SPOILER ALERT: This fanfic deals with situations occurring in the canon novel: The Last Jedi.

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Entry 2

Today was difficult…but all days are difficult now…some are just less stressful than others.

This morning my ship, a Helix-class light interceptor christened Laranth, touched down at Mountain Home—a secret resistance outpost established by the Antarian Rangers on the planet Toprawa. The Rangers are a paramilitary force established hundreds of years ago to assist the Jedi Order. The Jedi are all but gone, but the Rangers continue to fight the good fight and now strive to overthrow the newly established and despotic Imperial regime.

Toprawa is a beautiful forested planet in the Kalamith sector of the Outer Rim Territories. As I walked down the boarding ramp of the ship onto the docking pad I breathed in the planet's aromatic pine air as bittersweet memories flooded over me. I sadly remembered the last time I was here with my best friend and companion, Laranth Tarak.

Force, I miss Laranth!

Laranth was somebody I knew in my youth at the Temple; she was a green skinned, emerald eyed Twi'lek who eventually left the Jedi Order to join the Gray Paladins—a Force-using sect who embraced the minimal dependency on the Force and the utilization of any conventional weapon, not just the lightsaber, to achieve their goals.

I lost track of her after she joined the Gray Paladins, but I saw her briefly when I fled the Temple district on Flame Night. A few months later we were reunited deep within in the Black Pit slums on Coruscant. She obviously had seen some fierce fighting since our last encounter. Her left lekku was shortened by a blasterbolt and her face was crisscrossed with a thin, white web of scar tissue. Her face was marked by combat, but it in no way distracted from her beauty and despite her stoic and stern expression she reserved for most of the galaxy, I knew she wasn't an emotionless or cold person. Buried deep within, her soul glowed with the lightside of the Force. She hid her feelings well but I knew she was a deeply passionate woman and I was extremely lucky to be the recipient of her affection…even if it was for a short time. She was a special person…and I loved her dearly.

I sighed deeply as I remembered the last time we were together on this planet. Laranth expressed a desire to stay on Toprawa. She practically begged me to put down roots among the towering forests on Mountain Home. She didn't want to return to Coruscant where she felt the walls were closing in on her, on us, like a giant trap. She tried to convince me that we could make a home here, search for other Jedi and work with the Rangers to overthrow the Empire.

I had to admit I was tempted. Toprawa was so different from the world-city of Coruscant. Here I could feel the wind on my face, the dirt under my feet and the fragrant scents of grass and pine needles wafting over from the surrounding forest.

Unfortunately I turned her down and instead appealed to her sense of duty to Whiplash the Coruscanti based resistance movement of which we were members. "It's not about what we want, Laranth," I had told her. "It's about what the galaxy needs."

I should have listened to her. It was a trap. The Force was whispering to her the truth…the danger, but I ignored her…and now she's dead having sacrificed her life to save mine along with the crew of the Far Ranger. All that remained of her was a ship named after my lost love and the small Miisai tree she had given me as a gift.

I was standing at the base of the boarding ramp lost in thought and feeling sorry for myself when my Sullustan friend, Den Dhur, pulled me out of my disheartened musings.

"Is something wrong?"

I looked down at the diminutive alien and gave him a forced smile. I knew he was worried about me since my last mission. I had reluctantly embraced the darkside knowledge from a Sith Holocron in order to rescue the Cerean leader of Whiplash, Thi Xon Yimmon, from the clutches of Darth Vader and his Imperial Inquisitors. I was successful…not as a direct result of my darkside knowledge, but mainly due to the help I received from my unwaveringly loyal comrades— Antarian Ranger Sacha Swiftbird, Den Dhur and I-5YQ my self-aware droid friend.

"Nothing's wrong," I said to Den as I tapped a finger against my temple. "All that dark Sith knowledge has been purged from my mind. I promise not to go rogue on you."

Den gave me a look that I interpreted as the Sullustan equivalent of uncertainty before it quickly disappeared and was replaced by a smile. "Good." He looked back at the ship. "What do we do now?"

I shrugged. "We get Yimmon to the Ranger leadership, contact Whiplash, and wait to see how we proceed from here."

Den nodded and then looked down to the ground hesitantly. "Are we going back to Coruscant?"

I shook my head. "I…I'd rather not. Laranth was right when she told me the Imperials on Coruscant where learning how we worked, how we moved. Maybe it is best to stay away from the Empire's stronghold and build up the resistance from outside its reach. Perhaps I can find fellow Jedi who escaped like I did…or train new Jedi recruits."

A slight smile crossed Den's face. "Is that why you sent a message to the Dathomir Singing Mountain Clan?"

Through the Force I could feel silent amusement emanating from my friend as if he was ruminating over some private joke. "Yeah," I said cautiously. "I sent a message to Magash the Zabrak woman."

I've been to Dathomir twice in the last few months. Once was to search for answers on how to access the dark knowledge within Darth Ramage's Sith Holocron and the second time was to get that dark festering knowledge out of my head. Luckily, Augwynne Djo, the elder leader of the Singing Mountain Clan of Dathomiri Witches knew how to purge Sith information from my memories. During my time with the witches I met a human-Zabrak hybrid female named Magash Drashi who expressed a keen interest in learning more about the Jedi and the galaxy outside of Dathomir. On the way back to Toprawa, and after some thought, I decided to invite Magash to join me to train in the ways of the Force.

"I met Magash while there." Den smirked. "So it looks like you might have two young female padawans…that is if you plan on training Sacha. She is Force-sensitive, isn't she? She did kill the Inquisitor with a lightsaber."

I nodded in thought. Sacha Swiftbird was an attractive human female in her twenties. She once was a successful Pod Racer until an unfortunate racing accident took her eye and with it her profession. It was a great loss to the Pod Racing community, but a boon to the Antarian Rangers. Even with a cybernetic prosthetic eye Sacha was one of the best pilots I've ever met. She was also a good ground fighter as an unfortunate Sith Inquisitor discovered during our last mission. "Killing somebody with a lightsaber doesn't mean you're Force sensitive," I told Den. "But, yes, I sense the Force potential within her."

Den gave out a slight snort. "Well, this should be interesting."

My brow furrowed. "How so?"

Den looked back up the ramp making sure nobody was listening. "After dropping you off with the Clan leader the rest of the gang was brought to the village for lunch. When Magash saw Sacha…well, lets just say if looks could kill Sacha would be in intensive care."

I shook my head in confusion. I spent most of my time on Dathomir under the care of Augwynne Djo while the rest my party enjoyed the hospitality of the Clan. "What happened between Sacha and Magash?"

Den was now chuckling out loud. "Nothing…violent. There was just some friction between the two women. Magash straight out asked Sacha if she was your new 'mate'."

"What?!" I said in shock. I was surprised that Sacha didn't mention any of this on the way back from Dathomir. "What did Sacha say?"

Den's grin grew wider. "I think Sacha was a little…put off by the witch's forceful personality because she put on her best sardonic grin and said, 'No…not yet' and then walked off leaving Magash looking somewhat perturbed."

"She didn't," I said while slapping the palm of my hand to my forehead. I'm positive Sacha was joking, but I'm also absolutely certain that Magash wouldn't understand or appreciate Sacha's sarcastic and sometimes flirtatious sense of humor.

"She did," Den assured me. "Magash appeared very interested in you…as does Sacha."

"Great." I brought my hand to squeeze the bridge of my nose in frustration. "You're right. Training those two is going to be interesting."