Chapter 11

Kirena Q'erra tried to concentrate again, pushing the frustration and fear of the current situation from her mind, and closing her concentration around the object before her. The sleek sporting blaster still would not yield to her wishes though. Again the weapon just lie there, unmoving, and stolid. Kirean's fist hit the wall with a resounding thud and she hung her head in defeat. Why wont it lift? I did it before why can't I do it again? she thought. For the tenth time since the arrival of the Hunter, Kirena tried to calm herself down. She smoothed the lines in her thermal shirt, evened out her breathing and seated herself cross-legged on the hard metal floor, the blaster lying before her.

I will not fear the hunter, nor will I hate him. I will let the force and only the force guide my actions, she thought as she laid her hands in her lap. Skywalker had told her that fear and hate lead to the dark side and, although she wasn't at a great risk yet, she would soon become aware of the temptation. As she sat there alone, she thought about how Skywalker had promised to return and truly begin her training, beyond the few weeks he had spent telling her the Jedi history and instructing her in the basics of channeling the force. Their visit to Llum, he had told her, would take place soon after. There she would find her very own crystal with which to construct her lightsaber. Before the arrival of the Rebel contingent, and her knowledge of the Jedi Hunter, she hadn't given his words a second thought. But now that her life was changing more and more, and she realized that there were people out there fighting for their lives, she really gave accepting Skywalker's offer.

As a tendril of smoke rose from the burning stick of rose incense that lie on the night stand beside her bed, Kirena let her mind wander. The sweet scent brought images of the object of her very recent affections to her mind, and she felt herself sigh contentedly. All but Akara Nim and the motionless blaster flooded out of her mind, and as her eyes fluttered open she watched as the blaster lifted into midair. A smile, one of the few she had experienced lately, spread across her face, but did not break her concentration.

Seeing that she could momentarily sustain the levitation of the blaster, Kirena began to experiment with controlling it's movement. Her mind never swaying from her calm, soft, and comfortable state, she brought the blaster to her and then away again. After doing this half a dozen times, she began making the blaster sway, bob, and weave above the floor, as she had seen Skywalker do on his visit. The ebb and flow of the force began to take over these actions as she let herself be controlled and her mind wander.

Suddenly the sound of running footsteps and blaster fire tore her away from her dreamy state, and the blaster fell from the air with a metallic clatter as her concentration was broken. Her eyes wide, and her heart racing, Kirena fumbled for her blaster and was out the door of her assigned quarters moments later.

The small crowd of Rebel troops at the doors to the Hangar betrayed the source of the commotion and blaster fire. Kirena immediately thrust herself into the crowd but halted in horror as she saw the dead trooper, his skull blasted cleanly through, lying before the door.

"What's happened!?" she yelled out to no one in particular.

"It's the hunter, he's shot up the door mechanism and we can't get it open," replied the blonde technician known as Kerrinson. He was on his knees before the door, palm computer in hand, attempting to override the damaged opening mechanism.

"Who's in there?"

"Dorin, Malik, and four troopers," answered the sweating technician. The frustration that Kirena had just shed returned again, and the fear at losing one of her new found friends, and the escape of the hunter, was as strong as ever. What she feared most of all though, was that Nim would come under attack if the Hunter made it out with his fighter. Never, since the death of her parents, had she felt so deeply for someone, and she would do anything she could to ensure his safety. Even follow the hunter back to Chalum.

The searing pain from the blaster wound on my left arm brought tears to my eyes as I thrust myself behind a cargo barrel. My heart sunk at the sight of the gutted Rebel trooper next to me, but I swallowed the lump in my throat and brought my legs under me. I then tore out across the hangar bay. A rapid succession of shots followed close behind me, and almost connected as I leapt behind the cockpit of the ALDERAN. I knew I had to keep the Hunter busy or he would get brave and run for his fighter. The barrels and cargo containers that he jump-rocketed to were only a few meters from the fighter, so I had to work fast.

Dorin, who had run for cover behind the Hunter's fighter when the shooting had begun, still crouched there, close to the cockpit. The both of us continued to take shots at the Hunter's position to keep him down, and I motioned at Dorin to cease fire. I wanted him to think that we were recharging our weapons, that's when I would take him.

Two shots in succession answered our silence, and then he made his move. As his boots jumped him up over his cover, I took off towards him, both of my blaster pistols firing in front of me. As his leap crested my pistols converged on their target, but then his back boosters shot him to the side and the apex of my shots missed by millimeters. Now operating on nothing but adrenaline and insanity, I dropped my energy spent pistols and drew my vibro dagger in my right hand, and two throwing blades, concealed under my uniform, in my left.

I watched as the cockpit hatch of the Hunter's fighter opened and Dorin come around the front of the fighter. I looked on in horror, my screams silenced by the moment, as Dorin's shots went wide, and his body was impaled on a harpoon and thrown across the bay. The metal cord attached to the harpoon tightened as the razor sharp death rocket tore out of Dorin's red skinned body, spilling his green blood across the floor. Totally blinded by anger and anguish, I leapt atop the black fighter and, as the Hunter was climbing in, I wrapped my arms around him, my weapons, and his rifle, falling to the ground, and dropped him on him back. We both slid across the floor and, as we came to a stop, I found myself thrust into the air and then on my face.

The seconds it took for me to get my legs under me was enough time for him to be up and armed, a black vibro dagger in hand. His helmet hissed with heavy breathing as he lunged forward. I darted back, but his swipe with the retractable blade on his left forearm caught my ribs, and tore across my skin. I blinked away the pain and took the chance he gave me by following through with the swipe to drop down and kick his legs out from under him.

Although my kick caught him, it only caught him half way as he jumped to avoid. He stumbled as he landed, and I rose with a kick into his chest, sending him back into the side of his fighter. My feet caught my dagger and I flipped it up into my hand just in time to catch his blade slash on its flat side. With the blade point facing my elbow, I let his blade slide across mine and brought a left fist into his unprotected underarm.

I pressed on and slipped past him, catching a swipe from his forearm blade across my back, shedding a little skin. Sweat poured into my eyes as I swung around with my dagger, ripping a small canyon across the armor in the Hunter's ribs. I caught an armored elbow in the face in return and stumbled to the floor. A throwing dagger flew out of my hand as I turned to try to stand. The dagger clanked off the chest armor of the menacing Hunter as he began coming forward.

I knew I was dead, no matter what happened so I figured I'd go out with a fight. As his right hand came down to the floor he retrieved his three barreled rifle, the one I'd seen before in another place and another time, and I immediately rolled over and up into a run. Just as two searing blasts flew out, I cut off to the side and turned back increasing speed to slam my shoulder into the hunters painfully solid armor. I knew it was dislocated on contact, but I figured it wouldn't matter after I was shot full of holes. A shot had grazed my left leg in my run, but I didn't have time to notice. All I knew is I had to buy time for the other troops to get the damaged door open.

We stumbled backward and fell again, this time I refused to let go and as I fell on top of him. I dug my thumb up under his arm and heard a grunt of pain. Another, harder, crack across the head with his rifle sent me sprawling again. Before the Hunter could take advantage of my dazed and bleary eyed state, the hangar bay doors spread open, and a hail of blaster fire came right after.

I watched, unable to move and on the edge of unconsciousness, as the Hunter threw himself into his fighter's cockpit and started up his engines. The sleek black ship lifted up off the hangar's floor moments later and spun around, it's crescent wings spreading out and its solar panels unfolding in the process.

Then I felt the world explode around me, and felt myself being dragged as a concussion missile blew through the hangar bay's main door. The vacuum sucked at everything in the bay, carrying cargo containers and barrels out through the newly made hole. The Hunter's ship followed suit, jetting out into open space, leaving me battered on the floor, barely holding onto the metal gridwork on the floor as klaxons sounded all around me. I felt a hand wrap around my arm as the air escaped the room. I then felt my lungs burning and the edges of my vision turn black. And then nothing.

Akara Nim nervously chewed the fingers on his flight glove as he waited impatiently for Malik's message. He had promised to signal him when the Hunter was pacified. It had been hours since the arrival of the black fighter and no word had come from Malik. He should've been taken down by now, he thought as he switched gloved fingers. As if to answer his uncertainty a bright flash cast a dense light over Nim's designated crater. Immediately he knew something had gone wrong, and the appearance of an enemy fighter on his radar cemented that belief.

Not wasting a second, Nim powered up his fighter and signaled D'lek, Hu, Tsalin, and the other pilots. "All fighters power up and move in, the Hunter is loose, I repeat the Hunter is loose!" With that Nim punched his throttle to full and shot out of the darkness of the giant crater. "Nim to Base Alpha, Nim to base Alpha what is your status?" he then signaled, fearing the worst.

"This is Lt. Olan, we've got major problems over here. The Hunter has blasted his way out of the hangar bay, and is making for an escape." The technicians voice betrayed his fear and uncertainty but he pressed on. "Go get that bastard, and don't let him get away!"

"You got it!" Nim diverted power to his engines and dropped into a pursuit course after the fleeing Imperial fighter. "All fighters converge on the Hunter's ship. S-foils in attack position. You get him dead or alive I don't care, you just get him." As he received affirmatives from the other pilots he corrected his course and brought his lasers to bear on the fleeing Hunter.