Chapter 12. Descent

Slyfox opened his eyes with a gasp, a deep burning sensation in his chest felt like a a vibroknife had been thrust in. The pain passed and he sagged back against the rocky floor, trying to roll on to his side. A heavy hand pushed him back down, “Easy buddy,” said Samzi, “just sit tight.”

Sly closed his eyes and let the medic carry out his work, trying to ignore the screaming voice of his body as various parts protested. The cold rock felt cool on his back and helped a little and the night air brushed across his faces, cold fingers that helped calm him a little. He wasn’t sure what had happened, the last thing he remembered was something blue flashing around him. “DEMP pulse.” He thought, “no wonder I feel like a bantha sat on me.”

“How you feeling Sly?” Samzi asked him, wrapping another bandage round his arm. 

“Like Vaders punchbag.” He answered, opening one eye and looking at his partner. He propped himself up on an elbow and tried to shuffle up to a more comfortable position. “DEMP?”

“Yeah, right on the left side. Left some superficial burns, nothing a bacta patch won’t fix. You fell a fair distance though, that DEMP probably did you a favour.”

“How’d you work that one out?” He groaned, “Doesn’t feel like it did anything for me.”

“I’d say the DEMP probably stopped your heart and any brain stimulus. Your body relaxed when you dropped so it absorbed the shock pretty well when you hit the floor. If you’d been conscious you probably would have tensed up waiting for the impact, definitely would have broken some bones.” The medic said it matter-of-factly, as if there had been no real danger. Sly didn’t think having his heart stop beating was a good thing.

“Dead huh? Good thing that defib works.”

Samzi grinned, “Actually it was, some of those bolts got pretty close to me too. A lot of my kit received enough splash radiation to cack them up. Lucky you huh?”

Sly lay back again and closed his eyes, “Now I wish you hadn’t told me that. So, what’s next?”

The medic finished packing away his med kit and sat back, leaning against a convenient rocky outcrop. He pulled a bottle from another pocket and took a long sip of water before speaking.

“Well, you’ve no broken bones and only a couple of surface wounds. Can’t see any internal bleeding, but without the scans it’s a bit harder to detect. Main worry will be concussion.”

“So what, we sit here and wait to see if more of those Imp things come after us?”
Samzi shook his head, “Too risky, we’re a little exposed out here. We’ll have to keep trying to traverse back to the LZ. Sit yourself up, see how you feel.”

Slyfox did as he was told, gingerly pulling himself up so he was sitting facing Samzi. His back felt a little tight but that was only to be expected after the fall. It was bound to be one massive bruise by the end of the night.

“Feel’s ok,” he said after a brief pause, mentally running through a checklist of how his body might respond, “want to go for it?”

Twisting the lid back on his bottle before placing it carefully back inside his pocket, Samzi shook his head. “Stand up first, I’ll give you a hand, just hold tight and trust me ok? You might be a little dizzy at first, if it gets worse or you start blacking out I got you.”

Samzi stood first, then reached out a hand and helped Sly to his feet. He felt fine to start with, then it hit him, hard. His vision went black around the edges and bright lights popped and danced. The dizziness hit with all the ferocity of an enraged Wampa, almost smashing him to his feet. He gripped tightly to Samzi who held him firm as his knees began to buckle, but he forced himself to stay on his feet, fighting the urge to sag back to the floor. It began to pass, the lights fading first then the black edges to his vision began to retreat. The dizziness faded too, gradually at first, until finally he was able to relax his grip on the man who had risked his life to save him.

“Thanks.” It wasn’t much, but both men knew it meant more than that, an unspoken bond that grows between men who have saved each others lives countless times.

“You good to go now?” asked Samzi, taking Sly by the shoulders and checking his eyes for further signs of shock or concussion.

“No, I’m good.”

“Ok, we’ll stick with the cliffs for now then drop down closer to the LZ. Theres a natural path here, just stick close to the rock face and if you feel yourself going lean back against it.”

Slyfox nodded then thought of something, “How about we tie off together? That way if I fall you can grab me, or maybe you’ll fall first.” He grinned at that last bit, thinking how ironic it would be if Samzi fell first.

“Nah,” he replied, shaking his head, “Works in a group, but with only two of us we’re more likely to drag the other one down. Come on, its not that steep here anyway.”

They set off quickly, picking their way over the trail as it snuck around the high vertical cliff walls. It was hard going in the darkness and inevitably one or both of them would trip on some unseen obstacle. Once or twice they imagined something up ahead, some creature out to catch them as rocky features and large outcrops took on strange shapes in the darkness and made progress slow. The irregular howling of the things from the tower didn’t help either, and Samzi even thought he saw one of the creatures far below them.
The lights from the T1-B’s that had returned earlier got closer and closer and eventually the two men reached a point at which they could descend down to the landing zone. They stopped to catch a breath and slapped each other on the back, pleased to be so close to getting off this wretched rock. Slyfox removed his water bottle and took a long drink and then passed it to Samzi who eagerly lifted it to his mouth. While his companion drank Slyfox surveyed the ground below them.

The T1-B’s were parked in front of the middle of the three Gallofree transport ships. He could here their engines, and the lights indicated that the power was running on them, but they gave an air of abandonment. He frowned, at least one of them should have been patrolling, or using the turret to look for approaching enemy. He shrugged it off, probably nothing. This close to the transports they’d more likely be relying on the ships sensors to warn of approaching danger.

Samzi handed back the empty bottle, “Let’s do it then!” he said cheerily before launching himself once again down a sheer cliff face. As before, he used his hands and feet to slow his descent and Slyfox marvelled at the medic’s bravado. Shrugging he did the same, even pausing to shout “WHEEE!”.

Samzi hit the grassy ground easily, absorbing the shock through his knees and landing in a crouching position like a jungle feline. Slyfox followed a few seconds later but without the same dexterity, stumbling a few steps before taking a comical face flop to the ground. Samzi chuckled and stepped forward to help him up.

“Not having much luck with falling tonight are you?”

Sly spat a few pieces of dried grass and brushed himself off, “Yeah well, I still look good.” They laughed again and looked at the welcome sight of the landed transports.

“After you..” Samzi started when a chorus of screams cut him off. They attacked from the transports, rushing towards them and snarling, mere shadows in the lights of the T1-B’s. Samzi reached for his blaster and hit air, he looked down. His holster wis empty, in the edges of his vision he caught it a few feet away near the foot of the cliffs.

“Cover me!” he shouted, running back to get it as Slyfox dropped to one knee with easy practice. Despite his earlier injuries, adrenaline took over and the years of training and experience guided him as he took shot after shot at the oncoming mass. Dropping one hand he unhooked a fragmentation grenade and threw it forward, ahead of the creatures. They stopped. One of them put its head back and screamed before looking directly at him. He put a shot right between its eyes just as the grenade went off.

The creatures moved forward again and Samzi dropped back beside Slyfox. The two men fired more shots in to the crowd dropping more of them. As they grew closer they could make out more details. Rebel uniforms were dotted among the Stormtrooper outfits and almost all of them had some manner of grotesque injury. Something sounded in the distance, an angry roar that seemed to grow louder as the lights grew stronger. A T1-B burst through the mass of feral creatures sending them tumbling in to one another. Three or four got caught beneath the hover tanks anti grav and were dragged along beneath it. The ground quickly shred skin from bone, ripping away limbs until finally they were pulled free.

Slyfox and Samzi could do nothing but watch as the vehicle rushed towards them and both men closed their eyes waiting for the inevitable impact. A wall of air hit them first, pushed forward by the tanks energy, then it stopped, mere feet away from them. Samzi opened one eye and watched as the tank spun round back towards the Gallos. The rear hatch popped open and a voice shouted at them.

“Well get in then!”

The two men didn’t wait to be told again and threw themselves into the cramped compartment, quickly securing the hatch behind them.

“Right then,” said the voice, “there we go, they lined themselves up again, I like this game! CHARGE!!”

The tank surged forward pushing Samzi and Sly back against the internal bulkhead and a few seconds later they heard the impacts of something against the hull. The driver laughed manically and swung the tank round for another go.

“Now this I could get used to! By the way lads, names Duke.”

Samzi groaned and closed his eyes as he sagged backwards. Sly looked at him, “know him?”

The medic just nodded, then tapped a finger against his temple before making a circular motion. “Mad.”

Bite my shiny metal Tie Fighter!