And we're back once again, for another episode of Reaching Out! Let's go!

CHAPTER 7:Don't Feed the Fyrnocks

The Breakthrough, in orbit over Lothal

"Leaving already?", Horatius asked, as Ahsoka walked into the hangar with two bags over her shoulder. One of his V19 Starfighters had been prepped for her to take off for wherever she was headed for now.

"I'm more or less healed, and I'd rather be out there doing something than lying around idle here. Not that I don't like it here; You've been excellent hosts.", replied Ahsoka.

Horatius and Fives had been taking care of her for a week now. Horatius stayed by her side almost all the time, letting Grey and Cyclops run the ship. Hera visited now and then. The other Spectres(except Kanan and Hera) did not know about Fulcrum. She had hidden herself in the Force as well, so that Ezra did not sense her and investigate. Ahsoka enjoyed Horatius' company; their conversations were something she would miss, as well as(she realised with a pang of loss) waking up to find him sleeping in a chair he had pulled up next to her bed, and then waking up(sensing some disturbance in her) and checking up on her; how he gave her a reassuring smile and tucked her in every night, or how he would walk into the cabin, sit down, and tell her about what had happened during the day. Most of all, she'd miss the walks they took, throughout the ship,They would just talk and joke, enjoying one another's presence. with Grey sometimes coming along to give Horatius the stats on each of the ship's divisions. She had also befriended OOM9, Grey's right hand droid. He had been dubbed 'Ace', because of his numerous victories prior to Naboo. The B1 had a likeable and friendly personality that had come over him after his reactivation after the battle of Naboo, and he always had stories to tell from the various campaigns he had taken part in, which gave her an interesting perspective on how the Separatist armies functioned. She would miss him too.

Horatius had been training some B1s on how to operate the old Republic walkers he had put in storage aboard his ship. They had been impressed with the AT-TEs, AT-RTs, and AT-APs; even conceding that the Republic had been better equipped than the Separatists. However, the droids remained adamant that their STAPs were superior to the republican BARC speeders, to Gold and Cyclops' chargrin. Some of them were now comparing specs in an effort to prove the other wrong. Droids.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye.", started Ahsoka.

"For now.", finished Horatius. They shared a smile at that. She went over to the prepped and ready starfighter.

As Ahsoka strapped into the V19, she said,"Hera asked me to drop off some supplies for you guys as they were laying low for a bit. You know, after trashing two Star Destroyers and collapsing an imperial prison complex. Tell her I'm on it, and that I'll send her the drop-off point's coordinates within a day or so."

"Gotcha."

"Roger, roger.", piped up Ace, who had snuck up to say goodbye to his newest friend. Sneaky B1.

Ahsoka laughed at the startled look on Horatius' face and his reflexive cocking of his pistols at the B1(who yelped and ran aorund the hangar screaming "I surrender!"). Once they had both calmed down, she bid goodbye to the B1. With that, she left in the V19, docking with one of the Hyperspace Rings outside, and jumping. She was going to go over to one of her safehouses and pick up a new ship for her to drop off the supplies and to use as a base of operations. Horatius felt a little crestfallen at her leaving. He had hoped to spend some more time with Ahsoka. He enjoyed her company and savoured the time they spent together. She was so fun to have around, and so nice to him. What he wouldn't give to be on the receiving end of one of those wonderful smiles! Suddenly, he felt a disturbance in the Force. Something was about to happen; the Spectres needed him. Shaking off his thoughts, He left for the bridge. On his way, suddenly the klaxon for reporting to action stations blared. His hunch had been right. Horatius ran to the bridge and almost collided with Grey at the door. The droid took a step back and gave his commander a situational report.

"Spectres two, five and six are coming in hot with some imperials on their tail. They're approaching in the Phantom from the canyons. The Ghost is too far for them to dock with and escape. Orders?"

"Move in to intercept them. Full alert."

Grey moved aside, relaying orders to the droids scattered aboard the frigate.

"Full alert! All droids, report to your action stations!".

Horatius sat down on the captain;s chair and relayed orders:"Cyclops! Set us near the canyon's end and line her up so that we can catch the Phantom in the hangar through HD-1! CIC! Stay ready to take down some incoming TIEs!"

Cyclops lined up the frigate at the canyon's exit while Fives opened up Hangar Door 1. Gold coordinated the droids operating the turrets lining the Breakthrough.

They waited for the ships to approach.

"Spectre two! This is Spectre seven! We're waiting for you at the canyon's end. Make your way there and slow down; we'll cover you and catch you in the hangar!"

"Roger that, Spectre 7! We'll be there in five! We've got seven TIEs on out tail!", replied Hera over the channel.

"Brace yourself!"

As soon as the Phantom skidded into the hangar, two hangar control crews of droids equipped with crash control kits approached the shuttle, ready to deal with any fire that might break out from the dinged-up shutle, or any other complications that may arise. Thankfully, there was minimal damage and the occupants were all in one piece, albeit shaken up. HD-1 was closed quickly.

As soon as the door closed, Gold gave the order to fire at will. The droids took down the oncoming TIEs with ease and pinpoint accuracy(courtesy of some optic and motor-control fine-tuning provided to the droids by Huyang and Cyclops). In moments, the five pursuing TIEs had been shot down. Hera had trashed the two other TIEs in the canyons.

"Cyclops, get us out of here. Time to meet up with the others."

"Roger that, boss."

Cyclops took them out. Horatius, accompanied by Ace and Grey, left for the Hangar. Fives, along with his newly trained medical team of B1s(they had been modified for surgical and medical work) had looked over Sabine, Ezra and Hera. They were all right, except for Sabine, who looked grumpy for some reason. Hera gave him a grateful smile.

"Nice save, Horatius."

"Excellent piloting, Hera."

"Anything happen while I was gone?"

"Fulcrum left. She said she was going to get the supplies we need together and deliver it at a drop-off point whose coordinates she would send us as soon as she got the stuff."

Hera noticed the sad expression Horatius had, and couldn't help but chuckle. He really did care for the togruta.

"What's so funny?", an irrate Sabine who had walked up to them, followed by Ezra, asked.

"Nothing. Just happy to be alive.", covered up Hera."Right. Well, now we wait for Fulcrum to send us the coordinates."

Spectres two, five and six headed off for the rec room to unwind untill they met up with Kanan, Zeb and Chop. Horatius left for the bridge with Ace and Grey. The Breakthrough sailed off into the night.

Brigand's Landing, the next day

"Come on, is that all you've got?", taunted Horatius as he sparred with Kanan, Grey and Zeb. It was a two versus two affair, with Grey(wielding an electrostaff and combat pistols) and Horatius on one side, and Kanan and Zeb on the other. While Kanan and Zeb worked well together, Horatius and Grey worked even better. They were so congenial in their thought process that they could tell what the other was going to do. Grey was a Super Tactical droid made for the role of a tactician, but he had been modified during his stint at Rishi, as well as when he had joined the rebels. His motors and servos had been upgraded for faster and more power-packed movement, and his chassis and plating beefed up to put up with blaster fire and melee attacks. He was excelling in both ranged and melee combat. Combined with Horatius, they were a formidable team. Kanan attacked Horatius while Zeb took on Grey. This went on for a while, untill Horatius, out of the blue, shouted out, "switch!". Grey went for Kanan while he engaged Zeb. The padawan and the lasat were taken by surprise and swiftly overwhelmed, with Grey shooting Kanan's lightsbare out of his hands, while Horatius disarmed Zeb using a Form VII maneouvre Mace Windu had taught him for dealing with Magnaguards, with his sabre.

"How do you work together so well?", asked Kanan as he gasped for breath on the floor. Zeb was panting and went off to the cooler for a drink.

"We understand each other perfectly, and that is why we can coordinate our moves so well."

Horatius gave Grey a high five. The tension between the droids and the organics had abated over the past few days. Horatius had dropped any suspicion he had for Grey and Grey too had done the same. Kanan had come to terms with the droids joining the Spectres and had mixed as well as Horatius could hope for him too. Sabine had gone about painting the droids in different colours Horatius had asked her to use, albeit with some modifications of her own; the droids had good-naturedly submitted. B1s were given the standard grey and white, reminiscent of the Wolfpack's colours; B2s were painted green and white-grey; while droidekas were painted blue(the shade of Kanan's sabre). Grey was painted identically to Horatius' armour, at the tactical droid's insistence. The Commando droids were given a camouflage scheme. Hera had welcomed the droids to the crew, as she was always happy to have more join the rebel cause. Besides that, the droids had won her over by helping her do a complete deep-cleaning and servicing of her beloved freighter. Ezra had befriended the commando droids, who despite their intimidating stature and appearance, had proven to be great company to have around. They had taught the Loth-rat various tricks ranging from picking complex locks to hot-wiring vehicles, and much more. Chopper had become very popular among the more surly B2s; they were incredibly similar in demeanour. He was happy to be surrounded by like-minded personalities. D Squad too were happy to have the clankers with them. Cyclops had seen that Grey was a fantastic right-hand man, and stepped down. He was content to have more time to modifying the frigate and anything else his eyes fell upon. Horatius had taken him aside and told the pit droid, "you might not be my right hand, but you'll still be my best friend, till the very end."

Cyclops had hugged Horatius so hard that two of his ribs had actually cracked(it still hurt). Cyclops was now head of maintenance and engineering. Gold was now the artillery and munitions officer, reigning from CIC. Huyang had stepped down from co-CO of CIC and become the head of inventory and the lead Quartermaster and Refurbisher. Magneta was in charge of comms and scopes. Fives took care of sanitation, nourishment and medical. Deadpan commanded Hangar control and crew, also maintaining the ships in the hangar. Each of them had a contingent of droids under them. Grey was now First Officer and Head of Security, and had proven himself to be more than upto the task. Horatius was the captain and overall leader of D Squad and the CIS droids from Rishi.

Everyone's commlink buzzed; it was Hera on the line.

"Briefing Room 1, five minutes. Fulcrum got the supplies, and we need to pick them up."

"We're on our way, Hera.", Zeb spoke for all of them.

"Good game, fellas. Now let's get down to business."

Ten minutes later, the Spectres(Grey was now Spectre eight) and D Squad assembled in Briefing Room 1 aboard the Breakthrough, which had been repaired and fixed up for them to use as a briefing room. Horatius had never used it before, except to store some small stuff here and there.

Hera was waiting at the central holotable.

"Listen up, you lot. Fulcrum's gathered the supplies we need, and has agreed to drop them off at a remote asteroid, PM-1203, amidst the ruins of the planet Anaxes. The supplies will be dropped at an abandoned Republic base known as Fort Anaxes-"

Before she could continue any further, Sabine interrupted her. "Why can't you tell us who Fulcrum is? We're a part of this too and risk just as much! Heck, you told Horatius before any of us!"

Calmly, though in an exasperated tone, Hera replied,"I haven't told any of you who Fulcrum really is so as to protect both you and Fulcrum in the event of your capture. The Empire has ways of making everybody talk, eventually. Horatius knows because Fulcrum let him. Sabine, trust us. We're your family."

With an annoyed sigh, she sat back down on her seat, pouting.

Hera took up the briefing once more.

"We'll take the Oddball and the Phantom with us, to carry the supplies left for us."

"I'll be going with you. The rest of you, will wait in the adjacent system and stand by, in case we need help.", Horatius added.

"I'm coming too. You'll need help with loading.", piped up Sabine.

Hera saw the ruse being played, but decided to concede, so as to not cause any further strain.

"All right."

Grey spoke up. "I'll send four of my B1s with you to aid in any way possible. Ace shall lead the droids."

"Thanks, Grey. Now we've got the logistics out of the way. We depart in the morning. Ezra, Zeb, run a diagnostic check on the Phantom and fix up any problems you find.", Hera finished.

With a groan, the two replied,"Yes, Hera."

With that, the Spectres broke up, going their separate ways.

"I don't know what's gotten into Sabine lately. She's never really been the questioning type before.", confided a worried Hera.

"Sabine feels left out and untrustworthy, because we didn't tell her about Fulcrum. Growing up as an imperial cadet, she followed orders without question, the consequences of which, she regrets. She doesn't believe in the concept of 'need to know' for precisely that reason. She'll understand why we're keeping the others in the dark about things like Fulcrum soon enough. Give her time.", Kanan advised her wisely.

"Thank you, love. You always seem to know how to lift my spirits."

"That I do."

Making sure nobody was nearby, she stood on her toes and gave him a passionate kiss. Kanan lifted her off her feet and spun her around for a bit. She couldn't help but giggle a little.

"Case in point.", a smiling Hera muttered. After a while, she ordered, "Stop! You never know when Horatius is prowling about or Chopper is filming."

"Say what now?", asked a surprised Kanan.

She told him about Chopper's stash of recordings with which he planned to blackmail them some day.

"Oh, that droid is going down.", snarled Kanan.

"I second that. Just not today, all right? How's training with Horatius going?"

Kanan perked up at the mention of his master.

"It's going great! He's teaching me to be proficient in each of the seven forms. We've covered Forms I and II, and as I'm already good with Form III, we'll be moving onto Form IV soon! He's also teaching me to expand my abilities with the Force; I can do much more now. He also gives me useful advice now and then on training Ezra, but is firm that I train him on my own, as it is crucial for both Ezra's and my own development."

Hera smiled at how happy Kanan was to resume his training and become stronger. He had felt bad when the Grand Inquisitor had defeated him with ease on Stygeon Prime, and wanted to be able to fend for himself; he was improving with each passing day, and his old confidence was returning.

"I see. You're having a good time, that much is clear. How's Ezra's training going?"

"It's going well. He's strong with the Force and is eager to learn. He's diligent and doesn't give up. He's making excellent progress."

"You seem to be on your way to becoming a Jedi in full, Kanan. Good on you. By the way, have you noticed anything different about Horatius?"

"He's less uptight and more open and communicative, and seems to be at ease. Yesterday, I saw him skip down a hallway, humming, for no reason whatsoever. Something has changed in him too, I can sense it in the Force. Strange.", Kanan reported.

"I think he doesn't feel as lonely anymore, now that he has has so many droids from a background and an era to which he belongs to as well. He's found a family with us and the droids. People who care for him. Not just droids, but living, breathing people." With a conspirational smile, she added,"But that doesn't seem to be all. I think he met someone."

"Really? Who could win someone like him over?"
"Someone who can only be won over by someone as enigmatic as Horatius."

Kanan paused.

"You don't mean to say.."

"Yes, I do. Horatius Payne seems to have fallen for Fulcrum."

"Wow. That's...an interesting pairing."

"Mm. I think she likes him too."

"Wait till the galaxy gets a load of their kids.", Kanan joked. They shared a chuckle.

"It should be interesting, to put it mildly, to watch them come together."

"Oh, it will be. And I'm pretty sure they will; oh, the way they look at each other!"

"I'll take your word for it."

"You should've seen the way he looked at her. Oh, priceless it was! And the way they talk, it's like they've known each other forever!"

"I see. Well, it's time for bed. 'Night, Hera."

Hera folded her arms, and giving him an inviting smile, whispered,"Come on, then."

Kanan turned around, and grinned. He followed her to her cabin, whooping "Yowzah!" in his head as they left. Little did they know that two others had listened to their conversation: a mandalorian looking for answers on who exactly Fulcrum was, and a sneaky C1 droid hiding in the vents, Ezra-style, recording the twi'lek and the padawan. Sabine left for her cabin, pondering the new information she had stumbled upon; while Chopper rolled off towards the Phantom, docked at the rear of the freighter, to help Ezra and Zeb with repairs and the systems check.

"Running diagnostics now. This'll take a while.", groaned Zeb. "How's the steering coming along?"

"The steering is off. Hera really gets this ship. It's almost done.", reported Ezra.

"Well, Life Support and steering are functioning optimally again. Chopper, purge the filters."

Chopper, plugged into the droid station, obeyed. However, he dumped the contents onto an unsuspecting Ezra.

"That's it. You're in for some scrapping now!", snarled Ezra and jumped atop the C1, who struggled to get the boy off.

"Wait a second. The diagnostics check isn't complete yet.", managed Zeb, still laughing at Chopper's antics.

"Do something yourself!", called Ezra as he rode away on the struggling Chopper.

"Why you...", growled Zeb, and then he too joined in the chase. A short while later, the screen beeped and chirped:"DIAGNOSTICS COMPLETED."

The screen flared red, with the readout saying:"FUEL LINE SEVERAGE DETECTED. LOCATION: HULL. WARNING: FUEL LEAKAGE WILL OCCUR UNLESS REPAIRS ARE CONDUCTED!"

All it's chirping was for naught. There was no one nearby.

"Zeb, Ezra, are the repairs done or what?", inquired Hera as she and Sabine made their way to the Phantom. Before either could reply, Chopper burst in, ran both their feet over with his struts and wheeled off, cackling, "Road rage, organic fools!"

Ezra and Zeb went off after the droid, thirsty for revenge.

Hera and Sabine simply shook their head and boarded their shuttle. They disengaged from the Ghost and lined up next to the waiting Oddball.

"You ready to roll, Spectre seven?", Sabine hailed the Republic shuttle.

"I was ready yesterday, kiddo.", came the reply.

"I'm no kid!"

"Eh, you kind of are to me. Heck, the whole lot of you are. The only ones even near my age are maybe Spectres three and four. I was fourteen, although I looked like I was fully grown, when the Republic showed up to pick me and my brothers up. So yeah, kid."

Sabine had no response to that.

"All right, cut the chatter, let's get going.", Hera interrupted.

"Affirmative, Spectre two. Jumping in three, two, one...jump!"

The two ships jumped. A while later, the frigate and the freighter jumped too, bound for the adjacent star system.

Hyperspace

Horatius switched the comm off. Sabine's sulking and questions were getting annoying. Couldn't the girl just trust them? One of the droids went 'awwww' at the comm being switched off(it was the only source of entertainment on the otherwise boring ride to Ananxes), but Horatius gave the droid a look that made him recoil and cower behind one of his comrades.

"Boss, what's the gig?", Ace inquired. He hadn't been there for the briefing.

"Fulcrum left some supplies for us to pick up on this remote asteroid among the ruins of the planet Anaxes. We're going to help Sabine and Hera with the job."

"Do you think we'll get to see Fulcrum, boss?", Ace asked hopefully.

"I don't know, Ace."

The B1 seemed a little crestfallen at this. Then, he perked up.

"Boss, do you like her?"

"Quiet, you.", Horatius replied."I need to go over the manifest of stuff we need to pick up. I heard you had a thing for a mouse droid once. How'd that go?"

The B1 shut up after that. Horatius breathed a sigh of relief. He had dodged a bullet there. If he had to be honest to himself, then yes, he was beginning to like the togruta more and more with every encounter. Without her around, Horatius felt...incomplete. Maybe he liked her in more than just a friendly way, maybe he didn't. Either way, what were the odds she would ever love a clone? Horatius reflected sadly. The ships jumped out of hyperspace. Horatius felt something on the opposite side of the ruined planet. He could feel the vibes of...Jedi?! He just had to take a closer look. Jedi joining their ranks would be fantastic for the cause. Quickly, he buzzed Hera.

"What is it, Spectre seven?", came the somewhat curt reply. Sabine must have really ticked her off.

"On the other side of Anaxes, I feel something in the Force, that feels like Jedi. I need to take a look. Is it all right if you guys load the supplies up by yourself?"

"Jedi, huh? More of them would be great news for us and hell for the Empire. I've looked over the manifest, and yeah, there aren't that many things. We'll manage with one shuttle. Good luck!"

"May the Force be with you, Spectre two."

The commlink went silent.

Horatius headed off for the far side of Ananxes, while Hera and Sabine pressed on towards Fort Anaxes. Little did they know just how intense things were about to get.

The far side of Anaxes

The Oddball landed with a small thud on the asteroid Horatius had felt the Jedi presence. He put on his helmet and as he walked out the ramp, told the four B1s to stay with the ship and be ready for take off at a moment's notice. Stepping out, he took a small container off his belt and popped two pills into his mouth. Anti-rads. This side of Anaxes was in worse condition than the side with Fort Anaxes. The asteroid he was on was pretty close to the planet's exposed and unstable core. After the planet had shattered, its radioactive core had endured. The radiations being emitted from the core at this range could be lethal. He made his way over to the cave where he could feel the signatures, albeit they were extremely weak. Outside the cave, he found a Republic escort frigate. It had crashed there. He could sense that there were no life forms aboard. Some plating had been removed from the downed frigate. Nearby, four Aethersprite-class interceptors and two Eta 2-Actis class interceptors were parked. The fighters' astromechs were still sitting there in their interceptors, dead to the world. They must have run out of power some time in the past.

"Ace, grab some powerbanks and come out here with the rest of the boys. By the cave, you'll find six Jedi starfighters, and inside them will be astromechs. Plug em' and get 'em running again. Ask them what exactly went down here. I'm going to go check the cave out."

"Roger, roger. Will be done." After a moment of processing, he added,"Careful, boss. It's dark."

"Very funny, Ace."

While the droids ran out to the astromechs, Horatius ventured into the cave, focussing on the signatures of the Jedi he had sensed.

"I can't believe you interrupted me in the middle of my transmission with Fulcrum!", stormed Hera.

"You told Horatius who Fulcrum was, and they got to meet!", Sabine shot back.

"For the last time, Sabine. Fulcrum was intrigued by Horatius; she asked to meet him! I didn't have jack to do with him knowing Fulcrum's identity or their meeting! The reason I don't tell the whole crew who Fulcrum is to protect you lot! I didn't even tell Kanan; he stumbled upon one of our meetings when he came back from a supply run early."

Sabine just pouted unhapilly and walked off to where the crates were, along with some fuel. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw some rhydonium cannisters nearby.

"Score! Rhydonium!"

"Fulcrum might've left it here; or it was just left here when the base was abandoned. Either way, the stuff's pretty useful; as fuel, or as explosives.", pondered Hera.

Sabine couldn't help but grin at the mention of explosives.

"What did Horatius go off to check out, anyways?"

"He said he sensed a Jedi presence on the far side of Anaxes. He went there, hoping to bring in some Jedi."

"Do you think he'll be all right?"

A touch of concern.

Hera smiled. "Of course he will be. If there's anyone who knows how to make or get out of a mess, it's Horatius Payne."

Horatius ignited his lightsabre to provide him with light as he made his way deeper into the cave. He could feel the signatures growing closer. The signatures, however, were accompanied by a larger, stronger presence. Finally, he reached the innermost cavern. Another path stretched beyond, leading back outside. Quietly, he made his way over to where the signatures were coming from. As he approached the signatures, his face fell. Lying there were six shriveled corpses: a mon calamari, two humans, a nautolan, an ithorian and a kaminoan. All of them were garbed in Jedi robes. In a corner of the cave, six lightsabres were kept, stained with the blood of their users. They were kept on a republic flag. What could do this?, the clone despaired. He looked at the bodies closely to find that they were covered in bite and scratch marks. A creature did this, not a Force-wielder. As he looked around the cave, he saw that the lower walls had been covered with plating from the downed frigate. He realized what happened in an instant. The unfortunate Jedi's frigate had crashed here. They had no hyperspace rings for their interceptors to travel via, so they were stranded. They had found it to be a viable hiding place from the Jedi purge. They had removed some of the plating from the frigate to plate the cave and provide protection from Anaxes' radioactive core. Clever. Republic cruisers and frigates had anti-radiation plating. They could have built a settlement here. However, they had not foreseen the unknown creature, who had found his or her territory defiled, and slaughtered the Jedi in retaliation. It seemed that this creature had kept the fallen Jedi's lightsabres as trophies of its victory. Suddenly, His commlink buzzed to life, and a robotic voice could be frantically be heard shouting amidst the static(courtesy of the deep cave),"Boss! Get the...of there.

There's...lurkin...in there...preyed upon...RUN!"

The voice was engulfed by static once more, and Horatius could here no more.

As he looked around, he finally looked directly upwards, to find a gigantic pair of yellow eyes staring back at him. It snarled ferally, making the cave shake. The creature pounced.

"Spectre seven! This is Spectre two, calling for immediate extraction right now! The Phantom's run out of fuel due to a leak and we're under attack! The whole place is crawling with-"

"FYRNOCKS!", a faint voice was heard over the commlink. "I know about...now dealing with the alpha...can't contact Ace..interference..on your own for now..sorry..might not make it."

Static.

"KARABAST! Sabine! We're on our own for now! Horatius seem to be pinned down by the pack's alpha. He can't hail Ace either."

Sabine yelled among pistol fire,"Call the Ghost! Tell those nerfherding slackers to hightail it here at once! We won't last long at this rate! I can use the Rhydonium canisters as a last resort, but that'll just buy us some time!"

"Roger that."

Hera started to dial the Ghost, hoping someone would pick up.

Horatius screamed. He'd just been thrown against some rocks by the alpha fyrnock's spiked tail. Three of his ribs broke at once, and he coughed blood. The alpha was huge. Prolonged exposure to the core must've caused it to mutate to giant size, grow spikes and fangs that would give the toughest of Rancors nightmares. Before it could strike him with its lethal tail, Horatius jumped out of the way. He needed a plan to deal with this menace. Judging by the scars on the alpha's body, he figured that mutation had toughened its hide to incredible thickness, like the Zilo Beast the Republic had come across during the Clone Wars. Brute force was not going to get the job done here. While thinking of the Clone Wars, his gaze fell upon the lightsabres stashed in the corner. Brainstorm. Horatius grinned. He just had an idea, and boy, was it a beauty or what? From the little he knew about Fyrnocks from the Republic Flora and Fauna Databank, he knew that they hated light due to their sensitive, adapted-for-darkness eyes. That could help him with his situation. Horatius had made up his mind. He was going to kill the alpha. He had killed off six Jedi for its own satisfaction. He hadn't even eaten them, it had been a game for him. Horatius was no fan of pointless killing. He summoned the lightsabres with the Force, and as he ran, began to modify three of them(he had eight in total; two of the Jedi had preferred double-sabred fighting). He was going to pull a Petro. Deliberately, he screwed up the lightsabre's inner workings, as he dodged the rampaging alpha. In a few minutes, his three specially tampered lightsabres were ready to do what Horatius had modified them to do. Horatius smiled. Petro would love this if he was here; to watch the trick he had invented be used in a situation like this. Too bad he had no idea where the youngling now was. Pinning all the sabres to his belt and taking cover behind a rock, Horatius booted up his commlink and shouted into it,"Ace, if you can hear me, than follow closely what I'm about to tell you! Otherwise, I'll die."

Horatius spoke his plan into the commlink, praying with every inch of his soul that the message got to the B1. "And wait for my signal!", he finished into the commlink. Now, he waited, stealthily moving from rock to rock. The alpha seemed to have reduced hearing and sense of smell, it seemed. Equivalent exchange:he became stronger and more lethal, but gave up a large chunk of his olfactory and auditory senses. After the stipulated amount of time for Ace to get ready had passed, Horatius braced himself for what he was going to do next. His ribs still hurt badly, and he couldn't use Mitigation on himself. As he steeled himself, he couldn't help but wish to say goodbye to the rebels, if this was his last stand. He would've liked to part with Ahsoka with some words too. Then again, want doesn't get. Ready, he stepped out to meet the alpha, yelling at the top of his voice(oh, his ribs!),"here kitty, kitty!"

The alpha turned and snarled, facing his foe with beady eyes fixed. It was beginning to get worried. This particular quarry was proving to be more elusive and steadfast than the others. Its confidence was beginning to falter little by little. It pounced once more, landing at the mouth of the tunnel from where the white-clad prey had wandered in. He had dodged yet again!

"NOW!", Horatius shouted into his commlink.

Oh, please, Ace, please show up, or I'm going to die in this miserable cave, forgotten by time, without a grave, and my lightsabre being added to an overgrown Fyrnock's pile of shiny things.

Moments later, Horatius' prayers were answered. Six Jedi interceptors burst into the cavern, guns blazing at the alpha. The astromechs, their powered restored, had come to save the day. Ace had heard Horatius! He had told the astros to pilot their fighters into the cavern and provide cover fire for Horatius while he avenged their dead masters. Horatius whooped and did a little jig as the alpha got peppered by laser fire. The alpha tried to swat them, but the droids simply moved out of physical attacks' range. Working quickly, Horatius got his sabotaged lightsabres ready and threw them as the Fyrnock turned to attack the only target within its reach: the waiting clone. Swiftly, Horatius used the Force to activate the hot-wired sabres, and they all blew up in brilliant flashes of green or blue light, blinding the alpha! As the alpha howled in agony, Horatius, with the aid of the Force, chucked three thermal detonators into the alpha's open mouth. It gagged at the grenades. It didn't gag for much longer, as the detonators went off seconds later, leaving empty space where the alpha's head had once been. It fell to the cavern floor, deader than a doorknob. As Horatius fell to the floor, relieved, the six interceptors landed. Using the Force once again, he moved the corpses of the Jedi who had fallen prey to the mutated Fyrnock into the starfighters' cockpits. Slowly, he trudged over to one of the starfighters, painted bright orange, like a certain rebel he knew, and told the droid to take the others and the corpses out of the cave, and to wait there. The astromech beeped an affirmative, and went off with its comrades in tow. Slowly, Horatius limped all the way back to the frigate crash site outside the cave(one of the alpha's tail spikes had grazed his legs pretty bad, ouch). He was greeted by a group hug from the B1s, who had thought he had perished. They were happy that he was alive; his death would've meant death-by-trash-compactor for them, with Grey at the controls. Ignoring Ace's yodelling of "who's your best buddy?", he went over to the waiting astromechs. They thanked him for vanquishing their masters' killer profusely. Introductions were made. Horatius offered them a place on his crew, but the droids politely refused, stating that they were done with war and the Empire or Republic, whichever the hell it was, thank you very much. They had decided to get the frigate working again, a part of it anyway; they were going to make one common hyperspace platform for the six fighters with the wrecked frigate's intact engines and hyperdrive, and use it to travel to their masters' homeworlds, where they would be given a proper funeral by the people there. The orange fighter's droid assured him that the tale of droids' savior and his actions to help recover the Jedi's bodies and make the killer pay would be told to the fallen Jedi's people, and his efforts would not go unnoticed. Horatius also asked the droid to send him the specs on the makeshift hyperspace ring they would build; Cyclops would be fascinated. The astromechs agreed, and told him that if they ever needed it, they would come to the rebels' aid. With that, the two groups parted, as both allies and friends.

As Horatius made his way back to the Oddball, where the B1s were waiting, Horatius remebered Hera's plight! Karabast! He hurried on board and told Ace and another B1 to get them to Fort Anaxes, double time. As they were making a turn in space, they almost collided with another passing ship.

"What the-? Idiot organics!", Ace's co-pilot B1 sputtered.

"Hello to you too.", came an irritated twi'lek's voice over the comms.

"Hera! You're okay! We were on our way to help.", Horatius spoke from the hold's comm station.

"I'm fine too, thanks for asking.", Sabine piped up over the line.

"Yeah, yeah. Good for you, kiddo. I'm sure Ezra's glad.", Horatius retorted.

"What are you trying yo-", an indignant and slightly flustered Sabine tried to speak up, while Hera stifled laughs.

"Oh, you know what, kiddo. I know you know what.", teased a slightly woozy Horatius(painkillers did that to him).

"All right, all right. Cut it out. We can talk once we're far from here. Horatius, the Breakthrough's waiting for you outside the asteroid field. We're docked with the Ghost; Kanan came through."

As the line was about to be cut, Horatius couldn't help but sing, "Be sure to thank him properly, Hera."

Hera caught on to what Horatius meant; it was Sabine's turn to stifle her laughter. Hera flushed and began threateningly, "Why you-"

Horatius cut the line, giggling madly. Yep, the pain meds in the medical locker of the ship had expired all right. The Oddball docked with the Breakthrough a short while later. Shortly, the frigate and the freighter made the jump to lightspeed, bound for Lothal.

Brigand's Landing, four hours later

"Look at that, we're all alive!", whooped Horatius, as they sat around the holotable in Briefing Room 1, dubbed 'Spectre Control' by Ezra.

Hera and Sabine were giving him venomous looks, but had decided to not take drastic action when Ace had told them about Horatius and the bad meds.

"He'll be like that for a while. The other side effect is that he'll speak nothing but the truth for a while."

The crew had grinned at that.

As Horatius finished telling his side of the story on the excursion to Anaxes after Hera and Sabine, the crew nodded to one another. Kanan stepped forward and began, "Okay, master. Truth time."

"Truth is the most painful thing of all.", Horatius replied lazily. Those present gave one another uneasy looks.

Sabine:"Who are you?"

Horatius:"I was once an ARC Commander called Havoc. Now, I go by the name of Horatius Payne. I'm a clone."

Zeb:"Why did you join our crew?"

Horatius:"I was lonely, so were my droid partners. We wanted to belong somewhere. During the Clone Wars, we belonged; I among my brothers, and D Squad with their respective Jedi or commanding officers. We had a purpose. With the Spectres, we have everything we wanted to feel complete, to be a part of something. To have friends, a family."

Everyone was quiet at this.

Kanan:"How are you so accomplished in the ways of the Force?"

Horatius:"I told you already. I was born a Force-sensitive. The Jedi High Council found and trained me. After the war, I travelled to a barren ice planet, Hoth, and stayed there for several years, training and perfecting my connection with the Force and prowess in combat. I even went back to the cave of the Gathering for guidance like I was told to after ten years, only to find the cave in ruins. The voice that had commanded me was gone."

Ezra:"Did you work for the Empire, ever?"

Horatius:"No. When I woke up, I went there to see what had become of my brothers. They'd been decommissioned and forgotten, their purpose served. The way they just...discarded my brothers like they meant nothing, despite everything the clones did for the Republic...it pissed me off. I left, vowing that I would never work for something as soulless as the Empire!"

Hera:"You said I reminded you of someone. Who was it?"

Horatius:"She too was a twi'lek, and looked like you and acted a lot like you too. Her name was Resa. I loved her so much...She was beaten and left for dead by some drunks..she died a short while later..I buried her..I avenged her..."

Spectre Control had gone very quiet. Hera was about to ask another question, when Grey and D Squad walked in. They had seen the whole thing on camera.

"So this is how you get to know people, huh? He trusts you, and then you decide to pull this kind of crap? Decided to take a look at his past, did you now?", Fives asked them, his tone deathly quiet. Before they could explain themselves, Grey ordered three droidekas to escort them off the ship; and magneta used her magnetic attachment to disarm all of them; from Kanan's lightsabre to Sabine's bombs. They left, feeling ashamed at their lack of trust in their comrade and friend, sorrounded by droidekas. As they got off the cargo loading ramp, their weapons were tossed out, the ramp closed, and the Breakthrough took off. As the ship left, Hera tried to reason with them and apologise over the commlink. Her messages were heard by no one.

Once the frigate was gone, the Spectres were left standing in the field.

"We messed up big time.", confessed Ezra.

"It wasn't right to interrogate him like that.", added an abashed Zeb.

"And they're gone now.", finished a sad Sabine.

The three of them left for their cabins.

"How are we going to patch things up with Horatius?", wondered Kanan.

"I haven't the faintest idea.", Hera gloomily responded.

The two of them walked back to the Ghost together, and shut the ramp behind them. Brigand's Landing had never felt emptier before.

I'll be back soon! Count on it.