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I had never truly understood 'desert dry' until I awoke, barely able to swallow, my throat almost swollen shut. I tried to eat a food pellet, but ended up gagging and spitting it out. Now my throat was worse. Beyond parched. And I was cold. Freeze-dried Jedi.
Crawling toward the cave opening limbered up my stiff muscles. I stopped short of exposing myself to the light of day and sought out my foe. She was there. This creature called Sing. On the cliff across from me. Waiting to pick me off as I emerged, no doubt.
A shot rang out, followed by an animal's cry. I let my breath out slowly. Probably a womp rat.
I scanned the canyon floor with my Force-sense and found another of the huge rodents, hunkered behind a boulder. I touched its mind and sent it scurrying away from my position.
When the shot sounded, I was already diving. Into the Force and out across the gorge, toward the far side and almost directly below the hunter. Another blast. Pain gouged a chunk out of my left arm, sending me into a spiraling fall. I flipped and landed in a crouch, diving to roll up against the canyon wall. Its variegated red and brown and copper layers protruded and receded haphazardly, and offered concealment from searching eyes high above me.
I clutched my arm and ran, hugging the cliff, jumping boulders, searching ahead. The canyon narrowed and I dashed across the exposed area to a crevice branching away from my pursuer. Bullets bit the dust behind my heels. As I ran, I glanced down at the blood throbbing between my fingers with each beat of my heart. Sing's weapon was antiquated. But effective. A modified version of a Tuskan Raider's rifle, perhaps. Much longer range. Much deadlier.
I slowed to a walk as I got a bandage roll out of my medkit pouch and wrapped the arm, sleeve and all, to stem the bleeding. The Force pushed the pain aside. An adhesive tab to hold it in place and I was running again.
It was going to be a long day. Or a very short one.
Several hours and two near misses later I was tired of being on the wrong end of this hunter's game of hide-and-seek-to-kill. It was time to change the rules of this contest. But how? This creature claimed to be 'death on Tatooine'. I sensed she had the advantage of knowing this arid planet well. It was only luck and the Force's leading that had kept me out of her clutches - and the Dark Side was keeping her hot on my trail. I paused. Maybe she had chosen the arena for this battle. Not my father. But what did it matter where, if he was the one filling her purse? I quashed the bitter thought and focused on the task at hand.
Skirting the edges of a broad valley that afforded occassional glimpses of the Dune Sea, I was nearing a huge building that was perched high above the valley floor. Rounded turrets and thick battlements gave it the look of a fortified castle, but I sensed no weaponry and no guards. A monastery, perhaps? There were beings inside. Life forces to hide amongst. But I couldn't expose innocents to this dance of death.
Dance? Of course. Maybe it was time to dance.
Changing direction, I headed for the wide open and fully exposed valley floor. As I strode purposefully onward, I unclipped my lightsaber and waved an experimental figure-eight with the unlit weapon. Sunlight gleamed along the silver handle, bringing a smile to my face. The first one today. My weapon of choice. My battlefield of choice. If only I had a sip of water. I licked cracked lips and kept walking.
Sensing the swoop approaching the ridge above the valley, I whirled and planted my feet in a wide stance. I relaxed and inhaled the Force. My lightsaber remained unlit, clutched in a loose and battle-ready grip.
The swoop appeared, at least 650 meters distant. The hunter dismounted. Metal glinted. I triggered the lightsaber and the blue blade leapt to life. Could she even come within a meter at that distance? I had twisted my wrist and deflected the shot before its sound reached my ears. Dead on accurate. I parried a second shot with ease. Her aim was amazing. A flash of blue sent the third bullet burrowing harmlessly into the ground. A Jedi wasn't so easy to kill, not out in the open. Deceit and treachery never did well in the light of day.
Now the swoop was barreling down the steep slope, its whine growing louder as it bore down on me. Laser bolts flashed. One deflected. Two. A third as the swoop veered away, just out of my lightsaber's reach. And so the dance began.
Never before had I fought anyone with Jedi skills when the thing at stake was your life. You twist and parry but your every move is anticipated. Time and again the only thing that saved me was that I could dive or leap out of the way faster than the swoop could maneuver to a better position. Three times lasers kissed my skin.
I clung tenaciously to the Force as it held the pain at bay and kept me focused on the dance. But I knew I couldn't outlast this hunter so long as she remained mounted. She swung around for another pass, firing her pistol as she roared toward me. As she started to turn away, I charged and jumped high in the air, flipping to come down head-first. Something other than hatred flashed on Sing's face. Surprise? I lashed at the creature as I flew overhead. She ducked, but still the tip of my blade scored her shoulder. Possibly that antenna, as well. Tucking my head to my chest, I somersaulted on the hard-scrabble ground and popped into a fighting stance.
The swoop sped away as I stood, confusion vying with truimph. Had I injured Sing more seriously than I thought? I must have.
Lightsaber still in hand, I jogged in the direction the swoop was fast disappearing. I thought about heading to that monastery, but instinctively knew no help would be found there. I needed to get to a settlement. Find transportation. Assuming Sing was gone. I slowed to a walk. Somehow I didn't think this hunter was one to give up easily. She'd be back.
By the time I reached the slope, the battle adrenaline was wearing off. My hold on the Force was slipping and pain was gaining a beachhead. Every centimeter of my body ached. Scratches and bruises and welts all clamoured for my attention. The flaming laser trails on my left calf and thigh, and on my ribs, declared their presence angrily. And I was thirsty. The freshwater seas of Selonia wouldn't begin to slake this thirst.
Each upward step was a struggle as my boots seemed suddenly magnetized. The late afternoon suns beat dizziness into my head until the hill was threatening to pitch me back to the valley floor. I dropped to my knees to avoid falling. Too bad for Sing - she left just a little too soon. The thought that she might return at any time urged me forward. Standing back up was beyond me, so I started to crawl up the slope. I realized I was still clutching my lightsaber. I fell onto my left side with a groan as my wound from the morning suddenly flared to life. It took four tries to clip my weapon to the belt hook as the hot rock beneath me leeched the last of my energy. It was all I could do to keep my eyes open and stare at the always blue sky.
I needed to rest. A few minutes. That's all.
The sky was black. How did that happen? The skittering sound that had woken me was fading. Sounded like ... metal on rock. I tried to scan it through the Force. It was difficult to concentrate. I had the sense of machine and being mixed. Just for a moment. Then nothing. Too tired.
I rolled to my side - and knocked a container over. I heard water trickling. In an instant I was on my knees, searching for the precious vessel with my fingers, snatching it from the dust, pressing it to my lips. There was barely enough liquid left to soothe my swollen tongue. Slumping forward, I pressed my forehead to the damp earth and choked back a wave of despair. Where did this gift of life come from? The living machine I'd sensed? Now it was gone. As if it had never been. Force help me.
Three days. A human can survive three days without water. Two had passed. Did that equation hold in a desert? When you are running for your life? I could feel the weakened state of my dehydrated body. I could not fight Sing again and hope to win. Is that why she withdrew? Is she letting the Jundland Wastes do her work?
I had to reach a settlement. Before she found me again.
Pushing myself to stand, I began walking, ignoring the pulsing pain radiating up from my feet. Ignoring the sand grinding into my laser wounds. Ignoring the agony whispering along my nerves, begging me to stop.
Concentrating on the Force flickering around me, I worked at reaching it as I went. At times I would grasp it and my pace would increase as energy bubbled through my being. Then my focus would waiver and the Force would slip through my fingers like fine sand. Pain would slam back into me with the force of stampeding nerf.
Stumbling up inclines. Tumbling down ravines. Picking myself up. Dragging myself forward.
Time had no meaning. There was only the Force. And the next step. And the next. It became harder and harder to tap into the Force for even a moment. I could feel the flow. I couldn't touch it. Like water seeping into the parched ground. Out of reach. Useless.
The flow. Rivers. Lakes. Rain. Water. All I could think about. Water. Gentle springs bubbling out of the ground and flowing past my feet. The damp and decaying smell of a Sullustan rainforest with water drip, drip, dripping off giant leaves. Caught in a sudden rainstorm on Coruscant and standing, arms outstretched, face turned upward, as huge raindrops battered my face and ran down my neck, soaking my tunic.
I twirled round and round to let the rain drench every inch of me. My foot slipped on the loose rocks of another ravine and the ground rushed up to meet me.
Qui-Gon, dial down the climate controls. I like my room cool. Qui-Gon?
I moaned. Not Coruscant. The suns of Tatooine were boring through my eyelids, scorching my mind. Day three? Force help me.
A shadow fell across my face. I blinked my burning eyes open and tried to focus. A brown head? No. A wrapped head. With metal eye covers. I moaned again and closed my eyes. Tuskan Raider. I'm dead.
Something cold on my lips. Wet. Trickling into my mouth. Water?
I reached up to grab the cantine. My hand was pushed down. No strength. Why would he give me water? It dripped on to my hot forehead and ran into my ear, then down my neck. More in my mouth. I licked my lips. So good. The taste of ... life.
My eyes flickered open again. The Raider was centimeters from my face. His head gear covered skin ... and motives. Why? I probed weakly with the Force. He jerked back on his heels and sat, as if turned to stone. Force-sensitive? A Jedi? But what Jedi ever lived or worked with the Sandpeople? The answer came in a faint whisper. Not working with. But hiding.
I stared at the Tuskan. A Jedi? In hiding? Who? My voice crackled weakly. "Jedi Hett? Sharad Hett?"
His finger touched my lips as he shook his head. The rocks have ears. I felt the truth in his touch. And the request to keep his secret. Silence was a small gift to offer in return for my life.
Laying back, I muttered, "Not Hett. A Raider. Just a Raider."
Closing my eyes, I savored the soothing liquid pooling in my mouth and dribbling down my throat. It stopped. I opened my eyes and he was gone.
I sat up and fought off a wave of dizziness. No trace. Gone. Like he'd never been.
Crawling to the scant shade offered by an overhang, I propped myself up and let energy soak back into my body. I'd lost so much time. Hours. I had to move. Had to get to Anchorhead. Or Mos Eisley. How far had I come? How far to go? I didn't know.
Swallowing a food pellet, I considered my options. Right. What options? I could call the Temple. Maybe they'd send a Coruscant taxi. I could sit and wait for the creature, Sing, to show up again. My nerves tingled. I didn't think I'd have to wait very long. I'd rather be caught moving. Any momentum was better than none.
Orienting myself to an east northeast heading, I struck out. Two hours later the suns and intense heat had evaporated the water so recently poured into my body. I was, once again, a shriveling husk of humanity. But I still had the Force. And hope. What was a little thirst? I was nearing the edge of the Jundland Wastes. I had to be.
My danger sense exploded. I jerked to the side as a bullet whizzed past my head. A bit of flying rock cut my cheek. I grabbed the Force and started running. My white shadow was back. With a vengeance. I could feel the hate drilling into my head. I leapt on to a small ridge.
Agony erupted in my left calf, shattering the bone. Crumpling, I rolled down the far side of the ridge. Away from Sing.
Broken. I sat, clutching my knee, jaw clenched, striving to push back the incredible pain. The bullet had punched a hole through my boot, my muscles, my bone. I undid the boot and refastened it as tight as I could. Lasers were cleaner. Cauterized as they killed. I stood and winced as my foot squished in the blood already pooling in my boot.
Anguish rippled along my nerves. Had to run. Gritting my teeth, I dove into the Force's flow and ran. And ran. Doubling back. Veering away. Away from safety. Back into the wastelands.
Everytime Sing drew close enough, she sent out telepathic waves. Of gloating. Of triumph. Of hate. They spurred me on. Inadvertently warned me of her location. She was blind to everything but her growing bloodlust. The killer moving in for the kill.
The second sun dropped beneath the horizon. Darkness wrapped around me, and, with it, the oppressive sense of the Dark Side. It was getting harder to keep my hold on the Force. But her hold was growing. She was in her element. Her desire to taste my blood and feel my death was hammering at my resolve, weakening my will to survive.
Sing was close. And on foot. There would be no escape this time.
A cliff edge. Not too far. I dropped. Even with the Force cushioning my fall, the leg collapsed. Had to find shelter. A few minutes rest.
Straight ahead. A cave. Another cave. I struggled to my feet. Mostly hopped to the mouth of my chosen shelter. Large. Ground level. A rank odor wafted from the tunnel. Occupied. Hope the inhabitants didn't mind company.
Hugging the wall, I limped into the grotto, searching ahead with the Force. Something large, waking at the back of the cave. Rushing me. I slammed the Force into the creature's mind. It stopped. Confused. Its natural tendency was to attack. It wanted to attack. I sensed a ledge above me and used the Force to jump up. Freed, the kryat dragon charged. Butted the cave wall. Grunted. Paced back and forth below me.
I sensed another ledge, higher yet, and took refuge there. A second dragon joined the first. Both were agitated. While I had always had difficulty touching the mind of a sentient being, unless invited, animals were not a problem. I sent soothing waves through their tiny brains until they calmed down. No use letting their actions point me out to the hunter. She'd find me soon enough.
My body was numb. Except for my leg. My boot was filled with a river of molten lava that threatened to reduce me to a cinder pile. The Force help me. Pain was supposed to be my friend. That's what Master Yoda always said. Well, this friend was screaming at me, telling me how stupid it was to run on a shattered limb. Tell me something I didn't know.
Doubt in the battle there cannot be. Belief, there must be. Belief, in the Force. Yes, Master Yoda. I do believe in the Force. But I'm starting to doubt my ability to hang on to it. My body has become my enemy. I cannot fight my body as well as this ghost-white killer. I can't go on. I feel my death stalking me, closing in, and I'm not ready. The Force help me to be accepting of my fate. I will not face death with fear. I am a Jedi, first and forever.
Qui-Gon. Dear Qui-Gon. I thought we'd have a lifetime together. But the Force is telling me it will not be. Hear my good-bye, my own sweet Jedi Master. Where there is life, there is hope. Carry my hope in your breast. The Force be with you. Always.
I lifted my face to a slight night breeze. The air was soothing, refreshing. It was ... my escape. My eyes sprang open. I used the Force to probe above me, to paint in my mind, the chimney stretching up and up. To the surface. Where there is life, there is hope. Hope revitalized me.
Digging my fingers into a crevice, I pulled myself to my feet. My foot. Below me, the kryat dragons began to stir. The pale figure of death strode boldly into the cave. I hauled myself up, into the chimney, as the dragons moved forward to greet the intruder.
My right foot found purchase and pushed up. I focused on the next hand-hold. And the next. I ignored the grunts and scuffling below me. Up. Up. My arms throbbed in agony. A blaster shot. Another. Up. Faster. White-hot spikes drove deep into my shoulders. Push with my foot. Pull with my arms. My dangling leg bumped the wall and molten pain lanced up my spine. Almost there. Focus. Pull. Push.
My fingers scraped the surface. A lunge with the Force and I shot out of the chimney and rolled to the side. A cry of savage anger followed me and two red laser bolts streaked out of the hole to dissipate harmlessly in the sky.
I lay in the middle of a plateau and studied the night sky. I couldn't move. No trace of energy existed in any nerve, in any cell, of my broken body. My mind was clear and detached, untouched by the pain. How odd. Some of the stars were growing. Blinking. Coming closer.
"Jedi!" The scream of pure hate bounced up the canyon walls and battered my mind. Sing was still coming. It didn't matter. I'd done all I could do. Life should be fair and just. Jedi shouldn't die useless deaths in desolate lands. But life isn't fair. And Jedi do die.
The stars were still growing. Blinking. Red and white now. Not stars. Lights. A ship. Fatalism settled into my bones. She had gotten help, after all. I wrapped my hand around my lightsaber. Maybe, if the Force was with me, I would take one of them out before ... before ...
"Spawn of Nerac! Die!"
Sing was on the plateau. Charging. Orange lightsaber drawn. Better than being shot, at least. I touched the trigger and heard the sizzle as my own blade extended to lie on the ground beside my leg. It hissed and spit, wanting to strike. Not yet.
The ship hovered above me. A shadow dropped to the ground beside me. Now. I swung at the shadow. It leaped away, toward Sing. My lightsaber winked out and I lay on my side, watching the shadow stand between me and the white hunter, green lightsaber flashing.
Floodlights from the ship lit the plateau. Sing paced back and forth, nostrils flaring.
The shadow was now a silhouette. A nasal voice issued forth, "Come and meet your death, Aurra Sing. If you dare."
Who?
The hunter let loose one last scream of rage and hurtled herself into the darkness.
The silhouette turned and knelt beside me. A face covered by protective goggles and an antiox mask floated above me. Plo Koon? The Kel Dor Jedi Master? I had just tried to kill a member of the Council. I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut. Lucky for me I was too weak to slice pudding with my lightsaber.
He touched my wrist. "Rest, young Jedi Knight."
"No." I forced myself to open my eyes and face him. "We must get Rein. Before she is found."
The mask-altered voice chuckled. "Qui-Gon spoke truly. You are indeed swift to say no, Jedi. Even to the Council. Tomorrow will be soon enough to find your sister. Now, you are commanded to rest."
"Ah, the Knight awakes. Open your eyes, Alee, and greet the day, though it be half gone."
The amusement in Plo Koon's voice bordered on irritating.
"Beware, young Knight. Irritation is only a step away from anger," the Jedi Master said.
I reached inward and touched my center of calm.
"That's better," the nasal voice said with a chuckle.
I opened my eyes. "Do you always do this, Master Koon? Or am I just one of the lucky few?"
"Oh, you are lucky indeed. But you are also in a weakened state. Much easier to read than when you are standing before the Council, your sense of justice flaring, ready to blast into battle with all lasers firing."
I muttered, "You have been talking to Qui-Gon."
Another chuckle.
The Jedi Master was comfortably ensconced in a lounge chair which sat, judging by the interior design, in the salon of a mid-sized Republic ship. Smaller than the usual diplomatic cruiser, but twice the size of my VG-23.
"Where's my ship?" I asked.
"Patience, Jedi."
I propped myself up on my elbow and stared at the Kel Dorian. His form hinted slightly of an insectoid race, though it was hard to tell with his mask and cloak in place. From reputation alone, I knew him to be an intrepid warrior. Perhaps the creature, Sing, had known it, as well. From you, Qui-Gon, I knew Plo Koon to be a friend of many years. Is that why he came? Did you sense my peril and ask him to come?
I swung around and pushed into a sitting position. Faint memories of pain twinged through my muscles. How quickly the body forgets. My left leg was wrapped in a plasti-cast. Bandages created a patchwork design over my body, turning me into a white-striped, and rather useless, Jedi. And to top it off, I was still thirsty.
Plo Koon bent over me with a glass of water. I narrowed my eyes and took it, downing it in one long, gulping swallow. I nodded my thanks and handed the glass back. Thirsty but alive.
He sat down and said, "So. Ask."
"Ask what?"
"How I came to be here. I felt your curiousity."
I raised a brow. "So save me the trouble and tell me."
"You are impertinent."
"Another pearl of wisdom from Qui-Gon?"
"Strictly observation," the Jedi Master replied. I leaned against the bulkhead and waited for him to continue. He did. "Actually, young Jedi Knight, my good friend Qui-Gon had nothing to do with my coming."
I frowned. He didn't? Then who?
Plo Koon answered my silent question. "Yoda. He was greatly disturbed after you left. Distracted for days, and meditation only increased his agitation."
I tried to imagine Master Yoda agitated. Would he be jittery? Or would his ears lay flatter and his lips purse tighter? That was an expression I was all too familiar with. I blinked to see Plo Koon tapping his fingers together, waiting for my attention to return to him. I shrugged sheepishly.
The Jedi Master continued,"Yoda came to Council nine days after you left. The Force had revealed your future - your death - and he felt responsible. But the future is always in motion, and Yoda sought to change your fate. I volunteered to be the instument of change."
"I give you my thanks, Master Koon." I inclined my head slightly.
"No thanks is needed. The Force led me to you and hence, saved you. I was but the instument."
"The Force certainly takes its own sweet time, some days," I muttered.
"The Force flows through everything and binds the galaxy together. Its timing is not to be questioned." Plo Koon paused. "Still, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to alter your fate, young Jedi Knight. I would not have liked having to answer to my good friend Qui-Gon if I had arrived five minutes later."
I smiled. It was time to finish rescuing Rein.
Plo Koon nodded.
