And if you guys are dissatisfied with what Cal and crew will be doing in the current chapters, I would just like to say I have a poll you can vote on for time skips! You have direct influence on whether you want to me to cover every single year till things actually start kicking off! Also, some Cere combat in this chapter!
A bit of a note in this chapter, I am sticking to the 'legends' idea of force healing, like healing trances and healing that doesn't require to siphon off your own life force to heal others.
All credit to respective Owners!
-Y.A.R.N.
Cere tensed from where she was giving the comm channels a cursory scan as The Force thrummed in warning. She stood up with her lightsaber in hand so suddenly that Greeze nearly fell out his seat.
"Cere?" He asked cautiously.
"Someone's coming." She said, voice steady and calm.
It was times like this Greeze remembered that the jedi weren't just people who meditated all day and could lift stuff with their mind. They were members of an order of warriors that he thought the galaxy had lost forever 6 and a half years ago. The jedi didn't waste time before buckling on her armor from her pack and adjusting it to make sue it would not get in the way. Fully armed, Cere walked out side and closed her eyes, concentrating on the danger that was coming and letting the force flow through her. Her eyes snapped open and she groaned in annoyance, she never hated Greeze's gambling habits as much as she did in that moment.
"What?" Greeze said through the commlink, already prepping the ship to make a quick getaway if need be, "Is it the Empire?"
"Haxion Brood." Cere replied curtly, The Force humming in her ear.
Greeze slouched in his seat and placed his head in his hands, "I thought you and Cal killed all of them!"
"Apparently not." Cere said as a ship appeared in the distance and began to lower itself as it approached, "Call Cal and Merrin back and warn them."
"On it." Greeze replied as he began to call Cal.
The ship landed a fair distance away as its engine's whine began to die down. The boarding ramp lowered in a hiss of steam and a man in slightly more decorated Haxion Brood armor walked out, a rifle casually rested on his shoulder while his free hand rested casually on his belt where an odd blade hung from his wrist. Cere twirled the hilt of her lightsaber before igniting its bright green blade and setting herself in a ready stance. The bounty hunter walked over till he was a couple of yards away, looking around to see if he could see Cal. He frowned when he didn't see hide or hair of the kid, must have been out at the moment.
With a shrug he turned his attention to Cere, "You must one of that Kestis brat's groupies. Mind calling him over? This doesn't have to get bloody, just hand the kid over and I'm willing to let bygones be bygones. After all, Sorc Tomo isn't happy that his entire syndicate has been wiped out by one guy."
Cere scoffed, "Walk away. You don't want to do this, leave this planet and leave us alone or Sorc Tomo is going to lose the last of his attack dogs."
Jek grinned a feral smirk, "I was hoping that you would say that! I have not had a good challenge in hunting in far too long! I am going to enjoy this and the reward for dead jedi will make this all the sweeter."
Cal was about to start sparring with Merrin when his commlink beeped with an urgent message from Greeze.
Puzzled, he answers and raises the device to his lips, "Hey. What's up?"
"Haxion Brood has tracked us down!" Greeze shouted, "Cere fighting outside!"
"What?!" Cal shouts, startling Merrin as he mildly freaks, "But I thought I got all of them!"
"Does that matter?! Hurry back!" Greeze demands.
"Cal?" Merrin inquires as Cal swears.
"Bounty hunters are at the Mantis!" Cal responds curtly as he begins to sprint back towards where the Mantis was, using the force to further bolster his speed.
Merrin's eyes widen and she begins to sprint as well.
Cere's hand shot out to form a barrier as flames washed around her, buffeting the jedi with a wave of heat. She grit her teeth as the flames died down only to fling herself to the side as a thermal detonator landed in front of her. The explosion's concussive wave of force pushed her away farther than she expected and she rolled to her hands and knees. She quickly rose, igniting her lightsaber and standing tall to deflect a hail of lasers raining down on her; with a swipe she deflected a bolt back at the bounty hunter attacking her. The reflected bolt struck his shoulder and he grunted in annoyance as the force of the bolt striking him caused him to spin and descend slightly in the air.
He checked his smoking shoulder armor and scowled at the jedi who was already in her stance, "You are really starting to piss me off!"
"You chose this fight." Cere replied calmly, "You had the chance to leave and you chose not to take it."
"The Haxion Brood never runs from a bounty!" Jek roared in fury.
"You are outmatched!" Cere shouted, "You and Sorc Tomo are all that is left of the Haxion Brood, the rest of your crime syndicate bit of more than they could chew chasing after us and paid the price!"
Jek sneered, "They weren't prepared and underestimated you! I won't make the same mistake!"
He rapidly typed on his wrist as he jetted back away from the jedi to gain some distance. The hatch on his ship lowered and four modified magna guards stalked down the ramp with electro-staffs crackling. Cere scowled as she suddenly found herself outnumbered and shifted closed to the Mantis, hoping to cover her back with its bulk.
"Like it?" Jek sneered, "One of our bounties had some very interesting cargo on it when we took him out. We saw no reason to lose these to the highest bidder and Sorc Tomo agreed when he gave them to me after you killed the rest. He knew they were designed for fighting jedi, and I could use them effectively. Don't worry, I am sure that Kestis will be happy to know you died quickly."
Cere stretched out her hand and unleashed a wave of the force that sent one Magna Guard flying back into the bounty hunter's ship hull. It crashed against it with a loud 'CLANG' and fell the to the floor, only to push itself back to its hands and feet. Cere rotated her wrist and pushed out as though punching an invisible foe and the electro-staff flew the air. The staff lit up with lightning as it activated moments before it speared through the droid's middle, pinning it to the ship. The magna guard screeched loudly as it tugged at the weapon, trying to dislodge it in order to get back to the ground. Jek clicked his tongue in annoyance, of course the jedi would use the force to even the odds.
"Don't let her fight back!" He roared as he unleashed a stream of blaster fire at Cere, "Push the assault!"
Cere whirled to deflect the shots away when she was forced to turn in order to block an electro-staff from striking her in the back of the head. She pushed down on the weapon while using the force to lift herself up to roll over the shoulders of the magna guard, landing to meet the strike of the other magna guard. She spun away as the droid she rolled over swept at her chest with a wide stroke of its staff. She backpedaled and flipped a few bolts fired at her at the magna guards, the guards barely reacted as the batted the blaster bolts away. Jek grumbled as he was unwilling to fire quite as indiscriminately as before; hitting his droid would only hurt himself in this fight. Cere ducked and leapt back, her lightsaber lashing out to knock a few of the staffs crackling ends away from her. She hissed as one of the Jek's blasters grazed her shoulder mid-movement and a staff-swing came close enough to scorch her pants.
She needed to give herself some breathing room.
With a sharp 'Ha!' She shoved her hands out, letting out a wave of the force in all directions. Jek thrusted away before he could feel the full brunt of the force repulse, but the magna guards weren't quite as lucky as they were sent flying. The crashed into the ground away and Cere immediately followed up by clapping her palm together as though squashing a bug flying around her. One of the magna guards crumpled in on itself like a canned drink being crushed under a massive hand. Jek scowled and fired at the Jedi who glared at him with narrowed eyes. She deflected the blaster-fire as she moved towards the recovering droids, letting the force control her blade.
The other two magna guards clambered to her feet but Cere was already in motion, she had face these droid before and hated them with a passion. Her viridian blade a streak of green as she lopped off one's leg and drove a strike into the other's photoreceptor. The droid on the other hand, didn't seem quite as perturbed at the loss of its limb as it jammed its staff into the ground and twisted to launch a kick into Cere's chest. The jedi grunted in pain as she moved with the blow, rolling backwards to her feet and bring her blade back up diagonally across her torso. The magna guard used its staff as a crutch as it advanced while the other didn't seem slowed by the loss of a eye in any appreciable way. Jek landed and slung his rifle over his back before he unsheathed his felucian skull blade to hold in one hand while drawing a blaster for his other hand.
"It's over jedi." He sneered, "Stop fighting and I'll make your death quick."
Cere glanced between the three and took a step back as she gritted her teeth. She wished that Cal or Merrin were here instead of being at the broken down enclave that they had not so recently appropriated as their new training ground in the jedi arts. Suddenly a blaster bolt stuck the magna guards' and the droids staggered before they whirled to seem a man on a speeder rushing at them with a blaster in hand.
Xavier Grey had arrived at the Mantis.
He nearly crashed his speeder into Jek as the bounty hunter flung himself to the side to avoid the speeder and stared in incredulous fury at the newcomer. Xavier powered off his speeder and rolled off the side as Jek opened fire, ducking away and replying with a volley of his own blaster-fire. Jek dashed to the side and snarled as a blaster bolt knocked his blaster out of his hand. The bounty hunter tried to unsling his rifle to open fire on the clone but Xavier was faster and lunged at him, managing to knock the bounty hunter down and wrench the rifle away from him. Jek kicked at the weapon out Xavier's hands and charged at the man, swinging his skull-blade at the man's neck. Xavier swiped at his belt and ignited the lightsaber Cal had given him just in time to block the blow just before the weapon would've sliced into his clavicle. The bounty hunter and clone adjusted their footing two weapons were locked in a shower of sparks.
"Another jedi?" Jek roared, "You bastards keep crawling out of the woodwork!"
Xavier grunted and pushed the blade away before back-fisting the bounty-hunter who stumbled away from the soldier-turned-farmer. Xavier pressed his assault, blade gleaming a deep crimson as he rained blows down on the Haxion Brood's final member. As the two battled, Cere turned her focus onto the magna guards. She let go her lightsaber with one hand and used her now-free hand to direct the force to lift the two guards in the air before repeatedly slamming them down into the ground. With her not having to worry about Jek, she was free to focus on the magna guards without being shot. She clenched her hand into a fist and the crushed the weakened droids into sparking piles of scrap metal.
Jek and Xavier blades crackled and flashed as they came in contact with each other, sending sparks flying into the air.
"How do you like the blade?" Jek jeered as he deflected a slash before riposting with a thrust, "Was hard to find on the black market, but Sorc was more than willing to find one for when I finally hunted Kestis down! A felucian skull blade is one of the few weapons capable of defending against lightsabers! Should be more than enough for some lightsaber-wielding farmer who doesn't seem like much of a jedi!"
"You talk too much." Xavier grunted as he tilted away from the thrust.
Jek grabbed at Xavier hand as he tackled the former soldier tried to get to his discarded blaster, keeping him from the weapon. They grunted as they both struggled against each other, wrestling while clashing their blades against each other. Xavier slammed his elbow into Jek's forearm, causing the bounty hunter to drop his weapon, only for Jek to slam his knee into Xavier's stomach, winding the clone enough for Jek to gain the advantage and knock the lightsaber out of the clone's hand. The bounty hunter didn't hesitate to lock the clone's hands under his knees — keeping him from rising — and wrapping a hand around his throat. Xavier struggled as he twisted and yanked, trying to dislodge the bounty hunter on top of him as he felt his oxygen wane.
"Time to die, farmboy!' Jek crowed victoriously as he pointed his wrist-mounted flame-thrower right at Xavier's skull.
"Get off of me!" Xavier roared, the force roiling around him.
He instinctively released a wave of force from his body that sent Jek's spurt of flame wide and sending the bounty hunter flying off of him into a heap a couple of feet away. Xavier coughed as he rolled over onto his side to massage his throat and look for the lightsaber he was using. Jek shook his head to clear it when he was violently yanked into the air before being dragged away from Xavier, who had managed to regain the lightsaber. He flailed and tried to get back to the ground when an arm wrapped around his neck and a emerald beam of light suddenly pierced through his chest. He stilled and looked down in shock at the blade protruding from his chest before slowly looking back at Cere's cold expression.
"You chose this." She growled as she deactivated her lightsaber and let go of the man's neck.
Jek slid down to his knees, eyes wide in disbelief, "No... I can't... die like this...!"
"Too bad for you," Xavier snarked, approaching, "you are."
"Not alone!" The bounty hunter screamed as he drew out several thermal detonators wired to each other and pressed a button causing all of them to light up.
Cere and Xavier eyes widened before they flung themselves away from the spot as hard as they could.
The thermal detonators exploded in a eruption of flames.
Cal saw the flame rush up into the sky from where he had been sprinting, worry washing over him as he imagine the damage it could do. He fumbled for the com-link that was at his waist as tried to force down his fear for his family. Merrin let our a gasp as the sight despite the fact she was already panting in trying to keep pace with Cal who was force-sprinting at top speed.
"Cere?" He shouted into the comm, "Cere answer me!"
Cere stirred as she slowly and carefully pushed herself to her knees, ears ringing and vision blurry. She took a moment to feel the pain that wracked her body, trying to pinpoint if anything would require more than conventional bandages (they had bacta but Cere was very conservative when it came to the valuable healing liquid). There were some fairly painful burns but she managed to use the force to direct most of the heat and flames away from her and the ship and into the sky. She glanced around the scorched and burning land before she saw another figure sprawled on the ground a few feet away from her.
"Xavier!" She coughed as she struggled to her feet.
She stumbled over to the farmer and blanched at the blackened clothing and red splotch coming from his side that was soaking through his clothing. She knelt next to him and placed her fingers on his neck, almost sagging in relief at the pulse that drummed under her fingers. If he was alive, she could heal him, if he was dying she wasn't quite as confident that she could keep him stable. Either way, now wasn't the time to muse; Cere placed her hands on his side and took a deep breath, letting the force flow into her and into Xavier. The wound in his side glowed blue as it began to knit together and Xavier sighed in relief even in his unconscious state.
His eyes slowly slid open and he tried to rise before Cere pushed him down with muted strength, "No. Stay down, we don't know how much damage you've taken from that bounty hunter. I did a minor healing with the force but you need real medical attention, not just that."
He frowned but laid back down, "What about you? Are you okay?"
Cere managed a tired smile, "A bit banged up, but I've had much much worse. I'll be fine with some rest."
It was at that moment Cal burst into the area, face stricken and eyes wild, Merrin right behind him and looking much the same. Seeing Xavier and Cere both relatively well, he all but collapsed in relief. He quickly made his way over and knelt by Xavier's side as well. Greeze also jogged out of the ship with rolls of bandages and a canister of bacta as he approached ready to give them to whoever needed them. Cere and Cal both gently maneuvered Xavier to sit up and press against his side as Cal took the bandages before sprinkling a light amount of bacta on them before expertly wrapping them around Cere's injuries.
After Cere was taken into the Mantis, Cal began to work on Xavier, saving his side for last. Cere had already worked some force on it, so it wasn't quite as bad as it could've been, but it did still need more than a bit of force magic.
"You've done this before." Xavier noted, grunting slightly as Cal pressed bacta-soaked bandage against his side, "Where'd you learn that? As a jedi?"
"Bracca." Cal replied quietly, lightly tightening the bandages on Xavier's wounds without making the wrapping uncomfortable for the farmer (something he did with the proficiency of someone who had to do this many times before), "Scrapping is a dangerous job. Injures are a part of the territory, how severe they are can end a career or a life if you're not careful. Bruises and burns like this were actually pretty common considering the machinery may not have been shut off properly and still carried electricity. We sometimes weren't able to make it to the medics and keep a wounded person alive at the same time, so all the scrappers had to invest some of their time in medical training."
"You learned to do them yourself?" Xavier inquired curiously, "You must have picked things quickly."
Cal shook his head as he smiled softly, "Prauf... He taught me everything he could, he was the one who found me after I managed to light a funeral pyre for Master Tapal. He was such a kind person, I could have been abducted by people who didn't care, but Prauf saw a small kid alone and afraid and took me under his wing. When he saw what I was, he was willing to keep my secret and even decided to distract the inquisitors for me to have a chance to live. I miss him, every now and then I think about him and hope he's at peace."
Xavier stayed quiet after that, and something in him warning him not to keep asking as he stared at the wistful edge that tinged the jedi's face. Everyone had lost someone, as for Cal it had been his former life as a padawan, then his master and finally his friend.
Xavier had lost his 'father' and his batch brother.
They were quiet as Cal finished wrapping to Xavier's wounds to the best of his abilities. Cal stood up and held out his hand to Xavier, who used it to haul himself to his feet.
"Hey." Cal said quietly, "Thank you. You probably saved Cere's life."
Xavier nodded at Cal's thanks, "It's fine. I guess I was tired of jedi dying."
Cal called the lightsaber Xavier had been using to his hand and smiled as he pressed it into Xavier's grasp, "Yeah. Me too."
Cal began to walk towards the Haxion Brood's ship, intent on cannibalizing the ship for any spare parts.
Xavier looked down at the hilt in his grasp, "Hey Cal?"
Cal turned, "Yeah?"
"Can anyone be a jedi? Regardless of age and past?" Xavier asked quietly.
Cal grinned, "Of course. Do want to start once you've healed?"
Xavier looked at Cal, eyes filled with determination, "Yes."