Ohh boy it's been a while, huh? My summer has just be been so dang BUSY! Camps every other week, babysitting, church, piano, trying to meet up with friends and family and just GAAAAAAAH!

but I'm here now so...that's gotta count for something...

Anyway, I just want to say thank you to you all for waiting this long for me to get off my busy butt and write, and a special thank you to Starlight Moon Midnight! She's helped me with this story a bunch and helped me get though crap in my life so a big thank you to her!

Enjoy!

In the capital city of Serenno, a small boy hovered close to a small stall nearly filled the brim with brightly colored fruits. The vendor of the stall was trying to convince passer buyers to buy his goods, and didn't see the boy.

The boy in question desperately tried reaching one of the fruits, but to no avail. Nonetheless, he kept trying, until a shadow fell over him, causing him to gasp and turn around, expecting to find an angry vendor or a cold Imperial...

But instead he saw a young girl, maybe thirteen or fourteen, covered with as much dirt and filth as he was but with big indigo eyes shining brightly through the grime. She knelt down to his level, fixing him with a soft smile.

"Hungry, huh?"

The boy stared at her, frozen in fear, before nodding meekly. The girl wiped away a bit of dust from his old and worn tunic. "Let's fix that." She quickly stood up, making sure the vendor's back was turned, before snagging a fruit. The little boy eagerly held out this hands, gladly accepting the food. With a tiny squeak of "thank you!" He ran off before anyone could see.

Joy chuckled. "Sweet kid."

Suddenly, a rough hand grabbed her arm and spun her around. She then found herself up-close-and-personal with the vendor, whom she learned (fun fact) had breath as plesent as a sewer and a grand total of five teeth. He tossed her into the sea of pedestrians and she landed on her rear with a thud, causing everyone to pause and form a semi-circle around Joy and the vendor, their chattering lowering to quiet and suspicious murmers.

"What do ya think you're doin'?" He sneered, aiming a kick at her head. Joy managed to roll onto her back just in time. Joy quickly stood up and tried merging into the crowd, but someone pushed her back into the circle. Statistic kriff, Joy thought bitterly.

"Ya know the law fer stealin'?" Now he was furious, trying to get a blow onto Joy but she was fast, lean. Not as fast as she could be, after going nearly three days without food, but she was fast enough. Someone in the crowd called, "Get her, Zenos!" And more people started cheering, turning the small scuffle into a street fight.

"You have plenty more!" Joy said, stepping to the side as Zenos barreled toward her. He bared his teeth and swung his fist. She didn't move in time and got a fist in the gut. Joy doubled over on all fours, coughing into the dirt. Pedestrians cheered.

"What is going on here?" A core worlds accent rose over the crowd, silencing everyone. Joy regained her composer, standing up as an Imperial officer came to the center of the circle, flanked by troopers. Zenos pointed an accusing finger at Joy.

"This little street rat stole from me!"

Joy glared at the vendor. "I was feeding an innocent child," she hissed. The officer raised an eyebrow.

"Troopers-" he started, but Joy cut him off.

"With all due respect, sir. I believe I was in the right. The Empire promised to make better lives for its citizens, yet so many live in poverty!"

"Young lady-" The officer began, but Joy kept going.

"What kind of Emperor lets his subjects die of hunger in the streets, or rips families apart? Or-"

"That's enough!" The officer roared. "This is your final warning!" He was met with a pair of angry eyes filled with hatred glaring at him.

"The Emperor promised justice!" Joy continued, turning to face the wary citizens. "Yet many of us are living in poverty, struggling to get by while we watch our superiors live nearly like kings! I say we demand justice, true justice!"

"Troopers!" The officer commanded. Joy whipped around to face him.

"JUSTICE!" She cried, glaring at the Imperial before her.

"Seize her!"

Joy opened her eyes and sat up ram-rod strait, gasping for air. She took in her surroundings. She was in her shared room with Sabine, she was still on the Ghost. She felt tears of relief spring into her eyes. Leaning against the wall next to her bed, Joy pulled out of her jacket pocket the crystal she had found weeks ago in Stygeon Prime. Ever since she had found the blasted thing she had been plagued with visions from her past, and even some unfriendly glimpses into the future...

She shook her head. No, no. She refused to think about it. It was probably a...a glitch or something. A mistake, perhaps. There was no way he would...she sighed again. Forget it. Joy quickly stood up, tossing the gem onto the bunk. No use carrying it around, no one else even knew about it. Besides, how would she even tell them? "Hey, guys! I found this necklace in Stygeon Prime that we could probably sell for a few extra credits, but I've got this feeling that this will be important later! So forget buying more food, I like this shiny rock and that's that!"

That would make for a fun conversation.

Joy left the room, making her way to the cockpit where Hera was wrapping up a report from Sabine.

"Ghost out," Hera said, ending the transmission. Joy sat down in the Mandolorian's respected seat, spinning the chair around as Kanan growled from the co-pilot's seat.

"We've been standing by for weeks," He clenched his jaw. "I'm sick of this."

"You're worried about Ezra," The Twi'lek pilot speculated. Kanan snorted beside her, fidgeting in his spot.

"I'm not worried about the kid, I'm worried about the op." Great mentor instincts, Joy thought. "What were we thinking, putting him undercover?"

"What were we thinking?" Joy spoke up. "This was your idea! You could've even sent me, or even Sabine, but no."

"He's just not ready," Kanan ignored the youngest member. "And if he gets caught—"

"He hasn't gotten caught yet," Hera put in hopefully. Kanan shook his head.

"The minute he gets that decoder, Zeb yanks him out of there." Hera and Joy shared puzzled looks.

"That's the plan..." Joy said slowly, ceasing her spinning. Kanan sighed.

"I should've done this myself."

Hera bit back a jolt of laughter. "Yeah, you'd make quite the cadet." She snickered.

The three of them sat in a comfortable silence. Hera piloting, Kanan doing what he could to help, and Joy spinning in the chair. She had positioned herself so that her legs and feet were leaning against the back of the chair and were sticking up into the air, while her back and neck were propped up by the seat cushion, and her hair pooled beneath her in curls on the floor. Stopping the seat from turning, Joy gazed up at Kanan.

"Hey, ponytail. Wanna play dejerak?" Kanan smirked back at her.

"Ah, so the old nickname's back, I see?" Before either of them could say another word, the comm gave a high pitched whine.

"Specter-five to Ghost," Sabine spoke into the comm. "Something went wrong. The kid didn't get the device and he didn't get out." Hera sighed.

"Copy that, Specter-five. Give him one more day," she ordered. The link beeped once more, signaling the end of the transmission.

"This decoder better be worth it," Kanan hissed.

"What's the alternative?" Hera raised an eyebrow at her partner. "Do you want to stop that Kyber shipment or not? You know what the Epmire could do with that crystal."

Kanan grimaced. "Nothing good,"

Hera smiled, knowing she had won. "So we give Ezra one more day."

Joy read off a datapad, emerging herself in the plot. A whole day has passed, and she was officially bored. Kanan couldn't play a game of dejerak, the signal could come at any moment, so Hera let her borrow the datapad so she would have something to do. Or to be quiet, Joy wasn't sure yet.

"Specter-five to Ghost," Sabine's voice filled the cockpit. "Sending coordinates to Imperial jump route. If you leave now, you should still be able to intercept." A light flashed on the dashboard.

"Coordinates received," Hera acknowledged. "We're heading out."

"Good work Specter-five," Kansn smiled. "And you too Specter-seven."

"Uh," Sabine sounded flustered. "Specter-seven isn't with us."

"What?" Kanan started panicking. "Where is he? Specter-five, repeat! Where is Specter-seven?" The comm replied with static.

"Kanan," Hera said gently. "We're out of range. All we can do now is complete the mission and get back as soon as possible." Kanan sighed and slumped against the seat, while Hera punched in the hyperdrive coordinates and they sped off into space.

The Ghost shot out of hyperspace, a small speck against the three massive Imperial freighters. Kanan had moved up to the Phantom, and Joy in the top-gun.

"Kanan, there are three ships," Hera said through the comm. "And we've only got one shot at this."

"The Kyber Crystal resonates with the Force," Kanan said back. All was silent, and Joy watched as the three freighters drifted closer, the scanners hadn't seemed to pick them up yet. "It's in the middle ship."

"You sure?" Hera asked skeptically.

"I'm sure," and with that, the Jedi detached the Phantom and flew around to face the Imperials.

Four TIE's detached, speeding toward the rebel vessels. Kanan shot one down almost instantly, and the other three kept going through the cloud of dust that was the former pilot. "Come on boys, take the bait." Four more detached and followed Kanan.

"Hera, you're good to go!" He said through the comm.

Her reply was short. "Copy that." She sped the ship toward the oncoming vessels, the ship shaking with shots fired by the enemy. Joy winced as she shook in her seat. Chopper must have fixed the shield incorrectly "by accident" again, they weren't normally like this.

But Hera pressed on, and Joy took that as her cue to start firing. They got closer, and closer, until Hera yanked the Ghost up and soared above the Imperal ships. TIE's started chasing them now, and Joy stole a glance at the ships. Two of them were turning, preparing for the jump to hyperspace.

Kanan noticed it too. "Hera," His voice warbled over the comm. "That ship's gonna be gone any second and the cargo along with it."

Hera nose dived down onto the ships and Joy continued rapid fire. The middle ship turned to the hyperspace lane.

Then Joy made the shot. The wing she hit erupted in a bright blaze of green and gold, the whole ship going up. It then proceeded to imploded in a bright electricing ball that spread out, growing. Any ship within the ball disintegrated, and it was gaining up on Kanan and the Phantom.

"Hera!" Kanan's voice was etched with panic.

"I see it!" The Twi'lek called back. Hard not to, in Joy's opinion. The ball grew bigger and bigger, Joy watched as a TIE wing crumbled into nothingness.

The Phantom slid into the pocket, and they shot into hyperspace.

When they arrived on Lothal it was dusk, the sun casting a pink-tinted orange shadow over the tall grass plains. The Ghost was bathed in that light, as Hera comforted a teen boy with chocolate brown hair.

"Jai, we'll take you to your mother," she was saying. "But you'll both have to go into hiding."

"Yeah, hide from the Empire," Jai said sarcastically. "That'll be easy."

Hera led him into the ship. "We'll help with that too."

Kanan and Joy walked up to a certain blue-haired former cadet. Kanan laid a hand on his shoulder. "How was it, kid?"

"Forgot what it was like to be on my own." Ezra admitted. Joy playfully shoved him.

"Miss it?"

"No grumpy droids, no smelly lasats?" He grinned and shoved Joy back. "It feels good to be back." Kanan let out a laugh.

"At ease soldier." The three of them saluted one another and walked back to the ship. As they entered, Joy felt a calming peace roll over her. It reminded her of peaceful moments with her family.

It was a nice feeling.

WOO HOO! FINALLY GOT ANOTHER CHAPTER UP!

AND DID YOU GUYS SEE THE SEASON THREE TRAILER ADJKLDSKSGSI WHO WANT'S TO FREAK OUT ABOUT IT WITH ME!?

So the other day my friend told me about a headcanon they saw where once a month Kanan will feel Sabine and Ezra's faces (like their cheeks and jaw lines and noses and such) because he will NOT miss them growing up. I then imagined Kanan messing around with Joy's hair, so by the time you are reading this, I've created a scenario where I'm sad and banging my head on the table, while my family wonders why they introduced me to Star Wars in the first place...

oh and, review I guess