phifer sollight

Walking the kilometer long gouge the ship had carved into the forest for about fifteen minutes, Morrigan and I had gone most of the way in relative quiet. I only needed to touch her lightly with the force to be able to tell that her mind was a flury of thoughts as she tried to come up with ideas on ambushing the pirates as well as trying to calm her nerves. Which was is exactly what I was attempting to do myself. Clearing my mind, going over all the remaining aches from the crash, and pushing them away, preparing my mind and body for the battle we where most certainly about to face. It wasn't until we reached the end of the gouge that Morrigan said something.

"What do you think Phifer?" she asked. "Do you think this would be a good place to set up our little ambush?"

"Actually I was thinking we set up three to five meters into the gouge. That way the only thing they have for cover is their transport." I said as the two of us looked around surveying the aria.

"Yeah," Morrigan added thoughtfully, "That would be perfect. Do you think you can set off the thermal detonator with the force even if it's buried in the ground?"

"Oh yeah," I said as I tried to figure out her plan, ?That would be no problem at all, why do you ask?"

"Well," she said with a wry grin, "I was thinking we could burry the detonator about four meters in and"

"And," I said, picking up where she left off as I grasped what she was getting at, "We use it as a mine to take out their transport."

"Exactly," she confirmed. "Then using the plan of having each of us on either side of the path"

"We have them pined down nice and neatly." I said finishing her sentence. "Giving Deeters enough time to get the engines up and the ship over here to pick us up."

"Right on the nose." Morrigan said reveling at how in synch our minds were. "Now?"

"How far away are they?" I said with a smile.

"Stop that!" she said, allowing at least some of the tension ebb that had built up on our walk out here, "And yeah, how far away are they?"

Closing my eyes to concentrate I said, "About ten minutes," stretching out with the force a little more I added, "There seems to be about fifteen of 'em."

"Well then," Morrigan said with as much confidence as she could muster, "Let's get ready."

It only took five minutes for us to get the detonator buried and for us to find our hiding spots. After that, all that was left was for us to dig in and wait.

The five more minutes it took for the pirates to get there seemed to last forever, just as it seemed the tension had reached the point that I could no longer sit still, I began to hear the sounds of their transport crashing through the forest. As far as transports went, the one the pirates where using was nothing special. It was an old open top military air speeder that I was amazed was even able to make it out this far. As the speeder moved closer, and out into the clearing, I stretched out for the thermal detonator that we had buried, and grabbed it in a force grip. With the pirates now moving to where we wanted them, I could feel Morrigan?s resolve harden as she prepared for what was surely going to be a fight for your lives. Just then the center of the air speeder was directly over the detonator. Stretching out with the force, I squeezed the trigger, and everything around us was engulfed into the white glow of the thermal explosion.

Closing my eyes against the brightness of the explosion and ducking my head as the shockwave washed over me, I had to quickly sever my connection with the force, as to not be overwhelmed by the sudden fear and panic emanating from not only the pirates, but also all the nearby forest creatures as well. Opening my eyes as soon as the light from the explosion began to fade I looked over to where the detonator had been, but was now a still smoldering crater. The speeder had come to rest about three meters down the path from where Morrigan and I were positioned, putting it between us and the Winds. The pirates lay strewn between the air speeder and the blast crater. Stretching out once again with the force and brushing it across the jumble of bodies, I was able to determine that six of the fifteen pirates had been killed in the explosion. Stretching out to check on Morrigan I could feel her relief over the fact that our trap had worked. Just as I let out a sigh of my own, that first of them began to stir.

Fortunately for us, our little trap seemed to catch the pirates completely off guard. For the first few moments they seemed to just mill about as the shock of being blindsided slowly wore off. Also fortunately for us these pirates weren?t that bright. As their shock wore off the just stood there looking at each other talking about what they thought just happened. It was not until a well placed shot from Morrigan hit one or them in the head that they realized they were still in danger, and it was not until a shot from me hit another one square in the chest that the rest of them ran for cover under the blown apart hulk of their land speeder.

The instant they started to fumble for cover, Morrigan and I also began to move. Doing our best to not expose our selves, we tried to move into a position where the pirates' wreckage would not be between us and our ticket off planet. Firing as we moved, Morrigan was able to hit another pirate in the chest, spinning him around and killing him, where I was only able to hit a forth one in the shoulder. Hitting our most ideal position just as the pirates got them selves completely under cover; Morrigan and I began laying down fire to discourage them from sticking their heads out.

Despite our constant fire, it was not long before the pirates began to return fire. Unsure of how many of us there were, because of our change of position, they began filling the trees all around them with as much fire as they could muster. After a few more seconds they figured out it was just he two of us and began concentrating their fire on where Morrigan and I where hiding. Using her sharp shooting skills to good effect, Morrigan kept the pirates fire on her side to a minimum. Using to force to guide me I managed to keep my shots with in inches of any hand or head that popped up, making sure it was quickly moved behind cover again. Making sure we delayed their efforts as long as possible.

The longer things dragged out the more accurate the pirates shots were getting, and the worse ours seemed to be. Ducking being a tree to replace my blaster?s power pack, I winced as a branch above where I had just been exploded from a direct hit filling the aria near my face with burning splinters of wood. Stretching out with the force to check on Morrigan I could feel her desperation rising with having her fair share of close calls. Just then off in the distance I heard the whine of starship engines as Deeters began to lift off in the Winds of Change and head toward us, and just for a moment I let myself feel relief.

Waiting until Deeters was almost on top of us, I gave Morrigan a nudge with the force to let her know I was ready to get out of here. As planed we flipped our blaster on to full auto and used the shear amount of blaster bolts to drive the pirates under cover. Deeters was in position with the ramp down just my blaster stoped firing. Jamming it into my holster and running for the clearing just as Morrigan?s own blaster began to fall silent. Grabbing my lightsaber as I ran, I leapt from the edge of the clearing and landed in the center of it in a combat stance. Hitting the activation stud I was able to get my blade up just as the pirates started firing again.

My lightsaber was a brilliant blue shield deflecting every blaster shot as Morrigan landed behind me in the path. The pirates, becoming more emboldened because we were no longer shooting at them, began to expose more of themselves as they were firing. I was able to take out two more of them by sending their own shots back at them. Now with only three of the pirates shooting at us I was able to spare enough attention to give Morrigan the go ahead to get into the ship.

Jamming her last power pack into her blaster Morrigan jumped up the ships ramp. Getting into position behind one of the ramps hydraulics and leaveing her blaster on full auto, she pored down enough cover fire for me to close down my lightsaber and jump up the rap to join her. Fumbling for a fresh power pack as I got into position further up the ramp, Morrigan continued to lay down fire until I was ready.

Laying down cover fire of my own, Morrigan began to scramble up the ramp as the ship began a slow turn to leave. Palming the latch to close the ramp I stepped aside to let Morrigan past me. Instead of hearing a sigh of relief, all I heard was a scream as Morrigan fell to the deck beside me. Looking out the ramp as it finished closing I was able to catch a glimpse of a pirate sitting off to the side of the path, the one I had shot in the shoulder earlier, with a blaster in his hand still pointed at the ship. Looking down as the ramp sealed, still in shock, I saw Morrigan laying there with a still smoking blaster wound in the center of her back. Finally shaking myself from the fog I was in, I knelt down and turned Morrigan over and cradled her in my arms.

"Oh no, Morrigan." The words coming out more as a low croak then anything the even resembled my voice. Reaching up to brush the hair away from her face as the tears began to well up behind my eyes, I whispered, "Don't worry baby I have you, everything is going to be alight."

Reaching up a trembling hand to touch my face; Morrigan managed a weak smile and looked me in the eyes. "Should have known they would have gotten in at least one lucky shot."

Her voice trembling the longer she spoke I squeezed her as tightly as I could. Fighting back the tears as best I could I said, "Shhhhm Morrigan you need your strength. We are on our way out of here, and everything will be ok."

With her hand on my cheek trembling even more, her eyes locked with mine. Morrigan summoned up all the strength she could. "Phifer, just remember, I am never happier then I am with you."

Not wanting for toughs to be her last words, I turned to look up the corridor towards the cokpit, and as her hand fell away from my face, I yelled up to Deeters as loudly as I could, "Get us out of here, and get us out if here NOW!"