Vacation

Khy threw his travel bag into the small cargo hold of his X-Wing. He had never owned very much, but after his limited belongings were destroyed on the Jagged Spire he had grown accustomed to living out of duffel bags. Whyren rolled forward and whistled questioningly. “Of course you’re coming buddy. I wouldn’t leave ya here and I’m not sure we’re coming back.” The little droid spun his head and repeated the earlier beeps. “We’ll talk about it later Whyren. We’re on a timetable.”

Misery Stargazer sat on the bridge of the Sentinel. One of the perks of military life was free travel. The down side to that was becoming readily apparent to her. To get back to the Star Destroyer that Omega squadron was currently assigned to, she was stuck taking a trip on an Imperial Customs cruiser. The Captain, a rail thin man who’s features remind her of a weasel, approached her carefully. “We have to make a slight delay on our travel. There is a transport that we believe is smuggling Spice.” Misery looked up to the Captain, her eyes burning into him and letting him know exactly how thrilled she was with the delay. “If you would like to accompany me, I’d be honored to show you how we deal with rim scum.”

Captain Griger had been fawning over her since she had arrived on his vessel. This was obviously another attempt to try and impress her. Stargazer pushed herself out of her chair in a fluid motion. While she didn’t want to keep the Captain company, it was better then staring at the walls and waiting. At least things would hopefully go quickly.

The air lock opened with a hiss. The white of Imperial stormtrooper armor was the first thing to enter the ship that had been falsely broadcasting its identity as the Lunar Dream. Captain Griger and Misery followed the troopers in and were quickly met by members of the ships crew, four Konile males dressed in ragged clothing. The Konile were a squat reptilian race that rarely left the outer rim. Probably an offshoot of the Trandoshian race, they had more developed hands and dark green skin. The lizard men were the first to speak. “As you will see sir, we are only hauling scrap metal and a handful of passengers,” the Konile stretched his arms out before him as he spoke.

Griger sneered, “We shall be the judge of that.”

Then everything fell apart. Turbolaser fire sounded loudly and the ship shook violently as if it was being shaken up and down. The two Konile’s in the rear pulled out their blasters before the troopers could ready themselves. Captain Griger was thrown hard against the wall. Before the nearest Konile could draw his weapon Misery launched a roundhouse and slammed her boot heel into it’s snout. Blaster fire erupted loudly as troopers and Konile fired wildly. Khy, after hearing the commotion, ran from the small bunk he’d booked. In the main corridor both troopers lay on the floor, their once pristine armor had been blackened by blaster fire and painted over with their blood. Griger had taken a shot in the chest and laid against the wall gasping for breath, trying to retrieve air through ruined lungs. Two of the Konile were down on the ground, the first losing his weapon to Misery. Khy spun around the corner, his eyes going wide at the scene. The shipped lurched again and Misery cursed, they had made the jump to light speed. Suddenly she caught sight of a familiar looking bald man. Her mind tried to retrieve where she had seen him before. Her eyes caught the spiked collar and it rushed back to her all at once. She leveled the blaster at him and snarled, “Rebelscum!”

Khy leaped to the floor, barely diving under blaster bolts. Towards the bridge two more armed Konile were trying to reach the corridor. One of the original reptiles sneered, “Rebel? You brought the Empire against us!”

Khy rolled over the dead trooper as now two aimed blasters spit red death in his direction. He rolled up to one knee and let fly with his Rodian throwing razor. Misery’s eyes went wide as the blade sailed past her face and then smiled evilly. He had missed. A wet gurgling sound made her look behind her. The forth Konile had his blaster trained on her and the Razor embedded in his face. Wheeling around on her heel she trained her blaster on the third lizard man and walked her shots up and down his body. The Konile jerked around like a marionette as the lasers burnt their way into his body.

The bridge now empty no one was there to realize the ships proximity alarms had just pulled it out of hyperspace. The pilot, moving to join the frey, was unable to take control of the ship at this crucial moment. An asteroid slammed into the ship and sent it spiraling down to its destination planet. The impact shook the ship even move violently then escaping from the cruiser had.

Khy awoke to find everything hurt. He was pretty sure his entire body had bruised. He eased his eyes open and saw Misery above him. From the look of it she had been wiping the blood from his forehead. She startled a little as he awoke and walked away from him. He smiled a little as he forced himself off the floor, or rather the wall that was now pretending to be the floor. The interior of the ship looked as if a hurricane had swept through it. “Were you worried about me?”

Misery scoffed as she began working to open an access hatch. “Please. I was seeing if you were dead. You certainly smell dead.” She grunted under the strain. Until Khy’s hands joined hers. “I don’t need your help Rebel,” she spit at him. Regardless he pressed against her and added his strength to the release handle.

The hatch flung open under their combined effort. “Don’t worry about it. Besides I might not be a rebel anymore.” Outside was thick jungle vegetation. Hot air rolled into the ship replacing the stagnant supply inside the ship.

Drawing a blaster and grabbing a bag full of supplies, Misery slid out the hatch and jumped to the moist ground below. “Finally come to your senses pirate?”

Khy dropped down behind her and wiped the blood off his throwing razor. “Sort of. Which way we heading?”

Misery scoffed. “I’m heading towards the smoke in the north. I don’t know which way you’re heading pirate.”

Khy’s razor quickly became the only way to move through the thick underbrush and their progress was slow. Both were too hot and uncomfortable to talk too much, although Misery reminded Khy that she didn’t really need a pirate’s help to reach the smoke more then once. Khy tuned it out though; despite the situation the monotonous act of chopping through the vegetation gave him time to think. It was what he had wanted. Whyren hadn’t liked it when Khy had left him and the X-Wing in a rented hangar, but Talbot believed he could sort things out better that way.

Khy’s dilemma stemmed from his involvement in the Rebellion. When he was a Crimson Warhawk, the choice hadn’t been his. Dante had decided to help the Rebellion and the Warhawks gladly followed his decision. But Dante was dead and the Crimson Warhawks didn’t exist anymore. Yet, he was still with the Rebellion. He glanced back at Misery, her body slick from perspiration. There certainly would be benefits from not being in the Alliance. He continued to work, wondering if he stayed out of duty to a man he felt was his father, or if he did it for himself.

Once the sun began to sink under the tree tops though, the situation quickly changed. The once sweltering heat dove to freezing temperatures. The sweat clinging to their bodies chilled them to the bone. They made camp using Misery’s gear, creating a small bonfire. Over ration bars Misery looked across to Khy. “You know pirate you’d be freezing and starving with out me.” Talbot nodded once, too tired to argue. Throwing his flight jacket to the ground he curled up by the fire.

“Good night Barum.”

Midway through the night, Misery awoke to the call of some sort of animal. She opened her eyes and felt something pressed against her. Her fingers were intertwined with someone else’s. She glanced back to see and smiled a little as she realized it was Khy holding her. At least it was warmer this way.

It took a week. Hacking a path through thick jungle. Huddling together for warmth in the night. Neither would admit it, but ever day they became more reliant on each other to keep alive.

They heard the sounds of the city before they saw it. Khy hacked through the vegetation faster regardless of the strain in his arms. Finally they stumbled out of the jungle, to a small city full of Konile. Misery swore quietly while Khy’s eyes scanned the crowd. “It looks like there’s a landing pad a ways down,” he said. Moving down the cluttered street the Konile residents stared at them. The sounds of the city died to hush whispers. Khy looked over the signs. “Looks like they speak Huttese.”

Misery scowl grew a little larger. “Wonderful.”

Two hours later they were both sitting in a bar. The Imperials had been notified and Khy had booked passage off the planet that night. An old Konile woman sewed as she watched the two staring at each other. Time crawled by. Misery was the first to break their silence. “So you going back to the rebels pirate?”

Khy smiled. “Probably. I guess it’s a good thing I’m gonna be off the planet before your friends arrive.” As the words left his lips he frowned. They seemed to hammer home the fact that they were going their separate ways. The time were they could rely on each other had ended; the next time they met it would probably be in battle. Talbot stood up and kissed her cheek gently. “I need to go Misery. Be safe out there.”

Color flushed into her cheeks, unsure how to react to the situation, Misery blinked twice. As Khy left the bar Misery looked back to the old woman, Stargazer’s conflicting emotion made her want to scream. Unable to use her frustration in any other direction she turned it towards the woman. “What do you want?”

The next morning an Imperial shuttle set down in the city. As Misery readied her few remaining supplies she passed the old woman again. She sat in small stall selling stuffed animals. Misery was surprised to hear her call her over. Before she could say anything the woman handed her a box. “For you,” the woman said. It stayed in her bag until she finally got to her quarters. She had forgotten it until she started unpacking, and as she held the box in her hand she almost threw it away. Instead she peered into the box. Instantly a smile came to her lips as a squat, stuffed version of Khy looked up at her with big oversized eyes.