#tust

Ever since Kanan had come clean to her about being a Jedi Hera had been worried about one thing: When would the Empire come for him? Never, she told herself, I won't let that happen. For that not to happen, however, it meant that Kanan had to be careful, he absolutely couldn't be seen doing anything even remotely Jedi-like. So far, things were okay, but Hera was always worried that Kanan would slip up, forget himself, and be outed to the entire galaxy. He would be lucky if the Empire killed him outright. The thought of it made her nervous.

She tried to tell herself that as long as they were careful, they would have nothing to worry about. She tried to push the fears from her mind and focus on the now. She tried, but she wasn't very successful.

Kanan and Hera were waiting, crouched behind a stack of crates at the edge of the docking platform on Cressill. Hera peered over the top of one of the boxes to see if their target had showed yet. "There she is," whispered Hera, pointing to the female Devaronian. "That's Ozga, she gives a cut of pirated goods to certain Imperial commanders who turn around and sell it on the black market. She makes them rich and they let her operate."

"Sounds delightful." Kanan peeked over the top of the crates as well. "Do you see the crates of medical supplies?"

Hera scanned the platform. There were crates scattered all around waiting to be loaded on Ozga's smuggling ship. Hera only wanted a few of them. "There," she whispered, nodding to three red crates sitting towards the edge of the platform.

"Got it," said Kanan, half rising from his crouch.

The plan was simple enough, cause a distraction, get in, get out. They had two speeder bikes waiting a few meters away to make a quick exit. Ozga wouldn't even know what had happened. Kanan had already started moving when Hera froze. "Wait."

Kanan stopped. "What is it?"

Hera couldn't tear her eyes away from the scene. Six female Twi'leks, scantily dressed and bound in chains, were being hustled across the far end of the platform towards Ozga's ship by two heavily armed human males. "Slaves," Hera whispered, her voice tight with emotion.

Kanan looked over at the small group of Twi'leks. "We can rescue them," he said without hesitation.

"Really?" Hera's heart pounded. It sickened her to think that her people were trafficked around the galaxy for every insidious purpose. It could have just as easily been her out there in chains. She almost didn't dare to hope. With so many people the speeder bikes would be out as a get away option.

"Of course," Kanan said, "but we have to act fast."

Hera nodded as Kanan quickly outlined the new plan. Always ambitious, Kanan said they could still get the medical supplies too. Hera was ready, but the new plan was risky. Far riskier since other living beings were involved.

Kanan, crouching low, scurried away from their position to start the distraction. Hera waited for her moment. She couldn't look away from the Twi'leks as they shuffled along the platform huddling close to one another as they walked. She could see they were terrified, she tried not to think what they'd been through before coming here.

Clicking open her comm Hera signaled to Chopper. "You need to come get us, the speeder bike plan is scratched."

Chopper grumbled in reply.

"What do you mean you're not at the ship? Get back there and come to my location, now." Hera couldn't believe Chopper would disobey her orders to stay with Ghost. Okay, she could believe it but it still made her angry. Hera kept her eyes peeled on Kanan as he left their cover and started his distraction.

Kanan wandered out onto the platform visibly stumbling as if he were drunk. Hera cringed. Kanan's drunk act was certainly distracting but that was about the best thing that could be said about it.

Kanan hailed Ozga. "Hey, baby, how are you? I haven't seen you in ages!"

Hera tried not to listen to Kanan, it would destroy her focus if she was constantly rolling her eyes.

"Get out of my loading area," Ozga said. "I don't know you, drunk."

"Sure you do," Kanan insisted as he shambled closer, "we spent Empire Day together under the stars. It was beautiful." Kanan waved his hand vaguely at the sky.

Ozga quickly seemed to have had enough of this. "You two," she snapped at the men guarding the Twi'leks, "escort this idiot away from my docking platform."

The two men left the little group of enslaved women and went to drag Kanan away from the docking area. Well, Hera thought, Kanan's plan worked even at the cost of his dignity. Kanan let the men escort him a certain distance across the platform, conveniently right in the direction of the medical crates. Hera was poised to act as soon as the commotion started.

"Whoops," Kanan said as he dropped to his knees, pretending that he'd fallen. One of the men leaned down to drag Kanan back to his feet. Kanan dropped the act. Grabbing the man's arm, he yanked the guard off his feet, snatching the blaster from his hands as he fell. In the same move Kanan brought the blaster up and shot the second guard before he had a chance to pull the trigger.

As the blast hit the guard Hera ran for the Twi'leks. Yanking a tool from her pocket as she ran, she threw a glance over her shoulder to see that Kanan seemed to be coping with his half of the plan just fine. Joining the women who were standing on the open platform, completely unprotected, Hera used her tool to break open the locks on their shackles.

"Follow me," she said in the Twi'lek language, "I will take you to safety." The women hesitated, Hera knew they were probably terrified and overwhelmed but they didn't have time for discussions. Channeling her father's imperious nature as best she could she barked at them, "Now!"

They followed her.

Ozga was already yelling for reinforcements on her comm and even before Hera had taken a handful of steps back to her original position a dozen more men and women with blasters arrived. She and the other six dove for cover behind the closest crates as blasterfire filled the air. Yanking her blaster free, Hera looked around wildly for Kanan. She didn't see him anywhere as she blasted a few shots off at the smuggler's guards.

Grabbing her comm she keyed for Chopper. "We need to get out of here, now! Pick us up at platform twenty-two." She heard the confirming whistles from the other end and hoped he would be here in just a few seconds, because that's all they were going to have.

The guards were advancing across the platform, their blaster bolts sizzling as they slammed into the pavement and pounded into the crates. "Kanan!" she yelled to the docking area in general, "where the hell are you?"

Kanan came vaulting over the top of the crates and dropped to the ground next to her. "Right here, but we are definitely not getting those medical crates. Also," he glanced over to where the parked speeder bikes were currently being peppered with blasterfire, "we're not gonna be able to get to the bikes."

"You think?" Hera wasn't sure they were getting away at all, their hasty plan was falling apart fast. The crates they were behind were taking a beating and once they gave out their little group had no where to go.

"Is Chopper coming?" Kanan leaned around the corner of the crates and sprayed blaster bolts wildly, causing the guard's advance to stop for a second.

"Yes, but it will be a few minutes." Hera flinched as the crate behind her shuddered from the impact of enemy fire.

"We don't got a few minutes." Kanan sent more fire back to the guards. "He needs to be here now." Kanan's voice was grim, his brow furrowed in concentration.

Hera was suddenly afraid. She looked at the other six who were crouching, cowering, completely defenseless. "We have to hold them off somehow." She didn't want to think about what would happen if they were captured.

Kanan looked at her, then at the others and finally he sighed. Seemingly resigned. Hera didn't know what it meant but it scared her. Kanan dug a hand into his boot and came up with two cylindrical tubes. As he locked them together Hera realized what they were.

"Kanan, you can't do this." If he did then everybody would know. Her creeping fear was suddenly an acute terror.

"You got a better idea, because I'm all ears." Kanan's sharpness a cover for his nervousness.

She didn't. "If they find out-"

"Yeah, yeah, they'll try to kill me, but if you haven't noticed, they're already doing a pretty good job. Now, wait for me to draw their fire-"

"Kanan, please don't." They would find another way, they had to find another way. She couldn't let Kanan risk himself like this because she'd wanted to rescue her people.

"I have to. Wait for me to draw their fire then get out of here." Rising from behind the crates Kanan strode out into the open.

"What is he doing?" said one of the Twi'leks.

"Be ready to run on my signal." Hera ignored the question. She couldn't breathe as she watched Kanan stand, completely unprotected, in front of Ozga's men. His lightsaber activated with a snap-hiss and a blue-white blade appeared. That was all it took for all weapons to be aimed at him.

Keying Chopper, Hera yelled into her comm, "Where are you!" She couldn't keep the panic from her voice. "We need you now!"

Chopper's whistles and blurps were almost drowned out by the blasterfire being aimed at Kanan. He was advancing slowly across the platform, using his lightsaber to deflect blaster bolts with ease. Hera tried to focus, tried not to think that she might see her love die right in front of her.

Her comm bleeped and rising into view behind them was Ghost. Chopper steered the ship as close as he could, hovering it just above the ground. "Kanan!" she called, every bolt that rained past him sent a spike of fear through her.

"Go!" Kanan yelled over his shoulder. "Leave the ramp down."

Hera didn't want to leave Kanan exposed to all that blasterfire. She briefly thought about joining him on the platform and using her blaster to provide cover.

"Hera!" Kanan said, his tone more than a little annoyed. Hera swallowed. She had to trust him.

Motioning to the Twi'leks, Hera pointed at Ghost's ramp. "There's our ride." Using her small blaster to cover their retreat, Hera and the group of women made a break for it, racing across the remaining length of the platform. Clattering up the ramp Hera ran for the cockpit.

Chopper mumbled to her about something as she slid into the captain's chair. "Go to the cargo bay and help Kanan!" Grabbing the controls she steered the ship toward the center of the action. She couldn't get very low because the smuggler's ship was taking up most of the space on the docking bay. Hera swore to herself. How was Kanan possibly going to make it on board?

A moment later she heard Kanan's voice calling from the cargo bay. "Get us out of here!"

Hera slammed the control to close the ramp and headed for open space before any Imperial patrols caught wind of the skirmish. Scrambling Ghost's signature just to be sure, she tried to force back a looming dread that this might be the beginning of the end for Kanan. He'd revealed himself as a Jedi. The Empire would be coming for him.

Jumping to lightspeed as soon as she could, Hera came back to the cargo bay where the Twi'leks were gathered. They were looking at Kanan mistrustfully and speaking softly among themselves in the Twi'lek language.

"It's alright," Hera said to them in the same language. "You're safe now."

One of them, her skin a vibrant shade of orange, stepped forward and spoke in basic, "Who are you? Where are you taking us?"

"This is Kanan Jarrus." Hera gestured to him, his lightsaber was now nowhere to be seen. "My name is Hera Syndulla, and we are taking you where ever you want to go."

"Syndulla?" said another Twi'lek, her eyes wide. "Are you related to Cham Syndulla?"

Hera grimaced a little. "I'm his daughter."

The entire group of formerly enslaved women relaxed. "This is a great day," said the orange one, "we are rescued by the daughter of Ryloth's hero."

Hera frowned, she didn't want to dwell on that too long. "Come with me, I'll show you where you can clean up." Leading the troupe of Twi'leks to the crew quarters she got them settled. As she searched through the storage closet for some decent clothes for them her thoughts rapidly jumped between the plight of the Twi'lek women and Kanan.

Kanan had offered to help her people, he was a good man like that. He'd done it for her and now he'd outed himself as a Jedi. She didn't know how she was going to protect him going forward. She had a responsibility to help those in need, but she also had to keep Kanan safe. She'd promised him she would. She didn't want to have to choose between saving others or saving Kanan.

*****

When they finally dropped the Twi'leks off on Ryloth, Hera gave them specific instructions as to how to get in touch with her father. "He'll help you get settled again," she said handing them a comm programmed to the right frequency.

"Your father must be so proud of you," said the orange Twi'lek, "he will beam with joy when we tell him of the bravery of you and your Jedi."

Hera doubted that, she also knew for a fact that her father was not proud of her. There was no point in telling these others about that, though. "Safe travels," she said, "I hope we meet again."

"We as well," the orange Twi'lek smiled.

"There's one more thing," Hera said, slipping into the Twi'lek language so that Kanan wouldn't overhear. "You must keep it a secret that Kanan is a Jedi, his life is in danger if you tell anyone."

The Twi'lek's all nodded. "We will not tell anyone."

Hera smiled at them and bid them farewell again. She pushed away the small concern about these other Twi'leks knowing about Kanan being a Jedi. She did wonder if they might still tell her father about Kanan despite their promise. In silence, she and Kanan headed back towards Ghost.

Hera avoided Kanan's eye as she headed for the cockpit and navigated Ghost into space. She'd very nearly lost Kanan because she'd wanted to save her people. She might lose him even still if word of the skirmish with Ozga got out. At the same time she couldn't see a situation where she would have turned her back on those women. They had needed her help, she'd had to give it to them. Rising from the captain's seat she met Kanan in the doorway.

"You okay?" he asked, taking her hands in his own. He was looking down at her in that searching way of his. "You've been a little quiet since we left Cressill."

Hera was about to say: Yes, of course I'm fine, but she stopped herself. She wasn't fine and she didn't have to hide it from Kanan. "No," she said, giving Kanan's hands a squeeze, "I'm not."

"Tell me about it." Kanan slid his arm around her waist and led her toward the crew quarters.

Hera's thoughts were confused, she wasn't sure where to start. "Kanan, I'm sorry I risked your life for those women, I didn't realize how bad everything would get." She knew it wasn't her fault, but she couldn't stop feeling responsible for how things played out.

Opening the door to her room, Kanan led her to her bunk where they sat down. "I'm not sure what you're talking about."

"When we changed our plans last minute to save those other Twi'leks, I put us in a position where you had to reveal yourself as a Jedi." A wave of guilt washed over Hera. "I just couldn't leave them but now you're in more danger than ever because I changed things in the middle."

"First off," said Kanan, "you didn't put me in danger, I put me in danger. I made the decision and I knew the risks." Leaning back, Kanan pulled Hera a little closer to him. "Those women needed our help, there's no way we could have left them."

"It all went wrong so quickly, we're lucky to be alive." Hera leaned on Kanan's shoulder. "I feel stuck, like I had to make a choice between helping people or keeping you safe. I was so scared for you."

"Hera, I knew what I was doing when I brought out my lightsaber. It wasn't the first time I've done it and it won't be the last. You don't have anything to worry about." Kanan gave a wry chuckle. "Anyway, I really doubt those smugglers are going to get anyone to believe them when they tell their buyers that their slaves were kidnapped by a Jedi."

Hera's lips twitched in a smile, but mentally she kept replaying the moment that Kanan stepped out in front of those blasters. "I thought I was going to watch you die."

"That's not going to happen," Kanan said, tightening his arm around Hera. "I'm okay and you are too. We saved those women and got out alive, I don't think anything else matters."

"What about the next time? I can't ask you to reveal yourself like that again. It's too dangerous." Hera couldn't stop imagining a squad of stormtroopers coming for him.

"You won't have to, I'll choose it myself. I'll always choose to help, I don't think I can do anything else." Kanan said it in a voice that made her believe him.

"Kanan, I promised to keep you safe, I promised you'd be okay." Hera was starting to realize that secretly working for the Rebellion and keeping Kanan out of the path of the Empire might be a lot harder than she thought.

"And you do, right here on Ghost. You give me a place to call home and I can trust you completely. That's more than I've ever had since I was a kid and it's enough." Kanan put a hand to her chin, turning her face to look at him. "I don't know what to say to make you stop worrying about me, but you can trust me. If I decide to reveal myself then you can trust that it's the best option for me at that moment. I know what the risks are and I'm okay with them."

Hera knew he was right. She expected him to trust her when she decided to do tricky maneuvers in Ghost to evade Imperials or pirates, or when she planned their ops with intel from mysterious sources, so she needed to trust him on this. She just didn't realize how hard that was going to be. Kanan wasn't just a crew member or a Jedi, he was her life-partner. Being okay with him putting himself at extreme risk wasn't going to be easy. Looking into his eyes she saw that he was calm, he wasn't at all worried about the potential fallout of his actions on Cressill.

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay, love, I can trust you. I can do that much."

Kanan put his other arm around her and hugged her tightly. "Next time," he said, "we'll try a better plan because that one was awful. Remind me not to go out without some explosives anymore."

"We'd have to get our hands on some explosives in the first place," Hera reminded him. She thought a moment of how Kanan had stepped out from behind the crates with only his lightsaber in hand. "Were you scared when you went out there in front of all those blasters?"

"A little," Kanan laughed. "It's been a long time since I've done that and for a second there I was afraid I'd forgotten how."

Hera tried to control the twist in her stomach at his words. "You really do worry me, you know." Hera leaned against Kanan's chest. She liked how strong he felt, like he was something solid that would never go away. "Do you really think you'll have to do that again?" She was wondering if maybe there was some way they could avoid it.

"Probably," said Kanan with a sigh. "I just can't help myself, it seems. If it's not the lightsaber it's something else, a Force push or an impossible jump. I'm starting to think living like a real person isn't in the cards for me."

"What does that mean?" She couldn't imagine that Kanan might just start showing off his powers to everyone.

"It means that we have to plan for these eventualities. We're going to have to come up with a code only we know for when things are so bad that I need to use my Jedi powers." Kanan's voice was light but Hera could tell he was only half joking. "Got any ideas?"

Hera thought about their narrow escape earlier. It might have been a little less narrow if she'd been at the helm instead of Chopper. "What about a Twenty-two Pickup? Chopper got us off platform twenty-two on Cressill, it seems appropriate."

"Twenty-two Pickup it is." Kanan ran a gentle hand over one of Hera's lekku as they mused on their new code name in silence for a moment. "You going to be okay with this?" His voice was soft, he really wanted to make sure she was okay.

"If you're asking me if I'm going to stop worrying about you, then the answer is no." Hera closed her eyes and enjoyed Kanan's caresses. "But I can trust that you know best when it comes to your powers and when to reveal them. I hope that one day you don't have to hide it anymore."

Hera felt Kanan let out a small sigh. "It sounds like a dream."