Hera's Been Stolen!:
D134/20 ABY, Rim 3
Hera wandered the marketplace of the spaceport while she waited for her client to come pick up his shipment from the Ghost. She'd arrived an hour before he was scheduled to meet her, so she was killing time window shopping while Chopper guarded the shipment. If she happened to see anything that would make a good present for any of the grandkids, well, all the better.
Flying around the galaxy delivering freight was a decent enough way to make credits and indulge her love of flying, but now that Jacen had better things to do than keep his mother company, Hera thought it might be time to move on to something new. Perhaps teaching flying lessons like she'd originally thought of doing? She wasn't sure yet, but she did know that she wanted to stay home more. She'd already cut back on the number of shipping runs she did to spend more time with her family, and now she was seriously thinking about running her last few scheduled shipments and then letting the other freighters in her small fleet do the all the work from now on.
Hera thought of her rather large and extended family with a wistful smile as she wandered down yet another row of wares and produce for sale.
Jacen was more than halfway through his twentieth year, and aside from his colouring and somewhat pointy ears, he was now the spitting image of Kanan when she first met him. He was just as tall, just as strong, and every bit as handsome. Girls had been sighing after him for the last five years or so, but Jacen only had eyes for Skye. He'd been waiting very patiently for the younger girl to grow up enough so they could be more than just friends. He still had two more years to go before she turned eighteen, but he said the bond they had in the Force was enough for him for now.
Jacen never did run into an older Jedi that felt like a bonded Master, but he'd easily made the title of Jedi Knight nonetheless under the tutelage of Kanan, Ezra, Ahsoka, and Skye's parents. Over the course of the years, Jacen had found over two hundred Force sensitive children, most of which had moved to Lothal with their families to be trained as Jedi at the school Ezra had built next to the orphanage. Ezra and Ahsoka had jokingly dubbed themselves the Silver Jedi and the name had stuck. Hera thought it fitting, given that they were sill essentially Light Side Force users, but dabbled in just enough of the Dark to use it if they had to.
Luke and Mara Jade had also moved to Lothal to teach at the school. They had two children of their own, both very strong in the Force, called Anika and Padmer in honour of his parents. They'd also adopted the girl called Rey that Jacen had found on Jakku last month.
Ben Solo, the only child of Leia and Han, had moved into Spectre House long ago. Hera's family had done everything they could to make the young teenage boy feel welcome, but he hadn't really started to look happy until Rey had arrived. Ben adored the girl, despite the ten year age difference. He'd made it his mission in life to make sure the half starved waif had every little thing she could possibly desire. The grownups had a good chuckle over his frustration at her not wanting any presents. Rey was literally ecstatic to have regular food and clothes to wear; she thought anything beyond that was frivolous.
Despite being only five, Rey had a stoic view of life that was kind of depressing when you thought about it. Her real parents had been too eager to give her up, not having the money to feed her anyway. They'd been offered a place and steady work on Lothal, but they had declined. Hera just couldn't understand their thinking on that one. At least Rey would grow up in a stable environment now. And apparently with a future mate too. Ben was going to have to wait a very long time for her to be old enough that their age difference wasn't a problem anymore, but based on how his demeanour had brightened so drastically, he wouldn't mind.
Ezra and Sabine's first child had been named Caleb, in honour of Kanan, and was born a prompt nine months after Ezra returned home. Ahsoka and Lux's girl, Minxha, had been born only a day later, since togrutans carried longer. The two children had immediately bonded to each other and where inseparable whenever they were on the same planet. They were both almost fifteen now, and were making out more often than not, much to their parents' amusement and dismay. Aside from that, they were both thoroughly dedicated to their Jedi training and loved their life.
Ezra's second child, Mira, on the other hand, who was just turning thirteen, had decided she was taking after her mother. Despite being Force sensitive, Mira was determined she was going to be the best Mandalorian fighter there ever was. Mira adored her maternal grandparents and spent as much time on Krownest as she could wheedle out of Sabine. She also had a penchant for dying her hair with streaks of colour. Sabine had enough of a say in the matter that at least half of the long curls stayed the original midnight blue, but who knew how long that would last? Hera thought, in the long run, that Mira was going to be a serious force to be reckoned with, more so than any of the other children who just wanted to be Jedi. With her training in both the Jedi and the Mando worlds, the girl was probably going to be unbeatable.
Surprisingly enough, in a world where the kids were all pairing off early, as they met each other and formed Force bonds, Mira had yet to show any indication that she'd bonded to anyone except her parents. No Masters, no boys, not even a BFF. Hera had a feeling that whoever Mira eventually did bond with wouldn't come from the Jedi world.
At least the children had had a safe world to grow up in.
The Rebellion had officially defeated the Empire in a massive battle on and above Jakku almost a year to the day after Endor. The threat in the Unknown Regions (which most people didn't know about), had finally been driven out of the galaxy five years ago, thanks to the cerulians and Thrawn's appropriated 'Imperial' fleet. Thrawn had let whichever humans that wanted to go back to their homeworlds, but a surprising number had stayed, either out of loyalty or from having formed attachments to the Chiss members of the ISD crews. Now Thrawn was using his fleet to seek out any remnants of the Imperial military that had fled the known parts of the galaxy. Ezra had told a select few about the First Order and how it would be even worse than the Empire. No one wanted to see that happen, so the said select few were doing what they could to prevent it. No one had found Snoke or the Knights of Ren yet, though.
The battle of Jakku was the last time Rex and Cody saw action, and even then, they never should have stayed in service that long. They'd both died in their sleep only a couple months after that due to extremely rapid old aging, only a week apart from each other, but at least it was at home on Lothal. Both of the clones had died happy men, knowing that they had made a difference for a cause that actually mattered.
Zeb and Kallus were still living on Lira San but came to visit at least three or four times a year. Zeb now held a position as second in command in the original Honour Guard. Kallus had been appointed the Senator of Lira San, representing the lasat people in the New Republic, and he'd never been happier.
After their unconventional start, Ezra and Sabine had what could only be called a fairytale marriage. To this day, they still looked at each other like newlyweds and were told more often than not to 'GET A ROOM!' by all and sundry. Hera was a little jealous of their relatively perfect life, but only a little. She'd never begrudge her children anything, she just wished she could have had the same idyllic life with Kanan. Not that she was complaining about what time she did get with Kanan, but she knew it could have been so much better.
On the other hand, it could have been so much worse as well. Aside from the worst case scenario of never seeing Kanan again in any form, there was an excellent example of a not so perfect married life in Leia and Han. She knew they loved each other fiercely, but for some reason, they just couldn't seem to figure out how to live in the same place and make it work. Leia had once told her that her love life was like a hurricane. It rolled in off the ocean in a blast of passion that left them exhausted and then they went their separate ways again until the next time they happened to share space. All she knew for sure was that despite the crazy way they lived, Han had always been true to her and she'd never looked at another man either. It made absolutely no sense to anyone but them. Too bad their son only received the aftermath of the storms in scattered affection from them.
At least she and Kanan had provided a stable enough life for their son, even if his father was a ghost. Kanan stayed with them as much as he could and had been the best loving husband and father Hera could have asked for. She only wished she could hold him longer, see him more, love him harder, and so on and so forth. In short, she wanted what Ezra and Sabine had.
Hera shook off the somewhat less than positive thoughts and told herself to stop whining. The last time she'd gotten lost in wishful thinking, Kanan had caught her, and her ghost husband had been miserable for days because he thought that she thought he wasn't enough for her. Which wasn't true at all, but it took her awhile to convince him. Hera would rather have whatever it was she and Kanan had over any other living man as a mate. No one could ever compare to him anyway. He was the most loving, caring, thoughtful, reliable, handsome man in the galaxy. He even started thinking of himself with a grey hair or two so Hera wouldn't feel like a cougar. How sweet was that?
Hera paused in her window shopping when she saw a display of fresh meilooruns. Not able to resist, she purchased one and then headed back to the Ghost. There was only ten minutes left before the client was supposed to show up anyway.
Hera walked up the ramp and patted Chopper on the dome in greeting, receiving a cheerful beep for her effort. "Anyone try to bother you?"
Chopper beeped out a negative.
"That's good." Hera climbed up the ladder and put her fruit in the galley then came back down to the cargo hold and sat on the top of the ramp to wait.
Jykto, Master of the Knights of Ren, studied the green twi'lek female carefully from afar with the zoom option in his helmet. A wisp of satisfaction curled through him. The trap they'd been setting for the head of SynSon Shipping had finally paid off with the founder herself. They'd shipped freight through her company on three previous occasions, only to get an employee. Now he finally had his Master's prize in his sights and her only companion was an ancient astromech droid.
This was almost too easy.
Master Snoke was very displeased with the growing Jedi presence in the galaxy and had sent spies into their midst to discover everything he could about them. Master had found the weak link that he thought would be enough of a catalyst to at least send the lip curling 'Silver Jedi' into chaos; Hera Syndulla. Despite not being a Force user, the twi'lek appeared to be the central hub around which the leaders of the new Order orbited. One of them, the Finder, was apparently her son. Snoke's plan was to capture the female, therefore luring the strongest of the new Jedi to come rescue her, and eliminate them. If possible, he also wanted to capture the young Finder and perhaps convert him to the Dark Side. He'd made an attempt at getting into the mind of Darth Vader's grandson, but that one had firmly shut him out recently, so Snoke was now after a different target. He hadn't been able to invade the mind of the Finder, but perhaps he could break him in a more physical way.
Jykto removed his helmet and placed it onto the passenger seat of the speeder, and then drove into the landing bay the twi'lek's freighter was parked in.
Hera rose to her feet when the speeder entered her landing bay. A human man with rugged good looks and short blond hair dressed all in black jumped out of the speeder, smiling jovially in her direction.
Hera raised a brow and smiled back. It was nice to see happy customers. "R. Nocturne?"
The man smiled wider. "That's me."
Hera gestured him up into her ship, speaking over her shoulder as she walked towards the first crate and the datapad sitting on top of it. "At this rate, you'll qualify for our frequent customer discount. I believe this is your fourth shipment with us in a month."
The man chuckled from behind her. "That would be nice. I didn't know your company offered that. I was just happy with the reliable service."
Hera reached for the datapad. "All you have to do is sign..." Her eyes went wide for a moment as she felt an uncomfortable pressure in her mind and then she slumped to the floor as the world went black.
Jykto dropped the mask of civility and sneered at the crumpled twi'lek on the floor at his feet. As he said; too easy. She hadn't been shielding at all (if she even knew how), and it had been easy to delve into her mind and send her into happy night night land.
Her droid screeched binary curses at him and rushed him with an electric shocker extended.
Jykto raised a brow in sardonic amusement and threw the pesky thing out of the ship with the Force, not even bothering to see where it landed, only hearing the crash of metal against metal as it smashed into a wall.
For amusement's sake, Jykto signed the fallen datapad with his fake signature and tossed it back on the floor. After pulling off the woman's wrist comm and blaster and crushing them with the Force, he opened a crate and dumped the unconscious twi'lek into the empty space at the top. He closed the lid and activated the antigrav, pushing the crate down the ramp and loading it onto the back of his speeder. Jykto loaded up the other two crates as well, since they actually did contain supplies destined for his Master's command ship, and he was off, driving to the other side of the spaceport where his own shuttle awaited him.
Chopper fumed while he dragged his somewhat smashed frame off the ground, just catching sight of the speeder driving away. His first thought was to chase after it, but one of his struts was broken and he could barely move faster than a crawl. So he crawled back to the Ghost.
Chopper started by comming Sabine as he moved. As the smartest organic in their family, she was the most likely to come up with a feasible plan to get his Hera back.
Chopper gave the equivalent of a sigh of relief when he heard Sabine's voice in his comm unit.
"Yes, Chopper?"
"Hera!" he beeped frantically and as clearly as possible. "Hera stolen!"
Sabine shut off the gasp that almost escaped and instantly went into warrior mode. "Where are you?"
"Rim 3"
"What happened?" she asked as she ran out of her art studio and down the hall to her bedroom to change into her armour.
"Human man. Used the Force. Made her sleep. Threw me out of the ship. Meatbag took her. Broke me," Chopper said as he used his sputtering thrusters to get up the ramp.
Sabine breathed in deeply and held it for a few moments to suppress her outrage. "Okay, Chop. It'll be okay. Is she still wearing her wrist comm?"
Chopper looked down at the mangled wrist comm and beeped a sad sounding negative.
Sabine closed her eyes, forcing herself to keep it together. The worry and rage was really making it hard for her to think properly right now. "Okay. Don't worry. We'll find her. Kanan will find her." Sabine wasn't sure who she was trying to reassure more; herself or Chopper. "Can you fly the Ghost?"
Chopper did a quick systems check and found himself operational enough. "Yes," he beeped.
"As soon as I know where she is, I'll send you coordinates," Sabine said quickly. "I gotta go now, Chop," she said as Kanan appeared in front of her. Sabine gave a quick thank you to whomever that she'd already finished putting on her black bodysuit.
"What's wrong, Sabine?" Kanan asked. "Ezra said your emotions are going nuts right now, and your comm was busy, so he sent me to see if you were okay."
Sabine repeated the conversation with Chopper for Kanan in the fewest possible words, watching in sympathy as the ghost somehow managed to get paler.
"Kriffing, karking, fraging hell," Kanan muttered, running a shaking hand through his hair. "Why didn't I feel that happening?"
Sabine shook her head. "I don't know, Kanan, but can you still feel her at all? Is she still alive?"
Kanan nodded slowly, gaze turning inwards. "She feels like she's asleep. Not something that would normally send a warning through our bond."
"That's good, Kanan. It means she's still all right. I need you to go find her and then tell us where she is. I'll comm Ezra next and we'll fly to Rim 3 and go from there, okay?"
Kanan nodded once, eyes looking haunted, before he disappeared.
Sabine immediately commed Ezra, who was teaching at the Jedi school right now.
"Sabine," Ezra's voice said in relief. "What's wrong? And don't tell me nothing. I can feel you." He was out in a hallway, having excused himself from his class for the moment.
Sabine once again repeated the conversation with Chopper as she attached her armour to her suit.
Ezra was silent for a minute and then a rather impressive collection of curses escaped him, quite a few in Mando'a that he'd picked up from her over the years.
"Why would someone steal Hera?" Sabine asked when he wound down.
Ezra slumped against the wall, wishing he'd received a vision or something about this so he could have prevented it. "I don't know, Sabine. Wait. Chopper said the man used the Force? What was his name?"
"Hang on," Sabine said as she accessed SynSon records on her wrist computer. Thirty seconds later, she had it. "It was an R. Nocturne, why?"
Ezra smacked his head against the wall. "She walked into a trap, that's why. Nocturne. Night. Knight. R. Knight. Knight of Ren. If a Dark Side Knight has her, that means she's meant as bait. It means we might finally meet Snoke. It means we're in big trouble."
Sabine was wearing a scary looking smile by now. "Snoke has no idea who he's messing with, babe. We'll get Hera back and take care of him once and for all. Meet me at the Lothhawk. You bring everyone old enough, and by that I mean NOT the kids, and I'll notify the rest to be ready for war."
Ezra stood taller as his warrior goddess did her thing, filling him with confidence through their bond. He settled himself within the Force as he nodded to no one. "Right. We'll be there in five."
Ezra sent a mental blast to everyone relevant then stuck his head back in his classroom and addressed his assistant. "Mira, you're in charge of the younglings for the rest of the afternoon class. You're mother and I have to go somewhere for a while. Hopefully we'll be back within a day or so. Tell your brother to behave himself while we're gone."
Mira nodded solemnly, sensing her father's concerned emotions. Something big was going on, and of course, she wouldn't hear about it until after the fact, as usual. "Sure, Dad. Don't worry about us."
Ezra smiled tightly at his precious daughter. "Thanks, sweetie." He sent her a burst of love and gratitude through their bond and then left, walking swiftly down the hallways towards the front door of the school.
Mira turned to the class of five, six, and seven year old younglings and smiled brightly. "Who wants to learn some hand to hand combat today?" A dozen training sabres were deactivated and a dozen little hands went up enthusiastically. Mira mentally rubbed her hands together in glee.
Ezra was the first to arrive, but he was swiftly joined by Ahsoka, Raign, Krystal, Luke, Mara Jade, and Rowan, who had all been in the school somewhere, either teaching, or making use of the big training gym. Ezra quickly explained the situation as they all left the school at a jog and jumped on their bikes to get to the tower off in the distance. As they drove, the Jedi commed their children and spouses that didn't already know that they were going to be gone for a while.
Jacen was working with a class of older younglings in the training gym when he saw Ahsoka leave abruptly. Sensing that something was up, he told the kids to take a break from their floating practice and jogged over to the other side of the gym where Skye was staring at the door her Master had disappeared through with a perplexed frown on her exotically beautiful face.
"What's happening?" Jacen asked as he arrived at her side.
Skye turned to look at her future boyfriend, mate, whatever, red eyebrows still drawn together in concentration as she spied on the thoughts of half a dozen people at once. "It's your mother," she said after a minute. "You better go. Don't let them leave without you."
Jacen's demeanour immediately went from curious to deeply concerned. He brushed a knuckle over her cheek quickly in affectionate thanks and then took off.
Skye snorted at herself, as she was now staring at the doorway in disgust at being left behind again. When Jacen thought yelled at her a few seconds later, "My class! I forgot them!" she mentally rolled her eyes at him and sent him a reassurance that she'd take care of the younglings.
Jacen raced after the bikes he could see ahead of him on his own, dread filling him as he imagined everything that could possibly be wrong with, or could have happened to, his mother. He jumped off his bike and launched himself through the air just in time to catch the edge of the rising ramp of the Lothhawk, slithering through just before it closed with a snap. He stormed to the bridge area and glared at everyone who turned and gawked at his entrance.
"Jacen," at least half of them gasped with a wince.
Jacen crossed his arms over his chest and glared some more. "I can't believe you were going to leave me behind." He let the people he looked up to more than anything feel how hurt he was at the betrayal.
Ezra bowed his head in remorse for a second and then stepped forward and squeezed his shoulder gently. "I'm sorry, Jacen. I just... Sabine said no kids, and well, habit, you know?"
Jacen relaxed his tense stance just a fraction, already forgiving his brother. He scoffed lightly. "When are you going to see me as more than a child?" he said to all of them. "You know well enough that I'm twenty years old. So well, in fact, that I'm reminded almost daily by at least one of you that I'm still too old for Skye, and yet you persist in not treating me like a grownup in every other aspect of our lives. It's very frustrating."
Jacen received a whole lot of, 'I'm sorries' and 'I swear I'll try to do betters.'
He relaxed a little more and smiled mischievously at all the grownups. "Do or do not, there is no try."
Let's just say there was a whole lot of groaning.
Jacen returned to being serious as he took a seat. "Now someone please tell me what's wrong with Mom."