“Play me a song, Vod! A Bes’bev would be a wonderful distraction right now!”
I looked up from my (admittedly foul tasting) ration pack to the osik-eating grin that had smeared itself across the tanned, hawk-like face of Tenik Dask, and threw him one of my favorite gestures I’d learned from my Old Man. The other warrior snorted, reclining into the mud covered stone that he had claimed as his perch, with a new mask of mock offense dancing across his lips.
“My, aren’t you just one rude shabuir, Inarin. All I wanted was to listen to ner’vod’s lovely musical talent that he’s so painstakingly worked on in his free time, and yet I am treated like I just spat in your fine wartime cuisine.”
With a less than serious scowl, I shoved another mouthful of bitter gruel into my mouth, chewing a little bit before talking around whatever amount I hadn’t yet swallowed. “I doubt you’d like how I use my bes’bev tonight, Di’kut,” I said, making a quick stabbing motion with my spoon, “Besides, I’m not in the mood to have any tune I try to play interrupted by the guns and the storm.” As if to make my point, the small trench we had dug together was suddenly illuminated in a bright flash, an explosion far overhead sending loose pebbles and other debris falling into our pit of mud as the ground shook beneath our feet.
Tenik sighed in defeat, combing dark locks of hair from his eyes with a dirt-caked hand before resting his chin on the same hand. “Fine…” he grumbled, “But you owe me a song once we take this objective, Sheb’palon.”
“Fine,” I retorted, “Once we break the Aruetiise’ shield, get inside their walls, kill them all, and claim their spoils, I’ll play Verd’ika a jaunty little tune that’ll tickle you pink beneath that helmet.” I finished the last few spoonfuls of my meal, choking them down with practiced effort, before sliding my helmet back over my head and leaning back into my side of the mud wall. Rain pattered against my visor in a steady beat that would’ve been relaxing, if not for the ever present duet of cannons and thunder booming in the skies. Tenik put his helmet back on as well, the two of us sliding into silence as we waited for what the dawn would bring.
A blaster bolt whizzed past my head, a few bare inches away from giving me a rough-as-hell headache. My own pistol swung towards the one the bolt originated from, finger pulling down on the trigger and sending a slug speeding towards them. Unfortunately for my enemy, their cheap, mass-produced armor didn’t do much to stop the disruptor-charged projectile, as it punched through their plates and atomized them from the inside out with a scream. I didn’t have time to catch my breath though, catching sight of several more defenders climbing over the gap that had been blasted in their fortress’ wall, dark figures framed against a crimson horizon. The ground thundered as I and the rest of my vode charged their position before it could be fortified further, filling the air with all manner of weapon’s fire. A blaster bolt here and there ricocheted off my beskar, doing little to slow me down, before we were on them!
Activating my jetpack, I flung myself into the air with a jolt and fired at the defenders who had tried to hide behind cover, sending a few of them to an early grave. When their guns swiveled upwards to shoot in my direction, I came crashing down like a comet and landed with a crunch on a trooper’s shoulders, my boot directly colliding with their skull and sending their neck snapping at a sickening angle. Still, I hadn’t quite gotten used to diving on opponents like that, and as the trooper’s body fell back I fell with them, sprawling into a heap in the wreckage. I could almost hear the Old Man’s voice in my ear, scolding me, “Sloppy work, Ner’ad, makes for bloody messes.” I grit my teeth, forcing myself to roll to my feet as a burst of blaster fire slammed into mud right where I had been face down a split-second earlier.
Before I could orientate myself, a huge, brawny shabuir slammed into me, knocking me off my feet again as he took me to the ground. I brought a knee up into his side, drawing a pained grunt as his gauntlet crashed into my helmet. My vision swam, and I just barely moved out of the way as his vibroknife stabbed into the dirt next to my neck. I scrambled for my pistol, but it was just out of reach. As my attacker raised up his knife again, poised for the killing blow, a blaster bolt ripped through his throat and sent him toppling over me with a choked gurgle.
I shoved the body off of me, gasping for air, as I looked to the familiar beskar’gam of Tenik standing over me, knowing damn well that he had his stupid smirk plastered on his stupid face beneath his stupid T-visor.
“What are you laying around for, Ner’vod? The rest of us are working real hard to get the rest of these Aruetiise killed while you’re just rolling around macking on one of ‘em. Not only is it a bad time, some of us are bound to get jealous.”
Before I could fling some hateful insult his way, Tenik snorted, leaning down and extending a hand for me to take, which I did. Getting back to my feet, I saw the rest of our forces pushing into and clearing out the rest of the fortress of it’s resistance. Bloody business, but at this point it was merely a matter of when we won, not if. Looking back to Tenik as he handed me my pistol, I said, “They’re getting to the fun without us, Di’sheb, lowest kill tally has to-”
Before I could finish, Tenik shoved me to the side, sending me staggering as I watched a heavy blaster bolt collide directly with his helmet, snapping his neck back with a too-loud crack that left him toppling backward. It didn’t pierce the beskar, but it didn’t need to, the concussive force did the work the energy couldn’t.
Tenik Dask was dead before he hit the ground, a lifeless corpse hitting the mud with a dull thud that echoed in my ears, as I heard the Old Man’s voice again, ”Bloody Messes, Ner’ad, Bloody Messes…”
I was the last remaining at the funeral pyre, watching the flames flicker as they consumed the fuel we’d given them. I’d gotten a few condolences from vode, and a pat on the shoulder from Kesh, before the Mandallian Giant lumbered off to make sure the rest of his verde were in line. Now it was just me, allowed to spend the deepening twilight in relative solitude with the dead.
I personally killed the sniper who took that shot at Tenik, burning my jetpack to his position and letting my vision go red. The other verde had to forcibly pull me from his mangled body, blood caking my arms and visor as I resisted them. I only wish that I could’ve dealt him an even crueler death than what he’d received. But as the hours passed, that anger faded away into an emptiness, a forced acceptance that he was dead. It was difficult to believe that this pyre was the last time I’d ever see Tenik before the Manda, a million things I wished I’d said or done coursing through my head and pressing down on my shoulders with a weight that threatened to crush me beneath it, sucking away my breath each time I tried to inhale.
The ground swayed beneath my feet, heart steadily thumping in my ears, and I heard Tenik’s voice whisper in my ear, demanding as always, “Play me a song, ner’vod. You promised me a song.” Before I could change my mind, I half sat, half fell into the mud, numb fingers gingerly tugging at my helmet. The heat and the smoke stung my exposed eyes, already red enough, as I blinked away tears I couldn’t hold back. Withdrawing my bes’bev, something that seemed so insignificant now, from my pack, I pressed trembling lips to it’s cool metal surface. In the distance the last few fingers of this planet’s sun hid itself away beyond the horizon, as a quiet, lilting tune filled the silence around the pyre. I hoped that if Tenik could hear it, he’d find it worthy of praise.