Clustered together in the shadow of the Raven's Claw, Jaden, Rosh, Raltharan, and Chewbacca watched at least a dozen strangers filter into docking bay. All of the men had their weapons raised, and several were already firing as they ran towards the new Jedi trainees.
The three students formed a barrier between the blasterfire and Chewbacca, who was firing his bowcaster above the students' heads. Jaden struggled to clear her head as she batted away blasterfire with her lightsaber. Where were all these men coming from? Why were they so intent on killing her? Who was telling them to kill her? All she wanted was to board the Raven's Claw and leave this mess behind. But this would have been pointless, on account of the tractor beam that held the ship in place.
While catching a steady stream of blasterfire with her lightsaber, Jaden swallowed hard and angled herself towards Rosh. "Maybe it's time to comm the Masters?" she asked as casually as she could manage. "We're going to be in trouble if they surround us."
Rosh actually laughed. "Are you kidding? We're up to this." He deflected two bolts straight back to their sources, and whooped with joy as the men dove out of the way of their own fire. "Don't worry," he said. "A couple of blasters are no match for three lightsabers and Chewie."
Jaden struggled to keep her voice from shaking. "But they just keep coming, Rosh. We don't know how much backup they might have coming right now."
It was Chewbacca who responded, barking directions over the blasterfire.
"Good thinking, Chewie," Rosh stage-whispered between blaster shots. "Let's surround 'em."
Jaden risked an incredulous glance at Rosh as she deflected. "Surround them? We're outnumbered at least three times over."
Chewbacca took Jaden's shoulder, nearly knocking her off balance, and rumbled grimly.
"Chewie's right. It's the only option," said Rosh as he lashed out at a trio of bolts headed straight for Chewbacca.
Raltharan spoke up. "If we don't intercept them and ultimately contain them to one side of the ship, we'll be the ones surrounded first." He twisted his indigo blade in front of him to catch three blaster bolts at once. He tipped his head towards the other side of their ship, where three men were advancing. "I'll head around to the other side and take those guys. You'll take care of the rest, and we'll meet back up on the other side. Was that your plan, Chewbacca?"
Chewbacca groaned his agreement. He steered Jaden and Rosh towards the half-dozen who had emerged from the side entrance, while Raltharan sprinted to the other side of the Raven's Claw.
The six men facing Jaden, Rosh, and Chewbacca did not seem fazed. Two even took several bold steps forward. But they quickly back-pedaled as Rosh approached, fearlessly and recklessly swinging his yellow blade from side to side. One dropped silently as one of Chewbacca's bowcaster bolts flew into his chest.
Jaden stayed close to Chewbacca to shield him and herself from the barrage of blaster bolts. She lashed out straight ahead for a bolt bound for her torso, then immediately swung far above her head to catch a bolt meant for the much-taller Wookiee. In her peripheral vision, Rosh danced around the shooters, then, without warning, drove his lightsaber blade into one's chest. The man let out a pained gasp before his body folded into the sand. Jaden couldn't keep from gasping, herself. Even with all of Rosh's enthusiam for the fight, Jaden had not imagined the innocent, over-excited kid actually killing.
The remaining men, now considerably more fearful, continued to back up. Rosh followed. Jaden hung back, shaken from the sight of Rosh stabbing a man to death, which made her even more reluctant to follow suit. But Chewbacca urged her ahead with a "gentle" pat that sent her stumbling towards the oncoming blasterfire. Startled, she fought the urge to run back. But she felt a wave of apprehension from the mercenaries, caught her by surprise. They were afraid of her. She relaxed slightly, trying to fall into a rhythm and to let her instincts guide her weapon. Following Rosh's lead, she advanced towards the shooters. She glanced over at the Raven's Claw to see how Raltharan was faring, just in time to see one white-clad body hit the sand beneath the ship's hull. Two more lifeless bodies lay in the sand behind it.
Gradually, the two parties converged in the corner of the docking bay, now at the opposite side of the Raven's Claw from where the confrontation had begun. Immediately beyond the dwindling crowd of mercenaries was an alcove containing stacks of cargo and droid parts, and a door, presumably leading to the docking bay's storage and administration.
Jaden glanced from Rosh to Raltharan, who both wore similar expressions of guarded relief, and she knew that they were having the same thoughts as she: Chewbacca's plan had worked, and their threat was cornered. Was it supposed to be that easy?
As if to answer their thoughts, a familiar hiss sounded from behind. Jaden glanced over her shoulder long enough to see a dozen more men streaming in from the entrance at the opposite corner of the docking bay, discharging their blasters. Her heart began to hammer. So much for not getting surrounded. They would probably have about four seconds before the newcomers would be within firing range.
"They've got backup!" Rosh shouted observantly.
Chewbacca began barking instructions again, pointing at the alcove full of equipment. Raltharan obeyed, executing a Force-enhanced flip over two mercenaries, landing, and immediately ducking into the alcove behind a stack of storage crates. A moment later, his blue blade emerged along with a blaster. Rosh threw himself at one of the now-surrounded mercenaries and cleaved him diagonally with his lightsaber, as Raltharan nailed the other with a stun bolt.
The newcomers sprinted towards them, some already firing. Chewbacca grunted at Jaden, requesting cover, as he turned to aim his weapon at the approaching mercenaries. Jaden spun around to join him as Rosh and Raltharan closed in on the shooters they had already cornered.
As Jaden deflected, she watched one man fall, then another. But the group was spreading across the length of the docking bay. Jaden wondered if she and Chewbacca would be able to hold them off before they became trapped. She would have no hope of defending Chewbacca, herself, and her two classmates who now had their backs to these newcomers.
Jaden heard bodies fall to the sand behind her, feeling the lives extinguished. Rosh appeared at her side a moment later.
"Got 'em all," he panted as Raltharan skidded into place beside Chewbacca.
Jaden breathed more easily. She remained close by Chewbacca as her two classmates edged towards the walls of the docking bay, intercepting the shooters from surrounding them.
As Jaden focused the whole of her mind on deflecting blasterfire, she realized she was blocking significant concentration of shots from one specific direction. She followed the stream of blaster bolts towards the one shooter for whom she seemed to be the target. The shooter - a human woman, Jaden realized - would fire a few shots at Jaden's feet, feign in a different direction, then aim right for her torso. Jaden briefly concentrated on this individual. The woman's cheeks were reddened from the harsh sunlight. Her jaw was set, her mouth a thin, grim line.
Through the corner of her eye, Jaden saw Rosh edging towards two shooters, steadily batting away their blasterfire as he prepared to strike.
Jaden's shooter suddenly stopped shooting. Confused, Jaden focused on the woman's presence in the Force. Her confidence seemed to grow. She must have realized that Jaden was reluctant to attack, but she surely knew that her attempts at blasting Jaden were proving useless. She seemed to be weighing her options, and suddenly Jaden felt the woman's attention shift towards Rosh.
Jaden drew in her breath. Rosh was still preoccupied, in close range of his two men. Would he be able to anticipate Jaden's shooter firing at him from behind?
In the split second the woman took to shift her gaze towards Rosh, Jaden brought her lightsaber up and lunged.
She felt the woman die. She felt the impact of her blade against human flesh and the energy expelled from the body as it crumpled. The woman's scream sent something of an electric shock through Jaden's body, followed closely by a sick, panicked feeling. Suddenly rooted to the ground, Jaden wondered whether her own heart had stopped, or if one of her classmates' stun bolts had hit her. Steam rose from the fresh wound in the slumped figure before her. Her vision clouded with her dizziness.
A fiery pain seared Jaden's right shoulder and she gasped, jolted from her daze. Her lightsaber blade sizzled angrily as it dropped to the sand. In the same instant, a massive, furry arm tightened around her waist and pulled her off the ground, forcing out all of her breath.
Jaden felt herself being bumped and jolted against Chewbacca's body, coughing and gasping for breath as the Wookiee simultaneously ran and fired his weapon. They finally dropped to the ground in a darker, cooler space. Jaden struggled to orient herself against a wall of fur and muscle. She realized they were in the alcove, between larger-than-Wookiee cargo crates.
Chewbacca was firing a few rounds over the crate they were crouched behind. He then dropped fully behind the crate and set his weapon down. He rummaged for bacta salve and bandages in his utility belt. He made quick work of Jaden's wound, all while rumbling in what must have been a Wookiee version of a soothing tone, insisting that she had been doing so well and wondering what had happened. Jaden struggled to get her breathing back to normal as Chewbacca finished the job. She had been lucky; the blaster bolt had only grazed her shoulder. Having securely fastened the bandage, the Wookiee quickly enveloped her in a crushing hug, knocking the wind out of her again. He set her aside just as suddenly to take up his weapon again and resume shooting.
Jaden collapsed behind Chewbacca's furry bulk, still panicked and gasping for breath, and desperate not to vomit or lose consciousness. She saw Rosh and Raltharan crouched behind crates on the Wookiee's other side, rapidly deflecting blasterfire with their lightsabers. Jaden's lightsaber lay deactivated by Rosh's side.
"You okay, Jaden?" Rosh called without turning his head.
"I'm fine," she choked, forcing herself to her knees while taking care to stay behind Chewbacca. "I'll disengage the tractor beams if you think you can hold these guys."
"Are you sure?" Rosh called.
"Yes!" said Jaden, realizing how unsure she was. She only knew she had to get out of there, away from the shooting.
Rosh switched to a one-handed grip on his lightsaber and grabbed Jaden's with his free hand. He moved as if to toss it backwards to her, but then held on. "I'll go with you after we take care of these guys," he said. "We don't know who's up there. "
Chewbacca started to grunt in agreement.
Jaden leaned against the duracrete wall to keep from collapsing. "It's probably the people bringing in all this backup," she said, hoping she didn't sound as desperate as she felt. "I need to take care of it now."
Rosh held onto Jaden's lightsaber a moment longer. "All right," he finally said, rolling it back towards her. She hardly heard his "be careful" as she scrambled for the entryway.
Jaden had barely made it through when a cold feeling shot down her spine. Without thinking, she dove forwards and threw herself to the ground. A heartbeat later, a loud boom shook the ground.
With her heart once again in her throat, Jaden pushed herself up to lean on her forearms. She reluctantly looked over her shoulder. All that remained of the entryway was an unsightly heap, smoking clouds of fine dust. Jaden's heart sank. Nothing but a portable missile could have done that. She closed her eyes. She could feel both of her classmates and Chewbacca beyond the wall, focused and wary.
Trembling, Jaden crawled back to what used to be the entryway, listening to the now-muffled sounds of blasterfire and lightsabers. She shoved at the mound with the whole weight of her body. But the wall of debris was too dense and heavy to move. She tried to use the Force to move the debris, but the effort made her feel dizzy and weak. She slumped back against the heap, her shoulder throbbing.
She would not be able to get back out to them through that entrance, nor would they be able reach her. Jaden let out a breath. All she could do was hope that that was their only missile, and continue ahead.
She activated her lightsaber as the door before her rose. It was a storage area, piled high with cargo crates and droid parts. Three more mercenaries stood at the far end of the room, blasters already drawn. Their colleauges must have told them to expect company. They began shooting as soon as they saw Jaden's lightsaber blade.
Though somewhat more confident that she could block their shots, Jaden thought of the woman she'd just killed, and shuddered. She couldn't try to kill them. With no friends to save her skin this time, she could not afford to freeze up again.
She rushed at the men, swinging her violet blade directly in front of their eyes. They jumped back in terror and momentary blindness. Taking advantage the extra second this gave her, she dove through the door and flattened herself against the wall beside it. The moment the door touched the ground again, she whirled around and jammed her lightsaber blade into the control panel beside the door. She would have to find a different way back to the docking bay anyway, since the entrance was already destroyed.
Jaden turned the corner and reached a stairwell. Just before the landing, she paused and leaned against the cool duracrete. She closed her eyes and tried to center herself, catch her breath, and still her pounding heart. Surprisingly, tears of stress and exhaustion welled in her eyes. She wanted nothing less than to continue. So far, on this mission, every turn had revealed more people wanting to kill her and her companions. Her shoulder had been throbbing angrily, and this sensation now yielded to a guilty nagging feeling. Chewbacca had taken a risk for her. He had scooped up Jaden's shocked self, rushed her to safety, and patched her up, all while being fired at. And here she was, rewarding him with cowardice.
Jaden straightened and mentally kicked herself, hard. Her companions were counting on her to get them out of there safely, not to whine and cower like a child. For all she knew, someone was around the corner, just waiting to blast her to pieces.
Something snapped inside Jaden and she threw herself to the ground. Before she knew what she was doing, she executed an unceremonious roll over the landing and flattened herself against the next flight of stairs, just before she heard the swish of a small object sailing over her. An explosion filled the space she had occupied one second earlier.
Jaden held her still-lit lightsaber in front of her as she got to her feet. The man who had thrown the detonator stood at the top of the stairs, along with several others, who were beginning to fire at her. As she fell back into the familiar motions of blocking blasterfire, she noticed the blinding sunlight. They were on the walkway that bisected the docking bay. The one that led to the administration tower. She had to get past these people, but again, she could not trust herself to try to kill.
She ran. She reached the top of the stairs in a few strides, swinging her lightsaber once before the strangers' eyes and tearing past them as they jumped back. Bolts flew all around her. She focused the whole of her mind on speed. She hoped for the calm, near-meditative state she had somehow reached several times before, in the underlevels of Coruscant, when she'd had to outrun the occasional lunatic, or speeder full of strangers shouting obscenities. But blaster bolts were flying at her from behind and ahead.
Finally, her surroundings softened into blurred shapes. She cleared the entrance to the administration tower, where fuzzy figures fired glowing bolts that moved slowly towards her. Jaden swung her lightsaber in a blind circle before her and ran past the men, and skidded into the turbolift.
As the turbolift door slid shut, Jaden watched the blur of her lightsaber sharpen into focus. But suddenly, she was overcome with a weak, dizzy sensation. She grabbed the handrail to keep from collapsing, taking deep breaths to steady herself. Had this happened the times she'd outrun lunatics in the underlevels?
The feeling of danger was settling again. For sure, it was because of the many people shooting at her, whom she had lost count of. But as she attempted to clear her mind, the danger began to take on an austerely quiet quality, one that felt somehow familiar. Every sensation urged her to turn back. But she had just left an unknown number of men on her trail, ready to blast her.
The feeling intensified as she exited the turbolift. It only grew more present, more intense, as she rounded a corner in the narrow corridor. Whatever lay straight ahead in the control room felt more sinister than anything Jaden had encountered that day. This danger was not the same as the other pangs of danger she'd felt recently, not full of the blatant hostility and fear that had rolled off the dozens of people who had fired blasters at her that day. This danger felt still, calm, and ten times more deadly.
Jaden stopped several meters from the entrance to the control room. If she turned back, she would run into a turbolift full of mercs. But she knew she would have a better chance with them than whatever was in that room. She turned and started back.
The prolonged hiss of the control room's entrance sliding open sounded from behind. The danger pressed on her more strongly than ever. She broke into a run.
"Not so fast, Jedi," said a smooth male voice. Jaden whirled around. Two humanoid figures, who had somehow known she had been outside and had decided to retreat, stood in the center of the control room. Both were completely dressed in black, with dark masks covering their faces, save for their eyes.
They felt different. Every other stranger at Mos Eisley radiated anger and fear. These figures felt calm and confident. And not at all surprised to see Jaden. Practically pleased to see her. Every other stranger at Mos Eisley had immediately pointed a blaster at her. These people stood relaxed. Where were their blasters? Jaden glanced towards their belts. They had lightsabers.
Stunned and dead bodies littered the docking bay. In the eerie silence that immediately follows a firefight, Rosh, Raltharan, and Chewbacca looked at one another, panting. Rosh was opening his mouth to say something when a sensation suddenly pricked the back of his neck. It felt urgent; fearful. Suddenly, somehow, he knew he had get up to the tower immediately. He dropped to the sand beside the nearest stunned mercenary body and began rifling through the utility belt around the man's waist. Chewbacca growled inquisitively.
"Jaden. She's in trouble, I...I just know it." Rosh dug around for key cards, data cards, anything that would give him some chance of finding a way up to the tower.
"Now is it time to comm the Masters?" said Raltharan.
"No." Rosh bit back. He had to find Jaden himself. He would eliminate whatever is giving his friend trouble and bring her back safely. He would prove to Master Katarn that he would be a great Jedi.
Rosh shoved up against the mess that used to be the door. He activated his lightsaber and shoved it into the rubble. With great effort, he pushed it in all the way to the hilt. He couldn't tell if the lightsaber was even close to getting all the way through. There could have been a meter of debris there, or more.
The sound of another door sliding open froze Rosh momentarily. He twisted towards the sound.
"Great, all we need is more of those…" Rosh watched Kyle Katarn and Corran Horn step through the entrance. "Oh." He got to work pulling his lightsaber out of the rubble.
Kyle glanced down at the limp body he was stepping over, then looked around the docking bay. "Oh. Did I miss something?" he said with maddening nonchalance.
Rosh stumbled back as he finally wrenched his lightsaber free. He steadied himself and deactivated the lightsaber. "You could say that," he said, trying to match Kyle's casualness to mask his growing panic.
Kyle and Corran approached their students. Chewbacca howled a greeting and clapped each of the Jedi Masters on the back.
"It's great to see you, too, Chewie," Kyle chuckled. He turned to Rosh. "What's this?"
Rosh gave up on his relaxed facade. "Jaden's in trouble," he said. He tapped the ruin with his lightsaber hilt. "She went up to the tower to turn off the tractor beams, and then that happened, and now we're not sure how to get to her."
"So we'll take a shortcut," Kyle said promptly, turning back towards the center of the docking bay.
"A shortcut?" Rosh called after his Master.
Kyle stood before a trio of gargantuan storage crates. "Help me move these, will you?"
"What are we doing?" Rosh asked, hurrying to stand beside him.
"Making some stairs."
"Ah," said Corran Horn, who beckoned for his student to follow him to the side of the crate opposite from Kyle and Rosh.
"On my count," said Kyle. "Three."
Rosh mimicked his Master's actions, positioning his hands on either side of his corner of the crate. He simultaneously pushed and lifted with all of his strength. He could not tell how much was their own muscles and how much was the aid of the Force. The crate shuddered a little as it left contact with the Jedi's hands. They slowly eased the crate over until its edges lined up with the other crate's edges, and let go.
Kyle jumped onto the first crate and turned to address Corran and his student. "Can you two stay here with Chewie? We'll need some cover down here, just in case."
"Sounds like a plan," said Corran. He gestured to one of the stunned bodies which was twitching. "If one of these gentlemen wakes up in the meantime, we'll have some informative discussions."
"Very good. Let's go, Rosh." Kyle jumped from the single crate onto the stack of two, then executed a Force-enhanced leap onto the walkway.
The moment Rosh joined Kyle on the walkway, Kyle held up a hand to stop him.
Rosh was starting to ask what was the matter when a metallic ball the size of a fist sailed towards them from the tower entrance. Kyle lifted his other hand and the ball changed directions, shooting straight back towards the tower. The thermal detonator's explosion rang out through the docking bay. Rosh felt a wave of shock and pain from that direction, followed by the cold feeling of death that he had gotten to know so well in the last hour. Kyle unclipped his lightsaber from his belt and started for the tower's entrance.
Rosh forced himself not to look down as they entered the tower, instead staring at the blood-spattered walls.
"Sorry you had to see that," said Kyle, stepping over the scattered parts of an unclear number of bodies.
"No problem." Rosh thought of Jaden freezing up after she'd killed the man in the docking bay, and hoped she was faring okay.
As they waited for the turbolift, the fear from Jaden that had pricked Rosh earlier intensified. He took a calming breath as he struggled against his own growing fear. If they lost Jaden today, he would never forgive himself. He should never have let her go up there without him.
Kyle nodded. "Yep, I feel it too," he said. He was silent for a moment. "It seems like a bunch more of those mercs caught up to her. And…" Something flashed across Kyle's face, but it was gone before Rosh could identify it. "Huh. Hopefully she can hold them off another minute."
"What brings you up here, Jedi?"
The voice was almost unnaturally smooth; chilling. Near-black eyes narrowed between layers of black fabric concealing most of a human male face. Jaden gripped the hilt of her still-lit lightsaber until her fingers, then her entire body, seemed to freeze in place.
It was clear, from the smug satisfaction that radiated from the two nearly identical figures, that they had sensed her fear instantly. Jaden quickly reined in her fear and panic until it was a fiercely concentrated ball deep in her ribs.
She deactivated her lightsaber and began walking towards the entrance, while meeting the gaze of the man who had spoken. With measured nonchalance that might have made Kyle Katarn proud, she replied, "That tractor beam." She gestured with her lightsaber hilt beyond the men, to the control panels at the far side of the room. "It's holding my ship, and I'd like to leave now. If that's okay."
Jaden could nearly see the amused smirk behind the other man's mask. "There's a reason we can't let you leave, Kid. And it's not because we enjoy your company."
"Oh, don't be so hard on her," the first man chimed in. "Of course you are welcome to turn back," He paused at the sound of the turbolift doors opening down the corridor, and the corners of his eyes creased in what must be a satisfied smile behind the mask. "...but, it sounds like you may be safer here with us, for the time being."
Jaden's insides twisted. The men she had just ran from were catching up. It was over. She had gotten herself cornered. She took a deep breath. She supposed she would rather die fighting these strange men than running from them.
She activated her lightsaber. The man closest to her followed suit, his red blade slicing the air. Steeling herself, she moved towards him and prepared to strike. He raised his own blade to block her and casually lifted his other hand. A blast of energy slammed her against the duracrete. Now cornered, Jaden took a precious half-second to regain her balance and prepared to strike at the armed man. But the other, who had not even drawn his lightsaber, was already anticipating the strike. He grabbed Jaden's lightsaber arm and used his other hand to shove her against the duracrete a second time. Her heart jumped as the tip of the first man's scarlet blade all but grazed her jaw. Heat tickled her throat, and the strange dark feeling threatened to strangle her.
The realization hit like a third shove against the wall. This sensation was exactly like the one she had experienced at the Massassi Temple. With no time to consider this realization, she tried to draw on the Force for strength and calm. But this dark aura constricted every fiber of her being.
The mercs began to arrive, and the man held up a hand as the began to raise their weapons. Jaden realized that they could kill her instantly. They wanted something more.
The man did not let up on his grip. The darkness emulated from his being, from his lightsaber, from his icy stare. She struggled against it, but it seemed to only grow stronger with her struggle. The darkness paralyzed her, threatened to swallow her whole. There was no way to center herself in the Force; there was no balance. She was completely helpless and hopeless.
The man sensed her struggle and merely laughed. "Do we have ourselves a beginner? We anticipated we'd have to at least work a little bit to bring down a Jedi." He shook his head. "So young...too bad you'll have to die this early in your career. Why don't you tell us how you and your little friends found out about this place, and maybe then I can make it quick for you?"
She struggled not to flinch as his grip tightened around her arm. "I don't know. My Master figured it out," she said truthfully. "If you'll just let me comm him…"
The man laughed loudly. "Nice try," he said, leaning so close that the fabric of his mask nearly brushed Jaden's skin. In the same moment, something nudged Jaden in the Force. Something familiar. Could it be? She did not dare break the strange man's gaze, not even to think Master, for fear of giving them away early.
"Sure, comm your Master and all your Jedi friends to invite them over," the man was saying. He shoved her again, hard, against the duracrete. "Tell us how you found this place before I-"
"It was hard to miss," said the voice of Kyle Katarn.
There was a collective snapping-to-attention in the room as a dozen or so blasters pointed towards the entrance. Now, Jaden dared to lift her gaze.
"That docking bay full of unmarked cargo ships gave us a hint," said Kyle. "Now, why don't you tell us about the people you're working for?"
The man lunged at Kyle. Rosh rushed at the man holding Jaden. The man, forced to defend himself, released Jaden. The crowd of mercenaries that had accumulated around them were shooting. Jaden took to them, intercepting flurries of blaster bolts with her lightsaber. Kyle finished his man and jumped to help Rosh. Jaden heard the man scream and fall. Rosh and Kyle appeared on either side of her to finish off the mercenaries.
Finally there was silence. Kyle deactivated his lightsaber and the two students followed suit. Jaden didn't want to look at Rosh and Kyle. She had gotten herself into this mess and they had had to rescue her. She felt Rosh's eyes on her and looked up to see his face pained with concern and immense relief. As soon as they locked eyes, Rosh rushed towards Jaden and threw both arms around her.
Jaden stood still, startled by the intense urgency in Rosh's grip.
"Are you okay?" said Rosh. Jaden realized he wouldn't letting go anytime soon. She finally reached around him to return the embrace. "Yeah." Suddenly overwhelmed, her eyes filled with unexpected tears. She blinked hard before Rosh released her.
They found Master Horn, Raltharan and Chewbacca speaking with local law enforcement officials. As the police left to examine the bodies, the Jedi Masters and students regrouped.
While Kyle briefed Master Horn about the strange Dark Force users, with Rosh eagerly filling in the details of the encounter, Jaden saw Chewbacca tending to his bowcaster. She cautiously reached for the Wookiee's forearm and gave it a grateful squeeze. "Thank you," she said quietly, trying not to draw attention to the exchange.
Chewbacca set his weapon down on a crate. Jaden saw him start to reach for her and made sure to draw a deep breath. "Okay, Chewie," she protested, but the Wookiee pulled her to him with one arm, and used his free hand to mess her hair.
Both Masters and both of the other students were openly laughing when he finally set her down.
"That's high praise, coming from a Wookiee," Kyle remarked.
"Thanks," said Jaden, trying to smooth her hair down. "I think," she added under her breath.
Kyle's expression grew serious. "These mercs aren't cheap. Someone in this Cult must have a lot of credits. Or worse, it's backed by the Remnant." He turned back to Chewbacca. "Listen, we've gotta get back to Luke and tell him what's going on. Can you tell Leia about the Cult?"
Chewbacca growled.
Rosh reached up to slap the Wookiee on the back. "If he hadn't showed up when he did, we'd have been in a whole lot of trouble."
"Yeah, well, the way Chewie tells it, you held your own," said Kyle. "Nice work."
As the Raven's Claw made its way back to Yavin IV, Rosh emerged from the cockpit, grinning gleefully. He clapped Jaden on the back as he made his way back to the cabin. Jaden ducked into the cockpit to find Kyle in the pilot's seat and Master Horn in the copilot's. Kyle gestured to the empty navigator's chair, and she sat.
Kyle swiveled towards her. "So, those guys in the tower gave you trouble."
Jaden nodded, not sure if Kyle was being sarcastic.
"Why's that?" he asked.
Jaden did not know what to say. Was he joking? "Uh, they seemed pretty strong," she said.
"Not so. Rosh leveled one. You could, too."
Jaden hesitated. She could tell Kyle how drained and trapped she'd felt during that encounter, but feared this would be whiny. Would any Jedi have had the same experience when encountering the Dark side? If Rosh had, he'd at least dealt with it better than Jaden had. "I guess," she finally said. "I must have been overwhelmed with all those people shooting at me when I found them."
"So, they followed you in," said Kyle. Jaden nodded. "You'd passed them on your way to the tower?" She nodded again, feeling the color rise to her cheeks. "And you didn't keep the enemy in front of you, a basic rule of combat."
"I understand. I...just wasn't able to take them all down."
He shook his head. "Wrong again. Rosh could, and did, take them easily. And they certainly shouldn't have stopped you from getting past those dark Force users. Those two were strong in the Force, but that was pretty much it. They weren't trained or refined at all, you saw that. They dropped you the second we distracted them."
Jaden was at a loss for words. Would the helplessness she had felt be a legitimate excuse for her failure, or just a reflection of her weakness? But Kyle seemed sure that she could have taken them. Jaden tried not to let Kyle feel her nerves and simply nodded again.
"You let your fear and doubt get in the way," Kyle continued. "I understand why that would happen, but you can't rely on your own feelings. The situation doesn't have time for your fear and doubt."
Of course; not giving in to emotions was one of the most basic principles of the Jedi. Jaden's entire face burned. "I understand, Mas...uh, Kyle," she stammered, staring down into her lap. "I let my personal feelings get in the way of my duty, and I...I failed to do my part in this mission."
Kyle let out a long breath and leaned back into the seat.
"Listen, we're Jedi, but we'll always be human," Kyle said, his tone gentler. "Sometimes, emotions are gonna be there whether we like it or not. We just need to accept that they'll take the copilot's seat. But we never let them touch the controls. And we never, ever, let them fly the ship."
Jaden's eyes followed Kyle's gestures towards the controls. Master Horn was smiling.
"When we let fear take control, we are not fully in control," Kyle continued. "Fear can control our desicions, make us reckless, keep us from thinking straight. That's how this happens." Kyle fingered the bandage covering Jaden's right upper arm. His hand lingered there briefly. "And it can give way to other emotions. You know what they say about that, right?"
"Of course," Jaden said quickly. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads...
Kyle smiled, letting his hand drop. "Good."
Rosh was already out of his seat and approaching as Jaden edged her way back into the cabin.
"We did it, Jaden! We passed!" he exclaimed, hugging her crushingly. "I mean, I know nobody ever fails missions, but I still feel so relieved. Aren't you...oh." He caught sight of Jaden's less-than-celebratory expression too late. "Uh, you...you did pass, right?"
Jaden looked at the floor. Kyle had not mentioned passing or failing, but it seemed clear that her performance was not up to par. She managed a weak smile and shook her head. "I didn't ask; he didn't say. I'm guessing not."
Rosh reddened. "Oh. I, uh..."
Jaden envisioned Rosh in his meeting with Kyle. He must have asked repeatedly whether he passed until Kyle finally gave in and said yes. In spite of herself, she laughed. "It's okay, Rosh. There are just some basics I need to work on, which you clearly have mastered already. Good work today."
"Oh, okay," he said, visibly relieved. "Well, don't worry, Jaden. You'll get there soon! And I'm always here if you need help with the basics."
"Great. Thanks," Jaden said with sarcasm she knew Rosh wouldn't pick up on. Then she remembered something. "And, thank you, by the way, for saving my life back there."
"Hey, it was no big deal. I could handle a bunch of mercs in my sleep." Jaden nearly rolled her eyes. But then Rosh put a hand on her shoulder, his hazel eyes wide with genuine emotion. "But if I were to let anything happen to you, I wouldn't be able to live with myself."
Jaden looked up at him, unsure of how to respond. Rosh's early success was getting to his ego - Kyle would surely see to that soon enough - but his concern was moving. Not to mention, he had provided some comic relief. If training was going to be as taxing as it seemed, perhaps she should be grateful to have Rosh as a training partner. "Thanks," she finally said.
"Guys, look at this," Raltharan called from his seat.
Raltharan held out his datapad. A holographic image of Luke Skywalker stood before them. Raltharan tapped the message below it, and it began to speak. "Kyle told me about what happened in Mos Eisley. It's a good thing Chewie was there, but you did well regardless. It looks like this cult and the Imperials may be working together more closely than we thought."
The initiates looked at one another.
"Wait, there's more," said Rosh, pointing.
Skywalker continued. "We've been looking into the shuttle crash and it doesn't look like laser damage or a mechanical failure was responsible. It's almost as if something just...tore apart the engines."