She felt nauseous as she opened her eyes. A blackened sky greeted her, stars twinkling in so many different, beautiful colors.
Her stomach suddenly convulsed and the need to vomit arose. Cherris turned onto her side, trying to sit up but failing to do so. Her arms gave away and she lay on her side, not wanting to move. There was a sudden stinging pain in her leg and she remembered that Aeron had died, that someone had attacked the camp.
Taking a deep, steadying breath she twisted around on the ground, suddenly catching sight of a pair of black boots, belonging to a tall, dark clad man pointing a blaster pistol at her.
Instantly her hand went to the empty holster at her hip. It was her weapon.
"Who are you?" she asked, willing herself into a sitting position.
"I'm the one who saved your life."
Cherris frowned, her hand going to the back of her head. "Aren't you the one who hit me?"
To her surprise the stranger laughed, "No. I don't hurt prisoners."
"Ah. How kind of you."
Cherris slowly got to her feet, the pain in her ankle hitting her full blow. All the while the stranger had the blaster pointed at her; it was more than just a little disconcerting.
As she turned around she caught sight of a large humanoid lying on the desert ground a few meters in front of her. He was a scraggly looking human being, with an overly large head and long, shaggy blond hair. He seemed to be wearing animal hide; Cherris frowned.
"Well," she said shaking her head, "I guess this place is inhabited after all."
"Why are you here?" the stranger asked, the blaster pistol firmly in his grasp.
"We're an expedition force on a reconnaissance mission. Our superiors found this planet a few months ago and we've come and gone ever since." A frown creased her forehead, "I suppose you know all this already? Or else you wouldn't be here."
He suddenly jumped to his feet with an odd expression on his face. There was something there that kept Cherris on edge.
"We have to leave. " he said, gesturing with the blaster for her to move. But Cherris shook her head, "I'm not leaving without my team mate. He died when we got hit."
The stranger nodded, "I know. We don't have time to retrieve his body right now."
Cherris started to protest but the stranger held up the blaster, a very good argument on his part.
"Once this is over with, we'll come back later." He said, pointing for her to move on, "We're headed back to your camp. We need to see if you can find working comm equipment."
Cherris arched an eyebrow, "So you have friends waiting on you?"
But he kept silent and she walked.
While on the short trek back to her camp, Cherris wished for some sort of communication. Just to keep her mind off Aeron.
She wasn't one to weep in front of other people, especially strangers with weapons but Aeron had been more than just her partner. During their two years working together, he had become something of a very good friend. They had laughed a lot, had talked about almost everything.
Just the previous week Aeron had complained about his lack of intimacy with his wife.
Cherris let a small smile play across her face as she recalled Aeron's physical imitation of his partner for life.
And now Aeron's cold body lay rotting away in the dessert. She closed her eyes to fight back tears. It hadn't been an honorable way to die.
But I'll give you an honorable funeral, you have my word, she thought and cleared her throat, "What's your name?" she asked the stranger, who was still only a few feet behind her.
It was still too dark to make out his features but something reflecting the moonlight suddenly caught her attention. Hanging at his belt was a long cylinder and she recognized a lightsaber.
She sucked in her breath involuntarily, "You're a Jedi." She said with amazement evident in her voice.
The stranger cocked his head to one side and Cherris thought she saw a smile on his face, "Yes." He answered but didn't elaborate any further.
Cherris cleared her throat, "But you do have a name, though, correct?"
At first she thought he was deliberately ignoring her but then she realized he was hesitating with his answer.
"Are you undercover? Not allowed to give away your identity, huh?" Cherris rolled her eyes and walked on. The pain around her ankle was getting worse, she noticed with annoyance and she heaved a sigh.
They approached the camp in a slow trot, smoke and ill smelling fumes rising to the sky. The tents the team had built up were completely burned to the ground. Scorch marks were evident in their equipment and Cherris was pretty sure that there was nothing repairable.
Whoever had attacked, had been very thorough.
The Jedi holstered the blaster and began searching the ground for anything resembling technology. Cherris helped him, curiosity spiked as to who this Jedi could be.
They gave up after a full hour of silently searching through debris, coming up only with a few ration packs and water bottles that had miraculously survived the attack.
"I guess that's it for plan A." the stranger muttered as he straightened from a crouch and wiped his hands across his legs.
"What's plan B?" Cherris asked, taking a swing from one of the water bottles.
"There's a weapons cache a few miles from here. That's where we need to go."
Cherris frowned, "Please define a few miles."
The man shrugged, "A little over a hundred I suppose."
Cherris sat down on the cold floor and stretched her tired legs, "Have a nice trip."
"Need I remind you that you don't have much of a choice?" He pointed to her backpack, "Your rations won't hold you for long. And there's nothing here to call for help. What does common sense dictate?"
Cherris completely disliked his tone of voice and crossed her arms across her chest. She was more than just a little annoyed by the fact that the Jedi was of course correct.
"Before we leave, we burry Aeron."
They searched for something to dig through the hard ground and found two small shovels usually intended for soft earth.
It took them another hour to reach Aeron's place of death and they got to work immediately, the only light source the beautiful white moon above them.
Silently they dug Aeron's final resting place.
Cherris sat down on the ground, taking another swing from her water bottle, "How deep do you think it should be?"
"Are there any wild animals around here?" the Jedi asked, as he kept shoveling dirt over his shoulder. He had taken off his shirt and Cherris kept telling herself to look away from his athletic body.
Even though she wanted to take a good look at the Jedi, she was glad it was still very dark. He wouldn't see her blush.
Cherris shrugged, "Of course."
"Then at least two meters." He said, shoveling faster.
Cherris jumped to her feet, limping towards the shovel she had let fall.
"Sit down." The Jedi said, his voice strained as he heaved another load of dirt over his shoulder. Cherris frowned, "What?""Sit down." He repeated without looking at her, "I can see you're in pain and it won't do me any good if I have to carry you the entire way. So sit down."
Cherris did as she was told, feeling just a tiny bit scolded. "Fine." She muttered under her breath, as she sat down on the cold floor, her dark eyes involuntarily moving towards Aeron's lifeless body. They had covered him up in clothes Cherris had found in his backpack.
The few belongings he had carried around with him were now stashed in Cherris' pockets. She would make sure that his wife received everything that was still retrievable.
It didn't take too long for the Jedi to finish and as he jumped out of the self-dug hole, Cherris got back to her feet, a look of sadness etched onto her face. He nodded and she helped him carry Aeron's body to the grave.
As easily as they could they let his body fall into the hole and Cherris stood there with a vacant expression on her face.
"Is there some tradition you need to perform?" the stranger asked softly. Cherris shook her head.
Silently she prayed for his soul, that Aeron would make it to his destined place after death, that he was happy where ever he was.
The Jedi shoveled the dirt back into the grave.