created and owned by George Lucas. STAR WARS and it's likenesses

are a trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd. This story takes place six months after

Star Wars: A New Hope.

STAR WARS: Crystal Clear

By Sean N. Koury

Wedge Antilles had the feeling that something was wrong. He was lying

face first in what appeared to be dirt, for one thing. And he couldn't see.

For a second, panic overtook him, but just as quickly, the feeling was

gone. Wedge forced himself to his knees and glanced around. Everything was

black at first, but ever so slowly, the landscape came into focus.

Where was he?

"Wedge, you've picked up eight, repeat, eight of them!"

"I can't shake them!"

There had been an explosion somewhere behind him, followed by a dizzying

downward spiral through a planet's atmosphere. And then darkness.

Wedge and his wingman, Jann Tosh, had been en route to the Trilavi

Sector meet up with the rest of their squadron after picking up an

important package for the Leader of the Rebel Alliance. Mon Mothma had sent

them to Hosk Station in the Kalarba System, telling them only that the pack-

age's contents were vital to the success of the Rebellion.

Everything had proceeded smoothly until an Imperial Star Destroyer had

come out of hyperspace directly in front of them. Wedge and Jann had put up

a valiant fight, but in the end they had been hopelessly outnumbered.

Wedge stood up, then wished he hadn't. A sharp pain stabbed at his

temples, threatening to topple him to the ground again. He shook it off,

and slowly walked over to his X-wing.

"What a mess!" he grumbled.

The X-wing was demolished beyond repair. Wedge crawled into the cock-

pit, searching for the package, as well as the emergency rations and medpac.

Shoving them into a backpack, which he slung over his shoulder, Wedge had a

sudden thought.

Jann!

"Blast it! How could I be so thoughtless?" he berated himself. "I

hope he hasn't died on me, while I've been standing around here gawking."

He pulled out his macrobinoculars and started to scan the terrain. After a

minute, he spotted Jann's X-wing, about a fifteen minute walk from where he

was.

"Well, better get going," Wedge said, and packing up the macrobinocs,

he headed off towards the plume of smoke that was once an X-wing fighter.

About fifteen minutes in the opposite direction, another person was

watching Wedge. The figure was tall and dressed almost entirely in armour.

The scanners in his helmet followed Wedge as he made his way doggedly towards

his fallen comrades' crashed fighter. Satisfied that this was indeed his

quarry, the bounty hunter grinned.

"All to easy," he said quietly.

Clenching his cybernetic left hand, the bounty hunter set out after

Wedge.

If anything, Jann's X-wing looked even worse than Wedge's had. It

looked like it had taken at least ten different shots, and still Jann had

managed to get it down in more or less one piece.

Be impressed after you figure out whether or not he's all right, Wedge

thought.

Jann was still in the cockpit. Opening it, Wedge reached in and gently

shook him. Jann groaned and his eyes gradually fluttered open.

"Hey," he said weakly, "what took ya so long?"

Relief washed over Wedge. "I was busy dirtgazing. You okay?"

Jann nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. Think my right arm is broken, though.

have you figured out where we are yet?" Wedge helped Jann climb down out of

the cockpit.

"Nope." Wedge glanced around. "But I have this feeling I should know.

If only one of our astromech units had survived." Wedge sighed and shrugged

his shoulders. "Well, no use crying over spilled corinjuice. Did you manage

to get a distress call out?"

Jann sat down on a nearby rock, and started to apply a bactapatch to his

arm. "Sure did. Help should be here from Hosk within the next couple of

hours."

"If the Imps don't get us first. I'm surprised they're not crawling all

over this rock by now!" Wedge mumbled, sitting down beside Jann. He pulled

out two ration bars, and handing one to his friend, started munching.

"What a desolate place," Jann grumbled between bites. "If it wasn't for

these crystals, there'd be absolutely no redeeming qualities on this planet."

He gestured to a patch of crystalline formations that appeared to be growing

out of the rocks.

Wedge nodded. "They're all over the place." Standing up, he walked

over to the two nearest crystals and pulled them out of the rock.

No sooner had he done so, then the ground began to shake. Rocks fell

to the dirt in front of Wedge, and a huge, man-shaped creature started to

rise up out of the ground.

"Antilles! Look out!"

The beast swung a massive, rock-encrusted fist at Wedge, nearly taking

his head off. Still clutching the crystals, Wedge dodged to the left, then

ran over to Jann, who had pulled his blaster and was firing shot after shot

at the thing.

The laser bolts bounced harmlessly off the creature's rocky hide.

It roared loudly, and lumbered towards the two astonished Rebels.

Then the pieces clicked together. Indobok, Wedge thought, we're on Indo-

bok! He stared down at the crystals, still clutched firmly in his hand.

"Wedge, what in blazes are you doing?" Jann said. Wedge had gradually

walked out to meet the creature, holding the crystals out in front of him.

The creature stopped, gazing down at the diminutive figure in front of

it. Then it reached down, plucked the crystals from Wedge's open hand and

turned away. It started to leave, melding almost reluctantly back into the

earth. Soon, there was no sign the creature had ever even been there.

Jann let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "What was

that all about?" he asked.

Wedge plopped down, his energy spent. "That," he began, "was a B'rknaa,

the living stone creatures that live on Indobok, which is where we are.

Apparently, this planet is the adult B'rknaa, that creature was an adolescent

and those," he pointed to the crystals, are the babies!"

Jann shook his head, "So when you broke them off..."

"The B'rknaa thought I was threatening their young," Wedge finished.

"But how did you figure it out?" Jann asked. 'I've never even heard of

Indobok."

Wedge smiled. "Luke Skywalker's droids, Artoo-Detoo and See-Threepio

have been here, about five and a half years ago. Threepio told me about it,"

Wedge chuckled. "He almost put me to sleep that night. Good thing I paid

some attention."

Jann looked as if he'd been slapped. "Did... did you say R2-D2 and

C-3PO?" He rubbed his arm.

"Yeah, why?"

"I used to own a couple of droids with those designations." Jann gazed

off into the distance, remembering. "A long time ago...I had to give them

up when I joined the Academy. Threepio would always be complaining, and

Artoo...well, Artoo was the feistiest astromech unit I'd ever seen."

Wedge laughed and said, "Sounds like you're gonna be reunited with some

old friends when we get back to base!" Jann grinned.

"On the same base for two months, and I never even realized," he said,

shaking his head. A gust of wind kicked up, blowing dirt into Jann's eyes.

He squinted in pain.

Wedge groaned. "Threepio also mentioned something about severe ash-

storms on this planet. I hope help comes before one of those starts up.

That's probably why we don't have Imperials breathing down our necks." He

started helping Jann put together a makeshift splint for his arm, using bits

and pieces of the X-wing wreckage. "That'd be all we need. An ash-storm.

Like we don't have enough troubles!"

"Oh you're troubles are just beginning, Antilles!" a metallic voice

boomed from above them.

Wedge's blaster was in his hand immediately, as he swiveled to face the

newcomer. He had to glance up to get a good look.

Lawg Skrak.

One of the galaxy's most feared bounty hunters was here, on Indobok.

His jetpack held him aloft, about five feet above Wedge's head. In his right

hand, Skrak held a blaster. His left hand was empty, but was pointed, palm

open, at Wedge's face.

Wedge squeezed of a blast, knocking Skrak's blaster out of his hand.

"Now, Skrak, let's talk about this..." A laser bolt sizzled towards Wedge,

and he threw himself to the ground. Rolling upright, he fired another

shot at...

...where Skrak had been.

"Looking for someone?" the metallic voice hissed from behind him.

Wedge whirled. Skrak had landed behind him and somehow retrieved his

blaster, which was now pointed at Jann. Skrak's left hand was again pointed

at Wedge, only this time Wedge noticed the smoking blaster nozzle sticking

out of the palm.

Cybernetic replacement, he thought.

He's after the package, Wedge," Jann said. "The Imps must've hired him

so they wouldn't have to risk getting caught in an ash-storm."

Skrak turned his helmeted gaze towards Jann. "That's only my secondary

goal, Mr. Tosh. My real purpose is to capture Mr. Antilles here, and hand

him over to Moff Sucher." He paused. "Dead or alive!."

Wedge's head swam. What did Moff Sucher want with him? Better yet, who

was Moff Sucher?

Skrak chuckled at Wedge's confusion, "You killed his son, Antilles.

He's not very happy with you." The bounty hunter pointed at Jann, signaling

him to go stand beside Wedge. Jann slowly complied.

His son, thought Wedge, his son! I've never even heard of Sucher. He

straightened his back defiantly, and stared into Skrak's visor.

"When did I..." he began.

"Six months ago, over Yavin 4. Sucher's son was one of the TIE pilots

you killed during the attack on the Death Star!" Skrak lowered his left

hand, the blaster disappearing into the palm with a slight hiss. "Don't feel

bad. You are worth a substantial amount, but I have no love for the Empire.

I might be willing to let you go for twice the amount Sucher's offering,"

Skrak waited for a reply, then added, " and the package in your backpack."

"How much would that be?" Wedge asked.

"Eight hundred thousand credits," the bounty hunter replied.

Beside Wedge, Jann let out a low whistle. Wedge shared the sentiment.

There was no way he could afford that, and he wasn't about to let the Rebel

Alliance cover it for him, either.

"No deal, Skrak!"

"I didn't think so," Skrak muttered. "Tell me, are you, by chance, re-

lated to Lasso Antilles?"

Wedge was baffled. "Uh... I know him, but... no, no. We aren't re-

lated. Why?"

"Oh, no reason. It's just that you remind me a lot of him. You're both

stupid idiots!" Skrak stopped suddenly, "But I'm getting off topic. My ship

is a half an hour that way." He pointed in the direction of Wedge's downed

X-wing. "Get moving. My sensors indicate an ash-storm is about forty-five

minutes away."

Approximately thirty-three minutes later, they arrived at Skrak's ship,

a small shuttle named the Gundark's Spawn. Wedge was impressed. For a shut-

tle, the Spawn was an extremely nice ship. Although Wedge expected a bounty

hunter like Skrak to have a bigger vessel.

As if sensing Wedge's thoughts, Skrak commented, "It's small, but it'll

hold you both long enough for me to get you into orbit. Besides, I'm expect-

ing my partner to be in system in about twenty minutes with the Death Gun-

dark!" Wedge sensed Skrak grinning beneath his helmet. "You'll find that

ship even more impressive, Antilles." He pressed a button on his wrist, and

the door to the shuttle slid open. "But I digress. That ash-storm is almost

on us. All aboard."

Wedge and Jann started into the shuttle, and Wedge glanced back over his

shoulder. Skrak was bent over, plucking up a few of crystals. He noticed

Wedge watching him.

"For Taara, my... partner. She'll find these pretty," he said.

Wedge tensed, ready for the inevitable.

Suddenly, two B'rknaa exploded out of the ground, reaching for Skrak.

The bounty hunter, clearly startled, stumbled backwards, firing his blaster.

Seeing the blasts had no effect, Skrak turned to scramble into the shuttle.

He was greeted with Wedge's foot, slamming into his face.

Jann rushed to the cockpit, and started up the engines.

"Come on, Wedge!" he yelled, "We gotta get out of here!"

On the horizon, a huge boiling mass was sweeping directly for them. It

was like a tidal wave of blowing dirt and rock.

The ash-storm.

Wedge took the pilot's chair. Looking down, he grinned, "The lock-outs

to the engines must've been in his helmet. I probably damaged something

when I kicked him!" He hit a few buttons, and the Gundark's Spawn lifted

off. As they headed into the sky, Wedge glanced back down at Skrak, still

battling the B'rknaa. He had somehow managed to destroy one, but it reassem-

bled itself, and then two more joined the fight.

Jann shook his head as the ash-storm swallowed both Skrak and the

B'rknaa. "I bet that's the last we see of him," he said.

Wedge wasn't so sure, "I don't know, Jann. Skrak's really good, almost

as good as Boba Fett. I wouldn't count him out just yet." He glanced out

the cockpit window. They were entering Indobok's upper atmosphere. "At

least he didn't think to take the package from us. And he called me a stupid

idiot."

Jann laughed.

"Now, as soon as we leave orbit, we'll make the jump to lightspeed.

I've no desire to go up against that Star Destroyer again. You?"

"None whatsoever," Jann answered.

"Then let's go home!"

As they left orbit, Wedge noted a squadron of TIE fighters veering to-

wards them. Just a quickly, they disappeared as the stars around the Gun-

dark's Spawn turned into the brilliant streaks of hyperspace.

An hour later, after the ash-storm had passed, Taara Hentt brought the

stock light freighter, Death Gundark in for a landing on Indobok's surface.

She had picked up Skrak's armour signature from orbit, and had landed the

ship near it.

Walking down the ship's ramp, she looked around. Ash was everywhere.

Could even Skrak have survived this? she wondered.

Taara began to holler his name. Then directly, to her left, she felt

something through the Force. As she bent down to begin digging, a hand shot

up through the ash.

A cybernetic hand, tightly gripping the most beautiful crystal she had

ever seen.

Lawg Skrak pulled himself out, ash falling from him like rain. He

straightened, staring up into space.

"Lawg, are you all right? What happened?"

Skrak turned to look at his partner. He seemed about to say something,

then stopped. Tossing the crystal to Taara, he turned and walked slowly to

his ship.

Staring down at the stone in her hand, Taara shook her head in wonder.

and followed him.

THE END

If you have any questions or comments concerning my story, please e-mail

Sean N. Koury at bobafett@voyageur.ca

For more on Lawg Skrak's adventures go to the Imperial City Database at:

http://rhf.bradley.edu/~khomel/starwars/data.html

There is nothing there by me as of yet, but soon ...very soon. In the mean-

time, check out some of the other people's stories.

It's a new day, so enjoy it.