Chapter 7: The Jedi

Keth and Brak emerged from a battered doorway of the warehouse. A few pirates were to their left, and Keth simply deflected their laser bolts with his lightsaber. Then they ran in the opposite direction, toward General Ne'dan's outpost, where Ne'dan and a few other soldiers awaited them.
Down on the battlefield, the fight was almost over. The Anyota had gotten a hold of themselves during the battle, and were finishing off the pirates. Tripods had been set up, and were blowing away pirates quicker than the plasma rifles and the Anyota swords. Then, like a huge wave, the Anyota troops all threw grenades. With several boom!s and many fiery explosions, remaining pirates were thrown to the ground. The soldiers cheered, and held their fists and guns up in the air in victory.
Suddenly, there was a blast that hit one of the buildings around the soldiers. They all looked up to see several police troop ships lowering into the area. Keth and Brak saw them land, and froze in place.
"This is not good," muttered Keth. He took out his electrobinoculars and looked at the Republic ship. He spotted several Senate guards, heavily armed policemen, and Jedi Knights. Two Jedi on each ship. Green and blue lightsabers began igniting in the battlefield, and Anyota soldiers were being sliced in half and hacked. By the time the sabers stopped igniting, Keth had counted ten Jedi. They were quickly slicing through the ranks of Anyota.
Keth thought fast. Pulling a flare gun from his belt, he loaded it with a white flare, and shot it up into the sky. The white flare signaled a retreat, and the Anyota halted their faltering flow of firepower, and ran as fast as they could in the opposite direction of the Jedi and troops. The Jedi did not pursue, but the police brought out riot guns and set up tripods, blasting the fleeing soldiers. A soldier on a speeder bike zipped out from behind the landed troopships, and blasted a few police and Senate guards. He attempted to pass by a black Jedi Master, but the warrior caught him with a hard swing of his purple blade, decapitating him. The Jedi then powered down his lightsaber.
Keth followed the retreating soldiers. He grabbed Brak and powered up his jetpack, and shot off into the night. Soon they were pursued by a troopship, which was blasting away at the flying hunter with two turbolasers. Keth dodged and dodged and dodged, and flew around a building. The troopship fired a missile from underneath it hull, and it exploded a little too close for comfort. Keth had to land.
"But we're not close enough to the Wraith Hunter!," Brak complained. "We'll never make it on foot!"
"Oh yes we will!" reprimanded Keth. "If the Jedi come after us, I'll ambush them."
An explosion rocked the dusty buildings around them, caused by the turbolasers of the troopship. It came soaring down and slowed a bit, coming even with the floor the Kidarian bounty hunters were on. A Zabrak Jedi Padawan leaped from the open door of the ship, igniting his blue lightsaber.
"Run!" shouted Keth, pushing Brak away from him. As soon as he saw Brak run into a dark doorway and out of sight, he twirled out his blaster pistol and blasted away with a repeated pa-ping! pa-ping! pa-ping!
The Jedi began deflecting the bolts away from him, but no where in particular. He slashed at Keth's feet, but Keth activated his jet pack and flew out of the open hallway they were in. He soared up to the side of a building, where he was met with the pounding turbolasers. He was flung away and landed another floor down from the Jedi, in a pile of scrap metal. Keth stumbled to his feet and saw the troopship coming. It fired another missile, and he ran for his life. The missile exploded, sending debris everywhere. Metal, concrete, and glass hit Keth like shrapnel, piercing the open spots in his armor. It bit his skin like the bite of a poisonous Araz snake, but if Keth stopped running, he'd be fried.
The turbolasers fired again, the green lasers exploding behind Keth. Using the aid of the Force, he ran faster. And faster. And faster. His lungs were bursting, his skin stinging from the shrapnel, his ears filled with the sound of blasts and low-pitched lasers. Finally he dived through an open and rusted doorway, the blasts just missing him.
He pulled off his helmet and dabbed his forehead with his handkerchief. He plopped down in a torn-up sofa, taking off his jetpack and laying in silence. He holstered his pistol and instead held his rifle in both hands. He began to doze off to sleep...
Schwizz! A blue lightsaber ignited and swung. Keth pulled his legs up and the end of the sofa was diced. The hunter sat up and pulled the trigger on his rifle. The bolts went bouncing around the room, deflected by the Jedi and hitting mirrors and dressers and desks. Finally, the Padawan missed a few bolts, which sizzled three holes in his chest. The Jedi fell, his face twisting in anguish. Keth called the Jedi's lightsaber to his hand, and ran from the room. He reached the door and threw in a grenade. The Jedi used the Force to hurled it back out and blew up in Keth's face.
Keth was thrown over the edge of railing, and was hurtling downwards towards the surface. He reached to activate his jetpack, but couldn't find the button. I took it off when I rested! I'm such an idiot! he thought to himself. Grabbing at a flagpole, Keth managed to grab a torn-up blue and red flag. There was two chings! The flag was ripped off of the flagpole, and Keth was falling again. He madly pressed buttons on his gauntlets. Flamethrowers, scanners, and miniature lasers began activating, and he finally hit the right button: his grappling hook. It shot upwards, and snagged on...the troopship's starboard turbolaser. It had picked up the wounded Jedi and was heading down for Keth. Damn! he cursed to himself. He reached over with the grappling hook hand and activated his second grappling line, which snagged on a floor a few feet above him. He dangled there, like a fly caught in a spider's web, as another troopship soared towards him, firing two missiles.
Keth called the yellow lightsaber to his hand, and cut the cord hooked to the troopship above him. He swung and hit the side of the building, almost dropping his lightsaber. The troopships almost collided behind him as he hoisted himself up the side of the building with the strong steel cord. Soon he was up again, dashing away. He decided he'd call his ship to him with the ship caller. He reached for it, but...it wasn't there. It must have fallen when I hit the side of the building! In fact, everything in the pouch that the caller had been in was gone. He'd just have to run.
As he ran, the two troopships were firing at him. The one with the Jedi in it flew sideways, the front of the ship facing Keth, firing missiles. The other troopship flew forward with its side to the building. It fired its turbolasers and the troopers inside fired rifles. Everything around Keth was becoming a great big fireball. Bolts were whizzing by his face and hitting the wall next to him, sending smoke and flame and debris flying in his view. Behind him rockets exploded and cannon fire blasted at the walls, which began to crumble. And running space was running out, and Keth almost ran off the edge of the building. Then another rocket exploded behind him and hurled him sideways, into a lift. He quickly hit the number of the floor he had been resting on.