Star Wars: Tears of Fire (Book II)

Chapter 31 - Through Fire and Flame

Turning and running down the hill they'd just traversed to reach Jolis, Shayla did her best to not stumble due to the speed she was running.

Within her, a memory surfaced from her childhood of when she was once chased through the woods by an animal known as a trapper—a carnivorous lizard-like creature which grew to be the several meters in length. A panic had filled her heart at that time until the Opachi village guards managed to scare it off.

Now, she felt like something larger and far more terrible was chasing her. This time, however, there was nothing that would scare it away.

Reaching the enemy camp, she turned to see the others racing down the hill to follow her. Searching frantically, Shayla's eyes locked onto just what she was looking for...or so she'd hoped.

"Shayla!" Zekiel shouted from behind. "What are you doing?!"

Not even bothering to stop and answer, Shayla took off running again, this time towards a small group of artillery vehicles that were still mostly intact.

"Shayla!"

The three large vehicles parked side-by-side were heavily armored. The back doorway which led to the inner workings of the vehicle would open easily enough.

"Shayla, stop!"

Zekiel was frantically trying to get Shayla's attention, finally catching up and stopping just shy of her as she worked on getting the door to the vehicle open.

"I know Jolis is your friend but there's nothing we can do for him!" Zekiel lamented. "Racing off in a vehicle you don't even know how to operate won't save him and..."

"Shut up and listen to me!" Shayla countered sharply. Her face was a mix of panic and angst as she quickly turned towards Zekiel and approached. "They're going to attack us! Do you understand? Once they have what they need, they're going to bomb us into oblivion!"

A wide-eyed expression of horror filled Zekiel's face.

"How do you know this?" he asked.

"I can't explain it," replied Shayla. "But you can either help me get this thing open and get everyone loaded onboard, or you can stay behind and wait to see if I'm wrong."

It took a matter of a moment for Zekiel to realize it was safer to simply go along with Shayla.

Walking past Shayla, the Zabrak went to work, managing to get the door to the vehicle open as they both stepped inside.

"This switch," Zekiel pointed towards and then flipped a control near the driver's seat causing various lights to activate. "This powers it on." The engine soon roared to life as the vehicle lifted slightly off the ground. Pointing towards the two hand controllers at the driver's seat, he added, "These controls will move the vehicle. And this..."

Zekiel picked up what Shayla assumed was some sort of communication device.

"...this should allow us to reach Hepka back at our camp. He'll be monitoring enemy transmissions so he should pick us up."

"But that would mean the enemy will hear us too, right?" Shayla countered.

"Not if I can help it."

A mechanical voice sounded from behind Shayla and Zekiel. Turning with a start, they were both taken aback by the sight of a large droid standing in the doorway to the vehicle. Its red illuminated eyes bore down upon them as the green Trandoshan blood covering its metal hands which also held a large blaster rifle added to the machine's terrifying image.

"I am HK-1. I am your ally. Now stand aside," the droid commanded. Zekiel and Shayla quickly moved out of its way, more than willing to give the large machine the room it needed.