Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars by Sam Maggs

Author:Sam Maggs [Maggs, Sam]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Publisher: Random House Worlds
Published: 2023-03-06T16:00:00+00:00

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The stormtrooper’s neck made a very satisfying sound under the cold fire of Merrin’s magick. It was hard for Merrin to believe that, days ago, she’d still been struggling to find her blaze.

Now she drew upon it so easily, it was nearly all-consuming.

Merrin activated her comms. “Fret, confirm your location?”

“Coming to meet you now.”

Merrin smiled. It felt good, having a partner in the field, not being left to her own devices for once. It made her feel grounded; like someone was watching her back in the same way Greez and Cere watched each other’s, the way Cal and his strange but cute little droid did.

Yes, Cal was upset with her for keeping Fret’s secret to herself, but really it was no one’s business but Fret’s, and she hadn’t wanted to betray the other woman’s trust, not so early into her freedom from the Empire, from people who had done nothing but lie and cheat Fret her entire life. It wouldn’t have been fair. Merrin had flown with the Mantis long enough to know what would put the crew in danger and what wouldn’t; knew very well that Cal made similar decisions about knowledge sharing all the time. So why should this have been any different?

Merrin stepped over the stormtrooper’s rapidly cooling corpse and felt her chest expand as she saw Fret come bounding down the hallway to her, a crushed white helmet still in one of her hands. She dropped it in time to scoop an arm around Merrin’s waist to drag her into a somewhat-safe hiding spot to wait for Cal. Merrin felt a traitorous ache in her chest about the way those arms felt, strong and secure around her, holding her in place in the midst of all this chaos. She knew she should be more suspicious of Fret, should stop her feelings from getting in the way of her logic. But there was something about the security Merrin felt with Fret’s broad body warm against her back, coupled with the rage and pain they’d shared with each other over the last few days; the knowing that she wasn’t alone, and that she didn’t have to handle everything herself…

She liked it. Probably more than she should have.

The sounds of the prison roared around them as Merrin and Fret tucked themselves into a notch in the wall near the corner they knew that Cal would be coming around when he finally made his way to them. As Fret pulled Merrin into her front to keep her hidden from sight, Merrin heard yells of fury, screams of fear; blaster shots and the slam of electric batons; guards barking orders and (former) prisoners shouting their own back. It was a cacophony.

As if sharing the thought, Fret burst out into nearly hysterical-sounding laughter. Merrin looked up at the woman’s face, crinkled up into a massive grin at the circumstance, and couldn’t help herself; she was laughing right along with her, had to turn back around to catch enough breath to keep herself upright.

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