Last time: Von Signa contacted his contact about his prey.
Now: Oppie and Sasha wake to find themselves in quite a pickle.
Chapter 3- Myrkr
Oppie slowly came awake, laying on soft earth covered in a rich blanket of leaves and other debris from the forest around them. As soon as he remembered what happened he snapped awake, looking around. He was laying in the middle of a small clearing of a dense rainforest. The trees above covered the sky so much that it was a little difficult to see the early morning sky. And lying next to him in a heap on the pile of leaves was Sasha unmoving and unconscious.
And the Force was gone, just like what had happened on Nivon Five. It was a numbing feeling, to just be completely cut off like this. When he and Viran had been dosed with the Force suppressant gas on the way to rescue Sasha, he remembered the fuzziness of that feeling, but it was nothing like this. It was like he was blind, or like he had gone deaf, like he had lost one of his senses. He shook it off as he scrambled over to Sasha and shook her, gently but urgently.
"Sasha." He said, "Sasha, wake up." He said quietly, not sure who or what might be nearby, nor what forest they were in.
Sasha stirred and slowly came to. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at him. "Op… what happened?" She asked, her voice croaking.
"I don't know." Oppie answered, "there was some guy trying to take you, and he had some way of cutting off the Force. He gassed me with something and everything went black. Are you okay?" He asked worriedly.
"Oh, that's right," she said before rubbing her eyes with one hand. She took notice of how she was feeling. Nothing seemed to be hurt or broken. "I'm alright. My head hurts a little, but nothing major." Sasha said as she sat up, rubbing her head. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Oppie said, looking around "A slight headache. Did you get a look at the guy? Maybe you threw him out of a bar at some point?" Oppie said, making a joke.
"No," Sasha said looking around at where they were. "When I lost my connection to the Force, he was just… there. In fact I didn't even know he was a he until now when you said that. He appeared behind me, I turned, he sprayed me in the face too with something and then everything was black."
"Oh, great, some new enemy then." Oppie groused as he stood up, still feeling groggy and his head didn't like the motion. He squinted slightly as he looked around. "Do you feel the Force at all?" He asked, hoping that maybe Sasha's stronger connection might let her get past whatever was blocking them.
Sasha shook her head that was also pounding slightly. "No. I don't feel anything," she said quietly.
"Well, maybe this drug or whatever will wear off soon." He said without much hope in that regard.
"I hope so," Sasha said with a sigh. She looked up. "So where are we? This doesn't look like Nivon."
"No, not a forest I recognize." He replied sourly. "I'm not sure where this is."
Sasha looked around and suddenly noticed two packs nearby with a holodisk on top. She got to her feet and walked over to it. "Op, look what I found." She said as she reached the bags. She grabbed the holodisk from the top of the bags.
"What is it?" He said, coming over to her side.
"I found these packs and this," she said as she held up the holodisk. "I wonder if this will tell us who left us here or where we are." She looked up at him. "Should I turn it on?" She asked him with a raised brow.
Oppie considered for a second. "I guess so."
Sasha looked back to the holodisk and switched it on. A moment later a hologram appeared of a man in a long coat and a wide brimmed hat. Sasha stared at the hologram incredulously. Then the recording started.
"Morning Jedi. If ya watching this, that means ya'll have woken up. Now I'm sure ya'll are wondering where ya at right now or what's happened. Or hell who even I am. Let me give ya the long 'n short of it. I was contacted by someone who wanted to see ya suffer. I don't know who, so don't ask. Anyway, so they hired me to put together this hunt where y'all be hunted by five of my best bounty hunters for pure game. And the pay for this sadistic game is well worth it, I tell you what." He chuckled. "Anyway, here is how the game works. You have been left packs that are filled with minimal supplies. And you are weaponless as well as powerless right now. Don't worry, I'll take good care of ya sabers." He said that with a tone that sounded like they were never getting those back again. "Now as for ya powers, the reason for that is this planet ya'll are on is called Myrkr and there are these critters that are called the ysala… ysalamiri." He said that word slowly as if he had a hard time pronouncing it. "Whatever they are called. They are these lizards that can take away the Force as like you they are connected to the Force and on this planet that makes anyone easy prey for a certain vicious predator of this world, the vornskr. They're deadly hounds that hunt anyone who has the Force." He explained. "Anyway, you've got about a day, depending on what time you wake up, before my hunters arrive. I suggest you take this opportunity to get acquainted with the land. So ya'll have the fun challenge ahead of ya. Either survive the hunters coming after you, get captured and or killed by them, or try to survive the beasts of this planet. Either way, ya'll are not getting off this rock in one piece. Oh, and don't try to call for help. I took your commlinks too. Enjoy your stay on Myrkr. And the names Von Signa. Take care, losers." Then the hologram fizzled out.
Sasha stood there frozen for a moment. "Who… who would place a bounty on us? And was it placed on both of us or just one of us?" She asked, almost rambling after a long silence. She sounded so confused.
"I don't know." Oppie said quietly, "what's in the packs?" He asked, suddenly wishing for a weapon of some sort.
"Umm," Sasha knelt down beside the packs and set down the holodisk. She opened the first pack and started sifting through it. "This one has a couple of blankets, a couple of light torches, a lantern torch, and some rope," she said before checking the other pack. "This one has a couple of bottles of water, some ration packs, a pocket knife, and a medkit." She pulled out the medkit and looked it over. She then opened it and made a disappointed face. "Wow… this is just the basics. There's not even bacta in here. In patch form or ampule form. Just bandages, wraps, some antiseptic supplies, and gauze. That's it."
"Hmph." Oppie said, looking around. "Better than nothing I guess."
"I guess," Sasha said as she put the kit away and closed up the pack. "So now what? What's our plan? We've got a day before the hunters arrive. At least that's what the holodisk said."
Oppie looked around, going back to earlier memories of survival situations he had faced during the war. This was not unlike being shot down. And they were at war, in a way. "We need to get our bearings. We follow some advice from an old Jedi master, and we take the high ground, I guess."
"Alright," Sasha said as she stood, grabbing both of the packs. She held one of them out to Oppie. "So which direction is that exactly? I can't tell which way has higher ground." She bit her lip in frustration. "I really wish we had the Force. This is already getting annoying."
"Yeah." Oppie replied. "I'm not sure," he admitted to her earlier question. "Let's just pick a direction and go, if we see a hill or a mountain we head to it."
"Sounds good to me," Sasha said as she shouldered one of the packs. She gestured to him. "Here. Let's get going. Who knows how long we have before the sun goes down."
"This way?" He suggested with a shrug as he took the pack.
"Yeah, lead the way," Sasha said with a nod.
Oppie slung the pack over his shoulder. "You remember that guy that was watching us in the bar that one night when we went for burgers?"
"Yes," Sasha said.
"Think he might have been in on it?" Oppie asked idly as they walked beneath the thick canopy.
"It's possible," Sasha said with a shrug. "I guess that explains why he seemed so creepy. Do you think it was the guy from the holodisk? That Von guy?"
"Maybe." Oppie said, "I wonder if Ke…" Oppie paused, "if the doc was able to let the others know what happened."
Sasha frowned. "Oh the others… they must be so worried right now," she said quietly. "I can't sense Ci… can't sense anyone from back home." She grimaced at that, but caught on to Oppie avoiding using names.
"Well they must know what happened. I'm sure they're on their way to make this Signa person's day pretty bad." He thought out loud.
Sasha smirked at that. "Yeah, I guess they would be," she said in agreement. "I would hate to be him right now."
Von narrowed his gaze at the monitors. "You two think ya'll are so smart? Ya ain't seen nothing yet. The real show will happen tomorrow."
"You know they cannot hear you sir," G3 said to him.
He threw his dying cheroot at the droid. "Of course I know that, ya dumb droid. I'm just saying," Von said before looking back to the video wall. "Now shut up and watch the show."
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