Chapter Text
"It will take a while, to make you smile, somewhere in these eyes, I'm on your side."
Cal was bored, there was just no way around it. They had been travelling throughout the Outer Rim for ages now, not finding much to do. Exploring planets and discovering their secrets was all well and good, but Cal wanted a fight. After his encounter with Darth Vader on Nur, he was itching to train and get stronger. Cal had quite frankly, gotten his ass kicked by the Sith, only surviving because of Cere.
Speaking of Cere, it was amazing to see her embrace the Force again. She ventured back to Ilum to obtain a new Kyber crystal, which turned green like her last sabre. She thought it was fitting, Cal had to agree.
Greez was his normal self, gambling, constantly complaining in good fun, and growing the plants with the same old trepidation.
They were his family as far as Cal was concerned, the three of them had been through so much together, he felt so at ease around them.
There was only one small problem, if it could even be called that.
Merrin. She was just, so distracting. In a good way, Cal thinks. He didn't fully understand it all, he never had the time for as long as he could remember. But as he recalled the way her hands felt in his, and how she had hugged him, maybe he had a little bit of an idea of what was going on, but he'd never admit it out loud. Besides, she seemed so above him, so unobtainable. Not that she was something that needed to be obtained in the first place.
Cal was interrupted by someone clearing their throat. He turned to see Cere looking at him with a small smile on her face.
"What?" He asked, fighting the blush that was surely rising on his face.
"You've been staring at her for a while now, quit it, it's creepy." She said quietly.
Turning in confusion to look at what Cere was talking about, Cal could've died of embarrassment as he realized that he had indeed been staring at Merrin, who thankfully, was engaged in deep conversation with Greez about the seeds that had been collected from her home planet of Dathomir.
He smiled sheepishly at Cere, whose grin only grew wider.
"Shut it." He mumbled.
As Cere was about to respond in kind, a loud beep caught the entire crew's attention.
Everyone ran to the holotable to see what it was, and they were all shocked at what they saw. A distress signal, and not just a general one sent out to any ships nearby. This was specifically for the Mantis, for him.
"It's coming from Hoth," Cere murmured, "Who in their right mind would go there?"
"What is so bad about Hoth? I have never heard of it." Merrin asked, confusion lacing her voice.
"It's stupidly cold, that's what." Greez spoke up, "Just thinking about it makes me shiver." He grimaced.
"Do we know who it's from?" Cal said, finally speaking up.
Cere looked at the monitors for a bit, swiping at the holograms appearing from the table, before shaking her head.
"What do we do?" Merrin said.
"Well that's obvious isn't it? We should go and help." He said.
Both Greez and Cere shared a look at this, "Kid," Greez began. "We don't know if this is legit or not, we could be walking right into a trap."
"We need to do this! It can be a real chance to actually do some good," Cal pleaded. "Someone could be in actual danger and we might be leaving them to die if we just ignore this."
The other three stared at him, each one with different expressions.
Greez looked at him like he was crazy, Cere seemed grudgingly proud, and Merrin had a look of admiration on her face.
It was all he could do not to blush.
"Okay," Cere said slowly. "We'll check this out."
Cal smiled and nodded, thankful for the opportunity. Greez made to speak up but was silenced by a glare that Cere sent his way.
Finally. He thought, a chance to prove himself.
"You have failed me again, my apprentice."
Two men, if they could even be called that, were in a room together. The tension between them palpable. One was more machine that man while the hooded one was better described as a ghost or a monster than any term even slightly related to human. The hooded man was sitting on what could only be described as a throne, while the cyborg kept his head bowed as he knelt before his master, carefully deciding his next words.
"The survival of the female Jedi was an unforeseen outcome, she is very powerful with the dark side of the Force, master."
No words were spoken for some time, the hooded man keen on keeping the other on edge.
Eventually, he spoke. "He must not go unchecked, that holocron is dangerous in his hands, the boy could very well start a new Jedi order."
"He could be anywhere in the galaxy by now." The other man said.
His master exploded in anger at the words, "Do you think I care? The lowly Padawan must be found as soon as possible, it would not do well to have more Jedi running around, or did that escape your mind?" The smell of ozone filled the room as the mans hands crackled dangerously.
"It did not, master." The masked man said, still keeping his head bowed. He did not fear the other man, but he was smart enough to know that the wrong word could very well mean his life. "Shall we set a bounty hunter loose on him and his crew?"
"No," the hooded one said, smiling grotesquely. "I think I shall send you to finish the job, after all, it would only be fair for you to correct your mistake. You may take as many men as you see fit, leave as soon as possible."
"It will be done, master."
"For your sake, I do hope so."