Not even Jedi were immune to nightmares. Actually, many Jedi suffered from nightmares more stunning in intensity than non-Force sensitives, as a result of their augmented memory and awareness. Renora, with her fairly cheerful outlook on life, the universe, and the pursuit of everything in it -- and despite her inherent and contradictory pessimism -- didn’t suffer from many guilt-driven or fear-induced nightmares at all, and rarely had to use the Force to keep them at bay. But she had experienced nightmares in the past, just as every sentient being had been invaded by a torrent of vaporous evil while they slept.
This was something out of a nightmare.
“Kark!” shouted Renora, snatching her lightsaber from her belt and igniting the golden blade. “Kriff! Son of a kriffing, karking murglak!”
“Padawan, that’s not helping!” Giddy called over the sudden eruption of sound from the top of the cliff. Scanning the horizon with one hand shielding her eyes, Master Gidrea pulled her own lightsaber from its place at her side, its jutting blue beam flaring to life in her other hand.
“It’s not hurting, either!”
Stormtroopers on speeder tansports that spat vicious orange flame from their rear thrusters tore down the cliff’s edge with startling speed. Imp officers in their unmistakable gray uniforms followed on gray speeder bikes, shouting orders that were lost to the collective clamor. Overhead, the skies trembled with the roar of the legendary twin ion engines that leant the TIE fighter its name.
In short, a kriffing nightmare.
Renora dived for cover behind a large boulder, hearing Chewbacca follow suit somewhere to her left. Giddy batted a few crimson blaster bolts back at the stormies clambering down the side of the cliff. Taking one final look at the sky, she crouched down next to her Padawan.
“I thought you said they didn’t know we were here,” hissed Renora.
“You were the one who said they’d be here in a little less than an hour.”
“Well, how was I supposed to know?!”
“I thought you were supposed to know everything.”
Renora closed her eyes, feigning silent meditation to cover for her inability to think of a response.
“This is no time to take up meditating,” laughed Gidrea.
“You’re always telling me that there’s no time like the present,” said Renora, opening her eyes.
“Yes, but with the way things are going, we might not have very much present left.”
“You don’t seem too broken up about it!” shouted Renora as a TIE fighter began to strafe their position, lancing the musty soil with emerald turbolaser fire.
“Things are not always as they seem, Padawan.”
“So you are broken up about it?”
“I said that things are not always as they seem. In some cases, they are.”
“Like right now.” Renora ducked involuntarily as a torrent of blaster bolts glanced off the side of a boulder to her left. Chewbacca growled and returned fire.
“Partially.”
“Master! You’re talking riddles with someone who’s going to die in less than 24 hours!”
“Padawan.”
Giddy’s Padawan glanced up sharply. “What? Master.”
“Calm the kriff down.”
“You know that’s not helping,” said Renora with a sheepish smile.
“It’s not hurting, either.”
“Haven’t you ever seen someone have a nervous breakdown before?” Renora chuckled. But Giddy could see the fear in her eyes.
Chewie bellowed with an intensity to match the ion engines, his bowcaster spurting small, green blazes of energy-encased projectiles.
“He’s right,” said Gidrea. “Those Imperials will never make it all the way down the side of the cliff.”
Renora risked a glance over the top of the rock.
“They sure look like they’re going to try.”
“Do, or do not,” Gidrea sighed. “But Yoda wasn’t all-seeing.”
“And that has some bearing on our current situation?”
“Do you know the name of that cliff we were going to climb?”
“Uhh…Stillness Drop? Something like that? Stillness Plumber?”
Gidrea laughed. “I wish! Stillness Plummet. Stillness Plummet is a very different kind of cliff, Padawan. You see, the way the rock face is positioned, it’s extremely susceptible to any kind of disturbance waves.”
“Jumping droidekas,” whispered Renora.
“If only it were that amusing.”
“With the amount of noise those Imperial Gungans are making, they’re going to bring the whole kriffing mountain down on us all!”
Giddy nodded.
“What about the purple rock?”
“They may already have it. Probably not, though.”
“They’d want to make sure we’re out of the way first, so they can take their time devouring the birthday cake.”
“And the candles. And the plate.”
“There’s nothing we can do? This is how it’s going to end?”
“The great Giddy and Renora taken down by a herd of falling rocks,” said Giddy. “Would make for a horrible ending. And it was such a good story, too.”
“Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of ‘the great Giddy and the really, really, really great Renora taken down by a herd of falling rocks.’ I put your name first, Master.”
“How considerate of you.”
As if to underscore Renora’s act of kindness, the ground began to shudder with practiced violence, bucking in revulsion at the violence scarring its untainted surface.
“Padawan?” Gidrea said suddenly.
“Yes, Master? Whatever you say can’t possibly make matters any worse than they are.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Certainly, and always, Master.”
“What is your purpose?”
“My purpose? To live as a Jedi, of course.”
“And so you do. But if you live as a Jedi, you must be prepared to die as a Jedi, as well. What kind of Jedi would you be if you didn’t?”
“I never wanted to be a good Jedi, Master,” said Renora, rising to her feet. “Just a live one.”
“Renora, no!” called Master Lightsky, but her voice was swallowed by another tremendous movement of the planet’s surface. Her apprentice had already begun to sprint furiously towards the face of the cliff, dodging blaster fire and a hail of chipped stone and jagged rock. “Padawan, damn you to the Nine Hells, why do you have to learn from everything I do?”
“Chewbacca!” Giddy called. “Stay here!”
Chewie cocked his head in confusion, grumbling inquisitively.
“I’m going to cover Renora.”
Lifting his bowcaster over his head, Chewie barked another question sharply.
“No, I don’t know what she’s going to do, but I don’t want her to die doing it!”
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