Lone Wolf

The Hunt

Sebi II peeked above the trees. The gas giant's blue glow allowed Kella to make out shapes in the night. So far none of those shapes moved, but the horrible sounds of the rancors were never far. Mando followed behind firing nonstop to cover their flank. Kella wished she'd taken a blaster from the outpost so she could help. Then again, it was hard enough to run through the dense forest without tripping. If she had to worry about handling a gun too, she might fall on her face...and then be eaten.

Heavy footsteps pounded from a new direction. A big one was charging head on. Kella swerved to the right, leaving the trail. She careened deeper into the forest. Damp leaves whipped against her face. She knew she was running away from the outpost and their ship. The danger of getting lost or separated from Mando also crossed her mind, but it was hard to focus on anything except the inhuman growls and snarls behind them. Suddenly, a wall appeared and blocked the way. It was camouflaged by so much moss that Kella nearly collided with it. She raced alongside looking for an opening, but it seemed to go on forever. Mando caught up, with the creatures right on his tail.

"What is this thing?" shouted Kella. "There's no way around!"

Mando tapped his visor to scan the surface, never ceasing to fire at the rancors. "Over there," he called and ushered her to a point that looked the same as the rest.

"Pull the moss off!" he ordered.

Two of the rancors charged from either side of them, galloping on all fours. Kella saw their hulking shapes burst through the trees. She scraped at the thick moss with her fingernails, yanking it from the metal surface in chunks. Finally, a control pad became visible. "I've got something!" she exclaimed.

Kella hit the button and a door slid open. She jumped inside and found the control to seal the door. Mando leapt in behind her, guns blazing, and skidded across the floor on his side. After the door snapped shut, something slammed against it with a menacing thud. The rancors rammed the metal hull repeatedly until it dented and warped.

"That's not going to hold," Kella whispered in dread.

"Come on," said Mando, holstering his blaster. "Let's see what we can find to defend ourselves." He turned on his helmet light to illuminate the corridor.

"This is a ship!" Kella remarked in surprise. "I couldn't tell from outside. I thought it was another deteriorated building."

Mando nodded. "This freighter belonged to those mercenaries I told you about. They must have crashed years ago judging from the state of the ship. The good news is they always kept plenty of firepower on board. Let's head for the armoury."

The armoury turned out to be larger than Kella's old quarters on Paraluxe. It made Mando's weapon stash on the Razor Crest seem small by comparison. Mando headed straight for a blaster cannon that looked like it should have been mounted to the exterior of a gunship rather than carried.

Feeling lost, Kella browsed the numerous gun racks on the wall. She stopped in front of large, intimidating blaster.

"Would something like this be enough to take them down?" she asked.

Mando reached over her shoulder and pulled a slightly smaller blaster off the wall. "Try this one. It's a light repeating blaster. Anything heavier would slow you down, and we need to move quickly. When shooting, aim for the eyes." He opened a box on the floor and tossed her something from inside. "Grab a few of these power packs too. You'll burn through them fast since our shots won't do much damage."

Kella crammed as many power packs as she could into her pockets. Mando demonstrated how to clip one into the blaster, then made Kella remove it and put it back in.