Cora Tonra
Cora was extremely grateful to be out of the bacta tank, feeling refreshed and strong. Though her excitement was dampened a bit by the news that General Organa had died. She knew she had sensed something while she was in the tank, and from Kaia's face, she could tell that her fellow Jedi had sensed it as well.
"Good to see you out of that tank," Kaia remarked with a smile as she came over to her. "I was beginning to think you actually liked it in there."
"Ha ha, very funny," Cora muttered, rolling her eyes. She glanced around, making sure no one was watching them. "Where's my lightsaber?"
"Right, here it is," Kaia said, pulling it out of the bag she had slung around one shoulder and handing it to her. "Kelsa had to borrow it."
"So she knows?" Cora asked in a low voice. "Does anyone else?"
Kaia shook her head. "No I don't think so, unless Lyra figured it out. I think she's a little suspicious." She shrugged. "Oh well, we're probably going to have to reveal ourselves to everyone soon anyways."
Cora blinked at her. "And why would we do that?"
"Look, this is going to be the last battle against the First Order," Kaia told her. "The Resistance is going to need all the help it can get, especially if Rey is going to be dealing with Palpatine."
"That actually makes sense," Cora conceded. "So should we tell them now?"
"No," Kaia responded sharply. "We wait until the battle. There's no need to reveal ourselves until then."
"OK, that's fine with me," Cora said. She raised an eyebrow. "I'm guessing you invited the Mantis to join us."
Kaia sighed, glancing over her shoulder. "How did you know?"
"Oh, I can see Greez trying to get some people to play sabacc over there," Cora responded with a laugh. "You gonna ride with them?"
"Yeah, but don't worry, the ship has guns now," Kaia replied with a grin.
"Sounds fun," Cora commented. "Can I join?"
"Sure, why not?" Kaia agreed. "The more the merrier."
When Rey found the Sith homeworld and location of Palpatine, a mysterious planet called Exegol, Poe, Finn, and Ersela, the acting leaders of the Resistance, launched an attack almost immediately. When they got there, the First Order, now the Final Order, was rising, hundreds of Star Destroyers taking to the skies. Cora had to admit she was pretty terrified.
"Alright, so who's manning the guns?" Greez asked as they began their attack run. They were expecting more help to arrive soon, but for now, the Resistance had to hold out with what it had.
"Me," both Merrin and Cora responded at the same time. They looked at each other, surprised. Kaia chuckled slightly.
"So which one of ya?" Greez demanded, swerving upward as he avoided the fire of a squadron of TIE fighters. Had everyone not been strapped in, they would have all gone flying backwards. BD-1, who was perched on the controls in front of Kaia, went tumbling to Cora friend's lap with a shriek of terror.
"I'll do it," Merrim affirmed as they leveled back out, and Cora frowned. If this was how it was going to be, then she really wished she had flown her X-Wing instead.
As Merrin moved seats and grabbed the controls to the turret that had been attached to the bottom of the ship, Kaia put BD-1 back onto the control system before standing up and clapping Cora on the shoulder reassuringly.
"Don't worry, I've got something in mind for us to do," she told her, holding up her lightsaber with a grin.
"I'm not sure I like where this is going," Cora muttered, but she stood up anyways.
"Trust me, it'll be fun," Kaia assured her. She pressed the button that opened the ramp to the ship and glanced back at Cora, one eyebrow raised. "Ready?"
Cora sighed. "I guess." She looked back at the others.
"Good luck out there!" Greez called over the wind. "And try not to get yourselves killed!"
"We will!" Kaia yelled back, exchanging one last look with Merrin before she turned and sprinted down the ramp before jumping off and twisting into a dive.
"This is crazy," Cora murmured to herself as she followed, jumping off the ramp and into the air.
Wind whistled in her ears and tossed her hair around wildly as she fell, aiming for the same Star Destroyer that Kaia was. All around them, red and green bolts flashed as Resistance forces engaged the enemy.
As they neared the Star Destroyer, several TIE fighters noticed their presence and started firing at them. Cora yelped with surprise, while a few feet below her, Kaia activated her lightsaber and sliced through the part of one of the TIE fighters that connected the wing to the rest of the ship before leaping off of it, giving herself an extra boost as she landed onto the Star Destroyer, the TIE exploding behind her.
Cora activated her lightsaber to slice through the debris flying at her and rolled to land on the Star Destroyer as well, where Kaia was already taking out the turrets.
"That was your plan?" Cora cried, slicing through one of the turrets. "We could have died!"
"But we didn't," Kaia responded deflecting another turret's fire back at it so that it exploded. She tapped her comm and said, "Alright Greez, you're clear to take out the command deck."
"Copy that, kid," Greez responded. Kaia glanced at Cora, who groaned, knowing what was going to come next.
"Time to jump again?" she guessed as a TIE laid down fire awfully close to them.
Kaia nodded. "Time to jump again." She started to break out into a run again, and this time Cora matched her step for step. Together they launched off the Star Destroyer, just as the Mantis took out the command deck and the ship began to fall, slowly, towards the ground.
They thumped onto another Star Destroyer, though this time a bit less gracefully. "You take this one," Kaia said. Her gaze fell on a TIE fighter that was screaming towards them.
"Wait," Cora started, dodging a blast from a turret. "Where are you going?"
"Don't worry about it," Kaia replied, her eyes still on the approaching TIE as she slowly started moving away from Cora, beginning to break out into a run. "Just take out the turrets and the Mantis will do the rest!"
Cora was about to ask how they would find each other again, but before she could, the TIE roared past her, firing at Kaia, who jumped and flipped backwards in midair, landing on top of the TIE.
"Take out the turrets!" Kaia yelled as the TIE zoomed away, spinning around as the pilot tried to dislodge the Jedi on top of it. Cora watched as her friend stabbed her lightsaber down into the fighter and pulled open the hatch, and a few moments later, its original pilot came flying out, screaming as he fell.
Kaia did a loop above Cora, giving her a thumbs up, before she directed the TIE towards a Star Destroyer nearby. Cora sighed, left on her own, and made short work of the remaining turrets.
"Ready for you Greez," she told the old Latero over the comm, watching a squadron of X-Wings soar by overhead.
"On our way," he replied, sounding a bit distracted. "We've a bit of company though. It'll be a minute." He suddenly cheered loudly, and Cora jumped at how loud it was. "Way to go Merrin!"
With a sigh, Cora scanned the skies for the familiar shape of the Mantis, but instead she found Kaia's TIE fighter, zipping and dodging around other TIEs who had caught on to her as she fired on the Star Destroyer beside the one Cora was on. She was able to avoid most of the fire, but eventually, she was hit, and one of the wings started smoking.
"Uh oh," Cora muttered, deactivating her lightsaber. "That can't be good."
Kaia's TIE spun out of control, falling towards the Star Destroyer. Right before it hit the Star Destroyer just below the command deck, Cora saw Kaia, a small figure in the distance, jump out and tumble onto the Destroyer, dangerously close to the edge.
Kaia recovered, standing back up, and a few moments later, her voice came over the comm. "That was close," she gasped. "Greez, I'm going to need a pickup."
"Did you crash?" Greez demanded. There was a pause.
"Yes, yes I did," Kaia responded, souding embarrassed. "As soon as you finish up with Cora's Destroyer come around and-" Suddenly she cut off by the sound of a TIE fighter firing, and then there was a cry of surprise, laced with pain.
Cora watched helplessly as Kaia's tiny form slipped off the Star Destroyer and fell. "Nooo!"