“How do we fly this thing, all the controls are written in Rodian!” exclaimed Adala.

“Oh, I can read Rodian,” said Karis, pushing some buttons on the consoles. All eyes turned to her as the ship rose off the ground.

“Really? Oh thank you-”

“I’m kidding,” said Karis, pushing more buttons. “I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“WHAT?!” exclaimed Tama and Adala as the ship lurched forwards out of the atmosphere.

“Relax, we’re only 17 pages in. They can’t kill us off now,” muttered Vori under her breath. The other three looked at her, confused.

“Oh I have an idea. Karis, can you get the com system working?” asked Adala. Karis pressed a button. Suddenly windshield wipers were activated. Karis pressed it again but they went faster.

“Give me control,” said Adala, pushing Karis out of the way. Karis looked at her in spite, for Adala was always taking control when Karis wasn’t good enough. A message popped onto the screen.

“We have located the family of Tama Kap. The execution video will be sent in four minutes,” said the message. Tama jabbed at the X button.

“I don’t want to see it,” she whispered. The three nodded their heads solemnly. Adala looked around the control panel.

“I need to send my own message,” she muttered, scanning.

“Found it,” said Adala, typing in the coordinates of a message.

“What’d you send?” asked Tama.

“Oh I told Sel we’re coming to Globnar,” said Adala. “Sel will help us; he will probably believe us.”

“Okay, and how do you expect us to get to Globnar?” asked Karis, impatiently. “Apparently I can’t handle the ship well enough to even send a message. What makes you think I can get to Globnar?”

“We could travel by Map,” said Vori, holding up a map. “I stole it from a little green muppet-looking creature.”

“So how does that work?” asked Tama right before a montage of scenes of their ship going through space happened.

“Whoa!” everyone exclaimed.

“Okay but really, how am I going to dock the ship?” asked Karis nervously.

“Just go for it! I’m sure you’ll do fine,” said Tama enthusiastically. Karis shrugged and the ship started plummeting towards the planet.

“BAD IDEA DON’T JUST GO FOR IT!” yelled Tama as the ship broke through the clouds. Karis yanked the thrusts as hard as she could and the ship landed perfectly on the ground. Everyone stopped and breathed out.

“For a second, I thought we were going to di-” the ship tipped over and caught on fire. The four scrambled out of the ship and watched as it disintegrated.

“Two spaceship crashes in one day? What are the odds?” Karis asked. “It’s almost as if we are in a sadistic narrative fabricated by a bunch of teenage girls with nothing better to do. Also, they suck at creating original plot twists.”

“Stop being weird,” Adala criticized her. Karis narrowed her eyes.

“Sel!” exclaimed Vori as he walked out of the landing base. His eyes were filled with concern.

“What happened?” he asked Adala. “I heard the news.”

“Well, we found Master Turi confiding with the Siths, and she caught us and placed the blame on us,” stated Adala. Sel looked at her as if she suggested that they were all fictional characters.

“Well, that’s an interesting story,” he said awkwardly. He looked down and shifted his feet around.

“You don’t believe us, do you?” Tama’s eyes were full of despair as she looked at Sel. He pursed his lips and refused to make eye contact.

“It is highly improbable that Master Turi was confiding with the Sith,” he stated confidently. “Why should I take her word under yours?”

“Why would we lie to you, Sel?” asked Vori.

“Well, you are one to tell, aren’t you. I wouldn’t want to revisit the whole Leeta crisis,” he told her. Vori crossed her arms.

“Oh really. I do believe you helped me hide it from Turi until she ended up discovering it for herself. And plus, she still doesn’t trust you enough to give you your own padawan,” said Vori making a comeback.

“But that’s where you went wrong. I do have a padawan,” said Sel.

“And who would that be? There aren’t any padawans without masters currently and we aren’t searching for new ones until next month,” said Vori, confused.

“Lada,” said Sel. Suddenly Vori felt a pang in her chest. Anger surged through her. Turi had planned this. Karis placed her hand on Vori’s shoulder and gave her a hard look. Vori could tell she understood the feeling, and unclenched her fist.

“I feel a disturbance in the force,” said Adala, rubbing her eyes. “Sel, what did you do?”

“I did what I had to,” said Sel. “They were monitoring my transmissions!”

“SEL WHAT DID YOU DO!” said Tama, placing her hands on Sel’s shoulders. Sel brushed them off.

“They only want one of you,” he hinted.

“Karis, don’t,” said Adala, instinctually sticking her arm out to protect Karis from jumping on him. “I’ll go.” The other three jedi looked at her.

“Well, I’m not arguing,” huffed Tama. Vori remained silent.

“But Master-” started Karis.

“We can’t lose you again, Karis. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine,” said Adala. Karis’s eyes fell. Sel opened a small pod.

“It has autopilot to your destination and is encrypted not to leave any energy trails,” said Sel. Adala stepped inside.

“Here,” she said, tossing Vori her lightsaber. “You’ll need it more than I will.” Vori caught the lightsaber and looked back at Adala.

“Adala, no I can’t have thi-” Adala winked at her before Sel could notice. Vori hastily put it away. The door to the pod closed and started to lift into the air.

“NO!” yelled Karis. Without Adala to hold her back, she drew her lightsaber.

“Karis, please stop it! If you feed off negative emotion, you start to draw power from the Dark Side. Once you turn, you can’t go back!” exclaimed Vori. Sel chuckled.

“Do you really think you can attempt to fight me? I’ve been on the council for 5 times as long as you’ve been training. You don’t stand a chance,” he huffed. Karis smiled sinisterly.

“Try me.”

With that, Karis lunged at Sel and struck with rapid succession. Sel, caught off guard, was barely prepared to draw his lightsaber. Karis spun to the side and tried to stab him from the front, but he evaded and force pushed her into the building. Karis crumpled in the side, feeling her chest from her earlier wound. She hesitantly rose, and continued on the offensive side.

“Karis stop!” said Tama, watching with Vori from afar.

“It will stop sooner if you would help me!” she cried out in the middle of battle. Tama looked at Vori, who had closed her eyes to meditate.

“Vori what do we do?” asked Tama frantically. Vori shushed her.

“I need to regain balance with the force,” she said softly.

“This is not the time for your Mirialan spiritual journeys. I need advice, now,” exclaimed Tama.

“It is not the way of the jedi to fight out of revenge and spite,” said Vori. Tama huffed and sat down next to her, mimicking Vori’s position.

“Great. Just great,” said Karis sarcastically, fending off a slice from the left. Suddenly Sel kicked her in the ribs. Karis fell back in pain.

“You never were good at defense,” he said, closing in on her. Karis threw her lightsaber forwards and watched in torment as it sliced through him. Flashbacks went through her mind This was her friend who fought besides her in battle. This was her friend who helped her learn to use the force. This was her friend who manufactured her first lightsaber for her.

“I killed him,” whispered Karis, her eyes glossed over. “I was the final force in his life. One moment he was here, the next moment he was gone. I caused him to cease to exist.” Vori placed her hand on Karis’s shoulder.

“You did what you had to,” she said to Karis, bending down to face her. “What happened, happened. If you hadn’t ended his life, he would have ended yours.”

“But he was a jedi. Jedi would never kill their own kind,” she said. “Sel was all about following the rules.”

“Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, people change. With all the adrenaline pumping through you, you couldn’t make sense of the situation. The force guided your decisions.”

“But I was filled with hatred. He betrayed us.” Tears streamed down Karis’s face. “And to be honest, if the roles were reversed, I wouldn’t blame him for not believing us.”

“Karis, you’re being too hard on yourself.”

“You don’t know me.” Karis’s eyes were filled with malice. “You don’t know what I’ve been through.” Vori paused for a moment.

“I might not know what happened in the past, or how you felt in the present, but I can help you make the most of the future,” she said calmly. Karis embraced her in a hug. “At least Sel left us a ship we could steal.” Karis stifled a little laugh. Things were going to be okay.