A.N. ~ this is the sequel to 'The Lies Continue', which was the sequel to 'Sea Of Faces'. Does that make this a grandsequel or something? Eh, anyway, I'm back and here's the third of my main story line.
DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING OF STAR WARS. IT'S GEORGE LUCAS'. ANYTHING IN THIS NOT CREATED BY GEORGE LUCAS OR ANYONE WHO OWNS STAR WARS BELONGS TO ME AND I'D APPRECIATE IT IF THAT'S HOW IT STAYED.
Only the first three chapters are prewritten, and school is starting in a few days, so I'm afraid my posting rate will drop drastically and become unpredictable. Sorry.
TWITCH'S P.O.V.
To some people, life is a fairy tale. You have your classic villain, hero, problem and resolution. Some people think that happily ever afters exist, that they'll find their prince and life will be perfect.
But perfection isn't for us. Perfection is a right reserved for any gods that may be.
The people who think they don't have to face life's dragons and villains are the people who start out good and end up miserable. However, the people who think they can take the dragons and monsters head on will also get hurt. I would know. I'm one of them.
§ § §
NO P.O.V.
Twitch woke up to sand. Her hands dug in, probing the warmth comfortably. Then she realized that she shouldn't be in sand; she should be in a bed. The young girl sat up with a muttered curse.
"Just once, can I have a good wake up call?" She grumbled. She was in her black belly top and pants, but her gauntlets were not present, nor were her guns. She did not know how she'd gotten there, or how much time had passed since she fell asleep in her bunk.
All around her, as far as her eyes could see, was sand. In the sky were two blazing suns. When she looked at her arms, she could tell the skin was starting to burn. Wherever she was and however she'd gotten there, her first priorities were to find water and shade.
She decided to go west so as to have the sun to her back for most of the following day. She had no supplies, no weapons, no nothing.
As she walked, she wondered how this had happened. Amnesia wasn't unheard of in her experience, though neither was kidnapping. She began panting soon and rolled up her pant legs.
She looked up from the fabric to see a ship. Even if it wasn't a mirage or functional, it was shelter. Unfortunately for her, it was a mirage.
Her throat was parched and a headache was springing up. She couldn't last much longer, but night was falling, so the coolness would bring her some relief.
§ § §
It was around the predawn hours when Twitch decided to sleep, and roughly an hour after the suns rose when she felt something touch her shoulder. She flipped on her back while bringing up her foot, hitting the thing touching her.
"Haar'chak, Twitch! It's me!" Tail grunted. He only had his leisure clothes on.
"Oh, sorry. Are you alright?" She stood up with him and he nodded.
"Let me guess; you woke up out here with no idea where you were?" The corporal guessed.
"Basically. Yesterday, around noon. What about you?"
"That sounds right. We better find some water."
"And shelter. Then we figure out what in haran is going on."
§ § §
When they found a pool of water that wasn't a mirage, Twitch made sure to find signs of life; algae, small water bugs, things like that.
"What's got you so interested?" Tail asked.
"Just checking to be sure it isn't poisonous." She shrugged while kneeling to take a sip.
"How do you get that?"
"Stuff is living in here." She replied before gulping down the water greedily. He joined her until they'd drunk their fill.
"Could have an immunity to poison." He pointed out.
"True, but it was either drink or die. Either dehydration kills us, or poison does."
"I knew you knew what you were doing."
"And I knew you knew I knew."
"Good. Now that we're on the same page; shelter." Tail smirked.
"Agreed. Should we head north?"
"Shelter could be anywhere, but at least north means it'll eventually get cooler." They took a few last swallows before moving out, quick, but not counterproductively so.
§ § §
"They're doing well." A man said.
"I'm not impressed." Another man, fairly larger than the other, growled.
"So far, they've been given little to impress you with. Just wait until they get past the desert."
"Hmm. So, the kid was a sergeant?"
"A good one. She rarely showed signs of her age when she made decisions."
"We'll see about that later. For now, they're en route to the wreckage. Let's see how they handle the first surprise."
§ § §
Twitch and Tail were relieved and surprised to find the crashed wreckage of a Venator-class Star Destroyer. Inside, they found neither food not water. More disturbingly, they found no bodies or droids.
"This is wrong on so many levels. Do you think the Republic came back for them?" Twitch asked.
"Let's hope." She shuddered at Tail's foreboding words.
"We may as well split up and check the armouries." The girl decided.
"Okay, Sarge."
"Tail, please, not my rank." He heard the edge of pain in her voice and nodded.
"Sorry. It's easy to forget when you use that tone." She smiled before continuing.
"Now, there are two dozen armouries. Wanna take the port or starboard ones?"
"I'll take starboard. Meet you at the bridge." They didn't need to tell each other why. Getting off planet was top priority next to survival.
§ § §
Twitch had no luck finding anything of use in the port armouries. Tail, when she saw him, clearly had had no better luck.
"Not even a rifle." The corporal reported.
"Even without cartridges, spears and clubs come in handy."
"I can only imagine a shiny's expression hearing that."
"Eh, we'll see for ourselves once we get off this rock. Come on, we have climbing to do." They pried open the doors to the turbo lift. The shaft was empty, and thankfully, the actual lift wasn't above them.
"Twitch, turn around." The sergeant did so and saw what had caught Tail's attention.
"What the haran is a nexu doing in a desert?" She hissed. The predator was stalking toward them, toothy mouth wide open.
"Beats me. So, want to test what happens when something falls down an open turbo shaft?" Tail had his usual mischief back in his eyes.
"Well, I guess it's a necessary tragedy for science." They stood in front of the drop, tensing as the nexu got within jumping range. "Heerrre, kitty, kitty, kitty." Twitch softly sang.
"I don't think it counts as a house cat." Tail muttered.
"I know, but noise from prey usually revs up predators. Besides, what else do I call it? Here, giant, deadly beast?"
"Good point. You need to save your breath, after all." The nexu leapt and they dove apart. Unfortunately, the creature dug its claws into the far wall and catapulted straight back out.
"Oh, come on." Twitch snarled as she slammed a loose panel against the predator's head. Tail kicked over the eyes on the right side of the nexu's head. It clawed at his leg and gashed into the skin. He hissed in pain, limping backwards.
Twitch snatched up a jagged piece of metal that resembled a twisted broadsword. The animal leapt at her and she hopped back, luring it in.
Next time the creature jumped, she let it come on as she turned the metal parallel to the nexu's body. The sharp metal slid in and the animal froze. It's claws ripped open her arm a moment before it died. Tail helped Twitch out from under it.
"Hey, were there any blankets in the bunks?" The teenager asked.
A.N. ~ a short chapter, I admit. Sorry about that. Don't worry, I'm posting Chapter Two ASAP. This will be the first and second last time I ask you to review. Please do so, either positively or critically. If you have any survival tips, from any environment, please let me know. I could really use them!
MANDO'A DEFINITIONS AND PRONUNCIATIONS:
Haar'chak: [HAR-chak] Damn it
Haran: [HAH-rahn] hell (Literally; destruction, cosmic annihilation)