Star Wars: Offspring

Chapter 9

Brine ducked and the crackling noise of projectiles scattered through the forest around him. He felt the vibrations of impact in the trunk of the tree he was in. He got a bead on the muzzle flashing near the dewback saddle. He thought he saw some brown green skin exposed just to the left of the weapon. Just when he was about to fire, it disappeared. The shooter was raking back and forth wildly and Brine knew the lizard might get lucky soon.

The undulating knives grazed his robes and broke his skin at one point. He bled underneath his robes. Jace had to use the force to augment his strength to keep the fight up, but he was wearying. His arms were about to give in and his body was drained of energy after his vision. He may have been physically in the present when it happened, but his body lived it hormonally. Every second was a struggle. Only one thought was keeping him alive, he had to get to Leelah.

The strobe like muzzle flash appeared again, panning all directions, firing blindly. Behind the flittering strobe was the silhouette of a burly Trandoshan. Brine half pressed the trigger of the disruptor, letting the capacitor of his weapon charge fully. He aimed and fired. The beam struck the Trandoshan center mass. With full power behind it, the body disintegrated at the molecular level. The disruptor beam superheated every cell, causing a microcombustion chain reaction that could sometimes make everything organic just disappear in a burst of fire, leaving clothing and inorganic accessories behind.

And that’s what happened. The body of the Trandoshan disappeared in a flash … only to reveal Syysskryl behind it still holding the repeater. He had used the body of the tranquilized guard as a shield, and Deegs realized that the sustained blast gave away his location in the trees. He might as well have just turned on a glow rod and waved. And on top of it all, it would take a longer time before he could build enough energy in the capacitor to get off another shot.

Syysskryl returned fire where he’d seen the disruptor bloom. The tree Brine was perched in was peppered with flechette ammunition. There was a searing pain in his forearm and neck. He decided he would bail out. Once discovered, your dugout was no longer safe. The branch under him strained under his weight and Brine jumped out of the tree as more rounds frayed the forest to pieces.

His ankle caught a branch on the way down and he cart wheeled one half turn. He reached out and caught another branch with his left hand just before he hit bottom. Felled branches and twigs cracked underneath him as his lower body hit the floor. In pain, he scrambled back up against the trunk of the tree for cover.

Syysskryl saw the movement of the figure trying to evade and then falling out of the tree. He did as his instincts told him, he pressed the advantage. He knew he’d have several seconds before his opponent could fire again. He hissed out a savage screech and scattered off towards the tree line, eyes fixed on the place he’d seen the being fall. He ran ferociously, his heart beat racing and thumping in his head, finger depressing the trigger of the repeater, littering the forest with rifle fire. His raging battle cry and the report of his weapon playing a death march for his prey.

The upward modulating tone of the capacitor rose slow but steadily. Brine held the rifle close to his body like a child. He pressed himself up against the tree with his legs as splinters and forest fragments scattered everywhere. The tone of his scanner was also increasing in frequency and pitch with the incoming threat. He looked on the ground to his right and saw the scanner settled in the foliage. Green dot, his position, the red blip, the fast moving bad guy. That’d have to do. He made a mental calculation and disconnected his scope. He spun away from the repeater fire, around the opposite side of the tree, held the weapon up to his eye, and fired his last shot.

In desperation Jace cried out. He stretched out in the force one last time to sense the crystal in his lightsaber, to locate it, to call it to his hand. He closed his eyes to the terror hanging over him and concentrated. He could feel it. It was there, already on its way, maybe this fight would not be his last. And then suddenly the weight of the monster was there no longer.