Star Wars
The Chronicles of Horn
Chapter 4
Corran continued on from the old Mandalorian weapons cache. The reek of burnt flesh hung in the air around the boma beast that Corran had just blasted. He had to leave th area before the corpse drew predators. After a quick look at his locator, Corran set off towards the ancient Mandalorian outpost. Most of the trip was uneventful, a few cannocks and maalras jumped him from time to time, but his new weaponry made them a minimal threat. It appeared that the boma's body had indeed drawn off most of the predators in the area. It was almost midnight on Dxun (it was actually 2:30pm Coruscant time) when Corran first saw a delapidated relay dish poking out of the trees. Only the light reflected off the planet Onderon allowed him to see anything. It's a good thing Onderon produces so much light, Corran thought, I don't want to think about what a light would bring out of this jungle.
Corran cautiously walked through the corroded gate leading into the base. It wasn't much of a base anymore, the jungle had almost completely reclaimed the old structures. Corran went into one of the rusty buildings, it was a dormitory of some kind. One door caught Corran's eye. Unlike the other doors, it was shut tight and there was a chance that the inside remained free of jungle life. Corran tried to pull the door open, but discovered that it would only open inder power. Corran gave the other rooms a quick check and, in the last one, saw a large vac sealed chest. He opened it up and found a cryogenic power cell, perfectly preserved in the no-atmosphere chest for all these years. Corran took the cell down to the closed door and hotwired it into the door controls. Now under power, the door opened with a push of a button. The inside of the room smelled of mildew and decay, but it had no jungle creatures in it. Corran closed the door behind him and decided to spend the night in the room. He would have prefered to keep going, but he had a gut feeling that he didn't want to explore the camp when it was dark. At least I have a cot in here, thought Corran as he sat down on the rickety piece of furniture. After checking to make sure the cot would hold his weight, Corran settled down and fell quickly asleep.
Corran was awakened by the shrill beeping of his wrist chronometer. He had set it to wake him up at 7:30 am. Corran got up and ate some of his rations. If only I had a 'fresher so I could take a shower, Corran mused to himself, but at least I'm rested up. Corran opened the door to the room after collecting his gear up off the floor. Outside was another dusky, rainy Dxun day. Corran knew that the parts he needed would be found in the hangar on the other side of the base. As Corran approached the hangar, he started having prickles up and down his back. He looked in the large hangar door and saw nothing but several plasteel containers. Corran still had inexplicable feelings of fear about what was inside the hangar. Best to get it over with now rather than wait to find out what's wrong the hard way, Corran thought as he took a few tentative steps into the hangar.
Almost immediately Corran saw the problem. There was a hole in the right wall that lead through to another hangar bay. Inside that bay was a huge creature. It was a full grown drexyl. The creature was asleep, but was showing signs of waking up. Corran decided to try to sneak across the hangar to get to the containers. If he could just get the parts he needed, he could leave before the drexyl woke up. Corran edged silently through the hangar and looked in several containers before finding all of the parts he needed. They were old and not in the best shape, but they would do for a quick fix. As Corran turned around to leave, he saw the drexyl. It was standing on its nest, staring at Corran. Corran knew he was only alive because he had caught the beast off guard. Before it could decide what to do about him, Corran activated three adhesive grenades and threw them in quick succession. One was a dud, but the other two exploded and effectively glued the drexyl to the floor. The adhesive wasn't made to hold forever even when it was new. These grenades were thousands of years old. Corran would have tried to kill the beast, but knew that he would only have one shot. Even now he dared not throw a frag grenade for fear that it would destroy the glue and not the drexyl. I'd better quit while I'm alive and run.
Corran ran out of the hangar and base. He ran until his lungs burned and his head hurt. He looked around to gain his bearings and saw the boma he had killed the previous day. It was nothing but a skeleton now. When Corran had checked which direction the ship was in, he headed off towards it at a quick pace. Corran was about a kilometer away from the X-wing when he heard a bone chilling screech. The drexyl had freed itself and followed him and was now flying over the top of the jungle. It crashed through the foliage behind Corran and landed on the ground. Corran didn't wait to see what would happen. As he ran, Corran activated his comlink.
"Whistler, get in your socket and prep the X-wing's laser cannons," Corran said between gasps. Corran remembered that the X-wing was facing south and he was coming from the west. Corran took a turn and curved around the clearing, now fifty meters ahead, until he was directly in front of his ship. He burst into the clearing with the drexyl hard on his heels. Corran shouted "Fire Whistler!" and dove to the ground. The X-wings large cannons cut loose and scarlet energy slammed into the drexyl, all but vaporizing it.
Corran walked up to the ship as Whistler was popping out of his socket. "Thanks Whisler, I would have been done for if you hadn't been there." The droid warbled proudly. Now that they had the parts they needed, they could repar the ship and get off this nightmare of a planet.
More to come. Sorry for the long delay. Writers' block.