A light humming sounded through the cold, stagnant air of the ship. Blue light filtered in and out of the transparisteel windows at the front of the Stinger Mantis as its pilot flew through hyperspace. The pilot, a Latero man, sat in the front seat of the cockpit with his four arms working on the controls, humming a little tune from his large mouth. Beside him in the comms seat sat a dark skinned human female, her eyes pinned closely on the radio in front of her. She held an earpiece up to her ear, listening carefully through the frequencies the Empire commonly used.
Her eyes widened. Through the static of the radio, she could just barely make out the words the Imperials were saying. Turning it up, she let out a breath, a smile making it's way onto her aged face. "Greez," she called to the Latero, but he was too caught up in his humming to listen. "Greez!"
"What?" he finally turned, his brows furrowed at the woman.
"I think we found one," she told him with bated breath, the Latero's eyes widening at her words.
"Seriously?" he responded with surprise evident in his voice. "Well, where we headed?"
As Greez turned back to take control of his ship, the woman stood, saying, "Bracca. And get the guns ready when we approach."
"Bracca it is- Wait a minute, the guns?" Greez paused, looking back to see the woman rushing towards the back of the ship. "Cere! Why would we need the guns?!"
The woman, Cere, walked through the Mantis until she reached the corridor to the engine room. She turned to the medical cot on the side of the ship where a young girl of seventeen was working on organizing the medical supplies set up above the bed. She hadn't noticed Cere's presence yet, her eyes working on separating the bandages, the syringes, and the plasters from one another. "Y/n," Cere called, snapping her out of her stupor. The girl looked up from her work, and Cere said, "We found one."
"A Jedi?" Y/n questioned, standing from her seat on the cot.
Cere nodded her head, gesturing for the girl to follow her. "Come on. We're headed to Bracca, so we better get back up to the cockpit before leaving hyperspace."
"Bracca?" Y/n repeated with a scrunched nose. "That steam pit?"
"Don't underestimate it. It's a good place to hide for anyone that doesn't want to be found," Cere explained as she regained her seat in the comms chair, Y/n taking the co-pilot seat.
"I suppose so," the girl nodded her head, her hands instinctively going towards the gunner controls. "I'm guessing, Greez, that we'll need a gunner?"
"Can't we ever have a trip that doesn't end or begin with a shootout?" Greez grumbled to himself. The Stinger Mantis was his ship, and he didn't like it when his ship got damaged.
Y/n let out a small laugh and a shake of her head. "With this crew? What do you think?"
"I try to be hopeful," Greez sighed, hands running rampant over the controls for the Mantis. "Hold on to your butts, people. Exiting hyperspace in three, two..."
Greez hit the switch, and in a flash of light, the stars slowed down around them, coming to a pause and dotting the dark sky of the space. Ahead, a desolate, brown colored planet hovered before them. "The signal from the Empire claims the Jedi is in one of the lower quadrants of the planet," Cere informed them, once again on the comms.
"Or, we could just follow the blatantly obvious signs of Imperial occupation," Y/n spoke up, causing Cere to look through the transparisteel windows. "They beat us here."
An array of Imperial ships sat waiting above the atmosphere of the planet, multiple gunships being dropped and flown down from the star destroyers ports. "Okay, well, that'll be a pain to get through," Greez hummed, causing Y/n to let out a sigh.
"Getting down there is our number one priority," Cere claimed, looking between the two in front of her. "Greez, you think you can fly through to reach the surface if I can hone in on the exact beacon?"
"Oh, I can do it, all right," Greez stated in surety, although with a hint of nervous laughter that made Y/n crack a smirk. "Greezy money, baby. Everybody just relax and act like we belong and we might make it through this."
Surely enough, they were able to make it past the Imperial blockade, but only through the intense speed of the ship. "Y/n, be ready for any TIEs," Cere called to her as they approached the surface.
"Already on it," Y/n replied, her eyes scanning the air. Through the windows, they caught sight of a derailed train being followed by multiple Imperial fighter ships. The train was on its last railing, scraping against the ground as it sped through the rain Bracca's skies sent pouring own.
"Do you see the Jedi?" Cere called to the two.
"All I see are stormtroopers!" Greez said back, evading a sudden collision.
Y/n had many years of looking for minute details in her eyes. Scanning the racing wreckage of the train, she caught sight of a wisp of fiery red hair, before seeing the rest of the young boy climbing up the train cars before disappearing onto the next one. "I think I found them!" Y/n exclaimed, looking for the signature once more. "A boy, red hair. He's caught in the train cars."
Once again, she saw the boy climbing from the open door of one of the cars. "I see him!" Greez said, and quickly approached the position, only for an Imp ship to fly in the way of the boy with its guns aimed right at him. "Y/n! Guns!"
"On it," she responded, her trigger finger hitting the cannons until the ship was blown from the sky.
Cere rushed to the ramp, opening the bay door for the boy to see them. His hands were up to block the quick winds and rain from his eyes, catching sight of the woman from the ship. "We're here to help!" she shouted to him.
"Who are you?!" he demanded, and through his voice Cere could understand his hesitation to trust them.
"No time! Keep moving! We'll pick you up when we can!" Cere informed him, and Greez shot the Mantis forward when he caught sight of a ship following behind him.
"Cere! We got one on our tail," Y/n called out to her. "Greez, can you maneuver us behind him?"
"Of course, I can," he responded, and his four arms moved in synchronization as the ship flew up, paused, and came back down behind the Imperial gunner. "Shoot it! Shoot it!"
"I am!" Y/n aimed the guns dead onto the thrusters of the ship, the lasers flying from the cannons and hitting its target, bringing the ship to the ground. "Don't rush me!"
"Greez!" Cere shouted from her stand at the ramp. "The train's stopped, but they've blown the railings!"
"I see the Jedi!" Y/n pointed out, Greez following her finger towards where the red-headed boy was sliding down the train cars, quickly heading towards the drop off.
"I got it, I got it," Greez muttered, more to himself than to the girl beside him, as he maneuvered the Mantis so that the ramp was by the drop off. "Go help Cere get that kid!"
Y/n jumped up from the co-pilot's chair, rushing towards the ramp where Cere was edging herself closer to the boy. The Jedi in question was hanging on with just his fingertips to the ramp, one hand slipping just as Cere came near him. Y/n came to her side, reaching her hand out for the boy to take, but the familiar sounds of TIE fighters hummed in the sky, firing cannons at the Mantis and knocking the boy from his grip. "Dank ferrik!" Y/n cursed, running back inside and taking her seat once more. "We should've seen that one coming. You can never let your guard down with the Empire."
"You didn't get the kid??" Greez exclaimed, watching as she fired the cannons back up.
"No! He fell. I'm not sure where, or if he survived," Y/n told the Latero.
"He's alive," Cere said, coming back into the cockpit. "Look, there," she pointed. "The Inquisitor's ship must have followed him down after they fired at us." Sure enough, as Greez followed Cere's guidance, the three of them were able to find the boy once more, but this time he was engaged in a battle with the Inquisitor. His blue lightsaber lit up bright against her red one, the two of them exchanging swipe after swipe with their weapons. Y/n wasted no time. Firing her cannons, she knocked the boy away from the Inquisitor, allowing Greez to let the ramp go onto the platform he was trapped on with the Imperial. "Get on board!" Cere called to the Jedi, who stood up painfully as he held his side and ran.
Through the smoke of the blast, the Inquisitor's red lightsaber ignited. The boy stood frozen for a moment as she slowly stalked towards them, only for Cere to grab his arm and pull him inside, shooting her blaster bolts at the dark shadow. Whoever she was, she easily dodged the bolts, deflecting them with her lightsaber as she ran towards the ship. Cere called for Greez to get the ship going, and just as he closed the ramp doors, the Imperial slashed her lightsaber against the doors. Cere let out a breath, and ran towards the front of them ship.
Y/n watched hesitantly as the boy with the red hair ignited his lightsaber once more, standing behind her seat. Turning back, she let out a gasp when the Inquisitor landed on the front of their ship. "Greez, get us out of here!" Y/n exclaimed, her grip tightening on the cannon controls. It was impossible to shoot the Inquisitor off the bow.
"I'm tryin'! The controls-" he began, but couldn't finish his sentence. The ship began to spin violently, Y/n watching as the Inquisitor twisted her hand in time with the console. Cere managed to run to Greez's side and yank the controls the other direction. The change in force caused the Inquisitor to lose her grip, and fall off the ship. Greez wasted no time as he straightened the Mantis, fired up the engines, and launched them into hyperspace. Y/n let out a sigh of relief, looking between her crewmates as they all listened to the shaking and heavy breaths of the boy behind them, who still had his lightsaber on. "Okay, shut that thing off and grab some seat," Greez ordered, however gently he could.
The boy instead held up the lightsaber in defense. He met eyes with the young girl in the seat in front of him, who had turned to face him. Cere had moved past him to the holotable room, and Y/n noticed as he finally began breathing easy when he shut off the weapon in his hand. This was the first time she was able to get a good look at him. He was young, probably around her age, with red hair and green eyes. He had small scars on his nose, bottom lip, and eyebrow, but a much larger one ran down the end of his cheek to his neck. He turned from the cockpit to approach Cere, saying, "Thanks for the help. But who are you people?"
Y/n got up and leaned on the door to the cockpit at his words, her arms crossed over her chest as Greez came to stand by the holotable. "My name is Cere Junda," Cere spoke up first, and nodded to her other two companions as she continued. "This is our captain, Greez Dritus, and our on board doctor, Y/n Novar." Y/n gave a slight wave with a close lipped smile when the boy cast his eyes to her.
"How you doin'?" Greez asked the boy, but he was too busy warily looking around the ship. So, he continued. "Yeah, the Mantis is my ship but you better pay attention to this lady here."
"Who are you?" Y/n asked, standing up straighter.
"Cal. Kestis," the boy, Cal, answered absentmindedly. Instead, he faced Cere and demanded, "Who was that back there?"
"An Imperial Inquisitor," Cere told him, her voice turned bleak and dark. "She's a Force user hunting Jedi survivors. And now that she knows who you are, she will not stop until she destroys you."
Y/n couldn't help but notice he kept touching his shoulder, moving it around in discomfort as Cere spoke. "How do you know so much?" Cal stopped her with quick and hesitant words. "And why'd you help me?"
"We track Imperial communications," Cere spoke with a little pride in her voice. "We heard the Inquisitors were heading to Bracca, so we made our move."
"Oh, yeah?" Y/n could obviously see in his face that the Jedi was suspicious of their intentions when he spoke. "What's the bounty on Jedi these days, anyway?"
The girl couldn't help but let out what could only be described as a scoff, saying, "I think if we wanted to kidnap you, you'd already be in binders."
"Fair enough," Cal responded to her, but not without a twinge of venom on his tongue. One that did not go unnoticed as she narrowed her eyes at him.
"That's gratitude for ya," Greez pointed in his usual sarcastic tone.
Cere took on a gentler mode, carefully looking at Cal as she said, "Look, I get it. You've been surviving on your own for so long that it's impossible to trust anyone. And it's what's kept you alive. But this is about something bigger than just surviving."
"Like what?"
"Like rebuilding the Jedi Order."
Cal stood stunned, but only for a moment. His guard dropped as he stepped closer to Cere, saying, "You three? Anybody else?"
"Oh, we're not good enough for you?" Greez questioned him playfully, all four arms out in a challenging manner.
"Ignore Greez," Y/n stated, the smaller man giving her a scolding look. "His ego can't take any more diminishing."
"You little..." Greez grumbled only to be silence by the others in the room.
Cal ignored the banter, looking Cere in the eye as he asked, "The Jedi Council?"
His hopeful look melted away when Cere looked down, not meeting his eyes before saying, "They're gone."
"Oh." Cal looked among the crew members of the Mantis. "So I'm all you've got."
"Even so," Y/n said as she let out a sigh, "better than nothing."
Cal's green eyes met hers, but glanced away when Cere spoke up to Greez, saying, "Captain, set a course for Bogano." Greez gave them an, 'aye, aye' as he lingered in the holotable room, before moving back up to the cockpit to punch in the course. "In the meantime, try and relax." Cere extended her hand towards the common area. "Go. You're safe. For now."
Cal watched as Cere followed Greez into the cockpit, and his gaze moved from her to the young girl. She seemed too young to be a doctor, nearly the same age as him. But as he went to move away from the holotable, he heard her speak. "Hey, if you don't mind," she began, and he turned to see her approach, "I could check out that shoulder." He gave her a quizzical look, one she met with a raised brow. "I'm a doctor. Yes, I noticed. Well?"
Cal debated on it for a moment, but his trust still hung on by a thread. "No, I'm fine," he brushed it off, removing his hand from his aching shoulder.
Y/n's easy look made him anxious, her hands on her hips as she shrugged and said, "Suit yourself." She moved past him towards the back of the ship, Cal watching her go as she did. "Didn't expect anything less," she mumbled to herself once she reached the cot. Her work from before was all over the floor, and she let out a groan. Everything she had organized was now ruined. Luckily everything that needed to be sterilized was packaged, so she picked it all up off the floor and started her work over from the top.
The girl had almost everything finished, when she heard a voice behind her say, "Hey." Turning, she saw the familiar red hair of their new resident Jedi. Giving him a tight smile back, she nodded in response. "Cere said it would be all right if I crashed back here to get some sleep."
"Oh, yeah. Of course," Y/n spoke as she stood, finishing up placing the pull out boxes in their cubby. "I was just finishing up here. Have at it."
Cal nodded his head in thanks, awkwardly moving to the side to let her pass to reach the common area. Sitting down on the small cot, he let out a sigh, holding his head in his hands for a moment. Lying back, he closed his eyes to try and get some rest. Whatever Cere had planned for him, all he knew right now was that he wanted to sleep.