IE X: DREAMCHASERS

A scout trooper glances over his shoulder. The chicken walker behind him makes the soil shiver with each pounding step it takes.

"Why did they send down a bunch of kids to us?"

A trooper glances at him. "No clue. It was probably an idea of those Navy caps."

The scout trooper sighs. The respirator mask in his helmet scrambles it into a hiss of machinery. "Blasted Navy. Sector Command should've never let the Eagleclaw and a damn psychologist lead our stuff."

While the faint bickering below her continues to gnaw on her, Eva looks down at the soil of the forest from nine meters in the air. Sitting on the roof of a Scout Walker makes her feel like a giant traversing the woods. With her eyes peeled on the treeline, she scans for the Twi'lek girl.

The Swift Scouts battalion of the Army has tracked down traces to a quadrant in the forests bordering the Capital. Lines of Scout Walkers, troopers and Lurca hounds comb out the forest continuously with no stop in sight. As the Scout Walker shakes her from side to side, Eva hopes they're on the heels of that Twi'lek. She can still feel the damage the tailhead left behind. The fever is still burning within her, but most of the heat has already subsided. Enough for Ashara to reevaluate her and deem her fitting to move out. Even if Ashara wouldn't let her go, Eva would've let herself out. This hunt is just too important to miss.

Eva groups the strands of her hair and ties them in a bun. Behind her, she hears the hatch of the Scout Walker pounding open. The metallic shuffle grows louder and in the corner of her eye, she sees Peyton dropping to the roof next to her. She sits down with her legs dangling down the head of the Scout Walker, just above its viewports.

"Hey Eva, here's your Caf," says Peyton, holding two cups in her hands.

"Yeah, thanks," Eva responds and she takes her cup. "I never thought Scout walkers have Caf machines."

Peyton chuckles. "I was surprised too, honestly."

Eva takes a sip. As the hot Caf runs over her tongue, she clenches her jaws. It tastes like barren cardboard like every other cup of Caf she's tasted in her life. Must be one of the grand perks of the Imperial military.

"Still can't get used to the taste," says Eva.

Peyton smiles. The white patch above her eyebrow shines in the sunlight, covering her headwound with a glimmer. "The military gets like trillions of Creds and they still can't get a cup of Caf right."

Eva chuckles. "Crazy, isn't it?"

Peyton nods. Her eyes are drawn to the two troopers below. Their unappreciative words barely overpower the hydraulics of the walker.

"What are they bickering about?" Peyton asks.

"Just some disagreement," Eva replies with a shake of her head.

"They don't want us here, right?" Peyton asks, looking at them.

Eva nods. "Yeah."

"Okay," Peyton responds. She lets out a sigh of discomfort. "I get it. We're merely cadets. We shouldn't be sent off to a manhunt," and she sips her Caf.

"What do you mean?" Eva asks. "We're the most experienced cadets of the Academy. We can handle this."

"You're saying this because you've done it alone before," says Peyton, and she shakes her head. "Nah. Even with experience, we shouldn't be here. It's not our job to find this monster."

"Well, we can't choose what our job is. It's assigned to us," Eva responds.

"I know, and I accept it," Peyton responds. "I just don't think it was the right decision. We shouldn't deal with this alien. We should train. It's clear she's far out of our league."

"That was when we were alone. Now we have half of the Army with us."

Peyton presses her lips. "I guess, but-, I still have a bad feeling about this. I just don't get why they send us, a bunch of cadets, after someone so powerful. And who is she, really? She wields an unknown power we don't have. Command should've sent… Venom Guard or something."

"Venom Guard?" and Eva scoffs with a grin. "SpecOps is a luxury these days, they're all busy cleaning up Rebel agents. These days, cleaning up these dangers comes down to us."

Peyton tilts her head with confusion and lets out a faint sigh. "You asked for this mission, didn't you? So it wasn't Roslin?"

Eva shakes her head. "No. I asked."

"Why?"

"This Twi'lek ravaged our Army camp," Eva responds. "Look at what she's done to us. She almost killed me and cut you in half with that lightsaber or whatever it is."

Eva leaves out the fact that she's going to need the Twi'lek to answer her lingering questions. Telling that might raise questions about her mental well-being. It's not all too great and Eva refrains from giving hints that might shed light on that. Eva fears it might destabilise the trust between them. A possibly mentally unstable person amidst the ranks wouldn't go well.

Peyton's eyes twinkle with worry. "So it's a lust for revenge?"

Eva shrugs. "Well, I can't say it's false."

"And when did that go wrong the last time?" Peyton asks, tilting her head.

Her nerves electrify in an instant. Right. That time.

Eva gazes away and lets out a sigh. Her lungs shiver. That time…

Remembering that moment still gives her the shivers. The time that Eva let her emotions steer her until she got out of control and executed a surrendered Rebel officer right in front of her. The emotions distracted her from standing guard. The result was a shot in Peyton's shoulder and a shattered friendship.

Peyton lays her hand on Eva's shoulder and pulls her closer to her in a near-embrace. "Just-, don't do anything stupid," she softly whispers. "That tailhead is very much on your nerves. Don't let them explode like last time."

Eva entangles her arms around Peyton, feeling her heart drowning in pressing remorse. "And get you shot. Won't happen again."

She gets closer to Peyton, but Eva doesn't know how much of her previous fury is burning. It sometimes burns so hot that she can watch a planet die twice. That was when Lu, a trusted person, was playing with her from the shadows. That was when she couldn't control her rage. Eva knows that she still has it from the depths, locked away and suppressed. For now, she has her anger and lust for vengeance under control, but she doesn't know for how long…

The foremost Scouts have found the first concrete evidence of the tailhead having ever traversed through these woods, and so, Eva and the squad continue by foot for inspection.

Roslin looks over her shoulder to the rest of the squad walking behind her. In turn, she follows the Scout troopers of the battalion. "Set your blasters to low energy."

"Low energy?" Ashara blurts out. "Have you seen what that Twi'lek can do?"

"I have not," Roslin responds, "but orders are orders. Luckily for us, the Swift Commander allows us to use high energy when danger is high."

Ashara sighs. "Skorvit. I regret saying yes to this mission."

"Well, cry in a corner about it," Roslin responds, almost smiling by her own comment.

"Yes sir," Ashara sighs.

Eva presses her lips with unease as now Ashara seems to doubt their position in this mission as well. She catches up with Ashara and taps on her shoulder. "Hey, don't worry. We got an Army battalion."

Ashara looks over her shoulder at her, but she remains silent, seemingly accepting the situation. It leaves Eva with a fog of unease. Peyton and Ashara seem frustrated at being sent out for a mission they didn't ask for, nor did they prepare for. That Twi'lek is not going to let herself get caught so easily, even if Eva got all the resources she can get. It's not going to be easy, but it shouldn't matter. Duty is calling, and Eva can't drop what she's sworn to do: protecting her people of Vaulent 6 and the Empire. Sometimes, duty comes down to the footsoldiers like her. If you don't like the mission, then deal with it.

They find a smouldering campfire, lying on the foot of a boulder below a crudely made shelter of branches and leaves. Eva squeezes the grips of her blaster as she watches Roslin and the Swift Commander investigating the site from a distance. Scout troopers of the Swift Scouts battalion surround the site and stand on the lookout with their blasters squeezed in their hands.

Her boots tap softly on the soil. Slowly, Eva feels the patience draining away like sand in an hourglass. A smouldering campfire should be enough to indicate recent activity. The evidence can't get any more clear than this. Yet, this is taking too much time. If there's something she learned from hunting down Lu, it's that speed can make the difference between a total loss and a sweet victory. It was speed that saved the towers of Trustfall Center from Rebel bombs that were disarmed in time thanks to Peyton's quick slicing. The time Roslin and the Army troopers take to inspect a campsite gnaws on her. What's taking them so long?

Eva turns to Peyton with a faint sigh. "They're taking their kriffin' time."

Peyton looks up from her datapad. "They sure do."

"Roslin is like Ecklund without her glasses," Eva smirks.

Peyton chuckles until they both hear Eva's wristlink humming.

"I heard that," Ecklund's voice crackles.

They both erupt in laughter.

Eva looks back at Roslin watching the Scout commander inspecting some traces imprinted in the soil. Her patience is almost drained and she glances at Peyton.

"I'll loop around a bit, maybe I'll find something," says Eva.

Peyton nods. "Got it."

Hoping to find something, Eva starts looping around the campsite. Some Swift Scouts walk past the trees to continue the hunt forward and scout ahead. With each pound, their AT-STs make the ground shiver like thunder.

Then, Eva catches something with her eyes. It's something white, twisted around the little branches of a shrub. Eva steps closer and sees it's something fluffy, almost cotton-like as if someone's jacket—or robe, brushed past it in a hurry. Her alarm bells ring and she turns to Roslin, peering through her macrobinoculars.

"Commander. Found something."

Roslin lowers her binoculars and approaches her. Eva steps aside and lets the Scout commander pull the strings of cotton out of its knot.

"White cotton fibre," he notes, twisting it around in his hands.

Eva nods. "Yes sir. The tailhead wore a brown-white robe when she escaped the Malstrom base."

"Roger," he responds with a nod. "Then it's clear that our tailhead has been here very recently. She undoubtedly left some traces behind. I'll search for a direction. Hold positions."

Roslin nods, her jaws chewing on her usual package of gum. "Yes sir."

As the Scout commander starts scanning the ground for traces, Eva and Roslin hold. She nervously shifts from foot to foot. Difficult or not, time's still running. We don't have much left.

"Why is it taking so long?" Eva whispers to herself. "She can't be that far."

"She must have," snaps Roslin, hearing her whispers. "The Army would've found her by now if she truly got far."

Eva looks at her. "I'm not sure. She woke up and fled without any food. Hunger is not going to bring one to the other side of the forest."

Roslin presses her lips, staring at the treeline until she turns to Ashara. "Hey, Ashara, what's your insight on this?"

Ashara steps forward, squeezing the shoulder straps of her backpack. "I agree with Eva. She couldn't have gotten far. She's been in hibernation for so long that she's most likely suffering from carbon sickness."

Eva shrugs. "That tailhead didn't seem to suffer from anything when I saw her."

"Well, sickness is never experienced the same way by everyone," Ashara responds. "I don't know much about Twi'lek biology, but I'm sure she's suffering from exhaustion and things like it. All I know from Twi'leks is that they're pretty resilient, so-, she might be able to bite through it. And whether she's low on food or not, survival instincts can do some wild things."

Roslin glances at her, and Eva stares back. With Ashara's insight, it becomes more believable that their prey is closer than they think, and slowly, Eva's grip on her E-10 blaster intensifies. She gazes around and the feeling of having passed her prey crawls over her skin. Her eyes shoot from tree to tree, shrub to shrub, ground to sky. Blasted hell, she might be kriffin' watching us.

"Hate to bring the news," says the Scout commander, returning, "but the footsteps go on for about 20 meters until they stop."

"So, dead end?" Roslin asks.

The Scout nods with a sigh, warbled by the respirator in his helmet. "Affirmative. Not even the Lurcas seem to catch a trace. I'll get the Walkers to comb out the area. That tailhead can't have gotten too far out of our reach."

As he walks away to communicate with his colleagues, Eva moves closer to Roslin as the electricity rushes through her nerves.

"Commander, I don't think we're at a dead end," she says. "I think we've passed her."

Roslin looks at her and lets out a long, long sigh. "Yeah, same conclusion. I'll talk with the Swift commander about this. Maybe Peyton can find a heat signature or something," and she brushes past Eva's shoulder. "Peyton, you got a heat camera or something?"

Peyton shrugs. "No, but I'd have to tweak some things on my datapad to get something similar. I think I can work it out."

As Peyton starts tweaking her datapad and Roslin communicates with the Scout commander, Eva scans the treeline. The thought that she may have passed her prey gnaws on her, draining her patience and striking her with anxiety. What if she's watching? If they passed her, the tailhead might know every next move. And how did the sniffer hounds not catch anything? They smell everything, even the person selling their corn on Steel Crane Plaza tens of kilometers away. Eva gets a hunch that catching this tailhead will be a lot harder, even with an entire walker battalion of the Army and a pack of hounds. Ashara's concerns might be correct.

Then, in the corner of her eye, a flash. Eva shakes and raises her blaster. Her gunsight lands on the treeline with trembling hands, but her heart sinks in her chest. She sees nothing is there. The treeline is barren. Her heart speeds up in her chest with distress as Eva scans her surroundings with her eyes peeled to her gunsight. What was that?

The flash that burned on the edge of her vision disappeared as quickly as it ignited. Now that it's gone, Eva's mind races with thoughts about what that was, but she can't think of anything. It was probably nothing. Dank Ferrik. Am I hallucinating? Kriffin' hell.

"Hey, Eva," she hears the voice of Ashara.

She turns around and lowers her blaster.

"Something wrong?" asks Ashara with raised eyebrows.

Fearing what might follow, Eva shakes her head. "Nothing."

Ashara presses her lips, doubting Eva's answer, but she nods.

Eva looks back at where she saw the flash. I'm not having schizophrenia, right?

Then, a screech erupts from behind her. Everyone jolts around and Eva raises her blaster. Her eyes land on a Scout trooper collapsing to the ground with sparks hitting the ground. A shiver runs down her spine as Eva's lungs race for air. What the hell is happening?

Two Scout troopers run to their fallen comrade, holding his arms up in the air, motionless without any sign of life. That trooper is dead, slashed by a spirit. Ashara and Peyton retreat to Eva and Roslin, scrambling together with shaking blasters.

"Dank Ferrik," Peyton curses, her lungs shivering.

"Anyone saw anything?" Roslin asks.

"Negative," say all of the girls after each other.

Then, a slash on their left. Eva jolts around. Another one, this time an Army Trooper, dropping dead with sparks flying off his body armour. Her nerves electrify as the other troopers start shouting orders to each other in a hurry, scrambling together.

"Cover each other's flanks," Roslin shouts with a shaking voice.

Eva follows and the squad starts forming a square with each covering the back of each other. With her eyes glued to her gunsight, she scans around, but her nerves make her hands shiver and she can't bear the heat for much longer.

Peyton moves her wristlink to her chin. "Ecklund, are you seeing this?"

The speakers of her wristlink continue to hum until Ecklund's voice breaks it.

"Uh-huh," Ecklund's voice shivers. "No sight of the slasher though."

No sight? The ghost moves quicker than Ecklund's vulture eyes.

Eva's heart races in her chest as her eyes dart around, trying to catch a glimpse of whoever is killing their troopers from the shadows.

Then another slash. She catches a glimpse of a yellow blaze, slashing off the limb of a Scout trooper with sparks. Instantly, she knows it's her, the Twi'lek, the monster. She's here, and Eva's mind twists into a hurricane of madness.

"There!" she shouts.

Eva's finger jumps to the trigger and fires as she sees a flashing spirit, holding a lightsaber, running through the shrubs and trees, barely visible through the leaves. Her other squad members fire too and unleash a barrage of fire with each shot pounding in Eva's ears. Thunder terrorises the forest as lightning bombards the treeline. Her vision blurs and Eva squeezes her fingertips on her trigger until all she hears and sees is thunderous blasterfire. The shrubs catch fire and turn into a blaze. Smaller trees snap and collapse while the bigger ones flash red with every shot.

"EVA, HOLD YOUR FIRE!"

A hand slams her blaster down viciously, and pulling her finger off the trigger, Eva sees it's Roslin. Everyone else has their blasters down.

"I kriffin' told you to hold fire twice," Roslin snarls.

Gasping with shivering lungs, Eva realises she missed her orders during a flood of panic.

"I-, I'm sorry, commander," Eva stammers.

Roslin nods, her lungs racing for air. "Keep yourself cool."

"Yes sir," Eva responds, and she inhales deeply through her nose, trying to calm the hurricane of madness and desperation roaring in her mind. Looking back at where she shot, she sees the shrubs aren't ablaze at all. The trees haven't snapped. Everything is the same as it was before her barrage of panic. Staring endlessly at the treeline, Eva feels the turmoil increasing. Her heart can barely keep pace.

Meanwhile, troopers of the Swift Scouts battalion rush in and swarm the campsite, shouting commands to each other. The leashed Lurca hounds bark and trample the soil, pulling the Scout troopers who hold them at bay forward viciously. At last, the troopers let go of their leashes and the Lurcas race forward, running into the shrubs and disappearing.

Slowly, Eva and the rest advance forward towards the direction of the hounds. Their barking echoes through the woods. She feels each pound of her heart in her throat as she closes in with her eyes glued to her gunsight. Her hands ache, squeezing the grips, ready to pull the trigger at any sign of motion. The barking of the Lurcas grows more blood-hungry and Eva almost feels a thin smile forming on her face. The Lurca hounds they have at their disposal are vicious creatures, longing for legs and limbs to rip apart. They're quick and razor-sharp, both their mind and their teeth. You won't escape those, tailhead.

Suddenly, the barking ceases. The forest calms down. All Eva can hear is her own heartbeat. The hell? What happened?

"Why did they stop?" Roslin whispers, her voice sounding like thunder amidst the silence.

Eva feels a knot forming in her throat. Something happened to those Lurcas that made them cease barking in an instant.

Then, Eva hears shuffling past the shrubs ten meters away from her left shoulder. Something's there. She repositions, but the shrubs make whatever is shuffling behind it invisible. Through her gunsight, she sees the leaves of the shrub start moving. Her fingertips ache, ready to fire. Then, a Lurca breaks through the shrubs and runs towards her with trampling feet. Eva gasps and lowers her blaster, having nearly shot one of their own hounds. Something has scared him off.

"Hey, buddy, something wrong?" Eva asks with a light voice.

What could have scared him off though? Maybe the Lurca is a little bit jumpy like her. It wouldn't be surprising. Eva lowers herself to her knees and puts her blaster on the ground to calm the hound.

But instead, the hound doesn't stop racing towards her. It jumps up and crashes into Eva's chest like a speeder hitting her head-on. She shrieks and crashes into the soil. The Lurca tramples its feet into her ribs, barks at her, opens its jaws and tries to bite into her face. Eva screams for help as the hound's teeth bite into her helmet, missing her face barely. She tries to kick it off of herself, but the hound is too heavy and pins her down with its weight.

Then, the Lurca is kicked off of her body and is shot thrice by Peyton. It cries and collapses with burn marks all over its body. Peyton reaches out and gets her up to her feet.

"Eva, you're okay?" Peyton asks.

Eva shrugs and shakes her head with wide pupils. Her chest burns with pain. With burning nerves, Eva runs her finger over her ribs and they feel intact. She sighs with relief, but now, questions flood made that Lurca go mad, viciously mad. They were longing for flesh, her flesh. Why? She can't come up with an explanation. All Eva knows is that something, or someone, warped their minds.

The woods suddenly fill with barking and further away, she sees a group of troopers being ambushed by their own Lurca hounds, jumping out of the shrubs with drooling teeth. Eva freezes in place, unable to move as troopers start shouting at each other.

"Our hounds have turned against us," Roslin gasps, and she turns around with clenched teeth.

Eva, Ashara, and Peyton are all frozen in place, filled with disbelief as they watch their troopers getting ripped apart by their Lurcas.

"Are you blind? Kill them!" Roslin shouts.

She opens fire as a hound gets his eyes on her and runs towards her before dropping dead. Still frozen in place, the woods fill with the screams and cries of soldiers as their own hounds dig their teeth deep into their limbs, tearing them apart in pieces.

Ashara grasps Eva's blaster and pounds it into her hands. "Hey, snooze droid, are you gonna do something?" she shouts at her, pulling her out of her frozen state.

Eva clenches her blaster and nods. She inhales deeply and aims her blaster at the Lurcas. They're all picking their human targets at random, choosing anything that's tasty. Eva fires and saves a Scout trooper from getting ripped apart. Another sniffer hound runs towards her and she shoots it in its head, dropping dead.

Then, Ecklund's voice erupts from her wristlink. "I have sight on the target! She's getting away!"

"Where?" Eva asks, moving her wristlink to her chin.

"Sunrise!"

Sunrise. That's east.

Roslin hears it too from her wristlink and looks at Eva. "Got it, Eva and I are going after her!"

"Yes sir!" Eva shouts, and she runs with Roslin away from the fighting hounds.

Eva runs through the shrubs, trampling the cracking branches below her boots. Eva tails Roslin's heels as they run up a hill.

"Why did our hounds turn against us?" Eva shouts at her.

"Don't ask me!" Roslin shouts back. "I don't kriffin' know. Don't let it distract you, we can't let her escape!"

"Getting away… Distracting," and then it starts clicking. "What if it's all a distraction?"

"What do you mean, a distraction?"

"That tailhead has some unnatural abilities. What if she made those hounds turn against us so she could escape!"

"Well-," and Roslin stops in her words. "Dank Ferrik. Don't give me a reason to fear her for the Emperor's sake."

Eva gasps. "Well, mission failed. Sorry."

They run further up the hill. They get to the top and they stop. Eva scans the treeline and there, running through the trees, she sees the Twi'lek with her brown-white robes swirling behind her.

"There she is!" Roslin shouts. "After her!"

Roslin runs off and Eva follows her, running behind her heels as they dash past trees, trying to catch up with the fleeing Twi'lek. Eva and Roslin take aim and fire, but the Twi'lek dashes past the rain of blasterfire and ignites her lightsaber. She runs past trees and slices their trunks off in a swift movement. They fall down onto their path and Eva sees one hurdling towards her. She jumps away and smashes into the soil as the tree crashes down next to her, nearly crushing her body. Eva gets up and sees the Twi'lek is trying to slow them down by throwing every tree in the vicinity onto their path. Eva tries to fire, but the falling trees and the running make it hard for her to get a stable aim.

The Twi'lek makes distance as they close in on a rock formation, embedded into the forest like a wound. She disappears behind monotone boulders as Eva and Roslin run towards it, her knees burning with agony.

"We're gonna box her in," says Roslin. "You follow her, I go left!"

"Yes sir," Eva gasps.

Eva splits off from Roslin and runs directly into the rock formation, following the footsteps of the tailhead. She dashes past boulders and keeps her eyes glued to her blaster, jolting around from left to right, left to right. The sounds of the firefight against their own sniffer hounds fades out until all she can hear is her own heartbeat. The wind whistles through the crevices. Her gunsight darts around, searching for the prey. Hide and seek is over. Where are you?

A shape flashes into focus in the corner of her eye and a lightsaber slashes into her blaster before Eva can react. Her blaster is sliced in half and almost explodes in her hands as she drops it. Her heart skips a beat and backs away as her nerves burst with an explosion. Then, the Twi'lek sweeps with her hand and Eva feels her throat squeezed by an invisible force. She's slammed into a tree behind her and shrieks.

The Twi'lek lashes out and holds her scorching lightsaber below Eva's chin, ready to slash her throat and cut her head off of her body.

Squeaking and wheezing, Eva feels panic engulfing her like flames as her arms cling to the tree, almost tied to it by an invisible force. Her throat burns as Eva's eyes dart to the Twi'lek. In the corners of her bright-pink eyes, Eva notices a twinkle of yellow in her pupils, twirling like blood in water. Eva can almost feel the lust for blood burning within the Twi'lek and tears start forming in her eyes, fearing for her life.

That twinkle of blood disappears from her eyes as quickly as it appeared. The Twi'lek presses her lips, closes her eyes, and inhales deeply through her nose. The storm within her no longer twists with anger and Eva feels the invisible grip on her throat slowly decreasing. The tailhead opens her eyes and backs away, slowly dropping her burning lightsaber.

"It is you again," says the Twi'lek, as softly as a bird's whisper. "Of all the enemies, I did not expect to face you again, especially after how easy I went on you. Why do you step onto my path?"

Eva tries to get an answer out of her burning throat, but all she can get out is the squeak of a squirrel.

The Twi'lek presses her lips. "You are merely a servant. You are not worth it to kill."

Not worth it to kill? Eva's mind warbles with uncertainty. What-, the hell you mean?

Then, the Twi'lek seems to notice something and looks over her shoulder. The Twi'lek turns around and Eva sees Roslin, facing the alien girl with her blaster raised. Her eyes are narrowed, as sharp as blades.

"Drop your weapon," says Roslin.

The Twi'lek seems to hesitate, letting out a sigh until she disables her lightsaber and throws it away from her, clattering against a rock, onto the dirt. For a moment, Eva feels a slight hint of relief, releasing the weight of panic.

"Satisfied?" the Twi'lek asks. "And now? Are you going to kill me like all other immoral animals do?"

Roslin clenches her teeth and glances at Eva until she looks back at the alien girl.

"Let-, let go of my friend," Roslin stammers, "and I'll let you live."

The Twi'lek looks over her shoulder at Eva, making eye contact with her. She seems to hesitate. Eva feels tears running down her cheeks as her throat burns with invisible fingers pinching it with agony.

"Now!" Roslin shouts, her voice echoing into the sky.

The Twi'lek presses her lips, but even then, Eva can see she's not going to lift the torture the alien girl is forcing onto her. She clenches her jaws and narrows her eyes with anger starting to boil within her chest.

"Drop-, drop me," Eva squeakes. "Do it, blasted scum. Drop me!"

The tailhead keeps staring at her, seemingly unwilling follow through.

Roslin's blaster starts charging up and fires a stun round. In a split second, the Twi'lek jumps away and flips onto the ground. Eva's throat is released from the invisible force, falls to the ground, and is hit by Roslin's stun round. She shrieks and hits the mud with her head, nearly unconscious. As she hears a fistfight starting to emerge, Eva gasps and feels the darkness entangling her, but amidst the turmoil, she feels her fury starting to burn from within her.

I'm not going to lose so easily, and Eva inhales deeply through her nose and slams her fists into the soil.

Getting up, Eva sees Roslin lashing out fist after fist, each one more powerful than before, but the alien's swift movements make Roslin's pounds seem useless. But they're with two; Eva and Roslin outnumber her.

Eva clenches her fists and joins the fight, trying to distract the Twi'lek so Roslin can unleash the skull-breaking pound, but even when they outnumber her, the alien blocks and dodges every blow as quickly as hyperspeed. Nothing hits.

Then, as Eva is kicked on her kneecap and screams with pain, the Twi'lek sweeps with her hand forward and pushes Roslin away with an invisible force. Roslin shrieks and slams into a rock, dropping unconsciously on the ground with a sickening thud. Eva's heart skips a beat and her lungs stall as her nerves flood with panic. She gets up and her eyes immediately land on the Twi'lek, standing with her arms down, defenseless and unbothered about everything. In a split second, her burning fury draws her to avenge and she clenches her fists, but Eva holds herself in tone. She knows that Roslin needs her more than her fists need to break bones, and she turns away and runs to Roslin. Her body lies on the foot of a boulder with her arms spread around and her eyelids shut. Eva drops herself to the ground with a crash. With burning nerves, Eva shakes Roslin's body, trying to wake her up. With each passing second, Eva feels the anxiety closing in on her quicker and quicker.

Then, Roslin lets out a faint moan with a cracked voice, and her head moves a little. Eva feels the anxiety flushing away and she lets out a sigh of relief.

"You-, you almost killed her with that push," Eva whispers, gasping for air.

She turns her head to the Twi'lek, reaching out with her hand towards the ground. Her shining hilt flies into her hand like metal attracted to a magnet. "I made sure of it."

Eva scoffs and clenches her jaws. The anger is starting to burn within her. "Really? You slammed her into a rock with invisible power. Who-, what are you?"

The alien presses her lips, seemingly irritated. She sighs. "I am a Padawan of the Holy Order of the Jedi Knights. Guardian of peace, protector of the Light. My mission is of great importance and I cannot afford any delay in getting to the Temple."

The calm, rustling leaves of the trees are slowly interrupted by the sound of heavy machinery, and through her knees, Eva feels the ground shivering. The Swift Scouts are pushing up towards her, and the Twi'lek seems to notice them as she glances away into the crevices of the rock formation, seemingly aware of their position, and she looks back at Eva with her fiery-pink eyes.

"I don't see much use in killing unless absolutely necessary, but if you are going to step into my path once more, you are warned," she says.

Eva scoffs with half a grin. "Don't expect me to stop."

"Yeah, I figured that," she snaps with a nod, and as the pounds of AT-STs grow louder, the Twi'lek turns around and vanishes into the forest.

Mere seconds later, Scout troopers hurry into the crevice and the heads of AT-STs peek over the rock formation, scanning around for the prey. Now that she's faced her in an outnumbering fight, the line between prey and hunter blur. The Twi'lekーor Padawan she called herself, strangled her against the tree and smashed Roslin into a rock with an invisible pair of hands. It was almost as if the Twi'lek controlled air. She's capable of so much more than Eva. She can even sway the minds of their own sniffers, and even though she has no direct evidence for that, Eva has a sinking feeling in her stomach that she can do that.

A pair of black gloves shake her shoulders and Eva looks at the dirty helmet of a Scout trooper. He orders her to pull back to her squad to be sent back to the Malstrom Army base. They're no longer useful.

As an Army medic carries Roslin's half-unconscious body on a stretcher back to a rendezvous point with her squad, Eva walks beside her body and gazes into the treeline, holding Roslin's warm hand. She realises she's not the hunter nor is anyone else in the Imperial hunting party. On the contrary, she is the prey, hunted by a supernatural alien that knows when to strike and when not to.

Eva recognises she can not take this Padawan as an opponent. Sometimes, an enemy is far greater than the fighter, and Eva knows she cannot drag herself into a fight she will never win, not even when she outnumbers her. The Padawan is far more powerful than she'll ever be. Quietly, she curses under her breath, swearing at herself for not being able to strike back, enraged that her abilities are unable to take her further.

Striking back with success? Not a chance.

Meanwhile, the Padawan, Kishtung Sorren. runs through the woods, dashing past trees. Looking over her shoulder, Kishtung sees the force of evil coming towards her; troopers in flashing armour spread over the hills like ants.

As Kishtung runs on with her lungs starting to burn, she searches for a way out of this mess. Where should I go? There must be a way to escape, I can't keep fighting here until everyone's dead. I need rest. Okay okay. I know what I have to do. Trust. Trust in the Force.

Then, Kishtung feels something. A shiver through her skin, a ripple in the Force. Not a direction towards safety, but danger. She ignites her lightsaber, turns around and deflects a blaster bolt back to a trooper. He drops dead with an echoing scream as more emerge from the trees. Shouting soldiers encircle her with blasters clenched in their hands.

"Surrender, tailhead," shouts one soldier. "We got you surrounded!"

Tailhead? Kishtung inhales sharply through her nose, almost with a grin. "Don't be so sure, sir," she nearly whispers.

"Really?" one trooper asks with a scoff. "It's one versus twenty."

"Don't overestimate your chances, sir."

Kishtung squeezes the grip of her , she scans around with her eyes, waiting patiently for one to make the first move. Then, a ripple.

Kishtung leaps and dodges a blaster bolt and slashes her lightsaber through a soldier's throat. He lets out a silent, choking wheeze of agony as she retracts her saber and he drops dead. The Twi'lek continues to kill every soldier that has dared to come close, slashing into arms, legs, chests, and heads, except for one. With his repeating blaster slashed in half and all of his nineteen comrades dead, the last remaining soldier drops to the ground with his hands raised, shaking and trembling.

"Okay okay, I give up, I give up!" he shouts at her, crawling away.

Kishtung closes in on him and tightens her grip on her lightsaber, preparing to end his life. "One versus twenty, huh?"

She feels a vengeful shadow surrounding the soldier. The darkside is burning within him, devouring every shine of light, but instead of slashing him, she lowers her weapon. He is a soldier of evil, but he has already given up. There is no need to kill him. It is not the Jedi way.

Then, his comlink hums.

"Swift Twelve reporting in. Pull back. I don't want to burn your ass."

Gasping, the trooper looks back. Kishtung looks too. There, on a hill in front of her, stands a Chicken walker. Its motionless skeleton and its dual viewports make it look like a vengeful predator, waiting to obliterate its prey. The blaster cannon below its command cabin is aimed at her, ready to blast her.

As the soldier Kishtung allowed to live runs away, she clenches her lightsaber, points it into the air, and buries her feet into the ground, believing she can take it.

If I can take platoons of your men, a steel chicken shall not pass my shoulders.

She feels a piercing hiss rushing towards her. The Walker unleashes a blasterbolt of fire, racing towards her like lightning. Kishtung sweeps forward with her lightsaber to deflect it back to its origin. The blasterbolt hits her lightsaber like lightning, but the force overpowers her in an instant and it blows her off of her feet. She shrieks and crashes into the ground meters away. Gasping, she gets to her knees. Okay. Perhaps that was some overestimation on my part. We're even, soldier.

Kishtung Force pulls her lightsaber back into her hand. Ahead of her, she sees the Chicken walker, still standing motionless on the hill. Through the Force, she feels its blaster cannon firing up another shot, and Kishtung squeezes her lightsaber, ready to let go. She closes her eyes and exhales the last bit of air out of her lungs, prepared to let the Chicken walker snuff out her life.

Then, a blaster shot shrieks through the woods towards the walker and hits it. Kishtung opens her eyes to the command cabin bursting open with a fiery explosion and its burning wreckage collapsing to the ground. Confused, she wonders where that shot came from.

She looks aside and sees a tank, a crawler, driving through the shrubs, revealing its presence. Guerilla fighters emerge from the tree line and fire at the remaining forces of evil. The unexpected reinforcements force the enemy to retreat as the crawler they have destroys their steel chicken walkers with single shots, forcing the enemy to retreat. As the last walkers disappear behind the hills and the woods, the blasterfire stops and the woods calm down to a gentle breeze and rushing leaves.

Her hands ache as a man, a soldier too, approaches her. He has his blaster rifle hanging down from his shoulder on his back with a strap. But even when his weapon doesn't lie in his hands, Kishtung holds out her lightsaber towards him, keeping him at a distance. She doesn't know who he is and why she deserves his help. In a world where even the first people she met tried to subdue or kill her in some way or another, no one seems to be trusted here.

The man stops in his tracks and holds his hands in the air, but he doesn't seem to be afraid of her. Instead, his steady eyes reveal his patience. Kishtung reaches out to the Force and the aura he radiates doesn't feel evil and cruel. It feels light, calming, and friendly. He can be trusted and so, she retracts her lightsaber.

The man smiles. "Thank you."

Kishtung gives him a nod. "Whose name do I owe for the help?" she asks, still holding tightly onto her saber.

The crawler retreats into the woods, displacing the soil like a herd of Nubian Guarlaras until it vanishes and blends in with the forest.

"I'm Girkin Vaskyr, commander of the Starbird Group," he introduces himself. "We're from the Rebel Alliance, and… old friend, we need your help."