Star Wars: The Bad Batch - Keeper's Arena

Chapter 1 - Snatched

An attack shuttle broke the steady quiet of the day as it soared high over Jade's head. She looked up in alarm and in partial fear – the ship was dark and mysterious, with no obvious indications of who it belonged to or what planet or party it represented. She highly doubted they were bringing cargo, which only made the situation more unsettling.

What kind of person would choose to be so far away from proper civilization?

Jade frowned, then chuckled to herself. They were in for a rude awakening. She normally kept to herself, anyway. The quiet voice of curiosity continued to nag at her, unrelenting. With a grunt Jade secured her thigh bag – worn and tattered at the edges, but still capable of dealing with her constant movement. She swung her backpack over one shoulder and bent to pick up her blaster, but she had misjudged how unsettled she actually was. Throwing her other hand forward to keep from falling suddenly, her backpack slipped down her arm, bringing her to the ground with it. The sharp rocks dug into her back, and Jade sucked in a frustrated breath.

"Way to go, Jade. Make sure to beat yourself up on the way down."

She was perched on a precarious cliff, and a nasty fall would do more than just bruise her. Sure, there was room enough to spread out, but she wasn't taking any chances. Not considering her clumsiness, when far too relaxed. Standing back up, Jade lifted her backpack and slipped her arms through both straps. Nodding in satisfaction, Jade tried grabbing her blaster again. A lizard-like creature darted from its cover underneath the rocks and bit into the cold metal, dragging it away. He was small, but bigger than her blaster, and definitely capable of carrying more than his own body weight.

"Ugh, come on!" Jade groaned, surging forward. "These things –"

Startled, the creature moved faster than Jade would have thought possible, and her fist closed on nothing. Half-scrambling and half-running in wild directions, Jade traveled down the uneven path. The lizard couldn't climb the walls with a blaster in its mouth, but Jade saw a large cluster of rocks and guessed the creature's next move.

"No, no, no!"

The creature slipped into darkness and Jade crouched, panting, in front of the large rocks. Coughing, Jade folded her arms.

"Alright. You're not going to make it easy for me, are you?"

Not even bothering to take her backpack off, Jade leaned back and planted her feet on a large rock. She could send it down the path, or at least she hoped. Face straining in effort, Jade pushed with all her might, her legs trembling. The rock didn't budge at first, and Jade kicked it a few times in frustration. When she pushed with her feet again, her kicks seemed to have loosened the rock's position. Encouraged, Jade kept trying. Finally, the rocks around the bigger one cracked and fell apart as the bigger one moved and tumbled over the edge with ease. The creature darted back out, but Jade was ready for it, this time.

With a triumphant cry, Jade grabbed the lizard, pinning him down. She yanked the blaster out of his mouth, and the lizard-like creature seemed to flatten as if defeated.

"You don't need it, anyway," Jade reassured the creature.

She let go, and the creature left as quickly as it had come.

"Odd," Jade muttered, not used to such unusual events.

Then she remembered the attack shuttle flying overhead, directly towards town.

"Definitely odd," Jade added, finally able to put her blaster in its holster.

Later...

Jade avoided the main roads; she had decided to learn the unwelcoming routes, however treacherous they might be. She didn't want to be caught by a Snatcher, and they never liked going the extra mile. No, they went for the easy prey. Spotting two speeders in the distance, Jade stopped to consider the path that led down and then through a chaotic maze of rocks. The orange dust was picking up, coating the jagged boulders. There were plenty of trees and greenery behind her, but there were none in the maze-like path before her, which meant it would be more difficult to hide. The sun had reached its highest point and scorched Jade's neck, as she had pulled her hair up into a simple ponytail, not bothering to do anything elegant with it. The persistent heat made Jade weary and irritable, and it didn't help that the speeders taunted her in the distance. Two Snatchers were likely sitting on those speeders, waiting for an unfortunate victim. She could just barely make out their figures, their cloaks flapping in the wind.