you're on your own, kid

To his credit, Cal does not remember that ledge being there. 

He'd thought -- even as BD beeped a warning about the terrain being unsteady and uneven, that it'd be fine. Only eight stormtroopers, cake. He didn't count on the purge trooper coming out of literally nowhere and hitting him so hard that he felt the vibrations all down his arm as he strained to block what would've been a very deadly blow. 

Kriff, he hates these guys. Cal scores a few hits on the heavy plastoid armor, pushing the trooper back, back away from the edge of the cliff. They'd come here to investigate a possible Jedi temple hidden somewhere on the planet, of course Imps were already crawling the place much to their displeasure. If they found it first, they'd ruin it, desecrate it, steal everything within - just as they did with everything else. Bogano. Illum. Kashyyk. 

So maybe it was a lot personal. 

He parried, blocked, pushed the trooper back and raised an arm to deliver a finishing strike. However, it left him an opening, allowing the trooper to land a hit against him, hard, knocking him back slightly. Cal tried to regain his focus but in those few moments it was all it took for the purge trooper to gain the upper hand and shove him back, putting him on the offensive. His arms ached, ribs burned with exertion. He ducked and dodged, rolling out of the way and found himself a bit too close to the edge. That was what he was trying to avoid. 

He had to do something. He only had one chance, wearing out and already injured - he needed to end this. 

So he lunged. 

Driving his lightsaber into the armor as the trooper aimed another well placed shot - as he wrenched his saber free, his feet danced on the edge of the cliff, overbalancing and falling. 

It wasn't a huge drop, but it wasn't an exactly straight one either. Outcroppings and ending on a slope, he was unconscious before he reached the bottom, his limp body coming to total stop several feet from the bottom.

--

Something was nudging him. Just give him five more minutes, he'll get up for work -- something shrill sounded in his air drawing a gasp from Cal as his eyes flew open. 

BD-1 was jumping around him, trying to get him to wake up; when he saw he was up, he moved forward, beeping questioningly. Awareness washed over him, as did the pain.

"Ow, oh shit..." Ribs, possibly broken, definitely bruised. Blood dripped into his eyes from a cut. With the way everything blurred and distorted, and doubled in his vision - probably concussed. Definitely not good. He couldn't tell what else was broken or bruised, didn't think he could get up to find out. "I don't know if I can, buddy..." he mumbled in response to the question. The ground was shifting under him, rocking and rolling - he couldn't recall what he said when he pulled out his commlink with the arm that wasn't pinned under neath him to radio the ship, who answered him... anything. 

Losing the fight with consciousness was a relief, even as BD continued to nudge him awake. 

[ boop ]