Chapter Text
Cal ground the heels of his palms into his eye sockets where he was bent over his knees, gaze blurring between the floor and his scorched boots. The weak glimmers of dawn were creeping through the canopy overhead, and shining through shimmering membrane over the Mantis' windscreen. The forest around them was waking up, adjusting. Where scattered creatures recovered from the Empire's most recent attack and found the remnants of their packs. Kenobi paced the ship's deck, frantically running a hand through his hair and pulling at his beard.
There were so many people who should be with them, that weren't, that he'd been able to glaze over the details, until Kenobi's look of utter horror had dragged the admission into the daylight. The man was teetering between terrified and furious, and Cal swore that just watching his footsteps track across the Mantis' deck in his peripherals was raising his blood pressure. He understood it though, why Kenobi was reacting like this to how he and Merrin had left them behind.
He twitched, 'them', as if his remaining family were some anonymous and impersonal group.
Greez and Kata had been taken by the Empire. Cal tried to breathe normally as he let the thought run its course.
He and Merrin had been approximately done patching themselves up when Kenobi and Toa had found their landing-turned-crash site. Like a coward, Cal had flinched away from Merrin’s gentle admission and hollowly promised her they'd fix things, even as she blamed herself for loosing the two girls. Merrin had explained that she’d left Kata and Leia alone for a few minutes to lead a patrol away and protect them, and they’d been gone when she returned. Cal had found her as she’d failed to save the two children.
They would find them.
Cal tried to ignore the poisoned thought that he could have gone after them in her place… but he’d chosen Merrin.
If just he’d gotten back to the Outpost faster-
Kriff, if he’d never left it in the first place-
If he’d just been better-
His family would all still be here.
“We must go after them - before the Venator leaves Koboh’s orbit and-”
Cal let out a dry huff, “How? In case you hadn’t noticed, the Mantis can't siege a Venator.”
“What other choice is there?” Kenobi snapped; Cal tensed. “I cannot loose Leia!”
“Your granddaughter isn’t the only one who’s been taken-” Cal retorted, lifting his head to glare at the older Jedi. Kenobi whipped around in his pacing to glare at him, brow twisted into an angry line.
“I am well aware, but these people are not my responsibility to protect. Leia is. They were depending on you, Cal. Where were you?”
Cal hated his hypocricy. How, despite the fraying threads of desperation and anger lacing through his tone, Kenobi was self-assured enough to lecture him. Like he knew Cal well enough to be disappointed.
“I do not like the idea of waiting, but all we will do if we chase them now is get ourselves killed.” Merrin tried to cut in evenly. Exhaustion had carved dusky shadows under her eyes, making her usually pale skin corpse-like and ashen.
Cal barely registered Merrin’s smooth reasoning, and he was on his feet before he could think properly about it. “Where was I?! Fuck you! You know exactly where I was because you asked me to take you there! Oh high and righteous Jedi Master - where were you when everything fell apart!”
Kenobi sputtered, "I was fighting a war! To save the Republic to-"
"And look at how well that worked out!" Cal shouted. He was pacing as well, almost squaring up to his full height and loose on the balls of his feet. Kenobi was straight-backed and glowering, a hand folded across his chest to tuck into his elbow while the other gestured sharply.
“Where was I?” Cal repeated with a breathless sneer pulling across his face, “Where the fuck were you the last ten years!”
“I have been protecting the future in more ways than you can imagine! To return balance to the Force!” Kenobi shot back. He drew a breath through clenched teeth and pinched the bridge of his nose; like conceding anything was causing physical pain. “Yes, you’re right these last ten years have been hard and I regret that I have not been able to do anything about it. I have been hiding for a reason and while there are many others in danger, Leia is a child-"
"SO WAS I!"
The accusation hit the room like a sucker punch.
Cal's voice had cracked with the shout, and his breath was coming back in short, shallow gasps. His hands trembled as they clenched into fists at his sides. Kenobi was flushed from the argument, with his expression twisted into a glower. Cal didn't know what his own expression looked like, but it must have been something pathetic as the furious cut of Kenobi's features flickered and cracked with empathy. It filled the room like fog, radiating regret and apologetic resolve, now that the heat of anger had burned away
The way it chafed made Cal’s skin crawl.
“Don’t…” Cal hissed out, “Don’t do that! Don’t look at me like that, fuck!” He ran a hand through his hair and pulled, pacing like something trapped. "Don't give me your pity when you don't know anything about me!"
Cal whirled on the stunned Jedi, "Do you have any idea how long I spent dreaming about how the Council would swoop in and fix everything when you never did! You all hid like a pack of fucking cowards so you don't get to charge back in and lecture me about what to fight for now that it suits you!"
"Cal, I am sorry," Kenobi started off, softly. The anger had evaporated and it was just empathy, radiating off the old Jedi and trying to reach out like a soft hand on Cal's shoulder. It should be steadying, something to ground to and ease the high-pitched static of anger.
"SHUT UP!" He spasmed away from the ephemeral touch. "Stop pretending that you care!"
Then there actually was a hand on him.
Merrin reached out to touch his forearm, gently pulling it down from where he had clenched into the copper strands at the crown of his head. Cal's gaze flicked to Merrin and he went limp as she carefully laced her fingers around his hand and held it close. Her warm breath ghosted over his knuckles as she sighed, "We are all injured, exhausted and afraid. We need to rest. We know where the Empire will take Kata and Leia, so we can go directly after them once we are ready. But now. We need. To rest." Merrin punctuated each phrase with a soft squeeze of his hand.
"We don't know where..." Cal repeated numbly.
“We do,” Merrin's expression twisted with grim resolve, “We know exactly where the Empire would take children like them.”
He could feel Kenobi's attention on them, and it skittered like first touches of frostbite.
"Nur, Cal. They will be taken to Nur."
When her papa had taken them to live at Nova Garon, he gave Kata some very strict rules to follow so that she would be safe. There were a lot of them, but they were all some variation or expansion of core four themes. Don't go anywhere, don't talk to anyone, don't do anything.
Never let 'them' see you vulnerable.
Kata kept her focus on those rules as she sat on the cold, metal chair with her cuffed hands resting in her lap. She stared at the featureless grey table and let her feet sway lightly where they lifted off the floor.
Don't talk to anyone, don't do anything. Don't let them see you rattled.
Just like Nova Garon.
This was the fourth time she’d been brought here, after she’d woken up and the groggy headache had faded. A medical droid had hovered into her cell and dispassionately taken some scans, proclaiming she was “in acceptable heath”. A pair of stormtroopers had taken her to what she now recognised as a questioning room where a man in black armour asked questions and she stayed silent. Eventually, she'd be returned to her cell, where she stayed tucked up against the wall, raised off the panelled floor on the thin metal cot. Kata would watch the occasional trooper or droid patrol past beyond the red halo of the ray-shielded door as it sparked in her peripherals. It diffused some of the harsh white lighting and crackled with a background static in the dry, recycled air.
She’d forgotten how easy it was to lose track of time in space, how the hours and (maybe) days bled together.
She never saw Leia, and had to hope the other girl was okay.
Kata eyes flicked up as the door opened with the pressurised hiss of machinery.
The trooper was back, but this time with his helmet and a data pad tucked under one arm. Kata looked away quickly, before the man could catch her. She kept her eyes on the table as the trooper sat down on the opposite bench, placing his helmet to a side where Kata tried not to stiffen under the red visor’s glare.
He flicked through the data pad for a few minutes before letting out a defeated sigh.
“No name, no chain code, I gotta admit - I’m pretty impressed kid. You’re a ghost. Someone did a real good job hiding ya, huh?”
Papa, Kata thought with a pang of sadness. He’d been so good at keeping us all safe… until mama….
“But you gotta give me something to work with here, or the next person who comes in to ask you questions won’t be nice about it.” The man continued. Despite the even tone, Kata could hear the pleading edge. She looked up and eyed him carefully, properly taking in the man’s tan skin and strong features despite the creases of age and the demanding life of a soldier. He hadn’t shaved in a few days, making dark brown stubble speckled with grey dust across his jaw. His eyes were a warm, soil-coloured brown, with a scar running between them over the bridge of his nose and into the receding arches of his hairline.
“Is…” Kata tested out the words and watched the trooper instantly perk up. Her voice came out so small, disused, “is there another girl about my age, on this ship?”
The time he took to mull over the question was enough of an answer. His expression shuttered, and Kata knew before he said anything that Leia was here, somewhere.
“She’s human, dark hair in braids and dark eyes.” Kata continued determinedly, “I’ll answer some questions if you let me see her.”
"Kid," The trooper sighed, "I can't do that. You gotta know that's not how it works, but I can see you've got a good head on your shoulders so maybe we can work something out after-"
"I have nothing to say to you."
As the trooper sighed and scratched at his stubble in frustration, Kata tried not to let her lips twitch in satisfaction at how Merrin would be proud of that answer.
"Look, I don't want to see ya get hurt, and that's what will happen if you stay quiet like this. 'Sides, the sooner we sort this out, the sooner we might be able to get you back to your parents. They'd be worried, right?" He was pleading again, data pad resting unused on the table between where he was leaning forward on his elbows.
With a shaky breath, Kata relented. "My name is Kata and... I don't have parents." She stared at the data pad, seeing the troopers armour reflected in its smooth black surface.
"Okay, Kata. Hey," She could hear the relieved smile that flooded into the room, "My name is Jett. And that's okay, I don't have any parents either. But I have Brothers - a lot of them, actually. Do you have any family like that?"
Kata shook her head.
“Ah, okay then. So, who’s been taking care of ya? The galaxy’s a pretty big place, even for a tough kid like you.”
Kata looked up at the trooper then, fixing him with the kind of blank stare she’d sometimes seen on Cal. “You attacked us and brought me here, so what do you think?”
“Yeah, I figured there’d be something like that…” The trooper winced in sympathy, “Kata - is it okay if I call ya that? You’re with the Empire now, and we’re giving ya a chance to be safe and meet other kids just like you. Hell, work hard and when you’re a few years older you'll get a place at the Academy easy - you can be anything you want. Doesn’t that sound nice?”
Kata tentatively nodded. “I… I’m not sure what I want to be when I grow up yet. Maybe a pilot? Or a chef, or maybe a gardener?” She bit her lip, but continued at the trooper’s encouraging smile. “But most of all, I want to help people. Especially people who don’t know they need it yet.”
“That's really sweet of ya, kid. I want to help people too, everything my Brothers and I do is to help people by making the galaxy a safe, ordered place. You can help with that too. Ya just gotta tell us what ya can about the dangerous people you were with." The trooper flicked on the datapad with a few muffled taps across its surface. A small hologram projected from a lens on one corner of the device, while lists and images scrolled across the screen. Small, blue-tinged portraits of Cal and Leia's grandfather looked back at her from the projection; ever defiant and world-weary from the harsh things the galaxy had thrown at them.
The trooper continued, "Because people like this, Jedi, are a threat to the whole galaxy and the sooner we can find them, the less people have to get hurt. Whaddya say Kata, help the Empire make the galaxy a safer place?"
Kata swallowed the lump in her throat and jerked her gaze away from the holograms, from the trooper, from everything in the sterile, cold questioning room. With her eyes screwed shut, Kata took a shaky breath, twisting her hands in her lap. "I have nothing to say to you. Can I please go back to my cell now?"
Without looking up, she could tell the trooper's encouraging and hopeful demeanour had hardened over like a calcified shell.
"You sure about that, kid?"
Kata shook her head mutely.