Chapter Sixteen
Thalia was filled with the adrenaline of a life-threatening experience, wondering why she had agreed to Bao's crazy plan.
"Frame's stressed pretty bad!" Harkaq yelled, "The ship might come apart on its own!"
Thalia looked down at her screen. A series of red dots appeared. All showed the registries of H-25 air combat fighters.
"Fighters approaching!" Thalia yelled, activating the blaster cannons.
The vessel was already rocked with the stress of surviving its atmospheric descent, the intensity increasing with the blasterfire hitting the already strained shields.
Thalia activated the target screen and selected the rear blaster cannon. Opening herself up to the Force, she waited for each fighter to enter the target zone.
Success! One fighter had drifted into the range of her cannon. She fired.
The first airfighter disappeared from the screen, indicating it had been destroyed.
This was the part that Thalia hated. She disliked taking lives, and usually avoided doing so, deciding long ago that, as a rule, she would not kill anyone unless there was a high chance that the opponent would kill her or a friend of hers. Filtered through the events of her life, the rule basically translated to "Don't kill anyone unless they are a Mandalorian Commando or a Darksider with a lightsaber." Today, the list of approved targets included mercenary pilots.
Thalia was almost knocked out of her seat as the vessel rocked, not as if it had been hit by blasterfire, but rather as if something had fallen off or dragging.
"We've lost an engine! The wing's half-torn!" Harkaq yelled.
The city was now visible. Taris was comprised into several levels of an urban region, the Upper City, the Middle City, the Lower City, and the Undercity. All were accessible through the elevators between levels.
Suddenly the ship felt strained again, and it began to spin.
"The wing's gone! The hull's beginning to come apart!"
An idea sprang to Thalia's mind. A crazy one, undoubtedly, but no crazier than Bao's plan.
Thalia moved out of her seat and looked down.
Jade was pulling herself off the floor, a few bruises visible on her forehead.
"Jade," Thalia said, attempting to steady herself, "Get to the crew quarters and prepare Riko, Harkaq, and Kara to jump off the starship."
Bao and Jade spoke at the same time, "What?" Jade threw him a brief glance. Thalia ignored her.
"Bao, maneuver onto that landing pad," Thalia ordered, pointing to a platform jutting out from a nearby building.
"Alright," Bao started to say.
"I'll do it," Harkaq interrupted, moving out of his seat.
Thalia felt curious, "Why?"
"When Bao was flying, he caused us to crash," Harkaq reasoned, "I think this should be on me."
"Alright," Bao said with an obviously forced grin.
"Mom…" Jade said.
"We'll be okay, Jade. But you have to follow my plan if that is to be the case."
Jade moved toward Thalia and wrapped her arms around her mother's back. Thalia returned the gesture. Then Jade ran into the crew quarters.
May the Force be with all of us, Thalia thought grimly.
Crew Quarters
Riko knew that another crazy plan was in the works from the moment Jade ran into the crew quarters.
"Get the airlock open! We gotta leave!" Jade yelled. Riko groaned. He was right.
Open the airlock? Riko projected.
"We're going to jump off the ship once we hit a nearby ledge," Jade explained, "We have to hurry!"
Riko opened the door on the opposite end of the crew quarters, which led to the airlock. Kara had already gathered her lightsabers and were sprinting through the door.
"Fifty-nine percent chance we won't survive!" Niner panicked, stumbling around the damaged vessel.
"Niner, I'll make sure you go first," Riko promised.
Nice to know the droid comes first in your life, Jade projected sarcastically.
Hey, I'm just trying to calm him down, Riko replied. He noticed that the Imperial Knight ignored the comment.
Riko grabbed his lightsaber from the place it had fallen on the floor and affixed it to his belt, "I'm sorry, but, why aren't you guys offended?" He asked, curious.
"We're busy right now, I'll be sure to lecture you later," Kara said. Riko smiled for a moment.
"Almost there!" Riko heard Harkaq shout from the cockpit as Thalia and Bao entered the airlock.
"Harkaq volunteered to stay onboard until we're all off this bucket," Bao explained.
Riko didn't know what to think of Bao's blunt statement.
"Lowering the ramp now!" Harkaq responded as the rear hatch opened, the landing ramp descending right as the ship hit the pad.
Riko was knocked to the floor by the impact of the shuttle crashing on the landing pad.
The back of his head ached, and for a moment, he felt both dizzy and nauseated. The burn injuries he had sustained on the freighter felt sore. He felt the plate beneath his hand somehow fall off and his left hand would have been shredded if it wasn't suddenly frozen in the air. He was pretty sure Jade was the one who saved his appendage.
"Eighty-one percent chance we won't survive!"
Riko shook his head and cleared his dizziness. But Bao was the first to react to the landing. He Force-pushed the section of the door away, leaving the hole open.
"Now!" Jade grabbed the droid with the Force, to Riko's relief, and threw him through the hole.
"Ninety percent chance I won't…." the droid's voice was no longer audible. Bao jumped next. Jade followed just as Riko managed to stand. Thalia followed suit, landing somewhat more gracefully than the first two. Kara jumped next, with her master following.
Now it was Riko's turn.
"Come on, kid!" Riko felt Harkaq grab Riko's arm, pulling him towards the exit.
They prepared to jump, but lept right as the ship rocked from a shockwave that accompanied the sound of blasterfire and an explosion. The ship tilted just as Riko and Harkaq lept out of the vessel.
Riko slipped from Harkaq's grip and missed the platform's edge. He fell, screaming as he plunged to an inevitable death. Everything would end here, with a rush of wind and a massive burst of pain...
Then Riko stopped falling. He just hung in the air, a few dozen meters beneath the landing platform. That's when he started rising upward, toward the landing platform. As he came closer, he could see Jade at the edge of the platform, her arm outstretched. Harkaq, quickly pulling himself upward.
Riko was elevated to just a few inches above the platform, moved forward a couple of meters, and then fell onto the duracrete surface.
Jade and Kara grabbed Riko's arms and helped pull him up.
"Thanks Jade," Riko said as the human Jedi and the Twi'lek Imperial Knight released his arms.
"Don't mention it, but next time, please don't put Niner first."
"Or anyone, for that matter," Kara added.
"I'll remember," Riko promised.
"But...I needs you." That was when Riko remembered the shuttle.
Riko ran over to the edge and looked down. He couldn't see what had become of the shuttle.
"I think we better leave," Bao ordered, "We better hurry to the Undercity. I'll contact the proxy."
"Right," Kara agreed.
At this point the adrenaline was fading from Riko's bloodstream, "Let's go."