CHAPTER 4

He was running with his physical body, but with his mind he was feeling for the way out of the underground complex. He limited his draw on the force so Weena could keep up with him. He pulled the comlink out of its pouch and keyed the Perseverance's frequency. "Perseverance, this is Kay-Dee One do you copy? … Bryne, come in!"

"This is the Perseverance … Uh … I copy you. Uh … what can I do for you?" It was Bryne's voice, but he sounded in distress.

"Bryne, I need an extraction for two, like, yesterday. Right now it's okay, but it's going to be a hot one. I can't make it to you, but there's a ridge just outside the community with a plateau a couple hundred meters up. We'll meet you up there. Do you copy?" Seconds passed.

The comlink crackled. "Uh … yessir, I read your com coordinates, we'll see you there." His voice sounded stressed. Maybe he was having problems of his own. No, he'd be where they needed him to be. It was hard to imagine a situation Bryne couldn't handle.

Keeping up pace with Kibol wasn't hard at all. He was probably thinking he had to run slow to make it easier on her. The pace was not the problem, she was an experienced runner. It was the tendrils of guilt starting to wrap around her conscience that were slowing her down.

They came upon an exit facing North. Through the archway, they could see the fractured peak they were heading for. As they ascended the exit ramp, they heard the whine of repulsor engines, the speeder variety. Two armed Patronians appeared in the walkway above them brandishing handheld blasters. Kibol gestured with his right arm and both the security guards launched up and over their heads. The screamed and limbs flailed wildly as they passed overhead and landed far behind them. Weena gracefully picked up a blaster that skittered on the ramp past her. At the top of the ramp, the two-seater speeder was idling.

The scene outside was from a doomsday holovid. There was a mixture of beings running about panicked in every direction. Two-seater security bikes were buzzing around looking for them. Little by little pedestrians took notice of the two out of place beings mounting up on the security speeder. A few began to shout and point. Some grabbed the first object available and threw it in their direction. This wasn't going to be a quick getaway.

Kibol jumped on the forward seat and hit the accelerator. Weena strapped herself into the rear facing seat and they sped away, zigzagging their way through the town. Three security team speeders brought up the rear in pursuit. As they reached the less populated outskirts, the security bikes began to open fire on them. Weena popped up and down behind the rear blast shield and took well aimed shots at the three moving targets.

One of the speeders buckled in front after being hit by one of Weena's bolts. It burst into smoke and disappeared behind a ridge, too damaged to continue. The other two widened their spread and tried to out-flank their speeder. The two Patronian rear gunners had a more advantageous forward angle of fire like this and the two pursuers could create a better crossfire arc. Shots began to rock the rear of the bike side to side. Weena was sure she or Kibol were about to be struck.

Taking quick glances over his shoulders and their attackers, Kibol tried to come up with a solution. He needed to do something Jedi-ish. With text book execution, he hit the brakes on the speeder and decelerated hard. The pursuing speeder blew past him in a blinding blur. That move always worked. Weena recognized the maneuver and unstrapped herself. Kibol left the bike idling and jumped off and hit the ground running. The momentum still carried the speeder forward at a moderately slow rate.

Igniting both lightsabers, he twirled them in alternating arcs in front of them and captured and redirected all the incoming fire. Weena stood up on the bike, one knee on the driver seat and one foot on the steering yoke. She held the blaster marksman style and took aim. With the speeder essentially floating on repulsors, Kibol running ahead full clip with lightsaber defense, and Weena perched and firing, they were a light armored tank of sorts.

One pursuing speeder was picked apart by Weena's blaster fire and crashed, throwing the occupants free. The other one got too close, Kibol buried it in the ground nose first by a wall of force energy. Kibol deactivated his weapons and somersaulted backward towards their speeder. Weena took the cue and spun around in her seat. Kibol landed in the driver's saddle and slammed the accelerator forward and they returned to full speed ahead.

When they arrived at the hill, the face was nearly vertical. Kibol reached in his rear pouch and pulled out the slim-cable. He threw force the grappling hook with force enhanced velocity and guided it around an outcropping by the plateau.

"Can you climb?" Kibol asked.

"I'm just worried about you." She said as she ripped two strips of cloth off of the fringe of her skirt and wrapped both hands in the material. She started up the rope, hand over hand, finding foot holds in the rock as she picked her way up.

Kibol just looked at her, shook his head and grinned. "This has long day written all over it." The taunt made her climb faster. Some things don't change. But this is how it was rescuing a strong minded and independent woman. He supposed it was better than having to do all the work. To these two, danger and impossible circumstances had turned into a bizarre courting ritual. Neither could agree on the terms, and nor was it spoken what the outcome should be.