Star Wars - The Clone Wars - Secret Missions #3 - Duel at Shattered Rock

by Ryder Windham

  The swoop hit the ground and exploded at the same moment that Gizz’s body struck the ground with an ugly thud and rolled across hard rock, his arms wrapped protectively around Nuru. They rolled over a wide patch of dead weeds and didn’t stop rolling until Gizz smacked into the base of an enormous, multicolored boulder.

  Hudu Shiv raced past the boulder where the young Jedi lay motionless with the swoop biker. He glanced back, and then brought his bike to a shuddering stop. Count Dooku had instructed Shiv not to reveal his Mandalorian identity to the Jedi or clone troopers on Vaced, and Shiv silently cursed himself for having entered a chasm with only one exit. He was certain that the Jedi had gotten a good look at his armor, but he did not know whether the boy had survived the fall from the swoop. Shiv knew what to do next. He gunned the bike’s engine and turned around, heading back toward the boulder.

  Nuru opened his eyes and saw the sky directly above him. He was lying on his back across Gizz’s chest, pinned under the heavy weight of Gizz’s right arm. He groaned, although Gizz had absorbed most of the impact when they hit the ground. But he could hardly blame Gizz for pulling him off the swoop, for it seemed Gizz had only been trying to prevent Nuru from dying in a fiery crash.

  “Gizz? Can you hear me?” Gizz did not respond, but Nuru felt the giant’s chest swell slightly. He was still breathing.

  Nuru heard the sniper’s speeder bike grow louder as it approached. The bike’s whining engine sounded as if it were on the other side of the boulder, and Nuru imagined the sniper was circling back. He shoved at Gizz’s arm and rolled off the giant. Snatching his lightsaber from his belt, he activated its blade as he stepped through the long-dead weeds, moving away from Gizz, and then waited for the speeder bike to appear from around the boulder.

  As expected, the speeder bike glided into view. However, Nuru was surprised to see the bike’s saddle was empty. The bike was automatically slowing to a stop when Nuru sensed something move behind him. Nuru realized the sniper had used the bike as a decoy. He turned fast and saw the sniper standing only four meters away, his rifle leveled at Nuru.

  The sniper fired, but Nuru had already leaped high into the air. As Nuru executed a flip that briefly planted his feet against the boulder, he noted that it was not an energy bolt chat left the sniper’s rifle but a slender projectile, possibly a dart. Holding his lightsaber in his right hand so its blade was tucked dangerously close to the side of his body, he kicked off from the boulder, flipped again, and landed on his feet directly behind the sniper.

  Hudu Shiv had studied holorecordings of Jedi in action and was not surprised by Kungurama’s speed or acrobatic ability. Still, he regretted that he had not been able to fell Kungurama with a tranquilizer dart. Without turning to face the boy, he shifted his grip on his rifle as he repositioned his feet, bracing himself before he made a sudden jabbing motion that sent his rifle’s butt straight into Nuru’s sternum.

  Nuru stumbled back but managed to swing his blade up through the butt and trigger mechanism of the sniper’s rifle. The sniper threw the damaged rifle at Nuru. Nuru dodged the rifle and was about to leap forward when the sniper extended one fist and activated the flamethrower built into his gauntlet.

  The blast of flame struck the ground in front of Nuru. Nuru leaped again, somersaulting in the air to land beside the sniper. Holding his lightsaber away from his body, he slapped his free hand down on the sniper’s gauntlet, forcing the jet of flames away from both of them. But then the sniper rotated his arm, deactivating the flamethrower as he grabbed Nuru’s right wrist. The sniper twisted hard, forcing Nuru’s hand back and causing the Jedi’s fingers to lose their grip on his lightsaber. The lightsaber’s blade flickered out as it fell to the ground. The sniper kept his grip locked on Nuru’s wrist as he brought one knee up into the boy’s stomach.

  Nuru felt the wind get knocked out of him. He blocked the pain from his mind and reached fast with his left hand to his belt. His fingers wrapped around Ring Sol-Ambase’s lightsaber. The sniper was about to kick him again when Nuru thumbed the lightsaber’s activation switch and the blade blazed to life.

  All Nuru had to do was flick his wrist and the sniper would be cut in half. But he wanted to subdue the sniper and question him, nor kill him. He took a fraction of a second to readjust his grip on Ambase’s lightsaber as he prepared to deliver a strike that would only injure the man, but that fraction was enough for him to lose his advantage.

  The sniper shoved Nuru away from him. The lightsaber’s blade flashed past the sniper’s chest as Nuru stumbled back. The sniper’s hands flew to his belt, and he drew both blaster pistols. Nuru recovered his footing and kept Ambase’s lightsaber in front of him, waiting for the sniper to open fire.

  They both heard the sound of an approaching starship. Nuru recognized the familiar sound of the Hasty Harpy’s engines. He was not surprised that Breakout Squad had been able to locate him so fast as the rising flames and smoke from the ruined swoop must have drawn their attention.

  Keeping his gaze on the armored man and Ambase’s lightsaber extended, Nuru reached out with the Force to make his own lightsaber fly up from the ground and land in his waiting palm. He activated his lightsaber so its blade blazed beside the other. He had little doubt that he could deflect blaster bolts faster than the man could squeeze his triggers. He said, “Surrender at once.”

  He did not expect the sniper to fire low, launching a stream of energy bolts that hammered at the rocky ground in front of Nuru’s feet. The blasts kicked stones and sand up into the air, spraying dust into his eyes, and he reflexively squeezed his eyes shut. Fortunately, he remained alert, using the Force to guide his actions and anticipate the next attack.

  But it did not come. Instead, the armored man ran for his speeder bike.

  Eyes still closed, Nuru sensed the sniper’s departure and ran blindly after him, relying on the Force to maintain his course and allow him to visualize the terrain, his opponent, and the bike. Because he had already learned the hard way that the sniper was an incredibly skilled up-close fighter he chose not to tackle him. He leaped high into the air, holding both lightsabers out and away from his body, and somersaulted over the sniper, angling himself to land beside the bike. As he descended, both lightsabers swept through the bike’s maneuvering fins and central repulsor pod, crippling the vehicle. He landed on his feet at the same moment that the ruined speeder crashed to the ground, and then he opened his eyes, which still stung from the sand.

  The sniper took a quick sidestep and darted out of sight around the boulder that loomed beside Gizz, whose unconscious form still rested amid the weeds. Nuru heard the Harpy’s landing jets. The freighter touched down close enough for him to see Gunn and Chatterbox in the cockpit.

  Brandishing blaster rifles. Knuckles, Sharp, and Cleaver rushed out of the Harpy and ran over to Nuru. Knuckles said, “We got Breaker. Are you all right. Commander?”

  Nuru responded with a single nod, although the truth was he felt battered and bruised. “The sniper ran behind that boulder,” he said as he switched off Ambase’s lightsaber and returned it to his belt. “Did you see him? He’s wearing Mandalorian armor.”

  “Mandalorian?” Knuckles said with disbelief. Like most Republic troopers, he was aware of the warrior culture that had lasted thousands of years in the Mandalore sector. He also knew that Jango Fett himself had been a Mandalorian and that Fett’s own armor had served as the basis for the armor worn by Knuckles and his comrades. “But Mandalore is a peaceful world now,” Knuckles continued. “Maybe he’s a renegade or an impostor.”

  Sharp said, “Or maybe a former Mandalorian warrior, like Jango Fett.”

  “Whoever he is, he knows how to fight,” Nuru said. “What’s the condition of Sommilor and his men? And who’s watching them?”

  Knuckles and Sharp looked at Nuru through their visors. Knuckles said, “Sorry, Commander. We thought you knew. Sommilor and the pilots are dead.”

  Nuru was stunned. “What?”

  “The tox
ic darts that hit them were lethal. We secured their bodies inside their ship. We didn’t—”

  Knuckles was interrupted by a loud roar that came from behind the boulder. A spray of burning fuel launched out across the dead weeds that blanketed the ground. Nuru realized the sniper had activated his flamethrower again, and as the weeds caught fire, he saw the flames licking toward Gizz’s body. He pointed at Gizz and said, “Get him out of there!”

  Without questioning the command. Knuckles, Sharp, and Cleaver jumped through the rising flames while Nuru kept his eyes peeled for the sniper. The two troopers and the droid grabbed the giant and dragged him away from the boulder as fast as they could, stomping at the flames as they went. The fire was still spreading as they neared the Harpy.

  Nuru was backing away from the fire, saw that it was still spreading, and said, “Get him into the ship.”

  Knuckles said, “Commander, are you sure we should—?”

  “He saved my life!”

  The troopers and the droid hauled Gizz up the Harpy’s boarding ramp and were struggling to maneuver him through the hatch when Nuru saw the sniper emerge at the other side of the boulder, moving past the remains of the speeder bike. The sniper was still gripping both of his blaster pistols.

  Nuru raised his left hand and used the Force to push the sniper off his feet. The sniper was flung sideways through the air and might have crashed against the ravine wall except he fired his jetpack and launched skyward, rapidly rising higher than Nuru could jump. Nuru held his lightsaber steadily as the sniper ascended, ready to defend himself if his opponent opened fire.

  Shiv grimaced behind his helmet as he lifted away from the Jedi. He had only intended to find out whether the boy was still alive and shoot a tranquilizer dart to subdue him if necessary, hut not to engage him in combat. He imagined Dooku would be furious, but that was not Shiv’s immediate concern. He could not permit anyone to claim and analyze the Death Watch arsenal on his abandoned bike.

  As he continued to rise, he reached to his belt and tapped a button, triggering a remote detonator. Down below, the remains of his bike exploded into fire and dust, and the power of the blast sent the Jedi sprawling. Seeing the Jedi tumble away from the explosion, Shiv realized he was disappointed by his first encounter with a Jedi. He wondered whether he would ever get a chance to duel with the one who was mature.

  Shiv scanned the terrain for his Pursuer-class enforcement ship and found it right where he had landed it. He flew straight toward the ship.

  The fleeing sniper had just moved out of sight as Nuru pushed himself up off the ground. The air was now heavy with smoke. A moment later, he felt hands grab his upper arms, and he was yanked to his feet. Slightly dazed, he realized Knuckles and Sharp had come back for him.

  As the clones rushed him back to the Harpy, Nuru gasped, “Have to stop him.” They were no sooner up the boarding ramp when the Harpy lifted off and shot up and out of the ravine.

  Nuru, Knuckles, and Sharp stumbled into the main hold. They found Cleaver busily strapping Gizz’s body to the deck beside Breaker, who was strapped to a bunk. Both Gizz and Breaker remained unconscious. Cleaver looked up at Nuru and said, “I had to secure this man to the deck because the Harpy isn’t equipped with a bunk large enough for him.”

  Nuru was so focused on apprehending the sniper that he barely heard the droid. He left the hold and moved fast to the cockpit. Stepping up behind Gunn and Chatterbox, he crouched down between their seats so he had a better view through the window in front of them. He saw the sniper still airborne, less than thirty meters in front of the Harpy.

  “That jetpack can’t carry him far,” Nuru said. “He’ll have to land soon.”

  “I could bring him down right now if you want,” Gunn said as she gestured to the controls for the laser cannons,

  “No! I want him alive for questioning.”

  Gunn sighed. “Have it your way.”

  Nuru leaned forward to get a wider view of the land below. He spotted an angular transport that rested beside the base of a cliff in the canyon. He recognized the model as a Pursuer-class enforcement ship, used by Mandalorians as a patrol and transport vessel, but also popular with various police forces and bounty hunters throughout the galaxy. He said, “There’s a ship down there. He must be heading—”

  Nuru was surprised yet again by a sudden feeling of imminent danger. Before he could warn Gunn to take evasive action, the flying man executed a midair twist, faced the Harpy, and bent at the waist.

  Nuru shouted, “No!”

  But the man clad in Mandalorian armor had already launched the missile from his jetpack.

  The explosion was tremendous. The Z-6 antivehicle homing missile had struck and detonated with a thunderous boom against the Hasty Harpy’s lower hull. Lab Gunn screamed as if her own body had taken the hit directly, while Chatterbox clung to the controls in front of him. Nuru, who had not been belted into a seat, was thrown off his feet and bounced off the cockpit’s low ceiling.

  Another explosion rocked the Harpy. Nuru gripped the back of Chatterbox’s seat and pulled himself up off the deck. Through the cockpit’s window, he saw they were plunging rapidly toward the canyon called Shattered Rock.

  Chatterbox said, “We’re losing altitude.”

  Desperately pushing switches and levers as she checked a status readout, Gunn replied, “Tell me something I don’t know already!”

  “We lost all shields, landing jets, and the primary port thruster.”

  “I know that, too, so just shut up!” Gunn wrestled with the controls to stabilize the ship. An awful mechanical groan rumbled through the Harpy as Gunn somehow brought the nose up.

  Through the window, Nuru was relieved to see they were no longer falling toward Vaced, but the ship was still listing hard to the left. “You have to bring us down, Gunn. I can’t let the assassin get away.”

  “Maybe you didn’t hear, kid, but he blew away away landing jets! I’m gonna have to make an emergency landing, and I’m betting it will hurt. You should have let me blast him when I had the chance!”

  Nuru knew that Gunn’s ship was equipped with escape pods. He was about to suggest that they evacuate when he remembered Gizz back in the main hold. Gizz could barely fit through the Harpy’s main hatch, let alone any of the escape pods.

  “You can bring us down safely, Gunn,” Nuru said. “I know you can.”

  “I can’t tell you how much that means to me,” Gunn said sarcastically.

  Nuru frowned. It was bad enough that he had failed to protect Sommilor and the two Kynachi pilots, but now he had endangered everyone on the Harpy, too. He suddenly felt an almost overwhelming sense of failure.

  And yet, he still wanted to go after the assassin. He knew he had made a terrible mistake in underestimating the man’s fighting ability, but now he wondered if he had also erred in trying to capture the man alive.

  Should I have tried to kill him?

  Deep within himself, Nuru felt something stir, a strange sensation that was neither warm nor cold but… dark.

  The Harpy wobbled as it tore across the sky, trailing fire and smoke.

  Hudu Shiv glanced back at the disabled freighter as his jetpack carried him down to Vaced’s surface. If the Jedi and other passengers on the freighter considered themselves lucky to be still alive, Shiv would take credit for that. After all, he had aimed his missile at the lower hull, not at the cockpit or anywhere near the fuel tanks.

  He descended close to his Pursuer, killed the jetpack, and hit the ground running. He used a remote to deactivate the ship’s security system, entered the ship fast, and grabbed some equipment. He knew if Nuru Kungurama survived, the boy would alert his superiors about seeing a man wearing Mandalorian armor on Vaced. Shiv would do what was necessary to discourage the Jedi from ever hunting him down.

  The Hasty Harpy was listing hard but still airborne. In the cockpit, Nuru had belted himself into a seat behind Gum. and Chatterbox. Over the intercom, they heard Knuckles say, “We’ve g
ot a fire in the aft hold, Captain.”

  “Then put it out!” Gunn snapped. She glanced at one of the few scopes that was still working. “The terrain-following sensor is blown, but I still got eyes. I’ll bring her down in the field between the spaceport and the woods.” She tilted her chin back toward the intercom. “Listen up, everyone! It’s too late for fire fighting! Buckle up now because we’re gonna—”

  A hail of laserfire streaked past the cockpit, and then a stream of energy bolts smashed into the Harpy’s upper hull, startling everyone in the cockpit. “Stang!” Gunn cursed as the Harpy buckled at the impact. “Who’s shooting at us now?!”

  A moment later, the attacking ship zoomed over the Harpy and swung into view. It was the Pursuer-class ship that Nuru had seen earlier. He had no doubt that the armored assassin was piloting the craft, and that his goal was to bring down the Harpy.

  “That tears it,” Gunn snarled as she shoved the controls, sending the Harpy into a sudden roll that caused the engines to howl. The Harpy belched black smoke as she emerged from the roll and lifted up behind the Pursuer. Nuru saw Gunn reach to a red switch on the weapons console. He did not try to stop her from pressing it.

  The Harpy’s missile launchers fired. Two homing missiles zinged toward the Pursuer, which banked suddenly to the left. The missiles raced after the targeted ship, then arced out slightly before they accelerated, each angling for a different side of the Pursuer. The missiles slammed into the ship and detonated. The Pursuer erupted in a bright burst that sent blazing debris across the sky over Shattered Rock.

  Gunn let out a whistle. “That felt pretty good,” she said as she banked hack toward the spaceport. “Now comes the rough part.”

  Gunn punched the accelerator and pressed a switch, and the Harpy lurched up. An alarm began wailing, Nuru could not tell whether it came from the spaceport or the cockpit. The Harpy wobbled as she glided over the landing pads, banked hard as she crossed over the adjoining field, and then dropped.