As soon as they jumped out of hyperspace, Nellith knew something had gone wrong.
All of the lights flickered, and Serenity started to drop into the atmosphere of the planet below. Nellith detached the commlink wired to the speakers.
"This is your captain speaking— head to the escape pods, it looks like it's gonna be a bumpy ride," she said. She hung it back up with a faint click and tried to regain control of the ship. But no matter how many buttons she pushed, no matter how she tried to wiggle the joystick or flip switches— Serenity didn't respond to her commands.
The shields were faltering against atmospheric resistance. Fire streaked the sides of the craft.
Nellith realized that she was going to die on Serenity.
"Come on," she whispered. "Come on, I know the legends about you, surely you can—"
But in the end, this brand of Ugly wasn't the ship of myth and legend after all, Nellith realized. It was just an old ship that she had a good feeling about.
Was the Force wrong, sometimes? About destiny and all of that?
Nellith was at least grateful that the others had left—
That was when Kyp Durron burst into the cockpit.
"Come on, Nellith, there's no saving her," Kyp said gently. "We've gotta go."
Maybe once, Nellith would've insisted that she go down with the ship. That she wasn't important enough for anyone to care if she did.
But now she understood one thing— she would be needed to find the weapon Revan spoke of, and to fight against the Star Forge.
There was more than that, too. Nellith realized that as she accepted Kyp's hand. There were others who cared about her, destiny or no. And she couldn't destroy them that way, by destroying herself.
She followed Kyp into the last of the two escape pods.
"I convinced Tash, Jysella, and Artoo to go," Kyp explained. "Told them I'd save you— now come on."
"Thank you," Nellith said as she crawled into the escape pod. Just in time, they pressed the button to eject, and soared to the planet's surface.
Nellith was the first to emerge, and she was almost blinded by the brilliance of the sun. They were on a land made from stone pillars of various heights and widths, with a sea breaking against the stony shore.
"Strange land," Kyp muttered as he joined her, shielding his eyes. "Where is this place?"
"I have no idea," Nellith admitted. She turned around. There were caves and such in the distance, and as she looked farther inland, there was plant life growing on the pillars.
But she also saw more wreckages— the second escape pod, the Falcon, and Serenity.
"I guess we can't fix it, can we?" Nellith asked sadly.
"The scrap might at least help out the Falcon," Kyp suggested. "I'm sorry— I know you loved that ship."
"It was a chance to break away from all of the Skywalker legacy." Nellith had finally said what she wouldn't admit even to herself. "I just wanted something that was mine, since I never was important."
"You know, the Falcon isn't really a part of Skywalker's story," Kyp pointed out. "You know the most important person who flew that ship? Han Solo, who made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs—"
"Twelve is rounding down," Nellith scoffed, remembering her own father's words on the subject.
"But he's still a legend," Kyp added. "And he was a nobody from nowhere on Corellia. And so what if you're a Skywalker? You were always going to be important."
He then took her hand. "At least, you're important to me."
Nellith raised an eyebrow. "You tried that on every girl on the Praxeum, didn't you?"
"Is it so hard to believe I might like you?"
"Well, I think it was nearly every young Jedi's fantasy that the dreamy Kyp Durron would take a fancy to them," Nellith teased. She then saw the door to the Falcon open. "But we can talk about all of this when it's all over."
Kyp's grip on her hand tightened. "I'm with you till the end."
"Thank you." That was the closest Nellith felt she could get to saying 'I love you, too.'
But they understood each other all the same.
Allana and Jacen emerged from the crash of the Falcon. Tash and Jysella lifted Artoo out of the second pod.
"Tahiri's making sure that Valin will be secure where he is," Jacen explained. "And that he isn't hurt."
"How's your ship looking?" Nellith asked.
"She'll need repairs."
Nellith pulled off her leather jacket and tied the sleeves around her waist and weaved the sleeves between the straps of her belt and holster. It was hot and humid on this planet, she was realizing.
"Luckily, my ship's toast, so we'll have plenty of parts to work with," Nellith said.
Allana's face fell. "Oh Nellith, I'm so sorry."
"It's alright." Nellith undid her three buns and redid them into two— an easier style to do on the fly. She would be lying if she didn't admit that she was jealous that her twin's intricately braided Hapan hairstyle was still impeccable, not a hair out of place.
Then again, Allana never had Nellith's thick curls. None of the children of Ben and Rey did, except for Nellith and Anakin.
"He's fine, and he's not going anywhere," Tahiri announced as she left the Falcon. "Should we fix this, or go find Rey?"
"We could split and cover more ground that way," Jysella pointed out.
Jacen groaned. "That is how we all get killed. We are not splitting up."
"Well, fine, we'll have to make a decision, then," Nellith said.
"I think we should go find Mum, especially since she can help us fix all of this." Allana gestured widely at the wreckage. "It's weird— it's like the planet has some kind of energy field around it—"
"It's old," Kyp declared. "Very old. We should be careful."
"I agree."
Allana then pulled the holocron out of her pocket, and had it hover in midair as she moved her hands around it, in deep concentration.
The holocron unlocked to show Rey once more.
"You've followed my instructions— now I can guide you further," Rey said. "I'll see you soon, sweetheart."
Nellith frowned— her parents called each other sweetheart, but never the kids. A part of her immediately went to Valin's declaration.
Was there any chance he was right?
But that was the beginning, according to Kyp. He would have delusions that no one was who they said they were. And then he'd go crazy on some dark side power.
What the hells was even up with that?
Nellith shook her head. She couldn't have these doubts, not now. That was the danger of the deluded, she decided. That they could poison the minds of the others. They sowed doubt like rain on Kamino.
The figure of Rey on the holocron disappeared, and it floated toward one of the caves, in a pattern of flashing lights. It was a rudimentary tracking device.
"I guess we follow it."
They then entered the underground caves. It wasn't long before they came across a door— one with a handle that had to be turned.
Kyp let out a low whistle. "This is ancient."
"I guess we go in," Jysella muttered.
"Well, I'll open it." Nellith did so, and entered what seemed to be more caves— but there were faded paintings of a figure Nellith recognized from holos and nightmares.
"It's Snoke." Jacen was the first to speak.
"It also looks like the Prime Jedi's depictions," Tash added. "What if—"
Tash leaned in to the carvings. "Snoke was once imprisoned somewhere— it doesn't say where. But he was in fact the Prime Jedi."
"It says here that he ripped the Force into two— the light and the dark," Nellith said. "I've been here before, I think. This place feels familiar."
And not in a good way.
"You understand this dialect of ancient Killik?" Tash asked.
Nellith shrugged. "You tell me."
"Snoke was here or?"
"I don't know," Tash finally said. "The former Supreme Leader of the First Order is one of the greatest mysteries of our history. We have more sources on Palpatine's return than Snoke's origin."
"Let's keep moving," Jacen suggested. "I don't think we want to stick around for very long."
They kept ascending a staircase, until they saw another door.
"I'll go first," Jacen said. He opened it, and nearly dropped his lightsaber in surprise.
Nellith drew hers. The temperature dropped to a level that made Echo Base seem warm.
"Hello Jacen," Darth Keera sneered. "Did you miss me?"
AN: In case you're wondering, I like The Rise of Skywalker less with every interview. I just read the news about Rey's father. Which I call bantha poodoo on, by the way. Ysanne Isaard is still obviously her paternal grandmother and Terrio isn't about to tell me any different. I mean for this fic to be as compliant as possible to the current canon, but I have to draw the line somewhere. I actually liked Rey Palpatine, but this is a bit much.
