Author's Games: Star Wars

Task Four: Jenaara

Jenaara was tired of fighting.

She and Kanan hadn’t been given a break after they made it out of the obstacle course. They had been forced to fight their way through what seemed like armies and armies of stormtroopers. They had found Adaara after an eternity, and the three of them had battled together for an eternity more.

But suddenly, the fighting had stopped. The stormtroopers had either retreated or simply allowed themselves to be killed. Now, she lay on the blood-stained ground, struggling to breathe. Kanan was on his knees beside her, embracing Adaara with all the strength left in him.

Even though they hadn’t had any time to get to know each other, Jenaara had begun to see her companions as the older siblings she never had. They were both much more learned than her and would often give her sparring pointers even while they were fighting. She cared for them, and that scared her. It seemed like everyone else she cared for had bad things happen to them, and she didn’t want that for this couple. Even thinking about it felt like a premonition; one that she desperately wanted to be false.

Suddenly, she heard a familiar screaming sound split the sky: the sound of a fleet of TIE fighters overhead. Jenaara wanted to cry, immature as that seemed. Will we never have a moment’s peace? “Duck!” she heard Kanan try to shout beside her, but in his weakened state it was more of a groan. She put her head down and covered it with her arms, but surprisingly, the ships didn’t fire on them. They landed a few yards away, and Imperials poured out of them.

Cold hands grabbed her arms and she was pulled roughly to her feet. The moment she was let go, she collapsed to the ground again, her shaking feet unwilling to hold her weight. One of the stormtroopers around her kicked her in the side, and she screamed in pain. “Pull her up,” another one said in the same monotonous tone they all used, “and don’t drop her this time.”

Next to her, Kanan and Adaara were ripped out of each other’s arms. Adaara struggled with all the strength she had left, screaming incomprehensible words at the Imperials.

It happened so fast that Jenaara barely even registered it. One of the troopers whipped out his blaster and put a hole in Adaara’s head. She dropped like a stone.

Kanan screamed.

Jenaara’s vision seemed to blur. She could see nothing except Adaara laying on the ground, blood pooling around her head. Dead. In the blink of an eye, she was gone.

Kanan struggled against the stormtrooper, clawing towards his wife’s body. The trooper who had shot her down raised his blaster to shoot him down, but one of the others raised his hand. “Don’t. The Emperor wants these ones alive.”

Fear swept over her feeling of loss. The Emperor himself wanted to see her? She knew that a meeting with him would be no friendly chat. Whatever his reasons for wanting to talk with her, she knew they wouldn’t be good.

Her hand went to Mikaal’s lightsaber, which was still hooked to her belt. What if I run for it now? she wondered to herself.

Then you would be shot before you even took two steps, she answered herself. Wait for a better opportunity.