Sentinel

Chapter Four: The Tunnels

"Left." Miara said as her and Ben continued down into the tunnels. There was a sense of intimacy shared between the two as they walked down the tunnels, the tunnels were relatively spacious but the two stayed close. They had the opportunity to add some distance between themselves but had a silent mutual agreement to not take that opportunity.

"So, how exactly do you plan on getting out of here?" Ben asked

"I've memorized these tunnels, if I'm right, we go this way to find a ladder to the nearest docking point, which would bring us closer to my ship, do you doubt me?" Miara asked defensively, she didn't like when people underestimated her, it was one of the things that people would do often, and it really made her tick.

"I'm not saying I doubt you, it's just we've been walking for some time, and frankly you don't seem too confident in where you're going." Ben said.

"Well, if you would like to try out on your own, be my guest. See if you could do any better. You can't. You'd get lost and need my help to get out in under a minute."

Ben was surprised to see how easily Miara would get upset with things, not that Ben could judge her temper, as his was just as bad, if not worse. And right now, Miara's bad mood was starting to set him off.

"Listen princess," he spat as he grabbed Miara by the arm and spun her to meet his face, "I know you may think I need you to help me through every little thing here, but I know I would make it perfectly fine on my own without you. I've been on my own longer than I can remember, what makes you think I need or even want your help?. I don't even know you, how should I even trust someone who wouldn't even bother to tell me their name?". Miara's face fell from anger to a slight tinge of disappointment, Ben had raised his voice at her, and usually that would be solved with a punch to the face if it were anybody else. But seeing Ben mad at her, hurt.

"Fine." Miara said as she yanked her arm away from Ben's grip, walking away. Ben had immediately regretted his words

"Miara." he spoke softly

"Leave me alone Ben, you've made yourself perfectly clear."

"No." Ben said, Miara stopped dead. As Ben approached her she turned her head to meet his eyes. Ben placed his hand on her arm, "I'm sorry. Look, we need each other if we're going to get out of here. I trust you." he whispered. Ben leaned in as Miara's face moved closer to his, staring into each other, lost. Suddenly, the moment was cut short as the two were alarmed by a near sound of a blaster shot. Realizing that the shot had just nearly missed her head, as she witnessed the bolt of plasma fly past her. They were found.

"Run." Miara said as she grabbed Ben by the hand and ran through the tunnel, dodging multiple blaster shots from behind her.

"Stop grabbing my hand!" Ben shouted, but Miara didn't listen.

Word had obviously caught on about Ben, because the men were growing in numbers. "Hey!" Miara shouted, "Have you ever heard of the 'Sword and Shield' maneuver?" Miara shouted as they continued to dodge blaster fire. Miara knew they were coming to a spot in the tunnels that was connected, if they were gonna make it out of here, they needed to thin out some numbers.

"What in the maker is that?" Ben gawked. As they reached the hotspot, Miara stopped, bumping into Ben.

"Looks like you're gonna have to show off your saber skills a little bit." Miara smirked, panting. "You cover, while I shoot, got it?"

Ben had never been more into anything his entire life.

As footsteps approached, Ben finally grabbed his lightsaber, igniting it to a stunning blue, illuminating the dark tunnels with colour. Miara had never seen a blue one in real life before. As they prepared their positions, Miara had sensed something else. Someone else was coming from the other side of the tunnels. They were being surrounded.