Last Shot - A Star Wars Story

Chapter 2

Kaia Kestis

Running through the forest of Ajan Kloss, Kaia felt a rush of adrenaline. Cora was trying to keep up beside her, but Kaia maintained a steady pace ahead of her.

Together they leapt over fallen trees and dodged around tree trunks, their deactivated lightsabers swinging on their weapons belts at their sides. They did this exercise as often as they could, whenever they weren't needed back at base.

They ended up in a familiar clearing and came to a stop, only gasping slightly, and activated their lightsabers.

Kaia swung her lightsaber at Cora, but her friend managed to block the blow just in time. Cora retaliated, but Kaia ducked and brought her blade up to meet her opponent's.

They dueled like this, striking and dodging and defending, for several adrenaline filled minutes before finally stopping, satisfied with their training for the day.

Cora plopped down onto the grass with a sigh, and Kaia copied her, ready to take a break. They sat together in the sunny clearing without talking for a moment, just enjoying their surroundings.

With everything going on between the Resistance and the First Order, it was getting harder and harder to sneak out into the forest and train. Sure, they had Leia to cover for them, but they also had duties they had to fulfill back at base. It was nice to have this time, to be true to who they really were.

"Things sure are getting tense around here," Kaia remarked after a minute. "We may not be able to do this again in a while."

"Yeah, they are," Cora agreed. "Palpatine returning isn't helping either."

"I don't understand how he's still alive," Kaia muttered. "Master Luke said he died on the Second Death Star at the end of the war against the Empire."

"Well, apparently he didn't," Cora replied, and Kaia could hear the annoyance at that fact in her friend's voice.

"We'll stop him," Kaia assured her companion, leaning back into the grass and crossing her arms behind her head. "The Resistance will, I mean. We can help of course, but I don't think we should expose ourselves as Jedi just yet."

"I agree," Cora responded coolly, laying down as well. "We have to be careful. If we exposed ourselves we could be putting everyone in danger."

"Besides, we have Rey," Kaia pointed out. "She seems to have been able to deal with the big threats pretty easily so far." She tried very hard to conceal the tang of bitterness in her voice. It was so frustrating to not be able to be who you really wanted to be, especially when someone was living the life you wanted. Being a secret Jedi with secret feelings was really starting to wear down on her.

"That's true," Cora conceded, and Kaia could hear the slight annoyance in her voice too.

They laid there, not making any more attempts at a conversation, for several long, peaceful moments, enjoying the calm, before Kaia remembered that she actually had somewhere to be.

"Ah, I totally forgot!" she cried, sitting up abruptly. "We have to fix Kelsa's droid!" She got to her feet, brushing the grass off of herself, as Cora did the same, and soon, they were off, sprinting back to the Resistance base. If they were late, someone might suspect something, and that could put their secret at risk. Plus, no one wanted to be on Kelsa's bad side, and failing to fix her beloved BB unit on time was one of those ways.

They arrived back at base breathless, but no one took any notice of them gasping as they stumbled to the little cave where their repair station was. Everyone was too excited by the news that there was apparently a spy in the First Order. Kaia made a mental note to find out what that was all about later, though she had a feeling that someone would bring it up before she had a chance to ask.

She found Kelsa's little white and blue droid companion switched off on the repair table, just like she had left him. BB-11 was a very observant droid, among other things, and he probably would have ratted them out if he noticed that Kaia and Cora had left for a long period of time, so Kaia had powered him off before they left, and now she turned him back on, ready for a swarm of angry beeps berating her for having the nerve to turn him off.

Sure enough, as soon as the little BB unit switched on, he started rolling back and forth on the table, knocking tools aside, angrily beeping at her as she tried to control him while Cora scrambled to pick up a few of the tools BB-11 knocked onto the floor.

"Look, I'm sorry BB," Kaia apologized. "We had to go do something and we wanted to make sure you didn't get into any trouble."

Kelsa's droid let out an indignant bleep, but he stopped moving and stared up at her expectantly. Kaia sighed with a small smile.

"Don't worry, I'm still going to fix you," she assured the droid, patting him on the head while she scanned the table for the tools she needed.

"Might want to make it quick," Cora muttered, dropping the tools she had picked up onto the table. "I think Kelsa is coming over here."

"Great," Kaia grumbled, though she had already started making the repairs Kelsa had requested. Thankfully they were very minor, only a broken antennae and a few other minimal issues. With the experience Kaia had gained over the years, it only took her a few minutes to fix everything, and by the time she finished, Kelsa was walking into the cave, Lyra Solo close behind her.

"Did you fix him?" Kelsa demanded as soon as she walked in, eyeing her loyal droid companion impatiently.

"I just finished," Kaia replied, picking up BB-11, who was heavier than he looked, and setting him down gently on the dirt ground. "You're welcome."

Kelsa knelt down as her droid rolled over to greet her with a series of happy beeps. "It's good to see you too, BB." She patted his head and looked up at Kaia. "Thanks."

Kaia just shrugged with a smile. "No problem." She turned to Lyra, who she knew always had the latest details on the happenings in the Resistance, considering the fact that her mother, Leia Organa, was the leader. "So what's the deal with the First Order spy?"

"We don't know who it is yet," Lyra replied. "But they had some valuable information."

"What information?" Cora demanded. She finished reorganizing the mess on the repair table and came over to stand by Kaia, crossing her arms.

"According to the spy, Palpatine is on Exegol," Lyra explained. "Which is apparently the world of the Sith and is very hard to find."

"So what are we going to do?" Kaia inquired, hoping that they had a solution. She had heard from stories how dangerous Palpatine was for the Galaxy. He couldn't be allowed to have power again.

"Well, Rey is with Finn, Poe, Chewbacca, and BB-8 trying to find a Sith wayfinder, which is also the only way to find Exegol," Lyra responded. "And there are only two in existence. And, well-"

"Kylo Ren has the other one," Kelsa put in, her hand still resting on BB-11's head, seeing as Lyra seemed to be struggling for words for a moment. He was her brother after all.

"Well that's just great," Cora muttered. She glanced at Kaia and they shared a knowing look. This is where the war against the First Order would end, and neither of them were sure which side would prevail.

"Is there any way we can help?" Kelsa asked, standing up. "I feel kind of useless just standing around doing nothing."

"I may have the answer to that," a voice cut in. Everyone's gaze fell on the entrance, where a young woman with faintly wavy brown hair and sharp green eyes in an officer uniform stood.

"General Kryze," Kaia greeted respectfully, even though she knew Ersela Kryze personally. "It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too," the general replied smoothly. She stepped inside the cave, her gaze sweeping over everyone gathered there. "I have a very important mission for you."