36

Liling put a finger on her lips, and smiled reassuringly at the kid. He nodded to her once, before looking away. Smart boy. If there was one thing she despised more than anything, it was slavery; greedy scum exploiting others. The fact that some of the kidnapping victims were Force-sensitive children who were passing through on their way to the Jedi only made her more furious. She shuddered to think what the Kintan Kings had in mind for the children.

Not losing her focus, she counted seventeen of the slaver filths. They'd had worse odds before, but with all these people's lives weighting on her… Without thinking, she looked over at Corso, perhaps seeking reassurance herself. He felt her eyes on him and turned briefly to meet her gaze. She saw anger there, but also determination, trust. He believed in her. She took a deep breath. I am ready.

She motioned to the second cage on the right and he nodded. Activating her stealth generator, she made her way swiftly until she was facing the cage with the lone kneeling man in it. She quickly checked that Corso was still nowhere in sight and that the coast was still clear before studying the control panel. From what she could tell without actually touching the buttons yet, there was a slit for a passkey, as well as a security code. Hopefully, any of the passkeys would work. Ungloving her hand, she took the one they'd found on a patrol from her pocket, as well as her own little 'magic decoder' as she liked to call it.

She knew she only had one shot, before it alerted the guards. If her plan failed, they were all dead… She suddenly felt a wave of calmness wash over her and looked over to see the Jedi staring at her despite her supposed 'invisibility'. She could do this. Please let this work, she thought.

Corso looked over to the Jedi's cage, anxious. He knew he should be more patient, but each second spent waiting felt like an eternity. Any moment, they could be discovered by someone looking too closely. Or finding the patrol they'd taken down…Or whenever the transporters they were expecting arrived. Suddenly, he saw one of the Kintan Kings stop his round, before motioning for his peer toward the cage where Liling was supposed to be 'working' on. He couldn't let that happen. He stood up, and shot the Nikto down.

"Hey, over here! There's more where this came from."

Liling's heart skipped a beat. Too long, I took too long! Not even caring about being found out now, she set on deactivating the cage the fastest she could.

He had retreated behind the doorway, firing whenever he could, taunting them to keep their attention onto him. He wiped at the wetness above his left eye, blinking away the red film it left behind. He hoped Liling finished quickly and got the people to safety. He wasn't sure he could hold them off much longer…

"CORSO!" Liling's scared voice rang clear in the room. He tried to grab the Kintan Kings' attention once more, but it was too late. The loud scream made all turn in her direction, most of the gangsters backtracking toward her.

The continuous blaster fire told her he was still alive, but she didn't know for how much longer. There was no way she could reach him on time, and so she did the only thing she could think of and screamed. It's working! The next thing she knew, the Nikto had almost all turned to face her, coming her way. She fired, bringing two of the slavers down. She looked around but didn't find anywhere to hide and settled on crouching behind the security panel. It was better than nothing, but really didn't provide much protection.

A burning shot caught her right hand, causing Flashy to fall to the floor with a clang. Kark. She grit her teeth, reaching for the gun with her good hand, but a booted foot kicked it away and she lost her balance. She looked up, frozen in place. One of the slavers was close enough that she could smell the stink of cold cigarette, his pistol aimed straight at her. She was fumbling for one of her flash grenades in a desperate attempt for save herself when she felt a strong wave gushing past her. She looked up in amazement as the Kintan dropped his gun, before flying, eyes wide into the wall. One by one, all of the remaining gangsters found themselves flung around and into cages.

Corso watched in horror as the Kintan gangster closed in on Liling, weapon levelled at her. He was way too far to get a clear shot at him and didn't think he could reach her on time. Looking around frantically, he saw the Jedi raising his hands, sending all the gangsters flying into cages. Regaining his senses, Corso rushed to secure the cages, activating the energy fields, to the cheers of the kidnapped citizens.

Quickly deciding that Corso was in no immediate danger, Liling hauled herself up, grabbing Flashy and sliding the blaster back into her holster. She went on to retrieve both the passkey and her 'magic decoder" from the control panel, and set to work on deactivating the two other bigger cages in which the children and the citizens were. The cages weren't as complex as the Jedi's, but it took a little longer due to her injured hand. Finally, she was able to properly look at her companion. He was bleeding around his left brow bone, a trail of semi-crusted blood running along his face, but other than that, he looked okay. She gave a heavy sigh of relief, the corner of her mouth lifting up in a small smile. However, he only frowned deeper.

"Corso?" Suddenly, she was in his arms, almost crushed in his embrace.

They'd been in lots of dangerous situations –a lot more than reasonable, really; but never had he felt so close to losing her. He took comfort in her familiar scent, a subtle mix of her fruity shampoo and something distinctively 'Liling'.

"Need to breathe…" she whispered, reprimanding him gently. However, it wasn't until he felt the numerous pairs of eyes on them that he stepped away, ears warming up.

"We are much indebted to you, brave and honourable strangers. However, we need to leave this instant. The criminals were expecting a shuttle to transport us off world. They could arrive any moment." There was a murmur of agreement among the crowd.

"On the behalf of everyone here, I want to thank you." The Jedi bowed his head in respect, and Liling felt her cheeks heat up at all the attention.

"You saved me, too. And without Corso, I wouldn't have been able to slice you free. I think it was more of a mutual effort, really."

"Without you, we'd be slaves by now!" She found the grateful faces of the citizens rewarding despite the circumstances and couldn't help but smile back at them. She watched as a few of the children clung to Corso, asking to see his weapons. She laughed as he obliged, under their admiring eyes.

"May I see your hand?" She was surprised by the request. She had taken care to put her glove back on, not wanting Corso to make a fuss about it. She had been waiting to get some time on her own to look at it, but the truth was, it was smarting pretty badly... The Jedi nodded encouragingly, and she carefully peeled the glove off, trying not to wince at the sight. Not pretty. The back of her hand was an angry pink, with a bright-red cauterised crater where the blaster shot had hit. The Jedi gently took her hand between his, and closed his eyes. A small yellowish light glowed gradually brighter and it was one of the strangest sensations she'd ever had. The pain numbed, yet, she could actually feel tissue weaving back together, mending. When he uncovered her hand, she saw that it had healed considerably. The skin had turned a soft pink and the crater was mostly closed, leaving a dull brown scab behind.

"I have sped up the healing process, but your body will need time to truly repair itself," he told her in the same neutral tone.

"Thank you," she said, still a little amazed.

.

She watched as the citizens re-joined Deucalon Spaceport safely, before heading back to the Promenade to update Averdon and Bareesh. Unfortunately, they had news of their own...