Salvation lay no more than seventy five meters away. The lander had its bay doors wide open ready to swallow up Stormtrooper and the precious cargo before taking them back home.
Home.
Funny little thing, Joker hadn't seen his family in a while now. Service to the General wasn't a kind mistress. Maybe when this is over he really should pay them a visit.
He fell into a light jog, the trek up the mountain knocking the piss out of him, he could barely hold on to the glowing Sith artefact in his hands.
'Cmon, Andre! Just a little further!' huffs the Private, it was wierd using his real name. No one's called him that in 2 years it almost felt foreign. It was either Joker, Private or MH-6990.
Twenty meters! Stars its just twenty meters away! Hell he could see the pilot waving him over!
"Stop!" a feminine voice calls out to him. He kept on going, despite the painful stab he felt in the heart.
Doc and Orty didn't make it.
He heard footsteps coming up behind him and felt something slam into him from the back causing him to tumble with a loud curse. Slender hands snatched the holocron away from his person.
Joker was tired, angry and hurt. He lashed right back. His right hook catches the the young Jedi in the cheek, mashing her jaw and sending her flat on her butt.
She kips right back up and this locks the two into a tug of war over the ancient thing.
"Stop it! You have no idea what you're messing with!" pleads the ponytail haired Jedi, a visible bruise from he where he hit her.
"Shut up, witch!" Their struggle forced them near the edge of the mountain. One wrong step could send either tumbling to their doom.
A blaster bolt lands near his feet, startling both of them. The pilot had stepped out of the lander, his service pistol smoking at the barrel.
"Get her!"
"Can't get a clear shot!"
Neraida sensed the pilot's finger preparing to fire once more. Using the force, she sends her lightsaber flying right towards the pilot and was immediately rewarded with a scream as the pilot collapses backwards, her saber impaling him through the heart.
"Damnit!" curses the Stormtrooper. She saw an opportunity and takes her chances, yanking the holocron and hugging it as tightly as possible to her chest.
"Gimme that you frakking bitch!" roars the Stormtrooper and kicks her hard in the ribs. She cries out in pain yet holds on to the artefact. Reaching out for her saber, she calls it back just as he was about to give another bone crushing kick. He barely avoided the rushing lightsaber and lost his footing in the process.
Grabbing on to the girl's thigh the trooper nearly sent them both tumbling into the deep waters and jagged rocks waiting below.
"Let go!" shrieks Neraida with a blush as the trooper's weight bears on them both, nevermind he was now in a compromising position with the bucket helmet between her thighs.
"You let go!" counters the trooper hanging on to her legs for dear life.
"Then we'll both die you idiot!"
"Oh wait, don't let go!" Neraida had to fight back her laughter at that. This was not a good time for a laugh.
Snap!
"What was that?" the trooper shouts, alarmed. Neraida looks up and swallows.
The tree branch she was hanging on to groaned in protest to their added weight.
"You don't wanna-"
It suddenly snapped in half sending them both plunging towards certain death.
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Jaina felt the fear radiating off her niece through the force.
Looking up, her breath hitches upon seeing Neraida hanging on to a spindly tree branch with a Stormtrooper clinging on to her legs. She had to do something but it was too late.
"No!" she cries upon seeing two sillhouttes tumble off the mountainside. "Nery!"
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Joker sat up abruptly, gasping for air. The fall! The freezing waters! He remembered the entire ordeal. Looking around he was now washed up on a river bank with open fields all around. Unsealing the helmet and setting it aside, he takes in a breath of the fresh mountain air.
"Damn its cold. Thank the stars for the armor," he mumbles as he takes in the new environment.
The currents must have sent him here, 'Wherever here is.' he frowns.
The holocron? There it is. However it was fully opened, letting out a very sickly green flash of light. Grabbing it, the trooper wipes some wet dirt off before trying to close it.
"This is harder than it looks," he grunts, slamming his hands together to snap it back into place.
A moan further ahead of the river bank shifts his attention away from the Sith holocron.
His expression darkens and checks his blaster. He knew who was making that sound.
Stomping over to the unconscious Jedi, he prepares to end her, trigger finger slowly tightening.
The source of all his problems came in the form of this very attractive brunette and her older companion. In less than 24 hours he's lost his friends and stranded on this gods forsaken planet. He could try navigating his way back to the lander but what good will that do? The pilot was dead by the girl's hands and he didn't know how to fly a ship.
He was a foot slogger not a kriffing void racer!
The only option he could think of right now was to eliminate the Jedi and avenge his comrades, survival and evac could wait.
But he couldn't kill her.
Not like this, not when she looks so peaceful in her sleep. She should suffer, yes. Joker decides to wait until she regains consciousness and then blasting the frak out of her.
But somehow he doubted he could shoot her up close. To look into her eyes as he takes her life as she did to his comrades. In all his two years of service he's never taken a life, posted in a comfortable patrol unit all he had to do was sit in the walker and interact with the locals every once in a while.
"What am I gonna do with you, little witch?" he sighs at her sleeping form.
She had the highborn features of a core worlder, her accent sounded mid rim when she spoke though. Her brunette hair cascading down onto her well muscled thighs, another thing he's noticed, she's got a very athletic build for someone barely reaching into adulthood.
With a grunt, Joker began dragging the Jedi towards a nearby tree before cuffing her hands around its thick roots with a zip tie.
Next he proceeds to unclip her lightsaber, silently appreciating the sexy look her black skinsuit gave out. He didn't do anything else indecent aside from disarming her sleeping form, his parents didn't raise him up that way.
He decides to take a shower next. The river water looks inviting, he probably smells like poodoo underneath the armor and he's not in a rush considering the lander's not going anywhere so why not?
Off comes the chest plate, then the utility belt and the other pieces of his suit.
This continues until the Stormtrooper was only in his black undersuit. Stealing a glance the Jedi wasn't going to wake up anytime soon and freak out, the trooper strips off the suit and wades into the cold fresh water.