28
Getting from the monument to the landing area was taking a bit longer than Ajene would have liked, but it couldn't be helped. Not only was there still quite a bit of fighting to contend with, but her two charges weren't in the best of shape, and it slowed their progress down considerably. Heblon was managing marginally well, but Wedge was clearly weakening. He was now leaning heavily on Kell for support, his feet stumbling and dragging.
They had quite a bit of open ground to cross before reaching the palace, and dozens of stormtroopers were still crouching behind cover, just waiting for them to pop out into the open.
After contacting the sniper on the building opposite them, the small group, led by Ajene, had prepared to make a run for it. "On three, we go." She looked around the group and got acknowledgements from them. She gripped her blaster a little tighter in her right hand, checked the charge, and then started the count. "Three!"
They rose in unison, Face and Ajene taking point while Heblon covered their rear, spraying volley after volley of blaster bolts across the plaza. Kell, despite supporting most of Wedge's weight, managed to get off a few shots as well.
A dart of red energy shot out from the building on the far side of the plaza, taking out a stormtrooper who had risen to fire on the advancing quintet. Most of the troopers ducked deeper behind cover as shots started to pick them off one by one. The amount of blaster fire directed at Ajene's group diminished significantly, and they eventually made it to and then past the Moff's palace.
The landing zone was an open piece of ground five hundred meters beyond the palace, a basic decorative garden. When they got there, the shuttles were just beginning to offload their ground troops.
Each of the four ships would circle the field once, surveying the site for any possible trouble. Then they would lower their ramps, and a wave of people would hit the ground at a dead run, trampling through flower beds and jumping over bushes. The troops then separated into teams and spread out towards the palace and garrison. As each ship lifted, they'd raise the ramp and head for space. All the while, several X-wings circled overhead, covering each of the ships against attack from above.
Rather than swim against the living tide of troops, Ajene steered their group to the cover provided by a small storage building at the side of the gardens. Kell and Face wiped at the sweat on their foreheads and began to strip off their stormtrooper armor. Wedge and Heblon leaned on the wall. Wedge slid down it and sat heavily on the ground, leaving a smear of blood on the wall as he did so.
"Everybody all right?" Ajene asked breathlessly. Both Wedge and Heblon were exhausted, but they nodded as Kell and Face continued to remove their armor. But she could see Wedge was failing fast. "Wedge? Can you make it?"
He just nodded again, every action seeming to sap more and more of his strength. Ajene knelt down and reached for his hand. It was cold and clammy. She gave him an encouraging smile.
Wedge gave her a very weak smile in return, but it quickly faded. His eyelids began to droop and he started to slide down the wall onto his side. Heblon stopped his descent and shook him gently. Wedge's eyes popped open again.
"We have to get him out of here right now," Heblon said loudly to Ajene.
"What's the matter with him?" Ajene asked, no longer able to mask her concern.
Heblon raised his voice over the rumble of repulsorlifts as the last shuttle cleared the area. "I gave him the maximum dosage of a stimulant about forty-five minutes ago and it's wearing off. He's going into shock and his system is shutting down. His wounds are severe and we have to get him into a bacta tank as soon as possible. If we don't, he'll die!
Wedge managed to lift his head as a roar told him that one of the X-wings was making a run on a target. His jaw dropped when he realized that the target was the building that they were leaning against.
Face looked up as well. "Get down!" he yelled and tried to grab Ajene and pull her down between himself and Heblon. Kell dropped to all fours next to them, covering Wedge with his own body.
They covered their heads as best they could just as the laser blasts sizzle overhead. There was the sound of the bolts striking something solid above and behind them. As they uncovered, Corran's green and black X-wing was rolling overhead before heading high. He streaked after a TIE fighter dropping down towards one of the shuttles.
Face, shedding the last of his armor, looked up at the retreating X-wing. "He only used half power. It must have been a surgical strike at someone or something on the other side of this building."
"We can't worry about it now," Ajene said, slipping a new power pack into her blaster.
Kell dropped the chest plate of his armor to the ground and readjusted the holster for his blaster. "I'll go check it out."
Before Face could stop him, he was around the side of the building. "Just great! Cracken will kill me if I come back without him." He sighed and returned his attention to the landing field just as the Pulsar Skate descended. "That must be our ride."
"That's it," Ajene replied. "C'mon. Kell will just have to catch up."
The four of them stood, Heblon helping Wedge to his feet. When he nearly crumpled, Face quickly holstered his blaster and stepped in to help. They headed out toward the waiting ship, half carrying, half dragging him.
Ajene covered them from behind, scanning back and forth across the open ground between them and the freighter. Just as they reached the halfway point, she saw someone stagger out from behind the low wall of the building they had just left.
"Antilles! You're not going anywhere!" The bloody form of Lathel Tchlinda raised her blaster and prepared to shoot.
At the sound of the Moff's voice, Heblon dropped, jerking Wedge and Face to the ground as he went. In the same instant, Ajene's blaster came up and around. Two crimson bolts spat out in Tchlinda's direction, one striking center mass, leaving a smoldering crater in her uniform. The other hit the woman in the face and she fell backwards, her hair on fire. The Moff's shot went wide, smacking harmlessly against the side of the Skate.
Then, from behind the same wall where Tchlinda had emerged, another blaster bolt stabbed toward them and hit Ajene in the upper thigh. As she fell, she tried to bring her blaster up to return fire, but the pain proved too much for her. She collapsed a meter from Wedge.
Osiel Turpa emerged from his protection behind the wall and aimed for Face as he moved towards Ajene. As soon as he spotted the Admiral, Face aimed and was about to fire, but Kell Tainer rounded the corner and tackled the Imperial at the waist.
The two men rolled around on the ground, struggling to gain an advantage. Turpa tried to get his hands around Kell's throat, but the Wraith swiped his hands aside. Kell tried to twist out of the way as he saw Turpa's right fist take aim, but he still caught some of the blow on the left side of his chin, knocking him to the ground.
The Admiral rolled over and straddled Kell's stomach, finally getting his hands around his windpipe. Face brought his rifle up and aimed at Turpa's chest, but again, before he could shoot, Kell got in the way.
Kell's left hand managed to get in a quick jab to Turpa's stomach. The Admiral doubled over and released the other man's throat. Then Kell's open palm came up under Turpa's chin, slamming his teeth together. Kell pushed him off of his stomach and jumped on top of him. He struck out at the Imperial's face several times before grabbing his shoulders and smashing his head off the ferrocrete until he stopped struggling.
The Wraith stood up, wiping blood from his chin with his hand. He waved over at Face, grinning from ear to ear.
Mirax Terrik Horn came running down the boarding ramp of the Pulsar Skate and headed straight for Heblon and Wedge. By the time she reached them, Heblon had managed to haul himself into a sitting position. He was holding on to a wild-eyed Wedge.
"No, Ajene!" he cried. Wedge struggled valiantly to crawl to the woman's side, but what little strength he had gave out. He collapsed to the ground, his sides heaving from the effort.
"Easy, Wedge." Kneeling next to him, Mirax put her arm around his shoulder, and he seemed to focus on her. She spoke softly to him. "She'll be all right. Let's get all of you on board."
Face knelt beside Ajene, who lay clutching at her right thigh, blood oozing between her fingers. He threaded an arm under her shoulders and pulled her up into a sitting position. She looked up at him, wincing at the pain. "We have to get out of here," she managed to say through gritted teeth.
"I can't argue with that," the Captain replied. He looked up at Kell, who had just gotten to his feet. "You okay?" he called.
"Yeah. Get them on board; I'll take care of this guy."
Face could see his friend fishing through his stormtrooper utility belt for something to bind Turpa. But he was so concentrated on his task, he hadn't noticed Turpa was moving just behind him.
"Kell!" Face yelled in warning, but he knew it was too late.
Kell turned in time to see Turpa rise to his feet and aim a small hold-out blaster at his chest. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Kell reached for his own blaster, but he knew he would never draw it in time. There was the telltale flash and rapport of a blaster firing, and he prepared for the pain of being shot.
It never came.
The holdout blaster dropped from Turpa's hand, and he staggered forward a step. Blood seeped from his mouth as he dropped to his knees. With a grunt, he fell on his stomach, revealing a smoldering hole in the middle of his back. A half dozen meters beyond him was Elscol Loro, smoke drifting from the blaster in her hand. She sketched Kell an abbreviated salute and disappeared behind a building.
After taking a moment to catch his breath and slow his pounding heart, Kell knelt by the body of Turpa. He knew he was dead but felt for a pulse at his neck anyway. When he confirmed his suspicion, he stood and returned at a jog to the small group in the middle of the landing area. "I think it's time we got out of here," he said to Face, before he bent over and gently picked up Ajene. The two of them headed for the Skate's boarding ramp, trusting the others to follow. Once on board, he sat her in one of the chairs in the lounge, examining the wounded thigh. He grabbed a first aid kit from the wall near the entry to the bridge.
"It doesn't look too serious. I'll put a pressure bandage on it to stop the bleeding."
"Where's Wedge?" she asked, glancing around the compartment.
"He's coming. Heblon's taking care of him."
Mirax leaned down and helped Wedge to his feet. When it was clear that he wouldn't be able to stand, and Mirax couldn't support his full weight, Heblon took his other arm. Face let them go then walked backward towards the ship to cover their departure. He didn't want any more surprises.
The four of them headed up the Skate's boarding ramp, stopping in the passenger lounge just outside of the bridge, where Kell was still treating Ajene's wound.
Mirax headed for the bridge and Face directed Heblon and Wedge to a couch on the far side of the compartment. But before they reached it, Wedge slumped to his hands and knees, dragging Heblon down with him.
Wedge let out a strangled cry and completely collapsed to the deck, landing hard on his right side. He lay there, clutching at his chest, gasping for air. His eyes looked frantically around the cabin.
Heblon rolled him onto his back. He grabbed his wrist and checked his pulse. "This isn't good!"
"What is it? What's happening?" Face demanded.
"He's going into cardiac arrest. We have to get him to a medical center right now!"
Face headed for the bridge of the Skate, Kell following in his wake. The tall Lieutenant dropped into the co-pilot station next to Mirax and studied the screen in front of him.
"Mirax, emergency protocols," Face said. "Head for whichever of our ships is closest. Wedge needs medical assistance as soon as possible."
"We're on our way." She hit the repulsorlifts and the ship rose several meters. She kicked in the engines and headed for the atmosphere. Face headed back into the lounge to see what he could do, leaving Mirax and Kell to take care of the flying.
From a couple of hundred meters away, Tycho saw the Pulsar Skate lift off and head straight for space. He had been too busy with the last of the TIEs to see how many people had boarded her. He hoped that everyone had made it.
His comm unit hissed, and Mirax's voice flooded through. "Rogue Leader, this is the Pulsar Skate, advising you that as of now our designation will be Rogue One. We need an immediate escort to the nearest ship with medical facilities. This is a medical emergency. Do you copy?"
"I copy, Rogue One. The closest ship is the Paladin. Come around to heading six eight mark two and we'll cover for you."
Tycho felt an invisible hand squeeze at his heart and a trickle of ice run through his guts. Mirax's message told him that they had Wedge on board, but calling a medical emergency meant that someone was in bad shape. By the tone of her voice, he knew it had to be Wedge.
"Rogues, form up on the Pulsar Skate and vape anyone who gets in our way!" Tycho ordered.