Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: Aftermath

21: The General

"..When I woke up, I wasn't sure if I was alive or not. I fixed myself up okay, but The Ghost might be harder to work out." Hera tossed a gaze at her beloved craft. "Damn, I hope we can fix it."
Rey blinked a few times. "You're-you've been alive? This whole time?" she exclaimed while a huge grin broke across her face.
The rebel pilot chuckled softly. "Alive is an exaggeration, perhaps, but surviving, yes."
"I had some strange visions that led me here. I think you're one of the keys to making sure your son doesn't fall to the Dark side."
"Wait-what?" Hera retorted. "Firstly, how do you know Jacen?"
"He came looking for me shortly after the Battle of Exegol." Rey began. "We've been trying to establish a new generation of Jedi, using different methods. I'm pretty sure Amaliea is close with you? She's helping, too."
The older one got to her feet. "I need to see them." she declared. Rey led the way back to the ship without any objections. She was happy to be away from Exegol's darkness. She didn't notice how Hera swayed on her feet and blinked hard as she tried to remain conscious.
They boarded The Phantom and Hera ran her hand along the walls. She tapped the image of a phoenix painted green and orange. For Hera, it read underneath.
"If Jacen is in danger of falling to the Dark side, my disappearance must've broken him." the Twi'lek sighed.
"I think it did. The thing is, he won't show it. We don't know how badly he's hurting or when it'll become too much for him to handle, so we should get going, quickly."
Hera allowed the dark haired girl to take the controls and they shot into the sky, heading back to Dagobah.
"Maybe you should take over," Rey stood after a few minutes. Hera smiled gratefully. "Are you sure? It's.. been a few weeks."
"Yes, go ahead. I'm going to meditate for a bit."
"I know someone who used to meditate whenever he felt unsure." the green skinned woman responded fondly. "Good luck, dear."
——
"She did what?!" Amaliea cried. Zarli groaned.
"She started cutting down random trees because she's mad that Rey left without telling her, and now she's boxed in and her leg is caught under a branch." she explained to the Mandolorian.
"Rey is going to murder me!" the long haired girl jumped to her feet and bolted in the direction provided by her student.
"Cass?!"
"Over here," her voice called. Amaliea propelled herself over a thick tree trunk using the Force and landed next to where the Pantoran was pinned down. Her lightsaber lay unscratched but out of reach.
"Cass, I know you have a temper, but if you don't learn to control it things like this will happen a lot." Amaliea lectured as she sliced the branch trapping the girl in two, freeing her.
"I know.. but I needed to take it out on something, right?" Cass retrieved her lightsaber and brushed it off, igniting the purple blade for a moment. She then clipped it to her belt and allowed to older one to help her to her feet.
"We should get back to camp. No more running.. off.." the Mandolorian hesitated as her eyes lifted to Dagobah's murky sky.
The Pantoran followed Amaliea's gaze and her mouth pulled into a tight line. "Hold on.. I thought you said no one ever comes here?"
"They don't."
The two rushed back to the others, Cass lagging behind as she examined the smoke emitting in the distance.
"Did you guys see that ship crash just now?" Zarli exclaimed as she met them at the mouth of their tent.
"It was a pretty big fury of flames, we couldn't miss it." Amaliea responded calmly. She pulled her wild hair into a tight ponytail and yelled for Jacen.
"You're gonna go examine the crash site?" he asked after jogging over.
"Watch Cass and Lalo." the other answered. Zarli fell into step with her teacher and they made their way towards the smoke as fast as they could. A few moments passed in silence before the Twi'lek tapped the older girl on the back pointedly.
"Something on your mind?" she asked, brushing some vines away from herself. Amaliea started slightly and sighed.
"I don't know.. something seems strange."
"About the crash?" A small plant began inching towards them and Amaliea cut it in half swiftly using her saber. She disregarded the younger ones comment and picked up her pace, forcing her student to jog in order to keep up with her.
"Get that lightsaber ignited." the Mandolorian said to Zarli. "We're approaching the ship."
The mess of steel and plastic came into view slowly. It was a small craft, aged only by a few years. Most of the fires that had started when entering the atmosphere had burned out, but a few still remained in less dense areas. Suddenly a cough came from deep within the rubble. Then another, and another.
"Help!" cried a female voice weakly. Zarli spurred into action, slicing metal apart from the direction of where the voice was coming from. Amaliea poked her head into the wreckage of the cockpit and spotted the bloody, brown haired head of the barely conscious captain. She reached down and with a little effort she pulled out the body of a young human woman, perhaps not much older than Rey.
"My.. my mother and father.. where.. are they.." the human murmured. Her eyes fluttered open and closed until they remained half-lidded and she gave out, releasing her full body weight upon Amaliea.
"Hmgh," Amaliea grunted as she attempted to position the stranger comfortably. Zarli peered back into the wreckage.
"There! They're-oh." she stopped short and squinted. Then she slid in, despite Amaliea's repeated protests.
"There are two other people down here.. but they aren't alive." the Twi'lek confirmed as she pressed two fingers against each of their necks. When she retracted her hand from the second corpse, it was red and sticky with fresh blood.
"Her injuries are too severe for me to treat. We need to take her back to Evie." the blue-haired girl told Zarli as she emerged. Despite herself, the girl brightened. "I can finally meet Evie? Awesome!"
"Well, the situation isn't that awesome, Doeda." the other one sighed. Then she realized what she had called the child and groaned in embarrassment.
"What does Doeda mean?" Zarli asked as she helped the stranger up onto Amalieas back. She flushed.
"It's, uh, it's an extinct creature native to Mandalore. They looked sort of like Loth-cats, but they had beaks and wings." she admitted. "My mom called me Doeda when I was little."
Zarli grinned. "Well, I have no idea what a Loth-cat is, either, but I like it!" she nudged the elder one fondly and they carried the strange human girl back to camp together, holding her between them gingerly.
"Oh, wow. That's bad." Lalo observed as the two approached their temporary home. He skidded through the mud towards them and squinted at the girl. He helped his friends lay her down in the tent and plopped down beside her unconscious body cross-legged. "We can't leave without Rey." Jacen said as he leaned over the girl. He brushed some hair out of her face with a frown.
"I feel like I've seen her somewhere." he confessed, tilting his head.
"Never mind that- Rey needs to get back here so we can get her some medical attention."
" I can try to get ahold of Rey somehow." Cass offered from beside Lalo, turning to Amaliea. The Mandolorian nodded shortly and retreated outside with her transmitter, probably wanting to contact Evie.
"You and Rey have the strongest bond between all of us, I think. The Force can connect your minds, if you let it." Lalo informed Cass wisely. She ruffled his hair. "You're smart, kiddo."
"I know." he grinned. Cass left him, Jacen and the stranger inside the tent and made her way up a tall, twisting tree. She broke through the canopy of trees and rested on a thick and flat branch. She girl folded her legs underneath herself and rested her hands on her knees. Closing her eyes and reaching one arm out in front of her, she focused on Rey's presence in the Force. There was a responding touch against her fingertips and when she opened her eyes, there was The Phantoms spray-painted interior. In front of her sat Rey on the hard metal ground, huddled in the dark tunic that was much too big for her small frame. She furrowed her brows.
"Cass?" her teacher asked. The girl nodded and glanced around. In the pilots seat, facing away from her, sat two green Lekku, belonging to a Twi'lek. Cass narrowed her eyes- those markings looked familiar.
"Rey, I hope you're almost back, because it's been almost five days and some random people just crashed near us. We've got the only survivor bleeding out in the tent but we don't want to go back to Lothal without you."
The brown-haired girl blinked in surprise. "We aren't far from Dagobah." she explained. "Going back to Lothal will only take one rotation for you guys, so we can change course and meet you there."
Cass nodded again but pointed to the pilot. "Who is that?" she asked. Rey smiled slightly. "An old friend. She wants to be reunited with her family, so going back to Lothal shouldn't be a problem for her."
"Wait.." realization flashed across the girls face. "That's Hera Syndulla, isn't it?"
The elder one tilted her head. "How do you know her?"
"It's uh.. long story," Cass smiled back. "See you soon."
She retracted her hand and blinked, and she was gazing at Dagobahs murky sky again.
"Awesome," she whispered. She hopped down from branch to branch until her feet touched the muddy ground again. Amaliea was talking to the hologram of an orange Twi'lek who Cass assumed was the Mandolorian's partner, Evie. As she watched, the Twi'lek raised her hand and called to someone out of view. Another person entered, this one a female who resembled the Togruta species, but across her Lekku, arms and face were lilac and gold scale-like protrusions. She nodded to Amaliea, who said something else, and the transmitter was shut off.
"So I contacted Rey, she said we should head to Lothal without her." Cass said as she approached the older girl. Amaliea glanced at her and nodded swiftly. "I'll get the others."
Jacen emerged from the tent with the stranger in his arms, the ghost of a confused look still painting his face. Cass tapped him on the shoulder.
"Rey's bringing someone I think you'll be excited to see." she told him. He cocked his head. "Who?"
"I'll let it be a surprise," she replied. She entered Nessa ahead of the others and climbed up to her bunk. Lalo appeared beside her. He didn't say anything, but that wasn't unlike him. Cass ruffled his hair and leaned against the wall. A strange tiredness overtook her and she rubbed her eyes, sitting straight again. Only she wasn't in the ship anymore.
"Aw, crap." she mumbled.
I decided I should find an old drawing I made of Ahsoka and Sam (when they were younger) to give a better depiction of what his species looks like. Because Tam and Lorai are three quarters Togruta (Xielle married another Togruta) and only one quarter of Sam's species, they have some features of his species but mostly they look pretty standard.