Star Wars: The Ancient Force

C H A P T E R . 4 -- First Mission - part 2 of 2

CHEWBACCA STANDS BEHIND TERIGO, waiting for her to advance. She looks to Luke, as does Han standing behind him. Luke stands still, facing the enemies, his eyes having remained closed the whole time. He was calming himself, allowing his body to become looser, becoming serene, becoming one with the crevices of the landscape, surveying his hillside. His eyes were now useless compared to the Force.

He walks forward, and Terigo begins walking at the same calm pace. They move apart one-hundred feet to approach the base of each of their hillsides and Han & Chewbacca take cover, and take aim. Stormtroopers call out, and many more spread the word up the hill. Luke and Terigo halt, waiting for the enemy to make a move.

The closest group on each side eases closer to Luke and Terigo, blasters raised.

And closer...

Luke raises his hands as if surrendering to the troops.

And closer...

Then he drops his head—

—Pzewww bzewww—blaster fire hits a stormtrooper on each side from Han and Chewbacca. Luke's lightsaber flies from hip to hand. Shots fire from stormtrooper blasters.

Pssshhhew, pssshhhew, green lightsaber unsheathes, then yellow, Luke's slices down, Terigo's slices up, deflecting shots.

More calling, panicked and angry, roaring. Young children scream. And footsteps of a scattered stampede: slaves heading indoors, troops heading downhill.

While the first deflected shots both hit dirt, the next ones do not. Han and Chewbacca each hit a third enemy. Sabers each deflect onto a fourth.

First wave down. Luke opens his eyes for a moment and glances at Terigo from the corner of his eyes. She does the same and thinks about smirking.

All four take a deep breath as they await the next group. Luke starts calming his stirred essence, but enemy shots start flying the second he finishes. These troops keep their distance, seeing the four fresh bodies, so Han and Chewbacca are unable to hit close enough to help. Luke and Terigo begin deflecting and dodging four frantic shooters alone.

Luke's movements are crisp and swift. Cool. Clean with direct intent. No unnecessary movements. Linear.

Terigo's are smooth and fluid. Heated. Wide with playful bounce. Moving as much as she can. Circular.

Terigo finishes her enemies only a moment before Luke. She might have been quicker if she wasn't having so much fun. Once Luke finishes his, he notices her speed and whim, and it annoys him a little. While his acute composure had made it look easy, her carefree composure had made it look fun.

She doesn't appear to be showing off, but—He closes his eyes to calm his stirred essence, but blaster fire starts again. Too soon.

The third wave. Good thing they were only getting warmed up.

With Luke's unquelled essence heat, he displays a little more vigor than before, a little fiery, but deflecting in this wave is no more difficult than previously, if not easier. When he gets down to one enemy, he starts merely deflecting without aiming it back so he can glance over at Terigo's efforts, to notice more about her style. She holds her nightstick-shaped lightsaber hilt by the side-handle and the rest pivots from it, swinging it around in smooth circular motions, whipping away blaster fire. She triggers the locking button on the handle to stop or change spin-direction at times, so with her timing the jerk of each swing just right, it causes the blade's momentum to whip around much quicker than it could have if swung when locked in place—a blur, an onslaught of yellow light. And the way she carries herself, it's clear she feels invincible.