera replied. Just then, Maral saw three Imperial I -class Star Destroyers drop out of hyperspace well ahead of them.

"It's now or never Commander!" Kanan advised.

"I regretfully agree. All hands, abandon ship!" Sato ordered. "You'll have to keep that fighter occupied."

"Don't worry, sir. We…seem to have his attention." Hera replied, as the Ghost continued to head towards the Star Destroyers ahead of them.

"Ghost crew, escape pods are secured. Fleet, commence hyperspace jump." Sato reported.

"Copy that, Commander. We'll meet you at Save Haven." Hera replied. "Maral, move your fighter underneath us, so we can clamp onto you."

"Copy that." Maral replied, accelerating past the other TIE, before ducking under the Ghost's stern. Slowing down as he reached the ship's midsection, Maral felt a sharp pull upward, and then a dull thud, as the freighter's magnetic clamp locked his fighter in place.

"Suddenly there's a lot to do back here!" Zeb shouted.

"Sorry to spoil your fun Zeb, but I'm ordering Chopper to divert all power to the hyperdrive. Including cannons!" Hera replied.

"Hera, what are you doing?!" Sabine exclaimed.

"I think I know." Ezra replied. With his limited view forward, Maral could see that Hera was aiming the Ghost at the gap between to two rearmost Star Destroyers, and the frequent impacts told him the other TIE was following close behind them. He then realised what the plan was.

The other TIE had not attempted to destroy the Ghost, but instead had forced the ship towards the Star Destroyers, which were more than likely preparing to capture the ship with their tractor beams. If the Ghost could jump to lightspeed at the right moment, the tractor beams wouldn't be able to lock on to the ship, and would instead capture the fighter behind it. Just as Maral suspected, as they came between the two massive vessels, the Ghost blasted into the safety of hyperspace, leaving the Imperials far behind in seconds, as Maral let out a sigh of relief.

After a short trip through hyperspace, the Ghost dropped back into realspace to re-join the fleet, docking with the new, temporary command ship, the Liberator, with Maral detaching from the ship and docking on the opposite site of the corvette. Once onboard, the fleet jumped away again, heading for another star system where they could rest and assess their losses. Phoenix Squadron had been all but wiped out, with just a single A-Wing fighter left out of eight. For that reason, the choice was made to retain Maral's stolen TIE fighter for the foreseeable future, as well as retrieving the TIE that the Ghost crew had stolen a few months earlier. As there were no other pilots presently available, Maketh offered to pilot the second TIE, explaining that she had at least some experience piloting it.

"Commander Sato, before I forget," Maketh said, pulling out the datacard she'd kept hidden the entire time, offering it to Sato. "The information I promised you."

"Thank you, Minister Tua. After today, we need all the help we can get." Sato replied, shaking Maketh's hand in gratitude.

"Commander, I have something as well." Maral added. "All Imperial TIE fighters have a mechanism that allows for the solar arrays on both sides to be detached from the main fuselage, in order to better facilitate maintenance. This datacard contains the information that will allow you to trigger this mechanism remotely, disabling any TIEs within your broadcast range. Although, I can't guarantee how long it will be before the codes are changed." He explained, handing Sato another datacard.

"Even if we are only able to use this once, it will be a great help. Thank you." Sato replied, before heading back up to the corvette's bridge.

"So, what happens now?" Maral asked.

"I spoke with Commander Sato earlier, and suggested that you and Minister Tua join our little group. Everyone else agreed, but it's up to you to decide." Hera explained. Maral and Maketh looked toward each other, and realised they needed no further persuasion.

"We're in." Maral replied.

"Quite." Maketh added. "Now, if no one minds, I think I could use some rest."

"Of course, you certainly deserve it after a day like today." Hera replied. "There's a spare room on the Ghost; port side, first from the common room. You and Maral can share, if that's okay with you."

"I believe we can make it work." Maketh replied, flashing Maral a smile. "Well then, shall we?"

"After you." Maral replied, as the pair headed off. It didn't take them long to find the room in question, as Maketh and already been on the small freighter once before, and she had a pretty good memory. The room itself was fairly nondescript; a pair of bunks against the far wall, with a small table and two seats next to the right-hand wall. Maral quickly took the opportunity to sit down on the closest seat, setting his rifle against the wall before removing his helmet. He twisted his around a bit, working out the kinks in his neck. Meanwhile, he noticed Maketh leaning back against the wall opposite him. Her hat now rested on a small box-shaped protrusion that jutted out from the wall to her left, causing Maral to realise he'd never actually seen her without it on. Her light blonde hair was pulled into a loose bun, a few stray strands now hanging down over her forehead. That, coupled with her tired-looking eyes that appeared to be struggling to hold back a few tears, conveyed the impression of a woman who'd been through a lot of physical and emotional stress, which was hardly surprising.

"Maketh, are you alright?" Maral ventured, not wanting to push too far, given the former minister's clearly fragile state.

"I-I'm fine, Maral. I-I just…" Maketh started, her voice breaking, as she struggled to hold back what felt like a tidal wave of emotions. Sensing something was about to happen, Maral quickly stood up, pulling Maketh into a hug, just as she broke into sobs, tears streaming down her face as she wrapped her arms around him as well.

"It's okay, Maketh. You're safe now." Maral assured her, gently rubbing the crying woman's back, as she sobbed into his chest armour. He'd half expected something like this to happen. After the thinly-veiled threats from Tarkin, her near-death at the hands of a rigged shuttle, and on top of all of that another, far more frightening encounter with Vader, Maral was surprised she'd managed to keep herself together this long. After a minute or so, the sobbing died down. Maketh pulled back slightly, revealing her now slightly reddened eyes, as well as he tear-streaked face. "Better?" he asked, to which Maketh nodded.

"Y-Yes, thank you." She replied, although her arms remained in place.

"Is…there something else?" Maral asked, slightly perplexed by her behaviour. Maketh had certainly never shown herself to be the clingy type, at least as far as he knew.

"Vin…" Maketh softly replied, which caught the former Trooper completely off guard. She'd definitely NEVER called him by his first name before. As he was trying to process this, Maketh took one step forward, reached up and pulled his head down, bringing their lips together in a gentle kiss. Maral's eyes widened momentarily, then closed again, as he pulled Maketh tightly against him, as they both relaxed into the kiss. There was no fiery passion, just tender love that they'd both kept hidden for far too long. Eventually, the ever-present need to breath forced them to separate, both panting slightly to regain their lost breath.

"That was…unexpected. Not that I'm complaining." Maral gasped, still pleasantly surprised by what had just happened. "So…does this mean what I think it does?" he asked, eliciting a light chuckle from Maketh.

"Of course. It means I love you, you fool. I just never worked out what these feelings were until now." Maketh replied, a warm smile on her face. "Never really got a chance, I suppose. And I assume that you feel the same?"

"I love you too, Maketh Tua." Maral replied, hugging her close again, before releasing her from his arms.

"As much as I'd love to continue," Maketh began, pausing as she let out a yawn. "I really do need some rest right now."

"You deserve it, after everything you've been through." Maral replied. "I'll be in the common area if you need me." He explained while heading for the door, grabbing his helmet and rifle on the way out, letting the door slide shut behind him. Entering the Ghost's surprisingly spacious common area, Maral seated himself at the small table, on the curved corner seat. Setting his helmet down beside him, he hefted the DLT-19 up onto the small table, which turned out to be just large enough for the lengthy weapon to sit comfortably on. He then proceeded to carefully disassemble the weapon, which as always was a rather time-consuming process. Thankfully, he'd remembered to grab all of the tools required to do so back on Lothal. Just as he was removing the rifle's internal tibanna gas cartridge, a relatively delicate step, given the gas' infamous flammability, Sabine entered the room, sitting down on one of the stools opposite him.

"Doing some weapon maintenance, I see." She observed, setting her own helmet on the end of the curved seat across from Maral.

"Yeah, thought it'd be a good idea, since this thing did get thrown around a bit today." Maral replied, examining the exterior of the barrel for any problems.

"Nice to meet someone else who appreciates keeping a weapon in good condition." Sabine replied. "Until you came along, I had to maintain everyone's weapons, on top of mine. Plus, I've never gotten an opportunity to see a DLT-19 up close before. Only ever had the pleasure of getting shot at by it."

"Well, most Stormtroopers tend to avoid it, 'cause it takes a lot of time to assemble. Plus, it's not exactly ideal for close quarter fighting. But I prefer fighting from a distance, so it suits me just fine." Maral explained. "Where are the others?"

"Still back on the Liberator. I think they're going over the information you and Minister Tua gave us." Sabine replied. "Speaking of which, how's she doing?"

"Pretty good, all things considered. She did have a small breakdown earlier, but she's okay now. Said she was going to have a rest, so I thought I'd give her some peace and quiet." Maral replied.

"Hmm, I think you did more than that." Sabine retorted, smirking back at him.

"What makes you think that?" Maral asked, wondering what her game was.

"Oh please, I've been around Kanan and Hera long enough to notice these things." Sabine replied, leaning forward slightly. "You love her, don't you?"

"I…fine, you caught me. Not really much point hiding it anyway." Maral admitted. He could tell from Sabine's tone general demeanour that she didn't mean anything bad by it, and she didn't seem like the insensitive type. "What gave it away?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just that not many people I know would've done everything you did just to help a friend. Plus, I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but the way the two of you play off each other definitely says you both see the other as more than just a friend. Either way, I think you two look good together."

"Thanks. Right now, we don't have much else." The two of them continued to chat amicably for the next hour or so, even after Maral had finished reassembling his rifle. Eventually, they both decided to retire for the night, with Maral entering his shared room with Maketh as quietly as he could. He carefully removed the armour pieces and gloves, leaving the underlying body glove on before climbing onto the top bunk, as the other was already occupied by a sleeping Maketh. Settling himself into the rather comfortable bunk, Maral gratefully closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep shortly after.

AN #3:And that concludes Chapter 1 of Imperial Rebels. Hope you all enjoyed it. Feel free to send your reviews, any criticisms and advice are welcome, but please keep your complaints polite an reasonable. Flamers will be ignored.

Anzac-A1, out.