Kashyyyk Temple Fortress

"Rwookrrorro's my first stop, so that's perfect," *was Aerandir's answer. He then made certain all rescued children were present and secure aboard the gunship. Many huddled together, others seemed intrigued by the contents of the ship such as the speeder bikes, but they were all present. Once Satish was aboard, Aerandir commanded that the ship's doors be sealed, and then they were off, taking the children away from this place and, Force willing, back to their homes...

The emotions from the children as the ship took to the sky were all over the place: Lingering fear, excitement from riding in an airborne craft, terror for the same reason, uncertainty as to their fate... Aerandir continued to attempt to soothe their minds, but he knew they would only truly be at ease once they were reunited with their families. If they still had them...

Mina had perched herself upon one of the speeder bikes, looking smaller than before with her arms raised and gripping the handlebars for support. As usual, she was staring directly at him, still clearly distrusting of him. Of all the children here, she was the one who seemed the most at unease with him, and he just couldn't peg down why. He carefully wove through the crowd of children, leaving Michelle at the front of the gunship; clearly she wanted to follow him and pay attention to whatever conversation ensued, but she remained put for the time being.

The children stepped aside to allow him through, some, who now fully believed he was their savior, looking up at him in awe. Inwardly, he was happy to bring them some light at last, and wanted to say he was only doing his job, but outwardly he kept his focus on the girl whose eyes were locked upon him as he approached. She shrank a little as he drew closer, but otherwise remained put as he finally reached her, kneeling beside her and resting his arm on the nose of the bike.*

"What are you afraid of?" *he asked, a curious look on his face.

She didn't answer, still intently staring at him, but her gaze was now less defiant. Instead, she seemed uncertain, nervous too perhaps... And now that she was in proper lighting and they weren't fleeing an enemy-infested nest, he finally was able to get a good look at her. Her ragged, dirty hair was blond, which he couldn't make out in the dark, and her eyes were an intense green. Just like Morgan...*

"I've said it before and I'll say it again," *he added gently and reassuringly,* "I'm not going to hurt you, and I'm going to take you home." *Her lips moved as she whispered something, but it was so quiet that he could not hear it over the roar of the gunship. Frowning, he asked,* "What was that?"

"Don't have one," *she repeated in a more audible whisper.

Of course. Aerandir fought a grimace and a sigh at what he'd suspected. She was doubtless the only child here without a family to return to, and he'd accounted for that, but hearing it confirmed didn't make it any easier; damned Sith, taking everything from these children. And for what?*

"Is there any other family you can go to?" *he asked.*

"No."

"No friends of the family who would take you in?"

*She shook her head. Now he did sigh, bowing his head. His plan for these children without homes was simply to take them to an orphanage, but for Mina, that almost seemed like a cruel fate. For any child really, and he never wanted it to come to that, but it was still a sight better than what these Sith had done to them.*

"So you need a new home," *he mumbled aloud.

A moment of silence passed before he heard Mina's skeptic, yet intrigued, voice.* "With you?"

*He looked back up at her and studied her. Something about her... Could she touch the Force? He hadn't expected a single child held hostage by the Kashyyyk Sith to be sensitive, especially if they used them for slaughter in trials. Why would they waste potential easy recruits? That's not to say some couldn't have slipped through the cracks...

He opened his mouth to speak, then shut it immediately. He couldn't ask that... not around other kids in earshot, some of which were also watching them intently. They might ask if they could too, and the last thing he wanted to do was disappoint them. When he'd seen to the return of the other children, he could ask her. For now, he only smiled and said,* "We'll figure something out," *before instinctively patting her on the arm reassuringly. She almost retreated, and he felt her arm twitch, but she remained still. Aerandir took this as another step in getting her to trust him, but otherwise he only continued,* "Hang tight, alright?"

*The ship would continue on to Rwookrrorro as their first destination, allowing Satish to disembark as well as allow Aerandir to meet with someone to return the Wookiee children to them. He also had a few background checks ran on the other children in order to determine their identity and their homes. Unsurprisingly, many, if not all of them, were from Kashyyyk. Any that still had families left to return to, Aerandir saw to it that they were taken home; there was, fortunately, a much-higher percentage of children with homes than he'd hoped for.

But in the end, there were still children without homes. Thankfully, the Wookiee leaders offered to shelter them here. Aerandir considered it, at first feeling it would be better to shelter them on a more diverse and civilized world, but to these children, Kashyyyk was their home; the last thing he wanted to do was to take them all away. So he agreed, thanking them for their gracious offer, in turn being thanked for rescuing them in the first place, as well as running the Sith off of their planet.

And that left Mina... throughout the entire endeavor, she'd barely budged from her perch on the speeder bike. She almost looked comfortable there, like a natural soldier. She was the only child left, though he'd had the Wookiee leaders wait for a moment; he wasn't entirely certain she would go for this, and he didn't want to just take her away without offering her the choice.

And so, as he stood beside her, looking down into her dirty face, he asked the question he'd withheld earlier.* "Do you want to be a Jedi?"

*Her eyes widened as he suggested this. If he'd asked this sooner, other children would have wanted to be Jedi as well... and he didn't want to be the one who told them they couldn't. That, and he was certain that he'd by now gained her trust, at least a fair bit more than before; she might not have believed him at all had he asked this earlier.

And she seemed to contemplate it, her eyes quivering as she didn't truly focus on her vision. There was still some skepticism... but not nearly as much as before. She was also bewildered at the very idea that she had that potential... if she could trust him. Her mind was racing through so many variables, so many questions and thoughts...

Then at last, she simply nodded.

Aerandir smiled, then gave his followup question.* "Do you want to go with me?"

"Where?"

"To Felucia, a colorful world of oversized— plants." *"Fungi" might have given the wrong impression, when it truly was a beautiful world. And not all of the vegetation was fungi.* "Very strong in the Force. You'd learn everything you need to learn there, and be taken care of."

*She was still watching him, her mind still jumbled. Finally, she only nodded.

Smiling, Aerandir replied,* "Then it's settled. You'll like it there. I promise."

*And that was that. Aerandir bid farewell to the Wookiee leaders before departing, gathering up all of his men and preparing to return to space. The campaign was over, and Kashyyyk would recover. So much good had been done... and Aerandir was eager to close this chapter and return home, see his own children. Lucy would be a year old soon... And of course, he had Mina to integrate into the system. She deserved a good home... all of the children did, but Mina was now his responsibility.*

"What is with you and orphaned kids?" *Michelle asked him with a grin, at the same time the thought had come to him.

He chuckled, shaking his head and shrugging.* "What can I say, I... actually I got nothin'."

*She giggled at him as the ship, once more filled with troops, joined up with the rest of the dropships and starfighters in returning to orbit, where they would dock with the larger ships and finally leave this jungle world behind...*