Star Wars: Offspring

Chapter 5

There was a sharp pain in his leg. But he was too drowsy to do anything about it, too weak, to apathetic. The caravan had come to a stop, it would have been an opportunity to escape, to break through the cheap wood construct he was imprisoned in. Mawrowyr should have had the strength to do it, but the sedative seemed to drain all will out of him along with all the energy.

After the small pin-prick of pain in his leg though, his vision became more acute. He could feel the tension returning to his musculature, a surge of adrenaline rose up in him. The throbbing in his head subsided and he felt like jumping in the air and breaking out of his prison. It was as if his mind and his body were separated, unhooked, and all at once someone had reconnected the two. But who?

He lifted his head to a giggling noise in the corner of the wooden cage. There was a familiar human youngling sitting on top of a med box. She was small and wiry, with hair, curly and wild, sticking out in all directions. As he made eye contact, the tiny mouth stretched out into a wide, happy grin. He forced a friendly greeting as quiet as possible.

The little being responded with a laugh and a request. “HnnnHnn. Doggie.”

As Jace stood there arms spread out making a fool out of himself, he wondered what was taking Brine so long to start knocking beings down. They had been at a standstill for over a couple minutes now and he was waiting for the fireworks. What more could a sniper ask for?

Just then Huhunna began to bark and scream in his ear piece. She was frantic going on about something. The earpiece kept clipping. The volume became so piercing that he instinctively swiped his ear with his right hand and accidentally disconnected the chin strap holding the thrust distributor to his head. The “hat” fell forward off of his head and clanked on the dusty ground in front of him. The clanking sound seemed to echo in the valley of trees.

Brine scanned the area of the crate cages with his scope. He scanned the trees in the immediate area behind the caravan. There was the left over rustling of leaves and dust settling, but he didn’t see anything. The guards began to move forward.

Back in the Perseverance, Huhunna was paralyzed at the images coming to her from PD-3’s cameras. She slammed both fists down on the console and hung her head. The human Jace Diran was playing too many games with these predators. He knocked his ear piece out and revealed his face. The Duros was unreachable via com. The Youngling was nowhere to be found but somehow she may be headed to the fight at an unreal speed. For several minutes she was at a loss, unable to think of a course of action.

“Excuse me.” Jace Diran bent down to pick up the head covering off the ground and play off the blunder. His short mane of shoulder length black hair fell forward. He was stopped in the midst of the move by a slimy throat-clearing hiss.

The body guard on the far side of the dewback stepped forward. He let his rifle hang down on his side. He glared at Diran with his eye, his one good eye. The other was sewed shut. The lid was concave, discolored. “Sheeeeeduuuu Maaaaaahhd!” The words slithered off of his tongue. Drool hung from his quivering maw. “I know your smell anywhere.”

Recognition twisted Diran’s stomach in knots. It was Gizzk, the Trandoshan he’d fought on Shedu Maad. He wasn’t concerned about one Trandoshan with a revenge motivation, but a vengeful Trandoshan backed up by six others with blasters and tranq-darts presented a problem. Before he let the impossibility of the situation overwhelm him, he instead let calm come over him. He dropped his arms and relaxed his shoulders. He mentally readied himself for action.