Back in the cave, Dorian stands and begins to give a speech.
"You have fought well, Zara. I'm forever in your debt for rescuing me from the Rebel prison," Dorian smiles, filled with gratitude.
"You will likewise serve well with the Rebellion, my good friend. I hope all of our paths shall cross again," Zara returns.
"Master Yoda, Rex," Dorian addresses them with a bow before leaving the cave.
"Wait, how will you get back home?" Rex stands to go after him, but Yoda stops him.
"Guide him to a safe haven the Force will. Done, our work is," Yoda explains.
"I hope he gets there safely, as we just rescued him from the Empire," Rex sighs.
"Worry not, a safe way he will find," Yoda reassures him.
"Master Yoda is right, he will be alright," Zara reaffirms.
"You Jedi sure are strange," Rex says, ruffling his short red hair.
"And what about you? Will you also go home?" Zara asks.
"I don't have a home to go back to, the Empire made sure of that when they deployed missiles on my old Rebel base," Rex grimly says.
"I'm sorry. It would be of great asset to us if you stayed," Zara says.
"I'd be kicked out of anywhere else I tried to go, anyway. One of the commonalities of being a Rebel. I might as well help out a few Jedi," Rex explains.
"Stay here and train we will," Yoda says.
"I look forward to growing stronger in a few years," Zara smiles.
Four years pass, and Commander Dodonna paces back and forth in an Imperial room with oval windows and beige furniture. An attendant then enters the room.
"Is the admiral here yet?" He anxiously demands.
"Yes, sir. Follow me," The attendant says.
She takes him to another room, this one filled with the black and white Imperial banners. An admiral then turns around to greet him, and Dodonna's blood runs cold. The soldier's blonde buzzed hair and light eyes remind him of someone he had encountered long ago. The admiral extends out his hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, commander," The admiral shakes Dodonna's hand.
"As with you. Forgive me for my apprehension, you merely remind me of a child I had once encountered," Dodonna relaxes.
"I was a small teenager when we first encountered each other on the sands of Korriban. I don't blame you for mistaking me as a child then," The admiral says.
"Is it really you?" Dodonna asks.
"Yes, I was rescued by one of your Stormtroopers who took my nearly lifeless body to be bandaged on a separate ship from yours. Once I recovered, I was offered a place in the Empire, and I became an Imperial admiral," Tom says.
"Admiral? But you're far too young to be—
unless, you're the admiral I have heard all about with how fast they have made progress," Dodonna ponders.
"That would be me that you've heard the rumors about. I devoted myself to the Empire that saved my life and underwent special training under the Emperor," Tom says.
"The Emperor personally had you trained? It doesn't make any sense, you were weak back then, and you still are. I see what you're trying to do, you're trying to take my position!" Dodonna snaps.
"I can assure you, commander, that I have no such intentions. I'm honored to have finally been able to meet you after all these years," Tom says, his eyes without any light.
"Now, shall we discuss what you're here for; about that prisoner that you failed to retrieve all those years ago, they're back," He redirects the conversation.
"The prisoner evaded my reach, I searched tirelessly for them, but nothing," Dodonna defends himself.
"We have found traces of the prisoner, and I have been tasked with retrieving them," Tom says.
"Very well," Dodonna regains his composure.
Meanwhile, a few days pass aboard Rex's Rebel ship. For the past four years, Zara, Yoda, and Rex have traveled to planets, liberating them from Imperial rule. However, the planets that they liberated were soon seized back by the Empire, and the team has been working on getting their freedom back.
"There's only so much three people can do against an entire regime," Rex says, piloting the ship as they fly across the galaxy.
"We have made a lot of progress in freeing planets from Imperial rule, we can't give up yet," Zara says.
"A point Rex has. Free them all we cannot," Yoda says.
"The Empire has taken so many Rebel lives. Back when you were a pilot, you must have done all you could to help, even if it seemed little," Zara says to Yoda.
Yoda ponders her words for some time until the ship suddenly stops amid the vacuum of space.
"What's wrong?" Zara looks over to Rex.
"There's an Imperial base up ahead," Rex says, his breath catching.
Up ahead, a magnetic-field floating Imperial base stands before them. Rex moves the ship over to a nearby floating port to hide it from view.
"Fear not, Master Yoda and I will take care of them," She grabs her lightsaber from her pocket.
"You aren't actually going to race head-first into an Imperial base, are you?" Rex questions.
"This could be our chance to take out the enemy," Zara says.
"Cautious you must be. After me you must follow," Yoda says.
"Yes, Master. Rex, you stay here and guard the ship," Zara says.
"I wasn't stepping a foot inside that base," Rex shakes his head.
Rex then flies Yoda and Zara to an entrance, where they depart the ship. Putting on their cloaks, they race down a metal hallway inside the Imperial ship.
"I'll head to the command center," Zara says.
"Careful you must be," Yoda warns.
Zara then departs, taking a right down the hallway.
On her way to the command center, she spots a soldier and ducks behind a corner. She waits for them to leave, but after a few minutes, she peeks out of the corner. At first, she doesn't recognize the soldier by his blond buzzed hair, but when he turns around for a faint moment, she immediately recognizes him. Without hesitation, she rushes over to the soldier after he's done talking with an attendant.
"Zara, is that you?" Tom asks, surprised to see her here.
"You're alive," Zara rushes over to hug him, patting his buzzed hair. She sighs, closing her eyes to really take in the moment.
"What are you doing here?" Tom asks.
"The Empire took me, Tom. They took me from Korriban–I thought you died,"
"I was hurt badly, but I got patched up by–"
"Never mind, it doesn't really matter. I'm just so glad that I found you again. We can now go on those adventures together that I had promised you. There is a whole galaxy waiting for us to explore," Zara beams.
Tom takes a step back. "I now have a duty that I must serve,"
"What? Tom, we're not in Korriban anymore, we can explore so many new places–and see so many new things that we never got to see. We can start anew," Zara squeezes his shoulder.
"I can't abandon my duty, Zara. Things have changed, priorities have been shifted, and the work that I'm doing now isn't something that can so easily be abandoned. I wish I could go with you, really,"
"While I'm sure this work you talk about is important, sometimes you have to give up your responsibilities for more important things, like family," Zara lectures.
Tom shakes his head. "I had also thought that before I had a rude awakening. Now I see that from the beginning, the Empire was right in their prediction that the galaxy would suffer under the countless wars weighed by the Old Republic–under the Jedi," Tom says.
"The Empire destroyed our village, it matters not how many lives you claim they have saved when so many lives were lost when our village was set on flames," Zara says.
"I have seen firsthand the planets that have benefited from Imperial rule. A dying planet was once restored by the resources brought to its inhabitants, which were all funded by the Empire," Tom says.
"Then, you will go?" Zara saddens.
"I have to be stationed on a planet a few lightyears from here, I may not get to see you again," Tom says.
"Don't trust the Empire, Tom. That day when I was taken from you, I was brought on an Imperial ship where they kept me from returning home," Zara says.
"No, it can't be," Tom's face falls at realizing that she's the prisoner he was tasked with bringing back—dead or alive.
"How did you get out?" Tom questions.
"A Jedi saved me, and he has trained me for these past few years," Zara explains.
"A Jedi? Is he still with you? I was given strict orders by the Empire to eradicate those in the Resistance, especially the Jedi. Deny your association with the Resistance and I will spare your life." Tom says.
"We are not enemies, Tom. It's still me," Zara offers her hand on his shoulder, but he shrugs it off.
"You should go before you get caught," Tom says.
Yoda then enters the hallway, having been looking for Zara. Upon seeing him, Tom instinctively rushes over to him with an unmatched speed and draws out a blaster. Zara immediately goes to defend Yoda, racing after Tom, who shoots his blaster at Yoda. Zara brings out her red lightsaber and slashes the beams in half, standing in front of Yoda.
"Get out of the way," Tom warns.
"I can't do that," Zara says.
"This is your final chance, or I will be forced to take you out as well," Tom says, still aiming the blaster ahead.
Zara tenses, ready to fight. Tom blasts the blaster at them, but Zara slashes them with the saber.
"You weren't supposed to find that red lightsaber in that chamber. It was supposed to be me," Tom says.
"It can't be, I was led to it," Zara loses focus, and one of the beams grazes past her chin.
"That wasn't an ordinary chamber, it was the Dark Side of the Force that led you there. I know this because I went under training by the Emperor, who told me that your saber was supposed to be mine. I'm taking it back," Tom says.
"I won't let you," Zara says.
"Your training you must remember," Yoda says behind her.
Zara closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, focusing all of her attention on her strike. She slashes the saber toward Tom, not striking him, but using bluffs to back him off. Suddenly, Tom extends out his arm and uses the Force to pull the saber from Zara's grasp. He grabs onto the saber, its red glow humming as he turns it in his hand.
Zara uses the Force to push him back, but he resists it, using the Force to counterattack. Without the saber, Zara is defenseless as Tom rushes towards them. She uses the Force to pull Tom to the right, and he crashes into the walls. He grunts, getting back up and slashing at Zara, who quickly ducks. Zara kicks underneath him, tripping him. In a fury, Tom slashes the saber right and left, and it slices into Zara's leg. She grabs at her leg before using all of her might to push Tom onto the client using the Force.
He's stuck on the ceiling as Yoda and Zara make their escape down the hallway.
"That was my brother I told you about, but he's alive, and he's been corrupted by the Empire," Zara says.
"Bother you, you cannot let this. Training you must continue," Yoda says.
They make it to the end of the hallway and the escape door. Rex waits there for them, and they quickly embark on the ship as blasters begin firing at the ship.
"They found us," Rex says, piloting the ship. He then kicks the ship into hyperspace, the stars around them turning into lines.
"What happened back there?" Rex asks.
"It's Tom. He's back, and he's with the Empire," Zara says.