Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: Aftermath

13: New Dangers

Cass sat in the far corner of the ship on one of the bottom bunks, legs pulled up against her chest. She was still staying away from everyone else long after they had made the jump to hyperspace. She was still unsure about spending time with them. Whether they had similar abilities to her or not, they were still strangers.
Eventually Lalo bounced over to the girl and jumped up onto the bunk to sit next to her. He clasped his hands and swung his feet, toes barely brushing the floor.
Cass shot him a skeptical look. "What are you doing?" she asked him. Lalo glanced back at her.
"I don't know why, but I can't see you," he observed, meeting her golden eyes with his ice blue ones. She looked confused. "Uhh.. pretty sure you're looking at me," she waved a hand over his face. He batted it away.
"No! I mean.." he tapped his chin, thinking. "I can't see your.. intentions," he concluded finally. The blue skinned teenager looked more confused than ever.
"Is that something you can do?" she narrowed her eyes at they boy. He nodded proudly.
"I've always been good at it," he told her with a large grin. It faded quickly though, and he resumed staring at Cass unblinkingly. She rubbed her neck, uncomfortable.
"Uh, so.. I'm gonna go sit over there," she mumbled awkwardly. She stood up and edged towards the bow of the ship.
Was it a mistake to leave? she asked herself. She shook her head. No, anything is better than marrying some old man.
"Cass Lenna, over here," Rey waved her over.
"Um.. it's okay if you just call me Cass, actually," she told the older girl as she lowered herself beside her. Rey lifted an eyebrow at the change in her demeanour.
"Your kid is kind of weird,"
Rey realized that she was talking about Lalo. "Yeah.. he's very perceptive," Rey remarked. Cass sighed. "You all seem very nice, but what exactly are you trying to achieve by taking in Lalo and I?"
"Um.. I believe we actually have one more stop after you two." Rey looked over at Jacen, the pilot. They seemed to exchange a silent thought and he nodded, hitting a few buttons and flicking a few levers above his head.
The ship came out of hyperspace and Lalo was immediately next to Jacen. He grinned wide as he examined the sky outside.
"Can't we just stay here?" Lalo sighed. Jacen ruffled the smaller ones hair in a fatherly fashion. "Not today, bud."
Lalo jumped into Jacen's vacant captains seat anyways as he stood up.
"Okay, lets do this. Lalo, you joining us?" Amaliea asked the child.
"Nope."
"Alrighty then," she laughed. She dropped down onto the ground. "We can't really train more than three kids at a time, so hopefully the Force only directs us to one more child," she exhaled deeply and closed her eyes. Cass looked on in confusion as the other two joined them.
"What exactly are you doing?" she asked.
"Lalo will explain," came the unanimous response.
Cass crossed her hands over her knees as she perched in the co-pilots seat, looking at Lalo pointedly.
The boy sighed deeply and swung around to face her.
"Well?"
Cass flattened her full lips into a line and tilted her head.
"Okay, well.. the Force is something that surrounds all of us." Lalo explained. "Force-sensitivity means that you can access it in ways that others cannot. Like moving things with your mind, or communicating, and locating others who are like us,"
Cass nodded in understanding.
"So in order to do stuff like this, you have to become one with the Force. Using meditation, for example," he continued, gesturing to the three adults sitting in a circle.
"How do you know all this?"
Lalo inclined his head at Jacen and Rey.
"Not Amaliea?"
"Ehh... Jacen sort of pushed her into this whole 'train some kids' thing," Lalo shrugged. "I'm sure she'll do great though!" he added hastily as Amaliea opened her eyes and gave him a withering look.
"I can see hear, you know," she rolled her eyes before retreating back into her meditation.
Some twenty minutes later Rey's hands drifted to her stomach as she squinted in her meditation. Cass, who had begun to doze off, opened her eyes suspiciously at the movement and slapped Lalos arm.
"Why is she doing that?" she asked him. Lalo jumped down from the pilots seat and tapped Reys shoulder. She didn't answer.
"She's too deep in her meditation," Lalo began.
Suddenly Jacen's eyes snapped open.
"We have to get out of here." he jumped to his feet frantically. Lalo followed him as Jacen started up the engines.
"Wait, why?" Cass asked. Amaliea appeared beside her.
"You know where we have to go?" she put a hand on Jacen's shoulder. He nodded absentmindedly and typed in the coordinates. Cass pulled Lalo aside so that the older ones could do what they had to. She noticed Lalo reaching out a hand gently while shutting his eyes tightly.
A few moments of silence and Jacen cursing under his breath while him and Amaliea calculated the best route to get where they needed to go in low voices. Rey was still trapped in her meditation.
Cass perked up her ears, straining to hear what Jacen and Amaliea were discussing. She had one hand around her neck and the other pointing at a star map they were examining.
"... hyperspace lane.. dangerous.."
Lalo peeked back his eyelids slowly, as if awakening from a dream. He walked over to Jacen and shook his arm.
"We're in terrible danger." he told him calmly. Jacen glanced at Amaliea. "What kind of danger?"
Lalo pointed to the far left, outside.
A small ship painted black and red emerged from hyperspace. It looked vicious, sleek, with two large proton blasters on its underside.
"How did you-" Cass began, but she cut herself off.
Jacen cursed loudly and dropped into the pilots seat. He fired up the hyperdrive and yelled for someone to wake up Rey. The freighter ship engaged their ship, firing at them expertly. There was a loud rumble from beneath them and Cass was thrown off her feet.
"What was that?!" Amaliea shouted at Jacen. He cursed some more.
"Hyperdrives fried." He slammed his hands down on the control panel in anger. "I can fix it, but it's gonna take a minute."
The other ship fired at them again.
"Amaliea, get the head cannon!" Jacen shouted at her. Amaliea nodded. "Full power going to shields and guns," Jacen told them.
The lights spluttered out and then they were sitting in the dark. Lalo began shaking Rey frantically, but she stayed unresponsive.
"Dang it!" Lalo groaned, collapsing next to her. Cass glanced outside to see the enemy ship flying closer to them, not shooting anymore.
"What are they doing..?" Cass asked herself under her breath. Then the ship passed by them and she gasped, realizing.
"Jacen!" she called to him frantically.
"I'm a little busy right now!"
"We're being boarded!"
There was a bang! from under the control panel and Jacen emerged, rubbing his head with panic in his eyes.
"Lalo, Cass, get behind me. Amaliea! Why didn't you destroy the ship?!"
Amaliea joined them quickly, shooting a worried at Rey, who was still sitting silently in the middle of the ship. "It was too fast! And we need to move her." she added, pointing at Rey. Jacen walked over to the Jedi and picked her up gingerly, as if holding a small child. He sat her under the control panel as they were informed that an identified vessel had latched onto their ship.
Amaliea spread her arms out in a protective manner in front of Lalo and Cass as a black-armoured figure entered the ship. Cass could tell they were male when he said mockingly, "Nice place."
Amaliea bared her teeth threateningly. "You aren't welcome, assassin,"
He laughed coldly. "Ooh, feisty little thing, aren't you? Mandolorian, too.. what a shame,"
He pulled out two blasters.
"Jacen, hows it going with that hyperdrive?" Cass hissed.
"Almost got it," came the response. Amaliea pulled out her blaster and pointed it at the strangers head. He laughed again.
"Okay, let's dance, Mandolorian," he cooed. Blaster fire rang out in the otherwise silent area, and Cass pulled Lalo to the ground. His eyes were wide and afraid. Cass looked around, trying to find something to aide Amaliea with. Her eyes fell on Rey's belt, where a hilt hung.
I can probably use that, Cass thought. She shoved Lalo into the lower cannons firing area, telling him to hide. She reached over Jacen's lower back and grabbed the weapon, standing up.
Amaliea had driven the assassin into the back of the ship, but he was still fighting back quite expertly. Cass examined the weapon she had taken from Rey. She pointed it up at the ceiling and twisted the top of the thing.
A yellow blade emerged from the hilt, surprising Cass.
"A Jedi?" the assassin asked with curiosity. Cass angled her brows and brandished the blade in his direction. He laughed once more. "All right, i'll bite,"
Cass began to attack, but he shot her in the shoulder easily and she fell in agony. The lightsaber rolled away.
"Hyperdrive is back online!" came the muffled voice of Jacen. He rolled out from under the control panel and ignited his lightsaber, blue energy springing to life. He pounced at the stranger with skill, slicing one of the assassins blasters in half and knocking him to the ground.
"I had him," Amaliea mumbled to Jacen.
The assassin removed his helmet to reveal striking amber eyes that caught Amaliea off guard. They were precisely the same shade of orange as Evie's were. However, they were their only similarities. He was human, with tanned skin and light red hair.
"Who sent you after us?" Jacen pointed the lightsaber at his chest. The assassin rolled his eyes.
"I don't ask questions. Someone wants you dead, they pay well, so here we are!"
Lalo peeked his head out and saw Cass laying on the ground. He gulped and lowered himself back under the floor.
The assassin chuckled. "You know.. you should really learn you keep a good posture, Jedi."
He swung his legs around and knocked Amaliea and Jacen off of their feet in one go. Amalieas arm was trapped under the heavy torso of Jacen, and she groaned in pain, grabbing at it.
The assassin scooped up Jacen's lightsaber.
"Ooh, a sweet prize," he grinned at Jacen, who was holding his head after slamming it on the edge of one of the bunks.
"Now, who shall we go for first? Ah.." The assassins gaze landed on Cass, groaning and clutching her shoulder. He skipped towards her, eyeing her like a predator. Amaliea's pleads fell on deaf ears as he pointed the lightsaber at her throat.
"You know, I've never actually seen Pantoran blood.. well, I suppose there's a first for everything," With a vicious smile he brought the lightsaber down towards her.
Cass shut her eyes in fear. I should've stayed with Father, she thought miserably.
She waited for the pain, but it never came.
She squinted slightly as she saw two bright lightsabers crossed over her head. One blue, one yellow.
Reys hazel eyes met Cass's wide and fearful yellow ones.
"Go make sure Lalo is okay," the older one whispered. Cass nodded and scrambled to where Lalo was sitting in a ball, tear streaks straining his green face.
"Ooh.. a proper Jedi, aren't you?" the assassin cooed playfully. Rey pushed him back, away from her companions.
"Well, this will be quite a satisfying kill, I'll say," he mused with a rotten smile. Rey grinned back at him.
"I agree."