"Kira?"
Kira heard Leia's voice penetrate the haze of fear and anger that had settled on her as Ben invaded her mind and deduced where she was and who she was with. Leia's voice snapped her out of her distracted state, and she turned to see Leia looking at her concerned and confused. The Hutts and the colorful characters in their court all stared at her with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. As Kira's awareness came back to the room, she could feel the connection with Ben sever.
Leia continued to stare at her as if trying to read into her thoughts what had just happened. Knowing that she could not say what she had just seen aloud, she put what had just happened into her thoughts, thinking It's Ben. He found me. He knows we're here. We need to go now.
Kira knew immediately that Leia had not only noticed what Kira was thinking but had understood it. Leia's eyes went wide in surprise and shock, and it took her a moment to recover. In that moment, Rotta the Hutt interjected with a question, which Threepio translated, "The mighty Rotta asks whether the Jedi would care to share whatever intrigue is passing between them with the rest of us?"
With an obvious effort, Leia recovered her diplomatic calm, and replied to Rotta, saying, "Kira has just communicated to me, silently, her despair over my decision to hand myself over."
A few of the Hutts shifted uncomfortably, sensing a lie. Rotta narrowed his eyes and spoke, which Threepio translated as, "Do not lie to me, Leia Organa. Your expressions were not of sadness, but of fear. Tell me what you've seen or prepare to die." Panga Meesh and several other bounty hunters had withdrawn their blasters, and the Gamorreans were now spreading out to encircle both Leia and Kira as Rotta had spoken.
Leia held his gaze, and even with her Jedi senses, Kira was uncertain what thought process was going through her mentor's mind. She had the impression that Leia teetered on the brink of a decision that might bring enormous consequence. After a long, tense moment where Rotta's entourage waited for the order to attack, Leia scanned the room, then looked back to Kira with an inscrutable expression. Finally, she looked to Rotta and said, "Now, Kit."
"That's the order," Kit called out to Zhey'la, and she pressed the detonator. The ground shook as a massive blast ejected a fireball across the street below. A half-dozen passers-by lost their balance from the shockwave, and as the fireball dissipated, Kit could see a gaping hole blasted into the side of the building. Kit pulled herself up, then leapt over the roots they were hiding behind. Zhey'la followed her, landing lightly on the street. They dashed across the street, pushed through a wave of smoke, and entered the hole in the side of the building.
Kira had reviewed the plan at least fifty times prior to their approach to Nal Hutta, and she knew what the words "Now, Kit" signified. Leia acted faster than any of Rotta's guards were able to respond, and the shackles on the slaves all fell apart as Leia reached out through the Force. She then waved her arms before her as if attempting to part a set of curtains, and the Gamorrean guards and bounty hunters all flew backwards, slamming into the transparasteel barrier surrounding the rostrums from which the Hutts were presiding. Kira, acting as fast as Leia, pulled her hands toward her chest, and the slaves that Leia had just unshackled launched through the air away from the water. In a sweeping motion, she stretched her hands outward in a 45-degree angle, and drawing from the anger and fear she had felt toward Ben, unleashed a massive wave of electrical discharge upon the Hutts. The lightning hit the water that the Hutts sat within, and all five of them convulsed as ionic discharges radiated around their bodies. The slaves, freed from their shackles, escaped the blasts, and as the initial blast of lightning receded, Kira saw the Hutts still convulsing.
With the Hutt bodyguards stirring and rising to their feet, Kira knew they had to act fast before shots were fired. She did not have a chance to check whether any of the Hutts were dead or just stunned and injured from her attack as she whirled around toward the door. Leia acted quickly as well, and through the Force, she pulled an axe out of the hands of a Gamorrean guard. Panga Meesh recovered first, and she fired a few tentative blasts toward Leia, which Leia deflected into another bounty hunter struggling to his feet. Facing the door to the chamber, Kira summoned another wave of energy from the Force and directed it into the door. The door exploded in a shower of sparks as the lightning hit the control panel, and the explosion knocked another bounty hunter to the ground only moments after he had risen to his feet.
Kira whirled back around to face the bodyguards that were now recovering and beginning to move toward them. Panga Meesh had turned to target her, and she fired a few rounds. Kira pulled fragments of the door toward her and directed them in front of the blasts. The laser bolts hit the fragments, causing small explosions in the air several meters in front of her. Acting on instinct, she reached out toward Panga and pulled both of her blasters from her grip. The blasters soared toward her hands, and she caught them. She turned to the left and gunned down a pair of Gamorreans that were charging toward Leia, who continued to use the Force to throw their assailants up against the transparasteel barrier.
"Let's go!" shouted Kira, and Leia turned to run toward the door. Kira fired several more blasts toward their assailants, cutting down more Gamorreans and killing another one of the bounty hunters. Kira then turned toward the door and began to run, but her legs locked together unexpectedly, causing her to fall face forward. The blasters flew from her hands, and she slid backward across the rubble-strewn ground. She rolled over and looked in the direction she was being pulled to see Panga Meesh's hand stretched out to her, a metallic cable extending from a wrist blaster. Kira sent a short jolt of lightning into the metal cable, which traveled along the cable into Panga's wrist blaster. The blaster exploded, sending a shower of sparks into Panga's masked face. The cables wrapped around her ankles slackened, and she rose to her feet and ran to the door.
Once through the door, she entered the portico, discovering that Leia had thrown several soldiers and guards against the walls or out into the rain. She had disarmed a guard and taken his blaster, and she aimed the blaster at the locked box where their lightsabers sat. Her shot, guided by the Force, hit the power source, and the lock released. The top of the box sprang open, and Kira called her lightsabers to her. They arced across the portico, landing comfortably in her hands. With a synchronous snap-hiss, the blades sprang to life, and she leapt forward, cutting down the guards that were attempting to recover their weapons.
Leia had grabbed her lightsaber as well, and with a separate snap-hiss, her purple blade sprang to life. She finished what Kira had started, deflecting blasts into two more bounty hunters that had joined the fray. A sudden silence settled as their attackers fell still from their wounds. Kira turned to Leia and said, "Well, that went well."
Leia flashed a smile, then turned toward the ship. The captain had walked to the bottom of the boarding ramp to investigate the commotion, and he froze in mid-step as he saw the smoking rubble, bodies, and the two women holding their ignited lightsabers. Instinctively, he put his hands up in surrender.
"I don't really fancy trying to get away on that piece of junk," Kira said to Leia, who had also hesitated to move forward.
Panga Meesh stepped into the portico from the council chamber. She squeezed something in her hand, and both Leia and Kira felt the warning from the Force moments before the blast that followed. They leapt backward as the ship exploded in a fireball that blossomed into the sky. Kira came down awkwardly, causing her to lose grip of her lightsabers. The blades skidded to a halt several meters away from her as she fell to the ground.
Kira whirled around, reaching her hand out to pull Panga toward her. Panga flew twenty meters across the portico and skidded to a halt before Kira, hanging motionless in the air. Kira called one of her lightsabers to her and ignited it, thrusting it toward Panga's throat. Although Kira could not see the bounty hunter's expression through her visor, she could feel the fear radiating from her.
"It was always going to be a double-cross, then?" Kira asked, her anger spiking.
"Kira, we have to go," Leia called. Kira turned her head to hear speeders racing in their direction. Kira looked back to Panga, who continued to hang motionless and helpless in front of her.
Kira's gaze bore into the visor as she felt rage burning inside her. It would be so easy to kill this bounty hunter now, especially given the trouble she had caused them over the past months. Panga's visor lifted in that moment, and instead of the black, expressionless mask, Kira found herself staring into the eyes of a frightened teenager who could not have been older than fifteen.
Panga's breathing was heavy, and she was clearly terrified. Through her terror, she gritted her teeth and said, "Go ahead. Do it," and then, summoning up her last bit of courage, said "Palpatine."
The word Palpatine hit Kira like a blaster bolt. She inhaled sharply, then extinguished her lightsaber. Regaining her composure with an effort, she said solemnly, "That's not who I am."
Kira relinquished her grip on Panga, who dropped to the ground, landing on her feet. Stunned at her own survival, Panga stared at Kira astonished.
Kira turned to see Leia walking toward an alley. Leia paused, looking back to see what the delay was. Kira called her other lightsaber to her and extinguished the other. Turning back to Panga, she said, "Follow us, and the next time you won't be so lucky."
And with that, Kira turned and ran after Leia.
Kit pushed her way through the thick smoke billowing from the explosion. Zhey'la stood behind her, ready to spring to their defense if anybody entered the room. Kit looked down at the map projected from her wrist device, and she saw a red line meandering through several corridors toward the blinking light of a tracking beacon. She forged ahead through the sprawling warehouse, fighting off the disgust and anger she felt as she observed her surroundings. Hung from the high ceiling above were row upon row of beings encased in carbonite – the various prisoners, enemies, and trophies of the Hutt crime cartel collected in a central holding area.
Kit pushed ahead, following the line on the map before her. A sudden snap-hiss behind her told her that Zhey'la had ignited her lightsaber. Kit heard three blasts from a rifle that Zhey'la deflected. The muffled thump told Kit that their attacker was dead.
A left turn, a right turn, and another right turn led Kira to the spot where the beacon was broadcasting. She flipped a switch on a control panel, and the grip that held the carbonite sarcophagus released, allowing the sarcophagus to drift to the ground. Kit lifted it up from the bottom, and it floated horizontally a few feet off the air. She looked down at the figure frozen in carbonite to see the alien features of Krax, one of the most notorious codebreakers in the galaxy. He had hacked into any database that caught his interest, sometimes to obtain information for a client and sometimes out of sheer boredom. He had hacked into the Hutt's database several months ago, drawing the wrath of the Hutts, and placing a substantial bounty on his own head. Kit had sought him out only for the mission to go disastrously wrong thanks to Panga Meesh's interference. She looked down with some satisfaction at the codebreaker now in her possession, and she smiled, whispering, "Gotcha."
Another round of blaster fire interrupted her moment of triumph, and she watched Zhey'la's blade twirling as if it had a mind of its own. Zhey'la looked back and jerked her head in the direction of the exit in a gesture that clearly said, "Let's get out of this dump." Kit pushed Krax's sarcophagus in front of her and followed Zhey'la back to the gaping hole in the side of the building. Zhey'la burst through the smoke with her lightsaber ignited, cutting down attackers and deflecting blaster bolts. Under Zhey'la's cover, Kit was able to fasten Krax into the speeder that they had parked nearby. With Krax secured, Kit called out, "Come on!"
Zhey'la reached out through the Force and pulled a parked X-34 landspeeder toward her. The speeder flew across the street knocking a half-dozen security officers into the air. Zhey'la then spun toward Kit's speeder, which Kit had already started up. Kit was in the saddle, ready to ride. Zhey'la grabbed a shaft protruding from the harness holding Krax and perched on the back of the speeder, her lightsaber ignited.
A second explosion rattled the ground, causing Zhey'la to adjust her balance. The fireball rose into the sky on the opposite side of the Hutt council building.
"That wasn't Leia, was it?" Kit called out.
Zhey'la closed her eyes in concentration for a moment, then replied, "Probably their ship, but they're both okay." She then added, "They're setting out on foot. Let's go!"
"We got the package, Rogers. Coming in hot!" Kit barked into her wrist comm, and she gunned the throttle, sending the speeder hurtling down the street.
They sped down five deserted blocks before they saw emergency speeders flying past them in the opposite direction. Nobody had registered that they were the fugitives who had bombed the warehouse yet, and they continued to fly down the street in the hopes that they could get far enough away from the scene before the Hutt security teams began searching for them in earnest.
Their hopes came to a screeching halt as a laser blast sizzled through the incessant rain washing over them. Kit chanced a glance backward, and she saw a Bantha-III cargo skiff following them, a masked Nikto behind them manning a large blaster. He fired several more rounds, one of which sent fragments flying into the front of the speeder, causing Kit to swerve to avoid getting hit. She pulled the speeder around the corner on a sharp turn, barreling through a crowded side street. Behind her Zhey'la had twisted around, and using the Force, she pushed a dozen pedestrians out of the way, clearing the way for Kit to push forward.
The skiff was too large to follow them down the side street, and it shot past on the main street. Kit allowed herself a quick laugh that immediately turned into shock as she found herself flying directly toward a squadron of masked, armored troops ahead. She turned hard right into another side street after dozens of blaster bolts soared past her. Kit pushed the speeder ahead through the side street toward an open square ahead, hoping to punch through and continue past it down a promising looking network of alleys and roads shown on her projected map, which kept re-routing their progress with every unexpected turn.
As Kit piloted the speeder into the square, a volley of small arms blaster fire hit the engine compartment of her speeder, sending out a jet of black smoke that might have poisoned her were it not for her mask. The skiff had pulled around behind them, hot on their tail once again. Zhey'la called out, "Hang on!" as she leapt from the back of the speeder, launching herself through the air toward the oncoming skiff with lightsaber ignited. She landed upon the skiff's nose and lunged toward the Nikto, whom she cut clean through with her blade. She continued past him, slashing her lightsaber through half a dozen armed guards. With a push from the Force, she sent the pilot of the skiff backward, and he glided, spread-eagle through the air, coming down hard on the ground behind the skiff, which zoomed ahead behind Kit's speeder.
Zhey'la took control of the skiff, and spoke into her commlink, "All clear, Kit. I'm right behind you."
Kit's fist rose in momentary triumph before she steered her speeder to the right at a Y-junction that led away from the main habitations of the town and into less populated areas. Looking down at her map, she saw that they were nearly to the rendezvous point. Up ahead, Kit could see the mouth of a large cavern cut into the side of the hill – an old Hutt mining site that was long ago abandoned once the Hutts had pulled out every ounce of nyolite from the hillside.
As she allowed herself a glimmer of hope that they might survive, another skiff pulled up in front of the mouth of the cave. A dozen armed guards and another mounted heavy blaster operator assumed firing positions with Kit speeding directly toward them. Kit was ready to pull away and head in another direction, but through her comm, she heard Zhey'la say, "Full speed right at them. Keep a low profile. Turn hard left on my mark.
"Are you mad?!" Kit called back into her comm.
"No, but the Force probably is," Zhey'la snapped back. Kit had had more than enough experience with Jedi and their mad hunches, and no matter how many times those hunches had worked out, she still felt waves of panic every time a Jedi trusted their lives to something she could neither see nor feel.
"Crazy Jedi," she barked back, more to relieve her tension than to argue. She pushed the throttle forward, and the creatures on the skiff ahead of her hesitated from firing on her. The hesitation only bought Kit a moment, and volleys of red blaster fire sizzled past her and over her through the rain. Kit swerved to dodge some of the heavy fire aimed right at her, but her narrow profile and high speed made her a hard target to hit. With the skiff now only fifty meters ahead, she started to feel panic surging. Forty meters. Thirty meters. Then, suddenly, "Hard left now!" called Zhey'la's voice.
Kit turned the speeder hard left, barely missing the skiff as their blaster fire trained after her, failing to keep up. Behind Kit, Zhey'la had gunned her own skiff, which was now barreling toward their attackers at full speed. With Kit out of the way, Zhey'la had a clear path. Moments before her skiff slammed into the skiff carrying the Hutt security forces, Zhey'la leapt backward in the air, performing a graceful backward flip, and landing lightly on her feet. Zhey'la's skiff hurtled into the parked skiff, and the dozen soldiers, reacting too late, vanished in a spectacular ball of fire.
Kit's speeder slowed to a stop, and Krax's sarcophagus had come undone to tumble over the ground and hit the wall of the cavern. Kit hopped off the speeder and raced over. She checked the vital signs that all was good. There was only some superficial damage to the sarcophagus. Zhey'la caught up to her, and she asked cautiously, "No damage?"
"Nah, he's okay. This sleemo deserved a bit of banging around anyway," Kit said, venting some of her stress.
Another rumble behind them heralded the arrival of another pair of skiffs. Kit spun around and pulled the sarcophagus toward her, turned it, and pushed it into the cavern with Zhey'la following fast behind. Zhey'la left her lightsaber extinguished to avoid presenting a clear target as the night vision in their masks kicked on. The skiffs moved closer as Kit and Zhey'la continued to rush into the cavern. They followed the cave as it arced to the left, and the skiffs were nearly upon them. They charged ahead into an open space, dropping to the ground, and a barrage of blaster fire lanced over their heads.
Looking ahead, Kit saw Rogers and her team of two dozen Resistance soldiers in defensive formation, laying down heavy fire at the oncoming skiffs. The skiff on the right took a direct hit, causing it to veer to the right and explode into the walls of the cavern, sending a cascade of dust and debris down from the ceiling. The skiff on the left took a hit to the front left repulsorlift, causing its nose to drop down onto the ground. The nose scraped the stone surface, sending cascades of sparks outward. The tilt of the skiff's deck sent its passengers tumbling to the ground, and Rogers and her soldiers casually picked them off as they struggled back to their feet.
As quickly as the battle began, it ended. Kit and Zhey'la pulled up, badly winded in front of Rogers, who appraised them through her mask. Although Kit could not see her face clearly, she could hear the amusement in Roger's voice as she said, "Bit dramatic, don't you think."
Kit scowled as she stepped away from Krax. A team of technicians immediately busied themselves about the sarcophagus, steering it onto the hold of the largest ship, a Resistance YT-2400 freighter called the Phoenix. Gesturing her hand back to Zhey'la behind her as she stalked past Rogers, Kit barked, "Next time you get to ride with the Jedi, then."
Zhey'la followed closely behind, smiling through her mask. She stopped at Rogers and asked, "Any word from Leia and Kira?"
"Ship blew up," Rogers acknowledged tersely. "Looks like they're hoofing it."
"Do we wait, then?" Zhey'la asked.
"I asked Leia if she wanted us to leave without her, and she said not yet," Rogers replied.
"I don't like it. We should get out now while we can," Kit called back.
"I don't like it either," said Rogers, "But if we leave now, they're stuck here. We sit tight until instructed otherwise."
Kit threw up her hands, her frustration mounting. Zhey'la turned toward the mouth of the cavern where smoldering debris from the skiffs lay strewn about. Reaching out her senses, she could feel more danger out there, but none of it nearby. Or, at least, she thought to herself, none of it is here yet.
As if in response to her thought, a technician bolted down the Phoenix's boarding ramp and shouted, "Republic ships spotted in sector 4 and 7! Just jumped out of hyperspace."
With a sinking feeling deep in her stomach, Kit responded, asking, "Any idea who?"
The tech paused, listening to a voice from with the Phoenix, then he relayed, "The 1st Fleet."
Great. Kit thought. Her uncle, the Admiral Vax Antilles had arrived, and he brought the main Republic fleet with him.