Zinea

Part 5 - The Surface

I turned around. Behind me was a creature with a horned head and a mouth twice the size of me.
"Like this day couldn't get any better."
Kallus hobbled toward where I had thrown his bo-rifle, but my attention was on the creature currently screeching in my face. I lit my saber, slicing through the air at it as I retreated.
Kallus stood with his bo-rifle, aiming between me and the creature. Seriously? How hard is the decision? I climbed into the escape pod, trying to create a barrier between me and this massive creature.
I heard shots fired and peeked out to see Kallus firing at the creature. Its attention shifted as it walked toward him. I jumped out of the pod and ran over to them as Kallus began retreating. I swung my saber at its tail, only causing a scratch on the armored skin. A deep scratch, though. The creature turned on me as I sidestepped to be next to Kallus. Through shots to the face and saber cuts on its feet, we began to make the creature back away. We pushed forward until it turned and retreated into a tunnel.
"What was that?" I asked, out of breath.
"Don't know, but it's probably going to come back."
"Yeah. And it's probably going to bring friends."
We started walking back to the meteorite. Kallus limped as he said, "That is the order of things. The strong survive, the weak suffer."
"Is that what's happening on Lothal? The weak need to suffer? Do you even know what happened to the people of Tarkintown?"
"The only thing I know about 'Tarkintown' is that the population was cleared out and the encampment was burned. I never asked questions." He sat back down.
"Well, maybe you should start. Or are you afraid of the answers you'll get? Afraid you might learn that they were shot, or trapped in the burning buildings, by your precious Empire?"
"And why would we do that? What could possibly be the point?"
"Good questions. Chase the answers, and maybe you'll learn the truth." I sat down next to him, scooting closer to get warm. "They were arrested and sent to a detention camp."
"See? The Empire has mercy for some."
I snorted. "If you'd seen the state of those people, you'd know that a detention camp is just a long and drawn-out death sentence." He stayed silent, holding the meteorite out to me after a few moments. I put my hands on it and we sat silently. The wind whistled through the hole in the cavern, but for a moment, things were quiet. Exhaustion from the past day caught up with me and I felt my eyelids start to droop. My head began to weigh on me, like I was wearing a twenty pound helmet. Slowly, it began to tilt over, until my head was rested on Kallus' shoulder and my eyes were half closed. He didn't react outwardly, but I could feel that he was both shocked and nervous. A few more moments passed before he readjusted his weight and hissed in pain.
Lifting my head, I looked down at his leg that was still stretched out in front of us. If my memory was correct, there was a med kit under the pilot's seat in the escape pod. I grabbed it out and handed it to Kallus before picking up his bo-rifle.
"You know, Zeb gave me some lessons about these. I have a hobby of collecting unique weapons. Looks like you modified it for close quarters fighting. Impressive. But you shouldn't have it. It's not a trophy." I opened it up and laid it next to his leg to make sure they were about the same length. I took the med kit from him, pulling out the tape. "Now, hold still." I began wrapping the tape around his ankle and the bo-rifle, creating a makeshift splint.
Kallus grunted as I did so, and gasped when I began taping his thigh to it. "Careful!"
"Suck it up," I snapped crankily. A wave of annoyance rushed over him, along with... something else? I wasn't completely sure what it was. I sat back on my heels after finishing. "Better?"
"Sure," he grunted again.
"Is it better or not?" My eyes rolled at him.
"It will be when I need to move."
Sitting back down next to him, and I just barely heard him mutter, "thank you," under his breath. I pretended to hear nothing.
My head took its place back on his shoulder when he said, "I didn't take it as a trophy. The Lasat guardsman I faced. He... fought well, died with honor. He gave me the rifle before-"
"The Boosahn Keeraw."
"The what?"
"The Boosahn Keeraw. Zeb was telling me about it. It's the Lasat warrior way. When one is defeated by a superior foe, he gifts his weapon."
"I was- I was only doing my duty. It was nothing personal."
"What the Empire did on Lasan was another kind of horrible. I had been hiding out there for a while--that's how I met Zeb--when the Empire attacked."
"You were there?"
"Yeah. I'll never forget it."
"We all have things we'll never forget. I remember my first unit. The boys and I were deployed to Onderon to bring peace and security to a troubled world. We were on a routine patrol and ran into one of your rebel friends, a Lasat mercenary who worked for Saw Gerrera. I was lucky, knocked out by the first blast. I came to, but found I couldn't move. And then I saw him, the Lasat, calmly walk through smoke and fire, to finish my unit off, one by one. The injured never had a chance. Always wondered why he let me live."
"You can't judge all rebels the same."
"Does that sentiment apply to Imperials?" he asked softly.
I paused. Before, I would have said yes, but I had been seeing something that I never stopped to notice in him before. Humanity. "I guess it does, at times."
A roar echoed through the cavern again, joined by a second one, this time. Kallus and I stood up. "Here they come, again, and this time I don't have a weapon."
I handed him my saber. "I'm getting this back once we're safe. Don't you dare keep it."
"What about you?" The first creature began walking in the cavern again, covered in wounds.
"I've got the force. And an idea. These things almost reach the ceiling. Try to get on top of one, and climb it out!" I ran away from Kallus, drawing the first creature toward me as a second appeared.
"I can barely walk, are you trying to get me eaten? How do I even turn this thing on?"
"Twist the bottom and push in the button!" I dodged a bite, somersaulting to the side. The creature roared again, pissed at me. I saw Kallus ignite the saber and slash at the second creature that was coming at him. While the creature's tail was near the ground, I jumped at it and used it to climb on the thing's back. The thing started thrashing around, so I had to wrap my legs around its neck to stay put.
Kallus was having less luck, knocked down and desperately stabbing at the nose of the second creature. It opened its mouth, ready to eat him, but I reached out with the force and knocked a pillar down onto its head. He used the moment to climb out from in front of it and up the side, so that he was sitting on its back, similar to me. That's when his creature started bucking. He started screaming, both out of panic and pain.
My own started snapping at me on its back, but so far it couldn't reach. I chose to ignore it and focus instead on Kallus.
"Let go! Trust me!" I yelled at him, and soon he couldn't help but listen to me. His hold on the creature slipped, and he went flying through the air. I reached out again and caught him with the force, lifting him toward the hole in the ceiling. The distance was short from how far he was thrown, but it still drained me enough that I was panting by the time he landed on top of the ice.
I wrapped my arms around the neck of my creature. The second one was roaring and snapping after Kallus, trying to reach him above the surface. Using my hold on its neck as leverage, I stood up upon my creature and began climbing up its long neck. It roared and began to thrash its neck around, but I held on until the right moment. As it swung its neck toward the other creature, I pushed off and landed on top of the second one's head. Before it even realized what had happened, my feet scrambled forward and pushed off, sending me to the opening in the ice. I caught on the edge, but my grip slipped. Within a second, Kallus had a hold on me and helped pull me up. We collapsed onto our backs, exhausted.
The whistle of the wind caused me to pop up and look around. It was a barren land, covered in snow and ice. Wind blew snow all over, causing the sight to be obscured. I looked over the edge of the broken ice, and the creatures seemed to be heading back into the tunnels, leaving behind our meteorite and transponder below. My mouth opened to speak as I turned back to Kallus, but he was sitting there with my lightsaber pointed toward me. A second of panic shot through me before I realized that he was confused, not threatening.
"I can't get it to turn off," he shouted over the wind.
"Well, don't point the damn thing at me! Geez!" I took it from him, quickly releasing the blade and hooking it back onto my belt. "I'm going to try to get our stuff." I shimmied over the edge of the ice, closing my eyes and focusing on the transponder and meteorite. The distance was big, and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to reach them. I shimmied further. Before I even realized that I was tipping over the edge, Kallus had his hands on my waist to stop me.
I couldn't acknowledge it because at that moment I felt the meteorite and transponder begin to lift toward us. Without them, we'd be as good as dead. It was another few minutes until I felt my fingers touch the items, and Kallus immediately slid me back to safety.
"Thanks," I said, tossing him the still-warm meteorite.
"Thank you," he responded. "That was the weirdest sensation."
"What?" I asked, thinking of his hands on my waist.
"When you lifted me."
"Oh, right. You get used to the feeling." I shrugged, suddenly embarrassed.
"Better activate the transponder. It's a lot colder up here. We won't last long."
"Yeah, but I think I'd rather freeze than be eaten." I activated the transponder and then we began walking to find a wind-break of some kind.
In the distance was a mound of snow high enough that it formed a wall. We reached it and sank down, thankful to finally be out of the biting wind. My teeth clattered together, reaching the attention of Kallus.
"Here," he said, putting his arm around me and pulling me closer so that we could both feel the meteorite against our cores.
"Thanks. I might have some resistance to cold, but this is something else. How's your leg?"
"You mean the parts of it that I can feel? Pretty damn painful, still."
"Agent Kallus, you kiss the emperor's ring with that mouth?"
He rolled his eyes, but a smile played on his lips. The transponder beeped, sending out the notice that it was still active. We hadn't been able to hear it over the wind, before.
Kallus spoke up, "Let's hope it works. Of course, since you 'adjusted' it, we don't know who will pick up its signal."
"Guess all we can do it wait. At least we're able to stay a little warm."
"Still think your friends will find you?"
"Unless the Empire gets here first." When I said that, I noticed a hint of nervousness coming from Kallus, but he pushed the emotion away. He looked down at me.
"On Lasan... It- It wasn't supposed to be a massacre. But I realized that the Empire wanted to make an example. I know before, I took credit for it."
"What happened on Lasan is over for me. The one you should be saying this to is Zeb. I've moved on." I paused. "Nea. You can call me Nea. It's what-"
"-what your friends call you. I know." He gave me a smile. "Alexandr."
I held out my hand, and he shook it. "Nice to meet you, Alexandr."