Surviving Order 66

Truth

Caleb, afraid Ariana would get shot, held her hand. Ariana feared the same thing for him. The two followed Hera, the twi'lek pilot, to her speeder. She only had one, so the padawans bought two speeders and they followed her. They eventually reached the docks and pushed their speeders to a ship. Ariana gasped when she saw Hera's ship.. It was amazing and huge. It seemed.. Familiar somehow. She felt like the Republic had a similar ship once..
Hera grinned from her interest. "This is the Ghost."
"Nice ship.." Ariana said.
Hera smiled and walked in, the two jedi following. "Chop, we have passengers. Prep for take off."
An orange and white astromech beeped grumpily and started the engines.
She led them to a cockpit and sat in the pilot's seat. "You two can have a seat.. Where to?"
"Um.. We haven't exactly planned that far.." Caleb admitted.
Hera sighed. "Seriously?"
Ariana shrugged. "He makes the plan and I slice the droids.. That's how we work best."
"I slice droids too," Caleb said.
"Yeah.. But I slice them more."
Hera cleared her throat. "Hate to break up your droid arguement, but all the droids were shut down after the end of the Clone Wars."
At the word clones, Caleb and Ariana stiffened.
Hera noticed and turned to them. "Something wrong?"
"The clones mindlessly slaughtered-" Ariana began angrily, until Caleb covered her mouth with his hand.
Hera frowned and turned away. "I know.. I know."
Ariana and Caleb looked at each other and sat down. How did she know?
Just as Hera was about to take off, her com beeped and she walked out."I'll be right back.."
Chopper beeped at them grumpily and rolled out.
"What if she asks our names?" Ariana said.
Caleb sighed. "We'll have to make up new names and get rid of our padawan braids."
She clutched her padawan braid defensively for a moment then sighed. She lowered her hood and picked up a cutting tool lying lose. She closed her eyes and cut the braid. She was completely aware of it falling. She sensed it hit the floor. She sighed and opened her eyes. She passed the cutting tool to Caleb.
He started to cut his padawan braid, but stopped with a sigh. "I.. I can't."
They heard Hera's footsteps and she took the cutting tool. She quickly clipped his braid off and put the tool back. They raised their hoods just before Hera came in.
"Sorry.. Business call, you could say. How about Mandalore?" Hera said.
"Mandalore? I don't kn-" Caleb said.
"Mandalore sounds good," Ariana said eagerly.
"You do know that she probably isn't there, right?"
Ariana frowned. "She might be. Have hope."
Hera sat and started taking off. "Who is this she?"
"An old friend assigned to Mandalore.. I'm hoping she sur- she's still there."
"So, what's your names?"
Ariana and Caleb thought frantically. Could she be trusted? Should they take that chance? No.. Not yet.
Ariana hesitated. "Skylar.. Skylar.. Star."
"And you?" Hera said.
Caleb thought quick as he could. "K.. Uh.. Kanaan.. Kanaan Jarrus."
She didn't say anything and just went into hyperspace.
"I've never seen jedi in flesh before.." Hera commented, breaking the silence.
Kanaan and Skylar's hearts both skipped a beat at the same time. She knew.. She knew. Would she betray them? Could they trust her? Who was Hera Syndulla?
"Jedi?" Skylar attempted.
"Nice try. I know you're jedi.. You don't have to hide it."
"Cal- Kanaan?"
Kanaan had no way to get out of this.. No plan. If she was with the Empire, this might just be their end.
"It's alright, Ari- ... Skylar. Hera.. Tell me the truth. Who are you?"
Hera smiled. "I work with rebels.. The Empire has just begun, but we know how evil it will become. After all, they killed all the jedi.. Well, almost all the jedi."
"Rebels?" Skylar said.
"Yes.. Rebels."
Skylar removed her hood and sat beside Hera. "I want to help."
"Ar- Skylar? Are you sure about this? It could be a trick," Kanaan said.
"The force is leading me to do this, Cal- Kanaan. I'm doing what Yoda said.. What Obi-Wan said."
Kanaan sighed and lowered his hood. "Not without me."
"Good. First things first.. I got intel that a teenager in the Imperial Academy on Mandalore has information that's vital to the rebellion. Obviously, the Empire won't give us the information, so we need to find the teenager. You two in?"
Kanaan looked at Skylar and she nodded.
Kanaan sighed. "Alright.. I'm in."
Hera grinned. "Good. Here's the plan.."