High Heavens (Star Wars - Luke Skywalker)

XLII - Wraith

Dusty scrambled out of the house first, Mara right behind him. The second she stepped out of the doorway, she was reeling back from an explosion, hand up to shield herself from the debris that threatened to throw her back. Dusty braced a hand on the doorframe, covering her with his burly frame. 

"Tiernan and the others'll be at Denit's--can you get there?" he shouted to her over the fire.

Mara nodded, cringing when the ground shook with another impact. Half a house across the way had been blown apart by one of the AT-ST's--Mara counted two. "Yes!"

"Get to them! I'm going for my wife and Delta! Tiernan will bring you to our safehouse--now, go!" With that, the old clone peeled out of the house, measly blaster pistol in hand as he searched for his family.

Mara took a breath, then followed. 

Explosions rattled the world around her, chunks of the ground going up in dust with every shot. Her hands flew to her head as she ran. Her feet moved instinctively towards Denit's house. As she ran, she watched as the Raadan village around her crumbled. The well where they gathered water each day--gone. The town hall where she proposed her plan for the comms tower--gone. The courtyard where she and Tiernan had danced--gone. 

People gathered in tight clumps behind wrecked houses. Some ran for the treeline and many were mowed down before they made it. It was sheer panic, worse than the organized chaos of a dogfight. Mara wasn't used to battle from the ground. Without her starfighter, she felt tiny. 

"Mara!"

Her eyes snapped forward. "Tiernan!" 

They collided, hands grabbing for each other, shouting reassurances over the deafening noise. A second later, Mara's sense prickled with warning--move! She grabbed Tiernan by the shirt, yanking them both behind a hunk of rubble. The ground where they had just stood went up in smoke. 

They rolled across the ground, flustered and disoriented. 

"Are you--?" Tiernan's question disappeared below the roar of detonations. 

She just nodded, pulling him tight to her side as they huddled behind their meager shelter. It was the remains of the stone well, she realized, and while it kept them out of sight, it wouldn't do much to shield them from another blast. Mara crouched close to Tiernan, catching her breath. Think, Mara. Figure something out. 

Laser blasts streaked by them on all sides, tearing like red scars through the air. Her eyes fled wildly across the area, searching for an escape route--

Look out! 

Mara's blaster had fired faster than she could comprehend moving, downing two stormtroopers that had crept around the left side to flank them. As they fell, she saw a row of houses still standing a few yards away. If they could make it through the crossfire to the other side, they could weave behind those homes and loop around to Denit's. 

"We need to pull back to Denit's!" Mara said to Tiernan. Not only was it where their friends would gather, it was on the far side of the village, and would be the best place to gather their bearings and devise a plan of attack.

Tiernan's eyes were wide with panic, but he nodded, even as he watched his home go up in smoke and ruin. "Right!" 

"Wait for an opening," Mara instructed, "then make a break for it! I'll cover you, then you cover me!" Wait... wait... "Now! Go!" 

Tiernan darted out of their cover, sprinting for the houses. As he ran, Mara shot up from their hide, laying down a barrage of cover fire. The line of stormtroopers marching towards them faltered, then turned their fire on her.