Star Wars: Son of Skywalker | Book III: The Rise of Skywalker

Chapter III: The Threat of Revenge

After almost a years worth of labor disputes, and a lot of reconstruction, Maz Kanata's castle has been reconstructed from the ground up, with a little help from the Resistance support team. The flags that were once there were either survived or were completely torn to shreds. She sits down on one of the tables, finally settling down, then senses a dark robed figure.

"Have you come to check on the progress?" Asked Maz.

"And to see an old friend." Said Jacen.

"Clearly, your friend is doing fine." She said, putting out a deck of cards. "I hope you're ready for our rematch." She said, putting her spectacles on so she can see her cards better.

"Always." Said Jacen, sitting down to the other side. Maz offers his own set of cards, at long last another friendly game of Sabacc has begun. Jacen had been to Maz's castle on some occasions back when Han and Chewie were babysitting him, those were some chaotic times back then. He has been playing this game since he was eight years old, and he was pretty good at it ever since. It also helped develop his strategic mind. Highest score wins, no bets. They both lay down three cards, Maz had two positives and one negative, Jacen had two negatives and a zero, Maz wins the first round. They then start the next round, Jacen lays three positives, Maz had one positive and two negatives, Jacen won that round. They start the next round, both were ready.

"You seem to have gotten better than last time." Said Maz. "You've stepped up your game, Skywalker."

"I've been practicing, not going to lie." Said Jacen. "You won't believe how furious my opponent was."

"It's never wise to upset a Wookie." Said Maz.

"...I was talking about Poe." Said Jacen.

"Honest mistake." Said Maz. They lay their cards, Maz layed one positive and two Zero's, Jacen laid one zero and two positives. After a long hour of drawing cards, it was merely neck and neck, Jacen was winning by one point. "Jacen, it's time I tell you." Said Maz.

"For you to lose?" Said Jacen, getting into the game.

"I once told you, it was a good question for another time." Said Maz, Jacen then looks away from the cards, immediately focused.

"The lightsaber." Said Jacen.

"It was a confusing time, the Empire was in shambles, but there were enough secret plans hidden across the Galaxy." She said. "A young scavenger, one of my closest allies, was captured. They extracted her DNA, I've managed to help her escape, but then we saw something, something unexpected." She said. "Something was being planned by the Emperor, something that could put a tremor in the Force. How do I know this, we managed to grab a souvenir."

"This plan, which might have something to do with the Emperor, you think the First Order would've found out about this?" Asked Jacen.

"Another good question, that neither of us know." Said Maz. "But we might find out sooner than we think."

"And you're friend?" Jacen asked.

"Shortly after a while, we've gone our separate ways,  I do hope she's out there." She said. "But in the meantime." They then both laid their cards. Jacen was focused on the story, he laid negative cards. Maz won this round. "You should learn to focus on more than one subject."

"Looks like we can call this a draw." Said Jacen. "Good game, Maz."

"Likewise, Skywalker." Said Maz, Jacen then gets an alert from his D-Pad, it was a message from Poe which read, Finn and I are headed to the cantina, when are you joining us? Jacen responds. I'll meet you there. "I have to go. Rematch next week?"