Chapter 30: Private Scrutiny
The next day, Rey was allowed to sleep late before Emi arrived for her usual lesson. Still, it was not nearly enough to refresh her exhausted and grubled mind. She could help mulling over what she had learned the evening prior. At the same time, she was worried about how the public would take her various announcements. Her aid did not say one word about how the Galaxy was responding to her move and rather focused wholeheartedly on their lesson.
The Jedi had wanted to check in on her Padawan, who always seemed to calm her nerves and fill her with courage. But the girl had woken early to be taken to the daycare. Thus, Rey had to endure alone.
She couldn't help but think about how troublesome politics were and marvel at people like Minerva, who not only fought these hard battles but, more often than not, won. More importantly, the old woman never gave up on her principles despite this making her ambitions all the harder to achieve. Rey couldn't help but release a sigh of admiration while thinking about it. She was hopeless in politics and could only volunteer as a puppet to the Admiral, surrounded by so many mysteries it was frightening.
Thoughts like these had Rey deeply troubled, though whenever she got distracted, her aide would snap, “Please pay attention. These lesions are very important.”
Rey returned to reality and nodded quickly, “Right, sorry.”
When their lesson was finally over, it was well past noon, and the Jedi was ready to take a nap. Sadly, Emi informed her they had a Parle to attend and quickly dragged the Jedi to the changing room. Once in a tan and ivory robe, she was escorted to a speeder to take them to the event venue. On board, the Jedi groaned and whined, “Emi, my head hurts. Do we need to go to whatever this Parle thing is?”
The cyborg sitting nearly responded informatively, “Indeed you must. This Parle will have 20 guest speakers from across the Galaxy who will each share their views on the peace effort. Through these talks, it will give you a good understanding of what different people are trying to achieve.” She didn't miss a beat as Rey's face turned sour at the ‘20 guest speakers’ part and continued diligently, “Additionally, having made your political debate this morning, this is a very neutral venue to support with your patronage.”
Rey looked at the girl bewildered and asked, “What does that even mean.”
The aide was not peeved and responded, “Well, now that you are a political figure, everything you do will carry weight. The events you attend will show what factions and causes you support. The words you speak will also carry a new weight...”
The Jedi Master grew gloomy at this and sighed, waving dismissively to Emi, who seemed ready to dive into a monologue, “I get it. You can stop.” The woman did so, and Rey rubbed her forehead, grumbling, “It's too late to go back anyway.”
Rey was steeling herself for the upcoming Parle when suddenly she felt their ship was being watched. A sense of danger filled her mind, and she reached out with the Force just in time. She jerked her head to the side as a blaster bolt shot past her ear, its energy slightly burning her hair. Her instincts kicked in, and she crouched down, shouting, “We're under attack.”
At this point, everything became chaotic.
Two speeders suddenly pulled up in front of them and slowed down, trying to limit their movement. A third arrived from behind with a team of four dark-dressed figures with different physiques. One was tall and scrawny with a sniper rifle in hand who had no doubt been the one to attack her.
At this same time, Emi ducked down and opened a hatch in the floor, pulling out a mid-range blaster. She spoke in her usual monotone manner, “I've activated our distress call. We should have backup arriving soon.”
Rey was impressed by this, though the speeders in front of them shot out magnetic cables latched onto their craft. The pilot looked helpless as they began to be dragged through the air in a wild manner. They were several hundred feet in the air and surrounded by zooming vehicles. To fall would mean almost certain death. The gang of assassins on the speeder behind them drew weapons and began to fire. The Jedi ducked down again, bearly dodging a blaster bolt, and shouted, “There's not enough time. If they can't shoot us, they'll target our engines, and we'll still die.”
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The ships in front of them suddenly veered upward, revealing their position to the assailants from behind. Rey instantly drew her lightsaber and began capturing and rebounding the enemy's fire. Emi took aim with her own blaster and, with the accuracy of a computer, managed to hit a short and stout assassin in the shoulder. The pilot managed to level the ship while the aid responded, “Then we can only cut the guidelines and try to escape.”
Rey nodded at this and responded, “Right.”
They stared at each other a moment longer as neither moved, and Emi added, “I meant you cut the guideline. I don't have a lightsaber.”
The Jedi, who had grown used to Poe and Fama taking the easy tasks while she stood guard, blushed and nodded again, “Right, my bad.”
The attackers bore hard to the right, this time their speeder turning onto its side. This again gave the assassins in the back a clear shot at them. Rey managed to hold off the flurry of blaster bolts, but one did tear a hole through her fluttering rob. Once their ship leveled out, she shouted, “Here goes nothing.”
She jumped up with a flip, infusing the Force into her body to give her inhuman strength, landing on the hood of their transport. She cut one cable in a flash, but it turned out to be electrified. The energy worked its way up her lightsaber and crept toward her body. She turned off the blade in a decisive moment, but the electrical energy then arced straight into her chest. Rey was blasted back to the sitting area, her ears ringing and mouth tasting like metal.
The craft towing them couldn't adjust to the lack of tension, spiraled out of control, and exploded against a large hovering billboard advertising a cruise. At the same time, Emi grabbed the Jedi and pulled her down to avoid taking any fire. Rey was a bit skater-brained at this, though she quickly recovered her wits. As a Palpatine, she had an almost natural affinity for lighting. She braced herself with the Force before taking the blow. Nonetheless, she grumbled, “That hurt.”
Her aid looked at her while shooting back at their pursuers and asked, “Are all Jedi this clumsy.”
Rey shrugged, still not entirely back to normal, and responded, “It worked, didn't it.”
Emi managed to graze another assassin and responded, “There's still another cable. Are you planning to get electrocuted again?”
The Jedi became gloomy at this just as the remaining shuttle veered upwards once more. As Rey feared, the assassins had begun to give up on a clear kill and were now focusing their fire on the ship's engine. Rey defended against a few shots and shouted to her aid, “I have an idea.”
Emi called back, “Is it a good one?”
Rey shook her head and shouted back, “No!” The next moment, with the Force assisting her, she leaped out of the speeder towards the assassins. She landed amidst them, landing a punch into one of their faces. In a flurry, Rey let the Force guide her through Battle Meditation. She spun around elegantly with her orange lightsaber blade, cutting two blasters in half. The short and stout assassin tried to grab her, but she did a backflip and kicked the tall, thin one in his shrouded face.
Emi hit a third with a stun blast while the fourth lunged at Rey with his fists. He moved quickly, like a boxer keeping his fists tight to his chest, yet didn't land a blow. The Jedi could easily dodge his rapid flurry of punches, moving around his fist in an almost elegant manner. After dodging him, Rey went low and kicked him in the stomach while cutting his blaster in half. She grabbed the weapon from their stunted comrade and pointed it at the remaining three. They were now unarmed and had a blaster and lightsaber pointed at them.
With intense eyes, Rey shouted, “Who are you, and who sent you.”
The hooded figures were still for a moment, but then, in a flurry, all leaped from the transport. The Jedi master was shocked and looked over the edge and saw them activate thrusters on their boots to help slow the descent. She decided to not pursue them and settle for her one hostage. Just as she turned to take control of the vessel from the autopilot, her danger scene went off the chart. In a frantic motion, she leaped away but was nonetheless caught up in an explosion that reduced the craft to scrap.
Emi barely managed to reach out and grabbed the Jedi's hand as fire also engulfed their ship. The two stumbled back into the speeder while the pilled let out a squeak of terror. Rey's ears were again ringing, and her entire body ached. However, for once, she had to appreciate her bulky robes, which, although they were terribly stuffy, had mostly protected her from the flames of the blast. She had been lucky that no shrapnel had impaled itself in her back, and the Jedi couldn't help but sign.
Looking at Emi beneath her, she said, a bit dizzy, “ I told you I had a plan.”
The aid seemed fatigued but then sniffed the air and remarked, “Is something burning.”
Rey's face went pale as she lurched up and tried to chase the tail of her robe that was on fire. She eventually sat on the fabric to extinguish it and declared confidently, “See, no problem.”