"I assume since you're here, that Zara is dead." Kane says in a low, remorseless voice as he steps off the bottom of his ship's ramp.
He seems almost amused by the standoff before him as he walks casually to the left, keeping Hanna in front of him as he speaks.
"No matter, really. It just means that there's an opening as Master of the Knights and I already have what the Acolytes want." He squeezes Hanna slightly tighter as she wriggles, holding her chubby arms out towards her parents.
"I think I'll take your shuttle, since you so recklessly grounded mine."
Kane continues walking left, towards the jungle path leading to their shuttle.
Force sleep him.
Rey demands.
His mind is shielded. We need to either surprise him or wound him for the chance.
We don't have the element of surprise and if we wound him, he could hurt Hanna.
Time slows and Ben Solo is frozen in absolute terror.
He can't take his eyes off Kane's blaster, pressed snugly against his tearful, screaming Starlight.
He feels Rey on the verge of giving in fully to the darkness clouding her mind, her control slipping.
He can sense Chewie's pain and Maz's horror behind him.
But Ben's mind is suddenly torn towards a newcomer and he scans his mind.
CATCH HER, KYLO
The sound of a blaster discharging has Ben jerking into action as several things happen at once.
Rey screams and rears back to release every ounce of rage inside her.
Kane is jerked sideways as his knee is blown out from behind.
Ben throws out an arm and tears into Kane's mind to force sleep him before he can hurt Hanna and then with the other hand, he falls to his knees to catch a falling Hanna with the force.
But Rey is unstoppable now and Ben helplessly watches force lightning come shooting out of her hands and slam into Kane's head. A moment later, when Hanna lets out a wail of unhappiness, Rey drops her hands and collapses to the ground, tears streaming down her face as she sees Hanna safe and she starts crawling towards her daughter.
XXXXXXXXXX
Kato Ren hurries out of the brush, tossing his helmet aside, and holds his blaster on the sizzling body of Kane with a frown before realizing the futility of it. He watches Rey and Kylo surge forward to scoop up their daughter and wrap her in a tight ball of safety and force shields.
Looking beyond the little family, Kato sees that his skills could be used elsewhere, and he steps around Kylo and Rey to rush over to the wounded Wookie on the other side of the landing pad.
He is pulling his medpack out as he moves and reaches Wookie and the small creature helping him at the same time as a sweet-looking woman in a jumpsuit, with blood dripping down from her forehead.
"The child is fine." Kato says quickly to them all and then turns hand a dressing to the small, shrewd-looking creature with glasses, as they all exhale a breath of relief.
Chewie grumbles lowly but doesn't object to Kato's presence as he turns to the woman.
"Are you wounded too?" He asks, gesturing to the blood on her face and she wipes at it with her sleeve.
"I got shoved into a stone wall and knocked out for a while, but I'll be fine."
She looks over Kato's shoulder to Rey's approaching presence with the child in her arms and a protective-looking Kylo walking closely behind them and she smiles as tears slide down her cheeks. The woman sniffs loudly and then drags her gaze to him with a slight uneasiness.
"Who are you?"
Kato sits back on his haunches and huffs out a resigned sigh.
"One of the good guys now, I suppose."