Slowly, they approached a new planet. Kashyyyk, the name of the foreign planet, was marked by greenery. This sight alone made Willow very curious about the flora and fauna of this planet.

The crew sat ready to land in the cockpit of the Mantis. The closer they got to the planet, the more clearly enemy ships could be seen, keeping a considerable distance from the planet.

"Woah," Cal exclaimed. "Tell me we're not running that blockade?"

"Oh, only as a last resort," Cere interjected. "I've rigged the Mantis' transponder to transmit Imperial signals. Hey, Greez."

"Yeah?"

"Keep your power signature low and act like we belong."

"Just like Bracca. No sweat."

Willow didn't understand why, but Cal and Greez both raised an arm simultaneously to flip a switch above them. The small pilot didn't find this amusing and knocked Cal's hand aside.
"I don't need another set of hands, just keep an eye on the scanner, please."

The co-pilot raised his hands placatingly and refocused on his task. "All right."

They flew past the ships when Cal spoke again: "I don't see anything."

"They're preoccupied with something on the ground. We're clear," Cere assured, her attention on the radio.

Without further ado, Greez steered the ship towards the planet.
They got closer and closer to the surface, needing only a place to land. The deeper they flew into the planet, the darker the clouds became.
"That doesn't look good," the young Jedi remarked.

"The Empire is devouring Kashyyyk for its natural resources. Wookies have been enslaved. Or displaced."
With the older woman's words, the dark clouds suddenly made sense. They weren't clouds, they were smoke and smog.

Silence weighed heavily in the Mantis after Cere's words. Suddenly, two ships appeared, firing at each other. They nearly crashed into the Mantis, a fact Greez did not find amusing.
"That was a close one, kid! Aren't you supposed to be watching the monitors?!"

"Guerrilla fighters! Wookies and off-worlders ambushing an Imperial convoy."
Cal ignored Greez's complaint.

"Walkers approaching their position!"

"Tarfful could be with them!"

"Tarfful could be anywhere... Like deep in the ground like we're gonna be if we get caught up in that battle down there!" Greez was not pleased, and Willow felt the same. Though she didn't verbally join their discussion, she shared the pilot's position. She had a bad feeling about this.

"We don't have any other options and... And they'll die without our help," Cal interjected, and Willow had to admit it was a strong argument.

After a moment of silence, Cere spoke. "So what's your plan?"

"Sabotage," he replied, rising. "We used to scrap walkers on Bracca. I'll just jack one."
Confidently, he walked to the middle of the Mantis. The confidence suited him, Willow thought, though she doubted if this was the right moment for it.

"Ha!" the captain exclaimed. "Get a load of the kid - he thinks we're back in the Clone Wars!"

Cere stood facing Cal but then turned to Greez: "Captain! Get us near those walkers."

Willow watched Greez's expression slip.
"Wait, what?"

"Listen. Those walkers double as troop transports, so once you get inside, be careful," Cere warned Cal as they stood by the already open door with a ramp.

"Time for No-Freeze Greez to work his magic," Willow heard him grumble as she joined the other two.

"Hey, do me a favor. Stay alive down there?"

"I'll add it to the plan. Willow, you comin'?"
Willow shook her head: "You'd better do it alone, I'm not as physically fit as you. See you soon when your plan works, Redhead."

At the nickname she gave him, his mouth barely twitched into a smile. With one last nod, he ran to the end of the ramp, Cere and Willow keeping a close eye on him.

"All right, if you're jumpin', you better do it now, kid!"

"You ready for a swim, BD?" they heard him call before he actually jumped into the depths.

A number of explosions later, Greez realized that Cal had cleared the landing zone of Imperials. So he went in for the landing, and Willow could see Cal's tiny figure waving. Greez landed the Mantis smoothly, and together they headed outside.

The redhead was engaged in a conversation with a stranger, and Willow only caught snippets of the conversation. The two groups met, and Cal introduced them.
"Cere, Greez, and Willow, this is Saw."

"How ya doin'?"

"What do you want with Tarfful?"
Willow realised that Cal must had already briefed the stranger on his intentions.

"Jedi business."

"The Jedi are dead," the stranger retorted.
Willow understood only now how dire things must have been if this information had spread so widely across other planets. She didn't even want to imagine what it would be like to be one of the last witches and wizards.

"Not all of them," Cere said with a side-eyed glance at Cal. He revealed his lightsaber to the stranger.
Skepticism crept into Willow's expression. Was it wise to trust the stranger with this secret? She hoped Cal made the right decision.

"You get that off a corpse?"
The stranger seemed unwilling to believe there were still Jedi.

"My master gave it to me," Cal explained as he reattached his weapon to his belt.

"This pad supports an Imperial refinery that runs on Wookie slave labor. Intel suggests that some of the captives there are guerrilla fighters," the stranger explained.

"I should help them. One of them might know how to contact Tarfful."

"It's possible."

"Woah, wait a minute. The Mantis works wonders - I mean it's a great ship, excellent pilot. But it is not build for close support," Greez chimed in.

"We'll stay here and monitor Imperial transmissions. With a bit of luck, we'll intercept any distress calls."

"Appreciate it," said the stranger. "My lieutenants and I will scout ahead to prepare the attack. Join us when you're ready."
And with that, he walked away.

The crew was left alone again, and Willow took a look around. There was scrap on the platform, a small ship was on fire, and here and there were injured people.

"What do you think of Saw's plan?" Cal directed his question to the ex-Jedi.

"Since it's my job to guide you on your path, here's my advice. The Empire's overtaken hundreds of worlds. There's a reason Saw chose Kashyyyk. Saw's goals may not be the same as ours. We should be careful."
Willow realized she shared that feeling. These feelings were why she was still skeptical of the stranger.

„Thanks. I'll keep that in mind," the young Jedi said.

"I'm going to look around for a bit. Maybe I can even help some of the injured. Good luck, Cal."
Without waiting for an answer, Willow moved away from the crew. She had already noticed a woman with a pained expression lying on the ground, holding her leg.

"Hey, excuse me, can I help you?"
Willow knelt beside the woman.

"Aren't you a little too young to be dealing with this?"

"Is there an age limit on healing knowledge? The earlier, the better."

"Good point, girl. But I'm afraid you can't do much for my broken leg."

"That's true, I can't heal the bone. But I have something for the pain, better than any pill you can get," she pulled out a phial of green liquid. "Here, drink this. Chug it down and hold your nose, it tastes awful. But it helps a lot."

The woman took the phial from her and eyed it critically. Then she shrugged, held her nose, and quickly downed the contents.
The injured woman shuddered before exhaling in relief.
"You're right, I feel better already!"

Willow laughed. "You're welcome. If you need anything else, let me know."

The woman smiled at her in thanks, and Willow moved on to the next injured person.
Her healing brew quickly became a hit, and she was surrounded by the needy within minutes. She was glad she could help in her own way. She had already met a few Wookiees too. If Willow had to describe them, she would probably say they were like a mix between a human and a bear. Tall and bipedal, and very, very, very hairy.

Once she was sure everyone was taken care of, she went back to the Mantis. She grabbed her bag and let both Cere and Greez know she was going to look around off the platform.
"Will you activate your communicator?" Cere had asked her. "Just in case."

Now Willow was walking through the greenery that had gathered in front of the platform. This was the area where Cal had crashed the walker, so it wasn't as colorful as it would normally be.

As there was still a lot on fire, Willow's movement radius was limited. However, she wanted to see as much as possible.
As she had done on Zeffo, she set about picking various plants. The work put her in a meditative state that she greatly enjoyed. And so she let her thoughts wander.

She wondered once again if she could even find Rookwood. And even though she hadn't been here long, she was beginning to doubt it. So she set herself the goal of collecting as many plants as possible in one week. The diverse flora should provide the perfect base for an extraordinary healing potion that might even lift curses.

Willow was so engrossed in her work and thoughts that she didn't notice the sound of footsteps in the underbrush. Suddenly, all her muscles cramped and a burning pain shot through her body. The pain didn't last long, but it was intense. The attack took her by surprise and she hit the ground hard.

"Unknown threat subdued. The Jedi is nowhere to be seen."
Willow quickly realized that the voice belonged to an Imperial trooper. But why were they looking for her? What did they want from her? Unlike Cal, she was worthless!

She scrambled to her feet and drew her wand. Without hesitation, she fired a combination of spells at her assailant. In her panic, she only later noticed that she was being surrounded by more Imperials. She struggled to keep enough distance between herself and the enemies. Only now, fighting the troopers without Cal, did she realize she was terrible at close combat. And this fighting style was her biggest weakness.

Her technique of constant dodging seemed to be working. Just when she thought she was on the safe side, an arm wrapped tightly around her neck. In shock, she dropped her wand. She couldn't break free from the grip and struggled just to get a bit more air. The panic inside her grew as she realized the seriousness of her situation. In addition to the iron grip, she was surrounded by a handful of troopers. She couldn't think of a way to escape.

With perfect timing, she heard Cere's voice in her ear: "Willow? Can you hear me? Cal's back; we need to discuss the current situation."

Willow gasped for air and tried to move her hand discreetly towards her ear to inform Cere of the situation. At that moment, the trooper behind her started his own transmission.
"Unknown hostile in custody. She is deemed non-threatening," he said, then turned back to the helpless student. "Identify yourself!"

"What?" she rasped. But the grip didn't loosen.

"You heard me! Identify yourself or this ends quickly."
On cue, the Imperials in front of her drew their blasters and aimed them at Willow.

Then she heard Cere's voice again: "Stay where you are, we're on our way."

"That was the plan," she managed to squeeze out.

"What?!" The trooper practically shouted in her ear. "What are you planning?"

When she didn't answer, she received a punch to the stomach. The pain made her want to double over, but the iron grip kept her upright. She prayed that the crew wouldn't take long.

"Your name," demanded the trooper. "What is your name?"

She hesitated, but that hesitation earned her another bruise. This blow was harder, and she groaned in pain.
"Willow," she gasped.

"And the last name?" The trooper now squeezed her neck even tighter. Black spots were already dancing in her vision.
The name is useless to them here anyway, she thought.

"Rookwood," she managed to get out with great effort. She couldn't say more.

Not a moment too soon, the trooper was torn away from her. She fell to the ground but caught herself at the last moment. Gasping for air, she barely noticed Cal's blue lightsaber and Cere's blaster taking down the Imperials one by one.

As she slowly calmed down, her eyes immediately searched the ground for her wand. A few meters away, she spotted it. With effort, Willow got up and picked up her wand. The noise around her ceased; the troopers were defeated.

Before she knew it, she was pulled into a brief hug. The warmth of the other body disappeared as quickly as it came, and Willow needed a moment to realize what had happened. She looked at Cal in surprise.
"Are you okay?" she asked him.

He laughed, not amused but almost incredulously.
"You're asking me? How are you, Lills?"

"I'm fine," she nodded, then paused. What did he call me?
She wanted to ask him, but he was already moving on.
He supported her under one arm and guided her back to the Mantis with Cere by their side.
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