Chapter 14
Tama was awoken by the bony hands of Nuri shaking her shoulder. The Twi'lek snapped back to reality when her gaze met the wide, fearful, violet eyes of the Zabrak girl, and she struggled to a seating position, her palms slipping on the permacrete beneath her due to the moisture and slick moss that grew across it. Her first thought was that someone had eaten the rest of the food they had been rationing together for the last several days, and she was both surprised and relieved to find the ration pack still sitting in the middle of the pit's floor. She then turned her attention upward, to the single burning light shining down through the mouth of the pit. As she gazed at that light, she realized that it was growing larger, more brilliant, not because it was growing in size or luminosity, but because she was drawing closer to it. There was a grinding, clanking noise in the pit that sent shivers through the permacrete, vibrations that caused her weary bones to ache. The cries of the other children awakening in fear from their fitful slumber reached her ears, their dismay and trepidation at what possible new horrors may be awaiting them now buffeting her through the Force. "Wha—What's happening?" she croaked, her dry tongue not quite responding to her attempts at making intelligible speech.
"We're moving up!" Nuri hissed, her voice quavering with fear. "The floor's some kind of turbolift, and we're moving up! Closer to him!"
Tama reached out to the Zabrak, her regard still fixated on the light coming down to meet her. Nuri seized her hand and gripped it so tight with her weak, skeletal fingers that Tama was certain both of their hands would be crushed by the effort. She could see multiple shapes moving at the edge of the pit, more skeletal figures silhouetted by the light, accompanied by larger, bulkier ones with presences no less threatening. These figures materialized into no less than six B1 Battle Droids, their carapaces pitted and scarred by warfare that had ceased over a decade before. Their tri-fingered hands clutched E-11 Blaster Rifles and A280 Blaster Rifles, aimed unwaveringly at the children rising up to meet them, despite the swaying of their unsteady forms. They were accompanied by B2 Super Battle Droids, their stocky, darkly-armored frames similarly carbon scored and refurbished as the results of warfare, their right arms raised threateningly, the barrels of wrist-mounted blasters aimed at the children's heads.
The lift beneath them ground to a halt, level with the floor above, and the droids immediately closed in, either jabbing them with the ends of their blasters or hauling the weakest upright, all with the intent of getting everyone to their feet. Tama and Nuri provided each other strength, as both of them doubted either one could stand on her own. The droids made unintelligible, inconsequential buzzing noises with malfunctioning vocabulators, then motioned their young prisoners toward the only exit from the room, the diagonally-opening door through which Tama had been drug through. They formed a ragged caravan of emaciated, weeping forms as they shambled down the hallway outside, some of the droids marching with heavy, clanging feet ahead of them, and others behind, giving generous pushes and jabs with their blaster rifles. The hall was dark save for the infrequent lights offered by crimson auxiliary glowstrips outlining the ceiling. They passed similar doors leading to unseen portions of the complex, spaced at regular intervals and with narrow contours, suggesting this may have once been a military prison or internment facility during the Clone Wars. The droids kept them going at a brisk pace, and any child that collapsed or fell from exhaustion and malnourishment was bodily hauled to their feet and hit savagely with the stock of a rifle. Tama carefully reached out with the Force, trying to get a feeling, a premonition of where they were being herded, and for what purpose. She met only the impassable wave of darkness that seemed to pervade the planet, as well as unfriendly consciousness hovering just at the edge of her extrasensory perceptions, a consciousness she knew only too well as their collective captor and tormentor.
The droids ahead of the troupe opened another door large enough for two humanoids to walk abreast, the doors sliding open with a squeal that was piercing to the ears. Beyond was another roughly rectangular room that gave Tama the impression that it was some sort of reception area. Or a security checkpoint. On one side was a large transparisteel window through which could be seen the remains of a security office, the terminals and consoles within having been invaded by pervasive mold colonies and sizable fungi, having spilled through from a humongous, dripping hole in the ceiling. On the other side of the room was the largest of the doors Tama had seen in these ruins, which stood open, leading to the wilderness outside and the fading light of the planet's sun. The droids did a smart, right-angled turn and marched the prisoners through the door outside, into an enclosure that was little more than a cage, having been poorly constructed of salvaged poles of durasteel and wired fencing strung between. The cage was large enough to hold a group three times their size, and the gaps between the wired fences allowed them generous views of the world outside their prison. The ground predominantly consisted of dark mud, occasionally bisected by ruts, ravines, and thin, babbling creaks of algae-laden water. Some areas of the ground had been lined with permacrete, as if in a vain attempt against nature to establish streets and sidewalks for sentient habitation, though most of these permacrete slabs had deep fractures through which thrust hardy alien flora. All around them, soaring into the sky, were clusters of prefab structures of alloys and durasteel, their simple but solid designs belying a military function, or at least residents with martial sensibilities in architecture. They were in the midst of some kind of city, which dominated the horizon all about them, a city that had been abandoned probably as long as the facility they had just emerged from had been. Most of the buildings showed extensive carbon scoring, blaster burns, and the torn and rent edges caused by explosive forces. Rubble had long since sank in the mud, and virulent molds and fungi grew up the sides of most of the edifices, further eroding the remains of sentient civilization the world seemed so adamant to deny the existence of. Amongst the buildings lay the remains of landspeeders and gunships, droid parts and broken blasters. Growing up all around these, thrusting themselves stubbornly through the mud, were a menagerie of fungal species, from blue mushrooms that appeared to be massive, blooming flowers, to the pallid flesh of bulbous flowers that swayed back and forth ominously, to spires of glassy bulbs stacked continuously atop each other and reaching toward the sun. The turgid air was thick with spores and alien scents, and dark clouds tried to mask the presence of the dying sunlight as it streamed down upon them with golden beams of murky luminescence.
The planet around them was both beautiful and terrifying at once, the thick jungle of fungi as ethereal and mystifying as it was ominous and forbidding. Tama could feel the vast amount of life as an uncoordinated, entropic assault on all her senses, the presences of millions of lifeforms rubbing, smashing, and caressing her own. The presence of the Dark Side was even stronger here on the surface than it had been in her cell or the pit below. Almost every glowing signature of life in the Living Force felt sick, diseased, tainted, not by intelligent submission to the darker aspect of the Force, but rather through infection by proximity. The world's ecosystem was so alive and intertwined, its overall signature in the Force was like walking on the surface of a blinding star, and yet something had happened here, something not far removed in the past, to taint that light, and by association and symbiosis, almost all life on the planet. There was definitely something wrong with this world, and she found herself shaking again, and not from physical exhaustion or lack of food.
The droids halted their advance, two of the Super Battle Droids breaking from the formation of the group to stand guard to either side of the door in the far side of the cage. It was a simple metal door composed of more gridded wiring, placed on hinges with a rudimentary keypad that had been hastily installed. Meanwhile, one of the B1 Battle Droids walked back the way they had come, and triggering the keypad on the contours of the large entrance to the facility, the doors slid into place with a grinding finality, locking them within the cage's confines.
What came next was expected, but no less debilitating, as their captor, their self-professed "Savior", invaded their minds once more. And here we find ourselves. Fire and blood, blood and fungus. It didn't have to be this way, no no no take it away, it doesn't want it, it doesn't need it anymore. Your darkness could have relented, could have shown itself in the depths, when all hope was lost. We could have saved you all from your sins, could have bared them, satisfied the Universe. Oh the craving, the blood, help us persevere. Pain pain pain. Pain must come now. Pain and blood and fright. You will find yourselves free but trapped, trapped by walls, by sin. Pretty, evil, rotting children must learn to survive by letting go of their inner iniquities, but embracing the pain, embracing the Savior's healing, consuming touch. The doors will open, and you will all go forth. There is food, there are weapons. Survive you must, but only one may leave after revealing the darkness. Choose wisely. Choose with blood and fire. This is your final crucible, the trial never meant to be used, but your horrid, rotting souls brought this down upon your iniquitous heads. Rise and learn. Rise and die. Bring them to us, let us drink of the blood and sin There was a lengthy, inexplicable pause, then a final pronouncement. Let your final crucible begin.
Tama's vision came back into focus, the diseased and darkling weight of their captor's presence having removed itself from her mind like a heavy burden being lifted from her shoulders. The droids were all moving again, the ones behind the children ushering them forward with blaster barrels. The pair of Super Battle Droids apparently received a signal the prisoners could not hear, and they opened the swinging gate to allow passage of the children, to give them access to the outside. Those who hesitated were violently shoved forward, until all the prisoners had been thrown into the mud outside the gate, some falling flat on their faces. None of the droids followed them outside, content to slam the gate closed behind them and watch as they picked themselves up.
The Arconan girl came to Tama's side, wringing her hands so furtively she was causing herself physical pain. "Well? N-Now what do we do?"
"The voice said something about there being food and weapons out here somewhere," Nuri recalled. "Maybe we just have to find them."
"If we stick together, I'm sure we can find whatever caches our kidnapper has left out here for us in this sick game," Tama responded, trying to keep her voice steady while she swiveled her head. There were discordant notes sounding continuously in her ears; the Force was trying to warn her of approaching danger, though she could not identify the source.
"If we stick together?" came the Elomin boy's shrill reply. "It also said only one of us could leave!"
"And we're going to listen to the commands of our kidnapper?!" Tama yelled, whirling on him with an angry gleam in her eyes. "You want to go along with whatever disgusting ritual he's trying to have us perform, all for his twisted fantasies?"
"Maybe if we had earlier, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in right now!" he shouted back.
"And if we had, you might not be still standing here, and I wouldn't have to listen to your flaming whining!"
Nuri tugged on Tama's sleeve, and the Twi'lek whirled on her, her anger bubbling forth, her mouth opening for an angry retort. But Nuri was trying to get everyone's attention with an unintelligible shout, her finger pointing to a building across the muddy thoroughfare from their position. The edifice she had indicated appeared to have once been a warehouse of no small size, though the cargo it currently possessed was no doubt far more terrifying than whatever cargo it had originally been designed to hold. For the warehouse's main hangar doors had ground open with a ponderous shriek of rusted, mold-encrusted metal, and from the darkness within emerged an abomination Tama could not have imagined in her worst nightmares. The creature stood over three meters in height, possessing a wedge-shaped head that swept back into a narrow crest. Its dark, beady eyes peered at them from beneath a prominent brow ridge, its cruel face sweeping down to a lipless maw full to bursting with razor-sharp fangs. Its head sat upon a long, sinuous neck that connected to an ovoid body of blue-green scales. Emerging at equidistant points from the body and suspending it a few meters off the ground were three pairs of triple-jointed limbs containing vestigial but dexterous fingers, one of which on each limb elongating into a large, wickedly curved claw that it used to walk upon, like it was balancing on stilts. Tama desperately wracked her brain for the name of this creature, for she remembered it featuring prominently in one of the darker stories Pash had shared with her regarding the world of Vendaxa. Acklay. A true beast of nightmare, and even as she stared, horrified, the creature let out an ear-piercing, soul-rending shriek and began its horrible, stilted stride toward them.
Despite Tama's attempts over the last several days to foster a sense of loyalty and camaraderie amongst the children, it took them only a few seconds of staring at the charging acklay before the group scattered in every conceivable direction. The children ran screaming in hoarse voices, sprinting for the nearest buildings and possible spots of cover with which they might hide from the monstrosity bearing down upon them. Tama tugged on Nuri's hand, and together the pair of them began a dead run for a building in the opposite direction of the approaching acklay, providing each other support and speed where either one of them would not be able to manage such rapidity alone. Tama turned her head to glance back over her shoulder, and saw with dismay that the Arconan girl had run directly into the exterior of the cage, pulling at and banging upon the wiring of the gate, begging the merciless droids to let her back in the facility that had been their prison. She was so consumed with fear and her desire to get back inside the prison that she did not even hear the acklay approach, nor the rush of wind as one of its forelegs whipped through the air above her head and came down with the force of a starship falling from orbit. Tama slowed to a stop as Nuri pulled relentlessly on her arm, enraptured by the horror of the scene behind her, the acklay's forward claw smashing downward. The heavy tip slammed into the Arconan's spine, ripping through her thin frame and emerging from her stomach a second before she was flattened. The scream that the girl elicited was shrill, anguished, and horrified simultaneously as she was ground into the mud, the acklay twisting the claw embedded in her spine back and forth, as if to make certain she was properly skewered and attached to the creature's claw. And even as the girl's pitiful screams became inarticulate moans and whimpers, the acklay's head snapped forward at the end of its lengthy neck, its maw of protruding fangs seizing her head and upper torso. With a cracking of bone and a fleshy tearing noise that could be heard across the street, the acklay tore the upper portion of the girl's body free, the body pulling apart at the point where its claw had skewered her. The acklay snapped its head back, opening its mouth and swallowing noisily as the hunk of ripped gore and splashing blood that had been the Arconan girl disappeared down its gullet. It let out a coughing, choking noise, then turned its bloody maw around to look directly at the the transfixed Twi'lek, unable to look away from the creature's horrendous consumption. The acklay shook its foreleg, tossing away the girl's lower body, where it impacted the side of the cage and spattered blood against the carapaces of the droids still standing by passively and without concern. The acklay let out another bellow and began striding toward her, its claws sending up splashes of mud, blood-laden saliva dripping in ropy threads from its jaws as they opened and closed in great snaps.
Tama was finally shaken from her reverie by Nuri's iron grip on her shoulder, the Zabrak screaming, "Tama! Wake up!" The Twi'lek then turned and sprinted along the street, the Zabrak girl angling their flight toward a large, squat building that looked like it could have withstood a direct orbital bombardment, which had not stopped stubborn fungi from shoving themselves through multiple fractures in the walls and the roof. But Tama's eyes were drawn from the destination Nuri intended, to a cluster of thick, fungal jungle growing over what had once been a main thoroughfare for the ruined city. Tama jerked her newfound friend's hand sharply to the right, trying to pull her toward the thick tangle of mushrooms and alien flora attempting to overthrow the previous efforts of civilization. Nuri resisted at first, but Tama only pulled harder, gasping through her winded lungs, "No...the jungle! We'll lose it...in there!"
Nuri offered no complaints as the pair of them turned away from the building, leaping over a heap of rubble consisting of broken permacrete and scrapped droid parts, weaving in between the stalks of grand fungi and exotic mushrooms as the conquering jungle grew thicker about them. Tama reached her free hand out to shove aside several stalks of fungus, slipping in between the spaces her movements provided, pulling Nuri along behind her. She could feel the vibrations shivering through the mud as the acklay approached, its breath coming in great, ravenous chuffs, letting out the occasional trilling call, as if trying to flush them out of cover with its terrifying vociferations. The sight of the Arconan girl being ripped to shreds incessantly ran through her mind. She felt anguished to know that she could not remember the girl's name, no matter how hard she searched her memory.
She slipped between two stalks of the transparent, bulbous plants she had no name for and immediately ran into something solid and unyielding to her advance that sent stuttering tingles and vibrations through her body. Tama bounced back from the barrier that was suddenly in her way, staring in confusion at the purple-tinged shimmering in the air before her, something that reminded her of vast heat distortions she had seen during the inhospitable summers of Yanibar. She stared at the nearly-invisible wall before her, the wall that prevented her and Nuri from escaping the city and into the wilderness beyond. Her exhausted, horror-stricken mind was still slowly attempting to comprehend what it was that was blocking their flight, trying to deny the existence of such things, when Nuri seized her upper arm. "It's ray shielded!" she screamed in her ear, jolting the Twi'lek from her stupor. "We have to turn back!"
Tama snapped back to reality. She had never encountered ray shields before, but she was aware of their existence, and knew there was no way the malnourished and poorly-equipped girls were getting through the force field. She whirled about to see the acklay kicking and stalking through the fungus around them, looming over the flora, blood still dripping from its jaws like macabre rain. It gave a triumphant, predatory shriek that sent knives of pain through her skull, and raised both of its forelegs, the claws hurtling down at its prey. But fear and insatiable instinct for survival had given Tama and Nuri the strength and speed they had been lacking, and so they threw themselves inside the monster's reach, rolling in the mud and spores while the acklay's claws thundered into the soft ground behind them. The acklay roared in frustration as the girls picked themselves off the ground and sprinted underneath the creature's bulk, running between its widespread legs and angling for the building that Nuri had originally wanted to use for cover.
But the acklay would not be evaded for long. Though the move was awkward, the acklay spun completely around in seconds, then loped after them, screaming its primal hunger and fury at having been avoided. The building loomed before them, but there were no doors immediately available, so Nuri scooped up a chunk of broken permacrete and hurled it as hard as she could through the brittle, streaked glass of a nearby window. The throw was rather pathetic due to the loss of most of her strength, but the glass was old and had only barely survived the ravages of time, erosion, and the jungle intact, and so offered no resistance against the impromptu projectile. It shattered into dozens of pieces, leaving ragged edges of glass surrounding a dark portal inside. Tama helped Nuri through the window first, neither one of them having any time to clear the shards of glass before diving through. Tama felt some of the glass slicing through the stretched, pallid flesh of her arms and hands as she rolled through the window. There was a rush of air and a horrendous snapping just behind her trailing foot, and she whirled around to see the acklay's bloody maw filling the window's view. She scooted back from the broken window, her hands and posterior sliding across shards of glass, as the acklay lowered its head to give the two girls a disdainful glare, as if it were profoundly disappointed in them for not allowing it to consume them in entirety. As she watched, the acklay's head swung out of view, followed by a flash of its claws stabbing the ground as the creature turned around. Then came the staccato vibrations of the acklay moving, and by the diminishing impact of those vibrations, Tama assumed the acklay had been discouraged by their escape and scampered off looking for prey that would not put up so much of a chase.
Tama let out a heavy exhalation of both exertion and relief, then looked down at the new lacerations across her hands and wrists. They were merely superficial cuts, small beads and rivulets of blood leaking from the slashed skin. She ignored her wounds and looked to Nuri, who was kneeling beside her, similarly gasping. Judging by the blood staining her knees where her hands had touched, she had sliced her palms open on the shredded glass, but otherwise looked no worse for wear. Tama scooted closer to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, which caused them to meet each others gaze. "Are you...okay, Nuri?"
The Zabrak nodded at first, then shook her head as a cloud of memory darkened her features. More than likely she was thinking of the Arconan girl who had met such a grisly fate. "Tama...why is this happening? Wh—What did we do to deserve this nightmare?"
Tama squeezed her shoulder and slowly rose to her feet. She could feel pain, fear, despair, and anger all mixing and bubbling like a boiling durni stew within her gut, emotions that threatened to rise and envelope her in their chaos. "We did nothing," she replied, her voice dripping with barely-controlled rage. "We were merely unfortunate enough to be the ones forced to play this psychopath's sick games. No matter what he thinks we've done that's so bad in our lives, none of it justifies him throwing us into this...this arena with monsters like that. This is...cruel, and evil, beyond imagining. No one deserved to die like..."
"Like Zheeg did," Nuri finished for her, referencing the Arconan girl. Tama felt another stab of self-loathing that she had not bothered to remember the girl's name.
The Twi'lek offered her Zabrak friend a hand, then hauled her to her feet. Together, the pair of them turned about to examine their new surroundings. They appeared to be inside what was left of an old apartment complex, one having been ravaged by stray cannon fire and the pyrotechnic damage of grenades. Through the holes in the walls and ceiling, twisting about the burn marks of carbon scoring and blaster scars, were dozens of species of molds and fungi, slowly breaking the entire complex down to its constituent parts. They were in a hallway that led off from the main lobby and reception area several meters to their left, lined by doors leading to storage and equipment closets, as well as openings for stairwells and turbolifts. What remained of the tiled floor was splattered with mud, tiny meandering streams of water, and hardy colonies of mold. Rubble from collapsed walls and and sagging ceilings dotted the floor, accompanied by dismembered limbs of battle droids, old missile casings from faulty explosives, and even pieces of armor that had once belonged to clone troopers. Tama hobbled over to a chestpiece that may have been white at one time, but had become a sickly greenish brown in color. She momentarily held it up to her own chest, curious to see how it might fit, but then noticed the sizable hole that had been blown in the sternum, the burned, ragged edges the result of a well-placed blaster bolt. She dropped the piece of armor in the mud, banishing the thought from her mind almost as soon as she had had it; it was too large for her emaciated, teenaged torso anyway.
Nuri was bracing her palms on her knees, gasping for air, the sprint having taken more out of her malnourished body than it had first appeared. "What do we do now? Do we just...find somewhere to hide until...that monster is gone?"
Tama was shaking her head before the Zabrak finished her sentence, her lekku twitching negatively. "Something tells me this isn't the kind of 'game' where we get to sit it out." She was about to speak more, but was interrupted by the far-off scream of the acklay, which was suddenly answered by a chorus of roars, shrieks, and howls from a multitude of predatory throats. "Something else tells me that we won't get a chance to hide," she continued with a mixture of fear and sarcasm in her voice. "That acklay's not the only thing out there that will flush us out if we stay in one place too long."
"So, what do we do?"
Tama gritted her teeth. "We keep moving. We find food, shelter, and weapons. We find the others, gather everyone, and together, we find a way out of these ruins."
A sadistic snicker seeped into her brain, echoing throughout the darkest recesses of her mind. Tama grimaced against the migraine it stabbed through the temples of her skull, and tried to make herself small in the Force, so small she practically erased her own existence from the fabric of the galaxy. She may have been merely in training to become a Zeison Sha, but on a world occupied by the Empire specifically looking for remnants of the Force-using tradition birthed there, stealth in the Force was one of the first things she had been taught, even before her parents died. She glanced up at the ceiling, as if their captor who claimed to be their savior were standing right above them, leering down upon them.
Nuri's face was set in a determined grimace. "Our 'Savior' seems to have doubts about that last part. He did say only one of us would be allowed to go free."
Tama snorted derisively. "As if he's given us any indication that he'll actually allow any of us to go. He may have thrown us in this situation, he may control the droids and when the monsters are let out to hunt us, but that doesn't mean we have to play by all his rules. We seem to be enclosed in a perimeter of ray shields preventing us from losing ourselves in the jungle, where we might actually have a fighting chance. If there are ray shields, that means there's a power supply somewhere, and if there's a power supply, there are controls to shut it down. If we work together, we can discover where this power supply and its controls are, and we can shut down the ray shields. The only reason this sithspawn claims that one person will be allowed to go free is because he expects us to kill each other off and feed each other to the monsters to get the food and weapons we need. If we devolve to that level of savagery, we've 'revealed our inner darkness', and he wins." She slammed one bleeding fist into her open palm. "And I'll be damned if I let him make a murderer out of me."
Nuri nodded her assent, the fear in her violet eyes being replaced by determination and simmering rage. "You're right. If anyone is going to die by my hands today, it's going to be this barve who threw us in here; I think his goons killed my father when we were ambushed, and he has to answer for that."
Tama's thoughts slipped to her last glimpses of Foyi, running to her rescue from the Houks, Weequay, and Zygerrian of Captain Vri's crew. Her sister had been like a force of nature, the Force churning about her like an unstoppable tempest as she had charged them with blaster rifle and discblade, shrieking her name. Tama knew not if her sister had survived that encounter with her kidnappers. Something deep down inside her suggested that she had, but she could not know for sure. Hope told her that Foyi was somewhere out in the galaxy right now, overturning every particle of interstellar dust and space debris between wherever-the-hell-this-was and Yanibar in a neverending quest to find her. But the fear that twisted her empty, distended guts told her that Foyi was dead, and that no rescue would come. She could feel the Dark Side now, its suffocating pervasiveness on the planet gnawing at the edges of her conscience, whispering assertions that her only surviving family member was dead, either in the snows of Yanibar or in some seedy bar or cantina on another world of outlaws, thieves, and murderers. She felt rage and self-pity wallowing within her, like that same boiling stew of unchecked emotion was now frothing over to fill her form with every mental and spiritual pain and anguish she could imagine.
Tama gasped and took a physical step back, as if moving back from the imaginary precipice she now looked down from. She could not give in to fear and hatred; if she answered the Dark Side's incessant call now, then their "Savior" had already won. She refused to give him the pleasure, and she refused to submit.
"It does us no good to dwell on such dark thoughts and maybes that may never come to pass," came Tama's response, as much for the benefit of herself as it was for Nuri. "Our primary focus should be trying to get as many people out of here as possible. No matter what this son of a barve says, no one here has done anything worthy of such sadistic and heinous punishment."
Nuri opened her mouth to say something, but her words were lost when something immense, heavy, and angry slammed into the wall that contained the window through whence they had entered. The shockwave caused by this made both of the girls stumble, then they covered their ears as another ear-piercing shriek erupted around them, the enraged scream of the acklay returning to flush out its prey. The wall shook again and fractures spidered up the age-weakened walls of duracrete, while spores, dust, and grit filled the air. Tama coughed after inhaling a lungful of those spores, then waved Nuri forward. "Run! Run!"
Both girls ran toward the lobby even as the wall collapsed behind them, humongous hunks of permacrete falling in a tumbling heap on the spot they had been standing only seconds before. From the billowing cloud of dust and spores materialized the dark form of the acklay, its crested head rearing back as it swung to face the sound of their running feet. The acklay let out a bloodthirsty, victorious growl and skittered forward, ducking its head and body in the cramped confines as it pursued the two girls.
Tama and Nuri made it to the reception area, then immediately turned for the main entrance, its rusted, nonfunctional doors standing partially open. They slipped between the doors and into the dusky exterior, the viscous mud and grasping fungi sucking at their ragged shoes and boots as they ran across the broken street. They heard the shudder of permacrete and the squeal of durasteel as the entry hall for the apartment was torn outward, the acklay bursting forth like a monster from an enormous, cold egg. The creature was momentarily stalled as it picked its way through the rubble, but that was all the time Tama and Nuri needed to disappear around the corner of another building, one that looked to have been a shop for the repair and maintenance of landspeeders. Tama grabbed a fistful of Nuri's tunic and hurled them both in a thick cluster of fungal growth. She covered Nuri's body with her own, ignoring the thick spores accumulating in her throat and nostrils, the stench of unwashed and poorly-maintained bodies, and concentrated, putting all of her mental focus into this single act. She called upon the Force, letting it fill every sense she possessed, every cell in her body. Then she turned it inward, concentrating on imagining herself and Nuri smaller and smaller, as if they were physically shrinking to a tenth of their size, until they left all reality behind and became nothing.
The miniature quakes caused by the acklay's advance grew closer, until they stepped mere meters from Tama and Nuri's hiding place. Nuri let out a wheezing breath of air, but the Twi'lek clamped her hand over the Zabrak's mouth and sank within the Force, willing them to disappear from all sight, sound, and smell. She could feel the acklay drawing closer, could imagine its head swinging down from on high. She could hear the great inhalations it was taking, its hot, rotten breath as its nose drew within a meter of her back. She felt something wet, viscous, and sticky drip on the back of her tunic, and the acklay gave a low growl.
Then there came the halting vibrations of the acklay, and the proximity of its immense, horrifying head grew greater in range until it was present no more. The beast's footfalls drew to a distance where they could not be heard or felt, and the acklay was gone, foiled once again.
Tama loosened her grip on Nuri's mouth, and the Zabrak let out a long, shaking breath. The Twi'lek let out her own breath that she had been holding, and let her concentration and her hold on the Force loosen. The girls helped each other to their feet, but they kept themselves crouched, where the tall fronds of fungus and effulgent mushrooms kept them hidden from view. Nuri gasped in a combination of shock, fear, and exhilaration, then gripped Tama's hand and squeezed so tightly, she threatened to break it. "Thank you...that thing almost got us..."
Tama merely nodded, too overwhelmed to speak. Her entire body was quivering, not with fear, but from the mental exertion it had required to use the Force in such a way, when her physical form was so weakened. She cautiously peered over the tips of the mushrooms and fungal stalks that shrouded her and Nuri, and caught the stubby tail and one of the back legs of the acklay disappearing around the corner of a skyscraper almost a half kilometer away. The creature could move much faster than its oddly configured body would suggest. Her eyes scanned their immediate surroundings, the moldering buildings and haphazard arms of jungle undergrowth seeping into the city, the ruined speeders and the remains of a Trade Federation AAT repulsor tank. Her eyes paused on one of the closest buildings, a low, stout building whose exterior mostly consisted of transparisteel windows smeared with mud and sticky spores. What could be seen through those windows were the remains of a lengthy counter and a variety of tables, stools, and seating arrangements mostly made for humanoids that must have been smaller than the average Twi'lek or Zabrak. The establishment appeared to have once been a diner or bar of some sort. She tapped Nuri's shoulder, then gestured to call her attention to the building. "What does that building look like to you?"
Nuri scrutinized it. "Maybe...a cafe? Restaurant? Cantina?"
The Twi'lek nodded. "That was what I thought. If there's food anywhere in this old city..."
"...it's probably there," Nuri finished the thought. She craned her neck to look above the mushrooms, and upon seeing no signs of the acklay or any other such beasts they occasionally heard the calls of, got up into a ready crouch. "Alright, let's go for it."
The two girls scurried across the open ground, ducking between crashed vehicles and piles of rubble, trying not to stay out in the open, muddy street for too long. They reached the diner in a few moments, slipping in through a door that stood partially open. The door was light enough that together, they were able to slide it open on its track and grant them enough room to enter the establishment. The interior of the building was dark, its atmosphere sticky, musky, and damp. Mold grew over the once plush upholstery of the seats. Screens most likely connected to the HoloNet or war propaganda stations had once hung on the walls, but now sat in ragged piles of shards along the walls. If either of the two girls had chosen to stand upright, they would have stood well above the chairs, tables, and main counter where long lost customers had ordered food and drinks. The diner appeared to have been built for aliens that never grew much more than a meter and a half in height, and besides the garish and cheerful colors that decorated the diner's interior, there was little indication left as to what species of clientele the establishment had catered to.
Tama stumbled over something long and cylindrical lying on the floor. She peered down at her feet and was surprised to find a DC-15A Blaster Rifle, the weapon carried by the vast majority of clone troopers during the Clone Wars. She picked the weapon up, her hands running along the mildewed, grimy surface. Nuri's eyes alit with hope as the Twi'lek aimed the weapon at the counter and depressed the trigger, expecting brilliant laserfire to erupt from its barrel. But nothing of the sort happened; the weapon did not respond at all. Frustrated, Tama hit the release and checked the charge pack, finding its power drained long ago. She then angrily snapped the weapon open, to find that it contained no tibanna gas cartridge. Not even bothering to close it, Tama tossed the heavy weapon aside and strode to the counter, peering over the edge to see what was on the other side, where the server would have stood.
Tama gave a gasp at what she saw. Lying on the mud-flecked, scum-ridden ground was the body of the Nautolan boy, a trio of fatal wounds in his sternum leaking his lifeblood as the last of his multiple hearts beat its final moments. The boy's mouth hung open, his dark glassy eyes staring into the oblivion of death. Sitting beside him, hungrily rummaging through a ration pack, completely oblivious to the body or the girls staring at him, was the Elomin boy. Both of his hands were busy shoving as many of the nutrient bars within the pack into his mouth. Beside him lay a vibroknife, the blade still greasy with the Nautolan boy's blood.
Nuri came to her side, then gasped in horror. "Memmifratus, what have you done?!"
The Elomin boy looked up at her, chewing openly and loudly. His dull, starving eyes barely seemed to register their presence, though he showed that he had heard by glancing at the Nautolan boy's corpse with little more than nonchalance. He resumed shoving a nutrient bar in his mouth, but Nuri, anger rolling off of her in waves, reached over the counter and snatched the ration pack from him.
That got an immediate, violent response from him. Memmifratus leapt to his feet, scooping the vibroknife in his grimy fist, his palm wet with blood and sticky with crumbs of the nutrient bar. "Give that back, Horns, or I'll gut you too!" he shrieked, his voice twisted with borderline insanity.
Nuri gestured at the horns adorning his own head, clutching what was left of the ration pack to her chest. "Seriously? Look who's talking!"
"Enough!" Tama shouted, not meaning to raise her voice so high. She put out a palm facing both of them in calming gestures; if she did not intervene presently, this would result in another stabbing. Her gaze, dark with fury, whirled on Memmifratus. "You! What happened here?"
The Elomin glared at the two of them with a barely-sane gleam of desperation in his gaze, as if he were seriously considering stabbing both of the girls with his knife and feasting on their flesh. He glanced down at the Nautolan again, and the expression on his face held not a shred of remorse or pity. "We found...we found the ration pack and the knife just sitting here...like it had been placed purposefully. He—he wanted them both to himself, an' we fought over...the rations. But I jus' wanted it more than he did..."
Nuri looked down at the torn ration pack with disgust, an expression that only deepened when she turned her glare on Memmifratus. "You Hutt-licking, cowardly son of a Sith harlot. Did it ever occur to you that these rations and this knife were probably put here deliberately? Did it ever occur to you that this," and here she gestured to the Nautolan's corpse, "is exactly what our sadistic kidnapper wanted you to do?"
"Did it ever occur to you that I don't care?!" Memmifratus screamed, his voice shrill with mania and emotion.
Tama gestured at both of them, waving her hands in placating motions. "Hey! Keep it down; there are worse things than knives out there." She looked over her shoulder, through the stained and streaked transparisteel to the muddy street beyond. She could see no movement out there, though the distant cry of some sort of beast they had yet to encounter echoed amongst the ruined buildings. She looked back to the rations held within the Zabrak's lacerated palms, then pointed at them with a jabbing finger. "Look. There's still plenty left here for all three of us if we share-"
Memmifratus waved the blade in front of him angrily, causing both girls to leap back in fright. "No! It's mine! Sharing is what got us into this mess in the first place! You're what got us all landed in this hellhole, braintails! I will not let myself starve to death just so you can feel good 'bout how you remained defiant to the end...give me back that ration pack, now, or I'll gut you both just like I did Oric!" His thumb flicked along the hilt of the weapon, and the vibration cell housed within the hilt set the blade whirring, becoming a deadly blur that could turn a simple slash into a gaping, mortal wound.
Tama reached out for the Force, trying to draw it to her, attempting to call upon the telekinetic powers that came to her with so much difficulty. Memmifratus was already clambering over the counter, his vibroknife brandished and humming, the low drone of its power cell sending vibrations through the air that could be felt through her teeth. Nuri gripped the remains of the ration pack in one hand, her intent to use it as a weapon against the deranged and starved Elomin.
Tama opened her mouth to speak, trying one final time to talk him down, to save him from the brink of disaster he now strode, but she was interrupted by a noise from outside. It was the high-pitched squeal of metal, as something that had long since rusted was ground along tracks that had not been used in over a decade or more. All three children turned to look through the windows behind them, their attention drawn to the repair shop by which Tama and Nuri had hid from the acklay. The garage that once allowed access to a variety of landspeeders had been closed before, but the door gaped wide, revealing an open, yawning maw of darkness, a cloud of spores roiling out of its interior. And with the spores came two shapes, large and bulky, but moving with a feline liquidity that belied their size. They were a little over a meter in height, though they were almost two in length, loping forward on two pairs of powerful limbs that ended in massive, sharpened claws. In the dim light, Tama could barely distinguish that they were dark green in color, with ochre discolorations around their paws and maws. A long, thick tail balanced the weight of their gigantic, squat heads, with flat faces ringed by a pair of horns and tusks, mouths full of dripping, interlocked fangs, and a pair of beady eyes that gleamed in the darkness. The pair of creatures let out deep growling snorts that reverberated through their chests and throats, their heads swiveling on powerful necks while they paced about, looking for prey. As the trio stared through the large array of windows at the front of the diner, the beasts inevitably swiveled their heads toward them, and Tama could feel their regard, like sharp, pinpricks slowly scratching over the skin of her lekku.
"Boma!" Nuri hissed as the beasts let out a crooning call and leapt toward the diner, their claws finding easy purchase in the deep mud. Tama did not even ask what that word meant, assuming that was the name of the creatures now intent on killing them. She instead grabbed ahold of both the Zabrak and the Elomin and the trio collapsed behind the counter. Tama landed squarely on the already-cold corpse of Oric, her eyes coming into contact with his dead gaze for a short, chilling moment.
Memmifratus still seemed like he was intent on stabbing the two girls, but the sight of the bomas had obviously shaken him from his murderous resolve, for he offered no resistance when the Twi'lek seized the blade from his fist. She ignored the blood and grime covering the hilt, then flicked off the vibration cell, unsure if the bomas could sense the subsonic vibrations the weapon produced. The Elomin reached to get it back, but Nuri hit him hard in the chin, which knocked him to the floor, whereupon she held him down with one hand. She glared at Memmifratus for a moment, then met the Twi'lek's gaze with fearful eyes. "We really are on Dxun..." she whimpered.
Tama looked about, still not ready to succumb to fear. The back wall, behind the bar, was adorned with the remains of shelves and an automixer, as well as an opening through which a chef would have been able to hand plates and trays of food through for waiters to serve to hungry customers. Her regard slid to the side, and found what she was looking for less than a meter from the opening, a doorway that led into the kitchen taking up the majority of the diner's backroom. The doorway may have once held a swinging door, but that barrier was long gone, and was nowhere in sight amongst the other rubble. She stabbed her fingers at the doorway, and without further encouragement, the trio scurried through the portal, emerging in a sizable kitchen lined with stoves and ovens in metal that must have gleamed at one point, but were streaked with mold and a fine dusting of spores. The room's floorspace was divided by three countertops with integrated sinks, preparation areas, and food synthesizers, their sides containing drawers, storage cabinets, and shelving to hold more types of pans, pots, containers, and utensils than Tama could name. Many of these utensils had been strewn across the slick, tiled floor, which made their footing treacherous and decidedly less than stealthy as they crept into the room. Tama led the impromptu procession to the back of the room, each one of them taking cover on the far end of each of the three counters. Tama stilled her labored breathing, clutching the vibroknife to her chest, then looked about desperately for another exit from the kitchen.
She felt dismay enter her chest, its cold grip on her heart. There were no other ways out of this kitchen than through the doorway they had entered, back toward the approaching bomas. She had led them into another cage, to await their slaughter at the teeth and claws of the creatures sent to hunt them.
Memmifratus leaned over from his hiding place, stretching out with his hand. "We're trapped in here! Give me back the knife; you obviously don't know what you're doing."
"She ain't giving you poodoo," Nuri interjected from the other side of the Twi'lek. "You killed Oric; you can't be trusted with it at all."
Tama made a slashing motion with the blade. "Shut up, both of you." Both of them looked as if they were about to argue loudly against her words, but they were interrupted by the sound of lengthy, growling snuffling, from the direction of the door they had used to enter. All three pressed themselves against the metal endcaps of the counters, trying to make themselves small and unnoticeable. Tama could feel the bomas in the Force, their raw, primal hunger and animalistic desire for flesh still warm with blood. She could hear the sounds of their claws clicking against the tiled floor, the immense gusts of air that were drawn in and out through their mouths. She could almost feel their rough, scaled hides sliding against her flesh, taste their fetid, rotting breath in the back of her throat. They moved together, bonded by a base need for companionship and belonging, hunting as a single unit. They paused in the doorway, growling low in their throats, sending rumbling vibrations that sounded like thunder through her ears and along the sensitive membranes of her lekku. There was a clicking of claws, and they began to move along the outside of the kitchen, sidling along the same counter that Memmifratus was using for cover.
Tama gained the Elomin's attention with a wave of her hand. He gave her a fierce glare, to which she answered with a motion indicating that he should move along the opposite side of the counter, for the bomas would soon round the corner and be right atop him. Fortunately, the Elomin understood, and began to slide along the side of the counter, moving in the opposite direction and on a parallel course to the bomas' stalking. Tama slid along her corner, putting the side of the counter between her and the endcap of Memmifratus' that the bomas would round, while Nuri needed no encouragement to do the same for the counter she used.
Tama dared to peer back around the corner just as one of the bomas rounded the Elomin's counter, still snuffling, yellow beads of saliva slipping from their weighty jaws. Their tusks and horns glinted in the dim light, and the eyes beneath their heavy brows showed a ravenous gleam. The other boma's abominable face appeared beside its compatriot, and the two began snuffling again, trying to pick up the scent of their quarry. They began to stride toward the Twi'lek's corner, completely ignoring the narrow passage between her counter and Memmifratus', where the Elomin hid in the shadows. Tama shifted her grip on the hilt of her vibroknife, ready to bring it to bear, but seriously doubting that such a puny weapon would even make a scratch in the bomas' thick hides.
And then the bomas' heads swung to the right, as the sound of a pan being kicked out of the way echoed through the kitchen. Memmifratus was making a break for the doorway, leaving Tama and Nuri to their fates. Tama stood, unsure why she did so even as she completed the motion, wanting to scream at the Elomin for abandoning them, wanting to warn him of the predators closing on his heels, wanting to call the bomas' attention to herself to avoid Memmifratus' death. And yet she did none of these things, for she was already too late even as she stood. The lead boma had already pounced upon the Elomin boy, bearing his fleeing form down to the mud and mold-stained floor, the breath rushing out of his lungs as its forelegs crashed down upon his spine. Memmifratus had the presence of mind left to utter a breathless, squeaking cry of pain, fear, and denial before the boma's maw of razors snapped into the back of his neck and cranium. That single cry pealed off into a wail which became tortured, incessant shrieking as the boma buried its fangs into the back of his neck and skull, bashing his face against the floor over and again before snapping its own head back, a large slab of musculature and vertebrae clenched in its jaws. Tama could feel her stomach rebelling at the sickeningly brutal scene before her, but there was nothing for her to disgorge. And she had greater problems to consider, for the second boma had not been so eager to bear down upon the fleeing Elomin, instead lagging behind.
And now it was staring with almost accusatory gleam in its small, dark eyes, as if it felt betrayed by the fact that Tama had originally hid herself from it. With a crooning hoot that echoed through the kitchen, the second boma turned and skittered around the counter, its focus upon the Twi'lek, intent on devouring its own meal.
Nuri removed herself from cover with a container of eating utensils, which she hurled as a missile at the charging boma. The box bounced off the boma's naturally-armored head, appearing to do nothing to it besides creating a mild irritant. Tama was backpedaling down the corridor of walking space between her counter and the one Nuri had been using as cover, fumbling with the switch on the vibroknife. The blade finally hummed to life, the hilt quivering in her hands even as the boma rounded the counter and launched itself into a mighty leap. The air left Tama's lungs as its front paws impacted her chest; if she had been better prepared for the leap and in peak physical condition, she may have been able to resist the force of the blow, or even tuck into a somersault to evade the predator. But instead the creature knocked her flat on her back, and she slid across the tile as the boma's gaping jaws reached for her throat. Gasping and practically charged with energy at the thought that she might not survive the next few seconds, her free hand came up under the boma's throat, forestalling its fangs for an extra half-second. This gave her just enough time for her to kick her legs under the monster's belly, then her weapon hand came from the side and connected with the thick, fleshy scales of the boma's neck. She grimaced as hot blood and strips of torn flesh, muscle, and gore showered her like greasy rain, the poor stabs and slashes of her vibroknife compacting the vicious vibrations of the blade. The boma gave a wet gasping sound as a large section of its throat was torn asunder, and with a trilling wail of anguish, the boma lost all strength in its limbs and powerful spine and simply collapsed. Tama gasped again under the weight of the corpse now lying upon her; she had no strength left to fight, much less lift the corpse that ensnared her.
But then Nuri was there, her hands tucking themselves under the Twi'lek's armpits and dragging her in short fits and jerks from beneath the boma's bulk. Nuri gasped and heaved, then helped Tama back to her feet. She opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out was an unintelligible cry of surprise and fear. Tama, her chest aching and heaving for air, turned to see the first boma that had just finished slaughtering Memmifratus had rounded the endcap of the counter beside them, closest to the door, its gore-slicked jaws snapping as it large tongue slathered back and forth across its fangs. The boma gave a low, barking growl, then sprang forward, rushing to end the two girls as easily and violently as it had the Elomin.
Tama held the vibroknife in her quivering fingers, realizing that she had no strength left to carve up the second boma as she had the first; she could barely stand upright. Nuri began to dive for a heavy utensil, a blade or pan or something properly weighty enough to wield as a weapon. The boma was already midair, its claws leading, the blood flying from its parted jaws. Tama, with no time to think or consider her options, and no way to fight off the creature leaping for her face, did the only thing she could think of. She called upon the Force, letting it surround her, penetrate her, fill her very physical and spiritual essence in a massive overloading of her senses. She thrust her free hand forward, the Force erupting around her, shivering through the atmosphere of the kitchen and coming to bear upon the boma. Her mouth seemingly opened of its own accord as her senses reached out to the predators' own, and a single word issued from her lips. "Stop!"
The boma dropped to the floor, landing within centimeters of the Twi'lek's outstretched hand, as if the gravitational pull of the planet in that particular, localized area had gained tenfold. The boma growled and dropped to its haunches, its cruel, beady eyes glaring up at the Twi'lek. But it did not move, could not move. For Tama had left her body behind and merged her consciousness with the primal urges and hunger of the creature before her. She could see a Twi'lek standing before her with a palm facing forward, barely standing upright, obviously exhausted and easy prey. She could see another girl beside her, another fleshy, meat thing to be devoured, though the horns atop her head did not look appetizing. Tama had to try hard to remember who she was, remember that she was looking at a friend, not a potential meal. Or was the creature the one looking at Nuri? Where did she end and the boma begin?
Tama struggled through the fog of base emotion, primal needs, and growing hunger, the sweet, salty taste of blood in her mouth only making her heart pound louder and her stomach clench in anticipation of greater amounts of food. Tama waded through the primitive but powerful workings of the predator's brain, remembering who she was, finding herself in the quagmire of instinct before rising above it. The boma continued to remain still, straining against her commands but not having the will to do so. It could not begin to comprehend why it was unable to move, why it simply could not reach out with a paw bristling with claws and eviscerate the worm-headed thing before it. Tama had will, thought, and the Force on her side, and with it came the strength to command the boma's attention and redirect it.
The boma's small, dark eyes rolled in their sockets, refocusing on the corpse of the boma lying limp behind Tama. The Twi'lek let the Force surge within her, could feel her heart beating in rhythm with the boma's as saliva gathered in her parched mouth. Slowly, as if struggling through deep mud or snow, she stepped to the side, letting the boma lumber past her. No longer interested in eating her or Nuri, the predator sniffed deeply at the freshly-spilled blood of its former compatriot, then lowered its powerful jaws and began shaking its head back and forth, using the sharp, jerking motions to tear off sizable strips of scaly flesh and gummy gore. Tama began to slowly withdraw her mind and feelings from the boma's, even as the taste of blood and boma flesh filled her mouth. She knew that she had come back to herself when she found that flavor nauseating rather than intoxicating, and she willed herself not to dry heave again. Nuri was suddenly at her side, a heavy skillet in one hand, her other gripping the Twi'lek's upper arm, pulling her down the corridor and back toward the doorway. Tama kept her gaze focused on the boma as it ravenously dug into the corpse of its pack mate, backpedaling, unable to stand fully without the Zabrak's support. Her head turned to the side as they rounded the endcap of the middle counter, and she felt queasy all over again as she saw the mangled corpse of Memmifratus, lying in a pool of thick, coagulating blood.
The pair hobbled through the doorway and back into the front portion of the diner, where Nuri steered the exhausted, listing Twi'lek toward the entrance of the building, whispering words of encouragement Tama did not hear. The two of them shambled from the diner, plodding through the mud and into the street. The sounds of the jungle outside competed with the roars, shrieks, and chortles of predators hunting throughout the ruined city. But fortunately, none of those predators were anywhere near them. Tama was dimly aware of the deepening darkness of the night, the inordinate glows that suffused several species of fungi. She shuffled forward, and suddenly found herself in a deeper darkness, but the humid air was more still here, more musky. Somehow, they had moved to an interior space. She felt Nuri's hands on her shoulder and waist as she helped the Twi'lek to a seated position, and she felt a hard, cold, damp surface supporting her back.
Tama blinked rapidly, trying to regain her full faculties. She felt a strange, numbing sensation in her hand, and looked down to see that her vibroknife was still active. Absentmindedly, she flicked the switch to cease the motion of the vibration cell, and the blood-caked blade went motionless and silent. She looked up to see Nuri squatting before her, her grimy hands moving about the Twi'lek's face. Tama could see her lips moving, and strained to listen. "...you alright?! Tama, come on, come back to me!"
Tama tried to swallow, but found her throat too parched. Her dry tongue worked about her mouth, generating enough saliva to complete an actual gulp. "I'm...still here. And alive, it seems."
Nuri heaved a sigh of relief, dropping back onto her posterior, but still leaning close to her friend. Her hand came up to cup Tama's cheek, then felt her forehead. "Are you okay? You were so out of it there, I thought I'd lost you."
Tama gave a barely perceptible nod as her eyes roamed over their new surroundings. They were in a dark space, a small room that gave her the feeling of being underground. On one end was a thin set of stairs leading up to a trapdoor that was closed tightly; she did not remember coming down those stairs, but they appeared to be the only way in or out of this room. Stacked all around them were crates and cargo cylinders, most of which stood open and empty; those that remained sealed had locks or keypads in corroded and deteriorating conditions. She was leaning against one of the larger crates, made of cool metal. The air was close, musty, and thick with moisture in this space, but at least it was cool on her skin. She returned her regard to the Zabrak, who was busily digging in the remains of her tattered tunic. She withdrew the half-consumed ration pack she had taken from Memmifratus, then opened it, pulling out a small pouch in which was sealed filtered water. She popped the nib on one corner of the pouch, then held it up to Tama's face. "Here. Drink."
Tama wanted to argue, but she realized how unbelievably thirsty she was, and greedily drank from the pouch. She consumed half the pouch in only a few short gulps, then forcibly ripped it from between her teeth and gave it back to the Zabrak before she could no longer help herself and imbibed all the water. Nuri looked like she was about to argue, but her unsatisfied thirst overcame social niceties, and she happily drank the rest of the pouch dry. The Zabrak girl tossed the empty plastic to the side, then dumped what remained of the ration bars into her lap. Most of them had been crushed and broken by Memmifratus' greed, but there was still enough left for them to have a few bites, which both Tama and Nuri savored for several minutes, letting the consumption of food demand a comfortable silence between the two in which they could ponder the events of the day so far.
"I think...we're actually on Dxun," Nuri spoke into the lengthy silence. "The bomas confirmed it; they're native to Dxun, and only found there, as far as I know. That would explain the other monsters we've run into or heard from a distance, 'cause Dxun's just one big jungle full of more and more terrible creatures the farther you get into it." She mused on her own words for a moment, chewing her lower lip, drawing blood from its chapped skin. "Though I've never heard of any large-scale cities on Dxun; I don't think there's anyone actually crazy enough to build there. Besides Dark Jedi and Mandalorians."
Tama let her head fall back against the crate, eliciting a small, echoing clang. "Maybe the predators were imported. Whoever it is that holds us here seems to have a lot of resources; who's to say he didn't build this city and the droids and import these creatures here? Besides, I've been seeing a lot of Clone Wars-era tech and architecture in these ruins, and I don't remember any reports of battles on Dxun during the Clone Wars."
Nuri considered this for a moment. "True. I don't remember any such battles either..."
Tama waved a dismissive hand. "It doesn't really matter where we are, though. We were all brought here from various corners of the galaxy, which means there's a way to get off this world. We need to find the others and we need to find a way offplanet and back home."
Nuri gave her a skeptical glance. "I wonder if we should focus on finding the others at all...I mean, what if they're all going barvey like Memmifratus? What if they'll stab us in the back for just a few ration bars? What if they decide they want to eat us to sate their hunger?"
Tama shook her head in denial. "What Memmifratus did was unforgivable, but remember who the enemy here is. How do we know he wasn't the nicest Elomin boy in the galaxy before he was thrown in this hellhole...like the rest of us? Starvation and torture do terrible things to people; if we can save the others from such a fate, we should at least try."
Nuri looked down at the gimy floor, thinking over the Twi'lek's words. From the expression on her face, Nuri did not seem to fully agree with Tama's plans and assertions, but she did not openly argue anymore. Perhaps she was too tired to do so. Or perhaps she simply felt it was not worth it. They sat together in silence for another lengthy period of time, staring off into the darkness, letting their bodies recuperate and digest what little sustenance they had taken in. Tama felt her stomach unwinding itself slightly from the hard knot it had worked itself into, eliciting a gurgling sound as it protested at the miniscule amount of food she had granted it. Nuri glanced over at the Twi'lek, then scooted across the slick floor to sit beside her, taking comfort in the proximity of another living person who did not want to kill her. Tama took her hand and rubbed her thumb along the Zabrak's sharp knuckles in what she hoped was a soothing gesture. "We should get moving soon. If our kidnapper can talk to us telepathically whenever he wants, he can probably figure out where we are at any given time. If his monsters don't find us, he'll probably send his droids to flush us out."
Nuri lifted her head, staring intently at Tama's profile. "Tama...what happened back there?"
Tama shifted uncomfortably. "What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean. That boma had us both dead, but then you told it to stop, and it was like it hit a wall or something. And then it just ignored us and ate the other boma. I've seen people who are good with animals, but no one's that good unless they raise the animal themselves, and bomas aren't exactly the domesticated type of creature." She leaned closer, scrutinizing the Twi'lek who refused to look her in the eye. "What I saw back there was impossible. So what happened? How did you do that?"
Tama chewed her lip for a moment, trying to think of a way she could explain her control over the boma in a way that would not give away her connection to the Force. Tama herself did not really understand what had happened, or how she had formed such a deep and intimate connection with the creature. She had merely reached for the Force, bidding it help her, and her trust had been rewarded. But she had done so in the full view of Nuri, someone not sensitive to the Force, someone who could not understand its subtleties and endless power. But then, she was not sure anyone, Force-sensitive or not, could truly understand the true scope and magnitude of the Great Mystery. She could almost hear Foyi's disapproving voice, warning her not to reveal her true nature, to avoid the use of the Force when there were others who might see it, as the Empire's spies were everywhere. But this situation she had found herself in was not ordinary by any sense of the word. And if she could not trust Nuri, how would she ever get out of this place alive? Tama cleared her throat with a raspy cough. "Have you heard of the Force?"
Nuri's expression became a grimace as she recalled unseen memories. "I've heard it was part of the old Jedi religion. Some sort of mystical energy field binding the galaxy together with a will all it own. My dad always said it was a myth." Her eyes opened a bit wider as a thought occurred to her. "It's not a myth, is it?"
Tama nodded her agreement. "No, it's as real as you or me. Probably more real, though I don't claim to understand all the metaphysical aspects of it."
Nuri looked both shocked and strangely relieved, as if she had just discovered a truth that explained everything about her life up to that moment. "That was the Force. Wasn't it?"
Tama nodded again. "I can feel the Force, at all times, even if I try not to. I can feel the energy of myself, you, this planet, this room, all entwined and interconnected in a great field of power and consciousness, flowing from and into one another. Everything in the galaxy is connected by it, and it flows through everyone and everything, whether they feel it or not. Sometimes, if I am still and quiet, if I concentrate, if I trust, I can tap into that energy and do things most people would consider impossible."
"Like convincing a wild animal not to eat us."
Tama let a small grin crease her lips. "Yeah, though I didn't realize I could do that until I did it. I just didn't want to die, and I didn't want you to die either, so I called upon the Force for help. I...I was in the boma's mind; I could feel how badly it wanted to eat us, how hungry it was. I guess I convinced it that the other boma's corpse would be a much tastier meal."
Nuri considered her words for a long moment, a look mixing contemplation, trepidation, and wonder on her face. She turned back to the Twi'lek with a gleam of hope in her eyes. "Can you...use the Force to get us out of here?"
"That's my hope. That it will help us get out of here in one piece. Somehow. Though I'm afraid that even when I'm in the best of health, I'm still only in training in how to use the Force. It might not be as much help to us as we might hope. We'll probably still have to use more conventional means to get out of this deathtrap."
Nuri's expression darkened as a thought suddenly occurred to her. "Is the...murglak who kidnapped us...can he use the Force too?"
Tama let out a shaking sigh. "I honestly don't know yet. It would explain how he can be in our minds whenever he wants. Though he could just be a powerful telepath; or both. Either way, I wish I could block him out, but he's more powerful than I am. If he is Force-sensitive. If 'he' is even a he."
Nuri took her hand again, squeezing tightly as if her life depended on it. "Then try to get some rest, Tama. I'll keep watch, make sure nothing gets too close. If your Force is going to help us, you need to regain some of your strength so that it can. Our survival may depend upon it."
Tama thought about arguing, but the thought of sleep, even a short, fitful period of it, was too seductive a notion to pass up. She nodded her thanks to the Zabrak, gave her hand a grateful clench, then laid her head back. Sleep came easily and quickly for her, and she sank into blissful unconsciousness.