"You're going first," O-Mer told him as Kanan sat down next to him.

"Oh, come on," he groaned, trying to get comfortable despite his armor. "How's that fair?"

"I never said it was. What have you been up to, other than training a Padawan?"

Kanan looked over to where Ezra had disappeared to. "Actually, that's a bit newer, but it doesn't matter." He took a breath and tried to remember where the story started. "Master Depa and I were on a mission when Order 66 happened. We were with a ground squad, and they just..."

He trailed off, but O-Mer recognized the look on his face. "Started shooting with no explanation?"

It felt so strange to hear someone else say the words for once. "Yeah. I didn't even understand what was happening. Depa told me to run, gave me a chance to escape."

"You don't have to explain," O-Mer told him, assuming what probably happened to Master Billaba. "I know."

Nodding, he kept going. "I managed to get back to the temple, but when I got there, it was too late. Troopers were already crawling all over the place. I didn't stay for long once I realized, just long enough to tell Master Kenobi that the temple was broadcasting a message calling Jedi back home. I wanted to turn it off myself, but he wouldn't let me. He told me to get out of the temple."

A sad sort of smile came over his face before he looked confused. "Wasn't he on a mission on Utapau when the order came? I thought he had been killed. How did he get to the temple?"

Kanan opened his mouth to answer but then realized that O-Mer was right. "I don't know. I didn't even realize. Either he must have died after I left..."

"Or he survived."

"For once, I think it might have been possible," he agreed. "If you and Master Skywalker are alive, maybe there's a chance."

"I just hope he's safe," O-Mer sighed, leaning back in the seat. "I wish we were all safe, but the galaxy doesn't work like that. It never has for us."

That much, Kanan had known for a long time. They took a moment to remember and hope before he went on. "After that, I met up with the people who started our crew. Have you heard anything about the Ghost crew?"

"You're with the Ghost crew?" he repeated, his eyes going wide. "With Captain Syndulla?"

Smiling, he nodded. It was the first time he was really proud to be recognized for it, now that he thought about it. O-Mer twisted around to look at the cockpit door. "You said his name was Ezra Bridger? Bridger, as in the Bridger Transmissions?"

"Those were his parents," explained Kanan, lowering his voice so Ezra wouldn't accidentally overhear him. "Ezra sent out his own transmission not long ago. His parents heard it and tried to break out of prison. They managed to help others escape, but they were killed before they got out. That's why Ezra and I came here."

"Senator Organa showed Granger and me his transmission," O-Mer remembered. "We didn't have any context for it, so he showed us the old Bridger Transmissions to explain what it was. He didn't stop talking about it for days."

Kanan laughed. "Don't tell Ezra that. It'll encourage him."

"We could use some encouragement these days."

"Not that kind of encouragement. His ego is doing just fine, thanks."

"So you all just wound up together?"

He scratched the back of his head. "Kind of. I met Hera and Chopper first, then Zeb came on board and Sabine after him. We picked up Ezra a couple of years ago, and it's been the six of us ever since."

"Chopper's the droid, right?"

"Right," he amended, realizing it wasn't obvious. "It's crazy, but it's...good. Better than going on my own."

O-Mer looked away. "Anything's better than going it alone."

His eyes glazed over, and Kanan realized he was speaking from experience. "What about you? Weren't you at the temple?"

"I was, but not for long," he affirmed, his voice softening. "Do you remember that group of Younglings we made friends with?"

"Yeah, the group of six."

"And the little Twi'lek girl, too. Her name was Lura," O-Mer added. "I was with them for some reason. I don't remember why anymore. We were together down in the nurseries when we heard blaster fire, but we didn't realize what was happening, so we went out to look together. That was a mistake."

"They saw you?"

"Yep. Trapped us in a room, and they probably would have killed all of us if Master Skywalker didn't find us. He came through the vents and bought us some time. He sent us back the way he came and went in to join the fight, and that was the last I saw of him.

"We escaped to the Lower Levels for a few days. We just hid, I didn't know where to go down there, and I didn't know anyone. Eventually, we saw a news report that said what had happened to everyone else. At that point, I didn't see a reason to stay. The Younglings and I snuck onboard a freighter and ended up on Thabeska."

A moment of silence followed as Kanan comprehended what that meant. "You were in charge of all of those kids by yourself?"

He looked away. "To be fair, they were extremely obedient, although that might have been out of fear. They were too frightened to disobey anything I told them. Lura was the most difficult to take care of. She was so scared and didn't understand what was going on. She kept wanting to wander off too, which didn't help. The other Younglings tried to help keep an eye on her."

Kanan was speechless. Before he had met Master Skywalker, he thought it was hard enough to be the older Jedi representative with Hera, Zeb, Sabine, and Ezra around. Stepping up for them had been a struggle at times, but having to take full charge all by himself for a bunch of twelve-year-olds and a child? He would never have survived.

"How long did you stay on Thabeska?"

"Six years, give or take," O-Mer guessed, folding his hands together. "We did all right. I managed to get us a place, and we figured out how to get food and credits regularly. I thought we might stay there forever."

Except he didn't, or otherwise, he wouldn't be there with Kanan. "What happened?"

"Inquisitor. Have you seen one yet?"

Kanan nodded, looking down at his lightsaber. "Yeah. Killed one, actually."

His friend looked proud of him. "Of course, you did. Which one?"

"The Grand Inquisitor, although at the ti-"

"You got the Grand Inquisitor?" O-Mer groaned, rolling his eyes. "Show off. I got one of the subordinates."

He had to laugh at that. Even after all this time, they were still competing against each other. "I didn't even realize there was more than one until a few weeks ago."

"Remember the original Inquisitor?"

"Are you kidding? I was so confused when I met the new ones. I didn't know there were supposed to be more."

"Welcome to the club," O-Mer told him, smirking before he got back to his story. "The Sixth Brother came after us. He was this tall, grey man; I had never seen him before. I think he was coming after Lura specifically, but he found all of us. The other Younglings and I worked together to kill him, barely. He broke my lightsaber; I had to borrow Gungi's to do it."

"All seven of you?"

"Hey, don't judge, alright?" he defended himself. "You know me. I didn't even build a lightsaber until I was sixteen. I was always behind on dueling. Not only that, but we had all been in hiding, so it wasn't like we could train. We barely managed to help Lura learn about the Force, much less duel. We were lucky to survive."

Kanan held up his hand. "I wasn't judging, but it sounds so crowded. I don't even remember the last time seven Jedi fought together."

A bit ashamedly, O-Mer looked down. "I'm not sure we counted as seven Jedi. Maybe three and a half."

"So you had to run after that?"

"No, just me. The fight happened out on an elevated shipyard. After I gave Gungi his lightsaber back, I heard stormtroopers coming. There wasn't enough time for everyone to run, and we couldn't hide all eight of us. I panicked. I pushed all seven of the Younglings off the deck and over the side, so when the troopers got there, all they saw was the dead Inquisitor and me. I had to run, and I never knew what happened to them. I've never been able to go back to see if they've survived this long."

"Is that when you went to Alderaan?"

O-Mer nodded. "I remembered Senator Organa from the Republic Senate and figured that if I was already alone and had nothing to lose, it wouldn't hurt to try and talk to him. I snuck into his office and told him what happened. He told me about the Rebellion, and I joined, hoping that one day the Younglings would come around too. I got paired up with Granger, and the two of us have been running missions for the senator ever since."

"You still haven't heard anything from the Younglings?"

"Nothing. I don't even know if they're alive anymore. For all I know, they didn't survive when I pushed them off the deck."

Kanan tried to think. If they were around the age of twelve during the Jedi Purge, they'd have been eighteen when O-Mer left them and about twenty-seven by now. Lura would have been ten when the Sixth Brother came for her and would now be nineteen.

"They should be at the temple right now," he murmured, mostly to himself. "We all should be. We should all have been knights for years, and Lura would probably be finishing her Padawan studies. None of us should be out here fighting for our lives."

"Tell that to the Empire," O-Mer muttered darkly. "I finally got off that stupid moon and back to the temple, only for the entire Order to be destroyed in a couple of years."

Despite how horrible it was, Kanan laughed a little. "Do you prefer being chased by Trandoshans or stormtroopers?"

He shook his head. "I don't know anymore. I thought it could never get worse than that. I didn't know..."

Trailing off, he looked around the cargo bay. His eyes came to rest on the cockpit door. "Speaking of, do you remember Jinx and I talking about Kalifa? She was another Youngling that was kidnapped with us."

"Kind of." Kanan didn't remember much, but the name sounded familiar.

O-Mer pointed toward the cockpit. "That's her brother."

"Her brother? She had a brother?"

"Apparently, but she never told me. I don't think she knew," he admitted.

"Then how does he know?"

"He's older than her," O-Mer explained, "or he would be if she were alive. He came looking for her when he was a teenager, but we had already been kidnapped by that time. When he heard that she was dead, he moved to Alderaan. Started as a mechanic but got into the Rebellion, and now we work together."

It was Kanan's turn to look at the door. "That's insane. Of all the people you would meet out here..." He thought of something. "How did he figure out about Kalifa?"

"That's the craziest part: he used to work with Ahsoka."

"Ahsoka? Ahsoka Tano? Our Ahsoka?"

"Remember when she was a civilian and she told us she was working as a mechanic? That was the same shop he worked at in the Lower Levels."

He shook his head, remembering the mechanics from Slashed Diamonds. Maybe they were from the same shop. "Talk about a small world. How..."

O-Mer smiled, shrugging. "I have no idea. It's kind of cool, though. If you get a chance, you should ask him about it. It's a cool story."

If he was honest, any story that had Ahsoka in it was a cool story to Kanan, as long as it wasn't about her death. He began thinking about it, but one more question interrupted his train of thought. "What about Jinx?"

His smile dropped. "Probably dead. He was in the temple too when Order 66 happened, but I had to leave without him. Master Skywalker said he'd look for him before I escaped, but..."

"Hey," Kanan encouraged him. "You and I are still alive. So are the Younglings and Master Skywalker, and maybe even Master Kenobi. If we can all make it, there's a chance he did too."

It wasn't much, but it seemed to work. "Here's to hoping."