Heyo people, Tech here. I know it's been a while since the last chapter, sorry about that. Here you go with chapter 7.

"This is one hell of a situation you've gotten yourself into."

Fixxer gulped, his worry increasing at the mans words. "That's not a good start." He thought.

The man did not speak for a moment, reading Fixxer's face. Fixxer kept his eyes locked onto the mans, fearing his nervousness would show if he began glancing around the room. He didn't know where he was, or who these people were, so he was not going to reveal any information he didn't need to.

"What was a Stormtrooper like you doing all the way out in the plains of Lothal?" The man questioned, and Fixxer silently noted that the man said 'was.' "Which means i'm either not in the plains, or not on Lothal." He thought, "This could be bad or good."

"Running." He said, slightly surprised at how coarse his voice sounded. The man raised an eyebrow, but made no other motion.

"Running...running from what?"

"The Empire."

Fixxer could see the shift in the room as they took in his words. The man in front of him continued to stare, and the teenager next to him had a skeptical look on his face.

"A Stormtrooper...running from the Empire?" Zeb said, giving a small chuckle that Fixxer could tell contained no humor. The leader with the pony-tail asked the question Fix had been dreading the whole time.

"Why?"

Fixxer shifted a bit, eyes glancing at the orange tinge of his armor for a moment before he looked back up. "I...I did something I shouldn't have." He said, eyes dropping to the palm of his hands. The first sign of weakness he had shown to these people, but he didn't care anymore. Pain was twisting his insides, and every time he closed his eyes, he saw the girl in his arms again. "Eyes open." he decided, looking back to the leader sitting across from him.

Didn't follow orders eh?" The big purple one chimed in, what looked like a smug grin on his face. Fixxer just shook his head.

"I followed orders." The purple ones smile faltered slightly.

He knew what was coming, they were oging to ask whim what he had done, but Fix didn't know if he had the strength to tell the truth. Luckily, he was spared a moment as the green Twi'lek in the door way spoke.

"If you were running from the Empire," she started "why did you keep your blaster? You could have left it somewhere in the plains." She said, one brow raised, a skeptical look on her face. The purple one chuckled, chiming in again. "What were you gonna do, fight the Empire?" he said, the smirk plastered on his face again, but Fix could see the small trail of uncertainty.

"No."

The response was quick, and it took a moment, but Fix could see the implication of his words as exactly what he had said sunk in.

"O-oh." The purple one was no longer grinning. Thankfully, the leader changed the subject. "When we found you, you were covered in blood," he said, eyeing the orange stains for a half-second before looking back up at Fixxer, "care to explain that?"

Fixxer remained silent, his stomach curling as he decided how to word his response. The last thing he wanted to do was recall the events of the past day, sorrow twisting his heart.

Kanan could see the trooper tense when he asked the question, the way his eyes conveyed...pain, as if they were asking-no, begging him not to ask.

The room was silent, not even a quip from Zeb. The answer to Hera's question had taken them off guard. The crew had expected a defiant, stubborn trooper, one loyal to the Empire resisting their interrogation. Instead, they got...this. Kanan could feel the self-doubt practically oozing off the guy. It reminded him of someone questioning everything they ever knew. It reminded him of...himself.

When the Republic fell and the Jedi were all but eradicated, Kanan was forced to re-think his life, and the choices that led him to that moment. He questioned many things, the people he once believed to to be his allies, his comrades in battle had turned on him. His trust had been broken.

But that was a long time ago, and Kanan brought his awareness back to the present.

"I'd care not to." Fixxer thought about saying, but decided against it. He figured these people had to be rebels, which meant they didn't need much of a reason to send him right out of the airlock.

But really, there wasn't much to lose anymore. Everything he had done that lead up to that moment in the village had been for the Empire. He found purpose when he joined, family, and a sense of duty. But most of all, he felt honor, honor to be serving the great Empire that provided stability and peace to the vast galaxy. At least, that's what they they told him.

But there was no peace that day in the settlement. There was no stability, no honor.

Only death.

The blood of the innocent was on his hands. He was told in the academy that emotion was weakness, that to be effective, you must shut yourself off. And he did, for so long, he did. But the things he saw that night shook his soul. He would never forget.

The trooper hesitated for a moment, shifting where he sat before answering.

"I..." He cleared his throat. "I killed someone." He said, almost in a whisper. He was speaking to them, but his eyes, Ezra noticed, were somewhere else. Nobody said anything, so he took a short moment to compose himself, before continuing the explanation. He told them of the mission, of the suspected rebel ties in the village. Their eyes widened, faces falling when he detailed where the settlement was located.

"Tarkintown..." Ezra whispered.

Zeb cursed, Sabine's fists clenching as the trooper told them what had taken place. Ezra's anger only grew, but Kanan brushed him with the Force, calming him. "We need to know more."

"What about the survivors?" Hera asked, almost desperately.

The trooper looked her in the eyes, "I-I don't know exactly, but I heard something about the outer rim and...Imperial mining facilities." he finished solemnly.

Zeb pushed off the wall, growling as he made his way to the trooper. "I oughtta' rip out your-" "Zeb!" Kanan interrupted, standing in between the Lasat and the trooper. Zeb was glaring daggers, but the trooper made no move, his eyes now back again to the palms of his hands.

Zeb relaxed at Kanan's look, backing off with a huff. He could wring the Stormtroopers neck after the interrogation.

Kanan sat back down, sighing, his hands brought together. "So, you raided and burned Tarkintown-" Fixxer cringed when Kanan said 'you'. "-but you still haven't told us what happened to you."

"My...team was ordered to clear the north part of the village, but...we came up on a shack." He looked away from Kanan back to the floor, his hands clutching each other nervously.

"They said there were rebels, they said-" his voice broke, so he stopped himself to compose. His eyes closed for a moment, fighting the stinging that signalled tears, giving a deep sigh before he opened his eyes to continue again. "We got the order, command told us not to bother with it, just 'light the place up and get it over with', so..."

"So?" Kanan repeated, an eyebrow raised.

"So...we did." Ezra could feel the variety of emotions in the room. On one side, the crew stood judging like a jury, distrust and some resentment as they watched the trooper. On the other side, Ezra could feel the sorrow and self-doubt. His attention came back to the present when the trooper began again.

"But," the trooper continued, "there...weren't any rebels-" he said, almost in a whisper. Kanan leaned forward, and Ezra had a feeling they weren't going to like the answer to the next question.

"What happened?" Kanan asked in a low town, emphasizing both words.

Fixxer looked up from the floor, directly into Kanan's eyes. "It was a family." His voice choked at the last word.

Images of the family, the little girl and her mother flashed in his mind. Blood, there was so much blood. He felt the tears slowly run down his face, his eyes still locked onto the pony-tailed leaders.

"I killed someones child. I killed their little girl." Fixxer broke, his eyes dropped to his hands, but all he could see was red. Blood coated his armor, his hands. Blood from an innocent little girl who he murdered. He shut his eyes, refusing to let the tears flow anymore. It was too much, he just wanted the pain to end, but he knew there was only one way for that to happen. The pain wouldn't leave, it never could.

Zeb was pissed. First, they undo all of the Ghost crews hard work, burn Tarkintown, and then this!

"You're a coward!" He spat venomously, advancing on the trooper. This time, Kanan made no move to stop him. "I'm not surprised you just ran away."

The trooper jerked angrily, the handcuff stopping him with a sharp 'clink!'. "I didn't just run! I had to know, I had to know if I could save her. I-I'm a medic, I had to know if I could save her! I should have saved her..." He looked away from Zeb, whispering. "But...but I couldn't." His eyes were lost, and he was repeating a whisper to himself like a mantra. "I should have saved her...I should have saved her...I should have..."

The image of the blood covered trooper flashed through Zeb's mind, and the troopers story slowly started to add up. But that did nothing to soothe Zeb's anger.

"You're dead!"

"Zeb!"