Hey guys, it's time for another chapter! For this chapter, we'll be exploring Kashyyyk so hopefully that'll be fun. I've been watching the Book of Bobo Fett, and it definitely has gotten me in the Star Wars mood. If you like the story or have any tips, leave a review or comment! Thanks for reading and here's the chapter!
Ch. 10: Assisting the Rebels
(Luna's POV)
The ship took us into Kashyyyk's atmosphere, and we were met with an ocean of clouds. The clouds weren't thick, so I could see the rocky terrain down below. Beyond in the distance was the biggest tree I've ever seen. It was surrounded by mountains, almost like they were trying to protect it. It was magnificent.
"This planet is beautiful," I said.
"You won't be saying that for long, kid. We're about to enter Imperial territory. The Empire's been trying to take over this planet for a while," Greez grumbled as he dipped the ship closer to the ground. Along the way, a fighter jet whizzed past us in a chase with an imperial fighter.
"Oh boy! You see what I mean!?" Greez yelled.
"There's an imperial convoy being ambushed by wookies and guerilla fighters! Walkers are approaching them," Cere said to us from her radar. Cal looked down at the fighting and then at Greez.
"Tarfful could be down there!"
Greez grumbled again.
"He could be anywhere! He's probably underground like we'll be if we go down there!"
"We don't really have any other options though," I said, trying to get Greez to take us down there close to the battle. At this point we were past the clouds and we could see the Imperial walkers making their way to the convoy. They were walking in water so it couldn't have been too deep.
"Do you have a plan?" Cere asked me. I thought for a moment and then shrugged.
"I don't."
"How about we jack one of their walkers?" Cal suggested, getting up from his chair and walking to the exit door of the ship. Jack one of their walkers? That's actually a pretty cool idea! I got out of my seat and followed him as he opened the hatch door.
"What do you think we're in, kid!? The Clone Wars!?" Greez yelled. He really did not want to get anywhere near those walkers. Unfortunately for him, he had two Jedi on his ship that did want to get near them.
"Just take us close to them," Cere told him. She then turned to me and Cal. "...just remember that those walkers double as troop transports so be careful once you get inside. Just stay alive down there, okay?"
Cal grinned and glanced at me.
"We'll add it to the plan. Cere gave him a look and then patted my shoulder before going back to her comm chair. Once the hatch was out, we stepped onto it and looked down. It was going to be a swim for us to get to one of the walkers.
"You good with this?" Cal asked me. I laughed a little and sighed.
"I'm gonna have to be. You ready to swim, BD-1?" I asked the droid. He beeped excitedly at me in response. Looking down, it was kind of a steep drop into the water. The force would help break my fall, but I'm willing to bet that it will still hurt.
"Let's jump at the same time," I said shakily. Cal smiled and nodded.
"That was already part of the plan. You ready?"
I nodded back and we jumped on three.
"One…Two…Three…"
Cal and I jumped off the hatch door and into the water. The water was warm so it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It took me a second to realize I was underwater before I started swimming towards the surface. I came up breathing for air while Cal had already gotten up and was surveying his surroundings. I brushed my hair out of my face and wiped my eyes.
"At least the water's warm."
"Right. Are you a good swimmer?" Cal asked me as we floated there.
"I haven't gone swimming in a long time but I'm not too bad!" I replied. I looked around us and saw a walker maybe a quarter mile away. I motioned Cal to follow me, and we quickly swam to the legs of the giant walker. The water was very wavy, and I found myself being slapped in the face with a wave every ten seconds. It was super annoying.
"Okay, this is getting old real fast!" I complained. Cal just laughed behind me. I don't think he cared about the waves at all.
"It'll be over soon! Look, there's vines on the walker's legs. We can climb them and get inside from there," he said.
"That should work. Did you ever have to work on walkers back on Bracca?"
"All the time! I really liked them because they were huge projects that gave us a decent pay. It really sucked if you had to work on one by yourself though. It's kind of like if you had to build a house on your own. I wouldn't recommend it if you value your sanity," he laughed.
"I can imagine!"
We finally reached the legs of the walker and grabbed onto the vines that were wrapped around them. They were thick and sturdy. They also had the added benefit of going all the way to the top of the walker. That's where we needed to be. Climbing, I made it to the top and then lowered my hand to Cal.
"Thanks."
I helped him up and then let him take the lead. He knew more about the layout of these walkers than I did. He pointed to a latch that was open and said that that was where we would be able to enter the walker. We started walking towards it, but a trooper suddenly popped out of it with a pair of binoculars. Cal and I froze in place as we watched him.
"Where are those wookies at…" the trooper muttered.
"Let's push him…" I whispered. I raised my hand and Cal raised his. With a simple push of the force, we sent the trooper flying into the water below. Easy-peasy. Now it was time to get inside.
"Like Cere said, we should be careful inside these walkers. There's no telling how many troopers are in them. I'll go first," Cal told me. He jumped inside the hatch, and I jumped shortly after. The room we had jumped in was smaller than expected, so Cal and I were practically chest to chest. His face was so close to mine that I could see each individual freckle on his handsome face. Wait, I meant just his face! Forget that I said handsome, okay! I immediately blushed and didn't know what to say. It looked like Cal wasn't any different.
"Whoa! Uhh…small room, huh?"
"Yeahhhhhh…Sorry…" I said with a growing smile.
"It's not your fault," he laughed before turning his head behind him, "The rest of the walker's through here."
I peeked my head over his shoulder and saw a hole in the wall that was big enough for us. It led to a lower part of the walker. Cal slipped into the hole and then dropped down to the ground floor of the walker. I did the same and noticed that it was much roomier down here. It was a hallway with a hatch that went up. Okay, maybe walkers were three floors? I don't know anymore! Cal lifted the hatch slowly and then gave me an annoyed look. I knew what that meant. It meant that we were about to fight some stormtroopers.
"How many?" I whispered.
He held up three fingers and I nodded. This shouldn't be too difficult. I took out my lightsaber as Cal opened the hatch doors. The three stormtroopers were standing over a dead trooper. I'm guessing a wookie had killed him a while back. It doesn't matter though because the three troopers were soon dead as well from our surprise attack.
"Alright, now that that's done, this door here should lead to the cockpit. Typically, there will be two troopers piloting a walker," Cal informed me. I watched as he opened the door to reveal a narrow tube that led to the cockpit, just like he said. Cal crawled through the hole like a gymnast and I copied his technique. The pilots were so distracted with talking to each other that they didn't hear us come in. I intended on taking out one trooper while Cal took out the other, but BD-1 had other plans. He jumped right in between them! They both looked at him with confusion, and this gave Cal the chance to grab both of their heads and slam them into each other. The troopers fell to the ground unconscious, and Cal got into one of the pilot seats. I just stood there and stared at the two troopers.
"Wow. Even with helmets, they still got knocked out."
"Yeah, pretty lame. I did make them hit each other pretty hard though," Cal said. He then patted the seat next to him and grinned.
"Come on, this is yours."
I grinned back and hopped in beside him. From here, we got an amazing view of the scenery in front of us. We were about to enter a swamp-looking area. One other walker was in front of us, and a voice came over our radio.
"Attention! You're in violation of-"
"Can you shut that guy up?" Cal said to me. I pressed the mute button and the voice disappeared. I looked back over to him, and he was excitedly pressing buttons all over the dashboard. BD and I glanced at each other and then back to Cal.
"You look way too happy right now. You sure you know how to pilot one of these things?"
"We'll see!" He said with another grin. My eyes widened at him, and he thrusted the walker forward with the push of a lever. I fell back into my seat and shook my head.
"You're crazy, but I guess I am too. Which button shoots the blasters? Let's see…" I started pressing random buttons until the blasters shot two laser bullets at the walker in front of us. I smiled at Cal and covered my mouth to cover a laugh.
"Oh! There it is!"
I pressed the button over and over, watching as the blasters sprayed the walker with bullets. It wasn't long before the walker exploded and fell to the ground, giving us access to the battle ahead.
"Nice," Cal cheered. He steered us forward, and we were now in complete war mode. Rebels were shooting at stormtroopers, and stormtroopers were shooting at rebels. You best believe that the Stormtroopers were shocked to see one of their own walkers firing at them though.
"It has missiles too?"
I pressed the button next to the blaster button and a missile shot out. The missile exploded into a group of stormtroopers and they went flying. Okay, this is awesome. BD-1 looked at me and said the same. We continued our march forward until we saw someone attach themselves to our windshield. It was a man who looked like one of the rebels.
"Who are you guys!?" he yelled.
"Just two people who took over an AT-AT. Who are you?" Cal asked smugly. I continued to shoot while they talked. No sense in stopping!
"Just a rebel pissing off the Empire. We're trying to advance to the landing pad up ahead. Meet you there?"
"You got it!" I answered him. The man gave us a thumbs up and then detached himself from the windshield. To the landing pad we go! Cal steered the AT-AT walker closer and closer to the pad until it was right in front of us. None of the troopers' blasters were strong enough to deal with a walker. There was, however, an Imperial ship on the landing pad. I trained our guns on it, and it began taking off.
"Oh, no you don't."
I targeted the expanding wings of the ship, watching them catch fire from my efforts.
"There we go…" Cal said under his breath. I fired more and more, and the ship faltered as it started rising in the sky. This was a perfect time to use a missile. Pressing the missile button, the projectile flew from the walker straight into the middle of the ship. The Imperial ship exploded and…started coming in our direction!?
"Shit, it's coming right for us!" I yelled in panic. Cal grabbed my arm and put his other arm in front of me.
"Luna, hold on!" he yelled, trying to protect me from the impact. The ship soon crashed into our walker, and we both tumbled to the floor as the AT-AT collapsed. Surprisingly, the crash wasn't as bad as you would think. Maybe a bruise here and there, but nothing serious. I opened my eyes after a few seconds to see Cal laying next to me. He looked back at me and sat up.
"You okay?" he asked. BD-1 hopped from the cockpit seat next to him and asked me the same question.
"Yeah, I'm okay! Are you two alright? And thanks for putting yourself in front of me like that. It was really brave," I said with a smile. Cal's eyes widened before smiling too.
"Don't mention it, and yeah I'm good too. You alright, BD?"
The robot gave us a happy pattern of beeps that told us he was fine. Thank goodness…
Cal and I slowly stood up as much as we could in the wrecked walker. Cal let BD-1 jump on his shoulder and then led us out of the AT-AT. BD-1 beeped at us, but I couldn't make it out. I was still working on understanding droidspeak. Cal seemed to understand him just fine though. Maybe, when we get time, he can give me some lessons on it.
"No, BD-1, we're not doing that again," Cal said with a laugh. He jumped off the walker and held his hand out to me. I was pleasantly surprised by the gentlemanly gesture.
"Thanks, Cal!"
I gladly took his hand and jumped down next to him. He was being super nice today. I mean, he's always nice but still! The rebel man from earlier walked up to us and put his hands on his hips.
"You two just wrecked a perfectly good walker! Shit…well, anyway, your names?" he asked us, quickly getting over the fact that we had indeed wrecked a perfectly good walker.
"I'm Cal."
"And I'm Luna," I said.
"Saw Gerrera," the man said. He gave us both a handshake before motioning for us to walk with him. We told him that we were here to look for Tarfful and he basically told us that that was impossible.
"Tarfful's impossible to find. The man's a mystery, but he's evaded the Empire ever since they first attacked Kashyyyk. He's the symbol of the resistance on the planet. Why are you trying to find him?"
"Jedi business," Cal quickly said. Saw gave him a look and then glanced at me.
"The Jedi are dead."
"Not us," I said, taking out my lightsaber. Cal took his out as well. Saw stared at the weapons and looked to be in disbelief.
"You take those off a corpse or something?"
"Our masters gave them to us," Cal explained.
Saw still looked like he wasn't seeing what he was seeing, but he eventually believed us.
"And I thought I was done being surprised. What I said still stands. Tarfful is extremely discrete in his actions. He knows how to deal with the Empire which is why they haven't killed him yet."
I sighed.
"Isn't there any information you have that could help us?"
Saw thought for a minute and then took his hands off his hips finally.
"There have been reports of the Empire holding a group of wookies as slaves. There's a refinery up ahead where they might be holding them. If I were you, I would check there. If you were to infiltrate the base, that would definitely help our efforts against the Empire. Plus, one of those wookies might know of his whereabouts."
I looked at Cal and smiled.
"We would be glad to. Thanks for the info!"
"Don't mention it, I'll meet you up ahead with my crew when you're ready."
He gave us a final nod and then walked to a group of soldiers near the edge of the flight pad. Speaking of the flight pad, we heard a ship heading our way, and we looked up to see the Mantis landing beside us. Just in time. Cere and Greez walked out of the ship and looked around.
"I don't know how you two do it," Greez said with a grumble.
"Do what?" I asked.
"Survive all the crazy shit you do! It's insane!"
I smirked and leaned my elbow on Cal's shoulder.
"We got the magic touch, I guess. Isn't that right, Cal?"
"You know it!"
Cere seemed pleased with our confidence and waved her hand at the ship.
"Loving the confidence, you two. This planet's going to go the same way as Zeffo did. Greez and I will monitor Imperial movements on the comms from the ship. We'll be around if you need to talk to us through our comm link. Did that man you were talking to just now have any info on Tarfful?"
"Only that he was impossible to find…" Cal muttered with a sigh.
"He did say that there were wookies being held captive in an Imperial refinery deep in the jungle. Cal and I were going to go find it and see if the wookies knew anything or if he was with them. It's the only lead we have right now," I added. Cere shrugged and Greez growled in irritation like he usually did.
"It's at least something we can work off of. The refinery is most likely heavily guarded so be careful."
"And don't get seriously wounded or die. Who else am I gonna cook for if you two are not alive anymore? When you get back, we can all drink until we pass out. I've been told that I'm a pretty good bartender, along with being a cook," the man said with vigor.
"Uhh we're not old enough to drink, Greez," I said as a matter of fact. Cal raised his eyebrow at me and seemed to disagree.
"Actually, Luna, the drinking age in Bracca is 18 so I'm technically allowed to drink."
My mouth fell open, and I cursed under my breath.
"Damn it, Hosnian Prime! Every other planet lets you drink under 21 except mine!? Whatever, I didn't want to drink anyway!"
Greez let out a huge laugh while Cal just chuckled. Cere changed the subject and reiterated that she would be here if we needed her. She walked back up to the ship and Greez followed her. Cal and I watched them go before looking at each other.
"Well, you're not on Hosnian Prime anymore so you can basically do whatever you want. You ready to go?" Cal asked me, already walking towards the Kashyyyk jungle. I smiled and was ready to start our next adventure.
"Mhmm."
I walked with him past the other rebels on the flight pad and to the entrance of the jungle path. Saw said that the refinery was somewhere up ahead and this was the only path forward. Rather than a jungle, like expected, there was a trench that separated us from Saw and the rest of the rebels. They must have gone through here after speaking with us on the flight pad.
"Do you think there will be any crazy shit in here since it's an alien jungle?" Cal asked excitedly. I cringed a little at the thought and rubbed the goosebumps on my arms.
"I bet there is but I hope not. I HATE insects and anything that crawls. They don't like me and I don't like them," I answered him as we walked through the trench. The rebels had little platforms set in place so that it wasn't an issue traversing it.
"Aww come on, what about a butterfly or a…I don't know…a grasshopper?"
I shivered at the mention of grasshoppers.
"Ew, no! Grasshoppers never shut up and they jump on you! I do like butterflies though. They're really pretty and they're not dangerous. What about you? Is it a 'guy thing' to like insects and anything that's gross?" I asked with a laugh. He grinned and glanced at BD-1.
"Pretty much. We just love discovery. Now, that discovery may or may not get us killed, but that's not the important part."
"It's not?" I asked with a puzzled expression on my face.
"Nope! Hey, look. Speaking of insects…"
Cal pointed ahead of us at two huge lightning bugs. They looked like lightning bugs anyway. The only difference is that they were the size of a house cat.
"See, this is what I'm talking about. Bugs should not be that big!"
"It'll be fine! We'll just take them out before they notice us. Let's go."
Cal turned his lightsaber on and I did as well. Instead of sneaking up on the bugs, we ran at them and then made an upward slash at their bodies. The slash chopped them in half and they fell to the ground. Cal was about to say something smugly to me, but the bugs began to glow a bright orange. I grabbed his arm and tugged him back with me before the bugs exploded. Orange goop splattered on the ground where their bodies used to be, and smoke began to rise from the substance.
It's most likely acidic.
I looked at Cal and he was trying to catch his breath.
"Woah…thanks, Luna. I owe you one."
I smiled and softened my grip on his arm.
"I'm just glad you're okay. There's no telling how bad that stuff hurts if it touches you. Don't plan on finding out."
"Yeah, me neither," he muttered. We looked past the remains of the bugs and saw a ladder that led to a rebel outpost.
"Looks like we reached the end of the trench. Let's see if Saw has anything new to tell us," Cal said. We climbed the ladder, and sure enough, Saw was crouched in front of a barricade. He saw us and appeared somewhat relieved.
"You two made it. It's just like we thought. The refinery's just up ahead. They're collecting tree sap right now."
"Why tree sap?" I asked.
"Our intel says they've been breaking it down into a powerful compound. The good news is, their troopers are spread thin. Thin enough for us to make a move. If you two are able to infiltrate the refinery and set those wookies free, it would be a great help to the cause. I'd also be more likely to believe you're truly Jedi."
He still doesn't believe us? I could use the force to slow him down. That might convince him, but that's not really appropriate at a time like this…
"...We managed to secure a map of the area."
Saw took out a small chip and BD-1's antennas jumped up. He dropped off Cal's shoulder, and Saw inserted the chip into BD's chip reader. A holographic map appeared out of nowhere and showed the refinery in all its industrial glory.
"This refinery doubles as a brutal prison camp, so there could be more prisoners in there than we thought. We'll set a distraction for the Empire so you guys can free those wookies while the stormtroopers are preoccupied. We're counting on you two. Give them all you got."
He stood up from his crouched position and lifted his arm. In his hand was a grappling hook that shot out and attached to a higher hangar. He flew away from us and his rebel soldiers followed him with their own grappling hooks. I guess that explains how they were able to pass the trench so quickly.
BD-1 put away the map and Cal helped him back on his shoulder.
"Did you hear that? He needs our help," he said eagerly.
"You seem really happy about it," I noted with a smile of my own.
"It's because I am! I've felt useless for so long, and that whole time I wanted to make a difference and help someone. Now that I can, it feels good to finally help out against the Empire. It's a weird feeling, but I love it."
I wanted to hug him for how wholesome that was. In a way, I've felt the same for a long time too.
"I know what you mean. I love that you haven't given up even after all you've been through."
He looked at me with a brightened gaze.
"I couldn't have done it without you, BD-1, Cere, and Greez. You guys have given me hope that I really needed. And you're the same way! You're so strong for coming on this journey with us. Leaving everything you knew must have been really scary. It took a lot of courage to do that."
"Thanks, Cal, that means a lot to me. I know I've probably said it before, but thanks for being so kind to me. You might be the sweetest guy ever," I told him, forcing myself to look down at the ground.
"Heh, you give me too much credit. I should be saying that to you! Well, except I would change it to 'you might be the sweetest girl ever'. I did notice you gave Saw an irritated look before he showed us the map though," he said with amusement.
"Damn, you noticed that?"
"Yes," he laughed.
"I just had the idea of slowing him down with the force to prove that we were really Jedi. I didn't know the idea was showing on my face..."
"Oh, that? I kind of just ignored him when he said that part. Your idea would probably work though."
"I'm glad you think so!" I exclaimed. Cal smiled one more time before looking at the Imperial refinery. I looked at it as well and tried to get back on the topic at hand. Nonetheless, I do really like mine and Cal's personal discussions. They always make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I also think they bring us closer together as teammates. He's definitely earned my trust by now.
A few feet away was a perch that overlooked both the refinery and the entrance to said refinery. Per usual, there was a group of stormtroopers blocking the door. Cal and I didn't even have to make a plan this time. We rushed in and took out all the stormtroopers. They didn't know what hit them!
"Alright, let's see what's in here," Cal said as he opened the door to the refinery. What was behind the door made us jump back. A R2-series droid was just standing right on the other side of the door! Little creeper! I put my hand on my chest and exhaled.
"That scared the shit out of me!"
"Me too," Cal breathed out, "luckily these little guys are harmless…for the most part."
"Jedi at the door!"
We looked past the droid to see troopers running at us with electric batons. These guys were a little trickier than regular stormtroopers. One of them ran to me first and swung at my head. I ducked and sliced through his abdomen, causing him to fall to the ground. The other trooper swung at Cal like he was a sportsball but missed. Cal twirled his lightsaber and stabbed the trooper from behind. Another two down.
"That was nice," I complimented. He thanked me with a grin, and we moved on to the next door. We walked up to it and heard someone struggling on the other side. Opening it, we saw a different kind of trooper. He was dressed in all black, and he was holding a staff where both of the ends were covered with purple electricity.
A purge trooper…Purge troopers are specifically trained to kill Jedi. It's always a good idea to avoid them rather than getting caught in a fight with them. Cal and I weren't so lucky, however.
The purge trooper was fighting a rebel and managed to kill the man without breaking a sweat. He noticed us soon after.
"Jedi!? Yes! This is what I've trained for!" he yelled in a menacing voice. He twirled his staff like an acrobat at us, and you could feel the electricity on your skin. We both jumped out of the way before he could hit us. Cal attacked the purge trooper first, but the man blocked all of his attacks. The trooper pushed away Cal's lightsaber and then kicked him in the abdomen. Cal flew backwards with a grunt and the trooper focused his gaze at me.
"You're gonna die today, Jedi bitch!"
I glared at him and tried to attack him. He blocked my attacks, just like Cal, and then raised his fist to punch me. I aimed my lightsaber upward, and I think I nicked his hand because he yelped when I swung at it.
"I don't think so!" I screamed back at him. I could hear him grit his teeth in anger. Someone had actually managed to hit him. His cockyness turned into pure rage as he attacked me once again. He was fast and ruthless. I blocked all of his attacks, but he was clearly stronger than me. Stronger in the physical sense.
"Stop!"
I heard Cal yell at the purge trooper, and the man suddenly became very slow. Cal must have used the force on him because he was completely vulnerable now.
"W-Whaaaaaattttt?"
Even the man's words were slowed down. His end was almost guaranteed now as Cal and I stabbed both our sabers through his chest. He sounded as if he had just coughed up some blood before falling to the floor, lifeless. Cal and I took a moment to catch our breaths before speaking to one another.
"You okay? That kick looked like it hurt," I said. Cal put his hand on his stomach and grimaced.
"It still hurts a ton, but I'll be okay. You alright?"
I nodded.
"Yes, I think so."
I felt around myself just in case I wasn't feeling the pain of something yet but didn't feel any forming cuts or bruises. I'm not sure how I got out of that unscathed, but I'm not complaining! I looked at Cal and he was still holding his abdomen. I frowned and thought of a way to make him feel better.
"Here, this will make you feel better."
I kissed the tip of my fingertips and then touched where his hand was on his stomach.
"Uh…Huh?"
He didn't know what to say.
"I've heard that a kiss always makes things feel better. Does it feel better?"
"Um…Actually…yeah, it does," he said with a big smile on his face. He sounded a bit flustered when he said that.
"Good! Maybe I'll do that more often!"
"I wouldn't mind if you did," he said with a smirk. I rolled my eyes and pushed his shoulder away from me playfully. Were we…flirting just then? What is the criteria for flirting because I'm honestly curious.
"You two okay? We finally made it inside! The place is covered with troopers so we need to free those wookies quickly! The door in front of you is blocked but I'll get it open soon!" a voice above us said. It sounded like Saw. We looked up and saw him and his crew shuffling through the vents. Soon enough, the door in front of us opened automatically. Rather than a hallway, it was a narrow stretch of vents.
"A tight fit…" Cal muttered. He looked at me and then started the trek of going through the vent. It really was a tight fit. Both my front and back were up against the walls of the vents, and I was beginning to feel claustrophobic. Cal got stuck a couple of times so I had to help him get free, which was funny. Once we finally made it to the end, we were both relieved to be out of that mess.
"Nope, didn't like that," I said with a groan.
"Me neither," Cal agreed, "but it looks like we won't have to worry about fighting another group of troopers right now. Look."
I looked out and saw that we were in an open area. Cal and I stood on a balcony while a group of troopers stood at a lower level than us. It was similar to a courtyard. I was wondering why Cal had said that until I saw a swarm of those giant lightning bugs fly by us.
"Flame beetles! Take them out!"
The troopers began shooting at the bugs, giving us a chance to slip by them undetected. That's a first.
"We're never that lucky," I whispered in shock. BD-1 let out a low beep and said that we were probably going to come up on something really bad because of it. It was meant as a joke, but I had a feeling he was right.
"How optimistic of you, BD," Cal laughed.
We walked through another door to the middle of the refinery. It was actually another outdoor area that looked as if the Empire hadn't gotten a good enough hold on the Kashyyyk wildlife just yet. How do I know? Well, that's because in this area there was another group of troopers fighting off a giant spider! Yeah, a giant freaking spider.
"Cal, that spider is the size of a car…" I said with a trembling voice. I looked at him and he didn't seem much better than me.
"Yeah, I really don't like spiders, Luna…The problem is…we have to go through them to get to the other side of this place…"
I huffed with frustration and asked BD-1 to reveal the map of the refinery to us.
"Maybe there's another way," I said, hoping that there was. I looked all over the map and my hope was slowly dying with each second that I stared at the hologram. Cal clicked his tongue and bowed his head.
"Nope, there's not."
"Well, shit. If we have to fight one of those spiders you best believe I'm sticking as close to you as possible," I told him. There was no way I was fighting that thing alone. Cal snorted back at me.
"Hey, I'm gonna be sticking as close to YOU as possible!"
"As long as we're together," I surmised, "I say we do what we did with the purge trooper. One of us uses the force to slow it down while the other whacks away at it. Sound like a plan?" I asked. He nodded his approval, and we finally decided to hop down to where the action was. With mine and Cal's incredible luck, the spider immediately stopped torturing the troopers and went straight for us. How did I know that was going to happen?
"Oh for fuck's sake!"
The spider was a lot bigger up close, and a lot scarier too. Its fangs were massive, and its eight eyes stared at us viciously. It wanted us dead. I looked at Cal and extended my hand out. Channeling the force, I slowed down the spider before it reached us. Cal took his cue and killed the spider with a barrage of slashes and swipes. Fortunately, for us there was only one spider. We looked at the troopers in case they attacked us next but the spider had put them to near death already. All four troopers were lying on the ground, unconscious. We decided to leave them be. If we didn't have to kill them then we wouldn't.
On the way to the other side of the refinery, we saw a multitude of webs covering both the jungle and facility areas of the building. I wonder where the other spiders are right now. Cal and I entered the door to see another metal hallway. This refinery was fairly linear, which was better for us in terms of getting to the wookies.
"Whoever designed this place wasn't very creative, huh?" Cal said with mirth.
"I was actually thinking the same thing. The Empire probably came up with a design and then just used the same one for every single refinery they've built. It's easier that way."
Everything had to be dark and brooding for the Empire. It kind of makes you think why other planets thought the Empire was a source of good rather than one of evil. The Emperor's speech to the Galactic Senate five years ago was obviously malicious in intent. They were either too careless to notice or too scared to go against the Galactic Empire. I think I was wondering off a little too much because Cal was staring at me.
"Huh?"
"You okay? You seem deep in thought," he said. I smiled and waved my hand at him.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about some past stuff. BD-1, do you think we're close to the wookies yet?" I asked the tiny droid on Cal's shoulder. BD-1 beeped and pulled up the hologram map once again with our location on it. We were coming up on a fork in the path that was labeled "slave cells".
"Well that has to be it. The name is a little on the nose isn't it?"
Cal chuckled.
"Just slightly."
We reached the point where the paths split into two long rooms. On each wall of the rooms was a long cell with a console at the very end of each room. Those consoles must be the key to the cells. We heard some whimpering and saw that there were, in fact, wookies trapped inside of the cells.
"We found them!" I said happily.
"Saw was right. Let's each take a room and free them together," Cal said. I nodded and walked to the right room while he walked to the left. The wookies cried out when they saw me, and I reassured them that I was going to free them. I walked up to the console and tried to figure out how the system worked. I wasn't as good with machines as Cal was, but I could still find my way around some things. I pressed a button that looked like it would begin the process of unlocking the cells, and the door I had entered the room from slammed shut. I gasped and turned my lightsaber on by instinct. I heard a sound behind me, and I turned to see a metal hatch open up. A large seven-foot robot stepped out of the hatch and stared right at me. I gulped at the sheer size of the robot. It had to be some sort of defense system in case of intruders. Intruders, meaning me…
"JEDI SPOTTED. PREPARE FOR BEATING."
Its voice was so monotone, but still very menacing. I took a step back and looked at the wall behind me. Was Cal dealing with a robot as well? The robot took one step and then suddenly fell to the ground, face first. Umm…What just happened?
"ERROR. SYSTEM MALFUNCTION. REBOOT INITIATED."
It malfunctioned…? I'm going to take this opportunity to make sure it doesn't reboot. I walked over to the robot and sliced it to bits. I definitely didn't want a beating right now. Though I'm sure a beating really means killing me. I went back to the console and pressed a few buttons to free the wookies. It took me a minute, but I finally found the key to the cells. The cells opened and the wookies were free! There had to be at least fifty of them in this room alone.
"I'm happy to help!" I said to them as they happily thanked me. I don't speak the language wookies speak either, so I couldn't really have a conversation with them, now could I? The entrance door opened for us, and the wookies headed outside. I smiled as I watched them go before I heard some clashing and clinging. I gasped and remembered Cal in the other room. I ran out of the room and turned to go to the side he went on, but a door was blocking the way.
"No!? Cal!?"
There was a window on the door, and I looked inside to see him fighting another one of those security droids. The robot picked Cal up and threw him to the ground like it was nothing. I frantically looked around for a way to open the door but couldn't find one.
"Son of a bitch! There has to be a way!"
Maybe I could create a path with my lightsaber? I aimed the saber at the door and stabbed it. The lightsaber went through the door like a knife through butter. Turning it, I made a circle and cut out a path in the door.
Yes! I made it through!
I looked at Cal and the security droid as I stepped into the room. The droid opened its arms out at Cal in an attempt to grab him. Cal dashed backwards while I used the force to push the robot back.
"Luna!?" Cal yelled with surprise.
"Yeah! Sorry it took me so long!" I said back to him. Cal took this moment to dash forward and slice the security droid's head off.
"Gotcha! Don't worry, guys! We're here to free you!" he said, jogging back to the console. He knew exactly how to free the cells and I face-palmed. How did he know!? The cells opened up and the wookies filed out of the room.
"Thanks for coming in like that. That security droid was tough!" Cal said, walking up to me. I started to reply to him but stopped when I noticed the bruises on his face. I gasped and lifted my hand to his face.
"Cal! Your face! Are you okay!?"
He didn't even seem to care! He waved me off like it was no big deal.
"Oh, the droid punched me a few times in the face. Nothing I can't handle."
"B-But it looks pretty bad!"
I touched his cheek with my hand and he winced.
"O-Ow…Okay, maybe it is kind of bad…"
"See? There's some things even a healing stim can't fix. Here, let's sit down right here," I told him. He tried to argue again, but I pulled him down with me. He sighed and sat criss-crossed while I took a first-aid kit out of my bag. It was nothing special. It did, however, contain an alcoholic-like solution that can soothe bruises on the skin in a matter of minutes.
"This should help," I said. I dipped a cotton ball into the solution and then gently dabbed Cal's cheek with it. He winced again as soon as I touched him. I really hated seeing him like this.
"I'm sorry," I apologized with a saddened look. His eyes widened and he shook his head.
"It's not your fault, Luna! I should have been more careful when fighting that thing…Did you have to fight one in your room?" he asked. I dabbed his cheek again and shook my head.
"One showed up but then it malfunctioned. I destroyed it before it could get back up."
"That's good. If anyone's gonna get punched in the face, it better be me," he said. I giggled at the ridiculous statement.
"Cal, I appreciate that, but you don't need to be getting punched in the face either."
I finished wiping his face with the solution and took out a small hand towel. I softly brushed my fingertips over his cheeks and chin with the towel so the solution wouldn't rub off. He closed his eyes with relief and I smiled, knowing that the medicine was beginning to take effect.
"Better?"
"Y-Yeah…" he said with a comforted sigh. I stopped my fingers on his cheek and looked at his features. I could see the multiple scars on his face from his experience during Order 66. They were very faint and didn't ruin his appearance at all. There was a scar on the right side of his face near the neck, one on his nose, one near the bottom lip, and a scar above his right eyebrow. Those were all the scars I could count anyway. I think he told me one time that he was a little self-conscious of them, but I think they made him look unique. He was definitely attractive and shouldn't feel self-conscious at all about his appearance. The feeling of his cheek on my fingertips was smooth. The blueness of it was starting to recede back to its original peachy color. I knew bringing that first-aid kit would come in handy eventually.
"Thanks, Luna."
I snapped out of my daze and looked into his eyes. His green gaze was soft and caring.
"No biggie. You're already starting to look like yourself again! Not that you looked all that different, but still."
He chuckled and brought his hand to his face where my hand still was. He put his hand over mine and grinned.
"All thanks to you."
His grin made my face burn up, and I finally took my hand off his cheek.
"You're not wincing anymore either. Yep! Back to the same old Cal! You ready to go see Saw now that the wookies are free?" I asked. He nodded and we stood up. He felt around his face and seemed surprised that he wasn't feeling any pain anymore.
"Damn, what would I do without you?"
"You would still have bruises all over your face, silly."
"Ha, you're right. And don't worry, BD, I didn't forget about you. Thanks for helping me out, little buddy."
He patted the droid's head a couple times and BD-1 beeped at him happily.
"Thanks, BD-1. Now let's talk to Saw and see if we can find Tarfful," he said as we headed out where the wookies had gathered. Maybe one of them did know where Tarfful was hiding. If they did, it would make our journey a whole lot easier…
And that is the end of the chapter! Sorry about the time it took to get this out. I tried to write a little each day but kept getting sidetracked. The chapter did turn out long so that's good! I love writing more flirty scenes between Cal and Luna. But anyway, please review or comment on the story and let me know what you think of it so far! Finally, I'll see you guys next time!
