Red sand sputtered under the landspeeder, twirling to form a vortex whipping back towards the city they abandoned.
"Anakin," Master Kenobi leaned over, his voice strained to be heard over the wind and pitiful engines. "Can you see our target?"
Rotating the scopes, Anakin zoomed in on a transport vehicle ripping through the canyon. "Yes Master," he reported, "1000 meters ahead."
"Excellent," Obi-Wan smiled, treating this as if it were a simple training exercise. Anakin wasn't certain what they wanted on that transport, only that the Council tasked them with stopping it.
"Taking us in," Kenobi announced as he twisted the wheel down a rocky path, uneven boulders shaking them in their seats. Anakin pursed his lips, wondering why his Master didn't throw on the stabilizers but he held his tongue. As the landspeeder evened out in the bottom of the canyon, Obi-Wan opened it up.
The rocky cliffs rocketed past, the crosswind threatening to shake their vehicle off its balance if they weren't careful. "What's their speed?" his Master called out suddenly.
"Increasing," Anakin reported. "If we don't—"
With a twist of his hand, Obi-Wan lit up the boosters, plastering Anakin back into his seat. The transport vehicle looked like it was crawling now, their ship quickly overtaking the lumbering train of scrap metal. Anakin struggled to dig his way up as he caught the flash of scarred grey metal pulling beside them. Whatever was in there couldn't be having a fun time of it, the balancers shot as the cargo weaved on its pivots. Wouldn't take more than a nudge to knock it loose.
"Ah, it seems we have help." Obi-Wan pointed to the right where another landspeeder in bright red fell flush beside them. Anakin cast a glance towards the fellow Jedi robes flapping in the winds.
"Good morning, Kenobi," a cheerful voice cut over the comm, causing Anakin to frown. He knew that Master Jedi, and while he bore her no ill will, it was the passenger in tow that made him snarl.
"And to you as well, Lan'vass. How do you wish to proceed?"
They were acting as if this was a simple pick up mission, but if his Master thought to defer to the woman and her apprentice… Anakin's eyes darted over the transport cargo crate, easily two men tall and rocking back and forth in the chase. Quickly, he calculated the distance and stood up in his seat.
"What are you doing?" Kenobi called, but it was too late. With one leap upon the hood of the speeder, and another forward, Anakin launched into the air. "Why must you always be so hasty?"
His Master's words faded in the desert winds as Anakin plummeted to the metal below. A knee buckled in the landing, but he shook it off, quickly finding purchase and running for the front of the crate. It heaved below him, twisting upon its axis as if it were trying to shake him off. But no such luck. He could feel the turns before they happened, lines of green warning him when to dodge left or right, or when to jump all together.
Making his way with certain steps, Anakin paused at the junction between fully encased engine and locked off crate. The orders were to capture the cargo then the pilot. With a leap through the air, Anakin landed upon what served as the cab. His lightsaber hissed through the desert air, sand igniting when the wind blew it into the stream.
With one hand keeping him steady, Anakin reached down for the jack holding the crate to the engine. His saber cut apart the first of five locks, sparks erupting through the air as the fallen joint chewed into dead sand. Sprays of it splattered up, smacking into Anakin's face. He twisted to slice apart the second, when the force exploded around him.
Rolling onto his back, Anakin stared dead on at a hooked blade slicing over the top of where his head had been. A laugh rose in his gut, some fool willing to take on a Jedi to protect his stolen cargo. Well, if he had a death wish, who was Anakin to deny him?
Spinning in place, Anakin rose up to his back leg, the lightsaber lashing out and slicing the crude blade in half. Its dangerous end sprung free, bouncing into the canyon rock and shattering into pieces. Anakin lazily swung his saber to split any shrapnel coming back, when he looked up at his attacker.
Hateful eyes burned into a scarred face, bald as a moon with three lines of darkest black inked into the scalp. Anakin's blood boiled as the memories scoured his brain. How could it be him after all these years?!
"Hoss!" Anakin screamed, drawing his saber straight at the monster's heart.
For his part, Hoss chuckled, bare arms bulging under a tattered vest. He chucked away the hilt of his sword and unearthed a blaster. "I see I have to deal with a Jedi whelp today."
He didn't recognize him? How could he forget after what he did? Anakin sneered, shifting his stance to a purely defensive one as the man prepared to shoot. Before he killed him, Hoss would remember who Anakin was. And he'd pay for every second of what he did. Slowly.
The man lined up a shot, Anakin twisting around to block it, when a blur of robes tumbled in the air and landed legs akimbo onto the cab. His eyes darted over a second, anticipating Obi-Wan, when a groan rose up his chest. A green lightsaber cut through the air, Apprentice Padmé twisting in place. The wind yanked her brown braid through the air like a snake, those cold eyes sizing up the danger.
"Two Jedi whelps," Hoss said with a shrug, and from his pants he pulled a second blaster. Both fired in harmony, Anakin bouncing his shots off while he assumed Padmé handled hers. She was on her own as far as he was concerned. No one asked her to be here.
Spinning in place, Anakin blew another four blasts away before he planted a foot and moved to kick at Hoss. It should have knocked the blaster away, but the transport under them suddenly flew into another gear. With nothing holding him to the cab's roof, Anakin bounced free, tumbling backwards in the wind. His body bounced until there was nothing to catch, gravity yanking him towards the churning wheels below. Sand and rusted metal whipped past his face, obscuring his view. His fingers lashed out, clawing to catch himself before he hit the dirt and ten tons of truck crumpled his body.
They wrapped around a pipe barely clinging to this rust bucket, Anakin staring down at his feet dangling mere inches from ground traveling at over a thousand meters per second.
"Are you still alive?" Padmé's grating voice called.
He groaned, not wanting to give an answer, even as his feet wafted over the rushing sand. "Are you?" was Anakin's late response. It didn't sound as if the fight was going well, the girl grunting with each strike as her saber's source rebounded through the air.
Get up there. Help her. Kill him.
Scrabbling, his feet could find nothing to perch upon, the outside of this cab cursedly smooth. Odd to find on a land vehicle. He could jam his saber through the wall, but it might strike someone they were supposed to capture.
Trust.
Closing his eyes, Anakin sheathed his lightsaber and flattened his free hand to the rocking vehicle. With a deep breath, he let go of his grip on the pipe. Before his body could fall an inch, he pushed all his weight into his bare hand — the force guiding him as it always did. Rolling his wrist, on the tips of his fingers for balance he twisted himself into a full flip, hurling his body high above the cab. Mid-twist, he unsheathed his saber and slashed the ends of Hoss' blasters clean off. Anakin landed right beside Padmé who nodded at his arrival.
"It's over. Stand down," she ordered the monster, but Hoss only chuckled a laugh that haunted Anakin's nightmares.
"You're so certain, little girl. That'll get you killed one day. Korg!" he cried, bashing his foot into the roof. A hatch clanged open. From the shadows emerged a massive Besalisk, nothing but muscle bulging from his four arms as the beady eyes narrowed upon the two Jedi. The slippery weasel snuck in behind the wall of Korg, hiding away inside his cab.
"This isn't over, Hoss!" Anakin shouted, barely glancing at the man in the way.
Twisting one arm, Korg snaked out a lightning whip. Then another. They hissed and popped, sparks zapping off the metal of the cab below them. The Besalisk dared both Jedi to attack. His lizard-like head spun from Anakin to Padmé, clearly planning to electrocute both.
"If we fight as a team…" Padmé began, when Anakin ran forward. He heard her exasperated sigh rattle above the wind, but ignored it. His lightsaber swung out, ready to slice the head clean off of Korg's shoulders, when the Besalisk swung his whip. It arced through the sizzling air, coiling up Anakin's lightsaber and arm. With a yank, Korg sent 10,000 volts racing through Anakin's body.
Screaming in pain and rage, he tried to tug free of the trap but the electricity wouldn't let him go. His legs locked in place from the volts, eyes narrowing at the chuckling Besalisk. Throw him. Off the transport. Forget the pain. Forget the burn. Smash his brains against the canyon rock.
Anakin raised his fist, all his concentration narrowing down upon Korg's footing, when another lashed out to strike the Besalisk in the side. The whip fell off of Anakin's arm leaving him tumbling to the transport's roof as Padmé twisted around Korg. She was trying to cut away the whips, but he kept dodging just before she'd manage.
With a perfect leap, Padmé flipped over the top of Korg's massive head and landed directly behind him. She slashed her lightsaber back, striking against the bodyguard's armor plating. It melted instantly, liquid metal dripping onto the Besalisk's foot. Snarling, Korg tried to dance away from his deadly armor.
Which was when patronizing brown eyes stared into Anakin's. She tipped her head as if he was at fault for the attack. "Can you handle him while I accomplish the mission?"
"Fine," Anakin snapped back.
Padmé ran for the cargo crate and leapt onto it, leaving him alone with his new friend. Before she dipped down to slash off the locks, she said, "Avoid the whip crossing your lightsaber."
Groaning at the pedantic lesson, Anakin wrapped both hands around his saber and smiled at the Besalisk. "Well, Korg. Any chance of you slipping back inside and asking your boss to turn himself in?"
A whip lashed for Anakin's leg. "Thought not," he laughed, pivoting on his foot to kick straight into Korg's enormous jaw. It should have worked, on damn near every other species it would have. But one of those extra fists clamped onto Anakin's ankle and hurled him through the air. Not again! Tipping his lightsaber down, he dug into the metal of the cab. Instead of melting like butter, it held on, barely making a dent through the coating.
What was this thing?
"You'll pay for that, robe boy," Korg chuckled, two fists clamped together, the punch aiming for Anakin's skull. Right. He rolled, abandoning his lightsaber inside the roof. A metal crunch broke the rushing winds, a dent left behind where his head had been, both Jedi and Besalisk staring at it in surprise.
"Ooh, I bet your boss won't be happy about you destroying the resell value," Anakin taunted.
"You don't know nothing," Korg snarled, racing to smash Anakin into the ground.
"Sure I do," he twisted and pivoted into the air. "I know that whatever you've stolen the Jedi Council wants. And I know there's no chance in a summer on Hoth of you stopping us."
Korg laughed, both whips extending from his hands. "Your Council don't know nothing either." Anakin dodged the first attack, but the second curled around his waist. Pain sizzled clean up his chest, breath fleeing from his lungs as Korg yanked him off his feet. Drawing a disgusting claw over Anakin's cheek, the Besalisk laughed, "And by the time they do, there won't be a Council to care."
"What?" Anakin turned up to the creature, for once curious what he had to say, when a great crash erupted from behind. Both turned to watch Padmé, most of her body trapped in the narrow gap between the cab and cargo, wave her hand.
"I'm at the last one, Anakin. Finish up and get off of there."
"No!" he shouted.
"What do you mean no? Our orders…"
"You stay with the crate," he twisted in the whip's grip, leaving the Besalisk gawping. Even with all the volts at Korg's disposal ripping through him, Anakin grinned, "Hoss is mine."
Korg laughed, "What makes you think you're gonna survive this, Jedi pup?"
Twisting his hand around, Anakin ripped his lightsaber out of its hole and clean into his palm. With a fast, underhand swipe, he sliced off both Korg's whip and the man's lower left hand. It landed with a meaty thud onto the cab, tumbling in the rattle until it plummeted off for a scavenger to feast on.
"Call it a hunch," Anakin smirked, his feet sliding into place. "Now give me Hoss!"
The transport lurched under them, sparks erupting from the cargo crate. Anakin risked a glance back, watching as Padmé scrabbled out from between the crack filling with fire as the last of the locks sundered. Both cargo crate and cab shuddered under their feet, neither wanting to let go even with sand and spark spitting off the fallen locks. A great snap broke through the rushing wind.
"Anakin!" she shouted, about to be left behind with the braking cargo, but he turned away. He had other problems to deal with.
"Where is…?" Anakin began to the Besalisk, when a shadow blotted out the sun. Twisting his head, he watched Padmé jump towards the cab rocketing over the sand. She nearly missed, her hand latching onto the same edge he caught earlier.
Damn it. Anakin sheathed his lightsaber and ran to her side, reaching a hand out to grab onto her arm. Lifting with all his strength, he turned to watch Korg scuttle back inside to the safety of the cab. As Padmé got her weight under her, he expected a thank you, maybe an apology for being dead weight, but those brown eyes burned into him.
"What are you doing? We have to get off of this, now!"
"Why?" Anakin chuckled. There was nowhere they could drive this thing that Anakin wouldn't find them, stop them. Drag them before the Council in chains.
Which was when the cab hit a black platform in the middle of the desert, twisted 90 degrees and rose into the air. Anakin and Padmé grabbed each other, both digging their feet into the bar while flattening to what used to be the cab's roof.
"Because this is a spaceship!" she shouted, the wind whipping their words away.
Puncturing through the atmosphere, the not-quite-so grounded transport shattered apart the first strata of clouds with two Jedi clinging on the outside. Their cheeks suckered against the metal to combat the forceful winds trying to rip their heads off, Anakin staring at his rival. With her eyes closed tight and her shoulders hunched up to shield her face from the ravaging winds she almost looked…delicate. Someone worth protecting. He reached a hand out, wanting to rub her back in comfort.
Those icy browns popped open and she glared at him, shattering the momentary illusion. Shaking away his foolish thought, Anakin reached higher up the cab, snagging upon an antenna and pulling himself towards the cab hatch.
"What are you doing?!" Padmé cried.
Reaching to his side, Anakin fished up his lightsaber. The blue stream struggled to maintain in these fast winds, but he had faith in it and the force. Flipping it around in his grip, Anakin drove the end into the top of the cab. Liquid metal sputtered out in deadly droplets falling like rain.
"I'm not letting Hoss get away!" Anakin insisted. He met resistance against the land-to-spaceship's plating and worried his lightsaber back and forth to saw inside. Which was when an arm grabbed onto his ankle.
He glanced down and frowned to find Padmé not only clinging to him, but trying to yank him off. Did she want him dead that badly? "This is idiotic! Our orders…!"
"Mean nothing until that monster is in the ground!"
"You can't possibly break through that plating before you suffocate, or burn up in the atmosphere!" she nagged him, always planting her brains into any situation whether it was asked for or not.
"I have to try," Anakin insisted, drawing his lightsaber slowly down the outer crust. Even if he could only chip that away, Hoss' ship might burn up…along with his body. Sacrifices had to be made.
"I won't let you!" Padmé kept on him, her hand climbing higher to latch onto the back of his knee. The extra weight shook Anakin, his grip slipping off the antenna. Those piercing eyes burned into his, almost pleading for him to stop, but she didn't understand. Not the ice princess.
"Sorry," Anakin shrugged and kicked his leg.
"What are you…?" she cried, her fingers digging in deeper. He felt the force twisting to her machinations, lines of cold blue clamping down upon his calf. Anakin stared down at the node she was pouring into him.
Let go.
The force snapped back at her, Padmé's certain eyes flying open in shock. Her lips parted as her grip upon him slipped. She tried to lash out once more, but Anakin deflected it, sending the apprentice tumbling towards the planet below. She'd save herself, she had to have a backup plan already in play. It was Padmé.
No, forget her. All his focus was upon Hoss. His lightsaber stuck in that damn plating, melting it off but not fast enough. A freezing chill smothered Anakin's body, his lips shivering as they drained bluer. His mouth gaped open as he gasped for breath, the oxygen growing thinner.
Not about to give in, his hold on the antenna released, his body sliding down until both of his hands hooked upon the lightsaber. The extra pull drew it further down, more of the outer plating of the ship cracking off.
Yes. You won't survive this Hoss. You're going to…
To…
Anakin glanced up, watching in wonder as the ship pierced through the last red clouds to a black velvet sky punctuated in stars. Beautiful.
His finger slipped, silencing the lightsaber. As the blade retracted, so too went his grip, Anakin falling backwards from the ship. Free-falling, his body flew through the air, plunging to the ground below. Darkness seared over his vision, but pocked amongst it were all the stars of the galaxy.