Kanan tried not to look overly frustrated as he slid into yet another rickety bar chair, bringing his drink with him. If a lead didn't pan out soon he was tempted to just give up and stop slowly nursing the one drink and order something for real, instead of slowly draining his credits on useless information gathering.

"They say you're the one to talk to if you want to find someone." Kanan spoke smoothly, thankfully holding back his tongue and not adding on 'just like the last dozen people I've spoken to.'

"Might be, maybe. You Imperial?" The rather run down looking Devronian gave him a look as Kanan waved the bartender over, sliding another credit chip away to pay for his new (i)friend's(i) drink.

"Hardly." Kanan chuckled that, leaning back in his chair to watch him.

"Then who are you looking for?" The Devronian asked

"The Bridgers." Kanan spoke quietly, waiting to see if he shut down like everyone else. Instead he got a bark of laughter.

"Well I know you're not Imperial then or you'd already know. Probably long cold ashes in some incinerator somewhere, poor stupid souls." The Devronian waved a hand, accepting a drink from the bartender and tossing it back eagerly enough.

"If they're dead then how come you're the first person willing to admit they've heard of them?" Kanan said bluntly. He had expected something similar. When Hera said the two of them were going to investigate why her contacts on Lothal had abruptly cut off all communications Kanan's first thought had been capture or execution, but Hera wanted to investigate to be sure. After six months of no-contact, Kanan hadn't been very hopeful they'd find anything worth the trip.

"Because they were traitors to the glorious Empire." The Devronian said the last part sarcastically. "Terrorists, rabble rousers, and you stand too close to such obvious targets for Imperial punishment, sometimes they are not such perfect shots, eh?" He chuckled again, amused at his own joke. "So no, you are not likely to find too many who knew the Bridgers. So sorry if they were friends of yours."

"More friends of a friend." Kanan shook his head lightly, finishing off the last of his beer and standing. It was more than he'd gotten before, and worth looking into.

"Then tell your friend that was their friend that they have my condolences." The Devronian spoke before turning away, conversation over.

Kanan made his way out to give Hera the bad news.

"What are we doing out here again?" Kanan grumbled, walking through the quiet streets. From what he could tell there wasn't officially a curfew for anyone not on Imperial business yet, but most places in the city being out at night was heavily frowned on and it was likely only a matter of time.

"I didn't say, but since you're so curious. Look around you, see many empty lots?" Hera spoke quietly as they walked through the dim light.

"Now that you mention it, no." Kanan glanced around, all of the available space was used, like most cities. It wasn't the nicest part of town, but it likely wasn't the worst either.

"So why would there be a blank space on the city map right where a residence should be? Not even designated as an empty lot, it's just missing." Hera sounded smug at her sleuthing. She'd been pragmatic about the news when Kanan had told her of the Bridger's supposed fate, disappointed but not heartbroken, and determined to find if they'd left anything behind.

"Maybe it's unusable for some reason?" Kanan offered, but in matters like this he'd learned to trust Hera's investigation skills.

"Or it's marked off because everyone would rather our friends have never existed. " Hera stepped closer to a building to check the numbers, then kept going.

"If that's the case, wouldn't they have destroyed it?" Kanan said skeptically.

"That attracts more attention than a house that's just empty." Hera sounded confident, leading the way and letting Kanan follow.

It didn't take too much longer before they were both standing outside a building. On it was condemned signs brightly stenciled onto and around the door, with warnings to keep out under Imperial order.

"What do you think, this look like it might be the place?" Hera tried the door, then started opening the panel beside it, getting out tools to pick the lock.

"Alright, I'll admit it, it looks pretty likely. They might have cleaned it out already though." Kanan stood nearby without getting in her way, to let her work.

"Maybe. It's worth looking into at least. They might have missed something." Hera finished with the doors and they slid partway open before sticking, Kanan just reached out to shove them the rest of the way for them to get inside, pushing them back closed when they were both in. They both turned on their glow rods, with the windows boarded and the door closed behind them it was unlikely anyone passing by would see the light.

"Looks like we're not the first to ignore the signs to keep out." Kanan wrinkled his nose at the smell, shining his light around. There were obvious, if sloppy signs of habitation. There were empty food containers around, and cloth piled mostly in one corner likely as some sort of bed.

"We should try to move quickly then, before whoever's staying here comes back. Look for any sort of secret compartment, they likely had somewhere they were keeping all their sensitive information." Hera moved over to the walls, scrutinizing them.

Kanan started towards one of the adjoining rooms, then paused when something didn't quite feel right. He backtracked, walking by the table again. It almost felt like a small change in vibration, almost like…. He crouched down, peering more carefully at the bottom of the table, feeling around it until he found a small catch.

"This looks promising." He pressed it, pushing, and the table slid out of the way to reveal a hole with a ladder.

"It does." Hera left off from checking the walls, going over to try and shine the light down the hole. "I'm going to check it out, keep an eye out up here in case we get visitors?"

"Got it." Kanan took his place off to the side, where he could cover both the hole and the doorway in, making sure his blaster was free in its holster while Hera vanished down the ladder.

"Jackpot. This is where everything was. Broadcasting equipment, data disks, there's a whole setup down here and none of it looks like it's been touched in months."

"Can you check the disks' contents?" Kanan glanced down, able to hear her moving around under the floor, but not able to see anything.

"I can, but most of it it'll be easier to check it back on the ship." Hera called quietly up from below.

Kanan was just starting to relax when he heard Hera make a small distressed sound. His blaster was in his hand before he could think about it. "Hera?"

"I'm fine. Just… I'm fine. Stay up there, I'll be up in a few minutes." Hera said, sounding tense. Kanan didn't like it much but he nodded, then felt foolish since there was no way for her to see it.

"Got it." Kanan slid his blaster back into his holster, glancing back at the door, and then it was right back in his hand at the sight of the doors starting to move. He stood tense as a very small figure stood in the partway open doorway, staring inside and looking… shocked? Surprised? Angry? Kanan didn't recognize the species, but it didn't look friendly. "We've got company."

Kanan could hear Hera moving, but he didn't take his eyes off the small being. It stood in the doorway, watching him with huge eyes and then finally blurting out a strange series of syllables.

"I don't understand. I don't suppose you speak Basic, huh?" Kanan waited, watching the other for any sign of comprehension. "We're not here to take your place, we just needed something from it. You probably didn't even know it was here, so can't miss it, right? " He kept his tone even. It was possible they didn't speak Basic but they understood it, or they might not understand it, they might not even be fully sentient either by nature or damage or disease. At least they didn't seem to be armed, they were carrying a few things but nothing that looked like a weapon. "Just stay calm and we'll be gone and you can go back to having this place all to yourself."

"Kanan." Hera spoke from behind him, but he didn't turn around. "Don't shoot him. Lower your weapon."

Kanan hesitated, then obeyed, the small being didn't come any closer, but it seemed to relax a little without a weapon being pointed at it, saying something in a questioning tone.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're saying." Hera said apologetically, moving around so she could stand beside Kanan. "I think I know who he is. Before I checked over one of the disks, to make sure we were in the right place. It has important information on it. There was also a holo of the Bridgers on it."

For the first time the small figure stepped closer. "Bridger?" It was said questioningly and a little sad, the figure shifting on bare pawlike feet still fairly far away.

"I knew there were two that I was in contact with, but they kept most information beyond that quiet for security reasons. I didn't know until I saw the holo that they had a child." Hera hesitated, crouching down and holding a hand out like she was trying to coax the little being closer. "Kanan, I think this is Ezra Bridger."

Chapter Notes - This is AU playing around with the timeline some. Hera's 19, Kanan's 23, and Ezra's 7