Herding Nexu

By Andrew J Talon

10 ABY

Foamwander, Dac

As out of it as he was, the Force still ran strong through Kam. He sensed ill intentions and then heard blaster fire. He had a pretty good idea of who the target was, so he got out of his hospital bed and started heading for the surface. He held up his commlink as he darted through the hallways, trying to stay out of the way of panicking civilians.

"Cilgahl, what's happening?" he asked into his comlink. There was only static on the other end. Kam grit his teeth and tried to find his therapist through the Force. She was still a ways away, but he got a slight fix on her position. Kam forced a security door open and made his way up a stairwell that led to an outdoor garden. When the door opened, he saw himself looking at men in red and black armor aiming their weapons at him. The pattern on their helmets looked like that of the heads of target dummies.

"Hands up, Solusar," said one of the men. He pointed a blaster pistol at Kam's head. "We don't need to make an ugly scene here. We're at a hospital, there's already enough injured here."

Kam slowly put his hands up. The apparent leader of the group nodded.

"Good."

"Who are you?" Kam asked, hoping to buy time for someone- anyone- to get here to help him.

"I'm Razor, and you're a prisoner of the Guavian Death Gang. Well, until Y'ull Acib gets you. He wants you gone. He already had enough on his plate before you tore apart his data center." Kam could sense a smirk on the man's face through his mask.

"I did that when I worked for the Empire. I don't serve them anymore," Kam stated.

Razor snorted.

"You think he cares?" Razor asked. "Really, after all the damage you caused, do you think he cares? We bring you in, the Guavian Death Gang becomes one of Black Sun's elite formations."

Kam could already feel his anger rising. This was very dangerous. If he let loose with the Force now... He'd just been freed from his conditioning, he'd been working so hard... He had to focus.

"Come on," Razor prodded, coming up close with the blaster still trained on him, "give it up and stop wasting our time!"

Focus...!

He did not want to be captured. He did not want to be a slave. Never again. He focused on that feeling... And let his instincts rule.

Razor tried to smack Kam in the head with the butt of his pistol but Kam sent him flying into a boulder with a Force Push then swept the leg of the soldier closest to him. The former Inquisitor grabbed the soldier's rifle and fired it into the torso of another one. The rest of the squad started shooting at him. Their aim was eerily accurate, almost like they had some sort of targeting computer in their heads. Whatever the case, their shots were too close for comfort. Kam clipped another one in the forehead after setting the blaster rifle to full auto.

The rest of the Guavian soldiers took position behind the rocks and plant life, with Razor taking shots at Kam whenever he could get the ex-inquisitor within his sights. Kam sent a boulder flying at one of the soldiers, sending him flying down the Durasteel stairs. He used the Force to fell another tree to serve as a barrier. Still, the Guavian soldiers were getting closer and closer... And even these small exertions had winded him.

He wasn't used to using the Force like this, and his recovery was incomplete. Fear danced at the edge of his mind, and he tried to push it away. A blaster bolt whizzed past his head. Another blast hit him in the shoulder, and he grunted as he went down from the pain. He looked up as the soldiers surrounded him, blasters trained for his body.

He was finished.

But before one of them could aim at his stomach, he heard the sound of a lightsaber igniting followed by shots from a blaster pistol. The soldier went down and Razor was thrown against a tree by something invisible. Kam threw himself behind a boulder with the last of his strength. He managed to peek out from his cover, and saw another soldier pointing a rifle at him. The Force screamed a warning, but the man was already pulling the trigger-

TSEW

The solder fell, a blaster bolt hole burning in his armor. Kam sagged in relief, and slid onto his back. He stared at the sky for what seemed like an eternity, hearing lots of voices shouting.

"Arrest them immediately!" shouted an authoritative voice. "Once they're in cuffs, make sure no other civilians have been harmed!"

A familiar Mon Calamari was over him immediately, and he felt her hands checking over his injuries.

"Kam! You all right? How bad does it hurt?"

Cilghal cut away his sleeve and applied a bacta wrap to the blaster bolt hit. Kam grunted.

"It... It's bad... I've had worse though..." He sat up slowly, and got a look at his other saviors-People he recognized from holo recordings.

"Princess Leia? General Solo?"

"Are you all right?" Leia asked, concerned, as she slowly doused her lightsaber. Her husband whistled as he looked Kam over, his blaster still out and ready for action.

"Not bad, pal. You did pretty damn good," Han said with a chuckle. "You're made of some really stern stuff."

Before Kam could reply, Cilgahl sighed in relief as she finished her examination.

"Looks like it was just a graze... You're going to be fine..." She scowled at him.

"What were you thinking, running out here like that?!"

"I was thinking... That it was better for them to go after me alone, than to risk anyone else getting hurt," Kam admitted.

Cilgahl scowled even more deeply.

"That's ridiculous! That's stupid!"

"That," Han chuckled, "Is what Jedi do."

Kam flushed.

"You... Think so?" He asked.

"We know so," Leia said, smiling warmly at him. "Let's get you back to your room, huh? Han?"

"Gotcha," Han said, kneeling and putting Kam's uninjured arm over his shoulders. Cilgahl helped support him, and all four made it back to his hospital room soon after. Kam was laid down on the bed, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"I think you'll be fine in another day or two," Cilgahl said, setting more bacta bandages on his shoulder, "So you can head out to Yavin then."

"Oh," Kam said.

He had intellectually known that one day, he would leave Cilghal and... Well, there would be Luke and Tionne, but even so...

"And uh... I'll be going with you," Cilghal said, her whiskers twitching shyly. Kam blinked.

"Wait, what?"

"Turns out Miss Cilghal here is Force sensitive, just like you," Leia beamed, squeezing her flipper hand with a smile.

"So you'll get your personal nurse to go with you too," Han chuckled, "Try not to aggravate your injuries too much, huh-?"

"Oooh! Stop that!" Cilghal cried, her whiskers twitching in outright humiliation. Han laughed, holding up his hands. Kam Solusar watched, the ghost of a smile on his face as so much suddenly made sense.

Her insight, her wisdom... Well. It was nice he was going to be working with someone he knew on this new path of his. Someone he cared about.

SS Daybreaker, In hyperspace to Yavin IV

Luke emerged from his cabin, yawning a bit. He looked over the general recreation and meeting area of the ship, which contained the holoterminal, the eating and meeting area, and a few other odds and ends.

Including Streen, who was examining Artoo alongside one of his modified probe droids.

"Streen?" Luke asked.

The older man looked up, grinning a bit in embarassment.

"Ah, sorry. Couldn't help looking over your R2 unit," he said, "the modding work on him is incredible!"

"Yeah," Luke said with a grin, walking over to kneel next to his astromech, "he's an amazing piece of work."

Artoo beeped smugly. The probe droid hovering nearbly scratched and beeped a response. Streen hummed.

"Apparently he's got all sorts of modifications that aren't working anymore," Streen said. Luke glanced at Artoo suspiciously.

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Well, his rocket jets apparently haven't worked in decades," Streen said. Luke stared incredulously at Artoo.

"Rocket jets?! You have rocket jets?!"

Artoo beeped a quick explanation.

"I get that they're illegal, but we were literally fighting against the government!" Luke shouted. "You could have told me sooner!"

"Now now, not his fault," Streen soothed, "a lot of it was data locked by his previous owner. An Anakin Skywalker, I believe?"

Artoo blooped in the affirmative. Luke sighed.

"All right, I get that. Still! I like tinkering with you, Artoo. I want to make you the best I can."

Artoo hummed, then beeped a possibility.

"All right," Luke said, "how do I unlock it all?"

Artoo beeped out a more lengthy explanation. Luke made a face.

"I have to what? How is that a requirement?!"

"Guess your dad didn't want you to have all options available until he was sure you were going to carry on the family line," Streen chuckled. Luke sighed.

"I'll... Definitely ask Aphra on a date."

Artoo blooped.

"Or Mara! Fine! Not that she'll go for it," Luke sighed, "now please grant me full access?"

Artoo hummed... Then beeped happily. He projected a full list of modification options via holo. Luke's eyes widened and he grinned. A similar grin emerged on Streen's face. His probe droid whistled, impressed.

"Micro missile launchers?!" Luke gasped, "you have any idea how amazing that is?!"

"And an ion blaster mount? Man, thought those were outlawed!" Streen grinned. He turned to Luke.

"Let me see what I've got in my luggage! Maybe we can get some of these things online before we come out of hyperspace!"

"Kriff yeah!" Luke cheered.

Gantoris, who was meditating in his quarters, held in a sigh.

Maniac sky people with their killer machines...

And we're back!