Shadows of Heroines and Heroes
-- The Trouble with Tusken Raiders Part 2 --
At first Alison's plan had been good and it had worked, except for one problem, her. She had yet to recover from the Disciple's attack and avoid being mothered and fussed over by her friends.
Rain had been leery about leaving Alison on her own, sticking like glue with Alison when they had started to make their way, slowly to their destination point.
It was lucky for Alison that Rain had insisted on taking it easy, because Alison had nearly fainted more than once.
Rain hefted Alison's arm onto her shoulder as she whispered words of encouragement into Alison's ear, carrying her friend into the shuttle. Kevin met them in the doorway and took hold of Alison's other arm to help Rain ease their friend into the pilot's chair as they inspected her.
"It's not good." Rain shook her head. "Where's my brother? I'll be able to help her better if all three of us combine our strengths." Rain was referring to her skill of medical healing both through the Force and physically.
Rain had been taught by Jolee and the Disciple long before this day and knew of other, more archaic ways of recovering health and strength from Revan and her mother, Elaine.
"He's in the engine room," Kevin shook his head, "and we don't have time. Besides, we need a lookout just in case someone chances on upon us."
Rain could not argue his advice and sighed as she accepted his reasoning with a nod.
"All right, fine then." She comm. Torne and explained briefly what they were going to do and Torne agreed, reluctantly to stay on the lookout until they were done.
Five minutes later, Alison came to with Kevin and Rain staring into her face with anxious and concerned looks.
"Good you're awake!" Rain hugged her best friend tightly before she remembered that while she and Kevin had healed Alison, old traces of pain would still bother Alison. She let go quickly.
"I blacked out?" Alison mumbled as she looked around her at the shuttle in slight confusion and annoyance.
"Yes, but not for very long... Do you think you can fly us out of here? I'm going to go and work on the engines, with Torne, if you can." Kevin said. Rain shook her head.
"Wait a minute, Kev, we may have healed her but Alison needs to take it easy for a couple of d-"
"NO!" Alison shook her head. "I'm the only one out of the four of us, expect for Kev, who could fly a shuttle properly!" Alison took a deep breath and closed her eyes, calming down for the sake of her position and friends. "I'll be fine, really I will." She looked pleadingly at Kevin, who nodded and looked at Rain.
"Why don't you go and catalogue our supplies? At least this way, she won't be moving around much." Rain stomped away, after setting one worried glance at Alison who smiled weakly at Kevin.
"Thanks." She mumbled in his ear as he hugged her carefully.
"I know, don't worry, Ali." Kevin replied and left her to her devices in the cockpit. Alison blinked away tears, if she and Kevin hadn't been related, then they would have been able to love each other.
The shuttle took off without any other hitches and soared into the space as Alison plotted a course for Tatooine. They needed to ditch the ship and go back to where her mother had hidden the Ebon Hawk. In the cave of the Krayt Dragon Revan had killed with the hunter Komad's help.
Alison leaned forward, as her Force senses kicked in, telling her what the scanners were about too tell her.
"Sithspit! Sandstorms!" Alison hissed vehemently and swore loudly as she slapped the communit. "We're going to have some rough turbulence from sandstorms incoming."
Alison reached up above her head, ignoring the sting of pain as she stretched her muscles and flipped several controls, bringing up the engines boosters and opening the gills on the side of the shuttle that her mother had installed on the Meow.
The gills were merely an untested theory, but Revan had said that if it worked then the shuttle would be able to glide even if the engines were cut, if the power and height would allow for gliding.
Alison closed her eyes and pulled down on the trigger.
"I hope you're right about thi-" Alison never finished her sentence as she fainted onto the controls. The Meow reacted immediately, the gills flaring open at exactly the wrong moment, catching the full force of the sandstorm, and the Meow went flying end over end.
"Alison! Alison, pull up! Pull up!"
Kevin screamed frantically into the communit as he grabbed tightly onto the now vertical ladder and swung in mid-air as the shuttle started its downward plough into the planet outside.
Torne hung beside Kevin, his arm bet at an odd angle, his face slowly going slack and then he was limp completely.
"Damnit, Torne!" Kev grabbed his friend's belt with the Force and pulled Torne up besides him, hooking the boy's arm under the ladder rung so he wouldn't fall crashing to the deck when the shuttle, if it ever did, righted itself.
Kevin didn't have to wait for long as a sketch of Alison fainted on the controls carved itself into the bulkhead in front of Kevin. Damn Torne's force powers of carving images after they happened.
"Damn it all! Why did she have to faint now?" Kevin swore as Torne opened his eyes and grabbed instinctively at the ladder before pulling himself out of the rung.
"Where's Rain?" He asked just before the Meow crashed and the lights flickered out, sending the two boys spiralling to the deck, in the blackness.
Rain came to with a moan, starring at someone's hairy hide.
"Where are we?" She asked as a bandaged head peered up at her voice.
"Hey, sis, you're awake, finally." Torne rolled his eyes. "We crashed and now we're waiting for Kevy to finished scouting out the area before we can move on."
"Uhh, what are we sitting on, exactly?" Rain looked at the mountain of hair on the back and was able to see two curved horns on a head that turned to look at her before turning around again.
"A bantha, it's a big hairy-"
"All right, Torne, I get it, I get it!" Rain said snappishly at her brother as Alison rode over to them.
"The other group's in trouble and we're going to go and rescue them from the Sand people and-" She suddenly stopped speaking and stared open mouthed as a red droid emerged from the ruins of their shuttle.
"HK, what are you doing here!" She yelled before she remembered to keep her voice down.
"I am reporting as ordered, Master." HK said and his red eyes glinted as Alison fumed. "Master Revan ordered me to protect and watch you and I do detect that there are several meatbags moving with the Jedi meatbags towards the Sarlacc beast."
"Come on." Alison urged her friends and looked at HK before she mounted the bantha, "You're coming too HK and don't kill anything unless I tell you, okay?" HK would have sniffed if he could have, but HK was only a droid.
"I hear and obey, Master." He started to stalk stiffly away as Torne jumped onto his separate bantha now that Rain was awake and joined up with Kevin, riding side by side.
"What other group, Alison?" Rain asked as she and Alison rolled side by side, a curious look on her face.
Alison smirked and smiled back with a rare brilliance of happiness and a smug look on her face.
"Rick Ordo and his friends, Padme, Kail, and Kinraar…"