Legend Zig Kaliska vs. Adele Valreyes

Located within the Moddell Sector of the Outer Rim territories, the Endor system is a well known location of much importance to the Galactic Civil War. This was the location of the destruction of the second Death Star, and the deaths of both Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader. It was this victory and this location that allowed the Rebel Alliance to become the New Republic.

The Forest Moon of Endor, designated IX3244-A, is the ninth moon of the planet Endor. Its surface is covered in dense forests of redwood trees. Several of these trees were connected via wood plank bridges and walkways by the local Ewok population, who made their homes within the trees, high above the forest floor.

You have arrived at night. The thick foliage of the trees blocks out almost all external light sources, making it very difficult to see without naturally or artificially enhanced vision, or at least some kind of light. The sounds of nearby streams can be heard, as well as the chirps of thousands of nearby insects and birds. As you begin to settle into the business that brought you here, the loud, startling “TOOO-ROOOO!” of some kind of horn rang out nearby... then another in the distance, and another.

Zig Kaliska had been told multiple times by multiple well-meaning friends that she needed to get out and “touch grass” more often. She just wasn’t sure if this counted.

Clad from head-to-toe in her beskar armor, the Zygerrian did not get a real sense of the organic texture of the leafy branches she waded through. She couldn’t sense the concealed but very exposed tree roots that she nearly tripped over more times than she cared to admit. Her suit’s artificial intelligence—Clive—had repeatedly pointed out an endless list of deadly insects to add to her growing list of reasons she stuck to droids, not nature. The humidity readings she was seeing were also a keen reminder of why she tended to stay on the ship or asteroid shadow ports. Or space. Or anywhere that wasn’t a jungle, really. Vegetables were for eating, not traversing.

It did not help that she was already in a sour mood, silently seething over her “treatment” at the hands of the Combat Master’s first game, even if she had gotten a pass for the first round of whatever this stupid tournament was supposed to be.

“I’m sorry for locking you up and drugging you, Zig. You totally have a right to be upset, Zig,” she grumbled to herself as she tapped at her wrist pad, triggering a Scan Pulse sweep. An audible ping sounded inside her helmet as multiple red dots appeared on her HUD, as well as one blue dot.

“ZIG...” Princess Eclair started. There was a hint of concern in her mechanical voice, which was lilted slightly like an imperial aristocrat despite only having ever seen one on the holonet. “ARE YOU TALKING TO YOURSELF AS IF YOU WERE THE COMBAT MASTER? YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT PEOPLE THAT TALK TO THEMSELVES—”

Zig absently pulled back a branch, waited a moment, then let it go with a snap. The tree limb whipped into the floating Ascendent Drone that hovered just behind her shoulder.

“—OW. YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE DIDN’T YOU! THIS IS WHY YOUR PARENTS LEFT—”

“—Not now ‘Clair, it looks like we have multiple incoming, and yes, I’m annoyed that the Combat Master sent me here to face my next ‘opponent’. At least it’s an improvement over that frakking death cell.” Which was true. However, Vincent had neglected to actually reveal who her opponent was, but if it was blue, that probably meant it was a fellow Arconan. She just hoped it wasn’t—

“Zig?” a familiar voice called out, drawing her attention across the outcropping of assorted shrubberies.

“—Adele!” Zig replied with a level of feigned excitement that she hoped Lucine would have been proud of. “Fancy running into you here!”

“I was just about to say the same exact thing,” the blonde woman replied, her tone smooth and even. Adele Valreyes. Sister of Anselm Valreyes. The same sibling that Zig had been stuck in a death cell with where they both nearly died. Exactly the person she was hoping to have avoided.

”HI ADELE!” Princess Eclair said excitedly in greeting.

The former right hand of the Ember Crown waved at the Ascendent Droid and approached the duo.

Out of the corner of her eye, Zig watched the red dots on her HUD grow steadily closer at a slow, predatory pace. She had to talk quickly and clear up any confusion before this situation went south.

“Look, I...I promise I didn’t mean to hurt Anselm at all. It was just really tight quarters, and he wasn’t accepting the rebreather I modded for him, and then he tried to boil me like a crustacean and so I had to think quickly and knock him out and then try to get us out of there so he didn’t die...”

Adele tilted her head slightly, one hand resting on the curve of her hip, the slender fingers of her other hand tucking an errant stand of hair behind her ear. She did not seem angry, but calm. Eerily calm. Shouldn’t she have been mad?

“I didn’t—”

Adele waved her hand dismissively. “Fret not, Kaliska. If anything, I should thank you for poking a hole in his over-inflated ego.”

Zig exhaled a sigh of relief. “Oh thank god, I’m so glad you understand.”

Adele nodded, but then her lightsaber seemed to just...appear in hand. The violet blade hissed to life, casting a faint glow to her caramel colored skin and outlining her lean, muscled figure against the shadows cast by the forest moon's shrouded canopies. The humming blade matched the intensity of her eyes as she slowly lowered herself into a fighting stance. Zig might have felt an entirely different emotion in this situation if it weren't for her body's fight or flight mechanic kicking into gear.

“That said...” the taller woman mused with a sharp grin. “I am disappointed that only my brother has gotten a chance to go toe to toe with the famed Vice-Captain of our new crew. You wouldn’t play favorites and pick him over me, would you?”

Zig swallowed. While a recessed part of her mind filed that line away for later, she slowly drew her beskar beskad and lowered herself into a fighting stance as well. “I uh, of course not. We can definitely have a friendly match, here...alone in the woods.”

Her HUD flashed. Oh, right.

“Actually, I’m getting a reading that we have incoming—”

Adele surged into motion. One moment she was standing perfectly still and in the next she unfurled into a blur. In one smooth, sinuous motion she snaked her blade into a stab for Zig’s chest before slashing it upwards. The Zygerrian shuffled backward on instinct, then sidestepped the stab with practiced grace as she snapped her own blade up to parry the Human’s saber strike. Sparks flashed as plasma hissed and clashed against beskar. Valreyes laughed, her voice bright as a bell, excitement dancing across her face.

“Not bad at all,” Adele said as she forced the armored Zygerrian backward.

Then the horn sounded, distant at first but then growing louder. This actually caused Adele to pause her assault as she considered. She glanced at Zig, who still had her beskad raised in a guard position. “Appologies, but you were saying?”

“I was saying, it looks like we have company,” Kaliska panted. “‘’Clair, Cloak and Dagger,” she ordered the Ascendent drone.

“RIGHT NOW? AND MISS OUT ON WATCHING YOU GET YOUR BUTT KICKED?” Princess Eclair countered.

“Now, ‘Clair!” Zig growled. Cloak and Dagger was a maneuver Zig had developed with the Ascendent drone knowing that she’d be facing off with Force users. It meant that Princess Eclair would conceal herself or hide away, removing her as a target from the field of battle while also ensuring that she could come to Zig's aid when needed.

“OKAY FINE, BUT I LIKED MY CODE WORD FOR IT BETTER” the floating droid protested but, thankfully, complied and seemed to disappear into the foliage.

Adele disengaged her lightsaber.

Zig sheathed her beskad.

Both women looked down as a trio of meter-high, animated teddy bears stalked toward them with spears drawn.

They were not the crude spears spoken of in the legends of the creatures that had aided the Rebellion in overthrowing the Empire, however. Zig felt her breath catch. The craftswoman at heart could tell when a weapon was made of beskar or not even from a quick glance.

Zig swallowed and glanced one more time at Adele, who seemed to have a bit of a...concerning glint to her eyes.

I have a really bad feeling about this.

Another day, another bizarre match, Adele thought as she watched the three diminutive figures approach, trying to decide how they would figure into her plans. It was just her luck that she was facing off against another member of Arcona’s leadership. Which meant she had to throw the match. There was simply no other way. She could not risk embarrassing anybody in a position of power within the Clan’s hierarchy. Not when her brother’s safety was at risk. He needed the Clan’s protection, and she would not do anything to put him in jeopardy.

Though she did not remember much of her match against Tahiri, she’d learned a few lessons from it. So of course, she knew better than to announce her plans to intentionally lose to Zig. Once they dealt with the Ewoks, they could have their friendly match, she’d find a way to lose convincingly, and they could move on with their lives.

But what to do about the Ewoks?

Sure, her tutors had taught her about the Battle of Endor, but seeing the Ewoks in person was doing little to convince her that their role in the victory wasn't just a masterful bit of Rebel propaganda. Each wore a leather hood that partially obscured their faces in the murky forest gloom, and each carried a spear that would be too short for a Human, but seemed just the right size for them. Though they held their spears in a very threatening manner, she just couldn't see how a pack of Ewoks had managed to score a victory against the Empire.

Fierce, perhaps. But adorable. Like large, spear-wielding teddy bears.

The trio of Ewoks studied them over the hafts of their spears, chattering to each other in their own language. Adele couldn't understand what they were saying.

Apparently, Zig couldn't either. “Clive, can you translate?”

Despite holding their spears aloft, the Ewoks were not showing overt hostility. One of them had lowered their spear and was now speaking to the Arconans in Ewokese, gesturing wildly.

“No, I can't get closer so your audio sensors can pick up what they're saying. They have SPEARS, Clive!”

“They're only a meter tall,” Adele said. “And we're both wearing armor. I think we'll be all right if we have to fight them.” She glanced at Zig out of the corner of her eye. Why did the Zygerrian seem so agitated at the sight of them? In a way, they reminded Adele of a stuffed bear she’d had as a child.

The Ewok at the front of the trio was now jumping up and down in his excitement. Adele had no idea what he was saying, but his urgent tone was impossible to miss. He was moving with such intensity that his little leather cap fell backward, revealing his face.

Adele's eyes widened. “He looks just like….”

Mr. Crenshaw. Her stuffed bear, who had been a part of her earliest memories. He had light tan fur with a dark patch around his eye. She used to carry him everywhere. Until…

Child or not, you are the Princess of Embers. It is unseemly for you to be seen carrying a stuffed animal around. Get rid of it.”

The vibrodagger her father had given her had felt too large and heavy in her small hand. But it had been sharp, cutting easily through fabric and stuffing, even when the blows were struck through eyes filled with tears.

But there was nothing for it. Even at that age, she'd known not to disobey her father.

She roughly shoved that memory down as she drew her lightsaber once more. This was not the time or place for sentimentality. Especially since she could hear something large crashing through the trees to the north of them. It was combined with high-pitched Ewok war-cries. Whatever was going on, it sounded like it was heading their way.

The trio of Ewoks had already turned, leveling their spears in the direction of the disturbance. They still kept a suspicious eye on the Arconans, but had apparently decided that they were a lesser threat. The one that looked so much like her childhood friend had not bothered to fix his cap, so Adele could see the way his face was scrunched in fierce determination.

“That is so adorable,” she muttered.

“What did you say?” Zig asked, momentarily distracted from arguing with Clive.

“Uh… I was asking what your readings are showing. Because it sounds like we're about to have more company.”

Zig checked her HUD and blanched. “Yeah, we have incoming. Lots of them. And fast.”

The words had no sooner left her lips than two Ewoks came sailing through the trees to land in furry piles a few feet away from the Arconans. A moment later, something considerably larger barreled into view, shoving a tree aside to clear its path. It was massive, close to eight meters tall, and covered in dark, matted fur. Whatever it was, it definitely was not an Ewok.

“What is that?!” Zig gasped as she drew her beskad. She then made a sound of annoyance. “I know it’s not an Ewok, Clive!” The creature took a step forward. Adele could see that it was wrapped in ropes that trailed behind it into the forest gloom. It took a step forward, growled, then seized one of the ropes and yanked on it. The Ewoks that had been pulling on the other end screeched as they sailed into view, launched by the obvious strength disparity.

The trio that had originally greeted them shrilled a war cry and began to close the distance between them and the creature, though they weren’t moving very quickly on their stubby legs. The creature snorted and bent down to pick up the tree it had shoved aside.

Adele extended her hand, seized the diminutive creatures with the Force and pulled them backward, even as the creature swung the tree like a club through the air where they’d been seconds before.

“Clive says it's a gorax,” Zig said as Adele set the three Ewoks on the ground. “He also seems to think they’re herbivores.”

The gorax snarled as an Ewok rushed from the shadows behind it and began stabbing at its ankle. It snatched the Ewok up, and the sound of crunching bone, combined with the Ewok’s cries of pain, filled the air.

“I don’t think it’s an herbivore,” Adele said. Her lightsaber ignited with a hiss, violet light cutting through the gloom.

They both acted at once, as if some wordless signal had passed between them. Adele reached it first, her blade shearing through the beast’s arm that held the Ewok. He began to fall, still clutched in the now severed hand, but she snagged him with tendrils of the Force to pull it away from the gorax and into her arms.

He gave a pathetic whine as he writhed in pain. She could feel the bones in his chest grinding unnaturally beneath his fur. “No… no… it’s okay…” She drew upon the Force as she pressed her free hand against his chest. Warmth filled her, and she let that warmth pass from her to him. He shuddered, his cries quieting. But the healing was slow. Dreadfully slow.

Part of her mind screamed that there was a battle going on, that she was wasting time when the enemy was still active. But for the moment, the single most important thing was saving this small creature’s life.

Dimly, she was aware of the sounds of battle moving further from her. She heard the gorax roar, followed by the sound of Zig's repulsor gloves discharging, and the THUD of something heavy hitting the ground. It was followed by Ewok war cries.

Adele needed to concentrate. She closed her eyes tightly, silencing the voice that told her to pay attention to the battle, and focused all of her attention onto the bundle of fur in her arms. It was panting, soft whimpers of pain escaping it's lips with every breath. Adele took a deep breath as she continued to pour Force energy into its small form.

The effort brought with it a wave of exhaustion. Healing had always been difficult for her. She sank to her knees, but did not stop.

“Come on….”

Gradually, the Ewok’s quiet cries of pain ceased entirely. She could no longer feel the sickening sensation of grinding bone beneath her hand. The realization brought with it a surge of hope. It's working!

She nearly lost her concentration at the sound of a CRASH, something heavy striking a tree. Then the sound of cheers, as the Ewoks burst into celebration. Clearly the battle had been won.

But Adele's battle was still ongoing. The Ewok had been gravely injured. It would take a lot to stabilize him enough for him to be moved.

“Please….”

And so she grabbed the hope she'd felt a few minutes ago with both hands, using it as a focus for her healing. She tuned out everything, the battle, the other Ewoks, even Zig and the knowledge that she still had a match against the Zygerrian she'd have to lose. Healing the Ewok was the only thing that mattered.

“Adele….”

It was Zig. There was an odd note to her voice. Adele shook her head, trying to wordlessly convey that she was busy.

“Adele. Hey. Come on. That's enough.”

She opened her eyes, intending to tell Zig to back off so she could work. But the sight of the Ewok in her arms caused her words to snag in her throat. “Oh.”

The Ewok was dead. His eyes were closed, his expression peaceful. He could have been sleeping, except for the thin line of blood that trickled from his mouth and the blood that was soaking through his fur and into his leather jerkin.

Adele stared at him in disbelief. “I… I thought it was working….”

The rest of the Ewok warband stood in a rough semi-circle around them. One of them, the one that looked so much like Mr. Crenshaw, pushed his way to the front. He crouched next to the broken body that Adele was still holding. He let out a high-pitched, keening wail that required no translator to decipher.

Adele lowered her head, placing the small creature on the ground in front of her. It was then a wave of exhaustion hit her. She pressed her lips together, focusing on that instead of the aching pain in her chest.

Of course she'd failed. It shouldn't have been surprising. She'd been cursed with weak powers, and she couldn't even use them correctly when it mattered.

Dimly, she was aware of Zig standing just behind her, along with the fast chattering of Ewoks in anxious conversation.

She pressed her lips together and scrubbed away the tears in her eyes with her sleeve. Weakness and uselessness were bad enough, she wasn't about to humiliate herself by crying too.

“Uh…” Zig's voice held an awkward tone. “Hey. Are you okay?”

Adele felt Zig's hand resting hesitantly on her shoulder. “I'm fine,” she replied, her voice ragged and harsh. She paused and took a deep breath, before getting unsteadily to her feet. “I'm fine.” This time, her voice was steadier. Calmer.

Zig gave her a look that made it clear she didn't believe her. She flicked the gorax blood from her beskad. “We'd better hurry. It sounds like there's more of those gorax things. They're attacking the Ewok village.”

“Fine.” Adele wasn't looking forward to finding new ways to fail, but she also could not refuse. “Let's go.”

Eclair floated out from the shadows of the foliage and hovered over Zig’s shoulder, almost like a Loth cat. She had, surprisingly, seemed to read the severity of the situation with Adele and waited until the blonde woman wandered off before making her presence known. She had rare moments like that, when a human level of empathy could be gleaned. Her crimson photoreceptor oscillated behind its crystalline lens as she took note of the dead creature laying bloodied on the ground, its eyes staring up lifelessly towards the forest canopies overhead.

“OH MY GOD, WHAT IS THAT THING? IT'S HIDEOUS. IT’S LIKE A WOOKIEE HAD A BABY WITH AN ANZATI AND AN EWOK IN SOME KIND OF WEIRD INTERSPECIES BREEDING. YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT INTERSPECIES BREEDING, ZIG.”

“You are absolutely right, Princess Eclair. The gorax were humanoid mammals of gigantic proportions, able to reach up to eight-point-six meters in height, and are genetically—”

“Not now, Clive,” Zig and Clair snapped in unison. The Zygerrian and Ascendent drone exchanged a glance.

“I swear to the Stars, if we make it off of this stupid moon, I’m adding a translation model to your neural core. Maybe then you’d be more useful.”

“I CAN SHOOT A LASER OUT OF MY EYE, ZIG. WHY WOULD I NEED TO SPEAK EWOK?”

“Actually, Princess Eclair, the formal name of the language the Ewoks speak is Ewoksese—”

“IF I WANTED YOUR OPINION, CLIVE, I WOULD INTERFACE WITH A CLONE WARS ERA TACTICS DROID AND RUN IT THROUGH A HOLONET BLENDER AND SIFT THROUGH THE SLOP THAT CAME OUT.”

Zig was already moving, and followed Adele and the two remaining Ewoks towards their village. They were chittering and grunting, and she did not need a translator to understand that there was desperation mixed with grim determination in their tones. Despite their size, they effortlessly navigated through the forest, but Zig was so focused on her HUD that she almost tripped over another exposed knotting of roots.

She was steadied by a small hand touching her side. She blinked behind her visor as she looked down to see one of the Ewoks standing beside her.

“Yeeb nee,” she said.

Zig didn’t understand, but realized the underlying tone of caution. “You’re right, I should be more careful.”

She couldn’t tell if the Ewok understood her or not, or why she had a feeling she was female. It just felt right in the way that—ever since the Ethereal Realm—she’d been able to pick up on things through what Vez had said was likely a connection to the Living Force. Space magic.

Still, she wished she had instead installed some kind of translator or brought a gadget that could do something similar. With the right workbench and access to the holonet, the scavenger could have rigged anything, really, but her signal was spotty at best and there just was not enough time.

So she removed her helmet, and the Ewok took a step back, surprised that the face behind the armored helm was a woman with indigo hair and sand-yellow eyes. The Zygerrian's pointed ears slipped out of the custom earmolds as the helmet came off and she tucked it under one arm and showed the Ewok a smile, a universal gesture between most sapient species.

“Yee na bub ab!” said the Ewok.

Zig pointed to her own chest. “Zig.”

“Zee-egg.”

“Zih-ihg,” the Arconan tried to sound it out more intentionally.

“Zee-ig!” the Ewok exclaimed triumphantly. Then she seemed to furrow her brow in concentration.

“Mar-nah,” she explained, pointing at her own chest.

“Marnah,” Zig repeated back slowly, and the Ewok jumped up and down in place.

Smiling, Zig nodded to Marnah and gestured for her to lead the way. But Marnah seemed fixated on something at Zig's belt. Kaliska blinked, glanced down, and saw that the Ewok was eyeing her all-kit tool. She unclipped the device and slowly handed it to Marnah.

Marnah held the device up like she’d been given a holy relic by their goddess. “Oopa, jaja,” she gasped as she pawed over the buttons. Zig was about to tell her to be careful, but stopped as she noticed how...methodically Marnah was assessing the tool. Almost as if she’d seen something similar before and was curious.

Oh, stars. Did I just find the lone Ewok interested in engineering somehow?

Zig thought back to the junkyard she had grown up on. She had been alone, except for the kind older woman who let her stay in her hut adjacent to the backwater town's junkyard. She was an outsider, and while the townsfolk were kind to her, she returned to her room, alone, every night. There were no other young children around, as most of the families were older, so she had no one to play with, really. As a result, Zig had found solace in the discarded droids she had found in piles.

Like her, they had been left behind. Even to this day, Zig had never been able to discern why her parents had left her. She had of course tried to look them up once she had access to the Brotherhood's massive network, but the Zygerrian government kept a lot of their population records private for...obvious reasons Zig didn’t really want to get into. She knew enough about her people, and the stereotypes they carried, and had spent most of her life trying to counteract them by being as decent of a person as she could be.

She recalled her first pit droid. It couldn’t walk straight, but she sparked the auxiliary power coupler and connected it to the negative charge of an older battery she then soldered onto its back. The battery, of course, was too heavy for the lanky droid's tattered frame, and it tipped over onto its back almost immediately. But she remembered it being the discovery and curiosity to build and repair that had set her on her path. She remembered her first hydrospanner, and being shown how the tool worked and could be used for different applications. To her, it was a tool of creation and wonder. She had looked at it with reverence.

Just like Marnah was gazing at the all-kit tool.

“You can have it,” Zig said, closing the Ewok’s hand around the tool and pushing it gently towards Marnah’s chest.

“Zig, we don’t have much time!” Adele called from ahead of them. “I can sense them coming!”

“PHRASING!?” Eclair called out unhelpfully.

Zig sighed and followed Marnah through an apparent shortcut that got them caught up with Adele just in time to reach the border of the Ewok village, the sound of battle horns and tribal combat swallowing the serenity of the usually quiet forest.

Adele moved with purpose. All pretense of restraint seemed to have peeled back from her usually calm and calculated demeanor. Yet despite the growing fury and rage in her heart, she was perfectly in control. The Marauder stalked through the throngs of gorax, weaving her violet blade in a deadly dance of discord and harmony. Augmenting her speed through the Force, she swerved through the powerful swings of the creatures' lanky limbs, taking a few of them with her in her wake.

An ambitious gorax tried to tackle her from her blind side, but the blonde woman simply shot a hand outward without looking and lifted the creature up into the air with an invisible vice grip. She concentrated with all her will but kept her gaze locked on the next closest gorax. Then she made the deliberate motion of wrenching the air with her fist and the suspended creature’s neck snapped in response.

That seemed to give a few of the attackers pause. Violence transcended translation in most cases. This she knew from her time with the Ember Crown. A part of her wished the galaxy was a bit more kind, but she knew the truth: ruthlessness was a mercy in and of its own.

“BEHIND YOU!” Zig's floating droid called out as she pierced a gorax through the chest with her some kind of compressed composite beam of energy. The crimson lance tore through the creature's furred flesh and dropped it with thin wisps of smoke trailing from the point of contact with the laser.

Adele nodded her thanks, keeping her words to herself to fuel her focus. She moved into a better position to protect the entrance to the Ewok village. To their credit, the tribal creatures had rallied quickly and were using their spears, sling shots, and some other clever bits of traps and rock launchers to fend off their attackers.

The gorax were thinning, but were still streaming out of the woods as if they had planned for a drawn out siege. There were no tactics to their assault, but their numbers and size would eventually be enough to overrun the Ewoks’ defenses.

Adele had seen the children and older Ewoks inside briefly. They were shepherded to a hut that didn’t look all that secure, but it was better than being left out in the open. They had to hold.

“Adele, I’m going to draw them away, you keep guard here,” Zig yelled through her helmet’s modulation.

“And how exactly are you going to do that?” Adele asked.

As if to answer the question, Zig took off into the air, her jetpack humming as she began to weave in and out of the tall trees, carefully avoiding the branching canopies. She fired off a series of whistling birds from her gauntlets, but targeted the ground around the gorax instead of trying to hit them directly. Dirt and roots and foliage erupted all around the creatures, creating a confused cacophony of guttural screams and shouts.

Her HUD monitored for spikes in exothermal reading, but the soil seemed to take the explosive heat of the whistling birds well enough that a forest fire was not likely to spread. Just to be sure, Zig tossed her cryoban grenade, and the cylinder detonated, covering the small area she had targeted and freezing one of the surviving gorax in place.

“Booyaksha!” she hooted as she hovered in place.

Her distraction had certainly done the trick. The gorax that were attempting to flank Adele’s position adjusted their course, roaring and sneering at the air-bound menace.

Adele froze in place as a premonition tugged at her through the Force.

“Zig, look out—” she started to shout, but it was too late.

A large, heavy boulder of a rock slammed into Zig from behind, causing her jetpack to hiss, sputter, and stall out. The momentum was enough to send Zig careening back towards the village to land in a small indented crater a few meters away from where Adele was maintaining the vanguard defense.

Zig's eyes opened slowly to a not entirely unpleasant sight. Adele had her head in her lap and was looking down at her with concern. For a brief, disoriented moment, she thought it was Zuza. But the scar and eyes and face were too different. Not that Zig would ever complain about waking up in a pretty lady’s lap.

“Did we beat them?” Zig asked.

“Yes. Your distraction was perfect, and the Ewok you helped, once she got back to the village, was able to use some kind of crossbow-like device on wheels that really turned the tides.”

“Marnah, ha-ha. She’s an engineer.” Zig broke into a fit of coughs, but her breathing seemed to be coming back to her. Clair, for once, was quiet and dispatching a stim from her dispenser into Zig's exposed bit behind her beskar armor plating.

“Now that I know you are well, vice-captain,” Adele began, “I need you to hit me as hard as you can.”

“...why?” Zig said as she sat up.

“Because it needs to look like you won, of course, so my brother doesn’t get removed from Qel-Droma’s protection.

Zig just stared at the woman blankly for a few moments, then broke out into a laugh.

They ran through the forest, dodging between trees and cutting through undergrowth. Zig led the way, guiding them using a waypoint she had set on her HUD.

Getting the coordinates hadn't been easy. It had taken several minutes of talking, gesturing, a crudely drawn map on the ground, and Clive's dubious assistance to find the location of the distressed village.

Adele had spent the time in meditation, trying to push aside the self-recriminations as she recovered her strength as best she could. Not only had her attempts at healing been futile, but they had taken more of her reserves than she wanted to admit. Even now, it required a steady trickle of the Force to keep pace with Zig.

They ran in silence, which was just as well. Adele didn't like the sideways glances the Zygerrian was giving her, and suspected that they would be having a long conversation when they got back to the Voidbreaker. Adele could only hope that her severe lack of judgement wasn't going to cost her her place among the crew. Not that she could blame Zig if that was what she chose to do.

No more kark ups, she promised herself as she used her lightsaber to cut through a patch of dense shrubs that blocked their way. Maybe she could find a way to salvage the situation while rescuing the village.

Gradually, a flickering orange light became visible in the distance. It grew steadily brighter as they drew nearer, accompanied by the sounds of gorax roars and Ewok battle cries. Here, the trees were larger but grew more sparsely, and a glance upward showed the elevated huts that the Ewoks had built among the branches. They had arrived.

A gorax stepped into view, trying to catch an Ewok flying low in some sort of primitive glider. Zig paused, raising one of her vambraces, but Adele continued in a run directly toward the monstrous beast. The gorax saw them and its lips peeled back, revealing sharp teeth designed for tearing flesh as it raised an arm to swing at Adele.

Three shots rang out behind her. Adele dropped into a slide, the gorax’s arm tore through the air over her head. A moment later, three crimson bolts seared into the creature’s fur-covered flesh. It roared in pain, and Adele took advantage of its distraction to shear through its leg with her lightsaber.

Unbalanced, the gorax toppled to the ground in a spray of blood, landing with an earth-shaking thud. Adele vanished before she could be crushed, reappearing a few feet away. Zig caught up to her as her violet blade cut through the gorax’s neck, separating its head from its shoulders.

They paused, catching their breath as they took in their surroundings. Large huts were built into the trees in a rough semi-circle around a clearing. The ground beneath the trees looked to be carefully tended, decorated with artfully arranged rocks and flowering bushes. Above, the huts were connected by a series of catwalks and rope bridges.

But it was what hung in the center of the village that drew their attention. Somehow, the Ewoks had managed to hang a couple of AT-STs above the ground. They were lashed together into a large, twisted hunk of metal. The whole conglomeration hung suspended by heavy vines and was decorated with garlands of flowers and other greenery. A trophy, perhaps, or maybe just a simple reminder of the battle that had been fought so many years ago.

The scars from the Battle of Endor had faded, but the evidence of the current battle was all-too-present. The broken bodies of the village defenders lay strewn around the clearing, along with the corpse of another gorax, brought down by Ewok spears.

Across the clearing, three other goraxes could be seen, shoving their weight against one of the trees that held a particularly large hut in its branches. The tree groaned as it shook, swaying noticeably each time the goraxes shoved their weight against it. Interconnected as they were, the other trees also swayed alarmingly. Ewoks dived low using their gliders, dropping rocks and hurling spears in a vain attempt to stop the giant primates from pushing the tree down entirely. But the goraxes were not deterred.

“Can you do anything with that?” Adele asked, nodding her head toward the AT-STs.

Zig studied it with a peculiar gleam in her eyes. “Maybe. Yeah, I think so. We could probably drop it on them.”

“I meant more like piloting it.”

“I doubt it. The circuitry is probably fried from the humidity here, and even if it wasn't, it's probably rusted out. I don't think the Ewoks kept up with the maintenance.”

“Probably not,” Adele said. She could see movement in the shadows beyond the clearing. No doubt the Ewoks were preparing for another attack. “Do what you need to do. I'll keep them from pushing the tree over in the meantime.”

“Just be careful, okay? Don’t do anything rash. Your brother would kill me if you got hurt.” Zig raised her arm as she spoke. A grapple shot from her vambrace, pulling her up into the catwalks overhead.

Adele, meanwhile, extended her hand toward a collection of artfully stacked stones that had somehow managed to remain standing despite the fray. They raised into the air, lifted by invisible tendrils of the Force, before launching toward the three goraxes. Most missed, but one struck true, colliding with the back of the skull of the largest one. It turned to glare at her, growling.

The gorax turned toward her, perhaps thinking to grab a quick meal on the ground before trying to pull the tree down. The other two goraxes turned toward her as well.

She had their attention. At least she’d succeeded in keeping them from toppling the tree.

Overhead, she could see the glint of light off of Zig’s beskad as she began sawing at one of the cables. It parted with a loud snap. The AT-STs groaned and jerked, but remained aloft.

The largest gorax roared as it charged, with its two companions following closely behind. Adele fell into a defensive stance, her jaw clenched in concentration. The lead gorax lashed out with its fists, causing her to jump back to avoid getting pummeled. The move brought her too close to a second gorax and she had to call upon the Force to speed her movement, ducking out of the way at the last second.

Another cable snapped, but the AT-STs remained in the air. Adele could hear Zig swearing overhead.

The Human twisted out of the way of another devastating blow, before realizing that the move had brought them out from under the AT-STs. She cursed inwardly. Perhaps hearing her, she heard Zig yell, “I’ve got something for that, don’t worry. Just don’t die!”

Easier said than done. Adele could feel that her power was at a low ebb, exhaustion creeping back into her limbs. She lashed out with her lightsaber, neatly removing the arm from the shoulder of the nearest gorax. It roared with pain and backed off, leaving an opening for the largest one to dart forward.

Its heavy fist caught her in the midsection, bones crunching on impact. Blood red stars exploded in front of her eyes as the air was knocked from her chest. She stumbled backward, dropping to one knee.

And that was when the Ewoks attacked.

High pitched battle cries filled the air as three gliders sailed overhead, dropping stones on the goraxes. Meanwhile, a band of five Ewoks closed with the massive primates, their spears leveled. The Ewok that looked so much like Mr. Crenshaw led them, his battle cry the loudest and most ferocious of all of the bear-like creatures.

Adele looked around as the Ewoks clustered around her to engage with the goraxes. Her breath came in ragged gasps as she tried to force air into her lungs, her lightsaber clenched in her shaking fist.

“Get clear!”

Something metallic thudded to the ground beneath the AT-STs. It detonated with a WOMPH, and she felt gravity itself shift, pulling everything toward it. The goraxes stumbled backward, caught in the mini gravity well. Adele extended her power, snaring the Ewoks that surrounded her. They all vanished, reappearing at the edge of the clearing. Adele was swaying from the effort.

But she’d missed one. The largest gorax had managed to grab Mr. Crenshaw by his leather jerkin and held him tightly, even as it was dragged backwards toward the gravity grenade. “No!”

Another cable snapped. The AT-ST conglomeration began to fall, chunks of metal separating from the main piece as its bindings gave way.

The world seemed to move in slow motion. She vanished from where she stood, reappearing a few feet away from the gorax and immediately began to fall toward the gravity grenade. Lashing out with her lightsaber, she sheared through the gorax’s forearm, hauling the Ewok into her arms. She called upon the last dregs of her power for a final teleport.

It only took them a few feet away but it was enough. The twisted mass of AT-STs landed on the goraxes with a sickening crunch, and the effects of the gravity grenade faded a moment later.

Adele sank to her knees, clutching the Ewok in her arms. He clung to her tightly to her. She might have enjoyed the moment more, except for the fact that the world was twisting and spinning crazily. Her breath was coming in high-pitched wheezes, each breath bringing with it crushing pain.

But she had done it. She had saved Mr. Crenshaw.

It was her last, triumphant thought before unconsciousness claimed her.

The sun was high in the sky when Adele finally awoke. She tried to pull herself into a sitting position, but the pain from the movement forced her to lay still. She could feel her strength starting to return, and immediately set to work channelling the little power she’d regained into healing her ribs.

She could hear voices nearby.

“—CAN’T BELIEVE YOU FORGOT ABOUT ME, ZIG. HOW COULD YOU FORGET ABOUT ME?!”

“I was a bit distracted, ‘Clair. Oh, hey!”

A moment later, Zig’s face appeared, leaning over her. The Zygerrian was smiling, but it did not hide the look of concern on her face. “You’re alive! And awake! This is great!”

“I’m kind of wishing I wasn’t. Awake, I mean,” Adele added hastily when she saw the concern in Zig’s eyes grow. “Just… just give me a bit. I’ll be up in a minute and we can finish our sparring match.”

“What?”

“Our sparring match. The one we came here for. We’re in a combat tournament, remember?”

Zig tsked under her breath and waved a hand. “Oh, that. Yeah, no. We’re not going to be finishing that any time soon.”

Adele felt her heart sink. “But we have to fight. The Combat Master—”

“Vincent can take a long walk out a short airlock. I’m just about over his bantha poodoo.” Zig glared down at her. “And yours too. Are you crazy? You could have been killed! And then your brother would have killed me! And then we’d both be dead!”

“It… seemed like a good idea at the time,” Adele said. But the truth was, she hadn’t thought, she’d only reacted. Once again, she had taken a stupid risk, jeopardizing the mission to do something foolish. She cursed inwardly at her inability to avoid karking up. She took a deep breath, and her aching chest made her immediately regret it. “Is the Ewok—”

Zig’s tone softened slightly. “He’s fine. And you’ll be too. The Ewoks have some great herbs that’ll have you patched up in no time.” Her voice took on a serious tone once more. “But when we get back? Both you AND your brother are going to get so much therapy.”