CHAPTER FIFTEEN penny Normal penny 44 38 2001-09-24T16:08:00Z 2001-11-03T02:07:00Z 3 1707 9730 81 19 11949 9.2720 0 0

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:  ON THE RUN

          "Hey, I need some help in here!" Jacen yelled at the top of his lungs, banging his fists on the door to the bunker.

          He knew they were out there and that they could hear him, because he could feel two distinct voids in the force right outside the door.  He looked over at Tenal Ka's still frame sprawled out on the floor, and started pounding on the door again.

          "If she dies in here, you're superior will hold you responsible,"

          That got their attention as Jacen had hoped it would. 

          The door opened and in walked two Yuuzhan Vong guards.  Just by glancing at them briefly, Jacen knew they were not the same ones that had taken Tenal Ka yesterday.  The two Vong that had come in yesterday, had been completely grotesque to look at.  These two must have been at the bottom of the food chain by the look of the smooth skin on their faces with very few scars or tattoos, and they were not missing any fingers or ears like so many of the higher ranking warriors.

          They walked in and regarded Tenal Ka's unmoving form on the bare floor.

          "What is wrong with that one?"  One of the Vong glowered at Jacen.

          "I don't know," Jacen said, running his fingers through his hair, "when she came back last night she looked sick, and then this morning she wouldn't wake up,"

          The second Vong guard knelt over her body, inspecting it.

          "She's not breathing," Jacen said in a panicky voice.  "She needs a doctor,"

          The Yuuzhan Vong did not know where to check for a pulse on an infidel, but it could see no up and down movement of the upper part of the body that would indicate breathing.  It leaned in closer to get a better look.

          A hand shot up and gouged through the unprotected membrane below the armpit where there was no armor.  The warrior howled out loud, more because of the fact that he had been tricked then out of pain.  Tenal Ka did not give the alien a chance to recover.  She reared back her fist and struck a blow right into the Vong's esophagus.  Any other creature would have dropped like a ton of a duracrete bricks, but the Vong merely staggered backwards.

          Jacen did not waste a second.  Before the other guard could help out its counterpart, he used all the strength in his body to ram it against the wall.  Jacen's teeth shook at the jolting impact, but he did not back down.  While the Vong was momentarily stunned, he reached into his pockets and smacked the blue, jelly-like substance into the alien's eyes.  The Vong roared and clawed at the goo clinging to its face.  Jacen used the distraction to grab the guard's thick skull and smash it against the floor.  The Yuuzhan Vong was out cold after that.

          Tenal Ka was busy with the remaining guard.  She dodged left and right to avoid its crushing blows.  She kicked at its unprotected kneecaps with such force that she heard a loud POP!  The creature grunted and dropped to one knee.  Using it to her advantage, she jumped out of the reach of the Vong's extended arms and hurried towards Jacen, who was just getting to his feet.  They rushed out the open door, slamming it shut behind them.  With a clamping down sound, the door locked on its own.

          They dropped to their knees, alert for anyone who might have seen them or heard all the commotion.  It was still early, though, and none of the Syynnode workers or slaves were around.  They rounded a corner of the bunker, and ducked behind some crates.

          "Well, that was great," Jacen said, catching his breath, "out of all the Vong here, we get the two without weapons,"

          "It does not matter," Tenal Ka said, trying to catch her own breath as well, "we have to get out of here before anyone figures out we have escaped.  The Yuuzhan Vong they send after us will not be as young or inexperienced as those two were,"

          It would only be a matter of time before someone noticed that there were no longer any guards standing outside their bunker, and Jacen hoped to be far away from there before that happened.

          Looking out from their hiding place, they spotted no one in the vicinity.  Together, they raced for the snow-covered woods of Rygelia.

          "We all ready to go?"  Said Ganner, taking a seat in the co-pilot's chair.

          "As ready as we'll ever be," she answered, running one last diagnostic on the shuttle's systems.  Nothing would be in optimal condition, but she did not want to lift them off the ground before making sure the shuttle was not going to start falling apart the second they were in the air.  As it was, Jaina had to use all of her ingenuity – and then some, to just make sure they would be able to lift off the ground.  Once they were in space, though, she was not sure how long the quickly cobbled together repairs would last.

          "Is Lusa strapped in back there?"

          "Yeah, she's ready to take off,"

          Lusa was sitting in the back near the engine room compartment, and would that way be able to comm them and let them know if anything went wrong before things got too critical.

          Holding her breath, Jaina lifted the First Mate off the ground.  The shuttle wobbled under her control, and the hull started groaning as it picked up speed.

          "Doesn't sound too reliable," Ganner noted.

          "Are you worried I didn't do a good job with the repairs?"  Jaina said, not taking her eyes off the glass view port in front of her.

          "You're repairs I trust," he said, "this hunk of junk I don't,"

          "This hunk of junk may save us yet," said Jaina.  "As soon as we clear the atmosphere, start transmitting our distress signal, but remember to warn approaching ships the Yuuzhan Vong may be nearby,"

          As she flew them further away from the landscape of Scelvic, Jaina found herself getting distracted from the not-so-easy task of piloting the damaged shuttle.

          She had expected Ganner to give her a hard time or at least rub it in her face that she had broken down in front of him, but he hadn't.  He had not even mentioned what had happened only hours before.  Once again, she had jumped to the wrong conclusion about Ganner.  Why did she always assume the worst about him?

          He was the last person in the universe she had expected to fall apart in front of, and then to have him just hold her to help her get through it.  She never thought getting everything off her chest that she had been holding in for months now would actually make her feel better.  So why didn't I tell him that?

          Forcing herself to focus on the task at hand, she flew the unstable Mate through the atmosphere of Scelvic.  Without her even telling him to do so, Ganner began broadcasting their distress signal on all frequencies, and set the message on repeat.   There had to be someone out there who could hear them that was not Yuuzhan Vong. 

          It could be hours or even days before someone got their message and came to rescue them.  Jaina figured that if the repairs held, then maybe they could hold it in space for a day or two at the most.  After that, life support, environmental controls, and all the other systems she had barely been able to fix in the first place, would start falling apart.

          After the first three hours went by, Jaina had stopped checking her chrono altogether.  The bright side of the situation was that no Yuuzhan Vong ships had showed up, yet.  If they did, then Jaina would do her best to get them back down to Scelvic's surface.  There, they would at least have a fighting chance of beating the Vong in ground combat, or try to hide from them in the depths of Scelvic's forests.  That was why she was keeping them in especially close orbit around the planet.

          She and Ganner had held conversations over the comm with Lusa for the first couple of hours, but when they had run out of things to say, they decided to turn it off for a while.

          Despite the fact that they were facing no immediate threat, Jaina would not leave her seat.  If a Vong cruiser did show up, that extra few seconds could save their lives.

          Alone with Ganner, the two of them had not spoken much.  Jaina kept herself busy with constantly checking the instruments in front of her, and Ganner seemed content to just close his eyes and get some much needed sleep.

          He had his eyes closed now, and was not sure if he would hear her but she said it anyways.  "Thanks,"

          Without opening his eyes, Ganner said, "for what?"

          He never made things easier for her.  "For early," she said, "it felt good to talk to someone,"

          "And I didn't mind listening," he said, turning his head to look at her.

          "Even after what I said to you?"

           "Well, it's not like everything you said about me was wrong.  But people can change,"

          "Not in my experience they don't,"

          "They have to be willing to change first," he said softly, leaning towards her.

          Jaina found herself moving closer to him.  "How do you make them want to change?"

          "You don't," he murmured, when their faces were only centimeters apart, "they have to decide for themselves,"

          He brought his lips closer to Jaina's, and gently brushed them against hers –

          "Jaina?"  The comm crackled.

          She quickly broke off the kiss with Ganner, and said into the comm, "mom?"

          She could feel her mother letting out a sigh of monumental relief.  "Thank the force you're all right.  Are Lusa and Ganner with you?"

          "Yeah," Jaina said looking at Ganner, "they're right here,"

          "Your father's just bringing the Falcon into view now," after a few moments Leia added, "your ship looks a little worse for wear,"

          "It's a long story.  I'll explain everything when dad docks the Falcon and we come onboard.

          As soon as the Millennium Falcon was docked against the First Mate's access hatch, three weary looking passengers disembarked from it.

          After exchanging a round of embarrassing hugs with her parents in front of her friends, Jaina explained how they had been intercepted by the Yuuzhan Vong on their way to the Dezzlec system.  They had jumped out of there after taking a beating by some coralskippers, but the hyperdrive had been badly damaged so they had only managed to jump a few systems away before it gave out.

          "We ran into the same problem," said Han, "when Luke called and told us you never showed up at Dezzlec, we decided to conduct a search of our own.

          "On the way, a Vong Interdictor ship knocked us out of hyperspace, but they already had their hands full with a bunch of mercenary ships, so I did a quick jump out of there.  I figured you must have done the same thing, and when your mother told me she could still feel you with those Jedi powers of hers, we started searching the nearby systems.  As soon as we picked up your distress signal we headed for Scelvic.  We got your warning too.  And I don't know about you but I don't want to hang around here any longer in case the Vong decide to show their ugly faces.  So, everybody take a seat, we're heading for Chandrilla."

          "Chandrilla?"  Jaina echoed in surprise.

          "That's where we're meeting Anakin," Leia explained to her daughter.

          The good news that Anakin was ready to talk to his family again – including their father – was enough to bring a smile to Jaina's face, until she saw her mother's expression.

          "What is it?"

          "When Luke called to tell us you didn't show up in the Dezzlec system, he told us that no one had heard from Tenal Ka or Jacen either.  Anakin volunteered to go after them while we went after you,"

          Jaina said, "has Anakin called to let you know if he's found them?"

          "No," Leia said, unable to keep the worry out of her voice, "he and Tahiri must still be looking for them,"

          Jaina tried to keep herself from thinking the worst, but she remembered Jacen had told her they were going to investigate rumours that the Vong were holding slaves on Rygelia.  And if there were slaves, then there would be Yuuzhan Vong.  She prayed Anakin and Tahiri would find her brother and Tenal Ka before anything happened to them.

There's still 2 chapters left to come!!!