A/N: Hello everyone, and welcome to yet another chapter of this tale I've gotta spin. ;) There are two more chapters, so we'll see each other soon enough!


Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. I only own my OCs Cas Andé, Tani Kenobi, Niobé Skywalker and Sehr, as well as the plot surrounding them.


9. Escape


Leia had quickly been filled in by Holdo about the plan to flee the Raddus and seek refuge onto the closest planet, which had once upon a time hosted a Rebel base. She had been helped into some regal clothes that made her look more like the princess she had been than anything else Cas had ever seen her wear.

All the while, she listened intently to the plan, just then understanding that both commanders had been planning this move since they had left D'Qar. She knew right then that the nagging feeling she had had that told her that this was a better plan than Poe's had been right.

Speaking of which, the handsome pilot had been placed on a stretcher awaiting orders to be brought onto one of the transports. Cas stood next to it, next to him, and was caressing his dark hair gently, pondering on the events of the day so far, wondering what fate had in store for them all still.

"Cas?" The young Padawan looked aside and met Leia's affectionate smile. She realised then how much their relationship had changed, from her hating the General whose existence she had not known about, to loving her as if she had been family. "I have something to ask of you."

Cas stood straighter and walked to her, chin up in determination. "Anything."

Leia smiled at her again, something akin to sadness in her eyes. "I'd like you to take command of one of the shuttles. If anything happens while en route, you are more than capable of righting any wrong." She paused. "I'm planning on having experienced pilots on each transport."

Cas looked back at Poe, whose peaceful features translated none of the current conflict. Then she looked back at Leia and nodded. "Aye General."

Leia smiled wider still. "Your mother would be proud, Padawan Andé."


Cas was given command over one shuttle in many. Nothing made it stand out: not the number of passengers – fifteen including herself –, not the number of supply boxes stashed at the back, and not the overall look of it. She sighed, taking in the amount of fuel, the integrity of the hull, the name and rank of pilot and co-pilot – Lieutenant and Private.

When she went to give her farewells to Leia, wishing it wasn't a goodbye – their plan was their last hope after all – she found Vice-Admiral Holdo and the General hovering over Poe's stretcher as he was being taken inside Leia's own shuttle.

"This one is trouble," the purple-haired woman said while placing a hand on Poe's cheek. "I like him."

Leia chuckled. "Me too."

Cas still waited, eavesdropping on the revelation that Holdo was staying behind to lure the enemy away, wishing to sacrifice herself for the greater good. It made her wish to explain her earlier actions, and she joined the two women just as they clasped hands. She stared at the brave and selfless commander, noticing the subtle resemblance to Leia's character. She smiled at her and bowed the head. "I am sorry for what happened here earlier, Admiral. I'll miss our conversations."

The taller woman smiled back and shook her head. "I know that your heart was torn between duty and love, Padawan Andé. There is nothing to forgive. I'll miss our conversations as well, and I know you will become a very wise and powerful Knight when you are ready." She bowed the head as well, and turned away to put some distance between the transports and herself.

Leia looked at Cas and placed a hand on her arm. "You'll be fine, Cas. I can feel it."

"I wish I had your confidence," she answered, but squeezed Leia's arm all the same before staring inside the shuttle behind her aunt. "Look after him for me."

"I will."


Cas was pleasantly surprised – and also no small amount of ashamed – to find that her Uncle, Sehr, had taken place inside her shuttle. Apparently, most of the supply boxes stashed behind him were books and holopads that needed saving.

The Gungan had dressed into a true scholar, and if she hadn't known it was him, she could have overlooked him. He had tied his long ears into some sort of bun at the back of his head, and was wearing a long black tunic with a brown belt hosting several utensils – pad, notebook and pencil. He was also wearing glasses, and was reading something when she noticed him.

Part of Cas was ashamed that she had forgotten about her Uncle during that entire debacle, that she had not spared one thought to the person who had hosted her and her mother for a decade.

She cleared her throat lightly after giving orders to take flight. The Gungan reluctantly looked up from his work, eyes widening when he saw her, but smiling all the same. "Cas! I am so glad to see you!"

She felt doubly ashamed then. "Uncle! It's good to see you as well! I am so sorry I haven't checked on you since we left D'Qar, I should have-"

"It's alright," he interrupted, "I know you had much on your mind. And I miss her too." His smile turned nostalgic, and Cas realised not for the first time that Sehr and Tani had truly been close friends during all that time. It made her wish she had a message to convey to him from her mother.

She made one up anyway, knowing it'd sound true. "She misses you too."

He nodded once before placing his long fingers briefly on her shoulder, and going back to his reading.


Cas' commanding didn't require much of her for the first fifteen minutes of their flight. The pilot – Exer was his name – did a marvellous job at remaining in line with the other shuttles, and the whole fleet progressed at a leisure pace, not having been noticed by the Supremacy yet.

Not that Cas hoped they'd be.

Her Force-sensitivity told her that Rey was in distress, more so than before. She could feel the conflict in her, as well as no small part of anger and pain, but it was all so far away that she was able to push it to the back of her mind, still hoping that her young friend would come out of there alive.

There was a pulse of darkness surrounding Rey, and it wasn't emitting from Kylo Ren – whose aura she could feel close by, black streaked with light. Cas then remembered that the First Order's leader was supposedly a Sith, and she shuddered at the idea of him torturing poor and innocent Rey.

Suddenly, she was shoved inside a vision, and not a vision of herself, but of Rey. It felt like the Living Force, and told her of something that was happening right then. Rey was kneeling, her hair down, fear and determination written all over her face. In front of her, Kylo Ren was looking down at her, his light-sabre in hand, visibly torn between killing the young Jedi and letting her live.

Cas gasped, and Kylo Ren looked over at where she was feeling herself stand. He didn't see her, but his brow furrowed, as if he had felt her Force-signature. She shut herself from the connection, and all Hell got loose.

She felt a strong pull in the Force, stronger than anything she had ever experienced so far, and hurried to the pilots.

Danger!

"Swerve, now!" she yelled at Exer, and the pilot only had time to look at her in stunned curiosity before he did swerve right, and a beam of ionic plasma flew past them and destroyed the shuttle in front of them.

"We are under attack!" yelled the com a second later. Exer was still staring at Cas in awe, and she understood why. She had just saved their lives, thanks to her abilities.

Meanwhile, she had no idea what to do. She could feel the Supremacy firing other beams of plasma, intent on destroying their transports now that they knew where they were heading, and she thought that one of those shuttles being blown away into oblivion could be the one on which sat Leia…and Poe.

"Give me the wheel," she said, no ounce of interrogation in her words. So to speak, it wasn't a wheel, but the order was clear, and the co-pilot gave her seat, Exer being demoted to co-pilot himself. "Ask the others to put their seatbelts on."


The next minutes were spent in a daze of slaloming between transports and deadly-beams of light, letting her connection to the Force tell her where exactly she had to spin the shuttle about. She sent all the power into the rear engines, boosting them forward, but only her piloting and excellent judgment of distances made them able to reach the planet's atmosphere unscathed. In the middle of it all, she was mildly made aware that Holdo had used the Raddus to destroy the Supremacy, jumping to lightspeed right in front of it and severing Snoke's command ship in two. That had helped them gain a few well-needed seconds.

Only five shuttles had not been destroyed.

When the call came and she heard her aunt's voice, Cas sighed in relief, heart soaring in her chest. "Crew call. State your commanding officers and surviving crew."

A couple shuttles called in first – Lieutenant Connix being one of them – before Cas took the com herself. "Padawan Andé, reporting fifteen surviving crewmembers."

A twitch in the Force told her that Leia was relieved as well, and she could almost picture her smile. "Rendezvous in the base, Cas."

The com went dead, and she turned to Exer. "Land this baby, if you please. I need to calm down."

He nodded at her, obviously still impressed at the display that had saved all their lives, and took back the commands.

Cas was exhausted. But something told her that the day was not over yet…