Wrath of Trandosha

Chapter 4 - Thorn

Valon meditated, resting on his knees he took deep, heavy, breaths. He had never been perfect at meditation as a student of his master but he still attempted to clear his mind. Valon reflected on the events of the morning, the pressure building as the sun lowered from its perch upon the sky. It slowly fell with each hour, Valon knew they had to fix the ship soon or their friends would be slaughtered.

He slowly opened his eyes, him and Z were at the cave, that overlooked the vast valley. The trees were densely scattered, between the mountains, which acted like great walls. Preventing any escape from the Trandoshan's game.

The force, had always been strong with Valon but his lack of focus had always prevented him reaching his potential. In the last few years he had been focused on fighting the empire, rather than continuing his Jedi training. He felt as if his connection to the force was lessening.

The crippling fear of cutting himself off from the force, had admittedly been thwarted, since they landed here. Something in the force, drew him to this moon, but he was not sure what. Could it be that another force user inhabited this land or perhaps a Jedi temple lay beneath the great mountains. He did not know.

Z was preparing the parts, which she had mentioned were surprisingly good for a small Trandoshan settlement. 

"Ready to go when you are" Z shouted across the cave. Valon pushed backwards, rolling on the caverns floor and landing on his feet.

"Let's go" Valon replied.

They started their speeders, neither of the engines ran smooth, they spluttered and coughed like a dying man but they'd have to make do. 

"Catch me if you can" Z teased, she had cried for a while after they lost Leon for she was a closer friend to him than Valon or Rico. Valon had comforted her telling her that crying would not help and that fixing the ship was their only way off this rotten moon.

Z's speeder accelerated across the river, the clear water, spraying outwards. Her speeders black smoke, choked Valon, stinging his lungs. 

"You're on!" He said with a mixture of laughter and coughing. The Two speeders, swung side to side, narrowly avoiding the vine covered trees of the vast jungle. Valon was gaining on Z, he pushed the speeder to it's limit, as they shot down the steep embankment they had once climbed in the dark, the night before.

He over took her, they raced down the hill until the met a clearing, where the ship lay. The speeders grinded to a hault, at the edge of the clearing.

"No fair I bet you used the force" Z said with a touch of salt.

"No way, just admit it I'm the better racer, anyway we've got more pressing matters at hand" Valon explained.

"Okay fine" Z's eyes rolled.
There were six guards, around their ship, all armed with Trandoshan style blasters. Four stood evenly around the old frigate, where as two sat around an unlit fire, playing sabark with Rico's cards.

There was one more line of defense, an E web heavy cannon that sat within the camp. When connected to a generator, it had infinite shots that could easily wipe Z and Valon out.

"I'll draw their fire from here, while you sneak round to that ridge, to the north. You can use your blaster to cover me while I attack. Once I take out the cannon, you charge the ship and take it." Valon directed.

"Ok we can do this" Z whispered.

Valon, stepped forwards, calmly walking towards the ship. His shoulders brushed up against the vegetation, once in the clearing he shrugged of his Jedi rope, preparing for battle. One Trandoshan turned in his direction, shouting his own guttural language in alarm.