CHAPTER SIXTEEN:  TEAMWORK

          Crouching low, Jaina cautiously peered out from her hiding spot behind a stack of boulders.  The stronghold looked exactly as they had left it.  There was no sign that the Yuuzhan Vong were even there – save for the dozens of coralskippers and two small carrier ships surrounding the building.  However, the only Yuuzhan Vong in sight were the ones standing guard outside the Fearless Rancor.  If only they could get to it…

          "I only see two warriors," Jaina informed Zekk and Ganner, "and they're guarding our ship,"

          "There could be a whole bunch of them on the other side of the building and we would never know it until it was too late," Ganner was quick to remind her.

          "They must be waiting for the Tsirran to arrive," Jaina said.  "That's got to be the reason why they're still here,"

          "So we better get out of here real fast before the Vong get tired of waiting and take their love for technology out on our only escape off this rock," Zekk commented.

          Ganner said, "so what's the brilliant plan?"

          "There's an access hatch on top of the ship.  I'll climb the ship and go in through the hatch.  You two," she said, pointing at the both of them, "will distract the two guards by the boarding ramp, giving me time to get the ship ready for takeoff.  Then I'll come help you finish them off and we'll blast out of here,"

          Zekk frowned at her.  "When I said you should come up with the plan, it was because I thought it would be a good one,"

          "It was the only thing I could think of.  But if either of you has a better idea, I'd like to hear it,"

As she had expected, they both said nothing.  "That's what I thought.  Now let's get moving,"

          Zekk would be the first to admit that he disliked Ganner Rhysode in every way, and he was positive the arrogant Jedi felt the same animosity towards him.  If they wanted to survive, though, they were both going to have to trust each other long enough to get off the lifeless rock known as Anoth.

          He and Ganner were standing about twenty yards from the ship, hidden behind the walls of the stronghold, waiting until Jaina was in position before going into action.  She had gone the long way around to make it to the side of the Rancor not being guarded to keep herself from being seen.

          They both heard the sound of a double click over Ganner's com link.  That was the signal.

          They both took out their sabers, and nodded to each to show they were ready before jumping around the corner.  With their ignited energy blades in hand, they rushed the two unsuspecting warriors.

          If the two warriors were startled or even surprised by their presence, they didn't show it.  With a fierce battle cry, they charged the two oncoming Jedi.

          Ganner took the one on the left, leaving Zekk to deal with the remaining warrior.

          Using the force to propel herself on top of the ship, Jaina landed several meters away from the access hatch.

          She knew Zekk and Ganner had got her signal because she could hear the fighting going on below.  She glanced down briefly, watching the battle going on beneath her, but there was nothing she could do for them.  Her first priority was to get the Rancor set to fly.

          She punched her access code into the keypad beside the hatch, and with a depressurizing hiss it opened.

          She did not bother using the ladder – that would take too much time.  Summoning the force, she effortlessly made the ten-foot jump, landed upright, and sprinted to the cockpit.

          When Jaina reached it, she began running through a simplified startup cycle.  She thought about keeping the landing lights off but the moment she turned on the engines they would know someone was in the ship anyways.

          The sudden sound of a loud impact with the forward view port startled Jaina, causing her to look up from her work.

          Half a dozen Yuuzhan Vong were banging their amphistaffs against the glass, trying to get inside.

          "Just what I need," Jaina muttered to herself, while her fingers danced over the controls.  The view port was not designed to take a physical beating of that magnitude.  She could already see the glass starting to crack in certain spots.

          The vacuum of space would undoubtedly kill them if they lifted off with a shattered view port, but Jaina wasn't concerned about that problem.  There were vac suits in the storage locker with enough air to get them to a nearby planet.  What she was concerned about was if the glass broke before she managed to get them off the ground.  Six to one odds were not a fight Jaina was looking forward to.

          She had been in tight situations before – some much worse then this.  All she had to do was remain calm.  Easier said then done, she thought to herself as the first pieces of glass fell onto the instruments in front of her.

          "Now would be a good time, Jaina!"  Zekk shouted into his wrist com before diving to the side to avoid a blow from an amphistaff.

          Her voice came back tiny over the com.  "Just give me a second,"

          "We don't have a second," Ganner yelled into his own com.

          Jaina could see he was right.  More Vong were heading their way – and fast.  "I'm going to open the boarding ramp, but hurry up and get inside cuz I've got a pile of Vong trying to break in through the view port,"

          She cried out and quickly turned away as shattered glass was sprayed in her direction.  Amphistaffs were gouging holes in the view port, threatening to put a hole in her if she got too close.  She would never be able to get them out of them if she couldn't even reach the controls without risking poisonous venom being shot in her face.  Forgetting about escaping for the moment, she pulled out her lightsaber, preparing to slice the extended amphistaffs to pieces.  Her blade was barely ignited, when the plunging amphistaffs pulled back out of the glass.

          She was surprised by the effect her drawn weapon had on the warriors, but then she saw Anakin and Tahiri, with a group of unscarred Yuuzhan Vong – and realized they were the reason the warriors had halted their attempts to get to her.  It clicked in her head then that the smooth skinned Vong had to be Tsirran, why else would they be fighting along side two humans?

          She forced herself to look away from the battle and continued prepping the ship for take off.  With the Vong out of her hair – at least temporarily – she allowed herself to breathe a bit easier.

          Ganner finished off his Vong and jumped in to help Zekk with his.  Battling a fierce Yuuzhan Vong warrior was never an easy feat – not even for a Jedi, but together, Ganner and Zekk managed to finish off the warrior with minimal damage to themselves.  Knowing it would only be a matter of seconds before the reinforcements arrived, they sprinted towards the ship and up the extended boarding ramp.

          Ganner slammed the panel that closed the ramp.  "We're in," he said, panting hard, "now get us out of here,"

          "Not yet.  Anakin and Tahiri are still outside with four Tsirran.  Get into a vac suit and tell Zekk to do the same.  Bring me up one and get two ready for Anakin and Tahiri.  Then secure any loose objects because everything's going to go flying when we hit space," she didn't know what the Tsirran were going to do because they did not have a vac suit big enough for them, but that was the least of her worries at the moment.

          Jaina couldn't stop herself from being impressed in which the manner the Tsirran were able to handle their Vong cousins.  They were more then an even match for the Vong, and with the odds even, her brother and Tahiri did not have to deal with more then one Vong at a time.  While the warriors on each side exchanged vicious blows and sustained numerous injuries, it was the Tsirran who were victorious.  Their reflexes were quicker and their movements faster.  They even managed to lend a hand to Anakin and Tahiri in defeating their own warriors.  In the end, there was only Yuuzhan Vong bodies laying crumpled on the ground.  But there were still more warriors coming and it would be a different story if they didn't get out of there right then.  The Tsirran looked eager to fight more warriors, but their promise to Luke Skywalker not to unnecessarily endanger the others prevented them from tyring to extract any more revenge from the race that had nearly wiped them out. 

          Aftering leading them into the ship, Anakin left the Tsirran – most of whom were injured – with Tahiri and hurried up to the cockpit.

          "Sorry we didn't get here sooner," Anakin said upon joining his sister.

          Jaina lifted the Fearless Rancor up off the ground and indicated to the useless view port with her free hand.  "What are the Tsirran going to do?  The second we hit space –"

          "It's been taken care of," he said, taking a seat beside her.  "They're going to lock themselves in one of the cabins.  Tahiri's giving them something to knock them out.  They said they should be able to survive without oxygen long enough for us to transfer them over to Uncle Luke's ship,"  

"What about Ganner and Zekk?  Are they in their suits?"

          Anakin nodded.

          "Take the weapons," Jaina told her brother.

          "I wouldn't be too worried about that if I were you,"

          She looked at him as if he were crazy.  "What are you talking about?  I'm picking up twenty skips hot on our tail,"

          "Check your sensors again," Anakin said calmly.  "What else do you see?"

          She did as he said.  Indeed there were a whole bunch of ships the sensors could not identify coming in ahead of them.  The only thing the sensors could tell her was the ships were partially alive.

          "Tsirran ships," she said, coming to a full understanding of what Anakin had been talking about.

          "Tahiri sent a coded message to them," Anakin explained.  "And it looks like they got it,"

          The Tsirran ships covered them, allowing the Rancor to quietly slip away without taking any damage.  The Tsirran ships fired away at the skips with such firepower that they blasted away large chunks of the yorrik coral, forcing the Yuuzhan Vong cruiser hanging in space to attack the Tsirran ship and forget about stopping the Fearless Rancor from escaping.

The Shadow Chaser was waiting for them when they reached open space away from the ongoing battle.  Jaina sent a message quickly explaining their condition to her Uncle. Luke sent his acknowledgement and docked against the damaged ship.  In his own vac suit, Luke helped them bring over the unconscious Tsirran.  There was no time to apply any sealing solvent to the broken view port, with the Tsirran still holding off the Vong ships, so they left the Fearless Rancor docked to the Shadow Chaser and settled in the quantum armored ship with Luke. 

With Tahiri's help, Luke sent a coded message to the Tsirran ships, telling them their distaction was no longer needed and to make a run for it, and then punched in the coordinates for a hyperspace jump.  Just before they made the jump, they could see the Tsirran ships backing off and then there was nothing but the starlines of space stretched out around them.

Now that the danger was behind them, Luke informed his passengers that they were heading back to Yavin Four – where the head of the Tsirran, Eus-ai Raak, would be waiting for them when they arrived.

There's still one more chapter to come.  I'll hopefully be able to post it Sunday night (if my Internet doesn't screw up that is).