Last time: Kitsu and Illara investigated the crime scene on Nivon V with Messan.

Now: Sasha and Oppie meet the local fauna.

Chapter 5- The Chase

Five hours passed since they had woken up on Myrkr. Both of them were grateful for the chrono on Oppie's wrist as it allowed them to keep track of how much time they had been walking. But it also would allow them to keep track of how long a day is on this planet. And based off the placement of the sun when they could see it peeking through the dense canopy and with how long they had been walking so far, they had to guess it was most likely midday. However, Sasha was already starting to feel tired as they walked. The two of them were rather fit and active Jedi. They could easily handle walking for many hours on end without a break. But they normally had the Force with them to help give them the strength they needed to push it an extra hour or two. Right now, however, they were completely disconnected from the Force and they were traveling through rugged terrain. So the feeling of exhaustion was starting to set in. Plus they had been going without a break, so that wasn't helping them either.

However, they both thought it best to travel as far as they could in a day before they would have to deal with the bounty hunters. Which meant stopping as few times as possible and giving as much distance between them and the hunters too. The higher they could make their chances of not running into a bounty hunter out here the better chance they had of maybe finding a way off before they were caught. Or worse, killed. But they had to assume that they were being watched somehow while they were out there or at least being listened in on. Or maybe even tracked somehow. They weren't quite sure if this Von guy was spying on them, but they had to guess that if someone wanted them to suffer via a hunt like this, that person would want a recording of it all so they could watch it and enjoy every second. It really was a sadistic idea. However, they found no signs of cameras, hidden microphones, or droid cams as they walked. It didn't help that they couldn't sense where they were either, but if there were in fact any cameras out there watching their every move or mics listening in on their conversations, they were hidden well.

But if that were the case or not, they agreed it was too risky to mention names or locations like Haven during their conversations. So they stuck to generic terms or titles to keep everyone's identity safe, just in case, when they would talk. During the hours as they walked, they had minimal conversation between them. It wasn't that they didn't have enough to talk about or didn't want to talk to avoid any listening ears. It was more that they wanted to concentrate on finding higher ground like a mountain top where they could get a better vantage point of the area or something similar to that. But when they did talk, they told a few stories of the old days when they were on the run from the Empire and how this was similar to all of that in some regard. They also talked about the ysalamiri, especially when they started noticing them along their trek. Those lizards were everywhere it seemed as they saw at least one, maybe two or three, every several kilometers or so. However, aside from the ysalamiri, they had not run into any other wildlife out there even though they could hear them every now and then through the forest.

After about another thirty to forty minutes of walking, Sasha finally spoke up, breaking the silence that had gathered between them for the last hour or so.

"Hey Op, can we stop for a few minutes?" Sasha asked him as he walked ahead of her. "We've been at this for hours. We need a break or we will both collapse from exhaustion."

"Yeah." He agreed. "I'm ready for a break." He said, looking for a good clearing or something to rest in.

Sasha spotted a fallen tree nearby and walked over to it. She sat down on it with an audible sigh of relief before shrugging off her pack. She then opened it and produced her personal canteen over one of the two spare bottles they were given. She stared at it for a second.

"How long do you think we will be here?" She asked as she stared at the canteen.

Oppie shrugged as he took a sip of his own water. "I'm not sure. Hopefully just a day or two before the others find us, but we need to be prepared for a longer stay, just in case."

Sasha nodded before taking a sip of her own water. "Should we ration our supply of water and ration packs? Or should we consider looking for water and hunting for our food?" She asked after a moment.

"Yeah." Oppie agreed. "We should. This place is quite a jungle so we'll probably have sources of water, but we need to boil it first so it doesn't make us sick. And we should work on whittling some spears or something so we have weapons of some sort. For hunting and defense." He said, looking around for some likely branches that would serve that purpose.

"Okay, I like that idea," Sasha said as she replaced the canteen to her belt and then reached into the bag and pulled out the pocket knife. It was a dinky little thing, but it could get the job done. "Did you ever have to do something like this during the Clone Wars?" She asked as she started looking too.

"Yeah, kind of." Oppie said as he got up. "Can I see that knife?" He asked.

"Sure, here," Sasha said, handing him the pocket knife.

"Thanks." He said. He unfolded the blade, and picked up a heavy stick that had fallen to the ground. He set the blade against the branch he liked and started using the stick to hammer the blade through the branch. "Remember Master Redika and I used to do those weird retreats every now and then, and he always liked 'roughing' it." He pulled the blade out and reset it at a different angle, and continued using the other stick to hammer again. "And we crashed once or twice, but we always had the Army to come grab us after a day or two." The branch fell to the ground with a crash as he finally finished hammering the blade through the second cut.

"But in those situations, you guys were prepared or had communications of some kind. Or had your sabers and the Force," Sasha pointed out as she watched him. "Right?"

"Yep." Oppie agreed. "So yeah never been in this kind of situation before. But at least Master Redika gave me some survival skills other than 'use the Force'." He said with a smirk. "I wouldn't mind a flint and steel though." He said with a grimace, looking for another good branch.

"Well I know those first few months of when we were on the run from the Empire, you taught us some stuff then about how to survive in tough situations like this," she said before spotting a good branch. "What about this one?" She asked, changing the subject real quick as she gestured to the branch.

"Looks nice and straight. You want to chop it down?" Oppie asked, offering her the knife and the hammer stick.

"Sure," Sasha said as she took the tools. She then turned her attention to the branch and started doing exactly what Oppie did for his, and cut the branch. It took her a good few hammering hits for her to get it. Once she did, the branch broke off and fell to the ground before she picked it up. "Well, it's not a lightsaber, but it does remind me of when you first taught us how to spar and how to properly hold a… stick." She chuckled.

Oppie laughed. "Yeah, these are almost as good as lightsabers. Now we just need to make them pointy."

"Here, you can go first," Sasha said with a smirk as she handed the pocket knife back over to Oppie.

"Thanks." He said, as he took the blade and started cutting off the various branches from his. Once the sides were cleaned up he started using the blade to shave one end of it down into a pointed spear tip. Primitive, but effective. The other end he figured he could use it as a club or something.

Sasha sat there and watched him whittle the branch, taking note of how he was doing it so she could apply it to her own.

"I'm glad I use my saber as a staff every now and then, this won't be too different from that." Oppie observed as he kept sharpening the point down.

Sasha chuckled at that. "Yeah, the only difference is that we are more likely to get a splinter than burning ourselves or accidentally cutting off a limb," she joked.

Oppie poked the tip of his makeshift spear and was satisfied with how sharp it was. He offered the knife to Sasha again. "Your turn."

Sasha took the knife and started working on her spear. "You know, you made this seem easier than it really is," she said as she carefully cut away the wood to a point. "It probably doesn't help that this knife sucks."

"I might have dulled it, sorry about that." Oppie said with a grimace, looking around. "If we get to a river maybe we can find a rock smooth enough to use as a whetstone for it."

"That wouldn't be a bad idea," Sasha said as she continued to sharpen the branch. "I get the feeling we will be relying on this little knife a lot while we are here." After a few more strokes of the knife, her spear was finished. She set the pocket knife aside and tested the tip of it. She winced slightly at how sharp it was. "Yeah, that'll work."

Suddenly, there was a low growling sound coming from the bushes, across the clearing from them. Sasha tensed as she gripped her newly made weapon tighter. After a moment, the bushes moved and two dark creatures appeared. They were about a meter tall with slick black fur, large paws with sharp claws, red piercing eyes, sharp teeth, and a long tail that had a tuft of hair at the end of it. They growled at Sasha and Oppie as they slowly stalked forward, looking very hungry.

"Op, what are those?" Sasha asked as she held her spear in a defensive stance.

Oppie got to his feet. "Not deer." He said as he stood up. "Go away." He yelled loudly at them, putting his new spear to work and trying to make himself look bigger.

The creatures stopped their stalking and looked at him with slight curiosity. Then they snarled at him. They didn't seem very intimidated by the movement.

"It's not working," she said as she got to her feet and lowered her guard just a bit. "I think they think you are threatening them. Maybe I could try?"

"We might just want to back away slowly instead…" Oppie said, moving slightly towards her to try and interpose himself between these creatures and Sasha.

"Let me try, please," Sasha said before slowly moving in front of Oppie and towards the creatures. Deciding to use the same tactic she used when they encountered the deer a while back, Sasha wished she had the Force in this moment to help tell the creature she was friendly, not threatening. Instead, she lowered the spear to a less threatening angle and approached them. However, before she could even get close, one of them snapped at her. She immediately jumped back, away from the creatures. "Nevermind. Your idea it is."

"We're going now." Oppie said to the creatures in a forceful but placating voice as he and Sasha started backing away. He grabbed his pack as he passed by it, not taking his eye off the creatures.

As they backed up, Sasha grabbed her pack and the pocket knife. She shouldered the pack and stuffed the knife into her belt pocket before leveling her spear at the creatures. However, as they continued to back away, the creatures started stalking towards them again.

"They're not backing down," Sasha said under her breath to Oppie as she kept her eyes on the creatures.

"If we break and run they're just going to see us as prey and chase us." Oppie advised, not entirely sure what to do either. "Just keep backing away slowly."

"Okay," Sasha said as she took a steadying breath and continued to back away.

The creatures, however, didn't let up. And after a few more moments of slowly moving, the one that snapped at Sasha before, pounced forwards, claws out to attack them both. Sasha immediately leapt back dodging the pounce.

"Run!" Oppie yelled as he thrust his spear at the animal attacking Sasha. He knew that was the last thing they should do, but… it was the only thing they could do.

Sasha didn't argue and instead, turned on her heels and ran as fast as she could away from the creatures. Oppie followed along with her, trying to keep up. The creatures gave chase as they followed after the Jedi through the dense forests. They tried to put as much distance between themselves and the animals, but the damn beasts were stubborn. They hopped over fallen trees, dodged low hanging branches, and pushed through dozens of bushes as they continued to run from the creatures. At some point, Sasha noticed a low hanging branch that was practically falling off of the tree. As they passed under it, she stopped for a moment to kick it off of its tree. The branch broke off and flew towards the animals, delaying them for a moment, as Sasha turned and continued to run. Oppie picked up a large stone as they ran and hurled it ineffectually towards the creatures, and they kept coming.

After a few moments, they broke through another set of bushes and came out to a large open area that immediately dropped off into a large ravine.

"Kriff, that's not good," Sasha commented out of breath. She could hear the animals catching up to them.

"This way." Oppie said, picking a random direction along the side of the ravine to run.

Sasha followed after him as they ran along the ravine. As they ran, Sasha risked a glance back and saw that the animals leapt out of the bushes and were looking around for which way their prey went. That gave them an extra few moments to get away. They continued running along until Sasha noticed something in the distance.

"Look there," she said while they ran, pointing towards the item in question. "There's a tree up ahead that's fallen across the ravine."

"Works for me." Oppie said, already breathing heavily from their flight.

They continued forward towards the fallen tree. As soon as they reached it, Sasha glanced back towards the creatures.

"They're coming," she panted out.

"You first." Oppie said, looking back at the creatures as they loped towards them.

Sasha nodded, sheathed her spear, and started across the fallen tree. She wobbled a couple times at first as she was moving a little too quickly across and was losing her balance slightly. However, she managed to keep her footing as she continued to cross the large log towards the other side. Oppie followed soon after, trying to keep careful balance on the log. As Sasha continued along, she kept her gaze forward towards the other side, but when she heard the growling get closer, she risked a glance back. The animals were almost to the log. She looked forward again and continued moving.

After several more careful steps and more than halfway to the other side, Sasha felt herself wobble again, but this time she actually did lose her footing from under her. As she took the step, Sasha had felt her balance shift as her boot lost its grip on the log and a loose piece of bark slid away, taking her with it. Sasha let out a yelp as she slipped off the log and over the side. She reached out and tried to grab a hold of something. When she managed to grab a hold of a branch, she felt her head hit the side of the log as she gripped the branch tight and before she fell much further. But she was dangling under the log now, suspended high above the lowest part of the ravine.

"Sasha!" Oppie called, carefully scrambling over to where she was. He knelt down and tried to reach for her.

Sasha looked up at him, her breathing already unsteady from all of the running, now was hitching in panic. If she fell, she wouldn't have the Force to catch her. That thought sent a cold sweat of panic down her spine. She then noticed the creatures. They were at the edge of the ravine, looking on curiously. The creatures weren't following them… yet. She then looked back to Op and reached out with her other hand towards him. As she did that, she felt her other grip slipping as more bark broke away. She immediately grabbed back onto the branch with both hands to catch her grip. "Op, I'm losing my grip," she cried.

"Hang on!" Oppie said, as he tried to adjust himself so he could grab her hand.

Sasha adjusted her grip on the branch with both hands and before reaching up towards Oppie's extended hand. As soon as she was within reach, she tried to grab onto his wrist.

Oppie wrapped his hand around her wrist and pulled her up, gritting his teeth as his shoulder was wrenched from the effort. Sasha helped him by using her other hand to help pull herself up and onto the log. "We need to keep going." He said, as she got back up on the log. He looked back to where the predators were.

By this point, the creatures realized they weren't going to be losing their prey and one of them decided to start across the log. But it slowly stalked across, being wary of its own steps.

Sasha, breathing heavily, nodded as she looked at the creatures. She then climbed to her feet and hustled across. As soon as she was close enough to the other side, she leapt off the log and landed safely before turning back to Oppie. Oppie followed right after her, at this end of the ravine the log was perched quite precariously, he used the butt end of his makeshift spear to try to leverage it out. "Gimme a hand." He said, looking up at the animal carefully making its way across the log still.

Sasha came over and used the butt end of her spear to do the same thing he was doing. Together and using their strength, they moved the log from its perch and after a moment, it was separated from their side of the ravine. The log started to tilt forward and fall down the canyon. The animal turned and scrambled back the way it came, narrowly making it back onto the other side before the tree fell away. The creatures looked down at the log then at the Jedi, paced for a moment trying to decide what to do next, before turning, leaving into the brush behind them. As soon as the log was cleared and the creatures were gone, Sasha sank down onto her knees, panting.

"Thanks… for saving me," she said between breaths.

"No problem." Oppie said in between his own deep breaths as he settled to the ground as well. "Viran would have been mad," he said between breaths, "if I hadn't."

Sasha chuckled lightly at that as her breathing calmed down. "Yeah, he would have," she said before she reached up and wiped the sweat from her brow. As she brought her hand away, she furrowed her brows as she noticed her hand was red as if covered in blood. She reached up again and pulled her hand away with a slight gasp. It was blood. "The hell?" She cursed under breath as she was confused as to what was bleeding.

"Let me look." Oppie said, coming over to look.

Sasha moved her hand away to reveal a small cut along the hairline that was currently bleeding down her face. The cut didn't look deep, but it was still bleeding pretty badly. Plus when she tried to figure out where it was coming from, she had smeared some of the blood across her forehead.

"How bad is it?" She asked, worriedly.

"Not too deep, just long. And it's a head cut so it's just bleeding a little more." He looked for their packs, "did either of the packs have antiseptic in them?" He asked.

"Mine did," Sasha said as she shrugged off the pack and sat down in a criss cross position on the ground. She opened the packs and pulled out the medkit. Popping it open, she found the antiseptic wipes and a bandage. She handed the items to him. "Here."

"Thanks." He said he used a wipe to clean the wound as best he could, and then tried to figure out how to bandage it. "This is a weird place for a bandage." He said after a few moments.

"We can skip the bandage if we need to. Especially if it's not deep," she suggested. "Then we can save the bandages for another time. For something that would need it more than a cut on my head."

"Okay, you have the knife on you?" Oppie asked.

"Yeah," Sasha said as she reached into her belt and produced the pocket knife. She held it out to him. "What do you need this for?" She asked curiously.

"To make you a bandana." Oppie said with a smirk as he pulled the loose bottom of his tunic out from under his jacket and used the knife to cut a tattered bit of cloth from it. "Better than nothing, at least." He said, handing her the makeshift bandage.

Sasha took the bandage and raised a brow slightly at it before she reached and wrapped it around her forehead like she was wearing a bandana or a sweat band. As soon as she was done, she dropped her hands to her lap. "Thanks," she said as looked up at him. "Does it look okay? I can't quite see what I'm doing."

"Ehhh... " Oppie said. "Yeah, looks great. Feel like continuing or do you want to rest here for a little while?" He asked, looking around.

Sasha chuckled at his comment towards the bandage and started packing up their gear. "We should keep going. I don't want to sit here and wait for those things to find a way around to us," she said simply.

"Okay." Oppie said, slinging his own pack and starting onward, using his spear as a hiking pole.

Sasha got to her feet and slung on her pack before grabbing her spear. She looked back across the ravine where the animals had disappeared before following after him.

Review!