Under A Black Sun Trilogy

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Under A Black Sun Trilogy Page 12

by Kevin J. Anderson


  Jaina knew, but as the pack of monsters continued to flow from the

  hills, she realized it would never be enough. This migratory pack

  consisted of hundreds upon hundreds of members, each hungry from its

  long charge through the rocky hills.

  Jaina's lightsaber blazed violet in her hand, and her friends drew

  their weapons as well. Anja rushed up, looking flushed and full of

  adrenaline; she danced from foot to foot, as if anxious to attack

  anything that came close. But the moment the knaars fell upon the

  nearest guard and tore the old woman apart, the other villagers turned

  and fled, forgetting to put up even a pretense of a fight.

  Instantly Jaina saw that the battle was hopeless. Even with their

  lightsabers, even with the Millennium Falcon's blasters, they couldn't

  possibly drive the knaars away. Their best choice was to flee and hope

  to find a place of refuge or a protected area in which they could make

  a stand.

  And their only path to escape lay through the detonator-salted

  fields.

  The Falcon blasted two of the leading knaars. Several of their fellows

  fell upon the bodies, stripping the meat off the bones of the dead

  predators. But scores of knaars kept coming.

  The Falcon fired again. Heedless of this minor interruption, the

  monsters surged forward, slashing with claws, snapping their jaws at

  their helpless prey. Jaina, with her companions and the remaining

  villagers, turned and ran headlong into fields full of burrowing

  detonators.

  As the Millennium Falcon took off with a roar, Zekk heard the villagers

  crowded in the back of the Falcon moan with fear. His attention,

  though, was focused on the sparks and flashes of light that signified

  lightsabers as the young Jedi Knights fought down below.

  "Zekk, get into the gun well and start blasting those creatures!"

  Han Solo shouted.

  "I hope your laser cannons are fully charged," Zekk said, climbing down

  into the gun well. He dropped into the chair, strapped in, and powered

  up the Falcon's weaponry.

  Han soared low to the ground, swooping back toward the ramshackle

  village. The reptilian predators prowled along, moving with the speed

  of hunger, cunning evident in their intelligent yellow eyes.

  "There are so many of them!" Zekk muttered, seeing the sinuous shapes

  dart forward like purplish-blue shadows. One of the creatures grabbed

  a young man and swallowed him in a single gulp before Zekk could aim

  the laser cannons. He wondered if that victim had been one of the

  brash young men who had tried to act so brave when the knaars were

  first coming.

  Zekk targeted and fired, blowing the reptilian creature to sizzling

  bits. He rotated in the gun well again, seeking another target. It

  was difficult to zero in on the dark shadowy monsters-and he didn't

  dare risk hitting one of the people.

  Below, a knaar advanced along the pale wall of a building. One

  villager had tried to take shelter around the corner, in the doorway.

  The knaar approached, sniffing, its claws extended. Zekk targeted and

  fired.

  The frightened villager scrambled to one side as the smoking body of

  the enormous reptile slumped to the ground in front of him, its fanged

  mouth open wide.

  A shot now fired from the other gun well, striking one of the saurians

  in its lower leg. The moment it collapsed, honking and howling in

  pain, other knaars fell upon their wounded companion.

  "Hope you don't mind, Zekk," Anakin said through the comm system.

  "I've had a bit of target training myself, but the twins get to

  practice more often."

  The knaars continued to sweep forward. Two new ones seemed to appear

  for every one Zekk blasted.

  Han Solo circled around and came back for another run. His concerned

  voice came over the comm system. "What's she doing?"

  "Jaina's leading them toward the minefield!" Anakin's voice replied.

  Zekk looked down and saw by the glow of the lightsaber blades that the

  young Jedi Knights had turned and headed with the remaining villagers

  into the barren fields that were full of burrowing detonators.

  He thought of Jaina down there fighting against monsters and running

  into even more dangerous territory. His heart sank, but he gritted his

  teeth and grabbed the firing controls. If he couldn't pull off a

  spectacular rescue, at least he'd do his part to keep her safe-or as

  safe as she could possibly be under the circumstances.

  Jaina planted her feet firmly on the rough ground and held her

  lightsaber high. The slavering knaar in front of her did not seem at

  all intimidated by her violet Jedi blade. The reptilian creature gave

  a high-pitched bellow, then reached forward with its claws, snapping

  with powerful jaws that looked strong enough to rip a repulsorpod from

  a starship engine.

  Jaina swung forward and down with her crackling lightsaber, cleaving

  the monster from its shoulder down to the center of its rib cage.

  The creature thrashed and fell down as smoking blood bubbled from its

  dying heart.

  Anja continued to let out loud whoops and shouts of challenge. She ran

  faster than the knaars, darting from one to another, wounding them with

  her lightsaber and diving out of the way as their claws slashed at

  her.

  She let the other carnivores do the rest of the work for her. She

  needed only to wound a beast, then the other knaars would tear it to

  pieces for the meat.

  Anja's hair flew in the wind, barely held in place by the leather

  band.

  Sweat dripped down her temples onto her flushed face, but she was so

  full of adrenaline she seemed incapable of slowing down.

  Lowbacca let out a loud Wookiee roar as he and Jacen motioned the

  villagers to follow them into the treacherous cropland. The villagers

  dropped their fanning implements and ran. Panicked, some of them

  dashed right past the young Jedi.

  "Wait! We have to find a safe path for you!" Jacen yelled. But one

  middle-aged woman clutching a satchel of valuables over her shoulder

  tore ahead in blind terror as she fled from the knaars.

  "No! Wait!"

  She ran through the uncleared cropland. Jacen felt an intuitive stab

  and a chill at the back of his neck-a premonition-just before she

  stepped down on one of the hidden burrowing detonators. The explosion

  ripped the night with a flash of brilliance and a boom of echoing

  thunder. The woman fell instantly, but the monsters charged toward the

  fields and Jacen could not take a moment to determine whether or not

  she had survived. The villagers screamed in despair, caught between

  their fear of the minefield ahead and the rampaging predators behind.

  Lowie roared something at Jacen about the Force and gestured to the

  ground. Em Teedee quickly translated. "Master Lowbacca suggests that

  by using your Jedi senses, you could perhaps determine the locations of

  the burrowing detonators and thus avoid them. That would give us the

  best chance of survival."

  Jacen realized that his Wookiee friend was right. If he coul
d calm

  himself enough to use the Force, he might be able to map out a safe

  path that the villagers could follow-a path that the knaars would not

  understand.

  "And I do suggest you be careful," the little droid added. "I have no

  desire to become a useless lump of floating metal with no one to

  translate for."

  As his eyes adjusted to a darkness lit only by the green glow of his

  lightsaber and Em Teedee's optical sensors, Jacen trotted ahead as fast

  as he dared, keeping his eyes to the ground. Stretching out his free

  hand before him, he sensed ripples in the dirt, tiny echoes of

  movementand then he spotted a slight trembling where the mechanical

  explosives had tunneled beneath the surface. Across the fields he

  could see a checkerboard pattern of places to avoid, and places where

  it was safe to walk.

  "Follow us!" he shouted, holding his emerald lightsaber like a beacon

  overhead. "We can see a path!"

  The ginger-furred Wookiee bellowed a confirmation, raised his own

  molten-bronze blade, and sprinted ahead on his long legs. A magenta

  glow from Tenel Ka's rancor-tooth lightsaber indicated another safe

  path.

  Jaina and Anja remained behind to guard the group's retreat and to slow

  down the charging beasts. Overhead, the Millennium Falcon's engines

  rumbled in the air. Laser beams lanced out from both gun turrets,

  striking knaars. Still more of the migratory pack surged like a

  camlyorous flood out of the rocky hills.

  The villagers ran onward, grasping at any shred of hope as they

  followed Jacen and Lowie through the minefield. Fortunately, the

  knaars did not understand the explosives. They surged forward on their

  scaly, muscular legs, ready to snatch anyone who fell behind.

  Two of the largest knaars, their silvery razor frills raised and yellow

  eyes glowing like lamps in the darkness, circled around to the left to

  charge ahead of the fleeing group and cut off their retreat. Tenel Ka

  turned to face them, glaring with her granite-gray eyes as if daring

  them to approach.

  The two reptiles kept moving, staying close together. When the larger

  knaar stomped on one of the burrowing detonators, the explosion knocked

  both creatures aside, tearing open their rib cages. They lay wounded

  on the ground, honking and roaring in pain. Tenel Ka would have

  dispatched them herself, but their noises only served to attract other

  hungry knaars. Before long, under the double moonlight of Anobis, the

  two predators fell silent as their roars were replaced by the wet

  sounds of tearing meat and gnashing fangs.

  The Falcon soared above the knaars, blasting more of the creatures.

  One of the villagers tripped. Before he could scramble to his feet

  again, two monsters fell upon him. When another young man turned back

  with a shout and tried to defend his friend, the knaars attacked him as

  well.

  At the last instant, when it seemed the young man was surely doomed,

  Anja appeared beside him. Her lightsaber swept out in a blazing swath

  of acid yellow to lop off both forearms of the predator. The sizzling

  stumps of its clawed hands fell to the ground, and the monster roared,

  flailing about, unable to grasp anything. In blind rage it chomped at

  the nearest creature-another knaar. The two reptiles tore at each

  other, wrestling one another to the ground. In moments, other

  predators came in to finish off both of them.

  The cropland stretched ahead, seemingly forever. Jacen continued to

  run, finding it easier to pick his way around the burrowing detonators

  now. He saw some active ones shifting their positions underneath the

  soil.

  Beyond, the thick forest looked like a goal line. If only they could

  get to the shelter of the trees, perhaps they could fight better than

  out in the open. But Jacen couldn't be sure. For now they were just

  running.

  He couldn't imagine how the group could possibly turn aside all the

  knaars, even with five active lightsaber blades and assistance from the

  Millennium Falcon.

  Two more explosions ripped the night, and Jacen was relieved to see

  that it was only more reptilian predators stumbling upon the

  explosives. He looked to one side and saw a bobbing metallic sphere.

  Em Teedee had detached himself from Lowie's belt and drifted ahead on

  his microrepulsolets, flitting from side to side in front of the beasts

  like a remote practice drone.

  One of the largest knaars lumbered forward, attracted by Lowie's

  molten-bronze lightsaber blade. The Wookiee stopped his headlong run

  and whirled to face the monster. The knaar charged forward, exposing

  its razor teeth.

  Em Teedee flitted in front of the monster's jaws, distracting the

  creature so that it snapped at the silvery sphere and diverted its

  fiery gaze from Lowbacca. Lowie used the moment of distraction to

  strike sideways, severing the knaar's body at the waist; its head still

  twisted and snapped even though it had no body to move.

  The surviving villagers kept running. Ahead of them, the forests

  loomed taller. Dozens and dozens of the saurian giants had been

  killed, but though the pack seemed to be thinning a bit, Jacen did not

  feel at all relieved. The Falcon circled by again, blasting away.

  More of the monsters died. The people continued to stumble along on

  the haphazard path the young Jedi Knights picked for them through the

  booby-trapped field. Many villagers were in shock, just following,

  placing one foot in front of another, unable to fully face their

  peril.

  Jacen sensed their fear and could only hope the situation would change

  once they entered the thick trees. "Hurry up. Get to the forest!" he

  shouted. With despairing sighs, the people nearest him tried to

  increase their pace, but they were too exhausted. Weak from

  malnutrition and years of living in fear for their lives, several of

  them stumbled and fell, only to be helped to their feet by their

  equally exhausted companions. Jacen could tell that everyone's energy

  reserves were running out.

  If they had to continue this battle, they would not make it much

  farther.

  The Falcon swept overhead, strafing the oncoming monsters. Jaina and

  Anja fought behind the others, attacking more of the knaars. The air

  was filled with the snarls of the predators, the sizzling buzz of the

  lightsabers, and the despairing cries of the staggering villagers.

  Then, to Jacen's surprise, the migratory knaars faltered in their

  advance, honking at each other uneasily. Many in the pack were covered

  with blood from their victims, both human and reptilian. But they all

  paused in their tracks as if unwilling to come any closer to the

  forest.

  Jacen, sensing the monsters' hesitation, desperately tried to use his

  Jedi senses in another way. The knaars were at the edge of their

  territorial range. Jacen could feel that they had never come this far

  before, that the forests ahead were a great unknown, and that the

  predators had little desire to keep following. He sent out his
r />   thoughts, giving the knaars a vague feeling that they had come far

  enough, that they should turn and go home.

  They smelled the blood in the air, dimly understood that a great many

  of their number had already died on this trek.

  The knaars honked at each other in a rudimentary form of

  communication.

  With sagging shoulders and trembling knees, the villagers turned to

  watch in shock as the predators ground to a halt, snapping sharp teeth

  into the air as if they had reached some invisible boundary.

  Lowie gestured with his big hairy arms to keep the people moving toward

  the forest during this unexpected respite. "Dear me! How very odd! I

  do hope the knaars don't change their minds and attack again," Em

  Teedee said.

  The Falcon circled back and blasted one motionless knaar who stood in

  the lead. The other reptiles howled and snapped their jaws in defiance

  of the disk-shaped ship that cruised overhead. Then they turned about,

  moving much slower now, and began their trek back through the

  minefield. The stragglers stopped to snort among the scraps of meat

  that remained on the carcasses they'd left behind during their chase

  after the fleeing villagers.

  Jacen stood at the edge of the forest, surveying the tall dark trees

  and the shadows beyond. Farther in the distance, beyond the forest,

  steep mountains with winding switchback roads led up to the open

  tunnels and cliffside stone villages of the miners.

 

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