Chapter Ten: "Imperial Entanglements."
Lak hurried straight to the bar that Varec and Braz were at. He ran right through the front doors and down a flight of stairs, hurrying past groups of people and rushing down a hallway until he made it into the large main room. His eyes widened when he immediately saw that some sort of a bar fight had broken out and almost every single person in the bar was fighting at that moment, including Braz and Varec.
The old Clone made his way through the fighting patrons, and he even had to stop and punch one or two who tried to charge at him. By some sort of a miracle he managed to get through all of this and make it straight to the other two fugitives, who were back to back on top of a large table and armed with chairs as they defended themselves against a bar full of hostile people.
"What in the name of the mother of moons is going on in here?! What the hell did you two do this time?!" Lak demanded to know as he climbed up on the table so as to be slightly safer from the fighting, bringing his back to their sides and bringing his fists up just to be safe..
"Oh, funny story!" Varec replied with a small smirk, stopping for a second to hit a Rodian in the face with his metal chair when he got too close, then doing the same to a charging human when he also got far too close for comfort. Both were sent to the floor pretty quick thanks to that and Varec brought his attention back to Lak.
"So, apparently there's no rule in Sabaac that says you're allowed to have one of those cheater chip things up your sleeve!" Varec continued. "They found the damn thing that Braz had and they got really angry, and soon they just started fighting us! But one thing led to another and then half of the bar started fighting too! Then the other half ran off! Thanks a LOT for this one, Braz!" he said with sarcasm and a roll of his eyes.
"Hey, it works all the time! I didn't think they'd get so angry about it! Besides, it was hidden pretty well!" Braz retorted, punching an Ithorian who tried to hit him and sending him flying until he landed on a nearby table, unconscious.
"Obviously not well enough!" Varec retorted as he kicked away another Rodian who tried to grab his arm.
"Whatever! We need to get out of here! Rafik and Kavra are in trouble! Imperial troops found them and they're pinned down outside the city!" Lak replied as he pulled his twin blasters from their holsters, setting them on stun.
Varec was about to reply to that statement when one of the bar patrons managed to grab Varec's chair and yank him down to the floor, where two other patrons quickly pounced on him and proceeded to and kick and punch him repeatedly. Lak and Braz saw this however, so Braz threw his chair at one of the patrons and knocked him over whereas Lak shot the others with his pistols, knocking them out since they were on stun mode. The two fugitives quickly helped Varec up to his feet, and after making sure he was thankfully uninjured they hurried for the exit to try and get back to the Eagle's Pride.
"Hey, watch out!" Braz called out to Varec.
Varec readied his blasters on stun and turned, but that's when he was hit right in the face by a chair that was thrown across the room by... well, who knows. A lot of things were bring thrown by a lot of people by that point. Varec dropped the blasters and landed flat on the ground. That was absolutely going to leave a mark...
"Why do I always get hit?!" Varec exclaimed with annoyance.
"Oh, suck it up!" Lak sarcastically exclaimed as a retort, frowning as he aimed his blasters straight at the person who sent Varec to the floor.
Lak fired twice and stunned the person that hit Varec as Braz hurriedly helped the Zabrak up to his feet again and picked up the two fallen blasters, and the three fugitives then quickly hurried for the exit. They had to stun and punch several more people on the way out, but by some miracle they managed to get out of the mess and back onto the streets. Unfortunately it was soon apparent that someone contacted the Imperials and told them of the bar fight, as a large group of Stormtroopers were hurrying towards their position in order to go in and restore order.
"Run! The bucketheads are coming!" Braz exclaimed to the other two with him.
The Stormtroopers soon noticed the three fugitives that were beginning to run from them, signaling to them that they had something to do with the fight that broke out. A Stormtrooper Captain noticed the trio and he proceeded to begin running after them, readying his blaster as he did.
"Alpha Squad, Charlie Squad, Echo Squad, you all secure this cantina and get the citizens back under control! Shoot to kill if you must!" the Captain ordered in a gruff voice. "Beta Squad, Delta Squad, you all are with me! Get those fugitives!" he also added.
Several Stormtroopers began to run into the cantina with the intent on restoring order as the rest followed the Stormtrooper commander after the fugitives, who proceeded to run down a crowded street in an effort to try and lose the Stormtroopers. The fugitives hurried through the crowds but the Stormtroopers were right on their trail, so they had to think of something and think of it fast!
"Any ideas?!" Braz asked.
"I think I have a couple!" Lak replied.
"Whatever you're planning, do it quick!" Varec added.
The group resumed their sprint as the Stormtroopers kept up their chase. The fugitives hurried through another crowd of people whereas the Stormtroopers simply pushed them out of the way, and soon the three jumped over a small wall and kept up their sprint. They saw that a door was open on a nearby home and the three, with no other plans, simply ran inside the house and shut the door behind them, locking it. The three saw that a small family was inside that was composed of a mother, father and two children.
The fugitives silently put their fingers on their lips in an effort to signal to the family to stay quiet. Thankfully, as there was already no love for the Empire amongst many of the citizens of Jedha, the family simply nodded and agreed to stay silent for the fugitives. The group of Stormtroopers cautiously approached the street in which this house was on, but after several moments the Stormtroopers walked past the house and kept moving, much to the relief of the fugitives and the family inside.
"I think we're in the clear... They'll still be looking for us though. We need to get back to the ship." Lak pointed out as he glanced out of some half-closed window blinds, watching the Stormtroopers walking away.
"Karabast... they're probably gonna impound the Eagle's Pride as soon as they figure out who we are! We need to get back to her!" Varec growled as he holstered his blasters. No one was gonna take away his ship if HE had anything to say about it!
"Keep it down, Varec!" Braz retorted with a glare, knowing the family was already scared enough.
"He's right. We need to get to the Pride before the Empire decides to lock up the entire city. Otherwise we're never getting out of here..." Lak stated as he backed away from the window, also holstering his blasters.
That's when the father in the family cleared his throat and shakily stood up, looking at the fugitives and gaining their attention.
"I can help you with that." the father said.
"How?" Braz asked.
"I work in the landing zones to help unload cargo for the Empire... I- I can at least get you through one of the side entrances and maybe even to your ship. If I help you, will you promise to help me and my family get off-world...?" the father asked.
The three fugitives looked at each other thoughtfully before they all nodded in agreement, then looked back at the father and his family.
"Of course. If you help get us to our ship, we'll bring you wherever you all want to go." Lak replied.
"Where are we taking you guys?" Varec asked.
"We have some relatives who are living on Alderaan and I have a brother living on Corellia, but we'll be happy no matter where you take us. This occupation has brought so much hardship and pain upon us... We just want to go somewhere far from here..." the father replied.
Varec backed away and decided to peek out of the front window as the others talked. He went wide eyed as he noticed a new squad of Stormtroopers were down the street and proceeding to kick in the doors of every house they came across in a search for himself, Lak and Braz. He unholstered his blaster again and quickly hurried back to the group.
"The Stormtroopers are here again! We need to go!"
"Dammit!" Lak cursed as he also proceeded to ready his blasters, then looked back at the father. "Hey, do you got a back door of this place? If we go out there they'll see us in a heartbeat." he stated.
"Yes, we do! Follow us!" the father said.
The rest of the family proceeded to gather their belongings and hurry with the father and the three fugitives out through the back door of their home. Varec closed the door behind them just as the Stormtroopers proceeded to kick in the front and head inside, but once they saw it was empty they walked back out onto the street and continued their search, unaware that the very men they looked for had just escaped from their grip...
Rafik and Kavra were still pinned down with T9 behind the speeder, and the special forces soldiers were not letting up at all. They had managed to take down a few more Imperials, but they were sure reinforcements would arrive soon. They had to think of something fast...
"They're sure taking their time..." Kavra commented, referring to the other fugitives.
"They'll be here soon, hopefully..."
"These Imperials are gonna move up soon... any ideas?"
Rafik kept a tight grip on his blaster as he glanced around the side of the speeder, seeing there was still plenty of Imperial Special Forces personnel out there. He noticed a few cliffs in the distance, but what could he do with that information? They'd get gunned down in a heartbeat if they ran for it. He saw dozens of blasters laying near overturned crates, but again... what was the use for them if they were pinned down? T9 also wouldn't get very far if he sent him to get some, and he wouldn't dare risk Kavra's life over anything.
Rafik sighed and decided to holster his blaster, leaning his back against the speeder as he closed his eyes. He couldn't see many other options but to do something he swore seventeen years ago to never do again in public...
He had to use his Lightsabers. Perhaps even the Force itself...
"Kavra... I need you to trust me with this." Rafik simply said.
"What...? What are you talking about?" Kavra asked, going wide eyed as she felt a feeling of concern build within her.
"Just trust me..."
Kavra's eyes widened as she saw Rafik suddenly turn and walk away from the speeder, heading straight towards the Imperial soldiers. That's when she realized exactly what he was planning to do... As Rafik slowly approached them they all aimed and began to fire their blasters on automatic fire, but even with all of that he still managed to avoid and dodge the shots like it was nothing.
When the soldiers realized he was walking towards them their commander signaled for all of the soldiers to stop firing, as he assumed he was preparing to surrender. That's when Rafik reached behind his back and under his robe and soon revealed that he had two twin metal hilts...
He soon extended his arms in front of him and frowned at the soldiers, who in turn went wide eyed with shock when the two hilts suddenly produced yellow and blue blades of plasma, which meant only one thing: Their target was more than just a rebel... their target was a Jedi Knight!
"O- Open fire... on that Jedi!" the Imperial commander ordered, his years of training being overtaken by a moment of pure fear.
"I'm waiting." Rafik tauntingly retorted with a frown as he gave a twirl with his Lightsabers before crossing them and standing in a combat stance, preparing himself for a fight.
The Imperial soldiers quickly began to fire on Rafik as much as they could, but Rafik simply closed his eyes and trusted in the Force as he used his Lightsabers to block every shot that approached; even directing some back towards the Imperials and scoring a few hits that took down some of the soldiers. Rafik kept his eyes closed and he slowly began to walk towards the soldiers again as a couple panicked, but even though they fired with all of their might they still were no match for this former Jedi Knight.
Rafik opened his eyes as he approached one of the soldiers and quickly stabbed a Lightsaber blade through his breastplate, and used the other Lightsaber to deflect a blaster shot right back at the Imperial who fired it, killing him instantly. Deciding to seize the opportunity, Kavra quickly ran out from behind the speeder and fired blaster shots at the other Imperials, who quickly lost several men to her guns due to being distracted by Rafik.
"Commander, what the hell do we do?! He won't die! He just won't die!" One panicked soldier exclaimed as he fired at Rafik.
"Stay calm! That is an order, soldier! Kill this Jedi scum or die trying to!" the commander retorted, also feeling a bit unnerved at fighting a Jedi.
Rafik opened his eyes and used the Force to throw his yellow Lightsaber at a soldier who was aiming at Kavra, quickly penetrating the blade through his heart and stopping him from shooting his lover. Kavra noticed this and she ran to grab the Lightsaber from the dead Imperial's smoldering chest, and in a move that impressed Rafik she quickly ran for the Imperial commander and sliced off one of his arms with the blade after he aimed his blaster right at her, then she kicked him towards the ground.
The Imperial commander fell to the ground and screamed as Rafik finished off the last Imperial soldier with his other Lightsaber, finally ending the standoff for good. Kavra grinned as she deactivated the Lightsaber she was holding and then quickly tossed it to Rafik, who caught it in the air and put it back in one of the holsters on his back.
"You okay?" Rafik asked as he kept the blue Lightsaber active for now.
"Yeah, yeah... Nice moves back there." Kavra smiled as she grabbed one of the fallen Imperial's blaster rifles while holstering her blaster pistol.
"I could say the same to you."
"Oh? So the big bad Jedi was checking me out, huh? Did he like anything he saw?"
"You know I saw plenty that I liked, Kavra."
T9 wheeled over to the pair and he gave a beep that sounded a lot like a low groan, signaling his displeasure and annoyance at hearing the flirting that the lovers were doing. That's when the Imperial commander groaned and held his new stump of an arm, quickly getting Rafik and Kavra's attention as well. Kavra quickly ran to him and pulled off his helmet, tossing it away as she pressed her boot against his chest to keep him to the ground.
"How'd you know about the arms deal?" Kavra frowned as she aimed the blaster at the commander's head.
"If I were you, I'd certainly listen to the lady and tell her whatever she wants to know." Rafik advised to the commander as he aimed the tip of his Lightsaber towards his face.
The Imperial commander was very frightened and afraid for his life, so it didn't take much to convince him to say what he knew. He still held onto the stump of his severed arm and shakily looked up at the two fugitives that seemed to tower above him.
"O- Okay..." the Imperial commander gulped. "W- We have a Star Destroyer above the Holy City. F- From there we monitor all ships that come onto the planet, a- and we grew suspicious when one ship didn't land on any of the city landing zones. W- We came to the conclusion that it had to be rebels, and we thought about blowing it out of the sky b- but we wanted to lure more rebels to annihilate." he said, fearfully.
"That didn't work out so well..." Kavra stated under her breath.
"So the personnel on the Star Destroyer are watching the ships and if a ship leaves the city without permission then it'll get shot down?" Rafik guessed.
"P- Precisely!" the commander replied.
Kavra and Rafik exchanged a look for a moment before they finally just decided to pull away. Kavra lowered her blaster and Rafik deactivated his Lightsaber, and the two proceeded to start walking away from the scene.
"You can go! But tell your Imperial friends that they should try harder next time!" Kavra quipped to the commander, not looking back.
The Imperial commander quickly stood up and grabbed his severed arm before he hurriedly and fearfully started running away for his life even though the two fugitives decided to spare him. T9 quickly followed close behind Kavra and Rafik as they walked away from the scene, happy that the ordeal was finally ended.
"Those Imperials should have some speeders around nearby. We should load up and salvage as many weapons as we can before we go." Rafik commented.
"Maybe, but if the Pride comes in with TIE fighters shooting at it then we'll need to make a quick getaway. Loading crates of weapons isn't going to help with that." Kavra stated.
"Valid point... We'll leave the weapons. But we can't just walk into the city now. Those soldiers probably alerted half of the Imperials in this system that we're here."
"Any suggestions?"
"I don't know... T9? Do you have any ideas?"
T9 gave an affirmative beep and activated a holographic map of their immediate area, along with the Holy City. Kavra and Rafik looked at it and saw the trackers for Lak, Braz and Varec, and they could see that they were approaching the landing bay areas for the city in an apparent effort to get to the Eagle's Pride.
"Looks like they're heading for the Pride, just like we asked them to. You think they've ran into any trouble?" Kavra asked.
"Hopefully they won't, but I wouldn't be surprised if Braz started a bar fight or something like that." Rafik shrugged.
The pair heard the sound of rocks being moved, causing the pair to quickly ready their weapons and turn to face whatever caused the noise. Thankfully all they saw was the black onyx protocol droid the other rebel cell had brought earlier, which apparently wanted to come back to the scene for some reason as it accidentally pushed over some rocks, making the noises a few moments ago. The protocol droid raised his arms and frightfully stopped right in his tracks when he saw the two armed rebels in front of him.
"You're still around?" Kavra asked with a feeling of surprise. She was certain the droid would have became scrap metal by now.
The protocol droid kept his arms raised and cautiously backed away due to fright, tripping over the body of one of the Imperial soldiers and accidentally falling straight to the ground, where he exclaimed with surprise and proceeded to try to get up.
"Oh dear! This is terrible! I can't get myself back up!" the droid exclaimed with fright.
Kavra and Rafik exchanged a look as they lowered their weapons, holstering them for now. T9 gave another annoyed groan-like beep before Rafik used the Force to help lift the droid right back up onto his feet, shocking the droid as he backed right into one of the Imperial speeders.
"A Jedi Knight?! Oh, thank the Maker! I'm saved!" the droid exclaimed, very happy and very relieved.
"You okay? Seems like you were in a tough spot... What's your name?" Rafik stated as he crossed his arms.
"Oh, certainly sir! And I am an RA-7 model, one of Arakyd Industries finest. My unit designation is R-4C7, but the Maker always called me 'C7' for short." the droid cheerfully said.
"I'm Rafik and this is Kavra." Rafik introduced as he gestured towards Kavra, then gestured towards T9. "And this is our droid, T9-E2." he added.
T9 gave a series of beeps as he curiously approached the droid, who in turn glanced back at the R3 unit that was looking at him. C7 gave a small wave before he turned to look back at Kavra and Rafik.
"Certainly he must be a very capable droid for his Masters, sir." C7 complimented.
At hearing that, T9 gave a beep that sounded very angry as if he couldn't believe this droid said that Rafik and Kavra were his 'Masters'. C7 curiously glanced at the droid as Kavra and Rafik awkwardly started to back a short distance away, hoping a fight between these two droids wouldn't break out... T9 gave a long and loud series of incredibly vulgar and very insulting beeps and other noises that signaled his displeasure, causing C7 to gasp.
"How rude!" C7 exclaimed. "Master Rafik, Master Kavra, your droid certainly seems like he needs a diagnostic exam!" he commented.
"Sometimes it seems like it..." Kavra quietly muttered to herself.
With a series of annoyed beeps, T9 wheeled himself away from the group out of annoyance. Rafik pinched the bridge of his nose out of annoyance before he sighed and turned to look back at C7, as they needed to figure out exactly what to do with this rebel droid.
"You got anywhere you can go?" Rafik asked.
"Certainly, Master Rafik! I have information of a further twenty-two known rebel cells scattered across the Outer Rim, Onderon, Corellia and Lothal just to name examples. If I could be taken to any of those rebel cells to assist in their operations then I would be very grateful." C7 replied.
"Alright, fair enough... I suppose you can come with us for now." Kavra replied with a nod.
"Thank you, Master Kavra." C7 cheerfully replied.
Kavra and Rafik took a glance at each other out of the corner of their eyes, wondering exactly what they were going to do with this droid... They hadn't a clue yet. There was room on the ship for a second droid, but hopefully a rebel cell somewhere could take him off of their hands. If he stayed then the two fugitives could predict there would be a LOT of fighting between him and T9... something they would definitely wish to avoid.
The three fugitives and the family had successfully evaded the Imperial patrols and made it to one of the side entrances of the landing bay, which was situated in a back alleyway a bit far from the main streets of Jedha. No one was going to find them unless they actively looked in that specific spot, but the fugitives managed to stun the two Imperial Stormtroopers that were guarding the door and quickly hid them inside of a dumpster, thankfully not raising any alarms.
Braz and Varec kept watch with their blasters as the group patiently waited for the father to type in the entrance codes to the door, but when they saw it was taking a long time the three fugitives began to become increasingly annoyed and worried that they could get caught by the Empire.
"What's taking so long?" Varec frowned.
"I- I don't know!" the father exclaimed as he kept trying to type in the entrance codes. "Dammit! It keeps denying them! They must've changed the codes when they started looking for you!" he said.
"So you're telling us that you can't get us inside?!" Varec asked with anger.
"Easy, Varec! We'll find another way in!" Braz said in an effort to shush him. They couldn't let Varec's loud mouth get them spotted before they even got inside! Unfortunately that effort to quiet him down didn't work and soon the two began getting in an argument.
"Don't tell me to be easy, Braz! You know what I realized? We could've been long gone by now if it wasn't for your little card trick in the cantina!"
"Oh, so now it's my fault?! What about Kavra and Rafik?! We could've saved them by now and we would've been long gone if you answered your communicator!"
"Don't you even think of turning this around on me, Braz!"
"You're damn right I'll turn this around on you, because it's all your fault that we're even in this situation!"
Lak sighed with annoyance as he holstered his twin blasters as both he and the family saw the two smugglers beginning to argue. He reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled a small explosive charge out of it, quietly placing it on the door as Braz and Varec were too busy arguing to even notice this. Lak ushered the family a short and safe distance away from the now explosive-ridden door and silently pulled a small detonator out of another pouch on his belt, still watching as Braz and Varec still kept arguing in front of them.
Without warning the other fugitives, Lak pressed the button on the detonator, causing the explosive to detonate and the door to be completely demolished. Varec and Braz were thrown by the force of the explosion and they landed in a garbage pile that was a short distance away. A very smelly and dirty garbage pile full of who knew what from who knew where... Lak put away his detonator as he walked over to the now garbage-covered fugitives, crossing his arms as he gave a small smirk.
"Hey, so we got the door open." Lak pointed out with a grin. "You gonna just lay around all day or are we gonna get back to our ship?"
Braz and Varec grumbled to themselves with annoyance as they climbed out of the garbage pile, brushing the garbage off of them as they did so. The two knew they were each going to need at least one or two showers after that episode... or several.
After making it through the door, the fugitives and the family evaded Imperial patrols as they snuck through the landing bay, and soon they saw the Eagle's Pride sitting on its landing spot in the distance. There were already Stormtroopers guarding the ship and some Imperial engineers examining and searching the ship, and there was several other Stormtroopers patrolling the area around the ship. The three fugitives readied their blasters for a fight as Lak turned to look back at the family.
"Stay in cover and move only when we tell you to. Clear?" Lak asked.
The family all quietly nodded and prepared themselves for what was to come. Varec and Braz moved to separate piles of crates closer to the ship and got into position, with Lak staying back so as to help escort the family. They all realized that there was no way they could get any closer to the ship silently as there were far too many open spaces to sneak effectively, and that coupled with the numerous amount of Stormtroopers meant that now was the time to go loud and fight their way to the Eagle's Pride.
Varec and Braz gave a nod to each other before the pair stood up and began firing right at the Stormtroopers in front of the Eagle's Pride in an ambush, soon causing the base to go on alert and causing much more Stormtroopers to be ordered to run to the position and join the fight. Lak fired at and took down a pair of Stormtroopers that began to get too close as he hurriedly escorted the family towards the Eagle's Pride, stopping to take cover behind crates a few times. That's when Lak heard a scream of pain and turned to see Braz laying on the ground, clutching his shoulder after being hit by an Imperial blaster.
"BRAZ!" He heard Varec exclaim with worry for his friend.
"Dammit!" Lak exclaimed as he readied his blasters and hurried to try and help his friend. The family stayed behind in cover as Lak fired at the Stormtroopers and covered Varec as he proceeded to give first aid to Braz, and when a Stormtrooper got close to the family and aimed he was taken down by Lak. The father went wide eyed as he noticed more Stormtroopers were closing in, and that it appeared that the entire group including his family were about to be overrun. If that happened then perhaps they'd be captured and tortured, if not outright killed... He took a deep breath and gathered his courage, and that's when he did something absolutely extraordinary.
The father ran to the fallen Stormtrooper's blaster and quickly picked it up from the ground, then he began to fire at the other Stormtroopers as much as he could. Lak, Braz and Varec were all shocked to see this act of bravery, which only intensified as the father soon was fired upon by dozens of enemy Stormtroopers.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Varec demanded to know.
"Get inside your ship! GO! I'll be fine, just get my family out of here and don't worry about me!" the father exclaimed as he kept drawing the Stormtroopers fire away from the others.
"Father!" one of the children exclaimed with horror as she realized her father was sacrificing himself.
Lak quickly ran to the family and quickly began ushering them towards the Eagle's Pride as Varec helped bring Braz inside and to the cockpit, as he still needed a co-pilot. The mother tearfully pulled her children inside as Lak took one last look at the father, seeing that he was still bravely holding off the Stormtroopers as best as he could. Unfortunately just a moment later he took a blaster shot right to the arm that caused him to stumble for a moment, but he still kept firing the blaster with one of his hands and he took down a few more Stormtroopers before four more shots hit him right in the chest, killing him instantly.
Lak then quickly and reluctantly ran into the Eagle's Pride before the door closed up, and he quickly ran to the cockpit to see Varec and Braz hurriedly began prepping the ship for takeoff. Braz cringed and held onto his wounded shoulder as he kept prepping the ship for takeoff, drawing a look of concern from Varec and Lak before Braz flashed a small grin, although still in a considerable amount of pain.
"I'll be fine, don't worry..." Braz commented to the pair.
"Alright..." Varec nodded before turning his attention to Lak. "Get to one of the turrets, Lak! We're gonna be crawling with Imperial fighters when we pick up the others! We need to be in and out of there in seconds!" Varec exclaimed as he flipped a few switches on the cockpit's console.
Outside of the ship the groups of Stormtroopers ran close to the Eagle's Pride and began to fire upon the ship, with a few of the Stormtroopers even setting up manual turrets to support in the attack. Lak ran to a ladder and climbed down and sat himself in one of the turrets as the family took shelter in the cargo bay, and soon the engines of the Eagle's Pride were active and the ship began to get in the air. The Stormtroopers fired at the ship until it blasted its way off of the landing pad, but as soon as they got into the sky the crew could see several TIE fighters had been called in and were now on the way for an attack run on the Eagle's Pride. Lak frowned and put on a communications headset and readied his turret for combat.
"TIE fighters incoming!" Lak announced.
"Just hold them off until we get the others! Then you'll have some backup!" Varec replied.
"I'll contact Kavra and let her know we're coming, but even then we're still going to need to worry about that Star Destroyer above the city!" Braz informed as the sensors on the ship counted ten TIE fighters chasing after them.
"One step at a time, Braz! One step at a time..." Varec replied as he began to prep the hyperdrive, knowing that they were going to need to get the hell out of there once they picked up the others.
Lak began to fire at the chasing TIE fighters as the Eagle's Pride flew out of the Holy City of Jedha as fast as Varec and Braz could make it. The TIE fighters were hot on their tail and Lak fired at the Imperials as accurately as he could, but there was far too many and he was only one old Clone with a single turret.
One TIE fighter was shot down by Lak and crashed in the desert as the others fired at the Eagle's Pride, with one scoring a good hit right on the one of the laser cannons of the ship. The shields protected it, but the impact was enough to jostle everyone inside the ship. The Star Destroyer above the city also began firing at the ship, but Varec managed to dodge all of the laser fire from the behemoth as he checked the specs on the Eagle's Pride, seeing that the ship took a little damage from the TIE fighter's shot.
"Dammit, Lak! We can't take much more of that!" Braz said as he examined the readings on the ship's shields.
"There's too many fighters!" Lak retorted.
"Just keep them away for a little longer! We're almost there!" Varec replied.
Just after Varec said that, a TIE fighter swept in for an attack run and opened fire on the Eagle's Pride, successfully damaging the ship's antenna and causing the people inside to be jostled once more. Lak fired back at the attacking TIE fighters and he successfully hit one on it's left solar panel, sending the craft tumbling straight into another TIE fighter before both exploded in the air.
"I'm going high! Hang on!" Varec said.
Lak was jostled in his seat as the Eagle's Pride suddenly jolted and sped straight towards the sky with the remaining TIE fighters still hot on their tail. The family was thankfully buckled into their seats and holding each other tight as Varec flew the spacecraft high into the air, then doing a loop that sent the ship so close to the ground that he himself actually began to sweat from worry. Lak then proceeded to shoot down another TIE fighter as the Eagle's Pride hurried to get to Kavra, Rafik and T9...
Rafik was wide eyed as he could see the Eagle's Pride beginning to approach from afar, with several TIE fighters firing at it during the chase. He pulled his Lightsabers back out from his robe and ignited them as he knew he was going to have to deflect laser fire as they tried to get to the ship.
"Varec, you brought friends!" Kavra stated on her comm.
"What can I say? I love to make an entrance!" Varec sarcastically quipped back to her.
One TIE fighter noticed the group on the ground and began to make an attack run, firing its laser cannons at everyone below. Kavra dived for cover and T9 went with her, but C7 ran over to Rafik as the Jedi began trying to deflect a few shots back at the TIE.
"Master Rafik! It appears we are under attack!" C7 reported.
"Are you seriously believing that I need to be notified of that?!" Rafik asked, completely dumbfounded and in disbelief at the fact that the droid had to report this to him even though it was more than obvious.
"But sir! The odds of successfully escaping an attack such as this are-"
Suddenly a blast from the TIE fighter hit the ground right in front of them, sending the Jedi and the droid flying back. Kavra began firing at the TIE fighter as it came back around as Rafik groggily sat up from where he landed, noticing that C7 was laying nearby and that one of his arms was blown off.
"Oh! Oh, my arm! Maker protect me, my arm is gone!" C7 exclaimed with panic as he saw his severed arm and all of the bits of circuitry laying everywhere.
Rafik managed to get himself up off the ground, and although he was wounded by the blast he found the strength to walk a few paces ahead and pick up his Lightsabers, placing them back under his robe. The TIE fighter that made the attack run earlier was now approaching again, preparing to fire as Rafik looked straight up at it. He then raised his arm and reached out with the Force, grabbing the TIE fighter and making it freeze in the air after a few moments. Kavra noticed this and she began firing at the TIE fighter and managed to get a shot through the front window, killing the unfortunate pilot inside.
The Eagle's Pride came in for a landing a short distance away as Rafik pushed the TIE fighter straight into another two TIEs that were fast approaching to fire on their starship. They were completely destroyed thanks to that act, and their mangled remains crashed a short distance away. The Eagle's Pride soon had its cargo bay doors open and Lak gave everyone covering fire against another pair of TIE fighters as T9 hurried straight towards the ship, with Rafik and Kavra hurrying to get C7 on his feet and moving.
"C'mon, get in here! Those TIE fighters are gonna be a problem in a few minutes!" Braz said to the others outside.
"We're coming, we're coming! The droids are slow!" Kavra replied with a roll of her eyes.
Rafik used the Force to pull C7's severed arm into his hand as he and Kavra brought the droid to the cargo bay ramp, with T7 hurrying inside of the ship to do some interim repairs on some of the parts of the ship. The cargo bay door closed as Kavra and Rafik set the protocol droid down on an open spot on the floor and assured him that they'd be back for him before the pair hurried to the other two gun turrets as Varec blasted the ship straight towards the sky, trying to evade more TIE fighters that were starting to approach.
"That Star Destroyer's got nothing on the Eagle's Pride!" Braz cockily said.
"Yeah, but those TIE fighters might! Stay sharp!" Varec replied as the ship began to pass through Jedha's atmosphere. The TIE fighters proceeded to attack the starship as it finally made it off of Jedha and into space, but much to the shock of the crew they could see the Imperials were already waiting for them... Two Imperial Star Destroyers were approaching from afar, and the pilots could already see many more TIE fighters were coming in for an approach.
Varec frowned and he pushed the Eagle's Pride to go as fast as she could, charging straight towards the Star Destroyers. He was damn sure that no one was going to put him in captivity, and no one at all was going to take his ship away from him...
"Hey, so I'm really sorry to ask and I hope it's not rude of me to do so, but did I miss the part where you decided to charge at two Star Destroyers like a kriffing madman, Varec?!" Kavra asked with shock and a lot of sarcasm.
"If I go in any other direction then those TIE fighters are bound to tear us to shreds! If I go straight at the Star Destroyers then maybe I can maneuver through their blaster fire and get on the other side!" Varec explained. "Braz, prep that hyperdrive! We're gonna need it in a few minutes!" he said to his co-pilot.
"On it right now!" Braz replied as he messed with a console next to him, beginning to ready the hyperdrive.
The three gunners fired at the TIEs and worked as hard as they could to protect their ship as Varec flew straight towards the Star Destroyers. The many turrets on the Star Destroyer began to fire upon the Pride, but Varec flew dangerously close and skimmed the surface of one so the turrets wouldn't be able to hit it. The TIE fighters kept attacking however, but the smuggler ship was fast enough to avoid the shots.
"Watch it, Varec! One hit from those Destroyers and we'll be blasted across this entire system!" Lak exclaimed.
"I heard ya, I heard ya! Sheesh, you sound like my mother by this point!" Varec responded with a hint of annoyance.
The Eagle's Pride flew across the surface of the Star Destroyer while under heavy fire from the TIEs, although Lak, Kavra and Rafik were succeeding in shooting some of the pursuers down. Varec approached the bridge of the Imperial ship and jerked back on the steering mechanism, sending the ship straight up and over the bridge of the Star Destroyer, successfully evading their cannon fire. He then leveled the ship and successfully got on the other side of these attackers. Now they had clear space for a few seconds, which was more than enough time for them to finally escape Jedha.
"Hyperdrive is ready!" Braz announced.
Varec nodded in confirmation as he pressed a few buttons on his console and then gripped a lever nearby, slowly pushing it forward and activating the hyperdrive. The all-too-familiar sight of the stars stretching out appeared on their front windows, and just as the TIE fighters caught up to them to try and shoot the Eagle's Pride had already made a getaway. The fugitives, the family and the droids were finally safe...
However, what they didn't know was that there was a distant third Star Destroyer, with one person on the bridge watching the scene with a large feeling of interest. A figure wearing robes and a black hood stood with his arms crossed as he looked out of the windows of the bridge, watching as the Eagle's Pride as it finally went into hyperspace.
His interest in the ship and its crew was definitely peaked. After all, it took skill to evade two Star Destroyers and countless Imperial fighters. He would certainly do some research on the ship and try to find the identities of its crew...