Jedi Academy

The Magnificent Seven.

Chapter 3

(My first Jedi Knight story. Just so you know, Star Wars belongs to George Lucas. Bless his genius mind. So if anything is in violation of the Star Wars spirit, let HIM speak up. Thanks)

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One often wonders if hyperspace is a parallel universe next to our own, or that what you see truly is planets and stars passing you faster than the eye can see. But to see the blue light, the first alternative is mostly the most common.

Kayley looked over the instruments in the cockpit for the tenth time in thirty seconds. According to the map, they were halfway to Blenjeel. She felt somehow stressed, or could it be the excitement of being the pilot on a ship?

The door behind her opened and Random stepped inside, holding two plates filled with food. His features could be called relaxed and carefree, especially since his job was simply to help her if anything went wrong.

"Thought you might be hungry..." he said and put the plate down, taking his comfortable seat next to her. Kayley gave him a polite smile and dug in, feeling a bit hungry, as they haven't gotten the time to have breakfast yet until now.

"Random...can I ask you something?" Kayley suddenly said after swallowing a piece of her meal. Random turned his chair towards her and nodded.

"How did you get that name of yours...? I'm sure your REAL name isn't Random," she said and tilted her head, waiting for an answer.

Random was stunned. Never before had anyone questioned his name, mainly because everyone else who knew him simply accepted that he had a strange name. But he felt he needed to reward her for her curiosity and courage.

"Well, I got the name from my father. When I was still a boy he grew tired of addressing me by my real name. So he made a simple version of it, and I've carried it ever since," he said with a smile.

"And what's your real name then?" Kayley pushed. Not allowing him to leave the room before he told her. Random sighed and gave in. Surprised that he had given in so soon.

"Randalliguhm..." he answered and just waited for her to laugh at him. Something she surprisingly didn't do. For now. "Oh... now I understand why he gave it to you," she replied, nearly letting a giggle escape her lips.

"Hey, Random?!! I need yer help back here, ya wee puppy," they suddenly heard Phoenix call from the back of the ship. Random sighed and stood up, giving Kayley a last look.

"Sure you can handle this yourself?" he asked.

"Yes I am. Thank you so much for breakfast, Randalliguhm..." she said with a huge smile. Random turned towards the door and rolled his eyes, realizing now that he should never had said it. And he confirmed that as the door behind him closed itself and he heard Kayley burst out in uncontrollable laughter.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Coming out of hyperspace, the Jedi Cruiser easily entered the atmosphere around Blenjeel and made their way towards the last reported position of the cargo ship. The turbulence shook the ship, but even with breakfast in their stomachs, nobody had to visit the toilet for a quick refunding. Not even when Kayley started to roll the ship to check out the maneuverability of the ship. Laughing hysterically, Kayley continued to roll the ship until she heard Phoenix in the back.

"KAYLEY!!! Will ya stop this at once? Yer spilling all our drinks back here!!!" Sighing, she obeyed the orders coming from the party-breaker and steadied the ship.

Kayley checked the map-reader and scouted the landscape under them for a place to land. This was the part of Blenjeel that was mostly covered in mountains and narrow passes. If the ship crash-landed here, it was doubtful that anyone survived. But suddenly, something caught her attention. Smoke in the distance.

Roaring over the sky, Kayley saw right down in a valley where the ship was located. She knew instantly that they wouldn't find any survivors. The sharp cliffs surrounding the valley seemed to have sliced the ship in three. The smoke came from the rear part where one engine was still partly active.

But not enough space to land here, she thought and turned the ship due west, down a rather wide passage where their swoopers would prove highly useful. But this wouldn't be a walk in the park. Rather a walk in a maze.

The canyons looked like a network of passes that went in all different directions. But she couldn't stop until she found a suitable place to land. A place that was connected with the passage leading to the wreck.

Finally finding an open area, she settled the huge ship down and touched the sand with no problems at all. This ship was a dream to fly. Opening the cargo hold, the swoopers now had direct access to the planet. Following the main path to the east, they would soon enough find the ship. And in these narrow passages, the Sand Burrowers would have problems with digging their way through.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

After an hour of driving back and forth through the rough canyons that threw the sound of their swoopers back and forth in the same rhythm, they came upon the open valley where the cargo ship was located. Or more precisely, what's left of it.

The cliffs around the valley had done a lot of damage and had ripped the ship in three major pieces with several smaller pieces of the ship lying all around them. Smoke could still be seen coming from the fuel tank and the last functional engine. Sparks still lit up some of the cable boxes. Something that indicated that the ship still had a functional powersource.

They parked the swoopers and dismounted them, taking the valley at closer look. The wind howled through the passages around the valley and sand blew gently across the golden surface of the desert.

"I don't see a welcome-committee... Looks like we missed quite a party," Phoenix said and looked around them. Nobody was here.

"Shouldn't we get to solid ground? I mean, Master Jaden said to look out for Sand Burrowers," Selene said and looked around nervously at the ground.

"Nah. These cliffs are solid rock, and those blasted critters can't climb. We're safe here," Auron said and threw a rock towards the ship. The next second, the feeling of safety was washed away like top sand on the ground in a storm.

The spot where the rock hit the ground suddenly turned into a gigantic mouth with razor sharp teeth and several jaws. The gigantic monster roared like thunder as it stood 20 ft above the ground and turned towards the seven. And it was not alone.

Tween sensed it first as she took a step back in horror over the size of this Sand Burrower. Then the ground under her feet started to move a bit and tremble. Reacting quick as lightening, she threw herself forward to avoid the second Sand Burrower who had simply waited for the right moment to burst through the sand like a torpedo.

Phoenix stared in horror at his sister as the creature came up and managed to get a hold of her right leg, lifting her 10 ft above the ground. Tween screamed in pain as a burning sensation sent terrible shockwaves up her leg. She was now dangling from the monsters mouth. But as Phoenix tried to come to his sister's aid, the monster had already hurled up a wall of dust and made it impossible to see anything. Until a green flash of light appeared next to Phoenix.

Ryu. The silent Kel Dor ran through the wall of dust, unaffected by it as his metal mask covered both his eyes and his mouth. With his lightsaber activated, he used all force to jump right into the Sand Burrower and plunged the glowing blade into the worm-like body of the monster.

Feeling the destructive energy penetrating its skin, the Sand Burrower roared of all its might in indescribable pain. And opening its jaws like that, Tween felt her leg was released and she fell towards the ground.

Once again, Ryu acted on instinct and jumped towards her and caught her mid air, landing next to Phoenix and pulled him with him towards the broken ship. The Sand Burrower was starting to ignore the pain and in pure anger, it launched itself into the sand and followed them.

Random, Kayley, Auron and Selene had distracted the biggest Sand Burrower and doubled back towards the ship as they saw Ryu and the two Zabraks making their way to shelter. With the four humans constantly running around in circles the large predator had difficulties of deciding whom to chase. Now, the insult of being fooled made the gigantic monster rush towards the ship.

Using the Force to jump up to the inside of the ship, Random instantly remained at the edge and watched as the three remaining team members closed up on them. Ryu and Phoenix supporting Tween in the run. Tween looking like she was about to faint, Phoenix like he was about to turn around and fight the beast, and Ryu... he looked like himself.

The two males managed to jump up to the cargo hold where the rest waited for them, just in time to escape the jaws of death that closed behind them in a terrible explosion followed by the sound of metal being crushed.

"That was close enough to smell the last meal, eh?" Phoenix said and rested his back down on the steel floor and let out a breath. Auron slapped his spiky head for joking about such a dangerous situation.

Lying on the floor, Ryu looked down to the twisted face of Tween, while Phoenix looked over the edge and with Random, saw the furious Sand Burrowers trying to get up to them.

Selene ran over to the wounded Zabrak and kneeled down by her side, looking at her leg. Several open wounds scarred her bare leg as blood streamed down her skin. The face of the young girl was tensed, trying her best to ignore the pain, but with sand inside the wounds, it was hard for her to keep her mask up.

"My parents served as medical officers at Hoth. I've learned a great deal about patching people up. First I need something to use as bandage and clean water," Selene said and lay Tween down on the floor. Phoenix quickly handed her his bottle of water and Ryu ripped his outer tunic off and gave it to the young medic.

"Kayley, Auron. You two search the ship for bacta. Even if only one container has a few drops left, bring it here. I need to use it to clean and disinfect the wounds," Selene said and sent the two of them to find a container that was undamaged.

"What do you want me to do then?" Random asked.

"Find a way to escape this place. The sooner we get her to the ship, the bigger chance she has to avoid infection," Selene replied and let Tween drink some of the water from her brother's bottle. Ryu shredded his tunic to several long bandages hoping they would prove useful.

Random nodded and climber to a higher part of the wreck to examine the area around them. From up here he spotted that the two Sand Burrowers had obviously called for the rest of the family. Now he could see at least six or seven of them digging their way through the sand outside the ship. Constantly looking for food. That's the standard circle of life for countless other creatures around the universe. Feed, survive and spawn more of their kind. Right not, the second was the thing that lingered in his mind. Survival.

Their only chance to get back to the ships was to use the swoopers. Or at least the one that worked. When his eyes looked over to the place they had parked the hovering bikes, they were all lying in a pile.

Except Kayley's since she had parked hers on top of a rock, but not all of them could get away on one swooper and they couldn't exactly drive back and forth to pick up the entire team.

No. One of them would have to get back to the ship and use it for pickup. But the question was...who?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kayley and Auron had found at least a gallon of useful bacta and Selene dipped the bandages of Ryu's tunic in the healing liquid and used some of it to wash her leg clean of blood and sand. Luckily she hadn't broken her leg.

Auron went back to search some more. For both bacta and supplies and equipment that could be useful in order to survive. Kayley offered herself to take Ryu's place so that he could assist his best friend in finding a way out of here. The quiet Kel Dor nodded and lingered a few seconds with letting go of Tween's hand.

Climbing up towards the place where Random scouted the area, Ryu looked back to the wounded girl and under the solid surface of the mask, he let a sigh escape his lungs before jumping up next to Random.

"I saw that," Random replied and gave his friend a quick glance before looking back at the desert. Ryu turned his face towards him, not changing a single expression.

"What you did was very brave, Ryu. I've gotta give that to you," Random continued. And Ryu replied with a few hand signals. Though it wasn't easy always to translate it considering he only had three fingers on each hand, his meaning was clear.

"Yeah I know. She is attractive. And I think she would appreciate if you stayed with her. I don't need help up here. Right now all I need is some peace and quiet to think," Random continued and sat down on the ledge, looking to the ground and how to get over to the swoopers without ending up like snack. Ryu patted his old friend on the back and climbed back down.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Tween slowly opened her tired eyes and felt that the pain in her leg no longer burned so intense that she could barely breathe, but it felt rather cooling. Selene sat a few ft away and dipped the rest of the reserve bandages in bacta, while Phoenix helped Auron with searching the ship. Suddenly, Ryu got her attention as he offered her his water bottle. He sat right next to her and kept her company. And her dry throat was grateful for the blessing coming from the cold water in small controlled sessions.

"Ya...ya saved me life, Ryu. Thank you..." Tween said and tried to force a smile but she was just too tired to do so. Ryu looked down on her face and waved his hand, meaning: 'forget about it'.

Above them, Random was accompanied by Kayley who climbed up to see the area around them for herself. She had to nudge his shoulder in order to get his attention.

"What you got in mind, Random? A plan hopefully..." Jayley said and flopped down next to him. The young man's expression was still in deep thoughts, but he had heard her.

"Your swooper is our key out of here. One of us has to get over there without getting eaten, start it up, head through the maze of cliffs, to the ship and get back here to pick us all up. That's pretty much it," Random said.

"And by 'one of us' you mean yourself, is that it? Random, no, I won't let you do it," Kayley said and raised her voice.

"Listen to me. Jaden gave me the role as leader, whatever I liked it or not. I didn't like her decision, but I'm stuck with it now. So it's my job to make sure that you all return to the academy safe and sound," Random replied and turned to face her.

"That's right, she did. But your job is to stay here and look after the others. If anyone should go, then it's me and me alone," Kayley protested and stood up, looking down at him.

"Do you know how to pilot that ship, or hover just above your heads so you can jump up? I can, and I will," Kayley continued. Random stood up and was about to say something back, but he stopped as he looked down at her face and into her eyes. She believed in herself, and her eyes pleaded him to feel the same thing.

He found himself giving her the nod. Her face lit up and wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a hug. She suddenly flashed her eyes open and pulled away from him. Clearing her throat and looking a bit embarrassed, just the same expressions could be found on Random.

Saved by the bell, Auron climbed up on the level they were on and looked at the two blushing kids.

"Did I interrupt something here?"

"Not at all, Auron. Wassup?" Random asked.

"Well, the communication on this ship is down, I found the pilot in the cockpit who I believe died during the crash. Phoenix informed me that there are no useful food or water supplies left in this ship. That's the bad news."

"And the good news?"

"I've found the ships log-file, so our mission is partly accomplished. And Selene tells me that Tween is going to make it out okay. The wounds were cleaned up and she's sleeping peacefully and with no pain. Ryu is keeping her warm with Phoenix. Now is it just me, or do I hear sweet music between our quiet warrior and the charming Zabrak?" Auron finished and smiled at them.

"Who knows? Ryu has always had a soft soul. But enough of that, Auron. Kayley is going to take her swooper back to our ship and pick us up. But the only thing that still bothers me is how to get pass all those Sand Burrowers. I mean, there is at least a half dozen of them around us now, all of them waiting for one of us to step into the sand," Random said. His face showing clear signs of being worried.

"What you need is a distraction. I mean, these creatures are as you say just waiting for one of us to step out there. But what if what steps out there isn't one of us?" Auron said and sat down.

"You mean a decoy? But who and what can be used here for that?" Kayley asked and looked from Auron to Random and back again. A minute of silence passed before Random spoke up.

"We'll use this," he said and held up a thermal detonator.

"If these creatures hunt by following sound, what will be most tempting between light footsteps and an explosion? And if we're lucky, they will track it as it bounces across the sand and might swallow it before it detonates. Bad for them, good for us."

Auron and Kayley shared a look, but agreed with Random's suggestion. It might work. Now it was the scary difference of theory and real life. If it DIDN'T work... what then?

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"And ya really expect that to work?" Phoenix said in disbelief as Random explained the plan in front of the team. He wasn't surprised to hear that the young Zabrak disapproved the idea, but neither did it take long to convince him that it was the only way.

"Okay, but how many thermal detonators did we bring?" Auron asked and looked over at Random.

"Only one, so you better run fast, Kayley. I've set the time-delay to twelve seconds and calculating that the flight will take four seconds and the explosion will distract them for two, I'd say you have exactly ten seconds to get over there before every Sand Burrower in this bloody valley will be on your tail," Random explained and looked over at Kayley.

"Twelve minus four plus two, got it," the young girl said. Though her voice was rock-hard, her expressions shower fear. So much depended on her now.

"Aye, so no stopping to buy souvenirs," Phoenix said in an attempt to ease up the mood again.

"Okay then. Let's do this. Auron, accompany me to the roof, Kayley, get to the opening and await my signal," Random finished and the team split up. Kayley suddenly grabbed Random's arm and held him back.

"Random... If I don't make it, promise that you'll find another way to get them out of here alive..." Kayley said with a sad voice. Like she wasn't coming back at all. Random looked down at her hand and back up into her eyes.

"Don't worry... I have faith in you. May the Force be with you," Random said and the two of them squeezed each other's hands. Looking at him for a few seconds, Kayley turned away and ran towards the other end of the ship. Somehow, she didn't felt the feeling of dread over her anymore.

The golden landscape glowed with its golden light at them as Random and Auron stood on the edge of the broken ship and prepared themselves for throwing out the decoy. Random held the thermal detonator firmly in his hand while Auron had ripped off a steel pipe lose from the ship and tested the balance of his new rod.

"Just like playing baseball back at Coruscant, eh Random?" Auron joked and held the pipe in hit-position. Random smiled and looked to the other end where Kayley looked back at them. Giving the two boys a nod, she was ready.

"Yeah... except that if you miss the first ball, the whole team is out," Random replied and moved his hand back to throw. Auron gave him the final nod, and the familiar 'beep' escaped the metallic ball as it left Random's hand.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Down in the cargo hole, Ryu, Phoenix, Selen and Tween heard a sharp 'whack' echo through the cold walls. And through the opening at the end of the ship, a small object flew through the air like a bullet. Now, their fate rested in the hands of a young human girl named Kayley.

Random followed the thermal detonator with his eyes all the way. Like things were moving in slow motion, the ball of death made its way towards a sand hill and bounced off the ground, continuing to bounce forward. Down below, the sand was shoved away as several Sand Burrowers made their way after it.

"NOW!!! GO, GO, GO!!!!" Random yelled and watched as Kayley jumped out of sight. Running towards where she had jumped, they could see her running for dear life towards her swooper. Her body was moving at incredible speed. She used the Force to move faster than any normal human could ever do. The ten seconds seemed to be over too soon as a huge explosion came from behind them, followed by several roars coming from the monsters under ground.

Kayley finished her run in a jump and landed on her swooper. Her hand quickly found the way to the start button, but as she pressed it, the swooper didn't activated. Her mind nearly froze and her whole body tensed. The swooper didn't start.

She quickly turned her head and spotted several dust trails coming towards her at great speed. The decoy was up and now they all could hear her. They wanted blood. They wanted flesh. They wanted her.

On the brink of panic, she tried again and again to start the engine, but her ticket out of here was protesting. Her ears no longer caught the sound of Random and Auron yelling at her to move. The thundering sound from her heart overthrew anything else.

Then, as the closest Sand Burrower was only 20 ft away, the engine roared and the whole swooper started to tremble. Not spending time to celebrate it, Kayley snapped the swooper into gear and shot forward like an arrow. Just in time to avoid the crushing force from the Sand Burrower who threw itself towards her.

Random and Auron felt like their hearts was stuck way up in their throat as they saw the monster miss her with a few inches. Random felt all strength in his legs disappeared and fell back and hit the floor under him with a thud.

"Did the crazy pilot escape, or what?" Phoenix called from down below.

"Yeah... she made it," Auron called back and fell down next to Random, both boys breathing in quick gasps. Auron put his head to the side and looked over to the leader.

"You okay there, R? You don't look so good."

"I'm feeling like something wants to come out of my chest. And not in a good way," Random replied.

"You got a nice swing with the baseball bat, Auron. I'll give you that," Random continued.

"Thanks. If this Jedi business doesn't kick off, I could always go pro back home."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A half hour later, they all sat down in the cooling shadows in the cargo hold. The wind blew through the broken wreck and managed to help them from overheating. They hadn't heard anything from the Sand Burrowers, but nobody expected any of them to be gone. Nobody had said anything for a long time. The everlasting silence between them was starting to annoy them and make them nervous.

"Shut up, Phoenix," Auron suddenly said and everyone wake up.

"What? I haven't said anything yet," Phoenix replied and glared at Auron. Selene sighed at them and looked over at Ryu and Random.

"You were about to," Auron said.

"Aye, good point."

Sensing that Auron was now in his more annoying mood, Phoenix decided not to make any more jokes and walked towards the edge of the ship. Kicking a piece of metal out into the open, he flopped down on the edge and let his feet dangling. But to his shock, his feet touched the sand.

With a yelp, he rolled backwards and pulled his legs up. The second he did that, a huge mouth burst through the sand and attacked him. The Sand Burrower managed to get onto the ledge and shoot its jaw out to catch the panicking Zabrak who was just out of its reach.

The entire team jumped to their feet, with the exception of Tween who still couldn't use her leg properly. Looking outside, the sand stood higher than before and the furious Sand Burrower who tried to crawl inside the cargo hold confirmed that. The deep roaring cut through their ears and overthrew them all with fear.

Random, Ryu and Auron activated their lightsabers and charged the blind monster. Trying to force it back down. If the gigantic monster managed to get its full body inside, their chances of survival would diminish.

The trembling sound of energyblades echoed through the room and lit up the cold walls with a glowing light. The three Jedi formed a wall of hacking swords, nicking the raging jaws since moving too close could be fatal. But the Sand Burrower refused to give up and launched up onto the floor, snapping its huge jaw at the three of them. Due to the huge addition of weight, the whole ship started to fall over and let the broken edge sink into the sand.

"The roof!!" Random yelled and tried not to lose balance and fall into the jaws of death as two other Sand Burrowers crawled out of the sand and towards them. The whole wreck part lifted at the other end and caused several crates to slide down towards the raging Sand Burrowers. Selene and Phoenix helped each other to get Tween up to the roof, when Selene turned around and saw the upcoming disaster.

"Boys!!! Behind you!!!" she cried out. The three boys looked behind them and jumped over the crates, seeing the metallic boxes crash into the Sand Burrowers and forced them out of the ship. Now that the devastating weight on one side was gone, the ship fell down again with a crash. Phoenix, Selene and Tween barely managed to hold on, but the three boys inside the ship fell stumbling into the wall.

Quickly realizing the Sand Burrowers were temporarily gone, they got back on their feet and climbed as quickly as possible towards the roof. Feeling for once today, the sweat running down their skin was cold as ice.

As the three boys came on top of the roof, the sound of the crates being crushed and ripped to shreds entered their ears and sent cold waves all the way down to their toes. Nobody said anything as fearful looks were imprinted on their faces. Looking over the edge, Ryu saw how on earth the Sand Burrowers had gotten up.

All the monsters were circling around the ship's edges and shoved the sand away. Slowly, but steady making the ship 'sink' in the ocean of golden sand. Already now, the sand started to enter the cargo hole. It would now be a matter of minutes before the ship would be swallowed by the planet surface.

And still no sign of Kayley.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The minutes went on, and the ship continued to sink. The burning sun tortured their bare skin and caused them to lose their strength and will to stay awake. Tween had fainted, with her brother holding her close under the protection of his arm. Random and Ryu were both constantly looking towards the ridge of the cliffs surrounding the valley. All that fed their patience was the howling wind and the deep growling coming from under ground.

Half of the cargo hole was filled with sand now and the Sand Burrowers were working faster now. It sounded like the monsters were fighting each other to get the best place for the coming feast.

The group gathered up against each other and held a close watch to their directions. The moving sand came into view and the boys activated their lightsabers. Their first mission was about to turn into their last stand. If these creatures wanted them for food, they would have to fight for it.

It was then the sky was beautifully decorated with the Jedi Cruiser coming towards them over the ridge. The humming from the engines became as sweet as a lullaby to the six tired Jedi students. Kayley waved at them from the cockpit and maneuvered the ship down towards them.

The sand hurled into the air as the ship drew closer and closer to the surface of the planet. But the power form the engines that hit the ground, wasn't all helpful. The second Auron and Ryu jumped up into the ship with Tween, the big Sand Burrower shot out of the sand and onto the little platform.

Random, Auron and Phoenix was scattered into all directions and landed roughly on the ground. Realizing the peril they had gotten themselves into, the boys quickly jumped back up on their feet and ran for cover. Now the Sand Burrowers showed great activity now that dinner was served.

Phoenix wasted no time on getting to the second part of the smashed ship like Random and Auron did, but instead ran towards the open door of the Jedi Cruiser. Running for his live, he quickly realized that the opening was too high to be jumped at, but his quick mind formulated a plan.

Stopping dead in his tracks, he moved his foot in front of himself and stomped the ground before he retreated the foot. The next second, a Sand Burrower burst upwards from the place he stomped and furiously snapped its jaw into thin air. Phoenix had expected this and used the Force to speed up and run up the side of the living tower of death, focusing the remaining Force energy to jump up and grab the ledge of the ship, quickly being pulled aboard by Ryu. But Random and Auron had big problems with avoiding the Sand Burrowers who attacked them. Driven to the brink of madness by their hunger, they launched out of the sand and tried to land over them or in front of them.

This left very little time for the two boys from Coruscant to think. They acted on instinct now. If something came from the side, dive forward, if something came underneath, jump forward, if something came in front, jump over it. All that really mattered now was to get to the rear end of the fallen ship. This was like running through a living minefield.

The two managed to get to the side of the wreck part and climbed like crazy up to the top. Random felt the air under his boot grow hot as the sound of a massive jaw crashed close right under him.

Looking over to the Jedi Cruiser, the huge ship was moving towards them. This time, the Sand Burrowers couldn't do anything to prevent them from entering. The powerful wind from the engines keeping the shuttle in the air didn't mean anything now as they jumped up to the ledge and dragged themselves onboard. Looking back at the monsters that still tried to drag the broken ship under the sand.

The engines roared louder and the Jedi Cruiser speeded up towards the sky, starting the long way back to the academy. Creating the safest distance from the monsters the team had been all day. Next stop now would be the comforting beds in their quiet little chamber back at Yavin 4.

Selene helped Tween into the little sickbay and gave her a proper treating. Ryu, Phoenix and Auron settled in their seats and tried to regain their breath. Random made his way to the cockpit and found a dusty looking girl at the wheel, giving him an innocent smile.

"You are late," Random said and flopped down in the co-pilot seat. Kayley shrugged at him.

"Traffic."

The sharp light of the sky surrounding the remote planet Blenjeel suddenly turned into a dark scenario filled with millions of comforting stars dancing in the front window. The ship had broken through the atmosphere and it felt almost as if they had stopped the second the sublight engines got to work outside the atmosphere.

"We made it, Random. We recovered the ships log and avoided any casualties. Ain't that something...? I've learned that my sense of direction still needs a bit of practice," Kayley said and started the countdown to engage the hyperdrive.

"That's good. I've learned to never go fishing with worms as bait anymore." That was Random's last words as his eyes closed and he drifted away into deep sleep in his comfy seat. The humming from the hyperdrive that activated didn't disturb his dreams as he found himself back at Yavin 4, taking a refreshing swim in the quiet nice river just outside the temple.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

That's the end of chapter 3.

A bit long, but hopefully, it didn't suck. I really got scared during the Blenjeel mission meself, but I always enjoy playing it. Since it scares me, it's a little challenge. But remember that the offer for wanted missions still stands. All ya have to do is to cook up a little mission for them, send it to me on my e-mail, it's on my profile, and don't forget to name the mail "Jedi Mission" or else it might be ignored. If ya write the suggestion as a review, then others can read it and maybe spoil the surprise.

But now, to a little tradition of mine.

Fat boy: Sorry I didn't have Random to rescue Kayley, but I'll try to give him a shot to play hero for her. But how and when is unfortunately a secret. Sorry.

John: Hope this was "Jaws" enough for ya.

Shalashaska-001: Yeah, she's having fun. And thank ya for reviewing the last chap. Hope this one was better.

Dynamis: Thank you for liking the last chapter. And please hurry up with thinking up a mission for them. The more the better.

Shanesnest: I really appreciate your suggestion for a mission and promise I will do something about it. Since ya haven't given me much more details, I'll just cook up something meself. But then again, that's my job, ain't it? I will continue to read yer stories. Thanks again.

Until next time, my friends. Peace out.