The pair continued up the mountain path as fast they could carrying their stolen weapons. As they ascended the terrain became trickier to navigate. Mune navigated the inclines, loose rocks and large vines with an almost supernatural ease while his human companion lagged noticeably behind. Turel found himself having flashbacks to training sessions in the jungles of New Tython under Vorsa’s serene, yet stern, tutelage.
“Don’t Jedi believe in physical conditioning?” the Shistavanen quipped over his shoulder toward his slower companion.
Normally quick with a joke, Turel’s focus was solely on keeping up the pace and not having a heart attack in the process. He was reasonably fit, for a human, but had not fulled recovered his conditioning from his stay in Collective detention. “The Jedi--” the Sentinel paused to catch his breath, “--also believe in speeders.”
Mune cracked a smirk as they continued on. This former Odanite was starting to grow on him a little. Perhaps they could work together again, assuming they survived this ordeal. The crest of the mountain came into view as the sound of speeders in the distance gave chase.
“Ashla and Bogan, I really thought we’d catch a break,” the Jedi spat exasperated.
Cover was sparse in the areas of the mountain that rose above the treetops. Both men slowed their ascent and scanned the surroundings for anything that could give them an advantage. Mune’s canine eyes spotted it first, a cave opening not far from the path up. The problem was the cave opening stood by itself on the mountain face, there was no direct route from the path to the opening. They’d have to jump a small gap roughly two meters from the nearest foothold.
“The cave,” Mune exclaimed, “it's our best chance!”
“They can’t follow us on their speeders, smart.”
“I know,” the Shistavanen retorted with a grin.
Mune made the jump first, landing with a near-supernatural grace at the mouth of the cave.
“Okay, you can do this,” Turel muttered to himself as he prepared to make the same jump. “How hard could it be?” Before he had a chance to answer his own question blaster bolts began to fly in his direction. “KARK!!”
“Just jump!” Mune shouted as a stray bolt landed above the cave causing loose rocks to slide in front of him.
Turel closed his eyes, taking a few seconds to will the Force to augment his leg muscles. As he started the jump a near miss struck just below his feet throwing him off balance. Instead of leaping forward with a Force-enhanced movement, the Jedi tumbled forward.
The Shistavanen quickly realized his human comrade wasn’t going to make it. Almost on instinct he dropped his weapon and reached out with both hands, grasping at the Jedi with the Force. Turel’s downward momentum stopped almost as soon as it began as he levitated in mid-air.
“My hero,” the former Odanite quipped without thinking about it. A series of blaster bolts flew by too close for comfort as their pursers drew ever closer. “Uh, now would be a good time to lift me up.”
Mune shook his head as he maintained focus on lifting the human up onto the ledge. “That’s two you owe me.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize we were keeping score.”
The pair went just inside the cave and readied their weapons, Mune with the Zhaboka and Turel with the electrowhip.
“Prey is cornered yaas? Take the kill for Firescale clan!” the same reptilian voice from before boomed from a speaker on one of the speeders.
“I’d give real credits if he’d shut up,” Turel hissed under his breath. Mune made a motion for him to be silent in the dim moonlight pouring into the mouth of the cave.
From as best the two men could tell there were three Trandoshans on the modified hunting speeder, one pilot and two shooters. The pilot steered the speeder toward the mouth of the cave as the two hunters leapt inside to make their kills.
“I can smell them, they are cloooose” one hissed holding his blaster rifle at the ready.
“Watch out,” his companion replied, “they have weapons.”
“More honor for meeeee.”
Mune struck first, wielding his dual-bladed weapon with practiced fluidity. Unfortunately for him, his opponent had been expecting an ambush and blocked the opening strike with the body of his rifle. The Zhaboka danced in the dark, catching the occasional beam of moonlight and reflecting it. The Trandoshan hunter dodged and weaved the incoming attacks, attempting to make some distance to brim his rifle to bear, but with little avail.
Turel in the meantime had clicked the electrowhip on and attempted to catch the second hunter by surprise. He missed, his lack of skill with the exotic weapon showing through. “Forget this!” He exclaimed as he threw the still active whip at his opponent with the flick of a wrist. The hunter let go of his blaster which hung around his torso by a sling and charged the Jedi while unsheathing a large hunting knife with trained speed. The hunter found only air where the human should have been and fell flat on his face. Turel stepped out of the shadows and kicked his stunned opponent on the side of the head as hard as he could.
“HA!” the Jedi exclaimed in a celebratory manner.
“A little help here?” Mune requested in an unusually calm tone as the sound of metal clanging against metal echoed in the cave.
“Oh, right,” Turel said absently as he turned his focus toward the remaining hunter. The Jedi closed his eyes and the Trandoshan’s movements slowed and halted. The hunter was frozen in place for mere heartbeats before Mune placed one of the Zhaboka blades on his throat.
“You picked the wrong prey.”
The hunter’s eyes widened in horror as he realized he was now the prey. The Shistavanen removed the Trandoshan’s head with a single smooth motion. The reptile’s body slumped to the cave floor as Turel’s hold on it faded.
“Nice,” the former Odanite complimented.
“I thought killing was against the Jedi code?”
“Self defense,” Turel replied with a shrug. “Even Master Yoda couldn’t dispute that.”