Chapter 4: The Escape

Nightshroud: Okay, the last chapter of the Oovo IV chapter. Hope you enjoy!
Zam and Jango stood in the asteroid, outside of the prison's security tower.

"Hey, you made it out. I knew you would."

"I need to shut down the prion's shield to get off this rock. Got any ideas?"

"Well, let's see. You've got to somehow overheat the cooling units on the towers three relay arms. That'll cause a core melt down. That should shut it down I think."

"What about you?"

"Eh, don't worry about me, stranger. Tis the best day I've had in decades. See you on the other side, eh stranger."

Jango creeped behind a rock, watching the entrance to the security tower. Zam was behind a rock farther back, watching Fust.

"Follow me at a safe distance, all right?" he told her through his communicator.

"Right, I'll be behind you," she replied. He nodded back to her, then jumped out and began firing a volley of blaster fire at the guards. They didn't have enough time to even fire a shot before they were all dead.

"Let's go," Jango said.

They ran through the blast doors and into a hallway. Jango looked around the corner and saw a few guards. He grabbed a grenade off of his belt and threw it down the hall. Zam heard some cries of confusion before a small explosion rocked the hallway.

"Nice," said Zam, following Jango down the hall. Jango spotted a door leading to the right, and they opened it to find themselves in an elevator. Jango pressed the lift button, and they ascended.

"You think we have a chance of making it out of here?" Zam asked him.

"I don't die that easily," Jango replied. Zam sighed and looked over at Fust to make sure he was behaving. This bounty hunter wasn't one for conversation she noted.

Once the elevator stopped, they came into another hallway. They ducked behind some pillars as the guards fired off some blaster shots. Zam pulled her blaster and gave Jango cover as he ran forward and took out the guards. He ducked to the side as a security cannon on the ceiling fired at him. He fired off a missile at it, which easily took it out.

"We're clear," he told Zam over his helmet. She emerged from behind the pillar with Fust in tow. They took off down the hallway until they came to another door. Once they opened it, Zam drew in a breath. It was a huge round room. There were doors around it at all different heights with walkways leading to them. Guards were everywhere, stationed to guard the doors, which Zam figured must lead to the cooling units. There was a large metal pillar in the middle of the room for support, and a huge pit around it. Zam suddenly felt herself being pushed back as blaster fire hit all around them. Zam muttered a quick "thanks" to Jango for getting her out of the way.

"Stay here," he ordered. She went back far enough into the hallway to be safe, but also be able to see. Jango rolled and dodged the blaster fire from the guards with ease, then took off with his jetpack, flying at one of the guards. The guards grabbed for his blaster, but Jango shot his wrist cable and caught him. Jango flew past him, pulling him off the walkway. Then he detached the cable, sending the guard plummeting to his death. Jango landed on the walkway and shot off bunch of shots, so that the guards had to take cover. He took the door near him and went down the hallway. He took out the guards with chilling ease, then headed into the reactor room. A large number of guards were stationed there, Jango noticed. He barced himself a sent off a missile at a large group of guards. They screamed and scrambled for cover, but the missile took them out. He turned and rocketed out of the way as a missile flew past him. He shot the guard down with a shot to the head. He landed and looked around for more guards, but found himself all alone. He looked down at the cooling unit for the reactor and smiled with satisfaction. He jumped down on the lower platform around it and cut the grate protecting its programming with his gauntlet laser. He then aimed his blaster and let loose a few shots to ensure that it was destroyed.

"Reactor core overheating!" came the computerized warning. "Reactor core number one has shut down."

"One down," Jango said.

Zam sighed as she sat with her back against the wall and her blaster ready. Fust sat next to her, already resigned to his fate. The blast doors opened, and Jango came in.

"The shield reactors are down," he said. Zam grinned and stood.

"You're pretty impressive, you know."

"I know."

Zam frowned as he walked back out into the large room. What he was lacking in conversation he certaintly wasn't lacking in confidence. She followed him out onto the walkway, then realized that the only way to make it up to the doorway they needed to go to was by jetpack.

"How am I supposed to get up there if I don't have a jetpack?" asked Zam. Jango turned to her.

"I'll have to fly you up," he said, holding out his hand. Zam, realizing that this might just be an attempt to get rid of her (like letting go and dropping her over the pit), was reluctant to take his hand. She stepped forward slowly, reaching her hand out. Jango, feeling that this was taking too long, waited till her hand was in his, then gave her a tug forward with his arm. She stumbled forward and fell into him. Zam blushed, realizing that she had wrapped her arms around him to steady herself from the fall and had her head on his chest. She stepped back, looking flustered.

"Nervous?" asked Jango, cocking his head to the side. She imagined he was smirking beneath his helmet. Her face flushed deeper, then she turned her face away and tried to sound callous.

"It'll take a lot more than you to make me nervous," she said as unemotional as she could muster. Jango gave a chuckle and stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"You'd better hold on," he said. Zam couldn't help but feel nervous. After all, she had never let a man hold her like this before. She made sure her voice wouldn't fail her before she spoke.

"What about Fust?" she asked. He looked past her to where the prisoner stood, nervously wringing his hands. Jango let his one arm go and shot his wrist cable at Fust, ensnaring him.

"That should do."

Zam put her arms around his neck and braced herself as Jango took off with his jetpack. She hadn't realized till then hopw strong he must be, to hold her and tug Fust along. They reached the ledge leading to the door, and Jango let go over her.

"Let's keep going," he said, his voice devoid of any of the slight playfulness it had before. He detached the whipcord from Fust and walked into the hallway with Zam behind.

They entered into a hallway, then passed through a blast door. They saw a large group of guards down the stairs with a blaster cannon on the ceiling. Jango immediately sprung into action, taking out the blaster cannon before unleashing blaster volley on the guards. Zam pulled her blaster out and took fire, and the two took out the remaining guards.

"Let's go," he said. She nodded and followed him into the next hallway.

After making their way down a series of hallways, the two found themselves in the hangar. Jango spied the Firespray prototype and headed for it, taking out the guards on the way. Zam followed behind, dragging Fust along with her. Jango opened the hold and the two went inside. The ship came to life and lifted out of its spot. The guards left dashed out of the way as it flew out of the hangar. Jango stopped once outside and turned the cannons back at the hangar.

"What are you doing?" Zam asked.

"Cleaning up," he replied.

He let loose the cannons, taking out the entire hangar. Once he was satisfied with the job, Jango turned the ship around and took off, leaving the asteroid behind.

Nightshroud: Exciting? I hope so. And a bit off fluff too hehe. 8D I will try to put some in there, while keeping it from being too OOC. Well anway, I hope you enjoyed. Leave a review and some love!

Next chapter: A Tense Partnership