True, there seemed to be some dark mass inside the mist, and that was pretty scary-looking. But Chewie and Han frequently charged into places that looked much more dangerous without a plan or a second thought.
So what was it? What could scare even the mighty Chewbacca?
“RURHHHH WHRUT HHHRNGK?” said Chewie, motioning with his hands that he wanted to turn the ship around and get out of there.
“I wish we could,” said Mayv. “But I’m certain that this is where we’re going to find what we were sent for.”
“WHHHHHUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGG!”
Like I said, it took a lot to frighten the mighty Chewbacca, but it would take a whole lot more than that to make him turn back, especially when Han needed him.
So he flew lower to look for a good landing spot. There wasn’t one. The blue trees went right up to the edges of the chasm.
“RRRRUPPHA GRMMGRMM,” he muttered, which meant he was going to circle around to look for a better place to land.
But Mayv didn’t even hear him, because the tookas were in full panic mode—yowling, scrambling, scratching, freaking out.
She went back to the cargo hold to help K-2 calm them down. But K-2 wasn’t trying to calm them down. Instead, he had one hand on the cargo door release lever.
“What are you doing?” she yelled over the tooka ruckus.
There was an awkward pause as K-2 turned his head to look at her.
“Preparing to unload the cargo?”
“What?” asked Mayv, trying unsuccessfully to soothe even a single cat. “What cargo?”
“The animal cargo,” replied K-2.
“The tookas? We’re still in the air!”
“I am aware of that fact.”
“You may not unload the cargo—I mean, the tookas—while we’re in the air! Just…no! Hide in a crate or something if you can’t handle them.”
She tapped her wrist comlink.
“Chewie, please tell me you found a landing spot! Things are getting out of control back here!”
“MLARG!” answered Chewie.
He had finally found a gap in the trees, about half a klick from the edge of the chasm. He swung the ship around and let out a surprised “GRUMMPHHHH?” when he saw another ship already there. An Imperial ship.
Chewie circled around for a better look, with one hand on the throttle in case the other, much larger ship should attack. But there was no response—no lights, no movement, and most important, no weapons turning on them.
The more Chewie looked, the more he was sure the ship was derelict. Not as long abandoned as that dead city, maybe, but clearly not a threat.
Whoever had flown the ship there must have wanted to land pretty badly. It appeared that they had bombed the forest, then landed in the crater they’d made.
They must have been a little bomb-happy, because the crater was a lot larger than necessary. There was plenty of room for Chewie to land their little cargo shuttle beside the other ship.
“NYARRM MYRRRGH RUHK,” he told Mayv over the comm. She didn’t understand what he said, but she figured it out quickly enough as their ship sank below the tops of the trees into the blue gloom of the forest.
Quickly, she wiped off her triangles and painted new ones. This time they formed a single star: courage. She definitely needed that!
It was usually a big relief to Chewie to land a ship and get out to stretch properly and breathe some fresh air.
But not this time. As the rear cargo hatch swung open, he let out a disgusted “SKRONK!” Even though the ship’s scanner had said the air was breathable for humans (and Wookiees), it smelled terrible. About what you’d expect a planet made entirely of fungus trees to smell like—if the fungus itself had become moldy.
But that wasn’t the real problem. The real problem was the fear. This close to the ground it was a lot more than a bad feeling or even a creepy sensation. It was the kind of fear you would feel if General Grievous was stomping toward you with four lightsabers blazing. Or if Asajj Ventress had snuck up behind you in a dark alley. Or if you heard the steady wheezing of Darth Vader’s respirator.
But none of those villains was there. It was just the scorched ground of the crater and some green mist.
“I think I’ve finally figured out why the Aloos went to so much trouble to set us up for this job,” said Mayv, pulling on the exo-glove and curling the big metal fingers into a fist. “Because nobody would do this for money. If this was just for money I’d turn around right now.”
“WHURFF!” agreed Chewie.
And yet they both stepped forward to the threshold of the hatch and then down the short ramp to the ground, where the feeling of fear seemed to reach out and touch them.
“NGGGARRRRP!” complained Chewie, who had the horrible sensation of the loathsome soil actually touching his bare feet. Mayv thought it was bad enough even through her thick boots.
The tookas were not so sure about it, either, and stood in the hatchway peering into the blue forest and tuttering peevishly. They couldn’t say it, but they, too, had a bad feeling about this.
K-2, wholly unaffected by the seeping fear, being a droid, stepped over the tookas, pulling the floating antigrav crate behind him.
“Look! I am hauling your crate around the planet as requested.”
“Uh…thanks,” said Mayv. “Hey, what’s that?”
“HRONN MURRGBUSHK!” said Chewie, which of course means, “Something dead.”
They crossed the crater through ankle-deep green mist to get a closer look. Chewie had been right. It was something dead. Or rather, somebody. Or rather, some bodies.
“Judging by the skull shape and number of teeth, these appear to be Trandoshans,” said K-2, prodding the remains with a foot. “They are fierce warriors and are tough to kill.”
“For a cargo droid, you say some really strange stuff,” said Mayv. “Why would you know something like that?”
K-2 looked at her with his big blank photoreceptors for a long moment, as if trying to think of a good explanation.
The truth was that he and Cassian had fought a few Trandoshans not long before, and they had indeed been very tough to kill. But that information hardly fit with his cover story of being a simpleminded Imperial cargo droid.
“I am programmed to provide valuable safety information,” he replied finally. “I was attempting to warn you and the Wookiee that there is something in this forest capable of killing a squad of heavily armed space thugs.”
“MURRRKUPP!” announced Chewie, excitedly pulling a blaster rifle from under one of the bodies. But then, after looking it over, he tossed it back on the ground.
“MRUUN MRUFFTUP,” he cursed.
“What? Was it empty?” asked Mayv. Chewie nodded, then groaned again as he found two more useless blasters.
“So these whatever-you-called-them used up all their ammo and still got chomped? What on Oktar were they fighting?”
“I do not have that information,” replied K-2, “but I calculate that there is a ninety-eight-point-five percent chance that we will find out.”
SNARRRRL! That was not Chewbacca. That was something behind Chewbacca. That was something horrible.
“One hundred percent chance,” came the calm voice of K-2.
The snarler stalked out of the blue forest into the crater.
Any words I use to describe it will make it sound less frightening than it really was.
If I say that it looked sort of like a dog, you might think of a friendly pup, when it was really as big and nasty as a Tanarian vulk.
But if I say it was like a Tanarian vulk, you might think that it was slow and plodding, when in fact it was as fast and vicious as a Mantellian Savrip.
But a Mantellian Savrip doesn’t give you a picture of the writhing tentacles around its gaping jaws, which really weren’t like anything I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen a lot.
The other problem with trying to describe the snarler is that it didn’t wait around to be described. It attacked.
/> SNARRRL!
With a great leap, it was after Chewie. It didn’t even recognize the Wookiee as an enemy, just as food. And it was ravenous.
But our Chewbacca was unlike any food the snarler had ever pounced on before. Chewie was too smart to turn and run away; if he had, the creature would have caught him with another jump.
Instead, Chewie reached toward the lunging beast and with his great strength grabbed it by its oversize fangs and heaved.
“HUWHHRRR!”
The snarler’s powerful jaws snapped shut just a little too late to get a taste of Chewie, but the smell of Wookiee filled its revolting, dripping nostrils. The beast twisted in midair, landing in a crouch, ready to strike again.
SSSSSNARRRRL!
“HNURRR WRHHRPH!” the Wookiee shouted, telling Mayv to run back to the ship while he held off the snarler.
But of course Mayv didn’t understand him and, honestly, probably wouldn’t have obeyed anyway.
She had jumped back during the initial attack but was now leaping forward swinging the exo-glove like a big metal fist. The impact made the snarler step sideways, but it never took its eyes off Chewie.
A low, hateful snarrrrrrrl rumbled in its throat.
“Do something, droid!” Mayv yelled.
“I am not programmed for combat. Perhaps I should move the cargo crate to a safer—”
“Just hit it with something!” Mayv screamed.
Chewie had his arms wrapped around the snarler’s huge jaws, trying to keep it from biting again. But its disgusting tentacles were flailing at him.
SNARRRRL! The creature whipped its head from side to side, and Chewie was thrown to the ground.
The snarler lunged after him, snapping at Chewie’s neck as the Wookiee desperately tried to hold it off.
“GHHHHRRRRRAHHH!”
“What do we do?” asked Mayv.
“Perhaps we should honor his noble sacrifice by escaping?” suggested K-2.
“You’re useless!” snapped Mayv as she tried hitting the monster with the exo-glove again.
“Well, I am carrying the—”
YOOOOOWL!
K-2 was interrupted by the tookas! They had heard Chewie’s cry and were bounding across the crater to his rescue.
Led by Goldie, the tookas launched themselves claws-first onto the snarler’s back. The creature barely would have noticed one tooka, but it couldn’t ignore a swarm of them. They bit and scratched and ripped at its most sensitive parts. One of them got a big bite of neck tentacle…which was delicious. And Goldie took a nasty swipe at one of its eyes.
The monster shook itself, sending the tookas flying in all directions. But they landed on their feet and immediately sprinted for the forest.
With a hatred that was stronger than its hunger, the snarler tore after them.
The tookas disappeared among the weird blue trees, and a second later, so did the monster. The growlings and yowlings of the chase could be heard going deeper and deeper into the forest.
In moments, the chaos in the crater had stilled.
“MROARGHHHH!” moaned Chewie, expressing gratefulness and concern all at once.
“Myrowrr!” responded Goldie, trotting back out of the trees and leaping onto his shoulder. I’m not sure what that meant, but it seemed to satisfy the Wookiee. He scratched Goldie between the ears, and that seemed to satisfy the tooka.
“I hope the other cats got away, too!” said Mayv.
“My sensors indicate that they have scattered in various directions and the large quadruped has given up the chase,” said K-2.
“UUURRRRRRRRMMG!” trilled Chewie happily.
“Yeah, that is good,” said Mayv, not even noticing that she was starting to understand Shyriiwook. I imagine that you are, too.
“However,” added K-2, “my sensors indicate that the large quadruped is returning to this area at high speed.”
“That is not good!”
“Additionally, my sensors indicate that two more of the large quadrupeds are nearby and headed this way.”
“WYYURRRRG!” groaned Chewie, painfully getting back to his feet.
“Listen,” said Mayv. “I’m going to have to be honest with you. Between this nasty green fear mist we’re wading in and the very real fear of getting bitten in half by whatever that was, I’m about to freak out!”
“RWWWRROOO!” said Chewie in agreement. Wookiees almost never actually freaked out, but the green mist was getting to him, too.
“Perhaps since I am unaffected by fear,” said K-2, “I should make a rational decision based on all available data.”
“Great! What do we do?” asked Mayv, and Chewie tilted his head to listen.
“We have two options: return to the ship or continue into the woods. Returning to the ship does not bring us closer to completing the mission, but going into the woods does. Thus, we should proceed into the woods.”
“HYARRKK!”
“Chewie’s right,” said Mayv. “Those snarlers could be anywhere in the forest. We might walk right into one.”
“I have a solution for dealing with the creatures. It is very unlikely that they will want to eat my metal body. In fact, by simply remaining still, I can probably escape their notice altogether.”
“What happens to me and the Wookiee while you’re doing this?”
“You will be eaten.”
“What? We’ll be eaten?” snapped Mayv.
“Yes. I am…sorry?” said K-2, not sounding very sorry.
“That’s your rational decision? Letting us get eaten? You’re wasting time we don’t have!”
SNARRRRRL!
SNARRRRLLLLLLL!
Two snarlers emerged from the forest on the other side of the crater, sniffed, smelled Wookiee, and howled.
SNARRRRRRRRLLLL! The new snarlers were greeted by the first one (with the newly torn neck tentacle), which was reentering the crater at full speed.
That was all it took for Chewie to make his decision.
“MROWGH GHRRMROWRIG!” This is a very common Kashyyyk expression meaning “Up into the trees!”
Mayv was not familiar with this expression, of course, but what Chewie did next was easy to understand. He grabbed the roll of cable out of the crate and sprinted toward the trees. He leapt high into the air and, somehow finding a handhold on one tree, swung himself onto a second tree, kicked off with both legs, and landed back on the first tree, finding a secure foothold on the lowest branch…at least twenty-five meters above the ground.
All with a yowling tooka cat clinging to his back.
Wow, thought Mayv. I guess that’s why they wanted a Wookiee for this job.
“MRRRAGHHH NURR NUUR!” Chewie yelled while throwing down one end of the cable.
Mayv knew what he meant and ran forward to grab it…but of course the snarlers ran much faster.
They were almost on her by the time she got to the cable. She jumped as high as she could and grabbed on to it.
Almost immediately, her hands began slipping. She started to panic, then the servomotors in her exo-glove tightened her grip…just in time!
The lead snarler was already lunging at her with its mouth wide open and its tentacles writhing. Then she was jerked several meters into the air as Chewie hauled on the cable.
The beast’s jaws snapped shut on nothing, but it wasn’t giving up yet. It dropped onto its hind legs. Claws dug into the ground, huge muscles bulged, and it sprang back up for another bite.
Mayv had a nightmarish view of gaping jaws and writhing tentacles, but Chewie was pulling her up smooth and steady. Soon she was up higher than a snarler could jump.
That was when her fear of heights kicked in. Oktarians weren’t climbers. They liked solid, flat ground, or at least a sturdy floor. The idea of hanging from a cable would horrify them.
But right now, for Mayv, it was better than not hanging from a cable, because that would have meant instant death at the claws and teeth of three snarlers.
And it didn’t last too
long. In a moment, Chewie was reaching down a huge furry hand to help her up onto a comfortingly wide branch.
“MHHHHRRRRR,” he trilled reassuringly as she held on to him for balance. “GHMMMRRR RRRRUP.”
Look, I know you’re not reading this to hear about hugging. But what do you want me to say? Wookiees like to hug. Mayv needed a hug. They hugged. Goldie purred. Everyone felt better…well, not K-2. He was still on the ground far below, standing perfectly still while the snarlers sniffed and snarled around him.
“The fear,” said Mayv, rubbing her aching shoulder, “isn’t quite so bad up here. I feel like I can finally think straight.”
“ROWRIGGHH HRMKUHHRNNN,” Chewie rumbled. This is another Wookiee saying. It means something like “The trees are life,” but it means a lot more than just that the trees are alive. It’s very hard to understand even if you understand Shyriiwook, and of course, Mayv didn’t. So don’t let me get all distracted by Wookiee culture here.
Chewbacca held up his hand and placed it against the blue trunk of the tree, which was soft and smooth, more like a fungus than tree bark. He motioned for Mayv to touch it, too.
Up to then, she hadn’t touched the tree directly, only through her boots and the exo-glove’s grippers.
She put her bare palm flat against the tree and all her fear seemed to drain away. She felt a connection…to the tree, to all the trees, to Chewie, to the tooka, even in a strange way to the beastly snarlers far below. She felt peace and patience and hope.
She jerked her hand away as if the tree had burned her.
“HRUUH?” asked Chewie.
She couldn’t explain. Not in words.
The feelings had been too much. Those were emotions she hadn’t felt in years. She hadn’t had any reason to, and if she had she would have resisted feeling them—would have pushed them out of her mind.
Especially hope. Look what hope had done to her parents, to her people. It had fooled them. It had made them easy targets. She had long before learned not to trust hope, not even to feel it.
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