CHAPTER TWO
Stabbing pain in the lower half of Mara's right leg roused her from a clouded stupor. Rising slowly to her knees, she reached abruptly for her pounding head, stretching out instinctively to the Force for balance, which was unfortunately elusive. Pulling her hand away from blood-matted hair, she wiped her palm on her pants and leaned against the console to assess the situation.
The Sabre was leaning sharply to the port side with a large tree trunk protruding through the hull and lying across the copilot's chair. Moving slowly to favor a throbbing ankle, she maneuvered through the mangled cabin and manually released the exit ramp. It fell heavily to hang at a 45-degree angle, stopping three meters above the ground. Flashbacks of the coordinates just before the crash reminded her not to jump. Easing down the ramp, she paused at the foot and peered up into the trees. She knew even before looking what she would find – beady little eyes staring back at her from slim gray-brown bodies. Ysalamiri. She was on Myrkr.
"Shavit!" she swore fiercely, dropping to sit at the edge of the ramp. Pulling up her right leg to remove the boot, she inspected the injured ankle. It was swollen, but not broken. A little pain suppression would have been nice, but she'd have to settle for an immobilization bandage.
Picking her way back through the cabin, she straightened her seat as best she could and sat down to take inventory of the damage. The hyperdrive and thrusters were shot and communications were off-line, but possibly repairable. The directional charts were fuzzy or scrambled, another perk of this kriffing planet, but she estimated that she was only a few kilometers from the rendezvous point with Daven. He'd better have a fast transport, she thought sourly as she began to gather a survival pack. And this had better be worth it.
Two hours later, she stopped for a drink of water and ration bar. Resting on a tree stump and wishing for the thousandth time that Luke was here, she adjusted the bandage on her ankle. Glancing up into the trees, she remembered the first time she'd met Luke and their subsequent trek through this forest. He'd probably think this was funny and even find some reason why she needed to be disguised with those leaves that had made him all puffy and itchy. Suppressing a wry grin, she wondered if she should find one of those bushes and take it home as a souvenir.
A sharp cry jolted Mara from her reverie. Shoving the water bottle back into the pack, she jogged to the edge of the forest, ignoring the protest from her ankle. A small humanoid-looking child was screaming on the other side of a wide glen. He was frozen in terror as a taller female ran towards him, gesturing frantically. Mara followed his gaze and saw two vornskrs crouching at the north end of the glade, tails whipping in anticipation of their meal. The vornskrs charged forward in pursuit as the child turned and began running toward the female. He wasn't going to make it.
Mara took off at a dead run, shouting to draw the attention of the predators. She reached them just as they were ready to pounce and placed herself between them and the child. "Come on, boys," she taunted. They growled on their haunches and separated as they prepared to attack. "Clever," she murmured, lightsaber now in hand.
As if on cue, the vornskrs leapt at her from both sides. The blue-white blade of her lightsaber sliced cleanly through one as she simultaneously dropped to one knee and ducked beneath the other. Rising back up to her feet, she met the second beast head-on, impaling him through the chest. She fell to the ground under his weight and somersaulted backwards, kicking him off with her legs and rolling up to her knees. "But not clever enough," she finished, shutting down her blade.
She stood and turned to the woman and child, "Are you all right?"
Still trembling, the woman bowed to Mara and responded in an unfamiliar language as she knelt to embrace the child. The woman was shorter than Mara, only slightly over one meter tall and both she and the child were thin and graceful, with bronze skin, black eyes, and flowing black hair.
"Do you speak Basic?" Mara asked slowly.
The woman responded only with a wave of her hand, beckoning Mara to follow them.
Arriving at a primitive settlement, Mara squatted to adjust the bandage around her ankle as several of the bronze-skinned locals ran towards them. Pointing at Mara, they spoke fervently to her guide. The woman turned and motioned urgently for Mara to follow her into one of the huts. Just as they reached a small dwelling, Mara heard hostile voices and turned to see a dilapidated freighter at the edge of the compound. Several seedy-looking characters were laughing raucously as they loaded large containers into the cargo hold. Mara felt a shove as she was pushed inside the hut. She did not need the Force to sense the fear emanating from the delicate natives around her.
Crouched in a corner and covered with woven blankets, Mara eventually heard the ship take off and speed away. The blankets were peeled away and she found herself face to face with the child from the glen. He smiled at her and pressed his palm first to his own cheek and then to hers. Some sort of greeting, Mara assumed, and returned the gesture. The boy laughed and ran out the door as the woman she had met earlier entered.
"I'm looking for someone, like myself," she spoke slowly. The woman frowned.
Pointing to herself, Mara tried again, "A human, like me. A male. Have you seen him?" A glimmer of understanding crossed the woman's face. Taking Mara by the hand, she led her outside.
They walked to the edge of the settlement and continued into the forest until they reached a clearing made by a burned-out ship. Stepping over debris, the woman led her to where the passenger ramp would have been and stopped.
Mara pressed her lips into a grim line. Lying on the ground with an executioner's point-blank shot to his forehead, was her contact, Daven.
To be continued…
