It took almost a minute for Teller's ears to stop ringing, but even longer for the Mandalorians. The entire compound was filled with the sound of quivering metal, along with one set of footsteps sprinting for the speeder lot.
"Still alive, smuggler?" Jon called, looking over at Teller for only a second, before hopping over a mass of rubble and continuing to run.
Teller followed, although he turned the motor in his mask on to help filter out the dust.
Suddenly, shots started ringing out. Dazed warriors hopped to their feet faster than any human should have been able to and started taking confused potshots at the two prisoners.
Teller made it over to the speeders and dived behind a small two-seater, just as a shot flew over his head. He drew his blaster and pointed it out from cover, only to find that the only Mandalorians still on the ground were the ones buried in rubble.
Some were screaming. Others were silent.
"Covering fire!"
The call came out, just as a flurry of bolts peppered the speeder in front of him. Teller couldn't look out for even a second, so as soon as the barrage stopped he sprinted for the next available cover and hid once again.
Once again, a barrage forced him to keep low. Bright red bolts scorched everything around him.
"Reloading!"
"On his right. Do not approach without my signal."
"Check."
"Stand up, smuggler. Come out and you can die with your dignity intact."
"These batteries had better warm up fast or I'm a dead man," Jon said, flipping every toggle in the cockpit of his ship. The massive blue hull could take a lot of blaster fire, but the Mandalorians would eventually cut their way through. He knew that the smuggler could only keep them distracted for so long.
Luckily for Jon, the transmitter booted up faster than everything else, and seconds later the voice of D0-1T came through the dash mounted comlink, loud and clear.
"Buddy, get the mag-pulse engines fired up, first." He didn't even wait to hear the reply.
Ship was basically a massive cylinder with a cone-shaped cockpit in the front. It hovered almost six feet off the ground, making it already taller than most speeders, with a dozen tensioned cables running down to the ground and dragging behind, to keep it from rolling over.
It normally required a crew of four people to man it, and starting it after over a month meant Jon had to sprint from station to station, machine to machine, spraying every gear, priming every ignition and hand-cranking two of the six massive batteries that powered the behemoth, just to get enough energy flowing to get the ship to safety.
"Finally."
He sprinted back to the cockpit, collapsing into the seat and hearing the satisfying hum of the mag-pulse.
"Ok, park us at the Wharf and meet me over at Zedd Compound. We have to make a pickup."
The droid beeped a confirmation and Jon closed his eyes to rest.
"Thanks, Dolt."
Wave after wave of relief swept over him as he thought to himself, "I did it. Finally, I'm home."
The leather seat felt softer than he remembered. The smell of oil, durasteel and copper had never been so refreshing.
"Oh, I forgot," he said, just as the speeder was beginning to lurch forward. "The last batch of blasting jelly should have made a hole large enough for us to pass. It's on theā¦" His words faded into nothingness, as he watched the hull turning past the rows of speeders and settling right between the smuggler and the line of Mandalorians firing at him.
"Dolt, that's not the pickup we need! Can you hear me?" Blaster shots ricoched off the viewport and Jon tumbled out of the seat. A massive roar echoed through the ship as the loading ramp opened for only the second time in a month. "Stupid droid."
Jon looked back at the rear of the ship, just in time to see Teller Vonn sprinting up the ramp.
