Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

From a world of broken things, they shall come,

Hunted they shall be, without home or family;

Necessity will push them together, feelings forbidden by ancient antiquity will bind them,

The child of an Order, doomed by blindness, and the lost child born of a forbidden love,

They will seek the Three Sages of a forgotten people and the rebirth of the Light.

Excerpt from the Prophecy of the False Dawn – source unknown

“Your place isn’t here. Go to Bracca, find your destiny there…”

Jayna jolted awake as the last threads of nightmare released their hold. She sat upright, nearly banging her head on the durasteel bulkhead above her bed. “Sonofa…” she hissed, eyes blinking against the abrupt awakening.

“Meena? You ok?” a sleepy voice asked from above.

Jayna popped her head out of her bunk to reply. “I’m fine, Bryna,” she told her bunkmate. “Just a bad dream.”

“You’re getting a lot of those lately,” the young Zabrak she shared a room with commented. “Weirdo.”

“Hey, bit early for insults isn’t it? Devaronian mutant?” Jayna snapped back, although only half-heartedly.

“Must have been a bad one if that’s the best you can come up with,” Bryna remarked, as Jayna swung her legs out of bed. She could feel her bunkmate’s concern but refused to meet her eyes. “Might as well get up. Briefing’s in an hour. Race you to the showers!”

Jayna forced herself to laugh as her friend’s feet hit the floor, and after they’d grabbed their clothes for the day, the two young women sprinted for the door. Life in the barracks was far from easy, but as Jayna reminded herself, it was better than where she’d come from.

As they skidded into their wing’s communal bathroom, Bryna turned to Meena with a smug smile. “Beat you this time.”

“Only because I’m not 100% on my game right now,” Jayna rolled her eyes.

As they headed towards the plain, gunmetal grey cubicles that housed the showers; Bryna regarded her friend with concerned eyes.

“Want to talk about it?”

“Not really,” Jayna casually replied, but her eyes darted around the communal bathroom anyway.  You never knew if someone might be listening, ready to run tattletale to the higher-ups. “I’ll be ok. Probably just briefing jitters.”

“You’ll be fine. You’ve got nothing to worry about, Meena,” Bryna smiled, lightly punching Jayna on the shoulder as she passed her to the showers.

Jayna sighed, rubbing her arm in mock-pain as Bryna rolled her eyes before she disappeared behind the cubicle door. As Jayna did the same, undressing quickly and stowing her sleepwear so it wouldn’t get wet, she idly wondered if it was healthy that she felt so unconcerned about the fact that her closest friend didn’t even know her real name.

To Bryna and everybody else, she was Meena Cordo, an apprentice security officer from Tatooine. There were times even she began to believe it, but then she would fall asleep. The dreams would come. And she’d be thrown back into the part of her mind where her real self still lived: Jayna Shan.

Everything about her, from her long blonde hair to the cosmetic contacts she wore to change her eye colour; was a lie.

‘And a necessary one,’ she reminded herself, as she stepped under the lukewarm spray. Three years ago, Jayna had been forced to choose between following the path others had set out for her and striking out on her own. She’d chosen the latter, and never looked back despite the dreams which plagued her every night. She’d chosen a life of her own making over slavery and blind obedience to the Empire. It was worth sacrificing her name for that.

After a quick shower, Jayna shut off the water, wringing out her hair. She noticed the tiniest hint of her natural brown at her roots as she glanced at herself in the small vanity mirror. She’d need to dye it again soon. It’d have been easier just to make it a permanent change through some back-alley gene therapy, but she didn’t trust those parasites and it wouldn’t do for an apprentice BracSec officer to be caught paying for services from the criminal classes. Plus, she could never be certain that her past wouldn’t catch up with her one day, especially as more Imperial Forces were garrisoned on the planet, and the ability to change her appearance again without splurging her meagre supply of credits would be a boon.

Towelling herself off, she pushed such unhelpful thoughts aside. It was a big day today; their first briefing. BracSec apprentices, whether on the security or analyst paths, would spend two years training before they’d receive their first assignments. Today was the day Jayna would receive her first assignment.

Bracca wasn’t the most prepossessing planet, but it had been the only system Jayna could make it to with the small amount of credits she’d had, all those years ago. It was such an unimportant backwater, especially once the Clone Wars had ended, that Jayna hoped she could go unnoticed there until she could make it off-world once more. ‘But that wasn’t the only reason you chose Bracca, was it? You had more reason than that…’ whispered a familiar voice in her head. Jayna shook it aside, irritated. The fact was, three years ago she’d received the sign to move on. And that same night, she had dreamed of Bracca and a voice telling her she would find her destiny there. The same dream that had plagued her every night since she arrived on this sorry, rain-washed excuse for a planet.

As she threw back her hair into a tight bun, Jayna sternly eyed her reflection in the mirror. ‘They were dreams,’ she told herself. ‘Just silly dreams.’

She was Meena Cordo, apprentice security officer. Meena Cordo didn’t suffer from strange dreams, or vague suspicions that her life could come crashing down in a nanosecond. Meena Cordo had no business to thinking about any of this on such an important day. Painstakingly, Jayna rebuilt the mask she’d worn every day since arriving on Bracca. By the time she was finished, smoothing down her uniform jacket, she was calm and collected once more.

As she stepped out of the cubicle, she met Bryna’s eyes and was able to smile back at her as she followed the young Zabrak to the refectory for breakfast.

After a mug of caf or two, and a protein muffin, Jayna filed into the Ops briefing room with the rest of the apprentices. There were only ten or so at this stage of training, others having gone off-world or turned to other occupations. BracSec might be a backwater security force, but it still demanded peak physical and intellectual abilities from its members, or the new recruits at least. Eying at least one portly BracSec officer among the mentors, Jayna suspected a few of them skipped out on the yearly physical exams regularly, and the higher-ups found recruitment tricky enough to turn a blind eye.

There was Jezzie, a Lateron; Bryna and Galadon, the two Zabraks; Korra, Leeza, Jask and Pia, whom along with Jayna were all human, and Jyana, a Nautolan. The majority of them were on the Analyst’s path, with the only apprentices on the Security Officer path Jayna, Jask and Leeza. Ever since the end of the Clone Wars, anti-alien sentiment had been rife, and it had infected even Bracca’s government bureaucracy. Jayna suspected it wouldn’t be long before non-human species weren’t permitted to apply for any jobs outside the scrapyards.

Leeza was a reserved if friendly colleague, nodding to Jayna as she took her seat. Jask, however, was one iota of self-respect away from an Imperial fanboy.

“Have you heard the latest news, Leez?” Jayna overheard him telling Leeza, as she took a seat beside Bryna. He puffed out his chest proudly. “The Empire’s garrisoning more troops here. They’ll be taking over security soon. I’ll be the first to sign up.”

“Hmm,” Leeza grunted noncommittally. Jayna had long suspected Jask had a crush on Leeza, but the other girl would never be interested. Apart from Jask being an moronic braggart, Jayna had walked in on the other girl making out with Bryna enough times to know it was never going to happen.

I’m sure the Imperial Army would die for a prime candidate like me,” Jask continued, utterly unaware how idiotic he looked. “Unlike some others with no pride for their own I could mention,” he added nastily, catching Jayna’s eye.

Jayna rolled her eyes, but Bryna called over, “Keep talking, Jask. The bigger your head gets, the bigger the target the next time we’re on the sparring mats.”

The others laughed, as Jask flushed red. Everyone knew it was only anti-alien propaganda that stopped BracSec from offering Bryna a place with the security corps. She was strong, and almost everyone respected her once they faced her on the sparring mats. Except for idiots like Jask.

“Come on, break it up and settle down everyone,” BracSec Commander, Halas Torone, called everyone to order. An older Human woman with iron-streaked black hair and fierce grey eyes; she was a respected figure in Bracca society. No one dared cross her willingly, not even morons like Jask.

She was also Jayna’s assigned mentor.

“Well, today is an important day. Today, we announce your first assignments of the final year of your apprenticeships. Serve with honour and integrity, and you will graduate a full member of BracSec Security Corps-“ Torone’s speech turned into a dull background humming as Jayna considered Jask’s excited boasting.

Underneath all the jingoistic fervour, Jayna wondered if there was a kernel of truth to Jask’s assertions. Imperial presence on the planet had been increasing lately, ever since the starship scrapyard was formally requisitioned for the Empire’s use. If so, her cover story was at risk.

It might be time to consider moving on, even if that meant stowing away on some Core-bound vessel until she could get passage to the Outer Rim.

Jayna’s heart sank at the thought of leaving Bryna behind, but she had no choice. She steeled herself and forced herself to listen as Halas continued with the briefing.

As expected, most of the Analyst apprentices were tasked to intelligence gathering and analysis teams, working in conjunction with the Empire. Jayna didn’t envy them that aspect of the job.

Leeza and Jask were assigned to contraband smuggling investigations at the spaceports. Smuggling and black-market profiteering of contraband taken from the scrapyards was Bracca’s major criminal industry. The wages offered by the scrappers’ Guild, due to their contract with the Empire, were pitiful and many scrappers turned to contraband smuggling from the recycled starships in the scrapyards to make ends’ meet. A working component from a Venator- or an Acclamator-class ship was worth a lot of credits. Despite the penalties, ever stricter since the Imperials began taking greater control, many scrappers took the risk to line their pockets and survive.

“Which leaves Apprentice Cordo. You’ll be assigned to deep cover investigations in the scrapyard,” Halas announced, with a proud smile in Jayna’s direction. Struck, Jayna stared at her as the assembled apprentices and security officers muttered amongst themselves.

For an apprentice to be assigned to deep cover investigations was unheard of. “That is all. Now, to work. Serve well and with honour,” Commander Torone called, clapping her hands together and bringing the briefing to an end. “Apprentice Cordo, a word.”

“Nice going, Meena,” Bryna nudged her, with a wink as Jayna stumbled to her feet. The officers and apprentices filed slowly out of the room, as if hoping to overhear if they walked sluggishly enough.

“Apprentice Cordo,” Torone called over. “Surprised?”

“Just a tad. I’d have appreciated a heads-up,” Jayna remarked.

“Then you’d have denied me the look on your face when I announced it. And everyone else’s,” Torone replied, with a mischievous smirk that irritated Jayna.

“At least I’d have less of a target on my back,” she fired back. “Everyone is going to be saying you’re playing favourites now. It’s going to make my job even harder.”

“Telling you, not telling you, made no difference either way,” Torone replied. “It simply made the surprise on your face genuine so no one can say I’d informed you beforehand. Fair play and all that.”

“For someone who advocates integrity and justice, you can be incredibly manipulative,” Jayna pointed out, eyes narrowed. She braced herself for her mentor’s anger, but the older woman just laughed.

“And you’re far too straightforward for your own good, Meena. Manipulation in a good cause is justified,” she assured her. “I need the best for this job, and you’re undoubtedly the best. Why should I let a little thing like protocol stop me from picking the best people for the job?”

“Flattery gets you nowhere,” Jayna retorted, but let it drop. It was certainly a more interesting assignment than she’d anticipated, certainly better than the endless stakeouts, inspections and paperwork Leeza and Jask were now stuck with. “What’s my assignment?”

Torone’s smirk became a pleased smile, as she turned towards the central console, pressing a few buttons on its display. A hologram of a brown-skinned Abednedo flickered into being.

“Meena, meet Prauf. Species: Abednedo. He’s been working on Bracca for decades, since before the war when the planet’s focus was more on building ships than merely scrapping them,” Torone began to explain. “After the Empire took over, he was downgraded from engineer to scrapper with the rest of them.”

“And he’s a suspect?” Jayna asked, brow furrowed.

“Possibly. He’s been here a long time; he knows the system. He knows how to out-manoeuvre it. It’s possible he’s involved with our smuggling ring,” Torone nodded. “At the very least, he might know who’s organising it even if he’s not involved. I want you to get close to him and see what he knows. If the opportunity to embed yourself into the ring arises, take it.”

A second hologram sputtered into being beside the Abednedo. A young Human male, about the same age as Jayna, with fiery red hair and pale skin. There was a sadness and a seriousness to him that came across even in a hologram, as it pulled at something in Jayna. “His associate, Cal Kestis,” Torone continued. “Humble, good work ethic, bit of a loner. Came to Bracca to escape the war after his family was killed. His one real friend is Prauf. Get in with him, you’ll have Prauf eating out of the palm of your hand.”

“Befriend and infiltrate, if possible. Got it,” Jayna nodded.

“Your physical training scores are impressive, and your technical knowledge is adequate for the job. I’ve arranged for you to start today. You’ll be assigned to Prauf’s section,” Torone stated. “Any questions?”

Jayna shook her head.

“Then, go get changed into something a little less…conspicuous,” Torone said, dismissing her with a pat to the shoulder. “You’ll need to blend in with the scrap rats, so avoid any weaponry. Good luck, Apprentice Cordo.”

“You always told me luck had nothing to do with it. I’m either good enough, or I’m not,” Jayna pointed out, her irritation softening a little. “There’s no middle ground.”

“And are you good enough, Meena?” Torone said, with a piercing glance.

Jayna found herself straightening, her spine turning to steel. “I am,” she said, firmly.

“You have to be,” Torone added, with a strange insistence in her voice, one that made Jayna frown in bemusement. “Your future is fast approaching. You must be ready to meet it.”

Torone’s words reminded Jayna all too readily of her dreams. A chill shivered its way down her spine, as she uneasily wondered if her mentor had any inkling how much those words troubled her. “I won’t let you down,” she replied, refusing to let any uncertainty or unease show in her voice or face.

Torone’s eyes searched hers, before she smiled warmly, reaching out to grasp Jayna’s shoulder once more. “You never have. The path ahead will be difficult, but I have no doubt that everything you need to walk it is already inside you. Good luck, Meena,” she said, so quietly Jayna almost missed it. She left without another word, as Jayna stood there watching her leave, wrestling with a growing sensation in the pit of her stomach.

She couldn’t be sure if it was dread or anticipation.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

It was relatively simple to slip into the crowd of scrappers that piled out of the trains that brought them from the residential districts some miles distant.

Once Jayna had slipped back to her quarters, changed into a nondescript pair of trousers, black jacket and boots, she had approached the main doors of the BracSec Security Corps building with no small amount of trepidation. Apprentices weren’t permitted to leave the building during their initial training, and they were only permitted timed holocalls with their loved ones a few times a week. It would be the first time she’d been out of the building in two years, and she was dismayed to realise just how apprehensive the thought made her. She’d made the mistake of growing dependent on the sense of security those dull metal bulkheads had given her during her training, when she knew better than anyone how illusory it all was.

On the way out, she had grabbed a pair of safety goggles and work gloves from the stores. Despite Torone’s injunction, she’d also signed out a small vibroblade that she’d attached to a holster on her arm, covered by her sleeve, and a telescopic quarterstaff that collapsed down and she’d placed in a weathered rucksack. The weight of her weapons against her arm and back were comforting as she seamlessly blended in with the multitudes that streamed from the trains.

It was raining, the icy water drenching Jayna’s hair as she hurried towards the Scrappers’ Guild office near the entrance to the scrapyard.  Overhead, TIE fighters roared as they flew their patrols, that odd growling scream that made Jayna’s ears itch. There were Stormtroopers patrolling the main thoroughfare, accompanied by the odd BracSec officer in their grey and black uniforms, truncheons and blasters strapped to their legs. Watching them, Jayna relaxed her rigid posture, adopting the weary slouch of the scrappers as they marched towards another day on the scrap heaps.

Up ahead, she thought she glimpsed a head of fiery red hair, and her heart beat faster at the sight of her quarry. Inwardly, she rehearsed the cover story she had come up with while she was changing: Meena Cordo, dropout from the BracSec Apprenticeship programme and just looking to earn enough credits to get off-world. Not too far from the truth; if the Imperials were indeed looking to establish a greater foothold on Bracca, then she’d be dropping out sooner rather than later. Working deep cover in the scrapyards could only be an advantage. She would be absent from BracSec HQ so less chance of running into any Imperial officers that might be suspicious enough to check her face against their enlistment records. The Stormtroopers wouldn’t care about just one more Bracca scrap rat.

Shivering slightly in the cold, Jayna turned her collar up against the rain, pushing her drenched hair out of her face. As she stepped inside the Scrappers’ Guild office, it was hardly any better. Whoever controlled the heating was either a miser or impervious to the cold. The interior matched the gloomy, cold greyness of the rain outside; the walls covered by Imperial propaganda posters and recruitment posters, the latter peeling and dilapidated.

“State your business!” an electronic voice barked across the room at Jayna, making her startle slightly from her observations. It was an administration droid that had clearly seen better days, its plating tarnished and dull.

“Hi, I’m meant to start work today. My name is-“ Jayna started, but the droid cut across her curtly.

“We were informed of your arrival and your employment here. Your clearance has been approved,” the droid informed her. If Jayna hadn’t known better, she’d have said the droid sounded almost bitter. “You will be assigned to the South Quarter under Foreman RC-11. He has been informed of your arrival. You have been issued a scrapper’s poncho for protection against the elements which must be returned at the end of your employment, or you will face penalties. Sign here!” it barked, brandishing a tablet. Jayna signed her alias and grasped the bundle of dark blue and burnt orange fabric tightly.

“Thank you,” she said. “Anything else? Don’t I need to clock in and out at the end of my shift?” she added, a mite sarcastically. It wasn’t likely, but the droid’s photoreceptors looked distinctly unimpressed.

“A barge is waiting to take you to your workstation. Goodbye.”

“Clearly someone forgot to update your courtesy protocols after your last mind-wipe,” Jayna muttered under her breath, as she turned on her heel and left the offices.

Cal found the pounding beat of his music soothing as he crouched over one of the auxiliary power couplings, chipping away at it with his weld-cutter. It helped block everything else out as he worked, refusing to let his mind wander.

Once upon a time, someone would have praised him for his focus. Nowadays, he just flinched away from even thinking about it. Pausing for a moment, he rolled his shoulders, chasing the ache away. He’d slept badly last night, not that he ever slept well. Not since…not for a long time, anyway. But last night had been worse than usual and he couldn’t even pin down exactly why.

His dreams had been devoid of the usual traumatic memories he’d tried so hard to repress; instead he had awoken, drenched in sweat, and prey to a noisome feeling of dread and anticipation as half-recalled words had whispered in his ears and pulled at his mind. Something was going to happen today; he was sure of it but what it was he didn’t know. He couldn’t know.

He’d had four rules for surviving since arriving on Bracca five years ago: don’t stand out, accept the past, and trust no one. And the last, the most important rule of all: don’t reach within. He could work out what his dreams were trying to tell him, possibly. But he couldn’t take that risk. He wouldn’t.

A hand abruptly came down on Cal’s shoulder, making him jump, his heart racing, the instinct to reach out overwhelming…but no. It was just Prauf. Cal pulled his headphones down around his neck and slipped his protective mask off as he glanced up at his friend questioningly.

“Hey, Cal. Come and meet the new girl,” the Abednedo said jovially, apparently unaware he’d almost given Cal a heart attack. He glanced around his friend and saw a slender young woman hopping off one of the trash barges that regularly made the rounds in their quarter of the scrapyard.

As Cal set down his tools and followed Prauf as he walked to meet the new arrival, his eyes scanned her curiously. She was slender and below-average height, shorter than even him and Cal wasn’t exactly a giant himself. Her blonde hair was plastered to her face and neck from Bracca’s incessant rainfall. Her figure was obscured by the scrappers’ poncho she wore, but she looked fit and strong as she walked confidently towards them. As she drew closer, he could see her eyes were a warm shade of hazel and serious, if lacking the weariness that most of the scrappers tended to have. She was pretty, he noted absentmindedly, if not likely to be considered breathtakingly beautiful. Something of the awkwardness of adolescence still clung to her face and body, as if she wasn’t quite finished yet but Cal guessed she had to be a similar age to himself.

“Hey, you’re the new girl! Meena right?” Prauf called over, holding out his hand in a friendly way. Cal said nothing as the girl came to a stop in front of them, a small smile on her face.

“That’s me. You must be Prauf; the Foreman said I’d be working with you today,” she said, before her eyes slid sideways to Cal. “And who’s this?” she asked, curiously yet something whispered in Cal’s mind that it was a deliberate act.

“This is my buddy Cal,” Prauf slapped his back jovially. “If you want someone to show you the ropes, he knows these old buckets of bolts inside out and back to front.”

“You’re exaggerating,” Cal rolled his eyes, rubbing his shoulder from the force of Prauf’s friendly blow. “This old fossil’s been here longer than the Maw.”

“Meena,” she gestured to herself, holding out a gloved hand. At that moment, the Foreman called Prauf over and they were left alone as Cal shook her hand. Her grip was strong. “Can I help you with that?”

Cal glanced over his shoulder at where he’d been working. “Oh yeah…sure,” he said, a little uncertainly. Something about the girl disturbed him, something that was so familiar and yet also unfamiliar, that he didn’t know if she attracted or repelled him. ‘Trust no one,’ a voice whispered in his mind as he turned away and gestured for her to follow. “If you could cut these auxiliary power lines, we can strip down the couplings and repurpose them.”

He handed her a spare cutter, and they got to work in silence. After a moment, Cal felt himself relax, forgetting to put his music back in.

“So, someone mentioned there was a sarlacc in the scrapyard,” Meena said, conversationally.

“It’s not a sarlacc,” Cal stated firmly. “It’s similar but it has a lot more mouths. I’ll show you later if you like,” he added, surprising himself.

“Sounds great,” Meena said, eyes squinting against the glare of her cutter. “How long have you worked here?”

“Five years,” he replied.

Meena whistled. “You started young,” she remarked, yet it felt off to Cal for such an innocuous comment. He felt like he was being interrogated.

“You could say that,” he acceded vaguely. “How about you? How long have you been on Bracca?”

“About three years. I came from Tatooine originally,” Meena replied easily enough, yet something in Cal whispered: liar.

“What are you doing on the scrapyards anyway?” he asked, a little curtly as she paused and eyed him narrowly.

“Don’t tell me, you’re one of those guys who’s going to tell me a scrapyard’s no place for a pretty face like me,” she snorted caustically.

Ruffled, Cal retorted, “You’re not that pretty,” as he fumbled with his earphones and shoved them back in his ears. A second later, he ruefully admitted to himself she’d pretty successfully diverted him and evaded the question. He didn’t know what she was doing on the scrapyard, but he’d bet his last credit she had no interest in being a scrapper.

Jayna refused to let frustration niggle as Cal put his music in and proceeded to ignore her as they both went about their work. It was early days and it was obvious Cal was more guarded than most, even in these untrustworthy times. It’d take time to earn his trust.

They worked in silence for a while; the task Cal had given her was simple and she didn’t need any help for that. Her fingers were already starting to ache however, and she could feel the beginnings of at least one callus on her hands, even through protective gloves.

Shrugging the discomfort off, she mentally began planning her strategy to get Cal to open up. She sensed that being as straightforward as possible was probably the best way forward, and once Prauf saw his friend trusted her, it’d be more likely he would trust her too. It would make it easier to work if and how he was involved in the smuggling ring. She glanced down at her workmate, and suspected it’d be a long play from Cal’s hunched shoulders and rigid features.

Suddenly, she felt a looming presence behind her. She turned to find Prauf standing over them, the towering Abednedo tapping Cal on the shoulder.

Cal pulled his earphones out once more as Prauf explained, “Listen, I don’t want to upset your rhythm guys, but the boss wants a word.”

Despite herself, Jayna glanced at Cal’s face as he pulled his protective mask away. “Could be good for us,” Prauf added.

“Don’t look so worried, Meena,” Cal said, catching Jayna’s glances at his face. “It’s probably not anything to be worried about.”

“Probably?” Jayna repeated, sarcastically. “That’s reassuring.”

Cal smirked and followed Prauf, leaving Jayna to bring up the rear. “Here they are, chief,” Prauf said to the Foreman droid.

The battered-looking model turned and peered at them through its ancient photoreceptors. It barely lingered on Cal before looking her up and down critically. “An error has been detected on line 10A. Hauler clamps are jammed. I need two workers to climb up and secure the cables. I need strong ones for this task.”

“I’m strong,” Jayna snapped, irritated that she’d just been dismissed by a droid. Working on the scrapyard was dangerous, everyone on Bracca knew that but she was stronger and better trained than all of them put together. “I can handle anything you throw at me.”

“That’s not an easy manoeuvre,” Cal pointed out, with a concerned look on his face. “It’s your first day, you should take it easy.”

“It’ll be fine. I’ll come with you and keep an eye on the newbie,” Prauf interjected.

“The Guild will double your pay for this shift,” the Foreman continued.

“Well, I’m in and Meena’s in. Come on, Cal. Little extra score, that couldn’t hurt huh?” Prauf pointed out, with a hopeful smile. “It’ll be a good opportunity to show her around a bit too.”

With a sigh, the younger scrapper relented and nodded.

“Alright, let’s go,” Prauf said, as the Foreman droid gestured with what amounted for impatience with its kind.

“Get to work!”

“Yikes. Are all the Guild droids this friendly or is it just Rusty here and the admin droid in the offices that have such sparkling personalities?” Jayna said jokingly, as she turned away to follow Prauf.

Cal chuckled, and looked surprised that she’d managed to make him laugh. “Chief’s a special case,” he commented dryly. Up ahead, Prauf had already pulled himself up onto a section of scaffolding and was waiting for them. “Sure you can keep up?”

“Can you?” Jayna asked challengingly, as she took a running jump and pulled herself up onto the ledge with minimal effort. “Are you coming or not?” she called over her shoulder as Prauf whistled.

Cal heard her taunting voice and suddenly had to swallow hard. The girl was cocksure and infuriating, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her as she’d swung herself up onto that ledge. Prauf cleared his throat and, realising he was standing there like a brainless gonk droid, he joined them on the ledge as Meena led the way up the ramps.

“She’s a scrappy one, eh Cal?” Prauf nudged him jokingly as he passed, one of his narrow eyes winking suggestively at Cal. The younger man reddened and hurried past without saying anything as the Abednedo chuckled to himself. He liked her.

Prauf overtook Meena as he led them up onto the outer hull of the husk they were scrapping, a Venator-Class Star Destroyer. It was still raining heavily as overhead, freighters brought new ships in to be scrapped and the trawlers dragged away the recycled sections on long cables to be either melted down or fed to one of the many mouths of Maw that the scrapyard was built around.

They paused at a bulkhead, Cal pulling himself up atop it without thought before he paused and bent back and around to offer his hand to Meena. It was a high ledge, and she was shorter than him. Despite the cool expression of her face, she took the help and Cal pulled her up.

They now stood on the main hull of the Star Destroyer, as a squadron of TIEs screamed overhead, and an odd shape was descending through the clouds. It was a former Trade Federation vessel, that corporation having long been nationalised and its leaders eliminated by the Empire at the end of the Clone Wars. Cal found himself staring up at it thoughtfully as it descended, only half-listening to Prauf’s excited chattering.

“Will you look at that!? A Separatist ship, I haven’t seen a Lucrehulk in ages!” he said enthusiastically.

“Yeah…ages…” Cal murmured vaguely, as he felt Meena stop by his side to stare up at the ship as well.

“Breaking her will be big money,” Prauf continued.

“I’ve never seen one before,” Meena admitted quietly. Cal glanced at her, but she wasn’t looking at him. She was looking at the ship, before her eyes fell to scan the shipbreaking yard before them. “I see what you meant about the Maw. It’s huge.”

“It’s handy for disposing of all the waste metal we can’t reuse,” Cal explained. “It eats pretty much anything,” he added, with a pointed look in her direction. “So, try not to fall off anything, ok?”

“Duly noted,” she said dryly.

 “Alright, let’s go,” Prauf called, interrupting what had been dangerously close to a civil conversation. Cal reminded himself of that odd suspicious instinct that had began whispering in his ear the moment he saw her, refusing to let his guard down.

Cal turned away, feeling Meena follow him. Ahead, the way was blocked by several partitions as Prauf lifted himself over them, but Cal saw a narrow gap to squeeze through. Meena followed, and they emerged just in time to see several canisters come loose from their moorings, roll down the ramp Prauf had just pulled himself up onto and knock the ladder loose.

“Look out!” one of the scrappers working on the other side called urgently.

Prauf hopped across just in time, as Cal called up “Hey, you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m good. Ladder’s out, though,” Prauf shouted back. “You two are gonna have to find another way.”

Cal paused, eyes roving over the hull before he glanced over the edge and saw the waiting trash barge below. He glanced back at Prauf and shouted, “No problem. We’ll improvise. You ready?” he asked, turning to Meena. Her eyes widened as she looked to where he was pointing, but just as he thought she might balk, her chin rose, and she looked back at him defiantly. 

“When you are,” she said.

“See you there, pal,” Prauf called down. “Watch your step, Meena.”

As the Abednedo thundered away, Cal felt Meena glance at him again. He held out his hand. “Ready?” he asked, gentler this time. She eyed his hand, and he wondered if she would refuse to take his help a second time. To his slight surprise, she didn’t as she grasped his gloved hand tightly.

Together, they jumped off the edge of hull and straight onto the trash barge hovering below.

“Debark this barge immediately,” the pilot droid barked as they landed. “You are not approved trash.”

“I’m trash, just not approved trash,” Cal quipped, as he pulled Meena towards the open hatchway into the hull of the ship.

Jayna followed Cal through the vivisected bowels of the Star Destroyer, trying not to think about the long drops or slippery wet metal of the bulkhead beneath her boots as she followed him. Her heart was racing, but oddly she was enjoying herself as they made their way through the hulk in silence, Cal only speaking to give her a direction or warn her about an obstacle up ahead.

The route he took taxed every iota of her physical strength and agility, as she clung to gratings, hopped across hovering platforms and slid down drenched metal ramps. The hull groaned and sparked underneath their fingertips, and Jayna nearly lost either her footing or her grip half a dozen times.

She cursed under her breath as she nearly lost it again, hauling herself up by her fingernails as the ledge she’d been clinging to collapsed underneath her. Cal glanced back at her in concern, as she caught her breath.

They were on a platform isolated from everybody else, and for the life of her Jayna couldn’t see where their route would take them next. There was a narrow gap between two bulkheads but…wait…

“You can’t be serious?!” she exclaimed, looking at Cal and realising he very much was.

“Come on, Meena. Don’t quit on me now,” he quipped, with a small smile. “Don’t tell me you’re scared of confined spaces?”

“Not really,” Jayna shrugged, as her breathing settled and her shoulders, arms and hands stopped screaming in pain at her every time she moved. “Fine, but if we get stuck you owe me a beer.”

That surprised another laugh out of Cal. “Fine, and when we don’t get stuck, the first round is on you,” he retorted. “Come on, just follow my lead.”

With no small number of misgivings, Jayna followed Cal into the passageway. It was a tight fit, even for them, and Jayna tried not to let the panic well up in the pit of her stomach. This was no worse than running and jumping around the hull, after all.

When she heard squeaking, she nearly screamed, however.

“Sounds like scrap rats. Creepy,” Cal remarked casually.

“Rats?!” she hissed. “Thanks for the heads up.”

“They’re harmless. Leave them alone and they’ll leave you alone,” Cal whispered back. “Just passin’ through guys. No need to come out and say hi this time,” he continued in a louder voice, his voice echoing along the passageway. Jayna felt his hand reach back for hers, tightening comfortingly. “Just keep going,” he said to her.

Jayna swallowed hard but did as he said.

They came to an intersection where they needed to pull themselves up. Cal managed it effortlessly, born of years of practice scrambling around the scrapyard, but Jayna’s poncho snagged on a jagged edge and she almost tripped. Cal caught her up, pulling her up the side and onto the higher level but as he did so, he overbalanced, and they fell together out of the narrow passage and onto the platform on the other side.

Winded, Cal lay there with Jayna sprawled atop him. He was abruptly, painfully aware of her warm weight atop him, the heat of her skin burning through the wet layers of her clothing. Her hazel eyes stared down at him, seemingly as shocked by their predicament as he was, her lips parted invitingly. Damningly, Cal felt a surge of heat through his body as she shifted atop him and he swore he could feel her heartbeat thundering alongside his own. “Sorry,” she whispered, scurrying off him as quickly as she could.

Cal tried not to feel disappointed as she did, his body missing the warm weight of her immediately, but he sternly shut all thought of it down. That was a road he couldn’t travel.

“No worries,” he said gruffly. “Come on, Prauf will be waiting for us. We’re nearly there.”

Wordlessly, Jayna followed him on into the shadowy interior of the Star Destroyer. As they pulled themselves along yet another ledge, they looked up to see the Abednedo waving down at them.

“Hey Cal, Meena. I’ll meet you at the clamps,” he called down.

“Not far now,” Cal called back to Jayna, the strain starting to show even in his voice. Jayna’s shoulders and forearms burned with the pain of holding her own body weight above the chasm that stretched below them. She knew that if she fell, she wouldn’t be walking away from it. She uneasily wondered just how many new scrappers lost their lives a similar way.

“Sounds good, be there soon!” Cal called up, jolting Jayna from her little reverie. She mentally shook herself, forcing the fear away along with the morbid thoughts, and forced herself to concentrate on mimicking Cal’s movements as he traversed the ledge. At least it distracted her from what had happened a few moments ago.

When they were once again on stable, flat ground, they paused, and Cal offered Jayna some water from a bottle on his belt. “Take a drink, we can rest for a second,” he said, proffering the bottle.

Jayna took it, glad for the reprieve. Despite how he’d irritated her, she had to admire his strength. He barely looked tired as she took a swig of water. But then, she knew he was strong. She’d felt how strong when she had fallen on top of him, back on that platform.

Refusing to consider the matter further, Jayna banished her thoughts along with the water bottle as she handed it back to Cal. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” he shrugged. “You’re strong, you’re doing well. Not far to go now.” As he said it, they heard a clap of thunder and the screech of tortured metal as a ship was cut in two in the distance. Jayna was distracted for a moment, watching as the outline of the ship was abruptly severed, the defunct section peeled away to reveal a gaping wound in its wake. There was something oddly sad about the sight. Perhaps sensing his companion’s mood taking a dour turn, Cal gently pulled her onwards. “Come on, let’s get going. We need to get the clamps secured before that ship cutter comes over here.”

Wordlessly, Jayna followed Cal as he turned towards a rope that trailed from an open hatch in the deck above them. He jumped up, pulling himself up as Jayna followed, her muscles burning, and along a narrow girder as the wind plucked and picked at their clothes.

At last they reached a stable ramp and Jayna paused to catch her breath. Ahead of them, two large yellow clamps were attached to the side of the hull. As she glimpsed Prauf above them, she wondered how they were meant to secure them when there was no way to get to them, either from below or above.

Cal answered that for her, as he took a running leap and caught hold of the edge of the nearest clamp. He glanced back at her and shouted, “You do this one, I’ll take the next one.”

Realising she had no choice as she’d volunteered for this insanity, Jayna dug deep for her last shred of strength, refused to think about the bone-crushing drop below, ran and leapt.

The metal of the clamp was wet and cold underneath her fingers, and she almost lost her grip. She cursed but managed to haul herself into a better position as Cal leapt to the further one. “Meena, use the manual override lever below!” Prauf shouted down, and Jayna found it next to her elbow. Taking her weight on one arm, for one terrifying moment she dangled in mid-air supported only by her exhausted muscles, then she grabbed hold of the lever and pulled.

Above them, Prauf grunted as he secured the clamps up top. Once both had been secured, Jayna threw herself to the second one as Cal pulled himself up some grating to reach the hull where Prauf stood. She managed the same, then let the shakiness of her limbs take over as she collapsed to her knees.

“Hey kid, you did good,” Prauf told her kindly. “Take a rest before we climb back down.”

Jayna just nodded, as she watched the Abednedo move away, his eyes drawn by the dirty shape of a crashed fighter a few yards away. Cal didn’t look at her at all, as Prauf called over, “Come take a look at this, you two!”

Despite the aching of her muscles, Jayna pulled herself upright and wandered over, curious despite herself.

“It’s a Jedi fighter!” Prauf continued, exclaiming excitedly. “What a score! It’s a real scrapper’s payday! I mean this heap’s been here, what, four years?”

“Five,” Cal corrected quietly, and something about his voice drew Jayna’s eye as he stepped towards one of the wings. He reached out and wiped the dirt and scum away, revealing the winged symbol of the Jedi Order. There was something almost reverent and sad in Cal’s face, as Jayna watched him while Prauf prattled on. Watching Cal, Jayna sensed again the sadness and anguish he carried inside him and wondered what his story was. She’d bet her last credit there was more to his story than a Bracca scrap rat.

All of a sudden, she felt like she was somehow intruding on something sacred, like watching someone mourn and she turned away abruptly, staring out at the horizon. Not far away, she glimpsed an Imperial probe droid and couldn’t suppress her shiver. When she looked back, Cal had turned away, but her eyes fell on the symbol he’d uncovered.

The Jedi had been almost legendary when she’d been growing up on Brentaal. Like heroes of myth, until the Empire came. And then they were traitors and to speak well of them was to invite a beating, if not worse. Jayna had never had any great love for the Jedi, but standing staring at that symbol, buried beneath caked-on dirt and plasma burns, in the cold and wet of a Bracca scrapyard it held her eye and her heart. It seemed pregnant with meaning that was just beyond Jayna’s grasp, no matter how she strained for it, and still so dignified despite how low it had fallen.

Behind her, Prauf had moved on from waxing poetic about the Jedi to muttering treason against the Empire. “Here we are scrapping these ships from the war just so they can turn around and make new ones. What a racket, huh? All of us risking our necks for the bosses. And the pay was better back during the Republic too.”

“Hey, you should really watch what you say,” Cal hissed, moving towards his friend. Pulled from her thoughts, Jayna’s ears pricked up and she found herself listening hard even as her eyes stayed riveted to the symbol in front of her. From the sound of it, Torone’s instincts hadn’t been far off the mark. Abruptly reminded of her the reason she was there, she forced herself to look away.

Prauf was definitely a less than happy worker.

But she was surprised when Prauf instead made the point of Cal using the finder’s fee to get off Bracca. To her surprise, he even included her. “You could both get off this soggy rock,” he gestured to both. Feeling unexpectedly ashamed, Jayna looked away and glimpsed Cal’s long-suffering expression as he looked at his friend. “Eventually you gotta move on and live your life. Find your destiny,” Prauf continued, undeterred.

There was a sudden whirr and rumble, and the three turned to see one of the ship cutters retract its laser beam and fly off. The hull creaked alarmingly beneath their feet.

“Whatever you say. Hey, we should get back down,” Cal said dismissively, turning to look at Jayna.

“Hey, you’re not listening to me though,” Prauf protested, reaching for Cal’s arm insistently. Jayna had the feeling this was an argument they’d had many times before. “What was that?” Prauf asked, and the hull suddenly listed underneath their feet and the sound of snapping as they spun to see one of the cables located further down the hull, towards the nose of the Star Destroyer, snap.

The hull rapidly dived, as Jayna was vaguely aware of Prauf and Cal shouting warnings as the forward section began to fall, and them with it as they lost their footing and started sliding down the hull.

Her heart pounding, Jayna tried her hardest to control her descent but the soaked metal was as slippery as ice beneath her as she slid, veering wildly. Ahead of her, Prauf and Cal were drawing close to the edge, as the hull groaned and screamed beneath them. And below them, she saw a scene from a nightmare.

The Maw she’d glimpsed from earlier awaited them, hungry mouth agape, a dank, black hole ringed by razor-sharp teeth. Shards of durasteel fell into its greedy mouth, and Jayna had an awful feeling they’d be next.

Frantically, she looked around for a cable or ledge, anything to grab hold of as she saw Prauf and Cal go over, a pang in her heart that she ignored as she tried desperately to save her own skin. Her fingers scrabbled over the drenched durasteel, her feet flailing, but she could find no purchase. She flew over the lip of the cut and seized her chance.

Dozens of trailing wires and cables dangled from the bulkhead. As she caught and grabbed hold of one, stopping her sudden descent, she saw that both Prauf and Cal had managed to stop their fall too, albeit a little less securely. Cal dangled precariously over the edge, his leg tangled in the cables, while Prauf clung to a jagged ledge.

Jayna sucked in a breath, relief surging within her, but it was short-lived. The hull listed again, tipping them towards the Maw as Cal and Jayna swung on their cables, and Prauf slipped.

“Prauf! Meena! You ok?!” Cal yelled.

“Cal! I can’t climb up!” Prauf shouted, fear in his voice as he fought to haul himself up. Foreboding seized Jayna’s heart as she looked frantically for some way to help the Abednedo, but she was too far away. As her head whipped around, she saw the bulbous black shape of an Imperial probe droid as it hovered close.

A shout pulled her attention away, and she turned to see Prauf slip further, losing his grip entirely and now he was clinging to the end of a power coupling. Cal desperately shouted for his friend to hold on, but it was no use.

Prauf fell. And the Maw opened wide below.

“Prauf! No!” Cal yelled, as Jayna nearly screamed, terror and helplessness tearing at her as she watched Prauf fall.

Then she felt it. She felt a ripple, then a wave of power as it surged over her skin. She looked up to see Cal with his arm outstretched, face tight with concentration and urgency. She looked back down to see Prauf’s fall slow, his limbs moving as if he was in deep water while beneath him, a trash barge hovered.

Then, as if Time was let off its leash, Prauf suddenly fell onto the barge, a metal girder falling on top of him. Jayna heard a cry, as Cal fell too, then her own cable gave way and she was plummeting towards the Maw. She couldn’t have screamed even if she wanted to, as the rush of air forced it back into her lungs. Without thinking, Jayna reached out.

And pulled the barge towards her, as if a thread was connected to her palm, infinitesimally thin but unbreakable. She slammed into it; the air driven from her lungs.

“The pilot’s gone!” she heard Cal shout. “I’ll get us out of here. Just hang on!”

Jayna felt the barge dip and sway, as she looked up to see they weren’t safe yet. Massive tentacles loomed above them; their undersides lined with wicked-looking barbs. One clipped the barge, knocking out one of the engines as it listed dangerously to the side.

“This thing is barely flying,” Cal said, urgently. “Hold on!”

The barge began to spin out of control, but Cal managed to guide it towards a clear patch of ground as it crashed with a rain of sparks and flame as the other engine gave out. When it finally came to a shuddering halt, Jayna lay there in the rain, feeling its icy pinpricks on her face, her heart pounding, her lungs burning for air.

“Meena, help me!” Cal called over, as Jayna forced herself to her feet and rushed over to shift the girder off Prauf’s chest. They pushed it away and helped Prauf to his feet, limping away as fast as they could.

Her mind raced. She couldn’t deny it, didn’t want to deny it. What she had just seen Cal do…there was only one explanation even though she had only ever heard stories.

Cal had used the Force.

Everyone knew the stories of the Purge. Everyone knew the Empire were still hunting the few that hadn’t been killed after the Clone Wars ended, and the bounties on their heads.

Apparently Prauf had the same thoughts. “What was that back there? Was it…was that you?” the Abednedo asked, ignoring Cal’s desperate attempts to quieten him. “Wha-t-that was the Force, wasn’t it? No, but I-I’ve seen them. I’ve seen the stories, I’ve heard of it, there’s bounties out on people like you!”

“PRAUF! I know,” Cal shouted, finally quietening him as he pulled him to a stop. He put a finger to his lips, wordlessly asking for Prauf’s silence.

“Yeah, alright. We need to be careful, all of us,” the Abednedo assured him, glancing at Jayna on his other side.

“It might be too late for that,” Jayna breathed, shock and terror making her voice quake. “I saw an Imperial probe droid hovering about when you…when we fell.”

And if the probe droid captured Cal’s use of the Force and transmitted the footage back to the Empire then, so the stories went, the Inquisitors would come.

Jayna felt Cal’s eyes on her as they walked through the scrapyard, but she refused to meet his eyes. Refused to contemplate what she suspected he was thinking.

Except for Cal, what had just happened was just a figment of her imagination, the by-product of too much adrenaline and terror. Because she couldn’t have, not for a brief, shining instant…used the Force too.

No, it was just the adrenaline talking.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

The juddering of the train was soothing to Jayna as she sat beside Prauf and Cal. Its rhythmic jolting helped to ease the fear that had sank its claws in deep, ever since they had crashed to the ground and the world had stopped spinning around them.

They’d hightailed it back to the Guild Offices where Cal and Prauf had reported the incident, leaving out the part where Cal had used the Force. The whole way back, Jayna had endured Cal’s furtive glances but refused to meet his gaze. She knew what he was thinking.

And he was wrong. Jayna was determined to convince herself of that.

“Hey, Meena?” Prauf said gently, from Cal’s other side. They’d been sat on the train for several minutes now, on the way back to the residential areas of the city. Jayna had found herself sat next to Cal, but she had refused to give him the eye contact he wanted, speaking only in monosyllabic bursts. Her mind was reeling still, far too much to string a sentence together. Nevertheless, she was forced to look up and turn to face Prauf and Cal, firmly keeping her eyes on Prauf’s kindly face, and away from the burning eyes of Cal. “You got a place to stay?”

She’d forgotten about her assignment. It had totally left her mind after…what had happened. “I’ve been staying above a cantina,” she said, thinking fast. “Not sure for how much longer though.”

For a split second, she felt bad for the way she was manipulating the Abednedo’s kindness. It was obvious even from the short time she’d spent with him, he was a jovial, warm creature. Even if he was smuggling contraband, he didn’t deserve the punishment he’d get if BracSec ever caught him, let alone if the Imperials got involved.

But then, that instinct she’d always had, the need to survive, overwhelmed any compassion she might have felt. She couldn’t afford it, not now.

“You could stay with me, if you want?” Prauf offered. “I got some room on my couch.”

“That’s really kind, thanks Prauf-” Jayna started to say, working her way towards a reluctant acceptance of his offer, when Cal butted in.

“You can come stay at mine,” he said, eyes intent on Jayna’s. She made the mistake of meeting his eyes, those dark green eyes, and felt her heart judder. She glimpsed Prauf’s gentle smile turn into a smirk and wanted to roll her eyes at his supposition. Cal didn’t want her close for that, he wanted her close so he could interrogate her about his…delusions.

For a moment, Jayna pondered whether she should turn him in to the Empire. He was a wanted fugitive, when all was said and done. He’d allowed his compassion to override his self-preservation; he’d made his bed, now he’d have to lie in it. There would likely be a bounty; enough to get Jayna off Bracca and help her disappear in the Outer Rim.

But as she stared into his eyes, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Even thinking it made her instantly ashamed, and she couldn’t even visualise it in her head. She couldn’t turn him in, but she wouldn’t let him drag her down with him.

“Prauf offered first,” she said firmly. “Thanks, Cal but-”

“It’s no problem, Meena,” Prauf interjected, firmly. He, no doubt, thought he was helping young love along. Jayna wanted to throttle them both.

“Meena, you need to come with me,” Cal added, in a quiet aside that she guessed Prauf couldn’t hear. “It’s not safe for you now.”

“I can look after myself, Cal,” Jayna stated forcefully. “I’m not the one you should be worried about. The probe droid didn’t see me…it didn’t see anything except you,” she amended, reminding herself of her resolve.

Cal looked ready to argue, but Prauf cut back in, perhaps sensing the possibility of an argument. Jayna took the chance to look away, folding her arms and angling her body away from them, quite clearly signalling with her body that their conversation was at an end. She heard Cal’s annoyed huff and couldn’t quite hide a smile. She found him equal parts infuriating and amusing.

Cal couldn’t quite stifle an irritated sigh as Meena turned away from him, her body language clearly telling him the conversation was over. For now.

Cal knew what he saw. What was more, he knew what he felt.

Meena had used the Force. She was a Force Sensitive, he was sure of it. He was fairly certain she was untrained, and obviously scared, but she couldn’t afford to hide in ignorance, not now.

In his head, there was a voice telling him just to let her go, that he had to look out for himself and he couldn’t afford to worry about anyone else, especially not an untrained, unstable Force Sensitive in denial. It was the voice of self-preservation, and it had kept him alive and hidden all these years since the Purge. But another voice spoke up, stronger and more forceful as it drowned out his survival instincts. He couldn’t leave her, wilfully ignorant or not. She was his responsibility now; she might be right when she’d claimed the probe droid hadn’t seen her, but now she had drawn on the power within, she’d be as obvious as a lit beacon to any Force adept in the vicinity. Including the Inquisitors.

Cal had little doubt they’d soon be arriving on Bracca. It was only a matter of time.

“Hey, you holdin’ up okay?” Prauf asked, pulling him from his thoughts.

“Good, yeah. You?” Cal asked, wondering if the Abednedo had been injured by his fall.

“Yeah, heh,” Prauf chuckled, nodding towards Meena. “She’s quite something, eh Cal?”

“She’s something alright,” Cal replied grimly, glancing at her unfriendly profile. ‘A pain in my ass, mostly.’

“Cal…” Prauf started again, his voice hesitant where it had been joking and friendly before. “I been workin’ with you some time now,” he continued, drawing Cal’s attention away from Meena. “I’ve never seen you do anything like that before. Heh, we’ve been through some hell together.”

He’d been just a kid when he had met Prauf. Life in the shipbreaking yards had never been easy, even before the Empire started taking over. Glancing around to see if anyone was listening in, Cal noted that not even Meena seemed to be taking much notice. Looking back to Prauf, he nodded.

“So…” the Abednedo trailed off, as if searching for the words. “I know the risk that you took for me. I just don’t know how to repay you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Cal said, quietly but forcefully. He’d already guessed Prauf hadn’t noticed Meena’s little display, trapped as he had been under that girder at the time, and it was for the best. Prauf would be in enough danger as it was. “I mean it.”

“O-oh, you don’t have to worry about me. But this place…it’s not safe,” Prauf assured him, gently. “Maybe you should, you know, disappear?” he suggested then, just as gently.

Something, a voice in his head that sounded like a young boy’s shouted ‘NO!’ but he pushed it aside. He couldn’t afford to let emotion cloud his judgement, not now. It would be safer for everyone if he disappeared.

“Just gotta head back to my place, grab my bag. Tabbers owes me a favour,” Cal told him quietly. Feeling Meena’s weight gently press against his side, he mentally nodded to himself. He wouldn’t be going alone.

“I heard he was up on Nar Shaddaa?” Prauf remarked, with a nod.

“Yeah,” Cal nodded. “You won’t be seein’ me for a while, Prauf.” ‘Or ever. Either of us,’ the pragmatic voice in his head said. His heart sank, but Cal forced himself to face it. His life on Bracca was over.

And so was Meena’s.

“Yeah. Yeah, okay. Okay, Cal,” Prauf sighed, with a sad look in his eyes. Cal suddenly wanted to say something, anything, to thank the Abednedo for his warmth and companionship over the years. He was the only thing he’d leave behind on Bracca that he would miss. The Galaxy was a big place and Cal didn’t kid himself that he’d ever see the Abednedo again.

Suddenly feeling exhausted as the events of the day caught up with him, Cal sat back and let his eyes close. He needed all the rest he could get; he’d be on the run soon enough.

Jayna felt relief wash over her after overhearing Cal and Prauf’s conversation. It was the best thing, for everyone. She could feel the heat of his body pressed against her side and back where the narrow train seats forced them together. It was soothing, lulling her into a doze as her muscles unwound from the tensions of the day, as she laid her head against the side of the train and relaxed against Cal’s sleeping body.

“Your destiny is here. Now seize it!” that voice again, but this time it was strong and fierce where it had been gentle and soft before. It struck terror into Jayna’s heart, as she struggled to break free.

And then as she opened her eyes, she saw them.

An imposing Lasat in tunic and armour, stood with his arm outstretched and lightsaber ablaze. And apparently floating in mid-air was Cal, still in his scrapper’s gear.

They were stood in a long, narrow corridor that reminded Jayna of the ruined corridors she traversed with Cal earlier that day. Overhead a klaxon blared while the corridor was lit up by the regular flashes of red alarms. As Jayna observed the scene, she saw the Lasat speak but she couldn’t hear what he said.

For a moment, Cal’s eyes met hers as another voice, authoritative and deep, said “Trust only in the Force!”

Both Jayna and Cal were jolted awake as the train came to an abrupt halt. Something hard and narrow held Jayna around the waist, and as she glanced down, she realised the only reason she hadn’t toppled off her seat was Cal’s arm around her waist, keeping her still. For a moment, she couldn’t breathe as she felt intimately the press of his fingers against her waist, just above the swell of her hips, even through layers of fabric.

“Let go please,” she hissed out, in a strangled whisper.

Cal’s arm retracted as if burnt. “Sorry,” he mumbled, seemingly as mortified as she was. For a moment, he allowed himself to be distracted by what had just happened, and his apparently instinctive need to protect Meena. Thoughts of his dream intruded, and he frowned.

‘What the hell was that?’ he thought. He hadn’t dreamt of…of his Master in years. ‘Why now?’

Cal’s eyes slid sideways to the young woman who was eying the train carriage suspiciously, as the other workers all grumbled and murmured amongst themselves.  She had been in the dream, in that hallway…in fact, he had a feeling she’d actually been there. Even now, he cautiously stretched out with his mind and felt the faintest echo of hers, so different to the others around them. He was even more certain of it now. Meena could use the Force.

“What’s going on?” Meena whispered, drawing him out of his reverie. Mentally shaking himself, he refocussed on his surroundings. There’d be time enough for all that later.

But there was a cold feeling in Cal’s gut, one he’d felt before, although only once or twice. But they had been enough. Something Dark was approaching, he could feel it. “The train’s stopped,” he muttered.

“Yeah, something’s going on,” Prauf replied, wearily.

Suddenly, the doors at the far end of the carriage opened to admit two Stormtroopers, their blasters at the ready. “Everybody up! Identification ready!” one barked, as the whole carriage stood. Cal felt Meena join him and Prauf as they stood too. “Move out and line up!”

“Probably just another contraband inspection,” Prauf hissed, but he sounded as if he was trying to convince himself. Cal offered him a grim smile but followed him as they began to file out of the train. Behind him, he felt Meena follow, her fear and uncertainty like a noxious perfume now he’d allowed himself to sense her.

Wordlessly, he willed strength and comfort towards her, even though he didn’t feel it himself, before he once again closed himself off and sank back into the safety of his own mind.

Jayna didn’t have a clue what was happening as they all filed off the train and out into the rain of the Bracca night. At first, she believed Prauf had been correct when she saw the Stormtroopers until her boots hit the mud of the bank they’d stopped by. She felt a cold feeling wash over her, pooling in the pit of her stomach, and looked up to see a cadre of strange-looking Stormtroopers.

Unlike the standard-issue white plastoid armour and black bodysuits the others wore; these troopers wore all black armour that shone like the carapace of some exotic insect. A fell red light shone from their visors, and they carried strange weapons, ranging from blaster rifles to electropikes. Looking at them gave Jayna a sick feeling in her stomach, as she saw Cal glance at them from the corner of her eye, before he ducked his head and moved on.

Jayna decided to follow his example and did the same. She had a very bad feeling about all this.

Overhead, there came the scream of TIE fighters as one came in to land, while another, larger ship followed. They perched at the far end of the mudbank, as the workers lined up. The rain poured down, drenching them all in seconds, as Jayna tried to fight off the shivers from her wet clothing.

And fear. Fear like she had never known it, even up on the hull of the Star Destroyer as it fell apart around them. It pooled in her stomach with icy heaviness, slipped and slithered through her veins until her muscles felt cold and unresponsive.

That coldness intensified as the top hatch of the TIE popped open and the landing ramp of the shuttle went down. Two figures revealed themselves: both dressed in black, close-fitting armour and helmets. One was a towering, imposing Dowutin; Jayna could just about make out her chin horns. She was intimidating enough; the other made Jayna want to run and hide.

She was far shorter than her companion, and slighter too, but something in Jayna whispered she was no less deadly for it. She walked with the agile grace of a vine tiger, graceful and elegant but she had no doubt it could turn lethal and cutting in a millisecond. Unlike the Dowutin, she wore a cloak emblazoned with the symbol of the Empire on each shoulder, and it fluttered in her wake as she strode towards the cadre of troopers.

“Is this all of them?” she asked, her voice distorted by the vocoder in her helmet but Jayna could hear she spoke with the refined accent most Imperials used.

“Yes, Second Sister,” one of the troopers replied.

The Second Sister seemed to snort, as if in contempt, the helmet making it sound like the aggravated huff of some hulking predator. Behind them, the other Inquisitor stalked behind them, growling lowly the whole time.

“We seek a dangerous fugitive,” the Second Sister announced. Even if they’d wanted to, the group of scrappers was spellbound, her words hypnotic even as every animal instinct told them to run. Jayna felt Cal tense slightly beside her, and she restrained the urge to reach out to him. “This is no common anarchist, but a devotee of the treasonous Jedi Order. Failure to turn over this traitor will result in a charge of sedition!”

Behind her, the Dowutin growled in her ear. It took every shred of self-control Jayna had to stop herself from flinching or reacting as she wanted to. Her heartbeat seemed to pound in her ears as her mind raced.

‘How did they get here so quickly? What are we going to do now?’

When no one moved, the Second Sister began to walk down the line, her malevolent gaze burning them as she eyed them all. “Turn yourself in, or everyone present shall face summary execution!” she stated, stopping just in front of Jayna, Cal and Prauf.

Jayna noticed Cal kept his eyes down, on the mud like the downtrodden scrapper he pretended to be, and a part of her wanted to scream at him even as another understood the urge to put his own survival before everyone else’s. The words that would condemn Cal burned at the tip of her tongue, but even now she couldn’t force herself to utter them.

Behind the Second Sister, the troopers snapped to action, bringing their weapons to bear on the group as the scrappers cowered in fear. Jayna felt Cal shrink back for a moment, and felt his hand just brush hers with the movement.

“I think it’s time someone came forward,” Prauf suddenly spoke up, stepping forward and away from the line. Jayna saw Cal reach out as if to stop him, but the Abednedo made him pause in his tracks with a sad, knowing look.

Prauf’s words to Cal on the train earlier rang in Jayna’s ears, her breath strangled in her throat. “I just don’t know how to repay you…”

It seemed like Prauf was about to pay off that life debt sooner rather than later.

“I, uh, I’ve been working on this heap a long time,” Prauf continued, as Jayna listened with disbelief and growing unease as she watched the silent, stationary troopers and Inquisitors. As Prauf rambled, making treasonous statement after treasonous statement, Jayna wondered why they weren’t shooting him where he stood. “Way before the war. We refit and rebuilt starships, best in the galaxy. Then came the Empire; and engineers became scrappers. The workers? They just started getting worked.”

“Prauf…” Cal whispered, as he moved silently forward beside Jayna. She felt the move, just as she felt the icy cold touch of metal against the back of her hand. ‘What is that?’ she thought, but she didn’t dare look down in case it drew the Inquisitors’ attention.

“But we all know the truth,” Prauf concluded, his voice shaking a little. In that moment, Jayna didn’t know if she admired his courage or wanted to shake him for his stupidity. As he paused beside the Second Sister, Jayna’s eyes fell on the weapon belted at the Second Sister’s waist. And suddenly she knew what was about to happen. “We’re just too afraid to say it. To the Empire, we’re all just expendable.”

“Yes, you are,” the Second Sister said, simply and coldly, as she stepped forward and raised the weapon in her hand. It ignited and a blade of shining, bloody red pierced Prauf through the heart.

Cal’s cry of pain and defiance drowned out Prauf’s death grunt, as he slowly collapsed to his knees. Jayna felt only anguish and grief as she watched the Abednedo fall, then shock as Cal raised his hand and a blade of shining azure blue ignited in his hand.

As Cal went to strike, a second blade ignited from the opposite end of the Second Sister’s hilt, blocking the strike. “Look at this. A lightsaber,” she remarked contemptuously, as she aggressively parried Cal’s strike and pushed him back, her red blade spinning hypnotically in her grip. As she thrust out a gloved hand, Jayna felt another surge of power and pressure as Cal was pushed back with a pained grunt, straight into the Dowutin’s clutches.

Every atom of Jayna’s body ached to go to him, to rush to his aid but another, stronger instinct kept her paralysed. Cal’s fate was sealed; if she tried to help him, they’d both wind up dead. Just like poor, loyal Prauf.

“I found the Jedi!” the other Inquisitor pronounced, her voice grating and harsh as it rang with tones of contempt and victory. Cal hung limply in her claws, as Jayna’s heart thundered.

Cal abruptly regained consciousness, lashing out with his saber but the Inquisitor simply dropped him over the edge of the mudbank, where it tapered to a steep cliff. Below, Jayna could hear the rush of the cargo trains as they sped towards the spaceport.

With a sneering growl, the Dowutin Inquisitor opened her claws and let Cal fall, disappearing into the darkness below with a cry. Jayna almost cried out but stopped herself just in time. Then she heard it: the crash of metal and plastoid as something fell through a train carriage roof, far below. Hope fluttered weakly in Jayna’s heart.

“You fool!” the Second Sister snapped at her brethren. “You should have just killed him. After him, now!”

Her barked order had the troopers scurrying to obey, as the Dowutin Inquisitor rushed to her shuttle and took off. The Second Sister paused only to bark an order to the remaining Stormtroopers to detain them all for questioning, before she rushed to her TIE and took off, screeching away to the chase.

An oddly peaceful silence fell. Jayna sucked in a breath, trying not to fall to her knees as relief and anguish, released from their bulwarks, rushed through her. It took everything she had not to just collapse and fold in on herself, but as her eyes fell on Prauf’s unmoving body, she steeled herself.

It wasn’t over yet.

As the Stormtrooper in command approached, brandishing his blaster rifle, Jayna forced herself to straighten, shaking off the disguise of the scrapper and letting the apprentice security officer underneath push through. Even if that mask, the mask she’d worn for two years, felt as flimsy as the other had.

“Get back onboard the train!” the Stormtrooper snapped. “You will all be detained for questioning.”

Over his shoulder, Jayna could see the others being herded back onto the train. Her mind raced, but as her eyes fell on Prauf’s body again, one simple resolution took hold.

She had to help Cal. If only for Prauf’s sake, she wouldn’t let his sacrifice be in vain.

But first, she had to get away from the Stormtroopers. And she had to hurry.

“My name is Meena Cordo,” she stated, loudly and clearly as she fished out the dog tags around her neck that marked her as an Apprentice Security Officer. “I am an apprentice security officer with Bracca Security Corps. I need to brief my commanding officer on this development.”

The Stormtrooper eyed her identification, and Jayna could feel the suspicion all but roll off him in waves.

“What’s a BracSec scrap cat doing running around with the scrap rats?” he demanded. The derogatory term was one Jayna had heard being thrown around by the Stormtroopers before: if the scrapper and rigger crews were ‘scrap rats’, then BracSec were the ‘scrap cats’ trying to keep them in line.

“I was on an undercover assignment to find, infiltrate and expose the leaders of a contraband smuggling ring in the shipbreaking yards,” she replied, honestly. Forcing herself to seem cold, she gestured dismissively at Prauf’s body. “He was one of my potential perps.”

“Yeah, well you can explain all this back at the garrison,” the Stormtrooper wasn’t taking no for an answer, as he gestured towards the train. “Now get back on the train.”

“I need to inform my commander-,” Jayna tried again, desperation making her rash. The Stormtrooper hit her across the face with the butt of his blaster rifle, knocking her to the ground.

“That’s enough. One more word, and I’ll put a bolt through your skull,” the Stormtrooper thundered.

Jayna lay in the mud, rainwater and mud scum soaking through her clothes as she tried to shake away the ringing in her head. She’d been hit enough times on the sparring mats to know she needed to get back up, now. She forced the pain away, feeling the red-hot sting of cracked skin and blood on her lips.

Distantly she heard a roar of an engine, then an imposing voice ring out across the mudbank. “If you strike one of my officers again, I’ll make sure you’re demoted to janitorial duty for the rest of your life, buckethead!”

Jayna looked up, through a burgeoning headache, to find Torone rushing towards them as she hopped off her hoverbike. Her salt-and-pepper hair was plastered to her skin as she eyed the Stormtroopers like they were gnats under her boots.

“We have orders to follow-,” the Stormtrooper who struck her tried to object, but Torone stepped close to him and spoke again, but this time there was an odd cadence to her voice that made something in Jayna leap, as if in recognition.

“You will release my officer and go about your business. You have your orders,” she intoned, her flashing eyes intense as she stared the Stormtroopers down. Before Jayna’s eyes, tension drained out of the Stormtrooper’s body and he went all but limp.

“I will release your officer. We have our orders,” the Stormtrooper replied dully. “You may go.”

Jayna opened her mouth to speak, but Torone stepped past the Stormtrooper, picked her up by the shoulders and pulled her upright. “Not a word,” she muttered, as the Stormtroopers turned and marched back to the train.

Then they were left alone on the bank, with just the rain and Prauf’s corpse for company. In the distance, there came the sounds of explosions as a TIE fighter circled a rapidly disintegrating train. Jayna’s eyes watched it, as she realised Cal was on that train.

“I need to go,” she murmured weakly. Torone ignored her. “I need to go,” she said again, stronger this time as the ringing in her head subsided a little.

“Yes, you do. Straight to a medbay, then you owe me one hell of a debrief, Cordo,” Torone replied coolly.

“No, I’m not going back,” Jayna retorted, her eyes still on the train in the distance.

“You can’t be serious. He’s a wanted fugitive, a piece of trash that’s about to get what’s coming to him,” Torone stated, dismissively. Her eyes fell on Prauf’s body, as she sighed. “Pity. What a waste of intel. I’m sure the trash crew will be along to clean it up shortly.”

At Torone’s contemptuous, cold remark, Jayna felt that pragmatic, survival-orientated side of her subside, as anger and anguish welled up in her as she remembered Prauf’s gentle assurances to Cal on the train, and his death-grunt as the Inquisitor’s saber pierced his heart. In that moment, she saw her mentor in a new light, and it wasn’t a flattering one.

And still, she felt the compulsion in her blood, one bolstered by that mad resolve that had bade her talk back to a Stormtrooper.

As Torone turned away to walk to the hoverbike, Jayna knelt and slipped the rucksack from her back. She dug into its depths and pulled out the telescopic quarterstaff she’d hid inside. She extended it halfway, and as Torone went to turn back, mouth open to say something, Jayna struck.

She hit her mentor and commanding officer across the face, knocking her to the ground. The older woman lay there, groaning and incapacitated in the mud, as Jayna dropped her tags onto her chest.

“Consider this my resignation, ma’am,” she muttered, striding past, adrenaline lending her strength as she marched towards the hoverbike, stowing the quarterstaff across her back. She paused only to pull the scrapper’s poncho from her back, letting it drop into the mud. For a moment, her eyes were drawn to Prauf’s body, lying in the mud and filth, and her heart ached with unfamiliar anguish. She forced herself to move, tearing her eyes away for the last time.

As she swung her leg over the bike’s saddle, she heard Torone’s final, garbled words as she lay in the mud and blinking away stars, as blood streamed from a gash to the head. “If you do this, they’ll never stop hunting you.”

“Yeah? What else is new?” Jayna snapped, as she opened the throttle wide and the engine roared. Without another word, she pulled the hoverbike around and flew it high into the sky, following the sound of explosions and blaster fire.

To be continued….

Chapter Text

The air rushed past Cal as he fell. Below him, he heard the roar and rush of wind as the trains sped by underneath him, growing ever closer. Arms and legs flailing, the wind plucked and tugged at him as he fought to keep hold of his lightsaber.

The Force whispered a warning, as he felt the wind from the passage of a train carriage underneath him. He smashed through the flimsy roof panels and crashed into some cargo barrels, before slamming into the durasteel floor beneath it. For a second, he lay there, groaning as he tried to get his breath back, barely able to credit that he had just survived that fall, and indeed, he was alive. More than alive, even.

The Force simmered and undulated through his body like a wild animal awakening from sleep. For an instant, Cal was achingly aware of his surroundings as the Force flowed through him freely for the first time in years.

The icy chill of the durasteel underneath his body.

The ache in his bones and the burst capillaries under his skin that were even now forming into bruises from his fall.

The fear and uncertainty of the Stormtroopers who had jumped and spun at his sudden entrance into the carriage.

The noisome dark shadows cast by the creatures that even now were in pursuit.

Panic welled up inside him as it always did, ever since he’d arrived on Bracca five years ago, but he forced himself to focus with one key, inescapable truth.

He had to move.

Forcing himself upright, Cal tucked his lightsaber into his side as the Stormtroopers approached warily, the torches mounted on their rifles making his vision flare. Every inch of his body throbbed and cried out in protest. “Agh, that hurts,” he groaned feelingly.

“Hold it! Don’t move!” one barked at him, levelling his blaster at him “How’d you get here?”

“Easy now,” Cal murmured, stretching out one hand to try to calm them so he could make his move. For a moment, he considered using a mind trick but…no. He couldn’t risk it, not now.

Back to Plan A, then.

“Got a stowaway!” the other Stormtrooper announced, as Cal’s lightsaber ignited in his hand. Before they even had the chance to raise their blasters, he cut through them with two clean slashes of his weapon. Their smoking corpses dropped to the floor as Cal stepped over them and made for the door.

He emerged into the driving rain to find two more Stormtroopers stood on guard up ahead, talking quietly amongst themselves.

“Did you hear that over the comm?” one asked.

“A Jedi? Stay sharp!” the other replied, a tinge of fear in his voice.

‘Gentlemen, it’s about to be your lucky day,’ Cal thought, as he ignited his saber once more and brought it to guard. With an ease he had forgotten was possible, he deflected their blaster bolts back at them and ran past to the next carriage.

Inside, there was a four-man unit waiting. As they started blasting, Cal deflected their blows, not thinking but letting the Force direct his limbs as they moved from defensive to offensive, as he sliced through the armoured neck of one Stormtrooper then spun his saber into a reverse-grip as he thrust it into the abdomen of another. He slashed out the legs of the third, then spun to avoid the blaster bolt from his fellow before putting the unfortunate Stormtrooper out of his misery by stabbing him in the chest. As he straightened, the Force screamed a warning.

Cal deflected the fourth trooper’s blaster bolt back at him through the bars of the cargo cage he had taken cover in. An uneasy peace fell as he paused, trying to slow his breathing, while he looked down at the smoking bodies of the Stormtroopers lying at his feet.

For a moment, grief, anguish and panic; his old friends, rose up and nearly overwhelmed him. He wanted to fall to the floor and curl in on himself, shut the world out so he could…but he couldn’t. He couldn’t even think his name, or he’d be lost. He had to keep going, he had to survive so it wouldn’t be in vain. He had to get off Bracca.

Meena’s face flashed across his mind’s eye, and he felt some regret at the thought of leaving her behind. It couldn’t be helped; it would be suicide to go back for her now with the Inquisitors on his tail. He could only hope she would be smart and get off Bracca while she still had the chance. Hopefully the Inquisitors would be too focussed on him to notice her. He hoped.

Pushing aside thoughts of Meena, he sheathed his lightsaber at his belt and turned towards the cargo bay door. He’d dimly heard one of the troopers claim he’d locked it, and as he slashed his way through the cables blocking his way, he noticed the locking mechanism was engaged. ‘Only one other way out…’ he thought, as he turned towards the control panel. With a flick of his fingers, the side doors opened, and Cal rushed forward to the edge to look out and watch for TIE fighters, or worse the Inquisitors.

To his relief, there was a support beam running along the side of the carriage that led to a grating, attached to the carriage bulkheads and beyond it; the cargo doors were open. The wind was intense as Cal carefully edged out onto the railing, careful to keep his centre of gravity low and centred as he followed it round to the grating. At the first opportunity, he gathered himself and leapt up, catching hold and pulling himself up. ‘There we go, nice and easy. Just like the shipbreaking yards,’ he told himself, as he began to climb along towards the open doors a few metres away.

There was no room in his mind for anything else as he thought only about what he had to do to survive.

Jayna zipped through the skies, weaving in and out of the traffic as she tried desperately to avoid thinking about what she had just done. She would not think about how she had just attacked her superior officer; she would not think about the fact that her life on Bracca was now officially over, and she absolutely would not think about what the hell she was about to do.

The wind whipped her hair around her face, obscuring her eyes as she tried desperately to make out the line of the train railings through the dark and the rain. She tried to ignore the shivering from the rain as it soaked through her clothes. She squinted through the darkness, then jumped as one of the TIE shuttles flew over her, its scream resonating through her body and setting her teeth on edge. It flew a wide arc ahead of her, aiming for a train that was speeding away into the distance.

Jayna’s heart jumped into her throat as she saw it draw parallel with the train, its turbolasers trained on a single, solitary figure she could just make out through the gloom. Cal.

Jayna gunned the throttle, bending low over the hoverbike as if willing it to go faster as she sped towards the train. Ahead, the shuttle fired repeatedly on the train as Cal sprinted from cover to cover until Jayna lost sight of him as he disappeared into another carriage. The shuttle shot out the couplings connecting the next carriage until it disconnected and came away entirely, one end of the remaining train carriages now dangling precariously from the line.

‘No!’ Heart in her mouth, Jayna’s eyes scanned the disconnected train, looking for any sign of Cal as she followed a parallel path to the train line. Instinct had her rolling the bike to the right, rotating under the line and onto the other side as the shuttle, having apparently decided she was trouble, fired on her.

She caught her breath and glimpsed Cal out of the corner of her eye, clinging to the side of the carriage on her left. She tried to shout, but her voice was lost in the roar of the wind.

She watched as Cal traversed the carriage side, agilely climbing and jumping from one handhold to another, faster than a Kowakian Monkey Lizard chasing its dinner. The train began to disintegrate around him, but he outpaced it until he once again disappeared from Jayna’s sight.

The shuttle fired on her again, as she was forced to barrel roll underneath the rapidly disintegrating train, the turbolasers’ shot so close she could feel it singe the plating of her bike. When she’d levelled out again, she came face to face with Cal. He was stood at the open doors of one of the carriages, hands raised against the driving wind and rain, eyes blinking as he stared up at her.

“Meena!?” he yelled in disbelief.

Now she’d found him, relief sank in and her mind raced as she came up with a plan. “Get to the front of the train,” she shouted back. “I’ll pick you up once you’ve stopped it!”

“That was kind of my plan anyway!” Cal bellowed.

Jayna desperately wanted to roll her eyes. “Then what are you waiting for? Get on with it!” she yelled back, just as she heard the roar of the TIE as it circled round behind her.

“Meena, look out!” Cal shouted a warning, as Jayna wrenched the hoverbike into a twisting dive to avoid the shuttle’s turbolasers. She wouldn’t survive out here much longer against that.

Then came the roar of a new engine, as Jayna pulled out of her dive and peered up at the newcomer. It was a S-161 ‘Stinger’ XL Luxury Yacht, streaking through the Bracca night like a deadly insect, yet Jayna couldn’t think of a more incongruous rescuer. It fired on the TIE, taking it down as the landing ramp lowered to reveal a tall, slender woman in spacer’s gear. Her words were lost on the wind to Jayna, but instinct whispered she was there to help, at least.

She glimpsed Cal begin to move, as the Stinger was forced to fly on, pursued by a ship Jayna recognised as the Second Sister’s TIE fighter. Jayna swung low and back under the train until she re-emerged on its other side, senses pricked for any more approaching ships. She watched Cal climb back up onto the roof as another train pulled up and matched its speed, the doors opening to reveal Stormtroopers bringing their blasters to bear on Cal. Heart racing, Jayna watched as he was attacked by several more on the roof of the carriage he was on, bearing electroshock batons that looked like they could withstand his lightsaber, but the troopers were still ill-equipped to stand against Cal. He deflected blaster bolts back at his attackers, and efficiently cut down the rest as he parried their attacks and countered with an effortless grace that made Jayna’s body thrill to the sight, something in her leaping in recognition once more.

As Cal managed to make it to the next compartment, the train suddenly rocked and stopped, sparks flying on the line as the brakes were suddenly and abruptly slammed. Jayna was a hair too slow, overshooting the train. She was forced into a wide arc as the hoverbike’s less than efficient engine whirred and groaned with the effort.

What she saw made fear spark anew. The Second Sister’s TIE came screaming towards the halted train, its turbolasers bearing down on the solitary figure stood on the train compartment’s roof. It fired, as the train buckled and exploded, taking the line with it as it collapsed. Her breath caught, until she caught sight of a figure sliding along what was left, as the train began to fall into the deep chasm it travelled between the scrapyards and the spaceport.

Gunning her dying throttle once more, Jayna bent low over the bike. She’d need to time this perfectly.

She cleared the front of the train just as she saw Cal come flying off the end, arms and legs flailing. “CAL!” she screamed, racing for him. She just missed him but took one hand off the stabilisers to grab his wrist as he fell past her, her shoulder screaming in pain at the sudden weight as Cal jolted to a stop, hanging from her arm. “Hold on!”

With one arm, she could barely steer but Cal’s balance and her strength were too precarious to attempt to pull him up behind her. She gunned the throttle again, diving for cover as she heard the scream of a TIE fighter in close pursuit, then the double-tap of gunfire as it stitched a design in the air behind her hoverbike. She managed to dodge, just, jostling Cal as she tried desperately to coax the last few vestiges of speed out of her bike.

Then they were shunted sideways, as a turbolaser bolt just grazed the side of the hoverbike’s engine. It began to spark and splutter, as the bike rapidly began to lose power and spiral uncontrollably towards a scrap-processing plant in the distance.

“Aim for that platform!” Cal shouted, slinging his free arm over the front support strut to tug at the stabilisers, their combined strength tugging the dying hoverbike towards the platform he’d indicated. As their descent grew ever steeper and faster, Jayna felt Cal grab her hand. “When we get low enough, we have to jump!” he told her urgently.

“Are you crazy!?” she yelled back. “We’ll end up a couple of bloody smears on the grating!”

“I need you to trust me, Meena!” Cal shouted back. “When I say jump…”

But Jayna wasn’t about to let him dictate when she was going to rashly throw her life to fate and jump off a crashing hoverbike. As the floor of the platform rapidly approached, she took a deep breath and threw herself off the side of the hoverbike, taking Cal with her.

It was only a short drop, but it still drove the air from Jayna’s lungs when she landed, letting her momentum roll her until she stopped. Overhead, the hoverbike crashed into the support column of another platform, turning in an instant to a burning fireball. Beside her, Jayna felt Cal roll to a stop as they paused and realised that somehow, they were still alive.

Every muscle in Jayna’s body ached, and she groaned. She panted, wincing as a few bruised ribs complained and a hand suddenly clamped around her arm, pulling her upright. “Meena? Meena!?” Cal’s worried voice irritated her aching head, as she snapped.

“Cut it out, I’m alright!”

“Sorry, I just…” Cal trailed off, looking as bad as she felt. “How’d you find me?”

“Just followed the explosions,” she explained. “You’re a pretty hard guy to miss.”

“But what…why?” he asked, before his eyes widened. “You’re hurt.”

Cal’s finger gently pressed and trailed across her split lip, reigniting the sting. With all her other aches and pains, she’d forgotten about that.  “Not from the crash. I talked back to a Stormtrooper,” she assured him, eyes watching him closely, searching his face.

Cal’s mind whirled from the events of the past few moments. How long had it been since the mudbank, since he watched Prauf impaled by an Inquisitor’s lightsaber? An hour, more? It felt like both days and mere seconds had passed to Cal. And now help had come unlooked for from two directions: from that mysterious ship and from this girl, hazel eyes wide and open, blonde hair plastered to her scalp and her lip split open and bleeding.

He had so many questions, so many suspicions, especially when he saw the quarterstaff slung across her back, but they had to wait. They weren’t out of the woods yet.

So, he settled for just one. “Why did you help me?” he asked quietly. Her eyes widened even more, like a scrap rat caught in the headlights.

“Is this really a good time for an interrogation?” she demanded, trying to move away but he wouldn’t let her. Not yet. His thumb trailed across her split lip again, almost tenderly, as she winced then unconsciously softened into his hand. “I…I can’t explain it. It was just…a feeling. An instinct. I can’t explain why,” she finally admitted, as Cal stared at her thoughtfully. His mind raced, but he pushed his questions aside.

“We need to get out of here,” he breathed, letting her go as he was overcome by that same insidious feeling of cold and darkness he’d felt before, after the train stopped and the Stormtroopers had pulled everyone off. “Come on.”

But as he turned away, he reflected uneasily that it might already be too late as the TIE fighter that had destroyed the train flew overhead and hovered over a gantry. He glanced around but there was no obvious way off the platform they’d crashed landed on, and that mysterious ship that had come to his aid before was nowhere to be seen.

He was on his own.

‘Not entirely on my own,’ he thought, feeling Jayna beside him as she stared up at the TIE, eyes narrowed and calculating. He could sense her growing fear, but she kept it well-contained and controlled, refusing to let it rule her as she waited for what was to come.

He knew what was coming.

Everybody knew the rumours about the Imperial Inquisitorius, an organisation founded by the Emperor to hunt down and eliminate any Jedi survivors of the Purge. Even on Bracca, they’d heard stories: massacres, whole settlements put to torture if they were suspected of harbouring Jedi fugitives. The Inquisitors were deadly, and their reputation preceded them across the galaxy. Along with the noisome chill of the Dark Side.

As the Second Sister emerged from the TIE, it rolled off her in waves, infecting Cal’s muscles and blood until they were chilled to numbness.  She walked towards the edge of the gantry, her lightsaber out but not ignited, as if she didn’t consider them any true threat.

Cal felt the surge in the Force as she dropped off the edge of the gantry and Force-glided down to their level, effortlessly elegant as her cloak flared out behind her, like the wings of a bird of prey.

“Going somewhere?” she called, tauntingly as her lightsaber ignited, spouting a blade of blood-hued light. “But isn’t this precious? A scrap rat and scrap cat, caught in a trap.”

Something in Cal’s brain niggled at the comment, but he pushed it aside. “Stay behind me,” he whispered to Meena as he unhooked his lightsaber from his belt. He ignited it and settled back into his preferred guard, forcing his mind to clear.

“I recognise that stance. Perhaps you’ve had some training after all,” the Second Sister continued, as she kept advancing, blade lazily cutting the air at her side, not bothering with a guard at all. “Who was your master, Padawan? Someone I killed perhaps? What Jedi gave their life so you could live?”

Cal heard the taunts, knew them for what they were and refused to listen. He felt Meena shrink back from his side and hoped she would take the opportunity to run.

The Second Sister cocked her head, and chuckled. He could feel the weight of her malevolent eyes through the visor of her helmet. “My, but you do inspire some loyalty, Jedi. I’ll deal with your little friend in a moment. But you first, I think…” she hissed, advancing with a sudden burst of speed as she raised her blade to strike.

Jayna forced herself to take a step back. She was no match for an Inquisitor.

What surprised her was how fiercely she wished otherwise. She would never describe herself as a hero; too mindful of her own survival to stand up for someone else but she felt the compulsion now as she watched Cal and the Second Sister spar. What she’d initially thought was graceful and unbeatable against the troopers on the train turned shaky and inadequate against the battle-hardened speed and lethal agility of the Second Sister as she easily deflected Cal’s blows and forced him on the defensive.

Suddenly Cal was forced back a step, then another as the Second Sister threw herself into a spinning attack that rained slashes down on his head and torso, barely parrying them in time. The Inquisitor followed it up with a kick to his thigh, making him stumble and fall to one knee.

Jayna felt again the weight of her vibroblade against her forearm and wanted to slap herself upside the head. She’d completely forgotten about it before. With the Second Sister intent on her prey, she slipped it from its holster, lowering herself into a stance she’d practiced a thousand times, raising her arm and taking careful aim.

Just as the Second Sister raised her arms for a two-handed overhead strike, Jayna threw her vibroblade. In her mind’s eye, she visualised its trajectory, watched it shear into muscle and skin, heard the Second Sister’s snarl of rage as she stumbled.

When she blinked back to reality, the Second Sister had reeled away from Cal, giving him time to recover his guard. In her free hand, she held a blooded vibroblade while the other…sported a small slit in the forearm of her tunic, the edges just darkened by blood.

“You’re a feisty one,” she remarked, as if nothing of any great import had just occurred. “You’ll pay for that soon enough, foolish girl.”

She dropped the knife to the floor and went to lunge at Jayna but before she could get close, Cal was there, ducking beneath the Second Sister’s guard and slashing towards her midsection. The Inquisitor twisted away, aggressively battering Cal’s blade as she danced under his guard and tried to cut his legs. Cal barely managed to evade her as he dropped and rolled away. “You’ll have to do better,” the Second Sister called tauntingly.

“Meena, run!” Cal shouted desperately, but something held Jayna rooted to the spot. She couldn’t leave him, even though every instinct of survival and self-preservation was screaming at her to do so. She watched Cal tire as the Inquisitor kept raining blows down on him, weakening his guard and running him down. Helplessness and urgency made her desperate as she gritted her teeth, hating her own uselessness in that moment.

As if a veil had been torn in her mind, that strange awareness, that she’d felt back in the scrapyard as the Star Destroyer had disintegrated around them and she’d tumbled towards the Maw, came flooding back.

She could sense her surroundings, but more than that she could sense herself. She could feel the burn of Cal’s muscles as he deflected another attack, she sensed the welling triumph and lazy contempt of the Second Sister as she slashed at his head, as if they were her own.

And for a moment, she felt again the threads that connected her to them and them to her. For a moment, she felt Cal’s heart, his bones, his muscle, his will and determination and desperation as he fought. And she found herself instinctively willing her own strength, her own determination across those threads, strengthening his muscles, shoring up his will, steeling his sinews with new energy as he deflected one of the Second Sister’s attacks and threw himself into a complicated looking series of cuts and twirling slashes that, for once, had the Inquisitor on the defensive.

Jayna turned her attention to her, and thought fiercely, ‘You will not win here. Not today.’

Suddenly, the Second Sister caught Cal’s blade and trapped it beneath her own, before planting a kick to his midsection, making him stumble back as he panted. Jolted out of her awareness, Jayna faltered, suddenly feeling more exhausted than she could possibly have imagined. She panted as she fell to her knees, her heart feeling like it was ready to burst.

“Well,” the Second Sister purred. “This is unexpected. Such raw power…but you’ll have to do much better than that to slow me down, girl.”

She reached out a hand towards her, as Jayna felt a surge of something ripple towards her with a roar, then she found herself pinned, her body rendered useless as her concentration faltered and that all-encompassing awareness faded completely, the threads turned to ghosts in her hands. She felt her feet leave the ground, and then the world was rushing past her until she collided with something hard and warm.

Cal. The Second Sister had used the Force to throw her into Cal’s path and he’d caught her, Jayna realised slowly, her mind dulled by fatigue. She felt Cal get up first, his body still bolstered by…whatever the hell she’d just done a moment ago, his lightsaber reigniting in his hand. Jayna barely had the energy to lift her head.

“I came to Bracca to hunt down one Jedi, and I find myself with two…of a kind,” the Second Sister called over, advancing on them once more. “After all, you’re hardly a full Jedi are you, Padawan? And she will never get the chance to explore her newfound power. It’s almost tragic, really.”

Jayna forced herself to open her eyes, watching as Cal re-engaged with the Second Sister, striking and parrying and countering so quickly, their blades looked like coloured blurs to her tired eyes. One final overhead slash caught Cal’s blade, and he parried but it looked like it was costing him everything he had as the Inquisitor pressed her advantage, bearing down on him as the iridescent blades drew ever closer to his face.

Then there came the sound of rumbling engines and the echoing ring of turbolaser fire as the grating below Jayna’s body exploded into light and heat and noise. She felt Cal collide with her once again as the explosion threw him into her.

‘This is it. The other Inquisitor ship fired on us and we’re going to die…’ Jayna thought detachedly, as they slammed back into the desk, lungs winded and crying out for air. She heard Cal’s grunts as he forced himself upright, then a tugging on her hand.

“C’mon, Meena. We have to go,” he said insistently. “Come on, get up!”

A new voice joined the cacophony, as Jayna tried desperately centre herself and regain her senses. “Get on board!”

Cal dragged Jayna up, then together they stumbled through the smoke, as the new voice reformed itself into the woman she’d glimpsed earlier, standing on the landing ramp of the Stinger that had helped Cal before.

She felt a sudden, sickening wave of cold wash over her, as Cal quickened his pace, limping though he was. Behind her, she heard the distant hum of a lightsaber igniting, and felt fear spike in her blood.

Cal dragged her up the ramp and into the bright light of the ship’s interior, past the woman who was taking pot-shots at the Second Sister from the entry hatch and to safety. Jayna stumbled out of Cal’s arms and tried to reorient herself against the nearest solid object as she felt the rumble of the engines as the ship pulled away and began to climb.

She felt Cal leave her side, rushing away and then that same sickening cold returned. Jayna opened weary eyes to see the Second Sister clinging to the cockpit viewport, her hand splayed and pressed to the toughened glass. She sensed the pressure of her will, manipulating the control yoke so the ship veered and spun wildly out of control, as readouts flashed red and alarms began to ring. As Jayna met the blood-red gaze of the Inquisitor through the viewport, she called on her last shred of strength, as she felt once again the threads connecting her to the Second Sister.

This time, she pushed. Hand outstretched, she pushed at the air and everything between them as something responded to her desperate command.

Just as the mysterious woman wrenched the control yoke back under control, the Second Sister teetered then disappeared as she was pushed back and out of sight.

An uneasy silence reigned, as Jayna fell to her knees and the other three beings on the ship eyed each other uncertainly as the Bracca sky turned to deepest night, then to the silvery-blue-white of hyperspace.

To be continued….

Chapter Text

Jayna was barely aware of her surroundings, not even feeling the cool sting of the deck underneath her bruised knees. Her exhaustion was all-encompassing, as pervasive and insidious as that horrible feeling of cold and darkness she’d sensed while they fought that Inquisitor. Her heart felt like it was thundering in her ears, labouring for every beat and she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to stand again, let alone move.

She could barely begin to understand what had happened over the course of the past few minutes.

Awareness came back slowly. She was aware of a gruff voice telling Cal, “Okay, shut that thing off and grab some seat!”, the hum as his lightsaber deactivated, then footsteps coming towards her as two pairs of hands grasped her arms, hauling her upright.

She turned her head to meet green eyes and flaming hair. Cal.

“Hey, you ok?” he asked, concern warm and blazing in his eyes. Jayna shivered, still unable to speak as the other pair of hands tugged her back.

“Just a nasty case of Force fatigue. I’ve seen it before,” a woman’s voice said, confidently. “You’ll be alright, with some rest and meditation.”

Alarm rushed through Jayna, waking her up a little more. “I-I’m not…” she began to say, as forcefully as she could but she was abruptly pushed into a seat and the sudden disorientation shut her up as her head spun. She closed them, hoping the room would stop spinning if she did.

“Thanks for the help,” Cal said, eying the two newcomers closely as he slipped his saber back onto his belt. Despite himself, the weight of it there felt good. Felt like home. He forced himself to push the thought aside, his mind reeling with questions as he asked, “Who are you people?”

“My name is Cere Junda. And this is my captain, Greez Dritus,” the woman introduced the pair, gesturing to the Latero stood beside her.

He nodded to Cal and Jayna. “How ya doin’?” he said by way of greeting. “Yeah, the Mantis is my ship, but you better pay attention to this lady here,” he added, pointing to Cere.

“So, who are you?” Cere asked.

“Cal. Kestis,” Cal said, shortly. As he glanced over to where Meena sat, her head in her hands, that niggling sensation in his head returned, and he frowned. “That’s Meena…”

“Actually…” Meena piped up, raising her head. “Should probably mention I’ve got a confession to make.”

Then it clicked in Cal’s head. The Inquisitor had called her a ‘scrap cat’. Scrap cat was Stormtrooper slang for the BracSec Security Corps… suddenly, all the suspicions he’d had when they had first met in the scrapyard came rushing back. “Your name isn’t Meena,” he guessed.  

“Nope,” she said, looking him steadily in the eye. Her pallor was a sickly grey, and she was swaying where she sat but she looked grimly determined. Despite himself, Cal felt rather annoyed and hurt, as if she’d betrayed him. In a way, he supposed she had, even if they had only just met.

‘Trust no one,’ he reminded himself.

Just as he was about to demand answers, Cere interrupted him. “Were those the names you went by on Bracca?” she asked, and Cal realised she was asking them both. They nodded. She sighed. “It won’t take the Inquisitors long to identify you then,” she told Cal, before she turned to ‘Meena’. “You might take a little longer. You did well to defend yourselves against one for so long.”

Cal recalled the fight, in vivid detail. The strength and speed of the Second Sister’s blows, the way she had clearly toyed with him, the struggle he’d had to resist not only her physical onslaught but also the Dark Side as it had all but roiled from her with every breath from her helmet. But then…there had been a moment when he had taken the advantage, when he had found new strength and determination…now he thought about it, he realised it hadn’t been from him. He turned to look at ‘Meena’ once more, eyes wide. “It was you,” he breathed. “During the fight with the Second Sister, it was you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Jayna snapped, an odd feeling of panic spreading over her at the fervent light in Cal’s eyes. She barely understood what she was talking about, so how could he?

“You’re strong in the Force. You used it to save yourself back at the scrapyard, you used it again during the fight with the Inquisitor, that’s why you’re so tired,” he forced himself to explain, as patiently as he could. Despite her duplicity, he could sense her fear and he couldn’t bring himself to be too cold, not right now.

“You’ve been breathing the fumes from the scrapyards too long, you’re delusional!” she snapped, trying and failing to stand. She almost tumbled to the ground, but Cal caught her instinctively midway, lowering her to the ground in his arms. This close, he saw the hint of brown at her roots and the slight sheen of contact lenses in her eyes, cursing his inattention.

“I surmise from her reaction that she isn’t trained?” Cere remarked, dryly.

“No,” Cal shook his head. “There was a moment when I was fighting the Second Sister when…I felt something. It strengthened me, it gave me focus and the will to beat her,” he admitted, glancing up at Cere as fear tugged at his heart.

“And now she knows who you are, now she knows of her existence…. she will not stop until she destroys you both, or worse,” Cere pronounced grimly.

“How do you know so much?” Cal asked, apprehensively. “And why’d you help us?”

“We track Imperial communications. We heard the Inquisitors were headed to Bracca, so we made our move,” she explained, and Cal felt a chill wash through him, spreading from the pit of his stomach to his limbs. ‘Trust no one.’

“Oh yeah?” he forced himself to keep his voice light, as he wondered how he was going to fight his way off a ship in hyperspace, and with a Force-fatigued adept in deep denial about her gift? “What’s the bounty on Jedi these days, anyway?”

“That’s gratitude for ya!” the Latero snapped, pointing one finger at him indignantly.

“Look, I get it. You’ve been surviving on your own for so long, that it’s impossible to trust anyone. And it’s what kept you alive,” Cere said to him, her face open and conciliatory as she talked, before her eyes fell on the unconscious girl in his arms. “I suspect her story is similar. But this is about something bigger than just surviving.”

“Like what?” he scoffed, still not convinced.

“Like rebuilding the Jedi Order,” Cere pronounced, a quiet reverence in her voice that caught Cal’s attention. He looked her over closely, for the first time since they got on board. She was a tall, slender woman in her early forties, her hair cropped short, dark eyes serious and almost pleading as she watched Cal knelt on the floor. She appeared unremarkable, but something, a voice he was only just readjusting to having in his head again, whispered there was more to her than met the eye. A bit like the girl in his arms, he reflected wryly.

Then her words hit, and hope flapped its wings inside him warily. “You two?” he asked, barely daring to believe it. “Anybody else? The Jedi Council?”

“Oh, we’re not good enough for you?” the Latero replied sarcastically.

“They’re gone,” Cere told him, with a slight, sad shake of her head.

“Oh. So, I’m…we’re all you’ve got,” he amended, looking down at the unconscious girl he had landed in this madcap moment with. Hope died within him again, but he was surprised by how easily it had sprung up at the slightest glimmer.

Cere looked away, towards the Latero. “Captain,” she said quietly. “Set a course for Bogano.”

“Aye, aye,” the Latero grumbled, as he turned and disappeared into the cockpit.

Cere turned back to Cal. “We didn’t know exactly what we would find on Bracca when we intercepted that transmission. There’s cots set up in the back for you to rest,” she told him. “And a medkit. Do you need a hand?” she asked, looking down at the girl in his arms.

“I’ll be fine,” he said, feeling oddly protective as he hefted ‘Meena’ into his arms, standing tall with her curled against his chest. His mind was racing, but he couldn’t sense any deceit in either of his new travelling companions.

“Then I’ll leave you to it. In the meantime, try and relax,” she told him gently. “Go. You’re safe, both of you. For now.”

Cal tried not to find that statement as ominous as it sounded, as Cere walked away to the cockpit and left him standing there with an unconscious girl in his arms. For a moment, he hesitated…then he sighed, and turned away to walk in the direction Cere had indicated, ‘Meena’ a warm, dead weight in his arms. For now, he didn’t have a choice and neither did she. He barely knew which way was up, at this point, but he was sure of one thing.

They needed to have a little talk when she came to.

Far away, on a rain-washed mud bank, the Second Sister paced to and fro. Like a manka cat that had been denied its prey, she let her rage bolster her even as her mind coldly analysed the events of the past few hours.

It was a regrettable occurrence, losing the two Force users they’d discovered on Bracca. Cere Junda’s interference was unexpected, but not without interest. If she had crawled out of whatever hole she’d been hiding in, it had to mean those two were worth more to her than merely saving Jedi survivors. She had no doubt they’d resurface, sooner or later.

The boy was of little consequence, she sensed. Powerful, but without discipline, he hadn’t finished his training, it was clear. He had been the epitome of the weaknesses of his obsolete kind, yet his quiet defiance had irked her.

The girl however…she wasn’t a former Padawan. She was unskilled and untrained, she sensed, a vessel of raw, untamed power with a potent connection to the Force. Today had been her awakening, the first time she had actively used the Force, she was sure of it. Her power had had the tang of freshness about it, like the first breeze after a rainstorm. If she was what she suspected, then she might just have discovered a prize that would set the Second Sister far above her Inquisitorius brethren.

She needed to investigate further.

Behind her, the Ninth Sister chuckled in her odd, growling cadence. The Second Sister often wondered if her long hours in the torture chair had done permanent damage to her vocal cords to produce such a sound.

“I don’t know what you find so amusing, Ninth Sister,” the Second Sister said, with just a little hint of menace. “You failed to ensure the Jedi’s death, choosing theatricality over surety. And now we have a manhunt on our hands.”

“And we all know how much you love one of those, Second Sister,” the Dowutin rasped.

It was true. She was a hunter, and now she had her prey in her sights. She just needed to pick up their trail once more. Once again, the image of the boy’s pale, defiant face flashed in front of her eyes, even as she recalled the sensation of the girl’s untrained power probing her own mind for weaknesses. Rage battled with intrigue, as she barked at her brethren, “Return to the city and co-ordinate the searches. I want their names by dawn. Send the BracSec commander to me. See to it, Ninth Sister!”

After a fraught moment, the Ninth Sister bowed a little and departed silently. The Second Sister turned away, to stare out at the murky Bracca night, letting her rage and frustration sink in as she embraced it.

She would find out who they were, where they came from and then…she would find them.

Jayna stirred, groaning. Her head felt like it had gone a hundred rounds with a rancor, pounding away like a drum. The pain helped, helped centre her as she tried to sit up. The fog from earlier had lifted, and her head wasn’t spinning at least.

She heard footsteps, as she opened her eyes to see Cal striding towards her, a metal cup in one hand. “Hey, take it easy,” he told her gently. “You’re ok, you’re safe.”

“That remains to be seen,” Jayna replied archly. “How long was I out?”

“Only half an hour or so.”

Gingerly taking the water he proffered, she digested in what he’d said. She uneasily recalled what had happened in the main area of the ship, before she had collapsed, and tensed for the onslaught of questions she was about to face. To her surprise, there was none as Cal suddenly sat beside her on the cot.

“Look, Cal,” she started, but he held up a hand for quiet.

“I’m not about to start interrogating you,” he told her quietly. “I get it. It’s a terrifying thing, to find out you’ve been carrying something your whole life you never knew was there. It’s ok to be scared, but you’re going to have to face up to it, sooner rather than later.”

Jayna rolled her eyes. “You’re not still going on about that whole ‘Force’ thing, are you!?” she demanded heatedly. “I told you-”

“I know what you said, but I also know what I sensed,” Cal interrupted her smoothly. “And frankly, at the moment I know which one I trust more.”

That stung, despite the point she knew he had. “Sorry about that,” she mumbled, none too graciously. “In my own defence, there wasn’t exactly an opportune moment to have a chat over a cup of caf.”

That surprised a laugh from Cal. “True,” he admitted, his smile fading as he looked at her, his eyes lingering on her split lip. “Look, you saved my life. One way or another, so thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” she breathed, suddenly wishing he wasn’t sitting next to her on the cot. To cover how flustered she was feeling, she took a draught of water. Beside her, Cal had leant down and picked up a medkit from the floor.

“Now, let’s take a look at that lip,” he said, pulling out some bacta salve and antibacterial wipes.  

“That’s ok,” Jayna hastily exclaimed. “I can fix it myself.”

“There’s no mirror in here, in case you hadn’t noticed,” Cal replied, with a small smirk.

For the first time, Jayna noticed their surroundings. They were in a low-slung room, long and narrow. Directly opposite the cot she had woken up on, was another cot while further down the room was a workbench. She could hear the thrum of the engines as they powered through hyperspace, evoking an oddly comforting feeling as they sat there. It was cool but still warmer than the average Bracca night.

Beside her on the cot was a pile of beige fabric. “Cere brought those. They’re hers, but she said you can borrow them while your clothes dry out,” Cal continued, making Jayna all too aware of how damp her clothes were, clinging to her limbs uncomfortably. He brought a wipe to her lips, making her hiss from the sting as she flinched. “Hold still!”

“I said I can do it myself,” she snapped.

“I know that, just…let me do it? Please?” he asked, exasperated but there was a gentleness in his eyes that made Jayna soften involuntarily.

“Fine,” she conceded. “But don’t think the old Nerf-Calf-Eyes are gonna work on me every time!”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Cal replied wryly, as Jayna struggled to sit through his ministrations without whimpering or flinching. A moment later, she wished they were still on the painful bit as he smoothed bacta salve over the cut, the pad of his thumb pressing gently on her lower lip. She repressed a shudder, refusing to look at him as he slowly drew his hand away. “All done,” he said, his voice a little husky.

“Your turn,” she said, determined to pay him back. He looked at her, confused, and she rolled her eyes. “You fell Maker-knows how many feet and through the roof of a train compartment, jumped off a crashing hoverbike and then took a beating from an Imperial Inquisitor. If you’re trying to tell me you just walked all of that off, pull the other one.”

“Fine,” he huffed, standing from the cot. He had taken off the scrapper poncho, she noticed absentmindedly. Underneath he wore a rigger crew jumpsuit, vest and climbing harness. He pulled them all off, revealing the pale skin of his back and side, mottled with purpling bruises.

Jayna winced in reluctant sympathy. He’d taken even more of a beating than she had. Reaching for the salve, she momentarily questioned the wisdom of what she was about do, especially given her odd susceptibility a few moments ago. But she’d offered and she wasn’t about to back down.

She began smoothing the salve over his bruises, working it into his muscles as she tried not to hurt him, and he tried not to flinch. Despite her resolve, she noticed how strong his body was under her hands, how lean he felt, and desperately tried to think of something to say to distract herself.

“I’m sorry about Prauf,” she began, breaking the tense silence. He stiffened under her hands, as she fell silent again, mentally kicking herself.

Then he muttered, “Thanks,” then, “What were you doing on the scrapyards?” he asked, almost casually. When Jayna didn’t answer, he pressed, “I heard the Second Sister call you a scrap cat. I know what it means.”

Jayna relented. It wasn’t like it mattered anymore anyway. “I was an apprentice security officer with BracSec. I’d been assigned undercover to the scrapyards to investigate contraband smuggling. My commanding officer suspected Prauf of being involved, hence why I was assigned to your crew,” she explained.

“That’s bantha shit! Prauf would never have got mixed up with anything like that!?” Cal snapped, twisting to glare at her over his shoulder but she pinched his side in remonstrance.

“I kind of got that idea,” she told him, as he sucked in a breath. “It wasn’t personal, it was just an assignment, Cal.”

“Then what changed?” he asked, quietly.

“I don’t know,” she whispered. Taking a deep breath, she continued, “But Meena Cordo is as much a fiction to BracSec as it was to you.”

“Why?” he asked, as she finally finished and backed off, pulling his jumpsuit back up quickly. When she didn’t answer, he sighed impatiently. “It’s not like I’m about to turn you in to the Empire,” he pointed out. “But I know it’s not easy to trust.”

“No, it’s not,” she sighed, looking down at her hands. They were callused and bloody from the scrapyards and the crash. “I’m not sure if I can trust you yet, but you can call me Jayna. Jayna Shan.”

“Nice to meet you, Jayna Shan,” Cal replied, a warmth returning to his eyes. He held out a hand, and she took it, shaking lightly as if they’d just met for the first time. “You should get some sleep. You look exhausted.”

Looking up into his eyes, Jayna uneasily wondered if she was making a mistake. Yet something in her whispered it was going to be the exact opposite.

Wordlessly, as he disappeared to the ‘fresher to give her some privacy while she changed out of her wet clothes, Jayna piled her things up beside her cot then drew the blanket over her. It was true, she was still exhausted, her body aching and fatigued. She was asleep long before Cal returned.

The Second Sister sat in the office of the BracSec Security Corps headquarters, staring out the windows at the city and the scrapyards in the distance. Overhead, the sky was swarming with TIE fighters and a Star Destroyer loomed threateningly on the horizon.

Two Purge Troopers were stationed either side of the door, silent and watchful. She barely noticed them, mind bent on the door and the figures she sensed would arrive.

There were only two signatures approaching. One she recognised as the Ninth Sister, burning like a Mustafarian ember in the Force, while the other was devoid of any presence; just the slightest tinge of cool professionalism and duty.

It seemed her directive that BracSec send her their commander had gone unheeded. Unwise.

She stood in said commander’s office now, but it was devoid of any personal touches she noted. She could tell nothing about Commander Torone from her surroundings, and only the vaguest echoes in the Force that were less than helpful. Discarding her fruitless observations, the Second Sister turned and faced the doors as they opened to admit the Ninth Sister and the Decimation Squad leader.

“Report!” she barked, folding her hands behind her back.

“We have positively identified both fugitives from the Scrappers’ Guild and BracSec personnel records,” the Purge Trooper said, promptly. “Cal Kestis and Meena Cordo. However, closer scrutiny of the girl’s background had indicated a false identity. We have no more leads regarding her identity.”

The Second Sister mulled the news over in her mind. “Do we have DNA samples?” she asked.

“A search of their respective living quarters is being conducted now,” the Purge Trooper affirmed.

“Then what are you still doing here?” the Second Sister replied, softly. “Get back to it and inform me when we have something.”

“Yes, Second Sister!” the Purge Trooper snapped to attention, before turning on his heel and marching smartly, if hastily, out of the room.

Once the trooper had left, the Second Sister turned her back to her brethren as she walked back to the Commander’s office chair, taking a seat insouciantly. “I didn’t think BracSec would be so foolish as to show such insolence. Commander Torone; where is she?” she hissed.

“She’s skipped town,” the Ninth Sister replied brusquely. “We’re interrogating the rest, but no one seems to have any idea where she’s scuttled off to.”

The Second Sister’s mind raced. “No matter,” she waved a hand dismissively. “If Meena Cordo managed to trick BracSec for the past two years, Commander Torone would be unlikely to know anything of value. Self-preservation is clearly her priority,” she continued, thinking hard. Cere Junda’s face flashed across her mind’s eye, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was missing something. “Continue the investigation. Once you recover DNA samples, have them analysed and cross-referenced with the records we have from the Jedi Archives, then transmit the report to me on Nur. I need to visit the archives there.”

She sensed the Ninth Sister’s disdain for the task, as well as her dissatisfaction with her superior’s orders. “Why are you wasting your time digging into these scrap rats’ pasts? It doesn’t matter who they are, just how loudly they’ll scream when I burn their limbs off,” the Dowutin snarled.

“You never did appreciate the subtleties of the hunt, did you Masana?” the Second Sister replied contemptuously, cruelty lacing every word as she felt the Dowutin’s anger at her use of the name.

“They’ll show themselves again, Trilla,” the Dowutin snapped. “They’ll make a mistake, slip up. Then they’re ours.”

It was an attempt at a power play, a retort to the Second Sister’s use of that forbidden name. It was pathetic, but then the Dowutin had never had the patience for mind games despite her inherent talent with empathy.

In wordless reply, the Second Sister curled her hand into a fist, reaching through the Force until she compressed the air around the Dowutin’s throat, reaching invisible tendrils of power into the muscles of her oesophagus and pulling them tight. “Always so simplistic,” she sighed, as the Dowutin began choking and fell to her knees with an echoing thud. “It’s no wonder you never rose higher than the rank of Ninth Sister. For all your skill in reading the emotions of your prey, you lack the vision to see the bigger picture. You think only of the kill. It makes you weak. Ineffectual.”

She turned to face her brethren, clawed fingers scrabbling uselessly at her throat as she gasped for air. With a flick of her fingers, the Second Sister released the pressure as the Dowutin slumped, greedily gasping in great lungfuls of air. “Question me again, and you will find yourself the one being hunted.”

The Dowutin said nothing as she rose, clinging to the tattered shreds of her dignity. She withdrew with a reluctant bow, rage and hatred emanating from her like a tidal wave through the Force. The Second Sister smiled beneath her helmet, breathing it in like an exotic perfume, letting it strengthen her as she turned towards the holoprojector on the desk.

She brought up holoimages of the two fugitives, as she settled back into the chair. The boy, Cal Kestis; she wasn’t sure if he was unbearably foolish or exceedingly clever to have continued using his real name on Bracca. On the one hand, it would have been easy for anyone to run a spot-check on his background and Imperial Intelligence would have flagged it the moment it scored a hit in the database. On the other, who would have looked twice at such an unassuming, humble Bracca scrap rat? Especially one who, according to reports, never made trouble and kept his head down. She had still to decide if it was intelligence or blind luck, he had gone unnoticed for so long.

Probably the latter.

Tearing her gaze away from the boy, she regarded the holoimage of ‘Meena Cordo’ intently. The girl, on the other hand…she was clearly a more careful specimen, if the false background was any indication. On a whim, she sent a request to Imperial Intelligence to run the girl’s image through their databases, to see if her image got any hits even if her name did not. She was untrained, and the Second Sister sensed, previously unaware of her connection to the Force. So, as she was clearly hiding, and it wasn’t because of her gift, then what was the reason?

It was no matter; she would know all soon enough. As she toyed with the vibroblade the girl had thrown at her, she exhaled, feeling anticipation stir her blood. Through the vocoder in her helmet, it came out as a sibilant hiss, like the sound of some serpentine predator scenting its prey. Yes, she would know everything soon enough, and then…the hunt would be on.

‘You can’t fight this; you can’t run from this. You must not try. This is your destiny, accept it!’

Jayna jolted from sleep, her mind ringing with those same forceful, unyielding accents she’d heard on the train back on Bracca. For a moment, she forgot everything that had happened, and she looked around uncertainly as unfamiliar bulkheads met her eyes, and she didn’t hit her head on the bottom of Bryna’s bunk as she sat upright.

Then she remembered everything. The briefing, the assignment. The scrapyard, meeting Cal and Prauf.

The accident, then their mad, desperate scramble to escape the Imperials. Fighting the Second Sister, being rescued by Cere and Greez. Now she was on a ship in the middle of Maker-knew-where, with a Jedi fugitive and two spacers she didn’t trust as far as she could throw them.

She felt a brief pang, as she thought about Bryna, left behind on Bracca. She hoped the Imperials wouldn’t interrogate any of her fellow apprentices when they discovered her false background. For a moment, her mind reeled as she remembered everything that had happened yesterday. She had hit Commander Torone! She had struck her commanding officer, albeit for a very good reason. She groaned, hiding her head in her hands. ‘Somehow, I doubt that’s the biggest of my problems right now…’ she thought dazedly, remembering those terrifying, heady moments when she had…. done something. Something utterly and madly impossible. Something she’d only heard about in stories, hushed whispers and Imperial propaganda broadcasts.

She had used the Force. Maybe.

Rested from her fatigue, removed from fear and the need to be cautious, she could admit it had been a possibility. A part of her still shied away, still tried to write it off as crazy but… she couldn’t deny the possibility. Not if she wanted to stay alive.

First things first, she needed her clothes back.

Cere’s trousers were a few inches too long. They bunched around her ankles as she stood shakily from the cot, looking around curiously. To her surprise, Cal slept on the cot opposite hers. For a moment, she paused and watched him in sleep; he looked just as worn out as she felt. He was restless in sleep, turning his head slightly in her direction, as if sensing her and she saw the stretched-out mark of a scar, red against his skin. It looked like the scarring from a blaster bolt, she mused, her heart aching slightly at the thought of Cal hurt. He was frowning slightly in his sleep, but it looked oddly adorable.

‘And that’s enough of that,’ she told herself firmly, disquieted by the direction her thoughts were taking her. Determined, she forced herself to look away from the young Jedi.

Her clothes had been folded neatly beside her feet, and when she reached out to touch them, she realised they were dry and clean once more, if looking a little worse for wear. She felt sore and grubby, as she picked them up and resolved to look for the ‘fresher before she faced the others.

Luckily, it was the first door she tried as she padded barefoot down the passageway that led from the little compartment, she’d awoken in. It was tiny, and looked a little rundown, but the water was hot as she started the shower. She placed her clothes on the seat of the toilet, before critically inspecting her reflection in the mirror.

Tired hazel eyes stared back at her, hair lank and dirty against her washed out skin. The fatigue might not be as bad, but she wasn’t fully recovered from…whatever that had been on Bracca. She supposed there wasn’t much use continuing the charade now she was officially on the run. She reached up and slid the contacts from her eyes, blinking away tears as they came away.

Her natural brown eyes looked back at her now, and she sighed. It felt strange seeing them again. There was nothing she could do about her hair without the right products, so that would have to wait. If her roots were starting to show, it wouldn’t be long before the regrowth would start to show, and her natural colour would take over.

Discarding the clothes Cere had lent her, she stepped into the shower and resolved not to think as she gladly washed away the grime and sweat from their mad escape back on Bracca.

Her mind was blissfully empty as she focused only on the familiar motions of washing her hair and body, when she began to feel something odd.

She felt a rising sense of panic, but it was muted, like trying to see through a dense fog or hear a whisper underneath loud music. Anxiety, grief, anguish was all mixed in, but it…was detached from her, separate. They weren’t her emotions; she was sure of it.

But then, what…?

As if through a fog, she caught the faintest echo of a familiar voice. It was like hearing and yet not, or rather she didn’t hear with her ears. She hastily shut off the water, stepping out of the shower and into the tiny ‘fresher, eyes wide and staring.

Then she felt it again.

“Find your destiny…Cal, look out!”

That was Prauf’s voice but…it wasn’t him. Cal. It was Cal.

Was she…sensing his dreams? His emotions? Was he doing this, somehow? Could he feel her emotions too?

Feeling uneasy in her own skin, Jayna tried to shut out the echoes from Cal’s dreams, towelling off and redressing quickly. Checking her face in the mirror, she was relieved to see that the cut on her lip was healing nicely, thanks to the bacta. It would be gone in a day or two.

Then she felt it again, as Cal’s anxiety and anguish slammed into her, stronger this time. She gasped, reaching out to grasp the edge of the sink, her knuckles white, then she abruptly breathed easier when she felt him awaken.

‘What in the kriffing hell was that?’ she thought. She needed answers.

Tying her damp hair back into a ponytail, Jayna opened the door just as Cal walked past. They stopped, suddenly awkward around each other as Jayna wondered if he knew what had just happened, and Cal was stunned when he realised her eye colour had changed.

“Hey,” she started, unsure how to go on.

“Hey,” he replied, just as uncertain. “Did you sleep well?”

“Well enough,” she shrugged. “You?”

“I…yeah,” Cal shrugged in reply, running a hand nervously through his hair. “Your eyes…they’re different.”

“Contacts,” Jayna explained. “Cheaper and safer than back alley surgery. Just in case any Imperials felt like running an identi-scan on my face.”

“Ah,” Cal muttered, nodding to himself. They stood in silence for a moment, neither sure what to say or do, then both tried to move at once. They jostled in the tight space of the passageway, Cal’s arms instinctively reaching up to steady Jayna. He could feel the awareness and embarrassment radiating from her, except…it was different than usual. Before he could examine it further, she pulled back from his arms and took a step away. “Sorry,” he mumbled, as she nodded and turned away.

She led the way out of the aft compartment of the ship, determined not to look in Cal’s direction. All thought of asking him about what she’d just felt fled when she had bumped into him, and she just wanted to put some distance between them.

The main living area of the Mantis was more spacious than the back room they’d slept in, equipped with a galley and seating area. Dotted around the area were terrariums, some filled with tropical plants while others stood empty. At the galley, the Latero called Greez was chopping up some fruit.

“Mornin’ Weirdo One and Weirdo Two!” he called over cheerily. “There’s Moof juice if you want any.”

“Weirdo?” Jayna repeated, somewhat insulted. The Latero shrugged insouciantly.

“Eh, you both talk in your sleep,” he replied, turning back to his fruit.

Jayna exchanged a look with Cal. He raised a brow right back at her, and she had to fight the urge to laugh. She took one of the cups of juice, stepping down to the table as she took a sip. It was sweet and cool on her tongue, making her feel a little better as some of the last of the fatigue still lingering in her body eased. She took another sip, then drank it straight down. She turned around to see Cal watching her with amused eyes, holding out his own cup.

“Here,” he offered. “You need the sugars after what happened on Bracca. It’ll help you feel better.”

Deciding not to grace that unspoken challenge with a reply, Jayna just took the second cup wordlessly and drained it. To her slightly begrudging surprise, she did feel better as she put the cup down on the table, then noticed the instrument leant against it. “What’s that?” she asked, curiously.

“It’s a hallikset,” Cal replied, leaning down so his hand just hovered over its neck. Jayna watched him closely. She felt that surge of…something, as Cal’s eyes briefly fluttered closed, then he picked it up. He swung about, then sat on the sofa and leant back, balancing the hallikset on his knee.

“Do you know how to play?” Jayna asked, taking a seat beside him. Greez came around the galley and set a platter of fruit on the table, and another two cups of juice as an alarm started bleeping softly in the cockpit.

“Not exactly,” Cal murmured.

As Greez hurried off to check the alarm, Cal began strumming a few notes on the hallikset, then began to play a recognisable tune. It was a beautiful melody, soft, slow and sad. It lingered in Jayna’s ears, long after Cal stopped playing, as she became entranced watching his fingers pluck and strum the strings confidently, as if he’d been playing for years.

“How’d you-” Jayna began to ask, confused when both felt Cere watching them from the side.

“That song…I wrote it,” she told them, eyes intent on Cal as she stepped down and stopped beside the sofa. “Years ago.”

“It’s called psychometry,” Cal began, more for Jayna’s benefit than Cere’s, since she seemed to know so much already.

“You touch an object and witness events connected to it,” Cere continued, her voice softly awed. “You feel its history.”

“It’s an echo in the Force from the object,” Cal explained further, glancing at Jayna.

“Not many Jedi have that skill,” Cere remarked, sitting down beside Cal. She glanced at Jayna, and smiled softly, almost disbelievingly. “Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine I would find not one, but two gifted young Jedi on Bracca.”

“I’m not a Jedi,” Jayna interjected firmly.

“No?” Cere asked, her gaze steady as she watched Jayna. It made her uncomfortable, like Cere could see or know something she didn’t, and it made her want to squirm. “It doesn’t matter if you’re not. The Empire will hunt you now, regardless.”

“Why? I’m not a Jedi. I’m just a nobody, a faceless, nameless ghost to them,” Jayna retorted. “Why would they be interested in me now?”

“Because you’ve awakened. You have a powerful connection to the Force,” Cal interjected, with a sympathetic glance in Jayna’s direction. “You won’t be able to hide anymore.”

“It’s more than that,” Cere interrupted, drawing Jayna’s attention before she could reply. “You have a gift, like Cal. I never thought I would live to see it.”

“What are you talking about!?” Jayna demanded.

“During your fight with the Second Sister, you used battle meditation,” Cere told her, gently. “You reached out through the Force and enthused Cal with your own will and determination, giving him the strength, he needed to keep fighting.”

Jayna heard Cal’s sharp intake of breath beside her. “So, I was right. What I sensed…it was you,” he said quietly, his eyes transfixed on her face. Jayna felt herself redden under the intensity of his eyes.

“It’s an even rarer skill than psychometry,” Cere continued. “And like Cal’s gift, it cannot be taught. You were born with it.”

“How would you even know anything about all this!?” Jayna snapped, fear making her curt as their words struck a chord inside her that refused to stop pealing, sending her world reeling on its axis.

Cere sighed. “I was once a Jedi. But not anymore,” she told them.

Momentarily distracted, Cal turned to look at her hopefully. “Do I know you?” he asked.

“No,” Cere shook her head. “But I know your Master, Jaro Tapal. He was a true guardian of the Republic.”

“He was a hero,” Cal agreed quietly, a broken note in his voice that drew and held Jayna’s attention in her suddenly reeling world. He closed his eyes, as if in sudden pain, and Jayna almost reached out with an instinctive need to comfort him. “Listen,” he breathed. “Something happened to me during the Purge. I survived but… my connection to the Force is damaged. When I meditate, if I let my guard down…I lose control. And it’s like I’m back in that moment when…” he trailed off, as Jayna reached out and tentatively clasped his upper arm with her hand, all but willing him to draw what comfort he needed from the contact.

She felt him tense, then relax as Cere’s eyes lingered on the contact. “You survived, Cal…” she told him, gently but firmly. “And you’re not alone. Not anymore,” she added, with a sideways glance at Jayna. “Neither of you are. The Force brought you together, and it brought me to you. Take comfort in that now.”

Cere’s words, softly spoken and meant, riled Jayna, nonetheless. All her fear and anxiety bubbled over inside her once more, and she stood and began to pace restlessly.

“Okay, listen,” she began, trying her best to keep her breathing level and steady, but it was getting harder. All Cal and Cere’s talk of Force gifts and Jedi had made something inside her tighten, like a knot in her throat she couldn’t get rid of. She was veering wildly out of control, and she hated that feeling. “I know you think I have some crazy mumbo-jumbo going on, but this is madness. I’m not that person you’re talking about. I’m not some Jedi, or some insane space wizard!” she snapped. “You’re wrong about me. You must be.”

“Really? Did you never find yourself knowing things or guessing things, things no one could have guessed?” Cere asked, knowingly. “When you were training with BracSec, did you never find yourself visualising your way through an exercise or a sparring match, and open your eyes to find events had transpired just as you pictured?”

Jayna went to deny it, as she paused in her restless march, but she couldn’t find it in her to demur. The truth was…every time she had hit the sparring mats, so long as she kept herself centred and focussed, her fights had always ended exactly as she had visualised them in her head. Intuitive, that’s what Commander Torone and some of the other instructors had called her.

“Jayna, I know you’re scared,” Cal said, drawing her eye as he stood and gently put a hand on her arm, just as she’d done for him. “It’s ok to be scared. We can help you through this.”

“But what if I don’t want to be helped?” she asked, eyes searching his pleadingly. “What if I just want to be left alone?”

Cal went to reply, his eyes warm and kind, but Cere interrupted, her voice a stern, uncompromising if gentle warning. “You don’t have a choice anymore,” she told Jayna, standing from her seat on the sofa smoothly. “The Empire will already be in the process of identifying you. The Second Sister will have sensed what Cal did, what you did for him, what you tried to do to her…”

“This is unexpected. Such raw power…but you’ll have to do much better than that to slow me down, girl.” The Second Sister’s sibilant purr filled Jayna’s head again, as panic spiked in her blood.

“…and once she reports back to her superiors, they won’t stop until they find you,” Cere concluded grimly. “You’ll be too valuable to the Empire to be left alone. The only measure of safety you have left now is the chance to train and hone your gifts so you can defend yourself. I’m sorry, but you don’t have any other choice.”

Jayna stared at her in horror and anxiety, as Cal’s hand slipped down her arm, so his fingers intertwined with hers, as he squeezed her hand supportively. Her breathing hitched, her eyes wide with tears as he sensed her frustration, her panic and her fear like a cold mist emanating from her skin. She was on the verge of a panic attack.

“We’re comin’ up on our destination,” Greez informed them over the intercom, Cere leaving them to join him in the cockpit.

They were left alone, with just Cere’s grim words and an ocean of ghosts between them. Jayna felt, as if through a fog, Cal’s concern as he watched her, then the warm weight of his callused hand as it left hers to join its twin on her shoulders, pulling her round to face him.

“Hey, look at me,” he told her quietly. She did so reluctantly, meeting his dark green eyes hesitantly. He could feel her body trembling under his hands and trying her hardest to hide it. “It’s okay. I’ll help you. I think Cere will help you too. You’re not alone in this,” he assured her.

“I didn’t ask for this,” she whispered. “It’s not fair.”

“I know,” he replied, his heart aching for her, wishing he could assuage her fear. “No one does ask for this. But you’re not gonna have to face it alone. You’ve got me.”

Her mouth quirked into a lopsided smile. “Us against the world, huh?” she quipped.

He mirrored her one-sided smile with one of his own. Watching her eyes, he saw a strange kind of acceptance replace the reluctance and denial he’d seen earlier, as he sensed her anxiety fade and watched as she visibly drew herself up. Some of that cocksure fire from when they’d first met in the scrapyards returned, and she stepped back from his hands.

Cal told himself he didn’t miss the feel of her when she did.

“You might live to regret that promise,” she told him, as Greez called back to them.

“Hey kids! Get up here and grab some seat, we’re about to land!”

As Cal followed Jayna into the cockpit, some uneasy instinct told him she might have a point. He only hoped he was wrong.

To be continued….

Chapter Text

The Mantis reverted to realspace with a shudder, approaching a large, temperate-looking planet. From his seat at the front of the cockpit, Cal could see the clouds scudding across its lower atmosphere. In the Force, the entire planet resonated with a strange energy, unlike anything he’d ever felt before.

As Greez deftly piloted the Mantis through the planet’s gravity well and into the upper atmosphere, Cal realised they were making for the north-west quadrant of its northern continent. He felt the tug in the Force, like something was pulling him and uneasily wondered what they would find.

He heard Jayna’s hastily stifled intake of breath, and guessed she was feeling something similar. The planet was calling to them both.

As they descended through cloudy, though sunny, skies Cal sat back into his seat beside the Latero pilot, thinking over everything that had happened earlier.

Jayna’s fear was an understandable reaction, he mused. It hadn’t surprised him that she had been so vehement in denying what had happened on Bracca. He wondered what her story was; if she was a similar age to him, she could have been a Padawan too. What stroke of ill fortune or bad luck had stopped her from being discovered by the Seekers? But then again, it was probably for the best. If she had been found and chosen as a Padawan before the Purge…she might have been killed. Or worse, forced to serve the Empire if Cere’s assertions about her gift were true.

Many Jedi were capable of a limited command of battle meditation, after many years of study and training in the intricacies of the Force, but it was usually restricted to an individual or a small group. Jayna had used it instinctively, which meant that possibly…she could be capable of the kind of mastery that hadn’t been seen among the Jedi in millennia. Not since the Mandalorian Wars and the Jedi Civil War.

 For a moment, Cal let himself wish that he had been older, more experienced when the Purge happened. His own training had been far from complete, and he felt woefully unprepared to help Jayna accept and explore her power.

But then, if he’d been stronger and better prepared then maybe…. ‘No!’ he told himself, cutting the thought off before it could lead down roads better left untravelled. ‘You can’t change the past. There’s no point torturing yourself with it.’

All he could do was go forward.

At least he could teach her the basics. His own connection to the Force might be damaged, but he hadn’t forgotten the lessons his Masters had instilled in him, all those years ago in the Temple before Master Tapal had chosen him.

As the ship banked steeply, gliding in a wide arc, Cal was shaken from his ruminations. He refocussed on the view outside the transparisteel windows: a wide, lush mesa that stretched further than the eye could see. In the distance, he glimpsed some strange reptilian creature, massive in size, lounging in the light and heat from the system’s twin suns on a neighbouring mesa. And beyond that…a towering structure stretching up into the sky. It came from there, the call he felt. That was what Cere had brought him here for, he was sure of it.

As the ship landed and powered down, Cere gestured for him and Jayna to join her as she unbuckled her restraints and led the way out of the cockpit. Cal and Jayna exchanged a glance as they rose to follow her.

“Do you feel it?” he asked her, quietly.

“I feel…something,” she admitted begrudgingly. Cal supposed it was progress at least. ‘Baby steps, Cal, baby steps,’ he told himself, as he joined Cere by the landing ramp.

As she opened the ramp, she announced, “This is Bogano.”

As they stepped outside the ship, the first thing Cal noticed was the humidity. He could practically feel it against his skin, as the heat of the twin suns beat down on them. The mesa they had landed on was a miniature marshland, lush reeds and trailing pond scum separating shallow pools of water. In the distance, he could make out several strange, furry creatures bouncing and scurrying around; in the Force he could sense their curiosity and trepidation. They were prey animals, and they were wondering if the newcomers were going to be trouble.

And again, that strange energy emanating from the tower-like structure in the distance.

“Charming,” he heard Jayna mutter behind them as she emerged from the ship. “Lovely vacation spot.”

“A Jedi I know discovered it before the Purge,” Cere replied, with a gently amused tone to her voice. “You won’t find it on any maps.”

“The Empire doesn’t know this place exists?” Cal asked, surprised. Since the Purge, the Empire had been aggressively expanding, sending probe droids and expeditionary missions into uncharted and forgotten parts of the galaxy in the hunt for resources. Bogano was lucky to have escaped notice.

“No,” Cere asserted, with a satisfied smile. “We’re safe from them, for now.”

“Handy little bolt-hole,” Jayna remarked, as she stepped down off the ramp and stood beside Cal, close enough that he could smell the scent of the soap she’d used in the shower that morning. Feeling suddenly a bit dizzy, he tried to get his mind back on track.

“So? What’s the plan? We hide out here?” he asked, turning to Cere questioningly. Somehow, he doubted it, but he wanted her to confirm his suspicions.

“We’re done hiding, Cal,” Cere told him. “We’ll stay a short while. It won’t hurt to disappear for a time; it’ll throw the Empire off our scent and give us time to prepare. See that structure over there?” she asked, pointing to the tower in the distance. “It’s a Vault built by an ancient, extinct civilisation thousands of years ago. I believe that Vault holds the key to rebuilding the Jedi Order, but it requires someone strong in the Force to pass its test.”

“And since you’re not a Jedi anymore, that’s why you need us,” Cal concluded.

“Not a Jedi,” Jayna added, with a roll of her eyes. Cal was visited by the supremely immature urge to roll his eyes right back at her.

“Fine. That’s why you need me,” he amended, a touch sarcastically. It seemed like it really was going to be baby steps with getting Jayna to accept her gift.

Cere looked unsurprised by his conclusions. “I know you don’t trust me,” she told them, gently. “And I’m not really sure I trust you. But we have a common enemy, and a common cause.”

To his surprise, Jayna didn’t deny it as she stayed quiet behind him. He just nodded, agreeing to lay his own suspicions aside for the moment.

“Good,” Cere nodded, smiling. “I’ll share more of my plan after you reach the Vault. Until then, there’s someone here I think you should meet,” she added, with a knowing grin, before turning to Jayna. “You stay here. We’ve got some work to do while Cal’s gone.”

“Hey, wait a minute,” Jayna began to protest, as Cal turned to face her.

“It’s ok, Jayna. I think I know what Cere’s got in mind,” he told her, hoping to allay her fears. “You’ll be safe.”

“It wasn’t me I was worried about, nerf-herder,” Jayna retorted, rolling her eyes. “Mr Bigshot Jedi or not, you could use some backup out there.”

“Probably,” he conceded, with a small smile. “But I think I’ll be safe enough. No Inquisitors round here to worry about.”

“Not yet, anyway,” Jayna muttered darkly. Cal reached out a hand and grasped her shoulder tightly.

“It’ll be okay, Jayna,” he assured her. “You need to start your training. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“I told you, the nerf calf eyes aren’t going to work on me,” she muttered, eyes narrowed warningly. “But fine. Guess I could use a rest from saving your scrawny arse every five minutes.”

“Glad I can be of service,” he replied tauntingly, sketching a mocking bow before he turned and started walking away.

“May the Force be with you!” Cere called after him, as he paused and looked over his shoulder as the older woman took Jayna’s arm and pulled her back towards the Mantis.

Once he was alone, Cal knelt and ran his hands through the reeds, letting the pulse of life he sensed through the Force fill him with energy as he focussed on what he needed to do. Taking a deep breath, he rose and set off down the slope towards the lower half of the mesa.

To Jayna’s surprise, Cere didn’t take her back into the Mantis, but underneath it, until they were stood on the opposite edge of the mesa. Ahead, the horizon seemed to stretch on infinitely, with barely a cloud in the sky.

Just beside where the Mantis had landed, there was a large, square-faced rock. Cere pointed to it, but Jayna stayed still.

“So…what? It’s time for Jedi 101?” she asked, a mite caustically. She felt jumpy and unsure, her mind lingering on Cal as she sensed him move further away from the mesa. She felt annoyed at herself for worrying about him too.

“In a manner of speaking,” Cere replied, with an amused smile. “First you need to learn control. You need to learn to feel and connect to the Force, before you can hope to do more than that, consciously.”

“I did pretty well back on Bracca,” Jayna pointed out, folding her arms stubbornly.

“Instinct, combined with adrenaline and dire circumstances,” Cere replied dismissively. “You can’t rely on them if you hope to survive, Jayna.”

With a defeated sigh, Jayna unfolded her arms and took a step towards the rock. “You don’t seem to be doing too badly without all this nonsense,” she countered. “If the Force is something you’re born with, how come you’re not a Jedi anymore?” she asked, a slight surge of hope inside her at the thought.

Cere looked back at her gravely. “I know what you’re hoping, and it won’t help you,” she told the younger woman, pityingly. “Just as one’s connection to the Force can be cut off, it can also be re-established. If the Inquisitors get a hold of you, you’ll be begging them to let you reconnect by the time they’re finished with you. You cannot run from this, Jayna.”

“Then why are you?” Jayna snapped, annoyed. Cere’s eyes flashed, but she remained cool and serene as she patted the rock.

“Because I am of no interest or value to them. I can fly under their radar, something neither you nor Cal can hope to expect from now on,” she told her, firmly. “So, accept it. Get up here, legs crossed and start your training.”

Noting how Cere had dodged around her questions regarding her past, Jayna gave in anyway. It had only been a wild, tiny sliver of hope that there was another way out for her. She did as she was told, trying her best to find a comfortable position on the unyielding rock underneath her, crossing her legs and hoping they’d be done before the blood flow in her legs was cut off.

“No offence, but if you can’t use the Force anymore, how are you going to teach me to use it?” she asked.

“It’s true that, for some things, you’ll need Cal to guide you but for this first lesson…I think I can handle it,” Cere told her, a little condescendingly. “While I can’t feel the Force as I once did, it doesn’t erase my decades of training and study.”

“I suppose not,” Jayna admitted.

“Now, tell me what you think the Force is?” Cere asked, crossing her hands behind her back and looking at Jayna expectantly.

“It’s…a power Jedi have, I guess,” Jayna began hesitantly. “And the Inquisitors, I guess. It gives them the power to control people and…. push people off stuff?”

Cere took a deep breath, muttering under her breath about being too old to train younglings.

“Hey, I am NOT a youngling!?” Jayna snapped, insulted.

“But you are as ignorant as one,” Cere replied curtly, folding her arms in front of her now as she eyed the young woman narrowly. “The Force is not a power you have. It is the energy between all things in the galaxy, a balance that binds the very fabric of the universe together.”

“Ok, thanks for the philosophy lesson but that’s hardly a helpful answer!” Jayna replied heatedly. So far, this training business was turning into a farce.

“Nothing about the Force is durasteel, Jayna,” Cere told her, a touch more patiently this time. “It cannot be so neatly explained and quantified as you might want it to be. The only way you can hope to begin understanding it, and so understand yourself, is to feel it. Without questioning, without conscious thought. Just as you did on Bracca.”

Jayna sighed, trying to find her own well of patience as Cere inclined her head. “Now,” the older woman began. “Close your eyes. Breathe. Focus only on what you can feel as you do so.”

Jayna did as she was told, taking a deep breath in as she forced herself push all other concerns aside. She tasted the marshy tang of the air as it entered her lungs, she felt its humidity as it clung to her skin and hair, sweat pooling in the hollow of her spine. She heard the distant call of strange creatures, she could detect an odd smell on the wind, as well as the smell of oil and reactor coolant from the Mantis, as it blew past them.

“Good,” Cere said, almost distantly. “Now reach out.”

For a second, Jayna was tempted to just raise her hand, and physically reach out. But guessing she had taxed Cere’s patience enough that morning, she didn’t. She just sat there, feeling more and more idiotic as the minutes ticked by.

“Remember how you felt on Bracca, when you touched the Force for the first time. The way it felt, how you felt,” Cere continued, yet it sounded like she was talking from further and further away. It was though a bubble had come down around Jayna, and she was sealed off from the rest of reality. “It’s okay, Jayna. You’re safe here,” Cere told her, softly. “Breathe. Reach out with your feelings.”

 Desperately, Jayna thought back to how she’d felt when she had pulled that barge towards her in the scrapyards on Bracca, and again during the fight with the Second Sister. Both times, despite her fear and desperation, she had felt…an odd kind of calmness wash over her. A still point with which to anchor herself in the storm. She felt for it again, as she took another deep breath in.

And felt the veil in her mind give way, for the last time.

“What do you feel?” Cere asked, and if Jayna could have seen her face, she would have seen wistful longing mixed with sadness.

That dizzying feeling of connection, of understanding, flooded her senses. She could sense everything; with a preternatural awareness she had never felt before. She could sense the curious creatures that hopped from burrow to burrow, only a few yards distant; she could feel the cool of the wind as it blew over porous rock, the clacking of some strange insectoid creatures lurking on an adjacent mesa; the invisible puffs of air as the swamp weed inhaled carbon dioxide and exhaled oxygen into the air. But it was more than that: she was all of them. She was the bead of sweat on Cere’s brow as she stood watching her unlikely student, she was Greez’s muscles as he performed some maintenance on the Mantis’s engines, she was the shielded panels of the Mantis herself, she was the tremor in Cal’s limbs as he knelt down to meditate, on the next mesa, the pain and anguish that threatened to tear him apart.

She was all of it, all of them and yet she wasn’t. She was still herself, still Jayna, just not as she had ever known herself before. But Cal was like a lodestone, pulling her in.

“Cal…” she felt herself whisper. “He’s… troubled. He’s in pain.”

Cere nodded, and Jayna felt it even though she couldn’t see it. “He has his own demons to face. Now, focus Jayna. Leave Cal be, and tell me what more you can feel.”

Forcing her focus away from Cal, Jayna expanded her awareness, letting it travel on and on, further and further, deeper and deeper, higher and higher until it felt like she touched the fabric of space itself.

“Life…I can sense life,” she whispered. “Death and decay, which feeds new life. Heat, cold, peace and bloodshed,” she continued, as she sensed the death throes of one of those creatures far away, its life snuffed out by a looming, rapacious shadow.

“And what links them? What connects them all?” Cere asked, in a voice so quiet Jayna would have wondered how she heard it, if she hadn’t also been the intent to speak those words in Cere’s mind before she ever spoke them.

“A balance, an energy,” Jayna muttered, before a slow, soft smile lit her features as understanding grew. “A force, connecting us all. Inside me, connecting me too.”

She could sense Cere, sense her satisfaction and her acceptance, just as she could sense her stunted connection to the Force. Like a tenuous string, she was still linked to it, but it was minute, infinitely small and fragile. Yet, Jayna sensed it was a deception; with just the slightest spark, it would flare into flame once more. She sensed a deep wellspring of darkness inside Cere, pain, anguish, guilt, fear, hatred…

She shrank away from Cere, not wanting to stretch herself too thin her first time. Yet, she didn’t feel tired. If anything, her last remaining dregs of fatigue were washed away as her body and mind drank in everything she could feel with her newfound awareness. And just like before, she could sense the tendrils connecting her to everything else, as if she could reach out and move them to her will, with a single thought.

‘But I don’t want that kind of power. I’ve never wanted it,’ spoke the part of her that remained distinct and herself, whispering defiantly.

‘But you must. You will accept it,’ a familiar voice spoke up in her head, yet Jayna sensed it originated from outside of her.  It was the voice she’d been hearing in her dreams ever since she was fourteen years old. Since before Bracca…

Fear spiked in her blood, and she retreated into herself, slamming back into her own mind like a child scrambles for shelter from nightmares. But that awareness didn’t fade, it simply lingered, like a whisper against her ear as she opened her eyes panting.

And met Cere’s understanding, sympathetic ones. “Now, your path begins,” she told her solemnly as Jayna gasped for breath, desperately trying to understand what had just happened.

Cal’s old friends, anguish and fear abruptly threw Cal from his meditation as he lost his focus. Breathing hard through clenched teeth, he frantically tried to find something else to focus on as he felt himself near the verge of losing control.

As his heart rate slowed and his breathing returned to normal, he pondered what he’d felt. That hadn’t been like other times he’d tried to meditate; the grief and fear were old friends, and nothing he hadn’t faced before. But for a moment, he had sensed something else, or rather someone else…

Jayna.

He had felt her sudden panic and fear as something had forced her out of meditation too. He’d felt her earlier, like the ghost of a touch against his face, and had tried to block her explorations out as he settled down to his own meditations. Even with his best efforts, he’d remained aware of her right up until the moment he lost focus, just after she did.

Even now, he could sense her emotions as he pulled his awareness back, like a soothing light at the back of his mind.  Wondering at this new development, he glanced down as something chirruped at him from the long grass.

It was a droid, a BD series from the look of it. Developed during the last days of the Republic as an exploration and analysis assistant.

It edged closer to him, beeping and chirruping in quick succession. “Hey, BD-1,” he said to the little droid. “I’m Cal.”

“Boo-boop!” the droid replied.

“Uh, yeah I’m okay. I’m just…I’m looking for someone,” Cal explained, his mind translating the droid’s Binary effortlessly. All younglings at the Temple were taught Binary, and Cal had always found the language of droids easy. It had helped him survive on Bracca, being one of only a few who could understand the scrapper droids without the use of a translation matrix or a protocol droid.

“Beep?”

“No, not you,” Cal shook his head, the little droid’s curiosity and complete lack of caution making him want to smile. “I’m searching for, uh, a Jedi. I think.”

The droid’s reaction was not what he was expecting.

It beeped eagerly, doing a little dancing jump as Cal struggled for a moment to translate its excitable beeps. “Hold, y-you know the Jedi? What do you know? Wait!” he called, as the droid turned tail and rushed towards the edge of the mesa where an old terminal stood at its crumbling edge. The droid hopped up onto its main interface, extending one leg into the uplink on the central panel. With a crackle of power, a bridge extended to the next mesa, as the droid hopped down and looked almost inquiringly over its shoulders as if to say: Well, are you coming?

With a smile and a breathless laugh, Cal followed.

“I know it can be extremely disorientating, the first time,” Cere was saying, as Jayna tried to catch her breath. “With time, and practice, you will learn to embrace that feeling and let the Force carry you where you need to go. But it can be frightening.”

“I-it wasn’t that…” Jayna shook her head, her mind replaying that voice in her head over and over. Where, where did she know it from? It was achingly familiar. Caution suddenly seized her, and she refused to say anything else, not sure if she could or should trust Cere.

But who could she trust? Cal?

To her surprise, she wanted to. Desperately. His promises to stand with her as she went through this journey was heart-warming, and a part of her longed to lean on him as he said she could while another reminded her, she couldn’t trust anyone. Not even Cal.

“Now, I want you to refocus your mind, Jayna,” Cere told her, gently, pulling her hands away from her face, so she was forced to meet her eyes. “Take a deep breath in, and when you do imagine everything you’re feeling, all the fear, anxiety and uncertainty. Visualise it, give it form and then expel it. Breathe it out. Let the Force wash you clean of all those negative emotions.”

Cautiously, Jayna did as she was told. She pictured her fear and anxiety as a noisome fog in her head. With one deep breath of the swampy, humid air of Bogano, she expelled it even as she expelled the carbon dioxide from her lungs.

“Good,” Cere said to her, with a small smile. “Letting go of emotion, especially the negative ones, is the linchpin of the light side of the Force. Holding on to them, letting them rule you, control you, is a path to the dark side of the Force.”

“You mean, like the Inquisitors?” Jayna asked, curious. A part of her wanted to disagree with Cere’s assessment; what she’d sensed was so much more complex than mere light and dark.

“Yes,” Cere nodded gravely. “They use their emotions as a source of strength, but they’ll eat away at you, if you let them, until there’s nothing left of the person you once were. It is the lie and the trap of the dark side of the Force. It promises control, but instead enslaves its practitioners. The Inquisitors are nothing but slaves to their own fear, anger and hate. It is the Sith way, although the Inquisitors are not fully Sith.”

“Sith?” Jayna asked, cocking her head to the side at the unfamiliar word. It stirred something inside her, somehow pregnant with meaning she couldn’t yet decipher.

“Dark Side Force wielders,” Cere explained, grimly. “It is what the Emperor is, the doctrine he follows. The Sith were our ancient enemy; we once thought them utterly defeated but they simply went into hiding. Rebuilt themselves in a new form, gaining strength even as we began to lose our own. It was the Sith that orchestrated the Clone Wars, lured the Jedi in and then ordered the clone troopers to betray us. It is the Sith who founded and trained the Inquisitors, although they are never fully indoctrinated into their teachings. The Emperor wouldn’t want to take the risk that one of them might grow strong enough to challenge him,” she concluded, with a contemptuous edge to her voice that threw Jayna for a moment.

“And were you? Betrayed by your own troopers?” she asked next, carefully. “Was Cal?”

“Yes,” Cere replied, closing her eyes for a moment as if thinking of something that pained her. When she opened them again, they were calm and serene once more as she regarded her pupil coolly. “What about you? What’s your story?” she asked, quietly.

Jayna shrugged. “Not much to tell,” she said dismissively. “Grew up in an orphanage on Brentaal IV. When the Empire took over, they introduced mandatory enlistment into the Imperial Army for all unadopted children over the age of fourteen. When my name came up, I ran away.”

“It must have taken some doing to make it all the way to the Mid Rim, to Bracca,” Cere mused, eyes intent on Jayna’s face.

“I stowed away on a cargo freighter to Nar Shaddaa. Once there, I used what credits I’d been able to save or steal, and bought myself a new identity,” Jayna continued, hoping Cere wouldn’t ask why she had chosen Bracca. She could barely explain it to herself.

“So, you have just as much reason as we to avoid Imperial notice,” Cere concluded, with a grim smile. The Imperials weren’t kind to deserters, as they labelled those who refused to enlist. As she turned away, something that had been niggling away at Jayna prompted her to speak.

“I just wanted to ask…” she trailed off, as Cere swung around and looked at her questioningly. “If the Sith use negative emotions as their strength and the Jedi release them, what about positive emotions? Like happiness, friendship, love?”

Cere seemed to hesitate, as if thinking over her answer. “Emotion of any kind, positive or negative, can be a path to the Dark. The Jedi do not walk that path. Instead, we release all our emotions, the better to serve the Force and the galaxy.”

Jayna frowned, slightly disturbed by Cere’s answer. Not allowing negative emotions to control you, that she could understand. Not getting caught up in positive ones so they became a distraction, she could appreciate. But trying to feel nothing at all? Even she couldn’t quite get her head around the idea.

“Now, clear your mind of questions,” Cere told her, gesturing for her to stand. “While we wait for Cal to return, I want to see what combat skills you have.”

As Jayna scrambled to her feet, her mind raced even as unease sank its claws in.

Cal followed BD-1 through the complex maze of mesas and outcroppings as he leapt from one to another, carefully not thinking about the long drop underneath their feet. Finally, they paused on an outcropping that was too far away for Cal to jump.

‘This could be a problem,’ he thought, as he eyed the gap. Then BD-1 chirruped at him, drawing his attention to a rusty old zipline, anchored to the side of the cliff. “A zipline?”

“Bo-be-bo-beep!” BD-1 replied enthusiastically, hopping up onto the top of the structure and looking back to Cal invitingly.

“Well, I’m game if you are,” Cal muttered, positioning himself underneath the droid on the zipline. He heard the clamps on its feet engage, then as he jumped and caught hold of its chassis, it began to propel itself along the zipline. “WHOA!”

“Beep-beep!” BD-1 said.

The next outcropping loomed large in Cal’s vision, and as it drew closer, he reached into the Force and let it direct him as he used his momentum to jump clear of the zipline and onto the spongy earth of the marsh. “How’d you know that would work?” he asked, breathlessly as BD-1 landed beside him.

“Bee bo-boop!”

“Wait, you didn’t?” Cal asked, ever so slightly disturbed by the droid’s apparent lack of self-preservation programming. A moment later, he laughed nervously as he considered what might have just happened.

Shaking it off, Cal tried to centre himself again as the adrenaline surged and ebbed in his blood. Drawing on the Force, he could sense the echoes of the planet’s last human inhabitant, underneath all the sensory information from its residential flora and fauna. It drew him towards a long, rusty looking pipe that extended out from the far side of the outcropping they were stood on, following in BD-1’s wake as the droid led him on.

“Careful over there! That doesn’t look safe,” he called, as the droid showed no concern over leaping onto the pipe and dashing along it. BD-1 beeped at him chidingly. As he followed, he sighed to himself, “Fair point.”

As he followed, balancing on the pipe as he edged round after BD-1, he found himself thinking, ‘Just like back at the scrapyard.’ He immediately flinched away from thoughts of Prauf, but the moment’s distraction stopped him from noticing BD-1’s predicament as the tiny droid leapt off the pipe inside a large, circular room and attacked a creature that had been burrowing around in some pottery.

“Hold on, BD-1! I’m coming!” Cal shouted, dropping on the pipe so he pulled himself along on his arms and into the room. He dropped, igniting his lightsaber as he did so. The creature snarled and lashed out at BD-1, knocking the droid down. Cal sliced its head off with one cut of his saber, then felt the approach of another. It met the same fate as it lunged, collapsing to the floor in two pieces as the acrid smell of burnt flesh rose on the air.

Breathing hard, Cal deactivated his saber once he sensed there were no more threats in the immediate vicinity. The fauna on Bogano was certainly…interesting.

As he looked around for BD-1, seeing the droid had scuttled off, he felt a pull in the Force and stepped towards a large workbench, on which rested what looked like a half-finished journal, filled with observations about Bogano’s local flora and fauna. Carefully, he reached out and let the Force echo flood into him, his head aching a little at the sudden influx of information.

The creatures he had just killed…they were called bog rats…and there were more…those insectoid organisms he’d sensed were called Splox, and the strange furry ones he’d glimpsed jumping around from burrow to burrow were called boglings…and then there was something called an Oggdo…he could feel the writer’s curiosity and satisfaction as he noted down his observations in the journal.

With a gasp, Cal terminated the connection. Realising he’d lost BD-1, he glanced around for the droid but couldn’t find any trace of him until he heard a faint beeping coming from a room, concealed behind a spinning cooling fan.

Taking a deep breath, Cal reached out and slowed the fan’s speed, slipping through the gap it created to find BD-1 waiting on the other side.

“Hey, that was pretty brave,” he told the little droid, kneeling to better look it over for damage. “You okay?”

“B-b-b-b-beeeep,” the droid replied, limping away as Cal realised one of its legs, the one with the scomp link, was damaged.

“Wait!” he called, as the droid turned back questioningly. “I can help you with that. Will you let me?”

The droid appeared to stop and consider his offer, glancing down at its damaged leg before all but launching itself into Cal’s arms.

“Oh!” Cal breathed, chuckling to himself as he took the droid’s weight. It curled into his arms like a manka cub, docile and kind of adorable as Cal carried it towards a workbench littered with tools. They looked serviceable, if a little worn from being used then left for who knew how long, as Cal inspected them then picked up a welding torch. “Okay, hmm. Well, the scomp link is busted but this should help you get moving for now,” he told the little droid, as he set to work fusing the broken components of its leg so at least it’d be able to walk without limping. The routine task soothed Cal’s mind, and he relaxed a little as he worked, humming a song from his favourite band under his breath. When he’d finished, he said, “Okay, try that.”

BD-1 flexed its new foot, gingerly stepping up and down on it, before beeping and fwooping happily. “Bo-beep!” it trilled, catching Cal’s attention as he leant in.

“The Vault? Yeah, that’s where I was headed too,” he replied.

“Beep-be-bo-beep,” BD-1 trilled excitedly, hopping off the workbench. Cal gathered up some of the tools and slipped them into his utility belt. The place was long abandoned, and if his suspicions were correct, the owner wouldn’t have any objections to him borrowing them.

“First, we gotta figure a way out of this place,” Cal remarked, looking around at the fan, which was now spinning at its usual speed again. BD-1 trilled at him and raced into a small, dark hole in the wall beside the fan, as Cal laughed. “Uh, BD, that’s a little small for me!”

A cheeky comment about Cal sucking his gut in made him shake his head in exasperation.

 “Don’t worry,” he called, as he turned back towards the fan. “I’ll find my own way out.”

Jayna ducked under the Mantis as she followed Cere out onto the flat, metal grating beside its landing spot. Cere bade her to wait, as she disappeared back inside the ship and Jayna stood looking out at the horizon.

It was better than dwelling on her own thoughts. Experimentally, Jayna closed her eyes and opened her awareness back up, letting the Force flow into her and letting herself flow into it. It was becoming easier with every attempt.

This time, the cacophony of life and death wasn’t so frightening, as she let her mind roam over the miles between her and Cal, her thoughts drawn to him like a magnet.

He was underground, in a narrow cavern that seemed to echo with memories and feelings, but she couldn’t quite read them, not the way Cal could, she suspected. She could sense their presence, but not their substance.

She felt Cal raise his lightsaber, igniting it as he swung towards some cables blocking his way but…they were live! ‘CAL!’ she screamed in warning, but it was too late. His blade made contact with the currents, and he was thrown back as they exploded.

Pain blotted out Jayna’s senses, and she was thrown out of focus, slamming back into her body as she collapsed to her knees, winded and bruised. Her shoulder ached with a phantom pain, as she gasped for breath.

“Jayna!” Cere called, rushing across the landing pad to her. “What is it? What happened?”

“It’s Cal,” she gasped. “He’s hurt, no wait! He’s okay,” she breathed, in relief as she felt something ease the pain in her phantom shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m alright,” Cal muttered, groaning as his shoulder ached at the sudden discharge of energy through his body. BD had slipped its head casing under Cal’s other arm, helping him sit up, albeit painfully.

Jayna watched it deploy short-range repulsors in its legs, as it jumped up into the air and hovered until it had swung round and landed on Cal’s other side.  A panel in its head retracted, and a small vial popped into Cal’s hand.

“A healing stim? You’re full of surprises,” Cal muttered, before driving the vial into his injured shoulder, the micro needle in its tip injecting the stim into his bloodstream. Immediately, Jayna felt a wave of relief as the pain ebbed and she could move her shoulder again. Or Cal’s…it was getting confusing.

‘Cal?’

‘Jayna?’ he replied, stopping short when he felt her in his mind. ‘How-?’

She could sense his confusion as he stared at her. “Wait, you can see me?” she asked aloud.

“I can but…” he trailed off, as the vision abruptly cut off and Jayna was shoved back into her own body, almost alone except…not.

She could still sense him.

‘Are you ok, Cal?” she asked, trying to keep the connection alive for a moment longer.

‘Yeah, yeah I’m okay,’ he managed to reply, just before the connection between their mind lapsed back into dormancy, and Jayna could only sense the barest echo of his emotions, just like before.

Jayna looked up into Cere’s worried eyes, her own wide and questioning. “What in seven Corellian hells was that?” she demanded, as she straightened and stood up. Her knees felt a little weak and shaky.

“A Force Bond. You felt Cal’s pain,” Cere mused, but Jayna shook her head.

“It was more than that. I spoke to him, and he heard me,” she whispered. Cere looked troubled for a moment, before she nodded to herself.

“I’d heard that when Masters of old used battle meditation, they forged Force Bonds with those they touched with their power. It’s likely you’ve done the same thing with Cal, since you used your gift on him on Bracca,” she explained. “Before the Purge, they were only really used between Master and Padawan. If you leave it alone, it’ll likely fade with time.”

Jayna accepted that explanation, but some instinct inside of her whispered it would take far longer than Cere expected for it to fade. Her connection to Cal had felt as strong and inflexible as durasteel, for the briefest moment they were connected. Even now, unable to access it at will, she could still sense Cal’s emotions like a ghost of a touch against her cheek.

“Now,” Cere started, business-like once more as her concern over Jayna faded. She held out a long, thin tube of metal and Jayna recognised her quarterstaff. “I thought we’d start with some basics of combat.”

“I know how to fight,” Jayna scoffed. BracSec trained its apprentices well, in that regard.

“Do you? Then show me,” Cere called almost tauntingly, as she tossed Jayna her quarterstaff.

Raising a brow, Jayna shot Cere a slightly insolent look before she turned her back on the former Jedi and, with a flick of her wrist, triggered the hidden switch in the handle, extending the quarterstaff to its fullest extent.

BracSec taught its apprentices how to fight melee combat with both batons and quarterstaffs, with their extendable staffs usable as both. Jayna had proven herself proficient enough with a baton, but with the quarterstaff she had always excelled.

It helped make up for her lack of height and reach, helped level the playing field against taller and stronger opponents. As she ran through her forms, fighting against an imaginary opponent, Jayna let herself slip into the familiar movements and rhythms with a sigh. Here, at least, was something she understood without having to think too much.

“Not bad,” Cere called. “You’ve had some good grounding. It’s a pity I don’t have the parts, you would be a natural with a dual-bladed weapon.”

“A dual-ended what?” Jayna asked, as she paused in her forms, her muscles pleasantly warmed up as she lowered her quarterstaff.

Cere simply smiled at her, as she reached towards her belt and removed a long, wrapped tube from it. “I needed to know how you handle a melee weapon so Cal can teach you to use one of these,” she told her, as a bar of azure, solid green light expanded from the hilt.

Despite herself, Jayna moved back. “But that’s a Jedi’s weapon. I’m not a Jedi,” she protested.

“Regardless, you’ll need to know how to use one,” Cere told her, with a wistful look at the blade in her hand. “D’you think your quarterstaff would last a minute against the Inquisitors’ blades?”

“Fair point,” Jayna sighed. They would cut it to pieces in nanoseconds. “So, when do I start my lessons?”

Cere’s smile turned a little sad, as she shook her head. “Cal is better equipped to train you for that,” she explained, quietly. Then her smile turned a little wicked, as she shut the saber off and hung it back on her belt. “You won’t be getting your hands on a saber today, at any rate. First, I want to see how you fight unarmed.”

“Oh really?” Jayna asked, looking Cere up and down calculatingly. She was taller than Jayna, but also older. It could mean more experienced, but also slower and weaker. She pressed the switch to shrink the quarterstaff back down and placed it aside.

“You’ve had some good tuition, you’re elegant and agile with a quarterstaff,” Cere began, shrugging off the spacer’s vest she wore. “But you can’t always rely on having a weapon to defend yourself with. Now, show me what you’ve got.”

Jayna undid her jacket and slung it aside, taking up a combat-ready stance opposite Cere as the older woman did the same. Her eyes scanned her form, calculating the most likely points of weakness. She’d go in low, go for the knees then once she was on the ground, she’d subdue her.

As Jayna moved, so did Cere. And Jayna realised her mistake: BracSec trained its apprentices to fight untrained drunken brawlers and petty street thugs. And she was right about Cere being older and infinitely more experienced than Jayna.

She jumped over Jayna’s reverse ankle sweep, then sent an elbow towards her face. Jayna blocked it with her arms, recovering her balance as she rose but Cere caught her blocking arm, twisting it down and round, and Jayna with it until she ended in a headlock.

Tight, but not choking, Jayna was helpless until Cere released her. “Again!” she called, as she took up her position in front of her. Eying her opponent narrowly, Jayna was more cautious as she moved.

She feinted towards Cere’s face, but followed up with a flat, open palm to the older woman’s stomach, driving the air out of her lungs and winding her. She recovered quickly, slapping away Jayna’s attempts to subdue her with blows to the face and head, and grasping the girl around the neck, drove her back against the side of the Mantis.

“You’re getting frustrated,” Cere told her, serenely.

“Of course, I’m getting frustrated,” Jayna choked out, around Cere’s tight grip.

“Don’t. It will betray you,” Cere told her, sternly. “Let it go, let all emotion go.”

“How can I do that when I’m the one losing?” Jayna snapped.

“You’re fighting like you don’t have the advantage. You’ve always had the advantage: now use it!” Cere snapped back.

Jayna stared at her, aghast as it suddenly clicked in her mind.  The Force.

It took real effort to find her anchor, her focal point to centre herself, as she closed her eyes and reached out to it, to that strange, unknowable energy that was becoming more and more familiar with every passing moment. It gave her new strength, washed away fatigue and pain even as her body bruised from the force of Cere’s blows, lent her mind clarity as she pushed away frustration and pride.

And then she felt them. The threads, connecting her to Cere, to her mind, her muscles, her bones. She felt the intent to strike Jayna once more rise in Cere’s mind, the urgency she felt for her to grasp something, some important truth, as if they were her own.

‘You will not win this,’ she decided, in the two seconds she had before Cere’s intent turned to action as her muscles tensed. In the split second she had before she drew her arm back, Jayna felt the Force reach into her and she saw how the fight would go.

As Cere took one hand away from her throat, she would raise one of her own and bring her elbow down on Cere’s arm. When Cere released her, Jayna would backhand her across the face then while she was reeling from that, she grasped both arms around Cere’s shoulders, boosted herself up until she sat astride one, her legs forming an unbreakable loop around the older woman’s torso. She would twist, and drive them both down to the ground, using Cere’s higher centre of gravity against her.

As Cere went to move, Jayna’s eyes snapped open. And she moved first.

She brought her elbow down on Cere’s arm, breaking the chokehold around her throat, before using the same arm to smash Cere across the face with her knuckles. Cere stumbled, reeling from the blow as Jayna grasped her shoulders, giving her purchase to climb up and straddle Cere’s torso, blocking her from using her arms to dislodge her. Then, she let gravity do the work for her, tipping them both over until Cere hit the ground winded. The impact drove the air from Jayna’s lungs too, but she forced it back in as she scrambled away, turning on her knees until she stood tall before Cere.

Cere pulled herself upright, a focussed look on her face as she strode towards Jayna. The Force whispered a warning, as Jayna dodged one strike, then a second, then a third, ducking under Cere’s guard and kicking the back of her knee, driving the older woman to her knees. She grabbed Cere’s free arm, putting it into a lock and putting pressure on it before grabbing her in a headlock.

Cere tapped her arm three times, and she released her, backing away as her focus faded and with it, her awareness as it receded into the depths of her mind. “Good,” Cere panted. “That was good, you used battle meditation. I felt it, felt my reactions slowed and my strikes weaken. But you still have much to learn.”

“Do I? I mean, if I master battle mediation, won’t it just render any opponent’s own skills useless?” Jayna asked, trying to catch her breath. Cere looked thoughtful as she rose from her kneeling position.

“Only some opponents,” Cere warned her. “Battle meditation is useful against some, if not most opponents but against a trained Dark Side Force user, it won’t be as effective. They are trained to use their most negative emotions as fuel for their power. You won’t be able to convince them they’re doomed to lose the fight, and the angrier they become, the stronger they’ll be.”

“So, the Dark Side is stronger than the Light?” Jayna asked.

“No,” Cere said quickly. “Quicker, easier, yes. Seductive, yes. Stronger? No, never stronger.”

“Then why were the Jedi defeated?” Jayna asked, curiously. Cere turned sad eyes to hers, and Jayna felt a little ashamed of her tactless questions.

“Because we grew complacent, and in our complacency, we grew too comfortable. We failed to see the need to change, to adapt and we paid the price,” Cere replied sadly, but there was a sternness in her voice made Jayna pause. “The Galaxy paid the price.”

Silence fell between them on the landing pad, as Jayna contemplated what Cere had told her and Cere appeared lost in some dark memory. She visibly shook herself from its grasp and smiled shakily at Jayna as she held out a hand. “Come, enough for today. You’ve done well,” she told the younger woman. “You’ve made a good start. But let’s get some bacta salve and patches before we both end up looking like we’ve gone ten rounds with a rancor.”

Cal pulled himself up onto the ledge as BD-1 leapt from his back, trilling and beeping softly in the gloom of the cavern.

“See something in there?” he asked, as BD seemed transfixed by the wall. And he soon realised why; low-slung, reptilian creatures – Zaur, whispered the echoes in his mind - traversed the rock as easily as he walked across the room. They also presented a solution to their current predicament, if he could find the focus to accomplish it.

The Force had drawn him to this cavern, but the walls were sheer and difficult to climb without equipment. It was their only way out without help. It seemed the Force wasn’t about to let Cal’s past rest.

He closed his eyes as he reached and placed a hand against the damp, cool stone of the wall beside him. Conscious thought faded away as he opened himself up to the Force, letting it reach into him as a familiar memory and voice floated to the surface of his mind.

“Try again!”

Cal groaned as he hit the ground for the umpteenth time, frustration simmering in his blood. “It’s difficult, Master,” he admitted, but that was all he would let himself say. Jaro Tapal wasn’t one for complainers.

“Yes, the path is difficult,” the Lasat said, from atop the platform he stood on. “It may seem impossible, but with persistence and the Force as your ally, you will overcome any obstacle. You will master any path.”

Cal opened his eyes to find he had traversed the wall as the Zaur had, the Force carrying him across as if he’d been lighter than a feather. “I did it,” he breathed, as Master Tapal’s voice seemed to echo in his ears. “With persistence and the Force as my ally,” he continued quietly, feeling pain at the memory but it was dimmed. It was a good memory; he had fallen so many times that day, but it had taught him a lesson he vowed not to forget again. BD-1 fwooped and beeped on his back, concerned. “Just remembering old tricks,” he told the little droid softly.

With a smile, he repeated the manoeuvre until they were free of the cavern and stood on the mesa in the sunlight. Since leaving the abandoned workshop, they’d followed a meandering path across the mesas, through caverns and caves, as he picked a way across to the Vault in the distance. They were close now.

Letting the Force flow through him, Cal ran and leapt at the rugged stone walls, gaining purchase just long enough to leap to the next, and then the next until he stood on the muddy slope leading up to the mesa on which the Vault stood.

“We made it,” he breathed, with a smile. For a moment, he let himself feel satisfaction as BD sprang from his back, racing up the muddy slope towards the Vault. “Race you there?” he called to the little droid, before sprinting up the slope.

The droid beeped and sped off. “Whoooa, it’s on!” Cal shouted, eagerly, feeling like the young man he was for a moment, as he raced the droid towards the Vault.

Soon though, the sprint turned to a scramble as the slope steepened, and the damp ground made it hard for his feet to find purchase. Cal resorted to using his hands to help him climb, as BD-1 jumped back onto his back with a double beep.

“We’re not finished yet,” Cal retorted defiantly.

“Boo bee boo!”

“Okay, okay,” he conceded, as they cleared the top of the slope. “You probably would’ve won. Probably.”

The droid trilled back a reply that made Cal smile. The smile faded as he took in what lay before him. In the very centre of the towering structure he’d seen from the Mantis’s landing pad, was a tall, rock-like obelisk. Facing towards the entrance was a central panel, inscribed with ancient looking carvings, depicting strange pictograms and glyphs he couldn’t make out.

Hesitantly, he reached out into the Force. It was strong here, rippling out from the obelisk, almost as if it exerted its own gravity, pulling him in. It felt like the way he could feel Jayna’s mind calling to him, even now, even a mile or two away from the Mantis.

Shaking away thoughts of what had happened in the workshop when he struck those cables, he refocussed on the panel. Probing it with the Force, he felt the echo as his fingers were drawn to a central point, a tiny depression invisible to the naked eye. He sensed the hope of the Jedi Master, whose echoes he’d come across all over the place as he’d travelled across the mesas, who had last stood here, and the ancient sorrow of the species who had built the Vault all those millennia ago.

With both the Force and his hand, he pushed down and in.

With a crack of ancient stone, the panel retracted before their eyes to reveal a narrow crack in the rock, just large enough to squeeze through.

Undaunted, Cal stepped forward and pushed himself through.

Inside the obelisk, it was dark and tight, the stone squeezing him on all sides so he could barely breathe. He pushed down the instinctive panic and kept going until he saw a ray of light ahead. He pulled himself past the final edge and emerged into a wide, cavernous chamber. The floor was flooded, the water soaking into his boots as he stepped forward, eyes wide.

“Amazing,” he breathed. The Force was strong here, its energy swirling like a vortex around him. It was neither dark nor light, he noted, but balanced between the two as he eyed the archaic paintings on the walls, depicting tall, robed figures with long fingered hands.

In the very centre of the chamber was a small dais, just slightly raised out of the water. The Force drew him there, and he followed, curious and expectant.

BD trilled and hopped down from his back, scurrying for the dais and waiting for Cal to catch up before its holoprojector flared into life.

“You alright, BD?” Cal asked, bending down to the little droid to check, when the image of an elderly man in Jedi robes flickered into being before them. 

“Well done, whoever you are,” the hologram began, warmly. “You have passed the test I left behind and gained access to the Vault and this recording. One of many encrypted logs stored in the droid,” it explained, gesturing downward as it could see where BD-1 was standing. Cal stayed quiet as the hologram continued. “I am Master Eno Cordova. I may not know your name, but I know your purpose. The fate of the Jedi Order lies in your hands.”

The hologram, Master Cordova, went on to explain that the Vault had been built as a sacred temple millennia ago by a vanished civilisation called the Zeffo. Cal listened in astonishment, recalling the sadness he had sensed from the obelisk, and wondered what had happened to them. But then Cordova’s next words caught his attention and held it with an iron grip.

“Meditating here, I was granted a premonition through the Force. A vision of doom. I have placed inside this Vault a Jedi holocron, containing a list of the names and locations of young Force sensitives throughout the galaxy,” Cordova continued solemnly, as Cal’s heart leapt. “Ahead, you will find the inner chamber of the Vault but also another test. I can only trust this holocron to someone who has followed my path and understands. Seek out the hidden tombs of the Three Sages and learn to perceive the mysteries of the Force as the Zeffo once did.”

The hologram paused and then gestured to the droid playing the recording. “In this droid, you will find everything you need to succeed on this journey. Go to the Zeffo home world. There you will find peace in the eye of the storm,” Cordova concluded, with a slight bow of respect. “Good luck, Jedi. And may the Force be with you.”

The recording ended; the hologram flickered out of existence as Cal struggled to comprehend what he had just heard. A list of Force-Sensitives scattered throughout the galaxy…. But that could only mean…

Excitement made Cal smile, as the implications dawned on him, before the shadows came with them. The Empire would kill to get their hands on such a list. They would never have to worry about anyone challenging them for a generation if it found its way into the hands of the Empire.

He couldn’t let that happen.

He looked down at BD-1, as he realised the true meaning of Cere’s words when he left the Mantis earlier that morning. “I guess you were the someone I was supposed to meet,” he remarked, as he knelt in front of the droid.

“Be-beep!” BD-1 gave a confirmatory response.

“You know, I’ve been alone for…a while now,” he started, feeling a lump rise in his throat as painful memories tried to push their way to the surface of his mind. He flinched away from memories of Bracca, of Prauf, as he forced himself to keep talking. “Without any…purpose. Just hiding. It’s no way to live, not for a Jedi. Or a droid,” he continued, contemplatively as he looked down at BD, listening attentively, its antennae whirring back and forth. “Maybe Cere was right. Maybe we’re done hiding.”

For a moment, he stopped and thought about what that would mean. But he no longer had a choice; he’d made it back on Bracca when he had reached within to save Prauf’s life.

Resolved, Cal looked back to BD-1 with a small smile. “Hey!” he said. “You wanna meet some, uh, friends of mine?” he asked.

The droid beeped and trilled before it clambered back onto Cal’s back, and Cal smiled as he headed for the gap in the rock. As they emerged into the humid air of Bogano, and slid down the muddy slope of the Vault, Cal felt himself smiling freely, for the first time in years.

An hour or two later, and a few unfriendly encounters with the local fauna, Cal made it back to the Mantis. Along the way, BD had shown him another recording of Master Cordova, but it had troubled him.

He needed to talk with Cere. And Jayna.

As he cleared the swamp, he saw Cere waiting for him on the passenger ramp. She held herself gingerly, as if in pain, and he could feel flickers of conflict and tension in the Force as he crossed the landing pad.

“What happened?” he asked, concerned.

Cere smirked. “I started Jayna’s training,” was all she said, before her smirk turned to a proud, knowing smile. “You passed the test,” she stated.

“So, you knew about BD-1?” Cal asked, as BD peered over his shoulder.

“Come on board!” Cere called, laughingly. “We’ll talk inside.”

Cal followed as she ducked inside the Mantis, wondering what he’d find.

Jayna was seated on one of the sofas beside the holotable, applying bacta salve to her cut lip.

“Hey, you ok?” he called, alarmed.

She smirked. “Yeah. Cere packs a punch,” she said, by way of explanation. “I see you made it back in one piece. Who’s your friend?”

“Oh, meet BD-1!” he gestured to the droid as it hopped off his back and onto the table, and then onto the cushioned bench behind it. At that moment, Greez came bustling out of the cockpit. “BD-1, this is Greez. Hey, Greez!”

The Latero stopped and pointed in horror and confusion, as the droid hopped from cushion to cushion, chirping in greeting. “What is that!?” he demanded. “Get off my sofa. Get…get off my sofa! Go! Get outta there, get out!” he yelled, chasing the poor droid off the sofa as it trilled indignantly, hopping onto the floor.

“That is BD-1,” Cal explained, hand outstretched placatingly in case Greez felt the urge to be even more unfriendly towards the little droid. “He’s with us.”

“I don’t care who he’s with. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get oil stains out of potolli-weave fabric!?” the Latero demanded irately.

“Not really,” Cal replied, indifferently as Jayna laughed softly, standing from her seat and moving closer as he took a seat on the steps leading up to the galley.

“Oh!” Greez scoffed. “I hope you found something better out there than this droid.”

“Oh, calm down Greez. He did,” Cere interjected, before turning to face Cal expectantly. “Tell us, Cal.”

Cal sensed their interest, even Greez’s, as they clustered closer, hanging on his every word. So, he told them everything the hologram had told him, holding nothing back as excitement lit Cere’s features and Jayna’s and Greez’s eyes grew wide with wonder.

“The next generation of Jedi!” Cere declared, with a triumphant note in her voice. “I knew it! Ah, Cordova, you old fool!”

“You knew him?” Cal asked.

“Yes, a long time ago. I was his apprentice,” Cere explained, with a slight smile as she was lost in memories. “Cordova was a loner. That little droid and I are probably the only ones that know about Bogano.”

“Wait, what is a holocron?” Jayna asked, her brow furrowed in confusion.

“It stores information but is only accessible to Jedi,” Cere explained, impatiently. “Hang on, I think I have one around here.”

As she went to fetch it, Jayna looked to Cal as he moved towards her. “You okay?” he asked.

“Nothing a bacta patch or two won’t fix,” she assured him, with a slight smile. Beside them, Greez muttered impatiently while BD-1 trilled curiously at Jayna.

“Hey there, little guy,” she smiled down at it. “Guess you’re along for the ride too, huh?”

BD-1 booped happily as Cere reappeared with a strange object in her hand. She handed it to Cal. “Use the Force.”

Cal took it gingerly, wondering what he was going to unlock as he reached out, using the Force to reach deep into the internal mechanisms of the holocron and trigger its message.

It opened, the outermost facets rotating and lifting away until its core was revealed. It shone with a bright light, and the holographic image of a Jedi Master in full robes, with a neatly trimmed beard, auburn hair and sad eyes

For some reason, the sight of him made Jayna shiver as the Force rippled around her, but she couldn’t understand its message.

“This is Master Obi-Wan Kenobi,” the hologram stated coolly, yet there was a waver in his voice, just beneath the surface, like he was trying his hardest to hold on to his composure. As if it was the only thing he had been left.

Perhaps it was, Jayna mused to herself, suddenly feeling inexplicably sad.

“I regret to report that both our Jedi Order and the Republic have fallen,” the hologram finished, as the holocron abruptly powered down, its facets locking back in as it dropped back into Cal’s hand.

Silence fell between the Mantis crew, until Cere broke it. “With that list of Force-Sensitives, we could rebuild the Jedi Order and defeat the Empire,” she asserted.

“Okay, no problem!” Greez enthused, throwing his arms up. “Let’s get it.”

“Except the holocron is hidden deep within the Vault, and to get it we have to follow Cordova’s path,” Cal said, stopping the Latero in his tracks.

“And how do we do that? Did he leave a treasure map?” Jayna asked, a little sarcastically as she folded her arms.

“Of a kind,” Cal replied, glancing her way before looking to Cere. “He mentioned something about the planet Dathomir and a Zeffo home world.”

“Wait, wait a minute,” Jayna held her hands up, feeling strangely off-balance as her mind whirled. “Just stop and think for a second. You want to go on a crazy treasure hunt, across the galaxy with the Empire on our tail, and for what? The Jedi couldn’t stop the Empire from rising; who’s to say they can stop them just as they’re reaching the height of their power?”

Cal went to reply, looking annoyed by her lack of enthusiasm but Cere held a hand up placatingly. “It’s a start, Jayna,” she told the younger woman. “And in any case, we’re not going anywhere just yet. It won’t hurt to let the Empire think we’ve gone to ground for a few weeks. We’ll continue your training and decide on our next course of action when you’ve gained an acceptable level of control over your abilities. Until then, let’s just focus on that.”

Feeling chastened, and annoyed she felt that way, Jayna rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she muttered. “Well, since I’m not going to get beaten up anymore today, I’m gonna go take a shower.”

With that, she turned and walked away, leaving Cal and Cere staring after her.

“I’ll make a start on dinner,” Greez added, bustling towards the galley as Cal set the holocron down and took a seat beside Cere at the table.

“Before we go any further,” he began, seriously. “I need to know something. How come you’re no longer a Jedi?”

“I had an experience that changed my perspective,” Cere admitted, hesitantly. Her face was composed, but there was anguish in her eyes. “So, I cut myself off from the Force.”

Cal wasn’t surprised by her admission. He’d suspected it, had sensed how diminished she had become in the Force, and he wondered what she had experienced that led her to that desperate course of action. Something in her eyes warned him not to ask, not yet.

“But you still want to rebuild the Order?” Cal pressed, gently. In the back of the ship, he heard the gentle rumble as the shower turned on in the ‘fresher. He could sense Jayna’s disquiet like it was his own.

“I believe that rebuilding the Order is the best chance we have against the Empire,” Cere replied, fervently. “What do you believe?” she asked him.

Cal shook his head, struck by the question. “I believe I can’t keep hiding from the Empire, so I don’t really have a choice,” he replied, honestly. He hadn’t had much chance to think about it, truly.

Cere shook her head. “Cal, as long as you’re alive, you will always have a choice,” she told him, before nodding toward the back of the ship. “So does she. It’s why she needs your help, Cal.”

“I can sense her feelings,” he admitted, quietly as Greez bustled about the galley behind them. “I even talked to her, as if she was right there beside me.”

“I know, I witnessed it myself,” Cere nodded. “She accidentally created a Force Bond between you two when she reached into your mind on Bracca. It could work to your advantage, if you let it.” 

“I don’t know if we can trust her,” he admitted, thinking back to what she’d said about rebuilding the Order.

“She’s been on her own for so long, she knows nothing but survival,” Cere agreed, but there was a knowing glint in her eye as she watched Cal. “But somehow I doubt that’s all there is to her. You need to guide her, Cal. Guide her where I cannot.”

Cal fell silent, pensive and uncertain as he thought about what Cere had said. As he felt the echo of Jayna’s own uncertainty and anxiety, he truly wondered if Cere was right when she claimed they had a choice.

Because he was starting to feel like it wasn’t one.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Across the other side of the galaxy, a sleek Imperial Star Destroyer reverted to realspace in the Mustafar system. Bypassing the looming shadow of the volcanic planet that bore the same name as the star system, it held its position by a small moon nearby.

The moon’s name was Nur, and just like the star system and the planet it orbited, it was a name that could strike terror into even the most stoic of Jedi survivors when they heard it whispered. If Mustafar was where Jedi came to die, then Nur was where they were reborn.

If one could call a living nightmare, rebirth.

An Imperial shuttle emerged from the Star Destroyer’s hangar, flying in a smooth, sleek arc down towards the moon’s surface.

Nur was completely oceanic, with no landmass above the ocean floor. Nothing lived above the ocean’s surface, except for a towering, black structure that stretched towards the sky like the point of a knife or an archaic arrowhead from antiquity.

The tower was just the tip of the Hoth iceberg. Below the waves, the tower extended downwards into a sprawling complex. It was prison, military installation, training dojo, torture chamber and fortress: The Fortress Inquisitorius.

The Imperial shuttle flew around the tower in a wide arc, before landing smoothly on a pad set just beside the tower’s sloping sides. Purge Troopers stood to attention as the landing ramp was lowered and the Second Sister stepped off the ship.

She didn’t even glance at them as she strode into the Fortress. Inside, a Purge Trooper waited for her.

“Welcome back, Second Sister,” he intoned, bowing at the waist. “The Grand Inquisitor is off-base at present but ordered me to request a mission report from you as soon as you arrived.”

“Did he?” the Second Sister smiled beneath her helmet, not slowing her stride as she walked past the Trooper. “I’ll be sure to get right on it,” she said, making a casual fist with her hand.

Behind her, the Trooper began to choke, gasping for air.

The Second Sister paused only to turn and speak down to the suffocating Trooper, releasing her grip only enough that he wouldn’t expire from the pressure around his throat. “Send all relevant archival data regarding Prisoner #625547 to my personal terminal. When the DNA analyses from the Jedi Archives comes through, do the same. I will not be disturbed.” And with that, she turned and strode away, her cloak billowing in her wake as the Trooper gradually stopped choking.

“I hate being on welcoming committee duty,” he muttered to himself, before pulling himself upright and hurrying to follow the Second Sister’s orders. After all, he really didn’t want to get Force-choked again.

On Bogano, the new crew of the Mantis went about the rest of their day. Cal waited until he was sure Jayna had finished her shower, before going to talk to her.

Greez was checking their food supplies for an extended sojourn on Bogano, and Cere had disappeared to do some scavenging after she’d inspected the tools Cal had brought back with him from Cordova’s workshop. BD-1 was off exploring the lower deck of the ship.

He approached the aft compartment of the Mantis with no small amount of trepidation. He had a feeling this was going to be a difficult conversation.

When he ducked around the corner, he saw Jayna on her cot, combing out her damp hair with a brush she’d borrowed from Cere. She wore the spare set of clothes Cere had lent her, the tunic baggy and loose around her torso.

“Hey, you okay?” he asked, as an opening gambit.

She paused in her brushing, before rolling her eyes before she met his. “Let me guess, Cere sent you to talk to me?” she asked.

“No,” Cal replied firmly. “I came to talk to you because I was worried about you. It’s been…a busy day, for you.”

“It’s nothing I can’t handle,” she said, dismissively before she started combing her hair out again.

“I felt you,” he persisted. “When you meditated for the first time, I felt something push you out of it. Something that scared you.”

“This Force Bond is going to get really old, really quick,” she muttered under her breath, as she put the brush down, shaking out her hair so it fell over one shoulder. “Do you remember your family?” she asked, abruptly.

Caught off-guard by the sudden subject change, Cal didn’t think of evading the question. “No, not really,” he shrugged, before deciding he might as well be comfortable for a few hours while Greez made dinner and Cere was off scavenging. He sat down on his cot and began undoing his boots. “I was given to the Order as a baby. I grew up at the Temple, and then I was made a Padawan when I was ten. I suppose you could say the Jedi were my family.”

“So, the stories were true? The Jedi took babies from their homes and brought them up themselves? Doesn’t that sound a little…off to you?” she asked, curiously. “How can anyone make a choice if they’re never offered it, if the choice was made for them before they could even consider it?”

“We had no choice but to take them when they were so young,” Cal retorted, but without any anger in his voice. “The older a Force Sensitive is when they begin their training, the more susceptible they are to emotions that lead to the Dark Side. Growing up within the Order taught us to handle those emotions, so when we began to experience them, we were ready for the challenge.”

“I’m not sure suppressing emotion is the same as handling it,” Jayna replied curtly. Somehow, Cal sensed she wasn’t picking a philosophical fight for the sake of it; she was trying to avoid him asking something.

Like what had pushed her out of her meditative state that morning and scared her so much.

“Do you? Remember your family, I mean?” he asked, deciding to go on the slightly more aggressive tack.

At first, she fell silent and Cal thought she wouldn’t answer. When she did, her voice was halting and sad. “No,” she breathed. “No, I don’t. I grew up in an orphanage on Brentaal IV. When the Imperial recruiters came a-calling, I ran rather than submit to any Imperial indoctrination.”

“You think the Jedi Order is no better than the Empire?” Cal asked, feeling a surge of anger, followed by sadness.

“I think they didn’t have to look far for inspiration,” she replied softly.

“You’re wrong,” he told her, fervently. “I’ll show you the Jedi Order can be a force for good in this Galaxy.”

“Cal,” she sighed, rolling her eyes again as she curled her legs under her on her cot. “I appreciate the need to train my abilities. But I don’t want anything to do with rebuilding the Jedi Order.”

“Wait, wait!” Cal snapped, holding up his hands as he realised that she’d nearly outmanoeuvred him into forgetting his original question again. ‘If she’s this good at evasion when she’s just talking, I’m almost scared to find out what she’ll be like to fight hand-to-hand,’ he mused to himself. “I know you’re fudging, Jayna. You’re trying to annoy me enough that I’ll storm off and leave you alone.”

“Is it working?” she asked, impishly. Cal met her eyes with a stern look, refusing to back down. She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Fine. I suppose if anyone’s not going to think I’m crazy, it’s you so…it started when I was fourteen, just after I received my enlistment notice for the Imperial Army-,”

And so, she explained the dreams she’d been having every night since then. How they’d told her to go to Bracca, that she had a destiny that she needed to accept. She told him how the voice had gone from comforting and ethereal to forceful and menacing since Bracca, how she sensed she knew the voice, but she couldn’t remember where, no matter how hard she tried.

“And you heard that voice when you meditated this morning?” he asked, brows furrowed in thought as he mused on her words. At her nod, he frowned. “It sounds a little like the Force Bond between a Master and a Padawan,” he said, thinking aloud. “But who-?” he trailed off, his head snapping up as Jayna watched him nervously. “You said you don’t remember your parents. And that you grew up in the orphanage?”

“Yeah, since I was ten years old…” Jayna trailed off, her own face darkening. “But I was ten. I should be able to remember them. I should be able to remember something!”

“What happened to them? Why did you end up in that orphanage?” Cal asked, restraining the urge to reach out as Jayna jumped to her feet and started pacing restlessly. “Was there some kind of accident, one that could have affected your memory?”

“No, nothing on my records,” she told him. “Just that I was dropped off when I was ten, with only my name and the clothes on my back,” she caught his look, and rolled her eyes as she scoffed. “So, I sliced my own records before I ran away. It wasn’t like it was Imperial military grade encryption, Cal. But no, there was nothing on my records to say I’d suffered any kind of injury or illness, nothing about my background at all.”

It wasn’t uncommon, there had been plenty of orphans with no history. Most of them had ended up being farmed out to various backwater Outer Rim systems as agricultural labourers or miners, until the Empire started their mandatory enlistment programme.

“And you have a Force Bond in your head, one that’s still active,” Cal continued, before shaking his head. “We need to tell Cere.”

“No, Cal,” Jayna replied firmly. “She doesn’t need to know.”

“Jayna,” he started to say, but she waved her hand to silence him.

“No!” she hissed. “I don’t trust her, not with this. So far, it’s just a voice in my head when I’m asleep or I’m meditating. If it becomes a problem, then we’ll tell her but until then I am trusting you, Cal Kestis. Can I trust you?”

Cal ran a hand through his hair. His instincts warned him it was a mistake, but he didn’t see how he could get around it without breaking Jayna’s trust, and then how would he teach her what she needed to survive?

“Fine, okay,” he conceded. “For now, we’ll keep this between ourselves. Why don’t you trust her?”

“I sensed a lot of darkness inside her this morning, when I meditated,” Jayna explained. “It just makes me a bit wary. We don’t even really know that much about her, except she’s a former Jedi Knight.”

“We all have darkness inside us, Jayna,” he told her, patiently. “After the Purge…I’m not surprised she’s got darkness inside her. And she told me the reason she cut herself off from the Force was because of some trauma that changed her perspective. I don’t think we should badger her for any more than that. I think she can be trusted; she wants to rebuild the Order and I believed her when she said it.”

“You’re too trusting for your own good, Cal Kestis,” Jayna rolled her eyes, but there was a spark of exasperated affection as she sat back down on her cot. “But you seem to speak from experience?”

Cal immediately felt the overwhelming pressure of his memories rise, scrabbling at the bulwarks of his control as he tensed. “You could say that,” he conceded, quietly. “You could say that of any Jedi that survived the Purge.”

“What happened to you?” she asked, her voice soft and yet somehow merciless as he glanced at her sharply. “I’m trusting you with my life and my secrets, Cal, despite my very well-honed instincts telling me not to. I can see from the scars on your face and neck that you got up close and personal with a blaster bolt.”

“You could say that,” Cal replied, shortly. “The clones turned against us. My Master was killed in front of me.”

Through the Force, he could feel Jayna’s concern override her curiosity, as she leant forward and pressed a hand to his arm. “I’m sorry,” she murmured.

Despite the urge to throw her hand off and leave without a word, Cal found himself covering her hand with his, pressing her cool fingers warmly. “Thank you,” he whispered. “So, now we know each other’s dark pasts…guess we’re stuck together.”

“Easy now,” Jayna chuckled, withdrawing her hand, and settling down on her cot, watching him with lazy brown eyes. “We just saved each other’s arses. No big deal.”

“I meant what I said, Jayna,” he told her, softly but seriously. “I will help you through this, to the best of my ability. You’re not alone anymore.”

She smiled at him, but there was still something distant in her eyes. “Thanks, Cal,” she whispered. She closed her eyes and turned her back, curling into a ball on her cot as Cal watched her for a moment. Getting up to find BD-1, he left her napping until Cere returned from her foray and Greez called them for dinner.

The next morning, Jayna awoke to hear gentle murmuring coming from the galley. As she blinked herself awake, her vision was suddenly completely obscured by the gleaming white chassis of BD-1 as it trilled at her.

She flinched. “Whoa!” she gasped, before running a hand across tired eyes. “Good morning to you too, BD-1. Give a girl some warning next time?”

BD bleeped in what could be said was a conciliatory tone, before leaping off the side of the cot and standing expectantly in front of her. “Ok, ok I’m getting up,” Jayna groaned, pulling herself upright as she inspected her arms and legs critically. The bacta had done its work, but her muscles were decidedly stiff today.

As she turned and reached for her clothes, she noticed BD-1 still watching her curiously from the floor. “Uh, BD?” she murmured. “Could kind of use some privacy right now.”

The droid booped, before spinning on its feet and scuttling away. With an amused smile, Jayna began to change.

After a quick wash in the ‘fresher, Jayna emerged into the galley area of the ship.

Her unlikely crewmates were sat around the main bench, all tucking into some less than appetising looking porridge. Greez shovelled it down with gusto, while Cere only ate it lightly. Jayna watched, as after an exploratory bite, Cal took a shaker from the row of condiments on the table and sprinkled it liberally on his porridge. She could sense his resigned and less than enthusiastic feelings as he tried again.

She felt it when he sensed her arrival, watching the muscles in his back tense at the same time his mind did, but not in a wary way. He was merely acknowledging she was there.

With a wry smile, Jayna emerged from the shadows and sat down beside him. “Morning,” she said, as a general greeting. Greez and Cere murmured back, as Cal glanced at her beside him. “So, what do you recommend? Chef’s delight?” she asked quietly, as Greez stood up to fetch her a bowl.

“Delight is not the word I’d use,” Cal muttered back, with a lopsided smile that made Jayna’s stomach flip. “Pass, if your digestion knows what’s good for it.”

“Oh, don’t be such a baby,” Jayna scoffed, as Greez placed a bowl in front of her. Up close, the porridge looked even less appetising; a soggy grey-green mulch. Jayna hesitated, taking a spoonful as she felt Cal’s amused glance at her.

“Well? Don’t be a baby,” he told her, chidingly. Flicking him a look, she raised the spoon to her lips.

After a second, she felt Cal’s playful nudge against her arm. “How is it?” he asked, brows raised.

“I’ve had worse,” she hissed back, under her breath.

‘Told you so…’ Cal’s errant thought, reeking of self-satisfaction, made her bristle.

‘Shut up,’ she retorted, grumpily. Outside of the bond, she smiled up at Greez. “This is great, Greez. Family recipe?” she asked, surreptitiously reaching for a container of dried Moof berries.

“Oh yeah. My great-grandma fed us that every mornin’. Said it’d put plenty of whiskers on our cheeks,” Greez replied, gruff but pleased.

‘Suck up,’ Cal said, in her head.

Jayna just smiled as she sprinkled liberal amounts of berries into her porridge. ‘First rule of survival I ever learned: always make nice with whoever’s doing the cooking,’ she fired back at him, with a prim wink as she took another bite. With the addition of the berries, it was just about edible.

BD trilled and booped at them, its head cocked to the side. “Sorry, BD,” Cal murmured.

“Is it weird we can have an entire internal conversation?” Jayna asked, curiously. “Do Force Bonds usually work that way?”

Cere chuckled. “It’s not common,” she told them. “Master-Padawan bonds tend towards sensing emotions, vague sense of their locations, that sort of thing. But yours wasn’t formed the way a Master and Padawan would. It’s been so long since battle meditation was last prevalent, it’s impossible to know for sure what you might discover. Especially without access to the Archives.”

“Force wha-?” Greez blustered, chewing his food loudly. “I knew you were weirdoes.”

“Yeah, guess so,” Cal sighed, mock sadly. BD trilled at his shoulder. “Not today, buddy. We’ve got some work to do first.”

“What’s on the docket for today?” Jayna asked, taking one last mouthful of porridge, and forcing it down. Cere looked to Cal.

“I’ve taken Jayna as far as I can,” she said, gently. “I thought to let you decide the pace and content of her training from now on.”

“Me? But I’m not a Ma-?” Cal began to protest, his mind whirling. Cere held up a hand to still his objections, a gentle look in her eyes.

“A Master? No, you’re not,” she replied. “But I can no longer feel the Force as I once did. Only you can teach her what she needs to survive.”

“And what exactly do I need?” Jayna interjected, a little annoyed at how they seemed to be speaking about her as if she was invisible.

“To continue strengthening your connection to the Force, until you can use it consciously, use it to affect the world around you and strengthen yourself within it. To hone your battle meditation until you can use it on yourself or others,” Cere told her, patiently. “To gain some proficiency in the first few forms of lightsaber combat, so you can defend yourself against any opponent.”

“We will start with physical preparation, with meditation and unarmed sparring,” Cal added, with a nod.

“At least you’re not a complete novice with combat,” Cere agreed. “BracSec trained you well. While you’re working, I will fashion some staves so you can train safely before we set you loose with a lightsaber.”

“Well…” Jayna trailed off, feeling off-kilter, and not liking it. “I guess there’s no time like the present.”

Jayna, Cal and Cere emerged into the humid sunlight of Bogano a few minutes later. Outwardly, she tried to stay calm but, in her head, she was reeling.

She couldn’t get her conversation with Cal out of her mind. Ever since she’d realised that unsettling, inescapable fact…

She couldn’t remember her parents. She couldn’t remember anything before the orphanage. But she was ten when she arrived there, ten standard years old. She should have been able to recall something.

And apparently, she had not one but two active Force bonds in her head. That one had been whispering to her in her dreams for as long as she could remember, and the other…she was stuck with, and she didn’t yet know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

She’d done her best to put some distance between her and Cal since that conversation and had succeeded at first, but she hadn’t been able to resist the lure of his companionship when she awoke that morning. It was just so tempting, so seductive, to think she had someone she could lean on, confide in, and look to. In the madcap forty-eight hours since waking up on Bracca, thinking only about the briefing and her first assignment, he was already offering a haven of stability and warmth she was struggling to turn away from.

She wasn’t stupid, she knew Cal had been evasive with her about what happened to him during the Purge, but she also knew trust took time. And that he was more haunted by his past than he let on, or was possibly even prepared to accept, yet alone face. Who knew, perhaps that was why she couldn’t remember anything before the orphanage? Perhaps, she had her own horrors in her past, ones so traumatic that her own mind blotted them out?

“Jayna?” Cal’s voice, soft and questioning, drew her from her thoughts as she realised that she’d stopped on the landing ramp and was staring into space. Behind him Cere and BD-1 watched her with concern. “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah fine,” she breathed, stepping down from the ramp hurriedly. “So, what’s first? Sitting around all day or beating each other senseless?”

Cere snorted. “Good luck, Cal,” she called as she turned away.

BD booped and peered up at Cal questioningly. “We’re just going to be staying here today, BD,” he told the little droid. “How about you go with Cere and show her where to find some dry wood?”

“If such a thing exists in this soggy bog?” Jayna added dryly. The little droid did a strange little shuffle, almost as if shrugging before it scurried off after Cere. “So, my previous question stands. Cal?”

Cal stood watching her, his eyes inscrutable. His body was loose-limbed and relaxed, but she sensed a coiling of his being, as if his mind was readying itself. Before she could so much as blink, he lashed out at her.

She instinctively blocked, but he just ducked under her guard, yanking her into his arms. He twisted her arm behind her back before he grabbed her other one and pulled it tightly around her body so she couldn’t move. She was imprisoned, head to toe, against his body. She couldn’t move a muscle.

“You need to start taking this seriously, Jayna,” he said quietly, against her ear. As she twisted her head, trying to glare at him from the corner of her eye, she could feel the tiny little puffs of air against her cheek where he breathed.

“I’m here, aren’t I?” she replied, her voice slightly strangled.

“Your body maybe, but your mind…” he trailed off, as she abruptly stamped on his instep. He grunted in pain, his grip loosening until Jayna could wriggle one arm loose. She threw her elbow back and over her shoulder, breaking his hold on her other arm so she could spin away from him. But Cal didn’t let up; he threw another a punch, one aimed directly at her head. She slapped it down, countering with a reverse elbow to his face. He caught it with his other hand, just as she blocked an elbow to her cheek. Stalemate. “You’re conflicted, torn,” he continued, his voice cool and composed while Jayna was feeling anything but. “Your mind’s racing from one thing to another.”

“Yeah, that tends to happen when you’re suddenly attacked!” she snapped, driving a knee up towards his solar plexus.

“You’ve been unsettled since our conversation last night,” Cal retorted, dancing back and out of reach of her arms and knees. “It’s left you distracted, vulnerable…” he continued, as she spun into a reverse ankle sweep, but he just somersaulted over it, landing on her other side. Jayna felt his boot impact against her back, pushing her into the dirt. She twisted so she landed on her back, facing up at him as he looked down at her. “You’re trying to hide it, to be flippant and insolent so I’ll be so irritated with you, you think I won’t notice,” he concluded, tapping his temple pointedly. “You’re forgetting something.”

“I’m well aware I’ve lost my privacy as well as my freedom, thank you very much,” she growled, jack-knifing to her feet. She lashed out with a kick to his solar plexus, but he caught her foot and twisted her back into the dirt.

“Attack in anger, and you become easy to read,” he told her, patiently. “I didn’t need a Force bond to see that coming.”

“No?” she asked, trying to force her irritation aside as she kicked out at his ankles. “How about this?”

Her boot connected, making Cal stumble as Jayna used the reprieve to get back on her feet. She took a running jump, bringing her elbow down on Cal’s back, driving him to the floor but he caught her around the waist, pulling her down with him. They landed hard on the metal grating of the landing pad, as Jayna abruptly found herself pinned by the wrists, Cal’s knees either side of her ribcage as he hemmed her in.

She panted for breath, but Cal looked like he was only just feeling the need to gasp for air. Up close, she could see every freckle dotted across his skin, those ridiculously pretty-boy features grim and composed as he held her down, a few stray locks of flame-red hair hanging across his forehead. Her heart thundered, and she felt the strangest urge, like she didn’t know if she wanted to hit him or…

“Connecting to the Force isn’t just about sitting on a rock and meditating,” he told her, his voice still irritatingly cool. “You won’t always have the luxury of finding a nice quiet cave to get a few hours in before a fight. You’re fighting like you don’t have your own advantage to play.”

“It’s not exactly easy to visualise something when you’re just attacked out of the blue,” she said, through strangled gasps.

“If you’ve opened yourself to the Force, it won’t matter how much or how little warning you get before an attack,” he told her, patiently. Jayna’s mind raced faster than her heart, but she couldn’t concentrate enough to sense what Cal was feeling. “Let the Force guide you, and you won’t be caught off-guard.”

Jayna felt the pressure on her wrists release, as Cal slowly began to sit up. Without thinking, she brought her knee up behind him, jerking into his lower back. He fell over her with a pained grunt, as Jayna wrapped her legs around his waist and twisted them over, so she was now sat on his chest, pinning his wrists down.

He swallowed hard, and she found herself watching the motion of his throat as he did, sensing the surge of heat that ricocheted through him, across the Force bond, and into her.

“Fear, doubt, anger,” he said, his voice sounding rough and husky, as if the fight was finally catching up to him. “Let it all go. Trust in the Force.”

Staring down at him, Jayna was suddenly filled with the need to get up, to put some distance between them. His voice, still so composed despite how low and rough it had become, was a stark contrast to the heat of his body underneath hers. It confused and scared her, as she stood and shakily stumbled back, releasing him.

Staring blindly towards the Mantis, she tried to do as he said. Closing her eyes, she reached for that still point inside her, her anchor against the storm as she opened her awareness and let the Force flood her body.

As she exhaled, she forced all her fear and confusion out with the air, as Cal called out “Again!”

Opening her eyes, she turned. Through the Force, and the bond, she felt Cal’s intent before it translated to action, as she began to sprint towards him. As he went to dodge sideways, intending to let her run past so he could turn and hit her from behind, she instead flung her legs away, turning them into a pincer as she clamped her thighs around Cal’s waist and torso, crossing her ankles so she wouldn’t lose her grip. The Force gave her the strength she needed to use her momentum to swing down, under and around Cal, until she twisted him into the dirt, his arms and legs inescapably pinned.

“Did your Master teach you like this?” she asked, curiously.

“He used to spring surprise attacks on me, from time to time,” Cal admitted quietly. “He wanted me to be prepared for anything, so I would react without overthinking it. To teach me to use the Force without conscious thought so I wouldn’t be distracted from what I needed to do.”

 She could feel his chest rise and fall underneath her, with every word, his ribcage pressing against her inner thighs with every breath. “The Jedi do not seek aggression, but we stand against it,” he continued, his voice soft and sad, losing its huskiness as his gaze turned introspective.

“Hey, don’t go getting distracted on me now,” Jayna called to him, pulling him from whatever memory was threatening to pull him under. She scrambled off him, backing up a few steps as she smiled, letting the tension she felt ebb away with her frustration. “Again!”

Cal rose to his feet, and the sparring began again. This time, Jayna didn’t let her conscious mind dictate her actions, instead letting instinct tell her where to move, when to duck, when to block, when to retreat and press the attack, all the while she existed in the still point of that storm, calm if not quite as serene as she could sense in Cal.

This time, though, the fight ended in stalemate every time. Although she allowed the Force to guide her movements, she also felt Cal’s every intent through the bond and knew he sensed hers. Neither could win, for as quickly as intent flared, turned to action, the other would counter. Back and forth, they went, in a graceful, lethal dance. Sometimes, Jayna would do nothing but evade, testing her senses and seeing if she could break through that impenetrable wall of Jedi serenity she felt emanating from Cal; other times she would press the attack, testing her own strength and speed, feeling the Force in her very blood, in her heart and lungs, in her muscles, driving her onward as they kicked, punched and danced around one another.

At last, Cal held up a hand. “Enough!” he called. “That’s enough.”

Jayna paused, lowering her hands, and taking a deep breath as exhaustion threatened to overwhelm her as her connection to the Force wavered now the fight was over. Cal caught it, brow furrowed as he went to move towards her, his own exhaustion hovering like a fog in the back of his mind.

They were interrupted by a low whistle. “Whoo-ee! Hey, if this Jedi thing doesn’t work out, you two would make a killing in the fighting pits,” Greez called from the doorway of the Mantis, where he’d stood watching the sparring match for the past twenty minutes.

“Thanks, Greez. I’ll take that under advisement,” Jayna replied, with a cocky smirk. Cal reached out a hand, sliding his fingers across her palm until he trailed past her wrist and gripped her forearm. “What are you doing?” she asked, something tense in her voice.

“Just…checking your pulse. I can sense your exhaustion,” Cal said, stumbling over his words a little. He suddenly felt awkward and uncertain, as her serious brown eyes stared up at him narrowly. “Come on, we should meditate. It’ll ease the fatigue.”

His hand around her arm, he guided her to kneel on the grating. Why he felt the constant need to touch her, he didn’t know and wasn’t about to start obsessing over, especially with a Force bond in his head. But it soothed him, brought him a strange sense of comfort, and he could sense it did the same for her. Watching her as she closed her eyes, letting herself go and flow into the Force, he couldn’t quite hide his smile.

She was learning.

Closing his eyes, he followed her, her touch an anchor to which he could hold against the storm of his memories as he opened himself up to the Force.

Their days settled into an easy rhythm after that: every morning they would rise early, meditate and spar, or sometimes the other way around, while Jayna worked on her control in the Force. Then they would go for runs across the mesa, working on her speed, agility, and strength as she learned to use the Force to traverse any terrain and overcome any obstacle.

She would never forget the day she watched Cal run across the side of a canyon wall, her heart in her mouth, sure he would lose his momentum and fall until, at the very last second, he pushed off from the rock and leapt to safety on an adjoining ledge. Even though she could sense the Force carrying him onward, her eyes told her what she was seeing was impossible.

She’d said as much, as Cal had just smiled a little sadly and replied, “It may seem impossible, but with persistence and the Force as your ally, you can overcome any obstacle.”

After that, he had taken her to an underground cavern she recalled glimpsing during her first attempt at meditation, two weeks before when they first arrived on Bogano. For the next week, he had brought her there and began teaching her how to use the Force to accomplish the same feats of inhuman agility she’d seen him do.

Some days, Cere joined them but more often than not, she went out with BD-1 on scavenging trips. Cordova had left plenty of supplies, packed up and safely stored away, at points all over the mesa. Jayna wondered if watching Cal and Jayna brought back memories and longings she’d rather forget.

As the weeks passed, Jayna began to sense a change within herself. Where once she had been blind, it now felt like she could see, for the first time in her life. The voice in her dreams was silent, although whether that was due to pure exhaustion as she collapsed onto her cot each night or because she was tentatively accepting her ‘destiny’, she didn’t know. Cal and she rarely spoke about it now, but she knew he still felt it wise to tell Cere, but Jayna wasn’t so sure.

It felt…strange, to talk about something that only she and Cal knew, thanks to the Force bond. She still didn’t entirely understand it, but it had become a comforting feeling inside her head. It helped her focus when it still eluded her; when she meditated, it came naturally enough but during a fight, or while running with Cal across the mesa, she struggled to hold onto it for longer than short bursts of time.

It led to more than a few cuts and bruises as she slipped off walls or fell short of a ledge that she’d just leapt towards. It was frustrating, but Cal had instilled in her the importance of not letting her frustrations drive her.

It was one such day today, as she tried and failed to reach the next ledge from the wall. She fell hard on the rocks, feeling the skin of her knee split where she fell onto the rocks below.

From the rock where he stood, watching, and waiting, BD-1 perched curiously on his back, Cal called over. “Try again!”

“Come down here and say that to my face!” she shouted back, flicking him a glare. Cal just shook his head and smirked wryly.

“You’re letting your irritation get the better of you, Jayna,” he told her, tolerantly.

“So would you, if you kept failing over and over again,” she snapped, pulling herself upright as she jogged back to the other end of the cavern.

‘But I did fail, over and over again,’ he told her, through their bond. ‘You wouldn’t believe the number of grazes and bruises I got learning to do this.’

For a moment, Jayna could sense Cal’s memories as he recalled the voice of Jaro Tapal, echoing out from the shadows of Cal’s mind.

“Keep failing, keep getting back up! That is the only way to succeed!”

‘It’s easy to let your own ego to hold you back, when you don’t succeed at something first time,’ Cal continued, his eyes bright and intent on hers across the cavern. “Let go of your fear of failure, let the Force guide you across the right path. It won’t fail you!’

“Fine,” she muttered aloud, pulling herself back up onto the ledge where she’d started before she closed her eyes and reached towards the Force.

She inhaled, visualising her own frustration and irritation, and yes pride although she’d never admit it to Cal. As she breathed out, she imagined all her negative emotions dissipating like a fog, flowing out between her lips along with the carbon dioxide from her lungs. Then, she reached within, down to where her awareness of the Force rested, like a glowing ember at the very core of her soul. All she needed to do was touch it, let the storm engulf her and then find that still point, that anchor and lent clarity to chaos.

‘Good!’ she heard Cal call out across the bond, as she opened her eyes to the sights, sounds and smells of the cavern.

She could taste the fetid tang of the water that partially flooded the floor of the cavern, clinging to the rock walls, the slick rush of the Zaur as they shimmied across the cavern, their minds as fleeting and quicksilver as their serpentine bodies; she could feel the long, slow heartbeats of the gargantuan creature that lazed on the mesa above them, curiously watching the two strange bipeds below her resting place.

Lulled by the sound of that heartbeat, Jayna turned towards the wall as the Force whispered in her ear. With a running leap, she jumped.

The Force nudged feet on crumbling stone, making her light and agile as she traversed the wall. It whispered a warning, as she felt her momentum weaken, but instead of dropping to the shallows below, she gathered herself and pushed up and away from the cavern wall. The Force obliged, sending her soaring up, like a diver from their board, before she flipped in mid-air, so she landed hard on the ledge in front of Cal.

Panting, she looked up at him as a giddy smile broke her focus. “I did it,” she breathed.

He smiled back, warmly. “You did.”

When they returned to the Mantis, Cere was waiting for them. She watched as Cal and Jayna leapt from mesa to mesa, letting the Force lift them up and guide their jumps, flipping acrobatically from foothold to foothold.

She smiled, a little wistfully, as they lightly jogged up the slope towards her. “Your control has improved, Jayna,” she told the younger woman warmly, before glancing at Cal. “You’ve done well with her, Cal. You’re a natural teacher, Jaro would be proud of you.”

Cal reddened, a spike of pain in his heart at Cere’s casual mention of his Master, but inclined his head, accepting the compliment.

“I just feel like I’ll never catch up,” Jayna replied, with a sideways glance at Cal. “You have years of training on me, and the Second Sister nearly got the better of you. How the hell am I meant to survive against that?”

“Beating an opponent isn’t the only way to win,” Cal told her. “Sometimes, it is enough just to survive, to escape to fight another day. You’re doing great, Jayna. Never doubt that.”

“It’s true Cal has many years of training on you, but even once they reached Knighthood, a Jedi never stopped learning. Our training was never truly complete,” Cere added, in agreement. “As you continue to grow, you will continue to learn.”

Jayna forced herself to nod, but she still felt uncertainty. It felt like she was facing an insurmountable climb up a mountain she could never hope to scale.

“I feel like it’s time to start teaching Jayna how to control the Force around her,” Cal continued. “You’ve got adequate control over yourself. Now it’s time to using the Force to manipulate the environment around you.”

“So…pushing people off stuff?” Jayna replied, with a knowing smile.

Cal rolled his eyes. “Yeah, like pushing people off stuff,” he retorted, rolling his eyes. “But not today. You need to eat something.”

“Greez has just finished dinner,” Cere told them with a smile, turning and leading the way up the landing ramp.

“How’s your scavenging going?” Cal asked, curiously as they followed her into the cool interior of the Mantis.

Sure enough, Greez was laying out bowls of what looked like some kind of stew. Unlike the porridge he served for breakfast on a regular basis, it actually looked edible.

BD trilled happily at the sight of him, leaping onto the sofa as he crossed to greet the little droid.

“Get that oily pest off my sofa!” Greez barked from the galley, but BD and Cal just ignored him. They were getting used to his gruff protests that had turned suspiciously half-hearted since Cal had met BD-1 and brought him back to the ship.

“Hey buddy!” he breathed. “Did you have a good day? What’d you find?”

BD’s answer made him raise his brows, as he glanced at Cere. The older woman just smiled and nodded. “Cordova left quite a cache of supplies here,” she told them. “It’s almost like he knew they’d be needed. We’ll need to make a supply run for a few things he didn’t leave us, but not for a few more weeks yet.”

She crossed to the table, where there was a long, thin bundle of rags laid out. “Speaking of which,” she continued. “I found these in Cordova’s home.”

Jayna came close as Cere unravelled the bundle, revealing two long, thin carved rods of some kind of polished, varnished wood. They were thicker than she was expecting, about as thick as her wrist, but smooth and free of imperfections in the wood.

“Training staves,” Cere told her. “Many Jedi trained with their lightsabers once they built their own. Some used training sabers, with adjustable power settings-,”

“They could pack a punch,” Cal told her, in a conspiratorial whisper. “At the Temple, we had to spar with them. The Troll always made us spar with the power settings at max if he ever caught us playing around when we meant to be studying.”

“The Troll?” Jayna asked, curiously.

“Cin Drallig, aka the Troll,” Cere explained, with a sad smile. “He was one of the finest swordsmen the Order ever produced. He often took the lead in training younglings and Padawans in lightsaber combat when they were in residence at the Temple. He was killed at the beginning of the Purge.”

“Anyway,” Cere continued, after a moment. “As I was saying, some Jedi preferred to train with sabers of one kind or another. But some preferred a more…traditional method, from time to time. Cordova’s Mastery of the Force came from his intellect and his perception, not his combat skills but even so, he insisted I be competent with more than just my lightsaber.”

“Well, at least I can’t cut anything off by accident with these,” Jayna joked lightly, before she pointed to a small, round object nestled at the bottom of the bundle. “What’s that?”

“A training remote,” Cal replied. “We used them to train ourselves to deflect blaster bolts. With time, you’ll be even be able to deflect them back at your opponents.”

“Like I saw you do back on Bracca,” Jayna mused, mind racing. “I don’t understand. If the Jedi were so formidable, how were they so easily defeated during the Purge?”

Cal stiffened, but it was Cere who answered. “Surprise and sheer numbers. The Force doesn’t make us invulnerable, Jayna. Remember that if you ever start feeling cocky.”

Feeling a little chastened, Jayna nodded and fell silent.

It was unusually tense as the trio stood around awkwardly, not looking at each other until Greez broke it with a cheery, “Grub’s up, if anyone wants it!”

That night, as they got ready for bed Jayna turned to Cal.

“Hey, Cal,” she began, feeling miserably uncomfortable and hating it. “I’m sorry about being so blunt earlier. I know it can’t be easy for you and Cere to talk about…about the Purge.”

Cal was already laid out on his cot, one arm under his head. BD-1 had jumped up beside him and had powered down for the night by his head. She could sense his tentative acceptance of her apology through the bond, even though he avoided her gaze.

“Thanks, Jayna,” he said quietly. “I know you’re not doing it to be cruel. There’s a lot you don’t know, and a lot you need to know if you want to survive. It’s okay to ask questions, it’s just…”

“It hurts,” she offered, quietly.

“It doesn’t matter now,” he replied, his voice still quiet but firm. “It’s in the past.”

“Cal-,” Jayna tried, concern lancing through her at the oddly closed off feeling she sensed in him, but he rolled over and interrupted her with a look.

“I meant what I said earlier,” he remarked, his tone very clearly telling her to drop the earlier subject. “You’re doing well, Jayna. Never doubt that.”

“Thanks, Cal,” she sighed, feeling a wave of tiredness roll over her. Cal’s features softened, and he smiled gently at her.

“Get some rest, Jayna,” he told her, softly. “It’s been a busy day, and it’s only going to get more intense. Tomorrow, your training is going to step up a notch.”

To be continued...

Chapter Text

Cal woke Jayna in the dark hours before Bogano’s dawn. She sensed him move before he could even touch her, opening her eyes blearily to see him standing over her, one hand outstretched to gently shake her awake.

“Cal, what-?” she began to ask, but he just held a finger to his lips.

‘Get dressed. There’s somewhere I want to take you,’ he told her through the bond.

BD-1 peered curiously over Cal’s shoulder at her, as Jayna blinked herself awake. She sighed, wanting nothing more than to burrow back under her blankets.

‘Is this more mystical Jedi stuff?’ she asked, acerbically. ‘You guys sure had a problem with letting your students get enough sleep.’

Cal’s mouth quirked into a smile. ‘We have to be ready for anything,’ he told her, as he straightened and stood smoothly. ‘I’ll wait for you outside.’

Watching him go, Jayna briefly debated ignoring him and going back to sleep. But even without the Force bond, her curiosity was welling, and she was almost completely awake now anyway. With a silent curse, she pushed her blankets away and swung her legs out of bed.

Once she was dressed, her hair tied back into a neat braid and her energy levels somewhere restored with a quick mug of caf, Jayna stepped out into the foggy pre-dawn of Bogano.

She couldn’t see Cal through the fog, but she experimentally stretched her awareness out, searching for that ever-more familiar glow of him in her Force awareness. Within the Mantis, Greez was snoring away in his cabin, while Cere was apparently awake. She was pacing her own cabin, uncertainty and conflict practically rolling from her in waves. Frowning slightly, Jayna tucked the observation away as she turned her awareness away from the ship and out, into the greyness of Bogano’s pre-dawn.

She sensed the dozing dreams of the boglings, safe in their burrows under her feet, the encroaching malice of the Splox and the bog rats as they began their roaming hunts; she heard the low grumble of that menacing darkness she’d sensed the first time she had meditated, years ago it felt, when they first arrived on Bogano; she tasted the keen chill of the breeze on her tongue and the salty tang of sweat on Cal’s brow, not far ahead. He drew her in like a lodestone, his mind calling to hers with a song she couldn’t yet decipher, its melody calling hypnotically to hers until an answering chord rang in her.

Jumping down from the landing ramp, Jayna set off into the fog after him.

She could barely see her hand in front of her face, as she carefully negotiated the slippery, uneven slope that led down from their landing pad. She let the Force guide her feet even as she reminded herself not to get too over-confident, at the feel of sucking mud and freezing water seeping into her boots.

The air around her reverberated with the calls and cries of the dawn birds as they took flight and the night-time creatures as they began to seek their burrows and nests, rising in a chaotic cacophony that distracted Jayna as she passed across the bridge that BD-1 had sliced on their first day. Her awareness shrank into herself, her heart thundering before she managed to calm it, slowly pushing her mind back out into the wilderness of Bogano.

For a moment, she questioned the sanity of what she was doing. Other than the quarterstaff slung across her back, she had no weapons to defend herself with, and Cal was nowhere to be seen. If she was attacked by an animal, she would have to hope she would be able to run away from it rather than fight it.

Just in front of her, the ledge she’d been walking on ended, and she put out a hand to find the tough, close-knit vines that grew on the walls of the mesas. Cal had shown her they were strong enough to take her weight, and she swung herself up, from handhold to handhold until she pulled herself up on top of the mesa.

The fog had lifted a little, as she could make out the uneven edges of the mesas and the towering structure of the Vault far in the distance. The greyness had started to transmute to a dull gold as Bogano’s suns rose over the horizon. A bead of sweat trailed down Jayna’s spine beneath her jacket and vest, as she wriggled her shoulders irritably.

Cal’s Force signature was still ahead of her, somewhere, but she couldn’t pin down a precise location and he ignored her attempts to speak to him. Figuring this was some kind of test of how much progress she’d made since they arrived, Jayna pushed her frustration down and away, expelling it as she let the Force wash her clean, letting its calming warmth replace the simmering heat of her irritation.

She continued her path down the mesa, mind extended to its fullest reach, senses alert as she followed Cal through the mists. They steadily cleared as the suns continued their slow ascent, the stifling humidity of the day swiftly replacing the nightly cool.

Just as Jayna was passing under an overhang, she sensed a surge of intent. Without thinking, as the Force called a warning, she pulled her quarterstaff from her back, using it to tip whatever had just tried to jump onto her back from the overhang onto the marshy ground.

She spun the long metal staff into a guard position, knees bent and ready to fight before she realised it was Cal sprawled in the dirt, ruefully wincing as he stretched his back while BD whined and trilled reproachfully.

“Cal!” she hissed, alarm replacing purpose as he looked up at her. “What the kriff did you think you were doing? I could have killed you.”

“Just seeing how far you’d come,” he replied. “Not bad. You sensed the attack before I started it.”

Jayna stared at him, annoyance breaking through and taking control of her for a moment. Wordlessly, she held out her staff to help him up. When he grasped it gratefully, she pulled back onto it sharply, yanking him forward face-first into the swamp-scum and mud of the marsh.

“Nerf-herder,” she muttered, as she stepped over his spluttering form. “That was for nearly giving me a heart attack.”

BD booped and whined at her disapprovingly.

“He deserved it,” she replied unrepentantly, as she turned and began to walk away. “Was there a point to all this, or were you just looking to scare the living daylights out of me?”

“If I share the caf I brought with me, will you forgive me?” Cal asked, as he jogged to catch up to her. She stopped and eyed him narrowly, noticing the silver container attached to his belt.

She desperately needed another cup of caf this early in the morning.

“Fine,” she sighed mulishly. As Cal detached the cylindrical container from his belt, pouring a measure of the steaming dark liquid into the lid, Jayna reached for it gratefully. Taking a deep draught, and nearly burning her tongue, she exhaled happily. “That’s better. Now I’m awake.”

“Duly noted,” Cal muttered, wryly. “BD, don’t let me forget to keep Jayna’s caf supply up otherwise she gets grumpy.”

“I need the stim hit,” she retorted, but only half-heartedly. The amount of caf she drank had often been the butt of jokes back in the BracSec barracks on Bracca. “So why are we out here before the suns have even fully risen?”

“There was a reason,” Cal promised her. “Come on, follow me.”

He led her across the mesas until they were stood before the Vault, a long, muddy slope leading up to a gap in its golden-hued walls.

BD booped and beeped, leaping from Cal’s back. “Race you!” he called over his shoulder as he sprinted away, startling Jayna.

“Hey!” she shouted, yet she was laughing despite herself. She pushed herself up the slope, but it was slippery and steep, her feet sliding out from under her as easily as if she was trying to run on ice. She managed to catch up with Cal just as the slope turned nearly vertical, as BD powered to the top on his superior servos-powered legs.

At that moment, Cal lost his footing, sliding a few feet down the slope and nearly taking Jayna with him. “Are you ok?” she asked, concerned when she felt the slight spike of pain in Cal’s ankle as it gave way.

“Yeah,” he smiled, wincing a little. She held out her hand to help him up, but as she went to pull him up, her own footing went, and she tumbled onto Cal’s chest as they went sprawling into the mud. “Seriously, what is it with you and shoving me into the mud?” he demanded mock-seriously, as she glanced up at him with irritation.

“Well, it’s a great look for you,” she retorted, totally dead-pan. “All that brown makes your red hair really pop.”

After a moment, they collapsed into laughter as BD trilled at them from the top of the slope. For a moment, they were just a young man and a young woman, laughing at their own silliness as the weight of everything seemed to lift for a moment.

Jayna felt Cal’s laughter peter off to a quiet chuckle as she stilled, realising their position. This was starting to become a habit, falling on top of Cal. Staring down at him, wet mud soaking into the knees of her trousers, mud dashed haphazardly across his cheek, she felt her heart stutter as his pounded against her chest, a surge of heat rocketing through them both as she shifted atop him.

“Ummm, Jayna? Could you get off me please? The mud’s starting to soak through my vest; much longer and I’ll be glued to the ground,” he joked weakly, his hands loosening from where they’d cupped her waist when they had fallen. BD booped down at them questioningly, as Cal tilted his head back so he could see the droid. “We’re ok, BD. Be right up.”

“Sorry!” Jayna gasped, scurrying off him as quickly as she could, trying not to slip again in the mud. She desperately hoped her cheeks weren’t as red as she suspected they were, and she fervently avoided Cal’s eyes as she hurried up the slope.

Despite what she had sensed through the bond, Cal didn’t seem overly flustered as they gained the summit, the shadows of the Vault’s walls falling over them as they joined BD in front of an obelisk.

“Beep-boop-be-be-boop!” the little droid trilled, hopping from foot to foot with excitement.

“Yeah, yeah,” Cal muttered, rolling his eyes. “You won the rematch. BD: 2, humans: nil.”

Jayna couldn’t help but smile, her embarrassment from a moment ago lifting as Cal stepped towards her. “Take my hand,” he said, reaching out his own. She hesitated for a moment, before her chin rose a notch and she took it, letting him pull her towards the obelisk.

At its very centre was a narrow aperture, just wide enough for someone to fit through. Cal went first, gently pulling Jayna through behind him. The tight rock walls pressed in on all sides, making Jayna’s heart race with the sudden claustrophobia of it, but Cal’s warm, steady hand in hers pulled her onwards.

Eventually they emerged into a wide chamber, lit by the twin suns overhead. “It’s open to the air,” Jayna breathed, awed as she realised that they were now stood inside the massive structure she’d seen from the Mantis.

In the Force, she could sense the intricate web of energy that seemed to be emanating from the Vault. Stood by the Mantis, it had felt potent enough; here it was inescapable. It felt…compelling and yet, somehow serene; a timeless relic of bygone histories, which echoed with both forgotten wisdom and warnings.

“You can feel it, can’t you? The Vault’s energies through the Force?” Cal replied, drawing her forward until they stood in the centre of the chamber, next to the raised dais.

“Well, I can certainly feel my boots leaking,” Jayna retorted archly, making him snort as BD beeped in amusement. “What are we here for?”

“I wanted to show you the Vault,” he admitted, quietly. “I also thought that the energies here might help you focus for what we’re about to do next.”

“‘Next’?” Jayna echoed, one brow raised.

“You’ve learnt an adequate level of self-control over the past few weeks,” Cal told her, warmly. “You can feel the Force, both within and without, and you can consciously call on it at will. Now, it’s time for you to learn how to call on it to manipulate the environment around you.”

Jayna listened intently, the heavy atmosphere of the Vault lending Cal’s words a strange gravity, as someone else was speaking through him, older and far more experienced than this youthful stripling.

Cal watched her listening to him and found himself surprised when she made no witty comeback, no quick retort. She seemed…affected by the Vault, just as he had been the first time he came there. So, he continued, imparting the lessons Master Tapal, Master Yoda, Master Drallig and the others had instilled in him, so many years ago. “The Force is there to shield us,” he told her, reverently. “It is not a weapon to be used in aggression.”

“But I thought the Jedi were warriors,” she pointed out, but her voice was soft and collected.

“We were peacekeepers,” he corrected her, although without any annoyance or disdain. “The Jedi never sought aggression, but it was our duty to stand against it, to protect those who could not protect themselves. That commitment was written into the very essence of the Jedi Code: there is no emotion, there is peace; there is no ignorance, there is knowledge; there is no passion, there is serenity; there is no chaos, there is harmony; there is no death, there is the Force.”

“The Jedi believe that we must not allow emotions such as fear, anger and hate to rule us, otherwise we risk falling to the Dark Side. We eschew attachments, romantic or familial, but only because the Code teaches us that all lives are precious and elevating one or a few above others is nothing more than vanity and possession,” Cal continued, at her questioning look. “When we possess someone, we allow emotions such as fear and anger to control our actions. This is a path to the Dark.”

Jayna did not look convinced. “But that’s only viewing attachment as an inherent possession of another person,” she rebutted. “But that’s not what real love is or should be. Love is a partnership of equals, not possessor and possession.”

Cal found himself with no answer to that. It had been something he himself had wondered and asked his Masters, but they had never replied with anything more substantial than that it was the will of the Force that it was so. “A Jedi’s commitment must first and foremost be to the Force, and to the Order. Nothing can distract from that,” he replied, solemnly.

“So, you suppress emotion rather than deal with it with a healthy, constructive manner,” Jayna continued, a little contempt inching into her tone as she eyed him defiantly. “If you view love only as possession and distraction, no wonder so many of you fell to the Dark the first time you felt it.”

“I didn’t bring you up here for a philosophical discussion,” Cal interjected, digging deep for patience. He had to remind himself that he wasn’t training Jayna to be a Jedi, that she had quite clearly and firmly repudiated any and all notion of becoming one, and that it was hard for someone raised outside the Order to understand their beliefs. “We have work to do. But whatever you believe, the tenets of the Code are worth remembering. With the Force as your ally, you can wield incredible power Jayna, but it must be balanced with responsibility. Our actions can have both good and terrible consequences if misused in a moment of passion.”

“Fair enough,” she conceded, inclining her head to him, and deferring the discussion, if not the point. He had a feeling that was something she’d never do easily. “So, why did you bring me up here?”

“The Vault is strong in the Force, it has a strange energy but it’s naturally attuned,” Cal explained, lacing his hands behind his back as he pulled himself back to the matter at hand. Training Jayna. “It acts like an amplifier to Force-Sensitives; it helped Master Cordova to see a vision through the Force which shaped his path. I’m hoping that it’ll help you focus and tap into your own reserves of Force energy to start learning how to manipulate your surroundings. Can you feel it?”

He watched her pause, her face soft and thoughtful as her gaze turned inward, eyes fixed on an invisible point. Through the bond, he felt her awareness expand outward from her mind, tracing with ghostly deft touches the chamber in which they stood. Her mind resonated with a melody that seemed to call to him, drawing his own awareness like a Mustafarian lava-moth to the flame. It was haunting and beautiful, and yet Cal sensed the truth of it just as he sensed the growing kernel of power in Jayna. Just like him, she was but a single part of a far greater whole.

Reaching into his belt, he pulled out the small pouch of stones he’d collected that morning while he waited for Jayna to catch up. Emptying them out onto the dais, he tucked the pouch back into his belt.

BD stood by the side of the dais, peering curiously from Cal to Jayna and back again. Yet, the little droid seemed to know not to interrupt, as Cal stepped towards Jayna.

“What do you feel?” he asked, quietly, closing his own eyes and letting the Force reach into him.

“This place…” she breathed, a tiny furrow appearing in-between her brows. “It’s…strange. Neither…light…nor dark. Balanced.”

“Simple and yet not,” he agreed, knowing she’d sensed the same thing he had. Her perception was growing stronger. “It’s both at once, and neither at all.”

“It doesn’t make sense,” she said, and he sensed when she opened her eyes as surely as if he had opened his own. He did the same, catching his breath at what he saw.

Jayna stood outlined in a nimbus of light from the twin suns’ rays above, her fading hair glowing gold, her skin shining. In the Force, she shone, like the first moments of a newly born star and yet, Cal could see shades of shadow in her light. He knew she was approaching the most dangerous moment yet; the time when she would be first tempted by the Dark Side, to choose the easiest, quickest path. Yet he had never sensed any evil intention in Jayna, just an ironclad will to survive but the Dark had a way of twisting even the most noble of intentions to its purpose.

‘I won’t let you fall,’ he silently promised her, even as he knew the truth: the choice would be hers alone. Aloud, he said, “It often doesn’t. Master Yoda used to say it took a lifetime’s study just to understand that the Force cannot be so easily understood…” he trailed off, caught in a memory of his days as a youngling initiate in the Jedi Temple.

“You mean he said: only begun your learning has, when understood you have, that into a box, neatly fit the Force does not,” she replied, with a quirk of her lips. “He certainly had a way with words.”

Shocked, Cal turned to her. “How did you know that?” he asked. She looked uneasy for a moment; brows tightly knit as she considered what had happened.

“I just…I heard him. Through you,” she whispered, unsettled as realisation dawned. “I…saw your memories.”

Cal stepped closer as she looked up at him, mind racing. Their bond was getting stronger.

Pushing the matter aside for further consideration later, Cal touched her arm, pulling her from her thoughts. “We can talk about this later, but for now, clear your mind, Jayna,” he told her patiently. Once he sensed her do as he’d taught her, her mind clean and calm once more, he nodded. “Good. Now, open yourself to the Force. Let it flow through you. Now, call a pebble to your hand.”

“How?” she asked, her eyes closed.

“Don’t let your conscious mind tell you it’s impossible. Everything you see, taste, touch, smell and touch can deceive you into believing something isn’t possible when it is, with the Force as your ally,” he told her, patiently. “Now, focus. Close your eyes and reach out if it helps.”

‘Does it?’ she asked, in their bond, raising her right hand, palm up and open.

‘It doesn’t actually make any difference, but most people find reaching out with their hands helps them focus their intent in the Force,’ he explained, recalling his first few tentative lessons in using the Force to levitate objects with a bittersweet smile. Suddenly, he had an idea. ‘Stay still,’ he told her. ‘Let me try something.’

‘Ok,’ she whispered her assent into the bond, and he felt the weight of it like a gentle hand against his cheek. He felt her trust, and her curiosity, as he considered what he was about to do. It would be painful, but to help Jayna he was willing to endure it.

It was no less than what Master Tapal would expect of him.

He shifted behind Jayna, stepping close so his chest brushed her back when he breathed out. Still sunk deep in their shared mental space, he felt her shiver of physical awareness and that aching consciousness of his body against hers. Pushing that distraction aside, he matched his breathing to hers, inhaling when she did and exhaling as she did. For the first time, he truly tested their bond and felt it spark into a bright flame as they both gasped.

‘Easy, Jayna,’ he told her, through the bond. Outside, he trailed one hand down her free arm, twining and clasping her hand tightly and giving it a comforting squeeze. ‘Trust me.’

‘I do,’ she breathed, letting herself lean into his body as he let himself press against hers until it felt like they were one being, one mind as he felt the Force flow through them both. It felt like a vow more binding than any he had taken as an initiate or the vows he would have taken as a Knight. Trust, the asking for it and the simple, uncomplicated, and yet inescapably intricate affirmation that followed. As complex and simple as the Force itself.

Taking a deep breath, he let down a wall in his mind that he never thought he would dare to.

When he opened his eyes, he was hanging upside down from a platform in the training hall aboard the Albedo Brave. His head was swimming with dizziness, fatigue and frustration as a deep, authoritative voice rang out across the hall.

“Padawan! Where is the Force?” Master Jaro Tapal called, from his position by the platform where Cal’s lightsaber rested, just out of reach.

“Everywhere,” his younger self replied with Cal’s lips. “It is within me, it surrounds me.”

“Just so!” Master Tapal declared firmly. “It connects you. There will be times when emotion, pain, or exhaustion trick you. You will feel cut off, isolated. This is an illusion,” the Lasat Jedi Master told him, as he began to circle where Cal hung, his voice the only thing in Cal’s perception that wasn’t shaking with exhaustion and dizziness from hanging upside down for too long. “Your lightsaber lies there…out of reach…but you remain connected through the Force. Feel that energy around you and summon your weapon!”

As Cal reached out a hand towards his weapon, he felt the presence of Jayna riding alongside him in the memory, invisible but a tangible feeling of connection that rang with a familiar chord. It rang with notes of sadness, compassion, and curiosity as she watched his younger self struggle and strain towards the weapon.

‘The Force is within you, around you, connecting you,’ he said to her, through the bond. “Connecting you to everything around you.’

‘I feel it,’ she told him, hesitating. ‘Cal…”

He sensed the question she was about to ask, but the memory of his Master’s voice rang in their ears as he called, “You must ignore all distraction!”

The lightsaber flew from the platform and into the outstretched hand of his younger self. Cal let the memory fade and summoned another.

They were back in the training hall, but this time he wasn’t hanging upside down. He had just been sent sprawling by the Hutt ball Master Tapal had sent his way with the Force.

“Focus!” his master admonished him, sensing his frustration at his failure. “The Jedi do not seek aggression, but we stand against it. The Force is there to shield us. The obstacles in your path define the path. What stands in the way becomes the way! Now…try again.”

The Lasat once again sent the ball rushing toward his younger self through the air, but this time he was ready. As the ball neared him, he thrust out his hand and pushed the ball away…

‘Do you understand, Jayna?’ he asked, as the memory faded, and they were left floating in the warm safety of the Force bond.

‘I do,’ she breathed, a strong sense of intent and certainty flooding through her and into Cal. She hesitated, then pushed a feeling of gratitude and understanding across to him.

As he felt her retreat a little, turning her awareness back to the outside world, her mind resonating with the ethereal melodies of the Force as she tapped into the energy around them, Cal pushed aside his own feelings of longing and grief, focussing only on her and not the shadows waiting to pull him down now he’d once again let himself think about his old Master.

Outside, in the real world, Jayna began to speak, so quietly it was almost a breath and Cal murmured along with her. “The Force is within us, it connects us,” they breathed.

Across the chamber, atop the dais, one of the pebbles began to tremble.

“The Force is there to shield us…the obstacles in our path define the path…what stands in the way becomes the way,” they continued to speak together, so quietly and so rhythmically it became almost a chant, providing a soothing counterpoint to the energies swirling around them.

Atop the dais, the pebble began to rise into the air, slowly and unsteadily at first then faster and surer, until it floated a few feet above the ground.

Cal felt the surge of power within Jayna, and then a sensation like the pop when a blaster bolt leaves its weapon, streaking across the chamber towards them, as the Force rippled around them. Then he felt a phantom weight in his hand, but it wasn’t his hand.

It was Jayna’s.

They opened their eyes to find Jayna’s outstretched hand had closed around the pebble nestling safe in her palm. A breath rushed from her lips as she almost laughed. ‘Good,’ he told her through the bond. ‘Now push it away.’

He sensed Jayna’s focus waver then reform, as the pebble unsteadily began to hover above her palm as she unclasped her fingers. With trembling hand, she rotated her wrist until her palm was now facing outwards, her fingers splayed. Cal sensed the gathering of her will before, with a surge of power in the Force, the pebble was sent flying away across the chamber.

‘Good, now again!’ he told her through the bond, making her repeat the exercise over and over again, until each pebble had been summoned and thrown back at least twice.

He could sense her exhaustion as Force fatigue began to set in and her reserves began to ebb. “Enough!” he said, aloud. She sagged against him for a moment, and he let her, lending her his strength until the shaking in her muscles stilled.

“Thank you,” she whispered, and he knew she wasn’t just thanking him for letting her lean on him, or for showing her the way. He uneasily sensed that she understood how much it had cost him to show her his memories of Master Tapal, and she appreciated the sacrifice of his self-imposed distance to do so. She looked up and over her shoulder at him, her face turned to his, eyes bright and lips parted in an open smile of wonder as Cal felt his heart begin to race.

‘There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no passion, there is serenity,’ he reminded himself firmly.

“I know,” Jayna breathed, as he caught his breath. “I feel it. Peace.”

He could feel it in her too. The light of the Force shone through her like a ray of sunlight through cloud. But they were still too close if she was catching stray thoughts like that. Reluctantly, more reluctantly than he wanted to admit, Cal went to retreat from the bond, and from Jayna. After being so close, it felt strange to untangle their hands and step away, to no longer feel their breath in sync and their hearts beating as one but somehow, he remained aware of it, like a phantom heartbeat in his chest alongside his own.

Almost absentmindedly, Cal reached out a hand and summoned the pebbles to him, slipping them into the pouch at his belt. “That’s enough for today,” he told her, kindly. Overhead the suns had fully risen, and it was nearing mid-morning. “But I want you to take these and keep practicing every day,” he said, proffering the pouch.

Beside his foot, BD-1 booped and trilled excitedly, making Cal jump. He’d almost forgotten the little droid was still there.

“Thanks, BD,” Jayna smiled, taking the pouch from Cal, and stowing it on her belt. Her smile faded a little as she looked back to Cal. “The bond…” she said, hesitantly. “It’s getting a little…intense, isn’t it?”

“It’s getting stronger,” Cal agreed, keeping his reply vague. “You tapped into my power as well as your own.”

“I wonder if that means you could use battle meditation, or I could use psychometry…” Jayna mused, brows furrowed. By their feet, BD trilled.

“Whoa there, BD,” Cal chuckled, shaking his head. “Hold your fathiers, we’re not quite there yet. We’re not ready for any experimenting just yet.”

“Guess we’ll have plenty of time later,” Jayna shrugged, with a friendly grin at the two. “Looks like you’re stuck with me, Kestis. For now, at least.”

“Yeah, for now,” Cal agreed nonchalantly, as a distinctive, low growling sound interrupted the conversation.

“Be-boop-bbbeeeppp!” BD-1 trilled, spinning to locate the threat.

“No, it’s ok BD,” Jayna muttered, embarrassedly.

“Was that your stomach?” Cal asked, incredulously. She sent him a narrow-eyed glare.

“Hey, all this Force business really takes it out of a girl. I need breakfast,” she replied primly.

“Remind me to add that next to caf on the list of things to stop you getting grumpy,” he retorted jokingly, feeling a little less off kilter as they verbally sparred. He kept the conversation light and firmly away from any dangerous topics like his past or their bond as they made their way back to the Mantis.

After a quick brunch onboard the Mantis, Cal led Jayna back outside to the wide, open space where they sparred. Except this time, he brought the staves with him.

He threw one to Jayna as she joined him on the grating, and she caught it instinctively. On the landing ramp, BD, Cere and Greez settled down to watch.

“Cere told me you have some combat training with melee weapons,” Cal said, idly spinning the practice weapon in his hand. It was nicely balanced, carved so it roughly resembled the hilt of a lightsaber. The main difficulty they would face would be the difference between a practice weapon and the real thing: the wooden practice staves had mass, and thus weight, while only the lightsaber hilt had mass. There was a real danger Jayna could amputate her own limbs if she was unwary or her concentration slipped for a second. Luckily, Cal had always excelled at the lightsaber and he felt confident in his abilities to train Jayna well enough that she wouldn’t hurt herself or others when she didn’t mean to. In this arena at least, he knew he could do her justice.

“Truncheons, stun batons and quarterstaffs,” Jayna nodded.

“So, we have a good foundation to build your skills on,” Cal nodded to himself. “Put the stave down,” he told her.

He sensed her confusion, but she did as she was told. Once she straightened up, he unclipped his lightsaber from his belt and held it out to her.

“Take it,” he said, so quietly his voice was almost a whisper. Just as in the Vault, the moment felt weighted with some unknowable significance, as Jayna reached out a hand that was only just trembling, her fingers gliding softly over the damaged duranium casing and wrapping. Cal shivered, feeling oddly as though she was touching his soul at that moment, and her eyes flew to his. At the hesitation he saw in hers, he nodded reassuringly. “It’s okay,” he breathed, as the Force echoed and rippled around them.

Jayna’s hand closed over the hilt, hefting it gracefully as Cal stepped beside and behind her, so they stood as they had in the Vault, his back against her chest. She raised it, her thumb pressing against the ignition as the bright blue blade flared to life, steady and glowing in the Bogano afternoon. “Do you feel the difference?” he asked, forcing himself to stay focussed as she tested the weight and balance of the saber. “The stave at your feet is but a toy, a training tool compared to the weapon you could wield one day. Its power is only outweighed by the responsibility wielding it brings.”

“I understand,” Jayna asserted, her voice quiet but firm. Reverent.

“Do you?” Cal asked, his eyes on the blade. “The Code teaches us that when we draw our weapon, we must be prepared to use it. To take a life. It’s a heavy responsibility, Jayna. It’s why it must always be a last resort.”

“Except when it can’t be,” Jayna replied, glancing back and over her shoulder at him. “When those you face only want your destruction, you don’t have a choice. Not if you want to survive.”

“No,” Cal sighed in agreement, ignoring his body’s now instinctive reaction when he felt the responsive shiver in hers as his chest brushed her back. “But we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that just because we have taken a life in defence of our own or others, it doesn’t mean the life we’ve taken is worth any less than ours. Let it remind you what we are fighting against; those who care nothing for the lives they sacrifice in pursuit of their goals, in the pursuit of power.”

“I’ve never wanted power,” Jayna whispered. “I just wanted freedom.”

“I know,” he said, nodding. Pulling them both from their tense, shared moment, Cal reached for the saber and deactivated it, stowing it back on his belt. Picking his stave back up, he noted Jayna did the same beside him. “Now,” he began, cool and business-like once more as he returned to a topic, he understood and relished: the art of the lightsaber. “There are several basic forms of lightsaber combat, with variants of each. Study of the lightsaber can take a lifetime, but since we’re a little pressed for time I’m going to focus on Form I, II, III and IV. These will give you the skills you’ll need to survive against the majority of opponents you might face, whether they carry a blaster or a lightsaber.”

Jayna nodded her understanding as Cal slipped easily into the first posture of Form I. Beside him, Jayna mirrored his movements as Cal started speaking again.

“Form I is also known as the Determination Form or Shii-Cho,” he explained. “It is the oldest form of lightsaber combat, first codified during the early centuries of the Jedi Order’s history. It’s the first form younglings in the Temple were taught, before they became Padawans, its primary goal being disarming an opponent. It will teach you the basics of lightsaber combat and give you a solid foundation to build your skills.”

Then Cal shifted into a new stance, one in which he held his stave out at a forty-five-degree angle vertically in front of him, his knees relaxed into a ready position. “Form II is called Makashi, or the Contention Form, was developed to be used against saber-wielding opponents. During our early histories, when the Sith first appeared in the galaxy, the Jedi quickly realised their Shii-Cho techniques were insufficient against opponents who could wield a lightsaber. Unlike Form I, it uses precise, efficient jabs and light cuts, combined with footwork and balance, to outmanoeuvre opponents and prevent the wielder from being disarmed.”

To demonstrate what he meant, he ran through a short drill of both forms, letting the Force flow through him as he battled invisible opponents, first with the sweeping, expansive movements of Form I, then with the elegant, efficient moves of Form II. Jayna watched him closely, eyes intent on his hands and feet as he moved between movements.

“Then there is Form III, Soresu or the Resilience Form. With the end of the wars that saw Jedi pitted against lightsaber wielding opponents, and the growing prevalence of blaster technology, Form I and II quickly became obsolete against blaster-wielding opponents. Form II was not designed to be used against large groups of opponents, with little emphasis on deflecting projectile attacks while Form I left its practitioners vulnerable to counterattack from anyone who survived the initial attack. So, Form III was developed to help Jedi combat blaster-wielding opponents, through an emphasis on defence rather than attack, tightly controlled economy of movement and clarity of mind,” he continued to explain, shifting into a Form III opening stance. “Masters of Soresu had the mental acuity of holochess grandmasters,” he told her, with an impish smile. “They always had to be ten steps ahead of their opponents.”

“Those are the three basic forms I will teach you so you can defend yourself against any opponent, melee or blaster-wielding,” he finished, turning to face Jayna as she watched him closely. “But lightsaber combat is not just about the physical, Jayna. The strength of a Jedi flows from the Force, when they are calm, at peace and focussed within themselves. You must learn to find and hold on to that clarity when you’re fighting, regardless of what distractions might present themselves.”

“We always remain connected,” Jayna nodded, before she looked up curiously. “You mentioned other lightsaber forms. What are they?”

Pleased by her curiosity, Cal eagerly began to explain. “Well, there are Form IV, V, VI and VII. They’re also known as Ataru, Shien and Djem So, Niman, Vaapad and Juyo. As you gain skill in the first three forms, I’ll start teaching you Form IV and V to expand your repertoire. Unlike Form III, Ataru focuses almost exclusively on offence, using offensive velocities and acrobatics to overwhelm opponents; Form V has two variants: Shien and Djem So. Djem So focuses on using defensive blocks and parries before incorporating strength-based counterattacks and ripostes, while Shien incorporates the defensive aspects of Soresu with more balanced use of offensive velocities, using a reverse grip,” he explained, demonstrating it to Jayna with a flip of his stave. “The objective being to throw an opponent off-balance and strike while they’re trying to adapt.”

“Form VI, or Niman, utilises use of Force skills like pushing and pulling opponents with the Force with lightsaber techniques from the other Forms integrated into Niman. In many ways, it’s the most robust of all the lightsaber forms, as it places an equal emphasis on both offence and defence, against a range of opponents,” he continued.

“And Form VII? Juyo?” Jayna prodded, her head tilted to one side like a curious nerf-calf.

“That’s a little more complicated,” Cal replied, lowering his stave, and rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “Study of Juyo wasn’t permitted by the Jedi Council. Even its variant, Vaapad, was restricted to a handful of Jedi Masters.”

“Why?” she asked, frowning a little.

“Because both Juyo and Vaapad required their practitioners to channel their negative emotions into combat,” Cere spoke up, from the sidelines. “Doing so brought them dangerously close to the Dark Side of the Force.”

“Juyo was developed during a time when we were at constant war with the Sith,” Cal added. “The Jedi Council were desperate enough to permit it at the time, but it came with a terrible cost. Many Jedi who used it either fell to the Dark Side or came so close to it they were traumatised for life by their experiences. After the Sith were believed defeated, the Council outlawed Juyo.”

“Vaapad was an attempt to bring Juyo into line with the tenets of the Jedi Code,” Cere added, coolly. “Master Mace Windu, a member of the Jedi Council, was its only true living Master, although he taught it to those of his Padawans he trusted were able to handle it. Practitioners of Vaapad walk a dangerous knife’s edge, Jayna. With a single misstep, they can fall to the Dark Side and be lost.”

“But I don’t understand,” Jayna interjected, frowning as she looked from Cal to Cere and back again. “What exactly is so dangerous about it?”

“It uses negative emotions like fear and anger, channelling them into the fight, using them to call on the Force to make one’s attacks more ferocious while giving the fighter the strength to keep going,” Cal explained, patiently. “The idea being to channel negative emotions to a positive end, rather than the suppression of emotion that the other Forms call for. But it’s all too easy to let those emotions take over, take control and then you fall to the Dark.”

Jayna nodded, but Cal could sense she didn’t fully understand. Some things could only be learned through experience, he reflected grimly as Cere moved back. He only hoped, when the time came, that the experience wouldn’t destroy her, as it had so many others before her.

Pushing such morbid thoughts aside before they could filter across to Jayna, he hefted his stave and began to run through the basic drills of Form I, letting memories of sunlit halls and laughter in the Temple fill his mind as he moved his body through the movements Master Yoda and the Troll had drilled into him years before. Beside him, Jayna mirrored his every move, her training with BracSec standing her in good stead as she mimicked his form. He only had to correct her form half a dozen times as he demonstrated the offensive katas over and over again.

At first, her moves were slow and hesitant as she absorbed his instructions, careful of her form and positioning but as the day wore on, the suns beating down on them as the humidity made their clothes uncomfortably stick to their skin, they became more sure and confident. By the end of the day, Cal was able to stand back and simply watch as Jayna ran through the katas he’d shown her again, without prompting.

And so their days fell into a comfortable rhythm once more: a run across the mesa as Cal tested Jayna’s improving control over the Force as she used it to traverse canyon walls, swing from vines and trailing, dead old power lines; and jump to heights no humanoid could reach unaided, then mediation and hand-to-hand sparring, sometimes between Cal and Jayna, other times Cal would watch while Jayna sparred with Cere, while other times Jayna would watch Cal and Cere spar while she tried to figure out how her battle mediation worked outside of adrenaline-fuelled mad escapes. And at night, after they had stopped for the day, Jayna would practice her control over the Force with the pebbles Cal had given her. 

She told him it was a little like trying to learn to wiggle her ears: first she had to identify the muscles with her conscious mind, then strengthen them until she could command them. At least, she had developed the sensitivity to know when she was using her gift. But as the weeks passed, her control improved and Cal began introducing her to the other Forms, teaching her offensive and defensive movements and having her practice them over and over, sometimes using only one Form, other times letting her pick and choose moves at random, so long as it flowed well.

As her skills in Shii-Cho, Makashi and Soresu grew from beginner to a novice, they began introducing the training remote. For hours, Cal would blindfold Jayna and have her practice her deflection as the little sphere fired low-level bolts at her. Gradually her skill improved until she could deflect every single one, if not quite so precise as to deflect them back at the remote. That would come with time, and practice.

Before he knew it, two months had passed since their mad dash from Bracca. He reflected on the time and found himself marvelling at how quickly it had all passed. Teaching Jayna had given him a drive and a focus he’d been missing since the Purge, despite how conflicted he’d initially felt when Cere mentioned the prospect to him. He’d worried that teaching Jayna, training her in the very arts his Master had trained him, would bring back agony he’d forced himself to forget along with the memories, but it hadn’t. memories of his Master had their bittersweet edge, certainly, but it wasn’t overwhelming.

But something had been growing in his mind for some time now; a spreading shadow and a feeling of threat. Their time on Bogano was coming to an end, he was sure. And Jayna had a decision to make.

Time was running out.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Jayna awoke on the Mantis the next morning and could sense the tension in the air. Through the Force bond, she could sense Cal’s uncertainty and agitation even while he practiced his lightsaber drills outside.

Cere and Greez were harder to sense. Without a Force bond, it was like seeing lights through a fog, vague but still just about tangible to her growing powers. Greez was…antsy, nervous about something while Cere…was oddly serene.

The conflict and tension she had been sensing in her unofficial mentor was gone, replaced by a strange calm and a feeling of anticipation.

As she sat up on her cot, her hand nudged against the pouch of pebbles Cal had given her in the Vault. Absentmindedly, her fingers stroked the rough fabric, before upending it and emptying the pebbles out onto her palm.

As she felt their cool smoothness on the flesh of her hand, Jayna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. As she exhaled, she reached out with her mind as Cal and Cere had taught her, a skill that was becoming more and more like second nature.

As she let herself sink into that awareness that now simmered under her skin, echoing in her blood with every moment, she felt the energy that connected her to the pebbles in her hand. As she took a deep breath, she called on them to rise into the air above her palm. She felt them leave her palm and opened her eyes to see them hovering a foot above her outstretched hand. In the weeks since Cal had taken her to the Vault and started teaching her to manipulate the Force around her, it had slowly become a little easier to use the Force thus.

As she concentrated, making the pebbles rise and fall, controlling their speed and making them spin randomly, she reflected on the bizarre turn her life had taken since waking up the morning of her first BracSec briefing. The voice in her dreams had gone silent, and Jayna hadn’t been able to sense anyone or anything reaching out to her, apart from Cal. Although with Cal, she had the feeling he couldn’t help it any more than she could. He certainly hadn’t chosen to wind up with her in his head, any more than she had.

She should have been disturbed, she supposed. Even allowing for the fact that all of this was way beyond anything she would have thought she’d face, she should have felt angrier, warier of this strange, mystical thing inside her head. But then, she’d had to learn to quell her anger at things she couldn’t control; it was one of the first tricks she’d learned to survive. Getting angry at things outside of her control was just wasted energy, energy better directed at moving forward and planning her next step. For all her aptitude for the Force, and yes, she had finally accepted that fact however reluctantly in the end, and the target it painted on her back, it was a target that already existed in some form anyway. Deserters from the Imperial Army weren’t exactly let off gently, and while she now had the Inquisitorius after her along with Imperial Intelligence, her new abilities would give her at least a fighting chance at escaping.

At freedom.

It was all she’d ever really wanted. Freedom: the freedom to choose her own path, her own destiny. But was it really freedom, if all her power did was giving her a slightly better chance at evading the Empire while simultaneously making her a bigger target? As a deserter, there was a chance she’d have eventually been forgotten as the price on her head was displaced by more important targets; as a Force Sensitive, she would never be forgotten or displaced.

‘Is freedom even possible? True freedom?’ Jayna mused, as the pebbles rose and fell above her palm, rotating randomly. ‘If the Jedi’s view of the Force is correct, we’re all just tied to the whims of some vast, unknowable cosmic energy most of us can’t even sense, let alone manipulate. But it can’t be…it isn’t the Force that decides if I move my hand or tap my foot, it’s me. I’m in control of my destiny, no one else. Right?’

Her train of thought unsettling her, the pebbles began to droop then fell back into her palm as she lost focus and her awareness ebbed. Frustrated with herself, Jayna shoved them back into the pouch and placed it aside.

Forcing her musings away, she stood from the cot and went to grab a shower before another day of training started.

When she stepped out of the Mantis, however, it was obvious that today wasn’t going to be a normal day. For a second, the irony of her thinking of her new life as normal dawned on her, but she pushed it aside at the sight of Cal’s grave face as he went through the kata, he had taught her.

Except he used the lightsaber rather than the staves they had been training with, the elegant weapon humming and whirring serenely as Cal whirled from one movement to the next, effortlessly battling a horde of invisible enemies. Jayna paused on the landing ramp, watching him as he fought, eyes lingering on play of light over his fiery hair from Bogano’s binary stars, and the muscles of his back bunching and extending with every move, only partly obscured by the distinctly worse-for-wear jumpsuit he wore.

Standing only a few feet away, she could sense his disquiet even more strongly. But why? She couldn’t understand why he was so troubled. Had something happened?

Just as she was about to stretch her mind out to him in greeting, Cere called out to her. “Good morning!” she shouted, standing by a pile of baggage in the shadows of the landing ramp. Unlike Cal, she was still serene as Jayna jumped, tearing her eyes away from Cal reluctantly and feeling almost embarrassed that she’d been caught staring by the older woman.

“Morning,” she replied, as nonchalantly as possible. Then her eyes fell on the pile of baggage, which on closer inspection turned out to be a rucksack and bedroll. “Going camping?” she asked lightly, brows furrowed as she turned her back on Cal to focus on Cere.

“Not me, Cal,” the older woman said, gesturing to him as he slowly came to a stop, deactivating his lightsaber before he attached it back to his belt. “We need to make a pit stop at a spaceport a few systems away, for supplies. It’s time we were moving on.”

“Oh,” Jayna breathed, realisation dawning, her stomach dropping like a stone.

“Cal is going to remain here while we grab supplies,” Cere continued explaining. “It’s still not safe for him to go too near populated systems with a price on his head, so we’ll pick him up in a day or two. Which means it’s time to say goodbye.”

“What do you mean?” Jayna asked quietly, as dread began to pool in her gut even as her rational mind snapped at her for being so stupid.

“That holo-thingy isn’t gonna find itself!” Greez interjected grumpily, from behind. “The sooner we do, the sooner that blasted droid gets its oily feet off my sofa!”

Jayna stared unseeingly at the Latero as she processed what they’d said, and what it meant. It was time to say goodbye, then, if the time had come for them to start this insane quest to rebuild the Jedi Order, and she needed to get as far away from them as possible.

“You’ll come with us,” Cere continued, as if Greez hadn’t interrupted. “The system we’ll be visiting isn’t heavily populated or travelled but you’ll be able to negotiate passage to another system in the Outer Rim. You’ve learnt enough to survive, I think.”

“But what about-?” Jayna began to ask, gesturing to her head. Cere stepped forward to press a hand to her shoulder, squeezing supportively.

“Force Bonds fade with time, distance and non-use,” she told her, warmly. “Now, we have a few more things to unload so Cal will be comfortable while we’re gone, then we must be going.”

She brushed past Jayna, and the girl turned to watch her march towards the ramp, a sudden spike of panic flashing through her. From Cal, she could sense little and he wouldn’t look at her as he stood in the distance, his back to the Mantis.

Inwardly, she wrestled with herself. ‘Enough! This is what you wanted,’ she reminded herself sternly. ‘They promised to teach you enough to survive, then you’d go your separate ways. You can’t afford to get sentimental when they’re rushing off on a wild goose chase that’s only going to get them caught or killed. It’s time to move on!’

But she couldn’t make herself move. For the first time in her life, she was reluctant to walk the path of survival as she contemplated leaving Cal, BD-1, Cere and even Greez. There was so much left for her to learn, and questions she suddenly realised she needed answers to. Like whom had put a Force Bond in her head? Who was speaking to her through her dreams? Why couldn’t she remember her parents? What was this strange connection between her and Cal that seemed to be growing stronger every moment, not weaker?

‘I still have questions. Questions that need answers,’ she told herself, as her eyes fell on Cal’s statue-like form in the distance. ‘Nothing more.’

Questions she sensed only Cal could help her answer.

Nevertheless, as the decision formed and strengthened in her mind, she felt like she had just taken a step through a door which had closed and locked tight behind her, even though she hadn’t moved at all. That feeling of irrevocability, of no longer being able to turn back, oddly gave her strength as her jaw firmed and she drew herself up.

‘It’s my choice,’ she told herself. ‘Mine.’

“Wait!” she called, just as Cere was about to disappear back into the Mantis. “What if I…didn’t?”

 “Didn’t ‘what’?” Cere asked, as she paused and turned on the lip of the landing ramp. Yet despite her outwardly serene exterior, Jayna could sense her anticipation and quiet confidence.

“What if I didn’t leave yet?” Jayna continued, forcing the words out as she sensed Cal turn, his shock and something that felt uncomfortably like hope surging through the bond. It made her heart flutter, but she shoved the sensation aside forcefully. “What if I asked to stay?”

“You understand what we’re going to do?” Cere asked, eyes intent and words unyielding. “What we risk? If you come with us, you’ll be exposing yourself to the Empire and risking capture, or worse.”

“I understand,” Jayna affirmed, standing her ground.

“I thought you didn’t believe in rebuilding the Order,” Cere pushed.

“I don’t,” Jayna replied firmly. Cal’s training hadn’t influenced her on that point. “But whether I stick around or cut and run, there’s a target on my back and the Empire will track me down sooner or later. Figure safety in numbers. Besides…I owe you for what you’ve done for me.”

“Very well,” Cere inclined her head gravely, before she disappeared into the Mantis. She reappeared a moment later with a second rucksack, throwing it to Jayna. The younger girl caught it reflexively, shocked. “Welcome aboard.”

“You knew,” she replied, a little annoyed by Cere’s quiet confidence as she realised that the older woman had been expecting her to change her mind and had planned accordingly. She even felt the hard, cold line of her quarterstaff, compressed to its smallest configuration, tucked into a side pocket of the pack as she put it down. “You knew I’d ask to stay.”

“I had a feeling,” Cere replied, with a small smile.

Greez chuckled and shook his head as he went back into the Mantis, waving his left arms in farewell. “We’ll be back in a couple of days. Stay out of trouble!” he called over his shoulder.

At that moment, BD-1 came scurrying down the landing ramp as Jayna felt Cal come up behind her, his warmth pressing against her back even as she felt his mind press against hers, incomprehension, surprise and pleasure lancing through their bond.

“We’ve packed enough rations for a week. Everything you’ll need to survive until we get back is in those rucksacks,” Cere told them, with a gentle smile. “I’ll see you in a few days. May the Force be with you.”

And with that, she turned and walked up the ramp. There came a pneumatic hiss as the hydraulics closed the ramp, sealing the Mantis. A moment later, the engines roared to life as the sleek ship slowly lifted into the air.

Jayna stood there, watching it slowly recede until it was nothing more than a metallic speck on the horizon, then the flash as the ship jumped to lightspeed.

“You don’t owe us anything,” Cal said firmly from behind her. Through the bond, Jayna could feel his confusion warring with relief and discomfort.

“That’s for me to decide,” Jayna replied coolly, but she felt anything but as she turned to face Cal. They were stood on the landing pad alone, Jayna looking up at Cal as he reached out and grasped her arm companionably. Her breath hitched at the contact as Cal’s eyes darkened, but both had grown used to ignoring their odd susceptibility around each other. “Besides, without me who knows how long you’d last before you got yourself killed?” she added, jokingly, forcing the words out around the durasteel bands that had suddenly decided to start squeezing her chest. She was hyper-aware of every one of Cal’s fingers where they encircled her arm. “Someone needs to watch out for your scrawny arse.”

Cal rolled his eyes, easing the tension that had sprung up between them. “Yeah, yeah,” he muttered, glancing down at his scuffed, muddy boots. “I know that’s not the whole story.”

Jayna sighed. “Force Bond. Real old, real quick,” she quipped, crossing her arms before she shrugged nonchalantly. “I’ve got questions that need answers. Something tells me I might find them if I stick around for a bit.”

Jayna could feel Cal’s eyes on her as she stood, her eyes downcast as she peered at the toe of her boot. She wouldn’t look up.

“Fair enough,” he eventually declared, softly. “We better get moving. I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to camp out on the landing pad until Cere and Greez get back.”

Jayna nodded, a chill in her blood at the implication. If, by some stroke of ill luck, Greez and Cere were captured by Imperials. At least they’d have a fighting chance at evading capture themselves if they weren’t so obviously camped out in the open... “Good idea,” she agreed. “Just in case. So where are we headed? The Vault?”

Cal snorted. “No, too damp,” he shook his head as he bent down to heft his backpack onto his shoulders. “What d’you think, BD?” he asked the little droid by his feet.

BD-1 jumped from foot to foot, delighted to be useful as it recommended a place in a series of cheerful beeps.

“Not a bad idea,” Jayna agreed, with a small smile at the little droid. Against her better judgement, she’d become fond of the irrepressible droid. “At least we’ll be sheltered from the elements overnight.”

Cal nodded. “Cordova’s home, it is. Let’s go.”

It took an hour to hike across the mesas to Cordova’s hideaway. As Cal led Jayna through a rusted, partially concealed door in the cliffside, she admitted to herself they couldn’t have picked a better spot. It was well hidden within the maze of mesas and plateaus that made up Bogano’s surface, and the door could be locked from the inside. The only other entry point was a rusted pipe that Cal pointed out to her, one he’d used when he first found BD-1 to enter the dwelling, as well as being the place where he and Jayna had connected through the bond for the first time.

They emerged into a pitch-black room, their only light the shaft of sunlight that intruded through the door behind them. Cal ignited his lightsaber to give some light, illuminating a vaguely circular room, devoid of furniture except for a dilapidated, rusty old cot against one wall. In the centre of the room appeared to be an old generator, long since dead.

Cere and Greez had left them well-stocked with everything they needed, including light. “Cal keep your saber up while I set up the solar lamps,” Jayna told him, as she slung her pack to the ground and began rummaging in it.

“Yes ma’am,” he replied jokingly, as Jayna sent him a good-natured glare and got to work as she pulled out the first lamp, a clunky, silver cylinder. Designed to be charged by sunlight, their power packs could last up to forty-eight hours, longer if they conserved the energy reserves.

Beside the old generator was the remains of a small fire pit, clearly long disused but serviceable. Once Jayna got the two lamps set up, Cal turned his saber off and hung it back on his belt. “You keep setting up camp, I’ll go with BD and look for some firewood. No sense in wasting our reserves,” he said, gesturing to the lamps as the dark room was lightened by the lamps, the black walls transmuting to a dusky, reddish gold.

Jayna nodded, only glancing his way when he turned to go. Cal could sense her eyes on him as he left, their connection glowing dimly but warmly in the back of his head.

As he left the caves where Cordova had lived, he turned his mind to the events of the past few hours. When he’d awoken that morning and Cere and Greez had told him their intentions, he’d been sure that today would have been goodbye for Jayna. But for some unlooked-for reason, Jayna had decided to stay. But why?

He knew she desired freedom, above all else, and that she feared discovery by the Empire, especially now. Travelling with them, staying with them, would only make that possibility that much more likely, so why?

He knew she still had questions about her past and the things they’d discovered in the weeks since they fled Bracca. The latent Force bond in her head and her missing memories concerned him, and he longed to consult Cere but he couldn’t break his promise to Jayna to keep it secret until she decided it was time to divulge it. Nonetheless, he didn’t like the feeling that there was someone else out there, possibly with their own agenda, with a connection to Jayna. It spelled trouble.

As BD led him towards where some dry kindling could be found, a rarity on a planet so humid and covered with swamps, Cal’s thoughts turned to Jayna herself. When they first met on Bracca, he’d been wary and rightly so. She’d been a BracSec spy, lying about her identity but then so had he. Both had lied to escape their pasts and survive. Then, his wariness had turned to compassion as he witnessed her desperation and fear once she was forced to contemplate the prospect of being Force Sensitive. After Cere had divulged her plan to him, finding the holocron and rebuilding the Jedi Order, Cal had had wild, half-formed visions of Jayna by his side as a fellow Jedi and teacher to the children under their care. He had thought he might not be so alone, after all, but then she had shattered those thoughts with her refusal to join their quest. Until now.

He could accept Jayna’s desire for answers at face value, but her feeling indebted to them, to him? She was a born survivor, so not likely in his opinion. There was more beneath the surface than Jayna was willing to show, but Cal had little doubt that she’d let something like feeling indebted to anyone for anything stop her from doing what she needed to survive. No, staying with them ran counter to that, was the blatant opposite to doing what she needed to survive…so…was she slowly changing her mind? Did a part of her want to see the Order rebuilt as much as he did, even subconsciously?

He didn’t know, but he already knew better than to confront her directly about it. She’d just turn evasive, clamming up and shutting him out quicker than a Hutt’s treasure vault door. He could glean snatches, fragments of emotion and thought when they weren’t trying to directly communicate, but no more. And he knew better than to force more.

Only time would truly tell Jayna’s motives for staying with them, and Cal would face them when they came to light.

Despite himself, he already considered her something of a friend. In the weeks since Bracca and Prauf’s death, the guilt he felt for the Abednedo’s end like a physical weight in his chest, he had found himself gravitating to Jayna even when he tried to hold himself aloof. While not raised in the Temple, she was so like him in many ways, and yet not at all like him in a million more. A part of him wondered what she would have been like, as a youngling in the Temple, or a fellow Padawan. Something told him she’d still be just as infuriating, stubborn and engaging whether raised by the Jedi or not. She’d have driven Master Tapal mad, he sensed, but he couldn’t help but think he’d approve of her, nonetheless.

‘Why am I thinking about that?’ he asked himself, frowning as he stopped walking, thrown by the thought. ‘It doesn’t matter what Master Tapal would have thought of Jayna.’

BD-1 trilled a question as the droid paused and peered back at him.

Cal shook himself, determined to erase his troubling thoughts from his head. “Nothing, BD,” he told the droid, jogging the last few steps to catch up. “Let’s go.”

Cal returned to Cordova’s dwelling sometime later, with a small stack of firewood in his arms. Combined with the synthetic fuel they had in their packs, they’d be able to keep a fire lit for cooking and light for a good while, conserving their solar lamps.

He entered the long tunnel that led down into the rock, emerging into the circular chamber Cordova had used as a bedroom. Jayna had laid out their bedrolls and sleeping bags near the fire pit but angled so that they could face either entrance into the room. Beside the fire pit was laid their rations for the day: protein bars, polystarch and veg-meat.

“I always hated that stuff,” he said, by way of greeting as he placed the wood down in a neat pile nearby. They’d only use it if the synthetic fuel ran out. “Nice work. Don’t tell me you’re going all domestic on me?”

“Ha, funny,” Jayna replied, rolling her eyes. “Can you actually make a fire, or are you just good for fetching firewood and running your mouth?”

“Ouch,” Cal muttered, kneeling beside the fire pit as he reached for the fuel and lighter. “But I guess I deserved that for the ‘domestic’ comment.”

“Did you have to eat a lot of rations? I thought Padawans didn’t leave the Temple,” Jayna asked, ignoring his comment as she knelt down beside him. BD watched curiously beside them.

“No, Padawans went wherever their Masters went, once they were taken as an apprentice by one,” Cal explained, as he broke off fragments of the waxy, white fuel. “During the Clone Wars, most Padawans served alongside their Masters on the frontlines.”

“Even children?” she asked, an edge in her voice.

“No,” Cal replied, firmly, feeling annoyed at Jayna’s apparent constant need to find fault with the Jedi Order. “Only those of a certain age and who had proven themselves as competent in combat. It was war, Jayna, and Jedi are bound to serve. We all knew and understood the risks.”

“Did you?” Jayna replied, challengingly. “You were children, raised in the Temple. How could you know the risks?”

“The Masters never hid the dangers of war from us,” Cal retorted, as a flame caught on the fuel, sparking up as Cal blew on it gently. When he raised his head, he fixed Jayna with a narrow-eyed look. “We always knew the toll of the war, we saw it every day when the casualty lists were reported on the HoloNet, and when our friends and teachers disappeared, never to return to the Temple.”

Just when he thought he was getting somewhere with Jayna, she loved to throw a curveball his way. From warm companionship and shared purpose to antagonism and picking a fight? Would he ever understand her?

Jayna held his gaze unblinkingly, as he held hers in return. Between them, BD trilled and beeped in concern.

To Cal’s surprise, Jayna was the first to avert her eyes. “It’s ok, BD,” she told the droid. “Just a friendly discussion,” she added, as she stood. “I’m going downstairs to practice my forms,” she told Cal, picking up her quarterstaff.

Cal watched her go in silence, conscious of his irritation and wondering why now, of all times, she’d chosen to pick a fight over something so inconsequential, and just after she’d committed herself to helping them track down a holocron which would help them rebuilt the very Order she apparently despised so much.

Once he’d got a decent blaze going, he sat back on his heels, staring into the dancing flames. Switching off the solar lamps, he sighed as the light in the room dimmed a little, shadows and light flickering over the stone walls around him. Beside him, BD booped and cocked its head at Cal curiously.

“You think, BD?” he muttered. “I just don’t understand her. Why help us if she despises the Order so much?”

“Boop-be-be-boop!” the little droid chittered firmly, as if impatient with him.

Cal scoffed. “I’m not sure talking is going to help, BD,” he stated. As if in remonstrance, BD butted his arm with its head. “Hey!” Cal breathed, annoyed. He sighed again, before running a hand through his hair. Standing up, he glanced down at the little droid who was trying, and failing, to disguise its self-satisfaction. “Fine, I’ll go talk to her. Stay here and keep an eye on the fire. Unless you hear her tearing my head off, then I might need rescuing,” he added, only partly joking.

BD’s enthusiastic affirmative didn’t comfort him as he turned away to beard the manka cat in her den. “That’s not as reassuring as it should be,” Cal muttered to himself as he walked away.

Downstairs was the central chamber of Cordova’s home, a round depression in the rock from which branched off several passages and rooms. Cal had explored most of them when BD had led him in there weeks before.

Jayna was in the centre of the room, going through a complicated sequence of flicks and sweeping attacks as she moved back and forth across the stone floor. The whirring of the cooling fans masked the sound of Cal’s approach as he padded down the worn stone steps, then grasped hold of the rope trailing from an old bit of scaffolding to lower himself down.

Despite the noise of the fans and the sounds Jayna’s practice made, Cal knew she knew he was there. They could never hope to sneak up on each other, not with the bond. The longer they stayed together, the stronger it would become.

It was both a scarifying and oddly enticing prospect.

‘Not having second thoughts already, are you?’ he asked, through the bond. It seemed to glow in his mind, like the sheen of a campfire seen from behind closed eyelids.

Jayna’s quarterstaff swung high to low in a sweeping, elegant arc in a move that would have knocked an opponent’s head off, Cal was fairly sure. Her face was blank with concentration as she moved lightly from one move to the next, ignoring him.

Cal shoved his hands into the pockets of his jumpsuit, resisting the urge to shuffle awkwardly from foot to foot. ‘You always do this, y’know?’ he persisted, pushing his feelings of frustration and concern across the bond to her.

She paused. “Do what?” she demanded coldly, but just an edge of annoyance was there behind the ice queen façade.

“Antagonise me when you’re feeling vulnerable,” Cal replied out loud, pleased he’d managed to draw her out. “Try and pick a fight to hide how you’re really feeling.”

“And you know me so well, huh?” Jayna scoffed, lowering her quarterstaff, and taking one hand from it to tap her temple pointedly. “Just because you’re stuck in my head?”

“And you in mine,” he reminded her, gently but emphatically.  “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing’s the matter…just…” Jayna sighed, lowering her quarterstaff. “Can’t you look in my head and just find out?”

“I thought you didn’t like me in your head,” Cal retorted, raising his brows. At her badly hidden sigh of aggravation, he had to hide his own smirk of amusement.

‘You failed, Kestis,’ Jayna’s peeved tones echoed in his head.

‘Then stop being so evasive and just talk to me,’ Cal fired back, hanging onto his patience by his fingernails. When he felt her hesitate, he gently added, ‘we’re in this together, Jayna, for better or worse. You said you trusted me, so trust me now. Tell me what’s wrong with you?’

Jayna turned to face him finally, collapsing her quarterstaff with a flick of her wrist. Her features were troubled, uncertain, her eyes shadowed by something Cal couldn’t identify, even with the Force bond.

“It’s just…the more I learn about the Force, the more I’m beginning to wonder if there’s such a thing as freedom, or choice,” she eventually breathed. “Or if it’s just groups like the Jedi and the Sith acting like they’re non-existent. Children should never be involved in war, Cal. But you talk like it was never a choice, and like that’s ok. I can’t help it, it…just disturbs me, to think about you as a kid in the middle of a warzone.”

Despite his instinctive urge to defend the Jedi, Cal could see her point. It was better than dwelling on how the thought of Jayna feeling disturbed by his being in danger evoked a warm glow in the pit of his stomach. “I get what you’re saying,” he admitted, begrudgingly. Jayna’s reservations weren’t without foundation, and the Emperor had exploited just those kinds of suspicions to justify Order 66. “The Jedi weren’t perfect, Jayna. We got a lot of things wrong. But the holocron will give us a chance to get a lot of things right too.”

“Like more children fighting in a war they can barely understand, let alone consent to?” she retorted, before looking down at her feet. “I don’t know, Cal.”

“Well, it’s not something we’re going to have to worry about just yet,” Cal replied, holding onto his patience with a death grip. “I understand your reservations, Jayna. I do. To an outsider, it must seem like the Jedi were sending children to their deaths. But we always had a choice, we always had the choice to leave if we wished to.”

“But what child would easily leave the only life they’ve ever known?” Jayna asked quietly, pulling Cal up short.

“There have been Jedi who’ve left the Order,” Cal told her, softly, making her look at him in surprise. “We’re not …we weren’t some brainwashed cult. We always had a choice.”

“Okay, Cal,” she breathed. “I’m sorry.”

He could sense she wasn’t convinced but had decided to drop the subject, for now. In truth, he was relieved too. He was only a minute or two away from saying something he knew he’d regret. Talking about the Jedi made him feel trapped, restless, and suddenly he wanted nothing more than to get as far away from the topic as possible.

“Look, let’s not train today,” he abruptly said. “Why don’t we just…explore?”

“Explore? I feel like we’ve run over every inch of this mesa,” Jayna smirked, stowing her quarterstaff against her back.

 “True, but we haven’t explored any of the mesas to the west. I’d like to get a closer look at that Binog Cordova was observing,” Cal said, referring to the gargantuan reptilian creature that they regularly glimpsed in the distance during their stay on Bogano. “Perhaps after lunch?”

“Only you would be so enthused at the thought of going near a ginormous, possibly carnivorous alien reptile,” Jayna snorted, shaking her head in reluctantly fond exasperation as the tension between them eased a notch. “Maybe while we eat, if BD doesn’t mind, you could show me some of the logs Cordova left for you to find?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Cal agreed, smiling as he turned away to climb back up to their impromptu camp, Jayna following quietly in his wake.

After a quick meal of protein bars and polystarch, Cal, Jayna and BD-1 headed out to explore. The little droid regularly hopped from its perch on Cal’s back to scurry ahead of them, trilling like a robotic bird. Leaving their new home, they had doubled back to the landing pad and then around to the west, using the Force to leap from outcropping to outcropping until they stood on the top of a crumbling mesa.

In front of them stretched a gaping ravine, far too wide to jump even with the Force, so they stopped for breath as Cal smiled at the sight of the Binog lazing on the other side of the ravine, idly stretching in the suns’ heat.

“Master Cordova wrote in his journals about these creatures,” Cal began explaining, a childlike enthusiasm in his voice that made Jayna smile. “They can live for thousands of years and only breed once during that entire time. They also seem to have held special significance for the Zeffo; Cordova seemed to think they were a key reason why they built the Vault here, if all the depictions of them in the murals are any clue.”

“Fascinating,” Jayna said dryly, although she was intrigued. Standing relatively close, she could see the beast was actually a mix of mammal and amphibian, not reptilian as she’d initially thought. A light dusting of sleek fur covered the Binog’s scales. It watched them through lazy, dark eyes, completely unconcerned by the bipeds watching it from the nearby mesa.

The atmosphere between them had been slightly strained during lunch. They hadn’t spoken much after their disagreement, Cal munching in silence while Jayna had watched the logs BD-1 stored while picking at her polystarch.

They hadn’t told her much she didn’t already know from Cal and BD, but the log about Dathomir had piqued her interest. Cordova had seemed disturbed by the implication that the Zeffo had been on the planet. She didn’t know much herself, only spacers’ tales she’d overhead in cantinas on Nar Shaddaa.

Forcing her mind away from them, Jayna glanced at Cal out of the corner of her eye. He stood on the cliff edge, hand outstretched just as Jayna sensed him reach out through the Force to the creature, sending a gentle ripple of peace and curiosity towards the Binog, telling it…her that they meant no harm to her. In the Force, she sensed the Binog’s acceptance of their presence, as she indolently closed her eyes and rolled over until her finned back was to them.

Despite her earlier irritation with him, the sight of Cal so freely and uncomplicatedly happy as he lowered his hand, made her heart race and a soft smile rise to her features. She didn’t know why she kept baiting him, but the reverence and longing with which he spoke of the Jedi disturbed her sometimes. What little she’d known of the Jedi before she met Cal could hardly be entirely accurate; Imperial propaganda rarely was, but the more Cal told her about them, the more fault she found in them and in the way Cal didn’t seem to see any such fault. The idea of children serving in warzones disturbed her…

‘Be honest, it’s not the idea of faceless, nameless Jedi children that’s disturbing you,’ a part of her whispered disapprovingly. ‘It’s the idea of Cal in the middle of a warzone that’s upsetting.’

Her smile dissipating into a slight frown, Jayna shrugged that troubling thought aside, hoping Cal hadn’t heard or caught of it. She wasn’t in the mood for another argument today, not so soon after making this crazy, spur-of-the-moment decision to stay and join their wild bantha chase of a quest.

“They weren’t perfect,” Cal suddenly stated, his voice so quiet Jayna only just caught over the wind. With a sinking feeling, she guessed he’d heard most of her thoughts, if not the most troubling one. Either that, or he was choosing to ignore it as she was. “The Jedi. I do know that, Jayna. But they were my family, my people. And they didn’t deserve what happened to them.”

For a moment, Jayna closed her eyes as a newer, even more nightmarish image came to mind: children cut down by the Empire, faceless figures in brown robes lying silent and unnaturally still beneath a Stormtrooper’s rifle or an Inquisitor’s blade.

“I know, I’m sorry,” she whispered, sensing his quiet acceptance of her apology, as well as the grief and anguish that lurked in his mind, just waiting to pull him back down again. Without thinking, she reached out and slipped her hand into his gloved one, squeezing gently. To her reluctant relief, Cal squeezed back. “So, where will we go next?” she asked, desperate to ease the tension between them. “Cordova seemed to think we might find answers on either Zeffo or Dathomir.”

“Zeffo first, I think,” Cal replied. “I don’t want to go to Dathomir unless we have no other choice.”

“Why?” Jayna asked, frowning slightly. “Have you been there?”

“No,” Cal admitted. “But I’ve heard stories, read reports from…before. Dathomir is a dark place, Jayna, strong in the Dark Side of the Force. We’re not ready for that yet.”

Sceptical, Jayna raised a brow at him as he sighed. “Trust me, Jayna please,” he breathed, stealing a glance at her. “We’re not ready for Dathomir yet.”

“Ok, fine,” she sighed in turn. “Makes sense to look around on the Zeffo homeworld first anyway, I suppose.”

Silence fell between the pair as they stood watching the Binog, until BD-1 chirruped up at them, and without a word, they turned and began to run back to their camp for the night.

On the other side of the galaxy, the Second Sister sat in her chambers, staring down at the readouts from the computer terminal in front of her, mind racing.

For the past few weeks, she had been diligently working, combing through interrogation transcripts and old records from the Fortress Archives and the files stolen from the Jedi Archives on Coruscant. But despite her research, she still had gleaned little clue as to what exactly Cere Junda was doing.

But now, the dam had broken, so to speak. While she might not yet know what Junda was up to, she at last had the information she had been waiting for. Despite flagging the order as highly urgent, the DNA analyses of the two fugitives who had escaped her on Bracca had only just been sent to her and what she found…was extremely interesting.

The boy’s name was indeed Cal Kestis, a former Padawan who had been assigned to Jedi General Jaro Tapal. He had served aboard the Albedo Brave until Order 66, but all aboard had originally been reported lost when the ship was destroyed shortly after the order was given. Colossal hyperdrive overload, apparently. But apparently not…

But that wasn’t what was the most interesting…apart from confirming his identity, they also revealed something else…another partial match to another Jedi.

The Jedi had kept extensive DNA records of their members, initiates, and potential recruits after testing, in the event of a Jedi being killed in the course of a mission and formally unidentifiable by any other means than DNA matching. It had become a most useful resource in the wake of the Purge, for the Empire, allowing them to positively identify and account for Jedi killed in the Purge and after.

This, however, this went deeper than just confirming Cal Kestis’s identity. A partial DNA match meant only one thing…and considering the percentage match…Cal Kestis was biologically related to another Jedi Knight. A 50% DNA match could mean only one thing…Cal Kestis was the son of a Jedi Knight

And not just any Jedi Knight, it would seem. Cal Kestis was the son of General Obi-Wan Kenobi.

‘Well, well, well,’ the Second Sister thought to herself, as a vicious smile grew. ‘This will certainly make things interesting…’

Far away, in a shadowed chamber in the very heart of darkness, a gleaming protocol droid shuffled towards a large, throne-like chair that dominated the chamber. It overlooked a cavernous window, looking out onto a bustling, shining metropolis.

“Your Majesty,” the droid intoned, stopping and bowing at the waist. It proffered a datapad. “This came through. There had been a data and analysis requested flagged on a restricted file.”

“From where?” a hoarse, rough voice asked from the depths of the shadow.

“From the Jedi Archives,” the protocol droid replied.  The datapad flew from its outstretched hands and into the shadows, as a pale hand, crisscrossed with sickly blue veins and clawed nails, swept out to retrieve it.

Two minutes later, the protocol droid collapsed into a heap of twisted, tortured metal as the shadow began to laugh. Those hands that had just summoned the datapad and reduced the droid to a smoking, sparking heap with a contemptuous wave of its fingers keyed in a series of commands to the pad on the arm of its chair.

“Summon Lord Vader to me,” that same ghastly, hoarse voice intoned from the depths of the shadow. “I have a task for him.”

To be continued...

Chapter Text

The Second Sister tried not to fidget as she swept into the audience chamber, cognisant of the two Purge Troopers at her back. It would not do to show weakness in front of anyone, let alone the cannon fodder. It was bad enough that she felt it at all.

Fear was not meant to be a weakness. It was meant to make her stronger.

She tried to find it, tried to draw it in and use to bolster her, willing it to enthuse her with the cold resolve of the Dark Side of the Force, as she’d been taught.

But all she felt was cold. Ice-cold terror and dread.

At least she would not be expected to remove her helmet. Her craven shame and terror would be known only to her. Or so she told herself.

For the truth was, even though it was a pair of holograms that flickered to life above the holocom, she could never shake the feeling that the dark figures that loomed over her could sense her weaknesses even from the other side of the galaxy.

Her voice was smooth and unbroken, her body strong and graceful as she fell to one knee, head bowed. “Lord Vader,” she intoned, sensing the others do the same beside her. “Grand Inquisitor.”

“Rise, Second Sister,” the dark behemoth in front of her replied. She did so, while the troopers at her back remained kneeling, heads bowed, behind her. In the safety of her helmet, the Second Sister glanced towards the pale, lanky figure of the Pau’an. She did not dare do more than raise her eyes to the level of a chest life support unit, blinking like some hideous parody of a holo-ad on Coruscant or Nar Shaddaa. “You know why you have been summoned.”

“Yes, my lord,” the Second Sister replied. It did not surprise her that he knew about them. “The fugitives from Bracca.”

“Report your findings,” he continued, his vocoder hissing slightly with every word. It reminded the Second Sister of a reptilian predator she’d once encountered in her life…before. She tried to ignore the shivers rippling down her spine and the icy tendrils of terror in her gut.

“We were called to Bracca after an anonymous tip-off which was corroborated by footage recorded by one of our probe droids in the scrapyards. We were to apprehend the fugitive Jedi and investigate the possibility of more traitors hiding within Bracca’s scrapyards,” she began, keeping her words succinct and cold.

“But you discovered more than you’d bargained for,” the Grand Inquisitor interjected smoothly.

“Yes. Two fugitives, one of whom aided the other shortly after he escaped our custody,” she continued. “After I caught up with them, I engaged the male fugitive in combat. He was trained, to some degree, but out of practice and unrefined. The girl did not engage, at first…”

“But then she used the Force,” the other replied. “Instinctively.”

“Yes, my lord,” the Second Sister replied, tamping down her irritation at the way they kept interrupting her. It was a test of her patience, she knew it. The Grand Inquisitor was going to make this as difficult and uncomfortable as possible, she knew, as punishment for her insolence when she’d arrived back on Nur. As for Lord Vader, it was simply his way to make things as uncomfortable and unpleasant as possible for others. Memories of exactly how uncomfortable and unpleasant he could achieve made her mentally flinch as she gathered her thoughts to continue her report. “I can only make an educated guess from my own scant knowledge, but she attempted to use battle meditation on both myself and the boy. She initially succeeded in strengthening him, but her attempts to control me were less so. She is untrained, untested and unrefined in her power.”

“But powerful nonetheless,” Vader replied.

“There has not been a true master of battle meditation discovered since the Mandalorian Wars,” the Grand Inquisitor added, a greedy look coming into his shining yellow eyes.

“Continue,” the other replied, ignoring the Pau’an as the Second Sister felt his gaze boring into her helmet.

“Despite the girl’s interference, I was able to neutralise them both and was preparing to take them into custody when I was fired upon-,” she continued, hoping to get past the next part unscathed but her hope was dashed.

“By your former master, Cere Junda,” Vader interrupted, as the Second Sister mentally flinched at the sound of that name in Vader’s sinister, metallic hiss. “The fugitives escaped.”

“Yes, my lord,” the Second Sister replied, trying not to let her fear ring in her voice as it threatened to bring up what little food there was in her stomach. “After which, I returned to the Fortress to begin my investigations.”

“And what have you learned?” he replied, an edge to his voice that made every hair on the Second Sister’s body stand on end.

“Investigation of the ship has uncovered little. The ship is licensed under several names, a common trick itinerant pilots use to avoid scrutiny by spaceport authorities. It was ultimately a dead-end. I was able to discover more from the fugitives themselves. Through cross-referencing of DNA analysis taken from the fugitives’ quarters on Bracca and the Jedi Archives, as well as records of wanted persons from Imperial Intelligence, I was able to identify the fugitives as Cal Kestis and Jayna Shan, although the girl had been hiding under an assumed identity as Meena Cordo. Records from Imperial Intelligence revealed Shan was wanted as a deserter, after being served her call-up papers for the Mandatory Military Service programme three years ago. She disappeared from an orphanage on Brentaal IV shortly after. There was very little information on her background before then available, other than that she was an orphan at ten years old and had not been born on Brentaal IV. Nor could we find conclusive evidence of where Shan went after deserting, but it is likely she stowed away on an outbound ship and changed her identity to Meena Cordo,”

She paused to take a breath, glancing at the Grand Inquisitor as he leant in, impatient and eager while the dark figure beside him was an enigma of implacable, unreadable calm. She still couldn’t bring herself to look up at that horrible, lifeless mask.

“The DNA analyses from the Jedi Archives were more conclusive. Both fugitives scored hits in the DNA database,” the Second Sister continued. “Shan’s parents were Jedi, or at least one of them was. Dreya Shan, a descendant of Grandmaster Satele Shan, Bastila Shan and Lord Revan himself. The girl’s father was one Kos Raiden, a Force Sensitive identified by Shan during a mission to Passana before the Clone Wars. Due to his age, the Order refused to train him and Dreya Shan left the Order, by all accounts in protest at the decision but more likely that she had broken her vows with Raiden. There is no record of Jayna Shan’s birth, only of her parents’ deaths-,”

“There would not be,” Lord Vader interrupted. “Passana is a wasteland, a technological backwater outside the remit of the old Republic. There is little bureaucracy to keep and maintain records of the planet’s population. There is no record of how she came to be on Brentaal, other than her arrival at the orphanage?” he demanded, as the Second Sister shook her head. “What of the boy, Kestis?”

Once again, that edge in Vader’s voice. The Second Sister tried to swallow, but her mouth and throat were dry.

“The DNA analysis identified Kestis as the former Padawan of General Jaro Tapal. During the final days of the Clone Wars, Kestis and Tapal were assigned to the Albedo Brave, protecting Bracca from Separatist attack. The ship was destroyed during the Purge, but it seems likely Kestis was able to escape before the ship’s destruction. The DNA analysis also revealed that Kestis was a biological relative of another member of the Order: General Obi-Wan Kenobi. The analysis showed a 50% match, indicating that Kestis is the son of Kenobi. According to Temple records, the boy was brought to the Temple as an infant,” she continued. “From encrypted personal data files, it appears only Master Yoda was aware of the boy’s origins, otherwise it wasn’t public knowledge. There is no information on who the boy’s mother was.”

“The hypocrisy of the Jedi knew no bounds, it seems,” the Grand Inquisitor pronounced with relish.

“According to Temple records, Kestis was identified as being quite the prodigious lightsaber student. He is also gifted with psychometry,” the Second Sister continued, ignoring the senior Inquisitor’s remarks. Through the Force, she could sense Lord Vader’s rage growing with every word out of her mouth, although for what reason she couldn’t fathom. Even halfway across the galaxy, she could sense it like a tidal wave of pain, anguish and hate, and she was desperate to get out before the dam broke. “What Junda’s role is in this, I have not yet deduced,” she concluded.

“It matters not,” the Grand Inquisitor replied dismissively. “When they surface, they will be apprehended and interrogated.”

“No,” Vader barked suddenly, making even the Grand Inquisitor startle. “Apprehend them but they are not to be interrogated, not yet. The Emperor has ordered that the girl be sent to him on Coruscant, alive but Kestis belongs to me.”

“My lord?” the Grand Inquisitor dared to question, as the Second Sister glanced up at them both, although she kept her eyes on the vicious disappointment in her superior officer’s gleaming eyes, and not the black armoured shadow beside him.

“The fugitives’ gifts will make them useful servants of the Empire. They must be handled delicately, until we can be certain of their containment,” Vader replied coldly. The Second Sister felt it like a bucket of ice had been dumped over her head when the Dark Lord’s gaze was turned on her. “Bring them to us, alive. Do not fail me, Second Sister.”

“And their accomplices?” she breathed.

“Kill them. They are of no interest to the Empire,” Vader replied dismissively. “Grand Inquisitor, continue your investigations in the Inner Rim. Report to me when you have made progress. It will be a long hunt, Second Sister. Be prepared.”

“Yes, my lord. Thank you, my lord,” she replied, bowing her head again. “I will not fail you.”

“See to it that you do not,” Lord Vader replied coldly. “The Emperor has a special interest in this and he is not as forgiving as I am.”

The Second Sister was only half aware of the Grand Inquisitor’s swift, poisonous glare as their holograms faded from existence and silence fell in the audience chamber. Without a word to her escort, she turned on her heel and left, striding back to her quarters quickly.

It was only there, safe in her rooms, that she removed her helmet and was promptly violently sick in the ‘fresher. As soon as she could be certain her voice would not show any signs of the turmoil of the past few minutes, she tapped a code into her wrist unit.

“Order an alert to be forwarded to all Imperial outposts and across the Imperial network. The fugitives Jayna Shan, Cal Kestis and Cere Junda are to be identified and detained with all non-lethal force necessary. Any information or sightings are to be reported immediately to me!” she barked, pleased her voice was steady, if still a little hoarse.

“Yes, Second Sister!” the trooper on the other end of the com replied, as the Second Sister terminated the link. Once more alone and safe in her quarters, she let herself slump against the wall in the ‘fresher, mind racing and body still trembling with the fear she couldn’t, even now, displace. But alongside it, a strange kind of anticipation grew as she thought over the revelations and observations she’d gleaned, even though her fear, from her meeting with the Grand Inquisitor and Lord Vader.

It was no surprise the Emperor had taken an interest in the girl. If their suspicions were correct, the girl’s gifts would be a prize that would make the Empire unbeatable for decades. If she found and delivered Shan to the Emperor…she would be elevated above all others in his favour. And favour meant survival.

Putting that thought aside, the Second Sister turned her mind to the boy. Lord Vader had a grudge, it seemed, with Cal Kestis. Or more likely, with the boy’s father. Cal Kestis was just the tool of Vader’s revenge against Obi-Wan Kenobi. But why? Other than being one of the few Jedi unaccounted for during the Purge, there was no obvious link. Had Kenobi crossed paths with Vader before the Purge?

All questions for which she had no answers. What was more, she still had no more answers to the question of what Cere Junda was up to. But she would discover the link, sooner or later.

Kestis might belong to Lord Vader, the girl to the Emperor but Cere…Cere belonged to her.

Two days after their little philosphical discussion, Cal woke up to the distinctly unappetising smell of Greez’s family recipe.

“That’s going to stink the room out,” he sighed grumpily, BD chirruping a ‘good morning’ from beside his head as he groaned and stretched out in his sleeping bag.

“Good morning to you too,” Jayna quipped from where she knelt by the fire pit, stirring the pot unenthusiastically. “It was this or protein bars. Again.”

“Point taken,” he replied, sitting up and ruffling his hair. Jayna snorted. “What?”

“You look like you stuck your hand in a power socket,” she replied, glancing up from the pot with a mischievous look in her eyes. She swiped up a foil-wrapped packet from the floor beside her and threw it in Cal’s direction. Even still half-asleep, he caught it instinctively.

His eyes brightened a moment later. “Oh, lifesaver,” he breathed.

“Not me,” she replied, as Cal looked up from the packet of dried Moof berries. “I think we’ve got Cere to thank for this.”

Cal hefted the weight of the foil packet in his hand, before throwing it back at Jayna. Through the Force, he felt the ripple of pressure in the air around them as Jayna put her palm up to slow its path, before it dropped into her open hand. “Your control is getting better,” he remarked, as he pushed back the edge of his sleeping bag so he could pull his legs free.

“Thanks,” she replied, shrugging modestly. “So what do you say to some meditation after breakfast, before we go for a run?”

“Sounds good,” Cal replied, cautiously as he eyed Jayna. “Why the sudden enthusiasm for meditation?”

“I was thinking while I was waiting for you to wake up,” she began to explain, tearing open the packet and tipping the contents into the porridge, stirring gently. “With the Force bond, we each have access to each other’s memories and thoughts, right? Like how you were able to share some of your memories of your Master to help me learn more about the Force?”

Cal thrust back his sleeping bag, pulling his legs out and reaching for his boots. “In theory, yes, I suppose,” he admitted. “Although we’re in uncharted territory here, Jayna. Our bond isn’t like the bonds forged between Masters and Padawans.”

“I’m surprised it’s never happened before. Surely it must have?” she exclaimed, as she began spooning the porridge into their mess tins.

“Not in recent memory,” he explained. “Perhaps it has, but…there have been other times, other Purges throughout history where the Jedi have been nearly wiped out and all our knowledge from that time with them. Even if we had access to the Jedi Archives, or the Jedi Council was still around…” he shook his head before he looked down to finish buckling up his boots. “But what’s your point?”

“I was just thinking that if you have the ability to show me memories of your past, I could show you some of mine…maybe even ones I can’t consciously remember?” she explained, with a questioning, hopeful lilt to her voice as she looked up at him.

Alarm lanced through Cal at her suggestion, but he forced himself to stay outwardly calm and collected as he knelt down beside her. “I’m no master at this sort of thing, Jayna. To go searching through someone’s mind…the only time I’ve ever heard of such a skill is through using the Dark Side,” he replied, feeling her question through their bond before she could ask it. “The ancient Sith Lords used the Dark Side to break their victims’ minds, conjuring horrific visions to torture them or forcing them to relive traumatic memories over and over until their minds snapped and they died.”

“But you wouldn’t be using it to hurt me. It would be with my willing consent,” she replied, rationally. “Besides you wouldn’t be breaking into my mind, a part of you is already there. If we do this, we might find a clue as to why I can recall anything before I arrived on Brentaal and maybe even who put this blasted Force bond in my head!”

Cal sighed, wishing he could refute her logic but finding it hard to argue. This wasn’t like those Sith Lords who used such skills to torture and control, not even close. He didn’t know exactly what this was, what they were but there was nothing dark about their Bond, he was certain of that.

“Jayna, I don’t know…” he trailed off, shaking his head before he felt Jayna’s hands slide into his, squeezing tightly. He opened his eyes to look down into hers, deep brown looking up into his.

“I trust you, Cal Kestis,” she breathed, as he promptly lost his own. “We can do this. Together.”

Looking down at her in the soft, golden light cast by the fire pit, he felt the nearly overwhelming urge to lean in and press his lips to hers, just as their minds and souls were pressed together irrevocably.  

Beside him, BD had apparently been following the conversation as the little droid trilled and booped supportively, startling them out of their bubble. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, buddy,” he said, his lips quirking up into a little half-smile as he straightened up and away from Jayna. “Ok, we’ll give it a try. But after breakfast. I need a full stomach for this.”

But as breakfast passed, Cal quickly began to feel the first stirrings of unease and uncertainty. What had he been thinking, agreeing to this? What was more, what had he been thinking that he wanted to kiss Jayna?

He might not have taken the Trials, but he was still a Jedi. Attachment was a path to the Dark Side, he knew that, he accepted his Master’s teachings. ‘There is no emotion, there is peace,’ he told himself firmly, as he put his ration tin aside, closing his eyes and digging deep for serenity. ‘I do not desire her. She is a comrade and a student, nothing more.’

He wasn’t certain if Jayna felt the same disturbing urges, or if she sensed his own moments of weakness. He could only hope that she didn’t, otherwise things could quickly become uncomfortable and embarrassing.

Experimentally, he pushed his thoughts away from the bond in his mind’s eye, bright, burning and strong, and imagined a wall between them and the bond. If he could keep them from her, at least it might preserve their friendship at least.

He felt her indrawn breath as her head shot up. “I felt that,” she hissed. “You’re hiding something from me.”

“Just preparing myself for…what comes next,” he replied as calmly as he could. “I can help you learn the trick too. Give us both back a bit of privacy in our own heads.”

She eyed him narrowly for a few minutes, seemingly torn, before she nodded abruptly. “Fine,” she breathed. “Let’s get on with it, then.”

BD-1 hopped out of the way as Cal pulled himself upright and walked the few steps to where Jayna sat cross-legged. He knelt down in front of her, taking a deep breath to centre himself.

“Close your eyes,” he told her, waiting until she did so to do the same. “Now, imagine a place in your mind. Imagine a wall around it, and put anything you don’t want me to see behind it. Then we can get started.”

He felt the wall go up in her mind like a shiver down his spine, but tried to ignore the sensation as he stretched his mind out towards the bond in her heads. “Now, breathe. Reach out, as you do when you meditate, but within yourself.”

‘I feel it,’ he heard her whisper, in her head. ‘I feel you.’

‘Focus, Jayna,’ he told her gently. ‘Open yourself up to the bond.’

In his mind’s eye, he saw her reach out to the burning golden rope in their minds, touching it as he had, as with a shudder, all their walls came tumbling down.

It was a dizzying cacophony of emotions manifesting as sensations; a flash of heat, an icy gust against his skin, the burn of pain, anger, humiliation, the sting of loss and humiliation, the warmth of love and companionship.

He saw the image of a young boy, barely older than Jayna was now, tall and wiry, and looking down at him…at Jayna with exasperated affection.

‘My friend, Kit,’ Jayna whispered, as he felt her presence pressing against him almost as if he held her in his arms. ‘He was my only friend in that orphanage. He protected me, taught to fend for myself.’

‘What happened to him?’ Cal asked. He felt the flash of grief and longing as he saw an image of the same boy, of Kit walking away with a satchel slung over his shoulder.

‘The Empire. He was one of the first to be enlisted in their military service programme,’ she explained. ‘He left when I was twelve.’

‘I’m sorry,’ he breathed, the thought shivering along the bond like a tangible thrill of warmth across their skin. He felt Jayna rally herself, pushing the image of Kit away.

‘Come on,’ she replied, pulling them onward with a palpable tug. His perception was flooded by sounds, scents, and flashes of images: the feel of icy rain through soaked clothes, the roar of starship engines taking off overhead, a marked, utilitarian grey door sliding open to reveal an equally cheerless room and a stern-looking woman in shapeless grey clothing. ‘The earliest memory I have of the orphanage,’ she explained. ‘Anything else…it’s all just…blank.’

Wordlessly, Cal reached out to her and then into her, into her mind as she shuddered and tensed. ‘Easy, Jayna. I come in peace, remember?’ he whispered, trying his hardest to be gentle as he let himself sink into the part of her mind that held her memories. He didn’t concern himself with them, focussing only on finding her earliest memories.

And came up against a wall.

He all but bumped into it, flinching as if he’d walked head-first into a wall of duracrete. He examined it for gaps, fissures or weaknesses of any kind, but it was seamless and perfect, stopping him from going any further.

It wasn’t that Jayna didn’t have any memories of her life before the orphanage. They were blocked so she couldn’t recall them. And this deep in her mind, he felt the pull of her other Force Bond, lingering in the depths of her mind like a shadowy chain.

He couldn’t discern where it came from or who had put it there, but he was certain it was likely the same person who had blocked Jayna’s memories. He didn’t recognise the voice that echoed in his mind, and in Jayna’s, as he probed that shadow bond.

‘This is your destiny, accept it!’

He was thrown from Jayna’s memories like a pebble from a slingshot, with a force unlike anything he’d ever encountered before. It felt like he was falling and flying at the same time, lost inside the bond, maybe even forever but for Jayna’s hand hauling him back to safety and to reality.

It felt like an eternity before Cal pulled himself free of the Bond. He emerged slowly, in fits and starts, reluctant despite himself to leave the warm haven of their minds as he felt the Force within ebb as the connection fell back into slumber. As physical sensation and perception returned, he realised he now held Jayna in his arms, their foreheads pressed together tightly, one hand buried in her loose hair while the other curled protectively around her waist. For Jayna’s part, she had moved closer until her torso was pressed against his, one hand resting on his arm while the other had crept into the opening of his jumpsuit to rest against the bare skin of his chest, his heart beating like a drum against her palm.

That was bad enough. But even more damningly, Jayna’s lips were only a breath away from his, and he could feel the gentle puffs of air as it left her parted lips against his own. One small movement and…

For a moment, he let himself imagine it. Let himself imagine pulling her over that last precious inch between them, pressing his lips to hers and tipping her back against his arm as he pressed her to the floor underneath him. His body burned with unfamiliar and disquieting urges that seemed to approach the point of pained need.

Then, he forced himself to push those seductive thoughts away, into the darkened, walled-off corner of his mind. He shut out the feeling of her desire, of Jayna’s own reciprocal need and attraction, and forced himself to speak, his voice a husky growl. “So now we know. Your memories are blocked, not gone.”

“Thank you,” she breathed against his lips. Her eyes dropped to his lips, and Cal’s heart raced.

“Jayna, we can’t. I can’t,” he said in a pained whisper. So close, he saw the slight tinges of green in her brown eyes sharpen as her eyes flashed.

“No, we can’t,” she agreed, to his mingled relief and disappointment. “But not because it’s against the Jedi Code. Because now, hunted and homeless while we’re on some crazy quest is precisely the wrong time and place for any of this. Don’t worry, I’m not about to turn into some moonstruck nerf-calf, swooning over you at every opportunity.”

The image was so ridiculous, it surprised a snort of amusement from Cal. But still, despite what they’d said and agreed upon, even if for different reasons, he hadn’t let her go and she hadn’t moved away. Still sunk in their shared gaze, the bond between them all but rippled with their attraction as that strange, menacing voice echoed in their ears once more.

‘This is your destiny! Accept it! Accept each other!’

“And I’m sure as hell not going to fall into your arms just because a voice in my head tells me to,” Jayna concluded with a growl, as she was the first to move, pushing away from Cal and standing shakily. The connection broken, the voice faded and their bond returned to its usual simmering hum instead of the blinding, heated pull of the last few minutes. After a moment where Cal remained on his knees, staring up at her, reeling inside from the loss of her warmth in his arms, her hand against his skin, she bent a little and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you, Cal,” she whispered simply but sincerely. As she straightened up, she forced a cheery, bright smile to her lips. “Now come on, I need some air.”

After a moment to regain control of his own body, Cal stood, desperately reminding himself of the Code as he fought to forget the events of the past few minutes, BD scrambling up his leg and onto his back as he followed Jayna from the cavern.

Jayna was thankful of the relatively cool breeze that met them when they emerged from Cordova’s home and pulled themselves up the handholds in the cliff face until they stood atop the mesa once more.

She took off at a sprint, feeling Cal and BD follow her as she raced and jumped from point to point, very carefully not thinking about what had just happened in those heated moments when they emerged from the Force Bond. Instead, she let her mind mull over what they’d discovered from Cal’s explorations into her memories.

She’d felt it when Cal came up against the wall in her memories. It had felt strong and impassable, without flaw and it disturbed her greatly, along with the realisation that the mysterious voice in her head was very much still there, and it was just as interested in Cal as it was in her. It seemed likely it was also the origin of the wall blocking her memories. But why?

That question was one she still had no answers to.

She still felt like she recognised the voice but was no closer to remembering who it was. It was frustrating and scarifying, or so she told herself.

In truth, the voice and her blocked memories were less terrifying than the revelations they’d birthed. She was attracted to Cal, and he was attracted to her it seemed, but…she didn’t know if it was the intoxication caused by the Bond or whether it had happened naturally.

‘It’s all academic anyway,’ she told herself. ‘Cal’s too busy worrying about the Code and offending a bunch of repressed-warrior-monk-ghosts. And it’s the last thing I need right now.’

Her priority had to be finding the answers to her questions, helping Cal and the others; and keeping herself alive. She didn’t need an irrational infatuation getting in the way of that. ‘At least on that, we can agree.’

She was careful to use the trick Cal had shown her, to muffle her thoughts so he couldn’t pick up on all of them. If he wanted to use it, she didn’t see any reason why she couldn’t. At least she could have some privacy back.

She felt Cal and BD catch up as she stopped for breath, not realising she’d come quite a way from Cordova’s home and they now stood on the mesa where they’d seen the Binog a few days before. She wasn’t there today.

Jayna caught her breath, looking over her shoulder at Cal as the red-haired boy joined her on the edge. “Slow-poke,” she jibed, thinking it wise to put things back on an even keel between them, hoping he’d let them return to their previous easy intimacy.

“Didn’t realise it was a race,” Cal retorted, with an attempt at a smile. “Wanna go again, for real this time?”

“You’re on! No cheating this time, BD!” Jayna called, turning on her heel and racing away as the droid trundled ahead effortlessly. She felt Cal’s relief as he laughed, letting himself fall into their companionship with gratitude she’d accepted his rejection, even if not quite for the reasons he did.

Her first and only warning was a slight crackle, deep in the stone under her feet, then a ripping sound as the ground gave way beneath her. She fell with a shout, the Force screaming a warning as she tumbled, Cal’s scream echoing in her ears.

She came to a sudden stop, falling hard into a puddle of brackish, fetid water. Rocks and swamp weed fell to the ground around her, as she felt Cal stop somewhere above her.

“Jayna! BD!?” he shouted in alarm.

“I’m here, I’m okay,” she called, blinking away stars as she looked around, trying hard to ignore her own panic. “BD?”

BD trilled weakly from somewhere ahead of her, where the small pool of light let in by the cave-in ended in shadow. Forcing herself to calm, Jayna stretched out her awareness, searching the shadows for BD-1. She heard the cheerful little droid’s whoops and beeps of comfort turn to alarm, as it came racing towards her out of the shadows. “He’s here, he’s okay!” she called up, looking over her shoulder to see the hole they’d fallen down.

Whether it was overgrowth from millennia undisturbed, or simply a weakness in the rock they’d been unfortunate enough to step on, the cave-in had left a small hole barely big enough for Jayna. Cal’s broad shoulders couldn’t fit as he strained to fit through, dangling upside down as he strained to see them.

“Thank the Force,” he breathed, as Jayna looked up at him. His eyes widened almost comically as BD whooped a warning at the same time the Force screamed a warning. On instinct, Jayna threw herself sideways, landing on her side in the water as she scrambled for purchase. “Jayna, watch out!” Cal shouted from above. The rock above her head exploded into splinters under the force of something hitting it, then again as she rolled, soaking herself in swamp water.

Jayna forced herself to her feet, only half-aware of Cal’s desperation as he struggled to reach them but the hole wasn’t big enough for him to fit through. She whirled to face her attacker to find a revolting creature eying her malevolently.

Jayna quickly realised she was face to face with the source of that malice she’d sometimes sensed during her meditations. It resembled the monstrous amphibians Cordova had identified in his journals as ‘Oggdo’, but it dwarfed them like a rancor dwarfed a Jawa. Its massive spike-ridden body heaved and groaned as it bounded into position, opening a mouth ringed with vicious teeth to reveal a fleshy, slimy tongue. Through wide eyes, Jayna watched as it shot out from the monster’s mouth. The Force shouted a warning in Cal’s voice as she ducked and rolled away from it again. Cold water trickled down her back from her soaked hair as she scrabbled up onto her feet, BD appearing by her side as she looked frantically for some way out, or a weapon.

She’d left her staff behind when they’d left, and the cavern appeared blocked as she had to duck again to avoid the creature as it coiled its powerful legs and sprang at her. As she rolled and came back up on her feet, she caught a glimpse of its evil green eyes eying her narrowly, as if annoyed by her constant refusal to stand still and let herself be eaten.

‘Jayna!’ she felt Cal’s shout in her head, the Bond flaring to life in her head. ‘Heads’ up!’

Without conscious warning, she raised her hand and caught the silver cylinder Cal threw down. It flared to life in her hand, the azure blue of the blade sparking as she twirled it into a high guard, all her weeks of training coming to the fore for her first real test.

She felt the coiling of intent in the creature before her, but she refused to wait for it to strike first. Calling on her power, she took a running leap towards the creature. The Force carried her up in a somersaulting leap over its back, the lightsaber in her hand scoring a deep gash in its hide as she flipped and landed behind it.

But it wasn’t deterred. It roared in pain and fury as it bounded away and turned, eying her now with burning rage, as she watched its jaws open wide once more.

‘Hold your ground. Wait for it!’ she heard Cal say, as she realised what he intended. Taking a deep breath, she anchored herself in the Force, letting it flow through her, quelling the instinctual panic and urgency in her blood until it became nothing but a background thrum.

Instead of rushing to meet the creature’s onslaught, this time she waited.

She felt the surge of power in Cal at the same time she saw the creature’s tongue burst forth, the bulbous end gleaming with some kind of adhesive slime, ready to snare her and drag her into that waiting maw. But in that moment, the creature seemed to blur around the outline, its movements slowed to a crawl as Jayna moved towards it. At the last moment, as the tongue unfolded towards her, she dodged sideways and turned, the movement bringing the lightsaber to shear through wet, pink muscle and flesh, severing the creature’s tongue so that all that was left was a cauterised, burning root.

Time sped up and the Oggdo roared and squealed in agony at its missing tongue, as the revolting thing fell into the water with a splash. Jayna didn’t wait for the creature to recover, instead she sprinted towards it as it reared up in agony, exposing its weaker underbelly. Rolling to bring herself underneath its flailing clawed front legs, she brought the lightsaber up and drove it deep into the creature’s abdomen.

It snarled and screamed, toppling to the ground as Jayna threw herself aside just in time to avoid being crushed beneath it, its body sending up a great wave of fetid swamp water and soaking Jayna and BD-1 anew.

An uneasy quiet fell, as Jayna panted for breath, staring at the unmoving corpse of the monstrous Oggdo, BD-1 trilling a concerned question.

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay,” she breathed, unable to pull her eyes away from the Oggdo. “You ok, BD?”

The little droid booped a reply, as there came the sound of cracking rock as a wider hole appeared in the ceiling of the cavern.

“Jayna!? BD!?” Cal called down. “You ok? You hurt?”

“Fine, barring a couple of scrapes and soggy boots,” Jayna replied, torn from her trance as she turned her back on the Oggdo and stared up at Cal. “The Oggdo is dead.”

“I know, I saw,” he breathed, his features drawn with concern and relief. “Nice one. I don’t think there’s another way through, the walls are caved-in. Jump up and I’ll pull you up the rest of the way.”

Without reply, Jayna held out her leg for BD to clamber aboard, before she turned to position herself under the hole Cal had made with the Force. With a slight bend of her knees, she summoned the Force to rocket her upwards, increasing the height of her jump so she was able to grasp Cal’s hand. He pulled her up and through the hole, BD jumping from her back with a joyful boop at Cal.

“I know, buddy! I saw!” he replied, almost laughing as he turned to her. “You’ve learnt fast.”

“Thanks for this,” she replied, proffering the lightsaber. “It saved our lives.”

“It helped you save your own life, and BD’s,” he replied firmly. “Well done.”

She smiled at him as he took the lightsaber back and clipped it to his belt. Without another word, he stepped into her and pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. Caught off-guard, she was unsure what to do as she raised her hands, awkwardly hanging in mid-air until BD booped at her reprovingly.

She shot the droid a glare, before slowly lowering them to rest on Cal’s back, holding him to her lightly at first, then tighter as his warmth and solidity eased the shock of the past few minutes. She pressed her head into the crook of his shoulder, where it joined his neck, and took a deep breath, pushing the fear and shock away as she exhaled.

Closing her eyes, she stood clasped tightly in Cal’s arms, safe and secure both in his arms and in the bond between them, the corpse of the Oggdo cooling under their feet.

The next day, they awoke to the sound of hyperdrive engines. Sitting bolt upright in their sleeping bags, they shared an unspoken look as BD-1 beeped in concern.

‘It could be the Mantis,’ Jayna said, through the bond.

‘Could be, might not be. We need to be cautious. Pack everything up and we’ll go take a look,’ he replied. With a shared nod, they set about getting dressed and packing up the camp, leaving everything stored in their rucksacks in case they needed to make a quick getaway. Armed with Cal’s lightsaber and Jayna’s quarterstaff, they cautiously made their way out of Cordova’s home and back towards the landing pad.

The Bogano morning was humid and dry, the wind having died down completely overnight as they approached the landing pad. Atop it, the Mantis stood proudly, gleaming in the twin sunlight. On the landing ramp, Cere stood, an arm raised in welcome. Cal raised one back, but his other stayed on his lightsaber as their minds probed the ship for any other signatures in the Force than those of Cere and Greez.

“Good shopping trip?” Jayna asked as they reached the ship, relaxing slightly as she glanced at Cal and he nodded. She hadn’t sensed anything, and the fact that Cal hadn’t either reassured her.

“Excellent. We were able to get everything we needed for the journey to come,” Cere replied, with an easy smile.

“Any trouble?” Cal asked, brow furrowed.

“Well, both your faces were plastered across the HoloNet,” Cere replied, turning, and leading the way back into the Mantis. “I’d say the Empire has identified you both by now, so now going back. Other than that, no trouble. We weren’t identified and spaceport authorities were lax enough that we managed to slip through the net without any scrutiny. So, how was your camping trip?” she asked jovially as they followed her up into the main crew area.

As the cool air of the Mantis’s air conditioning washed over her dewed forehead, Jayna breathed a sigh of relief. “Wonderfully relaxing,” she joked. “Some training one day, observing local fauna the next…”

Cal snorted. “Death-defying encounters with them the day after that,” he added, amused.

“What?” at Cere’s concerned question, Cal explained what had happened with the Oggdo. As he explained, Cere’s brows rose higher up her forehead as her eyes darted between Cal and Jayna. “That’s impressive. If I am correct, it sounds like you encountered an Oggdo Bogdo, a subspecies Master Cordova told me about once. They’re larger, stronger and ten times more aggressive than their cousins.”

“This one was definitely aggressive,” Jayna replied wryly.

“Probably just thought it was his lucky day, lunch falling through his ceiling like that,” Cal quipped back, with a quirk of his lips. Jayna just rolled her eyes.

“It sounds as though your bond has become stronger since I left you,” Cere concluded, with a pleased smile. “It’ll serve you well, I think. Well done, both of you.”

They accepted her praise with pleased smiles, as Greez appeared from out of the cockpit. “I dunno about well done,” the Latero scoffed. “You two sound like you got a death wish.”

“Missed you too, Greez,” Jayna replied, rolling her eyes again. “We should probably go and grab our stuff then, if we’re ready to get going?”

“Aye, we are,” Greez said gruffly. “The sooner, the better.”

Jayna could sense Greez’s unease and wondered why but put it aside for later as with a gratified glint in her eyes, Cere declared, “I agree, you’re ready. Both of you.”

At Cere’s words and the absolute confidence and certainty within them, Jayna felt an odd shiver ripple down her spine. Unlike that feeling of irrevocability she’d experienced when she asked to stay, this feeling felt like something far colder and less reassuring, something almost like prescience as she and Cal turned to go and fetch their gear.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

It felt strange to be back on the Mantis after sleeping in Cordova’s quarters on Bogano. Even though it had only been a few days, those dark, dank caverns had become quite homely as she and Cal had fallen into a peaceful sort of intimacy despite their little philosophical spat, a quiet companionship she hadn’t known since Kit had left the orphanage.

She very carefully did not think about those heated moments when they had been immersed in the bond and each other. They really, truly didn’t have time for any of that and it was an inconvenience at best. She’d meant what she said, she wouldn’t turn into swooning holovid damsel over it.

What had made her uneasy was her memories of Kit. She hadn’t thought about him in years, had very carefully not thought about him to stave off the pain and grief of his departure. She hadn’t exaggerated when she’d told Cal he was her best friend, he’d been like the elder brother she’d never known, and for all she knew never had, and thinking of him brought back feelings she didn’t have time for, not now.

To distract herself, she started going through the packages Cere had left on her cot. It seemed they’d picked up more than just food and fuel on their supply run.

One package turned out to be several sets of underwear, prompting a sigh of relief from Jayna. Investigating the others, Jayna discovered two more pairs of robust trousers in black and brown, several tunics, shirts, and a new jacket, all in shades of black, dark grey and brown. Next was a thermal base layer set that could be used to keep her warm in colder environments. Sensible, as they didn’t know for sure what they’d encounter on this quest of theirs. There was also a new pair of boots, a sewing kit, a utility belt with attachments for her new water bottle and supply pouches, as well as a bag of wash gear and a comb. ‘Well, at least I can give Cere her stuff back,’ she thought wryly, but nevertheless she felt a little uneasy at the former Jedi’s generosity. The fabric and make of the clothes, while not the highest quality, was durable and well-made; it would have cost a fair number of credits, especially as she could see several similarly shaped packages on Cal’s cot.

At that moment, Cal entered their little cabin, eyes flaring wide as he noticed the pile on his cot. He glanced sideways at Jayna, amusement and no small amount of shy embarrassment rippling across the bond between them. “You too huh?” he asked, with a self-deprecating smile that absolutely did not make Jayna’s heart race.

“Well, that jumpsuit and harness might be quite the fashion disaster-I mean statement,” she coughed jokingly, as Cal rolled his eyes and BD booped in agreement. “But it’s only a few rips away from falling apart. You can’t go a-holocron-hunting butt naked.”

He chuckled as he looked over the packages curiously. “Best grin and bear it, I guess,” he agreed, opening the first package. Inside was a thermal base layer like hers, but in a shade of deep blue. Like her, Cere had bought Cal several changes of clothes, including new jumpsuits in shades of sandy beige, dark green, navy blue and black, as well as a few ponchos that could supply camouflage as well as warmth across a range of environments. “D’you think Cere’s trying to tell us something?” he asked, holding up the new navy-blue jumpsuit.

“Yeah, we have bad taste in fashion,” Jayna laughed. “Anyway, I bet it was Greez. Cere doesn’t seem like the type to obsess over colour palettes and silhouettes.”

“Probably,” Cal agreed with a snort. A slightly awkward silence fell as Jayna stood from her cot.

“Anyway, I’ll let you get changed,” she breathed, taking her own change of clothes into the ‘fresher and shutting the door before Cal could say a word.

He watched her go, sighing. He hoped this wasn’t going to turn into a problem between them, despite the distraction of their mutual attraction, he valued her companionship. He didn’t want to lose it over something that would fade in a few weeks.

Slipping out of his ragged old rigger’s jumpsuit, he discarded it on the floor before putting the new one on. It fit like a glove, as he slipped his vest and harness back on over the top. Deciding not to wait for Jayna, he ventured out into the galley where Cere and Greez sat at the table.

“Well, someone’s looking a little less ‘Nar Shaddaa hobo’,” Greez stated, as a welcoming shot. “Nice threads.”

“Thanks, Greez,” Cal said, rolling his eyes before meeting Cere’s mildly amused ones. “You didn’t need to.”

“Oh, not me!” she put her hands up. “I let Greez do the picking. I just nodded my head and provided the credits.”

“Nevertheless, the cost-,” Cal began to protest, but Cere held a hand up to interrupt, a warm look replacing the amusement in her eyes.

“It was no trouble,” she told him. “And no real expense. We don’t know what we might face on this journey, I’d rather you didn’t freeze or bake to death on my watch.”

“Well, then thanks again,” Cal replied, a little awkwardly. At that moment, an alarm blared in the cockpit as Greez hopped down from his seat and bustled away. Cal seized the chance to ask something that had been playing on his mind since Cere told them she’d cut herself off from the Force. “Cere, I’ve been meaning to ask…can you feel the Force, at all?”

Cere’s eyes flashed with sorrow, as she lowered them to the table. “Yes, but instead of opening up, I push it back down,” she explained, before raising her gaze back to meet Cal’s, a fierce light in them now. “The exact opposite of what you should do.”

“Back on Bogano, teaching Jayna…I remembered things about myself from before the Purge,” Cal began, hesitantly. “It was painful but like I had found the missing pieces of myself.”

“That’s good,” Cere assured him. “You’re learning to embrace the Force again, despite the trauma of your past.”

“How can you say that?” he asked, searching her eyes.

“Because I know what it means to live without it,” Cere replied, shutting her eyes as if in pain. “I know what you’re going to say, to ask and the answer is I can’t, Cal.”

“But, if you reconnected to the Force, it would mean it’s not just me and Jayna. You could help-!” Cal began, quietly but passionately but Cere held up a quelling hand.

“I can’t, Cal. I will explain, one day,” she replied gently but firmly. “I will do all I can to help as I am, but what you ask…it’s something I can’t do. Not yet, maybe not ever.”

The conversation was interrupted by Greez’s strident tones coming from the cockpit as he argued with BD-1. “What? What’s that thing saying? I don’t know why people have droids!”

Cere rolled her eyes as she stood from the table and strode towards the cockpit. “Tell that to him, he can understand you,” she asserted dryly, as she took her usual seat at the comms while Cal followed slowly behind. BD-1 was perched on the co-pilot’s station, peering curiously if defiantly at Greez.

“He can?” the Latero asked uneasily.

“Be-boop!” BD affirmed as Cal took his seat.

“Look, I didn’t mean anything by it!” Greez replied, a little guiltily as BD booped sceptically. “Droids just freak me out.”

“Whoop!” BD replied.

“What doesn’t? You sound like an Imp,” Cal added, taking his seat in the co-pilot’s chair. “They deactivate droids just because they can. That makes him one of us.”

“Hm. Oh, tough break. I take it back, you’re alright, buddy,” Greez said, visibly deflating as he nodded to the little droid. BD-1 beeped, sneakily extending one of its legs to flick a switch before it scampered away like a particularly mischievous monkey lizard. Cal shook his head, smiling affectionately as Greez spoke into the intercom. “If you’re done powdering your nose, Jay, get in here! We’re coming up to our destination.”

Cal took the hint to strap himself in; he’d experienced enough of Greez’s landings to know it was a wise idea. As he did so, he thought over what Cere had told him during that tense moment by the galley. Combined with Jayna’s perceptions, he was beginning to feel uneasy about just what ‘experience’ Cere had that made her turn away from the Force personally, and continue to push it away, but made her so set on rebuilding the Order. Nevertheless, having seen the shadows in Cere’s eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to push any further.

Jayna’s annoyed, strident remark brought him out of his reverie with a bump. “‘Jay’, really Greez?” she demanded caustically.

The Latero shrugged. “I like names with one syllable. Cal, Cere, and now Jay,” he retorted. “Sit down, kid. It’s time to land.”

“Well, at least it’s better than ‘kid’,” she sighed, as Cal looked over his shoulder at her in commiseration, but he caught his breath. Despite the relatively humble clothes she’d changed into, he couldn’t stop himself from lingering on the way the black flak jacket hugged her trim waist, her fading blonde hair tightly restrained into a long braid so her high cheekbones and fair skin shone with the silvery-blue light of hyperspace outside the cockpit. Grateful that at least he could hide his lapse of control from her now, if not suppress it entirely, he abruptly faced forward as she strapped herself into the last remaining chair. As he did so, he caught the Latero pilot’s eye and internally cringed at the smug look on Greez’s face.

They reverted to realspace above a large, temperate-looking planet, mostly obscured by a massive weather system that swirled the clouds below their position.

“Heck of a storm brewing down there. This might not be the best time to land,” Greez commented, yet despite the breeziness of his tone, Cal could sense the underlying concern he was feeling.

“Something strange…” Cere agreed. “Those winds are interfering with our comms.”

“Hey, Cordova mentioned something about peace in the eye of the storm?” Cal interjected, not wanting to hang around waiting for the weather to change and the Empire to detect the Mantis. “Well, I can just about make out a settlement in the middle of it,” he added, leaning in to the display as the sensors picked out the fudged outlines of a small landing pad and a village nearby.

“Then we have to get there!” Cere declared, as Greez sighed.

“Copy that!” he muttered gruffly, flipping a few switches to stabilise the ship before they descended into orbit. As they flew into the lower atmosphere, the wind rapidly began to buffet and shake the ship, prompting both Cal and Jayna to cling to their stations as they glanced warily at each other, aware of the other’s anxiety through the bond.

Greez shot Cal a sideways look, perhaps sensing the pair’s unease before he smirked. “Couple bumps ain’t gonna kill ya, kiddos!” he declared laughingly. “Unless the wind picks up,” he added, in a muttered aside that both managed to hear.

BD-1 trilled a distinctly disbelieving reply.

“Beep beep bo-peep!”

“Can you tell that bucket of bolts to keep his opinion to himself?!” Greez retorted airily, as Jayna glanced at Cere.

“I’m with the droid on this one,” she muttered.

“I’m sure everything’s under control,” Cere said reassuringly, still struggling to re-establish their comms through the wind.

“Course it’s under control, it’s just a little tricky,” Greez replied, now visibly starting to wrestle with the control yokes.  He swung the ship wide, as the cloud cover cleared enough for them to make out a small mountain range through the roaring winds. He nudged the Mantis against the increasingly strong gale, the transparisteel viewports all but obscured by the storm as he relied on his instruments alone to land. “Okay, hold on. Hold on, hold on!”

The other four denizens of the cockpit braced themselves for the landing as the Mantis dropped to ground with a hard bump, shaking the entire ship and jolting everyone in their seats.

“Hah! Perfect landing!” Greez declared. “Greez-y money, baby!”

Cal shot a look over the Latero’s shoulder at Jayna, who breathed a sigh of relief. As they recovered from the landing, unstrapping themselves as Greez powered down the ship’s systems, Cere shook her head.

“But I’m still getting a lot of interference on the comms. It’s gonna take me a minute to get them back up,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at Cal and Jayna.

Cal took the hint. “I’ll search for signs of Cordova in the meantime. Coming, Jay?” he asked, with a challenging look at Jayna. She narrowed her eyes at him in mock-fury, the tension and awkwardness of earlier immediately forgotten in the wake of their first adventure beckoning.

“A few dozen Inquisitors couldn’t stop me, Kestis,” she declared, shrugging her restraints away as she clambered from the gunner’s seat.

“Good,” Cere replied, spinning in her chair. “Wait a moment, Jayna.”

The younger woman stopped, curious as Cere followed her out into the main crew area. Immediately she realised why as Cere reached for a familiar weapon at her belt. “You did well on Bogano,” she told her, before shooting a warm look in Cal’s direction as he disappeared back into their quarters to grab his gear. “Both of you. But we don’t know what you’re going to find out there. You’re going to need more than just your quarterstaff to protect yourself.”

As Cere held out her lightsaber, Jayna took a shuddering breath. For a moment, she eyed the narrow tube of metal and leather bindings dubiously before she reached out a hand and grasped it underneath Cere’s. In the Force, she could feel a crystalline melody underneath her palms, reaching out, not to her but to the woman who held it out to her. And underneath that, she could feel the weight of its history, as well as what it symbolised.

This was a Jedi’s weapon. And she wasn’t a Jedi.

For a moment, she debated refusing it before common sense spoke up. ‘Don’t be daft, you need a weapon more formidable than your quarterstaff. You proved you’re capable with a lightsaber on Bogano, so stop being stupid!’ she told herself, hefting the weapon and attaching it to her belt. “Thank you, Cere,” she breathed, conscious of what it must have cost for the older woman to give it to her.

“You need it more than I do,” the former Jedi told her. “And you’re more worthy of it.”

“Cere, I…,” Jayna sighed, tired of this argument but Cere cut her off with a patient smile.

“I know what you’re about to say,” she said quietly, as Cal came up beside her shoulder. “But I’d wait and see before you make that declaration again.”

Unconvinced, Jayna simply nodded as Cere turned to Cal, who had changed into one of his new ponchos and returned, handing Jayna her utility belt. “The more information we gather on Cordova and the Zeffo, the closer we’ll get to stopping the Empire.”

“I’ve heard of ancient cultures, but I don’t know much about them,” Cal admitted. There hadn’t been much time for study during the Clone Wars.

“I only knew that Cordova was obsessed with the Zeffo, believing their teachings to be important. I, too, was intrigued by the mysteries of our galaxy but never quite with his fervour,” she replied, with a bittersweet smile as she recalled her erstwhile, eccentric Master. “You two better get moving, there’s a lot to learn here. Good luck, and I’ll be in touch once I crack this,” she finished, gesturing to the comms as Jayna and Cal nodded in farewell.

She left them alone as the landing ramp descended and the doors opened. Jayna looked out at the howling wind, not quite suppressing a reflexive shiver.

“I’ve got a spare if you want one?” Cal said, nudging her shoulder as he gestured to his poncho. Jayna eyed it with some disdain, before shaking her head.

“Nah, they’re all yours,” she replied, before stepping out of the door. “Poncho boy.”

Cal watched her go as BD-1 scrambled up on his back. ‘I’m gonna pay for that ‘Jay’ comment, aren’t I?’ he asked through the bond.

‘I don’t know what you mean…Poncho boy,’ was all the reply he got, before he sighed and followed Jayna out into the wind.

Once they made it outside, they looked around without much enthusiasm. They’d landed on an abandoned, dreary landing pad beside a derelict hangar. Tarps flapped and rippled in the high winds, as Jayna pulled her jacket closed and zipped it all the way up, flipping up the hood so her head was shielded from the cold.

Despite their less than inspiring surroundings, both could feel the call in the Force, tugging them onward somewhere to the north of their position. Cal nodded towards a closed door in the perimeter wall of the landing pad. “Let’s try over there,” he said, briskly.

BD-1 booped as they hurried towards it, only to find the door wouldn’t budge. “Locked from the other side,” Cal murmured, as Jayna looked around.

“Over there,” she said, pointing to a path on the other side of the landing pad, once which wended its way up and away from their position. “Let’s see where that leads.”

The wind howled around them as they crossed the landing pad and stepped onto the path. It was steep and winding, the wind plucking at their clothes as they were forced to keep their heads down as they climbed. There was snow on the ground and a quick glance at the sky seemed to threaten more.

The path led them round a rocky tor until they reached a rusted, half-collapsed old bridge. The majority of the panelling had fallen into the chasm beneath their feet over the years, so all that was left was a rusty support beam, precariously hanging in the wind.

“We can make it across,” Cal declared, not needing their bond to feel Jayna’s scepticism as she looked her question with a swift glance. “You need to anchor yourself to the beam. Reach out in the Force and push yourself into it. Here, watch me and feel what I do.”

Taking a deep breath, he reached out and pushed himself into the beam, nudging the soles of his feet so they appeared glued to the ancient metal as he quickly traversed it, the wind dying down just a little for a moment. Once he and BD had gained the other side, he looked back at Jayna as she glanced dubiously at him.

“Remember what I told you,” he shouted back. “Your eyes can be deceiving, don’t trust them. Trust in the Force.”

He thought she would argue but she just sighed, shrugged her shoulders as she closed her eyes. Through the Force, he could feel her reaching out, pushing down into the rusting metal as she stepped out onto the beam, quickly but nimbly traversing it until she stood at his side.

‘Well done, Jayna,’ he told her through the bond, as the wind picked up again, almost too loudly for talking.

She smiled thinly, shrugging off his praise. Together they turned and continued down the path as BD booped a question.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Jayna replied, with a swift glance at Cal. “Looks like Cere trusts me not to chop my own leg off, or yours, at any rate.”

“You’ve earned it,” he told her, glancing at the saber hanging from her belt. The hilt was shorter than his, clearly a single-ended saber rather than double-ended blade his Master had favoured, and he remembered the bright green blade it emitted.

“It doesn’t feel right,” Jayna replied, quietly. “Doesn’t feel…”

“Like yours?” he finished for her, as she nodded. He knew, because even now he felt a little of the same unease. The kyber crystal in his hilt had been bonded to his Master, not to him but it had accepted him, but it wasn’t the same. Even so, the disparity had become comforting over the years, reminding him of the man who had wielded it. The man who was the closest thing he’d had to a father.

“It isn’t mine,” Jayna replied quickly, drawing Cal from his thoughts before they could overwhelm him. “I’m just borrowing it. Figured it’d be better than a quarterstaff.”

Not wanting to press the issue, Cal let it go as he began to explain the history of the lightsaber, for distraction if nothing else. He could feel her relief at the new topic, listening closely as they continued to walk, downhill now as the path cleared the rocky tor.

Cal’s dissertation on lightsabers was interrupted by the sound of guttural snarling, as they rounded the path into a wide, open space, pitted with puddles of snowmelt and grass. Ahead, two strange creatures were fighting a tug-of-war over something lying on the ground.

At the newcomers’ arrival, they dropped their prize in favour of something tastier looking. BD-1 booped and whirred as Cal ignited his lightsaber.

“Watch out, BD! They don’t look friendly,” he declared, feeling Jayna follow his example only slightly hesitantly. In the Force, he could sense the creatures’ intent to attack, feral and without any drive more complicated than the hunger for food.

As one snarled and reared, he darted towards it, slashing its head from its leathery shoulders. The other lunged for Jayna as she dodged behind it, bringing her saber up in a vertical strike that clove the creature in two.

“Fwoo boop!” BD-1 trilled a warning, as he heard another snarl, then his feet were taken out from under him as he landed in the puddle. He came face to face with another rat-like creature, all slathering teeth and fetid breath as its beady little eyes glared down at him, before the light faded from them as the meadow-green blade of Jayna’s saber sheared through its neck.

“Thanks!” he breathed, clambering back to its feet. “How’d it get behind me, I didn’t see it?”

“I think these things can burrow,” Jayna replied shortly. “You okay?”

“Yeah, thanks,” he nodded, deactivating his saber and clipping it back onto his belt. Together, they turned away from the charred corpses of the rats and looked down at the thing they’d been fighting over when they decided to make Jayna and Cal their lunch.

Jayna felt it as Cal inhaled sharply, as they both recognised what it was. Ragged, mutilated as it was, they both recognised the distinctive white plastoid armour of a Stormtrooper.

The trooper’s corpse lay spread-eagled in the puddle, a massive chunk missing from its thigh. Jayna guessed it was from one of those rat-creature’s teeth. BD-1 hopped from Cal’s back to scan it as they glanced at each other.

The Empire had come to Zeffo.

At that moment, static crackled in their ears as their comms flared to life. “Cal, can you hear me?” Cere’s voice came over the line, weak and shaky at first, then stronger.

“Cere! The Empire, they found Zeffo,” he told her bluntly, as Jayna huffed and clipped her saber back to her belt.

“If they were following the Mantis, we would’ve been swarmed already,” Cere replied calmly.

“Could they be looking for the tombs?” Jayna asked, wondering just how much harder their task was about to get.

“Let’s hope not,” Cere replied. “Just got our comms working. I’ll try the same workaround to crack into theirs.”

“If you hear anything, keep us posted,” Cal said, nodding as they closed the line. They shared a look before turning and leaving the dead stormtrooper and rats behind.

They stayed on the path as it wound its way along the cliff edge, leading them to an outcropping overlooking the landing pad and hangar. The Mantis sat there, gleaming in the dull light that managed to pierce the storm clouds above them, as they realised there was no way across.

With a nod from Cal, Jayna reached within, opening herself up to the Force as she took a sprinting leap, letting the Force lift her up and across the metal wall beside them. She felt Cal follow a second behind as she landed on the walkway on the other side.

They found themselves reluctant to speak as they continued on, suddenly tense and on their guard. The discovery of the dead trooper had put them on edge, reminded them both of what they faced and the stakes if they were caught.

 A little voice in Jayna’s head was increasingly yelling at her, questioning the sanity of what they were doing in ever-more strident tones. As they found themselves on the other side of that locked door they’d found, Jayna jumped as Cal opened it with a hiss.

“Should make it easier to get back to the Mantis later,” he said, with an apologetic grin. “You ok?”

“Yeah, fine,” she replied curtly. “We need to get a move on if the Empire are lurking around.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Cal agreed, turning away from the landing pad as they followed the path uphill, lapsing back into silence.

As they walked, Jayna grew ever more uneasy. The Force buffeted her a growing sense of darkness even as the winds plucked at her legs, as they trudged up the hill.

“I thought you said you saw a settlement on the scanners earlier?” she asked, frowning slightly at the quiet and lack of people. “Where is everybody?”

Cal shrugged just as they rounded the corner and the top of the hill to find a squad of Stormtroopers amassed beside a crumbling stone building.

“Damn,” Cal grunted as the lead trooper turned towards them.

“Intruder below!”

Cal and Jayna glanced at each other, then broke sideways, throwing themselves to avoid the hail of bolts as the troopers opened fire. Their sabers flared to life in their hands, azure blue, and peridot green.

A detached part of Jayna marvelled at the ease with which she called the saber to her hand with the Force, anchoring herself against the sodden ground as she deflected a hail of blaster bolts. The rest simply focussed on survival as her fear and unease was pushed down, down to the darkest corners of her mind so she could focus.

Focus, and stay alive. One of the first lessons her old mentor Torone had ever taught her.

She didn’t quite have Cal’s precision as he deflected blaster bolts directly at his attackers, while hers went wide but she created a whirling defensive velocity as she steadily advanced on the troopers. The Force guided her steps, gave her strength as she leapt into the air, still moving her blade through the movements Cal had taught her from Soresu, until she landed like a cat behind her attackers. Once back on solid ground, she didn’t hesitate. As one of the troopers went to turn and club her with the butt of his blaster rifle, she spun and flicked her blade up until it sheared through muscle and bone, as the trooper collapsed to his knees, screaming. She finished him off with a mercifully quick slash to his throat, before deflecting another blaster bolt.

This time, she managed to deflect it back at him, the momentum generated by the reversed bolt launching the unfortunate stormtrooper off his feet. Cal kept a close eye on her even as he despatched his own assailants quickly and cleanly. He felt the surge as she reached out in the Force and pulled the last trooper into the path of her blade, stabbing him cleanly through the chest and pulling it free with a flourish.

As for himself, he struggled to tamp down the exhilaration he felt as he fought, the combination of bubbling emotions he struggled to control and the power of the Force surging within him a heady intoxicant he knew could be his downfall if he wasn’t careful. As silence fell when the last trooper fell with it, he deactivated his lightsaber and closed his eyes, looking within for the peace he was struggling to hold onto.

It came, not from the Force, but from a warm hand pressed against his arm as he opened his eyes to find Jayna beside him, concerned brown eyes peering up into his. “Are you okay?” she asked, and he knew she’d sensed his turmoil.

“Yeah, just…it’s easy to get carried away,” he admitted, as she nodded. “You did well.”

“Thanks, but it’s not the first time I’ve been in a fight for my life,” she replied, shrugging off the praise as she turned to gaze at the derelict walls around them. “I guess we know what happened to the settlers now. Or can guess, at least.”

Cal followed her gaze to a sign welded to the wall, announcing to all that the settlement was off-limits. “C’mon,” he muttered.

Rough-hewn steps led up the side of the cliff face, running parallel to the walls. They followed it round and re-emerged onto an outcropping overlooking a derelict village, overrun with troopers, and obviously abandoned by everyone except the Empire.

“We can’t sneak through that. If we go through there, we’ll be spotted for sure,” Jayna breathed, nodding towards the village as they watched a patrol of troopers disappear behind a building. “If the Empire is alerted to our presence here…”

“It’ll only be a matter of time before they find out we were here,” Cal replied quietly. ‘We don’t have any choice. I can feel something calling me, and the path leads through that village. We have to go.’

‘Fine,’ Jayna said through the bond, mentally rolling her eyes. She felt the call too, even if she was more sceptical than Cal. “Come on, then,” she said aloud, turning and leading the way along the path towards the only way down she could see: a turbine set back into the side of the rock. ‘Although, how we’re going to get down there…’

‘I have an idea,’ Cal replied as they stopped by the edge, closely watching the turbine as it rotated. ‘When I tell you, run and jump onto one of the vanes, then get across as quickly as you can. I’ll follow.’

Jayna nodded, not arguing as she prepared herself for the jump. She forced herself not to think about the craziness of what they were about to do, letting the Force anchor her as her heart, racing since they’d first engaged that squad of troopers, slowed as she exhaled. She felt the surge of power as Cal reached out in the Force, as his voice sounded in her head.

‘Now!’

Time seemed to slow as Jayna raced towards the turbine and the cliff’s edge. Beyond the turbine and the bone-crushing drop below, she could see the patrols of troopers slow until they barely moved, but she didn’t have time to marvel at it before she leapt and grabbed hold of the vane as it crawled to a halt in front of her. She scrambled up, before she gathered herself and jumped again, letting the Force lift her up and over until she landed firmly on the ground on the other side of the chasm.

And saw her problem.

Two Stormtroopers, wearing lighter armour and bearing different weapons to the ones they’d encountered on the steps, were racing towards her, electro-stun batons raised as time seemed to speed back up.

‘Hurry up, Cal!’ she mentally shouted, even as she drew her lightsaber again.

The shimmering green blade that burst into life barely seemed to check the lead trooper as he raced towards her, while the other paused, stammering, “A J-Jedi!?”

Jayna didn’t bother to correct him as she blocked the lead trooper’s lateral cut with a parry, forcefully pushing his baton away as the charged weapon spat angry sparks where it met her saber. She whirled and came in below his guard, severing his leg at the knee. She let the Force guide her into a spinning slash, taking the crippled trooper’s head off.

She felt the warning in the Force as the second trooper apparently regained some nerve, as he swung for her. She ducked and rolled away just as she felt the surge of power as Cal suddenly appeared, landing from a somersault behind the trooper as he stabbed him through the heart. He collapsed slowly to the ground, groaning pitifully as Jayna panted for breath.

“Show-off,” she pronounced.

Cal straightened up, eying her narrowly as he replied, “I’m the show-off!?” A burst of booping from BD prompted a sideways glance at the droid from Cal as he continued light-heartedly, “Just whose side are you on, buddy?”

Jayna snorted a laugh, before she heard the crackle of comms chatter. Grabbing Cal’s arm, she pulled him towards a grassy knoll beside where the two troopers had accosted them. ‘What were those troopers? They had weapons that could repel a lightsaber?’ she asked, through the bond as they crawled up the slope, keeping low to avoid being seen while they reconnoitred their surroundings.

‘Scout troopers, I think,’ Cal replied, eyes narrowed as he scanned the village. ‘I count two troopers up top, covering the ground.’

‘I can count four, at least on the ground. Scout troopers by the looks of them,’ Jayna added. ‘I can sense more, out of sight.’

Cal shot her swift glance. So, had he but he wasn’t expecting that level of perception from her. Her abilities in the Force were growing ever stronger, it seemed. ‘Come on,’ was all he said on the subject, however. They slipped back down the knoll, hiding in its shadow until they saw the closest Stormtrooper, standing guard on a building directly across from them, turn away.

Breaking cover, they sprinted for the same building. Once they gained its cover, they hugged the wall and the shadows as they followed the path round, into a narrow alley between buildings, all crumbling, all derelict and abandoned.

Above them, they could hear the troopers discussing the local fauna. They heard voices, closer at hand as Cal pulled her into the shelter provided by a doorway set into an alcove, out of sight as the troopers passed the alley’s opening by.

Their hiding place was narrow, and they were tightly pressed together as Jayna caught her breath. Her blood was pumped with adrenaline, as she avoided looking at Cal. They waited in agonising tension until their Force-sense of the troopers told them it was safe to move.

She breathed a sigh of relief, daring a glance up at Cal but he wasn’t looking at her. He was staring at a flimsi-poster pasted to the door. It was an eviction notice, informing civilians of their impending re-settlement and the establishment of an Imperial protectorate on the planet.

‘It’s all lies. The Empire just wanted this land,’ Cal whispered into the bond, as Jayna’s foot brushed something on the floor as she moved. It was a bag, obviously abandoned in haste as Cal knelt to touch it.

‘Cal, we need to move,’ Jayna reached out, as she uneasily kept watch on the movements of the troopers around them through the Force. ‘We don’t have time for this.’

Cal ignored her and as he reached out, she felt it as the vision took him. Even as removed as she was, she felt the terror, pain, anguish, and uncertainty of the settlers as they were forcibly removed by the Empire.

‘The Empire forced the villagers from their homes. Anyone who resisted was shot,’ Cal explained through the bond, his mental voice as haunted as his eyes as he looked up at her. ‘Frightened refugees shipped off to work camps, or worse. Just so the Empire could claim the land for their own ends.’

Despite herself, Jayna reached out a hand to squeeze his shoulder comfortingly. ‘But why? What do they want with Zeffo?’ she questioned.

Just at that moment, they heard chatter from some trooper as they paused overhead. “There’s still no results. I wonder what’s gonna happen to us?” one trooper remarked, gloomily.

“Stop your worrying, we’re not the ones in trouble,” his patrol mate replied dismissively, and then they were gone.

Cal and Jayna shared a troubled look. The Empire was searching for something on Zeffo. They could only hope they weren’t after the same thing.

Nodding to Jayna, Cal stood from the ground, letting the bag he’d been touching fall to the dirt again. There was nothing they could do for the settlers, except keep going. After a fraught moment as they waited, listening, and reaching out through the Force, they emerged from their hiding place.

They crept around the sides of the buildings, hugging the shadows cast by the derelict hovels, until they rounded the corner only to come face-to-face with another patrol.

“Insurgent!”

Cal didn’t hesitate. He ignited his lightsaber and blocked the scout trooper’s overhead slash. As he reeled from the force of Cal’s blow, Cal kicked him under the chin, sending him sprawling until he finished him with a lethally quick vertical slash. Jayna didn’t stop to watch and admire his technique, however.

She deflected the first few shots as the blaster-carrying trooper backed away from her. “Out of fighters, trying to handle it!” he screamed into his comms as Jayna came on. “Oh no.”

After sensing the anguish of the settlers through Cal’s psychometry and the bond, Jayna was in no mood to feel sorry for Stormtroopers. Reaching out through the Force, she pulled the trooper into the path of her blade, as it sheared through bone and muscle. Behind her, Cal deflected the final trooper’s blaster bolt back at him, killing him as Jayna deactivated her lightsaber, breathing heavily.

He sensed her disquiet as feelings of righteous anger and contempt ebbed and flowed in her blood and reached out to her through the bond. ‘Easy, Jayna. Control your emotions, killing these troopers won’t undo what was done here. But I know it’s hard,’ he admitted, as he felt her rein her feelings in, tamping them down.

‘I’m in control, let’s go before we get pinned down again,’ she replied coolly, turning away from the cooling bodies of the troopers. Together, they picked out a path through the village, avoiding the majority of the troopers until finally, the Stormtroopers discovered the bodies of their deceased squad mates and raised the alarm.

They fought their way onto the rooftops of the village, deflecting blaster bolts and Force-pushing troopers off roofs until at last, they made it to a path that led up into the mountains on the other side of the village, disappearing into the mouth of a cave.

Listening to the wind as it howled around the buildings, like a funereal dirge, Jayna wasn’t sorry to leave that sad, abandoned ruin behind. Glancing at Cal, she knew he felt same as they turned and disappeared into the darkness of the caves.

After following a treacherous path through an abandoned turbine facility, shrouded in darkness so they were forced to use their lightsaber as torches until Cal found a still-working switch to open a vent, they emerged onto a gusty bluff, the wind feeling a thousand times stronger than it had down in the village or on the landing pad.

Jayna pressed herself close to the rock-face as they carefully made their way across. Ahead, she could sense and hear Stormtroopers, as they complained about their rations and the effect it was having on their aim.

The incongruity of it all nearly made Jayna laugh out loud, as they paused and waited on a ledge above a small plateau where five troopers stood on guard. She stole a glance at Cal, who smirked.

And then stood up, in full view of the troopers. “Well, hi there!” he called nonchalantly. “Care to test that aim of yours?”

Rolling her eyes at his theatrics, Jayna didn’t waste time grandstanding as she leapt into the fray as the panicked troopers opened fire, Cal only a second behind her.

She realised their miscalculation a moment later, when her world was turned upside-down as she was thrown sideways by a blast that took out three troopers.

Groaning, winded and stunned, Jayna groggily forced herself upright, her mind screaming at her. ‘Get up, get up! If you stay down, you’re dead!’

‘Jayna, rocket launcher!’ Cal warned, but he was pinned down by a scout trooper who had a modicum more skill with his baton than his predecessors. Jayna scrambled to her feet, forcing the throbbing sensation aside as she saw two more troopers jump down from an outcropping where another trooper stood, with a rocket launcher propped on his shoulder.

He was preparing to fire again. And four against two weren’t great odds.

Suddenly, the voice from her dreams was back, echoing in her head with awful potency, making her mind ring as her ears did. ‘Use your gift. You have the power to defeat them, now use it!’

Jayna stopped thinking and just reacted. Flinging her hand out, the trooper with the rocket launcher was flung off the side of the bluff, as time seemed to slow. Glancing at the troopers rushing towards her, Jayna decided then and there that they wouldn’t win.

She and Cal would.

Moments later, all the troopers were dead, lethal wounds still smoking from the touch of a lightsaber. Cal deactivated his lightsaber, breathing hard as he looked at Jayna.

She looked much the same as he did, panting but exhilarated by the fight, eyes aglow. In the Force, she burned with power as Cal realised what she’d done. “You used your battle meditation again,” he breathed. “I felt it.”

“Maybe,” she admitted, clipping her lightsaber back onto her belt. “Are you complaining?”

“Not really,” he replied quietly. “I felt it. The voice came back.”

“Let’s keep moving,” Jayna replied, cutting him off firmly.

“Jayna,” he sighed, but she ignored him, marching off until he was forced to jog to catch up with her.

Finally, they reached the top of the bluffs and paused as the view caught their attention for a moment. The view was spectacular, lending them the visibility to see for miles around as a dramatic landscape of snow-capped mountains and grassy highlands scoured by the winds opened up before them. And in the distance, a towering statue of a humanoid figure in ornate robes, its features only just softened by the ravages of the wind and time.

“Whoa. That’s gotta be one of the Zeffo,” Cal said, in awe. “I guess we’re on the right track, huh BD?” he added, as the droid booped in agreement.

“It’s massive, I hope it wasn’t done from life,” Jayna quipped, as the tension of the last half an hour eased between them. A second later, as her eyes drifted downwards, she shoved Cal back into the cliff face and out of sight. She covered his mouth to smother his instinctive cry of alarm. ‘Stormtroopers!’ she hissed through the bond, even though only Cal could hear her.

BD-1 beeped in alarm as it detected the troopers too, a large squad of seven waiting below. Ahead, they could see a dull metal landing pad extending out from the cliffs, on which an Imperial shuttle waited. The base itself appeared built into the rock, well-camouflaged as they watched the shuttle lift off from the landing pad.

“Cere, there’s a transport leaving the Empire’s base,” Cal said, reactivating the comm.

“I heard,” Cere replied, as they listened intently. “They plan to bring Zeffo artefacts to Coruscant.”

 “Does that mean…?” Cal asked, trailing off in horror.

“That the Emperor is interested in Zeffo? Maybe,” Cere admitted. “I’m not hearing anything concrete enough to tell if they’re looking for the holocron. I’ll keep you posted if I hear anything more.”

“In the meantime, we need to get past that base,” Jayna breathed, sarcastically. “Wonderful.”

Cal couldn’t help but agree. However, as they broke cover and threw themselves into the fight with the squad of Stormtroopers below, Cal couldn’t help but notice how sluggish the Stormtroopers were, how slowly they reacted and how off their aims were as he slashed and sliced his way through them, Jayna at his side.

He also couldn’t help but notice how deeply immersed Jayna was, all emotion tightly controlled, all but in a meditative state as she fought beside him, her energy seemingly boundless. As was his.

He knew better than to keep making a point about it though.

Finally, they managed to fight their way into a part of the base that had clearly been long abandoned, as they stepped into a pitch-black room, lit only by the minute flashing lights of a distant bank of computers. Breathing hard from the last fight, Cal ignited his lightsaber, so it lit up the room. It looked like a control room of some kind, although now it was piled high with storage crates and some of the computer banks had protective covers.

BD whistled, nudging Cal towards one of the uncovered computer banks. “You think you can slice it without a scomp link?” he asked, eying the little droid out of the corner of his eye. As Jayna glanced up from stowing her water bottle back on her belt, he added, “Maybe we can find out some more about what the Empire’s doing here.”

“Not a bad idea,” she admitted. “Although keep it quiet, I can sense more troopers close by.”

So could Cal, in fact he could hear them muttering more complaints about the local wildlife, from what seemed like only a few hundred metres distant. BD seemed to take a modicum of offence at Jayna’s lack of faith in its discretion, as it leapt from Cal’s back to the computer bank and proceeded to connect wirelessly to the computer, its antennas whirring. Without a scomp link, the little droid couldn’t get past the more advanced firewalls, but it could access some basic information.

Like the last mission report transmitted from the base.

A hologram of a Stormtrooper flared into life above them as they watched and listened.

“In accordance with the Emperor’s will, we’ve occupied Zeffo, re-distributing its inhabitants. This planet has failed to yield significant data or relics for Project Auger. Its electromagnetic winds have rendered the bulk of our mining technology useless-,”

‘At least we know why Cere’s comms weren’t working when we landed,’ Jayna remarked, as Cal nodded in agreement.

“Meanwhile, more stormtroopers lose their lives to dangerous fauna,” the holographic trooper continued. “We will not be able to fulfil our directive here. It is my recommendation that we disband the project and leave a token outpost to keep scavengers from stealing our technology.”

“Project Auger?” Jayna whispered aloud, mindful of the troopers nearby. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“BD, can you find out anymore?” Cal asked the little droid. Its head drooped as it booped a negative. “It’s okay, you did good, buddy.”

“Why is the Empire looking for relics on Zeffo?” Jayna mused, as the hologram flickered out of existence as BD-1 shut it off. “Do they know about the holocron?”

“More like the Emperor just wants any trace of non-Sith artefacts or knowledge firmly under his control,” Cal replied grimly. “Whether to erase it or use for his own ends. Come on, we’d better keep moving.”

Jayna nodded, the blue light generated by the lightsaber throwing her tired features into sharp relief until Cal shut it off. Being as quiet as possible, they treaded softly through the control room and into an access corridor that led towards an open doorway. And two more Stormtroopers.

‘Once more in the breach then?’ Jayna asked in their heads, a distinctly weary edge to her mental voice. Cal smirked.

‘Not getting sleepy on me, are you ‘Jay’?’ he replied, almost tauntingly, reassured to see her visibly rally as she eyed him narrowly.

‘Not on your life, Kestis. Shall we?’ she affirmed, with a ‘you-first’ wave of her hand.

‘Let’s!’

On the other side of the galaxy, an alert came through to the Second Sister’s commlink. Looking down at it, her face lit up with a vicious smile as she listened to its contents.

Her prey had come out to play at last. But…Zeffo…what was the significance of Zeffo? What were they doing there?

The name nagged and pulled at her mind, as the Force seemed to whisper in her ear. It summoned a memory, of another time and place, before…. before the Purge, before the pain and the betrayal which had condemned her to the Inquisitorius.

Cere’s Master had been infamous within the Jedi Order for dedicating his time to research and study when other Knights were fighting in the Clone Wars. He had been quite the eccentric if she recalled correctly. But what was his name?

Another memory, this time of her mas- of Cere arguing with her own former master over his plans to continue his research on the Zeffo. She smiled despite the pain of recall, as his name echoed in her mind. “Eno Cordova,” she breathed, remembering a detail from the transcripts of Cere’s interrogations she’d noted but dismissed as unimportant. They had asked her about Cordova, about where he’d gone.

And what he’d been searching for.

‘So, Cere protected the secrets of her former Master at least,’ she mused, the thought rekindling the kernel of hate and rage in her heart. ‘Has Cere taken up her former master’s quest? But for what?’

She needed to investigate further, but finally, after weeks of nothing, she had a scent to follow at last.

On Zeffo, the two troopers had proved to be little match for the two Force users as they cut them down without delay. Unfortunately, as they picked their way down the path, and through a hairy encounter with several mining pulverisers in their path, and towards a wide platform in the cliff’s edge, their luck seemed to run out.

“Cal! Jayna!” Cere’s voice, concerned and harried, came over the comm. “The Empire’s pinpointed your location. They know you’re here; you need to move fast!”

“On it, thanks,” Cal replied, with a shared glance at Jayna. And indeed, up ahead on the cliff there waited a squad of several scout troopers and rifle-bearing Stormtroopers. ‘Ready?’

‘We’re so close. I’m not about to let a hundred Stormtroopers stop us, let alone half a dozen,’ she replied derisively. He felt it in the Force as Jayna took a deep breath, igniting her lightsaber as she reached out and centred herself in the Force, all calm and cool serenity as she stepped into view of the squad waiting for them. With a wary smile, Cal followed her lead.

At first, it hadn’t been too difficult to neutralise the squad that had been awaiting them. It had been a simple case of deflecting blaster bolts back at the blaster-carrying troopers while waiting for the scout troopers to attack. They’d mown them down within minutes of springing the ambush.

Until a dropship debarked another two squads.

‘Okay, this is turning out to be a bit of problem…’ Jayna thought, oddly detached as she parried a blow from another scout trooper only to be immediately attacked by another. Holding on to her focus with gritted teeth, Jayna let the Force move her, directing her attacks as she danced through the Stormtroopers, her green blade flashing against white and black armour as they fell beneath it. Somewhere behind her, Cal did the same, cleaving a scout trooper’s head from his shoulder with an overhead strike.

‘This is crazy!’ he replied through the bond. ‘We need a way out of this, and fast!’

As Jayna ducked under a scout trooper’s wild swing, she brought her saber to slash through his midsection in a lateral cut. As the trooper collapsed with a final pathetic groan, she saw their escape: a tunnel just up ahead, ringed with ice and looking utterly un-explored as the Force screamed a warning. Cere confirmed it only seconds later:

“Cal, Jayna! There are two TIE fighters in-bound on your position! ETA five minutes!”

‘There!’ Jayna shouted across the bond, ignoring Cere’s warning in favour of sending Cal an image of what she’d seen. Somewhere in the distance, they heard the rush of wind as yet another dropship flew towards them, carrying yet more troopers. The Empire wasn’t messing around, and at last Jayna understood how even superior numbers could beat the Jedi. ‘We need to go before they overwhelm us!’

‘Wait for my signal!’ Cal replied, as he despatched his last trooper, bringing his saber to bear as he feinted left to the trooper’s attack, then ducked under his guard, kicked his baton out of his hand and stabbed him through the heart. In the brief reprieve, he sent an image of his plan to Jayna. He felt her assent as she deactivated her lightsaber, readying herself as she reached out in the Force.

The moment the squad of troopers hopped down from the dropship, Cal and Jayna were ready. As one, they pushed through the Force, their combined strength being enough to shove the entire squad over the cliff’s edge as the dropship veered and spun wildly in the high winds, aided by their Force push. ‘Now, run!’ Cal shouted, as together they turned and sprinted for the tunnel’s mouth, knowing they’d have only minutes before the TIE fighters arrived. Grabbing each other’s hands, Cal and Jayna raced towards the tunnel, spotting the icy slope that awaited them.

‘Wait!’ Jayna gasped, nearly faltering.

‘Too late, we have to jump!’ Cal rebutted, as her resolve strengthened. Just as the first TIE fighter screeched over the platform, showering the rock with blaster fire, they jumped into the tunnel’s mouth, landing hard on the ice, and yet somehow still on their feet and their hands still entwined as they slid down the slope.

The Force whispered a warning, as together they leapt into the void that loomed menacingly at the end of the tunnel and landed hard on solid rock.

Overhead, they could just hear the TIE fighters as they screamed past. Jayna disentangled her hand from Cal’s as she bent over, panting hard for breath as her heart raced with adrenaline.

“Are you okay?” he asked aloud, his voice husky from exertion and the same adrenaline he sensed in her, as he reached for his water bottle. “I think we’re safe enough for the next few minutes.”

“Thanks,” Jayna muttered, as he proffered his bottle and she accepted it, her own perforated by a stray hit from a stun baton. “I’ll say this for you, Kestis. You’re certainly not boring.”

Cal snorted. “I’ll try to take that as a compliment,” he retorted lightly, as he opened the comm to report to Cere while BD-1 chirruped happily in his ear and Jayna got her breath back beside him.

It hadn’t taken the Second Sister too long to find the link she was looking for.

It had taken time, but she had finally found a possible lead as to what Cere Junda, and now Jayna Shan and Cal Kestis, were looking for on Zeffo. And if it turned out to be correct…then it would be a monumental day for the Empire when she safely brought them into custody.

Looking into Cordova’s background and history, it hadn’t taken much to discover he’d had few close associates in the Order. Only his former Padawan, of which he’d only trained one, Cere Junda, his own master, now long dead; and one or two contemporaries from his days as a youngling. And a sister, Malavai Cordova, who had left the Order decades before the Clone Wars and disappeared. But that wasn’t what had drawn the Second Sister’s attention.

One of his few close associates had been one Master Jocasta Nu, former Master Archivist of the Jedi Order.

The former archivist had been hunted down and killed by Lord Vader after initially surviving the Purge. Lord Vader had initially reported that Nu had possessed nothing of interest to the Empire, but the Second Sister had cause to wonder.

Treachery was the way of the Sith, after all.

Especially once correlated with the inventory taken of everything in the Archives after the Purge and compared with a previous list of what should have been there…there was at least one holocron missing. Including one that was purported to contain a list of Force-Sensitive children across the galaxy.

Could it be? Could Cordova and Nu have conspired together to remove the holocron from the Archives? Or make a copy for Cordova’s own use in the event of the Order’s destruction? From records gleaned from the Order’s Archives, it seemed obvious Cordova had been at odds with the Jedi Council. Had he foreseen something, something the Council had refused to believe?

From his training reports, Cordova was known to have some skill with precognition, slightly above the norm for most Jedi, although not as strongly gifted as his sister had been. What had he seen? The destruction of the Order? The rise of the Empire? And had Nu believed him where the Council had not?

She recalled that Cere had always dismissed Cordova as eccentric and esoteric in his interests, albeit with great respect for her former Master. She could easily believe Cere picking up where Cordova had left off, at his behest from beyond the grave.

She had no certainties, only questions, but with every passing moment, the Second Sister became surer. She knew what Cere Junda, Cal Kestis and Jayna Shan were hunting. And now, she could begin her hunt for them.

As her commlink buzzed into life again, she listened with an amused smirk as a nervous trooper reported on the other end.

“Second Sister, I regret to inform you that the fugitives have escaped capture and we have lost track of them in the ice caves north of the base. We have located their ship just outside the archaeologists’ settlement.”

“Then send a AT-ST to neutralise the ship and await Shan and Kestis’s return,” she replied coldly, yellow eyes narrowed as she imagined throttling the unfortunate trooper for his incompetence. “And in the meantime, send me all relevant security footage of the fugitives. Report back when they have been detained.”

As the trooper stammered an affirmative, the Second Sister dismissed him from mind as an alert trilled on her personal computer station. Time to see exactly what she was up against.

She had little doubt she was more than equal to the task. The hunt was on.

A dubious calm descended as Cal, BD-1 and Jayna finally made it out of the cave tunnel system they’d stumbled into, fleeing from Stormtroopers. They met no more resistance, bar a few unfriendly members of the local fauna, allowing them to catch their breath before they emerged, blinking in the scant sunlight after the darkness of the tunnels.

They had come out in a wide, open area, littered with broken, ruined masonry. Ahead, through a gap in the valley they could see swirling grey storm clouds, obscuring everything else from view.

It was also where the pull they’d both felt since stepping off the Mantis hours before. Like a chain attached to their wrists, they were powerless to resist the call even as they stopped atop a ruined archway, eying the storm pensively.

“I think we’re nearly there,” Jayna breathed, with a sideways look at Cal and BD. “BD, can you detect anything?”

The little droid whirred and booped a negative, citing the high levels of electromagnetic radiation. A moment later, it added that the radiation wasn’t hazardous to health so long as they didn’t hang around too long.

“Well, that’s comforting,” Jayna muttered, before turning to Cal. “You’d better let Cere know where we are. We don’t know if our comms will work down in the Tomb.”

Nodding his agreement, Cal activated his commlink. “There’s a storm up ahead,” Cal said by way of greeting. “Something about it crippled the Empire’s equipment. We also found out that the Empire doesn’t seem to know about Cordova, they’re just relic hunting.”

“So, we have the advantage still…for now,” Cere replied, over the line. “You need to keep going.”

“I can feel something pulling me there, beyond the storm,” Cal continued.

“Me too,” Jayna added in agreement.

“Follow it. Let the Force sharpen your instincts,” Cere instructed them both, a cautious note of eagerness in her voice now. “May the Force be with you.”

Cal and Jayna didn’t reply as they deactivated their commlinks, as they met and held each other’s gaze, uncertain what to say now.

They didn’t know what they would find in the Tomb, if that was what they would find at all. For all they knew, they might not come out of the Tomb at all.

BD-1, perhaps sensing the sudden shift in mood, broke the tension with a cheerful, enthusiastic series of beeps. “Be-boop boop beep boop!” it declared, as both Jayna and Cal started, then laughed weakly.

“Yeah, what are we waiting for, eh BD?” Cal replied, shaking his head with an affectionate grin at his droid friend. Looking back at Jayna, he held out his hand. “Whatever happens down there, good luck Jayna,” he said quietly.

“You too, Cal,” she replied softly but sincerely, taking his hand, and clasping it tightly. “But whatever happens, I think…no, I know we’re ready. The Force is with us…or whatever,” she added, her solemn tone turning embarrassed as she realised what had slipped out. “Let’s do this.”

Cal smiled, shrugging off the awful solemnity of the past minute, and bowed gallantly. “After you, milady,” he replied jokingly, as Jayna snorted and stepped past to lead the way.

Jayna’s first thought as they had descended into the Tomb was how eerily quiet it all was, once they’d been lowered below the howl of the storm.

Jayna’s second thought was how utterly repulsive it smelled. Millennia of rot, decay, damp, and strange, spiked plants full of some kind of noxious gas sprouting here, there, and everywhere and enthused the Tomb with a musty stench. It was obvious the Tomb had been undisturbed for millennia before their arrival on Zeffo.

After Cal had successfully re-established contact with Cere and the Mantis, they’d stepped off the strange lift that had taken them down in the depths of the earth as BD-1 booped and started playing an audio log recorded by Cordova, and which they had now made enough progress for the droid’s encoding algorithms to unlock.

“My friend, in the rotations since I left Bogano I’ve uncovered more about the Zeffo than I once believed possible. I believe this to be earliest Zeffo site we’ve uncovered yet. Despite my reservations, I cannot chase the Bogano Vault from my mind. Its visions shaped the direction of an entire culture. I must understand why.”

The Tomb had clearly been built to deter raiders such as themselves. They were forced to traverse gaping chasms with only overgrown vines for support, long drops and strange puzzles using wind tunnels and weighted balls. Cal had theorised that the wind was somehow significant to the Zeffo, considering how often they saw it depicted in the murals and decorations of the Tomb as they advanced, forever following the call of the Force.

Jayna wasn’t especially in the mood for speculating. She just wanted to find whatever ‘thing’ Cordova had wanted them to see, then they could get out. Staying on one planet for too long, with the Empire on their trail, was making her jumpy.

“Cere? I think we’re in the Tomb proper. It’s massive!” Cal reported over the comm, as they stopped for a short break to rest, a large antechamber an hour’s walk and climb away from the lift they’d taken from the surface. Jayna munched on a ration bar as she watched Cal pace restlessly from one end of the stone platform they’d stopped on to the other.

“Any sign of the Empire?” Cere asked cautiously.

“No sign of them down here,” Cal replied.

“I don’t think they’ve made it this far yet, perhaps not at all if they’ve really given up on Project Auger,” Jayna interjected. “Of course, that might change now they know we’ve been sniffing around.”

“Then we need to move quickly,” Cere replied bluntly. “And any sign of Cordova?”

“Nothing yet. Still not sure what we’re supposed to find,” Cal replied, shaking his head with frustration. “He’s a little…”

“Eccentric? Tell me about it,” Cere agreed, an affectionate tone in her voice. “But he wouldn’t send us here for his amusement. Keep an open mind.”

As the comm line went dead, Jayna sighed as she stuffed her used ration bar packaging back into its pouch. “I’m starting to wonder,” she quipped, as Cal smirked mirthlessly. “C’mon. The longer we linger, the likelier the Empire will catch up to us.”

Unable to argue with that, the trio turned and re-started their long climb to…whatever it was Cordova had left of them to find.

Finally, after a mind-numbing climb through several cavernous chambers and galleries, they emerged into a long, winding one that to Jayna’s relief, didn’t look like they’d need to be climbing, jumping or dodging more of those rat things or stink-plants any time soon.

In her head, the call of the Force had almost become deafening, leaving a growing headache behind her temples as she trudged after Cal, her feet aching from how far they’d come after leaving the Mantis…three, four hours before? Longer? In the dreary emptiness of the Tomb, Jayna couldn’t tell anymore.

Sensing her discomfort and tiredness, Cal slowed his pace to match hers, his hand brushing against hers where it swung at their sides, his mind reaching out to ease her own. Despite herself, Jayna let him, taking comfort from knowing she wasn’t alone in this lonely hellhole – she had BD-1 and Cal with her, and despite how tired she felt, she knew she could keep going. Just as they did.

The Tomb was littered with ancient, dust-ridden pottery, constantly under foot as they moved through the halls. Jayna only hoped there wasn’t some kind of curse on them for every one they inadvertently broke under-foot when they weren’t looking where they were putting their feet.

At last, they came to the end of the gallery, they found their way blocked by a broken, stone door. Time had worked its magic, cracking the façade so it looked like some pathetic puzzle. There were no hinges or openings that Jayna could see, as they stopped before it in wonder.

“I think we’re here. This is the burial chamber,” Cal breathed.

“But how do we get through?” Jayna asked, eying the heavy stone questioningly. “I think whoever was buried here, they had no intention of letting them out again.”

Cal snorted. “Yeah, probably. Looks like we’re gonna have to risk it,” he said, almost to himself. “I can’t detect any structural weaknesses in the stone around the doorway.”

“Wait, what are you thinking?” Jayna asked, turning to him questioningly. In her head, she suddenly saw his plan as a memory of his old Master echoed across the bond. ‘The obstacles in your path define the path. What stands in the way becomes the way.’ “Are you nuts?” she demanded. “You could bring the whole place down on us!?”

“It’s the only way through,” Cal retorted. “Look, we can stand here debating all day until we bring the Empire down on our heads, or we can try my plan. Unless you have any other ideas?”

Jayna glared at Cal unflinchingly, before huffing in frustration. They were both on edge it seemed, and cognisant of the need for speed. “Fine, but don’t blame me when I tell you ‘I told you so’,” she declared coolly.

“I’m sure you won’t ever miss an opportunity to tell me that,” Cal replied sarcastically, as he turned back towards the doorway.

“Then perhaps you shouldn’t give me so many opportunities,” she retorted, as BD-1 whooped and beeped its annoyance at their bickering.

Sighing, Cal dug deep for his last scrap of patience as he turned his focus away from Jayna and towards the door blocking their way. Closing his eyes, he reached out with the Force, feeling the ancient stone all but reverberating with some archaic, unknowable power. His Master’s voice filled his head as he gathered his power, feeling that terrifying moment when he felt like he might lose control entirely. But he didn’t, and despite her dislike of his plan, he felt Jayna’s power supporting his, shoring him up as he thrust his hand out towards the door, palm up and open, as his power flew from him in a rush and through the ancient door, shattering it to pieces.

A ringing silence fell as the broken blocks of stone rolled and settled on the ground, and the roof didn’t cave in. Beyond, Cal could see a wide, circular chamber. They had done it; they had found the Tomb of Eilram.

He felt Jayna’s power recede from his own, as he shot her a look. She didn’t look particularly pleased, if a bit long-suffering and resigned, as she returned his gaze.

Cal’s lips quirked into a smile. “Told you so,” he pronounced, admitting to himself so immature he was being, but he couldn’t quite resist the temptation.

“Shut up, Kestis,” she replied grumpily, as BD-1 chirruped in disapproving exasperation on his back.

Inside the Tomb, it was relatively brightly lit compared to the preceding chambers. A set of wind chimes played a jangling, lively tune as a slight breeze rippled through the chamber, refreshing after the musty, stale air of the antechambers and galleries they had come through.

As they stepped forward, they became aware of a long depression in the floor under their feet, covered by material that looked like glass.

Cal bent down to examine it, as BD hopped from his back and scanned it eagerly. BD’s scan confirmed his suspicions as he looked up at Jayna. “It’s not glass or transparisteel, it’s crystal. Kyber crystal,” he breathed in shock.

“What, like our lightsabers?” she replied, brows furrowed.

“Yes, but much denser,” Cal explained. “I shudder to think how long it took to mine enough crystal to make even this covering. Whoever this is, must have been important.”

“It must have been one of the Sages Cordova mentioned,” Jayna guessed, as her eyes lingered on the figure lying entombed beneath the crystal covering. Tall, taller than any most humanoids, and clothed in flowing robes and an elaborate death-mask, they gazed on the face of the Zeffo sage in silence.

Suddenly, BD-1 beeped and scurried across to a relief that hung from one of the walls at the back of the chamber. Cal rose from his crouch as Jayna passed him to follow the droid, as BD scanned the mural then its holoprojector flickered to life.

A holoimage of Cordova flickered into being, leaning in to inspect the very same relief they were looking at in the present. The old man’s face was visibly excited as he turned to speak to whoever was recording him. “My friend, take a look at the detail on this bark!” he declared enthusiastically. “The distinctive striations. It can only be a wroshyr tree from Kashyyyk!”

Kashyyyk. Jayna mentally groaned. ‘Wonderful.’

“Sssh,” Cal hushed her shortly, not taking his eyes from the recording as Jayna rolled her eyes but forced herself to pay attention once more.

“It’s time to call on an old friend,” Cordova mused, in the recording. “If the Zeffo had contact with Kashyyyk, there is a good chance Chieftain Tarfful will know about it.”

“Tarfful? Sounds like a Wookie name,” Cal speculated, as the recording came to an end and flickered out of existence. BD trilled an affirmative as the droid scrambled back up Cal’s leg to its habitual perch on his shoulder, the boy absentmindedly lending a hand as he thought. Jayna could feel his mind racing, as her own did, but from behind the barrier they’d built for their own privacy. To her slight surprise, she was disturbed by how uncomfortable and unnatural it felt, but Cal had a right to his own head just as she had a right to hers. She shrugged the feeling away as Cal straightened up, nodding to himself. “Speak any Shyriiwook?” he asked her, teasingly.

“Do I look like I have the vocal cords for Wookie?” she quipped back, shrugging. “I can understand a little, but I’m hardly fluent. You?”

“Took a course on it when I was a youngling, but I haven’t had to use it in years. Not many Wookies on Bracca,” he replied. “Well, guess we’ll manage. Time to head back to the surface then, and get the hell out of here.”

They turned to leave when they heard the clank of metal grinding against metal behind them. Slowly, they turned to see a metal thing emerge from an alcove they’d not seen, layered in shadow directly opposite the Sage’s resting place. Shadows which quickly turned lightning white as a ray of crackling energy suddenly discharged from the creature’s chest.

Jayna and Cal ducked and rolled sideways, activating their lightsaber as they went. As they fell into guard, Jayna could see that the creature was a gargantuan, towering humanoid made of metal, like a droid but somehow less sophisticated than BD-1. Stretching out with her perception, she could sense the barest flickers of consciousness within its metal casing, just enough to fulfil its primary objective: defend the Tomb from any and all intruders.

BD booped and whirred. “It’s a Tomb Guardian,” Cal breathed. “Set here by the Zeffo to guard the Sage’s body from tomb raiders.”

“Yeah, like us,” Jayna replied shortly. “Any clue how to fight it, BD?”

The droid’s negative reply was drowned out as the Guardian let loose another burst of energy as it stomped towards them, one they only just managed to deflect with their blades. Staying still was their mistake however, as the Guardian reached them, it backhanded them with its arm and sent them flying across the Tomb.

Winded, Jayna fought to get her breath back as she scrambled to her feet. Nothing felt broken, but another couple of hits like that and something would be. She met Cal’s eyes as he straightened, then they were forced apart by the Guardian’s foot as it came down between them.

‘Keep on the move! It’s slow so we can evade it!’ Cal spoke, through the bond as he reignited his saber and danced away. ‘Just keep an eye on those energy discharges!’

‘Got it!’ Jayna thought, as she pivoted on her knees and sprang away, bringing her blade into a Soresu defensive guard, jumping back as the Guardian seemed to pause. ‘It’s confused, it doesn’t know which one of us is the greater threat to go for,’ she guessed, as Cal’s agreement with her thought rippled across the bond.

In its chest, the source of that energy discharge was glowing, brighter and brighter, as if charging as a crackling sound filled the air, with the distinct smell of ozone and burnt metal that always preceded a lightning storm.

In that moment, Jayna and Cal became aware of something new. The bond between their minds seemed to ripple and expand, glowing as brightly as a supernova, echoing with power. Instinctively, they reached out to touch it as one, their thoughts and emotions blending together until they couldn’t tell where one began and the other ended. It felt warm, safe, and comforting, like nothing could ever harm them now, as their eyes snapped open in the millisecond after reaching out to one another through the Force. It echoed and whirled around them, a whirlpool of power that enthused them, but also threatened to drag them down if they didn’t cling ever tighter to the bond, and each other.

They heard the crackle as the Guardian discharged its lethal energy, and as one they turned to face the oncoming storm. With barely a thought, Jayna went high while Cal went low, the former somersaulting high over the Guardian’s head, the Force bearing her as lightly as a feather in the wind, her summer-green blade slicing through the Guardian’s head-case. Meanwhile Cal slid underneath the energy beam, between the Guardian’s open legs, flicking his ice-blue blade up so it sliced through metal sinews and plating. Once on the other side, he twisted and came up on his knees just as Jayna landed, cat-footed, by his side.

The Guardian collapsed to the floor, its knee joints severed from underneath it and its central processing system irreversibly damaged, but its core was still active. With a joint reverse thrust, Cal and Jayna sunk their lightsabers deep into the Guardian’s energy core. The metal creature sparked and screeched, until with a final groan of tortured metal, it collapsed in pieces to the floor.

An uneasy silence fell in the Tomb as Cal and Jayna caught their breath, still entwined tightly in the bond as BD-1 booped questioningly.

“Yeah…” Cal nodded slowly, as if waking up. “Yeah, we’re ok. We’re ok, BD.”

“What was that?” Jayna breathed, as the bond receded and her…their power ebbed until it simmered underneath their skin, ready and waiting to be called upon once more. It felt strange to speak aloud after that excruciating, intoxicating sense of closeness they’d existed in a few moments ago, but also comforting. Like what had just passed hadn’t been so…monumental. Like Jayna didn’t feel changed, different, as she sensed Cal felt also, as he looked at her gravely.

“I don’t know,” he whispered, and she sensed that was true. Accepting it, she took a trembling breath and tried to push her uneasy thoughts away as Cal opened the commlink to report to Cere.

“Cere? We’re here.”

“What did you find?” she asked, curiously.

“The Zeffo went to Kashyyyk. Cordova mentioned someone named Tarfful,” Cal explained, as he gestured to Jayna to follow him as they left the Tomb, and the destroyed Guardian, behind.

“A Wookie chieftain. They were old friends,” Cere replied.

“Think he’s still around?” Jayna asked.

“There’s only one way to find out. We have to go to Kashyyyk,” Cere declared.

“Ok. We’re on our way back, we’ll probably be a few more hours unless we can find another way around that Imperial base,” Cal said. “Get the caf on. Jayna needs her stim fix.”

“Gonna need a lot more than that on Kashyyyk. Oh, Greez is gonna love this,” she replied, rolling her eyes as Cere chuckled over the line.

“Let me handle Greez. Let me know when you’re close by, so Greez can get the engines ready to go. Mantis, out.”

Now they knew the way, they made quick work getting back to the elevator that had brought them down. They moved in silence, neither feeling the need to speak as the bond rippled comfortably in their minds, until they were in the elevator itself, ascending quickly upwards.

The Tomb of Eilram had done its work. It had shown them what it needed to, and now they could leave it far behind.

‘Of course, it’s never that easy,’ Jayna thought absentmindedly, breaking the silence between them as she sensed the presence of a dozen Stormtroopers in the ruined valley above them. She shot a glance at Cal as the elevator came to a stop with a stony thud, and the ornately forged guard railing rose to reveal exactly what they’d feared.

The Empire had followed their trail and found the Tomb.

Jayna flicked Cal a glance as the bond seemed to start glowing again, shining brightly in their mind’s eye. ‘Shall we?’ she asked, a distinctly arch tone to her thoughts that made Cal smirk, despite his own unease with the situation.

He ignited his lightsaber, and the blade shot forth almost eagerly, shining blue against meadow green as hers followed a moment later. With a devil-may-care smirk, he replied ‘After you!’

With a shout of the Force, they leapt once more into battle.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Children of two fathers, they will seek the wisdom of Eilram, the revelations of the Tree of Origin, the warning of Miktrull and the lessons of Kujet,

Wielding ancient power and forgotten knowledge, mark these signs well!

For with their union, the seeds of the downfall of darkness will be sown.

Second excerpt from the Prophecy of the False Dawn - source unknown

Together, Jayna, BD-1 and Cal had managed to find another way out of the weathered valley and back to the mountain pass that led to the landing pad where the Mantis waited.

They hadn’t spoken much since leaving the Tomb, both somewhat unsettled by the strange events of their fight with the Tomb guardian and all it had revealed, instead focussing on taking down patrolling squads of Stormtroopers standing between them and the Mantis. But even then, they couldn’t wholly ignore the fact that something had changed.

The moment a threat emerged, they instinctively reached for the bond and it was as though they became as one creature. There was no conflict, no tension just peace in the eye of the storm as they fought in perfect synchronicity, Jayna’s battle meditation only strengthening them further. Thought became as fast as lightning, quicksilver flashes across the chain connecting their minds and souls; debates which would have taken ten minutes if spoken aloud were conducted and resolved within seconds so they were of one intent, one action as their lightsabers flashed and swirled in dizzying vortexes of lethal energy.

In the small corner of Jayna’s mind that remained wholly her own, separated from the bond with the technique Cal had taught her, she didn’t know whether to be afraid or resigned to this new…development between them. For Cal’s part, she couldn’t sense any more unease, but she knew he could have been concealing it with the same trick she was using. Or perhaps, this was to be expected and Cal wasn’t surprised by it at all. Unwilling to ask, Jayna fiercely hoped it was the latter.

Cal, however, was surprised. And disturbed. Everything he had ever learned about Force bonds, which was rather limited to those formed between Masters and Padawans, told him that what was happening between him and Jayna was unheard-of. Perhaps it was the battle meditation creating a closer bond to make them more effective fighters, or maybe it was something else, but Cal didn’t have the first clue what. It was enough to plant a seed of fear in his heart, but one he resolutely smothered and refused to consider. All he did know was that finding Jayna, training her, becoming bonded to her, was the will of the Force. And in that, he could trust.

Firmly turning his thoughts to something else, Cal considered the bits of metal currently clanking around in his belt pouches. During their shortcut back to the Mantis, they’d come across the remnants of the Imperials’ dig site in the ice caves and Cal had taken the opportunity to do a little scavenging, for BD’s benefit. He’d found a replacement scomp link as well as a few other handy little gadgets he could use to modify the droid and give it even greater capabilities. He had a feeling BD-1 would like that, as they’d come across several doors they couldn’t access because they required a scomp link to open, and it had probably added hours to their trek. Now, they could cut them down and give themselves the advantage of speed.

Cal had little doubt they’d find themselves sneaking into more Imperial installations as their journey continued, and while the danger would increase, it would certainly be faster than constantly going around for fear of a locked door and a few stormtroopers.

He was yanked from his plans for BD’s modifications by the sudden burst of static in his ear, and Cere’s worried voice over the commlink.

“Cal, Jayna! We’ve got a walker firing on us and our weapons are down!” she shouted over the line, as the sound of blaster cannon fire echoed in the background.

“Is that them!?” Greez interjected over the line. “Tell them they better get their butts bac-!”

Greez’s panicked words were interrupted the sound of an AT-ST cannons blasting away. Jayna and Cal stopped, eyes wide as they looked to each other, then they turned and began to sprint down the path towards the landing pad.

“Hold on! We’re on our way!” Cal said, hoping they’d hear it. But whether the comm was down, or whether they were destroyed, there was nothing but static as they turned the corner of the tor and saw the walker.

It was an AT-ST, bearing down on the Mantis which appeared intact, at least. But with its firepower, and the weapons on the Mantis out of action, it would only be a matter of time before the Mantis’s shields failed completely and they’d be more vulnerable than a legless bantha.

Cal’s arm pulled Jayna to a halt just before they came into view, the bond once more expanding out until it encompassed both of them completely. Cal’s head canted towards the path leading upwards, back towards the village they’d taken that morning, as Jayna saw his plan and acceded with a reluctant nod.

Cal felt her concern and couldn’t quite stop himself from squeezing her shoulders comfortingly, before turning and sprinting down the path towards the AT-ST as Jayna turned to the other path. Somewhere to her left, she heard the rippling scream of blaster cannon fire as the walker engaged Cal, his blade flicking out to deflect the bolts away. She shut it out, as she leapt over the gap between the path and the roof of the abandoned hangar, then drew her lightsaber but didn’t yet ignite it.

Instead, she crept towards the roof’s edge and cautiously looked over it, watching as Cal effortlessly dodged and parried the walker’s blasters. They would need split second timing to pull this off, it was vital the walker remained focussed on Cal and unaware of her until the last possible moment.

Jayna felt Cal’s warning shout in her head, as the Force rippled around her as she drew on her power. Leaping from the roof’s edge, her blade sprang forth like a deadly spear of meadow-green light as she soared through the air. When she landed, she dashed right as Cal sprinted left, as the walker began to turn, its pilot thrown off-balance by the sudden appearance of another target. But it was too late, as Jayna’s blade cut through the durasteel plating and sinews of the walker’s right leg and Cal’s did the same on the other side.

The walker fell on its face with a resounding clank of metal alloy smashing into the rusting panelling of the landing pad deck, as an eerie silence fell, and smoke began to pour from the walker.

But they weren’t quite finished yet. The pilot was still alive.

He emerged, coughing and disorientated but with blaster drawn as he spun wildly, looking for his targets. Jayna reached out and yanked the blaster from his hand with the Force just as Cal pushed him back so he went flying into the side of the Mantis, then laid still, crumpled, and lifeless on the ground.

Cal and Jayna caught their breath as they paused, senses searching for any more threats, but there were none in the immediate vicinity. They stared at each other over the smoking wreck of the AT-ST, teetering on the edge of something, some action when Cere’s shout pulled them from their shared hesitation.

“Come on! Get in here!” she shouted, as Cal and Jayna deactivated their lightsabers and sprinted over to the Mantis, all but throwing themselves inside. “Greez, get us out of here!”

The Latero barely waited for the landing ramps to retract before he was climbing up and out of the storm, only just hitting the edge of the atmosphere before sending the ship into hyperspace.

They reverted to realspace a few jumps later, just to make sure, as Jayna and Cal sat up on the floor of the Mantis, BD-1 beeping concernedly from beside the humans as the little droid peered down at them.

“Yeah, we’re ok BD,” Cal said, smiling as Cere huffed a sigh of relief.

“Nicely done,” she told them, with a pleased smile. She held out a hand to help Cal, and then Jayna up. Together, they moved into the cockpit as Greez turned away from his instruments with a brusque smirk of greeting.

“Nice work out here, kids! Hey, you got some real moves on ya! Ha!” he said enthusiastically as Cal let himself collapse into the co-pilot’s chair and Jayna folded herself into the gunner’s chair.

“Indeed,” Cere agreed. “That was an…impressive display from the two of you.”

Cal shot a glance at Jayna as she nodded, her resignation echoing back to him across the bond. “Our bond’s gotten stronger. A lot stronger,” he replied. “It’s not like anything I’ve ever felt before.”

“We were drawing on each other’s power,” Jayna added, rubbing her forehead tiredly as waves of Force exhaustion swept over her. Cal glanced at her in concern when he felt it, then pushed what little remained of his own reserves to spare over to her as she shuddered and trembled.

“Just tell me that this visit wasn’t for nothin’!?” Greez demanded, cutting off Cere’s intrigued questions as her eyes slid to Cal.

“We found the Tomb of a Zeffo sage,” Cal began to explain as he spun around in his chair so he could face the others, BD hopping down and onto his shoulder. “They definitely used the Force.”

“An advanced civilisation of Force wielders who mysteriously vanished…no wonder Master Cordova became so obsessed with them,” Cere mused, an excited glint in her eye as she leant forward in her eagerness. “What else did you find?”

“Before they disappeared, the Zeffo journeyed to the planet Kashyyyk,” Cal continued, looking to Jayna as she slowly sat up in her chair.

“We unlocked another of BD’s logs in the Tomb,” she added. “Cordova was convinced the Zeffo had some kind of contact with Kashyyyk.”

“Oh!” Greez groaned, feelingly.

“Cordova had a Wookiee friend named Tarfful. Maybe we can find him?” Cal concluded, looking to Cere as he ignored Greez’s less than enthusiastic reaction.

“Kashyyyk! L-look,” Greez interrupted before Cere could reply. “Things are really bad down there. The-the Empire’s muscling in on those Wookiees, big time!”

“Then we’d better get ready for a fight!” Cal replied, standing from his chair and playfully punching Greez’s upper arm as he passed him. The Latero glanced at Cere, and then Jayna but found no reprieve there as he groaned.

“And here I thought you were the sensible one,” he grumbled at Jayna as she smirked tiredly and turned to follow Cal and Cere out of the cockpit. She really needed a shower and a nap. “It’ll take a couple of days to reach Kashyyyk!” he called, before going back to grumbling to himself as he considered the repairs, he’d need to do to the Mantis’s weapon systems in the meantime.

True to Cere’s word, there was a steaming pot of caf waiting on the side of the galley as Cal poured Jayna a cup, wordlessly passing it to her before reaching for the water dispenser.

“Lightweight,” Jayna sniffed disdainfully as she took a deep draught of bitter caf. Cal rolled his eyes.

“You won’t be saying that when you’re buzzing in the middle of the night,” he retorted good-naturedly, as she shook her head but didn’t reply. She also didn’t put the caf down. ‘Can’t help some people,’ Cal sighed, teasingly.

‘Indeed. Just like some people can’t help but get a bucket of water dumped over their head while they’re sleeping…’ Jayna retorted with a raised eyebrow over the rim of her cup. Feeling her energy levels restore a little, she took another cup then turned away. “I’m going to grab a shower,” she called over her shoulder.

Cal watched her go, eyes unconsciously watching her body move as she walked away, until Cere’s gentle comment made him startle as he swung round.

“I think this lifestyle suits you,” she remarked. “Finding the Tomb, fighting that walker seems to have made both of you more confident. So…how are you holding up?”

“You mean with the Force? Or Jayna?” Cal asked, only half-jokingly.

“Both,” she replied, as he sat down on the sofa and sipped his water. “I know you said it could be…overwhelming.”

For a moment, Cal considered telling her. Considered confessing about the voice that both he and Jayna could hear, about how he still found using his power difficult but…something still held him back. So instead he shortly replied, “Haven’t gotten myself, or Jayna, killed yet. Rather not talk about it.”

“Yeah, well I understand,” Cere admitted, as she sat down beside him on the sofa. “More than you realise.”

Sensing an opportunity, as Cere seemed more open and relaxed about the past than usual, Cal asked, “Why’d you choose to stop using the Force?”

Cere looked down and away, and for a moment Cal thought she wouldn’t answer as he sighed. But then she began to speak, slow and haltingly, but determined. “When the Purge started and our…clone troops turned against us…my Padawan and I took several Younglings and went into hiding,”

“But, we…didn’t last long,” she sighed, the ghost of an old pain rising in her eyes. “Imperial patrol was about to discover our location so…I tried to lure them away from my Padawan, Trilla, she stayed behind with the Younglings but…they caught me.”

Cal closed his eyes as he sensed Cere’s anguish as she told her story, and he could guess what happened next.

“And they…tortured me,” Cere finally admitted, her serious eyes boring into Cal’s as she looked up from her lap. Beside him, BD trilled and booped comfortingly, prompting a small, pained but swift smile from the former Jedi. It faded as she looked back at Cal. “They wanted to know about the others and how many were left but mostly they wanted to know about Cordova. And where he went-.”

“But you escaped,” Cal said, heart aching for her as she nodded.

“Yeah. It was a prison riot,” Cere explained. “I saw my opportunity and I took it. But they almost broke me, and I am not the same as I was, Cal.”

Cal understood. Going through the Purge, being left alone in a galaxy that suddenly had it out for him…he could understand. He could understand why she had cut herself off from the Force.

“Your Padawan…” he began to hesitantly ask. “Did she survive?”

“No,” Cere replied, with a sideways glance at Cal as she stood. She paused, as if weighing her words then turned to face him as she continued passionately, “but that’s why we can’t give up. We can’t let the sacrifice of those closest to us be for nothing.”

“It’s not easy,” Cal breathed, as he thought over everything that had happened since Bracca.

“No, it’s not,” Cere agreed. “but I think of those who believed in me at one point. If I give up on myself, then I give up on them. I’m sure you have a few of those.”

“Prauf…a friend on Bracca. He sacrificed himself so I could live,” Cal admitted, painfully. In the ‘fresher, he felt Jayna’s awareness of his pain as she reached out to comfort him. He couldn’t quite bring himself to refuse it, even as heat raced through his body at the thought of her.

“He believed in you,” Cere declared firmly, with a warm smile. But in her eyes, the ghosts of her past lingered. “A lot of people depend on you, even if they don’t know it yet. Keep going, Cal. For Prauf. For everyone.”

Cal nodded, not knowing what else to say as he stood up and went to put the water back in the cooler. Behind him, Cere reached out a hand and squeezed his shoulder. “Go get some rest, Cal,” she told him gently. “You’ve earned it, and you’re going to need every bit of your strength for Kashyyyk. Both of you will.”

Cal said nothing as the former Jedi turned and went to help Greez with the repairs, his eyes distant and deep in thought as he turned away into their quarters to get some rest.

A few hours later, he emerged from the ‘fresher and his own shower to find Jayna sat on her cot, practicing with the pebbles he’d given her on Bogano. She’d dressed in more of the new gear Cere had bought for them, black trousers, jacket and blue cowl layered over the top, her long hair tightly coiled into a braid that extended most of the way down her back. Her roots were solidly dark brown now, the blonde dye that coloured the rest fading away. As he stood watching, three of the pebbles levitated into the air above her hand and hovered.

He felt it when she sensed his arrival, and his subsequent staring from the doorway of their quarters. “I’ve been thinking about cutting it,” she declared, with just an edge of knowing to her voice as she manipulated the pebbles hovering above her palm, making them turn over and spin slowly, her brow slightly furrowed in concentration. “What do you think?”

“It’d be more practical,” he agreed. Long hair always had the potential to be a liability in a fight. “But it’s your hair, you do what you want with it.”

He watched as she slowly lowered the pebbles back into her cupped palm, before she slipped them back into their pouch as she finally looked up at him, meeting his eyes. “So, are we going to talk about what happened in the Tomb?” she began questioningly.

Cal shrugged. “What’s to talk about?” he replied coolly. “The Force bond has developed again, and we don’t know enough to understand why. But it seems to be working for us, not against us.”

“And you don’t find it disturbing that this has happened? That with every passing moment, we seem to be losing more and more of our freedom to this thing?” Jayna asked, almost accusingly, her dark eyes narrowed.

“It’s the way it was always meant to be,” Cal insisted, as she scoffed. “No, you can laugh but…finding you, teaching you, becoming bonded to you…that was the will of the Force, I know it. And it’s the only thing in this screwed up galaxy that I can trust in.”

He sensed her annoyance with his words, as well as a vague sense of hurt, as she huffed. “I wish I had your faith,” she sighed, glancing away.

“Faith is all I had left to cling to, after the Purge,” he replied with a shrug, sensing her swift glance at him as he lowered his gaze. He pushed away from the doorway and strode towards the work bench at the end of the compartment, BD-1 trilling a greeting as the little droid scrambled up from where it had been perched on his cot. “Hey BD? Fancy a tune-up and some upgrades?” he asked, reaching for the belt pouches. The little droid booped enthusiastically as it hopped up onto the bench, as Jayna came to his side.

“What are you doing?” she asked curiously, tension pushed aside for the moment as she watched him.

“I picked up a few things while we were in the ice caves,” he admitted, with a sly grin in Jayna’s direction. She rolled her eyes, and he felt the flash of fondness and exasperation, soothing over the awkwardness between them as she returned his grin. “I’m gonna repair BD’s scomp link, so he can get us into anywhere we need to go. Plus a few more handy parts I picked up along the way.”

“Could you teach me? My technical skills were never more than basic,” she asked quietly. “Could come in handy, if we ever run into trouble and BD needs repairing and you’re not around for whatever reason.”

“Planning on getting rid of me?” he asked jokingly, as she snorted, and BD beeped in alarm.

“I’ve…gotten used to having you around, Kestis,” she replied, light-heartedly at first, then warm and sincere if a trifle uncomfortable as she confessed. “I don’t want you going anywhere just yet.”

He smiled at her warmly, feeling the simple affection of shared experience, camaraderie and intimacy swell and grow between them. “Right back ‘atcha. And I’m sorry about earlier,” he admitted, slowly. “I didn’t mean I don’t trust you, too. I do. The Force brought us together so how could I not, after everything, after you saved my life?” he trailed off, as he felt her discomfort with his tangent. “Even after everything you’ve learned, you still doubt it?” he asked, pushing his genuine feelings of curiosity across the bond so she’d know he wasn’t being judgemental.

“I…don’t know,” she admitted quietly, hesitantly. “But I trust you,” she stated firmly, meeting his gaze with a forthrightness that took his breath away. “That’s a start, isn’t it?”

The air between them grew heavy with some unsaid emotion as Cal felt himself lean in before he stopped himself with an impish smile. “It’ll do,” he replied, before he took a deep breath and turned his attention back to BD-1, Jayna by his side as she watched and learned.

Two days later, they were awoken by the sound of Greez’s voice over the intercom.

“Wake-y, wake-y kiddos! We’re comin’ up on Kashyyyk, time to shake a leg!”

Jayna surged back to wakefulness, groaning as the overhead lights stuttered into life, as Cal yawned and stretched beside her as BD booped a good morning. He reached out a pale, toned arm to the intercom beside his cot, as Jayna blinked and forced herself to look away. She took the opportunity to escape and grab her shower while Cal spoke with Greez over the intercom.

“Hey Greez, how long till we come out of hyperspace?” he asked, pulling his blankets away as he stretched.

“Bout an hour,” the Latero replied gloomily. “So, get ready, lazybones! And tell the missus I’ve got a steaming pot of caf ready for her!”

“Greez, she’s not my-!?” Cal spluttered, reddening at the Latero’s insinuation before the sound of his gruff chuckling made him realise, he was joking. Or at least he hoped he was. “I’m sure she’ll be relieved. A caf-deprived Jayna is a scary one,” he replied lightly, before shutting the intercom off and pivoting round so he could get out of bed.

He very carefully and deliberately put all thought of Greez’s joke and the way he had reacted firmly out of his mind as he rose and started to get ready for the day. They didn’t know what awaited them on Kashyyyk, and he didn’t have time for any distractions today.

An hour later, Cal, Jayna and BD-1 slipped into the cockpit as Greez began preparing to come out of hyperspace. “Alright, we’re here. Get in your chairs!” he barked at them both, as they shared a glance then slipped into their respective seats, Cere shooting them an amused look over her shoulder as she hovered over the comms station.

They reverted to realspace over a looming blue-green and white-washed sphere, but the view wasn’t what drew everybody up short. Hovering directly over the planet in orbit were three Imperial Star Destroyers.

“Whoa!” Cal breathed, nervously. “Tell me we’re not running that blockade?”

“We bloody well better not, or we’ll be space jam in nanoseconds,” Jayna quipped, with a swift glance at Cere.

“Charming,” Greez muttered.

“Oh, only as a last resort,” Cere assured them. “I’ve rigged the Mantis transponder to transmit Imperial signals. Hey, Greez?” she called over, prompting the Latero to look back at her.

“Yeah?”

“Keep your power signature low and act like we belong,” Cere ordered.

“Just like Bracca. No sweat,” the Latero declared, but for all his confidence, Jayna and Cal could sense his nervousness. As Jayna eyed the weapons’ console in front of her, she was startled by the sound of skin slapping skin as she spun to see Greez had impatiently slapped Cal’s hand away from a switch. “I don’t need another pair of hands. Just please keep your eyes on the scanner. Please?” he demanded scornfully as Cal muttered affirmatively to placate him.

They were all on edge, even Cere Jayna sensed, as the older woman turned in her seat to face her. “I doubt we’ll need them, but keep the weapons systems ready, Jayna? Just in case.”

“Sure,” Jayna nodded, wanly. “Just in case.”

It was a tense few minutes as the Mantis flew past the towering, arrow-like shapes of the Destroyers, cutting a path through space around them. Jayna acknowledged the kernel of fear and dread in her gut, as she waited for the alarms to sound as the Destroyers detected them.

“I don’t see anything,” Cal said, breaking the tense silence abruptly as they cleared the last Destroyer.

“They’re preoccupied with something on the ground,” Cere confirmed. “We’re clear.”

With a sigh of relief, Greez gunned the engines, taking the Mantis down into the atmosphere. As they cleared the cloud bank, a vista of verdant jungle and lush greenery unfolded before them, but marred by gaping, smoking wounds left by the Imperials as they flew just above the canopy, gliding through abandoned villages patrolled by Stormtroopers.

“That doesn’t look good,” Cal remarked uneasily, as Cere shook her head.

“The Empire is devouring Kashyyyk for its natural resources,” Cere explained, a bitter, angry edge in her voice. “Wookiees have been enslaved, or displaced.”

“So, how are we meant to find this Tarfful?” Jayna asked incredulously. “For all we know, he might be dead.”

“There are resistance cells set up all over Kashyyyk,” Cere explained, glancing at her. “If we can just talk to one of their leaders, we might be able to-!”

At that moment, a TIE fighter flew directly overhead from their rear, pursued by what looked like a Republic gunship from the Clone Wars, firing haphazardly.

“ARGH!” Greez snapped. “That was a close one, kid! Aren’t you supposed to be watching the monitors!?” he snarled at Cal.

“Guerrilla fighters!” Cal declared with a glance at the scanner. “Wookiees and off-worlders, ambushing an Imperial convoy!”

On her readouts, Jayna could see the dogfight going in between the TIE fighter and the gunship. Another signal appeared on their scopes, as she sucked in a breath. “I have another TIE incoming! It’s going to jump that gunship!” she exclaimed. That gunship would never have the manoeuvrability to evade it. They would be destroyed. Without giving it any more thought, Jayna lined up the targeting joysticks until the second TIE fighter was safely in the crosshairs.

“Jayna…wait!” Greez yelled just as Jayna’s thumb depressed the trigger. The Mantis’s guns flared once, twice, as the second TIE fighter disappeared in a blaze of fire. “What in seven Corellian hells are you thinking!?” the Latero snapped.

“That TIE was going to destroy that gunship. They’d never have been able to move out of the way!” she snapped back, barely sparing the Latero a glance as she kept her focus on the monitor, looking for new signals.

“Yeah, and now we’ve practically told the whole bleedin’ Empire we’re here!” Greez snarled. “We might as well have taken out a holo-ad on Coruscant and have done with it!”

“Enough!” Cere interjected forcefully. “There are walkers converging on the guerrillas’ position.”

“Tarfful could be with them,” Cal suggested, an undercurrent of excitement in his voice as he glanced over his shoulder at Cere and Jayna. “It’s as good a place as any to start looking.”

Jayna knew he sensed her agreement even as Greez scoffed and objected derisively, “Tarfful could be anywhere! Like deep in the ground, like we’re gonna be if we get caught up in that battle down there!”

“We don’t have any other options-!” Cal pointed out, but Greez wasn’t listening.

“Yeah, we do! We need to find a nice little clearing to land and lay low until the Empire’s busy going after those guerrillas. Too busy to remember Miss Itchy-Trigger-Finger back there,” he growled, angrily jabbing a thumb over his shoulder in Jayna’s direction. Through the Force, she could sense the Latero’s agitation and fear, and tried to remind herself to stay calm where Greez obviously couldn’t.

“They’ll die without our help,” Cal continued firmly but calmly, as the Latero spun in his chair to face the human incredulously. Over his shoulder, Cal’s eyes met Jayna’s, and his resolve met her own as they shared a nod.

“We’re involved now, whether we like it or not,” Jayna breathed. And she didn’t like it, not one bit but…she couldn’t find it in herself to regret it. ‘Well, there goes the survival instinct I guess…’ the wry thought floated across her mind, as Cal caught her eye again and shook his head in amusement.

“So, what’s your plan?” Cere asked.

Jayna felt Cal’s split-second panic, before an idea dawned. “Sabotage,” he declared, as he got up from his seat, BD hopping onto his back as he went. “We used to scrap walkers on Bracca. I’ll just jack one. Coming, Jayna?”

Jayna’s face lit up with a wicked grin. “Just you try and stop me!” she enthused as she pushed out of her chair and fell in beside Cal.

“Ha!” Greez laughed. “Get a load of the kid! He thinks we’re back in the Clone Wars!” he declared mockingly.

“Captain,” Cere interrupted serenely. “Get us near those walkers.”

“Wait, what?”

Jayna and Cal didn’t wait for whatever smart remark Greez might make next, as they turned and left the cockpit. Cere followed them out, urgent and yet, looking oddly exhilarated. “Those walkers double as troop transports so once you get inside…be careful,” she warned them as they stopped beside the airlock. As Greez took the ship as low as he dared, Cal opened the doors, the wind whipping his hair back violently. Jayna paused a moment to check her lightsaber was at her belt, her quarterstaff strapped to her back, just in case. Cere touched their arms, with a gentle smile. “Hey, do me a favour?” she asked, softly. “Stay alive down there?”

Cal smiled at her genuinely as he began to inch out onto the extended landing ramp. “I’ll add it to the plan,” he replied cockily.

“No promises, though,” Jayna quipped in turn as she followed him out, in the tumultuous gale as the Mantis scudded through the clouds.

Outside, the wind plucked and ripped at their clothing, their balance already precarious due to the flight of the Mantis as Greez negotiated the air. Eyes screwed tight against the wind being violently blown into their faces, both Cal and Jayna stumbled a little as the Mantis was jostled by an air current until the stabilisers kicked in.

The first tinges of fear kicked in as Jayna realised exactly what they were about to do, as the clouds below them cleared to reveal a wide, gaping grey void that rippled. All around them, explosions rent the air as TIE fighters and gunships battled it out, while below, several walkers trudged slowly through the lake.

She took a calming breath as she reached out to the Force, letting it suffuse her as she felt Cal do the same. “Alright, if you’re jumpin’, you better do it now kiddos!” Greez barked over the commlink, as Jayna felt Cal’s mind just brush against hers, like a hand against her shoulder.

“You ready for a swim, BD?” Cal asked the little droid perched on his shoulder, shouting over the gale as an exhilarated smile lit up his face. The little droid beeped affirmatively, its excited beeps almost sounding like it was whooping. He caught her eye as he held out his hand. ‘How about you, Jayna?’ he asked through the bond.

For a moment, Jayna considered it. Considered retreating to the safety of the Mantis, her instincts screaming at her to do it. But then she remembered the TIE fighter and the gunship, and her resolve strengthened, turning her spine to durasteel. ‘Born ready, Kestis!’ she joked, taking his hand firmly as they turned to face the end of the landing ramp. Together, hand-in-hand, with BD-1 clinging to Cal’s back, they jumped with a shout into the void.

Hitting the water was like hitting duracrete, the rushing wind of their fall stealing even Cal’s whoop of excitement away. They plunged straight down, as Cal felt Jayna’s hand slip from his as the weight of BD-1 lifted from his back from the impact.

Shoving down his panic, he kicked his legs, propelling himself towards the surface, distantly aware of Jayna doing the same beside him, his lungs straining for air. Opening his eyes, the watery darkness was alleviated by the burning orange glow of flames on the surface from fighter wreckage, casualties of the dogfight above their heads.

BD was the first to surface, trilling animatedly. “Be-be-be-beeep-boop! Beep woo!”

Cal was next, shaking his head to push the sodden hair from his eyes, burning lungs greedily sucking in air, eyes stinging from all the toxins in the air from the battle around them. Jayna was last, treading water frantically before she calmed herself, hauling in air.

“Oh, I hate you,” she muttered, as BD booped at her as it swam round and clambered onto Cal’s back. Cal’s brow creased in amusement, knowing she didn’t mean it.

“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered back. Overhead, the scream of TIE fighters and the staccato screech of blaster cannon fire reminded them of their danger, as they turned their heads to see the walkers in the distance. “You ready to do this?” Cal asked, turning in the water to start swimming.

“Well, I’m already soaked so why not?” Jayna replied, mirroring his movements as they started the long swim towards the walkers.

Just as they got close to one, a gunship shot down a TIE overhead. The doomed ship spiralled into the walker, knocking it sideways as it stopped, trying to regain its footing. ‘There’s our chance! Come on!’ Cal asserted, through the bond as he focussed his energy on swimming, his muscles beginning to burn. The Force kept him going, kept his energy up but his muscles were beginning to feel the swim as he upped his pace. He felt Jayna do the same beside him, digging deep as her lungs strained for air.

Luckily, they seemed to hit a current in the river that propelled them forward, reaching the walker just as it regained its footing and began to resume its slow, laborious trek towards the horizon. Jayna caught his eye as they trod water for a moment, nodded to one of the legs, threaded with long, trailing vines that Cal wasn’t sure if they were just a side-effect of Kashyyyk or deliberate camouflage. ‘Go up this side, I’ll take the other one,’ she told him, as he nodded.

He felt her take a deep breath, submerging herself for a moment as she shot through the water like a fish, surfacing on the other side just as the rear right foot came down behind her. Heart in his throat, he watched as she pushed herself out of the water, catching hold of one of the vines and pulling herself clear. ‘Hurry up, nerf-herder! You’re gonna get left behind!’ she remarked sarcastically as she disappeared from view, prompting him to shake himself and swim back towards the left rear leg, catching hold of the vines trailing down its durasteel limb just as it began to lift it up. He let its momentum pull him up and clear of the water.

Climbing up the walker was less than easy, as the constant movement of the legs made climbing difficult, his grip on the vine precarious at best as his sodden clothes weighed him down. He climbed as quickly as he could, sensing Jayna doing the same on the other side.

The Force screamed a warning, as he ducked as a blaster bolt sheared into the walker’s side, just above his head. He could smell the burnt ozone like cold metal on his tongue.

‘Cal! You okay?’ Jayna asked, worriedly.

‘I’m good,’ he replied reassuringly, as he reached the top of the leg. “Ok,” he muttered aloud. “Now where?”

BD beeped a suggestion, as Cal peered along the walker, looking for handholds. Its durasteel panelling was caked in mud and vegetation, making an otherwise impossible task doable as he spotted a clear path up to the top of the walker. Gathering himself, he threw himself sideways, reaching out and latching on to the next clump of vines as he steadily inched along. Carefully he inched along and around, until he was now on Jayna’s side, but she was nowhere to be seen.

‘Jayna?’ he called, mind reaching out to hers, but the bond was there, warm and glowing in the back of his head.

‘Can’t get rid of me that easily, poncho boy,’ came the insouciant reply as a hand suddenly appeared in Cal’s face. He grasped it gratefully, letting Jayna take some of his weight as he climbed up the last few inches until they stood, balancing on the swaying, unsteady back of the walker. “What took you so long?” she demanded jokingly, speaking aloud, barely audible above the roar of the wind and the sounds of battle overhead.

“Oh, y’know, stopped for a cup of caf along the way,” he quipped back, shaking his head amusedly. In front of them, at the back of the walker, a hatch opened, and a trooper emerged to take control of the turret at the back of the walker. A burst of laser fire from a gunship took him out, sending him tumbling from his perch with a strangled cry. “Shall we?”

‘Well, seeing as they all but laid out a ‘welcome’ mat for us, it’d be rude not to,’ she remarked wryly, bending her knees and lowering her centre of gravity as she began to slowly make her way towards the hatch, Cal and BD following in her wake.

Cal, Jayna and BD dropped down into the belly of the walker, letting the Force muffle their landing so they were quieter than a pair of manka cats on the hunt. Which in a way, Jayna supposed they were.

The jump from the Mantis landing ramp, the climb up the walker and now, the sheer audacity of what they were about to do thrummed in Jayna’s veins like a tangible echo, her blood throbbing in her ears as exhilaration replaced fear, and purpose replaced uncertainty. A feeling like belonging, like rightness, with Cal and BD at her back, swept over her, almost drawing her up short.

Pushing it aside for the distraction it was, Jayna stood from her crouch, scanning their surroundings. They were inside a thankfully empty compartment, with just a few seats for passengers and several speeders stacked and loaded in a small docking bay, ready for deployment mid-transit.

Stretching out her awareness, she felt the presence of Stormtroopers nearby. Just beyond the next hatch, in fact. She glanced at Cal, who shook his head.

‘Too many,’ he stated, through the bond. He jerked his head towards the speeder docking bay, where a long shaft cut vertically downwards and out of sight. With a swell of agreement from Jayna, she followed him as he clambered over the speeder, before carefully lowering himself down the shaft. She copied his movements, mindful of where she placed her feet as she shadowed him, until they stood in another empty compartment just below where they sensed the greatest concentration of Stormtroopers.

Cal extended his hand up to the ceiling hatch, carefully and slowly lifting it so he could just see out of it, peering through a narrow gap he’d made between the floor and the hatch.

‘How many?’ Jayna asked. This close, they could hear the Stormtroopers as they talked, sensing their panic and consternation. It seemed that last hit from that TIE fighter had taken out a few of the troopers, and the survivors were bickering over who would report the fatalities.

‘Five,’ he replied, feeling Jayna’s confidence.

‘We can take them,’ she asserted, already moving to his side, but he frowned at her swiftly.

‘Don’t get cocky,’ he admonished her. ‘There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no passion, there is serenity. Find your peace, Jayna.’

He could sense her exasperation, like a mental eye-roll as he lowered the hatch carefully back into place, swung round and caught her by the shoulders. ‘Jayna,’ he began, careful not to speak aloud for fear of being overheard. ‘You need to calm yourself. If you get cocky, you get killed. And me and BD with you.’

He felt her initial defiance melt into begrudging acceptance as she paused and took stock of her own emotions. Just as he feared, he could feel the faintest traces of the Dark Side swirling around her, just waiting their chance to take hold. It was the most dangerous time of all for a Force Sensitive, and she’d been far from complete in her training when they’d left Bogano. But she wouldn’t fall, he wouldn’t let her. He pushed his own feelings of serenity and calmness towards her, feeling her shiver as their minds entwined.

Immediately the bond awoke and enfolded them, warmth and light suffusing them until it seemed like their hearts beat as one. He could feel her burgeoning power, her growing potential for both Dark and Light. Well, he would add his own Light to hers, to protect her until she grew strong enough to suppress it herself. He wouldn’t lose her.

With a shared nod, they turned back to the hatch. Cal pushed it open, using the Force to give him a little boost as he leapt up and through, his saber activating with an iridescent hum, Jayna only seconds behind him.

The troopers whirled, two Stormtroopers and three Scout troopers, the latter unsheathing their electro-stun batons as their commander shouted, in a voice tinged with panic, “It’s the JEDI!”

As he heard the twin hum of Jayna’s lightsaber as it flared to life beside him, they moved as one.

In the narrow space, there was little room for manoeuvre. Cal broke left while Jayna went right, as the closest scout trooper swung wildly for him. He dodged around it, kicking the trooper in the back, sending him stumbling as his baton fell to the deck. The Force whispered a warning as he felt one of the other troopers raise their blaster, but he turned and spun, dodging the attempt at clubbing him as his saber sheared through bone and sinew, severing the unfortunate trooper’s head. He reached out in the Force and pulled the other trooper to him, skewering him through the back with his blade.

He turned to see Jayna block the trooper’s lateral swing, wrapping her arm around his neck and using the leverage that gave her to wall-run in an arc behind him, the Force lending her agility as she pushed off and sent her boot flying squarely into the chest of the trooper rushing them, sending him flying back into his fellow. In her other hand, the green saber flew in a wide arc along her trajectory, until it buried itself in the scout trooper’s gut.

Releasing him, she turned her attention to the other two, dropping into a defensive Makashi stance. The gymnastics of Ataro and the sweeping attacks of Shii-Cho wouldn’t do any good in such a confined space. Cal watched as she ducked under the scout trooper’s horizontal swing, binding the baton with her blade, and guiding it away, before she reversed her saber and sliced it across the trooper’s midsection.

Seeing an opening, as the last trooper rushed Jayna, Cal used the collapsing scout trooper’s back to flip himself over, bringing his saber down on the last trooper’s helmet, the plastoid armour no match for the burning plasma.

An eerie peace descended as the corpses of the troopers fell to the deck with heavy thuds, and Cal and Jayna caught their breath. Around them, the ceiling sparked where their sabers had grazed it during the fight, and the walls were littered with jagged gashes, the edges glowing white.

Cal cautiously extended his awareness, but he found no more troopers except the two driving the walker. With a nod to Jayna, they quietly sheathed their sabers and crept towards the hatch that led to the cockpit.

As the hatch opened, they could hear the pilots as they chattered. “Reading a new ship on scanners!”

“They brought more firepower than we thought! How’s our hull looking?”

“Badly damaged. We’re at 70% integrity and falling.”

“That should still be enough to stop these insurgents-!?” the pilot’s dialogue petered off into a confused cry, as BD hopped suddenly onto the console between them. They stopped and stared in puzzlement, looking at each other before they were grabbed from behind and their heads slammed together with preternatural strength.

They collapsed with pained groans.

“Can’t believe that actually worked,” Cal breathed, as BD booped in amusement. He slipped into the pilot’s seat as Jayna took the gunner’s seat, hands running over the controls. “Okay, uhh, throttle,” he muttered to himself as BD trilled encouragingly.

A hologram sputtered to life on Jayna’s side of the console, one of the pilots from the other walkers. “Report! What’s happening over there? You’re in violation of Imperial Protocol Z-207! Stand down or won’t he-!” he began to say, as BD looked questioningly at Cal.

“Does it look like we give a damn about Imperial protocols?” Jayna asked sarcastically, silencing the pilot.

“Well, no, not really but-,” he replied, stammering as Cal nodded to BD.

“Beep! Be-boo-beep-beep?”

“Can you shut that guy up?” he asked, as the droid booped an affirmative and sliced the comms, making the hologram sputter out of existence. “Better.”

“Much, thanks BD,” Jayna added, as Cal began to move the walker towards another one that slowly swung to face them in the distance, probably the walker piloted by the trooper they’d just cut off.

“Let’s do this!” Cal declared, with a sideways glance at Jayna. “Jayna, ready?”

For an answer, she fired on the walker, sending a barrage of blaster fire into its exposed side. The walker stumbled as its side compartments exploded, but it wasn’t out of commission just yet.

“That’s a lotta lasers,” Cal commented as BD booped admiringly in agreement.

“You like that?” Jayna smirked wickedly, as her hand grasped a control yoke and squeezed the trigger. “You gonna love this.”

Twin missiles shot from their walker’s launchers, slamming into the weak spot where the walker’s body and neck were attached to the legs and blowing it apart. The other walker collapsed within a fireball as Cal drove over its remains and into a valley.

“Nice shooting,” he remarked, feeling Jayna’s little burst of pleasure at the comment.

“We’re not clear yet,” she replied, firing another burst of blaster fire as an Imperial facility formed itself out of the mists, metal gantries and walkways clinging to the sides of moss-covered trees and cliffs, filled with Stormtroopers as they scurried to and fro like panicked ants. They quickly turned into fireballs as Cal steadily drove the walker through the chaos.

Thud!

The noise of something large and heavy slamming into their walker’s cockpit was accompanied by the incongruous sight of a dark-skinned man in hulking armour, clinging to the side of the walker with one hand while with the other, he tapped on the transparisteel viewport with the butt of his blaster.

“Hey! Who are you?” he demanded.

“Someone who just brought an AT-AT to the table,” Cal declared. “Who are you?”

“Someone making the Empire angry!” the stranger replied, with a hint of laughter in his voice.

“Need a hand?” Jayna asked, one brow raised knowingly.

“We’re advancing on an Imp landing pad up ahead,” the stranger acknowledged, with a grin. “Wouldn’t mind fire support.”

“Copy that!” Cal replied, as the stranger shot a piton and repelled out of sight. “Let’s make ‘em even angrier!”

“Somehow, I doubt that’s going to be difficult,” Jayna quipped as she opened fire again.

Slowly but steadily, they made progress through the valley, destroying everything Imperial in sight. They caught glimpses here and there of Wookiees and guerrilla fighters, doing their best to steer away from them as they advanced, leaving total chaos in their wake.

They emerged into a clearing and stopped when they saw the landing pad. Jayna opened fire, targeting the fuel tanks, ships and vehicles scattered around the pad, turning it into a raging inferno as any Imperial troops on the ground did their best to scatter to escape the destruction.

A cargo shuttle that had miraculously survived Jayna’s onslaught took off, bringing its blaster cannons to bear on their walker. It opened fire, sending the walker stumbling as Cal fought to stabilise it, teeth gritted with strain.

Jayna returned fire as BD whooped and beeped in alarm, as the shuttle began veering wildly, explosions tearing its wings apart. With one last blast, its engines exploded as it dipped and then began spiralling wildly out of control.

Directly towards their walker.

“It’s headed for us! Can you do anything?” Cal demanded, looking to BD as the droid beeped a negative. As the shuttle veered towards them, blocking their view out of the transparisteel windshield, Cal reached out to Jayna and BD. “HOLD ON!” he shouted, as the shuttle crashed into them.

The walker juddered and listed to the side, as its legs tried and failed to adapt to the blow. Somewhere behind them, they heard explosions as the engine gave up the fight. Meanwhile the shuttle had crashed to the side, and they had an alarming view of the ground rushing up towards them as the walker began to nosedive into the ground.

“Brace yourselves!” Cal shouted, just as they crashed into the ground. The impact threw both humans and the droid sideways and then backwards, crashing into the pilots’ chairs, then into the decking as the cockpit tipped onto its side and the world went topsy-turvy.

Eventually, they came to a stop as smoke began issuing from the consoles, the transparisteel windshield cracked, as Jayna and Cal pushed themselves up from their position on the floor, bones aching from the impact.

“You ok?” Cal asked weakly, reaching out to Jayna worriedly. “Anything broken?”

“I don’t think so,” she replied, with a wan grin. She looked to BD-1. “How about you, BD?”

The little droid whooped reassuringly as they clambered to their feet, struggling to stay upright in the severely listing cockpit. They made for the escape hatch in the ceiling of the cockpit, Cal praying it wasn’t jammed shut by the impact.

It wasn’t, as Cal threw it open and pulled himself out, BD clambering out after him. “Beep boop?” the droid asked, as Cal turned and bent to help Jayna out.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Cal replied as he pulled Jayna up.

“Trill! Beep boop beep!” BD continued, an excited ring to its voice as Cal and Jayna stared at the droid incredulously.

“No, we are not doing that again!” Cal declared repressively, although he couldn’t help but smile at the droid’s incorrigibility. He jumped down, then turned and reached out to Jayna, feeling her damp clothes against his skin as he cupped her waist and helped her down. “What?” he asked, at the look on her face.

“Next time, I drive,” she quipped, with a knowing smirk as Cal snorted. Her hair was drying in wild, wispy ringlets around her face, escaping the braid as he placed her carefully on the ground in front of him. As he held her close, their levity ebbed as the bond flexed and shone in their minds, their hearts throbbing in time with one another as Cal sucked in a breath.

“You just wrecked a perfectly good walker!” a voice declared disbelievingly, as they sprang apart and turned to find the stranger from before advancing on them. Up close, and without the chaos of the fight distracting them, they could see he was a towering, strongly built man, head shaved but with a trimmed beard. “Got names, you two?” he asked, dark eyes darting between the two as Jayna stepped back from Cal.

“Cal Kestis,” Cal replied, before gesturing to Jayna and BD-1. “Jayna Shan, and this is BD-1.”

“Saw Gerrera,” the stranger said, extending his arm. Cal clasped his forearm, before he did the same to Jayna. “What are you doing on Kashyyyk?”

“Looking for somebody,” Cal replied shortly, as Saw turned and began to lead the way further into the clearing from where they’d crashed. Jayna and Cal fell into step beside him.

“And you? What are you doing here?” Jayna asked, eyes narrowed. She didn’t know why, but something about Saw had her on edge.

“My companions and I came to Kashyyyk to disrupt Imperial supply lines,” Saw explained, plainly. From overhead came the roar of a familiar set of engines, as the Mantis flew into view.

Cal waved his arms and shouted, as the ship banked hard and began to descend, landing in a patch of mostly unbroken, clear ground. They reached it as just the landing ramp extended and Cere and Greez emerged from the ship.

“Hey, there they are!” Greez suddenly pointed, looking excited as Cere waved, her relief and pride rippling through the Force. Jayna waved back, a warm feeling in her gut as Saw touched Cal’s arm to regain his attention.

“So, who are you looking for?” he asked, searchingly.

“A Wookiee chieftain named Tarfful,” Cal replied as Saw snorted and swung to face them.

“Tarfful is impossible to find,” he claimed, dismissively. “There’s a reason he’s evaded the Empire this long.”

“He’s a freedom fighter?” Jayna asked, beating Cal to the question. This could complicate things…

“He’s THE freedom fighter,” Saw corrected, glancing away as some of his fellow insurgents called out to him as they emerged from the fog of battle. “A symbol of the Wookiee resistance, striking at the Empire from the Shadowlands.”

They stopped as they reached the Mantis, Cal gesturing to Cere and Greez as he made introductions. “Cere, Greez,” he said. “This is Saw.”

“How ya doin’?” Greez nodded.

Apparently Saw wasn’t in the mood for more pleasantries, barely nodding at Cere and Greez as his eyes narrowed suspiciously at Jayna and Cal. “What do you want with Tarfful?”

Jayna opened her mouth to cut Cal off before he could blurt out the whole truth, but he wasn’t as trusting of Saw as he sounded. “Jedi business,” was all he said as he swung to face Saw.

Saw scoffed. “The Jedi are dead.”

“Not all of them,” Cere protested, with a proud smile in Cal and Jayna’s direction. Jayna restrained the urge to roll her eyes, but it was only a half-hearted, knee-jerk urge anyway. Cal held up his lightsaber as proof, but Saw wasn’t easy to convince.

“You get that off a corpse?” he asked bluntly. Jayna’s dislike increased.

“My Master gave it to me,” Cal replied quietly, and Jayna sensed the flare of pain as he thought about his master momentarily. It faded, ruthlessly suppressed as Cal clipped the weapon back onto his belt.

Saw’s eyes darted between the two lightsaber wielders, eyes widening as a light kindled in those dark, suspicious eyes. “Wait, I recognise you two now! You’re the two fugitives from Bracca! The Empire’s got bounties out on you from here to the Core!” he declared, a note almost of excitement in his voice. He huffed a laugh, shaking his head as he quietly muttered, “Well, I’ll be damned,” he raised his eyes to meet Cal’s once more. “This pad supports an Imperial refinery that runs on Wookiee slave labour. Intel suggests that some of the captives there are guerrilla fighters,” he explained, apparently deciding their fugitive status was reason to trust their word.

“I should help them,” Cal said firmly.

Jayna shot him a look. “We should help them,” she corrected him softly, sensing his surprise and shock at her utter sincerity. She couldn’t exactly blame him, but she’d had a wake-up call since leaving Bogano and she was finding it easier and easier to ignore her once-clamouring survival instincts. “One of them might know how to contact Tarfful,” she added, with a swift glance at Greez and Cere as if to cover her sudden lapse in survival mindset. Let them think she was only doing it to further their mission, she didn’t feel like dealing with Cere’s satisfaction just then. The quiet, knowing smile on Cere’s lips let her know she hadn’t succeeded very well.

She knew Cal sensed it too, as he turned back to Saw as the guerrilla fighter conceded it was possible. “What do you need from us?” he asked.

“Wooahhh, hold on, wait a minute,” Greez protested abruptly, holding his arms as if to physically stall them. “The Mantis works wonders, I mean it’s a great ship, excellent pilot but it is not built for close support,” he pointed out.

“The weapons systems are still damaged from that walker on Zeffo,” Cere agreed, deep in thought. She nodded to Cal and Jayna, decided. “We’ll stay here and monitor Imperial transmissions. With a bit of luck, we’ll intercept any distress calls.”

“Appreciate it,” Saw said, with a small smile as he turned to face Cal and Jayna. “My lieutenants and I will scout ahead to prepare the attack. Join us when you’re ready,” he told them, as several camouflaged fighters came to his shoulder. “Go, go!” he barked at them, before turning and jogging away swiftly.

Cal turned to Greez and Cere. “Glad you’re alright,” he said, relieved.

“Yeah, yeah good to see you too,” Greez admitted begrudgingly. “This place is a dump!”

“Your plan worked,” Cere added. “And now you want to follow Saw?” she asked, as Jayna glanced at Cal.

“You don’t like that idea?” Cal asked, hearing the edge in her voice. He sensed the same distrust in Jayna.

“I don’t trust him,” Jayna interjected softly. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

“He wants to help the Wookiees,” Cal rebutted firmly, eyes narrowed. He could Jayna’s disaffection with that through the bond as she snorted.

“I’m concerned you’re jumping from one risk to the next,” Cere replied, shaking her head as she staved off an argument. And here she’d thought they were finally starting to work together well as a partnership. They both swung to face her, Cal dismissive waving away her concerns.

“Wait, what? I fly my ship into the middle of a battlefield and now we’re talking about risks!?” Greez demanded disbelievingly.

“Why didn’t you stop me?” Cal asked, plaintively, looking from Jayna to Cere pointedly. “You’re not usually shy about it.”

“Because it’s the only lead we have to locate Tarfful,” Jayna admitted, sighing. Cere just shook her head.

“My job is to guide you both on your path, not choose it for you,” she reminded them gently, making Cal feel almost ashamed by his cockiness. “So, here’s my advice: The Empire’s overtaken hundreds of worlds. There’s a reason Saw chose Kashyyyk. He had a reputation during the Clone Wars as a ruthless insurgent on Onderon. His goals might not be the same as ours. We should be careful.”

“Fair enough,” Cal conceded. “I’ll keep that in mind. Take care, you two.”

With that, he turned and began to follow Saw and his fighters, Jayna falling into step beside him as they left the Mantis behind.

Eventually they cleared the ruined, debris-strewn landing pad and traversed a defensive trench to catch up with Saw and the others.

The guerrillas were crouched at the end of the trench, Saw peering at the sprawling, gunmetal grey complex ahead through bi-nocs. The guerrilla leader nodded to them as they joined him, kneeling swiftly to avoid detection.

Overhead TIE fighters patrolled the skies, while below squads of Stormtroopers patrolled the entrance into the complex. “Imperial sap refinery lies dead ahead,” Saw told them, handing Cal his bi-nocs. He scanned the base quickly, before handing them to Jayna so she could look too.

“What does the Empire want with tree sap?” he asked, confused.

“Nothing good,” Jayna remarked, tensing as she watched a collared Wookiee being clubbed to the ground by a Stormtrooper.

“Indeed,” Saw replied, with a grim smile. “They refine the sap into a powerful compound and they’re rushing to expand production.”

“We have to stop them,” Cal breathed firmly, as Jayna handed the bi-nocs back to Saw, nodding in agreement.

“That’s the plan,” Saw declared. “We don’t know their endgame, but they’ve spread themselves too thin. This map we’ve recovered proves it,” he explained, holding up a datachip.

“Beep boop?” BD-1 piped up, hopping from Cal’s back. Cal took the datachip from Saw, inserting it into port of BD’s data-ports.

“Here you go, bud.”

BD-1’s holoreceptor flared to life, projecting a flickering holo-map of the refinery as Saw pointed to a section of the complex. “These refineries double as brutal prison camps,” he told them bleakly. “We’ll use those cutters to create a distraction while you three take your lightsabers and free the Wookiees inside.”

Cal and Jayna looked up from the map as Saw clapped Cal congenially on the shoulder, eyes boring into his. He felt the weight of expectation and responsibility from Saw’s plan and knew Jayna felt it too.

“…We’ll need their help to stop the Empire,” Saw concluded as he rose from his crouch and joined his fighters on the edge of the platform they were on. Raising his blaster, he fired a piton, pausing only a moment before he swung away to say, “Watch yourselves in there.”

Jayna, Cal and BD watched as the guerrillas repelled into the jungle, disappearing into the foliage as BD deactivated the holo-map and looked up at the humans questioningly.

“He said he needs our help,” Cal declared, nudging the droid with his hand as he stood. “C’mon buddy,” he added, extending his arm for the droid to clamber back up. He glanced at Jayna but could feel her resolve. “Ready?” he asked softly.

Her eyes darted towards him, her jaw firming stubbornly. “And here I thought this day couldn’t get any crazier,” she sighed, jerking her head towards a doorway guarded by a guerrilla. “We can get down to the side entrance through there. I spotted a whole squad of Stormtroopers protecting the doors. Let’s go.”

“Yes ma’am,” Cal replied jokingly, easing the tension as they set off.

Despite the numbers of Stormtroopers, it hadn’t been too hard to infiltrate the refinery. Saw’s distraction worked, drawing the main bulk of the Imperial forces while Jayna and Cal cut down the few that stood in their way.

Inside, the refinery was a maze and Jayna thanked their lucky stars for BD-1 as they sprinted through the corridors, the Force staving off exhaustion. Without the little droid, they’d have been hopelessly lost by now.

As they ran through and out onto a long gantry, criss-crossing the vats of tree sap below, an announcement came over the intercom: “Attention all units. We’ve lost contact with our troops station at Cargo Pad 119-Grek!” a cold, Imperial-accented voice announced, as a whole squad of scout troopers turned to face them.

“Found them!” the leader declared, rushing towards them.

“Well, the jig’s up now,” Jayna sighed, reigniting her saber.

‘Saw’s distraction wasn’t going to keep them away from us forever,’ Cal reasoned as he did the same. ‘Nothing else for it. Ready for another fight?’

Jayna didn’t bother to dignify that remark with an answer. She let her lightsaber do the talking as they cut down the squad without preamble, pausing only a moment to catch their breath before they were running again, ducking into a long, dark corridor.

And stopping dead again.

Ahead, a dark-armoured trooper spun an electro-staff, crackling with violet energy discharge, impaling first one guerrilla, then another mercilessly.

In the Force, Jayna could sense the trooper’s mind, warped, twisted and vicious, darkness roiling off him in waves, even though she could sense he couldn’t use the Force. He turned, sensing their presence, indolently twirling his staff into a ‘ready’ guard.

“A Jedi? Two!” he declared, the vocoder doing nothing to lessen the bestial anticipation in his voice. “This is what I’ve trained for!”

Jayna didn’t have time to ponder that statement, as the trooper rushed towards them. All around them came the echoing sound of blaster fire, as Saw and his fighters pushed back against the Stormtroopers, but she doubted their battle could contend with the ferocity of this strange trooper as he brought his electro-staff down on their heads.

Jayna blocked, but the impact jarred, making her shoulder and elbow ache as her saber sparked. They dodged sideways, breaking left and right as they tried to get around the trooper, but he was too quick as he spun and delivered a punishing kick to Jayna’s midsection. Winded, she went down as the trooper went for the killing blow.

Cal intercepted it, breaking, and dodging back as the trooper refocussed his attention on him. Jayna watched through watering eyes as Cal parried and feinted, trying to break the trooper’s guard but he was too strong. Like a hammer, the trooper rained blows down on Cal’s guard as he forced him backwards.

Teeth gritted, she forced air into her lungs. Shoving away the pain of her bruising stomach, she reached out to the Force, drawing on it as her limbs thrilled with new energy, the pain deadening as she stood upright, calling her saber back to her hand where she’d dropped it earlier. In an action that was slowly becoming second nature, Jayna reached out in the Force, letting its peace suffuse her as she slowly extended her awareness towards the trooper. The bond pulsed, drawing her mind in even as she felt Cal’s mind and power, felt the bunching of his muscles as he fought back, blocking a vicious punch to his ribs, lashing out with the Force. She watched as the trooper was forced back several feet, but he dug his staff into the metal deck, slowing his fall until he regained his footing.

“Your tricks won’t work on me, Jedi!” he declared contemptuously. “You will fall!”

‘Not if I have anything to say about it!’ Jayna thought defiantly, feeling that familiar clarity lend focus to her awareness, letting her feel the oily, malevolent edges of the trooper’s consciousness, sense the growing intent as he instantaneously decided his next move.

She leapt just as Cal blocked the strike, having sensed her intent, her blade slicing across armour that somehow managed to repel her blade as she landed, cat-footed behind the trooper. Not stopping to worry about it, as the trooper whirled to advance on her, he kicked Cal in the chest, sending him tumbling backwards, his staff dancing in a vortex of lethal energy as Jayna fell back into a Soresu defensive velocity, only just fending off the trooper’s attacks.

Reaching out, she felt Cal recover and rise, just as she reached in, slowing the trooper’s body for a split second, just long enough for her to reach out with her hand and push, the Force sending the trooper flying back.

And straight into the tip of Cal’s saber.

The trooper’s momentum drove the weapon straight through his armour and into his chest cavity. The glowing blue tip erupted from his sternum as he collapsed with a groan. Panting for breath, Jayna met Cal’s worried eyes as he pulled his lightsaber free and deactivated it.

“Are you okay!?” he demanded, rushing towards her, BD adding its concern in a trilling beep.

“I’m fine,” she breathed, with a slight smile. Turning slightly, she looked down at their attacker, frowningly. “What the bloody hell was that?”

“I don’t know,” Cal admitted. “Whatever it was, it was well-trained to resist a Jedi. He was using Teräs Käsi.”

“Teräs Käsi?” Jayna asked, looking at Cal questioningly.

“It’s a martial art, developed by non-Force users to fight Jedi,” Cal explained, bending down to place his hand over the staff, still spitting angry violet sparks against the metal grating.

“We saw troopers like him on Bracca…” Jayna trailed off, as she realised Cal was using his psychometry on the electro-staff. “His armour…it was repelling our sabers.”

“Some alloys and minerals have lightsaber-repellent properties,” Cal explained shortly. “Beskar, for example. Or cortosis.”

Jayna felt the deluge of memories from the electro-staff and stopped talking as Cal’s face distorted with disgust.

Unexpectedly, Saw’s voice came over the intercom as Jayna looked up to see him standing in a control room above, looking down on them through the window. His face was sweaty and smeared with blood and soot, but he appeared unhurt.

“Never seen a trooper like that before,” he remarked, grimly.

“He was a Purge trooper,” Cal suddenly declared, dropping the electro-staff like it was something revolting, meeting Jayna’s gaze then looking up at Saw. “A Jedi hunter, trained to search for and destroy Force sensitive fugitives from the Empire.”

“Alongside the Inquisitors,” Jayna realised, recalling their presence alongside the Second Sister and that Dowutin on Bracca.

Cal nodded grimly, having come to the same realisation himself. Saw interrupted their silent conversation, as a vent suddenly opened at the end of the corridor.

“You’ve got to get these Wookiees out of lockup. Keeping moving, Jedi!” he barked, urgently. “Vent’s open, go!”

Recalling their purpose, Jayna and Cal did as he said, squeezing into the vent he’d opened and leaving the cooling body of the trooper far behind.

They encountered several more of the Purge troopers as they fought their way through the facility, but at least now they were prepared. Each fight was taxing, but with the bond and Jayna’s battle meditation, they prevailed again and again.

They emerged onto a platform set above a small plateau, where a squad of Stormtroopers with flamethrowers, led by a Purge trooper. They were dancing around the lethal attacks of two strange, insectoid creatures, with eight legs, bulbous abdomens, and nightmarish heads with clusters of eyes, screeching with every attack.

“What in the galaxy is that!?” Jayna hissed, as they stopped and crouched down behind cover, watching the fight intently as the troopers advanced on the creatures.

BD booped an answer, as Jayna stared at him.

“A whit-what?” she asked, confused.

“A wyyyschokk,” Cal repeated. “A predator native to Kashyyyk. Pretty deadly too,” he added, as he watched one of the creatures taken down the Purge trooper. They were doing their job for them, although Cal wasn’t sure which he’d rather fight: one of them, let alone two, or another Purge trooper.

Eventually, the creatures succumbed to the remaining Stormtroopers’ flamethrowers, the acrid smell of burning flesh filling the air. Catching Jayna’s eye, a plan formed and flashed through their bond, as she nodded.

They waited until the Stormtroopers deactivated their flamethrowers, catching their breath, before leaping down and straight into their midst. Jayna had gathered Force energy as she’d leapt, pressing her hand down flat against the ground as she landed, sending out a shockwave of Force energy that threw the troopers closest to her off their feet. Cal, meanwhile, landed cat-footed and reached out his hand, Force-pushing the remaining troopers off the edge of the cliff as they fell with a cry.

Silence fell as they paused and looked around, searching for anymore threats but there were none. The troopers were either dead or unconscious and the wyyyschokks were dead, smouldering away and emitting a noxious smell.

Spotting a gap in the foliage, they deactivated their sabers and pressed on, glad to leave even that small portion of jungle far behind them.

BD-1 found them an alternate route back into the complex, as they fought steadily towards the prison block. Saw’s fighters were succeeding in drawing most of the fire, so they met only limited resistance until they finally found the turbolift that would take them up to the prison level.

Nevertheless, Jayna was on edge. It felt too easy, even with the Purge troopers they’d encountered earlier. Surely the Empire would have tighter security than this?

“Still alive in there?” Cere suddenly asked in their ears, activating their commlinks.

“So far. Almost to the prison,” Cal replied.

“Good. Imperial distress calls are going out across the planet,” Cere told them. “If you don’t get the prisoners soon…”

“We can do this. I promise,” Cal replied firmly, with a look at Jayna.

“We’ve come this far and we’re not dead yet,” she said in agreement. As the turbolift juddered to a halt, she reached out a hand to his arm. “Ready?”

“Ready,” Cal replied, smiling warmly. He squeezed her hand as the turbolift doors opened.

The prison block was a dark, icy cold passage consisting of multiple barred enclosures with barely enough room for a Wookiee to sit, let alone stand comfortably. They were all full as Jayna and Cal stepped inside.

“No guard?” Cal breathed.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Jayna replied in quiet agreement, BD-1 trilling optimistically from Cal’s back. She couldn’t sense anything except the Wookiees in the cells, however.

They jogged towards a bank of computer terminals at the end of the block, as Cal bent over them to try and find the release mechanism. The prisoners, having realised that the two intruders weren’t Imperials, clustered close to the cell bars, chuffing and moaning softly.

Jayna stepped to the side, bending down so she could look into the eyes of the closest, a Wookiee with auburn fur, a shock collar blinking malevolently around his neck.

“It’s okay,” she breathed. “We’re here to free you. We’re gonna get you out!”

“You’re not alone,” Cal called softly, as he paused for a moment. The Wookiees growled, as Jayna’s rusty Shyriiwook kicked in and told her they were thanking them. With a nod, Jayna went to turn back towards Cal but then, unexpectedly, the Wookiees roared a warning just as the Force did.

There came the sound of hulking metal footsteps on the deck, as Jayna turned just in time to find Cal flying towards her. He collided as a metallic, vaguely female-sounding voice declared, “Visitation is not permitted!”

Cal collided with her, knocking her off her feet and back several metres as they landed, rolling across the metal grating as BD was knocked off Cal’s back.

They came up on their feet, lightsaber activated as they whirled to face whatever new adversary was coming their way.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Through the ringing in her ears and the resounding, throbbing ache that was rippling its way through her body, Jayna tried to focus as she scrambled to her feet, her lightsaber drawn and activated. In the dimness of the prison block, it was hard to make out exactly what had attacked them, she could see nothing but two small, round lights and a lumbering, towering black shadow that was rushing towards them. In the Force, she couldn’t sense anything…at least, not anything alive.

It was a droid.

It had spoken with the mechanical, emotionless tones that had been programmed to sound vaguely feminine - in some gruesome parody of matronly care towards the prisoners perhaps? – and with an approximation of the refined, crystal-clear accents the Imperial elites affectated.

‘It’s a KX-series security droid!’ Cal’s voice filtered through the fogginess in her brain from the fall, quiet but strong and sounding bizarrely calm considering the situation.

‘That explains the lack of guards, then,’ she replied. She’d only heard of KX-series, or ‘security’ droids as the Empire called them, in whispered anecdotes in cantinas on Nar Shaddaa, from the mouths of those who had survived, or escaped, Imperial incarceration. They were apparently programmed to be as vicious and merciless as any Imperial officer or trooper, with absolutely no programmed safeguards against harming organic, sentient lifeforms.

One of the Wookiees behind her roared a warning, just as Cal yelled and dived sideways. She looked up to see the security droid’s ape-like arms reaching for her, taking advantage of her momentary lapse of concentration to grab her. Pinned against the cells on one side, and the droid covering the other, she had no escape. Except one.

Deactivating her lightsaber so she didn’t impale herself by accident, Jayna ran towards the droid, rolling at the last minute and throwing herself through its legs. The moment she came up from her roll, she reactivated her lightsaber and spun on her heels, settling into her preferred guard. The security droid stopped, hovering between where Jayna stood behind it, and Cal now waited, saber in hand and ready in front of it.

Under the security droid’s arm, Cal caught Jayna’s eye, nodding to her as she sensed his determination and resolve, the bond suffusing them both as it expanded in their heads once more. Together, as one, they charged.

The security droid brought its arm up to swat Jayna away as she neared, but Jayna blocked it this time. Unfortunately, it seemed Purge Troopers weren’t the only ones with lightsaber-repellent armour, as the strike left a deep, glowing gash in the droid’s plating. Nevertheless, it gave Cal the opening he needed, as he ducked inside the droid’s reach, severed its leg at the knee, where the plating was weakest then, while dodging the droid’s flailing arm as it went down, he spun and brought his blade down in a diagonal strike, severing the droid’s headcase at the unprotected neck.

Sparking, the remnants of the droid collapsing in a heap between them. Leaving their sabers on, they turned and sprinted back up the block towards the control panel, the Wookiee prisoners murmuring and growling softly in the gloom at the display they’d just witnessed. Excitement, hope, and anticipation were heady in the air, flavouring the currents of the Force as it whirled and rippled around them, like the finest Corellian whiskey. Jayna stood guard, senses alert for more threats, but she could sense nothing else, just the euphoria of the Wookiees as the cells opened and they scrambled out of their prisons.

Deactivating her lightsaber, Jayna felt something in her gut twist as the Wookiees embraced one another, joyful grunts and growls filling the air. Warmth swept through her as one turned to her and Cal, growling his thanks.

“No problem,” Jayna smiled, as Cal deactivated his lightsaber and nodded. A second later, they were engulfed in a hairy, hot hug by the Wookiee as he embraced them both, before drawing back and clapping them on the shoulders in a move that threatened to make their knees buckle.

Cal laughed, smiling widely up at him. “Glad to help,” he said, as the Wookiee turned away to join his fellows. He turned to Jayna, his smile fading a little as concern replaced excitement. “Are you okay, Jayna?” he asked, his eyes sweeping down her body as if searching for signs of injury.

Her back was aching from the impact of the security droid’s blow and the metal grating, but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. She firmly shut the pain out, making sure no trace of it managed to make its way through and into the Force bond.

“I’m okay,” she replied, a little defensively. While she appreciated his concern, she didn’t need him mollycoddling her now.

“Hey!” he continued softly, gently taking hold of her arm as the doors to the prison block opened ahead of them. “I’m not trying to- I’m just concerned. That was quite a knock we took, and I’m not exactly lightweight,” he finished, a little awkwardly.

Jayna looked into his eyes, saw the warm sincerity there as BD booped in agreement on Cal’s shoulder, and tried to ignore the answering rush of warmth in her heart at the thought of Cal’s concern. Cal was one of those people who gave a damn about everybody, it wasn’t anything special, she told herself firmly. ‘I really need to get over this,’ she sighed, making sure that thought stayed firmly in the corner of her head that was still solely her own. “You’re not exactly packing the Hutt blubber,” she replied, trying to lighten the mood. “Although,” she added slyly, at Cal’s snort of amusement and BD’s trilling burble. “You could probably do with laying off the Nuna jerky.”

“Hey!” Cal spluttered, just lightly swiping at Jayna’s arm as she laughed and turned away, glancing at his droid in betrayal as the little bipedal traitor booped in agreement. “Whose side are you on, exactly?”

At the doors, several camouflaged guerrillas had appeared, cheering as the Wookiees roared in greeting. “Who’s ready to fight some Imps?!?!” one of the fighters shouted, brandishing her blaster aloft as the Wookiees roared as one, deafening the others. “Alright, let’s help these Wookiees get back in the fight! Great work, Jedi,” she added, with a nod and a smile to Jayna and Cal.

“There’s another block just up ahead!” Another of the fighters said, indicating the way with his blaster. “Saw said to keep going while we get this Wookiees ready.”

“You can’t go back through the refinery – the corridor leading away from the prison blocks is blocked by fire,” another told them, with a shrug. “You’ll need to find another way.”

BD-1 hopped down from its perch on Cal’s back, its holoprojector flaring to life as the map of the refinery flared into flickering, blue-tinged life at their feet. “If we can’t go back the way we came,” Cal mused thoughtfully, eyes scanning the maze-like projection in front of them.

“Then we’ll need to go around,” Jayna finished for him, pointing to an alternate route that would lead them along the refinery’s external gantries and railings. Thank the Maker for the Empire’s heavy-handed ideas of architecture. “We can climb along the gantries, work our way round.”

“And here I thought you hated climbing,” Cal teased her, as BD deactivated the map and retook its perch on Cal’s back.

“I don’t hate climbing in general,” Jayna protested, rolling her eyes. “Just your idea of climbing, Kestis.”

“Fair enough,” Cal shrugged, smirking impishly as Jayna felt her heartbeat race a little at the sight.

A Wookiee beside them grumbled and growled, hefting a blaster rifle as it chastised them. They both flushed at the insinuation.

“We’re not flirting… but point taken,” Jayna grumbled, glancing at the Wookiee, then at Cal. Sobering, they nodded to each other, clipping their lightsabers back to their belts as they took off at a run, following the sound of blaster fire and explosions.

They caught up with Saw and his guerrillas after a long and hazardous climb along the periphery of the complex. Jayna was sure she’d never get the stink of tree sap out of her hair and clothes as she pulled herself up on the platform behind Cal.

Beside their position, a corridor behind a security railing ran parallel to their path. It was a storm of scarlet and blue blaster bolts, as Saw and his fighters pressed the attack against the Stormtroopers. “To the prisons!” he shouted when he saw them on the other side of the barrier. “We need the Wookiees to finish this! Hurry!”

“They’ve got reinforcements!” one of his fighters shouted, as the air became thick with smoke and the smell of burning. There were several small fires breaking out where blaster bolts and grenades had got too close to fuel or power lines, and the corridor Saw was pinned down in was quickly turning dangerous.

Up ahead, the panelling blocking their path was crumpled and bent, perhaps by a grenade hit, as Jayna nodded to Cal. With a flex of the Force, the panelling was pushed outwards, flying backward, and taking out the Stormtrooper standing guard on the other side.

On the other side, they could see the door that led out of the corridor Saw was trapped in was stuck, with only a tiny gap showing, too small for anyone to fit through.

“The door’s jammed!” one of the fighters declared desperately. “It won’t budge, we’re trapped!”

“Boowoo!” BD trilled from Cal’s back, as the human met Jayna’s eyes determinedly.

“We gotta get them out of there,” he said. She nodded.

“There has to be a control terminal around here somewhere,” she replied. “There has to be a manual override for the door controls.”

On the other side of the room, there was another door. It was a wrench to turn their back on the beleaguered fighters in the corridor, the room growing ever hotter as the fires grew and spread, black smoke trailing from the gap in the door. But it had to be done.

Luckily, the door led into what seemed to be the main control room for the prison blocks. Inside, there were several Stormtroopers and a security droid watching the fight outside.

“It’s the JEDI!” one of them shouted on spotting the trio, as the hilts in their hands spat twin blades of green and blue. The squad opened fire as the security droid lumbered towards them, but they never got a chance at a second shot as Jayna and Cal deflected their blaster fire back at them.

“I’ve got this, go!” Jayna shouted, racing towards the security droid, not stopping to glance at Cal. She felt his begrudging assent, as well as a definite twinge of concern, but she ignored it as she sprinted towards the droid.

As the droid’s arms gaped, ready to grab and crush her, Jayna decided to see if the same trick would work twice. She dropped to her knees, sliding between the towering droid’s legs, but this time she kept her blade activated, the column of green light scything through the droid’s right knee joint. Coming up onto her knees and twisting, Jayna took a running jump as the droid fell to its other knee, making sure to aim for the joints to avoid the cortosis-laced armour, shearing off its left arm before spinning and bringing her blade down on the droid’s head casing. The tip penetrated the brain case, shattering the droid’s CPU as its photoreceptors flickered and went dark as it collapsed onto its front.

Jayna caught her breath in the aftermath, her heart pounding as she looked up to see Cal had managed to find the override for the doors, as Saw and his fighters rushed into the prison block outside. One by one, the security force fields penning the Wookiees in their cells shut down, as their inhabitants burst forth with joyous, vengeful yells, taking out any Stormtroopers unlucky enough to still be alive and close by.

“You’ve done it!” Saw declared, shouting at them through the control room windows. “The Wookiees are free! Get to the roof!”

As they watched him repel away, Jayna sighed. “Couldn’t he have given us a few of those?” she wondered, before glancing at BD. “Any shortcuts, BD? Or it yet another death-defying climb?”

BD booped a negative, before nodding its head towards a set of doors at the other end of the room. “An elevator?” Cal breathed, before glancing at Jayna. “Is that more acceptable, milady?”

“Shut up, Kestis,” she muttered good-naturedly, turning away from the terminal and the sight of the freed Wookiees and the decimated prison block. “Let’s go.”

The refinery was deserted when they finally made it to a turbolift that would take them up to the roof. They could hear the distant sounds of screaming, Wookiee roars, explosions and blaster fire drawing every nearer as the turbolift ascended. Cal and Jayna glanced at each other, the Force bond glowing a bright, effervescent gold as they neared the roof of the prison blocks.

They didn’t need to speak, even through the Force bond. Jayna knew, when she’d decided to accompany Cal on this journey, that there was a possibility they might not survive to see the end of it. Despite their relative success so far, she wouldn’t underestimate what they might face on the roof. The Empire was strong, and it had the advantage over the Wookiees and Saw’s fighters with superior tech and numbers. They might not live to see the end of the fight.

They very likely wouldn’t. Jayna would rather die than end up in the hands of the Empire. She sensed Cal felt the same. They would survive and live, or they would go down fighting. There could be no other outcome.

Above their heads, the little square of smoke-edged, cloud-scudded blue sky was growing ever-larger. With barely a thought, they summoned their lightsabers to hand and activated them, so the sound of gentle humming joined the noise of battle as they drew ever closer.

The turbolift rumbled to a halt. They stepped off, eyes up and senses alert for oncoming threats but the roof was…empty. And yet, they could still hear the sound of battle nearby, smoke trailing away past the edge of the rooftop.

Through the Force, they could both sense the cacophony of the fight raging somewhere nearby. Each Wookiee battle cry, death scream, blaster bolt and shouted order echoed and rippled around and through them, as their hearts pounded in time with the rhythm. Jayna swayed on her feet, the sensation almost overwhelming as she was bombarded by the echo of bloodlust, rage, pain, terror, determination, and grim resignation.

Cal sensed it, felt the tide rising up to pluck her down even as it tugged and pulled at his own focus, as the Force bombarded him with sensory overload. Not since…before, had he felt anything quite like this. In fact, he very much did not want to think about the last time he’d felt anything quite so overwhelming. Not since the Albedo Brave, when the clones turned on them and Master Tapal…

As the anguish sank poisonous, ghostly claws into him, Cal wrenched free of the rising panic and despair, shutting it away, shutting it out as he had done every day since. Gathering all his strength, around gritted teeth as he ignored BD’s concerned, shrill beeping, he reached out and pulled Jayna from the maelstrom.

‘Hey!’ he shouted into the bond. It took a few attempts, but eventually it worked as Jayna’s glazed eyes met his, her breath trembling against his lips where he’d physically drawn her against him, using his body as an anchor as much his mind became a spiritual one for her own. The Force bond beckoned in their heads, promising safety and succour from the echoes that buffeted them in the Force, but he resisted the pull for the moment. ‘Jayna, look at me. Keep your eyes on me.’

He felt her flinch at the added weight of his mind as it pressed against hers. Sighing as he realised there was no other way, he retreated into the bond, reaching out to her through it as he tried to calm her. ‘It’s ok, Jayna. I know how hard this all is,’ he whispered, pulling her in tighter against him. BD booped worriedly from his shoulder, but he couldn’t spare the droid a thought while Jayna was nearing a full panic attack in his arms. ‘Just focus on your breathing, and on the sound of my voice, nothing else. Let everything else go.’

Resolve shone through the panic in Jayna’s dark eyes before they fluttered shut and she pressed herself deeper into his arms. He could feel her using that physical sensation as an anchor, timing her breaths to his instead of the frantic beating of her heart, and willed his own to slow. Now was not the time for his blasted infatuation with her to flare up and stop him from supporting Jayna as she needed. He shivered as a set of slender, callused fingers slid into the hair at the nape of his neck, gripping tightly, but refused to let his body react. Instead, he let himself sink further into the Force bond, channelling as much comfort and encouragement as he could from himself and into her.

He felt it when she finally began to regain control, the cacophony of battle in her head fading to a bearable ebb as her breathing eased and her heart slowed to something approximating a normal rhythm. “How can you bear it?” she asked aloud, her voice hoarse and pained still.

He sensed what she meant. Because of his psychometry, his Force perceptions tended to be…deeper than those of an ordinary Jedi. As a youngling, he’d struggled under the weight of everything he could sense, especially once he left the Temple and became Master Tapal’s Padawan. He imagined, since Jayna’s battle meditation required a similar level of insight, it was the same for her.

“Sometimes I don’t know if I can,” he admitted quietly, sensing her need for something outside her own head to focus on, to use as an anchor. When he had lived on Bracca, exiling himself from the Force for five years, it had been the hardest part. Some nights, he hadn’t been able to sleep from the weight of it all crashing into his head, causing blinding migraines that no pain relief could ease. “If the Jedi hadn’t taken me in, I think I would have gone mad eventually,” he breathed against her temple as she leant her forehead into the dip between his neck and his shoulder. “I used to meditate, use a physical anchor to help me focus my thoughts…until the memory of it alone was enough to help me regain my focus.”

“Why didn’t it affect me like this on Zeffo, or Bogano?” she asked, and he could feel her brow crinkling into a frown against his neck.

“Proximity and sheer numbers,” he guessed. On Bogano, it had only ever been himself, Cere, Greez and BD-1, and until their tangle with that Bogdo creature, they hadn’t faced anything particularly life-threatening. On Zeffo, there had been a few dozen Stormtroopers left in the garrison, and they hadn’t fought them all. Here, now, it was a completely different kettle of scalefish. There were hundreds of Stormtroopers in the refinery, dozens of guerrilla fighters and even more Wookiees. Conflict bred chaos, and through the Force, that chaos was only magnified.

He shuddered as he felt her tentatively reach out to the Force bond, letting it envelope her even as he stopped resisting the pull. The sounds of the outside world faded as it expanded and suffused them both, wrapping them in a cocoon of golden warmth. They could have stood until the end of time itself, and they wouldn’t have noticed. Immersed in each other, Cal felt Jayna draw on their combined strength and gave without a qualm, willing her to find the calm within the storm.

Without warning, he felt her lips press against his cheek as the storm quietened in her mind. All it would take was a slight tilt of his head, and it would be his mouth she was kissing. His body burned with the desire to know what her lips would feel like, would taste like, against his own.

With a start, he felt Jayna’s hand slide from his hair as she stepped back from him, mind strengthened, stubborn determination returned as her jaw firmed and she drew herself up. She nodded as he stood there, her mind quiet and focussed as her heart slowed, even as her body still trembled a little with tension and exhaustion. She turned away, and Cal found himself watching her back dazedly, his arms still outstretched as if to pull her back, his hands all but itching with the desire to feel her weight against his body again.

Willing his body back under control, Cal joined her as she crouched down by the edge of the rooftop, peering over it and at the chaos below. Their turbolift had brought them out atop a tower a dozen foot or so higher than the rooftop where Saw’s fighters, the freed Wookiees and the Imperials fought.

Even with the extra help, Saw’s fighters were hard-pressed. Dotted in amongst the ordinary Stormtroopers and scout troopers were security droids and armoured troopers bearing flamethrowers, effectively hemming the fighters into corners, and pinning them down. They needed something to turn the tide.

Immersed as they were in the Force bond, Cal and Jayna didn’t need to look at each other or speak aloud to know what the other was thinking. ‘I can use my battle mediation to give us back the edge,’ Jayna said. ‘But you’ll need to take out those security droids – it won’t affect them.’

‘Can you affect so many all at once?’ he asked, brow furrowing as his eyes scanned the rooftop, finding Saw in the madness, taking shelter behind a partially collapsing pile of grating as a flamethrower-bearing trooper advanced on his position.

‘I have to. There are too many lives at stake,’ Jayna replied tersely, shaking her head reflexively. ‘I can do this.’

Cal smiled as he glanced at her, BD booping in support against his back. “I know you can,” he breathed aloud, as the tension in her face eased a notch. She sent them both a swift smile of gratitude before Cal turned his attention back to the fight and took a deep breath. ‘On count of five?’ he suggested without much hope.

Jayna shot him a glance, before she launched herself off the edge of the roof, lightsaber ablaze in her hand. Cal sighed. “Didn’t think so,” he muttered to himself before following her, his lightsaber flaring into life in his hand.

The sudden appearance of two lightsaber wielding opponents gave the Imperials pause for a moment, as several troopers were cut down in the initial charge. Immediately, the security droids re-evaluated their priorities, analysing the new threat posed by the two before rounding on them menacingly.

With a shared nod, Cal and BD-1 rushed to intercept them, while Jayna pushed her awareness far outside herself, searching for that elusive connection she’d found before, the one that had allowed her to strengthen herself and Cal and weaken their opponents. Even as she dodged and wove between plumes of flame from the troopers’ weapons, weaving a lethal dance of move and counter-move as she made openings for the beleaguered fighters to re-join the fight, she sought for that connection.

But no matter how she searched, it remained just out of reach, turning to smoke the moment she reached out to grasp it. Frustration and panic began to mount, as she gritted her teeth, and the waves of troopers and security droids seemed never-ending.

And then…a voice whispered in her ear. Utterly unlike the sometimes menacing, sometimes comforting insidious voice that haunted her dreams, this voice was clearly feminine and calm, cool, gentle, and unhurried in its words. It soothed even as Jayna’s brow furrowed, her words echoing around her head. ‘Let the Force be your strength. Let it move through you, open yourself to it and let go.’

‘Who are you?’ she demanded, dodging beneath a scout trooper’s baton before reversing her blade and thrusting it deep into the unfortunate trooper’s abdomen.

‘One who once walked your path, dear child. Put aside your fear and let yourself go. Give yourself up to the Force and it will not fail you…’

As Jayna straightened from her defensive stance, she spotted Cal fighting tooth and nail in the near distance, ducking underneath the lunging grab of a security droid before he pivoted and brought his blade down on the weak spot at the shoulder joint. As her heart raced at the sight of him, she felt the new voice like a sigh of breath against her temple, as gentle as a mother’s kiss. ‘Do not fear what your heart feels. All is as the Force wills it…you are stronger together than you could ever be apart. Use it and rise in the Force. Open yourself to the power of two and do not be afraid of your destiny. All is as the Force wills it…’

Cal’s eyes, iridescent green, wide with fatigue, exhilaration, and concentration, met hers across the battleground, as he felt the dissipating presence of the voice, his brow furrowing. With a nod, he reached out and grasped the Force bond just as Jayna did, the renewed channel of power in their veins making both gasp aloud.

Jayna opened herself to the Force as she had never done before, always keeping a part of herself back. The sounds of battle faded away, the harmonious melody of the Force bond replacing it as it rose and echoed around them.  Where before she could only feel that tenuous connection to one or two, now she felt the threads connecting her to all of them. Taking hold of them firmly, her mind, reinforced by the limitless power of the Force and her connection with Cal as her conscious self slipped away, a single sentence echoed around them.

You will not win.

The Imperials faltered, their limbs suddenly heavy and slowed, as if drugged. Terrible doubt assailed them, as the troopers looked into the determined, implacable faces of their enemies and feared their own mortality.

And then: Rise up. This victory will be yours!

The guerrilla fighters and Wookiees burst forth from their cover with renewed zeal, battle cries issuing from snarling mouths, weapons raised as they rushed their enemies. They found new strength and renewed hope as they fought back, taking down trooper after trooper, droid after droid, as the blades of the Jedi once again flared into life and fought by their side.

Cal felt it, felt the power surging into him, felt the hope and strength of purpose that he had sensed faltering in others rush back. The Force itself seemed to rise up against the Imperial troops that had flooded the rooftops, as Cal found his energy limitless, his focus unbreakable as the bond sang in his head.

And through it all, he sensed always Jayna at the back of his mind, enthusing him with fresh hope as she opened herself to the Force fully for the first time. ‘Funny,’ he thought to himself. ‘How the most cynical, pragmatic person I’ve ever met is the one with the power to bring hope to us all.’

He heard and felt the familiar grating, thundering footsteps of an AT-ST, and looked to find two had been air-dropped onto the rooftop by an Imperial cargo shuttle. Apparently having zeroed in on the two Force users as the greatest threat, the one closest to Cal primed its cannons. Through the Force, Cal could sense the pilot’s intention to fire on him, regardless of the cost to his own side.

BD screeched a warning, but Cal was already moving. Feinting left, then dashing diagonally right, he flung his lightsaber away from him, nudging it slightly with the Force. It swung in a wide, tumbling arc until it sheared through the support struts on the AT-ST’s right leg, wobbling as they collapsed even as the walker struggled to turn and follow Cal. With a tortured, metallic groan, the walker collapsed onto its side, as a group of Wookiees swarmed its side, tearing open the hatch and bodily dragging the pilot out.

He heard Saw’s shout and turned to find the second walker advancing on Jayna who was…glowing? A golden nimbus of light imbued her outline as she fought, her eyes almost unseeing as she sank deeper into the trance-like state he’d seen her in before, on Zeffo but this time…it felt even deeper, even stronger. He could feel her power inside him, strengthening him, just as he could feel it touching every single organic sentient being on the rooftop. Only the droids were unaffected.

He heard Saw shout again, an urgent warning to Jayna that had her spinning round to face the oncoming AT-ST, some awareness returning to her eyes. Cal raced towards her, but he had been at the opposite end of the rooftop; he would never make it before the AT-ST opened fire on Jayna.

He watched as Jayna glanced back at Saw, nodding once as if she heard something from him Cal couldn’t. He realized Saw was pulling a grenade from his belt, throwing it with all his might towards Jayna as he saw her mouth form a single word, impish smirk making his heart pound.

“Pull!”

The grenade was too far away, even with Saw’s strength and aim, it would fall far short of its target. Cal felt the touch of Jayna’s mind against his, the touch sending a reflexive shiver through his body, as he realised what she wanted him to do.

Reaching out, he slowed the passage of time around the walker, Jayna and the grenade. Giving her the precious seconds, she needed to reach out and Force-push the grenade into the walker’s casing with all the force of a cannon.

The AT-ST exploded and fell onto its side, as the surviving fighters and Wookiees burst into wild celebration. They had done it.

They had beaten the Empire.

Cal deactivated his lightsaber, not stopping until he was across the rooftop and by Jayna’s side as she stood, staring down at the walker, eyes still glazed by the deep mediation she’d sunk into. He felt it, felt her power still touching everyone on the rooftop as he reached out and grasped her shoulders.

BD booped a question.

“She’s ok, BD,” he told the little droid quietly. “It’s just a… Jedi thing.”

Turning back his attention back to her, Cal reached out to her in the Force. ‘Jayna?’ he called her name softly, as he felt something in her stir, like a loth cat stretching in the sun. ‘Jayna,’ he tried again, as he sensed recognition flare, as she slowly came back to herself.

“Cal,” she breathed aloud, as the golden nimbus that had outlined her form ebbed and faded, although something of its radiance still seemed to cling to her skin. With a sigh of relief, Cal pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly as BD trilled happily on his back.

The sounds of cheering drew them apart, as they were swarmed by guerrilla fighters and Wookiees alike, the forceful pats of the Wookiees’ paws on their backs threatening to send them to the floor. Turning, they watched Saw climb up on the broken sound of one of the downed walkers, hands raised as he called for silence.

“Everyone!” he shouted, his voice ringing out over the suddenly peaceful rooftop. “These have been hard years. We’ve lost comrades, friends, family…to the Empire. Dark times,” he began, grimly as he held his fist to his chest. Cal felt a hand on his shoulder as he moved closer, Jayna at his side, and turned to see the smiling face of the guerrilla who had met them in the prison block. She nodded and squeezed his shoulder congenially, as Saw’s speech drew his attention back again. “And yet the fire still burns. Hope still burns!” he declared, raising a hand to the two young Force sensitives in their midst. “The Jedi are not yet lost!”

Cal shot a glance at Jayna at those words, but her face was rapt, her eyes serious and burning as she met his gaze, then smirked a little self-deprecatingly. She shook her head, as Cal’s heart began to race faster as together, they unclipped their sabers from their belts when everyone swung to face them, awe, shock, hope, and excitement pouring from them all in giddy waves.

“We are not yet lost! Kashyyyk is not yet lost!” Saw proclaimed, his voice trembling with passion and fervour as he raised his fisted hand in salute to his armoured chest. “For the cause!”

The assembled fighters burst into wild cheering and applause as some saluted, others brandished their weapons in the air and the Wookiees roared ecstatically.

As one, Jayna and Cal lifted their sabers and ignited them, as twin bars of shining, blue and green light erupted and crossed, sparking like the hope that had been ignited that day.

On Cal’s back, BD whooped and trilled excitedly, as cries of Saw’s name, Wookiee roars and shouts of the word ‘Jedi’ erupted into a chant around them. Buoyed on a wave of hope, Cal looked at Jayna and realised…he was no longer alone.

Jayna stood at his side, and if what he sensed was correct, she always would. Together, as Jedi.

‘This is what the Jedi are, what they were always meant to be,’ he told her gently, away from the cacophony of the celebrations, in the sanctity of their bond where no one else could reach them.

‘I know. I understand now,’ she replied, as she took a deep breath. ‘And if this is what the Jedi are, I accept it. I’ll accept the path. Our path.’

‘Our path,’ Cal repeated, feeling a burst of warmth in his stomach. A niggling thought intruded, as he frowned. ‘Jayna…’ he trailed off as she lowered her saber and deactivated it, clipping it back to her belt.

“Later,” she breathed, as Saw made his way through the crowd towards them. Cal followed suit, deactivating his lightsaber and clipping it back to his belt as the guerrilla leader reached them. “Nice speech,” Jayna said, with a wry smile.

“Nice work,” he countered, with a grim smile. “You’ve seen what the Empire has done to Kashyyyk. These stories are playing out all over the galaxy. My Partisans could use a Jedi or two on our side?”

By Saw’s side, the guerrilla who had greeted them in the prison block smiled hopefully.

For a moment, Cal let himself imagine it. Fighting under Saw’s banner, with Jayna at his side as they used their gifts to bring the Empire down. In the euphoria of victory, it was a tempting proposition. But….

With a single look at Jayna, Cal knew what her answer would be. And his own.

“I’m honoured,” he breathed, genuinely as he looked at Saw and his companions. “But we have our own missions. We can’t walk away from it, not yet.”

“Where Cal goes, I go,” Jayna added, as Saw eyed them sceptically.

“The offer stands,” he said, finally. “When you’re done, come find us.”

He went to walk away, then stopped and swung around to face them once more. “You know, there are stories…where I’m from…on Onderon,” he began, almost hesitantly but for the deep respect and awe that came over his face as he looked at the two Force sensitives. “Stories of powerful Jedi with the ability to influence the outcome of a battle, even whole wars. If you are what I think you are, the Empire won’t stop until it hunts you down. It will have already begun.”

“I know,” Jayna breathed, inclining her head. “Thank you for the warning. Good luck, Saw.”

With a final nod, Saw walked away, leaving them with the female Partisan from the prison block and a towering Wookiee.

“Cal? And Jayna, right?” she asked, with a bright smile. “I’m Mari Kosan and this is Commander Choyyssyk,” she said, gesturing to the Wookiee who chuffed a greeting.

“Uhh, sorry. I’m not quite fluent, Jayna?” Cal breathed, turning to her pleadingly.

She smiled and shook her head. “I think he said he’ll do whatever he can to find Tarfful?” she translated haltingly, looking to Mari for confirmation.

The Partisan nodded, with an amused smile. “He says he’ll do whatever he can to find Tarfful and vouch for you,” she replied, as the Wookiee grumbled in confirmation.

“Do you think he’s still alive?” Cal asked. It was one of their biggest concerns, and greatest dangers. If Tarfful was dead…

Mari shook her head. “Have faith, Cal,” she chastised gently. “We’ll be in touch with your ship. In the meantime, good luck with your mission. For the cause!”

“Rawwwr-wrarw!” Choyyssyk added, inclining his head to both respectfully. With a goodbye nod, Jayna, Cal and BD-1 turned away.

As they made their way back across the rooftop to the turbolift, they were surrounded by a sea of camaraderie and purpose, unity, and familial warmth. It buffeted their mental walls gently, like the waves of an ocean as Cal turned to Jayna.

“What made you change your mind?” he asked, curiously.

Jayna paused for a moment, her eyes and mind distant as Cal wondered if she would reply. But then he sensed her thoughts. Bracca, Prauf, Zeffo and now Kashyyyk.

“Since I ran away from the orphanage, my life has been about one thing: survival,” she began to explain, quietly as they paused on by the turbolift, a slight breeze springing up to ease the intense humidity of Kashyyyk. “I always closed my eyes to it, so sure I couldn’t do anything to change it, that tales of those who could were just that: bedtime stories to lull kids into a false sense of safety and compliance with the true nature of the galaxy. But then you crashed into my life, and I couldn’t turn away anymore…”

She paused, taking a shuddering breath. Cal waited patiently, sensing her anguish as she recalled Bracca as a red saber pierced Prauf’s chest, then the abandoned village on Zeffo as she felt the echoes of the villagers’ terror and pain through Cal, then the growing anger at the damage done by the Empire to Kashyyyk, and reluctant respect for those who fought back.

“My eyes were opened. And not just that,” she shook her head, glancing down at her hands. In the Force, she all but shone with the Light side like a star, while in the physical world, her skin still retained some of that ethereal radiance she’d had while they fought the Empire alongside the Partisans. “I discovered the truth about myself, or a part of it at least. I can’t turn away from that, away from the fact that I have the power to help. To take a stand and protect those who cannot defend themselves,” she continued, a fierceness coming to her voice that made Cal inhale sharply. As her eyes met his, he saw a new resolve there, and a deep desire to use her power for the defence of those the Empire would crush under their heel.

“The galaxy does need the Jedi,” she finished, softly but firmly. “It needs us. So long as we’re alive, as long as we keep fighting, the Jedi will live, and the Empire will not win.”

“Yes,” Cal breathed, feeling her words reverberate through the Force almost like a vow. It called to him, like a call to arms, and he embraced it eagerly even as he wondered if the battle meditation was still affecting him slightly. “Once we find the holocron-,”

Jayna held up a hand, silencing him. “I’m still not sure dragging innocent children into this war is the right thing to do, but I will help you find that holocron,” she proclaimed quietly. “If only to keep it out of the Empire’s hands.”

Cal subsided with a nod, accepting her reservations even if he didn’t fully understand them. But now wasn’t the time to push, as he sensed her tenuous, new-born acceptance of her destiny might just snap and push this rare moment of complete candour and acceptance into another argument. “Jayna…” he began hesitantly, as she smiled and looked down.

“I know. You heard it too, didn’t you?” she asked, looking away to the jungled horizon of Kashyyyk.

“We need to tell Cere,” Cal said firmly.

Jayna still shook her head. “No, not yet,” she whispered, almost dreamily. “This time…it was different, Cal. It wasn’t malevolent, it wasn’t in my head like the other one is…that one’s stayed quiet since Zeffo. This one…it was comforting. Almost…loving. It called me ‘dear child’…”

The words Cal had heard through the bond came back to him, as he frowned. “One who once walked your path…” he recited, mind racing. As much as he wanted to argue with Jayna’s continued reticence with Cere, he couldn’t get the thought out of his head as Jayna glanced at him, her eyes distant and unseeing, turned inward as she too pondered the thought whirling in Cal’s head.

He’d heard of it, read about it, but he had never experienced it himself. Had a Jedi Master from the past, one who had passed into the Force and become one with it, one who most likely had a mastery of battle meditation too, contacted Jayna when she needed it most?

Cal opened his mouth to speak, but they were interrupted by the squeal of the commlink in their ears.

“Cal! Jayna!” Cere’s voice came across, urgent and stressed.

“Cere!” Cal replied cheerfully. “The refinery is down. We won!”

“That’s great news, Cal but-!” Cere began, but Cal spoke over her in his excitement.

“The Partisans are going to search for Tarfful and contact us when they’ve found him and convinced him to meet with us. We’re on our way back to the Mantis,” he continued, as they stepped onto the turbolift.

“Cal!” Cere cut him off, drawing them both up short as they detected the note of panic in Cere’s usually collected voice. “That’s why I’m contacting you. You need to hurry.”

“What’s happened, Cere?” Jayna asked, concernedly.

“I’ve been monitoring Imperial communications and I’ve picked up something,” she explained. “Project Auger has been reactivated.”

“Seems our little skirmish on Zeffo didn’t go unnoticed,” Jayna sighed, but she and Cal glanced at each other in alarm.

“Indeed,” Cere agreed. “The Empire may be close to finding another Zeffo tomb.”

“Looks like we still have work to do,” Cal declared, as BD booped affirmatively on his shoulder. “We’re en-route to the Mantis. We’ll be back inside an hour.”

“Good. I’ll see you two soon,” Cere replied, signing off as the turbolift began to descend. Cal glanced at Jayna, feeling slightly guilty about leaving the Partisans even if he knew it was the right decision.

“D’you think Saw and the others will be ok?” he asked aloud, as BD booped at his shoulder, making Cal smile affectionately at the droid’s optimism. “Always looking on the bright side, huh?”

“Bee boop boop!” BD replied.

“Hey, uh…thanks for everything,” he told the droid hesitantly, moved by some unconscious instinct to let the droid know how grateful he was everything BD did on their mad quest. They would have floundered long ago without BD-1’s help.

“Be-beep! Beep trill!” the droid replied cheerily, as Jayna snorted and leaned back against the wall of the turbolift, crossing her arms insouciantly.

“Do you want me to get you two a room?” she asked, irreverently as Cal rolled his eyes.

“Hilarious,” he replied dryly, as the turbolift took them deep into the refinery and back on the path to the holocron. Despite the friendly joke, a sense of urgency took hold of them as they sprinted back through the darkened, ruined facility as a drumbeat echoed in their minds through the Force like the countdown of a timer.

They needed to get back to Zeffo before the Empire found the next tomb and ruined everything.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Cal and Jayna emerged from the forest trench, jogging towards where the Mantis was waiting, landing ramp extended and the door open. There was no sign of Greez or Cere on the cargo pad, although the ruined platform was still littered with Saw’s Partisans and Wookiees, sorting through wreckage, tending to the injured and checking kit. They inclined their heads in greeting as several called out to them, but they didn’t stop to chat. Urgency was throbbing in their blood like a drumbeat, as the feeling of gathering shadow and threat that Cal had first sensed on Bogano returned with a vengeance, a warning in the Force as they hurried towards the Mantis.

Cere was waiting for them just inside the airlock, tired face breaking into a relieved smile when she saw them. “Cal, Jayna,” she sighed. “Good to see you’re in one piece.”

“You contacted us earlier?” Jayna asked, bemused as she stared at the older woman.

“I know, I know but…” Cere trailed off, almost embarrassed. “It’s one thing knowing you’re alive, and another seeing it with my own eyes.”

Jayna flushed, a little embarrassed and moved by the former Jedi’s concern, as Cal reached out to squeeze her shoulder comfortingly. “We’re all good,” he assured her, before glancing up at Greez as the Latero stomped out of the cockpit. “Hey, Greez!”

“Yeah, yeah. All done playing hero yet?” he demanded rudely, crossing one set of arms across his chest while the other was clamped onto his portly hips.

“You’re grumpy,” Jayna observed, with an amused glance at Cal.

“More than usual, anyway,” Cal added, as BD-1 booped in agreement.

The Latero rolled his eyes, uncrossing his arms to flap them dismissively at the two young Jedi. “Oh, you know me. I just love risking our lives for nothing. It’s fantastic!” he declared sarcastically.

Cere sighed, long-suffering and weary. “Greez…”

Jayna rolled her eyes as she moved away to collapse onto the sofas by the holotable, the events of the day and her prolonged use of the Force catching up to her. Cal’s eyes narrowed at the Latero in annoyance.

“It wasn’t for nothing. Mari and Choyyssyk will come through,” he protested, glancing at Cere before his eyes slid to Jayna in concern at her clear exhaustion.

“We know, Cal,” Cere assured him warmly. “I like your optimism, we could all use a little of that now and then,” she added, with a pointed look in Greez’s direction.

The gruff Latero grumbled and sighed as Cal moved past him to get to the galley, opening one of the storage units to grab two foil packets of dried Moof berries and fuji apple slices. Throwing one to Jayna, he took a seat beside her, startling only slightly as she swung her legs up to rest her feet on his lap.

“What?” she asked, at his raised eyebrow. “You’re already filthy and my feet hurt.”

Sighing exasperatedly, he shook his head but didn’t shove them off as Greez continued to grumble to himself. “Hey, I’m a positive guy too. I’m positive that if I die, I’ll be very upset.”

“Beeop!” BD-1 trilled beside him, as the droid hopped off his back and perched on the sofa’s back between Cal and Jayna as the latter tore into her fruit packet.

“Indeed,” Cere agreed, no small amount of amusement in her voice as she eyed the two Force users. “You did good, both of you. We might not have found Tarfful yet, but you saved lives today. Don’t forget that.”

“Thank you, Cere,” Cal nodded sombrely, as Jayna paused in wolfing down her dried fruit to smile wanly at the former Jedi. Cal glanced at her, not even needing to ask his question, as she rolled her eyes but nodded her assent. “We have something to tell you, or rather Jayna does once she’s finished stuffing her face,” he announced, with a wry sideways glance at his companion as she glared at him good-naturedly, shoving him lightly with her boot.

“Hey, get those filthy boots off my sofa before you cover it in lake scum and soot!” Greez grunted, as both Jayna and Cal chose to ignore him. “So, c’mon! Out with it! What is it?” he demanded impatiently.

Jayna swallowed hard, taking her time to finish cleaning some non-existent juice off her fingertips, utterly unaware of Cal staring at her mouth as she did so, the intensity of his gaze only lightly registering through the Force bond. At the feeling, she shot him a confused glance before Greez’s annoyed shout snapped her out of it.

“Can you please hurry up and tell us already!?”

“Greez,” Cere sighed, with a patient smile at Jayna. She clearly hadn’t noticed anything odd between Cal and Jayna. “Jayna? Enough stalling. What do you need to tell us?” she asked gently, a knowing glint in her eye.

Just like before, on Bogano when Cere had guessed Jayna would ask to stay with them, Jayna realised Cere already knew what she was going to say. She narrowed her eyes. “This is getting annoying. You know what I’m about to say,” she insisted pointedly.

Cere chuckled, nodding slightly. “I am…beyond glad,” she said quietly, sincerely. “The more we travel this path, the more I am certain…you were born to be a Jedi.”

“Wait, wha-?” Greez threw his hands up in confusion. “I thought she already was? But hey, what do I know? I’m just the pilot, don’t bother tellin’ me nothin’-,” he grumbled loudly, turning back to the cockpit. “When you’ve quite finished slappin’ yourselves on the back or whatever weird, mystical Jedi thing you’re doin’, let’s get goin’!”

Cere threw them an amused smile before she turned on her heel and went to join Greez and BD leapt from the sofa to follow her with a curious trill, leaving Cal and Jayna alone in the galley. They sat in peace, despite the drumbeat urgency in their veins, relishing the moment they had to rest, to breathe before they dove back.

Cal still hadn’t moved Jayna’s feet from his lap, nor had she protested or fidgeted when he unconsciously rested a hand on the hard, sloping curve of her knee.

“Why do I feel like everyone knew what choice I was going to make, except me?” she breathed as she leaned her head back against the back of the sofa, eying Cal through dark, lazy eyes.

“It was the will of the Force,” Cal replied solemnly, as she eyed him narrowly before shoving his arm hard. “Hey! Be gentle, I’ve been fighting for my life all morning,” he protested jokingly, looking down at her warmly. “I wasn’t sure you would ever change your mind,” he admitted quietly. “I wanted you to, but I didn’t think anything I said or did would be enough to change it. You’re more stubborn than a bantha when you want to be, Jayna.”

“And you’re more insufferable than a Kowakian Monkey lizard, Kestis,” she retorted, but there was no heat in her voice as she stared up at him. Almost unconsciously, his hand flexed and glided over her knee, his fingers caressing the joint with the minutest touch. She stared up at him, mouth suddenly dry, but she couldn’t find it in herself to move away or snap at him as he looked down at her, forest-hued eyes intense yet affectionate, their minds floating companionably in the security of the Force bond.

The jolt as the Mantis lifted off brought them, ironically, back down to earth with a bump. Jayna swung her legs off his lap, dislodging his hand. She smiled a little self-consciously, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she stood. “I’m gonna grab a shower. I stink of tree sap and lake water,” she muttered, turning away and striding from the cabin quickly without waiting for an answer.

Cal watched her go, suddenly aware of a strong urge to follow her as his eyes, entirely without his permission or conscious intent, trailed down her body as she walked away. Wrenching his eyes away, Cal realised Cere and Greez were talking as he stood up and went to lean against the cockpit door, desperate for a distraction.

“So back to Zeffo, huh?” Greez was saying as he punched in the co-ordinates. A second later, the space outside the Mantis cockpit turned silvery-blue as they jumped into hyperspace.

“The Empire might have found a Zeffo tomb. We can’t waste any time,” Cere explained.

“Pity. Heard about a high stakes game from one of Saw’s fighters. A few extra credits couldn’t hurt, y’know?” the Latero grumbled, still obviously in a bit of bad mood after being dragged into the fight on Kashyyyk.

“Gambling?! Greez, use your head! One of these days, the Haxion Brood is going to catch up with you!” Cere snapped, as Cal frowned.

“Ha! Those slubs? I’ll hear ‘em coming from a parsec away!” Greez snorted contemptuously.

“I don’t need your gambling habit causing us more trouble with murderous criminal syndicates,” Cere continued censoriously, with all the long-suffering air of a schoolteacher. She so reminded him of some of his academy instructors in that moment, Cal felt both pain and amusement as he crossed his arms where he leant against the hatchway. The relationship between Greez and Cere both confused and amused him; Cere seemed more tolerant of Greez than anything else most of the time, and Greez always put on a front of uncaring, mercenary self-interest, but he could sense a deep well of respect and begrudging affection in both parties. He wondered what trials had bonded the pair before they intercepted that fateful transmission that led them to him and Jayna on Bracca.

“You’re right, I know,” the Latero admitted, reluctantly. “Just wanna blow off some stress every once in a while, y’know? Anyway, all that is in the past. I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”

Cere sighed and opened her mouth, perhaps to harangue him some more, but Cal, sensing the possibility of a more serious argument, stepped in, and interrupted smoothly. “How long will it take us to get back to Zeffo?” he asked.

“Same as the last time, kid. Forty-eight hours,” Greez replied gruffly, before pausing to stroke his cheek fur thoughtfully. “Maybe thirty-six if I push the Mantis. Yeah, thirty-six minimum.”

Cal was slightly mollified to hear it, the drumbeat of urgency in the Force and his feelings of growing shadow and dread returning full force.

“Plenty of time for you to get some rest,” Cere interjected, with a pointed look in Cal’s direction. “Greez managed to fix the Mantis’s weapons systems while you and Jayna were helping Saw, so we’re in good shape. Now go, rest. I have a feeling you’re going to need it for whatever’s waiting for us on Zeffo.”

Nodding, Cal turned away, pausing only to give BD-1 time to clamber up onto his shoulder before he left the cockpit.

As Cal strode towards the aft compartment he and Jayna now called home, his mind was a million lightyears away, considering that feeling of dread and trepidation he’d been feeling since Cere had contacted them to tell them the Empire had returned to Zeffo. Experimentally, he tried probing that feeling in the Force, wondering if it might grant him some foresight as to what awaited them on Zeffo.

Unfortunately, he’d only had the barest understanding of how to do so, and with the Force mired in darkness as long as the Empire reigned over the galaxy, it gave him no answers. Instead, he just felt cold and hollow inside, as if the darkness had taken root within him as a result of his inexperienced explorations.

Sighing tiredly, Cal ran a hand through his hair, reflecting distantly that it was lank and filthy after jumping into that lake on Kashyyyk, the fight in the refinery and their trek back to the Mantis in the claustrophobic humidity of Kashyyyk’s jungles. He really needed a shower once Jayna was finished…

He walked round the corner of the narrow passageway that led from the crew area and galley to find Jayna stood by her cot, wet hair loosely trailing over one bare shoulder, clearly in the process of getting dressed again. But while she had pulled some leggings on, her torso was still bare as she pulled a shirt to her with the Force as she gasped and glared at him over her shoulder. “For Maker’s sake, Cal! You could knock!?” she exclaimed irritably; dark eyes narrowed as she coldly eyed him where he stood.

For Cal’s part, his mind and body had frozen the moment he saw Jayna.  His eyes trailed over her without conscious thought, lingering on the toned muscles of her shoulders and arms, and the slender curve of her waist as his gaze lowered. Then, he realised what he was doing as a hot, sharp flash of want speared through him, his hands literally itching to reach out and see if that golden-tinged skin, tanned after their sojourn on Bogano unlike his own, permanently pale skin, was as unyielding as it looked. Mortification followed, as he stammered, tripping over his own tongue as words seemed to come to mind but then fail to make the journey to his mouth.

Jayna rolled her eyes. ‘Typical. Blasted repressed warrior-monk-sorcerers!’ she thought to herself, as she stood straight and refused to feel shame or hide from Cal’s heated gaze. Despite her decision to give in and explore the possibility of becoming a Jedi, she wasn’t about to start acting ashamed about her body or her desires. She just wasn’t about to do anything about them, and Cal was too busy staring at her gormlessly, as if he’d never seen a half-naked person before, to do anything about their shared attraction either. “Don’t tell me this is the first time you’ve seen someone partially unclothed?” she demanded, turning away to continue dressing, throwing away the shirt and reaching for her breast band.

That seemed to knock Cal from his self-imposed walking coma. “I spent the last five years on Bracca. Of course, I’ve seen a half-dressed person before!” he snorted derisively, trailing off as Jayna turned her back to him, secure in her nonchalance, and his eyes widened. “Jayna, what in the Force-?”

“Cal? What-?” Jayna asked, frowning as Cal suddenly stepped forward, ghosting his hands over her lower back, just above the waistband of her leggings. The sensation made Jayna’s lungs seize, all her cockiness evaporating at Cal’s calloused hands on her skin.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were injured?” he demanded, as BD booped in concern. She heard the trilling hum as BD’s scanner activated, as Cal sucked in a breath.

“Well, what’s the diagnosis, Doctor BD?” she asked sarcastically, pulling her breast band over her head, and tugging it into place.

BD trilled and booped, with a distinct air of telling her off for not saying anything. “He says you have a mild spinal contusion in your lumbar region as well as some surface bruising and grazing,” Cal translated as he finally, finally removed his hands from her back.

“I can understand him too, thank you very much,” she reminded him caustically, before her voice turned shy and a little apologetic. “It must have been when that security droid threw you at me,” she admitted, remembering the pain of impact and Cal’s weight against her as they fallen in a heap to the metal floor of the prison block. Her back had ached since then, but she hadn’t given it much more thought, as the adrenaline of a fight and the Force had carried her on, helping her ignore the pain. “I just…forgot to mention it.”

Cal sighed, a long-suffering sound that made Jayna want to laugh. “Lie down on your cot,” he told her. “I’m going to fetch the first aid kit and see if we have any bacta patches. I think I heard Cere mention they’d picked some up before we left Bogano.”

Jayna sighed and grumbled as he left the compartment, only to feel Cal’s voice ringing in her head. ‘I mean it, Jayna. Lie down!’

BD-1 booped in agreement, as if guessing the cause of Jayna’s disgruntlement, eying her pointedly as it tapped her cot with its foot. Jayna shot the droid a glare, before slowly lowering herself down onto the cot, on her front so she didn’t place any pressure on the injury. Now the adrenaline and her Force reserves had begun to ebb, she could feel the stinging ache of the bruising and grazing as the site began to grow more inflamed. Exhaustion compounded the ache, as she reluctantly admitted it needed to be fixed, sooner rather than later.

When she heard footsteps marching back into their makeshift cabin, she turned her head as much as she could, craning her neck so she could see Cal as he crouched down beside her cot, a pot of salve and a vivid blue packet in his hand. “I’ll apply the salve first, make sure the area is sterile before I put the patch on,” he told her gently, as he unscrewed the lid of the pot and scooped up a small handful of salve.

“I’m sure I can manage-,” Jayna began to protest, starting to move when Cal reached out and promptly pinned her to the cot with his hand in the middle of her back, just above where she was bruised and aching. Shock and the physical weight of his hand against her skin made her still as she skewered him with a glare over her shoulder.

“You won’t be able to reach,” he demurred, logically and tonelessly, as if it was no big deal. As if she couldn’t sense the tension infusing every cell in his body as he slowly began to massage the salve into her back, fingers running over toned muscle and firm skin. Her breath caught, but she was determined not to make this anymore awkward than it needed to be. “The patch will make you drowsy, so try not to fight it,” he continued, his voice a soothing counterpoint to the heat Jayna could feel, from him and from herself. “You need to sleep anyway.”

“Yes, Doctor Cal,” Jayna retorted cheekily, as he shot her a good-natured, joking scowl as BD booped in amusement. They lapsed into silence, as Jayna, her muscles held by an increasingly pervasive tension, let her mind wander in a desperate attempt to keep it off Cal’s hands and his touch on her back. The cool of the salve was soothing, easing the heat in her muscles from the injury, alleviating the ache as her eyes fluttered shut. To his credit, Cal was utterly clinical in his approach, restricting his movements to the affected area, refusing to let his mind wander any more than his hands.

And oh, how he wanted to. He couldn’t deny that anymore.

He felt Jayna relax, trusting him to look after her, and by the time he wiped his hands on a cloth, she was already half-asleep. Ripping away the wrapping, he pressed the gel—infused patch onto the small of her back, as tiny microneedles latched on and began slowly drip-feeding the bacta into her system. He felt Jayna relax fully into slumber as the bacta’s soporific effects took hold, shutting her body down to assist the healing process and couldn’t help but smile tenderly as he cleared away the salve and used wrapping.

Reaching out, Cal gently pulled her loose, damp hair out from where it had become trapped under her cheek, carefully laying and fanning it out on the pillow beside her, before he reached for the blanket and pulled it up over her body, hiding it from view. Despite himself, he couldn’t resist leaning in and pressing a soft, trembling kiss to her temple, feeling the beat of her pulse against his lips for a moment as he whispered, “Sweet dreams.”

As he stood, he became aware of the tension still holding his muscles, as he glanced at BD and gesturing to Jayna, said, “Keep an eye on her, BD. I need a shower.”

BD booped an affirmative, before cheekily adding a suggestion as the little droid watched the human flush, then hurry away without saying anything. Nevertheless, it was a fair suggestion.

A cold shower was just what he needed.

Jayna stirred groggily, her mouth dry as a Tatooine desert, groaning slightly as the harsh overhead lighting made her eyes sting. Squinting through partially opened lids, she grumbled and turned over, burying her head back under the blanket.

“Hey, rise and shine there, sleepyhead!” a familiar voice said softly, from somewhere above her. Cal. “Time to get up!”

“How long was I out?” she asked, her voice hoarse and a little strained as she reluctantly emerged from her blanket tunnel. She sat up experimentally, stretching her muscles cautiously, waiting for the ache of bruised, abused flesh but there was none. The bacta patch had done its work.

“Thirty hours,” Cal replied, proffering a steaming cup of caf. At her wide-eyed look, he just shrugged as he took a seat on his cot opposite her once she took the cup. “You obviously needed the rest. We’ve been pretty much on the go since we left Bogano.”

“Yeah, guess so,” she agreed, taking a sip of the heavenly liquid. “Did you? Get any sleep, I mean?”

“A little,” he shrugged. “When you’re done, lie down and let me have a look at your back. The patch should be done, by now.”

Jayna raised a brow at him, but did as he said, finishing her caf and putting the cup on the floor, out of the way, before lying back down on her front. Cal moved away from his cot and crouched down beside her, pulling the blanket away and ignoring the reaction he felt as he watched her shiver slightly from the action. He gently probed the wound, checking to see if there was still any residual pain, but the bruising was gone, and the grazes largely healed. “How does that feel?” he asked, as Jayna winced slightly.

“A little tender,” she admitted. “Probably going to stay that way for a few days. Other than that, I feel fine.”

Cal breathed a sigh of relief as he peeled the patch off her back. “We’re still six hours out from Zeffo. You should take it easy,” he told her, crumpling the used patch in his hand.

“You’re not trying to imply I should stay on the ship when we get to Zeffo, are you?” she asked, a slow, warning tone in her voice that immediately made Cal tense up.

As much as he’d like to, he wasn’t stupid. He snorted. “Please, I like my head on my shoulders, thanks,” he muttered, standing from his crouch, and looking down at her. “There’s ronto sausage and scrambled eggs in the galley. If you like, I can show you how to clean and maintain your saber after breakfast.”

“Sounds good,” she admitted, her stomach growling loudly as she sensed Cal’s amusement through the Force bond. “It’s taken quite a battering, between jumping into lakes and fighting our way through half of Zeffo and Kashyyyk.”

“I’ll be out in the galley, then,” Cal nodded to her, leaving her alone to wash, dress and make her way to the galley for breakfast.

After breakfast and a quick lesson from Cal in the basics of lightsaber maintenance, they whiled away the hours cleaning their weapons, very carefully not discussing what might await them on Zeffo, or the increasing feeling of foreboding that afflicted them the closer they got. Eventually though, once their sabers had been cleaned, oiled, and polished to within an inch of their life, Jayna couldn’t find any more to do, putting the weapon aside on the table as she huffed discontentedly. By her side, Cal smiled, knowing what she felt.

“You should probably take a nap,” he suggested. “We’ve got another long day ahead of us when we get there.”

“If you think I could sleep right now…” Jayna huffed, shaking her head as Cal lovingly placed his saber back on his belt, throwing aside the cloth he’d been using to polish the handle.

“Then, just rest,” he replied insistently. “We gonna need all the strength we can muster.”

“Fine,” she conceded. “But only if you come with me. You look like you’ve barely slept a wink since we left Kashyyyk.”

In truth, he hadn’t slept much. He’d caught an hour or two after his shower, but most of the time he had spent watching over Jayna, making sure she would be okay. His body was screaming out for rest, but a part of him was worried about what might happen if he let himself. This…infatuation with Jayna was proving harder to shake than he’d thought.

At that moment, BD-1 took the opportunity to hop down from the ventilation shaft it had been exploring, and booped in support of Jayna’s statement. Cal eyed the droid narrowly over his shoulder. “Whose side are you on?” he demanded, and not for the first time. The droid had a habit of backing Jayna up whenever she went all…mother hen on him.

“Don’t make me kick your arse from here to your cot, Kestis,” Jayna needled, getting up from her seat to loom over him, mock-threateningly.

“Like you could,” Cal snorted, as Jayna’s eyes gleamed.

“Don’t challenge me,” she retorted, holding out a hand commandingly. “Besides, it’s not me you need to worry about. I don’t have a brand new scomp link just waiting to give you a shock in your stubborn arse. Now get, Kestis!”

Cal’s eyes darted between Jayna’s outstretched hand and where BD had hopped onto the table, scomp link raised and brandished as threateningly as the droid was capable of. He sighed and gave in, taking Jayna’s hand and letting her pull him behind her towards their quarters, as BD happily trilled and scurried after them.

“Sometimes I regret giving that droid so many upgrades,” he grumbled as they went, Jayna’s hand clasped tightly around his own, inexorably pulling him onwards. The weight of it, the feel of her skin, soft between calluses and grazes from their battles since they’d left Bogano, was soothing so when Jayna let it drop, he felt bizarrely disappointed.

“No, you don’t,” Jayna retorted, with a fond smile at BD as the droid hopped up on Cal’s cot and made itself at home beside his pillow. “Now, stop being so grumpy and lie down!”

“Yes, milady,” he quipped teasingly, dodging her hand as it reached out swat him in retaliation. He laid back on his cot, but despite the distraction of their teasing; that feeling of trepidation and oppression was beginning to swamp him again. He didn’t bother shucking his boots off or drawing his blanket over him – he’d always run hot and barely felt the cold, as sleeping on a starship never bothered him – but noticed Jayna did both as she laid down after neatly tucking her boots under her cot and got comfortable on her side, facing him as she pulled the blanket into place.

“You need to relax,” she told him quietly.

“I can’t,” he snapped, before sheepishly admitting, “Surely it should be me telling you to relax.”

“What about meditating? Could that help?” she asked, as he rolled over onto his side to face her, meeting her concerned, dark eyes across the narrow gap between their cots. He shook his head, unable to explain just why he didn’t want to reach out to the Force at that very moment. “Well, if you can’t sleep and you can’t meditate, why don’t we try this?” she suggested, as in their heads, he felt her reach out and tentatively touch the golden rope that was loosely coiled between them.

Cal quietly gasped as intense sensation rippled over him, as that shared feeling of warmth, comfort and security expanded and engulfed him, washing away his fears. Cautiously, he reached out and did the same, as Jayna’s eyes glazed over at the shared contact, her lips parted so her breath escaped in shallow puffs of air.

They hadn’t done this, outside of battle, since Bogano and that disastrous attempt to break through the barrier in Jayna’s mind. A part of Cal, one still walled off from the bond in the corner of his mind still solely his own, uneasily wondered if it was a good idea, but in that moment of comfort and union, he couldn’t bring himself to break the connection. Instead, he focussed all his attention on it, letting it lull him with peace and serenity until he felt like he was floating in a tranquil sea, utterly at peace. Without even knowing it, he fell deeply asleep.

Jayna watched him, watched his lashes flutter, and fall until those beautiful green eyes were shrouded from sight, and his breathing deepened until it became a light snore. She couldn’t quite hold back a quiet giggle at that, as BD-1 booped at her response, all but shushing her as the droid sidled closer to its master.

Jayna smiled at the sight, almost misty-eyed as affection swelled in her heart but she was tired of fighting it. For now, at least, she would revel in it and let it distract her from the looming shadow in the Force as they sped ever closer to Zeffo.

Several hours later, they were both awoken by Greez’s voice on the intercom. “Rise and shine, kiddos! We’ll be dropping out of hyperspace in half an hour!”

Jayna jolted awake, at first aware only of the deep peace in her bones as the bond rippled and retracted, lapsing back into dormancy as she blinked back to wakefulness. Doing so, she met Cal’s eyes as he awoke, looking a little less pale and drawn as he yawned. She smiled but said nothing as she sat up to start getting ready.

Twenty minutes later, suited and booted once more with their lightsabers clipped to their belts, they headed towards the cockpit.

Cere greeted them with a smile as they entered, her eyes roving over Cal’s navy-blue jumpsuit and hyper-shell poncho, before passing over Jayna’s black hooded jacket, her ever-darkening hair tightly braided from the crown of her head. There was something different about them, she noted, something that had changed since their adventures on Zeffo and Kashyyyk. There was a…synchronicity about them now, one unusual in two people who had only met a few months before. One could almost be forgiven for mistaking them for two people had fought side by side for years. It reminded her a little of what she’d heard about the legendary Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, and the bond they had shared. The bond of a Master and Padawan, but also of father and son, brothers-in-arms and in the Force, if not in blood. But there was something more to Jayna and Cal’s bond, something she didn’t know if she should be concerned by, their unique Force bond notwithstanding.

Greez’s gruff bark pulled the former Knight from her thoughts. “We’re about to drop out of hyperspace. Sit down, you two!”

Cal could feel Cere’s scrutiny as he took his seat beside the Latero pilot, as BD hopped up onto the co-pilot’s station and Jayna buckled into the gunner’s seat. He idly wondered what had prompted it, as he shot her a questioning look over his shoulder, but she just shook her head and smiled as the ship reverted to realspace.

Zeffo loomed ahead, as Cal visually scanned the space around it for signs of Imperial activity, before checking the scanner. But there was none, as Greez flew the Mantis into the planet’s atmosphere and down into the storm that still raged over the mountains where they’d found the first Tomb.

The turbulence from the storm shook and rattled the ship, but Greez’s hands remained steady on the joysticks as he guided the ship towards the abandoned landing pad. Cal frowned, unsure if that was a wise idea or if the landing pad wouldn’t already be secured by the Imperials considering they’d landed and faced the AT-ST there last time.

“This is the closest landing site to the Imperial excavation site. We’ll drop you off then find another landing site and rendezvous with you there,” Cere explained, before Cal could say a word. Glancing at her, then at Jayna over his shoulder who just nodded, he nodded his own agreement as the Mantis landed with a thud and a clang.

Clapping Greez on the shoulder as he passed, he collected Jayna with a look and helped BD-1 clamber up onto the droid’s habitual perch on his back, sensing Cere follow them out as they emerged onto the landing ramp.

Outside, it was cold and wet, the deck of the landing pad newly covered with puddles from the storm. To their surprise, the downed AT-ST remained where it had fallen, the sad husk of burned metal only adding their foreboding as they paused for a moment.

“Cal, Jayna,” Cere’s gentle voice drew their attention as they turned to face her. “I don’t need to tell you to be careful in there.”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Jayna breathed, giving voice to her fear for the first time. “There’s something…nearby. But it’s too elusive, I can’t trace its source.”

“I’ve felt it too,” Cal added, in agreement.

Cere nodded gravely. “All the more reason for caution,” she told them. “This will all be for nothing if we lose you two. Good luck, stay in touch and may the Force be with you!”

Cal and Jayna nodded as they stepped down from the landing ramp, Jayna turning her hood up against the icy wind and the rain in the air as Cere went back inside. A moment later, they heard the Mantis take off again behind them, the wind from its take-off whipping up the discarded tents of tarpaulin covering old crates dotted around the landing pad like some kind of forlorn symphony. They didn’t look back, as they jogged towards the same mountain path, they had taken the first time, the Force calling them on with every step.

The whole time, they remained alert and wary, their hands close to their sabers as they went, senses pricked for the slightest sign of the Empire. But there was none, just the same unfriendly fauna they’d encountered last time.

As they cut down two scazz who leapt from their burrows to attack, they paused for a moment as BD-1 beeped on Cal’s back. “I agree, BD,” Cal breathed, uneasily as he eyed their surroundings. “No Stormtroopers here, either. Must’ve cleared out to search for the Tomb,” he concluded, activating their commlinks so Cere could hear as well, as Jayna caught his eye.

“That’s good for us,” Cere said over the commlink. “But the caves will be crawling with them. I’ll do what I can to monitor their movements.”

“Something about this doesn’t feel right,” Cal muttered. “The Empire doesn’t give up ground.”

“Only take it,” Jayna concluded.

“I know,” Cere sighed over the comm. “I feel it too.”

“Watch yourselves, okay?” Cal murmured, signing off as Cere expressed the same.

“You too. We’ve found a potential landing site a few kilometres away. Keep us posted, and when you’re ready, we’ll land and pick you up,” she replied, signing off. In the uneasy silence that followed, Cal met Jayna’s eyes as she fiddled with her lightsaber.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” she repeated. “I can sense the Dark Side.”

“I sense a trap,” Cal replied, sighing as he looked away to the horizon.

“Next move?” she asked, wondering if they shouldn’t retreat but instinctively knowing what Cal’s answer would be, as he looked back at her with an impish smile, belying the unease she could sense in him.

“Spring the trap,” he quipped, before nodding to BD-1. “BD, can you bring your map up for us again?”

The little droid did, displaying the map it had downloaded the last time they were on Zeffo in flickering, hazy-blue holo-images against the cold grey stone of the mountain path. Cal knelt down and pointed to a second path, one that led up and away from the one they were on. Glancing up at its real-life counterpart, Jayna could see a standard-issue Imperial door set back into the rock.

“From what I can tell, this will lead us down to the Imperial excavation site,” he explained, trailing his finger down the maze of tunnels and caves. “It should bring us out south of Imperial Headquarters so at least we won’t have to worry about running into more troopers than necessary.”

“Beats hiking through that village and the mountains again,” Jayna shrugged, pulling her jacket closer around her as the wind whipped up around them. “C’mon, let’s get a move on.”

With a nod from Cal, BD-1 turned off its holoprojector, scrambling back up onto Cal’s shoulder. Together, they turned and began to hurry up the new path and away from the landing pad.

“Second Sister, a S-161 XL luxury yacht has been spotted debarking two passengers onto the old landing pad by the abandoned settlement. We’re still awaiting positive confirmation of the two passengers’ identities-,”

“They’re here,” the Second Sister breathed with satisfaction. After news had broken of their incursion on Zeffo and their appearance on Kashyyyk, she had known just what to do to bring them back to Zeffo. She could sense their approach in the Force, like oncoming approach of dawn in a binary star system.

“Er, yes ma’am. We’re tracking their ship, but it appears they’re staying in the air until they’re called-?”

“No matter,” she replied, getting up from her seat in the old CO’s office in Imperial Headquarters. As much as she wished to face Cere and bring her down, it wasn’t the time. No, now was the time for the next stage in the hunt. Divide and conquer.

She had some…riveting insights to offer both Cal Kestis and Jayna Shan, after all. While she doubted the girl’s identity would faze her, what she had discovered about Cal Kestis would be sure to confuse him, break his spirit and his faith. Then he would begin to make mistakes, become even easier to predict and then she would strike.

The holocron, and Cere, would be hers. Darth Vader would have his prize and the Emperor would have his. And she would ascend, far above the reach of even the Grand Inquisitor.

“Track their progress but do not impede them,” she instructed the officer on the other side of the commlink. “Pull every trooper not on task in the Tomb back to the ice caves, excavation site and Imperial Headquarters. Keep me informed.”

“Yes, Second Sister!” the officer signed off, leaving her in peace as she pulled a datapad towards her with the Force, re-watching the footage they’d managed to pull from surveillance cameras, probe droids and security feeds of the two fugitives fighting on Zeffo and now Kashyyyk.

It was quite…illuminating. It seemed Kestis and Cere had given the girl at least some training, as her Force abilities seemed more developed than they had been on Bracca. She had studied their styles closely, noting the girl’s basic but proficient use of Shii-Cho, Makashi, Soresu and Ataru against the more refined, experienced use of Djem So, Shien and Niman style of Kestis. In battle, they complemented each other well, but the girl was still inexperienced. Kestis would his best to ameliorate her deficiencies, and that she could use to her advantage. In all their battles since leaving Bracca and whatever bolthole they’d taken shelter in before re-emerging on Zeffo, they had yet to face a Force user and a lightsaber duellist, let alone one as skilled as herself. She would crush them, or at least she would if the game was to be different.

But no, that wasn’t her game yet. ‘Divide and conquer,’ she reminded herself as she brought up some footage from the refinery battle. Irritating nuisances, those insurgents, but inconsequential for now. They would be her next stop after she had finished here.

From analyses taken from the first tomb Kestis and Shan had uncovered, it seemed likely there was something on Kashyyyk they sought. Some link, but what exactly she had no idea. No matter, once the seeds were planted and doubt sown, she would have them and all the time in the world to break the secrets from them.

As she watched their fight on the rooftops, her eyes narrowed behind her mask as something caught her eye that she had missed the first few times she’d watched the footage. Pausing it, she quickly brought up footage from Zeffo, contrasting the two. Beyond the obvious change in skill level in Shan, there was something…more.

Shan and Kestis possessed a togetherness, a synchronicity that belied the brevity of their association. They fought like long-standing partners, never pausing to check or track the other’s state but instinctively knowing, almost as if…

But it couldn’t be. Force bonds were forged between masters and padawans, not between associates, comrades or even friends…. unless….

And that was where the battle meditation came in, she realised. In all her researches, she’d found precious little on the subject of battle meditation, nothing duracrete beyond its history and a list of those who had wielded it in the past: Nomi Sunrider, Arca Jeth, Bastila Shan, the girl’s own distant ancestor, Meetra Surik…after the wars that had seemingly destroyed the Sith for good, the talent had become scarce, then seemingly disappeared altogether. There were Jedi who had some grasp of it, a lesser form known as a Jedi meld, none who could boast true mastery, let alone the scope to control an entire battlegroup.

Could it be possible Shan had forged a connection between her and Kestis when she attempted to strengthen him during their fight on Bracca? Was that what this was? What that what gave them the power, the connection to fight as they did, as one?

It was a hypothesis that bore investigation, if so. It could work to her advantage later.

Bringing up the final fight on Kashyyyk, her eyes darkened as she watched the girl, shining like a star with a gentle ethereality that enraged her. That light would soon be snuffed out, and Cere would watch as she failed, again, she promised herself. When that girl knelt at the feet of the Emperor, oh she would know it and this time, it would destroy her utterly. And she would be there to savour it, she promised herself as a Purge Trooper marched into the office, standing smartly to attention.

“Second Sister, the fugitives have been spotted entering the ice caves. They will be here shortly,” he reported, as she inclined her head once, dismissing him.

Placing the datapad aside, she turned and left the office, taking the turbolift down to await them at the entrance to the Tomb excavation. The Force would lead them to her, she knew it. The darkness clouded their vision, made them think they had a chance of winning.

Soon, they would realise how deluded they truly were.

Once BD had sliced the door open, Cal and Jayna found themselves in a small cave, littered with cargo crates on one side, and a sharp decline, walled with thick ice on the other. In the distance, Jayna could see a rock saw, probably from one of the diggers they used to excavate down into the bedrock. It was revolving slowly, cutting ever deeper through the tunnel, leaving only a tiny gap between revolutions of its serrated edges.

She sensed Cal’s intention just as he reached the edge of the ice slope.

“You can’t be serious?” she demanded, alarm racing through her.

BD-1 trilled in warning and agreement. “Be-be-beep?”

“After all the crazy things we’ve done? You know it!” he declared, with an exhilarated laugh as he launched himself onto the icy slope. Jayna had to swallow down a scream as she rushed to the edge, but not quite following as she watched Cal surf down the slope, using the Force to keep himself steady and slow time around the saw so he could jump through the gap.

Shaking her head as he disappeared from view, his exhilaration and excitement filtering through her from the Force bond, she sighed and glanced to the side. And then walked quickly in the direction of the cargo lift to the side, hidden from view by piled up cargo crates.

A part of Cal seriously questioned his sanity as he surfed the long, undulating slope of ice through the tunnels. Several times, he used the Force to slow time enough for him and BD to make it safely through the cutters that bisected the tunnel. Finally, after a long curve that nearly sent him and BD-1 careening off into the void, they emerged from the tunnel and into the wide cavern he had seen on BD’s holo-map.

Digging deep, he let the Force carry him up as he soared through the air, flipping and landing on his feet as two scout troopers yelled in alarm.

“It’s the JEDI!”

They scrambled for their weapons as Cal activated his, bringing it to guard. Then realised Jayna wasn’t beside him.

Alarm rushed through him, but it was soon swept away by the warning that ricocheted through the Force, as he was lifted and bodily thrown through the air by an explosion near his feet. Reaching out, he pushed against the cavern wall, slowing his momentum so he fell onto his front rather than smashing into the rock, only vaguely aware of the dying screams and sickening crunch of bone from the scout troopers as they weren’t so lucky.

“My time to shine, Jedi,” a lone voice called tauntingly, as he looked up through stinging eyes and ringing ears to see a lone trooper bearing a rocket launcher, stood on a rocky platform above them.

“Not today, buckethead,” another, more familiar voice, quipped as the stormtrooper yelled in pain as the tip of a forest-green saber penetrated his chest armour. With a pitiful gurgle, the trooper collapsed, dead, giving way to the sight of Jayna stood on the edge of the platform, lightsaber humming softly in the gloom and quiet of the caves.

“Jayna,” Cal breathed. “Where did you…how did you…?”

“There was a cargo lift,” she replied, gesturing to the yellow metal container beside her that Cal had initially thought was just a cargo container.

“There was…a lift?” he repeated, suddenly feeling more than a bit stupid as BD-1 squealed its displeasure. “Hey, you’re the one who wanted to jack another AT-AT,” he shot sullenly at the droid, sending him a sideways glare.

“Yep. You both have about one collective brain cell between you, nerf-herders,” Jayna quipped, hopping down from the ledge, and stowing her saber at her belt. “Now, if you’ve quite finished with the unnecessary death-stunts…where next?”

BD hopped from Cal’s back, its holoprojectors flaring to life. The map shimmered into existence, as the two humans squinted down at it. “I think…that lift over there should take us up and out,” Cal said, pointing a gloved hand along the holographic route. “It’ll bring us up on the other side of Imperial Headquarters. From there, we should be able to make our way around it and get into the excavation site through this back entrance.”

“We still have to get through…whatever that is,” Jayna pointed out, gesturing towards a large hulking object that would lie directly in their path, vaguely triangular in shape and according to BD-1’s holo-map, comprised on various alloys. A crashed ship, most likely; it blocked their path to Imperial Headquarters and the dig site.

“We’ll find a way. C’mon,” Cal breathed, as BD-1 deactivated the holo-map and clambered back onto his shoulder. With a look at Jayna, the trio turned and taking a running leap, jumped up towards the platform where the second cargo lift waited for them.

The cargo lift opened up onto a dank, dimly cavern as Cal, Jayna and BD-1 cautiously stepped out, senses pricked for any sign of ambush.

The stone floor was covered intermittently in metal panelling for stability underfoot, and Imperial cargo and equipment crates were littered around the cavern, obviously long abandoned. The entire area had the dank, damp smell of floodwater, as the lift doors closed behind them.

In a corner, partially obscured by rockfall, was the outstretched body of a Stormtrooper. Cal moved towards him carefully, but it was clear the trooper was long dead. He bent down, splaying his hand over the trooper’s gauntlet, grimacing in distaste.

Through the bond, Jayna felt it as Cal was overwhelmed by sounds and images from the past. She heard the trooper’s cry of fear and pain, then the crackle and roar of rocks as they collapsed atop him. “He was killed by a cave-in. Imperial excavation is making these tunnels unstable,” he breathed, eyes distant and unseeing.

BD booped disdainfully, as Jayna put a hand on Cal’s shoulder, wordlessly calling him back to the present. “Why am I not surprised?” she whispered, glancing around her at the cavern. “C’mon.”

Not far from the rockfall was a locked door. It was no match for BD’s scomp link.

They stepped through into a long, winding tunnel. The roof was low and remembering the echo Cal had felt from the dead trooper, Jayna couldn’t help but shiver a little in trepidation.

It was also partially flooded.

Jayna sighed. ‘Looks like yet another day scrabbling around in wet clothes,’ she thought despondently, before glaring at Cal. “I hate you,” she pronounced airily.

For his part, Cal had the grace to look at least a little sheepish as she stepped past him and waded into the murky, freezing water.

The going was slow and laborious, as they often paused to check their footing before going on, the water too dirty to see clearly. Once or twice, it even rose to the level of the roof as they were forced to swim, ducking their heads beneath the icy waters to squeeze through tight gaps.

“I smell old oil,” Cal muttered, as they surfaced after one such instance, BD-1 booping disconcertedly on his back. “Sorry, buddy. It’s not you,” he assured the droid.

“It’s the water,” Jayna agreed, nose scrunched up in distaste as she swam. “Old oil that’s been left to contaminate the water. The Empire?”

“Possibly but…it smells too old,” Cal shook his head, making tiny waves in the water with the movement. As Jayna eyed him disbelievingly, he sighed. “I spent a lot of time around old destroyers on Bracca, I know the smell okay?” he replied defensively. Jayna just rolled her eyes and kept swimming.

Eventually, the water level began to decrease, so they went from swimming to waist-deep, then ankle-deep, as the ground began to climb. Eventually it turned to soaked mud as they were forced to scramble up the suddenly steep slope, an irregularly oval shaped opening ahead growing ever larger with each step, the icy dankness of the tunnel giving way to fresh, although still chilly, air as a breeze ruffled their hair.  

They climbed up and over the lip of the tunnel, as an expansive, desolate vista opened up before them. Below their feet was a long slope leading down to a sandy shore, where the waters of a small lake lapped and rippled. Ahead, dotted chaotically around the foothills that rose up from the ground was the battered, scorched remnants of a hulking ship.

“It’s a Venator-class,” Cal breathed, as Jayna felt the onset of anguish and rage within him, the memory of pain and death burning in his mind. Reaching out, she clasped his hand and held it tightly, trying her best to impart her strength into him. Now he’d mentioned it, she’d seen numerous twins of this ship, in marginally better condition, in Bracca scrapyards or being towed in for scrapping across the skies. The last remnants of the Clone Wars.

There came an echoing, dreadful screaming roar, as both Jayna and Cal startled. “See ‘em?” he said, pointing down at a ruined semi-circle of plating and engine components, perhaps a subsection of the engines that had broken off but not burnt up on re-entry into Zeffo’s atmosphere. Standing in the centre of that semi-circle, like a king in his fortress, was a great hulking beast. It looked bipedal, but with two massive forearms, ending in razor-claw tipped fists, which seemed to drag the beast’s weight forward. It screamed again, loudly asserting its dominance over its little territory. “The Empire isn’t the only thing we have to worry about.”

“Let’s keep our distance then,” Jayna murmured, going to take a step forward. But Cal didn’t budge, as she stopped and looked back over her shoulder, following his distracted gaze to the stone shrine that stood at the edge of the hill they were on, carved cuboids inlaid with intricate designs, and between each layers were alcoves, containing helmets. At first glance, Jayna thought they were Stormtrooper helmets, but realised they were something else as Cal inhaled sharply.

“The villagers build this memorial to the clones on the Venator-class...on the Proficient,” he whispered, reaching out to graze one with his fingertips as his psychometry kicked in. “If only they knew the truth…”

There was anger and bitterness in his voice, as Jayna took a step back to swing in front of him, blocking his view of the memorial and the crashed ship. “Hey, look at me,” she whispered, laying a hand against his cheek as the gesture pulled Cal’s gaze to her face. “We’ve got a job to do. I know its hard but let’s just get through this. Ok?”

She felt Cal’s connection to the memorial break, as his memories of the Purge were shoved aside and the tumult of emotion and remembrances from the memorial was abruptly stopped, like a door slammed on a deluge. He raised his own hand to gently press the one she held to his cheek, nodding once as she smiled wanly and stepped back. Looking out again, she reconnoitred the surrounding foothills, but the cliffs were sheer and offered no handholds. Their only way to keep going towards the dig site was through the crashed Venator-class ship.

“Look!” she hissed, pointing back towards the ruined section where that creature relentlessly patrolled its turf. “That grating. We can climb up onto the wreckage from there!”

“Okay, let’s go!” Cal whispered, leading the way down the slope and towards the water’s edge. Without preamble, he jumped into the water and started swimming, Jayna following with only a little grumbling.

As they drew closer, the mists that thronged the crashed ship lifted slightly, allowing Jayna to appreciate the sheer size of it as they drew near. On Bracca, during her ill-fated undercover mission in the scrapyards, she had followed Cal through the innards of a Venator-class destroyer but that had little prepared her for the true scale of the behemoth.  Ahead of her, Cal stopped, treading water as he watched the creature shamble around. Up close, it looked even more monstrous; wide jaws, vicious looking teeth, and pale, mottled blue skin with black markings.

BD booped quietly.

“It’s a what?” Jayna hissed, as she treaded water beside Cal. “A jotaz?”

BD booped again. “Indigenous predator on Zeffo,” Cal hissed. “Strong but slow, apparently.”

Through the bond, Jayna felt Cal reach out to her. ‘We need to wait until the jotaz is moving away from us, then we move. Get onto the upper ring, then onto the grating as fast as you can.”

Jayna nodded her agreement, waiting for Cal to give the signal.

As the jotaz ambled away, they made a break for the ring, hauling themselves up and bolting for the upper section. They heard the roar of the jotaz as it detected them, piercing and shrill as it rushed towards them. Turning for a moment, Jayna flung her hand out, calling on the Force to keep the creature at bay. It only pushed it back a few steps, but enough for it to growl and shake its head, disorientated as Jayna turned and sprinted for the grating.

She threw herself towards it just as the jotaz lunged for her, catching hold, and pulling herself up until she was well above its reach. Below, its eyes narrowed in frustration as its prey escaped, and it roared its discontent as Jayna hurried to catch up with where Cal and BD-1 had paused, waiting for her.

They pulled themselves up and over, onto a ring of plating that might once have protected one of the hyperdrive thrusters. Pausing to catch their breath, they glanced down at the enraged jotaz, then at each other, fighting the ridiculous urge to smile as their hearts raced.

Then they heard it. The distinct, menacing burble of an Imperial probe droid as it transmitted its encoded data.

Looking up, they saw the bulbous, insectoid droid overhead, looming over them as Cal instinctively reached out, pulling the droid to him with the Force and impaling it with his saber before it could trigger its self-destruct.

“An Imperial probe droid,” Jayna breathed, meeting Cal’s wide eyes as BD booped at his back.

“They’re watching us,” he said. “C’mon, we need to hurry.”

Despite the unsettling feeling that came over her, centring itself in the pit of her stomach as a tangibly heavy dread, Jayna followed Cal as they started to climb up the wreckage of the Proficient.

They encountered more probe droids as they made their slow, careful way up the wreckage. Sometimes they were able to duck and hide until the droid passed, other times they were forced to destroy them. Each encounter wrenched the tension in Jayna’s body up another notch, until they finally managed to find a gap, they could squeeze through near the old conning tower at the top of the wreckage.

 As they climbed, she’d also been aware of Cal’s growing agitation as with every touch of his hand against the ship’s hull, he was nearly overwhelmed with sounds and images from the wreck’s past. Nevertheless, he led them with unwavering surety through the wreckage, even lopsided and half-flooded as it was.

“I lived on a ship like this for years. It became my home,” he said, at one point, his voice echoing in the eerie quiet of the wreckage. Jayna shot him a glance but stayed quiet, sensing his need to remind himself of the real world outside the remembered one in his head. “We scrapped them on Bracca. Every time it felt like picking at the bones of that life.”

“Beep boop!” BD replied quietly.

“Thanks, BD,” Cal said, softly, as they paused inside what looked like the hangar bay, or maybe the gunnery deck. Jayna didn’t know enough to tell. “I’m ok, just brings back memories.”

“Do you still blame them, the clones I mean?” she found herself asking softly as she followed him, unsure why she was asking but desperate to understand.

“Sometimes I still wonder how it happened,” he admitted softly, they paused before a long, towering gantry. “If there were any signs, I missed. I still can’t make sense of what happened. So yeah, I used to be angry at the clones. But I know this now: they were pawns, just like we were.”

He turned haunted eyes to Jayna, as she nodded and remained silent. But in her heart, it was breaking for him as he visibly steeled himself before starting the climb up the gantry tower. After a long, arduous climb they pulled themselves up into a small antechamber. The Force seemed to echo and ripple around them, as Cal hesitated, buffeted by it as it whispered and pulled at him. Jayna shot him a concerned look but didn’t say anything as he led the way through the barely functioning blast doors.

The echoes of the past weighed even on Jayna as she followed him, face and body braced as if for a blow. Across the bond, she tried to transfer as much as of her strength and support as she could and felt his unspoken gratitude in return. Not for the first time, she was absurdly grateful that of all the mystical, space magical gifts the Force could have granted her, it wasn’t something like psychometry that plagued her every waking moment.  

She wasn’t sure how Cal was still sane. Sensing it all second-hand through the bond was bad enough.

They felt the freshness of the icy wind on their dewed skin as they stepped into a large, cavernous room, near the very top of the wrecked ship. The floor was burned and pitted, overturned chairs and a large holo-table thrown all over the place by the crash. A hole had been torn in the bulkhead opposite them, letting in the elements and opening out onto a muddy plateau beyond.

“This would have been the ops briefing room,” Cal whispered, his head turning as the Force seemed to call him to one particular corner.

Tucked away, half-buried in a mudslide was what looked like a bundle of ragged, brown material. As Jayna followed Cal, she had a horrible feeling she knew what it was. Or what it once was.

Cal’s hand trembled as he reached out and touched the pile of rags, dislodging a fold to reveal…bones. Whether from time or predators, they were picked clean and bleached by the elements, as Jayna instinctively recoiled.

Cal’s eyes closed as he was overwhelmed by a tidal wave of images and sounds: “General Chiata, our forces have inflicted heavy damage to the Separatist dreadnought. Unfortunately, the same is true for our vessel. You know I’m not one to back down from a fight. Despite the damage, I recommend we see this through, together…”

Green skin, black tattoos… Mirialan…blue skin… lekku… Twi’lek… Master and Padawan…General Chiata… Marseph…

“There was a battle…the ship went down but…there were survivors,” Cal whispered aloud, eyes unseeing as ghosts of the past blinded him to the present.

“General! Are you injured?” – “I’m fine, Commander. W-where is Marseph? Where is my Padawan?” – My men are scouting the wreckage now. We’ll find him… I’m getting a transmission now, probably the squad. Hang on, it’s from the Supreme Chancellor!?” – “Execute Order 66.”

The hum of a blue lightsaber… the cries of pain and anguish as clone troopers went down… the acrid smell of burnt flesh from lightsaber wounds… the pain of blaster wounds weeping fresh blood… fear… betrayal… confusion…

“A Padawan survived the crash. He was looking for his Master… and the clone commander. He didn’t know they’d turned…”

Laser blasts… lightsaber humming… “Master, what’s happened to them?” – “I don’t know. There was a transmiss-urgh!” – “You’re bleeding!” – “Master!” – “Marseph, you must go! They’re still searching for you.” – “I’m not leaving you!”

Pain… desperation… crushing grief… dark green blood on peridot skin… the rattle of a dying breath… hot tears on his cheeks…

“I’m sorry, Master!”

“His Master died in his arms. He buried her the best he could…” Cal said aloud. “It was too dangerous to light a pyre…he died of his wounds soon after…”

“Cal!” Jayna called, both aloud and in the Force. The deluge of images and sounds stopped abruptly, as she knelt in front of him and clasped his face in her hands, his dazed eyes finding and holding hers. Her own cheeks were streaked with tears, her breathing shaky as her heart slowed, but it wasn’t herself she was concerned for. She could feel Cal slipping away again, and knew if she didn’t pull him free, he might be lost forever in the mists of the past.

Leaning forward, she gently pressed her lips to his. It was chaste and over in a flash, as she pulled her chin back, resting her forehead against his as she inwardly savoured the feel and warmth of Cal’s lips against her own, his eyes widening as he jolted back to alertness, panting against her mouth. “Come back to me,” she breathed. “Stay with me…”

“I’m here,” he whispered, feeling his heart slow as the grip of his psychometry lessened, shocked into abeyance by the weight of Jayna’s lips on his. His eyes flicked down to her mouth, fighting the rising urge to pull her forward and kiss her again, as she licked her lips. Shutting his eyes to the sight, quelling the urge ruthlessly, he leant into her as he repeated quietly. “I’m here.”

Jayna released a shaky sigh of relief, as BD booped quietly somewhere above them. Cal swallowed, reminding himself she’d only done it to shake him out of his psychometry-induced daze, and there was nothing more than friendship between them. Nevertheless, he couldn’t resist pressing an affectionate kiss against her forehead as he moved back, in thanks for her intercession.

“I think the Force wanted me to bear witness,” he whispered, eyes once again straying to the rotting brown robe and pile of bones. “To remember…”

“But why? There’s nothing we can do to change it,” she replied, following his gaze before firmly pulling it back to her own, two fingers tight against his chin. “We need to go.”

She stood, fluid and sure, clinging to her certainty that time was running out. They’d lost too much time already climbing through the wreckage, they needed to hurry. She felt it in her bones as well as in the Force.

“I know, I know,” Cal murmured, as he stood less gracefully, eyes straying again to the pile of bones. “Maybe one day…when the Empire’s not on our tail anymore, we can return. And lay them to rest properly.”

“One day,” Jayna agreed, linking his hand with hers. “Now come on.”

Unresisting, Cal let Jayna lead him on, leaving that desolate, forlorn place and the ghosts it harboured far behind.

After emerging, blinking in the sunlight, from the wreckage of the Proficient; Jayna, Cal and BD slipped their way down a mudbank until they stood beside the desiccated remains of the ship’s ventral thrusters. They ducked out of sight as a pair of probe droids hovered menacingly close-by, then Cal nudged Jayna, pointing to a zipwire that would get them across to the next platform where a turbolift waited.

With a nod, she followed Cal, waiting on tenterhooks as BD-1 took Cal across first, then came back for her. She landed hard, nearly losing her footing but for Cal grabbing her by the arm and hauling her upright. She fell hard against him, bodies pressed tightly together before she pushed away with a muttered thank you.

Lightsabers drawn, they cautiously made their way inside the blast doors, senses outstretched, searching for any sign of Stormtroopers, or worse. But the antechamber was empty, as was the turbolift. With a nod from Cal, Jayna stepped inside while Cal operated the controls.

“I think we’re getting close,” Cal breathed, making Jayna jump a little at the suddenness, the end to the uneasy silence that seemed to pervade the place as the turbolift descended.

“Be-boop boop trill?” BD-1 cocked its head, as Cal glanced at him, then back at Jayna.

“I noticed it earlier, this feeling in the pit of my stomach,” he admitted, as Jayna nodded.

“Me too. Like… dread but made heavy and cold,” she whispered.

“At first I thought it was Greez’s cooking,” Cal joked, but it fell flat in the tense atmosphere. “Now it’s getting even stronger. I think the closer we are, the worse we’ll feel.”

“The Empire?” Jayna asked.

“Possibly. Probably,” Cal answered. “The Dark Side infects this place like a cancer. It can’t mean anything good.”

Jayna opened her mouth to reply, but then the turbolift clanged to a halt, the doors opening behind her. With a nod from Cal, they warily stepped out and into the open.

They had reached the Imperial dig site.

It was a vast cavern, crisscrossed by power cables, ziplines and temporary command pods drilled and secured to the bedrock for the officers and scientists to work in. Somewhere nearby, they could hear the gentle, almost metallic tip-tap of water on rock from an underground waterfall.

“Boop be-be-be boop beep trill beep!” BD exclaimed, nudging Cal with its headcase as it pointed with its foot.

“He says we need to get to the turbolift in that shaft, the one over there,” Cal explained, pointing to a cylindrical shape in the distance, plated in durasteel for stability, on the opposite side of the cavern.

“Well, let’s get moving,” Jayna breathed, taking her saber from her belt in readiness as they began to make their way across the maze of walkways, tunnels and command pods towards the turbolift BD-1 had indicated.

They were cautious and stealthy, evading the majority of the guards they encountered until at last, they were spotted by a probe droid that raised the alarm. Forced to fight, they cut and slashed the rest of the way through the dig site, fighting for every inch of ground. True to Cere’s prediction, the site was crawling with Troopers, probe droids and security droids, and it felt like more were coming every time they turned a corner.

Jayna didn’t let herself think, just act as the Force flowed through her. With every instance she touched those shining threads, it became easier, giving her and Cal the strength and advantage over the Stormtroopers to keep going. Combined with the Force bond, they were unstoppable as they battled their way to the tomb.

Finally, they turned the last corner only to find their way blocked by a force field and a Purge Trooper, carrying twin stun batons.

“I see you, Jedi!” the Trooper growled through his helmet, brandishing his batons and charging. Jayna and Cal didn’t need to so much as look at each other to know what the other was thinking. In an instant, a plan was formulated and agreed upon, as Cal somersaulted over the charging Trooper’s head. Jayna threw herself into a horizontal flip to evade his stun batons, the heel of her boot catching him under the chin and stunning him for a few precious seconds.

At that moment, Cal landed and spun, his blade arcing in a deadly swipe that cut through the Trooper’s neck from behind, while Jayna spun and brought her own saber to bear from the front. The Purge Trooper didn’t have time to scream, or even groan, before his head was severed and his lifeless body collapsed twitching to the ground.

Panting, they caught their breath as BD-1 hopped from Cal’s back and scurried towards the force field. It was fed from a power terminal as BD jumped atop it to inspect it.

“Cere, we’re near the entrance to the Tomb,” Cal took the reprieve to check in, glancing at Jayna.

“Good work, you two,” Cere breathed, with relief.

“We’ve met pretty heavy resistance,” Jayna replied, glancing down at the dead Purge Trooper at their feet. “More Purge Troopers and security droids than Greez has credits.”

“Are the Inquisitors coming?” Cal asked.

“It’s possible,” Cere admitted grimly. “But we’re far from Bracca. They might think Purge Troopers are enough. Or they could be stalling you on purpose. Stay wary.”

“Will do,” Cal replied, with a swift glance at Jayna. “We’ll check in again when we’ve reached the Tomb.”

He terminated the commlink, as the force field shut down with a whir as the power failed. “Good work, bud,” Cal smiled at the little droid, dancing from foot to foot in pleasure. Meeting Jayna’s eyes, he nodded. “You ready?” he asked.

“After you,” she smiled, a forced, devil-may-care smile, but still one that managed to take his breath away. Pushing that aside, he turned and led the way to the turbolift that would take them down to the Tomb.

The feeling of darkness was overwhelming as they descended, like cold poison seeping through their veins. Jayna kept one hand on her saber as they descended, her heart racing in anticipation.

There was no more room for fear, she told herself. Now was the time for action.

Cal felt it, sensed her resolve, and clung to it himself. He was still feeling unsettled, reeling from the Force visions his psychometry had subjected him to whilst climbing through the wreck of the Proficient. He was glad at least one of them was focussed and ready. Reaching out to the bond, he felt it envelope them both, wrapping them in warmth and security as his anxiety ebbed and the dread in his gut eased.

They watched as they descended past gantries, scaffolding and rock, their hearts beating as one. They came to a stop in a wide, bowl-like cavern. Through the grimy transparisteel panels of the turbolift, they saw a wide, gaping hole in the rock wall, supported by scaffolding.

Then they saw her, as the turbolift doors opened and they stepped out.

The entrance to the Tomb was guarded by the Second Sister.

“Cal Kestis! Jayna Shan! How predictable!” she called tauntingly, her sibilant voice pronouncing the syllables of their names with relish. She stood tall and proud, a pillar of dark strength and menace as they felt the weight of her malevolent gaze through her helmet.

Jayna and Cal glanced at each other. Retreat wasn’t an option, there was only one way into the second Tomb. Which meant they had to fight.

They showed no surprise that she knew their names. They’d guessed, and confirmed, weeks ago that the Empire had discovered their identities. They fanned out, Jayna stepping right while Cal went left, so they stood diagonally to the Second Sister’s position.

She watched them, her amusement and contempt emanating from her in the Force as she continued, unconcerned by their manoeuvre. “I know your names. Your pasts… so very interesting…” she pronounced, with audible delight. “It’s no wonder you ended up in that orphanage,” she shook her head mock-sadly, as Jayna tensed. “Desert planets like Pasaana are such dangerous places to grow up in. Even for the daughter of a Jedi.”

Jayna’s mind stumbled, her words ringing in her head like a bell. ‘Don’t listen to her, Jayna. She’s trying to get in your head…,’ Cal’s voice cut through it, as she forced herself to focus again, making herself remember the plan as she waited for the moment to draw her saber.

“And you, Cal Kestis,” the Second Sister continued, turning her guns on Cal. “Such a tragic story. And I know it all,” she stated, with vicious anticipation. “But most importantly, about Cordova,” she added, turning her back to them, disdainful of the threat they posed. “Tell me, where did he hide the holocron?”

Jayna and Cal refused to let their surprise and shock show, only unclipping their sabers and activating them simultaneously, both settling into their preferred guards, Cal into Djem So and Jayna into Soresu.

Sensing their resolve, the Second Sister smiled beneath her helmet. “Outstanding,” she hissed, activating her own lightsaber as she whirled and leapt across the cavern.

She threw herself into a whirling attack, her blade raining down blows on their guards before Cal feinted and dodged, breaking her guard as Jayna slashed towards her midsection. It was blocked as the Inquisitor activated her second blow, another pillar of bloody red igniting to stop Jayna’s in its tracks.

“Well, you have come far haven’t you, little girl?” the Second Sister purred, and Jayna shuddered under the accompanying wave of anticipation and rage as she felt the dark Force user’s eyes on her saber. “Quite the prodigy, if Cere entrusted her lightsaber to you.”

The question of how the Inquisitor knew Cere rang in Jayna’s mind, but she didn’t voice it. She knew the Second Sister’s play. “You’re about to see just how far,” she growled defiantly, aggressively parrying the Second Sister’s blade and then aiming a kick at her solar plexus.

The Second Sister deflected it with her thigh, taking the hit with barely a grunt before she whirled and slammed Jayna’s cheek with the hilt of her saber. She followed up with a thrust that would have skewered Jayna while she reeled, but Cal was there, deflecting the blow and redirecting it until he was forced to leap away to avoid the second blade.

Back in the fight, Jayna leapt at the Second Sister, letting the Force guide her movements as she weaved and danced through a complicated mix of Soresu and Ataru velocities, but the Second Sister was more than up to the challenge. She deflected, parried, and dodged with ease, her delighted laughter ringing throughout the cavern.

Cal and Jayna found themselves stuck, with Cal caught between Jayna and the Inquisitor as she swiped at Cal. Ducking down, Cal felt Jayna’s weight as his back as she flipped over it, evading the Inquisitor’s blade and landing a burning, glowing gash to her helmet.

The Second Sister reeled with the blow, panting hard as she went down on one knee. Jayna couldn’t resist a quip as she asked, mockingly, “Oh, I forgot to ask! How’s the arm?”

The Second Sister laughed, before driving her saber into the ground and using the anchorage afforded by the bedrock to throw herself into a whirling, horizontal kick, her boot slamming into Jayna’s face as she flung away.

Winded and fighting to get her breath back, Jayna was vaguely aware of Cal continuing to fight, drawing the Second Sister’s attention from her. Desperately, she reached out in the Force, opening herself up and pulling on the thread that bound her to the Second Sister.

She yanked it, hard, and thought: You cannot beat us. You will fail.

The Second Sister stumbled for a moment, her arms drooping as she hissed in a breath, then she recovered in a terrifying flood of dark power, catching Cal in a Force-choke as he went to slice at her arm, holding him effortlessly aloft as she turned to look at Jayna.

She tutted patronisingly, as she twirled her red saber indolently. “Ah ah ah,” she purred. “Not so fast. Your skill has grown, little Jedi but it’ll take far more than that for your battle meditation to defeat me. I’ve suffered far worse than your meagre little manipulations. Now, watch him die!”

Jayna heard BD’s warning beep just as Cal shouted in her head: ‘NOW!’

Calling on the last of her strength, Jayna flung herself to her feet, calling her saber to hand and rushing the Second Sister. Contemptuously, the Inquisitor made as if to swat her aside, but Jayna changed her trajectory at the last moment, leaping and tackling Cal around the waist where he floated in mid-air. Reaching back with her spare arm, she pushed in the Force, meeting the Inquisitor’s resistance as she pushed back, her boots scraping against the stone as she was forced back a few metres.

The momentum generated by the two Force pushes sent Cal and Jayna careening through the scaffolding at the other end of the cavern, landing hard and winding them.

But they weren’t safe yet.

The Second Sister was across the cavern in an instant, her blade raised and ready for a killing blow. “BD, NOW!” Jayna screamed, instinctively shielding herself with her upflung hand as if to the block the killing strike.

The little droid burbled and trilled, as the force field activated just in time to block the Second Sister’s strike.

Jayna sagged in relief, as she met Cal’s eyes on her other side. With a nod, they carefully pulled themselves up, BD hopping down from its perch, trilling contentedly.

On the other side, the Second Sister prowled like a manka tiger denied her prey, testing the force field with her blade a few times before giving it up. “You’re learning,” she proclaimed, coolly as if they had just finished a sparring session. “You have potential,” she nodded to Jayna, before tilting her head as she glanced at Cal. “Not quite as gifted as Cere’s last apprentice but…not bad.”

“You’ve been keeping count,” Cal replied with quiet disgust.

“I’m surprised she didn’t tell you. Cere was never good at keeping secrets…” the Second Sister trailed off, as Jayna inhaled raggedly. She remembered the rage and familiarity she’d sensed in the Inquisitor when she realised Jayna was using Cere’s lightsaber, as instinct whispered something was about to go very badly wrong.

“Cal…,” she breathed, tugging on his arm but he wouldn’t listen, intent on the Inquisitor as she paced in front of them.

“And you know her so well, huh?” Cal demanded mockingly.

The Second Sister chuckled, disdainfully as she stopped pacing to face them. “She was weak,” she said, with relish. “Cracked in an Imperial torture chair. Surrendered the location of her naïve Padawan. They never would have found me-,” she paused, raising gloved hands to her helmet. There was a pneumatic hiss as the clasps disengaged, and she pulled it free. “If it wasn’t for her,” she concluded, her voice lyrical and soft without the vocoder. “She betrayed me.”

Jayna and Cal sucked in a breath, as they realised who stood before them.

“You’re Trilla,” Cal said, in realisation.

“In the flesh,” she purred, almost seductively as her yellow eyes raked across them. Straight, dark hair fell in lank, unkempt locks against dark skin, but she looked bloodless and drawn, deep shadows under her unnatural yellow eyes as she smiled in a mocking rictus of pleasure.

In other circumstances, Jayna could see she would be beautiful. But in the uniform of an Inquisitor, ravaged by the Dark Side and her own hatred and rage, she was as beautiful as a rotting flower.

“We won’t let you manipulate us,” Cal declared, turning his back with a growl. Jayna ignored his tugging on her arm to do the same, almost hypnotised by those yellow eyes. But the Second Sister was far from finished.

“So sure, are you?” she called, with a pleased smile. “When faced with the choice to protect herself or her Padawan, she chose self-interest. She’ll sell you out too!”

Jayna sensed a glimmer of truth to her claim. The Second Sister…Trilla’s rage and hate were all too real.

“I think we can handle ourselves,” Jayna said, contemptuously. “And I doubt you’re telling us out of concern for our wellbeing.”

“Can you afford to take that chance?” Trilla asked, her yellow eyes flitting from one to the other. “Your new master harbours great darkness-,”

Despite herself, Jayna’s mind flashed back to that first tentative exploration in the Force, and the darkness she’d sensed in Cere.

“- The look on her face when she saw what they had done to me? As I am now?” Trilla continued, twisting the knife even as her face contorted with remembered anguish. “She turned, exposing her true nature. She used…the Dark Side.”

“She cut herself off from the Force,” Cal protested weakly, his mind racing as he recalled every moment, every private conversation with Cere since they’d met on Bracca.

“Oh?” Trilla huffed, as if amused by Cal’s naïveté. “How long before she cracks and betrays you too? Is that who you want beside you when you find the holocron?”

“He’ll have me beside him,” Jayna replied firmly, stepping up beside Cal as she stared down the Inquisitor. “I know what you’re doing. You’re trying to divide, distract us by sowing conflict. It’s the oldest play in the book.”

“And yet, you know I’m right, Jayna,” Trilla countered, as the younger woman’s face turned stony, unable to refute her own perceptions. “Dear me, what a disappointment you’re both turning out to be.”

“Bizarrely, we don’t really care about disappointing you,” Jayna replied sarcastically.

Trilla just smiled unpleasantly. “We’ll see about that, soon enough,” she remarked silkily. “But it wasn’t myself I was referring to.”

“What are you talking about?” Cal demanded, becoming more and more agitated. But he couldn’t bring himself to walk away now as Trilla bared her teeth at him in a vicious, anticipatory smile.

“What a disappointment you’re turning out to be, to your master, to your precious dead Order, and even to yourselves!” she pronounced. “What would Jaro Tapal say? What would your father say?”

“You have no right to – wait, what?” Cal’s snarled reply was abruptly ended, as he stared at the Inquisitor with wide eyes. “What are you talking about?”

“Your former Master was quite the hero,” Trilla replied, a sculpted brow quirking as cruelty gleamed in her eyes. “Decorated war hero, respected commander, feared warrior. Of course, all that pales in comparison to your father, boy.”

“What are you talking about?” Jayna demanded, eying her like she was a bug she’d really like to squash. Trilla noted it, as in the Force she sensed the first shades of darkness to the young woman’s Light.

“And you. The daughter of a former Jedi, Dreya Shan,” she smirked. “Celebrated healer, descendant of the legendary Lord Revan and Bastila Shan, prodigy in the Force. Left it all behind to marry some nobody, untrained mongrel from a backwater planet…well, I suppose we know where you get your rebellious streak from.”

“Enough mind games!” Cal shouted, his hands balling into fists as Jayna jumped and BD trilled in alarm and concern on his back. Beside them, a crack appeared in the cave wall, gaping wide even as Cal ignored it, too intent on the Second Sister and the revelation she was so cruelly and slowly dangling in front of them. As if learning the truth of Cere’s past wasn’t bad enough…

“Very well, I’ll give you this one for free,” Trilla purred with satisfaction. “The DNA analyses we ran to identify you both confirmed it. Although clearly blood isn’t everything…what shame General Tapal and… General Kenobi would feel if they could see you now, skulking in the shadows with a betrayer!”

Cal’s breath strangled in his throat. “You’re lying,” he protested weakly, shaking his head.

“What would either say if he could see his Padawan, his son now?” Trilla continued, poison dripping from every word. “Go ahead, reach out. Feel my sincerity, know I speak the truth. Even Grandmaster Yoda knew it, it seems. The only one who remained in the dark was you…”

Jayna felt it as Cal reached out, desperate, and unguarded, eyes locked with Trilla’s. The revelation of her mother barely made her flinch, although it explained a lot. But still, there were a lot of unanswered questions she had.

And she wouldn’t trust this fallen Jedi to give her the answers, not in a million years.

“DREYA! NO!” a voice, male, tinged with fear and grief, rang in her mind as she closed her eyes, wincing as something made it through the barrier in her memories. She felt Trilla’s satisfaction when she noticed the flinch, yellow eyes glancing at her.

“Oh dear, unpleasant memory?” she inquired, mock-solicitously as Jayna opened her eyes and glared at her. “How Cere must be thrilled with your little quest, granting her access to a legion of impressionable students…but then, you’ve already given her Jayna, so what’s a few more?”

“No,” Cal snarled, stepping so close to the force field, his nose almost grazed it as he stared Trilla down. “I won’t let anyone touch them. I won’t let anyone touch her.”

Trilla just smirked, her eyes roving over Cal’s face before flitting to Jayna and sneering contemptuously. Dismissively, she turned her back and summoned her helmet to hand, walking away as she offered one last parting shot, her voice oddly desolate.

“I thought the same thing once.”

Jayna and Cal watched her walk away, minds reeling, hearts thundering as confusion, betrayal and uncertainty pounded like a drumbeat in their blood.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Jayna shivered as she stood in the cold, damp tunnel beside Cal. Neither had moved since watching the Second Sister…Trilla march away after divulging her revelations. One after the other, they had rocked them both as they stood and listened.

‘Probably not so badly, for me,’ she reflected dazedly. ‘A part of me knew what she was going to say. A part of me knew…knows who my family was. I just can’t remember… and whether she realised it nor not, she did me a favour… I now know I didn’t end up in that orphanage because my parents abandoned me there…’

Cal, on the other hand… she couldn’t imagine what he was going through. She could sense it, sense the pain, confusion, and anguish roiling around inside him, a sense of betrayal eating away at his control like a cancer. She reached out to him, whispering his name. “Cal…?”

He flinched away, and she tried not to feel stung by it. “Don’t!” he snarled.

“Cal…,” Jayna tried again, but with a noise like a wounded animal, Cal flung away, pacing towards the end of the tunnel.

“She’s lying, she has to be,” he muttered, partially under his breath. “She’s an Inquisitor, a Dark Side Force user. She’ll say anything to distract us-!”

Jayna sighed, digging deep for patience. Pushing aside her own confusion and uncertainty, she strode after Cal, grabbed him by the arm and slammed him forcefully into the rocky wall of the tunnel.

“Hey!”

“Now shut up and listen to me!” Jayna shouted over him, one brow raised as she pressed her weight into him to stop him moving. Sensation raced through her, making her shudder as she felt something similar rack Cal when he abruptly stopped moving. “You’re right that she’d say anything to distract us, slow us down, so she can get that holocron first but… you sensed it as well as I did, Cal. She might be using this to hurt us, but she was telling the truth. Somehow… she found out things we didn’t even know ourselves: I’m the daughter of a Jedi and you’re… you’re the son of one too. But in this moment in time, does that change anything?”

Cal huffed in frustration and grudging acceptance. “No,” he admitted sullenly.

“Does what she said about Cere impact us, here and now, and what we came here to do?” Jayna continued sternly.

“You were right about Cere,” Cal breathed, leaning his head back against the cool rock behind him.

“That as may be, I don’t take any pleasure in it,” Jayna replied, her voice softening. “Now answer me: does what she told us about Cere change anything, right here, right now?”

“No, it doesn’t,” he admitted once again, taking a deep breath through his nose. “You’re right.”

“I usually am,” she replied jokingly, teasing a swift glare from him. “Let’s just focus on what we came here to do… we can sort out the rest of this bantha shitshow later.”

Slowly, she eased away from him, so her weight was no longer pinning him to the wall. “She was right. Some Jedi I’m turning out to be…,” Cal muttered, shaking his head as a new emotion entered the mix: shame. “He… they would be ashamed of me right now.”

“You’re allowed to be human, Cal,” she replied softly, holding out a hand to him. “One step at a time, ok?”

On Cal’s shoulder, BD-1 booped and trilled encouragingly, the droid’s headcase and chassis pressing against the side of Cal’s head in an approximation of an affectionate nuzzle. “Thanks for the help back there, BD,” Cal murmured quietly, closing his eyes as he lent his head against the droid. “You saved our lives.”

“Beep boop!” BD exclaimed excitedly.

“And got us closer to the Tomb,” Jayna added, with a small smile. “What would we do without you?”

“Trill!” the droid replied, a distinctly sarcastic chord to its tone.

A weak smile graced Cal’s tired features, as he reached out and grasped Jayna’s hand. In companionable silence, they turned and headed deeper into the tunnels.

Across the Force bond, Jayna felt Cal’s mind pressing against hers as tangibly as she’d felt his body against that wall. Only two words filtered across as she walked with him into the darkness.

‘Thank you.’

‘Any time, Kestis.’

After what felt like an eternity scrabbling around in caverns and tunnels only half-lit by natural fissures in the rock formed by millennia of erosion, they finally came to a dead-end, between two walls of porous rock covered in strange looking fungi. The rock ahead was cracked and weakened, perhaps by natural processes, perhaps by abandoned attempts to blast through it.

Jayna felt Cal reach out, probing the rock and the structures around it for weaknesses that could cause a cave-in, but it seemed they’d be safe. With a nod from Jayna, Cal pushed out his hand and sent a wave of Force energy careening into the rock.

It exploded outwards, in an eruption of stone and minerals, loud enough to make Jayna wince. “If there are Imperial troops down in the Tomb, someone will have heard that,” she breathed. “We need to hurry.”

As they moved deeper into the caves, they found signs of the Imperials’ presence there, but no Stormtroopers, Purge Troopers or worse, Inquisitors.

In the Force, that feeling of dread that had afflicted them since Kashyyyk had lifted, but there was still a pervasive feeling of shadow, of darkness as they drew closer to the Tomb. At first, Cal had thought it was due to the presence of the Second Sister on the planet but… the closer they got, the more he realised that it was emanating from the Tomb itself.

He guessed they were close when fungi-draped stone began turning to gilded alloy plating, etched with ancient hieroglyphics. As they squeezed through one final, narrow gap between two such walls, they emerged onto a wide, natural platform from which the Tomb of Miktrull was revealed in all its glory.

Like the Tomb of Eilram, the Tomb of Miktrull was a vast, gargantuan complex of carved stone. But unlike the first Tomb, there were visible, ostentatious signs of wealth and power in the gilded panelling they could see flashing in the scant sunlight let in by a wide chasm in the rock above their heads. A stone causeway ran from the towering archway that served as both entrance and exit, leading past their platform and into the darkness of the caves.

“We found it. It feels… different than the other Tomb,” Cal breathed, in both wonder and unease. In the Force, the Tomb stank of corruption and vanity, edged by darkness. In the first Tomb, he could still sense echoes of the reverence, wisdom and love of life the Zeffo who had built it and worshipped in it had for the galaxy; this one had clung to a veneer of care and devotion, but it was shallow, false as a painted face on a porcelain doll. Like a flower that had begun to rot from within, its beauty was only skin-deep.

“I know. I feel it too,” Jayna replied quietly. When Cal glanced at her, she looked pale and faintly nauseous. “Must be worse for you, huh? With the psychometry?”

“Yeah, it could be,” he muttered, glancing away. “I’ll try not to touch anything.”

“Otherwise I’ll have to kiss you again and that’s an ordeal we don’t need to face a second time,” she quipped, fast and biting as ever as Cal forced a laugh. In truth, a part of him was still reeling from that single, pure moment when he’d floated back to the surface after his psychometry dragged him under to feel her lips against his. A part of him that was still reliving the feel of her body against his, first then and again when she pinned him against the wall. With a slight surge of irritation, he pushed it aside, burying it in the same box in his head he’d shoved his other emotions into after the Second Sister’s revelations.

He was jolted from his thoughts by Jayna’s forceful tug on his arm, accompanied by her voice in his head. ‘Hello! Kestis, Jayna to Kestis! Quit daydreaming, we’ve got company!’ she snapped acerbically, pointing to the Tomb. As he strained to see, he could make out the white plastoid armour of Stormtroopers swarming all over the Tomb.

‘Of course, we do,’ Cal sighed. ‘We might be able to avoid the bulk of the patrols and search teams if we go along the outside and sneak in.’

‘Great, more climbing,’ Jayna grumbled. ‘Lead the way. We should probably check in with Cere and Greez.’

 Cal’s jaw firmed but, with a swift glance from Jayna, he gave in. “Hey Cere? We found it but…,” he began, opening up the channel as he and Jayna began to hurry towards where he could see several ledges that would bring them close to the causeway leading into the Tomb. Trailing off, he tried to keep his voice level and calm, but even he could hear the break in it as he felt Jayna’s swift look of concern. “Cere, why didn’t you tell me?”

But it wasn’t Cere who answered. “Because she’s a liar,” replied the smooth, cruel voice of the Second Sister.

“And like a bad credit, you keep turning up,” Jayna sighed wearily.

“You, how?” Cal asked, disturbed as he realised that the Inquisitor had sliced their communications somehow.

“I rerouted communication the moment you tried to contact her,” she purred, self-satisfaction and vicious delight practically dripping from every syllable. “Slicing encrypted transmissions was always a pastime of hers. She taught me once…,”

Cal couldn’t be sure, but he thought he almost heard an edge of vulnerability in her voice as she said that last.

It was banished almost immediately as the Second Sister continued in their ears, arrogant and self-assured once more. “There’s no technique Cere has that I haven’t perfected.”

“Yeah, you’re a regular chip off the ol’ Junda block,” Jayna replied, rolling her eyes. “But I mean, seriously…don’t you Imps ever get tired of the sound of your own voices?”

“Well, you sound remarkably chipper, but I do wonder how your poor partner is holding up?” the Second Sister replied silkily. Jayna couldn’t help but sneak a glance at Cal as a muscle firmed and ticked in his jaw at the obvious insinuation.

‘Ignore her. She’s just trying to stall us,’ he whispered across the Force bond, as she nodded and cut the transmission. Putting all thoughts of the Second Sister and Cere aside, they turned their minds to the hazardous task of traversing across the cavern wall to the causeway, as first Cal, then Jayna leapt and grabbed hold of the ledge just above where they stood.

They edged across, slowly, and cautiously, dropping to a lower ledge that would leave them below the vantage point of the causeway, where they could sense a patrol of Stormtroopers milling about. Refusing to think about the endless drop below, Jayna followed Cal as he steadily made his way to where he could see a series of handholds on the causeway’s outer structure, copying his movements as she fought to ignore the burning in her muscles.

Eventually, finally, Cal began to climb up instead of sideways, as Jayna felt his awareness flare and expand, taking in the patrol of Stormtroopers on the causeway. He lingered, just close enough to the top that he could quickly scramble over but still out of sight, as Jayna waited, hoping he would move sooner rather than later as her hands became slippery from sweat.

‘Ok, move!’ he hissed in her head, as he pulled himself up and over, landing in a crouch and quickly hurrying away. Jayna pulled herself over the edge of the causeway, limbs shaking with exertion as she looked to her right to see the armoured backs of several Stormtroopers, moving steadily away. ‘Jayna, come on!’

Shaking herself from her distraction, she half-ran, half-crawled to where Cal had gone, hiding in the shadow of a column further up. She glanced towards the entrance into the Tomb, but it was barred by an ornate portcullis, formed of the same intricate designs they’d seen in the first Tomb but rendered in a golden-hued alloy. She looked her question as Cal shook his head.

‘Opening mechanism is on the other side. The antechamber is crawling with Stormtroopers,’ he explained.

Jayna glanced over the side, her eyes drawn to a small platform in the rock, several metres down from the level of the portcullis and the causeway. It was only just visible, but there was a wide crack in the rock, just large enough for a small, slight human, and if the light streaming from it was any indication, it led somewhere. ‘There!’ she replied urgently, pointing to the crack. ‘Let’s see where that leads…’

‘There’s a grating we can climb over there!’ Cal agreed, nodding towards where it was, inlaid into the side of the Tomb for some long-forgotten purpose. With a shared nod, they crept up the causeway until they were level with the grating, as Cal gestured for Jayna to go first while he kept an eye on the patrol of Stormtroopers that were beginning to turn around and make their way back up the causeway.

Judging the distance, Jayna swung her legs over the side, fighting a dizzying sense of vertigo as the abyss below them seemed to beckon threateningly. Taking a deep breath and closing her mind to it, she turned and scrambled for a foothold. Once she was relatively secure, she reached deep for all her strength before pushing off the side of the causeway. Throwing herself into the void, she felt the Force flow through her, carrying an onslaught of sensation as she rushed through the air: the icy chill of the wind against her dewed skin, the smell of sweat, decay and damp, the low crunching of loose pebbles under the Stormtroopers’ boots as they came ever closer to Cal’s hiding place.

Reaching with all her might, Jayna managed to catch hold of the grating. Clutching the ancient metal with all her strength, she prayed it wouldn’t collapse on her as she looked up at Cal and nodded as she carefully began to edge sideways along the grating. Cal joined her a moment later, just in time as above their heads, they could hear the troopers bickering about a scazz stealing someone’s blaster.

It was with great relief that Jayna jumped to the platform, taking the opportunity to collapse against the side of the Tomb’s walls, panting for breath. In the relative safety of their position, Cal wordlessly passed her his water bottle as she took a few restorative sips.

‘I could really do with a few shots of tihaar right now,’ she thought wryly. Cal eyed her, shocked as she stared back defiantly. ‘What?’ she demanded, mindful of the Stormtroopers still too close by for comfort. ‘Don’t tell me you’ve never tried tihaar?’

‘What is it?’ he asked, curiously.

‘It’s a Mandalorian spirit, distilled from stuff like jewel-fruit or varos fruit,’ she explained, handing back his water bottle gratefully. ‘If you’re not careful, it can knock you on your arse with a single sip. They use the really potent stuff to de-grease engine components.’

‘Sounds delightful,’ Cal replied sarcastically. ‘Where’d you try that?’

‘Nar Shaddaa. It was… educational,’ Jayna answered, as she stood up, energy a little restored by the rest. ‘A bit like this whole crazy road trip is turning out to be. Shall we?’

For an answer, Cal turned and led the way as he disappeared into the crack, and then Jayna after him, as the sound of the Stormtrooper patrol faded into the distance.

They emerged into a narrow chamber, dimly lit but for the crackling lightning of a Tomb Guardian as it discharged its chest weapon, taking out the two unfortunate Stormtroopers who’d stumbled across it.

Cal grabbed Jayna, pulling her back into the shadows as the Guardian paused, obviously alert and searching for more intruders.

‘We need to approach this carefully,’ Cal murmured across the bond. ‘This chamber’s narrow, it’ll be easy for us to get pinned down by that energy discharge, then we’ll be finished.’

‘Barbecued human and droid, sounds delicious,’ Jayna replied dryly. Her expression turned calculating as she mused, ‘I wonder, did these Zeffo make their Tomb security Force-resistant?’

‘There’s no such thing,’ Cal replied, brows furrowed. ‘The Force surrounds and binds us all.’

‘Droids are outside it, though,’ she retorted. ‘You can’t mind trick a droid.’

‘True but… they are still subject to other techniques. If I wanted to, I could send BD floating up into the air, or hurtling across this chamber.’

‘Poor BD. Point taken,’ Jayna replied with a cocky smile as Cal rolled his eyes. ‘Think we could push that energy core right out of its chassis?’

‘Worth a try,’ Cal replied, his frown clearing as he realised what she was planning. He unclipped his saber from his belt as Jayna nodded, mentally girding herself as she called on the Force.

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes as she reached out, letting that familiar energy suffuse her entire being. Tainted it might be, but the Force was still extant around them, in the very bones of the stone that surrounded them. When she opened her eyes, she flicked a sideways glance at Cal, and nodded once.

With a cry, he threw himself out from behind the pillar they’d hid behind, lightsaber aloft. The Guardian rounded on him, its core already thrumming as it readied to discharge, as the Guardian stomped ever closer. Cal and BD dodged the first deadly barrage, dropping and rolling once, twice before they threw themselves against the opposite wall, taking shelter behind the stone base of a torch.

As the Guardian powered down its weapon, re-charging it in preparation for another burst while it stomped over to find the intruder, Jayna pivoted behind it, arms outstretched and hands splayed, knuckles turning white as she strained. In the Force, the energy core howled and screamed as Jayna yanked it from its resting place, holding it in mid-air as it shook and crackled with discharge. The Guardian froze, unable to move with its power source dragged so far away from its body, but not for long. Jayna was struggling to hold it.

‘Cal! Hurry up!’ she snapped in their heads, as Cal dodged out from behind the pillar, avoiding the Guardian’s raised foot as he activated his saber and brought it down in a wide arc on top of the hovering energy core. As Cal’s saber cleared it, Jayna released her grip on the core, sending it rushing back into the Guardian’s chassis as it exploded.

The Guardian collapsed into a heap of charred metal as Cal and Jayna caught their breaths.

“Nice idea,” he panted, as BD booped in agreement at his back.

“Thanks,” Jayna smiled wearily. “I’m just glad it worked. Where are we?”

Spotting a holoprojector dangling from the belt of one of the dead troopers, Cal crouched down beside the corpse as he unhooked the device, then turned it over and pried the back open. Removing the datachip inside, he offered it to BD, who opened up a small port in its headcase. “I guessed they might carry some kind of map around,” he explained, glancing up at Jayna as BD’s holo-emitters flared to life, projecting a map of the Tomb onto the stone floor at their feet. “Well, the causeway is here,” Cal mused, eyes roving over the holo intently. “We entered from this side and climbed up here, then dropped down there,” he continued, pointing to the little rocky platform they’d found after reaching the causeway. “I’d say we’re about here, on the Tomb’s lowest level. If it’s anything like the first one, we’re going to need to climb to the top to find any clues.”

“The next room looks like some kind of drainage chamber,” Jayna sighed. “Looks like more wet feet. You drag me to the nicest places, Kestis.”

“If we survive this, I promise I’ll take you somewhere nice. Maybe Tatooine, since you hate water so much?” he replied jokingly, a twinkle in his eye as BD turned off the holo-map and clambered back on his shoulders.

“Hilarious, Poncho Boy,” she muttered, rolling her eyes. “Like you’d last ten minutes in the twin suns.”

“Probably not,” he granted, turning away from the dead troopers and the deactivated Guardian to see a narrow passageway, leading away from that narrow chamber. “C’mon, we’d better hurry.”

The passageway led into a wide, circular room lit by tall, flaming lamps. At one end, a gilded gate blocked the way out as they stepped into icy water that lapped around their ankles. Overhead, water poured down from grates in the ceiling, in circular channels so it was easy to avoid getting totally soaked as they stepped inside.

In the middle of the room, there was a large, bowl-like depression and directly opposite it, on the furthest side of the room from the gate, was one of the great, etched golden balls set in a groove in the floor that Jayna recalled from the first Tomb.

‘Seriously, what was it with these guys and balls?’ she wondered bemusedly as Cal chuckled in her head. “I think that’s the mechanism for opening the gate,” she said, nodding to the ball and groove.

“I got this one,” Cal replied, stepping towards it just as there came the tinny burble of the commlink activating in their ears. “Cere?”

“Guess again,” the Second Sister’s refined tones were viciously satisfied, making Jayna’s heart sink. “You’re running out of time.” Her singsong words had all the pleasure of a nexu playing with its food.

“For what?” Cal asked, caustically.

“My scouts located an artefact of interest at the rear of this tomb. Even now, I’m studying it, learning his secrets. It seems Cordova was rather taken with these Zeffo. Perhaps enough to hide the holocron amongst their bones.”

“Yeah, we’ll see how much you learn,” he scoffed, cutting the channel as Jayna looked to him worriedly. Glancing at her, he doggedly strode towards the ball. ‘We need to hurry.’

She stepped in front of him, her hand splayed on his chest. ‘Cal, stop,’ she hissed across the bond, mindful of being overheard or detected by any probe droids. ‘Stop and think. Somehow, I doubt the only trap she set was our little sparring session back at the excavation site. She wants us to go there.’

‘We can’t take the risk that she’s found something that could lead her to Bogano!’ Cal retorted heatedly. Stepping around Jayna, he reached out and pushed the ball with the Force. It rocketed across the floor in its groove, rolling smoothly to a halt in its socket as it clicked into place. There came a rumbling sound as the gate at the opposite end of the room retracted, leaving their way open. “Come on,” he said shortly, striding towards it and leaving Jayna to hurry behind him.

They found themselves in yet another partially flooded passageway that led to a ruined chamber. Part of the wall directly opposite them had crumbled with age and decay, and thick, twisted vines had covered the gap, so they’d be lucky to make it through, if they hadn’t had lightsabers.

“Fwoo-be-doo!” BD exclaimed, jumping from Cal’s back and scurrying across to where a small stone pillar stood, beside a wall of smaller, metallic balls that Cal realised were highly ornate, spherical torches. On top of the pillar was a switch as the familiar voice of Eno Cordova filled the room.

“My friend, these devices appear to simulate the planet’s gravitational pull. I can’t help but see it as a motif. This place, less a tomb and more a temple for one ruler’s pride. I’ve found repeated glyphs with the same word ‘astrium’. Always near damaged statues. I believe this ‘astrium’ was once a ubiquitous sacred symbol. Perhaps even linked to the Vault.”

Jayna’s brow crinkled as she glanced at Cal. Motif for what?

Experimentally, Cal pulled the switch. With a groan of ancient technology that hadn’t been used in millennia, the torches suddenly rocketed across the room from their alcoves, until they came to a stop against the opposite wall, apparently content to float serenely in the air as Cal and Jayna stared, open-mouthed up at them.

One of the torches floated too close to the brambles that blocked their path, catching flame instantly and spreading across the dry wood, devouring it in seconds. Within a minute, the brambles were nothing but smoking ash on the cracked flagstones, as a stairway revealed itself, winding away out of sight up the side of the Tomb.

“Motif, huh?” Jayna breathed.

BD booped and trilled in amusement.

“Fire and water…,” Cal breathed, pondering what they’d seen so far. Unlike the wind motifs they’d seen in the first Tomb, motifs Cordova had hypothesised signified the Force to the Zeffo, the change was intriguing and somehow disquieting, considering the difference in energy he could feel from this Tomb. Glancing up, he caught Jayna’s narrow-eyed stare as she glared at him. “What?”

“You could have just used a lightsaber,” she remarked pointedly.

Cal flashed her an impish smirk. “But then it wouldn’t have been nearly so cool,” he quipped, leading the way up the stairs. He felt Jayna follow, her mind doing the mental equivalent of a head shake as she replied through the bond.

‘You’re such a dork, Poncho boy.’

That moment of levity distracted him as they made their way up the stairs. As did the ensuing fight as they found themselves on a ledge above a room filled with Stormtroopers, their blasters trained on the trio.

He let the Force flow through him, guiding his movements as he deflected blaster bolts, dodged, parried, scythed and sliced his way through their attackers, Jayna at his side an unstoppable whirlwind as they decimated the Stormtroopers.

For a moment, they paused, taking in their surroundings as an eerie silence fell, punctuated only by the sound of falling water around them. The chamber they stood in, several levels up from the drainage chamber they’d found earlier, was spherical in shape but layered into different levels. The walls, between alcoves of spherical candles, was embossed with cartouches of Zeffo hieroglyphics, as BD played another audio log from Cordova.

“My friend, what I’ve found here is disconcerting. It seems these candles were offerings brought to this Tomb in exaltation of the Sage Miktrull. At first, I believed them to be votives to the Life Wind but the further I delve into this Tomb, the less the evidence supports this. And yet there is one gift that intrigues me: statuary of Zeffo holding circular objects like spheres. Though much of this Tomb is well-preserved, these are uniformly destroyed. An interesting puzzle.”

“Is that what we’re looking for, one of these astrium?” Jayna breathed her question, as BD booped uncertainly.

“Boop-boo!”

Cal frowned. “I don’t know but we need to hurry. The Second Sister might have found one, perhaps,” he replied, impatiently. BD activated the map for him again, as he peered at the different corridors that led off the levels of this chamber. Obviously, it had acted as a central ‘hub’ of sorts, for worshippers to come and go. He could only see one route that led to the back of the Tomb, however.

“Over there,” he nodded, to where a ledge opened up into a narrow doorway to the corridor beyond. With a nod from Jayna, they jogged across, jumping up and hurrying down the passageway beyond, conscious of ever-increasing urgency in their veins: time was running out.

Their path led back out and onto the periphery of the complex, traversing the cracked, aged stone as they jumped from handhold to handhold, using the vines and creepers, that covered the Tomb and fed off the constant flow of water to make them strong and numerous, to support their weight and use as ropes to swing from point to point.

Finally, they reached a stone bridge that extended from a locked gate on the other side of the chamber. They paused to catch their breath as the commlink chimed again.

“More of my soldiers breach this tomb every minute,” the Second Sister remarked.

“Afraid to face us again so soon?” Cal scoffed disdainfully.

“Had your droid not intervened, I would’ve killed you with ease,” she chuckled with contempt.

“Oh, I dunno,” Jayna replied coolly. “So far, I got your arm and your helmet. Next time it might be your head.”

“The next time we meet, Jayna Shan, I shall take great delight in repaying, cut for cut, your tiny victories,” the Second Sister retorted cruelly.

“Promises, promises,” Jayna replied airily.

“We’ll see,” the Second Sister cut the transmission, sounding distinctly peeved as Cal smothered a laugh.

“You’re infuriating, y’know that?” he asked, at Jayna’s raised, questioning brow.

“It’s a gift,” she replied, with a small smile. She sobered a moment later, her expression turning serious. “She’s trying to wear us down, sow enough self-doubt that we’ll slip up.”

“I know,” Cal breathed, as memories from the fight with the Second Sister seemed to flash through his mind: the smell of ozone, the impact of cold stone against his back, the cruel, triumphant expression of the Second Sister as she revealed herself and tore Cal’s world down, one word at a time.

Was his entire life a lie? Had the entire Order known, even his own Master…?

He was aware of a cold, callused hand against his cheek as he looked down into soft, compassionate brown eyes. “Hey,” Jayna whispered comfortingly. “Let’s just get through this. Then we’ll sort out the rest, yeah?”

“Yeah,” he breathed, trying his best to push aside his thoughts and emotions. He needed to focus.

With a firm nod, Jayna stepped away from him and they continued on. Eventually, after scurrying and leaping across a series of platforms, dodging Purge troopers, the local fauna, and Stormtroopers, they managed to squeeze through a narrow gap in the outer walls to emerge into a rocky passage leading ever upwards.

The chime of the commlink nearly had him groaning in resignation.

“Don’t you ever take a hint?” Jayna demanded sarcastically, before the Second Sister had a chance to speak. “You must really love the sound of your own voice.”

“Oh dear, am I getting to you, little girl?” the Second Sister replied coldly. “You’ve done well to evade my soldiers so far, but your luck is running out.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Cal replied, his tone equally as glacial. “Forgive us if we don’t exactly take you at your word.”

“In fact, feel free to quit with the warnings,” Jayna added.

“Oh, I just thought you should know what you’ve achieved. I should be thanking you really…,” the Second Sister replied, not at all put out by their cold reception. “Imagine the artefacts the Empire would’ve missed if it weren’t for your intervention on this backwater planet.”

“Sure it’s worth the cost? I hear Project Auger came at a high price,” Cal remarked.

“Stormtroopers and workers. Expendable resources,” she replied dismissively.

“You’re a monster,” Cal declared coldly.

“I am what Cere made me,” the Second Sister declared insidiously, as Cal closed his eyes, fighting to remain focussed. Jayna, sensing his buckling control, interjected forcefully.

“And delusional, apparently. Or haven’t you considered the possibility you’re as expendable as your troopers to the Empire?”

“Little Jayna knows how to play. In any case, you should know I’ve taken the artefact back to my ship for analysis. Pity you couldn’t make it in time.”

“Doesn’t matter what you steal, you’ll never understand it,” Cal replied before Jayna could, his voice certain.

“Yet you do?” the Second Sister asked, silkily disbelieving.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” he replied, cutting the channel once more so her reply was lost in a buzz of static. The Inquisitor could re-establish it at any time, but it felt satisfying as they were left in blessed silence once more.

“Do you think she was telling the truth?” Jayna asked quietly.

“Telling the truth or bluffing, we need to hurry,” Cal replied, turning, and striding away as Jayna followed.

The passageway once again gave way to gilded metal panelling, as the feeling of corruption and pride they’d been sensing ever since landing back on Zeffo multiplied tenfold with every step. Jayna glanced at Cal as she thought, ‘I think we’re getting close to the source of that shadow on the Force.’

‘Agreed. It all stems from here: the corruption, the pride, the decay, all of it,’ he replied as they walked through the deserted halls. ‘I just hope we don’t run into…,’

‘You were saying…?’ Jayna thought wryly as they turned a corner only to find a squad of four scout troopers waiting for them. Calling her lightsaber to hand, she didn’t wait for a reply as she ducked under the lead trooper’s swing, elbowing him in the gut before following up by jabbing the pommel of her hilt into his armoured face.  While not likely to do much damage, it was enough to send him stumbling as Jayna capitalised on his weakness by reversing her grip and skewering him through the gut.

On her other side, Cal ducked into a reverse-ankle sweep that cut off his attacker at the ankle, sending him sprawling as Cal recovered, executing a lethal vertical thrust into the chest armour of the trooper.

The third hung back, obviously reluctant to engage two such formidable opponents, but his fellow had disappeared, as Cal and Jayna turned their attention to him. Suddenly, there came a rumbling sound as the ground began to shake, as the trooper abruptly turned tale and rushed down the hall, disappearing as unexpectedly, the hall was bisected by gilded metal and stone barriers, smashing into the wall on the opposite side. Cal and Jayna paused, staring with open mouths as the walls retracted, only to return with the same crushing power.

“Well…,” Cal breathed.

“…. that’s a problem,” Jayna sighed.

“Be-booop-fwoop-boop!” BD chirped in agreement.

In his head, Cal silently counted as they watched the magnetic barriers retract and smash forward once more, like the pulverisers they’d encountered while searching for the first Tomb. After a minute, he nodded as he turned to Jayna. “We’ve got ten seconds between each cycle,” he explained. “It’ll be tight, but we can get across. I’m going to slow them as much as I can, then we run for it.”

BD booped an affirmative, as Jayna just nodded. “I trust you,” she simply whispered, as Cal swallowed hard at her statement.

“Okay…three, two, one…GO!” he shouted, grabbing Jayna’s hand as the closest barrier retracted. Reaching out through the Force, he slowed the onward passage of Time for a few, desperate seconds as he, BD and Jayna dashed down the hall towards where the two scout troopers waited, their outlines blurred as they moved with the normal flow of Time. To the scouts, they’d appear as nothing more than multi-coloured blurs.

He heard the grinding of stone and metal as Time began to return to its normal flow, and the last barrier began to inch its way across its channel, as Cal and Jayna took a running leap. They cleared the final barrier just as it smashed shut behind them, but there was no time to rest as they landed directly in front of the two, dumbstruck, scout troopers.

“How’d you…?” one gasped, stunned.

“We’re in trouble now,” the other sighed resignedly, as Jayna and Cal summoned their sabers to hand. Without further ado, they ignited, striking down the two hapless troopers with twin vertical cuts of their blades.

“Interesting bit of security,” Jayna breathed, looking from the barriers to the dead troopers and back. “The Zeffo sure had a sadistic streak to them.”

Cal huffed in amused agreement, as he turned to look at the corridor head, where it turned a sharp right and out of sight. “We need to go,” he said, already striding out when he felt Jayna haul on his arm.

“Whoa there, nerf-herder,” she hissed. “I sense more troopers ahead.”

Cal inwardly cursed himself, berating himself for not checking before marching off. Now she’d mentioned it, he could sense the thoughts and emotions of the Stormtroopers that lay in wait up ahead. Just as the Second Sister had intended, he was getting sloppy, making mistakes, and rushing in instead of being wary. He should have remembered that…

‘We still need to go. There’s no other route,’ he protested mentally, but Jayna just shook her head, raising a gloved hand to point at a stretch of wall beside a small lamp.

‘Look.’

Following her finger, Cal peered at the wall. At first glance, it was unremarkable, but then as the light from the lamp’s candle flickered and weaved, he could see a narrow gap, set back in an alcove that blended into the hallway’s walls. With a nod to Jayna, he went first as BD’s head lamp illuminated the tiny passage, Jayna at his back.

Slowly, they threaded their way through, following the undulating passage as it curved left and right, several times forcing them to duck down or haul themselves over rocky boulders where parts of the passage had succumbed to small cave-ins over the millennia. Cal fought off the claustrophobic reactions of his body as the walls pressed in ever tighter against his chest, restricting his breathing. Much tighter and they’d have to go back and brave the hallways and Stormtroopers…

Up ahead, he saw the barest glimmer of light and breathed a sigh of relief. Grabbing Jayna’s hand, he guided her towards it, as the trio finally pulled themselves out of the passage and into the, relatively, open air.

And realised that, indeed, the Second Sister had lured them into a trap.

They were stood in a pillared gallery that ran partway around the periphery of a vast, echoing cavern. Directly ahead, a gargantuan sarcophagus hung suspended, by four heavy metal chains, teeming with Stormtroopers and a pair of Purge Troopers as they swarmed all over the structure. An Imperial dropship hovered nearby, monitoring the work teams as they went about their business, but Cal and Jayna could sense it was a ruse.

The moment they revealed themselves, the dropship and the troopers would turn in an instant and they’d be overwhelmed, especially once they were reinforced by the troopers in the hallway outside. They might have saved themselves the drain of a prolonged fight, but they were in for it if they were detected.

Cal, BD and Jayna dodged into the shadow of one of the pillars, peering around it at their opposition before slumping back against the stone with silent groans.

‘Fantastic!’

‘I knew this was a set-up!’

‘Not really helping, Jayna!’

BD’s whisper-soft, questioning trill interrupted their mental bickering as they stopped and stared at one another. A slow smile spread over Cal’s face as he thought of a plan, while Jayna eyed him suspiciously.

“Remember when I said we needed to spring the trap…?” he whispered, mischievously. “Well, now I think it’s the right moment.”

“How? We can’t fight that many Stormtroopers and a fully armed dropship!?” Jayna hissed urgently.

“Then we just need to even the odds,” Cal replied, glancing towards the entrance to the hallways where the back-up Stormtroopers waited for an ambush that they’d avoided triggering. ‘I can take out the troopers on the sarcophagus and keep the dropship occupied. You get to that hallway and block it with that pillar.’

‘Or we can go back and find another way,’ Jayna replied heatedly. ‘Think about it, Cal. The Second Sister lured us here for one reason. This isn’t where we’re going to find the next clue, or anything about these…asturtiums that Cordova keeps going on about!’

‘Astriums,’ Cal corrected, rolling his eyes. If she was being sarcastic and pedantic, she was worried. ‘The first holo-log triggered when we found the sarcophagus of the first Sage,’ he pointed out.

Jayna shook her head. “No,” she whispered aloud. “It triggered when we found that painted mural of the wroshyr tree, not the sarcophagus!”

BD softly booped in acknowledgement, then added that it didn’t think the sarcophagus was relevant. The sight of it alone would have been enough stimulus to trigger the algorithms that encrypted its memory.

“Fine,” Cal conceded, glancing again at the sarcophagus. Recalling the holo-map, his eyes fell on the dropship as a plan, or rather an addendum to his original plan, took shape in his mind. “If we can get the dropship to fire on the sarcophagus, it might get us a shortcut out of here!”

‘What are you talking about?’ Jayna demanded in his head.

“You said it yourself, we need to reach the top of the tomb. We’re nearly there, if we can get to the top of this chamber too…we’re running out of time. If we double back, the chance of the Second Sister finding something significant or more Stormtroopers entering the Tomb only increases. This is our best chance!” he hissed earnestly, as Jayna stared at him, her dark eyes wide and troubled.

After a fraught moment, BD trilled quietly in support. “Be-booop-beep!”

With a grim smile for his droid, Cal turned to Jayna questioningly. After a second, she softly groaned and rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she hissed. “Let’s do it, if only to piss the Second Sister off.”

He rolled his eyes at her pettiness but couldn’t quite bring himself not to share in it.

“But if we die here, I’m going to kill you myself!” she added, threateningly.

“That’s fair,” he conceded, as he pointed to the pillar nearest the arch that led to the hallways. “Now when I say go, run like hell.”

Nodding, Jayna retreated into the shadows of the pillar opposite their hiding place as Cal inhaled deeply, before unclipping his saber from his belt and readying himself. At that moment, his commlink burbled as the Second Sister’s voice drawled venomously in his ear.

“I noticed something while examining this sarcophagus…it’s a very convenient location to dispose of nuisances…”

“You lured us here. Was this your plan all along?” he asked, playing along as he nodded to Jayna. ‘Get ready!’

“You truly have the wits of a scrapper! You now have a choice of deaths before you: die here, as my troops cut you down or double back, and die in the hallways that are flooded with my Purge troopers. Your choice, enjoy!”

‘We’ll see,’ he replied mentally, cutting the transmission just before he threw himself out from behind the pillar, lightsaber drawn. “Hey, over here!” he shouted at the top of his lungs, as the troopers atop the sarcophagus spun and opened fire. ‘RUN!’ he yelled across the Force bond, glimpsing a blur of dark fabric as Jayna bolted from her shelter.

Centring himself in the Force, he deflected every bolt that came his way, returning them to their origins or batting them towards their fellows as one by one, they fell with pained cries. The dropship veered, trying to get a good angle as it opened fire, peppering the gallery with blaster fire.

Through the Force, he felt the surge of power as Jayna pulled one of the pillars down onto the stone archway of the hall, bringing it crashing down on the heads of the Stormtroopers even as they rushed towards it. Those that weren’t crushed were now trapped in the hallway outside.

He saw the last trooper standing, a Purge Trooper, swatted aside as a large boulder as thrown at him with the Force, sensing Jayna’s focus as she coolly exercised her power. The ease with which she used it was a marked difference to the difficulty she’d faced so many weeks ago on Bogano. He supposed it was the constant practice and definite risk of life or death situations that was helping her to master the skills quicker than most novices.

Apparently realising the second threat and that its blaster fire wouldn’t make it through Cal’s guard, the dropship apparently decided on a more aggressive approach, as Cal was torn from his ruminations by the sound of a missile firing from its bay. A dropship like that would only have a limited amount, but one would be enough…

Grimly determined, Cal reached out and slowed the passage of Time so the dropship hovered and vibrated in mid-air, the missile frozen in the moment of ignition, the smoke trail left by its rear boosters billowing behind it like a storm cloud. Shaking slightly from exertion, Cal splayed his fingers and pushed through the Force, sending the missile careering back to its source, colliding with the dropship as he released his hold on Time and it suddenly sped up.

The missile collided with the dropship, shearing through armour plating as it exploded. The explosion took out two of the four chains holding the sarcophagus suspended, as the dropship spun wildly out of control and the upended sarcophagus flew through the air towards Cal.

He heard Jayna’s warning cry as he flung himself sideways, sprinting with all his strength until he cleared the sarcophagus, throwing himself down as it crashed into the gallery with a roaring crack of metal on stone. Somewhere below, the dropship exploded as it crashed into the lower walls, leaving behind an unnerving silence after the fury of the last few moments.

Cal lay still on the ground, BD clambering to its feet from where it had been thrown free of Cal by his desperate dive, as Jayna rushed towards him. “CAL?!” she yelled urgently, throwing herself down beside him as she felt for his pulse.

“Ow…” he groaned, slowly rolling over onto his back as he peered up at Jayna. “Oh, hey guys. We got ‘em!” he declared weakly as he pulled himself to a sitting position.

BD booped in happiness but Jayna apparently thought that the most appropriate response was to thump him on the arm. Hard.

“OW!” he yelped. “What was that for?”

“For scaring me, you reckless, idiotic nerf-herder!” she snarled, eying him like she might hit him again. “Never do that again!”

“You could feel I was alive, through the bond,” he objected feebly.

“That is not the point!” she declared sternly, before throwing herself at him. Cal braced himself for another hit, but instead of her fists, he felt her arms encircling him tightly.

BD booped in confusion. “Me neither, buddy,” Cal breathed, with difficulty. Jayna was even stronger than she looked. “First, she hits me, now she’s hugging me. Can’t keep up with you.”

“Oh, shut up,” she mumbled against his neck, the feel of her warm breath against his skin making him shiver. “Good work, Kestis.”

“You too, Shan,” he muttered through aching ribs. “Hey, Jayna? D’you think you could ease up? Finding it hard to breathe…”

Jayna’s arms seemed to tighten almost ominously for a moment before she sat back and released him. They stopped and looked at each other, panting softly in the gloom before they both started laughing. “I can’t believe that worked,” Jayna breathed, wiping away tears.

“Hey, have a little faith,” Cal retorted good-naturedly. BD booped in amusement as they painfully clambered to their feet, bodies aching and starting to feel it as adrenaline faded.

“So, what now?” she asked, glancing at the caved-in archway. “We can’t go back that way now, even through the passage. We’ll be swamped.”

“No, only way is up and out,” Cal said, nodding to the upended sarcophagus. Up close, they could see where moss and vines had seeded and grown through the ornate metal panelling, providing them with a path. “Sorry, more climbing.”

Jayna just sighed through gritted teeth, turning, and leading the way to the edge of the gallery closest to the sarcophagus. With a deep breath, she took a running jump and latched onto the side of the structure, hauling herself up as Cal watched, open-mouthed before he joined her.

Slowly, carefully, the trio inched their way up the sarcophagus. The two remaining chains groaned and heaved under the weight of the great metal coffin, the whole thing swaying gently from side to side. It wouldn’t be long before the chains broke altogether, Jayna wagered. ‘I just really hope these Tombs aren’t cursed. Otherwise, these Sage guys are gonna be really pissed with us,’ she thought wryly, sensing Cal’s surge of amusement.

‘As unpleasant as this place is, it’s not a Sith tomb on Moraband. Now those were said to have terrible curses if anyone dared disturb them,’ he replied.

‘Do I even want to know?’ she asked wearily, just as she reached the top of the sarcophagus and hauled herself over. She bent back to grab Cal’s arm and help him up, until they both sat atop the sarcophagus, panting from the climb.

‘Moraband was an ancient training ground and burial planet for the Sith, millennia ago. Back then, there was still a Sith Empire we were at war with, and they trained their Sith lords there and buried the most legendary in grand tombs. It was called Korriban then.’

‘What happened?’ she asked, curiously.

‘We won, or we thought we did,’ Cal explained bleakly. ‘The Jedi Order and the Republic beat the Sith Empire and destroyed the Sith or so we thought. Instead they went into hiding, and the old worlds of the Sith Empire were absorbed into the Republic or forgotten. Korriban fell even more into ruin and was re-named Moraband. It’s just dust, ruins, and ghosts now. It was forbidden for Jedi to so much as step foot on the planet.”

Jayna felt an odd shiver run down her spine, as she nodded and let the subject drop. Pulling herself to her feet, she felt Cal do the same at her side as they turned and looked at the crumbling wall beside them. A short way above their heads, a ledge stood out and beyond it, a door as their hearts leapt.

“Nearly there,” Cal breathed in relief.

They made their way up the disintegrating edifice quickly, mindful of the need for speed. At any moment, the Second Sister would discover their survival and they would be in a race to escape the Tomb before more troopers flooded the halls.

Their commlink burbled just as they reached the top. “You survived,” the Second Sister drawled in their ears, a hint of surprise in her tones.

“Not part of your plan?” Cal asked, curtly.

“Luckily, I always allow for contingencies,” she replied, as Jayna rolled her eyes.

“As do we,” she declared, with just a hint of smugness as Cal shot her a disapproving glance. “We should thank you, really. Your little ambush gave us just what we needed to get out of here. Otherwise, who knows how long we’d spend fighting your troops? So, cheers!”

 “We knew it was a trap,” Cal added.

“And yet you walked right into it? How reckless of you,” the Second Sister replied, contemptuously.

“Nope, we sprung it. And like all traps, it gave us an opportunity,” Jayna replied airily. “Probably the first bit of action ol’ Mikkie boy here has seen in years. You two should hook up when the Empire finally puts you out to pasture…with a blaster.”

“I will take great delight in cutting that smart tongue from your head, Jayna Shan,” the Inquisitor snarled, as Jayna smiled a touch wickedly.

“See, you always promise, you never deliver,” she replied cuttingly.

“Dear me, well I can see who’s the brains of this little partnership. Whatever would you do without her, Kestis?” the Second Sister continued, turning her fire on Cal.

“He’d survive,” Jayna replied coldly, with a small smile for Cal. “It was his idea to spring the trap, after all.”

“Which I guess tells us one thing,” Cal suddenly spoke up, his voice quiet but stern.

“Oh? And what is that?” the Second Sister asked dismissively.

“I guess I really am my father’s son,” Cal replied, before cutting the transmission. Silence fell as they paused at the top of the burial chamber, gazing down at the bronzium sarcophagus they’d just climbed, and the smoking ruins of the dropship far below.

“Cal...,” Jayna began, uncertainly but he held up a gloved hand. She subsided as he took a shuddering breath.

“I’m…not okay,” he admitted quietly. “But it’s one less weapon to use against me if she thinks I am.”

Accepting that, Jayna nodded as she reached for Cal’s hand and squeezed it. Looking out over the burial chamber one las time, Jayna said, “It’s been nice knowing you, Mikkie boy!”

“Mikkie boy?” Cal snorted, as they turned and left that empty, echoing chamber far behind. ‘Only you, Jayna. Only you.’

‘Only me, Kestis. Only me.’

The passageway they were in wended its way upwards, snaking back and forth, undulating as a serpent. At times, it narrowed to the point of claustrophobia, its floors turned steep and unforgiving as they scrambled in the light of BD’s headlamps, unable to use their sabers as they needed both hands to climb. It was almost unbearably close and humid, causing sweat to gather in the folds and curves of their bodies, leaving them feeling clammy and dirty, longing for a shower as they made their slow, uncertain way along the passage.

Finally, they emerged from the passageway, squeezing through a narrow fissure onto a flooded platform, the coolness of the water almost a relief after the claustrophobic humidity of the passageway. With a start, Jayna realised they now stood at the very top of the circular chamber they’d stood in earlier, where the water trickled in and flooded the lower levels.

Peering over the edge, they could see the place was swarming with Stormtroopers, probe droids and Purge Troopers as they backed away from the edge. “Definitely not going out the way we came,” Cal whispered, turning around, and scanning the wall behind them. Like the others, it was covered in alcoves that housed floating spheres of candlelight. At the far end, was a small archway. “There,” he hissed, striding towards it.

They jogged along the passageway inside, conscious of the urgency returning as the Force seemed to ripple around them. It was a warning: their time in the Tomb was up. They needed to go.

Jayna tried not to feel despondent by their lack of success. Nevertheless, it all felt like one great big wild bantha chase as all they had found were riddles, but no answers, no solid clues. ‘Unless you count the Second Sister’s attempt at psychological torture ‘answers’,’ she thought to herself, keeping it carefully behind the barrier she’d built in her head. Despite the front he was putting on, Jayna could sense the turmoil in Cal’s head. It was only the need to survive and escape that was keeping him focussed.

The passageway wended its way up in a circular path, until it gave out onto another partially flooded chamber. In the centre was another ball and socket, beside a large dome submerged beneath the water. Cal and Jayna exchanged a look, before Cal pushed the ball into the socket with the Force.

There came a rumbling sound as the submerged dome erupted from the water, revealing a small, circular chamber underneath, still partially flooded as Jayna, Cal and BD glanced down into it from the revealed archway. Underneath the water, they could just see a switch like the one that controlled the lift in the first Tomb.

“Nothing to lose,” Cal shrugged, jumping down into the chamber as Jayna hesitantly followed. The water surged to their waists, soaking them as Cal waded towards it. Standing on it, it depressed as the chamber began to shake as the water abruptly receded.

And then the chamber began to rise.

With nothing to do but wait while the chamber took them up, they looked around them at the walls as BD hopped off Cal’s back and scurried towards one wall. The little droid booped excitedly as its holoprojectors flared to life.

“Hey, Jayna! Look at this!” Cal said, tugging her round to see a heavily damaged mural on one wall, aged and cracked, parts of it obscured but the meaning was clear.

A Zeffo Sage, possibly the very one whose Tomb they had just wrecked, stood tall and proud before its worshippers. In its hands was a circular object shaped almost like a planet with rings.

Cordova’s ghostly, holographic form flickered into being beside it. He looked weary, if ecstatic, as he spoke to whoever was recording.

“Here it is. I have finally found an intact representation of this sacred Zeffo artefact. My friend, look closely! This is Miktrull at the Vault on Bogano!”

Squinting through the darkness, Jayna could just about make out the elongated shape next to the Sage, that could indeed be the Vault they had explored on Bogano.

“You can see an object in their hand!” Cordova continued excitedly. “Based on this imagery, I believe this object allows a Force wielder to perceive the mysteries of the Vault. This is the key and the guide. The Zeffo Astrium. But who would destroy images of it, and why? It requires more research however… our next step’s clear. Find an Astrium, if any still exist.”

“An Astrium?” Cal repeated, as BD shut the hologram down. He glanced at Jayna, then down at BD as he asked, “You ever heard of it?”

“Be-boooooop!” BD replied, shaking its head.

Jayna threw her hands up. “Don’t look at me! You’re the one with the fancy Jedi training.”

“Unfortunate, I haven’t either,” Cal replied, with a repressive glance at Jayna. “but a key… yeah, I understand that. Looks like we know what we have to find.”

“Finally,” Jayna grumbled.

Behind them, light suddenly flooded the chamber as it ground to a halt, and the archway that had disappeared during the chamber’s ascent reappeared. Turning around, the trio saw it was daylight filtering in as they cautiously left the chamber and its secrets behind.

Outside, it was cold but for the sunlight that had made it through the clouds at last. Blinking in the light after the gloom of the Tomb, they realised they were atop the peak above Imperial Headquarters, the complex squatting against the mountainside like some obscene parasite in the distance.

At least it wouldn’t be a long hike back to the Mantis.

The scream of a TIE as it flew a patrol nearby reminded them of their danger, as Cal nodded to Jayna before they set off towards the complex, one hand on their saber hilts. Their route would be unconventional enough that they might be able to sneak past undetected, as they ran and jumped, catching hold of the scaffolding that helped hold the facility in place on the mountain.

They had just reached the stability of a platform when the commlink burbled again. Perhaps something about the chamber they were in had blocked her transmissions, perhaps she’d been off licking her wounds after her trap failed but the Second Sister was back.

And sounding supremely satisfied, venomous delight in every word as she drawled in their ears. “Very good, Padawans. You’ve cleared the way!”

“What are you talking about?” Cal demanded.

She laughed. “I needed this Tomb raised… and now that I have what I need, you’re of no use to me!” she replied silkily.

“Yeah, yeah. See you around, Trilla,” Jayna replied coldly, cutting the transmission as the line crackled. Cal glanced at BD over his shoulder questioningly.

“Can you reverse what she’s done?” he asked.

“Bee boop beep be-beep!” BD replied affirmatively.

“Thanks,” Cal replied, breathing a sigh of relief. “Hope this new encryption keeps her out for good.”

“One can only hope,” Jayna agreed. “She might be cocky enough to let a few useful things slip now and then, when she’s too busy gloating to notice, but… she was starting to grate.”

“I think it’s part of dark side training,” Cal joked weakly, as they turned towards a locked door that led into the facility.

“What, ‘How to be an insufferably smug boast 101’?” Jayna retorted, as he forced a laugh. BD sliced the door open and they crept inside, alert for any sign of guards.

There were none, the facility appeared deserted as they exchanged worried looks.

It was unnervingly quiet as they made their way to a cargo lift that would take them down to the ice caves they’d traversed earlier. From there, they’d be able to take another lift back up to the surface and flag down the Mantis for extraction.

“We should check in with the Mantis. Trilla probably knows where they are,” Cal breathed, reluctantly. He tried activating the commlink, but the channel crackled with static. No answer came. “You sure the comm’s fixed?” Cal asked BD. “They’re not answering.”

“Bee. Be-beep!” BD assured him.

“Or they can’t answer,” Jayna pointed out worriedly.

“Something’s wrong. We need to get back,” Cal said, shaking his head.

We’re nearly at the cargo lift,” Jayna replied, but with silent agreement, they broke out into a light trot.

“Nobody around? Think it’s some kind of trap?” he breathed a short while later, just as they reached the cargo lift.

“They could just be in the Tomb. I think Trilla was counting on us doubling back and overwhelming us with sheer force in the hallways,” Jayna answered, only half-convinced of her own logic. The quiet, desolate serenity of the deserted Imperial facility unnerved her too.

“Be-boop!” BD was less sanguine, as it sliced the power junction for a force field blocking their way.

“We’ve been walking into a lot of them lately,” Cal admitted, just as he spun and looked around, eyes wide and hand on his saber. “Do you hear that?” he asked, urgently.

Jayna paused, listening as dread renewed itself in her gut, whispering a warning. “I feel like something’s watching us. Or someone,” she whispered. “Let’s get out of here. Cal, c’mon!”

With a nod, Cal turned and jogged after her as they finally turned and faced the cargo lift. Piling on, they pressed the switch and were away, leaving the awful stillness behind them.

The sight of the ice caves was almost a relief as they stepped off the cargo lift. They walked past the corpses of the Stormtroopers they’d faced when they had found their way down here, hours ago, and hurried towards the cargo lift that would take them back up towards the surface. One step closer to temporary safety, so they could regroup and plan their next move.

And have a word or two with Cere, Jayna mentally added to herself as she glanced at Cal, his eyes hard and focussed as he strode beside her, his mind distracted. Later Jayna would blame that distraction, and her own lack of focus due to her concern over Cal, for the ambush.

They strode out into a wide, open space just a few metres from the cargo lift when Jayna felt something hit her. From the corner of her eye, she saw Cal drop and roll, his saber activating as he went before pain blasted away coherent thought, as her body was wracked by a blast from an electro-stun dart.

She was paralysed, unable to move, unable to think clearly as she cried out in agony. She was only dimly aware of Cal whirling to fight their attackers, as a strange droid lumbered towards him. She felt a boot against her shoulder, tipping her onto her back as she stared up at the face of some kind of cyborg, glaring down at her gleefully.

“The boss is gonna be soo happy when he sees youse two! We’re gonna be set for life!” the cyborg declared, as Jayna sensed Cal’s own pain as he was struck with a second dart. The cyborg raised its blaster rifle, chuckling as it brought the butt down on Jayna’s head. “Nighty-night, sweetheart!”

Pain exploded behind Jayna’s eyelids and she knew no more.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

The Second Sister yanked her saber free from the abdomen of the Partisan fighter she’d just cut down. The woman let free a dying gasp, as she turned dismissively away, surveying the battlefield.

They were stood in the centre of the very cargo pad Jayna and Cal had liberated only days before, surrounded by thousands of Stormtroopers, Purge Troopers and two Inquisitors as they took care of the pathetic insurgency led by Saw Gerrera. They’d chased the old rat off with his tail firmly between his legs, but he wasn’t who they had come to find.

She was certain she would have found Shan and Kestis there again. Analysis of artefacts taken from the two Zeffo Tombs Kestis and Shan had discovered seemed to indicate a link to Kashyyyk, although their xeno-linguists were still working on translating the Zeffo hieroglyphics.

She cocked her head as the Ninth Sister approached, the Dowutin’s claws tipped red with blood from her victims. “Second Sister, the Grand Inquisitor demands you make contact with him!” she growled.

With a sharp, impatient hiss, the Second Sister turned her back on the massacre and strode into the depths of the retaken refinery, making her way to the commander’s office where they could get establish a clear transmission.

To her annoyance, the Dowutin accompanied her, as two Purge Troopers flanked the pair as they took a turbolift up to the office, before standing guard at the door as the human Inquisitor punched some commands into the holo-projector inside.

The Pau’an’s hologram towered over the two Inquisitors as they respectfully bowed their heads. “Grand Inquisitor,” they intoned, before raising their heads.

“What news?” he demanded coldly.

“We have re-taken the refinery on Kashyyyk and overrun the feeble resistance here,” the Second Sister reported. “Gerrera has been run off-planet, there just remains a handful of Wookiee and human guerrilla fighters skulking in the Shadowlands.”

“And what of the fugitives? You were certain you would find them here!” the Grand Inquisitor asked silkily.

Through her mask, the Second Sister could feel the Dowutin Inquisitor’s gaze like razor blades against the skin of her back, interested piqued. She had deliberately kept her brothers and sisters in the dark about her mission, knowing full well they wouldn’t hesitate to sabotage her in the hopes of claiming the prize for themselves.

“Preliminary analysis of the artefacts recovered from Zeffo would appear to suggest a link to Kashyyyk. Added to Shan and Kestis’s previous incursion on the planet, it would suggest a correlation between the two,” the Second Sister explained. She had been looking forward to seeing the results of her careful work destroying Kestis’s delusional perception of the Order he so loved.

She would take it from him, and so open his eyes, just as hers were when Cere betrayed her…

“And yet, they appear to have disappeared off the face of the Galaxy,” the Grand Inquisitor retorted, his voice as cold as ice. “Lord Vader grows impatient. I don’t need to remind you, Second Sister, what is at stake.”

“Yes, Grand Inquisitor,” she intoned, feeling a shiver threaten at the mention of the dark warrior.

“As it currently stands, the trail has gone cold. There have been rumours of a Jedi on Ontotho,” the Grand Inquisitor continued. “I want you to go and investigate these rumours, until such time as Kestis and Shan re-emerge. As for you, Ninth Sister, you are to remain on Kashyyyk.”

“Grand Inquisitor?” the Dowutin grumbled contemptuously.

“In the event Kestis and Shan return to Kashyyyk, you are to hunt them down and capture them. Alive,” the Pau’an emphasised, with a knowing look to his cold yellow eyes. “You may… amuse yourself in the meantime with the remaining local insurgents.”

“Bah!” the Dowutin spat at her feet. “They wouldn’t be stupid enough to come back here, not once news reaches them of their little treacherous friends’ defeat!”

“Thank you for your opinion, Ninth Sister, worthless as it is,” the Grand Inquisitor hissed, his eyes narrowed warningly as the Dowutin growled but subsided begrudgingly. “The orders stand. Contact me when we have a positive sighting of the fugitives.”

With a dismissive gesture, the Pau’an terminated the transmission from his end, as silence fell in the office. The Dowutin growled and hissed, stomping out of the office after a fraught moment to go and terrorize some troopers to assuage her wounded vanity, as the Second Sister tried not to feel the sting of the Grand Inquisitor’s orders.

Or the threat inherent in them. Time was running out.

Cal groaned as he slowly, painfully, came back to full consciousness.  Every inch of his body ached, and his head felt like it had been used as a kickball by some overly exuberant kaadu.

Lying still for a moment, he fought to recall exactly what had happened. He’d been with Jayna and BD, they’d just escaped Imperial Headquarters and made it down to the ice caves when… they were attacked! By two… cyborgs?

Brow furrowed in concentration and pain as he tried to focus through his headache, Cal desperately tried to remember what they had looked like. While the use of cybernetics by the Imperials was permitted to replace damaged or missing limbs, they frowned on anything quite so… overt as nearly complete cybernetic augmentation, like the two who had attacked them in the caves. So that meant they weren’t Imperial… mercenaries? Bounty hunters?

Had Trilla sent a couple of bounty hunters after them?

Grunting, Cal slowly pulled himself upright, looking around at his surroundings. He was in a large, darkened cell with nothing but rock walls, alloy plating and barred gates. Just like a thousand other detention centres and jail blocks across the Galaxy so no clues there except… definitely not Imperial, if the prison blocks that they’d seen on Kashyyyk were any clue.

So, where were they?

As his hand shifted on the cold metal that served as the floor, it nudged a soft, yielding object lying next to him. One with lithe, muscular legs and that groaned unintelligibly. ‘Jayna!’

He turned over onto his side, leaning over her as he pulled on her shoulder to tip her onto her back. She had a nasty looking bruise on her temple from where she’d been hit with the butt of a blaster rifle, but otherwise appeared healthy. She groaned again as Cal pressed a hand against her cheek.

“Hey, Jayna…,” he breathed, desperate for her to open her eyes.

Her eyes fluttered open, dazed, and unfocussed, before panic flashed in their depths as Cal had to rear back to avoid a wild backhand. “Whoa…!”

Several expletives dropped from her lips as she rained blows down on his arms and neck, some in Huttese he recognised and others in a dialect he’d never heard before. She wasn’t responding to his attempts to communicate across the bond either, too mired in her own panic and instinctual need to defend herself.

“Copaani mirshmure'cye, shabuir! Ne shab'rud'ni, utreekov!” she snarled, as in desperation Cal caught hold of her flailing fists and pinned them to the floor either side of her thrashing head. It didn’t deter her from trying to kick him with her legs as he winced from a glancing blow to his thigh, slinging one leg over her torso and holding her still as he tried to get through to her.

“Jayna!? Jayna, it’s me!? It’s Cal, you’re okay…,” he trailed off, panting as his words seemed to finally get through to her, as recognition bloomed in her wide eyes and she hissed in a breath.

“Cal…?” she whispered tremulously as he sighed in relief.

“Jayna,” he replied, dropping his head to rest against her breastbone for a moment in sheer comfort. “What the hell was that, wildcat?”

“I thought…” she trailed off, a haunted look in her eyes as Cal’s sharpened in concern before she shook her head. “Did I hurt you?”

“Close,” he admitted, with a dry smile as she flashed an apologetic look up at him. They lay like that for several minutes, catching their breath until Jayna began to fidget restlessly underneath him.

“Hey, Cal? Could you get off me? Kinda hard to breathe…,” she whispered, as Cal flushed at the realisation, he was all but lying atop her, her fists still pinned in his hands.

“Sorry!” he muttered as he hastily threw himself off her, keeping his eyes averted as she slowly sat up beside him.

“Told you, you need to lay off the Nuna jerky!” she quipped, forcing a smile and a roll of the eyes from him as she probed the bruise on her temple, wincing slightly as it twinged. “Where are we? Where’s BD?”

“I don’t know,” Cal breathed, as he pulled himself upright, glancing around the cell as if BD-1 would suddenly hop out of the shadows, booping enthusiastically about something they had to come and see for themselves. “BD-1? Little buddy, where are you?”

 Instinctively, he put his hand to his belt, reaching for his saber and the comfort of its weight in his hands. But it was gone!

He glanced at Jayna as her eyes widened before her own hand flew to her belt. But her saber was gone too.

“When we catch up to these Huttspawn…” Jayna trailed off menacingly, as she pulled herself to her feet.

“Easy, Jayna. Gotta find a way out of here first,” Cal replied, glancing around at their cell. “Wherever here is.”

“Can’t we just break the door open?” Jayna asked, her eyes on several pieces of metal panelling that had just been left on the floor, rusted and forlorn.

Cal shook his head. “That gate is durasteel alloy anchored in solid bedrock. We’d never break through, not without drawing too much attention,” he mused, as his eyes slid from the gate to a panel next to it. A control panel!

They rushed towards it, prying the panel away to reveal an opening mechanism, but it was dead. “Can you slice it?” Cal asked, as Jayna’s eyes roved over the panel’s innards.

“Not without power,” she whispered, eyes already tracking the wiring as it trailed up from the mechanism’s casing and disappearing behind an insulated covering. Turning as she followed the insulation across the ceiling, she spotted another panel set back into the rocky wall, almost hidden in the shadows. “Please be the breaker,” she muttered under her breath as she darted across to it, prying the panel open. “Yes!”

Grabbing the coupling, she pulled it across to the gate control, plugging it into the empty socket there. After a few seconds as the power reconnected, the barred gate suddenly opened, leaving their path clear.

“That did it!” Cal breathed triumphantly. “C’mon!”

“Now we just need to find BD, our sabers and get the hell out of here!” Jayna declared as the pair rushed from the cell. As they jogged down the adjoining hallway, they kept their senses pricked for any sign of guards or security droids.

“Air’s cold, stale. Might be deep underground,” Cal remarked as they ran, Jayna nodding in agreement. “Feels like we’re being watched.”

“Recycled, so either underground or… some kind of space station?” she whispered, as they passed into a long corridor filled with cells like theirs. They stopped, arrested by the sight of the cells’ inhabitants.

Alien creatures, of all kinds. Jayna recognised scazz, Splox, Oggdo, wyyyschokk, bog-rats and jotaz. Gazing into the enraged, rabid eyes of a jotaz imprisoned within one of the cells, Jayna felt a chill down her spine.

“Oh gods… I think I know who took us,” she whispered, as Cal’s head snapped round to stare at her. “If we are where I think we are, we’re in big trouble.”

“What do you know?” he asked.

“When I first left Brentaal, I stowed away on a cargo freighter to Nar Shaddaa. It was where I was able to buy a new identity,” she explained. “I listened to all the spacers’ gossip in the cantinas and gambling dens, looking out for any opportunities to move on. Or better yet, who to avoid. One group I learned to stay away from before I jumped ship to Bracca was the Haxion Brood…”

“I heard Greez and Cere mention them,” Cal interjected as Jayna cast a bleak look at him.

“Let me guess, gambling debts?” she replied, in exasperation. “The Brood are infamous for posting bounties on their debtors then sending their bounty hunters after them, to drag them to their ‘arenas’ when they can’t pay their exorbitant interest fees. They smuggle in exotic fauna from all over the Galaxy to fight to the death in battle, with the occasional debtor thrown in for some extra ‘flavour’,” she explained further, with a scowl of disgust. “They broadcast them live, all over the Galaxy as entertainment. The location’s kept secret but rumour has it, the broadcasts originate from an asteroid called Ordo Eris at the edge of the Outer Rim Territories. If Greez still has a debt with the Brood… we’re in big trouble.”

“Yeah, well,” Cal sighed, putting that aside for the time being. “We still need to find BD and get out of here first.”

Leaving that ominous hallway behind, Jayna and Cal jogged down another set of corridors until they reached a wide, circular chamber. Glancing at the control panel, then the pressure plate in the middle of the room, she nodded. “I’d wager that’s a lift. It might take us up to the next level if we can find the coupling to restore power.”

“Never mind that!” Cal retorted excitedly, holding up a hand to quiet her as she rounded on him with a blisteringly caustic reply on the tip of her tongue. “Listen!”

She stopped and listened, her eyes widening as she realised there was a high-pitched, extremely familiar trilling coming from a passageway opposite to the one they’d just left. Bizarrely, the trilling seemed to be the Binary rendition of a Latero cooking song they’d caught Greez singing to himself several times over the course of their journey.

Exchanging a smile, Cal and Jayna turned and hurried down the dark passageway, following the sound, hoping against hope.

They felt a distinct chill as they crept down the corridor, as out of the gloom, the hunched, dilapidated figures of half-disassembled droids appeared, thrown carelessly against the walls or hanging from the ceiling in netting like so much spare parts.

They jogged from the tunnel to find themselves in a cavernous room, with great circular vents in the ceiling, a force field opening directly over two natural fissures in the rock, where they could feel the heat of a natural magma chamber. Before their horrified eyes, the force field opened and two dead jotaz and a wyyyschokk tumbled lifelessly into the magma pit below.

“Oh yeah, definitely Haxion Brood,” Jayna breathed.

“What happened to them?” Cal muttered in revulsion. They’d encountered many of the beasts in the cells while on their journey, but they had never killed any in sport, only self-defence. The type of mindless, bloodthirsty killing the Brood called ‘entertainment’ was anathema to him.

“The arena must be above our heads,” she whispered in reply. “the beasts are brought up from the cells via turbolift and released into the arena. Then the dead are dragged back to the vents where the force field deposits them down there. Easy clean up.”

“Ugh,” Cal muttered, glancing round hopefully as he heard a familiar sound.

“Boop boop boop!”

“BD? BD-1, is that you!?” Cal called, warily as he rushed up to a locked gate, peering through the bars. On the other side, on a workbench littered with disassembled droid parts, BD hopped from foot to foot in greeting. Through the gloom, they could just make out a restraining bolt fixed to its chassis. “We found you! Are you okay?”

“Beep whoop!”

“Thank the Maker,” Jayna breathed. Despite the Haxion Brood bounty hunters’ predilection for cybernetic augmentation and the use of bounty hunter droids, there were rumours that any droids that crossed the Brood’s path ended up as spare parts sooner rather than later. She’d been afraid they wouldn’t find BD intact but knew better than to voice that fear. “Let’s get you out of there!”

They couldn’t find an opening mechanism on the other side of the door, but a central power coupling hung invitingly close by. Jayna prodded Cal’s arm to get his attention, then nodded to it. If the circle of natural light in the centre of the room BD was being held in was any indication, there might be an opening in the ceiling.

Cal nodded, turning his back on the cell, and taking a running jump towards the trailing lead. Grabbing hold, he hauled himself up, narrowly avoiding being clipped by a dead jotaz’s claw in the process as yet more dead animals fell to their final, fiery fate below.

Jayna knew better than to tell Cal to be careful, as she watched him swing from the lead a few times to gain momentum, but her heart was in her mouth as she watched him throw himself away from the coupling’s lead, gracefully soaring through the air with a flawless somersault before he landed with a thud on the ledge above her head.

He disappeared from view, until he re-appeared abruptly on the other side of the gate as he dropped back into view.

“Boop! Boop boop!” BD exclaimed excitedly, as Cal rushed across the room to the droid.

“Hey!” he breathed, with relief. “I’m happy to see you too!” he told the droid, taking a moment to stroke the droid’s headcase affectionately. “Let’s get that restraining bolt off of you. These jerks!”

Working quickly with the tools left out on the bench, tools which sent unwelcome shivers down his spine as he realised what they were meant for, Cal removed the restraining bolt from BD’s chassis.

“Beep bop boop!” BD trilled happily, launching itself onto Cal’s back. Turning around, he saw Jayna’s worried, pale face through the bars and smiled reassuringly as he flicked the opening mechanism.

“Hey buddy!” she enthused happily, as BD booped a greeting. “I feared the worst, little guy,” she whispered, reaching up a hand to lovingly press her palm to BD’s head.

“Boop beep whoop beeep!” BD replied, prompting both humans to laugh. Sobering, they glanced back at the pathetic remains of the disassembled droids littering the room. “Booo!” BD added, with a distinctly saddened shake of its head.

“Poor droids,” Cal agreed. “Let’s get out of here before the same happens to us!”

Jogging quickly back through that grim room, neither Jayna nor Cal looked sideways at the steady flow of creatures falling into the magma pit below. Pained and disgusted, they left the room behind quickly, making for the circular chamber with the lift that they’d discovered earlier.

“One thing I don’t get,” Cal breathed, desperate to relieve some of the tension he felt. “Where’d they’d find an asteroid with live magma?”

“Well, if we are on Ordo Eris, then rumour has it that it was once a planetoid, millennia ago. It was destroyed by an ancient superweapon in some forgotten war, along with the rest of the system,” Jayna replied, with an impish smirk. “Or so rumour says, anyway.”

They lapsed back into silence as they entered the hallway littered with more disassembled droid parts as BD booped in distress. “Don’t worry, buddy. I won’t let them do that to you,” Cal whispered reassuringly to the droid.

“Boop whoop!” the droid replied defiantly, as Cal smiled a little at his irrepressible friend.

Finally, they reached the lift chamber once more, as Jayna hurried towards the control panel. “BD, help me with slicing this! Cal, find the power coupling and reattach it!” she barked, as the little droid hopped from Cal’s back to scurry after her.

‘Yes, ma’am!’ he replied, a touch pointedly but now wasn’t the time to argue over who was in charge. Locating the power coupling, he pulled it to himself with the Force, dragging it over to a socket in the wall. He could only hope it was the right one.

Glancing over at BD and Jayna, he watched as Jayna pried open a panel beside the control terminal, hauling out a handful of wires and re-directing them as BD paused, ready and waiting for the signal, over the scomp port.

Across the bond, he felt it as Jayna gave the signal. ‘Now!’

Cal plugged the coupling back into its socket, as the exposed wiring spat sparks. With a nod from Jayna, BD extended its scomp link and restored the power, slicing into the lift controls’ systems and deactivating the security measures keeping it grounded.

The pressure plate on the platform turned white, as BD booped triumphantly. “Good work, BD,” Jayna breathed, turning away from the panel as she joined Cal by the lift. “Let’s just hope we find our sabers wherever we end up next,” she added, with a concerned look at Cal. There had been no sign of them anywhere in the prison complex, not even with BD-1. And still, this feeling of being watched as the hairs on the back of Cal’s neck stood on end.

“Even without our sabers, we’re a match for anything they throw at us,” he assured her, as she smiled and rolled her eyes mockingly. “We have the Force on our side.”

As Jayna stepped onto the pressure plate, activating the lift, she couldn’t help but agree.

The sound of music and roaring grew ever louder as the lift ascended. Cal and Jayna exchanged uneasy glances.

“Hear that? Sounds like someone is home after all,” Cal remarked.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Jayna sighed.

The lift juddered to a halt in another circular, rock-walled chamber as they stepped off it. Up here, the music, a droning song set to a throbbing bass, was louder as Cal’s lips quirked up into a smirk.

“Hey, I recognise this band,” he joked, as Jayna shook her head with affectionate exasperation. “I was listening to it on Bracca when we first met,” he explained, as she stared at him, struck.

“We’ve come a long way since Bracca,” she acknowledged, as they drew nearer to an open gate, through which they could see a wide, open, sandy space ahead. “Ready?”

“With you? For anything,” Cal replied warmly, as within their minds, they both reached for the Force bond. Letting it envelop them, joining their souls as intimately and completely as though they were one being. Safe, secure in the bond and each other’s power, they stepped forward and through the gateway into the harsh light.

The wide, sandy space revealed itself to be an arena, hemmed in with force fields. Square in shape, each wall was served by a force field gate, all of which were active except the one they had entered through. As they stepped through, it activated behind them, leaving them no other option but to step forward until they reached the centre of the arena.

Atop each wall of the arena, protected by yet more force fields were stands of spectators, peering eagerly into the arena for the next bout to begin, jeering derisively at the sight of the two measly humans as they drunkenly brandished drinks and blasters.

As they came to a halt in the middle of the arena, a hologram flickered into existence, towering over the arena and the stands.

It was an Umbaran male, dressed bombastically in a caped coat and high collar that partially covered his balding, cybernetically augmented head. Greedy eyes smiled down at the trio in eager anticipation as he opened his arms wide, as if in greeting.

“Ugh, finally they arrive!” he declared unctuously. “We had action on how long it would take for you to get here!”

“Yeah? And have you had action on how long before we kick your slimy Umbaran ass? Because the odds have just turned against you,” Jayna replied forcefully, glaring up at the hologram.

“Who are you?” Cal shouted.

“Ha ha ha!” the Umbaran laughed delightedly. “Who am I?” he repeated derisively, sneering down at them patronisingly as he opened his arms and flourished them dramatically. “I’m Sorc Tormo, baby! I’m the boss of this operation! You have Greezy-Four-Arms to thank for bringing us together!”

Jayna hissed in a breath as Cal’s eyes shut in resignation. “Greez,” he breathed, before he opened his eyes to glare up at the hologram. “We will, as soon as we get out of here!” he shouted defiantly up at Tormo.

The Umbaran scoffed before he straightened, flicking his hand at them dismissively before raising his arms to an invisible camera. Absentmindedly, Cal recalled what Jayna had said about the Haxion Brood’s broadcasts.

“We have a special pair of challengers for you tonight!” the Umbaran announced, like some demented compere. “Enforcers from a bygone era: the Jedi! Let’s see what they’ve got!”

The hologram paused, as if struck, before he gestured magnanimously. “Oh! Somebody get the babies their toys!”

Both Jayna and Cal felt the surge in the Force as their sabers called to them, tossed carelessly into the arena. Putting up their hands, they summoned them, the twin blade flaring green and blue as they activated.

“You want a show?” Cal asked, looking around at the stands contemptuously as he spun into a low Djem So guard. At his back, Jayna whipped her body around until they were back-to-back, her blade indolently twirling into the opening Ataru stance as the gates directly opposite their position opened.

“Then get ready because your minds are about to get blown away… literally,” Jayna finished, with an impish grin.

“Oooh, the little schutta is a fiery one!” Tormo cackled delightedly as several guards armed with electro-staffs goaded an Oggdo and a wyyyschokk into the arena. “I smell blood and money. Tonight, we celebrate those fallen challengers of the past. And the great sacrifice they’ve made…to make us all…rich!”

Jayna heard the insult, but let it slide off her as she squared off with the wyyyschokk creeping towards her. At her back, Cal sidestepped the Oggdo’s lunging bite, as he scored a hit in its side.

The wyyyschokk’s grating squeal as it reared up on its back legs caught her attention, as Jayna dodged its grasping forelegs, before throwing herself into a leaping, horizontal somersault that flipped her over the great beast’s swollen abdomen. Landing cat-footed, she swung low with her blade, rending the wyyyschokk’s abdomen with a deep, burning gash and severing one of its back legs as she spun away, as the trajectory of her saber sheared through spiny muscle and bone as the enraged beast rounded on her, screaming.

The sound of insectoid wings flapping had her glancing sideways to see several of the flame beetles they’d seen on Kashyyyk had been released into the arena, and were now bearing down on them. Jayna dropped and rolled as the wyyyschokk attacked again, coming up onto her feet as she reached out.

Grasping one with the Force, she pushed it towards the advancing wyyyschokk, the insect’s glowing abdomen exploding on contact as it collided with the creature. The wyyyschokk squealed and screamed in pain as the toxic, flammable by-product of the flame beetle’s internal organs covered it, burning through flesh and muscle. Sensing her chance, Jayna took a running slide, skidding beneath the beast’s body as she severed two more legs, sending it crashing to the floor behind her. With a mocking salute to the gleeful crowd, she backflipped onto the creature’s back, before driving her saber through its head, killing it instantly.

On the other side of the arena, Cal had dodged and circled his own monster, as the Oggdo did its best to take several bites out of him. Unfortunately, its armoured hide made it resistant to his saber as well as the flame beetles, as Cal had thrown three at it and achieved nothing more than to irritate the reptilian creature.

BD booped in alarm as Cal danced out of the way of another attack, narrowly avoiding the last flame beetle as it swooped at him. Reverse-thrusting the insect through its carapace, he Force-pushed it away from him before it could explode, just as he saw Jayna slide beneath the wyyyschokk’s body.

The sight gave him an idea, as the Oggdo roared in frustration, opening its monstrous jaws wide as Cal saw its fleshy, slimy tongue extend towards him. Reaching out a hand, he slowed Time just long enough to dodge the advancing appendage, bringing his saber to bear as it sliced through quivering pink muscle.

Time sped up again as the Oggdo roared and groaned, thrashing its head in agony as Cal sprinted towards it just as it raised its bulbous chin, exposing its significantly weaker underbelly. He slashed upwards, severing the oesophagus before whirling and stabbing his saber deep into the creature’s chest cavity for good measure. He barely managed to get out of the way in time to avoid being crushed by the Oggdo as it collapsed, twitching, to the ground.

In the stands, the crowd roared in vicious delight as Sorc Tormo glared down at his latest acquisitions with new consideration.

“You get the hang of it quick,” he commented lazily, as if bored by the display.

“Maybe you should come down and face us yourself!” Cal called back up, as he felt Jayna at his side.

The Umbaran scoffed. “I’m too busy counting my credits!” he demurred. “And now for the next round!”

“Be-boop!” BD trilled mockingly.

“I agree, he talks too much,” Cal replied, as vents, hidden in the floor, opened to reveal more lifts, unleashing their cargo of Splox, bog rats and strange, spider-like creatures that superficially resembled the wyyyschokk but with an armoured exoskeleton and dark markings.

“Let’s get ‘em something with some bite!” Sorc Tormo demanded exuberantly, as Jayna and Cal glanced at each other.

With a shared nod, Cal and Jayna threw themselves into battle. Unlike the first two creatures, and despite their greater numbers, this battle was considerably easier as they easily dodged and feinted around the animals’ clumsy attacks.

As a bog rat reared up on its back legs to strike at her with its clawed paw, Jayna flipped her blade into a reverse grip as she spun and beheaded the creature.

On her other side, Cal Force-pushed one of the spiders into the rampaging path of the Splox as the creature exploded in a torrent of toxic fluid that burned like acid.

Jayna looked up from bisecting her own arachnid attacker to see a bog rat bearing down on Cal, screaming a warning at him across the bond as she threw her saber, guiding it with the Force. Cal ducked as the saber flew over his back and cut the bog rat in half.

Lashing out as a Splox lunged for her, she kicked it onto its back, spiny legs waving helplessly in the air, before she Force-pushed the unfortunate animal into one of the spiders, knocking them both down as she leapt towards them, killing both with a lazy swipe of her blade.

The Force screamed a warning as something leapt at her back, as she dodged and flipped her body around, to find two snarling scazz bearing down on her. She felt the surge in the Force as Cal threw her his saber, catching it one-handed before holding them in a cross as the scazz leapt for her again. As her blades uncrossed, they fell, deep gashes scored in their chests, kicking feebly as Jayna turned back and threw Cal his saber just as the last scazz leapt for his throat.

Cal beheaded it, the momentum of the move sending the unfortunate beast flying away as he spun on his heels to face Jayna, as they scanned the arena for more threats.

“What a strike from the Jedi!” Sorc Tormo was still parroting away, his grating commentary easy to ignore as the doors opened once more to reveal a jotaz as it lumbered through, roaring its defiance and outrage to the arena. Its beady little eyes fixed on Cal as it beat its fists against its chest, before rushing towards him.

‘Cal!’ Jayna shouted across the bond, as she threw him her saber, before reaching out and grasping the corpses of the wyyyschokk and the Oggdo in the Force. Lifting them with effort, as she panted and strained, she threw them at the advancing jotaz, one after the other.

The creature was barely slowed by the impacts, as it batted first one, then the other grisly missile from the air, but it was long enough for Cal. After catching Jayna’s lightsaber, he settled into a Jar’Kai stance, his own shining blue blade raised high in the air above his head while Jayna’s blade, he flipped into a reverse grip, held parallel to his body. While the creature was distracted, he lunged, attacking first with the reversed saber, scoring a deep cut in the jotaz’s abdomen, before he pivoted, driving his saber deep into the chest cavity, puncturing a lung and shearing through muscle to impale its heart.

The creature collapsed to the ground, as Cal stood over it, breathing hard. Through the Force, Jayna could sense his exhilaration even as he struggled to control it, even as she reined in her battle meditation with iron-clad control.

There was danger in this arena, and not just of the physical, mortal kind. “This is what we want! This is what we LOVE!” Sorc Tormo declared above their heads. “So nimble! How do they do that!?”

Meeting each other’s gaze, Jayna and Cal nodded in understanding before he tossed her lightsaber back. She re-activated it and together, they turned and slipped into an Ataru stance: legs splayed and knees bent, weight forward on the foot, blades held upright in front of them, as they waited for whatever came next.

“The best is yet to come…” Sorc Tormo drawled, as Jayna and Cal glanced up at him dismissively. “I believe you know our next challengers…the Haxion Brood is gunnin’ for ya!”

Two shapes dropped from the gantry overlooking the arena, one leaving deep cracks in the floor as heavy, duranium alloy impacted, while the other was as light as a feather as he advanced, shield held high.

Their captors from the ice caves.

But this time, there was no electro-stun darts to be seen. Cal and Jayna glanced at each other knowingly. ‘So, which do you want? Nerf or herder?’ he asked, gesturing first to the hulking droid, then to the bounty hunter. Jayna’s eyes fixed on the cyborg as Cal knew which one she’d pick. ‘Ladies’ choice.’

‘Such a gentleman,’ she sighed, mockingly just before she whirled and threw her saber at the cyborg hunter. He deflected it with his shield, but she was right on him, summoning it back to her hand as she dodged his shunt at her face with his shield.

Shaking his head at her antics, Cal turned and faced off against his own enemy. Raising his blade, he deflected the droid’s blaster fire from its arm-mounted cannon, just as he felt Jayna reach out and enthuse him with fresh strength and determination as her battle meditation took hold.

Against a droid, it had little effect but on Cal, he found his strikes so much stronger, his movements so much faster and fleet of foot as he dodged and parried the bounty hunter droid’s lumbering swings. “Ya slippery!” the droid declared, as it raised both arms above its head. “Oh, yer in trouble!”

Cal threw himself aside, only to realise BD had hopped from his back. Looking around frantically for the droid as he strafed backwards from his attacker, he realised the droid had used the attack as a distraction to hover over to the bounty hunter droid, clamber onto its back and use its scomp link to overload the bigger droid’s systems as it spasmed and flailed. Seizing his chance, Cal charged the hunter droid, slicing its legs out from underneath it, then bisecting the cuboid chassis as it collapsed to its knees.

“Nice one, bud,” he whispered to the droid, as it hopped back onto his shoulder. He turned to find Jayna still engaged with her assailant as Sorc Tormo mockingly called down from the stands:

“Aren’t ya goin’ to help yer little girlfriend?”

Rolling his eyes at yet another girlfriend jibe, Cal looked up knowingly at the crime boss as he shrugged insouciantly. He knew Jayna well enough now to know when she was playing with her opponent. “Trust me, she really doesn’t need my help,” he declared, with a surety that had the crime boss squirming with sudden uncertainty.

For Jayna’s part, the fight had turned easy the moment she had reached out and tugged the thread that connected the bounty hunter to her. Despite being part droid, he was still organic enough for it to work as she slowed his attacks and dulled his wits. Unfortunately, it hadn’t done anything to stop him talking.

“Well, ‘ello again sweetheart!” he’d declared with a leering smile. “Pleased ta see me?”

Jayna didn’t engage, simply letting her blade do the talking for her as she feinted and whirled, bringing her blade down on the hunter’s leg. It scored a deep cut, but the cybernetic limb just sparked.

“You’ll pay for that one, schutta!” the hunter had growled, before fixing her with a dark smile. “Yer feisty! P’raps the boss will let me break ya in before he sells ya to the Hutts!”

Jayna just fixed him with a bared teeth grin, drawing him in until he charged, shield first to bash her aside. Jayna waited until the last possible moment to dodge, lashing out in a roundhouse kick that sent the hunter sprawling as his shield and blaster clattered to the floor, out of reach.

Twirling her blade indolently, she advanced on the now snivelling hunter as he crawled desperately towards his weapons, but she was faster. She couldn’t resist a quick stab to the groin as the hunter screamed before flicking her blade up and over, stabbing him through the heart and ending the fight.

The crowd roared in disbelief and bloodlust as Sorc Tormo’s enraged cries filled the air. “That was my highest earner!?”

Both Jayna and Cal felt the call in the Force, as something drew near. They whirled as Sorc Tormo babbled in incoherent rage. “What do you mean, incoming…? It’s the Mantis! Blast it!”

They threw themselves aside as the rectangular shape of the yacht suddenly appeared outside the force field, driving through it and landing as blaster fire began raining down. Its cannons returned fire, as the patrons scattered and Sorc Tormo howled in outrage and defiance.

“There is no escape! I’ll chase you across the Galaxy if I have to!”

Jayna, Cal and BD sprinted towards the landing ramp as it descended, throwing themselves aboard as the ship began to take off, but not before Jayna offered a jaunty, mocking wave to the arena before the doors sealed.

Outside the viewports, empty space turned to the silvery-blue of hyperspace as Cal and Jayna collapsed, panting against the holo-table, sharing a relieved smile as Cere’s voice called their names.

Jayna watched as Cal’s face darkened, before he clipped his saber to his belt and turned to walk into the cockpit.

Inside, Greez sat at the controls while Cere swivelled in her chair to face them, a welcoming, relieved grin of her own on her lips at the sight of them. “Hey, Greez!” Cal called, with the thinnest veneer of control. “You’re famous down there.”

“Yeah, they’re an…ugly group, huh?” the Latero agreed, squirming. “They smell like used droid oil, heh, heh. At least you’re okay?”

Cal sighed through gritted teeth as he felt Jayna’s warning press against his mind, just as he rounded on Cere.

“Yeah, a complication we could have avoided,” Cere was saying, and her apparently ignorant condescension, when it was her deceit that had landed him, Jayna and BD in this mess, was too much. “Luckily, we found you.”

“We have another complication,” he forced himself to say, curtly. “The Empire knows about the holocron.”

“That’s not good,” Cere muttered, tensing when she met Cal and Jayna’s cold gaze. “The entire mission is now at risk.”

“And we had a nice chat with the Second Sister… Trilla,” Cal continued, facing Cere with an accusatory look. That even had Greez glancing in shock over his shoulder.

Cere froze, her eyes darting away and back before she cautiously asked, “What did she tell you?”

“Everything. She told us everything, Cere,” Jayna breathed, as the older woman before her hauled in a trembling breath.

“Cal…,” she tried to begin, but he cut her off furiously.

“She told us you betrayed her to the Empire!” he continued insistently. “Is it true?”

“She’ll say anything to jeopardise this mission!” Cere objected, as Jayna tried to reach out and calm Cal down.

“Yes, she will,” she agreed. “But that wasn’t what we asked you.”

“Is it true?” Cal demanded again, a strange desperation in his eyes as he took a step towards the seated former Knight. Jayna reached out and clasped his wrist, gently holding him back as he paused and inhaled deeply.

“She was my apprentice…before the Purge,” Cere finally admitted, hesitantly.

“You should have told me, told us!” Cal insisted angrily, as Jayna felt his control on a knife’s edge. After the fight with the Second Sister, the Tomb, and the arena… he was nearly at breaking point. She could sense his turmoil as she tried to send him as much of her strength as she could.

“We’re getting an encrypted message from Kashyyyk!” Greez suddenly piped up, a kind of desperation in his voice as if he hoped the situation would de-escalate if he could just distract everyone.

Cere’s eyes dropped as Cal glanced at Greez briefly before marching past and back into the crew quarters to the holo-table. With barely a glance for either of the other two, Jayna followed as Cal punched a few commands to the control panel.

A hologram flickered into being: Mari Kosan, the Partisan they’d met on Kashyyyk.

“Mari!” Cal breathed.

“Cal, we found Tarfful!” Mari declared, with a smile. “And he is willing to meet you and Jayna. But that’s not all. The Empire overran our position at the refinery. Saw retreated off-world… some of us have joined the Wookiee fighters in the forest. Be careful… they were searching for you.”

“You too, thank you Mari,” Jayna said from Cal’s side, before the hologram flickered and disappeared. Cal turned, rounding on Cere as the older woman exhaled tremulously.

“Later,” she whispered.

“Later,” Cal agreed, feeling Jayna’s acquiescence as she forced her own feelings aside. “We have our lead.”

“How long will it take to reach Kashyyyk?” Jayna asked, turning to glance at Greez.

The Latero shrugged. “‘Bout seventy-two hours, give or take from the Outer Rim to the Mytaranor Sector,” he replied, scratching his chin. “We can’t risk usin’ the hyperspace lanes anymore so we gotta chart a course. I’ve plotted in the co-ordinates and the navicomputer’s calculating the route.”

At Greez’s assertion, Cal turned on his heel and marched off, as Jayna watched him go with a sigh. Greez hobbled off into the cockpit, mumbling reassuringly to himself as Jayna met Cere’s haunted, sad gaze.

“I never meant…” the older woman started, but Jayna held her hand up.

“I know,” she breathed, hesitantly. “But it did. And it wouldn’t have been possible if you just told us the truth, Cere. You owed us that much.”

With that, she turned and brushed past the older woman, following Cal into the aft compartment of the Mantis as Cere stood alone in the crew quarters.

When Jayna reached their little makeshift cabin, Cal was sat on his cot, filthy boots thrown haphazardly to the side and poncho strewn across them. BD crouched beside him, trilling comfortingly as Cal gazed at a cuboid object in his hands: Cere’s holocron.

It was glowing as it played its recorded message on a loop, but somehow Cal had muted the audio, so it was just an image. An image of his father, gravely and sorrowfully staring out at his invisible audience. Jayna’s heart broke for him all over again as she stood, unseen in the doorway, as his eyes trailed restlessly over the holo-image, as if searching for something. A resemblance, maybe?

“I only met him once or twice, y’know,” Cal breathed, making Jayna jump as she was startled from her. “The second time was when I was made Master Tapal’s Padawan, so it was just a formality for a high-ranking Master to be there but…”

“And the first?” Jayna asked curiously, leaving the doorway to perch beside Cal on the cot. Up close, her eyes watched the looping holocron closely, searching it intently. When Cere and Cal had first shown her this, the sight of the legendary Jedi Master had struck her then, though she hadn’t known why. At first, she had put it down to the sorrow and anguish that were obvious to see and hear behind his stoic, collected words but now… now she studied him a little more, she realised why she had felt something that first time: he looked like Cal.

Perhaps not at first glance, maybe. There was a superficial similarity in the way their hair fell against their forehead, the tone of their skin, things which could be easily ignored or explained away but… up close, Jayna could see closer similarities in their shared jawlines, eyes that were as piercing and intelligent as they were of different colours, and even the way they held themselves… even if she’d thought Trilla was lying, the proof was before her own eyes. Cal was truly the son of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

For a long time, Cal didn’t speak as Jayna toed her boots off and coiled her legs up underneath her, leaning against him slightly as he could feel her against his shoulder. Physically there, as well as mentally, as she reached out across the bond. Finally, he took a deep, shuddering breath as he began to tell the story.

“I was still a youngling at the Temple. It was a basic saber class with Master Yoda, he’d make us wear opaque visors and practice our deflection with training remotes. It was to teach us to rely on the Force, not our eyes,” he explained, haltingly at first, then ever more fluidly as memory overtook him and his eyes grew distant and misty. Jayna could see it, could see him in her mind’s eye: a scrawny, confident child with shorn red hair, almost dwarfed by his robes. “I was nine, nearly ten? Anyway, halfway through our lesson, Master Kenobi appeared, asking for Master Yoda’s advice…”

With a sharp inhale, Jayna felt herself drawn into Cal’s memory, so it played out in her own mind as if it was her own, even as she sat and listened to Cal’s voice as he recounted it.

“I remember thinking how tall he seemed…”

“Younglings! Younglings! A visitor, we have!”

She saw a tall, handsome man in his mid-thirties, with auburn hair to his shoulders and a neatly trimmed beard. Everything from the way he stood, modest, humble and reserved, spoke of a gentle man, one who preferred meditation and study to combat, yet she sensed it was but a façade: his blue eyes were sad and yet stern, the eyes of a warrior forged from fire and tragedy.

“Hello, Master Obi-Wan!” the younglings said in unison, a collective swell of excitement and awe rippling among them. Obi-Wan Kenobi was legendary, even then: his defeat of the Sith Lord Maul on Naboo made him a hero to many of the younglings and Padawans in the Temple.

“Hello! I’m sorry to disturb you, Master…”

“Master Yoda joked about it, of course. He loved to use everything as a potential lesson…”

 “Hmm, lost a planet Master Obi-Wan has! How embarrassing, how embarrassing!” the diminutive Jedi Master declared with a knowing twinkle in his wise eyes, as the assembled younglings giggled, and Kenobi smiled indulgently at the old Jedi’s teasing. “Hmm? Liam, the shades!” the Jedi Master called to a youngling stood at the back of the group.

 “I remember Liam was one of my biggest rivals in lightsaber tutorials… not that we were meant to have rivals like that, but it was inevitable when we would be competing for possible selection by a Master in a few years’ time…”

As the shades were lowered and the Coruscanti sunlight dimmed, Jayna felt as all the younglings inhaled deeply, their minds reaching out to the Force as the wizened old Jedi Master instructed.

“Gather round the map reader! Clear your minds and find Obi-Wan’s wayward planet we will!”

  Suddenly, they were surrounded by an astrogation map, a virtual field of stars as the younglings stared up in awe. Kenobi pointed to a spot, explaining the mystery of the system’s disappearance.

  Kenobi’s voice was soft but commanding, and he didn’t seem perturbed that Master Yoda had turned his little problem into a lesson for his students.

 “He always seemed… kind. I never heard him say a cross word to anyone when he trained his Padawan in the Temple, even though Skywalker could be impatient and arrogant towards him and the other Padawans…”

 “Hmm, gravity’s silhouette remains but the star and all the planets, disappeared they have! How can this be? Hmm? A thought? Anyone?”

 “It occurred to me then, but I was almost too afraid to say it. I thought they’d shoot me down in flames,” Cal continued, with a half-smirk as he chuckled at his own uncertainty. “I should have known better…”

 “Master? Because someone erased it from the Archive memory!” the young Cal declared simply, peering at his teacher than up at the great Knight from beneath his training visor. The Knight smiled warmly down at the boy as Master Yoda giggled in delight.

“Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is! The Padawan is right!” Master Yoda declared, still chuckling as the child Cal in Jayna’s mind struggled not to squirm with ill-concealed pride and delight under Kenobi’s gaze. “Go to the centre of gravity’s pull, and find your planet, you will!”

After that, the pair moved away as Master Yoda walked Kenobi to the door, their conversation too low to be heard. Despite that, Cal couldn’t help but smile as he imprinted the memory in his mind. It would be all over the Temple gossip mill by the afternoon, but for now… he held the image of Master Yoda’s pleased grin and Kenobi’s warm smile in his mind and hugged it close…

“A few weeks later, the Clone Wars began,” Cal breathed. “A year later, I was assigned to Master Tapal, and Kenobi and his Padawan, Anakin Skywalker, were at the ceremony but other than that… I spent most of the war on a Star Destroyer, training. It wasn’t until we were ordered to leave Bracca and were posted to Mygeeto that I was going to be permitted into the field for the first time. And then…”

 “The Purge,” Jayna guessed, as she reached out and clasped a hand around Cal’s arm, leaning her head against his shoulder. “Cal, I’m so sorry.”

 “I just keep thinking,” he said, his eyes bleak as he stared at the bulkhead opposite him. “Did he know when he smiled at me? Did he know who I was? How could he not, if he was my father…?”

 “Cal, that was a beautiful, happy memory. Don’t let Trilla’s manipulations ruin it,” she chided him softly. “We don’t know how much of what she said was truth and how much was lies designed to weaken us. There might be more to the story than you know.”

He nodded but didn’t look convinced. A second later, his face twisted as he inhaled sharply. “Here I am, drowning in my own self-pity,” he mumbled, shamefacedly. “How are you holding up, with…everything? It must have come as a bit of shock to you too.”

“Not as bad as yours, I guess,” Jayna replied, self-consciously. “It just confirmed what I suspected already. In a strange, horrible way Trilla did me a favour. At least now I know my parents didn’t abandon me at that orphanage by choice.”

The sound of a man’s voice, calling her mother’s name in grief and despair, flashed through her mind again as she winced, closing her eyes. She felt Cal reach out, cupping her cheek as she opened her eyes to meet his forest green gaze, warm and compassionate. “I knew, ever since we found that barrier in my head, that it might well mean…,” she trailed off, as emotion she’d fought to keep under control made her voice grow heavy and choked as she swallowed hard against the sudden lump in her throat. “It doesn’t really change anything for me. I’m still alone in the Galaxy.”

“You’re not alone,” Cal demurred. “You’ve got me and BD,”

“And Greez and Cere,” Jayna added, as Cal’s eyes flashed. “Cal, I know what you’re going to say,” she sighed, heading him off as he opened his mouth to reply. “What she did wasn’t right, but… I can understand why she’d want to forget it. So much more makes sense now…”

“Her reasons don’t matter,” Cal objected firmly. “What, did she think Trilla would hesitate to use something like this against us? At least if we’d have known, it wouldn’t have been such an issue. Instead, she left us vulnerable.”

“Let’s not fight about this,” she interjected, sensing the possibility of an argument, and feeling too tired to delve into it right now. She wasn’t exactly happy with Cere right now, but the last thing they needed was such a rift. “We’ve got three days until we get to Kashyyyk. We need to rest up and you definitely need a shower. You smell worse than a Tauntaun on Tatooine!”

“Hey! Right back at you, Shan!” Cal protested jokingly, as she narrowed her eyes at him haughtily.

 “Go get a wash while I grab some food from the galley,” she told him, shoving him on the shoulder as BD booped in amusement. With a challenging smirk, she flounced out of the compartment, gratified when she heard the shower start a minute or two later.

Up front, Greez was piloting but Cere was nowhere to be seen. Reaching out with her awareness, Jayna sensed her in her quarters, pacing to and fro, her mind in turmoil. Resisting the impulse to reach out and comfort, Jayna gathered up some protein bars, Moof juice, fruit pouches, Nuna jerky, pita and two helpings of ronto sausage casserole Greez had left in a warming pot on the side. Juggling her feast, she resorted to using the Force to hover the cups, bowls, and utensils by her head as she slowly made her way towards the aft compartment. 

Cal was just towelling off his hair when she entered, not noticing his partial state of undress as she set her burdens down on her cot. Setting everything out, Jayna glanced over her shoulder to ask Cal a question when she realised that he was half-naked.

 He wore a loose pair of trousers, but other than that, he was unclothed but for the towel currently covering his head as he rubbed the water from his hair. The compartment’s soft lighting gleamed off pale, leanly chiselled muscles, from his broad shoulders and strong arms sculpted by years of hard physical labour on Bracca and his Jedi training, to the narrow waist. His chest was largely hairless but for a thin, short trail that started just below his ribcage and fell sparsely to beneath the waistband of his trousers.

Swallowing hard as her mouth dried, Jayna inhaled sharply and tore her eyes away as her heart raced, a hot, sharp flash of desire lancing through her. “Hey, Cal food’s here. Try not to eat it all while I’m in the shower,” she quipped, her voice a little high-pitched and shaky as she escaped, praying to any deity that would listen that Cal hadn’t sensed her sudden… preoccupation.

 By the time she emerged from the shower, freshly dressed in a loose tunic and leggings, Cal had thrown on a vest and was sitting cross-legged on his cot as he wolfed down the casserole.

They didn’t speak but to share warm, companionable smile as Jayna ate her dinner rather more sedately, nibbling at her portion and dipping her pita in the juices, while Cal demolished the fruit she’d brought. There was something about using the Force for extended periods of time that made one ravenously hungry, even though it was possible, in extreme circumstances, to sustain oneself with the Force alone. It had been a sharp learning curve during her first few weeks on Bogano, just how much she needed to eat to replenish her energy reserves, where before she’d never eaten more than a bare minimum to survive.

Afterwards, she instinctively started to clean up, gathering their used bowls, utensils and wrappings as Cal sighed repletely. With a pointed kick of his discarded boots, Jayna quickly nipped out to the galley, depositing the rubbish on the side with a sideways glance at Greez, still piloting the Mantis, before she headed back to the safety of their cabin.

 She was met by a low snore and the sight of Cal, stretched out on his cot with one arm thrown over his eyes, while BD watched over him from the side. She noted, with some satisfaction, that he’d pushed his boots under his cot at least, and the poncho was now neatly folded and set aside with the rest of his dirty clothes, as she considered the need to wake him up and insist he let his dinner go down first. He’d end up with indigestion when he woke up, she told herself, but she couldn’t bring herself to wake him when she sensed just how exhausted, both physically and emotionally, he was as she spotted the holocron, still active, beside Cal’s arm.

Reaching for it, BD booped at her softly as she smiled at the droid. She considered the holographic image of Cal’s father for a moment, before reaching into it with the Force and deactivating it, as the hologram disappeared.

Placing it on the floor beside Cal’s cot, she pulled her blanket round her as she sat, her knees bent so she could rest her chin on them, watching him sleep, reaching out instinctively across the bond to sooth and comfort so his rest remained undisturbed until she couldn’t fight her own exhaustion any longer. Drawing her blanket around her tighter, she curled up on her side, facing Cal, before she finally succumbed to sleep.

Cal was awoken by the feel of a hand shaking his arm. Groaning as he was dragged from sleep, he rolled over onto his back, opening bleary eyes to find Greez bent over him.

“Hey kid! Wake up! Can we talk?” the Latero asked softly, as Cal groaned.

“What?” he asked, uncomprehendingly as his brain struggled to wake up. He glanced over at Jayna as she groggily poked her head out from under her blankets, rolling over onto her side.

“Can we talk?” Greez asked again, gruffly, and louder as Cal slowly found himself fully awake. “I don’ know what’s going on between you and her…” the Latero began, sitting down beside Cal, his beady eyes fixed on his face searchingly. “I mean, I figure it’s some kind of Jedi thing. But I don’t think this is the right time for it.”

Cal hauled himself upright, rubbing his hand against his eyes to dislodge an annoying bit grit. “It’s not any of your business,” he grumbled, as Jayna glared at him.

“Cal!” she hissed disapprovingly.

“I think it’s my business,” Greez disagreed, softly. “We’re all in this together, aren’t we?”

Despite how much Cal wanted to stay annoyed at Greez, he couldn’t deny that. Sighing, he glanced away instead of replying, silently conceding the point. “Hey, you two… I made a mistake and I almost got you killed. I’m sorry.”

Neither Jayna nor Cal moved or said a word as the Latero made his apology, sensing its sincerity even as the Latero blustered on.

“I mean, we all make mistakes, right?” he asked, chuckling awkwardly. “Well, maybe not you two,” he added, looking away. “Hey, why don’t you cut her some slack? I’m not saying do it for me but you three are the best thing that ever happened in my life. Before you came along, all I cared about was a tight hand on a stiff heater!”

Jayna rolled her eyes.

“That’s a game term,” Greez continued, as Cal still remained silent.

“I know what it is,” Cal interjected coolly.

“Cal, life’s not a game,” Greez said, after a moment of awkward silence as the Latero looked down at his feet shamefacedly. “Before you three, all I cared about was myself. Easy money… now it’s different…”

“We know, Greez,” Jayna breathed. “It’s the same for all of us but you have to understand… Cere’s reticence put us all at risk. We’re not about to let it stop us from achieving our goals but… it’s going to take some time to get over that.”

“Yeah, I get it. Anyway, that’s all I came to say. Now I’ve said it, I’ll leave you alone,” the Latero replied, putting his hands in the air as he stood from the cot. “We’re still two and a half standard days from Kashyyyk so get some rest.”

Jayna watched Greez go, disappearing around the corner of the passage as Cal threw himself back on his cot, drawing his blanket over him. He glanced at BD, but the droid had long since deactivated itself to re-charge, so there was no distraction there.

He felt Jayna’s cool gaze on him, as he finally forced himself to meet her eyes. “What?” he demanded, bristling.

One brow rose, before she apparently decided it wasn’t worth the argument as she lay back down on her cot. They were both still exhausted and they needed all the rest they could get.

But despite their bone-deep weariness, neither Cal nor Jayna could go back to sleep. Their minds, preternaturally alert, refused to let them relax as thoughts swirled around their heads. Across the narrow aisle between their cots, Jayna’s eyes met Cal’s as the bond flexed and flared softly in their minds.

Cal was tired. He was hurting and heartsick, and too tired to fight the intrinsic need for comfort he felt. Wordlessly, praying she wouldn’t reject the offer, he scooted back against the cool metal of the bulkhead at his back, and raised the blanket invitingly.

Jayna stared at him for a heartbeat before she sighed and smiled self-deprecatingly as she pushed back her blanket. Barefoot, she padded across to his cot, sliding in beside him as he draped the reminder of the blanket over her, recalling how she felt the cold more than he.

He felt her breath stutter as their bodies met, screened as they were by their clothes. His heart raced as she laid her head down beside his, as he leant up on one elbow to look down into her dark, winsome eyes. In all their wanderings, he hadn’t let himself appreciate how beautiful they were, not since they first met on Bracca but now, he let himself admire them as he found comfort in their warm depths.

Temptation flared as the part of him that was exhausted and heartbroken whispered seductively: why shouldn’t he? Why shouldn’t he give in, when there was clearly nothing to be gained from doing otherwise? Why should he show restraint when his own father apparently hadn’t been capable of it?

His gaze dropped to her lips, soft and pink, slightly parted as she lay quiescently beneath his gaze, before her lips quirked and she curled into him, nuzzling her face against his shoulder. Instantly, desire turned to tenderness, as he ran a hand through still damp hair, fingers tracing the uneven boundary between the blonde hair she’d sported in her disguise as Meena Cordo and the natural brown that overtook it. Trustingly, she pressed herself against him as he felt something within himself unlock, the tension in his body and mind unwinding as he relaxed into the cot, into Jayna, as he twined his arm around her waist while he cradled her head with the other. He might wake up with a dead arm, but it would be worth it, he thought sleepily, inhaling the scent of Jayna’s soap as he took a breath.

Safe, secure in each other’s arms and in their bond, the pair slept deeply, protected for this one shining, brief moment as the Mantis sped towards Kashyyyk.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Jayna awoke to the feel of a hand slowly, almost unconsciously, stroking her arm where it lay draped over a strong shoulder. The touch was soothing, almost loving as it nearly lulled her back to sleep again until she shifted slightly and felt something hard and warm pressing into her hip.

Her eyes snapped open as realisation struck, and she struggled not to instinctively tense up as Cal grumbled sleepily above her head. ‘Well, well, well apparently even Jedi are flesh and blood,’ she couldn’t help but think sarcastically, keeping that thought safely tucked away in the corner of her mind that was still her own. She snuggled back down, trying to ignore it as it was hardly Cal’s fault that he couldn’t control his own biology. Sleeping in Cal’s arms though, was like sleeping next to a heater as he seemed to radiate it at an approximate level of intensity as his hair colour, and she was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. She knew though, if Cal woke up like this, with her still in his arms, he’d be mortified.

Slowly, carefully, Jayna inched her way out from under Cal’s arms, finding to her own embarrassment that their legs had become tangled together while they slept. With difficulty, and not a small degree of agility and flexibility, Jayna stood on the cold metal floor, looking on Cal as he slept on. His hair was irretrievably ruffled and dishevelled and there was a distinct shadow around his jawline, lending a ruggedness to his youthful features.

With a gentle smile, she bent down to smooth a lock of hair off his forehead, her grin turning wicked as he grumbled childishly and turned over. Shaking her head, she turned and went in search of caf. Grabbing some mugs and an insulated flask, she picked up some more fruit pouches, resolutely ignoring the pot of Greez’s family recipe porridge on the side. Glancing up, Jayna could see Cere and Greez at their stations in the cockpit, bickering jovially.

“Ya know, even after all the action you three bring, I still get a thrill watching the games!” the Latero was enthusing.

“As long as you keep your habits in check!” Cere replied pointedly.

“Oh yeah, no… of course. I’m just a spectator, no gambling or… nothing going on,” Greez agreed uncomfortably.

“Really?”

“Yeah, we’re talking pure entertainment. Nothing gets me going more than watching a couple of slubs square off. Just slick moves and brute force! Yah! Ha! Oooh-ooh!” he continued, one pair of hands gesturing flamboyantly while the other stayed firmly on the joysticks.

“Captain, I am slightly troubled by your enthusiasm for something so… barbaric,” Cere teased, smiling despite herself.

“Oh yeah, I mean… it is. True, totally barbaric but still… kind of entertaining,” the Latero pilot conceded reluctantly, as Cere shook her head. Through the doorway, she caught Jayna’s eye as the younger woman offered a nod before she turned and carried her bounty back to their compartment.

When she entered, Cal was no longer in bed, but BD-1 hopped up as she walked in, booping a ‘good morning’ and explaining that Cal was showering.

Smiling to herself, Jayna set her spoils down, pouring a mug of caf for Cal then one for herself. Settling cross-legged on her cot, she sat picking her way through her fruit while BD-1 watched curiously. Several times, he scanned her breakfast, as she blinked at the sudden flash of blue light.

“Whoa, a little warning next time, little guy,” she breathed, licking away the last traces of meiloorun juice from her fingers. The little droid booped a question as she chuckled and replied, “Yeah, it tastes pretty good. Bit sticky on the fingers though.”

She looked up at the sound of footsteps as Cal walked in, still in his sleepwear, eyes a little drowsy. However, she noticed the stubble was gone, as he flushed a little at the sight of her.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” she called teasingly. “you should have kept the stubble; it was a good look for you.”

Cal grunted, rolling his eyes as he passed her to throw himself back down onto his cot.

“You’re lucky you came back out when you did,” Jayna continued wickedly. “I was just contemplating nicking your caf before it got cold.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t,” Cal retorted, good-naturedly. The blush had faded from his cheeks as he realised Jayna was either feigning ignorance about this morning or hadn’t noticed at all. She’d let him decide which one, she was completely merciless. “Caf practically runs in your veins.”

“Hmm, who needs blood when you have caf?” Jayna agreed, glancing down at her nearly empty mug. Reaching for the flask, she tipped it into her mug while Cal took a mouthful of his own. A second later, he passed her his mug too, with a knowing grin. “Lightweight,” she teased, but she took it regardless.

“Addict,” he retorted, as BD booped a question. “Not much to do, BD,” he answered. “We’re still a long way from Kashyyyk so probably rest up while we can.”

“Maker knows I could do with some more sleep,” Jayna added, yawning. Despite their long sleep, she still felt bone-wearily tired, mentally, and physically drained after the events of the past few days. They’d been on the go pretty much constantly since leaving Bogano. “But first, I’m going to give this some maintenance,” she said, reaching for her saber.

“Not a bad idea,” Cal agreed, as he picked at his fruit pouch. While he finished his breakfast, Jayna began stripping down her saber like he’d shown her, lovingly cleaning and oiling each component almost meditatively. A peaceful silence reigned between the trio for a while, until Jayna glanced up at Cal.

“I meant to ask…” she trailed off, as he tensed. “How are you feeling now?”

“I’d have thought you could sense it through the bond,” he replied, frowningly.

“I could, but sometimes it can help to say it out loud. And it’s still your head, Kestis. I’m not about to go rummaging about in your personal business just because I can,” she explained, sensibly.

“I guess,” Cal shrugged, before frowning into space as his eyes turned distant. “I feel… better about it than I did but… I’m still figuring it out.”

“Aren’t we all?” Jayna joked softly, as he huffed a laugh and looked down at the discarded wrapping in his hand.

“I was meaning to ask you,” he began, prompting her to look up from her work questioningly. “What was that language you used in the cell? When you first came to, after we were captured?”

“You mean, after I nearly knocked you into next week?” Jayna added, with a self-deprecating smile. “It was Mando’a. I picked up a few phrases here and there. I told you, Nar Shaddaa was quite an educational experience.”

“I guessed from that and some of what happened in the arena, not always a pleasant one?” Cal pressed, as her smile faded, and she nodded.

“I had a few close calls,” she admitted. “Slavers on the lookout for any half-decent humanoid, so-called philanthropists that would offer lodging and protection in return for certain services, ships’ crews that thought the only use a girl could have… well, like I said, I quickly learned who to avoid. And how to deal with the ones who tried to take what I wasn’t offering anyway.”

“I’m sorry,” Cal breathed, horrified. She just shrugged.

“It’s the way of the Galaxy, Kestis. The Republic turned a blind eye, but under the Empire… it’s only getting worse. For so long, I shut my eyes to it, concerned only with my own survival. Not anymore,” she replied coolly, looking back down at her saber as she began to carefully piece it back together. She threw her cleaning rag at his head, which he dodged and caught as she smirked at him, as the atmosphere eased while they concentrated on cleaning their weapons, talking only about inconsequential topics, like pod-racing, saber maintenance or what new upgrades Cal wanted to make to BD next.

Forty-seven hours later, the Mantis reverted to realspace in the Kashyyyk system, as Jayna, Cal and BD strapped themselves into their chairs in the cockpit.

The atmosphere was still tense, except for Greez’s complaining. Jayna was making the effort to stay polite, if distant, from Cere but Cal barely acknowledged her existence most days. She’d tried to talk him round, but he insisted he just needed time.

As they flew into Kashyyyk’s atmosphere, they could see the fallout from their fight and the Empire’s retaliation as they soared low over the jungles. The battle had left gaping wounds in the foliage, some still smouldering as Greez guided the Mantis towards the cargo pad they had liberated last time. They could see tiny figures in Partisan colours and Wookiees waving as the ship lowered.

When the ship touched down, Jayna, Cal and BD all but leapt from their seats. “We’ll see you soon,” Jayna tossed over her shoulder as Cal strode towards the airlock doors. She felt a hand against her shoulder, as she paused to find Cere had stood from her station.

“Be careful out there,” she told her, with a pained look in Cal’s direction. “I’ll let you know if I pick up anything on the comms. May the Force be with you.”

“Thank you, Cere,” she whispered, glancing at Greez in farewell before she turned and followed Cal from the ship. As she stepped out into the bright, humid air of Kashyyyk her commlink activated, burbling as she frowned but answered.

“Jayna? This is Saw Gerrera,” a familiar voice spoke, as she paused at the top of the landing ramp.

“Saw? I thought you were off-world,” she said, confused.

“I am but I’ve got intel that may help you. A few rotations before we liberated the refinery, my people searched an abandoned Wookiee village nearby. No sign of Tarfful but we did find out the safest route to the Shadowlands is through the refinery.”

“A built-in escape plan if the attack didn’t work out,” she commented, one brow raised.

“You catch on fast,” he chuckled appreciatively, before his voice turned serious. “I know you’re going to find Tarfful, so that’s the way to go. Kashyyyk will be crawling with Imperials now, so… be careful. And good luck.”

“Thank you. I’ll tell Cal you said hi,” she replied, before cutting the transmission as she felt a wave of anguish from Cal across the bond. Turning, she saw him bent over a Partisan helmet, lying abandoned on the deck. It was stained with soot and what might have been blood, as Jayna felt the echo of Cal’s psychometry.

“Normally I wouldn’t waste my time with the likes of insurgents but I’m looking for a Jedi padawan and his mongrel friend… and I know they’ve been here. And for that…all of you will suffer,” the Second Sister, malevolent and faceless, looked down at her prey before she drove her blade through the Partisan’s chest-

“Hey!” she hissed, grabbing Cal’s shoulder. He startled, his head snapping around to stare at her over his shoulder, as BD whistled in distress. “You ok?”

“She was here,” he breathed. Jayna nodded.

“I know, I felt it through you,” she whispered, crouching down beside him as she took his face in her hands. He dropped the helmet, shuddering slightly as the echo dimmed, releasing him from its hold. “There is nothing we could have done. Even without our intervention, the Empire would have come down hard on the Partisans… they were never going to hold the refinery for long. I know it’s hard, but we need to find Mari and Tarfful.”

“Cal! Jayna!” a familiar voice called their names, accompanied by the welcoming roar of a Wookiee as they glanced round. Mirienna and Commander Choyyssyk were stood by the blast doors that led to the refinery trench, waving.

Jayna pulled Cal to his feet, as he pushed the echo and the feeling of guilt for what they’d brought down on the Partisans’ heads aside, jogging over to meet the two guerrilla fighters.

“It’s good to see you again,” Mirienna smiled welcomingly, as the Wookiee added his own greetings. “Choyyssyk and Mari drew a map to your rendezvous point with Tarfful.”

“We’re sorry we couldn’t get here sooner…” Jayna said, sincerely as she glanced at the fresh devastation around them.

“But we haven’t given up on Kashyyyk, just as you haven’t,” Cal added, with a nod to Choyyssyk and Mirienna. Glancing down at the datachip containing the map, he continued, “For what’s it worth, I’m sorry that our involvement brought the Inquisitors down on your heads.”

“Thank you, Cal,” Mirienna inclined her head, graciously. “But it was never just about you two. It’s dangerous here, Saw’s already gone. The casualties are just too high.”

“He contacted us with some intel,” Jayna confessed, as Cal looked to her frowningly. ‘You were busy,’ she told him, chidingly across the bond. Mirienna and Choyyssyk looked to her curiously. “He said to go through the refinery to reach the Shadowlands.”

Choyyssyk growled and rumbled approvingly. “A wise plan,” Mirienna agreed. “The refinery will take you out to Kyyyalstaad Falls. From there, it’ll be a short hike through Gloomroot Hollow to the Shadowlands.”

“Thank you, both of you,” Cal murmured quietly. “What will you do now?”

Choyyssyk roared defiantly, as Mirienna abruptly looked sad and uncertain. “The Wookiees’ fight continues but…” she confessed. “I’m not sure mine can.”

“No, if you leave the Wookiees lose support,” Cal protested.

“Not all,” Mirienna shook her head. “Mari and some of the others are staying behind with Choyyssyk and Tarfful. I have a child, Sienna…. She already lost one parent. I can’t stay.”

Realisation struck as the names made Cal and Jayna recall the fearful, defiant echoes of a man named Ostar, giving his life for his wife and child when the Empire claimed Zeffo.

“You came from Zeffo, didn’t you?” Cal breathed, painedly. Mirienna’s eyes widened, as Choyyssyk reached out and clasped her shoulder.

“I used to live there, before the Empire came. Do you know it?” she asked, breathlessly.

“We’ve been. What happened there… it was horrible,” Jayna admitted quietly.

“The Force showed me something on Zeffo. Memories of a man named Ostar…” Cal told her, as her breath caught in her throat.

“My partner. He distracted the Stormtroopers so I could escape with our daughter. He was always impulsive,” she confided, as she closed her eyes as if to hold back tears. “Did you find him…?”

“I’m sorry, Mirienna,” Jayna said, reaching out a hand to clasp the other woman’s arm compassionately. Beside her, Choyyssyk gave a mournful growl. “He died fighting, thinking only of you.”

Mirienna sighed tremulously, wiping away a tear as she swallowed. “Part of me wanted to believe he escaped…”

“I’m so sorry,” Cal whispered.

Mirienna shook her head. “No, don’t be. I’m glad I know the truth,” she told them, with a watery smile. “At least now, I can tell my daughter her papa died to give her a chance. We can’t let the Empire destroy more worlds but… I can’t leave my daughter without a mother too. She’s lost enough. She’s waiting for me on Chandrila… once I get there, I will find another way to support the cause,” she vowed, a little strength returning to her voice. “For Ostar, and for all the victims of the Empire.”

Choyyssyk roared in support as Jayna and Cal nodded. “Good luck to you, Mirienna. May we meet again, someday,” Jayna breathed, as the other woman bowed her head.

“And to you,” she replied quietly. “You must hurry, Mari and Tarfful won’t be able to remain in one place for long. The forests will be full of Imperial patrols, you must be cautious.”

“We will, thank you Mirienna,” Cal nodded. “May the Force be with you both.”

With a farewell nod, they turned and left the pair behind, taking the cargo lift into the depths of the refinery. Without even glancing at one another, as one they rested a hand on their sabers as the lift rumbled around them.

The refinery was eerily deserted as they carefully made their way through. Despite the obvious signs of the Empire’s renewed presence, they met no resistance as they followed the map Choyyssyk and Mirienna had given them. They made good time as they stealthily jogged through the facility.

Their commlinks burbled as Greez’s gruff, nasally voice came over the comm. “How you doin’, kiddoes?” he asked. As the trio crowded into a turbolift, they couldn’t help but glance at each other knowingly. Cere was always the one to contact them, not Greez, and certainly not for a friendly chat.

“Fine, Greez. Cere nearby, by any chance?” Jayna asked pointedly, one brow raised even though she knew the Latero couldn’t see them.

“I… might have persuaded her to take a nap while I watched the comm,” he admitted, reluctantly. Cal sighed.

“What’s on your mind, Greez?” he asked, as the turbolift began to descend.

“What, can’t I call you guys up for an update and a friendly word or two?” Greez demanded in a hurt voice. They both snorted disbelievingly.

“You never have before,” Jayna replied curtly. “Just get on with it, Greez.”

The Latero sighed exasperatedly, the sound like a rush of static in their ears. “Hey, you still giving Cere the cold shoulder?” he asked then, softly. “Not you so much, Jay but… Cal…”

“I’m just … focussing on the mission,” Cal replied shortly.

“Hey, I get it. But she’s trying the best she can,” Greez cajoled.

“Why didn’t she just tell me about Trilla? We’re supposed to be a team,” Cal rebutted firmly, glancing at Jayna as the turbolift juddered to a halt. Checking the hallway, they crept out and resumed their run.

“It’s not about team spirit. Look, there are some parts of our past that we don’t want to face, let alone share,” Greez pointed out, as Cal sighed and Jayna had to stifle a giggle.

“I guess,” he conceded, as he shot a look at Jayna. ‘Of all the moments to pick, Greez had to pick this one…’

‘It’s kinda sweet,’ Jayna replied, with a long-suffering smile.

“Even me, believe it or not. One time, I hid out from a Hutt loan shark in a bale of nerf fur,” in their ears, Greez was still talking as they only half-heartedly paid attention.

“Oh yeah?” Cal asked disinterestedly, not in the mood for one of Greez’s tall tales.

“Cal, pay attention. I ain’t ready to dig into that episode yet!” Greez demanded, irritably.

“Look, Greez. We take your point,” Cal admitted, digging deep for his last scrap of patience. “And we’ll think on it, but right now is not the right time for this conversation.”

“I’m sure the Stormtroopers lurking around the next corner would love to give us family counselling tips,” Jayna added sarcastically.

“Yeah, yeah you’re right… just forget I said anything… I mean don’t forget what I said, think about it but… don’t get distracted?” the Latero babbled awkwardly, before mumbling a goodbye and cutting the transmission. Jayna couldn’t help but huff a laugh as they emerged from the refinery and onto a wide grassy knoll overlooking the jungle.

At that moment, their commlink burbled again as Cal hauled in a breath through gritted teeth. “Greez, we haven’t got time-!”

“Cal, it’s Mari,” the Partisan fighter’s voice cut in, as the trio paused. “Do you read me? Cere gave me your comm frequency.”

“Mari! Are you okay?” Cal asked, with a glance at Jayna.

“I’m safe, unlike too many of the others. Did Mirienna give you our rendezvous co-ordinates?” she asked, her voice tired and strained.

“She did. We’re on our way,” Jayna answered.

“Good, we’re just reaching them now, but we can’t stay long. The Empire’s looking for us,” Mari continued. “The Shadowlands will be crawling with them, so be wary. And watch out for the saava!”

“Saava?” Jayna asked, frowning.

“Long, vine plants with flowering ends. If one of their tendrils latches onto you, it’ll drain the life out of you,” Mari explained, with an audible shudder. “We lost too many of ours to them while retreating through Gloomroot Hollow. Unfortunately, it’s also the quickest way to our position.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Cal replied grimly. “We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

Cutting the transmission, he turned to Jayna as she sighed dramatically. “Giant arachnids, flame beetles, life-sucking plants…” she grumbled. “I hate this planet.”

“Now you’re starting to sound like Greez,” Cal teased her, giving her a gentle shove as she snarled angrily.

“I do NOT!” she retorted, reaching out and shoving him back as they set off down the slope towards a path leading into the trees.

The path led them through an overgrown pass and into the Kyyyalstaad Falls and basin as Mirienna had mentioned. There, in an overgrown Imperial patrol station, they’d met their first Imperial resistance as they were forced to fight their way through. As they entered the shadows of Gloomroot Hollow, Jayna found herself wishing for a few Stormtroopers as they fended off wave after wave of Kashyyyk’s less than friendly fauna.

As she pulled her saber out of the perforated abdomen of the wyyyschokk she’d just killed, she caught a glimpse of a saava wending its slow, serpentine way towards her boot as she sighed and threw a pebble at it with the Force. Striking the plant’s fleshy, yet strangely tough skin as they’d discovered when they tried to cut them with their sabers, the saava abruptly retreated as Jayna stepped out of reach as Cal finished off his own attacker quickly. “I really, really hate this planet,” she hissed.

Cal said nothing as they continued their hike, until they almost stepped on a strange, fleshy plant stretched across the path. There was an odd smell, as Cal paused, looking down at it as BD-1 booped curiously.

“What is it?” Jayna asked, almost bumping into him as she drew her saber. BD hopped from Cal’s back, scanning the plant quickly before booping in quick succession.

“These jawtraps fake the scent of food to catch prey?” Cal repeated, eying the plants calculatingly. BD beeped in confirmation. “Explains the jogan fruit smell. Pretty creepy though…”

“Ok, now I don’t care if I do sound like Greez. I really, really, really hate this Force-damned planet,” Jayna hissed impatiently.

“I’m beginning to sympathise,” Cal admitted, as they heard a scream up ahead. Inching towards the edge of a ridge, they looked over to see an Imperial patrol, led by a Purge Trooper, seemingly caught between the jawtraps and a swarm of flame beetles.

One by one, they watched as the Stormtroopers fell prey, either to the jawtraps or to the saava vines just lying in wait as they dragged their prey away, until only the Purge Trooper was left. Their path led right past him, but there was an entire field of jawtraps between them and him. With a nod to Jayna, Cal and BD led the way down the ridge until they were hurrying past the Trooper.

“Jedi! Halt in the name of the Empire!” the Trooper yelled, whirling as he spotted them, his electro-staff whirling into a high guard as he sprinted towards them. Cal and Jayna stopped, activating their lightsabers as they did so, but they made no further move as the Trooper rushed towards them, seemingly unconcerned by the jawtraps he was stepping on.

They glanced at each other as the Trooper neared, Jayna counting under her breath. “Three, two one…”

A jawtrap snapped shut on the hapless Purge Trooper, as he screamed and cursed, the bulbous, fleshy exterior of the jawtrap bulging with his attempts to free himself.

“Well, there’s no accounting for taste I s’pose,” Cal quipped, as Jayna huffed a laugh. Turning their back on the dying Trooper and the jawtrap, they quickly vanished into the mists of the hollow.

After another hour’s fraught, tense hike through the hollow, they made it out into the sun-dappled green of the open jungle. Standing on a wooden platform in what was once a Wookiee village, Cal and Jayna surveyed the path ahead. The dilapidated walkways looked like a death trap as Cal peered over the edge of their platform and into the bottomless depths of a lake below them.

Straightening up, he glanced at Jayna. “Nothing else for it,” he sighed, with a grin as she rolled her eyes and grimaced, as BD booped teasingly at her.

“Easy for you to say, BD. Your panelling’s waterproof,” she grumbled, before huffing discontentedly. “Fine,” she hissed, “Are you sure it’s deep enough?”

“Of course, I’m sure,” Cal scoffed, just as Jayna disappeared behind him. All he got was BD’s warning trill before he was unceremoniously shoved off the platform and into the lake below. He hit the water with a resounding splash, spluttering wildly before he managed to surface, turning wildly in the water to glare up at Jayna. “That wasn’t funny, Shan!” he bellowed.

“Really?” she called back down; her face creased with laughter. “Because it looked hilarious from where I’m standing and you’re… not.”

“Ok, enough with the jokes,” he replied tersely. “Quit stalling and get down here!”

With a haughtily raised brow, Jayna sketched a mocking bow before taking two steps and leaping from the platform. She hit the water a moment later, surfacing beside Cal and BD-1 with a gasp as she cleared the surface of the water. Shaking her drenched hair from her face, she smiled breathlessly at the pair. “Well, the water temperature’s certainly an improvement on Zeffo,” she joked, as Cal couldn’t help but chuckle. Compared to the iciness of the lakes and underground springs they’d swum in on Zeffo, Kashyyyk was like swimming in tepid bathwater, as the trio turned and struck out for the shore a few hundred metres away.

As they pulled themselves out, Cal glanced up at their surroundings as they paused to get their breath back. “Have you ever seen a place like this before?” he asked.

“Boo-boop!” BD replied negatively, as Jayna shook her head while she wrung the water from her hair.

“Me neither,” Cal admitted. “It’s so… alive.”

Jayna knew what he meant. In the Force, Kashyyyk all but glowed with life, like they were stood on the surface of a supernova. Away from the taint of the refinery, they were surrounded by the pure, inhuman energy of the wild jungle, uncaring and unknowing of anything outside itself. They were just visitors, trespassers in its domain and yet Jayna could sense their own life force contributing to the sum of the whole, the melody of the Force around and within them like a cacophonous storm of sensation. Zeffo and even Bogano couldn’t compare, Jayna thought as she pulled herself to her feet. For she sensed something else, something dark and malevolent beneath the indifferent wildness of the forests around them. And it was making her antsy.

From their position, the land around them rose in steep, unforgiving cliffs from the lake’s edge as Jayna, Cal and BD tried to find a path up. Their rendezvous point with Tarfful and Mari was somewhere above them, but the pathless cliffs offered no clues as they scrabbled and slipped for an hour before pausing for a rest on a wide plateau.

“This is hopeless,” Jayna breathed, taking a deep draught from her water bottle. “We’re never going to find a way up without some decent climbing equipment.”

“There has to be a way up,” Cal demurred, as his eyes strayed towards the treeline and then the edge of the cliff. At the edge stood several strange plants, soft and gelatinous in appearance until something approached, then they would compress down and away, like some kind of defence mechanism from predators. Despite the relative lack of civilisation in the jungle, his psychometry was giving him hell: the forests of Kashyyyk teemed with life, and he was struggling not to drown in the simplistic yet compelling echoes of that life every time he so much as brushed a tree trunk or a leaf with his bare skin. ‘I can feel the Force everywhere around me…’ he thought to himself, as he picked up a small pebble and threw it experimentally towards one of the green plants.

As the rock hit its soft fleshy cavity, the plant suddenly expelled a rush of air that sent the pebble shooting away through the air as Cal stopped and stared, while Jayna’s head snapped round at the crack of the pebble hitting a tree trunk on the other side of the lake.

Cal turned to look at her, a mischievous look in his eyes. ‘You thinking what I’m thinking?’ he asked, before taking a running jump towards one of the plants.

“Cal, wait!” Jayna cried out, but it was too late as the plant sent Cal rocketing up and out of sight. She stopped, just before the plant, and stared. “Cal!” she shouted, uncaring if the noise drew attention in that moment.

Nothing then… ‘No need to shout,’ he replied impishly, as she spun to find him peering over the edge of a ridge above her position. “I think we found our way up. Jump on the plant and get up here!” he shouted down.

Taking a deep breath, Jayna shot him a look before taking a running leap towards one of the plants. Just before her boot hit its fleshy body, the plant violently expelled a great wave of air, sending her soaring upwards. Cal and BD rocketed towards her as she went higher and higher, then Cal reached out and grabbed her arm as she reached for his, pulling her to safety on the ridge above. “Glad you could make it,” he teased her, as she panted for breath and fought back an exhilarated smile, adrenaline racing through her blood.

“You have a death wish, Kestis,” she replied caustically, before pushing back from his embrace. Glancing round, she saw a tunnel carved into the wall of the cliff behind them, as she looked back at Cal and BD, looking none the worse for wear from Cal’s plant gymnastics. “Through there?” she asked.

“Boo-beep!” BD replied affirmatively, as the trio set off once more, leaving the abandoned village, lake, and cliffs behind.

After another twenty minutes of walking, they left the tunnel and emerged into a wide, open space, fenced in by rotting, wooden planks as they suddenly found themselves surrounded by guerrilla fighters and Wookiees, all training blasters on them.

“Don’t shoot! We’re friendly,” Cal called, making sure to keep his hands well away from his saber and in the air as he halted, sensing Jayna do the same at his side. “We’re here for a meeting with Mari and Tarfful.”

“Cal, Jayna!” a familiar voice called, as Mari appeared, weaving around the assembled fighters. “Stand down, everyone. They’re allies.”

Behind Mari strode a towering, dark-haired Wookiee. Unlike most of the others, his fur was black streaked with grey, and he wore ornate armour on his chest and shoulders, with long braids laid over the top. Dark eyes watched Jayna, Cal and BD appraisingly as he stood by Mari’s side.

“This is Chieftain Tarfful,” Mari introduced him, with a proud, awed smile before Cal and Jayna bowed their heads respectfully.

Tarfful acknowledged their greeting with a welcoming roar.

“We’re on a mission from Master Eno Cordova,” Jayna began, prompting the Wookiee to look at her as his dark eyes widened in recognition. “Do you know me…?”

The Wookiee Chieftain roared and purred, as Jayna struggled to translate before giving up and looking to Mari pleadingly. Mari herself looked shocked at Tarfful’s comments. “He says he would know the daughter of Master Dreya Shan anywhere. He is honoured to meet once more a likeness he thought he would never see again, after your mother left the Order.”

Jayna swallowed around a hard lump in her throat, as she inclined her head. “How did you know her?” she asked, sensing Cal’s curiosity alongside her own.

Tarfful growled again, another string of near-incomprehensible Shyriiwook as Mari translated. “He says your mother came when she was just a Padawan, before the Clone Wars. She helped heal his village when a great plague came out of the Black Forest and ravaged the Wookiee tribes. She helped to heal the sick and so earned the undying friendship of the Wookiees and a life debt from all Kashyyyk. For that alone, he would help you.”

“Thank you, Chieftain Tarfful,” Jayna replied, sincerely. “But that won’t be necessary. We only ask for information.”

“Master Cordova was looking for a Zeffo artefact, one he believed he would find here on Kashyyyk,” Cal said, taking over as he gestured to BD. “In one of his logs, he mentioned your name.”

Tarfful chuffed and growled, nodding. “Cordova found wisdom at the top of the Origin Tree. You should seek answers there,” Mari told them, glancing at the Wookiee curiously, his beady eyes still fixed on Jayna.

“It’s massive… where do we even start?” Cal breathed.

“You might be able to find a way up through its root system… but most of it’s underwater. You’ll need a pair of breathers,” Mari mused, before nodding to two of the guerrillas beside her. Unhooking the equipment from their belts, they handed them to Cal and Jayna with a nod.

Clipping hers to her belt, Jayna smiled. “Thank you,” she said, looking first to Mari, then to Tarfful.

“What will you all do now?” Cal asked.

Tarfful roared and growled, as his fellow Wookiees joined in the fray. Mari winced at the noise, but she was smiling affectionately as she said, “The only thin we can. Keep fighting.”

“Good luck. Hope we meet again,” Cal replied, with a nod of farewell.

“May the Force be with you,” Jayna added, bowing slightly to Tarfful. “And thank you, for sharing a little of what you know of my mother. It’s a gift greater than you can know.”

Tarfful eyed her, his head cocked, before he chuffed softly and knelt down before Jayna. Setting his blaster aside, he pulled a long strip of plaited leather from his neck where, half hidden by his fur, a carved pendant had lain. With a growling huff, he slipped the leather over Jayna’s head, where it fell halfway down her torso as she stared at the pendant.

It was circular, heavy, embossed with a two-winged symbol Jayna recalled from that crashed fighter on Bracca. The symbol of the Jedi Order.

“Your mother carved it during her time here on Kashyyyk, from meryx, a piece of fossilised amber from an extinct white wroshyr tree. Tarfful gave it to her in thanks for saving the lives of his tribe,” Mari explained, in an awed voice. “She gave it back to him as a gift, inlaid with the symbol of her Order. Now he passes it to you.”

Holding the pendant up, Jayna saw the milky white stone turn to brightest gold as the light hit it, making the twin wings and central starred blade of the symbol appear to flash with inner fire, as she sensed echoes of friendship, affection, determination and devotion ripple from it at her touch. Blinking back tears, Jayna smiled up at the Wookiee chieftain, speechless but trying to convey all the gift meant with her eyes.

“Thank you,” Cal whispered, as Jayna tucked the pendant out of sight beneath her tunic and jacket, as Tarfful stood back, acknowledging him with a regal nod.

“Follow the path that leads from here through the old Wookiee village. That’s the quickest path to the roots of the Origin Tree,” Mari told them, as the guerrillas began to leave, disappearing into the forest like ghosts until only Mari and Tarfful remained. “Good luck.”

“Thank you both,” Cal replied. “Good luck.”

Together, he and Jayna turned away and hurried down the path Mari had pointed out, sensing the weight of Tarfful’s sad, wise gaze on them until they turned a corner in the path and the Wookiee and the human disappeared from view.

As they walked, the path under their feet steadily climbed. The air grew thick and humid around them, as the sounds of the jungle seemed to dim. Feeling uneasy but unable to explain why, Cal tried to distract himself from it.

‘That was a kind gesture from Tarfful…’ he remarked, across the bond. Beside him, Jayna sighed, her hand unconsciously going to her chest where the pendant lay coiled up beneath her clothes.

‘Yes, more than he realises, I think,’ she admitted. ‘It means more than I ever thought it would…’

Cal knew the feeling. Ever since finding out about his parentage, he’d found himself wondering about his father, about who he was beyond the legend of the man he had been raised to adulate. And about his mother… who was she? Who was the woman who had convinced, either knowingly or not, a Jedi Knight to break their vows?

Pushing aside that turbulent thought for the time being, he racked his memory for any mention of Master Dreya Shan. She would have left the Order long before he was apprenticed to Master Tapal but… he vaguely recalled reading about a humanitarian mission to Kashyyyk, a few years before the Naboo crisis. Padawan Shan had been a promising student in the healing arts, a prodigy of the Living Force but that was all he could remember.

BD suddenly booped a warning, drawing Cal out of his ruminations as he and Jayna stopped. They had reached the top of a slope that petered out before a shallow chasm, on the other side of which was a towering cliff, draped with vines. And coiling innocently nearby were several saava vines, their strange clicking and squealing as they began to move towards the trio sending a shiver down his spine.

“Ugh,” he grumbled. “Those things give me the creeps!”

“Boo, boo-boop!” BD trilled, as both Jayna and Cal laughed.

“Whoa, strong words, coming from you,” Cal remarked as he leapt towards the vine-covered cliffs, pulling himself up. A moment later, Jayna followed as they quickly but carefully made their way along the vines to the top of the cliff, using the Force to outstrip the saava until they pulled themselves over the top and to safety.

And realised their mistake.

A patrol of Stormtroopers rushed towards them, already barking orders.

“I think I saw something!”

“Clocked him!”

“It’s the Jedi! Inform the Sister we’ve sighted-!” the scout trooper said, just before Jayna’s saber penetrated his chest.  He fell as his fellows gaped and then swore, lunging for the trio as Jayna summoned her saber back and Cal drew his own. Centring themselves in the Force, the pair leapt into battle with the remaining troopers.

Jayna’s strategy was slick and elegant, as she Force-pulled a trooper towards her with the Force, impaling him before he had a chance to raise his stun baton.

Cal ducked under the swing of another trooper’s baton, driving his shoulder into his abdomen until he flipped him over onto his back. He swung round, bringing his saber down in a vertical slash through the trooper’s chest armour.

He turned, deflecting the blaster bolt of the last trooper, as he fell with a pained cry. Glancing round for more threats, Cal slowly clipped his saber back to his belt as he nodded at Jayna. “You okay?” he asked, glancing back at BD to include the droid.

BD whistled affirmatively, as Jayna frowned. “One of the troopers said to inform the Sister,” she said quietly, as Cal tensed. “D’you think the Second Sister is on Kashyyyk?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. Through the chaos in the Force that was Kashyyyk, he couldn’t focus enough to sense if the Second Sister was still on-world. He wished he’d thought ask Mari and Tarfful before they left them. “But just in case, we need to hurry.”

With a nod, Jayna put her weapon away as together, they turned and began to jog along the path leading away from the cliff’s edge.

After an hour hiking through the jungle, they finally climbed up onto a platform linked to several others by dilapidated, moss-covered wooden bridges. The Wookiee village Mari had mentioned…

Cautiously, aware of how exposed they were compared to the open jungle, Cal and Jayna inched across the bridge and onto an octagonal wooden platform. And froze when they heard the familiar, awful screaming sound of an Imperial TIE shuttle as it cleared the ridge in front of them, hovering overhead as its landing ramp descended.

A figure carefully made its way out onto the ramp, tall, towering, and looming with darkness in the Force: the Dowutin Inquisitor, the Ninth Sister.

Chuckling derisively, the Dowutin glared down at them from her vantage point as Cal and Jayna put their hands on their sabers. “What’s this?” she demanded mockingly. “A couple of Bracca scrap rats playing Jedi?”

In the Force, the Dowutin all but reverberated with the Dark Side as Jayna and Cal inhaled sharply. The Second Sister had felt like a poison in the Force, her malevolence and rage spreading from her like an insidious venom; the Ninth Sister was more like a tidal wave of rage, pain, and sadistic anticipation.

“I told the Grand Inquisitor you wouldn’t be stupid enough to show your face here again, especially after we wiped out that feeble resistance,” she continued to crow smugly, before pausing as if to savour her next words. “Love it when I’m wrong!”

“You might regret those words, by the time we’re finished here,” Jayna called tauntingly, as the Dowutin snickered.

“Says the mouse in the trap,” she sneered, before she stomped back inside as the landing ramp closed behind her. Her shuttle came about, training its cannons on the platform before Cal or Jayna could move, letting loose a barrage of blaster bolts that shredded the wood of the platform under their feet.

Both Cal and Jayna cried out as they fell, until their fall was abruptly cut short as they slammed into the softened mud of the slope underneath. Reaching out with the Force, Cal anchored himself as they began to slide down the slope, keeping his feet as he sensed Jayna do the same beside him.

But the Ninth Sister was not deterred. The TIE shuttle pursued them, taking potshots as the two did their best to evade, surfing from side to side until they came to the end of the slope. Instinctively, they jumped, letting the Force lift them up and over the gap until they landed, cat-footed on a solid ledge.

“Run!” Cal shouted, feeling the shockwave behind them as another barrage of blaster fire hit the rocky ledge behind them. They sprinted along the ledge, leaping from the open maw of one jawtrap to another, before wall-running along an old platform wall, always dodging yet more blaster fire.

Jayna could practically taste the ozone as they missed by a hair, singeing her clothes and hair as she pushed off from the wall and leapt once more into the unknown beside Cal. They landed on another mud slope, sliding down it as the Ninth Sister gave pursuit.

For a moment, the blaster fire abated as they leapt towards and grabbed hold of a vine-covered cliff face, climbing along it as they spotted several saava vines creeping towards them. They felt the warning in the Force as the saava abruptly retreated with a squeal, as the TIE shuttle opened fire on the cliff face, crushing it until Cal and Jayna were forced to let go, tumbling down onto another mud slope beneath it.

This time, it took them through the ancient, fossilised remnants of a wroshyr tree trunk, as the Ninth Sister peppered it with blaster fire, but they evaded easily. They seemed to lose her altogether as they passed into a stony tunnel, lit only by bioluminescent plant-life, so they seemed to float like fireflies in the air. Eventually, the cover of the tunnel and the jungle came to an end, as they passed onto an open, exposed stretch of slope as the TIE shuttle roared overhead, shaking the earth with blaster fire.

Suddenly, they heard an echoing, angry roar as a gargantuan bird suddenly flew overhead, colliding with the TIE shuttle as the ship tried to blast the bird out of the sky, but to no avail. Stunned, Cal and Jayna watched as the bird all but tore the ship out of the sky, before lurching away into the distance.

“What is that thing?” Cal breathed.

“Be-boo beep!” BD-1 replied, as Jayna looked ahead and hauled in a breath.

“Never mind that! Look out!” she shouted, as Cal looked ahead and saw the end of the slope looming. And beyond it, a large lake, hemmed in by giant tree roots as they barrelled towards it.

They hit the water hard, stealing their breath away as they went under. Reaching for Jayna’s hand, Cal kicked upwards, fighting the pressure in his lungs until he cleared the surface, sucking in air greedily as Jayna did the same beside him.

“Beeboop!” BD exclaimed enthusiastically on his back, as Cal huffed a laugh. He turned to look at Jayna, who was glaring narrowly at him.

“What?” he asked, unwisely.

She huffed. “One of these days, Kestis, you’re going to take me to a planet without a single mountain, tree, or large body of water in sight,” she vowed, before splashing him with a swipe of her hand. Cal tried to dive out of the way but was too slow, so all he achieved for his pains was a mouthful of tepid, oddly herb-tinged lake water.

For a minute, they trod water as they caught their breath, hearts slowly coming down from the high of adrenaline as their madcap escape from the Ninth Sister. “What do you think that bird was?” he asked, as they floated in the calm waters of the lake at the foot of the Origin Tree.

“I don’t know,” she shook her head. “But it took out her shuttle.”

“But we don’t know if it took out her with it,” Cal sighed. “The Ninth Sister’s searching for us, I should call…,” he paused, as his face darkened and Jayna shot him a warning look. “On second thought, she listens to their transmissions. Let her find out on her own.”

“Cal!” Jayna barked, frustrated with his implacability as he kicked his legs and swam past her.

“Save it, Jayna,” he muttered coldly, as she sighed through gritted teeth as she turned to follow. Together, they swam towards the towering roots at the far end of the lake, but they couldn’t see any way to climb up into the roots themselves. “I think we’re going to have to go under and up,” Cal panted, treading water for a second.

Jayna groaned as she fished her breather out from her belt. “By the time this is over, I’m going to forget what being dry feels like,” she muttered, prompting Cal to roll his eyes as he fitted his own. With a nod from Jayna, he dived beneath the surface, sensing her following across the bond as they disappeared into the murky depths.

Eventually, after what felt like hours of swimming, they managed to pick a way through the root system of the Origin Tree until they emerged from the water in a hollow section of its trunk. ‘Just how big is this thing if it practically has its own internal ecosystem?’ Jayna wondered, as they clambered up onto a muddy bank, looking around curiously at their surroundings.

The interior of the Origin Tree was surprisingly cool compared to the jungles outside, although Jayna still felt like she was inhaling water every time she breathed in. At least the air didn’t quite so close as it did outside, yet in the Force she could sense the sheer age of the Tree, like a gnat standing in the shadow of a giant. It pulsed with life and a strange awareness that was almost like sentience, a kind of wisdom and understanding that Jayna couldn’t hope to fathom yet also couldn’t deny. The Origin Tree was alive and awake, in a way she’d never sensed before.

She could only hope it wouldn’t take issue with them being here.

“Look!” Cal said, pointing to something over her shoulder. Jayna turned and spotted the series of step-like ridges leading up the side of the trunk, interspersed with gnarled roots curling over and under the wood, offering a path. “That must be how the Wookiees climb up when they come here for their rites of passage,” he surmised, as Jayna looked her question. “Wookiees see climbing the Origin Tree as a part of their passage into adulthood.”

“One they don’t always survive, I’m guessing,” she added cynically, as she spotted several wyyyschokk webs and what looked like clutches of eggs nearby, although there was no sign of the monstrous arachnids in the vicinity. “Come on, then. If I’m doing anymore bug-swatting, better get on with it.”

“See, that’s what I love about you Jayna,” Cal joked, as he held out a hand to haul her up. “Your get-up-and-go attitude to life.”

“Careful, or I’ll leave you trussed up in one of their webs,” Jayna growled warningly.

BD trilled worriedly. “Beeep boop be-boop?”

“Don’t worry, BD,” Cal assured the droid. “She’s only joking. Right, Jayna?”

Jayna just cocked a brow and strode past him without an answer, smirking when she heard him reassure the droid again.

“I’m sure she was only joking about. Well, mostly sure,” Cal muttered, almost to himself.

‘Can’t be losing my edge, Poncho Boy!’ Jayna called mockingly across the bond. She could almost feel his eyes rolling as he followed her deeper into the Origin Tree.

After successfully crossing the trunk floor without being attacked by wyyyschokks, they’d begun climbing. Their route took them on a zig-zagging path, as they climbed straight up along the interior wall of the trunk, then through a short tunnel, and then they’d been forced to jump across a series of naturally occurring knolls in the wood until they were on the other side of the trunk, hundreds of metres above the flooded root system. Muscles burning, heart thundering, Jayna fought not to look down at the dizzying height below.

Eventually, they passed through a crack in the trunk and into a secondary passage, like a tributary to the Tree’s main trunk, and climbed up the long, trailing vines until they reached a long ridge that encircled the interior. Once they gained the top, Cal called a halt.

“C’mon, let’s rest a second,” he panted, exhausted by the climb. Jayna didn’t need telling twice, as she flopped down on the soft, dry floor, made up of years of decaying foliage, as she leant her back against the bark of the trunk.

Cal took a deep swig of his water, moistening his mouth and throat, before opening a protein bar. Beside him, Jayna was already joylessly munching on hers when they froze as they heard a low, moaning, chuffing sound coming from behind them.

“Beep boo trill beep?” BD stated, curiously, craning its head to peer over Cal’s shoulder. Dropping their food, Cal and Jayna pivoted onto their knees, looking through one of the gaps in the trunk to see what was making that noise.

It was the gigantic bird from before, the one that had taken down the Ninth Sister’s shuttle!

It was even larger up close, making even the Origin Tree feel tiny in comparison as BD began to boop curiously again.

“Ssh,” Cal hushed the droid. “We don’t know if it’s friendly.”

“Just because it took down the Ninth Sister, doesn’t mean it’ll take kindly to two trespassers in its Tree,” Jayna whispered in agreement. Stowing their unfinished protein bars back in their belt pouches, they slowly and warily made their way along the ridge, keeping to the sections of trunk that were unbroken, unsure how the bird would react if it detected their presence.

After a moment, it took flight once more, but it looked ungainly, one wing moving less fluidly than the other as they watched it go. As they rounded the ridge and emerged from a gap in the trunk onto a tree branch wide enough to land the Mantis, they heard a keening squawk as the bird flew high overhead.

At the far edge of the branch, several huge feathers lay precariously perched on the end of the branches, long, white, and sleek in the dappled sunlight. BD trilled, hopping from Cal’s back to scan them. A moment later, Master Cordova’s voice began to speak.

“My friend, as Tarfful led us here, he spoke of a glorious creature called the Shyyyo Bird. He said the bird is the forest’s protector. So rare it’s nearly legendary… I would dearly love to research this creature further, but the Astrium must be my priority. I hope to one day return and search for the Shyyyo Bird with Tarfful.”

“He never got the chance, it seems,” Jayna breathed, almost sorrowfully. Listening to Cordova’s logs, hearing the gentle awe and passion in his voice for the things he learned, it made her sad they would never meet. She wondered where and in what desperate circumstance Cordova had found himself when the end came, whether it came at the hands of the Clone troopers, the Empire or perhaps even his own if it came down to a choice between death or capture.

Cal shot her a swift glance, sensing the dark turn her thoughts had taken as BD scrambled up onto his back. “Come on, Shan,” he told her, bracingly. “We can do it for him. I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of the Shyyyo Bird on this climb. Let’s get going.”

Nodding, Jayna turned and followed Cal as they started to pick a path up through the branches, climbing via vines, branches, lung plants and a fair amount of Force-assisted acrobatics as they slowly made progress up the Origin Tree.

As they paused on one branch, eying up the gap between them and the next, Jayna spotted what looked like several snapped, overgrown branches hanging, if a mite precariously, in the gap. “Look!” she said, pointing to them. “We can climb along those, if we’re careful.”

“You might be right,” Cal admitted, watching as several primates he’d seen lurking about while they’d climbed, using the hanging branches to swing from as they hopped agilely from branch to branch. “I suggest we take a hint or two from the locals.”

“They do seem to know what they’re doing,” she laughed, before glancing at Cal mischievously. “Age before beauty, Cal.”

Rolling his eyes, he took a running leap, catching hold of the branch as it resounded beneath him with a metallic thud. Eyes widening, he glimpsed something through the overgrowth of plant life, as he pulled some of it aside to get a better look.

“Cal? What is it?” Jayna called, concernedly.

It was the two-winged, star-bladed symbol of the Jedi Order, the same symbol the clone armies had adopted for their own. The symbol embossed on Jayna’s pendant and what his Master had once worn emblazoned on his armour. Realising what the hanging branches really were, he called back.

“It’s not wood, it’s metal. It’s a ship, probably part of a troop carrier or a gunship shot down during the Kashyyyk campaign,” he shouted back. “It feels relatively safe. Come on!”

He started to climb up, hearing the thud as Jayna leapt and caught hold of the vines, pulling herself up after him. BD booped a question as he sighed and answered. “It’s from the Clone Wars. The war never ended here. Everything we did… did any of it matter?”

“With the Empire in charge, probably not,” Jayna said, breathlessly behind him. “They’re the ones prolonging the war, Cal. If they didn’t enslave the Wookiees and plunder planets for their resources… we wouldn’t need to keep fighting.”

As Cal reached the top of the wreck, he turned and reached back down to haul Jayna over the edge, smiling wryly as he remarked. “Y’know, BD, I wonder sometimes where that cynical, survival-orientated girl we met on Bogano went to. And when she turned into an idealistic warrior with a cause?”

“Ha ha ha,” Jayna muttered sarcastically. “Had your fun yet, Kestis?”

“Not quite yet but-whoa!” he gasped, overbalancing as he fell over backwards, pulling Jayna with him so she landed on top. “Nearly there,” he finished weakly, struggling not to react at the feel of her warmth pressing against him intimately from torso to knee. She stared down at him, eyes wide with shock and something else, lips parted invitingly. Underneath him, BD booped indignantly as he realised that he was crushing his friend. “Whoops, sorry BD!” he cried, urging Jayna off so he could take his weight off the little droid currently pressing painfully into his back.

“You’re seriously starting to make a habit of this now, Kestis,” Jayna remarked teasingly, stepping past him with a provocative glint in her eye that made him tense as he scrambled to his feet. She reached up a hand and brushed her fingers over his shoulder as she passed, so he was left reeling by the winding trail of heat evoked by her touch, his mouth turning as dry as a Tatooine desert at midday as his heart pounded. He was seized by the sudden urge to haul her back, or at least to pay her back for her teasing as she took a running leap towards a trailing vine. Graceful as an Alderaanian thranta, she soared through the air, using the Force to pull the vine towards her until she caught and held it tight. Glancing back at him, she quirked a brow as she taunted him across the bond. ‘Hurry up, slowpoke. Or have you decided to pursue a new profession as a fly-catcher? You could take tips from the jawtraps…’

As she turned away and began her swings to gain enough momentum to make the next vine, Cal shook himself out of his stupor, watching with bated breath as she made the jump, effortlessly grabbing hold of the next vine and swinging to safety on the other side of the ravine, perching amongst the vine-y overgrowth that covered most of the Origin Tree as he forced himself to focus as he took a running leap. And followed her.

After both Jayna and Cal had made it across, they walked through a hollow branch and out on to a small ridge of packed earth, branches, and decayed foliage. From their new vantage point, they looked down to see the Shyyyo Bird below them, sprawling in what appeared to be its nest, keening lowly as if in pain as they glanced at one another.

‘What do we do? We can’t go around,’ Jayna asked across the bond.

‘It’s injured, maybe we can help it,’ Cal replied, prompting a sharp look from Jayna.

‘Kestis!?’

‘It’s the last of its kind,’ he replied heatedly. ‘Even if we could go around, we can’t leave it like this. It took down the Ninth Sister for us, in case you’d forgotten.’

Jayna sighed, her unease and exasperation rippling across the bond between them, as Cal reached out and clasped her hand. “It’ll be okay, Jayna. Just like the Binog on Bogano,” he assured her, before jumping down from the ledge.

Jayna followed rather more slowly, as Cal and BD cautiously advanced on the injured creature.

“Beep! Boop beeep booop!” BD exclaimed, as the human nodded as the Bird eyed them with fear and pain.

“Yeah, we can help it, but we have to be careful. I don’t want to spook it!” Cal murmured, his eyes roving the bird’s torso and wings, looking for the injury.

As they stepped closer, the Bird moaned and raised its head high in alarm. “Hey, it’s okay!” Cal called soothingly, both hands raised so the Bird could see he was unarmed. In the Force he could sense the Bird’s mind, like a colossus of memory and intelligence, as Cal realised the bird was sentient, if in a different way to humanoids. It… she turned a pained red eye on Cal as he gently touched her mind, sending her waves of comfort, peace, and calm as he added, “We’re not here to hurt you.”

Up close, the Bird was even more magnificent than he’d realised. Her feathers, each easily as long as his arm, shone white in the Kashyyyk sunlight while intelligent red eyes like Coruscanti rubies watched him unceasingly but with an acceptance that touched him.

Turning, he found Jayna hanging back, an uncertain expression on her features even as she projected a fierce desire to help. “Jayna,” he breathed, as her head snapped to look at him. “Keep her calm while we take a closer look.”

After a moment, she nodded, moving closer to the Bird’s great head, clad in a helmet-like carapace of hardened darkly hued bone, stark against the contrast of her white plumage, while Cal and BD returned to their examination.

BD booped as Cal spotted the pools of dark blue blood, droplets smattering her feathers as he followed them to her left wing, where a jagged piece of metal extruded from the elbow joint. “We’re friends, understand? Friends,” Cal continued calling soothingly, as he peered up at the injury. In the Force, he felt it as Jayna gingerly reached out to the Shyyyo Bird, projecting calming waves to the great beast as she realised that she had no intention of attacking them.

The Bird tilted her great head to watch them as BD hopped from Cal’s back to scan the injury, as Cal glanced over his shoulder to see Jayna step closer to the Shyyyo, extending a hand to gently press against the spot where her beak disappeared into feathers.

Jayna caught his look and flushed but didn’t move away. ‘Shut up, Kestis,’ she grumbled in his head, as Cal smiled and looked away, but wisely remained silent.

“Beep beep trill boop!” BD confirmed his suspicions about the injury, as he stepped closer to the droid.

“It’s a piece of the Ninth Sister’s ship,” he said quietly, eyes flicking from the injury to the bird and back. “We need to remove it,” he breathed, before turning to the Bird and Jayna. “This is gonna hurt, ok? I’m sorry,” he said warningly, moving back a little so he had enough room. Jayna just nodded, her confidence in him transferring to the Bird as she keened and groaned, then subsided.

Turning to the injured wing, Cal reached out. Grasping the broken metal with the Force, he grunted a little as he pulled it free, sending it flying across the nest as the Bird squawked in agony.

“Beep!” BD exclaimed, sending one of its healing stims flying high into the air as Cal caught it and pressed the concealed hypodermic into the Bird’s elbow joint.

“Thanks, BD!” he breathed, as the Bird’s pain and shock subsided as the healing stim kicked in, her agitated shuddering ceasing immediately. Jayna moved back as the Shyyyo gingerly hauled herself up onto her talons, testing the wing before looking down at the two humans and droid with wonder and gratitude.

“Here you go,” Cal said, comfortingly. As if thanks, the Bird lowered her great head, as Cal laughed. “Whoa, haha!”

She made a low chuffing noise, as Cal reached up and stroked her beak. “The least we could do,” he assured her, as Jayna stepped up beside him.

“Just keep away from any more Imperial shuttles,” she added, as the Bird made a chortling noise deep in her throat, almost like she was laughing before she took off with a triumphant squawk and a down-draft from her wings than nearly pushed them to the ground.

They watched her glide over to a branch, hovering there before landing, as Cal and Jayna glanced at one another in wonder.

You don’t think…’ Jayna trailed off, wonderingly as they moved along the branch above where the Shyyyo perched.

“You’re giving us a lift?” Cal asked aloud, as the Shyyyo keened in reply.

At the base of her neck, there was a natural hollow between the keel and the beginning of the flight bones where two people could sit and hang on. With a nod to Jayna, Cal let her go first, settling herself in the dip as she lightly grasped the feathers there, before carefully lowering himself down behind her. Twining an arm around her waist, he gripped the Shyyyo Bird’s back with his knees as the great Bird squawked and screeched, throwing itself from the branch.

For one terrifying moment, they were in freefall as the wind whipped them, tugging at their grip on the Bird until she levelled out, gliding out into the open as a breath-taking vista revealed itself.

All around them, the forests of Kashyyyk expanded in every conceivable direction, punctuated only by the spiny ranges of cloud-topped mountains. This high up, the air was thin but Cal and Jayna found it easy enough to cope as they hung on to the Shyyyo Bird and gasped in wonder.

With every powerful flap of the Shyyyo Bird’s wings, they gained altitude, until she stopped flapping and simply glided, riding the air currents as their hearts soared. “There’s still so much the Empire hasn’t touched!” Cal exclaimed, as he looked down on the unspoiled forest, like a flawless gem laid out beneath them.

He felt Jayna’s wonder and awe, her soul shining in the Force as she laughed, spreading her arms out wide as if to glide with the Shyyyo Bird. ‘And they never will. This world is indomitable, just like the Wookiees,’ she replied across the bond. ‘No matter how hard they grasp for complete domination, they will always fall short.’

Jayna’s hair streamed free of her braid, as she looked up and over her shoulder at Cal, a shy, wild, radiant smile on her lips. It took Cal’s breath away, making his heart stutter as he was suddenly, achingly aware of the warm pressure of her body in his arms, their awe-inspiring flight and the magnificent creature that bore them fading in his awareness. He felt her heart skip a beat as if it was his own, as she realised their closeness and his growing desire, her smile fading slightly.

All around them, the Force echoed and reverberated with life, shining with the untamed, inhuman melodies of the Kashyyyk jungles and wildlife, deadly, lethal but so thrillingly, undeniably alive. They infected Cal’s blood like a drumbeat, and, after the chaos and world-shaking revelations of the past few days, he couldn’t make himself recall why the growing urge to kiss her was a bad idea.

Sleeping in her arms on the Mantis, entwined as closely as they could be in all ways bar one, he had felt a peace he hadn’t known in years. For the first time, he’d felt not even the slightest chill of nightmares, or ghostly echoes from his past. Just… peace, and affection and quiet, unequivocal acceptance.

He was brought back to himself by Jayna saying his name, both aloud and in the sanctity of their bond, the single syllable tripping almost sensuously off her tongue. “Cal…”

She fitted perfectly in his arms, back to his chest, lips only a few precious inches from his own. The moment sang with rightness as he bent his head, some self-conscious part of him praying he wouldn’t miss and headbutt her or smash his chin against her face. Closing his mind to fear, Cal pressed his lips to Jayna’s, as the Force all but rippled with acceptance.

Jayna’s lips, soft and warm, fitted perfectly against his as she instinctively stretched upwards in his arms, arching her neck back to more closely fit against him. They slotted together like the pieces of a puzzle, as Cal groaned at the sensations lancing through him from the gentle pressure of Jayna’s mouth.

With her arms outstretched, Cal released his grip on the Shyyyo Bird’s feathers to more tightly pull her into the ‘V’ of his legs, before reaching out and grasping her hands to fold them back in, holding her tightly in the circle of his arms, her hands entwined with his. He pressed one hand against her abdomen to hold her steady, but she evinced no desire to escape. She moaned quietly against his lips; the sound torn from her as he couldn’t help but reply even as he drank it in with his own lips.

Between them, the Force bond rippled and pulsated, shining brighter than it ever had before, its coils snaking out and entwining the pair ever closer, as the desire, the need for more grew ever stronger.

Cal felt it, couldn’t bring himself to fight it, as Jayna’s hand pulled itself away from his own, reaching up to cup the nape of his neck, long fingers spearing through his hair as he gasped and broke the kiss. Staring down into her eyes, darkened with longing and affection, Cal exhaled shudderingly before lowering his mouth back to hers, succumbing to the urge to keep kissing her, the urge which, if he was honest with himself, he’d been feeling ever since they first met, on a rain-washed wreck on Bracca so many months ago.

He felt the warm, wet weight of her tongue against the seam of his lips, shocking in its boldness and intensity, but so quintessentially like Jayna to take the first step, that he was powerless not to respond. Opening his mouth, he let her take the first tentative, careful step as her tongue flicked his teasingly, before he chased that exquisite sensation into her mouth as a feverish heat sparked under their skin.

As Cal’s arm grew ever tighter around her waist, Jayna’s fingers combed through his hair while her other hand clasped his supporting arm with a tight grip, knuckles tinged white. With his other hand, Cal cupped her jaw, holding her still as he kissed her with increasing confidence, long leashed passion driving them both as the world around them faded to a mere cipher, enraptured by the sensitivity of their own bodies as they responded to each other, immersed every more deeply in themselves and the bond in the Force that tied them together.

They were pulled out of their bubble by BD’s pointed trill as the Shyyyo Bird dipped its wings, gliding towards a large branch near the very top of the Origin Tree. As they were jostled by the movement, Jayna looked forward, laughing giddily as she reached out and grasped a handful of feathers as Cal simply grabbed a tighter hold of her.

“Let me guess. Now you’ve kissed me senseless, it’s gonna be a case of I fall, you fall?” Jayna shouted teasingly over the roaring of the wind. Cal just shook his head, smiling despite himself and feeling oddly pleased with himself that he could sense her heart still hammering despite her attempts at joking nonchalance.

The Shyyyo Bird came to a stop on the great branch. Looking beside them, they saw another, smaller branch at their level, a perfect disembarking point.

Careful not to pull any of her feathers, Jayna and Cal pulled themselves onto the branch, turning and looking as the Shyyyo Bird took flight once more, gliding away over the top of the Origin Tree and out of sight. Jayna looked at Cal, and Cal looked at Jayna as the realisation of what had just happened dawned on both of them.

For a moment, Cal forgot everything else as the implications tried to crowd into his mind, but he pushed them aside. For a moment, he imagined marching over to Jayna, taking her by the waist and pushing her up against the side of the trunk so they could finish what should have been started, so long ago. Now he’d felt the warmth of her body in his arms as he kissed her, he wanted to feel it again.

He heard her gasp as she caught that little mental fantasy, her cheeks flushing red as her eyes darkened with longing. She stepped into him, one rising to tentatively caress his jawline, before pressing against his cheek. “Later,” she breathed.

“Later,” he agreed, inwardly shocked by the roughened, husky timbre of his own voice. Filled with yearning, he turned his face into her palm, cupping it with his own hand as he pressed a kiss to her hand, feeling her shudder before she wrenched her hand away and marched off. Unable to suppress his grin, feeling so very young and carefree in that moment despite everything, Cal just turned and smiled at BD’s questioning whistle, then stepped out to follow Jayna.

Climbing up the branch, they passed into a long passage, hanging with moss and lichens, the air stale and humid despite the altitude. With a start, they realised the path was leading them deeper into the heart of the Origin Tree, as they emerged into a small, bowl-like depression. And in the centre of that depression was a tall, overgrown stone effigy, draped in mosses and lichens like some parody of robes, with some very familiar features as they looked up into the face of a Zeffo.

BD-1 booped excitedly, leaping from Cal’s back as the droid scurried towards the monolith, scanning it as Jayna and Cal stopped and waited expectantly.

BD’s holoprojectors flared to life, as the hologram of Eno Cordova flickered once more into being. He held a small, circular object in his hand as, even through the less than clear holo-image, his eyes glinted with weary triumph.

“At last. I have found my quarry. The Astrium… used by the Zeffo Sages millennia ago. I hold in my hand a piece of galactic history. Oh, I will never be able to thank Tarfful enough! Do you know what this means, my friend? No need to return to Dathomir…”

Jayna and Cal’s ears pricked up at the mention of the planet. They hadn’t discussed it and Cordova’s aborted interest in it since leaving Bogano.

“The darkness clouded every attempt at finding the Astrium in Kujet’s Tomb but the Force… the Force has provided a new path!” Cordova declared in the hologram, just before it faded away as BD booped animatedly.

“Kujet’s Tomb!” Cal breathed, glancing at Jayna. “If he couldn’t find it there, then… the Astrium must still be there. We need to get back!”

“But you said Dathomir was too dangerous!” Jayna pointed out, grabbing hold of his arm so she could catch his eye. “Wouldn’t he have hidden the Astrium in the holo somewhere else?”

They turned as BD booped a negative, shaking its head sadly.

“Blast that algorithm!” Jayna hissed. “Can’t we find a way to deactivate it so BD-1 can gain access to all the logs, not just the ones Cordova thinks we should have?”

“Well, unless your slicing skills run to droid-hacking, I don’t think so,” Cal rebutted, impatiently. BD booped in alarm, as Cal turned to him comfortingly. “It’s okay, buddy. We’re not going to do anything to you, it’s just… the frustration talking.”

Jayna sighed through gritted teeth, as she looked down at the little droid. “Sorry BD,” she said apologetically, glancing down at her hands.

Cal stepped into her once more, reaching for them as he found and held Jayna’s gaze. “I know I said Dathomir was dangerous before,” he began, reassuringly. “But we’re so much stronger now. We’re ready, Jayna.”

Jayna looked up, unable to say why the thought of the planet filled her so much dread when before, she had felt impatient that Cal wouldn’t explore that lead first. She just sighed and nodded, unsure how to explain herself so she let it go as Cal nodded, releasing her as he bent down to help BD onto his shoulders.

Skirting round the monolith, they followed the path until it petered out at the ledge of a small tor of wood and moss, overlooking a large clearing where the Shyyyo Bird waited for them, perched on a branch at the very edge of the clearing as they jumped down and hurried toward her.

The great Bird keened and trilled as they approached, lowering her head as they smiled up at her. “At least we haven’t got a long climb back down,” Jayna quipped, reaching up a hand to the Shyyyo Bird’s beak as she chortled at them.

Then Jayna gasped as she felt the oncoming wall of malevolence and rage, as the sound of blaster cannons sounded, hitting the tangled wood either side of the Shyyyo as it cried out in pain and terror.

“NO!” Cal cried out, as the Bird collapsed backwards out of sight, the shockwave from the blasts pushing Jayna and Cal backwards as they struggled to keep their footing.

The sound of Imperial TIE shuttle engines filled the air, as Jayna and Cal looked up through stinging eyes to see the Ninth Sister’s ship bearing down on them. It opened fire as they dodged, running this way, then that until they heard a monstrous crash behind them.

Summoning their lightsabers to hand, Jayna and Cal turned as one as their blades, burning blue and verdant green, flared to life.

On the other side of the clearing, the Ninth Sister stalked towards them, vicious anticipation in her tone. “Found you again!” she growled.

“You’re done hurting this world!” Cal declared defiantly, staring the Dowutin down as she scoffed in contempt.

“I don’t know what’s got Second Sister thinking you’re so important,” she sneered, pointing her red blade at Cal, before glancing at Jayna. “You, I get. She likes her souvenirs but… I’m not in it for the memories and honestly… you’re not worth my time! So, let’s make this quick!”

“Oh, it’ll be quick. Just not for you,” Jayna growled, reaching out with her gift until she felt the threads connecting her to the Ninth Sister. She sensed the rage and desolation within her, feeding her power as she sought to grow that desolation until it took over.

And hit a wall as she was thrown violently from the Ninth Sister’s mind. It turned to a physical wave of Force energy as she was bodily lifted and tossed back against the tangled wooden branches surrounding their makeshift arena.

She was only vaguely aware of Cal’s panicked yell of her name, then a splitting pain at the back of her head before all went black.

“JAYNA!” Cal cried, watching her fly across the clearing. Reaching out, he pulled on her limp body in the Force, slowing her just enough that she hit the wood with less force. In the bond, he felt it as she fell unconscious, her side of it muffled as she fell to the muddy, wet floor and rolled to a halt, her head lolling as a blood trickled from a wound on her temple.

Despite his fear, despite every urge telling him to run to her, he turned and faced the Ninth Sister, bringing his saber to guard.

“They warned us about her,” the Dowutin gloated. “Guess battle meditation’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Now she’s out of the way, you next. And you won’t have your little girlfriend around to swing the fight for you!”

“I don’t need battle meditation to beat you,” Cal replied, almost snarling as he reached out. From across the clearing, Jayna’s lightsaber flew to his grasp as he ignited it, bringing it to bear as he settled into a Jar’Kai stance.

Fighting two-handed had always been a favourite mode of his. He’d always planned on upgrading his saber once he took his Trials, to a double-ended saber with a catch, so he could switch to a two-handed style at any moment. Master Tapal had certainly approved of the plan, with the added unpredictability in combat it would afford him.

Filled with memories of his master’s lessons, Cal waited for the Dowutin’s next move, steady and focussed despite the drumbeat of terror and anguish as he sensed Jayna, unresponsive and unmoving behind him.

The Dowutin charged towards him.

‘Let your opponent make the first move. If they attack in anger, the first move will betray them.’

As the Dowutin charged, swinging at him with great, arcing strikes that took advantage of her height, Cal parried and dodged. Slipping in underneath her guard, he slashed her legs twice, winning a snarl of pain from the Inquisitor.

Dodging back, Cal readied himself for whatever came next as the Dowutin eyed him with more consideration than she had before.

‘Once they’re wounded, use their pain and fear against them. It will make them vulnerable.’

As the Dowutin bellowed and charged again, Cal dodged and ducked underneath her blows, parrying one even as it shook his arm with all the strength the Ninth Sister rained down on him. With an arcing slash of his saber, he caught her visor, leaving a burning trail across her face as she screamed and shoved out her hand, pushing him across the clearing with the Force as she stumbled back, hand to her wounded cheek.

Cal scrambled to his feet, readying himself once more as the Ninth Sister lowered her hand, eyes narrowed and glaring malevolently at him.

“Not bad for trash,” she declared arrogantly.

“What about for a Jedi?” Cal replied.

“Is there a difference,” she retorted mockingly, as a second blade spat forth from the other end of her hilt, as she spun it into a horizontal guard and charged towards him again.

With the addition of a second blade, they were more evenly matched as Cal dodged her attack and flipped round, striking at her back. The Ninth Sister parried with a vertical block down her back, before whirling and using her momentum to shove Cal back.

“What’s the matter? Doubting yourself!?” she shouted tauntingly, as Cal felt uncertainty rise in him, slowing his muscles as he desperately parried blow after blow, strike after strike as he waited for his chance. But he was tiring, and he could sense, despite her wounds, that the Ninth Sister was only feeding off his doubt.

He blocked a vicious overhead strike with his blades crossed in an ‘X’, but the Ninth Sister was driving him to the ground, putting all her weight onto her blade, and thus, onto him as he fought not to let his knees buckle.

“You’re a quick one but you never stood a chance!” the Dowutin growled, teeth bared in a bestial rictus as she sensed the kill was near. With one last surge of strength, Cal pushed away her blade, throwing himself into a horizontal flip that brought his left hand under her guard, the blue blade shearing through flesh and bone as her clawed hand came away at the wrist, leaving a glowing, cauterised stump as Cal landed and backed away.

Driven to one knee, the Ninth Sister cradled her ruined arm as she glared at Cal.

“It’s over!” Cal declared firmly, standing straight from his guard as he looked down at the beaten Inquisitor. Or so he thought.

The Dowutin shook slightly, until she straightened up, as if nothing had happened, her low growl conversational and almost friendly as she stood up. “Being an Inquisitor taught me no set-back is too great,” she said. “When you’ve already lost yourself… a limb’s easy!”

Raising the cauterised stump, Cal was unprepared for the surge in the Force as the Ninth Sister’s dropped saber rocketed towards his back. “You know I was a Jedi,” the Dowutin confided. “It’d be fun to bring you in… watch you crack like the rest of us!” she growled, as Cal blocked a rear strike before it slammed into the Ninth Sister’s remaining hand.

She chuckled as Cal brought his sabers to bear. “Oooh…angers you,” she remarked silkily, before spinning into a diagonal cut that Cal blocked just in time. “Just wait for the isolation, torture, mutilation!” she continued to growl, almost screaming it at him as Cal blocked and parried, unprepared for her renewed strength as she used her pain to re-invigorate herself. “And your friends…”

“I won’t let you touch them!” Cal growled.

The Inquisitor backed off as Cal parried and dodged away, looking past him with a mocking, anticipatory glare. As Cal spun back into guard, he felt it as the Dowutin’s eyes narrowed on Jayna’s unmoving figure on the other side of the clearing. “Especially her…” the Dowutin declared maliciously. “The Emperor’s got something special in place for her… it should be exquisite to listen to her screams as she’s torn apart… over and over again… then we’ll put her back together again. Perhaps I should keep you…huh? Let you be her first kill… or perhaps I’ll break you and she can be yours…”

“I won’t let you touch her!” Cal snarled, as desperation, terror and anguish flared up in him at the thought of Jayna in the hands of the Empire.

“You can’t stop the Empire!” the Dowutin shouted in his face, as she slashed at him wildly. He blocked and bound it; teeth gritted as sweat poured down his face from exertion.

Inspiration struck as Cal stopped for an infinitesimal second, inhaling deeply as he pushed all his emotions aside, letting the Force flow freely through him.

“I can stop you,” he replied with calm certainty. Flicking her blade aside, Cal threw himself into a leaping, arcing horizontal flip over the Ninth Sister’s head. As he came down on her back, he flicked his other blade out, the verdant green of Jayna’s lightsaber scoring a smouldering trail down the back of the Ninth Sister’s tunic as she cried out and stumbled.

Cal landed and spun, flinging his hand out as he called on all the power within him, tossing the Ninth Sister from the clearing, through the branches and into the abyss beyond as she cried out one last time in defiance and rage.

The sounds of the forest returned, as Cal stood, panting hard as adrenaline coursed through his blood, his mind struggling to compute one very basic fact: he had taken down an Inquisitor.

“Boop? Bo woop beep boop!” BD’s shrill exclamation had Cal coming back to himself abruptly, as a single word fell from his lips.

“Jayna…” he whispered, deactivating his sabers and clipping both to his belt as he turned and rushed to her side. Icy, cold terror struck, sinking its claw in deep as he threw himself down on his knees beside her, clawing her drenched hair from her face as he frantically inspected her for injuries.

Apart from the head wound, he couldn’t find anything else, but she still lay, pale and cold, under his hands. In the Force, their bond lay silent and dull, as he tried to take a breath in through constricted lungs.

“No, please,” he breathed, as he was thrown back, back into a place he hoped he’d never go again, as he watched his master’s shaky final breath leave his body. “Please, not her… not again. C’mon, Jayna wake up…”

He startled as he heard a whirring noise, then a flash of blue light, before he realised it was just BD scanning her. The little droid booped firmly, before opening one of its healing stim storage drawers.

Gratefully, Cal caught it as the droid ejected it, driving the hypodermic into Jayna’s exposed forearm as he hovered over her, eyes frantically trailing over her body, looking for any signs of life beyond her raggedy, shallow breathing.

Suddenly she coughed, brows furrowed in pain as she lifted a shaky hand to her head. “Ow…” she moaned, as Cal nearly collapsed in sheer relief. “Cal?” her whispered question had him looking up at her face, she frowned and stared at him with a bemused, unfocussed gaze. “What…happened?”

“The Ninth Sister… she attacked us,” Cal breathed, as her eyes widened with alarm. “It’s ok, you’re safe now. She’s gone.”

“But-?” Jayna tried to interrogate him, but she trailed off weakly as she put a hand to the sluggishly bleeding wound on her temple. Through the bond, Cal could sense the throbbing, mind-numbing pain of the wound. The impact would likely have given her concussion as well… they needed to get back to the Mantis.

“We need to go. You need medical attention,” Cal breathed, eyes scanning her body one last time. “Can you stand?”

She shot him a scornful look through one pain-furrowed eye, getting as far as her elbows before she stopped and nearly collapsed backwards as Cal sensed a wave of dizziness overwhelm her. Sucking in an agitated breath, Cal glanced around helplessly as he caught her, looking for help that wasn’t coming.

Then he heard it. That familiar keening squawk of the Shyyyo Bird as she clambered into view, perching on the same branch she’d been on when the Ninth Sister’s ship opened fire.

“Boo woo!” BD greeted her enthusiastically, as Cal breathed a sigh of relief.

“Hey! We thought you were dead,” he added.

The Bird’s red eyes looked down on the trio, inclining her beak as she trilled mournfully in Jayna’s half-conscious direction. “No, she’s not dead but she’s hurt,” Cal explained. “Please, I need to get my…”

At this, he trailed off as the word strangled on his tongue. Jayna was his friend, his companion, his partner, and sort-of student but she was also…something else than that. When he’d seen her lying so unnaturally still and silent, so unlike the cynical, smart-mouth whirlwind of energy that she usually was, he had glimpsed just what it would mean for her to die, for all that drive and energy to dissipate into the Force and leave him alone. After the events that had brought them together, bound them as closely as lovers in all ways but one…after that kiss, he couldn’t hide from the fact any longer that he cared for her, a great deal. And in that moment where he feared her dead or dying, an unending vista of pain and anguish had opened up inside him.

“I need to get my friend back to our ship,” he forced himself to say, getting his arms under her lower back and knees as he hoisted her into his arms. Her warmth impinged on his senses, but he firmly shut it out as he staggered towards the Shyyyo Bird, who squawked in understanding before she angled a wing down for Cal to climb up.

Once Cal was settled back into the hollow of her back, Jayna nestled in his arms, she took off with a mighty flap of her wings, circling the Origin Tree once before she soared away in the direction of the refinery and the cargo landing pad.

As they glided, Cal found himself looking into Jayna’s face as she fought to stay conscious, silently adding his own strength to hers, even as he heard the words of the Jedi Code echoing in his mind.

‘There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no passion, there is serenity…’

Never had those tenets felt more apt, as he realised just how far he had fallen from the very Code he had vowed to uphold. And how much danger it would put them all in if he allowed himself to succumb.

Love is a path to the Dark Side.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

On the Mantis, Cal sat on his cot as he watched over Jayna as she slept. After the Shyyyo Bird had dropped them off as close to the refinery as she could manage, Cal had called Cere and Greez to apprise them of the situation. Cere had put in a call to the guerrillas nearby who had turned up to help Cal bring Jayna safely back to the ship from there.

Once onboard, Cere had diagnosed a minor contusion of the skull and a mild concussion before smothering the wound with salve and leaving it to do its work while Jayna fell into a natural sleep. It had been twenty-four hours since then, but Cere had assured him the salve would keep her asleep while her body healed, and nothing more sinister. She would wake up soon enough.

Once she did, they would need to have a difficult conversation, Cal knew.

Sitting by her bedside, watching her rest, Cal had come to the conclusion that they should not, could not continue what they’d started on Kashyyyk. Doing so, allowing their… attachment to grow unchecked would only hamper them in the long run, and make them vulnerable to the Dark Side. And that, they couldn’t afford.

No, it would be best for both of them if he retreated… emotionally at least. By the tenets of the Order he had vowed to uphold, and Jayna by extension when she announced her intention to fight by his side as a Jedi, they had to practice what they preached. They had allowed themselves to grow too comfortable and get carried away by what was probably no more than an unfortunate side effect of the Force bond.

Or so Cal told himself, as the hours ticked by and Jayna remained asleep. He tried to meditate, but his mind refused to calm, either endlessly replaying the moment he had watched Jayna fly across the clearing at the Ninth Sister’s hand, or reliving the feel of her lips against his even as he tried to purge it from his mind.

After informing Greez and Cere of their discovery, the Latero had plotted a course to the Outer Rim. Dathomir was on the outermost edge of the known galaxy, so it would take them at least three days to reach it from the Mytaranor Sector.

Cal hadn’t said much else after his brief report, just retreated to the aft compartment to watch over Jayna. Other than Cere coming in to tend to Jayna, they had let them be until now, as Cal looked up from his futile attempts to meditate at the sound of cutlery jangling against a tray as Cere came in, balancing one across her forearms.

On the tray was a less than appetizing mulch of pulses beside a chunk of veg-meat, and a canteen of water as Cere proffered it. “It’s been some time… I thought you might be hungry,” she explained, before placing the tray down beside Cal on his cot.

“Thanks, but… I’m not hungry,” Cal replied curtly, looking away from the former Jedi as he stared at a fleck of dirt on Jayna’s forehead.

“Cal…,” Cere sighed, heavy-heartedly. “You need to eat, to keep your strength up. Jayna is safe and recovering, and she’ll give you hell if she wakes up to find you hovering over her.”

“You’re probably right,” Cal huffed, but he made no move to take the plate of food.

Cere sighed again, her hands fluttering awkwardly like she wasn’t quite sure what to do with them. Finally, she folded her arms as she hesitantly, uncomfortably began to speak. “Cal… when I was captured by the Empire, I resisted. I swore to myself that I would die before I would talk,” she affirmed, before a note of self-loathing and remembered terror tinged her voice. “but then this… dark shadow came… and he was worse than any nightmare I could have imagined. And I still fought!”

In silence, Cal listened, his eyes still riveted on Jayna. Taking his silence as encouragement, Cere’s voice strengthened as her eyes gazed unseeingly at the cold metal of the bulkhead.

“But in the end, I came apart,” she admitted. “And I gave them Trilla. And I know there’s nothing I can do to make that right… but Cal, there’s still a chance we can save the others on the holocron!”

Unable to bear the self-loathing and revulsion and desperate, desperate hope in Cere’s voice any longer, Cal held up a silencing hand. “Okay, look… the Ninth Sister said something about becoming an Inquisitor like… like it’s inevitable. But you went through the same thing she did, and you didn’t join them.”

“Cal…,” Cere tried to speak again, but he cut across her firmly.

“It’s okay, Cere,” he told her tersely. “We’ll find Cordova’s holocron.”

From the galley, they could hear as Greez yelled in indignation. “HEY! Get your lasers off my lunch!” he bellowed, as Cere sighed resignedly.

“You’d better go and make sure Greez isn’t trying to boil BD in one of his pots,” Cal finished, turning back to Jayna. Feeling her stand and silently leave the room, he closed his eyes as he leaned his forehead on his fingertips as he took a steadying breath.

BD scurried into the room, booping irately as Cal opened his eyes. “You know he hates you scanning his food, BD,” he told the droid pointedly. Ever since they’d returned to the Mantis, BD and Greez had been irritating each other more than usual. He wondered if it was their way of showing their concern for the girl lying on the cot in front of him.

And if he but knew it, for himself as well. Greez and Cere watched Cal with worried eyes while BD-1 simply knew that not all was well with its master and mistress, as it designated Cal and Jayna in its private logs.

Another thirty-eight hours later, Cal felt it as the bond burst back into flame, simmering like a newly lit ember beneath his skin as Jayna stirred, groaning on the bed.

“Ow,” she grumbled, opening her eyes gingerly as Cal’s head shot up and he shifted round from where he’d been sitting cross-legged on his cot, cleaning their sabers for want of something to do. Since he couldn’t focus enough to meditate, or relax enough to sleep, it kept his hands busy while his mind raced.

But now she was awake.

“I feel like I’ve been hit by a rancor,” she groaned, sitting up as Cal fetched a canteen of water for her.

“Not far from it,” he heard himself say, jokingly. “Finally, the unstoppable force meets the immovable object.”

Jayna groaned at the joke. “That was in poor taste,” she demurred, sitting up and taking the canteen from him. Recalling his resolution to keep his distance, Cal jerked back from the feel of her fingers against his, prompting a frown as she took a drink. “What’s the matter?” she asked, the colour returning to her face as her features grew angrier. “Cal, what…?”

He could sense her trying to learn more from the bond, as he clamped down on it firmly, shutting it off at his end even as she gasped and he winced, the action paining them both. But it was for the best.

Standing up, he moved away as she tried to reach out. “I think, in light of what happened on Kashyyyk, we need to remember we are Jedi,” he began, as coldly as he could manage as he sensed her rising incredulity and anger. “You said it yourself that it was a distraction we can’t afford on this journey.”

“Yes, I did,” Jayna admitted, her voice growing as cold as his. “But that was before. Somehow, I’m guessing this is about more than just ‘distraction’. We’ve been managing pretty well so far.”

“What happened on Kashyyyk was a mistake I made in the heat of the moment,” Cal replied, turning his back on her as indifferently as he could manage. “It won’t happen again. We should move on from it, as quickly as possible.”

“And I say this is bantha shit!” Jayna snarled angrily. “You’re allowing the precepts of ghosts to dictate your future as if you owe anything to them.”

“I owe it to their memory, as do you, Jayna,” Cal replied icily. “I will not be my father, and you should strive not to emulate your mother.”

He felt it as the comment hit home, the sting of rejection and the hurt of the implied insult almost too much to bear. He hated himself in that moment, but he forced it aside. He had to do this.

“And have you considered that the reason they’re nothing more than a memory is precisely because of that?” she retorted, her voice turning as frigid and unyielding as stone. “But fine, whatever. I can take no for an answer. I’m not about to force myself on anyone,” she declared proudly, her chin tilted at a haughty angle as Cal turned to face her.

“Good, that’s settled then,” he said, as casually as if they’d just been debating their next move. “We arrive on Dathomir in ten hours. If you’re feeling up to it, I suggest you prepare yourself.”

“I promised I’d help, didn’t I?” Jayna demanded, curtly. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

The look she speared him with burned him, making his hands twitch as he teetered on the precipice of yet another reckless decision, before he mastered himself and walked away, leaving her staring after him, angry tears held back with ruthless determination.

Ten hours later, Jayna stared at herself in the ‘fresher mirror, critically examining the newly healed wound on her temple as she prodded it gingerly. Wincing, she stopped as she sighed.

It would be tender for a couple of days, but she would be alright. Emotionally, was another matter.

Inwardly, freely now Cal had seemingly shut the bond against her, she berated herself for allowing her heart to rule her head. She’d been speaking the truth when she said it was a bad idea to follow through on their mutual attraction, and now Cal was proving her right. Despite how close they’d become; he would never be able to move past his Jedi dogma. She was asking for more heartbreak if she persisted.

‘If only he could see what a load of dogmatic, repressive, narrow-minded Hutt slime it all is!’ she thought to herself. ‘Maybe if the Jedi cared a bit more about what was actually going on in the galaxy, instead of their precious code and politics, then the Emperor wouldn’t have got rid of them so easily.’

Tearing her eyes away from her tired, worn reflection, Jayna splashed her face with water before resolutely facing her mirror image once more. ‘Enough!’ she told herself. ‘I’m no glutton for punishment. If Cal wants a purely professional relationship, then that’s what I’ll give him. If he can just shut off his emotions… he’s about to meet the master.’

At her core, she was a survivalist. She’d been forcing her emotions aside for years in her fight to survive. Her newly discovered morality aside, she wouldn’t let one iota of feeling show more than necessary.

She hadn’t seen Cal since their little… discussion. She’d caught glimpses of him, sat up front in the cockpit as she had grabbed food from the galley, enduring Cere and Greez’s concerned questions about her wellbeing, but that was all. He was avoiding her, and she had no desire to see him right now.

Once she’d showered, feeling more human, she’d walked out to find BD waiting on her cot beside her empty plate. The little droid had kept her friendly, if silently, company until she had succumbed to the urge for more sleep, making sure her body was fully rested and recovered from the beating it took on Kashyyyk.

Now, it waited outside as she dressed herself for the coming expedition, girding herself for knew how many long hours spent in Cal’s company once more. Rather than bother with a braid, she tied her hair back in a tight ponytail, leaving the fading, ombre waves of hair to tumble over her shoulder. With a firm nod for her reflection, she turned and left the ‘fresher.

BD followed behind her as she strode for the cockpit, the small compartment lit by the silvery luminescence of hyperspace. Jayna sat in her chair, listening absentmindedly to Cere and Greez’s banter as the Latero complained about their destination.

“Why oh why did it have to be Dathomir?” the Latero pilot bemoaned.

“I’m surprised Cordova went there. He must have had good reason,” Cere admitted, staring down at her instruments as she made a few adjustments.

“I’m staying put on the Mantis once we arrive. Red sunlight cannot be good for your skin!” Greez announced, as Jayna rolled her eyes. Instinctively, she went to share her amusement with Greez’s antics with Cal, but he was resolutely ignoring her as BD hopped up on the station beside him. Her heart aching but stubbornly refusing to show it, Jayna looked away.

“What’s so bad about the place?” she asked, desperate for distraction. She only hoped it wasn’t Cal who would answer. Thankfully, Cere came to the unwitting rescue.

“Dathomir used to be home to a powerful cabal of Force wielders known as the Nightsisters,” she explained, lightly.

“They used the Force?” Greez asked, incredulously as Jayna raised a brow. “What, like Jedi?”

“No. These witches served only themselves,” Cere baulked, shaking her head as her voice turned oddly bleak. “Their powers focussed on deception, illusion, manipulation…”

Greez chuckled gruffly. “Sounds like someone I used to know,” he joked.

“During the Clone Wars, the Nightsisters made a deal with a Sith Lord who betrayed their trust,” Cere continued to explain, meeting Jayna’s curious gaze with a grim smile. “In the end, they were nearly wiped out in a massacre… Dathomir is a deadly place. We must be careful.”

“Tough break,” Jayna breathed, unable to help glancing at Cal as he turned round to ask Cere something. Their eyes met, and her heart stuttered then raced treacherously as Cal gazed at her. Pointedly, she looked away as Greez went to announce their arrival.

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” the Latero joked weakly, before gesturing to the two young Jedi in the cockpit. “These two could use it tattooed on their foreheads, ha!”

When the joke elicited no reply, or laughter, just stony, uncomfortable silence, Greez muttered to himself. “Tough crowd,” he grumbled. “Coming up on our creepy destination. Grab some seat if you don’t already have it!”

Jayna rolled her eyes as she buckled herself in, ignoring the weight of Cal’s gaze as he glanced over his shoulder at her, almost as if he couldn’t help himself. But after their bruising discussion, she wouldn’t let herself care.

The ship reverted to realspace near a planet drenched in the red light of its distant star. Everything about it seemed to be tinged red, even the clouds as Greez piloted the Mantis into the atmosphere.

As they descended, a barren, bleak landscape revealed itself, consisting of tumbled, broken mountain ranges, shadowy swamps, and the ruinous remnants of settlements. Looking down at the land as they sped towards a large, flattened outcropping, Jayna couldn’t ignore the sinking feeling in her heart as the Force seemed to whisper a warning in her head.

She had a very bad feeling about this.

As the Mantis landed with a jolt, Jayna was the first up and out of her seat. Since they really had no idea of what they might face or how long it would take to locate the Tomb, and with no backup this far out from any trade routes or inhabited systems, Cere had packed them both some basic survival supplies in their satchels.

Jayna hefted hers onto her back, securing the straps before she checked her saber was fitted to her belt. Behind her, she could hear Greez muttering nervously to himself as he unlocked the landing ramp door seals.

“On the ship… indoors… I got walls, I got Jedi… I’m fine. Yeah,” he sighed, as Jayna turned to face him.

“You okay there, Greez?” she asked, with a quirk of her lips.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine,” the Latero shrugged casually, but his façade wasn’t convincing. Jayna could sense his discomfort and fear like a noxious perfume.

“So, looks like Sorc Tormo really wants a piece of you,” she continued, conversationally to take the Latero’s mind off their location.

It worked as he smirked and chuckled gruffly. “Huh… you don’t know the half of it, kid,” he replied.

“How’d you get mixed up with him?” she asked, curiously as she bent over to tighten her bootlaces.

“Look, I didn’t grow up with much. I mean, I had my great-grandmother to lean on but… that’s it,” Greez explained, uncomfortably as he scratched his chin.

“Come on, Greez. Nothing ever ends well with gangsters like the Brood,” Jayna scoffed, as she straightened. “You had to know that.”

“Jay, we ain’t all Jedi. Most of us gotta scrape by and occasionally, make some bets we wish we hadn’t. Would’ve thought you’d appreciate that more, considerin’ everything,” the Latero retorted, irritably.

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” she conceded quietly. “I do understand, more than you know. I think it’s easy to let all this Jedi stuff go to your head and forget what it’s like for everyone else. You know you can count on me if the Brood comes after you again.”

“Yeah? Thanks, Jay,” Greez said, smiling a little as his frown eased. “Oh, hey Cal!”

Just then, Jayna felt Cal brush against her as he reached for his bag and stiffened, despite herself. Without another word, she turned away and left the ship, feeling Cal’s eyes on her back. She wondered if he’d overhead what she’d said to Greez, then decided she didn’t care.

Once out on the ramp, she stopped and took a deep breath, trying to centre herself as she closed her eyes and reached out to the Force. Immediately she was swamped by feelings of darkness, oppression and dread as her awareness flared and then ebbed, as she instinctively recoiled from the darkness as her eyes snapped open.

The view wasn’t much better. She looked out on a nightmarish landscape, of red-hued rocks and bloody skies, a broken, desolate vista stretching out before them. In the far distance, she could see two towering structures that reminded her of the Vault on Bogano, as she zipped her jacket up against the cold.

Despite the aridness of the surrounding landscape, it was chilly as an icy wind blew from the east, carrying with it a rancid smell that reminded Jayna of rotting flesh. Behind her, she could hear Cal and Greez talking as she found herself listening in.

“Hey, Cal!” the Latero called. “You and her… is everything alright?”

Jayna stiffened as she wondered if the Latero was about to ask Cal about their relationship, or lack thereof in the past few days. “It’s… better,” Cal admitted. “Speaking of which, have you seen Cere?”

Relaxing as she realised Greez wasn’t asking about her, she only smiled and shook her head fondly as Greez replied sarcastically. “What? Is this a trick question? You want me to go outside and find her for you?”

“No, it’s okay. I’ll find her,” Cal assured him, as she heard footsteps coming towards the landing ramp. Moving away, she just heard Greez’s final parting shot.

“You gotta quite messin’ with me, Cal. I’m tough but fragile!”

She snorted to herself as she stepped off the ramp, cognisant of the fact that only days ago, she’d have made some witty quip and shared her amusement over Greez’s oxymoronic self-assessment with Cal. For a moment, sadness flared as she looked out again on Dathomir’s bleak landscape, hearing Cal’s footsteps behind her. For the first time since Bracca, she felt truly alone.

“Jayna, Cal! Do you have a moment?” Cere called over, as Jayna glanced up to see the older woman stood at the other end of the ship, gazing out over the cliffs nearby. Jayna heard Cal’s footsteps behind her as she strode over to Cere, stopping and waiting curiously for whatever she had to say. The former Jedi smiled warmly, if a little hesitantly, as she told them, “You’ve both come a long way since Bracca. But the path is far from over. I want you to know the difficult challenges ahead…”

“We can handle it,” Cal said firmly.

“I know what you can do, I’m not denying that,” Cere sighed, shaking her head.

“And I know what has to be done,” Cal replied sternly. “I’ve… we’ve done it before.”

Jayna felt Cal’s sideways glance at her, but she refused to acknowledge it as she nodded to Cere. “We’ll get the job done,” she added coolly, before turning to walk away. Behind her, Cere wasn’t ready to stop talking.

“Cal, even the strongest of Jedi…” Cere trailed off, painedly.

“I’m not Trilla, I’ll be fine,” Cal rebutted firmly, as he moved past her.

“I know you’re not, I didn’t say that,” Cere interjected tersely as Jayna paused, waiting for Cal at the start of a rocky path that led towards the cliffs. Watching the pair, she took a deep breath as the wind seemed to howl around them.

“I’m not asking you to say anything. It’s okay, Cere, really…” he trailed off awkwardly, before glancing in Jayna’s direction. Determinedly, she looked away, turning her back but she could still hear every word as Cere continued.

“Just… be safe, Cal. Both of you,” she breathed, as Jayna heard Cal’s footsteps as he joined her at the top of the path.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked, as she glanced at him shortly before stepping out.

“We have a job to do, don’t we? Let’s go,” she muttered, striding ahead as she felt Cal sigh before he followed in her wake.

As they carefully made their way down the rocky path from their landing pad, Jayna felt the darkness of Dathomir sink its claws into her, not helping her poor mood as she walked along beside Cal. By unspoken consensus, they made their way up the cliffs and onto the plateau beyond.

More cliffs leapt up from this foundation, and to Jayna’s surprise, some were formed into roughly hewn steps and buildings, as they cautiously moved deeper into the ruins, one hand on their sabers at all times.

Everywhere, strange, spiked bulbous plants sprang up, growing wormlike between fissures in the rock. They were as inelegant and ugly as they were resilient, if they flourished in such a dry, arid environment, Jayna reflected as they passed a cluster of them as they steadily climbed upwards and inwards, cutting in deeper into the rocky cliffs and away from the Mantis. All around them, strange, rounded sacks, bound with twine, hung swaying in the wind, and though she didn’t know why, the sight of them made Jayna shiver and recoil.

The wind whistled past them as they climbed, like a funereal dirge but the land was silent. And yet, there was a watchfulness to it, as if the stones themselves watched and waited with bated breath at these interlopers in this midst, as Jayna felt her mood only souring further. She was hyper-aware of every scrape of their boots against rock, the howl of the wind, BD’s antennae whirring, and the forlorn flapping of rotting fabric hanging from long-abandoned doorways as they passed.

“Cere did say that Dathomir was abandoned, right?” she asked quietly, forcing herself to break the frosty silence between her and Cal.

“Yeah. No one lives here after the Nightsister Clans were massacred during the Clone Wars,” Cal replied, frowning slightly as he glanced at her.

“Then why do I get the feeling we’re being watched?” she hissed, as he nodded.

“Keep your guard up,” he told her, as she rolled her eyes derisively.

“You keep your guard up,” she snapped back, quickening her pace until she marched ahead. She felt his long-suffering sigh, but absolutely did not let herself smile a little at causing it.

Suddenly, the smell of woodsmoke wafted towards them as Cal and Jayna glanced at one another. Simultaneously, they reached for their sabers, not activating them but holding ready as they slowly advanced. As they passed a shadowed doorway, they glimpsed the leaping flames of a small fire, neatly arranged in a fire pit.

As they cautiously ducked under the trailing curtain covering the arched door, they glanced around for any sign of life, but the dwelling was seemingly abandoned but for the clear signs of someone having been there earlier. Opposite the fire, from a sheltered nook, it was possible to see the whole clifftops from the overlook, including the small plateau where the Mantis sat.

Jayna paused as Cal knelt, pressing a hand to a small clay pot, sitting next to a pestle and mortar beside the fire pit. He closed his eyes as he reached out with his psychometry. Even as muffled as the bond now was, Jayna could sense the surge of power in Cal, as he winced and shuddered.

“A Nightsister survived a great massacre… she was alone… afraid. Her sisters were gone,” Cal breathed, his voice strained as his eyes snapped open. “You were right. We’re not alone here.”

“Best get a move on then?” Jayna replied curtly, turning on her heel as Cal scrambled up to follow. She knew she wasn’t exactly being particularly helpful right now, but it was the only way she was finding the strength to keep going. Every instinct in her body was screaming at her to run back to the Mantis, and it was only getting worse the further they went. For the first time in her life, she was struggling to push aside her emotional turmoil and it was affecting her ability to focus. And she needed all the focus she could get, as the darkness of Dathomir infected her with cold dread in every breath, until every step became an agony of loathing.

Glancing at Cal, she could see no sign he was similarly affected though she guessed he must be, from his psychometry alone if the history of this place was any clue. But he wasn’t showing it, and so Jayna grit her teeth and pressed on, determined not to show any weakness either.

Eventually, they passed through the abandoned village and came to a towering wall of rock as it stretched into the sky. Carved into the rock was a looming archway, joined to the clifftops by a natural arch, as they crossed quickly and ducked inside.

Inside, it was dimly lit, the shadows stretching deeply into every crevice except for the eerie light cast by wrought metal braziers, heaped high with burning wood. Against one wall stood a rectangular pillar, one BD booped excitedly when the droid spotted it, leaping from Cal’s back and scurrying over to it.

In the dimness of the chamber, the pillar just looked as rough-hewn and plain as the dwellings they’d passed on the way in, but BD’s scan revealed a cartouche of square-bordered hieroglyphics as Cal and Jayna crouched down beside the droid.

“Looks like the Zeffo were here,” Cal said, glancing at Jayna.

“Clearly,” Jayna replied wryly as BD booped.

Cal glanced at the braziers as he stood up, glancing around him suspiciously. “Strange,” he commented. “This place seems abandoned but…”

“But most likely not,” Jayna finished, recalling their discovery on the cliffs.

Both stiffened as they sensed the surge in the Force, as a hushed sound as if of a rushing breeze had them turning on their heels, lightsabers ready.

Striding towards them out of a cascade of green flames was a young woman, garbed in blood-red robes and hood as she stared at them with unfriendly eyes. “You trespass, Jedi!” she stated coldly, stepping into the light.

Her skin was unnaturally pale, nearly stark white, traced over by silvery-grey tattoos. An ornate headdress rested against her forehead, under the draped red hood, and her grey lips quirked up into a sneer of contempt and anger.

“You must be a Nightsister,” Cal began, stepping forward with his hands raised in a show of non-aggression. “We’d heard you were all dead.”

“Not all,” the Nightsister remarked contemptuously, making a snapping flick of her right hand as more green flames were conjured behind her. From the flames stepped two rangy, muscled Zabrak half-clad in rough breeches, their bodies covered in tattoos, brandishing wicked looking spiked maces as they stepped forward with bared teeth. “Dathomir is forbidden to you. Leave at once!” she demanded, raising one pale hand to point threateningly at Cal and Jayna.

“Trust me, we’d like to but we can’t,” Jayna said sarcastically, but her mind was racing. In the Force, she could sense the energy of the Dark Side surrounding the Nightsister, but it was different from the energies she’d sensed emanating from the Inquisitors. She could feel her rage and her anguish at the loss of her people, but it didn’t consume her to the point of total abandon as it did Trilla and the Ninth Sister.

“Perhaps we could help each other?” Cal offered, with a repressive glance at Jayna. “You see, we…”

As Cal went to take a step forward, the two Zabrak raised their weapons threateningly. “Easy! We’re not your enemy!” Cal declared.

“Your actions say otherwise,” the Nightsister retorted, green fire sparking in the palms of her hands as she raised them.

“Wait, hold on! I’m not here to…” Cal tried to explain, but the Nightsister made another gesture with her flame-filled hands, as her Zabrak guardians were suddenly consumed by it, the green flame travelling unchecked across their convulsing bodies until it reached their mouths and eyes.

“Vasha!” the Nightsister barked, disappearing in a flare of green fire as the two Zabrak advanced, their eyes glowing that same eerie green, lethal weapons raised high.

Jayna immediately activated her saber, flipping it into guard as she felt Cal do the same beside her. She parried the first hit from the Zabrak closest to her, mildly shocked to realise their weapons were lightsaber-resistant, her arm shaking from the strength of the blow. Centring herself, she let the Force flow through her as she spun on her heels and slashed the Zabrak across his midsection, felling him as he collapsed with a pained grunt.

Standing upright, she recovered just in time to witness Cal strike down his own attacker, ducking under his guard to sweep his feet out from under him, before spinning and bringing his saber down in a vertical thrust into the Zabrak’s chest.

Meeting her eyes, he nodded. “Come on, before she comes back!” he hissed, turning, and jogging away as Jayna followed. They quickly passed out of the chamber and onto a wide stone ledge overlooking a broken stairway, leading up into shadow in the lee of a cliff. As they jumped down and cautiously rounded the corner, Jayna saw that the two towers she’d spotted from the Mantis were actually one, two-pronged structure, looming over the landscape ahead as one of Dathomir’s moons appeared framed between them.

“Guess we’ve got a good idea where to start looking for the Tomb then,” she said quietly, as Cal nodded shortly.

“Looks like our best bet,” he agreed, before glancing at BD-1. “What about you, bud? Look familiar?”

At the droid’s affirmative whistle, they set off once more, senses primed for the slightest sign of ambush as they steadily made their way up the cracked, ruined stairway and towards the Tomb.

The Force whispered a warning, as Jayna suddenly found herself grasped by the shoulders and flung against the rocky wall, her back aching from the mistreatment as she felt Cal’s arms caging her in, pressing her back against the wall. She heard the zing as something sped past, hitting the stone where she’d been stood only seconds before and then toppling over the edge of the cliff. In the Force, she felt the rush of power as Cal lifted his hand and pulled, an accompanying cry of pain and fear echoing as its source fell into the chasm below.

“What was that?” she demanded fiercely.

“Some kind of archer… with an energy bow,” Cal replied, a brow quirking as he huffed disbelievingly. “I’m guessing the Nightsister’s friends are the Nightbrothers.”

“Wonderful,” Jayna sighed sardonically. “That’s all we bloody need: bloodthirsty maniacs with energy bows.”

She felt Cal’s low chuckle, likely unconscious and accidental, like a shudder rippling through her body as they were pressed together so tightly. Hauling in a breath, she shoved him away with a pointed look before turning and leading the way.

Emerging from the shadow of the cliffs, Jayna, Cal and BD-1 looked out onto a broken stone bridge, leading over a gaping ravine to the ruins on the other side. This close, the two-pronged tower reared proudly above their heads, cruelly hewn black stone gleaming in the red sunlight. Through the gap, they could see the scarlet-dyed shadow of one of Dathomir’s moons.

Jayna caught her breath looking at it, something about the sight sending a chill to her very bones. She felt Cal glance at her as he quietly admitted. “I feel it too. The ruins are drenched in the Dark Side.”

“What happened to them that the Zeffo went from the wisdom of Eilram to…this?” she whispered, thinking back to the serenity of the first Tomb, the tangible feeling of corruption in the second and now the decay and malevolence she sensed from the third Tomb.

“I don’t know,” Cal breathed, taking a step forward tentatively. United in a kind of dread fascination for the monolithic structure ahead, Cal and Jayna began to make their careful way towards the Tomb across the broken bridge.

There were deep rents cutting the bridge in many places, as they were forced to climb up the twisted, barbed vines that covered the stone, wincing as they cut into their hands, or were forced to leap over the fractures in the rock, calling on the Force to make the gaps.

Perhaps that was why they didn’t notice him until they were nearly stood beside him: a robed figure in black, leaning against the broken stone parapet of the bridge as he called out to them.

“Oh, fellow wanderers!” he greeted them, voice pleasant and kind as Cal and Jayna started, turning on their heels to face him as their hands strayed to their sabers. “I see you met the resident Nightsister but… uh… unlike most, you’re alive!” he said, almost incredulously.

“Who are you?” Jayna demanded, as she felt his eyes wander over the pair of them. Despite his friendliness, there was something about him that made her skin crawl with unease, as she felt his eyes alight on the sabers clipped to their belts. Instinctively, she tilted her body away from him to hide it, Cal mirroring her as he held up his hands placatingly.

“Ooh, lightsabers! No, no don’t hide it,” he implored them, straightening up from his perch against the bridge wall. She still couldn’t make out much of his physical appearance, except that he was tall and broad in the shoulder, while intelligent, piercing eyes looked out from under his ragged hood. What she’d initially thought was a black robe was in fact a heavily stained, tattered brown robe. “That would explain your survival.”

“But your apparent deafness doesn’t explain yours,” Jayna replied curtly, as Cal shot her a quelling look before he stepped forward, drawing the stranger’s gaze.

“Who are you?” he asked, repeating Jayna’s question.

“You don’t… no one to fear. No,” he chuckled, raising his hands in a gesture of non-aggression. “Just a traveller… studying the nature of extinct cultures and dead philosophies.”

“Not quite extinct, if your Nightsister friend is any indication,” Jayna retorted coolly. “Are you studying them?”

“Oh, I study many things,” the stranger declared mysteriously. “But yes, that Nightsister…oh… she was only a child when the war came to this world. She had to watch her whole family perish,” he continued, as if confiding a great secret to them. He leant in close to them, as Jayna couldn’t help but recoil, something about him repulsing her as she smelt a coppery tang in the air, like freshly spilt blood.

“What do you know about those ruins?” Cal asked, sensing her discomfort.

“Oh!?” the stranger laughed, turning to look avidly at Cal as he gestured dismissively. “Ancient beyond belief. The Nightsister and her warrior kin... were seduced by the power that lurks within.”

They glanced towards the ruins, impatient to leave this encounter and the stranger behind as he reached out to them, warningly. “A-avoid the ruin,” he cautioned them. “Or suffer the same fate.”

Jayna could sense Cal’s disbelief as he walked away, towards the next section of the bridge but she found herself lingering, unable to pull herself away despite how much she wanted to as the stranger looked to her. There was something oddly hypnotic about him, as she found herself asking, “How long have you been here?”

“Long enough,” he chuckled bleakly. “This world provided a sanctum when I was in need… shelter when I was weak… enlightenment when I was lost in the dark…”

His dry chuckles sent a shiver down her spine as she found herself swallowing around a hard lump in her throat. “Be wary of this world,” he cautioned her, after his laughter subsided, his voice oddly compelling and insistent as she backed away. “For who knows what enlightenment it has to offer you?”

“Riiiighttt,” she drawled, uncomfortably. “I’ll be going now,” she announced, already turning on her heel and hurrying to catch up with Cal, sensing the stranger’s eyes on her retreating back the whole way.

As she caught up with the other two, Cal glanced at her curiously. “What was that about?” he asked, from where he stood staring up at the ruins ahead.

“Nothing just… this planet clearly makes people coo-koo,” Jayna remarked. “Let’s get on with this so we don’t end up the same way.”

For a moment, an uncomfortable silence grew between them as Jayna unconsciously waited for some joke about how she was already a little crazy from Cal, but there was none forthcoming as Cal nodded and leapt to the next section. Sighing, she forced aside the renewed sting of their distance as she followed, leaping from section to fractured section until they came up against a new obstacle.

The final section of the bridge was directly ahead, but the ledge was too high to reach, even with the Force. The rock was pitted and worn, parts of it too smooth to climb while others looked like sturdy footholds as they inspected it closely.

“Looks climbable, but not without equipment,” Cal declared, with a sigh as Jayna’s eyes widened as she looked up.

“Look out!” she shouted, as a Nightbrother appeared at the ledge, a massive boulder held above his head.

“Die, Jedi!” he yelled as he threw the boulder towards them. Jayna and Cal threw themselves against the rock face, as the boulder hit the weakened stone at their feet. It cracked and splintered beneath them, as they found themselves falling as both cried out.

They came to an abrupt stop as they slammed into a rocky slope from some long ago landslide, tumbling down it uncontrollably until they managed to get their legs under them, using the Force to anchor themselves to the stone as they surfed down the slope and into the gloomy mists below.

Up ahead, surrounded by thorny, twisted roots and the spiked bulbs of those plants they’d encountered on the clifftops earlier, Jayna spotted a break in the slope. With a shout, she pointed it out to Cal, gathering herself for the jump as they leapt through the air.

Landing hard, she sprinted forward a few metres until she was able to regain control of her momentum, stopping against the base of a cliff as she turned and let herself drop to the floor, panting hard from adrenaline and fear.

Cal and BD-1 landed safely, as Cal breathed a sigh of relief. “Phew! Can’t believe we made it,” he breathed, as BD burbled excitedly from his shoulder.

“Bee-beep boo beep!” the droid declared, as it drew a reluctant smile from Jayna as Cal shot the droid a disbelieving look.

“You sure know how to have fun,” he remarked dryly, before looking down at Jayna. “Are you okay?” he asked, brow furrowed in concern.

“I’m fine,” she replied shortly, ignoring his proffered hand as she pulled herself upright. She could sense his discomfort and annoyance as he sighed her name.

“Jayna…”

“I’m not having this conversation, Cal,” she cut him off, coldly. “You wanted this, remember?”

“I didn’t mean-?” he tried to protest but she was having none of it.

“You can’t have it all your own way, Cal,” she replied, with a proud tilt of her head. “If attachments are a weakness, then that means all attachments make you weak. You don’t get to push me away one minute, then decide you give a damn the next. Now, shall we?”

Turning her back on him, she hauled herself up and began to climb the cliff face, feeling him follow a tense minute later, sensing his disquiet but unable to bring herself to regret what she’d said. It was hardly the time but… it needed to be said.

Once they’d reached the top of the cliff, they found themselves in what appeared to be a ruined, collapsed settlement, perhaps a small village that had clustered around the ruins millennia ago, but had fallen in the same landslide that had created the slope that saved their lives.

It was clearly still inhabited, as they found newly placed guide ropes for climbing and lit torches relieving some of the gloom as they continued to climb up through the ruins, senses alert for any sign of attack.

They were accosted several times by some less than friendly fauna, misshapen arachnoid creatures that made Kashyyyk’s wildlife look cute and cuddly, spitting poison as they slashed and cut their way through. Climbing up through a set of ruined, partially collapsed doors, they found themselves inside a sunken dwelling, as Jayna’s boot nudged against something dry and old as she forced herself to keep in her instinctive shriek of alarm.

All around them were desiccated corpses, clad in ragged scarlet robes, decaying jaws open wide in anguished, horrific death-screams.

Hauling in a tight breath, Jayna moved away as Cal knelt beside one, hand reaching out to just graze a blunted, broken spear in one of the corpse’s wizened hands.

“These were Nightsisters…” he breathed, as the psychometry took hold. “They were attacked by the Separatists…they never got a proper burial… so many Nightsisters died here… they never even stood a chance…”

“We’re walking in a graveyard,” Jayna finished for him, as he forcibly pulled himself away from the spear, breaking the connection as he inhaled raggedly. Their eyes met and despite their disagreement, Jayna found herself asking concernedly. “Are you alright?”

“I’ll be fine,” he replied, standing upright as he gestured towards a doorway. “We need to keep moving.”

The chamber beyond was blocked, but for a small gap between the masonry, held up only by wooden scaffolding as they pulled themselves through. Clambering out the other side, they found themselves in a larger chamber, the floor half-covered in compacted earth where a landslide had collapsed one wall.

On the upper level, they could see a window leading out, but in front of the ledge were three of the strange cloth bundles hanging from the rafters. Cal and Jayna stared up at them with a sickening kind of dread, as they heard the same crackling sound as green flames swirled up from the floor, parting to reveal the Nightsister as they looked down on them with cold, angry eyes.

“You will go no further!” she demanded, as Cal and Jayna immediately activated their sabers, settling back into guard.

“Stand aside!” Cal barked commandingly, striding forward as he eyed the Nightsister narrowly.

“No!” she hissed, disdainfully. “He was right about you.”

Confusion dawned, as Cal and Jayna glanced at each other before staring up at her in bemusement.

“Who?” Cal asked.

“What?” Jayna added, as the Nightsister scoffed.

“Jedi are nothing but thieves and selfish liars who bring nothing but death!” she snarled angrily. Through the Force, Jayna could feel Cal’s anger as he lost patience, growling up at the Nightsister.

“Back off! If you attack us again, I’ll strike you down!” he declared.

“Cal!” Jayna hissed reprovingly. She felt his swift glance before the Nightsister sneered derisively as she replied.

“Oh, I won’t do a thing,” she said, raising green-flame-tipped hands as she pointed them towards the hanging cloth sacks. “But my murdered sisters… they will have their revenge!”

The sacks cracked open as three of the same desiccated corpses fell to the floor as Cal and Jayna stared in horror. They barely noticed as the Nightsister disappeared once more, as the corpses twitched and flailed, strange, cracking, growling sounds coming from their paralysed mouths as they shakily stood, the same green flames that the Nightsister commanded glowing in their empty eye sockets.

“This planet is so messed up,” Jayna breathed, bringing her saber to bear as the three reanimated Nightsisters roared and attacked. Spinning to evade the clumsily lunging grasp of the closest Nightsister, Jayna impaled her through the back with a reverse-thrust of her blade, before Force pushing the other into the wall with enough momentum to break bone. On her other side, Cal decapitated his attacker with a swing of his blade, wincing as the Nightsister’s nails just grazed his cheek.

“What in seven Corellian hells was that!?” she demanded, panting as Cal shook his head.

“No time, now let’s go before more come,” he hissed, already sprinting for the ledge. Jayna followed, pulling herself up as they heard the sound of rending fabric and those strange dry, creaking growls as more Nightsisters were rudely awakened from their death-sleep.

As they sprinted through the ruins, more of the undead creatures leapt from the shadows, papery-thin skin stretched over rictus-grimaces of pain and hatred as they growled and lunged for the intruders. And all the time, the Nightsister’s ominous promises echoed around them, disembodied but inescapable as they fought their way through the hordes.

“Leave this place!” she demanded, as Jayna flipped over an attacking undead, letting its clumsy momentum send it plummeting over the edge of a cliff.

“You will pay for their deaths!”

“D’you think telling her we had nothing to do with the massacre here would help?” Jayna asked, only partially serious, as she slashed another Nightsister in two, ducking under the grasping arms of another as she shouldered it to the ground. Stabbing it through the skull, she glanced up at Cal as he despatched another, diagonally bisecting its torso with a graceful arc of his saber.

“I doubt it,” he admitted, panting. “She seems pretty sure the Jedi were responsible. And who’s this ‘he’ she referred to?”

“Could it be the stranger we met? Or one of the Nightbrothers who survived the massacre and misunderstood what happened?” Jayna offered, as Cal shrugged.

“No way of knowing for sure,” he said, nodding towards a passageway up ahead. “Let’s see if we can find a way out through there.”

Jogging down the passageway, they encountered no more undead, but it ended in a dead end as they found themselves looking up at an impassable stone wall, covered in those strange, barbed vines they’d seen earlier. Hearing more shrieks echoing up the passageway behind them, Cal and Jayna exchanged commiserating, resigned looks before they started to climb.

Their gloves absorbed the worst of the barbs, but their hands still stung with each grip, as they slowly made their way up the wall to a rocky ledge far above. “How does that Nightsister keep following us?” Cal asked, trying to distract them both from the discomfort in their hands.

“Beep-boop?” BD-1 replied.

“She feels… different from the Inquisitors we’ve faced,” Jayna replied, breathing hard as she pulled herself up behind him.

“Cere called them Force wielders, but I’ve never seen it used this way before,” Cal admitted, as he pulled himself up over the ledge. “We’d better stay on our toes…”

BD booped in agreement as Jayna pulled herself up next, as Cal glanced at the droid.

“Wait, do you… have toes?” he asked, jokingly as BD chirped in fond exasperation. Down below, they could hear more undead shrieks and howls, as they stood up and hurried away from that vulnerable place, glad to leave the creeping terror of that ruined settlement behind.

Following the tunnel round, they emerged onto a rocky overlook. Looking out over Dathomir’s bleak horizon, they spotted a gargantuan beast in the distance, great, leathery wings flapping as it soared through the rocky mountaintops.

It reminded Jayna a little of the Shyyyo Bird but looking at it made her shudder with dread. Thinking of that gentle beast made her sad, as unwanted memories welled up in her mind’s eye but she firmly shoved them aside. No use dwelling on might-have-beens, she told herself firmly.

Beside her, Cal was muttering uneasily, his eyes fixed on the creature flying off into the distance. “Any idea what that flying creature is?” he asked BD.

“Bo-beep!” BD replied, as Jayna and Cal glanced back at him.

“A chirodactyl? Is it hostile?” Jayna asked, glancing at the droid.

“Let’s hope we don’t find out,” Cal remarked, looking away from the creature as he looked around for their next step. Ahead was a wooden platform constructed of planks, lashed together haphazardly, and suspended by a primitive pulley system. “Guess that’s our only option,” he sighed, leading the way as the trio crowded onto the makeshift lift and descended even further into the gloom.

After fighting their way through a cavern full of Nightbrothers and domesticated versions of those arachnoid creatures they’d faced on the cliff tops earlier, the trio emerged into a vast, foggy swamp. A yellowish fog hung over the place as they tentatively stepped out into the mists, senses primed for any sign of attack.

In the far distance, they could hear shouting as several Nightbrothers attempted to fend off an attack from above, firing their energy bolts and throwing spears uselessly as one was snatched up and borne away by that same massive, bat-like creature they’d spotted from the outlook.

“That thing looks like trouble!” Cal breathed, as Jayna spotted a path leading away from that outcropping and into a tunnel.

“We might be able to find a path back up through there,” she suggested, as Cal nodded.

“We don’t have many other options,” he admitted. They had no map and BD’s logs were still encrypted. They were blindly stumbling around in the dark until they could find a way back up the ruins. “Hope you’re ready for a fight,” he added, glancing at the group of Nightbrothers waiting atop the cliff.

Jayna, Cal and BD carefully made their way across the swampy ground to the cliff’s base, testing every step to ensure they didn’t step into a deep puddle or sinking fields. The twisted, mutated forms of Dathomiri plant life loomed at them out of the fog as they hurried past, alert for the strangled shrieks of undead Nightsisters or the clicking squeals of those arachnoid creatures but they made it unmolested until they neared the base of the cliff.

A crumpled shape materialised out of the gloom, vaguely avian in form, but oddly rounded as Jayna and Cal paused. Reaching out, he let his hand graze its wing as his eyes blindly trailed over the dead, tarnished dome of a deactivated astromech.

“A ship crashed… they were fleeing from something…” he breathed, mind full of rage, pain and betrayal, gasped sobbing echoing in his ears. “How could anyone survive here?”

“Cal…it was a Republic ship,” Jayna gasped, pointing towards the crashed ship’s partially intact wing, where the scored, partially defaced symbol of the Jedi Order and Republic military was emblazoned in orange paint. “What does this mean?” she asked.

“That we’re not alone here,” he replied, tearing himself away. “Whether this ship belongs to that stranger we met or…”

He trailed off as the air began to echo with the familiar shrieks and screams of the undead, as Jayna spun, her hand on her saber. “We need to go!” he hissed, grabbing her arm, and pulling her round as they sprinted for the cliffs.

They didn’t stop to look back until they were halfway up the cliffs, where they could see the shambling, lurching shapes of the undead Nightsisters following in their wake in the swamps. That Nightsister was intent on their deaths, it seemed, as Jayna and Cal pulled themselves up the rest of the way, until they were atop the cliffs.

But of course, then they had another problem.

Several Nightbrothers surrounded them, weapons brandished as they grinned bestially at the intruders.

“You will fall before us!” one shouted, as he aimed his bow at the trio.

“Try me, Jedi!” his fellow yelled with anticipation, raising his mace high as he charged.

Jayna cocked her head to one side as she cockily replied. “Okay, I will,” she retorted, stepping sideways, and flipping round as the Nightbrother’s momentum took him past her, reaching out with the Force and pushing him over the cliff edge. His cry echoed in the air as she turned and deflected an energy bolt fired from one of the bows, as Cal leapt towards their attackers, striking another archer down before he could take a shot.

Spotting another taking aim at Cal’s back as he engaged with another of the mace wielding Nightbrothers, Jayna reached out and pulled his arm with the Force, pulling his aim off so the energy bolt fired into the back of another warrior, taking him down. Capitalising on his confusion, Jayna leapt across the cliff top, her blade shearing through sinew and flesh as she decapitated the Nightbrother, before whirling and deflecting another energy bolt back at its source.

Feeling the surge in the Force, she turned as Cal reached out and Force-pulled the last Nightbrother into the path of his blade, as they paused, glancing around for any more attackers before deactivating their lightsabers.

“We’d better hurry,” Cal said, nodding towards the cliff’s edge where they could hear the oncoming horde of undead drawing nearer. Glancing down at her last kill, Jayna frowned as she noticed the strange devices they wore on their hands. “Jayna…”

Ignoring Cal, Jayna crouched down and liberated the devices from the hands of her last attacker, looking at them curiously. They were a strap of tanned, reinforced leather with buckles for tightening, on which was attached wickedly sharp metal claws. Putting one on experimentally, Jayna partly closed her fist, as the claws extended forward with a snap. “These must be how the Nightbrothers get around these cliffs,” she mused, glancing up at Cal. “Could come in handy.”

Nodding, he turned and took his own from another Nightbrother, slipping them on and tightening them so they fitted across his knuckles securely. They startled as they heard a ghastly shriek echo below them, too close for comfort as they turned and hurried away from the cliff tops and the horror of the swamps.

Following the Nightbrothers’ path led them into a cavernous tunnel, pitch-black but for occasionally patches of bioluminescent vegetation. Their footing was treacherous as deep crevices stretched out below them, so the going was slow and cautious as they threaded a route through the narrow passageway.

Just as they came to an outcropping overlooking a vast, echoing cave, the Nightsister’s voice reverberated around them once more, ominous and threatening as Cal and Jayna glanced at one another.

“Only death awaits you here!”

“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” Jayna asked, as Cal rolled his eyes.

“You and your bad feelings. It’ll be fine,” he asserted, jumping down. After a moment, Jayna joined him as they spotted a wall on the opposite side of the cavern, pitted, and roughened, offering plenty of handholds and footholds for them to use.

Against the base of the wall, was slumped an unmoving body as Jayna slowed and gasped. “About that bad feeling,” she muttered, as Cal stopped, eyes wide as he recognised the Nightbrother they’d seen taken by that chirodactyl.

But that meant…

A squawking growl filled the air as Jayna, Cal and BD-1 looked up to see the chirodactyl looking down at them from the rocks where it hung. With a coiling of its powerful muscles, it sprang down, landing with a booming thud as it hit the ground, the barbed claws at the tip of its wings digging into the stony floor.

Up close, it was even more monstrous. Avaricious grey eyes peered at them through the darkness of the cavern, while its pointed beak opened wide to furiously screech at them for their trespass into its domain. Its leathery brown wings were at least at wide as they were tall, and its feet were tipped with dagger-like talons as it leapt at them.

Cal and Jayna threw themselves sideways to avoid those talons and that snapping beak, summoning their sabers to hand as their blades sprang forth. Instinctively, they reached for the bond, muffled as it was.

And realised something was wrong.

Jayna winced as she felt Cal’s attempt to connect with her, once, twice then again with increasing desperation until she felt like she was being battered and beaten by the force of his urgency. “Cal! Stop it!” she screamed, while trying to avoid yet more of the creature’s attacks.

“It’s not working!” he shouted back, dodging as the creature lunged for him with its wing.

Inwardly, Jayna tested the Force bond as even as she dodged yet another swipe of the beast’s talons, but she was repelled again, as if coming up against a tangibly solid barrier separating her from Cal. Her mouth filled with the taste of burned iron as Cal tried again, sending her stumbling.

“Stop, Cal! It’s hurting me,” she shouted, painfully. Her head was ringing as she met Cal’s eyes across the cavern. “It’s like you’re attacking me.”

She could still sense Cal’s shock and anguish as he realised the implications: the bond would be no help to them now. They would have to fight separately.

“Go for the wings, I’ll hit the talons,” he shouted desperately, throwing himself sideways as the creature’s clawed wing smashed into the rock above his head, showering him with stony splinters. Jayna watched as he threw himself forward, under its attacking wings as his blade flared, slicing towards the beast’s feet. Seizing her chance as the chirodactyl roared in agony, as Cal’s blade sheared off one of its talons, Jayna lunged for its right wing, scoring a deep gash through its outer wing membrane as it reeled and stumbled backwards.

The chirodactyl had reigned supreme and unchallenged for centuries, Jayna sensed, and now it felt a twinge of fear at the shining weapons of these intruders, so different to the pinpricks of the Nightbrothers it usually feasted on. With a great leap, it sprang away, grasping onto the rocky walls of the cavern as it climbed up towards a gap in the rock where light filtered in, obviously the entrance to its nest as it screeched defiantly one last time, then disappeared.

“I…I think it’s gone,” Cal asserted, panting as he deactivated his lightsaber. Jayna felt the weight of his eyes as he turned towards her. “Are you alright?”

“A little worse for wear,” she admitted, straightening up and staring towards where the chirodactyl had dragged itself away. “Why do I get the feeling that isn’t the last we’ve seen of that thing?”

“Knowing our luck, probably,” Cal admitted, as he turned to inspect the rock above where the dead Nightbrother was slumped. “We should get moving before it comes back, or that Nightsister finds us again.”

“I think she’s knows exactly where we are,” Jayna demurred, shaking her head. “She was driving us here, the whole time.”

“Maybe,” Cal shrugged, as he put a hand to the rock experimentally, the claws on his knuckles springing forth and digging deep into the rock. “Only thing for it! Come on.”

Jayna nodded, reaching up and finding her own handhold as the trio slowly, laboriously made their way up the rockface, hearts still pounding from the fight. As they climbed, Jayna frowned as she wondered what had gone wrong. Why couldn’t they connect, as they had done so many others time before?

As they cleared the top of the wall, looking back over the cavern, Jayna had a sinking feeling she knew exactly why they couldn’t touch the Force bond, why it had repelled them both and why it’d felt like Cal was attacking her every time he tried.

But now wasn’t the time. They still had to get out of these caverns, at the very least. Pushing it aside, she followed Cal as they left that cavern behind.

Passing into a narrow corridor, they were surrounded by archaic cave paintings in white pigment, seeming to depict the creature they had just faced. Beside an altar lit by candles and covered with the dilapidated remnants of offerings, was one large cave painting depicting the creature and what appeared to be a Nightbrother brandishing their weapon with triumph.

Jayna sensed Cal’s psychometry as he grazed the offerings, frowning with distaste as he explained, “The strongest Nightbrothers faced a rite of passage by venturing into the lair of this creature,” he said, yanking his hand back as if burned. “Those who survived were deemed worthy.”

“Worthy of what?” Jayna asked, glancing back down the corridor nervously.

“I’m not sure I want to know,” Cal admitted, turning away from the altar as he led the way. Squeezing through a tight gap in the rock, they pulled themselves through onto a wide, exposed outcropping on the side of the cliffs that made up the exterior walls of the caverns they’d just trekked through.

Glancing around at the open, currently-chirodactyl-free skies, Jayna spotted a path up another cliff nearby, one that would bring them out atop the cliffs where she could see a ruined building. “We’re too exposed out here,” she breathed, heading for it determinedly. “That creature could come back at any moment. We need to hurry.”

“No argument from me,” Cal agreed, following in her wake as she paused by the cliff. It was separated from their outcropping by a gaping chasm, but it was jumpable as Jayna took a moment to judge the distance, then leapt it with a little help from the Force as her climbing claws caught hold of the rock and anchored her there.

Gritting her teeth as her muscles burned, Jayna pulled herself up and began the climb. It would have been a nearly impossible task without the claws, she realised. Her fingers would have been raw and bloody by now, as she made steady progress up the cliff, Cal and BD only a few metres behind her.

They were halfway up when they heard a sound like cracking stone, then a horribly familiar screech as the trio stopped and looked down the way they’d come.

It was the chirodactyl.

The creature had emerged from a crevice in the rock further down, in the depths of the ravine they had jumped, and now it was climbing the rock after them as agilely as a Bracca scrap rat climbed a ventilation duct.

“Move!” Cal shouted, as Jayna immediately began to climb faster, calling on all her strength and the Force to help her as she frantically tried to reach the top of the cliff. “Move, Jayna! Faster!”

All she could hear was the ragged sound of her own breaths, her heart pounding in her ears, as the air was rent by the sound of crushed rock, BD’s panicked whistles and beeps and Cal’s own agitated breaths as he scrambled up the cliff face behind her. Jayna didn’t dare look down but she knew the creature was gaining on them; with its monstrous wings, it climbed ten metres for their two.

Hopelessness bloomed in Jayna’s heart as a part of her whispered it would be too late, there was no escape and it would just be better to give up now and accept death graciously.

Up ahead, the cliff face began to buckle under the weight and force of the chirodactyl’s climb, as Jayna had to duck her head to avoid rockfall several times. Her vision blurred by rock dust, she blinked stinging eyes as she realised, with a dreadful surge of hope, that they were nearly at the top.

With one last surge of the Force and all her remaining, dwindling strength, Jayna leapt upwards, catching hold of the cliff’s edge and hauling herself over. She didn’t stop to rest, immediately twisting onto her side and readying her saber as she reached out one hand for Cal as he neared the top.

But the chirodactyl had no intention of letting its prey escape.

“Beep boo beep!” BD-1 screamed warningly, as Jayna cried out wordlessly.

“We’re gonna die!” Cal shouted in anguish, as the chirodactyl grasped the pair in its talons, leaping away from the cliff face as Jayna scrambled to attack it, its wings unfurling as it flapped upwards into the Dathomiri sky.

“CAL!?” she screamed, as she heard his voice one last time, weakly echoing as the chirodactyl climbed out of sight and hearing.

“GO, JAYNA! FIND THE TOMB! GO!”

“CAL!?” she screamed again, her heart torn in two as her eyes desperately scanned the blood-hued skies, searching for any sign of the chirodactyl or Cal and BD.

She heard a roaring scream, then Cal’s voice shouting wordlessly, then nothing as an awful, echoing silence fell, so only her own heartbeat seemed to fill it. Helplessness gnawed at her, as her strangled breathing threatened to spiral out of control, as she realised for the first time she was truly alone, on a hostile, unfamiliar planet, pursued by undead zombies, Nightbrothers and who knew what else.

For a moment, every cell in her body yearned to simply turn tail and run, to hide until it was safe to return to the Mantis, and then get as far away from Dathomir as possible. What chance did she stand now, with Cal gone, with BD gone?

But then common sense, and the courage she had discovered deep within herself the moment she had watched Cal fall from a Dowutin Inquisitor’s clawed hand awoke, as she took a deep breath and reached within.

Muffled, blocked as the Force bond was, she could still sense it and with it… she could still sense Cal. He wasn’t dead yet. Considering all they had done, all they had survived since they met on Bracca so many long months ago, she wouldn’t lose hope he would survive this. Not yet…

Drawing herself up, she took one last lingering look at the skies before turning and striding away, mind sternly turned to the task Cal had given her, shouted in desperate tones, before he and BD disappeared into the skies.

She would find the Tomb, and she would hope Cal would join her there. There could be no other outcome, and so she refused to contemplate any other. Cal would survive, and they would find each other again. She just knew it.

Jayna followed a narrow path leading away from the cliff edge. Thankfully, she encountered no more Nightbrothers or unfriendly wildlife, but her urgency was growing, replacing her resolve as fear began to spike once more in her blood. Stubbornly, she put her head down and forged on, refusing to let her fears get the better of her as she followed the rocky, uneven path deeper into the cliffs.

Finally, she came to a fork in the path, one path veering to the left, the other to the right as she stumbled to a halt, eyes wide as she looked between the two paths. ‘Which one do I take?’ she wondered, startling as she heard the sound of breaking rock somewhere far away. Above her head, a few pebbles fell from a ridge, tumbling to the dusty ground by her feet as she spun, activating her saber as she summoned it to hand.

Panting harshly, she scanned her surroundings for any signs of attack, but she was alone on that dusty, windswept path as she lowered her saber but didn’t deactivate it. Eyes flicking between the two paths, she eventually took the left one as impatience and the pounding urgency in her blood spurred her on. ‘No point dawdling about all day. I need to hurry and get out of these forsaken cliffs before more Nightbrothers find me, or worse… that Nightsister.’

Or that creepy stranger, another part of her mind whispered. Something about him disturbed her, whether it was the avaricious, intrigued looks he had sent both her and Cal’s way, or the stench of corruption and deceit coming off him, she didn’t know but she didn’t like it. She could only hope he wouldn’t find her, alone and far from help.

But as she walked on, the feeling of being watched started to return, like a creeping, slithering thing over her skin, patches of gooseflesh breaking out down her spine. Her grip tightened on her saber as, for the first time in weeks, she heard that cursed voice from her dreams once more.

“Jayna… Jayna….”

As she rounded a corner in the path, she emerged into a deep gorge, widening at a single point before narrowing again as it cut a downward path into the maze of the cliffs, as she stopped and hissed in a frustrated breath.

“Jayna…”

“Whoever you are, show yourself! I’m getting tired of these games,” she snarled, her voice carrying over the gorge and the high headlands either side as she turned and looked frantically. Once again, that feeling of being watched intensified as did an instinct of being pursued. Like a prey animal that knows it’s being tracked, her heart pounded as her muscles readied themselves to flee, even as she snarled and raised her saber high in preparation for an attack.

She was no one’s prey.

When the attack came, it came from above and behind, as Jayna suddenly found herself shoved forward by the impact of something large and heavy against her back as a guttural battle cry echoed around her.

She was thrown to her hands and knees, blinking away stars as she struggled to breathe, winded by the impact. Her saber had been knocked from her hand as she found herself yanked onto her back, staring up at the bared teeth of a Nightbrother as he raised his mace high above his head. Behind him, two more stood watching, with bloodthirsty smiles as they waited for the killing blow.

Jayna flung her hand out, reaching desperately through the Force for her saber when the Nightbrother cried out in agony, his chest punctured by the shining blue tip of a lightsaber. For one wild moment, Jayna thought Cal had found her as the hilt of her saber slapped into her waiting palm, but as the Nightbrother collapsed and his fellows lunged forward with enraged growls, she saw her rescuer was a cloaked figure in dark grey, wielding a blue lightsaber.

They were barely taller than Jayna, and obviously slender and agile as they evaded the furious Nightbrothers’ attacks. Their shining blue blade snapped round in a wide arc as a gloved hand flung out to push an attacking Nightbrother into the gorge wall. A moment later, the last Nightbrother collapsed, dead with a burning gash in his chest as Jayna forced herself upright, panting hard as she backed up a few paces as the cloaked stranger paused to study their work.

As if pleased, they nodded to themselves, their saber deactivating even as Jayna unsheathed hers, her green blade flaring to life as she called demandingly, “Don’t think I’m not grateful but… who are you?!”

Then she heard it again, as that voice that was both familiar and unfamiliar echoed in her head as the cloaked stranger turned, their hood falling from their face as aging features, black hair tightly held in a grey-streaked bun and flashing grey eyes revealed themselves.

“Jayna… Jayna…”

“C-Commander Torone…?” Jayna gasped, as her former commander and mentor smiled tightly.

“Hello, Jayna. It’s good to see you again,” she replied, genuinely it seemed as Jayna’s mind raced. Questions flooded her mind but the most pertinent fell uncertainly from her lips.

“You… know my name,” she gasped. “You know who I am?”

Torone huffed a laugh, smiling indulgently as she glanced at Jayna’s lightsaber. “Even if I did not, your name and face is plastered on every ‘wanted’ list from Tatooine to Coruscant. But yes, I always knew who you really were…”

“But wha-? Why? I-I don’t understand,” Jayna trailed off, as realisation dawned. She knew that voice in her head, she knew it because… “You’re the voice in my head. You have the Force, you’re a Jedi…”

“Very good, Jayna,” Torone nodded, clipping her saber back to her belt. “Incidentally, I mean you no harm. You can put away your saber.”

Jayna scoffed, and didn’t move. “I don’t think so,” she breathed coolly, regaining a little of her composure as she shifted into a ready stance. “I find out my former mentor knew who I was all this time and is a Force Sensitive… forgive me if I’m a little on edge.”

Torone’s smile turned sad and wistful, as she gazed at Jayna. “You remind me so much of her… you have her spirit.”

“Whose spirit? Who are you!?” Jayna demanded, losing her patience as she stepped threateningly toward Torone. Her smile soured as she sighed and shook her head.

“And your father’s arrogance. I had hoped… but that doesn’t matter now,” the older woman shook her head, before looking back at Jayna. “You are correct, Jayna. I am, or I was a Jedi. But I was no survivor of the Purge… I left the Order over a decade before the advent of the Clone Wars and the rise of the Empire.”

“How have you evaded the Empire for so long?” Jayna asked, frowningly. Even former Jedi had been tracked down and arrested by the Empire as enemies of the state.

“Because I long left my true name behind me when I left the Order,” Torone replied scornfully. “I didn’t need my brother’s antics dogging me wherever I went, not once I realised what I needed to do.”

“Your brother’s antics…?” Jayna breathed, as realisation dawned. It was tricky to see the likeness from a hologram but now she stood so close to her, she could see it. “You’re Cordova’s sister,” she guessed as Torone laughed and clapped.

“I’m glad to see you inherited your mother’s intuition as well,” she chuckled delightedly. “Indeed, I am the twin sister of Eno Cordova, the man whose path you’ve been following so devotedly since leaving Bracca. My birth name is Malavai Cordova.”

Jayna’s face contorted as her mind whirled, unable to focus on one point long enough. “You keep speaking of my mother as if you know her,” she forced herself to focus. “You also claim to know my father if that previous comment was any clue, and you’ve been shadowing my steps since I arrived on Bracca. Why?”

“I will gladly answer all your questions, Jayna,” Malavai replied patiently, before glancing around at their surroundings. “But not here. We must find Cal and your droid friend and get you back on track.”

“NO!” Jayna shouted, uncaring of the danger as she stepped back from Malavai’s outreached hand. “You will tell me now. I am… tired of all the secrecy, the lies. You’ve been manipulating me since I arrived on Bracca,” she realised, with a gasp. “You put me together with Cal, you knew somehow…you knew about the accident, that the Inquisitors would come…”

“I did,” Malavai sighed, lowering her hand as she watched Jayna appraisingly. “When I was a Jedi Knight, I was a Seer. My gift has always lain in prophecy and the realms of the mind. I foresaw your meeting with Cal, I foresaw the accident. I might have nudged it along a bit by corroborating the probe droid’s report with my own, anonymous tip-off to the Inquisitorius…”

“You what?” Jayna gasped, as anger began to grow in her heart. “You…you brought them down on our heads? You’re the reason Prauf-?”

“A necessary sacrifice,” Malavai replied dismissively. “It accomplished what it needed to. I knew, if I appealed to that deeply buried honourable streak of yours, you would be compelled to help Kestis. I was right.”

In a daze, Jayna recalled the way Torone… Malavai had been on hand after Cal had been thrown from that mud bank, rescuing her from the Stormtroopers and giving her the opening that she needed to escape and go after Cal… she had used a mind trick, she realised, to get rid of the Stormtrooper intent on taking her in for questioning and then… she remembered the callous way Malavai had dismissed Prauf’s death and her warnings, so genuine at the time, took on a sinister light as Jayna stared, wide-eyed and winded at her old mentor.

“Yes, Jayna,” Malavai smiled sadly. “I told you once that manipulation in the pursuit of a noble goal was necessary. I knew my reaction to the Abednedo’s demise would be enough to awaken that noble streak in you… in that at least, you are your mother’s daughter.”

“Why? How do you know my parents? What does any of this have to do with me?” Jayna gasped, her heart racing. Her head was pounding, aching as something seemed to push and tug at the barrier in her mind, trying to break through.

“To answer that, I will need to start at the beginning,” Malavai sighed, with an arch look at Jayna. “Before I left the Order, I was a respected Seer. Our powers as a group had dwindled over the millennia but we still provided valuable insight. I trained a number of Padawans to Knighthood, all shining exemplars of the Order,” she explained, with a sneer of contempt. “But my greatest triumph, and my greatest failure, was a young woman named Dreya Shan.”

Jayna jerked at the sound of her mother’s name, but stayed silent as Malavai continued, seemingly lost in her own recollections.

“Your mother was skilled in the healing arts, and as selfless and devoted as they came. I loved her like a daughter… I couldn’t have been prouder the day she took the Trials and attained Knighthood. But trouble came when she was assigned to a viral outbreak on Pasaana,” the older woman paused at this, shaking her head. “I would never have thought it but… afterwards, I was not so shocked. Your mother had a vein of defiance and stubbornness running through her more powerfully than any dedication to the Order. Within months of arriving on Pasaana, she gave a report to the Council that she had encountered a powerful Force sensitive Human male on the planet, one she wished to take as a Padawan and train. She claimed it was the will of the Force that they met, and she requested that the Council set aside their restrictions on age to allow her to train him. The Council refused. Within twenty-four hours, Dreya resigned her commission and left the Order…” at this, Malavai paused and shook her head. “She claimed that finding this man was the will of the Force and that she could do more good outside the Order than within. The man she left the Order for, the man who tempted her away from her duty… was your father, Kos Raiden.”

Jayna inhaled sharply, as she unconsciously raised a hand to clutch her mother’s pendant where it lay hidden beneath her clothes.

“I travelled to Pasaana to try and convince your mother to return, but she would have none of it. She did, however, ask me for advice,” Malavai continued, a haunted look overtaking her features as she looked to Jayna sorrowfully. “The moment I met Kos, it was obvious darkness had tainted him. He reeked of power even as he clung desperately to the Light. He claimed he only wanted to care for the people of Pasaana but… Dreya confessed his true origins to me.”

“That night,” Malavai paused at this, swallowing hard as if the words pained her. “I dreamt of the Order’s demise. I watched the shadow of the Empire spreading across the galaxy, I saw the destruction of the Order and I realised… there was no stopping it. The Order was doomed.”

“Your brother saw the same thing,” Jayna replied, in a strangled gasp. Malavai merely shook her head disdainfully.

“Eno saw nothing of what I did. If he had, he might not have wasted his time with this futile quest to rebuild the Order,” she spat, almost angrily before she seemed to master herself, calmly continuing with her explanations. “The Order had become complacent, arrogant, corrupted by power and politics, but also by dogma. It could not see beyond the end of its own nose…but I digress. In short, I realised there was no saving the Order, not then. But the Force didn’t only show me war, death and destruction: it showed me you.”

“Me?” Jayna gasped.

“Yes, Jayna. I saw you, and I saw Kestis,” the older woman admitted. “After I left your parents on Pasaana, I too left the Order. The Force had called me to a high purpose and there was much to be done. I travelled far and wide, desperate to find answers to my questions, some wisdom to guide my path and eventually, I found it. The Jedi Order is not the only Light Side-aligned organisation in the Galaxy, although it was the foremost. In the Temple of the Whills on Jedha that I found what I sought.”

“The Temple houses many strange and beautiful things, but it also houses an archive to rival even the Jed Archives on Coruscant. The Jedi have always been dismissive of any wisdom that originates from outside their control,” she continued solemnly. “There, deep in a forgotten scroll, I found a prophecy recorded by some an ancient seer signed only with a ‘K’. It read thus:

‘From a world of broken things, they shall come,

Hunted they shall be, without home or family;

Necessity will push them together, feelings forbidden by ancient antiquity will bind them,

The child of an Order, doomed by blindness, and the lost child born of a forbidden love,

Son of the light and Daughter of darkness, with the power of aeons flowing through her veins,

They will seek the Three Sages of a forgotten people and the rebirth of the Light.

Children of two fathers, they will seek the wisdom of Eilram, the revelations of the Tree of Origin, the warning of Miktrull and the lessons of Kujet,

Wielding ancient power and forgotten knowledge, mark these signs well!

For with their union, the seeds of the downfall of darkness will be sown.

Rest not with the triumph of the Chosen One and the downfall of the Sith,

For it will be but a false dawn, doomed to die.

As the shadows spread again,

Two more forth will stand,

The daughter of the dyad, and the son of the Force.

Two by two, they will stand side by side before the throne of darkness,

the dyad born from harmony, the dyad born from conflict,

the bonds forged by giving, the bonds forged by taking,

The last sacrifice to give, the Jedi will run their final course.

Sacrifice will beget the rebirth of the Force and the return of the balance.’

“Not the most obvious set of instructions, but when I compared it with my dreams…,” Malavai trailed off, as Jayna stared at her, dumbstruck. “I certain it was you and Kestis foretold in the prophecy.”

“But that’s…? That’s insanity,” Jayna hissed, wincing as her headache seemed to grow, the pressure in her mind growing with every word from Malavai’s mouth.

“Is it?” the older woman demanded, an almost manic glint in her eyes as she advanced on Jayna. “Kestis is the son of Kenobi, you are the daughter of Dreya Shan, the descendant of Bastila Shan and Lord Revan, two of only a handful of Jedi to have fallen to the Dark side and returned to the Light. You have her gift of battle meditation, while Kestis wields the power of psychometry. Ancient power and forgotten knowledge.”

“How do you know so much about Cal?” Jayna demanded, as Malavai drew herself up proudly.

“It wasn’t easy but… after I had found the prophecy, I watched and waited. My dreams had indicated that the son of Kenobi would be your match in the prophecy, and it had also indicated that he would be born of our ancient enemies, the Mandalorians. I knew, from an old friendship with Kenobi’s master, Qui-Gon Jinn, that Kenobi had very nearly strayed from the path of the Jedi for the love of a woman: Satine Kryze, Duchess of Mandalore. I knew my opportunity would come, and so I waited. When news came of Qui-Gon’s death, I made my move,” she explained, a pleased smile on her lips. “I went to Mandalore, under an assumed name, and applied for a position in the Duchess’s household only to be informed she was away at a summit on Coruscant. I knew what would happen; I knew Kenobi’s grief over his master’s death, his own elevation to Knighthood so young, and the pressure of his vow to his Master to train the child believed to be the Chosen One of Jedi prophecy would break him… and it did, sending him into the arms of his love. He returned from that interlude stronger and more focussed than ever, but his task had been accomplished. The Duchess returned to Mandalore pregnant, and I was waiting for her when she returned.”

“But how did you stop her from reaching out to Kenobi when she discovered her pregnancy?” Jayna asked, pretending curiosity yet all the while, her heart was aching with anger and anguish for Cal’s sake.

“It was easy enough,” Malavai shrugged. “I have always had a talent for manipulation and the mind, aided by the Force or not. After months of making myself indispensable to her, becoming her confidant, I convinced Satine that to inform Kenobi of the child would only push him into a decision he would regret, and he would ultimately come to resent her and the child for it. I convinced her to go into seclusion until the birth, and then after the child was born, I persuaded her to give me the child to care for.”

“But how could she do that…?” Jayna asked, tremulously.

Malavai shrugged. “The toll of seclusion, keeping her secret and her belief in Kenobi’s resentment if the truth was ever known made her an easy target to manipulate,” she replied dismissively. “After the birth, I do believe she was even a little depressed. It made it easy to plant the suggestion in her mind until she gave into it. I knew it would wear off soon enough, Satine was too strong-willed not to recover from it eventually, so I took my chance and left Mandalore with the child. I gave him to the Jedi, telling them nothing of his origins but I knew Master Yoda would suspect the truth. I also knew he wouldn’t interfere but to ensure the child’s wellbeing and training as a Jedi, and that Kenobi and Kestis remained ignorant of one another. And when the war started, he and his master would be assigned to Bracca in time for the Purge.”

“And then I sensed your birth,” Malavai continued, turning to look at her with a loving gaze that bordered on fanatical. “The coming of the final piece of the puzzle. I left you in peace while I made my preparations for the next step…”

“What next step?” Jayna demanded, as the pressure in her head reached breaking point. She heard again the anguished cries of her mother’s name by a man’s… her father’s voice. Cries of pain, anguish, grief…the pain grew too much until she collapsed to her knees, cradling her head in her hands. She felt Torone’s… Malavai’s motherly hands on her hair and arm, trying to calm her but it was too late.

The barrier in her mind fell, and madness descended.

Because what she saw couldn’t be true.

Memory after memory of love and family and happiness, on that barren desert planet… and then… when she was ten standard years old… a stranger came to their homestead. Cloaked in grey and brown… she was powerful enough, even then, to sense it…

An argument…

“His agents are searching for her! He knows she exists! You must let me take her away!”

“We will protect her!” her father protested firmly.

“You?” Malavai Cordova’s scornful sneer was frightening from where she stood, half-hidden by the curtain that shielded her sleeping alcove from the main living room. “You’re only one step removed from the darkness. You will draw him to her like flies to honey!”

“Master, what you propose… it’s madness!” Her mother’s voice, calm and reasonable but troubled, cut through the growing tension between her father and Malavai. “To leave a child…to turn our backs on her and walk away…”

“It is the only way to ensure the darkness will not take root inside her. You must let me take her!” Malavai spat frantically.

“No! You’re not taking our daughter anywhere!” her father cried, as a bright blue blade burst forth from Malavai’s hand. Her mother, her beautiful, bright burning mother with the radiant smile and gentle eyes, lunged between the pair as the blade stabbed through her stomach. “DREYA! NO!”

Her father’s anguished cries as he held the dead body of his wife in her arms, Jayna’s horrified eyes staring helplessly as Malavai raised her blade.

“I always knew you would be the death of her,” she pronounced sadly, before she struck him down. “But with your death, you will begin to make things right.”

Jayna screamed as she watched the light go out in her father’s eyes, as he fell to the ground, still clutching his wife’s unmoving body, as Malavai turned towards her with tears trailing down her face…

Jayna was thrown from her memories, kneeling shaking in the dust and the cold stone of the cliff paths, panting as she tasted blood in her mouth from where she had bitten her own tongue. Malavai knelt beside her, her arms holding her as she hushed her, her voice a terrible, soothing counterpoint to the grief and rage building in Jayna’s heart.

“I had to, sweet girl. They would only have held you back, prevented you from becoming what you needed to be, drawn his agents to you,” she tried to justify her actions. “After the trauma of your parents’ deaths, I was able to place a block in your memories, shielding you from the pain. I also placed a Force bond in your head, like that of a master and padawan, so I could keep track of you until it was time for you to come to Bracca. You must understand, Jayna… despite the abomination that was your father, it was the will of the Force that you were born, that Kenobi broke his vows and Kestis was born, that you were both separated from your parents to walk your own paths. Your mother lost sight of that, blinded by love and motherly instinct to recognise it. I had no choice.”

“Why? Because my father wasn’t trained?” Jayna demanded, angrily, pushing the older woman away as she staggered upright.

“No,” Malavai breathed, reluctantly. “Because of how he came to be…”

“What are you talking about?” Jayna snarled, itching for her saber as the anger inside her took root, as corrosive, bitter hatred began to swirl in her veins, whispering terrible things as she imagined taking Malavai’s head for what she had done.

Malavai looked hesitant to answer, and Jayna, tired of waiting for answers and being the target of her manipulations, reached out through the Force. Her anger and hatred flooded her with power as she held the now struggling woman tight, paralysed and hovering in mid-air as Jayna reached into her mind.

“WHAT. ARE. YOU. TALKING. ABOUT!?” she demanded again, her voice taking on a colder, lower timbre as her eyes flashed with rage and power. She could feel the Force swirling around her, the dark energies of Dathomir responding to her call, but she couldn’t bring herself to break free, not yet. Not until she finally understood why. “What did you mean, his agents? Who was hunting me?”

“Your true father…” Malavai choked out, as surprise loosened Jayna’s grip on her, and she breathed a little easier. “Kos might have conceived you with Dreya, but he was never truly alive… he was but a shadow, a puppet of a great evil…”

“No, he was my father. He loved me!” Jayna screamed, as all her newly restored memories crowded into the forefront of her mind. Her father had been a gentle, kind man with floppy auburn hair that never behaved, a toothy grin and laughing eyes that yet seemed strangely ancient.

“Maybe,” Malavai reluctantly conceded, no longer fighting Jayna’s hold as she looked down on her former charge’s trembling, anguished form. “It is better that you do not know…”

“No, I’ve had enough. Ever since I was a child, you’ve manipulated me, you manipulated Cal, you tore us from our families and tried to make us your pawns, and for what? Some god-forsaken prophecy cooked up by some quack thousands of years ago!?” Jayna snarled. “Now tell me! Why did you hate my father? Why did you kill him?”

“Because of his creator,” Malavai shouted out, the words seemingly pulled from her by force, as Jayna stopped and stared, an awful pressure of dread and anticipation building in her chest. “He was created in an unnatural experiment by the Sith Lord who instigated the Clone Wars, who destroyed the Republic and decimated the Jedi Order: Darth Sidious, now the Emperor”

“What?” Jayna breathed, a final gasp of sorrow, agony and turmoil as her fevered, overwhelmed brain refused to understand.

“I did not know it until after the Purge, but it was Sidious, in his guise as Chancellor Palpatine, who manipulated the galaxy into turning against the Jedi.  It was Palpatine who corrupted the Republic into the Empire, it was Palpatine who instigated Order 66, and… it was Palpatine who ordered experiments to find a way to preserve his consciousness after death.”

“No,” Jayna gasped, shaking her head in denial as she stumbled back.

“Yes, Jayna,” Malavai sighed, her voice strained and hoarse by the paralysing forces holding her prisoner. “Kos Raiden was nothing more than a shadow of Palpatine, cloned from his own DNA to further his plans for immortality. In biological terms, in the only way that matters… the Emperor is your biological father. You are the daughter of the Emperor.”

Jayna’s breath stuttered and faltered in her chest, as that focus of pressure hardened into a vortex of pain, disbelief, and rage as Malavai tilted her head back as if in resignation of her fate.

“Look into my mind, see my sincerity. I speak the truth,” she whispered huskily, as Jayna did just that. She was ungentle and rough, unschooled in the technique but Malavai bore it without a wince, as she sifted through the older woman’s memories. Everything she knew became Jayna’s as her mind took the information from hers, unfamiliar memories slotting into place deep in her overloaded mind as Jayna staggered back. “Now you know… the choice is yours, Jayna Shan. It is the will of the Force, and by the will of the Force, you will bring about your father’s destruction.”

In her confrontation with Malavai, Jayna had circled around until she now stood with her back to the path, she had come down from the cliff tops where she’d been separated from Cal and BD. She was only barely cognisant of that fact as all her repressed rage, terror, grief, and anguish at everything that had been revealed built inside her, feeding that vortex until it had no choice but to burst forth.

As if in sympathy for the uncontrolled tremors shaking her exhausted body, the land around them began to shake too, pebbles falling to the ground in sporadic showers, followed by larger boulders as Malavai shouted in alarm.

“JAYNA!”

An insidious, venomous voice spoke in her mind… “Kill her… she deserves it… she took everything from you…KILL HER!”

At the very edges of her hands, running along her palm and fingertips, silver-white lightning gathered as the power in Jayna’s veins coalesced, fed by her rage and despair, and the darkness of Dathomir.

“That’s it… give in… claim the power that is your right! Kill her!”

An anguished scream ripped its way out of Jayna’s throat as she flung her hands out… and blasted the gorge wall with Force lightning, ripping away great chunks as she brought it down between her and Malavai as, with barely a nudge of her mind, she sent the former Jedi Master flying back and away from the landslide as the gorge walls collapsed, burying the corpses of the dead Nightbrothers and the gorge in rock.

Deep within her mind, she found the source of the Force bond between her and Malavai, and ripped it away, hearing the former Jedi Master’s cry of pain at her rough severing of the bond, but it was nothing to the pain in her heart and mind.

An eerie silence fell, punctuated only by the tumbling pitter-pat of stray loose rocks as they fell in the aftershocks as Jayna stumbled back from the carnage she’d wrought and collapsed to her knees.

As she cradled her head in her hands, a terrible, aching scream ripped from her throat, as she poured six years’ worth of confusion, anguish, turmoil, loneliness and heartache into that one drawn-out cry, uncaring of and blind to the danger as her voice echoed around the mountains and in the Force itself.

The creatures of Dathomir heard the cry, and all instinctively knew to flee from it. Dathomir recognised only strength, and only the strong survived: the creatures of Dathomir knew the cry of a wounded predator when they heard it, and they knew such predators were at their most dangerous when they were alone, desperate and in pain.

Jayna screamed until she could scream no more, her voice petering off to a pained moan as she pressed her face into her dirty hands, shaking and cold. But then something began to pierce the fog of her misery and horror, as she felt the Force bond in her head, her tears drying cold on her cheeks.

Cal…

She felt his anguish and grief welling up, the Force bond blazing in her mind even as muffled as it now was due to their forced emotional distance. He was alive but… something had happened.

In that moment, Jayna knew she faced a choice. She could allow her misery to consume her or…she could get up. The world hadn’t ended, she was still alive and…

‘This changes nothing…’ she told herself, sternly trying to convince herself. ‘It means nothing… I am the daughter of Dreya Shan and Kos Raiden… the parents who died to protect me from the machinations of madmen and madwomen. That is who I am.’

At that moment, it felt like nothing more than a comforting lie, but how often did people lie to themselves just to find the strength to put one foot in front of the other? It was a start.

Forcing herself upright, Jayna turned her back on the ruined gorge where her world had been torn in two and backtracked to the fork in the path. With barely a glance or a thought spared for the woman she had left behind, potentially buried under tonnes of rock, Jayna took the right path and pushed her aching, tired body towards the source of the light in her mind.

Cal. She needed to find Cal.

And then… she would find a way to deal with the rest.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Cal pulled himself up the roughly corded rope, and onto the safety of the wooden platform. Panting, he caught his breath as BD booped worriedly at his back.

“I’m okay, BD,” he groaned, despite every cell in his body aching from the crash. And what a crash it had been; after the chirodactyl had grabbed them, leaving Jayna behind on that cliff top staring in wide-eyed horror, Cal had activated his lightsaber cut himself free. After that, it had been a death-defying fight in the skies as he had managed to trick the chirodactyl into crashing head-first into the same swamps he and Jayna had navigated only hours before.

He hadn’t enjoyed it, killing such a magnificent, if lethal, creature but he’d had little choice. The chirodactyl wouldn’t have stopped until it had killed him, and Jayna too probably.

After he had caught his breath and his bearings, he realised they had crashed in a different part of the swamps than they’d crossed earlier. He and BD had managed to pick a path through the swamps, and into a cliffside fortress of the Nightbrothers. Unable to find any sign of Jayna, Cal and BD had fought their way through, and into the Nightbrother village beyond until they had found a way out that would lead them back to the Tomb.

All along the way, Cal had been torn with worry despite his best efforts, his thoughts with the girl currently stranded somewhere in the Dathomiri wilderness. No matter how many times he reminded himself of how capable, how strong, how fierce she was, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to go horribly wrong.

BD had the uncanny ability to seemingly sense where his thoughts lay, or perhaps he was just ridiculously easy enough to read, since she was where his thoughts always seemed to be these days. “Boop beep bo-booop?” the little droid trilled.

“I’m sure she’s alright,” he breathed, forcing himself upright as abused muscles complained viciously in his back, arms, and legs. “She’s a fighter, she’ll make it.”

Tentatively, he reached out to the bond, but it was still muffled, blocked as he sighed and gave up. He wasn’t sure what had caused it to stop working, but he couldn’t shake that feeling of disconnection, of pain as he tried to reach out to her, and then her anguished words… “It’s hurting me…”

Mentally wincing at that memory, Cal inhaled tightly as his heart ached. ‘Take that back, I think I know exactly what caused it to stop working…’ Cal thought to himself, with a sinking feeling in his gut.

Pushing his thoughts aside, thoughts he didn’t have time to examine, he looked out over the cliff tops, and down towards where the Mantis was.

Just then, his commlink burbled. “Cal, Jayna, come in?” Cere’s voice, worried but trying to hide it, spoke in his ear.

“Cere!” Cal breathed in relief.

“Cal… thank the Force,” Cere sighed, in audible relief. “We’ve been struggling to call you for some time. There was something disrupting the comms.”

“I have a feeling I know what,” Cal replied, thinking back to that Nightsister.

“Have you found the Tomb? Where’s Jayna, I can’t get her to respond,” Cere continued, as Cal sighed.

“Close, but got a little… sidetracked,” he said wryly, thinking back to the fight with the chirodactyl. “Jayna… we got separated. I told her to head for the ruins, so hopefully we’ll meet up there.”

“Can’t you talk to her over the Force bond?” Cere asked, concernedly.

“There’s… something about the energies here,” he lied, smoothly. He couldn’t bring himself to tell Cere about his and Jayna’s issues, nor about the mutual infatuation that was complicating everything. “I can sense her, but I can’t reach her,” he said, truthfully. Muted as it was, he could sense Jayna was alive, if not quite well.

“Well, she can handle herself well enough,” Cere replied, resignedly. “Greez is acting strange. He swears he saw someone outside the Mantis. Dathomir’s getting to him…”

“Pretty sure that’s who he is,” Cal quipped sarcastically.

“Are you alright?” she asked, knowingly.

“I’m not seeing things so… yes?” he replied drily. “Coming out of a Nightbrother village now. Hoping to get back on track and catch up with Jayna.”

“Sounds like you’re handling yourself,” Cere remarked, seemingly satisfied that he wasn’t losing his marbles at least.

Suddenly an idea sparked in Cal’s mind, as he slowly and hesitantly spoke. “Hey… I know we haven’t been on great terms, but can I talk to you about something? I need your help,” he admitted.

“I’m listening,” Cere replied curiously.

“I’ve reconnected with the Force but… I still feel blocked,” Cal confessed reluctantly. It wasn’t entirely untrue; while he had rediscovered all the skills and training his Master had imparted before the Purge, he still felt off-kilter. And not just because of the Force bond, either, or the latest hijinks it was causing.

“Why do you think that is?” Cere asked, carefully.

“Every time I open myself up, I see Master Tapal,” he explained, truthfully enough. His master haunted him like a ghost out of those Corellian fables the other Younglings used to love telling each other at the Temple. He felt the weight of his master’s death and expectations on his shoulders like a tangible burden, but it was more than that. It was the weight of his entire, lost, Order lying on his shoulders. Who else would uphold their legacy if he didn’t?

“You felt this, yet you’ve continued deepening your connection to the Force. You know what that says to me?” Cere interrupted his depressed musing, as he stiffened slightly. She might not know it, but Cere’s words held more weight than merely about his connection to the Force. They could so easily apply to his connection to Jayna too.

“That I don’t know what’s good for me?” he joked weakly.

“That you’re strong enough to embrace your emotions. Give yourself time,” she replied, softly as Cal felt the first twinges of guilt for how cold and distant that he’d been with her lately, since Zeffo and Trilla’s revelations.

Was he strong enough? Or was he simply walking blindly down a dark path if he let himself feel?

“Cere, I… thanks for helping me. Means a lot,” Cal breathed, sincerely as he smiled down at the Mantis. “Don’t worry about us. BD and I got this.”

Cutting the transmission, Cal turned and followed the platform round until he saw a guide rope hanging down the cliff face. Taking hold, he swiftly repelled down until he and BD landed on a small rampart, obviously part of the village’s defenses, running round in a wide, square arc until he reached a set of locked doors.

Opening them with a wave of his hand, Cal and BD stepped through and found themselves at the top of a cracked, ruined stairway leading down to the path he and Jayna had walked to the Tomb just that morning.

Cautiously, he advanced, senses alert for signs of pursuit, or worse, ambush by that Nightsister, Nightbrothers or those undead zombies, but he was alone, the wind whistling forlornly around his legs as he paused before the treacherous approach to the ruins, where that Nightbrother had caught them unawares and knocked them into the swamps.

His mind turned to Jayna, as he tried reaching out again, but the bond was still blocked, untouchable as a star in his mind. She was alive, he could sense it but… nothing else.

Feeling strangely bereft without the thrill and press of her quicksilver thoughts in his head, Ca took a deep breath, pushing it aside as he tried to refocus on the task at hand, as his master would expect of him.

Frowningly, he glanced around as he passed the spot where that stranger had been, hours before. There was no sign of him now.

“No sign of that old man,” he remarked to BD, as he passed the spot and jumped up to the next section. “I wonder if the Nightbrothers got him.”

“Wooo!” BD replied gloomily as Cal sighed.

“I know, buddy,” he whispered. “I’m worried about her too.”

It seemed like no matter how hard he tried; he couldn’t keep Jayna out of his thoughts. The darkness in the Force seemed to press on him, alone and separated from the one person he trusted with absolute certainty… well perhaps not the only person, he did have BD-1 with him but it wasn’t quite the same. They’d been a trio, an unstoppable, indivisible team, one if he was honest with himself, he’d been afraid might be compromised if he allowed his and Jayna’s relationship to move from friendly to… something else.

But it seemed, in trying to do the right thing, the proper, Jedi thing, he’d succeeded in driving a wedge between him and Jayna that felt insurmountable. Recalling her words to him after they’d fallen from the ruined bridge, he had to admit she had a point.

From his earliest years he remembered Master Yoda moralizing on the dangers of attachment, and a Jedi’s duty to the Republic above personal desires. And yet, every day he had seen Jedi forming personal attachments, to fellow Younglings forming fraternal friendships between clan members, inter-clan friendships and rivalries, sparring partners, all the way up to the bonds between Master and Padawan that, for many, more closely resembled parent and child than merely teacher and student. Despite what the Jedi claimed, attachments seemed to be inevitable.

Had he been wrong to push her away in the aftermath of the duel with the Ninth Sister on Kashyyyk? He regretted what he’d said to her, about her mother. Whatever his feelings about his own origins, he didn’t have the right to insult her own, even if he knew it was the only thing that he could say to make her stop arguing with him. Truthfully, if she hadn’t backed down, he wasn’t sure if he could have remained detached and distant. He had almost teetered on the brink of breaking down, feeling that now habitual feeling of desire and the need to touch her rise up once more, but he had a feeling if he’d given in and tried anything in that moment, she would probably have hit him, so incensed and hurt had he made her with his rejection.

They’d avoided each other as much as possible on the way to Dathomir, even as Cal kept surreptitious watch on her to make sure she was recovering from the beating she took on Kashyyyk. When they’d arrived on Dathomir, a part of him had hoped she might have cooled down and come around to his logic but he’d quickly realised his rejection had reverted her to her most distant, coldest and sardonic, just as she was in those first few days on Bogano.

And then… what she’d said at the bottom of that treacherous, steep slope… “If attachments are a weakness, then that means all attachments make you weak. You don’t get to push me away one minute, then decide you give a damn the next…”

But that was the problem. He did give a damn, too much. He wouldn’t, couldn’t forget the yawning, black chasm of anguish and fear that had opened up within him at the mere prospect of her death. They lived a dangerous, precarious life… if someday she should fall… he didn’t know what he would do, and he feared it.

He sighed, feeling BD’s trilling whistle in his ear. “I really messed this up, didn’t I, buddy?” he asked, somewhat rhetorically but the little droid replied anyway.

And he didn’t need to be fluent in Binary to understand the sentiment in BD’s chirping whistle: You screwed up, big time.

Sighing, Cal pushed the quagmire of his emotions and his impasse with Jayna aside, focussing on the task at hand. Once more, he was stood at the foot of that broken section of bridge he and Jayna had been thrown from earlier, the wooden planks at its base now smashed and splintered. Flexing the climbing claws he’d purloined, Cal took a deep breath before running and leaping towards the cliff. The claws caught with a snick as they tore deep into the stone of the bridge, and he quickly pulled himself up and over to safety.

Ahead of him was a tangled, chaotic sprawl of ruined pillars, walls, and broken staircases in the shadow of that two-pronged tower, but it wasn’t difficult to work out where he needed to go. The ruins were subsumed by darkness, lingering echoes of malice, terror and pain that sent a shiver down Cal’s spine. He would need to be careful to touch as little as possible, if he wanted to avoid getting pulled into any echoes.

Jogging quickly up the steps, he passed through what might once have been a courtyard or entrance hall, if the presence of several large, horned Zeffo statues flanking the main stairway up into the Tomb were any indication.

Staring up at them, Cal almost thought there was a hint of sentience or intelligence about them and wondered if the Sith weren’t the only ones who had mastered the art of trapping dark side spirits to guard their Tombs. The pall of the Dark Side laid heavily on the Tomb of Kujet, as Cal swallowed around a hard lump in his throat as he walked between the two seated Zeffo, every step full of loathing and fear as he waited for something to happen.

Whatever intelligence might once have inhabited the statues was long gone however, only a slumbering, weak ghost of malevolent sentinels left in them, as Cal and BD moved unmolested into their shadow, and through the narrow archway beyond.

They passed into a large antechamber, filled with more seated Zeffo statues and the detritus of ancient, decaying offerings strewn haphazardly around the floor. Ahead, at the top of a small flight of steps, was a pair of shining, intricately carved double doors as the Force whispered in Cal’s ear.

They were so close. So close to this quest being over, and the holocron being safe from the Inquisitorius and the Empire.

Slowly, Cal moved towards the doors, as another of Cordova’s logs triggered.

“My friend, we’ve reached the Tomb of Kujet in search of an Astrium. It is more secluded than even I would've thought. It seems the way in was secret even during the time of the Zeffo. A contrast from the ostentatious Tomb of Miktrull... yet not a welcome one. The Nightsisters of Dathomir granted me passage, but even they warned me against these ruins. Something dark transpired here - I can feel it…”

“Now I’m the one getting bad feelings about this,” Cal sighed, missing Jayna at his side more than ever. BD booped comfortingly, as Cal huffed a laugh and nodded. “I know, thanks bud.”

Taking a deep breath, Cal faced the doors once more. Cautiously, he reached out with the Force, gingerly probing the doors with his psychometry.

In the Force, the doors radiated malice, vigilance, and dark power. In former times, Cal had no doubt they were designed to alert the Tomb’s Guardians to an intruder if they so much as touched the doors. He only hoped that the Guardians’ vigilance might have waned in the millennia since the Tomb had been abandoned. Somehow, he doubted he was going to be that lucky.

He was filled with a fierce reluctance to touch the doors. Everything he sensed told him that to open the doors, he would need to find the opening mechanism but… he really didn’t want to. Darkness pervaded the complex like poison, just as Cordova had described, and while he’d been careful not to touch anything with his hands, that didn’t mean he couldn’t sense the echoes in the Force, crying out to him from the very walls. Whatever he touched… it would be rough.

‘I don’t have a choice… the Astrium is behind those doors. The sooner I get it, the sooner we can leave this Force-forsaken planet and retrieve the holocron,’ he told himself sternly, pushing down his fear and uncertainty as he reached out a hand towards the shining metal doors.

Pressing his un-gloved palm against their cold, lifeless surface, he closed his eyes. And nothing happened.

Frowning quizzically, Cal opened his eyes and stared up at the unresponsive doors. His eyes trailed over the inscrutable, nonsensical cartouches of Zeffo hieroglyphics, muted and tarnished by age, and then up to the circular roundel that seemed to act as a lock. But no matter what he tried; the doors would not open.

In the Force, the doors had turned cold and dead, their semblance of sentience blowing away as intangibly as smoke on the wind. “Whatever that was… it’s gone,” Cal breathed, trying not to let his frustration take hold.

“Boo-fwoop beep?” BD trilled questioningly.

“I don’t know, buddy,” Cal muttered, turning away from the doors as he tried reaching out in the Force. And then he felt…her… “Maybe… Jayna!” he trailed off, alarmed as he felt a sudden swelling of anguish, horror, grief, and rage inside her, even across their muted, blocked bond. Somewhere, somehow… she was suffering. Badly.

He could feel the darkness rising inside her, terrifying and amorphous, but still so very real, aching to consume her whole. And he was stranded in the Tomb, possibly miles away, and unable to help her. His own anguish and fear for her distracted him as he whirled around to rush from the antechamber, just as he was overtaken by a wave of Force energy from the doors, overwhelming him as he stopped abruptly, sank to his knees and was lost under the tumult.

Lost in a memory, one which had him instinctively flinching away but there was no escape. And in the Force, his pain and grief rose up, the match to Jayna’s, as they reverberated across their muffled bond.

He was stood in his quarters on the Albedo Brave, thirteen years old, small, gangly, and awkward as a newborn kaadu. He checked his chronometer and his eyes widened.

He was going to be late for training!

Turning on his heel, he rushed away in the hallway outside.

The halls were filled with Clone troopers, all excitedly gossiping about the prospect of new orders. They had spent the past few years protecting Bracca from Separatist incursion, as it was one of the Republic’s major shipyards and a prime target, but now they would finally be moving on.

Or so the gossip went.

“Hey, Cal!” one trooper, Dizzy they called him, hailed as he rushed past. “Ready for a rematch later?”

“Yeah! Anytime!” Cal promised enthusiastically, pausing for a moment beside the yellow-striped trooper.

“Sounds good. On your way to training?” Dizzy asked, as Cal nodded.

“Always,” Cal shrugged, as the trooper nodded, his voice warm behind the helmet.

“Alright then. I’ll see you later!” he said, as Cal bid him goodbye and hurried on his way.

In the next hallway, he passed two clone troopers talking excitedly about the new orders.

“I heard we’re getting new orders soon!” one Cal had nicknamed Watcher exclaimed excitedly.

“Finally. I’m ready to be gone from this dump!” the other, a clone sergeant Cal had overheard the others calling ‘Hen’ due to his mother hen tendencies to triple-check his troopers’ kit and provisions, replied.

Cal paused, hoping to find out some more. “We’re leaving Bracca?”

“Possibly,” Watcher admitted, as Hen shook his head.

“Don’t get his hopes up with second-hand gossip,” Hen chided his brother.

“It’s okay,” Cal assured them, “I’ll believe it once Master Tapal says so.”

“Speaking of your Master…” Hen began, reprovingly as Cal got the distinct impression that he was eying him pointedly through the helmet. “Ya know, Jaro isn’t known for his patience…”

“Oh yeah, I’d better go,” Cal breathed, suddenly reminded of the time. He was going to be late.

Leaving the two troopers behind, he jogged through the halls, offering rushed helloes to the troopers he passed, as they all knowingly but affectionately shook their heads at his tardiness.

Just as he reached the last hall before the training rooms, one called to him. “You’re in a rush,” he remarked jokingly.

“Master Tapal’s called me for training,” Cal said, slowing to a halt as he caught his breath in front of the trooper. Unlike some of the others, he preferred being known simply as ‘Kay’ instead of the more elaborate nicknames the other clone troopers adopted.

“You got this, kid!” the trooper declared, offering up a brotherly hand for Cal to slap a high-five to. Leaving Kay behind, he entered the training rooms to find the Commander and Master Tapal in the control room, staring down at him disapprovingly.

“You’re late, apprentice!” Jaro Tapal declared.

“I’m sorry,” Cal called up shamefacedly. “Master Tapal?”

“Padawan, it is time for instruction,” the Lasat Jedi Master continued, stepping up to the observation window.

“Yes, Master?” Cal replied, eagerly.

“Reach our position,” the Lasat replied, reaching a clawed hand down and pressing several buttons on the training room’s control panels. “And do not keep me waiting!”

As random platforms, panels and climbing walls began ascending out of the floor and walls around him, Cal watched carefully, planning a route up. Taking a deep breath, he centred himself in the Force, then began his ascent.

Just as he neared the top of the training room, he felt the warning in the Force as the Commander took a potshot at him from a ledge.

“Whoa!” Cal laughed, as he deflected the shots. “Cheap shot, Commander.”

The Commander just chuckled as Master Tapal sighed disapprovingly from the control room.

“Focus! Were you concentrating, you would have anticipated this distraction,” he told the young Cal reprovingly, as Cal sheathed his lightsaber once the Commander had retreated. “Now, join me.”

Spotting the grating that would lead him up to the control room, Cal leapt towards it, catching hold, and pulling himself to safety.

Once he hurried inside the control room, he found the Lasat Master and the Commander waiting for him.

“We will begin with physical preparation,” Master Tapal stated, his towering form stood at an easy ‘parade’ rest as the clone troopers called it, while the Commander watched the pair from afar. “First though,” the Lasat added, with a sidelong glance at the clone. “We have orders. Bracca is secure. We move out for Mygeeto shortly.”

Excitement lanced through Cal, as he nearly leapt for joy. “Yes!”

At that moment, several things happened. Cal felt a surge in the Force as his Master stopped speaking, gasping for air as he clutched his head, while behind him the Commander took out his holo-comm from his belt.

“Master, are you okay?” Cal asked worriedly. He was dimly aware of a holographic figure popping up in front of the Commander, a reedy voice giving an order he’d never heard before. But Cal paid it no mind, too focussed on his concern for his Master as the Lasat reeled from whatever he was sensing through the Force.

“Something is… wrong….” Master Tapal hissed, as if in pain. Behind him, the Commander levelled his blaster at Master Tapal’s back.

“No! NO!!” Cal spluttered, but his Master was not caught unawares for long. Igniting his saber, he sliced the clone’s blaster in half, before reversing the blade and killing him. The Commander slumped to the ground, dead. “What’s happening? Why did the Commander just…-!?” Cal asked urgently, confusion making him panic as his master held up his hand for silence.

“Padawan, something terrible is happening,” the Lasat declared, grimly. “The clones have betrayed us. There are no answers to your questions, not yet.”

The Lasat turned away, striding towards the opposite doorway before he turned back to the bewildered human. “We need to get off this ship, quickly.”

As Cal hurried after him, he turned and knelt, placing a fatherly hand on the young boy’s shoulder. “Get to the escape pods. Use the maintenance halls,” he instructed Cal gently, but firmly. “We trained for this; do you remember?”

A potent mixture of fear, adrenaline and exhilaration swelled up, adding to the confusion in Cal’s mind as he nodded, a little uncertainly. “Yes, Master.”

Training drills were one thing. He was about to be put to the test, his first real test of his abilities. Cal didn’t know whether to be scared or excited, but for the bewilderment and uncertainty brought on by the clones’ apparent betrayal. “W-what about you?” Cal asked, as his master nodded approvingly to him.

The Lasat straightened and stood, hand reaching for the door controls. “I will create a distraction and meet you. If I am not there when you arrive, depart without me,” he told him. “I will find you on Bracca. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Master,” Cal nodded once, swallowing down his fear and his questions. Suddenly, there came the sound of distant explosions, gunfire, and the sound of cutters as the clones started beating against the doors into the control room, alerted to their Commander’s failure.

“They’re coming!” the Lasat Jedi Master breathed, with one last look at Cal. “I will seal the blast doors but if any cross your path, do not hesitate! May the Force be with you.”

Cal gulped. Ever since he’d left the Temple to become Master Tapal’s Padawan, the troopers had become his friends and companions. How could he…?

His thoughts were curtailed by the sound of the door opening with a hiss, as his Master quietly entreated him to go. “Go!” he repeated a second time, at Cal’s hesitation, and the young boy instinctively followed his Master’s barked order.

Turning his back on the dead Clone Commander and his Master, Cal rushed through the door into the hall, hearing it seal shut behind him.

In the hall, the alarms were blaring, the walls lit up by a pulsing red sheen, as ahead, several clones turned and raised their blasters at him. “There he is!” one shouted, as Cal recognised Dizzy, Hen, Watcher and behind them, Kay.

“Shoot to kill!” Watcher barked, as the clones opened fire.

Cal desperately deflected fire, as he saw Kay hesitate for a split second before he joined his brothers. “No, stop!” he begged, with wide eyes even as he deflected their blaster fire. But he couldn’t bring himself to deflect it back at them.

Thankfully, the blast doors between them abruptly shut and sealed, as Cal broke into a sprint, past an alarmed astromech who booped at him questioningly, but he didn’t have time to stop and explain. Rushing toward where he knew an access hatch was, he deflected more blaster shots before the blast doors around him shut off the clones’ access to him.

Through the doors, he could hear their chatter. “Tapal’s on the move! We’re gonna need backup!”

Once he reached the hatch, he didn’t bother with niceties. He Force-pulled it free, wrenching it open as he hurried inside, pulling himself through the narrow space beyond.

As he made his way through the maintenance duct, his mind whirled and raced. ‘This doesn’t make any sense… what is going on?’ he wondered to himself. Why had the clones turned on them? What had changed?

Below, several clones patrolled the corridor as he paused in front of the cooling fan, waiting for his moment.

“Do we have eyes on the Jedi?”

“No sign of the little one,”

“Search everywhere. He can’t have gone far!”

Knowing he’d have only moments before the clones detected his presence, Cal slowed the fan just enough to slip through, and then he was climbing up the other side to relative safety.

“Air’s off again… wait, what’s that noise!?” one of the clones demanded.

“Hold this room! I’ll search the area,” his brother barked as Cal pulled a hatch open and pulled himself inside.

As he ran through the halls, he heard the chatter as he passed clone squads overhead, undetected for now. “Reporting casualties… Tapal has taken out multiple squads! Shoot on sight!”

Cal’s heart leapt as he realised his Master was still alive and eluding the clones, but then it sank as he realised just what they faced onboard their ship. There was a crew of 7,400 and a troop complement of 2,000 clones aboard the Albedo Brave. Were they all after them?

 “Copy that! What was that?” another clone barked, as Cal used the Force to push his way through the vents on the other side of the maintenance halls. “Someone’s in the maintenance halls!”

Panic streaked through Cal’s blood, as he leapt across the small gap and into a narrow passage beyond. Climbing up the shaft, he found himself in the turbolift as the ship groaned around him, the sound of distant blaster fire echoing nearby.

He hoped his Master was alright.

Forcing himself to put all distraction aside, Cal leapt across the turbolift shaft, catching hold of the grating on the other side to haul himself up. Steadily, he climbed up the shaft until he stood atop one of the turbolift pods, as the shaft doors opened opposite him to reveal a pair of clones.

“I have eyes on the small Padawan! He’s in the turbolift!”

No longer stopping to think, Cal ignited his saber and deflected their fire, but with a start he recognised Watcher and Dizzy. The moment’s distraction cost him, as one of their bolts caught him in the hand.

Hissing in pain at the burning sensation across the back of his hand, Cal threw himself down, scrabbling for his saber but with a sinking feeling in his gut, he watched as it tumbled over the side of the pod and into the darkness of the turbolift shaft.

Blaster fire peppered the pod around him, as he curled up into a ball, trying to make himself as small a target as possible. Suddenly, Watcher collapsed as a blaster bolt was deflected into his side, and Dizzy retreated abruptly as Cal looked sideways to see his Master at the turbolift doors, saber shining as he deflected the clones’ bolts.

“Padawan, your lightsaber!” he growled exasperatedly, as Cal shrank in embarrassment.

“I’m sorry, Master!”

“Keep climbing! I’ll meet you up ahead!” Tapal barked, shutting the turbolift doors so Cal was once again left alone in the shaft, so filling up with smoke and fumes as the clones began to tear the ship apart in their hunt for the two Jedi. Cal heard an alarming groaning noise, as if of tortured metal, as he threw himself off the turbolift pod and onto the wall grating.

Clinging to it desperately, he watched as the pod he’d been on suddenly disappeared into the darkness, its support wires snapped, as it tumbled down to join his lightsaber in the depths of the shaft.

Cal didn’t let himself pause to mourn for his lost saber, knowing the time was not now. He needed to survive, and he needed to stop screwing up and making things difficult for his Master if they wanted to get out of this alive.

Slowly but steadily, Cal made his way up the turbolift shaft until he reached another maintenance hatch underneath a blocked, burning doorway. Leaping for it, he caught hold of the edge of the ledge, and pulled himself up.

Pausing to catch his breath, Cal coughed and realised he couldn’t stay in the turbolift shaft much longer. The heat of the flames was only spreading, his tunic sticking to his back with sweat as he threw himself into the narrow maintenance passage behind the hatch.

Below his feet, he watched his Master battle through the clones, cutting them down with his lightsaber as he headed relentlessly towards the escape pod bay, near the command bridge. Feeling a fresh spurt of hope, Cal picked up the pace, digging for his last reserves of strength despite the aching in his muscles from the climb, and the burning pain in his right hand.

He knew his Master sensed his presence, as he called up to him in the maintenance duct. “There’s an override just ahead! You must activate it if we’re to escape!”

Sprinting forward, Cal squeezed through the narrow vent, emerging into a narrow hall as he leapt up, pulling himself into an air duct as he overhead the clones’ chatter.

“We have Tapal pinned in the airlock, send backup!”

Fear rushed through Cal, giving his tired feet wings as he threw himself down the duct, emerging into the airlock control room.

“Jaro Tapal is on the other side of that door?”

“Yeah, but he won’t be getting through…take him far too long to cut through these doors with that lightsaber…”

Cal spotted the two clones waiting, blasters raised and levelled at the airlock door. Keeping low, he rushed forward, out of sight behind the control stations as he searched for the right door controls.

He could hear the sound of blaster fire as it was deflected off the blade of a lightsaber, as he pulled the lever on a panel to his right.

“What’s that sound!?” one of the two clones in the hallway beyond demanded, a slight note of panic in his voice.

“Get ready!” his brother grunted, as the door opened.

But nothing could have readied them for the whirlwind of strength and speed that was his Master, as Jaro Tapal cut them down with ruthless efficiency.

With a dismissive gesture, Tapal deflected the last blaster shot and pinned the last remaining trooper to the ceiling with the Force, as he walked past as if unperturbed by his circumstances. Cal envied him his composure in that moment.

“Move, Padawan!” his Master called impatiently. “We have to leave now!”

Cal turned and rushed through a door on his left, emerging into the escape pod bay to find himself face to face with two clone troopers who immediately turned on him, blasters raised.

Cal didn’t have time to cry out, as his Master appeared, headbutting the closest clone trooper while grabbing the blaster of the other, holding it away from them as he grappled with the two troopers. “The door controls!” he growled to Cal, as the human boy rushed past to the closest escape pod.

Tapal dispatched the two troopers with swift strikes of his saber, taking them down but they had been found. More troopers poured into the hallway Tapal had come from, firing rapidly.

At first, Tapal deflected their hits, but for every trooper he killed, two more arrived to take his place as Cal flinched for every blaster hit that came a little too close to his face and hands as he struggled with the escape pod door controls.

“Cal, hurry!” Tapal growled, his blade swirling in a hypnotic defensive figure, as clone after clone fell. But then, Cal felt it as the clones broke through his guard, peppering him with blaster fire as one lucky bolt sheared through his lightsaber’s duranium casing, destroying one end as Tapal fell to his knees with a pained grunt.

“Master!” Cal cried out, fearfully, meeting his eyes as the Lasat looked at him. Surrounded by blaster fire, subsumed by terror and anguish, Cal looked into his Master’s eyes and saw the grim, fatal resolve of his implacable, unflappable Master as the Lasat’s lips firmed into a narrow line, pain tautening his features as he rose with a roar, pushing at the clones with the Force, sending them flying back.

His manoeuvre brought them precious seconds as Cal got the escape pod doors open, but left Master Tapal vulnerable, as the clone troopers crouched behind their brothers that went flying, face-first, into the ceiling opened fire and caught the Jedi Master in the torso.

As the Lasat fell bonelessly into the escape pod, Cal threw himself in front of its open doors, screaming in defiance and desperation. “NO!”

A blaster bolt caught him across the face, searing a scorched path across the bridge of his nose, cheek, and neck. The pain caught him by surprise as he reeled, then he gathered his power, every last drop he had left as he turned and flung his hands out, calling on the Force to freeze the clone troopers, as their blaster bolts hung threateningly in the air in front of him. Their outlines blurred as Cal stumbled backwards into the escape pod, sealing the doors just as he lost his grip on the troopers.

On the other side, blaster bolts thudded into the durasteel hatch before it jettisoned from the Albedo Brave.

Panting, Cal didn’t give himself a moment to re-orient himself, throwing himself across the pod’s cramped cockpit to where Master Tapal lay on the floor, coughing as sporadic tremors seized his powerful body.

Panicked, Cal frantically glanced over his wounds, unsure how to ease such a large number of blaster wounds as his Master’s breaths rattled in his ruined chest. He was stopped by his Master’s hand, gentle for once, against his cheek as he caught his attention. “Cal… Cal!” he panted, painfully. “I overloaded the ship’s reactors. The explosion will mask our escape…this… war is not over, my Padawan,” he assured the young boy staring down at him, grief-stricken as his eyes confirmed what his mind refused to accept. For the first time, he saw softness in his Master’s eyes as the Lasat stared up at him, holding on with last shred of strength as he pressed his lightsaber into Cal’s hands. “Hold the line… Wait for the Jedi Council’s signal…”

He heaved in a breath, as Cal felt the Lasat’s perforated lungs struggle for air. His hands tightened around Cal’s on his broken lightsaber, as the Lasat’s eyes met and held his with grim, iron-clad resolve. “Remember… trust only… in the Force…”

“Yes, Master,” Cal vowed brokenly, through his tears as Tapal’s grip loosened on his hands, falling limply to the floor as the light faded from his eyes. He sensed it as the Force rippled around them, as Jaro Tapal, and everything that made him, became one with it for the final time.

Sobs broke from Cal’s lips as the escape pod was rocked by a colossal explosion nearby, as Cal was thrown back from his Master’s body by the force of it. His Master’s final words ringing in his ears, he forced himself into one of the command chairs, strapping himself in and clinging tightly to Master Tapal’s lightsaber as grief-stricken cries tore free from his lips while the stormy, grey world of Bracca drew ever closer…

White light blinded him as he raised a hand, blinking as his head ached….

Then he was free of the memory, himself again, so much older and stronger, nearly eighteen, no longer the scared, helpless boy who watched his Master die in his arms…

Or was he…?

As the light faded, Cal realised he was knelt in that antechamber on Dathomir still, but there was no comforting weight of BD-1 against his back, nor could he sense Jayna’s muted presence in the back of his head. As he looked up, he realised the antechamber was bathed in a dark fog, the pillars distorted so they looked as insubstantial as smoke.

Slowly, he stood, alert and ready as a figure approached out of the shadows. A large, hulking one, with a lumbering gait and stooped back from years spent bent over in the bowels of starships…

“Prauf…” Cal breathed, his heart aching at the sight of his dead friend. In the aftermath of the Purge, the Abednedo had taken him under his wing, without question or complaint, had soothed the wounds left by his Master’s death, but he couldn’t replace him, Cal realised. And he realised, what had seemed soothing at the time had only been a superficial balm on Cal’s broken, betrayed heart.

But he hadn’t deserved what he’d got at the hands of the Second Sister…

The Abednedo stood staring at him blankly, as if unimpressed by what he saw, as Cal tried again with shaking voice. “Prauf…”

“I died for you,” the Abednedo grunted, with a sardonic huff of laughter. “And for what? Huh?”

“Prauf,” Cal breathed again, taking a step forward towards the Abednedo but a new voice spoke from the shadows, making him freeze in mingled terror and yearning.

“Padawan!” he growled, as Cal turned and faced the imposing, glaring features of his dead Master. “It is time for instruction!”

Cal spun, looking towards Prauf but the Abednedo just shrugged, giving him a sad, disappointed look before he stepped back, dissipating into the shadows as the air was filled with the sound of a lightsaber activating, as Cal turned back to face his Master, the Lasat’s forbidding features lit with a sinister, ghostly glow as he brandished his whole, unbroken saber.

Reaching for his, as if in a trance, Cal activated his own, the fractured twin of the one in Master Tapal’s hands as the Lasat huffed disdainfully.

“Your will is weak. You lack discipline!” he pronounced as Cal lunged. The Lasat pushed him away with a lazy contempt that chilled Cal. “A feeble display.”

“No, Master,” he protested, remembering all he had done, all he had achieved in this journey he had embarked on, so many months ago.

“You let fear break your connection to the Force,” the Lasat accused him, as he sliced towards Cal’s head, forcing him onto the defensive as Cal strafed backwards, parrying every blow desperately. On some conscious level, Cal knew this had to be a Force vision, some test left by either Cordova or the Zeffo to prevent intruders gaining access to the Tomb but… in that moment, he was consumed by an unstoppable wave of grief, fear and guilt as he tried to fight. Compounded by the apparition of Prauf, and then of his Master, Cal’s emotions overpowered him as reason fled, the darkness swamping him even as it swamped another not so far away.

As he parried an overhead blow, he aggressively batted the Lasat’s blade away, before stabbing him cleanly through the chest with an anguished cry.

And then froze, panting and trembling, as he realised what he had done.

“Yes,” the Lasat crowed with a vicious look on his face as Cal looked up into his eyes. “My blood is on your hands, apprentice.”

Suddenly, the Lasat Jedi Master’s hands shot out and grasped Cal’s on the broken hilt, holding them tightly in a ghastly parody of the way he’d held them as he pressed his saber into Cal’s boyish hands, as Cal tried desperately to free himself.

“You are a failure!” the Lasat pronounced. “A weakling…a traitor…”

Under their hands, Cal felt the hilt give way as sparks danced between his fingers.

“YOU ARE NO JEDI!” the Lasat roared, one last time as a reciprocal cry of anguished defiance broke free from Cal’s throat.

“NO!”

As Cal’s shout echoed around the antechamber, the vision disappeared and…

Cal found himself standing before the doors to the Tomb of Kujet, gasping for breath as BD-1 booped and trilled, incessant in its fear and concern for him, as he felt the broken hilt in his hands.

Looking down at the sparking ruin, clutched close in his hands, Cal felt his breath strangle in his throat, Master Tapal’s final words ringing in his ears. Instinctively, he knew what had happened.

The crystal had rejected him, and so had shattered. The lightsaber, the lightsaber Master Tapal had wielded in his defence until his dying breath and entrusted to him… was broken, useless. An empty hilt, a mocking corpse of a Jedi’s weapon.

With trembling, shell-shocked hands, Cal lowered his hands and clipped the weapon back to his belt, unable to answer any of BD’s pleading questions as he turned away from the doors. And staggered to a halt when he found Jayna waiting for him, standing in the centre of the antechamber in front of him.

She looked as tortured and broken as he felt, and Cal sensed she had been torn and left raw by some dark vision, just as he had. Her eyes were wide and tear-filled, her face streaked with dirt and tears, her hair dishevelled and falling in haphazard clumps from her ponytail. Her jacket and trousers were ripped, most likely by their frantic scrabble up the cliff face, and her chest shuddered and shook with every breath.

“Jayna…” Cal breathed, achingly as she exhaled tremulously. With a sob, she took a stumbling step towards him, as he made the reciprocal move, collapsing into each other’s arms as Jayna held him to her desperately, and he her, his hands clasped around her neck and waist. Suddenly, all their arguments, all the tension and the rift between them, didn’t feel so important anymore, not when faced with the despair that overwhelmed them both. Despite himself, despite everything he’d vowed to uphold after Kashyyyk, he found himself pressing an urgent, anxious kiss against the side of her temple, breathing in the scent of sweat, dirt and blood rising from her hair, obscenely mixed with the musky smell of her soap.

“Cal…” she sighed through her tears. “I-I thought you were dead, b-both of you-!?”

“Ssh, ssh,” he hushed her, his own voice broken and weak as he fought back tears. The vision he’d suffered played on a loop in his head, and he desperately tried to block it out, but it would only stay away for so long, Cal knew. “I’m glad you’re safe too. When we got separated…”

“I know,” she breathed against his neck, the feel of her warm breath making him shiver even in his anguish. Between them, the Force bond seemed to ripple and strengthen, its warm glow no longer as muted so it transmuted into a dim ember between them. Far from healed, but they clung to it desperately, relieved by even that tiny surge of contact between them. “I sensed your pain… what happened?” she asked, straightening from their embrace as her hand trailed across his belt with the movement. And froze when she felt the dented, broken hilt under her fingertips. “Cal… your lightsaber…?”

Cal closed his eyes tightly as BD booped a question from his back. “I can’t explain, BD. Not sure I even understand,” Cal replied, in clipped, shaking tones as he felt Jayna’s worried gaze on him.

“Wooo…” the little droid replied sadly, as Cal felt Jayna’s shaky breath against his face she exhaled.

“What’s happened to us?” she whispered as Cal opened bleary eyes to look down into hers, seeing for himself how… shrunken, diminished she was. All the fiery, whip-smart spirit he adored about her was quenched, and he could only imagine what she could see in him. She’d always been too perceptive in regard to him.

“C’mon,” he grunted, pulling Jayna round and away from the Tomb. “We’re not getting any further today.”

“But… the Tomb…” she tried to protest weakly, but as Cal turned to face her, she abruptly quietened, before nodding once.

“Please, Jayna… I just wanna get out of here,” he whispered brokenly. Grasping his hand tightly, she nodded once more and fell into step beside him as the trio turned and left the silent antechamber, their tails firmly between their legs.

The Tomb of Kujet had defeated them, just as it had Cordova and a thousand others over the course of millennia since it was abandoned.

The doors closed firmly behind them, a final toll of the bell, a death-knell to Cal and Jayna as they emerged into the icy, desolate wasteland of the ruins outside.

They walked in silence as they hurried through the echoing, ghostly ruins and across the broken bridge, neither speaking but glad of the other’s company as they slowly made their forlorn way back to the Mantis. It was their first setback, Cal admitted, and he couldn’t force aside the swelling feelings of failure, guilt and anguish building inside him with every step, as the apparitions of Prauf and Master Tapal played on a loop inside his head, taunting him with every step, glaring at him with disappointment, contempt and hatred with every breath he forced into his lungs.

Suddenly, he was thirteen years old again, swallowed up inside his own self-loathing, grief and fear but this time, there was no Prauf, no helping hand to pull him out of it. He couldn’t push it aside, or push it down, any longer. It was consuming him with every step.

With unexpected clarity, he realised the depths of his own foolish delusion. He’d told himself he had conquered his pain and fear over the Purge and Master Tapal’s death years ago, but he hadn’t. He had only deferred it, sure and arrogant in his belief that he was following the Jedi path as he’d been taught. But now, it was demanding its due and Cal was left reeling by his own inadequacy in the aftermath.

Tapal’s last shouted, scornful judgement of him rang in his ears once more. “YOU ARE NO JEDI!”

Flinching away, his hand tightened around Jayna’s as he sensed her swift glance at him, but she said nothing. But across their weakened bond, he could feel the gentle, warm glow of her unconditional affection and support. Tentative perhaps, especially after he had rejected and wounded her, in heart and pride, but still there.

Despite himself, hating himself for the weakness it implied, Cal clung to it like a drowning man clung to a piece of driftwood.

Just as they reached the safety of the other side of the bridge, a familiar voice hailed them from the shadows, as the robed stranger stepped forth.

“Did things not go as planned?” he called, with a kind of mocking sympathy as Cal and Jayna paused, Jayna’s hand going to her saber instinctively. “You can’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Back off, old man,” Jayna snarled, as Cal glanced at her sharply. There was something different in her voice, a cold note he’d not heard before, even in the depths of her anger after their argument on the Mantis. He could feel her shaking as some dark emotion swirled and roiled within her.

“Leave us alone,” Cal grunted, trying to pull Jayna onwards. All he wanted was to get back to the Mantis, even though it would mean a difficult conversation with Cere.

“Leave you? Alone?” the stranger repeated, incredulously. “Lost? And defenceless in this dangerous place? Never!”

“I’m warning you, old man,” Jayna snarled, rounding on him as Cal turned back to them. “Don’t push me.”

“Okay, enough of this. Who are you really?” Cal demanded coldly, as the stranger seemed to regard Jayna with some amusement.

With a sigh, he shrugged his broad shoulders until the filthy robe fell from him, and his features were revealed. Underneath the robe, he was bare-chested, strong, corded muscles bisected by tattoo-like scars. At his waist was a broad body belt, on which were sheathed two lightsabers, while the skirted surcoat dropped from his trim waist around leather-clad legs.

But it was the eyes that alarmed Cal. They were burning, molten yellow, set into a once-handsome face framed by unkempt, shaggy grey hair and beard. They looked on Cal and Jayna with avarice, anticipation, and desire as he held out his arms, almost as if in welcome and benediction like some ancient, benevolent king.

But all it did was make Cal and Jayna wary, as they glanced at one another before he spoke again.

“Taron Malicos,” he declared himself, with just a hint of self-deprecating in his voice. “Former Jedi. Like yourself. We have much in common.”

He held out one hand, as if proffering it to Cal as he stepped forward, as Cal replied. “I doubt that.”

“Oh? We all survived the Purge,” the former Jedi pointed out. Cal felt Jayna tense beside him, but she remained silent as Cal turned back, despite himself, some reckless part of him intrigued by the fell, dangerous man before him. “My troops betrayed me… I was forced to strike them down and I escaped… to this,” he stopped, chuckling derisively as he turned his back on them to stare into the ruins, lost in his memories. Despite every instinct warning them to run, Cal and Jayna listened in repulsed fascination, that strange hypnotic effect the old man seemed to emanate holding them enthralled by his tale. “Desolate place… the darkness here… it almost took me!”

At that, he turned to face them once more, one hand raised triumphantly. “But I conquered it!” he declared in a vainglorious snarl, burning eyes intent on them, like the snake before its ensorcelled prey. With a shock like cold water over his head, Cal realised who was standing in front of them.

“You’re the one the Nightbrothers follow,” he guessed, remembering all the echoes he’d picked during his journey through the swamps after he was separated from Jayna, and the Nightbrother village before he reached the Tomb.

Malicos smiled and laughed delightedly. “Yes,” he enthused, as he glanced down at a string of small, pointed objects hanging from a strip of hardened leather.

With disgust, Cal recognised them. Zabrak horns.

Perhaps sensing their visceral reaction to his grisly trophies, breaking the spell he’d been weaving around them a little, Malicos shrugged dismissively. “These savages only respect strength,” he told them, with a sideways glance at Jayna. “And as we all know, the Force is a most powerful ally.”

Jayna huffed contemptuously as Cal shook his head. “No, no you use the Force to seize power. That’s everything the Jedi stood against!” he tried to protest, but Malicos interjected forcefully.

“These are dark times,” he retorted grimly, as Jayna moved slightly in front of Cal, staring him down.

“And you’ve turned dark with them,” she pronounced coldly.

Malicos paused, watching her intently, his eyes raking up and down her form as Cal felt her struggle not to lash out at the other man’s attention, her body as tense as a taut wire. “They will consume us if we do not stand together,” he replied persuasively. “Something I think you’ve had some experience of, hm?”

Jayna stiffened, as Cal reached out a hand to grasp her shoulder. He felt her wince, but she didn’t back down as Malicos’s eye flitted from Cal to Jayna.

“We don’t need your help,” Cal finally asserted, turning away with some difficulty for all the persuasion and fervency Malicos had put into his words, something in him wanting to listen and agree.

But Malicos wasn’t finished with them. “That broken lightsaber tells a different tale,” he insinuated, pointing to the shattered hilt at Cal’s belt. Cal froze, hearing his Master’s final, bitter words again as he inhaled brokenly, his chest tight and heavy as he turned to face Malicos once more.

“Cal, come on,” Jayna hissed beside him, eyes narrowed at the former Jedi even as she tried to pull him away.

“You saw something in there,” Malicos continued, his eyes darting between Jayna and Cal. “You both did, didn’t you? Something terrible…”

Cal felt it as Jayna turned to stone beside him, the faintest echoes of tumultuous pain, anguish, and searing rage rippling across their bond, as Cal’s hands tightened to fists at his side. They turned to look back at the former Jedi as he faced them, with a comforting look in his eyes. “There are many such places here on Dathomir…”

What he said next caught both off-guard, yet they both knew he’d been leading up to it from the moment he accosted them outside the Tomb.

“Join my family,” he said, almost seductively as he held out his hands to them, as if imploring them to step forward and take them. If Cal didn’t know any better, he would’ve said Malicos was using some kind of mind trick to try and sway them, but mind tricks rarely worked on other Jedi, even with the use of the Dark Side. Nevertheless, Malicos’ force of will was tangible, plucking at their resolve even as it tried to seduce and cajole. It stank of corruption, and Cal wanted to run away from it even as he felt himself helplessly hypnotised by his words. A family? When he had last had that?

“And I can teach you to control its power,” Malicos promised, as if sensing his prey weakening. Beside him, Jayna shook like a leaf as her breath came hard and fast, while Cal couldn’t make himself blot out the former Jedi’s fair, seductive words. They teetered on a brink, reason turned to madness as voices whispered in their heads, playing on their vulnerabilities, the weaknesses exposed by the day’s events as they shuddered and fought for control.

They were saved by the appearance of the Nightsister, her voice echoing ominously around the ruins as Cal and Jayna started and spun, staring up at where the scarlet-robed woman stood atop a broken pillar. She looked disdainfully down at them, her eyes dismissing Cal and Jayna before alighting on Malicos with a venomous glint.

“Join my family?” she repeated scornfully. “And I will teach you to control the power? Familiar words, Malicos!”

“Sister Merrin,” the former Jedi greeted her cordially, but there was a tension in his face and voice now that had been missing before. The spell broken, Cal and Jayna glanced at one another and began to carefully inch away. “You overstep your bounds.”

“For years, you said the Jedi orchestrated the massacre that killed my sisters,” the Nightsister replied coldly, staring down at Malicos like he was an insect she longed to squash. “Yet here two stand before me! And you seek only to bring them into your… ‘family’.”

Cal glanced at Malicos, as the reason for the Nightsister’s animosity and anger towards them became clear, and he realised just how far the former Jedi had fallen.

“You were told to deal with it,” Malicos snarled, tauntingly. “Clearly you lack the power, little witch.”

“Power?” the Nightsister replied, but this time there was an odd cadence to her voice, a tone to her words as if they were being repeated by an infinite chorus of voices behind her own. She looked down at a broken, crumbling object in her hand, almost contemplatively before she looked back to Malicos, Jayna and Cal. “You are mad, Malicos,” she declared finally, a finality to her tone that sent shivers down Cal’s spine.

“Time to go,” he hissed to Jayna and BD, as the Nightsister continued speaking.

“Dathomir has unmade you!” she claimed, sneeringly. “And my misplaced loyalty has allowed you to lead the Nightbrothers astray. Unlike the Jedi!” she shouted, her eyes falling on Cal and Jayna, freezing them where they stood, before they flicked back to Malicos’s unmoving, disdainful form. “The Nightsisters of Dathomir do not turn on their kind. Our bond is eternal!”

“Your sisters are dead!” Malicos growled.

“Yes,” the Nightsister admitted, “Their graves are all around you!”

Shock and unease hit Cal then, as he realised that above their heads, were dozens of the wrapped, hanging bundles of cloth that the Nightsisters used as burial shrouds.

Raising the hand in which she held her strange artefact, the Nightsister began to chant. “Choono slalem denni – Tay’lori olee-ay!” she intoned, her outline turning to flickering green flames as the object in her hand began to glow that same eerie green, the sound of multitudes echoing in every word from the Nightsister’s lips. Suddenly, green vapour extruded from her mouth and eyes as, in the distance, a carved effigy of a Nightsister with a gaping mouth began to glow and issue green flames from its depths.

Malicos chuckled derisively. “Foolish girl! This power is beyond your control!”

The Nightsister’s head snapped towards them, a bestial snarl on her pale, ghostly face as her eyes glowed with green fire. “You all shall learn…when you face one Nightsister of Dathomir… you face us all!”

All around them, the mummified remains of Nightsisters fell from their burial shrouds, gasping and growling incoherently with that same horrific, desiccated groan Cal and Jayna had heard before, as Malicos abruptly turned tail, meeting their eyes for a moment.

“Run!” he hissed, before hurrying away in the direction of the swamps. Not pausing to glance after him, nor to look up at the Nightsister, Cal, Jayna and BD fled the ruins as wave after wave of undead Nightsisters followed in hot pursuit.

Jayna’s lightsaber cut a swath through them as they sprinted towards the Mantis, only to find the ship swarmed by the fiends as the landing ramp door opened.

Throwing themselves forward, Cal and Jayna leapt towards the ramp, tearing inside as they were greeted by Greez’s panicked shout.

“What the hell, kiddos!?”

“Get us out of here!” Cal shouted urgently, as Jayna sealed the airlock behind them.

Without argument, Greez gunned the thrusters and took off, trying to shake off the Nightsisters still clinging to the Mantis.

“What’d you do, kid? I got dead witches crawling all over my ship!?” the Latero demanded as Cal leaned heavily on the cockpit door, the events of the day catching up with him as they cleared the cliffs and began rising towards the edge of space.

“Just go! Just go,” he gasped, before he turned and slumped back against the bulkhead. Once they hit space, Greez relaxed but Cere was out of her seat immediately, looking down worriedly at Cal as he sat in the floor, broken and too exhausted to hide it as he cradled his shattered saber in his hand.

Beside the landing ramp doors, Jayna leant her head against the cool metal of the doors, inwardly fighting her own wave of despair as Cere knelt beside Cal.

“What happened?” she asked gently. “Did you find the Tomb?”

No answer from Cal. Cere looked up at Jayna, alarmed to find her visibly rattled and anguished as she turned haunted eyes on the older woman. “Yes, but…” she trailed off, helplessly as she gestured towards Cal.

Gasping sobs broke free from Cal as he wordlessly held up his broken weapon, as if Cere could read the day’s events simply from looking at it. “Your Master’s lightsaber…” she whispered, sorrowfully.

Finally, Cal began to speak. “I saw him. Master Tapal, I… I saw the day he died; I saw what I did…”

“Cal,” Cere tried to interrupt, but the kindness in her voice only made him all but howl in agony.

“Now it’s destroyed!” he said, brandishing it, his eyes looking up imploringly at Cere like a child that had awoken from nightmares only to find himself still in one. “I couldn’t save him…”

At that, Jayna pushed away from the doors and joined Cere on the floor, somehow pushing through her own grief to comfort Cal, wincing once more as she reached out to comfort him. “Cal, you were only a child,” Cere reasoned softly, her own pain and helplessness naked and present on her face as she glanced between the two young Jedi.

“No!” Cal protested brokenly. “No, I know I could have helped him if I’d been stronger and braver, if I would have listened to him…I could have helped him! I know it!” he repeated, as Cere inhaled raggedly, shaking her head. Beside her, Jayna knelt silently, unable to speak but equally unable to look away as her partner unravelled before her eyes. And she was so close to her own unravelling, Cere could feel it. Whatever happened on Dathomir had broken them both.

“Cal, Jayna… it’s time I told you everything that happened to me when I escaped the Empire,” the former Jedi said, as if forcing the words out as she adjusted her position on the floor, sitting cross-legged as her worried brown eyes flitted between Jayna and Cal both. At the flight controls, Greez and BD-1 watched with growing concern, but stayed silent as the ship held its position on the edge of Dathomir’s atmosphere. “They brought Trilla in the room,” she began, weakly at first but her voice grew stronger as she forced her story out, as if sucking the poison out with every word, every confession. In front of her, Cal and Jayna sat silently listening, mired in their own misery but listening, at least. “And when I saw her eyes…,” Cere gasped, at the fresh pain from the old wound, memories flashing across her mind’s eye, memories she’d tried so hard to bury. “They showed me what I had caused. She was an Inquisitor! And something in me gave… and I lost all control!”

At that, Jayna seemed to flinch, her hands turning to shaking fists, but Cere ignored it, intent on her tale as she tried to pierce the fog of despair and misery covering the pair.

“And I tapped into the Dark Side,” she confessed finally, the admission seemingly taking all her strength as she slumped back against the bulkhead at her back. Her shame and self-loathing were palpable, as she looked down at her hands. “And I killed them all… every last one of them…” she admitted, before looking up to meet Cal and Jayna’s haunted eyes. “Except for her,” she gasped, fighting for breath as her story seemed to take a physical toll on her, as she tried to calm her breathing and remain calm. “And for years… I couldn’t forgive myself. I was a wreck because I had all this rage! And I tried pushing it down but there was no hiding from myself. And all I wanted to do was die!” she said, her voice breaking on the last as Cal leant his head back against the bulkhead, eyes closed as if to block out Cere’s story, but there was no escape.

No escape from the fact that he had misjudged her so completely, that he had allowed his own arrogance to blind him to her suffering, the match of his and somehow… the match of Jayna’s, he realised, the thought sending a chill down his spine as he realised he could sense the taint of the Dark Side on her now. Pervasive and strong, but there.

He had failed her too.

“But then I learned about the holocron,” Cere started again, softer, and gentler now, her voice and face losing some of its recriminating harshness as she looked warmly on Cal and Jayna. “A spark of hope that there could be a future. That we could move on!” she continued insistently as Cal glanced at her. She huffed impatiently, pulling herself to her feet as she looked down on the two stricken Jedi. “Get up!” she barked, brooking no disobedience.

Slowly, reluctantly, Cal and Jayna seemed to hear her, pulling themselves up so they stood side by side, but gone was the confidence and surety they’d possessed before. But Cere was determined Dathomir wouldn’t destroy them. The Dark Side wouldn’t claim them too, she inwardly vowed.

“I can’t change what I did no more than you can change what happened to your Master,” she told Cal, before her warm brown eyes flicked to Jayna. “Nor can you change whatever you saw down on that planet. It’s in the past, but Cal… Jayna… you have to make a choice to move on.”

Cal and Jayna just looked at her, before Cal asked in a plaintive, anguished voice. “How?”

“You’re going to start with this,” she said, pointing to his broken saber. As Cal lifted it up, she clasped it too, before looking to Jayna. “Both of you. You are going to build new ones,” she told them. “New sabers, unfettered and free of the ghosts of the past. They will be the first step into your future, but only you can choose to take that first step.”

She saw something like resolve harden Cal’s features, as he nodded shortly before turning aside, leaving his broken saber behind on the crew seat cushions as Cere watched him go before she looked to Jayna. With trembling hands, Jayna offered up her own.

“You were wrong,” she told the older woman, with a shaking voice. “I’m not worthier of it than you are. I never was, I never could be.”

“Jayna…” Cere whispered comfortingly, as she took the lightsaber. “Whatever you saw down on Dathomir, whatever you now believe of yourself… it is what you do next that will define you as a person.”

Jayna shook her head but didn’t argue, simply turning aside as Cere called after her. “Get some rest.”

Behind her, Greez and BD peered after them anxiously. “Hey, Cere… you okay?” the Latero asked uncertainly.

The older woman looked down at the lightsaber in her hand, feeling its weight in her palm like an old friend. “I will be,” she said, firmly.

“Will they?” Greez asked next.

“Maybe. It’s up to them now,” she replied sagely, before turning back into the cockpit. “Captain, set a course. For Ilum.”

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Jayna walked into the aft compartment of the Mantis, mind whirling with everything that had happened. Now they were safe, enough at least, Jayna could at last breath. Except that she couldn’t.

There was a tight fist around her lungs, preventing her from taking more than shallow breaths. Malavai’s revelations, the lightning that had leapt from her hands, seemingly without her conscious command but she couldn’t deny…. In that moment, she had wanted to hurt Malavai, wanted to make her pay for what she had done, the lives she had destroyed, the damage she had done to her and Cal…she had called, and the darkness of Dathomir, the darkness inside herself had answered.

Her right arm where she had thrown the lightning was icy-cold to the touch and filled with a throbbing ache that seemed to numb all other sensation. Worse, it seemed to be spreading. Jayna dazedly wondered if it reached her heart, would she cease to feel anything but that ache at all?

Memories of the moment where she held Malavai at her mercy, suspended in mid-air, paralysed and powerless, made her flinch as she forced them away. Opening her eyes, she looked down at where Cal sat on his cot, staring at nothing, his poncho thrown down beside him.

Her eyes lingered on the way his dirty, sweat-slicked hair fell against his forehead, the pain and anguish engraved in every line of his face as he leant his chin on his clasped hands. Through the muffled bond, she could just about sense his turmoil, but also a growing decisiveness that unnerved her because she could no longer tell just what he was deciding. She was in the dark in a way she hadn’t been since they met on Bracca, and she hated how much that scared her.

Because she was going to have to tell him. Even if they weren’t joined like this, even as damaged and blocked as their bond had become, she couldn’t keep this from him. She wouldn’t be able to, she needed to tell him. Even if he turned away from her, rejected her completely, turned her off the ship… she needed to feel his support and unwavering strength one last time.

At her halted footsteps, Cal looked up, his eyes raking over her face and body, a tiny furrow of concern appearing between his eyes. “How are you holding up?” he asked, his voice still raw and husky from his breakdown in the cockpit.

“About as well as could be expected,” Jayna shrugged, hiding her wince as her arm ached. Stepping past him, feeling horribly awkward and tense as she sat down on her cot, she glanced at him uncertainly. “Cal… I’m so sorry.”

“You had no way of knowing,” he whispered, looking down at his hands as he picked at his palm. “It’s been a crazy few months, hasn’t it?”

“You can say that again,” Jayna agreed, with a small smile, one that Cal returned when he glanced up. “Cal…”

“Jayna…” he said, at the same time as they both paused. It hurt to realise just how dissonant they’d become with each other, in the space of only a few days. Once Jayna would have been able to sense his emotions, his sentiment so clearly, she wouldn’t have needed to hear him speak aloud. And she hadn’t heard his voice in her head since Kashyyyk, where everything went so horribly wrong.

And what was even more terrifying was that she could soon lose it forever. But she was too cowardly, too craven to force him to silence so she could speak first. “You first,” she forced out, swallowing through a suddenly dry mouth as she sensed his muffled remorse as he looked at her.

“I owe you an apology,” he began, quietly, forest-green eyes earnest on her own, their intensity making Jayna look away, her heart aching. “For the things I said after Kashyyyk. Your mother…”

“Cal,” Jayna breathed, the image of her mother’s dead body flashing in front of her eyes. Closing them tightly, she heard him rise from his cot, taking a seat beside her on her own.

“I shouldn’t have used her against you,” he admitted, as she slowly opened her eyes to meet his. “After Kashyyyk… after I saw you go flying across that clearing… you were so still, so… lifeless, I couldn’t-” he paused, swallowing hard as she felt a muted wave of terror and pain from him at the memory… of her lying unconscious. “I felt so much pain at the thought of losing you… the fear, it… made me realise I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you, Jayna… like I lost Master Tapal, Prauf…”

“Cal,” Jayna tried to interrupt, but Cal kept going, haltingly but determined not to stop until she knew the truth.

“So, I pushed you away. I used your mother to get you to stop arguing, to hurt you so much you would push me away in turn because if you hadn’t… I couldn’t have forced you away,” he admitted, with an undercurrent of self-loathing in his voice that saddened Jayna as much as his attempt at manipulation angered her. At his gentle touch on her cheek, Jayna opened her eyes to look into his, so achingly close it both thrilled and terrified her.

Because she didn’t deserve him, couldn’t deserve him, not now. What he said next made her seize with shock, terror, and bittersweet, insidious yearning.

“I’m falling in love with you, Jayna,” he whispered, the words falling from him in a rushed breath, a tumble of sound that sounded like catharsis. “And I know it’s not great timing but… after today, I can’t fight anymore. It doesn’t make me a very good Jedi but… I can’t do it. I can’t keep you at arms’ length, not now…”

He was a braver person than she was, Jayna realised in that moment. She had been content to revel in the intimacy and affection of their bond without putting a name to it, as if doing so would grant it power she wasn’t ready, and might never be ready, to give up. A part of her had always expected to lose this, to lose him and if she hadn’t put a name to the emotions she felt for Cal, she could walk away.

And walk away, she could. She would survive, as would he, she realised. But there would always be a yawning, gaping pit of yearning inside them now. It was too late to walk away now, without any kind of wound. Their rift had left wounds enough, Jayna shuddered to think what might happen if they were permanently separated.

And that was the problem.

“Cal, I need to tell -,” she tried to interject, but then his hand cupped her cheek, caressing the dirty, tear-stained skin with his thumb and she wanted to just melt in his touch. Her affection-starved heart leaned towards him, as she felt the Force bond flare in their minds, nowhere near as radiant as it had been, but so much stronger than before.

“I would never have said anything if I didn’t know… if I hadn’t sensed you feel the same way,” he whispered yearningly, his eyes on her lips as he leant closer before they flitted up to meet hers pleadingly. “Please, Jayna… I’m so sorry for everything.”

“Cal, please!” she gasped, wrenching herself away from his touch as tears sprang to her eyes. Hot, bitter, and unwelcome, she dashed them away impatiently. “I need to tell you something.”

Cal’s face, somewhat crestfallen by her moving away from him, turned warm and sympathetic as he reached out to grasp her shoulder. “Whatever it is, I’m ready.”

“You’re not the only one who… had a rude awakening on Dathomir,” she began, in a stilted, harsh whisper. “Just mine was a little more… physical than yours.”

At her statement, she couldn’t hold back the torrent of overwhelming shame, fear, and pain as she remembered her confrontation with Malavai. But she couldn’t run from it anymore; she needed to tell him, he needed to know the truth… and not just about her, but about the circumstances of his birth. Malavai had manipulated more than one young life when she took Cal from Mandalore and Jayna from Pasaana.

“Whatever it is, you can tell me,” Cal told her insistently, the hand on her shoulder trailing down her arm… the arm that ached, the arm that had…

At her sudden sharp intake of breath, as she hissed in agony, alarm flared in Cal’s eyes. “Jayna! What is it?” he asked, urgently as he glanced down at where his hand lightly grasped her forearm, still covered by her gloves and jacket.

Jayna froze, unable to speak as Cal gently slid her glove off, hissing in a pained, shock breath at what he found underneath.

Her hand was covered in a criss-crossing, patchworked web of silvery lines, running over her fingers and palm before twining up her wrist and forearm, disappearing beneath the cuff of her jacket. Jayna knew they extended all the way up her arm to where it met her shoulder. “Jayna…” Cal gasped, stunned before he reached up to gently open her jacket, pushing it off her shoulders so he could see the full extent of the damage… her shame. Because even through the cold and the ache… Jayna could sense the Dark Side tainting her now. A mark of power, a mark of darkness.

So, she forced herself to tell him. She told him everything about Malavai, about her deception, her manipulations. She told him about how she had been the one to bring the Inquisitors down on their heads to force them together, using Prauf to make Jayna go after Cal. She told him about the prophecy and Malavai’s visions… about Mandalore, and her spiriting him away to the Order… about Malavai’s murder of her parents, planting the Force bond and blocking her memories… but she struggled to tell him the last, greatest, most terrible secret of all.

All throughout her explanation, he stayed by her side, hand gentle on her injured limb, fingertips softly stroking down the branching, frigid lines in her skin. And the tenderness in his face and manner made her angry, shame and terror rising up to choke her as she made the final admission.

“And I… was so angry at her,” she confessed, in a disgraced whisper, looking at the opposite wall as she dug deep for her last shred of courage, forcing herself to get the words out as dread pooled in her stomach. “I just wanted to…punish her, make her pay for every ounce of pain she brought down on our heads because of her choices… she was so zealous, so unapologetic, Cal…” she took a breath, knowing she was trying to justify her actions, trying to put off the final confession. “I had all this rage inside of me, and it wanted to get out… all this… power just leapt from my fingertips before I even realised what I was doing then I directed it at the canyon wall instead of her…”

“You used Force lightning,” Cal breathed, as she closed her eyes. “Jayna…”

“I know. I tapped into the Dark Side,” she whispered.

“It’s not your fault, Jayna,” Cal protested, and she knew he was thinking of Cere and her story. “And you turned away… you didn’t give in.”

“Don’t… try and make me out to be some kind of… hero because of it, Cal!” Jayna hissed, painfully. “You still don’t know-!?”

“Then tell me!” Cal insisted gently, and it was that tender concern in his voice that set the tears loose as Jayna closed her eyes against them.

“Malavai told me,” she said, fighting back the sobs. “She told me… my father was created in an experiment by the Sith Lord who was responsible for the Purge…”

She felt Cal still beside her, shock and growing realisation bombarding her in waves through the Force.

“My father was a clone. A clone of the Emperor,” she breathed, in a final pain-filled whisper. “I’m… in biological terms, at a genetic level… I’m the daughter of the Emperor.”

A shocked, icy silence fell as Jayna waited for the backlash, for the rejection, for the rage, hate and suspicion to start buffeting her through the Force. She was the daughter of the man who singlehandedly destroyed the Jedi Order, the only family Cal had ever known, and plunged the galaxy into tyranny and darkness. How could he not reject her with everything that was within him?

“Jayna…” Cal whispered her name, so achingly gentle that Jayna sucked in a breath through a sob, her breath trembling as she exhaled again, unable to meet his eyes. “Look at me…”

But she couldn’t. Instead, she listened blindly as Cal repeated her name, over and over, so tender, and warm, that she could barely believe it. The expected rage and loathing never came, as she felt Cal shift onto his knees in front of her, then shock as she felt the warm, cracked lips of his mouth against her aching, cold palm.

Her eyes snapped open as Cal pressed another kiss to her palm, gently cradling it in his hands, before pressing an equally gentle one to her wrist. And then another, and another as she watched him trail warm, insistent, tender caresses all the way up her arm, moving between her unresisting legs as he pressed himself closer, the only thing she felt from him in the Force determination and unrelenting tenderness.

“Cal?” she forced to say questioningly, her voice a little strained as his kiss seemed to thaw the chill in her skin, the numbing ache receded with every soothing, loving kiss against her skin. “Cal…?”

He finally reached the crook of her elbow, his hand carefully laying her unresisting arm over his shoulder as he leant into her, the heat of his body and mouth against hers turning the iciness in her blood, the cold that had lingered since Malavai’s confession, turned to a sweet fever. He turned heated, intense green eyes to hers, tracing her face as they seemingly took in every detail. She saw how he seemingly digested everything she had just told him. And she watched as he decided he didn’t care.

“I don’t care,” he confirmed her suspicions, as he shook his head. “I’ve let fear rule me since the Purge… I let it rule me after Kashyyyk. I won’t let it rule me now, not with you.”

“Cal!” Jayna breathed, both shocked and touched by his faith in her, but also irritated with how easily he seemed to be accepting everything he’d told her. “You’re the most stubborn, idiotic nerf-herder I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet.”

He chuckled grimly, as he pulled her closer, one hand still caressing her scarred arm, his thumb trailing sensuously over the rise of her bicep. “That’s rich coming from you, Shan,” he retorted lightly, his eyes alight with affection and growing desire. “The only thing I know for certain in this crazy, messed-up galaxy is you. I adore you, Jayna… and not even telling me you’re the daughter of the most evil man in the galaxy is going to change that!”

“Thanks for the reminder,” she breathed, unable to look away as her tears began to clear. “You’re so cocky,” she told him, pushing past him as she stood and stepped away from the cot, eyes drilling a hole on the workbench in the far end of the compartment. She felt him stand behind her, eyes burning her now as she swallowed hard. “You pushed me away not forty-eight hours ago and now you’re so sure. Of yourself, of me… I can’t be that sure.”

“Jayna, stop trying to push me away,” he replied in a harsh, frustrated voice, full of unspoken desire and need, as she felt it buffeting her in the Force, only adding to the passion building inside her. “I will work for your forgiveness every day of my life, but I’m not going anywhere. Not now. We need each other, Jayna and I’m not walking away this time.”

“I’m not a duty to be endured, Kestis!” she snapped, still staring at the bulkhead above the workbench.

“I never said you were, Shan,” Cal replied, and she could hear the smile in his voice. He’d been drawing her out, she realised irritably. “Jayna, look at me…”

Jayna had never been so aware of her own body as her heart thundered, her pulse throbbing in her veins as that sweet fever seemed to spread to her extremities, as she struggled to keep her breathing steady and even. She could sense Cal’s own rising desire, but this time he wasn’t even trying to control it. He simply stood patiently, waiting for her decision. But even if she pushed him away now, she knew he wouldn’t give up. He’d meant every word he said, every vow to earn her forgiveness.

In many ways, he was her perfect match. His stubbornness the equal to hers, his compassion a balm to her pragmatic view of the galaxy, her fire a match for his cool Jedi restraint. There was so much they still needed to talk about: Malavai had revealed so much, and Jayna was uneasy about the idea of the Force bond and the prophecy, forcing them together but…

It had to wait. They were too tired to fight it tonight, they needed the balm of each other’s affection to heal the wounds Dathomir, and Kashyyyk, had inflicted on them both.

With a shuddering breath, Jayna gave in. In an abrupt explosion of movement, she turned and threw herself into Cal’s arms, praying she wouldn’t break anything as their lips crashed together with twin moans of relief and need.

Cal’s arms twined around her waist, pulling her tightly against his body before one rose to push his fingers deep into her twisted, tangled ponytail as he guided her back. She felt the cool metal of the bulkhead against her back as his hand cradled her head, cushioning the impact as her body ached at the weight of his pressing her into the metal.

In the Force, the bond rippled and pulsed with light, like the first few moments of a newborn star, not quite as strong as it had been but slowly regaining radiance and heat as the sweet fever of anticipation from Cal’s caresses and Jayna’s need turned to a raging wildfire in their veins. She could sense Cal’s complete surrender to it, and she could only give the same, giving in and letting her desires free rein.

Everything seemed to fall away. In their little aft compartment aboard the Mantis, they seemed to float in a bubble of impenetrable durasteel and fire, cocooning them from the darkness and cold of space outside their fragile little haven. Everything still waited for them: the weight of the Jedi’s legacy, the looming shadow of the Empire, the ghosts of the past that haunted them both, but they could wait a little while.

Jayna finally got the chance to breathe as Cal broke the kiss, pressing a scorching line of kisses along her jawline and down her neck, as she squirmed and arched into his lips. Her hands clenched tightly on Cal’s back, gripping closely against the line of his shoulder blades as he dropped the hand that had been at her waist to her knee, ducking down slightly until his hand cupped around her knee. With a fluidity that took her breath away, Cal bent her knee and pulled it up around his hip, rolling his body against hers in the process. The wave of heat and sensation that flashed across her nerves was enough to have her gasping aloud, as Cal’s lips hovered above her own.

“Now, where did a good Jedi boy learn to do that?” she gasped questioningly, as he rolled his hips into hers again, bringing the intimacy of their embrace to a whole new level as the hardening bulge in his trousers pressed against the apex of her thighs with every movement. Her heart was thundering in her ears, and his too as he panted softly against her lips.

He smirked, a touch cockily. “I did spend five years on Bracca,” he reminded her, “Not in a monastery.”

“Did you?” she asked, leadingly. While Cal’s kiss was certainly enthusiastic and enough to make her head spin, she could tell he hadn’t had a lot of practice before their embrace on Kashyyyk.

He shook his head, looking sad for a moment. “I could never bring myself to,” he admitted, with a self-deprecating shake of his head. “Still clinging to the Code. But I saw plenty. And overheard more.”

With a surge of relief, she felt his voice in her head for the first time since Kashyyyk, albeit at a whisper’s volume. ‘The walls of the scrappers’ quarters weren’t exactly thick…’

They both snorted at that, as Jayna had walked in on more than her fair share of intimate clinches while living in the BracSec barracks, and as for Nar Shaddaa… that had been an eye-opening time. Bryna and Leeza hadn’t been the only clandestine couple among the apprentices. Torone had always turned a blind eye to the regulations against fraternisation as long as they didn’t interfere with apprentices’ duties.

The smile leached from Jayna’s kiss-bruised mouth as she recalled her former mentor, and she sensed Cal’s swift swelling of concern as the hand cradling her head slid away, only to tenderly caress her jawline, drawing her gaze to his soft green eyes. “Hey, stay with me,” he told her softly, just as she had him once upon a time, knelt in the detritus and ruins of a crashed Star Destroyer. Jayna smiled softly as she leaned into him, pressing her lips back to his and giving herself back up to that sweet wildfire they both felt.

With the added press of Cal between her legs, that wildfire became an all-consuming inferno as they stopped thinking, stopped remembering and just gave into it. Suddenly desperate to get closer, Jayna slid one hand into his hair, gripping tightly as he groaned into her mouth. The other she slid under the hem of his shirt and vest, finding the warm, scar-roughened skin of his back as she trailed her fingers up the line of Cal’s spine beneath his clothes.

At her touch, Cal’s hand spasmed against her jaw, and he dropped it to frantically haul up her vest, sliding his calloused hand underneath until his hand fanned out over the firm muscle and skin of the dip of her waist. She could feel him trembling in her arms as their kiss only intensified, electrified by that tiny amount of skin on skin contact, as Cal hitched her leg higher around his hip and ground himself against her. Sensation juddered through her with every thrust, and there was an ever-tightening coil of tension in her abdomen. She felt the surge of intent as Cal’s knees bent, then she was abruptly hoisted off the ground as he took her weight, turning with her in his arms and then tumbling down onto his cot with her. It was only sheer dumb luck that neither hit their head against the bulkheads as Jayna gasped, all but winded by the feel and weight of Cal atop her. It was an electric feeling, as they broke their kiss just long enough for Cal and Jayna to look at each other, both highly aware of their bodies and the way they met even through their clothes, as Cal’s hips rocked against hers. Jayna gasped, arching beneath him as he bent his head to brush his lips against her throat, and then they were lost once more as Jayna tugged Cal’s shirt over his head, leaving him in just his vest as her hands scrabbled over hard muscle, only barely screened by thin fabric as he groaned against her neck.

He pressed a kiss on her that made her toes curl in her boots, accompanied by a thrust of his hips that made her moan aloud, the sound only just muffled by Cal’s lips on her own. One leg slung itself over his hips and backside, pulling him tighter against her as he gasped, breaking the kiss for a moment. He ran a hand up from her hip, dragging the hem of her vest up further until her toned stomach was exposed to the cool air of the compartment. For a moment, she felt his skin pressed intimately to hers where the flat plane of his stomach met her own as his vest rode up with their passionate movements, and the heat and sensation of it sent shocks through Jayna’s body as she trembled with an ever-increasing urgency, the flames in her blood wholly answered by his.

But common sense began to intrude, even as Cal kissed a line from underneath her chin to the neckline of her vest, pressing a hungry kiss to the swell of her breasts as she took a ragged breath. Even he raised his head to come over her once more, she slid her fingers from his hair and gently put two fingers against his lips, stalling him.

“What is it?” he asked, with a gentle smile as he kissed the tips of her fingers, making her melt and, she admitted to herself with just a little bit of self-disgust, almost making her forget what she was about to say and just keep going.

“We can’t, Cal,” she whispered, glancing above their heads to the open passageway that led around two corners to the galley and the cockpit beyond. “Cere or Greez could come in at any moment.”

“I don’t care,” he growled, and frankly the intense glint in his eye and the sexy huskiness of his voice alone almost made her give in. He kissed her so fiercely, his tongue thrusting against hers at the exact same time as his hips between her thighs, that he pulled a moan from the depths of her chest, as her hands fell to grasp his back. The urgency racked up another notch when he dropped her knee only to slide it up the line of her body, following the curves and dips of her figure until it slid over the rise of her breast, sending a spasm of sheer want and need through her as he tentatively caressed her.

Determinedly, she pulled away, pressing her head into the surface of the cot as she demanded hoarsely, “Do you really want to be having this conversation with them, with everything else going on?”

He eyed her darkly, and for a moment she thought his newly restored recklessness would have him once again kissing her into submission until she forgot her own name, let alone the fact they were hardly in an ideal situation, but he then sighed, closing his eyes. ‘You’re right,’ he admitted across the bond, as she once again felt the forceful trembling that racked them both. “Just… give me a minute,” he begged her, resting his forehead on her breastbone as Jayna’s mind raced.

Urgency and the inferno of their long-repressed and ignored passion in their veins was not going to die down without a fight. Cal was hard and insistent against her, and she wanted nothing more than to rock up into him, draw him into another kiss and just forget about common sense, close proximity and the threat of another argument if Cere walked in on them like this.

Slowly, an idea took shape as she glanced towards the passageway once more. Cautiously, she stretched out in the Force, lightly probing as she tracked the signatures of the other two organic sentients on the ship. Greez and Cere were both in the cockpit, and from what she could sense, neither was going to be leaving it any time soon.

Nodding to herself, she gently tipped Cal’s head up towards her, pressing a light kiss on his swollen lips as she whispered across the bond: ‘I have an idea. Follow me…’

Pushing him up and back, she sat up and wriggled out from underneath him, taking his hand as he pulled himself to his feet. His gait was distinctly stiff, and it made Jayna smile laughingly.

“It’s not funny!” Cal grumbled quietly, as she began to lead him towards the ‘fresher.

“I think I might have an idea,” Jayna retorted softly, feeling the wetness between her legs as she walked. Suddenly, Cal’s hands clamped onto her hips, dragging her back a step until she was firmly clasped in his arms, his lips brushing yearningly across the back of her nape. She caught her breath when she felt him, hard and hot, against the swell of her bottom, his lips trailing burning kisses down her throat.

Gods but apparently, he was utterly irresistible underneath all that Jedi repression, she thought dazedly as she arched her neck back against him. “C’mon,” she hissed brokenly. “We both need a shower.”

It was the one place they’d be guaranteed a little bit of privacy. It limited their options but… they weren’t ready for too much. Jayna sensed that somehow, while they both desperately needed release and the catharsis the Force bond needed to heal, when they finally gave themselves to each other, the ‘fresher onboard the Mantis was not the place for it.

As they squeezed into the tiny space, Jayna heard the click of the lock at the same time she felt the tiny surge in the Force as Cal pushed it across with a thought behind them. Staring at the dingy tiled wall opposite, she raised lightly trembling hands to her vest, when she was stopped by two gentle, pale hands around her waist.

“Let me?” he asked, the request shivering against her neck. She hesitated for a moment, then simply raised her arms above her head. She felt him brush a kiss across her neck, then his fingertips skating across the curve of her waist as he guided the vest up. She was blind for a split second as he tugged the fabric over her head, then it fell away into a heap at their feet. Next, she felt a gentle tugging at the band holding her hair up, as it tumbled in lank waves around her shoulders. His fingers trailed over her shoulders, tracing the line of her shoulder blades down until they met the clasp of her breast band. With a snick, it fell away too as Jayna shivered at the cool air against the skin of her breasts.

Rational thought was quickly becoming impossible, as she stretched out one hand, reaching out with the Force as she turned the shower on with a thought, before she turned to look at Cal. Her jaw firming stubbornly, she resisted the urge to cover herself as she coolly looked up into his darkening, heated eyes. She tugged at his vest pointedly, as he smirked and raised his arms, letting her tug the fabric up as his body was slowly revealed. A childhood spent training to be a Jedi, then an adolescence doing hard physical labour twelve hours a day had sculpted his body, rendering him toned and muscled, although still slender she thought dazedly, her eyes trailing over his strong abdomen and chest, before meeting his eyes. Through the bond, she could feel his interest in her body as he reached out a hand to draw her closer again.

The first touch of bare skin against heated, bare skin made both gasp as Jayna ran her hands up Cal’s chest before sliding around his neck, pulling herself against him tightly. Their lips met once more, passionately, as Cal’s hands glided over her body, exploring tentatively as she did the same, running her fingertips over the curve of his back, feeling the muscle there before running over the firm muscles of the arms holding her so tenderly. Jayna’s skin felt like it was on fire, hyper-sensitive to the weight of Cal’s hands as he dared to cup her backside for a moment, pulling her into his growing erection, before sliding back round and up as they settled below her ribcage. Almost growling with frustration, she let go of Cal’s neck to slide one hand over one of his, pulling it up her chest until he cupped her breast. Jayna broke their kiss, gasping, at the sharp dart of heat spearing through her body as he looked down at her, panting against her bruised lips.

Holding her gaze, he kneaded her breast, watching her reactions as she hissed in a breath. She wasn’t a fool, she knew she was hardly well-endowed, a lifetime of hard living, training and physical exercise had seen to that, it was one of the reasons she could get away with just a breast band but she sensed Cal didn’t seem to care, his gaze enraptured as he dropped hers to watch his hand as he kneaded and caressed her heavy flesh. With every careful, inexperienced caress, every breath, they seemed to swell as Jayna’s breath came short, almost panting against Cal’s mouth as she reached up and pulled his mouth back to hers, kissing him desperately as her skin ached with every sensation he showered her with. The iciness in her veins had almost entirely thawed, and she was a melting, fevered mess of a girl as she moaned into his mouth, feeling his answering groan as he rocked his hips against hers.

Determined to get a little payback, she broke from his kiss to trail a hungry, open-mouthed path down his jaw and neck, pausing for a moment at his neck as she gently sucked and laved the skin. He groaned aloud, his hand clutching the nape of her neck as he held her to him, his body trembling against hers as she escaped his hold, pressing more kisses to his skin as she trailed down his chest, relishing the feel of his heartbeat thundering under her tongue for a moment. His body was peppered with small scars, making her heart ache as she ghosted her mouth gently over them, wondering where they came from before she fell to her knees in front of him, and his breath strangled in his throat. She glanced up at him with an impish smile, before inclining her head back to his torso, lazily following that winding trail of sparse hair down his body until she reached the belt of his trousers. Undoing the buckle, she began pulling them down, taking his underwear with it as he toed off his boots. With a quick kick, the reminder of his clothes fell away too, revealing his strong legs and his burgeoning erection.

She’d hardly led a sheltered life, especially before she arrived on Bracca, so the sight of his cock, flushed and rigid, barely flustered her as she curiously ran a gentle hand along its swollen length. That surprised a groan from Cal as his hips bucked into her intrigued touch, as she glanced up at him mock-censoriously.

‘Better keep it down, Kestis. Otherwise we’ll have Greez knocking the door down,’ she told him, her mental voice still muffled but at least she knew he could hear her now. Greatly daring, as he glared down at her, she leant in and ghosted her mouth along his shaft, as he let out a strangled groan through gritted teeth, frantic hands threading through her hair before they found her shoulders, pulling her up against him.

“Come here,” he growled against her lips, pulling her in against him tightly before he pressed a devouring, fierce kiss on her, his tongue pressing against hers demandingly even as his hips bucked against hers, the friction of her trousers against his cock pulling another pained groan from his lips.

Toeing her boots off, Jayna broke the kiss as Cal pushed down her remaining clothes, tugging them over the rise of her calf until they lay in a tangled pile with Cal’s clothes at her feet, as he paused, gazing up at her adoringly as her breath caught at their reversed positions.

She could feel his eyes trailing curiously over her exposed body, taking in her curves and the neat patch of dark hair  in the ‘V’ of her pelvis, his hands ghosting along the quivering line of her thighs as a teasing glint replaced the inquisitive look in his eye, as he smiled and leaned in, pressing heated, wet kisses to her abdomen, torturously close to where she throbbed and ached, pressing her thighs together as if that could bring relief from the growing pressure in her body. One hand pressed against her lower back, holding her in place as he slowly rose up from the floor, his mouth following a wandering, fiery path up her torso, making her breath hitch as she felt the wet heat of his mouth as he panted against her breast, his lips only centimetres from her nipple.

‘Hold onto me,’ he breathed across the bond, looking up at her as he straightened. A moment later he lifted her, stepping into the spray of the shower as Jayna gasped and clung to him, her legs around his waist.

The air in the cramped ‘fresher quickly filled with steam from the shower, as they were quickly drenched by the spray before Jayna found herself pressed back against the wall tiling, held up on the tips of her toes by Cal’s strength and his body against hers. Between them, the Force bond thrummed and pulsed, in tandem with the frantic beat of their hearts as Jayna tensed at the feel of Cal’s cock against her, the engorged head just riding against her clit as pleasure rippled through her. She was unable to hold back a cry as she felt Cal’s lips on her breast, pressing an open-mouthed kiss to her hardened nipple, making her arch and buck her hips against him wantonly.

Meeting Cal’s eyes as he raised his head, leaning his forehead on hers as he looked into her eyes tenderly, their breath joining as it left their panting lips, as Jayna drowned in the sweet, heated desire she saw in those forest-hued eyes. “I want you, so much,” he whispered in a gravelly, husky voice against her lips. ‘But not now, not like this. Not yet…’

The promise hung between them, unspoken but implicit as their bond seemed to reach for them once more, as they hadn’t felt since Kashyyyk. They gave themselves up to it, hoping it would heal as the rift between them seemed to recede. There was more so much left still to talk about, but Jayna couldn’t make herself care in that moment, and neither did Cal, she sensed. All that mattered, right here, right now, was them and the need to re-affirm what should never have been broken between them.

‘Show me how to make you feel good,’ he whispered in her head, as his hand slipped from her waist, trailing down her hips as he bucked his hips into her, sliding against her swollen clit as she shuddered and gasped. She reached up and sealed their lips together as she replied.

‘Only if you show me how to please you too.’

She felt his groan as she trailed a hand down his wet skin, gently caressing his erection, tracking his state as he shuddered and pressed harder against her, her hand trapped for a moment before he moved back enough to free her. His hand resumed its slow descent down her abdomen, as her grip tightened a little, making him groan as she began to work him.

At the first touch, she exhaled suddenly and arched. His touch, uncertain, careful yet evocative, was so very different to his hands and lips on her breast. She was heated and wet, as he slid his fingers down, finding her clit as that touch sent flashes of warmth and almost painful pleasure through her every nerve. He bent his head, kissing her to distract her, as she curled her fingers in his hair once more. Then his fingers pressed down and in, curving into her so slowly and gently that Jayna almost didn’t notice it, until his finger was deep inside of her and she was filled with him. She cried out, and her hips bucked against the slight discomfort, as he released her mouth to look down at her wonderingly, his eyes raking over her pained, pleasured features as she writhed against him.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked concernedly, despite the growing need she could sense in his own body, his cock hot and needy in her hand as she moved it along his shaft firmly. She stared at him, both touched and exasperated by how he was somehow still sane, when she felt anything but.

‘I’m fine,’ she assured him, pressing a quick kiss to his lips as she met his eyes, gazing up part-affectionately, part-glaringly as she leant her head back against the tiling. ‘But for the love of anything holy in this galaxy, you’d better do something, Kestis or I’m going to explode, or lose my mind or something…’

He smiled, a touch painfully as she felt a ghostly echo of the ache in his body, the tension matching hers as his body shook in her arms. ‘You’re not the only one…’ he trailed off suggestively, a slightly rueful look in his eyes. ‘I’m not sure how long I’m gonna last if you keep touching me like that!’

Jayna smirked, strained but determined as her eyes glinted with a hint of her usual teasing as her hand tightened around his cock, drawing a deep groan from his lips as he buried his head against her shoulder. Eventually, he raised his head, a dogged, hungry glint in his eye that almost made Jayna fear for her safety.

‘As milady wishes,’ he said jokingly, with a pained grin. When he moved his finger, sliding in and out almost frustratingly slow, she gasped. “Turn your head to the side,” he said aloud, the command husky, deliciously so, and it made her skin tremble in anticipation. She did as she was told, and his lips pressed a biting kiss to the hollow beneath her ear, trailing down, lingering on her skin until she whimpered and moved beneath him, down over her collarbone, nudging aside the drenched locks of her hair, until he met her breast, taking it into his mouth.

At the same time, his finger moved, and she clenched around him, as he created a sensual torture for her, his tongue and finger moving in concert, until he added another, stretching her and filling her. She moved her hips unconsciously, pressing herself into the heel of his hand, and he chuckled against her breast. He twisted his hand, figuring out how to press his thumb against her clit at the same time he gently thrust his fingers into her.

All the while, his hips had bucked into her hand as she caressed and explored him, teasing touches that turned to firm pulls along his shaft as he smothered his cries of pleasure against her skin, slowly reddening with the heat of the water and his unceasing attentions. ‘I’m gonna… come with me, Jayna!’ he gasped in her head, as she arched her head back into the wall, mindless and unthinking at last, bent only on their own mutual pleasure as her hand caressed him one final time.

His fingers slid deep, hard and fast, and she broke at last, her very body feeling like it had unraveled and undone, her mind turned to golden glory, as she arched into his arms, his kiss smothering her cry of ecstasy as he pressed her into the tiling. Spasms rocked their bodies, rippling underneath their skin as pleasure turned to contentment, passion to tenderness as Cal at last, panting and fatigued, raised his head.

Meeting each other gaze, they shyly smiled at each other, then burst out into silent laughter, stifling their noise against each other’s shoulders as Cal gently lowered her back down until she stood on her own feet, before gently maneuvering them back under the shower’s spray so they could clean up, the water only lukewarm now but bearable.

Just then, they heard a knock at the door, as the pair froze in each other’s arms. “Hey, whoever’s in there!?” Greez’s gruff tones had them only marginally relaxing as they looked at each other uneasily.

Cal turned his head towards the locked ‘fresher door, clearing his throat before he answered. “It’s me, Greez,” he called, his voice still a little husky as Jayna stifled a giggle. He shot her a look, before calling back. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

“Yeah, yeah. Anyways, I left a pot of stew out on the side for ya, if ya want dinner,” the Latero replied, and both Cal and Jayna smiled a little at his brusque show of caring.

“I think Jayna’s asleep,” Cal suddenly offered, with a stroke of inspiration. Stretching out slightly with the Force, he just nudged the Latero’s mind. But only a little. “You don’t need to worry about us,” he told him, using only a mild form of a mind trick. He felt Jayna’s swift glance but ignored her as the Latero repeated his words, albeit with a snort of affected indifference.

“Course I don’t need to worry about ya. It’ll keep ‘til Jay wakes up,” he replied, before they heard the sound of shuffling footsteps as their pilot walked away.

“You’re bad,” Jayna hissed, as Cal glanced down at her before reaching for the sleep.

“You’re the one who said you didn’t want to have that conversation,” he pointed out, far more coolly than he felt. In truth, there was an undercurrent of uncertainty there now, but one Jayna banished immediately as she turned and kissed him quickly.

“We’d never hear the end of it,” she agreed, with an impish smirk as she reached for the soap. Washing herself quickly, she handed it to Cal as she leant up and pressed another kiss to Cal’s lips, feeling the urge he quelled to simply take her in his arms again, even though the water was starting to cool. “Thank you, Cal,” she whispered against his lips as she stepped out and away before a mischievous smile dawned. With a flick of her fingers, the water controls flipped to its coldest setting as Cal yelped and Jayna danced out of reach, only just stifling her laughter. She grabbed her clothes as he made a lunge for her, both amused and annoyed as the frigid water made him wince. With a flirtatious wink, she all but skipped out the door, pausing only a moment to make sure Greez had gone and Cere was nowhere in sight before she hurried down the passageway to their quarters, to dry herself and change.

And maybe, if she was feeling generous, grab a change of clothes for Cal.

For the first time since they’d found each other at the Tomb of Kujet, she felt an ounce of her usual calm assuredness return, as the bond flexed and pulsed in her mind, her thoughts once again joined by another’s, so she no longer felt quite so alone. It might not last, and it likely couldn’t last, but she’d enjoy it while it did.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Cal awoke slowly, mind only grudgingly slipping back into consciousness as he opened his eyes to the bright, merciless lights of their compartment. He heard a low grumble beside him, as he smiled affectionately, as he glanced down at the ombre-headed girl lying curled into his side. His right arm was dead again, but he didn’t care as he shifted onto his side, raising his left hand and gently tracing Jayna’s peaceful, dozing features wondrously.

After the whirlwind of the past few days: Dathomir, the Force vision in the Tomb, Cere’s story, his reconnection with Jayna, he was content to simply lie there and look at her, his fingers gently trailing over soft skin he’d kissed and caressed only a few hours ago. Resolutely ignoring the voice in his head lecturing him for his recklessness and violating the Code, he clung to the here and now, mind quiet and calm for the first time since Kashyyyk, he realised. Now he’d stopped fighting what he felt, he felt nothing but peace. Or at least, peace in regard to Jayna. If he started thinking about anything else, it dissipated, as insubstantial as a desert mirage.

 Closing his eyes, he debated simply snuggling back down beside her and going back to the bliss of dreamless sleep, their Force bond wrapped around them like a shield between their minds and the ghosts that waited to torment them. But, he realised, as Jayna sleepily shifted against him, that wasn’t looking like a likely escape, as his body predictably reacted.

Rolling his eyes with an exasperated sigh, Cal glanced down as Jayna’s hand drowsily trailed up from where it had loosely cupped his back, bare in the cool air of the compartment, sliding down his arm and onto his abdomen as his muscles clenched under her touch. “You’re thinking too much, I can sense it,” she grumbled against his neck, as he shuddered unconsciously as she, seemingly ignorant to the effect her warmth and touch was having on him, pressed herself closer to him. Opening her eyes as she craned her head back to meet his gaze, her smile was wickedly innocent as she opened her eyes wide. “It’s not natural, stop it.”

“Well, someone’s chipper this morning,” he remarked dryly, inwardly pleased to hear at least some of her usual smart-ass sarcasm return. There was a shyness and uncertainty there, however, when he met her eyes that both touched and saddened him. Even after everything they’d said, everything they had done with and to each other yesterday, she was still unsure of him.

Mentally, he cursed his callous blindness after their ordeal on Kashyyyk. His only consolation was that he had truly believed he was doing what was best. But how could it be best, when staying apart from Jayna had made them so much weaker?

With that thought in mind, he bent his head and kissed her gently, shifting lower on his cot and leaning over her, feeling the sleep-soft warmth of her body, only thinly screened by a vest and leggings, press against his as she raised a hand to card her fingers through his hair. With a shudder, Cal reached down, hauling her leg up and around his hip as he gently rocked against her, disabusing her of any notions he was about to change his mind in the cold light of day.

She was the only certainty in his world right now. How could he give that up and survive? He wasn’t sure he ever wanted to find out.

She made a soft, mewling sound against his lips, sending a sharp spike of desire ricocheting through him, as Cal urgently ground his hips against her, feeling his arousal grow even as hers did. Sliding one hand down her torso, past the rucked-up hem of her vest, he reversed it, gliding beneath the waistband of her leggings until his fingers dipped into heated, dewed flesh as he found her clit.

Remembering what had pleased her last night, he stroked between her legs, running his fingertips in circles around her swollen clit, feeling her begin to pant and writhe, her hips snapping against his but he held his own arousal in an iron grip, using all the techniques on self-control his Master had ever instilled in him. If he sensed things aright, they didn’t have time.

He just wanted to watch her one more time. He was quickly learning that watching Jayna in the throes of climax was one of his favourite views. The way her eyes widened as her breath stilled on her lips, the hitch in her lungs as it transformed to a full body shiver that sent her hips undulating uncontrollably against his body, the way the pads of her feet trailed up his legs, a sensual torture all its own as he watched the green and gold flecks in her eyes darken, with every glide and flick of his fingers. He hadn’t been lying when he said he hadn’t done this before, but he’d seen enough in shadowy, half-lit alleyways, or the ‘freshers in some of the Bracca scrappers’ quarter nightclubs Prauf had insisted on dragging him to, once or twice. He had some idea of just how to bring a partner… a lover pleasure. And he found he enjoyed doing so, as a tiny furrow formed in Jayna’s forehead, and he could sense how hard she was trying to focus as she panted his name against his lips.

“Cere… Greez…” she hissed, a slight warning tone to her breathless words, as he smirked mischievously.

“Not the names I was hoping to hear this morning,” he quipped, with a quick, teasing kiss as she arched against him. “Talk about a mood-killer.”

“You know what I mean,” she snapped back quietly, with just a hint of irritation. Sighing, he kissed her thoroughly, determined to take her mind off their precarious situation as he stretched his senses out.

“If what I can feel is any indication,” he told her, once he’d released her lips. “they’re won’t be disturbing us any time soon. Now please stop worrying?”

“Well, one of us has to since you seem to have taken leave of your-!?” she trailed off with a low, strangled moan as Cal bent his head and interrupted her with a kiss, just as his fingers found and experimentally pinched her clit between two long digits. Cal felt it as release rippled through her, a gentler one than last night as every muscle in her body tensed and then relaxed, as she laid back, panting against their pillows.

Questioning brown eyes sought his, as Cal met them with a suddenly shy smile. They searched his for an infinitesimal moment, before she returned his smile with one of her own, reaching up to kiss him gently. ‘Well, that’s one way to say, ‘good morning,’ she quipped in his head, as he chuckled into the kiss before they parted. “Although, I do think I’d like to return the favour,” she whispered against his lips, as her hand slipped down his body. Cal shuddered, closing his eyes when –

“Hey, wake-y, wake-y! Rise and shine, kiddos! We’re dropping out of hyperspace in half an hour!” Greez announced over the intercom as Jayna and Cal paused, groaning as Cal dropped his head into the pillow, willing his arousal away as Jayna hesitated.

“We have time,” she said quietly, her hand already resuming its course, but Cal reached down and stalled her, pulling her hand up and kissing it gently.

“We will have plenty later,” he told her, before he sat up with a wince. “C’mon, we’d better start getting ready.”

He felt her sigh, before she nodded and slipped from under the blanket, as Cal tamped down the sudden urge to pull her back. The thought of staying put, tucked up under their blankets and hidden away from the universe… it was a seductive one, but they couldn’t keep the outside world away forever.

It was time to face the aftermath of their ordeal on Dathomir and see what was left in the wreckage.

Cal pushed back the blanket as he swung his legs round and over the edge of the cot, reaching for a fresh jumpsuit laid out beside it. Beside him, Jayna was glancing through her clothes, with a considering glint in her eyes.

“So, this Ilum place… what can we expect there?” she asked quietly, turning to him with a questioning frown.

Cal paused, the sensible question sending a pang of pain through him as he tried to ignore it. He’d forgotten that Ilum, while not entirely secret, and any information on it had been restricted to any outside the Jedi Order. It was understandable that Jayna knew nothing about it.

“It’s cold…” he eventually said, as Jayna paused to glance at him. “It’s icy, almost constantly snowing. You’ll need your thermals.”

“Thanks for the heads-up,” she quipped, reaching for the dark-hued garment. As she picked it up, Cal felt the wave of unease as she caught sight of the branching, twining scars on her arm, left by the Force lightning, her jaw tightening for a moment before she glanced away, pulling the thermal undershirt over her head.

Grabbing his own thermals, Cal began getting dressed as BD came scurrying into their compartment. “Hey, BD!” Jayna called, as the droid chirped a greeting.

“Hey bud,” Cal added, a little subdued as he finished tugging his poncho into place. After a moment, he glanced up at Jayna. “We need to talk to Cere.”

She didn’t need the Force bond to know what he was talking about. “Not yet,” she breathed, tugging her glove on over her scarred hand.

“Jayna…” Cal sighed, feeling her diffidence about telling Cere what had truly happened on Dathomir. “We can’t keep the truth from her. You might have broken the Force bond between you and Malavai, but she needs to know about the prophecy. You can’t keep stalling over this-?”

“Well, forgive me for not relishing the idea of telling her I’m related to the most evil man in the galaxy and that I’m now tainted by the Dark Side!” she snapped angrily, sending him a dark look as BD-1 booped questioningly beside Cal.

Cal sighed. “Later, bud,” he told the little droid, before standing and catching Jayna by the arm. She was still muttering angrily at him, but he could sense the echo of her self-loathing and fear across the Force bond. Without another word, he pulled her round and into his arm, stilling her tirade with a forceful kiss.

With a muffled, outraged squeak that would have been comical in other circumstances, Cal felt Jayna shove him away, but he only retreated so far.

“Cal! You can’t just kiss me whenever you don’t like what I’m sayi-!?” she spluttered, glaring at him heatedly.

“I reserve the right to kiss you silly whenever you start talking nonsense. And that was nonsense!” he declared firmly, reaching for her scarred arm, covered now by layers of fabric, as he pulled it up and around his neck, pausing only to press a kiss to her gloved palm. “You are not tainted.”

“Cal…,” she began again, and he could sense she didn’t believe him. Without hesitation, he bent his head and kissed her again. Although she held firm for a moment, she melted into the kiss, clinging to him and to the warmth it evoked in their blood, thawing the cold dread that had started to take hold once more.

When he finally deigned to release her, it was to whisper huskily against her lips. “You don’t have to tell her about what Malavai said about your parents,” he stated, cognisant of BD-1’s curious audio-receptors nearby, as the droid watched them from his cot. “But the prophecy… what she told us about my… about my father, about my mother… about Malavai’s manipulations. She needs to know.”

“I know,” Jayna admitted in a pained breath against his lips, staring at them hungrily for a moment before she raised them to his, so uncertain and fearful. “But not yet. Let’s just get today over with, before we put this on her too.”

Cal sighed but gave in. “Agreed,” he replied, reluctantly stepping back and letting her go as she turned and reached for her jacket, her long hair tied back in a braid coiling over one shoulder. With a slight nod, she turned to him as Cal collected BD with a glance. Together, the trio left the compartment

Cere and Greez were in the cockpit, waiting for them as Cal and Jayna walked in, the latter clutching a mug of caf close as they took their seats.

Even the usually chatty, irreverent Greez was silent today as the ship reverted to realspace over a shining, ice-covered planet. Most of its northern hemisphere was covered by a vast storm front, completely obscuring any sight of the planet’s geography below.

The air was thick with tension as Jayna sat, uncomfortable and uncertain in her own skin, the Force echoing with grief and anguish the closer they drew to the planet. And yet… she felt it. A call, pulling her towards Ilum as a soft voice spoke in her head.

‘Dear child…’

Jayna flinched, raising her mental shields in a flash as her heart raced. She felt Cal’s sudden awareness, his eyes darting towards her over his shoulder as he sensed the echo of her alarm. Catching his eye, she just shook her head as Cere turned to them both with a warm, if guarded, smile.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been here,” she admitted hesitantly, before glancing at Cal. “As you know, many Jedi have come to Ilum to find their kyber crystal.”

“I remember,” Cal replied softly.

“Master Yoda guided us to the entrance, but after that, we were on our own. Not something I wasn’t accustomed to but that didn’t make it any less challenging,” Cere continued, with a reminiscing smile. Jayna could sense Cal’s uncertainty, his harsh regret and self-recrimination as he looked down at his hands.

They lapsed back into silence once more, as Greez guided the Mantis through the storm, the winds buffeting the ship relentlessly.

“This storm is going to make navigation difficult,” Jayna remarked off-handed, as the Latero waved a hand nonchalantly.

“Nah, we’ll be fine. Plus, it’ll be good cover in case any Imp slubs are lookin’ for us. Besides, I could stick this landing in my sleep!” he replied confidently, despite the way his remaining hands were straining on the joysticks. “Mind you, I don’t envy ya the walk to this Temple place. Looks like a whiteout out there!”

“I know a spot, nearby. Should cut your walking time down considerably,” Cere interjected, glancing at Cal and Jayna. “The storm will give us cover until you return. As for the rest… trust in the Force and it won’t steer you wrong.”

Both Jayna and Cal nodded, hiding their uncertainty as Greez guided the ship in to land, aiming for a rounded depression in the ice-covered landscape. As the ship juddered to a stop, a bleak horizon of chaotic, jaggedly broken icy crags and archways slowly materialised from out of the wind and snowfall, making Jayna shiver just looking at it.

“Well, we’d better get a move on before this storm gets much worse,” Cal said, standing from his chair. “Jayna?”

The girl took a deep breath before she nodded, with a wan smile as she stood and followed Cal into the main crew area, Cere at their back.

By the airlock door was two small satchels waiting for them. “It isn’t traditional but…” Cere trailed off, with a self-conscious smile. “I packed a few emergency supplies, just in case. You don’t know what you might face in there.”

“Thank you, Cere,” Jayna smiled, sincerely as she bent down and swung the pack onto her back. Beside her, Cal did the same, before helping BD-1 scramble into place on his back, perched between the top of the pack and Cal’s back. She glanced up at the older woman, but she was watching Cal intently as he turned and faced the doors.

“Cal?” she asked, softly. Once the boy turned to face her, she continued sombrely. “You will be tested.”

“Yeah, but I’m ready,” he assured her, with a swift glance at Jayna who just nodded.

“I don’t mean just here,” Cere warned, her eyes glancing between the two, haunted and sad but determined. “Every Jedi faces the Dark Side. And it’s very easy to fail.”

“You’re still struggling with the Dark Side,” Cal guessed. “Even after cutting yourself off from the Force.”

Cere sighed, glancing down at her clasped hands before looking up, stepping closer to the two as she produced a familiar cylindrical object in her hand. “We will always struggle,” she said firmly, holding out her lightsaber to Jayna. “But that is the test. It is the choice to keep fighting that makes us who we are.”

Jayna hesitated, before reaching out and accepting the blade once more.

“Use the components once you find your crystals,” she told them, with a sad smile. “Lay the crystal to rest in the caves. It’s seen enough of war and darkness. And I have something for you-,” she continued, handing a box to Jayna. “While we were on Bogano, I found plenty of useful things stashed away in Cordova’s hovel. One of them was this box of lightsaber components.”

Cal and Jayna looked at her askance, as Cere’s smile turned misty as she blinked away tears. “I think he foresaw this moment, this need… perhaps it is even a harbinger of success to come. If we find the holocron, yours aren’t the only lightsabers we’ll need to build.”

Holding out the box to Jayna, the girl accepted it, turning and stashing it in her pack. Cere nodded to her, before looking back to Cal once more as he inhaled shakily.

“I guess it’s about time I find out who I am,” he whispered, yet there was a strength there that had been missing before. There was a rueful smile on his sad face as he glanced up, and Jayna could glimpse the boy he once was there. “I was trained by following strict protocols. Prepared for everything… or so I thought.”

“Maybe that was the lesson, Cal,” Cere mused. “You can’t know everything, you can only trust that you are able to handle whatever you face.”

“Wise words,” Jayna remarked. “Knowledge is a dangerous thing to have.”

“But a necessary one,” Cere countered, eying her sharply as if suspecting that she, or they, were withholding more than they’d let on from what happened to them on Dathomir. “Without knowledge, we cannot make the choice to shape our own selves, our own destinies.”

“You really think destiny can be shaped and not simply… followed?” Cal asked, as Cere smiled a little ruefully.

“I believe so. All is as the Force wills it but… only if we choose to take the journey for ourselves,” she replied earnestly. “You could both have run after we rescued you on Bracca. You did not. You chose to answer the call of something so much higher than anything made of flesh and blood. That should tell you something. Now… May the Force be with you, Cal, Jayna.”

“And with you,” Cal replied, inclining his head as he gave the proper honorific. It was no less than she deserved in that moment. “Master.”

Cere’s eyes widened as Cal opened the doors, stepping out into the blizzard as Jayna followed him with a final soft smile for her, Cere’s old lightsaber once more at her waist.

Outside, it was freezing cold as the trio paused on the landing ramp, peering through the snow and wind for any sign of where to go.

Jayna pulled her hood up, tightening the collar against the biting wind as she glanced at Cal. ‘Any ideas?’ she asked, across the bond. ‘You’ve been here before, right?’

‘When I was a small boy, yes,’ Cal replied, squinting through the blizzard. Pointing to the distant, fuzzy outline of an archway, he continued, ‘Let’s try that way! I can feel a pull in that direction.’

With a discontented huff, but unable to refute his perceptions as she felt it too, Jayna followed Cal and BD-1 as they left the Mantis behind, trudging through the blizzard in the direction Cal had indicated.

As they walked, they soon became grateful for the thermal underlayers Cere had provided, as the wind seemed to find every gap in their clothing to insidiously infiltrate, raking frozen talons across any exposed skin as they breathed in air that stabbed their throat and lungs with every inhalation. It was nigh impossible to see through the whiteout, Jayna only just able to see the bent, doggedly trudging figure of Cal just in front of her.

Eventually, they emerged into a small canyon, exposed gunmetal-grey rock jutting out of the snow and ice covering it as their path narrowed to a thin passageway, punctuated with occasional archways through which she glimpsed other paths, but Cal led them unerringly onwards until he finally paused, pointing up at a hulking, looming mass in the distance.

“It’s the Jedi Temple!” he shouted over the roar of the wind.

“Bee boo beep?” BD-1 booped questioningly, beating Jayna to it as she glanced at him curiously.

“It’s been awhile but yeah, I remember,” Cal explained, with sad longing. “Every Jedi comes here as a kid. Or, they did. When there were Jedi.”

“Hey!” Jayna said, catching him by the arm. “There still are. You heard Cere… we’re still standing, Cal. And as long as we do… so do the Jedi.”

Cal glanced at her quizzically through the snow, but she just shrugged self-consciously. “Now can we get moving before we turn into a pair of Jedi icicles?”

Cal’s lips quirked with amusement, as he nodded and set off once more. ‘That’s more like it. You make me nervous when you get all… philosophical. It’s not natural,’ he teased, as she rolled her eyes but ignored him, a weight easing off her shoulders as they continued.

 After half an hour of hiking through the canyon, eventually they emerged onto a wide, open space before a crumbling edifice, caked in snow and ice as Jayna looked up and realised: it was a set of towering doors, shut tight against the harshness of the Ilum wilderness.

“The Jedi Temple,” Cal announced, panting slightly. “I doubt anyone’s been here since the last Gathering. We’ll need to find another way in.”

“Gathering?” Jayna asked curiously, as Cal jogged over to the gates, eyes scanning the rock face intently.

“Boo-beep-boop-trill!” BD-1 chirruped warningly, as Cal found a small gap where the ice had created a fissure over millennia of slow, creeping invasion.

“We’ll be careful with the ice,” he assured the droid, before nodding to Jayna. “Come on.”

Taking a deep breath, Jayna squeezed into the gap behind Cal and BD, momentarily glad at least to escape the wind for a moment. The ice was dark and jagged, pressing against her tightly as they pulled their way through the tiny passage, as Jayna found herself staring into a hazy mirror-image of her face, tired brown eyes staring back at her with a worried glint.

For a moment, they flashed a molten yellow as Jayna almost cried out, then… nothing. It was just a trick of the light, she told herself as Cal pulled himself through and out of the passage, turning back to offer a hand as she followed.

Their reprieve from the wind was short-lived, as they found themselves on a small outcropping beside the main edifice, looking out onto the windswept ravine and steppes ahead, only half-visible through a hail of snow and sleet as the wind howled mournfully.

“This is the worst blizzard I’ve ever seen,” Cal said, almost in wonder as he looked out from their relatively sheltered spot. “Even when I came here as a kid, it wasn’t this bad.”

“The Force, it… feels strange here,” Jayna added, in agreement as BD-1 booped curiously at them. She’d sensed it the moment they stepped foot on Ilum’s icy surface. “Like… it’s wounded.”

“The storm, the temple… it all feels connected somehow,” Cal agreed, with a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold. Shaking himself from his reverie, he nodded to the ice passage they’d just squeezed through, blanketed by hardened ice and rock. “We should be able to find a way up with our climbing claws.”

With a nod, saving her energy for climbing, Jayna turned and followed him as they carefully made their way up the rock and ice, their pilfered claws digging deep and keeping them anchored to the ice but, at any moment, it felt like the wind’s plucking, tenacious fingers would grab hold at any moment, and fling them away into the steppes and the ravine behind them.

Eventually, they were afforded a little shelter from the wind, as they pulled themselves atop the first section of the gates, taking a small leap to the next as the rock and ice enfolded them, sheltering them from the ravine and the wind as they climbed swiftly towards another ledge, about halfway up the crumbling, forlorn gates.

Swinging themselves to safety, Cal, Jayna and BD-1 alighted on a sheltered ledge that followed a ridge round and away from the gates, culminating in another narrow, ice-covered passage as they pulled themselves inside.

After another claustrophobic few moments, they emerged into a snow-filled chamber, lethal-looking icicles hanging from the carved, intricate coving of the ceiling as Jayna caught her breath, staring around in wonder. Even half-buried and forgotten, there was an air of beauty and reverence here, accented by the innocence and hope that only children could invoke, she realised.

“This is the Gathering Room,” Cal breathed. “The way into the Crystal Caves.”

“You still haven’t told me what the ‘Gathering’ is,” Jayna pointed out.

“It’s… it was a ritual, an initiation of sorts for Jedi Younglings,” Cal explained, with a pained sigh. “We were brought here as children to find our kyber crystals and construct our first lightsabers. This room was used for meditation and instruction by the Masters before we began our sacred journey into the caves.”

“So… my mother would have done this?” Jayna asked, after a moment as Cal’s eyes softened as he turned to her. After a moment, he nodded.

“My father too. And Cere, and an untold number of Jedi through the millennia,” he whispered, a touch of reverence in his voice. “And now you. Are you ready?” he asked, as she glanced at him sharply.

“I don’t know,” she admitted, after a tense moment. “I’m not sure there is such a thing as ‘ready for this’. Let’s keep moving before we freeze to the spot.”

With a nod, Cal turned and Force-pulled a coiled plug and line to him, plugging it into the socket on the wall as a covered window suddenly opened, flooding the chamber with light.

“Trill be-beep!” BD-1 declared, as Cal shrugged.

“It used to be beautiful,” he muttered. “Still, the warmth is nice.”

The sunlight illuminated a slope, leading down through a crack in the rock beside the small opening where the sunlight streamed in, as Cal and Jayna jogged across to it. With a shared nod, they slid down the slope, landing lightly in a darkened, crumbling corridor below.

Following it, they emerged onto a ledge from which they overlooked a cavernous, circular chamber. Jayna realised they were stood in some kind of gallery, half-ruined by collapsed pillars, while at set points, towering statues of robed and hooded Jedi stood guard, their silent watch unceasing. And in the centre, from a dangling chain, hung the largest crystal Jayna had ever seen.

“I remember this room,” Cal said suddenly, making Jayna jump at the abruptness. There was an air of sanctity about the chamber, like the very silence itself was sacred and it felt strange to disturb it with sound as Cal continued, unaffected. “Master Yoda melted that door to let us into the caves,” he explained, pointing towards a massive, ice-covered archway directly opposite them.

“Be-boop-boo?” BD-1 asked curiously, beating Jayna to it again.

“Not with the Force. With that crystal,” Cal explained further, as he jogged to the edge of the gallery, eying it calculatingly. “The light passed through it and carried its warmth.”

“Then we’ll need to do it too,” Jayna asserted, joining Cal and BD-1 at the edge to peer into the chamber floor. Directly below them was another platform where a socket waited, while hanging down from the crystal itself was another. Opposite that platform, slightly perpendicular to it, was another platform on which an empty plug waited. “You take that one,” she said, pointing to the opposite platform. “I’ll take the window socket.”

Cal glanced at her, then nodded as they dropped down from the gallery, Jayna hurrying across the socket while Cal leapt across to the opposite platform. Once he was safely across, he called the dangling line and socket to him with the Force, the motion pulling the crystal so it hung at a slight angle. With a nod from Cal, Jayna Force-pulled the second socket free, opening the window to let a concentrated beam of sunlight into the chamber.

It hit the crystal and, magnified a hundredfold, it reflected down onto the frozen icefall blocking their way.

Jayna could sense the strain as Cal fought to keep the crystal in place long enough to melt the doorway, but finally, it gave way as the floor was swamped by a rush of newly melted snow and ice.

With a sigh of relief, Cal released the socket, letting the crystal swing gently back to its original position as Jayna closed the window, the chamber once more darkening as the sunlight was abruptly blocked. Dropping down to the floor of the chamber, they found themselves ankle-deep in sleet and ice water as they stared into the darkened passageway beyond.

“Well, I guess there’s only one thing for it,” Jayna sighed, as Cal eyed her narrowly. “Honey, I’m home!” she called into the passageway, her voice echoing down it as he smothered a snort at her irreverence.

“No going back now,” he agreed, reaching out and clasping her hand as they walked into the caves.

The tunnel they walked down was almost pitch-black as they cautiously felt their way through, their only light BD’s head torch as it was too narrow for Jayna to ignite her saber. Eventually, they came to a fork, but just beyond its left turn, Cal could see a steep drop into a pool of water.

“Well, we won’t be going that way,” Jayna quipped, as he nodded.

“Probably a result of a glacier encroaching on the caves and a magma chamber forming underneath it,” he mused. “There’ll be heat coming from cracks in the rock underwater but it’s too cold to risk getting wet. Come on.”

With a tug of her hand, Cal pulled Jayna down the right fork, which, thankfully, was completely dry and devoid of anything but the most frozen water.

Finally, the tunnel gave out onto a small ledge overlooking a massive cavern, interspersed with jagged ledges, icy stalagmites and stalactites and the fiery glow of exposed magma chambers underneath the caves.

Where they paused on the ledge, both Cal and Jayna felt the pull in the Force, insistent and forceful as they gazed unseeingly across the cavern. “I can feel it,” Cal breathed. “It’s calling to me!”

“Me too,” Jayna whispered. “I feel it too.”

“We must be close,” Cal continued, releasing Jayna’s hand as a fresh sense of urgency overcame him.

“Close to what? What’s calling us?” Jayna asked, a little wary as Cal paused to look back at her impatiently.

“Remember when Cere first gave you her lightsaber on Zeffo?” he asked, gesturing to the wrapped cylinder at her waist. “How you told me if it didn’t feel quite right. Didn’t feel like yours?”

Jayna nodded uncertainly.

“Jedi can’t pick any kyber crystal. It chooses you,” Cal finished firmly. “That’s what’s calling us. Now, we need to hurry.”

Jayna didn’t argue or question anymore as Cal led the way towards a flat, ridged section of wall that would get them across to the next section of the cavern. BD-1 booped as Cal huffed a laugh.

“Yeah, kinda like you,” he agreed quietly, before taking a running jump and taking himself across the chasm below. A moment later, he felt Jayna follow as they landed on a rocky, icy platform. The stone cracked and rumbled under their feet, as around them, the walls glittered with crystal formations, some in geodes, others buried behind a wall of ice. They jogged cautiously through a tunnel of glittering crystal as they headed towards their inexorable goal, the call in the Force tugging them ever onward.

After slipping and sliding down a series of icy slopes, they pulled themselves to safety atop a plateau halfway across the cavern, the crystalline stone around them eerily lit by the hellish glow of the magma chamber below them in the chasm, as the ground shook lightly.

“Just a little shake, we’ll be okay,” Cal assured Jayna and BD-1. “There’s a lot of seismic activity in the caves.”

“Who’s worried?” Jayna quipped sarcastically, as she glanced up at an overhang in the distance, the call seemingly emanating from there, all but calling her name. Jayna… Jayna…

“The call is getting stronger,” Cal breathed, and she sensed it was the same for him. “Let’s hurry.”

As unnerving as the magma under their feet was, it did have the added benefit of warming the cavern, as some of the chill in their bones from the blizzard outside seemed to lift, the ice and snow clinging to their clothes melting away.

The trio jogged towards a stone ledge between two statues of robed Jedi Masters, as Jayna felt Cal take a shuddering breath. ‘I feel like I’m surrounded by ghosts…’ he admitted across the bond, as Jayna tried to push what comfort and strength she could spare his way. In truth, she too was unsettled and discomfited by the caves and the aura they emanated. She felt like her mother’s ghost followed her every footstep, and more unnamed ones down the years, all the way back to her most distant ancestor Bastila. Had she walked these same paths? Had Dreya, her own mother? Did they, and the ghosts of all those unnamed, unknowable, long-dead Jedi who had come before and after them look on her with disapproval, with the taint she carried as she walked their sacred path?

But she knew it had to be even worse for Cal.

BD-1 booped, seemingly picking up on Cal’s unsettled mental state as they pulled themselves up and onto the ledge. “No, I’m not alright,” he admitted, hesitantly. “It’s… hard to be here.”

“Beep boop!” BD chirrupted supportively, as Cal smiled a little wanly beside Jayna.

“Thanks buddy! You too, Jayna,” he said warmly. She went to reply when the Force screamed a warning, and both humans threw themselves aside just as a laser bolt flew their way.

The air filled with the sound of the sinister burbling of an Imperial probe droid, as Jayna activated her saber without thinking, deflecting the probe droid’s shots until one finally caught it, knocking it down. Electrical currents began to run all over its insectile casing as it recovered enough to fly across the chamber at Jayna. Just at that moment, she felt the surge as Cal Force-pushed it into the wall, smashing it to pieces before its self-destruct could initiate, leaving them staring down at its sparking ruins.

“It’s them. How did they find us here!?” Cal demanded harshly, as Jayna hissed in a breath.

“It can’t be a coincidence,” she breathed, activating her commlink. “Cere? We’e got a problem. There are probe droids in the caverns.”

“There’s no way they could’ve put a tracker on us!” Cere came in, harried and a little unnerved. “But I would’ve said the same about Trilla hijacking your comm. Greez and I will search the Mantis.”

“Thanks. We’ll be back as soon as we’ve got our crystals,” Cal added, with a sidelong glance at Jayna.

“You’re vulnerable out there. Don’t take any unnecessary risks,” Cere warned, just before the comm went dead as the two humans eyed each other uneasily.

“Come on,” Jayna finally said, breaking the tension. “The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can leave before the Imperials detect us.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Cal agreed, turning away from the sparking wreckage of the probe droid as they turned and crept deeper into the tunnels.

They encountered two more probe droids as they penetrated deeper into the Crystal Caves, but they managed to either evade or destroy the probe droids with the Force before the Imperial droids could see them. Finally, after hours of climbing and scurrying through the broken, jagged paths of the cavern, they reached the overhang where the call seemed to be emanating from.

“It’s through there. I can feel it,” Cal whispered. Jayna said nothing, but she couldn’t fight the pull as they moved cautiously towards the glacial passageway, narrow and lethal looking, but they had no other choice. There was no other path.

BD-1 booped uncertainly, as Cal reached a hand back to comfort the droid.

“We’re almost outta here, I promise,” he said, but his voice was distant as he moved towards the passage in an almost trance-like state. Nevertheless, he paused long enough to examine it and declare: “Looks a little tight. Jayna, BD, you two go first. You’re lighter than I am, and BD can detect any weaknesses in the ice.”

“Good call,” Jayna said, as the little droid hopped down from Cal’s back and scurried into the opening. With a deep breath, Jayna did the same, and Cal followed as they disappeared into the mirrored tunnel of the passageway.

It was incredibly tight and claustrophobic, pitch-black in some sections so their only light came from BD’s torch, then as brightly lit as if the sunlight, dyed a silvery hue by the layers of ice and crystal formations above and around them, streamed in but it was frigidly cold, a chill setting in even through their clothes as their breath misted on the air in front of them.

Once again, Jayna was confronted by the mirror image of her own face and body as she inched cautiously along the passageway, pulling herself up over ledges, or through tight gaps as she was forced to shimmy through on her belly, always with BD leading the way, while at her back, Cal patiently followed. And ever, the call in the Force drawing them onward.

She heard it again, that soft, feminine voice calling with crystalline clarity as she watched her eyes flash molten yellow in the icy mirror before her. ‘Jayna… dear child…Jayna!’

Too late, Jayna heard the crack of fractured ice as it gave way underneath Cal. He fell with a cry as he caught himself on the ledge, trying desperately to haul himself to safety. “BD! Jayna! Don’t come any closer!” he gasped, gloved hands scrabbling uselessly at the smooth ice.

Without thinking, Jayna threw herself down, hands outstretched but she could sense the current from the underwater river trying to pull Cal under, strong and merciless as it began dragging him down.

“Beep! Beep!” BD-1 chirruped helplessly as Jayna tried and failed to hold onto Cal’s hands, his gloves slipping through her grip like butter.

“BD! Jay-!” he was abruptly cut off as he disappeared from view into the blackness below, and then there was nothing but the crackling, creaking sounds of the ice all around them as Jayna stared into the darkness that had swallowed Cal whole. Shock and terror rendered her mute, panting as she lay there on the precariously stable ice, heart racing as grief fought to take hold.

“Be-boop-beeop!” BD-1 trilled urgently, startling her from her fugue as she inhaled, carefully pushing herself back from the edge as she slowly stood upright. “Beep trill?”

“Wait a second, BD,” she whispered, closing her eyes the better to focus. Inwardly, she cursed her lapse of focus, too enthralled by the mirage she’d seen in the ice around her to sense the danger. Refusing to let the growing grief and fear rise up to choke her into uselessness, she instead turned inward, seeking that place deep within herself where the Force bond to Cal rested. Weakened, still, but there as she found it pulsing with a steady, gently flickering intensity.

He was alive.

‘Cal? Cal!?’ she called uncertainly, across the Force bond. ‘Where are you?’

‘I’m… I’m okay,’ he replied, after a fraught moment. ‘I’m underwater but I’ve got my rebreather. I had to dump my pack; it was weighing me down.’

Jayna’s heart seized. If he got wet, then he was vulnerable to hypothermia. She needed to get to him, fast. For a wild moment, she considered simply jumping down after him, but it wouldn’t help either of them if she lost her pack and ended up with hypothermia too.

‘I’m in a tunnel… I’ll see where it leads. Keep going and I’ll find you!’ Cal continued over the bond, his voice weak and strained. ‘I…’

As he trailed off, panic leapt in Jayna’s veins, but she pushed it down sternly. Taking a deep breath, she looked down at the little droid by her feet. “He’s alive,” she whispered, as the droid burbled in relief. ‘Although for how much longer…’ she thought, keeping it to herself. “C’mon. We need to get out of this passageway and meet up with him ASAP.”

BD trilled in agreement, as Jayna forced herself to turn her back on the broken ice, pushing on as BD-1 followed behind. Eventually, the ice passage gave out in a wide, circular cavern of stone and crystalline formations as Jayna stopped and stared in awe, her danger and Cal’s forgotten for the moment.

The call in the Force… it emanated from here. For her, at least.

Directly opposite where the passage had given out, was a large, spiked formation. Something about it made her uneasy as she stared at it, its towering, reaching extrusions looking like the wings of a throne as she seemed to see a hazy mirage of herself once more, clad in black, eyes gleaming molten yellow as she smiled at her from across the cavern.

Swallowing hard, Jayna walked towards the formation, in a kind of trance as BD-1 burbled and whistled beside her, but she was deaf to its questions. The call in the Force led her on, as she came face to face with the ghost that had been haunting her since they arrived on Ilum, as that otherworldly, gentle voice called her name.

Shrugging her shoulders, she let her pack fall to the floor, her breath rising like a wraith from her lips as she exhaled shakily. Her eyes roved over the mirage, waiting for it to dissipate as the others had, trying to understand what was expected of her but neither Cal nor Cere had warned her of this.

‘Jayna… Jayna… dear child…’

At that moment, she seemed to hear again Cere’s voice in her head, speaking gentle words of wisdom. “You can’t know everything, you can only trust that you are able to handle whatever you face… It is the choice to keep fighting that makes us who we are.”

‘Jayna…’

“No more running, no more hiding,” she breathed, taking a deep breath before she fell to her knees on the hard, cold ground and closed her eyes. Within, she reached out, sending her awareness questing forth until it touched that invisible field of energy that sang and echoed around her in an endless, undying harmony, amplified and concentrated by the crystals she was surrounded by. And she was one with that Force, she realised. Even now, even scared, alone and uncertain, it was still within her. Her emotions didn’t detract from the whole, they only added to it if she would but face up to them.

‘Jayna…Jayna…’

She opened her eyes, expecting to find Cal or BD-1 watching her but the cavern was empty. BD was gone, and her bond to Cal was strangely muffled once more, but unlike the block they’d experienced after Kashyyyk, she could still sense his emotions. Somehow, somewhere, he was experiencing a vision of his own.

‘Jayna….’

Standing, she turned on her heel in one fluid move, only to find herself face to face with a familiar face. Yet, it was one she’d never seen before but somehow, she knew it. The woman stood before her, in robes of a design so ancient, hair tightly braided back from her face, was so similar to Dreya: the same dark hair, like shadows tumbling over her shoulders, the same dark eyes twinkling with intelligence and gentility, the same beautiful, sad features. And yet not so, because Jayna remembered her mother now, and this woman was not Dreya Shan.

“Who are you?” she asked, brows furrowed. The woman smiled, her form seeming suddenly insubstantial as she stepped forward, hands raised and held out, as if inviting Jayna in for an embrace.

“Not who you were expecting?” she asked, her voice refined and elegant, as light as a feather as she chuckled melodically.

“Well, for all I know it’s possible to manipulate Force bonds to appear as someone else,” Jayna replied suspiciously, as the woman’s smile became tinged with sadness.

“Do you have such little faith in your own power?” she asked softly. “You sundered your bond to Malavai Cordova. She cannot reach you anymore.”

“Maybe,” Jayna admitted, glancing towards the still present ghost of her own face and body, yellow eyes staring back at her mockingly. “But then again, that’s exactly what she would say. “

The woman huffed softly, her laughter gentle, but the sadness only seemed to increase. “You remind me of him, you know,” she whispered. At Jayna’s questioning look, she elaborated. “My husband. Your many times removed forefather, Revan. He too always erred on the side of caution.”

Jayna’s brow creased as she frowned. “But then… that means you’re Bastila Shan,” she breathed, awe replacing suspicion as she looked at the woman again. “My-?”

“Please, don’t say it,” Bastila held her hands up to stall her, with a self-deprecating grin. “By the time you get through all the ‘greats’, it’ll be next week.”

Jayna’s breath shuddered from her lips, as she realised. “It was you! Your voice in my head on Kashyyyk? You helped me-?” she began to ask frantically, as Bastila held up a hand to quiet her, nodding.

“I once walked your path, Jayna Shan,” she told her. “I know what it is to bear the gift, and the burden, you bear.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it a burden,” Jayna replied. “It’s gotten us out of quite a few tough spots before now.”

“And yet as your power grows, so will the temptation to use it unjustly,” Bastila interjected coolly. “You’ve felt it, haven’t you? How easy it would be to step over that line, the line between inspiration and domination?”

Jayna opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She had sensed it herself, back when she had first started exploring her gift, its potential for great evil as well as for good. Instead, she just nodded as she glanced towards her dark ghost. “I think I already did,” she confessed, in an ashamed voice.

She looked up as Bastila stepped forward, one ghostly hand raised to just touch her jaw. She felt the slightest impression of a touch, almost too intangible to notice, but she shivered as Bastila looked at her with compassion and empathy in her eyes.

“You do yourself a great disservice, Jayna,” she sighed. “You have not fallen. It is only your fear now that stands between you and your destiny.”

“I never wanted this destiny,” Jayna protested, a tear falling from her eye.

“Neither did I,” Bastila replied gently. “I only wanted to do my duty to the Republic and the Order I served but in doing so… I discovered depths and darkness within myself. I fell, and yet I returned to the Light. I lost the one I loved more than life itself, yet it did not break me. I didn’t fall again. I carried on, and now the fruit of that struggle stands before me, strong and ready if she could but see it for herself.”

Jayna shuddered, closing her eyes as her mind seemed to fill with images of others, other women, all fighting, all standing firm against the darkness across the millennia as Bastila’s unyielding, merciless voice interspersed between them, as keen and ruthless as a healer’s scalpel…

“You’re not alone. So many of our family have found themselves where you now stand…”

A man in a hooded cloak and armour, face covered by a strange, Mandalorian-esque mask as he raised a vibrant purple blade, a woman in Jedi robes by his side and a strange red-skinned alien in hulking armour before a dark throne…

“They all faced the choice… you carry their strength within you….”

A woman in Jedi armour, hair tied back in twin braids against her cheeks, brandishing a double-ended saberstaff, blue blade burning fiercely, as she faced down a pale, towering Sith giant surrounded by wounded soldiers and dead Sith, her fierce blue eyes flashing with steely determination…

“You can find that strength too… but only if you let go…”

A flame-haired woman wielding a shining blue-yellow saberstaff, a man in a red spacer’s jacket and pants by her side, blaster raised…

“Just as your mother did…and your father…let the past go and rise in the Force…”

Her father, clad in dark robes, a mere boy shivering alone in the dark... her mother, clad in Jedi robes, hair shorn but for a Padawan's braid, green lightsaber raised against some invisible enemy...

“You’ve never been alone… and you never will be… all is as the Force wills it…”

More images flashed through her head, too quickly to process until she clutched her head in pain. A final one remained as she opened stinging eyes to look into the molten yellow gaze of her doppelganger…

Two figures stood in front of another dark throne, this one eerily similar to the crystal formation in the cave in front of her… one robed in white, the other clad in black, one short and slender, the other tall, dark and strong… twin blue blades held aloft as they faced down the dark throne and then… the girl in white robes looked at her…

And then she was looking at her doppelganger, but it wasn’t her anymore. It was both her and yet not her face, her eyes, her hair, her skin. But still, that same molten yellow gaze staring out from under a black hood as Jayna cried out-

And then, she was free of the vision, crumpled in a heap in front of Bastila’s unwavering, incorporeal form as she stared down at her with unyielding love and compassion. “I know what it is you saw,” she told her, as Jayna trembled and panted at her feet. “Your past… everything that has led to this very moment, this shatterpoint in the history of the galaxy…every life our family has given to bring you yours… and a hint of your future, I think?”

“But it can’t be… s-she wasn’t me, but she was me, then she wasn’t… I don’t understand,” Jayna breathed, looking up at Bastila through tear-filled eyes.

“Nor do you need to,” Bastila replied gently. “You just have to trust that you are ready to meet it. To meet her. Fear is the path to the Dark, Jayna. The more you run from it, the more power it gains over you. Let it go… and accept your destiny. Accept it all, Cal included… it is your bond that will light the spark that will restore balance to the Galaxy. You will stand together, alone yet as one, apart but belonging with each other as you have found nowhere else. Trust in the Force… and rise…”

Looking up at the ancient, long-dead Jedi Master, Jayna realised the truth in her words. And how much she had still been running… from who she was, from her past, from her uncertain future and the darkness it potentially held but… she couldn’t. It was a part of her, and she would carry it wherever she went but… she wasn’t alone. Her parents were gone, but she wasn’t without family: Greez, BD-1, Cere… Cal. Her heart filled with light and warmth as she thought of him, washing away her fear as Bastila nodded encouragingly.

“Love is the key to the darkness,” she whispered, smiling even as tears fell from her eyes. “It is the shield to protect you, the sword to defend you, the candle to light your way and guide your footsteps. The greatest weakness of the darkness is a single candle is enough to hold it back. Love is more than a candle… love can ignite the stars themselves.”

The tears dried on Jayna’s cheeks as she gazed up at her long-dead ancestor, her heart feeling strong and vibrant for the first time since Malavai had torn her life apart on Dathomir… but she hadn’t, not really. She was still here, still alive and nothing had changed in reality. The epiphanies she’d suffered on Zeffo and Kashyyyk still held strong, and she knew she would stand firm against the Emperor and the dark as long as she had breath in her body.

For the freedom denied to so many, she realised as she thought of the Wookiees on Kashyyyk and the deported villagers on Zeffo. Standing, she turned her back on Bastila as she paced steadily towards the crystal formation where her mirror self stood, contemptuously waiting with that unnerving yellow stare.

For the justice destroyed by greed, she thought, mind filled with memories of Prauf lying dead in the mud on Bracca, as she stopped in front of the crystal formation and the ghost of her mirror self. Once again, it wavered between her own face and that of the future, unknown woman who looked so like her.

And for the innocents who died, for the past torn asunder so the future might come to be, so future generations might live free… free to choose without the yoke of tyranny and fear, she thought, as she steadily met her other self’s hard gaze, calm and at peace as she thought of Cal, of Cere, even of the others she’d glimpsed in the vision, all fighting for a better future. The Force sang and shone around her, as Jayna tugged her glove off, the one shielding her scarred hand, and then thrust it out-

Only to meet cold, hard crystal as the ghost disappeared, wavering into nothingness as her fingers closed around a hardened pair of points, singing with a crystalline melody in the Force that leapt in recognition at her touch.

‘You have found your path…’ Bastila’s voice, soft, silvery tones in her ear as she felt her presence dissipate behind her. ‘The Force will be with you… always…’

Sorrow filled her, but the ancient Jedi’s task was done. She knew who she was now, truly and without wavering: she was Jayna Shan, daughter of Dreya Shan and Kos Raiden, Jedi, free and more herself than she had been in years. With a deep breath, she exhaled all the pain, fear, anguish, turmoil and terror of her past, letting the Force scrub her clean as the scars on the arm throbbed once, then subsided as she pulled gently on the twin crystal peak in front of her. She was finally set free.

With only a slight tug, they gave way and she cradled them in her hands, the light from a distant fissure in the caves glancing across them. They shone with a deep, fiery golden radiance, like twin stars in her palm as Jayna slowly came back to herself.

And realised she was alone once more. Bastila was gone.

‘Well, not entirely alone…’ she thought wryly, as she felt the sudden, hard butt of a droid’s headcase against her boot. “Ok, ok I’m here, BD!” she hissed, glancing down at the droid as it burbled and chirruped up at her

A moment later, she felt the onslaught of pain and anguish as somewhere in the caves, Cal cried out. “Cal?” she whispered, head snapping towards a secondary tunnel that led away from her cavern, as BD-1 booped in alarm. “C’mon!” she yelled at the droid, turning and rushing from the cavern but not before she reverently tucked the twin kyber crystals into her jacket pocket.

At a sprint, she turned and left the crystal cavern with its throne-like formation far behind, the memories of the vision she’d seen there already turned as ghostly and fleeting as dreams as concern and worry for Cal swamped her mind.

But in her heart, the flames of courage and resolve she’d rediscovered burned brightly as she left the cavern, and its ghosts of past and future, far behind.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Cal plunged into icy water as he finally lost his tenuous grip on the slippery, jagged fissure he’d fallen into. The last thing he saw before he was surrounded on all sides was Jayna’s horrified, helpless face as she lunged for him, BD-1 leaping forward beside her, and then nothing but the water and the darkness as he was swallowed up.

The frigid water was like knifes piercing every inch of his body as his hair and clothes were immediately saturated. He could feel his body seizing up, shock making him gasp even as he fought to deny the impulse, hands scrabbling for the rebreather attached to his belt. The pack on his back pulled him down, as efficiently as if he had a weight tied to his boots. Even as he slipped the rebreather into his mouth, taking a deep, shuddering breath, he shrugged the pack from his shoulders.

He knew he had only minutes before the shock would take over, and then he would be dead. The Force could shield him until he found a way out, but only if he got moving. As the pack sank to the bottom of the crevasse, Cal glanced around at his surroundings.

He was in a sunken, underwater tunnel of ice it seemed, possibly the remnants of an ancient canyon, long since swallowed up by the glaciers that covered the planet. With no way back up, he had no choice but to follow it and see where it led.

With his air supply restored, Cal focussed on slowing his heartbeat, taking long, deep breaths as he opened himself up to the Force. It flowed through him, its light and warmth easing the pain and cold setting into his limbs, so he could move.

Across the Force bond, he could feel Jayna reaching out, her own fear and worry tightly controlled by her calm. ‘Cal? Cal!?’ she called uncertainly, across the Force bond. ‘Where are you?

‘I’m… I’m okay,’ he replied, as he slowly started swimming, following the winding path of the tunnel. Muted though it still was, he could sense her relief even as concern sparked anew at his next words. ‘I’m underwater but I’ve got my rebreather. I had to dump my pack; it was weighing me down.’

He could practically predict what was going through her mind at that very moment, if only because he knew it too. Hypothermia was a very real danger now, with or without the Force. He could feel a numbness settling into his bones, the nerve damage that precipitated frostbite, even as he forced his limbs to keep swimming, heading desperately for the growing light source up ahead. ‘I’m in a tunnel… I’ll see where it leads. Keep going and I’ll find you!’ Cal continued over the bond, his voice weak and strained. ‘I…’

But he trailed off as the light in the underwater tunnel seemed to turn blinding, obscuring his vision as his mind seized, his body going limp. He fought it, as hard as he could, even as a voice echoed in his mind.

‘Cal… Cal…’

Jayna? But no, it was a masculine voice, a man’s voice… Master Tapal? Prauf? But no, there was no leap of recognition as he heard a man’s voice, refined Coruscanti accents trilling over his name, echoing in his head except…

He had heard it somewhere before.

‘Cal… Cal….’

He forced his eyes open to see a large crack in the ice above him, large enough for him to fit through, as he forced himself towards it. It was where the light emanated from and, in the Force, he could feel a pull, calling to him in that same familiar voice, repeating his name over and over.

But he was tired, his body weakening as the cold took its toll. His movements became sluggish and weak, as he stopped swimming, simply floating only metres away from the opening but unable to find the strength to breach the water.

His eyes fluttered closed one last time. ‘Cal…wake up, Cal!’

He jerked awake, pulled from his stupor as he looked up, shock waking him up momentarily as the numbness of his body receded for a moment. Above him, knelt by the crack’s edge, peering into the water was a familiar face, one he had once seen often.

It was a vision of his younger self, the boy he had been, dressed still in his Padawan’s tunic, his braid hanging down over one shoulder as youthful, innocent green eyes looked down on him. The cold made his mind sluggish, as he stared up at the mirage of his younger self in bemused confusion, even as the boy leaned down and thrust his arm into the water, apparently unconcerned by the frigid temperature.

‘Trust me…’ he said, his voice echoing around Cal’s mind as he floated in the tunnel. In the Force, Cal could still just about sense his bond to Jayna, but it was muffled, muted as if blocked once more. He could sense a vague echo of her emotions – fear, uncertainty, and awe – but he pushed them aside as he stared up at the ghost of his younger self. And then, once again, that voice…

‘Trust yourself… trust in the Force, Cal…’

With the last of his strength, Cal thrust his arm up, clumsily grasping his younger self’s hand. The boy he was nodded to him with satisfaction, even as he began to pull Cal up –

And then Cal was pulling himself up and out of the water, collapsing onto the ice-blanketed floor of the cavern he had emerged into, gasping for air as the cold attacked his body anew, his drenched clothes clinging to his body like icy poison, extending its tendrils into his skin as he groaned in pain.

For a moment, he let himself lie there, gasping for breath, curled in on himself in a vain attempt at warmth before he reached for his rebreather, tucking it back into his belt before he glanced up at his surroundings.

Ahead of him, his younger self was striding steadily away from him, seemingly unconcerned now his task was done, disappearing in a flare of light as Cal squinted through it. Once it faded, he realised he was in a large cavern, punctured by towering stalagmites of rock and glittering crystal, as the song of the Force surrounded Cal, reverberating and rippling around him as his senses were bombarded, drowning out the pain and the cold as he hauled himself upright.

There. The call in the Force… it emanated from the closest stalagmite, the one where his younger self had disappeared in a flare of light.

His body shivering violently, Cal stumbled on unsteady, shambling feet towards the stalagmite, forcing himself to make every step, his body aching with cold as his heart raced, his lungs labouring with every breath as the freezing air stabbed his throat and lungs with every inhalation.

The temptation to stop, to just give in, to give up and let himself fall, grew with every step. He was dying, he knew it… not even the Force could protect from hypothermia for long and he had been submerged far too long in such a cold climate. It would be so easy to just give up, and then all his suffering would be over…

But then he thought of Jayna, of BD-1. Of Cere and the holocron, of Greez and his sarcastic quips. Of the Mantis, and the cramped compartment he now called home. Of rainswept Bracca and Prauf’s kind, sad eyes. Of Master Tapal and his stern, exacting demands, and the unexpected tenderness in his eyes as he had looked on his apprentice one last time. And though he had tried not to for so long, he thought of his father, of the man he had once received a pleased smile from, and of his mother, a name he had only heard of, but never seen except for the odd snatches of footage on the HoloNet.

And he kept going, forcing himself onward even as his body folded, sending him tumbling to the unforgiving floor as he hissed in pain, his breath knocked from his body as it turned traitor and refused to carry him any longer. Shivering violently, Cal half-crawled, half-stumbled towards the stalagmite, his eyes fixed on a single point, shining in the scant light of the cavern.

A kyber crystal. His kyber crystal.

With a shaking, unsteady hand, Cal reached out and gently pulled it from its nest, cradling it in his palm as he looked down at it reverently. For a moment, he felt complete as the Force rippled and swirled around him, the energies in the kyber crystal reaching out and fusing to his own and then…

It cracked in two.

Cal stared down at the broken crystal in shock, as agony unlike anything he’d ever felt crashed through him in waves of hot, unrelenting shame and self-loathing. The crystal had rejected him. He had failed.

“No…” he gasped, falling to his knees. “No, no, no, no. NO!”

Closing his eyes to the sight of the broken crystal in his palm, Cal turned and let his body fold in on itself, leaning with his back against the base of the stalagmite, all the stubborn persistence of his spirit snuffed out as the cold and pain finally overwhelmed him. “It’s over,” he whispered, in anguish as he closed his eyes. “I failed.”

‘Failure is not the end, Cal…’ a voice stated firmly, kindly, refined, and elegant, as Cal forced tired eyes open, curled in on himself. What he saw made him gasp, surprise sending an electric jolt through him, waking his deadening senses as the Force rippled and glowed around him.

Stood before him, clad in stained, fraying robes, auburn hair lined with grey, face lined with care and old anguish as he looked down with a kind of patient affection, yet there was wonder and unease in those soulful blue eyes as Cal looked up into the face of his father. “Master Kenobi…?” he gasped uncertainly. “What…? How-?”

Obi-Wan Kenobi smiled. “You stand in the very heart of our ancient Order, where the kyber crystals that power our lightsabers are born and forged over hundreds of millennia… although, perhaps crumpled up in a heap might be a better adjective, hm? The floor can’t be very comfortable,” he said, with a gentle, chiding tone that had Cal flushing yet there was no mockery in Kenobi’s eyes. “The Force is concentrated here. Things are possible that could not be anywhere else.”

“You’re still alive,” Cal breathed. “How?”

Kenobi sighed, looking away as intense sorrow overtook his still handsome features. “That is too long a story to be told now. Suffice to say, I survived the Purge, just you did… my son,” he whispered, turning back to Cal as that look of wonder and unease glinted in his eyes. “It is what is enabling us to speak now. The bond of a father and a son… unknown until now, but still there.”

“I-I don’t understand!” Cal forced out through the chattering of his teeth.

“Nor do we have the time for it,” Obi-Wan sighed, crouching down in front of Cal. “I only learned of you recently. An… old friend informed me of your existence when he sensed Jayna’s awakening.”

“T-then you didn’t know? All those years ago… you didn’t know?” Cal asked, desperately as the older man frowned gently.

“No, I had no idea,” he whispered, in a pained breath. His eyes flashed darkly for a moment, as if seeing Cal’s memories of his confrontation with Trilla, as he added, “Distrust the Dark Side when it offers ‘truth’, Cal. It often fudges it with lies and half-truths to breed mistrust. If I had known… well, nothing would have kept me from you. Or your mother…”

“She was manipulated…” Cal breathed, recalling what Jayna had told him of Malavai’s manipulations.

“Yes,” Obi-Wan sighed, closing his eyes. For a moment, he looked like nothing more than a tired old man, if not for the traces of youth still clinging to his strong frame and handsome face, and not the legend Cal had revered as a youngling. “I am aware of Cordova… both of them… quite the piece of work, the Cordova twins,” he remarked sarcastically, as he opened his eyes once more, looking down at Cal with a twinkling glint there as Cal found himself seized with the urge to laugh. His heart was racing in his chest, full to bursting with so many emotions, he barely knew which to start with.

But the cold sting of the broken kyber crystal, cupped close in his hand, forced him to speak. “I-I failed,” he admitted, shamefacedly as he looked down at the fractured crystal. “It’s over,” he repeated. “I am no Jedi.”

“You are dying,” Obi-Wan said, in agreement as Cal raised his head lethargically, evincing no reaction to his statement. “Do you want to?”

It took a moment for Cal to reply. “No,” he admitted, almost sullenly. “But what use is that?”

“Do you believe that a lightsaber is what makes a Jedi?” the older man asked next, his voice still so gentle and calm. Cal frowned, glancing at the broken kyber crystal then at the shattered hilt still affixed to his belt, before looking back at Kenobi. He smiled sadly. “A Jedi is so much more than his weapon. He is everything that he stands for, everything that he seeks to defend, he is everything that beats in his heart. It is your heart that makes you a Jedi, Cal. Not your lightsaber.”

“If you had failed…” Kenobi trailed off, a tinge of anguish in his voice as he reached out a hand to Cal’s face, gently cupping his cheek. In that moment, Cal could have sworn it was real as he felt the warmth of sun-kissed flesh against his frozen face, as it spread outward from the older man’s touch. “You would have curled up beside your Master and waited for the troopers to find you on Bracca…”

Cal turned his face away, shame curdling in his blood as memories of that horrible vision on Dathomir flashed across his mind’s eye. “I failed him,” he confessed in an agonised whisper.

“No, Cal,” Obi-Wan shook his head, his voice still so quiet, calm, and patient, kind and wise as his eyes glinted at Cal sadly. “Tapal gave his life for the boy he loved as a son… there could be no greater duty for him than that… the only failure would be if you gave up, where you’ve never given up before.”

Cal was silent as Obi-Wan sighed, his gaze seeming to turn inward, yet his hand lingered on Cal’s cheek. “Failure is but the next step in the journey… a necessary step for without it, we cannot grow,” he continued solemnly.

“Master Tapal used to say something like that,” Cal whispered, his voice a harsh croak. Recalled from whatever dark memory the Jedi Master had been caught in, Obi-Wan Kenobi smiled approvingly.

“He was a grumpy sod, but he occasionally got it right,” he teased, surprising a quiet, rueful chuckle from Cal before his smile faded. “You can only move forward if you release the fears of the past. If you face them, confront them…”

“I thought I had,” Cal replied softly. “But they caught up to me in the end.”

“You ran from them, you suppressed them, but you did not face them,” Kenobi told him gently. “Confronting fear… is the true destiny of a Jedi. It is your destiny, and it is before you now. You and Jayna both.”

“Aren’t you going to reprimand me over breaking the Code?” Cal asked, surprised as he looked into Kenobi’s eyes and realised the older man knew about the depth of his feelings for her.

“Once, I might have… now, I am not so sure,” Kenobi sighed, sombrely. “Your feelings for her… they are a testament to you both, to the strength of your bond and your hearts… they could be both your greatest strength and your greatest weakness. But then that all ties into it, doesn’t it? Confronting fear… the fear you will face now, every day for the rest of your life, is the fear of losing her.”

“You did, and you didn’t fall,” Cal pointed out gently, thinking back to the news reports he’d seen of the assassination of the Duchess of Mandalore, broadcast over the HoloNet after the rogue Sith Maul had taken over the planet. He had only been newly apprenticed to Master Tapal then, ignorant of what it had truly meant yet… he had felt inexplicably sad, as though something precious had been taken from the galaxy… from him. A part of him had known his mother had died without consciously being aware of it, of her. Now he knew, now he was aware of it, there was a void, an emptiness inside of him that could only be filled by a mother’s love. And she had loved him, he was sure of it.

“No, I didn’t,” Kenobi nodded, with a sorrowful glance. “But it was a close thing. And it is a balance I must find for the rest of my life. As you will if you are to do what you must. Always, you will need to reconcile your feelings for Jayna and your chosen path, your chosen duty to the galaxy.”

Suddenly, he glanced round, as if something was happening out of Cal’s sight, as the older man frowned in concentration. “Our time runs short, and I have done all I can,” he breathed, looking back to Cal. “Remember, Cal. You must confront your fear. Overcome it, otherwise it shall always rule you.”

“Wait! Please! I have so many questions, so much I need to… so much we need to talk about!” Cal called, pleadingly as Obi-Wan went to stand. “Where are you? Tell me so I can find you again! We need you!”

“I… can’t,” Kenobi sighed, unwillingly, a spasm of yearning and anguish crossing his features as he gazed down at Cal. “My own path… I am tasked with something I cannot walk away from… what is more, I cannot run any risk of the Sith discovering my whereabouts, not if we are have to find new hope of defeating the Empire. Your path is dark, and full of uncertainty. If the Empire were to learn of my whereabouts from you…”

Cal hissed in a pained breath, but he understood. “Will we ever meet again?” he asked, his voice vulnerable and soft, like the boy he had been as he looked up at the strong, steady figure of his father.

Obi-Wan Kenobi’s lips quirked as he stroked his neatly trimmed beard thoughtfully, his eyes distant. “I have a feeling our paths might cross again,” he admitted, with a small smile as he looked back to Cal. His smile turned sad as his eyes roved Cal’s features hungrily. “You have my looks but… you look so much like her still. Your mother,” he explained, at Cal’s questioning glance. “Satine would have been so proud of you, my boy. As I am…”

Cal couldn’t hold his gaze at that statement, full of love and a limitless sorrow, so deep and expansive he didn’t know how the other man could live with it, but somehow, he did. Somehow, he found the strength. A pang of sorrow sounded within him too, for the mother he had never known and the father he had discovered too late.

“Your choice is fast approaching, Cal,” Kenobi declared sombrely. “Only you can confront the darkness within yourself and make the choice that will mark you as a Jedi. It is your destiny and the will of the Force… take comfort in that… trust in it, as you once did, and let your fear go…”

As he spoke, his form became more translucent with every word, until he faded from view. In the Force, Cal felt the connection fade as he called out longingly. “Father? Father!?”

‘Remember, Cal… the Force will be with you always… and so shall I…’

Obi-Wan Kenobi’s calm, loving voice in his head faded as it was drowned out by the sound of footsteps, as a familiar chirruping was overlaid by a panicked, relieved cry of his name.

“Beep-boop!”

“Cal!”

He raised his head and peered through bleary, blinking eyes as two shapes rushed towards him. As the final traces of the Force vision faded, he felt the last ghostly trace of his father dissipate from his mind. But the warmth his presence had instilled in him, that didn’t fade. It lingered, easing the numbness in his limbs, alleviating the chill in his body. Granting him precious minutes.

One of the blurry shapes resolved itself into the form of a young woman, brown-blonde hair tightly braided, clad in black and grey as she threw herself down beside him, hands clasping his face. “Cal? Cal? Answer me, you nerf-herder!” she snapped, brown eyes blazing as her hands searched for his pulse. Despite the panic in her voice, her hands were sure and practiced as they slid over his skin, lingering over the spot where his heartbeat throbbed weakly. “His pulse is weak. BD?”

Beside her, the little exploration droid opened one of its stim storage drawers, popping it up and out into the woman’s waiting palm. “You’re freezing,” she hissed, as she jabbed the micro-needle deep into the skin of his neck. “And drenched.”

“F-Father…” Cal murmured, as the woman glanced at him sharply.

“And delirious. Cal, I need you to listen to me. You’re hypothermic. I need to get the emergency hide set up, then get you out of these wet clothes. You need to stay awake; do you hear me?” she barked at him urgently, dark eyes intent on his. A moment later, she clasped his face between her hands, pulling his lips to hers.

A sharp wave of heat speared through him, warming his body further even if only for a moment. Recognition pierced the fog currently swathing his brain as she leant back from him, gazing down into his eyes. “Stay with me, Cal,” she breathed, as he raised lethargic hands to gently cup her waist.

“Always, Jayna,” he whispered, leaning his forehead against hers for a moment as relief filled those dark eyes as she returned the affectionate pressure.

“BD? Keep an eye on him,” she muttered urgently to the droid as she scrambled off him. “If he starts to drift off, give him a little shock.”

“Hey!” Cal protested weakly, but he didn’t have much strength for it. Jayna ignored him as she shrugged the pack off her back, digging through it as BD-1 trotted closer to Cal, booping worriedly. “Hey bud…” he breathed, reaching out a hand to affectionately caress BD’s head. As he did so, he opened the hand that cradled the fractured crystal as BD looked down at it. “I failed, BD,” he whispered, the warmth of his Force vision and his father’s words lifting as he followed the droid’s gaze to the broken crystal. Despite what he’d said, what Kenobi had assured him, Cal still couldn’t feel anything but the crushing weight of his failure. What did he have left to confront his fear if he didn’t have this…?

“Beeeop!” BD assured him, as Cal patted its head reassuringly.

“That’s good, buddy,” he breathed, as on his other side, Jayna pulled out the emergency survival hide Cere had packed for them. A marvel of innovation, it had been developed for the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars to serve as emergency shelters if their troopers were ever cut off from rescue and evac. The hide was completely heat-sealed, so no excess heat could escape while the flaps were closed so it was impervious to detection by anything that tracked via heat emission. Its inventor had been inspired by the colour-changing scales of the Kashyyyk chameleon so it could blend in with a number of environments as further camouflage. How Cere had managed to get her hands on one, they would likely never know but Jayna thanked her lucky stars she had one. Once set up, she could get the heater going and Cal out of his wet clothes before he was too far gone.

As she worked, she tried not to look at the broken crystal in Cal’s palm, unsure what she could say to alleviate the pain and uncertainty she could feel emanating from Cal. Cal’s entire life, the sum of his identity, was defined by being a Jedi. She didn’t know if this latest blow was one he could come back from. The surety she had discovered after her own Force vision still glowed within her, hot and indomitable as she inwardly vowed to do whatever was necessary to help Cal find his own.

Just as she pulled the toggles that would have the hide springing up from its packing, BD-1 burbled at Cal before the droid trundled away, its holoprojector flaring to life as a familiar voice filled the air once more.

“The time has come…”

Jayna paused in her work, glancing over her shoulder as the grainy hologram of an aging Jedi Master shimmered into being, walking towards a holographic projection of BD-1, affection in those kindly old eyes. Despite herself, she couldn’t help but tense at the sight of Malavai’s twin, no matter how disparate they were in their approaches. Now she knew, she could see the resemblance between the two, but Eno lacked a quality Malavai possessed in spades: arrogance and yet, she could see the same near-fanatical devotion burning in his eyes. His strength of conviction was at least the match of his sister’s.

“This may be the last you see of me,” the Jedi Master stated, a slight break in his voice. “I can sense the doom of the Jedi Order is upon us…”

“Be-bo-beep?” the holographic BD-1 replied, its head drooping sadly.

Cordova chuckled as he stepped closer to the droid, his voice turning firm and comforting, despite the sadness lingering in his eyes. “No! Failure is not the end. It is a necessary part of the path. Hope will always survive in those who continue to fight. Like you, BD-1…”

Both Jayna and Cal turned from Cordova’s ghostly hologram to look at BD-1, the droid patiently relaying its master’s final holo-log even as its holographic doppelganger stepped forward towards Cordova eagerly.

“I believe you will find someone as brave and persistent as you have been,” Cordova continued, with a reassuring smile as he knelt down in front of the droid. “And you will help them as you have helped me. But your memory will be completely lost. Are you sure you want to do this?”

Cal’s laboured, foggy breath hitched as he looked to BD-1 in shocked understanding, as Jayna covered her mouth with a hand, her eyes misty. In front of them, the holographic BD-1’s head drooped, seemingly considering Cordova’s words, before it raised it and replied with a firm, defiant chirrup as it stepped towards its holographic master.

Cordova sighed, reaching into his utility belt for a data chip, holding it ready in his hand. “Beginning total memory encryption,” he said, his voice hoarse with both remorse and affection as he inserted the data chip into the port on BD’s chassis, his eyes visibly misty with tears as he looked down at the little droid. “Only with a trusted connection will your memories be restored. By the time you reactivate, I shall be gone and you will have no knowledge of me, or of our time together…” Cordova seemed to pause, as BD burbled and chirruped, a sad smile breaking through even as he continued solemnly a moment later. “I believe in you… as I always have… and I believe in whom you choose to replace me…” he reached out, caressing BD’s unresponsive head as the droid went into shutdown, deactivating as the memory encryption protocols started taking effect. For a moment, the old man seemed to look up, and directly into the eyes of Jayna and Cal, before sadly glancing back down at the droid at his feet. “Goodbye… old friend.”

Jayna and Cal watched in stunned silence as Cordova removed a small remote from his belt, holding it up to some unseen point before the hologram shimmered and stuttered out of existence, taking the ghost of Cordova and BD-1 with it.

“Be-beep. Be-beep,” BD-1 chirruped sadly as its holoprojectors deactivated, standing staring at the spot where its old master had stood, for a few moments, like a ghost from the past.

“BD…” Jayna breathed, sorrow and awe in her shaking voice as she realised the depth and strength of the droid’s devotion and determination.

“Your memories…” Cal muttered brokenly on her other side, staring at the droid. “You risked them for me?”

The little droid turned and faced them, its head dipping as if in a nod. “Be-beep boop!” it assured Cal, as it stepped towards him once more.

“Yeah, I believe in you too buddy,” Cal sniffed, laughing weakly as Jayna blinked away tears.

“Beep!” the droid asserted, jerking its head towards the hand Cal cupped close, holding the two halves of his kyber crystal. Glancing down at it, Cal’s resolve returned as his father’s words echoed in his head, as well as Eno Cordova’s.

BD-1 had been courageous enough to give up its memories, willingly, and with no certainty that they would ever be decrypted. The least Cal could do to honour the droid’s sacrifice, and trust, was to try and hope. One last time.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Cal breathed, looking down at the two halves of the crystal. Like the two halves of his life, his being. The boy he was and the man he had become. The light and the dark inside of him… Hope flared, weak but resolved, as Jayna reached into her own belt, retrieving her twin pair of kyber crystals. “There’s still a chance. There’s always a chance.”

Jayna opened her palm to reveal her own crystals, golden tinged like twin stars in her hand. “Just as long as we keep fighting,” she whispered as Cal looked down at them, then back up at her eyes. They were calm and at peace, strong and fearless as he had never seen them before. In the Force, he could sense it within her… balance. She had found her peace and made it with her past. That was reflected in the twin crystals that had bonded to her.

Now it was his turn.

Even as he made that resolution, digging deep for the will to move, the crystals seemed to glow from within. In the Force, they resonated with a melodious harmony, one that called to Cal as he looked back at them, barely daring to credit it in case it was just another hallucination of his hypothermic brain but… it was no illusion. The two halves of the crystal gleamed once, an effervescent silver, before they darkened to a bright indigo, vibrant against the bloodless skin of his palm.

As Jayna held her crystals next to his, they seemed to hum in recognition and harmony with each other, a twin set of pairs, of darkness and light recognising one another as Cal and Jayna’s eyes met and held. Like their bond, the kyber crystals in their hands shone like stars, rippling with heat and understanding as the last barrier between them seemed to melt away, leaving them as close as they were before their confrontation with the Ninth Sister on Kashyyyk.

In the Force, the crystals called, and Cal felt every cell of his being leap in answer. But as he tried to scramble to his feet, his legs failed him, and he collapsed to the ground.

The spell broken, Jayna hissed and reached out, hauling him against her. “Oh no, you don’t,” she grumbled, shoving their kyber crystals into the safety of her belt unceremoniously. “Uh uh, no Jedi rituals until we’ve got you warmed up.”

“But…” Cal tried to protest, but he wasn’t really up to it as his body tried and failed to meet his resolve, the shivering returning tenfold as his body practically vibrated in Jayna’s arms.

“Don’t even think about arguing with me, Kestis!” Jayna growled, yanking him towards the hide. “You’re about a minute away from needing serious medical attention. Now strip!”

Even with the flaps open, the interior of the survival hide was warmer than the cavern as Cal momentarily considered protesting once more, but Jayna’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he meekly reached for his drenched, frozen poncho. Hauling it up and over his head, he tossed it aside as Jayna turned and rummaged in her pack. Hauling out three small, tightly packed bundles, she unwound them to reveal thermal blankets, tossing them at Cal’s feet. Unselfconsciously as he could, Cal stripped naked, wrapping himself in the blankets as Jayna set about constructing the heater, beckoning BD-1 in.

“D’you think you could get the heater going with a jolt?” she asked the droid, reaching for the flap seals and snapping them shut.

Feeling a little better, Cal tried to speak up again. “Jayna, we don’t have time for this. We need to get moving before the Imp-!?”

“You’re going nowhere until your core temperature has returned to normal,” Jayna hissed shortly, as the droid scurried to do her bidding. “We’re deep in a remote cavern in the middle of a blizzard. I think we’re safe as we can be, under the circumstances,” she reasoned, as the small heater buzzed to life, its solar batteries radiating intense warmth as Jayna shrugged off her jacket and tunic. Rolling them into a roughly square bundle, she placed it down near the heater and pointed to it. “Lie down while I make us some tea,” she ordered firmly, already turning and rummaging in her pack for her share of the rations.

“Yes ma’am,” Cal replied sarcastically, as she shot him a darkling look, but he could sense her satisfaction with his strengthening voice and mind. The warmth was already easing some of the chill in his bones as he laid down, careful to cover himself as much as possible. Soon, he was as snug as a wampa in a starfighter as Jayna bent over the heater, preparing the tea. She’d rearranged his heap of damp clothing in a tidy pile as close to the heater as she could, letting them dry off as BD watched her curiously. Finally satisfied, she poured out a mug of steaming tarine tea from the rations Cere had packed, crawling across, and handing it to him. It was bitter and unsweetened, but a welcome relief as Cal gasped as the heat from the drink seemed to seep into his muscles. It nearly scorched his mouth, but he drank it as quickly as possible while Jayna hovered over him worriedly, her eyes lingering on the minute shivers that still racked his body uncontrollably underneath the blankets.

“Hey, BD?” she called to the droid, as it perked up and tilted its head quizzically at her. “Can you keep a lookout for us?”

The droid beeped an affirmative as she stood, slightly hunched over in the cramped interior of the hide. Kicking off her boots, she reached for her vest, stripping it off quickly. Speechless, Cal watched as she stripped down, even her thermals, until she stood in her underwear. “What are you doing?” he finally managed to choke out, as she rolled her eyes at his discomfort.

“Sharing body heat,” she replied curtly. Kneeling beside his makeshift bed, she quickly burrowed under the blankets, sliding her body over his until she seemed to lie over him like another blanket, her warmth washing over him with all the comfort of a hot bath. “It might help you warm up.”

“It’ll do that alright,” he muttered lowly, as she shot him an unimpressed look, before laying her head on his chest, her arms tightly pressed across his torso. ‘You know, if you wanted to get me naked, you just had to ask…’ he quipped across the bond, as Jayna smothered a snort against his chest.

‘Cal!’ she retorted in a scandalised whisper. ‘Not in front of the kids! You’ll traumatise the poor droid!’

Chuckling, Cal raised his arms and held her close. Their legs tangled together under the blankets, Jayna wincing at how cold he still felt, but it lessened with every moment that passed, as the effects of the tea, Jayna’s body heat in close proximity to him, the blankets and the hide all helped to slow the shivers racking Cal’s body until they stopped altogether. Eventually, Cal drifted off in a light doze, his body relaxing as he sank gratefully under a cloud of warmth, affection and intimacy, from Jayna, from BD-1 and even in the Force where, just out of reach but still there, he could sense his father’s love rippling through him. His words like a balm, as he inhaled deeply, letting the Force wash him clean as he slept, safe in the sanctity of the Force bond as Jayna floated with him, their peace and strength restored despite the ordeal of the Crystal Caves.

Cal awoke sometime later; unsure how much time had passed as he blinked awake. The shivers had stopped, and he felt normal as he realised whatever Force healing technique his father had used had kept him from the brink of death, only helped by Jayna’s attentions. She slept on against him, her head pillowed against his chest in their cocoon of blankets.

Cal heard a familiar burble, sticking his head out of their cocoon to find BD-1 peering down at him worriedly. “Hey buddy,” he smiled at the droid, wordlessly reassuring it that he was alright. “Thanks for saving my butt. Again.”

BD-1 burbled and chirped, before glancing towards the flap of the hide. Cal’s smile deepened as he laughed quietly. “Sure, bud,” he assured the droid. “Go ahead, just don’t go too far. And be careful in case there are any more Imperial probe droids lurking about.”

BD-1 trilled affirmatively, before scurrying towards the flap. Cal extricated himself from Jayna’s embrace, ignoring her sleepy grumbling as he reached for the flap seal, opening it, and letting BD-1 out as the droid hurried off to explore the cavern.

Once he’d re-sealed the hide, Cal turned and slipped back under the blankets with Jayna, all too wide awake as she grumbled and burrowed deeper into their shared warmth. Smirking affectionately, he leant down and brushed a kiss across her rumpled braid. He felt her stir, waking slowly as she stretched on top of him. “Good morning,” he whispered against her hair, his voice slightly strained as her warmth impinged on him, his body languidly responding to the stimulus as her legs lazily twined around his own.

“Is it morning?” she replied sarcastically, raising sleepy eyes to his as she yawned. “How are you feeling?”

“Better. Normal,” he replied. And it was true if anything… he was starting to feel a tad overheated. As he saw her glance around for BD, he continued, “BD got bored, so he went off exploring.”

“I suppose he’s light enough and smart enough to stay out of trouble,” Jayna conceded, laying her head back down, her fingertips trailing lightly over the muscle of Cal’s biceps and chest. “If you’re feeling better, we should probably think about getting a move on.”

“Not yet,” Cal replied, leaning his head down so he could nuzzle her ear. “We’ve got time.”

Jayna raised her head to stare at him, brows raised. “This from the guy who was all for getting started on building his new lightsaber while only minutes away from dying of hypothermia? What’s got into you?” she asked incredulously.

“Think of it as an… epiphany,” he said, laying his head back down as he stared up at her. “Our lives are so full of darkness and danger… I think we need to stop and appreciate the peaceful moments when we can.”

Jayna eyed him suspiciously, her brows nearly disappearing into her hairline before she huffed and laid her head back down on his shoulder. “If you say so,” she muttered. “Even so, this is… nice.”

“Almost cosy,” Cal grinned, feeling her irritation flare as she snorted against his chest.

“You had to go and ruin it, Kestis,” she quipped, as he chuckled, his arms tightening around her. For a few moments, they lay there in silent companionship, their Force bond glowing like an ember between them, restored to its former strength at last. All around them, they were surrounded by the sounds of the cavern; the slow, unstoppable grinding of the glaciers nearby, the Force-song of the kyber crystals all around them, the trickle of water in some nearby rivulet. Thoughts of the Mantis, Cere and Greez, even the Empire… couldn’t intrude there. “Cal?” Jayna asked, finally breaking the peaceful silence. “What happened? Before we found you?”

Cal sighed, remembering the anguish of the moment when he’d held his kyber crystal and watched as it snapped in two, then the strange, raw tenderness of that Force vision as he’d spoken with his father for the first time. “I saw my father,” he whispered, as Jayna’s eyes snapped to his, wide with shock. As he explained, the shock turned to wonder, her jaw dropping open slightly. Once his tale was done, he looked to her and asked. “What happened to you? I could sense… something, but it was muffled.”

So she told him, explaining how she had found her path to the crystals blocked by an illusion of herself as a Sith, her conversation with Bastila and the vision she’d seen, of her ancestors, her family and the battles they’d fought, and the battles yet to come, with the tall, dark man and the woman in white who looked so much like her.

After she’d finished, Cal laid back, brow furrowed. Her recollections, her visions, resonated all too closely to the prophecy she’d told him Malavai Cordova had been obsessed with. He uneasily wondered what it all meant.

“What do you think they meant?” she asked, drawing him from his ruminations. “Bastila, Kenobi… kind of feels like they were trying to make a point to us both.”

“Perhaps they were,” he agreed, as the image of Jayna’s scarred hand reaching out to her shadowy doppelganger flashed across his mind like it was his own, and he knew she was reliving it in her own head. He thought of the hope he had found, BD’s sacrifice, Cordova’s faith, his father’s words… “Confronting fear is the destiny of a Jedi,” he murmured, as Jayna looked at him questioningly, her eyes serious.

A moment later she spoke too, her voice lilting and soft. “Love is the key to the darkness. It is the shield to protect you, the sword to defend you, the candle to light your way and guide your footsteps…”

“We carry their strength within us. Your family, your parents… mine, Master Tapal… all the Jedi that have come before us,” Cal continued. “They confronted their fear and rejected it. They found their strength in the hope for a better galaxy, a better future. Now we must do the same. That’s what being a Jedi truly means… not the Code, or the Council or a thousand millennia of rules and traditions that couldn’t save us. That’s what we have to find again.”

“Not light, not dark but somewhere in-between. Balanced,” Jayna breathed. Cal nodded.

“My father found the strength to resist the Dark Side when my mother was killed,” he continued, as she raised kind eyes to his. “His love for her made him stronger, not weaker.”

“Love only becomes a weakness if you let it hold too much power over you,” she whispered, looking away. “I said once the Jedi’s view of love was skewed. Do you see me as your possession?”

Cal frowned. “No,” he declared, almost scoffing at the thought. How could anyone imagine… no, delude themselves that they owned Jayna? Wild, untameable Jayna? “You are your own person. I’ll stand beside you for the rest of our lives, but I would never try to hold you down.”

“Any more than I would you,” Jayna replied softly. “If we go into this with our hearts and eyes open… this will become a strength, not a weakness. But for it to work, we have to trust one another to do what’s necessary. To never let our feelings become more important than our duty.”

“I think we have an agreement then,” Cal said, smiling suddenly as she blushed and hid her eyes from him. He had never seen her so bashful, but then he’d also never seen her so unapologetically, emotionally open before. Their lives were so full of danger, the threat of death always hovering, but he knew now they were strong enough to face it together. Even if the worst happened, even if they lost one another… they would carry on, never truly alone. ‘There is no death, there is the Force…’ the Force had brought them together, and now it bound them so tightly they were all but one being. Prophecy or not, manipulated or not, Cal couldn’t find it in himself to care anymore. If any being was foolish enough to believe it made them vulnerable… they would learn their mistake soon enough. “I love you, Jayna Shan.”

Jayna’s breath stilled in her chest, her eyes bright and shining with the same emotion, even if the words stalled on her tongue. Instead, she lunged up and kissed him, pouring all her feelings into it as Cal groaned and clutched her closer. He rolled them over, so he laid over her, his hips cradled between her thighs as she moaned and arched against him, her warmth a potent temptation. Her hands slid into his hair, caressing the fiery strands before sliding down his neck to grip his back as he pressed against her.

They parted, gently panting against each other’s lips as they smiled and suddenly started laughing. ‘Please tell me you weren’t planning on trying to have sex for the first time in the Crystal Caves…’ Jayna trailed off, as Cal snorted, his eyes gleaming.

‘While that would be a novel way of warming up…’ he joked, as Jayna’s eyes widened.

‘I think I just sensed a thousand Jedi Masters turning in their graves,’ she interrupted, only half-joking. ‘I thought this place was sacred!’

‘Perhaps if the intention was… less than pure. But what’s purer than love, and expressing it in its most physical form?’ Cal replied, eyes distant. When he finally looked back to her, his eyes were serious even if a mischievous smile still flirted with his lips. ‘When we finally make love, it’s not going to be in the ‘fresher onboard the Mantis. It’s not going to be while we’re stuck in an ice cave in the middle of a blizzard… it’s going to happen in a warm, comfortable room, with a fire and a bed and all the time in the world because I’m not rushing this. We’ve been pushed into everything so far, our choices all but non-existent. I refuse to let our feelings for each other be another victim of fate, or prophecy or... or circumstance!’

‘I never took you for a romantic, Kestis. A dork and nerf-herder certainly, but this is an unexpected side of you…’ Jayna quipped insouciantly, but Cal could sense the swell of affection as if it was his own. He lowered his head to kiss her once more, but they were interrupted by the chirruping trill of BD-1 as they glimpsed the droid’s outline through the fabric of the hide.

“Great timing, BD,” Cal muttered, as Jayna rolled her eyes, playfully shoving him off her before she sat up.

“We’d better get moving. If the storm blows itself out before we can get back to the Mantis, we’ll be sitting ducks for the Empire,” she pointed out, reaching for her clothes. With a sigh, Cal did the same, dressing in his now dry, if wrinkled, clothes once more as Jayna began packing up the hide. Once they were both dressed and their blankets, heater and rations packed away into her bag once more, they undid the flaps and stepped back out into the chill of the cavern to find BD-1 waiting for them, chirping inquisitively as both smiled affectionately down at him.

“Alright, BD. You’re right, it’s time to get moving,” Cal admitted, as Jayna set about packing away the hide into its packing, compressing it down until it was a fraction of its normal dimensions and stowing it in her pack. As she did so, her hands grazed the box of lightsaber components Cere had given them, as the Force seemed to ripple at the touch.

‘It is time…’

At Bastila’s whisper, Jayna pulled it free, turning to Cal as he nodded to her. Together, they turned towards a large shelf of rock. It could have been mistaken for a naturally occurring formation, covered in ice and crystalline deposits, but something in Jayna whispered it had been placed there for a reason.

In silence, they approached the bench, placing the box of components down as Cal unclipped his lightsaber from his belt and Jayna did the same, laying them side by side on the cold surface of the bench. Next, Jayna reached into her belt, retrieving their kyber crystals and placing them down beside the hilts before she looked to Cal.

“What now?” she asked quietly, as BD hopped up on Cal’s back, peering curiously over his shoulder as Cal smiled gently.

“There was an old chant Jedi Masters would recite while watching their Padawans construct their blades,” he explained. “Before the Clone Wars, when the Gathering was a ritual conducted only between a Padawan and a Master.”

“Alright,” Jayna nodded. “But I’m no technical genius here? How do I build a lightsaber?”

“Let the Force guide your hand,” Cal replied. “Close your eyes, let it in. Reach out, and let your feelings guide you.”

Taking a deep breath, cognisant of the fact that once upon a time, such advice would have had her rolling her eyes with derision, Jayna closed her eyes, shifting her awareness within until she found that anchor within herself, before sending her awareness out as the Force poured itself into her. On the opposite side of the bench, she felt Cal do the same as he started to speak aloud, his voice soft but commanding. And in the Force, she felt the echo of an untold number of voices, a softly whispering gestalt of the Jedi that had come before them, urging them on with approval and hope as the words of the Jedi echoed around them:

“The crystal is the heart of the blade…”

 Cal and Jayna removed the kyber crystals from the hilts, the shattered pieces of Jaro Tapal’s crystal and the faded green of Cere Junda’s. Reverently, they laid them aside as they reached for their own crystals, but not with their hands. With the Force.

“The heart is the crystal of the Jedi…The Jedi is the crystal of the Force. ”

Jayna felt the deep peace of meditation wash over her, as her senses expanded to encompass the cavern they stood in, the wind as it whistled and howled over the mountains above their heads, the slow grinding of the glaciers under their feet, the heat of the magma as it glowed and spat molten fire in the depths of the planet. And through it all, she felt the crystalline harmonies of the Force as it resonated in the crystals all around them. She felt it enter her soul, taking root even as she felt it do the same in Cal, as slowly, the hilts of Jaro Tapal and Cere Junda were stripped away until only a skeletal chassis remained.

"The Force is the blade of the heart… All are intertwined…" Cal and Jayna intoned, their voices layered with the power of a million others, as slowly their new weapons took shape under their power. What would have exhausted her before, now took barely a thought as she sank ever deeper into the energies of the Force around her, as the image of her weapon took shape in her mind, and as it did so, new components were summoned and manipulated by invisible hands under her own, as they hovered beside Cal’s. Eyes unseeing and yet seeing everything, they looked up as they felt the last words of the chant echo in the very fibre of their being, the Force bond vibrating like a string on a harp, glowing with all the vibrancy of a supernova.

“The crystal, the blade, the Jedi… You are one…” the voices of the Jedi, of the Force itself, declared as Cal and Jayna straightened up, slowly coming back to themselves as their awareness ebbed, the bond dying to a smouldering ember in their minds, their power simmering comfortably in their veins as they looked down at their work.

 The dented, tarnished components that had made up Cere’s blade were gone, piled in a heap beside Jayna’s hand, and in its place was a long, slender double-ended hilt of osmiridium layered over the chassis, enamel panels laid over dark animal hide bindings. At one end, Cere’s emitter was still visible, as Jayna laid a trembling hand over its grip.

 Opposite her, Cal’s hilt had also taken shape. He had stripped the tarnished duranium away and replaced it with shining chromium. At one end, the cylindrical emitter from his old saber could still be seen, but its other end was gracefully blunted with an extended lip, shining in the silvery-grey light of the cavern. In the centre of the hilt, Jayna could see a seam where Cal had repaired the broken end of his Master’s hilt. With a hidden switch at the other end of the hilt, he could detach the two ends and wield dual sabers.

 For her part, untrained as she was in Jar’Kai, she had opted for a dual-ended saber, albeit one with a redundancy built in, in case the hilt was ever severed in two, courtesy of her twin crystals. Just as she did, Cal held out his hand over the hilt and she sensed him reaching out to the crystals within, shuddering as the connection was forged. 

With a trembling breath, she felt the same connection snap into being between her and her own crystals, as the Force trembled around them.

 Meeting each other’s eyes, they picked up their new sabers, stepping away from the bench.

 ‘This is it…’ Cal breathed across the bond.

 ‘Now or never,’ Jayna agreed, as her fingers squeezed the switch. Beside her, Cal did the same.

 With a deep, comforting hum, their sabers emitted shining blades from each end, glowing deep indigo and golden yellow, as they flourished them, testing their weight and balance as Cal split his saber in two, twin blades the colour of a star-nebula slicing through the air. Just like her quarterstaff had once felt, Jayna spun the hilt of her saberstaff above her head, its dual-ended blade like a sword of golden sunlight. 

Pleased, exhilarated smiles lit up their tired faces as BD-1 booped exuberantly from Cal’s back as they deactivated their new sabers. All around them, the Force echoed and rippled with the weight, the rightness of the moment as they clipped the hilts onto their belts, standing tall and unbowed as they looked to each other and nodded once.

 “We will honour the past…” Cal breathed.

 “But we won’t be bound by it,” Jayna finished for him, as she glanced towards the bench where the spare components, and the shattered remnants of Jaro Tapal’s crystal and Cere’s, waited for them. By unspoken consensus, they packed up the unused components once more, including the discarded parts of their old hilts, before picking up the old crystals.

In Jayna’s palm, Cere’s meadow-green crystal glowed faintly while in Cal’s cupped palm, sparkled the shattered fragments of his old Master’s shining blue crystal. She could sense the faintest echoes of the man who had wielded it, his tenacity, ferocious courage and gruff kindness emanating from it as Cal stared at them, lost in thought, or memory, as his psychometry showed him the hidden depths of the man he had looked to as a father.

With a sad smile, he turned and tipped the crystal shards into a small alcove at the base of the rock formation he’d taken his own crystal from. Wordlessly, Jayna joined him, placing Cere’s crystal alongside it. Laying the past to rest.

For a moment, they stared down at the crystals lying side by side, in the company of their unclaimed kin, in silent respect as Cal reached out and grasped Jayna’s hand tightly. She squeezed back, before they turned and walked away.

Just beyond the bench was an old tunnel, long since blocked by sharp, ice-covered stalagmites. They strode purposefully towards it, pausing for a single moment as something, a feeling, caused them to hesitate at the edge of the tunnel opening.

Cal and Jayna glanced back, ignoring BD’s questioning boops, their eyes roving over the abandoned workbench, the glittering crystal points of the rock formations, feeling the echoes of the Jedi who had walked the same path they had, as a familiar pair of voices echoed in their heads.

“The Force will be with you…” whispered the voice of Bastila Shan, gentle and loving.

“Always…” whispered the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi, kind and warm.

 With tears in their eyes, but their strength, hope and purpose renewed, Cal and Jayna turned away from the crystal cavern. With twin flourishes, they activated their blades, nebulous indigo, and shining gold, as they began to carve a path through the stalagmites, soon leaving the cavern and its crystalline secrets, far behind.

 To be continued…

Chapter Text

After a few moments of cutting their way through the stalagmites, Cal, Jayna and BD-1 emerged from the ice tunnel into a wide, bow-shaped chamber, with another tunnel leading away.

At that moment, their comms sputtered back to life as Cere’s worried voice came over the transmission, shaky with static but just about audible.

“Cal? Jayna? Do you read me?”

Cal and Jayna glanced at one another, before Jayna replied. “We read you, Cere. Loud and clear.”

Cere’s relief was palpable as she sighed, the sound transmitting as a rush of static. “Thank the Force. When we lost your signal, I was worried,” she admitted. “You two are going to make me go grey at this rate. Greez was pulling his whiskers out, he was so agitated!”

“I was not!” the Latero protested vociferously, as Cal and Jayna exchanged a knowing look while BD-1 booped amusedly. “But I’m glad you’re okay,” he grumbled a moment later. “You…are okay, aren’t ya?”

“We’re fine, Greez. We got… a little held up, but we’re just coming out of the caves now. We should be back at the Mantis within a couple of hours,” Cal replied, choosing by unspoken accord not to mention his little brush with hypothermia.

“Speaking of which, I’ve been monitoring Imperial communications since you told us about the probe droids,” Cere said, her voice turning cool and serious. “It’s been tricky to make out much due to the storm, but I don’t think the Imperials are actively searching for you. They’re aware two of their probe droids have gone missing in the caves but for the moment, they’re not investigating.”

“Thanks for the heads-up,” Cal replied. “What are they even doing here?”

“I don’t know,” Cere admitted, with a sigh. “The comms chatter hasn’t been… illuminating exactly. Just complaining about the cold, mostly. But be wary. I don’t like this one bit.”

“We will, thanks for the warning, Cere,” Jayna replied, closing the transmission as she glanced at Cal. ‘If there are Imperials on the planet, we need to get a move on. If we’re contactable again, that means the storm is passing and it’s only a matter of time before they detect the Mantis.’

‘Agreed,’ Cal replied, with a firm nod. Without another word, they turned and took the next tunnel, cutting their way through the stalagmites barring their way. As they went, Cal found himself eying Jayna’s saber admiringly, as the golden yellow blade cut an effortless swath through the hardened ice and rock. ‘How are you finding your saberstaff?’

‘So far… it feels perfect. Like an extension of my arm,’ she replied, with a warm glow of appreciation as she darted a glance at his own. ‘Like I’ve always wielded it or… waited to wield it or something…Yours?’

‘I always thought about making a two-part saber, after I passed the Trials and became a Knight,’ he admitted, glancing down at the sleek hilt in his hands, the bright indigo blade whirring softly in the silence of the tunnels. ‘Never quite imagined I’d end up with a purple crystal though. I always thought I’d get blue, like my first lightsaber… and Master Tapal’s…’

‘Perhaps, once upon a time you would have,’ Jayna suggested. ‘But times have changed and so have you. I like it.’

‘Yours is pretty well matched too. The yellow of a Sentinel, neither consular nor guardian… suits you to a T,’ Cal replied, as she shot him a questioning look. ‘The Sentinels were a group of Jedi who devoted their time to serving outside the Temple, often focussing on a single planet or system. They also used to teach that a Jedi shouldn’t focus solely on the Force and the lightsaber as worthwhile skills to be learned. I guess you fit that description pretty well.’

‘I… think that was a compliment,’ Jayna replied sarcastically, before her eyes softened. ‘A bit like my mother then… after she left the Order, she and my father devoted their time to Pasaana and its people. She might have left the Order, but she was still a Jedi at heart, I think.’

‘Then it’s fitting that her daughter walks the same path,’ Cal said, with a smile even as hers faded. Up ahead, the tunnel gave out as sunlight came streaming in and with it… the sound of comms chatter. Imperial comms chatter.

‘That path is about to get bumpy again,’ Jayna quipped, eyes narrowed against the glare of the sunlight. With a deep breath, she centred herself in the Force as she glanced at Cal. “Ready?” she breathed aloud.

“Always,” Cal smiled, stepping forward and into the light. In the split second they had before the scout troopers became aware of them, he scanned their surroundings. Their tunnel had given out onto a wide, snow-covered platform overlooking a long trench, its sides towering high over their heads. Five troopers stood near its edge, while a sixth stood with his back to the tunnel opening, already in the act of turning on his heel as he detected the sound of footsteps and the whirring of their lightsabers behind him. With barely a flicker of thought, Cal reached out and Force-pulled the nearest trooper into his blade, impaling him as his fellows all spun and stared for a moment in dumbstruck horror. As the trooper collapsed to the ground, Cal smirked, flourishing his blade with a jaunty flick of his hand as he called nonchalantly, “Hello there!”

Beside him, he could feel Jayna’s exasperated amusement as she brought her own blade to bear, as the troopers all exploded in panicked shouts. ‘What am I going to do with you?’ she asked with an affectionate smile as he rolled his eyes.

“J-Jedi? Here? I thought they were all d-dead!”

“Moving to engage!”

“Call in reinforcements!”

“Just get them!”

As the scout troopers all brandished their electro-stun batons, Cal and Jayna leapt forth into battle.

Taking a flying leap, using the Force to send her soaring over the heads of the troopers, Jayna landed in front of the furthest trooper, blocking his wild swing of his baton with her blade before flicking her hand out, sending him careening into the trench with a cry as the Force pushed him from the platform. Sensing the approach of two more, she turned and flung her saber away, the double-ended blade rotating so quickly, it became a disc of golden, lethal light as it sheared through the necks of the two troopers rushing her. They fell to the ground, the stumps of their necks smoking as Jayna summoned her weapon back to her hand.

By the tunnel opening, Cal had dodged the initial charge of the closest trooper, blocking the attack of the next before turning and reverse-thrusting his blade through his stomach even as he parried the overhead blow of the other trooper with his lightsaber’s other end.

“H-hey, that’s cheating!” the trooper yelled, as Cal detached the two sabers with a flick of his hand, letting the impaled trooper sink to the ground even as he turned and spun, bringing both blades down in a lethal arc on the head of the trooper. Even as the last trooper came at him, Cal reversed one of the blades, stabbing it behind him even as he drove the other into the helmet of the trooper in front of him, both stopping short in their attempts to attack him as they cried out in pain. Neutralised, they sank to the ground as Cal reattached the two hilts of his blade, turning to look at Jayna as the sound of shuttle engines sounded above them.

A dropship debarked another squadron of scout troopers, all readying their batons as they advanced steadily towards the two Jedi, their commander calling over cockily, “You should run from this squadron!”

“Okay,” Jayna quipped, shrugging her shoulders as she turned and sprinted towards the ice-clad walls either side of the platform. Sensing two troopers pursuing her, Jayna let the Force flow through her, lending her agility and speed as she leapt towards the wall, planted her boot against it squarely, then pushed off in the opposite direction, activating her saber with a blur of golden energy. She impaled one of her pursuers through his chestplate, pulling the weapon free and over her head just in time to block a strike to her spine, twisting under the trooper’s baton as she re-directed it up and over her head, swiping her own blade down low as she cut his legs out from under him.

On her other side, Cal had effortlessly cut down his own attackers, but another dropship flew in, disembarking its load of troopers as Cal and Jayna exchanged a knowing glance. They didn’t have time for this. ‘I think they’re finally starting to take this seriously!’ Cal remarked as two squadrons fanned out in front of them, batons raised menacingly.

‘Well then, let’s show them just how serious we can be!’ Jayna replied, as the bond rippled and shone between them, enveloping them both as they reached for it.

Together, they took a running leap, soaring high into the air as BD-1 chirruped and booped ecstatically on Cal’s back, concentrating a wave of Force energy in their hands as they landed right in front of the disembarked troopers, slamming their hands palm-down against the chilled metal of the platform floor as a shockwave of telekinetic energy ricocheted outwards from where their palms met the metal deck. Several troopers were launched backwards over the lip of the platform, falling into the trench with helpless cries as the dropship was rocked by the shockwave. Losing control, it veered wildly, smashing into the side of the trench, and disappearing in a fireball.

Meanwhile, on the platform, a couple of the troopers had been sent flying into the walls either side, the impact and the force with which they went breaking skulls and snapping necks so they lay still where they’d fallen, but the rest were recovering with groggy moans, clambering to their feet as Cal and Jayna stood tall amongst them.

With another shared nod, Cal and Jayna raised a hand and pulled. Through the Force, invisible threads wrapped around the recovering troopers’ arms and legs, yanking them forward as Jayna and Cal’s saber spat blades of burning yellow and shimmering indigo.

One of the troopers had recovered enough to groan feelingly, his eyes on the lethal blades and implacable faces of the fugitives in front of them. “I have a bad feeling about this-!” he groaned, just before a saber blade severed his windpipe.

With a twist of his hand, Cal separated his two blades, settling into a Jar’Kai stance as he turned and spun, his blades turning into a whirling, deadly tornado of light and heat as he took down his opponents in a flash.

For her part, Jayna wasn’t about to be outdone. Pulling her share of troopers towards her with the Force, she inhaled deeply for a moment, anchoring herself firmly before she flicked her saber into the air. Manipulating it with the Force, she sent it whirling around her head in a spinning, lethal arc, decapitating the unfortunate troopers before they had a chance to cry out.

An eerie silence fell, as Jayna reached up a hand to catch her saber, deactivating it as she sensed no more enemies remained, as Cal panted slightly beside her, reattaching his sabers before he clipped it to his belt. Their eyes met, as an impish smirk crossed his face. “Show-off!” he quipped, as BD booped in agreement.

Jayna’s brow quirked sardonically. “Pot. Kettle. Black, Kestis,” she retorted. Their levity faded as Cal glanced towards the trench, the blood draining from his face as he stepped towards the edge of the platform. “What is this?” Jayna asked quietly, her eyes following him as she turned, unease growing in the pit of her stomach.

“They’re ripping the planet apart,” Cal breathed in horror, his eyes on the mining equipment in plain view, droids going about their work with mindless efficiency. “They’re mining the kyber crystals, that’s why the Imperials are here. They were never tracking us.”

“Wooo…” BD replied as Jayna joined Cal by the edge of the platform.

“But why? What do they need the crystals for?” she whispered, her heart aching as the Force seemed to echo with pain and despair. Suddenly, she understood the storm that had raged when they first arrived and the seismic tremors that had racked the caves. In the Force, Ilum was a planet besieged and wounded, with no chance of succour.

“I don’t know,” Cal admitted. “But it won’t be anything good. Cere?” he added, activating the commlink. He didn’t wait for her greeting before continuing. “We need to get out of here. They’ve taken over Ilum.”

“Are you both alright?” she asked urgently.

“No, they spotted us,” Cal admitted, with a sideways look at Jayna. “And that’s not all. They’re mining kyber crystals.”

“Captain! Prepare for take-off!” Cere barked over the line, not waiting for Greez’s acknowledgement as she turned her attention back to Cal and Jayna. “You need to hurry. Secrecy is no longer a priority, just get back here!”

“Won’t be a problem,” Jayna interjected, glancing around them at the detritus of their fight. “I think we’re pretty much left a big, fat clue to our presence here.”

“You’re lighting up Imperial channels! They’re sending everything they’ve got at you!” Cere told them briskly.

“Are you and Greez safe?” Cal asked, frowning with concern.

“We’re laying low but the storm’s clearing up. We won’t have any cover soon,” she admitted, as Cal and Jayna glanced at each other determinedly.

“What about disguising the Mantis’s signal?” Jayna asked, as they turned and began jog towards a ledge set back in the wall of the trench. Above it, a door led into the mining facility.

“That trick only works if they’re not expecting it. I have another idea,” she assured them calmly. “I’ve sliced through their encryption. I’m scrambling transmissions but it won’t be long before they’re restored. Hopefully it’ll buy us some time.”

“Thank you,” Cal murmured. “I can sense Stormtroopers everywhere.”

“Ilum was our planet, Cal. Don’t let them forget that,” Cere declared firmly, an edge of fierceness in her voice that they’d never heard before.

As they climbed up onto the ledge, they paused, glancing down at the dead troopers while nearby, a plume of black smoke trailed up from the trench where the dropship had crashed. “Oh, I doubt they’ll be forgetting that any time soon,” Jayna quipped, with a certain amount of satisfaction as Cal terminated the transmission. Without wasting another second, they turned away and hurried into the mining facility.

They met heavy resistance as they fought their way through security droids, scout troopers, regular Stormtroopers, rocket-launcher troopers, and Purge troopers. But anchored and at peace in the Force, they cut them down with effortless efficiency as they cleared a path through the mining facility and into the caves beyond, eventually finding their way back to the main chamber of the Jedi Temple.

Once again, their commlink burbled as Cere’s voice came in, frantic and urgent. “They’ve broken through and called reinforcements! Every star destroyer in the sector is on their way here! If they get here before you do…”

“No, we didn’t come all this way to be captured. We’ll be there,” Cal assured her firmly.

“Cere, tell Greez to close the Mantis. I have a feeling you might be getting a few unwelcome visitors soon,” Jayna added, with an approving nod from Cal. if Zeffo was any indication, more than a few.

“What!?” Greez exploded in their ears. “With the Empire on your tail? Are you crazy kid!?”

“Trust us,” Cal replied, simply.

“We do,” Cere stated. “We’ll close the ship. Hurry, you two!”

“You got it,” Jayna replied, closing the transmission as the rear wall of the Temple chamber suddenly exploded, the smoke and rubble clearing to reveal two security droids, a probe droid and two Stormtroopers as they summoned their sabers to hand. With twin purposeful, determined grins, Cal and Jayna leapt forth into battle once more.

Five minutes later, they hurried away from the Jedi Temple at a fast jog, leaving behind them a trail of destruction that would go down in the collective memory of the Imperial Army for at least a decade. For years afterward, new arrivals at the Imperial garrison on Ilum would be regaled with fearfully whispered tales of the ghosts that wandered the bare, skeletal remains of the Jedi Temple and the Crystal Caves, wreaking terrible vengeance for the deaths of their brethren with blades of shining sunlight and twilight. As much as Imperial High Command did their best to suppress such ghost stories, they never quite succeeded and so many a trooper jumped out of their skin at the slightest sound or half-glimpsed shadow out the corner of their eye whenever they went on a patrol through the Crystal Caves and the ruined Temple. Ilum had wreaked what revenge it could for the sack of the Temple and its secrets.

After a slightly hairy encounter with two AT-STs on the frozen lake, Cal, Jayna and BD-1 made it back to the Mantis. Throwing themselves up the landing ramp, Greez barely waited for them to fall in the door before he fired the engines. The ship lifted into the air, streaking towards the stars as they found themselves rocked by turbolaser fire, as Cal and Jayna stumbled towards the cockpit, Jayna shrugging off her pack as she did so.

“You took yer time!” Greez greeted them brusquely, as he nimbly flew between turbolaser bursts, as they cleared atmo only to find the ominous shape of two Star Destroyers racing looming in front of them. And a host of TIE fighters screeching towards them.

“Lovely to see you too, Greez,” Jayna fired back, throwing herself into the gunner’s chair and strapping in as Cal joined Greez in the co-pilot’s chair. Immediately, her readouts lit up, showing her grid and the oncoming signals that represented the TIE fighters. Thumbing the joysticks, she fired up the Mantis’s blaster cannons as Greez threaded through the turbolaser fire.

“Never mind the pleasantries!” Cere snapped, dark eyes fraught and worried as she frowned direfully. “Get us out of here!”

“Where?” Greez asked.

“Anywhere but here!” Cal declared, already plotting in a set of co-ordinates. A second later, the TIE fighters, Star Destroyers and Ilum disappeared in a flare of silver-blue light as realspace gave way to hyperspace.

The crew of the Mantis breathed a collective sigh of relief, as Cere swivelled her chair round to face Cal and Jayna, as they did the same, a warm smile on her face.

“Well, now that we have a moment to breathe,” she said, with a nod to Greez as the Latero huffed brusquely. “I see you succeeded.”

Silently, Cal and Jayna held up their newly constructed lightsaber hilts as confirmation, as Cere’s eyes flashed with pleasure, pride, and bittersweet yearning.

“May I?” she asked, holding out her hand to Cal. He handed her the weapon wordlessly, as she weighed the hilt, testing its balance as she glanced over the construction appreciatively. When she handed it back, Jayna held out her own, feeling oddly curious and trepidatious, as if waiting for criticism from a teacher she was anxious to impress. “Well-constructed weapons,” Cere remarked, as she thumbed the ignition. The golden blade glowed in the small cockpit, as Cal did the same, the air alive with the hum of the weapons as tears sparked in Cere’s eyes. “Unusual crystals but… you did it,” she pronounced warmly, as she deactivated Jayna’s lightsaber and handed it back. Glancing at Cal as he did the same, her smile only widened with pride. “Both of you.”

“We did,” Cal replied firmly, glancing sideways at Greez before meeting Cere’s gaze. “We wouldn’t be here without all of you.”

“We’d never have made this far without you two,” Jayna added in agreement as Cere looked down at her hands, uncomfortable, while Greez shifted in his seat. On the console, BD-1 booped comfortingly as Cal continued.

“I used to sit on Bracca, dreaming about storming Coruscant with survivors from the Jedi Council,” he admitted, with a rueful grin as Jayna looked at him with a little smile of her own. “Instead, the Order’s hopes rest on a gambler, a fallen Jedi, a failed Padawan and an orphaned runaway. A bunch of screw-ups!”

Cere and Jayna chuckled as Greez replied, “You can say that again!”

“BD’s the only reliable one,” Cal said, with a fond glance at the little droid perched beside him on the console. The droid all but preened, tilting its head at the group as it chirruped, making them all laugh again. “He let Cordova wipe his memories so he could stay behind and guide us,” Cal told them, as Cere’s eyes blanked with shock and Greez whistled. Obviously, for all she knew or guessed about her old Master’s plans, Cere hadn’t been aware of the extent of BD-1’s devotion.

“But it’s not just BD,” Jayna interjected, suddenly compelled to speak though she wasn’t usually one for speeches. “Both of you are willing to sacrifice everything…to keep going even when it feels impossible… to hold to the path, no matter how hard it gets or what it throws at us.”

“Failure’s a part of the journey,” Cere insisted gently. Jayna simply nodded as Cal replied.

“I get that now,” he admitted wryly. His voice turned soft as he looked first from Greez to Cere, then from BD-1 to Jayna, his eyes warm and loving as he said, “Thank you. All of you.”

The ship juddered as it reverted to realspace, the warmth and affection of the last minute dissipated as Cere turned back to her instruments. A moment later, she breathed a sigh of relief. “We’ve come out of hyperspace a few parsecs away from Ilum. It’s an unpopulated system… and I can’t detect any Imperial signals. I think we’re safe, for the time being.”

Greez peered at his instruments before huffing disconsolately. “Back to Dathomir then, I guess?” he asked, without much hope. When he was met with pointed silence, he groaned. “Fine. Back to creepy central it is. It’ll probably take us about thirty hours to get back to Dathomir from our current position.”

“Thanks, Greez,” Cal said, clapping the Latero on the shoulder as he stood from his chair. “It’s time I faced him,” he added, with a knowing look at Jayna as her smile faded. It was time to face more than that.

“Cere, we need to tell you everything that happened on Dathomir,” she began, stiltedly as the other woman turned to face her. “In fact, we need to tell you everything that’s happened since we were ambushed by Trilla on Zeffo.”

Cere’s eyes flared with alarm and curiosity, as she looked from Cal to Jayna, and back again. They felt the slight judder as the Mantis jumped to hyperspace again, as Jayna looked at Cal, unsure where to begin. “We haven’t been completely honest with you,” Cal started, as Jayna swallowed hard and nodded in agreement.

“I’m listening,” Cere replied, carefully.

“Trilla had more… revelations to share with us on Zeffo, not just about you and her,” Cal began, his voice growing surer and stronger with every word. “She had some…insights to offer us too. About our identities, about our families…”

“I don’t understand?” Cere replied, frowning slightly.

“The DNA scans they used to identify us flagged up results in the Jedi Archives,” Cal explained. “For Jayna, it flagged up her mother… Dreya Shan. And her father, a Force Sensitive called Kos Raiden.”

“My mother discovered him on Pasaana after she was knighted,” Jayna took over the explanation, as Cere’s features blanked in astonishment. “The Council refused to train him because he was too old, so she left the Order to be with him.”

“Dreya Shan…yes, I remember the name,” Cere breathed, huffing once in shock. “I just never… Shan is such a common surname, I just never dreamed in a million years that you were her daughter…”

“But that’s not all,” Cal interjected, with a sideways glance at Jayna. Through the Force bond, she tensed slightly then relaxed as he smiled ruefully, silently agreeing not to reveal that particular secret. “The DNA analysis Trilla ordered flagged up other results for me too. My father was… is a Jedi Knight.”

Cere’s eyes widened comically, as Greez sucked in a breath. “Who?” she asked faintly.

“Obi-Wan Kenobi,” Cal replied, as Cere sat back in her chair, almost collapsing in on herself as she shook her head. “I almost didn’t believe it myself but… I couldn’t sense any deceit in her, not at that moment. She was being truthful.”

“Trying to use it to unsettle us,” Jayna added. “To make us slip up, make mistakes.”

“Cal…” Cere began, but he held up a gloved hand to stall her.

“There’s more, Cere. More you need to know,” he said, with a sideways glance at Jayna. Taking the hint, she took over the story, explaining how they became separated on Dathomir, and her confrontation with the woman she’d once known as Halas Torone. She explained about the prophecy, and Malavai Cordova’s manipulations, including the murder of her parents and planting a block and Master-Padawan bond in her head. The only part she left out was the truth of her father’s origins. That was information no one, except her and Cal, needed to know. Not unless it became absolutely necessary to tell anyone else.

They then explained how they had found one another in the antechamber of the Tomb, then their scuffle with Malicos and the Nightsister. As they finished their tale, Cere simply sat back in stunned silence, as no one else moved, not even BD-1 as the droid waited for the fallout.

“Ha!” Greez snorted, breaking the tension, chuckling uncontrollably. “You two certainly don’t do things by half!” he declared, waving a hand at them as Cal and Jayna smiled uncomfortably.

“That’s one way of looking at it, I s’pose,” Jayna sighed, glancing down at her hands. On one hand, the scars left by her use of Force Lightning gleamed in the dim lights of the cockpit. “We don’t do it deliberately.”

“And that’s another way of putting it,” Cere replied, shaking her head. They could sense her disaffection, hurt, and suspicion through the Force, but also a sense of resignation also. “Truthfully, I’m a little hurt you didn’t share this information with me sooner,” she admitted, before she shrugged and smiled ruefully. “But I can’t say I entirely blame you after I kept the truth about Trilla from you.”

“Cal wanted to tell you about the voices in my head sooner but…” Jayna spoke up, with a swift glance at Cal. Shaking her head, she continued, “I didn’t trust you, Cere. I’m sorry.”

Cere nodded. “I understand. If I were in your place, I might even have done the same thing,” she replied. “It’s in the past. You’ve told me, now I know. Let’s move on. No more secrets.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Cal and Jayna both said, “Agreed.”

It took everything in Jayna not to look at Cal, fidget or make any other tell-tale gesture or sign that she was still holding back. Slightly to her surprise, Cal didn’t give away their shared secret either, as Cere looked away, brow furrowed in thoughtful speculation.

“I’m not sure I like this prophecy,” she admitted, seriously. “A world of broken things… I suppose that could be Bracca…”

“Certainly fits the description,” Greez huffed brusquely, folding his arms. “Biggest trash heap in the Galaxy.”

“Hunted they shall be, without home or family… you both grew up either not knowing your parents or orphaned…they will seek the Three Sages and the rebirth of the Light… but surely that means that our mission is prophesised to succeed!?” Cere continued, growing more excited as she thought through the words they’d told her. But then her brow creased again, as she shook her head. “But the second part… makes no sense… and Cordova always told me prophecy was an inexact art, open to abuse and misinterpretation, that it was possible to avert the very future you were trying to achieve, or vice versa, if you weren’t careful.”

“Malavai seemed pretty sure about it. Everything she did since leaving the Order has been about seeing the prophecy fulfilled,” Jayna pointed out, a little relieved that Cere had apparently skipped over or forgotten the words about forbidden feelings and her and Cal’s union.

“True,” Cere conceded, rubbing her face thoughtfully as she frowned. “Son of the light obviously refers to Cal but daughter of darkness?”

Jayna froze despite herself, then sighed. “It might be because of this?” she offered, holding up her scarred hand, and pushing her sleeve back. Cere leant in to look with a sharp inhale, her eyes going wide. “I used Force Lightning on Dathomir… I just got so angry… after I remembered what happened to my parents and everything Malavai said, I just-,” she trailed off, frustrated at her inability to find the words to explain. “I know it’s no excuse, that a Jedi must rise above such emotions.”

She felt Cal reach out, both physically and in the bond, as he clasped his hand over her scarred one. At the same time, Cere laid her hand on her shoulder, drawing her gaze to the compassionate eyes of the older woman. Despite her expectations, there was no judgment there.

“You wanted to kill her in that moment, didn’t you?” Cere asked, knowingly. Swallowing hard, Jayna looked down and away, giving the former Jedi all the answer she needed. She sighed, squeezing Jayna’s shoulder tightly. “I can’t say I blame you. You weren’t raised a Jedi, Jayna and… I think anyone would have felt what you did in that moment.”

“I know I would. If anyone touched my grandma…” Greez trailed off, his eyes dark as he grumbled threateningly. “Can’t blame ya for wanting to fry the ol’ hag.”

“Thanks, Greez,” Jayna breathed, huffing a laugh as Cal chuckled beside her. Good ol’ Greez.

“But the most important thing is that you didn’t,” Cere interjected, drawing Jayna’s gaze as she stared at her fiercely. “In that moment, when you held her at your mercy, all your anger, hate and grief building inside you to breaking point, you could have killed her. And you didn’t. You might have paid the price for dipping your toe into the Dark Side,” she continued, her eyes falling to Jayna’s scarred hand in Cal’s. “But you didn’t fall. You were strong enough to control your emotions, not to let them control you.”

“Thank you, Cere,” Jayna replied sincerely, as a companionable silence fell between the crew, the cockpit backlit by the silvery luminescence of hyperspace outside their ship.

“Now,” Cere stated, clapping her hands against her knees. “I think you both need a shower, food and a rest. We’ll be back in the fray soon enough.”

“That’s a word for it,” Cal joked, thinking of Dathomir and its terrors. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to stepping foot on the planet again, even with his newfound certainty and Jayna once more at his side.

With tired smiles for Cere and Greez, Cal and Jayna left the cockpit, BD-1 leaping onto Cal’s back as they went. They stopped only to grab some bowls of stew Greez had left out for them in a warming container, before escaping to their compartment.

After dinner and a shower, Jayna sat on her cot, thoughtful and pensive as she stared down at the object in her hands. After Dathomir, she had stuffed her mother’s pendant under her pillow, unable to look at it as it reminded her of their ordeal and its aftermath. Now she ran her fingers thoughtfully over its smooth, cold surface, tracing the winged star-sword symbol of the Jedi Order.

Towelling off his hair, Cal was unprepared for Jayna’s question as she asked, “Do you think she understood? My mother, I mean?”

“Understood what?” he asked, pulling the towel from his still damp hair. Looking down at her concernedly, he threw the towel aside, only narrowing missing BD who squawked in indignation, and took a seat beside her on her cot.

“About my father,” she elaborated, a kind of thoughtful sadness in her eyes. “Did she acknowledge the darkness inside him or just shut her eyes to it?”

Despite the question she asked, Cal sensed it was about more than just her father. It was about herself too. “Why do you ask?” he probed carefully.

She shrugged, closing her hand over the pendant tightly. “Now my memories are unblocked, there are so many… moments… things I didn’t understand as a child. She watched him… she watched me. Was she waiting for us to crack and show our true colours?” she asked bleakly.

Alarmed, but determined to hide it, Cal gently reached out for the pendant. He only needed to graze its cool, liquid-smooth surface for his psychometry to kick in, and judging from Jayna’s sudden gasp, he knew she could see the same things he did through the Force bond. How long before their bond grew strong enough that they could learn to consciously use each other’s unique gifts?

Through his psychometry and the Force Bond, Cal showed Jayna the echoes of her mother as a Padawan. Image after image, feeling after feeling as she devoted herself to her duties helping and healing the sick, wounded and forgotten of the Galaxy; poured through their minds. Gentle, principled but fierce in her devotion to the Light, he could sense she hadn’t been blinded by it, myopic to the point of either refusing to see the darkness in others or self-righteous enough to condemn it as her Master had done. No, she had known and accepted the darkness in others, as well as herself. She didn’t watch her husband and child for fear of the darkness inside them, she watched them out of fear that it could take them away from her.

“She wasn’t scared of you, Jayna,” he whispered, as Jayna shuddered and trembled, falling against him as their hands closed tightly over the pendant. “Or your father. She was the type to see clearly into a person’s heart and see them for who they were. And love them for it wholeheartedly, because they had darkness inside them, not despite of it. You are more than your origins, Jayna.”

“Easy for you to say,” she snorted, but there was no heat in her voice. Tugging the necklace from Jayna’s weak grip, he sat back and held it up, so it dangled in front of her.

“The Emperor is not truly your father,” he told her firmly. “They might have shared the same genetics, but that’s as far as it really goes. You’re your own person, as I think you well know.”

Leaning forward, he slipped the leather cord over her head, reaching back to tenderly pull her hair out from under it. “She was scared for you both, not of you. Scared of the darkness she knew would search for you,” he concluded. “She was willing to die to protect you. So was Kos. That’s the mark of a true parent, I think. Not genetics. Not blood. Just… love. And the selflessness to put another before yourself.”

“You’re getting all wise and philosophical on me, Kestis,” she replied sarcastically. “Makes me nervous when you do that.”

“Yeah, yeah!” Cal griped, reaching up to ruffle her hair as she shrieked and batted his hand away. Grabbing hold of her, he pinned her to the cot playfully. “I think you could do worse than follow their example,” he teased her, as she eyed him mock furiously.

“I put up with you, don’t I?” she retorted slyly as BD-1 booped in amusement. It trilled and chirruped pointedly, before scurrying out of the room. Cal and Jayna both chuckled, watching the little droid go before they looked at one another. “He’s got a point,” she conceded reluctantly. “Probably best if we don’t sleep on the same cot. Maker knows, you can’t keep your hands to yourself and Cere is suspicious enough of us at the moment…”

“Hark who’s talking!” Cal spluttered indignantly, as one of Jayna’s hands escaped his grip, reaching up to trail suggestively down his neck to his chest. His lips hovered over hers for a split second, before she pushed him off forcefully. “Case in point,” he remarked knowingly as Jayna’s eyes sparked with amusement and desire. “Fine,” he conceded grumpily, moving away from her as she settled under her blanket.

A few minutes later, her eyes closed as her breathing deepened. Cal watched from his cot for a few minutes more, before closing his eyes and doing the same.

Cal woke up several hours later with Jayna lying over his chest, head tucked under his chin, his arms cradling her tightly. She claimed it was cold. Cal knew better. He also knew better than to say a word.

After a week of searching, the Second Sister had found her prey at last. After being sent to a backwater of the galaxy, to the planet Ontotho, a forested, fog-bound rock that the Empire had all but subjugated, she had tracked the last band of insurgents to the Fylari region.

The incompetent taskforce commander had managed to all but barricade them in their last holdout, but the guerrillas had ensured they paid a heavy price for that victory. Despite the Imperial Army’s superior firepower and equipment, the Fylari insurgents knew the territory well. They had eluded them with ease until the arrival of the Inquisitor.

It hadn’t taken long to track down the source of the Jedi sightings on the planet. A humanoid Fylari woman, old and weak, bearing a lightsaber pilfered from an abandoned temple.

The lightsaber, the planet and the woman’s story about the Temple had jogged her memory. She’d just been a small child, a Youngling in the Temple, when her former Master was made a Knight but she remembered Cere telling her stories of her time on Ontotho with her own master, eyes haunted and sad. The mission hadn’t quite been a success, if she recalled correctly, but Cere’s conduct had convinced the Jedi Council that the young Padawan was ready for Knighthood. And after that, Cordova had all but retired from the field, spending his time in research and study instead of wielding a weapon, even through the furore of the Clone Wars.

And now she knew why.

After a week of hunting, capturing and interrogating insurgents, they had finally discovered a lead to the location of this ‘abandoned temple’. The Second Sister’s instincts were all but screaming in the back of her head, the Force whispering in her ear that she was on the verge of the final piece of the puzzle.

Being reassigned to Ontotho had been galling, she could admit it. For all Lord Vader and the Grand Inquisitor’s assertions that the trail had gone cold, her hunter’s instincts whispered otherwise. She knew in some part; it was a ploy to distract and displace her from the mission by the Grand Inquisitor. She knew the insufferable gargoyle would be doing everything in his power, using all his considerable resources, to find and take the fugitives for himself.

But she wasn’t without resources herself. An informant within Imperial Intelligence had forwarded her two very interesting files containing footage from Kashyyyk, and then more recently Ilum of all places. She had watched with interest, and not a little bit of satisfaction, as the Ninth Sister chased the fugitives down, neutralising Shan before engaging Kestis. To her astonishment, the boy had defeated the Inquisitor, taking her hand before he Force-pushed her off the Origin Tree. Her crushed, mangled corpse had been recovered by a patrol two days later, and with it the footage from the audio-visual recording device in her helmet.

But it was Ilum that had sparked her interest the most. Kestis and Shan had emerged, seemingly from nowhere, and set upon a squad of Stormtroopers in the mining trench just north of the old Temple. Seemingly bearing new sabers, they had sliced and cut their way through three squads and brought down a troop carrier before proceeding to fight their way through the mining facility and past two AT-STs. Trilla knew that for some reason, they had made the journey to Ilum to undergo the Gathering. That was only the reason that accounted for their new sabers, double-ended weapons that looked elegant and deadly in their hands. It was obvious from the footage that both Kestis and Shan had come on leaps and bounds in their powers and skills; the girl fighting with the cunning and skill of a warrior many times her years, while Kestis was an unstoppable force of nature as he revealed himself as fine a Jar’Kai stylist as any Trilla had seen before.

Wherever they had been since Kashyyyk, it had made them stronger, their bond forged in durasteel. She could see it in the way they fought as one, complimenting each other’s strengths as well as covering weaknesses. When she finally caught up with them, they would be a true challenge now.

She was looking forward to it. Her gamble that revealing the boy’s origins would destabilise him, along with the revelations about her old identity and Cere’s deception, hadn’t paid off but it was no matter. She would still prevail.

In truth, the hunt for the fugitives and Cordova’s holocron had been a frustrating one. The archaeological teams on Zeffo had brought her many interesting artifacts from the Tombs they uncovered, but she could not determine how the Zeffo factored in to Cordova’s plan. It was obvious on closer inspection of the Tombs on Zeffo that the holocron was not hidden within them, so where?

She still didn’t know, but instinct whispered she was about to find another clue.

All around her came the sounds of battle. They had tracked their lead to a village in a mountainous region of Fylar, one obviously sympathetic to the insurgents if the resistance they put was any indication.

She had entered a dwelling, looking for survivors but there was none. Disgusted, she turned and left the building, stepping out into a hellish warzone, the village buildings either on fire or crumbling from mortar and grenade hits, the few remaining villagers pinned down by troopers but refusing to give in.

Spotting two Purge Troopers, she swept towards them as they snapped to attention and turned to face her.

“They are still fighting back?” she demanded.

“Yes, Inquisitor,” one replied.

“Then they know something,” she breathed, turning her back as she began to stride towards the main village square determinedly.

“It would appear there are no survivors left, Inquisitor. We found nothing of value,” the other Purge Trooper protested. Just as the Second Sister was about to turn and punish him for his insolence, she felt it.

A ripple in the Force. Somewhere underneath her feet.

“No,” she hissed sibilantly through the vocoder of her helmet. Reaching out, she drove all her rage, frustration and fear into the violet snow under her feet, tinged red with blood and glowing embers, as the ground quaked and gave way to reveal a cracked, broken stairway leading down into darkness. “You didn’t look hard enough,” she purred triumphantly, activating her saber so the red blade lit the way as she began the steep descent. “Two of you, come with me!”

She felt it as two Purge Troopers followed in her wake, as they descended deeper and deeper into the darkness. “This is what the locals were trying to keep from us,” she said to herself, as the light from her blade illuminated familiar hieroglyphics on the walls, the same she’d seen on Zeffo.

Eventually the stairs came to an end, and as she lifted her blade high, it lit up a narrow, echoing hall. There was evidence of some kind of cave-in, smashed statues lying haphazardly in their path as they cautiously stepped over them. To her rising excitement, she recognised the inverted triangular heads and reptilian features of the Zeffo in the statues.

The final piece of the puzzle was near, she could feel it. “So, what is it?” she mused quietly to herself. The red glow of her saber fell on a mummified corpse lying slumped against a wall. It was nearly skeletal but the dry, stale air of the ruin had preserved its clothing. It was distinctly not Zeffo, as she glanced away to a wall covered in the same hieroglyphics she’d seen on Zeffo.

“There is writing on the wall up ahead,” she said, as one of the Purge Troopers replied.

“What language is that?”

Sighing, Trilla repressed the urge to snap the idiot Trooper’s neck. Clearly, he wasn’t one of the Troopers assigned to the mission if he had to ask such an ignorant question. Stepping closer, she could see the hieroglyphics surrounded a tableau, a towering, robed Zeffo holding something in its hands towards a tall, two-pronged structure within a circular cartouche. Over it hung two more circular shapes, as Trilla cocked her head, mind racing as her eyes roved over the scene.

“Inquisitor, over here!” one of the Purge Troopers called, the torch on his blaster rifle illuminating the partially crushed remains of a droid.

Reluctantly abandoning the hieroglyphics, the Second Sister joined the Trooper, glancing down at the droid. Its plating was rusty and dented, stray wires spilling from cracks and rents as a single hand protruded from the mess of rock that had crushed it. “It’s not a standard model,” she mused, intrigued. “Built from salvage maybe?”

Kneeling down, she reached out for the activating switch on the side of its rectangular head casing. Deep within its pulverised workings, its power cells sputtered and sparked, barely finding enough juice to activate as a light flickered in its undamaged photoreceptor.

“T-h-i-ss ss-tructre is highly unstable!” it suddenly spluttered, its one undamaged arm waving in the air as the Second Sister ducked back to avoid being hit.

“Who has?” she asked, pushing aside her annoyance for a moment.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” the droid calmed, apparently realising it was talking to strangers. “I seem to be experiencing some sort of malfunction-!?”

Seething with impatience, the Second Sister reached out and grasped the droid’s headcase threateningly. “Who has gotten you all killed?” she demanded.

“Who do you think?” the droid replied, a sarcastic tone in its voice that had her itching to decapitate the insolent tin can with her saber. Its next words drowned her irritation under a wave of excitement, however. “The ones who caused all this…the Jedi!”

“The Jedi were here, Inquisitor,” the same idiot Trooper had the bravery to say, as the Second Sister reached out contemptuously and cut him off before he could say another word.

“I can, in fact, both hear and see that, Trooper,” she said, squeezing her fist for emphasis. “Say another idiotic word, and you’ll be staying here in the same state as that droid.”

Releasing her grip on his throat in the Force, she turned back to the droid as it sputtered and sparked. “Power levels critical… shutting down…nnnowww…” it trailed off as the light in its photoreceptor abruptly winked out and its arm fell bonelessly to the rocky floor.

“What happened?” the other Trooper asked. As it was an intelligent question, the Second Sister didn’t punish him for it.

“Impossible to say,” she whispered, disappointed. But it was a place to start. All she needed to do was put in an information request to the Archives, pull up the mission reports and see what they told her. Mind distracted by what she needed to find out, she rose from her crouch. “But this was once a very important place to these people,” she concluded, glancing around as she realised there were more corpses half-crushed under rubble. “And they lost it all…” she trailed off as she realised the droid clutched something in its hand. A datapad…

As she bent down to tug it free, its screen cracked and dusty, a wave of excitement rippled through her. It was a standard-issue datapad, one she’d seen and used a thousand times herself, requisitioned from the stores of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Tapping it, she was pleased to see its power cells weren’t completely depleted as she realised who it belonged to.

Scanning its logs, the tone was too dolorous and enthusiastic to be her old Master’s writings. So that meant it had to be… “Eno Cordova,” she breathed triumphantly.

“Inquisitor?” one of the Troopers asked.

“This datapad belonged to a Jedi long ago,” she explained, checking the time and date stamp on its last log. It matched with the ill-fated mission that ended in Cere’s Knighthood. “His last entry is years old and incomplete,” she whispered to herself, momentarily disappointed but as she read more, her excitement returned full force.

The Force whispered she had exactly what she was looking for in her hand. Glancing up at the hieroglyphics on the wall beside the crushed droid, her eyes roving over the tower, the circle and its two satellites, she realised one of the hieroglyphic cartouches contained a series of glyphs that Cordova had highlighted in his log. And partially translated.

Spatial co-ordinates. And a name.

“He may not have known exactly what he discovered but I do,” she hissed triumphantly, clasping the datapad tightly in her hand. She whirled to face the troopers as they snapped warily to attention. “Prepare to depart. Inform the Grand Inquisitor and Lord Vader that we have a clue to the fugitives’ whereabouts. We head for the planet Bogano at once.”

“Yes, Inquisitor,” they chorused, turning on their heel and preceding her from the ruin as she paused for a moment, staring down at her prize. By the time the Grand Inquisitor received her report, it would be too late to interfere.

Finally, after weeks of frustration and a cold trail, she found her scent to follow. The hunter in her purred in anticipation as her instincts whispered this was it. “Cere Junda, Cal Kestis and Jayna Shan can’t hide from me forever,” she breathed to herself, glancing around at the dead, silent ruin one last time before she swept from the chamber.

The Mantis shuddered as it reverted to realspace, jolting Jayna from her work as she sat on her cot cleaning her new saber. Throwing the rag aside, she clipped the weapon back to her belt as she clambered off her cot.

They must have arrived.

After their ordeal on Ilum, the thirty hours of hyperspace travel it had taken to return to Dathomir had been a welcome break as they had readjusted. And a readjustment it had been; since the Gathering, the world and everything in it seemed different to Jayna, her connection to it and the Force which permeated every inch of it stronger than ever, pulsing with life and power. It had left her torn, feeling both giddy as if she’d had too much to drink and wary of that giddiness. She didn’t want to let her guard down again and make another mistake, but she also sensed the time for holding back out of fear of her own self was over.

Nevertheless, that fear was tightly controlled now. Her vision of Bastila, Cal’s acceptance of her past and his statements about the messy, complicated truth of her parentage had only shorn up the fragile resolve she’d found and used on Dathomir to keep going until she was reunited with Cal and BD-1 in the Tomb.

As she entered the galley, she spotted Cal by the caf pot, pouring a mug out while BD-1 peered curiously at it.

The droid booped questioningly as Cal chuckled and shook his head. “I dunno but she seems to like it,” he told the droid, shrugging. “Best to keep the beast sated.”

“Oh?” she called from the door. “And just who is this terrifying, caf-addicted beast?” she asked teasingly as Cal started, turning to face her as the caf slopped in the mug.

“Uh… Greez?” he offered, holding out the mug placatingly. Jayna took it, eying the contents before peering coyly up at the nervous man in front of her. With a quick glance towards the cockpit, Jayna sidled closer as BD-1 chittered as if giggling.

“Well, with those whiskers you have a point,” she replied, placing the mug on the side. “But somehow I don’t think that was the beast you were talking about.”

Cal swallowed as she leant closer, one brow raised. “I’m going to pay for that, aren’t I?” he asked hoarsely as she trailed a finger up his torso.

“I don’t know,” she mused playfully, as she met his heated gaze. “You’re awfully sweet but then I feel like a little interest is due for that.”

With another quick glance at the cockpit, where she could just about make out Cere and Greez at their posts, Jayna leaned in and brushed a teasingly light kiss across his lips. Planting another kiss against his jaw, she trailed up to his ear, just lightly flicking it with the tip of her tongue as he groaned quietly against her. “Once this is all over and we have a minute to breathe, I’m gonna enjoy showing you just how wild I can be,” she whispered suggestively, before leaning back and stepping away as she snagged her mug. “Thanks for the caf.”

She felt as well as heard Cal’s frustrated, disaffected groan as his head lightly thudded against the cabinet doors in the galley. Trying, and failing, to smother her amusement, she slipped into the cockpit in time to hear Cere and Greez’s banter.

“Lightsaber,” Cere stated in an insistent, exasperated tone.

“Whatever!” Greez snorted irreverently. “Thing scares the heck outta me. You miss it?” he asked, nodding gruffly to Jayna as she took her seat.

“No,” the older woman replied shortly, glancing at Jayna in welcome.

“You answered quick,” the Latero retorted curiously.

“A blaster does just what I need it to,” she insisted.

“I can’t argue with that,” Greez admitted with a shrug. “But I mean this lightsaber thing… that’s somethin’ else.”

“It’s not the weapon. It’s the person who wields it,” Cere replied, as Cal joined them, BD-1 hopping from his back to the console as the human took his seat.

“Sure, sure! I mean, watchin’ these two square off with some of the slubs we’ve met on this trip… Whoo-ee. If I held that thing, I might lose an arm!” Greez laughed, as Cal, Jayna and Cere all joined in.

“That’s okay. You’ve got enough to spare!” Cere joked, before turning to the two younger humans. “How are you feeling? Rested after Ilum?”

“As we can be,” Jayna replied, shrugging as she spotted the red-tinted sphere growing ever closer. In the Force, Dathomir felt as cold and dark as ever, forbidding, and unfriendly as they neared atmo.

“Just… be wary,” Cere told them, with a concerned glance at Cal. “I doubt that Nightsister will be any friendlier this time. And this… former Jedi, Malicos…be careful. He sounded far too interested in you two for my liking. Obviously spending so long on Dathomir has affected him.”

“We’ll be more careful this time,” Cal assured her, turning his chair to face her with a calm certainty in his eyes.

“Yes. You’re ready to face your past,” Cere replied, with a warm smile at him. “You’ve both come a long way since Bracca.”

“What about you and Trilla?” he asked, as she subtly but noticeably tensed at his question.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready,” she admitted quietly, glancing down at her hands before meeting Cal’s gaze with a renewed, ferociously strong confidence in her eyes. “You know what you need to do to start healing and I’m so proud of you for that. I have my own path,” she told them firmly, as Cal nodded.

“I’m here for you if you need me,” he told her, glancing at Jayna as she smiled at them both. “We both are.”

“Thank you,” Cere smiled genuinely, as the darkness of space gave way to the bloody skies and scarlet clouds of Dathomir’s skies. Silence fell in the cockpit, but it was companionable and warm, as Jayna leaned her head back against her headrest, her eyes on Cal’s strong, unbowed back up front, inwardly girding herself even while she lazily fantasised about being as far away from all of this with him as possible.

The Mantis swung round and landed heavily on the same outcropping they’d used last time. The crew stopped, tense, as they looked outside the viewports, but there was no swarm of undead Nightsisters waiting for them as they’d feared. The scanners detected no life signs in the immediate vicinity as Greez turned and nodded to the pair.

“Any bets on what horrible thing will happen this time? More dead things? Giant spiders? Killer plants?” the Latero joked weakly as Cal snorted.

“All of the above probably,” he replied, as the Latero shook his head.

“Good luck you two,” he offered gruffly as Jayna and Cal unbuckled themselves from their chairs.

“May the Force be with you,” Cere added. With small, grateful smiles for the pair, Cal and Jayna turned and left the cockpit, pausing only to let BD-1 climb up on Cal’s back before they left the Mantis.

Outside, the wind still howled and whistled dolorously over the craggy cliffs. Ahead, the ruined cliff dwellings looked out, their darkened windows and doors like black eyes watching them malevolently. The Dark Side of the Force was in the very stones themselves, as Jayna inhaled tightly at the feeling of its energies once more within her reach.

Glancing at Cal, he nodded to her as she put a tight reign on its temptations, shutting them out as she focussed on what they came to do. Find the Astrium.

Setting off at a quick jog, the trio set off, leaving the Mantis far behind.

They made good time through the ruined cliffside village, encountering nothing more dangerous than a few hungry local predators. It seemed the Nightsister’s wrath had cooled enough to allow her sisters to return to their graves, at least.

They kept their guards up regardless, warily watching for Nightbrothers or that rogue Jedi Malicos. The memory of his hungry, fascinated eyes still made Jayna shudder with revulsion and she knew Cal was equally disturbed by him.

They had little doubt that they’d be seeing him again.

After an hour’s hike, they came to the ruined bridge where they had encountered Malicos and the Nightsister. It was still deserted as the wind plucked at their hair and clothes.

“That Nightsister must have really thought she scared us off, considering how little resistance we’ve encountered so far,” Jayna observed, eying the long drop into the swamps below with a shiver.

“Well, to be fair, it’s quite an effective intimidation tactic,” Cal joked quietly, squeezing her hand. “Perhaps realising Malicos was manipulating her made her back off.”

“She didn’t seem like the type to give up easy,” Jayna replied, with a sideways look at him. “Neither did Malicos.”

“No,” he agreed, with a sigh. “I have a feeling we’ll be see them again. Malicos seemed fascinated by these ruins. He craves their power.”

“This place sure did a number on him,” she breathed, thinking of the power-crazed fallen Jedi. “He’ll try and recruit us again.”

“Probably,” Cal shrugged. “But we’re even less likely to fall for his tricks this time,” he pointed out, with another comforting squeeze. “And if that Nightsister shows up, I have a feeling she might be a little more willing to listen.”

“You’re such an optimist,” Jayna snorted exasperatedly, as BD-1 booped in agreement. Shaking his head, laughing quietly, Cal released her hand and led the way, leaping from section to section of the broken bridge until they once more stood on the steps leading up to the antechamber of the Tomb.

Cal stopped, staring at the door as she sensed his diffidence and grief. Unlike before, it wasn’t overwhelming as she stepped up beside him and grasped his hand tightly. “It’s gonna be okay,” she told him firmly. “You got this.”

“I know,” he whispered quietly, as he reached out a hand and pushed the doors open. Stepping inside together, Cal didn’t release Jayna’s hand until they stood in front of the locked doors leading deeper into the Tomb. Cal stared at them, reluctance, revulsion and yearning in his eyes as Jayna reached out, both physically and in the Force bond, sending him all the strength and unwavering support she could spare.

“You got this,” she repeated, as he turned to face her, BD-1 trilling in agreement and support from his back.

“Thank you,” he told her simply, after a moment of scanning her face before he leant in with a ghost of his usual mischievous smile. “Kiss for good luck?”

Jayna rolled her eyes. “If you insist,” she muttered, stepping into his arms as he bent his head to hers. It was gentle, Cal’s lips dry and cracked from the cold wind outside, and she knew her own couldn’t be much better, but it didn’t matter. It still felt perfect as Jayna pressed herself against him fearlessly, combing the fingers of one hand through his hair while she caressed his jaw with the other. It wasn’t a kiss meant to arouse or to tease, it was comfort and strength and quiet, unyielding affection. It was everything he meant to her in one embrace, and everything he represented to her as he moaned low in his throat, breaking the kiss to lean his forehead tenderly against hers. “Watch my back?” he asked, opening adoring eyes to hers.

“Always,” she whispered as he slowly stepped back and away from her, turning to the doors as she turned her back to him, summoning her saber to hand and activating it.

The low hum of Jayna’s saber, the golden blade lighting up the dingy antechamber like a star had descended into the very bowels of the earth, was comforting to Cal as he knelt in front of the doors. Reaching out, he closed his eyes as he once again opened himself up to the Force around them, the Dark Side rippling around him like an angry sea around an island.

When he opened his eyes, he was back in the misty, dark place, BD-1 gone, Jayna gone. But he could still sense her, in the back of his head, and knew she was with him even as she stood guard by his unresponsive body.

There was no Prauf this time, no shadows except for the towering, familiar figure of the Lasat striding towards him out of the mists.

His Master.

Centring himself, drawing on the strength and hope he’d rediscovered on Ilum, Cal stood from his meditation as the Lasat Jedi Master stopped in front of him. Contempt still shone in his eyes as he sneered down at the human.

“Master,” Cal said, as if they’d met once more for training as they used to.

“You were wrong to return here unarmed,” Tapal stated coldly.

“Not unarmed,” Cal claimed, reaching down to his belt where his saber hung.

“You think that lightsaber proves you a Jedi?” the Lasat scoffed disbelievingly.

Cal kept a tight hold on his emotions, keeping his voice level and unaffected as he replied. “No,” he admitted, recalling the words of his father in the Crystal Caves, as well as the words of the Code he had lived by. “Facing you, memories that have haunted me since Bracca… I won’t run from them anymore.”

“Then let us see what manner of death your courage brings,” Tapal retorted, activating his lightsaber. Instinctively Cal did the same, the purple blade shining in the misty, insubstantial world of the vision. “I taught you everything you know,” he reminded the young Jedi as he swung for him.

Cal blocked, dancing away. “I know,” he replied coolly. “I remember it all. I won’t forget again.”

“If you cannot surpass it, you are no Jedi,” the Lasat taunted him, as he lashed out with a roundhouse kick Cal ducked. With a twist of his hands, he disconnected the two parts of his hilt, settling into a Jar’Kai stance as the Lasat rounded on him again.

Cal easily blocked the Lasat’s next hit, a lateral strike to his neck, as he slashed to his Master’s thigh. The blow connected, sending the Lasat stumbling as he chuckled. “Impressive!” he admitted, before bringing his blade down hard at Cal’s head, forcing the younger man to block it with both blades in the shape of an ‘X’. “But is power the answer?” he asked, sparks flying from where their blades connected.

Without a word, Cal pushed him away, forcing him back a few steps as the answer suddenly dawned on him. He knew what he had to do.

He could sense Jayna’s quiet, unwavering support as he reconnected the two ends of his hilt and deactivated the blade. The Lasat stood, blade ready, watching him narrowly as he clipped the hilt back to his belt and kept his hands at his side passively.

With a roar, Tapal swung his lightsaber. In that moment, Cal felt it all again: the grief, the anguish, the guilt and rage at his failure, the failure of a little boy thrust too soon into a cruel reality; he felt again his pain and confusion at the revelations of his birth and identity, he let them all wash over him as the shining blue blade he had borne himself for five years sliced down on him.

Then he let them all go. Looking up at the ghost of his Master, he was calm and at peace as the blade stopped a hair away from his head, humming gently as it backlit his old Master’s appraising features.

This time there was no contempt, no revulsion, just patiently waiting for Cal’s response as he took a deep breath. “Master,” he began quietly, the word steeped in respect and affection as he stared up into those eyes that had looked on him with judgement, with exasperation, determination, pride, and affection in his final moments. “I will never forget,” he vowed firmly. “The loss has become a part of me. I will honour your teaching. And your sacrifice.”

The Lasat Jedi Master’s jaw firmed as he lowered his blade, straightening from his stance as he looked down on his former Padawan. Those stern, implacable, inscrutable features gentled as Cal glimpsed once again the quiet affection and pride, he realised had always been there when Jaro Tapal looked at him. “Remember… persistence reveals the path,” he told him, as he turned his back and walked away into the mists. On another plane of awareness, Cal heard the rumble as the doors unlocked and opened in front of him.

White light obscured his vision, then he was blinking it away, staring blearily at the revealed doorway as BD-1 chortled enthusiastically on his back. He heard the hum of Jayna’s lightsaber deactivating before she threw herself in his arms. “You did it,” she breathed, proudly, as he buried his head against her neck.

“I did,” he whispered, raising his head as he stared for a moment at the spot where Master Tapal had disappeared. Around them, the Force rippled and echoed. ‘Goodbye, Master,’ he thought solemnly as he pulled back from Jayna’s arms, before looking her in the eye. “Our path’s clear. Let’s go,” he said firmly, taking her hand and leading the way into the Tomb.

The interior of the Tomb was even creepier than the antechamber and the ruins outside, Jayna thought as they steadily marched through its deserted halls. Unlike the decadence of the Tomb of Miktrull, this Tomb was bleak and oppressive, radiating death and cruelty like nothing she’d ever felt. She could feel it eating away at the bulwarks of her control, like the razor-sharp teeth of a nexu. She could understand why Cordova had turned away from Dathomir. Even now, every inch of her wanted to turn around and never come back. She’d be glad to see the end of their quest on Dathomir.

Finally, they entered another chamber, with no clear path forward as Cal and Jayna glanced at one another. ‘What now?’ she asked across the Force bond, as Cal looked around for another door.

BD-1 booped, lifting one foot from Cal’s back to point towards a small gap in the far wall. Set into a rectangular slab decorated with the same cartouches of Zeffo hieroglyphs as they’d seen outside, it almost looked like a door except it lacked the circular locking mechanism.

“Can you squeeze through there?” Cal asked her, as she eyed it thoughtfully.

“Are you implying something, Kestis?” she asked teasingly, with a wan smile as Cal rolled his eyes. “I’m not the one with a liking for Nuna jerky.”

“That’s not going away any time soon is it?” he asked rhetorically, as she airily shook her head and began to press herself into the gap. Sideways on, it was just about doable as she managed to edge her way through. Thankfully, it wasn’t a long passageway and she emerged after only a moment, turning back to help Cal through as he followed.

Once they were all on the other side and in one piece, Cal, Jayna and BD-1 turned to look at their surroundings. They were in a long hall, cavernous, towering over their heads like a cathedral, while at the side of the hallway were long, gaping chasms from which emanated a hellish red glow.

Strange, twisted shapes were slumped along the hallway, like obscene statues as Jayna couldn’t help but shudder at the sight of them. They gave her a bad feeling just looking at them.

That bad feeling intensified as the hairs on Jayna’s arm and neck stood up. She sensed Cal’s own flaring awareness when, as one, they turned while activating their sabers simultaneously, bringing them to bear as a familiar voice echoed around them.

“You chose to return… brave but not wise,” the Nightsister declared as she appeared out of a waterfall of vivid green flames, staring them down as Jayna couldn’t help but tense.

She snorted. “That could be the title of our autobiography, witch,” she replied sarcastically, sensing Cal’s swift, disapproving look as he slowly lowered his blade.

“Maybe,” Cal admitted cautiously, as he deactivated his saber. “Merrin, right?”

‘What are you doing!?’ Jayna snarled across the Force bond, alarm raging through her at his move. She could feel Cal’s mental eye-roll even as he focussed on the Nightsister.

‘She’s not going to attack us, not this time. I can sense it.’

Moving closer, he held out his hands in a peaceful gesture, even as Jayna lowered her own saber but didn’t deactivate it. Yet.

“Your friend doesn’t trust me. Wiser than I thought, perhaps,” the Nightsister smiled mirthlessly, as Jayna returned her gaze stonily.

“Can you blame me?” Jayna asked coolly. “The last time we were here, you set a bunch of zombies on us and drove us into the lair of some mutant bat, then set more undead zombies on us. Forgive me for being a little wary.”

Cal sighed, visibly digging for patience. “I’m Cal Kestis,” he introduced himself to the Nightsister, stepping forward so he drew the other woman’s eye. Unlike last time, she had forgone the hooded cloak and headdress, her silvery white hair tied back in a simple bun, her long, slender figure revealed by the elegant yet plain tunic she wore. “This is Jayna Shan. What you were told about the Jedi was not true.”

“So you say… Cal,” the Nightsister replied sardonically, yet there was little hostility in her voice this time. Just grief and mistrust. “Malicos said many things too.”

“Taron Malicos might have been part of my Order but what he is now…,” Cal trailed off, remembering the yellow eyes and ravaged features of the fallen Jedi. Jayna watched the other woman closely, and sensed despite their previous animosity, that she was listening this time. Her eyes were coolly angry, but not murderous. Cal was getting through to her. Seeing as she was struggling to feel anything but wariness towards this Nightsister, she kept quiet and let Cal do the talking. “I have no idea,” Cal admitted, with a small shrug. Glancing down at the saber hilt in his hand, he threw it to Merrin as Jayna fought the urge to activate her own. “All I do know is that having a lightsaber isn’t what makes you a Jedi.”

The Nightsister caught the weapon, snatching it from the air with the grace of a predator. Looking down at it thoughtfully, eyes roving over it curiously, she asked, “Then what does?”

“We were peacekeepers,” Cal replied. “We were betrayed by those we protected…hunted down by the Empire, I…,” he trailed off, glancing at Jayna with a small, sad smile before he took a step forward and looked back at Merrin. “We might be the last of our kind.”

Merrin had watched Cal while he spoke, but as he trailed off once more, she looked back down at the saber in her hand. With a flourish, she activated it, holding it vertically in front of her so her face was bisected by a glowing, humming beam of indigo light.

“I was only a child when they attacked,” she began to speak, slowly and quietly, her eyes lost in the past as she stared blindly at the blade in front of her. “An armoured warrior brandishing this…descended upon us and cut down my people, my sisters…until I was left alone, with the dead.”

Despite her wariness, Jayna couldn’t help but feel pity for the Nightsister. She had seen those she loved cut down in front of her, and she too had been a child, helpless, powerless to change it.

“Then Malicos came,” Merrin continued after a moment. “And promised me revenge if I shared our secrets with him in return.”

“Whooo-hooo,” BD-1 booped from Cal’s back in sympathy.

“I know how that feels,” Jayna abruptly admitted, drawing a surprised look from Cal as she finally deactivated her lightsaber. “To watch the ones you love cut down in front of you, then to be manipulated with it. Malicos was wrong.”

“The other stranger who landed here… it was her, wasn’t it?” Merrin asked, with a newborn understanding in her eyes as Jayna nodded. "She escaped you."

“I know what it’s like to lose everything,” Cal added, with an understanding look at both Merrin and Jayna as she started at the news Malavai Cordova had survived. “And Malicos was wrong to use that against you. We don’t have to be enemies.”

Merrin looked at them narrowly, eyes considering and wary, before she deactivated Cal’s saber and threw it back to him. “You will need this,” she stated, as she disappeared in a flare of green flames.

“There she goes again,” Cal sighed, turning away as BD-1 booped on his back.

“You said it, BD,” Jayna muttered just as Merrin’s voice echoed ominously around them.

“I’ll be watching!”

Both Jayna and Cal started, caught off-guard as Jayna inhaled tightly before she glanced at Cal. “Let’s get this done,” she said firmly, as Cal nodded.

“Couldn’t agree more,” he muttered as they turned and walked away.

As they walked, Merrin continued to haunt them. “Malicos lies ahead,” her disembodied voice spoke as if she walked beside them. “You could turn back.”

“We can’t,” Cal explained, his voice firm. “Lives are at stake.”

“Whose lives?” the Nightsister asked curiously.

“Innocents. Force-Sensitive children who’ll be hunted down and murdered,” Cal replied.

“Or worse,” Jayna added, for good measure.”

“As we were,” Merrin whispered, as they sensed her curiosity give way to a slow burning anger and grief. Silence fell once more as the Nightsister seemed to leave them alone, as BD-1 booped curiously as they drew near one of the strange statues.

And realised what it was.

It wasn’t a statue, they realised, as Cal’s boot toe brushed the edge of it, causing the entire structure to collapse. Before it did, they saw the clear shapes of Zeffo features, arms raised in desperate agony, wordless pleas for mercy on their lips that would never be granted. They weren’t statues, but grisly trophies, examples of what happened to those who opposed the Tomb’s occupant.

Jayna covered her mouth with one hand as Cordova’s voice filled the air one last time. “My friend, I have never been one to shy away from the pursuit of knowledge… but the shadow of the dark side lies heavy in this tomb. I've uncovered Kujet's legacy: a ruthless leader who destroyed the Astriums and lives of any who opposed the sage's rule. These Zeffo were once Kujet's enemies, brave rebels who stood against tyranny. F-forgive me. I've spent too many rotations on this planet. My mind is beginning to slip. I can go no further. I must return to Zeffo.”

“No wonder the Dark Side is so strong here,” Cal breathed, careful not to touch anymore of the ‘statues’ or the walls where carved tableaux replaced the hieroglyphic cartouches outside. They appeared to depict the fall of Kujet’s enemies. “I can sense it. The Sage staged a massacre here, seeking to destroy their enemies and empower themselves with the sacrifice of their followers.”

“What kind of weapon could do such a thing?” Jayna asked, her eyes haunted as she tore them away from the twisted, agonised forms before them.

“I’m not sure I want to know,” Cal breathed, forcing himself away as he reached out a hand for Jayna. “C’mon, we need to get moving.”

In haunted silence, they kept going, very carefully not looking to either side as they made their way down the long hall. In the Force, the Tomb reeked of decay, madness, hubris, and death; the zenith of the rot they’d sensed in the Tomb of Miktrull. This was how the Zeffo fell, they realised. Lost to power or butchered for opposing it.

‘History has a way of repeating itself,’ Jayna thought, thinking of the Purge and the rise of the Empire. She could sense Cal’s agreement as they neared a wide, circular platform ahead where a lone figure stood, apparently bent in total contemplation of what lay ahead as Jayna and Cal slowed their footsteps.

Malicos.

‘He’s not going to let us pass without a fight. That or agreeing to join his little cult,’ Jayna observed across the bond.

‘I might be able to talk him down. I need to try first,’ Cal replied, at which Jayna rolled her eyes but knew better than to try and dissuade him. ‘But in case I fail, we need a backup plan.’

‘How about a little ‘divide and conquer’? With our new friend’s help, of course…’ Jayna trailed off, letting Cal see her plan as she visualised it. A moment later, she felt his assent as he turned around, as if doing so would summon the Nightsister.

“Merrin?” he called softly, so as not to alert Malicos to their presence.

“Got a little proposition for you,” Jayna added quietly, as the Nightsister rematerialized in a burst of green flame. She listened intently to their plan; her eyes gleaming as she appeared to consider it for a moment.

Then she nodded decisively. “I will help you,” she announced, reaching out and grabbing Jayna’s arm as they abruptly dematerialised.

Cal reached out as if to stop her, mouth open to stop her when he felt Jayna’s voice in his head. ‘I’m okay, Cal… she’s just a little… enthusiastic. We’ll be waiting for your signal.’

‘Be careful, love. You’ll know it when you see it. Stay out of sight until then and… if this goes south, get back to the Mantis. I’m not the only one he wants,’ he replied warningly. He felt her begrudging agreement, knew it probably wouldn’t hold for a nanosecond, then turned and walked towards the platform where Malicos waited.

The former Jedi’s body was outlined by the bloody light of the pits below, lending him a hellish look as he turned when he sensed Cal’s approach. With a surge of hope, Cal realised he’d been so engrossed, so intent on the Tomb, he might not have sensed Jayna’s presence, or Merrin’s.

Delight, and a terrible lust, lit up Malicos’s yellow eye as he held out his hands welcomingly. “Cal Kestis! But… where is your lovely companion?” he asked, disappointment flaring in his eyes.

Unease, and disgust, crawled along Cal’s skin as he felt the desirous weight of Malicos’ gaze on his body as he stepped closer. “After what happened last time… she’s no longer with me. She’s gone her own way and I went mine,” he replied coolly as Malicos seemed to nod sadly.

“Well then… welcome home. Here to begin your training?” he asked, before continuing as if the answer was a foregone conclusion. “What in these ruins tempts you so much to risk death?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Cal saw two flare of green flames, solidifying into the forms of Merrin and Jayna as they crouched atop two pillars behind Malicos. Across the Force bond, Cal could sense Jayna gathering herself, her power snaking toward Malicos as Cal sought to keep the older man’s attention firmly fixed on him.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Cal replied curtly.

“There is power there… beyond Jedi understanding,” Malicos answered, his voice turning low and persuasive, like he was attempting to cajole a reluctant lover. “Power I control,” he affirmed. “I would offer you the same thing.”

Cal turned, pacing slowly, casually around the perimeter of the platform until he stood nearer to Malicos, perfectly positioned so Malicos was in the centre of an offensive triangle between him, Jayna and Merrin. He forced himself to listen, but with every word, he realised how naïve it was to think he could turn Malicos back from his path. He was too deranged to come back. But he had to try.

“Don’t you understand?” Cal asked in turn, turning to face the fallen Jedi, relaxed and calm. “I’m not interested in power. I want to restore the Order.”

“Restore the Jedi Order?” Malicos repeated, frowning as his delight turned to confusion, then to scornful pity. “Oh, you poor fool,” he scoffed contemptuously. “It’s over! The Jedi fell long before the Purge… stifled by tradition… deafened by our past glories… blinded by endless war!”

“Maybe,” Cal admitted. Despite what he could sense, Malicos’s attempts to sway him with whatever gift of will he possessed, his assertions were nothing he hadn’t come to realise for himself, or that Jayna hadn’t argued since they met on Bracca. “But it’s never over, Malicos. We stand here now with a chance to learn. To rebuild from our mistakes!” Cal replied passionately.

Malicos sneered dismissively. “Jedi learn?” he repeated mockingly, before he stepped forward, hands outstretched invitingly. “There’s no future for them. How can you not see that? It’s time for something new… you and me…perhaps we can even find your friend and persuade her to rejoin us… we could build something different… something better!”

Cal could sense the not-inconsiderable weight of Malicos’s will behind that final word, tugging at the foundations of his own but he held fast. For all his pretty words, he could see the madness in his eye, the deranged, twisted warp of his mind. Malicos envisioned an Order of Dark Side warriors, powerful and without mercy or compassion. Even if Cal was remotely tempted… he would be no better than the very monsters they were fighting. Malicos had become the very monster he was fighting.

Knowing he had failed, and his next word would set the fallen Jedi off, he shook his head as he reached for his lightsaber. “No,” he replied, coldly and firmly as Malicos’s face twisted with rage and disappointment.

“Then Dathomir will be your grave!” he growled, summoning his sabers to hand as Cal disconnected his own, falling back into a Jar’Kai stance as he felt Jayna’s power flare.

Red blades flared as Cal’s own indigo hummed serenely. Malicos chuckled obscenely, the laugh of a man long since bereft of sanity. “You’re no match for me!” he snarled, leaping towards Cal in a vaulting somersault.

Cal dodged and rolled away, coming up behind Malicos as he landed, striking for his lower back as the fallen Jedi blocked and whirled.

And stumbled.

Cal could feel it. Jayna’s power coiled and insinuated itself into Malicos like the roots of a tree, slow and patient, sapping his power, fuelling his madness until it became despair even as Cal felt the exhilaration of her hope, her confidence and her strength flow into him, augmenting his own.

Unfortunately, so could Malicos. Despite his slowed reactions, his numbed power, he still blocked and evaded Cal with ease. As Cal blocked an overhead strike from both of his sabers, Malicos leaned closer with a bared, animalistic grin. “So, she is here,” he growled. “Her power is unmistakeable. You can’t hide her from me forever, boy.”

“You won’t touch her,” Cal grunted, his arms aching with the strain of holding Malicos at bay.

“You could have joined me. We could have shared her and together created a legacy of warriors unlike any the Galaxy has ever seen. Nothing would stand in our way… and nothing will, once you’re dead, foolish boy,” Malicos snarled. Pushing Cal away, he thrust out a hand, Force-pushing Cal to the ground as BD-1 squealed beneath him. The weight of Malicos’ power kept him pinned as he groaned. “Now, come out, come out wherever you are, my dear!” Malicos called enticingly, his grip tightening on Cal until he cried out. “Or watch him die.”

There was no reply as Malicos chuckled. “Your little friend likes to play games. Very well, then she can agonise over calling my bluff,” he growled, glaring down at Cal. “I was wrong to think you could stand with me!” he snarled, reaching out with his other hand as a chunk of rock was torn from a pillar. It hovered over Cal’s head as he struggled to free himself from Malicos’ grip. “DIE WHELP!”

‘Jayna, NOW!’ Cal yelled over the Force bond, feeling it flare to life as Malicos was hit by two bursts of green flames, and Jayna and Merrin stepped from the shadows, the former bringing her saber to bear while the latter conjured another handful of green flames.

The distraction was enough for Cal to free himself and roll away before the rock hit him, summoning his lightsaber to hand. “Cutting it a bit close there,” he muttered, knowing Jayna would hear him.

“Backseat pilot,” Jayna retorted as Malicos spun, his yellow eyes alight with rage as Merrin glared down at him.

“You have no right to Dathomir, no right to our magick,” Merrin declared, her voice as cold as ice. With a hiss, she sent two more bursts of green flames flying towards Malicos, the fallen Jedi deflecting them with his sabers as he advanced steadily on the pillars where they stood. Despite Merrin’s efforts, his guard was solid as he deflected the last, then threw his saber in a wide, vaulting arc that took out both Jayna and Merrin’s pillars, sending them crumbling as the two women leapt to the safety of the platform.

“Get up, Cal Kestis! You’re not dead yet!” Merrin snapped, eying where Cal was still pulling himself upright as she disappeared in a flare of green flames.

Malicos barked a triumphant laugh. “You see, she’s already abandoned you. And now I have everything I need,” he replied, bringing his sabers back to bear as his eyes alit greedily on Jayna. “It was a pity your friend could not see sense,” he told her, with a dismissive glance at Cal. “But you, I sense, will be far more open to reason.”

“And if I’m not?” Jayna asked glacially, spinning her blade above her head, and bringing it to guard with a flourish as Cal did the same beside her.

“Your cooperation isn’t required,” Malicos replied with a terrible, predatory smile as Jayna growled low in her throat.

With barely a thought, Cal and Jayna moved as one. Despite Malicos’s arrogance, he was hard-pressed with two Force users against him, two who were accustomed to fighting side by side, and knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses intimately. While Cal went on the aggressive, Jayna kept her distance, fending off Malicos’s attacks while chipping away at his defence with her battle meditation, fuelling his madness and rage, even as he threw chunks of rock at her in an attempt to neutralise, but not fatally harm her. Cal, he seemed determined to disembowel before her eyes as he Force-pushed Jayna away, then flung himself into a whirling attack that would have reduced Cal to splinters if he hadn’t dodged then rolled.

With a cry, Jayna took a running leap, bringing her saber down in an arcing, vertical thrust. Malicos dodged it with a scornful laugh, seemingly amused like a teacher tickled by the antics of a difficult pupil, but his glee turned to alarm as Jayna sank her saber down deep into the rock under their feet, before using the saber as support as she threw herself into a whirling, double kick as her boots slammed into Malicos’ chest, throwing him backwards.

“Hardly felt that!” he called tauntingly, but then Merrin re-materialised in a flare of green flames, throwing a handful towards Malicos until he stumbled.

“Very good, Jedi! Keep going!” she shouted before she disappeared again, as Cal regained his balance and went back on the offensive as he leapt across the platform. Pulling her saber free of the rock, Jayna did the same, slashing toward Malicos’ left side as Cal did the same on the right.

Forced to defend from both at once, Malicos had no room for manoeuvre to retake the advantage, as they rained down blows on his guard until it broke. Cal’s saber scored a line across his ribs while Jayna’s nicked his thigh as he stumbled and cursed.

Teeth bared, his eyes promised only death and torture as he glared them down, but thanks to Jayna’s prodding and their fight, he’d once again forgotten Merrin. Focussed as he was on the two Jedi, Malicos didn’t look for the Nightsister as he aimed two clumsy, desperate slashes towards the two.

With a flick of their blades and a cunning twist of their bodies, Jayna and Cal evaded the blows even as their blades sheared through the casing of Malicos’ twin sabers, cutting them in half so they fell, useless and smoking, to the floor.

With a shout of incoherent rage, Malicos raised his hands to call on the Force when he found himself pinned as his body was encased in green flames. Behind him, Merrin strode from the shadows, holding him at bay as he growled and struggled like a frantic animal. “What is this?” he demanded, as the weight of Merrin’s power forced him to his knees, as Cal and Jayna stepped back, deactivating their sabers as they watched the Nightsister work.

“It’s like you said, Malicos,” Merrin replied, her voice cold and lethal, echoing slightly as it had done when she invoked the power of the Nightsisters to raise them from the dead. “Dathomir will be your grave!”

With a twist and a squeeze of her fisted hand, the ground under Malicos began to buckle and crack, swallowing him up as he struggled and cried out. He howled out in denial one last time before the ground closed over him once again, sealing him deep within its depths as the green flames faded away.

Silence fell as Jayna caught her breath, relief coursing through her veins. BD-1 scurried over from where it had been thrown during the fight, leaping onto Cal’s back as he stretched with a groan.

“What did you do?” she asked the Nightsister, as the other woman stared down at the ground where Malicos had been only moments before.

“Let him lie in the dark with his secrets… until death takes him,” Merrin replied shortly, as Jayna nodded.

“Thanks,” she said quietly. “I have a feeling I wasn’t going to like what he had planned for me.”

“Me neither,” Merrin replied, with an amused glint in her eye. “I suspect you and Cal were not the only ones he desired to possess. I saved us both.”

“Why’d you help us?” Cal asked as he joined them.

“To rid Dathomir of that parasite,” she simply replied, her voice dismissive as she turned away. “What are you really doing here, Cal Kestis?” she asked, turning back with a fierce glint in her eye.

“The ones who built this Tomb, the Zeffo, they created an object called an Astrium,” Cal explained.

“It opens a Vault on a distant planet called Bogano,” Jayna explained. “Inside is a list of Force-Sensitive children across the galaxy but the Empire is on the hunt for it too.”

“What ‘Empire’?” Merrin asked, frowning.

“THE Empire,” Cal replied forcefully. “The one bent on exterminating Force-sensitives or torturing them into submission so no one can stand against it?”

Merrin sighed tightly. “Then it will come for Dathomir before long, as the war did,” she concluded heavily. “I will help you find this Astrium.”

With a nod, they accepted her presence as they turned and jogged towards the path leading away from the platform, deeper into the Tomb. They heard the familiar crackle as Merrin disappeared in a blaze of green flame, following them in that strange way she had, as they moved deeper into the Tomb. Up ahead, they could see a narrow doorway, a shaft of light dyed red by some trick beaming through, like a beacon calling them, reeling them in.

Anticipation lit their blood on fire, but they stayed wary, watchful for any more surprises the Tomb might throw at them, mindful of their past experiences in the Tombs of Eilram and Miktrull. But there was no Trilla to waylay them this time, and it seemed Kujet was far more arrogant and secure in its belief in its own unassailability, as they encountered no Tomb Guardians.

Jayna supposed the stench of death and decay was enough to keep most people away, if they didn’t want to lose their minds as Malicos had done.

Finally, they emerged from the narrow passageway that led from the door into a smaller chamber, the walls decorated with more gruesome tableaux of Zeffo being thrown to their deaths under the Sage’s feet, as they stepped onto a long, carved grill of some obsidian-like stone, stretching onward until it reached an intricately carved edifice at the far end.

“This place, it’s…” Cal trailed off in disgust as his eyes lingered on the images rendered in the tableaux.

“I know,” Jayna breathed. “No wonder Malicos went nuts.”

Cal huffed a mirthless laugh as they reached the end of the room, staring up into the cold, stern carved features of the Sage Kujet.

“Looks like such a cheery fellow,” Jayna remarked sarcastically, as Cal stepped closer. As he did so, there came the sound of cracking, rumbling stone as an inner chamber of the edifice opened to reveal a second statue of Kujet, clasping a rounded object in his hands.

Excitement surged, but Cal stayed wary as he stepped forward, plucking the astrium from its resting place. Up close, it looked like a ringed planet as Cal peered down at it curiously. Jayna moved closer as she felt the surge of power as Merrin materialised beside her.

“We finally found it,” Cal breathed, as BD booped on his back. “Yeah…”

“It is real?” Merrin asked, wondrously as she stared down at the artefact in Cal’s hands. Jayna reached out a hand, just grazing the Astrium as she shook her head in disbelief.

“I can’t believe it. We did it,” she whispered with an exhilarated glance at Cal, as her smile grew.

“This could be the key to the next generation of Jedi,” Cal smiled, looking from Jayna to Merrin as he let her hold it.

Glancing down at it, Merrin’s face darkened with grief before she inhaled shallowly, visibly gathering herself. “I’m happy for you, and your Jedi,” she assured them, glancing at Jayna before she pressed the Astrium back into Cal’s hands. “But nothing can bring back my people…”

Jayna’s joy faded slightly, as the Nightsister turned as if to walk away, as Cal sighed, staring down at the Astrium in his hands contemplatively, his eyes sad. Jayna caught them, as exasperation rippled through her.

‘Cal…’ she started warningly.

‘She’s got nothing. And no one. I don’t see a problem…’ he countered firmly. He looked at her gravely as she hissed.

‘Not the nerf-calf eyes, Cal. Force give me strength…’

Ignoring her, Cal moved past as he reached out to Merrin. He could feel Jayna’s vexation at his intentions and shook his head. ‘I don’t need to see you to know you’re rolling your eyes at me, Jayna,’ he told he repressively, before he spoke aloud. “After the Purge…” he began stiltedly, as Merrin paused, her back turned but listening. “I was alone for a… a long time. In hiding, I was scared that they’d find out who I was or… what I was.”

“What changed?” Merrin asked, turning slightly as she could look at Cal from the corner of her eye.

“A very good friend of mine told me to go out and find my place in the galaxy,” Cal explained, with a sad smile as he thought of Prauf. He felt Jayna’s flash of grief at the reference, as she instinctively reached out to comfort him despite her irritation with him.

“And you listened,” Merrin concluded quietly.

Cal heard Jayna’s snort as he admitted ruefully, “Well, no, but… life has this funny way of forcing you on the path forward onward anyway. Now here I am. Here we both are, where we least expected,” he amended, with a glance at Jayna.

Merrin turned to face them, eyes considering as she looked to Jayna. “And you?” she asked.

“Not quite the same story. I lost my parents… they were murdered right in front of me,” Jayna slowly admitted as Merrin’s eyes sparked with unexpected compassion. “Then their murderer took even their memory from me, so I couldn’t mourn. I was focussed only on my own survival, blinkered to everything else even my true nature…until I was saddled with this nerf-herder,” she finished, nudging Cal with her elbow as he rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah. And more like, I got saddled with you,” he retorted jokingly. After a moment, he sobered and concluded. “We were both hiding. We were both forced onto a path we didn’t choose, not at first. But we both made the choice to take this path… the path forward.”

 “A path forward,” Merrin replied, musingly as she seemed to look inward for a moment. Then her eyes seemed to light up as she took an impulsive step towards them. “I will join you,” she declared. “I’ve spent years…of waiting for a chance to avenge my sisters. I’m finished waiting. I wish to fight by your side. Both of you. Nightsisters and Jedi do not travel together but…survivors. We adapt.”

“I suppose we do,” Jayna breathed, unable to say anything to refuse the earnest Nightsister as she smiled hopefully at them both. ‘Oh for…. she’s got worse nerf-calf eyes than you, Kestis!’ she snorted mentally, disgusted with herself as she felt herself give in.

“What do you think, BD?” Cal looked down at the droid by his feet, sending an amused glance at Jayna. The little droid booped affirmatively, as Cal looked back up at Merrin. “I agree.”

Holding out a hand, he offered his hand to Merrin. She clasped it, shaking it once as her smile grew. “Our crew… they might take a little convincing, though,” Cal admitted.

“Then we’ll convince them,” Merrin replied with a confident look as she turned away.

“Okay, maybe she’s not so bad,” Jayna admitted quietly as Cal chuckled. Turning back to her, she continued, “If you need to grab anything, I’d do it now. I doubt we’ll be coming back here anytime soon.”

“I will meet you at the foot of the cliffs nearby your ship,” the Nightsister agreed, just before she disappeared once more in a cloud of green flames.

“That’s still creepy,” Jayna muttered, as she glanced at Cal and BD.

“Boop trill be-boop!” BD declared as Cal laughed, tucking the Astrium into his belt.

“I couldn’t agree more, BD-1, let’s get outta here,” he said eagerly as without a backward glance, he, Jayna and BD-1 left the Tomb of Kujet behind. 

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Merrin was indeed waiting for them down by the cliffside village near the Mantis’s makeshift landing pad. She had a small, roughly made knapsack at her feet, and she stood waiting patiently in the Dathomiri twilight, as if they were acquaintances meeting by chance, and not uneasy allies who’d been fighting for their lives not two hours ago.

“You took your time. I was beginning to think you’d run into a Nydak or a pack of Bane Back spiders,” she announced airily as Cal, Jayna and BD-1 stopped beside her.

“Oh, so that’s what those creepy, acid-spouting things are!” Jayna replied, sarcastically. “Unfortunately, we can’t just teleport to and fro like you.”

“Pity. It is a useful skill,” Merrin remarked, Jayna’s sarcasm flying over her head unheeded as she crouched down and picked up her belongings. “Shall we?”

“After you,” Cal replied, gesturing for her to precede them as the foursome began to walk leisurely towards the stone bridge connecting the cliffs to the landing pad, where the Mantis was perched, shining dully in the red sunlight.

As they walked, Merrin piped up, breaking the almost companionable silence with a question. “This woman you travel with, who is she?” she asked curiously, as Cal and Jayna exchanged uneasy looks.

“Cere?! Wait, how do you know about her?” he asked, as the silver-haired woman turned to glance at him over her shoulder.

“I have seen your companions,” she admitted, almost ashamedly. “Malicos wanted me to attack them but they posed no threat,” she added, as Cal sighed.

“Guess I owe Greez an apology,” he huffed as Jayna glanced at him questioningly. “When we got separated last time, Cere managed to get back in contact. She said Greez was getting jumpy because he thought he saw someone outside the Mantis. Guess he wasn’t just seeing things after all.”

Jayna snorted, BD trilling in amusement as even Merrin smiled a little. Despite herself, Jayna found herself relaxing a little as they drew closer to the Mantis.

“Cere… well, she used to be a Jedi. It’s a long story,” Cal explained, answering Merrin’s question as the other woman nodded.

“I would like to learn it,” she admitted, an odd but somewhat endearing curiosity in her face, like a child as Jayna glanced at her.

“Well, you’ll get your chance soon enough,” she said, prompting a small smile from Merrin as the quartet fell silent as they finally reached the landing pad.

Jayna’s heart rose at the sight of the sleek, if slightly battered, ship, a strange feeling striking her as she felt Cal reach out and take her hand. It almost felt like…home, she realised, what it must feel like to come home. It was a feeling she’d forgotten since Malavai’s interference in her life, but she felt it again now as she stopped, glancing at Cal and BD-1 affectionately as Cal stared back. She didn’t have to hear him speak to know what he was thinking, as feelings of concern, curiosity, and affection washed over her across the Force bond.

‘Nothing, just…’ she trailed off, mindful of their inquisitive newcomer as she walked, unaware, at their side. ‘I’m really glad I met you, Kestis.’

‘Don’t go getting soppy on me now, Shan,’ Cal replied jokingly, but she felt his own surge of affection and desire and he knew he felt the same. Even with all the darkness and hardship of their journey, the lives lost to get here, the revelations suffered, neither would take it back. Not now.

They were exactly where they were meant to be, and the feeling was a warming, comforting one to Jayna and Cal. Despite the urge to take her in his arms and kiss her senseless, Cal settled for squeezing her hand instead, as together they joined Merrin by the landing ramp and led the way inside.

Cere and Greez were waiting for them, the latter bearing a tray of drinks as Cere started excitedly from her seat at the sight of them. Cal produced the astrium from his belt as her eyes lit up.

“You found it!” she pronounced proudly, as Jayna nodded. Behind them, Merrin was curiously looking around the crew seating area, running her fingers along the holoprojector’s control display.

“Woah, woah who’s this!?” Greez demanded shrilly, setting down his tray as he gaped at the white-haired, red-robed woman.

“Bee-woop! Woop woop!” BD-1 announced as the Latero stared at them with wide eyes.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he demanded again, as Cal and Jayna rolled their eyes at his dramatics.

Merrin apparently wasn’t moved by the Latero’s unease and suspicion either. “It means I’ll be joining you,” she replied coolly as Jayna sensed the unease emanating not just from Greez, but from Cere too.

“Cere, Greez, this is Merrin,” Cal made the introductions, with a repressive side-eye at Greez.

“Wha- she’s a witch, isn’t she!?” the Latero apparently wasn’t about to take the hint.

“A Nightsister,” Merrin replied firmly, her voice earnest as she added, “Your fear is unnecessary.”

“We couldn’t have got the astrium without her. We fought Malicos together,” Cal continued, glancing at Jayna for backup.

She nodded wearily. “We probably wouldn’t have beat him so easily without her,” she admitted as Cal scoffed.

“Call that easy?!” he joked, before he grew serious once more as he looked to Cere, the unofficial leader of their crew. “I trust her,” he stated resolutely as Cere nodded, a long-suffering if affectionate smile on her face.

“And we trust you,” she assured him, as Cal relaxed. Turning to Merrin, she added soberly, “You will have to earn it. Welcome aboard.”

Looking to Greez, the Latero threw his hands in the air. “Okay, fine! Grab some seat!” he muttered, stomping off towards the cockpit, grumbling all the way. “Long as she doesn’t try anything funny.”

Cal turned to Merrin with a slight smile. “They like you,” he assured her, as the Nightsister looked less than convinced.

“Don’t worry about Greez. You get used to his grumpiness, it kinda grows on you,” Jayna admitted, as BD-1 hopped from Cal’s back to the sofa, Merrin joining the droid as the engines began to hum as Greez prepared to take off.

“Be-be-boop!” BD-1 trilled welcomingly at the Nightsister, as she looked at the little droid uncertainly.

“I don’t know what you’re saying,” she admitted as the droid’s head drooped.

“Don’t worry about that,” Jayna assured her as the Nightsister glanced up at her. “We can teach you Binary so you can understand him. If you want.”

Merrin looked taken aback by the offer, before she cautiously nodded, a small smile replaced the cool seriousness of before. “I would like that,” she admitted, as Jayna nodded once before turning away to join Cal and the others in the cockpit.

“So back to Bogano?” Greez asked as Jayna strapped herself into the gunner’s chair. Cal looked over his shoulder at Cere and Jayna before he took a deep breath. And nodded.

“Yes,” he breathed. ‘At last,’ he added silently, only Jayna sensing the tenor of his thoughts as the ship lifted away from the cliffs, rising gracefully through the Dathomiri sunset skies until they reached the familiar darkness of space. With a jolt, the Mantis jumped to hyperspace and they were away. Neither Cal nor Jayna were sorry to see the back of that dark, lethal planet but they could sense the slightest edges of sorrow in Merrin as she felt the jolt as the ship leapt into hyperspace.

Once they were away, Jayna and Cal unbuckled from their seats as Cere glanced at them, before calling out to Merrin. “If you’re tired, you’re welcome to use my bunk in the meantime. We can re-arrange quarters once we have the holocron,” she added that last, looking at Cal and Jayna.

Trying hard not to fidget or give themselves away, they nodded as they stood and left the cockpit, not wanting to linger in case Cere decided to start interrogating them.

‘I told you she was suspicious!’ Jayna hissed in his head, as they walked into the crew galley area.

‘It was a throwaway comment, that’s all. It doesn’t mean she suspects that we’re…y’know,’ Cal replied lamely, as she threw him a darkling, unimpressed glance.

‘Don’t tell you’re one of those guys who can’t just come and say we’re having sex without turning red as a Hutt with sunburn?’ she teased slyly as he did, in fact, flush red. ‘With red hair, that is a ridiculously adorable look on you.’

‘Oh, shut up,’ he grumbled. With a friendly smile for Merrin, who was watching them with interest in her dark eyes, he said aloud, “Get some rest, Merrin. It’ll take a while to reach our destination from Dathomir. “

The Nightsister nodded shortly, as Jayna and Cal disappeared off to their compartment, relieved to escape the shrewd Nightsister’s piercing gaze. She watched them go, as Cere ventured into the galley to grab some food.

“Are they lovers?” Merrin asked, suddenly as Cere jumped, then stared at her incredulously. “Jayna and Cal, I mean,” she clarified, eyes narrowed.

“Why do you say that?” Cere asked carefully.

“They fight like lovers. They are very… close,” Merrin remarked. “Sometimes, I almost suspect that they are speaking to one another without words.”

Cere chuckled. “In a way. Jayna and Cal have a Force bond that links their minds together. They’re close but… they’re Jedi. Jedi do not form attachments like that,” she explained patiently as Merrin’s brows rose.

“I see,” was all the Nightsister said, eyes distant as she seemingly mused on Cere’s explanation, as Cere nodded.

“Alright then,” she muttered, leaving the Nightsister to her musings as she strode back into the cockpit.

In their compartment, Jayna and Cal had gladly stripped off their outer layers. They weren’t exactly tired from the fight against Malicos, but they were glad of the chance to breathe. Jayna had a sneaking suspicion it would be their last chance for quite some time.

“So,” she began leadingly, resting her head against the cool bulkhead above her cot as Cal glanced up at her from his. “The Astrium… we got it.”

“Yes, we did,” Cal breathed happily. “I can’t quite believe it.”

“Whoa, hold your fathiers, Cal. We still have to face whatever’s waiting for us in that Vault. If the Zeffo built that Vault anything like their Tombs…somehow, I doubt it’s going to be as simple as just taking the holocron and walking away,” Jayna replied soberly. “And then we need to decide what we’re going to do with it.”

“We know what we’re going to do with it. We’ll use it to find and train the next generation of Jedi,” Cal replied, a cool note slipping into his voice as he sensed her discontent with his statement.

“Cal….,” she sighed, running a weary hand across her eyes.

“Jayna, we talked about this! You knew what our goal was when you decided to stay,” Cal interjected as she raised steely, annoyed eyes to his.

“No, we didn’t talk about anything. You decided on this madcap scheme,” she pointed out coolly. “You know I’m not comfortable with the idea of taking children away from their homes, their families and forcing them into a war.”

“It’s a war they’re involved in, whether they’re trained or not,” Cal replied. “The Empire won’t stop hunting them-!”

“Then all the more reason to leave them safely anonymous!” Jayna snapped, her eyes burning. “For Maker’s sake, Cal! This journey has been one death-defying, skin-of-our-teeth escape after the other… the Empire constantly on our tail… Cal, how can we say we can keep the children on that list safe when we can barely manage it ourselves?”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” he replied snidely, but to his irritation, her words struck a chord. She had a point, unfortunately.

“Cal, please… just listen,” she held up a hand, calming and reasonable. “I understand what’s driving you, I do, and Cere… the chance to regain what you lost, the family that was taken from you, the chance to avoid past mistakes but…this is so much bigger than your survivor’s guilt. Cal, if we take those children… how can we promise their parents that we can keep them safe until they’re strong enough to do it themselves? How can we take children away to raise them to become soldiers? Because that’s what we’ll have to do. This is a war, Cal, a war we’re stuck fighting because there’s no other choice. We can’t hide, we can’t let the Empire win but that doesn’t mean we have to drag children into it and take their choices away. That’s their MO, it shouldn’t be ours.”

“It’s the will of the Force we found each other. It’s the will of the Force we set out on this path, on Cordova’s path to find this thing,” Cal replied, quietly, irked by her perceptive, knowing words but unable to refute them. “This is the right thing to do, I know it.”

“You said it yourself. The Jedi were peacekeepers,” Jayna replied, her words equally as quiet and solemn. “But… we can’t be that now… there’s no peace to keep. We can preserve their legacy, fight for the day we can take up that mantle again but…this is our war, Cal. To survive, we must become soldiers. Is that really the fate you want to consign those children to?”

Cal fell silent, even more struck by her statement as she sighed and stood. He felt her hand in his hair as she reached out, caressing his temple as she knelt down beside him. “Just… think about it, okay?” she asked, her eyes searching his. “Think hard, before we go down this road. Perhaps it wasn’t the will of the Force that we find and use the holocron, perhaps it’s to protect those children by removing the one thing that will lead the Empire straight to their doorsteps.”

Taking a deep breath, Cal nodded before he inclined his head and brushed a kiss across Jayna’s palm. Forcing aside the irritation and disquiet their disagreement had caused to grow in his mind, he opened his eyes and straightened on the cot as Jayna looked down on him. A second later, a familiar mischievous gleam sparked in her eye as she leant towards him and, before he could move or speak, she grabbed his wrists and used her body weight to tip him back on his cot, pinning him under her weight as she straddled him.

“Hey!” Cal hissed, partly amused, partly unsettled by her sudden playfulness, but he didn’t move to free himself. He knew at least four different ways of freeing himself from her hold, but he was far too comfortable to consider them. However, caution raised its head as he recalled Cere’s words in the cockpit, and Merrin’s uncomfortable scrutiny. “D’you really think we should be doing this, right now? You’re usually always the sensible one.”

“Right now, I don’t feel like being sensible,” she retorted, smirking as she ground her hips down against him, drawing a moan from his lips. “You’re never sensible, Cal. Don’t disappoint me now.”

Cal lunged up and kissed her hard, drawing her down against him with a strangled moan against his lips, twining his legs around hers since she still held his wrists pinned. His hands itched with the urge to touch her, to feel her skin again against his own, but she refused to let him move. He groaned against her lips, rolling his body against hers pleadingly as she trembled and pressed back, tearing herself away from his kiss to hungrily lave his throat, making him grit his teeth as he felt desire surge, hot and rampant, through his body.

“Jayna…” he whispered pleadingly. “Love, please… don’t start something we can’t finish.”

“You mean like this morning?” she asked rhetorically, releasing him to sit up, pulling her jacket off and throwing it over to her cot. For a moment, Cal stayed looking up at her while she gazed down at him, hair dishevelled and chaotic over her shoulders, eyes dark and inviting. Cal ran his hands up her legs, clasping her hips as she cocked one eyebrow. “I think there is a little something we need to finish…”

“Jayna, I meant what I said. Not on the Mantis, not… like this,” Cal stuttered as she rolled her hips down and into him, caressing his arousal through the barrier of their clothes.

“So, we have our limits, for now,” she whispered, glancing towards the corridor. “Shower? You do stink,” she quipped, as he choked out a laugh, tilting his head back as she leant back down.

“I’m a bad influence on you,” he joked as she inclined her head back to his neck, experimentally biting at his throat as he groaned and bucked against her.

“Oh, I’m all my own ‘bad influence’, Kestis. I’ve never needed help with that,” she whispered coyly as she sat back up, dismounting him before holding her hand out. Cal sat up, shucking off his poncho and shirt, before taking her hand and letting her lead him towards the ‘fresher, body alive with curiosity, excitement, and adoration for the girl holding his hand.

The next morning, Jayna stirred from sleep, poking her head out from the cocoon of blankets she and Cal had concocted together after squeezing onto one cot after their very leisurely, prolonged ‘shower’. The narrow space occupied by Cal was empty, as Jayna turned onto her back and stretched, finding the twinges of her muscles oddly enjoyable, accompanied as they were by a deep lassitude, a feeling of satiation that ran down to her bones.

In her head, the Force bond floated, comforting, and warm, as she sensed Cal’s emotions, his wave of affection as he acknowledged her awakening. Smiling slightly, choosing to ignore the giddiness that feeling left in her, Jayna opened her eyes.

Refusing to dwell on their little disagreement yesterday, she laid there for a few minutes, enjoying the peace of solitude, albeit with the added awareness of Cal at the back of her head with every breath. It was a strange sensation, to be physically alone but mentally all but joined at the hip to another. It was also one she’d long stopped fighting or fearing.

‘Jayna? Time to get up, love. We’ll be coming up on Bogano soon,’ Cal whispered across the bond. Grumbling slightly, feeling the urge for a nice, big mug of caf, she pulled herself free, reaching for some fresh clothes. As she dressed, her mind turned to what they might face in the Vault.

She had no doubt it wouldn’t be as simple as strolling in there, producing the Astrium and hey presto! Holocron for the taking. There was bound to be some kind of trap, some kind of security to stop just anyone from walking in and plundering its secrets. And Cordova would have ensured it as well, considering the precious secret he entrusted to the Zeffo’s keeping.

For a moment, unease welled as she thought about Cal’s obstinacy over using the holocron. she didn’t know if it was the Force or just her own instincts, but something whispered that Cere and Cal’s plan was doomed to failure, and worse. The Order hadn’t been able to defeat the Sith last time, and that was with a few thousand Knights at its command. Even if they managed to find a hundred children before the Empire caught wind of them, it wouldn’t be enough. Not then, and not now.

No, the final downfall of the Sith wouldn’t lie in the ancient ways of the Jedi, she mused, recalling the prophecy Malavai had told her and the vision she’d experienced in the caves on Ilum. Doing things, the way they had always been done, tradition and custom… that way just spelled failure. They needed to find a new path.

As she finished buckling her boots, a lock of hair fell over one shoulder. ‘Oh yeah, I am so cutting this sooner rather than later,’ she decided. Irritated by it, it distracted her from her depressing thoughts as she hauled it back into a ponytail, not bothering with a braid as she reached for her saber. Securing it to her belt, she wandered into the galley.

Cere, Merrin, Cal and BD-1 were all sat around the central round table, staring down at the artefact she and Cal had retrieved from Dathomir. She could sense the curiosity, awe, uncertainty, and diffidence in the air as she stepped down from the galley.

“You think it’ll work?” Cal asked, glancing towards her. A second later, he held out a mug of caf from the decanter sitting on the table next to the Astrium. ‘Morning, love…’

A warm swell of affection overwhelmed her. ‘You always know exactly what I need, Kestis,’ she joked mentally, taking the mug as she nodded ‘good morning’ to Cere and Merrin.

‘Pretty much a given at this point,’ he retorted smilingly, as Jayna realised Cere and Merrin were staring at them. She was forced to repress a shiver as he hit her with a memory of last night, his fingers thrusting into her body as she bucked and clung to him against the wet tiling of the shower wall.

‘Behave!’ she snapped at him as she sat down, while he smirked impishly where only she could see.

‘Never,’ he replied airily as Jayna turned and smiled apologetically at Cere and Merrin, hoping they’d mistake her blush for something else.

“You were doing it again. Talking to each other inside your heads,” Merrin observed, her head tilting to the side.

“Sorry, force of habit, if you’ll pardon the pun,” Jayna quipped, ignoring Cal’s groan, and rolled eyes as she sat down beside him. “How’d you sleep?” she asked the Nightsister.

“Well enough,” Merrin shrugged. “It is a strange sensation to sleep on a starship, but I think I shall grow used to it in time.”

Jayna nodded, hiding in her mug of caf as Cere turned to Cal. “It worked for Cordova,” she assured him. “I’m sure it’ll work now.”

“You can make it work,” Merrin asserted, with a swift glance at Cal.

“She’s right,” Cere agreed, nervously as Jayna drained her mug.

“Oh hey, Jay,” Greez greeted brusquely, swiping the empty cup as he passed. “Is anybody hungry? I-I was thinking of whipping up some scazz steaks…” he trailed off, as the foursome sat at the table stared at him. He squirmed uncomfortably. “I’m sorry, am I interrupting?” he asked gruffly.

“No, Captain,” Cere assured him, affectionately. “And we couldn’t have got this far without you.”