Stepping out from the cave, Ben had to shield his eyes from the blinding sun with his cloak's sleeve. It now hung dead center in the clear blue sky, making him wonder how long he had been in the cave. He jumped suddenly as a crimson bold of energy as large as he was shot beside him. Ben ducked and rolled to the side, snatching his lightsaber from his belt and igniting the yellow blade with a loud Snap-Hiss.
A ship loomed above, putting the sun behind it and making Ben squint to see its outline. The block-like main hull looked almost like brick, with repulser's both under it and on its sides. The cockpit stood out only a little but, connected to the hull by a small, thin hallway, like an animal's neck. And among the repulser's on the bottom, was a guard turret, firing right at him.
Calling on the Force, Ben sprinted away from the cave, knowing his weapon would do little against the cannon. More bolts came, following him and hitting the dirt just centimeters from his feet, often shooting through the dust he kicked up. Though his view was shaking, he still reached the nearest piece of the Burning Phoenix's debris, the cockpit, in under a minute, jumping clear of it and crouching behind a sheet of twisted metal.
The ground beneath him rumbled, though not as much as Ben knew it should have. Peering over carefully, he saw that through the broken glass, the ship had only now begun to swing around. Taking in a quick breath, Ben gathered his strength within the Force, absorbing it into his body as the ground shook more viciously with each passing second. Then, when he knew it would be right on top of him, he released his held energy, leaping straight up.
Ben almost could have kissed the tip of the ship, it was so close. The turret was already spinning around to him with smoke still pouring out the barrel. Gripping the hilt in his hand, Ben reached out and chucked his lightsaber.
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They say navigating through mountains was hard, even borderline impossible, but you just needed a feel for it. And having a slow ship helped, too. Kane gently moved the control yoke to the right, making the Crimson Raider make a less-then-graceful turn. The ship buckled as its rear grazed the side of a mesa. Kane's eyes went immediately to the layout screen, and breathed a sigh of relief after seeing there was no breach in the rusty hull. He shook his head, only to realize there was no sweat and that his dark blue hair was bundled neatly under a helmet and his eyes were protected by red-tinted goggles. He was in the middle of speeder practice, when someone had told him that a ship had fallen out of the sky. He didn't even have time to change out of his jumpsuit.
Behind him, a young woman squeezed herself through the thin hallway and walked into the cramped cockpit. Her viridian suite was skin-tight, exposing her curves. The personalized blaster he gave her last year was holstered on her belt, with a smaller, hold-out blaster strapped to her shin. An ordinary tan vest hung around her shoulders, so plain that nobody would expect that it could take a full salvo of missiles and then some. Her raven hair was pulled back, fully revealing the features of her soft, beautiful face. Her sapphire eyes could bring warmth to your heart, or knifes to your soul.
"Do you mind going a little faster, or should I just get out and walk and meet you there?" Lexi asked, folding her arms across her chest.
"You're the one who won't let me get rid of this thing."
She walked up behind his chair and slapped the back of Kane's head softly. And then leaned in closer to him, putting herself on the side of his head. "We've had this tub for almost eight years now—"
"Exactly," Kane cut her off. "eight years."
"—and so long as we live and breathe, we'll have it for another eight years. So deal with it."
Kane took his eyes off the viewport and stared at her, cheek twitching and opening his mouth to retort, but stopped, the submitted with a sigh.
"Fine." Kane conceded, leaning forward and brushing his lips against her cheeks. She grinned, and then stood. Kane pushed the engines forward, brining a warning light to flash on the console. But they did make it to the clearing in half the time.
He reached out and grasped a short ear-piece between his index and middle finger, lifting it up. "Get on the guns," Kane said as Lexi took the piece and put it in her left ear, and walked out of the cockpit toward the back.
Kane slowed the Crimson Raider, activating the short range sensors and brining up a magnified visual on a small screen on his console. Then squeezed a small ear-piece into his lobe.
Scattered across the field were large broken off chunks and torn pieces of ship, twisted, turned-over, and some just stuck in the ground. Glass, parts, and wires were everywhere, sometimes filling the gaps between chunks. Kane turned and had to smack the screen to get it to come back on and show a negative on the life-signatures readout. Until they got a little closer. Then a small, green blip appeared on the far edge of the screen. Raising an eyebrow, Kane shut down the sensor's and brought up the magnified view, brining it up to where the blip was.
A being, obscured mostly by a ragged brown cloak walked out from the entrance of a cave, and raised an arm before he could see the sentients face. But something caught Kane's eye. He toggled the controls and zoomed in closer, finding a metal cylinder on his belt.
"Jedi," Kane said, not realizing the word had left his mouth. He pushed the small switch on the ear piece in. "You seeing this?"
"Yeah," Lexi replied through the device. "What do you want to do?"
"Fire a warning shot."
Kane watched the screen as a crimson bolt screeched next to the Jedi. He ducked and rolled, and suddenly a brilliant yellow energy blade appeared. Then, the Jedi bolted out of the screens sight.
"We've got a runner."
"Great." Kane murmured, jerking the control yoke to the left. Slowly, the terrain in the viewport began to turn.
"Would you hurry it up?!" Lexi shouted, not even needed the ear piece. Kane tried to ignore her, swearing under his breath. Despite his best efforts, the Crimson Raider still refused to turn around any faster.
But once it did get around, the hull shuttered slightly and after hearing a quick surprised yelp from Lexi and seeing a small bright red warning light begin to flicker on his console, Kane's eyes went to his ship's layout panel. Something seemed off. He then recognized that it was the lack of the bottom cannon. Hell, the whole section was black, like it had been cut off. . .
"Alright, now it's personal." He heard Lexi say through his ear piece. Before he could speak though, a tight, mechanical squeal came from the back, followed by the wisp of continually passing of pressurized air, drowning out all sound. Baffled, Kane turned back to his console to find a message asking if 'he was aware that the exit ramp was extended during flight'. His eyes shot open as his hands danced across the console, activating the automated landing program. It didn't respond, at first. Then after slamming his fist into the cool steel of the console, he got the green light and heard the rickety old ship begin to strain was the landing gears extended out.
Kane charged down the hall and turned, finding the ramp was down and Lexi was gone. Her firing console next to the ramp was dead, with sparks flying from its keyboard. Grabbing the vibro-sword strung up against the wall and noting Lexi's was gone, Kane leapt through the open hole.
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Ben hit the dirt on his side, making himself roll to prevent bouncing and avoid further pain. He whipped his head up in time to catch the turret hitting the ground with sparks shooting from the cut-point. Unfortunately, his lightsaber was nowhere to be seen.
The ship was buckled somewhat, but soon caught itself in time for its exit ramp to extend and a woman, armed with a sword, leapt down, landing only feet from him. Her raven hair flapped wildly as did the flaps of Ben's cloak, a minor wind created from the repulser's.
Her sapphire eyes were grin, matching her expression seamlessly. Ben took a quick glance around, hoping to find a quiet hint of where his weapon was. But he wasn't that lucky, and he knew it. His heart began pounding as she slowly approached, one step at a time with sword held tightly.
His lack of energy and barely medicated leg suddenly began to sink in. His head was throbbing horribly, from the high-pitched whine from the ship. Stop it, he scolded himself. You can either stand here and complain, or fight back. Forcing through the pain, Ben focused his thoughts on the woman just when she threw herself at him. He snapped his eyes shut, and with an exhausted push, sent her soaring away in mid-air, slamming her into a piece of the Burning Phoenix's debris. She hit the ground in a daze, dropping her weapon and holding her swaying head.
Ben opened his eyes and a faint smile touched his lips. Until another being, possibly male, leapt down from the ship, which Ben had only now noticed was slowly descending down with the landing gears out. His boots crunched in the dirt, and now it was Ben's head that swayed. He saw two men stomping toward him, encircling each other in his vision. Setting his teeth firmly together, Ben saw through the fatigue, getting most of his normal vision back.
"You hurt my girl," The man growled, throwing his helmet off and tugging at his goggles with his free hand. "wreck my ship, and waste our time." Ben's legs shook, with nothing near him to brace himself with. His hand clenched into a loose fist. "Well, forget the rules," The man tossed his goggles away, then reached out and grasped Ben's collar, pulling him closer and raising his sword high. "You die."
He swung his sword down in a downward arc, stopping just a hair's breath from the Padawan's neck. His cloak's hood fell, and Ben was shocked to find himself staring at his own face.
