Kaia Kestis
As Kaia watched Ersela pull out and activate the Darksaber of ancient legend, she finally understood why the Resistance general was so good with a lightsaber: she already knew how to use one. Her friend's gray, yellow, and blue Mandalorian armor glinted in the faint light, and Kaia found herself in awe. She could see why the other Mandalorians were so willing to rally behind this confident leader, and she found herself wanting to do so as well.
The ramp closed behind her and she limped into the cockpit, still clutching her arm where blaster fire from the TIE had hit her. It stung like mad, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. Cora was standing beside her, and when Merrin got up from her position at the gun to fuss over Kaia, her friend practically jumped into the seat and took up the gun, looking excited.
"Are you alright?" Merrin asked, grabbing her by the shoulders, her deep brown eyes scanning for any injury she could identify as "major".
"I'm fine," Kaia assured her with a smile. "Just a little battered is all." She turned to Greez, who was glancing back at them. "Follow that Mandalorian."
Greez grinned at her, and Kaia knew he was remembering the days where he flew with her father and Cere Junda. "Yes ma'am."
Kaia plunked down in the seat beside him, where BD-1 greeted her happily, while Merrin sat in the seat beside Cora, looking annoyed at the fact that she had lost her position, but also relieved at the fact that Kaia hadn't died.
Remembering one of BD's specialties, she held out her hand to the droid and said, "Stim, BD." The little droid looked up at her, swaying excitedly for a moment before he dispensed a little green healing stim into her open hand. She took it gratefully and pressed it through the cloth and into the skin of the shoulder of the arm where the TIE's blast had hit her and she sighed in relief as the pain faded a little. "Thanks." BD-1 chirped happily in response, nudging her hand with his little flat head.
She let her hand rest on him for a moment, before out of nowhere, she sensed a great power rising, and she turned to Cora, who had a surprised look on her face. Spinning back around in her chair to look at Greez, she told him, "We have to go to that temple now."
"You mean the giant, hulking mass down there?" Greez cried. "The battle is up here, kid. Why would you want to go down there?" Kaia gave him a look, and his face went serious. "Ah, I see, this is a Jedi thing. Your dad was like that too." He angled the ship downwards, and they descended beneath another layer of clouds, until they reached the ground.
Kaia and Cora both got up, and Greez lowered the ramp for them. Both he and Merrin stood watching them as they hurried down it. BD-1 scampered after them, and he launched himself onto Kaia's leg, clinging on tight as she tried to gently shake him off before climbing up to his usual perch on her shoulder. Kaia gave him a wary look. "This is going to be dangerous," she informed him quietly.
"Ah, the droid'll be fine," Greez assured her, waving it away as if it were nothing. "It's you I'm worried about."
"I can handle myself," she reminded him.
"I know you can," the gray old Latero replied with a grin.
"Good luck," Merrin called after them as they started to run towards Palpatine's temple. Kaia didn't look back, her focus already on what lay ahead. Lightning struck the ground around her as she ran with her friend, though it didn't phase her. She knew that the real threat was inside the temple that loomed over them.
When they neared the giant black mass, Kaia saw both a Rebellion-era X-Wing and a First Order TIE fighter and she slowed her pace, glancing at Cora. They came to a stop, realizing what it meant. Rey and Ben are already here.
"Come on we have to move," Kaia urged, starting to pick up the pace again. She paused and turned around when she realized Cora wasn't following her. "What is it?"
"Why do you want to go in?" her friend demanded. "If Rey and Kylo Ren are already in there, why do we need to be?" Kaia stared at her friend with a mixture of shock and confusion.
"We want to destroy Palpatine, don't we?" she asked uneasily. "He's a threat to the entire Galaxy."
"Can't you sense the power?" Cora pressed. "We don't stand a chance. We should just go back to the Mantis while we still can."
Kaia shook her head, her voice firm as she responded, "No. We have to help." She took a few steps back towards the darkness of the temple.
"I can't let you do that," Cora replied grimly, activating her lightsaber so that her face glowed with blue light.
"Then I'm sorry," Kaia muttered, reaching out with the Force to push her friend backwards before she turned and sprinted into the temple, BD-1 digging his feet into her shoulder a bit painfully to stay on. She heard footsteps behind her, and she activated her lightsaber just in time to parry a strike from Cora that was aimed at her legs. She knew her friend was trying to slow her down, to prevent her from interfering, but she wouldn't let her win.
The two duelled, blue and green blades flashing and hissing, moving deeper and deeper into the temple. When Kaia noticed a large chain in a hole that led to an area below them, she kicked Cora backwards before she leapt down the hole and landed, Cora thumping down behind her a few beats later.
"Just let me do this," she pleaded as they fought, though neither intended to harm the other. They passed several bodies, which Kaia recognized as the Knights of Ren, and she was almost certain that Ben had been the one to take them out.
"I can't let you die!" Cora yelled back, shoving forward and causing Kaia to stumble and fall. Cora held her lightsaber close to Kaia's chest, keeping her on the ground, and Kaua deactivated her own, knowing there was no more use in fighting.
Then she felt a sudden feeling of loss rush over her. She could see Cora felt it too, and she pulled away and deactivated her own lightsaber, looking shocked. They couldn't feel Rey anymore.
Cora offered a hand to Kaia and she accepted it, allowing her friend to pull her to her feet. "We have to find her," Cora told her, and Kaia nodded in silent agreement. They raced through their dark surroundings until they came upon a large area, open to the sky, where a fight had clearly just occured, and a big one at that. Huge chunks of rock lay everywhere, and a cloud of dust hung over everything.
Kaia paused for a moment, sensing something else, and she realized that she could feel Rey again, but someone else was fading. She stopped breathing once she spotted who it was, and she heard Cora gasp beside her. It was Ben Solo, no longer Kylo Ren, and he was giving his life force to save Rey.
"No," Kaia murmured, racing through the debris, Cora struggling to keep up behind her. Just as Ben fell away from Rey's kiss, his last breath leaving his body, Kaia reached them, and Rey looked up at her with a mournful and confused, though somehow peaceful as well, expression. "No, no, no, no." She knelt beside his body, running one hand gently along his cheek, tears burning in her eyes, unsure of what she was doing. BD-1 hopped off her back and stood beside her, beeping sadly.
Less than a second later, there was the sound of footsteps, and Kaia looked up to see Lyra coming towards her, looking utterly distraught. "Ben, no!" She sank down beside Kaia, her eyes already glazed with tears. Kelsa arrived a few moments later, but Kaia hardly noticed her. She heard Kylo Ren's message from her vision whispering in her ear. There is still hope.
Without thinking, she put one hand on Ben's chest and took several deep breaths, concentrating. She felt Lyra do the same beside her, and soon, they were breathing in synchrony as they used the Force to transfer some of their own life force back into Ben.
A gasp came from where Kelsa stood, and when Kaia opened her eyes, she saw that Ben had opened his too, and his chest was rising and falling as he breathed. She nudged Lyra gently, and she could tell from her suddenly joyous expression even before she removed her hand and opened her eyes as well, she knew Ben was alive.
Kaia pulled her hand away quickly, allowing Ben to sit up. He pushed himself up slowly, looking around at the people surrounding him, a bit disoriented, which made sense considering the fact that he had literally just come back from the dead.
"Ben!" Lyra cried, throwing her arms around him gleefully, almost knocking him backwards. He wrapped his arms around her, still looking a bit thrown off, and he glanced down at her for a moment before looking back up, his gaze flitting to Rey and then Kaia, and they stared at each other for a long moment, neither of them knowing what to say.
Behind them, Kelsa cleared her throat, and Kaia pulled her eyes away from Ben to look at her. Her friend was giving her a disappointed look that she didn't understand, and when Kelsa seemed to realize this, she rolled her eyes and shook her head like a disapproving parent. Deciding that it wasn't worth trying to figure out what she was so annoyed about, Kaia turned her attention back to Ben, who was being helped to his feet by his sister.
Kaia got up as well, and while Lyra supported Ben from one side, she went to help in on the other. She felt a little weak in the knees as she stood up, and her head spun a little, but she had just given up some of her life force, so she wasn't that concerned.
They helped him walk back to where they had come in, BD-1 scampering along beside them, with Rey leading the way while Kelsa and Cora trailed behind. Since Ben had been brought back to life, but not completely healed, he had a bad limp, which made it challenging when they came upon the giant chain which led up to the ground level.
"I'm not climbing up that thing," Kelsa informed them. "It was already hard enough getting down."
"Then get ready," Rey said, reaching out with one hand in her direction. Kelsa was suddenly lifted off the ground, letting out a shocked yelp, and slowly raised up ground level.
"You go next," Kaia told Lyra. "I got Ben." Lyra hesitated for a brief moment, before nodding and slipping away, over towards Rey.
"Ready?" Rey asked as Lyra approached her.
"Yes," Lyra responded, sounding a bit nervous. A few moments later, and she was standing above them, beside Kelsa.
Rey turned expectantly to Ben, whose weight was starting to be a little much for Kaia. "You should go next."
"I can do it myself," Ben insisted. Rey and Kaia exchanged looks.
"You're not really strong enough to make the jump right now," Cora commented.
"She's right," Kaia agreed, nodding at her friend. She glanced back at Rey. "You go on ahead. That way you can pull him up while we lift him."
"Alright." Rey took a running leap onto the chain, clutching onto it as she glanced upward at where Kelsa and Lyra were waiting. She tensed before pushing herself off the giant chain, doing a flip in the air before landing beside Kaia's friends.
Kaia carefully released her grip on Ben, allowing him to stand on his own. He tested his weight on his injured leg before he leapt upward, not as graceful as Rey, to the chain. He hit it hard and Kaia winced. It sounded painful.
Ben paused for a moment to gather himself, then he jumped again, though he couldn't put enough power into the jump to reach the top. Reaching out with the Force, Kaia and Cora both reached out their hands to push him upward, while Rey lifted hers to pull him up. Once Ben was safely standing beside Rey, Cora went up the chain, followed closely by Kaia, BD-1 once again secure on her back.
Kaia let Rey take over with helping Ben, and Lyra drifted back to his side. Kelsa led the way, and Cora came to walk beside Kaia as they made their way to the Mantis. They were silent for a moment, until Cora looked at Kaia and remarked, "That got a little intense earlier."
"Sorry about that," Kaia muttered. Kelsa glanced back at them, overhearing their conversation, looking puzzled, and maybe a bit suspicious. She had reason to, considering the fact that they had both just revealed themselves as Jedi to everyone.
"I'm sorry too," Cora told her. "I just didn't want you to do anything stupid."
"I do stupid things all the time," Kaia pointed out with a small laugh, and Cora laughed with her.
"I can't argue with that," her friend said. They reached the entrance to the temple and stepped out into the gray light of the outside. Kaia spotted the Mantis in the distance and she pointed to it so that everyone knew where she was going.
"There," she announced. "The Mantis will get us out of here." As she started to make her way towards it, Kelsa started to vere off and Kaia stopped, confused. Behind her, everyone stopped as well.
"Where are you going?" she asked, watching her friend closely.
"To get BB-11," Kelsa replied simply, her flaming orange hair being tossed around by the wind. "I'm going to take Lyra's X-Wing." She glanced at Lyra, who blinked at her. "I hope you don't mind."
"I guess not," Lyra murmured. "But I thought you might want to come with us instead."
Kelsa shook her head vigorously. "Oh no, no, no, no. I don't want to get involved with all of...this." She waved her hands to gesture at everyone. "I'll be just fine on my own."
"Well go ahead then," Kaia sighed. "I guess we'll see you back at base."
"See you back at base," Kelsa replied with a nod, then she took off sprinting towards the direction of Lyra's X-Wing in the distance. Everyone watched her for a moment before continuing on towards the Mantis.
As they grew closer, Kaia could see Merrin still waiting on the top of the ramp, her expression a mixture of worry and relief, if that was even possible. She came forward when they stopped at the ramp, her eyes darting across the faces of the group as she examined their various injuries and expressions.
"Is everyone alright?" she asked, directing her question at Kaia.
"Just a few injuries," Kaia responded. "Most of them aren't serious." She glanced back at Ben. "But some of them are."
Merrin nodded slowly, looking thoughtful, then ushered for everyone to board the Mantis. Rey hung back at the ramp, releasing Ben for Lyra to support. Both Ben and Lyra looked at her quizzically from the top of the ramp.
"I'm not going to ride with you," the Jedi stated simply. "I'm going to take Luke's X-Wing. I don't want to leave it behind."
"Be careful," Ben warned, and Kaia could hear a hint of affection in his voice that made her frown as she felt a twinge of jealousy she hadn't realized, or rather, hadn't wanted to acknowledge, was still there.
Rey smiled up at him. "I will." And with that, she was off, back toward the temple, where Kaia had seen the fighter she had spoken of earlier.
"Is everyone on board?" Greez asked as Merrin pressed the controls by the ramp, bringing it up and closing the door.
"We're all here," Kaia called back as she helped Lyra ease Ben onto one of the dull blue seats next to the holomap in the section of the ship just behind the cockpit. Lyra sat down beside her older brother and gave Kaia a nod, signaling that she had everything under control and Kaia could return to her seat in the cockpit, which BD-1 had scampered into and was now watching her impatiently. "I'm coming, buddy."
She moved past Lyra and Ben, casting one last glance over her shoulder before picking BD up and setting him on his spot on the console in front of her and sitting in her seat, spinning around in it as she secured her crash webbing. Greez was already in the pilot's seat, and he was firing up the engines as Cora and Merrin both took their seats as well.
"Can't wait to get out of this place," Greez muttered as he eased the Mantis into the air. "It gives me the creeps." He tapped several more buttons, programming the navicomputer to set a course back to Ajan Kloss. "Alright everyone, hang on. This is going to be a bumpy ride."
A/N: So yes, I chose to keep Ben alive. I didn't like that he died in the movie, so obviously I had to change that lol.