Chapter 26: Rescue

Dustil walked a little ahead of Carth and Revan along the thoroughfare, which was crowded with people of all races, though the native Sluissi were the most numerous. He stared around at the sights, taking in as much as he could.

It was their third day in the capital city of Sluis Van. They had already met with all of the informants located on the planet, and now were simply waiting for the shipyard to complete the modifications to the Ebon Hawk. As Carth had predicted, it would take approximately two weeks for the job to be finished.

Revan and Carth watched in amusement as Dustil played the goggle-eyed tourist. Still, they were also running visual sweeps of their surroundings constantly, both having experienced the unpleasantness of ambushes both before, and after, the Star Forge.

Which was why both Carth and Revan caught the distant sounds of blaster fire and saw bolts flying in the distance at the same time.

Dustil felt hands on both of his arms, and then he was yanked unceremoniously behind a nearby building's support column. "What--?" Revan had grabbed him on one side, Carth on the other.

"Somebody's blasting," Carth explained tersely. He huddled behind another column, hand clenching on the hilt of the sword at his waist, peering cautiously out in the direction of the shooting.

Dustil put one hand on a blaster, comforted a little by its presence. The crowds of people in their immediate vicinity had not yet noticed, but he could hear panicked shouts and cries further away, along with the sounds of blaster fire.

The noise of an air speeder, its engines whining in distress, reached their ears. Dustil wrinkled his nose as the wind blew the smell of acrid, oily smoke and burning metal his way. And then they saw it, along with the rest of the crowd. People scrambled and ran away in fear.

The air speeder's riders were blasting back at something Dustil couldn't see, but they couldn't have had much luck in their aim, because the speeder was swooping around erratically and shaking. Smoke streamed from the engines, and Dustil thought he saw flames licking out the back.

The driver managed to land the speeder on the now-empty thoroughfare before the repulsorlift cut out altogether. The speeder plowed into the ground, throwing up sparks as metal scraped, screeching to a shaky halt on the permacrete.

The riders piled out immediately, and then Dustil saw one of them grab what looked like an unconscious body from the backseat and haul it over his shoulder. He caught a glimpse of long platinum hair and feminine limbs flopping down the man's back.

Dustil turned to Revan and Carth, about to ask them if they could intervene, when he saw the significant glance pass between them. They had a deep rapport with each other he had yet to develop, but he should've known that neither his father nor Revan would ignore the situation developing in front of them.

Carth turned to Dustil. "Stay here and cover us. We'll go stop them, but set your blasters to stun. We're strangers here, and the police won't appreciate offworlders leaving dead bodies behind, no matter how altruistic the cause."

Dustil nodded. "Be careful," he said, to both of them. His hands were already adjusting the power settings on his pistols. Revan flashed him a confident grin, while his father smiled.

Revan called on the Force to surround the three of them in protective shells before darting out from behind her cover towards the apparent kidnappers, who were already starting to run away.

Dustil's blaster fire attracted their attention when he dropped one of the men in the back of the ten-man group with a direct shot to the head. Four of them turned, to see Carth and Revan bearing down on them in a flanking maneuver.

The surprise on their faces turned to sneering contempt at the sight of these obviously-crazy people who were outnumbered nine-to-two. To three, if they counted Dustil. They opened fire while the other five in their group broke off and ran with the girl.

Revan held her forearms up protectively in front of her face, the blaster fire washing harmlessly onto her gauntlets, never pausing in her run. Carth, having no such protection, simply ignored the blaster fire coming his way, trusting in Revan's Force defense and his armor, shrugging off any shots that managed to hit him as he dodged and zigzagged from side to side.

Revan had unbuckled one of the vibroblades at her side and wielded it like a short club, not bothering to unsheathe it. She knocked aside the blaster from one man's hand with the tip, then flipped up the pommel to smash in his face. She kicked him in the stomach, and brought the sword down onto the back of his head when he bent over from the blow, knocking him out.

Carth eschewed the finesse of Revan's tactics, crashing directly into the middle of the group, knocking off balance three of them with his charge. Carth's lariat strikes threw two of them hard to the ground. One man's gun hand was crushed beneath Carth's grinding heel, while another one had his ribs caved in by the soldier's swift, vicious kick. Neither were killing blows, but they were quite incapacitated by their injuries. Carth struck them both in the temples with the hilt of one of his swords.

Revan had crouched by the third one Carth had knocked down, and administered two short, sharp raps to the back of his head with her scabbarded sword, rendering him unconscious. She leapt up to follow the five running off with the girl in the distance, Carth on her heels. Dustil ventured out from behind his shelter to run after them, pausing only to double-tap the fallen men in their heads, just in case. Then he rushed off hastily after his father.

The crowds had dispersed in panic from the thoroughfare, but several blocks away they still filled the streets, ignorant of the fight that had ocurred just a short distance away.

The kidnappers were running down a long flight of ancient-looking stairs, possibly a holdover from some distant time of the city when repulsorlift had not yet been in wide use. They pushed aside the people in their way roughly.

Revan, as she followed, eeling along through the crowds rather than pushing people aside, thought that these men were most probably professionals. Four had remained as a rearguard, to slow down and stop her and Carth, while the other five had run off to accomplish their mission. She studied their disposition even as she pelted after them.

Two were in the back, most likely to spot and stop any pursuit. Two were in front, outriders to clear a path for the fifth, who was in the protected center, carrying the girl slung over his shoulder.

Revan had nearly reached the stairs, Carth only a few steps behind. She looked around, dismayed by the press of bodies. The crowd had thinned somewhat, trying to get away from the armed men shoving people aside violently, but the kidnappers had already reached the middle of the stairs. The crowd had closed up behind the running men like water flowing back into a hole, and she and Carth would be slowed even more if they tried to repeat the kidnappers' methods.

Then she wouldn't use the same methods.

She ran faster, and hopped up onto the banister of the stairs. She bent her knees, hunching her body, and began to slide down the rail. She held out her arms to either side to keep her balance.

Carth saw Revan taking the shortcut, and shook his head. There was no way he could imitate her move. He resheathed his swords and ran through the crowd, moving between people as fast as he could, though he tried to be gentler with his shoves.

Revan slid down the rail like a surfer on a board, the wind of her passage sweeping her hair back, the beads clacking musically. The men in the rearguard spotted her and brought up their blasters, but she was a small, rapidly-moving target, and what bolts did hit her were absorbed by her gauntlets.

She knocked one man down with a strike to his stomach, driving in the point of her scabbard like a lance as she ducked under his outstretched arm. The man went down, all the wind driven out of him. The other man was struck in the head with the pommel on the backstroke, sending him reeling, though not unconscious. She continued her slide down the rail.

Carth was happy to take care of that small detail, though, when he finally reached them. The crowd had melted away when the men had fired on Revan, so his progress down the stairs was no longer hindered. He caught one of them by the back of his collar and slammed his forehead down onto the banister. The man bounced back and fell, and did not move.

The other was wheezing, but had meanwhile recovered his blaster. It did him no good, because a hand like durasteel clamped down on his wrist and twisted. The man screamed as his wrist bones cracked and broke. He looked up into the scarred, most evil-looking face he'd ever seen, until the stranger brought his fist up and punched him, sending him into blessed oblivion.

Revan continued her wild slide down the rail, coming up on the man carrying what she could now see was a woman. She frowned. She had to stop the man quickly; they might have orders to kill their target if they couldn't carry out the kidnapping. The man had not yet noticed that his rearguard had been routed.

Revan jumped off the banister, using her momentum to propel her through the air in a somersault that brought both of her feet into the man's back, though she was careful not to also kick the woman. The man staggered forward, windmilling his free arm, trying to keep his feet on the stairs. He lurched forward and lost his balance, sprawling untidily. He had reflexively released the woman, throwing out his hands to stop himself from hitting the steps. The woman slid off his back to land bonelessly next to him.

Revan literally pounced on the man, her feet again hitting his back, the force of her landing pitching him facefirst to the steps and driving all of the breath out of his lungs. She delivered two sharp raps to the back of his head with her sword, and he slumped quietly back down.

The outriders had by now noticed that their fellows were no longer following them. They swarmed back up the stairs, intent on completing their mission, only to see Revan hovering protectively over the fallen woman.

The two men snarled and brought up their blasters as they raced up. Revan dropped to one knee, shielding the woman from their fire as best she could, holding her arms up in front of herself, slapping away bolts if they came near to hitting the other woman.

A blaster bolt hit one of the men in the shoulder, and he grunted in pain, falling back. The other glanced up to see Dustil shooting his blasters down from the high ground, but he continued on in the face of the fire.

Revan wondered at that determination. Their tenacity would've been commendable if she weren't on the receiving end of it, but what could buy such loyalty? Surely credits were insufficient. Or not... quite a good many people would do anything for the right price. For the level of skill these kidnappers had shown, it was not unreasonable to assume they had been paid a lot of credits for this job. Just who is this woman?

Carth had arrived, and his vibroblade licked out, stabbing the man's blaster hand with an economical thrust, making him drop his gun. Revan judged it safe enough to leave the woman where she lay to go on the offensive. She lunged up from her crouch to engage the other man, who had recovered somewhat from his blaster wound.

Revan brought her sword up in an underhand swing, hitting the man's arm so that his aim was thrown off. The blaster in his hand shot harmlessly at the empty sky. Her foot drove up into stomach. He bent over as all the air was driven out of him, as her kick nearly ruptured his diaphragm with the force of her blow. She brought the pommel of her blade straight up into the soft underside of his chin, snapping his head back. She swept his legs out from under him as he reeled, dropping him hard to the steps. He rolled down, before slithering to a halt on a small landing, and lay still.

Carth had already dealt with his own opponent, who was lying at his feet, groaning, his face bloody from a smashed nose. He lay curled up, and Revan thought she discerned the raspy, bubbling breathing of a man with broken ribs.

Revan moved immediately to the woman, who was still sprawled on the steps where she had left her. Quickly, Revan checked the woman's pulse and breathing. "Damn," she breathed.

"What is it?" Carth asked. He rummaged in his pouch and came up with a medpac, which he held out to her.

Revan took the medpac and shook her head. "This isn't good... her heartbeat's irregular." She heard Dustil clattering down the steps as she injected the medpac into the woman's upper arm.

The woman convulsed and started to thrash around, flailing her limbs around.

"Aw, damn!" Carth crouched and grabbed the woman's arms. "This is bringing back bad memories..." he muttered. Revan shot him an inquiring look. "You were like this, before you woke up, on Taris."

Revan's mouth formed an O of understanding. She frowned. The medpac was having no apparent effect, as the woman was still convulsing. Then the woman went limp abruptly.

Revan hissed. "Damn! She's not breathing! And her heart's stopped!"