Planet Paasana
It was hot there on the desert planet when we landed the Falcon, the one sun it had was beating down on us as we tracked across the sand to follow the coordinates that my Uncle Luke left behind in one of his journals. Rey found it when she encountered my Uncle, and with her help, I punched in the precise coordinates which lead us here.
I didn't bring up my encounter with Ben to Poe since it felt like we were already going through a rough mission. I felt like he wouldn't have liked it, and I wouldn't have blamed him. Poe was interrogated by Ben years ago when Poe was on Jakku getting the information of my Uncle Luke. So there was a sore spot, who was I change that since at that time I thought my brother was dead. So now, it might not be the best time to tell Poe that I was trying to connect and save my brother.
Maybe I'll wait on that.
"You sure this is it?" Poe asked as we were walking together along the edge of a smaller cliff, about to round the corner. Poe was leading the way, I was right behind him, and then it was Finn, Rey, Chewie, BB-8, and C-3PO.
"These are the exact coordinates Master Luke left behind," C-3PO explained as we finally made it around the corner and saw a vast opening. But there was massive gathering there in the clearing of the desert, what seemed to be thousands of beings were all over the top of the sand in celebration of some kind. Flags and kites were waving in red, green and yellow, massive clouds of color dust were shrining high in the air, and the distant sound of music was vibrating in the ground as we stopped in both awe and shock.
"What is this?" I asked almost in shock now as I was standing next to Poe and Finn.
"The Aki -Aki festival of the ancestors! This celebration occurs only once every 42 years!" C-3PO said in excitement from the back of the group.
"Well, that's lucky," Finn muttered sarcastically.
"Lucky indeed! This festival is known for both its colorful kites and its delectable sweets!"
We all turned our heads slowly at C-3PO, almost shocked that he didn't get any kind of that sarcasm or how this was worse than we thought.
It was an awaked moment for certain.
We tried to weave our way through the crowd that was dancing with the rhythmic music. Their robes flowed out, long and entrancing in reds, yellows, greens, and some blues, as we were trying to both stick close together and not be seen as outsiders. It was hard since we were the only ones not in colorful robes.
"I've never seen anything like this!" Rey said to me as we were following Poe through the crowd.
"I've never seen fewer Sith Wayfinders," Finn muttered as he passed us up. I knew we had a task at hand and that we had to be careful.
"There's always random First Order patrols in places like these," I explained to the group as we were moving towards the market area, away from the dancing. I looked over my shoulder at Chewbacca who was in the back of the group, "Keep your heads down….Chewie,"
Chewie tried to walk and crouch down at the same time as we were approached the outskirts of the market place. It was busy, locals moving around and making deals to get new products and trade them.
"Let's split up, see what the locals know," Poe explained as we were all branching off and going to see what we could gather. I went over to the left, seeing the rows of booths that were displaying all the trinkets and parts that were waiting to be bought or traded. I walked casually, pulling the back part of my scarf over my hair and head to cover it from the sun, and fastening the front part over my nose and mouth. It was both for covering in the heat, but mostly to protect my identity and face. There was no real clue as to who was watching us our here and trying to stop us, with this fragile mission underway, I had no clue who I could trust outside of my group that came with me.
With all the hustle of the market place, my mind was still in another place, mostly on another person. I was still thinking of my brother and how I could hear him, but I wished there was more. But I knew I was treading on thin ice, both wanting to reach my brother and wanting to help finish the war with the First Order. It felt like I was walking down a small and thin line, down the middle of both sides. Sure I wasn't going to want the First Order to win at all, but my brother was alive.
He was alive it felt like he needed me. I made my way over to where some of the land speeders were resting and parked, a few of the locals were standing there and talking to each other. Of course, I wasn't looking hard enough to see something move to my left. it almost looked like a figure in a mask, in which I tried to look directly and see who it was. But the being was out of sight, almost having me feel a chill down my spine.
"You find anything?" I whirled around, seeing Poe and Finn approach me with Chewie there. I moved the front part of the scarf away from my face, seeing that I was safe enough to do it.
"Nothing yet," I replied to him, "You guys?"
"Nope, it seems like the locals don't know a whole lot about SIth Wayfinders around here," Poe explained. As soon as he said that though, something was sensed and shifted in me, having me freeze there in front of both of them now and looked dead ahead. Rey…she wasn't far from here.
She was connecting to someone. She was in distress.
"Neyli?" Poe asked, grasping my arm with his gloved hand, seeing that I was off, "What is it?"
I felt her fear heightened now as I took in a shaky breath, knowing that she was now in a panic. Whoever she was talking to frightened her, almost made her emotional with how she was talking. I blinked a few times before looking back at Poe, seeing that he was watching me the whole time and seeing how it almost looked like I was having an out of body experience.
"Where's Rey?" I asked him, seeing him looked at me confused. But Finn looked at me now with determination, almost breaking in to stand in front of me instead of Poe.
"What happened?" I didn't know what he meant by that, and how he was so urgent about it. Did he know what I was feeling and how I was feeling it? If he did. did that mean…
"Neyli, what's going on?" Poe asked me, seeing that I wasn't answering both himself and Finn. I looked away from Finn now back to Poe.
"She's in trouble," I explained, the both of them looking confused. But before I could explain myself some more, Rey right on cue ran over to us with speed and with a look of fear on her face. BB-8 was rowing right behind her as we all met there in the middle of the area
"We have to go, back to the Falcon, now," she explained.
"Why?" Finn asked.
"It's Ren," Rey explained, having me look at her in shock. Ben was trying to contact her? Did he? Did he see where we were? He must have and it made me look around to see where we came from and I grabbed Poe's hand.
"Come on! Quickly!" I said to all of them as we all started to run and weave our way through the crowd. I was in the front with Poe holding my hand, staying right behind me with the others close on our heels. If he knew where we were, then we needed to leave as fast as possible before we were ambushed and killed here on this remote planet.
We were about to get over to the edge of the market when we had to skid to the halt. A stormtrooper was in front of us, a gun out and ready to fire as we were frozen in our spots. Poe almost pushed me behind him as we were bunched in front of him, clearly caught.
"Hold it right there!" The Stormtrooper said to us before he spoke into his communicator with a gun still pointed at us, "I have the fugitives! All units report to—" He was stopped and killed instantly with a worry pointing through his helmet. We were all shocked and stepped back slightly, seeing him crumble to the floor and then we all turned. It was the same masked being I saw moments before, a crossbow in his hands. HIs local mask was staring right at us.
"Follow me," He said with his voice masked. We followed, going in a line as he waved his way back into the massive crowd of the festival. We were staying close to him while he was making his way over to a moving vessel that was rolling our way. It looked like a land rover, bigger and slower than other's I've seen in the past.
"Hurry!" The figure said to us as there was an opening to jump inside the vessel. He hopped in with ease, Poe going in next as he reached out to pull me up with him. As we were coming in one by one, we were all watching to see what the figure was going to do with us, "Leia sent me a transmission,"
"How'd you find us?" Finn asked. The figure didn't say anything at first but he reached up to take off his mask. I looked in shock and with a big grin on my face, seeing none other than Lando Calrissian himself in the flesh. It was seeing an old family friend once more, someone whom I haven't seen in a long time.
"Wookies stand out in a crowd," he answered in a grin, Chewie roaring happily as he moved through us to hug him. Lando laughed and looked at Chewie, "Good to see you too, old buddy!"
Once Lando locked eyes with me, his grin was bigger as he threw ups arms around me. I hugged him back, hearing him chuckle as he pulled away and looked at me up and down, "Neyli Organa-Solo. Last time I saw you, you were nothing more than a youngling messing around on your father's ship."
"Not much of a youngling, but I'm still flying the ship," I admitted, "It's good to see you, Uncle Lando!"
"This is General Lando Calrissian!" C-3PO introduced in excitement.
"We knew who he is, 3PO "Rey replied shortly now as we were all watching Lando.
"It is an honor, General!" Finn explained.
"General Calrissian, we're looking for Exegol," Poe explained, the mood shifting from light to serious once again now as I could see the look on Lando's face. He shifted, looking at all of us now as he sighed.
"Of course you are," he commented, bring up his wrist to show a communicator. Once he pressed a button, a hologram of a Sith Wayfinder appeared on top of his wrist and hovered in the air, "Only two remain."
"A Sith Wayfinder. Luke Skywalker came here to find one," Rey explained to him. Lando looked at her fondly and he grinned.
"I know, I was with him. Luke and I were tailing an old Jedi hunter: Ochi. He was carrying a clue that can lead to a Wayfinder. He followed his ship halfway across the galaxy…here. When we got to his ship, it was abandoned. No clue…no Wayfinder." Lando explained to all of us.
"Is Ochi's ship still here?" Rey asked.
"It's out in the desert where he left it," Lando answered.
"We need to get to that ship," Rey explained to us, "Search together." We all heard the infamous sounds of TIE fighters coming into the atmosphere and the sky. I looked over next to Lando, the both of us looking up see at least 6 ships coming to touch down and land on the outside of the festival. It was the First Order, and they were looking for us. I grimaced now as I was standing there against the window.
"I got a bad feeling about this," I said in a low tone, Lando looking over at me now with a glint in his eyes. As I looked back at him, I saw him give me a small smile. I knew that smile, seeing it all the time when he was with my mom and dad back when I was a kid, it was the kind of smile that should nothing was going to bother him or be negative at him.
That was Lando or you.
"You sound just like your old man," He said, having me give him a small smile. He then looked at the rest of the ground, "Ochi's ship is out past Lurch Canyon, Go!"
"Thank you, General," Poe thanked him as he then reached over to grab my hand before I have Lando one more smile. It felt like I wanted him to come along and to be with us, but then again Lando was someone I could call family, and I couldn't have him change his mind for anything.
"Take care of yourself, kid," He said to me with his smile. I gave him one last gentle hug before I nodded my head.
"You do the same, Uncle Lando," I replied, finally moving away from him and hopping out of the vessel back on the sand with Poe next to me. Finn and Chewie joining us now in the same, Finn looking at me in shock.
"Uncle Lando?" He asked me, having me shrug my shoulders.
"He knew my folks before I was born, I grew up around the guy," I answered, "At one point he was practically family."
"I have lots of questions." Finn started to explain, but Poe clasped his hand on his shoulder.
"Not a good time, buddy," Poe reminded him. Rey joined up on the ground with BB-8 and C-3PO, the group of us broke into a run once more to find a way back to our main speeder. The Falcon itself was too far off and there was no way for us to get there in time and outrun the fighters, there had to be a way for us to get there faster. We were running out a clock now.
"There, those speeders!" Poe said as we were going over a smaller hill to a smaller clearing with a few speeders that were parking and away from the locals. I ran over to one speeder as Poe went to the other, having me look over to see how I can get it to work. I peered over to Poe, seeing him go under the speeder he was at and was looking at the configurations there. I tapped the side of my speeder, hoping that one of the panels would work in my favor so I can wire the engine to turn on.
"Ha!" I said in achievement, seeing the panel on the side open with ease as I started to trig the wires into starting up the speeder. Poe was doing the same, Finn next to him. I was almost getting ready to work when Finn peered over at me.
"How did you do that?" He asked me, having my roll my eyes.
"I was a mechanic, remember?" I asked, seeing him think about before he reverted his attention to Poe.
"How did you know how to do that?" he asked, having me hear my own speeder boost up and start-up from my own having skills. I whirled around over to Chewie and Rey, seeing them rush over to hop on the speeder that I got.
"Time to go!" Poe said, some of the locals seeing what we were doing and they were running over, "Neyli, come on!"
Rushing over to Poe's speeder, I made it to the consul and I got the wheel working, making the speeder move and rushing out of the clearing. I was with Finn, Poe, and C-3PO, whereas Chewie and BB-8 were with Rey. Our two speeders sped out of the area and into the vast desert, thinking that we barely made it out and we were in the clear.
"You know how to fly this thing?!" Poe asked over the roaring of the engine as I steered the speeder. I got the scarf back around my nose and mouth once more to get the dust away from my mouth, having em grin a shim though I didn't think he could see me grin.
"In the words of Poe Dameron: I can fly anything," I replied to him, looking ahead once more and steering the speeder. We were in the clear for a few seconds, but I heard gunfire right behind us. I looked back briefly, seeing two smaller vehicles rolling up right behind us with two stormtroopers on each one. They looked like cycles, and they were shooting right at us.
"Poe!" I said in a warning now as he was starting to shoot the troopers. Rey and Chewie were shooting from next to us in their own speeders, but they were dodging us as we were dodging them. One of the blasts was too close to my head, having me move over just in time before being hit in the neck as I heard C-3PO gasp in horror.
"Oh! They fly now!"
I looked up, seeing one stormtrooper flying high above us with what seemed like some kind of jet pack there and he was shooting down at us. Finn looked at Poe in shock as well.
"They fly now?!"
"They fly now!" Poe in a bitter tone as I was steering us over to the left, where I saw a small passage that we could fit through with some wiggle room. Given the circumstance that we were in, I was feeling ambitious. With a massive rock formation in the middle, Rey went right and I went left. We were splitting up, but something inside of me was telling me that Rey was going to be alright with Chewie and BB-8.
Once we were in the small canyon of rocks, I was moving and weaving us through, trying not to touch the walls. My blaster was in my spare hand, ready to help out if need be, but my eyes were in front of us at the small slim of an opening that we had to work with. It was like my training back to when I was learning how to be a pilot: going with my guy and my instinct to get out alive.
"Keep it steady, Neyli!" Poe said to me from behind, firing with his pistol.
"Get these guys off of our asses then!" I countered back with him, hearing some more blasts behind me.
I was feeling like I was back in my cockpit of my X-Wing, though we were at ground level and not in the sky, and two stormtroopers were about to shoot us to bits and pieces. Both Finn and Poe were trying to get them off our tail as I was getting us way farther and farther away from them.
I looked back, seeing Finn was getting a long rope ready at the end of the speeder, holding it in his hands as he threw it at the smaller speeder behind us. It wrapped around the front wheel there, over and over within the speeder itself as I looked ahead, seeing a smaller opening within the canyon we were in. I looked back at Finn, seeing him look eyes with me.
"Neyli!" He said to me, making me pump on the hand brake. The speeder slowed down and I turned the speeder, throwing the stormtrooper speeder behind us around like a whip to be hitting the side of the rocks of the canyon and blowing up.
"Woo!" Finn said in triumph, Poe and I cheering as well as I got the speeder back on track to get to the end of the canyon, seeing the vast opening of the desert in front of us. It felt like we were finally away from all of the chaos, at least for now and it made me almost give out a sigh of relief. Out in the distance resting on a small structure of rocks, was some kind of smaller ship that seemed like no one was in there or has been in years.
Wait…was it the ship we were looking for? Was that Ochi's ship?
But it was soon shot to hell when our speeder was shot, and we were flying.
I was soaring in the air, seeing things flip upside down and right side up, my stomach turning in knots now as I was hearing Poe and Finn flipping through the air as well. Our speeder was in flames, having me cringe to think as we died. Though it didn't feel like we died, we were flying int he air for a few seconds before we crashed landed on the ground. It was not sand we landed in, it was dangerous and almost like foam now as not only we three landed, but the other speeder and its occupants did as well.
The whole group landed in a heap, struggling for a brief moment to get our heads back in one piece and to make sure that we were all okay. I looked around for a brief moment, seeing that we were all there together and no one was dead. Not yet.
Another round of gunfire was heard, coming right at us. We all spun around in our spot, instantly grabbing our pistols and blaster and aiming right up at the sky. The one stormtrooper who could fly, at least the last living one, was trying to fire at us. Poe, Chewie, myself, Rey, and Finn were shooting at him rapidly. After a few shots from all of us, the stormtrooper finally fell to the ground and slumped onto the desert ground, in which we were wanting to find relief among us.
Yet once again, it was interrupted.
The ground beneath us was getting softer and breaking apart, having me feel like I was sinking now. I panicked, looked around seeing that the others were also sinking.
"What is this?!" I asked aloud in shock and fear, keeping my hands above the ground that felt more like liquid. BB-8 was even trying to roll out of it, but the droid too was stuck.
"Sinking Fields! Grab a hold of something!" Rey said in a panic now.
"Will this ever end?!" C-3PO said in agony as I was feeling myself going lower and lower into the ground without any way of staying on top. I looked over at Poe in panic, seeing him almost to sink forever underneath the field as he was moving around his arms.
"Oh come on!" He said as he was finally under, no longer visible. I looked in horror as I too was swallowed up.
"POE!" I screamed, but I was surrounded by darkness.
Darkness and silence.