STEALTH and TRACK: BOOK ONE

C H A P T E R S E V E N T E E N

FERN'S POV

When we finally caught up to Muchi the Mini Rancor, she was tossing the Zygerrians around like they were ragdolls, whacking three across the rocks with one in her claw. Wrecker scoffed, "She's doing fine on her own." Muchi roared and took out the last of the guards. Then, she faced us and charged briefly; Hunter pushed me behind him and stopped Tech and Wrecker from drawing their blasters.

Suddenly, a brezak, carrying the Zygerrian boss, screeched above us as it glided and touched down on the ground mere yards from us. The boys fired their blasters at it, but were easily knocked aside by the creature's whip-like tail. I've seen a similar species of it before on Utapau, specifically the one General Obi-Wan Kenobi was riding before he fell...

No, no, I shook my head, which continued to throb substantially. I definitely had a knot underneath my single braid, but there was no time to worry about it. The leader upon his brevak was charging right towards the rancor, and Hunter and I needed to intercept it. We sprinted after them, and while I circled behind it as it slowly approached her, the sergeant tackled the Zygerrian off his pet. Muchi took off and the gliding reptilian creature pursued it.

"You're going to pay for this, skug." the boss growled.

Behind us, Tech and Wrecker arrived. Hunter threw out his hand to them. "I'll handle him. Go after Muchi."

"You mean, we'll handle him." I corrected, unsheathing my vibro knife. Hunter nodded his head— I couldn't see his expression since he wore that bucket of a helmet, but something told me he was not complaining having me as back-up. Our squad members ran on ahead, and the Zygerrian struck his electrical whip.

The sergeant charged forward first and used his armored forearm to catch the fall of the weapon as the Zygerrian flung it down over his shoulder. I darted past Hunter and thrusted my knife forward. Our foe dodged it, kicked me aside, and switched on the whip, electrocuting Hunter's body through his coiled arm. He groaned and panted as he endured the attack, but he mustered just enough strength to seize the thong of the whip and yank it free from the Zygerrian. The moment the weapon dropped, I roundhouse-kicked with my right foot and used my left leg to drop-kick him straight into the dirt, knocking him out cold.

"You okay?" Hunter asked me, his voice modulator was heaving as he rose to his feet and put his hand on my shoulder.

"I could ask you the same thing." I smiled, but could not deny I felt dizzy from my head injury. "Come on, let's catch up with Tech and Wrecker." Clinging onto his arm, we helped each other reach them.

When we all arrived, Echo and Omega showing up not long after, we were surprised to find Wrecker and Muchi's wrestling match, or at least the conclusion of it. What probably started out as an exciting brawl had dwindled into tiresome smacks and pushing. 

"How long have they been at this?" I questioned Tech, who was spectating from the side with his datapad.

"Too long. He's losing his touch." Wired-Brain replied.

Eventually, it was a fair draw as both the adolescent rancor and the muscular clone dropped out, collapsing on top of each other. Omega approached them, tilting her head with a smile. "Aw, she's kinda cute up close."

"Nicely handled. Wrecker." Hunter nodded, and Wrecker just scoffed with a thumbs-up. 

"You've sure made yourself useful today, you big oaf." I quipped, and then my body slowly lowered itself to a deep squatting position. My head hung down in dead-weight.

"Fern!" Omega exclaimed, rushing to my side. The boys minus the wearied Wrecker did the same.

"I'm good. Just a headache." I managed a grin. Tech knelt behind me and massaged his gloved fingers through my raven hair until they grazed over the predicted bump, at which I flinched and sucked air through my clenched teeth. "There's no blood. Slight abrasions. You'll live."