Hello reader! Thanks for coming back. I know some of these chapters will be rough but I appreciate you coming back so I can continue this story. As always, constructive criticism is accepted. And now to Chapter 2.
This was starting to seem familiar to Kanan.
It was like deja vu for him, having done this before only one time, when they met Ezra.
It was kind of amusing for him to see that in this situation.
They were even heading down the long streets out of Lothal's capital.
The only difference was this person he was chasing wasn't an inexperienced pilot of bikes, this person could ride very well.
Too bad he seemed to forget that these bikes had guns on them, so when the person made a slight mistake and oprned up a shot to the back, he pulled the trigger and the laser struck the back of the bike, sending the bike, the cargo, and the person of the highway and into the tall Lothal grass.
The person landed hard on their back after flying through the air for a few seconds, grunting in pain and gasping for some air after getting the wind knocked out of him, but it only took a few seconds for them to recover and stand up.
Kanan has just pulled off of the highway and parked his bike near the unknown character and dismounted.
Kanan took a moment to study the person.
The person was about the size of a teenager but a bit bulkier and taller.
He was wearing a black jacket and black pants (picture like one of Starkiller's outfits from The Force Unleashed where he wore the Imperial jacket and black pants).
He was wearing a Mandolorian helmet that was all white on the top with some some green swirls and plain bescar on the cheeks, black on the ear pieces and outer sides of the helmet, and some lighter green fangs on his helmet (I will post the helmet as the cover image when I finish the concept completely so you can have a visual to fully understand the description).
"Not bad kid. You have some skill. Too bad it was all for not, because that crate is coming with me." Kanan said, not surprised when the kid wouldn't back down.
"I don't think that's going to happen, sorry. This crate belongs to me." He said, fire in his voice while pulling the crate behind him.
Kanan respected this kid's fire and him not willing to back down, but that didn't mean that he would get to keep his important cargo.
Just then, Kanan sensed something. It made him think about what Ezra had told him way back on the Ghost, "I sense we're going to meet someone on this mission... someone force sensitive," echoed through Kanan's mind as he looked over to the teenager protecting "his" cargo.
It then finally made sense to Kanan after all that time.
Suddenly, Kanan force pulled the crate towards him and got about halfway before it suddenly stopped.
It was then that Kanan saw the helmeted teen's arm outstretched towards the crate, using his power to try and pull it back from Kanan.
"So it's true. You are force sensitive." Kanan yelled towards the teen, not letting up.
The teen didn't respond, too focused on not letting go of the crate.
With all the focus he put into it, the teen eventually started slowly pulling the crate closer to himself, internally shocking Kanan.
Kanan could feel the anger starting to come out of the teen, probably because he had never been truly taught how the force worked.
Suddenly, they both heard the recognizable low cry of one specific ship: a Tie Fighter closing in on them.
They both then looked towards the fast approaching ship as it took a shot at the two, flinging both of them and the crate to the side and once again knocking the wind out of the teen.
They both stood after a few seconds, prepping themselves as the ship turned around to pass again.
Right before the Tie got a chance to sweep them off their feet once again, there were a couple of lasers shot from a passing ship, hitting and blowing up the Tie.
It was the Ghost, glidding right over the pair and landing nearby.
The bay door opened and Ezra was there waving towards Kanan to come on.
Kanan looked towards the teen and asked him, "Do you want to come? Or do you want to get blown to bits by the next Tie?"
The teen took a second but responded, " I guess I feel like living today," and they both ran towards the Ghost, the teen pushing the crate to the ship.
As Kanan boarded the ship with the teen, he looked over to Kanan and had a lot of "Are you sure about this?" on his face.
Kanan responded to the look with, " I'm not sure, be it he is force sensitive so I wanted to give him the same chance I gave you."
Ezra nodded his head towards his master and closed the bay door after the two.
The ship lifted off immediately and within a few seconds was already in space.
At that moment, the rest of the crew headed towards the bay to see what was going on.
Zeb came down the ladder, followed closely by Sabine and Hera.
The moment they all got down there, they all had gotten dow there, Zeb immediately said, " Uh, Kanan, who's this?" which was followed by Sabine telling him, "This was the guy who tried to steal our cargo."
"Alright you two. So, what's your name?" Kanan asked the teen.
The teen took a second to answer, "The name is Riley, and for your information, this is my crate," as he looked over at the two.
Riley then opened the crate and started to pull something out of it: a set of unpainted Mandolorian armor.
"Hey! That armor doesn't belong to you!" Sabine jumped to say.
Riley immediately looked at her and took off his helmet to reveal a tan face with green eyes and blonde hair in a similar fashion of Jai Kell's from season 1 of the show but to the left.
"Are you so sure about that?" he asked her, to which Sabine stood kind of shocked at the responded.
"Ok, where's your family?" Kanan asked Riley.
And that's where Riley immediately dimmed his attitude the moment he said it.
"I... don't have any family." he told them, head down.
"Are your parents dead?" Ezra asked him.
Riley looked up towards him and said, "I don't know, I never saw them."
"Where are you from? Where's your home?" Sabine asked him, wanting him to say it.
"My home planet is Mandolorian. I don't have a true home anywhere really." He responded to her.
She assumed so, with the way he acted towards the crew, but it didn't change her surprise.
"How'd you get all the way to Lothal if you're from Mandolorian?" Ezra asked him.
"That's a touchy subject I don't to get into with strangers. I don't really like talking about my past either way." He responded, to which Kanan and Ezra could sense he was hiding a little more than he let off.
"So, you're force sensitive huh. You look quite atuned to the the force for someone at your age. Do you or did you have a master?" Kanan asked, to which Riley stood frozen towards that statement.
Suddenly, Ezra felt a very familiar felling, a warning of trouble: the cold.
In Riley's mind, he could see flashes of his training: constant torture, beatings, being blasted with electricity and being taught in the ways of the dark side, and the constant robotic breathing of that dark monster he had to call a master.
He remembered all the pain, all the anger, and especially all the hate.
What had been eating at him for so long finally was released, just for a second.
Just then, all of those feelings washed away and he woke up in the floor, surrounded by the crew with Hera now who had come from the pilot seat to tell them they were now in hyperspace, all of them with a look of concern on their faces.
He immediately sat up with a quick jolt, and was met with a hand on his shoulder, the hand of Kanan.
"Are you alright?" Kanan said.
"There's something I need to tell you two Jedi." He said in a weak voice.
Aw. Cliffhanger. Yeah, I know. Boo me. Oh well, I hope you enjoyed this new part. It took me way longer to write than it should've, but I finally got it out. I will have the next chapter out soon, so be on the lookout. As always, constructive criticism is appreciated. I'll have the helmet design up soon, I just need to make the final design and it will be up. Alright, see you next time!
