Never Too Late (A SWR Fanfic)

Chapter 7: Seeing Eye To Eye, Part 1.

Kari's P.O.V.

I'm laying on my bed in my room. My eyes are closed and my legs are crossed as I play with my coin in my right hand. I open my eyes and watch the coin as I spin it between my fingers. The strange symbol on the front glistens in the dim light of the room while the blank back shines in my eyes if I angle it enough.

As of late, showing Kanan the coin has crossed my mind more than once. But then he might ask where I got it from and Ashoka told me to never tell anyone about her.

I could always lie. I tell myself. I dwell on this idea for a moment before slipping the coin into my pocket and hopping down from my bed. I walk out of my room and down the hall to Kanan's room. I knock on the door, "come in." I hear Kanan's voice sound from the other side.

I open the door and walk inside. Kanan's sitting on the floor with his eyes closed, the holocron floats in front of him and the image displays a map of the galaxy. A few of the planets glow brighter than others, I feel my curious side coming out but I push it away.

He opens his eyes and looks at me before bringing his hand up and giving it a small wave to the side. The holocron closes as it floats back into Kanan's hand, he puts it into a drawer beneath the bottom bunk before looking at me.

"What is it Kari?" He asks.

I clear my throat, "well... um... I want to show you something." I put my hand in my pocket and clench the coin in my hand. I take a quick breath before meeting his eyes, "a long time ago... I found something. I've never shown it to anyone else because I didn't trust them enough." I begin to bring my hand out of my pocket when the ship suddenly tilts sharply to the side, knocking me against the wall and sending Kanan to the wall as well.

"All hands on deck!" I hear Hera's voice sound on the ships intercom system. "We're under attack!"

I glance at Kanan before I dash out of the room and to the cockpit. The doors open in front of me and I see Sabine is in the copilot chair pressing buttons on the control panel, while Hera is piloting the ship. I'm guessing Ezra is shooting the front gun because lasers are being blasted at the TIE fighters circling us. The ship jerks again and I sit down in the chair behind Sabine and watch the outside of the ship.

Hera presses a red button before yelling, "Kanan! I need you to start shooting!"

"I'm shooting dear!" I hear his reply through the speaker.

A TIE fighter explodes in front of us. I pick up my com and say, "nice shot Ezra!" I can't see him but I know I earned a smirk in response.

A beeping noise snaps me out of my thoughts. I look over and see a piece of machinery smoking. Hera looks at it before shouting, "Chopper! I need you to take care of that!" Chopper let's out an annoyed whir before he starts spraying the panel with his built in fire extinguisher.

Hera looks back at me, "Kari! I need you to go up to the phantom with Zeb. The com link is broken and I need you to fix it." The ship shakes suddenly and she turns around and pulls the ship up.

I quickly get up, grabbing the tool box from beside the door before running out and heading for the phantom. I can hear Zeb growling in frustration as he blasts at the fighters, the ship shakes violently once more and I struggle to keep my footing. He presses the communications buttons before shouting, "Hera! Could you please tell the kid to actually hit one of them?!"

I roll my eyes, "com's out, genius." I say sarcastically as I walk over and kneel beside the com system. I take the cover off, "and Ezra's hit more than you." I inform him and I smirk when he growls in response and I get to work. I connect a few new wires to the broken plugs, before tightening some of the nut bolts. Scratching can be heard from the com before Hera's voice finally comes through saying, "Zeb! Are you there?"

Zeb presses the button before responding, "I'm here. What do you need?"

"I need you to disconnect from the ship. We need another fighter out there." She tells us.

Zeb presses a few buttons, "okay."

"And take Kari with you!" I hear Kanan's voice say on the com.

Zeb and I groan simultaneously. "Why?" Zeb asks with an irritated tone, dragging out the last letter.

"You two need some bonding time." Kanan replies.

The ship jerks suddenly and an explosion can be heard. The door behind me closes and we disconnect from the main ship before taking off towards one of the TIE fighters. One zooms past us, landing a few hits on the top of the ship. We turn and rocket after it, leaving the Ghost behind.

I notice how far the TIE is taking us from the ship and I look at Zeb, "um... Zeb... should we really be going this far from the ship in the middle of an attack?"

He just waves that away, "I know what I'm doing kid."

I cross my arms and huff, rolling my eyes. I pull out one of the chairs and sit down. The ship suddenly shakes violently before we're thrown to the side roughly. I'm knocked out of my seat and onto the floor. I growl in annoyance, "Zeb! What're you doing?!"

I don't get a response. Not even a growl or a huff, just silence. I look up at Zeb and find him hunched over the controls, unconscious and unmoving. The ship shakes again and we tip over to the side. I quickly get up off the floor and dash to the controls.

The control panel is smoking and there's a loud beeping sounding through the ship. I press down on the com button, "Hera! We need help!" There's scratching on the com before it starts smoking as well. I hear a TIE fighter approaching us so I take the controls and make a sharp left turn. There's an explosion and the ship is thrown towards a moon to our right. I'm knocked against the wall, my head hits something hard and everything goes black.

I groan as I open my eyes. My vision is blurry at first but it clears up and I find I'm still in the phantom. I rub my head as I sit up, feeling a bump forming on the back of my head. Using the wall for support I stand up and move to the back of the phantom. I open the door, a dust cloud forms on the ground as it touches down and I look around at my new surroundings.

It's a tropical moon. There's different kinds of vegetation and trees that tower over me by at least thirty feet. I can hear strange whistles and coos in the distance, telling me that we're not alone.

I hear a groan behind me and I turn my head to see Zeb waking up. I run over to him, "you okay?" I ask him.

He nods but then he grunts, grasping his forearm. He rubs it as he says, "it's broken." He growls in frustration, "great." He says, his tone laced with sarcasm.

I hear a snarl echo throughout the forest behind us and I glance back into the trees before I look at Zeb, "we're sitting lothcats here." I tell him, "we need to get out of this ship."

He nods and stands up, clutching his arm. We walk out of the ship and into the clearing the ship created. I look around, the forest is dense and it gives me an uneasy feeling. I swallow the lump that found itself into my throat before turning to Zeb, "any ideas?" I ask him.

He thinks for a moment before his gaze meets mine once again, "Hera is probably tracking the phantom now."

I raise an eyebrow at him, "and what does that mean?"

He plops down onto a boulder, clutching his arm and gritting his teeth. He looks at me, "it means, get comfortable. Because we're going to be here for awhile." He answers, irritation lacing his voice.

I narrow my eyes at him before I sit down onto the ground. I close my eyes, feeling drained from the events of these past few hours. I jump when I hear a roar echo throughout the forest.

Hera, if you can hear me right now... please hurry.