Beyond - Legends Be a Jedi? (FotJ AU, Ben, Vestara, Jaina, Luke, H/L, others.)

Title: Be a Jedi?
Author: Sir Carrot
Time Period: 44/45 ABY? (Idk)
Summary: What if Vestara didn’t break everyone’s hearts and become a generic villain?
MAJOR SPOILERS FOR FOTJ

A/N: So I started reading the EU about three years ago and dived into fanfiction about six months ago. I have mostly been skulking but given my addiction to A/T and B/V, I decided to make something. There is definitely no lack of A/T, but B/V is touched upon pretty rarely in comparison (for obvious reasons I know). I always found Vestara’s actions at the end of Apocalypse to be out of character, but it really starts in Ascension, I don’t want to write that much though so we’re starting at Apocalypse 2/3s of the way through (minus the prologue which is set between the two books.) This is my first fic and feedback (postive and negative) is appreciated.


(Disclaimer: all stuff belongs to Disney I guess)
(Disclaimer 2: Prologue heavily draws on FotJ Ascension and the rest on FotJ Apocalypse.)

Dramatis Personae:
Abeloth; female entity
Allana Solo; child (female human)
Ben Skywalker; Jedi Knight (human male)
Bazel Warv; Jedi Knight (Ramoan Male)
C-3PO; protocol droid
Han Solo; captain, Millennium Falcon (human male)
Jaina Solo; Jedi Knight (human female)
Leia Organa Solo; Jedi Knight (human female)
Luke Skywalker; Jedi Grand Master (human male)
R2-D2; astromech droid
Saba Sebatyne; Jedi Master (Barabel female)
Tahiri Veila; former Jedi Knight (human female)
Vestara Khai; former Sith apprentice/Jedi Hopeful (human female)

Prologue:

Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing dropped out of hyperspace in a burst of light. From his cockpit, Luke saw clearly the tropical and volcanic world of Upekzar. Luke was short on time, the Jedi assault on Coruscant would take place in a few days, and he would be needed. But for Luke’s own sake, and that of his son’s, he had to know.


The Jedi Order’s last visit to this planet had not gone well, and Luke’s own memories of the place were bad to say the least. Here the order, some two months ago, had confronted the dark side entity known as Abeloth. The battle had gone terribly, with several Jedi dying from massive volcanic eruptions caused by Abeloth. It had been a complete rout, and the Jedi’s quarry had escaped unscathed.


Elsewhere on the planet, Luke had sent his son Ben, the Sith girl Vestara Khai, and another Jedi, Natua Wan, to investigate the vast cave systems that had been the place where several dark side rituals had happened. Vestara had not been happy about that, she had recently turned her back on the dark side with the help of Ben, and had been itching for a chance to prove to herself, and the rest of the order, that she was trustworthy.


What had gone on in that cave wasn’t clear. Luke knew that the three had gone in, he knew that the three had explored the caves and found it empty, and he knew that the three had been confronted by a mutated bug called a Rhak-Skuri. Apparently they had engaged the bug with lightsabers, doing little damage in the process. Ben had been knocked out at that point, he had lost his mask which had protected him from poisonous gases, and in this case, nightmarish pheromones.


According to Vestara, after Ben had fallen, she and Natua engaged the bug. They had been able to beat it back and keep it from attacking Ben, but not from feasting off his nightmares. Vestara said that Natua sacrificed herself so that Ben and Vestara could escape, and given that Natua wanted to redeem herself in the eyes of the Order for being one of the “mad Jedi”, it was a plausible story. But in the months since then, Luke had always felt like Vestara was carrying a secret.


That was why Luke was here now, to figure out what really happened in that cave. For sure he wanted to believe Vestara, his own son was infatuated with her, and she had been genuinely trying to live in the light of the force. But he also knew that it was his responsibility as Vestara’s master, and Ben’s father, to learn the truth.


“Take us in Artoo.” Luke called to his trusty astromech droid. Luke’s X-Wing swooped in through the hazy clouds. It seemed the planet had recovered from the heavy volcanic activity for the most part, but the atmosphere was still high in toxic gases. This meant little, as Luke would be wearing a face mask regardless. Landing on a small plateau of hardened lava, Luke deactivated his spacecraft and stepped out, ensuring that his mask was securely in place.


Telling Artoo to keep the ship ready in case of a speedy departure, Luke walked the half kilometer to the cave’s entrance. It had been destroyed last time and Ben and Vestara had had to crawl their way out of the cave. But in a much stabler state than either of them had been, Luke easily removed the fallen rocks that had blocked the entrance. Readying himself for whatever he might face, Luke stepped into the cave.


Cracking a glow rod, Luke walked through the cave. The air cooled as soon as Luke entered, making the cave even more ominous. He passed a pile of lightsabers that Ben had reported as belonging to those that had failed their tests within. At this point in the cave, Luke knew that the truth would be revealed here. Steadying his breaths, Luke reached back with the force, utilizing the technique known as flow-walking. He found himself two months previous, just behind the three. Activating a stealth device inside his flight suit, Luke disappeared from sight, ensuring that he would not be noticed.


The three engaged in mild banter to calm their nerves, but it was clear that Natua’s mistrust of Vestara was palpable. As they continued on, Luke followed for what might have been 30 minutes. Finally, they made some noises about the cave being empty, when a noise stopped them in their tracks. Luke heard it too, a deep rumbling noise with faint clacking.


“Were there any descriptions of sounds?” Ben asked Natua. “I don’t know my geology that well. Maybe caves make noises?” Luke didn’t think so, and knowing what was about to happen made it worse.


It came again, a soft, low groaning, and Luke’s stomach clenched. The air suddenly grew cold, as it had in the chamber they had first encountered. Wordlessly the three activated their lightsabers and dropped their glow rods, automatically moving so their backs were against one another and they faced outward. “What was that you asked earlier about animals, Ben?” Natua said. Ben didn’t answer, and neither did Vestara.


Then it seemed, out of nowhere a shadow moved, and even Luke felt the stir of the dark side. Well over two meters tall, its shiny, sectioned body a deep blue-black, the thing gazed down at them with two pairs of glowing red compound eyes. Its mandibles clacked as ooze dripped from them. Lashing behind it were two extensions looking like a double tail. Each one ended in pincers that looked as if they could lop off an arm with no effort.


The creature, a Rhak-Skuri Luke knew in hindsight, reined up and began it’s attack. Four of its six arms, each ending in a hook, reached out to swipe at the three while the hideous head darted with shocking speed toward— “Ben!” Vestara cried. Ben dived away as the mandibles scraped at his mask, rolling on the cave floor and coming up fighting. The instant he moved, Vestara laid into the creature, her red blade sizzling as it bit into the hard chitin that protected its body. Natua Wan charged at it as well, and the two women moved swiftly so that the creature was being attacked on two sides.


Luke watched as the lightsabers of the three continued to dance, beating back the creature, but doing minimal damage in the process. Then the creature focused its attack on Ben, acid erupting from its mouth in the process onto Ben. Knowing that his son would escape alive did nothing to calm Luke at the sight of his son in so much pain.


But Vestara came to the rescue “Rhak-skuri!” she shouted. “Come for me!” It knew its name. It paused, ever so briefly, in its assault on Ben, whirling to stare at Vestara with its glowing, multiple eyes, its antennae waving as if in agitation—or pleasure. It Force-shoved Ben and Natua back without removing its attention from Vestara.


Luke was proud of Vestara for helping Ben; that self-sacrificing attitude was something all great Jedi possessed.


… Ssssssiiithhh … The creature spoke into Vestara’s mind, Luke heard it too. Vestara’s force presence flooded with denial, again the creature spoke … Ssssssiiithhh … It was not harming Vestara, Luke observed, and without knowing how he knew, Luke understood what it wanted. Luke felt a sense of guilt creep up his spine, he already knew what was about to happen.


For a fraction of an instant that lasted an eon, Vestara stood as if paralyzed. Ben was out of the fight, eyes shut, convulsing in terror. He would pass out soon, if his heart—or his mind—did not give out before then. She and Natua were by no means weak in the Force. But this thing was ancient. And evil. Fed by centuries of terror and thoughts of violence and darkness from its victims. Vestara had realized what she had to do, and Luke watched numbly as it transpired.


Vestara lifted her lightsaber high, the glowing red light illuminating a face contorted in anger and determination, and brought it down. The crimson weapon slashed through Natua’s mask. Taken completely by surprise, the Falleen stumbled backward, turning shocked eyes on Vestara. Natua recovered, however, and quickly defended herself.


“I knew we could never trust a Sith!” Natua snarled as her lightsaber danced and clashed with Vestara’s. Natua was no match for Vestara and the Rhak-skuri and her arm was taken in an instant. Natua fell to the floor, flailing and screaming, her lightsaber making futile burns in the rock. Vestara stood over the spasming body, her own lightsaber lowered, sweat sheening her brow.


Luke could no longer watch, he knew how this ended. Disengaging from the flow, he brought himself back to the present, to his thoughts.


Vestara’s betrayal of Natua brought his hopes for her crashing down; she had been so close to completely turning her back on the Sith way. But, Luke thought, this was partially his fault as well. He had kept Vestara away from the main battle because he wanted to avoid this sort of situation in the first place. And, could he really assign blame to her, the Rhak-skuri had needed a sacrifice, and Vestara had had to choose between Ben and Natua. It wasn’t even an argument over who she would choose, Vestara barely knew Natua and Ben was her fledgling boyfriend. There might have been a way to beat the creature, but with Ben barely alive when Vestara sacrificed Natua, Luke did not think it likely. If faced with such a situation himself, Luke might have been able to beat the creature, but choosing between Ben and Natua, Luke knew with absolute certainty that he would choose Ben, and that such a choice would destroy him. Luke knew what choice his wife would have made as well, that made Luke realize that he couldn’t in good faith blame Vestara for this.


So Luke made his decision, he would give Vestara another chance at being a Jedi, and he would try his best to support her in that as well. He wouldn’t tell Ben until after Abeloth’s defeat, nor would he speak with Vestara about her actions, yet. Extracting himself from the cave, Luke took off in his ship, left Upekzar, and traveled back to the Jedi, to prepare to assault Coruscant.

(Well that wraps up the prologue, hope I have given a good refresher on Ascension’s events, also sets up Luke’s actions in the rest of the story. Sorry about this chapter being exposition heavy too, I promise the rest of the story will not be like that).

 

Chapter One up tomorrow night!

 

A/N: This chapter takes place in FotJ Apocalypse, definitely recommend that you read it otherwise this won’t make much sense.

Chapter One:

Vestara’s legs burned, her throat ached, and her chest felt like a volcano was erupting. But she guessed that was probably what happened when you ran for three hours straight while being chased by 50 Sith.


The assault on the Jedi temple had not gone well. But in this case, the Sith controlled the temple, so the Jedi were assaulting it. The assault had started well, Vestara had been part of the team to infiltrate the inside of the temple, while the rest of the Jedi force assaulted from the exterior. The interior force, consisting of Luke and Ben Skywalker, Jaina Solo, Vestara herself, and others, had been ambushed.


Vestara had been captured in that fighting, and used as bait to lure Ben in. Luckily, however, Vestara had escaped elsewhere in the temple, and started running on an escape path towards a secret evacuation hanger set up by Han Solo. And after three hours of continuous running while under fire, Vestara finally reached the end of the tunnel.

She now sat arguing with the system that controlled the electronic hatch at the end of the corridor; she had failed multiple attempts to unlock it. “I would like to try again. Now!”


“Very well,” the voice replied. “But this is your last attempt. Your voice pattern has been recorded and—” The rest of the warning vanished into static as her pursuers set off another grenade. Vestara used the Force to brace herself against the concussion wave, but they were so close now that the durasteel flashed orange with reflected flame, and she was knocked into the hatch anyway. “Three seven four zero nine two!” Vestara yelled into her throat-mike. “Two nine zero three seven four.”


“Passcode accepted.” Vestara stepped away from the hatch, ready to leap through and order it shut behind her. The hatch remained closed.


A cold prickle raced down Vestara’s spine, and she glanced back up the tunnel to see a trio of Sith Sabers racing into view. The one in the middle was holding a live grenade, while the two flanking him were armed to defend him, one with a blaster pistol and the other an activated lightsaber. Vestara fired three bolts at the Sith in the center, but his companion with the lightsaber simply stepped forward and deflected the attacks into the walls. She was not surprised when the three men stayed long enough to evaluate her situation, then disappeared back up the tunnel just beyond her view.


“Computer?” Vestara whispered into her throat-mike. “What’s wrong? The code was correct! I know it was!”


“Affirmative,” the voice replied. “The passcode was correct.”


“Then open the sharstung hatch!” Vestara ordered. “This is an emergency!”


“Emergency acknowledged,” the voice replied. “The hatch will open as soon as the outer doors are secure.”


“Just open the hatch at the earliest opportunity.”


“Of course,” the voice replied. “That is the nature of an emergency declaration.”


Sighing, Vestara put her back against the hatch, then sat on her heels and aimed her blaster pistol up the tunnel. Her situation wasn’t all that bad. All she had to do was hold off the Sabers until the computer sealed the hangar’s outer doors. How long could that take? Five seconds? Thirty, at most? That might have been a problem, had her pursuers been trying to kill her. But they wanted her alive, and they thought they had her trapped. With that kind of advantage, she could hold them off for five minutes, easy.


A woman’s boots came into view, standing on the tunnel floor high enough up the slope that they were all that was visible. Vestara took aim and fired. The tip of a crimson lightsaber swung into view and batted the bolts back toward the hatch. They landed well above Vestara’s head—but close enough to the control box for the door that she did not want to risk it again. The boots continued forward another few steps, until Vestara could see the thighs above them. Lady Sashal’s, the high lord who was heading the group to capture her, voice rang down the passage.


“We can play this game until you deplete your blaster’s power cell.” The Keshiri dropped to her haunches and met Vestara’s gaze. “The only thing you will accomplish is to make me angry. Surrender now, and you will not suffer while you are in my custody.”


“What about after?” Vestara scoffed, realizing there was more than one way to stall. “Can you guarantee my safety until I speak to Grand Lord Vol?”


A chorus of laughter sounded behind Sashal, and she shook her head. “No one can do that,” she said. “Grand Lord Vol has been replaced.”


“Replaced?” Though Vestara felt not even the slightest inclination to mourn Vol’s passing, her surprise was genuine. “Who could do that?”


“Come and see,” Sashal replied. “The new Grand Lord is most eager to grant you an audience.” “I’d like to.”


Vestara glanced up at the control box, wondering how long it would be before the red status light on its face turned green. “But I’m afraid that would interfere with my mission.”


“Which mission is that?” Sashal scoffed. “The one to reveal all our secrets to the Jedi? Or the one to kill another High Lord?”


“The one to kill the Jedi queen,” Vestara answered. It had been her original assignment, and the claim was just audacious enough to sound plausible, even though she was bluffing.


“It was assigned to me by High Lord Taalon.” This drew a snort of laughter even from Sashal.


“When? Just before you ran a lightsaber through his back?”


“In the Maw,” Vestara said. “Shortly before I persuaded the Skywalkers to protect me from him and my father.”


A muffled thunk sounded on the other side of the hatch, loud enough that Sashal’s eyes flicked away from Vestara’s face toward the durasteel she was leaning against. “Lord Taalon died because Abeloth had taken him,” Vestara said, trying to hold Sashal’s attention for just a few seconds longer. Surely, the hatch would be open by then. “As did my father. I had no other choice.”


“There is always a choice, Jedi Khai.” Sashal stood, and more boots appeared next to hers. Vestara holstered her blaster pistol and also rose, her lightsaber gripped tight in both hands. “My mission is the key to the Sith conquest!” she yelled. She felt a slight vibration, as though something heavy had just settled onto the floor on the other side of the hatch. “Let me prove it!” Vestara had no intention of doing so, but she was out of information and time.


Sashal stepped into view, surrounded by her Sith. Some were armed with lightsabers and some with blasters, and a couple were still holding grenades—a sure sign, Vestara knew, that they, too, had sensed the activity on the other side of the hatch. But the High Lord did not order a charge. She simply locked eyes with Vestara and said, “Very well. Prove it to me.” Vestara couldn’t believe it. Was her stalling tactic actually going to save her?


“And if I do?” she asked. “You’ll let me go so I can complete my mission?”


A mocking sneer came to Sashal’s face. “Of course,” she said. “If you prove to me that this mission is real, how could I refuse you?”


“You couldn’t,” Vestara agreed. She was beginning to think that her position just might be better than she had dared to hope—that it might even be possible for her to return to the Lost Tribe as a hero herself. “I can tell you the identity of the Jedi queen. Would that be proof enough of my mission?” An astonished silence fell over the entire Sith company, and Sashal’s eyes went wide. The Keshiri studied Vestara for several moments, probing with the Force to see whether she was being truthful. And Vestara let her, because she was telling the truth. She knew the identity of the Jedi queen. And if revealing that secret was the only way to survive and go free, then reveal it she would.


A loud thunk reverberated through the hatch, and Vestara knew she was out of time. “When that hatch opens, it will be too late,” she said. “If I’m seen conversing with you, I’ll never be able to get close to the Jedi queen again.”


Finally, Sashal nodded. “If I believe what you tell me,” she said. “But there can be no doubts. I must believe you.”


“You will.” Vestara deactivated her lightsaber. Hoping to appear more confident than she was, she hung it from her belt. “The Jedi queen’s name is”—the door opened.


Vestara realized this was probably her last chance to rejoin her tribe, but did she want to? The tribe had been her family most of her life—no, she realized, the tribe had never been family, just a group of backstabbing and conniving Sith. She had been forced to kill her own father, who had killed her mother—Vestara had thought she might be accepted back into the tribe, but that was a naïve and wishful thought and Vestara knew it. Ben had been the one to comfort her father’s death, and the Skywalkers had been patient and understanding the entire time she had known them. But Vestara had killed Natua Wan, would they accept her if they knew what she had done—probably not. The one thing Vestara knew for certain though now, was that the tribe was not where she belonged, and she would be damned if she betrayed the Skywalkers after all they had done for her.


Processing all of that in a split second, Vestara leapt backwards in a backflip. To the shocked faces of her Sith pursuers, and into the light of the hanger beyond.


(Well that’s the condensed version of the chapter from Apocalypse that this story starts in, with an AU at the end. We will pick back up in a few days. Sorry to leave on a cliffhanger btw but I couldn’t resist).

 

First, welcome! It is always exciting to have someone present their first fic. Good on ya!

This time frame is not my normal area of hang-out for the EU, so I am not overly familiar with the characters/main line plot. With that caveat, I found your characterization good, plot points interesting and was left with wanting to come back for more. I will definitely be back to see what happens, even though this is not my normal era of reading, so well done! A great start to a 'what if' piece.

 

Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! I’ll do my best throughout the story to explain motivations of some of the exclusively FOTJ characters and events surrounding them. From your review I realized I probably should have made a character list, so that will come out in the near feature. Have a great day!

 

New chapter up in a few hours!

 

Chapter two:

5 Minutes Earlier

“… is no place for the Chume’da right now,” the voice was saying. “She should be on her way home.”


“Coruscant is her home, in case you’ve forgotten,” Han retorted. Of course, he knew that Taryn Zel would never forget anything about Allana. But when she fired up the voice and started in with the Hapan-aristocrat act, he got stubborn. He just couldn’t help himself—probably because he had a secret fear that Allana might act the same way someday, after she grew up and returned to live on Hapes. “She’s been living here for the last five years—with us.”


“I know where she has been living, Captain Solo,” Taryn said. “That doesn’t mean it’s safe for her to be with you on Coruscant now.”


As Taryn spoke, Han was looking through the corner of the viewport, watching the loading bay’s coral-encrusted door steadily crawl closed. He thought it had probably not been a mistake to install a faster door when he built the Jedi Temple’s secret access tunnel, given the trouble he was having now.


He knew it had been a mistake not to expand the entire bay. At the time, he had thought that a lot of visible construction would draw too much attention from the citizens of the undercity. And it had been a real trick to squeeze the Falcon into such a cramped space. With only four meters of clearance, he had been forced to ease the stern in backward, then spin the nose around and slip in sideways—a complicated maneuver that had drawn attention on its own. Once the Jedi got their Temple back, they were going to need a new secret tunnel. If they got their Temple back was a question of its own.


“Captain Solo?” Taryn’s voice was full of annoyance. “I’m waiting. Are you going to explain yourself?”


“I never explain myself,” Han said. “It’s a bad habit.” Han heard someone with a deep voice chuckling in the background—probably Zekk, who seemed to take dealing with the arrogance of Hapan women as some kind of sport. Zekk was a Jedi knight who had fallen in love with Taryn, they were now married; despite the status of men in the Hapan matriarchal society.


Taryn was silent for a moment, then said, “Then would you please be kind enough to inform me what you’re doing down there?”


“I already explained all that,” Han said. “Admiral Bwua’tu was fresh out of assault cars big enough to carry Jedi Warv. We were the only ones who could deliver him to the tunnel entrance.” In fact, Bazel Warv, Allana’s friend and protector, was just outside the Falcon, discussing how they would save the Barabel nest from the Sith.


When the Jedi had left the temple and Coruscant, the Barabel Jedi knights had stayed behind to protect their nest within the temple. The location of the nest was secret to the entire order except for Allana and Bazel, and they had promised to not share its location as Barabels were highly protective of their nests. Allana, however, had received a force vision of the nest being attacked by Sith. And despite Han’s objections, he was now taking a nine year old into a war zone to save her friends.


Allana’s parentage was a tragedy, her father a dead Sith Lord, her mother a queen. Her parents had never been able to be together, and at the end had betrayed one another. Yet Han’s granddaughter had all of the best parts of both of her parents, and Han saw Allana as a second chance at raising a child, even if said child was officially dead and going by an assumed name.


“Yes, I understand that part,” Taryn said. “What I don’t understand is why you had to bring the Chume’da with you. Couldn’t you have left her at the Jedi headquarters?”


“Not really. But stop worrying. This place is a lot more secure than HQ. There’s way less traffic down here, and only a few dozen Jedi even know about it.” Han had been the one to set this hanger up, but its use was a last resort.


“How very reassuring,” Taryn said, not sounding reassured at all. “Now please stop dodging the question. Why couldn’t you leave her with Master Sebatyne back at headquarters?”


Han paused to consider his words. It wasn’t going to be easy to convince the woman in charge of the Chume’da’s secret bodyguards that Allana was safe—not when he wasn’t absolutely sure of that himself. Finally, he said, “Well, think about it. Leaving her behind didn’t exactly work out last time.”


Taryn’s voice grew incredulous. “You’re saying she sneaked aboard the Falcon … again?”


“It was more like stomping aboard than sneaking,” Han said. “She wouldn’t take no for an answer.”


“And you let her get away with that?” Taryn demanded. “You and Princess Leia are the adults, Captain Solo. At least, you’re supposed to be.”


Han glanced back out the viewport, the door had just finished closing, “Well Taryn I would love to stay and chat but I’ve got to go.” Han said, smirking.


“The Queen Mother will hear of this, Solo.”


“I’m sure she will understand, I’ve known her since she was a child, and the Solo clan has been watching children for 35 years. See you later Taryn!” Han signed off to a boom of laughter from Zekk, and an annoyed grunt from Taryn.


Han glanced over his shoulder to where R2-D2 stood at the droid station. “Okay, Artoo, tell security to open that door again now,” Han said. After the Falcon had entered the loading bay, the facility’s stubborn security computer had insisted on closing the hanger door—even refusing an override command to leave it open. “We’ll be ready to leave before it clears.” R2-D2 tweeted an acknowledgment. A second later he added a notification tweet. Han turned forward again and saw a message scrolling across his primary display.


SECURITY IS UNABLE TO COMPLY IMMEDIATELY. THERE IS AN EMERGENCY ACCESS REQUEST AT THE TUNNEL HATCH.


“An emergency request?” Han turned toward the back of the loading bay, where the access tunnel began its run into the Jedi Temple. The iris hatch was already three quarters of the way up, and backflipping out of it a slender young woman. To Han’s horror, he saw that behind the woman were some 30 Sith.


{_|_}{_|_}{_|_}{_|_}{_|_}{_|_}{_|_}{_|_}{_|_}


As Vestara flipped away from her pursuers, she found herself looking at the wide hanger bay that was to be used for emergency escapes. Nearly filling the tiny space was the distinctive teardrop hull of a famous YT-1300 light transport, the Millennium Falcon, with the giant green bulk of the Ramoan Jedi, Bazel Warv, just stepping off the boarding ramp onto the loading bay floor. And running down the ramp behind him was a little gray-eyed girl followed by a pet nexu.


Vestara recognized the girl as Amelia Solo, but she knew better. Vestara had overheard a conversation between Bazel and Luke Skywalker that had hinted that Amelia was not the girl's true name. Combined with other evidence and a bit of inferring, Vestara had deduced that the girl was none other than Allana Djo Solo, princess of Hapes and daughter of Tenel Ka Djo and Jacen Solo.


Vestara was starting to feel guilty, a massive firefight was about to start and a nine year old girl was about to be caught in the middle of it; Vestara would do her best to keep her safe.


Still flipping through the air, Vestara used the force to activate the button to close the hatch. Unlike the rather medium speed in which it opened, the hatch shot down with a thud, taking the outstretched arm of a Sith with it. No sooner had she done that than two red lightsabers shot through the door, slowly rotating in a circular motion to remove the obstacle in their way.


Exhausted and possessed with tunnel vision, Vestara barely noticed when the large Ramoan’s hand landed on her shoulder, Vestara turned around just as Bazel rumbled something unintelligible, luckily, little Amelia came running up and translated “Bazel wants to know what’s going on, and whether we should be worried about that door.”


“Long story short, I got separated from the rest of the team and am being chased by a bunch of Sith, and yes, we should be very worried.” Turning back, Vestara realized that the Sith were already a third of the way through with the door. “We should definitely get out of here.”

A/N: Thanks for reading! I’m going to slow down a bit with the chapters so the next will be up Saturday!
Please review if you would like to!

 

Chapter 3:

Leia Organa Solo was prepping packs to take on the mission to help the Barabels when she heard a commotion outside the Falcon. Running down the old freighter’s access ramp, she turned to see Allana and Bazel talking with a clearly exhausted brown haired girl, who Leia recognized as her nephew Ben’s friend, Vestara Khai. The girl was a former Sith, but Leia trusted Luke’s judgement on the matter; her brother was famous for turning Sith back to the light.


Leia was about to yell out to them when her husband came running down the ramp behind her. “Looks like we got company Han,” Leia said, nodding to the hatch that was slowly being removed.


“I saw it from the viewport, there are a few dozen Sith behind that hatch, as well as one in front of it.”


“Luke vouches for her Han…”


“Like he vouched for Jacen?”


“Point made. Let’s go deal with this, that’s the only door out of this room and I don’t want Allana stuck in a firefight.” Turning towards the trio, Leia took off in a sprint. “Come Allana, Bazel, we need to get out of here!


“What about the Barabels, Mom. Without being warned they might die.” Allana was genuinely fearful about the Barabels, the force had shown her a vision after all. Technically Leia was her grandmother, but in the presence of Bazel and Vestara, they played the charade.


Turning towards Vestara, Leia asked “Do you think we have a chance to fight against them?”


Vestara shook her head, saying, “No, but in a minute we might have too.”


Sighing, Leia yelled out to Han, “Get the Falcon ready to go!” Turning back to Allana and getting on her knees, “I’m sorry sweetie but we need to get out of here.”


Allana looked like she was about to protest but Bazel halted her in bastardized basic, “We are so close to them now, Amelia, we can warn them through the force. But your mother is right, we need to go.” Leia noted that when he said ‘Amelia’ and ‘mother’ his force presence changed slightly, and Leia wondered how much Allana had let slip to her green friend.


“Come on, we need to get to the Falcon.” They all took off in a moderate run, minus Vestara, who was moving in more of a shuffle.


— — —


Vestara was 10 meters from the Falcon when the cut piece of the hatch was thrown towards her with a force push. The door was cortosis plated, which was probably why it had given the Sith such trouble. Vestara redirected it with her own force push before backflipping backwards for good measure. As she landed she pulled out her stolen Sith lightsaber and deflected it into a wall.


Vestara’s own lightsaber had been confiscated in preparation for the temple insertion; the Jedi had not trusted her reaction in coming back into contact with her tribe. Vestara couldn’t argue with their reasoning, she was lucky they let her go at all. Then again, Vestara had been instrumental in planning the temple assault, as well as taking on one of the Sith High Lords during the Jedi’s initial assault on Coruscant.


Deflecting more bolts as she did, Vestara leaping back, careful to always keep the Sith steadily charging out of the hatch in sight. The Sith forces were slowly surrounding the Falcon, but Vestara reached the ship in time and the ramp closed, sealing the ship.


She heard Han calling out to Allana and Bazel, telling them to go to the upper and lower turrets respectively. Making her way to the cockpit, Vestara strapped herself in. Han and Leia were a perfect team, going through a quickstart checklist even as blaster bolts peppered the ship's hull. Bazel seemed to be doing a good job keeping the Sith from using their lightsabers on the ship, Allana was only able to use suppressive fire, as being on the top of the ship limited her range of fire.


The Falcon finished its startup just as the hanger doors finished reopening, and it shot out quickly. They would be heading back to the Jedi HQ, but Vestara knew that Ben, Jaina, and Luke were still stuck fighting in the temple.

A/N: Sorry about this chapter being shorter in length, next one up Wednesday!

 

Dramatis Personae up on first post!