Chapter Eight: The Last Of The Jedi
As the smoke barely began to clear, Captain Terrik saw a figure on the rise, long cloak billowing in the wind... and the blue glow of a lightsaber. "JEDI! OPEN FIRE!" he yelled. As one, the stormtroopers fired upon the blue blade, and suddenly the blue blur was a blaze of light, deflecting blaster bolts faster then they could be shot. Several stormtroopers screamed in agony as they were hit by their own firepower, and Davin Felth stood in awe and amazement as he watched one of the Last Jedi leap into battle against the now outmatched stormtroopers. He fought at twenty to one odds! Mesmerized by the very thought that so few could accomplish so much, Davin felt a rush of solidarity - he felt an empathy with this Jedi, fighting against such overwhelming odds... and surviving. He hadn't felt this much emotion since the day he had left for Carida... With a slash, and an outstretched hand, the jedi took out three stormtroopers with his lightsaber, and knocked another six back with the Force. Davin watched in awe as the jedi leaped and spun and slashed as the stormtroopers tried to get a lock upon him, but the jedi seemed to be everywhere at once, deflecting blaster bolts and slashing through storm troopers with ease.
With a gesture, a huge rock came out from nowhere and smashed into the backs of several of the stormtroopers. With a flip, he leaped over two more, and easily dispatched them with a single cut of his blade. Simply put, he was magnificent.
The Jedi flipped through the air, dodging blaster bolts, and deflecting those that came too close. With a gesture, he gathered the smoke from the grenades and threw it around himself like a shroud of darkness. The stormtroopers fired into the billowing smoke, and a few more went down due to their own firepower. "Watch your crossfire!" Captain Terrik shouted, trying to regain control of the situation. "Two by two cover formation! Stutter fire! Try to overwhelm him!" but no one paid him any heed. The noise and confusion were overwhelming. The banthas bellowed and smashed against their holding cages. Smoke from the grenades still blocked vision. Stormtroopers shouted conflicting orders...
Directly in front of Davin, Captain Terrik cursed and knelt on one knee and took careful aim at the jedi who was still battling the Emperor's finest and winning. Captain Terrik waited for the precise moment when the jedi was busy deflecting another shot before slowly squeezing his blaster rifle to take out the Jedi. Davin glanced quickly around. No one was behind him... and more importantly, no one was watching him.
Without hesitation, Davin pulled his blaster and shot Captain Terrik in the back. The officer slumped to the ground, unnoticed by what was left of the others.
The floating fortress prepared to fire at the jedi, when the banthas finally shattered their restraints and stampeeded through what was left of the stormtroopers, scattering their remains to the desert sands and slamming into the side of the fortress. With a great scream of tearing metal, the fortress flipped onto its side, and crumpled the twin blaster cannons into the ground. Unfortunatly for those inside, the guns discharged into the solid rock of the ground underneath them, and the resultant backfire caused the fortress to explode like a bomb, blasting wreckage all around the area.
-----
On the other side of the rise, Leia, Het and the jawas had heard the blasterfire and screams and had thought that the sandpeople had decided to attack the Stormtroopers..until Leia heard the sound of a lightsaber and wooped in excitement. "The day's saved boys! My Unca Ben's here to once again pull my lanky butt out of the fire!"
Then they watched as a fireball from the exploding floating fortress came over the rise, and then the bellow of escaping banthas... and then silence. Het Krex stood besides Leia with a blaster and a confused expression. Other Jawas bolted inside the Sandcrawler and prepared for the worst. Het looked over at Leia. "Do you think they're all dead?" Leia continued to stare at the rise.
"I hope Unca Ben is alright." she said softly.
-----
Davin was the last remaining stormtrooper on the field, untouched by the battle that had taken place around him. He saw the cloaked figure of the jedi approaching him slowly, and he dropped his blaster. "I surrender." he said with finality.
The jedi's lightsaber vanished with a hiss, and the jedi approached slowly. "You saved my life. I felt your decision through the force. You have no more love for the Empire than I do." Davin nodded. "Its evil, and I could not stand by and do nothing." The jedi nodded, and pulled back his hood, revealing the smiling face of an old man. "Welcome to the side of light, my friend." Davin felt the rush of emotion at those words and smiled, reaching up and removing his helmet, revealing a handsome boyish face with dark dusty hair. "My name is Davin Felth, sir."
"Im called Ben... Ben Kenobi. It is an honor to meet you, Davin. Now come along... we have some explaining to do to my 'niece." The Jedi said with a smile.
Davin fell in behind the jedi, feeling more complete then he had ever felt in his entire life.
-----
Leia stood with the jawas and watched as two figures came up over the rise. The ragged robes of her Unca Ben made her smile... but the unhelmeted figure walking with him made her aim her rifle. "Unca Ben!" She cried out, preparing to fire... but Ben raised his hands and shook her head. "Pixie, you put that long rifle down right now." Leia stood there for a moment, and then lowered her rifle. The stormtrooper was young, younger than she had expected, and had a farmboyish look. He rather reminded her of Deak. Ben stood before Leia and looked stern at her. "Getting yourself into trouble again little Pixie?" he asked, then broke into a smile as he hugged her. Leia shrugged. "You know me, Unca Ben, always trying to liven things up."
Davin stood silent behind them, looking a little uncomfortable at the gazes he was recieving from the Jawas. Het made sure that he was under cover, and waited until Ben pulled away from Leia. "Honored Trade Leader, this man has my trust, and is no threat to you or your people." Davin waved a little at the Jawas. "Sorry about earlier." he said halfheartedly. Het looked at him, while Jek stepped forward to stand before the Stormtrooper. After sizing him up, he held out his hand. "Nice to meetchoo." Davin felt ashamed and honored, knelt and shook hands with the diminutive little alien. "Its nice to meet you as well, my friend."
Leia watched in silence and then turned to Ben. "Unca, Do you know anyone named Obi-wan Kenobi?" She asked. Ben stared at her for a moment. "Obi-wan? Obi-wan... now thats a name Ive not heard in a long time.. a long time." Leia looked at him for a moment. "Is he your brother or something?" Ben chuckled. "Oh no, not my brother... He's me!" Leia smiled and looked over at Artoo. "Then I have an astromech droid who's just dying to meet you." Ben looked at the droid, and nodded. "Very well, but first we have much to do to hide this situation from prying Imperial eyes."
Working together, the Jawas, Davin, Leia and the droids helped Kenobi throw the last of the bodies onto the blazing pyre, then stood back and watched the dead continue to burn. The Jawas were busy scavenging the remains of the floating fortress and the removed armor of the stormtrooper corpses. Davin watched his former squad burn, but felt no remorse. None of them had been his friends, and he felt pleased when he tossed Captain Terrik's corpse onto the pyre. Not that the desert scavengers wouldn't have been equally efficient in picking the dead clean of flesh, but Kenobi retained values most modern men would have deemed archaic. He would consign no one to the bone-gnawers and gravelmaggots, not even Imperial scum.
Another sandcrawler approached from the west, and Jek squeeled in glee as he ran forward to meet his clan brother Het Nkik. The pilot brought the new sandcrawler to a halt facing the best escape route if attackers reappeared. The hull doors clanked open, and the new clan of Jawas scambled out to join their brethren, eager to get at the spoils the Krex clan had beat them to. Jek leaped upon his brother Het and the two fell down laughing and squeeling in glee. Davin watched with a smile, glad that the little aliens hadnt been killed. Leia watched the fire burn and turned to her Uncle. "The Empire will never stop looking for what happened here... wont they, Unca Ben."
Ben nodded serenely. "The Empire will now come in greater numbers. The best we can hope for is that they believe that the Sandpeople were responsible for this attack. What with the evidence the Stormtroopers themselves possessed, and the bantha tracks leading away from the explosion, they will come to their own conclusions... "
Davin approached tentatively. "I can help with that situation, sir." he said. Ben and Leia turned to look at the ex-stormtrooper. "How?"
"I can send a distress signal on the Imperial frequency, and send a garbled message about Sandpeople attacking. The most they will do is send another squad to investigate, and after finding this evidence, that should be that." the young stormtrooper said slowly. Ben considered it, and nodded. "An excellent plan." Leia looked at Davin and smiled. "Yeah, good idea, Trooper." Davin grinned, pleased that he had come up with something that could help his newfound friends.