Chapter 13: Under Fire
Connor tackled Plo Koon and immediately after a laser shot into the sand behind them. Crumbled earth flew into the sky, "What is going on?", Plo Koon asked. "We been ambushed, from the looks of it a sniper.", Connor answered. "We need to get to cover", Plo Koon advised, "to that rock formation right there". Connor nodded and look over at the formation his master was talking about. It was far but they should be able to make it. They stood up and began to run towards their self-designated cover, Connor felt danger approaching him and activated his lightsaber. He moved his weapon towards where the Force was guiding him and as expected, a shot that would have hit his chest, deflected off his lightsaber instead. The blast was too powerful though, and Connor flew backwards and landed onto the hard sand like a sack of potatoes.
"Ah", Connor moaned, his body was now aching from the impact. He internal sense alarmed him to incoming fire once again, rolled over on to his stomach and looked up. He only had a split second to execute his plan for survival. Connor lifter his hand towards where he felt the next shot would come from and just as the blast was a few feet away, he cast Force slow on it. The blast began to move at a fraction on the speed it used to, and this gave him just enough time to roll out of the way. He had bought himself time, but he could not do this forever. Connor then felt something lifting him into the air; He looked over to see his master meditating on the ground. Connor was brought over before the sniper could fire at them again.
"Padawan, are you alright?', Plo Koon asked concerned. "I'll be fine, master.", Connor responded. "Here, take this", Plo Koon said as he injected Connor with a needle full of neon green liquid. Connor felt life come back into him. Connor could only assume what he had just been given was a healing stim. These small vials of liquid could heal basic injuries in directly injected. "Thank you master", Connor said as he sat up and leaned against the hard rock. "We need a plan, padawan", Plo Koon explained, "and I think we only have one choice, I will act as bait and while the gunman is distracted you take the speeder to flank him", Plo Koon laid out his thinking. "Master, that is too dangerous", Connor exclaimed. "We don't have any other options and I have the better chance of survival as the bait.", Plo Koon responded. Connor still didn't like the plan but could only agree as he nodded.
Plo Koon walked out from behind the formation and began to engage in a full-on sprint toward the sniper. Each dodge that came at him, he would dodge with what seemed like the smallest of movements. 'My master is the bees knees. Do bees exist in this universe?', Connor thought to himself before he ran to the speeder bike, jumped on and began to circle around to flank the sniper from behind. Connor put full throttle on the speeder bike, who knew how long his master would be able to keep up in his defense against the sniper. Each second that passed seemed like eternity for him. The bike that he had been enthralled with by its speed earlier, he had now felt as if it could not move fast enough.
Connor finally reached the approximate spot of the one attacking them. Connor looked for something that could possibly tell him where the sniper was. Connor then saw in the distance a tent set up and began to speed towards it. As Connor got closer, he saw a figure laying down over a cliff holding a sniper. Connor then turned off his speeder but let the momentum carry him as he jumped off. In the air Connor activated his lightsaber and flipped midair, he landed directly beside the sniper and used his lightsaber to cut the sniper rifle clean in half. This all the happened before the sniper even had time to react. The sniper then saw his gun destroyed and fell over onto his butt in shock. Connor pointed the lightsaber directly into his face. "Take off your mask", Connor demanded. The man obliged and what was reveled underneath was a man Connor had never met before. This man was a zabrak though not uncommon it was the first time Connor had seen one so up close before.
Connor kept the man at bay until Plo Koon could arrive as well. Then it was time for some questions to be answered. "Why did you attack us?", Connor demanded. "Me? Do you have any idea how much that gun cost me?", the man replied back. "Please padawan control yourselves, young man I would suggest you answer the question and we may be inclined to be a little more lenient", Plo Koon added his own input. The pressure the man felt from Plo Koon was enough to loosen the tongue of the zabrak. "Hey, listen I'm just a mercenary that was his job, but I was never told nothing about no Jedi.", the merc responded.
"What was the job and who gave it to you?", Connor questioned further but deactivate his lightsaber and placed it back on his waist. "It was a simple job and it paid well that was why I took it", the man explained, "All I had to do was scare off anyone who came withing 5 miles of the nearby tusken raider outpost as for who issued the job, I have no idea, they don't tell you that kind of stuff.", the merc finished. "Somebody wants to protect tusken raiders?", Plo Koon questioned. One had to know that these tusken raiders were often seen as the scourge of Tatooine. They constantly attacked settlements and village while claiming that any and all water on the planet belonged to them and was their God-given right so for someone to defend a village full of them was surprising to say the least.
Connor and Plo Koon had decided to let the mercenary go as he was not the one they were looking for. The information given to them had added another layer of mystery to what had started as a simple rescue mission and the only place they might find answers was the tusken raider settlement.