Star Wars_ Rebel Force 03_ Renegade - Alex Wheeler [34]
each one easily as big as she was—and the bony armor of its dermal face plates. If she could aim her blast correctly, the laserfire would bore straight through the cavity and into the krayt dragon's brain.
The ground shook as creature closed in. Its jaws gleamed in the moonlight.
Leia had time for one shot, and one shot only. She'd have to make it count.
Leia squeezed the trigger and a bolt of laserfire blazed across the darkness, smashing into the krayt dragon's sinus cavity. Its roar of rage tore through the night. It reared up on its hind legs and threw its head back, shrieking in pain.
Leia readied the blasterfor another shot. But it wasn't necessary.
With a final ear-piercing scream, the krayt dragon toppled over on its side. It heaved a great shudder, and then was still.
Windy and Fixer peeked their heads out, wide-eyed. "You killed it!" Windy said, sounding shocked. "By yourself!"
Leia was a little shocked herself, but she did her best not to show it. Instead she just shrugged and holstered the blaster, like slaying unstoppable wild beasts was something she did every day. "Just a krayt dragon," she said, trying to stop her voice from shaking.
Windy and Fixer just gaped at her. There was something new in their expressions: respect. "You sure you're Skywalker's first mate?" Fixer asked.
Leia nodded. "Why do you ask?"
Fixer gave her a bashful grin. "Just seems like maybe he should be yours."
R2-f0 D2 got the landspeeder running again and they picked up the trail without further incident. It was only a few kilometers later that they came upon the campsite, and the smoking wreckage of an airspeeder. They climbed out of the landspeeder, Leia flicking on her glowrod.
The airspeeder remains lay a few meters beyond a low-slung cave. And in the mouth of the cave: a body. Leia caught her breath for a moment, then let it out in a whoosh when she realized the body couldn't be Luke's. It was too large, for one thing. And as she drew closer, she could see its skin was covered in scales.
The body twitched.
Leia flinched. Then drew a step closer. Had she really seen a sign of life, or was it just a trick of the night? The creature was lying motionless, its arm and leg severed. Surely it couldn't still be alive. What kind of monstrous beast had left him in this condition?
"This is Jaxson's bag!" Windy shouted from behind her, holding up the tattered remains of a canvas sack. "And Luke's electrobinocs. You were right—
they survived the crash somehow. They're alive!"
They're alive, and they were here, Leia thought, slowly turning in place and gazing out at the charred, vacant landscape. But where are they now?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Luke and Jaxson had agreed that they had the best chance of survival if they kept moving. It would be one thing if it was just a matter of making it through the night until rescuers arrived in the morning. Then they could wedge themselves into a cave and wait out the darkness. But there was no guarantee that anyone would come for them, no guarantee that they wouldn't have to spend another day and another night in the Jundland Wastes. They would have to sleep sometime, and it would be far safer to do so with the twin suns above the horizon.
It was about the only thing they could agree on.
"I told you this was the wrong way!" Jaxson hissed, as they trod through the dark and empty landscape. The glow of Luke's lightsaber led the way. "We should have gone east." Both had the skills to navigate by