Oh man, I'm gonna start crying here... I'm gonna miss Deadly Intrigue, but at the same time, I really look forwards to making some new stories, because I've got a TON of ideas, believe me...

Thank you, each and every one of you. Whether you're a guest or an experienced writer, thank you so, so much. Whether you reviewed or kept your opinions to yourself, thank you so much. I love each and every one of you people for taking time to read my humble creation, and the support I received from you guys was absolutely phenomenal and means so much to me. Thank you for staying with Deadly Intrigue for as long as you have, and I hope you enjoy my soon-coming other works as much as you have with this one.

Disclaimer: Man, this is the last disclaimer of Deadly Intrigue; it's gonna have to be a good one... um, um, Starwarsisn'tminebecauseIdon'thavethelegalrightstoitbutDisneydoes- dang. Well, that'll have to do.

The two stormtroopers held their weapons at the ready, painfully aware that they were the only men standing guard in the huge room full of power generators. The rest of the soldiers were outside, defending the communications array from the sudden onslaught of an infiltrating party of rebels. They were supposed to remain in the generator room, to defend the door to the main facility at all costs while the battle raged outside.

"I see them-" Their inside communicators rang inside their helmets, patching the two in to what the main facility was also hearing from just outside the generator room, on the fields of Lothal. "We have a confirmed visual on two, a Lasat and a bounty-hunter type- no- a Jedi-"

Both troopers looked at each other, though neither could see the other's face. Their communications had been taken out by a light Corvellian freighter earlier, which a squad of Ties had been sent out to dispatch of. They couldn't call for reinforcements, even against a Jedi.

"They're weaving between the stationed Ties- we can't get a good shot without damaging them!"

"The Ties will mean nothing if this communication array goes down! Kill them at all costs!" There was a significant increase in blaster fire across the line as the orders from command came in, but that wasn't what occupied the two trooper's attention. What did was that the lights went out.

Apparently the freighter had come back and hit their power generators.

Immediately switching to night-vision, the two troopers tightened their grips on their blasters, casting nervous glances around the severely more ominous room.

"Whatever you do, deal wi-" The comm line burst into static. Their internal frequencies had been jammed, most likely by a third intruder that had slipped in unnoticed through the chaos. One of the stormtroopers lowered their weapon, pressing their finger to the receiver of their helmet's comm and trying the few other channels the base supported, but got a response from none of them. They were alone.

A huge crash exploded somewhere to their left, the noise of metal dropping to the floor like a cannon in the dark. Startled, both stormtroopers swung their weapons out towards the disturbance, though neither one of them could see anything, even with their enhanced night-vision.

Hesitantly, one of the troopers shuffled towards where the crash had come from, signaling his counterpart to remain at the door. He moved slowly, barely making a noise. He turned on his blaster's searchlight, the bright beam illuminating a small portion of the gloom as he searched for whatever had crashed to the floor. His partner remained at the door, and he activated his light as well, sweeping the area in front of him as to not be caught off-guard.

There was a flash of blue light, and then the searching stormtrooper screamed, his armor and blaster clattering to the floor. The searchlight went out, leaving only the trooper at the door to illuminate the small area in front of him for the attacker.

His heart was pounding painfully in his ears, and he fought to keep his breathing down, because there was now most definitely an intruder in the room with him. The clang must have been a ventilation shaft falling down, allowing the infiltrator access-

A loose bolt pinged across the floor to his right, and the trooper's body swung violently to face it, his gun automatically raising to shoot at anything he saw moving-

But neither his light or his night-vision showed him any obvious signs of the hidden attacker. He swung his field of vision back and forth across the hangar, searching desperately for a target. He saw nothing, but another loose piece of petal clanged across the floor, further away from him.

Towards the blast-door leading outside...

That must be how the rebels planned to infiltrate- sneak in something small enough through the ventilation and open the sealed door from inside.

Knowing his orders were to secure the inner facility from the rebels at all costs, there was only one course for him. Keeping his blaster pinned in the direction the noise had come from, the stormtrooper moved over towards the blast doors, maneuvering between the generators slowly

A laugh echoed through the hangar, startling the trooper and making him swivel around quickly, trying to pinpoint its' source. The sound echoed eerily, and he had no luck in finding it's owner. His blaster was shaking in his hands.

Another noise screamed through the dark, diverting his attention back to the right. They were moving away from the blast-door.

The trooper moved quickly, his armor thudding on the metal floors. He came into a clear area between generators and stood still, swinging his searchlight around full circle to try and spot any sign of the intruder.

All at once, the air around him was full with noise, as seemingly every small piece of equipment and tool around him clattered to the floor, nearly giving him a heart-attack right there. His heart now in his Adam's apple and beating horrifically fast, the trooper swung his blaster around again, convinced he would see the rebel. When he was met with nothing, his grip on the gun tightened by tenfold.

Where is he?!

Another laugh resonated through the bay, sky-rocketing the stormtrooper's breathing rate. There's nothing there!

A huge, teeth-grinding scrape sounded behind him, but as soon as the Imperial whirled around to confront it, it stopped. Is that generator closer than before?!

Another ear-splitting scrape behind him, stopping as soon as he turned around to face it. As soon as the third one sounded, the trooper shot his blaster as he whirled around, finger squeezing against the trigger in a reaction of fear more than training. There was still. Nothing. THERE.

This time, the generators surrounding him all moved forwards at the same time, scaring him to the point where he fell down onto the ground, blaster clattering out of his hand. The generators stopped, but as soon as the trooper moved for his gun they all jerked once again, sending him up and running within seconds.

He only stopped when he nearly ran into the wall, whirling around to still be met with no threat in the scope of his night-vision. He could hear his own breath gasping out as he frantically scanned the room, weaponless and lightless.

A creak sounded directly above him, and his head shot up, fully expecting to see some terrible, oozing creature-

"How's it going?" Was the last thing the stormtrooper heard before the orange teenager hanging on the rafters stunned him.

"-and then he dropped his gun, so I made the generators move again, and he ran almost straight into the wall before stopping- he was looking around all scared and stuff, and then the rafter I was on creaked when I was right above him, so he looked up-"

"Remember to occasionally breath, Ezra," Kanan reminded the teen, pinching the bridge of his nose as the four of them headed into the common area.

"And when he saw me I just said 'How's it going?' and stunned him. I don't think he even got a chance to see my face before he was down!"

Sabine smiled with just a hint of mischief, and Kanan had no doubt she was going to make a painting of Ezra hanging in the rafters above a trooper. Probably right next to her depiction of his punch, which Ezra had made part of his daily routine to gaze at for a few seconds.

Zeb grinned a feral grin. "You know, you and me should team up sometime and see if we can scare a bucket-head so bad he faints on his own. That would be a sight to see." Both Ezra and Sabine laughed, most likely watching the scene in their mind's eye, and Kanan shook his head.

"But was messing with the trooper really necessary?"

Ezra raised up an eyebrow in a challenge. "Well, no, but it was fun! And besides, moving that many objects with the Force is training. And I neeeeed to traaaiiin, riiiiiight?"

Kanan simply sighed, suppressing the small smile that tugged at his mouth. He sat down on the rounded bench, looking at Ezra with a fond raised eyebrow.

"You might grow older, but you'll never grow more mature, will you?" Ezra's signature goofy grin was his only response.

Further conversation was interrupted as Hera came through the door, her face grim. Immediately they turned their focus onto her, and Kanan raised an eyebrow in a wordless question.

"Ahsoka and Commander Sato just told me that shortly after we left Lothal, a blockade of Destroyers showed up around the planet." Kanan's eyes narrowed. He looked down at the floor, thoughts moving too quickly to allow for speech.

The blockade was no doubt in correlation to Vader's escape from the Maelstrom as it was pulled into the black-hole. Vader would most probably remain in the Outer Rim, now that the rebellion had proven themselves to be an organized force instead of random scatterings. The Empire would be pressing down hard on them all, now. Not just on the Ghost crew, but on all of Phoenix squad, and the rest of the rebel cells. The stakes and risks were higher than ever- especially because Vader would no doubt be taking a personal interest in him, Ezra, and Ahsoka. Their battle was not yet over- and they would be hunted until the Empire fell.

"Well. I guess we'll have to up our game, now." Sabine's assessment was spoken strongly, and faces all around strengthened as well.

"They'll all be after us, now." Hera warned, but it was Ezra who spoke next, his eyes glinting in that way Kanan knew no one else could ever hope to mimic.

"Yeah- and we'll be ready for them."

As they all nodded, each member of the Ghost crew knew that Ezra couldn't speak more of the truth. No matter what the Empire threw at them, they would meet it with conviction. They were a family-

And nothing would come between them.